[clears throat] Good evening. Tonight is Monday, November 10th, and we do have a quorum. So, I will call this meeting to order. The first order of business is agenda approval. So, do I have a motion to approve the agenda for tonight's board meeting? >> So, moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> We'll vote to approve our agenda. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Tonight's agenda is approved. This month's excellence in action features members of Edina High School's student council who have been part of a human centered design team aimed at creating new marketing opportunities to retain and recruit incoming freshmen. So I would like to welcome our guests to the dis here and if you would introduce yourself um before you start that would be wonderful. Welcome Okay. Hi, my name is Clara Johnson. I'm from the United Student Council and over the last few months, we've been working on the marketing team for one of our committees. Um, and I'm a junior and this is I'm Whitney Vans and I'm a sophomore. I'm Carina. I'm a junior as well. >> I'm Nina Cruz and I'm a senior. Our goal of this entire project was to create marketing programs that will appeal to a target market of Edina residents, eighth grade, and high school students. We will follow the design thinking process to address our goal. Um and so the first step of the design thinking process is empathizing with um our audience which in this case was prospective students looking to come to Edina High School. Um and so we use surveys and other research to um kind of just understand the perspectives of these students and generate um like empathy for how we should respond and develop a solution. Our next step in this process was defined to defi to frame the problem which we found was by looking at enrollment reports and other research. Edina resident high school students are choosing other schools instead of Edina and some do not know all that we have to offer here or have inaccurate information about EHS considering our statistics and careers beyond high school. Our next step of the defined thinking process is ideulating. we generated new ideas um and solutions of how we think that we could best keep Edana residents in Edana public schools. So some of our ideas were putting together student panels that would attend our current tours as well as middle schools to just speak to the middle schoolers and let them know like what high school is like so that the middle schoolers could kind of fit picture themselves at the high school. Um, another one of our ideas was like a welcome table at our tours that has like gina merch and pamphlets um and information. And then another one of our ideas was shadowing. Um, we are still working on this one, but we were thinking it'd be super fun for students that are interested in attending Adana High School um to be able to sit into a class and see what the class size is really like and what teachers are like. Can you go ahead and turn on the microphone just so we can hear you? Thank you. Got it. Perfect. Um, so our next process is the prototype where we're bringing the ideas to life. So we have all these ideas and we narrowed them down to just a few and for each idea that we have we have created a specific detailed plan for each prototype that we want to produce that we like know will be successful in the end and yeah >> yeah so our first um we kind of have three branches and the first branch is enhancing our tours um and this is just kind of like um editing the tours to become more student centered and just reflecting a more immersive um EHS experience for prospective students. >> Our second idea was an open house. Um over the fall, we created a detailed plan of like what the open house will look like. And so I'll just kind of walk you through it. So first students would enter on a weekend. Um we'd have two shifts, a morning shift and an afternoon shift. That would be the exact same thing. Um we are looking for student volunteers. So, we were going to ask our current seniors that participate in Hornet Mentors, which is a program that helps with tourists at our school already. Um, and they'd be there. The open house would start in Thick Auditorium, if it's done, or EPAC. Um, and students would get a presentation that would be run by the admin. Then students would leave with a personalized tour guide that would take them along the school. Um throughout the school there would be different teachers in different flex spaces that would be able to talk with parents um and just answer any questions and then they would end the tour in the gym where there would be kind of like an activities fair where students could get an idea of what our different clubs and activities have to offer. Um and we think that this would work super well because one of our common misconceptions about Adana High School is that people don't think they'll find a place where they belong. So, if students could see themselves in a club um that they think fits them very well, that would be super helpful. We believe our third and last branch of ideas was new initiatives, which are things that aren't currently a thing, but we want to see happen. Um, first was middle school panels, which is where we would host panels with EHS students during middle school lunches to start to build relationships and have them so they would know someone when they reach the high school and answer their questions so the high school wouldn't feel as big and scary. Our second new initiative would have many distinguished an alumni host a speaker series to feature the success of our alumni, have them come back to present about their careers and areas of experience to show how successful our school really is. And lastly, clubs are a huge part of our EHS experience and a great way to make friends. So, we'd like our students to be able to visit a club before they enter the high school so they can get a feel for what they will experience here because we believe clubs are a big part of social and academic success. Thank you so much. Um, we're just wondering if you guys have any questions. >> Board members, do you have any questions? Director Birdman, >> thank you. Thank you very much for your presentation. Um the one thing that caught my attention was what are the what did you guys uh discover in terms of what are the main reasons why any diner resident does not choose EHS and you mentioned something in your slide about inaccurate information about EHS that might be fills into why they go somewhere else. Can you speak to that a little bit? >> Okay. Um some of the findings that we found in our research um is that students think that the athlet or that the academics aren't as strong at high school um than they are at private schools and that they think that they won't get into as good of a college if they attend public school. Um another one of our misconceptions is that ADN is just too big and that the class sizes are too big and that there's no personal like academic help. And we think that these are very big misconceptions because after looking at our statistics compared to Blake and Breck, we actually have like very similar standings of like IVL acceptance rates. And also we are looking to highlight like with those problems that we have like office hours which are super helpful for individualized help. And so those are kind of just like a few of our problems. Do you guys have any other ones you want to highlight? You good? Um, I think another main reason that people choose private as well is um just the sports. Like obviously that sounds crazy because like we're like the best in the state at sports, but like I think people don't think that like there's enough of like it's enough um like inclusive for like people just like wanting to like strive for a team and make a team. Um which is also a massive misconception. Um, and I don't think they understand that there's lots of teams and like different levels. Um, I'm also a tour guide and so if they ever taken a tour, they would realize that that like obviously there is that because we go over that. But um, that's also just a misconception that we can address easily. So, it's not so much that that we're not elite enough. It's that maybe they only think that you're eligible to participate if you are elite and if you're a slightly maybe you're a B team person or something like that that there's not an opportunity for you to participate >> another opportunity participation. And then for school, I think it's um that we're not elite enough in terms of school and that we don't have enough APs, which is definitely not true, or that we don't have like um >> Let's talk about that for a second. I'm really curious about how when you guys heard that what what what did you think about that? That that was a misconcept it's a misconception. It's not true, but that it's a really strong held belief >> in certain with certain people. How did how did that make you feel? I don't think people understand that we have lots of opportunities for teachers to like and that teachers want to develop the relationships with their students. And I think it's a big misconception that we just have big class sizes and that um like it's kind of hard to like do do well if you don't like I guess what I'm trying to say is like you develop relationship with your teachers. And so I thought that was interesting that they didn't um like they don't understand that like there's those relationships kind of in place. And then to the academic rigor like I don't know. I guess I'm just really surprised. >> Yeah. I don't know. Back to like the AP classes. I was really surprised to find out that people didn't think they were challenging enough because in my personal experience, I found that like we have different levels of classes like we have like general and then we have enriched or we even have AP. And I feel like you can really find your like almost like personal setting of how challenging you want it to be. And I find that myself I found it just challenging enough where I feel like I have to try hard and put in the work, but I don't find it too challenging that I'm doing bad. I think it's an excellent example of what we're talking about because it's the the amount of offerings that we have allow for a multitude of different levels with including the highest level, most rigor, most challenging and so on so forth. That to me seems like a great selling point for what a high school is able to offer um a high school student, but that's a really misunderstood and mis mis um conception as you were pointing out. Thank you. Go ahead. >> 100% agree. I think another point to be made is that people tend to go to private school because they believe that the faith is so much stronger there in their specific schools um such as like Southwest Christian but there's so many different faith opportunities at like there's so many different clubs that you could join like for example G Manhattan I know that's a huge club that so many people from attend to and it's just another great way to become in a community stance with a faithg guided journey and I think that's another misconception like they think that there's no like faith at Idana just because it's a public school. They think going to a private one is their only like way to like incorporate that in their life, but that's just not true because there's so many opportunities and you can find your people at Edina that are in that group as well because it is such a big variety. >> Excellent. That's a great point. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for joining us and I thought it was really interesting and hats off to our marketing and communication director Daffhne Edwards for bringing student voice to the table because it is so valuable as we think about how do we break down some of those misconceptions and having students experience and student voice um is such an important part of the equation. So, thank you for giving of your time on this design team as well and thank you for joining us here tonight. Thank you. >> All right. Next up on our agenda is hearing for members of the public and we do not have anyone here to address the board this evening. So, we will move on to our consent agenda. Uh, is there anyone would like to remove from the consent agenda? So we will now vote to approve the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Director man. Do I have a second? Director Arum. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda say I. >> Anyone opposed? The consent agenda has been approved. Uh before we move on to our discussion items, I did want to note that in tonight's consent agenda, we had a list of our National Merit Semi-finalists and our National Merit Commended students. And if you haven't had a chance to look at that list, please do. Um we will be having a ceremony to recognize those students and their families and their commended educator, which is a really cool thing to see. We're going to be doing that next week. And so, uh, I just wanted to take a moment on behalf of the board to say congratulations to those students and their families and to say how proud we are of each of them. Okay, moving on to our discussion items. Uh, first up, we have our curriculum implementation report and I welcome up uh, Jod Duc St. Hubert, director of teaching and learning. Um, as well as No, nobody else, just Jody. Just Jody. Welcome. >> Okay. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Gabler, Superintendent Bitman, board directors, colleagues, and community members. Um, I am here tonight representing um my colleagues in teaching and learning, Mark Carlson, who is our lead for science and mathematics, and Bethany Van Odell, who is our assistant director of teaching and learning, and oversees our lang ELA, language arts, as well as social studies. So a curriculum review is not always but most often prompted by a change in Minnesota state standards in a specific subject area. In Eidino we use implementation science to determine what resources are needed in order to best address the changes for our students. A critical component of implementation science is that decisions are made by teams of educators in collaboration with each other through the entire process. So as I call out Mark Carlson and Beth Bethany Van Odell, they facilitate the conversations and the workflow with these teams but it is ultimately those teams design teams we call them decision what the end outcome is and then the team engages. Sometimes new members come on the team sometimes them there are not new members but then the team engages in how we will roll out that implementation beyond the decision- making and monitoring that implementation throughout. So the collaboration is a really critical po um part of the process and what we bring forward with any curriculum update. There is in the report an appendix where there's a list of I think it's about almost a hundred educators um that were involved in these three different subject areas and the design teams that I'm probably missing some that have been in and out in different ways over the the periods of years that we have been working on these subject areas. So I wanted to point that out and how important that is over the last four years specifically. Um I I noted we've been working on science which which actually is a curricular view that started before COVID. Um you'll see in the chart that we have laid out that it started you know 2019 is where we started but I know work was even happening prior to that. Um so you'll see with all of the with these three subject areas we've created a chart in the board report that shows you what has happened over the years in the different stages of implementation science. Um so as you can see a lot of work has been done and we are very very grateful for the support that you've given us as board members and the teachers commitment to the work. Um, we have absolutely incredible teachers in Edina and that is just affirmed every day when we're doing this curriculum work out in classrooms and collaborating, sitting in meetings reviewing materials. So, I want to say thank you to you for your support as well as the teachers. We are definitely seeing positive results in all subject areas for students and we're poised to stay the course as each area moves closer to full implementation. um we just are looking for continuous monitoring and continuous improvement. And so the feedback from you and the questions from you tonight are very important to help us with that um continuing progress uh that we we're excited to continue to lean into. So with that, I'll turn it over to questions, feedback, insights, >> board members. Director Arum, >> uh not a question. just I wanted to say it's kind of cool to see because one of the first things um when I joined the board was mystery science and to see kind of the results of that kind of thing. It's been neat to see that. So thanks for all the work you do. >> Yeah, thank you >> director. >> I I don't really have any comment because I've already done all this through in the teaching and learning committee. So but thank you Dan. That's exactly what I said um when I was in the meeting when I got the presentation. >> Um it's just nice to see the sort of progression that's then there and it kind of giving this map for us for us and for stakeholders to see how that's um implementing through. This is never a quick process. This is a very diligent slow burn process. I love the slide in the in the packet that actually walks through the different steps that are then there and the articulation of where those things are at. And then with what we really liked about what I think we liked about in the in the teaching learning um committee was seeing then how in the in the mapping out of the schedule where those things are so you can actually vi visualize that um it's a really important element of how we continue to make that happen. So applaud all the team and and all the people that are making that happen. And I felt that the information that's being then provided to us as well as to stakeholders in this report I think is very useful that I think people can use as their sort of stake in the ground where they can measure from where things are at and keep us on track. So that's great. Thank you. >> Thank you. I know sometimes that that grid within the report shows a pretty linear process, but what what sometimes does happen and is that it es and flows and you might have noticed that with like in ELA for elementary, we were in exploration for almost three years, right? And we always anticipate we want to go through that faster, but that that leads to that we are re reacting and responding to what we're hearing from not only our staff that are part of the design team, but our community and the rest of our staff who are working through all of these implementations. I also wanted to commend Director D. St. Hubert for the work that she does. She's always so humble about recognizing everybody else on our team as well as the teachers all of which in whom are fantastic, but so much work goes into the this and I just so appreciate the intentionality that happens each and every day in our classroom and we're seeing the results. So that doesn't happen without a lot of intentionality. Thank you. >> Thank you for that. Uh I had two questions. I noticed in your first of all, thank you for this update. I agree. I echo what I heard from my other board members of how uh rewarding it is to see the some of these curriculums come to fruition. I noticed on the report it said a new MCA assessment coming this year in ELA. Can you speak to that? >> Yes. Um, so when when we jump into a curriculum design team based on where the Minnesota standards are at, um, we follow the MDE timeline. And so right now, um, we're implementing new materials in elementary and new materials in year two in the secondary prepping for new MCAs based on those standards, right, this year. So the the standard shifts are reflected. Um an example would be um we talked about at the data metrics plan our science um and that last year even though we had implemented new resources a couple years prior last year was the first year where those new standards were reflected in the MCA test. So we're always trying to space that out with um all of the demands as well as having our students be prepared for the the test. Sometimes they're big changes honestly and sometimes they're really little changes and that's hard to predict. Um but essentially those standards are laid out for us and that's what we're working to instruct towards. >> Does that help? >> It does. I was just curious. I knew about the science and so I didn't know where in so this is the year where we'll see that reflected in the MCA. Okay. >> Great. Um, and then you spoke a little bit about this, but could you just take a little bit of time and talk to our process for understanding how well a curriculum is meeting our needs? So, we get to see the okay, we're adopting and we approve it and then you come back and you will talk to us about we're now in the full implementation, but what are some of those temperature reads along the way that show us >> where we need to dig in further, where things are really in alignment? Can you speak? Clearly, it's the design team, but what other processes um do you use? >> Yep, that's a really good question, Chair Gabler. I think um one thing I'm excited about tonight is you're going to be seeing me a lot, but the board uh reports that I'm sharing tonight are all very connected with each other. And so, the next report that we'll be sharing is our data metrics plan. And so, the data metrics plan has a lot of universal screening data in it. We call it universal screening data because it's three times a year temperature checks. Um that is in literacy and math. Um that's one way that we're kind of evaluating how is it going because that's an impact to students. Now data is always important to triangulate and look at more than one data piece. So then for example if we don't have an MCA or universal screener we also working with teachers to have assessments in the classroom. So, there are check-ins um if it's at the end of a unit where it's a little bit more of a formal end of the unit check or possibly more informal checks along the way while teachers are teaching and then being able to adjust their teaching. Um, one thing that's happening really um ELA is a really good one for me to jump into some examples with our elementary ELA team. So, I I mentioned design teams and implementation teams. That ELA design implementation team is meeting still this year. And so the group uh in that team tried out those curriculum materials last year knowing that's what we were going to use, but they tried it out to prep the system to give us feedback on what was working and what was not. So when they come back now this year, everybody's trying it and they're in their buildings being able to give us that kind of informal data as to well our teachers are really stressed about the pacing or the K12 instructions a little bit different. Um, so that's another data point that we are able to gather and all of that just comes together to be able to really inform our decision making and continue to dig in what our what our teachers needs are then directing our student needs. So >> great thank you and that was helpful to hear just in terms from even the community is that it's not just done when we adopt that curriculum. It's such a >> a circular process and like you said not always just a linear linear process. Um, my last comment that I wanted to make, um, >> are is for our reading and language arts curriculum and I just wanted to say a shout out to our teachers, to you, to Bethany, to all the people that have been supporting on that. um because that's been a big focus whether it's been the science of reading and now with benchmark and there's big lifts and so I just wanted to just like you started the conversation give a shout out to our teachers who are putting in >> boatloads of work on that and it's paying off for our kiddos. So I just wanted to say that thank you for that. >> All right. Well then we're going to keep you up here. Okay. And I think you're going to be joined by uh >> Greg Gusweiler, our um teaching and learning data programming analyst and coordinator. I had to look that up, Greg. And we are going to be hearing about the 2023 and 2025 data metrics executive summary, which ties in very nicely to the next one as well, which is 2025 2027. Yes. Thank you, Chair Gabler. I'm going to give an overview on the 23-25 plan and then again Greg and I will both be here to hear questions and feedback and then Greg will give an overview on the 2527 plan and we'll both collaboratively work together to answer questions and listen to feedback. So the report the 2023 2025 data metrics plan update um in front of you uh is was first approved um in 2023. And at that point we were able to not only have the goals in front of us that were two-year goals than what we were striving for, but we were able to align that really tightly with our 2020 to 20 or 2030 strategic plan. um as well as district school content and grade level teams and individual teacher goals. Um so we're excited about how this comprehensive data system is aligning the entire system in order to have the greatest impact on our students. This report is organized um in a way where you see where we started with the 2023 results. Then um Greg did an excellent job of creating graphs where we're able to see our midway point data, the 2024 results. Then the graph continues to show us the where we are now, the 2025 results. And then you'll see throughout each section in the report that there's a a section that says where are we going? And that really leans into the responsive action steps that helped us shape the 2527 plan as well as the work that you're going to see in our comprehensive and civic um readiness report later on this evening. So the report covers several different areas. ELA, math, science, SEAL, unique learners, college and career readiness, and attendance. Um, what I just want to point out a couple things in the executive summary and then I know that you've had the opportunity to read the report. So, I'll just turn it over after the executive summary for questions and feedback. The things that I want to point out specifically are our top three systemwide celebrations and then also our top three systemwide challenges. So, we really are um excited to see steady increases in our academic performance, specifically in ELA and math, in our MCA prof um proficiency over the past four years. It's um slow and steady, but it's always good to see that increase and that is um reflected really um as we know we just talked about we have teachers that have been working incredibly hard on learning new pedagogy around the science of reading and that instructional shift is now transferring to the use of materials in a way that has the greatest impact on kids. So you see that throughout our data metrics plan. You also see that reflected in how um strongly our special education students are doing in meeting their individual um IEP goals. You'll also see a celebration that also is a topic tonight that we're talking about, but is the expansion of our multilingual and advanced learning opportunities. Um, we have seen over the years that we have a lot of students at the high school who are very committed to language and take our bilingual seal test and assessment and we have very high data points on that and we're excited that we continue to grow our opportunities in our elementary that then will start transferring to our middle schools. And then we just really want to highlight the data as a systemwide celebration that ourCCL data is showing increasing number of students reporting trusted adults and excitement for learning. Then some systemwide challenge that are consistent through the entire report. Um one is that we are accelerating the growth for our students who are below grade level. um and really leaning in there as to what systems we have in place, what resources we're using, and what strategies we're using to recognize that that might take a couple of years, but that we're being very intentional in accelerating the growth for our students who are bel below grade level. Also, we have continued access, achievement, and belonging gaps for certain subgroups that you see throughout the report. Um, and then continued focus. Even though we are excited about our steady increase in our academics, we know that we always need to continue to focus on tier one instruction and um, what's happening in the classroom and really supporting our teachers with all these new resources that we just talked about. They're phenomenal. They're great for teachers to have and they are a lot as chair Gabler recognized with benchmark. so that we don't want ever want to lose sight of the support we want to provide for teachers in our system with the new new implementations in tier one. So with those um things highlighted and with the report in front of you, what questions and can we answer? What feedback do you have? And just a reminder to the public, the board had a chance to review this document and the next document at our October work session and I'll also ask questions and probe deeper on the data that's in this report. Board members, do you have additional questions um about the report that weren't answered maybe next week or next month or last month? Um any additional director? Um it's really more of a comment um that I made in the teaching and learning committee and and I think on our work session. The one thing I really en enjoy about this report is that it's it's very clear about what targets we're meeting, what targets we're not meeting, where we're on target, where we're not on target, so on so forth. That this is a honest, transparent assessment of all the different things that we had set in our data metrics plan where that's at. Um that's it should be the standard. It should be the expectation of everyone from that standpoint. And it certainly met my I think when we talked last month, I talked about how that's that's a very um important element of building trust in the system for any stakeholder of any parent of any you know staff member whatever it might be. This isn't meant to be calling out you know an error or a problem that an individual has or someone. it's more systemic as to okay we we have some challenges as any place does here's what we're trying to do about it and here's how our where growth is is happening from that standpoint so and again I think I what I said last month was in the data metrics itself right because that's a new process that's been developed over some of our our tenure on the board um it continues to to execute in a manner that allows us to give us the information that we need to have about these things and then be able to articulate Okay, where we need still more help as we then get into the next one for 2527. Are there resources? Are there things that we need to be doing differently? Are there other supports that we need to be able to provide or prioritize from a board standpoint or administrative standpoint to be able to ensure that we're keep making progress on our goals towards that? But that we're never actually satisfied with the goals themselves. That we always want to continue to improve from where that's at. So even where we have met goals, it's not like, oh, Gary, pat ourselves on the back and then let's forget about it. No, we have to keep making the same amount of progress to maintain those goals um where we are and then where do we want to go from there? So, it's just a really important contextual part of the data metrics plan and what the team has been doing and that if you really look at this report and really try to ascertain and understand it, there's a lot that's here. Um and um you can find what you're looking for, I think, fairly easily, but at the same time, it can also bring up a thousand other questions about where you want to go. So, I just wanted to call that out. Thank you. >> Thank you, Director Birdman. I think um I sincerely want to thank Greg for all the work he does to make this visible and um actionable. And so, without the work behind the scenes, we wouldn't be able to have that transparency and we wouldn't be able to continue to grow and improve for our students. Um, I also I'm going to point out one piece where when we were when I was reviewing this today, Ann updated this report specifically because there was one chart that was title literacy and it had math data. It's one of the first very first ones. So, just want to point that out that that's different than what you saw on Friday or over the weekend whenever you first viewed it. Um, so because there is so much data, every time we look at it, there is something new brought to the surface. I do want to thank you for this and Greg, I know how much work you've put into making this data attainable and we've seen that growth over the time that we've many of us have been on the board and this report really gets at what our job is which is governance of student outcomes and we're able to look at this and we've measured we've found a way to measure the things that we lots of different things lots as as director Bman said. So, thank you for the work that you've put into making this digestible. We're setting goals. Um, and then we're going to get to hear about how we're building on those goals from the report that we've had. So, thank you both. Any other questions on this board members? All right, then let's talk about 25 2025 2027. >> All right. Well, um, just to kind of give you an overview or introduction into the 2527 plan is it's kind of a continuation of the 2325 plan but with some modifications because of uh changes systemically or areas where we felt that we wanted to look at different data points specifically around the SEAL area. So this particular report maintains the same type of structure. uh the the focus areas remain uh pretty much the same, but the data elements within them might be just a little bit differently. So, I encourage you to when you're looking through this report to really take a peek at those data elements to see what uh maybe it is that we're measuring uh I'd say probably 90% of the data elements that are referenced there um are continuation from the from the previous plan. So, that's good. So again, the kind of those same focus areas of English language arts, math, science, social and emotional learning, uh the unique uh learners, college and career ready, uh and then within each of those there's kind of a rationale for why we picked them uh and then uh the data elements and then the goal that we'll use to measure those. So um there is a a pretty substantial change to the way that the data is organized in that uh in previous full uh year data metrics reports. You you got basically four different sections you got early learning K5 68 912 and within each one of those uh you had uh you know all of the different report elements for their specific areas. uh with the the change in looking at it from a content uh area lens, you actually get an added benefit of vertical alignment which gives us some things where we can look at each data point uh systemically, right? Uh if it's a K12 uh element, if it's a uh if it's a 68 element or 35 element, right? You can look at it systemically as as a whole. But then you can actually in the chart right below the hole is the gradeband data. So you can see how is how are our our unique grade bands doing on the different uh assessments. Uh then this is a new ad to this uh this next iteration of the plan is now you can look at it by grade as well. So you can see how are our third grade students doing on their universal screening assessments or how are they doing on that first MCA that they uh that they take. Um, so lots of uh lots of changes uh and more data to to um to see and and Director Bergman, you you you nailed it right on the head and that this this report is all about transparency and that if we truly want to live out each and every right, we can't hide behind certain things. The only limiting factor in in all of these reports are where enrolled numbers of students are less than 20. And that's, you know, good practice and policy to redact that information. But as as we grow into this report, we're starting to see a lot more things like the first iteration of this report, we didn't have a lot of prior e data, right? because we didn't have a robust numbers of uh uh prior eelss. But when you look at that prior eel data now, it's exciting to see that when we get those kids out of EL service and out of the monitoring period, they thrive. They they take off and soar and and meet or exceed their uh their non-ELL counterpart. So, it's there's just so many different exciting uh elements to kind of look at. And um let's see. Well, I kind of said that. So, with that, um um yeah, we'll just open it up for questions. I am not nearly as polished as Jod. >> That's very good. >> Yeah, >> I love the excitement. [laughter] >> Director Barry, um hi, thank you for this. Um I'm just curious, can you talk a little bit about how the new goal percentages are determined? Um you know, obviously we want something challenging but achievable. How do we determine what that might be? >> Yeah, I think there was uh you know working in conjunction with kind of the curriculum leads of those areas. So Mark Carlson, Bethy Vanto, and really uh working in conjunction with other uh leaders, you know, for other areas, building principles, you know, we kind of just got together and um we in the first goound of this plan, we found that there were some things that we didn't really quite fully understand as it related to some of these elements where you'll see in the 23 to 25 uh plan where We expected huge results and we came in right at what the national normed averages would be for those. Right. So uh so we were really conscientious around how you know working with uh the extended knowledge that we have now around the assessments and the and the goal areas to really be mindful of picking values that were uh attainable. >> Thank you both. Appreciate it. Thank you. And we're gonna keep Jod up here a little bit longer. Um, it's kind of your month, >> right? Right. >> All right. Uh, and now we're going to move on to the next item, which is the comprehensive achievement and civic civic readiness report. And for those of you following along at home, you may know this as the world's best workforce, but it's changed names. >> Yes. Thank you for that, Chair Gabler. >> Um, okay. So, it is exciting to be here and have the opportunity to share multiple reports with you that come together and are aligned and connected. I think it just highlights it gives us another opportunity and another focus on highlighting the amazing work that's happening in in Edina and it's happening with so much intentionality and collaboration. So, as we look at the comprehensive achievement and civic readiness report, it is directly connected to our vision statement and our mission statement. It is um a new title to what was, as Chair Gabler noted, was formerly known as World's Best Workforce. Um, it is a two-year plan that directly aligns with the Adina data metrics plan that we just reviewed. Um, it direct directly ties in with the curriculum updates that we provided tonight. And it, um, allows us to work under these five goal areas and report to the state as well as our community on some progress that is um, not as broad as the data metrics plan. Some of the goals are exactly the same and some we're able to drill down in a little bit more uh a little bit different fashion. So tonight what I'm going to do is provide a progress update on the 2325. It was at that time world's best workforce plan but midway through it changed in title. So I'm going to provide you a progress update on that. And then I'm also going to show you what we are um designing for the 2527 um comprehensive achievement and civic readiness goals. Um I will be reporting those to the state um mid December. So most of them are complete and ready to go, but with some of the adjustments in the goal areas, we're just really trying to be intentional and lean in and get some more community or get some more stakeholder feedback on one of the goal areas. So, let's look at the 2325 goal progress update. Um, over the next two slides, and you have in your board packet, you're going to see that there are five goals that were set um in 2023 for the 2325 plan. And we met one of those five goals. That is the first goal. Um the ne and that is the ready for kindergarten goal. And so this goal reflects our students that were in the early learning center and they're then went to Edina in kindergarten and their kindergarten fastbridge universal screening data. That's what that goal reflects. Then our next um two goals on this slide were not met. Um and yet despite that and I I I encourage us to look at the patterns over time. So if we look back at that first 2325 data metrics plan, you can see with um both of these goals, specifically the gaps closed with our EL growth that we started with a certain data point in 23, that data point did increase in 24 and then went slightly down in 25. And so as we learn um how we are going to engage in this transparent data, as we lean into new strategies, um that that definitely sometimes happens, right? So, we can look back and look at the celebrations in 24. Um, we can look at what changed for 25 and continue to evolve and grow. But I do want to point out that there's pockets there that are still worth celebrating despite not meeting the goals. And so then also with the 20 um this second slide here with the 2325 goals, there's a college and career ready goal and then a graduate goal. the college and career ready goal in 2325. We focused on biology and we saw the same pattern there that the first data point in 23 was at a certain data point. It went up in 24 and then slightly down in 25. This goal is really um I don't want to say aspirational, I'm just going to say very high. um our students really are about 78% of them um yep 78.79% are achieving this goal which is really phenomenal if we think about systems um and and the goals we have but we do want to continue to set high goals and and so that is why we're at 82% and then the graduate goal this one med made steady increases all the way through those those couple of years so the first 23 data point to the 24 grew to the 25 grew And again 98% graduating an aspirational goal and yet it's one that we want to maintain at a high aspirational level because it really um helps us dig into each and every so that that's the progress update. Um as we look to the 2527 CACR goals um we are artic I'm going to articulate these I'll articulate some patterns that are um surfacing that we have in mind and why we establish the goals or I'll work towards why we establish the goals but even more specifically the action steps that we're working towards meeting those goals. Um and these are um these are the new CACR goal areas. So through the slides you'll see all children are ready for school is the same. You'll see that all racial and economic achievement gaps between students are closed which also aligns with achievement integration. And then you'll um see instead of all students are reading for third grade um we have the new read act goal that all students are reading at every grade level. that's not pulled out here any any longer the way it was. But there's a new goal which is number five which all students are prepared to be lifelong learners. And then three and four are um are the same. All students are ready for career in college and all students graduate from high school. Okay. So that's the that's a little bit of the shift from the title world's best workforce to CACR2 that there was some tweaks to the goals that they created. So the first goal all children um ready for school. We have kept the same metrics. So, we still want to continue to see how our kindergarteners in Edina who were at our early learning family center do in their first fall universal screener. Um, so we have a percentage for that. I'm going to, as I mentioned, I'm going to really go into the action steps and a high level as best as I can, but to give you what like with these aspirational goals, what looks different in our action steps and what we're building on. So, we have um in the early learning center, the building leadership team has set new goals for their four-year-olds in literacy and their 5-year-olds. They have broken those down and have two separate goal areas. they are working very very hard to get a system in place to support teachers to make sure we're collecting the accurate data so that we know where the students are and then we're able once we have that accurate data um which TS gold is the is the tool we use in the early learning center and we've done a great job with it over the last couple of years and it can be a subjective assessment because remember devel they're early learners so developmentally this looks different and So in that subjectivity over time things can just go down a different path than what's expected. So it's just really a reset in providing the PD that the teachers need whether they've been here a while and things just went a little bit differently than they were originally intended or if they're new to our system. So that team is working incredibly hard and in fact just we just got some celebration data of how well our teachers are doing with that accurate data collection. And once we have that accurate data collection in place, then we're able to go back and target the instruction that our students need and align it with the letters training that the staff have gotten down in our early learning center as well as the resources that they have. We'll do a like check-in with the resources this spring. And then I also want to point out that the ELC is an area that is a priority focus for the board this year. So I know we'll have some action steps that come out of that um that we will work to align to the school. Okay. So then um the next area for CACR is close all racial and economic gaps. These three goals are specific to our three areas that have the largest gaps academically. And so it's our African-American black students, our Hispanic, Latino students, and then our free and reduced lunch students. We want to be very, very intentional. And we are targeting middle school. And middle school is doing phenomenal work. But here again, as you can imagine, developmentally when those gaps are there for students in middle school, it's a hard it's just harder to close them, right? You catch a kindergartener early and you get going right away and those the gaps close quicker. So, we are working very closely with the middle school. Um, an exciting thing that's happening this year is that study sync is in its second year of implementation. We always improve in our second year of implementation. So that that's a core classroom or a tier one action step. And then a tier 2 action step is that there is a new diagnostic assessment that we just tried out in the fall that we'll be all implementing for all fourth through 12th graders in ELA in the winter and it's called CAPI. It's probably saw that within some of the data metrics reports. So when I talked about a universal screener earlier on, that universal screener gives us a a place of where our students on grade level are not. And once we know they're not, then we need to dig deeper and figure out where are the gaps happening for them or where are the challenges. So that CAPD will be a diagnostic that will help us understand what our middle school literacy learners need with a more targeted focus and we'll be able to get the resources that match that. Um, Reedact has some resources that they just approved, literally that just got put out. So, we're able to start leaning into that. Um, and we're just teaming with the middle school to get middle school also is a little more challenging than elementary to find the time and the systems within the students days to do these interventions that are tier 2. So, I I'm really excited about where we're evolving in new action steps in that area. Um, keep us moving along here. So, I'm not talking too long. Next is college and career ready. Um, with college and career ready, we have three different goal areas. I'm going to point out that the first goal we picked to be pre-calculous instead of biology, and that's because we're in a math review. So, we're just starting exploration with math with aligning what we're doing in our system with new standards. So, action steps that are targeted will come out of that math review. And this is an area that has seen some really great growth over the last couple of years. So, it's always fun to build on that growth. Then we continue we'll continue to lean into ACT and I'll work with the high school team to what we can target with action steps there. We're kind we're still working that out. Um and then goal three I want to note very specifically this is a bilingual seal goal. Um, in our last data metrics plan in relation to bilingual seal, if you remember, there was just a number a number of students that would pass the bilingual seal and then we increased that number. This year, we sat down and said, "Okay, we got we can't just keep increasing that number, right? Like I could increase that number by 40 and there aren't even that many students that take the test. So, how could I say that's how many will pass?" So what we did was we took the number of 12th graders that are in that would have the opportunity to take the bilingual seal that are in a world language and then we did a percentage. So we did 80% of that total number and we chose 80% because within a MTSS system we really 80% is our goal that kids are are at. Um so then that we can target the other 20%. So talking fast and furious, I almost want to pause for questions now, but I I'm almost done. So all students graduate from high school here. You'll just note that we have broken um goal two, three, and four down to be specific to um some demographic groups. And by targeting those groups and continuing to lean in with our high school team and our counselors, um we feel really strongly that we can increase that end outcome from or the end outcome to 98% for all students. Again, it aligns with our vision, right? Each and every note with both the um the last one, the college and career ready as well as graduate from high school um that we have the high school as a focus area of the boards as well this year. So inevitably we're excited about some action steps that will come out of that that can directly align. And then finally almost done. Thank you. Our last one is all prepared to be lifelong learners. And this is the specific one that I don't have a goal quite set yet. Um I've met with our CACR committee and we've started talking about this. I've um the counselors met and did some discussions around it um for me. So um I've talked to our high school admin team. Um, we are just really kind of trying to lean in. It's a really important goal. We don't want to add too much new to our system. So, we're looking at what might be within our system. That can also help us measure and then help our students work towards that end measurement. So, this one is a work in progress, but um it's been fun to engage with people and collaborate on it so far. And I'm really confident we'll get to a good place by the time this needs to be submitted to the state. The fi the final slides really highlight overarching strategies just that we continue to try to align our work with the um with our strategic plan. Um we continue to align it with our Adina comprehensive assessment plan which I hope you've seen throughout the reports that we shared here tonight. Reminder that the data metrics plan at the top level, right, also feeds into our building plans. So those building plans are connected and every time a building plan is specific and connected it accelerates student um outcomes. And then this I know this is tiny but with in our work in professional development our two key big rocks we call them areas of focus are CPSS which is about equity and access for all achievement for all at the highest levels and then we talk a lot about MTSS which is multi-tered systems of support and definitely an education acronym that can get a little bit confusion confusing but you see it throughout the data metrics plan as well. So with that, are there any questions, thoughts, feedback? >> I just wanted to give some feedback and say thank you for your work. Um I was excited to see, you know, to see with our goals, see our commitments, new strategies, and kind of see where staff are just really committed and to reaching those goals. And for me, it's helpful to see just those areas of hard work where people are really digging in. um which is, you know, nobody likes to see when we're not hitting those goals or that those gaps exist, but um knowing that we are committed to to really getting after it is is is always really great to see. So, I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Um just a question about the ready for kindergarten piece. >> Um how does the ELC students compare to the non-ELLC students? Are they at equal percentages or are we performing better or worse? >> That's a good question. So last year's data is equal to or even a little better. This year's data, this um fall's data took a little bit of a drop and I actually have not compared it. So I want to be really careful there. Um I know it dropped it. It was like in the mid70s as a starting point. It would be reflected in how we wrote that goal. I think maybe 76. So it's a great followup to see that. And then the second question is like >> do you keep continuing to track that progression like to third grade and say non versus um ELC or no? >> No, but that's a great idea. >> Okay. >> Thanks. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> I had just a general question um kind of the overarching umbrella of the five reports or however many reports you've given us this evening. um especially when I think of our younger students, how do we engage our families in those goals? Because I think about um some of the students that maybe are there's gaps. I mean, all parents want their kids to succeed, right? >> And I think about some of my colleagues up here. We all went through ECF together and we're you're learning how to be engaged with your kids and how to set them up for success. Is there um are there conversations that happen when we're talking about um closing some of those gaps or all students really about how we're engaging parents? Because I think sometimes as educators we forget that like we might know things that >> maybe everybody else doesn't know like how important it is to you know read with your kid every night and how competing technology is today with families. And so, you know, as we have our teachers working so hard on closing these gaps, engaging families as well in empowering them to be a big part of that >> with their child too to help them set them up for success. Is that something that >> there's conversation around or consistency across sites? Yeah. >> In how they do that. >> It's a really good question and a good reminder, right, of our um priority areas and our comprehensive literacy plan. Community partnership is one of them. And so we lean in there um primarily with our elementarymentaries. And so it's a good reminder of like, okay, where can we be leaning in there in our other areas? Now, our early learning center that is such a foundation of what they do um and could we be collaborating alongside them a little bit more with some specific strategies that align with the new research. Right? So, um I don't want to negate that that just happens so innately and so intentionally in our early learning center than in our elementary schools. Um a lot of that conversation happens at conferences, right, or in conversations with our our parents and we've found some really exciting resources this year that our lit coaches have been sharing at the buildings. Um MDE actually came out with a phenomenal resource. It's um a parent toolkit I think is the I don't know the exact title um but we reviewed it and it really aligns with new instructional pedagogy with the science of reading and so as we come across these resources we are definitely sharing them and I do think we could be doing um so with more intentionality and consistency and expanding that through all grade levels and all components of our system. So great question. Thank you for that and explaining a little bit more. >> All right, then we will move on. Thank you for these reports and thank you for all the work that you and your team have done to get them ready and um present them to the board this evening. >> Thank you. >> All right, then we will move on to our next discussion item which is middle school placement of Spanish dual language programming and interim superintendent Dr. Dan Bitman is going to take us through that conversation. >> Madame Chair, members of the board, those in the audience, and all of our families, um we continue to look at um middle school placement, something that the school district has been talking about for a few years now, and we've been working hard to um evaluate the various components that come with that. As part of that, we've also recently provided an opportunity to gather feedback from our families, uh, from our staff in the STL program as well as staff at the middle school in both South View and Valley View. So, the information I shared with you and which was discussed previously at a work session is really just to provide an update of some information. We will be bringing a conversation, a recommendation later this year for the board to consider, but want to continue to provide opportunities for listening sessions, particularly with our staff who have some different ideas around logistical things and programming. The key priorities primarily from the families and the SDL staff really were about continuity and hoping that the district placed the program at the feeder school which would be Valley View. Part of that, as you have seen and discussed at the work session, really relates to keeping families together, logistics around transportation, making sure that siblings go to the same school, etc. And so you can see a lot of different ways that was said in terms of the survey, but that's that's primarily their major focus. Also, in thinking about that, they're very adamant and want to make sure that we continue to have excellent programming and high academic standards as well as making sure that we have aligned programming as well as our providing professional development not only to teachers within that program but to all teachers because this would be unique at the middle school. from an employee feedback standpoint because the 49 teachers that responded, 47 of those did not have students in the program. So, theirs was more about systematic questions and things that they encouraged us to think about. um a few of those different pro a few of the different ideas really related to or wondering if the program should be at both sites or if one of the programs the language programs whether it be the immersion or SDL be split at the different sites so that there were programs in different places but similarly to the staff and family feedback there were was a lot of conversation about keeping our standards really high making sure that there was alignment making sure that we provided opportunities for staff to learn and grow around these programs. And again, there was a lot of alignment between the different surveys. They also want to make sure that we're thinking about and learning with some of our staff about some of the challenges or opportunities that come with scheduling and just programming having certain and unique programming at a site. So, we'll continue to do that. Um, within that there are lists of pros and cons for each of the middle school placement, but in general, people are really making sure that we're thoughtful about communication, that we continue to share information about how families can engage, how staff can engage, that we're keeping folks updated on the things that we're doing. They also want to make sure that we're providing clarity around the academics in terms of clear expectations that we are involving our community to make sure that we're uh bringing them along and being able to listen to their ideas. And then also they want us to be thinking about a long-term a long-term vision. You know, would the district ever consider future programming bely the middle school rather? And so there was a real commitment to the program, real excitement about the program, hope for the program. Uh and we have some other decisions to make as the year goes on. But our commitment will continue to be learning with our stakeholders. And the next steps for our team would be a little learn a little bit more about the logistical feedback we got from the middle school staff so they can we can make sure that we're incorporating incorporating that into any recommendation we come to the board. With that, I'd be happy to take any questions. And a reminder to the public, this was discussed, as Dr. Bitman said, at the work session this evening. So, the board has had a chance to ask some questions, give some feedback to Dr. Bitman um for further conversations that will happen about this topic. Board members, was there anything else that you wanted to make sure you asked or I think it's just important maybe to try to summarize maybe what the comments were in the work session. that might be helpful since we're now here again sort of hearing this information and so on so forth. Um, I'm not saying I need to do that, but I'll I'll just sort of provide this in the sense of I what I took away from the meeting, please correct me if I'm wrong, is that um the fact that we had two different groups. We had the parents and we had uh staff who both had incredibly very valid and important things that they talked about and they highlighted and that were important to them in terms of through this process and eventually getting to recommendation and a decision by the board that I what I took away from our conversation in the work session was that we see the merit of both parts and the challenge will then be figuring out you know how do we it's going to be hard to split the difference because you're talking about two different locations and things and so on so forth but that we would look forward to the administration being able to provide us with a clear recommendation based on the priorities that were established from that discussion. Um the fact that we got that type of information um was really great. I we I think what I heard in the room was this this notion that wow it was really great to get that level of detail and understanding and I think the presentation that Dr. provided really helped the board members who are not intimately involved in that process uh get a good feel for where there's um opportunity and tension in terms of how what's the best way to move forward with where we're going to place SDL going forward into middle school. Um so I just wanted to at least say that given that if we're not going to say anything now other than what we already said, you know, two hours ago, I just thought it would be appropriate to at least try to summarize that. So hopefully I did a fairly decent job of summarizing it, but if I missed something, I would encourage anyone else to chime in, please. >> Thank you, Director Birdman. Uh, seeing no other questions, we will move on to our final discussion item for this evening. Don't worry, we have action after that, so we're not done yet. Uh we have one policy up for discussion this evening and I am going to turn it over to uh director man who is part of the policy committee to walk us through policy 911. >> Thank you madam chair. I'm filling in for uh vice chair Alenberg who is not with us tonight but as always our policies have been reviewed by the policy committee with an eye toward clarity district practice and alignment with state and federal statutes. They have also been reviewed and aligned with MSBA model policy. I also want to thank department specialist Paulie BS as always for her work with the policy committee as well. Tonight we have policy 911 district volunteers. Uh policy 911 was brought forward in this year's normal cycle for full review. There were no MSBA redline changes for it. Uh sections one and section two were revised to replace some current language which with the language proposed by Dr. Amarie Leland. Um if there's any questions we can go from there. I have a question. Um, so in the policy, uh, we talk about how volunteers are managed by district employees, um, departments, programs, community ed, and PTOs. And then um down the line when it talks about volunteer management um we have the list and we've got uh criminal background checks listed on there. So I'm just curious, are we suggesting that for a parent to volunteer for their PTO's book fair, we need everybody to have a criminal background check for those things? >> And I welcome uh director of community education and strategic partnerships Dr. Ann Marie Lynn to join us. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here and we welcome all of our volunteers. So, thanks for asking that question. If you go down to the appendix, which is on the last page of this policy, that's what helps us guide the process around what it is that that person's coming in to do. And if they're a casual volunteer, there really is nothing that we need to do for them in terms of a background check. It's when people come in to do one- on-one with students or they're going to be left in small groups, that's when we start to need to make sure that we've got a safe as safe of environment as possible for our children. >> Does that Thank you. Yes, I appreciate that clarification. I did not read the appendix, but I appreciate that it is there. Um because I know coming up with volunteers for those events is a struggle and I would not want to put more of a hardship on on that situation. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> I just have a follow-up question um based on the volunteers and the background check only because I just recently did all of this for a volunteer program for high school students this past week. Um there's a cost associated with doing criminal background checks and so on so forth, whatever it is. And so, um they're really important, especially when you're talking about the one-on-one or very small groups of things where you have any adult who's working with any child. Um, I'm just curious as to do we have any idea of like how many volunteers or people that were running through that process in that area and a budgetary item to that? I'm just curious as to I don't need to have that answer tonight. Okay. you you can feel free to text it to me or email it to me, but um I'm just curious about that just because I've personally went through this >> that they're pretty important. Um and how we then document that we have that so that we can understand what we're doing knowing that they're not perfect, but that they are really good indicator of uh very specific things so we only have people that are appropriate working with our children. >> Yeah. And and Oh, sorry. >> No, you go ahead, >> Mr. Bourbon. Happy to get that number not only for you but for the board in a future update. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> That's what I was going to say. That's great. >> Any other question? >> One quick question for tier three volunteers in the appendix. Um it says district sponsored sports or activities. Does that apply to um clubs and like things where there's independent contractors? So like some of the non MSHL MSS MHSL sports like rugby or Frisbee and those types of things that are independent contractor led does that um do they fall under the same policy? >> They do not. Okay. >> Just district sponsored. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other discussion? >> Thank you. Seeing none. Thank you board members. Thank you. >> Oh, you're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we're moving on to the action portion of our board meeting. And the first item up for action is the Hold on, I lost my place. Is the uh do I have a motion to approve the authority to issue general obligation refunding bonds series 2025A? >> So moved. >> Birdman. Is there a second? >> Second. Director man, I welcome up Mert Woodard, director of finance and operation to discuss this item with us. Welcome. Good evening, Chair Al Chair Gabler, excuse me, members of the school board, uh, Superintendent Bitman. Um, this item is a follow-up from the October 21st work session where it was first introduced. The school board has the ability to issue general obligation refunding bonds that would refund and refinance at a lower interest rate providing debt service savings for resident taxpayers the 2017 A um bonds. Um so tonight we're actually seeking formal approval to do so and we're seeking actually kind of two action items within the one action item. One, the authority to engage our municipal adviserss to take public sale and market those bonds and two to approve the parameters under which that sale would occur. In other words, the minimum debt service savings that must be achieved by the sale in order to move on with that. The resolution included in tonight's materials achieves both of achieves both of those requests. However, since last month's work session, there have been a couple of different items um which will alter perhaps the pace at which we move with this refunding. The first of which is something that um I think many of you are already aware of is the federal shutdown. um the longer that that has gone on and the more inadequate and incomplete um economic um and jobs data that the Federal Reserve is receiving from the current administration is causing a little bit of uncertainty in the markets which has caused um a slight uptick in in interest rates. Also, for the last several months, the markets have kind of baked in two interest rate reductions of 25 basis points each. At last month's Federal Reserve meeting, we did receive a 25 um basis point rate cut, which was again expected. However, something that was a little bit unexpected were the rather hawkish or pessimistic comments made by um Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. He indicated that a second rate cut at December the December 10th meeting is no longer a certainty. So, the markets have kind of reacted to that and rates have risen a little bit. Um therefore, lowering the expected um refunding savings that we were going to achieve of about 230 to $250,000. As of last week, that number was reduced to $178,000. So, under the guidance and expertise of our municipal advisors, we're going to slow this down a little bit and wait till um the dust settles. We had an election last week. Apparently, um progress is being made on a reopening of the federal government and the passage of a budget. Um were those things to come to fruition, we would expect that those rates would come back down a little bit. Of course, if a another rate cut occurred in December, that would be favorable as well. And so, we're hoping to get um a little bit of a better refunding. Uh, and so we'll wait on that. Just a few more weeks. With that, I'll take any questions. One more um note. Um, if this refunding were to be executed in January instead, we'd just have to retitle it to series 2026A instead of the 2025A that's in your board packets. So, just to be clear that so we we are being asked to take an action tonight or we're asking or we're saying that we're going to delay this until that period of time. I just want to clarify that. >> Thank you for the question, Director Burman. We are still asking you to give us the authority to seek um rates and and make that sale if the opportunity presents itself. Um we're >> a minimum savings of 180,000. >> The minimum rates in their board pack tonight are actually $150,000. >> Oh. Um were we to miss the February 1st call date, um we would unfortunately be unable to execute this sale. So we're aligning ourselves to be as flexible as possible so that we can at least achieve some savings for taxpayers. Um hopefully we'll be closer to that $250,000 mark that we originally anticipated um or rates not to cooperate, we still want to execute and take those savings. >> Got it. Thank you. Mr. Wood, do you um so is February 1st the date when we would know if it's go or no go? >> No, it would likely be several weeks before that. February 1 is simply the date on which we have to make our principal payments. >> Okay. >> And so once that date passes, we we then cannot execute the the sale. >> So if we approve tonight and then the threshold and I appreciate you coming forward with a recommendation given the uncertainty in the markets right now. Um so we would approve it tonight and then you we would I'm sure get an update through you or Dr. Bitman whether it was you know once we get closer to that >> absolutely we'll continue to monitor the markets with our municipal adviserss Dr. Bitman and I will execute a ratings call with Moody's and if the sale um does go through and we market those successfully a ratification resolution would come back to the school board. >> Great. Thank you and again appreciate your work on this and keeping an eye on things and making a recommendation for us. Board members, any other questions? Okay. Then we will um we will now vote to approve the authority to issue general obligation refunding bonds series 2025A. All those in favor of approving the refunding bond say I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed? The board has given authority to issue general obligation refunding bonds for series 2025A. Thank you, Director Woodard. Uh, do I have a motion to approve the 2025 2027 health service associate collective bargaining agreement? >> So moved. >> Director Man. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Director Hooie. I welcome uh direct executive director of human resources Sonia Sailor and Mert Woodard, director of finance and operation to present this agreement with us to us. >> Thank you. Um, Chair Gabler, Dr. Bitman, members of the school board, we are pleased to announce that our health service associates, also known as our district's HSAs, have ratified a tenative agreement that is before you tonight for a new 2-year collective bargaining agreement um to begin effective July 1, 2025 and extend through June 30th of 2027. A special thank you to Miriam Campbell, who is our HSA at Creek Valley, um, and our chief negotiator for our HSA group, for her work and dedication to this important process. You've been provided with a summary of the details of the tenative agreement in your board packet. Financial highlights include step advancement for eligible HSAs in both years of the contract, a 3% increase to the wave schedule for nonRNHSAs in 2526, and a 2.6% increase in 2627. Our RNHSAs will receive a 2% increase in both years of the contract. retroactive application of all wage increases back to July 1, 2025 um and the addition of five paid holidays for all HSAs beginning in the second year of the agreement. Language was modified to allow the school district to schedule additional duty days were necessary for HSA professional development or other reasons with a 30-day advanced notice. This 2-year total package for the agreement is 1,23,074, which represents an increase of $96,181. And using the Minnesota School Board Association's costing formula, that's a 2-year package increase of 8.75%. This tenative agreement is within the authority um provided to us the district's negotiations team by the school board and as a result we seek your approval for this agreement. Do you have any questions? Thank you to the two of you for the work on this as well as your partners in the HSA department. All right, seeing no question, board members, we will now vote to approve the 2025 2027 health service associate collective bargaining agreement. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed? The 2025 2027 health service associate collective bargaining agreement is approved. Thank you. All right, we're moving back to policies and we have two batches of policies this evening. Our first batch is for um quick review and I will let director man I will turn it over to director man to talk a little bit about that. But first do I have a motion to approve policies 513 519 601 620 625 62713 and 9:05. >> So moved. >> Director Birdman. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Director man. Uh director man I will turn it over you to you to talk about these policies. Uh, district policy 208, development, adoption, and implementation of policies, allows for the adoption of policies if there are no significant changes. With that in mind, the following eight policies are being recommended for action. The following policies have been reviewed with an eye toward clarity, district practice, and alignment with state and federal statutes, and there are minimal to no changes in these eight policies. >> Board members, any questions about the policies that are up for quick review? And I did note that a lot of times they're just quick little legislative changes that something in a footnote that needs to be changed. So nothing substantial that when a policy comes through. >> Just want to thank board member representation on that committee, Vice Chair Allenberg, Director Hooie, as well as Director Man for their thoughtfulness in reviewing this. they spend a lot of time as well as cabinet members just working hard to make sure it's it supports our systems and our goals. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you for that. All right. Uh we will now vote to approve policies 513, 519, 601, 620, 625, 627, 713, and 905. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Policies 513, 519, 601, 620, 625, 6277, 713, and 905 are approved. >> Do I have a motion to approve policies 602, 606.5, 624, and 903? >> So moved. >> Director Man moved and uh director Arum second. Director Man. >> Uh, we have a few policies that we previously discussed at our October 13th meeting that are now set for action. Uh, 602 606.5 624 903 if there are any questions. Otherwise >> and no substantial changes since last. >> No, no substantial changes since October 13th. >> Perfect. Thank you. And I agree, policy committee, you've been busy. So, thank you. Uh, we'll now vote to approve policy 602, 606.5, 624, and 903. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Policy 602, 606.5, 624, and 903 are approved. All right, moving towards the end here. Board members, do you have any leadership or committee updates? Director Arum. >> Uh, just an update um from the legislative action committee. Um we are hosting a legislative breakfast as we do every year with all of our elected representatives as well as um prospective representatives sometimes. Um and that is January 23rd 7:30 to 8:30 in the morning. There'll be more information forthcoming, but um if anybody is interested in meeting our representatives or um advocating on behalf of United Public Schools, um please feel free to attend. Thanks. I had uh two reminders. Um a reminder to the public that we have a stakeholder survey for the superintendent search open until November 19th. And so interested parties, if you haven't taken the survey, please do. You can find the link on our website under the superintendent search tab at the top. And the the survey is open to students, uh parents, guardians, community members, staff, and so um if you're watching this, you're a stakeholder. So, please take that survey. Uh we also have some listening sessions coming up in the next two weeks. Uh those dates and links for RSVPs can be found on the same superintendent search tab. And a reminder that these sessions are for the search firm to listen to what stakeholders have to share above and beyond what they may have shared in the survey. And if people are unable to attend the the session that they fall into, for example, preK through fifth grade families, they are welcome to attend another session for either families or the community session. So we want people to know how they can participate and attend any session available. And then my last announcement was that um Director Aram when you said non MSLHSL teams, we have a very robust mountain biking team that did very well this fall and their longtime coach and one of the coaches that started that program. I believe uh Mike Hartman was named uh the Minnesota mountain biking coach of the year. So I wanted to make sure that we recognize and show a little love there. So Dr. Bitman. >> So much to celebrate the end of the fall season. So just an amazing opportunity to see our kids. And thank you to all of our families and community members, our board members who have been part of those celebrations. This last week I had the opportunity to participate in the play which was amazing, the Mean Girls play. So fun to see how much work goes into that and the amazing kids. Also had an opportunity to go to section swim and section dive. our athletes and all of these programs put so much time and energy, not to mention parent time with transportation and funding and all the things they do to support. So, just really a proud moment for our community, the great things happening not only in these three areas but throughout our district. And as many have noted tonight, just so much to celebrate and so many offerings. Couple other things. You'll notice our art display art display from Highlands, Concord, and Creek Valley. So, make sure that you take some time to do that. And I also had a report on our commenation of national merit scholarship honores but I know that you spoke about that as well. That's an amazing accomplishment to have so many students and families as well as just staff who have guided and supported our kids throughout. So look forward to celebrating each and every one of them and hope our community can do that as well. Thank you. >> I have a motion to adjourn our meeting. >> So moved. >> Director man. Is there a second? >> Second. Director Arum, we will vote to adjourn the meeting. All those in favor say I. I. >> Anyone opposed? The motion is passed and the November 10th, 2025 board meeting has adjourned. Thank you.