Hello everyone. I'm David Law, superintendent of Minnotonka Public Schools. And I'm Mike Rmikol, a director on the Minnotonka school board. >> It's been a busy and exciting week with the start of the new school year. We're glad you're able to join us for our schoolboard recognitions program this evening. >> We begin most of our regular board meetings with recognitions to highlight the positive impact that so many different people make in our district. It's important to take time to acknowledge and celebrate the amazing accomplishments of our students, staff, and community members. This month is our first recognition program for the 202526 school year. We will be recognizing state qualifiers from past spring's athletic teams as well as some extracurricular and staff achievements that were announced this summer. Our September recognitions include boys baseball state qualifiers, girls flag football, girls golf state qualifiers, boys lacrosse state qualifiers, boys tennis state qualifiers, boys track and field state qualifiers, girls track and field state qualifiers, Destination Imagination state qualifiers, Environ National qualifiers, the theater cast, crew, and pit orchestra members who contributed to Minnotonka Theater Spotlight Awards for the spring musical, Henipin Arts Triple Threat Theater Award Honores, an award from the Association of School Business Officials for the School District's Excellence in Financial Reporting, and the National School Public Relations Association awards earned by our district's communications team. We'll begin by recognizing our boys varsity baseball team. >> The Skippers had an outstanding spring. They qualified for the state tournament where they play second overall. The team is coached by Paul Twainy, Chris Wilson, Adam Gatkkey, Dave Mirror, and Bailey Mills. Let's hear more about the season. >> I just want to congratulate the varsity team in baseball, Minnetonka Skippers, for making it to the finals in the Minnesota State tournament. I know we wanted a championship, but this was a great season. and you guys did a great job. I'd like to single out and put highlights out for all of you, but the whole season was a highlight. The fact that we got there, the fact that we put ourselves in a position to win, and in the last minute we lost, uh, it was all well worth the time we spent together. I enjoy all of you. I want to thank the parents for allowing you to be a baseball player in the Skippers baseball program. Congratulations on a great year. I'm already looking forward to making that same run and ending with a better ending in 2026. Hi, I'm Dashel Dewy. I'm a 2026 senior and last year I was one of the starting pitchers for the varsity skippers baseball team. I love playing alongside such a great group of competitors. One of the highlights of the season was getting to be a part of coach Swingy's 1000th win. I'm looking forward to the 2026 season. Go skippers. >> Congratulations to the following baseball team members. Matteo Alde Kosia, Nolan Barts, Brady Benson, August Burger, Jack Butterworth, Nolan Carr, Evan Cummings, Dashel Dwey, Leo Feist, Samuel Fryberg, Lincoln Height Camp, Miles Humphre, Cole Nudson, Jonah Luden, Julian Lunzer, Matthew Maro, Jacob Mustard, Carter Stoz, Broden Vugstrom, and Garrett Wheeler. We'd also like to recognize Kayn Newman and Maxwell Watson, team managers. Congratulations to all. Minnetonka High School students participated in the inaugural year of a flag football league this past spring. >> The skippers went undefeated in the regular season and outscored their opponents by a collective 158 points. They won the section tournament and competed in the state competition where they advanced to the quarterfinals. The team is coached by Dave Beerley, Alli Rogers, and Alex Griffith. Our girls flag football team members included Emerson Adler, Carmen Alexander, Naomi Berg, Avery Beerley, Clara Carlson, Nadia Chos, McKenzie Dybel, Brooklyn Duca, Olivia Denon, Tatum Angerson, Riley Englestead, Bryley Hansen, Llaya Hemp, Haley Hutner, Tyler Jabs, Claire Gelanick, Claire Kanan, Elelliana Mler, Lily Mler, Josephine Martin, Maline Mosman, Cameron Olbering, Matilda Olsen, Elizabeth Panner, Ariana Fipps, Lucy Pranzinski, Kendall Traano, Eva Ves, Charlotte Wakefield, and Ellery Winter. Congratulations to all. >> The girls varsity golf team had an exciting season. The team won its first state championship in school history and was undefeated this season. >> Let's hear more about the historic year. >> Hi, my name is Sarah Martinson and I'm the head coach of the Minnitankka girls golf team. It is my pleasure and my honor to congratulate the girls on their first state championship, a first also for the Minnitonka girls golf team and for their brilliant play all season. The girls were undefeated in 16 matches and invitationals. Six of the girls earned individual allconerence awards. We won the lake conference. They had four individual allstate players uh which means they were in the top 20 in the state all season. And we had one all academic honor which is awarded to seniors and our only senior on the team earned all academic honors as well. The girls are great competitors, great students, and great athletes, and also great friends, and I couldn't be prouder of the work that they did this year and will continue to do. Congratulations, girls. >> Our golf team members included Elizabeth Fong, Kylie Hansen, Lauren Mack, Ruby Reading, Mila Sloan, and Cu Woo. The team is coached by Sarah Martinson, Jeff Wall, Mo Hascamp, and Christina Baloy. >> The boys lacrosse team qualified for the state tournament this year, placing sixth overall in competition. >> Let's hear more about the season. >> My name is Vincent Lee. I'm a rising junior and reaching the state quarterfinals was an unforgettable journey and the most impactful part of our season was the incredible teamwork and resilience we showed uh this season. Uh, we had some really close games and I thought these games made us more together as a like a family. I'm really proud of how far our team's gone and I hope that next year or this come upcoming season we can do better. Our boys lacrosse team members included Jordan Allen, Garrett Alolin, Brady Botton, Leard Cassidy, Dominic Chachchow, Logan Yu, Adam Forner, Torston Gardner, Winston Humbering, Charles Kohler, Brody Lee, Vincent Lee, Gabe Miller, Tyler Omen, Colin Ostendorf, David Pant, Quinton Restrepo, Ethan Robinson, Parker Running, Jonas Stowe, Lok Van Bergen, William Van Bergen, Ethan Williamson, Thomas Winkler, and Jack Eurhot. The team would also like to recognize their student managers, Maritt Ravine and Lily Richmond, as well as their ball chaser, Becket Nestrom. The team is coached by Josh Yu, Ryan Terafenko, and Garrett Brunswold. >> Four members of the boys tennis team qualified for state this year. Two in the singles category and one team in the doubles category. >> The boys tennis team is coached by How Seagull, Justin Barau, Ben Weaten, and Jason Opsol. Let's learn more about the season. >> Good evening to our Minnitanka community. My name is How Seagull on behalf of the boys tennis program that includes myself and Justin Barbau our varsity assistant as well as Ben Wheaton our JV head coach and B team head coach Jason Obsel. We want to recognize four great student athletes. First and foremost was junior Asher Zipkin. Asher did a phenomenal job placing um second place in our section 2A tournament and qualified for the state tournament. That's exceptional because during this the season he played number two or three on our team. So among 15 teams in our section, 30 players, he placed second overall. He placed behind ninth grader uh sensational Brody Barau. And Brody had a phenomenal section as well as state tournament run. He was the sole player to take a set off of eventual state champion Saurin Swenson from Mountains View. He had a great run and we expect amazing things in his future. And last but not least, we have a couple of seniors, Joe Manning and Neil Cashup, who had a great run and finished uh runners up in the consolation of the state tournament um bracket. Uh they they played the the evening after graduation and on a little bit of sleep but a lot of enthusiasm uh they placed as runners up. So we had four amazing kids to recognize. Um, we're going to have two of them back, two of them graduate on to college, and uh, we're expecting great things for the program in the future as well. Thanks for listening. >> Congratulations to the following boys tennis state qualifiers. Brody Barau, Neil Cashup, Joseph Manning, and Asher Zipkin. >> The boys track and field team had an incredible season. The skippers were fifth at the Minnesota State High School League state tournament and seventh at the True Team State Tournament. In addition to the team success, Sha Fes earned the 3200 meter state title and was runner up in the 1600 meter run. Parker Christensen was the runner up in the long jump. The team is led by head coach James Finch with assistant coaches John Stefen, Jeff Renland, Jacob Peterson, Titus Winders, Dan Murphy, Eli Kudson, and Ken Jug. Our 2024 25 boys track and field team members and alternates included Simon Aravalo Chavez, Parker Christensen, Sha Freeze, Maximus Hawk, Turfy Horvik, Brandon Kelllet, Nicholas Labedi, Lloyd Laninga, Marcelo Artega, James Thomas, and Joseph Wolf. Our girls track and field team had another strong season this spring. The skippers were runners up at the true team state championship and the team took third overall at the Minnesota State High School League state championship. Team members also earned a few individual and relay podium finishes. Eevee Malik placed second in the 800 meter run and third in the 1600 meter run. Zeal Cuckoo placed third in the 400 meter dash. The 4x100 meter relay team placed second overall and the 4x200 meter relay team was third. >> Let's hear more about the season. >> Hi, I'm Jane Rhyr Morgan and I'm the head girls track and field coach. We had another successful year this year, 2025. We finished third in the Minnesota State High School League meet and we were state runners up for the true team state meet. I had a great group of girls, a lot of young girls who were doing a lot of learning during the season. Um, congratulations to all of them on the great job that they did and also to my assistant coaches who do just an amazing job with the girls. We had um a lot of young girls who were doing events for the first time who did extremely well. We also won the section meet by I believe 80 points and we had 15 out of 18 events at the state meet. So, congratulations again to all of the girls and all of the coaches from Minnetonka Ladies Track and Field. Our 2024-25 girls track and field team members and alternates included Adella Bellith, Payton Christensen, Alex Dragsith, Tatum Ingerbertson, Meredith Gillis, Aaliyah Gillyard, Bentley Hendrickson, Marley Jack, Zil Cuckoo, Janna Larson, Evelyn Malik, Avery Morasco Johnson, Olivia Mulestead, Margaret Nielsen, Mariana Rebman, Madison Rogers, Bin Rousing, Harley Walk. The team is led by head coach Jane Rhymer Morgan and assistant coaches Crystal Larson, Kim Haney, Christine German, Leanne Leblanc, Jenna Bus, Tanya Androskovich, Sarah Beecher, Celeste Snyder, Megan Rank, and Eric Leblanc. Next, we'll recognize the several teams who participated in a unique extracurricular activity called Destination Imagination. It provides educational opportunities for project-based learning and teamwork. As part of a team, students gain valuable experience with critical thinking and project management, and they develop perseverance and self-confidence. One team, the MMW Spectacular Circus from Minnetonka Community Education, qualified for the Destination Imagination Global Competition this summer where they placed 24th overall. They competed in the engineering challenge category. Let's hear more about the season. >> Hello, I'm Lucas Dere, a seventh grader at MMW. I was part of a destination imagination team that placed at regionals and advanced to the global finals in Kansas City. DI is a worldwide steam competition where students work together to solve creative hands-on challenges using problem solving, critical thinking, teamwork, and innovation. Global finals was an unforgettable experience. We showcased our hard work, met teams from around the world, grew stronger as a team, and even had time to explore. Thank you to Minnotonka schools and all the organizations that supported us. We are so grateful. The destination imagination global qualifying team members included Lucas Dere, Luca Franklin, Jack Gaseria, Landon Justice, Lucas Miero, and Adveith Puri. The team was coached by John Dere. The Minnetonka High School Environ team won state this spring, which qualified the team for the international tournament in Calgary, Alberta this summer. At the international level, the team took eighth place overall and first in the oral presentation category. >> Minnitankka Environ is coached by Allison Peterson. Let's hear more about the year. >> Hi, I'm Allison Peterson and I'm the adviser to our Environ team. This year, our team earned first place at the state competition in May up at Wolfridge, marking their second consecutive state win that qualified the team for competing in the international NCF Environ competition which was held in Calgary, Alberta this year. Out of the 51 teams representing various parts of the US, Canada, and China, our students were able to place eighth overall and secured a first place in the oral presentation category. It was truly remarkable. They were tested on a wide range of environmental science topics and demonstrated understanding, collaboration, critical thinking, and excellent problem solving skills. Christenza, Jo, Savannah, Amelia, and Lucy. I'm so incredibly proud of the hard work and the way you represented our school on an international stage. Congratulations. >> Our Environ state champions and international participants included Joe Buffington, Lucy Gil, Amelia Clem, Savannah Larson, and Christenza Nelson. Congratulations. This spring, Minnetonka Theater presented an incredible performance of the musical Anything Goes. The cast and crew earned several state spotlight awards from the Henipin Arts, including achievement in musical theater, overall performance, overall technical production, ensemble performance, ensemble vocal performance, and ensemble dance performance. The production earned several technical achievement awards as well, and some students earned individual honors for their performance in leading and supporting roles. Now, we will recognize the cast and crew members who contributed to the spotlight awards. From the cast, we recognize Samuel Abson, Madison Ambrose, Ana Aurora, Audrey Babe, William Baron, Aninsley Balile, Alexandra Beckman, Lexi Chicone, Maline Clo, Ray Deven, Lydia Degrrood, Scarlett Deutsch, Drew Ericson, Jack Arrington, Adah Fasendine, Isabelle Gensmer, Tate Gilbertson, Logan Harrington, Elijah Hemple, Lillian Hawkman, Garrett Hulkrren, Micah Hunter, Annalie James, Helena Colemire, Olivia Lafontaine, Shiloh Land, Henry Lindberg, Eric Lopez, Malo, Samuel Mande, L. Emerson Morgan, Augustine Morasi, Olivia Recker, Grace Rager, Evelyn Ring, Anna Rosen, Samuel Roseworn, Ella Schumacher, Skyler Smith, Easton Spear, Sadie Stillman, Spencer Tiff, Mark Turkot, Chase Urbane, Samuel Valancort, Mazy Wagner, Christine Wattress, Charles Welch, Sydney Whiteside, and Jiren Whiting. From the crew, we recognize Iris Ayaz, Vivianne Barbara, Avery Boss, Quinn Bourne, Zoe Bush, Mason Chelmaniac, Khloe Chot, Cole Click, Grant Connley, Nyla Copelan, Kelvin Cranbrook, Jack Dlesio, Mia Dlesio, Natalyia Dedricch, Davis Doran, Megan Ikller, Olivia Engelking, Grace Gablehouse, Cavia Garder, El Gracel, Viviana Greenley, Elizabeth Hayes, Joe Hoffman, Ava Husted, Olive Igelman, Cecilia Ingham, Kate Johnson, Emerson Kellum, Jonas Kleinhans, Amelia Ia Clem, Lily Corzora, Sophia Kronzer, Dominic Krl, Raven Lee, Lucille Matthew, Alexander Matson, Lucas McKenzie, Emerson Morgan, Siohi Negaros, Joseph Nornberg, Lucy O'Halerin, Annie Oakman, Silver Oakman, Esther Peterson, Jacob Pansellet, Kylie Rakers, Raina Wrighten, Rowan Rice, Max Rigger, Lola R, Maren Sabins, Advika Sachid, Danandon, Annabelle Shenberger, Isabella Seaffort, Lena Shelondic, Josephine Sheay, Skyler Smith, Ansley Summers, Grace Stall, Eva Stavro, William Steen, Lydia Stevenson, Poppy Tungs, Zineia Tungs, Caitlyn Wadd, Tui, Josie Walman, Leila Worminsky, Morgan Wei, Lydia Walleneck, and Caitlyn Woodford. From the Pit Orchestra, we recognize William Baron. We would also like to recognize the staff adviserss who work with students to create such memorable and impactful productions. Congratulations to Trent Boy, Erin Kors, Jennifer Christ, Eric Pollson, Mike Groen, Jeff Gesler, Amy Jory, Kelly Trip, Lauren De Jong, and Bella Creations. This spring, two Menitaka Theater students were honored through Henipin Arts Spotlight Showcase Program. Sam Roseworn and Charlie Welch earned nominations as triple threat honores for acting, music, and dance. Sam won at the state level and went on to represent Minnesota at the National Gym Awards in New York City in June. >> Congratulations to you both. Next, we will recognize an honor from the Association of School Business Officials. For the 30th year in a row, Minnotonka Public Schools has earned the organization's certificate of excellence in financial reporting. This award represents a significant achievement and reflects our commitment to transparency and high-quality financial reporting. As part of the process, applicant schools submit documents for review by a team of financial professionals who provide feedback for future improvement. I would like to congratulate Menitaka's entire finance and operations team led by executive director of finance and operations Paul Rajois for the team's outstanding work and dedication to which is reflected in this honor. Finally, we will recognize awards from the National School Public Relations Association for our district's communications team. >> The team has earned 13 national awards that recognize outstanding work in multiple areas of communication. >> This includes seven top awards of excellence, four awards of merit and two honorable mention awards. The awards earned represent work across many categories including creative and impactful print publications, feature writing and storytelling, marketing strategy, social media strategy, website design and layout, and dynamic podcast and video production efforts. The work that these awards recognize directly supports our school board's goals for the district. The communication teams include executive director of communications, Dr. Jacqueline Getty, creative director. Daniel Campbell, communications specialist. Mary Cornelius, audiovisisual specialist Andy Smith, communications assistant and district service center receptionist Michelle Clicker, and communications department student interns Silas Cern, Tobias Thomasson, Colton Sturgis, and Bod Whitner. Congratulations team. That concludes our recognition program. Thanks so much for celebrating with us. The school board meeting will begin shortly. Serious. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. I would like to call the September 4th Minnetonka public schools schoolboard meeting to order. Sorry. Tonight, I want to welcome two of our newest school board student board representatives, Chip Scott and Zayn Casim. So, welcome. And I would like to please rise for the pledge to the flag. May I please have a motion to adopt the agenda aso as proposed? So >> so moved. >> Megan Dan. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. Next on the agenda are community comments. Do we have any comments from the community? Thank you. Next on the agenda, we have a social and emotional learning update. Superintendent Law. >> Madame Chair, members of the board, our first category of schoolboard goals are welcoming, a sense of belonging, mental health, bullying, prevention. Tonight's presentation to the board on social emotional learning really talks about the proactive work that we're doing as a district, not just to address health crisis, but to proactively support students mental health from kindergarten through 12th grade. In addition, uh you'll hear an update on how embedded in that work are things like character education, um a lot of life skills, real life skills, and bullying prevention work. So, uh executive director of student services, Dr. Christine Breen will kick off this portion. Christine, >> thank you. Superintendent Law, Madam Chair, members of the board, we are excited to be here this evening to share an update on social emotional learning. And my favorite thing to do is correct our superintendent. It's E12 for our belonging efforts. So, we are here tonight. I'm here with Anelise Peterson. She is our academic coordinator. She has done a heavy lift in the area of social emotional learning. So, she will join me here tonight. So um tonight we will outline by level how our schools are operationalizing your board goal um excellence and well-being, connection and belonging. Our presentation will highlight each of the three pillars of this board goal as well. Here you will see the K5 graphic. Early childhood is working on adopting theirs um that has been adopted by each elementary building to represent our focus on belonging. There is a monthly theme that aligns tier one evidence-based instruction to support the schoolboard goal in action. Each month has a focused character trait that hopefully leads to the sense of belonging for students. If we want students to have a sense of belonging, to feel valued, respected, and included, then they need enriched experiences being welcomed, seen, heard, and included by others through our core tier 1 evidence-based and culturally responsive practices. You will see these posters displayed in every single one of our elementary schools. All six elementary principles have adopted this as part of their building culture. Thank you to Mary Cornelius on Jackie's amazing team um for creating these beautiful individualized by school posters. This is Scenic Heights Elementary and really truly a credit to Nicole Snadden, principal at Scenic Heights. This is her vision partnered with our social and emotional learning work into this visual that we hope um appropriately represents your your hope and goal in the area of belonging. It has Chinese immersion or Chinese language on as well as our Spanish schools have their Spanish um on the poster. We hope that this is lived out daily um through character education and built in the into the framework of each school. I have to preface it because the video is going to start. Um knowing that a message is shared, how a message is shared is critical to collective efficacy and implementing with fidelity. I had the opportunity to work with Jake Sturgis of Captivate Media to create a two-minute and 24 second video that outlined the exciting new SEAL tier 1 framework that Minnitankka would use this school year. This video was shown to all K5 staff on June 10th, our last professional learning day last year. I'd like to share this with you to help set the foundation for the rest of our presentation tonight, and to solidify our collective understanding of social and emotional learning. At Minnetonka Schools, we believe academic excellence and social emotional well-being go hand in hand. Today, we're proud to share how we're strengthening support for the whole child through a universal social and emotional learning framework. This approach integrates evidence-based practices that build both academic achievement and essential life skills. Research shows students with strong social emotional skills perform better in school. When students can manage emotions, build relationships, and make responsible decisions, they're more engaged and ready to learn. That's why we're systematizing our efforts as a core part of our commitment to excellence. Tier 1 universal instruction for every student forms the foundation of our multi-tered system of support. In partnership with the University of Minnesota's Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement, we began reviewing current SEAL practices in 2021. While many strengths were identified, the review showed a need for a more consistent evidence-based approach across all tiers. In early 2024, a team of stakeholders evaluated five SEAL programs aligned to Castle standards and selected three to pilot. From January to May, 63 teachers across all six elementary schools participated. In May, a focus group reviewed the pilot data and selected Character Strong as the tier 1 curriculum, which officially launched districtwide in fall 2025. We will also continue using social thinking, a key part of Minnetonka's efforts for over a decade. While not a standalone tier 1 resource, social thinking complements character strong by supporting assumption-free learning and fostering social competency. A 36-week scope and sequence will guide implementation by grade level. This initiative reinforces our multi-tered system of support, ensuring every student receives highquality SEAL instruction and affirms our commitment to safe, inclusive learning environments where students feel valued, supported, and ready for the future. So, thanks to Jake for that amazing video. I know when we had the board retreat, we talked about sometimes um in our roles, we use a lot of words, both verbal and written, and sometimes just capturing your message in a video and shared with all of our K5 teachers hopefully got them excited in June to come back in the fall knowing that there was a systematic plan for them in the area of social and emotional learning. So, Analise is going to walk us through what we're doing at the elementary schools specifically, as well as our middle schools, how we are operationalizing your um belonging goal through um social emotional learning and life skills. Thank you. Hi everyone. It's kind of hard to follow up that video. It's nicely done. So, um, one of the questions that we got at the elementary level is really how do we put all this work into action and still continue with what we're already doing? So, this graphic here was created to illustrate the connection between the social emotional learning and the outcomes that we want for our students. And so, the outside is the frame and that's really about setting the conditions for success for our students. And then around the frame you'll see the tenants of responsive classroom which is some of the elementary practices that we've been using um to build social competency in our classrooms. Um when we think about the responsive classroom and the core practices being implemented, we've had these in Minnetonka for many years. Social thinking is really the base that sets the foundation for that future learning. And so what I mean by that is if we're going to ask students to be able to think critically about that inner critic or that inner coach, uh we're making the assumption that they know what a thought is and how our thoughts impact our actions. So social thinking sets that foundation. So the next level of learning can happen with an instructional level and that's what you'll see with the trunk here on character strong. So the roots are grounding and then character strong. Uh the program is called purposeful people and it really focuses on the three things that you can see right under character strong where it says be kind, be strong, be well and then the character traits are listed underneath that. So with the trunk really bridging that connection into what Christine Breen already talked about with our board goals, student well-being, academic learning, we know the reality is that the academic learning doesn't happen unless we have that social emotional learning in place and you'll see that in this graphic here. So bringing it all together, the social thinking piece is really the methodology here is metacognition. We're getting students to think about their thinking rather than a behavior of telling them what to do. It's designed to get them thinking and then when thinking about their thinking using visual supports, common language, and many lessons to make really the abstract world of um their social world more concrete. The program is about social competencies, meaning social observation, uh, interpretation and problem solving to be able to navigate their social world. On the far right is the purposeful people and that's our systematic tier one that will be used to establish belonging, connection, and develop those life skills. And we've already seen the belonging image that you see there in the middle. So for social thinking, we have a step-by-step approach that really is building from kindergarten and up. Uh the first six weeks of school focus on social thinking, and that's because we want to have that base and yet stretch the students a little bit more with each grade level, advancing their understanding. The foundational concepts are helping students figure out how to respond to their situations. And then in grades four and five, we have new curriculum that was written by Carrie Palmer with um those specific grade levels in mind. We really wanted to make sure that we had specific content that was developmentally appropriate for each grade level and built off of what they learned in previous years. The new curriculum at the top you'll see is called check-in, checkout, choose. And it's about getting those older students to really apply the skills earlier. They're when they're checking in, it's thinking about what's happening right now, how am I feeling, what are my thoughts, what is going on in the social world around me that I need to take in. And then I need to choose what to do next. And those choices are based on my goals for what needs to get done. So whether it's at school or outside, let's say you're doing um a baseball game, well, what is your purpose? And so it's applying that at a bigger level inside and outside of school. So with that brief overview then what we've created for teachers is a scope and sequence starting with the first six weeks where everything is linked for teachers for ease of use. So each week there is a focus topic and for kindergarten and grade 1 students are going to be receiving the instruction in English and then reinforced if they're in immersion in their targeted language. In grade two, students would receive that first lesson in English and then continue in English or if they're in immersion, they will move into that targeted language to build the connection. Teaching the social emotional learning in English ensures that our young students can easily understand and apply the important skills that are being taught. Much of the school day is spent interacting with their peers in and outside the classroom. And at this young age, children are still learning how to think abstractly. So by removing the barriers of language development with an emerging language, it helps students focus on the concepts at hand and practice across settings. So think about the child who during the school day, they're going out to recess, they're going to specials, even outside the school day um with their hobbies outside of the the classroom. So then students who are in immersion then will have the concepts either taught in English and then um reinforced in their targeted language or for the older grade levels um that have more of that uh language development for understanding it will be in their immersion language. And then I have another example of grade four here just to show how they're a little bit different. And I want to call out one piece at the bottom here which is our bully prevention. So one of the things we have removed is oveas and I'll talk a little bit about more about that but really we wanted to be utilizing the bully prevention that was within character strong instead of having another thing. So just making sure we're being cognizant of what we're asking teachers to do. Before I dig into the bully prevention piece, I just want to take a minute to acknowledge the staff members that helped make this possible. You'll see up here that uh the different uh lessons and teaching resources have all been translated into English, sorry, into Spanish and Chinese. And so I have got a list of our names just to take a minute to thank our teachers for it. We really couldn't do any of this work without them. Okay. So, bully prevention. One of the reasons that we would make the switch from OAS, which was really about um bully prevention as well, but this program, it's a two-pronged approach. It it's in your slide, but really it's looking at um the explicit in instruction and what bullying is. Um how to respond, how to get help, what do we do, and then overall how do we make our school safe for everyone? So that's one part, but the other part is are the proactive skills and those are listed on the slide on the left hand side. But how do things like respect, empathy, friendship go into making sure that we are um providing bully prevention. The other part that is different is with Ove um those lessons were pretty much taught in isolation. Um so we'd have one lesson and then it wasn't embedded throughout. So there were separate lessons instead of part of what's happening every day in the classroom. So that was really nice focus of this program and it provided clarity with um the standards that were being taught so we knew exactly what we're asking of our students. And then we have that common language in the stop signs there of stop, support, and report. So with all of that, we have a full 36 week scope and sequence. Um it's laid out easily so that teachers can see the overview of the year. They can get a quick glimpse of what the lessons are and all of the links are embedded there. We wanted to make it a quick plug-andplay where teachers could click and go. Then on this slide, you'll see some examples of some of the family connections. So beyond the lessons, the monthly themes align to our belonging wheel, which you saw earlier, and there is a schoolwide focus newsletter that each school is going to fill out. So the example here is the one from Scenic Heights on the far right. You'll see the belonging wheel at the top, and then each month the theme will be highlighted within that belonging wheel. And then we'll have connections for um for uh students and then for their families at home. And really family connection is a foundational part of this program. Each grade level has a monthly newsletter for parents and families. And it really directly ties to what they're doing at their specific grade level. So each one is different by grade even though there's that common theme of cooperation, empathy, respect, whatever the theme might be for the month. The newsletter provides not just an overview, but there are also um connect connections for starting conversations. How do I talk to my child about what they're learning? And so there's few prompts provided each month to get those conversations started. And then there's also what's called pursuits or really fun activities to take their learning and apply it then at home and practice that as well. So it's a way to connect that family together. And honestly, our our staff are already putting this into practice. So, uh, some of the leaders, um, they've already sent out a welcome letter. Um, here are two examples from two of our buildings. And then I also have an example of Groveland who they have taken the be kind, um, be strong, be well, and made a backdrop for pictures for different events that they're going to have in their school along the way where they can really highlight what we're doing with our belonging work in our school. So I'm sure there'll be some pictures to share in the future there. So when we think about MTSS as a whole, we have more than just a tier one. We have a systematic process for addressing students needs. Tier 1, tier 2, and tier three. So when students need something more, staff know how to respond using data and evidence-based practices to respond to those needs. Now, before we dive into middle school, because I know that's a lot, and let's face it, we all want to relive our middle school um experiences a little bit here, uh but let's just take a moment to um celebrate this amazing work that is being done and happening here. Okay, middle school. I have to say the new middle school programming and scheduling is really essential to providing excellence in student learning and bringing the well-being, connection, and belonging goal to life. It meant getting everyone in the same boat and rowing in the same direction by integrating character, connection, and life skills competencies. Meaning that our middle level educators are coming around a shared purpose with alignment to support student success through tiered practices that build character, strengthen relationships, and develop those essential life skills. Rather than being one more thing already on a full plate, the supports have been built in the implementation plan with a four-part integration approach. It begins with Crew Academy. So, this is where students will receive their core instruction tailored by grade level. They'll be meeting every other day in Crew Academy. And you may ask, well, why does this part work? is providing dedicated class time that ensures students experience sequential scaffold skilled building and characterpromoting learning experiences in a space that's free from content instruction pressures. The second part of the approach is advisory to foster belonging and connection through structured engaging relationship activities and strategies that promote student connection across grade levels. This works because it holds a space for authentic student voice drawing from lived experiences and things that and issues that the students find important to them. Crossgrade level relationship building creates a mentorship dynamic and the multi-age advisory also allows students to develop and model behaviors over time. The third part is embedding it in health. Health health for prevention focused instruction and education. The instructional approach to align prevention instruction with trauma and for practices and the character strongs themes works because health class is a natural venue for prevention content due to the curricular alignment and student mindset. This provides a proactive and protective layer within the tiered support model. Lastly, we talked about our content area courses. The purpose is to infuse what we're doing into the academic day into every class so that when we're providing academic instruction, we're doing that and yet also through low burden, high impact strategies, we're connecting with every student. It works because embedding these practices into everyday instruction reduces the burden on staff while improving classroom climate and student behavior. This also provides students an opportunity to practice what they learn in authentic and diverse settings. Next, you'll see this is an example of uh Crew Academy and a class description. And what it really means is it's every student receiving weekly instruction and grade specific content. Advisory is daily. Health and content areas is also daily. And so we want them to be getting it from multiple areas to really solidify this and put it into action in their everyday lives. So with this implementation model, staff are equipped to facilitate connection, reflection on learning and culture building. The core tier one practices for all means everyone, every student and every adult responsible for a collective school culture and climate. The standard treatment protocol for middle school ensures that all students are getting the support needed to be successful in school. And with that, I'm going to toss it back to Christine Breen, who's going to talk a little bit more about the high school. Thank you. >> You one quick anecdote. I was um driving my I have the opportunity to have a sixth grader. I was driving him to football before this meeting and he goes, "I'm really excited for tomorrow, Mom." And I was like, "Yeah, me too. It's Friday." And I said, "Why?" and he goes, "I have Crew Academy." So, huge kudos to you as a board, our district administration for prioritizing the opportunity to teach life skills, social emotional learning in a dedicated time. Um, it's making an impact on at least one child in the brain home. So, um, we're going to move on to the high school. Um, Minnetonka High School staff and students are all aboard. Yes. Yes. All aboard. So um they've been working this week on all aboard implementing um all of the components of that and I'll talk a little bit more about that. So Minnetonka High School asked students to do two things. Do the right thing and represent us well. How do they help them? How do we help them understand these concepts and put them into action? Jeff and his team do this with the four pillars. Be respectful. Be present. Be connected. Be prepared. These are the four pillars of academic success and are woven into their all aboard at the start of each school year and with reminders throughout the year in core content classes. Being that the theme for the month of September is respect back to that belonging wheel as we look to do an E12 um consistent um theme. I wanted to highlight how MHS is sharing the message of what it means to be respectful respectful through the voice of one of their amazing students. Be respectful. This one might sound simple, but it's powerful. Respect is the foundation of every strong community, and it starts with how you treat yourself. Respecting yourself means knowing your worth. It means taking care of your body, your mind, and your future. It means setting boundaries, making good choices, and not settling for less than you deserve. Respecting others means listening, being kind, and treating people with dignity, even when you disagree. It means using your words to build up, not tear down. It means understanding that everyone's story is different, and that's what makes our community strong. Here's the part that takes courage. Standing up for respect. It means not laughing at the joke that crosses the line. That means speaking up when you see someone being mistreated or excluded. It means being the kind of person who makes other people feel like they belong. So when we say be respectful, we're not just talking about rules. We're talking about who we are and who we choose to be every day. >> So they have a video for each of their four pillars. Jeff is extremely proud of the student voice being shown throughout those videos and Emily Rosen really worked hard writing the scripts, working with students. What do you want it to say? How do you want to say it? Um and so kudos to to Emily Rosenrren and Jeff's team for building those. Those are amazing. So in addition to all um of the allboard work, MHS is focusing on connections and engagement utilizing developmental relationships. We've been using developmental relationships in our district for a number of years. Jeff has really taken it to that next level with his staff. MHS will focus this year on the areas of share power and expand possibilities. Teachers will administer their own surveys to their students in addition to the schoolwide survey implementation in December. And teachers will create individual action plans to ensure a deep understanding of who their students are and what they need from them in each of their classes. At MHS, Jeff maintains a laser focus on this equation. Strong relationships plus exceptional instruction equals students who are successful, respectful, curious, happy, and engaged. MHS will ensure this equation comes to fruition by utilizing the work of Dr. Clay Cook to support staff in setting the conditions for success each day for every student, maintaining an intentional focus on connection through the developmental relationships and clearly articulating what students need to do to be all aboard. And lastly, this is the Minnitankka High School standard treatment protocol. As Anelise shared, um they have a robust tier one that Jeff has truly operationalized over the years. Um, we hear often that high schools don't know how to do SEAL. They don't know how to do life skills. That is not Minnetonka. Jeff has taken it to heart over his time and tenure at the high school. And so he operationalizes this through all the board and developmental relationships. There is no high school tier one curriculum that would work here in Minnetonka. And so Jeff has really taken this to heart and built something of his own that he should be extremely proud of. We should all be proud of. Um at tier two you can see we will we will continue to use character strong and empower you as well as at tier three empower you and several others. So with that thank you for your time. >> Thank you so much. That was a great presentation. A couple of things that really stood out to me. Um the the bullying now being embedded is fantastic. I think that's such a great great strategic move. So thank you for doing that. And at the elementary level, the try it at home tidbits in the newsletter is fantastic and I think that's going to go over really well. So, thank you from the board. Um, any comments? >> Mike, >> thank you. Thank you for the wonderful presentation. Uh, very thorough explaining what's going on at the schools. As the father of two middle schoolers, uh, I'm very excited to see how the new, uh, the new process is going to work there with the with the new schedule and everything. Uh the one question I have is that uh knowing that we have a number of families in the district that their home spoken language isn't English, Spanish or Chinese, do we have a process for translating into the family's spoken language at home uh the documents that are going home? >> Yes. Um the the site itself, Character Strong, um toggles and translates between Spanish and English. We are one year ahead of where we want them to be. It will be translatable into Mandarin as well. So, for all of the translating we did this year, we wouldn't have had to do it if they were one year ahead. So, we can um send them home in Spanish. We can also translate them um and send them home in the parent language. It'll take um time on staff members parts, but our um assistant principles, principles, and our multilingual um learning families and teacher teachers know who those families are so that we can ensure we're communicating in the language that they prefer and need it in. Um and also phone conversations. So using the the um translation line. So >> thank you. >> Yeah, >> Megan, >> one of my questions was actually going to be about the parent piece and I did get the email from Groveland. So I appreciate that. I hope we can continue to um reinforce to parents that that is out there. Um because I can see it being very powerful if you're using consistent language at home and at school. um you know maybe it gives me some tools in my toolbox for you know interacting with my own kids. So I really appreciate that. Um I also as you were talking I was thinking about how powerful it is now that our schools are um using the same curriculum because our kids don't live in an environment where they're isolated with only kids from their own school. So if they're at baseball or soccer or whatever activity they do and they're on, you know, in a situation with students from Minashta and Excelsier and Groveland and Deep Haven, it's just amazing that they're going to have common language to use. Um, and I was thinking like, how do we let coaches know that and how do we get it out to the broader community because I think it's really powerful um that we're going to have that ability to have some common language. So, uh, thank you for working and getting it all standardized. I know that was a heavy lift, but really appreciate it. >> We are very blessed to have Carrie Palmer from Social Thinking in our community. Her kids went through Groveland. They're at East High School. Um, so she is just a phone call away to reinforce, do parent trainings, things like that. Also, Dr. Clay Cook, who developed Character Strong and Purposeful People, is right in our neck of the woods, too. So, uh, we will be calling on them, uh, throughout the year to continue to reinforce this work for both, um, families and our staff. Sally, >> I have so many thoughts. I hope I can knit them together in a cohesive way. So, first I want to say I love the video of things. I think that is such a powerful way to deliver messages succinctly. And even the little animation of the car going on the journey, I was like, "Oh, now, okay, cuz things that I've heard you say so many times just suddenly fell into place for me. So, thank you for that." Also, I can't help but think professionally. I'm thinking future forward. the tools that kids are building here and the language that they're gaining is very much in my experience in you know mine I have to admittedly in the corporate world but where um organizations are very concerned about employee engagement through well-being and belonging and that's really what we're teaching here is that this this is the way to get to good engagement in the education process and they will hopefully see that whatever uh path they may take in their future but this is going to be a tool that will serve them well in the future, I'm sure. I have a question about the um the tools for the teachers. So, I believe you said at the elementary level, I think you use the term click and go, something along those lines. And I'm just curious in practical terms, what will it look like for a teacher to prep for and deliver these weekly modules? >> Yeah. Um great question. Um yeah, we try to use the term um plugandplay. So when we did the pilots last year, one of the things we looked at for criteria uh was how much teacher prep time is needed. Um you know reading materials, organizing materials, and the feedback from teachers was that we really wanted a program that um was just at low prep. I could click on it and not have to do a lot. And the structure is the same. So uh with character strong purposeful people, for example, when they click on that lesson, it brings them to the lesson page that they will walk through. So, uh, each lesson is set up in the same way and it starts with a connection activity. Again, going back to that building belonging. So, the activities themselves when they piloted really connected with what we're trying to do in Minnetonka. Um, and because it's structured the same way, um, the format is there. So, they can click and log in and they're there they go. So, again, wanting to make it really easy throughout the throughout the week. And then also having additional activities for teachers who want to do more and go a little bit deeper because they have time in their schedule or when we were at training in August, one of the teachers was like, well, I want to do more than just my morning meeting. Like, can I do more? Can I dig deep? And we're like, yeah, go for it. So, there is a lot of excitement from our staff about wanting to do this and implement it with our with our children. >> Thank you because you answered my next question, which was going to be around experiential learning. So kind of that teaching from the back of the room sort of thing. We introduce the concept, we apply it. Okay. Wonderful. Anyone else? Thank you so much. That was a great presentation. Appreciate it. All right. Next on the agenda is the acceptance of bid for deep haven window and gym HVAC replacement in summer 2026. Superintendent law. Madam chair, members of the board, I will actually call up all three of these items at once, but I will start with the notice to the board and a reminder to the board notice to the public that um there's a carrying item on the bid for Deep Haven and uh Mr. Berswalt will share that these are getting way ahead of next summer. As all of you know, as board members, when we get out into the bid process early, we have a better chance of getting low bids because contractors like to have booked work early. So, executive director of finance and operations Paul Bourgeois will run through first the deep haven bid and then we'll follow up with the remaining two. Mr. Bourgeois, thank you, Superintendent L. Madam Chair, members of the board. Actually, this time of year, we're working in three fiscal years. So, we're closing up fiscal year 25. We're getting fiscal year 26 up and running and planning for fiscal year 27. So, I kind of feel like I'm bouncing around in time and relative dimensions in space like that character Doctor Who, but I don't have a cool red phone booth to go do it with. Um, but the uh what we have before us here is the acceptance of bid uh replacement for Windows at Deep Haven Elementary School. And we actually opened bids on Tuesday the 26th. And at that time, we had a a low bid that turned out to be a non-spec bid uh from CM Construction. So that's why we have the carry-in item. Uh we actually immediately after we have a a um a bid opening, our standard practice is to ask the low bidder to verify their numbers and let us know if they're good and they go, "Yep, we're good." And then we write up the board item and and get and do that. And so that we went through that process with them. But then literally yesterday afternoon, we received a letter from them saying, you know, we realized we actually missed a whole sheet of uh in the aluminum section of this particular bid packet. and and that's a kind of a big deal because these are aluminum framed windows. So, um they asked to back out. So, uh we are uh allowing them to back out and look recommending accepting the bid of Daring Pearson Group in the amount of $1,111,000. uh it's slightly over the budget estimate but what you'll notice even just among these three and also what we've accepted so far previously is that in aggregate we are uh under budget estimate overall for this particular uh FY27 set of of u jobs that we're we're bidding out. So we'd recommend approval of the daring Pearson group for this project. Thank you. >> Uh may I have a motion to approve the low bid as presented? >> So moved. >> Dan, may I have a second? Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Motion carry. Oh. Oh. Any opposed? Sorry. >> Motion carries. >> Mr. Bruce W. >> Thank you. Uh Madam Chair, members of the board. Uh this next item is acceptance of bid for replacement of gymnasium HVAC at Excelsier Elementary School. This is to replace the uh um HVAC systems in the 1958 built cafeteria gym at Alexels Elementary School. Uh the budget estimate was $375,000 and the low bid in this case is actually CM Construction in the amount of $242,000. >> May I have a motion to approve the low bid as presented? >> So moved. >> Megan, may I have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Superintendent law. >> Mr. Rwis. >> Uh thank you uh Madame Chair, members of the board. Uh this last item is for acceptance of bid for boiler room component replacement at Minnitankka Middle School West. Uh this is actually duplicating what we did at Minnitankka Middle School East a year ago. Uh in both of those situations, we're replacing a lot of 1964 era components with uh continued energy efficiency improvements, but also capacity improvements. And uh so actually this will help set up uh potentially if there's a successful bond referendum, these uh also will dovetail in with that in terms of just trying to make sure everything works together, right? uh to make sure we have capacity to continue to heat and and cool all of the uh uh all the square footage of each of those buildings. So, we'd recommend that you'd uh accept the bid of Northland Mechanical Contractors in the amount of 636, uh 900, which is below the budget estimate of $750,000. >> May I please have a motion to approve the low bid as presented? >> So moved. >> Dan, may I have a second? >> Second, >> Sally. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Thank you, Mr. Bourgeoa. Okay. Next on the agenda, we have the consent agenda. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Chris, may I have a second? >> Second, >> Mike. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. All right. Do we have any board reports, Sally? >> I just have one. Um had the opportunity to participate in a community event this week and in light of the tragedy at um Annunciation School and Church, just wanted to remind folks that in um that our district in collaboration with Henipin County Sheriff and Carver County Sheriff have in the past um uh had communications go out and expressing our um collaboration and support with the Be Smart campaign. Uh and just a quick read from one of their materials says uh the campaign advocates for safe and responsible gun storage. It promotes easy and concrete actions that adults can take to prevent the severe harms that can result when children access firearms. So really um pretty, you know, things that that I believe everyone will support and those materials can be found and more information can be found at bsmartforkids.com. So or.org, excuse me. >> Thank you. Any other board reports? I do have one from the Minnitankka Public Schools Foundation. There is um an opening for the executive director um position opening. Any interested candidate should submit an application via the Minnitankka district website and that is under the district page under human resources. And that's all from my side. Um next we have the superintendent report. Superintendent law. Madam Chair, members of the board, the first week of school, uh what an exciting week I've been out welcoming students and seeing students leave and been on the hallways. It's been, you know, a lot of energy, a lot of excitement. Um I'm proud of our staff and all the work they did. I want to give a big shout out to our middle school teachers who have adop taken on this new schedule and we've mentioned all the new opportunities, our middle school administration who have scheduled a new schedule for the first time and put people in the right classes and those things. a lot of work. Very happy that we're started and launched. Uh and the little tweaks that we've done with literacy at the elementary level or social emotional learning. I would uh give our teachers a big round of applause for trying new things that are going to be good for kids. I'd also like to lean on our high school student board reps tonight to give a comment because as the board's aware and the community is aware, we store cell phones in class now during class. I'd lean on um our board reps to give an update. How's it going at the high school? >> Um, well, for me, I know that I've found a positive impact on my learning at least. And it seems that throughout most of my classes, more students are involved in the conversation and engaging in what's being taught, even if they're trying to escape from it sitting in the back. But I found that it's had a positive impact on my learning. Especially >> I feel like it's a lot more easier to pay attention in class about the distraction of a phone. There's been a lot of debate between my peers about like not having accessibility to phones, but the caddy is fairly close. So I don't really see that as an issue. >> Thank you both. I for the benefit of the public, these students, just as a reminder, were nominated by teachers but voted on by their peers and they volunteered to take on this obligation of being prepared for board meetings and then attending uh as they're available. We had a two-hour training in this room with most of those student schoolboard reps about schoolboard goals, how board meetings work, and then for these two in particular, they gave about a half an hour with me yesterday to prep for today's board meeting. Um, they will likely be different students rotating throughout the year as students have different activities that they're involved with. But I I'm going to give these two a shout out because yesterday they said, "Can we only attend one board meeting?" Well, they hadn't attended one yet, but good for them for showing that much interest. Welcome. It's great to have you here. >> Thank you. Do we have any announcements from the board? With that, I would like to call this Oh, Chris >> moving for June. >> Okay. May May I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? >> So, move. >> Chris second. >> Second. Okay. I would like all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Thank you for bearing with me. All those opposed. >> I would like to call this meeting to a close. Thank you.