Ahoy Minnotonka. I'm Jackie Getty, executive director of communications for Minnotonka schools and your host of Ahoy Minnotonka season 3. I'm joined today by Superintendent of Schools David Law for a state of the district update. Superintendent Law, thank you for being with us today. Plenty to talk about, so let's dive in. >> Thank you. Yes, >> it's great to be back. >> Good. The last time that we caught up here on the podcast was in early December. And our finance executive director was just starting the process to sell bonds that will allow us to begin the first of several projects that will be funded by the building bond referendum that was passed by voters last fall. I know there was an update at a recent schoolboard study session. Let's talk about the highlights. What were things that stood out to you about this is coming? One of the first things that happened was as we told the public we're going to do a $5 million bond for planning and a $50 million bond for building and we combined them both because the timing worked out with interest rates to generate more opportunity and more savings for the district. So we are going to be launching both of our middle schools here in the very near future. And um what you heard in the January presentation was our architect and our you know Paul Bourgeois our operations officer meeting with the physical education staff about those big gym spaces and meeting with the theater staff about those new theater places and gathering input and in the process I think one of the things that we're able to do is use our resource and make some slight upgrades and so for both middle schools they're going to have a sound and light box for theater which is going to be a big step forward similar to what we have at the high school. I know that that was a big sales pitch um for those departments being excited to have, you know, the ability to have better quality sound and better quality of light. And then just gathering um staff input about the rooms that they'll be using as we're building out those middle school spaces, physical education teachers talking about the gym space. And you know, one of the things that I think the public is maybe not aware of is uh there's a new code that any additional space you add outside your footprint has to have enough storm proof area to house anyone who's going to be in that space. So both of those spaces have to have a storm shelter capable of holding anyone who's in that gym space, which is a big change and an expense, but that was covered in that. Uh there's um you know some theater, there's some changing spaces in there for kids that will be a big step forward for our middle school performances. And those spaces can be used by our community, too. They're going to start as as early as we can this spring, but they won't be ready until the fall of 27. So that's a full year of construction. >> So what happens during that time? And you were saying launch the middle schools, launch the two big construction projects at the middle schools. So if if that's happening into the spring into the summer, then what happens as those projects are going on while school's in session? >> Well, they're multiple phase projects and it's sort of like road construction. You can't get better unless you're inconvenienced. So those facilities are going to have to work around some, you know, construction. Uh so they'll lose some space. They'll have to shift how they get access to field space at middle school east, you know, middle school west. there. That big gym space is going to go where there currently is, you know, right in the parent drop off loop. So, we're going to have to make some adjustments to the PAR dropoff loop. Actually, I think we decided at west we're going to shift the existing track rather from east west how it's running to run north south and move the parent drop off loop accordingly. Um, it should be seamless. It'll save us from doing two rebuilds of parent dropoff loop. um which is costefficient but that you'll notice big mounds of dirt and blocks and all the things happen for construction during the school year. >> We'll track that progress. You're talking about parent drop off and pickup and I know at MME that is also kind of a a issue that that rears its head and that we certainly have heard about. So what about there? What are we doing? >> Well, we we did a traffic study. We're working with the city of Minnotonka and our neighbors who understandably don't want people parking in their yards and in their front uh at arrival and dismissal and trying to figure out how do we get as many cars as possible off the road >> off that Lake Street extension and how how do we get parents in and out of our facility quickly and efficiently. And so they are going to be uh proposing a two-lane path all the way through coming off Lake Street Extension, similar to what they're doing now, but it currently goes around by the pool behind the building and collapses into one lane to leave. And we're going to have two lanes the whole way around with a pickup lane on the curb and a drive by lane next to it. And it'll be a pilot. The city is really excited by it and we're really excited to see if it works. It should get, you know, another 50 or 70 cars off the road during pickup time, which is a big and out of those neighborhoods and hopefully faster in and out of the building. >> That's great. And also a uh bus corral improvement there >> right on the east side of the or excuse me, the west side of the building. That will be phase two because we have to get the big gym and m uh performance space done first, but then we're adding a bus corral rather than being on the front of the building facing the uh Lake Street Extension. It'll be on the west side. When that goes in, we'll be able to get all of our buses over there. And when the buses aren't there, we're going to have room for, you know, hundred more cars parking at that school. You know, all none of our parking lots are built to house all the people that come for events. They're built to house the day-to-day traffic of a school system. >> Yep. Absolutely. Well, it's exciting to see all of that um get underway. And again, a big shout out and thank you to our community for supporting the referendum. >> Yeah, absolutely. Um, you just returned from representing Minnotonka schools at the Association of Superintendents National Conference and I believe you said a recent graduate of MHS joined you and for part of it to co-present on a session. So, I want to hear more about that uh and and talk about what that was like. >> Really exciting. You know, I've every year I've been here, I've done a mentor in the Vantage public policy, and I've just had amazing students over the four years I've been here, and including my student this year, um, two years ago, the student I worked with was a junior in public policy, Liam Helerin. And we just had a great connection and relationship. And at the end of the year, it was really kind of funny. He had asked, "Can we stay connected my senior year even though you won't be my mentor?" And I said, "Sure." So, uh, last July was my formal installation as president and it's a celebration in Washington DC. It's not like, um, the presidential inauguration, but it's it's a nice event and I thought it would be fun to bring a student voice into that. So, I asked Liam and his mom if they'd be willing to come out to Washington DC and just give a message about public education. And they did and it was really impressive. And it was so impressive that the executive director of our association, Dr. David Scheler said to me last October, "Do you think Liam would want to come and speak to all the thousands of superintendents across the country?" >> Oh wow. >> And I reached back out to him again and he absolutely was interested. So, we just had a conversation for about 15 minutes on stage in front of this big audience about um what his pathway was through Mitaka schools and why he felt it prepared him to be he's a freshman at University of Wisconsin Madison and why he felt so prepared to be there and he's a little bit um envious of his high school time because he got to explore so much and do so many clubs and activities and he's still feeling his way at Madison. But it was a an amazing message and I got to walk out with him to about a thousand superintendents and dozens of superintendents approached him and just said how impressed they were with him and it was proud for me of our graduates uh to have him there getting that praise. >> That's so exciting. That's so fun. So follow up to that just as AASA president, what does the rest of the year look like for you? When do you officially hand the torch over to the next president? Because it's a one-year appointment, right? >> Right. So you spend a year as presidentelect which was my last year sort of learning the ropes of what the president does and then then there's the other the president which is this year and the the big event is the conference and there's lots of hosting and celebrating and congratulating people who are in learning cohorts and working with vendors. >> Is that what just happened? >> That was just uh in Nashville. Then um I my next and final act as president is setting up for the next year's conference which will be in Atlanta. Okay. >> And so we do some pre-work in late May for a day or two and then um we run our business meetings for the national organization you know budgeting agendas activities. This is an advocacy organization and we do an awful lot of support for superintendent and superintendent development. We support the pipeline for superintendent. So we'll do discussions about how all of those activities are going. And then I'm the woman behind me is Dr. Latana Goffnne from Aldine, Texas. I hand the gavl to her. And so we my predecessor is a superintendent named Gustavo Balderas from Beaverton, Oregon. And the three of us make the executive committee. And so we'll be doing the evaluation of the executive director. We'll be coordinating a meeting. I'll be setting up Latana to take the gavvel in July. That is so exciting. Um, what do you think has been some of the biggest and maybe a big highlight that the Minnitanka schools community should know about you serving in this role? How does this help advance the district and and what we're doing here? >> Well, um, we get to talk about Minnotonka on the national level. And I the exciting part for me is there's some amazing things here that are really aligned to where public education is going. And it it's really affirming for me. plus bringing resource to our students from across the country. We're hosting a wellness event in May where school districts from across the country are going to come and learn about what we're doing for student mental health and we're all going to brainstorm about staff mental health and that you know that we're doing that just with our own time. But we're putting a spotlight on the good work we're doing. hopefully saving lives across the country because we've been working on suicide prevention with the Jed Foundation, but also hopefully we'll come away with some better ideas to support our own staff in the process. And that's been those types of connections have been really valuable for Menalk and for me. Well, >> I think too just hearing like we seem to hear what's going on broadly nationally and really being able to stay connected, I think, to to what's going on and how people are feeling so we we don't end up being in a bubble. I mean, we really see how things broadly are impacting and really the public education promise and reminding people how amazing public education is, >> right? And so many of the things involved in AAS's initiative, the public education promise, are things that are are we're doing and they're just they give us a rubric to look at how are we making sure the things we're doing with real skills for real life or measure what matters or recruit and train the best or building community partnerships. We get some ideas from people across the country about that and that's been good. It's been good to hone our own skills. >> Well, that's fabulous. Thank you for your service in that organization. We are a few weeks into semester 2, so more than halfway through the school year. That seems unbelievable. What are some things that are on your mind this time of year? I know you're a planner, so you're probably well on your way to planning into next year. >> Yeah, this this month, um, there's the operational things of making sure things are going well this year. We just had our legislative breakfast, kicking off the legislative session, meeting with our elected officials and our case committee, thinking about um you know, it isn't just money. I mean, money really matters in public education, making sure that we can fund the things that we're committed to provide our students, but also, you know, modifications in student assessments as we look at what's best for our kids or uh leaning into technology and the role technology plays in education and listening to what uh legislators are thinking about that or school safety is going to be a big topic this session. So, um, paying attention to all those things and listening to our elected officials and what they're thinking about in those areas. Uh, over the next eight weeks, I'll spend some time every week either attending to or visiting the capital to make sure that what's best for our Minnotonka community is what's happening at the cap. Um, we're also very busy. We're uh our high school students and middle school students are signing up for next year's courses. I'm in the middle of doing enrollment checks on a weekly basis to see where we are, making sure that we're appropriately staffed at every building, staying within some target ranges, and um >> already for next year. >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. Enrollment happens for next year right now. And we're committed. We tell all of our staff their assignments full-time or part-time by the end of March. So, over the next seven weeks, we do an awful lot of enrollment and staffing and registration information. We meet with every building principal and talk through that. some facilities planning on just tweaks to existing facilities, making sure that we're ready. You know, you would think that when you build a big brick building, it's good for 50 years, but every year we have to make some minor changes based on the unique needs of students in those buildings. Um, so that planning and then moving our current work forward. And there's just a lot of that going on, whether it be belonging work or wellness work or elementary literacy. We're doing new Spanish materials uh for elementary literacy. There's always something. >> You mentioned the legislative session. So, that is underway now. What are things that the legislators shared that are on their minds? What are things they're expecting for this session? >> You know, um I we have been capped and we've been advocating for the ability to ask our community if they want to support us more financially for our general fund funds. There's that language for what the board can levy and what the community can vote for has been capped since 2017. And actually when they kept it, they took $300 away per pupil from Minnetonka, which is the equivalent of, you know, millions of dollars. And um they did that because they wanted everyone set at the same level. And so since that, we've been trying to claw back what was taken away. Our elected officials understand that um the two and a half percent they're giving us year-over-year doesn't match the rise in cost of labor and and purchasing and utilities and things like our insurance was just approved at 11% increase. That 2 and a half% doesn't cover that. So we have to find a way to match our expense with our revenue. And that's on their minds. That might be a 15-month lift. It might be all of this year and all of next year because next year's a funding year. for at least one of the elected officials trying to find ways to support districts like us who need that. You know, we we get significantly less than the state average per pupil and significantly less than the metro average per pupil. And just reminding people while we have lots of opportunity, it isn't because we're affluent as a district. we we are below average funded and do an amazing job for our kids because we have a we have such strong open enrollment that helps us balance that out >> and really generous residents as well supporting operating and um other levies our tech levy as well. >> So that's what that's what we talked about this morning >> and then there will be a community um action for student education committee effort again this year and there were more than a hundred students and parents and administrators schoolboard members involved last year. Are we seeing that kind of strength again? And how can people get involved or >> it's been steadily climbing about 115 people I think are currently on that list and what we ask them is we keep them informed on a weekly basis. I'll send an email out and say this is what's coming up in the legislation. Please reach out. These things are important to Minnesota and to Minnetonka. Um and then I encourage them to tell their stories. And some simply just send a note and say this is important. and some give passionate letters and then they send me a note saying hey I heard back and they got they read my message which our elected officials tell us that matters. >> So to get involved in the case committee people don't have to have a lot of understanding about legislature. No they just have to be passionate about what they want to work >> if you want to support Mitaka schools that's all you need to be. So a topic that has been high on the minds of many in our school community and really many um across the state across the country has been immigration enforcement. So let's talk about that and about how ICE efforts and schools intersect. >> Yeah. Um, I I remind people because this can get so political so quickly that the concept of people on campus, any enforcement agency ever, always causes alarm. You know, I I I tell a story back when I began as superintendent four years ago at Menotaka High School, there was a student who's having a seizure and a police officer responded with this sirens getting up here quickly and I received a dozen phone calls. what is happening at the high school. When enforcement happens at a school, people get worried. That hasn't changed. Well, now with the increase in immigration enforcement, while they haven't come into a school building physically on a near campus, has happened all over our school system. And as recently as two days ago, I had people calling me saying they're they're masked men with guns near one of our school campuses. Should kids be outside at this point in time? It impacts parents and students and it has I I would um be a strong advocate to reinstate the school safety zones and not having our students have to worry about being near an enforcement activity. >> So what does that mean the school safety zone? >> Uh schools used to be safe havens where no enforcement could happen for immigration um up until about a year ago near bus stops or near school campuses. And when that was taken away, um it could happen in parking lots or it could happen near bus stops. And that has caused significant concern for community members. And so most of the state education organizations, Minnesota Schoolboard Association, Miss Minnesota um Association of School Administrators, Minnesota Association of Elementary and Secondary Principles, all signed on to a letter to elected officials saying, "Please reinstate that because it's causing disruption all over the state." and um and it in a a survey of metro area superintendents about two weeks ago, we were spending 30 to 50% of our week responding to and proactively supporting issues related to immigration enforcement. So it it's real and it's been disruptive and um the kinds of things that I hear from people are uh people you know at the schoolboard meetings like we had something speak about what are how are we supporting the mental health challenges that this has created long term in our school system and you know we have mental health things that we've been standing up but um people are telling us we need more support for staff and more support for our students. We have uh certainly we we haven't seen the significant drop in attendance and we've been monitoring that pretty closely, but we've heard from um people that they're concerned about their children getting to and from school hundreds of times across our system. >> So, say that immigration enforcement does show up, what is it that they need to produce uh for us to say, "Okay, yes, you can come in." Or how does that work? Because I know we've had that question many times. for any enforcement activity at school. Our first question is does this have to happen right now because it has the potential to be very disruptive >> to our school building to all the students. >> Right? So our preference is always that it would happen away from school after hours. And when that happens and if clearly there's a safety issue in our school that needs to be addressed immediately, we would be supportive. But the threshold for us would be we need to know why that this has to happen right now and potentially disrupt school. And ideally what we ask from uh any law enforcement agency including immigration is do you have a authorization to disrupt a school site? Do you have a warrant of some sort? Um, as I shared, there hasn't been across the country examples of any type of enforcement within school intentionally. Uh, on campus, there has been parking lots. There has been. >> Not here in Minnitonka. >> Not here in Minnotonka that we're aware of. Right. Um, but should anyone come to the door, our office staff has been trained about exactly what to ask and then to call the district office to ask if this documentation is legitimate, take a picture and send it over and then we'd run through the channels and um if it if there was some urgent safety reason why it would have to happen happen during the school day, we would do everything possible to minimize any impact on our students. Um, >> and none of this is to say that we're not cooperative with local law enforcement. We are have incredible partnerships with our local office. >> We're at Mitaka High School right now. We have two Mitaka police on campus full-time >> SRO. >> So, right. Um, so we we don't want unsafe people on campus and we want to cooperate, but we also are very sensitive to the potential trauma of having someone with a mask and a gun coming into school. >> Yep. So, and I think this will just continue to be a something that I think we hear about nationwide and right and so something that we'll keep communicating about as as we're able. So, thank you for answering that. I know that's that's something that's been on people's mind. As we wrap up February, there are two things I want to be sure that we mention. One is the Minnitankka Public Schools Foundation Dream Maker event. Now, when this podcast airs, it will have already happened. So, Dream Maker is big fundraiser from the foundation that raises money for teacher grants in addition to a lot more for our school district. Their theme this year is prom through the decades. I know that you and Bethl Law are going to this event. Are you going to uh be posting photos on your Instagram with your costume? You know, that will really depend on what we end up wearing collectively. I have some ideas. Um, we haven't we haven't landed on an outfit yet. And when I say we, I mean I I know what I'm wearing. >> The dress. It's about the dress. >> The dress hasn't landed. Uh, possibly. >> Will you be in the same decade? >> Uh, I think so. Yeah, I think so. We'll be timeless. >> That's That's where we'll be timeless. Um, and then the other thing I wanted people to be reminded about was if you haven't nominated a teacher or a staff member or a school volunteer for the celebration of excellence award, please do. We'll be celebrating um those selected by their peers in a selection committee for the awards at an event in May. That is one of my favorite events. >> People always ask me how can I what can I do? Support education, nominate people to be recognized even if they don't accept it. It feels so good for teachers to know that they're loved. I love them. Oh my gosh, we couldn't live without them. But getting that nomination from a community member is so powerful. >> And so details of how to nominate someone, whether it's teacher or a staff member or a school volunteer. We have so some amazing school volunteers are on the district website homepage and the deadline is the end of February. So we encourage people to do that. >> Please do that. Absolutely. Now, >> thank you so much for being with us, Superintendent Law, and thank you to those for listening and watching. Please send us your questions, suggestions, and ideas for podcast episodes. You can send those right to communications@minitaschools.org. We'll see you next time here on Ohoy Minnetonka.