Welcome and good evening. I would like to call to the Monday, November 24th, 2025 school board meeting to order. Lisa, will you please call the role? >> Director Cummings >> here. >> T Felton >> here. >> Weber >> here. >> Wfelton >> here. >> Claflin >> here. >> And Hume >> here. >> Director Duffy's absent. That's six present. >> Thank you. Now I ask all who are able to please stand up for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. >> All right. At this time, I welcome everyone who's here this evening in person and watching on town square television. First up is approval of our meeting agenda and minutes. I'm looking for a motion to approve the regular board meeting agenda for this evening, as well as the minutes for October 27th, 2025's work session, October 27, 2025's business meeting, and November 10, 2025's work session. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Wendy. Thank you, Tim. Any discussion? >> All those in favor, please say I. I >> I opposed. Motion carries 6. All right, now the fun stuff. Okay, quality and action. I am happy to invite our student board reps up. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Evening. We're back again. SL show up. There it is. >> I got this. Uh so on Wednesday we had this awesome knowledge bowl tournament at the high school. Uh the general consensus was that it was pretty fun. We were raising money for the stride for pecker pride activity fund that Mr. Schultz is operating. So it was really good and it was for a good cause. I want to give a huge shout out to everybody that showed up. I want to give a huge shout out to Chlorine Fet for getting fifth place out of five teams. I want to give also a huge thank you to Cheer Human and Dr. Zambbrino for showing up too. It was really fun having you guys even having you play Dr. Zambino. That was really awesome. I got a couple of them. Right. >> Yeah. >> Well, EastB Chloe and Finesse. >> Okay. Well, it wasn't that bad. We got >> And I learned about you. You're a competitor over there. Don't Don't be fooled by Monty. >> Yeah. It was just overall really fun and it was awesome. >> It was our theater cast put on a amazing performance of Bryar and a lot of people cried so it brought some tears. Our um varsity and JV dance team took first place in jazz finishes at the Roseville invite which was pretty cool. They're really good actually. It's kind of impressive. But yeah, our bowling team also took second place on a conference finish and qualified for state per usual. They're very good, too. Also, a huge shout out to uh two of our debaters in varsity, Sydney and Olive, for placing third at our the NMS memorial tournament in Stillwater. They're doing really great in the season. On Saturday, they placed first in varsity at our tournament, our virtual tournament at South St. Paul. So, we're really proud of them and we're really looking forward to them winning the state championship. >> Um, big shout out to that familiar face. Um, she signed her national letter of intent to play softball at Bamiji State. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. Yep. It was >> pretty cool. Oh, everyone's clapping. >> Check. >> That's a big deal. Congratulations. >> Uh, we got our middle school and high school choirs starting for the year. So, shout out to them and looking forward to a great year. >> And our seventh and eighth grade and high school bands had their first concert. So, let's hope for a great season, I guess. >> They did great. >> Yeah, >> that's the gist. >> That's the update. >> Yeah. >> Thank you guys so much. >> Thanks for having us. Nice information. >> All right. Next, I'd like to invite uh Dr. Candace Birkhart, executive director of student services, up to give us an overview of the work her department has been doing to support our students. >> Wonderful. Well, greetings, Chair Humeman, Dr. Zambrino, members of the school board. I am super excited to be here today to just share an overview of our student services department with you all. Uh my goal today is really just to highlight the breadth of services that we provide and how our work supports all students across South St. Paul public schools. And this presentation is part of our two-year board agenda. So the student services department will be doing regular presentations about four times a year just to give you a deeper look at some of the supports and pro programs we provide. So our student services is at the heart of the district's commitment to supporting the whole child. Our work centers on four core areas. So academic access, ensuring students have what they need to be successful in the classroom. social, emotional and behavioral support, providing tools, guidance, interventions that build emotional regulation and positive behavior. PLA, physical and mental health, so supporting students medical needs, health planning, overall well-being, and then specialized instruction and disability related supports for students with disabilities aligned to the individuals with disabilities education act, idea, and 504. So everything we do is grounded in access, equity, and student centered problem solving. And I picked a visual of a chain because I really like to think of all of these components as creating a really strong part of a chain. We need all of these to be successful as well as all of our, you know, fellow staff members and other departments. So we provide a lot of or we do a lot of collaboration with the educational services department and other um sites, all of those types of things. So a little bit about the student services department. We're a large and diverse department. Uh we have about 150 team members from birth to supporting students birth to age 22. Um our team includes special ed teachers, education support professionals um all the way to itinerant staff. So we have um staff from 917 who support our blind visually impaired students, deaf heart of hearing students, physical impairments, all sorts of really unique roles and positions. So we um end up being about 30% of all staff in the district. At the tier one level, services are available to all students and help create safe, healthy, and supportive school environments. These include schoolwide social emotional learning curriculum that we're doing right now in partnership with the education services department, health services from tracking immunizations and providing immunization clinics to doing preventative screenings. We just did um large vision and hearing screenings last week, classroom counseling, basic mental health support, attendance monitoring, and early outreach, and then collaboration across the district on equity, climate, and safety initiatives. These universal supports really help build that strong foundation for all of our students for more intensive interventions should they need them later. Then at the t uh tier 2 level, when students need those additional supports, we have staff that are available to provide those from small groupoup counseling, focusing on social skills, anxiety, grief, coping strategies, check-in, checkout, attendance support plans. We also have staff that do um short-term academic or behavior interventions through MTSS. And then at the tier three level, this is what people most traditionally think of when they think of the student services department. So, it's our most individualized and intensive supports for students. So, that could be individual counseling, crisis response, functional behavior assessments, behavior intervention plans, 504 IEPs, um individual health plans. We also, many people don't know this, but we support students who may be in care and treatment programs. Um they may be hospitalized in foster care, may be returning to us from juvenile justice systems. and then those intensive academic and behavior interventions for students as well. Right. So, uh just to provide a brief overview of our special education program. So, special education provides specially designed instruction and related services for students identified under IDEA. These are driven by IEPs for our students that are age three through 22 or IFSPs, individual family support plans, which are for our little friends um birth to age three. And we're really driven by the need to support students in that least restrictive environment. So ensuring students are able to access the general education environment to the extent possible. Currently about 20.8% 8% of our students or about 605 learners receive special education services in the district which is really um comparable to state averages in Minnesota. We have a continuum of placements for students with disabilities. Um so that is students that are in primarily regular education classes. they maybe just get um some minor supports throughout their day all the way to students who may need instruction in hospitals, institutions, care and treatment programs. Um so we kind of have the gamut across the district right now. Um the majority of our students are in setting one, which is that least restrictive environment. So they spend the majority of their time with their general education peers. So early intervention is critical and our early childhood special education team provides foundational support. Um we get referrals primarily through the help me grow process where um doctors and parents can submit referrals to us. We then get that referral and then we um begin that evaluation process. We also do screenings in the district and then can determine if a student needs evaluation for our birth to age three services. Um it is fascinating but our staff primarily do all those services in the home. So they go and they really work with that parent on um what those individual goals are for that student. And then for ages 3 to five, those are primarily dri um delivered at both of our elementary schools. We have programming. And then on the K to2 special education programming side, um we have really continued to build and strengthen our programming. So we offer a continuum of services at all of our schools. This is a change from when I started in the district. Um we were only offering some of our specialized programming at Lincoln. So students who were Caposia community members really couldn't um be part of their neighborhood school. So with the support of the Caposia team, we decided to add that specialized programming to their school so students can all um attend school in their neighborhood. Um which I think is just a really wonderful thing that they're we're able to do. We've also built out a lot of new curriculum um to improve academic and functional outcomes for our students. And then um our special education teachers and related service providers. I hear over and over we have some of the lowest case loads in Dakota County. And we're really able to keep those workloads manageable for staff. Uh we also have teachers on special assignment who provide additional coaching support and they do all of our initial evaluation testing. Um, so that's a change this year that we really tried to do to take off some of the workload from our staff. And then in addition, all of our special education man case managers, they can take up to two days of due process time. So we really want to make sure that their their workloads are sustainable and we're able to keep them. And then all of our staff receive specialized behavior deescalation training. Um, in addition, we've added a new training to our tool toolbox called Ukeru. um which has really we've been piloting at the early childhood and elementary levels um just to give staff some more things to keep them safe and to help students um regulate their behavior. And then one of the things I'm really excited about is we're expanding our unified programming and work-based learning for students at the secondary level. So, we've been meeting with Special Olympics Minnesota to be able to offer some unified um FIED classes, potentially some culinary arts classes um which would really build that more inclusive environment. And then we are starting to have some of our students go out with job coaches into some work-based learning sites. So, um very exciting to see. And then we have our grow your own grants and our international teacher that we have been piloting as well to continue to build that sustainable workforce. All right. We also work closely with specialized partners uh to meet with unique needs of our students. So we work a lot with intermediate 917 as you frequently hear about. Um we host the DASH um which is for students with um more significant medical um or physical impairments. We host the DASH program and the preK through five deaf heart of hearing program over at Lincoln um for all of Dakota County. So really exciting that we're able to offer those supports there. And then we also have a triist district partnership with Ember Grove and West St. hall where we offer transition programming and we have a physical therapist as well that supports our students from them and family engagement and community partnership are essential to the student services department. Um we could not do what we do without without those two critical components in place. So, um, we have a special education advisory council that meets throughout the year as well as offering family fund mates, um, which we've really heard from families. It's a really fun way for them to build connections, exchange phone numbers, so you have someone that you can go on a play date with who also has sensory needs and um, some of those types of things. So, that's been really fun to be able to offer. Um and then we have different community partnerships with school linked therapists. Um community 360 which is funded through um our mental health collaborative with Dakota County and they're able to provide different food, clothing, housing assistance for families. Um and then we work closely with Dakota County agencies as well. All right. And these are some of the priorities that the student services department has set for 2526. I'm really excited we're on track to meet all of these goals. Um, two of those goals you'll also see in our district scorecard. So, improving our consistent attendance. Um, we're on track right now. We're we've been averaging in the 80 percentile. Um, for students the last two months, creating that comprehensive MTSS framework. We're doing a lot of work around that. Um, lots of of exciting things in the works for that. And then decreasing the percentage of students with disabilities that are in more restrictive settings. Um, so we had about 45% of our students in that in the spring and we set a goal to reduce that to 40% and right now we're at 41%. So we're on track to hit that goal as well. Well, before I close, I just want to share, you know, something personal. Tonight marks my last school board meeting as the executive director of student services and my position comes to an end and I'm about to return back to the classroom as a teacher. So, I just want to sincerely thank you as a board um for the support you've provided me um and just your leadership and your commitment to the students here in South St. Paul. I told myself I wouldn't cry, but here we are. Um so, it's just been an honor to work alongside of you and to be able to serve this community for the last two and a half years. So, deeply grateful for the time I've been able to spend here and just want to say thank you for that. And that's all. >> Thank you. any comments or questions from the board? And I'd like to say, Candace, thank you so much for all the work and heart you've given to our community and to our students and it's incredibly appreciated and we wish you so well in your future and back in the classroom and more time with your family. >> Yeah, we will miss you. >> Thank you. Likewise. She's definitely leaving us in a good spot when you look at that presentation right there. All this great work going on. So, >> all right, you're off the hook. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good >> job. Thanks, guys. >> All right, we're going to change flavors and I would like to uh bring Lisa Brand Decker up so she can introduce an invite of some guests. >> Chair Hume, members of the board, and Superintendent Zambbrino, I'm really excited to talk about a new partnership that we've got here in the um community and district. About a year ago, Wakakota Federal reached out. Uh Mary Mat, the president and CEO of Wakakota Federal, reached out and wanted to partner with our district and do something fun with their debit and credit cards and put our school logo on it. And so I'm excited to introduce them tonight and talk a little bit about the program. And then when they're done, we have um a couple students and a staff member to talk about where those funds are going to go and how we're going to use those and bring those back into um the classroom. So, Deb Griffith, who is a board um of director for Wakakota Federal, is joining Mary tonight. >> Hello. Thank you for inviting me tonight. I'm really excited to present this check to the council. Um, as Lisa said, we uh I'll just back up just a little bit. our credit union changed processors, debit card processors in January. And with that conversion that we went through, we were able to select a school card and um set that up around one of our local schools. And we chose South St. Paul um to to set that up because that's pretty much our primary field of membership. We've been here since 1931 and we wanted to do um some give something back. So, a portion of every interchange income that we receive, which is every point of sale transaction that a member does utilizing this card, um we give back to the school. And we're going to be doing it every six months. But this one that we're presenting today is from Sep um February 1st through September 30th. But this is what our card looks like. Has the new logo on it, too. We have updated that. All of our existing cards had the old logo on it. So, every new one um as of last month will be getting the the new card. So, I am proud to present with uh Deb Griffith, one of our board members, the school district, a check for $1,130.70. >> That down. >> There's the check. And I think we'll um maybe hear some from some students and the staff a little bit how we're going to use these funds and then we'll take a group picture um at the end if we could please. >> All right. I'm going to invite Mr. Castillo. He is in charge of our career and business and entrepreneurship class. Is that correct? Did I get it correct? >> And school store. >> And school store. Yes. So he'll speak a little bit about um how we're going to utilize these funds and then he's brought some students with him that'll share some of their work this year and um how they're going to use it. So >> yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me here. Um yeah, so you know uh I was approached a couple days ago and said, "Hey, could you use some funds uh to do uh some fun things?" And I said, "Absolutely." Um, so one of my classes is the school store and it's a little bit different in that we don't just um sell things. We actually make things and so like this which I'm wearing. >> Um, but we we the students actually make all things that are in the in the school store. Um, and so I actually asked them, "What do you think?" Uh, what what you know, what kind of things do we need? And a couple things that kind of popped out were uh we send out all of our embroidery right now. So anything that we embroider in apparel um we send out and we're we're pretty you know we're pretty small shop. So um sending out is fairly expensive and so we love to have that flexibility actually to do some of that stuff in house um and even do some for our sports teams which we currently do. But everything we do right now is all Cricutbased if you if you're if you know what Cricut is. Um so it would give us some capabilities that we don't have. The the other part that uh they got more excited about was we talked about a 3D printer actually and so we could actually get into doing things like bracelets and keychains and other things like that. So uh I think that's kind of where my students were telling me they would like to go. And so, um, I thought those were all reasonable ways of of going after it. So, why don't you guys come up? Why don't you introduce yourselves and tell them a little bit about what you were doing this this term in uh >> in store management? >> Um, we've been doing >> Introduce yourself. My name is Lania and we've been doing um making new shirts and using the Cricut machine and like making hats and different stuff for the school store. And yeah, >> she just finished one today. She was she was bragging going, "This is going to sell. This is going to sell today." >> Oh, can you hear me on this thing? >> Yeah, you can use this. Hi, I'm Aby. I work um at the store management store and it's been really fun. Like even with like messing with the Cricut and like making all sorts of designs, it's fun to when I do actually do it to put the designs on the shirts and like, you know, it's fun to press it and stuff and just make up cool designs and people sometimes like specialized order like um BO, the Black Pride Organization and it's fun. And I didn't personally make these shirts, but um my other classmates got to make the shirts and design it for them and they really liked it. And I also really like working the school store. We sell like drinks and snacks and stuff. We're working on selling more stuff, but it's fun to just work it and you know have people buy stuff from the school store or sometimes we get like requests if we have anything else and like we'll ask Mr. with Seio and he'll like try to make the effort so we can get more stuff and more new items. But I think this 3D printer machine will be good cuz like you said, we can get like make bracelets and keychains and lanyards and people at our school like like weird stuff like that. They'll actually buy it like they'll actually put their money towards it. So I think that's a good um what's the word? Investment. >> Investment. And I think it'll be helpful for our school store and it's it's just fun overall. So yeah, >> any questions? I guess >> questions, comments. >> I think it sounds like you need to get people to get the Wakakota debit card so then they buy at the school store and then they can recur money back to the school. It can be like, you know, an evergoing evergoing loop there. >> Yes, >> absolutely. >> Yeah, it's real fun. It's it's been fun the whole time there like >> sometimes I you know struggle but Mr. COE helps me and then I I learn how to do, you know, stuff the right way and it it just becomes more fun, especially when I can work with like my >> Yes. >> when I like my friends and stuff. >> When is the school store open? >> Um, the school store is open Well, we're trying to get it open for more time, but as of right now, it's it's open from 7:30 to 8:40, I think. >> Yeah. >> 8:45. Yeah. something like that. But we're trying to get it open for longer, but you know, he's working on it. >> All right. >> Are you guys involved with the books and balancing them and doing inventory and doing the monetary stuff too for the store? >> Doing inventory. Yeah, we do inventory and then like count and we get to pick um what we want at the school store like chips and drinks and stuff >> and we get discounts cuz we work the school store. So, you have to make business decisions about what'll sell, what won't sell. >> Oh, yeah. We Oh, yeah. Um like when we have like new stuff or like deals and stuff, we get to make like these posters like um you know, get a drink, get a free bag of chips or you know, just something like fun, we get to make posters, put them around the school, and then >> promotions. >> Yeah. Promotions and stuff. Yeah. And people actually see it and like they come to, you know, they come to buy and more people start to come because they see, you know, what we put up. >> Yeah. So, so they make the decisions of what we bring in and much to their um their disturbance, right? They they come in and they go, "Let's get some candy. Let's get some of it." I'm like, "No, it all has to be smart snack, you know, and and then they go, "Well, okay. We can't bring this real world stuff." >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Like healthy, boring stuff. But some of the stuff is good, though. Yeah. like so long. >> So, if a schoolboard collective wanted to get new shirts, how would one go about doing that? >> This is the question. >> Like one of these fancy quarter zips. >> I um I'm not sure, but I think you would like talk to Mr. Castile about a customized hoodie or shirt or whatever, and then the people who are making the product will design whatever you want and print it up on a shirt, and you know, you buy it. >> So, it's pretty simple when you think about it. And I think there's a website too. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So they they actually so for BO uh they came to us and said they wanted a a design. So I had my class actually do like three or four designs, present it to them. They decided which one they liked and kind of tweaked it and then we actually made it then for them. >> Made it happen. Yes. >> I see new new schoolboard shirts in our future. I don't know. >> That sounds amazing. Well, I got to give them a shout out cuz they were with us at On the Road again helping to sell the the new Bull shirts and >> even had a younger sister with. So, we got a future entrepreneur coming, right? >> Yeah. >> She was adorable. So, nice to see the the giving back a little bit too and Mr. Gustilo helping with that. So, >> yes. >> Yeah. We like to help like on the road again. That was fun. We offered so quickly cuz we knew it was going to be fun and we knew we wanted to do it and we showed up and, >> you know, sold sold them shirts. >> Yeah. You guys did a great job interacting with the public and representing the district. Well, so >> thank you so much. >> Good job on the computers. >> I actually have a question for Mary. >> How does one become a member of Wakakota Credit Union to get one of these sweet cards? >> That is a great question. Um, and the answer is you have to live, work, worship, or volunteer in Dakota County in order to join our credit union. So, it's pretty much open to our community. Um, or be a family member of an existing member. Okay. >> Um, and then this is just this is one of a few cards we offer. So, it's only I forgot to mention that it's about a third of our checking accounts actually have this card. So, the more cards we can generate, you know, or get even get them to switch over. when we did our mass conversion um we let people pick but I don't think they understood the importance of this card that this card was going you know the interchange income was going to come back to um the school so we're we have a big campaign going out after the first of the year so I'd like to kind of market this and explain more to the community it's going to the community not our field of membership or to our not to our members directly to ask them to join their credit union and open up a checking and get this card so it comes back to you. >> I'm sold. >> I just had a a question for you guys. How much is a 3D printer? >> How much of these checks do you need? >> Uh I the quick look at it. It's like 600 bucks for a 3D printer. >> Okay. Well, you might have it if you're talking >> and we would appreciate it. >> Yes, >> we would appreciate it. >> Well, thank you so much. I thank you to the members of Lakota Credit Union for contributing back to our community this way. Thank you to the students for speaking and >> Oh, we got to take a picture. Yeah. All right, everyone round. We got to take a picture. >> Like, should we all come down? >> Come on down. We're not >> when we use it in the area. >> That's >> we come just a little bit. >> Yeah. I don't know. I gotta >> Thank you. >> Yay. just push. >> I can tell you all about interchange. >> All right, >> we're going to move along to item 3D and I would like to invite Executive Director of Educational Services Amy Winter and Dr. Scott Sunstrom to give us a report on our read act implementation like a total flavor change again. Good evening. I think everybody had the same idea. They wanted to do a quick overview and and give you a snapshot of some of what our look work looks like. So I have the privilege to do a quick introduction. I have the privilege of working uh with Dr. Scott Sunstrom and he really focuses his work predominantly around elementary and literacy. Um many of you know the read act has has been a really big lift. It takes the attention kind of of one focused person. And so his focus tonight is really to give you an update of what our work looks like here in the district. And what I will tell you is um one of the privileges of being a smaller district is we can move and adapt. And um I've been really proud of the work Scott has been leading around the Reed Act because we hear a lot of feedback across the state and bigger districts are struggling with this uh implementation and this launch and we have been able to stay ahead of it uh and really uh be a service to our district and our students and families. So I'm excited for you to hear some of the work of what that looks like. >> Hi everybody. Good to be here. Um, I want to start by talking about how we're ahead of the game with the Redact. Like Amy talked about, um, other districts are trying to implement, um, this academic year, what we've achieved over the last couple of years since the, um, the implementation of of the Redact. So, there's several arms to the Redact. I'm going to talk about PD, professional development, training, tier one curriculum, screening, intervention, and then how our structured coaching model supports implementation. So, for professional development, districts have to um go through training with the red. There's three different trainings that the state offers and we chose to do OLA, which is online language and literacy academy. And those who are required to take the training are those responsible for teaching ELA standards. And so that would be our elementary teachers, our secondary teachers who teach ELA, um special ed teachers who are um tasked with teaching reading um and EL teachers, English language learner teachers. In 2425, we created a calendar um to have professional development days allocated towards doing that um training OLA training um and we had everybody trained except for two new staff members who have to go through the training this year. So we only have two um members of our teaching staff that have to do that training this year, which is pretty remarkable. In terms of tier one curriculum, the state has guidance on resources that are either highly aligned, partially aligned, or minimally aligned. And the resources that we have in South St. Paul are all on the highly aligned list in accordance with the read Act. So what that looks like at the elementary level in K2, we have UFly, which is our foundational literacy program paired with Whiten Wisdom. And then in grades three, four, five, we have functional morphology paired with Witten Wisdom. And then there's a companion program through the same publisher as Witten Wisdom called Arts and Letters that were implementing for the first time in middle school. Meaning that our students through K8 are receiving very aligned instruction both horizontally across the grade level and vertically between the grade levels um across our system. And that's something the ED services department is really proud of. In terms of screening, the state has guidance in terms of what screening looks like for reading. A universal screener is something that we give all students. It's a test to see which students are having difficulty with reading so that our system can give them additional support. And we use FastBridge, which is an approved screener. In K1, they have early reading, which is a number of different subtests to see how they're doing in early literacy. In grades one through five, we have CBM reading, which is them reading a reading passage with a teacher as an assessment to see how many words per minute they're reading. And then in grades 2 through 12, we have a reading, which is an online test to see how they're doing um with vocabulary, morphology, comprehension. Um the state has new guidance this year on dyslexia screening which we'll be piloting this year in grades four and five after the winter screening period. So we screen three times a year in the fall, winter and spring and after the winter fastbridge screening window. Those who are um identified as high risk will take this new assessment which is called CAPD read basic so that we can give them additional support in reading. Another arm of the READact is intervention. And we've been working with our intervention teachers across the system in elementary, middle, and high school to revamp our system so they're in alignment with both the ReadAct and MTSS, which Candace just talked about, which is multi-tered systems of support. So, how are we um providing more intense reading instruction to students that are um in need of tier 2 and tier three support? Um, we're trying to strengthen that connection between intervention um and our tier one resource because the ultimate goal of intervention is to exit intervention. We don't want kids staying in intervention. So, what are we doing to accelerate learning through our intervention model to give students access to tier one instruction? One of the changes we're making is trying to connect our interventions to at grade level a little bit more specifically. So when they're progress monitoring skills that they're missing in reading, we're also having them progress monitor with an atgrade level passage so we can see if that intervention is working and if it's accelerating enough to get them out of intervention. And then finally, we've been using our structured coaching model. We have equity and instructional coaches at all four sites and they've been used to help um with the implementation. So they provide professional development to all staff on literacy that looks a little bit different um depending on on the building whether it's um wit and wisdom UFly functional morphology tier one support with that curricular resource or in the secondary they've been doing a lot of work with content literacy and disciplinary literacy with um middle school and high school staff in order to support reading instruction so that they have access to the content. Um and so our instructional coaches have done a lot of work this year um that's more literacy focused. Um they've also done grade level work or department work in terms of backwards planning more connection to the state standards to try to make an equitable experience for all of our students. And then the final um piece of the structured coaching model is one-on-one coaching um providing teachers with more intense more individualized support to help them with this implementation. All right. Thank you. Any questions for me? >> I Well, the first >> say um how are we um like screening new employees or seeing how what new employees like where they're at with the read act or like checking and making sure that all of like any new staff um have equivalent skills. >> That's a great question. So, um, one of our new teachers, for example, coming from a district, different district this year, teaching first grade, has gone through the redact training, um, already. It's a question that we ask. Um, but I would say it's something that a lot of districts are grappling with and part of, you know, our interview questions is asking questions related to um the read or literacy in general to see where um where they're at in terms of um the science of reading and structured literacy. Um but it's also part of our plan when we're onboarding, you know, new staff members to ensure that they have the training. Um, so this year, two of the new staff did not have any of the training and so we're providing that for them this year. >> Good to know. >> Director >> uh, sounds like you've done a really great job at um, rolling this out. Um, I also wanted to compliment you on the work that was done previously to the readact um and the work of this district um to really pioneer some efforts to ensure that um students are are learning and and so I I don't want that to be sort of unsaid that um you guys were doing great work even beyond um when this came into being. I'm wondering um with the readact um and a continuation of the work that was begun before the readact, are you seeing a difference in educational um achievement by students? And do you think that this is improving the ability for students to be successful residents and citizens beyond um beyond the school? >> I do. I actually was just at conferences at Caposia um before I came over here and there was a great um display of what fifth grade students were working on writing five paragraph essays as part of the Witten Wisdom program which wasn't the case a couple of years ago. So that's really great to see. And the other component with Witten Wisdom, it's a knowledge building program which has connections to science and social studies. So, as they're learning um literacy, they're also learning different content areas. And so, that's been fun to see as well. Um yeah, I would say there's it whenever you do an implementation, it takes a while to see, you know, MCA scores go up, which they have been going up. Um I think, you know, teacher practice takes a while for teacher practice to then impact what the students are doing. Um, and we've been doing a lot of work with teachers to support them, which has been a big shift with the science of reading and structured literacy and what that looks like in their classrooms. >> Well, I'll just say that I know um from my vantage point, we have seen um both uh we have we have noticed that performance has gone up um and that it's rising slowly and we're really excited about it. So, I just wanted to say congratulations and good on you and good on all of all of the folks that have been the network of people within our district that are making this work and um and we hope that we can continue to see this type of leadership and um and hopefully go beyond what the state standards have as you did before the read act was passed. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Yeah, I'll just if I may. Yes. >> Yeah. You know, on that point, um our teachers are getting it done big time. So, you know, we're not where we want to be, but that's okay. I I pulled the numbers just to refresh my brain. Uh, frankly, no one's raising achievement right now across the state of Minnesota readings down three points over the past few years. And in that period, we're up six. So, we've actually closed our gap between where we have been and where the state is by nine points. So, we're halfway there already. That's been our kind of first goal is to get to that average and then we want to grow from there. Um the middle school just implemented now they're just starting arts and letters which is the uh middle school version of Wit and Wisdom. And in interviewing middle schoolers last week asking them for some of their highlights and the things that they've liked learning about the most so far this year a number of them cited uh learning about Medieval Times which is actually the first unit that they had in arts and letters. So, uh, without even knowing it, they're saying that the new literacy curriculum is is really on point. And I I was talking to Natalie, I don't know, a couple weeks ago about the sixth grade teachers noticing, and because I've been saying this for the last two couple years, the kids are coming different. Be ready because the rigor that five paragraph essay was a one paragraph essay when I got here. So, that's just to quantify that. And um, they the sixth grade teachers are like, "Wow, these kids are different." they could name concrete tang, you know, tangible things that are different. And so we captured that and asked principal Bosard and and Mr. Bretoy to send that out to their teachers so they could know that the middle school teachers are seeing that the kids are coming different. And we really are only a few years into this. So it's super exciting. But I will also acknowledge for our teachers sake, you know, curriculum implementation is kind of a roller coaster. Ask them today, they love it. They ask them tomorrow, they hate it. and anywhere in between and it's really really hard work and they are leaning in and getting it done. So no matter what their response is cuz and I honor where they're at in that space, they're getting it done big time and the kids are really learning a lot and the writing and just the rigor is there. So it's a super exciting time to to see what's happening in our classrooms. >> I had a question about piloting the dyslexia screening. Can you talk about like how do we how did we become involved in piloting that or did we ask to be a part of it or were we reached out to or >> so this is a requirement of the readact and this is our way of beginning to roll it out. >> Okay. >> So we're going to pilot in fourth and fifth grade the dyslexia screeners for grades four through 12. And so this is our first chance to try it out. It's a it's almost like a second screener. And so we'll give the fastbridge screener and then those who are at high risk in fourth and fifth grade. So it'll be around 50 kids, we'll give that um test to them and then it gives us more information with what type of intervention we should provide them. >> Is that the grade level where you normally find out if someone is dyslexic? Like >> so we have guidance throughout the whole system now as a dyslexia screener. So our K3 screener is Fastbridge and that is the dyslexia screener as well. Whereas in grades 4 through 12, you have to drill down a little bit more to really see if dyslexia is the issue. >> It's just interesting. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Good information. >> Thank you so much for coming up and giving us this update. It's all good. >> You're welcome. >> All right. Item 3E, stakeholder comments to the board. Um, as a reminder to the community, there are two ways to make comment to the board. You may either submit an online form or appear before the board in person. If you would like to speak in person, the board has set aside time on the second Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. during our regular extended work session meetings. A note, however, in December, due to the holiday break, there is only one scheduled board meeting on Monday, December 8th. This is a full business meeting here at city hall, so there is no scheduled comment to the board until January 12th of 2026, but um online submissions are accepted at any time. We received no online comments during this time and no one came to the November 10th meeting to speak to the board, so there is no public comment to report. I will now hand things over to Vice Chair Claflin for an update on our work sessions. >> Thank you. This evening we held a work session before our business meeting and we heard um some information that will come up in this business meeting as well. Um some discussion of new high school courses and these sound really exciting. Um and among that discussion we also discussed how uh school boards have a role in um approving the new courses and uh we also discussed the bonding request that we have been working on. Um and we have um a discussion later in this meeting to authorize that submission and we had quite a a um involved discussion about what this is actually authorizing us to do. So we'll hear more about that following shortly. And then a bit of community organizing and mostly heard about the South St. Paul border battle where we're going to pack oatmeal and work against beating I think is it West St. Paul. >> I think we can beat West St. Paul. >> Thank you. I like to hand things over to Dr. Zambrino. >> Thank you, Chair Human. I I concur. We can be West St. Paul. Let's just be frank. Um well obviously it's uh the week of Thanksgiving and so I wanted to start with just saying some words of of thanks. You know to our um to our parents, thank you for entrusting us with your children and um you know there's nothing more important than an education and it's a responsibility we take very seriously. I know our school board does which is why you hear the great questions and discussion here tonight. Um, I know our parents send us their best and and are counting on us to help them make them even better. And our kids, you know, we got three awesome kids over here. Our kids are the best. They're just the best. Like I always say, on their worst day, they're the best. Um, and they're a little feisty when they compete with each other. I did learn the other day. Um, but you know, I do want to thank our students for their commitment. I mean, they they're the ones who make it so special. And of course, our staff. Our staff go so above and beyond in in many ways, whether that's our our classroom teachers, other staff in our offices, the meals, all the things that happen. There's just so much activities, athletics, there's too many things to list, but our staff uh show a level of commitment that is second to none. And our leaders, too, as well. So, I just, you know, want to say thank you to everybody for making uh this such a great place to work or go to school. And um I hope everyone has a great holiday season. And I know it's not always without stress. And so hopefully if it is stressful, we can manage that stress and and find the joy in this time of year. And I just think in in this unique place where we are, we have a lot to be thankful for. So uh and thank you to the board for entrusting me to to do this work with this incredible team. They sure make it a lot easier. I I you know, I I call them the brain trust because they're so talented. So uh anyway, so some quick updates. I'll be brief here tonight. I just want to make sure people know that kindergarten kickoff is right around the corner. What an exciting time to gear up for kindergarten. Having three kids of my own, I remember each one of those starts and and how fun that is. And we really are committed to partnering with our families and making sure it's a good strong uh start. So, both schools are are holding those nights um information sessions, chance to come in. You can register and enroll uh see the schools, hear from staff. Lincoln Center will be doing that on January 27th, which sounds far away, but next time we're together is December. So, making sure people hold that date and get that on the calendar. And then at Caposia, January 28th at 6:00. Um, it's it's kind of fun having only two elementary schools and being able to tell a parent, you cannot go wrong. So, whichever one of those sites you're going to be taking your child to, uh, they'll they'll do great. We'll have interpreters on hand, computers to help with registration, just trying to really help be a one-stop shop and make that an easy transition in. Um, I love this picture. Uh, Paul, I got to hand it to you for the the babe the blue ox and the Paul Bunan costume. Um, we love engaging with our community. That was my fourth year out there for the great Halloween get together. I was not sure, you know, we've frozen ourselves quite thoroughly the last three years. And this year, uh, you know, rain was the weather. And thankfully, our team had just gotten this great new tent that that's actually was put together with one of those crickets cuz we're very resourceful in Sal St. Paul. We don't pay the top dollar. We just get creative and do it ourselves. But it was so much fun. And I was actually in one of the elementary buildings uh recently and one of the kids, I saw you on Halloween. So, um, but that was the most people by far that I've seen in four years. So, rain is not going to slow down Saul St. Paul from getting some candy and celebrating Halloween. So, um, but appreciate our our city partners and Deb and others who set that up. Pretty easy for us to just set up right outside our door there and and spread some joy and of course hand out some some Packer swag. Um, as far as engaging, we often talk about, you know, our our pride in serving from birth to earth and really wanting to make sure our community knows uh we are committed to our families, our community at all stages of life. And one of the fun things we do is host uh baby showers. So, we do that a few times, a couple times at least a year. Um, and so here's a picture from uh one of those we had it uh this morning here actually. And so, when they come, of course, we got to hand them some Packer swag, like a Packer onesie. Um, but more importantly is the resources, getting our families connected to community resources, helping them know about screening and other opportunities, uh, early childhood family education. I got somebody in the room who often talks about how much he learned during his early childhood family education and how those lessons still work even when your kids are in college. So, uh, please engage in that if you haven't taken that opportunity. If you miss today's, there will be another one in March 10th. And it doesn't have to be a newborn baby all the way up to a year. We want to get you anytime in that first year and frankly come anytime because we want to welcome you in and get you in cuz once a packer always a Packer. Um engaging our students is also a super important piece. And I I love getting to visit the CLC. Um just the creativity that Robin and her staff have over there to try some different things. And so one of the things they do is what they call an exterm where they go really deep into a project and allow the kids to earn um a really focused credit. So it's not going back to try to backfill something, but doing something really neat and new. And so the the challenge they had was to build a better snack challenge. So I got to pop over there and see the kids um trying to come up with some new food products. But what they really got to do is learn all aspects of the food. So the production, nutrition, uh product design. So it integrates, you know, health and science and art and marketing and so many different things. And there were a few ideas that were like, okay, we might have to trademark those. So there were some fun ones. I won't give them away because I don't want any of our students to miss out on, you know, making millions of dollars off of their new ideas. But again, just shout out to the CLC team for uh helping the kids do that. And they got to share those presentations. And and you can see here the community members uh what does that one say? Mango dip. So, I I did not see the mango dip. So, I'm kind of curious to see what that one would have been. Um, of course, we want to give our kids lots of opportunities to learn and explore as we're educating them. And so, what I've loved, um, one of the things that's been hard coming off of the pandemic, I know it's a little ways behind us is still getting out in the field trips and the kids love to do those, but I love that we get creative and bring, you know, opportunities into the school as well. And so Caposia had uh magic of science held assembly by mobile ed productions. And so they use magic to keep the kids interested but really are focusing on real life science principles demonstrations with chemistry, magnetism, physics, math. So really applied but in that fun way of you know helping the kids kind of get to come on stage and be junior magicians and exploring how the tricks work because we know they're all illusions. There's no such Wait, sorry. Magic is real. Never mind. It's real. Uh, but it's fun to see them getting to engage that way. So, shout out to our our team there for bringing that in uh for them. I know the next one is something that Miss Borg has been very passionate about as part of her work to really educate the whole child and so they've been partnering with Youth Frontiers and I've worked with them in the past both with my staff and students myself when I was a middle school principal. And so, they do these retreats. this retreat um centered on developing courage and making responsible choices despite the fear we may feel in that space. Um so they do group activities, small group discussions, presentations, um opportunities to share and kind of get real. So they identify personal fears and understand that everybody has those and how to manage that and committing to acting with courage to help improve the school. Um I should uh also say that the South St. Paul Educational Foundation has been a big supporter of this. This is kind of that wheelhouse that they have where they can help bring in some of these extra little things that um might not be so possible if if we didn't have the the funding from them. So, uh shout out to our middle school for really thinking about how to educate the whole child and our ed foundation for helping us make that that happen. A few important dates coming up. There is no school for the rest of the week. We've got conferences, some professional development going on, grading, things like that, and then we go right into the the holiday. Um, our next meeting is uh a business meeting. It's a little out of our normal sequence because we just have the one meeting in December. So, we'll have that on the 8th and then winter break right around the corner. Uh, again, talked about conferences happening and then we've got uh PTA meetings coming up on December 2nd and 8th at Caposia and Lincoln. Love to have our families leaning in. appreciate uh those who engage that. Um secondary January 22nd will be uh conferences and then we get some spread some spirit with spoolic week which is uh the 26th to the 30th and then ath athletics and activities. The theater one acts come January 17th and 18th and those are always super cool totally studentled planned and run and just get a a great opportunity to showcase the many talents of our kids. As always, you can find out any just about anything you would want to find out about our district on our website. It's a great website, but certainly can keep up with our board. There's a section there so you can follow what's going on with our board, the minutes, the agendas, all those things are there. And lots of great things to be thankful for as we go into the Thanksgiving week. >> Thank you, Dr. Zamrino. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next, I am looking for a motion to pro approve the consent items on tonight's agenda, which include the financial claims, bills payable, and staffing as presented. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? All right. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries 6. Thank you. This evening, we have a series of policies on our agenda for review. District policies play a critical role in the governance work of the school board. All district policies are available on our website under the about us tab located within the schoolboard section under SPS policies. Nine of these policies are up for approval tonight. Policy 532 and 905 were initially reviewed by the board policy committee on September 29th and then by the full board at the October 27th business meeting. The other seven were reviewed by the board policy committee on November 17th and had no to very minor changes such as updated legal citations. At this time, I am seeking a motion to approve the policies listed on our agenda this evening. Do I have a motion? So moved. Thank you. >> Second. >> Thank you. The policies for approval tonight are number 204, school board minutes, 209, code of ethics, 210, conflict of interest, schoolboard members, 211, criminal or civil action against school district school board member, employee or student. 516.5 Overdose medication. 518 DNR DNI orders. 521 student disability non-discrimination. 532, use of peace officers and crisis teams to remove students with IEPs from school grounds and policy 905 advertising. Any discussion on these policies? All those in favor of approving them, please say I. >> I. Opposed. >> Policies approved. 6. The next two policies were initially reviewed also by the policy committee at the November 17th meeting. They're on their second of three readings. These will be up for approval at our December 8th meeting. Your policy 208, development, adoption, and implementation of policies and policy 905, student medication and teleaalth. All right, moving on to business items. We have five business items this evening. First up, I am looking for a motion for approval for the South St. Paul School Board to approve the agreement with the South St. Paul Teachers Association local number 861 collective bargaining agreement for the contract period of July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2027. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Hi guys. All right. And I would like to invite Charlie Cook, executive director of human resources to speak to this. Welcome, Charlie. Just a vote. Is that just a motion? >> Thank you, Dr. Zamino, chair human, and rest of the school board. Um the school district has reached a tenative agreement with um South St. Paul Teacher Association for the contract period of July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2027. South St. Paul teachers voted in favor of the proposed contract on Tuesday, November 4th. Um the proposed agreement is within the parameters established by the board of education. Um the components of the settlement have been provided to the school board and bargaining unit has voted in favor. The agreement includes the increases to the step and lane salary schedules of 2% in year 1, 2% in year two along with an increase in longevity and some um language cleanup and changes. >> Any questions or discussion? I I just wanted to say that um too often at the school board we're sort of at a very high level. The people that are really changing the lives of our students are really the people who are on uh the front lines and they they um include but are not limited to our teachers across the district. And so um ensuring that we are supporting our teachers is very important. And so I just wanted to um congratulate both um you um Charlie as well as um as well as our teachers union um for coming up with an agreement that will honor their work as they um really are on the front lines to improve the lives of of students across our district. Um as a school board, we we want to ensure that these contracts are fair. Um, but it gives me great confidence that you're coming forward with a collective bargaining agreement that was agreed to by both the district and and the employees. So that that both this and the next contract um it just um leaves me with a lot of admiration and gratitude for your work and the work of teachers across the district and so I wanted to say thank you and I will be enthusiastically supporting this. >> Thank you. >> Yes, very supportive. Any other comments? All right, then let's vote. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Opposed. Carry. 60. Excellent. You stay there, right? All right. Uh, next, I'm looking for a motion for approval for the South St. Paul School Board to approve the agreement with the principal association collective bargaining agreement for the contract period of July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2027. And I'm happy to hand it back to you, Charlie. >> Great. Yeah. So again, um the school district has reached a tenative agreement with the South St. Paul Principles Association for the contract period of July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2027. Um the principles voted in favor of the proposed contract on Wednesday, November 19th, and the proposed agreement is within the parameters established by the board of education. The components of the settlement have been provided to the board. Some of the highlights of the settlement are the increases to the step and lane salary schedules of 2% in year one, 2% in year two along with an increase in longevity and 403 um B match. >> Any questions or comments regarding this contract? >> Another another good one. >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I opposed. Carry 6. >> Great. >> Okay. >> Next item. I'm looking for a motion for approval for the South St. Paul School Board to approve the 202526 student teacher agreement with Concordia University. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Thank you, Charlie. A uh student teacher placement has been coordinated between Concordia St. Paul University and South uh South St. Paul School District beginning April 2026 to finalize the student teacher placement approval of this agreement between Concordia St. Paul and the South St. Paul schools as necessary. The agreement and placement align with South St. Paul school um students teaching policy 437. >> Any questions or comments? All those in favor, please say I. I >> opposed. Also carries 6. >> Yeah. Great. >> Thank you, Charlie. >> Thank you. >> Next item. I'm looking for a motion for the South St. Paul School Board to authorize the superintendent submit all required information to the Commissioner of Education to request review and comment for acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities for a May 2026 election. The project will be financed the issuance of school building bonds if approved by the voters. Do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Thank you. And I'd like to invite Dr. Zabino to speak on this. >> Yeah, thank you, Chair Humeman. Uh, as we were talking about at our work session, this just allows us to submit potential projects to the Department of Education who needs to review those comments and review those projects to make sure they're in line with uh MDE policy, state statute, etc. Um, I it's the timing on this one's a little different from what we've kind of hear like you think of some of our operating referendum or other things. we really need to get the the projects to the state now so we can get approval um that that is due by December 23rd and then if we're moving forward with the with all those projects that would come to the voters all the way out in May. So, I know there's some question marks and just want to make sure people know we will have tons of information available, but really this is all largely focused on maintenance. And so, as a reminder for those who are uh with us, uh we did have a facility study done back in 2022 that identified a quite comprehensive list of projects that need to be done. We then facilitated uh a stakeholder and uh group of staff, families, uh community members to to review those projects and decide if this is something that they think we should move forward with. There was 100% support for moving forward because everybody knows uh we really want to maintain our investments and so this is what that's what this is about. Um and so but they were very clear and trust experts to determine what the priority order is of those projects. And so we've been working with Wold as our architect to help us and Mark our head of buildings and grounds and RA our executive director of finance and operations identify those projects. A lot of things, a lot of HVAC, electrical, plumbing, just the types of things you would imagine when you have a high school that has parts of it that are over 100 years old or Lincoln Center that's almost 75 years old now. So our buildings, our team does a great job of keeping them looking great, but behind the scenes, there's some aging infrastructure and just like at home, we got to take care of those investments so they last for the next generation. So that's what this would allow us to do is get that information to MDE for review and then we would bring that back to you all uh once we hear back from them. >> Good, good, good, good. Uh any further comments, questions? Director Comics. Um I wanted to just say that you know um we have some wonderful um well also historic facilities here at South St. Paul um that are in need of maintenance and every time um and if we wait um the more we wait the less projects we're going to be able to do. Um inflation is too high. Um but construction inflation is even higher. And so, um, by delaying the maintenance of our facilities, we're only, um, increasing the cost of that maintenance and we're also, uh, limiting the amount of maintenance that we can do. Um, and so I am I, you know, I will be supportive of this tonight. I did want to ask um Chair Humeman and Superintendent Zambbrino um will uh before this goes on the ballot, will the wording of the question um detail on the $50 million in projects that were recommended by the facilities workg group and a communications plan to ensure the community knows about the needs of the facilities in our district. Will that um be something that will be brought back to the board um prior to being it put on the ballot? >> Yep. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Yes. >> Any further questions? >> All right. If there's no further discussion, then all those in favor of supporting that Dr. Zimbrino can submit our information to the commissioner of education, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> All right. Move 60. Please engage in that work. Thank you. >> All right, the fun one. I am looking for a motion for approval for the South St. Paul Public School Board uh South St. Paul Public School Board to approve the new high school courses proposal. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Thank you. Second. >> Second. >> All right. And I'd like to invite Principal Oaki and Natalie Tortlet. Yes. Uh to share these new courses with us. There are so many letters in your last name, Natalie. It's gonna I'm gonna own that. >> Chair human school board, Dr. Zambbrino, the greater Shakool community. It's our pleasure. Come on, Natalie. Be close to me. Right. To be here. Uh they saved the best for last. >> There we go. >> Okay. uh for the new high school course proposals. Just as you know, uh every year we ask our teachers, what are some things that we could do differently uh to help our our students uh meet our packer pathways, the tri district caps programs or engage in real world learning, empower them uh and continue to empower them. And so we ask teachers, do you have a course idea uh that either right allows our kids to discover their passions and grow or do you have a course idea that allows that adds on to our pathways? And so we have our teachers complete a 23 question Google form that includes background information and rationale for their courses, where it aligns with our courses, how it will impact our current courses, if it will replace it, delivery methods, and a lot of other questions that really dig deep into the the courses. This year we had four new course proposals. Uh the first one is Arabic language and culture and this one is about uh it's an elective which will introduce our students to the Arabic language including the written alphabet and sound systems. Students will learn basic listening, speaking, reading and writing skills necessary to communicate and explore cultures and aspects of the Arabic speaking world. So it's a year-long class. It's an elective class and it's for grades 9, 10, 11, and 12. We also have a Latino studies group uh studies class, an elective course that explores the history, the culture, the social issues of Latin America and the people of Latin descent in the US. Uh typically this type of course is inter interdisiplinary and it will have some film, some literature, some historical historical documents to take a look at uh the history of our Latino students. It's a one trimester course and it's for grades 10, 11, 12 and it's an elective course. We have a bilingual podcast for our packer community. So this class will create on in and creating a a podcast from our students of South St. Paul. Uh students will work in small groups to research topics, design and produce a bilingual English Spanish p podcast. Each team will include English and Spanish speakers who will work on the the audio files and transcripts to create a podcast. It's a fullear course for grades 9, 10, 11, 12, and it is an elective course. And then last but not least, we have the introduction to Ojiway. It's a course uh that will introduce our students to the Ojiway language and culture. It will uh introduce them to practice basic vocabulary and phrases needed for everyday interactions and greetings. and students will learn more about the Ojiway culture and identity. So year-long class for nine grades 9, 10, 11, 12, and it's an elective course. So things that I need you to know, right? One, I'm really excited about the offerings and the new possibilities for our students. Approving the courses tonight does not guarantee that the class will run next year. Approving the course proposal does guarantee that the courses will be an option for our students to select in the registration process. Uh and we as the SSP high school administration recommends a board approve these new courses. Questions? >> Any questions? Eric, you're coming >> just um I uh you know the school board diving into curriculum is is something that I um I guess we appreciate the heads up, but also it it gets to be this place that um we really rely on you um as our um school administrators to ensure that our students are learning and that we have a high level of academic excellence. Um, and so just wanted to I think we saw in the last slide that this is your professional recommendation as an educator um that this is going to um do the best for our students and I'm seeing you nod your head. >> Yeah, sorry. Yes, >> you um and this is aligned with our mission, our benchmark set by the board and it will promote a culture of educational excellence. >> Absolutely. and we actually prepare our students for the global society that's out there. Yes. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Weber. >> I I just would like to commend you for seeking feedback on new and exciting um places to go. I remember last year when we had this discussion and you had 11 new courses. Um and I've heard rave reviews on like some of the courses that were new um new this year and people saying like, "Can you believe we get to do this in our high school?" like it's not just you know math and you know biology or whatever that there are because I think it is these type of unique courses that can attract students to really want to come to school and really want to be successful um and given the option to do because as we know there are um lots of different educational ways that students can be entertained um and if we can provide them in our own school hopefully we can keep some of those students um into our into our place. So just I just congratulate you and your staff of like being innovative enough to seek feedback beyond the traditional, you know, math, science, reading things. >> Yeah, it has been really cool for us. Uh like you said, we offered uh we I came last year and asked for 11 for you guys to approve 11 courses. We ran nine of them. Uh, one of the courses that I I didn't really know how our students were going to respond was the play production. Uh, not only did they do an amazing job, I got to observe uh, a couple of times, but they went to our elementaryaries and performed the plays, the plays that they wrote, that they designed, that they created the lighting and the music for, right? And then turned around and gave it right back to our own community and said, "Kids, you come to South St. Paul High School, you get to do this kind of thing." It was very cool to see that whole thing come full circle. So, >> thank you for the opportunity being offered again. >> What's that? >> Is that class being offered? >> Absolutely. Trimester 2. Yes. >> Good. Good. >> Yes. That one actually has enough kids for all three trimesters. So, yeah. >> Wow. Good to know. >> Yes. >> Um, yes. >> Yeah. Principal Oaki. So, do you have a set number, excuse me, of students that you want to or a ballpark in your head that if we don't get this number, we're not going to be able to offer it? And let's say you get 10 people that wanted the course, it's not going to be offered. What kind of time frame or what does that look like for those kids to get another course, then are they under a time crunch to register for something? >> Yeah. So when we register our students, we'll give them the option after you guys approve, right, for them to take this uh take these courses. We look at like 22 to 25 kids in order to run the course. Once we realize that we're not going to be able to run a course, we actually meet with those kids. Our counselors meet with those kids and say, "This course is not going to be offered. Here are some other courses that you can take." So when they leave at the end of the school year, they have a good idea of what are the courses that there are they are signed up to take for the following year. And there's counselors helping if they're not scrambling like, "Oh my gosh, what am I going to take now?" >> No, they only scramble at the beginning of the year when they come in and they're like, you know, I I took this course cuz my sign significant other was taking it and we are long no longer together and we need to not be in that same class. Yeah, maybe that happened this year. >> Thank you. >> I'd actually like to direct a question to Natalie. you'd come to the board earlier to talk about Latino studies and how it fits into the new social studies requirements and I thought I'd give you an opportunity to share that more widely. >> Yes. So, as part of the um new standards within the state um for social studies um ethnic studies is a requirement that all districts offer e an ethnic studies course in their high school. Um there's also some standards around ethnic studies that all students K12 will get as part of their social studies in within the new standards. Um but all schools in the state are expected to offer some sort of ethnic studies course that could be a very general course or it could be focused on a particular uh group within the school community and they've left the state left that pretty open because obviously different places in the state um different ethnic studies courses might be the most logical. um our social studies department is proposing the Latino studies course um based on sort of who's in our building and who could benefit from um a an ethnic studies course. Ethnic studies courses are are really exciting because they really combine um different disciplines and they kind of delve a little into history, a little into current events, into identity um um using you know social studies but also you know looking at literature or poetry or film. And so they kind of bring all of that together. And so I think the recommendation from the teachers um is pretty spot-on. And I'm and I'm hoping that there are enough students that we'll have a chance to offer this for the first time next year and the teachers will have a good time um putting that together. >> Thank you. >> I also thought the um further discussion you provided regarding our intro to a jibway offering was really interesting and so I guess give me that opportunity to share that too. Um so uh the another state requirement um is that there for uh districts that have at least um 100 uh American Indian identifying students um that we start offering some sort of language um and we hover right around 100 students um a little above a little below by the years but so we want to plan accordingly for assuming that we'll be in that 100 zone u moving forward um our liaison uh our American Indian lison uh is an Ojiway speaker and has taught Ojiway before. So this is a great opportunity for us to offer this. Um it doesn't need to be just students who identify as Ojiway. It could be any student in the school who is interested in learning um to take the course. Um and but it is uh when we look at the data around our uh American Indian students. Um Ojiway is the largest group of identif or sort of affiliation. Um and so it's a good um a good offering. Um and again I'm hoping there's enough students um we are exploring some um possibilities with the tri- district schools um because like each of our high schools have some students but not um a lot. So we are exploring some opportunities with tri- district schools to look at is that something we could offer in combination um to build a larger group of students of interest. >> Thanks. >> All right. I I just I think it's important to note, and we talked about this earlier, that these programs don't require a significant outlay of funds that whether we offer it or not, we're going to be out the money or it's going to cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is a is a win there as well. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Director Bton. All right. All those in favor of approving these new course offerings, please say I. I >> opposed. Carry 6. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> All right, our final item this evening. I want to ask our school board members to share updates on their committees or highlight any recent district activities or events they've been at. Uh start with Director Weber. >> Well, after hearing about the the Read Act and all the um literacy things, it made me sit here and and and reflect on I need to read more. I don't know. But I was just like I need like and I and actually yesterday during the very sad performance by our professional football team um I actually turned off the TV and did go to read. Um so you know sometimes you just got to turn off the TV and pick up a book. I guess that's a lesson we can all we can all learn. Um and so that was my reflection like in the moment. Um, and also I serve on the 917 board. Um, similar to what we did tonight, um, this week, 917 did approve their own teacher contracts, um, with similar parameters to the parameters we approved here. Um, and a few districts in the tri in the 917, which is nine different districts, have approved the teachers contracts, and some are still working on it. So, we'll see how that goes um going into going into the new year. Um I was able to attend the Bright Star um theater show which per usual was phenomenal. Um the students did a great job. We have a lot of talent um here in our community and just happy that we're able to um uh be able to showcase showcase that forward. Um, and for those who don't know, in order to do a Broadway show in a high school, the producer of the show has to let the rights out that you can then purchase to do this the to do the show in your school. So, Brightar, I think about five years ago or so, the rights were available and people were very excited. And just so everyone knows, stay tuned because Hamilton rights are going to be offered in 2027. So, I'm sure all sorts of really interesting productions of Hamilton nationwide will be available in 2027. >> Thank you, Director Weber. Director Cummings. >> Well, >> follow that up. >> Yeah. Yeah. the um I noticed that I uh I came out for Halloween and yeah, we um gave out quite a few soda koozies and other things, but after that went to the Hill Murray game, the Heartbreaker up at Hill Murray with our boys who did a phenomenal job this season and um uh and it was a heartbreaker, but um the season was a a really great success and I know that they've celebrated that success um recently. Um I also went to the play and it was um great. I um saw Wendy there but um we weren't able to sit together but it was um it was a another really great production by our um by our kids. Um also speaking of Wendy went to the um Ed Gala um Ed Foundation Gala and um I was um I bid on and received uh a gift certificate to Tanucci and a ride along with the police department. >> Oh. And so have not done that yet, but I'm looking forward to that. We'll see how that goes. Um and then finally, wanted to just say one thing that I was able to meet um get in the um last month was um going to the debate meet and um that was hosted here in South St. Paul and I saw um Monty left but u Monty was there and uh participated but they were debating um whether they should reduce the amount of troops in South Korea and how that would lead to stability or instability in Asia. Um, and they did a phenomenal job. And so Olive and Sydney, who I think were talked about in the um in the the schoolboard rep's presentation, I was able to see them. And um it was just a magnificent effort. It also just showed the depth and breadth of what um South St. Paul offers um students. I'm so excited to see what they're going to do at state. And also just wanted to congratulate uh Mr. Anderson, Conrad Anderson for for his phenomenal work in coaching those um young people. The debate meet was there was hundreds of kids and they were dressed up and they were making speeches at walls um in order to prep for their um upcoming debates. It was surreal, but it was also pretty inspiring. So, congratulations to Olive and Sydney. We are so excited to see what comes up next. >> Thank you, Director Felton. >> Uh nothing to add. Thank you, >> Vice Chair Claflin. >> Thank you. Um, yes, the Halloween was a fun night out in the community and I certainly enjoyed the education foundation gala as well, seeing so many um, familiar faces and new faces was fantastic. It's such a growing um, group of people that support our schools through the education foundation. That's certainly a testament to how our community supports um education. And I also want to thank all of the staff who are um coordinating and teaching the afterchool services or afterchool programs that are part of this uh targeted services uh that Candace Burkhart mentioned earlier uh as part of student services. Um kids want to attend these programs. They are the most fun and uh yeah, kids are just waiting to get into them, looking forward to it every week. And that is um additional work outside of the school day that our teachers are doing to help our kids meet um all sorts of different goals that they have. And our students are helping each other meet those goals where math is a game, reading is fun, and social emotional learning is just integrated into the games that they're playing. And we can see our students really helping each other uh where they are strong uh helping their peers who need the extra hand to come along with them. Um I think those are just great programs and really have to thank our teachers for putting in that effort. >> Thank you, >> Director Fton. >> Yes. As you'll notice, almost everything I'm going to mention now has already been talked about, which is great. First of all, want to thank everyone for going to the education foundation gala back on November 6th. It was a wonderful event, a very crowded event. I thank all of our fellow board members and superintendent Ambbrino for coming to that and supporting the education foundation. And it was a wonderful event and I also attended that was mentioned I went to the to the theater to the musical Bright Star show as I have talked to Mr. Hollesen. My favorite thing is musicals. I just so enjoy the singing and the dancing that they do. It was a another wonderful wonderful show. Very excellent. As I already look forward to coming up, of course, not until mid January, the next theater program, which was mentioned already, the winter one act plays, which will be coming up for 6th through 12th graders, can be involved in in that that event also starting on January 17th. Looking really really forward to that. And one of the next exciting things that I will have, as you know, I serve on the senior center board of directors at Central Square. Coming up in December on Thursday, December 11th is our major lunchon. Of course, you know, we have a lunchon every month. This one is a potluck lunchon. So, we encourage many residents, adults, senior residents in South St. fall to attend that event. And of course, we always ask that you bring a food object to share with everyone there. It's always good. There's there's salads, there's desserts, there's often a couple kinds of meats and very wonderful wonderful food. So, we look forward to attending that coming up on December 11th. And also another senior event that I will be attending coming up just next week, next Thursday, we'll be going to Minneapolis to an orchestra hall. It'll be a Christmas music orchestra presentation through with Central Square and the TRI tri participants that will be attending that. Looking forward to that. So, the last thing I want to say for sure is wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your family event. Thank you. Thank you, Director Felton. Well, everything I was going to touch on has been spoken to. So, I think I also will just wish everyone an amazing holiday break. Thank you to all of our elementary teachers who are at conferences still tonight and all day tomorrow. And uh I am looking for a motion to adjourn our Monday, November 24th, 2025 school board meeting. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? All right. All those in favor, please say I. I. Opposed. All right. That closes 6. This is adjourned at 7:33. Thank you. Open.