[Music] Ohoy Minnotonka. I'm David Law, superintendent of schools. Welcome to the 2025 2026 school year and thank you for joining us for this first episode of Ahoy Minnetonka season 3. Over the past two years, we've created more than 40 episodes of district podcast, all centered on connecting and learning more about what makes our school district such a special place to learn, work, and grow. We've heard from teachers, students, alumni, and parents, from principles, volunteers, board members, and district staff, as well as administration. The focus of this podcast has been to elevate the voices and stories of our community members as we work together to pursue student- centered excellence and build schools where all are connected, empowered, and inspired as we go into the new year. That focus remaining the same, but we are flipping the script or should I say changing seats. I'm joined today by Minnetonka School's executive director of communications, Dr. Jackie Getty. Jackie, you and your team are the district storytellers, so it feels natural for me to reintroduce you to our community as the new host of AOY Minnetonka. But before we trade spots, can I ask you a few questions? >> Absolutely. >> Jackie, tell us a little bit about yourself and your background in your role in uh executive director communications. >> Well, I'm from Minnesota. Um went to the University of Minnesota. Uh got into journalism right away. Spent nine years as a broadcast journalism. everything from writing scripts and running copy to uh anchoring reporting and I was a news director for a time here and in Iowa and then I went to United Way for a few years as a PR manager to Hamlin University as an associate vice president and then I came to Minnetonka schools and I've been here nine years leading our small but mighty team. Uh we have a great amazing team that works super hard telling the district story and helping to communicate important information to all of our constituents and I love it. >> And and we're pretty well recognized as a communication department by the National School Public Relation Association. What what are the kinds of things that we have been recognized for even this last year? >> Oh boy. Across the board I would say we have some of the strongest video storytelling that you could find. We have incredible uh printed communications. Uh our website has received natural national national uh accolades. Uh we've gotten uh feature storytelling recognition uh photographs. It's really been around all the different types of communications and so has impacted all of our team being a part of that. >> Where do you get the idea for all these amazing stories? >> Uh some of it is just from all that we're involved in. Right. So, we try to be present and and be in the minds of of our teachers and our administrators so that they're channeling those stories to us and and we get a fair amount of teachers saying, "Hey, this great thing's going on in our class. Can you come and cover it?" Um, other things uh we hear about uh through an administrator or it's an annual event and we want to be there and be a part of it, whether that's homecoming or the celebration of excellence or graduation. And so, we partner with those that are either putting it on or that are a part of it or we're putting it on. And so we have all of those uh natural cadences throughout the year, but then also just the amazing things happening in these programs. It feels like every year there are new parts to new programs and we hear about that through the principles. Hey, we're we're doing more in this program. Can you come and cover this? We'd like to share more about what we're doing with this. >> One of my favorite events is coming up in just a few weeks and that's the alumni recognition event. That's the Saturday of homecoming. And this year, I think that's uh maybe the third week of September. Tell me about that morning. What what happens there? I know that your whole team coordinates that. What is the alumni recognition event? >> It happens on homecoming weekend. So the day before is the pepfest and the football game. And so there's a lot of energy around that. We have about 20 alumni who are honored whether they're young alumni being honored or distinguished years of service or skipper hall of fame for a faculty member or a coach who's been recognized by someone who submitted their name. The alumni association is a group of about 13 really dedicated alums who meet monthly. They vote on the nominations that are put forth and they select the award honores and then we invite these award honores and their families and the community to this event and we usually get about 200 people. It's in the high school commons and we have a breakfast and an award ceremony and Andy Smith our videographer does a video on every one of the award honores and the nominations for them. So we learn more about their histories. So much of what they talk about is what they learned at Minnetonka that prepared them for their successes in life. And so that's that's a really special event and it's really fun to to see what Minnetonka Schools has done in so many people's lives. >> Yeah. And if I remember there's usually like maybe an athletic um group or a team or individuals and then maybe a distinguished alumni and then a distinguished recent alumni. So it it kind of covers the the gamut of the years of Minnetonka High School. >> Yeah, it really does. And we have um we have about 200 people that come and so far we have about 130 people signed up to attend. So there are still more tickets. They are free tickets. Um but it's a really neat event and if people are interested, we're certainly happy to to let them know if there's still a space available. And uh if not, we do record it and then we share that afterward. >> Another one of my favorite events is the celebration of excellence and that happens at the end of the year. Um what happens in that? And I know that uh that there's awards and videos and years of service. Run through that. >> One of my favorites. So, starting in early February, we'll put out a nomination form and anyone, student, staff, uh faculty, parents, or community members can nominate someone who's connected to the schools for an award for outstanding teacher or staff or school volunteer award. And we'll gather nominations. Usually, we get about four or 500 of them. And then we have two committees of past award honores who look at all these nominations and select this year's award winners or the next year's award winners. And then uh we plan the event and so we do it at the art center here at the high school. We pack that theater and that fills I think it's like 700 people in there. So we probably filled to at least 600 in there and one by one the award winners come up. We do a video on them. Again, Andy Smith does a great job just capturing what it is that these folks do in their roles as volunteers or as teachers or as staff. And we get to learn a lot about what happens across the district. That's one of my favorite parts of that event. And then each one of them gets an award and a chance to be honored by you and the school board across the stage, photos taken and and there's, you know, before there's a reception and and it's just really a joyful thing, and we're so excited to be a part of that. I don't think people realize that those events wouldn't happen without the communications team. So, that's that's just a little bit. Uh, one last question before we get to trade agency seeds. What are you working on this year as we start the year? >> Oh, it's a busy year. It's a it's a busy and exciting year. I think this is going to be fun to be even more a part of the podcast. Um, our our group has been a part of helping to launch the new theme, which I know you're going to be talking a little bit about. We do have a building bond referendum on the ballot and so the district leads an informational campaign as you know and so that has been a component of our work this year and then just really always trying to do those storytelling about the new programs that we have. There's always new additions. There's a new fashion strand in Vantage. We want to talk about that. There are new things that we'll be talking about that are going on that we're going to really feature and highlight. So, so really storytelling throughout the year. I mean I think that's our that's our big focus. Well, I know that we you just shared at a board meeting in early August, our community parent satisfaction survey. And one of the things that comes clear from that is people do feel informed about what's happening in our district and they feel like your team's work is timely and relevant and informative and they rely on that work to stay connected to the district. So, thank you. Well, let's change seats so I can be the person answering rather than asking questions. >> All right. Take my water with me, too. Thank you. >> Oh, I'm taller in this seat. >> There you go. >> I like it. Um, well, you have spent so much time in this seat, I think, and hearing from other people and not having as much of an opportunity to to share what you see, your insights, your perspectives. And I think people are always really curious about what's on the superintendent's mind. and you know what can you tell us about what's going on across the district? So, I'm excited to launch in with some questions that I know um many share. Um first I want to start with you are beginning your fourth year as superintendent with us. Um has it gone by fast? >> It is amazing to think it's been four years. The this year's seniors were freshman when I started. Crazy. >> What stands out to you over the years as memorable? Well, I think um you know yesterday I was visiting with a new staff member who joined us just this summer and she kind of captured what I have experienced. The more I know about Minnetonka, the more I'm impressed about how hard we work to meet the needs of students. And I think um that was true four years ago and it's true today that uh we we just have this um drive to do better for our students to meet the needs that they are going to have in the future and our community stands with us. Both of those are points of pride for the school district. >> Were there any really big surprises coming in? Things you thought about Minnetonka that was like, "Oh, that's not really that way." >> Well, I think uh I'd been a superintendent in another district and and worked in two other uh districts around the metro. Uh, I think the financial reality of Minnetonka is uh really challenged as being one of the least funded districts from state the state and really relying heavily on local um resources to to drive the district surprised me um just because I'd been focusing on my other district's financial uh reality and then to continue to talk with community members who because we have such amazing programming assume that we're fiscally um just abundant and we are like every district in the state working hard to maintain what we have and and to just maximize the opportunity for students. I know this last year, one of the big uh focuses that a lot of parents and and teachers and staff joined us on was the the case committee, the the community action for student education, the support um and really advocating for more student funding at the capital. Talk a little bit about that and the value of having those voices. >> Well, um going back to about two years ago, well, I'll go back 10 years to 2015. In 2015 when the district um did a two-step uh financial increase of community support for the district at that point in time the district foresaw a time when open enrollment would near the capacity of our system and open enrollment has been a driver in Minnotonka. As more students come we were able to offer more incredible programming and people before me schoolboard members and district leadership Dr. Dennis Peterson saw an end to that and the need to get the state to change legislation so that we would have the ability to match our financial needs with our resources. And as that got closer and closer, my first year we hit the then board cap for students at 11,100 and immediately had to shift to where many districts have been for a long time, cutting to balance the budget. And as our community members heard that for the first time, they said, "This is unbelievable. How do we fix this?" And they realized that there is legislation that prevents us from using local tax base to support uh the school because we've hit the cap as have many of our neighbors in this uh area. So those community members immediately turned to say, "How can I help?" and signed up. In the first year, we had about 20 or 25 in the 23 24 school year. And in the 2425 school year, after we made that first round of just under $4 million in cuts, we had a hundred community members say, "How can I help?" And so on a weekly basis during the legislative session, I would send out updates on here's what bills are being heard. Here's what bills are not being heard. Here are people who are authoring bills that are favorable to the Minnitankka. Here are people who haven't acted yet. And here's some people you should reach out to, whether they'd be the education finance committee or the Education Policy Committee or committee chairs or leaders in the House and Senate. And on a weekly basis, we did an emailer campaign. And that committee and members of that committee suggested that we host a local event for our community members to interact personally with elected officials which we held in our Vantage building in the middle of the session. It was very generous of those three um elected officials to come and give us some time. Senator Swidzinski, Senator Coleman, Representative Andrew Meyers. Um uh it was great to have those and and I think there was more. I apologize if I can't remember all of them, but uh our committee interacted with those people and just said, "How can we help? How can we advocate?" in and came at a time when the state hit a fiscal cliff too. So it was even harder to loosen up funds. But uh we went down to the capital, a big group of about 25 of us, branched out into two and visited all of our representatives and then attended some hearings. Uh it was an example of who Mitake is as a community that leads in to support us. >> Yeah. And I think that that's something we'd like to continue. So, even if this isn't the year when they're going to make decisions on bills, I think it's a year to have a voice again, >> right? Legislation sometimes takes multiple years to make change. >> So, as we head into this next school year, we're launching a new district theme. Um, let's talk about that. >> Well, I think it's important and, you know, uh, probably everyone wonders, you know, who cares about a theme, but it really it's the words that define what's happening. >> A theme is what we aspire to. So, um, I went with executive director of communications, Dr. Jackie Getty. You probably remember those meetings. >> Wonderful. >> Uh, and we visited all of our school sites and visited with staff, teachers, and pared educators, new employees, veteran employees, schoolboard members joined us and we asked a handful of questions like, "What do you love about working here? What do you brag about to people who might want to come to this district? What defines your work?" And from those conversations, the first thing that was just unanimous was this theme of connection. We feel connected as employees. We love to try to make connections with our students. Our community feels connected to us with how they support us. So connected is a theme and really it's the theme that we're anchoring this school year in. Our employees told us, "I love what we can offer our students. immersion or advanced learning or intervention programs or targeted reading supports or research or an expanded middle school program or experiential learning in the high school. I love how we empower students. So empowerment is a word connected empowered and inspired. Our employees told us I'm inspired by our community members by our kids. I'm inspired by my colleagues who are doing just amazing things for students. So connected, empowered, inspired. And then we had this great conversation about the word excellence because we hear from some people, I think excellence means those other kids but not mine. And and we don't want anyone to feel like we're not including them in who we are as a system. So we asked all of our employees that question. And as we wrestled through it, nobody wanted to abandon the pursuit of excellence. But they really think excellence is what we define as what we aspire for our students to experience. >> All of them. >> All of them. So student centered excellence is our anchor phrase. Connected, empowered, inspired. And as I have been talking about that theme, everywhere I go, people nod their heads like, "Yeah, that makes sense. That's who we are." So that that we just launched that with all of our staff just yesterday at a back to school event. Um we had a we doubled down on connection because it's so important for a variety of reasons. But Principal Ericson who was speaking to a parents on a back to school event on Wednesday said to the parents students aren't learning if they don't feel connected and a sense of belonging. So powerful. >> How does that tie to the schoolboard goals? I know the school board has set its goals working with you for the year ahead. Um, how do those words tie to those goals? >> Well, I want our community and our staff to understand like those are the most important things that happen in Minnetonka. It's the data from parents and students and staff that feed into where do we need to put our efforts to set those goals >> to set those goals. And so that goal setting happens in November. And some people might wonder why does it happen so far ahead of the next school year? because we want people to have some time to chew on those goals and say, "What what are we really focusing on for the next year?" And then, you know, we have to start staffing and budgeting as early as February because teachers need to know their assignments by the end of March. So, having our priority work identified ahead of time. And the good news is we were on track when I got here and we're continuing with that same priority work, connections, a sense of belonging, student mental health, bullying prevention, literacy, middle school program uh and model changes to better meet the needs of our students as they explore middle school and get ready for high school. experiential learning, expansion of high school programs, rigorous coursework and opportunities, excellence in student outcomes, and then behind the scenes, long-term financial stability, keeping all those other things going for a long time. Buildings that meet the current and future needs of our students. We've got a a this board is committed to connecting with the community and listening engagement students uh listening to students and having them understand the changes that are happening in their school system. You know, transparency, all of those are goals. Many of them have been there for a few years, but really if you watch board meetings, what you're going to see are reports about the schoolboard goals. >> Absolutely. Um you mentioned finances and um earlier we talked a little bit about the building bond. Can you talk a little bit about the building bond referendum that's going to be on the ballot this coming November 4th for Minnetonka residents? >> Absolutely. We, you know, from the minute that I got here, people started talking about some things that they wish we would have a chance to address. And Minnetonka hasn't asked our community for uh, you know, a a significant facility improvement since the late 90s. And so, the board charged me with figuring out what are the priority things to do to improve our buildings to meet the immediate needs. And uh we surveyed every teacher and staff member across all the buildings and compiled that information. We asked the community for people interested. We received a just great diverse group of people, parents, community members, leaders of different organizations, and they met at every building in the district, the high school twice because it's such a big campus, and heard about the staff results, listened to the principal, walk the building, and then said, based on all this information, here's what I would do to improve this building. And that committee made a recommendation that was just under $200 million. >> And uh the board said, >> um, >> not yet. Not yet. We're really uh in this position where we're we're balancing the budget. Let's be tax sensitive. And so that number came down to the essentials. $85 million that um addresses the need to for more small group space. Equity across our elementary buildings. Deep Haven doesn't have the same second gym that every other building has. Adding that um our middle schools have had the least amount of new space added in the last almost 20 years. So, they're going to get um additional uh facility space for physical education, community space in the evening, performance space, all added on to those. If you've ever been to a middle middle school musical or concert, you're sitting in the cafeteria and there's not room for all of your family me members to come necessarily. That was identified as a priority need. science classrooms in the middle school at the high school and middle schools at expanded cafeteria space, a realignment of our counseling space because we know it's so important for students to have that check-in for academic and post high school planning, all of that. Um, >> and I know an exciting upgrade to the security system as well. I know that we toured different districts about a year ago and looked at some enhancements that we could bring here. Already pretty advanced here, but it looked exciting. touching every classroom with safety and security upgrades. Part of that it's $85 million. Our current um financial obligations for facilities were able to restructure that so that we can ask for this $85 million and not raise taxes. Certainly, we're going to be not lowering taxes either because we're replacing the rate is the same year-over-year. Um but people won't be paying a tax increase to get $85 million of investment. They'll be extending current tax. And the the other part of that is as we're uh as we're having to trim our operational expenses, people might ask, well, why can you do buildings but you can't keep teachers? That's the legislation we're trying to change. We can't ask for any more money to support teachers. when we get the ability, if the legislation allows, to ask for operational funds, we're going to take any tax increase that's truly an increase year-over-year and prioritize those funds go to support teachers and Paris and the operational side of things. >> So, if this referendum passes, this money can't go to salaries, but it it will go to buildings. >> It will go 100% to the buildings in our system. >> Got it. I mentioned safety, and I know that safety is on the minds of staff and families after the tragedy in Minneapolis that occurred recently. Can you share a little bit with our community about our safety preparedness and our planning that goes into that? >> It is I I was actually the day that I I heard about that I was doing a safety training with uh Scott Kriller, a crisis emergency management coordinator at Clear Springs Elementary and I here I am training staff about what to do in case there's a crisis and a crisis happens. And it was a sad reminder and I even said to those staff, I'm sickened that this is what has to be part of public education today. Um, it is the the best thing we can do is connect to our kids. If you listen to safety experts across the country, if all of our kids feel connected to school, if they feel connected to their staff members, if our students feel comfortable sharing with staff concerns they have about their peers, our schools are safer. We're constantly So, our our board goals of connection and belonging are priority work for safety. And I want to remind that for our community. But beyond that, there's lots of things we're doing every year to address student safety in our building. The hardened exteriors of our buildings. From the time I got here until now, you used to be able to walk straight into the office without stopping. Now those offices are locked. We have added protective measures that I won't go into detail because I don't want people to uh have information that would jeopardize our safety. the exteriors of our building have all had improvements to make them harder to penetrate the those hardened exteriors. Um safety technology measures like cameras at entrances at monitors across our system. Every building in our system when school students are in session has a dedicated person monitoring the entrance checking who's coming in the building. We have uh ways to immediately contact law enforcement when we have safety concerns that we're aware of on our property. Though beyond that, we have just layers of training that we do with our staff about both how to respond to crisis, how to evacuate our facilities in the event if it's something like a fire or a chemical issue or electrical issue. You know, crisis and safety comes in all shapes and sizes. threat assessments, um, student mental health assessments and supports. All of those things are in place. All of our staff are trained regularly. We have a dedicated employee in our system who's got, um, lines of communication to local law enforcement. We meet with local law law enforcement regularly to update them with our plans and hear from them what they'd like to see. We have law enforcement stationed, two officers stationed at the high school. There I multiple layers of safety and we're constantly attending safety sessions, listening for ideas that can be implemented in our system to support students and understand that this concept is traumatic to students and staff. Finding that balance of having all these things in place and not overwhelming our students with the heavy thought of being at risk. >> Yeah, I think it's really helped to have that additional training. I think people feel very the staff feels stronger about what it is that we do in every particular situation and having a staff member who's really dedicated to keeping us connected to all of that has been wonderful. So, I think that that's been a a great step forward. Um, there are some super exciting updates to our programming for middle schoolers and high schoolers with experiential learning. Do you want to talk a little bit more about what's happening at the middle school? >> I do. We um our middle school program was put in place in 2007. and it had a handful of things that we were wrestling with trying to provide all students with the same opportunities throughout the day. So, our middle school um team actually partnered with the person who helped them do the original student programming and the associate superintendent, Dr. Amy Loo, a team of middle school teachers. They surveyed parents. They surveyed students. They did in-person listening sessions with ninth graders. They visited uh some of the schools around the area that have uh programs that we wanted to model and really created a schedule and model that allows for exploration, allows for additional time to support students who are struggling, allows for extension opportunities, allows for just wonderful new elective courses. is I'm actually if if you follow my me on uh Instagram, I will be visiting during the second quarter middle school classes you didn't know we teach. I'm just excited to see everything from new science classes, outdoor classes, classes that are um uh general ed and students receiving special education services blended together. It'll be really fun. And at the high school, and I know we're getting tight on time, but at the high school, we continue to expand our experiential learning, which is which is the blend of content and actual practice, whether it be one-on-one mentors getting out into auto or construction or aviation or policy or uh uh business analytics or um web design. It's all in there. And every year, more and more kids that started with 45, I think we're pushing towards 700 students in high school are participating. Lots to be excited about. >> Well, yes. I've been told we're way over on time, but that's exciting and it just means we have a lot more to talk to you about the next time. So, I think we're going to be bringing you back regularly to pick your brain on all the things going on. >> It's my pleasure to be here and hand over the reigns to you for a minute. >> Thank you very much. Um, and thank you all for joining us. We would love your ideas for future podcasts, questions that you have for the superintendent and the district that we'll bring back to a future podcast. Um, you can send any of those to communications@minitakaschools.org. Thank you for joining us today. We're going to have a great school year. We'll see you soon. [Music]