all right I'd like to call to order the September 10th 2024 meeting of the Columbia school board and we'll start with the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you all Michelle we do the rooll please yes pway here Palmer here mad here granley here P here Mueller here superintendent St here thank you our mission is creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner all belong all succeed we're going to pause for just one second our core values are Community Excellence collaboration Integrity respect courage and Innovation thank you it's going to be a technical day today I think um next uh we'll move on to the agenda approval adjustments and announcements can I get a motion to approve the agenda so Mary in a second second second by Jessica any discussion hearing none we'll proceed to vote all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstain motion carries that was a motion by Mary in a second by Jessica Stephanie Cas you didn't get that thank you um next we have our announcements um on September 17th at 5:30 p.m. we have a work session in the community room September 17th through the 23rd is Constitution week September 24th at 6:00 pm is a regular Schoolboard meeting in the community room October 8th at 4:45 p.m. is a subcommittee on policy in the community room October 8th at 5:00 p.m. is a subcommittee on community engagement m in the training room and at October 8th at 6 p.m. is a regular school board meeting you want to catch a board member come to the first Tuesday of the month starting at 4:45 um next we have our employee and Citizen and employee Representatives at this time any citizen or employee May briefly address the school board the board will listen to the brief remarks ask clarifying questions and if desired requests that the administration follow up the board will not take action at this meeting on requests presented at this time and time is limited to 3 minutes per speaker we have anybody who wishes to address the board okay um next we have the consent agenda the consent agenda includes the Personnel report for September 10th Schoolboard minutes from the August 27th 2024 meeting treasur report for July 2024 and policy second reading for 514 excuse me policy 514 bullying prohibition policy including cyber bullying 610 field trips 620 credit for learning can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved Julie in a second second second by Michelle any discussion hearing none we'll proceed to vote all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed abstain motion carries thank you um next we have our discussion reports and information items starting with reports from members of the board and we we start with Julie I had a light couple of weeks um I did attend the policy meeting before this meeting and I have started my review of June and July financials that were supplied in the last couple of board meetings and we'll be getting that to management soon thank you Julie Jessica thanks well school started so we all got over that initial transition we're all here standing um sitting which we probably need to do after the transition back to school um so spending a lot of time on that transition personally in my family um but since the last board meeting uh I attended convocation uh which many of you did too it was very yeah director H was there as well um it was a very exciting kickoff to the new school year the staff band played which is always my personal favorite part of convocation um and uh our very own uh uh chair Mueller was honored with the superintendent's Achievement Award which was very exciting um but it was just great to see all of the um staff back and uh gearing up for the new year so I was uh grateful to be included and be able to participate in that um I also attended the open house at Highland and I was able to get there early and see uh the distribution of um some bike donations to the third graders from uh metronic what are we we're just having technical difficulties I was like did I mistake something you're I have enjoyed seeing st's face on the zoom so I see um go ahead but we did have a very generous donation from uh medronic of bikes to all of our third graders and so I was happy to be able to get to open house early and um welcome some of the families as part of that bike distribution um I also attended the first uh Columbia Academy PTO meeting of the new school year just this week yesterday it's only Tuesday um and then also attended the policy subcommittee before this meeting thank you thank you so much sorry for distracting you Laura um well I mean it's it's in start of the school year you know it's always a lot going on um I attended um of course the convocation which is always the well the second best honestly graduation is a lot more fun but convocation is a lot of fun and laurian you were so deserving of that award you know your your commitment to the community and the schools and just everything you do you really do go above and beyond so and I really appreciate your leadership all these years thank you um I also attended the um 9916 um board uh monthly board meeting um we'll actually be having having a board retreat coming up here uh about a week so that ought to be kind of interesting I'll bring back some of the some of the stuff that we're working on there um and I attended the uh the subcommittee on Pol um not on policy on community engagement just prior to this meeting um I also thank you Zena for um for your time um to uh that you welcome the subcommittee on policy for being able to kind of go over a couple of things and we appreciate you computing engagement I still love policy so hard yeah it's yeah you know you know what I'm talking about I'm just going to say subcommittee and just be done with it that way I'm covered no matter where I'm at okay thank you that that completes my report thank you Lord I can have people thinking I'm on policy it's fun I'll have my day um Michelle thanks um so I also intended um convocation and congratulations laurian it was nice to to be there in that moment with you and um see all the feels and all the support excuse me um I also attended open house at North Park which was fun eventful it was it was a great start to the year I told everyone I can feel it it's going to be fine guys um but everyone was so great um the teacher staff parents I mean there were people still coming um you know despite the power outage in the storm um I mean I could see the the trees doing the wacky wavy thing outside it was kind of insane um and then the lights were like no thank you we don't we don't want to participate and nothing stopped um the teachers were still greeting families um children had people to play with and things to do like it's a school so um yeah we had fun actually and then when it you know broke a little bit everybody was able to either leave or come or whatever so um yeah it was it was a good night still and so I don't I don't think people left and were upset by the power outage you know school still happen um and yes school started and um yes big transition uh and I'm I'm excited that we're back in school it seems like summer went really fast somehow now that we're in another school year and so I'm excited to see what the year has to offer um and I also attended the subcommitte meeting um on community engagement before this um as well as a meeting that we had with uh superintendent stck um so we can discuss some some plans and things like that that's all I have thanks great thank you Mary okay so um it's been a busy couple of weeks usually when people ask me what is it like to be on a Schoolboard I'm like it depends on what month it is um and this is definitely that time so uh you know I want to start off by saying thank you so much to superintendent stenick she did as um has already been called out she did meet with us um the members of the subcommittee on community engagement what nobody else has said was it was the first day of school so like her her your dedication and your willingness to meet with us even on what is arguably one of the busiest days in our district um it it was a great opportunity for us your flexibility and your your availability are really helpful especially as we're talking about um things that impact the entirety of our community and our school community so thank you so much for that time uh I also attended convocation as did everybody um we all have to call each other we forget stuff all the time like we all do so I'm glad we can help each other out with that again um it was delightful to see uh chair Mueller received that award uh I sat right behind her and uh remember maderas was like it's laurian and I'm like I think you're right and then I was just poking laurian from behind so um sorry teachers those things never never change um I attended the open house for CA but uh I got there a little bit early cuz I to drop stuff off and then I had to run up to another meeting um it was delightful to see uh the students come in and everybody really excited uh and also to see my my youngest son be a web leader and watch him be able to uh be a leader in that um in that capacity and help all the new families and children which is just really great um I attempted to go to the open house uh for the high school but as I was coming home the power went out and I was on the phone with superintendent stvi and the roads were flooding and I'm like I'm just going to go home so my husband was there already and he went with my older son I heard it was fantastic um I also had a chance to attend the second half of the varsity girl soccer team last night congratulations to our wonderful soccer team it was a really rough game um but everybody played really really well and we won three to two so um sorry uh Bella who was a former student of ours uh who was playing on the other team she did a great job but we won so go team go uh also stay for the first half of the Varsity Boys game amazing I did not attend the amsd training this last Friday but I watched the video which was fantastic um a lot of really good information there I would encourage everybody to to see it if you have a chance a lot of phone calls with community members meetings um phone calls with members of the board superintendent stun viic um and I'm positive I probably left something out but it's fine because it's a lot thank you so much thank you Mary um as all of you I attended convocation and thank you all for your kind words and thank you superintendent syic for their recognition um it's truly my honor to serve the district and to serve with all of you so thank you for that um I was it was a great day um I really kind of loved the little prank in the beginning leading into the band um so that was a fun Twist on tradition so um I I enjoyed that um really just a great time I love having the barbecue out front here and just um got to spend some time talking with teachers in line while waiting for food and um it was it was good to get to connect with people um I also um was able to attend the first day of school at Valley View um um thank you superintendent for the invite we we're going to have our elected officials there but they had rescheduled their time but um I was able to be there to welcome families um coming in at Valley View and it was really exciting there were so many happy smiling faces people kids running to school um a couple of really proud maybe a little emotional parents um and just really well done by the district team and the Valley View team uh within just a few minutes of the first bell ringing all the students were in their classrooms and they were all starting their routines it was like like just quiet as could be in the hallways like it was it was well done so it was really exciting to see and I'm glad to be a part of it so thank you for inviting me and to principal keman for having me um I did um attend um the chair meeting prior to this the subcommittee on policy as well Mary was was also at the chair meeting thank you um and I just want to say welcome back to um and welcome to all of our students and and really thank you to the families who are entrusting their students education to us um and and really a thank you to all of the staff and the teachers and the people every day who make the magic happen um I know that um it it's a tough job and it's an it's an important job and um I'm so thrilled that our community and our students have trusted us with their education and I'm um very proud of the team that we have um that's doing that education so um here's to a phenomenal year um superintendent stenvik um you have a report and correspondence for us I do in fact I just have one um topic to report on and that is that the Minnesota school boards Association has set September as Minnesota Schoolboard recognition month to build awareness and understanding of the vital function that elected officials elected Schoolboard members play within our society uh Columbia Heights Public Schools is joining other Public Schools across the state um to recognize Schoolboard members um and honor Schoolboard members for their commitment your commitment to our students strong schools help build strong communities and our school board devotes countless hours but people don't know what happens behind the scenes right countless hours of studying educational issues looking at regulations understanding um new new new regulations legal and otherwise policies finances all of that to govern the district um so I want to thank each and every one of you uh for all of your dedication to Columbia Heights Public Schools and at your seat you have a certificate um and also a token of our appreciation so thank you thank you very much thank you moving on to information items we have our employee handbook with director Bennett chair Mueller members of the board superintendent stenvik um in your hando was the draft of the 2024 2025 employee handbook and annually this is brought forward to the school board this year the 2425 handbook it was reviewed by our school district employment attorney and up updates were made based on our legal review some examples include um just elaborating more on School District policies not just given a brief definition but more of um what's considered a violation of the policy and Reporting requirements um we made updates to contact information updates to policy um took out some information that just pertains specifically to students it doesn't have to be in the employee handbook um so unless there's any questions it'll come forward on the September 24th consent agenda for approval thank you any questions just just one yeah Laura are there any substantial changes from last year no it's more just legal like the attorney saying kind of say it this way instead of this way okay yeah okay thanks thank you great we'll see you again on that item shortly thank you um next we have our dreamline program update with uh assistant superintendent meway oh and Mr burgus thank you he wasn't on my list chair Mueller members of the board and superintendent stenvik um I am here tonight with uh principal burkus to give you a brief update on the dreamline program uh I believe last year we were here again right about the same time uh giving you some update and we took some of your questions and I hope that some of the new additions uh it will be provided some information about what has changed and what we're excited about this streamline program our mission uh Columbia Heights Public Schools creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner all belong all succeed um in I believe that all the core values will be uh represented in our brief presentation and this is an informational presentation and uh no governance questioned and I will pass it to principal burkus to continue thank you uh chair Mueller superintendent stenvik and members of the board I'm pleased to be here to have a chance to talk about dreamline I want to thank uh director n for the work he did three years ago now um the that this will be our third year of dreamline uh to become uh his work helped us become one of the part program partners of the saana organization you can see who else is some very reputable uh organizations that we have joined to be um members and uh proud members of the dreamline organization so dreamline really talks about I think similar things to what we do at Columbia Heights uh they talk about of course uh education succeeding as uh in our school and what we learn but also in expanded learning the worlds of opportunities the Afterschool programming and then of course building connections that importance of relationships and community so their values of what they're trying to do with empowering improving and uniting is very similar to us so our Mentor coaches are U people that are uh recruited by them they're young they are uh mostly just starting out many of them this is their first big job uh they are uh recruited from local communities so they've gone to school uh nearby most of them uh they are uh they are reflective of our diverse uh population as well and they are on uh going through ongoing training so it's fun to see them they have uh their PD days where they go uh and then they also have uh coaches that come and meet with them at our school we do have then uh at our site we do have our site coordinator and two dreamline mentors and an intern that will be joining them there is a regional program manager who um oversees our our school and other dreamline sites and then our dean of students uh will be our um our voice in that our leadership in it for us this year so we have uh the four that are working with us colante kamani terce and Janette we are U pleased to welcome uh kamani and colante back terce will be new for us as we as Janette but uh they're a great group they made great connections with our kids and and uh I know that we'll enjoy having them again this year so again as I said this will be our third year of it at Columbia Academy we do about 20 to 25 kids uh that we identify per grade level and those are the kids then that are assigned to a dreamline mentor coach uh they meet weekly with them uh they meet some of them uh multiple days in that week some of them it is less than that might be just one to one to five days that they'll see different kids we also meet with them uh to work on um see how things are going uh always adjusting making adjusts improving things we look at data and uh with that I think each year we've watched the program improve and uh we're excited our kids that get selected to be in it again are excited they love to go there so when we talk to our mentors um our mentor coaches uh we do hear I think similar things from them that they find it a good place to be they enjoy working at Columbia Academy they feel connected to our uh not just our students but to our staff and our administrators as well which we we we want them to feel like they are because they are they are part of our staff they work with our kids just as we do so there's a mutual trust I think in that which is necessary for um the kind of work we do with kids and um they like us enjoy our kids and that's fun to see I was just talking to kamani this morning and I said welcome back you're excited to be back and she said yes I'm very excited to be back I said why and she had that answer so quickly because the progress the kids made last year I was so proud of them and so they see that and we see that and we are able to uh point to uh particular student students students that have struggled in different ways to be successful and to watch the impact of a mentor in their lives and the way that um School becomes not a place that uh some of them perhaps didn't know if they really belonged or a place where they weren't sure they could succeed and we see them start to Blossom so it's um a great program we're proud to have it excited to go into our third year uh with them uh in our school again so part of mentoring and starting the school year is uh our mentors coaches take time to go and observe different classrooms uh and the teachers have been asked to select students uh based on a presentation that was uh done during uh back to school uh with clear criterias about what the program is and who the students are uh they're looking for and so right now until about middle of first quarter that's all that's happening mentors are getting to know teachers working in the classroom and then we're in that selection process uh to find students uh from a funding standpoint uh uh we do pay uh a portion from our achievement and integration program the fund did not the fee did not increase uh sen is contributing 50,000 ,000 and Colombia is uh paying $90,000 for uh the for people that are working with us at Colombia academy uh you know with every program we're always interested in outcomes and uh these are some of the outcomes that we're looking for uh when the program is in play and uh you know I was looking back at some of these that we've written new self-awareness and self-management social awareness and relationship skills emot resilience and then engagement in school and after school program sometime you may wonder how do we measure all this but when we get to the metrics you'll see that uh while we may not measure all of the behaviors there are specific behaviors that we do measure to to see if we're yielding any outcomes uh in terms of to participation um it's broken by grade uh the big number on your right side 56 is in total uh semester one semester two give or take minus one uh compared to last year the number that I had shared with you was about 45 so when Dwayne is uh talking about an increase three years later we're seeing that there is a high uh interest and appetite for students who want to be part of dream line so um the number of students who are passing all classes that's one of the outcomes that we're interested in why because these are students that we want to succeed seed who may have their uh students who have potential but may sometimes not make the right choices and so when we bring them and we work with them academic as a focus is of high importance so in sixth grade you can see in semester one we had 15 out of the 18 students who were passing all and then in semester two we went down by one uh same thing for seventh grade it was 16 then it dropped to 14 and then uh in e8th grade it was 10 and went up to 11 so there is some interesting Trends as you look at this data and you may have some questions but I'm sure we'll answer those question in a little bit so we also look at uh the office referrals as we say we choosing students who are in the middle this particular data is looking at students with three or more office referrals that is not to say those who are one on two were in great numbers it's just that we do give them Grace for being kids and students so in terms of the numbers for those who had three or more office referrals uh you can see by grade level uh semester one two and three and there is an interesting Trend if you've seen that those numbers during semester two go up and uh rightly so if you've worked in schools when spring come student get have more energy and so that happens and so a question we're wondering about is is why with the support that we're receiving we don't have an answer but we're still exploring how can we get this trend downward so then we also looked at number of student participating in after school activities uh that was in the outcome one of those interesting point and so I think last year when we came we did not have this information and this is new that we've added and so you can see by grade level again those who participated in sixth grade it's uh half of the student and in seventh grade it's a little less than and then in eighth grade that number goes down again so interesting Trends um and these activities are sports uh it's the play and it's so it's everything that we offer and the role of the mentors and the coaches is to make sure that students not only become well-rounded academically but that we include them in some of these extra activity and so it did happen one particular story that uh I remember there was even One Mentor who stayed after school to coach one student uh because she believed in that student and wanted to see that student succeed um lesson learns the lesson learns have not changed there is one you know from last year to this year uh students are still Desiring this relationship with mentors and we know why the research is clear and we see uh evidenced in our students and students are making Improvement as we we've shown and even when we look at the program participation uh so what is new is that more and more student want to be part of dreamline that uh is good to know even though we're Limited in terms of how many we can take so hopefully this year we'll hit that 20 to 25 to get the numbers even higher in terms of change uh some of the changes that were done last and that will be maintained this year is that students will see their Mentor By Appointment it was the first time we did it it was free for all and students were just excited to go dreamline dreamline but uh the administration there was able to reflect on that and put the appointment and then uh this idea of uh students being uh students we do see some externalizing behaviors uh and that means they need additional support and so the mentors will continue dway talked about professional development uh the the vice president of uh of the dreamline program has repeatedly mentioned to us that they're going to add more training uh because their goal is to take these mentors who are working with our students and be able to lead them into academics so they can go on and become teachers and hopefully come back into this community so that's what they're doing and last year I think you're remember we shared that one of the mentors was on the picture uh Kevin Arnold ended up being an El teacher at North Park uh last year uh that is the end of our presentation one more thing I will add didn't capture it on the slides is we always ask the question are there any students exiting the program well this past year we had three students who exited the program uh two after first semester and one after second semester even though dreamline wants to see all the kids who get in stay until the end of the Earth to rip the full benefit of the program so any questions thank you Mary U thank you so much for this I uh enjoy hearing about um how the program's been scaffolded and the um all of the data is it's just so interesting um I'm I have two questions uh when you said the kids when they were um how kids are identified uh you said some of it is uh through observation in the classroom and then other is um students are referred by staff I believe does that mean not just teachers that other staff in the building um who maybe seeing these students in different capacities uh can you expand a little bit on that yeah I think if there is a student in the building that a an adult feels like could benefit from dreamline they're welcome to um give us that suggestion so uh those can come from social workers uh school psychologist um it can come from administrator so it's not just teachers but yeah we're looking for students um that are not um necessarily um getting something from another source so an El student or um for example may be getting some some help for language but if they're um in need of something more than that we'll we'll look at it anyway but we're we're always looking at what students are going to possibly fall between you know the holes and and so kids that are um in the kind of in that middle range because a lot of our kids if they're a a level one eel or they're a student that with lots of externalizing needs probably are getting a lot of extra support but there's a lot of kids that fall in between those uh that you know are El or regular ed kids that or even special education kids that aren't getting as much support as might be helpful so so we're look we kind of weigh that in the equation we have um always a lot more students who we think would benefit from it uh than we have spots and so then we're kind of looking to at um you know what kinds of needs are they are they um do we feel like we can be successful um and is there um again is there another way that we can provide addition support or is this really perhaps um one of the few ways that we can really um add to what they're getting at our school thank you y um I really appreciate that I think uh a lot of times there's some really fantastic interventions we can provide but we're hampered by the rules of who can make those referrals and how we can get those kids in so I appreciate the fact that um it's a well-rounded sort of approach to that yeah um two other questions sorry um I noticed that and these are not the data questions uh I noticed that you said the academic success was 41 students across both semesters there um for each semester did you see a lot of movement between that or did that stay relatively um the same kids were struggling from semester 1 into semester two so it varies uh because remember we have four quars so we see the intensity being between second and fourth quarter and so there is some variation um the data that we didn't show our students with uh two FS uh but that number is not as high uh so the positive is that we're seeing many academic success wonderful um and then so now that we've had this for three years and we've had students um go from CA into the high school are we tracking any of the data in terms of um are they being successful at the high school level that's a great question we have not considered that it's one that we can certainly follow up on I think it would be really interesting yeah because one of the thing that I think I shared earlier in the year was that our hope is that we see many of these UNS entering into the AVID program and so we can look back as we have the data and the students yeah and one more question that we were interested in but we didn't dive there was to look at of the students who finish the year how many are still with us yeah because we know that there is mobility so that's something that we can add for the next set of data wonderful thank you so much I appreciate that thank you Michelle yeah um well and some of my questions were answered there so thank you Mary and I'm going to reach for my paper so I [Laughter] can going down that road um so I my first question would be um I know you said 20 to 25 uh students right now but are we looking into like adding more like I don't know what the program allows for like now or in the future if we're going to have um because it seems like we have a need for you know more mentors and and the students would love to have it but will the program ever opened up some more than that you think well we'd love to have more mentors if we could we'd welcome uh welcome it I think we found that um with around I'm going to guess the 25 kind of is reaching towards the maximum number of people that one Mentor can see and really be able to follow up on and stay in touch with it's it's um a lot of these kids are are are in need of of a real of a strong relationship so it takes time and it takes you know frequency to to build that so I think um you know maybe we can push that up to 30 but uh I think it's also you know when we when we are getting kids with with need that we've noticed uh I think it's probably more likely that would we'd need more mentors and uh and we'd welcome that I'm I'm not sure what the financial side of that is well and and that's a you know just to tag on to what Michelle said I think you know looking at you know the more that we can collect data on this program and the success of this program and you know how the students are doing if they're in Avid or kind of as they're continuing on through high school and I do think that um that you make a good point in terms of the mobility and you know where they're at but in determining as all of you do every day on assessing our programs of to what's successful and what's not and where funding is allocated you know obviously you know we really appreciate the partnership with the Sena foundation and you know with this dreamline program and the dollars that they put into it and especially the dollars they put in in the beginning um which were you know to help us get the program going um I think it's you know what this board has said is let's put our money into the things that work um so continuing to gather that data I think is important go ahead Michelle um I have one more um so looking at the um you know we all have different ideas of what success is like I'm not there with the students every day I don't know what they struggle with and those numbers may not you know be poor you know what I'm saying like um at the same time I look at them and you know there's decreases and things like that in some of them um and aside from the PD that the mentors can get like what other things are in place to kind of help them move you know those numbers into you know um numbers that we you know want to see cuz obviously we want better numbers than that but you know I know it takes time I always I don't know always feel like the first year of a program is not really the first year right the second one is um and so now this year you're probably seeing the data from last year and so like maybe a optimal time to make changes or see where you could like uh put things in place to to help it um are there other discussions we had around that so we've had some discussion about the middle school and specifically on addressing academics and uh social emotional support on the academic we're doing an experiment uh at the Colombia Academy with the sixth grade classroom so each class is about 82 minute long and so one of our reflection ining principal burus superintendent stanic Dr doctor director T and myself we conven and discuss to do a pilot in so having math and Ela to be 82 minute long every other day we are going with 41 minute so that math is every day and El is every day so that we can see with that frequency and focus what effect will we get from the students uh learning every day so that's one of the changes that we've we've made and so we're going to look at that data and see how many of those stents are in dreamline it's a cohort of sixth graders not all sixth graders oh got it I have one more I'm really sorry um I also wanted to ask because I know I have to go by appointment um but I know I'm sure it doesn't interrupt right they're learning their day so when in the day are they able to make these appointments to see their mentors yeah we work with their teachers on trying to figure out where that would fit in best and so it because you know in the school day they are in classes virtually all day we do have to pull them from class but we try hard not to do that if it's a class that they are struggling in um most classes there is a a part of the class where there's the new instruction and time for them to you know we don't pull from that time so it would be later in the in the block for that so we're able to I think for the most part find spots um for example if a student are electives sometimes have to be the place that some of the students go if they're struggling in their core then we'll pull from electives so um the reason we did go to appointments so is partly that because sometimes students were self- selecting the time and sometimes that would be you know when okay it's math time I'm I'm going to go to dreamline so yeah so that is I think an adjustment that has been helpful for us and that time frame it and that varies as well so for some of them most of them though it's going to be somewhere in the range from 20 to 30 minutes but uh there are some that we might go longer if um that you know could be 40 45 minutes some go as we said um multiple times a week some might just do a check-in you know once a week and so it's we try to individualize it to what we're seeing and I think that that works well um we we we've learned I guess yeah a few things over these last couple years so some of the adjustments yeah I think that we're making are are helpful not just from the standpoint of uh making us um more effective in terms of our time management but also just in terms of who do we who really fits well into this kind of program who does this really benefit the the most what are some of the ways that we can um support our coaches um how can we make them feel part of our school and not just working parallel to us they're in our building so um as an example of that um our lead is in the lunchroom every day now uh be um at the start of the school year um getting to know kids and seeing so we're trying to make that very clear to them that we're we're one team of adults working with our kids great thank for all the information thanks J so obviously this is our last year with Senna Foundation have we what are we doing for next year it's not our last year it's just our third year there's nothing right I'm sorry it's not the last year this is just the third year so we're continuing oh it's it's more than three years because it looked like it was the last year on no it's not cuz I was just hoping that we were upping um is Senna Foundation the only foundation that offers this Pro type of program there are other programs like the ace program that also support students but we're not working with them Jessica um thank you for the presentation I had a similar question just about the duration of our agreement so is this something we're working out with them on an annual basis now to continue that program your year yeah okay um it was it's really exciting to hear about the successes of the program I think it's especially exciting um from the perspective of the board in the context of our new strategic plan because um as we're employing these programs that are really using promising practices best practices and we're seeing the success within um different populations of our students um it's just it's very exciting to see that sort of laid up against the framework of the new strategic plan so so we can look at a program like DreamWork and the successes it's having for the students that are a part of that program and place it in the context of how we're trying to advance the mission of our district as a whole so looking at how this program is impacting social emotional learning academic achievement um sense of belonging you know campus uh or or School climate looking at um the ways in which um our students are making different connections when we were involved in community conversations around the new strategic plan things like um individualized education um Equitable resources in the sense of making sure that each of our students in the district has the resources that that they need um as an individual to to find success this is a perfect example of a program that's sort of meeting all of those pieces of the Strategic plan and so that's just a really for me a very exciting um new component of of of learning about these programs um because we we now have that new framework to kind of put it into um so I my question was around um the the data around um student uh P passing course coursework so you have that slide about um the number of students that are passing all their classes at 56 and I know we talked about other ways that we are evaluating this program programmer looking at evaluating this program um student participation in Avid looking at um as as Vice chair grin said um sort of the the bridge from this program into into high school but I'm just wondering if you can help us a little bit kind of contextualize this particular data point so when we look at students passing all classes we see the number 50 or the number 41 out of 56 um is there a point of comparison with that like based on the the profile of students that participate in this program how do you when you see the number 41 out of 56 like what does that mean to you so how should we be thinking about this as a board well I think knowing the kids I would say that um we see that as promising obviously we'd like to see it even higher but we we talk we're talking about kids that we have seen um not succeeding in school for a variety of reasons and so to one of the big things that we we know motivates our kids is to get good grades they would like to get good grades but that doesn't mean that they all do all the things they need to do that to get there and so I think the the um looking at uh grades as opposed to a um standardized test for our students there's a lot of um things we can learn from that are they putting in Daily effort are they learning that there is a responsibility they have to get the class learn get the work done are they building those kinds of skills as they are learning and so a lot of these students that answer you know would be that's a struggle for them so when I see that I see that as as a a very looking for context for this particular group of kids and the kind of students that go with dreamline I see that as a success that we are heading in the right direction with a lot of our kids kids that we see sometimes um late to every class um not doing their work you know kind of just the not engaging and over time with dreamline with the with the mentor um mentorship that they get that kind of behavior changing first place we'll see that is in their grades then one one at some point we hope to see that in their standardized test but the first place is grades and we really feel like there's there's meaning uh real meaning in in what we're seeing so I don't know if that fully answers your question but for us I see as positive yeah no I think that that's really helpful and to hear you you know describe that as promising and then all the pieces that come behind that I don't think that um ever everyone just looking at these numbers really sees what's behind that so what's behind this number 41 is you know a change in um maybe like moving motivation into actions right that that that um conclude with some academic success for the student it doesn't necessarily show in this number that there's a strong relationship built between the students and their mentor and what that does for um you know how how how students are seeing themselves in school the ways in which they're they're working towards getting good grades in school the change in those behaviors so I think it's really helpful to hear that um I guess the the like less black and white tangible pieces behind that number that that does help contextualize why that number um shows success for our students so thank you Julie so feeding off of these numbers I started looking at them and so kids in the program are they like 100% of them not passing all their classes or is it like three classes they're miss you know not passing what is when it says there's 41 they're all all passing all classes but it doesn't tell me how many of them weren't passing all class you know what I mean like that beginning that um growth um do you have those numbers or can you describe a little bit about how where kids start and how they get to this point I mean we know how they get to this point through mentoring but um yeah so context matters so the total number of student was 56 and of those 56 41 passholder classes so the difference it's give or take 11 did not pass all their classes and from what principal burus described earlier who the students are when they're selected these are students who some of them struggle going to class don't complete their work because they're not in classroom or they need some strong um mentoring and so with that is a description of where they're starting we could look back and pull their grades before but we did not do that for this presentation so we don't know if of those 41 they were already passing all of their classes some prior to but we don't have that data so we have that we just didn't do it in this present okay okay so is it safe to say that with those 56 students who were identified that participated in the program that the majority of them were failing at least two classes or more or more yeah I would say that yeah I would I would guess that that would probably be a a fair number I would say all of them were student that we felt were at risk at some way or another uh and that um wasn't just um outside of their classes that whatever it was was impacting their grades impacting their success so yeah and that's why they were chosen for and that's that's a big reason why we are looking for them we have other students obviously that's that would meet that same criteria but um we're looking for students that aren't getting additional support that could easily fall through the cracks or slip through the net yeah thank you did you still have something no anybody else great questions thank you both for entertaining our our questions it was a great discussion so thank you thanks thank um next moving on we have our um metrics for the Strategic plan superintendent cic all right good evening chair Mueller members of the board let me that there we go uh so this evening looking at some progress that we've made with the Strategic plan our mission of in Columbia Heights is creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner all belong all succeed and this presentation aligns to all of our core values which are aligned to the Schoolboard educ educational Equity statement so when we're looking at our metrics a little bit of background and context uh during the school year last year Columbia Heights Public Schools engaged with as the board knows many students staff caregivers community members to gather substantive input for our strategic planning process um we conducted surveys focus groups planning teams and large school scale events uh um after the initial input was compiled into themes uh the district launched a second round of feedback surveys to ensure accuracy um so we had a great deal of input and collaboration in this process so thank you to everyone who participated um and ending up with three strategic priorities all belong all succeed in creating worlds of opportunity together so as we're looking at metrics it's important to understand the timeline and what what the definitions are when we mean in your one we're in the exploration phase in year two we're in the installation phase imple initial implementation and then to full implementation so the language that we're using for those timeline categories comes from the national research on uh Network on implementation narn um so those are defined there for you um and I think it's really important important to have those definitions because people might interpret those stages differently um some of the 29 items on the Strategic plan um are may be more familiar to us but when we look at installation it's really building the infrastructure necessary to implement the program or practice which includes building practitioner and organizational capacity um so we really needed to weigh whether we're at that stage can we start at in installation or do we need to start with exploration um similarly with looking at are we at initial or full implementation those definitions are there so the the main overarching statement that the board approved as part of the Strategic plan is with a steadfast commitment to Equitable practices and outcomes safe and supportive learning environments and strong fiscal stewardship Columbia Heights Public Schools will focus its efforts on the following strategic priorities over the next 5 years and I wanted to include th those the headings of the Strategic priorities of all belong all succeed in creating worlds of opportunity because a lot went into it and underneath each of these um uh purpose statements and strategic priority areas are 29 bullet points well not under each total 29 bullet points total um that will go that we'll take a peek at in a moment um but really looking at all belong what does that mean right and and so what this group along with all of the stakeholders um came up with is enhancing a culture of belonging by ensuring a supportive environment for students families and staff that welcomes all individual identities and provides access to Opportunities resources and experiences all succeed what does that mean it means strengthening integrated education systems by delivering Equitable and culturally responsive instruction for every student in preparation for college career and life and then lastly creating worlds of opportunity together maybe I should italicize that right uh that means elevating inclusive and connective Relationships by expanding meaningful engagement opportunities with our families staff and community that value and amplify all voices so those are kind of the big picture statements and now we'll get into some of the more detailed um this is the template for each of the 29 performance indicators in terms of measuring as you know some of the some of the 29 items are more qualitative in nature all belong you know so we want to capture a sense of how people are feeling and what their satisfaction rate is and some of them are more qualitative we're looking at uh or quantitative sorry some of them are more quantitative meaning that um there's an actual growth measure that we can make there's a proficiency measure that we can make right um and so this template of the performance indicators and the metrics encompasses all of that so taking you know something broad into something concrete so for each of the 29 indicators we we will be listing out what are the opportunities for that particular indicator what do we offer here in Columbia Heights and when we offer those opportunities who's engaging what's the participation rate and C how can we break down that participation by demographics for example and then with those opportunities and participation what was the result and if it's more of a survey type um what what are people's level of satisfaction what are people telling us about their interaction and experience with that opportunity um and then we list um kind of who's responsible right which department will be reporting out on on that so I'm going to the board has the full 20 some page document in board book um but just as an example I I'm not planning on going over every all 29 in detail this evening but as an example you can see um priority area under all belong it in the category of student relationships 1A which was that full first bullet point that the board approved um students will be valued and included at every level allowing them to grow self- advocacy and Leadership skills so how do we measure that well um there were you know management team uh expanded you know other people other staff in the district got together multiple times over the summer to both brainstorm discuss and then narrow down and make some decisions on what do we already have at our fingertips and is there can we modify some of those pieces um and so what are the opportunities that we have in this area well um all of our students do goal setting and with with their teachers so you know following up on those goal settings and connecting on those on those goal settings um looking we we um have the Naviance tool I put it there in parenthesis because you know five years later when you've moved away from a different tool so that this is our first iteration of it so probably will'll be taking off specific names of tools because we've all been there but uh but we do currently contract with and have for um since I've been here um navian which is a post-secondary planning tool um and so we can look at the student engagement and participation uh on that tool um and then we have different student leadership opportunities so engaging with them so again when this comes back as metrics that we'll be reporting out we will be the schools so primarily the principles will be reporting out the participation rate including demographics when applicable and available and then they'll report the results so with this one they'll be both um you know the quantitative participation rates and then also satisfaction with those leadership opportunities for example and then this moving you can see the the implementation timeline if we're if we're able to um move Beyond exploration and begin installation and begin into in um initial implementation those will be amended so we haven't done this one yet so we're that's where our that's what we're looking at not you'll notice as you go through the 29 items they don't all start at exploration some of them may start at installation or initial implementation just depending on what the individual metric is um um so I am going to go to one that has a little bit more detail in it I think and you can see that there's they have a number and a letter so 1 a 1 B one c 1 D for example um so moving into I'm going to look at 1e which is on the screen and in your board book under family relationships families will experience a sense of belonging in a supportive Community well we already have an annual climate survey where where we are collecting that data so and we do collect that data um we can look at the participation rate of the of of um that climate survey and then when it comes to a specific survey question I see blinking on the screen sorry about that um there are question there the question is do you feel connected to your school Community I.E you receive regular communication you are invited to participate in school events um so that's an example of one specific question on a on the climate survey that we will be reporting out on to um address this particular performance indicator and so on and so forth um so you can see um as we go along so this really is the work of management however we've had really good conversations at the board table about um working collaboratively um not only to create the Strategic plan but also I'm I am very interested in um seeking feedback from the full board um and I what I'd like to do is give the board some time to review and digest this document and then um at a later date because we are in such the initial implementation phases I I'd prefer to get it right than Rush um so at a later date we'll have an opportunity for the board to to provide feedback on particular items yeah and I if I can jump in too yeah um we had talked briefly at the chair meeting um kind of about the process on this and as superintendent stevic said you know this this is a management tool um we don't approve this this isn't going to come back to the board for board approval we appro we approved the Strategic plan um and so it's then delegated to management to determine the Matrix in terms of which that is being um measured that being said said um this has been a very collaborative process and this board has been very um involved and we I think are very passionate and um engaged in making sure that the Strategic plan not only is right for the next you know five years for our vision but that we are comfortable with how data is being um gathered and how that's being reported to us as the board as we have that accountability piece right and so while as you take a look at this and we will have this on um a work session um agenda so that we can have discussion and conversation take a look at this and not so much about like word smithing or you know you know the semantics of the details but does this plan and the nature in which it's presented does this meet your expectations in terms of what you want to have measured and how you want that to be presented to the board um because that's ultimately the feedback that I think that we need to provide is yes this meets our expectations in terms of the nature of what our goals were and approving the Strategic plan and this will meet what we need to see presented to us when you know principes and schools and the directors come to present on the Strategic plan that we feel like this is the substance that we're looking for so that we know that expectations and goals are being met so look at it with that lens um so that we can have the discussion on that yes thank you for that and I will just note that in the in your Friday update you'll get a new copy of this because um priority area 1H it there's a you'll see a a need to there's a little error there it's obvious when you look at it it's been remedied but not since it got into this PDF yeah so take it make notes um I think we have it tentatively scheduled for the October work session um so that we can come full circle back um and provide superintendent syic is very interested in having our feedback and making sure that we are all um you know have the Buy in that we feel comfortable with um as she moves forward with this so Jessica given the lens that you just outlined for us I have just a couple couple of questions that I think will help me apply that lens to the to the document one is around you talked about like reporting out on the metrics um we're coming from the old strategic plan and Reporting process and so like that's what I have in my head is the idea that we would continue something similar to that in terms of reporting out on the Strategic like directions around these metrics or is there is that still in discussion or is there another framework that's being discussed for that so likely the schools what we've been what we've moved to over the last few years is the elementary schools presenting together because they have so much in common and then secondary schools presenting together and so they would present their portions and then different directors have their portions as well um so I you know I think it's going to look a little bit different than what we've done in the past because we want to we want to go deeper with what are the opportunities what are the results who's participating you know um so it's going to be a little bit different but and we'll probably use this template or something similar to this template and fill in each of those areas as the report sure but we we would still have some regular reporting out on these on these metrics to the board from those individuals yep and that's that's why the yep that fourth category is reported by okay so that was that was the part I wasn't sure like reported by to whom so to you or to us to the board thank you for that yeah and I and I do think that you know think about that too because I do know that you know maybe year one everything gets new right and then as year two and year three happens you can see it I think we've seen it and they like well we said the same thing last year and we said you know but trying to make sure that we are getting the information that we need the the sub substantive information that we need and how that's presented to us um you know I think just for every board to be able to communicate that to the superintendent in terms of like this is meeting our needs and it's it's not but um yes it it's presented by those people to the board thank you and then my other question is just around the implementation stages because I'm not familiar with that the nerm ner ner model do you want the packet um I'm good um there really there's good graphic organizer it's so what I was looking for in the definition is like and I'm thinking in terms of like the life cycle of implementation where there would be sort of a you know evaluation reset of some of the the metrics or looking at how the pieces of those fit together and I noted that in the definition for initial implementation it talks about with attention to using data for continuous Improvement and so is that where we should be looking sort of is that the stage in which we would be like thinking about that continuous Improvement piece oh I think we're always looking at continuous Improvement so we we wouldn't put any of continuous Improvement efforts on hold um so so we're not I guess what I what I'm getting at is we have a lot of you know the goal is to get to full implementation for each of these metrics um so is it that you know we get to full implementation and like we're done or it's I mean continuous Improvement is interwoven throughout that entire process including when we get to full implementation that we're still looking at yeah it's really around in terms of rolling it out the implementation timeline it's really about who's been trained have those expectations been set have 100% of our staff been trained and then are we as admin following up and monitoring that implementation so that's where some of them it's like well this group of folks have been trained on it but I couldn't say for everyone yet you know so like um like the the new phase the current phase that we're in for science of reading for example we know we're in phase one next year we'll be in phase two so so that's what really that timeline is about um we're not going to wait to do some you know we do these annual assessments student achievement assessments or proficiency assessments so those will be reported out um and not waiting but we just know that um with some of the priority areas we haven't yet trained every single staff member on it and set that expectation and so it's going to take some time to do that thank you and and I do think that and this can be you know some more conversation that we have you know one of the things that we talked about with our strategic planning process is having the ability to be a little bit Nimble right so that if we're finding that something isn't working to have that conversation and so that we're not just reporting metrics that aren't working so I would say you know having the board and the superintendent in conversations about you know because we don't want to be tied to a strategic plan just because it's our strategic plan we find out like this isn't measuring what we thought was going to measure this isn't meaning what we thought it was going to be what it was going to mean and I think as you're kind of going through those processes that we we you know kind of work collaboratively to make sure that it's still the intent of of the design well my my l on that is that the 29 performance indicators that our board approved are Vision 2030 um the metrics if they're not meeting our needs can be nimble y great yes thank you that's what I needed thank you that's help any other questions I just want to say thank you for putting this together to you and your team I know that this is we can see how much work it is just by the by the sheer volume of it and it's it's a lot but it's important so thank you to you and your team for for the work that you did so far on that abely all right next we have subcommittee on community engagement is that you Vice chair granin chair of the subcommittee on community engagement it is thank you so much um so at our last meeting we had asked for well I'm sorry not at our last meeting at our meeting with the superintendent we had asked for um the information of what what did it look like when this was created and it it's um it's humbling to think that this was originally created in March of 2020 um it's you know so to see how we have taken some of those things and um and been Nimble with where we started uh has been really fantastic um and it's always great to take that opportunity to look back um at our meeting uh just prior to this one at our subcommittee meeting we talked about um what our goals were and whether or not we needed to um as a board adjust those and so I think we came up with a few recommendations um unfortunately my brain only is able to do these things like treatment plans so um you know I think we have two recommendations in terms of uh having goals for our school um our school board uh in terms of what what does it look like for Community engagement so one of the things one of the goals the main goal would be to amplify Community voice um and what does that look like and how do we increase visibility and accessibility and how does that look different than it did originally right um one thing that we had originally had uh in that subcommittee and that had come out of that was having making sure that we were actually attending different things so there was a little bit more accountability we would talk about it as a group and we would sign up for things in the moment and I think that that really helped because we knew we could plan um okay so this is the thing that's coming up and I think that uh as a group we had talked about that and adjusting it a little bit so our hope would be um that we would have people pick two uh board members pick two different activities um in the schools one of which uh if you have a child in the district does not involve your child directly so um if I so for instance uh I don't have a kid that plays soccer but I did attend the soccer game last night um so those S of things the other addition that we would were hoping to recommend is also to include one activity in the community um that's Columbia Heights Hilltop fredley and really making sure that we are going out and expanding um and meeting our community where they're at the other piece that we had talked about uh would be you know thinking about how can we more educate the community on what our board does and what our district is doing and so we have a couple of different ideas about that uh you know essentially we really want to promote our school district and again make ourselves available not with the thing that you have to come in and put your foot on and you know the wonderful Banner thing that we have but being more present um and embedded in those different uh things and again we're hoping to do this uh not as a burden we don't want to add more to people's plate and I know that that was a reason why we did uh remove that uh portion of it uh two years ago but we want to make sure that we are actually as a board present in different ways and we know that asking the community to always come into our meetings or come into where we are is not it's not working for our community right and we want to make sure that we are again um focused on our Outreach to the community so that they know that we're here and that we're listen we're listening and we're responsive this board I think more than um other boards have been not even just here but sort of everywhere we are really really dedicated to listening to the voices of our community and that's not just parents or caregivers that have children directly in the community that is our staff our families are um all of the companies that live that reside in our area uh and so making sure that everybody knows and and especially families that don't have kids either and students um to make sure everybody knows that we actually really really do care that all M they all matter so um all means all so I you know we had we talked about these things um I will write them up and uh send them to superintend STC so that we can have those in our Friday packet so we can sort of see what these recommendations are um if there's any feedback we would love to have that as well the other thing that we would need then is just like when we first implemented this we had um Dawn at the time provide us with what are the activities coming up so that we could all see what was coming up and we could schedule some of them um so we would ask for that information as well just so we could all make a um a decision that works in our schedule too because again we are um we do serve our community and also this is not anybody's full-time job uh except for superintendent stck so and she doesn't she's excluded from the pig two she goes through lots of things anyway um so that I think is did I miss anything my wonderful committee folks I think you covered it very not succinctly I I think you covered it very well you know um I I know that uh we were we were talking about perhaps um in addition um doing the uh the followup like a survey of ourselves on how well it's working um and probably although this might make for a longer evening the last uh the last meeting in December probably would make the most sense um because then we're going into a new a potentially new board in January and the information probably won't be very useful at that point thank you yes that was one thing I did forget um because data is King and we know that the other piece would be to evaluate this on a biannual basis so twice a year um and the hope would be that we would have the pick two and one by semester so that we know that there's this an amount of time so over the course of a year we would want to have um board members attend four total activities two of which would be not involving something that their child is in directly or however and then to in the community but we again it's broken up by semester so that we could talk about it and evaluate how it's working um within that time frame so I mean I guess in the print out or you know whatever we give yeah give um we'd also um give definition to what that what those events mean so um we gave specificity to um you know school events things like that not District things like the convocation or you know like that we we had made joke to say like saying oh and I went to a board meeting you know like um there are things that are outside of you know board activities that we are expected to be at that's kind of just what we're here for um so we're kind of asking for those things yep um and one other thing too is one thing that we did have um some discussion on was um was um how we're going to measure this in re and with regards to are we actually is it actually um improving our community engagement and how um we might want to be able to look at that or how maybe we have to report on that are we bringing um the community voice in you know to the board table and then sharing that out for example you know and how that would possibly look questions I have one question um and I'm looking at you guys I'm not saying that you have the answer to this question but you know we formed the the committee on resol Via resolution right or the subcommittee um with the additional or revised goal do we need to update the resolution or have a new resolution that would have the new goal embedded in that Laura um I actually did recommend that we do put this on the agenda for the board approval because the mission does change even if it's a kind of slightly y so we would need to draft a revised resolution and then with the new goal embedded in that and so um would one of you be able to do that and I can assist if needed um yep I'm so I'm happy to do that okay so again um expecting your Friday packets sort of a more clear outline of what we discussed and what our recommendations are and we're looking for feedback on that um but again I think you know we're here talking about a lot of data all the time and it's really important I think that we gather more data on this as well as the uh as the subcommittee has continued to grow so thank you I have a question Mary um so is this a recommendation just for the committee or is this for the board for the whole board because I think we're going to have potentially board members who have jobs who have other responsibilities outside of um work as well as you know just in general may not be able to participate in a lot of things like me who does not have children in the school district and so I I appreciate I do go to some events and I do um do that but I'm a taxpayer um I'm not a parent of a student and so I may come at it at different level and the expectation I I'm not sure I like the requirement and and I'm not saying I wouldn't do it I'm just saying that if we're going to put it in in legal ease I'm not sure that's fair to all board members who may not be as active as all of you because you have kids going on you know and doing all this stuff so it's quite easy to to you're here I'm not here I'm I'm working so so I that's a great question and um the expectation would be for all of us at the board uh when you know in some respects I think that expectation of going to one thing that you uh your student is not your child is not involved in um makes it maybe a little bit harder for those of us that are parents within the district because then we have to really go and look at okay so you you know I can't go to the Synchro like I can go to the Synchro thing but that would be extra um or that I would need to do something else whereas I think somebody who now lauan and you as well uh maybe it has a little bit more flexibility because you have all of the choices um whereas we may have to pick and choose a little bit the other piece is one thing that I think we've consistently heard from um from our school community and that is all of the stakeholders that they really do want to see us more at um at different events throughout the district and they want to see us um and and engage with us and find out um more about what we're doing or ask us questions and I think really the subcommittee was born out of a desire to increase our accessibility so that people don't stop at those doors and say oh I can't talk to them because they're the school board we have a lot of of families that are coming in from um different areas and there are different expectations and interactions with elected officials and part of our community outreach I think has to be also showing people that we are not scary people we're easily approachable and that their voice matters and over the years even before we had this of committee and as somebody on the board when it was if you want to talk to the board you come here and come to the listening session and that was the only time we didn't get very much engagement but being present in the community shows the community that we are we do care we care about things even if it is not directly um impacting my student or your student um and it provides sort of a bridge to the community and make it a little bit easier so so are we going to reduce the amount of liaison responsibilities so that people can I I'm just saying that we're expanding the responsibility of the board and we're elected so we're not responsible necessarily to you know each other you're not my employee I'm not your employee I'm responsible to my constituency so when it comes down to it I would I would serve my constituency in the best I can and maybe they they're they're the ones that have a house and don't have kids you know maybe there's the 20% or 30% that are old people that don't have I I'm just saying we're adding more responsibility yeah um so we're not adding more responsibility um as liaison to Val view last year I attended some Valley View things and that was in that capacity right and my child clearly doesn't go to Valley View um as leaz on to you know the cities we do those things that's a city you know thing uh that we can go to um I I we we definitely thought about this right um with keeping people schedules in mind um and things like that we are school board members yes we were elected and we also signed up for this we signed up to be participants in our community and the school district we literally represent a school district first so even taxpayers who may not have students in the district still are stakeholders in this District you have access specifically to a demographic that some of us don't I think it's important for you to go to school events so that you can educate the community that we may not speak to on certain things that you see or or hear or understand in that capacity I feel like if we're not present then we can't walk away with you know good information for people um yes board meetings have that you know that concrete you know Financial things like that but there's certain things that you can't get sitting at the board table and we want to make sure that we are um giving ourselves back to the community in the way that we need to um we all have jobs we all have lives and things that we do outside of this on top of us having children in the district it doesn't like it's not easier for us um it puts more on my plate for sure to show up to other things too but it's an added effort that I knew I was going to take on as a board member um and I take that very seriously because you know I feel like that's how messages get lost I feel like that's how we have misinformation and things like that if we're not involved in the community that we're asking to support us um and so I I I also don't think that um four times a year to go to one of the school events I mean they're at all different times some of them you know they range from during school to totally agree after school so there there is I I feel like it's accessible for everyone um to be able to do that and and you know when we were thinking about it um we were like wow is that putting a lot on people and then we were like well no like we we need to do this you know if one of the things from our community is that we're not you know accessible or they don't know what we do who we are and how we're involved like well let's show them um I just feel like when we're getting those assignments for liaison or things like that like it it is for everyone you know and and we have to we have to hold ourselves accountable for that part of being a school board member too cuz it is is about more than you know Tuesday nights and and listening to information and things like that like we can't make truly informed decisions if we're not getting information from everywhere um and being able to give that information back that we learn here so I do think it's important and I I I really don't think that it's um more responsibility I think that it just you know yeah I think that it just comes with this and we just haven't been doing it well and I and I do think that you know I think that quite honestly we most of us have or all of us have met this requirement just hasn't been intentionally defined and I think and Laura I'll look to you as you know you and I have spending Collective like you know 20 years on the board between the two of us yes that we've gone through different Renditions of this and quite honestly there used to be more requirements yes and when when I first started this the subcomittee were a lot more requirements um but it used to be you know we would all have to sign up for listening sessions as you know Mary so Tuesdays before a meeting we would meet out in the hallway there and be available with a director for anybody to come in and we would have to do that on rotation um we used to attend school conferences and some of this got thwarted due to covid right conferences went to zoom we've done Zoom listening sessions where you know kind of again meeting people where they're at so I think through the subcommittee over time there has been these things that we have brought out to say um you know that how do we govern if we're not in conversation with the people that we're representing as well as not participating in the body in which we're governing and so when the subcommittee on community engagement was created it previously we only had a subcommittee on policy and looking at that kind of again historical moments you know I had looked at that and said well our role our duties as a school board member as defined is governance and policy so we're only hitting half of that when we talk about the subcommittee on policy so we created the subcommittee on community engagement to say now let's govern as well and part of that govern is listening and participating listening to constituents participating in the body that you govern so from what I'm hearing from the subcommittee is that there's a total of four events a year y two school events and two community events so it's actually it's four school events broken up six events total so six events six events total six events total yep four two two school events a semester and one Community event a semester um and of those two school events if you have a child in the district it would be one of those would be something that your child is not participating in okay so looking at a period of sorry Jessica four four months you know I don't have kids at every school right yeah not yeah well and I do think that there has to be some you know for you know and it's a recommend that's another thing a recommendation not a requirement like I heard you say required but it's not required so I thought it was getting codified that's what I was so I think what what the resolution would one of the things we talked about in the resolution is the goal that they had talked about in the beginning this again it's kind of like the what we talk about the policy subcommittee of of terms of policy and process that the the the we're going to update the resolution with the new goal this recommendation coming from the subcommittee of saying hey you know what it's really important to again participate in the body in which we're governing getting ourselves involved in the community and Reporting out to our community so the subcommittee is recommending that every board member does these things right now I can tell you as you said even as board chair I'm not your supervisor right not your boss um so if you don't can't choose not to follow the recommendations of the subcommittee that's on you right like we we are saying that we collectively we going to take the recommend from the subcommittee we're going to do our best at that um maybe what that results in and again I'm I won't be here but the then board chair says hey you know what Laura um you know I've noticed that you haven't been able to attend any you know events within the community is there a barrier to that is there something I can assist with you know this is kind of what we agreed to as a board it's not like we can fire you if you don't do it right because the voters voted you in so I but I do think it's kind of like how do we collectively lead and what do you know just as much as the subcommittee the other board members who are not on the policy subcommittee they they have voice in you know as we approve policy and you know but they're trusting us to kind of get in the Weeds on that we're trusting the boy I didn't realize it was half and half so and then we have you know the sub Community engagement we're trusting them to do the analysis to kind of do the leg work to say you know what we need continue to engage our community here's our recommendations on how to do that and we say okay we're going to give that a try so but that won't be codified in resolution and never has been it has always been come from a recommendation from the subcommittee to say hey let's try this let's sign up for this let's do this so um and then as Laura said an evaluation is this working is this meeting intended results is us going out and doing those things allowing us to engage with the community you know in way that we've designed so I think know yeah and I was just I'm I'm looking at not I make the I do this but I just want to make sure that we're not hindering people from wanting to even be on the board because they feel like they couldn't do all of the different things that this board is saying that they should be doing and so then we we kind of leave out people from being elected Ed to a position where they could be really helpful and and so that's kind of where I was thinking was like I'm not a mom with a kid in the school you guys all are and so except for you no longer and then leaving and all that I just kind of think through who do we have on the board and and yes it's it's if you're here a lot it's probably easy but I'm actively involved in my church and we have groups and we have we lead a group and so my evenings become very booked and and I do make accommodations obviously for being on the board but those are things that are important to me too yeah and just I'll get you one second I and I and I think it's an important thing to note that this is a commitment I think anybody who doesn't and as superintendent seic said in her you know comments earlier about the the role of a board member there's a lot that happens that's not at this board table right there's three-hour work sessions right there's subcommittee meetings there's convers our randomly scheduled subcommittee that we're going to you know have there there's things that happen there's convocation that we attend and graduation and you know different events I honestly think what's that conferences conferences I honestly think and I think to Michelle's point in order to Be an Effective board member we have to experience what's happening in this district and we don't get that experience simply at the board table and I think we have to experience what's happening in the community that we serve and we have to experience what's happening in the district and I don't think you can be an effective board member if you don't if if you're not in the school at some point for something if you're not actively engaging in in seeing what's happening in the schools it could be it could be a tour of the schools it could be you know greeting buses on on the first day of school it could be you know there's so many ways that people around their schedule can be involved but I think it's critical for a successful board member to be present on some level during their term as a board so that they can with their own eyes witness what's happening in the district that they're serving Jessica thank you for that I agree with all of that I just wanted to note what I heard from the from your report is really a couple of things right so it's the activities that we commit to as board members um to advance the the goals of governance of community engagement but it's also what those goals are and I don't want to lose sight of that because you're talking about bringing forward a revised resolution for us which is really laying out here here are the goals of the board as a whole when it comes to community engagement and those goals have shifted in the last five years uh and rightly so I think we all agree with that so from my perspective I'm looking at that as like that that's what's leading then the commitments in service of those goals and not the other way around so it's not that the most important thing is that we're checking off that we attended events y it's that it's that attending these events engaging with the community outside of this building um is advancing the goals of our of our governance as a board and of our community engagement work and so to me that's the most important piece that I heard so when that comes forward in our Friday packet and we're looking at that like that's what I hope that we can all develop some clear consensus around is what what what are our what are our priorities when it comes to community engagement what are we trying to accomplish and then you know what are our commitments to attending things in the community um you know they're one way of being in service to those goals and maybe there are other ways that we'll talk about as a board that we commit to as individual members in service of those goals but for me it's the goals that are leading the activities and not the other way around so I just I just wanted to to emphasize that because that's what I heard and that's that's how I'm going to be thinking about the proposal going forward yeah thank you thank you thank you all so we'll look forward to information coming in our pocket and future action item as we Define goal yeah thank you so much great thank you thank you yes good work all right moving on to our one action item today um it's the opposite of what we've been doing so we have a um building capacity action item superintendent snic thank you chair Mueller members of the board uh this evening I'm here seeking approval to reopen um kindergarten to open enrollment at Highland Elementary um you know weekly we continue to look at the numbers and um for context kindergarten is really crucial for historical or enrollment over time right so if we have a very small um kindergarten class there's implic implications for the next six year five six years right for that class so um um I really like to honor and listen to our school administrators and so I would I've she principal jany reached out to me and is concerned about the low numbers in kindergarten and and um is requesting that it be reopened to open enrollment all right so um may I please have a motion to approve the reopening of Highland Elementary kindergarten to open enrollment during the 2024 2025 school year or toally enrollment numbers increase to near capacity so moved Laura and a second second second by Mary any discussion hearing none we'll proceed to vote all those in favor say signify by saying I I I opposed abstain motion carries thank you thank you um next move on to board topics anybody have any board topics Mar um I just want so to piggy back off of community engagement uh want to make sure that everybody knows that there is a forum tomorrow night for Schoolboard candidates it's a great opportunity for people to come in um and ask their questions and have their their concerns heard and also to hear uh everybody's Vision as what they would bring uh as a candidate to our school board so that will be here in our district Center at um from 6:00 to 7:30 and we are the physical host but uh this is a forum that's put on by the um local teachers union local 710 so uh should be a lot of fun and looking forward to seeing folks and hearing questions and answers so will it be streamed and also recorded oh it will Al great question uh yes it will be streamed and also recorded and should be uploaded relatively soon after probably sometime within the next 24 to 36 hours on the school YouTube page is where I found previous ones so how exciting it's almost like you practiced that I did not no that was not an all practice that was just me being a ham because it's 7:49 that was pretty funny y thank you any other topics I don't have one but I have a comment yes okay I love how engaged we all are here I love the discussion around the table I love all the new the the viewpoints that everybody uh outlays and how we can all walk work through them I I've I've been on the board for a lot of years and I've really never seen this level of involvement and participation so I just wanted to make that comment thank you Laura excellent I think there like as you start your new board me I think there might we should add an agenda item of like board history with Laura that lais corner lais corner yes somebody somebody set up a meeting with Emma and Laura well you know I mean way back in the day we had a straight table up here okay well here's the funny thing I couldn't see the board and I was like going like this trying to see I couldn't see the presentation so that's why we have the TV oh there you go laur's Corner Laura cor Laura cor sorry thank you Laura a new moment I do appreciate that and I do think that you know there are a lot of Boards out there that can't have difficult conversations or can't listen to other people's viewpoints and have that discussion so I'm glad that I'm glad that we can so okay Michelle I have more of a question um about the the law comp stuff like um are we going to get more information on dates I I thought I wrote it down maybe somewhere but I remember you saying some first one is September 20th the second one's November 8 November the main one is November 8th got um and Stephanie and I check the website every day and it keeps saying like register soon register soon so those of you who are um confirming with Stephanie that you want to attend one or the other um and then as the year goes on I we get more announcements for other law conferences so those are the two that we know of right now okay um I plan on attending the conference on November 8th at the Earl Brown Center as do I and so yeah if oh that's right around the corner September 20th though yeah no no I meant it's like literally around the corn oh around the cor Geographic I was like oh bored it's at the time sometimes things are like I've taught at a CPA Society event there and it is so it's actually quite nice but it's really hard to like it there's a lot of space and you're up there and it's just like it it's wide turns out I did write it down I just didn't know to go to November I go there and it's already there so make sure to RVP with yeah please let Stephanie know um a date and and as superintendent Sanic said I mean this is a a goal that kind of takes us it's not year end like calendar year end goal so if this doesn't work for you that she will update um um additional opportunities it's funny I already had the September 20th off and I think but I'm not I'm not scheduled for that I say Laura was going to attend both of them so any other board topics you know me all right we will adjourn our meeting at 7:52