- I'd like to call to order the meeting of the School Board ofIndependent School District 624. Master clerk to please call the roll. - Beloyed.- Here. - Daniels.- Here. - Ellison.- Here. - Newmaster.- Here. - Streiff-Oji.- Here. - Thompson.- Here. - Arcand. Here. - Thank you. I would ask everyone to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. - [All] I pledge allegiance to the flag of theUnited States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. - We have before usthis evening an agenda. I would ask for a motion to approve. - So moved. - A motion by Ms. Thompson. And a second? - Second. - Second by Dr. Newmaster. All in favor, please say aye. - [Members] Aye. - Oppose, same sign. And we have an agenda. We are also really excited this evening. We have a new school board student liaison and oops, I gotta pull up to my... There she is. Okay, Lydia, can you helpus pronounce your last name to make sure we get it right? - It's Kleinhans. It's very German. - Kleinhans, okay. Wonderful. So, this is Lydia Kleinhans. She is gonna be our student representative for the school year. 12th grade student at WhiteBear Lake Area High School. She's involved in the Student Council. She's a trumpet sectionleader in the band, plays club soccer, and worksat a lifeguard at the YMCA. She's also a part-timePSEO student at St. Kate's. So Lydia, we are thrilled to have you. Is that okay?- I think we're gonna do a picture. - [Jessica Ellison] Okay,and we're gonna do a picture and I just-- With Lydia. - Yeah, and I just wanna notethat not all school boards in the State of Minnesotahave a student liaison. And so, we love it andwe are really fortunate to have students up here with us. So, we'll do a real quick picture, and then we'll come back to the agenda. - [Staff] Come up. You can come up too if you want too. We'll get you as well. (staff laughing) Okay, everybody look here first please. One, two, and three. (camera shuttering) (people chattering) - All right, we also havebefore us a consent agenda, which are the regular thingsthat come before us monthly, including donations. And as always, our community has been incrediblygenerous to our community, especially for back to school items. And so, thank you toeveryone who made donations. I would ask for a motion toapprove the consent agenda. - So moved - A motion by Ms.Streiff-Oji. And a second? - Second. - Second by Ms. Daniels. Any questions? Okay, this will require a roll call vote. I would ask the clerkto please call the roll. - Beloyed. - Aye.- Daniels. - Aye.- Ellison. - Aye.- Newmaster. - Aye.- Streiff-Oji. - Aye.- Thompson. - Aye.- Arcand. Aye. - And we have a consent agenda. It is now the time for publicforum portion of the meeting. There were zero requestssubmitted to speak. So, we will move intoour informational items. Informational Items, C1, the Superintendents andthe Students Report. Dr. Kazmierczak and Ms. Kleinhans.- Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chair Ellison,members of the board. So Lydia, I'll turn it overto you here to kick us off. - Hello, White Bear Lakefamilies and community. It's very exciting to be back at school and I'm very excited to be serving as the class of 2025 student liaison. The most exciting thingabout being back at school has been our transition intoour new combined high school. After having our veryfirst home football game on August 29th, you can definitely feel the excitement and pride that came from our unified student body. And as a senior, I can confidently say that we are all very proud to be graduating fromsuch a beautiful campus. So, thank you to everyonewho has made this happen. Fall sports and the school musical among other excitingopportunities are back. With our beautiful newsports fields and facilities, I recommend attending asmany fall sports as possible, including soccer,volleyball, and football. Shout out to our undefeatedgirls soccer team. However, as a musician, Ithink the most exciting part about being back to school has been seeing the brand new music rooms and seeing the new auditorium that is still under construction. I would also like to highlightthe fall musical is underway. Auditions begin this week. You can access all ofthe information you need at the White Bear Lake AreaHigh School Theater website. You'll never regret spendingyour money an evening on seeing the fall musical. It is always fantasticto see and you can tell our theater kids pourtheir hearts and souls into their performances. Lastly, our next footballgame is this Friday, September 13th at 7:00 PM. It is against Woodburyand the theme is Pink Out, in honors of those who'vebattled breast cancer. You can purchase tickets online through the links andactivities and athletic section of the weekly announcementsGoogle document. - All right, thank you Lydia. Nice job. I'll just roll right into mine. So, we've enjoyed welcoming students back for the '24-'25 academic year. Elementary and secondarystudents started last week and our Early ChildhoodPrograms began this week. So throughout the district, there are were many excited smiles as students returned after summer vacation or in some instances andquite a few instances for the very first timeas new in White Bear. And we wish all of ourstudents a terrific year. In addition to our weekly e-newsletters and usual information shareouts, we invite you to enjoy two Independent School District624 inspired initiatives on our district Facebookand Instagram pages. Every Friday, the district will post a video updateof the week in 62.4 seconds and weekday mornings right at 6:24 AM, we will share 624 facts on the district's Facebookand Instagram pages. Videos can also be found onthe district's YouTube channel. District communitymembers age 65 and older are invited to apply for ourLifetime Senior Activity Pass, which allows free entry into a variety of activitiesfor entertainment, including home athletic contests. If you'd like to join the more than 1,000senior community members who enjoy the benefit, call my office at 651-407-7563 to request a free LifetimeSenior Activity Pass. - Wonderful. Any questions for Dr. Kazmierczak? Wonderful, thank you. Move into our first or oursecond Informational Item, C2, the Opening School Report. So, this is always a great moment beginning of the school year, where we get to hear fromall the various departments and hear about what'sgoing on in the buildings. So, this is exciting. Dr. K? - All right, I'll kick it off. So, leadership team,I think we're starting with our Teaching LearningDepartment, is that right? So Dr. Gillespie and Jen Babiash. So yeah, this is always a highlight. We look forward to this every year. It's been a great start to the year. I did make it into each building. I know I spent all day Thursdaylast week at the high school and just enjoying thathistoric day that it was nine through 12 altogether. And then throughout the day today, I finished up gettinginto all the buildings and checking in with folks. And it's just, there's a lot of real positive energy throughout. So, we're excited to be able to share a lot of information tonight. So, we'll, Alison,you're kicking it off so. - Chair Ellison, members of the board, thank you for having us tonight. It's really an honor tobe able to share the work that we did in preparationof this school year and the school year, as Dr. K just said, has been so fun to be a part of, watching our high school open and just everything that'sgoing on in the buildings. So, I wanted to provide a brief teaching and learning overview. People often thinkbecause I share the title with one department that they, that we only have one Teachingand Learning Department. And so, we actually have four departments that encompass Teaching and Learning and you're gonna hear fromall four of the directors. That's Educational Equity and Achievement, Student Support Services,Technology and Innovation, and Teaching and Learning. And all of us work in partnershipto support our principals. And I think that's really important, because we're reallyintentional about that work and really excited about howall the things that we're doing to make sure our studentsreach their outcomes and their, you know,post-secondary pathways. And so, really supporting the principals would in turn support all of our amazing educators and staff. This summer has been a reallylarge one and really busy as we continue to really prepare ourselves for this upcoming school year. I wanted to share in four different areas. We have worked really hardaround developing our leaders. And when we think of leaders,we don't always just think about the people with formal titles. Leadership is a disposition, not solely a position I often talk about. And so, how do we build leadership amongst our instructional leaders and make sure that our principals and districts staff have what they need to navigate all the differentchanges that we have. But also, how do we continueto build up educator leaders and other staff leadersthat really can help us as we lean into the workthat we've been doing. So, the three areas that we're focusing on as we really kicked off this in the summer and into this school yearare instructional leadership. How do we support our principals and educators around that, so that we can continue to impact student outcomemeasures positively? How do we manage change? We've managed a lot of change. Some of it, a lot of it, we've controlled and we'rereally excited about it, but some of it is changesthat are just off, you know, in the world. And so, how do we come together and really make sure thatwe're doing that well. And then, always our familyand community partnerships. We value our community. We value our families and how do we make surethat that relationship is truly a partnership. And so, those are the threeareas we're focusing on. The theme you'll hear metalk a lot about a lot is how we intentionally collaborate. And so, this summerpeople will often ask us, "How is your summer off?" And sometimes, summer is the busiest time for at least for parts of it. I think everyone tries really hard to make sure we take careof ourselves as well. But district building leaders, educators, they collaborated all summerlong around curriculum, around assessment, around reporting, and then professional development. And I'm really proud ofthe work that we've done. We've done, as you know, areally significant heavy lift with implementing new literacy curriculum, where the work we're doing around science. And all of that is done in collaboration with teacher leaders, principals, co-leading that with ourdistrict departments. And we're really intentional about how do we create a culture that really is that partnership between buildings and district and where sometimes, it'll belike never the two shall meet or us versus them. And I really trulybelieve that when we get that partnershipfunctioning at its highest, that's when we'll have thegreatest impact for our kids. And so this summer, I wish Icould count how many people were a part of things, butI have my greatest fears I leave someone out. So I can just promise you every single, pretty much every day, even in July, where it's probablythe quietest around here, there were peopleleaning into those areas. Finally, we just revamped our Data Days. For those of you who've been here a while, we had one day that we wouldall come together in August to look at our data and wehave extended that to two days. And I rebranded it as the Instructional Leadership Institute, and it was a really energizing two days. Teams have educators andleaders came together to really look at how dowe continuously improve it as an organization, whatare the outcome measures that we're deciding this is how we know we've been successful with students, and then where do we need to get better, where is it frustratingthat they haven't moved yet, and why haven't they moved. And so, the commitmentamongst all of our educators to not only really dive into their data at their schools and sites, but collaborate amongst elementary schools and both middle schools, andthen to have one high school was just, it was a very,very special time and felt like everyone was comingtogether and really aligning in a way that we've been working towards. Then finally, our studentsare also really busy. And so if you recall, BrianPeloquin and Adrian Turner used to come present in this presentation, but we've decided they'll come to a couple work studysessions during the year, so it can be a more in depth. But I wanted to bring some stats for you, because there's so much to celebrate. And so, Brian put together stats for me for student activities when we, now that we've finishedthe 23-24 school year and I'm going to share them with you. 1,179 students participated in Minnesota State HighSchool League Sports. 299 students participated in fine arts. 355 students participated in non-Minnesota State HighSchool League activities and sports. We had four teams go tostate, boys cross country, girls soccer, girlsbasketball, and boys hockey. We had individuals make it tostate in the following sports, girls cross country, girls swim and dive, wrestling, gymnastic, boys swim and dive, boys track, girls track,boys golf, and girls golf. Our fall musical earnedits highest rating ever from the Hennepin Theater Trust Spotlight and performed theirshowcase in the spring. We had two members of thespeech team, Miriam and Sanyu, won not only the MinnesotaState High School League Speech Contest, but alsothe national contest. And we had two coaches inducted into their Coaches' Hall of Fame, Jeremy Post and Dan Kovacich. I would say last year wasan awfully successful year. And so for this year in the fall, we had, over the summer, we had279 students participate in summer strength and conditioning and we have 537 students participating in fall Minnesota StateHigh school League sports. That's the highest rate ofparticipation since before COVID. And so, we continue to lean in and how do we have our students connected. Not only, we obviously focuson their academic achievement, but how are they reallyfeeling successful, connected, and what Lydia just talked about, all the different ways to get involved. And so, a shout out to all their coaches, the staff, families, and community members who continue to support them. So now, I will introduce Jen Babiash, who is our Director ofTeaching and Learning, who will talk. So, each one of the directorswill talk more in depth about the work they led this summer. - Good evening. I'd like to continue tohighlight our students. This summer, we had 24students in Career Pathways participate in summerinternships and jobs. And you'll see here from the pictures, one thing I wanted to highlight was our Minnesota Trades Academy. We had 11 students, from mid-Juneto mid-August, participate in a paid summer constructioninternship experience, where four days of work,four days a week they worked. And one of those days wasshadowing an apprentice, and then they'd go back to the construction careerpathway space at the high school and practice their skills and learning that they learned duringthe apprentice days. So, we're super excited. This has been an ongoing summeropportunity for our students that I wanted to highlight. And then also, we had, wewelcomed over 50 new educators. I think it's about we probablyhad about 40 last year, so about 10 new educators to White Bear Lake Area schools. And our theme was Proud to be a Bear! And we spent the time,the educators spent time in their respectivebuildings with mentors, instructional coaches, and the principals. Our new educators also heardfrom district leadership around the importance ofbuilding relationships, partnering together, and embracing change. All right, and I'd like to introduce our director of Studentsupport Services, Lisa Ouren. - Good evening. So this summer, ourTransition Education Center shifted to the Hugo Elementary and our young adults are soexcited to have that access to that expanded space. They have beautiful outdoor areas, as well as the indoor gym and lunchroom. And so, they had an openhouse just last week and it was well attended byparents and our young adults. And so, that's one of the things that we're really excitedabout this school year. And then last year, we addeda family engagement teacher to our earliest learnersin early childhood. And she held monthly parent groups called the Little Bears Clubor the Little Bears Group, and they met every month around topics that they were interested in. And we're really excited about this 'cause it culminated atthe end of the school year, where all the parentscame with their children and met with the teachers. And they really appreciated the fact that they could put inputinto some of the topics that they wanted to talk through, as well as just making thosecollaboration and relationships with families right whenthey're starting their career in special education. So, some of those are some of the things that we did over the summer. And I would like to introduce our Educational Equity andAchievement Director Brenton. - Good evening. So, I just wanted to startreally quick just to, with our new employeeinductions that we had, we really focused onthree areas during there and that was with our Indian Ed, our Equity Decision Making Protocol and Racial Bias and Harm Protocol as well, and Family Engagement alongwith our MTSS processes were the three bucket areasthat we chose to address with our new teachers and staff. One of the things that we didtalk with them about this, I really enjoy this slide as I really talk about the differences between equality, diversity, equity, acceptance, and belonging. So regardless of the amount of melanin that your body produces,we really wanna make sure that our department focuses on everybody and really addresses that. So, I'm not a shoe guy 'cause I'm cheap, but if I was, this iswhat I would go with. So, we really wanted to talkabout equality is everything, is everyone getting a pair of shoes. Diversity is everyone getting a different type of shoe. Equity is everyone gettinga pair of shoes that fits. Acceptance is understanding we all wear different kinds of shoes. And belonging is wearing the shoes that you want withoutthe fear of judgment. Over the summer, myself,along with Vincent Patton, who is our Indian Rd coordinator, we put together a professionaldevelopment opportunity for all staff membersto take in our district, which was our Historical Trauma PD. As of three somethingthis afternoon, 3:30, approximately 45, between 45and 50% of the district staff have taken, and completed,and passed the quiz that goes along with thatPD, which is awesome. They have, we requestedthat they all take it before September 30th. So, we're well on theway with that as well. And that, I must sayactually came as a result of our non-concurrencewith our APAC Committee. So, that was one of therequests that they asked that we have all staffmembers participate in that. And so, one of the last slides I have here is that the Ready for School Event that took place a couple weeks before. Our students returned at the high, at the new high school, which was awesome. A few key points. I do wanna thank Briana Santacoy, our Family Engagement coordinator, as well as everyone else who volunteered their time and efforts to make this event an amazing opportunity for our community. 400 plus backpacks and supplies were distributed to families that day. 100 plus families hadaccess to parent view and applied for educationalbenefits with assistance from interpreters who werethere to provide their support, as well as our IT Department, making sure that they hadaccess and capabilities. Bear Care Clinic was also present and scheduled appointmentsfor physicals and vaccines, as well as Community Edsharing their resources and programming in earlychildhood opportunities. So, I know that's a short list, but I really wanna thankeveryone that took place or took a part of that. It was amazing event. And the whole time I kept telling myself, "Brenton, take pictures.Brenton, take pictures." I took one, and that's the picture. So, we love Juan. Juan is at the TEC campusnow. He's amazing and his mom. So yeah, it was great. So anyway, at this time,I would like to introduce our Technology and Innovationsdirector, Susan Herder. You're welcome. - Thank you. I would also like to start by recognizing ourstudents from Tech Depot. We had 25 students who worked all summer to help us get ready includingthe day after school let out, to come in and help usmove all of the technology out of the sites thatwe're having construction as quickly as possible. And then, getting everythingback into place in time for school to start and for teachers to have everything they need. The work couldn't have been done without the work of the tech team and the 25 students in Tech Depot. And again, we were so busy. Brenton is one picture ahead of us. We didn't even get a pictureof the students working. That's how busy it was. They also were just, they worked on getting 1,400 Chromebooks ready for the students coming back, the ninth graders, sixth graders, and all of our new students. This included unboxing everyone. They had to personally toucheach one, log into them, make sure they were connecting, and they had that done within a week. We were shocked. There was no way we could havedone that without their help. We also worked on therepurpose Chromebooks, as well as continuing to work on deploying some newdesktops to our staff. Additionally, as you can imagine, with the introduction of twonew sites, new buildings, we had to migrate all of our information from Sunrise to Mariner, and then to combine the high school data. So our teams, our systemsapplications teams, worked hard all summer to makesure all of that information was accurate in all of our systems. It's a large piece of work to do that and I'm very impressed with the speed at whichthey got that completed. Additionally, we moved ourlibrary system, Destiny, into the cloud for more reliability and also to be able toprovide better support for our staff and students. Other pieces include Synergy and again, creating two new sites there. But we're on the latest update and we are continuing toimplement new features that will help our staff, and our parents, and our students have better information. So a couple of the features are Hall Pass, where students will be able to basically create a hallpass within Student View. The teachers will see that. We can get better information on when students are outtaclass and how long they are. Additionally, Tardy Kioskshould help at the high school with students using their badge in order to badge intoschool when they're late. And again, we're gonna getbetter information from that that we can share with families. And additionally, we setup standards based grading for the high school. For cybersecurity, we began apartnership with Arctic Wolf, which is going to help us withour managed security system. They'll be providing uswith that protection. We wanna make sure all ofour student data is safe. And this is the nextstep for us as we work towards really improvingour cybersecurity stance. We continue cybersecurityeducation for staff, including phishing simulations, as well as just general knowledge around password security and other pieces. And then lastly, we revisitedthe Technician Support Model. Last year, we moved to a shared team of North and South and after getting feedback and upon reflection ofhow well that worked, we divided the district into thirds. And there's a team of two Tier 1 techs that are working at each of those. What we hope from that isthat those teams of two can build relationshipswithin those buildings and with each other in order for us to better support those sites. Thank you. Operations is next. - Good evening. Facilities has been in a, you know, at a, working at a frantic clip all summer long. We've had a lot goingon across the district. We had several bigmoves that had to happen before we could do anything. So, all of our South campus staff and their supplies and equipment had to move to the high school. All of our Sunrise Park staff and supplies had to move to Mariner, and then TEC had tomove to Hugo Elementary. All of that had to happenwithin about 72 hours. So, thank you to our custodian team who worked really, reallyhard to make that happen, and Kevin Fernandez cleanthem all, their whole team. Outstanding work gettingthat move to occur in a very short amount of time because construction doesn't wait. So, we had multiple big projectsat Mariner Middle School. They had a Phase 1 of atwo-phase project on their HVAC and so we ripped that apart and that will be completedagain next summer. And then, we will wrap thingsup and be done at Mariner. At the high school, that's been in continuousconstruction, of course, for years. But we completed Phase 3 and we are almost donewith the high school, just a little bit work to do. But as Wayne mentioned,early a historic day as we reopened that after 41 years. We will reopen it as a 9-12 high school. Central Middle School, we took a three yearsof summer construction, decided to compress it into two. And so, this past summer and next summer, very intense summers at Central, but the payoff will be theywon't have a third year of it. So, thanks to that team.They've been very patient. They had to almost like moving out. They had to pack everything up for the construction this summer. But we'll see a greatbeautiful new gym at Central that has now, is now being used. Some wonderful flexible spacesthat have been opened up in that building that's from the '50s and so, it's very traditional, but now has somewonderful flexible spaces. And they're probably alreadyenjoying the HVAC improvements in most of that building. Vadnais Heights, we put a new roof on the north half of the building that will allow the solar panels to be installed next summer. I mentioned that TECmoved into their space and in the final phases ofthe Monument Sign Project. Projects currently underway. The Performing Arts Center will be opened, that will be completed end of November. We have some concerts that'llbe performed there in December that we'll look forward to aswe christen that new space. Price Field, some improvementsjust to the throwing area on the north side of Price Field. And then, Sunrise Park. That construction has begun and the district officestaff will be moving out and out of current building into the Sunrise Park Center in January, along with the school board. And then again, the solar projects at the high school and at Vadnais. Security upgrades continueacross the district. Integration of the lockdownsystem with the building is an important part of it. That blue lockdown buttonor red lockdown button that you see in that top photo, those exist across the school district in places where peoplecan lock down a building just with the push of a button. And so, the integrationis getting doors to close and secure that building as they do that. Security cameras arecontinued to get improved across the school district, especially in some outside spaces and where we improve buildings like at Central Middle School, creating flex spaces, create some voids or are some areas thatneed additional cameras. So, we're continuing those improvements. The Threat Assessment Protocol, we've been working withour building leaders and our student support staff on recognizing potentialthreats in the building. And so, those individuals were trained on the Comprehensive SchoolThreat Assessment Guidelines and we will continue to, or those that's, those staff will be using those protocols this year to recognize threats in the building and as a way to keep ourselves safe. And then, Standard Reunification Method, we're working with the county on countywide processes. Nutrition Services Departmentalso had a busy summer, served nearly 10,000 breakfast this summer and 14,000 lunches. We're in year two now when school starts ofthe Free Meal program. Free breakfast, free lunch,and we will continue, gladly continue that program. The Farm to School Institute is a professional development process for some of our nutrition leaders, but it also then was allows us to build SustainableFarm to School Programs that support Minnesota's food system in collaboration with MDE and University of MinnesotaExtension Program. One way that we saw that inaction was at Freedom School this summer, where our nutritionstaff read to students, but they also brought them on a field trip to Marina St. Croix,where they got to visit one of the food providersfor their program. If you're at any open houses, you enjoyed some localapples from Pine Tree that was part of that program. And we'll learn more aboutthat as the year moves on. The Bulk Milk Initiativeis kind of school or cool. We have about five schools now that have bulk milk being served. Kids tell us the taste is better, but importantly, it's keepingmilk cartons outta landfills. Just at Oneka Elementary inthe first four days of school, they kept more than a thousandcartons out of landfills. So multiply that over manybuildings, over many days, it's significant. 60% less milk waste and on average, students were consuming an additional ounces ofmilk with each lunch. So, successful program. And wellness programming is continuing with the wellness committee, working with each building topromote wellness activities across the district. Transportation is alwaysa challenging start to the school year. They work hard to getthe routes figured out, and then they get hundredsof changes in the 72 hours before school starts. And so, that can createsome challenges for them. But they've been doinglots of tweaking on routes, making things run more smoothly. They'll continue to tweak thoseover the next week or two. And we appreciate our students and parents for their patience asthere's been some challenges with transportation along the way. Hiring drivers have been a challenge for school districts across the nation. In White Bear Lake, we're fortunate we are fully staffed withdrivers and bus aids, but that's not true ofall of our contractors. And so in those areas,we have some challenges. What we have been able todo is take some routes back to the district offering routes, having less with contractors. Buses gonna drive about almost a million and ahalf miles this year, make over half a million stops. There's a lot of moving parts in the Transportation Department. So, we thank them. And we'll turn it over to Human Resources. - Good evening. So as Alison had stated, the summer can be oneof our busiest months and in the HR department, it really is. Those are our busiestmonths of the year there. So, we hired over 130 new employees, 61 of which were new teachers, which is about kind ofpar for the course for us. That was in addition to allof the seasonal employees that were hired to support ourprogramming during the summer and all of the contracts that are changed to bring employees in toextend their employment for the summer. So, a huge thanks to my staffto get us to this point. Long days, long hours, so it'salways greatly appreciated every year here. You know, well, you'llnotice on the next slide, it is going to be our everpresent We're hiring slide. But what I can tell you is we're really in avery envious position, because with the unemployment rate looking the way that itdoes in the Twin Cities. You know, there's a fiercecompetition for employees as we're looking to fill positions. And really in all of our departments, although we are stillhiring in a few right now, if you took a snapshot atsome point in the summer, we were really staffed for the year. So, the hiring that we're doing is just that kind of continuous hiring as people are coming, going,moving through, you know, their journey. So, that's what that looks like, but we're really in avery good place that way. So, another note that Iwanna just quickly make is that last year, we moved to a new substitutemanagement partner and in each month last year, we saw at least a double digitincrease in our fill rate after making that move tocollaborate with teachers on call. So, that's been highly successful. That said, there's still a lot of stress, you know, in buildings tryingto fill those positions. And so it hasn't, you know, eliminated the struggle that reallyevery district deals with. However, it has been asignificant improvement for us. So, just wanted to giveyou that brief update. Another point here too is that later on, we'll be asking for yourapproval of a tentative agreement with our Extended Day staff and that will wrap upour bargaining cycle here for a two-year period. So, we're excited to move into a year here where we can concentrateon some other items as we move into things. So, we're excited there. Not necessarily thesexiest of bullet points, but we have convertedfiles to a digital format, which has been a Herculean three-year task as our staff has gone through that process without bringing on additional staffing. And what it's reallygoing to allow us to do is just efficiency for us, but it's also going to transferto all of our employees too, in that they're going to beable to get access to documents far more quickly than they've been able to and just generally gettheir questions, you know, answered a little bit more easily. So, that's been a really great thing. And again, a huge thanks to my staff 'cause they've workedover a very long time to make the magic happen. As I said, we are hiringin a number of areas, especially still in Extended Day, Nutrition Services to some extent. We're always looking onthe bus driver front. And we're gonna continue toget out into the community to the extent possibleto make sure that people are aware of those opportunities. But we really are inpretty darn good shape and like I said, reallyan enviable position compared to a lot of mycolleagues that I'm speaking to in surrounding districts. So, we're feeling pretty good about where we are at the moment. Any questions? - [Kathleen Daniels] Yes. - Oh, Ms. Daniels, - We still hired somebuilding substitutes within that have contracts with us that we don't use the service for. - Yes, we do. So, we do that and there'sa couple of nice things. Number one that's really helpful. It's been, you know, a great service to our students really,because there's some really committed core substitutes there. It also really helps us bring on... It helps us really in attractingsometimes more talented or just get bigger pools oflong-term substitutes as well, because we can augment a partial year with that building substitute role, where they really know whatthey're gonna be stepping into and know that they're gonnabe employed for a year. So, it's been terrificfrom that standpoint too. They can get to know students before stepping into along-term sub, for instance, or they're familiar with students when they get done witha long-term sub role and are able to still bea part of that building and the culture there. So, that's been a huge benefit for us. No other questions, then I'll step aside and Tim Maurer will come up to present for Community Services. - [Board Member] Thank you. - All right, good evening,chair, also members of the board. It's a great day to be here. Not because we get to behere in front of you guys, but today's one of my favorite days where we got to welcomeour littlest learners, our early childhood kids, up to our Early Childhood Program today. And it's just, it's oneof my favorite mornings watching the kids either getoff a bus or a parent drop off and you know, parents trusting us with their littlest learnerscoming in for the first time, making a good impression with them and making sure that theyhave a great first day. And the three sites that I went to today was literally all smiles. Every kid was happy to gomeet with their classmates and be with their teachers. Zero tears, which I thinkis probably a first for me. There's usually a couple that don't want to leave mom and dad, but just goes to show all the work that leads up to the school year, open houses, making those connections with families and with those kids, that our teachers and ourstaff do a really great job. Making sure parents know what to expect when they come in and kidsare coming in confident, happy, and fun, and ready for a fun time. But as we kinda look through the slides and some of the data,just a reminder, you know, our Early Childhood Programhas, we have full and half day and different options for programs across the district at Normandy Park and our six out of our nine elementaries and Tamarack Nature Center. A nice variety to meetfamilies where they're at that meets what their currentneeds are or wants are for their children in early childhood. And it's not just early childhood, I think it's also importantto remember that we serve, you know, ECFE programs andnew parents with birth to two, and then as they growinto be three and five into our programs. But we also work with them through home visiting community outreach, provide family classes and parent classes, offer activities and seek to build home and school partnerships tosupport families into the future as they continue to grow in our community. And we work really hardto help families connect with one another and withour schools right away through our Early Childhood Program. Numbers up there are showing, we're a little south fromwhere we started last year, but I think an importantthing to take into place here, we have a number ofstudents in our ECSE program that are still going through evaluations. We have a small waitlist at two sites on the south end at Vadnais and, currently at Vadnais and Lakeaires that we're working through right now to work through thedetails of transportation and other pieces to offer another section. When those are completedand that section gets added, we'll be right about wherewe started last year at. And phone calls do keep coming in. It is a moving target day to day. So, we're very hopeful that we'll get thosedetails ironed out here soon and can reach out to thosefew families on our waitlist to offer that new sectionand get them in our buildings as soon as we possibly can. A lot of the, we stillhave a little bit of space, a lot of our sections,on the positive side, are really almost fulllike across the board. I don't think any one of oursections across our programs has maybe more thanthree spots left in them, and that's only at a handful of spots. So, we're getting close, but we're definitely meeting the need. And like I said, once thatadditional section gets added, once we work through those, wewill alleviate that waitlist to make sure we stillhave a little bit of room for any new families that might be looking for additional Early Childhood Program. And we did bring in some new leadership. You know Darcy Rodriguez took a new job outside of the district late last year. So, we welcomed Kristen Nelson,our new assistant director of Early ChildhoodPrograms to the district. She started over the summer. Just a big thank you to ourleadership at Normandy Park and the front office teamthere welcoming her in, getting her grounded as shestarts off the school year. Really just a supportiveculture we have there. And she's felt that and it's been very, very nice as she leads into this first week ofprogramming with students. And then moving on. Our Out of School Time Programs, you know, as we talkedabout staffing and hiring, we are are still with the waitlist, but I think it's important to look at how far we've come since last year. When you look at the data andall the work, the hard work that our Out of School Time staff continues to do on a dailybasis of interviewing and making hires and bringingnew people into our programs. Last year, we were just shyof 400 students on a waitlist. This year right now,we're around 175, 180. And again, that is a moving target. We get new calls every day of people that either want careor plans have changed and they're looking to not need it or made different arrangements. But the amount of new students that we're serving to hadincrease from last year from, you know, starting theyear last year at 753 students to starting this year just under 900. So, significant need and increased met throughout our buildings. And again, we're stillworking hard to work with our radar solutions who's been a really great partner with us in finding staff andhelping us get to the point, where we can hopefullysee down the road here a future of alleviating our waitlist across the board for that as we go. But you know, as Mattmentioned earlier too, we do, this is the time of year too, and we get into buildings and people get offered other positions. And they make connections in the buildings and they take a different jobeither within the building or a different opportunity. So it is, you know, wedeal a lot of movement within those positionsas well that we navigate. So, kudos to our Out of School Time and Extended Day teamsto work through those and continue to offerthe care that they do for all of our familiesand students that need it. And we are continuing to partner positions with our school day hours. You know, we always look topartner with Nutrition Services or at the building level with, you know, lunchpositions or recess positions and what can we do to createa more robust opportunity for someone who's looking to work within White Bear Lake Area Schools and what we can do to providea more, again, robust position to attract new people to work with us and, you know, makeconnections with our kids and see them throughout the year. Another way we're doing thattoo is also continuing to work with our high school forcredit, high school credit, students that are inthere for early release and working with local companies to help our high volume recruiting efforts and all have been very helpful. And our staff continuesto grow because of that. And again, but we're justtrying to meet the need that's out there in the community. And again, we wish wedidn't have a waitlist, but the jump from last yearto this is significant data to show that we're movingin the right direction and doing what we can to meet that need. And just for youth enrichmentofferings up there, I think it's important just toshow the amount of offerings they're looking to increase from not only over thesummer but then into the fall and really doing whatwe can to balance those across our buildings. So every family, no matter what school orschool boundary you're living, it has some type of opportunity or access to an enrichmentopportunity after school through our Youth Enrichment and Development Program as well. And then a little piecefrom over the summer, our targeted services program, summer school program served over 400 kids in our program this summer. Another, you know, to show theincrease in staffing summer, we had a 55 contracts increasefrom the previous summer, but no waitlist over the summer. And currently looking to partner positions with school day hours, oh, sorry, I'm looking at the wrong slide. Sorry about that. With our targeted servicesprogram over the summer, again our, a lot of those were held at Matoska Elementary and someother schools for the summer, but over 400 kids acrossour three programs here for the summer and an additional 120 for those that we servedover at Freedom Schools down at Willow Lane Elementary. A really a fun and busy summer. Like it was a lot of fun and really busy, but like the amount of work put into that and opportunities for kids to enhance and not, you know, try toprevent that summer learning loss for parents who are lookingfor that, for their child and create those opportunitiesthrough different topics. So in Camp Summer, they use topics of create your own business, nature, "Pokemon," STEAM, gamedesign, mindfulness, cooking, and other options. The curriculum that we usefor our Camp Summer Program really allows teachers to,you know, take an adventure with those studentsthrough that curriculum, through a different area or topic that might speak to that kid. So if I, you know, ifmy kid loves "Pokemon," then I can explore math ordifferent subject matter and those things throughthe world of "Pokemon," and kind of create thatconnection with those students. And huge thank you to many of our localbusinesses and vendors. You know, we get a lot ofhelp from our community across the district, butwe had a lot of people who donated supplies for our Olympic stay and on the last day ofmiddle school at Summer U, And then an exciting, I think we shared at the endof the school year last year, but we were very fortunate enough to be awarded an afterschoolcommunity learning grant and that work started offright away this summer. So, it was a really quick turnaround. you know, Nicole Oswald and her team and leadership team with, in collaboration withteaching and learning the what we had to requirethe minimum number of hours for programming to meet thegrant needs had to increase what we currently had in place. So, we had to add an houror an hour and a half after the normal day for whatwe had originally planned and kind of speed that up for the summer to meet the needs for that grant. But they, again, workingwith community partners and looking with otherorganizations around to provide those opportunities. Students had a lot of fun at their camps and they got to explore thegreat outdoors by fishing, learning to kayak, learning about careers, and meeting communitymembers in those positions and spending extra timeexploring creative STEM projects and engaging in sports andgames at a soccer camp as well. So, a lot of those things seems like that we do kindof all the time in the work that we do in CommunityServices and Community Ed, but to be able to organizethat in collaboration with what we currently had in place for Summer U and Camp Summer for the summer to gowas, again, no easy feat. So, hats off to ourstaff to pull that off. And the grant positivelyimpacted us, of course, and with Freedom Schools directly, we were able to increasethe number of seats offered in that program over the summer to be able to get morekids in that program. So, we originally had beenapproved for a hundred and then with the original,with the support from the grant, we were able to expand that to 120 and looking forward to do that for the upcoming years as well or upcoming seasons here as well. And we'll get more informationto you guys about that grant as the school year goes. Right now, we're in the middle of getting our school year plans approved and we'll be looking tostart those up with our, the four schools thatwere approved for that were at Lakeaires, Birch, Willow, and Vadnais. So, Nicole's working with those four principalsand team leadership and teaching and learning to work through those work plans leadingup as we get ramped up here for later in October forthose things to start. And those will provide freeenrichment opportunities for qualifying students thatare looking to, you know, that need some supportand academic support through student supportor targeted services so. Youth rec and middle school activities. Yeah, like kicking off here for the fall. You know, the numbers are,you know, we are very busy in the summertime with all that we do with our camps, clinics,rec sports, and everything. And that kind of bleedsinto the fall as well. So, our numbers are really fantastic for our youth sports andrec sports over the fall. We have over 400 kidsparticipating in our soccer program that serves pre-K through 4th grade. And then our flag football program, that's kindergarten through 5th grade, we have over 300 kidsright now playing football. So if you're driving aroundthe fields at night here or on the weekends, you'll see kids playing around of flag football. And then for grades three through six for our rec volleyball program, we have just over 150 students participating in that as well. And that all of course, youknow, we can't do what we do in that area without thevolunteers of our parents and community members whowant to volunteer their time and coach for our team. So, we're very thankful for that. And our registration for ourwinter rec basketball league is also open at this time. Middle school athletics isoff and running as well. We have cross country,girls tennis, volleyball, and then new this year, we have offered soccer after school as well. So right now, we have 20 kidsthat are currently registered for middle school soccer, which is great because we know, like itwas in our fall catalog that hit homes in August. But you know, we all know parents are busy and likely middle school kids, I know I didn't, I wouldn't look at things until school started, but yeah, we had, I think we had four or five registered as of like the first day of school and now, we're up to 20 andexpecting to still take on more. And again, just looking toexpand what we can offer to our middle school students and families and really that's aboutbuilding, you know, it's building connections and that positive relationship with school and that strong community support, but also that school prideand that being a bear, right? I just wanted to show up here for, you know, you wanna play good, you gotta look good, right? So, we did put some moneyinto some new uniforms for our middle schoolvolleyball teams this year. Historically, we've used rec shirts and other shirts like that. But we said, "No, it'stime to really start. Let's get our girls' volleyball team some nice uniforms to wear for the summer to really feel like ateam and looking good." So, that's just a snapshot we have. I don't know which coloris for which school, but we have gray and we have black that are for Central andMariner Middle Schools this year so. That in collaboration withour intramural programs, we're offering, again,we have fall intramurals, we have our ultimate Frisbeeprogram going on right now. We usually, again, we'reserving 20 to 30 some students in that program too. Then looking to expand on that to, again, provide that variety ofstudent activities after school that meets them where they're at, if they wanna compete at a different level or a more casual intramural program, different costs associated with that, that gives kids more opportunities to try different activities and be a part of differentteams and programs so. And working our way up here, our Adult Programs and Facility Use, you know, you can look atthe data that's on the board, but I mean, really, whenyou take a step back and think about all wedo in Adult Enrichment and Adult with Disabilities, Adult Education, and our Senior Program, we really are focused oncreating opportunities and for adults in our community to explore their interests and passions and that personal growthwith whatever that passion or hobby may be, health and wellness. But most importantly, it's building that humanconnection and community, right? Creating opportunities forpeople to connect with each other around a shared topic or a hobby. We're just very proud ofthe work that we're doing, not only for our students,but especially for our adults and expanded community in our area and what we're able to offer. And pictured there to the right, they wanted to give a shout out, that gentleman's name is Mike Paulson. Mike worked, he was awardeda grand champion for his work that he is holding up thereat the Washington County Fair. So, they just wanted to givehim a little props there for the work that he didand his purple ribbon there. So, you know, kudos to Mikefor the awesome artwork that he did there to becomea grand champion at the fair. And again, hats off and we appreciate all the community support we continue to get for ourMeals on Wheels Program. Again, we can't help servethe community members in need for that, for just a daily meal and food without the, you know,consistent volunteer drivers and people that work within that area to give people a meal every single day throughout that program. And just publications, which you have likely seenin your home or online, but this is just a snapshot here. So our big fall catalogthat hit homes, mid-August, I'm sure many of you have seen that, or they're in our buildingsor likely in your homes. It's a seasonal catalogthat comes to your door three times a year. In addition to that, wealso have our The Voice, which is our senior publication that goes out quarterly aswell for our older adults. And then above that is our Community BridgeConsortium Brochure that goes out to our, and available to our, excuse me, adults with disabilities and creating opportunitiesfor different activities, games, events, in collaboration with our neighboringdistricts and cities as well. And this our Early ChildhoodRegistration Guide, ECFE Registration Guides, again, that you see likely inall the front offices across all of our buildings. So, different ways to get in touch with us and to get any information onwhat we might have going on. So, please take a lookat those and our website. And then, the last big plug, our first community eventkicking off this year is our Bear Bike Ride. We're switching it upa little bit this year and we're really excited about it. So the last three years, this has been in place, we've done that. It's mainly just been adults and every now and then, we'dget a student involved in that for either a 25 mile or 50 mile bike ride. Money raised stays with us and supports financialassistance and scholarships for students that want to participate in any youth enrichment orrec program sport activity that just needs a littlebit of financial help. Money raised for that goesto support those students and families in need for that. This year, we wanted toexpand that a little bit and make it a broader community event. So, we're working incollaboration with the high school to offer this at the tailend of homecoming week on the Saturday morning, October 12th after the homecoming game. So in addition to those 20,if you're a serious bike rider and you wanna go on that25 or 50 mile route, I will wave to you asyou start riding away. You're gonna see me on that route. But in addition to that,this year, we're excited we're starting from the high school. We will have a nine mile route that'll leave the high schooland go around Bald Eagle. It's about 9.2. Theywouldn't let me call it a 10. I really wanted to callit a 10 mile route, but they said, "Nope, it's 9.2." So a nice, fairly, youknow, student friendly, family friendly, nine mileroute around the lake. But even for our youngerriders or a family event that just want to get students out and families outsideand come see our spaces. We're gonna have a funlittle route around Central and the high school campus as well. So, there'll be staggered start times, more information can be found there. It is free to attend. It is free to ride. We are asking those thathave the ability to, there are differentsuggested donations amount, donation amounts when you register. But again, we just want people there. We want people to comecheck out our spaces, be a part of the event, makea connection with somebody, and go ride some bikes that day. And if you're in a position to make one of those suggested donations, we really, really appreciate it. It does go a long way tohelp a lot of families and students in need to getan activity, or a sport, or in a enrichment class after school. And if you want something to take home, we will be working with our friends down at Revolution Sports. We have some tailored quarterzips that any participant that donates $50 or more to participate will be able to takehome a quarter zip home with them as well. So, just know that going forward. But we hope to see you guys all there. Even if you don't wanna ride, come applaud and cheeron people that are riding and just come out and hangout for a little while. But it'll start around ninefor that 50 mile, 25 mile ride. And then, we'll ask the younger riders to show up there around 11 and try to wrap thingsup between 12 and one. So, it'd be a nice wayto wrap up homecoming. So, all right, any questions on anything? All right, then I'm gonnapass it over to Marisa Vette with Community Relationsand Communications. - Hello, everybody. I'm your second to last presentation here. And so again, I'm Marisa Vette, the communications director, and every year I get to come up here and really celebrate allof the wonderful things that are happening. And that's what we get to do in the CommunicationsOffice every day as well. Really making sure thatwe can inform people what is happening so that, obviously, so that they're aware ofit, they can be proud of it, and then they can engage with us in the different opportunities as well. So we will start, and again, we have manydifferent activities that we are focused on andmany different projects that we're working onthroughout the summer as well. So, this is a snapshotof a few of our favorites or a few of the ones thatyou might recognize the most. So the first one wouldbe our printed calendar, which is mailed to all of our families, and then available to those who might wanna pick it upat district offices as well. And I will share that this is something, a printed calendar is sortof gone by the wayside. And we've been told by our community, "This cannot go to the wayside because this is what we look forward to." We have people who arecalling us in June asking, "When is the calendar?" And we can't put it togetheruntil all of the events of course, are finalized,but that's been really fun. And even not too long ago, Ihad somebody who had written in and said, "I'm looking for the calendar. Is it coming soon? We have a tradition, it goesright on our refrigerator." And so, there's nothingmore heartwarming for me to hear that the beautiful photos that we're able to take at theevents throughout the year, and in the classrooms, and onthe, you know, playgrounds, that they're being enjoyed and really making adifference for families. And I know they're, youknow, going through the pages trying to see who they know, which is always a really fun tradition, I think, for our families. So in addition to that, of course, we were working on updating the website. We've covered the different changes that have happenedthroughout the district. So it was working on thosechanges in addition to, once again, hosting theback to school page, trying to be a one-stop shop for families. We're trying to figure out, you know, what is the school supplylist gonna look like, when do I go back to schoolwith staggered starts and that. So, we did offer that andhost that again for this year. In addition to, ofcourse, the annual updates and the even more robust annual updates that we worked on this year. The beginning of the year, of course, is a time for us to reach out to families. So of course, Dr. K didan electronic letter to our staff members. And then, we also did a printed letter for our families as well. We had an English version, and then those families who speak Spanish did receive an Englishand a Spanish version of that same letter. It also includes important information about our media releaseand other information that we wanted families tohave a tangible piece of paper telling them important updates, and then they'll hear it inother ways, of course, as well. We also get to work withdifferent departments throughout the district to help them get their messages out. And so once again, this year, we got to work with theNutrition Services Department. So if any of you havelittle ones in your homes, you probably remember getting a postcard. And that was really funfor us to work with them on a couple of years ago tolaunch this, you know, the practice European. And we heard from familiesthat their students were literally in that uppercorner of that postcard doing a practice run before they would would come into school. So that's, again, a heartwarming. It's nice to hear the feedbackthat what we've brainstormed and what we've worked onto help serve the community is indeed working. And then, school videos,these are just a few of them that we got to work on this year. Video isn't always the avenueto get information out, but in a few ways, it absolutely is. So, you can see thesamples we've got here. We helped the high schoolwith a traffic video, so really helping families and helping studentsunderstand you go in this way, you park in this lot,and here's how you leave, and the buses are gonna do this, and get, you know, stay in your lane, literally and figuratively. And so, we worked with them on that and then we introduced twoof our new school leaders for our ALC and for the high school. So, that was a fun one to work on as well. And then, Bayer did visitsome of our building leaders and pull together a go video. So, it was go do allsorts of wonderful things and you probably saw it. We shared it as thee-newsletter video edition a couple of Sundays ago. And then, of course,ending with the Go Bears, because we wouldn't do itany other way, I think. And then for Convocation,again, back to Dr. K. Part of his letter wasinviting our staff members back to join us for Convocation. We were out in the stadium,outdoors again for this year. We had some incrediblevisitors, which was amazing. We had Willie Jett join usfrom the Department of Ed. We had somebody that I think is a favorite of probably all of us. Jim Galvin was there as well. And then, Dr. K gave his speechand/or connected with us, and then we had studentparticipants as well. So, that was a really funway to kick off the year. And then, of course, for peopleto go into the high school and check it out if theyhadn't been there already. Something that our officefacilitated with the help, of course, of our familiesand community members was the Back to SchoolBears, #BackToSchoolBears. And so, the e-newsletterthat we sent out last night had a collage of photosthat people had turned in that was our K through 12 plus students. Photos that families had turned in and/or a sampling of that. And then, we hope that this week, our early childhood familieswill be doing the same, so that we can do a similarcollage coming up as well. So, that's always a fun way to come back into the school year and be excited aboutit with the community. Additionally, our regularcommunication channels that we have been usingduring the summertime, we slow down a little bit with them, and then in August we ramp right back up. So our community e-newsletters, the families have already begun receiving and will continue to geta weekly e-newsletter, either a video edition or atext edition on Sunday evenings to start their week out. And then, we've got our624 Facts on social media. So, Facebook and Instagram at 6:24 AM as Dr. K mentioned in hissuperintendent's report. And then, our Week in62.4 Seconds as well. We got to launch that last Friday, because we finally had aweek back with the students, which was amazing. So, families and communitymembers and students, of course, and staff can enjoythose throughout the year as well on Fridays. And then last but not least, I have communications trainingsjust for our staff members. So, we did do something with our leaders and then we'll continue to offer just nuggets of information, so that obviously it is a goal that we have thedistrict-wide communications happening as well. But that the communications and engagement with our building leaders and our teachers and that can really be a robust way and that people can feel like and can be served by good communications that is happening through the schools, and the district, and the classrooms. So, that is it. And with that, I'll turn back over and you'll get a bitof an enrollment update from Mr. Tim Maurer. Thank you. - Okay. Always at this first boardmeeting in September, we give an update of where we are at the beginning of theschool year for enrollment. So, we'll look first at elementary and most of our elementary schools are within just a few ofwhere they were last year, with the exception of one and that's Matoskas at minus 56. And oddly, that's a verysmall kindergarten class that came into Matoska this year. And as we started to registerour kindergarten students this past winter, we discovered that there were many less siblings in this particular groupthan we've seen in the past. So, that's kind of theoutlier on that list. And so, that leaves us atminus 44 at the elementary. Matoska also had a muchlarger fifth grade class leave last year than you know,than they have this year. And so, you put those two together and we end up with thatnumber of minus 56. Otherwise, pretty stable at Matoska and all of our other elementary schools. So, we start the yearwith 3,672 enrolled K-5. We look at secondary,things change quite a bit The middle school is interesting. Mariner is up 103 students this year and Central's down a little bit. Recall that a year ago, wechanged the attendance boundary and that last year didn'thad a smaller effect in that many of thestudents who were reassigned to the south sideinter-district transferred into Central to stay there. This year, we saw much less of that. So, more of those familieswho were in their second year assigned to Mariner went to Mariner. We also saw a significantincrease in the sixth grade cohort from what we had, from thenumber that we graduated in June to the 615 fifth graders. And we currently have 660sixth graders enrolled. So, really significant jumpin our sixth grade cohort. And our seventh and eighthgrade cohorts both up as well. So at the middle school level, we're up 54 students at 1,886. At the high school level, our unified high school is up 73 students this year. We saw at the ninth and 10th grade level some increases in enrollmentfrom last year's cohort. So, we're seeing someopen enrollment increases at the high school. Our ALC started a littlesmaller than it did last year and I think last year was abit of an outlier at the ALC with 158. Typically, they're inthat 125 range to start. So, I think we're probably getting closer to the norm this year atthe Area Learning Center. And the Transition Education Program expanded their programming a little bit to accept more students. So, we see a little increase there. So, our 9-12 total is a plus 61 students, the 6-12 total is 115, and we have the minus 44at the elementary school. So, we're starting the school year with a K-12 total of 8,389 students, and that's an increaseof 71 over a year ago. Questions on that? - [Jessica Ellison] Ms. Streiff-Oji? - How does the current enrollment compare to pre-COVID enrollment numbers? - [Tim Maurer] You know, Ishould have looked at that, but pretty close to what we were.- What we were. - Yeah, a little bit lower. Yeah, we're still down a little bit, yeah. Yeah, around, I think we were at 87 was our high water mark, 8,700, yeah. - [Christina Streiff-Oji] Thanks. - Okay, so there's onemore just a video here and I'm gonna get it started. - [Students] Go Bears! Go Bears! Go Bears! Go Bears! Go Bears! Go Bears! Go Bears! Go Bears! Go Bears! Go Bears! (fun upbeat music) - [Board Member] Joyful. Wow, okay. - [Tim Maurer] That's a wrap, yeah. - That's a lot. Any questions or commentsfrom board members? Ms. Thompson. - I guess just a comment on the calendar. It is a very great thing in my, like, I've got to August and then the week was almost,the month was almost done and I was like, "I don't have my September,what are we gonna do?" I can't possibly put upa different calendar. So, thankfully it came and then there was, you know, we didn't have a lapse in time there, so we didn't have to putup a different calendar. So I do also, we greatlyappreciate the calendars. - Oh. - Go ahead - Ms. Beloyed. - I just wanted to saythank you to everyone for all the work thathappens during the summer that makes all of this happen. And we appreciate you - Dr. Arcand. - He's got it. Thank you.- Oh, okay. - I mean, yeah, it looks great, but we know that there wasa lot of sweat, and worry, and hard work to get it alldone, and so we appreciate it. - Yeah, I think it's really easy to kind of get stuck in your perspective and like where you are withyour kids in the district or wherever you live in the district. And to see all of this and to realize the diversity of programs and experiences is always a reset I think for all of us. And Dr. Newmaster. - I would agree with what everyone said. It was amazing, and cheerful,and the amount of effort and moving is what floored me, because I've moved schoolsand moved a library. But to move an entire district like that, I really think you needed a magic wand. I don't know how they did it, but I can imagine it wasa lot of heavy work so. And everyone who had toupend their cozy classroom where they'd been for years perhaps, as joyful as they wereto go to a new classroom, it's painful. And it's like what do you take? What do you get rid of? And a whole new experience. And then you do the, I did three of the open houses and it's just amazing all over. So, I think it's a joyful is a good word. - Well, thank you toeverybody in this room and out of this room, who did so much work to get ready for the school year. So, we're gonna move intoour discussion items. Discussion Item, D1, the Summary of theSuperintendent's Evaluation, and this one is me. So, the School Board met with Superintendent Kazmierczak on August 26th to reviewhis annual evaluation. Dr. Kazmierczak continues to meet the expectations of the schoolboard in areas of leadership for continuous improvementof student achievement, communication, stakeholder involvement, fiscal responsibility, school facilities, and policy implementation and development. Superintendent Kazmierczakand the School Board have established the following priorities for the 2024-2025 school year. Strategic plan implementation, educational equity andacademic achievement, change leadership andmanagement, fiscal management, and facilities plan and implementation. The board would like tothank Dr. Kazmierczak and fellow cabinet members for their continued leadership during this really excitingtime for our district. We had a great conversation about Dr. Kazmierczak'sstrengths and places for growth, and I think I can speak for the board that we're reallyfortunate to have you here. Great. Do you wanna give a speech Wayne or? Okay. (all laughing) All right, then we will move into our second Discussion Item, D2, the First Reading ofSchool Board Policies. For those who are new to this process, we do two readings of board policies. The first is we readthrough them as a board, we make any recommendationsfor changes or edits, and then they come to us againa second time for approval. So, these are thepolicies coming before us for a first reading tonight. 507, 507.5 532, 608, 616, 620, and 806. Board members, if youhave any edits or changes, suggestions, please point out which policy and which page in the board packet. For those of you who haven'tseen the board packet, if you haven't looked online, it's 429 pages long because it's a lot. Yeah, it has a lot of policies. So, who has comments or questions? - First batch? - On the first read, yes. Okay, so then, these will move to the October meeting for approval. Then, we'll move into ourOperational Items, E1, Action on Tentative Agreement 2023-25 Fiscal Year Extended Day Staff. Mr. Mons. - All right, so as I said, this is our last tentative agreement that I'm bringing beforethe board for this cycle. I'd like to say thank you to both the representativesfrom SEIU Local 284 for the bargaining unit and also my cohort that workedon behalf of the district. And I'm pleased that wewere able to get this done during the summer before wegot into the school year here. So with that, I make the recommendation. - [Jessica Ellison] You'veheard the recommended action. Could I get a motion to approve? - So moved. - A motion by Ms. Beloyed. And a second? - Second. - Second by Dr. Newmaster. Any questions or comments? This will require a roll call vote. I would ask the clerkto please call the roll. - Beloyed. - Aye.- Daniels. - Aye.- Ellison - Aye.- Newmaster. - Aye.- Streiff-Oji. - Aye.- Thompson. - Aye. - Arcand. Aye. - And the motion passes. Thank you. And into our last Operational Item, E2, Action on School Board Policies. So these 28 policies, and I just wanna say thankyou to the policy committee for this is a lot of work toreview all of these policies. So to our board members and our staff, thank you for all this work. So these are due, I had a first reading in August. 102, 204, 413, 416, 418, 425, 503, 506, 509, 512, 513, 515, 516, 521, 524, 535, 601, 603, 604, 609, 613, 615 619, 624, 707, 708, 709, 802. That was one breath. All right, who doesanybody have any questions? Please give me the policyand the page number. Dr. Newmaster. - This one piece of policy 524. It's on page 346. And on reading them, I actually read them all again this time and I started thinkingmore about cell phones as I'd been reading in the paper and everywhere else about it too. I thought, you know, itmight be a good idea to use a more general term because we have Apple Watches and Fitbits that you can watch the gameon, and get messages on, and send messages, andso maybe something... I have no problem with with 524, but maybe we should use something like personal communication device or, because it's not just cell phones. I mean you can do anything. I know my brother and sister-in-law are always gettingmessages on their Fitbit. And I know the Applephones that my kids have, my adult kids, are the same. You can leave your cellphone off the dinner table, but people are stillchecking their watches. So, that just might besomething to mention. - So are you thinking evenin the title of the policy, so Internet Technologies and Personal- - Communication, yeah. - Communication Devices, acceptable use? - I have to have to look it up, but I would say that wouldbe a more inclusive title for the sort of thing we're looking at not being disrupting classor your dinner table. And then, just use it concept kinda like when they changedworld's best workforce to a much better versionand just all the way through the policy change, the verbiage or the words. - Ms. Daniels. - I would agree with that. I work, I also with the 916 School Board and we just had thesame sort of discussion when we approved that policy too. And it was gonna go back to the committee and they were gonna make sure that the verbiage wasa little bit expanded to make sure it covered allthe communication devices that students may use in a classroom or may not be able to use at that time so. - So, would the recommendationwould be to remove 524 from this approval and to go back to the PolicyCommittee for more edits, and then bring it back to usat the next board meeting. Is that the recommendation? - Otherwise, I think thepolicy was great, right? - Yeah. Dr. Kazmierczak. - Yeah, I mean-- Or Dr. Gillespie, do you wanna,- The only way to do it if- - Do you wanna commenton that Dr. Gillespie? Yeah. - So if you look at, sorry, if you look at 2D on page one, it defines electronic technologies and it refers to computers,peripherals, printers, telephones, and the applicationsthey support or access. So, I get that it's notspecifically talking about Fitbits and all that. It's up to you guys what you want to do. However, for us, thepolicy absolutely covers what we need in the schools. And because cell phoneshave been such a topic, I would, when we took it back, I would wanna keep cell phonesin there and then expand it. But we're still really working through some of those smart watches and they're not as prevalentright now in schools, and so they haven't impacted us. So, I think it's animportant conversation, but I feel like 2D, and then the cell phonestogether really help us as we look at implementingpractices in our schools. - [Jessica Ellison] Ms. Daniels. - I just was gonna say because you're the users of the policy and the people that have to implement it and you know, best I wouldgo with, you know, whatever. - Oh, another approach mightbe to accept it as it is, but then get it back in lineso that we can start the year with an updated policyrather than pull it back. I think this is an importantone that we have updated and then, but then get itback in the hopper to review. - So, what I'm gonna recommend... Oh, I'm sorry, Ms. Streiff-Oji. - So, is the recommendationthat we ask kids to not have... - I am not exactly sure what, I mean, I get what the, I think I understand what the question is, you know, go back and review it and make sure other devices are covered. I think that might take some time. I also think that starting the year with an updated policy like this would probably make a lot of sense rather than push this off. But then we can, we certainlycan take the comments here and rework it and bring it down the road. - Thompson. - I just, I remember wekind of discussed this a little bit when wetalked about this policy and that you all feltcomfortable with the way that it is addressed. And then just knowing kids today, yes, they may text but rarely. They're not like us. They use Snapchat. They use other things and I don't guess I knowif you can access those on your Apple Watch if you had one, but I don't think it'sthe same kind of way of communicating that they do. And I guess I don't know howwe would necessarily manage everybody's watches or Fitbit devices, but I know we had talked about it. I feel like one of usasked a question about that and it was addressed in someof the other areas here. - Well, and I anticipate that we might have some updated language after we've had a year of really looking at our cell phonepractices that we realize, okay, we need this support from policy and/or we see what otherarea districts have done with the legislation changesin their own policies. So, we purposely kept itwhere we were making sure we were meeting the legislation and then with the practices that I shared last work study session on how we're handling it right now. But it will for surecontinue to be a topic for us at leadership meetings. - Just thinking about technology, there could be something else that we don't evenhaven't even heard of yet that you might wanna thesecond time around add. 'cause it might be available in six months that we haven't. So, I like the Dr. K's ideaof approving that and then having it come along-- Yeah, getting it back in the list to be reviewed again, yep. - So what I'm hearing is approve as is now with the understanding thatthis will come back to us sooner rather than lateras we have time to assess how the policy is working and the procedures that go along with it. - Correct. - Oh, Dr. Newmaster. - And I think too, asyou have the discussion with your classroom, and I remember doingthat in the media center with students and teacherstalking about this too. You have some ability to kind of explain a little bit more. It's the disruption, the distraction, and it could be many things, but the cell phone is ubiquitous. So, it's there. - Yeah. = So I mean, I'd be comfortable. It's not written instone and lord knows tech has changed at a blinding speed. I'll have to ask my daughter tonight if she's doing all kinds ofthings with her Apple Watch. I don't know. - This is good conversation. Any other questions or commentsabout this policy or others? So what we're gonna- - Chair. - Oh, I'm sorry, Ms. Beloyed. - If we put this back in... - Rotation. - The rotation, can we set a timepotentially for the rotation? 'Cause I think we actuallyneed to go through this for a period of time toassess what's missing from it. Can we say next summer? Can we say after the fall semester? - [Alison Gillespie] So, my anticipation was that if we needed anything, we would for sure have asemester under our belt and then we would, you know,talk as administrators, check the data and then, but otherwise, bring itmore, you know, in the summer for any updates that we have. Then, we have a full year. - Okay. - [Alison Gillespie]But I'll bring it sooner if people are talking about it for sure. - Okay, so what I'm hearing is that it's gonna stay infor this round of approval. Thank you, Dr. Gillespie. All right, any furthercomments or questions about any of these policies? All right, so the way we generally do this is we approve them in one fell swoop. So if I could get a motionto approve these 28 policies. - So moved. - A motion by Dr. Arcand. And a second? - Second. - A second by Ms. Thompson. All in favor of approval please say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Oppose, same sign. And the motion passes. We're coming into the last itemon the agenda, Board Forum. This is an opportunity for board members to talk about what'sgoing on in the district from their vantage point as board members. So, does anybody haveanything for Board Forum? Ms. Thompson. - Well, I'm just excited forthe school year to have started and for the unified highschool to have begun. My daughter is a 10th grader and so far has enjoyed herfirst couple of days of school. I mean, as much as any 10th grader, can enjoy going backto school in the fall. And then, I did get a email in Parent View that I just wanted toshare with the community in case you don't check your Parent View or you haven't seen it. Ms. Olson, who is ourCareer Pathways Coordinator, sent out a Google Classroom sign up for all of our Career Pathways Programs that we have in the school. That way your kids can access information about a career pathway theymight be interested in. You know, we have automotive industry. We have the business side of it. We have communications,and tech, and engineering, and manufacturing, and IT,and health and wellness. And we have a new education pathway and just some great opportunities for kids to get exposure to other things. Not everybody is gonna gooff to post-secondary school and many of these requirepost-secondary education as well. So, just something forparents to consider looking at and maybe, you know,get your kids interested in some other options. So, just I wanted to share that great way for kids to get a little more active in some of our pathway programs and for our parents toknow about it as well. - Chair. - Ms. Beloyed. - I just wanted to say welcome back to all of the teachers and students and we're glad to haveyou in the buildings. And I see there's a bunchof government students here, so we'd love to get your feedback on the new building as well. So, thank you everyone. - Oh, Dr. Arcand. - I just wanna let everybody know that's part of the WhiteBear Lake Area Schools, the Ramsey County Leagueof Local Government will be starting a three-part session on artificial intelligence. This Friday, it's from eight to nine, and then October 11th, from eight to nine, and then November 8th, from eight to nine. So, that we're gonna be talking about the implications ofartificial intelligence, how it can be used, what are the pitfalls. So, it sounds like, youknow, it's gonna be exciting to see how we can use itand how it's gonna go. So, that'll be through Ramsey County League of Local Government You can check the website or if you've ever gottenanything, you've gotten an email, but I'm gonna go and I'm gonna nerd out. So, I think it'll be fun. - In the vein of sometimesyou just don't always know about all the amazing thingshappening in the district. This past Saturday, Iwent to the Gophers game because our pep band wasplaying on the field at halftime with the U of M Pep Band andbands from all over the state. Obviously, White Bear wasthe best one on the field, but it just, you know, I'dnever been to a Gopher's game. And it was just so exciting to see the White Bear kids downthere with the U of M Band and it's just an incredibleopportunity for our students. So, thank you for all thethings that we know about and that we, you know, don't always see that are going on in the district. With that, I would askfor a motion to adjourn. - Chair, I have motion for an adjournment. - A motion by Dr. Arcand. And a second? - Second. - Second by Ms. Daniels. All in favor ofadjournment, please say aye. - [Board Members] Aye. - Oppose, same sign. And we are adjourned.