[0:38] good evening tonight is monday august 10th and we do have a quorum so i will call this meeting to order [0:44] due to the current federal and state emergency declarations the minnesota directive to residents to stay at home and guideline about [0:50] limiting person-to-person contact due to the coven-19 pandemic this [0:56] regular meeting of the edina public school district has been conducted online in accordance with minnesota [1:01] statutes 13d021 in accordance with this all votes [1:06] tonight will be done by roll call people may monitor this meeting from a remote location using the district's [1:12] youtube channel and school boards are school board members and other meeting attendees are [1:17] reminded to mute their microphone or phone when they are not speaking um school board members wishing to speak [1:23] should unmute their microphone so i can see who is waiting to speak and then um i will determine the order in which [1:29] people will be recognized tonight john would you like to review our agenda for this evening [1:36] thank you yes uh so tonight we are um we will hear from members of the public [1:42] john will be reading a couple of statements that were uh sent in to us uh last couple days uh the community [1:50] education summer program report um will be provided at the beginning the [1:55] meeting uh consent agenda we have uh of course minutes as well as some revised school board [2:01] meeting updates and also amended the 2021-2022 academic [2:07] calendar that's noted in consent agendas for discussion [2:12] uh talk about the strategic priorities we had a work session prior to this meeting [2:18] to identify where those priorities will land then we have policy discussion [2:25] and for action we have some general obligation school building bonds and [2:31] school building refunding bonds we're also going to uh uh ask the board [2:37] to uh take action on a proposed calendar revision due to the covet 19 [2:42] for the 2021 school year uh portal discuss board norms they've been [2:49] working on the last few months committee name change [2:54] approval of policies and then leadership updates great [3:01] thank you john the first thing on our agenda tonight is approval of tonight's agenda and i wanted to let the board [3:08] know that there was a request to remove policy 601 from the agenda tonight and so how this [3:14] is going to work is i'm going to have a motion to approve our media gen [3:19] or meeting agenda um with policy 601 in it [3:24] if you want to keep the agenda as is then you would vote yes if you want to remove policy 601 you [3:31] would vote no and then i will have a follow-up motion um from that um [3:36] so i just wanted to let people know how the mechanics around that and charlemagne we would be at having an [3:44] update on the planning for 2021 before the discussion correct yes and erica's would [3:52] if i could jump in is 601 going to be the idea they're to be pushed back to september [3:59] i actually don't know so if we want to if i can make the motion then we could hear [4:05] the concerns about it and then you guys can decide if you want to vote to keep it on the agenda or remove okay [4:11] okay i'll move to approve the agenda as uh published so far [4:17] second okay um so then do we need to do roll call vote [4:23] for that erica uh we haven't voted yet but yes when we do we will okay [4:30] i'm sorry i missed who seconded i could not see it's me julie thank you julie um so ellen did [4:37] you want to address why you wanted to remove it from the agenda yeah um i'd be happy to um i'm [4:43] the reason i asked to take that off is because uh the district is involved in dealing [4:48] with an epidemic that um our last school board meeting was five hours and um there's a lot on our plate to [4:56] discuss that it's very important and i want the focus to be on [5:01] how the district is going to start the new school year um and my concern is that we [5:09] we really don't have time um to go into some of these other areas [5:15] especially because the district advisory council for gifted and [5:22] talented was not a part of this discussion i'd prefer to wait [5:28] until after this has been presented to them and the board has some feedback [5:34] before the board is i'm going to start discussion on this [5:40] so my um my request for just taking it off is in uh in the interest of time in the [5:47] essence of making sure that our priorities are focused on the areas where they need to be focused on and in order [5:55] to give the voices of the people that are most impacted by this [6:02] a chance to give the district feedback i would like to wait until after the district advisory council has been [6:08] presented the uh k-12 talent development framework [6:13] for feedback are there any other comments before we vote [6:18] to approve the agenda as is or not [6:26] no lenny yeah totally um my recollection and randy i think [6:32] we're on this call was that randy had initially requested that this policy get approved at an [6:40] earlier meeting so that you know as we rolled things out during [6:45] the year there was guidance from the board in terms of [6:51] what the approach was so randy are you on this call [6:58] i am so am i correct that you had initially asked that we try to resolve [7:04] the wording of 601 and perhaps your concern was if there was going to be a major change to the focus of 601 that teaching [7:12] learning would need to focus on but that was your concern for an early resolution [7:17] if there isn't going to be a major change perhaps it's not as time sensitive so [7:24] our concern was with um curriculum revision processes that we have that [7:30] framework in place at the front of those processes so that as teachers are redesigning [7:38] courses or grade level content in a curricular area that that framework can be applied and [7:45] that work can be done prior to when um courses need to be submitted to the [7:50] board for approval which is november for the first discussion and then [7:56] december for action so they can hit into the registration guide by january so [8:02] ours is one of um is our concern is one of timeline to give [8:07] teachers enough advance uh notification to be able to implement the k12 framework [8:13] into the curricular review process and i will i would like to say that our we [8:18] did present the k12 talent development framework to the gift and talented advisory committee last year [8:24] and that was done by deb richards and we did have really positive feedback from that committee when we presented it to [8:30] them so they have seen it and they have provided feedback on it matt did you have something to add [8:47] julie did you have anything to add um i just wanted to add that um the process of [8:55] where how we got to where we are today with policy 601 was um very representative of what [9:02] happened in january with the forming of a subcommittee um to take a look at that and that included [9:08] feedback that had been gathered from the community and our administrators [9:15] teachers and some board members who have been working on this and [9:21] taking another look at it and incorporating as randy said the talent development framework [9:27] to give more clarity to policy 601 it also was done in conjunction with language from mcgt the minnesota council [9:35] of gifted and talented and also the national council of gifted [9:40] and talented and also a partnership that our district has worked with new mats which is the northwestern [9:46] university group that are really the gold standard for um [9:52] for gifted and talented and um acceleration for all students and [9:57] making sure um that we are really the meeting the needs and challenging students in in all ways and so um i just wanted to put [10:06] that out there in terms of perspective as we move forward so i feel it's ready for discussion [10:12] so we've heard ellen's concerned concerns and some other people so i think we're um are ready to vote on [10:21] um so this would be approving the meeting as is with policy 601 like i stated [10:26] earlier and then if that doesn't pass then i will revise make a revised motion does that make [10:33] sense so i think we're ready to uh vote now okay ellenberg um i [10:41] fox hi green hi jones name [10:49] michaelson name sean i wanna treatment [10:56] hi okay so the board agenda passed as is [11:03] with policy 601 in it um and the agenda is approved for tonight [11:09] um now we're going to move on to our excellence in action portion and in tonight's excellence in action [11:15] we're going to hear from the coordinators of some of the district summer programs and they're going to introduce us to [11:20] their program and talk about how they were able to adapt to the current challenges of the summer in order to [11:26] continue serving edina students and families so presenting tonight we have cheryl guinness [11:32] mark deyoung and rachel hicks so welcome and thank you for coming tonight [11:37] and val burke is here too somewhere there she is val okay thank you erica [11:45] and uh john my name is rachel hicks and i'm the youth programs coordinator for edina community education [11:52] uh the past six months my priority has been supporting our kids club wise guys school-aged care programming for all six [11:58] elementary schools after the uncertainty of whether we would be able to offer programming at all [12:04] we are delighted to report that over 200 students participated in full-day summer programming [12:10] my team of amazing staff jane tierney serenity sebesta tim facquis tashdiana bell trust trent [12:18] osmond paul miller jared little and kimberly knowing worked tirelessly to create a safe fun [12:25] and engaging environment for all students that participated from creating new cleaning and safety [12:30] protocols that will now guide the district as we return to school to practicing a [12:35] covert 19 simulation to reduce and mitigate risk for all staff and students on site [12:41] this team has done remarkable things in a short period of time i am proud to work alongside these [12:47] amazing staff as we as well as our hard-working recreation leaders that supported students on a [12:53] daily basis their creativity diligence and dedication to the district students and [12:58] families is evident and should be applauded i'm looking forward to what we can provide for families as we enter an [13:04] unpredictable school year next is mark dion [13:15] you're on mute mark you're muted mark we go not anymore uh good evening [13:23] thank you rachel good evening board members uh and community my name is uh mark deyoung and i am the assistant [13:28] principal over at concord elementary school and the targeted services coordinator [13:34] targeted services in edina is essentially called summer or success centers and it's a program [13:40] designed to support the academic needs of scholars who qualify for the program i'd also like to start off by [13:47] acknowledging my deep uh level of gratitude to so many people who helped support this program [13:53] the nathan manseth and molly o'keefe were wonderful supporters of the program and helped me [13:58] through so many programs i feel like we were able to touch just about every person in the district whether it was [14:04] special ed transportation food service dmts teaching and learning crp high school [14:10] volunteers community ed health services multilingual learners buildings and grounds [14:15] it was a it was a big task also a big shout out to rachel and community ed a lot of what we [14:22] did in terms of on-site summer success we modeled after what rachel and her team did both at [14:29] highlands and at concord the uh just so you know typically we offer summer success [14:34] at the end of summer and it's an in-person program however when the time came when the governor [14:40] walls had pivoted to distance learning we had to make a decision what we were going to do for the summer and we had a few choices and one was to [14:46] not offer it at all summer success another one was to wait and kind of hope that we could meet in [14:52] person or another one was that we could do a hybrid version and some school districts chose to wait [14:58] and not do it at all but we decided that we were going to start in distance learning and we served 400 students through a [15:04] distance learning model to begin with and then recently we pivoted to an on-site program that started july 27th [15:10] and just finished last week and so we had about 100 kids come to countryside and we served them and many of the [15:17] things that rachel and her team did we also did as well too anything from uh you [15:23] know strict type pods to keeping the kids segregated in terms of who they were playing with [15:28] outside entry and exit protocols cleaning protocols [15:34] using visuals to sort of help the kids with social distancing videos out ahead of time to parents as [15:40] they were coming to school to talk to them about uh you know the cleaning protocols and face masks and things along those lines [15:49] so i would just like to say that it was just a huge effort on a lot of people to [15:54] make it come together and we were just a small segment of what took place this summer but i'm really proud of of the kids and [16:00] of the teachers that worked very hard to uh to make it happen so i think was very successful and [16:06] it was great seeing kids and their smiling faces and some of the kids were just happy to ride a bus to school [16:12] because they hadn't done that in a really long time so so there we are and with that i will [16:20] pass it to cheryl thank you my name is cheryl gunnis [16:25] and i'm the community involvement coordinator for edina community ed and i'm going to take my two minutes to [16:31] commend my colleagues kayla maring and annie schilling for their leadership in planning and delivering summer youth [16:38] enrichment programs for our community andy and kayla were new to their positions as our youth enrichment [16:44] specialists in november and in their first six months they had the pleasure of planning summer programming not [16:50] once but twice first in a pre-covered world when their efforts had us on track for the most successful [16:56] summer program we've had on record and then again in a new reality [17:02] so amidst the challenging and continually evolving circumstances annie and kayla created a summer 2020 program [17:09] that really brought our vision and mission and values to life they created a program that fully [17:14] acknowledged the serious risks of the kovid 19 pandemic and that also created conditions to [17:19] promote health and safety as part of our shared community responsibility to mitigate those risks [17:26] they created a program that exceeded our revised goals for participation numbers and the breadth of the offerings [17:32] and they gave families who were ready and able and comfortable the opportunity to learn grow connect [17:39] and begin to return to civic life in a thoughtful and structured way in [17:44] total our programs logged over 3200 registrations and 286 courses offered over 11 weeks of [17:52] summer and because many of these are multi-week camps on average we had about 500 [17:58] students participating in enrichment camps each week with a high of 750 students in one week [18:05] we're going to share a little more about the success of this program in the report later in this meeting but for now [18:10] i want to assure you that this program didn't happen without really long hours dedication complex logistical planning [18:19] professionalism and especially poise and compassion under pressure annie and [18:25] kayla had support from our entire community involvement team including karen rarick krista phillips [18:31] josh remder our community ad administrative staff i just have to say that this entire team [18:37] has really shown that they are true community educators they cared a lot all day all summer long [18:44] they worked really hard they went well beyond their job descriptions because i think they understand that at the heart [18:49] of a thriving community like ours is a commitment to lifelong learning and [18:54] our collective physical and mental health and i would just share that i think the payoff for all this [19:00] hard work is maybe best encapsulated by interaction we had with one of our young participants [19:06] no more than six who popped out of her minivan on the third day of soccer camp and she stopped and looked us in [19:12] the eye and she said i am in a very happy mood to be here mission accomplished so i just really [19:19] want to thank this team and all of our partners to help us deliver some very happy moods this summer nice [19:28] thank you cheryl val where are you going to add on to it or [19:33] no i'm just really proud to be a part of all of this group so thank you yeah thank you charlie can [19:38] i ask a question absolutely i mark can you share a little bit how um how success center is [19:46] used by elementary as uh an intervention for the students that attend that yeah [19:53] so we have a criteria uh where students can enter and be eligible to be a part of our program [19:59] and there are essentially academic benchmarks that students meet and then they are invited to [20:05] participate in the program and parents can choose if they wish to to partake or not [20:10] and then as we go through that we monitor uh you know their progress i would say a big piece of this uh doc [20:17] schultz this summer was um sel i think knowing the experience that the kids had [20:24] the last couple of months of school it was a really big effort on our part to make sure that the [20:29] kids stayed connected and had a positive good experience with [20:34] school and school staff members and so we worked really really hard more so than any other year [20:40] to sort of support the sel needs of kids of our learners and i think that we were [20:46] able to do that it wasn't without challenges and wasn't without problems but i think it was [20:51] it was great to see the kids and definitely there's a good portion of kids that i think feel comfortable about coming back to [20:58] the school as well as their parents feel comfortable about that experience so i don't know if that answers your [21:04] question john it does thanks thanks mark appreciate that thank you well thank you to the entire [21:10] team it's it's great not only what you did for the students um so they could um have programming in the [21:17] summer but also what we've been able to learn and glean from the protocols you put in place to [21:22] help us as we implement our programming in the fall so thank you you guys have done outstanding [21:28] work and i really appreciate it so [21:34] we're going to move on to our hearings from members of the public um so we do have i believe it's one or [21:40] two requests for community a community email to be read and so john tope is here right now to [21:47] read the community feedback for us [21:58] you're muted john [22:05] there we go the first letter is from kelly lang and she writes dear [22:11] superintendent schultz first and foremost thank you for taking the time to hear my concerns and [22:16] for tirelessly working on our children's behalf during these extremely tenuous times [22:22] i'm leaning toward opting for edina virtual academy due to the reality of the pandemic [22:27] and what i feel will keep our children teachers school staff our own families and community at large [22:33] the safest until we see this virus declining however i have many concerns about this choice [22:40] mostly due to a lack of information i'm also disappointed that to do eva you [22:45] have to opt out i was hoping in the best interest of all eva would be the default and hybrid [22:53] would be opting out i think many parents i speak with want to take the path of least resistance and [22:59] also say they don't plan to stay in hybrid or think it won't last long but are willing to try it out with [23:06] this general consensus i'm looking for reassurance that eva has been prioritized equally with the hybrid [23:13] plan i think under these circumstances eva needs to offer all the same classes as [23:19] hybrid i feel eva needs to have the same amount of live synchronous [23:24] on-screen teaching as the hybrid model i also feel it's very important to group [23:30] eva students with their neighborhood school and teachers to keep up relationships [23:35] and bolster community and if eps has to go all virtual that their friends from their school will be [23:41] added into the eva classes not kept separate from eva eva [23:46] students so they are not further isolated i'm also interested in knowing if edina [23:51] had chosen to not offer an in-person model if the district would have lost out on some federal [23:57] funding if this is the case i'd like to see transparency from the district and have them relay this fact to parents [24:04] most importantly i'm hoping at tonight's school board meeting eva is presented as a very thorough [24:10] engaging rigorous well thought out and exciting option for edina students thank you for your time kelly lang [24:18] [Music] the next letter is from megan feeney [24:24] [Music] she writes dear school board members superintendent schultz and eps administrators thank you all for your [24:31] leadership through this difficult time i know this is incredibly challenging and i sincerely appreciate your hard [24:37] work in my family we have been leaning towards edina virtual academy for my rising 7th grader and 4th grader [24:44] however the school board work session on thursday august 6 left me concerned that eva is being [24:51] treated like an afterthought even describing the two different models as one being the default that parents [24:58] must opt out makes me uneasy overall it feels like all of eps's energy is going into [25:04] figuring out how to get kids face to face in the hybrid model and that eva has been deprioritized [25:11] i hope this is only temporary the result of the all-consuming complexity of launching the hybrid model [25:17] i hope you can assure me this won't be the case moving forward i know i am not alone i understand the [25:24] that eps is waiting to get parent choice numbers to better design eva at the same time it is hard to [25:31] choose eva without a little more information moreover i imagine that eps needs a [25:36] certain number of students to enroll in eva to make the hybrid model even possible due to space constraints and teacher [25:43] preferences from talking to other parents i believe more of us would choose eva if we were assured of the district's [25:49] commitment to its high quality in other words i imagine it is in the district's interest to do that [25:56] assuring and i think it is possible to make certain commitments even as choice [26:01] numbers are pending to that end here's what i'll be listening for tonight [26:07] one a commitment that eva students will get roughly the same amount of live synchronous albeit online instruction as [26:13] the hybrid students get a goal of 30 to 40 percent synchronous teaching was floated at the school board [26:20] work session i would like the district to commit to this or something close to it as a goal two [26:26] a commitment to grouping students together in accordance with their neighborhood schools i.e those schools students and teachers [26:33] to the extent that parent choice numbers and teacher preferences allow it's hard [26:38] to feel like you're opting out of a neighborhood school you love and eva students still need that social [26:45] emotional connectedness including familiar faces for their mental health even if they choose or [26:51] need online learning i think grouping students according to their neighborhood schools is a relatively easy way to achieve that [26:58] stated goal of the districts three clarification about the fluidity [27:03] of students between the two models hybrid and eva will students in the hybrid model be [27:09] able to switch to eva at any time for whatever reason i hear a lot of [27:15] parents planning to just go with the flow to start and to pull out their kids [27:21] move to eva if they're not satisfied with safety protocols or if community [27:26] covert numbers go up if so i hope the district will balance the desire for hybrid students to switch [27:33] with the potential disruption to eva students when new students arrive continually i'm all for [27:39] fluidity and flexibility just want assurance of equal consideration [27:44] relatedly if coveted numbers go up in hennepin county and thus force a switch from the hybrid model to remote learning [27:51] will eva students be folded back into their neighborhood schools this would be less of a concern for me [27:57] if the district commits to number two above four a sense that eva's seeming neglect [28:04] was only temporary toward that end i want to hear the district's plans for administrator positions at edina virtual academy [28:12] i would love to hear that there will be an administrator assigned for each level elementary middle and high school [28:18] failing that at least a head of school type position for eva i would hate for eva's [28:24] administration to fall to principals who will be extremely busy running the hybrid model at their schools [28:30] it seems to me that would be a recipe for eva's neglect even as i love the idea of as much [28:36] continuity as possible between the hybrid model and eva again i know that this is [28:42] all a logistical nightmare and that you need parent choice numbers to move forward but again i do think it is possible and [28:49] in the district's best interest to make these commitments to edina virtual academy's high quality [28:55] and its students academic and social development thank you again for all you are doing [29:00] it's megan feeney thank you john um in addition to that i [29:06] wanted to mention that we did receive quite a few additional emails and questions from both members of the [29:13] public and teachers um about learning this fall and i want to let any [29:20] of you know that submitted um emails that you would like to be considered for [29:26] public comment um to please let me or john schultz know and we'll [29:31] read a sampling of them at our board meeting on the 17th um [29:36] so in in the meantime john if you could walk through the process [29:42] the district is taking with all the questions we are receiving from the community i think that would be helpful [29:48] so as we receive the um the questions from the community uh comments from the community we uh [29:56] i guess you would say we triage them to make sure that we have the right direction that goes the right [30:02] journey that it takes in some cases we get very specific questions about a school or about a [30:08] program about a site and we [30:14] are a specific question about a student those are directed to the principal [30:20] that may need to talk to a teacher about that student uh to support that family so that's one [30:26] journey it takes if there's a question about the programming that we are planning um [30:31] where we're at questions about where we're at in the planning stages uh [30:36] uh the requirements for following from the state the uh the the programs we're developing [30:44] as an administration um we turn those over to our our communications office [30:52] they add those they're frequently asked questions and we try to answer them the best we can [30:58] in those or categorize them under frequently asked questions so we can answer if there's nuance to the question make [31:05] sure that we have information to that and then the other piece would be if [31:11] there's a very broad question about how how we're being directed by the state i [31:19] will respond to those questions either through a phone call or um through an email [31:25] uh questions about timeline questions about uh i will work with [31:31] chair allenberg in responding to those questions so we have those kind of the fork those are [31:37] the four categories we're using in making decisions we also some emails [31:42] have some some suggestions for our planning and those are sent to assistant superintendents mazel and [31:49] the principals as they do their planning great thank you john um [31:56] next we have a report from our community education services um about their summer programming and so we [32:02] have a few of the same individuals actually all of them we have val burke who's the director of community [32:08] education services the rachel youth programs coordinator and cheryl gunness community [32:14] involvement coordinator so welcome back thank you nice to see you [32:20] members of the school board superintendent schultz fellow colleagues and community members i want to thank [32:27] you for taking the time tonight to do a sort of an annual recap of community education summer [32:34] programming clearly summer covid 2020 gave us some unique opportunities and [32:41] challenges and that's why i was very excited and i'm very excited [32:47] to be able to highlight two of those programs tonight our school-aged care program and our enrichment offerings [32:53] and the coordinators that oversaw that rachel hicks and cheryl dennis [32:58] just a context summer is a huge season for community ed in general it's a time for us to connect [33:05] with families on a deeper level typically our summer involves about five thousand to seven thousand families [33:12] and we get to introduce them to all the ways that community ed will journey with them [33:17] through the udina public school system in elementary in middle school and up through high school where we really engage them [33:24] in service and volunteer opportunities as they become more advocates for their own [33:30] educational choices for the summer this year we had to take a little bit of [33:35] a different tact we weren't even sure in early may if summer programming was going to be an [33:41] option we all anxiously awaited uh direction from the state of minnesota [33:47] mdh and mde and when that came in mid may superintendent schultz gathered a [33:53] group of us together you heard from them earlier this evening mark deyoung jeff jorgensen from special services our [34:01] team here and um troy stein from athletics and together cooperatively and [34:07] collaboratively we looked at space and health and safety requirements and logistics of [34:15] timing so that we could provide our families a sense of normalcy [34:21] and options for learning growth and frankly just plain joy um really what summer is for students is [34:29] a time for them to do exploratory and experiential learning and really dive deeper into things that [34:34] they love and so um working together [34:40] all four of us we were really able to provide a variety of those learning and educational opportunities [34:46] although community education is made up of a wider variety of program components this report [34:51] tonight will really highlight these two program leaders in their efforts again rachel hicks youth programs and [34:58] sheryl gundes community involvement as you listen to these two professionals talk [35:03] my hope is that you'll be able to appreciate and better understand what they've been able we've been able [35:09] to provide youth in terms of learning growth and connection in planned safe and predictable [35:15] environments those two are not always compatible with the summer they needed to be [35:21] their work has truly helped build community which is the foundation of our vision mission and values [35:27] and again created a sense of normalcy in the middle of the cove and uncertainty [35:32] so rachel thank you val my presentation begins with a feel-good [35:39] quote from one of our parents we were fortunate to receive several of these throughout the summer [35:45] a parent shared with a recreation leader quote i wanted to send you a quick email to let you know what an amazing day our son [35:52] had in your group today he was the happiest kid when i picked him up and told me he had his best day of summer in his [35:59] life ever though i am sure there are many more to come this summer what a difference compared to the past few months [36:06] and that was from a kids club parent our [36:12] summer registration opened uh for 2020 uh on february 18th we started planning for [36:19] summer 2020 in november of 2019. 600 plus students were originally [36:25] registered march 16th came along and schools closed [36:30] and programming stopped for all but essential workers a revised registration for summer went [36:36] out on may 14th with new mandated guidelines the team started planning for a whole new summer [36:42] on may 15th with the start start date of june 8th the team managed to put together a [36:48] highly successful summer program in just three weeks leadership staff worked around the clock [36:55] to implement safety protocols in a whole new way outreach to families on new guidelines [37:00] around masks predictability of students schedules four to five days a week were required illness monitoring [37:08] and social distancing occurred [37:16] i'm sorry working with sorry working with [37:23] buildings and grounds and the summer programming team we determined that we could manage safely at two sites concord and [37:30] highlands elementary schools after communications with registration families it was determined that we would [37:35] serve approximately 100 students at each site for a total of 200 plus students served students were grouped [37:42] with a recreation leader in groups of 10. this was key to the health and safety success of our programming [37:49] each pod created a family they spent their entire summer with this group whatever they did they did as a group [37:57] we created zones in the outdoor areas to ensure safe play happened both indoors and [38:03] outdoors [38:11] many collaborations with the district happened in order to make this program successful [38:17] the first was uh with our success program we worked closely with mark deyoung at concord [38:22] elementary to refine modify and approve support for students that needed it the most [38:28] easy access to summer success both both in person and through distance [38:33] learning happened on site we helped support over 40 plus students across the district [38:39] that were also accessing kids club and wiseguys programming we worked closely with the district [38:45] technology department to ensure on-site access to chromebooks smart books etc for both success and classroom access [38:53] consistent technology supported support provided us with opportunities [38:59] to create on-site field trips in the classrooms since we weren't able to go off-site [39:04] shown here is one example as a wreck leader set up a drive-in movie in their classroom [39:10] we also collaborated with building a grounds to create cleaning protocols checklists and deliver training to staff as new [39:16] guidelines and processes evolved everyone had a job in maintaining the safety for students and staff [39:23] staff were responsible for wiping down services throughout the day and maintaining their shared spaces [39:28] while custodians did a deep cleaning at night in all the areas we were a team throughout the entire [39:34] summer [39:39] one of the biggest highlights from this summer was a staff growth and development with a large reduction in leadership due [39:45] to financial straight restraints in the spring we spent an extraordinary amount of time [39:50] working with the staff we had to build confidence and build our supervisors skills and creativity [39:57] we empowered all staff to grow and learn as we navigated a new way of programming [40:02] we also strive for participant satisfaction from both family and students we received numerous forms of [40:09] feedback from families and students regarding the wonderful experiences they've had this summer some testimonials included [40:18] from a conquered parent thank you for making our lives a little simpler during this time you guys have put together an amazing [40:24] program given the circumstances and we really appreciate it a cornelia parent said you guys are [40:30] amazing and you deserve to be recognized for the work you've done for all of us over what will go down as the [40:36] craziest summer of all time and a recreation leader stated i've [40:41] never felt more empowered empowered as a wreck leader in any summer i've ever worked [40:48] our biggest takeaway from this summer was that although the bells and whistles of field trips are fantastic [40:54] the relationships between students and staff are what bring meaning to what we do the positive feedback we received we [41:02] received from both staff students and families has given us renewed energy we are passionate about providing [41:09] experiences and creating connections with our students it was very affirming [41:14] that we were able to do that once again this summer next cheryl is going to share some some [41:21] more information about our summer enrichment program thanks rachel um so [41:29] similar to um the school aged care program our planning for summer 2020 began in [41:34] earnest in early november with some staff reorganization and new hires we opened our registration on february [41:41] 18th and by mid-march we had about 662 000 [41:46] in revenue and 44 000 registrations for our summer programs and as i [41:53] mentioned earlier this was on track for us to be our summer with the most [41:58] participation we'd ever had but with governor walsh's declaration of a peacetime [42:03] emergency the stay-at-home order and implementation of a distance learning period for edina schools [42:09] our enrichment team too pivoted quickly to start developing online enrichment programs [42:15] so during edina's spring break we piloted 16 different online classes for youth [42:22] these classes on one hand provided structure and connection and a sense of normalcy for young people [42:27] and their families during some very strange times but more importantly these pilot programs that we [42:33] offered online the very first that we'd ever offered for an enrichment program [42:38] also helped our team get familiar with the technology explore some new teaching and learning strategies for [42:44] enrichment programs and we could gather some family and participant feedback that could help us [42:49] plan our programming going forward so once the governor authorized safe and [42:56] effective summer learning for students and issued the guidelines for social distancing in youth and student programs [43:02] we felt ready to proceed we issued refunds for all of the [43:08] previously planned summer programming and we spent two weeks completely replanning summer [43:15] with offerings that we felt that we could offer in a safe and predictable way [43:20] so a few details about our summer program um maybe advance the slide thank you [43:28] rachel um our summer 2020 programming was planned in accordance with the [43:33] constantly evolving executive orders and guidance from the governor mdh and edina schools regarding [43:39] everything from groups group sizes predictable pods social distancing cleaning and sanitizing record keeping [43:46] and communication we offered a total of 11 weeks of summer enrichment programming and we rolled [43:52] that out in phases so we were online only for the first two weeks of june [43:57] we began offering some in-person classes outdoors beginning june 15th on the [44:02] edina community center campus after the fourth of july we added some [44:07] more in-person classes both indoors and outdoors on the edina high school campus [44:13] and we um even experimented with some hybrid options the majority of our in-person camps were [44:19] held either 9 a.m to 12 noon or 1 to 4 p.m monday through thursday and originally we had planned a [44:25] much more flexible program that was that offered a lot more convenience to families so [44:31] children could have been dropped off early and stay for lunch and really people could made a whole day a [44:37] whole week out of our enrichment programming but we had to scale that back pretty significantly [44:44] and throughout summer we continue to offer both online and in-person classes [44:49] each week but by far the in-person classes were the most popular with about 75 percent of our classes held [44:56] in person and 25 online so online examples would be music [45:03] lessons driver's ed watercolor classes cooking some french classes [45:09] examples of classes we were able to offer outdoors included pickleball tennis track and [45:16] field cheerleading golf and then we also moved many classes that we would traditionally [45:21] hold indoors to an outdoor setting to improve health and safety so we had many babysitting classes and [45:29] magic classes and spy camps held outdoors this summer indoors there was a lot of basketball [45:36] volleyball craft classes stem classes diving french [45:42] and then in terms of hybrid classes we partnered with our music staff to offer orchestra [45:47] concert or marching band and jazz band of course planning these programs [45:54] involved extensive partnership and collaboration to call it just a few with facilities we [46:00] worked hard to determine what spaces would still be open and available this summer during a very aggressive construction schedule [46:07] creating fair and equitable space sharing agreements with our internal and external partners and [46:12] ensuring that we had some coherent public health requirements for all users [46:18] buildings and grounds was a huge partner with us in terms of cleaning and sanitizing managing parking lots keeping us updated [46:25] on construction updates special education was a fantastic [46:31] partner for us they recognized early on that we would be likely to see some challenging behaviors giving [46:37] everything that families and students had lived through so they created a resource guide for our instructors and staff on topics [46:44] including normalizing feelings of fear sadness icebreakers for groups [46:49] de-escalation techniques and age-appropriate education on public [46:54] health and then another a partnership i really want to recognize is with edina give and [47:00] go they help us remove financial barriers to participation in summer camps so [47:06] this year 78 students were able to register for 163 camps and combined with [47:12] ignite give and go support and community education scholarships we offered a combined [47:18] scholarship total of 28 000 in scholarships [47:25] in terms of our enrichment outcomes um and the context [47:32] uh for with the past few years this summer we were able to offer 286 [47:38] different course sections as i said originally you know the original summer we had planned we had [47:45] over 400 classes set up we ended with about 3 100 enrollments [47:53] interestingly by mid-march we were already well over 4 500 enrollments [47:59] our revenue for this summer we believe is going to be land right at about 463 thousand [48:07] uh by mid-march again that benchmark was already over six hundred thousand dollars [48:12] i think we need to go on to the next slide and then in terms of our bottom line [48:18] factoring in our summer expenses we are projecting that we'll end the summer at about 49 thousand dollars to [48:24] add to our fund balance which is significant our fund balance of course was significantly impacted this [48:30] spring and we need our fund balance to allow us to provide programs like the scholarship [48:36] support to students and support other community education programs like our volunteer program [48:41] and the edina resource center [48:46] in terms of program highlights from the summer overwhelmingly the feedback on our programs has been very positive [48:53] 74 of respondents to our weekly program survey rated their camp experience 9 or 10 out [48:59] of 10. um and the open-ended feedback really reflected our community's appreciation [49:05] for our efforts too many parents were just really grateful that their kids got to be outside and [49:10] get off their screens and play most parents felt very comfortable with the precautions that we had [49:16] taken many many families were very happy that we [49:21] continued to offer the virtual camps and many families noted how excited they [49:28] were for the younger students to get to connect with older edina students [49:36] so in terms of things that we did this summer that were maybe necessary because of the [49:44] conditions but that we now plan to continue in future summers this idea of youth [49:50] leadership is one we have always stressed but we're going we really took it to a new level this summer [49:56] traditionally we work with independent contractors to provide a good chunk of our programming they [50:03] were more difficult to work with this summer because they want really long lead times they're not as flexible [50:09] and frankly they're not as comfortable with a lower like nine to one staff ratios [50:14] so we focused on hiring more internal staff and we hired several [50:20] recent edina high school graduates who helped us create and lead many new summer camps [50:27] and they gained experience through creating camps like unicorn rainbow [50:32] ranch spy academy olympics camp they gained experience in youth development in program management [50:39] in curriculum development communications and more and another example is that we collaborated with the ping-pong club to [50:46] offer a ping pong camp for younger students and the team used that as a fundraiser so we really are going to be spending [50:53] this year fleshing out and growing this idea of youth leadership for our [50:58] in internships for our high school students for our summer camps another thing we [51:06] instituted because of the conditions was curbside drop-off and pickup we spent a lot of time in parking lots this summer [51:14] um and what we realized that it's so much more convenient and less confusing [51:19] for parents to try to find their way if they they can stay in their cars students can get out [51:24] they don't have to get their younger kids or babies out of their cars we really felt like that was a good [51:30] innovation that will continue in the future and we offered online options for the [51:35] first time this summer but we realized that families really appreciated this option for a variety of reasons [51:42] not only health concerns but if students weren't able to participate one day they could do an online makeup online [51:49] options also worked really well as a rain backup location for some classes so we do we have heard [51:55] and we plan the parents want this families want this and we plan to continue to offer online options even if it's not dictated [52:03] by a global pandemic so just to conclude um our team grew and learned a lot this [52:11] summer we faced many challenges but i'm really proud of this team's bravery [52:17] and commitment to our community in the face of so much uncertainty and their willingness to step out as [52:22] pioneers really early in this new reality with our community's help and support we [52:28] have shown that it's possible to meet community needs for learning growth and connection and begin to return to civic life in a [52:35] thoughtful and structured way while also promoting health and safety as a part of our shared community [52:40] responsibility so thank you very much for this opportunity to share a little bit of our summer story [52:46] and we'd welcome any questions that you might have thank you thank you for all the [52:52] information that was great do any board members have any questions for the [52:58] team no i don't i don't have a question but i [53:04] have um just a comment uh multiple comments so first of all i had the pleasure of um [53:10] seeing rachel in action and seeing what was going on at concord and i walked away from there being so [53:17] proud of the work that she has done and so pleased of what we've been able to offer students the students were [53:24] just the happiest most engaged kids i had seen in a long time and that was [53:29] really heartwarming um the other thing is for mark i don't know if mark's still on here but um [53:35] we i i i'm so happy that summer success was still able to be [53:42] worked into the into the programming this summer um it was a game changer in our house and [53:48] so i have a really um soft spot for it in my heart and i know that there are probably many families that [53:55] feel the same way and so i applaud you for excuse me being able [54:00] to get that going and then i just wanted to say cheryl that i am [54:06] just blown away by the work that you guys have done to engage the not only our youth leaders [54:13] but also our students this summer so i just big hats off to val to this whole team um [54:19] couldn't be prouder of you guys feel the same way thank you yeah thank [54:25] you thank you guys so much for all your work this summer and and always an outstanding job so thank you [54:33] welcome thanks for the time great we are going to move on to our consent [54:39] agenda okay yup yes i am can i ask a quick question [54:44] oh sorry yep no okay i didn't know if it was i don't know why it didn't come up um i [54:50] just want well i echo what janie said um it's phenomenal work um one of the things that really stood out to me [54:55] was your strategy and approach and this kind of inside out where you guys really worked [55:02] on protocols and um grounds and you know like getting the nuts and bolts set so that [55:09] you were competent with your staff and with the building and um obviously safety [55:15] as a huge number one priority and i just wanted to know like in your report i read that you know some [55:22] families wanted a little bit more um a little bit more um [55:28] i don't know what the right how you worded it and then someone had a little bit less in terms of protocols and following protocols um do [55:36] you guys know what you don't have talking about rachel it wasn't right okay so like i i just wanted to ask and address that like [55:42] what what's your biggest learning from just that point because you know when we talk about safety i i [55:48] know there's so many things in this um in this moment that we can't control but i feel like you guys [55:53] just knocked it out of the park to control what you could control and then and then we're able then to [55:59] pivot from there so if you guys could just talk about that for a moment because i think there's just so much learning in that [56:07] cheryl do you want to start um it's a big topic and i would say that [56:13] we spent a very large chunk of our time this summer [56:19] addressing concerns and trying to get better [56:25] i i think like everyone people's comfort level ebbs and flows from day to day from week [56:31] to week what families are comfortable with what they're not comfortable with you know there's just a very wide range [56:40] of what people are comfortable with so all we can do is be really clear i think about what we [56:47] are offering and and what we're doing um and again that i think [56:53] what's really important is to approach it as this is not one program this is a community-wide [56:58] effort the things that we're doing in our programs are really important and the things that all of our families [57:04] and students and community are doing all around us are also really important and it's just a really [57:10] complex balancing a balancing act and [57:19] comfort levels are going to ebb and flow from day to day and [Music] [57:25] and julie i think you hit the i think you hit the nail on the head when you said um a lot of this was forefront planning [57:33] i think because we were able to walk through the gate and deliver so much information to families right off the [57:39] bat about our protocols procedures things we have in place and things we're planning [57:44] for that we had already already walked through so many different scenarios that there was a comfort level that we [57:52] set up right from the get-go for both staff and students and families that were participating [57:58] and i think that was a huge um a huge reason for success off the bat [58:05] i'm just gonna quickly add one more thought and i because i neglected it in my introduction is that working with [58:12] mary hyman and this team and mary whitey um we kind of broke through some how do [58:19] you contact mdh how can they become your friend what are some of the pieces that our fall planning team has [58:26] really capitalized on the work that we were able to do the simulation exercises that rachel and her [58:32] team did just let's pretend there's actually something that happened also was was um i mean we i had [58:40] multiple directors from other districts go how did you do that just so that you could touch it taste it [58:45] feel it and it wouldn't feel like a surprise and so i really echo rachel's comments [58:50] it's not um you can control what you can control and we have fantastic [58:56] staff here between our buildings and grounds and our our health coordinators and our teaching staff and coordinators [59:01] with community ad who really work together to try to use each of their own expertises to [59:07] create that those known environments for kids and families so [59:13] thanks you guys thank you thank you and julie can i add one thing too i was just so [59:18] impressed with the kids the kids i mean in terms of being in the building [59:24] and asking them to mask up and asking them to social distance and asking them to come back to an [59:30] experience that was very different from the one they left the kids were they did it they they [59:37] pulled it off um we had like rachel said we mirrored many of what the things that [59:42] rachel did but um the kids were great i mean they were they were fantastic with it it was [59:48] really much harder for the adults to try and wrap our heads around it than it was for the kids that's amazing [59:54] that's great insight thanks you guys owen did you have a question or comment mark just answered my [1:00:00] question that was getting tip to my lips i was going to ask you how the kids did with the compliance and [1:00:05] so forth so that's very good to hear thank you great [1:00:11] anything else from any board members quick question so um just to confirm for inside [1:00:19] workspace you kept it at 10 students maximum [1:00:25] yes uh we had a we did a one to nine ratio so each so one staff and nine students okay [1:00:33] and then in a regular classroom setting typically correct each of those groups each of [1:00:39] those groups was located in a classroom and then what was the maximum number of students you would [1:00:46] have inside one building at one time um we we had about 100 registered at [1:00:53] each site um the goal wasn't the the goal wasn't the max amount located [1:01:00] in a building but the max amount located in each individual space so we never had stupid more than one [1:01:06] group at a in one space for 15 minutes or more at a time [1:01:12] and they wouldn't cross paths for example in hallways okay sounds great thank you very much [1:01:20] anything else well thank you again for all your hard work this is great [1:01:27] really appreciated yep okay now i'm going to move on to our [1:01:34] consent agenda i think um is there anything anyone wants to remove from the consent agenda [1:01:42] do i have a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved is there a second second [1:01:50] i will now vote by roll call to approve the consent agenda ellenberg i fox [1:01:59] hi green i jones hi michelson [1:02:06] hi sean aye welland friedman aye [1:02:14] the consent agenda is approved thank you um we're now going to have before we [1:02:20] move on to our other discussion items we're going to have an update on planting planning for the 20 20 21 [1:02:26] 2021 school year um so i'll turn it over to you john to um give the community board an update [1:02:34] thanks uh chair allen bergso we are still still in the planning [1:02:40] stages for the 2021 school year um i want to talk a little bit about planning itself i want to give an update [1:02:46] on on our masking policy and then i'm going to turn it over to uh randy to talk about [1:02:54] the edina virtual academy and the planning that's going into that and talk a little bit about the hybrid [1:03:01] so um first of all the planning um is just what it is it's a plan um one [1:03:07] thing i can say is that the plans will change [1:03:14] this planning and what we're planning to do of course in a school system we've never done this before [1:03:19] but we really have a great team that has great ideas in offering a [1:03:27] safe safe and engaging learning environment and i really want to focus [1:03:32] on those two things the state of minnesota has asked us first to [1:03:37] stay safe using the hennepin county numbers and with those numbers that [1:03:43] places uh us into a hybrid in both the elementary and the secondary [1:03:50] the second level of safety is to make sure that we can deliver the protocols within within [1:03:56] the building within the class classrooms for all the program that we provide so [1:04:02] when we look at the rich and excellent edina programming we have to we really have to plan for how we can [1:04:09] still deliver that curriculum those courses to students so we are still in the planning [1:04:15] stages of of really figuring out how do we [1:04:21] primarily staff this with the talented teachers that we have in the school [1:04:26] system so we are in the midst of doing that um and i think randy can talk a bit more [1:04:32] dive deeper into what the udine virtual academy planning is one of the safety features as we know is [1:04:39] masking social distancing is uh is [1:04:44] the prime mover of safety for this uh we need to figure out how we do that to keep our our our students as well as [1:04:52] our staff safe in in this uh covent environment [1:04:57] the masking rule is state law so it will be requirement that children and [1:05:04] staff wear a mask in the public school setting in the hybrid uh learning environment [1:05:11] um if a if a student or a parent do not if a parent doesn't want their [1:05:17] child to wear a mask or if a student doesn't want to wear a mask or we would then offer them the opport we [1:05:24] would offer them the udina virtual academy if they didn't want to wear a mask so when they're in the buildings masking is [1:05:31] required so um i'm going to turn it over to randy to talk a little bit about the united [1:05:37] virtual academy and then i'll talk a little bit about uh some timeline and some upcoming dates to [1:05:43] pay attention to so dr smazel uh good evening chair ellenberg superintendent schultz [1:05:51] and school board members and community i just want to give you a little bit of [1:05:58] update about our planning work around the dyna virtual academy some of our discussions that we've had [1:06:04] recently we've had about a thousand students sign up for the academy as of this morning [1:06:10] just to hear over a thousand students and i just want to really start off by saying that um [1:06:17] virtual academy is not a lesser program model than the hybrid it really is just different when we did [1:06:25] ask families to you know pay attention to this concept of opting out it was really about opting [1:06:32] out for health related reasons and that was meant to really for us to create kind of a clear way to [1:06:38] track family intentions and certainly not to create a perception that it is not as worthy and and [1:06:46] not as effective and so we want to be just really clear about that um we are excited about the opportunity [1:06:53] but at the same time all of this work is really challenging and i know that our staff [1:06:59] and our principals are exhausted and so we're just we're continuing to pull people together [1:07:05] and to work on ideas and work on designs and we have focused on the hybrid because to [1:07:10] be honest with you the hybrid model is just so complex to design and deliver [1:07:16] and so it did require a great deal of staff planning time but as we continue to move forward [1:07:24] we will continue to have a an amount of time for planning this [1:07:31] edina virtual academy that will make sure we are able to deliver on an outstanding product [1:07:36] this fall in terms of design elements you know we kind of go back to grounding ourselves and what kids liked about [1:07:43] distance learning we know that some things went well some things could have certainly been better but certainly when we think of big [1:07:49] concepts like clarity and connections and feedback we learned a lot about what worked well for kids [1:07:55] and what didn't and those are specific down to the classroom level or the site level at times but they're [1:08:00] helpful for us in the design of how do you create an engaging online learning environment [1:08:07] and our goal in our design is really to create a similar design to the hybrid model in other words [1:08:14] approximately the same amounts of face-to-face time and feedback as the hybrid classroom [1:08:20] our plan is to develop consistency between hybrid learning and the edina virtual academy learning [1:08:26] we'll use the same instructional framework that we would use in hybrid learning [1:08:32] we will start off the dino virtual academy with an investment in relationship building and connection [1:08:37] that'll sit at the forefront of the experience it's really important in any situation to really get to know the learners and [1:08:44] learners getting to know themselves and in some cases that's more challenging when kids are virtual [1:08:50] in other cases there are things about it that are easier we'll still use the same standards and [1:08:56] same learning outcomes in the dynavirtual academy as we will use in the hybrid we'll use many of the same flipped [1:09:03] lessons or activities in both models and our students in edinburgh academy will still have specials just [1:09:09] like the hybrid model and our scope and sequence of learning curriculum across the district [1:09:14] it will need more attention and discussion than ever before to ensure that we have this [1:09:20] continuity and consistency regardless of learning model whether it be hybrid or virtual academy [1:09:27] our goal really is to achieve a balance of live teaching and flip lessons that are really connected and just [1:09:35] really maximize student engagement and learning and and it's it's it's going to continue [1:09:41] to evolve to take some work to really find what is that sweet spot that really [1:09:46] that key critical balance that that makes kids get the most out of that experience uh [1:09:54] we can say students social emotional wellness and development will be incorporated into the virtual academy of learning experience [1:10:01] and we know that that will also be really important since um students will be tying into this [1:10:06] remotely uh eva teachers will be in collaborative teams with hybrid teachers to support [1:10:11] that consistency and continuity so the same schedule for teaching planning and preparation and staff development would [1:10:17] occur on wednesdays so on wednesdays we bring our staff together to do training to do [1:10:23] preparation and to do planning we would want our eva teachers to be able to be a part of that [1:10:30] um one of the challenging aspects is that the enrollment will impact the [1:10:35] design and so that's a little bit of the horse before the cart and the cart before the horse kind of cyclical [1:10:41] conversation that we've been having but the reality is you know depending upon [1:10:46] enrollment we may have to combine students across elementaries or students across secondary schools in some cases [1:10:54] we would make every effort to pair elementary classes by maybe the middle schools that they feed into or combine middle school [1:11:01] classes and at the end of the day all students do end up at the high school and [1:11:06] you know maybe some of our students kind of get a head start on making friends that they will be learning with for many years [1:11:14] if the numbers are significant then we would just run extra sections of eva [1:11:21] from that school so they would still be with students just from that school but [1:11:26] again the enrollment will impact how we're able to kind of package this together [1:11:32] we think it's reasonable to target 30 to 40 percent for live teaching we set that as a goal [1:11:37] but we will need to be flexible because age and development and appropriateness [1:11:43] for the learner also you know they will also play into this formula [1:11:48] we do feel like we'll need oversight of the dyna virtual academy that'll be yet to be determined as it continues to grow [1:11:55] or you know based on where the numbers are at we do believe we'll need some type of oversight or coordination of that [1:12:01] programming and we are asking families to commit for a semester [1:12:07] a semester for elementary families would end approximately january 22nd [1:12:13] at which families at which time families would have an opportunity to register [1:12:18] for their choice for the second half of the school year uh there were some questions there have been questions [1:12:24] about you know how easy is it to move from hybrid to eva i [1:12:29] i think it would be um it's difficult for your families [1:12:34] for students and families to move from eva to hybrid [Music] [1:12:40] and we're asking families to commit to eva for semester we do think we could offer that movement [1:12:47] from hybrid to eva on an individual basis for health related or employment related [1:12:53] reasons i do want to state though it's important to note that if this becomes a larger [1:12:58] percentage of the student body then it will make the hybrid offering with staffing changes even more complex for the district to be [1:13:04] able to respond to that's not a super clear answer to that [1:13:10] question but we we definitely will be looking at individual cases around that if it's simply a comfort or a choice [1:13:17] then maybe eva is the better fit to begin with and that's why we're asking families to [1:13:23] make a choice upfront so that and to make that commitment so we can plan accordingly and again we [1:13:29] respect how challenging that decision is for families and the importance of enough specific information to make the [1:13:34] best informed decision we understand that that you know that's what families are trying to [1:13:40] do in terms of preparation we've explored some different technologies that support [1:13:46] connecting students at home with the classroom those include some of our virtual [1:13:51] meeting tools but also include things like camera and audio systems and things like that [1:13:57] at the elementary level we have completed an order for redcat audio systems to make sure that we have a redcat in [1:14:04] place for all elementary classrooms that just helps with enhancing audio for those teachers for their [1:14:12] for their particular environments that they have and we don't want you know part of our preparation is [1:14:18] we've really thought about you know how much time should students be in life teaching we definitely don't want kids sitting in front of a screen [1:14:25] for seven hours a day and so it's really about trying to figure how to achieve an engaging [1:14:31] balance in terms of preparation we'll continue to develop some support resources for [1:14:38] families to help support learners when they're not at school and then i'll just i'll just summarize [1:14:44] by trying to articulate a few of the challenges that we have for both models the hybrid and the eva [1:14:51] our registrations with families are are due tuesday evening so on wednesday morning at 9 00 a.m [1:14:58] we're going to begin pulling the staffing and the registration puzzle pieces together and we're literally [1:15:03] building some new schedules for the year now that doesn't mean all new classes but we're just [1:15:08] trying to figure out where students are going to be and which teachers are going to be teaching what [1:15:14] we know that we need a web of support for kids when they're not in school and getting kids connected to school [1:15:20] at home is kind of a technological equity challenge [1:15:25] and so it's really important to make sure kids can get connected when we are doing live teaching and and obviously [1:15:31] that technological challenge varies depending upon age and developmental readiness we know that [1:15:40] for families who have selected the hybrid as the learning model there might be some situations where [1:15:46] because of the enrollment in a particular class like at a secondary level we might have to offer a class all [1:15:53] virtual or all online so even though the family signed up for hybrid it could be that they have a class [1:15:58] in the schedule the student that is a is part of the you know virtual learning environment [1:16:05] solely and that just will depend as we are trying to work through these schedules [1:16:11] first family has selected eva again we'll look at all of the we offer a tremendous number of [1:16:17] electives at our secondary level and we'll try to honor all of those electives in the schedule but again [1:16:23] there may be scheduling issues that make that a challenge depending upon what our enrollment looks like as we proceed [1:16:30] normally when we would do registration we would normally have a cut off for the number of students [1:16:36] that sign up for a class before we offer it but we realize of course that those offerings have already been produced and [1:16:42] the staff have already been aligned to that so now it's a matter of trying to figure out how to make these puzzle pieces [1:16:48] work together we know that our teachers need a lot more time than they would [1:16:54] typically need at the start of a school year we're asking them to build a lot of [1:16:59] online content and a lot of online lessons and activities and to build out a course that is [1:17:06] flexible and adaptable so that if we do shift to uh more of a remote learning [1:17:11] situation for all that they can do that in a fairly seamless way [1:17:17] but this is a this is a different kind of lift for our teachers and our principals than any school year than at the beginning of [1:17:24] any school year we are asking a lot of our staff and we know we're asking a lot of our families at [1:17:31] this time of year as well [Music] our elementary schools will also be [1:17:36] hosting child care for children of tier one workers and that will impact space we'll need [1:17:42] peres to support that on the on the days that the students are not [1:17:47] in front of their classroom teachers we know from jeff jorgensen's update last thursday [1:17:53] that ieps need to be developed for different types of learning scenarios with children that are receiving special [1:17:59] services and that that needs to be done at the beginning of the year and that is that is much more complex than our [1:18:05] process has ever been that's going to just take additional time to complete i i do want to say that this is all very [1:18:13] complex and stressful for our teachers our principals and our families we're hearing that we'll continue to [1:18:19] collect questions we'll offer answers as we can derive those and we will continue to problem [1:18:25] solve continue to listen each of our sites will be holding a q a [1:18:31] meet sessions for available staff to work through some of the challenging staffing puzzle [1:18:38] pieces this week and um we know that our teachers are not back for another two weeks yet [1:18:45] um so it's the available staff that will be able to dial in now and we'll have to catch other staff later [1:18:50] our new teachers are coming back in a week what an amazing adventure they have [1:18:56] signed up for and we're very excited for their arrival of over 60 new teachers to the district [1:19:02] you'll see on this board agenda this evening that we've proposed some calendar revisions which i believe would provide [1:19:09] the necessary time to make sure we have a quality launch to both of these models i personally don't believe we can [1:19:15] provide the preparation needed for these two models without that additional time for what we're asking our staff to do [1:19:21] and complete and then lastly we're going to have to be nimble [1:19:26] and adaptive and flexible this year as nukova test results could push us in another direction as a district [1:19:32] numbers go up we might be phasing in more remote learning time and as numbers go down we would be [1:19:38] facing more students back into schools as john has already previously mentioned so [1:19:44] those are a few of the updates related to the programming um at this time i'll turn it back to [1:19:49] chair ellenberg um um let me just uh finish with um thank you randy that was [1:19:56] great um uh mary do you want to talk just a little bit just a communications update [1:20:02] um and kind of how you're thinking about communications this as randy indicated with the [1:20:07] complexity this is uh continues to be a moving target so things emerge in our planning and it's [1:20:14] been our commitment and mary's done a great job of pushing out information and decisions [1:20:20] as we move forward so mary do you want to say anything more about just the communications sure i will thank you [1:20:27] very much and good evening everybody so last week um we we may have blown up [1:20:35] some parent inboxes um during the course of the week the the superintendent communicated on [1:20:41] monday wednesday and friday it was primarily around the release of the information about the learning [1:20:47] models and on wednesday we announced [1:20:52] that we originally had asked for a decision by sunday evening and then on friday we [1:20:57] pushed it back because as randy said and john has said we've received so many questions and we just want to provide as much [1:21:03] clarification as we can so that people can make a decision that they feel comfortable with [1:21:09] so additionally last week on tuesday kindergarten families received some information from the elementary [1:21:14] principals on thursday troy sent information out about athletics and activities [1:21:21] the e-newsletters kicked in again on thursday [1:21:26] and parents also received on thursday a reminder of the making their decision and how to do that [1:21:32] on the portal and also during the course of the week new families received their portal [1:21:37] credentials in the mail so that they can get at the portal and make their decision and some of the other information that [1:21:43] we're seeking from them um on the website on monday we opened up the [1:21:48] um learning model pages that that provide some background information about both the learning models and then [1:21:55] we also opened the family dashboard i think on monday we just had two buttons by the end of the week we had [1:22:02] six and um multilingual um the multilingual learner team is i [1:22:09] know still working i received an email with them from them today so we're still working on trying to make [1:22:15] sure that everybody um has has the information they need and [1:22:20] can make the decision that's best for their family for staff last week nikki communicated [1:22:26] an email went out to all staff with the preference form and a flow chart and then we opened the employee [1:22:31] dashboard as well so we have some an employee specific faq and some forms and then we've also [1:22:38] provided them with links to the safe learning spaces the coven monitoring the mental uh wellness and then the learning models [1:22:45] as well so going forward well today we added the [1:22:51] nutrition services um button to the dashboard so we have a few more buttons that were [1:22:57] we'll be working on and technology child care of course that's a little ways down the road till we know some more numbers [1:23:03] and of course the academics so once randy and the instructional team have got [1:23:08] things set in place we've got some nice green academic buttons that are by grade level [1:23:15] and um one for the eva program that will help people see where [1:23:21] where they should go now to make their next steps their schedules um that sort of information [1:23:27] and then we'll be um shifting now this week to um families receiving information [1:23:34] from their schools we've kind of been holding the reins back because like i said last week there was [1:23:40] information going out every day and everybody is very focused on the learning models which is kind of the [1:23:45] key piece of information we need right now so i really ask the principals to hold [1:23:51] on talking about the back to school plans and the events and the virtual things that they're planning for that [1:23:56] but tomorrow afternoon and i think later in the week some of that information is ready to [1:24:01] start flowing out so families will begin to get that and then um we've got our our district back to [1:24:09] school page two that will be updating and probably adding a back to school button on the dashboard so that's [1:24:15] all those pages are easy for families to find um so that's that's kind of where [1:24:21] they're at i mean i i know there's a lot of communication ahead but [1:24:26] as randy said it you know communications kinds of uh kind of bats [1:24:33] cleanup you know we come in when the other work is done then we get to work because we have the [1:24:38] information that needs to get pushed out to families and the various ways and tools that we have so [1:24:44] um we're ready for the next steps well done mary thank you so as mary [1:24:51] indicated tomorrow is the due date for parents to elect one of the models [1:24:58] we do have a board meeting set for august 17th [1:25:05] i do want to let the board know the public know that as we continue to do the planning this [1:25:11] week we start looking at the staffing if i feel that the the plan the program [1:25:18] isn't clear enough to present to the board i'm going to ask that we also reserve the 20th of august [1:25:24] which i believe is thursdays all right and um have that as just a date out [1:25:30] there so the 17 and the 20th would be the would be two days um that we would use for i think the 17 [1:25:37] the board approved as a work as a meeting for tonight moving the 18th to the 17th but i would [1:25:43] ask the board and let the public know that the 20th could be a date too but we'll push out information [1:25:48] uh when that approval happens um and then it's after that it's um [1:25:55] from the 20th it's another 18 days then to the start of the school if the board approves [1:26:00] the um the later start of school so i still want to encourage [1:26:08] parents to continue to ask questions so we continue to provide information and clarify [1:26:15] the program i hope tonight help to clarify the eva and i'll leave that as an update for [1:26:22] uh for our 2021 school year chair ellenberg great thank you thank you dr schultz um [1:26:29] do board members have any comments ellen [Music] yeah i have a couple comments um and [1:26:38] and this is in general i'm i'm uh i really first i want to appreciate [1:26:46] all the time that everyone has been given to this this is i understand that it is a lot of [1:26:52] time and i can appreciate the time and the work and the thought so my comments are [1:26:59] really with respect to my over i wanted to make sure that the administration [1:27:05] understood um my perspective in the past i've been just [1:27:10] responding to the models that were presented to me with questions so that i could [1:27:16] understand what's being presented and i feel that in order for me to be [1:27:24] upfront with what who i am and what i'm about when i look at models i wanted [1:27:30] just to make sure that you heard uh where i was coming from um and so my perspective is [1:27:38] that um i know that this is the perspective of the boards to the rest of the boards is safety is [1:27:44] first but i really i i can't underscore that what that [1:27:50] means to me and what i would be looking for in approving a plan with respect to [1:27:57] safety and i was delighted to hear that john said that he would uphold a [1:28:05] face mask policy that no one would be within our buildings without a face mask [1:28:10] and that's what he was saying and i think that parents would like to hear that as well [1:28:16] but i also am concerned about some other elements of the plan with respect [1:28:22] to the maintaining of cohorts um [1:28:29] the isolation of those cohorts as we heard that was done so well in our summer programming [1:28:35] i would want to make sure that our district is taking equally um equal [1:28:44] effort in maintaining cohorts in the elementary schools [1:28:52] as the other models are developed so [1:28:58] so that's that's one piece that i would be looking for in a plan is that cohorts [1:29:03] are kept apart from when children are getting [1:29:10] on their way to school to when they get back home because honestly if there's a [1:29:18] mix up of a mixing up of students the risk increases to all students [1:29:24] likewise i'm very concerned about our secondary plan which has students [1:29:32] going from class to class in a building and not being kept [1:29:38] isolated in a cohort so i'm concerned about that um i know that when [1:29:47] second when you look at colleges they are all being incredibly careful [1:29:54] um and they are saying no we really need to keep all students apart or in small cohorts [1:30:03] or we aren't going back to school so this is a question all districts and all at all levels are trying to deal [1:30:11] with but when i think about the safety of of teachers and of students when there's [1:30:18] that much intermingling i'm very concerned about that and [1:30:24] i just don't think it's worth the risk so so there's that aspect of a plan and [1:30:30] then i'm going to speak to academic development and social development of our youngest students and [1:30:37] i would say that i would be looking for a plan where teachers are [1:30:43] actively teaching our youngest students every day [1:30:50] and um and that direct instruction is so important we had a time we we [1:30:56] the board recently studied time and we literally it's it's something like four [1:31:01] and a half hours of direct instruction of core academic material every day [1:31:10] is what we were told by our administrators as needed and i feel equally that that it is [1:31:18] that we don't have a year to waste when it comes to um reaching our [1:31:24] kids and trying to develop the best programs that we can in order to [1:31:30] give them that and if it's not face to face [1:31:35] then at least it would be in a synchronous environment um whether that's streaming [1:31:44] or um uh just simply synchronous um on some something like a zoom but i [1:31:52] those are those are my biggest concerns it's first that we have developed plans that [1:31:59] are going to be safe if we are implementing them because [1:32:04] um we are responsible for our community as well and i and um so i would like to make [1:32:12] sure that that my um my thoughts on these are are are heard [1:32:17] i'm not really responding to the plans that were presented to me i'm i'm giving you now my own personal [1:32:23] opinion on what i would be looking for thank you thanks ellen we'll keep those [1:32:29] keep that all in mind course the safety and um of our students and our staff are [1:32:36] utmost in these times and we will continue to offer the academic [1:32:43] social development that edina is used to having for their children [1:32:50] [Music] matt hi sorry about that so i want to thank [1:32:57] the uh the very thorough update from all the administration that just took place i just had two items the first one is [1:33:03] what is the how can we describe to the community some people were on last week some weren't how do we describe the cadence for [1:33:09] re-juggling so there's obviously going to be the element of whether or not covid spreads more or less whether or [1:33:16] not a vaccine comes out at what point but for instance if the per case number dropped below 20 for one week from mdh [1:33:23] we wouldn't send all the kids back if it cycled the next week wouldn't bring them all home again so [1:33:29] just can we give a update to some people think about what are the time frames in which we're making decisions [1:33:35] so the governor and changing from one program to another um we don't need to [1:33:42] pivot on the moment when that data changes i think we have two weeks to respond to that [1:33:51] okay so we're going to follow the mdh data [1:33:58] updates in coordination with the health authorities and look at this on a bi-monthly basis [1:34:04] actually it would be a weekly those numbers come out weekly on thursdays okay great thank you just [1:34:12] want to make sure everybody's level set there and the second item is just resource based um you know again i want to commend all [1:34:18] the work taking place and and by de facto this entire plan means we're running two schools [1:34:23] off the same number of limited resources that we've been working through as a strategic plan to run one school [1:34:29] being the virtual learning academy and the hybrid model so i just wanted to make sure that everyone understands it's [1:34:34] on this call that there's a there's a balance going on between communicated and between operating the schools [1:34:40] and in the sense of that you'll see even later in our agenda we're doing to do bond issuances in the next 12 to 24 [1:34:47] months that are looking to refinance and save us money as well extension of current services that we currently have [1:34:53] so um we have many work sessions we have them before this one for over an hour [1:34:58] and a half talking about some of the things you're going to be hearing throughout the next stage of the discussion around strategic plans [1:35:04] around the current priorities and i think that the goal for this meeting was to make sure that people heard how [1:35:10] much thought went into the virtual academy because last meeting what it felt like [1:35:15] was we came into the last school board meeting where there were 200 and some people on the youtube webcast looking to hear about [1:35:22] all the options and we really focused on safety and then this time we took a step back and focused on both the virtual learning [1:35:29] academy offering and then a by segment educational offering for hybrid but i don't want people to leave this [1:35:34] meeting and saying well there was very little discussion of safety because there have been hundreds of [1:35:40] meetings leading up to this one including individual work sessions that have taken place so um the two things i just wanted to [1:35:46] make sure everybody was clear on where the level setting around time when this would be revisited and also the number of meetings and care [1:35:53] that's going into the plan from a safety perspective and a communication perspective so those are the two things that i wanted to [1:35:59] comment on but i appreciate the full update thank you matt any other comments from any board [1:36:05] members julie um yeah i just have one um [1:36:11] so just to um i like how matt was matt framed up you know we are running [1:36:18] um with the same amount of resources trying to run two systems right which we're aware of and [1:36:23] it's an incredible amount of work um i what is the confidence level and [1:36:29] you might not be able to answer this but just something i'm i'm i want to make sure is the [1:36:34] confidence level with our staffing and where our teachers are sitting with this and if [1:36:40] um if they choose to be part of the edina virtual academy um do they feel they can still deliver [1:36:48] that content and curriculum and they're still you know we hold we hold our teachers and they [1:36:54] hold our students to high standards of educational excellence and so i just want to i just want to do a temperature check on [1:37:00] where our teachers are sitting with all this and i know that you know they're not back officially for another couple [1:37:06] weeks but um i know we've got a lot of feedback from teachers too and so um i just i wanted to throw that out [1:37:13] there if you're not ready to answer that that's okay too but that's where my my thoughts are now or the teacher [1:37:18] confidence yeah we're not never ready to answer that we're still collecting the data from the teachers um at this point so um you know [1:37:26] the of edina teachers is always strong and and cooperative and we'll continue [1:37:33] to work with them in the safety protocols and in providing the resource they need to teach [1:37:38] got it okay thank you janie or lenny anything or owen no [1:37:47] lenny so um i just think that we've got a little bit more data to collect [1:37:54] and then we'll have a clearer picture so i do appreciate the update tonight [Music] [1:38:00] yeah thank you very much for the update um if board members do think of questions after this um please send them to john [1:38:08] um because he can also insert answers to board questions i'm sure anything the board is wondering [1:38:14] the community also wants to know so if you think of something you would like an answer for email [1:38:20] john with your question and we'll fold them into the faqs and make sure that the community gets [1:38:25] answers to those as well so um thank you for the update i [1:38:30] appreciate it and um all the hard work um and i also realized that [1:38:39] we're we're stuck in this paradigm where it's like putting the cart before the horse and [1:38:44] the horse before the cart and it feels we're sort of going zigzagging between communicating [1:38:50] planning more communicating planning more so there is a realization from both the [1:38:56] admin and board that um how i'm sure it's frustrating as [1:39:01] times as a parent um but we are trying like i think i said last time we're trying to get as much [1:39:07] information um as we know it and i think a big um step will be when we [1:39:13] when we understand the staffing and how staffing is or is not affecting any anything from a planning perspective um [1:39:20] so um i think is oh yeah owen yes erica just one comment i want to [1:39:26] throw out is um our community is diverse and has all sorts of opinions and uh reflects society in general and [1:39:33] there are some families that would like to go full on four or five days of instruction and i [1:39:40] think that there's a little confusion in the community as to why we can't do that and it has [1:39:45] been alluded to tonight but i'm just going to spell it out explicitly we have thresholds that we have to reach [1:39:51] and we are not at a threshold that permits that of um covet counts for ten thousand and we're [1:39:58] measuring that off of our county not off of our city and um [1:40:03] so i think that uh there are some who would like to have that kind of instruction we've had some conspicuous groups such as the american [1:40:11] academy of pediatricians and the cdc have both recommended full [1:40:17] face-to-face instruction four to five days a week but at this point we can't do that um but as i think john said uh [1:40:25] we could at some point do that but we're not at that point right now so i just wanted to offer that a little [1:40:31] that elaboration erica thank you owen ellen oh and i just wanted to respond to that [1:40:37] a little bit because i um i have been trying to figure out the [1:40:43] executive orders and and um i was at a meeting um last wednesday with jan malcolm and [1:40:51] she i asked her if schools were required to follow the base models set out in the back to school plan from the governor [1:40:59] with respect to counts and she said quote we would recommend that you think about the [1:41:04] governor's guidelines as a starting point for the conversation [1:41:09] so um what she said is that it is to be a consultative process with school board members bargaining [1:41:16] units staff students and families so it is those those um [1:41:21] i i want to make sure owen and the people listening you know it is a starting point so [1:41:28] it's not as if those numbers when you hit a certain number it is going to [1:41:34] trigger necessarily that our district will change um but it's a starting point [1:41:42] um our district can't change if we don't have the staffing or don't have the facilities [1:41:49] it is not going to change if we don't have all the things that can happen to make a safe environment [1:41:57] for our families so um and likewise um if we [1:42:03] feel that we have those in place and can use and can [1:42:08] manage that then we could go to uh every day just as we're [1:42:14] looking at not a hybrid for kindergarten but we are looking for every day in kindergarten so [1:42:21] um and i would i would suggest we as a district should be looking at and [1:42:27] every day for elementary as to the extent possible and so i'm [1:42:35] i'm just i'm mentioning that because we we've been talking about the key counts and i think [1:42:42] that that isn't exactly what is written in the executive order [1:42:48] matt yeah just to go just very quickly on those two points um [1:42:54] i mean everybody theoretically will have to get back to having students in school as soon as it's safe the cdc and [1:43:00] american pediatric association said there are incredible negative consequences of not having kids together [1:43:06] so all seven of us in administration would like to get there as soon as possible it is guidance at the same time if [1:43:13] you're on a golf course and there's lightning people will come out and say get off the course but they're not going to give you [1:43:18] handcuffs and pull you off but you're liable so it's our you know responsibility to make sure we're putting kids families [1:43:25] and teachers and staff in the safest position so um i want to make sure we don't go [1:43:31] down some path in which suddenly edina doesn't have to follow guidance and why don't we just [1:43:36] pick a path or get kids back this is not just guidance this is legal and structural liability and medical [1:43:43] health data from the state dictating what districts should do so we are working within the confines of being [1:43:49] the third or four color-coded grid that came out at the end of july for us to follow [1:43:54] within that framework we're running two systems and we're going to be looking at that now i understand data every thursday [1:44:02] with a two week rolling or two week lagging indicator to determine how to adjust the hybrid and virtual learning [1:44:08] models so i just want to make sure that the clarifications are really good in some [1:44:13] respects but i want to make sure we don't have anybody confused that the districts [1:44:19] really are just being told do whatever you want here's a color-coded grid it's much stronger than that and the meeting we [1:44:24] have last week had officials from bloomington health system that we're working very closely with to [1:44:30] as ellen said make sure that we have all those triggers and safety protocols in place [1:44:35] as soon as we're able to start bringing back more kids safely that is the bend that the owens correct [1:44:41] the cdc and apa are recommending money i just want to note that the [1:44:47] recommendation to have kids back is provided it's a safe environment there [1:44:53] there's no recommendation that we simply open the schools and so to the extent that that's [1:44:58] interpreted i don't think that's accurate [1:45:04] alan did you have anything to add right and i was just going to say that um also part of the executive [1:45:13] statement was that at any time our district can act in a way that is [1:45:22] more safe than what the guidelines suggest so for example [1:45:28] the numbers might say that we are all um for hybrid model for both secondary [1:45:34] and primary the executive orders also state that it [1:45:40] could be that we choose as a district not to do that and um i just wanted to [1:45:48] make that clear too that that throughout all of these if we wanted to take a more um cautious position that that's [1:45:57] actually stipulated in the in the order [1:46:05] any other comments from anyone nope great thank you guys for the update um [1:46:13] on this and i'm sure they'll all have more questions and more opportunities to uh [1:46:19] communicate about this so thank you um we're now going to move on to our [1:46:25] discussion portion of our agenda and i believe we have three items up for discussion [1:46:31] um the first are strategic priorities um regarding superintendent and board goals [1:46:37] and so um i basically wanted to update the community that we had a work session [1:46:42] just prior to this um where we walked through a fairly comprehensive list [1:46:48] of um issues and initiatives that um we have um [1:46:56] talked about undertaking as a district um or um maybe it was from last year we didn't [1:47:01] get to it and so we went through a prioritization process um that we need to anyway but there's a [1:47:06] whole added dynamic obviously of our crisis planning and pandemic planning and so [1:47:14] from the work session that we had we both as administration team and as a [1:47:20] board agree that um our priority this year is um what we've talked about tonight [1:47:28] which is ensuring um the safe roll out of [1:47:33] our pandemic planning for the year so making sure it's safe making sure our [1:47:39] students are getting on the education that they need um and that [1:47:46] has to be our number one priority um it's going to take a lot of effort on behalf of everyone in our [1:47:52] administration all of our teachers um and so there's concern on everyone's part of [1:47:58] putting too much on top of that so we cannot because we cannot take our eye off the ball for that um we did we obviously at the [1:48:06] same time have a strategic plan and we realized that um we can't [1:48:13] not work on certain things going on and so we prioritize the um three things from the strategic [1:48:20] plan um to focus on this year our literacy work equity work and intervention [1:48:25] programs and they all go along um with each other um [1:48:30] and the bore goals really mirror what we feel john's goal should be which [1:48:37] is as a board how do we um monitor progress with the pandemic [1:48:43] planning um are there measures that we need to look into to ensure that students are meeting [1:48:48] their goals um and then in addition to that um [1:48:54] the uh the equity issue um the literacy and the intervention how do [1:49:02] we support those as a board um a couple additional things we talked about as a board is [1:49:07] um um monitoring which i much alluded to earlier but [1:49:12] really monitoring and measuring not only this but our strategic plan initiatives and then talking about how can we come [1:49:18] become more effective as a board um so those things will be outlined and [1:49:24] there will be an actual document in the next meeting but i wanted to give an overview of what we did just talk about [1:49:31] does anyone from the board have any anything to add or any context to what i just went over [1:49:38] no okay so that is it for the um strategic priorities um now we're [1:49:44] going to move on to um policy review and i'll turn it over to owen who's the chair of our policy committee [1:49:50] um and you can take it from here all right thank you erica well as policy committee members we are [1:49:58] tasked with uh reviewing the district's policies policies are grouped [1:50:03] in sets of 100 and we have the commission of going through [1:50:10] series 400 and 900 this year personnel and community relations in just a moment we're going to [1:50:18] look at that but before we do we want to talk a little bit about equity [1:50:24] we had committed at our last school board meeting regular meeting that the policy committee would [1:50:32] talk about equity as it relates to policies and uh it's a part of our strategic plan [1:50:39] recent events have forced it to the fore and so we spent a good bit of time at [1:50:45] our policy meeting on wednesday talking about equity as it relates to [1:50:51] the edina school district policies and we wanted to come up with a game [1:50:57] plan for going forward and creating a structure that we could [1:51:03] frame up our discussion of equity as it relates to our policies [1:51:09] and with some help from nikki tucher our new director of hr who is our [1:51:16] administrative liaison we have come up with a plan which will be that we are going to form [1:51:23] subcommittees of color in three domains employees students [1:51:28] and parents and nikki will be reaching out to first [1:51:33] employees of color and creating a 3-4 member [1:51:38] committee and we want all three of these committees to give us a sense of [1:51:44] what as a district we could do to improve our delivery of educational services [1:51:51] and sensitivity everything associated with equity in this in this coming school year so [1:52:00] nikki will be doing that we'll hear a report at our policy committee meeting next week about that and next month [1:52:07] and um so our first goal is to then once we get some direction [1:52:14] from these subcommittees to identify specific policies that are [1:52:21] prominent that we want to give special attention to and prioritize [1:52:27] those so that's that's the general direction and because of the significance of this [1:52:33] what i also wanted to do is to take a moment and turn it over turn the discussion over to julie green [1:52:40] for a little bit to give us some more background and what our goals are will be this year regarding equity [1:52:48] thank you owen um yeah i'm on the policy committee with owen um just for everyone else who's watching [1:52:55] from home and um i'm going to give you a slightly different perspective [1:53:00] on kind of what we've talked about as i once said it we know that it's imperative that we have multiple voices in our community [1:53:08] um students and families employees staff teachers so that we [1:53:14] can really listen and make sure that we are doing equity work that's [1:53:20] purposeful um you know when it comes to policy policy is really kind of the rudder this [1:53:26] we talked about this is it's it's the rudder of our school system in a lot of ways but i think it's really [1:53:32] imperative that as we approach this equity work that we're not siloed in that also [1:53:38] so um and when i and we we talked about um making sure that this that the [1:53:43] community knows and that our district knows and our staff and administration and teachers and students that this is an ongoing conversation um i [1:53:51] think that one of the things that is going to be important is as we um really bring [1:53:59] our equity work which is already a priority in our strategic plan and it was identified in our work session earlier one of the priorities [1:54:06] for us to work on as a board and um for dr schultz to work on as well is to [1:54:12] make sure that um we are see we are [1:54:17] we're reflecting policy as it's seen in practice and so i i just want to make sure that [1:54:23] um anyone listening that um we aren't we aren't gonna our approach [1:54:30] to equity we still have a lot of work to do and how we're going to approach it and what that process is so policy is one [1:54:36] starting point um but it is not the um entirety of the of the important work that's going on um [1:54:44] the other thing that i just wanted to say too is that if i think if we [1:54:50] are um going to make change which there are areas that we need to [1:54:55] improve on we've talked we we know this um our community knows this the world knows this we have we [1:55:00] have to move the needle in order to do that um we need buy-in from the board [1:55:06] and we need to have a really clear direction so that we can build trust and um give support and guidance [1:55:13] to our students and our teachers to make sure that this work is important so um we are working through a lot of [1:55:21] things i just wanted to um give a different perspective um slightly than owen [1:55:26] coming at kind of how we approach policy um in lieu of the equity work that we're [1:55:31] that we're charged with so then i'll lean it back to you owen okay julie thank you very much [1:55:38] appreciate that all right well then getting down to some practical items right here right now [1:55:44] we have before us two groups owen sorry lenny and ellen both had a [1:55:50] comment they wanted to make money go ahead so um these subcommittees [1:55:56] i think that your initial plan was that they would report back the policy committee i wonder whether [1:56:02] you wouldn't consider those subcommittees reporting back to the full board i think that equity tends to be a pretty [1:56:09] important area and that might be an area that i would be [1:56:15] inclined towards coming back to the board with the subcommittee reports and then going back [1:56:20] to policy so think about that yeah you know what lenny can i just respond to that [1:56:26] that that's exactly right is that um any kind of committee work um that that we would do it needs to be [1:56:33] it needs to be looked at as our whole system our whole educational system and policy is one of those and so [1:56:40] i think we have to do more discussion as a board on what that actually looks like in setting up and and discussion with our administrators [1:56:47] to see what makes the most sense so um i agree with what you're saying that it's it's not [1:56:52] just pulling people to say hey what policy should we change we have to take a broader approach so [1:56:59] just wanted to respond thank you ellen [1:57:05] yeah i um i'm really interested in hearing a little bit more about what um how this is going to be developed i [1:57:12] think it's an excellent idea to bring in the voice of [1:57:17] of all people so i think it's it's truly an excellent idea [1:57:23] according to policy subcommittees are need to be approved by resolution so [1:57:31] i would recommend that the policy committee keep working on this excellent idea and then come back to the [1:57:39] board with a proposed resolution for how this will work [1:57:46] both the scope and um you know scope and function of this new [1:57:52] subcommittee that's an excellent idea ellen and lenny [1:57:59] we did entertain the idea of bringing it before the whole board so okay good i think we [1:58:06] will talk about both those items at our next policy meeting and we are committed to [1:58:12] spending a hunk of time every policy meeting to talking about equity [1:58:18] so any other discussion on equity as it relates to the policy [1:58:24] committee okay well then now sorry about that [1:58:30] lenny and ellen i will plunge into talking about the policies that we have [1:58:36] before us right now we have two groups of policies before us for discussion [1:58:41] the first are rapid review these are policies 401 402 403 404 and 405. [1:58:49] these deal with personnel issues and nikki did us the service [1:58:56] nikki tusher of evaluating these policies for any language changes against our model [1:59:02] language in msba language minnesota school boards association [1:59:07] and she found only minor language changes and those are what are before us tonight [1:59:13] to discuss most of the changes are either [1:59:19] stylistic or just to bring us up with in compliance with state statute she [1:59:25] does recommend that we drop the appendices and use a generic appendices on [1:59:33] policy 404 and 405 and if you'd like to talk about that she [1:59:40] is here tonight too so in lesser and so we're just [1:59:46] recommending that we we move forward with that but if you'd like to talk we can [1:59:52] does anyone have any comments nope all right i think we're ready to move on [1:59:57] okay so then that will come up for vote action next month now we have policy [2:00:05] 601 which appeared before us last year just in the natural cycle of [2:00:12] policy review but it also came up as a specially amended policy toward the end of the [2:00:17] calendar year and we revised that at the beginning of this year [2:00:22] and as an extension of that there was an initiative to change some of the language and [2:00:28] substance of policy 601 in addition we have some changes that [2:00:34] are also bringing the policy up to statutory compliance and a few [2:00:39] wording changes but there are some pretty substantial changes to it and what i would like to [2:00:45] do is invite julie green again to provide us with some elaboration on it [2:00:52] as a member of the policy committee she was also involved with lenny in the larger committee work [2:01:00] that was associated with revising 601 so julia turn it over to you [2:01:07] okay thanks owen um so this policy 601 um there has been some [2:01:14] changes i want to take a minute and just go over and give some more explanation [2:01:19] about the process and where we are so um consensus consistent with kind of [2:01:24] with what happened in january and the activity around policy 601 that it was rescinded is that a [2:01:30] subcommittee was formed with teachers and administrators and some board members lenny and myself [2:01:36] and owen and we have really worked through and tried to respond to the feedback [2:01:42] um not just from the community but from teachers and administrators on on this policy i think the most [2:01:49] important thing is the goal of policy 601 is really to um establish that broad curriculum [2:01:56] parameters um and it's got to include both local and state minnesota academic standards right and [2:02:03] so one of the things that we wanted to make sure was that this policy was clear in [2:02:10] delivering educational excellence for all students um through the through our educational [2:02:16] programs and so um one of the things that is important to note is that this [2:02:23] policy was not um was not created and the edits that were made were really in partnership partnership with [2:02:31] work that deb richards has done with gifted and talented services and with [2:02:37] new mats out of northwestern university which is a gold standard for our [2:02:44] educational excellence and with um gifted and talented students and moving ahead um in addition um the [2:02:51] minnesota council of gifted and talented um work and then also the national council of gifted and talented [2:02:57] so this is um feedback from our teachers and administrators and that [2:03:04] we put into this and then also from the community to give more clarity the other thing i wanted to address is [2:03:11] msba has some model policy and that model policy we looked at that and it was very [2:03:17] different than the way that our policy 601 is set up and part of that is [2:03:22] that it was a lot of language about meeting statute and it was [2:03:28] hard to really find clarity in how this actually looks in the classroom and um and for our teachers and so [2:03:36] after a lot of different discussion um we stuck with the original policy and then [2:03:41] shifted it to um make sure that we were incorporating the the main changes the k-12 talent [2:03:48] development framework that gives all students different pathways um to success [2:03:53] and so that's what you see here um i don't know if anyone has any specific questions [2:03:59] um oh the other piece too i want to mention is that it was also looked at [2:04:06] in light with our new strategic plan that was approved in june and so we really looked through to make [2:04:11] sure that the priorities for um educational excellence was [2:04:17] incorporated with this and yeah so if anyone has any questions [2:04:23] i know randy is on he has worked closely with this policy and developing it to where we're at [2:04:29] um so that's it [2:04:38] ellen yeah i um i actually have a couple questions um [2:04:45] more than a couple and i wanted to um just make a couple observations [2:04:58] [Music] so the revisions to policy 601 that [2:05:07] were passed by the board in november of 2019 sought to put in writing the district's [2:05:14] commitment to preserve its current offerings of enriched and honors classes [2:05:20] at the secondary dairy level and to expand those offerings [2:05:25] as you know that version of 601 was rescinded earlier this year and as i read this proposed [2:05:34] further revision to 601 i don't see the language that reaffirms the [2:05:39] distance to the district's commitment to the currently offered honors classes [2:05:44] or enriched classes nor do i see a commitment to the [2:05:50] advanced learning in the elementary nor any expansion of those offerings [2:05:57] depending on how one interprets the in proposed revised policy one could read the new language to allow [2:06:04] elimination of all of those classes and i don't think that that's what the [2:06:10] district is after so i i am concerned by the way that this is [2:06:18] written and um [2:06:24] i um i believe that the last summer's last summer's revised policy 601 [2:06:30] developed by the policy committee with with administration representatives [2:06:35] present was an attempt to stop the district's perceived retreat and from serving the needs of the [2:06:42] advanced learners and and it was [2:06:47] by some considered elitist because minority students are [2:06:52] underrepresented in in our honors classes my perspective on that criticism is that [2:06:59] the district does not improve equitable representation and participation in advanced learning opportunities [2:07:06] by removing those opportunities from all students rather the district should maintain its [2:07:13] commitment to advance advanced opportunities and should address those root causes [2:07:19] of inequitable participation by providing more on-ramps to those opportunities identifying [2:07:26] advanced learners earlier and enhancing the appeal and equitable enrollment [2:07:32] into those classes that is part of our strategic plan [2:07:39] so i i do understand what new mats says i actually attended uh [2:07:46] minnesota department of education seminar on gifted equitable gifted programming [2:07:53] and they said that removing by simply removing honors classes doesn't bring equity can i interrupt [2:08:00] really fast that they're nowhere in this is there a proposal of removing honors classes or [2:08:06] doing anything and so i think that we need to be very careful articulating and things like that [2:08:12] because that is not in this policy it's not in our strategic plan and i think we have to be careful with [2:08:19] the language that we use when talking about the district removing classes because that is not [2:08:26] at all up to be discussed or an option [2:08:32] well to be honest that was what was removed about from 601 when 601 was when the [2:08:40] additional language which was meant to preserve the current classes [2:08:47] if if it was if the intent of the district was not to remove those classes [2:08:53] the class the current classes could have been left in those in that [2:09:01] policy so i think we have a disagreement about the best way to write the policy i don't think there's any disagreement amongst [2:09:07] the board or the administration that this is a signal that we're removing classes and [2:09:13] don't have a commitment to academic excellence and honors classes [2:09:19] so i think that whereas you have the opinion it needs to be written there [2:09:24] to show a commitment other people don't and so there's a difference of opinion on how to write [2:09:30] policy but i think we need to be very careful about stating that [2:09:35] there's anything indicated in this policy that shows less of a commitment to advanced learning so [2:09:43] well this current board removed those the language right now just like the proposed classes [2:09:48] but i understand that ellen and class alan i think you're making an assumption [2:09:53] right now and i i want to highly caution you against that i think this board may have taken [2:09:59] language out of a policy because it did not feel that that tactic was well served as language in the [2:10:06] policy it did not vote to take away honors classes and as far as i know that's not something that has ever even been on the [2:10:12] table so i i really want to caution you from making that assumption right now [2:10:19] because it as far as i know that has that is not and was not a part of the reason for what [2:10:25] appears to be an expansion of offering more enrichment more extended learning and more [2:10:31] opportunities to more students and so i i want to re it's really [2:10:37] hard to listen to you make that assumption when that isn't something that's on the table well i want i'm so glad to hear both [2:10:45] such a vehement um rebuke for my assumption um i because if if that is in fact [2:10:54] the case then this is this is a recording so that this board does not feel that it [2:11:01] is it wants to remove honors class the current honors classes i'm delighted to [2:11:06] hear that so ellen i'm just going to interrupt you and turn over to lenny's because other board members want [2:11:12] to contribute to the conversation go ahead lenny i really just wanted to note that we've [2:11:17] invested funds in providing advanced academic offerings without [2:11:23] specifically calling it out in a particular policy and so [2:11:28] having a history of providing advanced offerings significant advanced offerings without [2:11:33] requiring it in a policy i don't see any need to have a policy set up [2:11:39] and direct specific classes to be offered we know what we've done as a district we're going to continue to [2:11:44] offer these classes it shouldn't come as a surprise that this board [2:11:50] continues to support advanced academics and any suggestion that it is a surprise that this board i [2:11:57] think is inappropriate well i i i i'm i'm [2:12:03] just calling out the fact and i'm also i'm looking at at the what's written here and [2:12:11] um it it doesn't um so first of all it this is [2:12:18] slightly different than what was presented to last october to the district advisory [2:12:26] council for gifted and talented so i'm just going to mention that that's why at the beginning the meeting and i'm [2:12:32] really sorry i honestly feel that this is a better conversation for some other night i'm [2:12:39] i'm i'm the voice i'm going to maybe i might ask too many questions [2:12:44] i'm really sorry but this is a conversation that i think many people were very engaged in [2:12:52] last year and the fact that that i'm here at 9 15 at night [2:12:59] with looking at this and trying to make some sense out of what [2:13:05] the district wants us to talk about i i'm i'm sorry that that i'm taking [2:13:12] board time tonight to do that but it might take a little while and i do think that the community is interested [2:13:18] so ellen i'm just going to interrupt you right there i think that we can entertain um maybe about 10 more minutes of [2:13:24] conversation on this because we have multiple agenda items to get through and [2:13:30] we need to be done with our agenda by 10 o'clock and so i think you can ask um i think we can [2:13:37] stay on this topic for about 10 more minutes if there is a need for additional conversation after that [2:13:42] then we can certainly think about putting this into a work session but we need to get to our action items [2:13:50] and so if we we need to move along but [2:13:57] please feel free to talk about this for the next 10 minutes or so okay it appears that um for acceleration [2:14:05] so for the um out of sequence out of typical learning sequence [2:14:10] that um the only courses um or uh that are available [2:14:18] or the what is what it what is unclear about this is is this are we going to be offering [2:14:25] and what they're called pathways but i would call them experiences because pathways have a has a different [2:14:32] it we're we're offering enrichment experiences we're offering extended learning acceleration and authentic learning it [2:14:40] is unclear if those are going to be offered [2:14:45] to cake to all k-12 students is that what it appears that that's what [2:14:51] this framework is is that true [2:14:56] randy do you want to talk to that [2:15:02] yep um thank you so this is a k-12 framework [2:15:07] and when we worked with northwestern university on the design of this what we're looking at is how do you grow [2:15:15] talent in all kids and are accelerated or advanced classes part [2:15:20] of the model yes they're part of the model they're not the only part of the model though [2:15:25] as well because there are things that can happen in a classroom then there are things [2:15:31] that can happen across a program and we want to make sure that we have a framework that [2:15:36] allows us to grow the ways in which we develop talent in our kids [2:15:42] wherever kids are at on that talent development continuum that's where we're starting so if [2:15:48] they're really advanced we want to make sure we continue to push them and grow them because all learners should be growing and have [2:15:55] opportunity in the district so there are parts of this framework [2:16:02] that apply to in the classroom and then there are parts of this framework that apply to the design of programming [2:16:08] and so when we say accelerated learning that's a great example of making sure kids have access and [2:16:15] opportunity if they are ready for the pace for advanced learning opportunities [2:16:21] so that might look like advanced courses but the enrichment could also be advanced courses what we're trying to do [2:16:27] is design the framework of what we want the outcomes to be not design exactly how the teachers need to achieve [2:16:34] that but i do look at it and say this is inclusive of enriched or accelerated or advanced [2:16:42] coursework but it goes far beyond that and in working with northwestern university i think we have [2:16:49] a real good opportunity to do some training with staff in the district with our lead [2:16:54] team even with our board about this idea of how you do talent development [2:17:00] so the answer is throughout from starting in kindergarten because we [2:17:06] have parents that wanted additional services starting [2:17:11] kindergarten first grade second well second grade we had some but you that is what i'm hearing [2:17:18] is are we going to be offering acceleration which is [2:17:25] above grade level standards taught at a faster pace and is that [2:17:31] going to be offered with direct teacher instruction so i [2:17:37] think can i recenter the conversation a little bit because i think that we're getting into tactics and this is a [2:17:42] policy and i'm reading from the policy i'm reading exactly what is the appendix [2:17:48] so so just one second ellen so if there are questions about how this will be implemented across like what grade [2:17:55] i think that we need to have a further discussion about the gift and talent and framework in and of itself and [2:18:01] that needs to be done at a different time i don't think that randy nor anyone in the administration [2:18:07] is equipped to say this is exactly what's going to happen in kindergarten this is what's going to [2:18:12] happen in first grade this is what's going to happen in second grade but that this is a plan it gives a [2:18:18] framework around it so that's what it is right now it's a framework [2:18:24] owen well first off lenny did you get a chance to talk i want to make sure you did yes i [2:18:31] tend to be brief okay basically i just i'm going to be brief too and um we could very quickly enter a [2:18:39] redo discussion of what we had back in october and november and i don't intend to do that but just for the record i am uh [2:18:47] in essence in agreement with the spirit of what ellen has been saying and i think what this new initiative [2:18:54] reveals and exposes that many already know in the community that there is a [2:19:00] philosophical philosophical fault line in the district that some of us [2:19:05] agree and very much like separate ability grouped classes for honors and enriched [2:19:13] core students however you want to describe it others believe that that is not the best [2:19:18] way to pursue it and those in that camp i think will embrace what this new 601 pathways policy [2:19:27] is is espousing and i don't belong to that camp i belong more to the camp that believes [2:19:34] in separate classes and both both philosophical camps have their [2:19:40] research uh empirical scientific and uh so at any rate [2:19:48] um if people want to hear more of my thoughts on this they can review the transcripts from uh [2:19:55] from october november but if we do want to dive into this perhaps we should have [2:20:00] another another meeting but um i don't know i i think it's pretty well i think i [2:20:07] pretty well have an understanding of where the seven of us fall on this go ahead lenny [2:20:12] so i that disagree that there's this split i think that the [2:20:18] from my perspective the issue was dictating a specific course sequence [2:20:26] that was not feasible was a problem and i was looking more for a [2:20:33] a framework that allowed more flexibility so that you could have for example you [2:20:38] might have an honors class you might not you might have an accelerated class a compacted class [2:20:44] so as we adopted in the middle school so it's not an either or of two separate classes or not two [2:20:51] separate classes there are multiple ways that we can meet potentially meet the needs of our [2:20:56] students insisting upon a two class system [2:21:02] i think is too narrow a perspective but that doesn't mean that i favor a one class system i favor [2:21:10] a multiple model system so i i think you've you've at least [2:21:15] characterized my perspective incorrectly matt i like real quick i share lenny's [2:21:21] opinion from my perspective as well just going back to no one's relitigating 2018 or 2019 but [2:21:27] the way it was produced as an non-economically feasible policy [2:21:32] at that point in time without proper practice behind it did not mean that i or was against [2:21:39] having separate classes for different talent levels or grade levels or capability levels so i'm [2:21:44] exactly where lenny is okay so what i'm hearing though is also [2:21:51] that um that we're developing a framework [2:21:59] or want to put into our district a framework without truly [2:22:05] understanding what how that what that means and we're not [2:22:10] even saying what truly what that means so i would like to discuss this at a [2:22:17] different board meeting so i think that i don't agree with your statement there i think [2:22:23] that you start with a framework and i think that it's very well understood what the [2:22:29] framework needs how that is implemented is then a different question [2:22:35] so the framework is a strategy the framework isn't an implementation and so here is the framework [2:22:42] how that gets implemented and what that means across different grades what can we do in first grade what can we do in second grade [2:22:48] that is an implementation strategy that is not part of policy those are two separate [2:22:54] things and so i think we need to be very clear that it's not that there's not an understanding of [2:23:02] what this framework is [Music] well i think [2:23:08] for me anyway um [Music] okay there are there i have questions [2:23:14] with respect to the last page and and i have several questions but i also have [2:23:20] questions about other aspects of this policy like i'm not even sure what the slash means [2:23:25] between um you've added confidence competency descriptor [2:23:31] slash profile of a graduate and added profile to graduate i don't know what you mean by that do [2:23:36] you mean and or or with the slash i mean that's a basic [2:23:41] that's a kind of a basic thing and what do you mean by profile of a graduate i know that you've you've referenced the [2:23:49] appendix which is this profile of a next generation eps learner [2:23:54] which is from our prior strategic plan and it talks about um that all [2:24:00] students will communicate effectively in at least two world languages one of which is english are we is that [2:24:07] what we're going for now we're going to drop this into our policy i without i don't understand i [2:24:14] i don't unders this is a longer discussion um okay erica if i jump in and respond [2:24:20] to that question so um i'm going to give you a little bit more background so if you'll if the original policy 601 [2:24:29] we used interchangeably educational competencies and profile of a graduate [2:24:35] when really they mean the same thing um so that is why they are now connected so that [2:24:42] when someone is reading it the community teachers students the board administration we are talking [2:24:48] about the same thing one of the one of the um identified priorities as a board was to [2:24:57] look at profile of a graduate that was done with the last strategic plan and we had a work session earlier [2:25:02] tonight where that was listed as one of the one of the many things that we could we could work on [2:25:08] so in the policy committee our discussion was it made sense to combine those two [2:25:15] words that people know what we're talking about and at the point where we go as a board and identify [2:25:22] profile of a graduate based on the new strategic plan between 2020 and 2025 then we would [2:25:29] switch out the appendix at that point but it doesn't make sense to hold this policy until that becomes a [2:25:36] priority with the board with everything else that we have going on in addition we've gotten feedback from our administration that and as you i'm going [2:25:43] to steal your own words ellen you said earlier we don't have a year to waste moving the needle on [2:25:49] educational excellence for all students i agree with that which is why it's imperative that we get [2:25:55] let our um teaching and learning have framework as to how we move students through and [2:26:03] 100 percent there is no there's been no discussion of take getting rid of any honors classes [2:26:08] ap classes compacted classes if anything i agree with what janie said it expands opportunities for students [2:26:15] that's what the talent development framework does and the minnesota council of gifted and [2:26:20] talented that we have community members and people in our district that serve on like the board [2:26:26] there they're in line with this type of um this approach to the framework so i just want to um i [2:26:33] wanted to respond to that because it's really important that we make sure that the information that's going out to [2:26:39] the community tonight is correct information because i feel like this we're being the [2:26:46] intent of this policy is being interpreted just by one um one board member and i don't think [2:26:52] that that's um necessarily i don't think it's accurate so that's my response well i mean and [2:26:58] that's one of the reasons why i wanted this to be heard by the [2:27:04] district advisory council of gifted and talented and i think that that would be the [2:27:10] appropriate i know that you had a meeting with administrators and teachers but i [2:27:16] think that that is the appropriate place for for the discussion [2:27:21] of um this change to 601 the feedback from the members of that [2:27:27] committee were included in in looking at everything which is [2:27:32] which is well we're not asked we were not asked for feedback at the meeting the actual meeting [2:27:39] so i'm i was there i know how it was presented right i know it was said [2:27:45] and feedback was not requested so i'm just saying that now would be a good time [2:27:51] as we're proposing this and as we're in the middle of a discussion of how this is and is this [2:27:58] so i don't think that the board ev when i listen to board members when i listen to [2:28:04] to matt about the finances and and lenny about making sure that there's multiple opportunities [2:28:10] i don't think that we're really in that much disagreement [2:28:16] but i do think that what concerns me is that [2:28:25] what appears to be the um the the uh [2:28:31] the what's happening is that instead of saying we are we are [2:28:38] committed to providing uh courses where that are appropriate for the [2:28:45] readiness of students and i'm talking about student readiness [2:28:51] that there are students in elementary school and secondary that are ready for more [2:28:57] they walk into the classroom and they're ready for more and when i look at the wording on [2:29:04] on this framework i am not sure what [2:29:11] this does for those students and it's not clear it's something [2:29:19] i think we're gonna have to move on because i think you're reiterating which is you're right that's [2:29:25] your opinion about the policy and others of us have different opinions on what the policy is articulating [2:29:31] so i don't i so if board members there's a consensus among [2:29:37] board members that we need to have a work session about this then we can plan a work session um but [2:29:43] beyond that i think we need to move on with not only our meeting but um getting this policy um through [2:29:50] so i'll just ask that to wrap up i'll ask board members do you guys want to have another works a work [2:29:55] session to discuss this um or are we comfortable putting it on the agenda for next [2:30:00] month so if you each could let me know that would be great [2:30:06] i would not like i don't i don't want a work session i'd like to put on the agenda next month for a vote i don't [2:30:13] need a work session i don't want to work session money matt [2:30:19] so i i'm okay with a work session that has a time cap because i believe [2:30:25] that we tend to circle and raise the same points and ask the same questions [2:30:31] sometimes so i don't want to say no work session but if we had a one-hour cap on it or [2:30:38] some or even you know 45 minutes but and one hour cap would be fine with me i [2:30:44] would not object to that matt i'm sorry i was trying to silence [2:30:50] my background noise it's not nearly as nice as lenny's um i was gonna say that the uh [2:30:57] i mean i prefer not to have one because i don't see anything being resolved in [2:31:02] an hour at all whatsoever i think it's going to spin into having 85 surveys and separate [2:31:07] groups weigh in so i just don't see what an hour's going to do so i would move forward [2:31:15] yeah i'm also afraid we're moving forward i i think it's actually very well articulated the intent um so [2:31:22] um i think we'll have to agree to disagree on that and um we can move um [2:31:29] move it forward for next month's um agenda so um [2:31:36] with that being said we need to move on to our action section of the evening um so [2:31:44] let's see what we have um first we have um john tope are you here [2:31:51] yes i am excellent um so first for action um we have general [2:31:57] obligations school building refunding bonds description is there a motion to approve the general [2:32:02] obligation school and refunding bonds [2:32:12] um john is there anything that you wanted to add or present about this [2:32:18] uh just real briefly chair allen berg uh we are refunding our series 2013 a bonds [2:32:25] we're refunding the last five maturities of them which will result in about a hundred and twenty [2:32:30] thousand dollars of savings annually uh coming up on our next property tax [2:32:37] levy of pay 21. so the board has previously approved [2:32:43] a parameters resolution certifying a floor of three percent savings so that we can [2:32:50] go ahead with the sale as long as it's three percent savings or more we're currently estimating uh 5.375 i [2:32:58] believe and savings eller's our advisor is so this motion would allow them to [2:33:05] take bids on october 7th which is a wednesday and then present them at the school board meeting on october 12th [2:33:13] great any questions about this yeah matt yeah not a question um just to [2:33:19] make sure everyone's on the same page both in the board and the listeners we have refinanced bonds twice in the [2:33:25] past two years saving over a million dollars from both the district and the taxpayers this is something that we look at on a [2:33:31] constant basis as rates change by doing this approval tonight we give john [2:33:36] um i'm on vacation and my kids are in the background making a lot of noise so sorry if i'm hard to hear um we give the admit john and the [2:33:43] administration the right to go and seek out better prices for these bonds to save money it's that simple [2:33:49] if it comes back rates change in the next few months we don't have a better uh improved benefit of at least three [2:33:55] percent annually or a certain threshold dollar wise then we don't bring that forward to the main board it's been [2:34:00] successful in the past 18 months twice so this is a pretty basic uh approval request where again the [2:34:06] board will have final decision over whether or not to approve it thank you matt [2:34:12] [Music] um unless there any other questions then we can go ahead and vote um so um sarah if you could have us vote [2:34:20] by roll call to approve the building refunding bond [2:34:26] calendar hi fox hi green i [2:34:34] jones hi michaelson hi shaw hi walan friedman [2:34:42] hi the um building refunding bond is approved [2:34:48] um we're now going to move on to the general obligation school building bonds um is there a motion to approve [2:34:55] the general obligation school building bond so moved is there a second second [2:35:03] second okay um john you're up again if you have any questions yes [2:35:10] thank you thank you chair ellenberg uh the 2021 facilities maintenance bond issue is uh [2:35:17] coming off of the approval of the board's 10-year plan that was approved on june 8th 2020 we're asking for this resolution [2:35:26] a little bit early because it actually helps streamline the process uh in working with md as long as they [2:35:33] see a resolution that we plan to issue bonds here in the spring of 21 [2:35:39] they're they're reviewing our 10-year plan and all the attachments right now and if i can get this sent into them [2:35:45] with intent that we're going to issue bonds next spring that would make that process go a lot [2:35:51] quicker and a lot smoother and i would uh stand for questions [2:35:57] any questions okay we'll now vote by roll call to [2:36:03] approve the building bond hillenberg [2:36:10] green hi jones hi michaelson hi [2:36:16] sean hi walnut man hi the building [2:36:23] bonds are approved um we're now going to move on to 2020 2021 proposed calendar revisions [2:36:31] um due to covid is there a motion to approve the proposed calendar [2:36:39] is there a second second great um randy did you i know you spoke about [2:36:44] this a little earlier but do you want to give some additional um context to this issue [2:36:51] yeah i'll just be very brief because i also mentioned this at the work session but we are proposing [2:36:56] some uh revisions to the calendar for the 2021 school year uh that revision [2:37:04] concept is really to front load professional development that we have embedded in the year to move a couple of those [2:37:10] professional development days to the front of the calendar we feel like staff principals and teachers [2:37:18] paraprofessionals need that time to prepare for these two models and it would be best served by front [2:37:23] loading that in front of the calendar in addition to that we would ask for two [2:37:28] or three additional days of professional development time and preparation for our staff [2:37:34] the way that we would get those three additional days and stay budget neutral it would be to [2:37:40] reduce the overall academic year by three student contact days the two professional development days [2:37:46] that we would propose moving would be february 16th and march 12th the 2020 [2:37:52] 21 and i'll just reiterate that our staff have to plan an intense amount [2:37:58] of online lessons and content to prepare for this year they have to prepare for teaching protocols for [2:38:05] students to maintain the safety of our students which is our utmost important [2:38:10] importance and make sure that they are um acting on those protocols and be trained [2:38:16] on those protocols and know what to do in various situations so it's a different start to the year than we've [2:38:22] had in the past ever and so this is a very unique request [2:38:28] to revise the calendar at this time for those reasons thank you randy do board members have [2:38:33] questions or comments about this [2:38:40] go ahead lenny so randy we used to have a requirement of a certain number of hours of instruction [2:38:46] and i i can't even imagine what that looks like under the current pandemic does this [2:38:53] reduction of three contact days creating issues with that it doesn't um i think we we still have a [2:39:00] buffer zone in there but to some degree with our plan moving forward we don't feel that [2:39:06] we'll need that because we no longer will have the snow days per se that we've had in [2:39:12] the past because we will just simply utilize our remote learning [2:39:19] opportunities and we have that built into the system so those are days that we don't have to give up [2:39:24] as we did in the in previous years but even if we did have to give up a few [2:39:30] days for some reason i think we're still in the buffer with being five days over [2:39:37] julie um yeah i just wanted to um make a get a clarification the days that we will be replacing [2:39:44] during the school year um are will any of them fall on a religious holiday because i know there was concern about [2:39:50] um the september 28th date i think was floated at one point yeah so we rescinded that proposal and [2:39:56] would like to maintain that um for a couple of reasons i think one will be a few weeks into the school [2:40:04] year and it will be an important opportunity to take a look at how things are going [2:40:09] and make any final adjustments as we're continuing on but it does also fall on a yom kippur [2:40:16] religious holiday as well so it works well with many of our families to not have that be a student contact day [2:40:24] so we've rescinded the proposal to move that day february 16th and march 12th then would [2:40:30] become student contact day so that's kind of the trade out we just move the student contact days from the beginning of the [2:40:36] year a little bit later in the year and then move that professional development time to the beginning of the [2:40:41] year great okay thank you anything else okay [2:40:49] um we will now vote by roll call to approve the calendar revisions to the [2:40:54] 2021 um school calendar alankur fox [2:41:03] hi green i jones hi michaelson hi [2:41:10] shaw hi hi hi [2:41:17] okay the um the changes the calendar revisions have been approved um [2:41:24] we're now going to move on to board norms is there a motion to approve the board norms [2:41:30] so moved second second great um as we've discussed before this [2:41:36] document is to be in addition but not into conflict with any of our policies [2:41:42] it's to highlight expectations we ask of ourselves as board members [2:41:47] um and will help us prioritize the work of our district as a highly functional board it does include best practices from msba [2:41:56] um does anyone from the hr committee have any comments before the rest of the board weighs in [2:42:02] genie i do not know we've discussed this a number of times [2:42:08] um anyone else in the board have questions or con uh sorry comments before we um vote on this [2:42:16] i just have a quick quick should i go really quick comment which [2:42:24] is that um i like many of the initiatives in the board norms document but there are [2:42:31] elements of overreach that i don't like and so i will not be voting for it just to give an explanation to the community [2:42:38] thanks owen ellen yeah i have um i want to say first i think that [2:42:43] we've made some great improvements to the document i have issues with the document as well um [2:42:50] i would like to make two motions for changes to this document in order [2:42:57] for me to approve it one would be that in communications under communications [2:43:04] number three i would insert the word or write so the the [2:43:12] the reading would be speak or write in an official capacity outside [2:43:18] the board room only when given specific authority from the full board [2:43:23] that would be my first motion and then the second motion would be under number five which would [2:43:29] be in addition uh to the end which would say [2:43:36] board members may respond directly to community member inquiries or emails directed to them in [2:43:43] their official capacities when such response does not require or entail the sharing [2:43:48] of substantive information [2:43:57] alan can you say that again with the channel the two challenges that i'm asking the [2:44:04] just the second one the second one is to add the following sentence board members may respond directly to [2:44:11] community member in queries or emails directed to them in their official capacities when such response [2:44:17] does not require or entail the sharing of substantive information [2:44:26] what i was confused it can be can't be substantive [2:44:33] when such response does not require or entail the sharing of substantive [2:44:42] information what does that mean substantive so if somebody asked me [2:44:47] is there a school board meeting on monday and i said yes that's a substantive response but i would say that in general [2:44:54] substantive information maybe we want to include this in the in number five [2:45:04] in in general i'd say substitutive information relates to an issue of considerable board or public interest on which an [2:45:10] action is pending in general substantive information includes or discusses data or other [2:45:17] documentation intended or perceived to substantiate refute or otherwise argue [2:45:23] a conclusion so that wouldn't be if i said on monday we're discussing this at the board meeting [2:45:29] these three things are found in the packets at five o'clock that'll be addressed and a vote will be taken it's in the action [2:45:34] section that would not be substantive then absolutely okay i'm fine with it janie [2:45:44] um ellen you've read a uh it sounded like a very technical definition of it i'm wondering what your [2:45:51] interpretation of that definition is because i'm of what of substantive [2:45:58] i believe exactly that it means exactly what i read [2:46:04] it's not it's written in here it's not clear i think that i actually we could rewrite this whole [2:46:12] number five i would have i also have something there but i thought i would keep it simple and just add [2:46:18] the last sentence um if you would like i could read you the [2:46:23] how i would have read how i would write number five which is task the superintendent and or [2:46:30] district communications team with responding to community member inquiries and emails when such response requires the sharing [2:46:38] of substantive information in general substantive information relates to an issue of considerable [2:46:45] board or public interest on which an action is pending in general substantive information [2:46:51] includes or discusses data or other documentation intended or perceived to substantiate [2:46:57] refute or otherwise argue a conclusion the superintendent and board chair will work [2:47:03] to formulate a response when warranted the superintendent will provide the board with a copy or summary [2:47:09] of the response and then i would add a board member [2:47:15] wishing to respond directly to a community member inquiry or email with substitute information [2:47:25] should contact the superintendent to discuss board members may respond directly to [2:47:31] community member inquiries or emails directed to them in their official capacities when such response does not require [2:47:37] or entail the sharing of substantive information [2:47:43] so yeah the current norm says that you'll respond only if it relates [2:47:50] to substantive you won't respond directly only if it relates to substantive [2:47:57] so if it's not substantive the norm doesn't say you cannot it says it only says we [2:48:05] can we may respond to personal emails on substantive district or board [2:48:12] information after coordinating with the superintendent right and it also says that only through [2:48:19] the super respond to community member emails only through the superintendent or district communication team [2:48:26] if the email contains substantive district or board information [2:48:31] so the restriction or the norm pertains to an email that contains [2:48:37] substantive district or board information so if it does not contain substantive [2:48:42] district or board information this norm doesn't address it it doesn't say you can't respond [2:48:50] it's it doesn't clearly state though that if somebody's asking a substitutive question [2:48:55] that you can respond right if they're asking a substantive question [2:49:00] but you can still respond but not in a substantive way [2:49:09] so i think when we talked about this before and we said that if someone sends a substantive email and you want to say thank you for [2:49:15] the email we appreciate the input uh please be aware that you know someone will respond or whatever [2:49:21] that that's fine there's no issue with that [2:49:26] what i'm saying that if you wanted to go farther is when you would contact the superintendent [2:49:33] right like matt you gave that example i think right it's not clear to me there's two [2:49:39] things that are not clear about this this statement number one is [2:49:46] it doesn't define what substantive substantive [2:49:52] means and that's what we all had questions what you know what does this mean [2:49:58] i mean i agree with matt like if they if people are writing about times can i respond back with the time [2:50:03] it's not clear and um if people um are trying to find out or [2:50:10] state something else can i do i can i say anything that besides [2:50:17] here's the time stick to the fact we've talked about not sticking to facts [2:50:24] that it's it's important to try to just stick to the facts but is that substance i don't know [2:50:34] um can i and do i have to stick to can i say my own personal opinion [2:50:41] if i say this is just my opinion can i say that it's not clear it sounds like most [2:50:47] things have to go through the superintendent it almost sounds like in general almost anything anybody [2:50:53] writes me has to do with something that the board's going to take action on or they want the board to take action so [2:51:00] it's pretty much everything that i get is [2:51:06] going to is something that then i would not be able to write back to [2:51:11] you as long as it doesn't contain substantive information that needs to be collaborated with john [2:51:19] so the only reason you're getting the email is because you're on the school board [2:51:25] so it's pretty standard protocol that school boards try to coordinate responses so that they're accurate and [2:51:32] so and that's yeah and that's good i'm saying can i [2:51:37] but it sounds as if i am not able to um if they're asking about something [2:51:46] that's coming up in a board meeting that i can't respond to them [2:51:53] even if i don't say oh muted lenny and even if i'm not saying the [2:52:00] board is going to have a meeting next week or the board just decided that um [2:52:06] yes you are right the board just decided that x y and z that we're going to have teachers that school [2:52:13] school's going to start later if i was going to respond somebody's talking about that that [2:52:21] it appears that i wouldn't be able to [2:52:26] write people back with that information according to this [2:52:34] so that's not good i think you're free to respond you're you're applying this hyper [2:52:40] technical approach to it it's a practical [2:52:46] approach that many boards adopt that are is looking for a uniformity in response [2:52:53] that's accurate it's also looking for a way of not creating an environment [2:53:00] where community members start to look for little allies so that they could then go and grab school board members and lobby [2:53:07] the district because they know school board number one and number two and number three have said oh yeah that's a great idea and all [2:53:12] of a sudden you're lobbing it rather than allowing the process to percolate through the administration [2:53:18] i mean our preferred way of working is ideas are brought to the board if a [2:53:23] community member brings it to the board we should absolutely bring it to the attention of the district [2:53:29] the district should then be investigating it and coming back to us we shouldn't be having this certain little lobbying internally with [2:53:36] community members as the district is looking at issue so part of this is to try to set [2:53:41] up a practice again that's pretty typical that allows [2:53:47] us to function as a board and allows the district to function and bring issues to us chair ellenberg i [2:53:54] wonder if given the hour we should just vote on ellen's proposal [2:54:00] um there is no with the second wording we may respond directly to emails [2:54:06] so do do other board members want to add in the ellen sentence to the independent [2:54:13] paragraph so point of order yep there's a motion pending to approve [2:54:18] the policy right so there is no motion to amend it [2:54:25] as ellen is saying because that's not proper motion probably right yeah [2:54:32] i'm trying to get if we can do the changes in this motion as an amendment to it [2:54:37] so she could request a friendly amendment which is typically done to change a word or two [2:54:43] not usually a paragraph so i'm just pointing out a little [2:54:49] process okay so i could i would like to propose a friendly amendment [2:54:55] i would like to i thank you i would like to insert speak or write in into number [2:55:02] three put the words uh speak or write in an official capacity [2:55:09] and um and then in number five i would change that to [2:55:16] the last sentence board members may respond to cross out the word [2:55:22] personal because these are emails may respond to [2:55:28] emails um [2:55:34] ellen that that com you're on number five number five has two parts so respond to [2:55:41] community member emails only through the superintendent or district communications team [2:55:47] that is for the spirit of that was emails that are sent to the whole board board members [2:55:54] at the end board members may respond to personal emails is meant to address matt's example [2:56:01] when we have this initial discussion what if somebody emails me in particular with a question right and [2:56:07] it's a personal connection so there's two parts of that so so when somebody emails you [2:56:14] personally you need to talk to the superintendent if you're going to give any info so here [2:56:22] here's the delta on that so for tonight's meeting right we voted on um when this calendar would start right [2:56:30] so if somebody emails me and says where like what's happening last week hey when is school starting i can say [2:56:37] we're voting on a monday but if i say that's fine but if i say we're voting then on monday and i'm voting for it [2:56:43] that then creates the problem but i can respond there's a vote on monday and a day monday you'll know [2:56:48] that's how far i'm supposed to go because they can create a synthetic daisy chain around it allen unfortunately [2:56:54] which then said i talked to matt ellen janie and owen and i know it's passing that's where we have to stop well [2:57:01] from what you said you i mean from what this reads you should be coordinating through [2:57:06] john no that's not how if there's something of the substance that you want to [2:57:13] say like then yeah you should go to john and say i do not deem it substantive [2:57:19] that i give a publicly available update that is that is not i'm saying if [2:57:24] you if you want to relay to a community member the rationale behind why we're doing [2:57:30] this that should be something that comes from the oh okay so maybe maybe so i need to interrupt with here i [2:57:38] have a way to change it that makes sense so no i need to interrupt for a second chair may i have the floor [2:57:44] yep yes our policy says this meeting ends in two minutes unless we [2:57:49] move to extend the time so and it will just simply end by dictate [2:57:56] by it by our rules i would request that we extend the time until 10 15 and that requires a majority approval [2:58:04] i don't know if it requires a motion but i would ask that the chair extend the time to 10 15. [2:58:10] and terry allen briggs want to add that we will need to stop the um feed at 10 o'clock [2:58:16] and reboot with a new feed at 10 o'clock um so it's 10 o'clock [2:58:24] right now so um i am in favor of extending it for 15 more minutes um let me get back [2:58:32] um i think we will vote on divorce norms and zach how long how long do you need