e e e e e e e e e e e e e e oh she [Music] okay e everything okay uhhuh because like even if someone says million or something I can't like get on team or anything sure CU actually what I would recommend that we do is just install the app and use the app instead of just the web on the iPad excuse me I don't know what happened to Jen hi Z hey how you doing good how are you good good evening how you doing good once all our board colleagues are at the table we can get started she's talking about you thank you for the hustle um Kai's family is sick I don't knowel yeah Rachel is also not feeling well yes always causing trouble um I know dropping like flies there is so much oh great thank you I know mine start yeah there probably is probably read by Obama well welcome everyone to this Hopkins school board um Workshop um it is 5:06 p.m. and we will get started our first item on the agenda is a budget update um is the season to be getting lots of budget updates so I'd like to invite um director chanduka to the table and turn it over to Dr Mary Peri Reid thank you chair andreon and good evening to everyone as we get closer and closer to finalizing the budget process for this school year and distributing our preliminary budget allocations to schools it has been a very involved process um at the district level we do meet every two weeks to unpack our spending and do some cost analysis and try to figure out what we can make work for this spring I have mentioned in previous settings that here in the metropolitan area and across the state many districts are facing a budget shortfall in the metro area alone the shortfall amount seems to be exceeding 200 million and here in Hopkins we are trying to figure out how to engage in budget efficiencies and reductions in the amount of about 7 million so it's quite a gigantuous task and I'm grateful for all of the leaders including members of our citizens Financial advisory committee who have been participating in and Advising Us in this process and we're trying to create several touch points with the board so our school board members are well informed our community is well informed and there is time to have um questions answered and to provide input as we engage in this process so we wanted to provide another update today um we're we have not yet arrived at all of the decisions but we want to provide an update of sort of where we're at at a higher level and see if you have questions board members so at this time I'll turn it over to um our director of business services and our assistant superintendent and think we're going to you might hear some information that we reviewed during last board meeting with our school board but we know that different community members and parents weigh in at different times so we we do want to overc communicate so you might hear some repeat information and then um we also want to provide um an update on our exploration around collocating language immersion programs which is um part of our uh budget reduction exploration process so turo thank you Dr good evening uh Vice chair respective uh respective board members uh Natalia can you go to the next slide please uh so I just wanted to start with the uh the timelines um so tonight on the actual regular board meeting uh we have a resolution uh which the board to adopt and I wanted uh assistant superintendent Dr lightfood to kind of give us some context around uh what the resolution does in terms of the next steps as we start to go down the uh timelines of uh the budget process and then we can come back to talk about some of the uh Elements which uh were initially alluded to by the uh superintendent uh Dr lightford certainly thank you good to be with you all uh as you'll note on the consent agenda this evening you will see the first of the resolutions that we move through when we do our uh budget process the first in the series of resolutions is designed to be a transparent communication which is a directive from the board directing the administration to move forward with the analysis of budget reductions eventually culminating in the final budget that you do approve um this resolution is the first resolution on the consent agenda that really directs the administration to continue the work of looking at any program reductions analyzing the enrollment that we're starting to see using that information to look at what we anticipate for anticipated Revenue looking at are there ways as we adapt program through student registration other components within our programming delivery and we consider how we can do that do that work continue to do that work communicate with you and then as you're aware uh what comes to you in April then are some of the preliminary budget components that we're looking at with the uh approval of that work in essence then what that does is if there are any necessary Staffing reductions that then becomes the next step in that process and then we finalized that Staffing resolution work in May and then the budget work in June um so as kind of the first step this evening you will note that on the consent agenda um and happy to address any specific questions that may be related to those or other elements on the timeline that may need to be um expanded upon as well is that hope yeah that's very helpful thank you I'll po are there any question from the board around the resolution any questions from the board around the resolution um I did just have um one resolution um one question sorry I just saw the word resolution um about so this is something that if we are forecasting um that there need to be some efficiencies found in our budget um that is something that we need to do as a school board in order to explore what reductions might be made correct correct thank you just wanted to make sure that the understanding was not that these are happening but we're giving we're being trans parent about um giving the Authority for administration to start looking into that based on the projected budget shortfall thank you any other questions J andreon yes I have a process question or a general timeline question so I think 422 is when you will present a um like a first draft of of potential reductions is that is that correct that's correct so on uh April 22 we will do a revised budget for the current fiscal year and then we'll also present a preliminary uh fiscal year 2526 uh budget with some of those reductions yes and and do you expect the 422 proposal uh to to fully address everything or are we still going to be you know in the investigation mode like are you expecting to be ready on 422 like with a total yeah we've been doing some of this work for a while now uh so our anticipation is uh at the system level uh we'll probably be uh ready to present uh some of those reductions uh but the work will continue uh in our departments and our buildings uh to tie out and some of those uh elements but at a high level we should be able to uh present the preliminary can things change yes some things can change uh between then and when the board adopts the final budget in June okay okay but so we we should be expecting close to having the 7 million figured out not figured out but kind of sighted in as far as here's you know generally what we're going to be looking at reducing correct right okay and and finally um is will there be an opportunity to I guess I don't know provide feedback or just be like okay well you know you're touching these five things is there you know a different avenue that we could just kind of looking maybe for options potentially um as opposed to like you know broadly I'm I'm sure you have some things that like must change or should change but is there stuff that we could then or Community as well be like okay you know here's the you know we pick like three of these and and we get there right and and so what three should it be um is there going to be any choice I guess yeah I'll give the superintendent the opportunity maybe to talk about the communication plan uh in the field big plan on some of those items we'll be talking about tonight and into the future okay thank you you want me to address that right now sure well I think to answer your question the hope is that we would have some final decisions with board input by that time and I think the challenge in terms of choices is it's been very tough for us to identify a long list of things that are available to reduce so I'm not sure how much choice to provide but I think we can give our school board and Community a very good insight into some of the tough um considerations that are at stake if that makes sense yeah I think that would yeah I I I think yeah basically we would be good to see the rationale right and and kind of the okay well here's here's why this is the best choice I think that would be appreciated correct okay well along those lines all reductions are interconnected yeah right so it's not like a menu of options it's not like I'll take the hamburger reduction and the fries reduction it's like all of these things if we reduce here then that has implications over here so there are all these threads that are connecting and that's the hard work that our leadership team is doing right now examining if we pull on this thread what is the impact going to be over here right um and so I think in that way it makes it obviously really comp complex for people who are trying to figure out these decisions right now and I think it can make it confusing for our community who if we are parents and caregivers we're really invested in a particular program and a particular site and so um I think the challenge is to continue to look at the big picture which is certainly our responsibility as the [Music] board thank you for that context uh you can go to the next slide Natalia so uh at our uh last board meeting our citizen financial advisory uh commit came to present to the board I just wanted to actually uh reiterate some of the uh assumptions which were recommended by CAC uh which we have used as the starting point for uh developing the the budget for uh fiscal year 2526 uh one of those assumptions was around our Revenue projections and uh uh we are projecting our Revenue at um at 2% uh based on current information we uh we have I know there was language uh in the uh previous legislative um approvals uh around uh inflationary increases uh between 2 and 3% uh Beyond fiscal year 25 26 so uh we are projecting something around the 2% if things change which I am not anticipating based on what we what we are hearing from the legislative uh conversations we don't anticipating any uh significant changes to uh Revenue projections and inflationary increases uh we also have been looking at our uh enrollment projections uh we are trying to be very creative in terms of uh some of the shifts we are seeing with uh with enrollment uh but from a budgetary standpoint we are projecting uh flat increases in fy2 uh6 uh We've studied this information over time uh when we look at when we do the actual budget and um project the enrollment which drives how we allocate resources and uh some of the actual numbers we really start to see as students register for classes and uh if if we uh if we over project then we go for our our budget if we under project uh then we end up with um uh uh class sizes which are uh which which are not sustainable so we try to be very pristine in terms of uh where we see the numbers stand between uh different activities and migrations which happen through uh the process when we do the planning to when we start to see the actual students are coming in so that uh we minimize the risk of having to make uh significant stru uh structural shifts before uh the beginning of the school year uh and as you'll see we've used different uh methodologies uh over time in trying to capture some of those nuances we don't really know uh uh when we are planning uh uh significantly uh way before we actually see the actual action happening in our uh in our buildings and systems uh We've also factored in uh based on uh conversations which are going on with our uh negotiating Partners our labor bargaining groups uh and based on the trends we've seen in the uh last negotiation cycle and what we are actually seeing going into the future not just at Hopkins uh but across the Metro uh so we've uh projected a 4% cost of living adjustment increase for uh uh for labor negotiations across the different uh unions we work with uh we also factored in uh a 42% French benefit increase which didn't shift from what we had projected for uh benefits for this year uh but we also again have Dr lightfood speak speak to that around uh what we are hearing from uh what the market is responding to in terms of uh some of the French benefits we uh uh we apply for uh employees total compensation uh as we've spoken in the previous sessions uh there is some significant increases we've seen with our transportation so right now we are currently uh working with our Transportation uh auditing Consultants I had a meeting with them this afternoon uh just to take a first look at some of the discoveries uh and uh what we probably have to do to uh realign our transportation operation so that uh they are responsive to available resources in our system so uh more information will be available as that report is uh getting finalized and the Consultants are having conversations with uh different internal and exteral um stakeholders in our system uh So based on all these elements uh a consumer price index on our purchase Services utilities uh supplies of 3% uh if you factor in all these elements uh that's where we uh uh are seeing that gap of about close to $7 million uh which we have been working to uh Identify some of the changes we need to make so that we don't end up uh impacting uh class size impacting the uh Quality Service of programs some things will change uh we have to shift certain practices so that uh we are able to at least uh structurally balance our our budget between our our revenues and expend ures uh can you go to the next slide Natalia so the next slide uh just outlin some of the uh processes we've been uh implementing uh over a number of months now starting uh at the beginning of the school year we knew that fiscal year 2526 was going to be a challenging year since we had uh transferred some funds for fiscal year 2425 from fund balance into uh into operations uh we've been meeting with uh principals and other District leaders uh as mentioned previously by the superintendent uh on a bi-weekly uh to get feedback uh brainstorm on ideas uh run those uh ideas uh with our uh building leadership teams and other uh internal customers of the system uh we have also at cabinet been analyzing our uh departmental budgets comparing those to other surrounding uh school districts uh we have brought some of that information back to leadership and uh we are starting to gather feedback on uh some of the structural changes we may need to make it the department level uh the transportation like I said uh Transportation audit is ongoing uh I have some preliminary information uh our goal is to uh to make some reductions in transportation we we we have seen a huge spike in our transportation course so that's one of the areas where uh we'll have to make some tough choices and decisions here uh but at the same time way on what that uh what impact that does have to uh to to to the community and to our programs uh the superintendent will talk around uh the work which has been done with our uh Teamworks Partners around the imion programs and uh we've been also uh costing some of the programs here and uh as we go through through the work uh identifying the uh the pros and the cons uh some of the challenges uh some of the uh ideas are long term so the work will probably have to start now uh but that work might take uh multiple years for us to be able to realize uh the desired results uh We've also been working closely uh realigning our predictable Staffing model uh so that it is responsive to uh what what we are seeing in our in our buildings we've had some exercises with principls uh so that we can understand uh certain elements within the predictable stui model we may need to standardize or we we may need to uh create opportunities of maybe be uh sharing resources so that we can minimize uh the impact on programs uh program quality as well as uh uh class sizes uh can you go the next slide so the next slide uh just documents some of the items we've uh We've looked at uh which may uh have maybe less impact uh which we can uh quickly operationalize and be able to uh make some realization so one of the uh decision we made about 2 years ago was to uh create a budget for uh for safety uh in the past our safety components were kind of comingled within our buildings and grounds and uh there wasn't really a specific line item which speaks to uh holistic school safety so we started uh putting some elements together based on the uh report which had been uh uh researched a few years ago by a securi Consultants who came into the district and they've been working to uh make sure that uh the recommendations uh apply to our system uh we also receive uh some revenue from the uh from the staff is restricted revenue for safe schools uh so in during the pandemic we have used some of those uh ASA gear dollars to be able to address some of the needs within security so we do have a port of man which is restricted which we can use in 20 25 26 to uh address the holistic School saf needs and that kind of frees up the dollars which we have been setting aside in the general fund to address some of the needs in school safety so so those dollars will be able to uh at least alleviate some of the pressure we are seeing within the uh within the general fund uh Transportation like I said uh we are in the process of uh finalizing on the transportation audit and uh uh a report will be brought back to uh leadership and to to the board uh they've looked at our uh board policies uh identified Trends compared some of those Trends to surrounding school districts uh one of the things uh We've I realized based on the information which has just been shared with me and the transportation team at this point in time is we are working as efficiently as we we can uh with our routing based on the programs being saved so uh we have to re look at maybe uh shifting certain practices uh so that we are able to create some um uh efficiencies around uh turnaround times for for for transportation um we have to again go back and relook at uh our bail times and what that might uh look for for the this on average the district spends about $100,000 for each bus so uh we we have about 55 buses which um Regular buses or the big buses we have about 32 buses which are uh special education buses we have we have about 29 buses which are type three buses uh and some of those uh as we start to look at what is shifted in the last couple years uh we' have seen some increases and uh that's why we did that opt in this year anticipating that um it will alleviate the number of buses we need to um we need to transport all our students so we are looking at uh comprehensive analysis with the idea of uh finding Solutions lasting Solutions which won't impact the quality of of Transportation uh but which uh realistic of the resources we have uh at this particular point in time uh we are also looking at uh some shifts within our operations and maintenance so our operations and maintenance department M handles uh our custodial work uh they also are responsible for a lot of the district's um um upkeep uh including you know utilities uh our utilities are kind of centralized but uh paid into into the buildings and departments uh we also receive some Revenue which is outside of our long-term facility maintenance uh which is tied to operating Capital so uh we do have some restricted fund balance within those funds which we can use uh to alleviate any Capital outlays which may be paid out of the general fund for fiscal year 2526 uh the next set of uh reductions and I will have Dr Light speak to that one of them is around sub substitute reconfiguration uh targeted Staffing uh the coach uh uh coaching model I don't know if you want to touch on that sure uh Substitute reconfiguration part of what we're looking at is um neighboring districts have made some moves especially at the high school level to look at right now generally we look at a onetoone replacement if a teacher is out we have a substitute come in and cover for that day if we start to think about some of the large space usage elements and more of our ability to bring some of that material online through canvas if there is an absence and how we can staff that space more broadly with supervision for the space and any instructional delivery being more pushed toward an online element through canvas that is really where we're starting to move that substitute reconfiguration so that we aren't looking at on toone sub Replacements most predominantly at our secondary buildings and then really looking at how we reconfigure the use of our in-building subs which are less expensive than where We've Ended up um in our past couple years of using licensed staff members giving up their preparation time um which is inevitably more expensive um than looking at different options so we've been trying to look at how we can reconfigure the usage with that model uh targeted Staffing we have a targeted Staffing specific set aside in the budget that targeted staffing has been used collectively through our staffing uh group and budgeting and Staffing space so that if we have what I would say is just as issues come up throughout the time of the budget determination and the ual start of the school year that we've utilized those funds on an as needed basis part of what we've been looking at is through our configuration in the predictive Staffing model can we design some elements which move away from targeted Staffing being an additional resource rather than looking at can we reconfigure the existing resource so how do we come away with models that look at if spaces have haven't fully utilized funds how do we move funds between spaces rather than going toward a targeted Staffing and spacing and spaces using funds that may not be the most efficient practice so what we've tried to do is reconfigure the way that we're looking at how we address those items that come up throughout the course of that period of time as well as throughout the course of the year as well part of the coaching model that we're looking at is this is also aligned with our Q comp program with our peer coaches and our instructional coaches looking at how we put together a comprehensive model that can utilize existing Q comp funding knowing that this is a conversation at the legislature about the continued support of what this might look like Beyond 2627 at our last session we had a conversation with our building principles about looking at a revised model with the idea that we want to continue and refine the work that we do with our coaching for instructional development in the classroom really as that job embedded staff development component and looking at how we can continue that knowing the research really does support effective coaching as a way to grow and enhance the instructional delivery that we're providing but looking at how we can do that differently as we project into the future about what that model can look like and then lastly with the classroom teacher rounddown part of what we've looked at within the predictive Staffing model is that if there were through the allocations based on the enrollment numbers at a specific location part with our Elementary programs is that we had tended to round up part of what we're looking at is can we utilize a hard and fast number not rounding up um to try and look at can we then use discretionary dollars in a differentiated way uh that's been part of the consideration of what that classroom teacher rounddown means when we look at how we've allocated in part that'll be based um as was mentioned earlier on the work that we are doing to look at how we can uh more broadly support classroom FTE to make sure that we're adhering to the messages that we've heard clearly from our education Partners as well as our community about the need to maintain and or consider how we can lower um potential class sizes uh based on our student and family experience thank you so uh at this level uh these are the items we have comprehensive looked we have also uh a list of other items we are uh we are working on and um I'll give the opportunity to the superintendent to uh take us to the next um uh item on the uh on the reduction we've been exploring and after that maybe opportunity for the board for any questions thank you uh can you go to the next slide uh thank you CH so board members and Community one of the things that we've been exploring is program collocation and what this means is um bringing one program that's currently split across schools together within the same school um so when you think about where we have our language immersion programs housed we have hunos and Chinese immersion at the elementary level here at Eisenhower Elementary and then we have um hunos also at Ellis Smith and there are a couple of driving forces behind our exploration one is um we really want to think about program growth if we think about um the role that enrollment plays in bringing Revenue to a school district then we want to maximize opportunities for students to come into Hopkins and we do have a strong waiting list with hunos and um in um in reviewing all of this data with our partner Teamworks what we've um discovered and are theorizing is that it will be pretty hard to um grow two sections of non-immersion at Alis Smith so really helping uh Alis Smith become a strong neighborhood school for our non-immersion students and growing two sections of hunos at every grade level within that footprint that presently exists at Alis Smith so program growth is a really strong element and so it was some of these things that we began thinking through and decided that we really needed the help of an outside partner to help us dive more deeply into the complex data surrounding this so we are working with Teamworks um it's an a strategic planning organization that is partnering with a number of other districts they mentioned currently working with for example wisett public schools and um the school district in Forest Lake who's also looking at program location with their immersion programming ironically um so they've been a great partner for us and since January 23rd which was our first meeting we have held eight 3-hour meetings with um a group of individuals that we're calling the design team and the reason we're calling that the design team is that based on all of the data that's housing demographic data enrollment per school um uh race soci economic um students who are qualifying for uh special education Serv Services did I mention housing data so all of the data that you can think about um we give that data to Teamworks and um we also give them our school maps and then they help us Identify some potentially viable scenarios around program uh location collocation and then also helping us predict what impacts might be made with uh boundaries so we have had several meetings with Teamworks and then we've also held two larger meetings that we call input team meetings right here in this uh large space so on two occasions we probably had maybe I don't know 50 to 70 teachers parents and even a student came and and helped us look at a few of the scenarios giving us feedback and so that's been sort of the structure of the process and then on the slide you'll see some of the things that we've been contemplating so program growth is really important budget efficiency is really important you can imagine that if we bring two thriving program so shing shing and hunos in the same building and we're routing all of our buses to one versus two buildings then that could have a transportation efficiency and there might be a staffing efficiency as well um and I think that um on the slide you'll also see something about a balanced middle school so we're not just exploring what collocation might look like at the elementary level we're also exploring what it might look like at the middle school level so right now we have shing shing at West Middle and hunos at North Middle School West Middle School is um a school that is been enrolling just under 600 students year after year and North Middle School is enrolling um slightly below or above 900 students every year so pretty imbalanced in terms of total enrollment and another driving force in our thinking is wanting more evenly balanced enrollment at our middle schools smaller middle schools are harder to staff and also at North which is a larger middle school we also need to create space for um the longer open enrollment waiting lists that exist at that school so that's so balance middle schools is another element that we're thinking about and the way that these two things are connected so for example uh last night during our meeting we talked at length about whether it is um student centered and familyfriendly and what impact is there on staff if language immersion is collocated at the elementary level but exists at two separate middle schools right that means that in fifth grade then students are matriculating to two different middle schools and would it make more sense if we're collocating at elementary we also colocate at middle but then which middle right and there's a lot of feelings and a lot of a lot at stake around whether both would be at West or both would be at north um and then I think one very significant element in all of this is when you Mo when you reroute or move a large group of students from one school to another then you're talking about boundary impact on other groups of students so boundary impact on Glen Lake boundary impact on Gatewood boundary impact on tangling students because we need to consider total enrollments at all of these students we need to consider um not creating uh racially isolated schools so schools that are 20% whiter or more brown and black than the district average um and so those those considerations have been very important to us but also to uh the large group of folks that we brought in for the for the input uh Team structure and so um at this point we wanted to provide this update to our school board and also to our community that we have been engaged in this process it's been a very truncated process we literally started at the end of January and here we are nearly the end of February so just a month looking at um a number of these scenarios and when you see all of the maps and all the walls it looks like we've been you know at this for maybe a year but really it's just been a month A month's work of work and um we we had a very um we had a very impactful dialogue last night really thinking through the amount of change that our system and our families can absorb at this time whether or not we're confident in the viability of one or more of these models knowing that we haven't yet had time to cost the most viable models in our community needing to know well how much money would you actually save if you do scenario a versus scenario B right um and we're also at a a juncture in our budgeting process where our schools and our principes are waiting for their preliminary Staffing allocations and we have decisions to make so there was a really strong sense in the team last night that we don't have enough information nor have we provided enough opportunity for family and Community input to make a decision for next year if it does seem that if we made a decision for next year it would feel rushed and we would then be packing a lot of work into you know a season when we're already juggling uh quite a few other important things and we want to um we want to treat this with the delicacy and thoughtfulness and intentionality that it deserves so we are um with our um help from our director of Communications we are putting together an update for our community just saying look we told here's what we've been looking at we told you we might make a decision for next year we might wait a year or we might not make a decision at all right now we're crossing one of those off the list which is we're not making a decision for next year and we'll communicate that with staff and students and we are going to continue engaging in this exploration process because we need to figure out if there is a significant cost savings and we need to figure out if there is a way for us to collocate in a way that doesn't cause detrimental impact to families knowing that for example bringing elementary elementary hunos together has a will have a positive benefit on student learning because those teachers will be in the same space collaborating as an example so on that slide you'll see a few things that we've we know or have um have recently disc discovered and also a few things that we hope to continue to learn um we will put out an update to our community hopefully within the next 24 hours and yeah just wanted to provide you with an update and just see if you have questions and these this is a really hard thing because people are very um attached to where they go to school to their school identity what has been built over time and we we want to um treat that with respect but also um do what's best for our budget now and for long-term sustainability as well thank you for that update any is this a good time to ask for questions I think this was the last slide is yeah okay great um any comments or questions T Andre a question what are some the main concerns that we're hearing from community and family around the switch to um the colate the co-cation well a number it depends on which Community right so for example Elementary hunos some families um feel that maybe being part of a larger immersion school with other h families so coming to Eisenhower would be ideal some hunos families feel you know look I'm at Alis Smith I really love this school I've grown attached this feels you know I I want this to be my child's school okay um there's also some um concerns that families and staff have around the impact on non-immersion students here at Eisenhower so if we col if we brought hunos over from Alice Smith then a would we build out more classroom space so that we could house hunos shing shing and non-immersion here or would we have to relocate our non-immersion students which do have a slightly different slightly to vary sometimes depending on grade level depending on year demographic than our immersion students so then would those students be displaced so there's some concern around that um I think at the middle school level there's concern around um at West there are folks both in West and also some of us here who feel like um we need to urgently think about how to help that school not be such a small Middle School right so if we had if it served more like seven or 8 00 students it um we would be able to Resource it more effectively um and there was an idea on the table that if both immersion programs were at West then perhaps we could attract families who live in that uh Western area because they would maybe attend um immersion programming at West and then if you um look at our amilies and stakeholders at North then you know hunos has been at North for a very long time and uh folks are very um proud of their program the program that they've built over time and don't necessarily want to relocate to West um so there's and you know we haven't yet solicited feedback from our um non-emerging elementary students who might have a boundary impact right but of course there will there would be some concerns that those families and staff would have around needing to be relocated to a different school and then if we you know if we made the change in one year and all of the students impacted would then attend a new school the next year we could probably experience an immediate financial savings but the friendlier approach is phasing it over time which takes longer and you you're not realizing that immediate financial savings so it's there's a lot at stake I'm I'm not sure my brain is trying to like list all of the different reasons are there some other things that we've heard that are worth mentioning I'm going to look at my list here yeah I think you hit the major ones that were part of the work we did last night thank you um so thank thank you so much Dr Mary per Reid for the clarification around the process um there's been a lot of misinformation in the community on social media um making judgments about process and intent that are not accurate and we are in an environment where in many ways public schools are under scrutiny and under attack in some cases and we have leaders here in Hopkins who are trying to retain high quality programming that we value and being really really thoughtful in terms of process in terms of collecting the data bringing stakeholders in at appropriate points when we have enough information to share right like for those of us who have done Community work for years there's nothing worse than being brought to the table when there isn't actually something to be shared right and that is the opposite of what you all have been doing you've been really really thoughtful about it um and I've been really disappointed to see um in some cases personal attacks against our district leaders who are working really hard to preserve these programs and to do it in a really intentional way um it reminds me of when we were talking about the 69 shift right there were a lot of really big feelings about that and that was a really really long um process a very detailed process and we had the choice to make as a board at that time to move forward with it for the next year or to delay it for a year and it sounds like we've kind of come to a a similar place at least that's what the recommendation is going to be from the administration at this point um so we've done this before as a community and we did it really really successfully um and uh we don't know yet obviously if this is going to be the final decision right um because we're not at that point yet but I have a lot of faith in us as a community that we're going to be able to come together and do this in a really honest um and supportive way that that keeps the quality of programming and all of the things we care about in in Hopkins Equity um sustainable funding for our sites um really at the center of the process so I I appreciate the the update tonight thank you director West Morland J andreon yes Dr xia I have a question uh so hunos at Alis Smith goes to north and is that because Ellis Smith feeds North okay all all hunos goes to North all okay okay got it okay and is that and that's always the way it's been right Alice Smith to North okay got it all right no not Alice Smith goes to North Al Smith goes to West no it hasn't always been that way oh okay but it's always been I think that hunos goes to North okay but where does Alis Smith Community School go well now they go to North but it used to be that half went to West and half went to North and I only know this because my K yeah no there's like a long AR archology that we need to do sometimes right which is a to director West morland's Point that was another really big shift in the community um that people struggled with as well so these these things um you know and our family was impacted by that um but I think that you know it is always in my experience been a thoughtful process when these changes happen so I Al I share your your trust in the administration and Community to do it well did you have something you wanted to add uh yeah well thanks for calling on me um I I just really appreciate appreciate the context that um our superintendent Dr M Reed went into um to walk us walk the board members through you know that this is a very this is not an easy decision and that there's still no firm decision and I mean I don't want to simplify it but I think sometimes in my head I'm trying to understand some of these big pictures and it just sounds like more of a supply versus demand but again I'm not in the weeds of it but that's what it sounded like when um the presentation was going through and then Dr Mar Pi Reed uh was walking through and it basically I know we're looking at the budget so I I think it would just definitely be helpful for me like if that's how like if I'm not viewing it the right way then please I'm humble enough to know that I'm not that smart so um you know that's how I'm interpreting the data based on what I was hearing is that to keep this program growing and to hit some growth targets is really a supply and demand issue and we're trying to ensure that we're not over stacking like North versus West having not as many bodies in it um at a given period or into the future but again please correct me if I'm misunderstanding the presentation no I think you got it it's about balance and sustainability about program growth about what's best for students and there are multiple scenarios that um generate experiences that would be good for students and we're just struggling to figure out how to honor what's been built while also realizing a potential cost savings if there is some and if we can Implement well and I apologize if you mentioned this also but I think part of the other work that we've been doing is looking at the transportation alignment yes and and trying to think and knowing that that's been a high cost driver that if there's a way that through this work that we're doing that we can also consider that as an operational impact it'd be another element that we want through our audit process to be keeping in front of us as well I do have oh sorry one quick question on slide number five for the budgetary reductions and realignment is this in priority order of things to tackle or things to look at or is this just like holistically this is everything we're looking at uh so it's not everything we are looking at uh so those are some of the ideas uh the ones we've just included on here uh ideas which we feel we can easily operationalize and be able to make some realization of cost saving uh Without Really impacting the uh the quality of service in in buildings so definitely need to make some uh some choices here uh around how we want to go about it uh at the same time uh if we say we are cutting a million dollars in Transportation uh we just have to figure out like what does that look like uh what shifts do we need to make whether it's with our bail times or whether with um uh relooking at a different model with uh open enrollment uh how do we uh make decisions around uh op in uh to give families ample time to make decisions around whether they need Transportation or not thank you thanks um and thanks for Trans positioning to this um side CU that was also my question I thought I heard you mention that there are other things that are being looked at are these kind of more of the um longer standing ones that we have more information on would you say yeah I think there's some uh research we are we are trying to do for example uh we are also looking at our Alternative Learning Centers uh trying to identify some of the services we are Outsourcing uh and how do we bring those back into uh into the district and uh that requires uh looking at the uh advantages and disadvantages of doing that costing all those uh elements and uh determining okay is this something we can do overnight going into next year or does it require more planning in partnership with uh those um uh school districts or alternative uh Learning Centers where our students are currently going in partnership with uh our uh building leaders and staff I did have um a question well two questions um one of the first ones was um uh the budget process the assessing consistency and variability across predictable Staffing models I know each I feel like each year we get lots of questions about the predictable Staffing model um and not that you need to take us on a deep dive into that process again but I think that our community members I I feel as if the more transparent we become about this budgeting process sometimes the more confusing it gets for people um like I often say that I'm this way with coding like I have just enough information to be dangerous and so I'm wondering if you could give us an idea of how does that process work at the site level what kind of transparencies do site leaders have with their staff um and I know you know when I was a parent I I honestly never heard anything about the budget right and and but now I feel like parents are wanting that information and that level of transparency so if we have some kind of um way that we can talk about what that process looks like from your perspective sure and I'll make this a partnership uh with the superintendent and Dr Light futier uh so the predictable Staffing model I I I would define it is a resource allocation Tool uh so what we' have done is uh over the uh last 3 4 years we've been using the predictable Staffing model so that uh we standardize how we are allocating resources to to buildings one starting with enrollment since enrollment is the driver of Revenue coming into the district uh we also use enrollment as the tool for allocating resources to um uh to buildings and to programs uh so the first step is we determine the total enrollment coming into the district and then we break it down uh by each building using those uh projections and then we' have uh developed uh formulas and ranges across our system so there formulas and ranges apply to every building and those formulas and rang in ranges which are either uh tied to class size or tied to how many students uh do we need to be serviced by a counselor by a social worker um uh then we allocate resources so we start with what we call a baseline that if we want to open a building how many at least from a uh minimal standpoint how many teachers do we need in that building and then from there using a a either class size range by each grade or using a range uh for different programs and services uh uh in the district uh so we allocate our base allocation uh and then uh after we've allocated those base allocation after we've uh determined any uh programs which are not driven by uh enrollment uh we take any remaining dollars we divide those by the total number of students in our district uh and each student get a specific dollar amount uh which we now allocate Best Buy enrollment into the building we take those dollars and give them to the building leaders and then based on the priorities in their building they make determination on what do we need to reduce class size further okay I'm going to allocate this specific dollar amount uh to reduce class size in my different grades uh do I need to start a different program uh which has not been funded at the district level I'm going to use uh a uh an allocation uh based on the feedback they getting from from buildings uh what we've not done is when we allocate so for example a building uh we say okay the building has enrollment for 440 students at an elementary level and uh using the class size range that building uh as a base allocation get for example 16 FTE for teachers um it is at the discretion of the building to either make a determination of okay do I use all the 16 teachers is allocated by the district to put into uh into my different classrooms or do I add another five more teachers using my discretional dollars to reduce my class sizes so one of the things we've been trying to do uh with some of the exercises we've been embarking on was okay uh at each level at each building how is a principle and their leadership team making decisions are they taking all those uh resources we've allocated them and prioritize them into class sizes or are they prioritizing them into uh into other different needs uh and then from there we're trying to see if we can identify some themes and consistencies across the different buildings like okay so this is what this building uh is prioritizing the alloc ations they uh they are receiving uh then from there we can make some determination across our system in terms of like okay do we do we say uh first and foremost uh what we need to address is class size or what we need to address is maybe uh relooking at the curriculum and investing into uh investing some of those dollars into creating a standardized uh curriculum across our system I mean those are just some examples I'm just giving um and then from from that perspective we can uh share consistence across how buildings are using their resources and then maybe Identify some of the uh uh some of the lessons which we can share and uh try to strengthen how buildings are making decisions around uh the resources which have been allocated to them what we've not done is to say okay building I'm giving you 16 teachers I'm going to sit next to the principal and make sure that you have used these teachers for a BC D we we have not done that I don't know if there's anything else uh superintendent and Dr lford you you may want to add to that I thought that was a good overview um maybe a couple things because the consistency at least in mind said an approach are important and we know that different buildings have different context and needs but um like at a couple of recent budget meetings we invited each principal to make their thinking visible and kind of you know with all of us just talk through okay how did you use your discretionary and then principles can see how each other you know what see into each other's thinking and identify some oh like that's an unintended overlap up or I didn't know I could do it you know the way that you're doing it um just to provide the space to have those insights and then I think like we are trying to move toward cuz I think what's bad for schools is and staff and leaders is telling people what to do like Truro mentioned but um with it's um I've always called it Freedom within fences like we want our leaders to have agency but we want there to be some consistency across sites so that when teachers and parents are comparing notes it doesn't seem like it's just La iair um and so we have been talking about okay we gave you 16 teachers that means like you have to hire 16 teachers right um or we've been talking about okay everybody has a pot of discretionary before you buy an assistant principal or you know like buy 15 supervisory pairs people aren't really doing all these things but you need to um deal with class size right like figure out how much you can use from your discretionary to ensure that class sizes are where they should be so consistency across Elementary Middle High and also um uh reflective of input that teachers have been providing because principes should be partnering with their building instructional leadership teams in identifying where they think the recommendations are going to be for the building and then providing that feedback to the building and then getting input from teachers so there really should be an inclusive process that you know doesn't go so far as providing so much detailed information that suddenly people in various positions are feel like they have to somehow compete for that scarce resource we don't want that um so I hope that kind of gives you a sense of how we're thinking through this yeah thank you it does and then I just had a quick clarifying question because we are going to be voting on that resolution for reductions um in the consent agenda today um and I was wondering um it does mention um I guess it does say may but I'm still I guess I'll still look for the redu the um clarification that it says there is a reduction in student enrollment in certain departments and grade levels um and in this presentation it said that a enrollment is projected to be stable so just wondering if um just a little clarifying around that absolutely absolutely happy to address that if you think about different enrollment fluctuations the district can be flat but different buildings can EB and flow some might be larger some might be less and if you think even more specifically about um programs at the secondary level we may need to decrease staff at one building because the enrollment isn't as large but we may need to increase in another space and do different kinds of shifts it's also dependent on registrations and numbers of registrations where we may not have had as high level of Interest so ultimately when it comes to us adjusting with 80% of our resource Total Resource being in people salaries and benefits as you all know it creates those lists in April that we bring before you that say yep we've tried to keep this as far away from the classroom as we can and we still may have some adjustments that we have to make for various reasons related to specific positions thank you I appr that yes thank you um well keeping an eye on time we still have another agenda item I'm wondering um are there any other questions or comments cheer andreon I I have three but I think they're going to be fast okay okay so watch me go so um so um for the for the reenvisioning around how we use subs and allocate Subs I'm imagining that this would be for a situation where we have people out for one or two days this would not be a long-term um sub situation having correct absolutely yeah I'm glad you mentioned that these are on short call usually last minute notice that are very hard to fill not if we have someone say on an FMLA leave or some other component where we're seeing a significant period of time passing absolutely excellent thank you um quick question about the school safety funding so has that all been funded through eser dollars up until this point uh it has been a combination so uh if certain security uh uh certain security or safety uh needs uh to be met in the district what we've done in the past is if they fit within the longterm facility maintenance we have included those within the long-term facility maintenance what has kind of been Laing over time is for those uh safet needs which don't fit within for example ltfm uh that's why it is taken as longer to address some of the recommendations within the Rosen so so uh when we received some of the Essa dollars we did Leverage some of those um uh some of those dollars to address some of the immediate needs uh and then uh determined that uh we need to have a long-term solution uh because Safety and Security is critical and important uh to the operations of the district and that's why we started to uh set aside a line item in the budget uh what we anticipating uh since we are tapping into U uh into our restricted fund balance uh what we are anticipating is we put the infrastructures uh we'll be able to leverage the uh safe School restricted funds to be able to sustain the Holistics uh school safety budget into the future perfect that's what I was driving at was sustainability so it sounds like even though this is coming under the reduction category what we're really doing is creating a more sustainable funding model for that important work true okay thank you and then um the coaching piece I'm seeking to more fully understand how qm pays for that yeah part of it okay um because uh we have models that are yes for our peer coaches which are part of the qm and then we ALS also have additional instructional coaching that goes beyond that qm element okay um and part of the visioning work that's being done um and others can speak to this more fully I'm just giving you the big like Global picture right now um part of that work that we're doing is reconceptualizing some job descriptions looking at how we could um utilize either existing models or look at how both could co-function and part of that is still a little bit in fluctuation dependent as I mentioned on the legislature and seeing if we still have that funding Beyond 26 27 um but there is some visioning work that's been ongoing throughout the course of this year to re um kind of look at are there overlaps with those positions are there ways in which those positions can be um designed to be there again sustainable into the future should um that Q comp funding go away okay thank you so important work to set up a new model that stainable and we should also be advocating to retain that Q comp funding 100% okay excellent thank you very much that wasn't too bad 415 4 minutes 15 seconds really wow well thank you both so much for being here and for your time and expertise it's greatly appreciated thank you thank you very much Nick Ando so that then takes us to our school SCH board goals um for this year uh school year 2425 we are halfway through our year which is hard to believe um so this would be an update on our goals where we think we're at what we can cross off what we need to get done before um the year is over so with everyone's permission I will um just kind of read off our goals um the action items and then um we can all pitch in updates on on what we've done to to get closer to those goals does that sound good so our first goal area is teaching and learning and our key actions are the school board members will increase their understanding of how restorative practices and personalized learning are being implemented andal Ed in the district through Workshop presentations data sharing and metrics of Student Success where do we feel like we are at with that we are at zero with that is my I am um pulling up our goals so that I have them in front of me because I'm a visual learner sorry that that's the silence not that I don't think we've done it I think one of the things that we've made uh improvements in this area is uhu um doing more data deep Dives or at least you know talking about the data more um in a concerted effort kind of way so I think that's certainly something that we've implemented this year and I think we're tonight even going to be talking about yes I agree um I also think that that's something that we have done more um I just shared it with you J oh thank you um more in kind of um a workshop here and a presentation there um and not necessarily A concerted like we're learning about this topic right now um are we feeling like I think that we all agree this is kind of an ongoing piece but that we are making progress great um so then the next one is that school board members will learn about best next practices in Innovative Equitable and anti-racist educational practices locally and nationally and how we can specifically apply these in Hopkins and awareness of community needs is essential to be proactive instead of reactive so I think as board members we've consulted with national groups and really sought to bring um resources from outside the district to the table um so I know director rooper can speak to that um cuz she's done extensive work um with some national groups and um and local groups too um I continue to serve on the national leadership team for local progress for the the school board cohort um certainly a focus there is innovative Equitable and anti-racist Equitable uh educational practices um and I'm going to toss it over to director rer because she's done a lot of work in this area well thank you director West Morland I appreciate that yes I do in I have done a lot of work and still do a lot of work in that space um just being connected to different um groups in the community serving on several different advisory boards and being a part of the national cohort for school board members I'm constantly finding ways to learn um and to implement and I really appreciate your sentiments during the um the presentation just about how like the how the school district is doing like hard work and how do we respond to community and how do we like how do we effectively respond to community when our work is not acknowledged in a way that feels um effective where that feels that we're um you know being challenged with uh you know with misinformation and that is difficult you know uh misinformation is very dangerous for any work that anyone is doing and so um I'm learning how to respond and to be proactive to things of that nature through these um experiences that I'm having and so thank you so much uh director West Morland for acknowledging that we are part of like some of the same groups and conversations and so we are learning and I promise to bring as much as I can to the board when I learn so thank you um I also attended the um nsba um uh I think it's Cube um Workshop which is National um uh Equity um conference um and then I think that we're doing that work specifically how it applies to Hopkins by getting our Equity audit updates um hearing often from um Dr Brown um and then I I think and in talking with other board colleagues across um the state when I have the opportunity I think that Hopkins we hear of from our community quite often I think they feel comfortable um sending us emails approaching us um and talking to us and even though it does feel intimidating I think coming to the meetings um and so I think that that helps us be aware of community needs I think that um we always need to question though who are we hearing from and are we hearing from um those in our community who have the most needs significant needs um and so I I often um try and ask that question and I think we do that at the board table so um I appreciate that I'd also like to bring forward the work that you do chair andreon with Dr Mary Peri Reid to set the agendas um because I think that that is a clear demonstration of our transparency so instead of shying away from difficult topics that are coming up in the community and things that are challenging those almost always appear on future agendas right so we're discussing here them here at the table we're providing an opportunity for community members to come forward and share their views and so I think we saw a great demonstration of that tonight at the workshop um and all of that is intentional planning on your part and on Dr Mary per Reid's part and I appreciate how you take input from us as board members about what we're hearing in the community and what might need to be addressed at upcoming workshops or meetings thank you appreciate that ditto I would say that too thank you for taking all of my random phone calls and now we move on cuz I'm growing uncomfortable okay anyone have any other input um so then the next one is Schoolboard members will share their learning with the community during workshops and board member reports um I feel that that is something that we do at every meeting um and could be better I often feel pressured to not give a report because the meeting has gone late um and I think that that could be I think that I personally could do better on doing more of a report for our community anyone have any other input well I don't think you should feel bad you know for ending the meeting on time sooner than expected so don't put a whole lot guilt on yourself on time what's that no but I I mean I I agree I mean I think is you know obviously we're all busy individuals and we're all you know attending the same events together or you know separately um so yeah I mean I I think it's definitely interesting and unique to hear some of the um groups that everybody is a part of or some of the meetings that you know the colleagues have been attending or even hearing um you know director Xiao um being able to dance and you know show his artistic skills um you know during a a really you know doing a Chinese New Year so being able to hear that and understanding director roer participating as well so I mean that's if that you know if that's not being communicated then I mean that's sharing with the community like we're more than just board members were actively in the community and doing stuff and were being seen and you know um we're representing Hopkins uh to the best of our abilities excuse me thank you anyone else I think we made an organizational change that's helped with this um it's how we restructured our public comment um and I know that was we put in a lot of work trying to figure out you know how can we restructure our public comment time to um make it more Equitable for folks um more responsive to our community members and respectful of their time right and the structure we had before was that we would do public comment at the end of the meeting for items that were not on the agenda and that contributed to me feeling um either like I didn't want to give a report or I needed to truncate it um so that I could be respectful of community members time um so I think that that that organizational change that we made also relates to this point I agree one one thing potentially we could if if we wanted to uh improve this right is to maybe on a on a lighter uh day right like we don't have like a wall toall agenda but but maybe you know after the superintendence report if somebody feels like they have like a meteor item like they want to maybe do some graphics and spend like five minutes to kind of do a deep dive into something right like maybe electric school buses or maybe you know the the safety work that we're doing with with uh motanka police or who whatever right that maybe we would have you know some time carved out with with your approval and working with you of course to carve out that time and kind of just give more of an in-depth report and then it's less of a oh you know I did this thing this thing and that thing and you know it was great um but really talk about like kind of the mey part of it that might be something interesting to consider that might be actually a good um feature maybe for our our workshops like having yeah having 15 20 minutes carved out for a lengthier discussion around something that we feel is timely and relevant and um maybe something that board members don't know a lot about I really like that suggestion me too that's a good one and then um we these are two new goals that I'm not sure where we're at on so one is to create an opportunities and resources module that is accessible to all board members I hope we' done that do we know but I'm not sure anyone's using it okay so it exists all right um do you mind sharing that with all the board members again Natalia let record show that Natalia did her part has been created by the amazing Natalia that's that's par though right exactly cheer Andre I have a question is this in alignment with like the um event calendar that we were trying to initiate so like board members can go to different events at different schools I think that's um at our oh were you saying yes all of it you comb all of it into one I'll find it don't know what I it I'll try remember okay um sounds like yes okay and I think that's part of goal area number two um so it's been created we just need to use it great um and then the second um new one is post and Implement a transparent action plan to respond to community concerns that incorporates the new position of Ombudsman I do not think we have engaged in that work so that is to be done I'm wondering if that could be assigned to a committee yeah of the board and I'm trying to figure out what the most appropriate well what I was thinking is maybe I could send out an email and people who feel very passionate about this could volunteer to be part of like a subg group that would work on this specifically sure and did you have just to confirm that we do have UDS person support being provided internally yes when a situation comes up but you're thinking more of external support or if a parent Community member and a staff member have an interaction where they need support or what kind of scenarios are you thinking um I don't know if this was in response to a particular scenario but I think we were thinking of yes that internal support um that it wouldn't necessarily be the board that is responding um I don't know what are your thoughts well this could be part of the work that the ad hoc group does in collaboration with our ud's person um to figure out like what what would the appropriate action be and and maybe run through some hypotheticals right so I think we are going to create an ad hoc does that feel um I think it'd be helpful to understand the problem we're trying to solve or what is the current unmet need we're that we're thinking about well I think that where this came from is that sometimes we get a response that the board is not um responding to community input we do a lot of like sitting and listening and not responding um and to have it be a less less formal way of interacting with the board as opposed to um having a big Community conversation Community engagement session which is another way we interact with the community this would be more of a I think like kind of a oneoff um if that makes sense mhm or as kind of as needed yeah or maybe there's a a board director that connects with the ud's person at the request of the board or at the request of a board member and then support or engagement can be provided based on what that board member and the ID's person is Discerning as the support needed or whatever because I think there's a variety of situations so we probably just need right someone who's actually going to be the liaison to Dr Brown cuz he wouldn't necessar not everyone knows that he's our ID's person and he would need to be looped in to any situation where that perspective could be useful is that what you're thinking that makes sense and we could spell that out in the plan MH so I think the part of the work of this ad hoc group will be um kind of yeah first of all determining the model like is there a particular School Board member who is the liaison how do we determine who that person is um is that part of our sort of like committee voting in January you know all of all of those questions just process questions and then that group could bring a plan back to the board at a future Workshop in alignment with Dr Brown M mhm that sounds good okay so we're at create an ad hoc to work out the details um I'm just going to give us um five more minutes for this just because I'd like to give us a bit of a break before the meeting starts um so the next one is school district and culture um so the first one is the school me members will pair up um and we've all done that I I know that we've all been paired up um and I am hoping that um those pairs are participating in events and engage with Scholars staff and leaders um and school board members will be present at District events when possible um I think that I see lots of us around at District events um but always know that that is a goal of ours um school board members will hold engagement sessions um which we've done is it just one this year on the budget um so I think we want to continue to look for engagement sessions and then school board members will actively seek engagement of caregivers in board committee work an advocacy where caregiver input is critical I don't know if that's happening in committee work I think an example of that would be the survey around our cell phone policy great and CAC mhm I will say that was just done recently at our um event that we just held on Thursday the black history networking night great and then school board members will collaborate with student board representatives and they'll be on committees um I think that that is a robust part of our work how do you feel director West Morland MH yes I feel good about that good everything you do is um fiscal transparency school board members will partner with superintendent and Director of Business Services to hold budget education we've done one no we did two tro did another one for us on local funding um and then we'll collaborate with citizens Financial advisory committee um and the legislative action Coalition that is um done and ongoing and then School District information will be communicated in an accessible way I don't I think that we put this on the website yes mhm um okay and then lots of newsletters and emails out to community yep great and board members will acquire an understanding of mechanisms of privatization and its impact on public school funding and share that with the community um I think this is more critical than ever mhm when we you say share with the community are we speaking of like um hosting a district engagement session or like on our personal social media well not personal social media but like on social media sharing information about budgets I think yes and okay yeah both I think treasure Hartland does a really good job about her board reports or sorry the treasur report talks about it some maybe not often but enough MH um yes I know this is something that Lac talks about quite a bit I'm wondering if there is the possibility of doing um perhaps a video explainer for the community we did that at one point with students working in conjunction with the the legislative Action Coalition um to talk about key issues at the legislature I think videos are always really engaging for people okay we'll look into that and then policy transparency and understanding the school board will hold a workshop on upcoming policy revisions um based on legislative changes did we do that I don't know I think we did the cell phone policy oh yeah yeah yeah that's your favorite policy it is um above my bed I also think I know I know I know it's not a workshop but um Vice chair Ross does a really great job of pointing out when a policy revision is due to a change in statute when we're discussing them at the table um so we also have that we will hold policy education and engagement sessions in an accessible manner with community members on new and revised policies I don't know if we've done that technically we sent an email like we wanted to understand what is the best way for um constituents to digest this new policy and the news letter was kind of communicated like that's the best Forum because people read that as the best so that I did can confirm it went out mhm um so I want to say thank you to whoever on the administrations know in the Royal report yeah so um what is it I I can't remember the lady's name who sends out um kind of like the compilation of all the like reports to go to the elementary all the way up to the high school the newsletters um there you go we receive them every Monday and she sends it out and it shows like it did show in every single um everybody including uh virtual edu received that newsletter about the cell phone policy oh okay I need to get on that list um I don't think I'm on there you don't get that Monday morning email mm I don't think so gosh let me look into that um and then the last one policy and monitoring committee will gather and respond to student Voice through student board representation and student surveys I believe that is ongoing work yes ongoing work and um unfortunately uh some of our um School Board reps are not here but they do an excellent job being a voice and being sounding boards for us to be able to understand from a student perspective great thank you for that work I know it is huge this year with the cell phone which we'll be talking about later cheer juson can I ask a really quick question yeah for like um like transparency and US communicating is there a way that we can get like a coordinated like content or social media like message that we all like if we're going to post it on social media could we have something that like that's very that's that's coordinated so like yeah like so I won't post something different then like be something that maybe talk with Roa about with Jolene be appropriate okay great um so I just wanted to make a quick statement um and then we can go on a little break um I had uh officers meeting with msba last week and um it was reiterated to me that it's not just our um policy that board members receive training um through msba but it is State Statute and if board members who are on this board are have not done it um and there is there we are in that position we are in uh non-compliance with State Statute so I want to reiterate that everyone um on this Board needs to receive the training um Phase 1 and two at minimum um at msba and I highly recommend three and four as well they're excellent so that is um one of my learnings that I wanted to share with you all and I'm also supposed to gavel so Workshop adjourned e e e e e e e just e e e e e e e e e e okay well hello everyone it is 7 p.m. and welcome thank you for being here with us tonight um we're all going to come down to the end um of the board table so that we can be closer to you because we are doing our favorite part of our board meetings which is um student and program recognition get out I'm giving you the certificates anyway so I want to welcome the dance team parents and coaches today we celebrate the remarkable achievements of our dance team which recently competed at State this is a testament to their heart work dedication strength and talent Sir Ken Robinson education thought leader once said dance and other physical activity should have the same status in schools as Math Science and language this statement underscores the need for a well-rounded education that includes academics Athletics and the Arts and the Royals know that being a high performing member of this team means incorporate all three of these into a balanced experience and I'm sorry if I didn't say that correctly it's Royals we would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our dedicated coaches who have guided and supported our dancers Meritt green head coach Jess Anderson Varsity assistant Kelly Dempsey Varsity assistant Allison Dill Varsity assistant Abby do JV coach Grace Haman JV coach Kira heglin JV and B coach and Carly schwitzer JV andb coach and did I say those names correctly great so thank you coaches your hard work commitment and love for these girls has been instrumental in our athlete success we appreciate you so why is dance so important research supports the benefits of physical activity showing positive influences on memory concentration academic performance and classroom Behavior despite this in some schools Across the Nation dance and theater are often undervalued or underfunded especially in high poverty areas in Hopkins though resources are often limited we strive to ensure all students have access to Athletics and arts education to create well-rounded Hopkins graduates the Hopkins Royals compete in jazz and high kick each winter head coach maret and her assistants set a very demanding practice schedule and hold high expectations yet this coaching team balances their noons expectations with team building school spirit and confidence building experiences that promote individual and team efficacy if you've seen Jazz and kick perform you are sure to witness a level of athleticism Precision Poise and fast-paced performance that require concentration focus and strong teamwork watching the Royals makes you want to go to the gym and work out yourself to be just like them the Royal's Jazz and kick teams placed third in sections making them eligible for State then at the February 14 and 15 state meet held at Target Center Jazz and kick delivered amazing performances competing against 12 other teams placing eighth for kick and Ninth for jazz we are so proud of the Royals going to State and doing so in consecutive two consecutive years it's a big deal congratulations Royals and now it is our great pleasure on behalf of our Hopkins school board and Hopkins public schools to invite our outstanding student athletes to walk down the Royal Blue Runner so dancers please go to the end of the royal blue Runner and as your name is called please come forward and um do a fist bump or shake hands and get your certificate okay and there's 19 of you I don't see 19 so we do have a few absent but we have certificates for every single dancer Lily Anderson [Music] [Applause] Alexis Brown Piper doth Sammy Elkins Clara [Applause] halberg Sienna Hoy Iris Kaplan Adeline cassage is that how we say adeline's last name okay Aaron Kim Marissa Lee cley Mangan Olivia noyman Skyler Oakland Evelyn palmerine [Applause] Elise palmerine Brooklyn Patterson Raina Simmons Lilian stremel and Eliana wolf congratulations and stay up here for a photo so um additionally we want to offer congratulations to Sienna and and Skyler who will represent us in jazz and Marissa Marissa and Clara who will represent us in Kick at all state please go cheer them on at the All State performance on Saturday March 2nd 7 p.m. at Prior Lake High School thank you all for being here to celebrate our Hopkins Royals and we do have um coach Carly with us this evening coach Carly helped us coordinate a little bit and thank you coach Carly for all you've done for our team and congrat ulations Royals we're very proud of [Applause] you so yeah coach Carly come up yeah [Music] all [Applause] right thank you all for coming you can stay for the board meeting if you'd like or you don't have to enjoy your evening that was am there's a reason on thank you all for coming out this evening we appreciate you being here and making our meeting start off on a great note um so I will um officially um call the meeting to order um I've been told I need to gavel it so there we go at 7:08 p.m. um our first part of the meeting is our public comments section um we value um hearing from our community members we feel it's uh crucial for implementing Vision 2031 there are many ways to contact the school board one is um by email and that email address is school-board hopkinsschools.org you can also come to our meetings in person to do public comment or you can leave a voicemail um and directions to do so are on our website um we appreciate um both ways of doing public comment do we have any voicemails for the board for this evening Natalia so there are no voicemails but we do have some public comment cards that have been um submitted for an in-person comment so I will um go ahead and read through our um our guidelines for making public comment they are um rather long so please bear with me even as I find them so um these are the guidelines for public comment please keep your comments to 3 minutes or less public public comment is for input only the members of the school board will not respond at directly to public comments that are made at this meeting no specific action will be taken at this meeting in response to comments that are made or issues that are raised during the public comment period related to items not on the agenda if the board determines that action is appropriate the action will occur at a future board meeting if you have left your contact information on the comment card a district representative may follow up with you after the meeting I will recognize one speaker at a time only those speakers who are recognized will be permitted to speak individuals who interfere with or interrupt speakers the board or the proceedings may be asked to leave personal attacks on any individual including any other speaker during the public comment session are unacceptable as are obscenities or profanity persistence in making such remarks will end the individual's opportunity to address the board and may result in the individual being directed to leave I will rule out of order any statement that would violate state or federal law Schoolboard policy or the Privacy rights of an individual Minnesota's open meeting law prohibits the discussion of private educational data during an open meeting accordingly during the public comment session no person may discuss private educational data on an Iden if iable student the open meeting law also requires the board to close a meeting for preliminary consideration of allegations against an employee accordingly community members who have concerns about an employee or want to file a complaint or allegations against an employee are encouraged to contact the superintendent we ask you not to name an employee by name during your comments repeated violations of these time place and manner restrictions may also lead to the meeting being briefly recessed community members will have an opportunity to be heard within the limits of the law and subject to the time place and manner restrictions above thank you for participating in public comment this evening and um listening to all of those rules so I would like to invite up our first um two commenters uh June Bradley and Carolyn Owen who will be talking about hunos move to West you can come on up to the board table and do you each want three minutes yes okay so Natalia do you mind taking care of that so if you can see the there's the counter on the screens and it will countown but if you go over a little bit I'll let you know okay thank you um go ahead welcome uh hello esteemed members of the Hopkins school board and Community we are seventh graders June Bradley and Caitlyn Owen both a part of the hunos program at North Middle School we are both fluent in Spanish and have been speaking the language since prek we are here to show a students's viewpoint on the possibility of relocating the immersion programs our first point is to keep the hunos community together I've have been a part of the hunas program for a year and a half I came to North with my elementary school friends who are all part of the hunas program I have made more friends inside and outside of the hunas program when I come to school I look forward to my hunos classes I have teachers I have gotten to know not just in the hunos program but throughout the school hunos is a strong community and to advocate for the teachers the program is successful partly because of the hunos teachers but also because the M nms community of teachers support staff padas custodians kitchen staff and administration hunos f osters a culturally collaborative environment not only with Hun's teachers but the other teachers in the building and administration I have two younger brothers one who is coming here next year and is enrolled for hunos and one who is coming to North in 3 years I have many friends who also have younger siblings enrolled and I have so much fun in my time in the hunas program I would just be very disappointed if they weren't able to experience hunos at North the endorsement from Isa recommending North Middle School as a continuation of the Spanish Emer education stands as a testament to the quality and effus of the hunos curriculum that was another quote from our hunos teachers like Jun mentioned many of us have friends that aren't in hunos who wouldn't join us at West resulting in many friendships being torn abart I want to talk about how that could affect us students's mental health according to the National Library of Medicine they say that I quote those lacking a friendship to explain a close relationship with a same age peer are turn at risk for lower self-worth and increased depression they also say once again I quote accordingly we presume friendless youth are likely to construe their social environment as threatening by viewing themselves as victimized by schoolmates feeling unsafe in school and estimating more of their peers engaging in hostile Behavior to explain this is a vital time in the life of a teenager to have close relationship with friends and by moving us immersion students you would in turn cause many friendships to fall apart thus risking the mental well-being of each student in the immersion program and as the teachers often remind us us hunos is well established at North and is well known and valued by the community second we have specific teachers and clubs that make us feel safe and accepted at school and to take that away for our final year would be very unfortunate I would like to point out that we moved up a year early from elementary school and next year we will be preparing to move up to the high school switching us to a different school again during the same period would be too much as we keep getting bumped around the transition to a new school can be very stressful time for adolescence and youth you are in a new building with new teachers and new faces according to re search this can heighten stress and depression for students imagine you were going through that same challenging event three times in the span of 4 years that is what would happen to sixth and seventh grade immersion students if you made that decision to send a program to a different school this could be detrimental to our mental health and the hunto staff feel worried about how students who feel safe cared for and honored at North have already expressed their concern about entering a new school environment especially considering the current political landscape the next point I would like to talk about is the AP exam here's a Point directly from the hunto staff the Spanish AP exam has been outperformed each year by hunto students we feel this rushed assessment of drastic change in the program could put these successes at risk and destabilize the program keeping hunos at nms will allow us to build upon these successes and enable us to collaborate efforts between the middle and high school staff of course this is particularly advantageous due to the geographic proximity of the schools facilitating seamless resource sharing and staff collaboration moving hunos to West would be a transportation nightmare for most families we know of many cases where families move specifically to be closer to North one specific family moved just this fall to be walking distance way even outside of that there are students who would go who go to North specifically so they can speak their first language as well as be right across the street to the school this would be a major concern for many families who now have to transport their students all the way across Hopkins school when they live right next to nms many students also have siblings that go to the high school causing another major inconvenience having to transfer each student to opposite ends of Hopkins especially when some of the high schoolers would have driven their siblings to school before we end we would like to share a quick quote from our hunos teachers the Spanish emersion program at North Middle School will honor and strengthen the relationships and Trust we have developed with our diverse Community ensuring continuity for our students and their families for all these reasons stated above the hunos teachers and students are urging you to keep the hunos program at North Middle School finally please listen to a quote a child's voice however honest and true is meaningless to those who have forgotten how to listen thank you for listening to what we have to say and considering a Scholar's opinion on the issue thank you for being here thank you so much thank you thank you next I would invite up Caitlyn Owen oh you got two cards you are doing your due diligence thank you um next I would like to call out call up uh Ellie Lewis up to the table who will be speaking about the cell phone policy welcome and thank you for being here tonight all right um as mentioned my name is Ellie Lewis I have a fifth grader at mebrook and a seventh grader at North Middle School and I appreciated the opportunity to review the draft cell phone policy in advance of this meeting and the opportunity to share feedback here tonight um I really um strongly support the policy as drafted for elementary and middle school levels but would like to request we reconsider enabling High School Scholars to access their phones and devices outside of club classrooms um as in passing time and lunch um for three for three reasons first I really want to do all that we can to support our Scholars mental health numerous Studies have shown a link between phone usage particularly social media and negative impacts to mental health anything we can do to minimize Scholars time on screens helps to mitigate some of these negative effects we also know that rates of cyber bullying continue to increase year-over-year one study reported that in 2016 about 16% of students reported they had been Cyber Bullied in excuse me in the last 30 days and in 2023 that number had increased to 23% enabling Scholars to access their phones during passing time or during lunch presents increased risk of cyber bullying particularly in the form of videos taken in school and shared broadly on social networks anecdotally I have heard about this happening to students both Within and outside of our district second I want to ensure that our Scholars can truly take advantage of the education they're receiving screen time has been shown to decrease cognitive retention problem solving skills and attention spans our Scholars already spend an incredible amount of time on screens especially their iPads for classes and for homework that they're required to do any amount of time that we can give them away from screens would be beneficial and third I want to ensure that we're supporting our staff enforcing these policies falls mainly on the shoulders of our wonderful teachers who already have incredibly difficult jobs when they have to stop teaching to ask even one student to put away their mobile device it disrupts everyone's learning when Scholars are allowed to have their phones out during passing time it's more likely that they will walk into their classrooms with their phones out requiring teachers to enforce the policy and possibly disrupt learning and while I understand that many caregivers like being able to communicate directly with their Scholars throughout the day in most cases this is communication that does not need to be instantaneous and when it does those messages can be communicated via the school telephone as it was when many of us were in school thank you for this opportunity to share my perspective and I would welcome the opportunity to continue the conversation if it's available thank you thank and our last speaker is Stephanie Hansen if you could come up to the table um they will also be speaking on cell phones welcome and thank you for being here tonight I appreciate you letting me sneak in because I didn't realize the rules about having to have it in by 7 uh 7 p.m. so thank you appreciate your time I in in addition uh support the cell phone policy in general um I'm thrilled to see that the school district is taking this on because um we moved here a couple years ago my daughter's a senior at Hopkins High School and she has been endlessly frustrated and distraught at the use of cell phones within classrooms um teachers are completely disrespected clearly it's not what's best for children they're not learning when they're on their cell phone um and I don't think we're doing them any benefit by allowing them to to have access to those devices when they need to be focused on learning and my daughter would be here but she's at lmpm because she wanted to say this herself um more specifically I encourage everyone to read the anxious generation which is by johathan hate he's done a lot of studies on this um cell phones and the Damage it's doing to our children we are literally um have an uncontrolled experiment with our children going on right now with social media and cell phones affecting literally the wiring of their brains during the most critical Social Development period of their lives between the ages of 9 and 15 um we have small Windows of development that happen in our lives when kids are little it's language but the between those critical ages of 9 and 15 it's social and our kids brains are being wired to the stimulation and the the just different way of socializing on a phone than happens in in person-to-person interactions childhood is an apprentice ship for learning the skills needed for success in one's culture and we are by not putting restrictions on cell phones and I know that's not your policy but I would encourage at the high school level that they are just not allowed at all not during passing periods not during lunch lunch and passing periods are the few times when they're not doing academics and they have the opportunity to socialize when they're in school and many kids particularly those who um maybe find socializing challenging can use that cell phone tool as a way to avoid it as a way to escape when they actually should be practicing those skills all children need tons and tons of practice on socializing that's when they were learned to do things like conflict resolution negotiation sharing all that stuff and it doesn't stop when they leave Elementary or middle school we are denying There's an opportunity cost when kids are using their cell phones for what they could be doing with that time thank you for being here tonight appr wow okay thank you appreciate thank you so much pass and that can includes our uh public comment section um and we get to move on to our student board Representatives report um hello happy to see you all here tonight yes I'm so happy to be here all right hi I'm praise I'm a senior this year this is my second year on the board um starting off we actually have conferences happening this week Thursday we're getting to kind of like that midterm season for term three so a lot of students are settling into their classes they may have started the new semester 2 with off with some new classes so a lot of people are excited to kind of see where they're Landing in that um moving on the black student Alliance is doing some things for black history month this month um lots of things happening at the high school and one of those things being the royally speaking showcase which is the annual showcase for Black History Month that happens that's actually happening this Friday from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 um we're very very excited to host this showcase it's completely student Le for the first time and so we're really excited to kind of kind of change things up usually it's been similar to a talent show but this year we're kind of incorporating some um kind of like speakers and different things and there will also be a dinner afterwards um and then Additionally the black student Alliance or BSA for short has been doing some weekly announcements and so in each announcement we try to Showcase um a black figure who has done a lot of work for the civil rights movement or any other similar mov M ments um and just try to like put different names of people out there additionally today um was day day two of the Black History Month uh spirit week sorry um and today was HBCU Tuesday so I am repping Jackson State University um a lot of the other students in the BSA group also have on their HBCU merch including schools like Howard FAMU Spellman so many different hpcu which we were very happy to see today on the topic of HBCU which I feel like I've said like a thousand times now um the Avid senior students are hosting an HBCU fair in the hallways during lunch tomorrow and new this year we're inviting alumni to participate so we've reached out to the Minnesota HBC Alumni network and also just students are bringing in people that they know have attended certain schools to come and speak with us at the poster boards um Avid stands for advancement via individual determination and so these seniors including myself are really excited for just taking on this project and just being able to kind of show the work that they've been putting in over this past month to prepare the projects um finally talking about sports a little bit the weather is getting warmer and so spring Sports um schedules are already out the first day is March 10th for a lot of sports and even Captain's practice has been going on for a while for a lot of sports and many groups are already outside practicing like the track team was on the track yesterday and today we really enjoyed being able to just get outside and kind of get a feel for what the season will be like and yeah that's my report thank you hello my name is Manuel Wahu and I'm a sophomore student board representative um so last Wednesday there was a PSO informational meeting during Royals connect this meeting was mandatory for students in order for them to apply PSO which stands for postsecondary enrollment options is a program that allows grades 10 11 students grades 10 11 and 12 to earn college cred credit for free while still in high school many colleges in Minnesota such as the University of Minnesota Normandale and Dunwoody offer PSO and high school students have to apply individually to the colleges that they want once accepted students can either choose to do part-time or full-time PSO part-time PS PSO means having some classes at the high school and some classes at the college a full-time PSO student would have all their classes at the college continuing on the topic of colleges today at the high school we had our annual college fair over 100 colleges sent representatives to the high school to set up tables where students could go to learn more about that college all of the all of the students got Bingo cards and they had to find colleges that fit the descriptions in each Bingo spot to get that spot crossed off if you got a bingo then you were entered into a raffle for a chance to win a gift card students were also given their own unique barcodes and the representatives from the colleges could scan the barcodes of students who came to their tables in order to get some information on the student and to stay in contact with students finally many winner Sports have come to an end but some are still having their Championship competitions uh this Thursday the varsity boys swimm and dive team have their prelim sections meet and their finals on Saturday tomorrow the varsity girls basketball team has a sections game against St Louis Park and on Friday and Saturday the wrestling team has their state meet thank you thank you hello my name is Claire and I'm a junior our seniors have now until March 14th to apply for the Hopkins High School local scholarship competition for the 2024 to 2025 school year there are multiple different scholarships ranging from $100 to $3,000 the application is through my learning which I think is pretty handy and easy to do this is a very good opportunity for seniors who are preparing to head off to college and need a little bit of financial help the deadline to register for the bilingual seal assessment is on February 28th this is a really amazing opportunity for students who are bilingual and want to receive a bilingual or multilingual seal notation on their transcript when they graduate they will also be legible for a college credit this system was set up by the Minnesota Department of Education to recognize high school students for their language Proficiency in the language that they speak last lastly on February 21st Hopkins High School orchestra held their annual Spotlight concert which featured local uh singer songwriter javant Patton alongside select choir students did they delivered two outstanding performances one for students during the day and another at the main event Friday night thank you thank you thank you any comments or questions for my board colleagues yes I have one for praise director thank you chair andreon praise when did you say the HBCU is it is it like a is it kind of similar to what happened today with like a college fair yeah thank you for asking cuz I actually regret not clarifying but uh the college fair that happened today is a lot of like Midwest schools that come in so like you have your University of Minnesota schools um South Dakota North Dakota Wisconsin a lot of those schools but we never really get any HBCU representatives and so miss heick she's amazing she's wonderful she's the AVID program uh instructor for the seniors she has taken it upon herself to really kind of make sure that hpcu do have a light and so um the seniors typically will create a whole poster board and the date of the HBCU fair that the seniors are hosting is on tomorrow actually during lunches so it's from around like 10:45 is to noon um and yeah I will be there with my school um I hope many of you guys can make it let me think I hope that answered your question but yeah and we'll also have alumni there which will be nice to ask questions too for the students no that's perfect thank you so much so you said 10:45 to noon at the is it going to be excuse me the lunchroom yes it'll be right outside where the students kind of like that mall area oh yes right outside the auditorium in the high school so praise you you said you're school well I haven't committed yet but yes my poster me and Mia actually I wish she was here but yeah we we did our project together so if you're there tomorrow you'll see okay that's exciting you said you have not committed yet H you have not committed no okay how many do you have to commit to well the par I have a lot of options yeah okay PR go ahead have a lot of options our board reps are the best yes any other comments or questions do you think that the students enjoyed the bingo card at the the college fair yeah I think they did yeah a lot of seniors who I know have already committed went to the college fair for the bingo card cuz it's $200 the gift card so yeah ni wow that's cool I like the barcode idea too like it makes it so much easier to like get connected yeah like we get we received an email and so a lot of students just had their phones during the college fair and you could literally just see it happening I don't know maybe cuz I know it was posted today on the Hopkins Instagram of like what was happening at the college here but a lot of students just walked up with their phone and just scan it really just eased the process cuz before like during college visits or when um Representatives come in students have to like manually fill in their information and that kind of takes a while so yeah EAS is the process thanks well thank you all so much I appreciate you being here and as always you're welcome to stay um but we understand it's busy time so um that takes us to our superintendent report uh Dr Mary per Reed thank you chair Andre so you've already heard from our board reps about the college fair I did stop by this morning and um I tried to greet and thank all of our Reps for being there there were a lot of tables um and I was really impressed so for example at the University of Wyoming table I met the two reps and they said they drove from their city in Wyoming to Denver and then flew here for the college fair right so these are um really dedicated College admissions folks who um have a special interest in our students and I'm glad that students benefited so thank you and shout out to Dr cool and all of our academic counselors at the high school for organizing and then after that I stopped by wetta high school because our Jazz students um under the guidance and tutelage of Nora tycast were participating in the Lake Conference Jazz Festival with our other high schools in the lake conference and so it was nice to hear um those students um play on stage and they also get to learn from guest instructors so that it's a really special day for our um jazz bands so on this slide you'll see a project that students from virtual edu participated in Virtual edu hosted a Meetup for Scholars both in person and online um while inperson students students gathered and contributed to a Red Cross donation Drive online elementary students engaged in discussion sessions focused on current events related to all of the um disasters that the Red Cross is currently supporting including the um families in Los Angeles who lost their homes so students explored different ways to offer support and created these notes and pictures filled with encouragement kindness for the volunteers for firefighters and victims of the LA fires the heartfelt messages were then sent to LA and included coin drive collections so thank you to our virtual edu students and staff for being so thoughtful when you have a few minutes this week please head to the other side of Eisenhower Elementary and check out one fun way that our schools are celebrating Black History Month Eisen our staff sponsored a black history door decorating contest rules include working as a team connecting the classroom's display to a current IB or International Borat unit of inquiry all students on the team being able to explain their display and the display must be seen as creative and Powerful so it's really awesome to walk walk through this large school and see um these really great works of art on classroom doors at Glenn Lake third and fourth graders celebrated black history with our very own Dr Stanley Brown district IDs person Dr Brown spoke with students about black history black excellence and belonging he shared a little bit about his life experience as a black man in America and compelled students to think about the importance of a strong education Dr Brown culminated The Experience through storytelling reading aloud all are welcome and then at the end of the story students were given permission to scream at the top of their lungs all are welcome here I heard it was very loud congratulations to the Gatewood Gators who were recognized for being balanced at gatewood's learner profile celebration breakfast so balanced is one of a few um learner profiles in our international balarat student profile and students as young as kindergarten learn attributes such as balanced and principled and curious teachers and staff recognize 65 Gators and highlighted how they balance academic learning and playing listen to their bodies use calming techniques and share feelings and needs with trusted adults and for all of us to know helping students develop the self-awareness and reflective skills that help students name their assets and name their feelings is a high yield strategy which also builds strong academic outcomes all fourth graders at Alice Smith students of Miss Ali Miss Holbrook Miss Larson and Mr Han went fishing on Valentine's Day they took a bus ride up to fish Lake Regional Park in Maple Grove and met up with Carl from Urban Ice Anglers um Carl I don't know if he has a last name he probably does but they called him Mr Carl Mr Carl and his crew had portable fishing shelters and fishing gear ready to go students reviewed ice and fishing safety before breaking into small groups and heading out to the ice shelters the fourth graders were lucky enough to land three bluegills it's pretty cool staff students and parent volunteers all had a wonderful time and I'm glad I was not a chaperon I'm scared of going on the ice even when it's 40 below and um just as Claire mentioned last Friday evening Hopkins High School orchestra took the stage with a pop gospel artist javante Patton and the performance was really magnificent for this year's Spotlight concert student musicians worked very hard to bring their music to life on stage they were collaborating with Mr Patton in the weeks leading up to the concert and it was a really great and um realworld experience giving students insight into Life as a musical professional as a spotlight concert goer what I personally loved was the mix of Orchestra and gospel that had parents and grandparents waving their hands in the air that was cool it felt a little bit like church so I kind of looked around like I hope I don't get any emails complaining about church at public school but no it was it was fine it was great our Coral performers also had the opportunity to display their talent when they joined other young musicians from across Minnesota on stage at Orchestra Hall for the Minnesota music educators Association or mmea Allstate concerts a total of 11 and you can see them on the slide there Hopkins High School Coral musicians performed in the concert the mmea Allstate program is one of the top programs of its kind in the nation supporting High School musicians and school music programs students audition in March they then attend a rigorous summer camp in August we've talked about that before at the board table remember the All State concert at St John's this past summer and then recently reunited for this February performance congrats to all of our amazing High School aged performers Jeff Rael principal of Glen Lake Elementary is in the running for a National Distinguished School principal award while there are two other Minnesota contestants were obviously voting for Jeff principal ridel has transformed Glen Lake Elementary by Leading The implementation of a house system that promotes structure and a strong sense of belonging among students he empowered his teachers to create the compassion Invasion program which Fosters inclusion for students with disabilities and complex medical needs principal Rael also championed his fifth and sixth grade students to lead a fundraising effort that generated nearly $1 million for their accessible playground ensuring that students who use wheelchair wheelchairs have a space to play and engage with their peers congrats principal Rael we do hope you win as you are aware and we had um our students who are um very brave and um giving of their time to speak to us this evening we are currently studying the possibility of collocating our hunos Spanish Immersion and shing shing Chinese immersion program programs to optimize resources strengthen staff collaboration and support program growth this study could result in changes at both the elementary and middle school levels yesterday evening at our 10th meeting since January 23rd the collocation design team decided to delay any implementation of changes until the 26 27 school year to allow for additional engagement with staff and families who may may be impacted the design team has met eight times since January 23 and um folks in the audience or people listening online if you'd like to hear more detail about this topic we did talk about it at length during the workshop so you can follow that link and watch a little bit later but briefly we've met eight times since January 23 and then in additional two meetings with a much larger group of staff and families from impacted schools and if you participated in these sessions thank you very much we learned through this feedback that families and staff had a preference for us to slow down our process while we had considered an expedited decision to help address Budget efficiency we've talked about facing a $7 million shortfall this spring we do believe that moving too quickly could prevent meaningful engagement and also our ability to implement change super thought Yul so we appreciate um your feedback tonight and um really hearing from a number of folks via email or if you participated in the in-person feedback sessions so on this slide you'll see a little bit of what we know um and also some things that we're hoping to learn as we continue to engage in a study and input process and then um hopefully within the next 24 hours we will let families know that no changes will be made for next school year and then I think um one final comment for folks who are here listening in we we really do try to communicate when we know we're going to look at something or when we have some information to share and I think we get caught in this Catch 22 because a lot of times our families really want us to be immediately communicative and sometimes we feel like we don't have as much detailed information to share should they ask us very detailed questions right and so we do try our best to communicate what we know when we know it and we do also want to acknowledge that sometimes it doesn't meet family's needs or you know we just kind of haven't gotten there yet so apologies for any families who felt like gosh there was stuff happening behind the scenes and folks didn't know about it um that wasn't necessarily the case because we've been engaged in this in a lot of work literally within the last 28 days um so we'll just try to always um be thoughtful about communication and we um always welcome your feedback and So speaking of feedback I just want to um close with a shout out to the four U parents one of them was here this evening did she leave um she came twice today so four parents who showed up at the first soup with the soup earlier today these parents represented Meadowbrook North West and Ellis Smith they enjoyed soup and I enjoyed I didn't eat I just talked the whole time um I enjoyed sharing the great things that are happening happening across our district while also engaging in conversation with these parents around the following topics oh there you are differentiated instruction collocating immersion budget referendum balance between paper and pencil versus digital classroom learning compacted math courses at the middle school specials rotation at elementary cell phone policy and more am I right that's a lot that's a lot we covered a lot of ground in an hour and I'm really grateful to the four parents who showed and there are more opportunities you'll see those um dates and times on the slide and also um those are linked in principal's weekly newsletters so that's it I believe for my update we normally have a school or program Spotlight so schools and programs are off the hook tonight nothing coming your way right now but we're hoping to Spotlight transition Plus at the March 11 school board meeting thank you for your time thank you uh any comments or questions for Dr Mary per Reid what kind of soup did you have chicken wild rice which I don't eat chicken but they said was delicious and Minon which was very good I had three small bowls the bowls were this size so I had three okay after I talked for an hour anyone else well thank you I appreciate that update I think you covered a wide variety of amazing things happening in the district and also um I appreciated the clarity around the the collocation because I know that's been a topic conversation in the community um so before we get to the approval of the agenda I did want to um let people know that our our board table is a little light this evening um Clark Thompson and treasure Heartland are unable to be with us this evening um due to illness so I just wanted to acknowledge um that they are not here and um what we do still have a quorum which is important so we can approve our agenda um so I would look for a motion to approve the agenda so moved I have a motion is there a second second I have a motion and a second any discussion see none all those in favor please say I I any opposed the chair votes I and the agenda has has been approved thank you for um Coming this evening student board reps yes thank you so much see you bye Y and um we will then go to the consent calendar these are items provided to the board with information considered to be more routine in nature if the board deeps 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 see none all those in favor please say I I I I any opposed the chair votes I and the consent calendar is approved that then takes us to the treasur report and as I mentioned before treasure Heartland is not with us this evening um we can all look at the treasures report which is posted in the um the uh agenda um I will simply read what's there um the primary issues to consider um Rachel Hartland School Board Treasurer met with Terrero chap Ander Dua Director of Business Services to review District bills um Treasurer Hartland would have updated the board on Financial dispersements in the amount of 2 million 1882 733 and7 for the period of February 1 2025 through February 15th of 2025 and I as always if anyone at the board has questions they can reach out directly to treasure Hartland um I do miss her report they always informative um so with that I would move that um the board approve the financial dispersements in the amount of $2 million $2,733 7 for the period of February 1st 2025 through February 15 2025 is there a second second I have a motion and a second all those in favor please say I I I any opposed did I ask for discussion I did not so I will see is there any discussion seeing none all those in favor please say I I I any opposed the chair votes I and the treasur report has been accepted that takes us to new business which um we have our local literacy update and I will pass it over to Dr Mary per Reid thank you chair andreesen so um welcome to the table Dr erle and Kimberly Smith Kim are you a doctor natal we were wondering oh okay on not yet okay so Kim is our literacy specialist and Dr erle is um leads our Innovation design and learning team and I think our board members and hopefully Community know that in Hopkins we really are leading the way in evidence-based reading training for our teachers and um monitoring implementation and Kim actually leads a monthly Gathering of all the district literacy experts um or specialists in the metropolitan area or across the state across the state so that's amazing so thank you for that work both internally and your leadership across the state and you recently testified at the capital with chair andreon I couldn't be there she did it all on her own all on your own okay W so um thank you so much for joining us at the table to provide a literacy update thank you so much over to you an good evening board members thank you Dr Mary Peri Reid um as our superintend attendant noted Kim is kind of famous in the literacy World in Minnesota and she in fact has um this group that she has coordinated for um literacy implementation around the react has been pretty influential and in fact um our department of education has kind of tried to co-opt the group and so and she's been really um wanting to make sure that that group stays in an advocacy stand and really truly helping working cross District to implement um a pretty significant piece of legislation so I'm going to turn it over to Kim to talk about uh where we're at with our implementation and what that looks like in context of our literacy plan overall so we'll start just with a little bit of background um and so natala you can go to the next one this tells just a little bit about the legislation that's happening across the state uh or across the country and so you can see that there are currently 45 states that have passed some type of literacy legislation um Minnesota is a little bit behind some of those states that are a little earlier to do that um you'll hear things about like the Mississippi Miracle Louisiana which just came up on a lot of the things with the nape scores and so um kind of that Southeast region was kind of the first states to start passing some legislation um and our first legislation passed um in May of 2023 so you can go to that next one Natalia um and you can see here this was our first um legislation that was passed called the react um and it initially was passed by um the legislature and was focused really on improving literacy across across the state um and so it has many many components to it and so when you look through the various components we are looking at how do we then take those components Implement them with what we are currently doing make sure they make sense for our teachers and that we um be make sure that all of those components are in alignment um so the initial passing was the read act 1.0 in May of 2023 um on the right hand side there you can sort of see those different components that are part of that legislation so curricular resources initially with tier one instruction um some components related to dyslexia identification uh family and Community engagement intervention our local literacy plan professional development screening and we'll talk a little bit about each of those components and where we are with those on the next as we continue through the presentation um in May of 2024 react 2.0 passed um and so we had kind of gathered a group that was working on implementing all of the different components and just as we kind of felt like we were getting our feet under us they passed um updated legislation that changed many of those components um and so some of those pieces that changed were it increased the screening requirement from two times a year to three times a year um there are definitely some huge challenges with that um there are some great opportunities as well um but we'll talk about some of those challenges that we're facing um within our system related to that um it took the money that was initially dedicated for purchasing approved curriculum and it reallocated that money to teachers through districts requiring a memorandum of understanding um and part of the reason for that was as they looked at the number of districts that currently had curriculum that was on the approved list it was very few um curriculums are always changing there were not many curriculums that actually passed the rubric um and so the money that was allocated initially wasn't near what it would needed to have been to fund curriculum adoptions across the state um so instead that money was reallocated into districts to compensate teachers for all of the additional training that they're doing um it also increased the money um for the professional development it cost more than they initially planned for um so it put some more money into that budget um it also delayed the release of the fourth and above screening tools so we currently have fastbridge as our screening um and we are using it kinderg Garden through 9th grade in the fall um it is not ideal for fourth and above it's really designed as a primary age reading screener with subtest like nonsense words phic segmentation letter naming letter sound um and so it's really hard when kids get to those older grades to look and see exactly what's going on with their reading that's causing challenges for them um it's very hard to do in a very short amount of time so any assessment is very long to give and it still requires to do many many pieces of Diagnostics to kind of break it down farther um and so the state has said that they will get some better tools available um and they push that deadline back for having that um in redact 2.0 so we're still awaiting those we keep being told any day now um it also delayed the release of approved interventions and then it extended the partnership with the carry Institute at the University of Minnesota um and right now they are working on react 3.0 so we're kind of watching to see what those impacts will be as well um as far as where we are right now um we have our curricular resources um and so you can see there we have ufly which is on the approved list it's a foundational skills material um or we're using sips as a core instructional material so sips is designed as an intervention but it's being used as part of core instruction at one of our sites so our K through2 students are all getting access to uly um or sips um we've added some decodable reader resources we're using a program called fire um in third through fifth grade it's one of the ones that uh St Paul public schools has been using with their third through fifth grade um and had good success um or we're using that sips challenge which is sort of a similar kind of um material in in the school that's using sips uh we have Lexia Core 5 in all of our K5 programs and then we have access to Lexia power up in our 68 buildings um and then we're currently kind of looking at reviewing our current standards our core resources is currently um collaborative classroom it did not make the the full approval list it's partially um aligned and so they have a new version than the one we have so we're kind of looking at what's there it does have really high quality um read aloud text um materials that come with it and so we're looking at where where are the holes um part of the reason that we chose to move forward with youly was we felt that was the weakest area in CCC and it was a patch that we felt we could make um with confidence um we're really looking at piloting this year some dictation and writing assessments and so we've got that being used at many of our schools um it's not designed to collect like District level data at this point it's for teachers to look at and see how are kids taking that eflyer sips instruction and how is it applying to the the their writing um and so that they can make instructional decisions about um about how that's working um and then we'll kind of continue to watch those curricular components what we don't want to do is throw money at um more materials when we don't have the Capac right now to do in-depth training um and there are many many new programs that are being reviewed and so we want to wait till kind of that whole review process is done before we make any any Financial moves related to curriculum as far as screening is concerned we are using fast Bridge um it's required K3 we are going far beyond that we are doing it um K8 consistently and in the fall with nth graders to help with some course placement at the high school or to further decide what um what students might need some support um and then kind of awaiting those approved improved tools for fourth and above um for dyslexia screening we're using the CBM it's a one minute timing so um a student will read with a teacher oneon-one they read three different passages we look at both what's their fluency and then how what's their error rate what's their accuracy um so that's one component that meets um the dyslexia screening um and then the second was added later um kind of in the middle of the year because fastbridge really doesn't have um the right level of tools that are needed to do that um so we've they've added in nonsense word fluency to both second and third grade it's already given in first but it's also given in second and third now um so in combination with those um we are meeting the state requirement around dyslexia screening um and just be clear we can't diagnose dyslexia so we can only look for characteristics of and then report that back to parents um one of the pieces that we are looking at is doing a more gated approach with that so that means that if if a student is passing the CBM if they are able to read with good accuracy and good speed we don't necessarily need to drop down and do the nonsense word reading um if we have enough information that all of the other pieces are looking good um and so that reduces the number that we may have to do in that area around testing um the next area is related to family and Community engagement and so you may have noticed increased communication this year um around when those fastb screenings are happening um so communication going out ahead of those screenings and Then followed up after the screenings to share um that the the data is is now available on Infinite Campus you'll be getting another one probably by the end of this week that's uh following up on the midyear assessments that we just completed um we've held some esac sessions we just finished our second literacy focused session um there's been lots of literacy nights at the schools um and then really the kind of the big bulk of that is just the communications around the screening and then um communication for families around next steps we had started building out a resource component um which was required in the legislation um and after kind of advocacy group said like we don't need every District building a a toolkit for parents like that should be a state level um tool that's provided um and so the the regional networks are are doing that in combination with mde and it should be released this summer excuse me the next component is related to the local literacy plan um and so all these components that we've gone through are connected um are obviously subcomponents of that local literacy plan it does get published to the website last year and so we adjusted our submission and and um gave them the information they asked for last year they are redoing it again this year so there'll be a new submission platform um and kind of further guidance it does make it a little challenging to know like what to collect that's going to be asked to be reported um because they haven't given us any information about what it will look like this year um but we'll that gets completed kind of in May um and uploaded to the website and submitted by June um and then it's reviewed and updated annually um and it includes both both data components um related to student progress number of students um being identified with characteristics of Dyslexia as well as number of teachers completing the training and other aspects of of the legislation Kim I think you skipped over the interventions did I oh thank you let's go back y back to intervention thank you um the intervention component that's part of the legislation um requires that any student who's not uh reading on grade level has some access to interventions and so we're working on how do we set up that system um how do we ensure that if um there is more than the number we can serve through kind of an intervention that we're pushing that into be a core tier one intervention right in the classroom for for all students um and so right now we're using youly for that or sips uh we also have press interventions that are from the University of Minnesota um those have all been at place at the schools for a while um and so we're just kind of tightening that up um and making that a little bit more consistent um there are some other resources that kind of vary by grade level related to comprehension or fluency um and then we're realigning those to make sure that they really well align with our core so for example in the past a student might have gotten um for example sips as their tier one but then if they went to an intervention they would have gotten a different foundational skill intervention instead of getting more in-depth sips with a smaller group of kids moving at at their pace so we're really tightening up that alignment in most places it's ufly and so they have the uly um which is you University of Florida literacy initiative they have that that they're getting as part of core instruction and then if they're getting intervention they're most likely getting youly um kind of at the level that they're still working at with more intensity um there is progress monitoring happening for any student that is receiving intervention by the mtss teams and then each site has a sa team that has kind of a consistent process where if they feel a student needs to move forward with more intensive interventions or for some type of evaluation process that that process has been streamlined um and then we're just kind of awaiting the MD release of those approved interventions could you just say what is a SAT team yes student assessment team assistance team sorry sorry Student Assistance team so that's the team of um it's typically interventionists counselors um a building administrator anybody who works directly with that student um talking about what interventions they've tried how it's going what's the monitoring looking like what they might try next um and so it's sort of that that ability to move students Up and Down based on the level of support that they need great thank you all right then I think we're under professional development which is I think two more there we go um one probably the largest lift for districts has been related to the professional development um there are two phases and we'll talk about what those kind of two phases are we are in phase one we opted to go with letters because we already had cohorts of letters training happening um and so one of the great advocacy pieces I would ask of you as board members is people often say like oh my students getting letters um no letters is a it's a professional development it's not a curriculum um and so we have cute little t-shirts we've made for our training um we have three Early Childhood letters facilitators that were trained um and 10 letters facilitators which is more than most districts have we're Super Lucky with that um many of our our letters facilitators were trained as part of the transformation Zone with uh support of mde uh and so we are leading our cohorts internally many of the districts that have chosen letters or any of the other two approved uh curriculums are having to go through online modules so they log in they're kind of by themselves and they go through the training with a national trainer and we think we're offering a much better um experience for our teachers they are in the training with a cohort of teachers from their building um it's most often their instructional coach who's also the letters facilitator who's then back at their buildings able to provide that implementation support so they come to the training and then they have that same person back in their building to ask question questions to to follow up to get help when they're you know practicing the different assessment tools and things um and so we have 38 Early Childhood teachers going through training 130 teachers who are in volume one of letters and 90 teachers who are in volume two and so next year that will shift because it's a two-year program and so those 90 teachers and the Early Childhood teachers will be completed with their requirement and we'll have 130 teachers that move into that volume too training um Hopkins also opted to lean into doing some additional training beyond what is required um and so we created sessions um called Literacy for Hopkins leaders this included um instructional coaches that aren't facilitators administrators Department chairs um principles to give them a chance to learn what are their teachers learning and then what are sort of those system moves that they can do at the building level to support implementation when you look at kind of what is made up in those different phases of training we are in Phase One teachers have to be trained by summer of 2026 and you can see the teachers that are identified as required by the legislation so all prek teachers uh K3 they did allow us to go up to four five so we can do an entire School most of our building principles chose to do that um nk12 El or ml teachers ink2 reading interventionists and then um ink2 special education teachers Paris were initially included on that and then they were taken off and they are going to be um have a training that they will have next school year that's designed specifically for pray of professionals uh phase two is sort of the second not so it's not volume two the volume two is still part of that phase one uh phase two is actually a separate group of teachers that will get additional or a different um professional development it may be the same but it it there'll be other options available um and right now the legislation has changed kind of daily if you look at the MD website as to who's required it has said 412 ELA teachers um today it says 412 classroom teachers responsible for reading instruction um we've been doing a lot of advocacy and feedback to mde that if students are struggling with reading at grade four and above having an Ela teacher for a 45 minute block is not going to change outcomes for any students there is zero research that supports that um students need their entire day to be supported by people who understand how to teach reading and writing um and so we are pushing that they include more people in that Phase 2 training especially our content content experts in social studies science where there is a lot of reading and writing that happens um so that's one piece we're kind of hoping for in uh react 3.0 the next piece shows kind of those two volumes you might have to click a couple times Natalia I'm not sure why oh I'm not coming up there that's all right um it's just pictures of the manual so nothing super exciting it does kind of tell a little bit about the number of hours required um and so when you finish your board meeting tonight in the back you'll notice there's some poster board I would love if you would sign it uh we're going to do a big thank you to our teachers at the end of our session we have our final session of this year coming up on March 5th um the amount of work that our teachers are doing is unbelievable um this has been a huge lift for them it is not easy I think many of them thought like oh it's just some extra training um the online modules are um about 50 to 62 hours over 2 years so about 28 to 30 hours per year they are not the kind of thing you can plug and play the longest videos are about a minute and 7 seconds and then you have to answer some questions and do a written response and then hit advance and um there there's reading to do and there's a a journal so it is very intensive training uh most of our teachers say it's harder than any graduate classes that they've taken um and there's a big thick manual um and then they come to the debriefs and the debriefs are really kind of where we try to go over some of the stickier pieces or the pieces related to implementation um and so then they do those uh 24 hours six sessions of 4 hours each over the course of each year so um six days this year and then six next year um so overall it'll be about 120 hours of training that our teachers will have between the two volumes uh leaning into letters it is the more most intensive of the three programs that were offered um and I will say this is only my second year in this position and telling teachers you have to do a bunch of training is usually not something that goes over very well we've had nothing but positive feedback after every session I get thank you notes um all of the feedback has been incredibly incredibly positive teachers are really grateful for the training they feel it's meaningful they feel empowered to go back and know how to support students better um and so while it's a huge lift and they're not always excited about the workload um the the gratitude for the training has been very very positive can't oh can I ask a question I'm like breaking protocol Kim when you meet with the other District's literacy Specialists do they have for those who are doing maybe carry training or some of the others do they receive similar feedback or is there something specific about letters training that does have an extra value add um we've heard feedback from different like of each of the different ones sort of has some pros and cons people like that the um the core or Ola it's called um or has been renamed starts out focusing on mtss and so that feels really like a good connection for teachers to the the areas that they're feeling are kind of tricky and hard to navigate within school so they've liked that that entry into it I think letters gives teachers what they never got in college related to how students actually learn to read and the really fine nitty-gritty of all of the parts that the teachers just don't really know um and so I think um each one has pros and cons carry all was new so no one got to review it before it got started um and I've heard both proses pros and cons but I would say in general districts that are doing letters have teachers who are pretty pretty happy okay thank you when you think about our implementation um we're looking at it kind of a variety of ways obviously um anytime you're doing implementation we're keeping students at the center um and then we're looking at how do we support teachers so that they have the strongest level of eff efficacy that they can in in teaching reading um we'll be getting our Paris the support to do the same currently they're being supported by their instructional coaches and mtss staff um around training with the different resources at the buildings um we've leaned into doing some extra support for principls and um District level and then we've also built uh components of just ensuring we have a really strong tier one into our hillt which is our Hopkins instructional leadership team which is made up of principes um building level teacher leaders um our instruction or our um IDL Team all coming together um and looking at at things over the year and so a main component of that has been related to ensuring we have a really strong tier one um instructional program in place uh the second piece is related sort of to alignment so taking all of those different curricular materials and pieces that we have going on currently in existence or the pieces we're adding to and making sure that those are aligned so again keeping students at the center what materials are going to best serve them how do our assessments then measure whether those are effective or not what structures do we need to put in place uh to support that and then how do we ensure Staffing is is available to do the different components that are needed one place we've been monitoring is with what are called otus learning walks this is a component of the transformation Zone agreement that we have with the Minnesota Department of Education um and the Otis is a a tool that takes seven of John Hattie's High leverage strategies and does 10-minute learning walks in classrooms um looking at for those components we um started last year we did did it three times last year we did it in the fall of this year we've put a short hold on it for right now um because it's not telling us what specifically enough what we want to know about implementation of that foundational skills Block it's a much more General tool and we feel like we need um to be measuring a little more right now around the implementation of that foundational skills block and the resources that we've made available um so that we can decide where do we provide professional development what's needed to ensure that that's really solid um so we will probably do them again in the spring just to stay in compliance but we're trying to look at other ways that we can get in and see kind of the nitty-gritty of what we need to around um implementation of uly and sips um this is from our fall data that we looked at last year and then this year like and then this year and so these were you get scored on the Otis based on a a zero a one or two so two is high evidence of that one is sort of there was some evidence of it and then zero wasn't observed during that 10-minute window and you can see just from Fall of last year to follow of this year that we went up in pretty much every area um and some of those things are are really small minor things um the difference between a teacher saying what they're going to do but also saying what they're going to do and why it's important um and so just narrowing in on some of those just best practices across the board um and again we think they're really it's really valuable it's just not giving this the Nuance that we need right now around that foundational skill block um some of our celebrations and things that have been going on so far this is pictures and quotes from letters training um and so you can see all of our teachers there our amazing facilitators um some of the quotes of of thank you cards that we've gotten afterwards are there so that's been a huge success um and then the next one kind of looks at kind of what we're doing and what we're following so you obviously the legislation is making some changes um that then trickles down to mde to decide how it's implemented we have bright Works which is our regional Co-op these were part of the legislation that was set up with that every region would have a a a regional Cooperative um bright works is ours for the metro area um and they offer support for our local facilitators um and then they offer support for people in my role of a literacy lead um to come together to work through kind of the various components of the legislation um and then that other piece that was mentioned earlier we had MD holds office hours um related to this but there's no interaction with other people in the similar roles and so I was getting really frustrated because I was like how are you handling this I want to know and so I like started writing down names of people who were attending and reaching out and being like you want to get on a meet and talk about some of this um and through that really we've just grown to about 130 literacy leads across the state um who come together every other week around lunchtime and we just we everyone contributes to the agenda um and we just kind of work our way through what's going well what's not going well um in those pieces so that's been been great some of the challenges that we're facing um are time um especially related to the assessment um the assessments take a lot of time and they are very um human intensive right they're given oneon-one sitting next to a student you have to go through the protocols you are marking um and the they they at our K1 especially there's a lot um and so that is a huge heavy lift and by at take going from twice a year to three times a year it's taking a lot of instructional time away from classrooms and so we're trying to figure out how can we do that without losing instructional time with the capacity of humans we have to do it oftentimes it becomes our interventionists who help to do the screening but that means then they're not working with the students who most need intervention um and there's just not enough enough humans to do the level of of assessment that's needed um sometimes the assessments right now are not well aligned with the program so for example if you're an immersion or in Chinese immersion and you get screened in kindergarten on English letter names and sounds and you're not receiving instruction in that it's not super valuable data um nor do the kids have any idea like when you sit down with them in the fall and say like okay we're going to do this and they're like I don't know this I'm not learning this isn't isn't what I'm in school for um and so you know just trying to figure out how to how to manage those pieces that are still in legislation that we need to be in compliance with but aren't making a lot of sense so we're trying to lean into some advocacy and lean into where um where it makes the most sense and then not overspend time on things where it's not a good use of our energy we're still looking at ways that we can better use the data so we'll talk in a few minutes about some of the things that I'm trying to do um going forward as we collect that data um one of the pieces that's kind of anecdotally coming out right now is that students are much more accurate than they have been in the past when they take these screenings so teachers are reaching out saying oh my gosh kids know this like they're they are doing really really well it's connected to what they're doing a youly kids know how to do it they are slow um because they're trying to be accurate and so it's throwing off some of our fluency scores where it's measuring their automaticity so we're looking at what are some ways we can can speed up that automaticity for kids when they're being assessed um mde has changed timelines a lot like you saw earlier that there were certain components that we expected um to have by certain timelines and they're not meeting those um and so that's been kind of a barrier we planned our PD next year based on phase two being in place and we don't even have Phase 2 options for PD and it won't be available until November of next year which will be too late to do the phase 2 PD next year so it's pushed that back an entire year um even though we had sort of already kind of planned our PD days around that um so those are some of the challenges uh funding challenges obviously they it's not funded near what it needs to be for all of these components to happen um and we're really trying to balance for our teachers who are doing this huge lift of training and not also trying to then throw new curriculum and and things on them so we're really just trying to balance balance that out so that it's manageable um and then some of the things we're doing to kind of address some of those challenges so related to the assessment um we've added the new components in that were required and we're kind of continuing to review it we're looking at how do we balance out that assessment with the time component um we're looking at how we can better respond to the data um and make it so that there is sort of a a greater system around what that is and I'll talk about that on the next side just a little bit um and then really focusing just right now on the PD aspect for our teachers getting their learning really really solid and then having a plan in place to support them at the building around implementation some of the pieces that are kind of coming next is we're going to certainly watch for redact 3.0 um because there are a lot of changing components in there we're waiting for mde to release those approved interventions we are preparing to see um what the phase 2 PD options are for that that more secondary kind of focused group we are looking at creating a more balanced assessment system so we don't want all of our assessments necessarily to be in screeners or to be you know MCA those things aren't going to measure or tell us what we need and so it's kind of the combination of those learning walk pieces that we can gather and then um looking you know at the individual subtest that tell us the most powerful information for deciding what students where students are at we're continuing to align resources and materials and looking at the ELA standards review process we're trying especially at elementary to align social studies and science into that that's what kids need to be reading and writing about um and then focusing on writing across all curricular areas one of the pieces that I'm really focused on right now is taking all of our fastbridge data by grade level and saying based on what we see here are some five minute things you can do to respond immediately to that data so we're seeing this this little Gap in fluency where kids are trying really hard to be correct and we want them to be a little bit more automatic and speed driven so here are some things you can do in five minutes a day while you're standing at the bathroom to just play some Speed games with kids so that they're responding directly to that without pushing too hard into the teachers already really busy days I think the next one is questions great thank you so much this was really informative and I'll just say from what I read about your testimony at the legislature you are really good at packing in a lot of information so thank you for that I appreciate that um any comments or questions from my board colleagues cheer andrees yes director and because she's a literacy specialist it was laid out really well it was very easy to understand very easy to follow so um thank you so much um not a question I just wanted to drive home the point that a lot of our legislators are going around telling community members that the read act um has been fully funded and that is just not true um and so you mentioned that during the presentation I appreciate that um I'm not going to ask you what that funding Gap is because that's not your job um but I would be curious to know what that number is for us in Hopkins um because I know that it's probably higher in other districts that didn't already have a great start on this work and a great infrastructure when that legislation went into place so um thank you so much for all of the implementation work um thank you to our Educators for the hours and hours and and this kind of elevated level of commitment um it's really impressive J Andre yes director JN yes hi um so thanks for all your due um I went to one of as you know your esci night and or esce night and uh you know went through a little bit about the coding and things like that and you know as uh as someone with English as a second language um you know English is not easy so I definitely appreciate uh all the work that you do um I guess a question um uh for the Odus numbers right so it's one through seven can you provide what those numbers mean and and I know we're maybe stepping away from Otis temporarily so totally get that but like what is what is one like item one right is it like do so one um one and I can send you the tool um one is the teacher says what they are learning and why it's important so there's two indicators under the number one category it's what are you learning and why is it important and that it's explicitly stated um other things are that the teacher provides feedback um related to academics one is related to U managing engagement in the classroom um so they're they're really high level kind of General things that you would could see in any any grade any class any content area um which is why we're finding it to be a little bit of a struggle as far as measuring our foundational skills block so and then uh lastly maybe more of a qu question for maybe uh the chair is uh the the fast bridge is coming out uh it sounded like imminently right maybe in uh this end of this week are they going to come back and talk about um results um from from this time period um in a workshop maybe or something we well we are definitely planning to do that um in June with kind of the Fall to Spring full picture um um we wondered about the winter Administration only because it's just wrapping up right now so we don't have kind of the results that we were looking for to share this evening but I think if that's of Interest we could um come back to a workshop or we could also provide maybe a a one-pager highlight um that gives a system perspective whatever would be preferred yeah one of the things it's really hard about looking at the fastbridge data is that those subtests change across the year so for example um a first grader in the fall does sentence reading but by winter and spring they're doing that one minute passage reading so it's not an Apples to Apples the bench or the the subtest change as as the students mature over the year and so you're not always able to to see growth because you might not give that same subtest again so we look at composite scores um especially for early reading um and so we're just starting to kind of get into those right now um they were being uploaded into Infinite Campus today okay yeah however you want to handle it would be fine but it would be good to give some context and uh you know it from the Otis thing it looks like we're setting up well it looks like we're we have all the tools to succeed and it looks like you know the training is going well so that's awesome and uh so just want to make sure that it lines up to the results as well that would be appreciated does does fastbridge offer some best practices around when are the ideal sharing times that's a good question oh I think in general I mean there's the three times a year that we're using it for screening um it we had already been using it three times a year um a bit we were using that midyear time with students who were receiving any kind of intervention so we already had students that were of any kind of concern were getting that midyear kind of screening to see if they were on Pace and if their interventions were were effective um and then schools are using fastbridge all year long because there are interventions that are in there as well as progress monitoring tools um but as far as I know there's not kind of best reporting out that they share thank you any other oh sorry I was going to say that [Music] um um Miss Smith and Dr erle supported principal NES at a coffee with the principal and um so principal NES and the and Shannon the literacy coach presented some of the data and I was just wondering if something like that is happening at each of our schools or what what is the best way for parents to and you know we've had the conversation about really putting more of our emphasis around Fidelity of implementation and monitoring how well it's going versus you know hyperfocusing on the scores and parents probably want to know how their how their children or their child's class is doing what is the best way of accessing so I think individually it would be looking on Infinite Campus and seeing where their individual scores are and then that that letter that comes out links to the resources that say what what are expected scores for each of those subtests um what does it mean what are some things you can do uh that that website that will be built will have specific activities that parents can do in response if they say well my child's really struggling with nonsense words they're scoring lower on that subtest here are some activities or games you can do um we put put a hold on building ours just because it's not being built at the state level um I would say most I all schools are having data meetings related to the screening period so the data specialist which is what Shannon is um they go through with their each of their teams and look at what's the data say um and so there that's happening at every building um as far as like parent presentations like the one that that principal Nest did I don't know if those are happening at every single building um or or how they're doing that um I think more special request but I don't know I wasn't sure if it was being replicated most buildings will have a literacy night of some kind um that they are sharing some of that same information with yeah that's true okay so there's multiple ways that our parents can access the information and ask questions and then we can be thoughtful for what the board would like in terms of a kind of early spring or end of year rev review yeah I mean I I think that what we saw in this presentation is that this is a significant investment um and I think that I think we're all interested to know um what is it yielding um so it would be great in some way to to get whatever in data is is going to let us know that absolutely any other feedback questions well I do have a quick question for the interest thank you for the interest of time I'll just be really brief I'm just really um was wondering what are some common challenges that you're seeing or hearing about fastbridge learning um I know that a few um you know teachers during conferences have expressed that you know they think that it may be a little bit detrimental to our students because of the time test and I also was looking at it and was doing some reading and found it just a little um complex and convoluted as well so this may be more of a report out or review um conversation but just wanted to hear maybe some of your quick thoughts about that yeah I think um obviously just the time that it takes to give is taking time away from instruction and there's always a balance for teachers because teachers want to be the ones giving the assessment to the student they have the relationship and they want to hear how the students are doing so they want to be the one giving it but then that means they're not teaching right or they're not able to do um kind of their normal routine um and so that's always a really hard balance to to to meet um we recently collected from um metro metro areas around us how they're handling some of those challenges of the amount of time it takes to do assessment and we're kind of looking at what are some different options we might consider uh before school starts or you know towards the end of the year um to to just lighten that load a little bit we've many districts have tried to hire like cohorts of retired teachers to come in and do it that's not going particularly well anywhere either um and so you know there's just lots of challenges with the amount of testing that it takes um I would say the other piece is obviously these are sub tests that tell like a predictability for where kids are with their reading but it's not that we want kids practicing reading nonsense words right like we want them reading real words the reason we have them do nonsense words is so that we can ensure that they have the sounds and the blending like and it's not that they haven't memorized it is to take that like memorization and site memorization out of it um and so that we're really measuring those foundational skills of knowing the sounds and being able to blend them together um and most of those nonsense words become syllables and multi- syllable words down the road um and so there's always that I would say there's a tension between having kids practice something that feels inauthentic reading nonwords and taking that data and knowing how to then use it to drive instruction to make sure the kids do know all their sounds and can blend them because that is highly connected to successful reading thank you for that appreciate that anyone else um it doesn't look like it I would just like to say um I see the the change in literacy instruction in the classroom and it's really fun and amazing to see kids just light up um and so thank you for this presentation I look forward to to seeing the one pager if that's the route that we go on what the outcomes are so appreciate you being here and for this excellent presentation thank you thank you both so much and that takes us to um policies in first read this is um an item for board information discussion and action um I will turn it over to Vice chair Ross yeah yes uh we're going to be reviewing the student cell phone polic use policy uh 54.1 and uh assistant superintendent uh Lightfoot is at the table here to walk the group through this policy good evening welcome good to be with you all uh as you are aware based on our conversation at the last meeting you do have in front of you uh 54.1 um as you will Rec call the request was put forward to ensure that we could pull this out of policy 524 uh make sure that we could uh communicate it more publicly and broadly um to gain any additional information that would be helpful to you as a board as you consider this policy in front of you um it has been uh redrafted in that sense that it is Standalone out of 524 so that language is here for you this evening based on that public component I do think a couple things have come in that I wanted to make sure that the board was aware of number one one of the key questions that we got was the uh reference to smart watches um part of the distinction that was asked for is our are the policy words clear enough so that individuals would understand that things like Fitness track ERS or other devices that simply are digital for time telling purposes would be allowed um but certainly those items that are internet functional or connected would not be allowed as they are mirroring the cell phone so part of the conversation that I think we need to have as we get into anything for a second read would be to make sure that we distinguish that smart device um so that individuals would know that just because it's digital doesn't mean that you can't have a digital watch what it means is it can't be internet connected mirroring the phone or connected to the phone um so we had some information there the other information we got um actually was more toward regulations uh we did get a couple comments regarding okay so you have the policy as you think about the policy um as buildings think through their implementations what does it look like with the implementation if there is a violation for step one what does that mean if there is another violation step two what does that mean um so part of the progression in the idea of what it would look like uh to make sure that the implementation and the follow through and the site response if there is a violation of the policy uh would be consistent as well um so those were uh two of the I would say General comments and then as well as you did hear this evening uh those comments that are designed to say does the high school section go far enough uh in the support of what as a board you are looking to achieve with a policy and really in the structuring of the environment of learning so I think that generally encapsulates all of the feedback that we've received um as we followed your guidance uh to make sure that we were more specifically putting this out for further review so with that um I would say those are the specific items and for further discussion or anything thereof with 5 24.1 um we'll do my best to be of any additional information along the way thank you appreciate it any um questions or comments from my board colleagues chair Andre director West morand so I have a question around the regulations so we've cross referenced the policy with our discipline policy with bullying prohibition um and and a variety of other policies and um internal policies and model policies um and so I I'm wondering as we think about crafting the regulations piece it would be important for me as a monitoring Committee Member to have direct input from administrators who will be implementing the policy so that the three sites are aligned um so that in terms of like response to policy violations that middle schoolers are experiencing the same or or similar consequences to high schoolers so that they're used to it right by the time they get to the high school like hey here's what happens right and so that there's consistency um and so I feel very hesitant to try to draft any regulations as a monitoring committee without having administrators right there with us um because they're the ones who are going to have to be implement ing it so I guess my question is around process would that look like um working with administrators a in our capacity as monitoring committee members and then bringing a new policy back to the board that has the regs or can we approve the policy and then build out the regs after that I'm also very mindful of the timeline here and the date that the legislature has given us to implement policy yep um the in answer to the first question the regulations are not required to be approved by the board um the regulations really are the response of the administration after receiving the specific guidance from the board to go forth and then make sure that that as you identify consistent implementation is part of it um so those always can be added after the policy is approved um and when you think about many of the policies that are in front of the board we'll look at the policy but the regulation segments are often left off as those become the administrative procedures to make sure that those are designed to accomplish the objectives that are part of the policy so we certainly can do that at any time um and we can bring that feedback back to our administrative team to look at some of the recommended components that were part of the um cell phone toolkit uh that was produced through the Minnesota School Board Association Minnesota Association of Elementary School principles and Secondary School principles um as part of that model work that was done thank you so process-wise we can continue to advance the policy yes and then our administrators would work on the regs and then that would be kind of like a second step of what's communicated out to the community and and our students yep okay great thank you chair Andre yes director J um so regarding the um Smartwatch thing uh I guess I just worry that okay we write down okay this is kind of what it looks like and then something new comes out right and like maybe it interfaces like in a weird way or like it does something weird that we've never even thought about and somebody says oh but it's not a smartwatch right or it is a smart it it doesn't qualify so I mean I wonder if we should just say something like you know you can have a watch that can keep time but if it does anything else you can't use it or you can't have it is that because I just worry that there's going to be some random thing out there and teachers are not going to be I don't know may maybe wasting time like like running down XYZ just seems like a lot yeah I think that's always the challenge is to make sure that you are specific enough and not over broad um is is kind of as you identify trying to make sure that we're very clear about those parameters um and really what the functionality is that we could support as well as what the functionality that we are looking to restrict um would be part of the policy enough that those individuals would understand what that means for them and what they can bring to school um such that it's not a disruptive component for the learning environment chair andreon yes so we already have some language in here around smart watches so it sounds to me like what's needed is more clarification about like the device itself connecting to the internet right because there's a way to disable the internet connection from your Smartwatch correct and I think it could still do things like tell you cardinal directions so it wouldn't just be telling time no but but the the point being right that we we don't want students like um using their smart watches to text or access apps or you know whatever you can tell I'm not a smartwatch user um but I do know that you can disable the internet part of it right and so um so is that kind of the the level of detail that we're looking for here that we would need to add some language around that like what you can and cannot do with your Smartwatch yeah I mean the comments that came in were more about wanting to to make sure that the policy was not so restrictive that fitness trackers or other digital time telling devices were also things that needed to be put away or were prohibited or would result in any discipline toward a student um were some of the pieces that came in from some of the um General comments chair andreon yes at our last board meeting I think a couple of board directors did ask us to check with the metropolitan area so Dr Lightfoot and I did that actually um amsd did it on our behalf so 20 in a poll of surrounding districts 27 districts responded and the responses for what their policy would call for at the elementary middle and high school level very much aligned with where where we are headed here in Hopkins with maybe a couple of I think two or three districts responding differently at the high school level otherwise um complete alignment so I I think um I just wanted to share that there is some alignment across the metropolitan area and then kind of like folks are saying we need to be thoughtful about what the implementation and the regulations look like to keep in mind um our teachers need to focus on instruction not on management and also not making this a huge burden on administrators thank you for that context I think that is helpful um any other questions comments um I I think I'm I'm gleaning that um a lot of the feedback that we've gotten um is maybe more appropriate in a regulations implementation guide is that what we I'm feel like that's what I've been hearing at the board table um as opposed to changes to the draft is that what we're all thinking um and I was like as I was reading this I um I see that things that have been brought up are addressed in that you know phones will like this will happen um very directive um and I think speaking to that piece um that you brought in is that you know we don't want teachers getting into Power struggles with kids over phones right like and I I think we've all seen and felt if we're parents what that can turn into um and so it's my hope that this policy would help with that it would take it off the individual teacher and they would would be able to say it's District policy give me your phone um and so I think that we did in the process of crafting this we got feedback from students uh staff caregivers and community members is that accurate um and that feedback is part of this so our staff was able to say I feel comfortable or I don't feel comfortable with this plan and from what I've gathered from the discussions that we've had they they do feel comfortable with this that it's doable would you say in the monitoring committee that's the feedback yeah so this was presented to student staff caregivers and community members and staff has communicated that they need something that's some level of structure that they can go back to and say yes this is District's policy and be able to align the middle schools together because I know North for instance is a bag in tag um my students go my kids go to North and they understand their cell phone should never come out of their pocket and they only they use it first thing in the morning to text if they need something and then they don't use it again until I need to pick them up from school and so they understand to them is foreign to like oh you could use your cell phone throughout the day that's new to them okay so they've been integrated into understanding this is the process um when when they're at school they're not supposed to be using their cell phones at all great and Sharon recent an executive summary of those survey results has been made available to the community too so yeah I think we may it may be worth mentioning that um I'm looking at the cell phone survey summary that the the findings were a bit more mixed with staff at the high school level right so I think staff are like look we don't want to be fighting with kids so there are many staff who would prefer a bellt bell no phone whereas students really advocated for their phones and also lots of parents advocated for students to have the phone so it was a tougher balance to strike at the high school level but that elementary and middle level feedback um alignment I think was a lot more clear so I just want to acknowledge acknowledge that Nuance um because our high school staff and you know some High School teachers already have a when you walk in the door your phone goes in this cubby and there's you know like a little place for each student so hopefully our high school teachers can support each other around what are those best practices with training students this this is going to be the practice in all classrooms let's get used to it just like we train elementary students first week of school we follow we we practice all of our routines and kids just get used used to it and our high schoolers are fully capable of also practicing routines and meeting expectations thank you for that context um I think it's important to know and also um what is the cycle that this policy would be under is it yearly that we have to review it is it part of our three year it enter unless the board decides to look at or ask the monitor ing committee to identify it as an annual policy which it certainly can um would then enter the three-year cycle it is not identified in that um annual cycle right now but could be we could also then at any time by request of community take another look at this MH and say well it's not working it's not having the intended um outcome s that we thought um and maybe we do need to shift what either Elementary any of the policies and as you may be aware there is legislation um that is looking to amend um the cell phone language that is currently part of the legislative um legislative directives um and as such with as is any possibility if there is any legislative change we'd be looking at a policy that might have to adjust to accommodate that as well thank you shair Andre yes Dr Mary per read you said earlier that neighboring districts are either have already or are planning to adopt similar policies to what we have yes so that ours really wouldn't be an outlier policy if we look at our neighboring District absolutely not and we can forward these results to the board but you'll see some very clear alignment so just so I'm clear no one at this board table is advocating for any adjustments to the policy as it appears before us today but we are very well aware that we need some pretty detailed implementation and regulations so that our staff can feel comfortable in implementing this with Fidelity so given that I would look for a motion that the board approves the above policy in first read further the board directs the administration to prepare the policy um for approval in second reading at the next meeting as part of consent so moved I have a motion is there a second second I have a motion and a second any further discussion seeing none all those in favor please say I I I any opposed the chair votes I and our new student cell phone policy is passed thank you all again for the work that you did espec in the monitoring committee and administration I know it was not an easy lift to administer all those surveys and to um the data specialist for giving us all the data in a very readable way so thank you for that um we will now move on and thank you assistant superintendent life you thank you so much Nick thank you we will move on to a resolution for black Excellence week in Hopkins Public School schools director rooper I will turn it over to you okay do I just read the resolution or um well do you want to give us some background you brought this resol resolution to the board um crafted it and um and uh wanted to make sure that you had a chance to kind of give a background on um what it is why it's here before us and particular Lally right now um yeah okay well thank you so the the goal of black excellent week is not to replace Black History Month I want to just say that it's is is to enhance our efforts in the district with Black History Month um I do recognize that while we do have celebrations siloed at our different schools we don't really have like big districtwide initiatives for family engagement for black history um and I think it's really important that we come together especially the different families and caregivers and community members to have space to celebrate the rich um Arts and Science and music and all of that comes with Black Culture have a space to do that within our district and also a space to celebrate um the contributions of like black staff and our Scholars and our Administration and how we um and how our talents and how our achievements um help scale the district forward and so black excellent week will definitely establish um it would give us the opportunity to uh celebrate that in a way that feels intentional and that provides again opportunity and space for our families in the district to come together and so it's an Innovative way to enhance Black History Month um and it's also a way to ensure that the achievement and our excuse me is also a way to ensure that our Scholars see um themselves being celebrated um you know by the district so that's why I wanted to bring forth black history excuse me black Excellence week thank you so much um I think this is great um that it was brought up and I think the timing is excellent um because we are um still in Black History Month um and I wanted to I hope that all my board colleagues have had a chance to look over the resolution um and so right now we would open it up for some discussion if anyone has comments or questions cheer Andres yes director W Morland so both the history of Hopkins schools and the present of Hopkins schools is one of black excellence and so I think that anytime we have the opportunity Unity to say that loudly and proudly and acknowledge that in official ways um that we should take that opportunity and I like this idea of black Excellence week becoming an annual um celebration to look forward to and I'm thinking about all of the events that are already scheduled for this week um like royally speaking that um that praise was reminding us about earlier um and so I'm excited that you brought this forward director roer thank you Jer andr yes director J yeah um totally uh just a question it's already the last week of February today so is it going to be R for next year retroactive I just wondering like timing wise like how does this work yeah it would be for next year for next year okay thank you for that clarification yeah I thanks Brooke for bringing it to bringing us forth I believe it short and sweet great I appreciate Brooke um the work that director roer sorry I apologize director rer brings um just with her voice and her knowledge and just bringing this forth is excellent so thank you director rer thank you I agree thank you for bringing this forward I also wanted to mention that um you bringing this forward also inspires us to think about the ways in which we can have be more intentional at the board table about celebrating our other communities in this District that gives so much and so I wanted to make sure that we are bringing this forward um in this month because it is Black History Month but to let our community know that we are committed to um uplifting our students and our community voices um in all the different ways in which we show up and U manifest here in the Hopkins community so um this is truly a celebration of um black Excellence that is inspiring us to look at other ways that we can do this for our community so I too am incredibly grateful director oper for you bringing this forward and with that are there any other comments or questions Cher Andre yes would you like me to act as clerk because clerk Thompson is gone Vice chair Ross oh my gosh oh my gosh like does he have any experience being cleric though uh yeah you never done it before thank you Vice chair Ras I'm sorry that I Burly tried to steal your job awward he's been looking forward all night very awkward I apologize you are more than qualified with that um I would ask direct rer would you like to read the resolution sure just one second let me go back to my board packet so um okay so come on okay so February 25th 202 whereas Hopkins Public Schools is committed to fostering an accessible and welcoming educational environment that uplifts the voices contributions and cultural heritage of all Scholars and staffs whereas the black culture has made profound contributions to the fields of Education Arts Science Leadership and Community Building both historically and within our own schools and Community whereas the celebration of cultural heritage through education strengthens student identity builds cross cultural understanding and enriches the learning experien for all whereas Hopkins Public Schools recognizes the importance of dedicated efforts to celebrate the Excellence resilience and impact of Scholars Educators and administrators within our district therefore be it resolved that Hopkins Public Schools will Implement black Excellence week during the last week of February which will Encompass showcasing the academic artistic and Leadership achievements of black uh Scholars and staff through performances exhibits and storytelling incorporating classroom discussions educational programming and Community engagement activities to highlight the historical and contemporary contributions of Black Culture encouraging schoolwide participation in honoring black Excellence through ART music literature and Interactive Learning experiences partnering with families local organizations and and blackl initiatives to deepen Community involvement and celebrate cultural heritage be it further resolved that this week will serve as a vital part of Black History Month while uniquely affirming the ongoing contributions of black Scholars Educators and administrators within Hopkins Public Schools thank you and with that I would ask um acting clerk Ross to call the role director Roper yes oh oh correct so moved okay we need to motion to accept the resolution okay um I have a motion is there a second second I have a motion and a second um now acting clerk Ross will you call the role yes director rer I will say yes right I oh I you don't have to it would be odd chair Andre I director West Morland I director xha I director Ross I thank you and that is five in favor of the resolution and it passes hey yay wonderful um so that takes us to our um board member reports we'll continue our practice of going around the table introducing ourselves and giving a report if we have one um who did I start with last time did I start with you director rer oh sure I think I did last time yes I think I did so director Westland hi I'm director Jen West Morland this is my eighth year on the Hopkins school board I'm a proud graduate of Hopkins schools I'm parent of an eighth grade scholar at West Middle School um I was previously Clerk and so I got really excited about it and um Vice chair Ross did an exceptional job standing as clerk so I would like the record to show that um I had the the honor of attending two black history month events um earlier this month so the first was on Val Valentine's Day um it was a celebration of community love and it was at resource West so there was an open house at resource West the community members could come to um and just be together that it's which is really important especially right now and learn more about how we can support our community and then after that um there was a screening of a documentary um of an event called lyrical power that took place in January 2020 um so right before Co and it was organized um by local black luminary Dominique Pier tant who brought um really brilliant people from our community together to share spoken word and song and rap um at the Depot Coffee House and so he's made a documentary of this event and um mayor hanlin was there he said some powerful words before the event and and after the screening um I moderated a Q&A with uh Dominique and it was really interesting to travel back in time um and hear his Reflections on what was happening in our community in 2020 and everything that we've traveled through together um during that time so it was great to to be in community um and and have those conversations that night so I want to thank him for putting that on and and um through Society 101 um which is his consulting firm and then for resource West for hosting the event um last night I attended an event organized by the African-American leadership Forum at the Walker Art Center and the topic was technology um specifically generative Ai and what we need to be thinking about um in our quest to create a racially just society when it comes to AI Technologies and there were some brilliant people um who shared their insights at that event um including Aaron reck who is the founder of um chat black GPT and um there was a Hopkins student there last night um and so it was really fun to to run into a fellow Hopkins community member um and uh safe to say we were both really Blown Away um by that presentation and so um just a reminder of how important it us important it is for us to be engaging with the realities of Technology um and generative AI in educational spaces thank you hi this is uh jiming jaao I use he him pronouns uh this is my second year on the Hopkins school board I've got two children in the district uh in fourth grade and first grade at shing shing program in Eisenhower and and uh don't really have much of a board report um but I did uh attend Kindergarten Roundup uh for Eisenhower and um was uh it's always interesting uh seeing the incoming kindergarteners they're they're so small I'm like yeah okay can old thank you good evening my name is Jason Ross uh I have three kids in The District Two or gosh I'm trying to remember now two at North one at tanglin um and my simple board repor is I had the pleasure to listen to director roer [Music] um this was this past Thursday night from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. um it was a networking a black history networking event and then I believe um I was just saying Miss Moore I don't want to oh yeah it's Miss Moore Miss Moore y so Miss Moore was uh one of the other comment uh speakers as well but I thought both director Moore or Miss Moore and director roer did an excellent job um facilitating walking um and then presenting for the community members that were there uh that night and obviously um saw a lot of Administrators there like Dr Mar Pi Reid so I thought it was hopefully you viewed it the same way a very successful event um to just share with community members one what Hopkins is doing why Hopkins uh school district is an important school district for them to be a part of and why is also for um important for them to show up um come to a board meetings and be able to hear some of the content that we're presenting out um directly versus virtually so it wasn't um it it was an invite to you know if they have time and they have child care available just to come out and see and be able to kind of see like what some of the students were doing and being able to feel comfortable you know um mingling with some of the board members and I know this is kind of a formal space but definitely wanting it to be more welcoming so then we have some community members who have no problem uh coming to the table you know to present and so just ensuring that all are welcome to come to the table and you know provide concerns are positive feedback of what they love that Hopkins stands for and what they're doing so just short and sweet well said thank you um my name is Shannon andrees um I am in my sixth year of board service and I have a junior at the high school um which informs my first thing of my board report oh and I'm also at Gatewood Elementary as a special ed Pera um but parent teacher conferences at the high school are on Thursday and then mostly what I want to talk about is what I learned I went to an msba officers Workshop it was over um two sessions a week apart so phase one uh part one and part two and one was just legal things um about board work which you know some things are new some things aren't standing um I learned a couple of things where I learned about the um the statute that as board members in the state of Minnesota we are required to be trained in order to serve the public um and then I also um the second phase was um specifically for your officer position so the chair and vice chair training was um last week and with that I learned um one of the things that that you were talking about Vice chair Ross and um director Roper is that it is um the that it is really important to create a welcoming environment at board meetings um not just welcoming for other board members and staff who are presenting but for the public and so I love that we are have reinstated the royal blue carpet so that we are bringing our um students and families into the boardroom and not only making them feel welcome hopefully but celebrating them um and so I it was really good to hear just the different ways that that's part of the the job um is to create that welcoming environment and culture and I do take that seriously um I also um because of that training just wanted to give you all a heads up that I'm going to be trying some different things um like they said I have to gavel um and all that but um there's we got these little cards for parliamentary procedure due to Robert's Rules of Order so we can be much more um just so excited I have an extra one I can give you I have it yeah yeah um and uh yeah just things like that so um really building on board culture I would like to be more intentional about making sure that all voices at the table are heard um so if if I'm kind of looking at you a little bit that's probably because I want you to say something um so just so just things like that I think that there are you know we hear a lot from certain members and not as often from others and so I just want to make sure you know we were all elected we all hold equal and um Power at this table it is a it is collective work and it's our Collective will that makes thing H make makes things happen so I want to make sure that it's balanced as to who's speaking and what um what things are being addressed at the board table so I thank you all for being part of this work and um hope you bear with me as I try new things um and that is all for my board report okay hi there I'm Roa Mar per Reed superintendent I have two children in the district a seventh grader at West and a high schooler is a junior and I did already provide my board report but um I didn't mention the HF Royal bash this Saturday so number one we are all fans of the Hopkins Education Foundation so thank you to Emily and Jackie and lots of other people's organization efforts and looking forward to seeing everybody at the Royal bash 5:30 Saturday March 1st Metropolitan Ballroom on wetta Boulevard too late to buy a ticket so hopefully you already did and can we say that um we'll all be there but it's not a open meeting will all of you be there but it's not an open meeting no it's not an opening open meeting because we will not be discussing board business that's right I will be discussing what I'm bidding on in the silent auction I hope there's llamas again yeah thank you HF thank you um my name is Brook roer and I am serving my second year on the board um on the Hopkins school board I have two incredible children that is in the district um just a few couple of things um I will say I recently joined the board of directors for a Wilds environmental learning school um and it is an incredible opportunity um ay Wilds they teach they have Partnerships with Charter Schools and public schools to teach them about to teach students about out excuse me Outdoor Learning and just all the things Wilderness and so I would love for um you know us just to learn more about what they do and you know potential field trip destination soon bless you Excuse Me Miss director uh West Morland and um yeah a potential field trip destination it is in Sandstone Minnesota so it is about an hour away um but is an incredible opportunity for us to think um broader about our climate change um you know agenda for our students and how we are helping our students get more acclimated to that nature outside because it is getting warm outside and to get us off of our cell phones nature walks are always very refreshing um I will say thank you so much uh Vice chair Ross for your incredible and kind sentiments about the black history um celebration that we had or excuse me networking event that we had the other on Thursday it was a I think it was a very it was a great learning experience for me I appreciate your words and you sharing your experience on the board and you know your expectations for like the district as well um and just connecting with parents it was I think a um a mighty group of voices that really bought perspective to our work going forward and I'm looking forward to us doing something bigger and broader next year during black Excellence week um so that was a amazing um what else thank you to the incredible community members there are so many who sent us videos to the black history tribute um that we played at the black history event um I'm going to miss some names so please charge it to my head and not my heart mayor Hanan um mayor Roslin Harmon um Damon Jenkins from First Independence Bank we have Tommy mcre CEO of um don't shoot guns shoot hoops oh there's so many to name I'm so sorry everyone but and all the incredible staff who sent videos Dr Mary per Reed with her amazing black Child poem we appreciate that um it was just a a very heartfelt video for our district and our students to see so um that's it for right now I'll see you all at the he bash on Saturday and that concludes my board report thank you and that concludes um our meeting um I would look for a motion to adjourn so moved I have a motion is there a second second I have a motion and a second any discussion see none all those in favor please say I I I any opposed the chair votes I and this meeting is adjourned at 9:22 p.m.