All right. Good evening. Uh, this work session of the school board of ocel Area schools is being held in the media center at Brooklyn Middle School on Tuesday, October 7th, 2025. The work session is being audio recorded. The recording will be made available in the district website within two business days after the work session is ended. With regard to the audio recording, our communication staff has asked that we share a brief a friendly reminder. The side conversations during the work session are picked up by the recorder and can affect sound quality. Also, conversations during transitions between agenda items are on the recording as well. The intent of the schoolboard work session is to allow for schoolboard discussion of topics. Work sessions do not include an opportunity for audience members to address the board. To acknowledge attendance this evening, I'll ask that all present at the table state their name starting with the person to the left. >> Tanya Prince, school board member. >> Kim Hy, superintendent. >> Ryan Severson Hall, executive director of community engagement. Dave, school board member. >> Anthony Patteris, executive director of technology. >> Ivon Schwarzland, executive director of HR. Kella, executive director of community relations. >> Kim Monet, principal at Brooklyn Middle Steam School. >> Megan Havlac, assistant principal at Brooklyn Middle. Amy Tulsson, district principal. Naomi Cooper, school rep school board representative. >> Alia Gino, school board representative. >> Christian Vargas, school board representative. >> Take Adams, school board representative. >> Brian B, assistant superintendent for equity achievement in the high schools. >> Paula Forbes with the Finding Human Institute. Robin Francis with the Finding Human Institute. Erica Foster, school board member. >> Steve Fisk, assistant superintendent for the elementary and middle schools. Kelsey Dawson, school board member. Amy Moore, general counsel. >> And I, Thomas Burke, school board member and present. The purpose of schoolboard work sessions is to build trust and teamwork, to exchange information, and when applicable, to provide direction in order to facilitate efficient and effective decision-making at regular board meetings. Dr. Hy, will you please share your check-in? >> Yes. Thank you, Vice Chair Brooks, Chair Prince, and schoolboard members. We are thrilled to be at Brooklyn Middle Steam School today. Uh Pam, we will have Kimon, principal, and Megan Havlac, assistant principal, share more about this fabulous program here. And we also just had an incredible tour of the newly remodeled Brooklyn Middle. So ladies, thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Hy. Um I'd like to welcome Chair Prince, Vice Chair Brooks, as well as all schoolboard members, as well as Superintendent Dr. Hy and all cabinet members and members of our community. So, welcome to Brooklyn Middle School. Um, I'm Kim Monet, principal of the building and I have been the principal for about 23 years now. Yes. So, that's kind of crazy. Don't don't think about how old I am. And Naomi was one of our students. She's representing Brooklyn as well. Um, I'm here to talk about our instructional practices that we have at Brooklyn. Um, and I want to start out with our strategic priorities. And we all, this is not unfamiliar to anybody in this room at all. And that this really is the driver and the why behind all of our work. And so tonight I'm going to talk about B which is really building and nurturing a culture of achievement by providing content rich rigorous equitable and indiv individualized pathways but focusing on B1 and B2 ensuring and confirming each scholar has access to high quality core instruction and interventions across the system. and B2 improving pathways for college and career readiness to unleash student agency. So we know that that is a satellite view right about what's happening for our district and our priority is how do we get it into a laser-like view in a building. So what does that look like in a building? So at Brooklyn um to build and nurture a culture of achievement by providing content and rich rigorous equitable individualized pathways for B1. We um do teacher clarity and teacher clarity work ensures that equitable access to high quality tier one instruction and interventions across the school are established and they are shared ex we have a shared explicit blueprint of what that looks like in each and every classroom and to support with the lens with teacher clarity again B2 is that teacher clarity work improves pathways for college career readiness by making learning intentions, success criteria and relevancy of learning for students. Um, which explicitly shifts students from being passive learners to being active learners in their own learning which then look at their growth is actually really explicit about student agency. So our teacher clarity journey we have been on this path for um quite some time for a few years um and we knew that coming out of co that we had a lot of retirements that were coming up and so as we looked at our 5 to sevenyear path we knew that a lot of our teachers were retiring cuz I had a staff that was 15 to 40 years of service for AIO area schools and so we knew knew that we had to plan on new teachers taking those spots. And so that meant that I had to really think about how do I um increase our instructional process and and practice and teaching new teachers coming in what it is to work in a building and have really um really tool um um tools in their tool belt. It's what I call it. And so Megan and I had had some experience with John Hadt's work and his teacher clarity work before, but we really didn't have a handle on what that was. And so we decided in 2022 23 that we would go to John Hadtie's visible learning workshop in um in Colorado. And so we learned a little bit more about teacher clarity work. And so that was in 223. We brought it back to our building that year and we started talking about learning intentions and success criteria um and what that was and how did that look like in a classroom. What did that mean? And so we needed to make sure that teachers understood what they were teaching and how they were teaching it and being very explicit about that as well as how do we know that teachers unders or kids understand the success. And so really being clear that if teachers are clear about their instruction, then kids are really clear about their learning. And when that happens, then kids become independent and owners of their learning, right? They're in charge of that. And so as we move forward, we kind of dabbled in learning intentions and success criteria, trying to get that really solid. Well, then the second year we decided to bring our instructional leadership team because those are the ones who are going to um really bring that work to all of our staff through our PD, through our staff meetings as well as through a collaboration time. And so then we had we had them go with us and then we became really clear. So now I have some instructional leaders that are really clear about what is expected in the classroom and how to make instruction explicit. And so then we worked really hard with our staff, all of our staff, our new staff. So keep in mind that as we're moving forward, we're getting all these new staff. I had seven staff members retire one year, five another year, three another year. So you can imagine how that how that changes um the culture of your building, right? And so you really have to, you know, be really intentional about how you're going to bring people on and how you are going to onboard all your new teachers. And so then um we had some leaders that were teaching learning intentions and success criteria. And then we continued on with relevancy um why kids are learning what they're learning. And then moving through um for this year, we're still doing all of those things with learning intention, success criteria, relevancy, and now explicit teaching on critical reading strategies through AVID. So that's our journey. We're still on. So once again, why visible learning? I talked about the reason for the change is that we knew that we were having a lot of turnover in regards to retirements and that didn't that also included teachers that were being advanced into the district by becoming um district employees for um SDAS positions, ATPS coaches and other leadership positions in the district. And then our strategic insight was that we recognized the urgency that we had to build internal capacity for our new teachers. Um and then adopting high impact strategies that were really focused from John Hed's work from visible learning. He is the researcher of instructional research. And so we really wanted to hone in on teacher clarity work that really breaks down instruction so we can really be explicit with students about what they're learning and why they're learning it so they can become learners of their own learning. So some of you might be wondering like what is visible learning and how does that really situate itself in our classrooms? And so really visible learning is really a metaanalysis of all research that's being done around best practices. So high operational practices in the classroom are all studied. They're all analyzed and then it creates what's called an effect size. And so we figure out an effect size means that it's going to move kids the average growth, right? And so if something has an effect size of 04, what that means is we're going to grow them one year. Well, we know that many of our kids are starting a little bit lower than um then they're not proficient at this point and just growing them one year is not going to be adequate because we only have three short years with our kids to get them ready for high school. And so we have to grow them faster, stronger, and all these things have to happen in a very short period of time. So the reason that we chose teacher clarity is because teacher clarity has an impact size of 085. So 0.4 4 means they're growing one year and we're doing teacher clarity work. The idea behind it is if our teachers are clear on what they're teaching and our students know what they're supposed to walk out of every single class knowing what to do that they will grow by 0.85 just using that impact strategy in its whole approach. And so that's one of the reasons why we've honed so far in on making sure that our teachers know exactly what they are teaching. Our students know exactly what they're expected to learn on a surface level, on a deeper level, on a transfer level. And then we're also bringing in how do we make it relevant to our students because if it's not relevant, they're not going to really care or dive into it. And so really honing in on those three pieces while as um Kim talked about adding in some of our tier 2 and three vocabulary as well as the explicit instruction around critical reading strategies is really just helping all of these pieces that we know are going to grow our students more than just one year in the year in hopes that in the three years we can get them at grade level so that we they can enter high school ready to graduate and continue their success. So really it emphasizes that shifting focus on what teachers do and how the impact of what they do changes how kids are learning in the classroom. So we're using this datadriven framework and just so you know there's a website it's called MetaX and if you Google MetaX it's going to be your top Google hit and you can put in any instructional strategy and it will tell you the effect size of that strategy. You can go in and you can put in gallery walk and it's going to tell you what is that what is a gallery walk in the classroom? How can that impact students? It'll also tell you what is a gallery walk, how can you do a gallery walk? So, it'll give you all all of those underlying pieces as well to help set the stage. So, um these are strategies that our teachers are familiar with. We're using when we're having conversations about how do we teach that in the classroom. We'll open Meta X and say, "I don't know. Let's let's look it up. let's try a couple different things. What do we think would be the most impactful strategy to use for that type of learning? And so through this common vision using visible learning and the concept behind really making sure that every strategy we're putting in front of our students is about making sure that they're successful and that they're growing more than just one year in the year that we have them for each grade level. And so our common vision that we work with our instructional coaches with, we're working with our teachers on, and we're having consistent collaborative time around all of our PD is focused on this. All of our system meetings are focused on this. Our collaboration time, our PLT work, we're all focused on these same exact strategies and really making sure that the entire building is on board. Um, as Kim stated earlier, we want to continue to build the tool belt because the reality is we know that we have some teachers that are new to our building and we have veteran teachers and together when we put them in the room together, that's a lot of brain power that we can certainly capitalize on. So, it's really about maximizing our veteran teachers as well as helping some of our new teachers who are coming in with new strategies and making sure we elevate them in the classrooms as well. Um, so we continue to believe in just really preparing our students. Um, truly following our mission about building confidence, courage, and competence. Um, we're also really working to provide steam experiences for our students. Um, using these as outlets and different avenues for bringing in the steam aspect and the AVID aspect into all of the lessons that our students are having put in front of them. Um and we really believe that teacher clarity is one of the avenues to bring us um more growth, higher proficiency and more success for our students learning in the classroom. Uh we we feel as a building that um we if we have high expectations and believe that all students will grow exceptionally um not simply making normal progress. As we said, we can't grow them just a year each year that we have them because that's not going to be enough for our students that are coming in behind. So our core notion is that those who have high or low expectations tend to have this for all students. And so it's about raising the bar so that our teachers have high expectations because our students will meet those high expectations. Every time someone raises the bar, they'll find a way to jump over it. >> Um, and at BMS, we really truly do expect greatness both of our staff as well as of our students. We have a classroom and school climate that starts with high expectations. Um, because we know that we'll get what we expect. So if we expect a lot, we're going to get a lot out of our students. Um, and that is the BMS way. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] >> Questions. >> Um, so board members, we are uh already over but any questions? >> I do have a question. Um, I mean it sounds great. I am super that's great. Uh but like in practice like what what's an example like what would it be like what's the difference between like what makes it different? I mean you described it but like if I'm in a classroom like what would would I notice anything different or >> Well what I think is um well here's an example. Um, we had a magnet school evaluation a couple years ago and um, when they when the magnet evaluators came up to our building, he goes, "Are you a visible learning school?" And I go, "Why do I do it? Why do you ask that?" And they go, "Because when I went into your classroom, I asked I always ask students, what are you learning?" And he goes, "Well, our learning intention." So students like, "I our learning intention is this." Well, how do you know? How do you know you know what? Well, our success criteria is this and the reason why we're learning this is because of this. And I was like, exactly. So, because if if teachers aren't clear about what they are putting in front of kids, that they know where they want their students to go in their classroom. Um, kids become clear like how can I be successful? And we all want to know why we have to do something. Doesn't matter how old we are. It really doesn't Dr. Kyle and um but we really have the relevancy and when you have re relevancy for students then you're like oh I get what I need why I need this and so it really impacts students taking ownership of their own learning so then they become independent learners which is student agency right >> and that was in multiple classrooms too it was actually multiple classrooms that it happened. It wasn't just one. Every classroom that he went to, kids had that same answer. >> So, it's really about that clarity >> for both teachers and students alike. >> That's thank you. >> I get that same question at home. Um, why do they have to learn things? >> It would help parents also. >> Feel like we could learn a lot. >> Get some talking points, you know. >> That's great. And we all get to ask questions during the tour, too. So, >> right. >> The building looks amazing. >> I was just wondering if you still like base like the students ability to learn off a test like you know how you take that big MEA test. Yeah. Do you still base it off of that? >> We still have to use that as a as a point of reference, right? Because um that's a test in one day, >> right? And not not everyone tests well, right? And so there's multiple checkpoints for kids for progress in classrooms. So different um progress reports and those types of things that we want to want to do for kids as well. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. You always have to look at those tests anyway because you want to see where everyone is at and then what can we do differently, right? And how can we support students in different ways. >> Good question, Jenny. Great question. >> Thank you. >> All right, speaking of student empowerment, we're going to keep going here. So, this evening we do have our uh student school board representatives in attendance to give us to share some of their brilliance. And we're going to have Dr. Brian Bass uh introduce introduce our group. Oh. Can you all hear? Okay. Is that >> okay? Great. We had some I check in with some audience members to make sure having the microphone would be helpful and he said yes. So, we'll use uh we'll use the microphone. So, good evening. Thank you, Dr. Hy. Uh good evening, Chair Prince, uh Vice Chair Brooks, members of the school board, our student school board reps, uh our cabinet and community. So, our outcomes uh for this evening's presentation is that board members will learn about the purpose and history of the student stakeholder survey, learn about the survey refinement process for collecting student input, and learn about the role of the student schoolboard reps in the design and recommendation process. And then lastly, we'll have a a little discussion uh with schoolboard reps. So the why for this work um you may recall um in our review of some of our stakeholder survey data that some of those items you all had given us feedback on when we reviewed that data felt like they were not as contextually relevant for today's scholars and felt like they were out outdated and so that that um is a key reason why we want to revisit these scales and make sure that they speak um they speak to our scholars today. So, um, this work aligns to two of our strategic directions. Create safe, welcoming, and inclusive learning environments. That's going to be a focus of a couple of the of the items that we're going to ask students to respond to and give us feedback on. And then our second area is building and nurturing a culture of uh of achieving. So, so with that, um, we all know that, uh, when we went out to the community to get their input on attendance boundaries that they really appreciated us slowing down and holding space multiple times for them to be able to provide input. And then as a as a staff, we then made some adaptations to reflect the feedback that was given to us. Um, and we want to engage the same process with our scholars. Uh we want to get their input on the scales. Want to get their input um on safety, welcoming uh belonging and inclusive uh communities as well as student agency and future ready learning. We want to hear from our scholars. We're going to get that input. We'll go back to them and make sure we got that right and then we will go ahead and revise that. So the the concept of holding space um is equally important and valuable in this space as well. With that, um, I should, everybody else has introduced themselves. Um, so I won't reintroduce everybody, but uh, there wasn't space at the table for, uh, Dr. Tom Watkins yet, but I do want to welcome and introduce Dr. Tom Watkins, who is our data and assessment coordinator from our learning achievement department, and he will speak to our historical overview and purpose of the student stakeholder survey. I'm going to ask you all to pass the microphone down to Thank you. Got to say I was a little bit in my feels when I saw that I was going to be speaking to the historical overview. What does this say about me? Is this is the word going to be legacy next classic? Um, you know, anyway, I had some fun with it and I got over myself and I'm like, this is here for the kids. Um, I just I love how you started that whole piece with the why because that's where I was that's where my mind was too and and that's what we're going to speak to is the purpose here. Uh, and so paraphrasing Nij right everybody has heard this if you have a why to live you can bear almost any how. And so to me within our system I feel like each one of us has seen transformation happening you guys maybe in yourselves and other people that you know other students and to me that is just so beautiful right and that's really where the mission started right that's where our mission survey started was the hope of that transformation and having uh the community surrounding our young people so that they can go through that transformation. So that's really what the purpose it started with a mission um and then it also is providing site leaders with feedback and then also teachers um getting feedback. We can go to the next slide. So then 20112, that was the year where we started with this what we called the mission survey. That was really just trying to start to get student perceptions about the mission and our progress on the mission to go along with what we'd already been collecting in terms of adult perceptions and actions towards the mission. And so that was the piece that was starting to change um at that time. And so those first three scales came directly from the mission, right? And it's really still there. That's where those questions were. And then in 2314, that's when the mission survey becomes the stakeholder survey. And we add some other scales that are dealing with our priority work at that time, which we have a lot of overlap between the priority work then and what we're doing now. And the next um slide. So this was where things started to change more significantly. there was a a big movement um measure effective teaching um a major study national study that was done and there was this tripod survey that was a important part about that uh measuring effective teaching study and so research-based indicators that we now started to incorporate um Minneapolis had done a pilot with their staff and with uh students and getting those perceptions and after going through those uh uh pilot phases then we came in at that point and we decided to adopt some of those questions and scales that u Minneapolis had used. And uh so then from that time 2014 14-15 up until um 2223 we had this um teacher feedback loop. So teachers would get an immediate report once they were done with the survey and so they could get that feedback from the students um in their classes. And then uh so we uh so then in addition to having these classroom level uh scales that would be in those teacher reports, there was also a school report that would have gone to the principal that was not teacher level results, but it was school level results and maybe groups within the school to inform that school improvement process. And so they used those same questions and they were just organized a little bit differently for those different purposes. So then on the next slide, this is where we see um we really kind of stuck with that survey, the combination of the student engagement side and then the school improvement side. And that's really what we had going um through the 22 23 school year. And then in 2324, that's when we um decided to remove those um teacher level questions and scales. And um I think at that time uh it was um considered a pause or a stop. We hadn't really made a final decision about that. It's just at that particular time we were going to pause as we're going to this new survey system. Um and then last year we administered it very much in the way that it was done before. So um I think those were the main things I wanted to cover. Um and I think I'm going to hand it off to you next. Thank you. >> All right. Well, we have a great opportunity this year to be working with our students and as we introduced them at the beginning of the year, we said that this kind of program is going to be refined this year and this is one of the ways that we're going to enter into collaborating with our student board reps differently. So they are going to help us to think about what are these big areas that we want to get engage with and get more student voice and help us think about what are some of those bigger questions or bigger themes that they really also want to hear from and sort of guide the development of some of those questions. And then eventually um as we as Paul and Robin are here and partnering with the um Finding Human Institute, we are also going to then be working with them to go out and hear from a lot more of our scholars at different age groups. So you're going to hear more of this detailed process as we go on. But I'm just going to start at a high level and talk about our timeline. So as um I was asked by Dr. Hy and Dr. we've asked to think about is this something that we can do this year to work with our scholars and so that we would have these revised questions in place in February March timeline which is typically when we um administer that survey and of course the answer was yes we can. So here we are and we've gone through the first phase of this and this is all a new process for us but it is exciting and we had our first meeting um in September working together as a team thinking about what does this look like? what are some of these big questions and we're going to again share some of the specifics of that. Um so that happened in August September. We're going to be moving into launching those listening sessions. So Paula and Robin will be going out to schools talking more with scholars. They'll talk more about that. Um then we're going to be again analyzing some of that feedback with our student school board reps in the middle of the year. And then eventually um towards January, we're going to really refine some of those questions and make sure that that is in place so that we can go out and um administer those different scales and that's all in collaboration with our student schoolboard reps. So this is a new process for us and we're very excited and we'll see how this goes. So we talked about a couple of our big areas um which where we are starting which was around safety and belonging and inclusion and that's where we thought we were going to land but upon further reflection uh we had more conversation and said well wait a minute how do we really separate belonging and inclusion they're so similar and we actually also want to get some more information around student agency as well as future ready and so all of those big areas are specifically pulled out of our strategic plan and really want to think about what are these big categories that we want to think more deeply about. So that's where we're starting. Our student board reps help shape some questions specifically around um safety and belonging and inclusion. So she'll they'll be sharing those a little bit later in our presentations. So I'm going to pass it off to Paul and Robin to share more about our partnership and the process. like hot potato. >> Okay. I feel like we get to do the the most fun work of it all, Paula and I, is to really engage with the students. Um, so as Amy mentioned, we really started the process with creating the right questions. We had to be able to ask the students the right questions. And to do that, we needed the students input. So on the 23rd of September, we met with the students and we really wrestled with creating questions that were developmentally appropriate for each of the grade levels that we were going to key into. So I don't know about you all, but I had a really good time doing that because we really challenged ourselves and we pushed and we pushed each other, not only us pushing the students, but they pushed us as well as adults to really make sure we were asking the right questions so we could get to the information that we wanted. So we started there. Um, and then we will be breaking it down into grades four and five, we'll have two listening sessions. For grades 6 through 8, we'll have three listening sessions. In grades 9 through 12, we will have four listening sessions. And then the format that we're going to use is a world cafe format where we have three powerful questions that we'll ask the student groups and then we will use that information and Paula will talk that a little about that in a little bit to really synthesize the information that we collect you want to add on to the students. Okay. So for grades four and five, we wanted the questions to be easy for them to understand but still give us that more kind of powerful response too. So for safety, we thought of when do you feel safe at school and who helps you feel that way? Belonging, we thought of what has a student or teacher done that help you feel like you belong. And for inclusion, we got what could we do so that every student feels included in our school. So yeah, we made it make sure that for grades four and five, it was easier for them to think about, easier for them to, you know, process it and give us the answer that we can in the end make sure that their thoughts and ideas and problems and issues are being handled in that survey. And then for grades six to eight, we wanted to keep like the same main idea of the questions but go into it a little bit deeper. So for safety, we said if you could change one thing about our school to make it safer, what would it be? Um, for belonging, when have you felt heard in spaces with students or adults at school? And for inclusion, what are some ways you have personally included others or seen others include you? Um, so for so with these, um, it's asking for specific examples. Um, because if we get specific examples, we hopefully like replicate that to make even more people feel as safe and like like feel safety, belonging, and inclusion. >> Now we're in the high school level, so we're in grades 9 through 12. Um, so we delve a little bit deeper and we try to touch on more specific stuff so they can answer it and hopefully it's understandable since we wrote the questions. For safety, um, what does feeling safe at school mean to you physically, emotionally, and socially? For belonging, we have. Have you ever felt heard in spaces with people in power like principles, teachers, or district leaders? And what difference does it make for inclusions? We had imagine our school as a place where all students feel included. What would it look like, sound like, and feel like? And how could you help it make it happen? So, we want people to really like dive deep cuz we know they can think. They wrote essays. They can't do this. Like, we want them to just get into it. Do I hand it back to you? You need it, too. So, I don't know how many of you have participated in a world cafe. Um, but it's a really fun process with powerful questions that they've developed. And what we ask people to do with big sheets in the middle of the table is to play, doodle, and draw and really have conversations about each question. And then they change tables and they have another question. And you take all of that collective energy. We always say that the right people are always in the room. Whatever happens happens and whatever shows up shows up. So the information that we get from those world cafes, we'll take all of that raw data back and have a synthesis workshop. We put all of the um table posters, everything that the students talked about in the room and we will come back all of us and look at it and say what is it telling us to do? What are they asking for? What are the answers to these questions telling us in the direction that we need to take? We will synthesize that into recommendations for questions and those will go back to you Tom the right survey question um and give the students an opportunity to look at those questions again before they get developed into the survey um come January and February. >> All right. So that's the update on the survey design process, a little flavor of the questions um that we'll be posing to students. And then um this next part is uh for our student schoolboard reps to share a bit more perspective from you all about what it means for you to be involved and engaged in this process. You have these questions ahead of time, but uh I'll I'll I'll pose the first question to you and just give you a chance to to share if you feel comfortable sharing. When you think about sharing your voice in this process, what would you like the end result to reflect at the end of this? What would you like the end result to affect based on your reflect based on your your voice in the process? >> Could they name their school again to my name? Thanks. >> Yeah. Okay. So, I'm Hikma Adam and I represent AIA Senior High. And for me, I would like the end result to reflect um just help students who are in my position, students who kind of have the same problems or similar issues get better um help and better kind of fix that problem towards that. >> My name is Christian Vargas and I represent OALC. Um, being a part of this process means a lot of things, but I want the end result to show that us as students can make a really big impact and how our voice is really important to everyone at this table. >> My name is Aliyia Ja and I represent Maple Grove Senior High. Um, and I think I want the end result to be to be some like action steps taken because we're spending a lot of time and effort like creating these survey questions and making the survey for students to take. But at the end of the day, if we just giving them the survey and leaving it, we're not really making much of a difference. So, I hope that with the data that we collect from the survey, we're able to do things with it to make the schools like more inclusive. My name is Naomi Cooper. I'm from Park Center. And I just want there to be I I wouldn't say clarity, but more like more visual action cuz let's just start with BMS. You can clearly see something happened in this school. Like this room did not look like this here. That's like that's visible change. And I feel like students need visible change. They don't see all this. They don't see the board meetings. I don't think they want to see the board, but I think they want to see that something's happening. Like we're we're not dumb. We we obviously see stuff is going on in our school and we see problems, but some people are too afraid to speak up about it. So to have like to see or know that people are doing something about a problem you have, it really helps people like genuinely. >> Hold on. Hold on to just hold on to the mic. I'm going to use my teacher voice. >> Yeah. >> All right. Um, our next question, if the survey could help improve one part of your school experience, safety, belonging, and inclusion, student agency, or future ready, which would you pick and why? >> Do I got to answer it first? >> Um, wait, hold up. Can you explain student agency? So student agency would be your your confidence and your ability to navigate whatever learning is in front of you or whatever challenges are in front of you. >> Then you know how to advocate for yourself, advocate for how you learn best, advocate for what would support you as a scholar. >> I think student agency mainly because um safety isn't an aspect I'm too worried about. I mean, I feel safe around my classmates. I feel safe around my teachers. So, I think we're fine on that part. Um, we have a really strong community at Park Center. I feel like if you go to any activity, they'll be like, "Oh, we're like family." I say the same thing. So, they're really stealing my my quotes here. Um, but I think student agency, there's a lot of confidence in our school, but not a lot of, how do I put this? Um, I would say, "Oh, yeah. I'm I'm going to maybe it's future ready. I'm going to go to college and do this. I'm going to They try They just kind of like junior year and then whip you around to senior year and they're just like, "So, what college are you going to?" >> I don't know. So, I think there needs to be a little more preparation, but not too much. Cuz if you keep on shoving it in my face, I won't want to do it. Um, I think for for Maple Grove Senior High, um, I would want the survey to help improve belonging. Um, because I go to a school that's 70% white and 30% people of color. Um, and it doesn't always feel like that. A lot of the time it feels like it's like 90% white. Um, and that would be fine if we had more inclusion at our school. um because we lack the diversity and I know there's not a lot we can do to change that without like changing the district lines or like of who goes to which school. Um but I feel like if every student despite their skin color or like their religion or whatever about them was able to feel included in school, like if they felt like they belonged, then that would almost go hand in hand with that safety. Like they would feel safe because they would be around people who they felt included by. Um, and then also with that, I feel like that also connects to student agency and future ready because if I feel like I'm included and I feel like I belong and that I have people around me that support me, then I will be more likely to speak up and advocate for myself and have that agency. Um, and also like prepare for my future and talk to counselors and social workers and teachers about my future. Um, but I feel like without the inclusion, a lot of people don't feel comfortable doing that. So, I really hope it can help improve the inclusion, not only for people of color, but just for anyone who feels like excluded. >> So, representing OALC, I think the thing that could improve the school with the survey would be belonging. It is only a building of 200 people, but I believe that there are a lot of people that think that their voice is not valuable or they don't know how to get it out or that they struggle to trust teachers, peers, or any counselors or staff for that matter. So, I think if we're able to create questions and actual ways to involve them and make them feel belong, then they'll start to open up and interact with each other. And that's what I would love to see at OALC this year. um for AIA senior high. I think that I would like it to improve the student agency and I think this because for me at least um I would feel more com like throughout the school years I would feel more comfortable if you know the work in front of me or the being like what Naomi said being college ready especially junior to senior year. It's kind of hard when they push you and they say, "Oh, okay. Now you have to apply to colleges." So, I feel like the student agency I would feel more happy if it was approved. >> Y'all need to drop the mic. [Laughter] >> Yes. I want to I want to clap. Uh but I want to before we clap, I want to I want to hand it over to board members um to see if there are questions. Um this this is absolutely a time we want to be in discussion and dialogue. I know it's important that you all have really wanted the opportunity to have our scholars at work sessions to be able to have some back and forth conversation. So, we'll hand it over um to Vice Chair Brooks to um facilitate that discussion from board. >> Thank you. Uh Dr. Bass, you said you would use your teacher voice and it sounded the same. >> Just saying. Um, I I love when the students are here. Um, so I definitely have questions, but >> uh, board members, anyone want to go first? >> Uh, I'll go first. And I I think this is, you know, both for students and everyone else. So, we're talking about kind of incorporating, let's turn this into survey questions, right? But is there an opportunity to have these more kind of, you know, qualitative questions like now that we have, you know, AI and things that can kind of summarize this data and stuff like that? or >> any anything like that that we can do. >> You're asking the same question I was going to approach. I do think we have tools that we didn't have before. The person sitting next to you would be able to um Yeah. So I I do think open-ended is a very good possibility. Lots of, you know, short answer type things. It all depends on what we're building towards and so what we just heard is going to be super helpful for, you know, building towards that. >> Yeah. Because I mean this was awesome. I'd love to hear it like 500 more times, you know what I mean? So, >> yeah. >> To to that end, I think we would probably want to see what the report out is from the World Cafe and kind of what we learned there and then and then, you know, goes into the survey that we can administer based on that. But I think they'll be really interested in that. >> How do you how are you identifying which students participate? Um, >> so, uh, grades 4 through 12. And then, um, we're going to we're going to get into a nerd conversation, um, with data and assessment to make sure that we have a random sampling that reflects the uh, demographics of our district. So, regardless of which school we're at, we'll have um, student demographics reflect the entirety of the district. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, it won't reflect that school. It will reflect reflect the district >> population. >> Okay. >> And can I ask why that is? Why wouldn't you reflect the school population? >> We wouldn't want to. Well, Tom, you probably could speak to the bias part of it, but >> yeah, a lot of it just comes back to the size of the sample that we want to pull and um resources to be able to draw students. to make inferences about particular schools, you have to have a way bigger sample, right? And if the purpose of this is a district-wide survey, >> then really that's our primary interest. That's the way that I'm viewing it. Anyway, I don't know if that's consistent with how you've been approaching it so far, students or >> very much other questions. >> Was that the sampling for the world cafe? Is that what you were asking for? >> Yes. >> Okay. So then it's just going to be a random sampling of everyone in the district. >> Talk a little louder. >> Sorry. A random sampling of everyone in the district. >> Just Okay, that's all. >> So it's a random sample of everyone in the district. >> So like perhap >> cuz originally I thought it was per school, but that might change. So when we think about the diversity of our student demographics, right, we want to make sure that in each of those situations that we're that the students who we're inviting into that space reflect our student population, reflect the overall percentages of our school district. >> Okay. >> Does that make sense? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Um >> be proportionate, >> right? >> Yeah. Um but then my question is like if we and I brought this up when we first discussed it. Let's say we have a population let's say um in our sampling there's like it's mostly like I use this example cuz it's something I can attest to and relate to. Like it's mostly white students and like a few students of color mixed in there. I want to make sure that they feel comfortable enough speaking up and speaking out about how they're feeling. And then also if it is proportionate to our district then how are we focusing on inclusion because the people who don't feel included are the people who are part of the minority. So then they will be less represented in these world cafes if we're doing it like proportionately. So it's just something to think about to maybe like help like I don't know change that a little bit so that um everyone is able to have a voice or as many people as we can get. I think we'll we'll have a more um data science informed response when we get back on the other side of this. This is not my wheelhouse um in terms of like how we how we pull all that. But we know that we are um in terms of our overall population, we're over 60% students of color. So in any one of these sessions we would have at least 60% of our students in that space would be students of color. >> No. Yeah. But then like a different example like students who are part of the LGBTQ plus community like that would be a minority. That's not over 60%. So then how do we make sure they also feel included you know like just everybody not just students of color. >> Got it. Got it. Okay. Again we'll take that back to the team. Yes, >> I think that's a really good good point and I think and that's why you're here because we want to be able to have Yeah. from that student centered approach. So, thank you for that. >> Um, what is the sample size for the learning the world cafe? Sorry. >> Do we know that yet? >> How many students would be in each one? >> Well, total I don't know each one, but total >> our hope is that we'd have uh combi like combined across them over 150 scholars. >> Okay. And then the survey I think said it's going out to every student. >> Yeah, the survey Tom correct me if I'm wrong. Grades three through 12. >> Yes, correct. >> All right. Uh >> sorry. So to clarify, is it only one World Cafe for grades 9 through 12? And they're like in a Okay. So it's at the schools. It is at the schools. >> So it's four. >> Yep. There'll be two from four 4th through 5th, three at 6 through 8, and then there'll be the largest will be at the high school, which is four sessions. >> So, we will bring in all of the scholars at one central location for each session. >> No, no, I'm not going to separate. >> No, no, no. I think I think for for each session, right, all of the scholars would be together in the same space at that site. For example, if you're at the three high schools, right? All the students would come down to the same space and they would participate at that high school together. >> So, Palmer Lake would have two listening sessions. >> No, they would. If we were hosting a Palmer Lake, they'd only have one. >> That's what the whole Yeah. >> per site. >> But four total sessions >> at the high school. >> For the high school. >> Yeah. Palmer Lake is an elementary. Okay. Oh, Jeff. >> Did you Did you ask your question? >> Yeah, I think. Yes. >> Okay. All right. Um sorry I have one more question. Um um so with like the world cafe and everything and the survey and what we're doing after we have those discuss discussions and get the results what's our like what are our action steps to like with those results like what are we doing with them if that makes sense >> with the survey results? Yeah, because I know like the goal obviously is to improve the safety, belonging, and inclusion, but how are we going to do that is my question. Or is it like it depends on what like what responses we get? >> Wait, do you mean the world cafes or the survey? >> Oh. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. So the input from the scholars will help us uh inform how we want to refine and adapt the scale so that when the survey goes out it reflects the most current perspectives of our scholars. Now what we do with the survey data right um so there's school improvement purposes where our our our building leaders are sitting down with their instructional leadership teams at data digs and they're unpacking that data and setting goals around the data from that survey. So that's the so it's kind of twofold. One is to refine and improve the survey and then two building leaders will sit down with that with that data and their instructional leadership teams to unpack it to examine it and to set goals around it. >> But taking it a step further where every site has a school improvement plan. It would be important because this was a student engagement survey to make sure when those sites are sitting there that we have students sitting at the table. That's the new step. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. You're welcome. I would >> I was going to add that, you know, this is um a collaborative uh interest of the board. So certainly there's going to be a board accountability element to it where we're checking in and we're saying, okay, like what are we doing? We did this effort. What are what where is it showing up in the school improvement plans and things like that, too? >> Yeah. I mean, I I think one comment and one question. Um, I think one I don't I don't know if it's just me looking from the outside, but it almost feels like we're overthinking the World Cafe participation. Um, and I don't know, maybe you all have this conversation or will have this conversation, but like will there be a conversation about finding the right representation? Um, getting back to Zelia, >> Alia, >> Alia, Aliyia's point, like is there going to be a conversation about the student groups that need to be involved or the different segments of our student populations that should be represented um versus the sort of holistic um approach that to me just feels a little complex versus getting as many voices to the table as possible. Um, so I don't know, that's just I'm still processing how this is all going to work. Um, but the question I have specifically for the student reps, um, is the I think it's the grades four through five questions. So, I appreciated the varying levels of like specificity um, at the different grade levels. Uh but the grades four through five, I'm looking at the belonging and inclusion questions. I know that we've done a lot of work um around belonging in our schools, but the questions feel sort of similar. So did you have that discussion in the last meeting about the similarities between those two questions? Are we confident that um students are going to know the difference when they're responding to those >> different from last year's questions? No difference between belonging >> the belonging and inclusion for grades four through five. >> I mean if I was a fourth grade I'd be like didn't you just ask >> we could probably reform one of those to make it more specific and less like the same as the last one. >> Well what we did do is um we've combined belonging and inclusion >> since we've done this. >> Okay. >> So it's not going to necessarily be separated out. It will be so those things we've had this debate. We continue to have this debate about do we define things for students or do we allow their perception of the world to define it for themselves and let them tell us what they believe belonging and inclusion are. And if they think that it's repetitive, they'll let us know that it's repetitive. That's exactly what they'll put down on the paper. But in a way, what we want to do is we be as open and as broad as possible to allow their way in which they see the world reflect itself on the paper. And if we narrow it down, the more you narrow it down to defining it, sometimes you leave out a way that a student might see it or perceive that question. And so we can easily um create the question that would um combine belonging and inclusion since we're creating that grouping together. Um and we don't necessarily in the scales before had inclusion. we had belonging but we never had inclusion. It's the first time that we kind of broke that out. So there will be a little bit more refining done since we're going to also add agency and we're also going to add future ready. So we'll we'll um refine some of that. What's interesting about that though is that no matter how much time you spend on the question, it's always in the mind of the person that's answering it and how they answer that. And that's what the just the miracle is about this work is to be able to see how other people see the world. >> And as a like former second grade teacher, I want to go in and teach them what each of it means, right? But then I'm not getting their perspective on it. And if they have questions, we'll definitely answer questions, but we really want them to bring their voice to the table. And we want to do that in a way where Paula talks about let's leave it open and if they do have things that they're struggling with, we'll absolutely help them in that space. >> Yeah. Yeah. And we do, we walk around and they'll ask us and we'll help them sometimes with some clarity around questions if they're confused or given examples or we'll talk it out with them too, especially in grades four and five. >> But it's what's really so interesting is that um grades four and five, they know they I mean it is it's incredible some of the responses that we get from this kind of work. Well, that's what I kind of like about the the openness and that we're we do trust your facilitation to get that their voice out instead of kind of directing it into what it means. >> Yeah. I just not to be like n like words smmith or anything but I do think that like when we say teacher um I kind of liked how in high school you had like adult in the building or something only because like I even think of my own kids like sometimes I think kids can be so literal especially that Asian I don't want to leave anyone out because I think like >> yeah or like reading core or like you know some Yeah. staff member because >> just to get a >> Yeah, that's a that's really good feedback. One um thing I'd add to this is that we took a sampling of the questions to show you, but there are a lot of other questions that are going to be asked. So, however we get we'll get there >> um with some other questions, too. But we just wanted to show you what some of the questions would look like, >> but we have um three rounds for each area, >> okay, >> that students will go through. Yeah. >> Three questions for each. >> Yeah. for each area. >> I actually >> So that's a great idea to make sure you put adult in there as well. >> I would love to see even more openness and I'm assuming since you have other questions, it'll broaden that a little bit because I think um you know when you think through process it's what's the starting point and it you know they're not all at the same starting point. um which you reiterated to us. Um, but I think there's something to be said for we as a district define these in a certain way and are we lining up to how we define them in the eyes of our children and if that's not the the purpose of the survey eventually, you know, how do we want that to be defined and are those is our mission shaping the questions that we're asking the information? >> That's a great comment. Um actually the world cafe is very much aligned with um the district's u mission of holding space. Um and when you look at the first question in any world cafe question the first one is the big broad um question. The second one is how do you really are going to do it for others and the third question is the most narrow question in royal cafe which is and how am I going to show up? How am I going to do this for self? And so, um, a a good, um, example of that was recently, we just did it, Robin and I just did it for the city of Egan. >> Oh, yeah. >> They asked us to go out and ask people, "How do you thrive?" They wanted to find out how the city can help their residents thrive. So, the first question was, um, what makes you thrive or what helps you to thrive? The second question is, what are the barriers to that? what's getting in the way of it? And we wanted to get at they they actually wanted to get at race, but we didn't ask that question because we knew we would get there. >> If that was important to somebody, they would name it. And the third question was, how can you help to make sure that someone thrives in your community? What's your participation? So when you think about your the way that you look at self, others, and systems, that's aligned with how your world cafe will look um by the time we get ready to go is we'll have the big biggest one and then we'll really look at how are you going to do it for others and how are you going to show up yourself and make sure that everybody else feels included. What will you do? And I think that was the conversation that we really had around the table, which is not just to put it off on other people, but also how are we going to as students make sure that everybody feels included and belongs. >> So, >> and when I say we wrestled with questions, we really wrestled with questions and went back and forth and wordsmith. I think it was such a powerful session for us as facilitators realizing how intentional the students were about the language for the four five right for the littles about the language for the high school kiddos knowing that we really needed to be clear with our questioning and what we wanted and what we were looking for. So I think it was really a powerful >> session for us as adults as we wrestle with right >> have we ever done world cafes before or is this the first year? >> Have I ever done world cafes before? with oh with this district >> um AIO AIO's participated in road cafes um before and they've also participated with other districts combined collaboratively with other districts and road cafes and >> um I sleep on the book the world >> cafe as a pillow >> is that one they did with the high school Sunday state high school league >> that's that was the whole student conference we did FA and >> reimagine Innesota >> reimagine Minnesota we did campaign. >> So um one of the ways I'm just thinking about this to the question that you had kind of Erica whereas when we did our strategic plan we had the daily desired experiences and it was of staff of families of students. So this student survey to me is like we've invited we want the students to have student voice in the student survey because it's their definition of this. I also think about like Dr. Hollow always says um best place to learn best place to work. So in this it's the students view of best place to learn too. So we'll have I think as we keep doing our other surveys like the staff survey or the other stakeholder survey there'll be other places where it's like well what's the adult view on best place to learn. So this is in my mind like with the student survey this is the student view of that um back to like daily desired experience >> and actually um um director Tom >> we did that >> when we with teamworks remember when we did daily lived experience >> we went out and worked with students um with teamworks on daily lived experience and made sure that we there you go and made sure that we specifically to answer your question made sure that we had um a grouping of students that um traditionally did not feel included very much included in that conversation. So >> and then can you uh this is for anyone that can answer even high level the touch points. Um so when will we get updates on the road cafe analysis on the student survey results um closing the loop with students like when will we have that timeline and >> so going back to this timeline here um I think uh frequency of being updated um is as as frequent as >> can can I answer it >> please? Okay. So right after we meet in cabinet, it'll go out in a superintendent update. >> So we we'll get that out. So we'll discuss it, figure it out what it is, and then I'll send it out in one in a superintendent update. So >> but there's some natural points here by Sher Brooks where it makes sense to update you for sure along the way. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Uh the next steps um includes uh here we go. um determining our focus questions for student agency and future ready with our student schoolboard reps and then go ahead and then launch our listening sessions with scholars grade 4 to uh grades 4 through 12. Um I think we've already asked a bunch of questions. So I think we're we're here. We're here at the end. >> I just want to say I think it's so I love that you guys are doing this. I think this is this is just going to add so much. Um, and if it's ever appropriate, like I'd love to even attend one of the old cafes. >> Oh, yeah. >> Oh, yeah. >> I mean, it's be it's really fun just to be in the space. >> Yeah. >> Um, if the energy in the room is really incredible. So, um, you know, feel free to stop by and witness it. It's a wonderful thing to witness. >> I think that's why I said we get to have all the fun >> beyond the data and all those pieces. I just would like to acknowledge uh the commitment and dedication of our four student school board reps not just this evening but throughout this process being engaged being involved being prepared whatever it's taken for them to show up and show out they have done that and just grateful for each of you and we could your brilliance was on display this evening so thankfully thank thank you >> thank you [Applause] >> okay you are you're free you has to say and we'll switch over to our next presenters here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. both tripped over. [Music] Well, >> good luck getting >> Right. Right. some good points from. [Music] All right, we'll go ahead and get started because we got dead air happening on the tape right now. So, u our next we are thrilled to have uh we'll have Anthony Patternis introduce the two uh people that are with us cyber security. >> I don't know how we follow up last >> that last piece but uh we'll try and make a riveting ending work session here. >> People Okay. Okay. All right. Good evening board members. Thank you for the uh opportunity to share this important update tonight. Uh as October is cyber security month. As technology becomes more integral to teaching and learning, safeguarding our digital environment, it's essential for us to maintain trust, protecting student data, and ensuring uninterrupted instruction. Tonight, we'll provide a brief overview of our current cyber security posture, relevant or recent improvements, and the steps we're taking to stay ahead of evolving threats. Uh, I'm Anthony Patternis, the executive director of technology, and I'm going to hand it over to Gerald to introduce uh the core of our cyber security team now here in Ociary Schools. >> Uh, thank you, Anthony. Uh, good evening, um, board members. I'm Jerro, senior, the director of information systems and security for the district. My name is Gutama, a cyber security analyst for school. >> And thank you to our voters for our technology levy. Again, one of our core components is helping to ensure we have um a quality cyber security program to protect um what we do. Um and we, you know, last year we had Gerald step into the cyber security role. First time we had a leadership role. and uh Gudma is our first ever cyber security analyst. So again, as we continue to look at having the right people and the right resources in conjunction um for serving and supporting our district, um we're very excited about the team we've got together to really move some of our work forward. Today's update will focus on three key objectives. Helping the board understand the current K12 cyber security landscape and why it matters. providing insight into the current state of cyber security within AIO area schools and ensuring the board is aware of the proactive work underway to protect student data, secure systems, and prepare for emerging threats. These objectives will guide our discussion and give a clear picture of both the broader context and our local efforts. In the next several sides, we'll explore the national trends occurring with cyber security specific to the K12 sector. In recent years, uh the types of malware targeting schools have evolved significantly. Last year in 2024, we shared that the most common threats were uh a a a malware threat called Quakebot and Coin Miner, which spread through spam emails or exploiting system weaknesses through a lot of fishing. Uh this year, we're starting to see a significant shift in those attacks. Um so has become the leading malware in 2025. It tricks users by posing as a fake browser update or hiding in malicious online ads, making it harder to spot and easier to click. Looking ahead, new malares like Nano Core and ZPHP are emerging. These threats are more sophisticated and highlight how cyber risks in schools are becoming increasingly more complex. The key takeaway is that attackers are constantly changing tactics and we need to stay proactive to keep our systems and data safe. Last year in 2024, we shared that most cyber attacks started with mal spam, that's spam emails carrying harmful links or attachments and combined methods like drop malware or commonly as you've heard fishing emails. These were the main ways attackers got into school systems. Um, similar to what I shared with malware threats, what we're seeing as a significant change is uh in 2025 is that malvertisement or malicious online ads has surge now and it accounts for about 63% of initial infections. These ads look like legitimate um look legitimate but hide harmful code and they often appear on websites that seem safe. The shift shows how cyber criminals are adapting. They're targeting everyday browsing habits using trusted looking website content to launch attacks. It's a reminder that cyber security isn't just about email anymore. It's about every click online. The other thing that we're seeing is that cyber attacks are becoming more strategic in the school system. Threat actors are timing attacks to coincide with critical academic periods like the start of the school year or exam weeks when schools are under the most pressure. This isn't random. Attackers now plan around school operational rhythms, showing a level of sophistication we didn't see before. They know that during high stakes time, schools have less flexibility and are more likely to pay ransoms quickly to restore systems. This actually coincided with uh we were on a cyber security information call with MNIT services this morning um which showed that schools in Minnesota had the most report of incidents during the month of September out of all the other sectors that were coming in. Um the key takeaway is that our greatest vulnerabilities come during these high pressure windows which means we need strong defenses and contingency plans ready before these periods arrive. Cyber instance in schools don't just affect technology. They disrupt essential services that families and the wider community rely on. When systems go down, things like meal programs, transportation schedules, and emergency communications can be interrupted, creating real challenges for students and parents. That's why we're focused on service continuity planning, making sure critical services keep running even during a cyber incident. And we're going beyond recovery. Our goal is comprehensive resilience planning. Recognizing that schools are a vital part of community infrastructure. Protecting our system means protecting the stability and safety of our entire community. Uh something that this board usually engages in is kind of the legislative conversation. And so there have been some nationwide trends. Uh there's a Kosen K12 legislative report that is attached in your board packet to kind of highlight across the country lawmakers are introducing measures to strengthen cyber security and education. These efforts include establishing centralized oversight to ensure consistent standards across districts and requiring schools to carry cyber insurance as part of risk management. States are also investing in workforce development by funding cyber security training and staffing, recognizing the need for specialized expertise. In addition, new laws mandate timely reporting of cyber incidents to improve transparency and coordination, while updated regulations tighten controls on student data privacy and vendor compliance. Together, these trends show that cyber security is becoming a national expectation, and we are aligning our practices to stay ahead. Here in Minnesota, we now have a cyber incident reporting requirement to MNIT services and MNIT services is developing a more centralized response to support state, county, and local government entities through its whole of state cyber security plan. This approach is designed to strengthen preparation and response capabilities across all state governments. Um, also to note at the federal level, changes are also impacting local school districts like Oiere schools. Recent budget cuts to SISA or the cyber security and infrastructure security agencies have reduced access to previously free or lowcost resources such as IT governance assessments, cyber security threat scanning, critical security information sharing and response planning tools. Many of these resources are now unavailable or come with added costs creating new challenges for districts as we work to maintain strong cyber security protections. And lastly, the latest FBI report on the cyber crimes report highlights several important trends in cyber crimes affecting schools. Ransomware still remains the top threat uh with attackers uh locking systems and demanding payment to restore access. The most common incident in schools right now continue to still be data breaches which uh uh share s or or leak sensitive information like student records um and fishing attacks which trick staff into clicking harmful links uh or sharing credentials. The financial impact of these crimes is rising as recovery costs and downtime continue to grow. Another growing concern is business email compromise uh where attackers impersonate school staff often in finance or leadership roles uh to redirect payments or steal funds. We've also seen some of these compromise or fishing style attacks uh in our community where they've disguised as teachers going out to parents. We had a few incidences of that uh last year. Fortunately, we didn't see anything this year, but it it has occurred. Uh these trends underscore why cyber security is not just an IT issue. It's critical operational and financial risks for school. I'll now hand it over to Gerald Edwards, director of information systems and security to review with you the state of cyber security in Ocioary schools. >> Oh, thank thank you Anthony. Uh thank you Anthony. Um cabinet chair, vice chair, board members. Um one of the tools supporting our security efforts is Red Canary. Um and that is a 247 management uh d um uh dictation uh u response partner and so that partner helped us review over 10 billion data points uh totaling around 30.9 terabytes of information to identify um and address u potentially security concerns. Um last year alone we processed around 27 terabytes of data u representing a four a 14.4 increase um and um in that volume our partner has managed this has managed the skill using this cloud-based SIM technology and also a and also strategic staff allocation. Uh to put this in perspective, uh it would cost Ociary schools roughly around $163,400 per year um just in the technology just to analyze the data. Um plus staffing on top of that to review that in a 247 hour increment. Um this year Red Canary um dedicated threat assessment team um investigated 461 incidents uncovering 68 credable threat targeting targeting um our AI schools. Just two years ago we had around over 9,000 uh threat detections. Last year we were over 21,000 marking 134% 34.2% 2% increase in just threat detection alone. This year that the 68 credit u credable threats that's around a 70% increase from last year 40. U we had 17 classified high high severity, 22 mediums and 29 lows compared to last year breakdown of six highs, 14 mediums and 20 lows. And this escalation underscores the importance of our threat classification system guiding timely and effective response to all the security measures. I mean the security um threats that come in and I'll pass it over to Gurma. >> Thanks Joe. Um I think I don't need mic. I'm not good with it anyways. Um thanks to you all. Um to put our cyber security work into uh context, this slide um uh shows the need cyber security framework um which six key functions identify, protect, detect, respond, recover, and govern. We adapt this model to the district's needs, but it's a help way to see how all of our efforts work together. In the next few slides, I'll focus on three of those functions where my role is most active. training, monitoring and response. As a cyber security professional, I see training as the most effective uh first line of defense. The district has built a baseline with fishing simulations and awareness campaigns which are already helping staff spot suspicious emails before they become real incidents. The next step is expanding into ro specific training for HR, finance and enrollment since those areas are often the biggest targets. By building this culture of awareness, we lower risks before they ever get to it. Monitoring is where we we make sure nothing slips through. Red Canary analyzes more than 13 billion records uh each year and Microsoft protects thousands of devices across the district. Those tools give us broad coverage but we don't just rely on them or wait for alerts to come. As a cyber security um as a cyber security analyst, I'm sorry. I spent much of my time monitoring data flows, investigating suspicious activity, and working with Microsoft and um our other vendors to keep our systems tuned up against new threats. When an incident happens, the speed is critical. Today the district relies on Red Canary and Microsoft Defender for 24/7 detection and alerting while vulnerability assessment guide us on how to prioritize our fixes. But a strong response is not just about tools, it's about people and process. That's why we are enhancing the district incident response plan and preparing tabletop exercises with leadership so everyone knows uh the role when incident alters. In my role, I also work with Microsoft and our security partners uh to fine-tune our system so alerts are accurate and actionable. Uh thank you for your time. Uh I will now hand it over to you. >> All right. Thanks Google. Nice job. Um the we have built a strong foundation with 247 monitoring through micro defend defender red canary and other cyber security tools as well as ongoing fishing awareness efforts. Our work continues with research into threat actor trends to stay ahead of evolving attacks. Um tailor trailing tailor training for key departments. um enhance an incident response as GMA talked about that includes leadership exercises. Looking ahead, our our strategic plan focus on integrating the current security tools that we have and fostering lasting culture around cyber security awareness across the district. We appreciate your time. Um, and we'll hand it back over to Anthony and any questions that the board or any school members may have, any Catholic members may have. >> Yeah. Um, Vice Chair Thomas, we'll hand it over to the board for questions. Uh, we know there's a lot of information in the packet, whether you got to read all that in your spare time or not. Um, wanted to make sure that for you and the community in the background, we know what reports we're referencing as we continue to look at annual reports that come nationally and locally. um through a multitude of partners uh whether it's the uh cyber security information center or Kosen which is our consortium school networking focus on IT professionals across the nation does a lot of data study around here. So um we can continue to bring all that information in processing what we're doing as a team and looking at what we're doing to best protect our organization um as we move forward. >> Thank you. Uh board members questions. >> I don't I don't I don't necessarily have a question, but I I mean I think that like thank you for this. Um I know like I know my job is a huge focus on it and just happened to me. I opened like an email from like it was a school another school district my job and um it like compromised every and I sent it to like my staff. I'm like I can't open this. I did go through data security training there too and I was like can you try to open this and then both of us I mean we just couldn't even like Yeah. So I mean it's real and it's hard to like >> know because I'm like oh I know this person and you know you open it and so thank you for all of your work and it is a lot of information but it's it's >> glad you guys are on top of it. >> Thank you. Thank you for allowing us. >> Yeah. So, of the 68 threats responded to, how many of those were like had an impact or caused damage or like kind of in that example like actually like resulted in something? >> Uh, great great question. Um, the good thing is none of the 68 did anything to us because the just the response plan that we have um and we were able to remedy all of the 68. Now those 68 is broken out into like malicious which was the top one. So malicious and then as Anthony stated um out of those um 68 I think around 40 was around malicious 20 something was around the u malware and then an additional was just other um maybe like coming from another school district or some type of link. Um but um our response plan is you know we get a notification right away um and then we have an action that we take as a team. So through teams, we get that action and and within I would say a couple minutes, we already have a plan to one to put that into um like a a remediation bucket or a bucket where we could just contain it. So a containment uh once we contain that and then now we work with the user or wherever and then now to clear that information out and dispose of that information and then work with the user to get back to recovery state. >> Great. And then um where is uh the primary source coming through like to staff to through students like through Chromebooks like kind of in layman's terms. >> Yeah, it it is coming across the board. We see it from staff and from students. Um >> we saw we saw we saw an intake in in student. >> Yes. >> I mean >> this past month. >> Yes. And I I would say you know across the board and Gerald and Guma can contest. We we see probably >> one alert a day at a minimum come in related to something going on with a staff or a student account >> um in which we're isolating and containing that student account that device making sure that you know as Gerald said we're taking remediation action on it. Um, you know, when we first started our program and our partnership with Red Canary, it was a lot of staff related account compromises and it we are definitely seeing um that increase on the student side and um why we've got a lot of conversations going on around um some of the hardening um around student accounts, but how do you do that delicately when you think about a kindergartener and a first grader? um you know how complex of a password can you get before you stop being able to do anything it takes to put that in. So it's it's balancing out the level >> learning numbers and alphabets. >> Exactly. It's balancing out the level of security and protections and how do we ensure that we're not impleing the learning environment at the same time. So it's a balanced approach. be interesting to see if there's a correlation between a new cell phone policy and the new student. >> I'm just curious. >> Hey Anthony, I had a question. Um, >> so I know the the highprofile breach in St. Paul. Just wondering, >> you know, amongst because I imagine everyone kind of learns from from that. Is there any like takeaways that >> you know you guys took or the team took from what occurred there? I'll share my takeaway and then I'll let Cheryl and my share their insights. Um, >> you know, one of the things I I was excited to see that this was the first time that the linkage of everything in state resources actually came together. So, I think I wasn't caught off guard, but a lot of people were caught off guard when the announcement came out that the National Guard was coming in to assist. Well, the National Guard actually has a cyber response division that's specifically geared for coming in and supporting government agencies during the moment of a ransomware attack, but there's steps that have to go through to actually get that activated. Um, so it was for me a good takeaway is the process to get resources in place in a fast fashion outside of our district to support us are there and they function and work and can be activated um the way they they need to should we need those additional supports in this situation. >> Yeah. Um, thanks thanks for the question Steve and thanks for that. I I think one of the pieces that I mean Gouda we were just talking he's been a month here but it feel like a year probably already um but it it really it really emphasized um the importance of of knowing the job and knowing what could what could happen at any time. Um, a lot of the alerts that we get is actually after school, 7 7:00, 8, 10, 1:00 in the morning at Saturday, like we're up. Um, and so we know that, you know, that the threat actors, they're not going to go around school time. That's just it doesn't happen that way. That's more of staff. So, we know that if that happens, that's when a staff is clicking on something or something coming up. That's during the school time. But a lot of the times these things happen is after school, on the weekend, during the holiday. Um, and so that's why we have to be viligent, you know, and so I think to answer your question, it just it just reaffirms that we have to continue the job and it's an actual 247 hour job. It's not a 9 to5, right? It's like our job don't stop because that those attackers do not stop. And so what we learned from that is we just got we just got to continue to learn, continue to grow, um continue to educate oursel um and then not only educate oursel but make sure that we're educating the district. Making sure that we're educating the the the staff, the teach, right? And and the students as well and also parents, right? Like how do we educate parents on what to do because that can also affect parents. So what we're doing now is starting to build on how do we right train how do we educate everyone and and make it fun, right? Don't make it like it's is it's this scary thing. It is, but we could make it enjoyable and we could make sure that we're we're doing everything. So as we stated that when we you know um we want to leave the district, we want to be we want this district to be in a great place and we're competitors, right? And so we want to make sure too like we're number one in what we do. But that that takes a lot of work. >> Let me just add um I 100% agree with what you guys said and handles with what you said about you know take away from what happened to this uh city. So Paul um you know sometimes bad things happen and good thing come out of that. Um what I just want to add on that is that we as human beings are the weakest parts of the system that >> you say that would love [Laughter] >> I I hope I hope uh you know the out of the results the state also invest in invests in more of a training um and making sure as a state we're uh investing in teachers and you know every part of uh state level organizations or small agencies or stuff like that. So that we all understand that we are the weakest part attackers are looking for and it's very very likely that what happened to them at the state level came through us too >> probably via like a simple fishing email or someone you know come something over the phone and prompted them to click on something and a matter of one or two clicks done and something like that. Yeah. >> And and and I think you bring up a valuable point and I'll I'll leave it here, but the thing that we talk about as a team is is not like we can prevent it from not happening is are we ready for when it happens, >> right? And I think sometime we sometimes it get lost like you you can protect everything but you can't. So it's like when it happens what could we do and how do we respond and could we recover in a fast manner where we could get everything up and running. So it's not about, oh, we're going to stop everything cuz we can't and we know that. So our job is to a when it happens, how do we respond? How do we recover? >> I will say the level of sophistication in particular with artificial intelligence, the fishing emails that we're seeing now, >> um, >> you used to be able to look for words that were misspelled, punctuation that was out of place, things that just didn't line up. And you know, threat actors are using artificial intelligence and getting a hold of an existing business email and can almost identically replicate that. So it makes it harder to see and detect. >> Um the the other layer and this is talking with with another colleague in another school district. Um, you know, unfortunately the amount of attacks that have happened nationally to large companies >> with social security numbers and other information out there, um, out on the dark web, it's not about a threat actor having all of it. They take and they buy pieces and then they triangulate together which they can use artificial intelligence on. Um, one of my colleagues in another district, they had a pretty robust process for how to reset passwords and having, you know, you had to provide certain confidential PII data to do a password reset over the phone. Well, there was a caller that came in had the social security number, employee ID, and the staff name. And luckily, when they saw the person trying to to change the password, the the IP address of where it was coming from was out of country, and they're like, "No, this doesn't make sense." And shut it down fast. But, >> you know, to be able to imitate an employee now because there's been so many data breaches out there that aren't even related to schools. >> They're just pulling that information together and making profiles on individuals. >> Yeah. And a lot of that is coming from third parties, too. So, you could have a good security infrastructure, but the partners that you work with may not, right? And then how do you respond to that? Um and that's what we're seeing a lot is around third party, fourth party, fifth party, sixth party that are getting hacked or getting compromised and then we're just associated with them and then we have to respond to that. And so it's not just us, you know, protecting ourselves, it's protecting our partners as well or just responding in case our partners fall into an incident. >> Um I'm super thankful that you guys are here and you're >> and awake. Um, >> we try to make it exciting. >> You did. I'm just kind of nervous over here now. Everything's scary. Um, my question is more about, and I think it's just always good for us as a school district, and um, you mentioned the referendum, is to always translate to our stakeholders what came out of the referendum like and give them specifics and, um, because I think it's so helpful. they they may hear this whole presentation, but how what's coming out of the money that was part of that referendum? Um, I think that's a bonus for you guys. I think it's a great way to say, "Hey, this is the value ad we bring because you guys obviously are value ad to our district." So, um, do you mind highlighting a couple things for us that you can think of >> in terms of >> just out of the referendum? What what have we gained in terms? >> Yeah, I would say I mean the the efforts that we're doing in cyber security to have the partner we have with Red Canary to build out a team to actually support the the monitoring that's occurring um wouldn't wouldn't exist without having those that that referendum dollars. I mean, we'd be competing for do we have the technology in the classroom? Do we have the cyber security space? Do we have the curriculum that's for the students, the technology levy is directly supporting and paying for um the the multitude of of cyber security efforts. Um I think uh in DTAC uh every year we kind of do an annual overview of of kind of the big picture, how the tech levy is being spent. um and cyber security efforts. We're just shy of a million dollars out of that technology levy that are going in to support cyber security efforts for our school district, which wouldn't be possible without that. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> We did a share out too last actually last uh year at this time. I was just looking it up on cyber security and talking about the referendum too. I mean something that we can definitely go back to because this is >> nice touch. That's right. as I started this job. By the way, I felt like this position probably came out of those stuff. >> So, we got a long >> I was looking for a cyber security position. I didn't expect um any like specific cy cyber security title >> job coming out of school districts. um you know most of my experience has been in school districts but I always wanted to work in school district but they don't have like no cyber security >> professional so I didn't really hope to to get a job with the same title I wanted uh so when I saw this position I was like no school district started uh hiring cyber security professionals and you know that was exciting but >> yeah well that's that's the competitive nature of trying to leading in the way. >> They are not I mean when you look at school districts and what they're trying to do with cyber security um the threat isn't any different and and those that are in technology director coordinator positions my counterparts across the state are always talking and strategizing and um we are very fortunate in AIO um it there's you know I can think of you know maybe two other districts that have a dedicated cyber security position on staff uh which is a recent development in the last you know one to three years. It's not a not a common practice. Um and again it's you know because we have things like the levy. We've got you know amazing resources that allow things like this to happen. Most school districts in the state don't have a technology levy. So you know how to find those resources and funds get get difficult when you know you're looking at the core of how do we you know make sure students are learning at the core. That's right. That's right. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Feel secure and terrified at this point. >> All right. Uh so just going over the uh board calendar review uh at our work um our board work meeting. Our students will report out our what we worked on today at our work session. We do have a professional development day on October 28th. um a work session on uh November 11th. We're going to be HR and a team will be speaking to staff retention. That was a subject that director Mitchell who's out here today uh wanted to uh us to discuss. So, we're going to be sharing that. Our school board reps in November their next endeavor will go into looking at 500 specific 500 policies. Then they'll come and um meet with the board. When did I meet with work session? December. >> Oh, in December. Yes. So, and then in January after the organizational meeting during that work session, we will the board will get the history and training around standard based grading, how it came about and the whole work. So that's just a training for the board to know and then the scholars or the babies will be back in February to discuss going back and forth with standard based grading. Standard based grading is going to be big. So from this point, you know, I haven't talked to K or anything because we're going to gather all this information, but we're getting information from the scholars. We'll have input from the board, but we may I'm sorry, I'm using the words as survey, but we may probably need to at some point during the year to get information from teachers, administration, and parents around their input on standardsbased grading. So, that's is just a big one. Just want to make sure we bring that up. Probably in March, we'll probably bring the scholars back again to talk about the student survey like a touch point in which uh Thomas was talking about. probably in April if we did do I've not talked to Kay yet. If we did do the um standardbased grading survey in March that we can report that out in April of what we received. So we do have some more areas if there's more things that you're interested there is a Google doc out there for if there's something you want another topic that you want. But we went in deep. You guys chose good topics. We we went real deep on that. So just let us know. So time >> and and we were um thinking class sizes um especially with knowing kind of what that might look like next year um with the boundary changes uh and the new school. So that was one that we're >> right. Do you want class sizes like as uh the October 15 drop or class sizes into the future? >> Into the future because like we know like we've had an uptick in kind of interest and concerns about that. So, um, what it is today is certainly not what it's going to look like with all of the changes we're making. >> So, but having some, um, good discussion and learning about that, um, and understanding what it's going to look like in the future. >> Okay. >> But we did used to get a presentation on class sizes >> around a drop time. Yes. >> So, if we could fit that in in November, that would be great. >> And then two things that I just haven't had I don't I'm haven't been able to put in there for some reason. um just because my own but um I I do want to I would love to talk about um like I don't know what we call it out of school time or like activities and just um potential partnerships just to ensure that how just have a conversation of people of our kids having access to >> extracurricular >> extracurricular activities >> specifically after school. Well, no. I mean, kind of like camps or how we could partner with community ed or like could we partner just what foundations like to be able to so kids can participate because I think it it >> you know if you don't have resources and I think that's a huge part of someone's educational experience and I think we should be looking at that. >> Um, and I think the other thing I think I've talked to a couple of you about is just like just like around our like truency or absenteeism. um and how that um plays into just some of our achievement um discipline um engagement um sense of belonging and things like that. >> So are you looking for data Kelsey or correlation or >> Yeah, just like where we are. I mean I was kind of thinking even like we talk a lot about like having a sense of belonging and and and being connected. I think that it's hard when you when kids aren't like coming to school or you know there's barriers to school attendance. I think that's a huge piece cuz I mean I remember back in the day you'd get like a an award for like perfect attendance and I think that um I mean we're across the state I think there's a crisis I mean there's it is you know with kids attending school and what are those barriers and so >> um and that may fit with we had started some conversation in the last vision card about operational metrics >> we're adding that >> so that may fit back in there too. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Absent absentee and management. >> Yeah. >> One topic I had thought of and I need to add my bad. Um is about tech use in the classroom and just um findings doing a where we're at and like the percentage of how much use is currently being done and then impact on students and um I think there's been a lot of studies that have come out and just how that's impacted learning. And so just be curious to see where we're at as a district. >> So teacherdirected technology. >> Teacher directed technology use. Yep. >> And we can talk with this at our chair vice chair meeting and figure out the flow and flush them out too. >> And I will add it. I promise. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. >> Add mine. >> It's okay. We got them down. >> We got we got them all down. But yeah. Okay. >> Your books. All right. Um, where we at? >> I adjourn. So, a meeting is a journ. again.