We uh had no one sign up tonight for a community uh discussion. So we will move to the considerations of the agenda. Uh and I would like to entertain a motion to move item 9A tonight, which is student recognition of Gideon Fish and the coaches um before the consent agenda. So immediately following and then also I would like to move 9C the construction bid as the new 9A before the principal's report. It is somebody's birthday and we'd like to get them out of here. So >> so moved, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Excellent. Uh all in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed motion is approved. All right. Uh so we will then move into uh our recognition. I will hand it over to you, Dr. Flesher. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um it is my honor tonight to introduce We're going to honor and recognize Mr. Gideon Fish tonight, our state champion diver. So I'm going to first Gideon, I'm going to make a speech about you. Okay. Okay. Um, it is a tradition for the Orno school board to welcome state championships to a school board meeting for public recognition. And tonight we are very, very proud to honor junior Gideon Fish for his record breaking achievements this year in diving. Gide Gideon, please come forward now with your coaches and then I'm going to talk about you for a while. Um during the regular season, Gideon set a new school diving record at the Maroon and Gold Invitational in January with an 11 dive score of 533.8 points. On his way to state, he and Orno divers swept the podium at the section 2A tournament. At the two at the 2026 state tournament, Gideon earned an overall score of 558.25, 25, which is a new state meet record and a Minnesota all-time best score. With his with this outstanding score, Gideon won the state championship. It's pretty amazing. So, we'll just take a pause and congratulate that first. I still have a longer speech, though. Um, Gideon's 2026 title marks his second consecutive year placing in the top three at the state tournament, having previously secured third place as a sophomore in 2025. Gideon is also an accomplished swimmer, competing at state in the 200 medley relay and placing fifth. Coach Chad Johnson shared some character traits that make Gideon a standout on the team. Gideon is a tal talented and humble competitor who leads through his performance and his character. After overcoming a frightening setback a few years ago, Gideon returned even stronger. Learning some of the most difficult dives and demonstrating remarkable resilience. Known by coach Johnson as a showman, he completes he competes with confidence while maintaining a humility that inspires those around him. He didn't know he was close to breaking the class A or state record until teammate Bejorn told him before his last dive. He was gracious in his success and accepted praise with gratitude from everyone who congratulated him. Gideon is a quiet leader on the team, helping younger divers prepare for their dives, explaining techniques during practice, and being the first to congratulate or con console his teammates. His leadership and dedication were recognized at yesterday's banquet where he was named captain for next season. Beyond the pool, Gideon is incredibly active and engaged young man. So, I'll highlight just a few interests and his accomplishments. He participates in track and field where he's becoming a very good pole valter. This year, he was honored with the Excel Award and honor for juniors who are recognized for excellence in community education and leadership. He was named an AP scholar at the end of his sophomore year and holds a full course load of honors in AP courses. Gideon is class president for the second consecutive year. He's recently earned the DECA gold certificate, the highest honor, the state career development conference for his school-based enterprise project. He will advance to the international competition next month in Atlanta. He continues to enroll in choir and is a member of the Tri Music Honor Society. And above all that, he is a kind and wonderful friend. Congratulations, Gideon. We are so very proud of you. I don't know why I'm going to cry, but I feel like I am. It's because I've known him for years. So, so I'm going to ask your parents to come forward and your brother Eli because we all know as an older sibling, older siblings have much to do with this. So, please family, Gideon's family, please come up. So, Gideon, please accept the board's congratulation. And we're we have a certificate for you and your coaches for your outstanding achievements. And we want to welcome and congratulate coach, diving coach J Chad Johnson who is here tonight. We are missing Ben Hansen. He was hoping to get here. He is the head boys swim and dive co coach. And we have Josh Johnson who is also an assistant swim and dive coach. And then Gideon's parents, Greg and Amy Fish and brother Eli. Um, thank you so much. So we'll come over with some certificates. Congratulations. photo. Greg is also one, two, three. You guys are amazing. Thank you so much. Okay. Uh we will keep moving on then. Uh so the next thing is on the agenda is consent agenda. The consent agenda contains routine matters that typically do not require board discussion. Individual board members may remove an item from the consent agenda for discussion or separate action. Uh on the consent agenda tonight, uh we have the approval of minutes from the regular board meeting for February 23rd, 26. Uh approve the personnel recommendations. Approval of OEA masters agreement for 25 through 27. Accepting donations totaling 6,4732 cents. approve the voucher and payment registers as presented uh for our bill voucher registers, EP registers, EFTs, and Capital One transactions. Uh do I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. >> Motion is approved. Next on the agenda is the superintendent's report on excellence. Dr. Pleasure. >> Thank you. Um, tonight we'll start with the DECA state conference results. Um, or no DECA sent 86 students to compete last week at the Minnesota State Career Development Conference. Typically about 15 to 20% of participants can advance to the finals, but ORO was proud to send 37% or 32 stateu students onto state. And of those students, the following 19 qualified to compete at the international competition in Atlanta next month. So earning a gold certification certification, we have Avery Bowlinger for school-based enterprise retail, Gretchen Fandel Thompson for school-based enterprise food, Gideon Fish for school-based enterprise food, and Olive Gladney for school-based enterprise retail. Earning first place, Sarah Henlleman for Career Development Project, Carly McNave for Career Development Project, Carly Rous for Principles of Hospitality and Tourism, earning fourth place, Eli Fish, Community Giving Project, and Olivia Ga Gladney also marketing communication series, Gabe Howland for retail merchandising series, Carly Olsen for Community Giving Project, and Gianna Parish for Community Giving Project as well. Earning fifth place was Evelyn Rosha, principles of entrepreneurship. Earning seventh place, Matt Blue, Gold Chapter Campaigns, and Morgan Larson also for gold chapter campaigns. And the group earning a Thrive certification for chapter campaigns will also attend the Aspire Academy focus on developing leadership and life skills. And that's Andy Blue, Quinn Brassington, Molly Hollererman, and Owen Shabber. Um, congratulations to all of our state qualifiers and to Mr. to Joe Huber, our DECA adviser. On to speech highlights. The Orno speech team had another outstanding showing at two recent competitions. At the Princeton Tigerhead Invitational, which featured 29 teams and more than 500 entries, the team placed second in the large team division and earned an impressive 10 first place finishes. They continued their momentum at the Moss, which is the Minnesota online speech series competing against 54 teams and approximately 400 entries where they captured first place overall. So, they're doing just incredible job. Congratulations to our amazing speech team and our coach Barb Schoffner. We also have the Metro West Art Awards. You'll remember the last meeting we recognized student artwork selected for the Metro West Art Show. And I'm pleased to I was pleased to very pleased to attend the award ceremony at Normanddale Community College last week and celebrate Lydia Richardson's merit award for her mixed media artwork free nose job. The judges recognize this piece for strong manipulation of form and thought-provoking content. Thank you for Dr. to Dr. Sheila Gamble for inspiring our artists and coordinating entries this year. On to athletics. Congratulations to Orno Nordics Ski Head Coach Brian McCuller or Speedy who was recently named as the boys Nordic Coach of the Year by Minnesota High School Nordic Ski Coaches Associations. Congratulations to Speedy on this well-deserved recognition. Boys basketball defeated Benild St. Margaret to advance to the six AAA championship game. Our Spartans will play at Richfield this Thursday at 7 p.m. with their trip to the state tournament on the line. Good luck to our boys in a in a heartbreaking loss to also to Benild St. Margaret. Girls basketball ended an outstanding season with a 24-4 overall record. So incredibly proud of our girls who are ranked number one all season and represented us so well on and off the courts. Congratulations Spartans. Delano defeated boys hockey 73 in the section 2A semifinal, closing out an exciting season. We're always proud of our athletes and their sportsmanship even after a tough loss. And as you heard during our recognition earlier this evening, Boyce Swim and Dive turned in an outstanding performance at state this year. Congratulations again to Gideon Fish, our state diving champion. Um, and to the boys team, capturing fifth place. State medal finishes went to Eli Fish for the 200 medal relay, 200 IM, and 100 back. Gideon Fish for the 200 metal medley relay, and the one I am diving. Bjornne Jansen for the 1 m meter diving. Um Ben Mitchell for the 200 medley relay, 200 IM 100 breast. And Ethan Weiss for the 200 medley relay. We look forward to next school year with our returning swimmers and divers. And then um also wrestling senior Brett Kicker wrapped up this season in a semifinal round at the state tournament. Congratulations on an outstanding high school wrestling career, Brett. Spring season is kicking off soon. You probably sound stu saw students around the campus. Track and field practice started today. Other sports begin March 16th and we look forward to a great spring season. And last, as part of that, 42 girls have signed up for the spring girls flag football season, first ever. This is a statewide partnership with the Minnesota Vikings, and they're providing financial support for participating schools to cover coaching stipens, officials, equipment, transportation, and reduce fees for our players. They're also collaborating through resources and out outreach to help high schools grow and sustain girls flag teams across Minnesota. So, we're excited for that. And that concludes my report for tonight. >> Thank you, Dr. Flesher. Uh, that's amazing. 42. >> 42. >> What grades, may I ask? >> Um, high school. >> Okay, it's all 9 through 12. Okay, that's amazing. Um, moving on, we will now move on to the board members questions and comments. And as usual, we start with the committee reports. Um, I will start with the facilities and finance which met last Monday. Uh, we did meet with Aaylor's our financial adviserss to discuss in re uh a review of our debt as well as a discussion on how we will do the financing for the tennis courts. Um, we are looking to structure this as a lease levy and we are looking to close on the financing this coming June. Um, this is estimated to have an impact of roughly $8 for a $500,000 home in the community over a 10-year term. So, this is uh a good way to do this. Um, what we made sure is that we left enough remaining authority for dry powder and for um any of our unknowns. Did you have any comments? No. Okay. Um there was also uh good news of a refunding opportunity for some outstanding general obligation bonds where we can get lower rates which lowers our debt servicing payments. So we appreciate Aaylor's uh supporting us and helping us to find ways to reduce some of our costs. Um and that concludes my report on the facilities and finance. Um we did not have a uh policy meeting um so we will not do a committee uh review on that. So I will start with Tim and we'll go around the room on any additional reports. >> Sure. I can uh report I I attended the AMSD executive uh committee and legislative committee on behalf of director Lansgard. Um the forecast is cloudy with a chance of cloudy uh is is roughly how it was described. It was the morning before the state's budgeting forecast was was released. So there uh of course the the surplus that was stated was 3.7 billion. uh but there's within the meeting and even beyond the meeting there's there's still a lot of fiscal uncertainty both within the state and within the nation. So uh nobody's uh particularly jumping up and down. Uh they they talked about their upcoming day at the Hill uh which I wrote down as 24 March uh for those that that are interested in seeing what happens there. Uh and they also talked about the policy uh subcommittee bill deadline is the 27th of March and the fiscal uh subcommittee deadline is the 17th of March. Uh again, a lot of different things are still up in the air that that they're discussing around adsis around uh potentially uh things around school lunches. Uh and they did release a report in the last couple days here that the aggregate shortfall of metro area school districts is a little over $200 million. And that that concludes my report or out here. We'll say >> I met with the ice arena since we've last uh been together. They had a a great season from an ice perspective. Teams too obviously, but um ran very smoothly. Staffing is solid. Um finances are in good shape. But the big news over there, if you haven't heard, is their fundraising for a potential second sheet of ice. So, uh we had a lot of discussion. um they are their own entity nonprofit. So they are going to raise money through that with a separate fund, separate subcommittee that will keep those funds separate. So we're working on how that reporting is going to go. Um and it's it's going to be quite an undertaking, but they are very enthusiastic parents. They've got great ideas. So it's going to be exciting to see how that rolls out the next couple years, and I will keep you posted. That concludes my report. So I attended the um AMSD board meeting um not the executive or legislative committee. Thank you Tim for going in my in my place. Um and at the board meeting uh discussion from Pelsby about lensure um I learned that there are over 80 licenses in the state for teachers and that's a lot. So streamlining that um there was a lot of discussion about teacher shortage and how they can um create pathways for teachers. Um in addition they talked about some rules rule making standards that will be coming up. Um what I found most applicable was the um um audit of higher education for their literacy reading licenses and um including their report a um a marking I guess if you will of if you've graduated from this higher education institution at this date you will not have to get um go through reading training in school, which is huge because that is such a cost to us that is not um funded. So, um that's really great. Um also learned about from Kathy Ericen at MDE about the con compensatory revenue overview and cost to schools. Um, and this morning I was at the cap with the Minnesota Schoolboard Association, um, learning about a lot of bills, a lot of legislation coming, but um, we got a review of, um, what compensatory has been doing and the big push is going to be for to hold harmless um, for another year because their formula is going to cut a lot of money from schools. Um, so if you want to know more about that um, you can let me know. Uh tomorrow we'll be going to Oro a we'll be going back to the capital with oro action um and we will be leaving with them many uh uh bills that we would like them to support but what I really want to report on indulge me please is robotics because I don't know um if you had an update this weekend the robotics team was in Duth for the Northern Lights um regional competition and last year was our rookie year, first year. Um there were 42 teams there. Um most from Minnesota, one from California, one from Hawaii, and two from China. We the robotics team ended the um qualification matches ranked in seventh place, which is huge deal. If you are in the top eight, you become a team captain and you have qualified for the playoff matches. And so we actually became the fifth allian. An alliance is um two other teams working with you. So three teams working together. So we actually became the fifth alliance because um two um teams above us were taken by a by one of the top six ranked teams. Um, it was really, really exciting. It was a huge accomplishment for our kids. Unfortunately, they It's a double elimination. They got out in the final bracket, but they um did a fantastic job. They have five weeks until their next tournament in St. Cloud. Um, they have wild ideas about what they want to change, what they want to do. So, it was a very exciting weekend. But I would say what I am most proud of of this team is that they um there are of 42 teams probably about 10 teams receive awards. Last year they received the rising allstars award. Um this year they received the gracious professionalism award. Um gracious professionalism in first it's part of the ethos of first. It's a way of doing things that encourages highquality work, emphasizes the values of others, and respects individuals and the community with gracious professionalism, fierce competition, and mutual gain are not separate notions. So, team 11 292 um the Icebots 2 from International Falls came with two members. A basically a prefab robot with parts that were missing or broken and no code. So, no way for the robot to do anything. Our team stepped up. We loan them parts, put the parts on. Our coders um put code together for them so that they could compete in all of their qualification matches. And it was incredible to see that. Um, so to me it just really embodied our strategic plan of relationships and connectedness and that made me the most proud. I know I'm going to cry. That concludes my report. Oh, and March 14th, if anybody wants to come, they are having um Pi Day. Um, they have pies. If anybody wants to meet the robot at the high school cafeteria 12:30 to 2:30 >> on March 14th. That's it. Thank you. >> I've got nothing. >> Okay. Uh with that, we will move to old business. Um other old business as necessary. Do we have any? I don't believe we do. Uh so new business and our new starting is with the uh approve the construction bid for the tennis court projects. >> Okay. And this is an action item. I should note that um for hold on for the tennis court. So um thank you Mr. Chair. I invite Mr. Nick Tainter um holder of a birthday today and director of business services to the board table for presentation regarding the bid process and financing of the future middle school tennis courts. These bid this bid process um is for replacing and then rebuilding the tennis courts during the summer of 2026. And as a reminder to our community, the middle school tennis courts have come to the end of their useful life and need rebuilding and careful study of the campus. the middle school tennis courts really should be closer to the middle school. Um the courts originally were constructed when the middle school and high school that we're in now um in the intermediate school that it was actually at that time the middle school and the high school. So rebuilding the courts adjacent to the current middle school is a significant improvement for safety for our students um and allows it to be the same co cost. And then this would allow the current courts to become fields adjacent to the other practice fields. So I thank Mr. Tainter and Mr. Irons for their leadership throughout the entire bidding process. I also want to thank Mold Architects as well as Bolton and M Engineering um for their support and guidance over this entire um study and bid process. So we're very fortunate to have numerous excellent biders. I think seven on the project. Nine. Okay. Nine on the project. So, we have positive new uh news regarding the lowest bidder and ask you to consider and then approve the lowest responsible bidder. And I turn it over to Mr. Tainter. >> Thank you, Dr. Flesher, Vice Chair Madson, and esteemed board members of Orno. Thank you for having me tonight uh to yeah to to just give you a little bit more background on the tennis court project and then ask for and a recommendation to the board ask that you approve um the lowest bidder. Um so on February 3rd 2026 we had uh opened uh sealed we had sealed bids nine uh bids came through which is an exceptional amount for the time space um the time span. So we planning to do these courts this later spring summer um to be completed um and typically you'll need a little bit more engineering time and those kinds of things to get the best bids out of out of it. But we had nine biders which was a great great um showing for that day. So on um February 3rd after opening all nine bids, we uh uh the lowest bidder um was BCI Construction from Sock Rapids, Minnesota. They submitted the low base bid um in the amount of $798,66. Um there were two alternates as well. Um so throughout the process of uh engineering um the the bid um and the specifications for the bid there were two uh outliers that all biders had an option to deduct from the that that original bid. Um one was the first alternate was asphalt pavement um in lie of concrete walks um and that was between each of the courts they would have put um uh gravel I'm sorry not gravel but pavement and uh instead of concrete um we thought for the price and the value um and the look of how that would look and and some of the functionality that that wasn't something that we would have recommended to do. Um, we like to see a nice, um, consistency of that concrete. Um, the even like some of the benches that sit in the pavement would be a little bit harder to harness down versus it being concrete in other areas. So, that one we're going to re recommend rejecting that alternate um, tonight. And then alternate number two um, was to remove the east walk pavement. Um so at this time right now we're hopeful that in future we can add some additional courts potentially in the in the in the in the distant future. Um and with that um that's where the planned um uh planned courts will be uh attached is on the east side of that court. Um and therefore we did uh we did recommend accepting this alternate. It would take away that east pathway um and and then there'll be grass instead in that area um up until that time um that we add additional courts if if necessary. So overall um we our recommendation um is to is to approve the lowest bid um by BCI construction 7 $798,66 reject the alternate number one in for the deducted amount of $14,9.99 and approve the alternate two for the deducted amount of $12,416 all to BCI construction again as they've um they've indicated or they all suh succinctly um bidding on all those three areas. So um I want yeah again I want to thank uh Chad Eishens our building coordinator building grounds W architects and Bolton and M engineers they did a fantastic job throughout this process in time of evaluating not only the space um and but also the threshold of how many course we could potentially get to there one at one point that that space um over by the student center which is across across we we had demolished that center um this fall that's where the location of those courts will And currently right now we can fit up to 12 courts in that in that space area if we'd like to like to take advantage of that space. Um we're in talks with other partners um that of of of ways that we could maybe um join and and help each other out with certain courts even maybe some pickle ball courts. We'll see. Um so with that said, yeah, that's the recommendation um from from us and uh and we'll ask for approval. >> Thank you very much. Um, is it to read the entire recommendation with both the rejection and the approval of alternates one and two, please? >> Okay, >> I think. Yeah. Uh, do I have a motion to approve the low bid base in the amount of $798,66, reject the alter alternate one for the uh deducted amount of 14,999 and approve the alternate two for the deducted amount of 12,416 to BCI construction. >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> I. All those opposed. Motion is approved. Thank you very much. >> All right. Happy birthday. Do I have a motion to sing happy birthday? Just kidding. That motion is declined. Uh, next on our new business is the principal report. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to welcome our K8 principles to the board table for presentation. We have Dr. Adam Lamparsski from Schuman Elementary, Miss Mary Jodel from from Orno Intermediate School, as well as Miss Kim Van Isle and Miss Sarah Hunter from Orno Middle School. They are going to share their work of this school years particular the ORNO and or the in their instructional leadership team or ILTS across the district. Um as a reminder Dr. Steiner was here in January um when she talked a little bit about their work um in ILTs. This is the third year that our ILTs are functioning as a structure of continuous improvement across the school district. And these these teams have been working incredibly hard across each of the buildings. They're collectively responsible for the building's continuous improvement plans um and the development of those plans, goals, professional development, the PLC work, which is the collaborative teamwork, MTSS intervention planning, and also the mentoring of new teachers. Um I see one uh in the rear in the room here. Um so, thank you for your incredible work. Each building um sets goals within the street strategic framework and you'll hear that tonight of scholarship, character, and connectedness. Um this is really important work across our school district. Um and we're excited to hear it with our distinguished guests. So I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Lamparski who will begin. Thank you. >> Okay, Vice Chairman Matson, members of the board, Dr. pleasure. Thank you for having us here this evening. Um we are excited to be here to um report and on and brag about all of the uh all of the amazing things that are happening at our schools. Um some of what you hear tonight is about as Dr. Flesher said, our instructional leadership teams or ILTs. They've been crucial in moving the work forward that we will present tonight. Um you'll see evidence of our development of uh multi-tered systems of supports or MTSS. Um and we hope to show you some of our strategic goals and how those come to life at our respective schools. >> And Dr. Fer did such a wonderful job teeing up our ILT teams, but we just want to take a minute to express the gratitude to all of the teachers. Sorry. Um, you know, and as Dr. Flesher said, um, they truly are the guiding light in our on our building. Um, they are laser focused on our strategic goals of connectedness, scholarship, and character. Um, they oversee all of our PLC work. They mentor the new teachers. They plan and oftent times provide our staff development. And this year a big focus has been MTSS. As we kind of walk into that multi-tered support structures, um we're learning together and we're helping to lay the foundation um for wonderful things to come for children. So obviously um your foresight as a board um in our continuous improvement um plan as well as Dr. fleshers to have three strategic goals in scholarship, connectedness, and character provide exactly what board member Lensgard just said. Kids that not only succeed academically, but they understand their importance of being amazing humans and supporting each other in this world. So, it's so fun to be able to be in a school district that values the whole child. So, at middle school, this is a visual. what we um worked on this year. Um middle school is such an important time for whole child education. Um you are not going to get advances in academics unless kids feel like they are a part of something like they feel they feel connected. They feel connected to the adults. They feel connected to each other and they feel safe. That character development is so so important as they become the scholars that they are waiting to become. We have focused a lot of time this year on tier one supports. Learning what those lowh high strategies are that touch every student as they walk in the room. What are the relational practices? What are the engagement practices that really help to bring the most out of students? And our exploratory team has they're always on the cutting edge. um they are a PLC and since they don't all teach the same content area, they often they they find something that they have in common to be able to research throughout the year and work through that inquiry process. So this year they've really focused on Dr. Clay Cook's lowhigh strategies. Um so what they've been doing is a true inquiry cycle. They have been learning about those practices, putting them into practice, trying them out with kids, getting feedback from both students as well as um other teachers, and then coming back and sharing them oftentimes with other teachers. Um four at the door plus one more is is a high yield strategy um that we've been dabbling with in our building and one that teachers have really really been enjoying. And it it's simple. It is standing at your door every day to greet every child by name as they enter the room. To make sure that they know that they're cared about, to correct anything that might have gone wrong the day before, to maybe reestablish a relationship if they had to correct the behavior the day before, and then as students enter, they have a highly engaging task that they are working on so they're ready to learn. It really helps to kids kids enter with a bunch of different things on their mind, right? They could have gotten in a fight with a friend. They could have had a little bit of a difficult morning. The alarm didn't go off. It really helps to we say wash the lighter fluid off so they are ready to learn as they walk in the room and um become the scholars that they can be. Um so we will continue our staff development day in April is focused all on the lowh high strategies that Dr. Clay Cook um presents um to dabble in those and try to figure out exactly at a middle level what are those strategies that are going to be the best for our kids to make sure that they feel connected that they are developing their character and becoming the wonderful scholars that they can be. >> Do you mind if I interrupt for one second? >> Low high is low burden high impact. >> Thank you. And then the other thing I was going to say is this is something that and I know you're already going to talk about this, but as you walked down the elementary hall, elementary teachers have this in spades. They're standing at the front of the door hugging all their kids um as they're walking in. The fact the middle school is doing this um and with the same level of intensity and trying out which are the strategies that are most impactful here in Orno, I think is a real testament to the leadership in the building. And I'll add for our television neighbors at home, multi-tered systems of support, MTSS, just to clarify that acronym, too. >> Sorry. Thank you. Um, also in that tier one, PLC's really fall into that tier one support structure. So, professional learning communities, sorry, PLC's are groups of teachers usually that teach the same content. So, our sixth grade social studies teachers are a PLC. Our sixth grade EL English language arts teachers are a PLC. They a they meet multiple times per week and they ask themselves these questions. What do we want our students to learn and be able to do? How are we going to know if they know it or not through assessment? And the big things that we've really focused on for the last two years is what if they don't get it? how what how do we make sure that kids get it and get the double dose or get the different teaching or get the different support that they need if they don't and if they do have it what can they do to expand on their learning or to expand on some of our strategic goals. So, we continue to revise when which means what I need at um Orino Middle School and middle school is right in the middle, right? Um sometimes they need some support from teachers to figure out exactly what they need. So, teachers work as teams to assign students to extra sessions if they need more support in reading, more support in math, more support in knowing how to do school or executive functioning. Um and teachers sessions to help support them or if they didn't get a certain topic um on a certain day or if they need to retach or retest or they're not doing very well in a class. Kids are pulled in then do a session with their teacher who knows exactly what they need to give them some more time. If they don't need that, they get to choose. Um and our teachers have had so much fun developing different sessions that align with our strategic goals. Um, one of our favorite, and I know we've talked about this here before, um, Bill Madigan, one of our science teachers, created a great relationship, um, with what's now is Valora of Oro. Um, so he brings groups of students over to play cards with the residents. Our band teacher then picked up on it and started doing little concerts um, over there. Our choir teacher has been over there. They've now started a card club that happens after school where kids donate their time to go over there and that relationship on both sides is just outstanding. We also have Brett Bodri has created the Orno Middle School news. We have a news program every Wednesday um where students get um can learn about what's going on in the building. They often play fun games between different um we call them um oh my gosh Um, extended learning. >> Thank you. Extended learning classes like an advisory class >> like whole school bingo. Um, Colin name that tune different activities. >> Different activities. It's really really fun. >> Um, as well as extension activities and content areas, different science um, experiments, art activities um, and they get to choose those on a week to week basis. And additionally, the need for real world learning promotes academic excellence at MS. Each grade level has the opportunity to explore and learn in an inter interdisciplinary hands-on way. Our sixth grade gets to go to Bistown with junior achievement. They spend months learning the realworld skills aligned with their content in the areas of citizenship, financial literacy, career exploration, and job readiness. The learning culminates in a trip to Bistown where students apply for jobs, produce goods and services, receive paychecks, become citizens of Bistown, and they even make money as a community to donate to different organizations. It is such a spectacular trip. seventh grade um go creates this huge project which is an interdisciplinary project between English language arts and social studies and um it is called history day um and we're always so proud of our kids. So our history day exhibit um took place on January 30th where we invited community members in, we invited district um representatives as well as parents. um students are able to engage in research, deep research on a topic of interest to them and then they have a number of different mediums with which to present that. So you can see there's poster boards, there are also ex um websites, podcasts, documentaries and research papers. So, of this group of students, 40 of them were selected to participate in the regional compet competition that happened this Saturday in Eden Prairie. It's very exciting. And of those, nine of the projects are going to move on to the state competition. So, we're really really proud of those seventh grade students. And then eighth grade students engage in a capstone project. That project happens later in the year. Um, and it is kind of the culminating project of their middle school career. It's an again an interdisciplinary project that allows students to become real world problem solvers. They select a global issue of interest to them or a passion for them. They learn about the problem and they generate a sustainable, feasible and innovative solution to the problem and we have world changers. I it is just the highlight of the year to see what they come up with. Um, and this type of deep learning and problem solving is so critical to advance deep scholarship at Orno Middle School. And then connectedness is one of our goals and it's very important for all students but can be difficult in middle school. We monitor connectedness very closely and we survey our students to determine their level of connect connectedness. We're happy to report this fall that 98% of students at MS feel like they belong and 98% of students um feel connected at Orno Middle School to an adult. Uh we have individual check-ins with our mental health team for any students who report feeling disconnected at MS and for some of them there's individual plans. Our exploratory team focuses on our connectedness goal and all teachers are committed to ensuring that students feel connected. There's just some examples. Um, Pepfest, track and field day, rock paper scissors tournaments coming up next Friday if you want to come over and see that in action, schoolwide bingo, Olympics, and then community connectedness with our obviously our homecoming parade, sixth grade new parent orientation, she mentioned the card club already, new improved open house with food trucks, games, and photo booths. >> Yeah. So, if you'd like to come to our open house, it's very fun as well. So, and then here's just some photos from some of our pepfests. Uh, we took sixth graders to base camp up in the top right where they're rock climbing, homecoming parade, and then our unity walk. >> You just see kids come to life in a whole different way during these. >> And then three of these photos are from there's the teacher student volleyball game in the bottom right. >> Recent pep fest. There was a loud gym. Yes, very fun. Um, and then lastly, our character goal. Um, our when our sixth grade team came and talked about the implementation of character strong, they talked a little bit about how they were seeing some behaviors and they wanted to be able to intervene with it. So, as a building, we um our goal is to reduce the behavioral referrals for students because we know when you're not in class, you're not learning, right? as well as when students aren't behaving optimally, it creates disturbance for other kids in the room. So, it's a really big focus that we've been working on this year. So, as we talked about um earlier in the year, weekly students engage in character lessons, many of them aligned with Character Strong. Um we have focused really hard on building wide setting buildingwide common expectations so kids know exactly what to expect when they walk into every room and it's very similar. uh we've created the push-in model where we come to students if they need a little more support and then worked on those lowh high strategies. Um and then tier two and tier three supports in the multi-tered support um MTSS triangle are are for more they're for smaller groups of kids that need a little more direct support, a little more time in learning skills. So, we have developed specific executive functioning groups, behavior contracts with individual kids if they're really struggling, identifying what those key behaviors are, giving them feedback, um watching the excitement when they do really well. It's amazing to watch that growth. Uh we use restorative practices. We have an amazing lunch bunch. They were just in my office the other day and they just have a wonderful time together. Um working on those social skills. um as well as individual support with counseling, academic and executive functioning. On to the intermediate school. Um there is so much to celebrate and I'm so proud of our staff and all that we have accomplished coming off of last year of the READ Act. um we spent um the entire year focused on that and then knowing that we would be implementing our um new curriculum arts and letters this year and um so most of my focus on my presentation is on scholarship and I did borrow this from the middle school um but our focus along with um Schuman is on tier one implementation of arts and letters and that has been our sole focus and so our um leaders, Adam and I and Beth Pearson, Aaron Rulan, we meet every um couple of weeks and um our leadership then meets with ILTS as principles and um it's so important to get the teachers input and what's going on and directions and then they bring it to the PLC's um and then they plan together. Um I just recently had an opportunity um we've been we always join the PLC's and that opportunity to sit with them and do a whole lesson study planning and then go into the classrooms and see how it's all coming to life. One of the things that we have stressed since we um started our training back in August for arts and letters implementation process was that um we're on year one of implementation and the curriculum says this first year is learn the second year of implementation is grow and the third year is no. And in this first year of learning we all have to stay together and we all have to implement it with fidelity. every classroom has to stay together and the teachers have been working collaborating so um hard in their PLC groups to stay together to plan together and so joining them and then seeing it all play out in the classrooms is just is um incredibly exciting. So just some pictures that I have you know chosen every time I go into a classroom I love these pictures because the kids are just digging in. They're on their hands and knees. And what they're doing here is they're annotating text. And so everything that they read, they're writing down what they um building their instructional routines and practices. And they are just taking notes on all the things that they um are noticing and wonder. And then when I've gone into the classrooms now, it's March and every child says, "What I noticed was da da da da da." And then made me wonder, la. And then all the kids, you know, they're doing all the fun things and they're all excited together. But these pictures just really um um demonstrate how they are on their hands and knees and they're just um doing a nice job with the reading and also the artwork. Um more pictures of them annotating text. And then I think what I've heard the most over the years, this is my 11th year and listening to the teachers talk about the complexities of writing, you know, lit Literacy is very complex and the writing process is something that they've always talked about. You could always hear them saying, you know, I tried this, I've tried that. What should we do? And this year they are one of the things that has really stood out. There are so many things to celebrate and so many things that have jumped out, but the writing and hearing how excited the teachers are has been it has been heartwarming. And so I just wanted to show you this is September and then February and there was actual page and then I went in there to take more pictures and this was March. >> Page one, >> page Oh, wait. There's more. Page two. >> Page three. >> And page four. >> I don't know how many. >> Yeah, there's four. You can stop here. >> And so that child wrote a fourpage essay in their learn book. And what they were focusing on was dialogue. And if you go flip back to like the first um this is what the question was was write a paragraph that shows interaction between Elena and her mother in a basketball game. And they had been talking about dialogue and dialogue tags and using quotation marks and all of that that is meant you can see that it's just filled with um that in addition to seeing their writing. And I also think that um that uh watching them dissect a piece of art on the wall is like amazing. Um, one time I was doing an observation on a on a probationary teacher and they were um going through a poem and I had to read the poem like 12 times to to understand and the kids were just they are just so at it's March they're into the routines and they know how to read a poem and really um be able to analyze it based on the instructional routines that the teachers and the students have been working on. Um I'm know this has gotten um these endcap projects has um gotten a lot of um publicity because we're so proud. But this all everything in these pictures were made um at um by the third graders and their teachers. And every um module study has an essential question. And so what they worked on was how do people explore the sea? And that was their essential question. And then their end product was that they created they created that C. And then the second one was how this is third grade by the way. And how do people learn about space and so um um they created these projects and then they invited their um loved ones in um to view their projects and you can see what they worked on. And um that little third grade doll there is um dressed up as Katherine Johnson in Hidden Figures. And it was perfect timing also for Black History um month. And these projects have really in um have inspired the other grade levels which brings us to our next page here. And how does an extreme setting affect a person? Another story. Um, this is the book that last summer when we were unpacking all these beautiful books that all the students were going to be reading and um the fifth grade teacher was helping us and they're like, "Oh my gosh, is this is this what fifth grade is going to be reading? This is such a complex book and it's about all 13, the incredible tie rescue, cave rescue." This is hard for Adam to hear. He's he doesn't want to talk about being stuck in a in a cave. He was telling me that really. But the kids were so incredibly engaged. The fifth grade teachers was like they just kept like they they just did not want to close the book because they were um so intrigued by living in a cave and non-fiction um pictures and dialogue, but they read this book together. Um and then this came to life where they um set up a cave and working with our tech department um they made it into a breakout room. And there is the essential question, how does an extreme setting affect a person? And they had to solve, work together, collaborate to solve these problems in um um with these breakout room breakout boxes and with the help both of these projects which I have towards the end are the help of um of parents helping us in the community. So that was just really fun. and fourth grade is working on what they want to do um for the rest of the year. And I know that next fall now that they've seen these um one of their first units is about the heart which is most is both about caring like the real workings of the heart but also about caring and they want to work with American Heart Association and do a um um and do something together about the heart. So there they have something in the works as well. Okay, moving on to character and as I said most of my emphasis I really wanted to talk about scholarship because I'm just so thrilled and proud of the staff for everything that they have done with you know to implement um but we haven't to implement our curriculum but we haven't forgotten about character and connectedness and so every Tuesday it's character lesson Tuesday and we combine character counts and our character strong um uh lessons and um really don't have these linked but the teachers do get um and this is all from the character strong curriculum and this month or last month was focus on empathy and um Maya Hansen works with um the um Abby Satzer our social worker and they put together these lessons for each of the grade levels and then the um teachers go through it with their kids during morning meeting and then there's additional things that they can do throughout the week. So every month we have a focus Um in addition we this year we brought back the kindness retreat. We used to do the kindness retreat for many many years and then COVID came and that was a year that um we weren't able to do it and then we thought that um this would be a perfect time um to bring it back. And this is again such a special day and this also is character and connectedness. the the kids on the on the floor laying down. Those are our middle school um leaders that come over and help us. And the kindness retreat is put on by youth frontiers and they always say, "No, you have to have sophomores come over. It absolutely has to be sophomores." And so I've called them, you know, every time I'm like, "Well, we have eighth graders. We've used it before. They will be great." And then they came over and at the end on both days are like your leaders are amazing. It's hard to believe that these students are eighth graders because they are mature beyond their years. Um they were so good to the younger kids and um wonderful role models for them. So it was a fun day of building community um with our fourth grade. And so this is something that we definitely want to uh continue as we go ahead and I think the PTO and um who will be um continuing to work with us to fund that. Um the Pulsera project um this is an example of connectedness. Um Jocelyn Beach has done this before where she connects with artists in Central America and they make these beautiful bracelets, unbelievable bracelets. And then um she teaches them all about it. you can back up. And you um they make these beautiful bracelets and then she works with her um fifth grade students, teaches all the students about it and then her fifth graders help them sell um the bracelets and the money goes to the Pulsera project which um uses the money to fund employment, education and in the and invest in their communities. And then lastly, this is another example of connectedness. I just have to show this. These are the the parents that came in to help. >> There's the hallway. >> Yep. There. >> Okay. >> There's the hallway. You're doing good job. Yeah, I'm almost done. Yeah. There's the hallway. And then setting this all up and a couple different tries. Same with um there was a you know a parent who does all this incredible artwork who set this up, but they also set up um the cave as well, all their creativity. And so having the parents come in, we wouldn't have been able to do that without them coming in to do this while we were all teaching and working and they were busy in the in the hallway and it was absolutely fantastic. And the fact that the students created this all that artwork is um is what is the best part about it. >> And then we've also been working on staff connectedness and we've done many many fun things. I couldn't I had to show this um picture. This is at our fun run. And those are all the fifth grade teachers. >> All the fifth grade teachers who without much proddding hopped into a blowup and um ran around um with their students. It was fun to see them running with the students in the fundraiser and um we all got together me in the end. Yeah. So it Oh, >> that's it. >> Okay, >> that's it. >> Thank you. >> My apologies for my not so great slide work there. Hopefully I can do better on my own. Um, so Schuman, again, a lot of exciting things happening. Mary did a great job of of talking about primarily one of the the maybe the primary thing I'm going to brag about and and and that I'm so excited about, too, which is um our implementation of arts and letters, our new literacy curriculum. I mean, really, it's been the most impactful and rigorous thing we've done this year. Um, it's been the main focus of work for our ILT, for our PLC's. This is what our teachers are working on as we continue through this as Mary described the learn grow know three years of implementation. Um what is exciting to think about before I show you some of the work and you'll see evidence of this um when we think about the continuity now that we have in grades K through five in our literacy curriculum and um the the routines and Mary mentioned the notice and wonder but thinking about the the idea that we'll have kids who go every year um every subsequent year knowing um these routines knowing um how to talk about um books that they're reading in consistent ways, how to write in certain ways. So, just thinking about how exciting that progression of learning is from kindergarten to fifth grade and we're already starting to see some of that. Um and my hope is that that um sets our teachers at ease a little bit because this has been a difficult it's difficult to implement a totally new curriculum and they've worked tremendously hard to do so. but knowing that next year they're going to be getting students that have done many of these routines before. Um, and the teachers will have um learned all they have uh this year as well. And they've been done a tremendous job learning alongside their students this year. Um, in fact, even the principal has taught two first grade arts and letters lessons. And it was it was tough. I had to put my money where my mouth is. I'm not sure I did I'm not sure the students learned much, but I certainly did. Um, and I'm getting better uh alongside everybody else. So, um, so again, our arts and letters curriculum, but we've also we have another new curriculum. So, um, um, kudos to our um, our kindergarten team who has also implemented their new systematic phonics curriculum this year, youly. So, they've had to do two in one, and they've done a tremendous job with that. And the plan is to extend um that new systematic phonics instruction or that curriculum to grade grades one and two um next year. So um we have seen some great results. Um I'll first show you some hard data that we're really excited about. Um and this is pretty unheard of in an implementation year. Typically you would expect your scores to dip. There's a term actually called an implementation dip. that was what you would expect um the first year that you're learning and trying new things. So, I grabbed some data from our winter assessments for each of our grade levels. And you'll see first in our kindergarten um fastbridge early reading assessment, you're looking at our winter assessments from last year compared to this year. And you'll see that what we what we have here, what this shows is 72% last year were identified in our low risk category. Um and this year that went up to 89% from one year to another. again in a year where we're just implementing. Again, we've got a kindergarten teacher in the back who can give us a we should give a hand to. But um so with those two new curriculums, we're seeing some really incredible learning. Um first grade, our Fastbridge CBM reading from last year to this year. I actually checked this, it's actually at 65. We had some um some late scores come in, but um going from 60 to 64% um from winter of 2005 or 2025 to 26. Um and those that indicates the students in low risk categories and meets expectation categories. And then our MAP which you're all familiar with, but our MAP growth um which is our second grade assessment from 2025 to 2026 um 75% to almost 80% of students meeting their growth target from fall to winter. So again, two um really proud of our teachers, really proud of our students for the work they're putting in. Um but seen some really tangible results um from our new literacy curriculum. I think >> may I add on top of everything else you had a flood >> and we had a flood. Yeah. Yeah. And we had the flood. Um but again I think everybody at Schuman should be really proud of the work that they've done and seen this. Now maybe even more important data. Um this is teacher feedback. some quotes from teachers about um their thoughts on um on the new literacy curriculum and what they're seeing from students. Um it's not to say again that that this curriculum is not without its struggles. It's really hard work u for the teachers and they've taken that challenge on. But the results you can see that you're we're hearing from teachers are pretty incredible. Um I'll let you read those. But I love, you know, that I continue to be blown away with the knowledge and skills my students are building. They're highly engaged in all fascinating topics. I think that's one of the things we've been most pleased about is just the knowledge, the fascinating topics. As much as it makes me sweat the the Thai soccer team um being rescued from the cave, I mean, things that are really engaging for students and that they're able to think deeply about. Um we are also seeing some tremendous results in the writing of students. I think that's a way that we're really seeing this come to life and their knowledge and hopefully you can see some of these things. But here's some examples of kindergarten writing. They're engaged right now in a in a module called uh America then and now I believe. So they're they're looking at how things how innovations have come about um in early America until now. Um on the top left you'll see a really neat um activity or project that one of our kindergarten classes, Miss Dickinson's class, did actually Orono schools then and now. So they went and researched and found old pictures of what Oro schools used to look like and then contrasted that with with what uh what things look like now. Um the middle middle section is that top middle picture is just some of the learning and and evidence of of thinking from students. Um and then um the knowledge chart world and and uh ELA knowledge. Um but you'll see that um these are two examples of some kindergarten writing from recently which is pretty incred incredible kindergarten writing about how things have changed. You see uh and particularly communication I think in technology is what this is about. So I think one of them says that you know they used to have a town crier and now we have cell phones. So, you know, really identifying um and again, all of these are accompanied by um really deep texts and and and deep um classroom conversations that kids are having. Um and then you see somebody talking about how we used to watch shows on TVs and now, you know, so for those of us that remember when we watch shows on TVs, um but now we watch shows on our computers and phones. So, pretty neat. Yeah. Again, and really engaging topics for for kids as early as kindergarten. But you see if they're writing like this in kindergarten, they're going to be writing like we saw in fifth grade on Mary slides. Um some more writing. So there's a couple different modules that are represented in this first grade in these first grade writing. Um one is was called creature features which is about how people study animals. And then there was another um their most recent uh module I believe was about the wind and the power of the wind and how that shapes the world and how that impacts lives and industry. And so you get to see some second grade writing samples um as well as their knowledge chart on the bottom uh below. So thinking about innovation and then some animals too describing those features of animals which is really you see the o I think it says something like I can't see it um exactly but something about the octopus has certain features right it's actually um speaking to the features that it has. So, um, again, really engaging animals. The wind you wouldn't think would be so engaging, but the way that this curriculum presents it and how students are are able to interact with that topic has been pretty incredible. Um, second grade, this is their current unit on civil rights. Um, and so you'll see again evidence of thinking at the top, some of their um, their wonderings and their mural. The one on the right, I believe, is called a knowledge mural. Um and then some of the writing again you're seeing even just that progression from kindergarten to first grade to second grade some of this writing and and think seeing how um one person describes uh Ruby Bridges as fearless in that bottom right or um that Dr. Martin Luther King fought for equality. So, um really timely, really um engaging topics, really important topics for kids. Um and you see, uh to to observe a classroom and to hear kids discussing these really important deep topics and then to see the writing that comes from them is is really impressive. And again, I just what excites me is to think about what these kids are going to do and be prepared for next year in third grade. and um how I think each subsequent grade should be thanking the the grade prior for for all of uh this work and this thinking. So um really exciting for for us at Schuman and we we just in and I think we've done a great job. Um we've always I think done a done a really good job in terms of of of reading and literacy instruction, but this is just taking things to another level. And you're seeing that um you're seeing it, you're hearing it. um you're hearing parents tell you tell us at conferences about um how students are bringing this um these topics in particular back to the dinner table um for discussion and and um and again I think that that's evidence in and of itself of how great of a curriculum this is how great the teachers are engaging students in this work um that it's not just being left at school that it's something they're thinking about talking about writing about inside and outside of school. So, we couldn't be more thrilled. Um, we haven't forgot about character at at Schuman either. It's still the most important work that we do. Um, we have implemented character strong this year as well as our tier one um character curriculum. And so, at Schuman, we're actually teaching the purposeful people curriculum um through Character Strong every single day. So students at at Schuman get a character strong lesson every day. Um same time of day for all students in the morning. Um and that focuses on the universal ideals of character. We align that as best as we can with our pillars of character which are still of course our foundation of our character work. But again I think this is what um our work and character is what makes Schuman Schuman. I think it's what makes Orino Orino. Um and you can see again just some fun evidence of some of the things. the gratitude jar on the right there where students um that was one of those uh those monthly themes was gratitude. Um and students identifying what they're what what they're thankful for are yet that mindset that perseverance um the power of yet um that I you can't do something yet but of course with hard work um you'll eventually get there. And then our kindness, the top left, we have evidence of of kindness. Students in the middle um bottom um identifying what pillars they are committed to following. And then just a little um example on the bottom left of every Friday at Schuman, we get on a Google meet for the whole school and do character awards. So what each teacher um gives one of their students a character award each week for displaying the pillars of character and um we get on again all together gather together online um to present those awards to one student in each class and then we've also added this year um which has been really exciting teachers awarding teachers um but even more fun uh we added students can award their teachers with um a pillar power award is what they're called. And so that's been really fun. Uh most mornings students are coming into the office from uh Miss Hannah and uh my secretary and getting a pillar power award that they want to award to their teacher, which is really a nice way to for them to honor. And the things are incredible. I mean, just for for being kind, for making learning fun. I mean, all of those things that you'd want to hear kids um ways that you'd want them to describe their teacher, which of course we know is true with the amazing teachers at Schuman. So, um, those are the exciting things happening at Schuman, at least the most exciting things and the most we're proud of and especially in terms of MTSS when we think about tier one and the changes that we've made this year. So, I invite you all to come and and feel the magic, too. >> And our final slide is thank you for from all of us for your continued support. And we're happy to answer questions. I've got a few. Um, okay. We're a year in on arts and letter. Uh, what would you have done differently and what have we gotten right? >> I think this is hard. I there's part of me that sometimes thinks that we should have entered, maybe you'll appreciate this, that should have entered um with a little less rigidity. So, we went in um wanting teachers to be teaching their lessons at the same time. Um we wanted to stick really strictly to a pacing schedule. Um I think that's great and that's important when we talk about um implementing the curriculum with fidelity. I think that we um we could have I think we could have been a little bit more flexible and planned to be next year in terms of time of day um within um and giving teachers a little bit more power about how they um uh where that lesson sits within their day. >> Um as well as a little bit more I think once we've gone through um one year and we've we've taught each lesson and we've we've had this pacing schedule just to allow a little bit more flexibility for for um teacher creativity for things that come up. Um and I I know that um the teachers have been great about sticking to that. >> Um but again, it's I think offering a little bit more >> grace year to um I don't know that I would get any push back on that, but I think it was important for us to to be all exactly on the same page. I'm not suggesting we wouldn't be on the same page, but just um a little more flexibility and creativity >> perhaps. >> That's interesting. I was going to say, dare we say bringing more of the art into arts and letters? It sounds like we've done the science. >> Sure. Okay. >> You know, that was just what I was going to say is that there's the art and science to teaching. And what we heard when we went through the training with arts with um great minds, which is the um company that puts out arts and letters, is they said it's really important to um to teach a lesson a day and stay together. Like they really really emphasized to that. So to Adam's point like we were like we have to stay together. And then um you know the the silver lining in all of that is now teachers really could collaborate in their PLC's because they're all doing the same thing. They can try it out. They could come back and so they're all coordinated. But there was probably a little bit of an overcorrection on that. But I think we needed to do it in order to to launch this um successfully. Um but that the art of teaching is a little lost, but we'll get there. in the no and uh the grow and no years. Um, one thing that I think we that we would do differently or we've already talked about it is that each lesson is 60 minutes. And that is can be long. That's a that's a long that's a long time to stay focused for um the kids our age. And so one of the things that we've been talking about is how we can break it up. and um working with great minds, consulting with them, they said, "Yes, you can teach this part and then you can take a little bit of a of a break and have you know silent read to self time and then come back to the lesson instead of trying to plow through the whole 60 seconds 60 seconds 60 minutes of the lesson." And so we're continue to talk about that for next year. >> Is it a fair making a very quick assessment on this, but one of the strengths that we have with our teachers is the agency that we give them because we trust them so much and it feels like that What I'm hearing from that is we took some of that agency away because we were implementing something new and maybe we didn't know how to do that correctly. >> Yeah. >> Is that kind of the struggle and some of the friction? >> Not that there not saying that there was friction, but >> No, I think that's >> not all friction is bad. We grow from friction, >> right? I think >> we needed to do it. >> Yeah. I think that's fair to say. And the reason I I was a little conflicted in saying that is I could also in some ways say that that was something we did right or well. Sure. Um, I mean it didn't feel great at some moments, but it was also there were elements of that that were necessary. So, I I don't know if that if that makes sense. And and and back talking about just teacher agency and the incredible teachers that we have, I think if I were to go back um again, I would offer more. I think we've gotten in a good groove right now of of really letting with professional development with PLC's really letting teachers just dig into the lessons, analyze the lessons deeply, collaborate together um in order to to plan and to to learn this curriculum as best as they can. And I think it took us a a few months to really figure out that that's what they needed that it was really much simpler rather than some sort of elaborate um uh PLC work or protocol or you know something is just to really and we use a protocol for this but really just to dig in and work together um and learn learn this new curriculum together. >> I would have said that like I think arts and letters is what we got right. >> Yeah. Um it I wish we could have made it easier. >> Yeah. >> Um I don't know if there was a way to make it easier. >> I just think implementation >> just that hard. Yeah. And maybe maybe with kindergarten >> it was too much to do both at once. Um all in the same year if you I don't know how you don't do it was what was hard. Yeah. But they've they did it. Yeah. >> Um but those would be some wonderings that you know if you had to redo that over >> I'd like to hear that we got it right though on the curriculum choice. >> It's in my there's no doubt in my mind that it's the right curriculum and I think it's just about that and and you fly as a companion >> to arts and letters and and again I think we're seeing the results that we're seeing this early even um speak to that but um yeah I agree it's the right But always in hindsight there are little tweaks that you could make but I certainly wouldn't change much. >> And I would add that the company has been amazing to work for. I mean the consultants every time we have a question but you know Beth is you know like they are their professional development and their care with us and attention to us has been like nothing I've ever seen in my 35 years of of um imple being in education. Like they take good care of us. >> Very responsive. Yeah. Yeah. Very responsive. >> One of the things that we loved about it is the the books and just kind of a nuts and bolts question. Are the books holding up? Are we going to get a lot of years out of those books? Um, I would I mean the books were amazing and um we unpacked all these books in August and I I mean it seemed overwhelming to see all these boxes on the pallets and then but yet in hindsight it was pure joy to be able to open up all these boxes and see all these amazing books. And I think the teachers are are really protecting them and taking, you know, doing taking great care with the kids and with um the textbook. So, I'm hopeful that >> they will hold up. >> Yeah. I mean, because that's an expensive component, but yet it's such an important component. I mean, that's what we love too is seeing all those great books. And yeah, I know the teachers would obviously, but you know, how are the bindings holding up? Is this going to be a multi-year pass it down? We hope >> they aren't able to take them home. >> Okay. And so, um, they keep them at school, which I think that is helpful. >> And they're used in really, um, in a positively controlled ways, meaning it'll be time for a partner read and then they get it, then it comes back and they're not being um, um, shoved in desks and things like that. We want them to be used, of course, and absolutely wear and tear is necessary necessary, but um, I think that um, I haven't heard any complaints about any damage yet. So, >> Fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. >> No. So, go ahead. >> Two more. Um, so, uh, you talked a lot about the connectedness in the middle school. Um, and the numbers are amazing, the 98% belonging and feeling connected. I quick question is, do you see that? Is that your observed reality as well? >> It re it really is. And I will tell you the biggest difference was when we decided that phones were away for the day. >> Yeah. >> 8 to 2 because you know years ago you would you would walk into the lunchroom and you would see some of this, right? You know, >> and just the volume the sheer volume like you kind of need um you kind of need ear protection. But um but you do see you see the kids so excited to see each other. You see them engaging. You also see the character piece. you see if a kid is maybe struggling a little bit to connect, others going over to include in a real purposeful way. The web leaders that went over to the kindness retreat are outstanding and they are so good at helping to transition new kids into our building as well as new seventh and eighth graders that haven't been a part of oro. Um, so I think that that's really helped. I mean 98 isn't 100 and that's, you know, I mean that tears you up, right? You don't want 2% of kids feeling like they're not belonging or connecting. And so that's why our mental health team works really really hard to connect individually to figure out what can we do? Who can we connect you with? Why why aren't you? What can you be a part of? So excited to hear about robotics. I just think that as kids move through hoping it comes down to the middle school because I do think that that's something that would be amazing. I I would just add that if I think back about 10 years ago, I could walk through the lunchroom and you would see kids sitting by themselves. >> I don't see anybody. I mean, I'm not exaggerating when I say >> um one extended question off this is what is the feedback that you get from parents on all of the connected activities that you guys do? Do you have any uh kind of pulse check on what the the families are feeling and saying about the work that's being done on connectedness? >> Yeah, I would say we get positive feedback that that we're fun, >> but I think in middle school you have you have to engage those middle school kids and keep them engaged, you know. It's been really fun to see over the years, right? >> Good. >> Well, I was wondering if it was even resonating if they were noticing these things or Yeah. That's great. And I do think you know kids were sitt >> um it's really exciting to see all of the work that's happening in in the classrooms and not surprising that the teachers have just embraced all of their challenges and taken it to a level that wouldn't necessarily be expected um in a first year implementation or with any change um especially I mean character strong that's fairly new too and just um but I really think it comes from the top down so thank you for all of your leadership in creating that culture of continuous improvement in your buildings and um it's it's exciting. I'm looking forward to couple years what it's going to look like. So, lots of work on the the level one MTSS. Is it making it are you seeing less in your offices? because I feel like at at one point the buck kind of had to stop with you guys and that maybe is not the the best work of what you need to be doing during the day. Are you seeing like just anecdotally fewer visits? >> Yeah, we have 12%. >> Yeah, you guys have >> I think part of that also is we started a push in model this year. So they call the office and ask for administration just to come to the room and sometimes we we just come in the room and walk around and engage with the whole class and that's enough. It's not always just come to the room and talk with students or anything or sometimes a teacher wants us to come to the room because they just want to do a little repair with another student. >> Okay. >> I think what's been the neatest though is as kids develop the skills of empathy and problem solving and maybe Maybe they go through a little bit of a restorative circle with us. You see them doing it with each other like as they develop those skills >> and are explicitly taught how do you work through a problem? Conflict is going to happen. Friction is going to happen, right? And we're human and we need to work through that. Um I think our hope is as we do more and more and more of that, we see less and less and less of kids out. >> Yeah. I don't have hard data, but I do know that a couple years ago we um worked as a building on common expectations in a common language. And so it seemed like the different grade levels each had different um behavior expectations and just a different language. And so, um, we worked really hard on common expectations throughout the building and then what is the process, um, when a student, um, is struggling and we all know it starts with the relationship that they have, um, with all the adults in the building. And so, we've been really working on that. I do think being here for 11 years and with the help of Maya Hansen um who is a licensed counselor but her lens she and I working together it it feels differently for much differently for us. So >> right >> yeah so I would say with the combination of our work and responsive classroom um and purposeful people through character strong um relational practices like four at the door more that Christie mentioned I think it would be anecdotal, but um I feel like we've seen a tremendous reduction in what we would call like office referred behaviors. Um and part of that is I think again we're we're at tier one with those things I mentioned. we're really um preventing a lot of that behavior, but we're also I think the teachers are doing an incredible job of of responding um to those behaviors in ways that retach teach alternate behaviors. So, I think it's we've definitely seen an improvement. >> I love the proactive approach and the high school has the leadership class and so we often invite the leaders from the high school to come over to recess and the will stop me in the hallway. The little students will ask me, are the high school kids coming over today to join us for recess? Um, and recess is, you know, kind of a of a, you know, of a active time and they absolutely love the high school um leaders and mentors to come over the leadership class that they have, but just anyone who at the high school who wants to join us and that has been helped with the reduction um as well >> and it's great for those high schoolers too. It's a win-win. Yeah. >> Yeah. Thank you. My last question is, what are your guys' still biggest obstacles that distract you and how can we support you? Besides floods always, you know, are something that we always would love to have more of, right time with teachers, time to work together, and we try to maximize that as much as possible. But I don't know, I don't know if there's a lot of changing that like all of Arts and Letters and Character Strong and learning new curriculums and learning new um initiatives. It just takes time and having that time to really dig in together and to work through the PLC process and talk about what worked and what didn't work and How am I going to do it differently? Um, if I had if I had a time tree in the backyard, that's what I would grab. your general support and encouragement and telling our story. and our teachers, they just continue um to be 100% dedicated and we'll try whatever we put in front of them, which is excellent. >> It is. That's so excellent. And I mean, we are so lucky to have such a supportive board. Not all administrators have that. And without that, you don't get the momentum. So we are beyond grateful for all of you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> You had a question. >> Uh thank you very much again and the gratitude goes multiple directions to use the slide that's on the screen. So okay. Um thank you very much. Uh, with that, uh, do we have any other new business? I don't believe we do. All right. Okay. Um, there is March enrollment information in your packet and then the next regular meeting will be held on Monday, April 13th at 7 p.m. in the district office assembly room. Uh, with that, do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. Hang on. >> Oh, >> sorry. I have one more announcement. I got wrapped up in robotics. I forgot to mention it earlier. Um, two former Oro students, they moved in 2021 to Vville, Colorado or 2020 during the pandemic. Um, and they have stayed there since. Um, are in the parolympic games. Um, the Gustiffsons, Meg and um, her brother Spencer. So Meg is a a junior and Spencer is a senior. Um, she is visually impaired and he is her guide. Um, skiing in front of her, talking her through the course. >> Is it skiing? >> Skiing. Alpine. Downhill skiing. Yep. Flying 50 miles an hour downhill and just trusting your brother. Um and it's incredible. They took um their debut run on Saturday. They placed sixth um with a time of 138.9. Um so that's really exciting. um they uh race again today. I have been so busy. I have not watched it yet. I will um follow up, but it's really exciting. And I asked mom, can I talk about it? Can I post about it? And she said the kids loved their time at Oro and still consider it home. >> Well worth the delay in adjournment. >> That's it. >> All right. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. Do I have a second? >> Second.