Well, that was good, too. >> Of course, I repeated it because it got a laugh at >> How did he decide that was the complex he wanted to live in? This first place was like 1930. District 535 school board is called to order at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August 18th, 2026 in room 137 of the Edison building. Present at this meeting are school board members, Superintendent Kent Pquel, a non- voting exeicio member, and assistant school board clerk, Miss Anne Kramer. Miss Kramer, will you please call the role? >> Here >> the board acknowledges this site and all RPS sites are situated on the ancestral land of the Dakota people and we honor the Dakota nations and the sacred land of all indigenous peoples. At this time, we offer the opportunity to say the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> Our next item is approval of the agenda. Are there any changes to the agenda? >> Approval. >> Second. It has been moved and seconded uh to approve the agenda. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed? The agenda has been approved. The agenda and documents for this meeting are available online at rochestererschools.org/simly. There are no comments to the board this evening. So, we'll move on to our information and outreach board member updates. Does any board member have updates from their committees or any information to share from community events? Director Marvin. Uh last Thursday um a few of us from the board and the superintendent were able to attend an event where uh high school students mostly from Rochester schools um and University of Minnesota Rochester students worked together to co-design research projects uh that were on issues really important to the students. Uh, one of them was on cannabis and uh, cannabis use and vaping among high schoolers, well among students and uh, how that started, how to help students stop and the other one was about connecting uh, high school students to information about careers in uh, medical technology and health technology. Um, I I'm sure there are others who are going to want to talk more about both of those projects, but it was um so gratifying to see the college students from UMR working so well with the high school students, all of them spending their summer vacations doing this kind of work, real research, getting real data and coming up with some really good ideas and conclusions. Um, and there were so many things about it to report, but one that particularly struck me, the kids who were thinking about how important it was to bring information about medtech and health tech, uh, possible careers to other high school kids to provide them with information they may not have known. uh that student prepared a slide and it said, "How can we make career decisions feel flexible and part of a journey rather than a singular final decision that needs to be made junior year?" And I was just so taken with that because our career pathways uh approach that's part of the uh strategic plan aims to do just that to have kids thinking about careers in the future. And whether it's the one that they choose when they're a ninth grader or 10th grader and change their mind, but for them to be thinking about and learning about possible futures for themselves after high school so that they know they need to graduate. they know they need to keep working and they know there's going to be a future waiting for them because they will be prepared. So I also attended uh that event and I it the structure of it was that they led the students through a code-design process which um I know uh we've used internally. A number of those students apparently participated in the world history uh codeesign group. I know the city has used it. Um it was it was really um important to see how the students uh took the the piece of getting the uh feedback from uh individuals who had something to say about uh either of the topics, mostly students. Uh but they also interviewed some adults and then how they wo that into uh their recommendations uh and how they had to separate maybe their own ideas about what the right answer was and meld it with the information that they got from uh people who told them about uh what the issues were especially in the area of vaping. Um, a lot one of the conclusions that they they talked about that came from a lot of the the people that they talked to that really uh resonated with them was how important a relationship uh with a trusted adult was. um to either um if they had had one, maybe they would not have started vaping in the first place, but uh feeling like they need that connection to help them figure out what the next steps might be if they wanted to stop vaping or if they wanted to um you know to to explore a different path. And I thought that was a really that was a really interesting piece and it was clearly a great opportunity uh for leadership and personal um growth for for these students because they really did really did do a great job. Any other events? Well, I'm going to talk about the uh back to school block party uh that um Director Marvin and I were at our uh RPS tent with um representatives from our human resources department, but we also had a tent from community education and we also had a tent from early childhood and we also had one with our interpreters. And it was uh kudos to the uh community uh uh groups and and uh community leaders who organize this every year. Uh did I hear a thousand backpacks were given out this year? >> Over a thousand backpacks. There were lines stretching down the Soldierfield track um along with shoes and all the community groups. or a number of other community groups that are doing the same thing we were doing, which was connecting uh students and families to uh resources that they might need to kick off the school year that they might need during the school year. So, it's a great way to start. Uh director um Superintendent Pel did a little interviewing of some students on stage um welcome welcoming them back and getting a little little feedback from them. >> Always a risk. >> Always a risk, but it went it went well. >> It went well. And uh so again, thanks to the the community members and community organizations who put that on because the school year has begun. >> Right, Director Whitehorn. >> Oh, right. >> Uh we'll move on to our consent agenda items 5.1 through 5.8. Um would any board member like any item removed from the consent agenda for separate consideration? >> Move approval. >> Second. It has been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? The consent agenda has been approved. We will move on to our focus topic, launching the office of learning environments. This is an information item. Superintendent Pel. >> Thank you, Chair Nathan and board members. I'd like to ask Brandon McCraic to come on up to the um front table. Um, as board members are well aware, this is a brand new office that you approved the creation of quite recently and that Brandon was recently selected to lead and putting it on a board agenda this early in its development is in some ways a bit unusual. Um, we might have waited until winter or spring and then told you all the good stuff that I'm confident we're going to do. But the intent of this presentation and I hope discussion afterward is to engage board members questions and observations in the design of the office. And so you're going to hear from Brandon an uh early overview of what uh both uh the concept of this office that I asked you to approve and that you did approve and the early thinking that he's doing in conversation with uh staff and community members about this important new structure. And so this is really not a showand tell presentation. It's a sharing uh the early ideas and hypotheses so that we have your questions and observations. And then we'd be looking forward to bringing an update on the work of this new office to you as part of the new strategic plan because there will be key initiatives in that plan that will fall within this office. I have to take a moment before I do this because I'm not sure Brandon would do this himself, but um prior to assuming his new position, uh Brandon applied with my full support as one of our principles in the district for the Fulbright Leaders Global Schools program and we found out last week that he was selected and this is really a tremendous honor um uh where um Brandon is going to get to go to one of four countries that are high performing systems um Germany, Singapore, Finland, or >> United Kingdom. >> United Kingdom. He doesn't know where. And I went to the website and I looked up uh what this program is all about. And first of all, I'm insanely jealous that you're going to get to do this. For me, these days, a long trip is Dakota Middle School, but like this is exciting. The Fulbright Leaders for Global Schools program sends cohorts of US secondary level school and district administrators abroad for programs focused on sharing best practices and learning from high performing systems. Through the program, education leaders develop innovative approaches to the issues most important to their communities. Now, here's the set of issues that Brandon and these colleagues are going to go look at. It is almost like they were reading our draft strategic plan. career readiness and building apprenticeship programs, fostering AI student competency to help them adapt and thrive in an increasingly digital society, examining AI and automation and how these technologies will affect future employment. expanding professional development to help teachers integrate AI into their practice, exchanging strategies for creating clear pathways from vocational and technical education to careers, and exploring how other countries develop partnerships with local industry to meet the needs of their workforce. So, uh you know, an investment in uh one leader can pay off dividends in the knowledge that I know Brandon will be back. It's all paid for. no RPS dollars that are uh going to make that happen, but it's a recognition of Brandon's long uh and really highly successful career um in RPS and long. So, congratulations on that and look forward to hearing about the office of learning environments. >> Thank you, Dr. Thank you. Um thank you uh Dr. Pel for that. Uh, Chair Nathan, members of the board, uh, it is truly my honor to to be here tonight representing the Office of of Learning Environments and to share with you what our work and conversations have been over the first uh, six weeks of of existence for this this new office. Um, as I'm sure we share with you, our belief uh on this team is that every student in RPS deserves a school where they feel safe, they feel welcomed, connected, supported, and engaged in their in their learning experience. And the challenge that we feel we have is that um while RPS has um long invested in supports and excellent programs and staff that contribute to those outcomes, um many of those efforts have been disconnected and they've existed independently and and spread out across our system. And so our solution is this office of learning environments that um brings those efforts together into a a single coherent and coordinated system. So that's really our our focus. It is not about creating new programs um but it's about creating better alignment. And that graphic that you see on the right there uh really indicates uh a good portion of the learning that I have done over the first six weeks in that the functions that exist within the office of learning environments everything from attendance and truency to uh behavior student well-being family engagement American Indian education etc have often worked um with one another when um student barriers exist but they haven't always been aligned and connected in the manner in which we would like them to be to best support students. So that is the ultimate goal of of our office is is to create that one integrated system that can support students and parents, families and schools across all of our schools. Um why this work matters and to share a little bit of um data with you. One of the clearest indicators that we know of a healthy learning environment is whether our students are present uh and ready to learn. And you can see on the lefth hand side there that we have uh seen a consistent increase in the uh state measurement of consistent attendance within RPS from 53.5% back in 2122 up to 67.2% consistent attendance in our most recent school year of 2526. I do want to point out that the last two uh measurements 2425 2526 those are internal calculations because of the two-year lag that exists in Northstar reporting from the Department of Education. But we have seen a consistent increase in our students consistently attending school here in Rochester. specifically, and this is outlined in the middle, we've seen a very significant increase in consistent attendance at both our elementary and middle school levels with a 17.6% increase and 27.5% increase, respectively, uh since the 2022 school year. What we know, however, is that attendance and truency um it it it is not just an issue that is housed within the attendance office. uh it is something that is significantly impacted when students feel connected to engaged with and supported by their learning environment and that is the work that we have in front of us in the office of learning environments. So our our leadership team has spent some time drafting um this working um purpose statement and I have a couple of words there. I I will let you read it, but I have a couple of words in bold there because I believe it's important that um you understand our our goal is to help schools, help students, principles design and sustain those conditions that ensure and enable that every student can thrive in Rochester. This is not a one year of work or two years of work. It's to help design those systems and then help schools sustain them to ensure that students um can can thrive and continue to thrive in our learning environments. Um over my first six weeks in this position, uh I have intentionally uh embarked on a a very intentional listen and learn tour, meeting with as many um both school and central office leaders as I have been able to fit into my calendar um to learn as much as possible about what's happening in our in our schools, in our classrooms um and across our systems here at central office And I gave you a very high level um overview of of what I've learned here. Uh the first thing that you see outlined on the left there is that our schools really value consistency and clarity. And what our principles have asked of me is to really clarify the roles and responsibilities within the office of of learning environments. Who is responsible for what? How are we going to coordinate that work? Who should they call when they need support uh to help build those systems? And are really um yearning for common language. So, we are definitely going to work on that alignment and then also that district support. So, we're going to continue to provide that. And I have shared with with principles and members of our team that one of my goals is is that at the end of this year, the end of next year, that our building leaders and that staff look at the supports that have been in place um the functions within our office but experience them differently um than they have in the past. they experience them as a coordinated and coherent system rather than disperate functions that existed across Rochester public schools in the middle there. Um what we have not necessarily learned but it's been really reinforced uh for me is that um schools uh really uh want to experience supports um that are connected and those supports are stronger when they are connected. As I mentioned before, we have many great supports that exist in our system, but they aren't always coordinated. So, we are working very hard within our office to coordinate those supports and ensure that schools are receiving them in that coherent fashion. And uh all of our schools, all of the leaders that I've met with, they are eager for partnership um with our office. um they do not expect the office of learning environments to have all of the answers when they approach us with um with concerns, barriers, or support needs, but they are excited to work with us to build um those coherent systems. I have shared this graphic a few times in some presentations that I've given to to staff here before school starts. Um and um we for years uh not just in Rochester public schools but in education we have measured grades, attendance and behavior and we will continue to do so because they are important um measures but they are outcomes. They are the outcomes of the work that that we are going to be working on in the office of learning environments. And what we are really focused on is helping schools to strengthen the conditions, those things that you see below the surface on this graphic that influence those outcomes of students attending school, students meeting our behavior expectations, our positive behavior expectations and then achieving positive academic outcomes um and earning credits towards graduation. So really focusing on how do we ensure that students have a sense a strong sense of belonging in their learning environment. How do we have consistent routines and expectations in our classrooms and in our schools? Um how do we increase student identity and voice and continue to lift that up um across our different learning environments? and how do we build trust and relationships between students, between students and staff across all of our schools. So, increasing and building up those conditions that you see below the surface, we believe because research tells us it will will impact positively impact those outcomes that we measure above the surface. So, a little bit about um more specifics about uh the work of of building this office um that I've been engaged in. Um really establishing the the leadership structure. We have a a strong leadership team in place and we are meeting regularly on crossf functional collaboration um problem solving across the work that we're doing and identifying what our shared priorities are within this new office. Uh I have also been spending a significant amount of time on uh potentially new organizational structure within this office which I'll share a little bit about here on a subsequent slide. been working to really clarify the role and and um collaborating with my my colleagues on the cabinet to um answer some questions from building leaders around what when do I call the office of learning environments versus the office of school leadership and support um and really clarifying for them that in the office of learning environments we are not operational response or discipline management um we're the office you call when you want to work on proactively building systems and and asking for support within your school. And then the third piece there is connecting that work really focusing on functioning as one system. So not those individual functions that have existed across our system, but as a single office that has a strong impact and support for students, staff, and families within Rochester Public Schools. So looking ahead, uh the work that that we believe we have in front of us, um this is by no means an exhaustive list, but um this is where we're at right now. We really want to focus on strengthening our our attendance systems and um building in those early intervention uh early interventions for students who are not necessarily present and ready to learn or engaged in their learning. uh continuing to build up our freshman on track initiative that we launched last year. Um so continuing to support schools as they implement that and then aligning our truency work with our community partners, the county attorney's office and our partners atstead county who support students and families who are struggling with supports and and regular attendance. We're also looking at aligning our multi-tered systems of support in learning environments areas. So, how are we responding when students are not attending, when they're not meeting our positive behavior expectations, or when we have students who are struggling with uh their well-being, whether it be mental health, physical health, chemical health, and ensuring that we have strong alignment in that MTSS system to our academic MTSS frameworks as well. shared expectations and language, the tiered supports, and then also making sure that we have restorative practices as well that we're building in. So, working with um Principal Hagglland um at Muddy Oaks who's going to be doing some work with that. So, I'll be collaborating with her on a regular basis to ensure that we're building up our restorative practices as well. Additionally with the um inclusion or with the uh introduction of Danielson framework for teaching domain two in that framework specifically speaks to learning environments and has some really great language around what we want to see in our learning environments. So, I'll be working with our team to ensure that we're aligning a lot of the language um and approaches for behavior and learning environments MTSS with that domain 2 of Danielson. So that when schools and teachers are looking at our MTSS frameworks, they're seeing a lot of the same language and we have that common language across systems. uh continuing to support schools um in their development of culture and belonging. So, as I mentioned before, lifting up student voice, um continuing to increase and encourage family engagement in our schools, in our learning environments, um working to identify and increase strong community partnerships with our schools and then also focusing on relationship centered practices in our schools. So continuing to encourage our schools to focus on those relationships with students and then coordinating our student supports. Um we know that many of our students oftentimes do not present with a single issue that they're struggling with a single barrier. Oftentimes they have more than one. And when we can provide them with coordinated supports whether it be uh mental health support along with a health support or a family support. We we feel that will be stronger when those supports are coordinated. I mentioned earlier that I've been working on um looking at the organizational structure within the office of learning environments and um I am sharing with you not proposing to you tonight. Um Dr. Pel and I have talked about this. I've identified um the possible need for a new position within this office but it is not something that we are bringing to you as a proposal tonight. But as we look at the organizational structure of the office and wanting to create clear through lines and structures within the office, um we are discussing and looking at the possibility of a director of student engagement within the office of learning environments that would really bring together work that is focused on student connection, uh student engagement, family partnership. Um, and when I say student engagement, that's both student engagement in the classroom as well as digital student engagement. Um, we've we've talked about potentially um also having this position be a dedicated district leadership position for responsible and strategic use of artificial intelligence. So looking at that piece which we um do have built into our initial conversations in the RPS 2030 strategic plan. So on the right there you can see um what the potential core areas of responsibility would be for for this position. So they would have oversight over those areas of the office of learning environments everything from attendance and truency down to youth empowerment as well as specific responsibilities around that AI strategy that is written into the strategic plan. Um this is the potential uh organizational chart that we would be looking at. There on the left hand side in the green you can see we have our existing director of community education. Uh in the middle uh in the blue is our existing director of student well-being. And I think if you look at what's listed underneath that position, you can see a a very clear through line of student well-being and supports from mental health to health services. students experiencing homelessness and then our behavior systems team. And then the right hand side is that possible position of a director of student engagement um which does include the digital engagement uh including artificial intelligence but also that um very clear throughine of um the functions of our office that directly connect to student engagement in their learning environments from American Indian education attendance and truency family engagement youth empowerment and family supports. That's our current thinking. Again, um no proposal tonight, just sharing what our current thinking is with you. So, uh thinking even further down the road, how we know we will be making progress on on some of these outcomes. Um there is no single metric uh for that defines or measures a positive learning environment. But what you can see here are some of the metrics that um that we'll be using as indicators to understand whether we are um seeing an increase in those conditions for um for improving learning environments in our schools. So attendance trends, student belonging, we have our 5e survey now. student engagement, behavior patterns, what we're seeing as far as discipline referrals, access to supports. Are our students indicating to us that they have access to um health supports, mental health supports, chemical health supports when they need them, where they need them in real time. And then our family engagement metrics as well. So, we'll we'll be using all of those as um indicators for for our success. And obviously you know this, we're we're still new, but we do feel that our purpose is clear. Um we're not here to own every program or or solve every challenge, but as I mentioned before, we're here to help schools design and sustain the conditions where every student feels safe in their learning environment. They feel connected to it, deeply connected to it. They feel supported by it and they're ready to learn. Thank you, >> members. Director Whitman. >> So, I I have two questions and they're both related. From slide four, um you have the consistent attendance rates. I see elementary and middle school, but high school is missing. Do you not have that or >> I do have it. I can definitely get it to you. >> Okay, that would be great. And and then the other thing, >> it's not as good. >> It's not as good. >> It's a game. >> Okay. for um any of our viewers, could you define what the parameters are for consistent consistent attendance? Because I I know people are going to look at this and say, "Oh, only twothirds of the kids are going to school." >> Yes, a student is considered consistently attending if they are present in school 90% of the membership days in the school year or more. So, they have to be present in school 90% of the time or >> does that include excused absences as well? It does. >> Thank you. >> Oh, Dr. Cook. >> Um, yeah, I I uh well, thank you for the overview. I um it strikes me that it was uh it certainly not a trivial task to organize all of these threads and try to uh put together a coherent framework around it. So, thank you for um uh for for all of that work and for preparing it in this format. Um the the part of this presentation that really stuck out to me was the um the notes on peer relationships and their importance as one of the items that's kind of under the surface of the iceberg and um certainly informs a student's sense of connectedness in the school environment. And it also interestingly was repeatedly one of the themes that was returned to again and again by students at the um um uh presentation that several board members attended last week um on the codeesign project. That's what it was. Um on kind of one of the underlying conditions that those students felt contributed to um some unhealthy behaviors um was the the absence of strong pure relationships. But but I guess my question is and I I recognize we don't have a a coordinator of pure relationships or something like that. It's not the type of thing that really lends itself to a single position. But what what can the office do to design and sustain the conditions for positive peer relationships in our schools? And I how does how does that show up in the offices work? Yeah, we've actually had some really good initial conversations and and I would I would actually broaden it a little bit beyond just peer relationships um and looking at um just a meaningful relationship within their learning environment. Um certainly it can be with a peer um but we also know the importance of students having a meaningful connection or relationship with an adult in their learning environment. And as I mentioned, I'll be working um closely with um Martine Hagglin this year on the restorative pieces. I will also be working closely um with Will Ruffen around some work related to exactly what you're asking about which is mapping out and operationalizing how we can um well first of all how do we identify the students in our learning environments who are missing that piece of their experience. they're missing that meaningful relationship in their learning environment. And then how do we address that? How do we get them connected to something or someone in their learning environment that can provide that support that is missing from their experience? Um, one of the conversations we've had, and I've I've shared this with principles and assistant principles in in my first few weeks, we often think of all of these um these conditions, the functions of our office as unique um unique functions, unique spaces. When we think about our students, our students don't experience attendance separate from behavior, separate from academics, separate from relationships. They experience school. >> And when one of those pieces is missing or is not supported, it's it's just school that is impacted. And that's why we feel it's so vital and so important that everything be coordinated and everything be coherent across that. So, um, that is another piece of of our work this year will be how do we operationalize those relationships for students in our learning environments and really make that a core piece of it. I I I just think that's really exciting and I I I uh I hope that uh comes to fruition because I I certainly as a parent I've uh experienced very skillful teachers that have, you know, found ways to have lunchtime groups or something or sort of knit together groups of students that um that might not have otherwise, you know, found that um time to interact. So, but but operationalizing that, scaling it, making it something that um doesn't rely on the the chance of a particular teacher being in your in your kid's life, I think is really exciting. So, um yeah, great. I'm glad to hear about it. Thanks. >> Yeah, thank you. Thanks, Director Cook for the question and to Brandon for the response. A couple things I would um add. One example that we have wonderful examples of in RPS that we absolutely will be recommending uh strengthening and scaling are nearpeer relationships um which are fifth graders working with kindergarteners and ninth graders working uh with middle school students and those things. Those are often things that we can structure in ways that are really impactful especially across transitions. So that's really really uh an incredible opportunity for us. But then I think to the spirit of your question, what about when they're truly peers? They're not fifth graders and second graders. They're peer peer-to-peer. And there actually was a movement in the 70s and 80s that spread in many schools that had this somewhat today awkward name of peer helping. And it was the brainchild of a psychologist who was then a school counselor who actually was originally from Minnesota but her career was in uh California. Her name was Barbara Vinhorst and she passed away a few days and this movement spread and the core idea was you had to teach kids these skills. You didn't assume that they necessarily knew how to bridge differences of life experience of need and it was very focused on helping how you help a peer who's struggling. But the I think the insight from that and the reason I wanted to mention it is that there was an education piece about these relationships. Not assuming kids know how to do this or necessarily even have the desire. They have the desire for connection. But do I want to sit with those kids in the cafeteria? No, I don't because they're not my kids potentially. And so I think as we design our our MTSS, our multi-tered system of supports for behavior and well-being, there will be in what we call, as board members know from our literacy work, a tier one, the foundational things we want all kids to have. And there's a teaching aspect to that that I think gets forgotten a lot that we assume, well, kids want connections, they have friends, they know how to build relationship with each other. And the insight from the peer helping work was no, there actually is a a teaching aspect to why and how you create those connections with your peers. And I think in an age where kids are staring at screens for a large share of their lives, which didn't exist when the peer helping movement was spreading across the country, and it was a very 1970s kind of improved the world thing, but it did a lot of good stuff. Um, the screen challenge was not there at all. the social media challenge was not there at all. Those kids were used to being in rooms looking in eyes with each other and things like that. So, as we think about that tier one of behavior, teaching kids some relationship skills is going to need to be a part of that. We're talking here about peer-to-peer, but also I'm continually struck when I talk to our students about how scared they are to ask an adult for help. Terrified. I can't ask that person. Well, we know our teachers, our ESPs, our counselor, they want them to ask for help. But there is a they're going to think I'm stupid. They're going to think I'm needy, that I'm not. >> Help seeking behavior is another thing we're going to have to teach in that tier one. And when we say teach, we don't mean we sit you down and give you a two-hour lecture, but that we need to actually introduce these things to some of our students in developmentally age appropriate ways because it's a mistake to assume that they're walking in the door with the the desire or the skills to make some of those connections. So, a really great question. Thank you. Thank you for focusing on that peer-to-peer piece of it. Director White. >> Um, so you suggested uh in this possible position, which I know you're not uh presenting to us today, but my question would be who is currently doing all of these tasks. So when you split it up and showed us your organizational chart, um, you put it with the possible position, which is nice to see what it could look like, but I would like to know what it currently looks like. is currently taking care of, you know, the coordination of the of these other five areas that you would hope to put under a new position. Um, and kind of seeing more of what that what what your current structure looks like as opposed to what you would like the structure to look like. I think that would help us better to understand what the need would be for the additional position. I I would be happy to share with you a uh I would have to develop what the the current org chart is. Um currently um it's um it's not as clean as as this as far as the reporting structure and the organizational structure within the office. Um so the the first five bullets you see there currently are direct reports um to me and you see in the parentheses there attendance and truency. Um, we currently have a coordinator of that position that will sunset at the end of this year because it's funded by our state attendance pilot. So, um, but I would be happy to put that together and share with you so you can see what the current madam chair. Why don't we just I mean I can do it but you can do it. Why don't we answer director's questions? Let's let's just name the people who are in those coordinator positions that are there right now. And I really appreciate the question. The the one that Brendan's not going to name is AI. As this board has said, there's nobody in this district who wakes up every day thinking about AI as part of their job. There's lots of us who wake up thinking about it. And so, um, I am not yet recommending this position to you. I think the first question, Director Whitehorn, you're exact asking is exactly right. What's the structure currently? And would a new director level position, which we know we aren't adding lightly, if we decide to add it in this budgetary environment, what would it enhance? And so the other functions are all existing but not at that director level. >> Yeah, correct. Um, so we currently have a coordinator of attendance and truency. That position will will sunset at the end of the year. So we do need a sustainability plan for the work that we're currently doing as it relates to attendance and truency. the the possible plan would be for this new director position to assume a a decent amount of that attendance and truency work as well. Um we have a coordinator of American Indian education, we have a coordinator of family engagement, uh coordinator of family supports and a coordinator of youth empowerment. Um those five positions are all currently direct reports to me. So under the new um potential or possible structure, those five positions would become direct reports to this possible director of student engagement who beyond the 20 25 sorry forgetting what year it is 26 27 school year. that director position would would assume a decent amount of the um attendance and truency work that we have built up and that we'll continue to do as well as um the AI strategy that we're looking at as part of the strategic plan >> and and that even more to the point if I made it's Guthrie Capella is our coordinator of American Indian education Kate Marorrow is our coordinator of attendance and truency really Typton is our coordinator of uh family supports coordinator of family engagement is the fabulous Jennifer Spindler Craig who's in the room and coordinator of youth empowerment is Sarah Luis Henry. So those are the people currently. >> So but they currently will report to you without this director role. >> Correct. >> That's what I >> correct >> director I I don't have a question just a compliment. You've done all this in six weeks. That's how long you've been on the job. >> Yes. >> Kudos. Great job. You've been you've been working hard but I don't have to tell you that. >> Thank you Dr. Marvin. Yeah. And just again, you're moving fast. Um it would be way easier as you're uh working with buildings, building systems within each school if they all had exactly the same issues they're dealing with. So, if you could get them to be exactly the same, but knowing that they're not and knowing that the needs in each school could vary dramatically from one building to the next. I'm assuming that as you and your department and they work together to figure out what is going to work for our kids, what are the greatest needs in our site and then as they begin their plan and carry it out that that is going to be a treasure trove of really important information to share with the other buildings and that your department then would be sort of the conduit um for those conversations. So that I mean I think this can be incredibly powerful. >> Yeah. And and I would say it already has been um as I've engaged in conversations with principles and learned about what they have been challenged with and how they've approached it and how they've been where they've been successful and then two days later engaged in another conversation with another principal. I'm able to connect back and, you know, start to think about how can we potentially replicate a system that exists in one school um across assuming that we continue to see that success, right? That that success is data driven and supported because we don't want to just replicate things at the drop of a hat unless we're certain that they're they're showing demonstrated um success. But it it already has proven and and shown dividends in those conversations for sure. >> Dr. Bar. >> Uh yes, couple questions. The first one deals with slide nine. Um looking ahead, aligning learning environments. I was intrigued by the Danielson domain 2 reference. I did do some basic research. Uh my question is, do we currently have a common district-wide definition of what an effective learning environment looks like at the classroom level? And are those expectations consistently implemented and measured across RPS classrooms? Well, I I think uh Danielson is going to help us with that and certainly um domain two um providing that common language to our classroom teachers and and what we want to see in our in our classrooms um will will certainly help with that. Um I guess I'm I'm not certain that we have a defined or or written down definition of what uh a learning environment. I think that probably speaks to each one of them is unique in their own way given, you know, the the students that are in there, um the the teacher that's in there, what what grade level, um the culture of of the building that they're located in. But I certainly look forward to aligning our work with domain 2 um so that we can start to build out that shared understanding of of what we would like to see in our learning environments across classrooms. And so you answered for me the expectation being expressed and conveyed versus simply the belief that uh instructional techniques are consistent and uh uh lesson plans are complete. So so thank you on that. And then slide 13. Uh how >> I don't have the numbers. Which ones? >> Oh, I'm sorry. That is dealing with how well we know trans. Oh, >> how well we're making progress. Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yes. Uh so it appears to me that maybe you're thinking of developing a dashboard of sorts and uh that I just wanted to confirm that and then uh perhaps inquire whether or not the dashboard will include outcomes that are uh outcomes with disagregate uh measurements by student population in school. >> Yes. Uh I actually have a meeting on Friday with Dr. Ruck um to start the build out of our learning environments dashboards within Edge of Climber to start identifying what are um what are the indicators, what are the metrics um and absolutely want to look at um those indicators um both you know at a at a systems level um at at individual school levels and then also disagregated by by student groups. >> Thank you. >> Dr. Macklin >> um you're looking ahead slide about strengthening attendance systems talks about early intervention. Is that something we are currently doing in any form or is that more aspirational for future? >> Yeah, I I think it definitely happens. Um I I think part of our work is to try and become more consistent across our across our schools. um recently, just within the last couple of weeks, was engaged in a in a summit with uh own state county attorney's office as well as um community partners around that very conversation and really digging into uh the the data that we collected around the impact and effectiveness of our parent information meetings and our um our student attendance review team meetings, our SARS. Um, so if you're not aware, the parent information meetings are large group meetings that each of our sites um, our secondary sites hold for students and families who are not quite meeting our attendance expectations and and are kind of meeting those state statute definitions of of being habitually truent. And then beyond that, ASART is an one-on-one meeting um with the student, the family, the school, and the Homestead County attorney's office to really put together a plan um and some goals to improve their attendance. Um and unfortunately, we're not necessarily seeing the positive impact of of those pieces of the truency intervention process that we would like to. So, we want to focus more on early intervention at at the school level and perhaps institute a version of that start that goal setting, that one-on-one goal setting at the school level before we move into that truency intervention that's more um co-planned with um with the county attorney's office. So engaging students and families in some attendance improvement goal setting with a school counselor, with a social worker, with a school administrator. >> So that's what we're really looking at right now. >> Thank you. And I missed the R and SART. >> I'm sorry, >> the RNSART. >> It's student attendance review team. >> Director, >> I just have one other thing. um just in listening to the conversation that's been going forward. Um so I think what we have I I I like how I like the cohesive of the plan that you put together. Um but I think what would also be helpful for me is what we are currently tracking. You know what's kind of currently happening versus the pieces we need to kind of add on, right? Because some of this is um things that may be currently tracked in other um spaces, right? Um and some things that we want to track. So like when we excuse me, are looking at how we're making progress like we know we're track we're tracking attend there's some things that we are tracking very well other areas um which like access to supports I'd be interested in exactly what tracking that would look like what tracking family engagement you know would look like to really um have it as a measurement of success right because we track some of these things but not to the point of being able to say that it was successful or not um so I I like the cohesiveness of the plan, but I think there are some pieces that are active, right? And some pieces that are things we would like to do and it would be nice to kind of have seen the uh you know what we're currently doing versus how what we want to grow um into. >> I I would be happy to get that to you for sure. >> So, uh one of the areas we haven't um touched on a lot is the family engagement. I'm wondering um what you're hearing in your listening uh because I think what one of the things that we've heard in the past about family engagement is that like many things does vary um by school and I think each school might have their own definition of how well they think they're engaging with families whereas maybe on a 5e or some other measure it put side by side it might not come up. So, I'm wondering what initial observations you may have gained from those conversations. >> Yeah, I I think definitely in in in my conversations with um Jennifer >> um it it definitely is it definitely varies from from sight to sight. I think the sites that have identified it, we have some sites that have identified it within their um their continuous improvement, their site continuous improvement plan. Um and I think they would share that despite uh their best efforts, they continue to struggle to get parents and families to engage um or a wider variety of parents and and families to engage. They they tend to get the same parents, the same families who attend their invites um or their events and respond to their invites um over and over. I think we saw today in in Dr. health's presentation at John Marshall that our staff felt kind of the same way as well that there are good structures and um and those pieces in place but the response and the result varies um from from sight to sight. So um I think um speaking to um what Dr. Marvin said earlier, uh, learning from our sites that are having more success and then helping to transfer that to some of our sites that might be struggling more is is going to be a big piece of our work. But I will say that um, every conversation I've been engaged in where we've talked about family engagement, they have sung the praises of Jennifer Spinler Craig. Um, I know she's sitting right behind me, but they have they have all um absolutely been thrilled with with her level of engagement, her level of collaboration and partnership with them. So, that will definitely be a continued area of focus for us. >> Superintendent, if you want to >> No, no, go ahead. >> I I just I'm I'm struck by Dr. Barlo your uh attention to the um learning environments domain of the Danielson framework and I so thank you for that we will the board will be hearing a lot about the Danielson framework that framework just to probe one layer more deeply it sets five core components in the classroom with teachers positive relationships sense of belonging cultural responsiveness and positive conflict resolution and with this work we're embarking upon now just to kind of oversimplify things but I don't think to oversimplify them too much the big question when it comes to behavior is whose job is it >> so some classroom teachers if a student becomes let's say disruptive or disregulated those are not always the two same two things the immediate response is where's the administrator to hold a consequence or where's the social worker counselor to provide Very often in my experience when that administrator or social worker counselor comes they find things that were happening in the classroom that either caused or contributed to the dysregulation or the disruption. And so the importance of the Danielson framework which um many of our teachers are doing very very well is saying those four things positive relationship sense of belonging cultural responsiveness and positive conflict resolution need to be happening in the classroom. Some of our students face some pretty extraordinary challenges in their lives. Sometimes having to do with mental health, sometimes having to do with just not having learned how to do school in different ways. We know that our teachers need the support of administrators and those mental health professionals, those experts in uh not students, what we might call non nonac non-academic needs. But we've got to get those four things in place in the classroom so that we're sure that the behaviors are actually not being prompted by the absence of a sense of belonging, by the absence of uh positive relationships, by the absence of cultural responsiveness, or by the absence of teaching kids positive conflict resolution. And so the the critical role of supporting what happens in the classroom is so important to this and and and I I want to say because when I came to Rochester, the work I'd been doing for 10 years at Search Institute was all on developmental relationships and a lot of teachers either knew about that, we did some workshops. It's a mistake to tell a teacher if you just built good relationships, you'd have none of these problems. And teachers get told that and it's offensive to them. They say I'm killing myself to build these relationships. it's not going to take care of the kid who didn't develop the executive functioning, you know, skills or who didn't eat this morning or these various things. So, it's a both and and this is really really deep work and it's not unique to Rochester. Um, but I really appreciate uh Dr. Barlo your focusing on that part of the Danielson framework. Um, because having that in place in all of our classrooms will help us make sure that when we do have to hold kids accountable because that's part of growing up. it's not compensating for something that was missing in the classroom. And when a kid needs additional support, um it's because they really need additional support and not because I feel like nobody cares about me in this classroom. So, I'm going to act out and let you know that I don't think anybody cares. Maybe because I want to get out of the classroom because I don't think anybody cares about me in this classroom. So this gets into the realm of a lot of uh complexity and we uh we have uh so many people with great experience in RPS and I am optimistic about this new office to connect the dots um across this strategy. Um and families have a critical role to play in uh all what I was just talking about. So thank you for letting me kind of add that at the end. I sort of wanted to name the the very real issue that is there like it's all of our jobs um including us at the central office. And I also appreciate the com the um data piece being brought up in terms of the outcomes a few times by um um my colleagues. The thing that I've been impressed with when we've talked about MTSS with literacy is how much we've used data to identify what the students need and then that recognition that we didn't have interventions for the longest time. We didn't have the resources to address those needs. And that's really what we're building up. And so I get the sense from reading this and understanding that we're looking to bring MTSS to behavior that we're also going to be bringing that approach to using the data that we have to identify the needs of the students as an input not just as a measure of our outcomes and then build those interventions across all of these domains. >> Yes. Yes. We've actually been talking about what are those What are those um indicators? What are those measurements within both behavior and well-being that maybe aren't as obvious as suspensions um or you know visits to the health office or the social worker that we can that we can use that would be more indicative of student need but also success in our support of those students. >> Remember anything else? Dr. Cook. >> Yeah. Uh just one other thing that um u and I understand it it's not a recommendation that's being presented to the board, but the proposed additional position. I just because it was shared in the spirit of sharing current thinking, I thought I'd share mine, which is that um you know the the position that you currently hold as executive director was created in no small part in order to reduce the central office and the number of executive director and director level positions. Um, and I I'm sure it's not lost on anybody that would be very difficult I I think for any of us to um support adding a director. I shouldn't speak for the board, but I I'll speak for myself. I think it would be very difficult to support that. I don't want to say that I am close-minded to it or that I would prioritize form over substance and the test is always is this in the best interest of students, but um I just thought it would be helpful to share my current thinking on that part of the information. But thank you again very much for all of the >> Fair enough. I appreciate your feedback. >> First six weeks were success. We look forward to the next six weeks plus. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Our next item is a monitoring item. These are our schoolboard committee assignments. Um it's the responsibility of the school board chair to appoint the members at each standing or ad hoc committee. Um so in the um uh agenda item we have um a committee assignments based on what board members uh shared with me was their um requests uh either to remain on a committee or move to a different committee. Uh so for the 2026 2027 school year and these terms will in expire at the end of the school year. Um on the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee, Cara McLaclin will continue to serve the Community Budget Advisory Committee. Um Justin Cook and Cara McLaclin will serve the Community Curriculum and Instruction Advisory Committee. Gene Marvin and Karen McLaclin will serve on the community engagement committee. That will be Don Barlo, Gene Marvin, and Stephanie Whitehorn. On the Family Engagement Committee, that will be Stephanie White Horn and myself, Kathy Nathan. on the insurance trust committee will be Justin Cook. Legislative committee will be Julie Workman, Justin Cook, and Don Barlo. The Rochester Public School Foundation will be Justin Cook. And the student school board will be Gene Marvin. The Minnesota State High School League, which is on a little bit of a different schedule that expires July 31st, 2027, will be Justin Cook. And then the remainder of the items that are in um uh the committees actually change in January of 2027 when we uh seat board members. Um so those will continue uh through the end of the year and um Julie Workman and Cara McLaclin will serve on the delegate assembly again um this December. So any questions or comments board members? Anything I got wrong? Director Cook, >> I I really like the color-coded chart. I don't remember if um we've seen that in past years, but that's >> do that for my meeting today. So, >> thank you. >> You're welcome. >> That's also to show how many board members are on, so we don't have any more than than three, which is helpful. >> Thank you, board members. >> All right. Our next item is an action item. This is the 2026 2027 ABCD approval. Uh we reviewed this at the August 4th meeting and uh since that meeting there have been some minor updates to the ABCD. We added all the recognitions for the year um and um added just some additional items related to our policy uh compliance. Um so board members, I'm going to read the resolution and then if anybody has any final questions or discussion, we can do that before we take a vote. Be it resolved that the school board of independent school district 535 Rochester, Minnesota hereby approves the 2026 2027 annual board calendar draft as presented. And be it further resolved that the board recognizes the annual board calendar draft as a planning document that may be revised during the school year as necessary to respond to district needs, legal and policy requirements, data release schedules, and other circumstances. >> Approval. Second. >> We have a motion to approve and a second. Any questions? about an ambitious schedule. Thanks to the superintendent. All right, hearing none. All those in favor of the resolution say I. >> I. Opposed. The resolution has been approved. Thank you for all your work and to our assistant school board clerk for all >> her work as well. Somebody had to keep track of everything. Next item on our agenda is um approval of our schoolboard meeting dates. Board members, we do this so that we can establish our uh calendar for the year. And of course, this calendar um corresponds to the dates that are in the ABCD. So, I'll read the resolution. Be it resolved that the school board of ISD 535 approve the updated dates, times, and locations for schoolboard meetings for 2027. >> So moved. Second. >> It has been moved and seconded. Any questions, comments? hearing. None. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. The resolution has been approved. We will move on to other business. Uh the next item is a close session for the Superintendent Leadership Evaluation 2025 2026. The next item on the agenda is a close session pursuant to Minnesota statute section 13 DO5 subdivision 3B, which allows the board to go into close session to evaluate the performance of an individual who is subject to its authority. While in closed session, the board will engage in a confidential discussion of the scheduled annual performance evaluation of Superintendent Kent Pel. In addition, pursuant to Minnesota statute section 13 DO5, the board will summarize our conclusions regarding the leadership evaluation at the September 1st meeting. Pursuant to the law I have cited, will someone make a motion to go into close session? So move. >> Second. >> It has been moved and second to go into close session. All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. The board moves into close session at 6:37 p.m. Okay. The board return to the regular meeting at 8:27 p.m. Um, Clerk White Horn, will you please read the list of people present in the closed session? Uh, Chair Kathy Nathan, Vice Chair Julie Workman, Superintendent Kent Pel, Karen Mclaflin, Director Director Don Barlo, Director Gene Marvin, myself, Clerk Stephanie Whitehorn, and Treasurer Justin Cook. >> Thank you. The next item on our agenda is our updated ABCD. We have um upcoming agenda items on August 25th which is a study session where our focus topic will be plans to practice. And then our next regular meeting is September 1st where we have a monitoring item, our report on the superintendent evaluation leadership component and a prep for action which is approval of proposed school district property tax payable for 2027. Are there any agenda items board members would like to raise for consideration for a future meeting agenda? hearing none. Our upcoming board meeting dates, August 25th, study session, September 1st, regular meeting, September 15th, regular meeting, and October 6th, um, regular meeting. All of those are at 5:30 p.m. And hearing no other business, this meeting is adjourned at 8:28 p.m.