Okay, welcome to the May 13th uhColumbia Heights Public School Board meeting. Uh if you are able, please riseand join us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of theUnited States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nationunder God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Thank you very much,Michelle, if you would do roll call, please. Absolutely. Um, should I stillcall for student? Um, okay.Awesome. Cheat sheet. Um, Palmer here, Pway here,P Smith here, Maderas Granland here, RDEAnoir, Superintendent Stig here. Wonderful. All right. Columbia HeightsPublic Schools, where we create worlds of opportunity for each and everylearner. All belong, all succeed. Our core values are community, excellence,collaboration, integrity, respect, courage, andinnovation. Okay. So tonight we are uh we have our Highlanderhighlight for um Heidi Lee and Paulie is here as her adi as their adviser. So umwhy don't you come up and I'll read a quick blurb and then we'llask we'll we'll check in a little bit about it. Sound good? Okay. Hang on. So, we have our wonderful journalismstudent Heidi Lee who is here tonight because she wrote a piece for theColumbia Heights High School student newspaper, the Heights Herald, which hasbeen published on Best of Snow. So, Snow is school newspapers online, which isthe largest student journalism publication service in the country.Lee's feature story is titled Scholastic Journalists deserve consideration equalto professionals. This story was written by Lee and edited by opinion editorCadence Hansen and co-editor and chief Cass Weise. So, congratulations andthank you so much for being here a little bit. Um, I guess I canspeak about why I wrote the story. So earlier this fall and a little bit oflast year before the summer, a new student law was passed in Minnesotacalled New Voices, which gave students in um grades 6 to 12 um extendedprotection against school censorship and we had we ran into a lot of problemswith that last year especially. So with this new law in hand, it actually allowsstudents the more freedom of speech this year and writing about anything mostlyanything they want for the school district without limiting like theirwords and like what they can go against. Wonderful. Hi, I just wanted to add thatuh it was so wonderful to see Heidi uh write the piece. Uh her original idea,she created an original digital artwork to go along with it. Uh, not only did itget the attention of uh, Best of Snow, but also Watch Us Rise, a nonpartisancivics newspaper that aggregates and republishes great student journalismnationwide, part of the Student United News Network uh, Post, and uh, itreaches an audience of over 3,000 schools. So, they also republished herwork. So since publication online and in our print edition, it's been seen bymore people and a wider audience than perhaps any other Heights Herald storyhas ever had the pleasure of reaching. So thank you, Heidi, and thanks to theboard and Superintendent Senic for uh taking time to recognize her. Wonderful.Thank you. Um any comments from members of the board? Laura, I I wonderful job. It's sowonderful to to be able to see that talent go out there to be shared witheverybody and continue. Thank you. Yeah, Michelle. I mean, Iwon't pretend to be able to make it sound uh even a little more monumentousthan it actually is. So, I'm just going to say congratulations and you know whatyou've done. So, good job. It's awesome. Yeah. Um I think I would just like tosay uh thank you for for writing this article and shedding light on it andalso um doing such a fantastic job that it's been highlighted and shared notonly by snow but by a bunch of other organizations too. Um student voice isincredibly important especially in journalism. Um no rules about us withoutus right. Um, and I think it also uh speaks quite highly of yourum of our faculty advisor because he's had a lot of folks come through withsnow uh recommend or recognizing uh the articles that our students are writing.So, um incredibly proud of the work that you all are doing. And for those ofthose folks at home, um, a lot of the journalism uh, Heights Herald staff,student staff are here tonight, uh, as well to probably to help celebrate andsupport, uh, Heidi with this recognition. So, um, the work that youall do is incredibly important and it's much appreciated and I love it when, um,it can be highlighted more, uh, not even just by us and with this award, butalso, um, around the nation. So congratulations. All right. Uh beforeyou go, we now make you come up and take a picture with us and then you gothrough and shake everybody's hand and then we'll let you go and then we'regoing to do it over here. So So it's a nice smoother transition. to shake everybody else's hand. [Applause]All right, that being said, we have a riveting meeting ahead of us. Uh, andyou are welcome to stay instantly. Wow. Wow. Paulie, I think yours led thecharge. you are you are welcome to stay but you don't have to as they I theyleft even before I got that out folks at home.Um cool. No, I'm just kidding. That's fine. Um okay. Uh movingforward, we have um so can I get uh an approval of theagenda? So moved. Can I get a second? Second.Second for Karina. All right. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Abstained.Motion carries. Okay. Umannouncements. May 20th, we have our schoolboard work session here in thecommunity room. May 26, we have no school anddistrict is closed. May 27th, we have a regular schoolboard meeting in thecommunity room. Communication to theboard. Uh excuse any at this time, any citizen or employee may briefly addressthe school board. The board will listen to the brief remarks, ask clarifyingquestions, and if desired, request that administration followup. The board willnot take action at this meeting on requests presented at this time, andtime will be limited to three minutes per speaker.Okay. Um, we just had a pause in our live stream. Um we had a staff membercome in and share concerns about um the some teacher retention and um discussionof uh class sizes. So uh moving on to the consent agenda. CanI have a motion to accept the consent agenda?So moved. Laura, can I get a second? Second. All right. Uh second byMichelle. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Abstained. Motioncarries. All right. The acknowledgement ofcontributions. All right. While this loads, this will be the longest part ofthe meeting. I'm just kidding. What a wonderful problem to have.Um and do really love this part. So acknowledgement of contributionsresolution Minnesota statute 123B 02 permits school boards to receivefor the benefit of the district bequests donations or gifts for any properpurpose and apply the same to the purpose designated on that behalf. Theboard may act as trustee of any trust created for the benefit of the districtand for the benefit of pupils thereof. Therefore, the School Board of ColumbiaHeights Public Schools, Independent School District number 13, resolves toaccept with appreciation the 101,513.19 monetary contributionsdetailed in the background. Detailed background. All right, I just got tolimber up. Boxtops/General Mills donated$79.20 to North Park Schools for Innovation. School for Innovation.Jennifer Piper Muno donated $20 to support the Heights Herald. GaryCountryman donated $20 to support the Heights Herald. Lauren Grall donated $10to support the Synchro team. Allie M Kernieran and Carrie Christensen eachdonated $15 to support the Synchro team. Noah Lure, Ashley Grell, JacobHenderson, Cassandria D. Rose, and Rachel Niss each donated $20 to supportthe Synchro team. Kate Cruz donated $47 to support the Synchro team. Austin Segodonated $50 to support the Synchro team. Laurian Mueller and Carla Robertson eachdonated $100 to support the Synchro team. Neil Granlin and Santo Zerati eachdonated $20 to support the Columbia Academy musical. Keith Rizville donated$40 to support the Columbia Academy musical. Stacy Nura donated $50 tosupport the Columbia Academy musical. Carolyn Given, Roberto Milchek, MickAlch, sorry, and Anna O'Brien each donated $100 to support the ColumbiaAcademy musical. Jim Scaliz donated $50,000 tothe CHHS scholarship fund 2025. Patricia Johnson donated $2,000 tothe CHHS Retired Staff Scholarship. Anonymous donation of $50 was made toColumbia Heights Public Schools in memory of ElroyHonel. Tara Tuckil donated $6,000 to the Valley View Sunshine Scholarship inmemory of Ranjanna Tuckil, Jane Hollik, Pamela Zimba, andEla Yoast each donated $300 to the CHHS scholarship fund2025. Corus Johnson donated $50 to the Retired Staff Scholarship Fund 2025.Don Hoyam donated $75 to the Retired Staff Scholarship Fund 2025. TheColumbia Heights Lions Club donated $200 to support the Valley View fund run. TheBlack Bow Giving Fund donated $50 to Valley View. Boston Scientific donated2500 to the robotics teams 728 7281 and 6708.The Columbia Heights Athletic Boosters donated $1,000 to support the softballtrip, $2,750 for boys tennis, baseball, girlsbasketball, and robotics, and $5,000 for two scholarships. The total fiscal year2024 2025 monetary contributions to date, $179,977.19. Can I get a motion to accept?So moved. Laura, can I get a second? Second by Michelle. Okay, let'slet's have a discussion. Well, give me a second totake a drink before I talk. So, go ahead. There's a lot there. Oh my gosh.every every time, you know, we just like all the the variety, the support of umall of our our sports and um our our musicals. So, our theater program andand scholarships and robotics and and a whole community as well as retired staffand and community members and clubs and it's just wonderful to see all thisparticipation from so many different groups. So, thank youDo we have a synchronized swimming team or what's the We do. Yeah. Oh, wow.That's incredible. They're awesome. Yep. They're really exciting to see that onhere. Yeah. Um Yeah, it's amazing to to seejust the variety and also um the financial support that our communityhas. Um, and our community is not just folks that live in the school district,but folks that worked here or have family here and all of that support. Andwe see that really um come through in a lot of ways.So, I mean, it's it's an honor to be able to accept all of this and and umjust massive thank you to everybody who supports our community in thisway. Since it's a resolution, Michelle, will you do a roll call vote? I do havea question. Oh, and I've had this question for a while now. Yes. So, whenpeople are absent, do I still call them? Yes. Okay. Yep. I mean, I've been doingthat, but I'm like, am I supposed to be just the voting members? Just just thethe initial I mean, once they're not because I'm like, we already establishedthat they're not here. So like when we do a roll call vote I do I need to stillinclude them in the only time you would have to include them is if they happento come in late to the meeting in which case you would make a note of the timethat they join the meeting and then allow them to Okay. So just call thepeople who are present. Yeah. Yeah. There's there's no point inthey have to call they're not here. So therefore they darn it. I knowtechnically or Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was the other way. I thought you had tocall it all the time but just at the beginning. Okay. All right Michelle.I'll text Jessica later. God forbid. Double double check. I'mpretty sure it pretty sure a parliamentarian is missing. So, rollcall. Let's go. Um Palmer, yes. Pway I. Smith I. And Grant I. All right. Uhmotion carries. So, thank you everyone. Now I have to unzoom all of mythings. Next up, we have discussion reports andinformation items. So, we'll start with reports from members of the board. We'llstart with Karina. Yeah. Um, last week I attended a teacher appreciation event.Um, and that was really amazing. Uh, super awesome to meet a lot of theteachers that were in the room and particularly celebrate um the teacherwho was chosen by their peers. Um, so that's what I've been up to since ourlast schoolboard meeting. Wonderful. Thank you. Uh Laura, I I really don'thave a lot to report. Um I attended the 916 board meeting, uh monthly boardmeeting. Um a lot of just typical business. Um proving uh new leasecontracts, you know, um where were the where some of the programs are going toget their school lunches from. Um and of course, uh some of the various teacherkind of um end of the year um staffing issues. Um and the the meeting justprior to this, the board the chair meeting. Wonderful. Thank you, Michelle.All righty. Pull my mic a little closer. Um, so I attended the um, parent mestrawberry shortcake class that they had at the high school. It was my first timegoing to one and it was awesome. My daughter loved it. Um, she mostlyenjoyed just making her own whipped cream. So now I have to keep heavywhipping cream in the refrigerator now because it's so simple and it's a thingand she loves it. So yeah, that was awesome. um very affordable classes,very kid-friendly, adult friendly. Um and I would recommend them to anyone. UmI I do not know right now when the next ones are, but they are on our website.You guys should check them out. Um and then I I also went to Oh, I I attemptedto go to the Valley View Carnival. Um however, my almost middle schooler wasover it and so we uh we just went and did a couple things and then we left.But it was really nice. um same uh you know uh show of support, lots of peoplethere. It was um well attended. Um I attended the AMSD um board of directorsmeeting um virtually. I uh oh I also attended um this uh communityconversation around community engagement with um Dr. Darius Stanley from the U ofM. Um it was it was um hosted by Robbinsdale District and it was veryinsightful. Um, community engagement is like my love language in our districtand I love trying to figure out how to do it better or how to be more effectivein it. Try to get our families involved. So, um, lots of great pointers, lots oftips, lots of books, and just so many resources. Um, I feel very nerdy rightnow when I talk about it because I'm so excited. But it was really good. Andthen, uh, I also attended the middle school openhouse because, as I said, weare on our way. Um, and so that was exciting. um we actually uh are tryingto get into AVID and you know try to be our best selves and push forward. Sothat's a great thing too. Um the middle school is is uh an exciting time now andnot so scary. So I'm excited about that. And I also attended the scholarship umaward ceremony um where I got to see the uh the um re you know receiving of thesefunds that we were just talking about. And um I did not know that students didnot know what they were getting when they were when they are there. So theywould get invited. Uh Superintendent Stinvik told me they could get invitedand then they find out what they won. And so to see their faces and they're sosurprised and they're just so excited and happy and their hard work is payingoff and it's like this is what they work for. It was so great. Um and yes, I makemy little one go because I need her to see, you know, the possibilities ofeverything and what hard work will get you. Um, so I appreciate um, you know,everyone who gives uh to to our students so that they can uh, look out for theirfuture. It's hard out here. So, yep, that's all I have. Thank you. Wonderful.Thank you. Um, I also attended the Valley View Carnival, but I was therethe whole time. Um, I was slinging pizza this time, so uh, thanks Mr. Kmanand Miss Berg for for placing me there. It was a lot of fun.Um, I also attended the teacher of the year celebration. Um, it was a lot offun, not only just to to see, you know, all the staff coming together to supportMiss Cahill, but also because my youngest son had her as his kindergartenteacher. Um, so I know firsthand how welldeserved that title is for her. Um,so that was really fun to be able to celebrate that.um uh with her. I also met with a number of parents to plan the 8th grade uhparty at CA. Um I was able to attend actually the umaward convention in Minneapolis where I spoke with a um a member of the St.Paul's school board about uh the hold harmless for compensatory aid um anddiscussed their um uh their take on it um a lot of schools are just strugglinguh with that under no fault of their own um to that change in the law. Uh, I hada phone call with Director Tuckerrell uh about some some things last week as welluh as phone calls and text messages with Superintendent Stenvik umand uh members of the board and I wasplanning on coming to the scholarship night but it was also my youngest son'sbirthday so he after he was there um to orient he was awesome. Yeah. Shaws. Hetoured us around the middle school during our open house and I sent apicture of him directly to his mom and said, "Getum and uh also we had prom this last weekend which was wonderful to see allof those pictures and the kids look like they had so much fun. Uh and prior tothis we had our chair meeting policy meeting has been pushed to the end ofthe month. Um, and I'm sure I left something out, but uh I believe thatthat is it for us and I will p pass it onto Superintendent Denvvic. Thank you, Chair Gremlin. Um, I participated in ameeting about the Medronic site on 53rd across from Target. Um, the meeting waswith city officials from both Columbia Heights and Fidley, also the MississippiWatershed, Mindot, and Metroransit. Uh the plans for that site include 65threebedroom town homes. Um nearly 300 apartments that they're predicting willbe two and three bedrooms. Um walking trails at the Sullivan Lake um and aplay space. I was assured that about twothirds of the units will be targetedtowards families. Um you know that's has thebiggest impact on us here in Columbia Heights. So that's what I was reallyinterested in hearing about. Um, but they are still in the very early FAplanning phases. So, I don't have the date yet for the groundbreaking oranything, but you know, there's some progress happening since the last timethat we've had an update on that. Um, I participated in the district financecommittee meeting yesterday, and that's where Director Henigans provides a afinancial presentation to um committee members, which are made up of both umdistrict employees and community members. Um, I've engaged in manyemails, phone calls, and communications with legislators, staff, families, andother superintendents about the compensatory aid issue that ChairGranland mentioned. Um, I've been out visiting each of the schools andconnecting with staff and students. And I know I've said it before, but they arereally sprouting, the fifth graders in particular. I was at Highland onThursday and Friday, and they are tall now. And I concur with those who sharedabout the annual scholarship night. It was truly wonderful. We reallyappreciate all of the local scholarships. Um, and I also enjoyedhearing the stories, you know, the, for example, the retired staff or anyone whothe the scholarships who, you know, it's in a person's name, a memorialscholarship, for example. I really enjoyed hearing the stories um behindthe name that's on that certificate. Um, a lot of positive reminiscing and peoplereally giving back and continuing to give back to the community. So um itreally impacts our students. So thank you all for that. Concludes my report.Thank you. Um student school rep student school board representative um they arenot here. It is May and we are in the last few weeks of school and they arealso very busy. So um no shade that they are not here. So we will move straightforward into the curriculum update with director Tuckil um Emily Garner uh thecoordinator for teaching and learning and Sarah Matusvvic teaching andlearning coordinator as well. So welcome. Good evening, Chair Granland, members ofthe board, Superintendent Stenvik. I'm here tonight with our two teaching andlearning coordinators, Emily Gartner and Sarah Matisovic. And we're here to shareabout a curriculum update. Our mission in Columbia HeightsPublic Schools is creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner.All belong, all succeed. As as we think about curriculum and classes andmaterials, it really encompasses all of the core values and aligns with theColumbia Heights Public Schools Board of Education equitystatement. We're here tonight as anformational presentation to the board.will be returning on the 27th. Seek an approval of the adoption of a 68 ELAEnglish language arts curriculum amplify the adoption of 68 math and vision and apersonal finance class of the Columbia Heights High School. Our presentation tonight and ourrecommendation tonight really aligns with our vision 2030 as we think aboutall succeed and really focusing in on academic instruction, providingculturally responsive instruction that meets the unique needs of each studentusing approved curriculum and providing academic interventions for identifiedstudents through a multi-tered system of support. In the elementary schools, weare still moving along with our literacy. It has been a journey and somany celebrations. Um, as we look at looking into next year, we're going tobe continuing strengthening the multi-tered system of support that'sensuring that all of our students have strong core instruction. And inaddition, we're providing supports for students who might need some scaffoldsor might need some enrichment, might need acceleration. So, really thinkingabout the different supports that we have in place and how we can strengthenthose pieces. And then our continued focus on readact requirements includingprofessional development, screening and curricular resources. And this changesalmost every day. And um there are a lot of requirements coming out inlegislation and more coming on its way. So really ensuring our staff haveclarity about what's coming and supporting them with the nextsteps. And with that, I'm going to pass it to our coordinatorGardner. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Granland, members of the board,Superintendent Stenic. Um, so some middle school updates. Our 68 math andELA teachers have been collaborating with teaching and learning and also withour supports from Bright Works to do a lot of work around standards. Uh, the2022 math standards were approved this year. So even though they're called the2022 standards, they were approved in 2025 um and will be required forimplementation by the 202728 uh school year. So our math teams havebeen doing a lot of work with those standards.Um and then another redact adjustment, 612 ELEL teachers were added to phase 1.So they will be completing um the same OLA training that many of our teacherscompleted this year. Um they will be completing that training during the 2526school year. Um as director Tucker mentioned,we have some curriculum that we are recommending to the board tonight. Um soour curriculum development process uh is up there. So we always start withteachers with finding out what is working, what their needs are, what thegaps are with their current curricular resources. Um from there we bring thatinformation to leadership teams um principles and the teaching and learningteam. Um then on to the larger administrative team to the comprehensiveachievement and civic readiness so formerly world's best workforce now kerum team. So, we met with the Keker team last week, um, of course to thesuperintendent and then to the school board. So, we have our 10-yearcurriculum review cycle. Um, and this is always our plan when we create it. Andthen it is always almost almost always immediately uh out of date. So, as newguidance comes, as standard uh timelines change from MDE, as new legislationcomes, we um obviously need to adjust in response to that. But we do have acurriculum cycle where we're looking at all of our curricular areas on a regularbasis. So our review process um is this is the same process for both ELA andmath curriculum. So we were looking for grade 6 8 for both of those contentareas. Um and a little bit different than the last time we brought ELAcurriculum to you where we had two options to choose from. Right? So therewas no guidance um like that for 612. So we had many more options to look at. Sothe review process looked a little different. Um, so throughout last falland into the winter, we met with representatives from potential programs,um, for both math and ELA. Uh, we gathered input, uh, as I mentioned, fromteams, from the teachers to find out what was most important to them andcreated our selection criteria. Um, throughout winter andspring, we met with representatives from potential programs to then determine um,two to three programs, and we narrowed it down to three for each content areathat we felt met that criteria. Um, in April, we spent a full day inthis room, um, hearing from representatives from these programs. Um,teachers had an opportunity to then review the materials, provide input. Um,they actually had several weeks to then take the materials with them, look atthem in their PLC teams, um, continue to provide any additional input. Um, as Imentioned, we brought it to KCER last week. Um there will then uh be anopportunity for community input um over the next couple weeks and then we willagain be bringing this back to um May 27th for yourapproval. So for math um the recommendation is envision math. Um thefeedback that we got from the teacher review uh they really liked that therewas a balance of explicit and inquiry based uh instruction. So students aregetting direct instruction and developing procedural fluency, but thereare also a lot of problem based conceptual understandingopportunities. Um really robust data collection and analysis tools andassessments that come with the program. Uh lots of resources for bothintervention and extension. So supports for students who need a little bit moreand then also opportunities to push ahead for students who are ready. areally strong online platform with a lot of supports built in, including theability to translate into multiple languages, which was very important forour teachers. Um, Envision is used by a number of Minnesota districts, and itwas unanimously ranked as the first choice by the teachers who reviewed theprogram. So, looking at cost, uh, the cost that you see on the screen there isfor three years. Um, so it is a recurring cost for the online platformand for the student, uh, additions. Um, the professional development would be aonetime cost. All right, I'm going to pass it tocoordinator Matisovic to tell you about ELA. Good evening, Chair Granland,members of the board, and Superintendent Stenik. Um, so as coordinator Gartnermentioned, the review process was the same for ELA and math. Um, the ELA teamselected amplify ELA and um, this was some feedback from the teachers. Theyappreciated that the lessons with Amplify ELA were rigorous with all ofthe domains of language included. Um, reading, writing, listening, andspeaking throughout each lesson. The texts were engaging and they had arobust online library offering diverse perspectives. It was very important toour teachers and students. The lessons are interactive and very easilydifferentiated like math providing intervention and extension.There's spiral exposure and alignment to the Minnesota state standards. Thecontent and lesson design were created with middle school middle schoolers inmind. It's very developmentally appropriate andengaging. The media literacy and vocabulary vocabulary are alsoincorporated. It connects really well with AVID schoolwide strategies.Columbia Academy recently went through AVID training as a whole school and Ihad been incorporating the strategy schoolwide. So, it aligns really welland it was also ranked their first choice um by all of the Columbia AcademyELA teachers. This is the cost. Um this is aone-year cost for Amplify ELA um with a recurring cost and then a one-time costfor professional development for this um upcoming school year. We are also excited to look atfunctional phonics and morphology for Columbia Academy. Um they will implementthis program and it will be an expansion of what's currently implemented in theelementary school. So, if um these curricular resources areapproved, um the next steps would be to purchase them, to provide professionaldevelopment options in the summer and throughout the school year, and then towork with teachers, coaches, and principles to support um the curriculumand standard alignment. I'm going to pass it back toDirector Tucker. Thank you. Um, as mentionedearlier, another recommendation is to approve a high school personal financeclass. So, during the 2023 legislative session, a graduation requirement waspassed into law that requires school districts to have a personal financeclass and that each student starting with the current 9th grade class takesthis course for credit in order to graduate. It does not replace any of ourcurrent courses. It's an additional course that will need to be added. Sopersonal finance really empowers our students to make informed financialdecisions when we think about individual experiences, cultures, values, andgoals. Really incorporating the what they need as they move forward onto thenext steps after high school. So we're excited for this and talking with theteachers. It's an excitement there as well as we've noticed a gap in part ofthe offerings that we have to support our students with the next step.And with that, we are here tonight as anformational presentation and we'll bereturning on the 27th of May seeking approval of the adoption of the 68 ELAand math resources as well as a personal finance class at the high school.All right, thank you so much. Um, before I open it up for questions, I want toapologize for mispronouncing your name, Miss Mattisovic.Is that Did I say it right then? Okay, thank you. I wrote it phonetically. Iappreciate director Tuck Roll for saying it multiple times. Thank you.Um, so, uh, that being said, does anybody have any questions or commentsthat they'd like to I would love to have questions, but you actually explained somuch. I actually don't I I don't really have any. I look forward to seeingwhat's going to happen in the future. Yeah. I have a question. Go ahead,Karina. Um, so just given that some of these have different implementationdates, can you share which ones would be landing in what school year exactly likethe finance class? Great question. Thank you for that. We are looking at startingum the 68 ELA with sixth grade next year. So same for 68 math. We're lookingat starting with sixth grade next year. So the costs up there only had sixthgrade and then we would look at our budgets and look at considerations todetermine if we could do seventh and eighth grade the following year orseventh and then eighth grade. So working our way up. Our hope is to startthat personal finance class or we would like to if approved start it next schoolyear. Um as we need to have all of our current nth graders have it beforegraduation. We want to start it early enough that we have that opportunity toensure everyone has that class in by next school year. The upcoming schoolyear. Correct. Yep. this fall. Great, Michelle. Yeah. Um really just acomment. Um during our uh strategic planning, like the uh p the financeclasses were just something that parents wanted, students wanted. Um I mean itwas like a a big need for it and that was probably one of the most uh helpfulthings that we heard from people. So I'm happy that we are um working toimplement you know something like that for them. um they definitely need it andI think they'll value it. Um so I I know that it's um Never mind. I don't need toask that. I'm good. Thank you. Thank you. You know, sometimes you say it outloud and you're like, "Nope, I got that." Um thank you, Michelle, forbringing that up. I was actually going to say something very similar that thatwas um hearing from the community when we were doing the strategic planningprocess. um a lot of people wanted our students not only to be preparedacademically but also know what it is to balance a budget for yourself um andwhat that's like. So I'm grateful that the legislature, you know, in thatregard passed that requirement. I think that that's helpful even though they donot helpful things sometimes. Um anyway, hold harmless. Um, my other question,uh, I was just going to say, so I know at Columbia Academy they're discussingmoving towards having, um, English and math every day, and I'm I'm wondering,so right now it's just for sixth grade is my understanding. Um, and so whatwould something like this look like, say, for um, seventh graders who maybearen't getting that everyday instruction, the seventh and eighthgraders? um and does that look different for um development with staff and umlearning targets? Great question. We are excitedthat sixth grade is moving to every day for um literacy and math. as we thinkabout the number of minutes they have in fifth grade and moving to sixth gradeand really supporting with that base as they enter middle school. Our goal thisyear is to collect a lot of data and to determine the impact that has made andthen look at budgets and see looking at seventh and eth what we can do. We havebeen working with both of these um resources and their teams to share thatcurrently we're moving to that what could it look like for seventh andeighth if some students have it every other day. There are some opportunitiesthere for us to build a plan out. So we would be able to this school year workon that plan to support that it could be implemented in either way. Um we areexcited to build that base in sixth grade so that they have that knowledgeand those skills moving into seventh and eth. Wonderful. Thank you.Um if there are no other questions I think thank you all for your time onthis wonderfully warm uh Tuesday evening. So thank you. Thanks. Butyou're not going far. I'm not leaving at all.Uh next you're going to talk to us about uh outofstate and overnight field trips.I see you are director. Thank you. Goodevening chair granland members of the board superintendent Denvvic. I'm heretonight with Sarah Matisovic our teaching learning coordinator and I toldour coordinator Emily Gartner to stay as well. I said you don't have to get up.This is part of you too. So she's joining us for it as I'm going to haveher name come in there in a little bit. Our mission in Columbia Heights publicschools of creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner.All belong, all succeed. And our experiences really do encompass all thecore values. And the core values are aligned with the Columbia Heights PublicSchools Board of Education equity statement. We're here tonight asanformational item and we'll be returning on May 27th with governance ofapproval of the overnight field trips for the 2526 school year.There's a lot of research as you start looking at it to show the importance ofhaving our students have the opportunity to go out beyond our doors of ourclassroom or bringing people in. And really the results are showing that whenstudents have those rich excursions or rich experiences, they do better inclass. They make more connections. They have more positive social outcomes asthey're doing different things and experiences. And they're expanding theirview of the future. It's wonderful when you take them to the river and it's thefirst time seeing the river or being there in a different part of it and it'sright behind us, right? It's right next door. So really expanding where we areand how big this world is around us. The importance is also there in ourvision 2030 as we look at all belong and student relationships. One of our areasstudents will have opportunities to find and develop their passions and interestsand make connections in Columbia Heights through diver diverse inschool andextracurricular activities. and students will have access to multiple pathwaysand relevant learning experiences that support their growth and post-secaryoptions. And with that, I'll pass it to coordinator Mattisovic. Good evening again, ChairGranland, members of the board, and superintendent Stenbeck. Um, as part ofmy role, I'm fortunate to support with field trips across the district. Um thisincludes instructional exper um experiences uh and field trips off-siteum in-house um bringing guest speakers in and having college and job fairs atboth CA and the high school. Uh our instructional field tripsum our teachers go through an approval process and we um have field trips laidout so that it's aligned with schoolboard policy um to supportcommunication with families and to support the um academic standards. Um, all students in preK through 12thgrade have similar a grade five. I'm sorry that's wrong. But next year I'llbe back to talk more about secondary. So preK forward to grade five. Um, all thegrade levels throughout the schools have similar experiences with field trips umand similar opportunities. And there is vertical alignment throughout thosegrades as well to provide equitable opportunities. I'm going to pass it back to director Tuckerrell. We were excited last year webrought to the board the plan to have that alignment for preK5 and now withcoordinator Matisovic it's gone even deeper where she and coordinator Gartnerare mapping out each of the quarters and how do we bring people in and so how dowe bring the businesses around us? How do we bring people in our community into enhance the curriculum and standards that we have? So, that's been anexciting work that we've been working on this school year moving into next year.Another part of field trips from instructional is extended field trips.And extended field trips really are outside of the school day or extendedbeyond the school day and include a lot of athletics and activities. So, as welook at next school year, there are some supp supplementary opportunities for ourathletics and activities to compete, to learn and grow together, to have some ofthose team building opportunities. And that includes the ones listed, um,tennis, synchro, key club, and many others there. And this is theanticipated list of athletics and activities. Sometimes we have additionalones that come up or opportunities that come up throughout the year in order tosupport these goals. I'm going to pass it toSuperintendent Stenick. Thank you. Um, for the Native Americaneducation program, um, Yolanda Dorso and I work very closely with our parentcommittee, which also includes, uh, middle school and high school actuallyand elementary school students, students from all levels. Um, and recently we hadlong conversations about the upcoming school year, plans, budgets, and all ofthat. And um part of the discussion centered around that it's becoming morechallenging for families to do our typical weekend um excursions or eveningevents. Um and so with that, the conversation turned to doing twocultural immersion um trips with uh with the students um rather than the one andthen so many weekend and evening where this the participation is dwindling. AndI'm going to reference um a phrase that Yolanda is using now, which is culturalplace-based learning. Uh so that's what we're looking at. And when it comes toour um Native American education program, um cultural place-basedlearning, um we're looking at making sure that students are connected withthe earth. Um learning about the original caretakers of this land throughexperiential lessons both about the Ojiway and Dakota traditional andcontemporary people. Um so there'll be community building but also connectionsto their own um cultural identity. Again um these uh immersion trips are alsoaligned with standards including science, social studies and languagearts. So the first one this will be um new in recent years. We did thistour 12 years agoish I want to say. Um so this is looking at the Dakota areasof southern Minnesota. So going to Jeffers Petracliffs which are umpetetroglyphs that have been there for thousands of years. Um the pipstonequarry and museum uh mano the city of Mano has a lot of sites includingreconciliation park and the dates that are were selected strategically to alignwith the mano pow-wow. Um, so that would be uh I believe it's a Friday out ofschool and then over the weekend, Saturday, Sunday. Um, qualifying. Uh,this one we the committee we're reallyinterested in allowing middle school students to come. Um, so we'restrategically going to be having um administrators join this tour. Um, uh,so we're we're we'd like to open it up to middle schoolers and high schoolersfor this one. And of course with all of these um Native American program uhexcursions, there's no cost to the students. Travel, lodging, and meals andactivities are all included. The second one is similar to um what the board hasapproved in previous years. And this is the cultural um or the exploration ofOjiway culture in Malax. Um, so this includes um hiking in Cathio State Parkwith presentations by the Minnesota DNR um who's the the Malax DNR designatedperson um the Max Museum and Trading Post and then um presentations by thetribal officials there, the um the uh chief Virgil wind has been really goodto our school team. Um uh and then also traditional drum anddance. So the this is similar to last year which would be over the MEAweekend. So the Friday, Saturday, Sunday of MEA. Um so students would not bemissing school that that day that Friday and similar to like I just said um thisone would be limited to high school students and then um no cost to thestudents. Thank you. The next one we have is ourChicago arts experience. Our students were able to go this school year and hada lot of success and I kept coordinator Gartner here because she was able tojoin them and I would keep getting pictures and going these students areamazing. Look what they're doing. And so we are bringing forward the Chicago ArtsExperience for February March of 2027. So not this school year but the nextschool year. And the purpose is to have time to be able to fund raise and try tosupport the students with the learning that they would be having coming up. Soto have a little head start on that to be able to support it as in this yearthe trip would be supported with the leisure time tours which worked reallywell this past year. I think having everything organized and then outsideorganizations figuring all of those pieces out with the tour was helpful andlooking at inviting juniors and seniors again in concert band, choir and AParts. So, some features, and these are all newpictures from this school year, a lot of them are from you,included college visits, professional experiences, classes they took,performances they went on. It really was an extraordinary opportunity for them inChicago. Um, fundraising efforts and donations include included the oneslisted. So, they're looking for the same part and maybe additional ones. Theyreally had a lot of success for this past school year with donations umreaching out to different businesses and asking for support. In addition, withthe change to Chicago, it was more in the budget in in order for all studentsto be able to access it. And this picture is actually taken by a studentat the aquarium they went to. Um in addition, I wanted to shareagain that our Harvard National Speech and Debate Tournament, the date iswrong. It says approved May 2025. I should say 2024. Last year, this wasalready approved by the board, but it will be coming this school year. So, Iadded it in there more as anformational piece that we are excited to provide ourstudents an opportunity to compete and learn from competition at a nationallevel at the Harvard Harvard Debate Council tournament, which will be inBoston, Massachusetts. So, we're here tonight as anformationalitem about the different field trips for next school year for 2025 2026 and we'llbe returning on May 27th seeking approval.Okay. Any questions or comments from the board?Just a just a comment. I I think that these new opportunities are really superexciting. I really wish when I was going to school that we would have had like alot of these enrichment activities and um you know just well of course I meangrowing up outside of Chicago I actually did go to a lot of those places forsummer field trips but but being able to to go on those cultural those culturaltours and and um and being able to provide um those opportunities is isreally is really incredibly terrific. Thank you. It reminds me of our mission,right? creating worlds of opportunity. We really do. Yeah, it really it reallyreally is. Michelle, um yeah, I was just gonna saythank you guys for um for the update. I remember us talking about this last yearand us being so excited that all this was coming and now it's like, oh, it'sanother year. So, it's nice to see it being implemented. It's really awesome.Um I also want to say thank you for doing the work to reach out tobusinesses and, you know, people in the community um so that we can actually usethe resources we have. We have a lot here. um and we don't have to do it allon our own. So, I appreciate the fact that you're looking at other ways tohelp our students instead of it being like, you know, all it relieves a littlepressure, right? So, thank you guys so much for um for doing the work um forplanning a lot of this stuff out and for showing the students what it takes to dothis kind of stuff. You know, when they get older, they're going to want to taketrips. They're going to want to do other things, you know, when they havechildren and things like that. So, um I think that, you know, there's a lot oflessons in there. And so yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you. And a thanksto our amazing teachers. Yes. They really make it all happen with thefundraising, the planning. Yeah. Yeah. That part isn't easy either.Um I just want to So yes, thank you for all of that work. Um, and also I want tojust briefly touch on the um the uh Native American um culturalplace-based learning. I am not originally from Minnesota. I'm fromSouth Dakota many years ago. And so I as a kid I went to Pipstone um and Mano,but I did not learn any of the actual history and the cultural significance ofbeing there for the pow especially in Mano. Um and so I just want to say thankyou all for for making that a focus. That's an incredibly important umhistory that I didn't learn about until I was an adult and I'm glad that ourstudents learn about it in all of the ways. But the students who um are aliveand because our Native American students still exist, right? um they are here andum I think taking them during that time to um to Mano for the POW was incrediblypowerful and I'm really grateful that that was um so you guys were sothoughtful in planning that. So thank you.Yeah. Okay. Thank you. And now we'll go to the uhAB uh lease with director Stunkle. Welcome Chair Granland, members of the board,Superintendent Stenick. I'm here this evening to um bring forward as aninformation item the adult basic educationlease. Our mission creating worlds of opportunity for each and every learner.All belong, all succeed. And with adult basic education, the students, thelearners are adults. All of our core values arerepresented in the education that we provide at our AB site at 411 central.So uh just in case uh not all of you are uh fully versed in our AB site, it ispart of a consortium called Metro North Adult Basic Ed which works with uh thereare eight school districts that partner with this. There are many consortiumsaround the state. So we're part of Metro North and I meet every other month withthe other community at directors from those school districts to oversee theprogram. At our site at 4111 Central, we offermany classes. The most popular being uh improving basic reading, writing, andmath skills. That can be regardless of one's home language, earning a a highschool diploma or GED, learning and improving their English languageabilities, and preparing for college or careers. We've also had citizenshipclasses and other um employment training programs. And I should say all of theseprograms are free. So uh I worked we worked withKathleen Morardi who is the coordinator of that site and this site is bothserves the Colombia Heights School District and the Fidley School District.So my counterpart the community ed director at Fidley Steven Keeler andthen also the uh Brian Henkin's very involved in this process but also theFidley finance director. So it was a team of us that worked with the owner ofthe building to uh look at what our current lease was and to discuss whatthe future lease might be. So, this is a lease agreement between our schooldistrict and the Fidley School District collectively and then Spacemax officesLLC. That's the owner. It is a two-year grant. Uh, notgrant two-year lease. Sorry. Very different things. I know you're right.It's a two-year lease. Um, so it would start July 1. It's aligned with ourfiscal year. And what we did the last time uh you'll remember that we arestill kind of coming out of the pandemic and what we did was we released some ofour space because about half of our programming is now offered online. It'svery convenient for adults to be able to do their classes online so that theydon't have to arrange child care or transportation. But of course we alsoknow that there's a benefit of being in person. So we also need classrooms forthe in-person classes. Uh so we have scaled back each time that we're up fora lease. We assess what space do we need? Is this space working for us? Uhwe look at are there other possible places in the community. We always wantto make sure that we're on a bus line that 411 central is very well located totransportation hub hubs. Um it's also easy to reach for people from Fidley orColumbia Heights. So we do an assessment of other options and each time now forover 20 years uh we have chosen to stay where we are because it is a veryconvenient location. There you'll see the square foot rental. It is a 2%increase for this year and then a 3% increase for the following year. Uh thatis very much aligned with market rates. Uh, Director Henkkins assured me that hefeel he and the other finance director feel good about that uh that rate and uhthe way that it was negotiated. So the next steps I've uh Ibrought this this week. Next week it will be brought to the Fidley SchoolBoard and uh for review and approval and then it will come back to you in theconsent agenda in two weeks for your review and approval. And with that, arethere any questions? I mean, you answered my questionalready, so thank you for that. Um, does anybody else have any questions? No. All right. Well, thank you verymuch. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next, we have the policyfirst reading. Um for that we have uh policy number101.1 name of our school 612.1 development of parental involvement T1program 626 foreign exchange students admissions 705 investments 706acceptance of gifts and 903 visitors to schools. Uh the public is urged to goahead and look at these online. they'll be available um if and seek anyfeedback. So, uh feel free to give us feedback if you have any on that.I have a question. Yes. Um uh we're we're um it looks like some of thesepolicies um since they're just simply being reviewed um are those not policiesthat we could not um both um in in the future. Okay. Looking into the future,not do this as a single uh presentation and approval on some of those because wewe are doing some of that over at 916 on on things that don't change, you know,and then it's just simply, you know, you know, um being accepted like the name ofour school district is probably not very controversial. No, I'massuming. Superintendent. Yeah. Thanks, Vice Chair Palmer Palmer. We've beendoing that for um legislative changes when it's change, you know, updating forlegislative changes, it's gone straight into, you know, rather than going to twoboard meetings, it's just gone to one. Um so there have been times this yearwhere we've be begun doing that. Um, some of these heads had some pretty gooddiscussion on them, but uh, you are correct. The the name of the schooldistrict did not in there. I wanted to say to Well, maybethere's a legislative change, you know, there was not. So, it would be I wasgoing to say because we do do that review where we're reviewing at leastwe're looking at all of our policies every three years. Yep. And thank youvery much even though I'm not on the policy subcommittee that we are stickingto that rigorous timeline because you know how important that was correct. Nono absolutely no good question. Um and thank you for that. Uh so then there areno action items which is fantastic. So we'll scooch right into board topics.Does anybody have any board topics? Michelle. I do. Um so at North Park onFriday they'll be having their annual um barbecue.Um and so uh you know it's it's just a good time. There's usually ice cream,hot dogs, um some activities for the the kiddos, a little wine dancing. Um, youknow, it it's it's really a good time and uh especially for me this year sincewe're in fifth grade, just trying to soak in all the the last times, youknow, even when I visit, it won't be the same. So, um just a heads up about that.It's from 5 to 7 um Friday evening. And then, um I looked at my my plannerearlier and I saw that tomorrow the family center is having their gardenparty. Yes. And that's going to be from 4 to 6:00 p.m. here at the familycenter. Yeah. So, I just wanted to share those events. Wonderful. Thank you.Anybody any other other boards? I It doesn't make sense and I don't care. Iknow Laurian watches and just cringes every fine every other. Yeah. Um I actually I don't think I havean other tonight. So, woo. Um, so with that, we will go ahead andadjourn at 7:08.