[2:42] hmm [2:58] christmas [3:08] huh [3:22] i've been thinking a lot about you though everything good that's good good looking well [3:30] oh good good excellent [4:10] good evening everyone good evening we're gonna start the board [4:16] meeting [4:21] uh good evening tonight is monday december 13th and we do have a quorum so i'll call this meeting to order [4:29] we before we approve the agenda i want to take a moment to note that the agenda item for the masking requirement change [4:36] which was listed as an action item under health and safety resolution update [4:41] has been updated to only change the masking policy to non-edina public schools buildings [4:47] it would not alter the masking policy at edina public schools buildings which will remain mass [4:53] required at all times so i wanted to make sure people noted the change to that action item [4:59] do i have a motion to approve the agenda for tonight's meeting so moved uh that lenny and is there a second [5:05] second tonight's agenda is a pr oh we need to vote we'll now vote to approve tonight's [5:13] agenda all those in favor say aye aye anyone opposed [5:19] tonight's agenda is approved uh dr stanley will you please review tonight's agenda for us [5:28] i say well good evening so tonight we are [5:34] in our excellence in action we are going to be honoring our outgoing board members and then we are going to take a [5:41] short recess uh have a truth in taxation public hearing and we will have the opportunity the [5:48] meeting will be resumed we'll have the opportunity to hear from members of the public [5:53] and then we will move into several reports we have a discussion report about our eva [6:00] virtual learning programs special education recovery plans our early learning comprehensive literacy plan [6:07] update our secondary new courses and course change proposals about our upcoming [6:14] science articulation of course the health and safety resolution as uh chair ellenberg [6:20] mentioned you know we received new information over the weekend coupled with the information that most people are aware [6:27] of related to the covic cases in some of our out-of-school time [6:33] programming so we change that then [6:38] director tope will come and go over the tax levy certification [6:43] we will be learning about our early learning curriculum recommendation our magnet programming [6:50] vaccination testing resolution and policy review those policies are [6:55] coming for forward for approval we'll get leadership and committee [7:00] updates which include an overview of my mid-year review [7:06] i'll provide updates there are some information pieces in the board packet and we will adjourn [7:13] so we will be together for for for a little while this evening great thank you dr stanley uh we have a [7:20] special excellence in action tonight tonight is the last board meeting for three of our board members so i would [7:25] like to ask director michaelson director fox and director jones to join me [7:31] and dr stanley in front of the podium so we can recognize their excellent contribution to our school district [8:09] okay we have official commendations for each of you that are going to be voted in consent agenda hopefully in a few [8:16] minutes is this working okay thank you um first i would like to start with director jones and the commendation [8:23] reads be it resolved that the school board commend and recognize ellen jones for her service on the edina school [8:28] board from january 2018 through december 2021 the board hereby expresses its sincere [8:35] appreciation and that of the staff and residents of the school district for ellen jones's four years of devoted [8:41] service to the dyna to the edina public schools in its affairs during the period of 2018 through 2021. [8:48] ellen jones has served the district as the board clerk during the last two years of her tenure she also served as [8:53] representative on many board committees and as board liaison to many organizations these have included [8:59] membership on the board's policy teaching and learning and finance and facilities committees as well as liaison to the edina city [9:06] council minnesota school board association gifted advisory council the edina education fund and world's best [9:11] workforce additionally she has been the board liaison to creek valley and the early learning center [9:17] one second sorry after many year hiatus director jones led the creation of a new legislative [9:24] action committee her time and talent in restarting this important committee will impact our district in a positive way [9:30] for years to come director jones also served on the board through one of the most time consuming and intense periods [9:36] in district history and should be noted for her service for helping establish the new strategic plan her guidance [9:41] through the covet 19 pandemic and the hiring of dr stacie stanley director jones has been a very thoughtful [9:47] involved and dedicated board member the board members congratulate evelyn jones and extend a [9:53] collective and individual thank you for a job well done and [10:00] director jones i would like to present you with this plaque [10:06] that i think is absolutely beautiful it represents not only the board members that you are serving with now but all of [10:12] the board members that you have served with over your service period i want to personally thank you just for welcoming [10:18] in to the district and just for all your help with my onboarding you'll truly be [10:24] missed [Applause] [10:33] [Applause] [10:41] director michaelson be resolved that the school board commend and recognize owen michelson for [10:48] his service on the edina school board from january 2018 through december 2021 [10:55] the board hereby expresses its sincere appreciation and that of of the staff and residents of the school district for [11:00] owen michelson's four years of devoted service to the dinah public schools and its affairs during the period 2018 [11:07] through 2021. owen michelson has served on serve the district on multiple committees most [11:13] recently spending two years as chair of the policy committee he has also served on the finance and facilities board [11:20] committee and has board liaison to many organizations these have included the association of metropolitan school [11:26] districts legislative action committee and ties the technology and information educational services [11:32] additionally he has been the board liaison to normandale elementary school director michaelson has been a valued [11:38] member of the board in his role as chair of the policy committee and his board liaison through the dissolvement of the [11:43] thai's partnership director michaelson also served on the board through one of the most time consuming and intense periods in [11:50] district history and should be noted for his service to helping establish our new strategic plan [11:56] and his guidance through the covet 19 pandemic and hiring of dr stacie stanley director michaelson has brought a valued [12:02] perspective and has been a conscientious and diligent board member the board would like to congratulate [12:08] owen michelson and extend a collective and individual thank you for a job well done thank you owen [12:14] [Applause] [12:22] that's great director michaelson [12:33] director michaelson presenting this plaque to you again with all of the signatures from the current board members as well as board members that [12:40] you've served with in the past i'm going to personally thank you for all of the conversations that we've had over coffee [12:46] i truly appreciate that it's been a great way to become welcomed into the community and i wish you well thank you [12:52] very much stacey thank you [13:01] director fox the school board would like to come in and recognize matthew fox for his [13:06] service on the edina school board from january 2018 through december 21 2021 i [13:11] apologize the board hereby expresses a sincere appreciation and that of the staff and residences of the school district for [13:18] matthew fox's four years of devoted service to the edina public schools and its affairs during the period 2018 and [13:24] through 2021 matthew fox has served the district as the board treasurer during his entire [13:30] four-year tenure on the board he has also served as representative on the finance and facilities board committee [13:36] and has board liaison to many organizations these have included the minnesota school board association and [13:41] edina education fund additionally he has also been the board liaison to cornelia valley view middle school and edina high [13:47] school director fox has been a very valuable board member in his oversight role as treasurer and helping ensure the [13:54] maintenance maintenance of the district's critical aaa credit rating and other important financial decisions [14:00] director foxx also served the board through one of the most time consuming and intense periods in district history [14:06] and should be noted for his service for helping establish the new strategic plan his guidance through the coven 19 [14:12] pandemic and hiring of dr stacy stanley director fox has been a very strategic minded positive and helpful board member [14:19] the board members congratulate matthew fox and extend the collective and individual thank you for a job well done [14:24] thank you matt [14:31] [Applause] [14:37] director fox again here is a plaque for you that includes all of the signatures of everyone you're serving with right [14:43] now including those that you served with in the past i really want to thank you for your strategic focus on our finances that is [14:50] so important in keeping our school district healthy i really appreciate all of your wisdom and guidance as i [14:56] transitioned on thank you and i wish you well [15:02] if we could one more round of a pause pause for these three board members [15:13] [Applause] [15:38] slowly okay we're now going to recess the meeting and have our truth and taxation [15:44] hearing so our meeting is recessed and uh um director tope [15:50] is going to come and guide us through our truth and taxation hearing [16:09] [Music] uh good evening sherry allenberg members of the board superintendent stanley and members of the public [16:15] this is edina public schools truth and taxation hearing for payable [16:21] for the school district's fiscal year starting july 1st 2022 to june 30 2023 [16:31] we are required by law to meet a number of uh constraints uh when [16:37] we conduct this public meeting it's got to be between november 25th and 28th 6 o'clock or later maybe part of a regular [16:43] regularly scheduled meeting allow for public comments and then we also are scheduled to adopt the final [16:49] levy later on in the meeting state law also requires that we present our current year budget and our proposed [16:56] property tax levy these numbers here are district revenues [17:01] and expenditures focusing on the first two lines if you look at general fund restricted and general fund [17:08] other you'll see for our actual results for 2021 we had a very good year we'll have [17:15] the audit report presented most likely at our january meeting and then our [17:21] budget that was approved by the board on june 28 2021 for the 21 22 year shows a [17:27] fairly balanced budget just slightly less than a balanced budget in the general fund and we'll be looking at [17:33] revising that budget probably in february of 2022 [17:40] this is a pie chart of all the funds all the revenue in all of our funds in the [17:45] district about 170 million dollars now you can see primarily the general fund at about 76 percent uh comprises [17:53] the biggest part of our revenue and looking just at that general fund [17:59] revenue you see the split between property taxes which is about 30 percent [18:05] federal funding which is about 2.5 percent state [18:10] 65 and then other local sources [18:18] our expenditures by program category you can see that [18:24] instruction at the bottom is our primary expenditure at 45 percent and what what [18:30] i want the public to understand is that is not what all that we spend on reg on instruction we have regular instruction [18:36] we have district support services we have instructional support services we have special education all those are [18:43] really the core for what we can consider instructional services and if you add those up that's a significant [18:50] amount of our general fund [18:55] breaking it down by object codes so this is uh how do we uh spend our money uh [19:01] and you can see mainly that's in salaries and fringe benefits uh those two add up to about 81 percent [19:08] of our general fund expenditures a fair amount in recent years has been our [19:14] capital uh we have a pay-as-you-go levy for long-term facilities maintenance so that pushes that one up to about seven [19:20] percent uh proposed property tax for 2022 is an [19:26] increase from 2021 of 1.8 million or just under 3 [19:32] we are going to ask the board to uh under levy in the reemployment category [19:38] because our claims are being paid by the state uh federal stimulus funding at this point [19:45] in time so there's no need to levy that amount that you see up there of [19:51] one hundred and 233 dollars we'll get into the reasons here for the major increases and decreases on here on [19:58] the next slides this is just a a very uh brief summary of the different levee [20:03] categories that we have for our property tax levy in edina it's a really busy chart so i'm going to [20:10] slide right past that we had a fairly major change in the [20:16] inflation factor in our operating referendum this past year for this upcoming levy cycle i think the [20:22] amount was 4.92 percent now the voters when they approved this operating referendum back in 2017 [20:29] uh they did approve an inflationary increase each year that has really been running around 2.3 percent per year [20:38] but because of the recent inflation that we're experiencing uh for next year's it will be 4.92 so [20:44] that's the big change in the voter approved operating referendum [20:50] capital projects technology referendum as most people in the room know we held [20:56] an election on may 11 2021 to increase our technology levy [21:01] renew and increase our technology levy that passed and so that is on the [21:06] property tax levy this cycle at five hundred thousand dollars more than it was uh the previous levy cycle [21:14] each year there is a a wide variety of prior year adjustments in any property [21:21] tax levy year that the board certifies we're certifying the expenses [21:26] the revenue that we're estimating that we'll need for the current year but we're also truing up because we have [21:31] better information on the 21 22 year in this example [21:36] for this property tax levy and we're also finalizing any adjustments for [21:41] fiscal year 1920. so that's why you see there's such a big number of a positive [21:47] 981 thousand a fair amount of that is also in the operating levy [21:54] debt service fund there is a increase in the reduction for debt excess this is a state required calculation where we are [22:01] required to levy 105 of what we think are what we know our debt service payments will be to account [22:08] for any delinquencies uh property taxpayers in the edina school district typically pay their [22:14] property taxes on time aren't delinquent so that fund builds up in excess over [22:19] time and the state runs through the calculation to determine what that reduction in the property tax levy will [22:25] be if we have a debt excess in the debt service fund this year it's 534 000 [22:31] additional many factors for your tax bill [22:37] that would cause individual property increase or decrease from year to year changes in the value of individual [22:43] property think everybody knows that one changes in total value of all property in the district and we will get into a [22:49] couple of slides here fairly quickly that show the impact in the total value [22:55] for edina school district and then increase their decreases in levy amounts with state funding formulas [23:00] local needs and costs voter approved referendums which we had one and other factors [23:06] so here's the charts uh the first one on the left is a 500 000 residential homestead property and you [23:14] can see the taxes from 2021 to 2022 are going to remain relatively flat [23:20] so we're actually increasing our property tax levy by three percent but for a five hundred thousand dollar [23:27] homeowner uh their taxes school district part of their property taxes now just the school district part is going to remain [23:33] relatively flat and the that's the same through out all these examples same with the [23:39] one million dollar residential homestead property and then we have a one and a half [23:44] million dollar residential homestead property that's actually slightly going down i think and then a one million dollar commercial [23:51] industrial property as well and what that's telling us is that the [23:56] the school district uh property valuations are going up because we're adding value not necessarily all home [24:04] values are increasing which they are just for the most part for the most part but we're adding market value to our tax [24:10] base so that's a really good thing for the school district and it also helps out the taxpayers because that keeps [24:17] their tax bill low at least on the school district side you know again remember we passed a [24:23] voter approved opera technology levy here and a seven million dollar bond issue that's in this property tax levy [24:30] yet you can see for all these properties the taxes are going to remain relatively flat [24:38] next steps board will accept public comments on the proposed levy and then later on in the regular meeting the [24:44] board will certify the 2022 property tax levy [24:49] so we are at the public comment portion of the meeting chair allen bird [24:54] great thank you director tope are there any comments from members of the public on the information that was provided [25:02] you can raise your hand and he can we can pass around a microphone or you can come up [25:08] are people aware of the process of how this works for this meeting so this is not a standard board [25:14] discussion anybody in the audience can ask any question they want so any thoughts you have or questions you have around the taxation process [25:28] no comments great well thank you director tope thank you [25:38] our meeting is back from recess and resumed again we're now moving on to [25:43] hearings from members of the public a pursuant to board policy 206 we ask [25:48] that you not duplicate information that has been previously presented if you have a complaint about individual [25:54] employees board members or students in the district please direct any of these comments to the appropriate site administrator the superintendent or [26:01] submit them in writing to the board the board typically does not respond to or have discussions on any issues [26:07] presented but questions raised during presentations will receive follow-up as directed by the board i would like to [26:12] remind all speakers that your presentations are limited to three minutes we now have a display [26:18] though it's at the back of the room so that's not very helpful oh oh there's one over there okay sorry [26:24] um that will let you know when your three minutes are up so please finish at three minutes thank you first up is chris bon vino [26:38] can i pull this down [26:48] i wanted to come here tonight to thank owen [26:53] ellen and matthew for their service matthew for what this is worth i grossly [26:59] underestimated you you're very smart and we're very good the entire time there's one specific instance [27:06] past my three minutes but meeting was i i watch all these i'm kind of a geek i watch these and meeting was [27:12] kind of slow and you were like get this going i'm like yes yes so thank you at any rate but moreover i wanted to [27:19] thank ellen specifically and owen often in the minority [27:25] but maintain their resolve and always in my estimation acted in the best interest of [27:31] the students a great deal of respect for both of you for that i really [27:38] have nothing much else to say but i wanted to come here to thank you i know this is a lot of time you put in [27:44] but i have a great deal of respect for the fact it's hard when you're in the minority almost constantly last year in [27:51] the in the in the ones that i watched you know you maintained what you believed was corrupt was right so i want [27:59] to just thank you all of you matthew included i appreciate your service for those of [28:05] us who have passion freedom of schools and great love as an alumnus [28:11] thank you thank you [28:20] sarah patzoff [28:29] good evening thank you um i couldn't agree more with uh with what the previous speaker said [28:35] thank you for your service it's a thankless job um i just wanted to come and just [28:40] quickly address policy 206 as a former board member and although i appreciate the comments that superintendent made at [28:47] one of the previous work sessions that this probably wouldn't be coming back to the board anytime soon um as a former [28:52] board member i know this is a policy making board so any administrator can say that this isn't going to come back [28:58] but the reality is it's up to the board and when those board comments were made our board chair was not in the room and [29:03] i just want to make sure that you know that the community cares deeply about being open and transparent with all of [29:10] you with our board members and that includes our three that will be joining you in january um we've had a loss with covid we've [29:18] lost our q a session that was originated uh previously [29:23] we haven't had been able to have the face-to-face that this community has enjoyed with their board and so i really [29:29] hope that when we're looking when you look at policy 206 if you do choose to bring it [29:34] back up think about the transparency that is needed and the opportunity for public members to come [29:41] public community members and share their thoughts with you many of you who are on the board have [29:48] taken that opportunity yourself when you were in the public and not on the board [29:54] and so to put restrictions on that to not make it public for the community to [30:00] watch to remove it from the video recording of your meetings takes away that transparency to put [30:06] limitations on things beyond the time like clapping which we've all done tonight to thank board members to [30:13] appreciate the awards that you were giving out let's do it for the right reasons not [30:19] for the wrong reasons this is a policy change that i understand there was a lot of news media around this [30:25] but it is a problem it is a solution searching for a problem because we have not had this type of [30:32] excess in edina the only time that i have seen true screaming at a board meeming when i sat on your side of the [30:38] diocese was when we were talking about busing and start times and yes we had a raucous [30:43] january 2017 meeting but we were able to rein it in and still have quality [30:49] discussion on behalf of our community so to take that away when i know other [30:56] things have happened in other districts but we haven't done that we have been a respectful community who comes and wants [31:02] to share their opinions so i ask you to take this seriously including the new board members joining to not [31:09] try to take away transparency from this community so that they can come and sit passionately [31:15] and talk about issues that are important to them on camera so that the whole community has an opportunity to see what [31:21] is concerning other parents in this community not just on facebook not just on social media and not just over coffee [31:28] at jerry's we need public transparency i appreciate what you do and i hope you'll [31:33] take these words seriously thank you thank you [31:41] uh dan stocker [31:58] thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight appreciate it um after last week's eps covet forum [32:06] i wanted to further address the issue of force masking in our schools i have respect for those parents in our [32:13] community that want their kids to wear a mask in school and [32:18] i would ask that the eight of you give the parents and kids who do not want their kids to wear masks in school [32:25] that same option in that same respect i attended the eps coveted forum last [32:30] monday evening and to state that that forum presented information in a in a [32:37] that to state that that forum presented information from one side would be a huge understatement [32:45] i have to admit that i was disappointed that the information was not presented in a balanced forum with open community [32:52] dialogue for example last monday evening it was never stated that nationally the [32:59] communal chance of being hospitalized due to covet 19 for children ages 5 to 11 was 3 100 of a [33:09] percent let's say that again three one hundredths of a percent [33:15] for children twelve to seventeen it's about six one hundredths of a percent [33:22] it was also stated during last week's code forum more than once that our hospital beds are overrun because of [33:27] covet patients the truth is right now at hennepin four of 48 icu beds [33:35] are occupied by patients whose primary diagnosis is covet [33:41] and our hospital capacity issues are often due to staffing problems such as nursing [33:47] shortages not because they are being overwhelmed by treating very sick coveted patients [33:53] some of our best comparative data for usefulness of masking comes out of florida during last year's school year [34:00] millions of kids across 67 counties half of those counties had masks half [34:06] did not no difference mass did not make a difference in case [34:11] rates at all and la and nick kelly our own public health advisor [34:17] who advises edonna on our covet 19 protocol stated in [34:22] in quote unquote in terms of purely broad effectiveness the least effective [34:28] mitigation we're implementing is masking i can further cite more scientific data [34:34] like randomized controlled danish math studies um but the fact is that there's ample [34:40] scientific evidence to exist that exists to support a masking optional policy [34:46] i'm asking the eight of you to please be brave and see the off-ramp [34:53] be the person who decides to put the kids first give us a masking optional policy thank you [35:00] thank you mr stalker tara finn [35:15] [Music] i'm here tonight seeking your support to allow parent volunteers in countryside [35:22] elementary school over the past few months i've followed the recommended chain of command i've reached out to [35:28] principal bergman on a few occasions and emailed the eight of you a few times as well with very little response so now [35:35] i'm here i've also spoken with parents from the five other elementary schools in the district and from parents outside of the [35:41] district as well and those schools are welcoming parent volunteers into their building it doesn't look like it did [35:47] back in the good old days of 2019 and before there are policies and procedures in place to keep everyone safe and to my [35:53] knowledge it's been working there have been no cases of covid attached to or tied to those parent volunteers in the [35:59] school parents are being invited into these schools and welcomed into classrooms to help support reading and math efforts [36:06] holiday parties media volunteers bingo math mal book fairs and more [36:11] and i and so many other countryside parents want to be in our child's school as well but we're being told we're not [36:16] welcome for three reasons the first at this time the school has sufficient staff to provide coverage for [36:23] supervision and instructional needs it isn't all that they want but it's serving the need for us right now [36:29] if it's not all that we want then let's do something to change resources are strapped teachers are tapped and there's [36:35] a performance gap pre-covered educational activities like mass stations and animal brain [36:41] dissections aren't happening now because parent volunteers aren't welcome and i personally believe technology is [36:47] being way too heavily relied upon these days let's close the chromebooks and let our kids learn from one another we can [36:52] do this with the help of parent volunteers the second point is no new news to anyone there's a rising cases not only [36:59] in our schools but in the community but that doesn't mean that parents can't safely volunteer in our schools [37:05] and the third point which i'll read verbatim is the countryside staff has overwhelmingly indicated they are uneasy [37:12] with allowing access to the building by other adults adults for whom we don't know their coveted status or personal [37:17] mitigation practices we as parents don't know the staff's coveted status or personal mitigation [37:22] practices and yet we entrust them with our kids five days a week we assume positive intent and believe no adult [37:29] would gather with children if there is any concern of illness this goes for both parents and teachers [37:35] the staff that we've talked to want parents back in the building and what about what the parents want who is [37:41] representing us and who is here to make the final decision we as parents have an incredibly [37:46] important role to play in our children's education research shows that when parents are involved in our kids [37:51] education they're more engaged with their schoolwork and achieve better learning outcomes and i think every [37:56] parent in this room would agree each time you walk away from volunteering at your kid's school the amount of [38:02] appreciation you have for the staff and the teachers there increases tenfold [38:07] we're 20 months into this pandemic this is our new normal i can watch my kids at their extracurricular activities i can [38:13] go to target i can attend church i can go to the gym but i don't i can get on an airplane packed full of people i can [38:20] be summoned for jury duty but i can't walk through the doors of my kid's school [38:25] policy 903 was shared with me last night and i can't see anywhere here that supports what we're being denied of my [38:32] ask for you dr stanley school board and principal bergman is to extend the parent privileges from the other five [38:38] elementary schools in the district to countryside elementary parents thank you thank you mrs finn [38:47] kd fabrizio [39:02] hello i'm katie fabrizio and i am here as a representative of the special education advisory council [39:09] about 10 years ago my family picked up and moved over a thousand miles to edina [39:14] specifically for the special education services here and we've been absolutely thrilled with the services that we've [39:20] been receiving one of the people that has been critical to my son's success in school has been [39:26] the paraprofessional there's a wide variety of people that help him through the day but the paraprofessional is the [39:32] one that is there with him every step of the way ensuring that he is able to learn in the least restrictive [39:38] environment the paraprofessional often fills many roles [39:43] for a student sometimes they're monitoring their safety and behaviors sometimes they're helping with self-care [39:49] and oftentimes they're actually the one who is helping the student learn they're able to take the information [39:56] from the special ed teacher and the typical education teacher and make that information [40:01] so that it's accessible to that student and that is the one thing that i think is really important that we address is [40:08] the shortage of paraprofessionals that we have right now the paraprofessional shortage as you're [40:14] aware of has affected many of our schools there is a shortage of overall [40:20] number of peras in some of the schools so as a as a result some of the students maybe are not receiving the full level [40:27] of support that they would benefit from there's also a shortage of paraprofessionals uh substitutes meaning [40:33] that when a subs when a when a parent is out someone else has to step in [40:38] oftentimes that can be a special education teacher and of course that has ripple effects because then that teacher [40:44] isn't able to do their job another thing that happens too is without consistent para support we are [40:51] really taking away the tools that that student needs to be able to succeed to [40:56] their highest level the prayers before provide the the student with the dignity [41:01] and confidence that they need to make it through their day to be the most successful so i i'm coming here today because i [41:09] want to um ask the board to put forth the same level of creative energy that you have [41:15] put forth solving these really difficult problems that we've had i don't think there's an easy solution we know that [41:22] there's a labor shortage but i'd love to see a sign the size of a school bus on [41:27] highway 100 asking for peras i'd like to see that there would [41:32] be some additional resources put forth because when there isn't a parent it isn't just affecting [41:39] the student for a short amount of time it isn't impacting their entire day their entire learning and it is [41:45] affecting their their ability to p be successful and achieve their highest levels [41:51] so i asked the board to please consider making finding these peras uh a priority [41:57] thank you thank you miss fabrizio [42:05] uh we're moving on to our consent agenda is there anything anyone would like to remove from the consent agenda [42:13] do i have a motion to approve the consent agenda second [42:19] goes first so janie motioned and lenny seconded yes [42:27] we will now vote to approve the consent agenda all those in favor say aye aye aye anyone opposed [42:34] the consent agenda has been approved uh moving on to discussion items we have [42:40] five items up for discussion tonight our first item is an update on the edina [42:45] elementary virtual pathway and i believe we have sean beverson here [42:50] katie mahoney um director d st hubert [42:57] um oh okay great [43:04] outstanding welcome thank you this discussion item is [43:09] informational only to provide the boarding community with an update on how the program is going so i will turn it [43:15] over to um our wonderful speakers okay thank you chair ellenberg dr [43:20] stanley board members colleagues and community members um we are really excited to give you some highlights of [43:26] our elementary eva evp program and give you some insight as to what we're doing [43:32] for some forward thinking i'm going to turn it over to mr beaverson who is our assistant principal and collaborator in [43:39] the work this year good evening everybody it's a pleasure to be here to talk about the edina [43:44] virtual pathway elementary edition from this fall i'm going to give you some bullet point [43:49] highlights and then be available for questions we're currently a program that serves [43:54] almost 100 students from kindergarten through sixth grade we are partnered with highlands [44:00] elementary and we have five sections of multi-grade sections in the elementary program [44:08] our program serves 30 families that opted into edina public schools from outside of our residence district area [44:17] we have this fall completed the full round of fall assessments in order to [44:23] understand where our students are at compared to all of the students that are in person as well this is no small feat [44:29] it was quite a challenge to be able to pull that off to offer both the fast testing and the map testing this fall at [44:36] this time we have those as benchmark measurements and we will know more about what that actually means as we continue [44:42] to assess through the year they're beginning their winter round of fast assessments now and so we will have a [44:48] better picture of exactly the growth of the students that are in the virtual pathway at this time [44:55] our families of the families that responded for to feedback so i make a request to feedback every few weeks to [45:01] make sure that we're on the same track having never really done an elementary online pathway before other than an [45:08] emergency last year so continuing to offer this of the families that responded over half [45:14] of those families have expressed interest in continuing in a virtual pathway beyond this year and beyond the [45:20] state of the emergency i wanted to highlight and read into the [45:25] record into the public some of the feedback that parents have shared with us [45:30] through that gathering information so i have a few parent quotes here [45:36] first miss mckay is an absolutely outstanding teacher she's our fourth grade teacher we feel very fortunate [45:42] that our child is in her virtual classroom her energy enthusiasm are amazing and her ability to capture the [45:47] attentions of students is incredible miss mckay also seems to handle sub-optimal behaviors with other [45:53] students swiftly clearly and kindly she seems to understand our children as learners and gives our child extra [46:00] challenges when appropriate the balance of teaching time and breakout rooms or asynchronous activities works well too [46:09] another parent feedback intentional focus on virtual and a great group of highlands teachers and staff [46:16] miss alyssa who is our k1 instructor is amazing and totally gets how to engage [46:21] kids through this virtual environment i need you to picture six seven and eight-year-olds that she is commanding [46:27] the attention of from her office at highlands elementary also the empathy and love displayed by [46:33] highlands and embracing the virtual pathways like featuring their work on all school meetings is awesome katie [46:39] mahoney who is unable to be here this evening has been just a marvelous partner highlands has served as an [46:44] incredible partner in this all of the all school assemblies the evp [46:50] students are included in those and the last one they were highlighted in their book talks working with kip and the [46:56] media specialist there so that's pretty great another parent comment everything about [47:02] evp goes really well mr higley is phenomenal he is not only solid and helpful but also accommodating to [47:08] students needs and backgrounds another parent quote we like student teacher engagement and glad that [47:14] students are doing activities in pe and art we're thankful for miss hansen one of our classroom paras miss paulie our [47:22] ml teacher speech teachers miss angie miss sutton who provides special ed miss cook [47:29] miss courtney our office assistant and kip the media specialist and then finally from the family's [47:35] regular and reliable schedule great content and curriculum great opportunities for kids to socialize and [47:41] form bonds doing work together also through lunch bunch during recess and via google chats socializing is [47:48] important even online and great teachers who are kind and attentive so [47:53] the group of teachers that have put together the program for this fall have worked tirelessly to be able to provide [47:59] a meaningful and appropriate experience for the kids and we've enjoyed some success to this point [48:06] doing that for the future we have applied and been accepted to be a comprehensive online [48:13] provider from kindergarten through eighth grade at this point our high school application is in process we are [48:19] approved by the state to be a supplemental provider at high school which means students can take up to two classes in their schedule in an online [48:27] format but we're looking to extend that also we do believe that a virtual pathway has [48:32] a long-term viability in the k-12 space i've been here before and talked to the board about this opening market space [48:39] that people are coming to expect this flexibility that they're looking for from any end of the spectrum and how [48:45] kids are doing if they're accelerated or if they need remediation all of those students have the opportunity to find a [48:51] personalized pathway in virtual we are well positioned in edina public schools to enter that space and to lead [48:59] in that space we have advantages being a dyna public school you hear the parents read the accolades of the teachers the [49:05] professionalism of our staff and so it's exciting to consider what is coming next [49:10] and so some things that we are looking at and some strengths in the current program that we believe we would double [49:16] down on we use a multi-aged approach and so continuous progress is the heart of [49:21] highlands elementary and shows up well in a virtual space this is a differentiator for us most other online [49:28] programs in the elementary space are straight grade programs so kindergarten with kindergarten first with first etc [49:35] and so we have multi-age classrooms and we are looking at ways that we can continue to [49:40] extend the advantages of that multi-aged setting to allow kids to move at a pace [49:46] appropriate to their learning we believe there's an advantage in the interdisciplinary approach that we're [49:52] able to explore so one of the things that's true about a virtual space is it frees us from the physical limitations [49:58] of space so sometimes it is simply a matter of the fact that the classrooms may not be [50:04] adjacent to each other that makes it difficult to imagine interdisciplinary connections in this way we are all [50:10] together at all times and actually very intimate ways when you consider what a google meet you've spent months on [50:15] google meets i don't need to tell you what it's like what that is like and then we believe that a [50:21] well-developed and established program can attract diverse families from around the state so [50:27] again relying on the variety of services that we provide and the excellence of those services [50:33] we believe that we can draw students from all over the state of minnesota that would look to programming that [50:39] edina offers so for example we offer latin and latin is an uncommon class to [50:45] offer and so that may have some attraction and pull from other students from around the state and so [50:51] we're looking at ways that we can continue to attract diverse families from around the state [50:57] an area of attention and growth is our tier two programming and i address that publicly [51:04] because that's a known issue in the elementary space it's one of the things that's a little bit more [51:09] challenging to figure out we believe that once we are freed from the pandemic and can make different [51:14] decisions that are not health based decisions that will free us up for some flexibility to be able to provide some [51:20] interesting ways to support tier 2 as well and then finally the k-12 pathway edina [51:28] is approved to be comprehensive through k-8 we aspire to be approved for [51:33] comprehensive from k-12 i was just reviewing the mdmde website today and [51:40] the number of programs from last year to this year and the increase in elementary programs [51:47] is dramatic and it's everybody anticipating that this is going to be an interest going [51:52] forward what i believe is that the staff that we have in edina public schools can provide a substantive program that is [51:59] different than in person and offers something meaningful based on the advantages that virtual [52:04] offers we know that not all situations are served best by a virtual setting but i would make [52:11] the case that not all situations are served best by an in-person setting either and so this just is another [52:17] avenue to add to our toolbox to be able to support and reach all students [52:23] that's my summary thank you mr beverson we appreciate the highlights that you brought to us in addition to the report [52:30] that we shared with all of you so at this point with that summary and that update and information we'd like to [52:37] turn it over for questions or feedback great thank you for the update i'll just turn it over to the rest of the board if [52:42] they have questions or comments [52:49] sure i'll go um that was great that was um really exciting to hear [52:55] um one of the things that i thought was really interesting was that [53:01] you were talking about the pacing and how [53:06] i think every student and we learn this in the pandemic every student every family makes their own decision on how [53:12] school is going to go for their kid right and that's one of the things that i think this program shows [53:18] um is that there are different pathways so i loved hearing that interdisciplinary [53:23] approach and more access in some ways to things that you wouldn't be able to have right um so i just thought that was [53:30] really impressive and great that you guys capture that my only it's not even really a question [53:36] well i have two things one is have you guys tracked if they are participating in any extracurricular [53:43] activities outside of the online day we haven't that's a great question and [53:48] one that i will look into that's a really great question i hadn't thought about okay and i think too we could [53:54] capture even if it's not within the united public schools but outside of that so um i know we've talked a lot [53:59] about this social and emotional support so um that's great and then my other question is if we are to if you look [54:06] ahead and like okay pie in the sky idea how do you bring this to the next level like what would [54:11] be what would bring more um to this program i just would challenge you in that you [54:17] don't have to answer that right now neither of you but um i do think there are a lot of things [54:23] that the dyna public schools can offer and you're absolutely right about the how this has exploded all over our state all over the country actually um this [54:30] flexibility for families so that's it it's great work it's really exciting to see so i appreciate this [54:36] update yep go ahead yeah just a simple comment not a [54:42] question either but just sorry all right all right that wasn't me [54:49] oh good thanks so i was saying i think that that there's no the things i look for in a [54:55] program like this are very simple there are three things which are can we deliver quality so is a student outside [55:00] of the building getting the same experience as inside the building does it distract from the current offering anyway that was always a concern [55:07] obviously we were forced into creating some sort of a virtual program but then afterwards the sustainability was going [55:12] to be called into question if we had two teachers in one capacity or three and there's now four classrooms how do [55:17] we delve how do we satisfy those needs and the third one was is it financially neutral or positive and it feels like [55:24] you guys have found a way to make all those positive experiences in terms of making sure it's a quality program [55:29] making sure it's not distracting current resources and making sure it's financially positive for the district so i think god's done a great job it's a [55:35] good report as i just want to make that comment lenny [55:41] no question thank you very much it looks great oh [55:46] i i got to see this in teaching and learning and all of my questions were actually answered in the the presentation tonight so thank you for [55:53] doing that i did i did just want to say another round of thank yous to to you [55:58] sean and to jody and to the staff that have really stepped up and the staff of [56:03] highlands that have stepped up to embrace this program you know i would be interested at some [56:09] point in hearing from our highlands families right what kind of [56:15] connection their kids are having with our virtual learners too i think that that would be something of interest [56:21] so thank you and thank you for using data in how you're assessing this program it's much appreciated [56:28] a winner ellen do you guys have anything i have a few questions observations will you turn [56:34] your mic on i'm sorry thanks um [56:44] talked about the fast assessment students were invited to complete what percentage actually did conclude [56:53] thank you actually all of the students eligible to complete the fast test have completed the first round of the fast [57:00] test um yep it's one of the it's one of the advantages of the virtual pathway is [57:05] that we're flexible in the time that we're able to do that and so the staff [57:11] has worked to make sure that all of those students have read have had that assessment and then they [57:16] i don't know if it's mentioned i can't remember if it's mentioned in the report and then our regular check-ins we use [57:22] ixl for the regular check-ins too which is incredibly rich data as well so between those two data points they [57:28] have a really dynamic picture of how kids are doing and it'll be interesting to see [57:34] when the next round of fast is complete where the growth is and what we've discovered [57:39] map on the other hand was more challenging because of the in person versus out of person [57:46] in the grades that were eligible we had a high completion rate and i don't remember the percentage right now we did [57:52] offer a hybrid model so if families were comfortable coming into the school we offered to have them in school and so we [57:58] had the cafeteria set up for them we had about 15 students take advantage of the [58:03] in-person and then we ran five days of virtual as well um to allow [58:09] families to take it online as well okay so you had it in here [58:15] did the teachers find anything that they needed to adjust because it was a virtual delivery of language [58:22] skills for instance uh yeah that's a great question and um [58:27] david higley was he is our fast expert and he is working a second job this evening i can't [58:34] believe he has a second job so he has greater information on how that has gone and how he's administered that he has [58:39] been incredibly successful in that and has helped support the others as they've as they've done that too so i can get [58:46] more information from him and zan converse and lori mckay who have done that um with a really high degree of [58:52] success well for the future board i think it's pretty exciting that you have 100 compliance [58:58] and it'll be interesting to see how uh literacy is going in this environment absolutely [59:04] um this has nothing to do with you all it's noted in this paragraph that the math assessments [59:11] plug i wish we could do it twice a year um but do that as it may then i think we flip [59:18] over two pages and we're a family feedback and families are saying that sixty percent would likely come back [59:24] next year and so that means forty percent [59:29] are in the year yep and that's a sizable churn do you have any thoughts about the [59:35] replacement of that was in the trench if you couldn't get that do you think you could grow the program yeah that's a [59:40] great question and so um i i'll be honest and frank that um the [59:46] idea that 60 of families said that they were interested in continuing the virtual pathway beyond this year was the surprise point to me i had anticipated [59:53] perhaps more families would look to return to in person because of vaccination and that [1:00:00] so we are in this sort of fuzzy area where we have asked families to commit for the [1:00:07] full school year to the online program but it is an area that i am paying close [1:00:12] attention to to see how many families will return i did a report to the principals that showed where each of the [1:00:19] families are which home which the neighborhood schools are and we have a plan to be able to place them back at [1:00:24] the neighborhood schools and so we've done some of that work thinking about how that transition would go how it [1:00:30] would support that transition if need be but again like i said we did ask [1:00:35] families to remain for the year i did have a really surprising uh pleasantly surprising [1:00:42] phone call last friday i talked to a normandale family that was struggling with the decision because they have [1:00:49] enjoyed their experience so much in the evp this year the student is in fourth grade and so they're they're really [1:00:56] struggling to decide whether or not they want to return to normandale or want to keep going with the setting that they're [1:01:03] in because of the experience that they're having which is amazing it's amazing to think that [1:01:08] they're talking about continuing french immersion or doing an online pathway because of what they've done so far so i [1:01:16] do believe we can continue to grow i think it's prudent to be very i i think it matters for the teachers that we are [1:01:22] as clear and stable as possible so the teachers know what to anticipate too [1:01:28] and so it's continued area of focus for me to be able to get as clear a picture [1:01:33] as possible of who's interested who's going to stay and how we can look to attract more students [1:01:40] the final note that i would say is in that 40 percent churn one of the things we did not do this year is we didn't [1:01:47] advertise largely across the state for this program the beginning of august we [1:01:52] had two sections uh and those two sections were both multi-grade aged and that was that was looked like the size [1:01:59] of our online footprint for this year delta came along and obviously that increased people's concern and we grew [1:02:05] into five sections we've gathered about eight students since the [1:02:11] beginning of the year from out of the district and again that's that's without a real advertising push on our part and [1:02:17] so now that we have better understanding greater stability being connected to one school highland [1:02:24] this year is an advantage over last year where they were spread out over the six schools we have something to advertise [1:02:30] for and so i i think ideally we'll be able to make up or reach stability by drawing students from [1:02:37] outside of the district area as well without a doubt without a doubt that's a [1:02:44] that's a great marketing idea i'm also encouraged to hear you acknowledge that it's a dynamic [1:02:49] situation uh people might want to come back to physical school you might have more people hearing and want to go [1:02:56] uh virtual and so you're thinking out your contingencies which i think is to use your word very prudent [1:03:03] um and i from your comments i i'm glad you s you you drew the connection between multi-age and cp at highlands i [1:03:09] didn't perceive that in reading here and that's a great thing to leverage my family of course went through cp [1:03:15] highlands yeah and uh they're the masters of it so yeah good good to have that [1:03:21] i was also uh impressed to read um in attracting diverse families we [1:03:28] have a sentence here about alternating screen time versus screen breaks yeah [1:03:33] that's really encouraging i'm in technology but i think that we can overdo it and especially with these [1:03:38] virtual kids that we acknowledge that they shouldn't be in front of the screens all the time right [1:03:44] so i think that that's really really a good thing so [1:03:50] complete report my last comment question is toward the beginning 18 of students [1:03:57] qualify for talent development services is that gifted yep yep [1:04:02] and so we have we have um i think in the demographics there you'll see we have just a very diverse student population [1:04:08] we serve a high degree a high number of ml families we serve a high number of td [1:04:14] families or gifted families and we serve a high number of special ed education students as well comparatively across [1:04:21] what another uh what other elementary sites would be okay thank you yeah [1:04:27] ellen i have a new question oh sorry [1:04:32] these i think our names are off on um i [1:04:41] i had a question and then two comments my question [1:04:46] slash comment is my biggest concern going into this and approving it [1:04:52] related to the social and emotional skills especially for our youngest learners [1:04:57] and so i appreciate and think that academic measures are important but i was [1:05:03] wondering if there was a plan to measure and see if our youngest learners [1:05:09] are on track from a social and emotional perspective and with [1:05:15] behaviors that would be expected of student that the things that you learn in kindergarten that sitting in a circle [1:05:22] um getting your cafeteria food and remembering your number those things [1:05:29] that are somewhat intangible but those are the things that i'm concerned most about [1:05:34] those students missing out on and if there's a big gap if you decide to come into school two or three years later [1:05:40] i think we're seeing a little of that with the distance learning gap when you miss out on some of those [1:05:46] key social skills so um is there plan to measure that [1:05:51] and in addition to that help students access some of those experiences [1:05:59] yeah so we're still operating under the health emergency side of things and [1:06:05] so we do currently still invite for play dates and other things [1:06:11] i think once we're beyond this uh the health concerns what our teachers have already started [1:06:17] to do was to devise and think of ways that kids can get together so it'll be a key feature of a virtual [1:06:24] pathway if we decide to continue to have an elementary virtual pathway it'll be a key feature of the program to get kids [1:06:30] together in different ways they're already trying to do that so woodlandia is a big thing at highlands [1:06:37] and our k-1 and 1-2 classrooms we're at were invited to and i think about 10 of [1:06:43] the students came to woodlandia last friday to be able to get them connected [1:06:48] as far as measurement goes um yes we uh [1:06:54] it'll be important to note that and pay attention to that one of the things that has been a challenge [1:07:01] is getting connected to everybody because they are virtual and so um i think it's another area of [1:07:08] attention that we can come back and develop a more clear plan on as well but i i just [1:07:14] i personally believe very firmly that um if we cannot address those other needs that we that it isn't appropriate [1:07:22] to do this right i completely agree and maybe it's and obviously you're the experts maybe there's a similar model to [1:07:27] how we screen kids that come in for kindergarten that come in at the end of the year or something and make sure [1:07:34] i don't know what it is but i would love to see and i don't know if other board members are interested to come back with a plan specific to that [1:07:41] aspect because that is the most concerning thing to me and then my second question was since you have [1:07:46] mentioned how this could be expanded is there a plan to come back to the board with a recommendation [1:07:54] at what point in time and my caveat to that is um [1:07:59] [Music] i would like you guys to really put some careful consideration into [1:08:05] the edina brand certainly will sell well across the state and get us students [1:08:13] is there a way to study if that ultimately dilutes the edina brand and if we [1:08:19] if we are suddenly a district that's across the entire state [1:08:25] do we lose some of what we are as a unique district right now and that's my [1:08:32] how do we balance those two those two things so with your recommendation whenever you [1:08:39] come with your recommendation from expanding this and again i would ask my other board [1:08:44] members if they support get gleaning that information that's that [1:08:50] will be something that i ask about so i wanted to make sure that you knew that that's in my top of mind about expansion [1:08:56] yeah and i think when i process what you just said i feel like the metrics for success of this program [1:09:04] would then mirror our metrics for success of the strategic plan and that's how we would make sure that we aren't [1:09:09] diluting a brand right because we are benchmarking that program the same way [1:09:14] we would benchmark an in-person program in edina so [1:09:21] maybe that alignment of those two is what it revolves around and we really are um excited employees [1:09:28] to move forward on next steps um even you know about okay what are our next steps what are our [1:09:34] timelines shawn's leadership along with mike walkers who's here tonight as well listening and supporting [1:09:39] um and natasha's we have a really solid team um really excited to move forward with [1:09:45] the potential in the opportunity so we will be excited to get a solid timeline in place quickly and be bringing back [1:09:51] recommendations and create more input to the board well i really appreciate that and i want to echo ever i appreciate all [1:09:57] your leadership and your leadership back there mike and you as well so it's great program [1:10:03] and thank you for meeting these parents and students needs i appreciate it [1:10:08] thank you oh i'm sorry julie no i was just gonna comment but you kind of wrapped up but on your comment about the [1:10:14] brand i i what janie was talking about with like the metrics but i also think [1:10:21] it's do you grow too fast right so like as long i think it's enrollment and the number [1:10:27] and doing it well um and being able to grow into that so i think that adds to it also which is true for anything that [1:10:34] we're doing so i have one concluding question [1:10:39] observation um are you uh could you talk a little bit about integrity um [1:10:46] and making sure the kids are being honest is there some kind of honor code i mean [1:10:51] could you could you speak into that a little bit yeah um um so there is just like in any other [1:10:58] classroom there is a set of expectations that the teacher works to develop that classroom community i think you hear in [1:11:04] the parent feedback that that's one of the strengths so a is the teacher's ability to create a [1:11:10] community in a virtual space and so the expectations in taking care of each other as community members clearly [1:11:16] articulated throughout the program so that's just the person-to-person aspect of developing integrity and being able [1:11:23] to work together in a space again google meets though virtual are intimate [1:11:28] in the fact that it's your square next to everybody else's square so you can see each other in that so i would say i [1:11:33] would say that that's number one um number two is um and this is i don't i didn't [1:11:40] mention it but one of the opportunities in a virtual pathway is um an innovation incubator so we get to look at some of [1:11:47] the other ways we can use technical tools to help learn about student behavior online and how they're doing [1:11:53] things so our students work through district provided devices and so our teachers have access to a tool called [1:11:59] goguardian and goguardian allows them to see which tabs the students are on helps redirect students when need be so that [1:12:07] if it's a focused time that's one of the items is called focus time they can give them a more limited view [1:12:14] and then they can give them an expanded view at other times and so there are technical tools that we need to explore [1:12:20] understand and train staff on how to use so that they can they can work in that [1:12:26] realm as well so i think i think those two approaches and then again i just [1:12:32] i look forward to the time when we will when it will be anticipated and expected that we invite [1:12:38] students in to be in person to have times to connect in person at school [1:12:44] with each other so that they can continue to develop that sense of community and um and so i think i think [1:12:50] those three things will help address the integrity issues or help to to make sure that that exists and then any [1:12:57] of our measures right so like if there's a sudden jump in fast we have we have [1:13:03] other ways and metrics to be able to review is a student's growth [1:13:09] you know in align with how other students of that same core would grow too or are we [1:13:14] seeing some dramatic leaps or dramatic changes which would lead to other questions as well [1:13:20] so we have a mosaic of items to be able to get into that story and then we are [1:13:26] one grading period into what this program looks like this year with a group of teachers that are dedicated to [1:13:32] figuring out what the future of it might look like as well it's good to hear your alert to it to [1:13:37] the possibility of this and you also expanded the answer into engagement and i'm [1:13:45] liking hearing about these tools like go guardian and other mechanisms to [1:13:50] just track where kids are at if they're paying attention what have you so good to hear [1:13:57] great thank you thank you guys so much thank you for the opportunity thank you appreciate it [1:14:03] next up we have director of student support services jeff jorgensen to talk about special education recovery plans [1:14:19] thank you board chair ellenberg dr stanley and esteem board members so those of you that are leaving tonight [1:14:25] truly appreciated serving with you and thank you very much for your service i'm here tonight to give a little bit of [1:14:31] an update as it relates to our special education recovery services as you know since the beginning of the covid crisis [1:14:37] the schools have had to retool themselves quite dramatically in terms of stepping in between models [1:14:43] between in-service or in-person service and then stepping into a completely virtual field and then into a hybrid [1:14:48] model and then maintaining some of those practices even as we go into uh the current year [1:14:55] over the course of the summer the minnesota state legislature [1:15:00] actually authored a bill and this is our own heather edelson here within edina public [1:15:05] schools she also serves on our special education advisory council authored a bill [1:15:11] entitled the special education recovery and support services bill and that bill actually outlined some of [1:15:17] the recovery efforts that the state wanted us to be able to take in order to [1:15:22] address the loss that took place for many of our special education students [1:15:29] and so while we were in process while we were going through this and all the special [1:15:34] education services at every school within the nation was was given the [1:15:39] mandate to continue to provide free and appropriate public education for all special education students [1:15:47] and we have been making changes and addressing those addressing the needs of our students on a case-by-case basis all [1:15:53] throughout that entire time period we're now also tasked with providing some recovery services which i think is a [1:15:59] great idea it really amplified the need for the state and the federal government to provide us with additional special [1:16:06] education funding so that we could provide some services to students that obviously were struggling in meeting [1:16:13] their goals and objectives on their ieps so we were cast [1:16:18] this year after july 1st with taking a look at every single student's iep within our district and so [1:16:26] that is over 1200 ieps right now 1218 ieps is what we took a look at [1:16:33] in september and october and we were asked to apply the criteria that was outlined by the legislature on each and [1:16:40] every one of our students now here's the interesting part of all of this i'm sorry my glasses are fogging up [1:16:47] here's the interesting part in all of this is that these are the exact same [1:16:52] types of things that we did in march and april of last year as we [1:16:58] were preparing for our summer programming and so we were sitting down with parents [1:17:04] and we tasked our staff with doing these exact same outcomes [1:17:09] in preparation for the summer program because we thought hey covet is coming to a close and we wanted to try to get [1:17:16] as many students in in our extended school year programming as possible [1:17:22] to give them that time period where they could get a little bit of recovery services [1:17:27] coming back in and then last year we still saw the resurgence of covet and [1:17:35] even as we came into this fall we saw the resurgence of covid and so as we take a look at this july [1:17:41] 1st bill that went into effect it's saying recovery services but i want to [1:17:46] emphasize to the school board and to our public that while we're considering recovery [1:17:53] services we're also still in the midst of the [1:17:58] impairments that come with the copid crisis and so we're trying to hit a moving target [1:18:04] here the good news in all of that is is that our special education process is [1:18:09] uniquely designed to address such an issue [1:18:14] our teams meet on a regular basis they assess the student's present level [1:18:20] of performance they address their progress or lack thereof within the general education curriculum the [1:18:25] progress on goals and objectives and identifies the needs that the school system can then adapt to [1:18:32] we can add services we can subtract services we can do a lot of things within the nimbleness of the iep and so [1:18:40] while again this this bill came out and really said we really need to add a [1:18:45] layer and so they amplified the entire iep process and said we want you to do this again we want you to do this again [1:18:52] with the understanding that as you're entering into this year we really want to put a strong focus on recovery [1:18:58] services and so our teams again 1218 ieps were reviewed by our teams applied [1:19:04] these six different criteria to each of those students that we identified [1:19:09] now i've been talking to other directors in neighboring districts and we are [1:19:15] identifying a good percentage of our students in need of some form [1:19:20] of recovery services and if you take a look at the overall number that i did include within the report out of the [1:19:26] 1218 students that we reviewed internally as teams [1:19:32] we identified approximately 292 [1:19:39] students that were in need of some form of recovery services and as you can see in [1:19:44] the graph that i provided to you we identified each of the areas that we serve in special education [1:19:50] and so if there was if there were some skills lacking if there were some services that didn't get provided to a [1:19:56] student student during distance learning time period or we saw an increase in the need in a specific [1:20:03] area we had teams identifying initially that student as entitled to some form of [1:20:09] recovery services again very similar process to what we did last year in the [1:20:14] march and april time period very similar results to what it is we did in the [1:20:19] march and april time period as we offered a larger number of extended school year services to students last [1:20:25] year than we had in prior years as you can see the distribution is largest in our special [1:20:31] edu in our early or excuse me our elementary population which is where we see many of our students entering into special education [1:20:38] for the first time and that's where a lot of those milestones are where students are really trying to to to [1:20:44] really establish some of those essential skills it gets a little bit smaller in the middle school and smaller yet in the [1:20:51] high school what i can say is a common theme across all of these different areas is their [1:20:56] most involved learners are site-based students they receive 60 or more of their special education services during [1:21:02] the course of the day vast majority of those students teams identified as need of some form of additional recovery [1:21:08] services and so we're gearing up for the service provision model here [1:21:14] within in next in the next several months so that was phase one that was phase one [1:21:20] in a three-phase process that we're going through is the team evaluation currently we are in phase two of the [1:21:27] implementation of the recovery process and that is meeting with the families themselves so teams were meeting [1:21:33] individually outside of the families now we're inviting the parents in for those meetings many parents have already had [1:21:39] these meetings and so that's that started in actually in october [1:21:44] where we started the meeting with families about the recovery efforts the reason that we uh started to have [1:21:50] those meetings with our families is because we had our data inside the school but we wanted to collect data [1:21:56] from our parents and that was part of the recovery language was that we wanted to work with families to identify the [1:22:02] needs and we have to consider other needs outside of the school system that [1:22:07] might also be impacting the student due to the covid crisis namely we took a look at additional variables including [1:22:13] discussion on family circumstances during distance learning the parents observations about the social emotional [1:22:19] impacts on their students and discussion on any trauma the student may have experienced [1:22:24] as a result of the covid crisis this is a very broad brush that we're painting with but at the same point we [1:22:31] wanted to get a family's perspective on whether or not they believe their child was negatively impacted by the covid [1:22:36] crisis and what we could do potentially as iep teams to address the changes that would need to be that would need to be [1:22:42] there in order for the student to recover or go through the recovery process in [1:22:48] covet this is not going to be a one and done type of a model we fully expect that [1:22:54] recovery services will last likely for at least the next two years the funding that has been set aside for us is good [1:22:59] for approximately 27 months before we run out of funding from the federal [1:23:05] government but at the same point uh the state is recognized as well that they will take ownership of any recovery services that [1:23:12] need to take place after that date so right now we're in the process of meeting with their families that will [1:23:17] extend through mid february and then phase three of our implementation [1:23:23] process is the development of those recovery services first of all we have to identify exactly [1:23:29] what recovery services are necessary which is what we have been doing for the last few months second is that [1:23:35] clarifying those needs with the parents and now thirdly is the development of the recovery services continuum [1:23:41] i have to say phase three is kind of an interesting phase because as i said the iep process does not wait for a bill to [1:23:47] get passed in order for us to address student loss and student need and so we've really been in a recovery process [1:23:55] since the beginning of the covid crisis so teams have been meeting on a regular [1:24:00] basis to amplify to refine to adjust the needs that students to respond to the [1:24:07] needs that students are presenting on a case-by-case basis and so an organizational approach doesn't [1:24:13] necessarily help really well in the development of specific programming for individual students [1:24:18] that being said there are a large number of students that would benefit from a certain type of services as we're seeing [1:24:25] within the demographics that we that we pulled out and the goal areas that we're identifying as in need of some form of [1:24:32] recovery service over the course of the summer during the course of the school year or during the course of before and [1:24:38] after school activities and services so we're taking a look at this from the standpoint of we are already doing some [1:24:45] recovery services we're making adjustments to those ieps right now if we have the availability of services the [1:24:51] student needs it we're moving towards giving that student the services that they need immediately we're also [1:24:57] identifying some options for enrichment and activities during the course of the summer for a good percentage of that [1:25:02] population and we're also identifying partners within our community that can assist us [1:25:08] in delivering those services to our students and so this will be really one of the first years that we've really [1:25:13] explored more of contracted services in terms of being able to come in and [1:25:19] provide some of these services that would fit the needs of our students and so we're right in the process right now [1:25:25] not just working with our community education partners to develop unique programming for our students that we can [1:25:30] help supplement and support for enrichment purposes we're also taking a look at other contracted providers within our area [1:25:37] that would be able to come in and provide additional supports in the area of social emotional learning or structured reading interventions or [1:25:44] structured math and writing interventions so we are this will be a collaborative approach we're working [1:25:49] with other districts within the west metro and identifying some of those services but i have to say that the same [1:25:56] struggles that we ran into last year are still in existence today um katie fabrizio or one of our seek [1:26:03] vice chair spoke to you tonight about paraprofessionals and the essential need for paraprofessionals within our system [1:26:09] we are still struggling with shortages and paraprofessionals we're also struggling with shortages in other areas [1:26:15] as we enter into the summer years or the summer programming time period we feel [1:26:20] at that shortage will likely be present as we enter into the summer months just like we saw last year [1:26:27] as we take a look at teacher wellness and overall teacher mental health people are looking for that break and so [1:26:33] we understand there's going to be obstacles that we're going to have to overcome in order to get this done and [1:26:39] so we're trying to make this service attractive to our teachers and allow them to write some curriculum that would [1:26:45] assist them in delivering what they want to deliver that would be in alignment with what it is we're trying to outline [1:26:51] in terms of student need we're also again contracting with other agencies to help provide some of the [1:26:57] services so the full burden does not rest in the backs of our teachers that being said we're early in the [1:27:03] process yet but within a month or two we'll hope to hopefully have a much clearer picture of what those summer [1:27:09] services will look like so that parents will be able to organize their summers around some of the services that we hope [1:27:14] to provide take any questions board members any questions or comments [1:27:22] yep i've got a question jeff what's your sense of [1:27:28] any possible fluctuation in like i see these numbers do do you see these numbers as [1:27:35] static or are you are there is there a large number of students that [1:27:41] are still being evaluated for special education services that maybe is a [1:27:46] little bit of a result of of what had been going on do you feel like these numbers [1:27:51] are pretty stable or where do you feel like we're at with that process right now district-wide overall that's an [1:27:58] excellent question uh so our child find process is has also been very active and [1:28:04] what that means is is that you know during during our primary covid crisis within the 2021 school year [1:28:11] many evaluations were actually delayed during that time period and [1:28:16] so this year we're actually increasing the number of students that were identifying [1:28:22] quite dramatically and that's a that's a common type of theme metro in the west metro district i'm [1:28:28] seeing it uh when i'm when i'm speaking with people so those numbers are going to fluctuate um [1:28:34] here's the caveat with the with the recovery bill language is the recovery bill language really says that any time [1:28:39] during the covid crisis if you were identified or you're in the process of being identified you should be considered [1:28:45] for recovery services i think the the essential piece to consider in that is that as students are coming in we're [1:28:51] given our first opportunity to really meet their needs and so our hope is that we're able to meet those needs up front as opposed to [1:28:58] go back going backwards however we are to consider that and making programming [1:29:03] available to those students over the course the summer becomes an option for our teams to consider but will that number likely go up the [1:29:10] number could go up i think the question is how many families will actually access the programming that we have [1:29:17] that we offer during the course of the summer each year we go through a process of developing a list of students that [1:29:24] are eligible for extended school year programming which is a special education service provided to a percentage of our [1:29:30] students and many of those families choose not to attend that summer program and choosing instead to give their [1:29:35] children a break from the school year but this is a this is a multiple year [1:29:41] process and so students parents would have multiple opportunities [1:29:49] i just have one question um thank you jeff i know that you and your staff it has been an enormous amount of work [1:29:55] sitting in on some of the um listening sessions i know that this bill is great [1:30:01] and it's fantastic for our students but it also comes with a lot of paperwork [1:30:07] [Music] to get to the help so i just really appreciate everything that you have done and led through that so [1:30:13] my question is with the funding um i know that we personnel is a is an issue [1:30:19] right labor and getting the the help that we know that we will need can we [1:30:24] use any of those funds for recruitment marketing of hiring that staff or does it have to be direct [1:30:31] service and you might not know the answer off the top of your head but so so it's not limited it's not limited specifically to [1:30:38] direct service so um again so any of the any of the ancillary services that we're [1:30:44] providing the additional paperwork time the teachers are putting in or it could go into to some form of [1:30:51] advertising to to actually identify needs of the or to to meet the needs of [1:30:56] the the the system so it could potentially go into advertising what it couldn't go [1:31:01] into necessarily is increased salary or increased wages just [1:31:06] simply because it's a finite funding source and it's a it's a grant type of material so grants are generally that one and [1:31:13] done type of model so we look for services that can be you know [1:31:20] finite and their services or it can be equipment and materials that are needed [1:31:25] to to service our population so it comes largely with the same federal guidelines as what we generally deal with yeah with [1:31:32] our part b funds from from the federal government right so additional staff but not increase that makes sense okay um [1:31:38] just trying to help us out there can help us out with contracted services and can help us out with a number of [1:31:44] different things the the advertising would be i think a stretch i think a stretch right well it's it's the [1:31:49] recruitment piece right so which we know is going to be part of it so um i'm but that's it but thank you well if [1:31:56] i can just address that the recruitment side is something that again we in the west metro have been discussing at some length uh the the recruitment issues [1:32:03] that were the obstacles that we're facing there is that we're all competing for the same candidate pool [1:32:09] and so as a result we may have and i think andy beaton's in the back row back there i think he can testify that we've [1:32:15] had perez hired one week and the very next week they're offered another position in another district for a [1:32:21] slightly higher wage and the pairs take that position and so it's constantly rotating basis that [1:32:26] we're getting on which isn't good for our students which isn't good for our system right so but at the same point [1:32:31] everyone is struggling right now to find those positions yeah okay thank thanks [1:32:39] um kind of a sort of a bittersweet fall that you had as good that um [1:32:44] you were able to we were able to dive in and see where the kids were at um [1:32:49] but that's a heavy lift that's and you've done it in the spring too it sounds like so thank you for that effort [1:32:56] the thanks goes to all of our all of our teachers and special education case managers that have had to hold on to [1:33:03] this they've worked tremendously hard to to get those those services identified get through that paperwork [1:33:09] and this is this is time that is over and above a typical typical school year demands which is always always very high [1:33:15] so any any thanks you give owen i really appreciate that and would push that back onto our teachers at the same time [1:33:21] you're also trying to deliver the services too so that's why i called a heavy lift so [1:33:26] um a couple things could you spell out for me a little bit here on i think it's [1:33:31] page three or four depending on how we count it in the grid we've got um for the 292 292 students the breakdown [1:33:39] of where there's some lag is that what we could call this [1:33:46] and could you spell out for me give me an idea of what we're looking at say for the 105 reading [1:33:52] students in elementary what were they [1:33:57] why did they end up on the list and then what does recovery services look like for that pool of 105 students yep so [1:34:05] so again i would point you back towards the second page and the criteria that we utilized the identification of that [1:34:10] process and so our teams really looked at items one through five on that list [1:34:16] in terms of what it is we were trying to determine how it was determined and so again this is a multi-factor [1:34:23] multi-factorial weighting system that we actually utilized and so the first question asked on there is services and [1:34:29] supports provided the student before disruption in-person services and so what you have to remember about that [1:34:34] whole model is that when we switched over to a virtual model we switched over from in-person services to what we first [1:34:42] considered a distance learning plan and that was further refined to a contingency learning plan what that is [1:34:48] is it's just saying it identified how services would change in response to this now being in a distance learning [1:34:54] format which frequently impacted the frequency and duration of the services being provided so frequency and duration [1:35:01] is how many times per week and then duration how long of a time period were students able to stay online and to [1:35:08] receive that type of service and so those were the two variables that were most frequently impacted by the [1:35:14] contingency learning plan this is that you were actually had some reduced time [1:35:19] but it was more focused time so in other words we went from small groups oftentimes to very small groups or even [1:35:26] some one-on-one types of service during the contingency learning plan but they didn't get them the volume that they [1:35:32] would have otherwise received and so they had to take that into consideration some students did not have a change at all in those areas the ability of the [1:35:39] student to access the services and supports is another just you know our [1:35:45] students vary from student to student and students that sometimes can access services they actually thrived in the [1:35:51] online learning environment as we've heard from sean tonight students progress towards iep goals and [1:35:57] then including the goals in the iep effect before disruption and in-person learning [1:36:03] so we're really comparing what it was before versus what it is currently or what took [1:36:08] place during the 2021 school year and so it's it's not apples to apples but we [1:36:14] had to make those types of comparisons and if we saw the student wasn't getting as much or didn't feel like the student [1:36:20] made as quick the progress as they did during that regular time period when we [1:36:25] were in person teams were asked to consider the consideration for [1:36:30] qualifying the student for recovery-based services i think what you're seeing is that our teachers feel like they did a really good job getting [1:36:37] services to students under the restrictions that they had but also want to recognize that it wasn't the same [1:36:44] as what it is when it is in person and so we wrestled with that and i know that i think our staff identified per [1:36:52] capita more students in need of services partially because we have a real bent towards wanting to get [1:36:58] those exceptional services to our students we don't want to have a de minimis standard okay thank you that sheds some light [1:37:05] appreciate that um and i wanted to comment on obviously staffing is an issue and that [1:37:13] is apparently an issue across the metro um in um [1:37:19] special ed and i'm encouraged to see some of [1:37:24] the uh responses one of which is you're going to have contract services you're you're working outside of [1:37:31] typical channels and then uh year it sounds like we're talking about permitting a little more [1:37:36] autonomy in the delivery um and and attracting [1:37:42] candidates for that is that just with the summer or is that across the board so so our special education teachers [1:37:49] already have a great deal of autonomy in terms of how they go about addressing uh the special education needs of each [1:37:56] student that is that is provided in the summer programming we've had a long kind of history of a type of [1:38:02] service model largely that has been constructed because we have outside providers frequently [1:38:08] coming in to provide those services and it isn't always the case manager that is providing the services so it had to be a [1:38:13] little bit more rigid in terms of adherence to a specific model to ensure some level [1:38:19] of of efficiency and effectiveness what we're asking our special education [1:38:25] teachers as an enticement is to give them additional curriculum writing time so that they can create a program [1:38:30] designed to meet the specific needs of a student population and then be able to deliver that [1:38:36] and have improved and then deliver that type of a model in more of an enhancement enrichment model still [1:38:41] meeting the needs and the and the outcomes of the goals that are on the students ieps but given some autonomy to [1:38:47] run things in a different fashion rather than the same old fashion that we have [1:38:53] in the past okay okay and then a final question is um [1:38:59] we have a census of about 1200 students is uh that stable or is that [1:39:06] going up appreciably and is that causing some of the staffing issue the demands thank you [1:39:11] for that question uh it was just i was reviewing the uh presentation that i made to this board in february of 2020 [1:39:18] um a few days ago and just comparing our numbers at that time as compared to what [1:39:24] they are currently and remember we're still in evaluation right now so there's more students that are going to be [1:39:29] identified in special education at that time we had 117 [1:39:34] students identified so within a two-year time period we've identified an additional 100 students which in a [1:39:40] population of 1100 adding an additional 100 students to [1:39:45] special education is a fairly steep increase that's not uncommon as i heard at mde the minnesota department of [1:39:51] education last week we're seeing increases across the state so it's not it's not unique to edina [1:39:58] we're adding special education students at a higher rate they believe the covid crisis does have [1:40:03] an impact on that especially in the areas some in in in different areas that related to just [1:40:10] picking up on those developmental concerns early on um and so we're we're identifying [1:40:16] students at a at a higher rate than what we have in previous years [1:40:22] well it's good for us to know that [1:40:28] that's it for me erica sorry about that anything else from any other board members [1:40:34] great thank you so much i appreciate all your work um so i'd like to make a motion that we [1:40:41] move the action item um which is [1:40:48] the vaccine and testing resolution to right now because we have our [1:40:54] district attorney in the audience and he is on the clock [1:41:05] so erica you were requesting a motion to that right yeah i have a requesting a change to the [1:41:10] agenda to move the i can't move it okay i'm requesting a motion to [1:41:17] change the agenda to move the vaccination testing resolution um to right now [1:41:22] and that is my emotion but technically you're requesting a motion [1:41:29] julie's making the motion i'm requesting a motion [1:41:34] and i so moved it second all those in favor [1:41:40] aye anyone opposed [1:41:45] the motion is approved we're now going to [1:41:51] i apologize for people that just got bumped um but we're now going to move to our [1:41:56] action item the vaccine and testing resolution and we have our district legal counsel [1:42:03] trevor helmers here to answer any questions so he's here if we have any questions [1:42:09] not necessarily to present anything so i just wanted to go ahead and do this but um dr stanley [1:42:16] you're the actual present presenter on this thank you thank you for that so [1:42:22] uh chair ellen bergenberg directors you'll remember that last september 28th we actually had approved the resolution [1:42:30] dr stanley i apologize i have to do another motion i'm sorry i apologize i have to do [1:42:36] another motion to actually talk about this oh item so apologies for my lack of [1:42:42] protocol um do i have a motion um to approve the vaccine and testing resolution [1:42:48] feel moved second thank you [1:42:57] all right so uh last september september 28th um we had brought before the board and [1:43:04] um it was approved that we would move forward with a resolution for vaccination and or regular testing of uh [1:43:12] employees in our system those are employees who are contracted as well as employees who are standard employees within the dyna [1:43:19] public school system and then on um [1:43:25] in november we moved it to abands and that is because um osha had come out with their ets [1:43:32] and we wanted to learn about uh what their what the ets plan would put in place for [1:43:39] us and um i have been in consult with our legal [1:43:44] team with trevor and um we're learning that it might be tied up in the courts now [1:43:50] for a while and so we do want to move forward and and [1:43:57] then bring the resolution out of a band and move forward with [1:44:02] implementing um the actual the actual resolution beginning in [1:44:08] january and so uh i'm bringing that uh forward to you again and then i know that there [1:44:15] were some questions regarding the financial side and impact and [1:44:20] trevor helmers is here this evening in case there are any questions about that [1:44:26] so um do board members have questions about this resolution and it's the same [1:44:33] resolution as before it has a later date attached to it um and like dr stanley said um trevor [1:44:40] helmers is here if there are any questions cheer ellenberg yes i have a couple [1:44:46] questions here uh it's left a bands uh because of [1:44:52] what reason what's forcing our hand in this i wouldn't say that it's forcing our [1:44:57] hand what i would say is um we had moved it forward to um begin the process of [1:45:04] ensuring that our staff are either vaccinated or they're tested um we had [1:45:09] we had moved it to advance because we wanted additional information related to osha [1:45:15] the osha ets that could be caught up in the courts for a while and [1:45:20] so it makes sense to move this forward to ensure that our staff is either vaccinated or [1:45:27] they are testing every week and you'll remember that this was something that [1:45:34] eme supported this is something that we believe is best for [1:45:39] safety and within our schools okay so i guess what i wanted to do is draw the distinction about why it's happening [1:45:45] it's not actually happening necessarily because of osha correct because [1:45:50] that could be stalled in the courts for a long time and so we are of our own volition [1:45:57] choosing to move it forward for any number of reasons and so we are about the seven of us to [1:46:04] vote on it uh in a moment or two here correct okay and one of the other reasons it was on a bands there was [1:46:09] collect conflicting legal information as to who was required to pay for the [1:46:16] testing and we had to get that sorted out because the original information we had gotten [1:46:22] was that the district would be required to pay for the tests for the employees which was going to be [1:46:28] cost prohibitive but we got a different legal opinion from our district [1:46:35] council that actually we are not required to pay for the testing and they have since been in contact with [1:46:42] msba the minnesota school board association and that has been sorted out so sorting [1:46:47] out that payment piece plus the osha piece those are the reasons that it was put on a bank because we didn't want to approve [1:46:54] it and then realize that we actually couldn't afford to pay for the test and would be out of compliance with osha as [1:47:00] well well then i could move into some [1:47:05] substantive concerns we do have a very full meeting to the community and folks who are watching at home [1:47:10] so we do want to move things along so we don't necessarily need to go into [1:47:16] a substantive discussion because unless people have changed their substantive opinions [1:47:21] because it's the board members have previously expressed themselves but i have a new [1:47:27] substantive concern and that is that we heard community testimony about the [1:47:32] paris staffing shortage and we just heard about the special ed staffing shortage [1:47:39] i've had a number of teachers reach out to me who are not too excited about this [1:47:46] and i don't know what they're going to do but based off of [1:47:51] evidence from other areas sometimes people just quit because they [1:47:58] don't want to do either and so we have we thought that out that this may [1:48:05] possibly jeopardize our staffing situation and what i'm speaking from is [1:48:10] a speculation but it's a grounded special speculation based off of what is in the news [1:48:16] um so any thoughts comments about that yeah we certainly thought about that at [1:48:23] this point the human resistance department has reached out to all employee groups [1:48:28] of 1604 employees we have 237 [1:48:33] employees who are stating that they would move to submitting a weekly test as opposed to [1:48:42] demonstrating that they are vaccinated so we've received a hundred percent [1:48:50] notification from folks whether they're either faxed or they would submit the testing [1:48:57] yes they have gone out to departments they held meetings they [1:49:03] talked with staff specifically in different departments now does that mean that [1:49:08] they would certainly stay employed with us i can't guarantee that for sure [1:49:17] i think that that creates a certain reluctance on my part because of the staffing and i find it you know just [1:49:23] visiting it real quickly i find it a little bit of an intrusive overreach but [1:49:28] i think there's a lot of support on the board for this so i won't belabor the point [1:49:34] do other board members have comments or questions [1:49:44] i think i'm turning it off when i mean to turn it on so i apologize um i fully support this however i would like to see [1:49:50] the administration come back with an additional resolution requiring booster shots because i [1:49:57] do not believe that two shots anymore is giving enough protection from from um [1:50:03] kovid and that fully vaccinated at this point basically means three shots and this includes two shots i don't think [1:50:10] this gives enough time for us to require boosters especially if someone is starting from scratch um but [1:50:15] that is something that i would like to see in january is a booster requirement didn't the original one have booster in [1:50:22] it and we it had a it had a line that said if boosters come out then we might [1:50:30] require them at some point basically i feel like there was a date attached to it oh yeah it was june 30th 20 [1:50:38] 22. is there thought is it can you explain [1:50:44] do we not want to add that into this one is there i have what's the current thinking on [1:50:50] that my my vote might change if we change the language um [1:50:55] we're doing we're following an fda approved process now of a vaccine and a [1:51:00] recommended dosage schedule boosters are available as a continued path down that [1:51:06] avenue personally i have a booster but i'm not judging those that don't just saying so i'm not anti-booster but [1:51:12] i think adding it in if it's not part of a required protocol goes one step beyond what the requirement is so i [1:51:19] wouldn't touch that language in this resolution i'd consider it for the future okay i i just wanted to hear from [1:51:26] either trevor stacy as to i'm not saying that i i [1:51:31] i'm asking to have it added i'm just asking to understand why it wasn't included that's all well that is why i [1:51:36] rem i removed it this time um is because it isn't it isn't required right now for [1:51:42] for the series okay i just wanted to get clarification on it i don't disagree [1:51:50] can someone ask trevor a question i'm just going to keep moving closer [1:51:56] until you ask me something i have a question well i have two things one [1:52:03] um i'm in agreement with matt and i i would not put i would not feel comfortable i don't [1:52:10] think we're at the point that we can add boosters and until it comes through and it's part of the cdc guidelines i don't [1:52:16] think that um i don't think that's part of our resolution at this moment i think if [1:52:22] that changes then we go back and revisit it but i wouldn't want the administration to spend any more time on this part of it until that is um clear [1:52:30] from the cdc um my question is about the payment and i know erica talked about [1:52:35] this a little bit chair ellenberg talked about this a little bit but can you um [1:52:40] just talk about um what you lean or what you learned from msba [1:52:46] and those conversations about staff having to cover the cost of this and i i asked [1:52:52] this because if a staff has an exposure at school we are offering a test for them to do [1:52:59] so i think there's a lot of blurred lines there um or could be so i want to [1:53:04] make sure we're crystal clear on what we expect from staff so [1:53:09] yeah and i think that there was some confusion initially where [1:53:15] information was going out based on a particular statute that says that if you require medical tests as an employer in [1:53:22] the state of minnesota you're required to pay for them i don't think enough attention was paid [1:53:29] to what that statute actually means and when you look back at the when i [1:53:34] looked at it i said well there's a definition of employer in that statute and the very the the [1:53:40] very you know the statute right before it says four purposes of this this is what employers mean [1:53:46] didn't include school districts and there's actually an attorney general's opinion from 1965 [1:53:53] that specifically looked at this for governmental entities and said no this this provision does not apply to [1:53:58] governmental entities as a public school district you are bound by and have to follow attorney [1:54:04] general's opinions until a court says otherwise so i think there was a lot of information [1:54:09] pushed out right away because everybody was running running on this brought that to the attention of the [1:54:15] msba they have since agreed and changed their analysis on that so that [1:54:20] there is now it there's essentially nothing that would require you to pay [1:54:26] for that testing if it is a choice now um there are still potential reasonable [1:54:32] accommodations under the americans with disabilities act that we may have to pay for testing [1:54:37] there are potential exposures like you're saying but that's a different situation just on the [1:54:42] kind of the way that this would work if someone chose the testing we would not be obligated to pay for that because the [1:54:48] argument would be first of all it's not required because you can get the vaccination and second of all [1:54:54] there's nothing in um nothing in statute that would essentially make us pay for [1:54:59] that unless there were like i mentioned an ada issue or some other type of [1:55:04] extenuating circumstance um but that that i think was a lot of the clarification that we needed right [1:55:10] away and then of course uh the the court came in and kind of held it all up um [1:55:17] that was also a piece that in the actual osha regs which may never go into effect [1:55:23] they were very clear that employers did not have to pay and they basically said well unless you have a state law saying [1:55:29] otherwise we don't the other important thing about i know there was a question and [1:55:34] i'm here so i'm going to talk about it the fifth circuit did issue a stay saying that the federal the [1:55:42] federal mandate was not going into place that happened before they actually [1:55:47] decided which circuit was going to hear the case now the case is in the sixth [1:55:53] circuit and the government submitted briefing on i think friday that said so [1:55:59] the government is trying to dissolve the stay and say let us put it in place while the court [1:56:06] case continues so theoretically this week we could get an order from the sixth circuit saying the stay is [1:56:13] dissolved this goes into effect now so it [1:56:18] it that i think that's probably unlikely but it is certainly a possibility i think much more likely is that the stay [1:56:25] will stay in place and this case will go to litigation for months years and by the time it's [1:56:32] actually decided it will have already gone past its six-month period because it was uh done under rules that would [1:56:37] only have made it effective for six months so um you know from the so so it's kind of [1:56:44] i think that that that that process is out there you know could change at any [1:56:49] time could absolutely go back into place in which case you have your policy in place already and you would be basically [1:56:56] with this language in compliance with everything that might be put in place at a moment's notice [1:57:02] and we're not the first district that has this in place in the state of minnesota right okay and then my other [1:57:09] um question that i oh wait i just totally lost my second question but that was a [1:57:14] good first one oh that was your second question it's out to lunch [1:57:22] anything else we'll call cup we'll call you back trevor yeah she remembers it no he's leaving though [1:57:29] i got it came back um so for testing um the state we there are still free [1:57:35] testing sites available throughout the state correct so the owners of the financial piece [1:57:42] doesn't necessarily need to fall on the staff because there is free testing available right i just wanted to say that a lot [1:57:49] that was made wasn't really a question actually trevor you didn't need to be here thank you [1:57:55] great thank you trevor um we will now vote to approve the vaccine [1:58:01] and testing resolutions all those in favor say aye aye anyone opposed name [1:58:07] did you get that ann um owen thank you um the vaccine and testing resolution is [1:58:14] approved thank you trevor uh again thank you everyone for letting us move that around on the agenda so [1:58:20] we're going to go back into our discussion topics and i believe we were on the early [1:58:28] learning comprehensive literacy plan and we have a director of teaching and [1:58:33] learning uh dc hubert here assistant director of teaching and [1:58:39] learning sandra harley and jody i'll let you introduce everyone [1:58:45] else that's here i will do [1:58:57] i misintroduced so if you could introduce people with the correct titles yes thank you because i will absolutely do [1:59:05] that okay um thank you for having us here again to share some information on where we are [1:59:10] with our comprehensive literacy plan early learning through five we are very excited to share some highlights with [1:59:17] you there is a lot of information within the board report and then we did pull out some of those details and provide [1:59:24] more detail and a brief presentation here that really highlights the actionable items that are happening [1:59:30] directly with teachers and students in the classroom and that's our wonderful team here is going to be highlighting [1:59:35] those pieces because they are doing the on-the-ground work with the students and the teachers in the classroom so excited [1:59:42] to have bethany van osdol here our assistant director of teaching and learning carrie duncan one of our three [1:59:48] literacy coaches and sandra harley another one of our three literacy coaches um i will turn it over to great [1:59:54] bethany first do you want me to work or you probably to i think i can yeah i hope [1:59:59] that one right there okay perfect well thank you so much for this opportunity to come and give you an update on the [2:00:04] comprehensive literacy plan um as you all know i joined the edina team back in september and i can just tell you in the [2:00:11] last three months 12 weeks i have been able to witness the passion [2:00:17] and fervor for this literacy plan from all angles of this edina community from the principals to teachers to [2:00:24] parents to you all i just want to say that we're really excited to share with you the quick wins we've had with students [2:00:31] in just 12 weeks right so as you're gonna see um we have some specific examples for you today and um [2:00:39] like jody said we have um specific goals and we're going to frame this in a kind [2:00:45] of a three-hop process right we're going to speak to the goals then we're going to talk about the action and then we're [2:00:51] going to talk about the impact on students and so like i said we have specific um examples that we've pulled [2:00:56] from classrooms with our amazing literacy coaches and their work with teachers and students [2:01:01] and i just want to tell you these are just a handful of examples we could have pulled many many more okay [2:01:08] so our goals you all know from our plan there's six goals and we're gonna highlight and really dig into three of [2:01:15] them intentionally today we're gonna dig into multi-tiered systems of support and data literacy the [2:01:22] multi-tiered systems of support is our commitment to equity across all tiers [2:01:28] and all sites in terms of our support for students our data literacy is [2:01:34] basically um identifying where students are where they've been and where they need to go and carrie's going to give us an [2:01:41] awesome example of that from the classroom and then professional excellence we're going to look at and that has just been [2:01:48] such a highlight in my time here my three months here in edina is working with the educators that are [2:01:54] implementing this and so we're going to speak to that a little bit and how that really high quality professional [2:02:00] development is impacting instruction in students so with that we have three specific [2:02:07] areas of highlight that we've pulled directly from the plan that jody [2:02:12] submitted to you all so dyslexia training has been provided for all elementary staff to support staff's [2:02:17] ability to know and recognize reading challenges as they appear as well as how to respond to support students and [2:02:23] families and sandra harley is going to go into that a little bit more detail here in a minute so we're [2:02:29] excited about that with her expertise then we're going to speak to our district-wide assessment committee so we [2:02:35] began collaborative work to define the required assessments and protocols for our mtss assessments [2:02:41] and i'll dig in a little bit more to that and then finally we're going to talk about how instructional matches and give some examples [2:02:48] some amazing examples of how students are being impacted by our work with our five pillars of reading our learning [2:02:54] around that and then our use of fast bridge data to accelerate learning [2:03:00] so with that i want to pass to sandra harley and i just want to say that she spent countless hours [2:03:06] diving into dyslexia education and the science of reading and she's just our [2:03:11] resident expert right now so i'm excited for her to talk about her work around the dyslexia piece of our plan [2:03:17] thank you okay and so i'll i'll speak to the next couple of slides [2:03:24] and this is um specific to the first goal around dyslexia professional learning and this is our action slide [2:03:31] and so what you're looking at is a graphic organizer that we use [2:03:39] to make really important decisions and so looking um at the top of this [2:03:44] based on the results of universal screening and or outside dyslexia diagnosis students are really falling [2:03:51] into one of two categories so they're either performing at that 40 40th percentile and lower [2:03:58] which is the right side of the graphic organizer you'll see um that's really [2:04:03] the student support team process that's been in edina for a while allowing [2:04:08] students to get students that perform at the 40th percentile or lower to get that [2:04:14] additional intervention piece okay and if you're looking at the left-hand side [2:04:19] this is really the category that students fall into that are performing at the above the 40th percentile [2:04:26] okay and so you have two scenarios here one where the student does not meet the [2:04:31] threshold of service so scores are above the 40th percentile mark the student continues in that regular classroom [2:04:37] environment okay and then if you look right below that um that are the those are the [2:04:43] students that again are performing above the 40th percentile but they're con they're continuing to have reading [2:04:48] challenges in the classroom okay and so how do we support that teacher and so this is where um the literacy [2:04:55] coaches myself being one of them um are working and collaborating and [2:05:00] partnering with our core teachers i think owen has a question sorry to interrupt excuse me do we have this in [2:05:07] our tactics no oh okay i was just trying to follow him oh it should be in the presentation [2:05:13] though which we did um i don't know my computer in front of me [2:05:30] yeah it's hard to read that yes i bet it's hard [2:05:36] i'll grab my computer and share yeah thank you yep i'm sorry okay [2:05:42] no worries okay so um looking at that last green square i know [2:05:47] it's hard to read um again i just want to repeat that these are the students that are performing above the 40th [2:05:52] percentile they're still having reading challenges in the classroom and so as [2:05:58] literacy coaches we're going in and we're collaborating and partnering with the teachers to look at specific data to come up with [2:06:05] an intervention plan that is specific to student needs and then also supporting [2:06:10] the teacher with some consistent progress monitoring okay do you want to go to the next slide [2:06:17] oh you did okay and so this is the impact slide this is our [2:06:23] impact on directly on students and so i'm just going to read this scenario we had two [2:06:29] fifth grade students with the markers of dyslexia where constant consistently provided services with an access [2:06:35] learning specialist recent map data revealed that both of these students made considerable gains [2:06:42] one scoring in the 60th percentile and one of the students performing in the 70th percentile [2:06:48] so this happens to be outside the parameters in which they can continue to get additional supports from an [2:06:54] intervention specialist and so as literacy coaches we went we partnered with the teacher [2:07:01] we pulled these two students and we administered a phonemic awareness [2:07:06] screening test and we administered a phonics screening test and these are assessments that were [2:07:14] provided to us through our letters training and so again one was specific to phonemic awareness and one phonics and [2:07:22] the results of these assessments revealed that both of these students were really solid with their phonemic [2:07:29] awareness skills and they were really solid with their phonics skills but what they weren't really solid in was [2:07:35] automaticity and so [2:07:41] automaticity they weren't automatic enough to be able to read fluently okay and so [2:07:48] to kind of confirm our thinking we went one step further and we administered fast track which is on three [2:07:56] assessments and the triangulation of all three of these data points [2:08:01] reveals and populates a very specific intervention plan for that student [2:08:07] and so the intervention plan supported our thoughts from the letters assessments [2:08:13] and it did say it revealed the same information that said these students are solid in their phonemic awareness [2:08:19] they're solid with phonics they need some additional automaticity fluency type activities [2:08:25] and so we delivered that plan to the teacher and she's administering it in the classroom the intervention plan is [2:08:31] great because it has not only does it have the specific activities but it has the duration [2:08:38] and the frequency so how many times in a week and then at what lengths like it [2:08:43] could be three times for 20 minutes a day and so deliver that intervention plan to [2:08:49] the teacher she's working on these fluency slash automaticity activities in the classroom [2:08:56] specific to a student needs and then we're also helping to support the consistent progress monitoring of that [2:09:02] student and so we are super excited about this work we're proud of the work and um [2:09:10] i'm glad we had a chance to share it that's great thanks sandy that's just an example of the tight partnership our [2:09:15] coaches are having with both tiers right our tier two and our tier one ensuring that students get what [2:09:21] they need um the next piece we're gonna talk about is our multi-tiered systems of support and this is specific to our assessment [2:09:28] plan so this combines both of our goals of mtss multi-tiered systems of support [2:09:33] and data literacy and what i want to speak to is that we are engaging in a process right now so first of all i want [2:09:38] to highlight the fact that we've got a team of 20 educators who are participating in this design work of our [2:09:44] assessment plan and i think it's just really important that we honor and highlight the fact that we have 20 [2:09:50] individuals who are leaning in and opting in to additional work this year to ensure that we have a solid assessment plan for students [2:09:57] we were working through implementation science which is the science of implementation right and so we're working right now in exploration and [2:10:04] we're looking at what do we currently have in terms of assessments in edina where are potential needs [2:10:10] where potential opportunities to streamline or enhance and we're just in its infancy we've had [2:10:16] one meeting but our goal is to get this plan solidified um by spring so that we can get it implemented by next year and [2:10:23] when i say the plan i really mean the screening what particular specific [2:10:28] assessments will we use for screening for diagnostics and for progress monitoring so we're [2:10:34] looking and we're partnering with mde so the minnesota department of education is working with [2:10:41] just cohorts across the state of minnesota right now as we're learning how to live in our current [2:10:47] reality and the needs that are rising because of our current reality with covet 19. [2:10:54] so we will uh plan to solidify the what when where why and how of our those [2:11:00] three types of assessments screening diagnostics and progress monitoring and so the ultimate goal obviously the work [2:11:06] is in its infancy so it hasn't necessarily landed directly this work landed directly you'll see great [2:11:12] assessment work in a minute from kerry but we really know that this data is needed for us to be able to identify [2:11:19] student needs and strengths so much of this is already in place we just need to refine it and so that's [2:11:25] what we're going to work on and we'll have that by this spring so the last piece that we want to speak [2:11:31] to today is about our literacy our literacy leadership teams [2:11:37] so our um the comprehensive literacy plan is a partnership really we engage teacher [2:11:44] leaders and we have in each elementary we have a literacy leadership team [2:11:50] and that consists of teachers principals deans and each literacy team [2:11:56] literacy leadership team meets regularly with these coaches and patti our other coach [2:12:01] and they dive into current and enduring research as it aligns to the comprehensive literacy plan [2:12:07] and so specifically i also just want to take a pause and highlight the fact that again we have 24 educators so 24 [2:12:14] additional educators right who are opting in to additional work this year and i think it's important and i always [2:12:20] want to highlight this because this year is heavy as it is and so when we have teachers that are opting in to further [2:12:28] help us down the path of continuous improvement in edina i just always want to recognize that fact they are not just [2:12:35] leaning in but they are positively supporting this and driving this work forward like we we could never do by [2:12:41] ourselves right so this really is um something to really celebrate with this work [2:12:46] it's an honor to partner with them so carrie's been working with um creek valley specifically on some amazing [2:12:52] examples we've been digging into the five pillars what you see here is five pillars it's basically building a reader [2:12:58] right these five pillars of skills and so carrie's going to speak to how this research has impacted the action and [2:13:05] then landed on students so i'll pass to you thank you bethany i'm kerry duncan [2:13:10] and i'm the literacy coach at highlands and creek valley and so i want to thank bethany for [2:13:15] bringing her expertise and her knowledge around bassbridge because it's impacting our schools our elementary schools and [2:13:22] our students and so she has provided the coaches with some professional [2:13:27] development around what fastbridge has to offer and it has more to offer than [2:13:33] we ever have imagined and so she provided us and i don't know if you [2:13:38] want to switch to the next slide she provided us some training around some additional assessments in [2:13:44] fastbridge and i was so excited that i knew if i went to jamie hawkinson at creek valley elementary she might [2:13:52] participate in performing these assessments with her students and she agreed [2:13:59] and so she always gives the cbm which is a fluency assessment which we have always given here in edina but in [2:14:06] addition she um delivered the fast track which is the a reading and the auto reading and as [2:14:12] sandy mentioned before that data is triangulated and gives us a deeper dive [2:14:18] into the student and so we get an incredible amount of information [2:14:24] about our students by doing this fast track in the cbm now this fast track it [2:14:29] only takes 30 minutes and it's not individual so it's super easy to deliver [2:14:34] i went in set the students up and they could take it individually they put their headphones on it's 30 minutes so [2:14:40] it's really not anything that frustrates the teacher with time [2:14:45] and so because of that we receive like i said an incredible amount of information [2:14:51] and so i want to speak to that and so when we deliver this and we get that triangulation of data [2:14:58] if you look at the top left box if you can see that it provides us with an intervention plan [2:15:05] if needed for a student and you can see that this student needs phonics and [2:15:10] fluency so that in regards to the five pillars those those are two [2:15:16] pieces of the five pillars that are important to building proficient readers and so it states exactly what we need to [2:15:24] do a phonics intervention and a fluency intervention now we didn't print out the [2:15:29] detailed plan the detailed plan is very explicit and it's very systematic and so when a teacher looks at the plan it [2:15:36] tells them exactly what to do we just have to figure out how to fit it into their instructional day [2:15:42] and so what's really unique about this is that we've been using the word and i know dr stanley the instructional match [2:15:49] so it tells us exactly what the student needs by doing these assessments it gives us [2:15:56] targeted instruction and that's the only way that we can fill the achievement gap [2:16:01] and so by delivering these targeted interventions from our intentional [2:16:06] assessments that bethany brought to us and then following the plan with duration [2:16:12] and progress monitoring and our recommended group size and doing it just as intended we should see growth and so [2:16:20] if you want to go to the next slide this is really exciting and so this is our progress monitoring data which is [2:16:26] consistent so this teacher does this consistently and so if we look up there [2:16:32] i have to probably identify some of the lines for you um the black line is the [2:16:38] 50th percentile we want our students to be at the 50th percentile and of course above if we can get them there [2:16:45] and so the little dots are the progress monitoring dots and so every time we [2:16:50] progress monitor that data shows up student a started at 115 words per [2:16:56] minute and jamie hawkinson now has them reading at 168 words per minute from this [2:17:03] intentional targeted instruction around fluency and phonics and so if you also notice there's a [2:17:10] trend line and a goal line the goal line is the dotted line we want to get them [2:17:16] that's the goal line that the fast bridge sets for us and we want to be at that or above that and she our student a [2:17:23] is trending to that and actually right above it for and hopefully we can keep that student right above that goal line [2:17:30] if you look at student b we are below the goal line but i wanted to point out that student b was at 113 [2:17:39] words per minute and just within two months we're at 143 words per minute [2:17:45] and so that's incredible growth and if you look at the trend line we're moving up we're going to get to the 50th [2:17:52] percentile mid-year probably around january if we keep continuing and progress monitoring [2:17:58] is showing that we should continue this intervention and if we keep going up we will also get to our [2:18:05] the goal line that is set by fastbridge and so um i think the exciting thing [2:18:11] that i want to point out is i just asked two students or two teachers at creek valley if they would [2:18:17] buy into this or if they would do this with me and then um oh a few weeks ago and the [2:18:24] other fourth grade teacher said to me well why didn't we get to do that and i said well we can do that right now [2:18:30] and so we did it and um on the early release day they had a big piece of [2:18:35] paper and they had their interventions and they were placing them and working with students and figuring out how they [2:18:40] could fit this targeted instruction into their into their day and so i think that's exciting and we [2:18:47] hope to move that into more classrooms but i think what we want to bring forth from this is that [2:18:54] intentional assessments bring forth targeted instruction and [2:18:59] then we'll close our gaps that's awesome thanks carrie [2:19:05] really and truly this is just these are just a couple of examples that we could pull we i met with principals last week [2:19:11] and we dug into all of their progress monitoring data and there was just celebrations galore so i'm just so [2:19:16] thrilled about the early impact we're seeing on students because of the work of so many with that i offer to open up for any [2:19:22] questions you might have board members [Music] [2:19:30] oh and i know you like to talk about literacy so i'll throw it over to you i um [2:19:36] my first reaction is thank you so much for coming and i love the thoroughness of what you've [2:19:42] presented and kerry what you've just talked about here the data the mechanisms that really [2:19:49] excites me um sandra i liked all the things you're going through i feel like i'm at an [2:19:55] incredibly interesting exciting basketball game but the seat that i was assigned is behind a pillar because [2:20:04] uh i couldn't read many of those and that was the first time i saw them and i spent hours this weekend going through [2:20:11] the materials and i don't think that this came through on anyone i missed a link or two [2:20:17] so but um but thank you very much for this i was wondering a great deal about this uh [2:20:24] instructional match term so you answered that as we're talking um [2:20:30] so i have some other questions when i'm sort of still absorbing what [2:20:38] you know i i think a couple comments i had is um there's the the gantt chart i can say i [2:20:45] don't know where i have my gantt chart here but it's somewhere in there and i'm seeing all sorts of things in there really active words [2:20:51] urgency things like that i i that excites me that we're really taking ownership of this [2:20:59] and we're expecting high things of ourselves and that we've got tools to analyze where we're at [2:21:06] we're doing the fast bridge now three times a year how many times three times a year so that's exciting that we've got [2:21:14] that kind of visibility into our progress um [2:21:19] one thing i've said multiple times is i think this literacy thing is so significant it's so important it's it it [2:21:26] deserves a war effort and in in a war things happen and [2:21:33] you have to shift on a dime or shift quickly a question i have is what happens if [2:21:38] we're finding that the good effort that you're putting forth the good faith effort that you're [2:21:43] putting forth is not delivering the kind of results we were expecting [2:21:48] do we have some contingency plans are we thinking that out are you rock solid [2:21:54] confident that this is the right direction and we won't have to have contingency planning [2:22:00] i'll respond to that owen um we are rock solid um in that these are the plans [2:22:06] that we should have in place moving forward we will always come across students that don't respond to the first instructional [2:22:12] match that we try but that is why then we have a process in place to be looking [2:22:17] at that and saying okay it's now time to shift that instructional match and [2:22:23] create another instructional match and so the progression through the steps when a student might not respond to that [2:22:29] first instructional match yet i can say with confidence that [2:22:34] finding the right assessments for students understanding the holes that they have in their learning and the [2:22:40] strengths that they have in their learning and capitalizing on those strengths and then supporting our teachers and finding the time and the [2:22:47] resources and the pd in order to respond to those gaps is absolutely the right track that we need to be going down [2:22:54] okay okay um a question that didn't come up too much here but [2:22:59] uh letters that's real exciting that we have it available for the teachers and that [2:23:05] they they're taking advantage of it um are they i was just kind of curious about their motivation is it that are we [2:23:12] giving them a little a compensation uh is or is it not they just want to or [2:23:18] is that why teachers because it's extra time to do this [2:23:23] it is and as as bethany acknowledges the extra time that people are putting into being literacy [2:23:29] leaders in buildings and joining our mtss team the the first round here of [2:23:35] letters individuals that are doing the training did volunteer for that and i [2:23:40] continue to say how exciting it is to me that after last year that we had that many individuals want to engage in that [2:23:47] deep level of training sandy has been teaming with the other lit coaches but [2:23:52] has been a great leader in pulling that group together and supporting them in the work we want to make sure that [2:23:57] they're feeling supported and that it's a positive experience so they did recently have a meeting last [2:24:03] week it was volunteer to come many many came and we did pay them for that hour time of [2:24:09] checking in and how they're doing and what next steps they needed and got some good feedback on what would continue to [2:24:15] help them so at this point our cohort is is really volunteering the additional time we are [2:24:23] they did for example meet this summer on an august day where they had their first full day session and that was time [2:24:29] carded so we're trying to really balance the supports there well hopefully this [2:24:35] can get back to them but one member of the board and probably speak for others you can thank them for doing that [2:24:41] taking their own time to do that it's so significant um [2:24:47] i we had a fantastic data presentation in october um are you preparing to [2:24:55] come back to the board with that depth depth of data presentation [2:25:00] every quarter like next month yeah so as i look ahead on what our board agenda is throughout we do have [2:25:06] like continual updates on the comprehensive literacy plan whether it's early learning in 612 which is coming up [2:25:12] in january or the pre the k-5 [2:25:17] we will be doing its winter round of fast right now and so um probably in our next i can't remember [2:25:24] exactly when our next um k through five update is but sharing [2:25:30] some of that data and the growth that we see with students at that time would absolutely be appropriate that kind of visibility is fantastic yep [2:25:39] i can hold off for right now erica i'll let somebody else go [2:25:46] ellen good i i have a quick question um if you could let me know where we are in [2:25:52] relation to full implementation of this plan [2:25:59] how many how how many years do you think it will take to really [2:26:05] um fully implement this yeah um that bethany [2:26:11] really has had a lot of experience with implementation science and we are really fortunate to be learning collectively [2:26:17] more about that and along with the experience she's had in order to do implementation science [2:26:25] successfully with anything it takes three to four years at a minimum right [2:26:31] um and in our gantt chart we put two different gantt charts on the report one [2:26:36] is a little bit more like our internal team facing because it has a lot more detail to it and one is a little more [2:26:43] outward facing um you do see timelines in there that do show some things are going to take five years to be at full [2:26:50] implementation but that doesn't mean as you see tonight that we're not there are not action steps that are happening that [2:26:57] we are being very intentional about that have direct impact on students now [2:27:03] but there are of those six priority goal areas um every single one of them is very very [2:27:09] in-depth and very complicated to create system change with and as bethany noted [2:27:15] there are so many great things happening in our edina system it's just a matter of capturing consistency among those [2:27:22] things and building upon them and to use our plc playbook words leveling that [2:27:27] into some of that work up thank you and i do want to thank you for [2:27:33] the work that's being done this is truly important and it was one of the priorities the board [2:27:39] has has stated in our plan and i can see how intentional you are in pursuing it so i want to thank you [2:27:45] and the teachers especially who are bringing this into the classroom the the other question that i have [2:27:52] because we had a presentation on diversity equity and inclusion [2:27:58] and i am wanting to make sure that we are truly intentional about all aspects [2:28:07] of of our our programming system wide [2:28:12] and i want to make sure that our tests that we are providing [2:28:17] in order to identify these learning [2:28:23] different reading um skills are they [2:28:29] i want to ensure that they have been tested for bias [2:28:34] and um and i and that would be something that we would as a district i think be [2:28:41] i have make sure that we are doing that now are the assessments that you're using have they been assessed for bias [2:28:48] the ones we're sharing here tonight are the fast um the best assessments and i know that we [2:28:54] have had the opportunity to dig into and share some links where there have been those uh reliability and bias [2:29:00] assessments done on that assessment um so i don't have them up at the top of my head ellen but i do think we had the [2:29:07] opportunity it's been a long time but we talked about them in an early t l board committee meeting and so i could dig [2:29:13] those up again those resources and reshare those links right so and you're using the fast [2:29:19] bridge which which fast bridge assessments you said fast track [2:29:24] cbm and what's the third early reading fluency as rcbm [2:29:30] and a reading and auto reading okay thank you [2:29:36] julie um sure this is great this is really um a [2:29:43] comprehensive um i'm not on t i don't set on teaching and learning so this is the only time that i get to see [2:29:49] um some of the the update on what's been going on and i just found this really helpful [2:29:55] especially the visual to see what what's going on and i think it really tells the story in a really strong way and i can [2:30:02] actually i feel like i can see how the student would do that so um kudos to you guys for explaining that because i i [2:30:07] know it's a comprehensive literacy plan has been a lot of words on paper over the last couple years so i [2:30:14] appreciate that um my question is in the in the growth chart that you talk about [2:30:20] for the instructional match with the fast bridge does that change so for example if we do [2:30:26] continual assessments does it then project higher like we want you to go higher for another goal does [2:30:33] it automatically adjust or how does you guys can just if you could talk to that would be great so the benchmarks do [2:30:38] change from benchmark window to benchmark window so fall is lower winter's higher spring is higher and i [2:30:44] don't know if you can remember but on that chart that kerry showed there was the black horizontal line that indicated [2:30:50] the 50th percentile you can shift that so we can put that at the fall 50th percentile then we can [2:30:56] change that to the winter 50th percentile and you'll see the bar bump up so it literally visually does bump up [2:31:02] right on their graph and sometimes i think kerry actually had the spring 50th percentile so sometimes [2:31:07] we'll just put that in there right away to see how close are we getting to the year-end goal so yeah it's a really nice [2:31:12] tool for teachers to be able to see how how close we're getting to that year-end goal oh yeah that's amazing okay that's [2:31:18] super helpful yeah because i was looking and i was trying to figure out if how that is set so [2:31:24] um i'm sure that's excellent information um and i just want to say thank you to all the teachers that um are doing this [2:31:30] work um and if there's anything that you think is a board that you need help or whatever other support we can [2:31:37] offer please let us know because um i know this they carry this on their backs so [2:31:42] and i'm not surprised that they're jumping in to do it so we have some pretty incredible staff [2:31:48] listen to the table [2:31:55] so i just think that what you're doing is pretty exciting looking um you're seeing some progress now and then [2:32:02] you'll give us an update later in terms of continued progress throughout the year because i mean [2:32:07] ultimately that's what we're kind of looking for okay that's all i have [2:32:16] hey this is great thanks for coming and giving me update it's just great to see us playing offense just so many things we're doing right now is trying to be [2:32:23] catching up when we've lost versus trying to push your head and really drive success metrics so i think it all [2:32:28] sounds great it's a comprehensive report so thank you [2:32:33] you know i'll say thank you you answered my questions in teaching and learning but um as a mom of um kiddos with [2:32:40] reading issues i if this is thrilling to me i wish it was here ten years ago but i'm thrilled that it's here right now so [2:32:46] thank you oh did you have morrowind a couple more do [2:32:52] you want to go i can go all right um i'll try to keep mine short because we have the clock here we're dealing with [2:32:58] um what's this acronym rtfi it's all through the [2:33:05] gantt chart yeah thank you for asking that on it's a reading tiered fidelity inventory so [2:33:11] it's it's collecting baseline data for us to understand where we are currently with implementation of many of [2:33:19] the systems that were within the plan it's primarily structured in the mtss [2:33:24] system okay and [2:33:30] we have a statement here that by the end of february all teachers across all sites will be able to consistently [2:33:38] define the five pillars and so forth is that including math teachers is that physics teachers at the high school [2:33:44] is thanks for asking so this plan that we're sharing right now is the pre-k [2:33:50] through five i see yes so sticking within that elementary realm and and the early [2:33:55] learning team okay and uh the building wide pd on elements [2:34:01] of the continue the comprehensive literacy is that in service days is that [2:34:06] on their own um it is um we are being really creative with pd this year um [2:34:14] we do need to acknowledge it's very hard with the challenges in getting subs and just the different [2:34:19] need for our students to have consistency in the classroom right so the pd would refer to yes district-wide [2:34:26] possibly we have our february 22nd day um we're still working on what that will look like in light of what our needs are [2:34:32] right now but there's been pd where our literacy coaches have gone and met with every [2:34:37] staff at a staff meeting and done a dyslexia training so they're creating consistent training [2:34:44] and then giving because they're creating it together and it's consistent it's the same message then they're able to give [2:34:50] it at the sites that they work with and sometimes teaming together for example i was at cornelia where patty is the [2:34:56] literacy coach and sandy was there teaming with her on the dyslexia training mm-hmm okay a variety of approaches okay i [2:35:04] could ask a whole bunch of other questions but we've got i think about half an hour before we got [2:35:10] the pumpkin turns into oh we're gonna have to extend our meeting that's um i wish we only had a half an hour the [2:35:16] uh the last question statement observation is uh carrie and sandy you [2:35:21] both had great slide decks but i didn't get i didn't get to see them i i don't know if they were if [2:35:28] others did could you put them someplace where the community could [2:35:33] i did i did email oh you did yeah everyone well while the group was sharing would the [2:35:38] community have an interest and then ann did update the slide deck so i mean i'm [2:35:43] sorry the board packet so that that information is now in the board packet as well sorry about that thank you i [2:35:49] apologize owen but thank you for we'll make sure we get back to everybody fantastic okay i'm done we did have one [2:35:55] other piece we're just going to hand out too as we shift to our next if that's the time for that um [2:36:00] with the training with the staff there was a dyslexia uh one pager that we shared that we [2:36:05] thought would be good to share with all of you as well so we can hand that out okay absolutely thank you thank you everyone [2:36:16] um we're going to move on to our edina high school science review our course course pathway [2:36:22] recommendations and i believe we have um jody back again [2:36:28] mark carlson who is our one of our coordinators thank you so much um principal beaton [2:36:36] and some of our wonderful teachers from the high school [2:36:44] oh i apologize we have to call a recess we have to stop the stream and reset it because we've been going so [2:36:50] long so i'm going to call a recess and we'll be back in like [2:36:57] three minutes you guys are going to be here all evening so [2:37:07] so