All right, let's call this meeting to order. Uh first is the pledge of allegiance. Gavin, would you mind leading us tonight? Thank you. Wonderful. Um now we are at the consideration of the agenda. Are there any changes people would like to have made? Okay, hearing none, we'll go on to the consent agenda. Consent agenda contains routine matters that typically typically do not require board discussion. Individual board members may remove an item from the consent agenda for discussion or separate action. Tonight, those agenda items are as follows: Approve minutes from the regular board meeting held on January 14th, 2026. Approve personnel recommendations. Approve personnel pay equity report. Approve donations totaling $9,192. Approve treasurer's report for December 2025. Approve electronic fund transfers for December 2025. Approve vouchers and payments including bill vouchers, EP register items, EFT voucher, and Capital One items. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? Okay, hearing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Perfect. Uh next up, superintendent's report on excellence, Dr. >> Pleasure. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll [clears throat] start with the speech team. The Orono speech team is off to a wonderful start this season. Recently, the team participated in the River Park tournament with nearly 400 competitors from 21 schools. The team took third place overall overall behind um Lakeville North and Apple Valley, two very large programs. This past weekend, Orono hosted a home tournament with 15 schools submitting 400 entries. Once again, that our team placed third overall with 30 out of 34 entries qualifying for the final round. So, really great job. And in the fastest national tourna- tournament qualification in memory, Simon Forbes qualified last week in ex- extemporaneous speaking. And many more students will qualify as the season continues. So, we're really excited that nationals will be held in Shakopee this year. Um thank you again to Barb Schaffner for advising um a group of 48 active members across grades 7 through 12. And special thanks to the many coaches, judges, and parents who helped make our home tournament a success this past weekend. Um Orono DECA um competed yesterday at the district level. Although awards will not be final until this Thursday, we can share that 75% of the chapter advanced and qualified for state competition in March. So, 80 I shouldn't laugh. That's pretty amazing. Congratulations. Um 83 I'm laughing in excitement. Um 83 of 111 students advanced um in [snorts] at least one category with 20 26 students qualifying in multiple events. So, I'll be able to share more details on individual awards next month, but congratulations to our hard-working DECA participants. And um thank you to their advisor, Mr. Joe Huber, but excellent excellent job for um for our students. One-act play placed third at the one-act subsection competition on Saturday with their performance of The Scarlet Letter. In a typical year, this would advance the team to the next level, but with there were only five schools competing this season, so they only moved on the top two. Um the students still put on a great show and we're very proud of their hard work and performance. As always, many thanks to our theater director um Kelsey Ballan Peck and all of our students who worked so hard. Great job. Um BizTown. Um Wednesday, January 21st, our sixth graders successfully completed their annual trip to BizTown. This trip was a capstone of months of preparation in financial literacy, resume writing, and civic responsibility. It really is a wonderful opportunity for our students to apply real word world skills in a professional setting. I didn't go this year, but I've gone in other years and it's just really a lot of fun. One student shared that he learned how to open and manage a savings account and another how to do taxes. Another student shared that they learned how to cooperate with other people and use their time wisely. >> [snorts] >> As always, students have found the day both fun and a and a rich learning experience. We're also, just to mention importantly, very grateful to Orono Spa for helping uh fund this student experience and to our 50-plus parent volunteers who went with on the day. Uh they made it possible for our students to run the city for the day. So, thank you, middle school um for BizTown. In um activities, boys hockey returns to action with three games this week week. So, um very busy week. Good luck, Spartans. Girls hockey is 11-12-1 on the season and they have won their last two games. They will now host Chaska Chan on Thursday to close out the regular season. Um they're currently ranked in the top 10 and section play, if you can believe it, already begins next Wednesday. Um yeah, how did that happen? Um girls basketball continues their outstanding season with a 14-2 record. They are riding a 10-game winning streak and are currently ranked number one in the state. The girls play their next home game tomorrow 7:00 against uh Waconia. So, come out and cheer on your Spartans. Boys basketball defeated number four-ranked St. Paul Johnson on Saturday at a breakdown event and the Spartans return to action tomorrow night at Waconia. So, good luck, boys. Dance recently competed in the Wayzata invite with jazz taking second and kick taking third place. I was able to attend that. It's super fun. Congratulations to Ella Bogus, Lindy Keto, Brela Uselding Brela Uselding, and Ava Bellow on being named to the all-state team. Orono [snorts] will compete in section meet this Saturday at Waconia. Um boys swim and dive. Congratulations to our swim and dive team on a second place finish at true team state um marking the best finish ever for the program. Um the Spartans also now are 5-0 in conference duals and currently ranked number four in the state. Nordic skiers are preparing for their conference championship race this Wednesday at Highland Park. Best of luck to all of our skiers. I hope it's warmer. Um and Alpine ski. Want to congratulate Danny Kinzer who was recently named the Minnesota Star Tribune athlete of the week. Um Alpine continues its season today at the Pioneer invite and will compete in section championship next Wednesday at Wild Mountain. Wrestling. Congratulations to Brett Kicker on taking first place at 114 lb at the Orono invitational this week. I'm not sure if you saw the pictures. Gym was packed. Um [snorts] Brett also recorded his 75th career pin on his way to the top of the podium and is currently ranked individually number four state wrestler in the state and 121-lb class. Um and girls flag football. Um in partnership with the Minnesota Vikings, we are Orono schools is excited to announce our inaugural girls flag football season this spring. Girls flag football is one of the fastest growing high school sports in the country and with 104 Minnesota schools participating in the 2026 season. So, um more information will be coming soon and um we're excited to see how our students do and enjoy that um activity. And that concludes my report for this evening. Thank you so much. >> [clears throat] >> Next up, our board members' questions and comments. And as always, we start with finance and facilities. Thank you. Uh we did meet last week for facilities and finance. Uh a few things that we talked about. One, uh we did have additional bids uh or we had more bids come in for another project that we're doing as we continue on our renovation project. Uh this was in windows and doors. Uh and again, we had a strong showing of bids and competition. Because of this, uh we're going to be able to do all the doors and windows that we originally wanted to do that were outside of what we thought our budget would actually meet. Um so, this is great news. We also uh looked at one of the uh at what areas of the parking lots that we can do sooner. And the creative of there is logistics and schedules with access to buildings during the summer and along with the Schuman work that we'll have to do this summer also. So, more uh just trying to get things done in a faster manner, which is again, this is all good stuff. Um and then the last we talked uh we uh did have an agreement on a two-year extension of our current bus contract. Uh both sides are happy with the outcome. Again, good news. And this will be this will conclude the 10-year a a contract. And so, in two years we will have to go out to bid again. Um By state law. Yeah, by state law. Sorry. >> [laughter] >> And then finally, um we discussed the HVAC and water leaks at the Schuman and the ongoing plans to restore the rooms, the floors, the mechanical, the electrical. Um and there are so many people that are engaged in supporting the remediation um focused on not disrupting our students' education and the environment. And so, to the all the members that are involved in that and to the community that is supporting it, just a huge thank you to everyone involved. Um it's a lot of work and a lot of hours that you guys have put in outside of the normal business day. So, thank you. And that concludes my report. Thank you so much. I will give the policy committee meeting um update, which is we had one um on January 22nd. And actually, you you may see there weren't many changes that will be coming forward. Which so, the meeting itself was actually quite short. Um All right, let's go around and see if there's any other updates. Tim. Other than uh Orono action, which we are going to be hearing about tonight, uh we'll we'll we'll save that for then, though. Laura. Nothing to report tonight. Thanks. Anything else for you, Todd? >> Nothing to report. Wendy. Nothing to report. Um I got to be a parent >> [clears throat] >> excuse me, at the uh the sixth grade BizTown. Um, and I wanted to just it was absolutely amazing and helped really remind me how much our teachers are angels and saints that there was a lot going on and yeah, it was amazing. It's a really cool experience. There was a lot of people going everywhere. So, it was cool. Thank you. Sure. I actually do have something. >> Wendy. I went to the Minnesota School Board Leadership Conference last week or two weeks ago and it was incredible. It's just so refreshing to hear stories from others and most of the sessions I went to were learning for our district, but I had a little extra time and so I was interested in learning about something totally outside and I went to a session they talked about was um Now I'm not going to forget the district. It's a It's an area of schools west of Alexandria and it was about all of the um agriculture that they have brought into the schools with a beef trailer and a greenhouse and and the funding, you know, the fundraising it was really incredible in a room full of board members who it was just really great to talk to them about all of the work after because it's just very outside of anything that we could even do here. So, that was really fun, but the highlight was seeing Sienna Sether speak at the student voices session and just the um eloquence and the poise of such a young lady and she just represented our district beautifully. So, I was very very proud. And that's it. Thank you for saying that. I should have put that in the superintendent report. She was amazing. Yeah, she really did. Uh, Jim Westerman was there as well and Grace Noner and it was we were just beaming with pride. So, it was exciting and I would say a standout. I mean, I'm biased, but amongst everybody there she really shined. So, thank you. Thank you for that update. That's excellent. All right, on to old business. The first is the second reading and we vote on the 2026-2027 school board meeting dates. Thank you, Madam Chair. We had no requests for change regarding the meeting calendar, so there it's ready for action. Terrific. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Is there any discussion? Terrific. Hearing none, call the question. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Terrific. Thank you. Next up is the policy review, the second reading. >> [snorts] >> Thank you, Madam Chair. There were not any further additions or recommendations for change to the seven policies. So, policy 516 student medication and telehealth, policy 516.5 overdose medication, policy 517 student recruiting, policy 518 DNR DNI orders, policy 519 interviews of students by outside agencies, policy 520 student surveys and policy 521 student non-disability discrimination are ready for action tonight. Terrific. Thank you. Do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? I know it's a lot of reading. I just want to say thank you so much for for keeping up with this. We're really trying to make it through and and succeeding, but it's in large part because of everybody doing their part. So, thank you. All right, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Okay, wonderful. Any other old business? All right, hearing none, we'll move on to new business. The first being the Orono Action Legislative Platform. Thank you, Madam Chair. I invite Ms. Wendy Lonsgard and Mr. Tim Ussit, members from our Orono Action Committee. I don't know if you're moving to the table or if you want to be here for presentation on the 2025 Orono Action Platform >> [snorts] >> for your consideration and approval. I want to thank the entire committee for their very hard work and advocacy on behalf of school district and children for their work with legislators. We worked very hard to create They have worked very hard to create a high-level document that will be embraced by our community and be relevant for legislators and be flexible enough to pivot regarding specific legislation. So, it's great work. I want to specifically thank board members and leader Laura Wallender, Wendy Lonsgard, Todd Tim Ussit, community members Dr. Rena Shaw, Dr. Leslie Lock, Dr. Becky Kenneavy and Maria Beach. Thank you all for their very hard work and I turn it over to Ms. Lonsgard and Mr. Ussit. Thank you. Well, thank you, members of the board. Um, so I have not been on I've I've only been on the legislative committee for a few years, but this year and every year we prioritize, you know, this legislative priority, this legislative priority um which is great, but it's not tangible. And so what the group decided this year was, you know, when we're thinking about these legislative priorities, what is guiding us? And we decided this year to offer that guidance to our legislators. And we as a committee are going to be following the bills. And bills that align with our guiding principles, we will send to them as yes, we support this or no, we don't support this. Um to give them something tangible to get behind as opposed to them having to look for bills themselves. I ran this by the government action or the government relations team at MSBA and they loved it. They thought it was a fantastic idea. They They thought it was unique and really interesting way to tackle the legislative session and wanted me to give them feedback after about not only our success, but the response of our legislators, how they felt about it. Um Do you want to read our principles? Sure. The principles we we decided upon this year, number one was local autonomy. School districts should retain the ability to allocate funds in ways that best meet the needs of their students and communities. This was at the top because in terms of our past platforms over the years, many of the things we picked really fell in that space. Number two was fully funded mandates. Any legislative mandates imposed on school districts must be fully funded. Again, we continue to see things that we're asked to do that we aren't necessarily resourced to do, which which further complicates things at all all levels. And lastly, collaborative advocacy. We will actively build and sustain partnerships within our community and with other school districts with shared priorities. Again, we want to be good neighbors. We couldn't quite fit neighbors or Mr. Rogers in number three, but that's essentially what that that gets at in terms of how we how we work with others to to pursue these principles and and find bills that align with them. And and really as Wendy mentioned, we we need flexibility. We are in a space where things can change day by day and we want to be able to meet the needs of the moment, whatever those may be. Any questions? Um, thank you. I I'm I'm excited to see how this goes. When in the past Orono Action has worked with other neighboring districts and will you continue to do that even if your approach is coming at it a different way? And do they know about this new approach? I think everybody has a different approach. We actually went to an MSBA conference that highlighted several local districts different ways of approaching it and the needs of districts even within the Twin Cities are very different depending on size and demographic. So, I don't know that anybody has a consistent approach. What I like about this is we've been very fortunate in the past several years to have a continuous team of the same people working together, but that does not always happen. People come and go and I feel like if we change to this model, we have a better chance at sustainability no matter who remains on the committee going forward and hopefully we all will cuz it's a really great team, but eventually that will change and when the principles need to be changed, they can be updated, but it's a good way to view the legislation as it comes forward. Yeah, well, and and I think by going with guiding principles, we have the flexibility to do so. And I know that specifically the relationships we've built with people in the Minnesota House and Senate over the last several years, they they've gotten to the point where they're they'll call or they'll ask us what we think and and here we we have more flexibility to say, well, this is what we think about this bill and it can be either in alignment or not in alignment with what what what we've identified here. And the idea sort of bore out of you know, these were kind of in our minds, but they weren't written. So, when we were looking at what are our priorities, these were coming up, but they weren't explicit. And so, when we looked at, okay, what are our past priorities that we have advocated for, well, what guided us toward those priorities, and this is what we felt um how they kind of came together. Sorry. No. Yeah. I don't watch horror movies for that reason. Like, my jump scare is way too big. I apologize. No, it's just a poster fell. Just a poster fell. For our neighbors at home, a poster fell. Yeah, so sorry. Can I add one thing, too? >> [laughter] >> Yes. Um the other thing that I've noticed, at least over time, is sometimes we will write a platform, but then maybe a month later or 2 months later, bills get introduced, and they're new, but they might not fall within the platform that we have already written. And so, therefore, this is has the ability to be more flexible in that way, and to be able to respond to those I've That's one of the things I've noticed. So, I really think the smart thinking. Yeah, and certainly, year over year, local autonomy keeps coming up. You know, what is it literacy money? Is it this year going to have to do a special ed funding? You know, in the past, it's been with different LTFM issues. So, it's a recurring theme, but it depends on what the specific money is year by year. So, this is kind of just simplifies that process. Do we use this in any way to hold our legislature accountable for whether they're adhering to what they the lip service that we get, or if they tell us that, "Hey, we we hear you. We want to follow your sayings." But if you don't see it in the bill, this can gives you a better way to say, "It's not in here. We've looked at them." How does this You You talked about tangibility. How does it relate to accountability? Well, well, I would I would say that a I think that it it allows us to communicate our values, and I and I think in in a polarized political environment, even when people's values may personally align with us, the the party dynamics may play into that. And I think what this gives us the opportunity to do is to find value alignment. And I think in some cases, that might uh bring about alignment with a party's point of view, or it might be able to overcome that when people have a sense of saying, "Well, you know what? I have my party, but this I see what you're saying around values, and maybe that connects." That's really I wouldn't say that's tangible as much as it opens that opportunity uh in that space. And I And I think it allows us to maintain good connections with folks, uh knowing those dynamics exist. And And I'm not uh Well, I think those I'll leave it at that. Do you want to say more? Well, then when it comes to the tangible piece, being able to say, "Hey, here are bills we support. Here are ones we don't." As opposed to leaving it up to them to have to go seek and find, and then we can track how they voted if bills are brought to the floor. If they're not, then obviously not, but we can track, so we can have communication about even if it's just a learning, what did we not communicate well enough, or why, you know, why did you vote no? Um You know, maybe you have five districts, and you know, three of them wanted you to vote no, and two wanted yes. You know, there's a lot of reasons, but just a learning as well. Um So, that tangible piece, but I think the overall um idea of coming together under values is uh is great. Thank you so much. Any other comments or questions? I'm really excited for this, so thank you. Thank you all for your work. And for the rest of the committee, please extend that to to them. Thank you. Wonderful. And so, we need to vote on that. So, now you guys can come back. So, um the Orono action legislative platform, do I have a motion to approve? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? Any further discussion? Okay, hearing none, all of those in favor, say I. I. >> I. Any opposed? Okay, terrific. All right, next up, one of my favorites of the year is the Orono High School registration guide and report. Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Ever popular. I invite Dr. Amy Steiner to the board table for presentation on the Orono High School's registration guide and report. Welcome. Dr. Steiner and her team have been focusing on the future again, expanding opportunities for our students in I think you'll get to hear in more applied learning environments, such as potentially internships. We're excited to expand our opportunities for students, and what we've seen is a Spartan senior experience, but to make that bigger. Um and this is our first step into that. We have more planned. Um we're very proud and grateful for her work, and thank you, Dr. Steiner. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you for having me. Um as Dr. Fletcher said, we have some really exciting updates to our uh 26-27 course catalog that I'm going to talk about tonight. Pardon? Oh. Yep, and I brought swag that I will talk a little bit more about some pens. I'll tell you where they come in later. Uh all right, so as always, our work at the high school is grounded on the in the mission um for Orono schools, particularly around the exceptional experiences. Um we are really looking at providing students with variety, with choice, and with various levels of rigor, so that they can find things that they're passionate about, that they're interested about, and really um find things that fit into their path um moving forward after they leave us. All right, so I wanted to start with a um update um from last year. So, these are the um new courses that I brought last year that are occurring right now, and these are the number of students in each of the courses. So, as you can see, we have about a third of our students, more than a third of our students actually um taking one of our new courses that are just new this year, which is really exciting. Um a lot of these are driven by student um interest, and students um letting us know what they what they want, what they're interested in, what teachers are interested in teaching, and we let our uh student course selection really drive our schedule. So, when students sign up for classes they're interested in, those are the classes that run. So, we're excited about that. All right, so this year, or for this coming fall, um we have six new courses, as well as a new program um that I'm going to talk about. I'm going to talk about each of these individually with a little more detail. All right, starting with math. Um this is really um in addition to help create some pathways for our students, and to allow um more students to access more courses. So, I have um a diagram on the next page, which I think will be really helpful. But, we are going to offer uh in the fall, we're planning on offering AP precalculus with calculus. Uh right now, we have AP precalculus. Uh and the difference between those is really the AP precalculus that we have right now, that's running this year, and has been running for a few years, is um a part of the class. It's about three of the four units of the full class. Uh they still take the exam. It's still an AP class, and it's really meant for students who um are either at the end of their high school career, or maybe are upperclassmen who want to access an AP class. It gives them that option. Um we are going to be adding the full four-unit class as as an additional class. It will take the place of honors functions and trig, which we have currently. It's very similar. It's just that this is um more in line with college board, and it really offers a um external um kind of curriculum, and it's an AP class. Uh and we're also offering a summer course, which we're calling AP calculus prep. Um so, I'll talk I'm going to show you It might be a little bit easier on the diagram. So, this is in our registration guide for families and students to look at. So, these are the two courses I'm talking about. The one on the right is um I would say really in that honors pathway for students who are advanced, and like I said, are in honors functions and trig, and it leads directly into AP calc, um and then beyond. The one on the left is a summer course that we're going to add. Um it's an online course uh that will allow students who are not already in that pathway to get to that pathway if they choose. Uh so, right now, we really felt like that was a gap that we had for students who were um in the left-hand side, the regular algebra two, regular functions, um and how to get them prepared and ready for AP calc if they so chose. Uh so, that is one way that we're going to do that for those students. Can I ask you a quick question? >> Mhm. In the box on the left, the summer course, that is not a um a standalone uh course in terms of taking an AP at the end of it, a AP test. Right. >> is simply a preparatory class. Okay. Right. It will really align students really well to then jump into AP calc if they've not had that Got you. Thank you. >> honors level course. All right. So, last uh last year, we talked a little bit about some new legislative requirements and standards um for high school. And um that is the new civics course, which we previously offered to ninth graders. Um and now um the state is uh asking us to offer it to 11th and 12th graders. And there's There's also an earth science class and a personal finance requirement. And these requirements start for this year's sophomores, class of 2028 and then beyond. So currently this year we offer the personal finance class cuz that is open to 10th through 12th graders. As you said, we had a lot of students taking it and this is also a class that um even despite the state requirement, we've had a lot of interest in, a lot of students. Students who have left, who we've done focus groups around and talked to have said that they needed it. So I think this has been a really great addition. It's a one semester class. Um students are really enjoying it. So this fall, we will be offering the Earth Science and the um Civics class. So the Earth Science class will be offered to students in 11th, 12th grade as well the Civics American Government class. Um the Earth Science that will be offered in the fall is a one semester general level course and that will meet the Earth Science state requirement. Students also have the option to take that AP Environmental Science which will also meet the state requirement. And once again, we just at Orono, we really feel it's important to offer students choice. Students can have a choice of a semester or a year long. They have can have a choice of an on level course or an AP course to meet that requirement. And then the Civics and American Government again will be offered uh this fall. It will be only offered to those juniors who are in that class of 2028 because this year's next year's seniors will have taken it as a freshman. It's a little bit different. Um they have updated it to be more developmentally appropriate. We think it's a good offering at the junior and senior level because those students are very quickly going to become voters, um independent adult citizens and uh we think it'll be really a great class as well. And then the um third class that we're going to offer is AP Business with Personal Finance. Um that will meet the personal finance requirement or students again can have the choice of the one that we are offering right now which is a one semester personal finance uh class. The AP Business with Personal Finance is a full year and it's an AP class. Um it will replace our Marketing II. It's very similar. It will really align with the DECA projects. Dr. Fletcher talked about that. Our students really excel in DECA and they love it. It's a great experience and this will align with it. That won't change at all. Um the one thing that will change is after that DECA um experience in the spring semester, this will be um much more in-depth and rigorous than I think what the current offering is and it will offer them an opportunity to have that end of course AP exam. And I think we have a lot of students who pursue business uh post-secondary in college and I think this will really offer a a good start for them. And then the fourth class is AP Macroeconomics which also will meet that need. Um we've we've talked about it for a while. We've heard interest from our students for a while and we think that this is really the right time. We've had our um business department has turned over completely in the last two years and it's really an exciting time and I think that that class offers a really good foundation of business for students who are going into it in uh post-secondary which we hear a lot about. Yes. Mhm. I'm sure you know this question's coming. Um why isn't Earth Science offered 9th and 10th grade as well? Um the the AP Environmental for sure has um they really require a biology and and chemistry background so that or can to be offered certainly up to that one. So the Earth Science um just fitting in developmentally where students are as well as all the course offerings. Um you know, students are 9th graders take physics and 10th grade is biology. We certainly um can look at individual students. We do that all the time. These are really the recommended um grade levels for courses and if students have um different paths, we like to meet that need as well. And I would just say if students are interested in anything um sort of off level or off path, um to just meet with their counselor. I think part of it too, Wendy, was that we're trying to when we have Oh, on the previous slide. When we have um mandates for certain um I would take courses at certain times, we're trying to also open the opportunity instead of take away the opportunity to take an AP course or something, we're trying to say we you it could be either one. Um and that's been something that, you know, we've done with almost everything because otherwise we start to really limit kids' schedules. So part of it was just sitting down, I think, and being really strategic about where could where could we meet these um criteria um within potentially expanded opportunities for kids. Um We do have for our freshman, we do have um a fine arts credit, a health credit. You know, they do have they did lose that government credit, but they they do typically have more um required or yeah, as they get older they have a little more flexibility and offer a little more choice. Cuz I would say for I mean, given that our students, a lot of them are looking at top colleges, they're expecting, you know, your bio, your physics, your in your chemistry and then an AP in one of those. Mhm. Versus AP Environmental Science. If that is the fourth class, that wouldn't get you into a Harvard, for example. And so um you know, so the Earth Science would have to be it's going to be an elective for any of those. And by you know, they're they're have to do Civics, so that's going to be an elective that they have to do. If they're on any sort of business track or you know, engineering track, they're kind of into that and then have to stop that senior year. So I feel like it's sort of limiting options by saying you have to do it your junior senior year. Um when they also then have to do the Civics junior senior year and you know, most classes are year long, especially if you're taking AP World History, AP or if you're taking Marketing, that's a whole year, you know? And so here there's another semester course that's you have to take sophomore, I mean, junior senior year when maybe not maybe I have more flexibility sophomore year. So We're trying to add more down into the 9th and 10th grade so they can, but I totally I mean, it's what we've been arguing with our legislators. Well, Earth Science can go down there. 9th grade, 9th through 12th grade. I [snorts] think we've been long I think what's would be hard, but not that we can't, but just long we've been a physics first for so long. Um that and there's so much research about why physics first is good. Um moving away from that is So if there are >> challenging. >> who are going to say we were I I'm going to take it as an elective because a college is not going to accept Yep. that a college that I want to go to isn't going to accept that, they can call and say, "Hey, can I can my 9th grader I think that's a conversation to have with them, yeah. And I think, you know, we haven't offered it yet. That's the other thing is really to see um Right. how it goes, how it fits in and talk to the instructors about what that content is and where students are at, you know? Usually our math or our science courses tie in with math courses too where the students are at math. So I think, you know, once we get the feel feel for it for a while, um that can definitely be a conversation. Great. Thank you. Mhm. Definitely, thank you. All right. So um our final uh program, it's not really a course, um offering uh that we're really excited about is Orono Professional Studies. We're calling it Impact. Uh and the purpose of this is really to give our seniors a way to integrate the curriculum that they're learning in the classroom with real world experiences, with mentorship, um and to keep them engaged in school at the senior level which um sometimes can be a challenge and also see that important bridge of what they're doing in the high school and how it connects to college, how it connects to their career path. Uh so this program, this strand, we're we're looking at Dr. Fletcher mentioned a little bit earlier that we're really we're going to start uh small and you know, get a good foundation built. So the first strand that we're looking at is a combination of Human Anatomy, AP Research, they're both um full year credits. And then students will also take an online uh professional studies class which will give them some of those professional competencies in things like um interviewing, resume skills, um communication, um working as a team, being collegial, those uh skills that are really important as well that will go alongside uh their experiences. So students for sure can take the Human Anatomy or the AP Research separately, but if they choose to be part of this program, they would take both of those um along with the online class. Uh they would be paired up with a mentor um in some sort of field experience. Um we are hoping that the AP Research and the Human Anatomy really partner well, that the AP Research is very um project focused on a research project uh that that will have something to do with um the Human Anatomy, the things they're learning in class as well as that uh professional experience that they're going to have. It's sort of a um a growth of our Senior Spartan experience which we've done for I believe four or five years and that is a wonderful opportunity for students to spend a couple weeks uh the final two weeks of their senior year um on site with a mentor. Uh we've heard from a lot of students that's that's just not enough. They love it. It's a great experience. So we're looking at a way to expand it and again tie that to their coursework. So we're really excited about that. Just as an aside [clears throat] of a parent that of a kid that took those classes, not the online cuz that's new. But, I think that's a brilliant idea because AP research allows kids a lot of latitude on what they want to do their project on. And so, this actually might help kids um get a little more focus where they might feel like, "Oh, it's too much. There's too many things." But, this is it allows people to really explore their interests in this area. And I do know that expert or um outside guests have been brought in for human anatomy and have been just fantastic. And so, I think that that is a very rich start. And we're hoping that eventually we'll have maybe a business strand um and maybe even a technology, art, you know, design strand, something like that. So, again, we really want to get this foundation and it This is a program that will take a lot of resources. Certainly personnel resources to work with mentors, to work with students, and to partner with them. So, we want to make a good foundation, really make sure we have a good start before we start adding different strands. But, I anticipate that in the future. And that will also expand for students' interests. You know, students This is sort of a science-y student that might be interested and then hopefully we'll add enough other areas that students who are interested in other things can participate as well. This was such a good idea. We did hear a little bit about it at the curriculum meeting that Wendy and I went to. And you know, after the seniors do their AP classes, there's not a lot keeping them engaged. And this is such a clever way to give them some real engagement at the end of the year. So, I I thought that was fantastic. Thank you. I love this and thank you for all of your work and everybody's work putting this together. I just think this gives kids such a deeper experience in an area that they think if they may be interested in um I I just really applaud you for this vision and um giving it a whirl. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. Because I I just think where this could go is really truly tremendous. And we talk about opening doors for kids, just for connections that I mean, there's so much that these kids will get out of this. So, thank you. Thank you. We're really excited and we have great teachers who are going to be involved in this, too. So, we know it'll be very successful. I did. What's your projection on enrollment for something like this and for in year one? You know, I have no idea. My hope I think would be would be 10 maybe. We started Spartan Experience with four. And then it doubled and doubled and doubled. Again, I think that we we need to get a year under our belt to just see what we what we don't know, to see what resources we need. And I certainly don't want to flood it. I want I want people to have a good experience. So, we'll see how many you know, students are interested. I'm I hope it's a lot. Yeah. Wouldn't you say about half of the Spartan Senior Experiences each year in some way are medical related? Yeah, they really are. I mean, I really >> one That's one of the things we've >> I should have said that earlier. They're noticed. That's what guided you to doing all medical related. this. >> Well, and and missing Yeah. You know, I mean, she's already is going to work with so many students. She's [laughter] already partway there. Um and I think it's kind of all of those together. Mhm. So, that one It sounds like people are excited about this and the curriculum council also. So, if there's anything we can do as a board to help support this, let us know. If I understand you might not know in the moment, but let us know in the the future. >> Well, you'll see that some of the things that have been in other course contents that you've seen on previous slides will begin to build into what will be probably presented next year already once you pair that with potentially AP research. So, I mean, that's we're building lots of foundational elements in Dr. Steiner's work here. Thank you. If kids have already taken human anatomy, do they have to take these all like if they've already taken human human anatomy but not AP research, for example. I don't know. I don't know when human anatomy happens, but could they Probably not for this first year. Yep, they have to take them all at the same >> just Yeah, just because the teachers are time. going to be collaborating. It's going to be really synchronous, I think. Okay. Thank you. All right. The other thing I'm really excited about telling you about is we have a new emphasis this year on character. At Orono schools, we know we're a district of character. And we've always for the last few years we've always had conversations about how to make it real for our high school students. How to make it relevant. How do we take those pillars of character and turn them into more adult level skills for our students. So, we spent the last school year working with a team of staff and a team of students. We met about nine times throughout the school year. Sometimes just with students, sometimes just with staff, and sometimes together. And created the Spartan Scholar. We introduced this this year to our students and our families. We worked on it in Spartan Hour. There was some specific curriculum instruction, intervention. We worked with teachers to bring it into their classrooms. And we had meetings with students and sent it to families for communication. So, this is really what we feel the Spartan Scholar should stand for. Engagement, integrity, and connection. So, we have been working throughout the year to really highlight each of those things individually. All together, but then specifically we highlighted engagement in the first quarter. Integrity in the second quarter. And now we're moving on to connection. And then at the end of the year we will highlight it all. We have like I said, we've worked with students. We've really brought this into our language, into our classroom every day. We have posters. We have pens that you have. We just want this to be part of our our everyday life to really show students who we are. And what our values are. And there's a few things we've done. For instance, the beginning of the year we talked about an academic integrity code. Really just laying out for students what academic integrity is. We put this in our handbook. We brought it to our Spartan Hours. We've had our teachers talk about it. It's in their syllabuses. They syllabi. They talk about it at every assessment. And every summit of assessment we've asked teachers to have students sign their name. We know that when people sign their name to something it really brings a new meaning to it and it really speaks to who they are and their values. And so, we brought this into our academic integrity code having students sign it for every test, for every essay, any kind of summit of assignment. Just to have students really pause and think about it. And this is one of the things I talked to our teachers about before the end of the semester is that if we can give those adolescent brains even just a couple minutes to stop and think about, it's sometimes easier for them to make good decisions. And once we've really clarified the expectations, I think that this is an important part of our work. Another way that we have brought it into our building is with the Senior Spartan Scholar Spotlight. We have chosen seniors for every one of the elements. And in the beginning of the year, what we did was we asked staff to nominate students. And then we brought all of the nominations to the staff committee who worked on the Spartan Scholar last year and they chose winners. And we asked staff, "Who really embodies these words? Who embodies the Spartan Scholar? For instance, for engagement." And that was Gretchen Fickel Thompson and Isaac Hess. And then we just a couple weeks ago finished up with integrity. And the students who were chosen for that was were Giovanni Narvaez Sanchez and Anthony Perrault. And teachers had wonderful things to say about them. How they are good role models. How they really exemplify who we want our students to be. And when they leave us and go out into the world, we know that they embody these things that we highlight in our Spartan Scholar. And our next one is going to be about connection. So, it's really exciting. And students, it was nice um Mrs. Head and I called the students into the office and read them what the staff wrote about them. It's pretty incredible. So, it's really been great. All right. So, again, we just ground all of our work in the school's mission. So, all of the new courses, the new programs, it's all about inspiring students, empowering them, and giving them exceptional experiences that they can take forward with them as they leave us. Thank you so much. Does anybody have any other questions or comments? I will say as a parent of ninth grader at our counselor meeting, we did go over this information. So, that the parents and the the students got a reaffirmation of that. That's good to hear. Perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> we have to approve it. I'm sorry. I was I was just like, "Yes, yes." Okay, motion to approve. So moved. Any sec A second, please. Second. Any other discussion or comments? Okay, all those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Next up is more policy, first reading. Thank you, Madam Chair. I invite Dr. Scott Elger, Executive Director of Human Resources, to the board table for discussion and brief remarks regarding nine board policies in the 500 series for your review. These include title or excuse me, policy one, 522, title nine sex non-discrimination, um policy 524, which is our internet technology and cell phone acceptable use, policy 525, violence prevention, policy 526, hazing prohibition, policy 527, student use and parking of motor vehicles, policy 528, student parental, family, and marital non-discrimination, policy um 529, notification to staff of violent behavior by students, policy 530, immunization requirements, and policy 531, pledge of allegiance. So, thank you again to our board policy committee. We're grateful for your work, and we look forward to any feedback, and I turn it over to Dr. Elger. Thank you, Dr. Flescher. Chair, board chairs, and members of the board, um as Dr. Flescher indicated, the board policy committee is continuing its review of the 500 policy series, which is focused on students, and tonight uh we present you with nine policies for our first reading. Uh the policies are presented, of course, for review as part of the Board of Education's 3-year policy review cycle. This process ensures all district policies remain current and compliant with state and federal requirements and aligned with district practices. I will provide more details as we proceed, but the nine policies presented tonight contain very minimal language changes across the board. And again, the recommendation um at the conclusion of this review of the nine policies is that the Board of Education review the policies listed um presented this evening as part of the first reading, and that we'll bring them back at the next meeting for a second review and uh hopefully for approval. The first policy up for review tonight is policy 522, title nine sex non-discrimination. The policy committee recommends replacing the full current policy 522 with the former version of the policy. That version um that we're bringing to you tonight aligns with current state and federal laws and regulations. The second policy is 524, internet technology and cell phone acceptable use. The only substantive change in the inclusion is the inclusion of two references to the protection and privacy of pupil records policy, which complements policy 524. So, uh two new references in the text of that policy. Policy 525, violence prevention. There are several notation updates in the legal references, but no changes to the content or intent of the policy. Policy 526 is hazing prohibition. The draft policy for review contains minimal changes to legal references again, as well as minor punctuation revisions. And then, policies five, six, seven, and eight um just in the sequence as they're presented tonight, uh all of these have um only they only contain punctuation changes, but I'll just uh name each of these policies. Policy 527, student use and parking of motor vehicles, policy 528, student, parental, family, marital non-discrimination, policy 529 is notification to staff of violent behaviors by students, and policy 530 is immunization requirements. So, each of these policies again, only punctuation changes um throughout those documents. And lastly is policy 531, pledge of allegiance. This policy provides an additional legal reference uh to a subdivision of a Minnesota state statute, so that's included in the the draft policy presented to you tonight. Otherwise, it is unchanged. So, that concludes the presentation of the the policies and a summary of the proposed changes, and we ask you to contact members of the policy committee if you have any questions or feedback. Thank you, Dr. Elger. >> [clears throat] >> Um moving on, uh any other new business as as necessary. Hearing none, um I'd like to say that the next regular meeting will be held on Monday, February 9th, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. here in the district office assembly room. We will now move to adjourn to a work session on community engagement. Do I have a motion to adjourn? So moved. A second. Second. Uh any discussion? All those in favor, say I. I.