Minnetonka Public Schools — Transcript
Thursday, March 5, 2026
School Board Recognitions
Boys Alpine Ski State Runners-Up
Girls Alpine Ski State Qualifiers
Varsity Cheerleading State and National Qualifiers
JV Cheerleading State Qualifiers
Competitive Dance State Qualifiers
Boys Nordic Ski State Qualifiers
Girls Nordic Ski State Qualifiers
Debate State Qualifiers
First Tech Challenge State Qualifiers
Community Education Staff Recognition
School Report (Minnetonka Middle School West)
Adoption of Agenda
New Electives at MMW
Belonging and Inclusion at MMW
Women of Color Group Activities
Student Leadership Team
Unified Programs
Votes (1)
Adopt the agenda
Moved by Dan · Seconded by Megan
Notable Quotes (20)
We begin most of our regular board meetings with recognitions to highlight the positive impact that so many people make in our district.
I'd like to congratulate my boys and girls alpine varsity ski teams for winning the section meet at Wild Mountain and advancing to the state tournament where the boys finished second and the girls team finished fourth. Congrats. Great job you guys.
What an incredible year it was for Tonka cheer. Congratulations to all the ladies on all of their hard work and all of the the great accomplishments that they had this year. Highlighting some of those accomplishments, the JV team competing at state finished in third, which is their highest placement since 2007. So, really incredible season for them. The varsity squad finishing in third place and in fifth place between traditional and game day at state. Awesome year for them. and then taking those routines down to Orlando, Florida to compete for a UCA national championship, finishing in ninth place in one of the hardest divisions at the high school level, which is small varsity division one. Some great programs all over the country. So to finish in the top 10 among hundreds of teams, it was a really incredible accomplishment. And then finishing in 10th place for game day, uh just a really special year. So great job to all the ladies, all the hardworking athletes and everything that you guys did this year. It really showed. Great job.
The most impactful part of this season was coming together to place third in state. I'm so proud of how hard our team has worked this season and I'm looking forward to what we can accomplish next season.
Being a part of this team means so much to me. The most impactful part of the season was building strong friendships and learning how important teamwork really is. I'm also proud of myself for learning new tumbling and stunting skills. As a group, we worked so hard and earned third place at state, which was such an exciting moment for all of us. This experience has taught me that hard work, dedication, and encouragement truly makes a difference. and I'm so proud to be part of this team.
I'm super excited. This has been an unimaginable year for us. We advanced to the MSHSL state tournament, which is such an incredible honor um that has not been reached in 21 years. Our varsity jazz team this year really worked from the beginning of the season to get to this point and I truly am so beyond grateful to coach such amazing young athletes who really pour their hearts into practice every single day.
Um, we had really a tremendous season. A lot of snow. It kind of came early in the year right after Thanksgiving, so we got a lot of training in and had a great time out there on the trails. Just want to congratulate all competitors. Um, we had some really fun and fast racing out there and it was great to see that community be built. Um, really just a tremendous group of athletes and it was really fun to get to work alongside you this year as you pursued your goals.
We were fortunate to place multiple students in the top 10 at every tournament we attended as a team this season. We also are proud to announce that we had four students qualify to the state tournament this winter and another four students qualified for our nationals tournament in Richmond, Virginia this June.
This year at state, we won the stratus award which is given to the best 3D printed part. The most impact impactful thing this season for me was meeting other professionals and other teams. This helped us learn a lot about the STEM community, robotics, and the professional workspace itself.
Congratulations on earning this national honor.
So moved.
We are going to talk a little bit about what has changed, what stayed constant, and then our work in action. So, I'm going to actually be talking very little, and our students are going to be kind of sharing most of the information.
Um, but what is unchanged um and what is unchanged is our core beliefs and the tenants of what makes a really great middle school. That hasn't changed. We're a school that needs to be responsive. That needs to be challenging to our students, that needs to be empowering to our students to promote student agency. We need to be equitable to all experiences so every student has equal opportunities for success and achievement. And we need to be engaging for all students.
sports history was like a really unique class. I've never taken anything similar to that before. So, it was like super fun being able to learn about something I care about outside of school like sports and the different units like football and like basketball like with like stuff I really care about was like really fun. And then the fact that it wasn't like a huge workload either made it like a very enjoyable experience for me cuz I didn't have to like worry about the class when it came to that time of the day.
We had so much fun. I learned so many things that I didn't had not known before. Um I learned everyone has distinct fingerprints. Everyone it's it's just a really amazing class.
Um, I took animal behavior in quarter 2. It was a really fun class because we got to do experiments with live animals and insects. One of the animals that we did experience experience with was chicks. Up there on the screen, there's a picture of a chick. So, we um we like uh made obstacle courses for them to go through and we had to train them.
Uh, I'm Arabel and I did financial literacy last quarter. Uh, in financial literacy, I learned about the basics of taxes, banking, budgeting, insurance, and all the stuff that you use uh as like a grown-up with like all your money. Uh, I thought this class was very helpful and taught us the basics of money in a fun and interesting way.
This year, our middle school introduced a new fashion design class. And I would have never described myself as artsy or creative before this. I signed up because my friends did. and I had never designed anything before this class.
Student voice is central to our program. Um, my role is to listen to what their needs are and then empower them by creating opportunities that are meaningful to them while also helping them develop leadership skills and navigate complex conversations.
Over the past few months, we honored all of the heritage months like National Latino and Hispanic Heritage Month and National American Indian Heritage Month. We celebrated the heritage months in a lot of different ways.
People (68)
Introduction to school board recognitions program.
Introduction to school board recognitions program.
Discussing the boys and girls alpine ski teams' season.
Part of the coaching staff for the alpine ski teams.
Part of the coaching staff for the alpine ski teams.
Won the individual state title for boys alpine ski.
Member of the girls alpine ski team.
Member of the girls alpine ski team.
Member of the girls alpine ski team.
Member of the girls alpine ski team.
Member of the girls alpine ski team.
Member of the girls alpine ski team.
Member of the girls alpine ski team.
Member of the boys alpine ski team.
Member of the boys alpine ski team.
Member of the boys alpine ski team.
Member of the boys alpine ski team.
Member of the boys alpine ski team.
Member of the boys alpine ski team.
Coach for the varsity cheerleading team.
Coach for the varsity and JV cheerleading teams.
Coach for the varsity cheerleading team.
Coach for the JV cheerleading team.
Member of the JV cheerleading team, speaking about the season.
Member of the JV cheerleading team, speaking about the season.
Member of both varsity and JV cheerleading teams.
Discussing the competitive dance team's season.
Assistant coach for the competitive dance team.
Assistant coach for the competitive dance team.
Assistant coach for the competitive dance team.
Discussing the boys and girls Nordic ski teams' season.
Part of the coaching staff for the Nordic ski teams.
Part of the coaching staff for the Nordic ski teams.
Part of the coaching staff for the Nordic ski teams.
Part of the coaching staff for the Nordic ski teams.
Part of the coaching staff for the Nordic ski teams.
Part of the coaching staff for the Nordic ski teams.
Discussing the debate team's season and state qualifiers.
Part of the coaching staff for the debate team.
Part of the coaching staff for the debate team.
Member of Team Terminal Velocity, speaking about the First Tech Challenge.
Member of Team Terminal Velocity.
Member of Team Terminal Velocity.
Member of Team Terminal Velocity.
Member of Team Terminal Velocity.
Coach for Team Terminal Velocity (First Tech Challenge).
Coach for Team Terminal Velocity (First Tech Challenge).
Recognized as one of the learn network's top community education practitioners.
Welcomed at the school board meeting.
Welcomed at the school board meeting.
Seconded the motion to adopt the agenda.
Moved to adopt the agenda.
Presented the school report for Minnetonka Middle School West.
Nominated to speak about the sports history and sports psychology elective.
Spoke about the sports history elective.
Spoke about the forensics elective.
Spoke about the forensics elective.
Spoke about the web design elective.
Spoke about the web design elective.
Spoke about the web design elective.
Spoke about the animal behavior elective.
Spoke about the financial literacy elective.
Spoke about the fashion design elective.
Spoke about the fashion design elective.
Spoke about the fashion design elective.
Advisor for the Women of Color group.
Spoke on behalf of the Women of Color group.
Spoke on behalf of the Women of Color group.
Places Mentioned
Events & Meetings (1)
- March 5th, 2026 School Board Meeting