I was all like, I'm early. I have so much time. But now it's time. >> Now it's time. >> Now it's time. >> Thank you. Oh, Director Xiao. Oh, that's right. He did say he would be virtual. Hello, Director Xiao. Thank you for joining us virtually. >> I don't think we can hear you. Can't hear. >> Can you hear me now? >> Yes. >> Oh, it's delayed. >> Good evening. >> Oh, it's >> Hello. We can hear you. You're just a little bit delayed, so we'll be sure to wait. >> Oh, Dr. Nath is here. >> Oh, great. Okay. Um, well, welcome everybody. Hello. It is 5:00, so we will get started um with the Hopkins School Board workshop for this evening. Um, and I just wanted to mention that we've heard from a few of our colleagues, um, Vice Chair Ross and Director Roer, that they will be a little bit late due to traffic. And then also, um, Director Xiao is joining us virtually um, and he will be part of the meeting in that way. And just wanted to make sure that our agenda is good to go. Did we want to keep it in the order it was? Oh yes, I think we're good to keep >> published. Okay, and every all of our presenters are okay with that. >> Okay, great. Thank you. So, we um will get started with our first presenter um with the big data project. >> Wonderful. Well, good evening everyone. So, I am glad to welcome Dr. Dr. Anushia Nath to the board table and hopefully our school board members and community remember that Dr. Nath was with us at the end of the 2425 school year presenting some really interesting findings on a project that she and some other data scientists have been working on and we didn't have enough time for the board to really engage with um with Dr. Nath and with this topic. And so we invited her back and just as a quick framing um what we are what we know from research and what has been reinforced through this data project is that uh peer-to-peer influence is a powerful driver of student success. Of course, in addition to other important variables and research shows that students attitudes toward applying to college, persisting in the college admissions process, and feeling prepared for post-secary success are shaped not only by the adults that they interact with and learn from, but by their friends and classmates. And when students see their peers planning for the future, talking about college engaging in college preparedness activities, they are more likely to do the same. So Dr. Nath's peer network project is helping us better understand these influencing factors. And from this research, we're partnering with Dr. Koul, our college um and career specialist at the high school. We are partnering with Dr. K to better understand what's at play with these organic peer-to-peer networks and then how we might organize our students and adults around a more intentional uh peer networking process so that it can be one of many efforts to prepare students for college. So with that, I'm just going to turn it over to Dr. Nath. She's a fabulous partner to us at no cost to the district. We meet with Dr. Nath and some other researchers on actually are we meeting weekly? It feels like it bi-weekly, week, sometimes weekly. >> And we talk about what all the projects are and more more importantly what we can do differently in our system to set our students up for success because of the information we're learn learning from the findings. So I'll turn it over to you Dr. Nath. Thanks again for being with us. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you. Thank you for the introduction. Very kind introduction. Um so today I'll give a brief overview of what the project is just to kind of remind uh everybody uh where we are with this project and then I'll dive into uh what Dr. Mri Reed mentioned about the peer effects and social interactions and how that affects college applications. Next slide please. So uh as I mentioned uh what we're doing is u we started two years ago data cleaning took a little bit of a while and then we started looking at patterns in different um outcomes. So one of the things that we've been doing is what what do what do patterns look like? What are the different outcomes with students uh and what are the factors? So identifying that. So I'll give a brief overview of the topics that we are covering in this big data project and then I'll dive into the causal analysis uh as an example of different works in progress uh that we are doing. Next slide please. So who are we? Uh as Dr. Mary Reed mentioned we are in a a big set of researchers. We're multiddisciplinary in nature. So I've tried to color code a little bit. Uh so we have economists in blue. Uh Paul Gby uh who's half in blue and half in orange and that's because he's a distinguished professor. He's a region's professor at University of Minnesota. He's an economist but he's an expert in education internationally. Uh and so is Dr. Michael Rodriguez who is the head of uh who's a dean of CD at University of Minnesota. Then we have uh data scientists Abby Holm who was here and now at Pearson and Nancy uh Viker who's just joined our big data project. uh they both are experts in both quantitative and qualitative analysis. And then we have Eric Cmerfield uh Dr. EMTT Cumberfield who's from the Institute of Health Informatics at the University of Minnesota who is a leading data scientist uh a computer scientist uh in also applied uh health uh information uh research. So lots of different perspectives that come to this project together. Uh next slide please. What are we doing? uh as I mentioned there are two main sets of research that we're doing. One is let's look at what the data tells us. What are the outcomes? What are the patterns we're seeing whether it's over time or across students across different courses or across different uh buildings in the school district. So we're uh documenting these summary statistics and time trends. Um and then also given what we find in these u big trends, we're trying to understand okay what is leading to these outcomes. uh and so we're using the latest tools in statistics, econometrics, and computer science, also in predictive modeling to understand what factors are driving uh the patterns we're seeing. Um and so one of the examples that I'm going to talk about is going to be a causal analysis and that's the analysis of what's driving college application behavior. Next slide please. But just to give an example of things that I'm not going to do any deep dive on today, but just to sort of mention what are the examples of outcomes we're looking at. So this in no way is an exhaustive list, but just an illustration of what are things we're looking at. So we're looking at GPA and MCA test scores of course uh at the school district level, but also trying to look at GPA at uh different course levels. So what's happening in maths, what's happening in reading separately and what's happening in different uh grades that students are in and advanced versus uh the regular classes. So we're trying to understand what those patterns look like and document those. And we also want to understand evolution of schools. What are the ma math pathways that have been most successful and for what groups of students and can we sort of if those some pathways have not been that successful, what can we do about that? We're also looking at AP and CTE courses, which is the career and technical education course patterns, and trying to understand who enrolls into them, how are their outcomes different, and what can we do about improving some of those uh choices that students are making in terms of course taking. We're also looking at gra late graduate risk of late graduation. What are the factors that are driving those uh and relatedly college applications, which I'll talk about today. Next slide, please. So given these diverse set of uh outcomes, we were trying to understand what are various different types of factors that lead to these outcomes. Not just looking at demographic differences or parental background, but also trying to understand, you know, looking at the longitudinal aspect of the big data that we have access to. How is it over time things are changing? Is it that some pathways are improving things or are easier for students versus others? Um so looking at this longitudinal aspect is really helping us understand more the long-term and the short-term outcomes of students. We're also taking into account interactions in classroom. So peer effects, teacher and counselor inputs and then we also look at what's happening in social emotional skill development of children. We're looking at panorama data and trying to understand how that correlates with uh outcomes. We're looking at absences, health events and disciplinary. So, so these are again, you know, not an exhaustive list, but it really uh is an illustration of how we're trying to approach these patterns and trying to understand these in a very holistic way and to see all these factors together, how they either move together or how they reinforce each other. And that's just the kind of what we're doing. Um, sorry. Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Pull. You can pull it closer, too. >> Oh, okay. >> There you go. >> Much better. Thank you. All right. So now um I'll take a deep dive into the project uh that we were talking about. Uh this is an example of a causal analysis that we're doing. And so this project is titled uh social interactions and college choice. And it's joined with Karina Bourjova uh who's at the Richmond Fed and Angelina KMA at University of Rochester and Abby. Next slide please. So what are we doing in this project? So our main aim is to understand where are students applying. So these are college seniors uh school seniors. Where are they applying? Where are they getting in? And how are this decision impacted by various factors. Now just to give a context, there's a lot of work uh and research that looks at student uh application process and how that's affected by things which are outside of the school. So for example, universities, how much uh college debt uh college sorry uh resources they're offering, scholarship, what does it look like? And so just looking at um factors from the college perspective, but there's not much understanding of um how are the schools involved? How are the interactions within school affecting students decision? So we came to this project trying to understand that that also helps understand you know tie it to other uh things that are happening in the school and other outcomes of students which are sort of jointly affecting uh college choices. So uh given that what we do is um we merge data uh the administrative data that we have uh in the big data project which is looking at demographics, GPA and classroom information and we merge it to the 2024 senior survey and I'll talk a little bit more about what the senior survey is. uh but giving having merged this gives us an idea about how students are interacting with different actors whether it's friends teachers and counselors and that helps us answer some of the questions that we started off with and what I'm going to show today is that the information that flows through the school interaction has a huge impact on students outcomes uh not only in terms of applications and what they're choosing but also actually out outcomes of those applications where are they going to college and are they getting scholarships or And so what we find and I'll show is that students who have more information through school resources have better college application outcomes both in terms of quality of college as well as uh their uh probability of getting a scholarship. Next slide please. So this is a slide which gives a little bit more information about the 2024 senior survey. So there are seven questions in this survey. So it tells us uh which class year students are in uh their student ID. So this is uh a randomized ID that we see. So it's not actually identifying the student in any way to us. Then the questions are uh about what are your plans for next year. Um students sometime mention that they don't want they're taking a year off and so on. But students who mention that they're going to a college it's asked if you attended which school and whether it's a two-year or a 4-year program. Um then they ask about scholarship. Did they get a scholarship or not? Uh today we're using the answer of yes or no. So if they got or not, not the amount. Uh although there are some information about that as well. But in today's presentation I'll only look at probability of getting a scholarship. So a yes or a no. And then whether the students are first generation students. Uh and then the last question which is very meaningful for us because that's where we try and get where the information is coming from. So all the students answer this question which is what counseling services did you use? So everybody uses their student counseling services. So they meet with their school counselor. But there are three other options that they can respond to in the survey which not everybody uh subscribes to or takes up. One is meeting with college representatives either on campus or uh online. Um the second is meeting with college and uh college and career coordinator. And the third is participating in college preparatory courses. So this would be the royals prep course or a the AID classrooms. So these are sort of the information we use and then um sort of look at how that impacts students decision. Next slide please. So this table gives a summary of what we see in the data. So the sample size is 373 students which is very high in terms of the cohort we're looking at. So almost everybody is responding those who are graduating. Um the share of first generation college scores. So this basically means how many students or what share of students who responding to the survey uh did not have their parents uh or their parents did not go to a four-year college. So 28% of students did not have either parents go to college. So their first generation college course. Then the next uh row looks at share who took up these additional services. So these are uh the additional services which is college prep course, meeting with the school coordinator, college or cons um college and career coordinator or meeting with college reps. So altogether if you've taken up any of these additional services which is add in addition to meeting with your counselor that's about 42% only. Um the next two are looking at um the outcomes of the applications that we see in the survey. So the share of students who respond that they did receive a scholarship offer from the college that they are going to is 45%. So that's kind of the baseline. um an average quality. Uh the way we define quality is we look at the colleges that students are getting into and we use publicly available data which tells us what is the uh ACT score of the 75th percentile of students who are attending those colleges. So not just the Hopkins students but students all student body who's in the college that they're going to. And so that that is the average ACT score of that college. So on an average so if you look at all the colleges where the Hopkins students are going to uh the incoming cohort of those colleges have an average of 28.2 on the ACT score. Okay. So that's kind of what we're going to compare to uh in the next slides how how the pure effects and is changing that percentage or is above that percentage. Next slide please. So now we come to the question of who's taking up these additional services. So we saw that I was about 42% of students taking up services. So here the uh outcome variable is probability of so whether the students took up these services or not and we're doing a simple OS regression. And so the coefficients here are telling us uh what is the predictive power of these factors. And the the numbers that are highlighted in black that are in black and bolded are the ones that are statistically significant. So they have a significant prediction on whether a student is going to take up these services or not uh given our survey data. and the others there's no distinguishable uh charact like there's no difference between the that factor and the base baseline characteristic. So for example, firstgen uh this is the students who are first generation uh compared to the students whose parents or at least one parent went to college there's no significant difference between probability of taking up these services. Similarly for low-inccome and uh different groups black Hispanic and Asian students are no more likely to take up these services than white students. So the two characteristics where you do see a difference is whether a student is in the top two decile of the GPA distribution. So they're in the top 20% of class. So they're top achievers in some sense or if they're females. So female students compared to their male students are 11 percentage point more likely to take up these services. And then top achievers 14 percentage points more likely. So that seems to be sort of the main characteristics that distinguish this this uh next slide please. So the next question is well we see the uptake differs across two dimensions but if you take up these services does it matter does it actually affect outcomes of your uh application process or the uh or where you're going. So in the first column we're looking at the college quality. Again here we've standardized it. So here the uh numbers are going to be how much uh how many standard deviations um as a student more likely to go to a better college than the than the mean. So the mean was 28.2 as you remember. So this first number which is looking at the uptake that number 40.42 42 says that students who take up these services are 042 standard deviations more likely to get into better higher quality college than uh the average. Right? And then the second column looks at whether students receive scholarship or not. And it says if you take up these services you you are more 10 percentage point more likely to get scholarship. So this is controlling for all these other factors. So this is saying that taking of these services is significantly correlated with outcomes of the application process. Next slide please. So now we've shown sort of uh the prediction that you know uptake of services does matter for uh outcomes. But how does it how is it related to peers? How is it related to the interactions that students are having in the classrooms? So in this table what we're doing is we're now only looking at students who did not take up the services. Okay. So they only talked to their counselors. They did not go to any prep course. They did not uh talk to the school uh career and um college coordinator and they did not meet any of the representatives who come to school or are available via Zoom. And then we say, okay, let's look at their outcomes and look at the outcomes of their peers who do take up these extra services so they're more informed and then compare the outcomes of these students with those students who also did not take up these services. So the first two row columns are just looking at college quality. They have different way of estimating um the regression but basically the idea is that we want to compare the outcome of students who are informed versus less informed and how that is affecting the students who don't take up the services. And as you can see um in the first two columns uh again we see the student the college quality of the peers who take up the services has a significant impact on the outcome of the students who don't take up the services. The peers who did not take up the services do not have any impact on the students who also don't take up the services. So you're learning from your learn students who are more informed basically. And we see a similar story when we look at scholarship received. we see that the magnitude is much stronger and the result is more robust when students or your peers who also take up the services get scholarship. You're more likely to get scholarship even though you did not take up the services. So that's kind of the way the information is flowing uh through the peer network. Uh next slide please. So just to sum up the main takeaway from uh this research, what we find is that more informed students are going to better colleges and are more likely to receive scholarships and significantly more. Um and who are the students who are more informed? One, those who actually take advantage of the school resources, but also students who may not take advantage directly, they're learning from the peers who do. So that's kind of how the information is flowing and impacting not only the application process but the outcomes of the application themselves. I'll stop here and I'm happy to take questions. >> Um well I just wanted to say welcome and thank you for coming back. I remember I was I was um I loved your presentation and the topics and really wanted to give everyone here an opportunity to ask questions because we didn't have that before. So, thank you for coming back and wondering. >> Thank you for having me. Yeah, >> if anyone has any questions and I do. Yes, thank you so much. I was one of those people who had many more questions. So, I'm glad you're back. So at this point in the presentation I think my main question is around um the mechanisms used for data collection. So was this all primarily done through surveys like the data that we're looking at at this point and then was there a mixed methods approach that kind of came into play to understand a little more um qualitatively like why these things are happening based on individual students. So just trying to orient myself just in terms of like what kind of data we're seeing here we just saw and what we might expect as we move through the presentation. >> Sure. Thanks. So I'll answer in two parts. Great. >> So the first question um about how we're collecting the data. So um most of the data in this is actually administrative. So it's the longitudinal data where we see students in classrooms because one of the main things we have to do here is define who a friend is or who a peer is. So for that what we did is we took the classroom level data and we we see what stu which students are taking which courses and then um be able to follow not only students who are in the course together but also students who are not in your course. So for example why why why do we want to do this? So when we think about peer effects, um I am in class with Abby. Abby, my decisions might affect Abby and Aby's decision might affect me, but we both might be friends because we want the same thing. So when we're doing a study like this, we want to be able to separate out the fact that students may be talking to each other because they want to do the same thing in the first place. We want to be able to say there's something about this information that is not be indogenous which is not because the students want the outcome the same way. So what we do is we look at different classrooms. So if I'm in class with Abby, Aby's in class with Roda but I am never in class with Roda then Roda will affect my decision through Abby. >> Okay. So, we want to see classrooms together, but also everybody else in my class who their friends are and who I never see directly. That's kind of the channel we're trying to look at because then I never talk to that person. We I'm only learning through the peer network. And that's our way of getting causal effects here. Um, and also because if Abby and I are in the same class, we might have the same teacher. So we don't know whether it's talking to each other that's driving the outcome or having the same teacher. So this way of using excluded peers who were never in my class but our our classmates of my classmates helps me really put numbers on how much is the peer effect. >> Um so for that we needed the data about classrooms. Then we needed the data about demographics and also GPA because we want to be able to control for those factors. uh because for example um whether you go to a higher uh quality college or are you able to get scholarship also depends on other factors. Um so we wanted to control for those other things. So all those are coming from our uh demographic files and other from the big data project uh longitudinal data. The part that's coming from the survey is what resources they're using because that's something we cannot see in the longitudinal data. So that's the senior survey that's helping us gather that data. >> Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you. >> And um so that was the first part. The second part about the qualitative. So so most of the data. So we were talking to Dr. Cool. She's been very uh great with her and generous with her time in understanding the context and interpretations of some of these survey datas. Um we also have panorama data which we haven't used in this the results that I showed you but we're using more uh in our pre more studies. So some of that would be more through conversations and look just basically being there and understanding what the students are doing to be able to answer some of those questions. So that's uh part of the plan of the future phase of this project. >> Thank you. Very layered approach which is what I was gleaning from the first time you were here. So, I appreciate you breaking it down. Thank you. >> Thank you for the question. >> Any other questions? >> Chair and Dre, excuse me. Thank you. Oh, look like Z might have a question. I saw him raise his hand. >> You can get you can go to me last. I'm on a little bit of a delay. >> Okay, sounds good. Thank you. Um, so thank you for uh coming today and presenting. I'm looking at both slides 12 and 13 for if is it am I interpreting the data that um for the uptake probability it I'm assuming this is like in basis points one is that accurate okay and then it it seems that based on survey results for Hopkins seniors out of the 351 females seem to take more more of those additional services overwhelmingly versus I'm assuming female is just all females that are in this group, black, Hispanic, Asian. >> But out of all out of all those three groups that are um located here, females seem to be >> beyond boys of like >> taking additional services. And then if I look at slide 13, does the negative mean like if I look at for instance black Hispanic I see negative uh 32 basis points and 38 but then receive scholarship I see uh 810 of a basis point for black and then negative isn't what does the negative mean is that >> I I think I'm interpreting it that as maybe more Asians took advantage of the standard took the standardized college quality and then that translated for scholarships. Am I reading that correctly or misinterpreting? >> Yeah. So, uh partially so the way to think about this is relative these numbers are relative to a reference point. So, as um so the negative in on the slide 13 on uh Hispanic students is relative to white students. how are Hispanic students outcomes look like? >> And then the 14 on the slide 12 is relative to male students, females are 14 percentage point more likely to take up services. That's the way to interpret the numbers. >> Is there and one last followup is only because I'm not trying to be sexist. I'm a guy, but is there any reason like why women seem to be more interested in taking these additional services? like it doesn't seem like women are going after this based on what I'm seeing more than what boys are doing. That's a good question and that's you know exactly to your point about qualitative nature of the study like what's happening why are they going more so one thing what we're trying to see and this is again just still at an exploratory exploratory store uh stage um women have they they actually have a lot more of sort of discipline measures in when you look at panorama data they show up more to class and things like that and they're more dedicated in terms of turning in their assignments on time and things like that. So one conjecture could be that women are just more likely to have those characteristics. The second is um this is something we need to test is uh women are more likely to go to college in general and even if you look at national statistics uh in college women are a higher proportion of collegegoers uh in the last decade as well. So it just could be representing the fact that there are more females who are likely to apply to college right away. Um, so that's something we need to disentangle. Is it is it something behavioral? Is it something just about who's going to college and who's not? But we don't have that answer yet. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Director Xiao. Did you have a question? >> Yes. Hi. Uh, thank you, Dr. Nap. Uh, very excited to, uh, learn about your research. Um, I'm was an econ undergrad, so really love the econometrics. Um so two questions. Uh one is um is there is this theory um supported by other studies uh or is this you know I think it's intuitive. I'm just wondering what the the lit review of in this area is. Is this kind of in line with others? And then another observation and question is um you had a stat about the average ACT score uh 28.2 to uh and uh that to me it seems very very high right in a good way 90th percentile or so and so um is there a premium that uh our grads are having right it's a little bit higher than our average ACT score so I'm I'm curious if there's you know are kids going to better colleges than what we would expect so thank you so much >> yeah thank you for the questions um so um I forgot the first question but I'll start with the Second one. So the second question um the ACT score the 28.2 is the 75th percentile uh of the incoming cohorts in colleges. So it's it's sort of the 75th percentile and not the average. So that might be one of the reasons why it's higher than what you might have thought it would be. Um and the first question about can you repeat the first question? >> The lit the lit review if your research is supported. So um there's not much work on peer effects in college applications. So we one of the first studies to look into this. There is peer effects there's a huge peer effects literature looking at students um test scores outcomes looking at other outcomes. Um there's some work in Europe which is also looking at choice of majors and once students enter colleges how does peer effect uh influence which majors they choose. uh but college application and college application outcomes there's not much research uh and specifically I think um this role of information showing that information plays an important role and that being the main mechanism is not something that people are able to study. So for example uh in the pure effects uh literature it's common to ask the question you see pure effects because people imitate each other or is it that there is an information flow and it's very hard to study this and we're actually really able to study this flow of information which I think is one of the value added of our research uh in terms of uh the literature out there and that's kind of what we want to focus on as well to actually show that we can um give give evidence for that channel. >> Thank you. >> Chair and Treason, can I ask a quick question? >> Yes. >> Um, so thank you again. I'm sorry for running just a little late as I'm in traffic. I just have two quick questions for you. When you say better colleges, what do you mean by like better colleges? Um, I know that there's a you know there's colleges are promoted in a multitude of ways like community college and you know some folks are have a preference. So is there like a standard college that is um that fits the criteria for this study? >> So um what what I meant is uh just by the definition that we've used. So when I mean better colleges, I just mean on um the scale of the ACT scores of incoming students are college ranked higher or lower. So uh the ACT scores of incoming cohorts is a a measure that is widely used and actually Dr. Koul also suggested an alternative measure which we're looking into now is how selective the colleges are. So for example what percentage of students who apply to that college uh actually get in and so that's another measure we're looking at now. Uh we don't have that in the slides yet but that's something we're looking at now. So basically it's all dependent on the measure that we are using. So it's with respect to the measure that I meant. Now in terms of u community colleges versus four-year colleges. So a lot of community colleges don't require ECD scores. So in our definition what we've done is we've assigned the 25th percentile of the entire so if you take all the colleges which require ACT scores and then look at what is the 25th percentile of that distribution we assign that and the lowest value of that 25th percentile distribution to the community colleges because community colleges are less selective than other colleges. So that's so we have a score for them. uh but that's basically how we've imputed a score. So it's all when I say a better colleges, it's only ranking according to the ACT score of the incoming cohorts of that college. >> Oh, thank you for that. I I appreciate that. And then um just one more quick question. I just learned this today that um incomplete tests are accepted and scored uh from um from the MCAs. Is that also considered in this data for like students who have maybe didn't complete their MCA test and um was this added into that and like how is that measured in this data? >> So we have another project in which we're actually looking exactly at who's taking MCA and who's not and how do we think about um you know making that uh some statements about it in terms of if they had given the test what it would look like. In this we've stepped away from that. Exactly. For the reason you mentioned and we only using GPA that the students get in their classrooms. So we're using course level GPA in our analysis and not the MCS course. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, um I just wanted everyone to keep in mind the timing because we have another significant presentation coming up after this and I think that >> um there's I think very substantive data coming up that I would like us all to get a chance to um learn about. So, if that um is okay if we go on. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Oh, okay. So, we're not going to the actual slides. >> Oh, was was that going to be the end of the presentation? We're just focusing on this the peer network project. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> And not the the other like Hopkins in context of other Minnesota schools. >> I'm happy to go over that if you would like. >> Um actually, I think it would be really great framing for our next um presentation which is talking about the role of assessments. Sure. >> Um because I think that this information I feel is really important about what our student body characteristics are and also the impact that demographics have on >> um testing and and different outcomes that we see. If you'd be available for just a few minutes to go through that. >> Yes, absolutely. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Great. So I think it starts on I think slide 19, Minnesota schools the student body characteristics of 2022 for third grade if you have those. We're getting a nice view of the inner workings of our assistant. Thank you, Natalia, for all you do. All those tabs 18, I think. Great. Um so this uh graph is basically looking at um the student body population um of different Minnesota schools uh for grade three. And what I'm plotting is the relationship between percentage of students of color and percentage of students who are enrolled in the free and reduced price lunch program in grade 3 in 2022 across all different schools. So one thing you notice is that this is a positively uh sloping line. If you draw a line, it was positively sloping. So there's a positive correlation between um the student body being um you know eligible for FRPL and those who uh are uh students of color. But one so next slide please. So, in the next few slides, what I'm going to do is instead of taking looking at both students of color and FRPPL uh uh percentage enrolled, I'm just going to take the students of color because I've shown you they're positively correlated. So, the the patterns look very similar. So, here uh what I'm going to show you in the next few slides on the yaxis, it's going to be percentage of students who are um proficient in the MCA tests. And these are going to be all students, not a a subset of students. But I'm going to plot that um against on the x-axis the percentage of student of color in that school. So just looking at are these students um have high proportion of minority students or not. Next slide please. So the first graph um shows the relationship between these two things for grade three reading proficiency level. And what I've plotted here are the every dot represents um a school. The red line is a number which represents the average of how many students are proficient in the entire state. And that number is about 47.5%. So that's just the number. You'll also observe that there is a green downward sloping line. What is that line? So that line basically looks at the relationship between the prof the you know student body proficiency and the percentage of students who are um of color in that school and it's downward sloping because it says that um the relationship between so this is basically regressing the y-axis variable on the x-axis variable and you see that this line represents if I give you a number if you don't know a school and I say, "Okay, this school has uh 45% of students of color. What do you think is going to be a predicted MCA average for all students?" I go to the green line and it gives me a number. So, this line is a prediction of given a percentage of student of color in a school, what would be the average uh test score given by this relationship that we've uh uh measured? So this prediction line is downward sloping but you'll see that it's actually flat up till 50% and then it's very steeply downward sloping. So which means that you know as soon as we start seeing schools which have a very high percentage of student of color the progress that they make or the their uh proficiency levels in MCA declines very fast. So more and more students means less and less uh proficiency but it's pretty flat up till 50%. So majority minority is kind of where the student really see this decline. So this is meant to kind of show the where you know the average relationship is and the dots are all schools. Next slide please. And this slide shows where this adds to the previous slide where the uh Hopkins schools are all the elementary schools are. As you can see, most of the schools are very close to the predicted line. So if you just knew what this uh percentage of student population who are in FRPL or uh students of color are, that line would predict uh give you the relationship just based on that demographic. Some schools do much better uh than the predicted uh line and some do a little bit worse but on an average the schools are very close uh to the predicted line. Next slide please. This is looking at reading in uh grade 8. So these are middle the two middle schools. Uh as you can see they're uh both above the predicted line what the line would say the prediction should be. Next slide please. And this is for the high school. And the high school is both above the state average and the predicted line. Um the relationship here is sort of more linear than it is in elementary and the middle school where you had flatter curve till 50 and then a steep decline. Here it's sort of more uh downward sloping uh steeper. Next slide please. So this is kind of again uh those are sort of the main uh slides and I've done these for different characteristics. So these other slides uh give you the same sort of information but different grades and different uh uh way of looking at the student body population. So I think I'll stop here and if you have any questions I can sort of use those main slides to answer them. >> Great. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Are there any questions? >> Yes, Iris. [Music] Um, again with the like qualitative data, do you already have or are you still looking for or have you not looked for yet the reason that student or um schools with student bodies of over 50% students of color do so much worse on the um tests and the MCAs. >> So that's kind of where we started with the project and we don't have an answer yet. That's partly one of the things we're looking at um across different schools in Hopkins. So all of Minnesota, I don't have the rich data that we have in the big data project here. uh but across schools uh within the Hopkins school district we should be we we're trying to exactly look at that question and sort of the biggest theme is what are the factors what you know from the survey data from Panorama from um looking at administrative data what can we glean are the main factors that are driving it and uh we're not there yet with that answer >> chair and yes are some of the factors you're taking into consideration English language learners ers. Um and then also opt out rates when it comes to the MCAs. >> Yes, definitely. And um actually we're looking at opt out rates as an outcome as well. And one of the projects we're working on with um Dr. Michael Rodriguez and uh Dr. Paul Gaw at the University of Minnesota is who's opting out and what how does that affect the outcomes we see? >> And hopefully I'll we'll have something to share in a few months. >> Thank you. Chair Andre. >> Yes, Treasure Heartland. >> Thank you so much for coming to present to us. Um, I mean, there are of so many questions that we could ask and dive into further and kind of in the interest of time, I'm curious, what is a a next step for you and this team? And um, when will we see more of this information? Possibly. That's a question for you too, Dr. Mary Perry Reed, about like so then what and what are you what are you still looking at? Great. So the immediate next step at least my part of the team is looking at is the opt out question. Um who's opting out? Documenting you know how it's changed over time. Um and how can we c you know if we if we don't know who's opting out then we really can't do much. to have a way of correcting for I mean I'm going to use some statistical terms here but um depending on which subject and which grade you look at there are differences in opt- out rates um and in elementary school there are less opt outs middle and high school actually has the most opt outs so how do we correct for opt outs and can we get a number of what the MCAs would be if those students had given the MCAs so we're doing all that prediction modeling and trying to understand how to correct for uh the bias in the statistical sense that is created in the measurement of average MCAs uh at the school district or the school level and how can we you know take that into account and get a number which would have been reflected um which we can attribute to the entire student body population rather than just those test takers. >> Um and that so that part is kind of the next and we're hoping to have that uh in the next few months. Uh so we'll circulate it once we have that uh uh those calculations and then beyond that we're going to continue working on why do we see what we see in terms of outcomes and differences across groups and as I mentioned you know we're trying to look at this holistically and that's and doing a causal analysis by looking at it all the factors is kind of taking time and we want to do that because I think we don't know the and I think that can help us understand what factors matter more uh and so on and so forth because if you look at the when people try to look at these differences there are many factors that could be contributing to it and we want to understand what matters most. >> I think if I might add to that um treasure hartland so the link between poverty and proficiency has been researched for a very long time if you put all of the you know schools in the entire country on a map such as what Dr. Nath showed you would see that same pattern and I think um with this research we want to ask ourselves okay are our schools in Hopkins doing just as good better or worse than what's predicted so that's an important question to answer and then I think more importantly is when as we continue our research can we identify the variables or the proxies that will interrupt these patterns and as we are engaging in continued research We're also um learning about another body of research that has been done by the new teacher project. I introduced that at our first board meeting where they studied 28,000 schools across the country and they have identified the instructional and school culture patterns in those 5% of schools that really were trajectory changing for students. And these are schools that also serve high concentrations of um students of color, students who qualify for education benefits. And noting that because of certain practices, these schools are able to catch students up over time. So students come in below grade level, but then because of elements around belonging, consistency, and coherence, then this small number of schools that has been well researched, they're able to catch students up over time. So, we'll use the research that we know about and we're grateful for this partnership that really can help us dive into our own nuanced context here to identify, okay, and in addition to what we already know, what else do we know about our students or what else can we introduce to interrupt these patterns? >> Thank you. Um, I do see your hand, Director Xiao. Um, and just want to say that we're we're running out of time, so if it can be a quick question, that would be great. And then I have a follow-up. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Um, uh, kind of pivoting off what Dr. Mary Perry Reed said, is it an accurate interpretation of that data to say, um, the expected values of Hopkins schools is actually increasing as you get closer to high school. It it looked like our schools are trending above expectations as the students age or the scholars age. Is that a correct interpretation? Thank you. >> Um they're different. So this is all 2022. So the high school in 2022, middle school in 2022, and elementary in 2022. So I don't think that would be a precise description because they're are different students. What I could do is go back and look at those students who were in high school in 2022 and look at what they looked what it looked like when they were in elementary school. I think that would get closer to what you're thinking. We could do that and send it across. >> Great question. >> Thank you. Um I just wanted to say that um I like uh the next steps and and the context you were giving for me. Um, looking at this data, I really think immediately that perhaps our assessments are measuring something other than student capability. Um, it feels like they are measuring community demographics as opposed to what our students are actually capable of and what they show up in our buildings as. And so that's part of what I find really helpful when I see this data and putting it into that context of it's not a student, a classroom, a school, it is an entire community and what are we actually measuring? Um I think it's important to have this data so that we can come into each community um knowing what the reality is and what we're um what kind of services we're offering. And so this I feel like this is so important for us to have as a board to know like I look at the characteristics um student body characteristics of all our schools and then you go down to the outcomes and it's like you can just see it. It's it's very predictable. Um, and I like to see um that yeah, I guess I'm just wondering what kind what are our our tools actually assessing and also um how can we be sure that we all in our community are realistic about um what kind of context we're operating in. And I think this shows the reality of where we're at, that we are not Hopkins 10 years ago, right? 10 years ago, Hopkins looked very different and I think we can see that in the data. So, thank you for presenting that. >> Thank you. >> We appreciate the partnership, Dr. Nath, and thank you so much for being here in person and increasing our understanding. Truly appreciate it. >> And likewise. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I would like to invite Nicole Dimitch up to the table to talk about assessments and their role in the classroom. Thank you for being here. Um I wanted to um I've known Miss Dimitch for a number of years. She's done a lot of work um here in the district. Um our kids went to the same elementary school, so we got to know each other there. but also um I've always admired um your work um na at the national level on um different ways that we can reach different kinds of learners and your perspective on I think the how how we how kids need to be taught and assessed right now is very different than even probably when my kid who's 21 started school. Um, so I appreciate you being here with us tonight. I'm hoping that we get uh another longer um presentation for our whole community to be a part of and I will go ahead and turn it over to you. Thank you. >> Great. >> Well, thank you Chair Anderson and Superintendent Mary Perry Reed and directors. It's so wonderful to be here as a community member, as a parent, but really my role tonight is to share some of my expertise. This is my 31st year um as an educator and I um for the last 19 have been able to really work with educators all around the world at the district level, at the school level, at the CLA team level, at the classroom level, and also really have um loved being able to ask students what it's like to be them in classrooms and in school and learn from young people about what works and what doesn't alongside of a robust um field of research around classroom assessment. So I'm an assessment architect with um a a larger uh folks who facilitate and support um schools around the country. Um this is just I just wanted to toss this up because a lot of my work is and actually I had so many questions for Dr. De. It was so um amazing to actually hear this in context because I often get to work with so many different schools and think about assessment is how do we create a more balanced assessment practice that helps us gather information that helps us understand what's working well in our system and what we need to change um in context. And so, um, I put this as kind of the body of work where I've gotten to do a lot of, um, understanding the literature, but then rolling up my sleeves in in lots of different context, try to figure that out. In fact, I'm flying to LA later tonight to to hang out with Englewood teachers. So, I think um, I'm just excited to be able to share a little bit of this. So, when I think about what I'm going to share with you, there's really three major um, components. The first is I don't know when I say assessment what do you all think I say assessment you all think >> test >> test anybody follow that with stress >> and as a as a parent of three young people who I am now just an empty neester as of last week um but as a parent who's had kids experience testing in lots of different ways that stress is not only experienced by students but also by families um and also alo by educators. And so what some of the things that we've done is really look at what are the shifts that we need to make. So assessment isn't all about evaluation and quantities, but we also share that with it's really um the shift is to be more about information and qualities that help us understand at a deeper level what's working and what it's what the strengths are of our young people in critical skills. So those critical skills can be transferable. And not only will those skills be transferable, but when we make these shifts, students also gain confidence in ways that help them persist when things get really tough. And so it's this marriage between skill and persistence and um self-reflection and some of those social and emotional skills that are so important for kids to develop as they start to make decisions about why they're not showing up to class or why they stop um handing in um assignments or why they continue to do that or why they show up for help or why they don't. And so one of the things that we've really looked at is the shifts in assessment to being yes it's technical but it's also really relational and a lot of the shifts are about how do we help um every level of the system use assessment as a relational relationship building piece. So we create cultures of learning where learning can bust up some of those predictable outcomes. And we see across the board in schools that are really um um navigating that trajectory and really saying no, we're not going to settle for just predictable outcomes. There are some really key ways in which they use assessment. It's complicated and messy. And so I completely appreciate and loved all of the questions um that you all had. So what I'm going to suggest or what I'm going to share is certainly based in re research but also needs context. So I will I will kind of put put that around it. The second piece is comprehensive and balanced assessment systems and Dylan Williams, Susan Birkhart, Maria Roz um and a few others. And I did include in your um a link is there's a a a resource list. So you'll see citations of where some of um the research that I'm going to share in terms of the practice part where it comes from. And one of the things that they talk about is exactly what you saw in the initial research that you were looking at is in our current comprehensive balanced assessment system. We're not seeing those data points used to really help and support learning. And that's not just here in Hopkins, that's across the board. And so I did include a link to that um brief because it's really interesting. It leads to a lot of other components that might help contextualize and also potentially help you all identify what are the questions that you want to ask here in Hopkins potentially. Everything is potentially. Um and then the third thing is I will share just a quick brief example of how this might play out in a classroom and how assessment at the classroom level um could shift from just about quantity to quality so that there is more of a sense of confidence and students start to see assessment in terms of learning and not just in terms of scores. And I will invite at any moment in time if anybody has a question or like whoa whoa whoa please feel free to do that because um I know I want to be super um you know or cautious about time. So is there any time um where what time are you thinking I should wrap up because then I'll skip a couple things. >> Um I think we have about 45 minutes. >> 45 minutes. Okay perfect. Then I will do this next thing. Um, so I, my third child, Chase, um, grew up through Hopkins. He started in kindergarten at Alice Smith. He graduated this last um, he graduated this last uh, May. Um, he has played tackle football since the time he was in third grade. Here are he and Trell. And Trell is a good uh, friend of his. And Trell also just headed to um, Augsburg this fall. And um, they have not won a football game up until last year. you all. So many of you are familiar with this um trajectory. And so that night when they won, they think they won in fifth grade, but it's it's debatable, really debatable. Um and a local TV station did a story on them. And I'm going to share the video with you for a couple reasons. One, when I like to contextualize assessment, I really think about assessment practices as noticing and creating a culture of perseverance. So what helps us keep going when things get tough? What helps us, you know, what are those components that lead to that? And so as as after you um hear this little clip and maybe some of you have seen it, one of the questions I asked is when there was a moment where it got tough for you and you wanted to quit or it got hard, what kept you going? So here's a little bit of a story and then I'll and then I'll make the connection in a second. [Music] Hopkins High School has seen success over the years in numerous athletic programs, but the Royals football team hadn't won a game since 20120. Last Friday against East View, Hopkins was trying to snap their long losing streak. Chaz Moots has the story. When it comes to winning, Hopkins football isn't too familiar. Seniors on the Royals football team are aware. We won our one and only game in fifth grade and other than that I don't think I've won a game since third grade. Very aware. I did the calculations recently. I think it were one and like 67. >> At the varsity level, Hopkins has a losing streak of 29 straight games. >> That's three seasons with no wins. And for the seniors going back to their youth days, besides that one win in fifth grade, >> never won a football game. >> Not fun. all the hard work going to the practices, it's work, work, work, lose, work, work, work, lose. >> To not taste victory at any point in that time frame, I've never heard of it, honestly. It's it's completely mind-blowing to me. >> Last Friday against East View, firstear head coach Chanty Williams Bearfield had his team down by two touchdowns at halftime. >> Even down 14 compared to last couple years, looked pretty good in my eyes. In the second half, the Royals rallied and tied the game up in the fourth quarter. At the end of regulation, the score remained tied at 14. >> Never done overtime before. They score on like, is that it? Did they win? Uh, didn't realize we had a chance and I was like, okay, this is it. >> Down by seven in overtime and from their own 16 yd line, the Royals answered back. Instead of kicking an extra point for the tie, >> we had the opportunity to go for the win. Let's go for it. >> The Royals decided to roll the dice, go for two, and lose their losing streak. [Applause] >> I've been at this since third grade. It kind of just all flew out flew at us at once. It's like we got one and just felt amazing. >> Just getting to hug them and we did it. This is it. We won the game. That was super special. >> The win was one the Hopkins seniors will never forget and one that they certainly earned. >> Coming out and actually doing something with what we love and um winning the game and our hard work over the past 9 10 years paying off. We loved it enough to put in that work and I think finally seeing the results of it, it just a testament to never give up. I mean, if you really love something, I think at the end of the day, the amount of work you'll put into it will eventually show >> in Minnetonka. Chazmoods, CCX Sports. >> So, I share that with you and maybe if you're all right with this, just for one minute, not too long, but if you'd turn to the person right next to you, um, and maybe the three of you and then just the pairs, a moment like what do you think contributed to the perseverance? And the reason I'm going to do this is because I'm going to make the connection between the research around assessment and hope and perseverance with a balanced assessment system. So, just so you know, we're not going off track. So, go ahead. Just take one minute. What contributes to perseverance when you want to give up? Got >> a little shady in his comments. >> Um, I don't know. I think um I think they really wanted it. Yeah, >> they practice a lot. >> I sort of think about personal intrinsic wanted to do for myself, but then like it's like >> there's that community of like their family coaches and what >> not wanting to let them down either too. Yeah, I agree with you on that one. I see they uh you know I also think they were just looking to turn the ship a little bit more like their street that they had and was determined to do that in a more strategic way. Um but they also didn't give up though. Most people who are losing on the team, they like I'm going to leave this team and go to a different one. But like they kept going >> totally >> with some of the same people. So they found some belief in this in the team. Um >> I mean it's just such >> and in about 10 seconds I'll welcome you back. in real time. Yeah. And because I know Chase, too, that I've met him. Um, >> and welcome back everyone. Um, just love to hear what were a couple of things you said. What is it that keeps you going when it gets hard? Anybody have an idea or hear one from there? >> Well, I can share real quick. I noticed that, you know, like they didn't give up and just say, "Oh, I quit this team and go to a different one who's winning." They just kept going until they made their team win. So they didn't compare themselves to like, you know, someone else who was had a better score than them. They were determined to make that for themselves. >> Absolutely. So circling around and having a supportive group of of teammates or coaches or what that looks like was huge in this great. Anything else that jumped out at you? >> Yeah, >> you go ahead. >> I was going to share that you what you said. Yeah. >> Uh so we discuss progress over perfection. So being able that's what you know I kind of communicate to my kids is that one of my kids is everything has to be perfect. The food has to come out perfect and if it doesn't look perfect he won't eat it. And so >> yes, >> everything for me is like >> maintaining his expectations of what life will bring and just letting him know like, >> you know, nothing is going to be perfect. Dad is not going to make the most perfect meal and I get berated when I don't. Um, so you know, just letting them know like I showed up and actually made the meal. >> Yeah. versus it does not look like what you see on YouTube as a I didn't burn the you know the frosting on the top >> 100%. Yeah, I love that idea because and that's actually some of what they did like in the early years um the coaches would say to the parents, okay, when we get a first down, we are going to cheer like it was the Super Bowl. And we annoyed the other team all the time because sometimes there's only two or three pieces, two or three first downs, but it's that notion of it's if it's only evaluation, is it good or bad? Am I good or am I bad? And that's one of the things we see a lot with students who have struggled over time is they start to give up. They start to give up because assessment will be just another reminder, oh, I I I can't do it. And so we I'll show you a couple of different examples of how that might play out. Um, but I have shown this all over. In fact, in Thailand, there was a Hopkins graduate that was so excite excited at an international school after I showed this because I think sometimes we want to use our assessment practices to build our systems up at the schoolboard level and at the district level. We want to build our educators up so that we use assessment to help them believe and develop a sense of hope and that what they do matters. Um because if you come and you show up and you're like, "Well, it doesn't matter because the prediction is we're not going to be able to do that." Those beliefs get in the way of educators taking different actions. And so that leads to this whole notion, and this is one of our central um pieces in the work that I do is assessment. When we see it as information, it builds a sense of hope. It builds a sense of efficacy, and that leads to achievement. Shane Lopez um was a senior scientist in research at the Gallup um organization and he defined hope as the future will be better than the present and coupled with the belief that you have the power to make it so. And further when we looked at um did a review of peer-reviewed research as well as some other pieces in the lane of academic achievement knowing there's like a lot of body of research hope is a better predictor. So kids having hope is a better predictor of achievement than intelligence, personality, previous academic success, ACT or SAT scores. So if I show up believing that if I'm going to engage in this and it's going to be possible, then kids will persevere longer and they will show up in ways that lead to higher achievement. Um and again I included a lot of these citations in the um handout. So if you wanted to dig in a little bit more to what this looks like and because certainly this is um there's lots to talk about there. So when we look at the classroom assessment research at its best assessment describes what students strengths are and it provides info for reflection on what worked and what's next. But the reality is so much of assessment is about quantities and evaluation. you already named that stress was one of the things that first came to your mind. Um, sometimes students will say, "How much is this worth?" And they're thinking in their mind, "If it's only worth a few points, then I'm only going to put in a little bit effort." In fact, one of my middle son at times would say, "Mom, it's only worth five points. Why should I um why should I do that?" And so when we focus our language of assessment around quantities, achieving it becomes about how much work can I do and getting compliance to okay, let's get the work done. If we get the work done, then potentially we'll learn more. And so part of this um is in it's unintentional, but it does lead to kids thinking about assessment in terms of stress and in terms of quantities or leaning on us. Is this right? Um, sometimes our language is high kids, low kids, high achieving kids, you're missing assignments, this is graded. All of those puts labels on kids and usually is associated with some type of quantity. Um, and so when we position assessment in a way that's more about information that helps our system understand practices that we should keep doing and practices that we need to to shift to. One of the first shifts we want to look at is this notion of being overested and shifting to balanced and informed. Um and so in this particular case when we look at this this is some of the work that Susan Brookhart J McTig um Dylan William did in the future of assessment practices and they really looked at a multitude of factors. Some of them were synthesis of studies, but they looked at school districts and how they used assessment. Um, so what that looked like and they found that in many cases it didn't serve to improve student learning and it it really missed the important learning outcomes um or it underserved one or more stakeholder groups. So for example, like the MCA is one um piece of information that we're looking at. It's an external assessment. Um, and one of the things we'll talk about is the the best use of external assessments in a comprehensive and balanced assessment system is to look at that data over time and look at the patterns to say which groups of ser of students are being served really well in the system and which groups of students need something different than what we're currently doing. And so this im this lack of improvement in terms of student learning um sometimes and again I'm generalizing please know this isn't specific to Hopkins so you'll have to say is this something that's happening here or is this something different so I want to make sure that that's clear but in systems where the external assessment MCA act is not where you want it to be and we're missing groups of students there's sometimes a tendency to do much more test prep and much more shifting to okay how do we get test scores up instead of what are the critical skills and standards that kids need to learn so that they'll be able to demonstrate learning and skills in new way in different ways and the MCAs or ACT being one of them. So um if you this particular graphic that I'm going to show you now this idea of feeling overested and sometimes I ask educators you know do you feel overested and sometimes it's yes we really do there's so much assessment and sometimes the push back is I I have so much assessment to do I don't have time to pause and respond and so um we want to be able to pause analyze and then take action on each of these types of assessments and if or overusing any one of these or underusing any one of these, you'll see a a a comprehensive balanced assessment system that doesn't lead to student results. So, um or that would be one outcome or one reason of that. So, the external assessments, as I said, those are things like the MCA, ACT, um SAT, these might be perception surveys as well. Um and they're usually externally administered. And again, the best use of these is to understand the impact of these on a system over time. So, I'll give you an example of how one um one district, and this was actually um in Canada, this was in Quebec, they looked at over time their algebraic concepts um or their their algebraic scores on their provincial exam were low for their indigenous students. And so, one of the things that they did is like, okay, let's let's think about what's happening here. and they looked at western ways of knowing mathematics and indigenous ways of knowing mathematics. They designed worked with a local group and they designed um some culturally relevant more like weaving um activities that kids were doing within the context of being able to learn these algebraic concepts. Their scores increased dramatically and the provincial exam exam got no more um culturally relevant. But what's happened was they analyzed what was happening. And so I have this next slide where they looked at the strengths in the data. They looked at some of the disparities. They dug into challenges and and some of the opportunities that were potentially there. They looked at the root cause. And then they identified next steps and they figured, you know what, our jurisdiction needs to learn more about how to connect the learning kids are doing to things that that um connect with them. And then the application is they started to implement that in a way that was more um systematic and they and they did some monitoring to see how that pos what that possibility was. In another district um they were sure that their science scores would really um would increase dramatically because they had bought these really engaging foss kits. So, they were trying to do all of this innovative instruction and um their scores actually took a dive and when they looked at what was being asked, they found that kids were actually not having to recall information. They were having to apply it in a deeper way. And so, in this case, when they analyzed this data and root cause, they're like, you know what, we don't have to toss out our innovation. We just have to ask different questions. And so we need to support our educators in ways that how do we ask questions? So instead of having them identify the water cycle in something, we're going to ask them scenario-based questions and we're going to learn how to question at a deeper level. So when students get to something, it's not just that they've memorized it and regurgitated it, but it's right at the level we want them to be. So those are just examples of how some folks have used large-scale data to inform what's happening at the instructional level. Benchmark assessments, similar um usually they're given two to three times a year. And benchmark assessments might be things that are preparing kids for the MCA. So they might look like the MCA. Um they might be growth measures like MAP scores um are are often frequently used. Those two are for the adults in the system to look two to three times a year to say okay in November if it's given then who which groups of students are being served well which groups of students need something different. So there can be some change happening um right away. However, the external assessments and the benchmark assessments aren't things that students are going to use to set goals. They're not data for even teachers may be able to use some of the benchmark data if it lines up tightly to what they expected kids to master. But usually that's not the case. And so if you give a benchmark assessment in November and kids are struggling on a concept and you look at it, it may be that they have not learned that in the sequence of their units. So benchmark assessments and external assessments are really helpful for the system and teacher teams even a school leadership team or a guiding coalition to understand um how are we coming in meeting some end ofear marks but we shouldn't overanalyze those for classroom instructional levels. Now the last three these are where um oh I'll give this quick example for a benchmark assessment. In this example for the benchmark assessment, this particular school noticed that kids were coming in at grade level according to their MAP data. Okay? So they set the in the quadrant there were kids who had um shown that they were at grade level. When they assessed them again in the winter, they were still at grade level. So they noticed that um we they weren't pushing kids who were at grade level to a deeper level of learning. And so this highlighted that's a great use of the MAP scores, who's growing, who's not. Um because now we can say, you know, we've got to build in more opportunities when we realize that students are meeting the grade level standard to help push them to their next level. So again, so then they can flip to, okay, how are we going to do this? What is this going to look like um in our classroom level? So benchmark assessments, external assessments mostly for the adults in the system. Then let's look at these notion of endofunit assessments, formative and formative assessments. This is where educators um would spend and teachers in particular would spend most of their time and energy because you would take your standards that are grade level and you'd map them across units and then you'd make sure that your end of unit assessments, the test, the project, the paper was right at grade level. in in places where teachers are not sure that kids are ready for grade level. What you'll notice is that the assessments and instruction they're getting are below grade level. If we assess and instruct kids at grade level all year long because we're doing it with the best in mind, where will they end up at grade level? >> Below grade level. So what happens sometimes and again this would be something you would uncover. So some team or some schools will ask folks to let's take a look at our our end of unit assessments. Are they at grade level or are they at the level where we think kids can achieve? So we want them to build and it's with this intention of we want them to build and and have success but we need to assess and instruct at grade level and then we'll respond to whatever we see in the data that says oh they need a little bit more work here. So this whole notion of endofunit assessments is um if there are teams then they're making sure that they understand the grade level assessments and what kids need to do at grade three or at grade nine um and making sure that that aligns and then we don't want to wait till the end of the unit. So now we have some teacher teams who will say where do kids need more practice? What's the most complex part of that skill that kids need more feedback on? and they'll administer what we call a formative assessment or a quiz where they can look at it and say, "Okay, who gets it? Who doesn't? What's getting in the way?" And that's used more instructionally. And the formative assessment, the blue box, is all of the things that happened along the way, the checks for understanding. And I often explain this. Um teachers will I I'll often ask, you know, do you remember that moment in class where you were like amazing and on fire and students were so engaged and then all of a sudden a student said something and they totally missed the boat. And in that moment when teachers change and say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, everybody go here. Who thinks this?" And they make a move at the assessment center. We call that instructional agility. And we see that some of the most change in kids learning happens at that instructional classroom level. And so we need to build or we we approach this as wanting to build teachers expertise of noticing those moments and then being able to adjust in the moment. But we can't do it on everything. We have to do it on the most important skills because there's no time to address it all. So that's where teams and teachers will look at what are the most important skills so that the assessment doesn't drive the learning but the learning the critical skills drives the information we're going to get at each level of the system. So I love the questions that you all asked about what is this data saying? What does the MCA actually tell us? um what's the information we're getting from there so that you can ask really targeted questions um and then be able to make adjustments as a result. So I often talk about end of unit assessments informing additional time and support that young people need to meet those most essential grade level standards and that formative assessments are the moment that we gather information in collaboration to really understand how to support one another as educators in developing new ways to help kids learn. This whole idea of system data is um and of course at a board level you would explore what are the questions that make best sense for you all to ask of this data so that um so that you can support the system in ways that understand this is working really well and these are some things that we want to explore in a little deeper dive. Um so there's different ways in which we might do that. I um I provided you this template and this was this is really I guess a graphic organizer if you will where some folks will go through and say what data points do we have in each of these types of assessment data? How are they currently being used and by whom? And part of this is we um want to make sure that there are data points that aren't being overused by different roles in the system. And so this can help kind of streamline and really target and focus um what's happening. So I'm going to just pause for a moment and if there's questions the the the questions that I usually pose to other school boards that I've shared this exact information with or district level folks is how balanced is your assessment system? Are you really clear on each of the different data points, the panoramic data, the MCA, the ACT, course taking patterns? Um, are you clear about the different types of data that are being collected? How is it being analyzed? Who's using it? Um, so that there's a real intentional way of using this data to have the greatest the last question, what's the greatest impact on learning and teaching? And I think um that's one of the reasons I think assessment is so powerful is it gets put over here sometimes as just evaluation. But if we really think about it as information, it can help inform and really help tease out what to keep doing, what to stop doing, and what to start doing. So, I'll pause for a moment if you would have any questions or comments or connections and then I'll end with one classroom piece for you all to chew on. >> Thank you. >> Um, I actually just appreciate seeing those questions because I don't think I've ever sat down and kind of gone in that order of really thinking about assessments. So, I appreciate just the questions. Anyone anyone have any thoughts, feedback, questions? >> Andre, I do. >> Um, so thank you so much. I agree. These are really important questions for us to be um asking ourselves, especially with the context of the previous um presentation tonight. Um at the beginning you touched on this idea of making assessment meaningful for students and how often the way we've done that in the past is by assigning point values to signal that this is this thing is important. So that's one of the many problems with relying solely on MCA data is that those tests aren't meaningful for a lot of students and so we don't know really how engaged students are when they're taking those tests. Right. >> Yes. Um, I know from working with older students, high school and college and and graduate students, that if I don't make the assessment, you know, whatever it is at that stage, meaningful, it's just like a non-starter. Like, they're not going to engage in it at all. Right. >> I have way less experience with younger students and how to create meaningful assessments that students find meaningful that then adults will find even more meaningful because the data that that we're getting as adults in the system is really rich. And I know you could probably give a whole like four-hour presentation on this topic, but I'm wondering if there's some nuggets you can leave us with in terms of making assessment meaningful for students. >> Absolutely. Um, you know what? I could actually move to that next shift and it does exactly that is like what are some of those pieces? So, if there's any other questions on the balance assessment because that's at the heart of it. We want assessment to really help students identify their strengths. And so often, you know, when a student gets an assessment back, how many kids look at the assessment and say, "Oh, this means I know this and this means I have these strengths." And potentially, I would love that if that were the case, but often that's not the case. Folks are look, kids are looking or students are look, young people are looking at the score and then looking to their peer to say, "What'd you get?" And there's a comparison of quantities instead of a comparison to what's the quality of my work. And so part of this is in working with teacher teams is to help teacher teams really think about and teachers in general think about what is it that you wanted kids to learn and how are we communicating that so that um we're starting to connect young people are starting to connect their assessment whether it's a project, a paper or a test with um the learning and that it's going to tell them something about that. So, I can totally give you a little quick example of that. Um, should I move to that or is there any other Were there any other questions on balanced assessment? >> I think we're good. Thanks. >> All right. So, this next shift and >> No. Oh, yeah. >> Talia, does Z have any questions? We can't see him. >> I'm not. Are you good Z? Thumbs up. >> I am good. >> Okay, great. >> So this idea of this the next shift is exactly what um it is shifting to this classroom and how students experience assessment and this move from quantities to qualities. Um and a quick story about my son. This is my son Ree. He is now a junior at Iowa State. Woohoo. He's a very different learner than my daughter who um was the perfectionist. So the moment we lived in Georgia during the time she was in elementary school and the moment she started to get grades um she just started to be incredibly scared about making any kind of mistake and if she got a mistake she wanted to figure out how to get a higher score and she was just incredibly driven by achievement. Ree not so much. He was much more focused on relevance and meaning and he fell into a deep depression during the pandemic and actually stopped doing everything. and it was about midterm and he was taking American Sign Language. Um, and the teacher had done of course an interview and it was midterm and he showed up for the Zoom. Thank goodness you all. And at the end of the interview, he um the teacher said, "Re essential. So, I'm going to exempt you from all of those little assignments." And Ree looked at me and he's like, "Mom, I think I might take ASL 2." and he not only took ASL 2, he took ASL 3, he took ASL 4. And I didn't even understand till a senior spotlight video how much that community had influenced him. So this whole notion of shifting our practice in assessment from chasing kids to get work done to chasing evidence of learning is really at the heart and soul of making assessment really meaningful. Now you may I was a little was I not a little annoyed that he wasn't doing any of the little assignments? Yes, absolutely. because we might ask like where's the accountability and I do pose the question a lot is what are we wanting to hold kids accountable to >> a higher level of quality work and I want them doing little assignments that are going to help them in this case Reese didn't need to do the little assignments to show learning um in another case he does need feedback that his work habits and doing the things that maybe he doesn't want to do he needs to work on that but that's separate than the achievement so this whole notion of assessment as meaningful needs to give kids better feedback and more targeted feedback. So, here's the example I'd share with you. If a student got 67% on an assessment, what do you think they might be thinking about their learning? >> I'm stupid. >> I'm stupid. >> I feel >> I don't know that or >> I don't know good at that. >> I'm not good at that. And some students given their context might say, "Phew, just made it." All right, that's better than half. So context will matter. But if it's just quantities and we believe that assessment should give info on strengths and next steps, we have to do a little differently. And so in this particular case, um, if we break it down and at the top of the assessment, they get more specific descriptions. Now the student can, as you can see, this obvious, they understand two things. They have one left to go. So now this is where assessment becomes information that helps them target their strengths. And when we target that sense of strength, that confidence is built to say, "Okay, this is manageable. I can work on one thing." Um, so the work the background work of this is making sure that the assessment evidence that are um that teachers are using is matched to the learning goals or what we wanted kids to learn. And then we can start to whether this is a test, whether it's a paper or a project or an infographic, um, students are getting really targeted information and then they can start to self-reflect. so they can say, "Here's what I know. Here's what I need to do." Um, and then to build a sense of achievement. So, we're not just relying on students to if they feel like they can, they will. Um, then teachers will tease out who are the students that need to work on individual learning targets or learning goals. And so, in this case, this is also where stu assessment is more meaningful. Not always like, oh yes, I'm excited to work on this. It's different than that, but it's more targeted and more hopeful. And so then when students work on in this case interpreting data, they learn a little bit more, they reassess and their grade is now replaced. Now they start to make the connection. It matters. When I engage in this and I learn more and now I have evidence of learning, my grade goes up or my percentage goes whatever that looks like. But the the key here is that students start to get learning and instruction based in their information. And then again for kids who are showing mastery or young people who are showing mastery, what are the next couple of steps um that they would take in to be able to take their learning to the next level and not just more but really targeted. So that's just one example of like sharing um assessment in relationship to learning and that's at the classroom level. Um, and we do a lot of co-construction with students too to say and to ask them what's the impact because I think a lot of this too is noticing the impact of any assessment practice on our systems um sense of hope, sense of oh I I what I do matters and that would translate to students as well like do students believe that assessment actually gives them information on their learning and the focus groups and this and the um surveys that I've done with students are really focused on trying to understand how students are experiencing assessment because at the end of the day they're going to make a decision to show up and show learning and keep going or not. And what we found is assessment sits at the center often of this happening. You can have amazing innovative practices, but if you handle assessment in a way that's more evaluative where kids lose hope, the innovation will fall flat. It might be engaging, but you won't see increases in learning because assessment is now positioned as more evaluation. That's been our experience and kind of backed up. But again, there's so many different ways this um plays out in context and the questions that I often leave folks with is what has been your experience with assessment and grading because it matters at every level. Teachers often teach the way they were taught and assessed. And even when making really big transformative changes in assessment, it takes a very intentional um conversation and looking at how to do this in a way that's doable and feasible um and that leads to impact. So again, I leave you with um some of those questions as well as um a list of references that are certainly there for you to um to dig into. And if you have any questions, I will happily take them. Um, but I also am so grateful to be able to just share a little bit in a community that means a lot to me. So, thank you. >> Thank you so much. Any questions or comments, >> right, Sharon Dre? >> Yes. >> Hi. I'm a little biased because I love Nicole. >> She is amazing. Um, but I just have two questions for you, Nicole. one. Um and and um is there any uh assessment data around early interest um early entrance um assessments for students who are not quite the age for kindergarten, but they need to take those early entrance uh testing to get into kindergarten. So like for example, my daughter got approved to go through her birthday September 6th and school started September 5th. And so I was just wondering like is there any data that suggests like a one day difference for kindergarten um will make you know a difference in a child's learning ability. Um because I have some very deep concerns about the assessment process for that to be completely honest. Um >> and so it's just seeing if you had any um any resources or anything around that. I know it's like a long-winded question but in for the interest of time but just wondering. >> Yeah. No, I don't have anything specific other than I have looked um at some of the research around early early assessment and there's just a lot of um there's a lot of variance because of how kids are shown up and how what's accurate in assessment giving a three and four-year-old something paper pencil isn't all or on there's a few places where they've tried to do some of that but happy to share that the classroom assessment um Sage handbook has a a truckload of peer-reviewed research around early assessments. I'm happy to send that if that would be useful or helpful. Um the high level this and this was a few years ago. So please I would think we would you would definitely want to dive in a little bit deeper. Some of the things that I've initially looked at probably five to seven years ago was looking at assessment information from um preK through grade two and that um that you don't look at it as an individual um year because the change in kids um development and achievement is so different um specifically during those years. But but yeah, please um I would definitely want to guide you to more research around early childhood and wouldn't take what I said with um without a citation. >> No, thank you. Uh thank you so much. And then just really quick, so would you say uh researchers suggest that maybe standardized testing is outdated measure for assessing students? >> I'm sorry, say that one more time. Which measure? >> So um standardized testing is a outdated measure. I mean outdated measuring um assessment for students like do does research kind of start going towards that trend? >> We're we're looking into um I'm working with a couple of state departments right now where we're looking with a sampling approach instead of an individual student assessment approach which um leads to your um key issue. We do know that sampling leads to being able to have outcomes that are more meaningful and more transferable. Um, so I wouldn't say it's completely outdated, but I think there's a lot of evidence to say how we assess um in a standardized fashion puts a cap on what kids are actually learning. Um, just very quickly because what will happen was if if if we're only assessing in a multiple, this is very simple, but multiple choice way um teachers will say, well, yes, that's great, but it only this is how I'm being evaluated, so this is all I can do. And so there's some evidence that how we do that is super important. So looking and exploring different models of accountability is certainly being explored in Colorado, New Hampshire, and Arizona. >> Thank you, >> Chairman Dre. Um do you have any and thank you for that to build on that comment that you just made. Do you have any um insight uh of what Colorado, New Hampshire, and then I'm sorry, the other states, >> Arizona, >> Arizona. What >> if they're not using standardized testing and they're using some level of assessment? >> Yep. >> Do you have any like data, hard or soft? Yeah. >> Of like how things are going for them if they're not using that. And the only reason I bring that up is attending the >> AMD meeting on >> I was going to mention that >> on Friday it was parents are open to >> yes >> at least in Minnesota I'm talking about Minnesota parents are open based on a survey that Morris Leman did >> to no standardized testing but because we live in a very >> um individualistic and um uh uh you know everything is about measuring numbers. And I didn't realize this as a child until I got older. I was like, my parents kept asking me like, "How are you doing in school?" And I was like, "I'm attending school. What difference does it make how I'm doing?" >> But then like now >> I'm showing up. >> Yeah. Now, as I gotten older, it's like I've caught myself asking my kids the same questions. Yeah. >> That my parents asked me, and everything is about measuring. Yes. And so now I'm starting to say I feel bad because when they decide to get married and have kids, they're going to be asking their kids the same thing. What are you doing? And how many times have you done it? Like everything is >> measured based. So I I think it'll be interesting to see like if you have any data on how those states are doing with nonstandardized tests. >> Absolutely. Well, um I think so there's a couple of things that I'm happy to send you. Colorado's in its infancy stages right now. Um Kentucky did this a number of years ago where they did sampling and the sampling allowed for um them to ask kids to do more higher level performance tasks and then they would do a sampling to understand at a state level how kids were coming to learn that piece. But unfortunately that went by the wayside when um there was another approach. They wanted every student to be assessed to be able to um show disparities and and to evaluate schools versus really look at what the intent of um those large scale measures are. So I'm happy to send that to you because that Tom Gusky did that with at the University of in Lexington, University of Kentucky and they did some really beautiful work around and instructive work and then Linda Darling Hammond also in the early years she did um performance assessment tasks in California and they looked at sampling. San Diego did a little bit of that. um new New Hampshire actually they went full-on competency based so they went to more of a portfol port portfolio um based piece which also led to questions more about like okay what's your evidence of understanding these communication and some of the critical skills um so I'm happy to share the New Hampshire report the Kentucky report um the Colorado stuff I think is still in the works but it has a lot of there's I think you're right there's a lot or of course you're right but there's a lot appetite for thinking about accountability in a different way. Um, and what does it what does it take to hold um or to create a culture where kids are learning really meaningful competencies and we're not having to be mired in the details and spending so much resource on individual assessments that kids are not showing up for or that they're showing up for and not giving us really high quality information. So, if that would be helpful, I'm happy to to share what I have. >> Sure. Yeah, >> thank you for your presentation. >> Yeah, >> be great. And I want to Oh, I want to be mindful of your time >> because we're we're talking about um superintendent goals next, but yes, go ahead. >> Well, I just wanted to build off of um what Director Ross was beginning to share, right? Um we attended the associ association of metropolitan school districts meeting. Um when was it? >> Friday. >> Last Friday. The days blend together. And so in surveying hundreds of motans very recently Peter Leatherman was explaining that um 62% of parent respondents believe that the MCA test accurately represents achievement. >> 35% of parents do not believe that and 3% are unsure. And what he said is, look, as school districts, we have to work together to help our parents understand what more holistic assessment of learning means, like what does it look like? Because if we believe that the MCA, that single score is not an accurate representation at the student, the classroom, the school, the district, the state level, then what is right? What are the measurements? We have to help our parents understand what we're replacing that current understanding with. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. There's so much more to talk about around those things because there's a lot of We're doing some some proposals right now to try to look at how to make some more headway in what that could look like. So, thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. And uh just wanted to um mention that we are planning on doing a school board um engagement session with you. Okay. >> Um for the whole community to be a part of where we can probably dive deeper into all all the stuff and people can get their questions answered if you didn't get them answered tonight. Um so thank you again. really appreciate you being here and all the information you brought to the table >> and the questions. >> All right, thank you all so much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Nicole. >> Safe travels. >> Um, so with that, we will move to um Dr. Mary Perry Reed, your superintendent goals for the year. >> Speed myself up to like 2.0. >> Yes. >> Okay. And Natalia, I shared I shared the thing if you just want to maybe reduce it to 90% and put it on the screen and board members should also have it. Okay. So, as efficiently as I can um to just give some context for our community, we do have a goal framework here in Hopkins which we did develop inhouse but based on research. What are the strongest levers that the most important levers that we need to look at in terms of personal leadership development, effective leadership of all leaders across the system, and also school improvement. And so we have three goal areas that are in our strategic plan and in everyone's goals docs. So that's district and school leaders, superintendent and then our board also engages in goal setting according to these three goal areas which are learning and teaching, school district culture and operations. And so as the system leader then I um have the opportunity during um well in you know in June we spend three days with our leaders reflecting on the previous year and then in August we spend time preparing for the school year and then throughout the year we meet quarterly with our school leaders to um check in on school on sight specific goals. So I have a lot of that school by school context that informs my thinking but then also my job is to sort of see the system as an entire organization with you know multiple um moving parts and then ask myself okay well what are the key levers to uh moving improvement across the system and so I did identify three goals in each of these three goal areas does um under uh learning and teaching there is a goal around uh student achievement. There is a goal around instructional consistency and then student belonging. And then under um school and district culture, there's a goal around employee belonging, engagement, and retention. A goal around school safety. And then a goal around community trust and engagement. And then under operations we have fiscal responsibility transportation afteraction review. So transportation related goal and then of course our um bond referendum. So passing successfully passing our bond referendum and capital projects levy renewal this November on November 4, which was actually a the only carryover goal from last year. although there's a lot of interconnectedness between last year's goals and this year's goals. So any questions so far sort of on the larger context. Okay. So, if we just sort of um maybe spend um 90 seconds um on each goal area and then I suppose we could always revisit this and it's also posted for community and in draft form because I do want board members to give feedback if or ask questions if you have it and then we'll finesse these and they will be the goals for the year. So the um under teaching and learning then a goal around increasing the percentage of students meeting or exceeding grade level benchmarks in reading and math um by at least five percentage points and that would be as measured by a fast bridge which is a tool that we use to assess uh literacy and math um K n I believe and our we we have talked about the importance of belonging, consistency and coherence and I've referenced now this research report a couple of different times. So I did want to organize a goal around instructional consistency because it also aligns with our Hopkins instructional leadership team work and that's the large group of folks that gather together monthly right in this space. So our principles, our instructional coaches, teacher leaders and we look at okay well what are the instructional moves that should be happening in classrooms to then increase students literacy and numeracy and how are we gauging consistency of instructional practices across the system. So that's what that second goal is and then a student belonging goal. So, we do use the Panorama survey twice a year to have students tell us how how strong of a sense of belonging they feel in school, to what degree are they respected by their teachers, to what degree do they feel positively connected to their peers, all kinds of questions around um social emotional learning and competence. And so there are specific questions that we then can tie to belonging and we can we can track our students um level of uh belonging across our schools. So then if we move to culture please then um there is a goal around employee belonging engagement and retention. So last year we did a ton of research to identify an instrument that would be valid and reliable um with questions that even other organizations ask their employees to gauge employee belonging engagement. And um we administered this survey at the end of last year. We did find that about 75% of respondents um feel that they have strong engagement here in Hopkins public schools and we'd like to increase that. We'd also like to start tracking our retention um within each employee group. And so this year um the goal is around increasing belonging for adults, but also setting some uh retention benchmarks through our um HR information systems and then beginning to track that on an annual basis, but also learn from our employees through that survey. what are the factors that increase belonging and employee satisfaction so that we can retain our um our talented staff. And then I did share with our high school team that I really feel it's important to have a school safety goal um and not just a focus on safety because um because we know that belonging and safety are interconnected. So this school safety goal really is around increasing the percentage of our high school students and families who report strong sense of belonging, love, and personal safety at our high school and identifying um this. So for our community, if just in case you're listening and not looking at the doc, then under reliable data, there are some ways um some metrics and um things that we can use to track um in these three areas. So for belonging and love, we would use the panorama survey. And then for safety, you know, there's um discipline data and introducing a student survey that will give us some really great information. I should mention that every goal is then um sort of deconstructed and aligned to a set of like I guess tactics. And in Hopkins, we follow what we call the smarty framework. So it's like a smart goal with then inclusivity and equity. um also considered so smart being strategic, measurable, attainable, reliable, time bound and then inclusive and e equitable. Okay. And then for the last uh culture goal that's around community trust and engagement and I really feel that as a system leader um just like great leaders have conversations with their most talented staff they're called stay conversations like you are amazing we need to keep you here what's going well for you what feels challenging what can I personally do to make sure that you stay right we need to have the same conversations with our families and we need to understand what are the components of the schooling experience that help our families not just choose Hopkins but stay. We have had families who have left. I mean the competition in the west metro is fierce just you know period right lots of districts charters privates to choose from and when things don't go well in our system or families are upset because what they expect isn't aligned with what is delivered then families have that choice to leave and um I want to create a series of opportunities that that give us um some some uh real time data to help us understand our families better. I think um during and the for the couple years after COVID, we were intensely surveying our families all the time. We had so much data and I think it's been a couple years since we really have engaged with our families in that way and I want to um do that this year and that'll give our system some really great data. And then finally, oh my, it's 6:59 in the operations space. So then we'll hear more from our business services team because we are engaging in the work around um stabilizing our finances. Our director of business services left in at the end of June and we you know are um we had some trouble along with like 25 other districts finding a director of business services. So we do have a team of consultants that is working with us in the finance space helping us complete audits. So that first goal really is around okay let's let's um organize and structure the finance space in a way that is transparent and um identifying some processes that will better our budgeting um our budgeting process and our you know our entire um fiscal infrastructure. And then I wanted to have a transportation goal because this past spring, as our community knows, as a um result of needing to reduce our budget by $7 million, we did have to make some significant transportation changes. Some of those went well and some of those didn't. And so internally, we want to engage in an afteraction review to understand, okay, what aspects of that change process did work well? and um where where did we experience some challenge or fall short? And then of course the last goal is um related to our bond referendum and capital projects levy renewal. We have never we have always passed our bond referenda in Hopkins and we intend to do so again on November 4. And so those are the six goals across three areas. No, nine goals. Goodness. >> Yes. Three times. >> That's a lot of work for this year. >> Yes. >> But I have a strong team. And thanks for listening. And then feel free board members to maybe shoot me an email with uh feedback or questions. >> Great. Thank you so much. I appreciate that and the lightning speed with which you reviewed it. Um I would um direct all board members if you have any questions or any feedback to email them to um Dr. Mary Perryi Reid. And um this is just the preliminary so this isn't like she's going forth. We'll have more discussions correct around these goals. Um >> or if I don't hear back we I can start at >> right. Sure. Um, yes, I think that would be good, but also um I think we we should all um carefully review these and um communicate directly with the superintendent and um myself because this is one of our jobs as um school board members is to support the superintendent in in meeting her goals. So, thank you for that. And we will now move on to our um organizational meeting. I will al though if everyone's agreed give a five minute break so that we all have a chance to um take care of anything that we need to take care of before the meeting starts. So I will see you all back here at um 7:08. Find my shoot. got the cow. Are you okay? To the table. Put that. >> Welcome everybody. Um, thank you for being here this evening. It is 7:10 p.m. and we will um I will call to order this meeting, organizational meeting of the Hopkins uh school board. We have um I would look for an approval of our agenda for this evening. >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The chair votes I. And the agenda is approved. The first order of new business is a resolution designating the contracted director of business depositories for school fund services. And that is for um the administration is requesting that the board approves the proposed deposiitories for the 202526 school year. Do I need to read it out? The full one as follows. on the back there's there's all the resolutions that >> on the back >> sorry not that under it has all the recommendations >> okay >> so the the first one is to designate the um contracted director of business depositories and and then B is for authorizing electronic funds. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um so the first one is that we uh approve the proposed depositories for the 202526 school year as follows. Um, checking account depository is US Bank. Investment depository is US Bank Corp. Cash transfer accounts US Bank. And then custodian of investment collateral is US Bank. I would look for a motion. >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Chair Andre? >> Yes. Treasure Hartland. Thank you. Um, are the people that are mentioned Scottless Sage and then it says and or D caring, are those our CISO representatives? >> Treasure Hartland. Yes. Um, Scott Lasage and DD Carring are actually here in the boardroom available in case board members have questions about these two agenda items. And yes, they are our CISO partners and I wanted to make sure the board knows that they're in the space this evening. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any further discussion? >> Uh, Chair Andre and it it's fine if we don't know this, but I'm just curious. Have we used US Bank for these four places before in previous years? >> It's so could could I rephrase that to say are there any changes from prior practice? >> Chair and Jason. >> Yes. >> Do you mind if we ask Scott and D and Nick to approach the board table? >> Absolutely not. That'd be great. >> Awesome. So, just to let our community know and during the sup at the end of the superintendent report, we will we will more um formally introduce our CESO partners. Um but for this agenda item, thank you Scott and De for being here and thanks Nick, Dr. Lightfoot for all the work that you're doing to partner with our business services team and um thanks for being at the table to answer these questions. Have we used uh was it US Bank before? Was that the one mentioned? >> Yes. Yes. Well, are there any changes? >> Yeah, happy to give just a little bit of background on these organizing resolutions. Um, just by way of crafting these and putting these together, the first set of the uh organizing resolutions, the board did look at at the previous organizational meeting. Um, we did take additional time at that point in time. uh rather than bringing these two forward, we did want to make sure that we had our CISO partners uh with us at the time to look at and review these. So these were reviewed um with all of us collectively to make sure that we had the proper lineup here. As you will note from the document itself, there are multiple um agencies that are listed in each of these for specific depository needs. Um so in answer to the question uh that director Thompson put forward, yes. Um some of these have had longstanding experience with us. Um a couple of these are new um and we can certainly speak to if there are specific questions um what those might be. Um and so at some point we'll have the opportunity to introduce as well but uh Scott and Dee are here with we have specific questions about the purpose of any of these to help educate the board if there are questions. >> So I think the question is are there any changes and you said there are um is there any interest in digging deep into knowing which ones are new? >> Not on my count. Thank you though. >> Any further questions on this particular resolution? >> Chair Andre. >> Yes. Treasure Hartland. As a tiny bit of context, I do know that in CEFAC, the citizens financial advisory committee, it was asked by the various professionals that volunteer on that committee that this be kind of examined to make sure that we are our investments are very diverse and also that we are just up to date like getting the best rates and aligning with businesses that we want to be aligned with. And so is that the addition of some of these? You know, I'm looking at our uh it was August 20th of 2024 the last time we did this and designated some depositories and and you're right, of course the list is largely the same, but are the addition of some of these other ones a result of that work? I think part of the addition of the one that we looked at um and maybe you want to speak more to the cash flow statements and things that we were looking at trying to hopefully in a forward-thinking way provide the board with some more specific sets of information much like you described. >> So if I'm Hi, I'm Dee Carring. Um suppose that was obvious between the Scott and Dee names, right? But um I yeah, we talked about this with the superintendent and with Nick about the possibility of adding another vendor PMA at this time. Um it gives does provide the school district with some more options as it is for investments. Um, in addition, that company in particular does have a cash flow statement which basically looks at all of the revenue that comes in and the expenses that the school district has, whether it's payroll, accounts payable, and then of course uh state aids, taxes, and federal monies as well. And on a monthly basis provides a really good tool for uh finance as well as the school board um and and can make some additional decisions on that. uh both um many of the organizations that are on there are familiar to us as uh finance practitioners and other school districts. So, we're very familiar with what the companies can do and um certainly we'll look at the best possible methodology for using for um investing the school district's funds. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any further discussion? I'm just waiting a second for the leg. I don't see any. Um given that um all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The chair votes I and this resolution is passed. We move on to the resolution authorizing electronic funds. Um, and we would look for the recommendation is that the board adopts the proposed resolution below authorizing the use of electronic fund transfers and investments as follows. All right, here I go. Resolved that the contracted director of business services, Scott Lay, andor D. Is it Caring? >> Correct. be authorized to make or cause to be made electronic funds transfers between school district accounts. Resolved further that contracted director of business services Scottless andor D Caring be authorized to open or cause to be opened investment accounts with designated institutions in consideration of terms, conditions, and covenants required by such institutions. to endorse or cause to be endorsed on behalf of the district any drafts, orders, certificates, checks, or other investment instruments in connection with such accounts, and to make or cause to be made deposits to such accounts by check, draft order, or electronic funds transfer. resolved further that unless superseded any and all resolutions hereto for adopted by the board of education and certified to depositories designated at the organizational meeting of September 9th, 2025 governing the operation of this district's accounts with them be and are hereby continued in full force. Do I have a motion? >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none. All those >> Is that you Z? >> Yes. He raised his hand. >> Yes. Chair Andre, I do have a question. >> Yes. And the sorry the the question is are there any um controls or anything that we need to do to make sure uh because of the unique relationship with CISO um I just want to make sure that it wouldn't be an audit item later the unique roles we need to build in >> an audit item that they're authorized to do electronic transfers >> right >> okay >> I can speak a little bit to that um uh CISO does this in in many schools school districts throughout the state of Minnesota. So, where we have contracts with, we do go through this process of getting a formal uh approval from the school board. We're acting on behalf of you as your business manager. Um, so we sign off, we get authorization through the bank to be able to do this. Um, and it's it's legitimate. It's not something that will come up as an audit issue or with an accounting firm. So we follow all the same protocols that um your previous director would have done as well. >> Great. Thank you. >> Any further question? >> Any further discussion? >> Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? >> The chair votes I. And the second resolution is passed. Thank you so much for being at the table. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. And with that, our meeting action items are concluded. So I would look for a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The chair votes I. And the organizational meeting is adjourned at 7:22 p.m. Thank you everybody. And we have a whopping 8 minutes until we come back for the start of our other meeting at our regular board meeting at 7:30. >> Thank you. Did you want to be at 7:30. Welcome everybody. Thank you for being here this evening. I will um go ahead and call to order this regular meeting of the Hopkins School Board at 7:31 p.m. on gosh, what is it? September 9th, 2025. Thank you all for being here. Um our first part of our um meetings at um at Hopkins Public Schools are is to um have open agenda where we have a public comment um portion. Have we received any cards this evening? So there are two ways to um address the board. One is to leave a voicemail um that you can do at a number that's posted and we will play the message at the meeting were any voicemails left. So we don't have any voicemails. The other option is to come join us here in person which we always enjoy um having people um fill up the seats and um address the board or just be a part of the meeting. you can come here and fill out a public comment card that's located at the back of the building. Um, if you come prior to the meeting and fill that out, then you can be a part of the public comment section at the beginning of the meeting, which is for half an hour. we do um really value hearing from our community and given that statement which is why we host um public comment and I did want to make everybody in the community aware that we highly value hearing from our community and unfortunately if you have tried to get in touch with us lately through the um contact the board button on our website and have found that you are unable to do so We apologize. We are aware of the issue and we are trying to get it fixed. Um and I appreciate all those community members that were resourceful and figured out a workaround to get in touch with me and to let me know that um they were not able to contact the board. So please do know that a fix is coming. You can also email um me um the chair directly um and have your comments heard at the board table. So with that um I would like to turn it over to our student board reps who are here this evening. It's a brand new year and I am super excited to hear all about the happenings at the high school. Thank you for being here. Yeah, thank you for having us again. Um, sorry, we're we're really excited to be back um here just talking to you guys and updating um about everything. Um so, first I'd like to go over just some back to school stuff. So, we had picture day on um September 4th. Um it was for the freshman, sophomores, and juniors and seniors who aren't submitting their own senior pictures for the yearbook. Um and then we are having our class meetings right now. So today we had the ninth and tth graders um during worlds connect. What did what did you guys like talk about student? >> Oh right. Yeah, you were Oh yeah, you were there. Okay. But just going over some basic grade level announcements and preparing for the school year. Um and then the 11th and 12th graders are tomorrow. I should be able to go to that. So I guess I'll know everything that they went over. Um, and especially with a new um, president um, or not president um, principal like team, they have a lot of stuff to go over and like who's going to be um, managing what. So, it's a really good time for the students to just be filled in on everything that's going on um, with the school and um, you know, higherups and stuff like that. Um, our homecoming is on uh September 20th. Um, we're currently voting on a theme right now. We have um tropical luau, outer space, disco/mam mia, masquerade, Disney, and western. So, I'm excited to see what they have for that. Um, yeah. And then I would like to do a little um class highlight. I know that's um a good uh thing for you guys to hear about just uh you know our daily lives uh at school and what we're learning about. So I'd like to highlight my um Royals College Prep class. So this is um I pulled a description from like the official description website. Um it says Royals prep guides seniors through all aspects of the college application process from start to finish. Um in addition students write their main common application and supplemental essays which increases their skills in academic collegiate level writing and additionally the course seeks to increase their confidence by providing situations and scenarios practice advocacy and self-directedness. So this class is um led by Miss Okar. She's an English teacher and Dr. Koul who is our college and career counselor. Um, I think together they're a very good team for uh leading this class. Um, and it's just uh been a really good experience so far and I'm excited to keep going with the class. I feel like it's a really good um class for students to have to have that space where they can work on college stuff and ask questions if they need it, especially if they don't have the money for like a private college tutor or something like that or they aren't in AVID, which goes over all this stuff and more. So, I'm really excited to see where this class goes. Okay. Um I have the next report. So, um, as we all know, it's the beginning of the school year right now. So, last week was officially the first week of school, but this is the first full week of school. So, everyone is kind of just adjusting to being back at school. Um, we had the 9th grade orientation and the open house last Wednesday to facilitate this transition. Um, on top of that, this is the first year in quite some time that we will actually have two fall productions at the high school. So, usually we just have one fall musical and then we have a spring play and then the last couple years we had a spring play and musical and this year we will have a fall play and musical. So, the play is Dracula and the musical is Greece which are both pretty wellnown. Um, and then also for freshmen who took AP World last year, they will get the opportunity to go on an international trip next year, um, which is currently being planned. As of right now, it's most likely that we'll go to Japan, which is really, really cool. >> That's cool. Um, and then additionally, as you may or may not know, there was a nationwide walk out last Friday at noon against gun violence, specifically in schools in response to this to the tragic shooting at Annunciation. Many HHS scholars participated by leaving for half an hour and congregating in the bus loop. Many had different chants and signs as a part of the protest. Um, and that was really cool and a good way to um, take action. Um, and then for my class highlight, I wanted to highlight um, Huntos CIS. Um, this is the first year that I've been in this type of class for Spanish. Every year before, it's just been a regular immersion class, which is very helpful, but doesn't really teach you the rules of a language. And this is the first time that I feel like I'm actually learning how to structure my thoughts and my sayings and everything that I write in Spanish, which is very, very helpful for me. Um, so yeah, that's everything that I have. >> Thank you. So, just a quick followup on that. Is that the like college in the schools Spanish? >> Yes. Nice. Thank you. >> Is that equivalent to a level five? >> Yes, it's equivalent to a level. So, huntos 4 is CIS 103, which is equivalent to Spanish 5. And then the next level of hundos is Spanish 6. Thank >> you. I have more of a comment than a question um for Iris. It's more of a compliment actually than a comment. Um so we were at the open house. I have a high schooler now and um our SBRs were doing a great our student board reps were doing a great job recruiting ninth graders to become student board reps. Um, so I want to thank you and Claire, you were there, too. >> Um, I couldn't make it. >> Okay. Sorry, I'm getting like confused with our Google Meet call and then who was there. I didn't want to leave you out. Um, and so I thank you to our student board reps, including Iris, who were there that night and during the day, too, and worked really hard to share great information about our student board rep program and hopefully recruit some wonderful ninth graders to join us. Thank you. Yes, I got to see the table too and the presentation. It was awesome. >> So good. >> Yeah. I um was also just going to ask um Claire, given the presentation we heard during the workshop, I don't know if you were here for that, but they talked about um that um female students are more likely to engage in like a college preparatory class at the high school. So, I'm wondering, do you see that in your class? Is it mostly >> um >> young women like yourself? >> I'm I'm pretty sure that the class is actually like equal, which is good because, you know, you would want it to be that way. >> Um >> but yeah, like that's what you would think, but I'm good. I'm glad that you know there um all students are uh taking the steps to do that cuz it's more cuz it's like you have to sign up for the class yourself. So you're, you know, you're kind of advocating for yourself in that way. So I don't see that, but it's, you know, it's good that it's equal and, you know, people are taking those opportunities for themselves. >> Yeah. Thank you for that. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Well, I'm really impressed that you both are here. like I I've had the second week of school myself and I was exhausted and I can't I'm just really impressed that you're here this evening. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Um so that then I I also wanted to appreciate um you mentioning the um the school walkout and the um the shooting that occurred at Annunciation. And I would like to based on direct director Roer's request um have a brief moment of silence for us to um to think about and share and offer our support and hopefully um some clear actions that um can happen around gun violence. So we can begin. Thank you all for that. um we are thinking I think it was difficult for a lot of us to um start back at school after that um happened so close to home. And I do also appreciate the the ways in which um other fellow school boards um uh brought to us here in Hopkins through um Director West Morland a way to publicly show our support for um for for enunciation and that community that is still I think um healing >> and coming back into um into the school setting. So, thank you all and I will turn it over to Superintendent uh Mary Perry Reed. >> Thank you, Chair Andre and thank you for making sure we took a moment of silence. I appreciate that. Well, the last time we met was in late August. I think it was August 19. We had our first meeting and we had not yet started the school year. So, I just even though we're six days of school behind us, I want to um warmly welcome our school board and our community as we step fully into this school year 2526. And this is a year where we are focusing intentionally on excellence and belonging and excellence in achievement. And yes, last week nearly 7,000 Hopkins Royals filled our schools and classrooms and there were a couple rainy days in there. Um, and so it is a very exciting time. I feel like these first days of school remind us all why we do this work. You can see the smiling faces on the screen there. Um, the energy of our students and excitement in the classrooms. And of course, we have um such dedicated staff who make all of this possible. So, thank you to all of the efforts across the system for ensuring that we were able to open all 11 of our schools plus a few programs on time. last Wednesday. So, last Wednesday was the first day for kindergarteners and then yesterday was the first day for our preschoolers and I think most of our kindergarteners and preschoolers had big smiles. There were a few tears. So, I visited kindergarten classrooms and then I was at Harley yesterday and separation from parents and caregivers is a thing. Sometimes it goes well and you know sometimes our little learners need a lot of support. Um, and I'm so grateful to the educators of our youngest learners because these early years are very very important. I wanted to share with our community that this year and every year, our kindergarten teachers will deliver instruction that is personalized and standards aligned. And so throughout this year, our kindergarteners will learn to recognize and write all uppercase and lowercase letters. They will learn to decode sounds and construct simple words and even sentences. And then in math, our kindergarteners will build foundational numerousy by counting and writing numbers up to 30, understanding basic patterns and shapes, comparing lengths, and performing simple addition and subtraction. And then, of course, the learning in our early childhood and preschool classrooms gets our 5-year-olds ready for this kind of learning. On October 28 here in Eisenhower, the Fullervice Community School leadership team hosted a nocost immunization clinic and this was in partnership with Henipin County Public Health and the ODM Medical Clinic. Families with children ages birth to 18 received vaccines without needing ID or insurance and interpreters and a notary were on site to support families. And the way that this worked is that there were three district nurses assisted by accessing the state database for records. And we estimate that up to 50 children were served including both Henipin County and Hopkins families. And so we're very thankful for this communitywide effort which brings together our educators, our families, and community partners to strengthen student health and learning. Thanks to all who organized that clinic. This year we are welcoming at least 84 new employees and you can see some of them in this photo. And we know that educators in especially in some lenture areas are very difficult to find. Also, we have educators who chose Hopkins who had multiple offers in multiple districts. So, we're very grateful to all of our professionals who chose Hopkins. Thank you for choosing Hopkins. And on August 26, about a week after we first met as a board, we welcomed back all staff for the district kickoff, which we held at our high school. Our theme was growing in community, and the two core values that we reinforced throughout the day were optimistic innovation and humility of heart. We shared an inspiring program, explored innovative ideas from across the community at an innovation fair, and enjoyed a delicious lunch prepared by nutrition services who served almost 1,000 meals during that um 2-hour time period over in the Royals Athletic Center. So, it's very energizing day. And thank you to all of our innovation design and learning, our IT, our nutrition, our custodial, our audiovisisual professionals who who um worked together to make sure that this day could happen for approximately 1300 staff. Our students have jumped right into our new elementary math curriculum, building mathematical skills through problem solving, reasoning, and collaboration. And this new curriculum emphasizes not just getting the right answer, but ensuring that students can explain their thinking while also listening to the strategies of their peers. Already we have classrooms that are very active with number talks, visual models, and hands-on learning to build math fluency and math confidence. And it's very inspiring to see our youngest learners already engaging meaningfully with math in ways that we know will build a strong foundation for critical thinking. and our two board reps, Claire and Iris, mentioned a few aspects of the first few days at Hopkins High School. And we um are so appreciative. I personally and uh my cabinet colleagues, folks around the system are so appreciative to our co-principles who have really done wonders to be organized and intentional. lead with love and lay a strong foundation for success at our high school. You can see the freshmen in the upper left hand um part of the slide. Nearly 500 freshmen uh filled the Royals Athletic Center for their first day of school. So, they had the school to themselves on Tuesday after Labor Day and they listened to speakers and then um had a very fun um Simon Says activity with uh Dr. shank. Um, and then I visited uh several classrooms at our high school last week. So, you can see in the lower leftand corner, this is Mr. Sabin's intro to construction course where students were very curious about the um it was a some kind of saw that was he was using. I'm sure there's a technical term. Uh Cara would know the name of this equipment. We have our uh career and technical education specialist in the audience. But they were learning how to use a saw very safely. And um it was just nice to see all of those kids about to dive into what will be very handson real world aligned learning. And then of course this is this picture on the right. It was taken during the day. I'm not sure which which day that photo was taken of our main hallway at the high school. And it was not taken after school or in the evening. It was taken during school and all the kids are in class. So that's what we want to see is students learning and fully developing themselves from students to into scholars. And Iris mentioned the studentled protest at Hopkins High School. I feel like there were not quite a hundred students, maybe a few less than 100 uh students who peacefully organized and participated in that protest following um the very tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic School. As adults, we observed and supervised these students while they were very respectful in raising their voices for change. Um there are a few of us on the district holistic safety team and some of our school teams that follow research from an organization called the violence project and they do study mass characteristics of mass shootings and ma um shooters um especially those um in uh who cause violence in school settings. And the Violence Project has learned that 80% of school shooters obtain firearms from family members. And so this really highlights this very urgent need to address access to guns in homes in communities. So, I'm thankful to our high schoolers who protested um not just here in Hopkins, but around the the state and the country to offer a a nationwide reminder why we have to do better for the safety of our schools and for the safety and very lives of our children in schools. So with that, I did explain at our first board meeting in August that um last year we did school spotlights, one school per superintendent report throughout last year. And then this year we're going to start with department spotlights so that hopefully by I think it's January, February, then board members in the course of a year and a half will be able to have had a deep dive into multiple aspects of our system, not just our schools, our departments here in the district office and at the transportation depot do critical work for our system. And I I want to give our um um district department leaders a chance to spotlight their departments and the folks in the departments as well as the core functions of those positions. And we are going to start with business services. And so I'm inviting Dr. Lightfoot who has been we diving I think head first right Dr. Lightfoot into finance and then uh school board members you did meet Scottless and Dee Carring who are partnering with us from CISO. So thanks um for coming to the board table. Again, we're grateful that even though we did not find that traditional director of business service, we are grateful for a team of experts because not only will we have the director of business service expertise, but we will have multiple lenses from these highly specialized professionals into various aspects of our business services department. And they are also working in other school systems. And so they they bring a whole landscape of insights that will help us build and do things in best practice um and next practice kinds of ways. So with that, I'll turn it over to you Dr. Lightfoot and >> Sure. >> Scott and Dee. >> So we'll walk through just some of the general sets of information. Uh just give a quick little background as we go through that. Um if there are questions at any point in time, we'll do our best and then we'll talk a little bit about the model moving forward. So hopefully that can kind of give some context to you all as we take a look um at really kind of launching this collaborative team. Not only are we fortunate enough to have the individuals who were part of the picture little, you know, I don't know if everybody likes getting their picture taken, but they were all ready to happy happily smile and uh um let us know all the good work that they are doing to support Hopkins Public Schools. So, we'll go into that in a little bit and then like I said, any questions along the way, we'll try to make sure that we can answer those for you as well. Uh but just as you think about the general purpose of the department itself, it really is as the board has put forward that fiscal responsibility, transparency and resource alignment really to the educational goals and the support of the mission of Hopkins public schools. And the scope of this work as we think about financial services really covers the budgeting, accounting, payroll, purchasing and a lot of the fiscal compliance components that really come forward with those sets of expectations. Next slide. Um if we think about some of these core areas of focus um you'll note that within the business services department really the budget development and management we do that as a reminder in partnership with our building administrators with our program administrators. We do that in collaboration with the district leadership into creating those annual budgets that we bring forward to you in dialogue and in partnership. We as well work with a very dedicated and very knowledgeable core group of citizenry that really are part of that SEFAC group that aid us in the forecasting of revenue and expenditures also provide insights into the alignment of resources with those strategic goals. As part of this work as we've mentioned even in the um organizing resolutions part of what we have in front of us is the preparation of those reports. state federal agencies um as well as making sure that we do our work of monitoring those fund balances and maintaining the awareness and the management of cash flow. Um much of that work even with the organizational resolution starting um even as early as just an hour or so ago. Part of the other work that we'll be doing that we'll talk about in a little bit is the audit and compliance. So that not only do we do our work, we also look at partnership with our auditors to evaluate what we're doing, give good advice and counsel and hold that level of accountability when we work in stewardship with public funds. As we think about the revenue management, we're also looking at um and we'll spot, you know, kind of uh also highlight and identify that work because part of the the strategies that we've had are looking at those revenue sources. When we think about grants, not only do we look at local levies, as you're aware of enrollment and the revenue that comes with that with state aid, we're also looking at are there other ways of highlighting raising revenue and thinking about how we can be partnering not only locally um but even beyond as we think about what those partnerships can do and bring to us. Um, in addition to the fiscal or the financial operations, um, next slide. We also have the accounting and payroll components to make sure that we're following through with the tracking and maintaining of the sets of information related to finance. You'll see that general ledger maintenance. Um, part of what we'll be working with here, I'll cover in just a little bit. um with another group of individuals partnering with our audit prep work which is part of Clifton Larson Allen and the work that they've been doing to support us through the course of that. Um we also have the internal payroll services. We work with and uh look at all of the um daily work that goes into making sure we do our best to ensure that compliance not only with labor laws and collective bargaining agreements. making sure that we meet those obligations that we have to pay people correctly and pay them on time. Uh as well we do process quite a large amount of accounts payable and receivables. Managing those vendor payments, invoicing, vendor relationships, tracking the receivables, the collections, all of that occurs in a small but mighty team as I am reminded um through every daily interaction that we have with the group purchasing and procurement as well. Um we do have the inventory and the items that allow us um from everywhere in the classroom to the items that we have in buildings and grounds to school nutritions and ovens to you name it. It is all everything that is part of the work we do. So, it really is a central core function in making sure that we have what we need in order to really facilitate the learning that happens daily in the classroom with our instructors and all of our support structures. Along with it comes the ability um in partnership with you to look at not only the long-term financial forecasting when we think about capital projects as we think about referendum enrollment changes funding shifts all of those go into the landscape of making sure that we're taking that foundation and moving that foundation forward. uh as well as I mentioned the referendum and levy planning is also part of the work that we do as well as risk management when we look at any financial risks that are there or mitigation strategies that we have as we think about um keeping healthy fund balances as we think about maintaining and was as mentioned at the organizational meeting managing the investment opportunities that we have all of that in good stewardship to make sure that we're meeting those financial planning goals and next level practices with that support services and collaboration. Um here's where I'll kind of turn it over to Scott and Dee to talk a little bit more about that CISO consulting service. Um in general that oversight of kind of what I just walked through with the Hopkins team providing the dayto-day actions and activities. we really have a partnership of individuals that can really do that guidance and assistance and I'll let them talk a little bit about that team and the structure and some additional individuals that aren't on the list but will be providing services as well. >> So thank you Nick. Um, as you can see there, the items that are listed under general oversight, those are all the categories that uh, Nick talked about earlier. Finance and operations and budgeting, the accounting and payroll side. You have staff that'll do that portion of it. We'll provide the oversight of those uh, purchasing and procurement and of course the strategic financial planning. Um, all of those things are areas where our practitioners have had experience. the team that you'll see and and really the three people listed there. Jason Mudenberger, who is the account executive, Jason brings a wealth of experience from Eden Prairie and a number of other school districts um throughout the state of Minnesota, has been in the CFO role um as well. Myself, um I will be the project manager. So, I'll be working with all the individuals that will be working directly with your staff. I too have been a former CFO. I came from Weisetta public schools prior to that at Eastern Carver County Schools. So in the event that um say Scott can't be at your board meeting, you you know that you will have either myself or Jason will be here as well and we've been in those roles and had communication and working with school boards. And then of course Scott as a financial consultant. Scott was um and I worked together at Weisetta public schools. He followed me um after I retired from there and became the CFO at that school district. So, he has a wealth of experience including um a special education cooperative which is also a big plus. But I wanted to also let you know on our team that will be um helping at uh Hopkins schools will include Adrien Mudenberger and yes, you're hearing that right. That's Jason's wife. Um she has a really great background in auditing, but she also has the um federal compliance information and specialists. I've worked with her in another school district. She is amazing and very knowledgeable and does wonders for schools to help them out. We have Sandy Gulki who is a technology system consultant. She'll be helping out with anything related to u Mars or technology. Um, on the finance side, Andrea Baker, and I understood that Andrea has worked together with some of your staff here as well. Um, she'll be helping out with CEDRA, special education and title programs. And a new member to the CISO team, but not new to school finances, Jessica Olsen, another finance consultant. She has um a good background in accounting and controller. Most recently was at Bramham Public Schools. And then we have another consultant who will come on maybe at a later date. His name is Adam Lloyd. Adam has been a controller um and has worked at uh Rosemont Apple Valley Egan schools. So we have a team approach that we're using with with Hopkins. Uh we have other individuals. We've got a pretty deep bench at CISO in the finance area. So, if we need expertise in a certain area, in fact, um we called on one of our colleagues who who lives in Texas, her name is Fan, and she helped Nick out with a a document that needed to be completed and and took off running. So, we just want you to know that CISO is here to support your team, uh the superintendent, and Nick. Um, and as I said, Scott will be um here probably more than I will be or Jason will be, but know that we'll be here to support Scott and the rest of the team as well. >> Perfect. And I just wanted to say I do speak in case you guys were wondering. Um, usually I'm told to stop talking if you watch the Wise Out of Board meetings. Um, I'm kidding. Um, but I am excited to be here. Um, as Dee said, it's a real team approach. So, um, just you might see my face or Dei's face or Jason's face, but it really is a team approach and, um, we're excited to be here and it's been great to get to work with Nick. Um, very impressive to watch him go through everything. So, thank you. So with that um in addition um Natai if we can go back as well to the slide that's there part of what we're also doing is in order to really be able to centralize the work that is uh necessary in the CLA accounting service area. uh what we are looking at in the audit prep in working with the FY24 and FY25 bringing that FY24 to completion and launching the FY25. We're working with CLA um in their expertise in doing the audit document preparation. So we've been working in partnership with them on making sure that the cash reconciliations, the other documents that we need for any gazsby components for the actuarial reviews, all of those are in preparation to help facilitate getting that information to its completion. So that when we have the audits complete, that then becomes a strong set of data that we can utilize with our team so that we can feel like we are giving you the strongest set of financial information and reports so that we can use that set of data to help make those present and future financial decisions in a very educated and informed way. Um so that is also work that is happening in collaboration as we not only do um the day-to-day transactions but also the accountability transactions with CLA and then the general oversight of the work that we're doing with CESO supporting this uh approach. We have like I said those local individuals who are doing the dayto-day and Natalia if we could just do the shout out to them. the um purchasing and procurement. Toonda Howard has been doing amazing work in pulling together all of the um vendor information and making sure that we are doing our best to meet the accounts payable obligations that we have and bringing that information forward to you as a board and our federal and state grants. um IPSA and Nancy Anderson um who graciously assists us coming back from retirement and assisting us in making sure that we're meeting those federal program grants that we are drawing down the revenues that we have coming into us um and making sure that we meet those deadlines and the accountability with the grants to make sure that we aren't um charging anything to a grant that isn't allowable. So that oversight helps make sure for the compliance but as well as for um really recognizing and uh actualizing all the revenue that we can gain from those the accounting services our finance coordinator uh Robin and our senior accountant Nat really are in partnership with CLA on doing some of the dayto-day pulling of the documents gathering the sets of information that they need from the higher level to do the review. um our data analyst Carly Norling helps a lot with um some of the enrollment projections that will be forthcoming to you in October and November as well as our labor uh cost uh analysis on any other proposals as well as final settlements that are forthcoming. And then as I mentioned before, the payroll work that we're doing uh with Kenneth Woodard as our payroll coordinator and Viola Pancauski Peterson as our associate. So that really rounds out the local team that we have here on a day-to-day basis. And then as we build this model forward in partnership um looking at the connectedness that we're already building um with members of the CISO team that have worked directly with members of our team and we're feeling that that partnership is starting strong. So with that, anything else that we'd add? >> No. >> Great. >> Great. Thank you so much for being here this evening. Any questions, >> comments? >> Chair and >> Yes, Clerk Thompson. >> Um, well, thank you so much for your introduction this evening and um really appreciated hearing the skill set, the background, the the team that'll be working with us. It just really gives us a sense of comfort as we had kind of embarked on this new model with no um director going forward. So um that that was really great to hear. Um I guess just one question I had for you was you know I remember when we had approved the contract there was you know a set hours a month and then if it went over that that there would be additional charges and whatnot. Will there be some sort of mechanism to tell the board here's how we're trending for the hours in the month if we're going to go over and you know I could imagine a situation where particularly when you're new and and getting into it it it it might be more hours a month to start and then get a handle on it and things smooth out and then maybe it gets closer to the ballpark. Just any comments, thoughts on that? >> Sure. We'll we'll make sure that we pass on a report to Nick um not only on ours but um what we're be what we'll be working on, what we see in the future we need to consider and just that it'll be a communication tool. As a project manager, I'll be responsible to get that report together and get it to Nick and if if appropriate copy the superintendent and then they can bring that report back to the school board as you see fit. >> Okay, that makes sense. Thank Sure. >> Chair Andre. >> Yes. >> Um I also appreciated the very thorough overview. Um I do think it's important for us to note that there were I think maybe fiveish individuals mentioned um as related to CISO. Now these individuals are not all working full-time, right? It's just that they each have a very specific um expertise that will be tapped when we have an important task, an important deadline. Sometimes they'll be working together. So, it's more about the collective experience. And we're very appreciative. Thank you. >> I think we're good. Thank you so much. Welcome to Hopkins. We're excited to have you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you all. So that concludes the superintendence report. Is that correct? Yes, that's correct. >> Any feedback questions for Dr. Mary Perry Reed? >> Yes, Clerk Thompson. >> Uh, thanks, Chair Andre. Um, Dr. Reid, thank you for that report. I I guess just one thing that stood out. I was impressed to see that that new math curriculum is already in use and you know I remember approving that you know towards the end of the spring and whatnot. Um just any so it's awesome that it's in use already. Just any comments on um what type of did staff do any training with it before it was rolled out? >> Staff did training over the summer. I would need Dr. Erle's help to know how many hours, but the training began this summer and will continue throughout this year. So teachers will continue learning the curriculum, learning how to implement the curriculum and instructional coaches and principles will learn how to observe the instructional practices to note if they are effective and also to calibrate across classrooms. >> So training started and will continue. >> Wow. Okay. Thank you. Chair Andre. >> Yes, Treasurer H Heartland. >> Thank you. Um I it's mostly a comment. I wanted to say thank you for highlighting the departments and for starting with business services both exactly because of what clerk Thompson said that that is just really helpful for us at the board table and community members um to understand what that relationship is going to look like and then also because as treasurer I do know firsthand those people that are working and and hear about how hard they do work and the kinds of things that they do and I think that's really important for us to know and so thank you for expanding from our school programs to our to the other people that do that critical support work. >> Absolutely. >> I did just want to quickly um say from a parent perspective, I've appreciated the start to the Hopkins High School with the um is it a trio or is it four? >> It's three co-principles and a dean of students. >> And a dean of students. Um I' I've just really appreciated it. it's just the start of the year, but um communications that are coming out to parents and um yeah, so I I'm just grateful as a parent and just wanted to to add that to the to your update. So with that, um I would look for an approval of the agenda for this evening. >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The chair votes I. And our agenda is approved. The first order of business is the consent calendar. These items um provide the board with information that's considered to be more routine in nature. If the board deems an item to be necessary for additional discussion, a motion will be made to move the item to new business. I would look for a motion to approve the consent calendar. >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> Any opposed? The chair votes I and the consent calendar is passed. And that takes us to the treasures report. Treasure H Heartland. >> Wonderful. Thank you and good evening to everyone in the room and those taking the time to watch this. Uh we know you are really busy and appreciate you taking the time to tune in. Um a common line item that you see on these reports is for language interpretation services. And as you know, we serve a very diverse population here in Hopkins. And so the demand for translating or interpreting our messages in Hopkins, so they're accessible to all of our families is increasing. So in full disclosure, prior to my time on this board, I worked as a contracted American Sign Language interpreter for the district. And so I kind of know firsthand how vital these services are and the challenges that we face getting enough professionals to provide these services for our families and our students. Um these expenses come primarily from a couple vendors. Weaving cultures and then also Sorenson Communications um generally provides our American Sign Language interpreting services. And so we actually have over 1,200 students who list a language other than English as their primary home language. And so that gives you something of a sense of the scale for the need that we're seeing and and accommodating. And Spanish and Somali are by far the most common languages. And then M and also Ukrainian. Um we provide those interpreter services not just for like the K through 12 regular and special ed families uh but also in early childhood in adult basic education and also for our enrollment team to try to meet every family where they are at. And so in 2019 2020 that school year we spent about $26,000 on interpreter services. And then in the 2324 scale school year, we spent over $53,000. And some of that increase was due to the cost of the service, the the pay for the professionals increasing, but we do have a much greater need for those services today than in the past. And so we recognize that community and family involvement is vital to student success. Um, and so our and our district success. So it is a cost we will continue to prioritize even in a time where resources are scarce and need to be looked at very closely. So we would even provide if a community member was interested, we'd provide interpreters for these board meetings. So if you have a need and want to interact with the board and to hear what is happening for a particular meeting, um you can call 952-9884000 to request one. And um thank you to Dr. Annle for a lot of the information there that I just was able to report to you on this expense report uh that's posted to our board agenda. The community, you can always go and observe our our check register and see the things and the the places that our district is spending money. Though, as a reminder, this is the approximately 19ish% of our budget that is not payroll. um and a couple other key uh expenses. So this is like supplies, this is building, this is um all the services, extra services that we provide for our uh students. So you'll you'll see transportation, you'll see all kinds of building projects, all kinds of supplies. Um this expense report is from August 1st to 15th, so it's a little bit shorter than some. Um, some expenses of note are $52,447 for our license for Skyward, which is the employee resource planning software that our business services team will be using, you know, for invoicing and accounts payable, things like that. Um, we have a need for storage at the high school, especially in the older kind of wing of our classroom where currently we have tech and shop classes. They have a lot of need for storing physical materials. And so you'll see um several departments that had to pay city cargo and storage for um for to lease storage space or to have containers on our site. Um one of those groups is the high school robotics team. And the actual team paid for that from their student activity fund. They paid a $1,900 storage bill to get a container, a secure container to keep their items in. Um, we have a few line items for dues, union dues to Suburban Local Schools, 284, which is one of our employees union groups. We paid $27,000 to Clipton Larson Allen for their work on the 2024 audit, which we should hear about at the board table um in about a month. Well, that's when the audit will be done. I actually don't know what day it will hit the board table, so I want to speak accurately to that. Um, it will be coming up though at the board table. We paid $29,513 to Lincoln National Life Insurance Company for long-term disability insurance and our employer contributions to Social Security and Medicare. Uh, then we paid $3,000 to Henipin Technical College for our nursing assistant program requirements that they help administer. And with that, I move that we approve total dispersements in the amount of $614,946.32 cents for the period of August 1st through August 15th, 2025. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. I >> I >> I >> Any opposed? >> The chair votes I and the treasures report is accepted. And I am going to mention um director Xiao I will try to remember to make a point to pause. So in case there's a delay um if you just to record your vote. So I apologize for the pace at which I've been moving. So that takes us to um new business. Um and so I will turn it o our first item of new business is the Ford NGL update and I will turn it over to Dr. Mary Perry Reed and invite our presenters up to the table. Thank you so much. So we're going to invite Dr. Erdle who is in charge of innovation design and learning. Carl Leavonne who is our career and technical education. Um in internally in our um school districts we refer to that as CTE. So community members if you hear CTE it stands for career and technical education. And then Mr. Gene Ward is one of our co-principles at our high school. So they are going to um present some information about our partnership with Ford NGL to our school board and community this evening. I do want to just provide a quick framing which um is that one of our success indicators in vision 2031 is that every Hopkins High School graduate will be matched with a college or career or other post high school experience that is aligned with their strengths and talents and passions and sets them up for a brilliant future. And so we owe it to our students to think about all of our students, not just those going to a 4year college um and you know deeply engaged in traditional college preparation courses. So a few months ago, Carla, you'll have to remind all of us when this work started. Actually, actually for probably 3 4 years now, small teams of educators from our high school have been visiting schools across the country to really learn what are other high schools doing to transform the high school experience and really um put together opportunities that are purposeful for every scholar they serve. And then last year we started concentrating our efforts in visiting schools that had aligned their course experiences into career-basedmies. And so we uh started talking with an organization called forward NGL forward next generation learning which offers a nationally recognized framework for transforming high schools through the creation of careermies and Ford NGL has worked with over 40 high schools across this country. They're a highly reputable, nationally recognized organization and they do this work um not just because they love it and have the expertise but because they too believe that high schools are not preparing all students. We are failing a subset of our students and it is very important that we think critically about what needs to be different to create opportunities for every student. So this partnership is not about a single program or pathway. It's really about systemwide transformation that will take us two or three years and will um really require the um support and um partnership with community organizations, businesses all across our community. And what Ford NGL does is they give us a roadmap for doing this systemwide and thoughtful deep work. So with that, I'll turn it over to the team here. Ann, I don't know if you'd like to add anything else. Sometimes I feel like I provide this two-minute framing and people are like, "Okay, that's quite enough." And then there's I don't know you, but you always have some thoughtful framing to add to my framing. I have a lot to say. Thanks for being here, Ann and Cara and Jean. And then just a note that our other um co-principal and lead co-principal, Lisa Tao, is ill. We wish her the best. I'm sure she's watching um but she was supposed to present, but she's not feeling good. So hopefully she's getting better. >> Well, thanks Dr. Mary Perry Reed. Good evening board members. I'm not going to say that much because you'll get to hear a lot from me tonight and really um Cara and um assistant principal Ward uh have the most and best information to share. But I think the only thing I would add to what Dr. Mary Perry Reed um said was that um as you all know starting in 2018 and then through the development of our Hopkins learning framework we have charged our schools with undergoing really radical transformation and I'm really grateful and excited for the work of CA um and our high school staff who have been engaging with this because um based on what I have learned through my interactions with Ford um the the transformation is complete and would significantly impact the experiences of all of our students. And so I'm just really excited that about the opportunity to do a big transformation. Um a high school transformation is a big deal. And I think that um Ford is uh vetted and and there are examples um throughout the country of schools that have done this work. And so I'm really excited about the partnership and I will have I'll turn it over to Cara to take over. >> Um, next slide and next slide. And Dr. Mary Perry Reed, you kind of wanted to review a few slides at the beginning here for us. >> Thank you, Cara. So I just wanted to remind our community that in 2018 we had about 250 community members community members come together and participate in nine strategic task forces. And you can see the topics um here on this slide that were all aligned with the vision. And so we're looking at students of the world, increasing student voice, and then the career component of career and college readiness and connections. Now, as we know, Dr. K has done marvelous work at our high school. Really focused on that college readiness. And so now we want to pay attention to that that other not half but the other part of that um parallel work and dive into the career readiness. So we really do owe it to our community members to be responsive to what was their ideas for what success in this vision looks like. And then um this is the Hopkins Promise and we we actually put this together with help from an organization called Frankie and Fiorella. So one of those task forces um was focused on our um more on our branding and communications and marketing things like that. and they met with many families and students and community members across our space and then collected all of those ideas um and put together a you could call it a a vision statement but we call it a Hopkins promise because when students enter our system you know we we do know that sometimes we will fall short of expectations Right? That is a natural occurrence and we still have to always hold ourselves to a high standard and do our best to deliver for every student an education that prepares them for um for this what we know is an increasingly complex rapidly changing world. And so we know that the forward NGL work will help us increase the opportunities for all students to experience the Hopkins promise. >> And Ann, you want to go over the traits? >> Yes. >> The Hopkins scholar, the graduate. >> Thank you. Yes. These um scholar traits were also a result of the visioning work done in 2018 and they represent there's um lots of detailed descriptions of what this looks like. Um but they represent the qualities that we expect and um are working toward achieving with our graduates. So they are critical thinker, global and welltraveled, confident, have a voice, holistic and empathetic. And then I think lastly and then I'll turn it over to Cara and Jean. So when we did this visioning work um we asked ourselves what needs to be different in our system in order to truly transform the educational processes so that we can interrupt the harmful patterns and create opportunities for all of our students to learn at high levels. And through a series of conversations and ideiation and research, these six levers were identified as drivers to innovation and transformationation. So they include fearless teams. So these are teams of educators and parents and students who try new things and are not afraid to fail. Uh partnerships which you'll hear a lot about through the Ford NGL work. Crowdsourcing. This is the idea that you know not it's not just one person who has a great idea. If we all come together and we all have ideas that is the most powerful way of arriving at that next best idea. Reimagining school which Dr. Erle talked about using digital tools really smartly and then just having open mindsets. Um, on our kickoff day, I talked about this uh our core value of optimistic innovation. Really being unafraid to try new things because when you do the same thing over and over, you get the same results. And we need to have we need to have different results for quite a few students that we serve. So, those are innovation drivers. And Cara, you want to take it from here then? >> Yeah. So, um, thank you again for allowing us to be here tonight and giving this update for you. I know a lot of you did participate in the focus groups with Ford last spring. So, I thank you for that and I hope you all had a chance to read the full report that we received from Ford. Um, and if you have any questions about that, I would be more than happy to answer any of those questions. So Ford um has a nice road map of their systems and we have completed phase one of the explore phase um last year and we're looking to move to phase two this year the envision phase and we'll get into a little bit more about what each one of those phases are about um in just a minute. Um, but what we need to understand is this is not a one-year we're going to all of a sudden be an academyy's school. This is a five to sixyear implementation plan, which we've done one year of that planning so far. So, it's a very systematic and planful way. And Ford will not move us to the next phase until we're ready. And that's an understanding between Ford and us. we both have to be on the same page as we're ready to move to the next the next phase. So, how did we get here? Um, I just kind of wanted to give you a brief history. Um, in the fall of 2023, myself and some teachers visited the new careermies in Morehead. Um, they had purchased a Sam's Club and transformed the Sam's Club into a career academy. And so it was two schools, one high or two buildings, one high school model where the students spent half their day in a regular high school setting and then they were busted to this career academy. Um it was big and beautiful and new and we were all in awe and um each of theiries or their pathways had corporate sponsorships so students were able to go out and get real world experience doing apprenticeships, internships, um job shadowing and the like. And we sat down and met with the coordinator of the career academy and we said, "Wow, this is amazing. How did you do this?" And they said, 'Well, if you really want to do it right, which we don't think we necessarily did, go visit Shakapei because Shakipi did it the right way. And so I said, "Okay." So a bunch of us went to Shakipi, did the tour at Shakape, and that's where we learned about the Ford Next Generation Learning Partnership and what they had done with Ford. So that's and I also had been to several conferences where I had been to little breakout sessions with Ford NGL in the last probably 5 years. So I've heard of them before but now I got to see it in action and we were all impressed and do you think this would work in Hopkins? How do we make the next step? So, um, we had some discussions, formed a little transformation team at the high school and the district level and, um, discussed this partnership and then began phase one in fall of 2024 with Ford. Um, phase one, go to the next slide, please. Um phase one was the explore phase and that was to understand the benefits and features of transforming the high school experience using their career connected approach. Um and then consider readiness and commitment to embrace the community connected transformation with Ford. So what that entailed um if you can go to the next slide please. Um we began monthly meetings. We were assigned two coaches with um for Next Generation Learning, Mark and Terry, whom you met this spring. Um and they got to know us and we got to know them through these monthly meetings. What were our goals? What where did we think our district shined? Where did we think that maybe we needed some work on? And then um principal Ballard, myself and Katherine Anderson who's one of our peer coaches at the high school um we attended a deep dive in themies of Nashville and this is kind of where all of thismy's work started 20ome years ago and it was very impressive to see all sorts of different high schools that are using this academyy's model. They have um brand new schools. They have schools that have not been remodeled for the last 20 years. They have schools with 60% um an EL population. They have 60% transient and they're still maintaining 90% plus graduation rates at all of these different schools with this academyy's model. So it was very eye opening and interesting to see that you don't have to build a new school and have this fancy like Shakape did build kind of a new physical structure for theirmies but you can do this it's not about the physical structure it's more about how how you're going to um the experience that the students are going to have in thismies in this academy experience um so in the spring we had 15 groups, focus groups that met mostly in this room um over a three-day period with our coaches from Ford um and then they turned around and presented ROA or Dr. Mary Perry Reed and I with a report in June and then we um discussed the results of those and if you can go to the next slide please. So I wanted to point out some of the key findings of that report. Um, one of the quotes was, "While students enjoy a wide range of course offerings at the high school, we also heard from students who felt their high school experience could be more purposeful and organized." Um, moving to the academy model entails a much greater emphasis on teachers serving as the facilitators of project and inquirybased learning, collaborating across disciplines, and when possible and appropriate, looking for opportunities to teach general general education content through the lens of a career theme. Um, there are a number of important dimensions to ensuring all students, especially those furthest from economic opportunity, have equitable access to a quality education. And Ford NGL focuses on the need for all graduates to be prepared for post-secary success for students wishing to pursue a specific career interest and opport with opportunities are currently limited. Um, and scheduling in the academy model comes with clear priorities. These often include students being cohorted in core general education courses by academy, common planning time for each academyy's team of teachers, student completion of their sequence of CTE pathway courses, and schoolwide access to popular and global courses such as band, the arts, foreign language, and early college credit. So, um, one of the things that the concerns I've heard from teachers is students are going to be stuck in this academy and they're not going to be able to take AP classes and they're not going to be able to take band and they're not going to be able to do and that's not true at all. Um, they will still have all the same opportunities um that they would. It would just be their whole college or their whole high school career would be a little more focused and organized and have a clear purpose and in their um time at the high school. And we would ask them to complete three courses in a su in succession. So they would take intro to business, marketing and entrepreneurship in succession as a purposeful pathway instead of oh my friend is taking entrepreneurship. I think I'm going to take that with not having the actual um intro course and the background knowledge and building upon that background knowledge in a successive course. And then each student, the goal is is that as a senior, each student would have some type of a capstone experience, whether that be project-based learning, an internship, apprenticeship, job shadow, that type of experience. Next, um why should we move forward? It will better better serve all students, provide more focus, better prepare preparation for what's next, and it's a differentiator to grow enrollment. So, we would be the school in our in the lake conference that would have this um particular model. Um I'm not going to go through all the phases right now and because of time we have a couple more slides. So, a couple more things that I wanted to point out is um we would be able to offer um and expand our CTE offerings at the high school so that there would be an opportunity to implement our high high demand high wage pathways in the first five of the six Minnesota CTE career fields. The only career field that we would probably not be addressing at the high school is the agriculture wheel. And that is only because our industry, if you look at the um the data below that shows in our specific area that is our high wage, high-paying jobs in this area. And agriculture just doesn't fit in our demographics right now. next. And now I'll stop talking for a while and Jean, you can take over. >> All right. Good evening. I know protocol has been set, but chair Andre and director, superintendent, Mary Perry Reid, as we move forward into phase two. Phase two is really a a chance for the district and our partners to really create that shared vision on what that high school experience looks like for every student. Fortunately, we have vision 2031. So, it really closely aligns with vision 2031. As we move into phase two, which is our envision phase, there's a couple questions that I just want us to just to think about as we move into this phase before we get to this piece is we really want our community and our school to really think about what is what is possible. And when we talk about what is possible, we're not saying that we want to get rid of everything that we have done in the past. What we want to do is we want to learn from those things that we have done in the past and continue to move forward with those. And then the other second question I have is why is this change needed? So as we move into phase two, as we move from that exploration phase, phase two is making sure that we're bringing more of awareness to our entire community to ensure that we are all on the same page to make sure that there is clear, concise communication. As Miss Leavonne said, there may be some challenges or there may be some misunderstandings about what we are trying to accomplish. So, as we are in phase two, we really want to be clear around those pieces. Also, what this does is really closely aligns with our traits of a Hopkins scholar. And then as we're thinking about the experience, uh we want to make sure that we're providing an experience for all of our students that is highly rigorous and deeply connected to real world opportunities. When I think about just my career aspirations and whatnot, when I went to the University of Minnesota, I didn't know exactly what I want to do. I thought I was I wanted to get into the Carlson School of Management. So, for my first four years, I was a stats econ major. >> Uh then I had an opportunity to visit my dad. My dad is works in insurance. So I went and visited him for a day in the insurance office and and I was at a cubicle and I said this is not what I wanted want to do. And the reason why I bring this up is because many of us we either fall in those footsteps of our families as I look around the room think about many of our teachers some of us are career educators or sometimes just based upon the experiences or the things that we hear our families talk about we might say that is not the career that I want to partake in. oftent times and the reason why I think about myself as a stats econ and then when I got my teaching license I was a math teacher now why did I go into math because that's what I was good at often times when we ask our students we say you know what do you want to do after high school or what are you good at and I think about those are great questions but sometimes those questions are very limited so the things that I kind of think about you know is you know how do you want to live if you Think about how you want to live. As I think about my younger sister, my younger sister, her and her husband, um, they're very religious and they live a very modest lifestyle, but that's what they want to do. They want to serve. There may be some folks that might want to travel and they want to travel and they want to have a big house or they want to give back. So, you think about how do you want to live? Other questions I think about is again, what type of lifestyle do you want? It's not always about money. We know that we need money in order to sustain our finances and whatnot, but if I know the lifestyle that I want to h live, that might help me determine the type of job that I need so that I can think about the the compensation. So, as Miss Leavon alluded to, looking at all of the different industries, we want our students to really look at those as options. And then the last question that I think about, what is your legacy? That's something typically when we think about our scholars, they don't really think about the legacy of what they want to live leave behind. But that is also a critical question because most students probably think go to high school, go to college, and get a job. But then we know that there's more to that. So as we move forward, it's really not a question of whether we should move forward with this transformation. As Miss Leavonne said, it's about the readiness as far as us as a district, us as a high school, and us as a commit, as a community. Are we ready for this significant change? Once we have determined that we are ready for this significant change, then what we will do is we will work with Ford um next generation Learning. And as you see here, what they will help us do, they will help us come up with the blueprint or the plan for phase two. As you see for phase two, the first step is to deepen the communitywide understandings of the benefits and features of transforming the school experience using the community connected approach. Also, understanding and developing the systems, structures, processes, and leadership needed to implement the plan and guide continuous improvement. As I think about my short tenure here in Hopkins uh as a very innovative district, uh I know my first year working closely with uh co-principal Lisa Tao, we um embarked upon the transition of the ninth graders into the high school. um that was a a very eye-opening experience and I think that you know we're doing really well as far as uh meeting the needs of all of our students and we definitely know that we can always improve upon those and as we know right now with our new uh co-principal this distributed leadership we're also embarking upon a new um a new journey and you'll see some of those findings in the in the report about how we utilize our at that time our assistant principles and sometimes spreading ing us too thin. And this year, this really gives us an opportunity with this new model to really help us all kind of work in our own strengths with our lead principal uh Lisa Tao working specifically with operations, budget, visioning. Uh co-principal Lorenzo Farley doing an amazing job with culture and climate um for students and also for staff. And then I get to also work in my wheelhouse as far as the teaching and learning. And then number three, want to deepen the communitywide commitment to embrace the Ford NGO model for transformation. Next slide. Um, one of my friends, he talks about uh, it's one of my fraternity brothers talks about time, talent, and treasures. So as we embark upon this journey, we know that there's already been a lot of time that has been committed and it's still going to um in need a lot more time talent. We have many folks within our building, outside of our building that really want to give back. And then as we look at this slide, our treasure. We know in order for something like this to happen, there will take some there will be some monetary commitment. So, as you see here, um, as, um, looking at phase two, phase two will be about $116,000, um, to implement phase 2. As you see, it would be, um, invoiced to us over two different periods. Next slide. So, as far as looking at the financial commitment, there are a variety of resources and funding sources that we are looking and currently using. So, working with our Perkins grant, um we also had a donation from one of our alumnists and then also looking at the CTE levy reimbursement. So, we do get reimbursed for many of our CTE courses and we're looking to even expand um our offerings within CTE to potentially bring back more revenue to our district. >> That's it. >> That's it. No, >> thank you. I appreciate that um comprehensive presentation on the um on this new opportunity for Hopkins High School. Um and as you mentioned um I think most of the board here was able to be part of those task forces. So we kind of got uh got some of our questions at that answered at that time directly from Ford um NGL. So um wondering are there any questions from my board colleagues as we have entered phase two. chair and um in regard to the industry needs on slide 13 uh I guess what is uh the team's take on how much artificial intelligence is just you know pie in the sky like with some of these roles my kids have asked me about certain careers in the future I'm like don't know 20 years from now it could could be having a robot teach you for all I know So I I don't know what you guys perspective is because I'm seeing some of these annual employment change of negative which I mean when I was uh graduating my dad was like you should go into computer science. Now there's code that could write >> what I need you know done. So now I'm like I dodged a bullet listening to my dad give me some advice about getting a particular degree where now like I said I'm using artificial intelligence at my job like most people are um where I'm telling the machine this is what I want you to output and that's what it's doing. So, I don't know what your take is um understanding the career cluster because I don't see any of the blue collar like welding or plumbing or >> I mean I I don't know what students at Hopkins have interest in, but I mean I would think right now I mean I again I don't can't foresee the future, but I didn't see anything on here for any like a welder or plumber and so I don't know what the demand is for those opportunities. Yeah, I in if you um in the full report there's a whole bunch of data, but for time I didn't want to go over data. And so those those are all in consideration. And that is part of phase two is to look at what our students are wanting, where are our high what classes have the most enrollment and the most requests for classes in our CTE areas. And the hard thing about CTE right now is we don't know what careers are going to be sought after in five years because they could be jobs that we don't even know about right now. So we have to be able to kind of trend with and be flex with our offerings at the high school in so that we can keep current with industry needs. >> Sure. >> Sounds good. Thanks. Okay. Any other questions? >> Chair Andreason. >> Yes, Treasure Hartland. >> Um, thank you for coming tonight. This is something that has kind of long excited me and dovetales really cleanly with what we heard in our workshop which is talking about making assessment and making the school day meaningful. And so what I have learned as we've gone on this journey some is that this is a really clear-cut way to make learning and to make assessments meaningful and to get student buy in. And Miss Leavon, you mentioned a bit about um one of the outcomes being such high graduation rates. And so I think my question is um and also relates to director or vice chair Ross' question about how do some of these schools that you have spent so much time looking at how do they stay responsive? Like you put a lot of effort into building these courses, right? But either because community needs want change or because uh there's a new industry that comes to town or because AI takes over however many jobs like how would this how would you keep iterating? How do we know it's worth it? So um each one of our CTE areas, so family and consumer science or business or teched or our healthcare, um each one of those pathways has an advisory board and the members of the advisory board are industry leaders in our community and we meet two to four times a year depending on need and they will come in and they will give us advice on um this class isn't relevant anymore like so please let's work together and we don't need to teach this class anymore. This is what we should be teaching. So we rely on our industry partners to kind of guide us into what is relevant and what is the next new career. Um, two years ago we they were telling us that we needed to offer more coding, more coding, more coding. And now they're saying stop that, >> right? >> You know, so we we have to be responsive to our industry partners and our industry leaders in those areas and keep our classes relevant. And I know one thing that looking forward in when we're looking at our CTE spaces and remodeling and redesigning our CTE spaces, we want to make sure that those spaces aren't purposebuilt for what's now the trend. We want to make sure that those spaces are flexible spaces so that we can change what's being taught in those classrooms without having to redesign the classrooms. >> Thank you. So I hear you saying that that work is already happening. So we already have just to clarify for everyone we already have CTE pathways. So this would be an expansion of that and so we already know that this practice of having an advisory board is really useful and has yielded good results for us and so we'd be doing that >> y in this model. >> Okay. Thank you. And just one thing that I would also just add from the report, um, at my previous school that I worked at, we were also thinking about, uh, career pathways and whatnot and think about how many classes a student would need to take. And at that time, we were thinking about maybe four to six classes of what a student might need to take in order to complete the pathway. And what I like about the flexibility here is that a student would only need to take about two or three courses. as we've kind of talked about maybe starting out at ninth grade some type of exploratory course and as Miss Leavonne said for our seniors having some type of final project those would be things that no matter what's going on we can always do those and then as Miss Leavonne said being really nimble as far as what those other two courses that the students might be able to take and looking at the schedule that we've got and looking at this block schedule our students are still going to be able to take all of their other global courses and AP and all of those other world languages. So, it's just a small number of classes that they would have to take. So, which really allows for more flexibility. >> Thank you for that. I really appreciate it. And I think one other thing, Mr. Ward, that you mentioned that was kind of I think this is mostly a comment and not a question, but you talked about finding out about what you like and what you don't like and doing that early. And so one thing that really intrigues me about this model is that finding out that you don't like something is and and then deciding not to go into it is a success. Yes. >> Because then you don't leave from here. >> Yes. >> And go to the University of Minnesota or to whatever institution and spend that money. And so >> I don't know exactly where I'm going with this except for that is an intriguing thought. >> Both types of learning are important. >> Yes. Um, oh, >> go ahead Thompson. >> Oh, thank you. Um, yeah, not a question, but I I do just want to kind of express my disappointment over the process to date. So, you know, the first I even knew we were in phase one was sat down and engaged in that interview session. And you know obviously there had been a fee with phase one and then you know when we received the report from phase one you know in the email it said if we want to continue the partnership and now here we are entering into phase two seems like on 91 we already cut a $58,000 check to them and and this wasn't even an action item. It was no action needed. So, you know, I am glad that it says in phase two that, you know, it'll be deepening community understanding of what this entails. I just, you know, I would really suggest and urge that, you know, prior to moving then into phase three, you know, there be some robust community discussion and then, you know, having the board, you know, approve this in a formal vote type of process rather than just, you know, moving along at that speed. So, um I just wanted to say that >> for context, is this um a board approval item? >> Well, I think that could be up to the board. So, I really appreciate the note about the community engagement. That is very important, the before, the during, and um all the way through. I think from um from the district's standpoint, the board charges us to ensure that every student learns at high levels. The board doesn't necessarily approve more of an operational approach to meeting that overall target. Now, if if it's within the board's purview, if they wish to create an action item, then I think we can certainly figure out how to get organized around that. So, I think the district would see this as an operational item that falls under below the governance, policy, and uh finances line, but perhaps it's also up to interpretation. Um, I tend to lean toward that as well. Um, I do appreciate that we're getting this comprehensive um, presentation about the different phases and how it's going to be enacted and that we were included in the phase one um, as a as a board and could be included as much as we wanted to be or not. Um, and I think that perhaps at a future workshop, Clerk Thompson, we could have more of an in-depth discussion about how the board wants to be involved in this. I would tend to um think that it's not an action item for the board, but I'm certainly willing to go to MSBA and talk with them about that as far as roles are concerned and bring that to a workshop item. Does that sound good for everyone? >> Chair Andre, I just want to offer some historical context. I mean, this is a programmatic and curricular item. And in the past, the board has not historically voted on these things. So, I think about the decision to start a new immersion language pathway or an outdoor immersion program at a particular site. That is not something we are not voting on every single one of those decisions. this presentation. You all did a wonderful job showing how this action item directly relates to our strategic vision, our strategic plan, which the board votes on and approves. So, thank you. >> Thanks. Um, and I did have just a couple of questions. Um, I know I I brought this up during the um the I forget what we're calling them. my brain starts stops working at 9:00 p.m. apparently now. Um, but I I just wonder cuz I um I work with um students who are in our special education program and so when I see things like this that's going to be their future, I wonder how will they be included in a program like this and also worried about I think back to my high school experience and where um special education students were often put and it is in more of these CTE programming. So just wondering if there's what part of that um approach is in these phases and how are the how is that community being included or not in this program. So part of phase two will be looking at all students in the building and finding ways to make sure that all students find a pathway and find a place to belong and be successful. So of course our special education students will be one of those groups that will be included in this planning and that we haven't decided anything yet on what are what will ourmies actually be and what will they look like. that is part of the phase 2 um envision plan is to like look at all of those. So um we have looked at um how other schools have done it but they're not us and so we can get ideas from them but we really want to look at what is best going to serve our students that we have in our building. >> Great. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Z. Yes, director Xiao. >> Hey, hi Chair and Dre, thank you for the acknowledgement. Um, one question I have is, uh, in phase two with the community involvement. It will we involve teachers much more, right? And I'm just kind of thinking uh you know we we kind of alluded to there were some concerns but I think we really want to do a deep dive make sure that they're aligned um and uh you know I think more voices as we've kind of talked about throughout this meeting are better than less. >> Yes. >> Yes. Thank you for that question. Um we will be meeting one of the first um agenda items in our next phase is to develop a clear and concise communication plan to roll this out to all staff members and community members so that everybody's getting the same version. Um, so, um, we were we would work with district communication and our high school admin team to come up with a communication plan to roll this out to everyone at the same time. >> And, uh, Director Jouo, teachers will be very very frequently and heavily involved throughout this entire process. We need them to be excited about this and we need their expertise to inform the nuances of the structure and the process. So they will absolutely be involved. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for your time. >> Yes, for being with us tonight. >> Appreciate your time. Um that uh then takes us to our next um item which is I believe an action item which is discussion of the commissioner's review. I will turn it over to Dr. Mary Perry Reed. >> Thank you Chair Andre and um thank you Natalia for sharing just a super brief slide deck. I'm going to invite our assistant director of uh buildings and grounds to the table. So, this is our school board and community's maybe first opportunity to meet Gino Marali. Mazali. >> Yes. >> Yes. And so, we're really excited to have Gino in Hopkins. He comes from district uh 197 where you did very similar work. And what I was excited about is that we found a leader who was legitimately excited to take on $140 million worth of projects. Like that's incredible. Thank you in advance. So um and then Natalia um thanks to Clerk Thompson. He did recognize that what we posted was for some reason just the very last page of the MDE response. So maybe we just want to repost >> that was what um our attorney asked us to do. I think what I noticed is that >> was it Matthew? >> Yes. Well, when I looked more closely it it there isn't a beginning. It's just the end. So, I thought maybe we should post for our community exactly what we're putting in the sun sailor. So, I apologize. Thank you for doing that. Oh, thank you. Okay. So what we'd like to share is that and you can see there's a timeline on the right hand side of this slide here where on June 10 our school board approved the review and comment via a roll call vote and then we sent that to the um Department of Education on June 27. On September 2nd we did receive a positive review and comment from MDE. So, we're very excited about that. And tonight, we are asking our school board to accept and approve this positive review and comment, which will then be posted in our official um partner publication, Sun Sailor. And um we have been out and about in the community and are also now visiting all of our Hopkins staff at staff meetings so that we can ensure everyone knows about this opportunity coming up for our community on November 4, which is a $140 million bond referendum, which will be question one, and then a renewable renewal renewal of our capital projects. levy, um, CPL for short, which will be question two. The bond referendum would cost the average homeowner approximately $7 per month, and will fund critical safety and security upgrades, accessibility improvements, modernized classrooms, single user restrooms at our high school and and other schools. And you just heard a presentation about career and technical education transformation. So this bond referendum will also provide renovated CTE spaces. Do you want to go to the next slide, Natalia? Okay. So we just went over questions one and two and the next slide you'll see these uh graphics. We are talking about the importance of securing our future. This is a once- in a generation opportunity for our community to all come together and learn more about what the bond referendum and CPL would provide >> and Gino. >> Sure. >> Would you like to just talk about these four buckets that that we are organizing the projects for the bond referendum within? Yes. Thank you, school board members for having me here tonight. Um, so all sites will receive comprehensive security upgrades which may include and up to cameras, alarms, controlled entry points, exterior lighting, and fire suppression in our uh data rooms. And then we will remodel areas to include classroom, gyms, music suites, and flexible learning spaces. Um, the high school also would get the revamped CTE and teched spaces, which we've discussed already. Um the sites um across the district will see enhancement to our outdoor spaces including um safer dropoff areas and parking lots, fitness playgrounds at the middle schools and uh upgraded athletic facilities. And all schools receive ADA um upgrades including restroom uh renovations and single user restrooms. Schools uh with older playgrounds will receive upgrades focused on inclusivity. >> Can I just quickly make a comment? I don't know if all people know what ADA compliance is. So, if we could kind of spell that out. >> Sure. It's just making things more user friendly for those who may be in a wheelchair or there are restrictions and uh guidelines on um you know door opening stuff like that. Um mulch playgrounds we may put in that soft material where it makes it more accessible for everybody. >> Thank you. >> Yep. And um these would be improvements that are required under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Thank you, Gino, for explaining that. And then um Mr. Wedder is available in case the board has questions about what is covered under the capital projects levy. I think um we we want our community to understand that they are already supporting our capital projects levy which is set to expire and so this vote asks the community to renew it at no additional cost to them in addition to funding technology tech uh and technology improvements. Very importantly, we need to make sure that we have the proper levels of cyber security and data protection support. And a couple of additional and specific pieces within the capital projects levy is um strategic uh purchasing of musical instruments as well as smaller transportation uh vehicles to support um field trips and internships across our community. So, we're very excited about these two opportunities and um we're asking the board to accept and approve the positive review and comment from the Department of Education and then we will go ahead and post uh those um the response that we received from MDE, we will post that in the Sun Sailor. >> Thank you. Any comments or questions from my board colleagues? >> Chair Andre. >> Yes, Treasure H Heartland. >> Um, thank you so much for being here tonight. It's lovely to meet you and it's uh nice to um hear about your excitement for this because this is not a small undertaking and I want to thank you Dr. Mary Pier Reed for putting out this um smaller buses for internships and mentorships. It is such an important issue and one that the legislative action coalition has grappled with and asked specifically for more money for because seizing the opportunity to do an internship or a mentorship is very often a true equity issue where if you don't have a vehicle to transport yourself during the school day, you cannot participate. I know for a fact that some of the professionals in this room have like sweat with students trying to find, you know, Metro Transit or some way for a student to get to leave, you know, during the course of normal hours to achieve, you know, arriving at an internship at a local business. And it is just very difficult for some families. And so that is a huge way that our families could vote to support um or could support that equity mission. And then our musical instruments inventory is an important one too because we heard about band X at this table which is a way that our we can expand music opportunities for families who didn't um weren't able to do that in fifth grade for a whole variety of reasons and that um there's a huge need for us in this district. So thank you for highlighting those. And I think my question is what so this positive review and comment sounds great. does that that means to my understanding that we've submitted all of the uh correct documentation. We've done the work required by the Minnesota Department of Education to prove that these are you know all compliant with requirements and so then we are fully ready to go in November. >> Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? I would Oh, Z isn't there anymore. Um hopefully he did not have any comments or questions. Um I would like to remind um I would just also like to say thank you and we've talked about these plans for a long time here at the board table. Um I am also really excited to see um some of the amazing changes that will come to the district. Um so with that I would look for a motion to approve the um above the proposed referendum. >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Seeing none. All those in favor please say I. >> I. >> I. Any opposed? The chair votes I and the commissioner's review um for the proposed referendum has been approved. Thank you. And that now takes us to our next order of business, which is the school opening update. No action is required, but I bet we will get a lot of information. Um, so as everyone comes to the board table, I will turn it over to Dr. Mary Perry Reid. >> Thank you, Chair Andre. Well, as we kick off this new school year, six days in, um, we're excited to share a school opening report. And this captures how we welcomed students, families, and staff back into our schools. And not sure if you knew this fun fact, but there are approximately 130,000 public schools nationwide, including more than 2,000 in the state of Minnesota, and we have 11 here in Hopkins. So, lots of folks all over the country and in Minnesota, working hard to open schools in a way that creates conditions for immediate belonging and achievement for our students. And so we do have a team of folks and um just sincere appreciation to all of the leaders that you see in front of you this evening and to so many staff across the system who like really go above and beyond to make sure that school schools open well. So I'm very thankful. So I think we'll go to the next slide and then you'll see an order of presenters. So we'll start with Dr. Lightfoot and then perhaps each presenter can introduce the next. And you know we're we're excited about this report because we spent some time putting it together and we realize that we're beginning to present this report at 9:23. So, we're going to ask our presenters to 60 seconds or less and then if folks have questions, they can ask and there's also a slide deck for future reference. Okay, Dr. Lightfoot, >> greetings. Good evening. Um, we've had the chance as we were at the August uh board meeting giving you some updates of the energies and efforts that were behind uh all the hiring that has gone into the summer work. Um, just as kind of a a summary of that, um, in general, we're presenting just some brief information as we really work toward that vision 2031 goal of being an employer of choice as well having our staff and student demographics mirror one another. So, I'm just giving you some brief updates on the work that we continue to do in those areas. Um first off you'll see that we do look um as we have been in the fiscal constraints that we have knowing that we have made reductions that we have in any course of any given year. The need that comes forward just from general mobility of individuals um as we have positions that come available through resignations and retirements and just general promotions and shifts as accordingly. Um you will note that this year there was a lower volume of hiring new staff um just in general overall. Um we did see a lot more stability, more retention which we're starting to see more in labor markets as well. Some of the interesting um nomenclature that comes out is that it used to be job hopping. Now, some of the nomenclature that's coming out is job hugging where we're starting to see more individuals hang on to the positions that they have for longer periods of time. Um, which is good as we continue to try and invest and really bring forward the skill sets of the people that we have. Um, so I'll speak a little bit to that in the nutrition service one as well when we get there. Uh, but as you can see here, um, we generally present some just general demographics. uh you will see that we continually try to bring more of um male population into the education profession. Um part of what we're always looking toward is that mirroring of our staff student demographic about a 50/50 if we know what we have as part of our part of our population. Um so I wanted to make sure that we brought that to your attention. Um still working still trying to achieve in that area. Um the next slide speaks more um as we look at um bringing staff of color. We continue to start to um and have made strides in the way that we recruit, we retain um and we are now and with some really innovative programming. And just quick shout out to Paris and all the work that has been ongoing with the apprentice programs. Um looking at how we can continue to keep individuals that we have promote through opportunity the ability to develop. Um so really want to just kind of look at how we can not only look at recruiting from outside but looking at retention as a strategy and structure when we think about um our staff of color population as well. Um part of the demographic we look at and I'll close here before turning it over is the next slide which really is are we on track with those demographics. As you can see we are making the progress that we had hoped to make. part of the projection that we have been looking toward um does have us over the course of the next year or two moving more into that 30% range as you can see. Um so we are on progress, we are on track. I'm still continuing to make those strides forward. Um hopefully as we approach this next year and the year after with a little bit more uh intensity to meet those targets that we've set for ourselves. Uh so with that I will turn it over to uh Dr. Erdle Director Contrarus with learning and teaching. >> Thanks Nick. Uh good evening again everybody. Uh just a couple of learning and teaching highlights. Um the we wanted to talk about number one uh the innovation fair which was a really exciting um addition to our kickoff and a huge shout out to uh Dr. Katie Stennis and the IDL team who um organized and executed the fair and everybody who participated. It was really fun. That's what you see on the left. We had topics ranging from um robots to AI in schools to the new math curriculum. Uh which leads me to um and referencing um a question that director Thompson asked earlier. So, our teachers did experience um a lot of math training on the kickoff day in the afternoon and we have a model of support that um provides them coaching and training at the building level on an ongoing basis to make sure that they're really building their comfortability with the new materials. And also the math um training and curriculum is a great um inclusion story because Director Contrarus and I worked together closely to make sure that our K5 special education teachers were included not just in the materials purchase but also in the training and that was um that was new uh for some of our of our teachers and so that has been really exciting. I don't know Fonda if you want to say anything else about that. Absolutely. I actually wanted to talk about just the increased collaboration with IDL and special services to make sure that all things are comprehensive um and cohesive for staff and for students. Um and so with that uh we are providing service to other to over 1,400 students um in both private and public sites. uh a lower number as Dr. Lightfoot spoke to turnover of staff which feels really good. So um staff retention I think I'm down to just two licensed staff positions which has been the lowest in since I can remember. So um we do have staff in those positions but hoping to find permanent staff. Right now we have just two subs. Um, we are also increasing parent learning and supports this year through the voices of our caregivers with students on IEPs. Um, just wanting to have more connection to sites that their students attend as well as to other learning opportunities about the special ed process and how to collaborate with each other as parents. Um and then I'm super excited about the chemical health supports that we have. It started at the high school last year. Um we are also providing support to the middle schools um one day a week for each middle school and then quarterly education collaborative planning meetings with health staff for our fifth graders. Early education is key to prevention. um more students are using um certain chemicals more younger than before these days. So that is my quick summary and I will turn it over to Sarah Shiovan for early childhood programming. >> Great. Uh so during the K12 first week of school, our preschool has orientation conferences with families. So they spend the week getting to know students in the classroom, kind of doing a more intimate introduction to what preschool will be all about. So our first day of programming was on Monday. This is day two for us. Um early childhood ECF has had a rob a robust attendance in all of our classes. Uh we are proud of the fact that we're expanding beyond our building walls. We're moving into partnerships with the Hopkins Library as well as Oxford Apartments and Vista 44 apartments. We did receive a um very nice compliment just this past week. We had a family registering for our multiples class. Our multiples is classes you a unique offering in Hopkins. The West Metro doesn't generally have this. And um this person said that it's got such a strong reputation. People are coming to this class from from quite a ways away. They're making the journey. So they're uh they're registering their twins and their triplets into the reg to the multiples class for ECF, which is very fun. Our preschool students are experiencing both excitement and nerves, and we are supporting in every way that we can. We're building community um every every day. We will. That's our our first foundation. And we're excited to be planning for a Chinese immersion preschool opening in 2627. We're laying the groundwork for that. Working with parents, teachers, and um administration to make that happen. So, we're very excited. That's all I have. So, I will pass it on to Jalisa Smith. >> Thanks, Sarah. But I do want to give you a shout out for your family festival that's coming up. Oh, I have two slides. You're right. Thank you very much. I do want to invite you. September 25, we have our fall festival and resource fair. I'd like to invite the board and all of our esteemed leaders. We have a wonderful time. It's one of the few places you'll get to pet a snake and the guinea pig. So, come on down. We have a great time. >> Thank you, Julie. >> Yeah. Um, hi everyone. Um, well, I feel like before we can talk about school opening, we have to talk about the closing of an incredible summer um, in community ed. Um, so I'll start with Camp Royal where we offered over 150 different camps serving over 1,500 students in those camps or 1500 enrollments equaling about 480 K through 12 students. um spanning everywhere like normal from arts to sports to STEM, half day and full day options. Um and then we and also we had 100% staff retention from last summer to this summer um including some of our junior assistants um as well. And then um of course kids and company was burst bursting and full of energy and busy with 676 students across the four sites. Um yeah, and then I'll go on to my next slide to talk about school opening. So, Kids and Company began the school year serving 770 students across six sites before and after school care. Um, of course, demand for the program remains to increase um each year. So, currently we have a wait list of 141 students waiting and so if you remember, I was here 2 weeks ago. That number is a little bit higher. Um we continue to see requests from families um who are um waiting. So between today and the last time I was here with the board, we've had 40 requests 40 additional requests for care across the district. Um we are still welcoming about a dozen new team members with five additional staff. Um going through the onboarding um HR process and then we're continuing to interview and process applications for kids and company um Royal Zone. Um our middle school um enrichment program for before and after school began with 19 students. Um and that program is housed at North Middle School but serving both North and West students. And then um this week youth enrichment um and adult enrichment is jumping into our fall programming um across the sites um before school, after school, evening and weekend. Um, and then I will hand it over to my OSD counterpart, Paris Timmons. Hi. Hi. Good evening. Good to see you all. Um, I'm going to share the summer impact report from this summer. It feels very loud. Okay. Um starting off with credit recovery at um or from our scholars at Hopkins High School, we served um 426 scholars at West Middle School this summer. Um enrolling in 30 unique courses where over 1,200 credits were attempted. Um just under 700 were earned um at that program. The program is four weeks long. Royal Learning Academy, uh it was at Eisenhower. We enrolled 360 scholars, rising grades, uh rising scholars in grades um 1 through 5. This past summer off uh offered a for the first time um a free enrichment opportunity for families to participate in extended enrichment which served 154 scholars in a variety of STEM, art, and outdoor activities. Scholars engaged in several off-campus experiences weekly. We also had a partnership with TNTP where um Hopkins teachers mentored aspiring teachers uh teacher fellows and um RLA also offered literacy tutoring via the summer reading corpse via impact. Next slide please. Thank you. Freedom School at North Middle School um enrolled 223 scholars rising grades 1 through nine. We had partnerships with the sane foundation where they ran daily soccer and basketball camps. We had junior achievement for financial literacy. Um continued our partnership with my health, the sjourer project and SR consulting again where they came in and um a group of civil engineers came in and did a bunch of activities um on the campus at North where scholars got to engage in um hands-on um engineering activities. It was just really engaging, a lot of fun and um yeah, we also participated in the Children's Defense Fund National Assessment. Those results will come in November. Um we also had our first local training um where Hopkins hosted at Eisenhower um in at the end of May. So all Freedom School sites in Minnesota were here for training um at Eisenhower. And it was it was quite the day. It was it was a lot of fun. A lot of high energy. >> Miss Timmons, the lieutenant governor, spoke. She >> Oh, yes. That that um that happened also. >> Um which was quite quite wonderful. Um Youth Science Day, we had around about 2,000 scholars at the science museum where we shut the shut the museum down and um got to participate in STEM activities. Um our demographics for scholars and staff, our staff demographics are we have 90% bipok staff um with 16 black males and we which also which also includes our um partnership with black men teach which is um a a great partnership that we have and we'll continue to to do so. uh and our scholars uh 70% are uh that that participated this past summer are by identify as bipok as well as 30% um white scholars. This summer we also went to the national training in Knoxville uh where about 1,800 just under 1,800 participants um across the country were there to learn and engage in the pedigogy of freedom school and this year we marched from St. Paul College to the capital. Um sharing um public education is a public good was our um national day of social action topic. We also had um servant leader interns from the grow your own apprenticeship program that we are starting this year and that was our first this was our first summer um having scholars from that program which was great or from fellows um participants from that program in freedom school and this year we look forward to um launching more opportunities that serve our scholars with this wonderful framework. I'm gonna pass it over to John. >> All right. Thank you, Paris. Uh, good evening everyone. Uh, I'll be talking about some of the um, uh, items that we've worked through in information services uh, to be ready for the school year and as we've seen move through startup. Um I talked about this both back in August as well as um you know we've had board action and conversations about this over the last 12 months really um with the work this summer culminating after really 3 to four years of planning to make sure we're in this position to um be able to make sure we have a a reliable uh secure and safe infrastructure for our information um to traverse. Um that network project again touched every single uh building in the school district. Um both all of our schools as well as um some of our uh ancillary facilities as well um to make sure that we are all on the same page using the same technology and have the same uh equitable access to all of the resources um we have here in Hopkins. Um that work started um in earnest from a technical perspective on July 1st which is the earliest that the federal irate uh rules allow us to start that work. Uh so really worked uh about 6 weeks um to physically move all those pieces into place. So a large team um in place. We're in our stabilization period right now. certainly working to um smooth out any bumps in the road that we've uh found along the way. Um both uh with the security uh underpinnings of the network as well as some of the systems that support our network. Um this afternoon we did have a an outage uh which was you know part of our learning process and making sure that we have that ready to go right at the end of the school day today. Um besides that work uh we still have a very dedicated team uh throughout information services as well as uh other uh aspects of our our work funded by the capital projects levy. Our digital literacy specialists have been working to make sure that we're continuing to help students foster their love of reading at all levels across the school district. um and have that welcoming face in our media centers to make sure that um students have access to those materials, get those checkouts going right away for books as well as being available as a reference center. Um especially in our secondary schools, our tech integration specialists who work every day and really making sure that that technology is uh going into use in our classrooms. you know, technology can't be powerful without that strong integration happening and that partnership with our teachers to help make sure uh that um all of those resources are available. Um our information services and data teams have been working and supporting many departments through uh quite a few projects as we've worked through the summer. Um still much more work to do as well. um and all of the uh staff time around making sure our devices, our student devices are ready to go for this first day of school, to make sure our staff devices are ready to go for the first day of school. Um almost every device is touched at some point during the summer to make sure that it's going to be ready to go. And so that is a dedicated group of staff making sure that all of those maintenance checks are done, all of those devices are ready to go. um and really you know in a challenging uh hiring environment right now with in technology as well. Uh we've certainly been working closely with our human resources uh colleagues as we've had turnover in our department you know in technology especially right now the a lot of folks are seeing a lot of opportunity in the technology field um and certainly uh folks are taking advantage of that and um you know moving on from their experiences they've had here at Hopkins and you know as well as an opportunity to hire um and bring new new viewpoints and new folks into the department as well. Um, another piece I'll mention, uh, uh, that's been mentioned to me a few times this year, um, certainly a success coming into the school year that is one of those like boring pieces, but when it just works, it's really good for folks. Um, is around our identity systems. Um, this is both from a security standpoint as well as an operational uh, standpoint. We've done a lot of work in our identity systems. So, that's all of your loginins and that those systems are working together and all those pieces. we've really noted a significant dip in our uh tickets uh related to identity services and that's really you know we put a significant did everybody notice the major system change that we made in March probably not which is good um that was really three years of work of an complete overhaul of our entire identity systems that went active back in March we're really seeing the positive impact of that here this fall um as we're welcome welcoming everyone back to school. So, that'll conclude my uh summary uh for today. I'll be handing it over to assistant director for facilities uh Gino Mazelli. Thanks, John. Um heading into some fun stuff that went over this summer. Um we went over and we did the high school. We did converted our steam boiler to a hot water uh boiler. And this was a a project this summer. because we've been in this process as a district for 20 years converting our steam units to hot water throughout the district. Um, next summer we'll be doing Alice Smith. So, that's our next one to tackle. But what these offer for the district just a better temperature control, reduced maintenance costs, and increased uh efficiency. And I would also like to give a special thank you to all the building ground staff for getting all the buildings ready from um you know outdoor cutting the grass, getting the baseball fields ready, all that stuff for students to be back. And I know there's a lot of tickets regarding furniture move requests and doors and all sorts of things. So, I'd really like to thank our staff. I know it's a a tough couple weeks to um it's great to welcome folks back in the building, but it's also a lot of requests and I appreciate their hard work to get that done and be ready for the students and staff to return. That's all I have. >> Hello. Um Oh, can you hear me? So, for transportation, we began this school year with 48 type C big yellow buses, um, which is down from last year. We have 39 type A small yellow buses and 11 type three vans or cars, which are um just our our we call them type three, but it could be a van, a car, or a SUV or whatnot. Um, these vehicles may change. Um we still are adding students every day. Um just new enrollies and students with different addresses. Um ones that move into the district or um some of our special services programs that there's changes for students. So we could increase some of the vehicles mainly in the type A or type three area. Um we don't really foresee increasing anything in the type C at this time. for our successes. We had a crossf functional team of district leaders and school support that worked together throughout the summer and the beginning of this school year to make everything happen. Really appreciate this whole team. Um there was a lot of learning of transportation involved for everyone. um some of which have never had to be inside of our bus depot or deal with anything related to transportation, but they are district staff that was willing to help and it was very appreciate. We appreciated our whole team appreciated having everybody come together to help. We transitioned into a new routing system that we've been planning for a while now. with that system. Um, it has improved some routing and efficiencies that we were working through. Um, our old system was pretty much outdated and not supported at this point. So, this was a big change in transition for us. Um, we routed the new bell times for five elementary schools. And even though we only moved two schools down to that third tier, it's still all five of our elementary schools had a slight change in their time. So, I wanted to make sure we noted all five of them. At this time, we have about 3,900 plus gened and special program students completely on all of the vehicles above. For some of our operational barriers, we had we have and continue to have a comp a complex coordination with diff different district contractors. So we have two contractors plus we also have a small group of just district drivers that we use for our some of our special services transportation. So that is three technically three contractors that we're working with. We have non-public schools, intermediate district 287 and some care and treatment programs. So those changes and challenges within those different dynamics do um pose some barriers for us in transportation. We have some late program additions that are straining to routes and resources. So once we have everything planned out and put together, um, anything that comes in late and not planned for could put some barriers on us here in transportation. We also have have had some challenges connecting our data system which has slowed down some routing updates and information sharing. Um, parts of this could be our new router system and different things like that that we're working through with our new technology that is still pretty much rolling in. I would say I won't say rolling out, rolling in. Um, we still are experience an ongoing driver shortage across all providers. This is just across the US. um at some points it seems like we're doing well but at times it is still a factor and so I wanted to just make sure we note that some key metrics for us 3,500 gened students at this time um we still are again enrolling new students um daily about 415 special programs writers this could be um anything under special services and again this number is growing daily our Service for transportation includes six elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school, transition plus the help program, virtual edu, two non-public schools, six 287 intermediate district sites and multiple care and treatment centers. That could be it could be Edina, it could be St. Paul, it depends. It's across the cities is where we'll say for care and treatment programs. So, those are all of the programs that we're currently transporting right now for transportation >> and preschool. >> And which one? >> Pre. >> Preschool. Yes. I I didn't mention Harley. I'm so sorry. How could I not? >> We know you're there every day. >> So, yes, preschool is included. Um, they're actually at some of our elementary sites as well as their own sites. So, yes, I did miss Harley and I won't do that again. I will pass this on to Director Chi. >> Thank you. It was because you missed it, but it adds a extra thick layer of >> It actually does. And I think I'm probably because it was the first day on Monday. I'm just like I lost it. I'm still in the middle of things with early childhood when we deal with this so much, especially being these first couple days. I don't know how I missed that on the list. >> All right, perfect. Thank you. And good evening. Uh so for the start of school year, I think we're making great strides in some of our initiatives for school safety and security. Uh, one of the things that we've kind of addressed or coined, I guess, a safe school program. So, that's pretty much an umbrella of the efforts made by our school administrators and addressing some of the additional student walkers and parent drop off and pickup. So, the way we're addressing that is through our collaboration with police department, fire services, and assessing kind of the traffic flow and what best practices are. Uh, moving forward, uh, adopting and training the I love you guys foundation. uh that really kind of generalizes kind of what our best response protocols are for emergencies and makes it uh acceptable for all levels of educators from elementary, preschool to high school. Um, additionally, increasing training and education on other topics for our staff and students. Um, at the high school, I am supporting our Hopkins High School safety coaches through mentorship, guidance, and training to ensure that, you know, we keep our high school safe and accountability for our staff and students. Additionally with the high school uh I am leading a program called our uh student safety and security advisory committee to educate and support students who want to explore career and safety and security but mainly to have them have a voice and opportunity to influence and impact our safety and security program throughout the district mainly at the high school. Uh, additionally, I'm introducing a staff, family, and student school safety engagement survey and anonymous reporting mechanisms and part of continue our uh, process datadriven feedback analysis for our safety and security program. Uh, hope hoping to have this, you know, ready to go by uh, end of Friday this week. And then additionally working with our community partners, law enforcement and fire services for our synchronizing our emergency operations plans to make sure that we're all on the same page and understand kind of our response protocols and expectations for one another when uh we are encountering a critical incident. And lastly, identifying technologies, physical security, and other safety tools to better meet the needs of Hopkins schools. So that's all I have and give back to Dr. Lightoot. >> Thank you. Um on behalf of assistant director Andrea Shock and her team, um just wish Andrea well. She wanted to be here this evening but is with her family doing some wedding coordination. So wish her family good celebration and um happy to speak to the accomplishments of the school nutrition staff. Uh part of what they did throughout the course of the summer is a revision of the mission statement. some key elements that were added to um and highlighted. Um specifically uh happy to report that we are increasing the number of farm-toschool partners. As we look at those partner associations, at least farm um five farms were added throughout the course of the summer. um in partnership uh with Mung Farmers Association uh local um inclusion of Ferndale Farms, Legacy Farms um sourcing everything from fresh fruit and veggies to uh additional uh local meats. Um so they're very happy to report that that ongoing effort um has provided good results in the ability to increase the farm-to-school ingredients. Um, in addition, they also wanted to highlight the diverse range of ethnic cuisines. I think it's also important to note that part of a highlight of the nutrition services program is really their scratch cooking focus. And as they look at this year, part of the highlight that they are looking to add are um Ukrainian meals and mung meals um to be in addition to the lineup that they already provide. And so they're intentionally looking at that as part of their service models. Uh really I think um just to highlight um the work that they do in the scratch cooking is also more unique to Hopkins and what they have looked to do over time in growing their staff is to promote from within. Uh all of the cooks and the leadership that they did hire this year were all promoted from within. So they feel very good about that. Um the challenge as has been mentioned before with some of the staffing. Um we are looking for about four individuals right now in some of the four to five hour positions. So of course continually looking to recruit to bring new people on. Uh in part that need is because the good news is the volumes increased with what we saw this last year. Um we were up about 15% with breakfast. Breakfast seemed to be hot pun item of the uh kind of year if you will. um where we saw those programming needs increase about a 10% increase in lunch. As you can see some of the totals here, when you think about those total numbers, 301,000 worth breakfast lunch totals, total meals, last year's total, you will see that we exceeded last year's total in meals served by over 30,000. Uh when we look at um some of the other fun things that are done, the district-wide picnic for all of you that were able to partake in that, as uh Dr. Mary Perry Reed mentioned in the beginning, 945 staff um had my first brookie um to discover that you can combine a brownie and a cookie and there are good things that happen because of that. Um, last and not least, um, just really want to be able to say that we are so fortunate, um, that they are continuing to keep this as a focus of their work this year. Their theme, work smarter, not harder. Um, it really is of value to them as we know that we're all in times of increasing costs with produce, increasing costs with labor, that they continue to keep the focus on the scratch cooking and really continue to um do what they can to build the investment in their program and increase participation. So, with that, I think that closes it out. >> Thank you overview. >> Yes. Thank you so much all of you for being here so late and for providing what I feel like is a very succinct um update on huge huge jobs. So really appreciate you being here. Any questions or feedback? Chair Andrea, I just have one uh quick feedback. Thank you guys uh for your presentation. Director Chauvan would have been helpful 12 years ago if that class of multiples was available. >> Do they help you change diapers in this classroom? >> We allow everyone just 15 minutes of sleep as they're twins and triplets play in another room. Yes, >> as everybody knows, I have twins. >> They don't need the class now. They're close to driving me to work. >> They could be mentors for the kiddos. And >> they really could. >> They could. Yeah, they could. Yeah. Chair Andre. >> Yes, Treasure H Heartland. >> Hi. Thank you all for staying so late. Um I have a question that kind of bridges safety and transportation. I feel like at this table when we were talking about um making this change and we were talking about expanding our no bus zones that we had discussed kind of a hazardous roads assessment and I was wondering kind of what became of that. I am hearing some concerns still in the community about some of the the places where we have crossings or where we have kids walk down um streets that don't have sidewalks. And so I'm wondering kind of did did we do that or were we like not able to finish that work? I know um uh um Miss Williams, Director Williams, you mentioned challenges and some issues with uh the uh data transference. I'm sorry it's very like it's hard to make questions. Um and so what kind of did happen with that? What is our status of the hazardous road issue? When the decision was made, we talked about having a walk boundary versus a no bus zone. And the difference between the two was a walk boundary is where we would make sure if students were crossing hazardous roads or not. And the no bus zone is us just letting everyone know that there is no transportation in the no bus zone. So that was just the difference between what we decided as a district which direction we would go whether we would choose a walk boundary or no bus zone. So I'll like to add to that because I've been working uh and helping uh our school administrators and transportation with that issue. So we are working with our police department and uh the city to kind of identify okay now we have parents coming in and assessing the additional traffic. So, I think this is one of those issues where we could have pre-planned, but then would it have really made a difference if we didn't know how many folks were coming in to pick up a student and drop other students. And so, at this point, we're, you know, making strides and understanding, okay, this is how many folks are coming in to drop off, pick up the students, and how many where our students are walking from. And so, we're, you know, I'm collaborating with our police department. they're coming out do assessments on certain crosswalks and certain uh streets to better help understand okay what do we really need and then what can we request of the city and what could the schools do to better make sure that everyone's on the same page and everyone's doing their part and so uh with PD especially specifically for North Middle School and Hops High School for Cedar Lake Road I understand that that's a very busy street so we're working with some of the transportation officers to really get expertise on okay what do what can I do as a school safety coordinator and also what could the school administrator administrators do with their staff to better address that issue but also really pushing for okay city can what can you do as well how can we support you and how can you support us and so we're working towards that and I'm hoping that we can have a a better answer for you uh in upcoming weeks here uh if not sooner so >> I think I want to also add in a couple of the longer term pieces that involve with that is um that I end up in those conversations as well with our city partners around when they're looking at uh roadway realignments and some of that work as well, which is much like technology infrastructure is also a multi-year plan that our city partners are working on. Um for example, you've recently seen the realignment happen on Hopkins Crossroad. Um adding the sidewalk on the east side of that, making sure that that is on the side toward our schools as well. Um, that's something that we've been uh that I've been working with the planners at the city of Minnitankka for several years on. Um, we also know that coming up uh next year there's going to be some realignment work um as well as some safety uh components done to Cedar Lake Road. Uh that's uh currently in the queue coming out. We're about a year out on that. Uh but the design work is happening right now. We've had some of our initial meetings with the city of Minnitonka around what that would look like. We also um just uh last week uh had a conversation I had a conversation with the early planners on the city of Eden Prairie where they're going to be doing some realignment and sidewalk work around uh County Road 4 which is the main road out in front of Gatewood Elementary School. Uh so that goes from the Glen Lake neighborhood south to Eden Prairie High School approximately. Um so there's early planning that's also happening along that route as well. um as they're going to be doing some upgrades. And so that's also just another piece of context for that around some of those multi-year pro projects that our city planners are working with as well. >> I did also, thank you for all that context. I did also want to mention that um a group of parents have been working with the safe routes to schools um around uh Baker Road and West Middle School and that that is a really great community model. they um saw a problem with their kids walking, decided to get involved with that project and are working not only with the city of Minnotonka, the school, but also the county because that happens to be a county road. And so they I see it because I drive it. They have huge signs up now telling people not to pass on the shoulder. Um, so parents can get together and really do some great work on these projects. If you notice an issue in your neighborhood, um, just start working on it. There's there's um, safe routes to school is available to anyone and it really helps you um, bring together all of those community partners that can make a difference. And as a longtime resident of Minnotonka, I have to say I often contact my city council about the fact that there are no sidewalks in the city. Um so that would be also another way in which we can um create safe routes to school for all of our kids. Any other questions, comments? >> Chair Andre Director Roer. >> Uh does he have something? I don't know, but Director Roer wanted to >> Yeah. So, thank you all for being here tonight. I really appreciate it, especially given the time that it is um right now. And I do want to just just have a moment just to talk about transportation really quick. Thank you so much, Naisha and the team and everyone for doing the hard work that comes with the optics of like the first day of school. I know it's a lot of work to do. Um, and I know that it was a lot of work being done to kind of mitigate some of the challenges that we were having. Um, I do however want to express disappointment in the in the communication around transportation and to our parents and our community around those mishaps. I think that could have been done in a better um in a better fashion. Especially as a board member, I was receiving phone calls from parents um from out of district and parents in district. I had no I felt like I didn't have any way to answer those questions because there was so much misinformation being spread on social media um about the transportation issues within the district. And so um it would have been nice just to have just a simple accountability message on our social media page to say hey we got this wrong. You know we are mitigating this right now. um just to provide our families with some relief because before I'm a board member, I'm a parent and I think about the time where I had that transportation issue. And so I would and this is not just a a shot at just like one department. This is the multi- departments that went into the um into the communication around transportation and just like even understanding how we got to that point. Um, I would love to see some family engagement with our parents to just get some feedback around that process so we won't run into this issue next year because um, I think that people are on edge about what that is for Hopkins. Um, and so I would love to see if we're able to um, you know, again have a better sense of communication around that. And that's not a oneperson thing. That's like a team thing. So I don't want anyone to feel scapegoated in this like we have to do better in accountability and not just you know fluff with words just be direct. We messed this up and we're going to get this together. So I would just like to see that moving forward and just understand what is our process protocols our practices and procedures and policies around said issues when things happen. Um, so again, I want to express thank you, but I also want to just be very clear that I would like to see that happening in the future when we have big issues like that happening cuz parents were on the edge and I did not know how to respond as a school board member to be completely honest. >> Thank you, Director Roer. Director Roer, >> um I would like to um acknowledge what you just shared and um express uh responsibility and um I think the accountability is really important. Um, which is why during the superintendent goals portion of our workshop, there is a goal in there that I've articulated to facilitate an afteraction review of our transportation process and not only to identify the things that did go well, but more importantly, as you stated, to identify where we could have done better, what were the systems or processes that we're not connecting properly and how did that impact our families. So, I do want to apologize for the strain caused on your family and on other families in our system. And you're right, whenever something happens that is of, you know, a result of something that didn't happen, right? And it's never intentional, we do need to say, "Oops, we messed up. We are aware of the problem. Here's what we're doing to fix it." So, thank you for expressing that. and um we are committed to um learning as well as applying lessons learned so that we can continue to get better over time. Thank you. And again, y'all did such amazing work mitigating that and send out those individual emails to everyone. Um I just wanted to make sure the misinformation just didn't keep getting spreaded across social media. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you everyone. Thank you, Director Xiao. Do you have any questions or comments? >> Yeah, thank you, Chair Andre. Uh, just one on transportation. Um, do we have any I'm wondering if we have any metrics on um timeliness of buses, right? Um, are they on time mostly across the system? Uh anecdotally, I think uh for my kids, it's been, you know, was a little rough at first, but now it's been more or less figured out. I'm wondering systemwide uh if we have any metrics on that. >> Thank you. >> Mostly on time, I will say. Um the first week of school, there's always a few late buses. Sometimes it takes the week to get fixed depending on construction or whatnot. Um this week, mostly on time. We do have a lot of late buses due to Cedar Lake Road. um buses are not able to get into the high school. There's no light or like a turning light. So when buses are coming down Cedar Lake Road and there they need to make the left turn into the parking lot, they have no way to get into the parking lot. So most times they're on time until they get there and then they're rolling into the high school late. So we're looking into those type of things. Um, we were also trying to work with our leaders, our building leaders to make sure that we get reports of who is still late because we could have certain issues. It could be traffic, it could be construction, it could be a routing issue. We won't know if we don't get that information from our building leaders. So, that's what we're working on. But, for the most part, from I've heard from, we're they're mostly on time. Um, one late bus today may not be late tomorrow. So it is a difference between if one route is late every day, you know, consistently or not. But for the most part, it went really well for the startup for school year and most buses are on time. >> Yeah. And and maybe you're already talking about it, but I mean, could we get like Minnitonka PD to direct traffic for that, you know, hour that we're loading buses in? I don't know. Maybe >> we actually have been trying for some years to work with different providers to see what we can get and we're working harder this year even more. Um so if we're able to that is definitely something that we're looking into doing. Um I know Director Chi is working with them really well now. I think this is probably before it was more transportation reaching out. Now it is Director Chi is on top of meeting with them. if it is going to happen, it'll happen now if if it's available. So, that is something that's in the works. >> Great. Thank you. >> Um I just wanted to quickly mention um the innovation fair that that you talked about. Um I attended that and learned so much about what's going on in the district. I would love to see that continued. I also got sorted >> into my house. So, super happy I got my sticker. Um, so I just wanted to mention that was and I think I heard across the board from what I was seeing at that fair that people were really appreciating it. Um, just knowing what's going on in other buildings. So, thanks for that and what's possible actually. Um, and I also realize that transportation is a big issue and thank you, Director Roer, for bringing up that um, we really feel as a district that we are accountable for, um, if any mistakes are made um, just as we are accountable for great successes. So I think that we can be much more intentional about communicating that to our um community as well as making sure that we are tracking things so that we can improve each iteration um uh as we go forward. And um I am wondering um with Kids and Co. is there anything we can do um as board members to help with recruitment or staff? I I hate to see the waiting list going up at this stage. So just wondering if there's anything you think that we could do to help. Um much like transportation, we continue with the child care shortage of um folks finding interest in other disciplines. Um we have a pretty strong process right now in partnership with HR on um sponsored posts and recruitment um and those sorts of things. Um yeah, we just didn't expect the late request. um you know when we look at our numbers for those who requested care during our um during our priority window um majority of those families have been placed. So right now the weight list is um is a reflection of those families who maybe thought they did not need care during that request window and now as school year has gotten closer they're needing care. Um, so it wasn't quite in our recruitment plan to need to provide care for about hundred of those families. So we are trying to catch up in pace with now families needing to make a different choice. Um, so we'll go back into our recruitment process um that we've laid out, restart those sponsored posts to try to fulfill those needs. >> Thank you. And I do know the LAC is um going to continue to work um with the legislature and DHS to make exceptions for school-based child care to reduce that ratio um which I think could have a really good impact. So we'll continue to work on that. >> If I can actually comment on that. Um for those who are experts in childare and childare workers um we just ask those who are willing to advocate for us and advocate for the discipline um that they be careful about the ratio that they have in mind. Those ratios are not only to keep children safe um but they're also to make sure we prevent childare worker burnout. Um so 15 is really um in a non educational structured space. um is really a good ratio or maybe 20 at the most. But um I think kids in company would um be upset if I didn't say anything, but also would just really appreciate the advocacy, but making sure that it's logical that um LAC is um engaging with the child care workers in school districts, especially if it's across school districts. Um, I would just ask that, you know, we engage the childcare workers, the staff who are doing this work and the folks that are coordinating the care. Um, because if you've ever been in one of our spaces at the start of of of um, before or after school, um, it can be quite overwhelming. So to imagine to go from a ratio of 1 to 15 to, you know, 1 to 30, I think would jeopardize the integrity of child care. Um, so I just want to voice out loud that school boards or those who are advocating just make sure that they're engaging with childare workers um as well. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> Jar has a quick question. >> Yes, director Roer. >> How will Gator Academy impact those numbers? I know that Gator Academy starts on the 15th. So, if families enroll in Gator Academy, will that open up space on the um on the kids and coal list? And I know Gatoradem is only offered at Gatewood, so I don't know how much of a difference it will make in the Well, it will make a difference, but I don't know how many numbers it will impact. But just wondering if those families enrolled, will they be kicked out? Well, not kicked out, but unenrolled from Kids and Co. Yes, we would unenroll just because from what I understand about Gator Academy that it's a long-term commitment or a longer term commitment. Um so Gatewood actually isn't facing a lot of the capacity issues of the rest of the district. Um Gatewood is actually um a school that has less need. So I think when it comes to Gatewood to be fully transparent it's about us being able to maintain and sustain a operational program there um if a lot of families move into Gator Academy. Um so me and Dr. Nolan have spoken about um this but also recognizing that it's a need. So um we'll continue to work to balance um the needs of Gatewood. Um but uh Paris and I have talked about targeted services being added is is an additional resource at the other school sites for care for um we do serve a large um larger percentage of families that are on child care assistance. So that would relieve um childcare assistant needs or those who cannot afford child care. Um it would help be a resource for those families. I mean, I know we're trying to eradicate the social economic connection with resource. Um, but primarily those families we know who are um their children need additional academic assistance typically do come from families that also need additional social economic support when it comes to childcare. So, >> thank you. >> Thank you all for being here. I don't see any other questions or comments. Um, so yes, you can choose to stay. I think some of you have to, but otherwise, um, appreciate you being here this evening and joining us. Um, and we will then move on to the fall data report part two. Part two. >> Or if you stay for two more minutes, then you'll have been at the table for exactly one hour. Anybody want to? No, >> you can just sit. Drum your fingers. >> Kidding. Thank you all for your hard work and for serving our students, families, and staff. We appreciate you very much. >> Thank you. >> Should I move to the middle? Is it weird now that I'm on the side? Is it weird >> comfortable in that chair or if you need legs? or something. >> Oh my god. >> Yeah, I don't know. Sitting over here. >> I think you've >> found a spot where the cameras can't get you. >> Oh, my husband must text me and tell me if if he can see my face or not. >> Oh, I'm going to try over here. >> Interesting. >> Okay, I'll turn it over to Dr. Mary Perry Reed. Okay. >> Uh, well, thank you very much Dr. Erdle for remaining at the board table and Miss Bang, thank you for joining us. So, Ia and an were with us on August 19 for part one of our beginning of the year academic report. And this is part two focused on access and MCA results. And we um we know that state assessments provide very valuable systemwide insights and they're only one part of the big picture of student learning which should also include growth over time, classroom learning, engagement, and critical skills like collaboration and problem solving that are not captured on these exams. So, we'll just keep all of those things in mind. Thank you for all of the time to the two of you and other members of the team who put together this report and we'll just dive right in. >> Sounds good. Thank you. Um hello again board members. We're excited to share part two. Um so this evening we're going to be talking about access data and MCA data as Dr. Mary Perry Reed mentioned and it's important to know that these are again snapshots that we can use to understand the consistency and coherence across our system and they don't address really important aspects of learning like the culture of a school or the belonging that a student feels and also I think I'd add based on what Dr. Nath and Miss Dimmitage shared earlier, you know, the intent of this data sharing is really for us and our community to stay informed about our statewide assessment results because they are important, but also ensure that we are attaching the appropriate context to the data itself. Next slide, Natalia. So just as a reminder, we do use a street data framework often when we're talking about data and MCAs and access data are satellite uh level data which is best used really to help us know where we need to investigate further. Um and then to understand and act on what we are seeing in our MCA or access data, we're we dig into the map and street level data which we will do more over the course of this year in our subsequent data um data presentations. So just as a reminder, go ahead Natalia. Just as a reminder, um IA shared these uh last time we were here and so I won't repeat them, but the data norms are important um just to keep in mind as we are going to dive in. So we're going to start with access and despite the late hour, I'm very very excited to talk about access data uh as a former EL teacher. So if you go to the next slide, Natalyia, Access stands for assessing comprehension and communication in English state-to-state and it's our uh it's our mandatory state assessment that we use to assess the progress and proficiency of our English learners in grades K through 12. The test um assesses students in listening, speaking, reading, and writing and really looks at a couple of things. one um it monitors students progress toward English proficiency. It does help um inform some instruction and what service might look like for a student and then it is our federal accountability assessment as well. So access is useful to us in two ways. So first of all students test annually and the output is a proficiency score. The proficiency score is uh on a 1 through six scale. One meaning that we call that entering. A student is has minimal comprehension and communication skills. Um all the way up to six, which would be that they are fluent and um accurately using academic English, which is an important distinction. Um, access is also really unique in the sense of um, being a sort of statewide big scale test in that it does measure growth. So, we can look at scores to track how individual students are progressing on their pathway. Um, and this is assessed year overyear by looking at those growth and scale scores. So, what does that actually look like? So on the next slide, um this is a this is a snapshot of our overall proficiency levels. So you'll notice in this slide that um we've got the yellow bar is level one. So those are most typically our newer to country students. Our largest group and this is common um across the field is level three. A level three student is going to be a kiddo who is uh verbally very proficient sounding and is likely still working in the domains of reading and writing. Um that might not be the um same as a native English-speaking peer. Um these proficiency levels of course are highly influenced by how many English learners are coming into our system. So, as we have seen over the last couple of years, we have about 9% overall population of EEL. Um, and we've gotten newcomers o over the past few years, which we had not had uh when I first came. And so, the proficiency levels are just interesting data to see kind of as a system where students are landing. Um, progress toward English language proficiency. So um each important for you to know each English learner is assigned an annual growth target and this is a really complex formula that MDE runs and it's based on things like the number of years a student has been in an English-speaking school. Also the age or grade of the student impacts what their growth target is going to be. So what you're seeing here on the left is progress toward growth. And you can see that um about 75, let's see, excuse me. Um in Hopkins about 51.5 students are making progress, average progress toward growth, which is a little higher than the state average. And then on the right side, that's actually the number of students who met their growth target. So we are we care about making progress toward growth. And then we also care about who's actually making their growth target. And you can see there again that Hopkins is doing a little bit better than the state in students actually meeting their growth target. The next slide al shows students who exit EL services. So you in order to exit you have to score a 4.5 overall on the access assessment. um that is what our state has deemed proficient um in order to exit. And this data is important because you see um at some of those transition points higher exit numbers than um in some of the other grades. And this is this is actually pretty good. Um the students who are exiting in grades four and five are very likely students who have been in Hopkins uh for a significant portion of their elementary. There's the dip in middle school. again very very common. We don't see historically a lot of exiting in those middle years but then again in nth grade those students um are exiting. And I just want to acknowledge that you know this is in large part to the work of our EL team but not just the EL team because actually English learners don't spend all day with EL teachers. They spend days all day with um a variety of teachers across their school. And so all of our teachers are are doing a fantastic job in helping students meet those growth targets and also exit programming. I'm going to turn it over to Ia to talk about um our MCA proficiency results. Hello everyone. Okay, so before I begin, I want to talk about just like a brief overview of what what are MCAs, right? So that we have a common understanding of what it is. um the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment, also known as MCAs, are state tests in reading, math, and science that help evaluate school and district performance. It helps us to meet federal accountability requirements, and it also helps guide curriculum and instruction. So, students are scored in four levels. Does not meet, partially meet, meet, and then exceed standards. And we could find these results in the Minnesota report card which is what I will pull um for the graphs that you'll see next. Um and then student also participate in specific grades. So when we say students we're talking about specific grades. So for reading all grades 3 through to 8 and also 10th graders. Math is grades 3 to 8 and 11th graders. And the science is grades five 8 and high school life sciences. So students who take biology. Okay. Before we even dive into the data, we also need to understand how is it being used, what is the appropriate way to use it because there's so many narratives about it. Um so as guided by the Minnesota Department of Education, um the results can be used to look at overall proficiency, compare student groups, track changes over time to evaluate equity, curriculum, and instructional effectiveness. And so it is very important as Dr. Mary Perry Reeds had said this is only one of multiple data points um that should be used for school and district decision-m. So just keep that in mind as we're looking at the data. So on the next slide, this is a chart that shows Hopkins district proficiency rates in reading, math, and science. So all subjects from 2021 to 2025. So you'll see that the science assessment for 2025 is not there. And that's because it was a new assessment last year. So the 2025 results is still pending. Um and I think we'll receive it later in the fall. So I'll update this slide as I receive the information. Proficiency calculations include only student who participated and have valid scores. So the percentage that you're seeing here are just for student the total number of students who participated. So it's not all of students enrolled. It's students who participated that had a valid score. So when we're looking at the data, the dark blue bar shows math, the light blue shows reading, and the tail color shows science. Overall, this chart shows that more students are proficient in reading in Hopkins compared to math and science with science having the lowest proficiency rate. So if we go to the next slide, specifically for math. So here's a snapshot of math proficiency rate at Hopkins compared to the state. So the black bar represents the state and the dark blue represent Hopkins. So math proficiency declined from 48.1% in 2021 to 38% in 2025. The most recent is 38% of student is proficient in math in 2025 which reflected a slight increase of 0.3% from 2024. For reading proficiency, there was also a decline from 57.3% in 2021 to 47.8% in 2024. And then from 2024 to 2025, we did see a slight increase of um about 0.9 increase from for.8 to 48.7%. The scores though still remain in that range of 47 to 57%. Um and then the most recent again is 48.7% which is very close to the state statewide which is 49.6% for reading. Again as noted there are no 2025 results yet for science. Um if you want to know why it's because the 2019 Minnesota standard science standards were implemented in 2024 2025. So we might not even get to compare that data because the assessment will look very different. So just keep that in mind. I will include it later but just keep that in mind as we're looking at the data. Okay. So overall science proficiency declined from 47.2% in 2021 to 29.6% in 2023. So from 2023 though we did had an increase of 33 of 33.6%. So it was interesting to see that from 2021 to 2023 there was a decline but then we had an increase. So it'll be interesting to see what 2025 will look like even though the assessment will look different. So that was a really brief overall right we have more data of course if you're interested but that's just a very high level overview of the data. Um and finally we wanted to share information directly from Minnesota departments of education assessment team because there's been a lot of questions about opt out student refusal parent refusal which are really common. Um and so I wanted to explain that in MDE Minnesota report card there are three different reports um for the category our students mastering standards. So the first one which is the test achievement level test result and participation report is the data that I pull for the charts that you just saw which again is only for student it only calculates students who have a valid score who participated and tested. Okay. But then if we were to look at the Northstar academic achievement calculation, it includes all students. So students who do not participate in testing for that report are treated the same way as students who are not proficient. So that number is going to look different from the number that I just pulled. And then again for the Northstar academic progress calculation, students actually need two of scores to even see the growth. So we actually need to be mindful that when we're looking at the data, who who is who is represented at those data points also matters. So this is an example that I was talking about. So on the left you'll see that there is the test result participation report uh which is the provinicity of students who had a valid score. And so you'll see there that that is the numbers that I pulled for our graph. But then when we look at the Northstar achievement uh academic achievement report which is the middle one we'll see that our score for profage proficient is lower because it's including all students. Does that make sense? So if you have any questions I'm happy to answer it later. Um but what is important here is that we along with the big data project we're really looking closely at understanding how students who opt out impact our data. Um and so this is one way to look at it. Um and so we're just working with them to really understand who is opting out, how does that impact our data? Um and then also understand another layer to it is understanding how students who enroll in Hopkins later, how does that impact our data as well? So there's just a lot of layers there for MCAs. And board members, I just wanted to remind you that and one of the reasons IA and I chose to put this really textheavy slide in is because this is directly from the um testing department at MDE and it's even we have to read it a couple of times sometimes to make sure that we're looking at the set of data with the right eyes. And so because this deck will serve as a reference deck for all of you for this year and and moving forward, we thought it would just be helpful to have it to go back to um just as a reference to, you know, when we're talking about, well, do the kids who don't take the test count against us? Do they not count against us? The answer is in one report they do and in one report they don't. So just um if if you need to refresh your memory on on what those mean and then um if you are familiar with the report card the slide number 19 is you know shows you kind of in those three cases what that report looks like. So really just kind of for your future reference as well. So just to talk about um so now what um which is the right next thing to be thinking about um after tonight we will be reviewing this level of data primarily well first and foremost with our Hopkins instructional leadership team. We have a meeting with them on Wednesday of next week where we are going to share sort of this broad overview of the district level data and then um in September and October we'll be working with our data specialist team to provide our schools with what the snapshots look like for their building and those will include some analyses around by grade level uh by race and FRP status and some of those other demographic things that are important. um for us to to to really look at and be aware of at the school level. Um from there we will be providing protocols and expectations for the building leadership teams to analyze that data and then guide their teacher level teams which might be like a grade level team or a department team to do some deeper analysis on what the data means to them. And so those are kind of the next steps that we um anticipate to do with both access and MCA data for our system as we work toward improving our outcomes um in a systematic way. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, I I appreciate the explanation about the textheavy slide because yes, I was it's hard to look at. >> Yeah, especially at 10:40 at night. >> Um, any uh questions or comments from my board colleagues? >> Chair Andre, Treasure Hartland, thank you both for staying. Um, thank you for this information. And it's it's important. It's a and it's important to contextualize it too. And and so you mentioned that a primary reason for doing this is to know where we need to investigate further and that that's an appropriate use of the MCA data. And and I know that this work has been ongoing. And so one of the things that was clear was the need for the new elementary math curriculum. And so that is a wonderful first step that we took and I'm very excited to see how that impacts our scores going forward. Was there any other points of investigation that are obvious? you know, understanding that this is a whole this is a whole journey that we're on, but any points of investigation that are obvious now that >> I Well, so for me um the the the the broad strokes are useful and interesting and um what I'm also interested in, you know, one of our goals is to um you know, disrupt racial and um economic based disparities that show up in data. And so when we get to our um school and maybe even grade level or classroom level data, um what we want to do is look for bright spots. So we know thanks to our work with Dr. Nath and um some of our other research that um you know students who are of a certain demographic group do tend to do more poorly on these tests. But we we also know that there are um factors that lead to trajectory changing um experiences for kids. And so we want to look for those bright spots in our own system as well as potentially spots where uh we need to attend to whether it's a curricular need. You know, you mentioned our new math materials. We've been working really hard on some new literacy practices. Um, we need to continuously check in on the implementation of those things because neither of them are a panacea or a light switch that we can flick on and off and expect everything to change. But we have to watch very closely because um we want to make sure that um we are building an expectation of consistency and coherence among all of our classrooms. Um and that's that's really important if we do um expect to have the outcomes that we would like to see after a few solid years of implementation. I feel okay about the slight increase in our scores and you know there's still a lot of work to do in in in bringing those up. >> Thank you. >> Um I think people might Clerk Thompson chair Andre thanks. Um yeah always appreciate when you bring the data like this. Um, and I I would echo what Treasure Harland said about, you know, appreciating the textheavy slide because you know, you hear sometimes, well, opt outs count against us. Well, you know, thank you for showing here. depends which thing you're pulling it from, you know, and so um you know, and I appreciate the hyperlinks, too, because I am more familiar with the report card where they don't count against you and I wasn't super familiar with this Northstar academic achievement. So, thanks for showing that they're both there. Really appreciate that. Um I guess just one just quick question. um when you had talked about the purpose of MCA testing and you know I appreciate you framing it this is satellite this is very high level um you mentioned the the purpose here and there's kind of these three bullet points and appreciate again director treasurer Hartland's mention of the um the new math curriculum and so that to me is kind of the bullet point about informing curriculum and instruction so Then uh just what what is the ESSA there for the federal accountability and and what are we supposed to meet to do that? I'm just unfamiliar with that. >> That's good. So um it actually ties to the now um well talked about text heavy slide. So ESSA is every student succeeds act. It is the replacement of No Child Left Behind. And so for for the ESSA accountability purposes that looks at those Northstar reports. So not our state participation kind of um what's described in that lefth hand column of the text slide but the other two. So we are um the the ESSA act requires all school districts to measure students performance. We use MCA. We've had MCA for a long time. We use it to meet that that ESSA requirement and then also our own state reporting and and monitoring purposes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Director Xiao. >> Thank you, Chair Andre. Um, yeah. So, hey, uh, thanks for the data. It's always good to know directionally. Um, you know, I'm just trying to put everything together, right, in context with the potential draft of the new superintendent draft uh goals, right? And and they're I I think aggressive in a great way. Um, so I guess what I'm trying to say is like is your expectation that these kind of directional satellite view metrics are also going to increase in a similar way, right? Maybe not exactly but directionally, right? And if so, you know, this time next year is are, you know, are we committing to saying, okay, we're going to be up, you know, at least this number of percent. And we're committing to that, right? We have a new curriculum, you know, letters, training is more or less complete. We need to start seeing some returns on these investments and soon. >> Yeah, I appreciate that. Um, for the purposes of uh Dr. premier peri school go schools will be looking at growth data which is fastbridge data but that said um to your point I mean absolutely I think that fastbridge data helps us um in the moment make some actionable decisions around um instructional choices with students which which will and should um impact what our MCA data says it the the term of it might be a little bit longer, but it it definitely should impact those and it is not um it's it's a common practice um in some districts to have MCA targets. Um and that might be something that we would want to consider at some point. Um, I think it's a little challenging to set reasonable targets when we are in a bit of an installation phase with our math and literacy at the elementary level, but I do think that that's something that could be of use for us in the future. >> Interesting. Thank you. Um, anyone else? Well, I thank you again for this report. I'm speaking for myself perhaps, but I will need some time to process this >> and um when my brain is functioning a little bit better um and um we'll forward my questions to you and Dr. Mary Perry Reed for for further context if that's okay. >> Absolutely. And actually that reminds us to tell you that uh we did get a couple of questions I think maybe in the question and answer session after part one or maybe in an email I don't recall now but IA does did do some further analysis per those questions that she is ready to send out. We'll do that tomorrow and then we will put that data into this deck. So again you sort of have one place to go to for all of it. >> Thank you. >> Yeah absolutely. I'll also link the district assessment calendar because I know a few of you visited during the innovation fair and was like can we also get that and was like yeah sure so I'll link it in the slide deck too so everything is in one spot for you all going back to that innovation fair >> apparently all I have to say >> thank you so much >> you have a good night >> um so now we will go to the policies and first read where we do have some action items so it should be u Very interesting. I will turn it over to Vice Chair Ross. >> Thank you, Chair Andre. We have six policies. Um, first rever going to present to uh the cohort today. Uh, 101, 204, 210, 214, 410, and 450. Uh, from a framing perspective, uh, this is welcome back to Hopkins September. Um what we're going to be doing here is >> giving you a good background that these policies and revisions. >> I mean essentially these policies reflect changes to ensure alignment with the district vision 2031 equity lens as part of our commitment to overcoming racism. And then the MSBA are Minnesota schoolboard association model policies that um are used and utilized as a guide with these particular uh Hopkins policies. So then we are aligned with how we want to go forward with them. So I will hand it over to assistant superintendent um Dr. Lightfoot to walk you guys through. The first one we could um I guess walk you guys through is 101. So with that, I'll hand it over. >> Great. Thank you. Uh most of these this evening are really the annual review policies that we have. So for these first couple meetings, you do have a set of policies that do require that you view them annually. So we'll go ahead. That's why you see many of these with no changes. And if you look at the corresponding MSBA policy, really not much change there as well. Uh but just to walk through that, uh Hopkins 101, MSBA 101 is really about the legal status of the school board. Really is kind of a authorizing policy that just establishes the um state guidelines around the status of school board and the school district. Um so with that um we are not noting any changes with policy 101. Um you will also note that really um no significant change other than just the note of the way in which they identify Minnesota chapter um and statute. Uh but beyond that any questions, comments uh concerns related to 101? >> Doesn't look like it. >> All right. 204 is school board meeting minutes. There really were no changes. um we had already taken into account the MSBA changes that were recommended in 2022. Um so with that we are also at this point in time as a monitoring committee not recommending changes to 204. Any questions about school board meeting minutes as far as the policy is concerned? >> No. >> All right. The fund continues on to 210. 210, the conflict of interest of schoolboard members. Um you will also note here that we did not see any change u the model schoolboard policies really um going back to 2008 without any modification there. Um questions or concerns about conflict? No. >> All right. 214. In case you're considering outofstate travel by schoolboard members, there is a policy and yes, we do have to look at it annually. And at this point, we aren't recommending any changes uh as a monitoring committee. You'll also note that since 2009, MSBA hasn't made any change or modification. There are questions related to this. Happy to address those at this time. >> No questions. >> All right. 410 Family and Medical Leave Act. Um you will note that there are no changes recommended here. The changes that were recommended under model policy um were revised really in 2022. Uh the guidelines around this are federal in nature. 410. I say that because we will be as you're aware instituting Minnesota paid family leave that will be instituted in January. Has its own set of conditions that are Minnesota bound. This policy 410 is really particular to the FMLA guidelines at the federal level. Um so that's why you see the federal nature of the language that's contained here. But there again, no changes for uh 410. Um any questions on Family Medical Leave Act? >> I just had a quick question about that. Um Minnesota changes. So would those then if there are any would those then be included in this policy or are we going to have a separate Minnesota specific one? >> Interesting question. We are getting some guidelines as they're emerging. We're getting the guidelines about the implementation of the plan itself. More of those are really regulations. The um in fact we were just discussing today as an HR team because we have to get ready to look at how we process the premiums because everybody will be responsible for um employer as well as employee premiums when we consider the implementation and many of those are really on a procedural level at the local level. As far as a Minnesota policy, yes, um probably forthcoming, but really that can run concurrently as we think about um the where most people are familiar, the 12 weeks that go with um FMLA and how those interface with one another. Um much of that information is still being finalized with um some of the implementation practices. So, we hope to get some additional information shortly, but right now that's really contained within statutory guidance. >> Thank you. >> I did have another question specific to this policy and wondering if the monitoring committee reviewed um the language within this policy for um gender neutrality um in line with our other policy. Um, and if so, was there any discussion about making it less gender specific? >> As far as looking at that particular element, no. Um, and certainly it can be if there guidance from the group, we certainly can go back and make those modifications >> um if it's possible. I know a lot of this is federal driven, but if it's possible, it would be great if we could um just do a review. Like I'm just looking at one spouse means a husband or wife. Um just making sure that we're in alignment with our other policy around this. Is that all right with you, Vice Chair Russ? >> Sure. >> Thank you. So noted. All right. We'll bring any of that modification forward in second read. Um that is 410 the last policy uh of the evening 456 u with 456. It is the staff ethics conflict of interest. Uh we did not note and you will note uh because of the 456 those that are in the 50s and above are all local policies not with model MSBA. We do have this staff ethics conflict of interest. Um part of note is that we did not recommend changes to the policy itself. We did however have a good discussion about including this policy in an annual notice to staff and making sure that as we do our annual staff work on policies such as mandatory reporting, other um sexual harassment policy reviews um and any other documents that we have that we do also ask staff to review this on an annual basis. just as a reminder to them and keeping this information in front of them as well. While it's not specific in policy, it really is about the practice of just making sure that we raise that level of awareness. >> Thank you. Any feedback? >> Looks good. >> All right. Well, that concludes the uh slate that we have in front of you this evening. Um and with that, we can move forward on any vote. >> Great. Thank you so much. Um and thank you for like that's a long list of policies. So, thank you monitoring committee for getting through all of that. Um, so I would then look for a motion to approve the above policies in first read except for policy 410 which is going back for review um, and just some language changes. And further, the board directs the administration to prepare the policies with any suggested revisions for approval and second reading at the next meeting as part of the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. Any any opposed? The chair votes I and the policies have been passed out of first read. Thank you very much, Superintendent Lightfoot, for all of your time this evening. >> Um, that will take us to our board member reports. Um, and we will continue our practice of going around the table, introducing ourselves, and giving a report. if you have the energy to do so. Um we will go ahead and start with um Vice Chair Ross. >> All right. Thank you uh Chair and Jes. Good evening everybody. Um good evening Hopkins community. I am Director Ross uh your vice chair. Um I have and I I think I forgot to note what um director West Morland noted. I will not be rer running or seeking a reelection uh for my seat. So you're welcome Hopkins. Um so with me you only have three more meetings after tonight. Uh so with that said I will give you my normal diet tribe. I have three kids in the system. Twins as I noted earlier with Miss Chauan. Uh what I failed to mention to everybody, it was I was giving Miss Director Chauvan a hard time because she actually was my ECF teacher 12 years ago >> with my kids. So, I was giving her more of a hard time of like that would have been helpful to have a multiples class uh because I had to learn how to put a diaper on my children and I didn't know at that time. Now I do. Uh so >> two children >> and I have a third that I understood how to put a diaper on at that point. Uh he is in the fourth grade >> benefited from the double practice. >> Yes. >> Yes. Having two at one time, I learned very quickly the ins and outs of how to put a diaper on and understand when I need to change them. So, two 12y olds, one 9year-old. Um, what I want to highlight is I had the pleasure of attending the AMSD meeting and I know our uh, superintendent also shared an email to the community. Uh, or maybe maybe it was just me and everybody else at Hopkins. Just what was there was multiple things that was communicated. Um, Mo Peter Le Peter Leatherman from Morris Leatherman Company presented as well as there was uh the platform legislative platform and um obviously our good friend Al director Algra Smisac um that she was presenting about Purpage. >> Oh, cool. The big thing that um I wanted to highlight was um when it came to Peter Leman walking through and communicating a lot of really good nuggets and it's really timely especially when it comes to the referendum. One of the big things um is that par families feel that the taxes the property taxes are high. However, they did note that school public school funding is not keeping pace uh you know with the current interest rates and with the current um you know the funding is just lacking and I'm pretty sure the community seen that multiple times. So, with this, you know, referendum that we have, that's going to be a big thing that we want to be able to support so we could um be able to help the uh our Hopkins public schools and be able to, you know, get some of the uh three areas for the B bond referendum, safety and security, career and technical education. Hopefully community saw that as well for CTE and then deferred maintenance. So that is really uh it was really good nuggets but yeah the biggest thing is you know the referendum priorities um that is the most important detail. There was other nuggets in there if people have opportunity to read it I would recommend it but definitely uh voting season. Thank you. Would that be something um uh Vice Chair Ross that we could include in our meeting minutes perhaps as a link to that um AMSD newsletter? >> Yeah, >> if you want to forward it to Natalia, >> that would be great. >> Sure. >> So our community can look at that. Thank you. Um, so hello everyone. My name is Shannon Andre. I am chair of the board. Um, I get to work at Gatewood Elementary in the special education programming there. And I also have a senior, which I can't believe, at the high school. Um, which is an exciting year. um and have been um I also have another child who graduated from from Hopkins schools and doing quite well. So I will not do a report tonight because I can't seem to form a sentence. >> Good evening. I'm Roa Mary Puri Reid, superintendent. I have a 17-year-old as well as um an eighth grader at West and I have already provided my superintendent report this evening. Thank you. >> Good evening. Thanks for hanging in with us. I am treasurer Rachel Hartland. I am in the final year of my first term. I use she her pronouns and I have three children in our district. I have a sixth grader, an eighth grader, and a 10th grader. So, I've um crossed that line where all of my students can walk now over to the North and High School complex and I don't commute to an elementary school anymore. And um I won't go too far because it is very late, but I did want to say that in addition to all of the teachers and all of um pair professionals and all of our um department staff, there also was a whole host of coaches of community ed teachers of volunteers of uh legislative action coalition members and even our citizens financial advisory committee. a bunch of committee members who are largely volunteers um also participated in kicking this year off and I know like u middle school robotics started today and uh a bunch of other activities that uh my kids and their peers and their classmates have participated in also contributed to a wonderful start to the year and I thank them for all of their work and love and attention to our students as well. Hello everyone. My name is Broo Roer. I um am going into my third year on the board. I have two amazing kids in the district, a second and a third grader. Um and just really really brief, I would just like to thank Dennis um from the Isaiah and SD47 for inviting um us, me and uh Treasure Hartland to talk about the federal impacts of the federal impacts on our district um at the AZ event last week or last Wednesday um or the Wednesday before with some of our state senators and legislators and um like our council members and mayor. Um we just all shared the impact like how the impact willful and excuse me how the federal cuts will impact our respective work and our entities and it was just great connect with community there. Um the district uh the district welcome back party thing that we had last week um was amazing at the high school. Thank you all for putting that together at the Mary Perry. You did an amazing job facilitating conversations and the resource fair. I learned so much. Um, and I'm just excited to get into the work that's happening. Um, and I believe that's it on my end. >> Hello, I'm Kai Thompson. I am the clerk on the board. Um, I am in probably second year of my first term. Um, three kids in the district, fifth grader, and now two high schoolers, ninth and tth grade. Um I'll forego a board report except to say that um you know the school year has started well for all three of them and just I was reflecting that you know as we had that amazing you know that large group of just how much work goes into making that as smooth as it has been for us this year. So appreciate it. >> Great. >> I am Jen West Morland. she her. I'm just finishing my eighth year on the school board and as director Ross said, I won't be seeking re-election. Um I'm a proud graduate of Hopkins schools. I have a high schooler who is so excited to be at the high school and like really motivated and signing up for all the things, which means I'm going to be a full-time chauffeur pretty soon. Um and just a quick board report, even though I could go for another six hours here. Um, I have been working with our student board reps on um, recruiting and onboarding of new board uh, student board reps and we're also going to be visiting the Weisetta school board meeting um, sorry work session in a couple weeks because their board wants to learn from our model and um, implement a student board rep program in Weisetta. >> So, thank you. >> We do have the Cadillac. >> We sure do. We've worked hard at building our model. >> Yeah. >> Well, thank you everybody. I will Oh, >> director. >> Who? >> Oh, sorry. Director >> who indeed like what? >> Well, it's all right. I The truth comes out at the truth comes out at 11:10. So, I understand. Uh, real quick. Hi, I'm Jiming Jao. Uh I'm on uh my third year of the at the school board. Got two kids in the district. Uh a fifth grader and a second grader at Shingqing over in Eisenhower. And uh yeah, our our back to school has been relatively uh well very uh uh smooth and appreciate that. And uh yeah, we're we're par we're all parents on the school board and so we are where we uh govern. So yeah, thank you. Thank you, Director Xiao. Um, and with that, I would look for a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The chair votes I. And this meeting is adjourned at 11:12 p.m. Thank you all so much.