[Music] aoy minetonka I'm David law superintendent of minetonka schools thank you for joining us for this episode of our district podcast aoy minona today as we wind down the school year we'll be talking with three of our school board members about the board's current Focus the district's progress on board goals the district's long-term planning process and efforts and more I'm so excited for our listeners to get a glimpse of the behind the scenes of how the school board is involved in the governance of the district and with me today is our Schoolboard chair Megan Selinger our Schoolboard Treasurer Dan Olsen and one of our Schoolboard directors kemry Fross welcome please introduce yourself and give us a background about your community involvement and your connection to the school district and what led you to run for the board me all right I'm Dan Olen uh you all know me but um you I got involved in the board because I I've been involved in local politics I'm passionate about policy and what local government and people working together can do to shape their community and I've got twin boys in sixth grade so it's I it's just really important to me that we continue to work to make sure everything is excellent for the Next Generation thank you kimry or Megan hi I am kimry fos first year Schoolboard member I love this District I've been involved in this district with both my children at the elementary level middle school PTO minetonka Public Schools Foundation board raising money for the teacher grants which was an an honor and I'm very passionate about what my family has received from the district and trying to give that back and pay it forward thank you Megan and I'm Megan Selinger I uh was actually a teacher for about 14 years I taught high school chemistry and so when we moved into the minetonka district and I had young kids at the time they're now in second grade and sixth grade but um I really ran because I want to keep what minetonka does so well and make sure that my second graders friends and he have the same opportunities all the way through high school that our current students do thank you you know most community members have no idea what a Schoolboard member does I mean I think people understand there's a board and they know you have meetings but what what happens behind the scenes and the school board and Megan you've been on the board the longest I'll start with you well the school board is the governance of the district so we set the policies we set the goals for the district but we only have one employee and it's this guy superintendent uh Mr David law uh so we are in charge of hiring the superintendent and once the superintendent is in place he is in charge of all the day-to-day operations so works with administrators makes sure that they are working with teachers and staff to have a trickle down from all the policy at the top all the way down into the classroom where our students are Dan or kimry anything that you've picked up here in the last few months I mean I think a lot of our work is really the the vast majority of our work is sort of dictated the timeline is dictated for us the state the Department of Education has a lot of requirements be it when we need to pass a budget or set our goals in policies Implement a calendar things like that so A A lot of the work we do and I mean we're aided by your Administration being extraordinarily on top of all this stuff is is just making sure we we dot our eyes and cross our tees as far as statute goes so the district can just run smoothly kimry I think uh the goals are there in place to ensure that we're all striving to be the best that we can be and supporting those goals the one in particular is the um excellence and well-being and connection and belonging that I I feel very passionate about and I feel like when when the principles come and and present to the school board about how they're working toward those goals that's one of my favorite parts of being on the school board we've talked about goals a little bit uh for the public to hear how does that process work about what does the school board decide is important to work on for a period per of time Megan well I would say that uh the goals are kind of an always evolving process so we don't start from scratch each year we kind of take the previous version of the goals and we get as much feedback as we can so we do surveys for the community and students and staff and uh we take that feedback and we look at the goals and we kind of drill down into them to uh maybe rearrange the priorities or highlight things that have emerged as really important um this year in the fall the survey really showed that people didn't understand the goals and they were saying they need to be more digestible so that we know what they mean and so we spent a lot of time really working on just clarifying and making them um more user friendly honestly and kemry mentioned you know mental health and social emotional Connections in school and belonging is one of the goals what are some of the other goals over the next year that the board has prioritized I mean we the the we have a lot of goals you know it's sort of uh it like Megan said it's it's a it's a constantly evolving thing about the district we want to grow into and a reflection of our community's priorities but you know we want to the Excellence in in well-being and connection and belonging excellence in you know student achievement educationally and personally we want to be good stewards of the district and the community's resources so financially a goal is to set ourselves up for for long-term success I'm sure I'm I'm sure I'm missing some of that organizational support yeah is a big one that I see our Administration really working toward on a regular basis as well how we set those goals how does the community find out about what's happening with those goals well the community can always attend any of our meetings so our work sessions our monthly meetings um the agendas the minutes are all posted on the district website we try to do a pretty good job of communication uh after every school board meeting an email goes out kind of summarizing the meeting um and usually there are some direct ties to the goals in every single one of those meetings and I think uh Mr lot does a really great job of saying oh well this is tied to the belonging goal or this is tied to the transparency around organizational leadership which is another thing that we've really been working on as a being more accessible and being more out in the community and so that the community does know how we're getting to the places that we get good well Dan and kimry you've been on the board since January what are some pleasant surprises what are some of the biggest things that you that you have learned about what what is better than you expected uh the the entire like the entire process is really really rewarding like from from running for the office up to to to getting elected and being sworn in like I've never I've never felt as connected to my community and found such a big community of people as I did going through that process and running for this position um and it's the the the biggest the biggest relief and I think the thing I'm the most proud of is like we've got as a board I think our Fant fantastic like collaborative group of adults who want to be responsible who want to get the work done and want to put our our personal feelings aside so that we're doing what's best for the kids and enabling you and your staff to just keep this running smoothly so the kids and the teachers have what they need I I agree with that um I really like these people it's been really um it's fun to make new working relationships and I think we do have a really good way of collaborating together one of my favorite parts so far in addition to all of the review of documents and financial learning that I've been trying to digest is I really enjoy and embrace going into the schools and the special recognitions that have been going on for May going to the plays um seeing the dedication that the teachers really have to ensure the Excellence for their students is just been very inspiring so I I really love going into to the school so I'm always the first one to volunteer to do that yeah and it is fun now Megan you've held a variety of leadership positions on the board how does it differ from being a director in the board to a chair or a vice chair what what's the difference in responsibility well I'm in my third year now um in my first year I was a director and there was a lot of learning going on there was attending the msba trainings to learn how to be a board member there was uh just intera in with the other board members to kind of get a feel for how things are run um both at the actual meetings and kind of between the meetings and what the sequence of stuff that goes on is um and then I think uh in that first year just attending the committee meetings was really helpful and useful because I got to see what each of those committees does and talks about and then in my second year when I was a vice chair it was the opportunity to kind of just build on that and learn what leadership looks like I was able to attend the leadership meetings with Lisa Wagner as the chair and with superintendent law to talk about how the agendas are set um how when things arise in the district come up how they're handled um how they're communicated to the board and then that really led into setting me up for success as chair because I kind of knew what to expect from that point of view around um how we create the agenda agendas and how we disseminate information out to the community um and then as the chair there's just the additional little pieces of like when emails come into the board I work uh to create a response whether it's doing some research on it or running it by superintendent law um just to make sure that my responses on behalf of the board because I am representing all seven members of the board and not just myself are um appropriate to what that person is reaching out about one of the things that you mentioned that the public might not be aware of is the board has a variety of committees that uh serve the district what are some of the Committees you're on and what do they do Dan very exciting committees like other post employment benefits or uh I'm on the finance committee because I'm the treasurer on the board and I actually find that very interesting because um what we do on the finance committee is we we we review the district's budget we talk with uh Executive Director of Finance Paul bouris and and work with the committee and the the way I think I know I know not everyone's into budgets and things like that but if you if you really think about it like a a budget in the way a a district or any institution spends money is a reflection of its values and so it's important to have a group of dedicated smart people looking at the budget through the lens of our goals so that we make sure our dollars are working to achieve what we want this District to be Cameron what committees are you on I am proud to be on the minetonka public schools Foundation committee which you know raises money for Teacher grants and I was on that board for a few years as well so that's really fun and as well as the MCE advisory Council so the Community Education okay and Megan um this year I'm on the teaching and learning committee which is totally in my wheelhouse as a former teacher so it's kind of it's kind of fun because I get to step into a little a bit of both sides of that conversation um and I I'm not on it this year but one that I wanted to mention is I was on the ptoa leaders committee for a year and that was so informational because you go and you get to hear from the PTO leaders at all the different School sites and hear what's going on in the schools and what events they have going on just a great group of people so that was one that I really enjoyed especially in my first year just kind of getting the lay of the land we um there are a variety of Partnerships like uh Tonka serves or Tonka cares or the family collaborative other ways that board members can engage with the community on behalf of the district and share updates like you all do with those committees um are there any of the responsibilities of the board that you haven't shared that you think the public might be interested in other things you might be asking to attend or interested in attending that are part of your board responsibilities I love being out in the community and it's it's always really uh inspiring I would say when parents see board members at some of the functions I attended the Continental Math League uh recognitions today and then the one at West last week and it's just phenomenal to see the achievements that our students are making in our district and I I I like meeting people in the community because sometimes they don't really know that the board is involved at that level so I like doing that yeah I agree with K I think um it's been really fun this year because my signature has been on some of those certificates that the students are receiving and I've had so many like kids and parents reach out and be like hey you signed my certificate and like genuinely excited which is kind of cool um and then also like I think just being um a parent of younger kids who are doing all these Sports and things I think I also end up kind of playing a b board role at times even just in that informal way because people will come up and ask a question that maybe they wouldn't have wanted to craft an email about it but because I'm there and accessible then they can just ask in the moment and so I try to um be really you know responsive and thoughtful about um those just little interactions too that are not official but useful for people I mean I think that's the the the accessibility is the thing that that really stands out to me it's kind of like it's not an always on position but it kind of is you kind of want to have your personal door open to anybody in the community so they can reach out to you and you can grab a coffee or sit down with somebody and hear about what's on their mind and that's sort of what I what I look at a lot of our our responsibility as is just being available to the community to hear folks out when they've got something they want to talk about well as we uh wrap up the school year look into the next year one of the things that we had just sent a letter about was some of the financial challenges Dan you're on the financial advisory committee and that's you know school finan is complex um our community will probably want to know how did we get to this spot how do we get out of it is there a one minute summary you can give on that message well yeah I mean I I'm I'm nowhere near the expert that Paul bouris is obviously but um School Finance is complex and we're sort of in a situ not of our own making and we're not by any means alone in the Metro or the state I think districts especially in the Metro but Statewide are facing budget challenges some of them in in the tens of millions of dollars and a lot of that has to do with the fact that as supportive as our legislature is of public education as much as it values it a lot of times the funding dedicated by our legislature to education just doesn't keep Pace with inflation doesn't keep Pace with uh teacher and professional contracts and things like that so there's only so much we can do to to stay ahead of that until we inevitably find ourselves in a in a budget deficit place like we are now so at this point it's it's about you know we've got a deficit we have to balance our budget and um I think you and Paul are doing a fantastic job it's just about being sensitive and communicating the hard work that we have to do to get that into balance because like Megan said we want to we want to preserve all the opportunities that we have and make sure that the Next Generation has that stuff too being thoughtful about what is important in our community and supporting that with our resources well um if that's one of the challenges let's talk about as we wrap up the school year what are some of the things you're most excited about in the last month of school okay graduation I'm really excited to be a part of it this year I'm always impressed by the stories and the graduation speeches that we hear um my son was Dr or Mr cette was one of his speakers and it was just still I still remember that to this day so that was really exciting and I just think it's really it's it's the culmination of so much work by so many people the staff the administration the teachers the families the students themselves that minaka has prepared them for and it's it's just really exciting to watch I'll kind of ADD add to that in addition to the graduation transitions I love seeing all the students that are at that point of transition whether it's from preschool to kindergarten or from fifth grade going into middle school or middle school and kind of that nervous excitement of going to high school um it's just fun to see that kind of energy uh and I would also say that I'm excited with some of the board work that we've started that's going to continue into next year like the facilities task force and the nutrition advisory committee um both of those things were very reflective of things that we heard from the community and from our staff and I'm just excited to see what work gets done over the summer and into the fall and kind of where that takes us yeah I mean Camry and I have only had like four months on the board so so it is exciting to like go through the entire cycle of a school year and deal with new things and uh as they come up and and figure out what the Cadence of of operating a district is like and like you like the the growth that you were talking about I mean just just as a parent my boys just made the leap from fifth grade to sixth grade and seeing seeing that growth from the beginning of the year being sort of nervous sixth graders who didn't really know how to manage themselves to the end of the year it's it's uh really great and just to know that that's happening districtwide is pretty awesome well I want to thank you all for being here and taking some time to talk with our community about the role of a board member I thank you for your service we're coming off a period of time where people were a little intimidated to run for the school board so we appreciate you putting yourself out there and representing our community and I want to thank you for joining us for this episode of aoy minetonka we'll see you around [Music]