Good evening. Welcome again to the Minnetonka School Board Study Session and Special Meeting, June 18th, 2026. First up, we have the review of new and updated curricular resources. Superintendent Law. >> Madam Chair, members of the board, as we wrap up a school year and look to the next school year, one of the things that we're looking at is getting ahead of the registration time frame and looking at the materials our our teachers need for class. So, tonight Associate Superintendent for Schools and Instruction, Aimée La Due, is going to run through some review of pilot materials and proposals for some upcoming materials that might be considered by the community. Dr. La Due. >> Thank you, Superintendent Law, Madam Chair, members of the board. Uh, as Superintendent Law mentioned, each June we provide the board with an overview of curricular resources that we're recommending for board consideration and approval. In alignment with our district policy and as a part of our district curriculum review process, as well as the new course approval process that happens each year, we identify new or updated resources to support district curriculum across courses and across levels. Tonight, we have four groups of proposed texts for review that we'll request approval of at the August School Board Meeting. The first group is related to our social studies curriculum review process and mainly centered on the secondary level. It includes updated or revised editions of existing instructional resources currently utilized in grades 6 through 12. These updates provide students and staff with more current content while also maintaining that continuity of instruction within those established courses and their curriculum. So, the first three are Northern Lights, which is part of our grade six social studies and is published by the Minnesota Historical Society. The second is History Alive US Through Modern Times. And the third one is Contemporary Human Geography. All of these are being updated from texts that are um at least 7 or 8 years old and in some cases older. Um and in social studies, as you can imagine, that's an area that is changing and evolving uh as time goes by. >> [snorts] >> The second group is related to the elementary Spanish immersion language arts curriculum review process. During the March 2026 study session, we provided a comprehensive overview of this immersion review, which included alignment with the READ Act as well as the new state language arts standards. Several resources were reviewed by a committee of teachers and the review team identified benchmark Adelante as the best fit resource to pilot. Following an extensive review and pilot process, the committee is recommending Adelante as its comprehensive Spanish literacy instructional resource for the coming year. This resource is uh supports evidence-based literacy instruction as well as biliteracy development for elementary immersion learners. The resource also includes explicit foundational literacy instruction, reading comprehension and vocabulary development, writing instruction, and oral language development. The third group is related to the district annual review of curricular resources required for advanced placement and International Baccalaureate courses. Both the College Board and the International Baccalaureate organization periodically update course frameworks, assessments, and improve and approved instructional materials. Throughout the summer, our teachers will participate in professional learning and review newly approved resources to ensure alignment of our program, and to make sure we're meeting requirements as well as continuing with uh best practices for instruction. Additionally, uh resource recommendations are made for any new AP or IB courses that were approved in December and will be offered in the coming year. So, as you look at the list of resources for AP or IB, two of the courses, IB Visual Arts, um which is recommending Oxford resources for IB, and DP Visual Arts course book, and AP Business, which is recommending Business with Personal Finance for AP courses, um have explicit resources already identified. They're existing courses. Additionally, IB History, um is an existing course, but has numerous courses that uh the team will have to choose from. What will happen in that instance is that team will receive that professional learning and have a chance to really review those resources and identify the one that best meets our curricular outcomes and how we would like that course to evolve. This the final one in this area is for the new course AP African American history. And again, you'll see there are four texts available that are approved by AP for this course. Again, the teacher will receive that extensive training, will have an opportunity to review and determine which text is most aligned to the course and outcomes that we're looking for. And you may recall that's a course that we're looking after that first year to see if we can align it to meet state standards as a required as meeting one of the required course options that students have. Um for those courses with more than one text being considered, that final recommendation will come to you as a part of the board packet for the August approval process. So, they'll have narrowed that down. Once that's narrowed down, it will be explicitly identified um prior [clears throat] to asking for your approval. The final group is related to our social and emotional learning curriculum, which is centered on our district's commitment to supporting whole child development as a condition for learning. As you will recall, at the September board meeting, Dr. Christine Breene provided a comprehensive report outlining the curriculum review process for social, emotional, behavioral, and life skill learning and development. Two curricular resources were identified at that time to support this area, social thinking and purposeful people from Character Strong. Both were piloted this past year in the elementary or respectively at the middle school level. These resources provide a common language and consistent framework to support relationship building, self-awareness, responsible decision making, and positive school communities. Feedback from staff has been extremely positive regarding this resource. So, following this year-long district-wide pilot, we're recommending both of these resources for formal board approval. These proposed texts will be available for school and community members to review and provide feedback here at the District Service Center during regular uh work hours beginning right after the July 4th holiday, July 6th, until the August 6th school board meeting where we will be asking for your approval. Um anyone that would like to review them would just come into the reception area. Some will be reviewed digitally. Um some there'll be paper copies and they'll be asked to provide feedback via uh Google Form um to help us see how people are feeling. Each year um when and if we receive feedback, we do provide that to the board uh prior to asking for your approval um as an overview so that you can see what the reaction and response is. In the case of many of these texts, we've done extensive pilots or they've been used in courses, families, and students are familiar with them. Um teachers are very satisfied with the outcomes. And so, um we expect that these will be great text to support our district curriculum and advance our student learning. >> Thank you, Dr. Ladue. Any questions or comments from the board? Tanya? >> I'm just curious. [clears throat] Well, first of all, thank you for this work and all the teachers and staff who put all their energy and time in piloting something new. I know that what that's like. I'm curious when you open the curriculum up to the public, how how many people come? How much feedback do you get? >> Typically, it's been very limited. >> Okay. >> Sometimes [clears throat] no one comes. Sometimes we'll have one or two people come and look at something of particular interest or curiosity. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Karen? >> Also, thank you for all the work that went into this. I do have a question. When you're looking at the curriculum, like if there's four texts that are offered, will we should we expect that we'll have one that will come back for recommendation or do you pull from multiple texts sometimes to put a class together? >> Typically, we would expect to have one text come back as the recommendation and that would come from the teachers who participate in the training and will be teaching the course. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> We'll be We'll be coming back for August 6th for the approval, I believe you said. Okay. All right. Up next, we have recruitment and retention annual update, Superintendent Law. >> Madam Chair, members of the board, this is a board goal and we choose to report on this in June because this is the end of the retention season. It's also when we have a chance to get feedback on employees who have left the system on exit surveys. So, it's a it's a good chance to analyze how did we do hiring this past year, who did we hire, where we recruited, and successful was it, and what data do we have about who we retained and who left us. And so, tonight uh Executive Director of HR and General Counsel Angie Flowers is going to provide an update on recruitment and retention, one of our board goals. Angie. >> Thank you, Superintendent. Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. I'm going to try to get connected here. And get it to the first slide. I'm not doing exactly what I wanted to do. Let's see. All right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent Law. Happy to share with you the Human Resources Annual Summary on recruitment and retention. We did a lot of hard work this year, and we had a lot of fun along the way. This uh presentation is in direct response to our board goal, excellence in leadership and organizational support, continue to focus on recruitment and retention of exceptional teachers and staff, identify strategies to create a representative workforce of staff capable of meeting the cultural and academic needs of our diverse student body, and who will create a learning environment for all students to be successful. I want to start off by just introducing the amazing Human Resources staff. We have Taylor Donnell, our staffing specialist. Most of her work is with non-licensed groups and principals. She does a lot with community ed. Um lots of support there in partnership. Myself, uh my amazing exec assistant Amy Hillstrom. Happy birthday, Amy. >> [laughter] >> Robin Clinker, HR director, Sucheta Mahankali who works with reserves and subs. And going back to Robin Clinker, she mostly works with principals and non-licensed staff as well. And Sandy Shelba who works with our teaching staff for the most part, our human resources coordinator. Every year we get together and we have team building and we set our goals as a team. And this year we focused on the district's focus of excellence and connection and community. So, we decided to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children. And it was just it was a great event. We got lots of food packed. I think over 649 packages of food. So, it was just a great way to give back and as you can see the team was pretty happy doing it. So, we had a lot of fun. We've done several new things this year. So, one of the things we've really done is just create new partnerships and focus on that. And really connect more with different communities. One of [clears throat] our partnerships is with Augsburg University. We officially established it last year. We got our agreement, but we really leaned into it this year. So, we have a student teaching agreement. We have that with lots of universities. Lots of people want to come here and student teach and that's great. With this one, it's a bit more focused on placing their students and they work with us on different opportunities to get in front of them and they have a very talented and diverse student body. So, what we did this first year in addition to continuing the student teaching, we sponsored their employer career day fair. It was for the juniors and seniors and we had branded marketing Dr. Getty, all over the campus >> [laughter] >> for uh for about a couple weeks. So, that was really good and I could see it when I got there. We also hosted an employer table, so we talked to these juniors and seniors who are interested in education um and gave them information and had some good one-on-ones. And we also presented twice, one on school careers and one on a special education presentation. So, we had our director from early childhood, Molly Bonnamer. And or Yes, she was there. >> [laughter] >> Right there presenting in the middle. Uh but for the special education, we had Aaron Valenta from SAIL. We also had Angie Kleinatler, who's a director there. You can also see Principal Andrew Gilbertson um just being amazing and he actually played some games with the students um in that presentation. But, it was really It was called Land the Job for uh one of the presentations. The one that you're seeing now up here on the screen. And it gave tips about career and resume and interviewing all those things. But, we really talked a lot about education careers. Of course, we talked about what Minnetonka has available. But, a lot of it was just unknown lesser careers in education. And the engagement was great. If you look at the photo, we had to add those chairs in the back because it was standing room only, so we were pulling in seats for students. So, it it was really successful and we felt really great about both of those presentations and that they got to really lean into special education as well. Another new partnership is CareerForce. Not sure if you're familiar with this, but it is a branch of DEED, the Department of Employment and Economic Development. So, persons who are looking for employment, the state works closely with them to help them. All our job postings are now mirrored on careerforce.minnesota.gov that mn.gov and it's free. That's the number one thing we love. We just had to do it one time to get them there and now it just feeds automatically. And they have a lot of reach. So we we really like that and if you look down you'll see the long-term sub position that's an example of one that's there. They also have various job fairs and networking events. I'll talk a little bit about a job fair that the district attended on the next slide. But that really just gives us a chance to get in front of people looking for jobs and different groups. And they do have specific focus on veterans job seekers with disabilities, job seekers over 55, youth workers, new Americans and seasonal workers. They had their 20th annual veterans job fair pretty exciting. It was at the Heritage Center and we had managers go there and present and represent Minnetonka without hesitation. Community education, child care custodial, nutrition services and they they really enjoyed the turnout. They had 30 inquiries. I mean the Heritage Center that's a pretty small space so to have 30 is pretty good. And just as an extra bonus several were parents of Minnetonka students and just really complimented the district. So they really got a chance to to engage. So we appreciate all of them attended. Also with CareerForce on the very last day of school for staff I joined a virtual panel on school education careers. This was actually an idea that I pitched to CareerForce and they agreed to it. So we did it. >> [laughter] >> I see all in St. Paul also joined. And again the the the turnout was really good. The engagement, the conversations. Um We actually went over in time and people just really appreciated the opportunity to talk to HR and education directly. So, we've done a few different things with with CareerForce and we're just constantly looking to be innovative and expand. This one was really fun, the podcast. Jackie really prepared us for that and did great hosting us. So, Robin Klinker and I we did our first podcast for HR and it sounds like we we had a really great amount of listeners according to Spotify up 3% higher than a typical podcast, which shows HR can be fun. You know, it's not all compliance. >> [laughter] >> But we we talked about, you know, of course our staffing and priorities, why this is a great place to work, wellness resources, professional development, welcoming culture, belonging, growth that we've seen from people just in the district and how you get started, what's a great entry point. That was a big question that we got from Augsburg as well. So, just getting those entry points, it seems to be like the number one question from people. How do I get started if I don't have any experience? And we always say subbing or reserving is a great way to just get in and see if you like it. You can community education, child care, there are different things where you can just test the waters. We also got in front of our students. So, Robin Klinker and Sandy Shelba, they presented and did mock interviews at Vantage with those students. Think their business business group. Of and they of course shared advice on seeking jobs and how to resumes, interviews, all that good stuff. And they really really enjoyed it. Robin and I uh were given the opportunity to take over some classes. Teachers trusted us for some reason. Uh so But it was it was a really great. The The students it was seniors, so um there were a few classes where we did that and they were super engaged. They had questions at the end. I think when you have high schoolers waiting at the end of a class to talk to you, it's a good sign. So And of course we told them how they can keep their career going here at Minnetonka. We've done social media is not new to us, but we are leaning and pushing into it more continuing our partnerships with communications. What we've done differently this year is the targeted social media campaigns. Uh for instance, we had the special education teacher position open over Clear Springs and we did a direct social media campaign to get that in front of an audience who may actually do the jobs. That's the biggest thing. We want people to see it who may do the work. So between Facebook um and Instagram, that's where we are running those campaigns. We've done three. I think we're starting a fourth. As you can see, the results are really good reaching almost 145,000 and getting over 5,000 clicks to our HR careers page. And that's where we want to drive people to, that careers page. So we are really excited with that and those results. Google search, we like to keep a presence online. So we do maintain that and as you see like in the spring we'll increase it when staffing is is a bit more a bit more intense. Um if you look at the average CPC, that's 32 cents cost per click, right Jackie? Okay. That is a really good. Uh Daniel in communications tells me the average is $3 per click. So, it just kind of shows where we're doing the right strategies, using the right words, not, you know, spending um terribly much on those. And an increase in traffic to the HR careers page by 25% year over year. Our operations job fair, this is a bit about the marketing from our job fair from last year. We had 92 RSVPs. And we had over 46,000 impressions from the campaign. So, it's a bit different from just like the Instagram and the Facebook. We have our own dedicated page for the job fair. Um and we have another one coming up. So, it just it really just drives them. Mary has all the information. Um it has RSVPs and things of that nature. But, the marketing um and the partnership with communications has really been successful in that area. We continue with LinkedIn, just keeping steady and doing featured positions. Like, if you can see this here, the assistant principal at Minnetonka High School. We just give a bit more detail about it. It's just trying to be eye-catching. So, Mary Cornelius does this work. So, we we've done that for assistant principals. We've done that for teachers. Uh just positions that may be hard to fill or we want to give more attention to. We keep growing on LinkedIn, over 128,000 impressions, over 60,000 members reached, engagement rate of 9.2% versus 3.16, which is their average, and 6,513 followers. So, I think it's a really great to be increasing on LinkedIn and getting that attention. And I really appreciate Mary's creativity. And just highlighting and showing the beautiful faces of our students. So, the job fair that I was just speaking to with the social media, again we got 92 RSVPs. We had 67 people attend. It was doubled from the year prior. We hired 32 people. We just thought that was excellent. It was in our community. It was in our space. Uh we had so many departments from special education, community ed, too. Aquatics, um anything pretty much peop- people were there and they were engaging. So, we we really appreciate that we have this operations job fair. And we know that we're unique in being a district that hosts their own job fair specifically focused on non-teacher roles. Except for like reserve uh teachers. But, it was it was a great event again. So, we're we're continuing that. We also attend teacher job fairs. Um you can see the lovely faces here. Annika from the high school, Matt Breen research and assessment, and Sandy Shova. And then we've got Andrew Gilbertson and Freya. And looks like we've got Angie again and Emily. Um from the high school there. So, we have various principals and APs. We can't do this work without the hiring managers. So, them giving up their time to go to something like this and get in front of candidates, it really means a lot and they all have different perspectives. I I think of Matt Breen who was a teacher who was an AP, who's in, you know, the district now. You know, just that that trust and confidence you can get from someone who who has done the work. I just think it makes a difference. Bethel University uh continues to be a partner for us. They actually have events where are they're not just a job fair, but they're a chance to talk to the students. It's about once per year. And at this last one, there was a really talented uh student there, and we were able to get her to student teach here. She inquired uh really after having conversations with Sandy Shelba. She was from an underrepresented group, and she is a teacher for us now. So, it's even just those those little ones like if you can see one thing happen, that's like the payoff. We continue to go to the Educator Career Expo. Um and then you can see University of Minnesota and Minnesota School Jobs. 336 in interactions with educator candidates and 18.65% of virtual interactions with underrepresented candidates. So, how do candidates find us? By far, our website. We know that's the main driver, and that's why we drive so much there. Because of course, when people get there, they're not staying at the HR page or careers page. They're looking at the district and learning more about us. Google is um about 112. This is the number This is people who are selecting how they found us. It's not everybody because it's not required. We believe Google and internet search is that gets a little conflated. It's probably combined cuz it's someone searching or is an ad popping up. We learned that at the in-person um operations job fair that sometimes that's mixed up, so it's probably more combined there. Um but community members, if you look at that and employees of Minnetonka, the people really really drive it. So, those referrals and sharing what the district has to offer really makes a difference. And indeed.com, which does not cost us anything, we've done really well there also. I'll talk about staffing for a bit. We continue to recruit reserve teachers and paraprofessional substitutes. We hired over 100 this year. And the hiring each one requires an interview. They get a personalized orientation. They get training before they step in the classroom on day one. So a lot of great work and results put into that. And over 60% of our paras and teacher substitutes um are filling openings three times a week or more. So we we are feeling great about that. For paraprofessional staffing, it still remains strong with filling those positions almost 98% and the hiring of 64 new paraprofessionals. Again, they go through the whole process in a more involved process than the reserves would go through. And for teacher staffing, 101 and 161 positions posted. This is of June 17th. And 138 positions filled. So 86% already. I mean to have 23 unfilled at this time of year, we're feeling very great about that. There is so much work with teacher staffing um with Sandy and the the just constant hiring and you know, talking to people and answering questions and getting out there. And our hiring managers again, really big partners. Our directors, our principals, they're just doing so much to screen these candidates to make sure we're getting the best talent. The average years of experience this year is seven versus nine the past couple of years. And we had several retirees last year. So that's part of it, but we're also just expanding our reach and giving more opportunities to teachers. So, our upcoming job fair. Get your pens out. >> [laughter] >> July 23rd, 3:00 to 6:00. We found this to be an ideal time at the Minnetonka Education Center, not to be confused with the Minnetonka Community Ed Center. 18707 Excelsior Boulevard. Use Google Maps. If you go to our page, the Google Maps will get you there, not Apple. So, it's our fourth one. We We are excited. We're already getting RSVPs, and we also have flyers that we are putting up the hiring managers and HR. We're putting those up in our communities, your Caribou, your Starbucks, your grocery stores and libraries. So, if you want any, let us know, and we'll get that to you. Retention. Should I move forward or stop it? Okay. >> Or if you guys have questions. >> for any comments or questions about what she just covered. I have one before we go to you. Is that the job fair? Is that the operational one? That's the one. Is there something in June though? I thought there was another job fair that I read about in June. >> Maybe something we attended, but July >> Okay, July. Okay. Tanya. >> Um I've been to the job fair to support one of my friends a few years ago, and she is now apparent in the district, and it was just a really wonderful experience because she changed careers. Um and so, I just want to applaud you and the team because it was a really great experience for her, and now she's here with us. >> And thanks for bringing a friend. >> Karen. >> Yep. >> One quick question. Thanks for all the good information. Do you find when you do the in-person events versus virtual that there's any Do you any sense of where you're most likely to have success in hiring some >> We get more reach with a virtual but I'd say in-person is still more impactful when we can do that. But most job fairs that others are sponsoring are virtual. A lot of people are moving to virtual. So when we can find those in-person ones, we're there. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. >> All right. Let's talk a bit about retention. HR tech payroll, benefits, finance had a huge project this year. We went from Skyward SMS to Skyward Cumulative, better known as Skyward Q. So we really just upgraded and just changed out our entire HRIS system. This has been work for the past year, a labor of love. I just have to applaud everybody and all their hard work and everything they poured into it. We went live about a month ago and things are still being done and updates are being made. But I have to share one of the compliments from the vendor Skyward. They said that this district was the most prepared team that they had ever seen. All their practice runs and payroll, they said you just they've never they've never worked with anyone who was that prepared. So they really took it seriously and really wanted to do this for staff. Why we're doing it? It just modernizes the technology systems. This is something our staff is going to expect today. They get to update their own information versus using paper, such as a W-2. The payroll information is much more clear. It just it's just easier access, it's seamless, there's not the back and forth and the waiting, and it just gives them more autonomy to do some of those those things that they'd want to change in the system. But, we're getting We're still getting to know it. There's a lot of reports and different things that we can do for our from our end more efficient that allows us to put more face time in front of staff. We also created the leave of absence resource hub with technology, and that lives in our SSO. So, people can go there and they can just click that bottom link to submit a leave of absence versus the emails and all the back and forth. And this has really been critical with Minnesota paid leave. So, we just want to have resources there, benefit summaries, collective bargaining agreements, and just the ability to do it more seamlessly and track it because there there really are a lot of intricacies with paid leave. And it's going well. Everybody's using it. And we launched EFMLA. That is That's the form that it leaks links to from the resource hub. It's not just for FMLA, that just happens to be their name. Um but, the form is right there and that's what just makes it seamless for for them to do. So, we launched a few different things with technology. We continue to do our features and recognition on LinkedIn, school psychologist and paraprofessional. We really believe that when you recognize people, you celebrate them, you allow them to tell the great story about Minnetonka that that really does help with retention and just employee engagement. More features, uh celebrations, national board certified teachers, staff spotlight on a paraprofessional. And these are getting lots of They're getting comments, they're getting likes, people are engaging with these, and it just it really gives us an opportunity to get to know the employee better and just people outside who may be looking or just seeing them and celebrating them who may know them. The biggest nod to retention is our retirees who've given a lot of service. So, we had a great retiree event this year, and we had 943 years of combined service for our retirees. And Lynn Beaker, teacher, had 40 years of service with the district. So, that is amazing. That tells you how wonderful the relationships are with colleagues, with managers, because when you're in the work, that's where really happens with retaining people. Professional development uh for reserves. I think again, this is something that distinguishes Minnetonka. Every year when our reserves and substitutes return, we provide them with professional development. So, you can see there uh Superintendent Law, Sucheta Mahinkali, presenting to them and thanking them, and they really appreciate that people show up. You can see they're engaged, but we are always surprised by the turnout, but it's been really good. We continue to provide access to education uh to get their CEUs, just to learn more and be better in what they do. Uh many people transition from paraprofessional to teaching and licensure guidance. There's a lot of licensure guidance and support. And we will be doing that again. And just to add, we've been providing professional development, obviously, to all our groups, to our teachers, to our paras. HR leaned in a bit more this year with our principals and managers and provided more management training, more compliance training, uh things as such as Minnesota paid leave, just because it was so nuanced and new. So, we really still just trying different ways to keep that professional development going. Night Custodial Shift Leaders, I'm really proud of this one. This is a new position where HR worked with Buildings and Grounds. We've had some turnover in that area, so we've been trying to address it, and we created this position that gives people an opportunity to grow and do some leadership. And we had a great time training them on job responsibilities, professional boundaries, how to document, always fun, um navigating difficult conversations. But, this did not require us to have any extra staff. We did not have to add FTE. We restructured it, and we had candidates apply right away, and we had others who were tapped on the shoulder and didn't think that they might be a leader, who were, and they've done well. So, that that's one that we are proud of. Another new thing is a First Explorers Engagement Survey. Again, this is coming directly from our board goals. Surveying surveying that group to just kind of get an idea of just as a group to start with. Get an idea of where they're they were at. 98 total respondents. Um we talked about career development, work engagement, compensation and benefits, um work environment and belonging. As you can see, these numbers, I think, are pretty impressive. So, they're broadly satisfied with their environment, job security, and site culture. Almost 99% said that they feel safe at their site. And 95% feel a sense of belonging. Relationship management, 100% report a good working relationship with their supervisor. For 94% feeling their performance is recognized. It's Kim in here. Way to go. >> [laughter] >> Um and then the open-ended feedback highlighting strong communication, scheduling flexibility, site support, youth programs, the quality of them, supportive supervisors, and some of the opportunities, clear communication, better defined roles, and enhanced training, things we typically see. Employee voice is important and we don't always get it um if we're not going directly to them in different ways. So, another partnership that we formed is with the University of Minnesota uh specifically to create an all employee engagement survey. The university reached out to us wanting to partner with us on this. Uh there's a university professor who is doing this work. It will result in a peer-reviewed article. It is really to help understand how workforce experience patterns, specifically within public sector organizations, uh predict retention and wellness over time. We are one of maybe two or three school districts that are part of this um and it's right at the beginning. And what we will do is we will develop the survey questions together for all staff. They will be researched and evidence-based. The total of both surveys is 15 to 20 minutes max combined. We are familiar with survey fatigue and we want to avoid that. Uh so, we're hoping that and this will be in the fall, they'll get one survey and then they'll get a follow-up. So, hoping to find out more about engagement and retention risk profiles across our schools, um experience patterns across role types, licensed versus unlicensed, more on belonging and connection, um strong areas where we might improve, there's inconsistencies, and of course just technology including AI and how people are feeling about that. So, we we are really excited about that one. And lastly, uh the survey results. We have new hire and exit survey results. The new hire survey results um are new and these the new hire survey results are new. Um so >> [laughter] >> We employees get this 30 to 60 days after they hire after they're hired depending on their start date. And we've been getting a lot of good information. So the online application process is something we wanted to know about and 34% excellent, 52% good. Interview process, 66% excellent and 31% good. I think that's that's a really good indicator. Human resources orientation appointment, 60% excellent and 32% good. Ongoing support from principals or supervisors, 65% excellent, 23% good. We're clearly making a good impression when people start. Uh sense of belonging, 53% excellent and 33% good. Um so those are the new survey questions. And then they go into more detail and then there's comments and different things and we've gotten specific feedback that we've implemented and shared with supervisors. Um so it's been helpful. Exit surveys, we did modify exit survey questions to try to get more clarity and more meaningful data. We still have students who attend our schools receive high quality education. That is still very strong. As you can see the 86% would strongly agree and agree. Staff are provided with quality staff development opportunities. That is still strong at 22% strongly agree and 32% agree. We saw a slight dip from last year. However, we had the read act so we believe we know where that is coming from. Although people enjoyed the quality of that, but staff development takes time. Um, the district is a good employer and I consider working for them again. Still strong results there. 34% strongly agree and 28% agree. Belonging at the district, strongly agree 36% and agree 38%, which increased from last year. Timely and accurate communication uh is about the same at 16% strongly agree and 39% agree. And the morale, 16% agree and 42% agree. It's about at 50 last year and that's when we had layoffs and different things. So, we are seeing a nice bounce back in the morale. Employees being treated respectfully and fairly, uh 27 and 29% agree respectively. And pay and benefits being competitive, 70% there strongly agree and agree. Performance reviews or evaluations are done on a timely basis. Uh one of Robin Clinker's favorite questions. Uh strongly agree 21% and agree at 35. And input on decisions that affect people, 14% and 32% agree, 14 for strongly. So, we we saw a little bump there as well. This is one that we split up. This was all together and we thought it might be more meaningful. Maybe they'd be interested in board goals specifically and vision and mission. Overall, last year it was about 70 when the question was combined, 70%. But, we're at about 80 now. So, if you look at the strongly agree, 33% for the vision and mission, and 47% agree. Those are pretty good indicators. And for the board goals, really close, strongly agree 28%, and agree 42% for fulfilling those and implementing them. And we surveyed the last positions that people held with us. Um paraprofessionals were the largest group. How long did you work for the district? We had 17% with over 20 years, 23% with 1 to 4. Last year's survey had people who were with the district longer. The majority was 20. So, this is some of our our newer employees um that exited. And most of the respondents were from the high school, Scenic Heights, and Excelsior. And 66% would or 66% 26% for retirement is the reason they left. 40% other employment opportunity. Last year, other was the biggest category, but we removed that big other because we didn't know what it meant. And it had other employment opportunity, which was number two. So, it's still about the same. And that's what I have for you. Thank you. >> Thank you. That was That was really interesting. And well done on the HRIS implementation. I I understand that that's a big lift. [laughter] So, that's great. Questions and comments from the board. Mike. >> [snorts] >> Thank you for the report. Um just one quick question on the exit surveys and the the new hire surveys uh are there opportunities for the survey the survey those being surveyed uh to give comments on especially the the negative the more negative comments so we can if figure out where where we are and make corrections. Good. Thank you. >> Yeah. We we get those and what we've seen some of the comments from the new hire is people are really pleased with their onboarding and what they're getting at the begin at the building. Um some want more just information maybe technology or something like that. Um different things that we've seen we've talked to people about so we are always looking to make improvements. But yes, I get to comment on those. It's been really insightful. Um there's been comments on orientation as well and we made some improvements. >> Sally? >> Yes, thank you. I'm geeking out on this stuff. I love this. So I'll kind of work backwards in your presentation. So another question on the exit surveys it looked I was kind of do a quick added there about 50 responses were included. >> responded. >> 51, okay. And how what percentage of that is the people who actually left employment with us? >> The 51. >> Mhm. >> For the exit >> Did everybody take take one respond or did some of them opt out? >> the report to see how many >> Do you have a sense for >> the percentage? Um I have to pull it. I have to request I can request it. >> Okay. Definitely. >> But yeah, it's not yeah, we're we're fortunate to get that number. Most people don't take the time to do it. >> That's why I asked. >> Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, that's great. Good insights. And speaking of insights, so then going to the U of M partnership I'm sorry if I missed this. When might some of those insights be available? >> Yeah, so it'll start we'll launch it this fall and I believe yeah, by the end of the year we'll we'll have results and be going through those. >> Okay. My last one going all the way back to the leave of absence resource hub, is that something we developed or something that we just added to our platform? >> Developed. Mandi, what do >> Yes. >> you say? Developed, right? Yeah, we created it wasn't there. So. >> I would imagine others might be interested in that. >> Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, Tech was a a great partner on that. >> Great. Okay. Thank you. >> And yet, would it be safe to assume that our UVM partnership survey data could it some of it could be included in this report next June? >> Yes. Yes, we want we we will >> Depending on what we find, maybe something early, but certainly we could incorporate into this report. Thank you. >> so we are excited to have just that evidence-based survey and score all employees. Tanya? >> For the overall report, I would like to applaud your creativity and all the hard work. There is a lot going on here that I haven't seen HRs in other districts do. Um and as an educator, we know having staff that reflects our student body is deeply powerful and important and aids in student connection, belonging, and excellence in academics. So, I'm very excited to see how all the partnerships and all those creative efforts um expand and grow over the next years, and I am very excited about the UVM peer review article. That's what I'm geeking out on, so thanks. >> Yeah, please please let us know when the actual article and final results of that study all gets published. >> Absolutely. >> Anyone else? >> Thank you so much. It was great information. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate you. >> Are you all ready for special >> Yep. Okay, so I'd like to call to order the special meeting. Okay. Uh may we all stand for the pledge of the flag? >> Yes. >> Okay. May I please have a motion to adopt the agenda? >> So moved. >> Dan, may I have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. We have an agenda. First up this evening we have the approval of collective bargaining agreement with paraprofessionals. Superintendent Law? >> Madam Chair, members of the board, I'm thrilled that we have two collective bargaining agreements already done this negotiation cycles and I'm really excited that we have a an agreement with our paraeducators and paraprofessionals just because often times districts struggle with that group to adequately compensate them and get things done um a men- a menial be amenably. So uh Executive Director of HR and General Counsel Angie Flowers is going to do both of these collecting collective bargaining agreement approval starting with our paraprofessionals. Ms. Flowers. >> Thank you Superintendent Law and good evening Board Chair, Madam Chair, and Board Directors. So I will begin as Superintendent Law said with a tentative agreement for the paraprofessionals. Um and just thank you them and the office assistants for the work, the desire when both teams came they came to work and to to get something done and to do do something good for the groups. So it was very collegial, very intentional, and very thoughtful. Their agreement for the paraprofessionals includes step movement each year and they will get an additional 3.42% added to the salary schedule in year one and an additional 3.0% in year two. There's also going to be an increase to insurance at all levels and the big win we had here was really getting up our rate for our special education paraprofessionals. We noticed we were falling behind our compare um um comparator districts and we want to make sure we're getting the best talent and our people are getting you know fair compensation. So both teams agreed to to do that. So, I think that's a big win for us. So, with that, I'm asking for your approval of the paraprofessional bargaining agreement with those terms for 2026-2028. >> May I please have a motion to approve the paraprofessional agreement for 20 26 through 2028? >> Yes. >> So moved. >> Dr. Mike, may I have a second? >> Second. >> Tanya. >> Do we have any questions? Do we have any discussion? A question. >> Is there a Dan? >> I just want to state for the record that my spouse is part of this bargaining unit, so I'll be abstaining from voting on this. >> Okay. Um all those in We have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. >> For the >> Go ahead, Colleen. >> For the office assistants, they were also really great to work with and their agreement, similarly, they have step movement each year and they will have an additional 3% added to the salary schedule for both years. They will get insurance contributions at all levels as well and increase there for a total package of 8% and I'm asking for your approval of the office assistants collective bargaining agreement TA for 2026-2028. >> May I have a motion to approve the collective bargaining agreement for office assistants? >> So moved. >> Karen, may I have a second? >> Second. >> Dan, any questions or discussion? Um we have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Next up, may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Dr. Mike, may I have a second? >> Second. >> Sally. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? We have a consent agenda. Motion carries. I think we're ready to adjourn. May I have May I have a motion to adjourn, please? >> So moved. >> Karen, may I have a second? >> Second. >> Tanya. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? No. We are adjourned.