[5:05] good evening ladies and gentlemen [5:14] good evening ladies and gentlemen uh good evening tonight is monday october 11th and we do have a quorum so [5:20] i will call this meeting to order director shaw is unable to join us tonight so she is not here [5:26] the first order of business tonight is agenda approval do i have a motion to approve the agenda [5:32] so moved second so um that was a director wallin friedman that moved it and director fox [5:38] that was the second we will now vote to approve tonight's agenda all those in favor say aye aye [5:45] anyone opposed i'm dr stanley would you like to review tonight's agenda for us [5:52] absolutely chair ellenberg so this evening we have uh first of all an [5:58] excellence in action we're really excited to highlight the schools again and they're going we have a couple of schools [6:04] including principal atoya pryor and principal chris holden and their teams are going to talk about some efforts [6:10] that they've made this school year to make certain that our students are acclimating [6:16] into this new school year post being out of school and distance learning we have [6:22] leaders from the cabinet who are going to be talking about our [6:29] comprehensive learning plan professional development plans and processes they will also provide an update on [6:37] student academic performance to date we are going to get some updates on [6:43] testing related to surveillance testing as well as a recommendation for quarantine [6:49] guidelines around testing to return to school [6:54] sooner than the designated quarantine period and then we have some budget updates from director [7:01] tope and uh assistant superintendent dr randy smazel will provide a recommendation for [7:08] 2022 23 and 2023-24 school calendars [7:15] thank you dr stanley um moving on we have our excellence in action portion tonight i'd like to invite up principal [7:21] toyah pryor and principal chris holden [7:27] oh did i call up sorry okay sorry [7:34] welcome to celebrate [7:40] and chair allen berg and thank you board members for inviting us tonight we are just going to talk a little bit [7:46] about learner profiles so at valley view middle school our vision is for each and [7:52] every member of the valley field school community to grow as compassionate lifelong learners that [7:59] discover their talents and embrace their authentic selves and so one of the ways that we do that is through learner [8:04] profiles giving students the opportunity to learn who they are as a learner so that they can begin to advocate for [8:11] their needs through middle school and beyond so i have a couple coaches here with me today that will give you a [8:16] little history on learner profiles and we have a wonderful student autumn here and then she's going to share in the [8:22] experience as well [Music] hi i'm mrs zenner missy i guess um and [8:31] um a few of have you have children they have been in schools and they did the all about me poster [8:38] that's really in essence what the learner profile is all about so we don't have time to have kids bring in the posters when they're at the middle level [8:44] and that really was kind of a give and take and so instead with the personalized learning initiative we [8:50] decided that we really wanted the students to be more engaged and involved in learning about themselves as a [8:56] learner and so that it can be an ongoing process and we would like to we use them an [9:01] advisory that's how we start them but that's not really where we want them to end and so we're going to have autumn and mrs higgins explain how we use them [9:11] autumn thanks so much for being here on this monday night will you tell the board a little bit about what you enjoy [9:17] doing at school how you're involved at valley view and how you're involved in things away from school too yeah of [9:23] course um last year i was an eva student and it was really hard for me to not be able to [9:29] like socialize with any of my friends or anyone from my school and this year i've really [9:35] been able to enjoy and get back in that experience of seeing all my friends and seeing all my fellow peers [9:42] something i like to do outside of school is i'm a part of the udyna dance team and i'm really dedicated to practices [9:48] and i'm so excited to join them for the 2021 year [9:54] and we also know that you like band and that you are headed to a band [9:59] event right after this so um we appreciate your time tonight will you talk briefly about how your learner [10:06] profile impacts your learning yeah the learner profile [10:11] goes from very big things like setting goals to really small things to like what kind of setting you prefer to learn [10:18] in such as like lighting and even goes down to like where you like to sit like what kind of chairs do you like to sit [10:24] in um it definitely helps me feel more organized about my learning [10:30] and it helps me create little goals and move them into big things [10:35] awesome thanks now you've experienced creating a learner profile for the last three years sixth seventh and eighth [10:42] grade and all of those years have kind of looked a little bit different for you um can you tell us how you've kind of [10:47] grown over the last three years yeah in sixth grade my learner profile was [10:54] i've never really put much thought to it and in sixth grade it was mostly just like you would follow teacher's [10:59] instructions and you would put in your learner profile but they would tell you to this year i in like over the past few [11:06] years in middle school i think i've gotten so much better at actually expressing myself into my learner [11:12] profile and actually thinking about what kind of goals i want to set and how it will impact my learning [11:18] let's have we'll have time for just one more question can you talk about how knowing yourself as a learner [11:26] really informs how you make choices for yourself during our flex time um usually [11:33] sometimes a lot of kids at valley view they usually choose their flexes based on like if their friends are doing it or [11:41] just based on like the fun of it i've been reflecting on what is best for [11:47] my learning and how that will help me like just [11:52] like grow into a better learner taking a look at that learner profile and making informed decisions about how [11:59] to spend your time super important thanks so much for being here we appreciate your time tonight thank you [12:04] for giving us this opportunity thank you thank you [12:16] now we'll have doc principal holden [12:22] good evening dr stanley members of the board thank you for letting us share a little bit about what we're doing at [12:28] normandale or what we did at normandale to start off the school year so what uh peggy and i are going to share with you [12:34] is not a new practice at normandale it's something we've done for a number of years but it's certainly a practice that was [12:41] essential this school year when we restarted in-person learning for a lot of kids who [12:47] maybe were in eva or who had interrupted learning during the school year last year the practice is called partnership [12:54] planning conferences and so big picture we meet with students and families before the school year starts [13:00] to do a little bit of that learner profile experience that was described here only the parents are in present for [13:08] that process so that we learn a little bit more about our students and then in this [13:13] school year it was really important that we get kids back in the building to see the building to see their meet [13:19] their new teacher and to see what's going on in the building because they've been separated from that for [13:26] some of them for a whole school year so peggy's going to share a few anecdotes and some [13:32] some pieces about what it looks like from a teacher perspective and a parent and kid perspective too [Music] [13:38] yeah so thank you i'm peggy wernes i teach second grade at normandale and it's my 22nd year in ethan public [13:44] schools so i've seen what we used to do and what we're doing now and what we used to do [13:50] was kind of controlled chaos it was an open house format and everybody converged on this school [13:58] and kids were running all over and excited and you didn't really connect [14:03] with families you didn't really connect with the kids all that well and vice versa they didn't really [14:09] connect with you as a teacher so this partnership planning conference is [14:15] about six hours on uh one one of those staff development days for 15 minutes [14:20] per family and then families that are not able to come in that day will come in the following week for an office hours [14:26] conference so it's really an opportunity to come into their new classroom see their [14:32] teacher one-on-one or with their parent or even i had an older brother bring his [14:37] youngest sister in who i happen to have the older brother in class was just delightful and you just you're [14:43] reconnecting or connecting with that student with that parent and it's a really positive [14:48] uh calm way to to you know jump into the school year and as uh principal holden [14:54] said some of these kids that were out the whole entire year like autumn shared just before us you know it is more [15:01] challenging for them so the partnership planning conference really just provides such a such great [15:07] benefit for especially those families and then the parents are given a a form [15:13] to fill out so a partnership planning form with questions like have you had any recent family changes [15:20] what are your child's strengths and interests and even medical situation or social [15:27] emotional or other needs that their student might have and what i love about that is that that is something you take [15:33] you can look over at your leisure you can touch on some things scan it touch on some things but really [15:39] some things might be a little bit uncomfortable for the student especially the younger ones so we just basically um [15:47] it's question answer it's a dialogue and it's a great way to just really build a positive [15:53] connection so i've had since our conferences i've had a lot of [15:59] parents send me more information by email or i've been able to connect by phone [16:05] and it's pretty seamless because they already feel like there's there's a level of trust built up [16:12] and and that's what i really like about it there's a spirit of collaboration and problem solving already there happening [16:18] so um and then the kids of course they get to see their classroom we had students that [16:24] didn't even realize that we had those second grade classrooms which were formerly district offices [16:30] so with their parent they were able to find this new end of normandale and check it out and [16:36] you know like i said see how the classroom is set up see where they're going to sit and and really be put at [16:42] ease so i think that's really just been a a great thing compared to you know in [16:48] back in the day when we did the open house just like i said was kind of controlled [16:53] chaos so so this school year it was really important to start off on the right foot [17:00] and i feel like partnership planning conferences have allowed us to do that in the past and they this year they were [17:05] even more important for that to build that connection and that positive connection early on exactly because yeah [17:13] some kids it was it was pretty easy for them if they were in person second semester but [17:19] other kids were you know a little bit more challenging for them so thank you thanks very much thank you so much [17:33] thank you both uh schools for sharing what you're doing um so far this year and we're going to move on to hearings [17:40] from members of the public but i also see that we might have a scout troop in the audience so i just wanted to welcome [17:46] you i'm going to guess you're working on your citizen and the community citizenship and the community merit [17:51] badge so welcome oh communication oh i'm wrong sorry [17:58] welcome welcome tonight um so moving on to hearing from members of the public um [18:04] pursuant to board policy 206 we ask that you not duplicate information that has [18:09] been previously presented if you have a complaint about individual employees board members or students in the [18:15] district please direct any of these comments to the appropriate site administrator the superintendent or [18:20] submit them in writing to the board the board typically does not respond to or have discussion on any issues [18:26] presented but questions raised during presentations will receive a follow-up as directed by the board [18:32] i would like to remind all speakers that your presentations are limited to three minutes and we now have a clock and i'm so [18:39] excited about that because i no longer have to cut people off and that makes my night [18:45] so we know you have your three minutes up there and we'll let you know when your time is up [18:52] we have one speaker tonight who is um heather teats so welcome [19:03] thank you dr stanley and members of the board i am wanting to speak about the high [19:09] school science curriculum i sent in an email for the april 12 2020 [19:14] board meeting and it was read before that there's also an email to the director of teaching learning and the board in early [19:20] august as we have compacted science curriculum now and the eighth graders are currently [19:26] taking the earth science physical science class i'm not sure [19:32] yet if we have what the next class in the sequence will be for those kids i spoke to some staff right before school [19:38] started and there hadn't been a decision at that point so i'm i'm wanting to know if the board has heard anything i haven't seen it on [19:45] a board agenda and usually those kind of curriculum changes come before the board um [19:50] as i've said that if the compacted class were to come in [19:56] and do chemistry in ninth and biology in 10th then we'd have a problem where we've had [20:03] great success raising our mca scores by linking the mca and taking the mca [20:10] score to the final of the biology score and the biology teachers have been [20:16] very clear that the average person who takes the mca gets an a equivalent for the bio for the final score and those [20:22] who actually take the biology score get a b so if we've got this group of 10th graders who don't have access to take [20:30] the 11th grade mca to substitute for their [20:35] final grade in biology we have an equity issue there we also have an issue where if you have [20:41] this group of kids who've taken biology in 10th grade then you've lost your [20:46] incentive to not opt out of the mca is an 11th the way we're having for a large [20:52] group of kids which was lowering our mca scores so that said [20:58] you know if we could my main focus is where is physics going to be in the sequence [21:04] right where will we have a guaranteed will be scheduled physics class [21:10] in this sequence if if a student chooses to take it that's before senior year [21:17] right so that we can take the regular physics or the enriched physics sometime [21:22] 9th through 11th so that we can take ap physics in 12th if needed 11th 12th i don't care because [21:29] that ap physics class is a core class if you're going on into engineering most engineering curriculums in college [21:36] will require at least two semesters of physics some three so that ap physics class and access to [21:42] it is really key for anyone who wants to go on and do engineering so my ask is for the compacted science [21:49] kids and for all kids really where are we going to end up with physics in the curriculum that allows [21:54] access to ap physics as well okay and also we're going to be registering those eighth grade credits [22:00] in late january so do we know what we're going to be asking them or suggesting or [22:05] guaranteeing we will schedule in that ninth grade year so thank you [22:13] if if i can say chair ellenberg first of all thank you so much for speaking and we do actually have that built into the [22:20] schedule to present to the board along with our new course proposal so we'll have that science articulation [22:25] available at that time as well and so you will get that information and thank you [22:31] thank you for coming and speaking thank you [22:36] thank you [22:42] okay we're going to move on to our consent agenda is there anything anyone would like to [22:47] remove from the consent agenda do i have a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved second [22:55] okay we will now vote to approve the consent [23:00] agenda all those in favor say aye anyone opposed [23:06] the consent agenda has been approved moving on to our discussion items our first item up for discussion [23:13] is the early learning center um literacy comprehensive literacy plan [23:19] um including professional development plans and i believe we have director dc huber [23:26] here and our assistant director of teaching and learning um bethany van is at osdal [23:33] welcome [23:41] thank you thank you tara ellenberg dr stanley school board members colleagues [23:46] and community members we have a presentation here that we're going to give an overview of tonight [23:53] knowing that you've also had the opportunity to read the report in front of you and at the end of the presentation we welcome questions and [23:59] look forward to further conversation about what we presented [24:05] so we want to highlight that the comprehensive literacy plan the early learning through five comprehensive [24:11] literacy plan was approved by the board in june and that we immediately jumped into implementation [24:17] so our early progress that we want to highlight is that there are six priority goals that have been outlined in the [24:22] board the the board approved plan as well as many opportunities that we presented to [24:28] the board to focus on these priority goals within those priority goals there are [24:34] sub goals and action steps for this first year of implementation and there's 21 of those sub goals or action steps [24:41] that are outlined in the report and what's exciting for us to celebrate here tonight is that there are ten of [24:47] those goals that are well underway already beginning of october well now [24:52] nearing into mid-october of the school year an important area of that [24:59] to highlight before we jump in deeply to this early action is that we hired an [25:04] amazing literacy team and we have one of our literacy coaches with us here tonight [25:11] carrie duncan our other literacy coaches were not able to be here tonight but carrie duncan [25:16] sandy harley and patty thomas are each teaming in our elementary schools and liz dunn is teaming in our early [25:23] childhood programming in their work i want to celebrate in the implementation work effort so far and [25:30] highlight that within our early actions the early learning curriculum review as i mentioned liz is well underway and [25:37] it's an exciting opportunity for us here in edina as we haven't had the chance to engage with early learning in a [25:43] curriculum review for what i understand a very long time we will probably be bringing that update [25:51] to you even before the new year rolls into january so that will be exciting to [25:56] continue to share with you where we're at with some recommendations and action steps there [26:02] the the other highlights here are really some fun numbers to present we had nearly 5 000 edina students [26:10] screened in k-8 literacy we have eight sites that have [26:15] participated in this screening six of our elementary and two of our middle schools and not only have they [26:22] participated in doing the screening but they've been engaging in how they use that screening data to create actionable [26:29] response plans for students which highlights there the students being identified and actively [26:36] receiving appropriate services in addition here we're highlighting that we have 30 k through 2 staff members [26:43] that have begun training in the important science of reading and foundational [26:48] skills of literacy and we it's in our plan to expand upon that yet that's a great number to have [26:55] jumped into that so quickly in the school year and we have all k through two staff [27:00] engaging and learning with our current resources to ensure that those foundational skills [27:06] of literacy and teaming really closely with our literacy coaches who i mentioned in our in our buildings on [27:11] that what's important to us is that we're impacting students [27:17] right and that we're making a difference in what students are receiving within their instruction we have amazing [27:23] educators in our district so we're exciting and teaching and learning to be able to support them in learning how to [27:28] use the screening data more in depth to make more specific matches for student improvement in their in their literacy [27:35] we have that happening at a tier one or at a core classroom level where we're thinking through how how we're doing [27:42] things in the tier in the tier one core classroom to meet the students needs and then that flows right into [27:48] small group instruction that might have to happen both inside and outside of a classroom with specific teachers and [27:54] further instructional matches in addition to that tier one or core instruction and again highlighting the targeted [28:01] coaching that's going on in alignment with the pd that's happening in larger groups [28:09] so one of the ways that we are using our screening data to have an immediate [28:14] impact on what we actually are doing with our students is through [28:20] our screening to intervention report in fastbridge so fastbridge is one of the screening tools that we use [28:26] as students come in we have a early reading and a fluency measure in k5 and so we use this data [28:34] specifically to target needs and so what you're seeing on the screen [28:40] is a picture of the specific screening to intervention report and how we work with teachers on this [28:46] is if you imagine each one of the lines after the green arrow has a student name to the left of it which has been removed [28:52] for confidentiality of course and each one of those lines showcases the data that's being triangulated [28:59] and further from that on the right can you forward it here [29:04] you'll see very specific targeted needs so specifically this data will share with us [29:10] and as a teacher we want to know what what do we do with this data and so you'll see that the students here [29:17] are showing new needs in phonics and fluency and then further to the right there's a very specific [29:22] lesson plan or intervention plan that teachers then can use to really [29:28] target and reach that instructional match that we want to come from our screening [29:34] data so our next steps [29:41] we will be looking now into october into beginning a curriculum review [29:47] we will also be using our literacy lead team so in any dino we have [29:53] specific teachers that have joined on to literacy lead teams per in each of the six sites [29:59] those teams will be joining together and we'll begin an accordion process which will launch into some very targeted [30:05] professional development and then we will be able to cascade that out into the buildings [30:10] through our amazing literacy coaches who are doing a wonderful job and continue to champion this work as we move forward [30:17] so that we can get um into the trenches with the teachers and really roll up our sleeves to get that [30:22] work to our students another layer is monitoring progress and so with [30:29] um with this comprehensive literacy plan we have a [30:35] couple specific ways that we're going to monitor the impact and the progress one is through a tiered fidelity [30:42] inventory and that is a way for us to assess real big picture [30:48] right in the system how how are we right now we're going to collect this by december 1st [30:53] and um that will give us a baseline to see where are we in terms of very specific um key pieces to our tiered instruction [31:01] and our systems and how we deliver that tiered instruction beyond that we're going to look very [31:06] specifically at the metrics of our comprehensive literacy plan and that's really specific to the goals that jody [31:13] talked about when we first started the six priority goals and then the 21 sub goals and so we will again be [31:20] doing that by building and so we'll be able to get a baseline in terms of where are we so that we can continue to [31:25] monitor that progress as we move forward to ensure that the plan is being implemented with fidelity and impact [31:33] and then finally we will be looking at our student data which is another key piece to see is is [31:38] all of our efforts landing on our students and the way that we hope right our winter screening data will be [31:44] collected and reviewed k1 that's again our early reading assessment in fastbridge and then in grades two [31:50] through six and two through five is a fluency assessment and then six is an adaptive measure [31:59] so before i turn it over to questions i do want to say i was so excited to jump [32:04] in and share where we're at and our successes that i neglected to introduce officially informally our assistant [32:11] director of teaching and learning bethany van osdol so thank you for joining us on the presentation and um [32:17] we're we're thrilled to have her with us leading our literacy coaches and our literacy team that i referred to being instrumental in the implementation so [32:24] from there i'll turn it over to any questions [32:31] i can jump in right away i i've got to say i'm thrilled with the start that we've got here [32:38] i'm seeing 5 000 students already being screened as of here we are mid-october [32:44] eight sites are being involved in it student needs are being identified and acted on [32:51] we've got 30 staff members being trained this this is thrilling to see [32:58] that we're launched and dr stanley i think you can take credit for this too um and bethany it's very good to have [33:05] you on board so this is an absolute uh start [33:11] and um i have a couple questions could you uh [33:16] spell out or give an idea of what the literacy coaches will be doing uh in [33:23] in a in a day's work just some idea of how that is what's [33:28] that going to look like i know one thing i'll um share is that we have dates on [33:33] the calendar is it four of them that you're meeting with the whole team three right now three right now yep because [33:38] we've met so the literacy leadership team as a collective met briefly in august virtually just to touch base that [33:45] we're a collective team this is important work we have ahead of us and now they're scheduled to meet three more [33:50] teams times this year and during those sessions there will be pd provided for [33:56] that group focused on the areas of the comprehensive literacy plan provided by [34:01] the literacy coaches and that same pd will then cascade down into the building [34:07] so if there's an area of focus in the pd then the literacy coaches will be in the sites in the classrooms working [34:13] with principals talking with their learning literacy teams about what is it that our building needs as a priority [34:19] right now and how can i help with that they'll also be engaged at a certain level with our plcs our professional [34:26] learning communities which is an important part of the grade level conversation about student need and how [34:32] can literacy coaches help with that grade level conversation about student need for example they've engaged in some [34:38] conversations with grade levels around the fast data and when teachers are seeing the fast data as a grade level they're like okay [34:45] now what do we do to address this and how can you help us find the resources [34:50] and the time and the creative ways to structure our day to meet these needs that we're seeing so they're [34:55] collaborative partners directly with with teachers in that work would this pd be during in-service days [35:03] or would this be before school starts fitting in at the end of the day um how does that how's that gonna work well we [35:09] are having to be very creative this year um you know i will be really transparent that it we we have [35:16] it's going to be challenging to pull teachers a lot from the day because of the limited number of subs in the unique [35:22] year and we want to acknowledge and honor how important it is for kids to have their teachers in the classroom [35:28] but the pd will be provided in different ways in in buildings so for example we have a dyslexia pd that's been created [35:36] and some buildings are sharing that as a screencast and having conversations around it when it works for them and [35:42] others are having the lit coaches come to a staff meeting and so we're creating the pds and giving some flexibility [35:49] about how it's presented yet having the end outcomes for the learners as the teachers being the same [35:56] so we're trying to be flexible and differentiate just like we do with our students it's a new system and you're going to be [36:02] fasting your feet and reacting and trying new things yes um you've got a term here i'm not i'm not familiar with accordion process [36:08] could you explain that a little bit um well the accordion process is about [36:15] um looking at the various levels right so if we think of the accordion opening up [36:20] i think of the different levels that we open up we're always looking at data through the district lens then through [36:26] the building classroom student and so that's that's the the lens of that we [36:31] want to be comprehensive and looking at student data with that okay [36:38] um and the again a little bit more on the targeted [36:43] pd is this going to if we find that one [36:49] uh classroom or one school is having trouble with fluency are we going to target [36:55] uh that school with fluency instruction is that what we're talking about getting into some of those substrands is [37:01] or is it to the student yeah so that that's a great question so as miss van osdol noted how we're going [37:08] to use the tiered fidelity inventory in order to get an overarching view of where we're [37:13] at so we can do district planning and each building we'll be using these six action steps and the key action steps [37:20] under that the 21 action steps and they'll be somewhat self-assessing in collaboration with our team [37:27] where they're at and so then that will provide opportunities with every building being at a different place if [37:33] one building says oh we do need more focus on fluency as part of this plan [37:38] and the self-assessment then yes that's what they will move forward and focusing on so the one piece that we have to [37:44] remember is this is a multi-year plan right and that we will have end goals we [37:50] do have end goals that are the same for every building but every building might might take a different path in getting [37:56] there some buildings have some things mastered every building has things mastered but [38:03] sometimes it's different across the different buildings so we want to make sure we're using our time wisely and really supporting our teachers and our [38:08] buildings and what they show us from the data from the different inventories that we'll be doing with them [38:14] can i just add one thing on just um a little bit about when [38:20] bethany spoke to the actual plan seeing what a student need is how [38:27] that drives bethany can you talk about that how that might drive the work with the team if that team does [38:33] need primarily fluency instruction yeah exactly i think it's [38:39] student need is always going to drive what we do right and so if we use those screening measures to identify that a [38:45] particular classroom maybe has a whole group need and that tool will help us identify that then we would be able to [38:51] work and the coaches are doing such an amazing job getting in and rolling up their sleeves with teachers i'm just been astounded at the level [38:58] that they're really making taking our data and making it actionable so that it makes an impact [39:03] on students right away and so to dr stanley's point that's one of the ways that we would differentiate [39:09] need for a classroom if there's a whole group need or also to the specific small group [39:17] needs and so that's an important thing um to respond to the data that we're [39:22] capturing those are my questions for now thank you [39:30] do other board members have questions or comments [39:39] sure um i think this is great it's really exciting to see there's been so much [39:44] work that's gone into this um this comprehensive literacy plan so this is super exciting to see [39:51] where we're at now so um kudos to your team for making them happen and all the teachers out there that are making this [39:58] making movement here um i had a couple questions um one is um in terms of partnerships [40:06] which i know is um is there any plans to [40:11] give make the connection for parents and teachers and give support for [40:17] supporting this work like through community ed [40:22] or um uh pnc right like some of the parent network communication like to support to [40:29] do some extra built in because we know it's always gonna be a partnership right so i don't know if that if you guys have [40:35] thought about that or i can speak to that a little bit julie i would say um well for example i'm going [40:40] to say yes and for example i did meet with ed fund last week just to talk about some collaboration and partnership [40:47] right and that is a really important partnership as we know within our district and last year [40:53] we had some really strong conversations with some with our our parent group that [40:58] met um a couple times a year we i think we met a total of four in three to four [41:04] with that parent group we had some good brainstorming around other groups that we can be partnering with and so we will [41:10] need to jump back into those conversations and take those action steps forward which we've only done more [41:16] on the surface level so far this year that we're absolutely intending to continue to do that work [41:23] that'd be great yeah and i think one of the things that i think is very clear with this plan is the consistency throughout the buildings [41:29] right and so i think it just offers opportunity to help communicate and educate the parents [41:35] in helping so it's not on the teachers another thing to add on for them to explain so [41:40] that's great the other thing that i have a question about is [41:46] assessments and when we do assessments [41:51] is typically that information shared with the students i know they're on the younger end but like do students [41:57] see like where they're at is that part of the [42:03] best practice for teachers to share that with students i only ask because kids have been through a lot right so coming [42:09] in and looking um and getting like wow i dropped 20 [42:14] points or i dropped right i don't know how motivating that is so i'm looking this i'm asking the question more from [42:20] the social emotional side and making sure we are not because this is a lot of assessment and testing that the kids are [42:25] doing right at the middle school dr anderson sitting there like we've had a lot [42:30] already this year which is great to get that information but i want i'm going back to the human side of assessments so [42:37] if you could talk to that that would be great i can we met with elementary principals on friday bethany and i did [42:43] about how we're communicating the assessment right and so we um i would say that that's something that we are [42:49] going to delve more deeply into um right now there is inconsistency [42:54] across the buildings but that was our goal in meeting with the principals about how are we providing we're understanding what's happening so then [43:00] that we can help and support a greater level of consistency and that question has come up from individual teachers [43:07] even right here i have seen these map scores popping up and how do we support students and [43:12] utilizing those as part of their learning profile and how can that be you know that we had those students that those students share [43:19] with us to start the evening was really powerful for me because data can be used for them in a [43:25] positive way too but we do have to support and equip our teachers in doing that and so that's [43:32] an area where we'll have some work to do we will be having a design team dig more deeply into what assessments [43:38] we're currently doing and what our plan will be for next year and that will be part of the conversation [43:44] so at the same time that we're moving all this work forward because it ha we need to move it forward we need to see where students at so we can provide [43:50] instructional support for them we also know we need to do some long-term planning that provides support and [43:55] consistency for for that type of conversation okay great that's good to know that's on your [44:01] on the horizon and the rest of it i'm going to let other board members ask questions but those are my two big [44:06] um things but excellent work very good ellen [44:14] sure first i want to say thank you for presenting i'm hearing a lot of really good [44:23] systemic changes to the way that we've approached literacy before [44:28] and i i'm really happy to hear that i'm i'm delighted to see that we've taken screening [44:35] seriously so that we can identify students with [44:42] the characteristics of dyslexia i and i just want to confirm that that's [44:48] what the fast test the two fast tests that we [44:53] have um that you're showing us results for that that is what those can be used for [45:00] that is what they can be used for and sometimes after we have that universal screen we need to do a further diagnostic and just dig deeper into what [45:08] we're seeing with students and i shouldn't say sometimes like all the time we have to have more conversation around data than one data point [45:14] but ellen it definitely gives us a great initial screen for students that we need to dig deeper [45:20] into and then also within our dyslexia training sometimes students test scores [45:25] don't give us the plague that we need to dig deeper right so we're trying to make [45:31] sure we're informing our the educators in our system about what are some other things to be looking for as potential [45:38] characteristics of reading challenges dyslexia and other ones as well [45:44] thank you i i have i mean this is such a major step forward [45:50] from last year's assessments that i i want to really give you um you really took this seriously and [45:56] i'm i'm thankful for that i wanted um also i i if i remember correctly all [46:02] elementary teachers were trained in sunday last year um and [46:08] uh the board's been told that the district's using sunday tier one i'm [46:14] just wondering if that's being done or is there need for more teacher training before [46:20] that is implemented throughout the district in all classrooms on a daily basis [46:26] there is a need we do have a training on the calendar and i think it's november 9th if i'm remembering correctly but [46:32] it's the beginning of november for those that are either changing grade levels and haven't had the opportunity to have [46:37] the training or that are new to our system so we always are going to have to pay [46:42] attention to that and then we have done some work our literacy coaches team with some teacher leads this summer to do [46:49] some being a reader which is our ccc curriculum it's the small group instructional sets [46:57] for a curriculum so they've done some alignment with that and sande that we have shared with teachers and i [47:04] want to acknowledge that with that there does need to be that's one of the things the literacy coaches are doing they're [47:10] supporting okay we've shared this alignment of how you can use both resources with the most impact for [47:16] students so now that we've shared the resources let's let's check in and work with teams and how that's working so it's a work in [47:23] progress that's a priority with interaction steps this year [47:29] so what i'm hearing is that we have the materials [47:35] and most of the teachers are trained in sunday yes and yes and [47:42] and i'm just trying to to understand um it's my understanding that the science [47:48] of reading is is based on the explicit and systematic [47:55] teaching of those types of curriculum materials that are found in the sande [48:00] tier one yes and so i'm just wondering you're telling me that they're not being [48:06] used no they're all being used the other all teachers are working to use that [48:12] most effectively within their classroom so they are using sande and the other important thing i want i do want to [48:19] emphasize is that the being a reader sets also directly explicitly and [48:25] systematically teach the foundations of reading through the research and the science of reading so those two coupled [48:32] together are being used okay does that help ellen yeah it does [48:38] okay um and i i just know that uh from [48:43] what i'm hearing from uh members of the dis the [48:49] parents of students that are uh that have [48:54] uh reading disabilities that it is the way that those [49:00] uh the the progression and the the real [49:06] fidelity to the program that has everything to do with the success of [49:12] how well you can handle and i'm just what i'm hearing is that you understand [49:18] that and so i um i i felt that the pacing and the scope [49:25] that was outlined you know you don't want to be using saying that we're using a science of reading tier 1 program and [49:33] then use it as like a toolbox that you're going to pull out for kids that have but since you [49:39] understand that and i i'm hoping that that's what it is the [49:45] other thing that i wanted to ask about is i appreciate the district is investing in foundational skill [49:51] development aligned with the science of reading and as i'm wondering if there is a systematic plan [49:58] to get all k3 teachers trained in letters for example [50:03] when and how will all k-3 teachers be trained is there a schedule [50:09] there will be a schedule and right now we have a meeting on the calendar to [50:15] sandy harley and bethany and i sandy has really helped get that letters training going to touch base about what are our [50:21] next steps with creating that schedule ellen we want to make sure that we are doing the work right now with fidelity [50:27] and supporting the teachers in the training right now um as best as we can [50:34] not even as fast as we can with true fidelity and with um with real intention so in we're going to talk around that [50:40] support and then also from there how can we build out our next steps and what that will look like [50:47] so is the goal that all will be trained in letters um our our goal is that all pre-k through [50:54] three teachers will be trained in the science of reading and the foundation how to teach the foundational [51:00] skills but we still need to make sure that we do that with the responsibility of the budget and the resources and our [51:07] students in mind so that is we have to evaluate if it will all be trained in [51:12] letters okay um i see that there's going to be a [51:18] curriculum review for k5 is that for new materials are you re-evaluating the [51:25] collaborative classroom materials or is it is a curriculum review [51:30] involving something else can i let you speak to that potentially so a curriculum review will [51:37] go through a very specific series of steps that will um first allow us to unpack the current [51:44] reality so what's currently being used and how's it going right how are our [51:51] students doing in response part of that will be a real look at are we teaching the programs that we have in [51:57] front of us as intended and so we'll throughout that process that six phase [52:03] process we will go down the path of using our information around our current [52:09] reality research around best practice standards unpacking that's an important part of [52:15] that and then determination if do what is what we have in front of us the right tool for [52:22] accomplishing our goals and so i say potentially it's a it's a very specific process that um of [52:28] reviewing that is very intentional in helping us supporting us to make the best decision possible [52:34] so i can't answer if that would be a recommendation for new materials or a [52:40] reinvestment but what i can say is that it is a process that one done correctly [52:46] takes some time and so in the meantime we will want to re-engage with what we have in front of us so that when done [52:52] with fidelity we can take a pause and say we're teaching these materials we're using this instructional tool as as [53:00] intended with integrity with high fidelity and that allows us to answer the question is it the right tool [53:07] so we have some work to do to get to that point so it's not a yes or a no answer at this [53:12] point it's a we're going to do very diligent work in a series of steps to make sure that we have the right answer [53:19] when we get there okay thank you [53:25] thank you are there any other questions or comments i just want to thank you for all your [53:31] work on this you're doing great work and i appreciate all the steps that you've taken forward so thank you guys thank [53:36] you guys thank you thank you next we have student academic [53:42] performance um and i believe uh you're up here again [53:48] [Music] oh yep absolutely and we have quite a few other [53:53] individuals that are presenting as well [53:59] greg gusweiler mark carlson [54:04] did i miss anybody i know we have principal holden and principal anderson here as well that's [54:11] right big group we'll call you up when you do okay [54:17] welcome okay [Music] all right [54:23] thank you again good evening and you went over the names of people that are here with me tonight to look at this [54:31] presentation on student academic performance and the overview of the state of learning performance [54:36] we don't have an official formal presentation for this i just wanted to highlight a couple of things from the [54:43] the board report and then see if we have questions and the people i have here with me are an important part of the [54:49] team and the work that we're doing and so they are probably joining me and fielding questions [54:55] the the key things that i would like to highlight is that within the report [55:00] it was emphasized that this is one data point that we're sharing that there's one data point about [55:07] student performance so far this school year we are currently also engaging in map testing but that window is not [55:13] complete and so we're not sharing any of that data tonight the important part about a comprehensive [55:19] assessment system is that we are triangulating more than one data point and that we're having [55:24] deep conversations about students while we engage in creating [55:29] instructional matches for them and so an example of that work [55:34] has come what we it really in a nice connection to what we just shared [55:40] as um this van osdol shared the fast screening report and how we can look at [55:46] that data and then look at some potential instructional matches that data isn't [55:51] looked at in isolation it's looked in plc teams or even building teams where [55:56] they talk further about the student and other things that they're seeing within the classroom and so that that's just [56:03] the one thing that i wanted to highlight before we jump into questions that the importance of us really looking comprehensively at data about students [56:10] and being really intentional about then what we see and how we support students with that [56:16] with that i will turn it over to questions if people have any from what they saw in the report or [56:22] any feedback that you would like to share i i can jump in right away [56:29] the first thing is i've got to say that in my four years on the board i think this may be the single best report i've [56:36] seen and i want to affirm the people behind this and say why i think that [56:41] first we're receiving we are seeing real testing data it's immediate it's right here um and [56:49] where the board it's one month after this testing was done we're seeing it it's timely um that immediacy is [56:56] wonderful um the second thing it's transparent we're seeing [57:01] this data by school by grade we're seeing it broken down [57:06] it's showing the good bad and the ugly and there's some things that are not very flattering on it um but we're [57:12] truth-telling and we can't square ourselves against reality unless we truth-tell and we're doing that and we [57:18] can't course-correct unless we truth-tell and we're doing that this document is doing that [57:24] this is a step forward in a constructive direction and dr stanley thank you for backing [57:30] the folks up behind this report i'm truly thrilled and excited that we [57:35] have a report like this um mechanically [57:40] the data fits the chart and a picture says a thousand words and a chart says a [57:46] thousand words and i this is what i do for my living and we've got data in a 100 stacking column chart by cohort by [57:53] school this illustrates exactly what you're trying to get at so again this is wonderful [58:04] and so i i also want to offer affirmation [58:09] tied in with your earlier presentation we've got specific actionable steps [58:15] we've got a tight feedback set of tight feedback loops so that we can have nimble responses [58:22] and i think we are off to a fantastic start with this and this has been one of the most [58:27] important things in my board work and i'm just thrilled how we're starting off on this [58:33] um so i really want to offer that affirmation and what [58:39] i'm excited about too is we've got a game plan and so now let's execute on it and let's see how we're doing on it and [58:44] let's correct ourselves based off of what this plan is so [58:51] affirmation a lot of affirmation here good good good start [58:58] i have a couple of specific questions could you give me an idea what a data [59:04] meeting looks like that's on the second page of this report um these conversations are happening in [59:09] data meetings could you elaborate on that a little bit sure i'm wondering [59:24] historically data meetings have involved a team of teachers sitting down with our learning specialists principals [59:31] other support staff members in the building that might offer insight into the data that they're [59:37] seeing about a student and then next steps forward this year it's a little bit different because we're [59:43] operating with significantly reduced resources in terms of subs we have super subs who do a [59:49] great job but i can't release a full team so today i sat in on a data meeting i'm with a first grade teacher and it [59:56] was myself our learning specialist and the first grade teacher and we were looking at the data that we had [1:00:02] and then um laying out next steps for those kids that we had screened [1:00:07] and found needed some additional support the data meet that's a formal data and [1:00:13] then at least in my building and i think in most of the other buildings those same people are gathering again [1:00:19] every six weeks to take a look at how those students are doing in terms of the interventions that have been provided and the resources that have been [1:00:25] allocated and then do we need to make changes and that cycle repeats itself throughout [1:00:31] the school year and our hope is that we see kids move and grow as the school year goes on [1:00:41] so um i'm sorry chris the frequency of these meetings is [1:00:47] so i'll just talk about armadale we've done uh typically like a fall and a later winter [1:00:52] formal data meeting with frequent check-ins every six weeks to see how our students are on the way [1:01:08] a reading is that the same thing [1:01:13] um so those are two fast bridge tests and um [1:01:21] your microphone isn't on i'm sorry oh share with us now it's fine oh i'm sorry um so it's a computer a computer given [1:01:29] based test um it's given whole class and the auto reading is specifically [1:01:35] testing um foundational skills tests in early literacy and yet it's appropriate to give we gave this in [1:01:42] sixth grade so it's administered in a way that [1:01:47] assesses students in a scaffolded way to really get at what some of their gaps [1:01:53] might be that's about a five minute test and then immediately following that they go into an adaptive reading test and that [1:02:00] specifically tests comprehension and that is adaptive just like the map test right where it um [1:02:07] raises and lowers based on the child's performance it's given in about 30 minutes and at the end [1:02:13] of that specific series of tests right the auto reading and the a reading [1:02:19] the the fastbridge triangulates the data on the back end and produces the screening to intervention report and so [1:02:25] some of the data meetings that i've been a part of is really much [1:02:30] really efficient in terms of this was the assessment that was given [1:02:35] and this is what that means for my instruction today and so i just have to celebrate some of [1:02:40] the sixth grade teachers i've had the pleasure of working with that they really just were able to [1:02:46] take that screening data from the auto reading and a reading test and come up with an actionable plan [1:02:52] within minutes really so it's really impressive excellent excellent [1:02:59] okay thank you those are my comments and observations questions [1:03:06] other board members i don't have a question i just have a comment um [1:03:11] you had mentioned the accordion look at data in the last presentation and i just [1:03:16] wanted to acknowledge that this is the accordion right i'll look at it in a [1:03:22] report and it's great and i i just want to always make sure to bring us back to that our kids are more than just one of [1:03:28] these data points that we're messaging that which it seems like i just i know in our community we have a [1:03:34] lot of times that the narrative runs away with one data point and i would just really encourage [1:03:40] us as a district and as a community to make sure we're looking at that accordion um [1:03:46] and this is super helpful so um i just wanted to put that out there so thank you this is [1:03:51] great work so and kudos to all the teachers out there that are actually making this happen in their classrooms because i know this is [1:03:58] not a small feat so anything else [1:04:05] um i just had one question for you i noticed when reading through this that i [1:04:10] well i firmly believe that if students are are not in the right mental space [1:04:17] it makes it very hard to learn academically and i noticed in here multiple times [1:04:22] that especially at the secondary level but i would guess it's also at the elementary level that there are [1:04:29] significant social emotional behavioral mental health issues going on [1:04:34] it's a very unique year my question i guess which you guys might [1:04:40] not be able to answer but i would ask our administrators and dr stanley [1:04:46] do we feel that we have enough support for our students and teachers from a [1:04:53] social emotional and mental health perspective to make sure we talk about that whole student [1:04:59] perspective so that we can learn and we can do these aggressive things from a [1:05:05] testing and academic perspective do we also have enough help for that [1:05:11] other side i'm wondering principal anderson if you [1:05:17] want to see if i don't have a son i'm going to turn this over um [1:05:24] to see if you can speak to um your advisories and maybe answer that question a little [1:05:30] bit good evening board chair members of the board [1:05:36] in the report you'll notice in the secondary section about middle schools [1:05:42] it talks about one of the places where responding to that social emotional need is in [1:05:48] advisory and um things that we're covering in advisory [1:05:53] which is again a space every day for at least 20 minutes that every kid [1:06:01] can count on it in tier one sort of way we're intentionally building in those [1:06:06] skills that you see there so those things include but aren't limited to [1:06:12] growth mindset resilience emotional intelligence mindfulness kindness respect acceptance empathy [1:06:20] self-management social awareness relationship skills [1:06:25] and that's a daily endeavor across the middle schools for example [1:06:31] and when i surveyed my leadership team for example in preparation for tonight just [1:06:36] to get a cross-section of voices um from the core content areas to [1:06:42] specials um to a person they would echo the same thing that i hear you asking about [1:06:48] which is that from a social and emotional preparedness [1:06:53] and developmental preparedness point of view kids are just behind [1:06:59] where they were and so teachers are you know obviously treating that [1:07:04] in their classrooms with lots of teaching strategies but we're also treating it intentionally [1:07:11] in that advisory space so keeping in mind that the last time these [1:07:18] kids had a quote-unquote normal year was quite a long time ago and so [1:07:23] we're seeing that across the board and so you know teachers are deciding to in [1:07:28] some cases go a little slower teaching more procedural knowledge [1:07:33] rather than just attacking content with the same pace they might have before [1:07:40] so that's the adjustment that people have been making um and i think it was surprising to some folks i mean we knew [1:07:46] there would be a a bunch of things we didn't we weren't totally prepared for that we'd have to [1:07:51] adjust to but this has been kind of ubiquitous universal across the board every content [1:07:57] no matter what it is and so when we talk about collaborative teaming [1:08:03] co-laboring there in part co-laboring around this notion of okay [1:08:08] how do we catch kids up in this arena well because it's going to impact the other side as well [1:08:15] and i think you know like uh so many other things our edina staff is highly qualified it's [1:08:22] an excellent defining excellence type of operation and they rise into that challenge but um i think it speaks to [1:08:28] lots of things one of them being that hey this year is really hard too our staff's working so hard [1:08:35] um there's an extra tax every day and their bandwidth because it isn't just about teaching [1:08:40] rewriting and arithmetic it's about teaching all of these things executive functioning skills [1:08:47] and doing it with patience and grace and tenacity and that love and care that we [1:08:53] expect from our teammates so i think the board can feel proud i know we do um [1:08:58] about the the top-notch effort that our staff has given and the challenge is high [1:09:03] it really is so in some ways easier than last year but actually in some ways difficult or maybe as difficult as last [1:09:10] year and i think that's a big thing um so testing it to this board to support this [1:09:17] staff and certainly our team they're they're doing great work [1:09:24] thank you i appreciate that i would just ask that if there are um specific things you identify as tools that could be [1:09:31] utilized whether it's a partnership with ed fund or if you realize we could have an expert [1:09:37] come in to talk about bridging some of these executive functioning gaps that you [1:09:44] let us know so we can best support you guys and the staff because i do know it's a [1:09:50] difficult year um and so i just want to make sure that we're doing that but thank you this is great work i [1:09:57] appreciate it that's all thank you i appreciate it [1:10:07] moving on to covid quarantine guideline review we have jeff jorgensen director of [1:10:12] student support services and mary hyman here health services supervisor [1:10:27] oh is mary oh mary is here sorry there you are [1:10:48] superintendent stanley and steam board members we're happy to join you again tonight with follow up on our last [1:10:54] discussion from the board meeting you give us a couple of objectives to come back to you with after [1:11:00] last month's meeting and the first of all was the review of the overall covid quarantine [1:11:06] guidelines you tasked us with really determining whether or not a earlier return protocol [1:11:12] might be something that we we could implement and with that [1:11:17] being said we were we targeted that seven day quarantine period as a review practice to see whether or [1:11:24] not that was something that was viable within our system is we wanted to emphasize to you and to [1:11:30] our public utina public schools will always endeavor to have our students in person to the greatest extent possible [1:11:36] and when disruptions to in-person learning occur to return students to their classroom as soon as possible that [1:11:41] was our guiding kind of statement that we wanted to make sure that we were abiding by we went when we went through [1:11:47] this review process the review of the seven-day process we're currently in a 10-day [1:11:53] type of a model in terms of students that are identified as close contacts and meet quarantine criteria can come [1:11:59] back on the 11th day after quarantine but again we took a look at the seven-day quarantine process as a [1:12:05] possibility for us it is a cdc practice it is something that is well-defined [1:12:10] outlines and criterion for us to follow within the program and so we took a look and reviewed that [1:12:17] model the review resulted in discussion about the district's capacity to collect some necessary elements in terms of the [1:12:24] test negative testing after that five day time period that is required for the seven day [1:12:31] quarantine process and it also identified some other areas that [1:12:36] there was a larger concern for us which is concerns about how some families have general access to that pcr testing and [1:12:43] some of our families may struggle to get to the clinics to to be able to get that pcr testing done and so that was one of [1:12:50] our bigger considerations in walking through the practice all in all we we do believe that the [1:12:57] seven day quarantine process is is viable within the district [1:13:02] and that we believe that the collection of that pcr test is something that can be done within our system [1:13:09] uh what we're concerned about is is the ability of some of our families we want to make this an equitable opportunity [1:13:15] for all the families within our district and so while we are making a recommendation [1:13:21] that we move to that seven day quarantine practice and follow the strictures that are that are there and [1:13:26] are required by the cdc in terms of that seven day process we also are taking a look at identifying [1:13:31] an issue that we have to problem solve for which is making this opportunity available for all families [1:13:37] and so the district is recommending investigating opportunities and options for how we can get families connected [1:13:43] with testing that don't have that ability to get their children transported to a location where the testing can take place [1:13:51] i think one of the things that jeff just mentioned is you know [1:13:57] while this is viable and we're extremely committed to having kids return to [1:14:02] school as quick as possible you know underneath the um the the testing negatives section there [1:14:09] are a couple little bullets where all of these things have to be true and one of them talks about [1:14:15] um you know not having the symptoms of covid so in in the correspondence that we've been sending out to families is [1:14:22] that symptoms just need to be improving so you know we [1:14:27] we're still going to be real committed to best practices and returning and so we can get the students back to school [1:14:32] as quick as possible but there are still some things that we will certainly have to follow under the cdc [1:14:39] uh rules and guidelines [1:14:45] do board members have questions or comments i'll go yep that's great um actually i [1:14:52] don't have any questions um just to um comments i'm in full support [1:14:57] of this plan i think the number one thing is i think it's outstanding the problem solving that went into access [1:15:04] that was an issue we know over the last year and a half not just here in edina across the country so i'm really [1:15:10] thrilled to see that that is highlighted and that funding from our federal funds can go to cover [1:15:16] that so i just i that is that's a complete game changer for this [1:15:22] program and then the second is i think this roadmap is clear and concise for [1:15:27] families and for our staff and for students and so i think that's a really important piece to the communication [1:15:34] piece so very well done i'm in complete support of this recommendation we do want to emphasize that uh the the [1:15:42] portion on the transportation is is going to be a complex type of situation to try to work out so we don't have the [1:15:48] complete answer for that yet so we want to be completely transparent that we're still working through that and what that [1:15:53] would look like because there are a number of things that we have to consider in even contracting for that type of service [1:16:01] absolutely and i think too my understanding is pcr testing availability is one of the big pieces [1:16:08] right it is a piece of this puzzle that is very um unpredictable right right and just [1:16:14] helping people to also the the communication around this in the definition of the you know what does a [1:16:21] seven day return to school look like versus um you know the additional three days of a of a 10-day uh quarantine so [1:16:29] those are some of those things where we will have to go back and really look at that a defined exposure i mean that [1:16:37] you know that's getting probably harder and harder but that doesn't mean that we won't find um you know the scenarios [1:16:43] where a seven day situation will be there and we'll just [1:16:49] look at that five days of uh five days at least five days from the exposure um [1:16:54] and uh looking at a pcr test great so thank you [1:17:01] yeah um i have a question uh i [1:17:08] i uh i'm listening i i see what you're recommending that [1:17:15] students that are quarantined the district is going to [1:17:23] look at transporting these students before they've been tested to a testing site is that what you're [1:17:30] talking about um i i have serious reservations about that [1:17:38] i don't think people should be transported by anyone besides their [1:17:44] family members to a testing facility because this would potentially expose [1:17:49] the community to covet and i'm just wondering [1:17:55] have you considered using vault pcr tests [1:18:00] in-home free vault pcr tests and yes i think there are any number of things that we [1:18:07] can offer a family that might need access to testing [1:18:13] absolutely and you know transporting someone to uh a community testing site would be just one [1:18:21] of the any number of things where i think we could you know offer some suggestions and different ideas on um [1:18:28] how can we get a student tested that might not have the resources and to help out a whole family [1:18:34] well what so if you are considering vault which is uh in in-home saliva [1:18:40] test that's mailed in or can be mailed in [1:18:45] i would scrap all your plans for the transportation and just think about [1:18:51] having the students we would be happy to mail them a vault [1:18:56] test or we could drop them off in their house but to have to talk about [1:19:02] reimbursing people before going and using [1:19:07] other transportation methods is i i would truly not recommend that so [1:19:13] um that would be my two cents i appreciate the plan besides that [1:19:20] and that's what i'm thinking thank you [1:19:29] any other feedback from anyone [1:19:34] no okay thank you all right on to our second oh yeah you guys are up [1:19:41] you're still there yes uh the the second thing we were asked to prepare uh in [1:19:47] response to our our symptomatic or asymptomatic testing [1:19:52] protocols that we that we presented to you during the last board meeting was what would it look [1:19:57] like if we expanded our testing to be more of a surveillance type of a testing model [1:20:04] uh and so the this is an executive summary that we put together uh that just really outlined the parameters of [1:20:10] what that would look like uh what the costs would be and how we could go about implementing a [1:20:15] surveillance testing program in accordance with what the cdc has outlined as appropriate surveillance [1:20:22] testing modules i will go through and read each and every one of these these items rather we we presented a fairly [1:20:29] detailed executive summary to you in terms of what those costs would be what that program would look like and how [1:20:36] many students we would be talking about testing i think what i would would say is just [1:20:41] just that it boils down to really three factors in [1:20:46] terms of a timeline for us in terms of trying to do something like this and the the first is obviously it would uh [1:20:54] hinge on the number of eps families uh willing to participate in surveillance testing program because [1:21:00] we cannot test any of our students without the permission of parents in order to do that ahead of time the second is to is [1:21:07] to the availability of testing materials which we're not all together certain of even now [1:21:13] dr stanley had shared a superintendent update with us about vault about the binex now professional uh testing being [1:21:21] more readily available than it was during our last uh meeting together and uh so we are pursuing some some of [1:21:27] the binds now professional as well uh but we're not certain how much we'll be able to get within a short period of [1:21:32] time uh and then the the last area is eps's approval uh is a lab uh with the with [1:21:39] mdh really uh and so that's that's actually a fairly long process in [1:21:44] general year but we know that's going to be expedited we're not sure how much that will be expedited [1:21:50] so those are the three primary factors that we're taking a look at the rest is is really about the logistics and the [1:21:55] allocation of funding and staffing resources [1:22:00] entertain any questions [1:22:08] does your cost estimate include the staffing cost [1:22:13] like above it described clerical it would take four hours of clerical work it would take [1:22:18] so does your staffing or does your estimated cost include the cost of clerical additional clerical it does [1:22:28] so at the at the very end we broke it up with the staffing for the assessors the clerical custodial sport [1:22:35] and this is these these numbers are really gauged on whether or not we're going to do a surveillance model based [1:22:41] up based upon a uh largely the unvaccinated population which would largely focus in on our [1:22:47] elementary schools at this point in time but that's that's going to rapidly change for us so hopefully here in the future [1:22:52] very near future and the second column there is an estimate if we were to test [1:22:57] ten percent of our total population uh this is ten percent it's at the elementary and early childhood level and [1:23:04] ten percent or early childhood all the way through high school and again that's very much dependent [1:23:10] upon the number of individuals that we would have that would be willing to have their child assessed [1:23:21] so the question for the board is are you interested i mean are you interested in [1:23:28] oh no i know i just i'm just letting the board know what we need to decide tonight so [1:23:33] if we want to absolutely i think that's fine um if we want to move forward with this and the resource [1:23:39] allocation but go ahead [1:23:44] so what i'm when i look at what is being presented [1:23:50] it doesn't seem to match with cdc guidelines [1:23:57] and i just want to try to figure out why [1:24:05] i can be more specific okay [1:24:11] the cdc guidelines speaks to testing screening tests that only [1:24:19] screen unvaccinated part students or or staff [1:24:25] and this includes all students in the upper ranges [1:24:33] um so i know that you know in the for the plan you're [1:24:39] you're looking at um maybe 5 500 edina students that are [1:24:47] not vaccinated as the upper limit versus 8 400. [1:24:55] so i that part i didn't understand why we were even a little you know going to talk about the [1:25:01] the all students secondly um i know that i've i've brought up [1:25:06] testing for participation in sports and activities many times at many board meetings and [1:25:13] yet i still uh testing unvaccinated participants which is what [1:25:19] the cdc recommends um and so i'm just wondering you know it [1:25:25] seems as if we're picking and choosing our cdc recommendations and i i just wanted to know there [1:25:32] doesn't seem to be a recommendation for increased frequency for [1:25:38] what the cdc would call high-risk activities [1:25:43] and i know that the cdc and the mdh both have [1:25:50] have stayed have statements like the cdc and mdh recommend testing unvaccinated [1:25:55] students based on activity and depending on the level of transmission in the community [1:26:01] so i just don't see any kind of differentiation there about are we [1:26:07] looking to test students in high-risk activities [1:26:13] and i don't see us recommending just testing the unvaccinated students [1:26:20] so that's my point yeah i think when uh you know we were have been looking at this you know when it looks at the the [1:26:27] the second and the the outer rung from all all students to the unvaccinated [1:26:32] really what we were kind of focusing this on was just um [1:26:38] looking at the elementary you know k k [1:26:43] fifth graders um because knowing that you know that you've got the the range of the sixth [1:26:48] graders who there's a kind of the rolling eleventh eleven-year-old to the twelve-year-olds [1:26:54] in sixth grade so that's why we know that the numbers of vaccinated students in sixth grade are lesser and then from [1:27:01] seventh grade through twelfth grade much higher percentages of students vaccinated so that's what this is [1:27:08] focused on how do we do surveillance testing for the unvaccinated students so and [1:27:15] yes i will agree it does not focus on those who are participating in sports at this point because i think that the [1:27:22] the risk for the unvaccinated students less than 12 years old [1:27:28] is going to be greater at this point in time because the older students are more likely to be vaccinated so when it comes [1:27:35] to just the surveillance um you know when you look at the for uh [1:27:40] a pool or not pool it's not pool testing but when you look at a percentage of the population so 5 to [1:27:47] 10 percent of a population we have to be able to [1:27:53] test at least that amount of students in order to give us a good amount of data and so that's why [1:28:01] you know if we that's what we have to have minimally in order to move ahead to [1:28:06] have a good amount of data to say where are we with surveillance in any given classroom [1:28:13] and so that's that's that's um that's defined better in the in the um executive [1:28:20] summary as well i think the other thing that i would just add to this is that [1:28:27] in response to your question about you know does not address uh that [1:28:32] that those those activities uh testing for students that are in activities [1:28:37] this type of a protocol put together would allow us to ramp up to something like this [1:28:43] because it is it is we're planning on wanting to send out uh the permissions [1:28:49] to broadly to our community so that families can let us know whether or not they are willing to participate in [1:28:55] surveillance testing once a permission is given for surveillance testing then we are able to [1:29:02] provide that assessment to students as situations arise so that what i propose [1:29:07] here or what mary and i propose here is that it would be a weekly testing model [1:29:13] but this is again just a just an overall counting of the cost and what it would take in order for us to get there [1:29:20] but as i said this could very nimbly be applied to to more specific testing uh [1:29:26] in terms of screening practices i think one of the things that we have to consider is that we're [1:29:32] we're not sure in a lot of cases which students have been asset or which students have been vaccinated and which [1:29:38] students have not been vaccinated and so working broadly with our community to ask for those permissions to participate [1:29:43] within a surveillance program would allow us to better allow testing to take place for students and [1:29:49] activities as well and it doesn't stigmatize students then that have not been assessed if we're [1:29:54] assessing a broader community of students okay thank you and that um [1:30:01] i i will be recommending uh to the district to look into [1:30:07] our policy on participation especially when community [1:30:12] prevalence is so high that the cdc is recommending [1:30:18] a frequent testing and high-risk activities i'm i'm really [1:30:25] i'm intent on trying to keep our schools open with all the mitigation layers possible [1:30:31] and actually screening is listed in the cdc recommendations and the mdh [1:30:37] recommendations right up there with along with vaccination staying home when you're [1:30:43] sick you know all of those so i'm just saying it is it's it's critical for [1:30:50] uh mitigation strategy and i would i would consider um actually [1:30:56] in the hierarchy of availability of tests i we know that you know in the last agenda you had even [1:31:02] mentioned how it's we have to try to do what's what's practical and we have to try to do [1:31:09] what's available but in the in the hierarchy i think recognizing those high-risk activities [1:31:16] um should be tested frequently that would be one of my points so before [1:31:21] before you move on director jones um director jones just suggested that [1:31:27] the district move forward with looking into high-risk activities and i just want to see if the rest of the board [1:31:32] supports that or not before we move forward before we make recommendations right i [1:31:39] mean i want to understand more about this process and what this entails before we make recommendations that was the point [1:31:45] of this part of discussion so what i would suggest is we hold on making recommendations and come back [1:31:51] around so we we don't get the board hasn't given any direction to go that route i have more questions about what this actually is so if that's okay with [1:31:59] director jones and and you i would just pause on that and come back sure [1:32:04] sure more discussion sure and um [1:32:09] so the other thing is you were mentioning sending out uh waivers [1:32:16] for to all people and i i appreciate that i know that we'll need to do that [1:32:22] because if we are planning on doing it for close contacts we're going to need [1:32:30] that type of waiver for all students so that when we talk about closed contacts [1:32:36] those are people who have been vaccinated and now we're talking also in [1:32:42] this screening protocol for unvaccinated [1:32:48] we're going to need them for both so that i i can appreciate that and i want to just mention [1:32:54] something that as i look at this plan and the costs associated with it [1:33:00] at our last board meeting you laid out the plan for contact tracing and testing and that plan will take significant [1:33:07] effort and infrastructure to implement that plan it seems to me that there's a there's [1:33:13] only a marginal difference in effort and infrastructure to do this screening [1:33:19] yet in the description of the screening plan all the infrastructure and cost is attributed to [1:33:27] this screening plan when it seems that the district would incur most of those costs to do the [1:33:32] previously proposed contract tracing and testing i think we might be talking [1:33:38] about two two different things if i'm understanding your question um this this this surveillance would be [1:33:45] we're hoping to contract with an outside with an outside vendor iea [1:33:51] and um so they we would be doing the training and they would um [1:33:57] you know they they would get trained we would we would set up a schedule and they would um and they would do the [1:34:05] you know the screening and and the testing and the swabbing of the nasal passages for the students [1:34:11] um the follow-up then um you know with the electronic um lab reporting that's [1:34:17] that's another very time intensive um uh portion of this and so that also [1:34:25] is um you know part of this surveillance it's it's kind of the point a to z with [1:34:30] you know getting the students to test it it's kind of the it's all the things that were done [1:34:35] um a bit of similarity with test the nest last year that was all run by you [1:34:41] know the volunteers for that that surveillance portion of it then but contact tracing is would be [1:34:48] continued to be done by um you know the health services staff or the other staff primarily its health [1:34:54] services staff and so if there is a student that is a positive or a staff [1:35:00] member that's positive they all they're they're doing continuing to do the primary work of contact racing [1:35:08] so how many close contacts are there [1:35:13] usually for a elementary school student once you once [1:35:18] you have a positive and you start asking that student there must be a range of in school closed [1:35:25] contacts uh you know i i think it's going to be dependent on if you're in elementary [1:35:31] classroom um i mean it could be a whole class i mean really they can be [1:35:37] a very um they can be table mates lunch mates um [1:35:42] you know and they were working with um you know they were at lunch with unmasked they weren't wearing masks or [1:35:49] snack time to close contacts at the secondary where their schedules are [1:35:55] you know they're out and about they're moving around it could be far fewer i mean it could be [1:36:00] just two or three because we we look back at the 15 minutes of cumulative time between [1:36:08] three and six feet were they vaccinated did they have masks on [1:36:13] um you know what were the other those are the case by case sorts of details that [1:36:18] we review when staff are doing the contact racing so it's really going to vary that's why [1:36:25] when you look at the week to week numbers on the covid dashboard where you see the [1:36:31] quarantining numbers that's why sometimes it's going to really vary because one positive student [1:36:37] may might not have anyone that is a quarantine [1:36:44] and apply to that rule [1:36:52] thank you buddy so i'm just trying to understand cdc recommends a random sampling of five [1:36:59] to ten percent of the student population and so they're saying five to ten percent of the entire student population [1:37:07] of the well it depends on your targeted population it could be your unvaccinated population or it could be a much broader [1:37:13] population yes and and you said that the efficacy of this particular testing would depend [1:37:18] upon how many people sign up so that only 10 percent of our students sign up [1:37:24] then we're going to be testing 10 or 10 percent uh so [1:37:29] not necessarily we could be testing that 10 on a weekly basis so so i mean this [1:37:34] is the these are the logistics we're trying to figure out right now right so it's it's about because we only tested [1:37:40] ten percent of the ten percent it would be a very small population indeed that we would be that would be assessing each [1:37:45] year each week right but if we test all of them we're not doing a random sampling definitely not so that's one of [1:37:50] the problems that we're running into in terms of the number of families that are granting permission for assistance right so this program might be very effective [1:37:58] if we had half of the students in the target assign the waivers but if only 10 [1:38:03] percent then it might not be a good use of resources exactly which is something to consider [1:38:09] thank you matt yeah [1:38:15] first of all i know how much work went in the last year in managing both the student goals keep them in the classroom and all [1:38:21] these processes everything we went through with tesla nest and all that both of you face it thank you so much for all the hard work this is a board [1:38:27] request you both received to look at this kind of a program so you're coming back to us now with data on this kind of [1:38:33] a program there's a difference between surveillance screening and reactive testing and those are very different [1:38:38] things so from a surveillance perspective from my understanding from the year we spent on all the other work [1:38:44] and with united health group we're looking at taking the broader population and trying to do a randomized approach [1:38:49] to finding what areas or hot spots and then addressing them to keep our kids in the school district [1:38:56] so this is my first time really diving into this right because we haven't had our meetings ongoing after that um [1:39:02] the end of last summer so my thoughts on this are obviously the goal is to try to find [1:39:09] positive cases and keep our kids in school when i look at it though from these two perspectives i have a couple questions [1:39:15] too but when i give these two perspectives of what are we testing for and what are we trying to find [1:39:21] um we did not have a high participation rate last year that was a fact [1:39:27] so a concern of mine of going forward an expensive surveillance testing program [1:39:33] would be that many who might be most vulnerable might not participate therefore you might be [1:39:39] repetitively testing those that are fully vaccinated and even in case in cases double masking so [1:39:45] the question there is is who are we going to end up actually testing so even if we had a 20 or 30 percent opt-in [1:39:51] we're over 70 in a high school alone that have been vaccinated so what resources are we spinning up i mean in [1:39:57] an ideal world i would love to have surveillance testing where every kid comes and drops a quick vial and they can get a result by 1 pm but that's not [1:40:04] the way we're set up yet there's a there's a shortage of actual testing equipment it's another idealistic perspective would be that we can [1:40:11] actually get what we afford we say well buy do we have the 457 000 grant that was [1:40:17] assigned to edina for testing is that able to be allocated toward this or is [1:40:22] it being utilized this might go again we didn't discuss this in finance and facilities right now it's my first time seeing this just [1:40:28] first time seeing it so is this is are we able to draw on that full grant in 2122 and are we able to apply [1:40:35] that full grant toward this cova testing yes okay so when we're talking about expenses so everybody here there and [1:40:41] anywhere understand this is not coming out of the general fund or the capital appointment this would be coming out of state appropriated funds for covet [1:40:47] testing right okay so the question then is to figure out a drawing on this budget what is the [1:40:52] maximal way we can keep our kids in school the question is is surveillance work does screening work or does reactivity [1:40:58] work meaning as soon as the kid has sniffles they can get a fast response test [1:41:04] so i i'm i'm concerned about going down a rabbit hole of putting an entire plan [1:41:11] together that's going to get a very small participation spin up a lot of resources and not have the testing available for surveillance when in the [1:41:18] same light we could have while they're more expensive on a one-off basis a faster reactivity with with the fast [1:41:25] response test to see if kids who show any symptoms can be kept in school and not quarantine entire classrooms and [1:41:32] whether we could find a different way to to approach the testing process i i [1:41:40] i like the the instilled ideas behind the plan i'm concerned about the actionability and [1:41:46] what it's going to do to our staff even if we're outsourcing it we know it took 20 to 25 resources and i'd look to you [1:41:51] know julie was a lot more involved operationally from the test and that's perspective from the board than i was but my understanding is we had 20 plus [1:41:58] volunteers on a weekly basis helping out to make sure we could do the testing of multiple sites we had 30 but yes yeah [1:42:03] that's more than 20. so yeah so julia from the correct number so that's why she's closer to it so the point is that [1:42:10] this was a big effort in that respect um i'm an optimist i'm also a realist so [1:42:16] some concerns are that i i'm not necessarily sure you know with delta is starting to win there are five [1:42:22] states that have increasing numbers in 45 states that have decreasing numbers we are in a decreasing environment even [1:42:27] though there's always going to be peaks and drops so my my gut [1:42:33] would tell me that i believe in testing i think it's useful and helpful i think that if we're picking and choosing high-risk populations we're not going to [1:42:39] get by and i think mshl isn't going to allow us to do that prior to testing for participation and i don't think we're going to get the participation from the [1:42:45] edina larger community that's going to enable us to do the surveillance testing we want in the populations we want without separating kids and targeting [1:42:51] them for not getting vaccinated otherwise so i'm struggling to think about the real [1:42:56] world implementation that you guys would face versus the aesthetics and the goal of can we have a nice surveillance [1:43:02] testing program that's funded so i'm not trying to say go back to the drawing board but my my gut is that [1:43:10] and this is again one person's opinion is that we would be we would be more effective [1:43:16] at keeping more kids in school by doing fast response whenever any [1:43:21] symptomatology shows up just based on the way that we operate our 10 sites i think that this would look good on [1:43:27] paper and once we get into running it it would be very difficult so that that's my questions and my feedback do you and [1:43:33] your guts think this is the best plan you're responding to a board request what's up that's the question you're [1:43:38] responding to a board wait a minute can i no no can i just clarify that you're recommending this in addition to [1:43:45] the symptomatic testing well that's contact tracing so that's different no no no i [1:43:50] was going to correct that too and i'm not meaning to call you on the spot remember fox but you weren't at the last [1:43:55] meeting we had a pretty robust conversation about yep so there's 9 000 bionx professional [1:44:00] tests already ordered a 9000 q test to do the reactive testing analysis that you were talking about [1:44:06] right that is already in place so sending them back to the drawing board is actually we're not sending back to the drawing board that plan is already [1:44:12] as part of contact racing but also as part of if someone is symptomatic [1:44:18] miss heinen can i have a test i have this nipple and so that they had already thought through all that so so this is like a [1:44:25] second day this is the second part of our conversation what funds cover those sometimes the testing the same funds [1:44:30] there's no funds coming out of the general fund right but that's 457 for everything correct but the tests are [1:44:36] also free these tests that we got from this minnesota state are free until we have them in hand or are we waiting on a [1:44:42] backlog so what actually happened we have um the bionx now the home over the counters we were we're sending those [1:44:49] with home with students as you know as they come in symptomatic and they and they're going home to use them that's a [1:44:54] rapid anagen test the the q tests we have some in hand [1:45:00] right now um and they they were delivered i think we ordered just to get started like 50 per site right now what [1:45:07] we don't have where we just worked with legal today as a matter of fact we've been going back and forth with the [1:45:12] consent form we cannot test and use that form right now um because that is administered um it [1:45:20] would be administered by the health services staff kind of on-site and so that's part of a [1:45:26] that's part of this you know testing process but but we have those on hand we just not been able to use them because [1:45:32] we don't we haven't we're out there with the consent form and a couple different things right now and then anytime we use [1:45:38] one of those we have to report it to we have to report negative positive and undetermined results to the minnesota [1:45:45] department of health within 24 hours so those are the procedural things that we were working on right now um but [1:45:54] you know i i think i think that that could you know really be a good option [1:46:01] as far as you know getting students back in school quicker [1:46:08] i think a surveillance program i just think we learned so much from last year in test the nest um you know and i can't [1:46:15] speak for enrollment at um elementary and how many you know families are going to want to have their [1:46:21] students tested i i just don't predict that but i do know what we learned at the secondary level and you know for all [1:46:28] of the effort it was it was just a hard it was it was kind of disappointing really the [1:46:34] participation um it just wasn't what i would have expected i would have expected it to be much much greater than [1:46:41] what we actually had um so i think what we're also seeing is that there's a certain level of fatigue with [1:46:49] with testing and testing then puts my child in a position where they may be asymptomatic but then identified [1:46:55] uh with covid which then results in a quarantine or an isolation uh and so i mean that there is there is that balance [1:47:01] game well the dis with the district in general may be very much in support of surveillance testing i think in terms of [1:47:07] you know ethically and thoughtfully uh very much in support of this i think i think we need to i think we [1:47:13] would need to test the waters and regardless of whether or not we go with the asymptomatic testing protocol that we talked about during the last board [1:47:19] meeting or we pursue the surveillance testing i think it would be a great litmus test for us to be able to get [1:47:27] that permission form completed filled out and have parents demonstrate their level of willingness [1:47:32] to participate in a program which could then inform our efforts about how how much we can move forward um so our so i [1:47:39] think we we do put this you know in my gut taking it back to the families because i think in terms of the surveillance testing i think it is a [1:47:46] much more robust model to identify students that might be asymptomatic but positive [1:47:51] but at the same time we have to have participation levels in order for it to be effective so you so [1:47:58] did i make the point i did miss that last name so i appreciate the catch-ups so you do [1:48:03] recommend this program if in the event that we were able to get high participation rate [1:48:09] i think it would inform us better and i think that then it would depend on those other variables that we talked about [1:48:14] which is the the supply of the the testing materials again we don't have all those test kits in hand right [1:48:22] we're promised those we believe that those will eventually come to us um but we may be well into december [1:48:29] before we actually see a lot of right that's what i'm trying to so from an invitation perspective is it [1:48:34] i it would an ideal suggestion be to see what family participate we would get from this before we spin up the efforts [1:48:43] no yes i'm shaking my head no but i'm just disagreeing with you okay quietly i was [1:48:50] so matt you're suggesting that we get a sense of what the community support would be for can i ask for more words [1:48:57] sorry enjoy ask questions no answer questions because i feel like we're moving into decision making so i have i [1:49:02] just want a couple make make a couple points and just get clarification so i matt had a lot of really good [1:49:09] points about um making sure that we had a pro we have a program that's efficient and impactful [1:49:15] i think these cdc recommendations in my opinion do not match reality [1:49:21] i think the fatigue has set in if you can't get results quickly it's not going to be [1:49:27] effective and from what i've seen the vault test the sent home test it is [1:49:32] a two to three day sometimes four or five day turnaround right now people do not have the patience for that so in my [1:49:39] opinion matt put it very well the reactive testing model that you guys showed us last week i think is a very [1:49:44] effective and impactful way of using our resources without depleting our staff without [1:49:50] depleting energy and resources going to the screening model i also believe from what we learned on test the nest [1:49:58] we had probably the fastest results from a surveillance testing program [1:50:04] right we had two hours sometimes three hours back and we still struggled with participation [1:50:10] we also struggled with we had six or seven hundred consent forms signed but the kids when they actually got to [1:50:15] school did not walk past us with their heads down because they didn't want to come get tested that is the reality of of the [1:50:22] program so i would love to talk to someone at the cdc and say why don't you come look at a [1:50:28] school and see what actually goes on with a 16 year old so um sorry cdc on that piece but that's [1:50:34] why it's it's a guideline so um the other piece is focusing only on i know remember jones [1:50:41] was worried about like the unvaccinated that her points are very valid that that is a high-risk group [1:50:47] but we also have talked a lot about privacy not calling them out i have asked the mshl what are you doing to [1:50:53] support testing masking there's no statement so there's no there's there's been no statements or [1:50:58] support from them since i don't know when but there hasn't been so that's the reality of where we're at [1:51:04] so as a school district we i think need to target where we can and i think the plan of just doing the [1:51:11] reactive testing is where we are i think this is a ton of work that you guys put into it i appreciate you working through it all i just don't think it's viable i [1:51:18] don't think we'll get the participation especially from the unvaccinated students i just i just don't see it it [1:51:25] would be a lot of effort to go through the other thing we did learn from uhg is catching a covet case in that window is [1:51:32] like threading a needle so we had found a couple last year and that was fantastic we were able to stop that [1:51:37] transmission in that moment and even with our low participation rate we found that so it is [1:51:43] it is doing a lot of this um you know flying into a tiny tunnel so um [1:51:49] i i appreciate this i think maybe down the road when cove is a little bit more in the rearview mirror and we need to do [1:51:55] a baseline maybe this is something we can come back and visit but right now i think the i think the targeted testing for [1:52:02] reactive is exactly where we need to go so that's my sense on things [1:52:07] so so i um i think we have i guess different levels [1:52:12] of decision making but i um i actually support us doing this in [1:52:18] the elementary school and in um if we could even pre-k [1:52:23] i think the reality is that we're not going to see the level of vaccination rates that we see for older grades [1:52:29] and that surveillance testing could effectively be utilized in these [1:52:36] grades i agree with um julie about the upper grades we're not going to get participation even if we [1:52:42] wanted wanted to i don't think it's a good utilization of resources i would be interested in [1:52:49] moving forward to see if there's parental interest before investing a lot of money [1:52:57] and i think that i don't i wouldn't want to move forward with this plan and maybe it is [1:53:04] even sending out a quick survey question that says hey elementary school parents [1:53:10] this is what we would like to do to keep your kids in school are you interested knowing you're going [1:53:16] to have to sign a form this this and this and if only 10 and tell them if only 10 [1:53:23] of you are interested it it won't work because we need this threshold [1:53:28] um i think there's sort of a point where it's not worth our resources and it [1:53:34] isn't going to be worth if we have 10 percent of a 10 sampling the science doesn't work and it doesn't pan out [1:53:41] to me that would be a good first step is engaging parental interest [1:53:47] if we don't have the interest we don't have the interest and that science doesn't work if we do have the interest [1:53:52] i do think it's another tool that we can utilize um we already see that we go from like 77 [1:53:59] fully vaccinated to what is it in the middle schools right now 50.41 [1:54:06] i think there's going to be some vaccine hesitancy at the elementary school so i personally support moving forward [1:54:13] with this with that added step of seeing what the interest is [1:54:19] at the parental level that being said [1:54:25] what i have articulated or what i've heard from different board members it [1:54:30] seems like there's a break between either not supporting it at all supporting it for k through five [1:54:37] supporting it k through secondary and then an interest in looking at high risk activities so if board members [1:54:43] could weigh in on all those four different scenarios so we could give direction to [1:54:50] administration on um and maybe there would be consensus [1:54:55] maybe not but we can get there um about your feelings on all of those start with [1:55:01] lenny so before do we have the ability to tell students [1:55:07] they cannot play for example basketball without doing testing my understanding was no because we [1:55:13] looked at we talked about that extensively with our legal counsel last year the answer was no we can also [1:55:18] cannot say you have to get tested correct so then why would we investigate [1:55:25] having this for high risk if it's completely voluntary and that's a [1:55:30] different guess i'll just give so my view is that [1:55:36] i'm okay looking at k-5 or pre-k through five for parent interest provided it's [1:55:41] not a huge resource to be used at the administrative end [1:55:47] i don't know what the number is because if you send out a survey it says are you interested in doing this and you get 30 [1:55:53] that say yes you're not going to get 30 that are going to sign waivers those numbers aren't going to match [1:55:59] so i think we'd have to have a second meeting to go okay what's our gut feeling on the on the response [1:56:05] in terms of the rest i'm not interested in pursuing the rest i think that there are better allocations of resources [1:56:12] and while we do have funds for covid there's a lot of different things that are pulling at that cova testing fund [1:56:18] and eventually that's going to get used up and it will go into the general fund yeah so we [1:56:23] would have to prioritize everything we thought we wanted to do this year before we start saying this one can be [1:56:30] covered and this one could be math it's fun to go after lenny for once [1:56:36] yeah i pretty much agree with his position i think that having you know again working closely [1:56:43] with julie on this and and looking at all the ways we did this with the top five u.s company in the united health group and all the [1:56:49] provisions we reviewed there's no there's no implementationable way to review the [1:56:55] high-risk population and i think we're gonna get a little participation and i think as lenny said it does there's [1:57:00] always a give and take even if it is outside source funds i asked the question earlier can these be allocating [1:57:06] others available but then i'd have to haircut that i'd have to cut that quite a bit in my mind and talking to director [1:57:12] tilt before i felt comfortable allocating even though the 160 on here for that [1:57:17] that sample population so i think asking families and getting a gauge of interest is important i think [1:57:22] that would be from a messaging perspective superintendent stanley i think it's really important that [1:57:29] as we're hearing there are shortages of testing equipment heading into thanksgiving and then the holiday season [1:57:35] it's difficult if we said right now we want to do it we want to fund it let's go to even have it ready by early january right is that even that many [1:57:43] possible so i wouldn't want to set up a false expectation either that if the families come back with [1:57:49] excitement and 50 want to participate as lenny said with his legal background and my business background when you see this [1:57:55] survey in front of you where you got to consent away all this stuff some people still pull back um and so [1:58:02] my gut is that ideally i would always love to support testing and have it be ubiquitous across our system but i'm [1:58:07] landing the same place that lenny is that if there was a reasonable way to message and communicate to that pre-k to [1:58:14] fifth grade population it's just something we're investigating and want to be ready to go on in case we see another spike or in case other things [1:58:20] happen that would be a better way i think to put it so we do the preparedness now because we really can't roll this out the next eight to ten [1:58:26] weeks it's not possible so i don't want to set up false expectations so that's my only concern about following the path that i [1:58:33] idealistically believe in owen [1:58:39] um i guess given what matt has just said we've got you know the likelihood [1:58:45] is uh we've got a little participation likely we can't compel the testing [1:58:51] i think i would probably prefer to put any discretionary [1:58:57] cobit funds we would have into academic catch-up we can't do that [1:59:03] it's money specifically for testing we have 500 and about 50 000 geared just [1:59:10] for testing and the test from the state the test [1:59:16] from the state that they ordered are free they're not on top of that you know i guess if [1:59:23] if participation would be low we can't compel it it takes staff time to do it uh our numbers are coming down um and [1:59:30] just because the money's there i don't necessarily want to spend it so i'm kind of [1:59:36] tepid on this so there's my reaction [1:59:41] sorry julie i know did you [1:59:52] so the vaccination rate at the middle school is that for kids that are eligible to be vaccinated it's at 51 or [1:59:58] it's all middle schools at 51 because 30 of them are not eligible for [2:00:04] vaccination for the most correct so it's 51 of the total elementary so it actually does kind of match up with the [2:00:09] high school numbers then to the the participation um i think it's 7th and 8th graders are [2:00:16] very high similar to the high school rate it it's the 60 it's the um sixth [2:00:22] graders where it's actually i don't even know it was quite low [2:00:27] but that right exactly that doesn't mean because they're not willing to participate that means that they are not [2:00:32] eligible based on their age okay so really there's not so that's not [2:00:37] really an indica erica had mentioned me that i just want to make sure that it's really not an indication that there's [2:00:42] not interest it's just the numbers aren't there because the age okay um i do i do agree with the k through five or [2:00:50] pre-k through five but i think we have to position it the messaging is [2:00:55] going to be super important and we have to position it as partnerships with our families which means one location [2:01:02] and they're going to have to help us do that make that happen that's my case offering this at every single elementary [2:01:08] school running it at six sites is six times the cost six times that i mean [2:01:14] all of it the ipad all the stuff that you need so i just don't i think that has to be [2:01:19] part of the question because it won't be sustainable i mean ideally then you have someone [2:01:25] come in and they set up one site a family if it's important to a family to participate they can show up and have their kid tested [2:01:31] um and do their do their role in this that's my my take so i'm in support of asking the doing that survey just for [2:01:36] that i don't agree with the high activity in the k through 12. [2:01:42] just a caveat i ideally we could do it at one site but i [2:01:48] think we're going to run into equity issues again like if a kid can only get to school we'll be on bus [2:01:54] i just i'm concerned with putting that parameter on we either have it available for everyone or we [2:02:01] don't so i'm just concerned about putting that i want to make sure we're giving you a very clear direction [2:02:07] um so that's a concern that i have and i want to leave it up to you guys like [2:02:13] this is the way we can implement it as a leadership team and ellen i know you wanted to say stuff [2:02:19] so i just want to make sure you get your opportunity if i could just make a comment the one thing that i would see [2:02:24] is you know moving forward if we if over the next month or so if we if we see [2:02:30] some just changes in some of the site trends or numbers or something or [2:02:37] specific programs for example like students that are not able to wear their mask maybe they have mask exemptions or [2:02:43] something if we could just maybe you know look at how will we look at decreasing the [2:02:51] numbers maybe we do need to look at testing differently in in different groups or something i [2:02:57] don't know but that's one thing that i would say maybe we would need to re-evaluate um and um the other thing i just wanted [2:03:05] to say is this is in no way testing is not about the other mitigate we're not [2:03:10] going to be lessening any other mitigation layers that we have i mean we're [2:03:17] you know continuing to be really re-looking at hepa filters in the rooms maybe we need to add more [2:03:24] filters if there are you know a number of cases in a particular classroom we're adding hepa filters we're continuing [2:03:31] with the ventilation looking at cohorting distancing you know students with symptoms [2:03:38] all those things are really really going to be continued important [2:03:44] as we work to get more and more students vaccinated and fully vaccinated [2:03:54] yeah um so i'm i'm just trying to put uh this [2:04:01] waiver you know we're talking about sending out we would like to gauge interest most of us are saying well if [2:04:07] there's no interest there's no point in doing a program and i'm just trying to [2:04:14] put the question into two buckets we already know if [2:04:19] if you've proposed and i think the board agreed to the contact tracing at our [2:04:25] last meeting so we will need waivers [2:04:31] from all students and these are vaccinated students that [2:04:37] would be getting that contact tracing test [2:04:43] so i'm just so i'm just trying to listen to [2:04:48] and so are we now proposing a survey for all the unvaccinated people on whether they [2:04:55] would be okay or could we just send out one survey and say would you be willing [2:05:00] to not one survey but the waiver form and say will you sign [2:05:05] this this is going to allow us to contact trace students in school hopefully keep your [2:05:12] classrooms open and it will also um you know maybe two check boxes but i'm [2:05:19] just trying to to say that there really are two decisions and we are going to need waivers [2:05:25] anyway is am i did i catch anything wrong with it i we wouldn't do my understanding i was [2:05:32] supportive of a survey for pre-k through five only i wouldn't survey the whole community i would just survey that group [2:05:39] they would all be unvaccinated because none of them are eligible right now so it wouldn't be selecting unvaccinated [2:05:44] versus vaccinated that was my what i was in support of is one of the options of the [2:05:49] or one of the things that we had to give feedback on so [2:05:55] so i'm just i'm trying to figure this out so but we are going to need to to have waivers in the secondary schools [2:06:03] for contact tracing [2:06:10] i mean if we're going to do the testing in school we will need to have the waivers [2:06:17] no the well the biannex now goes home and the parents do it so there's no we're talking about the q [2:06:23] tests that were presented last week last at the last meeting right but then it's consent for when [2:06:31] you have someone who is taking that test you don't do a blanket consent it's [2:06:37] a pre-consent you would just do it if if i got a call from the office they said your kid [2:06:43] you know is showing symptoms we can offer this then i would give consent to doing that [2:06:48] so that's but but the process outlined by the cdc and the mdh says like at the [2:06:54] beginning of the year you normally would send out this would be a blanket [2:06:59] blanket waiver but we wouldn't have the information on [2:07:05] what we were testing them on which is part of the problem like what because the consent has to match up with the [2:07:10] test so like our consents last year that we used for test the nest that was for that very specific pcr test [2:07:17] that we used it was down to i mean the ascent and consent because not only do the parents have to consent the student [2:07:23] has to ascend every test every single time they test so then even when kids walked up to test we again had to get [2:07:30] their approval to test so it's not i understand that they say you can just send a blanket thing out it's not like [2:07:36] signing a field trip for them at all those aren't my words those were from uhd so [2:07:42] so and that's your plan i just want to make sure i understand so that's your plan for contact tracing you're going [2:07:47] every time that we have uh contacts to test for with q [2:07:53] tests you're going to get the waiver [2:08:00] so we're working with legal right now to develop a very specific uh form that [2:08:06] would allow us to assess students so it's it's tied as as julie it just [2:08:11] stated back to the specific test that we'll be giving the two tests right now the one test [2:08:17] that we have available to us right now is the q test uh we are also working on securing the binex now professional and [2:08:24] so would be a two-pronged kind of a waiver so that the the two tests would be identified on that release form that [2:08:30] parents okay for every incident so can you can you walk through [2:08:36] there's a student they have a close contact with a positive student [2:08:42] you're not going to test them right away can you walk through that process we um [2:08:49] you know like really like almost 99.9 percent of what we do in the health [2:08:54] office anytime we're working with a student and if it involves um [2:08:59] you know an injury or in this case student testing we're going to call the family [2:09:05] just to make sure they know what's going on and so in this case we we would have pre-arranged [2:09:13] you know generically who who's going to give us permission if if a student is [2:09:20] you know we're going to explain the scenario covet here are the symptoms would you like your student to be tested [2:09:26] in the school with q testing and so we'd send that we would send that out in [2:09:31] this case um you know the symptomatic student comes into the health office we would say oh jeff jorgensen we we have a [2:09:39] consent form for you we would call you know we would call your your parent and uh we would we would have already [2:09:46] arranged for that student to go to uh isolation room or somewhere else in the [2:09:51] school and we would you know maybe the parent would say i [2:09:57] want to make sure that i'm there let me come to the school or um they're like no i don't want to do [2:10:03] i don't want to do that today and you know because maybe they they've got another test scheduled somewhere else [2:10:09] because they don't have to do it at the school but yet they've given us permission to do it so based on the arrangements that the [2:10:16] parents verbally have given us and the students all set you know depending on the age it might not be the [2:10:23] best they might not be comfortable so that's why we'd wait for the parent otherwise if it's an older student [2:10:28] um we would we would swab their nose after we put all our ppe on [2:10:34] and then um you know the the result would come back in roughly 20 minutes [2:10:40] we're not you know set up for all that yet with based on all the consent forms and you know any number of the the steps [2:10:48] that we're working on and then um we would be able to say yes the student [2:10:53] is positive or negative [2:11:05] yes because without the concerns [2:11:11] is that just when they find out that they're a close contact you're going to be sending out the consent form well [2:11:17] usually we try to be proactive and you know it's part of a surveillance program or a just a school [2:11:23] program you know um we would send the consent form out and so whether or not it comes back like [2:11:30] kind of like a field trip we you know that's another story but we would want all the consent forms to come back [2:11:36] and to everyone or just the ones that are close contact i'm so sorry i i just don't unders i i'm trying to continue [2:11:44] anyone i can do contracts so if uh um if i know that i was positive and i [2:11:50] would notify the school if if jeff and i were were table mates jeff would be a [2:11:56] close contact of mine and the the health services staff would would would include [2:12:01] jeff as part of the my contact for tracing on might he be [2:12:06] infected with because of mycovid that's contact tracing [2:12:13] testing testing for covid with using a tq test that requires [2:12:19] a consent form is another part of that it's you know [2:12:24] it's just one of the buckets of things that we have to do related to covet that's why it's so com [2:12:30] complicated i i don't think it is so that we move on because i think we're getting a little into the weeds so that [2:12:39] so ellen's question is jeff is a close contact of you ellen's question is do you have prior to [2:12:47] the knowing that he's a close contact do you have a waiver from him that you can do a q test [2:12:52] so the answer the answer to that is we we can with the protocol that we're talking about with the surveillances [2:12:59] this is one of the follow-ups that we were doing about just the from the asymptomatic testing protocol [2:13:04] that we did last time and it was contained within the school-wide surveillance testing we can send out those permissions ahead [2:13:11] of time as long as we're specific about the guidelines that are there we would still notify the parents that [2:13:18] that testing would be taking place but we would have a secured permission to assess [2:13:24] prior to the student coming in for testing so that would be something that once [2:13:30] again in our overall protocol that we would be sending out whether it is the asymptomatic testing protocol that we [2:13:35] talked about last last time we met or whether it's moving forward with the surveillance testing protocol we're [2:13:42] losing no ground by sending out those permission forms ahead of time to all families and then we can actually get a [2:13:49] good evaluation about how many parents would be willing to participate in the program not just a survey question so we [2:13:54] could actually send out the actual permission form to families so that we're doing kind of the two-step process [2:14:01] um or we can do the survey question that would just be a simple survey question but then again it's a it's a two-pronged [2:14:06] approach i have one quick question i'm sorry i might be behind [2:14:13] do we need to qualify because with united we sent this stuff out do we need to qualify as a lab and you believe it's [2:14:19] six months earliest to do that so we're i want to clarify that uh so [2:14:24] again at that one of the last superintendent meetings uh the we were assured that uh from the health [2:14:30] department that they were going to try to move heaven and earth to try to get these these barriers out of the way to [2:14:36] allow us to be uh to allow us to do testing on site so yes we do need to [2:14:41] qualify as a lab that is a requirement and this uh generally a process that takes a minimum [2:14:47] of six months but up to generally more 18 months right in terms of the process but we believe that a lot of that will [2:14:53] be expedited they they have narrowed some of the requirements for schools even though [2:14:58] it's very it's still very complicated to me because it's very new um but it's still um it's a shortened [2:15:06] they've said it's a shortened time window this was a hard note for us last year big going through that process so [2:15:11] do you guys actually think this is doable in the next three to six months so i was on superintendent's call [2:15:19] with commissioner last week and they said that their goal [2:15:25] is to get school districts approved within a two-week frame two-week friend [2:15:31] that's their goal [2:15:39] we're putting that to the test right now because mary's already started the process so [2:15:44] so the what i have from the board is that there's an interest in pers looking into the viability of pre-k through five [2:15:53] or assessing interest from parents and obviously you'll have to [2:15:58] figure out the best way to do that [2:16:03] um can we move on to another subject can i make one quick last comment it'll be really quick it's really fast [2:16:10] it is um i just want to caution sending i know to get approval ahead for the q test i think [2:16:18] that communication and how that comes is super important because families will then expect it and if we don't have it [2:16:25] right and then they may also think we ran into this problem last year they think they're automatically getting even [2:16:31] just sending the information they're like would you just sign my kid up for we got that a lot and that took that was [2:16:38] so the communication piece is just really really important to make sure we get that right [2:16:45] thank you thank you guys thanks for all your work on this okay we're moving on to action items do [2:16:51] i have a motion to approve the 2021 year-end fund transfers so moved second [2:16:57] did you get those lenny did them motion and then owen seconded it [2:17:04] director tope welcome [2:17:13] thank you chair allenberg superintendent stanley members of the board and more mundane and less controversial items [2:17:20] we have a couple of fun transfers that we're recommending the board to approve tonight [2:17:25] if the board recalls last year we made three fund transfers two in the same ones that you see [2:17:31] tonight restricted for staff development and restricted for operating capital [2:17:36] the third one we made was for school readiness and ecfe and the community ed fund [2:17:43] so these transfers are allowed for covid related [2:17:49] expenses and the state legislature has allowed us to do that for two years 1920 and 2021 [2:17:56] so these transfers if approved tonight would be incorporated into our audit report [2:18:02] that would present be presented to the board the amount for restricted for staff [2:18:08] development is about two hundred and thirty one thousand eight hundred and eight dollars leaving uh two hundred thousand dollars in that [2:18:14] account uh for carry into the 21 22 school year and the amount uh for the restricted for [2:18:22] operating capital is 762 805 dollars and that will still leave a very healthy [2:18:28] fund balance in the restricted for operating capital so you have the report [2:18:34] i will stand for any questions go ahead no questions just a comment um we again [2:18:41] you know affirmed our triple a bond rating director tope and the group have been very thoughtful about all these decisions and i fully support it [2:18:50] anything else okay we'll now vote to approve the 2020 2021 year in fund [2:18:56] transfers all in favor say aye aye anyone opposed [2:19:01] the 2020 2021 year in fund transfers are approved thank you so much director thank you [2:19:07] do i have a motion to approve the 2022 2023 and 2023 2024 school year calendars [2:19:15] so moved lenny second matt [2:19:21] um director assistant superintendent schmazel [2:19:27] welcome [2:19:33] good evening uh chair ellenberg superintendent stanley school board members community members [2:19:39] uh at our last school board meeting we presented a calendar proposal to the board and the community for the 2223 and [2:19:47] 23-24 school years that process worked through a committee of parents [2:19:53] staff and a high school student we reviewed past data from other [2:19:59] calendar surveys in the past we also collected information through a focus [2:20:04] group of staff of about 150 and that was in particular for our early [2:20:10] release analysis that we were doing in that process the calendars that were proposed meet [2:20:16] state statute requirements and are designed to meet board parameters that were agreed upon previously [2:20:24] new in those two calendar proposals are 2k 5 assess and connect days or we could say [2:20:30] know your learner days it's a very important way to start the school year and we believe that that is a new [2:20:36] practice that should begin in united public schools you'll also see in those calendars that [2:20:42] we continued the two-week winter break the one week spring break we coordinate that with past data about preferences in [2:20:49] terms of times in march etc and then we tried to coordinate the student contact days with [2:20:55] community events like the election in terms of process [2:21:01] we'll continue to bring a rolling calendar annually back to the board so we can be two years ahead and we would [2:21:08] be bringing that to the board in september of next year our proposals [2:21:13] included two options option a had four early releases still in the calendar and [2:21:19] option b had no early releases and then those eight hours were converted to one [2:21:24] professional development day administration is recommending option b [2:21:30] for consistency across the district in terms of [2:21:36] professional development time in terms of collaboration time in terms of a more friendly calendar for [2:21:42] our families in terms of continuity on those days in the school they've they've to some [2:21:48] degree they prove difficult to have a learning continuity across the system and we believe we have the professional [2:21:54] development and collaboration time organized and aligned in the district to go to a different model moving forward [2:22:01] so with that i'll see if there are any questions one just one quick question so the start [2:22:07] of the school year the k through five connect assess days those are two does that then push the first day of [2:22:13] kindergarten another extra day or is that just or is is doesn't kindergarten typically start a day after [2:22:20] yeah the rest one through five and it would start at the same time but then it would be incorporated into these two [2:22:25] days got it okay thanks anything else [2:22:31] yeah i i have a couple questions one um so this provides for 169 [2:22:39] instructional days for uh for k through 5 and 171 for the high [2:22:45] school uh one 169 well [2:22:52] would be like regular student contact days correct in 171 for secondary [2:23:00] and so i i support the goals of this connect and assess [2:23:06] and i understand how useful it will be to have students and their families meet with their teachers and learn about each [2:23:12] other and how to best meet their needs however i wonder if there might be another way to [2:23:19] achieve these goals without cutting into the total number of instructional days [2:23:24] for students the majority of other states require a minimum of 180 instructional days this [2:23:32] plan at 169 for elementary is nearly two weeks shorter than most [2:23:39] others in the country and by adding a half hour meeting with the teacher the student will be getting two less school [2:23:46] days so i'm more than reluctant to approve that trade-off [2:23:51] especially if the goals can be met some other way and i encourage the district to look at [2:23:58] other ways to meet these goals of this initiative perhaps reconsider the allocated time for october conferences [2:24:05] or reconsider the choice of screening assessments and the need for one-on-one [2:24:11] teacher assess assessment [2:24:17] perhaps it's by differentiating the usefulness by grade level and only implementing to those grades where it [2:24:24] might be more beneficial but i i just was wondering if the if the [2:24:31] calendar committee looked into other ways where you might be able to [2:24:36] achieve these goals without losing critical [2:24:42] typical school days which is really what's happening now [2:24:48] and the challenge of that is that you're trying to do those assessments really [2:24:53] early on in the school year you're trying to build those relationships those connections with the families and the students [2:25:00] in a way that fits into a regular school day if you will so [2:25:06] it's really a concept of trying to modify the start of the year to build that relationship with students and [2:25:12] families to know the learners better after two days than you probably do currently after two weeks so that you [2:25:19] can start faster with them it is an investment up front we believe this would be worth trying we could certainly [2:25:26] study it and bring the results of it back to the board but we believe this is a effort we're [2:25:31] trying to be able to again not only know the learners but to complete those assessments early on at [2:25:38] the beginning of the school year and i think that's that's just that's [2:25:43] really challenging to do during the day um early on in the year so it's really [2:25:50] trying to create some focused time to do it and to connect with families to have those conferences really early to do [2:25:57] that goal setting that's the purpose of the time right i i truly appreciate the goals and [2:26:04] i really want to thank the committee for bringing this up and i also am going to be [2:26:09] supporting option b which is the option you're proposing um for all those number of reasons where [2:26:16] they were taking fresh a fresh look at our calendar but i i still am [2:26:21] a little concerned about this and so i would i would recommend that if if we are [2:26:27] going to do this i don't know how the rest of the board feels about it but if we are going to move ahead with [2:26:33] two days we just heard normandale saying they do something like this with one day [2:26:39] and i am really tight on my right cutting into school [2:26:44] instructional days so i i would i'm i'm reluctant [2:26:49] to approve this new calendar but if the board approves it i would hope that [2:26:55] um we you would bring back to the board next [2:27:01] some information and now to identify whether this has been successful like the number of families [2:27:08] attending during the daytime or evening per sub group the number of assessments completed per [2:27:15] conference and parent surveys that would include you know grade levels [2:27:20] so that we can assess whether it makes sense perhaps only for k-3 but then at least we're not cutting [2:27:27] into the school year anymore and that's my point [2:27:33] and one one thing we could certainly do ellen is we could um we could run this next year [2:27:39] and do a prove the success of it before moving it forward for the following year or [2:27:46] revisit it in terms of recommendation for the following year and so be able to bring the data and the [2:27:52] results back to the board and say here's how the two first two days ran do we want to continue it the following [2:27:58] year or do we want to modify from there i support leaving it as is because i [2:28:03] think our families have clearly asked for two years of a calendar and i don't [2:28:08] think we want to be ambiguous with the start date and what's happening the first couple [2:28:14] weeks of school if we find some underlying data that warrants you coming back to us to change [2:28:20] it to me that's a different story and i do support looking into if the if coming back with [2:28:27] metrics but i i don't support changing [2:28:33] what you've proposed erica [2:28:39] two observations one is ellen has raised a number of concerns and i i think [2:28:44] they're valid and i'd like to look into them it's a little late in the process and we're just basically gonna be voting [2:28:50] on it but um i would be very interested in studying some of the ideas that ellen's [2:28:57] brought up because it would be not it would be a very good thing to get the kids back and [2:29:02] just in the face-to-face instruction as much as possible [2:29:09] i am i'll just comment i agree with erica about not changing it i think when the calendar committee meets the next [2:29:15] time to do the following two year cycle that would be the time to assess i think one year is also very hard to grab data [2:29:20] from to look at the success of that the first time out the other thing is we just had a whole [2:29:26] discussion about assessment and assessing kids and so this actually gives dedicated [2:29:31] time to the teachers to do a full assessment so that we can jump into face-to-face and in-person [2:29:38] instruction out of the gate and so this actually is a tool to do that so i feel like this is [2:29:44] a response to what the board's direction has been about getting more assessment so i think it's a really [2:29:50] smart way to do it anything else or can we vote [2:29:58] okay all those in favor of approving the 2022 2023 and 2023 2024 [2:30:07] school year calendar say aye hi anyone opposed the calendars are approved [2:30:13] thank you oh i'm sorry [2:30:19] i said i agree sorry we had uh one nay from [2:30:24] ellen jones thank you thank you [2:30:31] um are there any leadership updates from any committees [2:30:41] superintendent updates thank you chair ellenberg so uh the last [2:30:46] time that we were together uh dr smuzel and i were heading to the consortium for high performing [2:30:53] districts and i just want to give an update on that we it was great to connect with [2:30:59] superintendents that represented over 130 years of experience together [2:31:05] collectively we had immediate takeaways specifically related to our magnet programming and so [2:31:12] that was really exciting to be able to have that and then something else that was really good [2:31:18] for us to learn and information that we were able to share with another district was that they're in the same position [2:31:25] that we are in with our comprehensive literacy plan that's not what they're calling it at this time [2:31:30] and we were able to share some of what we're doing and so it just really speaks to the power of this collaboration it speaks to [2:31:38] knowing that high-performing districts are all working to build their capacity [2:31:45] and really understanding the science as director d st hubert said the science of [2:31:52] how learning to read and so that was really exciting we [2:31:58] will be hosting them next fall so everyone will come [2:32:03] here to minnesota and we're excited to to be able to welcome them here and to [2:32:09] show off some of the things that we are doing as well [2:32:15] excellent um i think that's all so we'll adjourn the meeting thank you so much good night [2:32:22] thank you