strategic plan. Our continuous improvement plans that are created at the sites have to align to the strategic plan. So when we talk about that alignment there, that's that level of accountability because we are going to be looking to have outcomes to the execution and actualization of the strategic plan. The board's role is to approve the money in order to get this job done. And to do that, we need to have we need to understand what's being talked about, how we got to this point. Yeah. And I think the board is involved in some other aspects of the implementation, too. Correct. Right. Okay. Yeah. All right. So, anything else then? I think we just appreciate your time and your your involvement with us today and um yeah, say thank you. Thank you all. Thanks. All right. Um that brings us up to 3D addressing concerns raised during public comment. Is this you Dr. Hines speaking? This is me. So um thank you all for um I want to thank the principles as I have invited them to come to our study session in order to provide clarity in regards to the concerns that were brought up by teachers and parents. I think that there is a need to clarify some of the where these decisions came from um because it is important that um we have an understanding of how did we get here. I think that there is a lot of background information that um has not been fully disclosed that has led to the need to make some strategic decisions not for next year but for two years down the road. We are sitting in a situation where a lot of the the things that are happening in public education are unprecedented and we are in a state of preparation for the things that are unknown. We have a lot of financial variables that are questionable at this point in time. And so when we look at our finances, we have to do a true deep dive as to how we are spending monies and how we can be more efficient with the funds that we have because we're not getting any additional funds. Let me say that again. We won't be receiving any additional funds. We are actually preparing for less support because of the projected deficit that's not coming next year. No, but it's a projection that's coming from the state in the next fiscal bianial time. So there is a what is it 685 deficit for 2728 through 29. So we have to prepare for that today. We're currently sitting at a reserve of 8.27%. We've heard from our business office that that is probably two months of our expenses because that there there are some things that are in place i.e. unemployment insurance that yes, the legislators did budget for two years ago. But we know that that don't that fund bucket is depleting. There hasn't been any conversations and and I haven't been keeping up lately. I've been been busy. If they are if there are plans to replenish that unemployment bucket, if they do not, we have to cover it. We have not budgeted to cover that. It will be picked up in our reserves. So we are getting very we don't have a we don't have the deep pockets to cover a lot of the expenses. So we have to make some real hard decisions as to how we did deliver a high quality educational opportunity for each of our students. because that's our job. With that being said, there are some we had an opportunity to really unpack and listen to the the comments that came forward through public comment in order to identify what's the question. One of the things I have told principles is I heard teachers when it came to we don't have the capacity and I also heard that if the teachers don't have the capacity the students may not be able to have some things. One of the things that's at my core is that students will not have not have that opportunity because the adults in during our transition year won't have the capacity. So what is our plan B? So principles go start planning. What are you going to come up with? So, we're going to address some of those concerns so that we are being transparent as to how are we going to pivot during our transitional year. It is a one-year transition to get us ultimately where the teacher said at the secondary, particularly at the high school, where they wanted to be, and that is at a block schedule. We cannot afford to run the same model for next year which is the five out of seven because we still ha you we still have to provide the professional development so that the teachers can function at a high level in the block schedule. We heard today that there was tra trans transition or change fatigue. Teachers want the professional development in order to work at a high level. We need to create the job invest the job the time during their workday for them to get the professional development that they say that they want and need. Here I hear you. It is a year, one year of transition. So, I'm going to ask Ashley to facilitate the questions so that principles can respond. Okay. And I believe we're trying to um maintain some level of time. So, we've condensed it down to eight questions total. But the first question is how will the district support teachers given the loss of prep time? Well, f first and foremost, I think that we always want to do what's in the best interest of children. There I I've worked with a lot of teachers in this district over the years and they all want to do what's in the best interest of children. And um as we look at contractual time because something that we've heard is we need more time in the classroom, right? We need more time because we don't have enough time to teach science and social studies and our literacy. So one of the things that we've really looked at is how do we gain more time and um within our current schedule. So sometimes we talk about preparation time and and sometimes we talk about student contact time. The way that our contract reads is in regard to student contact time. Um, and we at both elementary and secondary are going to ensure that we do not exceed that student contact time for our teachers so that they do have adequate time to plan um for for our students. And so um it will look a little bit different at the secondary than does the elementary um but we are projected to be 10 minutes under per day at the uh elementary level next year. And so while it may seem uh and just to specify, I'm also elementary. And so while it may seem that our teaching staff is losing prep time, the reality is that our teaching staff has been over prepped for the past three years. And so they will have less prep time. However, they're still well within, to Dr. Mesowski's point, well within their contract time. And what what happens then is that, you know, really ultimately we take the focus off of off of the the adults, right? because our goal is to ensure that students have what what they need and what we know is that at the elementary level we have not had again to Dr. Mazowski's point sufficient time to ensure that students academic needs are met. We have not had sufficient minutes to ensure that we are teaching um our core reading curriculum, our core math curriculum and meeting the needs of science and social studies even in a transdisciplinary way at the IB schools with integrity um each day. And so that that is something that we feel strongly about and that we have heard from from parents that they want to ensure that students are accessing the academic rigor and that we want to see that reflected in um student achievement. I would say at the secondary level I I hear um my colleagues but um I would say there's with the increase in instructional time which is also necessary at the secondary level there's also an increase in prep time in exchange for the supervisory time um or the supervision time. And so um at the at the high school and middle school um staff will no longer they will be using that time for the transition year to prep for the block stud rather than supervisory time which would be spent in um things like study hall um hallway duty things of that nature. Um, so not only are we creating space for students to be in classrooms, uh, getting content, um, but we're also creating that space for teachers to prep on the flip side of that and taking some of the, um, supervising duties away. Yeah, I would add that in terms of what a daily schedule is looking like for teachers at the secondary level, they're not having any reduction in prep time, but they're having a reduction in additional supervision duties. Um that um they will no longer have which was it was some student contact time, not like instructional um preparation if you will, but it wasn't considered to be a prep time. So, we're not actually having a reduction in actual prep time for teachers with the transition to the five and a half out of seven. I'm sorry, can I just clarify that? So, you're saying um the supervis supervision time wasn't actually prep time. That was like monitoring a study hall or hallway or something like that. Lunch room. Okay. So, that's why it's not actually a reduction in prep time. It's correct. changing the supervision time to be construct instruction. Okay. And you everyone has um like printed copies of the sample schedule. So you'll see a middle school sample sample sample and you'll also see a high school sample. So because sometimes we need the visuals to kind of you know articulate what it would look like. So you'll see the the five out of seven and then you'll see the five and a half out of seven. And what does that look like as far as a teacher state and we're talking about um if you you can see the comparison but you'll see that teachers are will have their prep times prep times are also embedded. You'll also see in the five and a half out of seven that there's the job embedded PD that is also within the schedule. Whereas in the five out of seven, we won't have the capacity to have the job independent job embedded PD. We know that we they we have to offer the PD. If we offer it in the five out of seven, that's a additional financial cost because we have to pay teachers out for their time outside of their contract in order to do the professional development. We can't um control their professional development over the summer. We can offer it, but contractually we can't make teachers do professional development over the summer. So that if they if we offer it, we got to pay them. That's an additional cost. So our costs are still increasing with the five out of seven. So again, we are planning today for two years from now when we food is going up. I know my personal food budget is going up. I don't shop for groceries, but you get you get what I'm saying. But when we talk about nutrition and ser nutrition services, we're currently under cost. We're running under cost, but we are anticipating the cost of our produce and groceries will go up. We have to prepare for that. Now, we know that we have contract negotiations coming up. We have to prepare for that now. So, we can't wait another year of delaying decreasing our cost. And we know that just what's what's being unearthed in our strategic plan, we have to create opportunities for our students to have a sense of belonging to feel a part of our community and that we are preparing them for the their choice, not the choices that we have to limit them to because we don't have the finan financial resources to offer the different opportunities that we currently offer. So, we have to continue to have the choice. I don't want us to get pigeonholed to the point where we have to now start trimming programming because we don't have the financial resources to continue to offer different academic opportunities for students. then we really have to grapple with declining enrollment not because of the low birth rates that's happening throughout the state of Minnesota but because we don't have the choices that we had in the past because we have to make severe budget cuts again we have to prepare now for the future I'm sorry I'm No, I was just ask another question. Uh Corey was saying that in and Maria were saying for elementary it' be 10 minutes under contracted student contact time. Is that will it also be within the contract and student contact time at the secondary? Yeah. The current um for our schedule at the high school, the current um instructional time, and this is time in front of kids teaching like content is 250 for a 1.0 FTE. Um, and that's well within the instructional minutes of the contract. And then, um, moving to a 5 and a half out of seven would increase that, uh, by 25 minutes on average daily over the course of the whole school year. So, we get over the course of the whole school year. And, do you know what the contracted time is? Contracted time is 33 minutes. Yeah. Yeah, but it would still be 25 minutes below contract. Um, I'm sorry. I'm It was It's late. I got up early. Okay. I saw the 30 after I said that. So, it would be 55. You also have to take into consideration that because it's the five and a half, that that's only for half the year. So, they'll be teaching one extra class for about 95 days, give or take, for half a year. So it it's not even a whole additional class for the whole year. Again, trying to put that in comments and what that looks like for Sorry, just to be clear. So the contracted contact time is the same as the total amount of time for the day or that 3:30 is not the total minutes for the day. That's just the contracted total. The contract is 330 student contract. Okay. the total time for a day instructional or supervisor. I see. Thank you. Because they they teachers are entitled to an hour of prep and a 30 minute duty-free lunch each day. So that says it's 90 minutes on top of the the 3:30s. Okay, this is a great segue into the next question which is what is the impact of these schedule changes on teacher student relationships, instructional quality and overall teacher workload. One of the things that we have heard about is concerns about time for writing letters of recommendations for students, time to do clubs and activities for um athletic activities or tutoring. I guess I'm going to start maybe by asking a question. I guess I would be curious to know like what the context of the teacher student relationships part of the question was only because I mean I will speak for the teachers at the middle school where they are very very good at forming relationships with students and I do know that there has been some concern like I'll have an extra class will I have time to form relationships and I fully believe that yes they will because we also have teachers at the middle school that actually teach 10 classes right now of 30 students and they are very much able to form relationships with students. So I have complete faith that that is going to happen. I will also say that I had a conversation with the teachers today and I said with the additional um extra section it's really important that we are thinking about how these teaching sections are assigned. We need to limit preps. We need to ensure that we're not asking a teacher to teach a course that they've never taught before and they have to learn a new content for a year. We're not going to do that. So, we have to be really thoughtful about how we're assigning the additional teaching section so that we're not adding the burden of having to learn new content. It needs to be something that teachers are familiar with to the best of our ability that we're going to be able to schedule. Let's be humane about this. And then additionally part of what we are doing to prepare for the block is how are we using our time in our classroom? Who's bearing the cognitive load? Who's doing the work? We want to be shifting it to the students are doing the work where the teacher is facilitating on the side able to have the conversations with the students to form those relationships with the students. but also how are you using that time to assess student work in the moment instead of bringing home piles of paper and having to do it in the evening or on the weekend. And even if we weren't transitioning next year, that would still be a focus of what we're working on is how are we continuing to center the students experience in the classroom. And also improve our teacher workflow and not get bogged down in some of those things that um we can be more mindful of in the moment and actually, you know, multitask, talk to students, see where they're at, give them feedback in the moment. jot down what they are like in your grade book in the moment and then and move on and not have to be doing the paperwork afterwards. So, um I guess that's kind of my thinking that would be my answer around that question. As far as the clubs and athletics, um we pay stipens for teachers to do that after school and it is up to them as to whether they feel they have the capacity or not. Um and so we um if we needed to find an adviser, I know we partner really closely with community education around after school opportunities. So we'll kind of work that out as that comes. But um teachers that are really passionate about working with students after school, they do get a stipen to do that. And I know that that actually brings many of them a lot of joy. So, but I always honor what teachers feel like they need to take care of themselves personally first and foremost. So, we'll work that out as it comes. Can I ask a couple of followup questions unless I interrupt? Sorry, I kind of just um I guess I have a a really quick question at both the middle school and the high school will students continue to have advisory or connections or whatever you call. So is that an opportunity for teachers to form relationships with their students in a different way that is outside of their instructional? Yeah. So, yes, the the whole premise behind having our park connections at the high school park connections um advisory is really to integrate in that social emotional learning to focus on restorative practice to um uh uh integrate in uh college and career readiness. Um and we also uh this year started what I need or win. So students get to go and get support um academic support from other teachers. That was my question was about win time. My second question is my understanding of cultural responsive practices. Is that what we call it still? I never remember what you call it in St. But isn't that um the cultural response of literacy? Isn't that hasn't that been a focus at all of the grades? Yeah. Right. And um my understanding of that is a central component is developing relationship with students when you implement that in the classroom. So there's an opportunity for teachers to continue to deepen their relationship with their students using right absolutely okay we're not going away from that. Is it called culturally do you call it culturally well I need to get this culturally relevant pedigogy relevant. Thank you. That was the R word. Sometimes we call it culturally relevant and responsive. Anything else that anyone wants to add to that one? I was just going to talk about the letters of recommendation because I know that has been um it's a curiosity of some of the teachers and I I just um I want to acknowledge like that change is hard and that um I really believe that this is about how we all come together as a community and collaborate right to have the best outcomes for our students and also not um that doesn't negate the fact that we also need to take care of our teachers And so, um, and and the reason I'm talking about the letters of recommendation is because we only get the best outcomes if we're as collaborative as possible. And so, if that's a concern, um, my teachers have come to me and said, you know, I have just a lot of letters of recommendation to write. What can we do about this? And we work together to make sure that they have the time necessary in order to get that done to support our students because we want our students, we don't want our students to be impacted because we don't have the the capacity to do that. So I think we need to keep that in mind as our end outcome as we're moving into a a year of transition that this is really about how we collaborated with each other to create the best outcome that we all believe in, right? We all believe in and it's student centered but doesn't dismiss the fact that we need to take care of our teachers as well. Has it ever come up in negotiations? Has Pat brought it up to you? No. Yeah, I was curious about that, too. That's good. Like now because it came up from several people a couple weeks ago, like had you had that conversation with your staff about like I mean that one um makes my brain break because that is about individual students. Yes. Right. like we can get someone to coach track. Um but writing a letter of recommendation for an individual student is a very fundamentally individual act. So um how do we make that happen? Right? Like how do we make that happen? Um that and I will tell you that um there hasn't been that many cases where where uh staff have come to me that they've said, you know, I really need some time. Can we figure out a way to create that time and space so that I can do that? And the answer is yes. because I'm always going to put our students first and I'm always going to like take care of you so that you can get what you need to provide for our students. So that is not even like it's a non-negotiable. We will do that for our for our staff. Should that come up during negotiations and this tax we will certainly address that and make sure that the students are at the teachers to accommodate because we do know there are districts where that is compensated for in various ways and contracts. I'm going to keep us on secondary since we're we're getting into it a little bit here. One of the questions that has come up has been around alternative scheduling options, especially as we look at a transition year before moving to block. So, what alternative scheduling options were considered besides the five and a half model and how were these decisions made? Well, I I will just speak. So if you I'm just going to speak transparently. We would need to change student programming and the model for students uh at the secondary level if we were um to move to anything else but a five and a half out of seven. Um as Dr. Hein said like the current state of budget reductions does not allow us to continue the continuum of service that we currently provide at the high school. um not moving into a five and a half out of a seven with the current budget reductions that we're experiencing at the high school would require us to reduce programming. So there would be some additional hard decisions. Um so I just I just wanted to start with that but um I think it would actually make two transitions right we'd have two transitions if we transition to a different model it would trans uh it would transition our students twice would which in my belief that is not what's in the best interest of our students as we try to prepare for the block schedule. Um and so um I think it also does not free up our our um the time for folks whether that's teachers, you know, other support staff, admin, we are all transitioning. This is not just one group of folks, our students, our families. We're all transitioning into this block model. And so we all need to be afforded the time to adequately prepare and the five without changing drastically what the model that our students are currently receiving which is their seven period day right um and so um it's there wasn't a consideration of another model because we felt like that would be multiple transitions um and we need to stay the course but provide that space for people to have additional prep to prepare for the transition to in 206 Where did the decision about block come from? Um well this has been um before my tenure um block at the high school um from what I know has been something that they've really supported and wanted. Um there was a focus group, I think it was a district level focus group or task force that was working towards a block and then CO hit and kind of um went under the radar when we transitioned back. Um but um our teachers have been doing extensive research on what they believe are the benefits of a block schedule. Um I'm just um so some of the pros of a block schedule that came out of some of their research was that it's a del uh a delivery model that allows for um additional student support or or um that delivery model just allows us to in the moment provide that feedback, right? Or if there's a lab, we can instruct and then we can go into our lab and we don't have to like plan for a a separation. um in our in our plans. Um it better supports our special our students that receive uh IEP services. Uh there's less transitions in the day which leads to decreased discipline referrals. Um there are better routines put into place. Uh students and teachers have better relationships. the community culture and climate actually um we see a positive impact on culture and climate and it benefits our multilingual learners. So, um, my team of teachers presented to me in the fall about moving to a block, um, after some extensive conversations we have had over the course of the years. Um, and there they they presented this. It was brilliant how they presented and I was like, there's no way but for me to lean in and say, yes, how do we support this? Um I think there's also on the flip side of that what we need to consider as we transition uh have a transition year and some of that is what is and this is not limited um but um what is the professional development? There's a different delivery model in a block schedule than there is on a current seventh period day. Um, we have to consider what does co-eing look like for special education teachers and our multilingual learner uh programs. Uh, we have to think about course design. We're currently revamping the entire uh secondary both both middle school and high school are going through and looking at standards and what is standardsbased grading look like and what is um how are we maintaining and designing standardsbased culturally relevant pedigogy and uh curricular units. Um so you have to consider course design, scope and sequence and lesson planning. Uh we have to rewrite every IEP. um you have to go back and make sure that you are meeting the minutes adequately. And if a student needs and needs daily service, we have to go and rewrite them to reflect what their IEP currently says to a block schedule, which is a it's a it's a heavy lift. Um we have to also um have conversations uh most likely we'll be having a conversation with the board because we have to look at our our graduation requirements and our credits. Uh we also have to look at our course registration guides because um in the research that I've done and I've met with a few people um as as I'm like trying to support the block um it was really about um I remember him saying to me when you look at your course registration guide there's courses that you haven't even designed yet and you don't even know what they are right like we are going to have to do a deep dive in like what we currently offer and what we're going to offer because a block schedule changes the pathways right for it for good, but we have to consider all of those things and be prepared. Um, and then also in the research that I've done, um, it recommended at least one year of transition. So, I just want to be clear about, um, yeah, it's a hard, it's hard, it's a change. The five and a half is not, it's not popular. And also, it is, um, something that will help us get like to the intended immediate outcome that everybody can be support of. Thank you. I want to also name something here because my understanding is the five and a half out of seven is a less expensive model than the block schedule but that we are committed to doing what's in the best interest of our students and what has been recommended to us by our teachers which is why we are still planning to transition to that block. I think that's another important component and from an operational standpoint it the transition year also gives up gives us an opportunity to unpack and really dive into our spending and how we are spending monies and how we are spending monies in partnership with other institutions that are educating our students and are are we doing a due diligence and ensuring that the education of our students is happening within our four walls. so that we can retain those funds here as opposed to paying an additional institution to carry some of our instructional load. So it gives us an opportunity to look at our efficiencies and be able to redirect some of our practices so that we can be more efficient financially. Um I just went uh a good two and a half hour meeting today with my leaders in my district about the online because the the impact the negative impact on us as teachers but also uh the district in as an institution and the budget is vast. So, I've asked um Patricia if she could share with me the cost of the online classes. How many students are taking online classes? What are we doing to what are we doing? First of all, what what are they why are they taking online classes? Because that's concerning. Um number two, we also did a deep dive into the policy into the statute regarding online classes. Is there any um do we have an we've jokingly started calling it the online letter, but um the statute requires that the district provide a person who investigates all online programs to make sure that they're meeting state standards because the fact of the matter is I have students who are not engaging in our curriculum because the pathway online and I'm just going to say it is a hell of a lot easier. than our classes in the online. Um, they're not meeting state standards. So, my curiosity, and you don't need to answer this today, but I am curious about how much it's costing us. I'm curious about how many students are taking it because the exodus in my building, and I know this because I'm an elective teacher, um, for the last period of the day, it's like they're out the door and they're coming up with the way. So I would be curious about what um not tonight but moving forward the cost but we have the information for you. We can we can provide it to you and we also have a plan meeting with Dr. Hines and Dr. Robinson and I don't know others in this room. So we are looking at language in my district um for the student handbook. So, so I would be curious because they're not I mean, as a as a parent, I would not I do not believe that my child who took two online classes because there weren't classes available at the high school for her to take. She took a PE class and um a photography class and she absolutely was like, "Great, mom. I didn't have to do any work. This is so fantastic." And that's not acceptable. I don't accept that as a parent poor child and I also don't accept that as an educator. I don't that's not why I got into this business and I don't think we should be helping kids. PSO is totally different. We're taking an online PSO class. My child is taking two next year. She'll be sitting in the media center taking them because of like part of the school and she wants to be a part of the building. That is a separate that's not what we're talking about. Just make that clear. No, no. I think that you were talking about that. I I mean to get back to the like prep preparation for the block and thinking all of that through and thinking about how we advertise courses to students, right? Like my students taking PSO because they could take math in the fall and another math class in the spring. So now they've done two years of math in one year. That is something you could do in a block. You couldn't do it today in St. Louis Park. It also allows us for students that might struggle in a course um or maybe don't pass a course for us to offer that support in if they if they didn't pass it in the fall, we can then revisit it and they could possibly get that support in the in the spring, right? Depending upon the model because we haven't decided upon the the the model yet. But I just want to appreciate um Ashley's naming the fear and the lack of trust because I as we heard from Pink Consulting there is a lack of trust. Um and there is a fear that we're talking about moving to a locked schedule but then we'll find that we won't. So I would hope that that is something that we're working on to build that trust. Then also from a perspective of a teacher, um, you know, I went from a lock schedule to a sixth period day to a lock schedule to a sixth period day and then to like middle school we try I don't know if your kids were at the middle school at the time, but we had eight period day and then we're went to a seven period day. So like I understand the messiness um and then the difficulty of providing professional development during the summer should not be taken lightly. This is really difficult because teachers don't and rightfully so. Why would they want to? But also I I just um I did not with all of the transition that the schools that I was in, we were never provided. We were never given the time for meeting um and have that transition year. It was just I think we had two days in our workshop week about how to teach in a block schedule and then they were like here you go. I had I had to my only year of full-on teaching was teaching on block schedule. I came out as a brand new teacher and I had to teach three different classes and I didn't have any any special supports for that. So it's like good luck. Have at it. You teach for 90 minutes now. Keep the kids. Um anyway, can I can I just go back to something that um you can say Virginia? Um Virginia said um I just need to like I have to stand in my purpose and support and advocate for my teachers. We cannot go back. We have to go into a block schedule. We cannot change our minds. It is that important. Like I am standing here saying we cannot make a different decision in 26 27. The decision is we have to go into a black schedule and with that said when it comes to budgeting that is the priority but but Colin just pointed out something that Melissa had said earlier as I believe you have right of assignment. Do principles have right of assignment? So, I mean, yes, I'm very happy to hear that you're collaborating with teachers about who is teaching what, but as a new teacher in a block schedule, I was teaching seven cups. That's that's killing that'll kill a teacher. So I mean I think that to you that but and I don't know how I'm thank you Lenanisha for saying that we're going to the but I just I'm also hoping that there will be ways that you communicate to the board and to Dr. Hines that you are taking some consideration into not overwhelming particularly our new to the profession teachers like why are we giving them the worst schedules because seven preps is too much. I would agree. I mean I you know we try to you know at the middle school even in our current system limit the number of preps that teachers have and and personal elective teachers it's hard it's hard to be a business teacher you know um but you know to be very mindful very mindful of that um because I think that's also when you're teaching a course multiple times it's also how you improve because you get to improve on it each time that you you teach. Um I think you know I appreciate the opportunity that to um work with teachers like we are I we've got a lot of energy generating at the middle school and we're going to be forming a committee to really look at like what's important to our community. What do we need to prioritize in a schedule? How do we build a schedule that meets those needs? um especially considering our my IB programming where we want to be able to ensure that students are able to take music every year and also meet their art requirements and also have design and so to really take time to say like what's important to us and that would include also getting input from our students and our parents as well and to be able to design um a schedule that's going to meet the needs as well as offering my hope would be some in support and support time every day for students to get a variety of different support and how they might need it. So, there's a lot of opportunities here to meet student needs um in a wide variety of way both within the tier one classroom, but also like as a building as well. And so, I think it's a really exciting opportunity to be able to really be student centered and meet the needs. And it will be a heavy lift um to do it, but I think it will be worth it. And I do believe that teaching in a block is going to be able to help us actualize more of what we're hoping to do with culturally re relevant pedigogy. I mean, to be honest, a 44-minute class period at the middle school, you welcome in them, you say hello, you do a warm-up activity, you give them some instructions, they, you know, and then it's like goodbye, you know, and so just that opportunity to be able to go deeper with longer periods of time to form those relationships, I think we're going to see dividends from that. So I do believe that taking the time to really invest and do this well is going to pay off. So principal Kellowski just touched a little bit on process moving forward, but I want to also open to some of our elementary principles. What role do teachers and staff play in the decision-m process and how is their input being honored moving forward? So last year I can um good evening board and cabinet members. Um thank you for allowing me to be here. Um, I just wanted to share last fall, uh, last spring, um, the PE design team met with us and they had some pretty specific, um, guidelines and wishes and hopes and the principles, elementary, I want to stress, um, we met in May, I believe, and it was just we didn't think we could pull it off. So, we want to honor their voices. These are PE teachers across the elementary um buildings that were sharing their plans with us, their hopes. Um so now we have taken that into consideration in the draft schedule for the elementary um in regards to having single sections of PE um so that the students can have more individualized time with the specialist the PE teacher um 50-minute classes class periods instead of having up to almost 60 kids with two adults. That's a lot. Uh at some of the elementarymentaries there's been increase and you know there's this natural I run into you, we get hurt, we hit heads, we got to go to the nurse, we have to check on things. We're hoping that will decrease. Um that's our hope and our expectation. Um but we're honoring the teachers voices and I'm really proud of that. Um also with the schedule that we the elementary principles have put together um proposed put together that there will be less transitions. Um you will go to a specialist class and you will go back to the class or a teacher will drop them off the classroom teacher will pick them up. in between before there was two specialist classes where the specialist teachers in some of our buildings were transitioning. So those 30 minute classes were even less. So now in essence yes it's a um uh decrease in number of PE uh classes but there's single sections so there's you know 24 students instead of up to 55 students in a class and I'm really looking for or I'm really happy for the students and the teacher to be able to share um life skill sports you We also have heard from the athletic director in regards to high school sports and how we have uh a decrease. We don't have very many students, female students of color, um that are interested in sports. And we're hoping that by developing this, they can get into something because that teacher has more one-on-one time with the actual sport. I know we've had at the elementary we've had lacrosse come in. We've had ultimate frisbee come in. Those are some of those sports. Um we've had partnerships with the high school. So I'm really looking forward to that. Um another thing I know actually you didn't do you mind if I add to this? Um, another thing that I am really excited about about is this schedule that we have built up um is really open to up to 24 sections. None of our elementary buildings have 24 sections. So me by me saying that um specifically at Susan Lingren we've been lucky enough to add because of our enrollment has went up this year um we've added in August um additional teachers which is a great thing but then it kind of puts a a mess in the schedule. So I pride myself in having grade level teachers have a common prep time so they can collaborate together in this schedule. They will have that 50inute common planning collaboration time. Also we need to do a better job um with our ML and special ed teachers in regards to having time to plan with those gened teachers. Um so we will have that time and we are planning on building that in as well. And I think going back to the question um that you posed Ashley to how are we how have we gathered teacher input? We we've been gathering teacher input a lot since we transitioned three years ago um in that um we had additional specialist time. So two days a week students have 90 minutes of specialist time. That's a lot of transitions and especially if they're not backtoback. I I I've worked with elementary kids for a long time. You know, walking five and six year olds down the hall, you lose five minutes on both sides, right? And so if you look at our schedules, there are a lot there's a lot of choppiness, right? So we might in an ideal world, you'd have a 90 to 120 minute block for literacy all in one false, right? That that can't happen for every classroom because of the way that our specialists are set up right now. And so resultingly, by going to 50 minutes, it's going to decrease the amount of transitions and open up those blocks of time for us to dig in deeper with our kids. And that's something that our teachers have been asking for. Like we don't have enough time during the day to do everything that we need to get done so that our kids have access to state standards, right? And so I'm really excited about that. And and so how have provided input? We've been providing input for multiple years. It's been an ongoing conversation. And then moving forward too, u it will be like anything. We're going to monitor it. We're going to make tweaks like we always do, right? There are going to be things that unintended consequences are going to come out of the schedule. We're going to be like, "Huh, didn't see that coming." Right? And we're going to revisit that. But we're really excited about common prep times every day for grade level teachers. We're really excited about less transitions. really excited for more time in the classroom. Yeah. Um I so I heard from both elementary and secondary about um sort of the block or just longer time periods being beneficial for our multilingual learners and our students receiving services. So I and I saw Dr. Robinson react to both of those. So I'm just wondering if you would just say a bit about why why that why why you I saw you snapping so I just wanted I am first off I want to say thank you to this group this you know it it is it is overwhelming work right I always say it's hard work but it's hard work and if we always re remain student centered we're going to get to our goal um and I was just thinking about the um pit way back in July how we talked about the introduction the goals objectives the implementation the execution and here we are here we are actually doing the work So when I hear about this is what we're doing, it's it's something that I I I envisioned when I first got here that sped gened, our babies are gen ed first and they need that time. Our special ed teachers need time to collaborate, to plan, co-e with gen ed teachers, right? But I also look at it as a way where those TDN rubrics how it all aligns with this work. IDA tells us that our kids need to have free appropriate public education and we're doing that here at St. Louis Park. Is it is it easy? She just mentioned how we're going to need to amend our IEPs. myself along with our two assistant directors along with the entire sped league teams were willing to do that work because we know again it's needed and it's going to be valuable to both going back to seesaw our families need more input they need to know what we're doing know thinking about the report cards all of this is in alignment and it also goes back to we have students who are receiving services for thinking about the pull out and the push in we would will now have that opportunity to say during our reading blocks instead of us going to our SLPs. They can come into the classroom and provide direct and indirect services in those small groups. What does that look like? It means that we have to come together to say what's going on at Susan Ling. Let's see what's going on at Aquula so that we can get everyone together to say they rolled it out over at Aquula. Let's see what's taking place at PSI just to make sure that we're doing everything that's beneficial for our kids. Peter Hobart. Oh, yep. They have a phenomenal program. Let's see how we can make this work so that when our families, when our students come into the space, they know that our teachers, we're one St. Louis partner and we're going to continue to build upon that. So, that's why I'm over here celebrating with the and I see a few sped teachers in the audience and I'm like, we got this. And I tell them that in in a lot of ways that you call me, we're here. We're going to come because that's where we're trying to build that trust, but we're also trying to show that we're going to collaborate in a way where everyone knows that we feel supported in every department, whether it be ML, SE, regardless, we're all going to be there to support. So, yes. Thank you. Can I ask a question? Um, one of the things that came up or has come up in the emails that we've received, um, and in conversations that I've had with other parents of elementary age students is the concern about the need to be able to move our bodies. Um, I'm standing. It's not because I need to, you know, but I like it's hard for me to sit for two and a half hours. Um, but you know, so can you talk a little bit about what intentionality is going to go into creating space for our our elementary age students who can't, you know, who who need more time to be able to move their bodies and if we're eliminating um the daily access to gym. I know we're going to have uh the recess time um but but how are we supporting our teachers to be able to create space for that movement? I can start because I think this is an opportunity where we haven't always tooted our own horns, right? Like because we have a lot going on already. We just haven't necessarily told our larger community all the ways that kids are moving throughout the day, right? Um at the elementary level, we've got um at PSI, I'll I'll speak to PSI because that's what I know best, right? Like in every room, we have sensory boxes. We teach kids um about the the furniture that we have in the room. We get up, we move around. We can move the entire room in 60 seconds with furniture to make circles. We're constantly moving furniture all day, right? I like I I think I heard you say Sarah that you'd like to move around. Like I have a hard time sitting also, right? Kids have a super hard time sitting and our elementary teachers know that. You know, within our building, we've got sensory walks. Um uh we we have sensory paths. We have different spaces that kids can go if they're feeling disregulated. Um, we have, you know, as you mentioned, the daily recess, but additionally, it's also about, all right, let's stand up. Let's let's do some breathing exercises together as a class. We're going to now transition to math. And what I need you to do is I need you to go grab that notebook over there. Um, and we're going to walk, but we're going to do it walking like elephants, right? Like it those are those things that I think we haven't always talked about all the ways that kids are moving throughout the day. And it's also a moment that we need to pause as a community too and go why are we not sharing that and also what ideas are we doing ac across across classroom across grade levels um and I think that helps when people are in each other's rooms too and so it's providing space for people to see other things that are happening but as a person who's in our classrooms every single day I see a lot of opportunities for kids with movement yes it is true that we won't have a 30 minute physical education block every day And if you come to our gymnasiums where you see 50 to 60 kids in that gymnasium all running around, they're not really moving a whole lot, right? So if our goal is student movement, um we'll have 50 minutes of dedicated time once every four days and it'll be skill-based. You know, I heard Melissa talk about 44 minutes, right? Like what does that look like for middle school, for elementary, too? It's five minutes to get them in, five minutes. really we're doing an activity for 15 minutes, right? And so for a longer period of time, we can go more in depth. Um but then within the classroom, we are going to have longer blocks and so we are going to have to think about how are we being intentional about that movement. But I think it's something that for sure at the elementary level that we've always been cognizant of like anyone that's taught elementary kids knows they can't sit for extended periods of time or other things happen, right? So, well, and I've had the opportunity, I mean, I'm I'm asking the question so folks can hear the answer, but I have this opportunity to to walk through schools with you all, right? And I take that opportunity as often as I can. And you know, I see students moving every time I come in um and I'm thinking about like music class, right? Like I can't every time I go to music class, like they're dancing. There's some, you know, some sort of dancing happening, right? And there's like real intentionality around that movement, talent development. they're constantly moving to different tables. Um, you know, and so I've had the opportunity to see it in a lot of the buildings. Um, but I, you know, this does come back to how are we sharing our story about what that looks like. Um, I've also seen what gym class looks like and I have had concerns about that as well. Um, you know, and so I I I I appreciate that. I think we need to um create opportunities for folks to have windows into what this looks like in our buildings. Um because I know there's a lot change is hard, but there's a lot of fear around this particularly at the elementary age and because that's my parent group. I've heard a lot about it. Um and I have I have kids too, right, who are in that age group who need to move their bodies. Um, but I feel I feel confident in the intentionality behind this and and what we're doing, but I I hope that that can start to be communicated out differently. So, I can speak to the the process at Aquilla and I I just want to address um you know, I received a couple of of emails of concern from parents who have students who have IEP. So, IEP minutes will not be affected. So if students have um mo gross motor breaks in their IEDs, that's absolutely not not affected. And in conjunction with that, um we have had our um our OT Domin she went through all of our classes at the beginning of the year and just did sort of an audit as to what was happening in terms of developmentally appropriate movement and developmentally appropriate um seated time. So we have at the kindergarten level, kids are sitting for no more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time and then they're up and moving and that increases incrementally as you get older in developmentally appropriate ways for students to be able to focus um or who are able to focus for a little bit longer but also within that and to Corey's point um we have brain breaks built in. we have intentional movement built in because the goal of this increased uh academic time, so this increased time for core content is that students are learning. And what our teachers know because they are skilled professionals is that we're not going to be successful with that if we're not building movement. And so as we think about, you know, multiple intelligences, kinesthetic intelligence is is one of the eight, not nine intelligences. And so that is that is is built in to what the way the teachers are are planning their universally designed lessons. So I think that's really important to to keep in mind that um our classroom teachers asked for this time to be able to meet students needs academically to be able to meet the minute requirements of our various curricula across um disciplines. And w with that request comes the knowledge that they also are building in in the time. And so to Corey's point to Dr. Meslowsk's point as well. Um we utilize we always say to Chloe we use all parts of the animal like we utilize our hallways to a great extent. We all of the things we are moving as much as possible. So you might see kids doing a math lesson counting the squares on the wall like so out moving through the school. Um, so that's something that's that's definitely definitely happening. And then the other thing that I think we we haven't talked about is um what it means for students to have intentional time in PE where they are seen by the the PE teacher um on a very individual basis um and and acknowledge and able to move more. I know we've mentioned that, but the other thing is that within all of our and we've talked about citilla, within all of our gymnasiums, there's the ability to drop a curtain and with one class you can have PE on one side and if there's another class that just needs five minutes to come in and move. We've talked about that that as a possibility um and teachers are intrigued by that. And also I will say at a cool now we will have this extra space this flex space this room where we will have the priority being developmentally adaptive PE which has been occurring here 24 to four on the back of the stage. Um and we'll now have plenty of room for that but that that's only an hour and a half to two hours each day. So that leaves four to four and a half hours a day when kids can go in and be doing a literacy activity that involves movement big big movement. And so we've just talked about how that can look, how we'll leverage um in non-inc in the non-inclimin month of the year outdoor spaces to make sure that students are students are outside uh doing that learning. So you know I know that we have we we do have concerns because uh physiologically uh we are now we are no longer in the business of of creating cogs and factory workers, right? We're creating thinkers and learners and training students for jobs that we can't even conceive, right? for careers that we can't even conceive. And so we know that part of that is ensuring that we're meeting the needs of of the whole child. And so we're thinking really deeply about that. And I just want to say I'm really thankful for uh the parents that have reached out to me specifically about PE because among them we have parents who are also outside OTS who are offering suggestions. And so we are open to all of those suggestions. And I think our our classroom teachers and our own um occupational therapists are a wealth of knowledge. So I I feel really confident that we're going to be able to meet those needs. Yeah, I think just to build on that, our teachers crave for PD. I mean, we've heard that across consulting and so having opportunities to build in whether it is um we use move mindfully if you're aware and so every staff meeting we spend a chunk of time doing a new move mindfully so that they can take that back to their classroom and implement that in their classroom. Um, we talked about culturally relevant pedigogy. Um, culturally relevant pedigogy oftent times requires movement. Um, I can talk about in a kindergarten classroom when they when they are tapping out sounds to create words, they literally hop on the cushions across and they do it as a group. So people each student gets an opportunity to leave the hopping across the mats to create a word, a sound and sound it out. So having those intentional opportunities for our staff to learn and building that within professional development are going to be critical as we think about movement. All of the principles would agree movement is important. None of us are disagreeing with that at all. We agree wholeheartedly and we need to find the time and space to make sure our students can succeed academically as well as social emotionally. So I have a question because my um move mindful came up and I I had that written down but I've heard it before. Um but can we elaborate on who received that training and is there more of that training to come? Yeah, at least at Peter Hobart, I know that I sent um our connections coordinator and um our social worker to move mindfully training. Um it's been called yoga calm before thousand pedals. It's had a couple iterations. Um, and so I know that they went last year on a grant and then I chose to send them as part of our professional development comes this year with the intention that every staff meeting they are bringing that training to our staff. I think it's really hard when we do a oneanddone type of training. It's too much to absorb. And so how do we continue to build that over time and offer new ideas to our staff um over time around whether it's a move mindfully activity, whether it's a culturally re relevant pedigogy practice um lots of different ways that we can continue to implement that um not only in burst of PD but then also over time so that teachers have the capacity and different ideas that are constantly coming to them. And one of the things that we are putting we're going to build for next year is the concept of ondemand PD where teachers can get have access to 15 20 minute professional development um mini lessons to give them some ideas and tools as to different concepts. So um we will have some some on movement mindful movement. We will have some on differentiated instruction. We'll have someone scaffolding scaffolding um data how to analyze data so that they when they feel the need to brush up on their skills. They don't have to wait to a day of the week where they're offering PD or they don't have to wait until that all day PD day. They can access it on demand at their need. So we are we again I have heard the the the the need and the want for access to professional development but we we live in an age of responsiveness where things are ever ready. I can Google, I can search and I can watch a YouTube video. But how are we taking the best that we have internally and giving our teachers that platform to showcase the things that they are doing and it's working in their spaces so that they can share it with their colleagues. So we are building that catalog. Um and we're starting with how it how we kick off the year. Our kickoff of the year is going to be a conference style for our teachers where they get choice as to what um professional development that they want to or workshops they want to attend when we welcome our our teachers back. I have something very quick before we move off and that is just that it strikes me that this is a opportunity for collaboration with community ed. Um, we did that when we changed start times a few years ago. Kind of like community ed was able to say, "Okay, we're going to like scaffold around this new schedule for elementary." Same thing here, right? Like we have tons of programming coming through community ed. And that's that strikes me. I mean, that's this is, you know, applies to all levels, but especially in elementary, right? We can add activity on the outside of the day rather than all of it having to be inside the day. and and partners with with the uh park district and some things like that too. I I Yeah, I think we we probably have a few more questions. Yeah, I wanted I wanted to say one thing. Okay, you Well, you can go ahead. No, I just it strikes me as I'm listening that um I'm thinking about my husband. My husband is not an educator, but he's married to me. And so when my daughter would come home and she would tell him about her day, he thinks of education as he experienced it. And I think many of our parents and many of my generation think of education as they experienced it. And education is very different. I've been in I'm this is I'm going into year 30. Well, it's year 29. So I'll be year 30. I know. I know. And it's different even like by decade it's almost changed so much. And so I think that is part of the communication piece is that many and it's not a bad thing. My husband just thought of school the way he experienced it. So when we would go to parent teacher conferences and he would he was like oh my god did you know all this stuff? and I'd be like, "Yeah, but right." So, like he's they're learning too and they're understanding. Like it doesn't surprise me that any of it doesn't surprise me when I listen to this, but it can be very surprising for somebody who hasn't experienced it. Absolutely. I think the only other thing I was going to add, thank you, um, was that I think about my personal experience of like in PE, I never learned how to swing a bat, you know, and it's some of that stuff that I think what I'm hearing is like like you played baseball, right? But you weren't like instructed on how to swing better. You were teased or the the kids who excelled in those areas excelled and you never got to build the skills. Now I know how to swing a tennis racket and can I build off with something like that perhaps? But so I think about those opportunities too and I think about that too when you talk about having more dedicated time or if you read what is in our state guidelines for what we should be doing is developing motor skills not just getting activity but developing motor skills and strengths and things like that and getting people to understand what it means to have that accuracy or how you get that accuracy or do whatever to do that. So anyway, so I'm excited about that. And one of the so I did did a check-in with um Dr. Misslowski and we did a Wasp Brown and I was like we're going to PD talk to and had an opportunity to talk to the P teacher and one of the things he said was I'm excited to teach the kids how to ride bikes. He has a set of bikes that he has access to, but the students aren't they don't really they can't really take advantage of the opportunity to learn how to ride a bike or to take a bike ride during PE that PE time. One, because there are not enough bikes for the 60 kids that two, there's not enough time to get them on a trail. And one of the things that I appreciate about park. There are some beautiful bike trails. And how are we helping our students explore their city so that they can love the place that they live, so that they have a desire to come back. so that we can continue that generational um the generational longevity of families that's currently here that they don't want to go and live in Minnotonka because they live they love the beauty about St. Louis Park. So again, as we think about how our students are experiencing our earliest learners in early education and how our families are having their exposure with the engagement with the teachers, how that translates into how they are experiencing kindergarten, first grade, second grade, because that leads into the desire ire to continue the trajectory into the middle school and as we continue to nurture and develop. I went to the six I went to a sixth grade social studies class and I was like, "What grade are we in?" I literally had to tap a student. I said, "What grade are you in?" He said, "I'm in sixth grade." I'm like, my the level of engagement and conversations that our students are having as as a sixth grader in most settings, you see that intent. So, our students are are accelerating up to the high school where we have all of these grand opportunities. So we have to understand that we are we are moving away of a system of schools and we are developing a school system that what I do as a kindergarten teacher impacts what Clarence can do can do as a first grade teacher that impacts what Sarah can do as a second grade teacher and it accelerates up. So we talk about our core values and we talk about that collective responsibility and it's not just about me but it's how am I preparing my because every day we engage with these impressionable humans and we are leaving a piece of us with them and that is our individual impression and our legacy that we are leaving with that student. It can be positive and it can be negative. We as the adults have that choice. But it also impacts that next teacher and how they experience the development and learning and and facilitating and molding of that student. So we talk about how are we ensuring that we have true alignment that from site to site from grade level to grade level so that we are ensuring that each because I believe in the the power of words each is each each is not all each means I am getting to know Taylor and what drives Taylor because I'm going to make sure I I connect with him. Did you see that ball game? Did you go to that play? Wasn't that phenomenal? That's that connection. So every student is seen, every student is respected, every student is supported where they are so that they can actualize their being and who they want to become in the future. So with that being said, yes, next year is going to feel different. Yes. Will we do what we need to do as district administrators to ensure that our students are not lacking? If we need to engage with our community partners to fill in the gap while our teachers have dedicated time to develop their skill sets, build more tools in their in their toolkit in order to teach in a block to transition their courses from periods to block. We will engage with our community partners if there are opportunities where we can have vendors or community members. I when I been at when I visited Linox, our seniors want to what how can we help? We want to help. Can we come and tutor? So there are we have community members that want to help. And if this is a a plan B that we need to put in place so that the teachers have the space to do what they need to do during our year of transition. We will develop that. But at the end of the day, I understand that a lot of this seems different and when when things aren't fully known because I haven't experienced that. I understand that people react to that differently. Some of it, some people are comfortable with change. Some people are are fearful of change. But change is inevitable. We live in a society that is ever changing and we can't be stagnant in the change. We need to support one another in order to get through our year of transition. because we will get to the block. We won't pull back. It is a priority. And I will say that again. Moving to the block is the priority. But we have to we got to take the trip. So we I don't know how many of you all like road trips. It's not me. If I can't get there in 6 hours, I have to fly. But my husband wanted to take a road trip from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota to Yazu City, Mississippi. That is 15 hours nonstop. We stopped three times. So, was it enjoyable for me? Nope. But what it did was it gave us time in the car together. It gave us time to connect. It also gave me the time to slow down. It didn't feel good. I was glad when I got there and I'm sure teachers will be glad when we get to that block schedule. But we got to take this road trip. We'll stop for snacks. Sit down in a restaurant to eat. You could actually eat, drive, but we are we are going to get there together. And when we arrive at our destination, we can look back and say we made it. So I appreciate each one of you. I know board members the emails was firing off and and and I appreciate you all just breathing through them so that we can direct the questions where they need to be directed and that is to our building principles because they are making the decisions in collaboration with their staff and as board members. You all have the responsibility of the purse to decide how much money we get in order to actualize our strategic plan. And whatever you all say we have to play with, that's what we have to play with. And our job as administrators is to manage the expectations when it comes to presenting students with educational opportunities that address each one of their needs. So that they, not us, by our li limitations, well the barriers that we put into place, but that they can have the choice of who they are going to become because every day of their being is getting them to who they are going to become. So, I I appreciate each one of you and I will also say this and then I'm going to be quiet cuz it's late and I know we got one more topic and I'mma release my administrator so they can go home cuz they got to get up early. But I will say this, one of the things that is very important to me is how we treat each other as humans. And I am I am concerned with the level of professionalism that I am seeing when there is a distaste for decisions that are being made. I am concerned because I'm having triggers that is reminding me of the behaviors that I am seeing on a political front when there is disagreement with decisions that are being made. I truly believe that we create space and I will always create space for people to express their voice. But one of the things that is a zero tolerance for me is the disrespect in how we create. We as educators and we as leaders because we have the title does not mean that you can say what you want to say how you want to say and we are just supposed to sit and take it. That's unacceptable. I will treat people with respect but I will not tolerate the disrespect. Not from myself, not for any of my administrators, not for my students, not for my teachers. That has to stop because you talk about the ecosystem of education. How are we going to attract our students to be teachers and educators when they see the adults treating one another the way that some people are treating each other here in St. Louis, but that has to stop. I am concerned and I'm saying that here at the board table because I got to be just as transparent as to what I'm seeing and what I am experiencing and what my other administrators are experiencing that would drive people away. If you look around this table, the administrators, principles, and cabinet members that I have, I got the top of the line. And I'm concerned because why would you stay in an environment where you're not treated in a respectful way? So, I'll say that. Thank you. Thank you all as we walk together through this transitional year, as we go to our destination of a block schedule at the secondary where we are fully committed to creating that learning space for our students. I would say that I think there was three more questions. She's good. But I encourage any teacher, community member, student that still has questions about anything, please talk to your administrators. They have the answers. I say that again. Please talk to your administrators. They have the answers. Can I just say thank you for the visuals because I know this was like very important to the community. Um and me as well as a parent when I got the email I didn't understand what uh 5.5 schedule was and um I saw the emails from everybody who felt the same way I felt. So this was really helpful and mind you this is for this is a teacher view. This would be a reflective of the teacher schedule for next year. The student schedule They will still be in class. They don't get ripped. Can we just I know we I know we're trying to be done. I just, you know, first of all, it's late and I know that folks here like we'll be greeting students at the door, you know, at in the 7:00 hour. And just want to say thank you for that. But I think I hope that people tune I know there's not that many folks here, but I hope people tune in. I think this type of dialogue and this type of conversation to see the intentionality and the like the focus that's behind and you know to really understand what the leaders of this district are doing and and why it's important. um goes back to what we talked about earlier about how are we telling our story because I think so much of this got lost in communication and so I really hope people heard it and that we can find ways to share this out going forward and I just want to thank you all for um walking this journey with us and for being here late tonight because it's one thing for us to do it but this is above and beyond for you all. So thank you. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. You said they get to go, right? They get to go. Okay. Thank you. Um, all right. We do want to touch on one thing real briefly here. Um, it doesn't have to be super long, but we were looking at their next listening session and the question came up. I think we have three board members identified to be there for sure. Sarah Virginia and Celia to be there. Um, but the question came up, should we have a dedicated topic for people to come to? Um, we have had a history sometimes of not having that. We've been trying some of that this year to have some more dedicated topics to at least sort of um create the energy for the kinds of things that we need to hear about, right? So that we're hearing about what we need to hear about. when we did our last one, I gave space for people to also share other things that were outside of that topic as long as we had time to do that. Um, but just trying to short it up and keep people mostly focused on that. Realizing that we have other ways for people to communicate to us via email, if they want to have public comment, if they want to email their administrators or whatever, that there's some ways to do that as well, too. So, is there is there anything more that you want to add there? probably anything related to that I don't know. Okay. All right. So, so the question became I think was that you had a suggestion about a possible topic. So, one of the things that um I suggested is that in light of all of the things that are happening at the federal level and just some of the concerns that may be may be bubbling in all of the uncertainty and I know Sarah yep that funding act of Congress but there is the reality of um well, what's going to happen? We are a we are a district that is very prideful about how we talk about racial equity with our racial equity transformational strategic plan with our um our racial equity policy, our gender inclusion policy, the language in our student title nine. Um we out front we are we are very um overt about who we are and what we believe. But with the recent letter where it was sent from the US Department of Education that said that every department, state department of education needs to certify that districts weren't violating any laws with their policies. Is is there a need to create the space with our community to have that conversation so that our community has an understanding of what the executive orders mean? What is the Department of Education, Minnesota Department of Education saying? How are what does that mean for us as far as our policy work? Because I know initially when it was the the focus was on immigration, we did a lot of our work internally to ensure that we were doing right by our families and our students. But there was some mumbering in the community as to what is the district doing where we had it all under control and we were being strategic about not giving away I didn't want to say it but what she said. But now we're at a point where okay it's getting it's it's now getting to our structure. So is there a desire to create space to have a listening session with the community that centers around a lot of the policies which the board is responsible for in relationship to a lot of the the the things that are happening on a federal level. So that's where I kind of put that into and just to be clear like we've said in the past listening sessions tend to be a focus where we can hear from people. We don't often have the answers. Correct. Right. And that would be a thing that we want to be clear that this is not an opportunity to come and have the board answer questions but for us as you're saying to give space to say what is it that you're concerned about? Are you concerned that we are going to change our policies? Are you concerned that you know like what is it that you're feeling and and seeing in terms of this stuff? So that's that's what we're we're suggesting as being a possible topic and we this the schedule it's 5 to 6:30. Is that what we Okay. Yes. Board meeting. So there will be a 30-minut break in order to give board members an opportunity to eat. we will start the board meeting as which is slightly different than I think an email that went out earlier but just to be clear that's about 90 minutes and again that would give us some space for answering those questions and then if there were others like I said I just previously I just asked people to kind of reserve to yeah does the board need to take action on changing your meeting time uh it's not changed though 5 to 6:30 is what you advertised right no board meeting we just have to give a three-day notice of the changes. Yeah. All right. So, was there any any thoughts, questions, concerns about that being a topic? Um, are you sure you want me to be at the listening session? That's the topic. I guess I Yes, we do. That's the one you're supposed to be. I mean I think I think right I think it is an opportunity to speak you know it does give that opportunity to speak more freely but again focus on trying to hear what people have to say it's what we really want and I think people who are particularly maybe like that might be a lot to take in. I want to acknowledge that too. Um so I want to ask it you know like that like is it going to feel depending on who shows up depending on what they have to say how how we feel about that. But I I you know I I do like the idea of having some focus on that and seeing and and like you said if if 100 people show up that's great. We've heard from 100 people. If five people show up it's great we've heard from five people but we want to get some of that opportunity for that to do something like that. Seems like a reasonable time kind of way to use your time. So unless there's unless there's any sort of like I I think we're late. It's 9:30. I think we've been at this for three hours. There's always a possibility that we can adjust that slightly, but I think we wanted to have that discussion at this table and make make that clear. And then again, I I don't know. We've traditionally kept it to board members largely at at the at the table. I don't know what the feeling is about administration being there. Sometimes we get pointed questions and we sit there and we like we don't know. And it's maybe too much to ask one person to do that. But I think there's a question that we we as a board sometimes sit in these meetings and particularly if this one's not recorded and if there's not an opportunity for people like how what what's going to be the best ways to make sure that we can follow up on some of those things. The only I guess there are two things before. the one uh that Ken and Heather and I did that was virtual that just got overwhelming for us because we didn't know any the questions were we just were so bombarded with questions. Um, so it was frustrating not to have a focus. And just for Taylor and Cecilia, I I liked the idea of having more of a focus so that it's not I mean like it was a bazillion questions coming at us. And then following up with each individual who asked that became really overwhelming for Ken, Heather, and I. And I don't remember why Heather couldn't do it. It was it was a situation. She just So Ken and I took it up. we were responding to like 25 different people. So, it just got to be and then it was like, you know, the superintendent was also responding and just got really overwhelmed. And I think and I think some of that is that expectation setting to as much as we can with the listening sessions, how we communicate about it, that this is, you know, we call them listening sessions, but I'm hoping that the message can be sort of like this is your opportunity to speak and for the board to listen, but um it's not a Q&A, you know, like you don't call for your name, whatever. But I'm thinking that just making sure that it's clear to people as much as we can. So that's my question for Ashley. How are you going to like how how does one advertise that we're going to be talking about because you know would you can't well because I don't want to put Celia in a situation where she like there's a group of people who who are outside of St. park who hear about what we're going to talk about and so they make it a point to come up to ride to raise a bucket or to I I don't want to be put in that situation necessarily but I also I mean like I want to be transparent at the same time I think what the way that we will promote it is this is an opportunity to speak on this topic just like we did for the cell phone policy which it was the last one that we did even though people may come to the listening session and not talk about cell phone. I think that's what happened at your last one a little bit. I mean, or they just kind of offer it, but I think it was Yeah, I think it was really successful to base it around. Yeah. Yeah. So, we'll share a description of what this topic is with people and what to expect. But I given current uh current reality within the district, I would be expecting this next listening session, you might have some questions that are not related to this topic. And and I think that's a little bit of what we're asking about is like what does that support look like for us to do that? Like either that's language that we can say this is what you should do or this contact name or we have a member of cabinet there that can track on that or something like that. I think we're just looking for some level of support so that we can because that's just a hard thing and it can be hard when you're just when you have three board members in there in a meeting when you have possible topics when it could be you know somebody did does want the railroad or want to talk for a long time. Most people great people were pretty respectful last night though I would say for us. So it was pretty good about that but most people were engaged and good about that stuff but just we might need some help there support and I know I can make myself available for the listening session as well and I can tap some of some of the cabinet members also to be present. All right. Well, unless there's any I mean again there's some opportunities here to change your mind, but I just wanted to get that clear right now and to see if that's good for everybody. Okay, with all that then I'm just going to call us adjourned. What time is it? 9:38. I did.