Good evening. Today is November 20th, 2025 and the time is 6:30 p.m. [clears throat] I will now call the regular meeting of the ISD191 Board of Education to order. Welcome to those of you who are here in the audience or those watching online. Thank you all for joining us. I would also like to extend a special welcome to Parvina Yusupova, one of our alternate student board representatives who is here with us tonight for her first meeting. It's great to have you here. >> Thank you. Director O Anderson, will [laughter] you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [snorts] >> Is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. Moved by Director Saxi, >> seconded. >> Second by director Mickelson. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Nay. The motion carries unanimously. We will begin this evening's meeting with an update report from Intermediate School District 917. Presenting the report this evening will be Dr. Michael Faver, superintendent of D of District 917. Welcome, Dr. Favor. board chair, members, student leadership, an amazing superintendent, Dr. Daniels. Thank you for having me. My name's Mike Faber, the superintendent at ISD 917 going into my fourth year and extremely proud of the work that we're doing and looking forward to the work that's going to be accomplished. Excuse [clears throat] me. At 9:17, we believe that we are purposeful, personalized partners. Try to say that fast three times. [laughter] If you notice in many of our slides, there's you will see lighouses. We have an affinity for lighouses because in a storm, especially when students are struggling, we believe that we are that light in that lighthouse. Um, we also believe that when there's not a storm, as beautiful and as elegant as a lighthouse is, that's what we expect education to be. We are the light in the storm. Okay. At 9:17 we practice we belong to each other. We belong to each other. Each other. Imagine what you can get accomplished if you spend time living into that mission, that vision of we belong to each other, students and staff and families and business communities and our business partners. How we rally around each other to make sure we're rallying around students and families and staff when needed. So at 9:17 that's something you should see. We belong to each other everyone every day. As an intermediate, our programs are developed around our core values. These core values come from uh our strategic plan that included our students, our staff, our families, our business partners. getting feedback and these nine core values we are expected to live in and how we approach the work. Again, how we approach the work. You will see uh agendas, meeting agendas that start and are aligned to our core values. And um that was part of the suggestion of our board. Um Leslie Chesler Chesler is on our board and she's outstanding. Know she's out today. She told me she wouldn't be here, but she's been a large part of uh developing our core values and making sure and ensuring that we're living into our core values. [clears throat] Now, this was at the very beginning of the year. We did this word cloud and we asked this question about describe how we want our students and colleagues to feel every day. This was right after the shooting that took place in the Minneapolis area that touched us all. And you can see there in this word cloud safe. We take safety of our students, our staff, everyone involved seriously. And this is just a great reminder for me as a leader. I have this up on my board. I share with all the leaders. But if you look deeper into this, this experience we want our students, our staff, our families to have when they're working with us as well as our member districts. I forget you all. as well as our member districts. Uh this is just a reminder of the legislative statute in 1969 that [clears throat] we work with birth to age 22 and when a student turns 22 they begin they age out of our program. At one point in time that was 21 but prek to 22 it's what we serve and who we serve. If you have questions as I'm going through this please ask. I want to make sure I get your questions answered as best I can. So, don't hesitate. Here are nine member district board members and mission, vision, and core values all connected and intertwined together. Our mission being um [clears throat] 917 quality, equitable, specialized programming. That's just not special ed. That's for our what we call our decal students. Dakota County Area Learning Center, which is our ALC. Um we have an ALC on site at um Dona County Technical College where students not only come there for our ALC program, but we also have a pathway where they can go right into middle college, which is exciting as well. You all are doing some great things by the way with some of your college programming. I'm jealous just so you know. Vision again um diverse pathways so that people can succeed, students can succeed, students and families and once again our core values. There are so many acronyms in special education. We just wanted to just share some of the acronyms that are there. So, what does it mean if you're a Sun student um students with unique needs age 5 to 21? We've been meeting with a number of different districts. We want to establish a sun program on this side of the community. We have one on what we consider the east side of the community and we're looking to expand Sun programming. on this side as well. So that's our biggest waiting list right now. So we're trying to make sure that we're meeting that need for for all our students and we've been in discussion with Dr. Daniels about some opportunities as well. TESSA DHH that we have something called itinerate staff and itinerate staff work in a number of our buildings. deaf and heart of hearing is what we consider an itinerate staff and working closely speech pathologists but working closely with member districts and partnership with member districts and even in the same space and location as some of our member district sites partnerships excuse me [cough and clears throat] we have a strong partnership with not only the other intermediates when I want My highlight here is the Minnesota Humanity Center. Our partnership with the Minnesota Humanity Center has brought to us something called story circles. And what we do when we sit in on circle, it's an indigenous practice. Just share whatever the topic may be and bring our staff together, bring our kids together, our students. We do story circles with our students. This has been one of the most important things that we have done to get to know each other and taking time to do circle. Everyone can contribute. We've also done uh circle with our pair professionals which I would highly recommend and our teachers and other groups as we go into negotiations so that we can sit and listen and circle what are some of their priorities and we can see that and they can see that reflected in contracts if we can do it. And um again it's a practice that we have that we learned. were trained through the Minnesota Humanity Center and I would just highly recommend it. The number of students from ISD 191 as of a couple of weeks ago, if you look at here over time, the numbers have dwindled just a bit. But in the past 5 years, our centerbased services about 28 students, past 5 years, our itinerant like I discussed before and some of our other centerbased services, 742 students and as of 2025 26 October 1, you have zero students in our dash program. uh four in DHH, five here are the numbers that are below, but we serve roughly 132 of your students and we will and I hope to be serving more as we expand. Our alternative school, we have two sites. One is at Dakota County Technical College. The other one's the site we call North and it's up in West St. Paul, kind of right off Robert Street. It's a smaller site and you we don't you don't have any students there but right now we're serving about three of your of your students at decals. I know you have some also have some alternative programming but um just give you an idea of the students we're serving. as long as they get served, I'm okay, you know, and if anything we can do to enhance your programming, please let us know. But want to make sure students are served. [clears throat] We have a career technical program and it's nowhere near as strong as yours as of yet. And we're still enhancing the program. We've uh hired a new principal to jump start the program with the idea the clear idea that we're not in competition with you. We want to complement what you're doing. So part of that complimenting what you're doing is taking the nine member districts programs which we're really studying this year and then what's the next iteration for us? We're looking at internships being a school of service and service learning and apprenticeships. So that's what we're looking at as we begin to transition some of the things we're doing at 917 and particularly around career and technical programming. We're also looking to upgrade some of the programming that's here in place. innovation. The expectation as we're redoing the work in career and technical education is that we will be a center of excellence. We discussed this a little bit about complimenting the current programs, personal connections. would help students find spaces and places to grow and succeed and helping our students recover credits whether that be unlock or um finding additional solutions. [clears throat] Um why are we partner decals we can accelerate some of the we can accelerate the learning at decals we're very intentional about that again decals is our alternative school fresh starts sometimes students just need a fresh start smaller setting different location e services and clear graduation plans that we expect and work with every student much like yourself to have that's 9:17 questions. Um, do webinars have any comments or questions? >> Oh, wow. [laughter] I didn't think I did that good, but Thursday night football's calling me. Any questions? [laughter] >> [gasps] >> No, I appreciate honestly I appreciate the time. I think you have an amazing superintendent and anything we can do for your district for the students that can complement the work that's being done here in Burnsville. Um board member Chesler is just she's just wonderful to work with and um anything we can do to help support you on the mission, please let us know. Don't hesitate to call. We'll be here. We'll be that lighthouse. >> Thank you, Dr. Fer. Appreciate everything you're doing in 917. >> Thank you. >> Y >> we will. >> Up next is a school report about Ron Elementary. Presenting the report this evening will be Dr. Chris Belmont, assistant superintendent, Brad Rob, principal, and Lorie Cooler, learning specialist and building leadership team member. Welcome everyone. Thank you, Chair Worb, Superintendent Daniels, members of the board. Thank you for um having us for another school report. I'm happy to present the awardwinning Ron Elementary School. Um starting off with our principal, Brad Rob, Chair Worb, Dr. Daniels, members of the board, thank you for the opportunity to share more about Ron Elementary. We are so proud of Ron Elementary and excited to share about the great things that is happening at our school. This past year, we were honored to be selected as one of the schools um from Minnesota Elementary School Principles Association as a Minnesota school of excellence. It's been quite the honor um to be selected for this. We want to tell you a little bit about the process and just how we got to this point and just share what makes Ron excellent. We chose as a building leadership team to apply for this uh award because we know something great is happening at Ron and we wanted to tell our story. Um we get to share the narrative of what's happening at Ron and this was an opportunity to do that. But we also needed to learn from our community. Community is very important to us. Connecting with our families, our students, our staff. How are we doing? What uh what is going well? What are some opportunities for growth? And and then we developed a plan, a plan to based on the feedback we received. And Lori Kiler, our learning specialist, will be sharing a little bit more about that. uh how are we going to best support Ron to become even better because we um we strive to be the best and strive to continue to be better and better. And so we developed a plan and we've been implementing that plan in response to what our families have shared. We're continuing the great work that's happening already and we're just trying to make Ron even better. Now, I can share with you a whole lot, but I think it's great to hear from our students and our staff. So, we have a short little video for you um where they get to tell you why Ron is so excellent. [clears throat and cough] [music] >> [music] >> Good evening. Each of our 191 schools are filled with amazing staff members, students, and families. However, this year, Juan Elementary was named the Minnesota School of Excellence. Juan Elementary has strong leadership, goes the extra mile to celebrate diversity, and potentially ages learning in the real world. hands-on learning and believe strong leading partnering with all of our families and community. Let's hear from our RO staff, students and staff about what we do at Ron that makes us excellent. >> What makes Ron excellent for me is the amazing staff that I have met this year. As a new teacher, it can be hard, but everyone's very welcoming and kind. The support that teachers have for students, teachers have for other teachers, and just the way that everyone supports each other throughout our building. One is the best because um there are kind staff members that help you learn. >> One is the best because people are nice and you get to do fun activities. >> One is the best because we learn and get smarter and everyone is neighborly. >> Ron is the best school because we have schools. >> We value the diversity. So Ron is a big enrichment academy and in Richmond Academy you get to have fun playing games and you get to create stuff. If this didn't convince you that Ron Elementary a Minnesota school of excellence, please come for a visit and see for yourself. We'd love to have you. Our elementary school is an incredible place where we are always encouraged to >> be curious, be creative, and achieve our goals. >> I couldn't have said it any better. I'd like to introduce again Lori Coiler. She is a learning specialist at Ron Elementary and also a member of our building leadership team. Um, and she'll share a little bit about um what uh what feedback we received from our families. >> So during the application process, there were six standards and we had surveys sent for each one of the standards and some of them had more than one question or survey to answer or to answer under them. And so this first one addresses how strong the community confidence is in Ron's ability to strategically align its curriculum not only with the district priorities but also with evolving our needs with the students needs the shifting demographics of the community. We hold a high value with our culture and shared and we have shared high expectations not only our students our staff and our community. We are actively fostering a school culture dedicated to continuous growth and improvement in learning performance. Our next slide was addressed under standard two for diverse commu uh communities. Ron continues to foster a learning culture that embraces change, encourages teamwork, supports creativity, and nurtures individual and collective growth. We believe that this is one of our biggest assets. The Ron community is committed to supporting lifelong learning and growth while embracing the diversity in its people, ideas, perspectives, and experiences. The learning culture at Ron Elementary continues to be adaptive and collaborative. We strive to find innovative ideas to meet the needs of all of our students. And then our last >> Yeah. Last one. Yeah. is under the statement that principles, teachers, and community members implement a balanced whole child learning culture for all students, including in and out of school learning experiences provided by the school and the community. The majority of our school community strongly supports our efforts to broaden the framework for child development beyond academics. The survey feedback was a positive perception of how well our school is doing that with the most of them rating the implementation of our deeds above average and that's another area where we continue to even increase more of that in and out experience of school learning within our community. These are just three graphs of um I would probably say uh over 25 questions where we have graphs of of all those questions. It was a very comprehensive u application and uh and process to gather this information from our families. Again, we learned so much uh about who we are in the perspective that our community has brought to us. Uh and it also validates the work that we are doing uh and provides an opportunity for growth. There are uh words here on these slides. curiosity, creativity, achievement, community, engaging all families, supportive, high expectations, inclusive, and partnerships that really stood out in the feedback that we received. Um, when u MESPA, the Minnesota Elementary School Principles Association, reached out to me and and shared the great news, they were very impressed with our work uh with our community. They could they could tell easily that that was so very important to us. Uh they were also pleased that we we actually asked permission to adjust some of these questions to ensure that they were um uh responsive to our families and that they were in a language that was easily understood. Sometimes we can get in the educational jargon and say lots of really big words and so we were allowed to u to ensure that it was really clear what we wanted to hear from our our families and what they were able to share. So, uh, and they've they've actually adopted our language that we we used for future applications. So, we're proud of that work. Um, and I'm proud of my leadership team who, um, who spent a lot of time and energy for this. Again, we get to share how excellent Ron is. Um, one of the the you heard this in the video. Uh, we are about curiosity, creativity, and we're also focused on high achievement. And I'd like to take a moment to share a little bit about some uh work that we have done uh on our school goal and how we're kind of moving towards um well we achieved our school goal last year and then how we continue to see some great progress. This is a really uh wordy goal. So I'd like to explain it a little bit more. I'm not going to read it to you, but I'll just kind of um divide it out and explain it. At Ron, we've looked at our our data for several years and we wanted to ensure that we are targeting our students specific needs and so we really drilled down on a big goal and we we divided the big goal into two different parts so we can ensure we're really targeting the needs of our students. The first part is we took our students who at in the fall did not um were not at benchmark. They're not at grade level. We took that group and we set a goal for them and we said we want 60% of our students, this is from I'm sorry, we want to move them from 48% to 60% um reaching typical or aggressive growth. So that was a 12% increase uh that we we put on ourselves. We're going to make this work. Um and we we actually achieved 66% uh which I'll share on the next slide. And can I just uh add to that because I um I'm also very interested. I've got to know um principal Rob and his team's goal. So just to help um work through that too in another term um less than half of the students in this category made that typical or aggressive growth um in 23 24 well they expanded that to almost 2third in one year. So >> and thank you Dr. Balma. Uh, additionally, we took the students in the fall who started at benchmark and in alignment with uh, Minnesota MTSS um, multi-tered systems of supports, uh, we wanted to ensure that our students stayed remained at benchmark or above and our goal was 90%. an increase from 86% from the previous year to 90% and we got 90.54 and we'll continue to uh we've also are pushing our goal the same goal this year and increasing the percentages because we know our students can achieve and we this goal has allowed us to really ensure that we're targeting our efforts to the students and what they particularly need >> as he's transitioning I really love this goal model and I'm continuing contining to work with other principles on it just because um just to name it one more time, if you are below grade level and you make one year's growth, we can um assume that you're going to continue to remain below grade level. So, it's not good enough for our students that are below grade level in the fall to make just one year's growth. It needs to be more assertive than that and that's what this goal tends to do. In turn, if you are at or above grade level, it's not good enough to slip backwards. You have to maintain or improve. So that's what this design does. It focuses his team. This slide here just um uh visually shows what I just shared. Um the uh the red line there is is where our goal u was and the the meter stick there is how we've increased past that. Just wanted to share a few other academic achievement highlights um with you. I'm just going to throw these up here. And uh we've got some great success in our first grade group uh uh where 90% of the students who started below benchmark, right, had typical or aggressive growth. Remember our goals of building was 60% but in first grade alone they they achieved 90%. And then 100% of the students who started at Benchmark remained at Benchmark um in our first grade. Last year I had an opportunity uh we had our fifth grade staff members here to share about the uh the great co-eing model that's happening in their class and they continue to see uh significant success using that model. Uh so I just wanted to highlight there that 95% of the students uh who were at benchmark or above remained there. Uh but all of fifth grade students uh had 76% grew typically uh or aggressively uh which is an impressive mark. Uh and then one more note here is that the fifth grade MCA scores continue uh to rise from 49% 49.3% to 60% uh both 60% proficient in math and 60% proficient in reading. Uh, and those are significant jumps from the previous year. One other uh Oh, I'm sorry. And then, um, in the reading specifically, MCA scores in fifth grade continued to be higher than the state average, uh, by 11 points. Um, again, that's shows some strength there, but it is all of the staff. We invest in students from K. So K1, the foundations that are laid from the beginning, our prek uh students all the way through fifth grade. Um we get to celebrate the success in our fifth grade because of all the work that's happened. Whether it's our learning specialists, our multilingual teachers, our advanced learning specialists, uh all play a part in the success of our students and that's the story we wanted to share. Uh one more just note our multilingual uh program continues to be a highlight of our school uh and the work that's happening and we see uh again great success higher than um state and district averages at Iran. We're doing some really great things and we just are are pleased to be able to share that with you. And we are driven by our mission statement which is an inclusive learning community working together to inspire curiosity, creativity, and achievement. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Principal Rob. Thank you, Miss Kiler. Back to you, Chair. >> Thank you. Um, are there any comments or questions from board members? Director Alt, >> I don't have a question, but I do have a comment. [laughter] Um, I just really appreciate hearing um all of the great uh learning that's happening at Ron and uh the recognition uh that uh the school and the staff uh have received as a result. um just understanding um you know the lengths that you're going to make sure that that our students particularly the our our ML students you know it's it's just wonderful to hear and to see um I'm a data person love to see um just how advanced our students at run um are in comparison to um the state data um and so uh thank you thank you um bring our gratitude back to the school. Really appreciate your hard work because what you do is not easy. >> Thank you, >> Director Mickelson. >> Yeah, just um also kind of a comment uh to piggyback on what uh Director Alt was saying is, you know, when you set these goals and obviously some aggressive kinds of goals that you really were shooting for to actually see the achievement and actually in some cases exceeding them is is really fantastic. And I guess maybe one quick question if there is one thing you had to pick as far as you know what has really helped to achieve that. I mean I know there's you know things [clears throat] that you're doing every single day but you know if you had to pick one thing that that really helped you to achieve those kinds of results what would you pick? What would you say? >> I think it when you come to Ron you realize that we are a strong community. There is not a belief Ron where we how about this we believe that all students are all of our students and so um like I was sharing um our support staff or special education staff or learning specialists we all believe in all of our students and so if a child is getting extra support that's all of us are providing extra support um it's not a hey you go take care of the support that this child needs. We work really well together. We've got this fifth grade co-eing class. We have significant collaborative team meetings that happen every Tuesdays where uh we also have data meetings where we are analyzing the data or progress monitoring on Thursdays. And so it is um uh it's just we all work really well together. I don't know if you can if you can measure that, but I think our students are are are benefiting in our community as well. >> I just add something because I'm involved with all the grade levels and our collaborative team work and our students don't just work with me. They see the ML and SPE. So we as a team collaborate together to say what's best for that student and they know they don't just have one teacher, they have many teachers. >> Fantastic. kind of sounds like, you know, a lot of synergies happening within school that really are enhancing the experience. So, congratulations. Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Um [clears throat] well, I thank you for um coming and presenting. Um I think you've set the bar really high and everyone else needs to meet up with Ron [laughter] to Ron standards. So, I appreciate all the hard work um that your team has put into um all the um the data that they've they've um studied and all the time they've spent in doing all this work to um get the results that you've gotten. So, appreciate appreciate your time. Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you so much. [clears throat] >> Um our next report will be on the early childhood Early intervention and special education from birth to age five program. Presenting this report will be Amy Petroski, director of student support services, Christy Oscerson Wanzac, special education supervisor, and Sarah Herby's and Britney Smith, early childhood special education teachers. Welcome everyone. >> Thank you. All right. Good evening, Chair Worb, Dr. Daniels and members of the board. Uh thank you for this opportunity. Uh tonight we're eager to present the early childhood special education or ECS team which serves a foundational entry point for our youngest uh learners. We are excited to share the significant progress and success that we are seeing with our earliest learners and their families as they begin the journey in our district. I would like to turn the presentation over to Christy Wanzac, the supervisor of ECSE and the dedicated ECSE team. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Worb, Dr. Daniels, and members of the board, including Parvida. Yep. Thank you. Um, so I'm Christy Wanzik. I've um been with the early childhood program since 1998. I kind of left for a little bit, went and did some got some experience in the middle school level and then I was just that's my passion is early childhood and um we'll kind of tell you why and um kind of explain that. So we are honored to be able to present this information about our ECSE program birth to age five. So um as of today we have um 303 active students who have been identified and qualified [music] for early intervention or 3 to five services. So everyone has an IFSP or an IEP and that is including our VPK that are in the elementary sites and that's about 65 [music] that are in our VPK program right now. Um so this evening we hope to give you a snapshot of and an understanding of um our part C early intervention and our part B um services ages 3 to five and all the ways we support our youngest learners. And I'm going to introduce the two people on my right and my left. This is Sarah Irv. He's she you want to introduce yourself? I am one of the seven um early interventionist teachers on our team. Okay. Go ahead. >> Britney Smith. I'm the three to five uh ECSC teacher here at Diamond Head. >> Yep. And um Britney is also on the building leadership team for the for this for the program. Okay. So, um why early intervention matters? U well we know um when kids are from birth to three we know that is the most critical period of brain development. Um so it is really important for our team to capitalize on this critical window of of growth and development and establish those um strong neurological pathways. Um we know that our program is a preventative approach. Um we address developmental concerns proactively. Um we often reduce the need for more intensive costly interventions later in a child's educational career. Um our program is um legally mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Our district's commitment to early intervention is rooted in federal law ensuring services for these youngest learners. So yeah, we we have a core belief that every child deserves the best possible start and early intervention empowers families to help their children with um understanding how they learn best so that they can thrive. And um just to know our we have child find at this age. We need to find the children because they don't they are not at a school. They are not at something. And so we have a way of doing that. And so how we get our families and and those learners is the help me grow website. So there's help me grow referrals um medical community refers sometimes child protection social services providers daycarees parents family members public health nurses early head start and 191 community ed. Those are some of the examples of people that send us the referrals. And so from the time of that referral, the the staff have this is our birth to three students. They have 45 calendar days to um complete a a screening, complete the evaluation and have that planning meeting. So that is a tight window when you're trying to get a hold of families. And so um that is the the the legal mandate to try to get that. That's the maximum amount of time they give us. So um birth to three is really family centered. So this is an approach that um we used to have go out and do um more like the the service provider could come out and they just kind of work with the student. Well that has shifted over the last maybe 10 years. >> 10 years. So it's more of a a coaching model. So everything is family centered. Um every child has an IFSP if they've had identified as having that need. Um and most of the um the environments that everything the services are provided are either in the home, they could be in daycarees, they could be on a playground, they could be wherever, they could be out shopping, but it's with that family and their natural routines and what they do every day. So um and it's a team approach. So that team includes two people from two different disciplines, either a speech therapist and an occupational therapist and a teacher. So there's just those three um disciplines there that kind of work together. And so yeah, and it's their first exposure to the district. I know when I asked the the staff what they wanted to relay is like they are the first um introduction to the district. So when they meet those teachers and those staff members, they're um relaying, you know, that positive, you know, approach and getting them acclimated to that school environment. So it's really important um and that IFSP is really based on famil family's priorities. It's not like, oh, he's low in this and we are going to work on this. It's not driven by the the um primary service provider. It's it's family driven. So what are you struggling with? Maybe it's the child screams when he goes in the bathroom or, you know, just a variety of things. >> I would I would Yeah, I would add, you know, it's not uncommon if if a parent is having trouble at the grocery store, we can go to the grocery store with the parent and help them to kind of observe how it's going and get to learn a little bit more about what that family is experiencing so that the strategies to be meaningful because we know that the real intervention happens when we're not there. We need the interventions to be activities that the parents can practice when we go home. >> So the model is really a coaching model. So they work with the families to um give them ideas, you know, watch how the parents, they model for the parents and then the parents tries it. It's just a really cool approach. I went on a home visit today to do an observation and if you ever get a chance to do that, I highly recommend it because it is there's a lot of work that's put in when they're little. So, yeah. Um, okay. So, one, um, our impact. What is the impact of early childhood intervention? So, um, it's that we're preparing for their next educational step. So maybe that is coming into our three to five program or maybe they um just are preparing them for preschool, just a regular preschool. Um and the children receive early intervention are more likely to enter kindergarten with foundational skills, reducing the need for intensive supports later on. Um every dollar spent on early intervention saves multiple dollars in the future for special education costs and the district costs. um and empowered families are better equipped to support their child's journey. And so um I think that's a really important thing that you know our our staff offers the families. Okay, back to the numbers. Okay, [laughter] so um enrollment. So our programs, both of them, birth to three and 3 to 5, they grow over the year. So they start out smaller and by the end of the year, everyone is screaming and saying, "I'm too busy. I'm too busy. So, [laughter] I hear it. And um they've done such a great job. But um like as an example from in 2003 2004, they started the year with 88 students and then they ended with 101. And you know there's always move in move out. So we take that into effect too. Um then 2425 there was 93 to start and then 126 to end the school year. So the staff were feeling it and we did hire more staff last year and so hopefully the team is feeling supported that way. Um another benefit of early intervention is sometimes at three they may not need anything after that. So once they turn three they need to qualify under part B services. So that's the 3 to five services. And so sometimes they don't even need that evaluation. So um in 2425 we had 18 students who did not need services after three because of that early intervention and this year so far we already have 14. So they didn't continue on. So we they've done a great job with those students after their third birthday. Um so far this year we have 105 receiving early intervention as of today. Okay. Um, I'm I'm just a really proud of what the staff has been doing and I'm just honored to be able to work with this staff. But just to give you an idea of just our birth to three team and what it looks like, we have seven birth to three teachers. We have four speech language pathologists, two occupational therapists, a physical therapist, a social worker, a psychologist when needed. So that staff is about 15 people. And then we'll kind of move on to our 3 to 5year-olds. So again, once again, it's a legal mandate part of IDEA for part B services for special education and making sure we are um giving those students services for um that need it. Our delivery models, we have a variety of delivery models. We have integrated preschool classrooms. We have specialized just early childhood small group classrooms. We have itinerant services. We try to do that as much as possible. We go out to daycarees and if they're already in a daycare at a preschool, then that is where we provide the service because we don't want to take them away from that because too many transitions is not a good thing. Um and VPK, we have um voluntary pre kindergarten if I'm sure you're all aware of that. So um it's um we have a program here that's all day as well. And so some of our students, you know, the special ed students are in there. Um, and then there's eight ele all eight elementary buildings has a VPK program. So they have a morning class and an afternoon class. So we have about up to four to five students in each class. And that's kind of what that looks like. And just once again, it's that first exposure to the district. So some students aren't identified till between 3 and 5. So that's once again the they they kind of are the face of the district when they come in. Um so the state mandate tracks student progress. So there is um something called the child outcomes um summary summary [laughter] >> that our staff completes when a student qualifies they complete that to show progress. And so that's our way to identify children and know where they start and how what the intervention does and then what their skills are in the three areas of social emotional skills, knowledge and skills and and then their ability to meet their own needs. So those are the three um measurements that they look at. Um we're hopefully in closing the gap with these children. Um we ensure that children exit the program function as close to age expectations as possible which significantly improves their chances of academic success and reduces the need for extensive support in the elementary school. Um the return on investment again this is the same thing for the 3 to 5 program. A successful ECSSE program means entering kindergarten ready to learn benefiting the district's overall achievement metrics and reducing future special education expenditures. Um okay so just to give you an idea of what happens. So the referrals that we get. So um in 2023 there were 296 referrals for our birth to 3 program and 268 for our 3 to 5 program. So when that happens, every single one of those referrals needs to start with an in with a screening intake and then that might go to evaluation and it might not. So as you can see throughout the years um last year was about um a little bit less for birth to three but a little bit higher for 3 to five. So it's a really we have to address each one of those referrals and it's a lot. So and our staff does a great job. Um let's see and then in the month of November already so this year already through through October there was 98 birth to three and 115 3 to 5 and in November we've already had 16 birth to three and 13 3 to 5 that our staff are are checking out. Okay. Um uh three-year-olds um in our classrooms upstairs. So, um, this, um, just kind of shows once again for 3 to 5, it grows over the year. It doesn't start in, you know, like in the whatever in elementary school, you know, kind of where you're at, but we never know where we're going to get, you know, how many identified students we're going to have. So, that does grow over the years. So, as you can see, 23 to 24, there was a growth of over 46 students. And then 24 to 25 there was a growth of 40 students. So that's like you know it's hard to staff that especially right now with hard to find early childhood special education teachers and to get that license in our building but we do the best we can for that. So yeah um VPK. So this is kind of interesting because this is all of our students that are um in our voluntary pre kindergarten. This was kind of what in 2023 24 where where it started and then where it ended. Kind of that same thing. It doesn't stay the same. It gets bigger always. Um and so far this year we have 65 in our VPK program throughout the district. Um yeah, so you can see that kind of growth in early childhood. It's kind of unpredictable. Um, this once again I work with amazing staff and they are just I we have very experienced. We've had our some of our speech language pathologists have been in the districts over 20 years. So that's been awesome. Many of our teachers have been here a very long time, some of our OT's. So it's just been nice to know that there are people who know our program and work really hard and like to stay there and they really um enjoy working with um the rest with each other. So as you can see there are nine uh ECSE teachers at DEEC. So that is upstairs and there's one person downstairs and then ECSE oh no upstairs is nine um these are the this is the 3 to five team nine um VPK teachers. So last year um director Petra Petroski um brought on a model where those um ECSSE teachers were also going to be doing kindergarten because their license goes to age seven so that those children who are VPK go on to the next level and they have that support and they already know that person. So that has been a really good model. So this is our second year with that. Um, educational assistance at DEEC we have 14 educational assistants at VPK eight speech language pathologist in our three to five is five psychologist two OT's one physical therapist one social worker one school nurse and then we have a BCBA which is the board certified behavior analyst so we have a total of 52 staff that um are part of the ECSE 3 to5 team okay so here's our here's the quote I um looked looked up and I I thought, you know what, this was a good one for our program. So many things can wait. The child cannot. Today, their bones are being formed, their blood is being made, their senses are being developed. To them, we cannot say tomorrow. That's it. Thank you. Are there any me are there any comments or questions from board members? Director Anderson, I got you on that one. Um, so I did just a comment. I ECSE was my first introduction to 191 and it's the reason why I have loved 90 191 all these years. Um, and the the idea of um, like your birth to three, going into homes and going to the grocery store with families, I just um, it took me back to my experience when my kids were were two and three and saying, "But you don't get to see when they're having meltdowns because they like you and they like being here and they're having fun." And so that experience of coming along with the things they don't like to do instead of having to trigger a meltdown so you can see it is uh is so nice and so great and I really appreciate the work you're doing. So thank you >> Director Mickelson. you know, kind of to piggyback on what Director Anderson said is that uh you know, I I think um parents of children who are in the ECSE class, they're uh kind of trained to advocate for their, you know, children and uh so they are um less hesitant to uh stay quiet and so you know, parents talk and you know and so you know you in different districts and that live all around and they have ways of connecting. And so, um, you know, the fact that this is one of the initial, uh, kind of exposures to the school district, uh, you know, being able to have the kind of positive messaging and the positive experiences that you give, uh, all of the families that you serve, um, really is a great advertisement for the district. Uh, so, thank you for all of your work and being able to be that uh, for our district. Um, and you know, because again, you know, parents talk and you know, news gets around for the kinds of experiences that they have. So, um, I know there's been lots of very positive kinds of stories that are out there. Um, and [clears throat] so again, just thank you, >> Director Alt. >> Thank you. I I do have a question this time. We we we had a joke about whether I would have questions for this meeting and [laughter] I I do have questions. Um boy, having help with a young child in a grocery store, bestkept secret. I wish I had known when my kids were young. [laughter] But seriously, um my questions are really more about the psychologists. I had noticed I believe it was with the birth to three the psychologists were available as needed but then I think it was 3 to five there are two. Can you explain the difference? >> Yep. So sometimes um birth to three there are certain um tests especially for autism that we our psychologists are more experienced in. So the two that are we do have four three to five they are the ones that provide that. So when they need to do that testing and it's called the autism diagnostic observation scale or other tests that they had given or observations that they need to do or parent interviews and if they give them that educational category then a lot of times they are involved. >> Got it. And I guess the kind of a follow-up question because going back a few years, I don't remember how many, um, there had been a past practice where psychologists tended to mostly be kind of paper pushers and kind of in their offices. Um, that's no longer the case. There had been a shift to making the psych, you know, ensuring that the psychologists are really um, productive members of the school community and kind of doing what we want them to do. Can you speak to that? >> Yeah. So, I will say that they're still involved with all those initial evaluations. So, they're very busy and we we really only have a 6 and a8 psychologist. So, it's busy and they're on pretty much all of the three to five evaluations and many of the re-evaluations if they are or turning three evaluations. So um they they do provide um what we call a stat um process and so when staff are struggling with a student or having needing of people to kind of come together um kind of the meeting of the minds um they do run that on Thursday mornings with our BCBA and um the social worker >> and then that classroom teacher whoever is you know to kind of talk about like what can we do to help this student. >> Gotcha. And then you also mentioned, and this was actually a question that I already had written down, but you kind of spoke to it overtly. Um, staffing, right? That's with with the demand that we have coming in with our students and our families, staffing continues to be a challenge. How are you managing that? >> Every single day, it's it's a challenge. >> We get really creative. [laughter] >> It's it's just hard. >> Yeah. Especially here at DEC, we are all like all of us teachers and EAS, we're really helping each other. So if someone's in need, we go down the hall and be like, "Hey, do you have are you short kids today?" Not short, but have less kids today. Can you send some help? Or we all have walkies. So we're walking for help and anyone is willing and ready to jump in. Um even with placing children, we're getting we're getting part to three team. A lot of times you'll see them down coming down the hallway when help is needed. we have, you know, we have kids transitioning into the 3 to 5 program and um when we know the students and we know that the classrooms need support, it just makes sense for us to step in if we're able to. Um so we really do try to I mean we are we our team communicates very well together to try to help out wherever we might be needed at any given time. >> I think educational assistants are the hardest right now. I yesterday had five interviews, three no-shows. So >> Wow. And >> yeah, it's a constant job. So, it's it's hard. >> It is hard. >> And so, we're missing a couple at ECSSE. But our staff at ECSSE though also are going out to buildings. I know we've had some go to Gideon Pond on days where we're down students. I try as best I can to go around the building and see if anybody's low on students and so we try to share as much as we can with the rest of the district. >> Y So, >> so always always trying. Yeah. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Y thanks. Um so I was curious about like the referrals. Are you seeing more of um referrals from inside the community community or outside the community or like primarily where where the referrals come from? >> Um I would say most of our referrals come from doctors, pediatricians, >> wellchild visits. Um we get a fair amount. Um [clears throat] some students qualify for our program if they have um even like low birth weight. So there are some conditions um that may predispose a child to having a delay. Um so they may automatically qualify for our program in that way. Um we do get a fair amount of referrals from parents um as well >> the community um >> grandparents even anyone can make a referral. A lot of people don't realize that that anyone can make a referral through help me grow. >> Okay. So, I was that was one of my questions. I was wondering if they came from doctors due to like if they're finding out about um autism dis or diagnosises or that type of >> Yep. And then um many times we're saying you might want to get an outside diagnosis because ours is just a educational category. It's not it's not the medical diagnosis. So we often refer the other way too just saying you know you might want to get this checked out and so they can get other services >> in the community or you know in you know therapy centers and different places >> right so yeah cuz I was wondering about kind of the collaboration between the medical staff and then the educational staff as far as like the you know servicing the student um because obviously it's a holistic approach because we're you know they need more than just like the provider's care and the educator's care. It's kind of like a two-phase or twoprong approach, you know, because >> um of the type of services they need. So, I'm just wondering if like that is going on like >> um behind the scenes kind of >> I think that's a big part of the birth to three um service provers job is to help the parents with resources. They may not know what's available to them. >> Right. Okay. Yes, that is a big part of what they do. They with their permission. We don't talk to anyone. >> Yes, obviously it's all PHI and stuff like that. Yes. [laughter] >> But no, just um and just making sure that that's all going on. But yeah. >> Yeah. In therapy centers, we do um do a release so that we can share information about what's working there and versus what's working at school. And we may find, you know, things that are working at school that, you know, we can share with them as well. >> Right. Okay. Thank you so much for your report. Thanks for coming. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Next on our agenda, we will receive a report about Burnsville Egan Savage transition. Sharing the report this evening will be Amy Petroski, director of student support services. Dr. Jennifer Midendorf, program supervisor. [snorts] Casey Anderson, best teacher and work coordinator. Eric Chrysus, best work coordinator and project search instructor. Welcome. All right. Well, good evening, uh, Chair WB, Dr. Daniels, and members of the board. Thank you again for this opportunity for us to share, um, what we do in special education. Um, tonight, once again, I'm delighted to share the impact um, impactful work that the Burnsville Egan Savage Transition Program, or as they like to call themselves, the best program. This program is critical final step with our K through 12 experience dedicated to supporting our 18 plus students with disabilities and their families as they transition into adult life, employment, and community engagement. So, we're excited to present the success and outcomes that they're prepared as they prepare for their young adults and meaningful futures. I would like to turn the presentation over to um the best supervisor, Dr. Mittenorf and the members of the best team um who will walk you through our recent achievements and our program goals. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Worb, Dr. Daniels, and members of the board and Parvina. Um I am Jennifer Mittenorf, the best uh supervisor. And I have with me [laughter] Casey Anderson. She is um our work coordinator. and Eric Chrysus is our other work coordinator and also he is the instructor for our project search program that our uh students participate in as interns. Um we're excited to share an overview of our program for you tonight and I have my notes that I'm going to stick to because if you know me once I start talking about the program I can talk forever. So I know that you guys want to get out of here tonight. So, I'm going to stick to my notes. All right. So, the best vision aligns with our district core values. Uh, caring community, cultural proficiency, uh, future readiness, inclusive partnership, and student agency. Each student at best has the space and the opportunity for their voice to be heard while receiving equitable experiences to access the community through work-based learning experiences uh and community- based outings that focus on building independent living skills. Our student uh population at best is diverse, which makes the learning experience even more valuable um because students learn how to interact with others who have different disabilities or some similar disabilities with different characteristics while also learning ethnic and racial dis uh differences. The staff at Best are innovative educators who are consistently looking for new opportunities uh for our students to learn about the community and how to be active and contributing members um of the community. Uh Casey and Eric uh work to find all sorts of work experiences um that support all of our students so they can improve their job soft skills as well as awareness interests and uh the different processes to obtain uh employment or other interestes um interests that they have after they leave. best. Our best community is dedicated to supporting the outcomes of our students in addition to helping our Burnsville Egan and Savage community see and value people who have disabilities. Every day we get to see the amazing things our students do and we want to share that with our school district and uh the broader community. And so, um, one of the focuses of our school improvement plan is on increasing our students transition skills, um, which includes workplace readiness, financial literacy, health and wellness, personal care and hygiene, community and transportation, self- advocacy and awareness. Um this is documented and measured in our school improvement plan and then data is collected daily which Casey will address um in some upcoming slides. Um we're also working on family engagement by focusing on um our open houses. So one our spring open house um for new students and families and then we have our fall open house and that's for all of our students and families. Um over the years we've found that there are a number of new families who are unsure of what the best program um is and why their students will be attending it instead of graduating. And so I'm collaborating with the high school special education supervisor Christy Pope to establish protocols um so staff from best are involved earlier in the IEP planning process for when it is determined that student a student will be attending best. Um so we can increase or foster a stronger collaboration between the students, their families and then the high school team and and then our transition team. Um, in addition, we want our goal is to famili familiarize students and families with our program prior to the start of the school year so they really understand what the program is, the purpose of it, because with the student not getting their diploma, that can be a hard realization. So we really want them to understand the purpose of the program and um and the goals and be a part of that planning process for the students. All right. So um this next slide just shows the number of students who have enrolled at best. And when Christy was presenting on the early childhood side and she talked about how over the year over the school year numbers go up for us it's kind of the opposite. Sometimes we see numbers go down because students may graduate midyear. It really depends on when they reach their goals. And we've had students who have started the year and they've graduated in October. Um we had a student who um started a job towards the end of the previous school year and he did excellent through the summer. He was full-time and his boss um promoted him and he came back to school and he had met his IEP goals and they they wanted to keep him on full-time and they wanted to give him another promotion and we didn't want to hold them back from that. and the team met and um it he you know he was ready to graduate. So that that does happen. So our numbers kind of go the other way sometimes. Um but over time um our students uh we've had students who have open enrolled with us as well. And so, um, five out of the six of our students and families this year, um, shopped around for transition programs and they came to Best. Um, and then last year, two out of four, um, families, um, who were um, open enrolled did the same. Um so students um who come to best have been identified as qualifying qual qualifying for special education services. They are students who have not met their individual education plan goals or IEP goals. They are students who demonstrate a continued need for transition services. They are students who have finished their high school. Um students who are 18 to 22 years old. Um and then when they exit best, they graduate and that's when um they meet their IEP goals or they age out at 22 years old, whichever comes first. While attending best students work towards their IEP goals which focus on the transition skills and we know all of us um all of our students come to us at different uh levels of readiness. So their plan is individualized. Their experience at best is dependent on their needs uh which is identified in their special education evaluation in IEP. um their interests which are identified in several inventories, questionnaires and then job sites that they try out and also their goals for post-secary education and or employment and independent living. What is not individualized is that the majority of students attend from 8:00 a.m. till 2:30 p.m. We follow the high school calendar. All students take seminar courses within the program and the uh they learn specific skills and they go to job sites with a best coach to apply what they have learned. And in the courses, we used evidence-based curriculum that aligns with the project search internship, the national standards and quality indicators for transition and the pre-employment transition services, also referred to as uh to as paths, which comes from vocational rehabilitation services. The curriculum and instruction at best also supports the attainment of the skills and competencies of the 191 profile of a learner. I will turn it over to Casey who will talk more about the work experiences that our students have. >> Thank you. Our students gain valuable hands-on work experience through three in-house job sites designed to build employability skills in a supportive setting right here at Diamond Head. The first is the core lab, which stands for career occupational readiness experience, where students complete real job requests from across the district, including tasks such as making copies, filing, data entry, and laminating. These experiences help students practice accuracy, time management, and responsibility while contributing meaningful work to our school community. The next is the production lab. This creative workspace allows students to design, produce, and sell handmade items at local craft fairs and in our coffee shop. This year's featured projects include a variety of diamond dot artwork and greeting cards, helping students develop craftsmanship, attention to detail, and entrepreneurial skills. We are actually having our second annual um boutique on December 1st where you can see all of these items um in our coffee shop. Last but not least for our in-house job sites is the Best Coffee and More coffee shop which is right across the hall. Um, our students run a coffee shop located in the campus cup which gives them the opportunity to practice customer service skills while serving snacks and drinks to staff and visitors. We'd love for you to stop by Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. to 12 or 12:30 to 1:30 to see our students in action. Um, next is our job sites in the community where students gain real world experience through several community-based job sites. These partnerships allow students to apply their skills in authentic workplace settings while developing independence, teamwork, and professionalism. These community-based job sites include 191 cafeterias where students assist district food service staff by packing breakfast kits for students, helping ensure meals are ready to distribute each morning. Another one is Embassy Suites in Bloomington. Um, at this hospitality site, students work in the housekeeping facility, gaining experience in folding towels, pillowcases, and linens while learning about quality standards and workplace efficiency. And another is Chap Thrift Store in Burnsville, where students support daily store operations by locating empty hangers and sorting them by size, building organizational and problem solving skills in a fast-paced retail environment. Some other ones we have are Ebenezer Senior Living where we have two job sites. One is a full day placement on Tuesdays and Wednesdays um with students working in the resident coffee shop from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. And the other runs Monday through Friday where students spend 90 minutes stocking supply closets and the Arbers, which is right across the street from Ebenezer, where students clean tables after breakfast and set up table settings and menus for lunch. Um, and the newest addition is actually the Burnhaven Library, um, which is new this year, where students reshelf books and assist with various cleaning tasks as needed. We are grateful for our community partnerships that provide students with valuable opportunities to build their employability and soft skills. In addition to building their skills, these experiences help our students learn more about their interests as well as the work environments they feel most comfortable in. They learn quickly when they are in environments that are too overwhelming where they couldn't be able to focus or complete job requirements. At job sites, students build their employability soft skills. Our awesome job coaches track 20 soft skills such as hygiene, problem solving, motivation, frustration tolerance, and accepting feedback and input data weekly to guide instruction and support individual um student growth. Here you can see a sideby-side comparison of a student in their first year at best which is in the red and their second year at best in the blue. They have made great progress in accepting constructive feedback, hygiene and grooming and appearance and motivation and initiative. This data is important to use for the student to reflect on the areas that they have improved on and areas they need to continue focusing on. We use this information for planning instruction in the seminars and for writing IEP goals and objectives. These skills are tracked daily at the students job site. Once they've mastered skills at a job site, the team meets to discuss starting a new job site to see how the student does with transferring these skills to a new environment with different responsibilities and expectations. So next is about partnerships and outcomes. So um when students leave best our goal is that they will have the skills to participate in competitive integrated integrated employment and um live as independently as possible and enjoy social activities with people around um their similar age. And um so they also we will also want them to have access um through the state, the county and other agencies because of the amount of services that they can receive. And we know that it can be very overwhelming to families and to students because of the amount um that's out there, which is a good thing, but we know that it can be u very overwhelming. And so our goal and it shows in um this ven diagram is our goal is to bring everybody together with the student in the center um so that we are all planning for that student. Um, so we have one goal when that student leaves and then after the student graduates, the county and Voke rehab um will remain with them and so continue on the services they need and then Voke Rehab will stay on with them for a period of time for however long they need. Um, and so we just feel with everybody at the table, we can align our work to make sure that we are all working to ensure the success of that student because when they leave us, we want to know that they have a plan that they're not going to go home and sit on the couch because they've worked hard while they've been with us. They've learned a lot and we don't we want them to go go and um show what they what they've got. All right. [clears throat] And then um just how we measure student success is progress towards IEP goals and objectives. Um our SIP data, student experience based on their surveys, our IEP meetings, and then our continued partnerships within the community. >> Search. So, I'm Eric and Project Search has been our in our district. This is the third year and I took over last year, so it's my into my second year and I'm wearing my uniform. We wear scrubs all day every day cuz we're fully immersed in the hospital and we want to have interns fit in and staff model that too. So, Project Search is a collaboration among our school district, county, state agencies, and M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital. Together, we provide a fullear work-based internship for young adults with disabilities who are finishing transition services. The program began in 96 at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and has grown into a large successful model with just under 800 sites across the US and extending out into other countries. Our main goal is to help interns move into competitive integrated employment soon after completing the program. That means the jobs are permanent, pay at least minimum wage, offer regular weekly hours, 16 hours per week, and take place in typical workplaces alongside co-workers with and without disabilities. So, our interns stay enrolled in the best program and follow the regular BHS high uh BHS schedule and each day includes an hour and a half of classroom learning followed by 5 hours of hands-on training in different hospital departments. Over the year they complete three 10 week rotations doing at least two in different departments ideally three but sometimes there's a good fit and they might do a second round and level up to some more tasks and challenges and skills. Interns also have six planning meetings with their full support team, families, county and state partners, employment services, department managers, and school staff to keep everyone aligned and on progress with the student planning and employment goals. And we partner with a wide range of hospital departments and our opportunities have continued to grow over time as we build stronger relationships with departments and managers and staff. And as interns demonstrate their capabilities, the hospital has gained a deeper understanding of our program's purpose and how to effectively support individuals with disabilities. And this collaboration has allowed us to expand roles, tasks, and departments available to our interns. So this slide shows um the data from the students I had last year. We do a vote fit assessment four times. There's a baseline and then after each rotation we do one. So this is all of our students together. Purple is the beginning we did back in September. Light blue was at the end of May. So employment outcomes. In the past two years, 70% of interns who completed the program have gained competitive employment. While the hospital isn't required to hire interns, we're strengthening those connections. And M Health Fairview has now committed to a systemwide goal of hiring 50% of Project Search interns. We have had students hired at the hospital and also re retail stores, sports facilities, and then some other areas in the Fairview system. One graduate is still actively job hunting with support from Accord, the employment service provider. So we track after they graduate. We have monthly meetings and we still track the graduates for 9 months and still plan what they're done with us, but we we partner with those other agencies and supports. It's a project search thing just to kind of make sure there's a handoff and that leads somewhere. um feedback. The the hospital's staff is in is critical to this and try to build in network relationshipships with them and we we've gotten some good feedback and one of the feedbacks from a department manager in uh one of the rehab departments is our team has been incredibly blessed by our connection with project search program. An opportunity many of us didn't even realize we needed. This program has not only opened doors for individuals with different learning abilities, but has also transformed the way we approach our work. It has challenged us to think differently, communicate more effectively, and adapt in ways that ensure inclusivity for all. Through Project Search, therapists, patients, and their loved ones have gained a deeper appreciation for the potential in every individual. The program has brought a renewed sense of purpose, a brighter outlook, and a reminder of why we do what we do. In a field that often presents challenges, Project Search has been a reminder or sorry, been a source of sunshine and hope, inspiring us every day. We are grateful for the lessons it has taught us and the impact it continues to have on our team. >> That's all for us questions. >> Um, are there any comments or questions from board members? Director Al. Oh no. >> Oh no. >> Uh just a really wonderful report. Thank you. I really appreciated the feedback. It's just wonderful to hear how our program and our students are kind of shifting the mindsets of folks even in the healthcare profession. That's that's really great. Uh yeah, I concur with Director Alt. Um, I've just really enjoyed going to the best graduations every year. It's just really um heartfelt to hear all the the graduates from the program. Um, I always enjoy hearing their stories and them talking about their accomplishments and they are always so proud and I'm proud that we have this program in our district. um because I hear them the parents even talking about when they've you know looked at other programs and what makes ours better um from other other programs and I feel um like blessed that we have that in our district. So thank you for having you know such a great program [laughter] and all the hard work that you guys do to make it that that way. So I really appreciate it. Thank you. And I just want to say too, you know, thank you for that by the way, but I do want to say that the team at best truly is the best. And I know I joke [laughter] with about that, but they really are. The the staff, all the staff there, um my work coordinators, they really they they're always looking for more for our students. They're always looking for um more opportunities. um and and they have ex high expectations for all of them. And so I believe that that's really what has made it what it is and and the opportunities and the results that we see. Um I it's I believe it's it's the staff and just how dedicated they are. So >> it's great to hear. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thanks. [laughter] Up next, we will receive reports from board members regarding board committees, appointments, and school assignments. Um, would anyone care to start things off? Director Mickelson. Um the legislative uh committee met on Tuesday the 18th and uh we um hadn't met for a few months because we were kind of waiting for uh some of the legislative platform suggestions and or at least the legislative platforms from um AMSD uh the Association of Metro uh school districts and uh also MSBA uh the Minnesota Schoolboard Association. Uh unfortunately MSBA hasn't uh kind of released their uh legislative platform as of yet. So uh we're still waiting for that. But we were able to kind of review what our platform was from last year and to go over the AMSD AMS uh their SDS's um platform uh to kind of see where things may align, what things we want to repeat this year and had some discussions around that. Uh and so hopefully uh by our meeting uh in December, we will have the MSBA platform um so that we can then uh kind of blend everything together and uh kind of have a suggestion to be able to come and discuss with uh the board uh very soon. We're really hoping to be able to be ready for uh a workshop and bring something before the board um in late December to January. >> Thank you. Director Alt um policy met Tuesday and uh we're bringing forward uh some new uh some uh policies with revisions in December. Um given timing of where the committee uh typically meets uh we will not be meeting again until Tuesday, January 20th. Uh and the negotiations committee uh met today and actually um continues to meet. Um, Chair Hume um is continuing to meet with district leadership and uh the BEA's negotiations team. Um, and that ends my report. All right. Thank you. Now we will move to the business portion of the board meeting starting with the consent agenda. Although board action is required, it is generally unnecessary to hold discussion on these items. In the event a board member wishes to discuss an item, that item will be moved for separate consideration. Do board members wish to remove any items from the consent items. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Moved by Director Anderson. >> Second. >> Second by Director Saxi. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed? Nay. The motion carries unanimously. We only have one item under new business this evening. We are being asked to approve the PSO contract for Ember Hills Community College. Presenting the recommendation this evening will be Dr. Chris Belmont, assistant superintendent. Welcome. >> Thank you, Chair, Superintendent Daniels, members of the board. Um I'm back with another contract for to support um our concurrent enrollment uh and PSO options the um our AA degree program um now exclusively housed at Burnsville High School um [clears throat] does rely on I believe it's uh according to thank you to Dr. Funston and um AP Noble because I believe we're down to just one course that's science course that's needed to be taught um taught on our campus [music] but by an Inenver Hills Community College staff member. Um so um this contract allows for that to happen as well as the subsequent reimbursement. So, um, it's my recommendation that the board of education approve the income contract between Burnsville High School and the state of Minnesota acting through its board of trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities on behalf of Inenver Hills Community College and authorize the superintendent of ISD 191 to execute that agreement. >> Is there a motion to approve the PSO contract? >> So moved. >> Moved by Director Anderson. Seconded. Second by director Mickelson. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Nay. The motion carries unanimously. >> Thank you. >> Yep. The final item on our agenda is a close session as permitted by Minnesota statute 13D. 33 to discuss labor negotiation strategy. Is there a motion to close the meeting at this time to discuss labor negotiation strategy? >> So moved. Moved by director Alt. >> Second. >> Seconded by director Saxi. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Oppose. Nay. The motion carries unanimously. The time is now 8:02 and we will move to the HR conference room to discuss labor negotiation strategy. We will return to our me open meeting immediately following the close session. However, please note that having no further agenda items after the closed session, we will not be returning to the dis upon completion of the meeting. Thank you. And board members, please make your way to the HR conference room.