[0:28] e [0:58] e [1:28] e [1:58] e [2:28] e [2:58] e [3:28] e [3:58] e [4:28] e e [5:20] two one good evening tonight is October 12th [5:26] and we do have a quorum so I will call this meeting to order due to the current federal and state emergency declarations [5:33] and guidance about limiting personto person contact due to the covid-19 pandemic this meeting of the ad Public [5:40] School District School Board is to be conducted online in accord with statutes 13 b021 meetings by telephone and other [5:48] electronic means persons May monitor this meeting from from a remote location [5:54] by The District's YouTube channel school board members and other meeting participants are requ re ired or [6:00] reminded to mute mute their microphone or phone when they are not speaking um anyone wishing to speak [6:07] should unmute their microphon so I can see who is waiting to speak and then wait to be recognized by me I will [6:13] determine the order in which board members wishing to speak will be recognized if people from the community [6:19] are planning to come to our um if people um from the community um [6:25] decide that they want to come to our regular board meeting please remember that we only have seating of available for [6:30] [Music] [6:37] 10 um um it uh let's see sorry I lost my [6:45] place [Music] [6:52] um for discussion all right sorry about that sorry I have so many notes on [6:59] different different scenarios that we have going on [7:04] here come I did I yes yes so if [7:10] individuals want to um address um we're taking public comment here in the [7:15] district office conference room um you'll be invited to sit at the table in front of the board and be given three [7:21] minutes to speak and then we have a cleaning protocol after each speaker um where we'll clean the table [7:28] and the and the computer and then I just wanted to remind people that if you do not wish to address the [7:33] board in person we're still taking comments via email um at Schoolboard at edas [7:41] schools.org um and use the subject by board meeting comment um if you have any questions about the board meetings um in [7:49] online or in person please contact the superintendent's office uh the first order of business is agenda approval do [7:56] I have a motion to approve the agenda um for tonight no moved [8:03] second um we will now vote to approve the agenda allenberg hi Fox hi green hi [8:13] Jones hi michelon hi Shaw hi Wen fredman [8:20] hi the agenda is approved I'm going to turn it over to superintendent Schultz [8:25] to review the agenda for us and then we'll move to our first item so tonight I um the Valley Middle School web [8:33] program present for excellence in action um we will hear from the members of the public um we have several um items on [8:40] the consent agenda including uh uh guide books and some uh program transfers as [8:45] well as uh the student Support Services agreement um we're going to um have a [8:51] discussion about learning models and our plans for collecting data around those models those are the models that were um [8:58] that were implemented ing um currently hybrid and virtual um so talk about the [9:04] decision making behind uh those models uh vals here for Early Learning Program [9:10] report uh there's policies uh uh for the rest of it and then an action you're [9:15] ratifying the general obligation all facilities Bond refunding bonds and U [9:21] taking action the policies 407 thank you super schults uh we now [9:28] have our Excellence action portion of the agenda and tonight we're going to highlight a valley views Val View Middle [9:34] School web program and so tonight who do we have here tonight I see some faces [9:41] that we don't usually have before meetings so Katherine do you want to introduce yourself and the your team I [9:48] sure do hello my name is Katie Higgins thank you so much for inviting us to [9:53] share a little bit about web tonight we have um gret and brand is joining me [9:59] Gretchen you want to wave hello you can see us um and we have two students that are helping us out tonight Indra and RI [10:07] and we're so thankful that they could um spare some time tonight to come and share a little bit about the web program [10:15] um I'm GNA kick it off and I am going to request that your cameras are on for [10:21] just a minute one of the things that we do that is a huge um program tenant in [10:26] web is we try to play and have fun together and we try to build community [10:32] and we've had to get really creative with how we build community online and we thought hey why don't we let these [10:39] grown-ups try this for a minute so um if you don't mind we'd love it if your camera is on and I want you to join me [10:47] in this activity called matchy matchy um We're going to play quick so you have to kind of listen fast there are three [10:53] motions that you need to know how many are there show me with your fingers there's three oh good there's three motions you need to know the first [11:00] motion is a side clap let me see a side clap good side clap like this good not in front of your face because I want it [11:06] over here side clap good so there's three motions side clap your second motion is two thumbs up show me two [11:12] thumbs up good now we're going to do those together fast side clap two thumbs up last one fist bump fist bump last one [11:19] so we've got three motions side clap two thumbs up fist bump oh well done well [11:26] done so here comes the match matchy part we are one team we are web leaders and [11:35] sometimes we have to be really aligned in our thinking and we're going to play a quick game called matchy matchy I'm G to count to three I'm gonna say one two [11:42] three and you need to quickly do one of those three motions and we're GNA all [11:50] end up matching we're going to work really hard to all match so here we go on the count of three one 2 3 [12:02] okay look around look around we're going to get better at the next time and we're going to all match here we go here we go [12:09] you've maybe been sitting so maybe you need to roll your shoulders a little bit shake out those arms here we go on the count of [12:15] three match ready one two [12:21] three oh we're so close we're really really close third time's a charm and [12:27] that's all you get because you're in a tight schedule hopefully you saw it hopefully [12:32] you know what to do on the count of three pick one of those motions one two [12:40] three oh look at that yay give yourself some virtual high fives virtual high [12:46] fives all around good job um I'm gonna share my screen for [12:52] just a minute so that you can hear more about all the fun that we do with web [13:15] okay well welcome everybody and thank you so much for having us um I'm going to talk a little bit about what web is [13:21] web stands for where everybody belongs and it's a middle school orientation and [13:26] transition program to support our sixth graders it's also a leadership training [13:32] program for our eighth graders and web's main goal is to successfully help our [13:38] sixth graders transition and have a positive school year by addressing three fundamental things and that would be [13:44] safety information and [13:50] connection so we wanted to give you some data behind the work that we've been doing too um we began our web program at [13:57] Valley viiew in 20 2013 we um wrote an ed fund Grant and [14:03] were're able to send three of us uh as coordinators to go be trained web is a national program and over the last eight [14:11] years we're in our eth year we have trained 800 leaders and about 2800 [14:18] students have been impacted by our work this year we have seven about around 70 eth grade leaders impacting 350 of our [14:26] sixth graders at Valley View [14:34] hi my name is Indra Curry Walla I'm in eighth grade web leader at Valley View [14:39] and web is all about building relationships and making connections in past years web leaders engaged in [14:45] monthly leadership activities together for sixth graders we LED engaging Flex [14:50] sessions taught relevant lessons and advisory class and mentored students one-on-one this year because of the [14:58] circumstances and the pandemic and everything um everything will be looking a little bit different when because we [15:03] will have to make connections virtually however all sixth graders will continue to have multiple connections with their [15:10] web leaders throughout the school [15:15] year hello my name is Rie Kiker and I'm an eighth grader at Valley View as web [15:22] leaders our first Contact to each sixth grader was a personalized welcome email from their web leader we also plan to [15:28] connect through Google meets and some online games and activities some of our goals are to provide lots of support [15:34] offer advice tips and be encouraging we hope to make a positive difference in their school year and help them feel [15:39] connected to our school community in a meaningful [15:49] way that is all we have thank you for letting us share [15:54] about WB thank you very much does anyone have [16:01] any questions question can I ask a question um for uh [16:07] either Ruby or inja were do you guys was it was there an impact on you when you were a sixth grader do you remember your [16:13] web leaders and your web connections as sixth graders yeah so I remember when I was in [16:20] sixth grade the web leaders wrote little messages on everyone's locker and just [16:26] on a piece of paper and they stuck it to their locker and I just thought that was really cool [16:32] and it made me feel like a little more in place that's fun yeah definitely they [16:37] just kind of made us feel more welcome and if you had a question you knew there were people that you could go to to ask [16:43] and that would help guide you right it's funny you mentioned that I was actually going to ask if your [16:50] group was the group that wrote the notes on the lockers because when my daughter and I went to tour Valley View the lock [16:59] the notes on the lockers brought the biggest smile to her face and made me as [17:04] a parent feel well way less anxious and so you just so you know you [17:10] don't students I think you also help parents feel good about their students [17:16] transitioning to valy you because I felt so good feeling those notes and seeing her smile so thank [17:26] you anything else exciting program thank you for sharing with us yeah thank you for coming and [17:32] sharing with [Music] [17:39] us we're now going to move on to hearings from members of the public and we have some email feedback [17:47] uh we have no inperson feedback tonight so I'm going to ask um John to to read the email feedbag are you Pi okay um [17:57] [Music] and um he has three emails to read [18:03] tonight um we did receive multiple emails um regarding bringing first grade [18:08] back in person and so I took a sample of some of those um but I just wanted to let the community know that there were [18:14] more than um just the couple that are being read tonight um so John I'll turn [18:20] it over to you well good evening CH alberg can you hear me yes [18:27] okay the uh first writer writes first thank you for all you are doing in these [18:33] trying times it is greatly appreciated and I suspect must feel mostly underappreciated by a bunch of [18:40] opinionated parents at the risk of becoming one of those parents I felt compelled to write [18:47] this email I do appreciate today's survey with its clear goal of trying to [18:52] be flexible and adaptable in this everchanging situation however it concerns me greatly [18:58] that the only option presented is sending elementary kids back to school full-time without social distancing I am [19:06] currently hybrid and as much as I want my second grader back fulltime do not want it to be done in an unsafe [19:13] manner it seems to me there are multiple other options as you are well aware the [19:19] minetonka district is sending their elementary kids to school daily but with the tradeoff Middle school/ High School [19:26] being more virtual we have friends in Wisconsin who send their elementary school kids daily but for half days so [19:33] that social distancing can be maintained half go in the morning half in the afternoon there is an added benefit here [19:41] of consistency and routine for both kids and parents either of these options I [19:46] believe are preferable to the current situation and what is being proposed in the survey I am worried that by trying to [19:53] cater to everyone you will create an unsafe environment for everyone an option forgoing social distancing seems [20:00] the worst solution particularly when others have found a way to make it work otherwise what kind of message are we [20:07] sending to the kids on how to conduct themselves if we say that social distancing isn't [20:12] important I understand that these are difficult decisions but I implore you not to forego one of the crucial Public [20:19] Health tenants being used to fight this pandemic and please consider that social [20:25] distancing not only helps with covid it also helps with flue which will be important to battle this season as well [20:31] if we are to continue to flatten the curve and not exceed our Hospital [20:36] capacity while hybrid has been challenging I have been very pleased with the creativity shown thus far and [20:42] how to keep our kids learning and still safe please do not take a step backwards [20:48] just like in medicine where we need to triage patients I believe our education system needs to do the same and [20:55] determine who is the priority in getting back to in-person school I know you are getting pressure from [21:00] many directions but please don't let that pressure compromise the safety of our children and our community thank you [21:08] for your consideration working getting us Point [21:13] sincerely Jody dorin MD mph proud conquered [21:20] parent uh the next writer writes uh good morning I am a parent in [21:25] the din school district and have a fifth grader and first first grader I am writing to share my thoughts and [21:31] concerns of hybrid learning my first grader has a fantastic teacher [21:37] unfortunately my first grader missed the last half of kindergarten and and is in first grade not able to read and is [21:43] still learning the basis of math first graders are missing a very pivotal part of learning from teachers they have all [21:51] missed part of kindergarten and are receiving an abbreviated form of first grade teaching my first grader is a [21:58] full-time job it requires me to sit next to him the entire time he is learning as [22:03] he needs instructions SL directions read to him he has also not mastered seesaw [22:10] which takes him and I to work through it together he's a very active social first grade boy and working with his mom alone [22:17] in a room is not conducive to his learning I am a working parent which is nearly impossible to get any work done [22:24] when he is at home Wednesday through Friday first graders should be in school school if the numbers allow they have [22:31] missed and are missing a very integral part of learning they are at pivotal part of their learning stage reading [22:37] basic math as my son's mom who is not trained in education I can tell that I [22:43] do not have the tools to help him in this learning stage my fifth grader would love to be [22:49] at school and she would be best served at school however she is much more successful at completing her work at [22:55] home than my first grader she has the res resources that she needs for help when she is virtual I would strongly [23:02] encourage the school board to look at getting first graders back to school full-time these kids need their teachers [23:08] to help them learn the basics of school they are at an important time of school to learn to read and to learn basic math [23:16] this will set them up to continue to be successful in school the general public does not have the funds to pay for [23:22] private tutoring please consider bringing first graders back to school full-time thank [23:28] you you the last writer writes Mr Schultz [23:34] miss allenburg Mr Michaelson Miss Shaw Miss Jones Mr Wallen Friedman Mr Fox and [23:40] Miss green thank you for your service to our children we appreciate all the time [23:45] and thoughtful consideration that went into developing the current hybrid model being used in Idina school we write to [23:52] ask that you consider allowing the first graders to follow the same four full day plan as the kindergarteners [23:59] the same factors that appli in your decision to allow kindergarteners for full days apply to the first graders [24:04] from The District's website on the K learning plan quote to successfully transition the district's littlest [24:11] Learners to doing school like a big kid we know that having K student school [24:16] with teachers as much as possible is important close quote We Believe having [24:22] the first graders in school with teachers four days per week is important the best available evidence [24:28] indic Ates that covid-19 presents a relatively low risk to Children if children become infected they are far [24:34] less likely to suffer severe symptoms at the same time the harms attributed to not being in school schools on the [24:41] social emotional and behavior health economic well-being and academic achievement of children in both the [24:48] shortterm and long term are welln and significant uh she references the [24:53] Centers for Disease Control website uh her observation one first [24:59] grading is an important year of growth for our Little Learners both socially and academically first graders are [25:06] typically not yet reading or are not yet reading with fluency or comprehension any deficiencies in learning during the [25:12] first grade year could have long-term impacts on these Learners second observation these Little Learners are [25:18] already behind this year's first graders are closer to a kindergartner developmentally than they would [25:24] typically be as they missed three months of in-person learning last year due to covid-19 it is estimated that the [25:31] average student could fall seven months behind academically if the students are not brought back schol she's quoting [25:38] data from Consulting Group McKenzie and Company four full days would stop the [25:43] students from falling further behind third observation first graders cannot [25:48] do distance learning on their own the atome checklist assists parents in teaching their children but cannot be [25:54] followed independently by first graders this leads to increased stress an anxiety for both parents and the [26:00] children which will only worsen as time goes on e-learning raises serious concern about concerns about these [26:06] Little Learners comprehension of the material not only are the parents often trying to attend to other children or [26:12] work outside the home concepts are taught in a different way than the way in which many of us [26:18] learn thank you for all you do for our kids we know this is an incredibly difficult balance we Ser see firsthand [26:25] the effects the hybrid learning model is having on our K and wanted to share our experience thank you for your [26:32] consideration Katie and Jim Downey thank you for reading those John [26:39] yep and thank you for all the individuals that took the time to um [26:44] send us your input and engaging with our district with their concerns um we all do appreciate it um we're now going to [26:51] move on to our consent agenda um is there anything that anyone would like to remove from the consent agenda yes [26:58] I'd like to have oh go ahead I like to have the Panorama contract removed okay [27:06] and I would like to have the minutes for the September 14 regular meeting [27:21] removed okay those have been removed um do I have a motion to approve the [27:27] consent agenda so moved is there a second second we will now vote by roll [27:33] call to approve the consent agenda allenberg I Fox I green I Jones hi [27:47] Michaelson hi shw hi W and treatman I [27:53] the consent agenda is approved um is there a motion to approve appr the panor [28:00] Panorama education contract so much is there a second [28:08] [Music] second I do not have questions about this I asked for it to be removed [28:13] because I'm going to abstain great thank you Lenny I was actually going to remove it anyway because I had a question about [28:20] it so you help me from a process perspective um I was just wondering um I [28:26] believe we have Jeff Jorgenson here I was wondering if you could just um about this contract and what you [28:36] think that it is going to what if anything you think will provide the district from a data collection [28:42] perspective regarding social and emotional skills this is really to help us out [28:47] with our Endeavor under the Strategic area number or strategic area C which is [28:53] the our area of student wellness and social emotional learning uh so this uh [28:59] contract with Panorama will help us to get a good baseline from which we can then establish good progress monitoring [29:06] tools to assist us in identifying students um overall uh their their [29:11] overall uh functioning in the area in those five areas of social emotional functioning and give teachers a literal [29:18] dashboard within their classrooms to assist them in uh in making adjustments to the social emotional skills or [29:25] trainings that they need to perhaps uh work on a little bit harder within their classroom it's a classroom level model [29:33] but it's also a building level model and also a district level models so that we will be able to get kind of a running [29:39] Baseline on how our students are doing in each of theal Competency areas uh [29:45] this is something that we've talked about for a long time within the district and wanting to be able to to get to a better understanding of what [29:52] our student population looks like in relationship to those social emotional skills and again Falls hand in hand and [29:58] uh both with our strategic plan and with oural study that we did completed just last [30:04] year okay great I would love to learn more about it at a board meeting when [30:09] maybe when we're talking about District measures um but I'm really excited about this yeah so um okay we'll now vote by [30:17] roll call to sorry unless anyone has any other questions um if not we'll vote [30:23] call to approve the um P Panorama um education contract [30:30] allenburg hi Fox hi green hi Jones hi [30:38] Michaelson hi Shaw hi and Wen fredman [30:45] obstain um the um Panorama um education [30:51] contract is approved um do I have a motion to approve the uh meeting minutes [30:57] for from the September 14th regular meeting so move [31:04] second Ellen yeah hi I just um noticed um [31:11] earlier today actually um that the I may had made a motion on um that meeting and [31:19] I had walked it in and it is not uh showing it all in the minutes and I know [31:24] that our policy um number 203 um states that uh motions must include [31:32] the substance of all official actions taken by the border any regular special meeting um so I I'd like to add the [31:40] substance of that motion um into the minutes um it had been emailed to the [31:46] board or it had been on the screen during that meeting I could read those uh what was the substance of that um now [31:54] to be added to the minutes or um I would be okay okay with you taking what had been um provided the board at that [32:04] meeting which item so the notes themselves um say walked in edit failed [32:10] by majority roll call member Jones's suggested edit to policy 601 member [32:16] Jones moved and member Michaelson seconded to amend policy 601 with the [32:21] addition of walked in language members allenberg Fox green Shaw and W Wallen [32:26] Freedman voted n and members Jones and Michaelson voted I by W call vote motion [32:34] failed right that does not include the substance of the [32:42] motion the policy says the substance of the motion needs to be [32:53] included so it's simple you know it's just a simple thing you all voted on it [32:59] I would just be add the wordy [33:05] 203 sorry what were you g to say [33:12] money you're on mute I just asked for the policy reference I was just going to look at 203 that's [33:21] all it's section it's Section 8 [33:27] a question yep have we included other motions that have been walked in I mean [33:33] do we include the content in the past have we done [33:39] that because our all our meetings are videotaped right [33:45] so well not all of our meetings are [33:50] videotaped our regular board meetings are right but we are taking votes I mean this is a a longer topic but this this [33:57] meeting was taped it was a regular meeting I believe if it wasn't taped I I don't know um then meeting was taped [34:04] it's a regular meeting okay so um so I'm just asking um for sake of [34:11] transparency that the substance um be published and if [34:19] not um you know we would be going against [Music] [34:25] policy so I think the um I think this is a broader question about [34:30] our note taking and what we do for all of our motions [34:35] [Music] um uh I'm looking through our notes right now and I don't think we include [34:42] the text of every single motion that's brought [34:48] well I don't know but all I'm saying is that we're not then for this motion um [34:55] which I will read so that it's in the minutes or at least on this [35:00] recording on the motion said I move add to the following the following wording [35:05] to pile just wait a second Ellen just wait a second [35:11] so you you your motion actually is to [35:17] approve um you made a motion to approve the September 14th special [35:25] meeting notes so we have a motion on the table to approve the the motion no no the motion [35:34] is to amend the minutes no the motion was to approve the [35:39] minutes you're saying the minut should not be approved as listed because they're not specific enough right I'm [35:46] asking for a correction to the minutes so don't we have to so we would [35:53] have to vote the the current minutes down [35:58] okay and then I would make a motion I took it off the consent agenda so that [36:03] it would be discussed and um so now I guess in order [36:09] for it to be um for minutes to be [36:14] amended then I how I'm sorry I'm not a a a real um I I don't know all of Robert's [36:23] Rules all I'm saying is that I'd like these minutes [36:29] to reflect so we can't have two motions on the table at the same time so we have to vote on the current Mo well so well I [36:39] mean shouldn't I just decline uh shouldn't I just amend the minutes can't I this motion is to approve the minutes [36:47] and I'm just adding to that a friendly amendment that um we we amend that part [36:55] of the minutes the can vote on whether to amend the [37:01] minutes as you've requested I think someone else already asked the question which is it seems like our minutes don't [37:07] usually detail the substance of the motion well but that's because the the [37:13] motion wasn't walked in so if you walk in Emotion then you [37:18] won't see any any thing in the minutes about that walked in I'm I actually am kind of I I [37:26] just don't understand why um you would want to hide this there's nothing to hide it's a matter of process [37:33] and protocol well then then I would go with process and policy which says that the [37:39] substance of the of the motion should be in our [37:46] minutes what do you want the minutes to say um I I want it to say what [37:53] was actually what was presented to the board I can read that to you um so let's [38:00] why do we vote on the minutes as is because I I don't think the board actually is interested and what you are [38:06] trying to add to it so I think it'll be easier if the board actually votes and [38:12] then if the majority of the board Ellen wants to add that in then we can add [38:18] that in so the quickest is to have the board actually [38:23] vote on the minutes as is so um there is a motion on the table [38:29] to approve the September 14th special meeting minutes so Sarah can we please take a [38:37] roll call vote on approving the September 4th special meeting minutes regular meeting except there's a [38:43] regular I apologize okay um allenburg hi Fox hi green hi [38:54] Jones nay Michael me sha [39:02] hi and ren Freedman hi so [39:08] the September 14th regular meeting minutes are [39:16] approved so there's no way that um that this is going to then be in any of the [39:21] minutes and I want to make a note of the fact that this is goes against our policy and I don't I do not understand [39:28] why this board is wanting to hide this just to clarify we're not trying to [39:34] hide anything we're trying to adhere to protocol and policy and if you want to [39:41] have you would like to have a longer discussion about how we take meeting [39:48] minutes and what we put into our meeting minutes I'm more than happy to engage in [39:54] that conversation but to pull one set of meeting notes and want [40:00] to change what we how we've taken our meeting minutes um that's what I have a problem [40:07] with but I'm more than happy to have a conversation about how this policy is interpreted by board members and if [40:14] we're doing it consistently through our meeting minutes and we can certainly [40:19] have that conversation sure let's have that conversation because I honestly think that motions presented to the [40:26] board and acted upon the board should be reflected in the [40:32] [Music] minutes lny is there your off did was [40:38] there something you wanted to say no I was actually just going to say that I think we'd have to look at the way the [40:43] minutes are done for all motions There's no distinction between motions that are brought in versus other motions so I [40:50] think it's just a broader question yes thank you okay um [41:01] okay we are moving on to our discussion items and um talk about our learning [41:08] model framework that we just spoke about in our work session um [41:15] so we are are you going to kick that off I will kick that off and then I think it [41:22] might be helpful if Randy or you could pull it up on the screen for people to look at [41:28] so just to um we are uh at a point where we beginning to look at our learning model during this uh Co pandemic um so [41:36] the state uh gave school districts the direction to develop a um iners a hybrid [41:44] and a virtual model soina has followed through with that and um we are [41:50] currently offering a hybrid and a virtual model to our students um and [41:56] what we're going to present tonight is uh uh a plan for Gathering data around [42:03] four different um strategic goals one is safety one is teaching and learning one [42:09] is social and emotional support and the last one is operations and sustainability um this data includes not [42:16] only information from our own system which most of it is from our own system it's also from our state and Regional [42:22] Health Partners um and we are also asking our un staff our IED parents and [42:28] students so a change in learning model um has to weigh with [42:35] learning um we know that if we bring more uh kids into the system we have the [42:42] chance of increasing the U viral uh [42:47] transmission um so we have that safety consideration we have to think about we [42:53] also have to think about that we know that when we bring kids into schools what we change their learning environment so they're in front of a [43:00] teacher um our teachers are working um very well in multiple learning models um [43:08] creating uh they they really are we see the need for more time for planning and [43:13] PR preparing um we also understand the stress of managing different cohorts of [43:19] kids as they come in and out um our teachers have been um uh great partners [43:25] and um this great professionals and uh ensuring that our kids are engaged in [43:30] their Cur in the D curriculum and we also have to think about our other staff groups uh that would be impacted if more [43:37] students attend in person our nurses um would have to monitor the health of the school and the classrooms and the kids [43:44] custodians and transportation of course custodians with the additional cleaning and transportation with additional kids [43:50] on on the our parents are struggling to balance work um while supporting their [43:56] students in Home Learning um and we are also uh recognized that parents are concerned about their [44:02] students adapting to uh new learning models and the effect on their academic Pro progress um and for our and most [44:09] importantly for our students um uh we've already begun to bring in students with [44:14] greater learning needs we've done that with spe special ed uh for more in-person days especially in our Center [44:20] based programs and uh I know special I continues to identify bringing students in to ensure those students are special [44:28] students are receiving the services and the uh learning uh they need to uh to uh [44:34] Excel um as the years progressing we continue to learn about their learning models through our collaboration with [44:41] our teachers with our parents and our students and we're trying to replicate some of the improvements that we've seen [44:47] in the system across some of the sites identifying what is working and what is not working and then trying to find [44:53] those creative uh Solutions so uh the decision to increase the inperson [44:59] learning has to balance the goals that I mentioned as well as the needs of all the district stakeholders but but [45:05] keeping our decision um centered on student learning so tonight uh I'm going [45:11] to ask Randy to uh a uh a a Model A [45:16] framework that uh shows the data we collect um and we're actually surveying [45:23] right now so this uh is in being implemented across the system um this uh [45:30] model was created U with the help of of uh Julie green Eric allenberg and Ellen [45:37] Jones and Randy me and others um in developing the survey and the leadership [45:42] so um and have Randy talk about more specifically what this uh uh data [45:49] framework is Dr smel thank you um thank you for the [45:55] opportunity chair allenberg superintendent Schultz uh Schoolboard members and community members um we [46:00] appreciate the time to have this discussion uh first of all I want to recognize that our teachers and our [46:06] principles are working extremely hard this is a very very challenging time in [46:12] education and I just want to call it out and say they are [46:17] um they are amazing people that are trying to do their best by kids and uh [46:23] we've given them a very challenging hand to deal deal with but um that's why [46:29] we're looking at this data and that's why we're having these discussions as you'll see from this document there's [46:35] many data sources that we'll be collecting um hanen County from our schools themselves through surveys or [46:42] input forms through assessments through our student information system and through walkthroughs that we're doing inside the schools of course what's [46:49] really important are these four key elements and I'll start with safety we're looking at the henen um County [46:56] case rate and monitoring those we were disappointed to see that those were continuing to climb this last week at [47:03] now above 21 per 10,000 we'll monitor those every Thursday and of course those [47:08] are really important in the formula about what we do moving forward or what we can do moving forward we do track [47:15] internally student and staff infection rates um some of that data is protected [47:21] but what is available is published by the Minnesota Department of Health in terms of what's going on in schols uh we [47:28] also are doing walkthroughs on our protocols and just checking our protocols whether it be around masking [47:34] or signage or just knowledge that staff have about what to do if a student has [47:40] covid or what to do um with various covid um symptoms or um masking or [47:48] handwashing Etc and then we have building infrastructure where we look at ventilation and cleaning and one of our [47:55] goals is definitely to maximize the amount of air exchange that we have on a on a daily basis and it's important to [48:02] just continue to rotate out that air since this is in terms of teaching and learning we [48:09] are um we're trying to identify how students are engaging in and around the [48:14] two different three different models both the uh um face tace in person time [48:20] the hybrid model and then distance learning um which we're calling Eva e [48:27] Academy um we're looking at that through survey work with uh teachers with kids [48:32] with parents we're also looking at identifying how we are supporting students who are [48:38] struggling um whether or not those interventions are working and our students growing and meeting exceeding [48:44] progress toward standards that's another way that we're kind of checking the pacing of the curriculum and how well [48:50] that pacing is working uh we have given um a number of academic assessments early this fall [48:57] around fast fast bridge for reading and for early literacy um those are ways of us [49:05] understanding where kids are coming into the school year uh in terms of some of their challenges or some of their [49:11] successes and then this winter we'll also continue with our our normal map process where we look at map Reading and [49:18] map math is kind of the outside quality control check on our educational system [49:24] we also have a number of formative and summative assessments that we use internally to track learning uh we use [49:30] end of unit Assessments in math at the elementary level and um those are [49:36] important tools that help us gauge how kids are progressing in the math and focus curriculum as they proceed from [49:42] unit to unit in addition to that we're looking at a couple of factors around social emotional learning we'll continue [49:49] to dig deeper on these in the future but just looking at connectedness and belonging and uh do people feel [49:57] students specifically staff specifically that they are connected and they feel supported or they have a go-to person um [50:04] to rely upon these supports and and networks are really important as students and staff are navigating again [50:11] this super CH challenging time and then in terms of operations and sustainability we're looking at whether [50:17] or not Staff feel they have sufficient equipment to not only teach the curriculum but the technology that's [50:23] used along the way and then the personal protective equipment that's needed to provide the service to [50:28] students we know that Staffing is really important because Staffing is how we [50:33] deliver these models and specifically um if we had an outbreak [50:38] with um our teachers in a particular site we wouldn't be able to staff the [50:44] hybrid and we would have to pull back into remote learning we' seen that happen uh in a district near us or no [50:50] the last week or so so we know that we have to monitor the Staffing we have to monit [50:57] um you know the health of our staff because they're essential to whether or not the model models can continue as [51:03] they are uh we're also monitoring enrollment we'll be providing a much more detailed and specific report around [51:09] enrollment coming up on the October 27th board meeting uh we're also ma managing [51:14] and monitoring finances we've received some other revenues outside of the district in these Co times but um [51:22] definitely there are also other expenses and sometimes unanticipated expenses but we're monitoring that closely and then [51:29] um part of the input forms is to collect information from not only students and not only staff but also family members [51:35] around the effectiveness or communication that we're putting out across the district or that exists within a building and also looking at um [51:43] the perception of our commitment to all Learners from an equity standpoint whether that's felt and viewed in the [51:50] classroom whether it's felt and viewed in the buildings and it's felt and viewed across the district and these are [51:55] all really important elements for us to consider as we determine what to do next um what the next step is and uh this [52:03] framework is our way of organizing some of these more important elements as we [52:09] decide um if we're going to maintain what we have or if we're going to shift the model in some way shape or form so a [52:15] lot of data to come to that [52:21] discussion so with that I think um the board has any questions or comments on the plan and is our plan to uh and I [52:28] want to let the public know the board had a great discussion right prior to this meeting in their work session um [52:35] and uh we're working from the base model of uh our A8 e schedule uh the Wednesday [52:43] being uh virtual and uh asking um the leadership to bring uh a recommendation [52:49] that um least disruptive to families uh is consistent within the framework that [52:55] was just presented um and bringing back bringing back students uh that uh under [53:03] the parameters of space uh resources Health um and the and the learning [53:08] environment so that would be the plan John could you walk through this [53:13] timeline that you put together just so Community has a better understanding [53:20] of the process steps and the timing that we're looking at so um we sent out the [53:27] surveys uh to the families uh on Friday um uh we have this meeting giv in uh [53:35] input and guidance on the uh the plan for collecting data um we have an [53:41] instant command team uh that um I meet with it's uh teaching and learning the [53:48] system superintendent uh em uh president uh teachers representative Director of [53:54] Human Resources Director of Technology um chair allenberg sits on that director of special services uh assistant to the [54:01] superintendent Director of Business Services we also have the blomington health department the epidemiologist [54:07] Nick Kelly and then um the state of Minnesota has uh given us the partner of a regional health consultant um she [54:16] works through Metropolitan exu providing services to the school district so uh she'll be part of a meeting that we're [54:22] actually having tomorrow talk more about this and we'll have um uh have the inent [54:27] command team U Get input talking about what's happening with the virus in the community as well as looking at the [54:34] school system um on Wednesday of next week the survey closes um on octob on [54:40] October 19th uh we will have data that'll be reviewed by District leadership um we will uh publish that [54:47] data and to the board in October 20th again the command team will review the [54:52] data and then we'll discuss um any model change um moving forward um and then [54:59] October discussion with the with the with the school board so uh that's the [55:04] plan that we have have in place uh we are um working on Hon county numbers as [55:11] as um as Randy uh mentioned that are increasing so um we're working within [55:19] that that environment of of the virus so we want to respect uh respect that [55:26] number um because that uh is means um a respect of safety for everybody in our schools [55:32] including our kids and our teachers and staff thank you yeah I guess just [55:41] because people weren't on the work session is one of those situations where we just did about an hour and 45 minutes [55:46] going through it but just to also repeat some board discussion maybe anybody let me know if it sounds off um I personally [55:54] thought of a framing from the discuss question as around uh the first concern being health and general safety the [56:01] second one being space the third one being about resources and financials and um I think we all kind of got a to a [56:10] comfortable place that we're really looking to get information back on October 22nd from everything that John [56:15] said um in terms of those considerations we had always said in the previous work [56:21] sessions they were looking at bringing back Elementary first starting with as soon as possible from a health space and [56:29] resource which means our teachers are safe our administrators are safe our parents everybody's in a good place but [56:35] really that was the framework from which a lot of conversation took place um we [56:41] had conversations also about what numbers are the best ones to look at do we need to follow V Department of Health [56:46] numbers um that's something I think we'll discuss more on the 22nd additionally but I think that we [56:51] continue to look to the experts and what was the gentleman's name Nick was [56:56] the epidemiologist in Bloomington was on going through those numbers um I think nobody on the board was excited to see [57:02] the number jump above 20 this past week uh which is a clear barometer around when you can more actively feel [57:08] comfortable bringing back students based on the way that public schools are addressing it for the most part in the area so just to kind of recap some of [57:15] those things you know we made sure that we discussed the first grade concern we received many emails that we we hear you [57:21] that is the top priority next and we're working on all these thingsin those confines of [57:27] um health and safety space and then resources including financials and we also asked for the next discussion to [57:33] understand from the administration what costs and other challenges come with bringing back more students so we can [57:39] digest that and try to move forward as quickly as possible I'll pause just try to help P recap because I'm sure there's [57:45] new people on this side a work session but we just went through that more detail and you know just none of us [57:52] wanted to have just a quick head nod because of how important this is and how much time groups putting into it so I'll [57:57] pause there that's probably captured our can I just add one thing too to that is that we have said and John has [58:04] reiterated that we do need to hear from teachers about when before anything is to go forward especially when we talk [58:10] about the first grade we know parents are really anxious about that we need to hear from teachers we need to hear from Administration we need to have all of [58:17] this information before it that'ss a recommendations that the board is comfortable just making agreement on [58:27] thank you mat yeah well I the board did discuss [58:33] this quite a bit and I don't know if um they would want to uh provide the recording of that earlier discussion so [58:40] we wouldn't have to repeat ourselves um on the website um that would be one way [58:46] of of shortening this discussion here a little bit is there a way we could do that [58:56] it depends if we want to have a discussion about reporing our sessions or not well it's it's about this [59:03] specific we've in the past we have posted um the the discussions about our [59:09] hybrid model since so many of the community are very interested in [59:17] that can I jump in with questions yeah okay so um and I'm not sure who would be [59:23] able to answer this I'm not sure who's um call but one of the things I forgot to ask when we were talking about [59:29] ventilation is um does our ventilation [59:35] measure I guess the air exchange but the CO2 numbers do we have are we getting [59:41] those numbers specifically carbon dioxide yeah just I'd have I'd have to ask I would [59:47] just ask that maybe we we look into but that seems to be kind of the latest talk about those numbers being really [59:53] important in um and then there was some small [59:58] discussion in the work session about this but I guess I will ask if anybody else is interested in um [1:00:07] revisiting um our communication to schools when Co cases occur I know that [1:00:12] Nick talked a little bit about that I I would be in favor of us at least revisiting that decision and kind of [1:00:18] coming up with um a common [1:00:24] consistent message I I am I'm a Believer in more information is better and that as long as we aren't violating any Hippa [1:00:32] um information not only as a parent do I feel like it make good decisions about [1:00:38] my kids but as a community member it helps me make decisions and I would think it might help other community [1:00:44] members make decisions about their actions so I'm not sure if anybody else is on board with that I just personally [1:00:50] would be interested in us revisiting that so I think one of the things I'm learning from other superintendents is [1:00:55] that when you first start out with this and you have a a a transmission or a [1:01:00] case um your numbers are small so you they become identifiable when they're small so I think as uh and 's numbers [1:01:09] have stayed small so by Public Schools numbers have state state small um and I [1:01:16] think Nick also mentioned that some of the community transmission we don't have that information we don't always get [1:01:22] that information so so maybe we talk to him about seeing is there a threshold that we put out there right so the state [1:01:29] has um anything over five cases needs to be reported per District or per school [1:01:35] school per school okay okay so um so that so those are some some um I guess [1:01:42] some rules we can follow but I think because our numbers are small we are [1:01:48] cautious about not put them out because they become identifiable but there this [1:01:53] department of health does require us to send um parents and school communities that [1:02:00] there was a case that did have contact okay okay and unless it goes there could [1:02:07] be any D student that has Co if it wasn't within the school [1:02:13] system it would not get reported back to the district okay and so I think there's [1:02:19] sometimes an impression that I know so and so because Co [1:02:26] d a school student why isn't the school telling me about it but unless we hear [1:02:31] back we can only report what we know the specific cases the Department of Health [1:02:37] reports to us okay so that makes sense and only those cases okay I think um [1:02:43] Nick mentioned that too um mentioned that in his presentation too when he was talking about you have a student who [1:02:50] starts to show symptoms doesn't come in self quarantines tests positive that is not a number that that's recorded So I [1:02:57] think what what we have to talk about as a board is setting those expectations because there are you know you hear [1:03:03] different things you hear a rumor you hear so and so you hear it comes up here and I just want to be clear and maybe [1:03:09] maybe that's part of the communic our communication plan is explaining what we are allowed to the time in that so that [1:03:18] we can make sure the public understands what we're privy to and um so it's not a matter of hiding the [1:03:25] information Shing information it's literal access to that information I [1:03:30] think is part of this discussion too had a be consistent right and to be consistent about it exactly and so and [1:03:36] so here's here's what I heard at the earlier meeting and and we could granted [1:03:42] if we could um provide the recording to the rest of the community you would hear [1:03:47] it the um um the representative from the [1:03:53] Department of of Public Health said that he did feel that it was uh possible for our [1:04:00] district to allow the information that if uh if there was a positive case at a [1:04:06] school that that would be provided to the the people in that school community [1:04:14] and I I agree Janie with what you were saying that um you know these are really [1:04:21] uh individual decisions that people are making about their own families uh well-being and I feel that [1:04:30] it's up to them to get that type of information and for our district to deliver that in a transparent way um [1:04:38] according to the ways that the state has uh told us uh that we could and they [1:04:45] have actually even provided the districts are in um on their website a [1:04:51] letter to a sample letter that would um enable us to use the wording that would [1:04:58] um not give away any privacy so I I I do feel that this is an important topic and [1:05:04] I and you had asked if we could talk about it uh at some other time and I would like to talk about that because it [1:05:10] it it is it impacts the whole [1:05:15] District JY I like the idea because it uh the more transparent we are the more [1:05:21] people believe in what we say and I think transparency in many areas is a very good thing [1:05:26] and the more that we can put the context around it too that's already been brought up [1:05:32] um the 5K threshold for school I'll be I'll be honest I'll just put this out [1:05:37] there as a parent I don't um I don't I don't Kid myself into thinking that [1:05:44] there won't be covid cases at my children's school I I am really impressed with what our numbers have [1:05:52] been in the Dina I just feel like there's that threshold of one when I start to change some of my decision- [1:05:58] making and maybe others do too and you know if we if that information is readily available um so I think we [1:06:06] need to come up with whatever the process is and it needs to be consistent Y and I think we also need to look ahead [1:06:14] to whatever process we decide on might [1:06:20] be really easy to do right now when we have very few Co cases if we have more [1:06:26] covid cases and we decide as a district that we're going to send a notification out every single case as opposed to [1:06:34] spread that it needs a completely different thing from a communication process perspective so I think we just [1:06:40] need to think through that's kind of what I was just asking if we could revisit it and may discussion with Nick [1:06:47] to say are are do we only are we only communicating those that are actually a school spread right like are we if you [1:06:54] know Joey so and so gets Co um on a [1:06:59] weekend away but he didn't expose any students and he never came back to school like really was saying and that's [1:07:04] not that's not part of it I'm not sure but I'm just I just feel like there could be a better structure around it [1:07:11] it's just for for parents and family would that be something we can talk about at the next work session uh [1:07:18] yeah thank you all right great yes thank you yeah it's gonna get trickier and [1:07:23] trickier as we had in the fre season IE it'll be to get the clear protocol so [1:07:29] everybody feels comfortable because everyone's G to keep their own kid home if they they have a [1:07:35] slight temperature or running nose as we get into November and that there's you know TR so this will help with any kind [1:07:40] of alarm ISM we're concerned about false negatives y are there any other comments about the [1:07:47] next steps for this model actually I've got a couple of questions I didn't get a [1:07:52] chance to ask these um at the work [1:07:58] session and Randy I think they probably be in your area I'm looking at um page [1:08:03] what I see page seven on the blue sheet and it's uh column instruments and [1:08:10] then it's uh the measures for academic progress and we've got three areas the [1:08:17] first is early literacy I think that that's great those I that that's a fantastic set of test for very early [1:08:24] loaners my first question is about the fast CBM is that just a fluency test or are we [1:08:32] also bringing in comprehension on that happen to know that Randy one way or [1:08:41] another I might actually defer to Donna or um jod to add any details around the [1:08:48] fast last month um the fast is a fluency measure [1:08:54] um that we're doing to check for comprehension is when we're doing the being a reader assessments um to have [1:09:01] students read to the the students read to the teachers so they're hearing them and asking them comprehension questions [1:09:07] that are followed up but the fast CBM is a fluency so when do we bring in [1:09:14] comprehension tests so that's the um in in our curriculum in our making meaning [1:09:20] curriculum the students read passages to stu um to teachers and there's [1:09:25] comprehension connected to those assessments Okay the reason the [1:09:32] motivation why I miss set of questions is because comprehension just fluency tests can sometimes Miss [1:09:39] dyslexia um okay and and so comprehension can test if that's done on [1:09:45] a standard basis especially in the early grades can be a pretty good screening for dyslexia and so I guess I would [1:09:52] probably weigh in that if we could throw in as many comprehensions us with the CBM as possible I I would vote for that [1:10:02] yes and can I just interject just to clarify for anyone [1:10:07] listening these instruments are not the only things that we are testing our [1:10:12] students on so I don't want you to think that comprehension tests what we were [1:10:17] trying to elevate here is what are some things that we could Aggregate and bring [1:10:23] up to the board level um that would be so this is high level [1:10:29] of what you're saying yes so and it's harder to aggravate the comprehension data but I don't want you to think that [1:10:36] the teachers are not doing comprehension test because one of my concerns was that because we're adapting so much and we're [1:10:42] doing so much on the Fly um that we don't miss some of these critical [1:10:47] straining measures no there's ton in fact and [1:10:52] correct me if I'm wrong Jody or Randy there's a lot of student level testing [1:10:59] and measure going on the struggle that we have as a district [1:11:06] is the high level testing [1:11:12] is is and the high stakes testing is gone and so that's why it's we're trying [1:11:19] to come up with what are those measures that we can try to figure out from a systems perspective and so we're trying [1:11:26] to surface it here some kind of expression yes and so that's what East for this was sort of a starting point of [1:11:33] getting system level but not this is not it's not [1:11:39] thorough not what we're doing from a student level okay so then I can drop that line of question I just want to do [1:11:46] that okay excellent and so then I'll just go to my third observation question is on the nwaa [1:11:52] maps um I'm noticing great three and grade eight are we still doing five uh 4 [1:12:00] through seven or are we not doing map test and those uh just some [1:12:05] clarification on that one Randy yeah I think we are um we put [1:12:12] grade three and8 as just a sample of what to look at for some of these [1:12:19] dipstick checks for this particular um metric card for the board but of course [1:12:25] we are still doing map in 3 through eight through the system but that was [1:12:31] just in terms of narrowing down maybe what is reported excellent perfect and [1:12:36] then just clarification are we doing math just in the winter or are we doing [1:12:42] a spring and a fall I was a little bit unclear about that uh we still have it scheduled as [1:12:48] the winter um to okay at some point Erica I might just be interested in [1:12:53] visiting are are are pacing on that whether we could do two a year or we're [1:12:59] doing just one a year so okay that's yeah and I would I would chime in I [1:13:04] think that particularly in this year um testing is first of all when I I [1:13:11] want to say something about testing briefly but I agree with with Owen that I think we should be looking at a fall [1:13:20] spring um particularly this year um and I I [1:13:26] um I want to say that I for for testing I am um not going to be doing this to [1:13:34] hold teachers accountable but to know where our students are where the [1:13:40] learning loss has been for last spring I think it's really very important for us [1:13:47] to get a very good handle on that um and so I think that in in terms of just this [1:13:55] one map score um in the middle of the winter may not really help us [1:14:03] [Music] enough yeah I'm sorry Owen I didn't mean to interrupt you go [1:14:10] so well that that's one of my questions and Eric has I just looked at her and we [1:14:16] we'll be able to talk about this at another point the point is going have to go deep dive right now on this right I [1:14:23] think though I think Randy was going to say something about the struggle with that go ahead yeah I I'll just um I'll [1:14:30] just add that really is about what the Board needs for [1:14:35] information and what you want for information as a governing board I think if you're if you're saying that we want [1:14:43] math so teachers can know what to teach and what kids haven't learned we have [1:14:48] really good assessments that give teachers that data the math is is more [1:14:55] of a general overview of where our population is at but not to really drill [1:15:00] down and say uh they're missing this specific skill or they don't understand [1:15:05] this specific concept so I think the purpose of those assessments it's a great conversation the purpose of the [1:15:12] assessments and how they're used in the district is a really important conversation but if the board is looking [1:15:18] for something from a board level or from an accountability level I'm not sure um [1:15:26] that's a different conversation than wanting to be sure our teachers have assessments they can use to diagnose [1:15:32] learning because that's what that's what we're doing right now with B with some [1:15:39] of the other assessments around literacy some of the assessments around math is they diagnosing who is achieving who's [1:15:46] not and then how do we respond to that in a real time way thank [1:15:53] you I'm going to move on unless anyone has any objections to our next I actually I actually have a couple [1:15:59] comments thank you um and I made my comments um most of them during the work [1:16:07] session but um so I'll just follow up with a a simple comment which is that I [1:16:12] am hopeful that we as a board can remain open to other approaches besides the [1:16:20] AABB if it becomes evident that there may be a better way [1:16:26] um and uh and in the document I have been looking to see so I I agree that [1:16:34] this is a great framework I'm really glad that we're looking at um additional um improvements to what we're [1:16:41] offering and um a framework for how we and when we would change so I'm I'm [1:16:47] really happy with that I also want to comment once again that I'm really um I [1:16:55] really appreciate all the work that the administration is doing and that the teachers are doing and all the rest of [1:17:02] the staff um this this has to be highlighted because I know that they're [1:17:08] working very hard and um and this board everyone on the board has said that many [1:17:14] times but I don't think you can say it enough and I know I said it at the last meeting but um I do appreciate your work [1:17:23] um I don't see on here that we are um that this I I don't know the survey [1:17:29] questions you're asking the the the teachers but my con my what I'm hearing [1:17:35] is that they feel that that our stakeholders feel that this is not [1:17:40] necessarily this is not sustainable the the current hybrid model and so what I'm [1:17:47] wondering about um with these surveys is are we asking those questions is this [1:17:54] sustainable for you as a family as a teacher or staff member and [1:18:03] administration fiscally is this sustainable and if not why not so I th [1:18:11] those are the concerns that I am hearing both from um a a a teacher standpoint and I'm [1:18:20] looking at this and I'm not sure if the uh the first item under social and [1:18:26] emotional support is really where for a teacher survey if the the survey [1:18:32] question would get at um some of the aspects that they have mentioned that [1:18:37] are difficult um in terms of time so um that's that's my question is [1:18:46] I'm hoping that the survey that you're sending out is um seeking to understand [1:18:52] what are the challenges that the teachers are having not just in um [1:18:57] safety which is very important um but also in terms of just the [1:19:03] [Music] [1:19:20] workload okay [Music] [1:19:25] okay uh we're going to move on to our um Early Learning Program report um and we [1:19:34] have um Valerie Burke the director of Community Education Services and Leah [1:19:40] bird he is the co-coordinator of the Vina Early Learning Center [1:19:45] here um to give an overview of District plans for [1:19:51] the Early Learning Center so hello Val and [1:19:59] [Music] Leo hi everyone good evening [1:20:06] hello um I'm stalling because Val is supposed to go first oh you're on [1:20:16] mute apologize I was worried about the camera thank you Leah for getting us kicked off um good evening all um we're [1:20:24] delighted to be here to share the early Center planning um tonight Leah bird [1:20:32] co-coordinator of the Early Learning Center and I are going to share with you information about the udina public [1:20:38] schools and the udina learning Center's partnership and shared commitment to [1:20:43] building a building Upon A recognized program to serve our families in Idina I'll begin with where we have been [1:20:51] together and then Leah will share our plans as relates to the 2020 2025 Edina Public School strategic [1:21:00] plan Adina public schools has been a full partner with Community Education from 1985 when we opened our doors to [1:21:08] families in the then Edina Family Center classroom space on the first floor of [1:21:14] the ECC was donated to the family center to begin offering our programs during [1:21:20] the next two decades the family center grew thrived and what was once was one [1:21:26] or two classrooms grew into five full components of early learning programs [1:21:31] home visiting Early Childhood family education Early Childhood preschool [1:21:36] screening Early Childhood special education services and early childhood [1:21:42] preschool and prek instruction research on the value of [1:21:47] highquality early learning programs exploded during this time period and the studies have indicated the years from [1:21:53] birth through age five are critical for developing the foundations of thinking [1:22:00] behaving and emotional well-being the Adina Public Schools continued its [1:22:05] strong support in built Early Learning into its next Generation uh strategic [1:22:10] plan by investing in updated Early Learning spaces as part of the 2015 [1:22:16] building referendum in 201718 we opened up the Adina Learning [1:22:22] Center as part of that Next Generation plan and the ELC was tasked with four [1:22:29] primary actions to accomplish provide a fully integrated program experience for Learners of all [1:22:36] abilities that meant knocking down the Walls between the Early Childhood special education and the Early Learning [1:22:42] Center preschool programs we adopted a model of assessment to inform family staff um and [1:22:51] give them a Common Language of assessment between between and amongst our staff and between and amongst our [1:22:57] families and our kindergarten teachers this was the teaching gold [1:23:02] strategy we expanded our early childhood family education classes to hours that [1:23:08] could support Working Families Saturday and evening classes were offered so we [1:23:13] could introduce more families to the joys of parent education and we also offered an all day [1:23:20] prek option for those families who wanted a longer day for their student and offered wraparound services to [1:23:26] support Working Families I'm proud to say these four actions were accomplished and that [1:23:33] brings us to where we are now and so I'd like to take have Leah bird take it from [1:23:38] here to talk to you about the 2020 2025 short and long-term [1:23:44] goals hi everyone thanks for the opportunity to to share a little bit with you um this evening um so want to [1:23:52] share that first and foremost in the early Lear Learning Center our number one goal is that kids love school and [1:23:59] that their parents find it um a safe place where their kids grow and they can grow as well but under that caveat we [1:24:06] have lots of short-term goals and long-term goals so I will um start sharing some of those um with regards to [1:24:12] our short-term goals um working with our district Enrollment Office I'm really happy to share that um all of our early [1:24:20] learning families will be a part of Infinite Campus and our families will have have a a parent portal account [1:24:26] which um doesn't seem like a big deal but it really is quite a big deal um we're going to begin to integrate [1:24:34] integrate our ecse students into our preschool classes this um fall initially [1:24:40] as as covid hit and when we started planning we we really struggled to figure out how would we do um a a truly [1:24:49] um inclusive model that we had been doing and so um made the decision to separate the two to start the year but [1:24:55] are looking forward to Bringing um our ecse friends back into our regular [1:25:01] classrooms um continue to focus on curriculum and the pyramid model for [1:25:06] social and emotional um and as health and safety um [1:25:11] permit we are going to be bringing back our early childhood family education classes whereas you guys know parents [1:25:18] and families learn together and children um our parent education classes we we [1:25:24] have um one class starting virtual which is parenting anxieties very very popular [1:25:30] we had a a really nice response to families wanting to take that and that will be offered virtually and I'm very [1:25:36] very grateful to share that um we will be bringing one of our parent Educators back to school and and that's pretty [1:25:42] exciting and then the other class that we also um had a really robust [1:25:48] registration for was our 2-year-old class our Taste of preschool which um if you've taken an ECF class you know that [1:25:55] that's a classroom teacher and a parent educator that work together and so again um we had a really popular um [1:26:02] registration for that so we're able to offer that on Monday and Fridays as well [1:26:08] um within the safety boundaries that we worked with our health um experts on and and are able to bring back a parent [1:26:15] educator to help with those classes when we think about our long-term goals so [1:26:21] 2020 to um 2025 we want to continue to work with our [1:26:27] alignment with principles and I just want to take a minute to acknowledge how [1:26:32] gracious and opening Edina Public Schools has been to Early Childhood um there are many districts that do not um [1:26:40] have the same luxuries that I am afforded as the coordinator of the program I am able to attend all [1:26:45] principal meetings my input and value is given when any big decisions are made um [1:26:52] I participate in world's best work Force um I was at the table when we did strategic planning and so really even as [1:26:59] we move forward over the next five years really want to um keep my seat seat at that table and and continue to advocate [1:27:06] for Early Childhood um being a part of the broader Edina Public Schools Mission [1:27:12] and so one of the goals that we have is to have our four-year-old programming um be a part of our elementary schools not [1:27:20] entirely but parts of it and so we want to start that initial convers ation and planning of what might that look like in [1:27:27] the next com coming years um continue to provide financial assistance um Early [1:27:34] Childhood is is quite a detailed um braid that we do with regards to [1:27:40] offering our kids scholarships so that all kids can have the opportunity for early learning and so we have a [1:27:46] partnership with e given go that we've had for three years now which has been incredibly beneficial um and then we [1:27:52] also have school runn aid path $1 and pathway $2 through um the state of [1:27:58] Minnesota another goal that we have and and are always working on is reviewing our staffing our staff hiring practices [1:28:06] making sure that we create um a staff that is reflective of our students that come to the Early Learning Center and um [1:28:13] I had an opportunity to present with Lisa Hawthorne a year or two ago and we talked about in The Early Learning Center we really are one of the most [1:28:20] diverse schools um in Idina we we've had up to 21 different languages spoken in [1:28:25] our school and that's really important that not just the languages but all of those cultures are really valued and [1:28:31] celebrated and that kids see evidence of themselves in the staff that work in the [1:28:36] Learning Center continue to partner with our um Communications staff more [1:28:42] effectively to market the ELC as a Gateway for Edina Public Schools I give [1:28:47] tours all the time and one of the things families sort of perk up is when I talk about our connection to Edina Public [1:28:53] Schools um and then of course I'm always bothering Mary Whitey to send somebody [1:28:58] downstairs to the playground to take a picture of some cuteness and then lastly just to [1:29:03] continue to build on our partnership with our kindergarten team in the district um just to make sure that we're [1:29:09] keeping our Communications um open and that we're creating the best transition for kids [1:29:15] that are entering um Edina kindergarten and that collaboration with the kindergarten teachers is now in its [1:29:21] fifth year and has been incred inedibly beneficial for both sides the kindergarten teachers and the Early [1:29:28] Childhood teachers so we look forward to continuing our work in the Early Learning Center and really celebrating [1:29:34] um all the work we've done around the next gen work and this next strategic plan and just continuing to be a partner [1:29:40] with um the district thank [1:29:50] you is that the end no yes like I didn't know if there was if you're tag teaming [1:29:57] or thank you thank you very much I'll just open up I think oh you have some [1:30:02] questions yes um B and Leah thank you very much for coming and giving us a [1:30:08] presentation I think you both know that I'm a huge fan of what you do that uh my [1:30:14] family was very involved in ECF I was in the dance class for six years and I [1:30:19] thought it was instrumental in um our being my wife and me being good parents [1:30:24] uh saw and it just created a network of relationships uh that we built on uh and [1:30:32] then besides just my uh profoundly personal experience with it uh it's very [1:30:37] good for closing the achievement gap for getting kids ready for school which is one of our big goals so um just and and [1:30:46] so that leads me to my first comment I'm thrilled that you're actually taking registrations now um and here that's [1:30:54] going to be are these classes actually in session right now or they going to be in session November one you I missed it [1:31:03] so nope I'm sorry I didn't say it our tender tots toddlin Tikes busy babies those are all in session and next Monday [1:31:10] is when our next round opens as well which is our Taste of tw's preschool and [1:31:16] then our virtual parented and we will just continue as the year goes on to continue to pull our families find out [1:31:23] what they're interested in and then do the process of getting them open for registration Staffing them and and [1:31:29] offering them to our families I want I I just want to mention that that was we were able to do that [1:31:35] early really due to the creativity of one of our um parent educator Early Learning Center teachers um hats off to [1:31:43] Brenda lier who opened up an outdoor classroom and then working with um Mary [1:31:48] Heyman we were able to um bring families parents and children in together to that out classroom and then continuing that [1:31:56] work with marim and we're now able to transition them into the building so um [1:32:01] it's really been a a strong partnership and really uh The Outdoor Classroom has [1:32:07] been a huge hit for families excellent excellent thank you for that creativity and flexibility I'm [1:32:13] just thrilled to hear that um the next question observation is I'm happy to [1:32:19] hear that one of the Early Childhood Educators was brought back on are there any plans to bring on back some of the [1:32:26] other folks that will let go where are we at with that well so just like with all of our programming in in early [1:32:33] childhood and Community Education it's all registration based and so you know [1:32:38] the the uh process is that we do the registration and then based on the amount of people that um sign up for a [1:32:46] class that dictates who we can call back to work and and you know the five parent [1:32:52] Educators that were laid off are phenomenal people and Educators and highly highly skilled at what they do um [1:33:00] so we we hope to be able to bring staff back but as I said that will be based on [1:33:06] registration okay okay and my last question is I've heard some talk about [1:33:12] the um Early Learning Center sort of integrating into the schools C and you [1:33:18] mentioned a partnership with the kindergarten could you flush that out just a little bit more sure so um we [1:33:26] have had a collaborative partnership with our District kindergarten teachers since the fall of [1:33:31] 2016 and so all of the Early Childhood teachers that teach four-year-old programming meet it's typically every [1:33:39] six weeks depending on if we have a snow day around one of those six week um dates and we really just have [1:33:45] conversations around our practice what are we doing in early childhood to get kids ready for kindergarten and what [1:33:51] does that mean to a kindergarten teacher for a four-year-old to be ready to go to kindergarten and what does it mean for a [1:33:58] prek which is our four-year-old grade teacher and to get a child ready for kindergarten and that that has been um [1:34:05] incredibly eye opening on both sides oftentimes in early childhood we we can focused as four year olds are kind of [1:34:11] our 12th grade right and so we think that from four years old down and so [1:34:17] it's really been a push and a goal of mind to have those teachers think about what's next for this child [1:34:24] I'm not getting them ready for June 4th of this year I'm getting them ready for September 4th of next year right nice [1:34:32] and so that conversation has been pivotal and it's also been really helpful for our kindergarten teachers because number one they they've [1:34:38] generated colleagues within the district that they can call and ask questions if a student comes to kindergarten and they [1:34:44] might be strugling or they might not be ready or they went to the Early Learning Center now they have somebody to call [1:34:50] and say tell me what worked what did you do give me some problem solving and the other piece that's really brought the [1:34:56] two groups together is our work with the pyramid model I know the District kindergarten teachers are quite envious [1:35:02] of that work and so we have really um used our learning to help train some of [1:35:07] their practices and so when you think about a long-term goal we'd really like [1:35:12] to open up the conversation of having some of our elementary schools host a [1:35:18] class of four-year-olds of prek students to really help build that relationship [1:35:23] of between the two different groups and to help the elementary school these are our kids coming how do we make sure that [1:35:30] they're ready to be a successful Edina kindergartner did I answer that [1:35:35] sufficiently yeah that that was excellent you know because that actually addresses one of our world's best [1:35:40] Workforce goals yes and you're very you're being very proactive with uh with integrating what [1:35:48] you're doing with what the kindergarten teachers are going to be receiving and [1:35:53] there's this cross pollination going on so that's very exciting to hear so yes thank you for your answer very thorough [1:36:00] thanks I just had oh I just had a quick comment um I would love to have you guys [1:36:06] come back in the spring and speak to us in more detail about how you utilize [1:36:14] interventions um at the prek level as well as um how we can [1:36:22] integrate um um interventions from a prek perspective with what we're doing from a K12 perspective and talking about [1:36:30] some of the literacy work that we're doing um and make it a more seamless um [1:36:38] which a segue to what you're already working on Leah um but I would just like to get a better understanding of um on [1:36:47] um prek K because I focus so much on K to 12 um and [1:36:54] understand um what do we do to look at developmental milestones and what where [1:37:01] does our job in then like a pediatricians begin and things like that [1:37:07] I'd be really interested in hearing that and where do we have opportunities to um [1:37:13] really bolster what we are doing um in your area from a district perspective [1:37:19] because we do know obviously those gaps start as young as was one to two years [1:37:24] old so I would just like I would love to have you guys come back in the spring and talk through that with us I will [1:37:31] take you up on that I'm probably one of the rare people that asks to speak to the school board I I like coming and [1:37:36] sharing and early childhood is really a passion of mine and you know I will volunteer Lisa Hawthorne to sit here [1:37:42] with me we work really collaboratively on interventions in early childhood and and I am really proud of that work so I [1:37:49] would love to come back and share more with you great thank you yeah so um I definitely very important [1:37:58] talking about our our three-year-olds and our pre people but I want to focus a little bit on that part of it um now you [1:38:06] mentioned Leah did you say that there is another so an additional parent educator coming back is that what you said so [1:38:13] there'll be two on staff yes okay and now the ECF offerings that we have [1:38:19] outside of those classes that you mentioned are we back to doing things like um book studies beyond the ECF [1:38:27] classes and those those early baby classes are we doing are we back to a [1:38:33] good robust offering of those things so we are back to um baby classes and we do [1:38:40] offer a um Beyond ECFE virtual class we don't have any book studies we did um [1:38:45] two different surveys of our group one was of our entire School group and one was of our parents birth to two to [1:38:52] really ask them what are you interested in what are you willing to come and take [1:38:57] and um really what we heard is they wanted the tender tots toddlin ties um [1:39:03] busy babies which those are our little little ones that have the traditional ECFE and then we also heard that they [1:39:09] were interested in um the virtual um Beyond ECFE classes but it [1:39:15] really becomes quite a puzzle which I'm sure many of you are experiencing as well as when can I take a virtual class [1:39:21] when is my child at school not School how does all that puzzle piece work out so we offered um six different offerings [1:39:30] to our families and again it's all registration based and so um of those [1:39:35] offerings we had two that were viable that we could start offering right away it doesn't mean that we close [1:39:41] registration for the ones that we offered it just means they'll stay open longer and we'll start when the [1:39:47] registration allows us to start it that that's really all that means so we don't ever really cancel registration or Clos [1:39:54] registration at the Early Learning Center it kind of always stays open and then as families register we can tweak [1:40:01] dates or or teacher work if we need to so we can fit the need of our families okay and then I guess maybe Val [1:40:08] this would be a little bit more toward you but have we looked at I know you said you've surveyed some of the Early [1:40:14] Learning Center parents but a lot of that Beyond ECF dips into our elementary families um and I'm wondering [1:40:22] are we reaching out to them as partners in the community to see if there's a need for some Beyond ECF for our [1:40:29] elementary parents I mean I'm not saying Middle School and High School parents don't need it too but our elementary [1:40:35] parents um with those youngest Learners have we thought about doing some virtual stuff in the evenings with them or [1:40:41] during the days yes thank you for asking that Janie we're sort of in the middle of uh [1:40:48] figuring out um we've done a couple Partnerships one with District media and Technology to reach our elementary and [1:40:54] our Middle School parents on on how do you support your learner so we're exploring a little bit about how [1:41:01] Community ad in general and through the Early Learning Center can serve all of [1:41:06] our parent groups um we've done some surveying of them we've had conversations with principls Elementary [1:41:13] specifically but also with our Middle School um principles and that's just kind of shaking out I mean as um Leah [1:41:22] said we we need to figure out um how to how to build those Partnerships with [1:41:28] registration base in mind um in a perfect world we'd love to put a parent educator in every Elementary we just [1:41:35] sort of have to figure out how do you fund that kind of a an offering and um [1:41:40] you know uh where we do so many Fantastic things here at the Adina [1:41:46] schools that um a couple of the elementaries have jumped on that as well [1:41:51] and so we're trying to kind of figure out how we um put our arms around all [1:41:56] the options that are available for parents so we can help make sense to them sometimes it's hard for parents and [1:42:03] we hear this feedback that they're getting bombarded in a good way in some ways but lots of different Avenues and [1:42:11] so um lots of conversations are happening and more to come on that but [1:42:17] um absolutely see opportunities to support our elementary families okay I just [1:42:23] sight and in all the importance that prek brings I don't want us to lose sight of that basic and and boiling it [1:42:30] down that Joys and concerns time right especially right now Joys and concerns [1:42:35] feel like feels like it's so important to our parents and I don't want us to lose sight of that because it's a big [1:42:42] part of our of our community and it always has been so thank you thank you [1:42:48] anything else oh Ellen yeah um I just I have a couple questions um [1:42:55] first I want to say I I have always thought that the programming and the [1:43:01] reports back about our Early Learning Center is excellent so I want to I want [1:43:06] to acknowledge that we have this incredible Jewel of a program and um and [1:43:12] I want to extend uh this thought though to more kids and I'm looking at your [1:43:19] goals and I don't see that we are um trying to part as a goal I would want [1:43:29] to extend our early learning opportunities to more students [1:43:35] particularly those students who are at risk of being behind when they get to [1:43:40] kindergarten and so I was I'm looking through these goals and and and that to me is this is [1:43:47] this piece that I feel very strongly about that that is a role of our [1:43:54] district is to make sure that kids are prepared and that that as many kids as [1:44:00] possible will be prepared and I was just wondering if you could speak to that a little bit as far as what your um how [1:44:08] how are you going to do that though in the midst of a pandemic Ellen thanks for the question and let me apologize right [1:44:14] up front if that wasn't clear in our goals because reaching out and Outreach to our at risk kids is always a number [1:44:20] one goal that we have right and so so you know as a past kindergarten teacher I know exactly what I we want kids to [1:44:28] know and be able to do and how we Define them as ready for school and we really spend a lot of time in the ELC talking [1:44:35] about who are the families that we're not meeting who are the ones we're not getting I'm really grateful to share [1:44:42] with you that I have an amazing Outreach person Tabitha Dennison who is a gift to [1:44:47] we dinina public schools in the way that she thinks outside of the box of how we [1:44:53] um how we connect with our families the ones that don't come through our doors that might not even know that we're here [1:45:00] and um how do we offer them all kinds of programs preschool ECFE um parent [1:45:05] education only so we do a lot of Outreach with um her with reaching out to her communities she has a partnership [1:45:12] at the library she has a partnership at the hospital um she works with hug which [1:45:18] is a um metrowide um Outreach group that we have that gives us our birth data and then [1:45:25] Tabitha has actually taken it amongst herself to collaborate with all of the sort of like districts on how are they [1:45:31] reach doing Outreach how are they targeting their their atrisk kids and then also one of the biggest questions [1:45:37] we ask is our kindergarten teachers really what are kids coming to you coming to kindergarten not being able to [1:45:44] do and how do we do that in the Early Learning Center and how do we share that knowledge with our other preschools in [1:45:50] the community so that we're all Target are all um providing Outreach for our incoming kindergarten [1:45:59] kids you're muted my friend thank you thank you um and then on a completely [1:46:04] different topic I I kind of I'm I'm looking at the history of ECFE and and [1:46:10] the Early Learning Center and I was wondering if you could speak to um because the board has just been hearing [1:46:17] about us needing to let teachers go um and I I'm just wondering if you could [1:46:24] give me some background on what is the fluctuation that of the number of staff [1:46:31] I mean I think our our numbers um have remained relatively the same over the [1:46:37] last 10 years I'm just wondering how the staff have the numbers on staff have [1:46:44] fluctuated um oh sorry Leah go ahead well I will share that in early learning [1:46:50] and not just here in N but but state wide you know Staffing always fluctuates because we're registration based and so [1:46:58] there there will be some years where you will be able to to have a lot of staff [1:47:03] and other years where you're not able to have a lot of Staff because it's all based on registration the blessing of [1:47:09] the Early Learning Center and and Janie spoke to it is that this is a gem in our community and we we have been so lucky [1:47:17] to essentially have a full school right but as we came into the pandemic iic and [1:47:23] started thinking about how are we going to safely be able to offer school how are we going to be able to do that and [1:47:29] abide by all the guidelines we knew that some of the things that we would have to do would be lower our class sizes lower [1:47:36] the offs we we don't have classes in the afternoon and that is purposeful to [1:47:42] allow for deep cleaning if you've spent any time around a child zero to five you [1:47:48] know how many germs can be on their little hands and fingers and so um this [1:47:53] is has been a tough year with regards to Staffing because just like all of community ed Community Ed and and really [1:48:00] my counterparts and in other parts of the Metro have really had to have some creative Staffing um practices and some [1:48:08] difficult Staffing decisions not wanting this to be our permanent reality but but also knowing that we need to be a [1:48:15] responsible member of the district and I'm not sure if Val wants [1:48:20] to say more no um you know we have we have talked [1:48:25] about this a little bit it is um typically preco the fluctuations and the [1:48:32] amount of hours we could get give staff was sort of in a norm you know you you [1:48:37] definitely had years where certain things were more popular than others um but we have been really fortunate with a [1:48:44] very um engaged community and um you know a a community that that wanted to [1:48:51] come here um um we also are in a situation where um we've had a lot of [1:48:58] construction in and around our building area that um we do hear from families it [1:49:04] it's it's all going to be good on the other side but it does create um at [1:49:10] times barriers that we continue to problem solve around Etc um because it's [1:49:15] sort of like a no pain no gain but so over the last couple years um we've [1:49:21] noticed you know some fluctuations but typically CO's the thing that's really taken us um and like as Leah said our [1:49:29] Metro Partners um into about 25 to 30% of their typical um [1:49:36] enrollments all of us are working together to figure out because it's not that the Learners don't need us and we [1:49:43] you know I mean they need our support it's people figuring out and prioritizing as Leah said how do they [1:49:49] spend their time what do they engage in how do they manage their lives um in a covid environment [1:49:57] and as we get smarter and offer more things it's been a great pleasure to see [1:50:02] families respond with the enrollments they have thank you for asking [1:50:09] that thank you guys anything else yeah I just have one I have one question um [1:50:15] this is great to see that we are um I'm I'm speaking specifically to ECFE [1:50:21] programming to see that um classes kind of coming alive um more which is great [1:50:27] um my question is when I'm looking at your goals on here in the long-term goals for the Early Learning Center I [1:50:35] want to make sure that we are including ECFE as one of the main tenants of that [1:50:40] and I don't see it listed as one of the long-term goals in here and sure that as we're [1:50:48] looking because that ECF is a you know an integrated part of our [1:50:55] roots and part of that is it's our big differentiation point right with other preschools and and in our community like [1:51:02] it we're the only ones that offer anything like this right and so when as [1:51:07] we're looking ahead it's more of a comment than a question I just want to make sure that ECFE is is here it's part [1:51:14] of the bottom of as we're looking ahead in terms of programming and planning instead of being very active with [1:51:20] registrations but pulling it back into programming and I don't know I I feel like there's a little bit of a Miss in [1:51:26] terms of that and I don't know if I'm just not reading it correctly but I just want to I wanted to point that out [1:51:33] because um I don't want us looking back I know this has been really unusual [1:51:38] circumstances with with the pandemic and different planning yeah um challenges that we've had a lot of planning [1:51:44] challenges um so I don't know if you guys have anything you want to respond to that with but so Julie um thank you [1:51:51] so much and whoever moved a camera thank you as well so I thought that was Julie but not 100% sure um you know what I [1:51:56] should have what I should have put in this report to you is when we talk about moving four-year-olds into our [1:52:02] elementary schools that is an automatic opening of space in the ELC for early [1:52:08] for ECFE and that really is the intention ECFE will never go away it [1:52:13] will always be the Bedrock of who we are in early childhood and it really is a [1:52:18] program that we want to grow and so one of the ways that if we think about how are we going to grow that program is [1:52:25] just the actual physical space in the building most people do not want to [1:52:30] bring babies or under two-year-olds in into programming after noon and so when [1:52:37] we move um kids into our elementary schools it automatically allows us to open more ECFE classrooms in the Early [1:52:44] Learning Center so I apologize that I didn't add that language in there for for you all but but that really is the [1:52:51] goal is to continue to use our space in the ELC and to maximize it um to the [1:52:58] best that we can and to really offer programming that that our families want and and ECFE is also another area where [1:53:05] we want to do just as much robust Outreach with ECFE as we do with our three four and and sometimes [1:53:11] five-year-old preschool great okay great thank you thanks for asking thank you [1:53:17] thank you B and Leah we appreciate you guys thank you both thanks everyone [1:53:23] good night you guys thank you um great so we're going to move on [1:53:29] review section and I going to turn it over to um board member Michaelson who is our policy [1:53:35] chair all right thank you chair Alber we [1:53:41] [Music] have it's focusing on one of our policy [1:53:48] committee members basically they want you to talk really not [1:53:53] me um and we have two groups here in reports and discussion the first is for [1:53:59] Rapid review and these are policies 418 [1:54:04] and 622 we essentially have uh language changes here [1:54:10] to modernize the language and they are um on both accounts fairly trivial uh [1:54:18] but before I jumped into that Janie you did have an email about it and I want to [1:54:23] open that up for you to talk about if you'd like sure so my email I had two [1:54:29] questions the first one was about um in our and Nikki and I talked about [1:54:37] it um I was concerned with the removal of the without a physician's prescription in the purpose but she's [1:54:44] walked me through that and I'm I'm okay with that one the other question had to do with um medic cannabis and my concern [1:54:55] B products are if I'm not mistaken I try to research as much as I could would be [1:55:01] considered cannabis products and then I don't know how we want as a district to [1:55:06] address that or if how it is if it needs to be stated that it's a THC product [1:55:12] that's prohibited or some other cannabis products I'm not sure if Nikky wants to chime in on it all but that was my only [1:55:20] question and I I ask it in a making sure that we are making a safe [1:55:25] choice for the district and how we um word this so then the question operates [1:55:31] on two levels one of which is if Nikki can answer it quickly to your satisfaction then we can move on take a [1:55:37] vote yeah otherwise we'll then bring it back to committee and review it more in [1:55:43] depth Nikki any thoughts yes so this is Nicole tisher um thank you for the [1:55:49] question yes um right now the the is written as an exclusionary policy and [1:55:54] not a permissive policy and so my suggestion at this point would not would be not to alter the language in part [1:56:01] because then we want to add everything else that isn't excluded if that makes sense um so right now it's it's very [1:56:08] differential to the commissioner of health and that's where we' want to look look towards for guidance on what is [1:56:15] medical cannabis and what is not okay so [1:56:20] yeah just want to follow on nck it's very helpful so medical uh cannabis or those types of [1:56:28] products especially those without THC that are indicated for epilepsy especially in minors could be considered [1:56:34] a prescribed drug so what is that process then is that one where there [1:56:39] would be clearance from the school nurse or health practitioner or well would that be the [1:56:45] same as a controlled substance because that was my question was controlled substance um because there's a lot of um [1:56:53] you there's things that that students can be prescribed so would that be along the same [1:56:59] lines the way that it's currently written is that Ma medical cannabis cannot be prescribed for use on the [1:57:07] grounds and so that that's the way that the language and the statutes are currently written um the the oils are [1:57:14] separate and um when you start to get into different types of oils that don't have that medical cannabis component [1:57:20] whether it be lavender oil or um whatever oils that you have you don't want to start um listing those because [1:57:28] they're not FDA approved and so there's some conflict between federal and state law also and so there's a uh that that's [1:57:36] why it's I I would suggest that we stick with the statutory language which is the one that is included here because it is [1:57:44] um a area that is quickly evolving okay okay that's helpful and [1:57:51] then if they exclusion needed or something if yeah okay thank you [1:57:57] Micky so this satisfies yeah you're welcome thank you yeah the on District [1:58:03] property part prescribed this works thank you so that we will then [1:58:10] move this on for Action at our next month's meeting all right then we move on to our policies [1:58:19] for 111 12 1921 1 and 808 and for the community's background uh we are on a [1:58:27] policy committee task with with Dowing the 400 series of policies which pertain [1:58:33] to Personnel um every uh every year we have a set of policies that we just do a [1:58:39] standard threeyear review and we are going through the 400 series we're taking in some other policies as well [1:58:46] and Nikki tier who has already spoken is doing Yan's Workforce in the background [1:58:51] she reviews the policies to see whether there a statutory change um that has an [1:58:57] effect on the policies and if there um if the policies [1:59:03] are out of alignment with sort of our Plum line da um Minnesota Association of [1:59:11] school boards if their language is different from what we're uh what we have in our policies so with that as a [1:59:18] preamble I can dive in on policies 411 412 we're recommending that we resend [1:59:25] these uh in essence both because they're covered in statutory language and [1:59:30] statutes and uh 412 also has some confusing language in [1:59:35] it so what I'll do here is just pause and see if there's a discussion about [1:59:41] these two policies we can take them in turn so you said 412 is statuto that [1:59:49] there's statute yes it's not just mhm and so we'd still be under the [1:59:54] obligations of the language as specified here okay did we the copyight [2:00:02] PA 622 yeah yeah you only talked about 4 [2:00:10] you're right we're gonna do that we're g to talk Nikki's coming back with more information I'm sorry okay that's why we [2:00:17] it's not on the agenda here tonight okay can I can I just ask [2:00:22] this um many of our policies are statutory you know there nearly the [2:00:30] whole the whole policy is so I'm just wondering why we would be taking these [2:00:36] [Music] out I have an answer Nikki I'll turn it over to you first though per perfect um [2:00:43] so looking at 411 this is hiring procedures and these hiring procedures go into a lot of if you look at the [2:00:50] bottom of the policy you'll note that it was actually adopted in 2008 and most [2:00:56] of this is components of things that are as uh board member Michaelson mentioned [2:01:03] either statutory in nature or really go down to the processes of the human resources department it looks like at [2:01:09] one time uh the human resources department may not have been receiving the information it needed from the buildings and so there was some elements [2:01:16] of confusion but as we evolve our policies and practice some of this language becomes outdated [2:01:22] and so the components that aren't statutory it would be one of those things where we would be constantly [2:01:27] coming back to the board to re really talk about procedures that are endemic [2:01:35] in hiring and so that was part of this too so if you look at um for example um [2:01:40] you know the building administrators or Department supervisors will be responsible for checking candidates [2:01:45] references well that that is something that is already in our policies and practices and all that isn't something [2:01:52] that would change those are things that are already part of practices and and anything um anytime that we would make [2:02:00] any small revisions to things like this if we wanted to ease some of the burdens of and actually do the reference checks [2:02:05] in the human resources department that would have to come back to this board and so it just goes really quite deep um [2:02:12] and unnecessarily deep in in in my opinion just like the job posting and requirements employee inqu inquiries [2:02:19] will be handled by the human resources department some of our best recruitment tools are actually our building [2:02:25] administrators and so when there are questions about individual um components of Po of of a job will'll often relay [2:02:33] those to the building administrators not just for answers to those questions but also to help us recruit the best [2:02:40] candidates for our students and so there's just things in this policy that either are archaic or statutory and it's [2:02:46] not a necessary policy and so instead of continually bringing it back for um [2:02:52] Revis or being out of compliance with the policy um I would just suggest that [2:02:57] it would be um rescinded at this point and so that's that's the conversation we had oh um board member Michaelson did I [2:03:05] miss anything on 411 that you'd like to add no you H all the Hot Topics um I [2:03:10] think also to add to your question or to to answer you alen is we did talk about [2:03:16] that and that raises a philosophical question that for me I'm policy [2:03:22] minimalist and if we can reduce how many policies we have I think we can govern the district more simply and a little [2:03:29] bit more transparently and more easily and um if it's redundant then and it's [2:03:34] already covered by Statute then I would vote in favor uh generally airing on the [2:03:41] side of removing the policy we did talk though that policies do serve a purpose [2:03:47] in terms of communication to the district we have on the website for listing our policies and the community [2:03:53] members can very easily go and reference that and it's a pretty quick means of identifying how we're governing the [2:04:00] district whereas the statutes may not be quite as transparent for the users and so that's an argument against uh [2:04:06] resending policies that may have overlap or be completely covered by [2:04:12] Statute so um but as I mentioned earlier I weigh in on um uh keeping our policies [2:04:20] to a minimum and if it's redundant then I would be happy I would like to courage [2:04:26] policies yeah I agree this this policy the next one to me skirted the line [2:04:31] between policy and procedure and this seemed like an HR procedure process that [2:04:36] belonged in with which we talked about with like the board Norms like belonged in like a HR policy manual or HR manual [2:04:45] to explain this is how it works in HR but did not Elevate itself to a level [2:04:52] document that we need to man or understand from a board level so I was [2:05:00] fine but removing it from a policy perspective okay so and can I ask I'm [2:05:08] I'm hearing the word redundant a couple times is it redundant to Idina Public [2:05:14] Schools policy the state statute [2:05:22] okay so so you're saying that because it's in State Statute we don't need to [2:05:27] reference it even and like I said I I I think that that's just a departure from what we we've done in the past I can [2:05:34] understand that when it becomes procedure if it's a procedural issue then that's normally uh appended to a [2:05:43] policy um so I and Andor we've really minimized the wording and not even [2:05:49] appended it to the policy but um I'm just wondering if we are going to be missing [2:05:56] something if we don't have this in our policy as we have all the other um state [2:06:05] regulations that we have included in our policy Ellen I think that that's a great [2:06:13] question and something that we ought to consider Nikki if you're gon to Say Something board member Jones um many [2:06:19] school distri many school districts don't have these of policies um there's another component and so that's part of [2:06:25] the things that we bring back to policy committee is I bring them um you know I have six different school districts I [2:06:31] check with and we talk about whether they have the policy or why they may not have the policy and this is a uh really [2:06:39] an Adina type policy another component of the policy that is now inaccurate is [2:06:45] the component about substitutes we we um even though we have Premier Subs this year because of the pandemic um in it [2:06:52] talks about us maintaining a subpool well we actually have have contracted [2:06:57] that out um so there's just different things that are more procedure procedurally related that become [2:07:04] challenging to ensure that we keep up with and so that's another component of why I'd recommend removing this [2:07:15] policy okay I'm you know I it's the first time thank you for for saying that [2:07:21] I also don't like redundant policies but I I see this inconsistency that we have [2:07:29] um if we're if we're stating it so that it's easil easily accessed so that we [2:07:35] know what the state law is and when the Law changes then we would then then [2:07:40] there is a process that that's flagged because the um um the Minnesota School [2:07:48] Board Association will normally tell us these are the law these these impact the your District in these [2:07:55] ways and you need to change these policies but I just looked up on and I didn't see this policy on the MS um [2:08:02] Minnesota Schoolboard Association list of policies so I you know I I I don't know if it's embedded in in our other [2:08:09] policies or not I just hav into it board member Jones it is not and this is it [2:08:15] that's one of the other components we look at is msba policy so not only the five or six school districts that I [2:08:21] mentioned but we do go to msba policy and this is one of the um Standalone [2:08:26] policies that we have as a school district 412 is similar too and there's just some language um you know as I did [2:08:34] my first read through it if you look at 412 um 3B that's actually counter to [2:08:40] both contract and statute and so there's just things that it's hard to correlate [2:08:46] all of these different components together it's it's it's better to look at the the master agreement that guides [2:08:53] the the employment relationship if that exists or the guide book but to to C to [2:08:59] put together policy statute and um and the master [2:09:05] agreement sometimes you you lose one and one contradicts the other and so um [2:09:12] things like you know that that like I mentioned that 3B in policy 412 there's actually um uh teacher or a licensed [2:09:20] employee needs to stay with us until um the replacement has been made but under this language it looks a little bit [2:09:27] different and that that con contradicts um statute and so things like that is [2:09:32] just hard to keep up on and once again 412 is one of those policies that is unique to our district too and was [2:09:38] adopted right around that same time and the funny part is that was my my first experience with the district was right [2:09:44] around that was at two 2008 time period but I can't recall what the derivation [2:09:50] of these policies were and so I was trying to remember why did we create these policies but I I for the life of [2:09:56] me cannot remember okay thank you thank you very much that that makes sense to me that is one of the most thoughtful [2:10:02] and detailed answers I've ever heard to a policy question really impressive but by the [2:10:08] way for whatever it's worth neither of these policies actually site to a statute so normally when we have a [2:10:14] policy that's statutorily based at the bottom it cites to all the statutes [2:10:19] these don't and so so I'm not they may conflict with statutes they're not required by Statute otherwise I think we [2:10:26] would have a reference at the bottom so that's sort of the further support Nikki for [2:10:32] eliminating you are correct Lenny they they are not um neither of them are statutorily [2:10:37] required I thinkers covered it now we'll move on we'll move on EXC [2:10:45] excellent excellent discussion okay so now we're looking at 419 and uh we are tightening up the [2:10:53] language and we're um making the language a little closer to Conformity [2:10:58] with State Statute um so for instance we're eliminating a redundancy on the [2:11:04] back page um 207 Minnesota loss chapter 82 freedom of to breathe act that's [2:11:11] that's redundant so that's what's uh behind this policy great any comments [2:11:16] comment questions okay then we'll look at 421 one and uh in essence we're [2:11:23] expanding the definition on this policy in Section 3 financial interest [2:11:31] ownership and control we're just um elaborating a little bit on our definitions that's what's going on there [2:11:36] any other note is it includes school board members now yes so yes thank you [2:11:42] that Mark forgot to mention it and then policy 808 this is coming up because of [2:11:48] things going on right now in the district there we're there's going to be coming [2:11:56] before us on the board I believe ER there's interest in naming certain things after certain people so this came [2:12:04] up to clarify what the process is yes we've entertained those discussions for [2:12:10] years now on the fin and every time we see where like this this policy needs to [2:12:15] be re and finally we need to do it so y that's why this came up [2:12:21] out sequence so any comments or discussions team I have one it's it's minor but it's [2:12:29] for someon keep standing out to me so in um section [2:12:35] six uh what would that be [2:12:41] f 6f y so the district will not name a facility space or educational program [2:12:47] without the informed consent of the named party I didn't know if we needed to but informed consent of the named [2:12:54] party or their um their family the [2:13:05] word ever comes up in Memorial that we would put something in there the names [2:13:10] party or their good catch I know it's stuck out to me and I couldn't let it [2:13:18] go it are there are there any changes to [2:13:26] this yes Nicki do you want to walk through the changes I will so so normally you [2:13:34] you are correct you get this beautiful red line but there was enough significant changes on this where you'll [2:13:39] see two different components and so the first one is with all changes accepted [2:13:44] because you get a real read of the flow because otherwise on the second so you [2:13:50] have two policy here one is the redline version and that's the second one in there and the first one is the all [2:13:56] changes accepted if you would have just read the redlined version it wasn't it [2:14:02] doesn't flow well because of all the movement of things in different places and so that's why I I um you received [2:14:10] both policies is one with the all accepted changes and so really the charge that was provided to [2:14:17] the policy committee was to make it flow better and that's why you'll see a lot [2:14:23] of things were moved around and also look at other districts and their practices and what um they they have in [2:14:32] their policies and so you'll see um you'll see some other things that weren't necessarily in there before and [2:14:37] of course those are the ones that are underlined as exceptions so I'm happy to [2:14:43] um walk through either the redlined version or the full version it what what [2:14:48] is your preference um no I the one thing I was I I I wasn't sure what was going [2:14:54] on between the first and the second and so thank you for explaining that to me um and I'm just wondering if there are [2:15:02] terms on naming uh a facility and I [2:15:07] don't I don't see the um and I'm talking about [2:15:14] years so that it would expire after 30 years or after 50 years [2:15:21] but I know that um districts can get into trouble even 50 years out if they [2:15:29] want to change a building that was you know partially donated by a [2:15:36] family and um I'm just wondering if that type of clause could is in here or it [2:15:43] could be added it is in there oh yeah it is it is it's it's in Section 5 5. five [2:15:50] b 5B section 5B because 5A and 5B really 5A because we discussed this in finan [2:15:57] facilities twice last year was the idea that um we felt the districts should [2:16:03] always retain the right to change their decision at any time so that that was a decision that financing facilities [2:16:08] weighed in on with outside expertise so I saw this but I think 5A addresses that where [2:16:16] where does it address it District reserves a right at so discretion determinate the naming rights without [2:16:21] refund or consideration prior to the sched termination date should it feel necessary to do so to avoid the district [2:16:27] dispute as return by the district or termination by the name party so either one can just you can there's I think it [2:16:35] gives you enough allowance but I it's section six okay so you don't you don't think that we need to to be very clear [2:16:43] and always set up a a date [2:16:53] facilities change it in a year yeah I think a turn I think an artificial um [2:16:58] termination date would um maybe truncate things that we we've put forth as a [2:17:06] district in memor you know in memorium and it will always be that that name whether it be um you know Countryside [2:17:13] Elementary or um the drg Seth Wing um I think we have we have the ability to [2:17:18] terminate when we want but to check in on something um on on some type of a date May May artificially truncate um [2:17:27] that naming yeah and that's not what I was I I wasn't saying that you would you would be looking at the [2:17:34] renewal date and discussing it but after that date then it would be really clear [2:17:40] that um after that date or even if we decided to before that date but I I I [2:17:46] mean I'm okay I'm I'm I'm starting to remember um [2:17:51] that there are are multiple opinions on this and I just I kind of like to um [2:17:59] State those types of things out front with the flexibility of saying you know [2:18:06] after so many after 30 years then definitely we can change but we could change it beforehand if we wanted to as [2:18:13] well without you know without [2:18:19] rediscussed is in the future um I'm okay with with [2:18:25] that bu so yeah I got a couple questions one thanks you thank you for redoing [2:18:30] this it is actually a lot clearer than the prior policy but uh a couple of questions one in the general statement [2:18:37] of policy and in the definitions it talks about entering into a contract to generate [2:18:43] revenue and uh that seems to be as if we're saying hey we're selling naming [2:18:49] rights and I don't think that that's the intent so someone for example might come and [2:18:55] say they want to donate a half a million dollar and we're not trying to generate [2:19:01] the revenue but we're not going to turn it down so I would prefer that those be have a little bit broader that just [2:19:07] saying enter into contracts uh to lease naming rights just [2:19:12] sort of we can either name after somebody for their contributions [2:19:17] non-economic or name it after them for their econom omic but I It just strikes [2:19:23] me as wrong to say that we're trying to generate money doing this so that's comment [2:19:28] one um Can can I just can can I just ask you Lenny with that have we do we have [2:19:35] similar policies on sponsorships because that would be a you [2:19:41] know advertising or sponsorship I'm just wondering so I think that we do have some uh language in relation to [2:19:48] advertising and when we allow it because I think that we're that's these [2:19:54] are really closely connected that's all when when you when you're talking about that I agree with your point there but I [2:20:01] was so I just want to like a little bit broader so that it's not only when we're [2:20:07] trying to generate Revenue because that sounds the other one I disagree but I don't want us it to preclude us from [2:20:15] that ability if we find ourselves in a place that we [2:20:21] right but you can just write it broad enough so that it covers that plus something else as opposed this limits it [2:20:26] to generating Revenue so you're basically say the language in recognition of or for financial G right [2:20:34] so Lenny are you proposing a friendly amendment to this well first of all this is discussion so we're not [2:20:42] voting I know I know you use that term so I so as as opposed to number two I I I I [2:20:51] understand what you want just you could put a period after sponsoring agent [2:20:56] [Music] yeah we've we we've now said that it's only [2:21:04] unusual circumstances will we name and after somebody who's alive um and former [2:21:10] superintendent drth might sort of wonder about that particular provision because I think he is still alive um why did we [2:21:18] all a sudden add that language I don't think it's in the prior policy and this is um anybody can find it it is Roman [2:21:27] numeral 6A and it says except in unusual [2:21:32] circumstances or for compelling reasons individual names to be considered should be individuals who are [2:21:39] deceased and that's not our practice the tennis courts again I [2:21:45] believe that he's still alive so I I I'd love to answer that [2:21:51] question um and and it's a it's a great question and it really goes to the fundamental discussion of the board um [2:21:59] really just you you can't predict um people who are still alive and so the [2:22:04] legal best practice is to um only name [2:22:10] after people are deceased so if you look at Hopkins in Minneapolis both of them um have this language and when I was um [2:22:18] you know advising in private practice that that was the ad advice we gave just because there's an unpredictability in [2:22:23] people who are alive and if and you still have some um wiggle room [2:22:29] definitely to to name after people who are still alive but that was that was [2:22:34] the thought and that was the uh the reason why whether the board wants that provision in this policy um it's up to [2:22:42] your discretion So when you say unpredictability do you mean in behavior in be in in yeah in behavior and in [2:22:51] there's an element that is not controlled because the policy also [2:22:56] specifically says that if the name of the building causes any [2:23:04] disre impairs the reputation of the district we can pull the name off so we [2:23:10] already had it's just sort of odd because we've never had that restriction and again the last two major namings [2:23:16] were for people who were not deceased so I I kind of wonder about that I think it [2:23:22] causes I think it prevents us from having to go through the process of I [2:23:28] think removing the name from a building is that would be a big deal and then [2:23:34] what is that threshold well what if someone gets in a car found guilty well that's I mean so I [2:23:44] I do think I think it's a best practice because it also gives us the ability to [2:23:49] be like you know what we don't want to do it it doesn't hold us that we have to do that yeah I think it speaks to it [2:23:56] speaks to the pause that this is a big deal that we're naming a building and I think that's how I read it were in [2:24:03] policy committee talking about it um that's how I read it like it's a [2:24:08] compelling reason means it's a big deal to have something named after you and we got to pause so it's just [2:24:14] not anybody that's how I write and I also think it speaks to the um longevity [2:24:21] that should be considered when naming buildings as opposed to like some has been really popular the last two [2:24:28] years and I just I I like it but I'm not [2:24:34] well St my life on that I I will note that being deceased [2:24:39] has not protected uh various places from changing names based upon finding [2:24:46] about we learn I won't die on that particular one St St given that I think two or three [2:24:54] months ago we did something the exact opposite of that all [2:25:00] right [Music] [2:25:07] building field all right thanks okay so we'll move this for [2:25:18] Action so good I think uh we can wrap this up and we'll move these to action [2:25:23] for the next month's meeting and with that I turn meeting back over to [2:25:28] Chairman allenberg great thank you thank you everyone um we're going to move on to our action items and we have Director [2:25:34] of Business Services John to here for our first item which is ratifying General obligation alternative facility [2:25:43] refunding bonds and we also have Jody zespa from I'm sorry welcome apologize [2:25:49] hello do I have a motion to approve ratify alternative facility refunding [2:26:00] bonds okay um I will turn it over to you [2:26:05] Mr to and you missa good evening chair allenburg [2:26:11] superintendent Schulz members of the board good late evening I should add um so the window for refinancing our 2013 [2:26:19] AL facilities bonds uh was opening for the based on the call date so in August [2:26:25] the board passed a motion a parameters resolution uh making sure that there was at least 3% [2:26:31] saving uh and authorizing Ellers and Associates our financial advisor to conduct the sale they conducted the sale [2:26:39] on October 7th and uh Jody zba from Ellers and Associates will go over the results here shortly uh just wanted to [2:26:47] make sure that the public uh ALS also knows that our AAA Bond rating was [2:26:53] reaffirmed uh for the call with Moody so important to note that um and we did [2:27:00] receive a a good number of proposals I think it was six Jody correct so good [2:27:06] response back and a good result so I'll turn it over to Jody to go over the sale [2:27:12] Day Results thanks John so yes we were thrilled with the results um we were [2:27:17] expect we were estimating Savings of about $600,000 at the time that we put [2:27:23] together the pre-sale estimates for your August meeting and we ended up saving about [2:27:28] $750,000 that is a direct savings to your taxpayers you're not able to keep it and use it for other areas of your budget but I'm sure they'll happily [2:27:34] accept that and um I'll just highlight a few of the other items related to the [2:27:40] results so as John mentioned your AAA rating did get affirmed there's only two other districts in the state of [2:27:45] Minnesota with that rating that's the highest rating that you can get from Moody's and um John and John both [2:27:52] participated in a call with Moody's and did an excellent job representing your district and that was very helpful to [2:27:58] the process of course because they provided them with all the information that they needed as they moveed forward [2:28:03] with their committee process and ultimately affirming that rating you did receive six bids the low bidder was [2:28:09] Piper Sandler out of Minneapolis so we'll go through some of the other biders but their uh bid that they [2:28:15] provided was a 0.47% so a very nice slow rate um and a [2:28:23] large premium and so we'll talk about that in just a minute too but we had estimated a rate of 75% thinking that [2:28:31] was so nice and low and we got well under that and that is the reason that you ended up with savings at about [2:28:37] $750,000 rather than $600,000 and the uh parameter that you [2:28:42] established at 3% present value savings your actual results were at [2:28:48] 6.54% and because you had that parameter in place you had authorized individuals to move ahead and accept that proposal [2:28:56] on your H behalf so Matt Fox your Treasurer and John um both accepted that [2:29:02] and so the the uh resolution that you have before you tonight will ratify that [2:29:07] award so there uh the bid tab is included with the information that you received and again you can see Piper [2:29:14] Sandler was the lowest you got bids from throughout the country so Huntington Securities out of Chicago Illinois B and [2:29:22] Mel and Capital Management out of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Hilltop Securities out of their Dallas office [2:29:28] Raymond James out of St Petersburg Florida and then Barett out of Milwaukee Wisconsin and the high uh rate was from [2:29:35] Barett and that was a0 59% so still U the high bid was lower than what we were [2:29:40] expecting back in August um the sources and uses schedule and the other Financial schedules are [2:29:47] the same schedules that we provide provided you with for your pre-sale report they're just updated now with the [2:29:53] uh results of the sale when we put together the authorizing resolution for your August meeting we assume no premium [2:30:00] bid because we're never guaranteed that that's the case most of our bids right now have been um have been uh with uh [2:30:09] pretty significant premiums but we're never sure of that and so the estimate at the 10 million 575 that you [2:30:15] authorized was assuming no premium bid we did estimate about a million dollar premium in our pre-sale estimates and so [2:30:22] that's why that dollar amount was at about 9,575 th000 when we issued your [2:30:28] preliminary official statement and ultimately re received a premium of almost 1.5 million and that cash can be [2:30:35] used then to buy down the amount of debt then that's outstanding on the new bond issue so that's what we did and that's [2:30:41] why the dollar amount now is just um almost 9.1 million that you're issuing so the uh coupon rates that you [2:30:49] have on your existing issue were 2 to 2.5% with an average of about 2.4 and as [2:30:56] I mentioned the true interest cost rate now is a0 47% and so then you can see the savings [2:31:03] on page five of our report at about 750,000 we were expecting about 120,000 [2:31:11] per year starting with this next year and going through taxes payable 25 and now we'll be closer to about 150,000 in [2:31:18] each of those years and then um you did have a press release [2:31:23] issued by Moody and so you can see the information that they included in there they mention your large and growing tax [2:31:30] base very strong resident income levels stable enrollment moderate debt and pension leverage and then they say the [2:31:37] cash and fund balance levels are fine so they're not as impressed with those I guess but they've mentioned that in some [2:31:43] of their previous reports too as they compare to other AAA rated um school districts in the nation [2:31:50] and then uh there is a detailed credit opinion that is also included with your report and I would mention there they [2:31:58] talk about the exceptional credit quality of the school district again some of the other factors that they [2:32:04] mentioned in the press release are included in there and then just a number of other detailed um uh credit strengths [2:32:12] credit challenges some of the different types of items that we spoke about during the call with them and ultimately [2:32:19] they provide a scorecard at the end of their report which you can take a look at some of the different factors that [2:32:24] they're using to come up with their rating so that is what we have we're [2:32:30] very happy with the results we certainly appreciate the opportunity be to be of service to you again and have some [2:32:36] savings for your taxpayers and I will be happy to respond to any questions that you might have just uh one other comment [2:32:44] uh chair allenburg is uh jod mentioned that these will refund about 150,000 [2:32:50] per year for the 2022 through 2026 maturities uh so we will realize instant [2:32:56] savings in the form of a levy reduction as I mentioned uh before to the board when we passed the preliminary Levy for [2:33:03] December certification that reduction now with the increased savings will bring our [2:33:08] Levy increase down to about 2.76% that will be certifying in [2:33:14] December great thank you fabulous work yeah thank you so two things both kind [2:33:22] of congratulatory comments I was going to make them during the leadership update portion but Jody you and your team have been great to work with so I [2:33:28] mean we communicated back and forth seamlessly on a Wednesday which really helps us get more bids at the lower [2:33:33] demand price so it was it went really smoothly thank you guys and then John and John and ra and the whole team in [2:33:40] the finance department there's been a lot of moving Parts especially Margot and transitioning to John to and [2:33:47] bringing in the whole electronic system and it's it's been so seamless the amount of um management that's gone on [2:33:53] with with a relatively small team so I've just been consistently impressed the triaa bond rating is exceptional [2:33:58] especially given all the different issues around enrollment that all public schools are seeing and our goal to continue to maintain a strong bond [2:34:05] rating obviously as as priority but um thank you all for the work this is the best op we could have had so thank you [2:34:13] great thank you very much thank you all suggest we improve this [2:34:19] is there a specific um language they need uh the Board needs to make in [2:34:25] relation to approval of this sometimes you have that those so it's really the Bold so in your packets on page um it [2:34:33] says 24 45 on what I'm looking at within the report itself page [2:34:40] 900 P what page 24 correct to 45 there's [2:34:45] uh that resolution language that's kind of in capital letters at the top is generally what needs to be read prior to [2:34:52] the vote it starts with resolution relating to [2:34:58] correct [Music] okay so it just um I think um it's [2:35:07] resolution relating to uh 9,855 of General obligation alternative [2:35:14] facilities refunding bonds series 2028 ratifying the award of [2:35:20] prescribing the form and details and providing for the pay payment thereof be resolved by the school board board The [2:35:27] Independent School District number 273 Minnesota um as follows and then so that [2:35:33] would be what needs to be read for this and I just read it do I need to read that into the roll call mode um to the [2:35:41] extent you need a motion to that effect I I'm sorry you resend your motion no [2:35:49] that motion well we already have a motion on the ratify the general obligation alternative facility [2:35:54] refunding bonds and so I'm I would request to amend that motion to include [2:36:00] the that is involed that jod just said we should include 196 got it okay so the motion [2:36:07] has been amended to include that language so we will now vote by roll [2:36:13] call to approve the resolution relating to the 9, 85,000 General obligation alternative [2:36:21] facilities refunding bonds series 2020a ratifying the award of sale [2:36:27] prescribing the form and details and providing for the payment thereof be it resolved by the school board of [2:36:35] Independent School District 273 Edina Minnesota as [2:36:44] follows okay allenberg hi box hi hi [2:36:50] green hi Jones hi Michaelson [2:36:58] hi hi Allen fredman [2:37:04] hi the general obligation alternative facility refunding bonds is [2:37:09] approved thank you thank you thank you great great work guys can we do this [2:37:18] yes yeah [Music] great job [2:37:24] guys okay thank you um do I have a motion to approve policies 407 and [2:37:32] 408 do I have a second second great [2:37:38] oh these policies we went through last month and they pertain to the employees [2:37:44] right to know with regard to exposure that has haard as substances and uh that's 407 [2:37:53] and 408 is litigation involving or The subpoena of the school district [2:37:59] employee any questions [Music] comments ready to [2:38:06] vote we'll now vote by roll call to approve policies 407 and 408 allenberg I Fox hi green I Jones hi [2:38:20] Michaelson hi Shaw Hi Well Freedman hi Poli 407 and [2:38:28] 408 are approved and that wraps up our action items which brings us to our leadership [2:38:34] and committee updates does anyone have any leadership or committee updates we cover them fin next great [2:38:41] stuff lny so um I will preface this by saying I'm reluctant to bring this up [2:38:47] but nevertheless there was a discussion earlier tonight about the September 14th [2:38:53] minutes and the question about whether the Walked In Motion should be part of the minutes I did go back and look in [2:39:00] board book and the walkin motion is part of our record it's all in [2:39:05] print same as we do with any of our other motions so I just want to make that note I'm sorry it's part of it's [2:39:13] not where could people find it you go to go to the meeting click on the meeting [2:39:19] agenda and it's there it comes right it's not but it's not in the it's not in the [2:39:25] minutes it it is in the record of our [2:39:30] meeting so the the materials that for for the meeting it is all listed there [2:39:35] but it's not it's not in it's not in our minutes the same way our minutes don't [2:39:41] say that we're approving a contract that has a 3% raise it says we approve a contract it's the has the same general [2:39:48] level of specificity and for people who want to look at the specific of a particular motion they can go to the [2:39:55] materials that are posted and they'll see the Walked In Motion also I'm just saying it's the same level of of [2:40:00] specificity that we normally use thanks for checking that one okay [2:40:07] I'm gon to move us on does anyone have any leadership um so um I have one that I [2:40:14] wanted to bring up at the work session but uh John and I have been working on planning our upcoming um work sessions [2:40:20] given what we approved as the board um goals and the admin superintendent goals [2:40:27] um and we've targeted a February work session to either bring in or um talk to [2:40:33] slash about other districts that have had success from an achievement Gap perspective um and I just wanted to um [2:40:40] suggest that we have the teaching and learning committee look into who we would consider peer districts and then [2:40:49] what would we recommend looking at um from a metric perspective because I [2:40:54] think that's going to take a little bit of work to actually decide um what are life districts and then where do we have [2:41:01] success and what do we want to ask to plan that work session so I just wanted to see if the rest of the board um [2:41:07] thought that was a good plan to have the teaching and learning committee actually work on that just chunk of what we want [2:41:13] to be working on that switch to start for sure so l chair of teaching and learning [2:41:20] are you okay with that oh I didn't know he was chair [Music] um so do the administrators within the [2:41:27] teaching and learning Department have time all work on that is the question because it would be them and the [2:41:32] committee members we can figure that out Loney we we got time sure that sounds great okay [2:41:40] so you're in charge of the February work session that's and that's February 2023 [2:41:50] exactly Erica um before weour two questions when are we going to cover world's best Workforce that's uh spring [2:41:59] no usually it's the fall the fall fall we have a and it's a there's a [2:42:05] statutory requirement that we public meeting I think it's December on so [2:42:11] it'll be December we have it on the calendar so I [2:42:17] don't know uh there is additional information we'll have to get from the state because we don't have the MCA [2:42:23] scores so I think we're waiting for some direction on what to do with that because we didn't take the test in [2:42:30] Spring correct so December 14th is where we tentatively schedule okay and the [2:42:35] enrollment numbers are we going get enrollment um we have that scheduled for October 27th 2 okay excellent fantastic [2:42:43] thank yep um it's the 22nd everyone can make feary [2:42:50] oober October yeah 10 days Thursday next week okay great all right is there also [2:42:56] one on October 27 yes yes 22nd and the 27th y so both of them I'm putting it in now [2:43:03] okay and then everything else nothing has changed for November and December so [2:43:09] all right