[0:00] [Music] [0:09] [Music] [0:21] [Music] [0:28] perfect hello everybody welcome this is the November 13 2017 regular meeting of [0:35] the Dyna School Board I do call the meeting to order we do have a quorum the first item in our agenda is approval [0:41] of the minutes can I get a motion to approve the minutes of the October 23rd special and closed meeting and the [0:47] October 23rd regular meeting are there any changes minutes there are none all [0:54] in favor of approving the minutes from October 23rd special session and closed meeting and the October 23rd regular [0:59] meeting say aye any opposed motion carried next we have recognition mr. mr. Kyle welcome [1:21] we are here tonight to recognize on an matal who has done a really remarkable [1:27] thing he auditioned for and was accepted into the National Association for music [1:33] education which is the large national umbrella organization into their wind [1:38] ensemble and was accepted as one of just a few students that make it into that [1:44] national ensemble so Anand will have the opportunity to not only perform at Disney but he'll also have the [1:51] opportunity to perform in Carnegie Hall as part as the National Wind Symphony which is quite a big deal [1:58] they will he will perform with other students that were selected into these into this ensemble and he'll be playing [2:06] under some of the finest conductors that are out there so it's quite a feat the [2:11] interesting thing is that while we have these opportunities that come up from time to time and I'll maybe float the [2:17] ideas out to students Anand did this very discreetly just because he wanted to to challenge [2:23] himself put himself out there and see what he could do no surprise to me with [2:30] his skill set that he would be accepted and be in the ensemble but we're thrilled to have him represented ina [2:36] high school and Edina and Minnesota on this national stage so it's quite an honor for Anand [2:48] [Applause] what instrument I play b-flat clarinet [3:04] [Music] you could hum a little something for them interesting to you I think they're [3:15] both like really great opportunities to represent the school I mean I can't really choose between them he's being [3:21] modest his older brother was accepted into a national win simply that performed at Carnegie Hall but now on [3:27] and is that a higher level he gets to do both so I think this is a little putting bro in his place [3:40] [Applause] [3:58] next we have hearing from members of the audience we do welcome the public [4:04] comment we request that people keep it at 3 minutes or less and do not make comments about individuals if you have [4:10] comments about individuals then we would request that you contact the superintendent directly so we do have [4:16] different welcome grab a microphone [4:40] thanks for having us my name is Kate Bjerke and I represent Concord Elementary and with me I have Melanie [4:46] Sorenson representing countryside Elementary and Cheryl berry representing Cornelia we just wanted to come to you [4:54] guys after the recent election this last Tuesday November 7th we had several parents and staff express their concerns [5:01] over having the public in the school buildings during the election I think in a day and age where guns and attacks [5:07] have become more prevalent people are more concerned about the safety of our students so we are proposing that we [5:13] make a change and we are hoping to work with both the school board and the City Council who we've also discussed this [5:19] with to have a couple options first and foremost would be to move polling locations out of schools or [5:25] learning environments that house children including preschools and daycares option B if we need to would be [5:31] to make election day as an in-service day for teachers so that students are not in the building option C would be to provide additional [5:36] security at the school entrances and when I say that I mean police officers not just parent volunteers standing [5:42] between students and the and the community an option D if it would come [5:48] to it would to be asked that we don't have school on those days to resolve the public safety concerns we just want to [5:55] draw some attention to some key points we know that Election Day increases traffic and people in our schools we as a school [6:03] community just spent close to eight million dollars trying to secure our buildings to keep people out of the buildings during the day and I feel that [6:08] this is a very counterproductive to what we were trying to do by then on that day when everybody knows that our doors are [6:13] wide open that people can come and go as they please um several states and counties including [6:19] New York City and a county in Florida have decided to close their schools on election days it's known throughout the [6:26] state that they will not be open if schools are gonna be used we did a little bit of legwork in looking at the [6:31] different precincts and there were I believe seven precincts where either a church with a preschool is used or an [6:37] elementary or middle school is used as a voting site and we came up with some alternative options that we'd like you [6:43] guys to both look at in the city to look at and the reason we're presenting it to you tonight is we know where else you're also hearing from the calendar committee [6:49] so if moving to a different location isn't an option then it will affect our [6:54] school calendar as a public school district so i just want i have proposals for each of you he'd like to look at [7:00] them keep it in the back of your mind as we're moving forward with this and we'll keep in touch we did yes John was very [7:13] receptive to it so I appreciate it all right thank you next we have Tim O'Neill [7:28] I think you're familiar with the setup sorry my wife Annie was hoping to be [7:35] here tonight but she's home with our four kids so I'm speaking on behalf of her and myself my name is Tim O'Neill [7:40] and we have three kids at Concord and a four year old that will be in kindergarten at Concord next year I [7:46] wanted to start first of all by thanking the four board members Lisa Randy David [7:52] Regina your time has been very appreciated over the last four years so we wanted to sincerely thank you my wife [7:58] and I saw that on the agenda tonight open enrollment and class size policy will be discussed first regarding open [8:05] enrollment statute and board policy provide that open enrollment can be sent [8:10] to the lessor of either a 1% of the enrollment at each grade level in the district very roughly 85 students or B [8:19] the number of students at that grade level enrolled somewhere else which is again very roughly 15% of the student [8:27] body the board can by policy choose the lower of these two numbers although it [8:32] appears to always skew or recently in years skew to in favor the higher number [8:37] 15% we're wondering why that is so as we heard at last month's presentation on [8:44] current and projected enrollment in the next four years four of our six elementary schools are projected to [8:50] exceed maximum capacity in light of this shouldn't we be proactively revisiting [8:57] and revising our open enrollment policy for example perhaps we could implement a [9:03] rolling admission process and/or a more conservative early admission in order to [9:08] account for more aid I know family's moving to the district in the summer months the proposed revisions to the [9:14] policy up for discussion at tonight's meeting do neither we ask why not we look forward to hearing from [9:22] you tonight what steps you will take to improve the open enrollment policy second regarding the class size policy [9:30] we see that tonight the board will be voting on the recommendation to rescind the class size policy and we ask why is [9:37] there a plan to replace it with another policy reasons stated for the deletion of this [9:43] policy was that class size and staffing information were contained in the annual [9:49] administration report to the board last month we all rely on the school board to [9:55] set and implement policies that lead our district to delete this policy without a [10:00] plan for its replacement leaves no action plan to follow when our classes exceed capacity as is the case in 22 of [10:09] our elementary classes currently why is this policy being deleted most notable [10:16] is the deletion of the section that allows additional classrooms to be added when a grade exceeds the recommended [10:22] class size range the enrollment presentation last month although very thorough does not lay out an action plan [10:30] or give an option to add an additional section when a class size guideline is [10:35] exceeded we need a plan and we need accountability as elected [10:40] representatives of families in the district we need to trust that you have an action plan in place to address one [10:46] of the most important issues currently facing our district growing class sizes we want you to be proactive and not [10:54] reactive we see a lot of families moving to the district and as demand continues [11:00] to grow we ask what plan or policy will you implement to effectively manage class sizes in closing we look forward [11:08] to hearing this evenings discussion on number one what improvements to the open enrollment policy you will make such as [11:15] more conservative rolling admission process and number two why you've recommended to do away with the board's [11:22] class size policy thank you again for your time and we anticipate your discussion tonight [11:40] welcome well good evening board thank [11:45] you for letting me speak my name is Emily Vilas I currently have a 3rd grader at Highlands elementary and a two [11:53] year old who runs our house and will hopefully be a future dinah student my main concern [12:00] tonight is piggybacking off of Tim's concern regarding class size specifically I was able to review the [12:08] data that was presented and collected by Mary Mandor Feld and Margo Bach at last month's meeting regarding specifically [12:15] enrollment projections class sizes of facilities and certainly it does appear [12:21] that there are going to be some future challenges specifically for the Dinah schools and more specifically as the [12:28] elementary schools I'm here tonight to request that the board work with administration and teachers closely to [12:34] plan for the future so that there are proactive plans in place related to [12:40] class sizes structural facility challenges that will hopefully help to optimize learning certainly this is a [12:48] topic that is very personal to me as my current third grader at Highlands was [12:53] has been in very large class sizes in both first and second grade he was in 27 in with 27 other students in first grade [13:01] a 28 in second grade in second grade I was able to be an active volunteer [13:06] weekly in math class and certainly as the year went on I observed the various obstacles to learning in this very large [13:14] class currently his third grade class is 30 but the district was able to hire 0.6 [13:22] FTE that is being utilized for core classes again I am very fortunate to be [13:29] able to volunteer weekly in his class and I have personally witnessed the [13:34] positive impact that this has had on the learning environment for these kids certainly I could go on to cite research [13:41] that has looked at national data surrounding classroom sizes the sage program the Tennessee experiment however [13:48] I feel that it might be a little more personal to share a story from my year-old so my eight-year-old you know [13:56] is technologically advanced and you know I keep pushing him so that he's up there with the world [14:01] he likes to listen to podcasts on his nano we listen together we discuss them [14:07] it's it's a great experience for both of us one that he currently likes to listen to us called shortened curly it's an ABC [14:13] radio presentation that deals with ethical questions for kids specifically [14:21] two weeks ago he listened to the podcast is your classroom fair and you know [14:27] afterwards we spoke tell me what do you think is your classroom fair he sat back and you know of course I'm a [14:35] very proud mother and we all have the best kids around but he sat back and he [14:40] thought for a few minutes and he said you know mom second grade I wouldn't have been able to say my class was fair [14:46] there was not ever enough attention that could be given to me because there were always too many other kids with too many [14:53] of their challenges however I feel that this year in third grade I am in a fair [14:59] classroom that there is the teachers do have the ability to tend to all of our [15:05] educational needs in closing I certainly would just like to challenge the board [15:12] to work directly with administration to ensure that we can continue to ensure the future of Highland students have a [15:20] positive educational experience so they become lifetime learners thank you thank [15:25] you very much we do appreciate everybody's comments that is the end of the public comment I [15:31] do want to note that next month right we're adopting a slightly different policy so we'll still have the [15:37] opportunity to come before the full board at seven o'clock but at 6:30 I'm all right there was Janice yet so at [15:43] 6:30 on next month we will have an opportunity for people to come and [15:48] provide questions in advance so I think what hopefully this will be put up on the website where you can submit a [15:55] question in advance and then have a response available for you at that 6:30 session and we'll probably have a three [16:02] to four minute time limit for people to speak and and hope we have a little bit different engagement and what happens here with that we are [16:10] on to the consent agenda so I understand there's a couple items to be pulled from [16:16] the consent agenda one I would like to propose removing I believe it's the [16:25] contract item D thank you and also I'd [16:31] like to propose removing the district committees councils teams from the [16:37] consent agenda as well okay so item a and D so D&E are removed do you have do [16:43] you want those discussed inator you want to bring a motion to table them to a subsequent meeting I would motion to table both of them could I get a second [16:53] any questions about tabling D and E till next month all in favor of tabling say [17:00] aye aye opposed motion carried any other things to be removed from the consent [17:06] agenda if not can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda all in favor [17:13] of the consent agenda please say aye any opposed motion carried we are on to [17:21] reports and discussion I believe that the first item is school calendars go [17:26] ahead I think that's your favorite topic [17:42] good evening we have had the chance to we have great committee working on the [17:49] calendar for 2018 19 and 2019 20 school years and on the committee we had [17:57] parents we had staff when we had administrators and so tonight I'm pleased to introduce JD Shaw to my left [18:04] who is one of the parent representatives on the committee and to my right we have [18:13] who also Kate strand who is a preschool teacher as well as Randy and they have [18:21] been participants of the committee for a number of years and so we are all going [18:27] to present information about the two proposals for 2018-19 and then two [18:34] options for 2019-20 and to remind the public we are presenting options which [18:40] we have gotten feedback from a number of school staff as well as parents and then [18:47] it will be up to you to decide which option will be selected for each of the [18:52] two years so I would like to say that we had a survey that went out in September [18:59] and we had over 4,100 participants and that included students from the [19:05] secondary level we have parents we had staff members who participated we looked [19:10] at the parameters that you presented to us and we looked at a number of other [19:16] matters that we needed to consider as our community becomes more and more [19:22] diverse on how to make sure that it is the calendar for both years that reflect [19:28] the needs of as many people as possible in our school community so I'm going to [19:34] turn it over to Jamie first who's going to talk about the two options and we [19:42] have some positives that we have also some challenges for each of the years and she's going to walk us through that [19:49] okay we can start with the 2018-19 calendar option a there are a few things to [19:56] highlight on there as far as positives obviously no school the day before Thanksgiving Thanksgiving week is like [20:04] it is this year where there would be no school Monday Tuesday and then be off Wednesday Thursday Friday we have a mix [20:11] I'm sorry there's a mixture of early releases and late starts so there is hat [20:18] too late starts too early releases in this calendar we have that Friday off before spring break which is nice on [20:31] 2018 you're right that's true that [20:42] should that should say early release so [20:47] in the for the positives on the option a you should say early release on this [20:53] calendar the end of the school year will be June 4th and instead of going to the [21:00] end of that week we've taken three days off from the winter break which could be [21:07] considered a challenge by some people so instead of being the two full weeks off we would have one full week and then two [21:13] days and we did that because there is a holiday on June make sure I get the date [21:20] right the Wednesday the last day the last week of June June 5th is the Eid holiday which is a very important Muslim [21:27] holiday and would take a lot of students out of exams that week which would be a really tricky thing for the high school [21:34] to work around as well as the middle schools too so we looked at actually having a school end on the 4th so that [21:41] all students could participate on those exam days let me go back and see if [21:47] there was anything else we did the same thing with a lot of the late starts and [21:52] early releases on these calendars to make sure that if there was an opportunity to have those be around some [21:59] sort of holiday or day of significance that we looked at doing that and it also [22:05] we thought would help with parents having to either get childcare or take time off of work let me see if there's [22:14] anything else in that I think that's all for the option age does anybody have any [22:20] questions on option a only because it [22:27] was brought up an option beef but it wasn't an A so an option B you mentioned that ap testing can was mentioned an [22:34] option B but not an option a so how will a be test ap testing be addressed an option a so [22:44] far the the AP testing an option a we will still be able to address those that [22:52] there won't be a huge impact negative impact on the testing because when we look at the number of student days in [22:59] the first semester and second semester it's pretty comparable so essentially [23:05] there's no difference in AP addressing between the two options all right okay that's what I wanted Thanks just when [23:12] when typically are the AP tests Randy typically that would start in that [23:19] first week of May around the May seventh date okay we go for the next few weeks got it thank you [23:25] so if you look at option B some of the things I'll highlight on this option are [23:31] that there is a teacher in-service scheduled right after MEA which we have heard from parents is nice to have [23:37] because there are a lot of students that use that break to look at colleges so it was highlighted as being a positive for [23:44] the high school students do you guys [23:49] have any questions on option B before I start digging in I'm gonna have Kate talk about the professional days in [23:55] these two options the key difference I noticed on the really is those three [24:02] days in winter break not allowing us to be out as early and then also I was [24:11] curious about days prior to testing to that it would [24:16] but a would give us I'm assuming Gwen more days and Randi before some of our [24:22] yes are heavily and then same with I noticed spring break moved jump to week [24:28] as well yes later yes okay the other thing to note in option a is that [24:34] because we're moving the days we moved at the start of second semester up it [24:40] actually allowed a nice four day break for students at the end of first semester before a second semester [24:46] started so there was a natural break there for them oh yeah yeah yeah because [24:52] of MLK one of the things that I know the the board asked us to look at is if [24:57] there's a way to end the first semester right at winter break and I thought you [25:05] were gonna ask that Lenny so and again we looked at it and it's starting school [25:11] like in the middle of August which is very difficult with the construction projects so we felt like our next best [25:17] right solution is to have a four day break at the end of the semester plus [25:23] when we ask that question and our survey we were surprised they preferred that it [25:29] just be balanced but not necessarily that school would end at winter break [25:35] and that was feedback from students so we did take heed and Gwen from what I [25:46] understand if we really to because it's usually about a two to three week difference that would be two to three [25:53] weeks added on before Labor Day correct when we're really looking that's about [25:59] the 1250 to the 15th of August that's bull but start and when I talked with [26:04] Eric Hamilton about the construction he said that's very difficult to the [26:12] difference between some of the calendars is just that the staff development is spread out a little bit so typically we [26:19] have five days of staff development workshop week prior to school start and I'm one of the options for 2018-19 and [26:25] I'm one of the options for 1920 we did four days service days and then put one towards [26:32] the beginning of the year trying to spread them out a little bit so you have a chance to learn and grow gradually [26:38] rather than having five full days in a row of that learning and I just want to [26:45] ask so on only because I didn't do the counting are on both option A and B for [26:50] the 2018-2019 are the semesters relatively even yes they are so if you [26:56] take a look at the June calendar it will show Prince is kind of small but it will [27:03] show the number of days for the semester one and semester two as well as most of [27:11] them are about 80 to 85 I noticed so across all four yes there and if they're within three to four days difference [27:18] that really isn't that big of a deal for the teachers for the ice or those who are teaching semester courses so when it [27:29] comes to AP exams though it ends up being shorter in the second semester is that right because they tend to be in [27:35] May and school runs a few more weeks yes but it's it's still all relative because it's like two days difference [27:42] two or three days the second semester might be two or three days difference [27:47] and when we talked with if I'm understanding your question correctly when we talked with teachers were [27:53] teaching the AP courses that was fine no [28:03] I was I mean the second semester for those people who are taking AP exams pretty much ends at the time the AP [28:08] exams begin so they would have less instructional days I think in the second semester than the first semester that's [28:14] true that group of students that's true but again when we talked with the teachers two or three days difference [28:21] wasn't as big of a deal as we would have had for several more days [28:30] so moving on to the 2019 2020 calendars option a some of the positives as no [28:38] school for students on November 1st so that day after Halloween were letting the kids maybe stay home we're after [28:44] sugar rush again sites we really tried hard to put all the professional [28:49] development in the first half of the year so then they had but spread out but then they had the second half the year to really implement some new strategies [28:56] and this that option a has a four-day weekend at the end of September or at [29:02] the end of semester one that's with the weekend so it's a Friday dad a day for teachers the weekend and then I did [29:07] believe Martin Luther King Day Monday we really tried hard also to have many full [29:13] weeks as many full weeks of instruction as we could and try not to have a lot of months where there were several weeks [29:19] that were for three days in one month school ends on May 29th and then we [29:25] really worked hard to do the early release late start and teacher in services on some key holidays to reduce [29:31] student absenteeism so one example is that we don't have students coming on Rosh Hashanah on option a and we do a [29:38] early release on the day one of Ramadan so trying to take in consideration a lot of different holidays and make it work [29:44] for many different families the challenges they were many challenges an either option A or B for 2019 2020 but [29:52] one of them might be that there was less one less teacher in-service day in August that would take place again on September 30th again I am will see that [30:00] as a pro and positive in some ways to kind of spread out that learning and then just again back to the testing [30:06] dates those have not been put out yet for 1920 so we're still kind of waiting to hear about the acct SAT and pset [30:13] dates any questions on option a [30:19] semesters are very even tuned with our 86 and 85 for an option a and then [30:26] option B again a four day break for students at the end of semester one was [30:31] a positive Spring Break is a week earlier which might help for some test preparation or have a little bit more [30:38] time between spring break and testing school is in session for full weeks in April and May [30:43] again which is helpful for the testing schedules school ends again on May 29th and similar to option a we really tried [30:50] hard to do the early release late starts and in-service days on key holidays challenges Spring Break is scheduled for [30:57] the third week in March which is earlier than previously scheduled so just kind of a change and then again we're not [31:02] aware of the testing dates yet for those years so front-loading the discussion [31:18] with input via the survey was critical to the calendar committees efficiency and some of the dialogue and discussion [31:25] early releases and late starts are distributed periodically throughout the [31:30] calendar the significance of those is to provide collaboration time for staff periodically throughout the year that [31:37] collaboration time sometimes occurs in the building sometimes occurs district-wide and it also sometimes provides a [31:45] professional development opportunity that's more dynamic or in response to things that are occurring at that [31:50] particular learning time there is not a perfect calendar although we search for a perfect one so we continue to work on [31:57] that but we are excited about the options that were bringing you this evening so at this time I'm just asking [32:04] if there are any other questions from our board I have a question first I want [32:09] to thank all of you for your work and please extend that to the rest of the committee I know it's challenging [32:14] precisely for what Randy commented on there is no perfect calendar based on [32:21] what you've put together I'm wondering if you could share anything from the committee's discussion that a wicked [32:29] problem that you were wrestling with that would be helpful for clarification as we present the calendars to the [32:35] committee and then also helpful background for us to consider as a board before the calendars are approved [32:46] I think always one of the challenges that we face is really we believe also [32:53] that it would be great for students to have a natural break at then semester so you know really we do spend time [33:00] counting those days in semester one and trying to figure out how we could maybe make that work so we spend a lot of time [33:07] on that we also this year it was really a priority for us to look at those different holidays and how can we make [33:13] it so that the majority and all of our students our thinking overall can can [33:19] come to school on days that are important so that was a priority for us we also try to we try to eliminate we [33:25] don't want to day weeks so we really try to work around that but the exception of Thanksgiving I think we did pretty well [33:31] with that there's also always been that question some schools based on their [33:37] start times prefer early releases or late start sometimes it's hard we had one member of [33:44] our team talk about how at her school she's a principal that it's hard because [33:49] sometimes when it's an early release they're worried about small children going home to an empty house so that [33:55] time that collaboration time sometimes gets used up with trying to ensure that kids get home so we recognized that [34:01] there is no perfect solution for early start and all right early release and late start so we did try to balance [34:09] those as best that we could understanding that we needed to just break them in half so I think the [34:18] biggest one is the balancing that break making that winter break shorter I mean that's the because we heard that the [34:24] first time around we asked that was the loudest that parents wanted our families wanted that full 2-week essentially [34:31] break so that's really the one that I think is gonna be wrestling yes and I'm sure you guys already wrestled with that [34:37] so yeah in looking at 1819 and comparing them I actually kind of went through and [34:46] noted all the differences and then kind of thought is there a high-bred here that we could find because I think [34:53] there's some really great things in both of them as I really appreciated you [34:59] finding that insert stay after MEA I thought that was really a good idea and you know we need [35:06] in-service you know nothing to the year that it's a value but not too far that [35:12] you know they haven't had a chance staff haven't had a chance to do that I agree with Lisa's comment I mean I do remember [35:18] seeing that in the survey the three days or the two the desire for two weeks around winter break but at the same time [35:26] in calendar a I also remember it's clear feedback around moving Spring Break [35:32] earlier and so I thought your your attempt to get that on the 18th of March [35:37] and then adding that conference day after was commendable and then also [35:44] taking into account what you said about the the holiday on June 5th giving up [35:52] those three days and actually if I put it in the education realm versus holiday realm I do know that getting our days of [36:00] education in prior to high-stakes testing is really critical and I know that we took that into account the last [36:05] time we approved a calendar also I thought that that having the in-service [36:10] again in April versus May was more beneficial to teachers and more useful to use that data going forward for the [36:16] rest of the year so I I would want to just hear from [36:22] colleagues and staff and of course parents you know their thoughts on the the winter break but it seems with with [36:29] going with a post Labor Day start may be [36:35] giving up a few days on our winter break would be more beneficial to education than then not and actually can I just if [36:43] you could just talk about your the committee's thoughts about starting after Labor Day and then before could you yeah that would be channel 4 here I [36:50] think I talked quite a bit with Eric Hamilton about the construction schedule and for 2018-19 [36:57] he said we clearly need to start after Labor Day in order to have the [37:03] construction schedule will be very tight as it is so that's the reasoning for that in the parameters it talked about [37:12] starting the possibility of starting before Labor Day when we could and so [37:19] that's the reason for 2019-20 starting before Labor Day because the bulk of our [37:25] construction will be correct right how [37:32] many of our students are taking AP exams in the high school as opposed to not [37:38] taking AP exams I mean I heard you say about the number of days for those kids who are taking AP my math isn't working [37:45] the same as yours and I'll ask after the meeting to run through the numbers for me but if we look at the number of kids [37:51] taking AP versus non AP is it more than half the school and if you if you don't [37:57] know if you just shoot me an email with the response that'd be great because I [38:03] wouldn't want to try to think about the schedule in relation to them if they're only you know a third of the school because that presents an issue for the [38:11] other two-thirds he wasn't the only testing that we looked at we also looked [38:17] at it with the MCAS in mind so if you take that whole Elementary population [38:23] and then the middle school population a lot of the comments in here that are surrounding testing are related to the [38:28] MCA testing too so if you're reading stuff in there about just testing just [38:33] know that the majority of that conversation was around MCAS yeah and I was thinking about the number of days in [38:41] the semesters first semester second semester because the high school could have a different semester and then the middle school or the okay you talking [38:52] about calendars that would be different from one building to another as in secondary versus elementary or did that [39:00] not really get discussed in committee actually part of the barometer said that [39:05] the calendar needs to be consistent across the board and so that's what we kept in mind for 2002 future revisit [39:15] that question because I thought that was in our survey we asked in the survey but in the parameters we asked a number of [39:22] questions within the parameters wearing the expectation was that we would have a calendar that was [39:27] consistent if we ended the semester at a [39:40] different time but the high school wouldn't change the calendar in terms of days on or off it would only change when [39:45] finals were so that that would accommodate had a consistency for families other questions just to make [39:56] sure that I'm on the same page a and B for 1920 aren't massively different than each other outside of that that nice day [40:04] in October that you added after MEA and oh and spring break being earlier and B as well correct just want to make sure [40:10] okay thank you for all your work all [40:16] right thank you very much and Lenny will be approving these next month yes when [40:24] you need these approve next month all [40:31] right next is policy first one is open enrollment Regina are you running us [40:37] through the policy I can give us a rundown on both five ten and six seventeen so five ten is being reviewed [40:44] in order to provide alignment with revised state legislation there the [40:50] policy has already been through it's a regular review on its cycle so the change here is the addition of priority [40:58] eight which aligns with the legislative language regarding students who live within the city of a Dinah but not [41:04] specifically in the event of school district on October 31st of this year the Minnesota Department of Education [41:10] updated their open enrollment form on their website which adds the language [41:15] about a Dinah also consistent with the new legislation so that represents the [41:22] change in I'll just pause to see if there are any questions for 510 [41:28] and again that just inserts that as the statute says they can now have a priority right correct well I guess I [41:39] had asked about this because I wanted to verify that one where the law had [41:45] changed and and then was it truly [41:51] clarified within the law or from MDE if it's a mandate or if it's opens the door [41:59] but it's up to the to the board to make the final decision [42:27] so when we get down to that part of our open enrollment it's after all of the [42:34] other account all of the other priorities so just to clarify so we're [42:41] down to the last couple things and we're into lottery mode essentially but kids [42:46] with the need ina address would get first dibs and kids with any other addresses wouldn't look at the website [43:05] which is created by the Minnesota Department of Education we don't create it we cannot alter it the priority is [43:12] for students a student is a resident of the city of Edina but the resident [43:19] school district for the students Edina home is not Edina public school the student seeks enrollment in Edina public [43:25] schools that's on the entire open enrollment packet and so yes they would [43:30] be prioritized over any other open enrolled student that does not meet the [43:36] top priority so we have if you look at the priorities right now it's currently enrolled staff siblings all the way down [43:43] and so I think just for kind of information so information from the the [43:49] city is that there are presently nineteen hundred and eighty-two units in [43:56] total number of Hopkins dwelling in the city of Edina is 1982 total number of [44:01] Richfield dwellings in the city of Edina is forty one hundred and fifty five and then the only other one we had from from [44:09] the city was there are two dwellings that are in the st. Louis Park so those all of those potential units if there [44:17] they had families that chose to want to apply for Edina public schools would be part of that prioritized lottery and how [44:25] many kids are not able to enroll any dinah schools that that want to that are [44:32] currently in other districts but having dinah addresses you know we've never never [44:37] necessarily tracked that we've never tracked how many students are presently in because it's [44:44] never been a priority before I think the majority of the anecdotally we have more [44:50] families that have any dana dress that come from the Richfield school district that can't get in then we have typically [44:57] had from from Hopkins but again that's anecdotal and so you know just as an [45:02] example using this past school years dad if you kind of go through the priority [45:07] we had that Priority One which is currently enrolled we had 23 who [45:13] currently enrolled and then would have had to move out we had six staff [45:20] siblings we had four three ani siblings forty-eight open and rolled siblings so [45:26] they already had a student in new staff fourteen five new Ani and then you know [45:36] a large number of open role that fall into the other category so if you just [45:43] took the categories we have right now that's ninety nine students [45:56] so Mary you may have said this but what are the five school districts that are located within Edina I'm not sure what [46:06] the five are I know when we contact the city of Eid when we contact the city of Edina and we ask them for the data of [46:12] dwellings of house dwellings that are in the city of Edina and in another school [46:20] district they've given us locations of three st. Louis Park Hopkins and [46:26] Richfield I'm not sure the other because at this point the city of Edina hasn't [46:32] provided us house dwellings in in to other communities so before we adopt [46:38] this we want to make sure that there are five school districts in Edina statue [46:44] mr. Pelley is located partially or fully within the boundaries of at least five school districts well actually the [46:50] statute not the statute on the MDE form it doesn't specify five it specifies the [46:57] student is a resident of the city of Edina but the resident school district for the students Edina home is not Edina [47:03] public schools so they're not asking they're not talking about three four or five they're talking specifically about [47:10] city of Edina residents that are there their district would be something other [47:16] than you Dinah public schools I appreciate that but MDE [47:21] can't change the state statute and so the state statute unless I'm reading it wrong references at least five school [47:28] districts our policy doesn't reference [47:49] five the state forum doesn't reference five based on the information there is [48:00] some part of Bloomington and there was some part of Eden Prairie that could have residency there could be in the [48:07] city but not in our school districts so those [48:12] would be the five okay are there any [48:24] other questions on 510 617 so a little [48:31] background on the move to rescind 617 which is about class size and staffing [48:36] this particular policy isn't required by state statute when we reviewed this our [48:42] last policy committee meeting our goal was to just update it and as we read it [48:47] what we recognized is that the language in the policy doesn't actually provide any guidelines the guidelines for class [48:54] configuration and enrollment are a part of policy 604 so the goal was to [48:59] simplify and not to have two policies [49:05] that might risk having two different kinds of language involved so that's the [49:10] background on 617 and I can also pause there to take any questions back to the [49:16] policy committee so what is 604 se 604 as well neither policy has there is no [49:24] policy that specifically determines class size that is a separate guideline [49:30] that the district has always and will continue to have each year and the [49:35] school board approves it and that's always posted on the website but 604 addresses grade level configuration and [49:42] enrollment at each site it acknowledges our primary and secondary level classes [49:48] what grades are in middle school what grades are in high school specifically section 3 D 4 does talk about class size [49:56] guidelines and possibly a little bit more clarity than what 617 had but we [50:02] don't have a policy that has ever specifically addressed what class size [50:07] ranges will be that's always been a separate board discussion so there there [50:13] is no intention to change how that's gone forward okay [50:19] how things are going to work in terms of substantively you're saying it won't change correct there is no intention to [50:27] change the substance of practice and the goal is to maintain the alignment so [50:34] that like the definitions and different things we'll just have those things clarified and other either policies are [50:40] within the actual guidelines that we discuss so one of the questions we left [50:49] the committee meeting with was what do we lose if this goes away right and my understanding of that wasn't necessarily [50:54] losses in the district doesn't have it but that it goes from from policy to administrative decision it was there a [51:00] follow-up to just that particular question is there anything that's no longer just restricting the [51:05] superintendent but more within your judgement guideline that wasn't there before I guess what I remember from is [51:16] as most of 617 was actually addressed in 604 not it was sort of to separate that [51:22] it was just repeating things that had been another policy and so 617 the question was is what does that give us [51:29] that wasn't already addressed in 604 or I think the process does but is there [51:36] anything that's the process is saying the same because of discretion at the administration level or is it all still [51:42] the policy's power is just the same it's just no longer redundant listed in 604 [51:48] and 617 but there is no intent to change [51:57] practice that's there was no discussion about intending to change practice the [52:03] discussion was more around do we have any clarity in 617 and the conclusion [52:09] was no if anything there's potential for confusion by having two different policies with similar language [52:15] addressing the same topic so is and so a mirror 6:04 says the school board will [52:25] establish the class size and staffing guidelines and is that the sentence that you're saying does that exist in [52:31] 6:17 establishment of class size and [52:36] staffing guidelines a school board will establish so do we have that in 604 so [52:47] is your question Amir whether the deletion of that sentence from 617 is [52:54] not covered by 604 I'll claim that that's my question it was a little more [52:59] broad just cuz we left their meeting saying this seems like there are redundancies it seems like there are two different places around information we [53:05] did have a couple of follow-up questions and that's where I started it will offer to take back to the policy committee [53:11] meeting is that we review both 604 and 617 side by side again I think that's a [53:17] useful exercise just to make sure that there is nothing of substance that's lost and we may then present 604 for [53:25] discussion at a later date well to reflect that so if you look at 604 and [53:32] 617 at the same time and you say 80% of 617 is redundant then maybe we get rid [53:38] of 617 at the same time if we amend 604 to pick up whatever isn't redundant yes [53:46] which is what I'm yeah yes we can do them at the same time yeah okay that would be great and would that [53:53] address your question America perfect any other questions on 617 I just want [54:03] to make sure that some of the language that I think is leaving 617 that we look [54:08] to make sure that some of that is added back into 604 and if you have we can [54:15] certainly review that but if you have any specific language from 617 that you [54:21] feel is most helpful if you could pass that under the policy committee I will do that that would be helpful [54:26] Thanks so unless there's a need well can we just bring 604 and 617 for discussion [54:32] at the next meeting as opposed to action that's all [54:43] because you may be revising it just done [54:49] that rare thought that somebody has a question about it okay any other [54:55] questions on 617 okay so we are moving on to the action section and see if I [55:05] get Margo you may have to help me here but I need a motion to approve the canvassing returns of the votes of the [55:11] school district general election second [55:16] and do we need okay do we we don't need [55:21] a presentation this seems pretty self-evident no presentation needed any [55:29] questions hearing nothing all in favor of approving the canvassing returns of the votes of the school district general [55:35] election say aye any opposed motion carried next can I get a motion to approve the [55:40] canvassing returns of the votes of the school district special election so moved second any questions any [55:46] discussion hearing none all in favor of approving the canvassing returns of the votes of the school district special election say aye aye aye opposed motion [55:55] carried can I get a motion to approve the certificate of election so moved [56:02] second any questions discussion all in favor approving the certificate of election say aye [56:08] any opposed and next we have world's [56:15] best workforce [56:24] I'm just idle I was not advised that we needed to go through those checking it's [56:31] okay good question all right can I get a motion to accept [56:37] the 2016-17 world's best workforce report in a second [56:44] second we have any presentation of this [56:49] donna randy susan anything i know we had this last month and we had the public [56:55] hearing anything changed since then no we had the we had a board board work [57:02] session I think October 9th looking at some preliminary data with our public hearing last Thursday on the 9th I just [57:10] want to really send a sincere thank you to the world's best work force committee we have a number of parents that [57:17] participate on that committee we're always looking to make sure we have representative voice we know we need to [57:24] work on gaining some additional teachers and students in that arena this comes [57:30] out of Minnesota statute where school districts are expected to develop a world's best workforce annual plan and [57:37] then report on it MDE gives us a report template that is very brief and very [57:42] summarized it doesn't have everything from the plan in that template but they kind of dictate which elements we're [57:49] supposed to report on I will say that of our five goals all children are ready [57:55] for school we met that goal the goals are really developed through guidance [58:00] from Minnesota Department of Education and so when we're talking about all children are ready for school we're [58:06] talking about our kindergarten students and we use fast bridge assessments and we met that goal when we look at the [58:12] goal of all third graders can read at grade level we use mca evidence and data for that and we have not yet met that [58:18] goal that was helped to be constructed from MDE our third goal was all racial [58:24] and economic achievement gaps between students are closed we have not yet met that goal the last two all students are [58:30] ready for college and career based on our a CT data looking at the number of students who hit the stem benchmarks we [58:36] did meet the goal that was set there and we met the goal that was set around students graduating we've always had achievement [58:45] goals as part of our continuous improvement process and will continue to do so so that it's about it [58:51] any questions since it's a statute is [59:00] there any follow up when we have to report back that we haven't met a goal or do we just continue to work towards [59:06] those goals as we go forward can you just expand on that thank you [59:19] there's not any consequence for not meeting a goal at this point I think the [59:27] state is trying to promote locally-owned accountability systems that promote [59:33] commitment to continuous improvement so [59:38] okay thank you and if I could just add that this is a guideline that the state [59:43] would like us to do but we look at many different other measures of improvement that aren't necessarily here and we [59:52] looked at them the first time and then the second work session so this is just a part of that so we not only look at [59:58] these but within each sight within each between schools between us and other [1:00:03] lake conference schools those are continue to be looked at even if it's not in this particular report that's [1:00:10] correct any other questions all those in favor [1:00:15] of approving the motion to accept the world's best work force report 2016-17 say aye [1:00:21] any opposed motion carried next is scheduled review of policies [1:00:34] motion to approve correct yeah and mr. chair I'd like to propose that I'd like [1:00:42] to make a motion that we remove policy 620 for online learning options from [1:00:48] action this evening it's customary that these policies come forward for discussion this one wasn't present on [1:00:54] the October agenda so I'd like to move it forward for discussion in December [1:01:02] any questions discussion all in favor of approving the motion to remove 624 from [1:01:08] the current schedule review of policy ci the opposed motion carried and now can I [1:01:14] get a motion to approve policy six twenty six twenty nine and six thirty four so moved second Regina you want to [1:01:22] run us through those I certainly can six twenty of course credit for learning there are no changes since we saw this in October student [1:01:30] fundraising which is policy 629 has had some updates in response to the discussion questions that came forward [1:01:36] in October primarily there's clarification of definitions in Section three B section 4b adds the word [1:01:44] advertising for additional clarity and the appendix represents the most [1:01:50] significant addition it provides some guidance to students in response to this [1:01:56] change in accounting practices that funds not go into the district account [1:02:01] if therefore an outside nonprofit organization so I do want to thank Stacey Geyer and Sarah schandle for all [1:02:07] of their work to make those updates and amendments and thank Margo buck as well for the advisement to keep us in line [1:02:14] with all of the Financial Accounting Standards Board recommendations so those [1:02:19] are the changes in 629 634 with electronic technologies acceptable use has no changes since [1:02:26] October 3rd any questions all those in [1:02:32] favor of approving policy 620 620 963 634 say aye aye opposed motion carried [1:02:40] we are on to announcements are there any announcements so point of order Regina [1:02:45] should do to go through 624 since we're gonna prove it next month as long as it's there it wasn't questioned of just board [1:02:54] protocol because all of the information is here in the packet and there are very few changes to that particular policy so [1:03:02] I would just ask for what kind of preference the board has in terms of [1:03:08] allowing for appropriate discussion so [1:03:16] let's just leave it is there any urgency on getting that approved no I mean the [1:03:21] current if we revise the timeline by a month this one's fine but there are very [1:03:27] few changes to it there was a request to have it for discussion that was the motion so we'll just keep it as a [1:03:32] discussion item in December Randi did I misunderstand you though were you a review section your discussion tonight [1:03:43] great that's all that's what I understood your question I think that was a request that that happened in December so we'll stay with that process [1:03:51] and then it'll come up for action in January okay back to any announcements [1:04:01] okay are there any objections to a journey hearing none we are adjourned [1:04:14] I know I grabbed my head one bite I felt weird