Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Good evening. The time is now 7:00. The Wayzata Public Schools Board of Education regular meeting for Monday, March 9th, 2026 will please come to order. Uh, will the clerk please call the roll? Colleagues, Heidi Kater. Yes, here. Sheila Prior. Here. Alicia Little? Here. Karis Bendy? Karis Bendy is absent. Valentina Ayers? Here. Dan Genestra? Dan Genestra is present. Milan Sahonie? Present. Chase Anderson? Here. Thank you. We have a quorum. Please rise if you are able to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you and welcome everyone to the third regular board meeting of the year. We are glad you could join us this evening. If you wish to speak during the audience opportunity to address the board, please fill out a form placed at the back of the room and hand it over to our admin a district admin assistant, Amy Guys, sitting to my right. The first item on our agenda is the approval of the agenda and the consent agenda items. Consent agenda items are considered routine in nature and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a board member so requests, in which event the item will be removed as a consent agenda item and addressed. The consent agenda items are listed in the materials. The recommended action is to approve the agenda and the consent agenda items. Is there a motion? I so move. Second. Moved and seconded. Will the clerk please take a roll call vote again? Colleagues, Heidi Cater? Yes. Valentina Ears? Yes. Dan Janestra? Dan Janestra votes yes. Alicia Lile? Yes. Parris Bender? Parris Bender is absent. Sheila Prior? Yes. Milan Shahani? Yes. We have an agenda. Thank you, Dan. Uh just want to remind everyone that we have a referendum coming up this year on April 14th, but there are plenty of opportunities to vote, especially vote early. There are three options. The first one is to vote early by mail. To vote by mail, apply to have an absentee ballot mailed to you. For more information, visit mnvotes.org. The second option is to vote early in person. District Service Center at 13305 12th Avenue North, Plymouth. And you can vote all the way through April 13th, uh Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. And on Saturday, April 11th, from from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. And then, of course, you can always vote on election day, April 14th, from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. So, please do not forget to vote. Thank you. Okay, moving on to our agenda items. The next uh item on the agenda is report from organizations. And this section of the agenda provides an opportunity for a Wayzata High School Student Council Representative to report on information and events at Wayzata High School. I would like to invite Rachel Lin, Student Council VP from Wayzata High School, to please come forward. Welcome, Rachel. Hello. Good evening, Superintendent Anderson, members of of board, and everybody else gathered here tonight. My name is Rachel, the Wayzata High School Student Body Vice President, and as the grass gets greener and the weather gets warmer, here [snorts] is March's monthly report. To celebrate Valentine's Day, our high school's National Honor Society and choir jointly coordinated sing-a-grams. With just $3, students can send an a cappella group to classrooms and serenade their unassuming friends with love songs. My personal favorite was Can't Take My Eyes Off of You. All proceeds were donated to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. It's heartwarming to see how small gestures can go a long way to make someone's day. The first week of March was chaotic and thrilling for students interested in business or medicine. With DECA, BPA, and HOSA hosting their state conferences back-to-back-to-back in downtown Minneapolis and St. Cloud, over 500 students total competed in various career-oriented competitions for a chance to qualify to the international level. I'm proud to announce that 56 students in DECA qualified for the International Career Development Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, and over 50 students in BPA qualified for the National Leadership Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. >> [snorts] >> In addition, junior Joy Zhao qualified for the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, widely regarded as the most prestigious pre-college research competition for her work in smoking and racial disparities. Winter sports came to a close, but not without a bang. Wayzata dominated girls basketball, ranking 24th in the nation, second in state, and third in the conference. We are also third in the state for boys swim and dive, dance, and Nordic skiing. The dominance doesn't end just yet. With spring sports like track and field springing up, Trojans are determined to finish the year off strong. Wayzata doesn't just excel at athletics or academics, but arts as well. Wayzata Orchestra and Band attended the annual Lake Conference Concert, in which they visited Hawkins to perform for other nearby schools and received feedback on their performances. Our orchestra also launched their annual solo/ensemble festival, in which students prepared pieces and compete, whether alone or with friends, creating opportunities to enrich our school musically. As we approach the end of our third term, let's hope to finish it off strong. Thank you for your time tonight, and I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your evening. I'm now open to any questions you might have. Thank you. Thank you, Gretchen. Indeed, Wayzata does excel in not only academics, athletics, but art as well, right? So, we've seen that time and time again. So, thank you for that. Any comments? Okay, no comments, no questions. Thank you for coming, and we'll see you next month. Yeah, thank you. >> [applause] >> All right, the next item on the agenda is recognitions, and my colleague, Director Ginestra, will join Superintendent Anderson at the podium. Good evening, everybody, and welcome to our school board meeting tonight. My name is Chase Anderson. I'm the superintendent for the school district, and it's always my honor to convene the recognitions portion of the uh school board meeting each month, and that's uh the point on the agenda that we're at tonight. So, we have three different uh recognitions that we're uh going to be doing this evening. The first one is for our Science Bowl State Champs from Central Middle School and Wayzata High School, and I know a number of those uh individuals are here, so I'm going to invite them forward, and Amanda, if you'd come forward, too, the director uh for the program. And uh please come forward, and I'll read a little script, and then I'll give you an opportunity to uh share uh on their behalf. First selection here is Oh, I'm sorry, Chris. I knew that. I'm so sorry. See what happens when I go off the script? I thought I got this. Chris, please come forward as well. My my apologies. So, come forward. I'll read the script and then uh whoever is uh here being uh represented for that this evening. Of course. Come on down. Don't be shy. I mean, you're state champs after all, right? So, I'd like to uh share the following on behalf of our um science bowl state champs and as a former science teacher, that's how I started my career. It's really great to to convene this here with you tonight. We are proud to announce that the Wayzata High School and Central Middle School Science Bowl teams have both secured first-place finishes in their respective regional competitions for the 2026 National Science Bowl. Under the dedicated leadership of high school coach Amanda Leiden and middle school coach Chris Swortcheck, these students have demonstrated exceptional mastery across a range of disciplines including biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. By winning their regional brackets, both teams earned a trip to Washington, D.C. to complete compete in the national finals from April 30th to May 4th, 2026. The National Science Bowl is one of the most prestigious academic competitions in the United States utilizing a fast-paced buzzer-style format that tests students' recall, speed, and problem-solving skills. In addition to the competition, our students will participate in several days of educational sightseeing and hands-on science activities alongside the top-performing teams in the country. This double victory is a testament to the hard work of our students and the excellence of our coaching staff. Congratulations to these teams as they prepare to present represent our district on the national stage this spring. So, Amanda and Chris, if you'd like to approach the microphone, it's all yours. Congratulations. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Superintendent Anderson, Chair Sahni, and directors of the board. We are pleased to be here. I'm thrilled to be able to share these five Well, four students that are present tonight out of a five who are on our team, and I know Chris Warchick is looking forward to bringing also the Central Middle School team um on the national trip to Washington D.C. as well. So, first I just want to start by introducing the players that we have on the high school team. So, first we have Sophie Sue A, and then we have and she's a sophomore. Um Yenru, so he is uh also a sophomore. And Kevin Q, he is a senior. This is actually his third appearance at National Science Bowl um this year. And we have Lu Yao Yang, who is also a senior. It is um also his second year, who's going to be coming to Science Bowl. The team member who's not here with us tonight is Rachna Mandal. She is a senior, and she is, I guess, leading um dance practice tonight for Cut That Dance. So, she's unable to be here. It will also be her second time coming as well. Um and it's these sophomores that uh blew our socks off. We knew they were going to be on a team in their freshman year, and here they are um doing really well. So, I just thought I'd take a moment just to tell you a little bit about um Science Bowl, because I know not everyone knows what the competition is all about, and I There was a great introduction by Dr. Anderson, but I just wanted to add a few things. Um you know, there are It's hosted by the Department of Energy, and they have divided up the United States into 68 different regions, and we have one region here in Minnesota that we compete at. And it's at that uh regional competition that happened on January 26th at the Hamline University, and we brought three teams of students, actually, and our um teams went through round-robin competition with other teams, and into double elimination, all three teams made into double elimination. And our Wayzata Team A was undefeated, so they did an extremely um fantastic job. Uh in addition, I just wanted to share a little bit about, um, you know, our success is in large part due to the excellent education that our students receive at Wayzata Public Schools. We have amazing teachers, we have amazing classes and programs for these students. The middle school does an amazing job of really prepping these students to perform well, as you can see with their success at the middle school level as well. Um, it really keeps these students to a high standard and they go above and beyond. In fact, they do a lot of studying on their own outside of, um, the classroom as well. I like to give this example. I teach AP Biology and we have a textbook, um, Campbell Biology. We cover about half the chapters in the book and I'm willing to bet there's more than one person on this team who has read that book cover to cover. Am I right? Well, at least Surajika has. [laughter] The one who's not here has read it cover to cover. Maybe they're too shy to admit it as well. Um, but yeah, there are students who've been involved in science fair. They've been involved in the research of the University of Minnesota, um, special summer programs where they're at prestigious institutions learning more about science and they've really, um, done an amazing job. And one thing I think is important to note is they've kind of created a self-perpetuating system. These students volunteer at the middle school that I'm willing to bet some of you have gone to the middle school and helped out with practices at Central and West and East. Um, and you can imagine the mentorship that happens between our high school students and those middle school students in this role. Um, and they we even have alumni who come back at, um, winter break and they come and share a little bit. We even see them at the national and regional competition volunteering. So, we really have this amazing culture of Science Bowl at Wayzata Schools. So, that's pretty fun. Um, I don't know if you mentioned it. This is our actual ninth time in a row going to nationals, so we're excited about that success and I'm looking forward to doing well this year as well. Um, I thought if I can do this, I would love to give you an example sample question. Would you be interested in hearing a toss-up question? It'd be kind of fun. Um, feel free, students, if you want to buzz, I'll let you answer. What do you think? You can call a buzz even. Um, so here's an example of a toss-up question. So, you have, you know, four players playing against another four players on buzzers and a moderator reads a toss-up question and whichever student buzzes in first is able to answer the question. And so, here's an example toss-up question for you. It's math, short answer. How many diagonals does a 15-sided convex polygon have? Kevin. >> [laughter] >> 90 is correct. I Several people knew that answer, I could tell. I'll give you another one cuz it's fun. >> [laughter] >> Um toss-up chemistry short answer. Toluene is reacted with nitric acid and and sulfuric acid at high temperature, then purified. The purified product is reacted with hydrogen gas and a palladium on carbon catalyst. Then, a Sandmeyer reaction is performed on the product with copper bromide. What is the name of the organic compound of the series of reactions? Sophie. Nitrobenzene. Nitrobenzene is not one of the correct answers. Yenru. [snorts] P-bromotoluene. P-bromotoluene is correct. Well done. Well done. Nicely done. >> [laughter] >> And one thing that you don't see in those two questions is after a toss-up question, the students are given a bonus question and on the bonus questions they can confer. And what I have to tell you is so just really enjoyable as their coach to watch them do this. They communicate with each other so effectively. You'll hear one will have an idea, they'll communicate back and forth a bit, and they'll finally land on the right answer because they have these reasoning skills that are just incredibly impressive and they they get a lot of questions right. So, it's super fun. Um it is my absolute pleasure to work with these students. Uh Friday afternoons in um A440 is one of the best places to be. We laugh, we have fun, we mentor other students, we create a really fantastic environment. I'm so excited to bring these players to National Science Bowl in May. Chris. I don't have any sample questions. >> [laughter] >> But I have these wonderful young men over here. Um like Amanda said, it is such a joy to work with them. Every week I look forward to Science Bowl and every time that I think that my plate is overflowing and I need to get rid of something, I'm like, but I can't get rid of that. I love it too much. Um our five players are Pranav Kalavena, Arnav Yerema, Max Wang, Ethan Sun, and Minyi Cao, who happens to be Yan Rose's brother. >> [snorts] >> So it's quite a family affair. In fact, they probably do more work with their families than they actually do with me on Science Bowl days. Okay? They worked together all last summer. Some of them were working together even the summer before that. Um they have Saturday practices, is it? Yes, okay. I'm not involved with any of that, but I'm the one getting paid. I don't know. Sounds like a good deal to me. Um [snorts] and yes, their parents are all here and have been with us at absolutely everything. They are so supportive of these students and I know incredibly proud of them as I am. Um these these folks told me in October, "We are going to Nationals this year." Now, unlike the high school, we haven't been to Nationals for a few years. In fact, the last year that I was coaching that we went to Nationals was 2020, which was kind of a let down because it was virtual. So, we didn't get to go to DC. We sat in our houses with our little you know, a second camera set up on us and it's just so special to be going with them there. They are such a delight and for a couple of them, I've I've watched them grow for several years, okay? Um I've only taught three of the five in my classroom. Um but yeah, they they show up in so many ways. You know, these are the same kids who are doing quiz bowl. Almost all of them were at the international academic competitions that I was the site host for yesterday. And so many other things. It's not like they're just good at one thing or another. Yes, they have I'm the chemistry person, okay? But they are so well-rounded and I think that is their strength. They also are fabulous communicators, like Amanda said. And and they're like signing to each other, you know, to make sure like on a on a buzzer question, a toss-up, cuz you can't say anything, right? But you can, you know, hold up fingers and all of that. Um [snorts] and they are getting better and better about focusing on their strength so that we don't have negative points cuz somebody buzzed in early on a question that their neighbor knew cuz that was their field, but they just work so hard all the time. And you know, those textbooks? They're carrying them around all the time. >> [laughter] >> You know, physics textbooks that are this thick and and yeah, they're reading them, they're working the problems, they're doing all of that. So, I I could not be more pleased than to introduce you to these men. >> [applause] >> And we're going to do two rows, so some of you can get on the on the ledge there, that would be great. And I see you both have your your awards, so maybe we can have a couple of you in the front row. But if you can [snorts] come over here, What's the shark about? >> [laughter] >> That's your mascot. Okay, so like you guys can be in the in the back row and then the others can be in the front so you don't get blocked. There you go. Okay, so make sure you're looking nice. So, we've got both of the four awards And the dance, did you make sure to go over and chase them? Okay, so you guys can shake a little bit closer to the front row. There you go. Okay. On three. One, two, three. Congratulations. >> [cough] [applause] >> All right, again, congratulations and thank you so much for being here. After you just take a moment to uh share that you gave me an opportunity to reflect back on a glory day in my bio-organic chemistry class at the University of Northern Iowa. Back in the late Well, not late. Only if I could wish. The mid-'80s. Um [snorts] I was sitting in an auditorium kind of like the forum room probably at the high school. And our instructor, Dr. Richter, had just handed back our tests. And I don't know, there were maybe 75 students in that group. He handed back the tests and from his podium in the front of the room, he looked at me, made eye contact, and said, "One person had the right answer for number 10." That was my one moment of glory in bio-organic chemistry. And it was on that day that I learned to never underestimate the value of dumb luck. And I'm I'm really glad that uh you're much deeper than that uh than I am, but uh I did have that reflection and I appreciate the that flashback in my history. So, thank you. Congratulations. That's really incredible. Good work. Our next recognition this evening is for our employee of the month, and I would like to invite Jessica Frickey to please come forward, our employee of the month. Congratulations. I'd like to share this nice script on behalf of Jessica. Congratulations. It's so wonderful to see you here tonight, and then we'll give her a chance to uh share a few reflections as well. Sunset Hill Elementary is honored to name Jessica Frickey as the March employee of the month for the extraordinary impact she has on our students staff and school community. In her fourth grade classroom Jessica sets high expectations while ensuring every student feels supported capable and valued. She designs learning experiences that meet diverse needs and inspire confidence, curiosity and perseverance. Jessica is a visible and welcoming presence throughout our school. Each morning she greets students with warmth and encouragement. She receives countless unsolicited hugs from current students, former students and even children she has never taught. These gestures reflect the deep lasting connections she builds and the positive impact she has on everyone she meets. Beyond her classroom Jessica is a strong and collaborative leader. She has contributed to math standards work at the state level, is an active member of our equity committee, serves as the grade four building instructional leadership team member and mentors our newest teachers. As a member of our built team Jessica helped co-create our school improvement plan working alongside representatives from each grade level, intervention staff, special education, instructional coaches and the administration. The plan is an ongoing effort and the team continually evolves instruction and professional development to meet the needs of our staff. Jessica plays a critical role in guiding this work helping ensure that professional growth directly and positively impacts student learning. >> [snorts] >> Jessica has experienced teaching every grade level K through five in her 26 years as an educator. Currently in fourth grade these varied experiences gave her a broad perspective that strengthens her colleagues and teams. She embodies today's professional educator recognizing that teaching is evolving in increasingly complex. She focuses on what she can influence always keeping student success at the center of her work, Jessica brings leadership, experience, positivity, and heart to our school every day. She lifts those around her, supports colleagues with thoughtfulness and encouragement, and models the very best of what an educator can be. Her dedication, expertise, and strong focus on student success make her truly deserving of recognition as Sunset Hills March Employee of the Month. Jessica, CONGRATULATIONS. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU. IT IS AN honor to be recognized tonight. I love puzzles, Wordle, Connections, Sudoku, and best of all jigsaw puzzles. Years ago, I realized that each school year is like its own unique puzzle. As a teacher, I have the privilege to work with a new set of students, teammates, classroom, curriculum, and I have 170 days or so of learning to put it all together. Some years are the fully interlocking 250-piece ones that are easy to solve right away. Others are a thousand pieces with those pesky irregular shaped ones using the same blues for both the water and the sky. And then there was that one really challenging one that felt like a hundred thousand pieces, all the exact same color and shape. That one was titled COVID-19. This year, I am on my 26th puzzle and still loving the work, the challenge of building the frame and finding the right spot for each and every piece. Which is good because I still have yet to find that really super easy like 60-piece floor puzzle to do. >> [laughter] >> While reflecting on the journey that has led to this honor, I'm overwhelmed with how lucky I am. I've been creating my own special puzzle, the one of my career as a teacher. The pieces include over 500 students and hundreds of different teammates and leaders, each a small piece of my experience. There's a few special pieces of my puzzle that are here tonight. One of the very first people I met was in the hallways at Kimberly Lane almost 21 years ago. Uh it was my builder building mentor Michelle Hall. She's like family to me now. And she's also representing my family who couldn't be here tonight. They are my constant cheerleaders, encouraging me to find and pursue my passions and my purpose, even if I can't quite find the right piece to fit in the puzzle. Without their support, my puzzle would not be as far along as it is today. Next, I'd like to recognize Taylor Stinson and Dan Genestra. Both were my kindergarten students my first year at in the district. Taylor was in my AM class with her pigtails, which she's representing tonight for me. And Dan was in my afternoon kindergarten class, and both are serving our district now, and it is so inspiring to know that I might have been one small piece of your puzzle. I'm also honored to receive this when Ross Williams and Dr. Anderson are placing the last pieces in their career puzzles. Their leadership has led me to new learnings that have greatly shaped my philosophies and my practices. Their impact is greater than they will know, and I will miss you both. But we still get a few more months. To my Sunset Hill colleagues, I get the opportunity to learn and laugh with you every day. Our puzzles may be challenging, and yet we're in it together. We lean in, we labor, and we love our community. You help me become a better teacher every day for our students, which finally are the most important pieces of all in the puzzle. So, these pieces are creating an amazing picture, and my puzzle's not done yet. It's definitely one of those mystery ones, you know, the ones that when assembled looks very different than what is pictured on the outside of the box and was first expected. And yet, it is so rewarding when you can work diligently at something and get it all into place. Each of us is one piece of this Wayzata puzzle, and really the world, contributing to the big picture of educating our future. Bonnie Arbre said, "You are a piece of the puzzle of someone else's life. You may never know where you fit, but others will fill the holes in their lives with pieces of you." Thank you all for being a piece of mine. >> [applause] >> Congratulations again, Jessica, and thanks for the big cheering crowd to be here. That's uh close to a record, I would say, for employee of the month. So, you clearly have made a deep impact on your colleagues and and your students and their families. So, well done and congratulations. Our next and final recognition this evening includes uh the announcement of the names of individuals who have indicated their intent to retire uh since our last meeting. And we have four such individuals tonight. If you are here here for you feel free to step forward and have it spotted uh any of them yet, but uh they're probably tuned in at home. But, we do have four listed here, Amy Carr, uh preschool early learning school for 21 years. Diane Dietrich, a teacher at the high school for 32 years. Carolyn Sund, teacher at Gleason Lake Elementary, 19 years. And Terry Bostrom, teacher at East Middle School for 32 years. If you could join me in a round of applause for them, please. We appreciate their contributions to the school district over the time that they've been here with us and wish them well in their retirement and uh I'm sure they're looking forward to the remaining months of their school year and uh their legacies will live on and we greatly appreciate everything they've done. That concludes our recognitions for this evening. Again, many thanks uh for being uh here this evening and we're looking forward to uh our next presentation. So, with that, thank you so much. Thanks so much. You're welcome. >> [snorts] >> Okay, congratulations to the honorees and thank you, Dr. Anderson and Director Genest. Moving on to the school spotlight presentation, tonight the spotlight is on Sunset Hill Elementary. And I'll turn it over to Executive Director of Teaching and Learning Deanna Miller to make the introductions. Thank you. Good evening, members of the board, Dr. Anderson. It is my privilege tonight to be here with arguably the favorite part of the month at our school board meetings, and that is our school spotlight. And tonight's a little extra special because we'll be highlighting Sunset Hill and their work to really implement some of the work we've been doing at the district level and bringing that together specifically in their kindergarten around PLCs, the CEL work or cell, and how that is all come together in literacy specifically at kindergarten. So, it's really exciting to have them here and to have you see some of that work you've been hearing so much about play out in that role. I'd also be I'd also be remiss if I didn't take a moment for us to acknowledge that this will be Principal Williams' probably last school spotlight. And so, I just want to take a moment to recognize him as he plans to retire at the end of this year. And so, we want to make sure this is a really special board meeting for him. So, if we could give him a round of applause for his service, PLEASE. >> [applause] >> IT'S BEEN A TRUE PLEASURE IN MY FIVE YEARS HERE to work with Mr. Williams. And with that, I'll turn it over to Sunset Hill. Kind of shocked every time I have to get these out. >> [laughter] >> So, forgive me. Good evening, Dr. Anderson, Chair Sahota, and members of the board. I'm Ross Williams, principal of Sunset Hill, and I'm grateful for the opportunity for you to hear about the work of our kindergarten team this evening. Joining me are probably some members of our instructional leadership team, probably in our audience behind us. Maybe they could raise their hand. I also believe that we do have some of Morgan Hogland, who's our kindergarten team lead, her teammates with her tonight as well in the back. Um Special thanks also to Julie Schneider, our district literacy specialist, and Hillary Farrington, our building's literacy coach. They're also behind us, and I know that Julie will be joining um Morgan here in a minute. At Sunset Hill, um At Sunset Hill, when we think about each student and how they experience school, I kind of boil it down to two things, an emphasis on belonging and learning. Teaching today is complex and influenced by many factors beyond a student's control. As educators, however, we can control the environment we create, and we can control how we impact student learning when teams of teachers engage in focused instructional adjustments using data to guide them along the way. Formative, cyclical improvement allows us to dig deeper than surface-level data, designing instruction, interventions, and strategies for each student who might not yet be where we'd like them to be. The classrooms our teachers at Sunset have created are places where students know what is expected, see strong modeling, set goals, work hard, struggle, and try again. Tonight, our focus will be on sharing some of the work one of our teams has thoughtfully engaged in around literacy. Our district has been deeply invested in professional learning through the Center for Educational Leadership at Washington University. One framework we have referenced a lot is this inverted instructional triangle. This inverted pyramid reminds us that all of our work is in service of students. At the top is the student experience, what we want students to feel, think, and do. That experience depends on the learning we expect from them, which is guided by the curriculum and teaching practices that bring it to life. Bringing this vision to life requires collaboration across classrooms and teams. Student growth is not the work of a single teacher today. It emerges when teams work together with clarity and purpose. In our PLCs, teams focus on the cohort of students they serve, align their work to specific learning goals, student data, study data, make instructional decisions, and support one another in refining that practice. Collaboration often extends beyond individual classrooms as teachers partner with literacy coaches, intervention staff, special education colleagues, and special education colleagues to ensure students progress successfully from one concept, idea, or skill and the next. Observing strategies, sharing feedback, and reflecting together accelerates learning and strengthens instructional impact. A key part of this work is first by identifying essential standards, the knowledge and skills students must master to succeed at the next stage, whether that is the end of the year, the next grade level, moving on to middle, high school, and life. This ensures instruction prioritizes learning that builds the strongest foundation for future growth. At Sunset Hill PLC teams review student and instructional progress weekly, guided by four key questions. What do we want students to know and be able to do? How will we know they have learned it? How will we respond when students have not yet learned it? And how will we extend learning for students who already understand it? These questions keep our focus where it belongs and help ensure that each student is learning and progressing as they should. The actions taken within our PLC teams and specifically in kindergarten tonight, uh really do move up and down within that pyramid, always with those questions in mind. Just as the inverted pyramid shows that our work is in service of students, the instructional staircase shows how teachers move from current practice toward an ideal state of instruction. Each step represents deliberate growth, refining strategies, aligning to essential standards, and collaborating with each other. The first step represents one's current state. At the top is the ideal state, where instruction fully supports the student experience, which I defined in that pyramid. Progress is in incremental and purposeful with reflection, feedback, and collaboration guiding each step. This staircase makes visible the pathway from teaching learning to stronger student outcomes, connecting vision to action. The instructional core shows how learning happens in classrooms. Student growth emerges from the interaction between the teacher and the student and the content. As teachers refine their instruction and respond to student engagement, students take on more ownership of their learning, which in turn helps deepen understanding and skill development. This reciprocal relationship is the catalyst that brings the vision of the inverted pyramid to life and gives purpose to the steps on the staircase. With all this in mind, the following is our kindergarten team's literacy goals this year. They're working to ensure that 100% of students can decode uh CVC words by this spring. While we are not going to get into the student engagement goals specifically tonight, this is our building goal and each grade is working towards ensuring students are afforded opportunities to share thoughts and learn from each other. The two really do go hand-in-hand and I think [clears throat] in some of the stuff that uh that Morgan will go through, I think you you you should see that connection. This really gets at the work around creating safe, inclusive, and respectful classrooms and building interactions with peers and adults. I'm going to turn it over to Morgan who's going to go into a lot more detail and really the journey that they've had, which I think goes back to last year when they started planning based on their current state and information they knew about students. Good evening, board members. My name is Morgan Hogland and I am the kindergarten team lead at Sunset. At Sunset, how our kindergarten team is grounded in Wayzata's belief for excellence for each and every student. Through strong collaboration, we apply best practices developed through ongoing learning supported by our strong professional learning opportunities in Wayzata and the expertise of our colleagues. This includes core, culturally responsive pedagogy, literacy interventions, and Orton-Gillingham training. Together we make instructional shifts that carefully plan our next actionable steps based on class-wide data that is consistently monitored to ensure that each student makes progress. When we focus on collaborating with our colleagues and learning new ways of doing things, we see results in our classrooms and with our students and we are excited about how these things have come together for us this year. Building on our collaborative work as a kindergarten team, we continue to leverage Wayzata's PLC process, professional learning community, to move all students forward. Over the past several years, the district has refocused its efforts on the PLC process at work framework. In this model, teams focus on the four critical questions to guide their work. Last year focus was primarily on questions one and two and this year our building is emphasizing questions three and four. My team has been intentional in addressing these questions each week, reviewing grade level data to determine next steps for students who have not yet mastered skills. We then develop targeted intervention plans to support these learners while also considering how to further extend the learning for students who have already mastered the content. Throughout this presentation, you will hear me talk about a cycle and the different cycles that my team went through to collect data. A cycle was our goal and focus for the time being. Once we reached 80% of students in the grade level mastering that cycle, we were able to move on to our next goal, and we continued to check back on the students who had not met yet mastered the content. Throughout this presentation, I will go through the four different cycles that we went through. All right. Hello, Dr. Anderson, Chair Sahoni, members of the board. My name is Julie Schneider, instructional coordinator for literacy in the district. Um and thanks for really um engaging to listen into the work of this amazing team, Morgan here and her teammates um humbly back there, all um amazing that I get to be a a play a supporting role in their work in my in my role here in the district. Um I'm here to share a little bit of where this work comes from, as well as how it connects to our district mission and vision for student learning. As you know, as a district, we are committed to continuous improvement, and this team um being part of their PLCs almost weekly exemplifies this principle in their daily work in the way that they talk about, think about, and focus on students together. Um each year at multiple levels across the district, data review is an ongoing process, examining needs, setting goals, and monitoring and and adjusting as needed. It's one thing to say that, but I get to see them in action really thinking about their specific students most weeks, which is really exciting place to be. Um in my work as instructional coordinator, I support teacher professional learning, and one of Wayzata's district um actions aligned to the READ Act is that all kindergarten and first grade teachers and many teachers are trained in the Orton-Gillingham approach that um Morgan was referencing earlier. OG is is what we call it for for short, Orton-Gillingham, OG. Um it's a multi-modal structured literacy approach aimed at mastering foundational skills for students. All teachers in the district um K-5 and now actually we're in phase two, so moving on to literacy teachers and 6-12 as well. Um are have READ Act training through OLA Core. Uh those of you members of the board that were here in 2024 will remember when we started this endeavor and we continue on boarding new teachers with this state required training. Um OG is kind of an additional Wyzetta specific layer provided um for our teachers on top of that base coat of of Oola core training. Um last May reviewing Sunsets data and knowing that sometimes you say up there making a difference means something doing something different. That is something this team was already living and thinking about. They were already very intentional in focusing on foundational skills. Um but at this time we also knew that there was an OG curriculum supplement coming out that we could consider. Um so myself, administration, Hillary Farrington literacy coach, and the team met just to see if this was something that this might that might be part of the doing something different. Um and met with them to brainstorm and determined if this was the lift they would be willing to take on and they were all in. And it's it's been a lot of work. Um so as you see that we're all in, that is what this team exemplifies all the time when we come to challenges. Uh let's see. Okay. So Morgan will be specifically sharing about the collaboration that I get the privilege of witnessing throughout the year. Uh the adaptations they've made, they what they've seen um specifically impact student success, and the exciting data that they're seeing weekly as they collaborate and put their heads together around the table to solution seek for specific students. And I'd like to emphasize what you see on the screen um on the left hand side is the district-wide um plan. They implemented the same plan as that all kindergarten teachers across the district had access to September and October. That was created um by a small team of teachers and according um including Morgan, myself, Hillary Farrington literacy coach, and Farenbaugh um in response to really thinking about how to ramp up CCC our core curriculum's letter learning plan using OG strategies. So this team did that and then they just took it up another notch to think about weekly data collection so they could respond um to our kindergarten learners um really early on and capture um those students that Morgan was referencing that weren't um weren't mastering concepts um as quickly and really think right away, not later on, but right away about what to do for those students who weren't yet consistent and confident in those skills. Now, you'll get to hear more specifically um from Morgan about the work of their team, their collaboration, and their really all-in approach to um helping our kindergarten students each and every one. Thank you, Julie. So, the first data that we collected this year focused on whether students could identify and write the letters in their first name. As a team, we carefully discussed what success would look like for students, ensuring everyone was clear in what mastery meant. While this may seem simple, it required intentional effort to make sure we were aligned and precise in our expectations, focusing on PLC question two, how will we know all students have learned it? With this shared understanding, we created a success criteria to place students categories: need support, progressing, and mastery. Each week, we reviewed the data to guide instructional shifts and and plan targeted interventions, ensuring students received the support they needed. From the data table shown, you can see that we were quickly able to move students from need support to progressing and from progress progressing to mastery. This was the fastest we have ever seen students learn their first names, which is a result of intentional collaboration, careful calibration of expectations, and data-driven decision-making. When we first collected data on students' ability to identify and write the letters in their first name, 38 students were in the need support and progressing categories. As a team, we created a targeted intervention where students were able to um identify their identify their name um with capital and lowercase letters, build their name with manipulatives, trace their name, and write their name independently. Within 2 weeks, the number of students needing support went from 38 to 17. We identified that these remaining students had additional fine motor needs, and so we created a second name intervention, which is the um one that's in the red. And with that intervention, students were able to trace their name with an Expo marker, trace their name with a Q-tip, and build their name with Play-Doh. Within 2 weeks of utilizing that name intervention, we only had five students left in the grade level who needed support with their name. This progress reflects our team's intentional collaboration, ongoing monitoring, and use of data to drive targeted instruction. In cycle two, we collected data on students' ability to identify their letter names and letter sounds. We defined a success criteria utilizing the tiers of support. Mastery indicated students who were able to learn the content with tier one instruction. Progressing indicated students who needed some additional tier two support from the classroom teacher or classroom para. And need support indicated students requiring the maximum tier two interventions. As a team, we planned targeted tier two interventions including letter tracing books, letter sand cards, and activities to match upper and lowercase letters. These interventions were planned to provide repeated exposure, reinforce letter recognition, and engage multiple senses to support all learners, particularly those with limited prior experience and fine motor challenges. This approach allowed us to use gap data to guide and ensure every student received the support they needed. Looking at our data, we can see that at the beginning of October, 40 students were not successful with retaining the information within tier one instruction and needed tier two um support from the classroom teacher or para. By the end of October, that number had dropped to 20 still students still needing tier two support. Our team's end of the year goal has always been for all students to learn their letter names and sounds, and it is nearly remarkable that we were able to achieve this by the end of October and beginning of November, thanks to intentional interventions, ongoing team alignment, focused goals, and overall collaboration. During our PLC meetings in September, October, and November, we focused on analyzing data on letter names and letter sounds. We concentrated on students in the grade level who had not yet mastered that content and discussed targeted interventions to support their learning. The interventions we planned aligned with our Orton-Gillingham training, such as using sand trays, letter chants, letter sounds, and um letter songs. Our PLC meeting was filmed for district professional learning, allowing other teams and buildings to see this collaborative data-driven work in action. The data displayed shows what our students knew upon entering kindergarten. Students had more exposure to letter name or to uppercase letters than letter sounds. As a team, we use this data to guide our instructional decisions and closely monitor student growth each week to ensure they were making appropriate progress. On the next few slides, you'll see um similar data tables. And if you look on the left, we have labels C1 all the way down to C6. So, that indicates the six different classrooms we have in kindergarten. And if you look across the row, that shows the classroom data. So, that's just a helpful guide as we continue. In just 1 month, we made a significant impact by following the district learning letter name plan with fidelity and consistently reviewing letter names and sounds throughout the day. We were able to implement regular progress monitoring, the ongoing systematic checking of student learning to see how well students were master- mastering specific skills. This allowed our team to identify which students were struggling, which needed additional support, and which were ready for further challenges. Using this data, we provided immediate tier two interventions tailored to each student's specific needs. Progress monitoring is a key part of the PLC process because it ensures that instructional decisions are informed by data, interventions are targeted and effective, and team collaboration is purposeful and results-driven. Without it, students who are struggling could be overlooked. Instruction could be inconsistent across the team, and opportunities to accelerate learning for students who are ready could be missed. As a team this year, we decided to teach letter sounds using actions and chants. Research and our district professional development show that multi-sensory strategies like movement and rhythm help students remember letter sounds more effectively. Pairing sounds with actions engages multiple senses, supports phonological awareness, and allows students to retain and recall information more quickly. The letter chants were part of the district learning letter name plan, and we reviewed them several times throughout the day. Our students loved singing the chants and doing the actions, and this approach helped all of our students learn their letter sounds more efficiently. The data displayed shows our grade level results from the October benchmark, where all students were assessed on uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and letter sounds. This was a major celebration for our team, reflecting on the work we put in the first 2 months of the school year. By closely monitoring student progress, we were able to ensure that all students were moving forward, and when students were not progressing, we adapted our instruction and intervention to meet their specific needs. Our team's goal for the end of the year is that 100% of kindergarten students can read CVC words by May. And CVC stands for consonant, vowel, consonant. To monitor progress towards this goal, we created weekly CVC assessments, where students are assessed on 15 words. Initially, we provided a high-level scaffold where we provided students with the red, yellow, and green tapping dots under each individual letter. As students progressed, we reduced we reduce support and change went from color dots to black dots and eventually we remove the scaffold entirely. This approach allowed us to track student growth, provide targeted support, and gradually build independence in decoding. Our kindergarten team is using the core phonics survey, which is a research-based assessment that measures students phonics skills including letter sound knowledge and decoding. This survey allows us to monitor student growth, identify who needs additional support, and guide targeted instruction and interventions. We administer this survey three times throughout the year with the final survey in May, which helps us determine if we met our goal of 100% of students can decode CVC words. When we gave the initial assessment in October, you can see that many students were not yet proficient. As you can see with consistent daily practice and exposure to blending and decoding and the intentional use of strategies from our core training, which was part of the Minnesota Read Act, our January data shows tremendous growth. Looking at the data on the screen, you can see that last winter when we gave our students the core phonics survey, they were progressing and needing support with decoding CVC words. When you look at our winter data from this year, you can see that some students are progressing and others have mastered this concept. Being intentional about the data we look at and discuss each week has led to positive improvements in our students' learning. As a team, we are constantly collaborating on strategies and interventions we can utilize with our students who need support. As a team, we created a set of success criteria, so we were all in agreement on what exceeding mastery, progressing, and need support look like. Understanding our look fors as it relates to student success is something we come back to each week to make sure we are making the appropriate shifts. This is the first cycle where we had an exceeding category, but we did have some students in the grade level who were able to read the words without saying each individual sound. This table is very exciting to look at. Um, in December, many students were in the need support and progressing categories. As a team, we responded by providing these students with daily tier two interventions. By the start of January, the numbers in these categories began to decrease, and by the beginning of February, 100 students in the grade level had mastered or exceed decoding CVC words, leaving only 13 students in the grade level in the progressing or need support category. These results reflect the power of the PLC process by regularly reviewing data together, collaborating as a team, and making targeted instructional shifts. When we respond immediately to student needs, we ensure that every learner is supported in mastering foundational literacy. As I mentioned earlier, our weekly meetings focus on students who had not yet mastered decoding. We found that many students struggled to blend all three sounds in CVC words, often being able to only hold on to two. To support these learners, we taught them the scooping method where students blend the first two sounds together and add the final sound, which proved to be highly effective. We also ensured that students were secure with blending vowel consonant words first before introducing them to CVC words. Additional strategies that supported our learning were the blending board, which is an Orton Gillingham strategy, and the blending slide, which is highly engaging for students. These intentional, targeted interventions, informed by weekly data review and team collaboration, allowed us to address student needs immediately and accelerate their decoding skills. By the end of January, 94 out of 114 students had mastered or exceeded decoding CVC words. As a team, we decided to further challenge these students who were ready for more. >> [snorts] >> For those in the exceeding or mastery categories, we encouraged them to read the words without saying the sounds, and we began timing them on the 15 weekly words. The goal of this practice is to strengthen their fluency and accuracy and supporting students as they move towards confidently reading grade level text. Each week, students are given a decodable reader and that is connected to the skills of the week. Students are able to practice their decoding skills within this text. Students engage with this decodable reader in the whole group setting, independently, and with a partner. We have found that these decodable readers have helped our students become better readers. Their weekly decodable readers are also sent home, so students have the opportunity to share their progress and skills with their families. Our cycle four data focuses on students' ability to encode, which means write, CVC words. Each day, students practice encoding in both the large group and small group settings. Every Friday, we assess students on five CVC words, tracking their accuracy with beginning, middle, and ending sounds. Each week, we review the encoding data and make instructional shifts as needed to support student growth. We are now also asking students to encode a simple sentence independently, helping them apply their skills in more authentic writing contexts. Because we know how powerful daily writing practice is for learning, we structure our instruction to make sure that students have frequent opportunities to spell and encode words. Throughout the year, our encoding data has been consistently been stronger than our decoding data. With this practice, students are better able to hear the words and write the sounds that they hear. This is evident in the data shown here. At the beginning of December, we had 96 students who had mastered encoding CVC words. Each week, the number of students in the need support category has steadily decreased. For students who are still in the progressing category, we have found that if they struggle to encode in the large group setting, they can be successful in a one-on-one setting. As I mentioned above, we are being intentional about how we monitor our students' writing and respond to it. We are looking at each word individually to see if a child missed the beginning, middle, or ending sound. If we see a pattern in our room and across the team, we provide tier two interventions, which are additional, small group, differentiated instruction for those needing another layer beyond the core classroom instruction. For example, if a child is consistently missing the beginning sound, we use picture sorts and have them focus on the beginning sound. If a child is consistently missing the vowel sound, we um we have them engage in additional additional vowel intensive practice. And if a child is consistently missing the ending sound, we use picture sorts to have them look at the picture and write the ending sound. For the 99 students who have already mastered encoding, we are supporting them in transferring these skills into meaningful writing. Students engage in daily sentence writing, and we are encouraging them to review their work using the cups protocol. Cups stands for capitalization, understanding, punctuation, and spelling and spacing. This practice helps students apply their encoding skills in authentic writing context, strengthens their writing accuracy, and builds independence and confidence as writers. Here is a video of one of our students engaging with the cups protocol. C is for capital. U is for understanding. I feel happy when I see my friends. P is for punctuation. U S is for spaces. The third word is ham. Thank you. Sorry. Um here are a few different video clips we have to show of our students at Sunset Hill engaging in the work we talked about throughout this presentation. You will see a variety of ways that students practice their encoding and decoding throughout the week. and to get a tin pan for the bun. The pan is hot said Jim. The bun got hot. The the pan hit Jim. The word is rubbed. >> [music] >> The word is wrapped. [music] >> [music] >> Tap the word wrapped. >> [music] >> Tap the word wrapped. Tap first. wrapped Good. kid display kits j o g jog I would like to thank Ross and Cassie for their support and commitment to our kindergarten team. I would also like to thank the teaching and learning department for allowing us to pilot this curriculum and for all the support they have provided our team this year. One of the things that um I think is most important and really stood out to me in the work that they were doing and particularly some of the videos shown was when the students were actually at that level of application applying it themselves, walking through it, that that that ownership themselves uh in doing as opposed to us helping them do it. And I know that this year more than any other year um at least in kindergarten we're getting these unsolicited comments from parents uh about what they're noticing at home which I think speaks volumes to the kindergarten team as a whole for their communication with families about things that they're doing and how to support their children. Um but it's it's it's kind of motivating when you get some of the comments that are being made um that you see here on the on the screen. We we did take it a step further in conversation that I was having with Morgan. I said, "What would happen if you asked all of your families or a larger number of them what they noticed, and I think uh it's just another example of getting some feedback uh so that we know if there are other things that we can do or questions that come and really build that partnership. So, uh I won't read every one of the comments to you. I'll let you read those, but they are um pretty pretty exciting, pretty cool. That's all we have. Uh super proud of the the work that was done, and you know, I do think I neglected at the beginning uh she didn't sit up here with us, but Cassie uh Van Coverden, our associate principal, who's there, I'll just have her wave her hand. Uh certainly uh Morgan mentioned her, but been very involved uh with the with the team. So, um if there's any questions, I suppose this would be that time, but hope you enjoyed what you saw. Thank you, Principal Williamson, and uh others who presented um So, as as I was thinking about your pending retirement, I was thinking about Director Genestra, who was there and met his elementary school teacher, right? So, I'm sure when when you move forward in your life, you will meet some of your elementary school children, and they will recognize you. I'm I'm very sure about that. So, congratulations on your retirement. Um Any questions, comments, board colleagues? Yeah, Sheila. Just want to say wow, and thank you for that. Thank you for all the work you put into that and for sharing this with us. Um it's just I I'm having flashbacks of when my kids learned to read, and those Bs and Ds, boy, you saw that on the chart. Like, those are the ones that are like a little bit behind every other letter, and yeah, that was not fun, so um and I'm I'm surprised that the encoding seems to the students seem to be more successful with the encoding than the decoding. Like I would not have guessed that, but that's just just interesting, so um, I guess I have a question for, you know, the teachers who have done this. I just um, how did it feel when you started? Like did it feel really cumbersome at first? And then as you progressed, you know, I'll just let you tell me how did it feel? I won't put words into your mouth. >> Yeah. Um, I've been a teacher at Sunset Hills for 8 years in kindergarten. And um, like Julie mentioned earlier, I was on the team that created that learning letter name plan. And one thing that we really thought about this year was how we needed to be tracking them our students weekly to see who was slipping through the cracks. Um, because in the original plan, we um, you know, take 6 weeks to introduce all the letters and then we don't assess students on where they're at until the end of that. And so we wanted to be intentional and know who didn't know um, the content each week. And so we kind of use that to drive our instruction and every single week we're coming with data to our meetings just to make sure um, we're not missing any kids that are slipping through the cracks. And um, you know, I feel like we've talked as a team that we've never known our students as um, readers and writers as well before. Thank you. I If anyone is watching, I realize I'm like giving thumbs up and like, yes. Um, this spoke to me in so many ways. As an occupational therapist, I feel like hearing about the multi-sensory, the kinesthetic, the proprioception, we all know this, right? Like we all know that this works, but to see it in action is so exciting. And then as a parent of a, you know, COVID kindergartner who still struggles in sixth grade with writing, I know how foundational this is. Like it's kindergarten. And I know many of us are looking at, oh great, they're making, you know, CVC words maybe, and not appreciating that this is such foundational work for them, and this truly is going to just continue to build and make them so much more successful. So, as a board member, I'm so proud of you all. I know it can be really overwhelming seeing how many different handwriting, you know, different curriculum things can come through. I'm sure sometimes it's like, oh gosh, but I hope the sand trays and the Q-tips, and I always love that stuff, you know, get the Play-Doh out and let's start making letters. That's really fun. So, thank you guys so much. It was a really, really nice presentation. Thank you. So, thank you for coming. You guys are always like so excited. I love your your vibe whenever you come into the board room, Sunset. It was wonderful. Um so, I So, when I'm looking at this from a systems-level view, um it's interesting to me because as important as our testing is and and our benchmarks and all of that, it's that street-level data that you're constantly talking about, and when and it's cuz Dana's literally always telling us about street-level data, but this is why it's so very important because you're not waiting until that benchmark to actually make action. It's week to week. It's day to day. Seeing that spreadsheet was really eye-opening. Um and so, I really appreciate this, and also because it's one of our goals as a board to always make sure that our students have individualized data or individualized learning and specialized learning that is unique to them. And so, just knowing that the training that you're doing allows you to have so many different tools so that you can have the ability to specialize and individualize. Thank you for showing that to us. And holy smokes, wow. When I saw the green light up on your >> [laughter] >> on those spreadsheets, that is amazing work. Amazing work. Thank you. Thank you. And it's funny it's funny that you mentioned the green cuz when we were putting things together I and looking at them thinking gosh that's a lot of numbers and things. I said but the the best part is just look at the colors. That's all that you need to know. So But even in those ones that stayed red, they were in the red, I looked at those in particular and the growth within those was still phenomenal. So that's what it's all about. Just wanted to share with you that I am right in the middle of uh Red Act training. So my tired eyes are showing probably. I passed module three. I have six more to go. We'll try. >> [laughter] >> And I also took some notes uh to be honest to take for myself. I might be investigating because we're doing a little bit different but I am always open because as I like to ask how another teacher was saying kids are like puzzles. With some of them whatever you did in the past for some reason doesn't work. And I always like to learn something and to get something from someone. So I wrote down some ideas for myself. Thank you very much. And yes, you should be proud of and there is something to learn from you. Thank you. Yes, we're very excited about um the work that has been done and we knew like Julie mentioned earlier we needed to do something different just because you know, a lot of our kids enter with limited prior experience and so like you mentioned the street data is something that we need to um really lean in on and track our students each week to know where they're at. Thank you. Um this has really been a fantastic presentation. I'm grateful for it. I remember actually and was reflecting on the presentation we heard from you guys two years ago and that really set the stage for this you know a fantastic conversation we're about to have. I have one question. Um if you wouldn't mind going back to the learning letter names plan slide, I had a question. Yes, thank you. Um I was curious if you could share how um the order of these letters was determined. Yes, and I might have Julie speak to that. Um So Green light. Um one thing that's important to know is that when we um do the work throughout the year, we are following the CCC scope and sequence across the district, but for this plan at the beginning of the year, um this a scope and sequence comes straight from Orton-Gillingham and there are lots of pieces that um that determine the letter order. In fact, it's even been modified over time. Um some of it's frequency within the language, some of it um you'll see there's it starts with m a l o intentionally so that kids have two vowels that they learn right away because um some of the thinking behind this is we don't wait until they have 26 letters to start reading and writing words. We we start reading and writing words when they have four letters because they can then spell mom and you know a few other words with just those four and then once they get up to the nine, they even within the curriculum they start writing sentences just with those those nine letters. So yes, they're very prescribed sentences because they're working within their known, um but then there's other factors that come come into play even things that are kind of technical, um but they're continuant versus stop sounds. Um so a continuant sound is one that you can hold like the m. A stop would be like t because it's easier for students generally to blend sounds when they can hold and drag their voice and do continuous blending. It just helps it hold it together in their brain to produce the word. So, that's some of the thinking behind it frequents in the in the language stopped versus continuant vowels and consonants. It's then there's a little more, but that's probably probably enough. No, it's absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much. It really means a lot this presentation. I'm very grateful to each of the educators here. A special thank you to Mrs. Frickey for being a fantastic kindergarten teacher. Um and just really this is a great report um to the principal and associate principal here. This is fantastic to see and we're excited for the future of this program. Director Mahoney Director Mahoney, before you ask your question and I'm wondering um this really took a lot of risk from this kindergarten team um to put themselves out there and try something different. It's been a huge lift. So, they're making it sound um maybe not as much as this. So, I'm just wondering Morgan, I know the rest of your team is here. Could you introduce them too so the board can thank them as well for their work? Yes. So, um Hillary And yep, you can raise your hand when I introduce you. Um Kelly Crow Emily Lashua Sarah St. Peter Um Chloe Sackett was not able to be here and Melissa Johnson was not able to be here either. And Hillary Farrington is our literacy coach who has been along this work with us as well. So, grateful for all of them to lean in on this Thank you. Thank you, Dana, for that reminder. I appreciate it. Um So, I as as Principal Williams was doing his introductory remarks, I wrote down a couple of quotes. I mean, they were probably not quotes. They were part of your your sentence, your comments, but I thought they were good good for me as quotes. So, one of them was the when when the kids struggle, they try again. I mean, how profound is that, right? We We tend to give up at some point. I hope they keep struggling and keep trying again, then keep struggling, keep trying again, eventually they succeed. So, I thought that that was very profound. And then, the second one was student growth is not the work of a single teacher. Another Another very profound statement. You know, I have experienced growth as a student right from elementary through middle, high school, college. And even today I learn not from one individual, but a bunch of individuals. So, it's it's it's it takes a village, right? So, I think that's really really great. Um I'm not going to tell you when I was in elementary school, but in when I went to elementary school, I did not know what CVC meant. So, can you tell me what CVC words mean again? What was the Yes. So, CVC stands for consonant, vowel, consonant. >> Oh, okay. So, like mat. >> Yeah. I know what consonant, vowels, and consonants are, but >> [laughter] >> Yes, thank you. Thank you for that. Yes, I that that those basics were taught when I went to elementary school. >> Once a once a kindergarten teacher, always a kindergarten teacher. >> [laughter] >> Uh and then one more, if you want to go back to slide 23. Again, this might be a total totally ignorant on my part, so please forgive me for asking this question. 23. 23? Yeah. Okay. Perfect. Okay. Uh so, the exceeding column, able to read some some whole words automatically. So, that means that if it is D O G, they don't have to go duh o guh, and say this read as dog, right? >> Yeah. Yeah, so those students in that category were able to just look at the word and go dog, hat, mat, rug, and they didn't have to say each individual sound. I'm good, right? >> [laughter] >> So, thank you for that. All that's all the questions I have. Again, I know let's give you them a round of applause for everything. Thank you. Okay. Next, we have the audience opportunity to address the board. Amy, yes, we do have some. So, this section of the agenda provides an opportunity for members of the community to address the school board. Um speakers who wish to provide input to the school board must complete the sign-up sheet and return it to our district administrative assistant, Amy Geis. And please note that you will need to complete a request form. So, if you want to speak now, please fill out that form. Um when you are invited to the podium, please identify the subject or agenda item to which your comments pertain. Priority will be given to students and families with students currently enrolled in the district. The school board practice is not to engage in a discussion or debate with the speaker, but rather allow the speaker time to express their thoughts. Please present your comments in a respectful and professional manner. So, I am going to We have one speaker tonight, and that is Janelle Wawrick. Did I say that right? Janelle Wawrick? Janelle Wawrick? Okay. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> My name is Janelle Wawrick. I'm a parent to two Wayzata students On January 14th, 2026, a new federal law was passed, effective immediately. This exciting step forward gives schools participating in National School Lunch Program more flexibility to serve plant-based milks that are nutritionally equivalent to a dairy milk. This legislation allows parents and legal guardians in addition to licensed physicians to provide a written statement to guarantee that their students receive a non-dairy substitute for cow's milk at school. Under the previous law, students were only guaranteed a dairy or Under the previous law, students were only guaranteed a substitute to dairy milk if a parent provided a doctor's note documenting a disability. And schools were prohibited from proactively offering plant-based milks on the lunch line. This resulted in This resulted in millions of US tax dollars spent each year serving dairy milk to students who don't or won't drink it, whether due to lactose intolerance or other conditions or just dietary preference. A 2019 USDA study found that 29% of school milk cartons are thrown away by kids untouched. This new policy aims to change that. As you know, my family struggled for years trying to secure plant-based options in my Zzetta schools. This new law creates a huge opportunity for schools to serve a plant-based school meal option without a doctor's note. Students who can't or won't eat animal products because of general health, culture, religion, ethics, or climate action deserve access to school meals, too. We have a huge opportunity to make Minnesota school meal program truly universal and accessible to all students. Creating a district-wide policy to require that our schools serve a plant-based meal option upon student request will uphold our Wayzata values and our equity commitment. When we exclude students who need a plant-based meal option for any reason, it is not equitable. Let's make school meals equitable for all students. Create a policy for a plant-based school meal option upon a student request. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, so moving on to administrative reports and recommendations, first Dr. Anderson will present two board policies for approval. Dr. Anderson. Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the board. We have two policies in our packet tonight, and they are presented to you for approval. The policies and regulations were reviewed as part of the regular review cycle using the MSBA or Minnesota School Board Association model policies when those are available, and by our district administrators and other staff where appropriate or necessary. So, final review was completed by the Policy Committee of the School Board. The two policies that are in your packet for this evening are Policy 101, Legal Status of the School District, and Policy 104, School District Mission Statement. They're relatively short policies and part of the annual review cycle. So, with that I would turn it over to back to you, Mr. Chair. And the recommended action is included. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Board [snorts] colleagues, the recommended action is to approve the board policies as presented. Do I have a motion to approve? I so move. Second. I wave the second reading. I'll second. She second. Okay, moved and seconded. Is there a discussion? Um I have a question. I'm sorry, go ahead. Well, I was just going to say I was on the policy committee that reviewed these and they came up for review just cuz it's part of our cycle and I don't believe there were any major changes, so we're pretty much just approving what was there already. And I was just going to add um as a note we had had discussed, especially cuz the 100's pretty easy, that we are going to start talking about shifting the numbers that we have as a in our district to align with the MSBA wherever it makes sense so that as we start to chip away instead of having to do a full review. So, we got the 100's done. >> [laughter] >> Then you have something to say? Oh, no. I'm just waiting to do the roll call. Oh, oh, okay. That's why you Okay, so I have a question for you, Sheila. Um so 101 I see I saw a a redlined attached also on board book. And I think they you removed one of the first couple of words or something. But one of four redlined, there was nothing I saw that was redlined. In the redlined attachment, there is something? I'm sorry. Because there was no redline, it was just the numbering. 102 is now 104. Okay, so the numbering was the redline. Okay, thank you. >> have seen that too. Okay. Yeah, I I did not look at the number. I just checked the wordings and there was no redline there. Thank you, Amy. My fault. Easily overlooked. Okay, so again, the recommended action is to approve the board policies as presented. This is a roll call. No, this is a voice vote actually. So, all in favor say I. I. Opposed, say no. The motion passes. And thanks to the policy committee for your due diligence. Next, we have the election clerk, Amy Guys, seeking a resolution relating to the appointment of election judges for the general election on April 14th, 2026. Amy. Well, aside from Director Little, this feels like déjà vu, but we are again hiring election clerks to work the April 14th election, similar to in fashion to the way we did in November. Before you is the recommended action. Okay, so the recommended action is to adopt as presented the resolution relating to the appointment election judges for the special election on April 14th, 2026. Do I have a motion to approve? I so move. Second. Moved and seconded. Is there a discussion? This is a roll call vote. Director Genestra. Colleagues. Alicia Little. Yes. Paris Bende. Paris Bende is absent. Sheila Prior. Yes. Heidi Cator. Yes. Valentina Ayers. Yes. Dan Genestra. Dan Genestra votes yes. Milan Shahani. Yes, the motion carries and thank you, Amy. All right, so there are no teaching and learning reports this evening. Moving on to the finance and operations report presented by Executive Director Trevor Peterson. Trevor will first present the combined financial report for the month ended January 31st, 2026. Double. Yeah, good evening. Cheers to all the members of the board, Dr. Anderson. Um this month's financial report um highlights activity through the month of January um 2026, which represents seven of 12 months in our fiscal year. Um try not to sound too much like a broken record, but has has been the case all year. Um there the revenue and expenditures year-to-date continue to track with what we would expect to see um both to our budget as well as prior years. Um I think it is worth noting too that um this is the time of year where the finance department is digging through um all of our revenue and expenditure line items to see there's always going to be some that um need some adjustments. So, we are working on our revised budget as we speak and we'll bring that to you um for approval in the coming months. Um so, there certainly are um a few individual line items that will will will be tweaked or revised in in the in a upcoming budget. Um but for the most part, when you look at our revenues um for the general fund, our revenue was about $123 million or 53% of the budget for this year. Um that's slightly less than the 54.3% from last year, but um as we reminded the board last year, we did have um some ESSER funding remaining that needed to be spent um and drawn um by the end of September. Um we typically don't have a lot of federal revenue throughout the year, um but that one had to be received um earlier on in the year. So, um that does skew the the numbers a little bit compared this year to last year. Um but aside from that, everything is right in line where it's supposed to be. Um our general fund year-to-date expenditures were around $109 million, which is 45.9% of our budget. Um and that's less than the 46.6% at this time last year. Um and those year-to-date [snorts] percentages will um other than the ESSER example and some other examples that I we've talked about throughout the months. Um, that's a that's a key indicator. Um, if if those look a little bit odd, um, or for maybe 5% higher in expenditures than we were at last year, there's there's something going on there that we need to look at. But having those numbers pretty consistent from year to year tells us that, um, it's just been a a run-of-the-mill kind of year so far. Um, a lot of things can change, but, um, really really nothing unique to report at this time. Um, uh, like I said, we we do expect to see, um, a revised budget coming up in the coming months. So, um, the other thing I want to mention is that due to, uh, the superintendent search, um, and some full days last week, um, the finance committee of the board did not have an opportunity to meet and go through these in a little finer detail. So, um, with that, if there are any questions or comments, we'd entertain that at this time. Otherwise, uh, there is no recommended action. It's just informational at this time. Uh, Trevor, are you going to present the MISLEF part? Sure. Uh, yeah, the cash. [clears throat] Oh, there you go. Yeah. Yeah, so the the last page of this report just shows where our cash balance is. Um, we are in our MISLEF fund, we are at about $50 million, or $50.5 million, um, which is a little bit higher than what we've seen in the previous years, and that, um, ties pretty closely to, um, having our revenue a little bit higher than it was in previous years and then our expenditures being a little bit lower. So, all of that is tracking as it should. Um, one thing to note on this page you will see the yield or interest rate that, um, is in the 3.6, 3.5 range. Um, that has trickled down. Uh, we started the year north of four. Um, I don't think that's a surprise to anybody, but, uh, we certainly continue to monitor that and can and look for ways that we can maybe, um, invest in some some different offerings to allow us to maximize our interest earnings where we can. Thank you, Trevor. Any questions, comments? I do have a opinion. You have one. Okay. I have just one comment. It is amazing to hear that this is a run-of-the-mill year with nothing >> [laughter] >> that's extraordinary to report. That's wonderful to hear. It's okay if now's not the right time to answer this, but I was wondering if you had an update on um what we discussed last time about letting uh was it letting bondholders um like trade in for, you know, to like be released from it and I don't I'm not explaining it well, but maybe you know what I'm talking about. >> I do. I do. The tender reoffering um or the tender offer refunding. Um so, actually about 10 minutes ago um we received what's called the preliminary official statement. So, that's the um the booklet that gets sent to the potential bondholders. Um basically giving all the demographic information about the school district and that's that happens anytime you um go out for these kind of things. So, um we have we as a district or me I have to sign off on that. Um the window to start uh um accepting those I believe was March 12th. So, it hasn't happened yet. Um so, really it there's no update on that side, but other than um we are continuing to progress nicely. We're right on schedule with where we had expect to be and and hopefully um by this time next year we'll have or this time next month uh we'll have more information about what that might look like. Nothing yet, so to speak. Uh Todd, I have a question. Um this I've been thinking about this for a while now. The finance committee gets to hear from the US Bank folks about the OPEB. I don't know if they present the mis lab part of it or not, but this doesn't have to be done, but do you think it might make sense to have them come here maybe one time in the future for the whole board to understand those things? Yeah, certainly. Um I I don't see a problem with that at all. And And you're right, the OPUB committee does meet quarterly. I think we have one scheduled up in the the next coming uh the upcoming month or weeks here. So, um but yeah, certainly it's it's I think it the timing is right for that cuz we're we're having some different conversations than maybe we've had in recent years as to what some of those different investment options might be. Um so, as we kind of work towards that, that might be a great opportunity uh to bring that information along to the full board, too. So, it's a good idea. I would ask uh chairs chair Heidi to you're the chair, right? On the finance committee to see if that's something that can be done. I've spoken to Danny when he said, you know, you when you when you if you are if you are ready, you guys are ready, we'll come there. Yeah. Yeah. And And I think that would tie in nicely to uh maybe bring so forward some sort of state of the district kind of a a financial maybe a deeper dive in our financial status, too. So, we can put that all together. Okay. Sounds good. Thank you so much. Um There are no other questions, comments. But let's move on. Thanks again, Trevor. There are no human resource resource services reports and there is no board action this evening. So, final item on the agenda is board reports. This section of the agenda provides an opportunity for board members to update school board members on school board related work or to make announcements of interest to the public. Today, we have three board reports. I will present a report on our superintendent search. Dan and Alicia will present attendance at the MSBA MASA Day at the Capitol that we went today. I will go first. I'll finish my report on the superintendent search and then I'll hand it over to you. Okay. So, this is basically for the public. I know the school board knows about this >> [laughter] >> in and out. And we that culminated in this in the selection of the uh the finalists last Friday. So, um Uh so, I'd like to briefly recap the process that led to the selection of our next superintendent Dr. Rob Virgin. From the start, the board was committed to conducting a thorough and community informed research. So So, community informed search. We gathered feedback from parents, staff, students, and community members to help guide the leadership profile for the position. We received a strong pool of candidates. A board subcommittee conducted the first round of interviews and recommended three finalists to the full board. The full board then interviewed those finalists, reviewed references, and spent time in thoughtful deliberation. Following that process, the board voted to select Dr. Virgin as our next superintendent. We are excited to partner with him as he begins his work serving our students, staff, and families. I'd like to thank my fellow board members, our community, and all the candidates who participated in the process. Thanks are also due to Barb Dorn of MSBA, our own Dave Lutz, our HR executive director, Amy Parnell, communications director, and Amy Guys, our district admin assistant. Thank you so much for all the help you have provided. I'm now going to hand it over to Dan and Alicia for their reports. Hi. Well, I can't believe that was just this morning. This has been a long day for a few few of us up here. Um So, this is my first time um attending the MSBA MASA um Day at the Capitol. So, I'm just going to give a brief overview of kind of what our morning looked like. Um after the welcome, we were able to hear from a panel um a policy committee leadership panel. Mostly, it was education focused. So, it was a nice variety of representatives from around the state. Various questions were asked um and I feel like in general, it was a it was a good back and forth and just informational for us to hear some of the opinions coming out from some of our representatives. Um there were a few working group updates. Uh Blue Ribbon Commission, they were also then highlighting some of the priority issues that we are going to be able to bring forward to the legislators we were able to meet with later on in the afternoon. Um and I just was going to highlight um a couple of those. One is uh repealing the 250 million contingent cut to special education, and our ask today was to remove the special education cross subsidy aid um to make sure that we don't widen the gap any further than we need to for our special education funding. Um another one that we were really focused on is the funding for safe and supportive schools. Um and our ask was increase safe schools funding to reflect the inflation and rising security costs. Um there was a conversation about Permanent School Fund, the PSF constitutional amendment. Um the ask on that is to support a constitutional amendment adopt a 4.5 percentage of market value model for the Permanent School Fund, increasing and stabilizing education funding without raising tax- taxes. Um statewide school district employee health insurance program. And doesn't necessarily impact us, but coming off of the MSBA convention earlier earlier this year, um there is also something asking uh it's called school board composition, and the ask is to provide a process for smaller districts with fewer than a thousand students who are having trouble recruiting school board members to go down to five school board members. And I think that was it for me. I'll let you go, Dan. Thank you so much, Alicia. Um it was a fantastic experience visiting the capital, engaging with legislators. Um we were fortunate to meet with um representative uh Patty Acomb of Minnetonka, um Senator Ann Johnson Stewart of Minnetonka, and then Senator Bonnie Westlin of Plymouth, um where we had great conversations about the topics that Alicia mentioned. We discussed the safe schools levy. Um, that levy has not been increased in about 10 years. So, currently $36 being levied per student. Um, we would like to see that increased to ensure the safety of each and every student in Wayzata Public Schools. Um, we also talked about the um, very unfortunate special education uh, deficit right now in the state budget totaling $250 million. We heard a great presentation though from um, Superintendent Mark Dowd of Intermediate School District 287 talking about how um, this deficit could be alleviated as well as other opportunities to um, write this debt. So, I am very grateful for the legislators for taking the time to meet. Um, we also were able to um, share with them um, Wayzata Schools' upcoming referendum. Um, and asking them to um, tell their constituents um, about the um, opportunities to vote uh, in the near future. So, um, I think that concludes my report. It was really a great opportunity. Thank you to MSBA and MASA uh, for putting the event together. And colleagues, it was um, you know, great uh, joining you. Um, Alicia um, Milland and then um, Superintendent Anderson um, joined us. So, thank you very much. Thank you, Dan. Any Any body have any questions or comments? Dan, Alicia, don't ask me. That's fine. So, thank you everyone. Um, this concludes the Wayzata Public Schools regular board meeting. Uh, the next board work session will be on Monday, March 23rd at 4:00 p.m. Is there a motion to adjourn? I so move. I second. Moved and seconded. All in favor say I. I. I. I. Opposed, nay. The motion carries. The time is now 8:40. The Wayzata Public Schools Board of Education regular meeting for Monday, March 9th, 2026 is adjourned.