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Mounds View School Board, 2/6/25

Mounds View Public SchoolsFriday, February 7, 2025
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e e e e e e e e oh I would like to call to order the February 6th regular board meeting of the msew school board good evening and welcome the first order of business is item 1.2 adoption of the agenda I would entertain a motion so moved second the agenda has been moved in second and any discussion hearing none all in favor I any opposed motion carries we will move to item 2.1 student represent ative reports um I would like to welcome up um our student representatives from Irondale and mountains view and um I don't know who drew the the straw to start tonight okay it looks like mountains viw welcome hello this is a brief report of everything that's been going on Ms view we've had a pretty great start to their second semester um so in the beginning of January um we had our MSU wrestling captain they actually visited um one of our sponsored kindergarten classes I think it was at Pike Lake so they got to chat with kindergarteners about the wrestling team and they signed posters and they got to show off some moves with them so um hopefully encourage them to join um the wrestling team in high school um we also recently had our boys and girls n teams both of them they want to emphasize took second at all conference which is cool pretty impressive um we've also had a start to our mock trial team um we actually had four students recognized as outstanding attorneys and outstanding Witnesses Evan Hall llk Jack gilzer and Hannah Yang um we also have kind of a major Community project going on at M right now so we have a club called um the volunteer Outreach club which is actually partnering with um crutches for Africa which is an organization located in Denver Colorado which basically takes Surplus Mobility devices to Africa so students are able to donate their crutches or their walk or the canes um walking boot slings and they're able to just bring them to school in the school Mac or in the comons and I think it's still going on right now but they'll be shipping those out next month I believe which is awesome um we also had something really impressive we had um a senior in my class Emy Ren selected as one of only two students in Minnesota to represent our state at the US youth Senate program in Washington DC DC which I believe has like a 8% acceptance rate very impressive um and she also is going to win a $10,000 scholarship to um any school of her choice and she's going to meet with the highest level elected and appointed officials in the US and I believe she's also the head of our um State steering committee so um it's really nice to have someone so talented in our um yig program as well and then this past weekend um we talked about this a little bit we also had the SEC Music Festival um which I saw some of you guys there it was very um successful we had our honors concert on Sunday um we had I think about 20 students in total from Orchestra um band and choir um and we had such amazing clinicians and we received a lot of um great comments from them and then on Monday we had um students from all of our Advanced ensembles perform and receive feedback and I heard that everyone received Superior and excellent remarks so yeah we're really grateful for um the music teachers we have on M they were truly excellent and then for student council we have winter week coming up in a week or so um we finally had um some voting going on for spirit days so we're doing PJ day Wicked day I believe Alaba versus Glenda which I believe is pink versus green color by grade and one herd and something we're implementing this year for the petfest is we're going to be doing a Latin dance performance and we're also having a five grade level karaoke lifp sync battle and then we're also going to have our Winter Dance um the Saturday after which is called Winter Wonderland and a hot chocolate bar will be available and we also have um mounts Ed Shakespeare as like it this weekend um I believe the shows will be Thursday Friday and Saturday um with two shows on Saturday and deca is also doing a date night fundraiser this weekend which is basically just parents drop off their kids um at um I think Call's court and they're going to have some games and crafts and snacks and pizza and then in honor of Black History Month um our black student union is hosting a fundraiser next week during all the lunches I believe and they're selling T-shirts as a charity donation to um local black businesses in um sheview and we also have um our National Honor Society subcommittee music for MSU which I talked about before um it's basically a benefit concert fundraiser um they're be beginning their audition process and they're going to be taking strings WIS ensembles and piano and voice and theater is also kicking off their Mean Girls musical um and they're hosting auditions right now and we also have um the NHS art fair which is also a subcommittee of our NHS chapter we have a very very large honor Society um so students are now able to submit artwork in all types of mediums um up until the 21st and um the art fair will be on March 1st on Saturday and it'll be about 5 hours long and we also have lastly we have some volunteering events um we will have MSU kids partnering with um The Pike Lake Kindergarten Center this weekend they're hosting a Valentine's dance so kids will be helping with face painting carnival games and crafts and we actually have another subcommittee on our National Society chapter it's called the mental health walk committee which I'm sure you've heard of um they're going to be working with the St Ramsey County of Public Health this year and um I believe they just said today that the mental health walk will be on May 3rd and I believe it'll be at Long Lake and students are now able to submit poetry or short stories about mental health until April and that's it thank you thank you you welcome irondelle hello okay thank you for having us um just a few quick things about irono so this month um well we're currently in our spirit week so we're leading up to the Winter Dance the snowball um our theme is frosted Fairy Tail and that's going to be on Saturday so we're planning to have all of student council not hopefully all of student council there to help us set up basically all of um Saturday and then the dance will be at 8:00 p.m. and yeah we're super excited for that um and then we also have had our spirit week where students and staff have just been like dressing up for it so we've had like Wicked day my math teacher was dressed as alphaba and it was just super fun and then yeah um we've also been having our thrift store put on by student council so in the mornings before school um well we've been collecting clothes for it but in the mornings before school students have been like shopping at the thrift store and it's been a great way to earn some revenue for Council and just to make sure that we're not like contributing to landfills and stuff with clothes and yeah and then we also have a few like new clubs at our school which has been really awesome so model un is starting we haven't had a delegation at Irondale before um but they're starting up from my Spanish teacher actually and we've had a few people join and yeah we're very excited about that and then we're also a woman in law Club is starting um where women or girls throughout iron are able to like come together to meet to learn about like like possible jobs in the law field and like what law really like looks like as a career and we're also having some guest speakers and potential internship opportunities and things like that which has been a great experience and then also we had our students versus staff basketball game um I think last month and the students won but because there was like a student who was not supposed to be on the court we had to do a rematch which we did during night time on Wednesday um where the staff actually won this round but yeah so that's been fun and then also speech has been having some exciting tournaments so they had the medieval medley um where 600 competitors came from a bunch of high schools around Minnesota um I think it was at Irondale cuz we had our NHS chapter um working for that and then irono finished third in that which was super exciting for us and we had like 12 of the irono students who placed um and then we also had the the duth tournament over the weekend um where the speech team went to duth and just participated in that and we I think we placed like sixth in that which was super exciting and we also had a ton of irono students who finaled and yeah and then some sports things that have been going on um wrestling Arlo frankman won his 100th uh wrestling match at the Hastings meet so we're all very excited for him and then basketball girls basketball has been or on February 4th they hosted their teacher appreciation night so teachers got um free popcorn and free admission to the game and yeah and then Orchestra had their eighth grade collab oh oh no okay I apologize no you're good don't worry and then the oh they had their e grade collaboration concert um I think last week and they played Fantasia with the 8ighth grade Orchestra so that was fun and that also took place at irono and we also had SEC which irondelle hosted so we didn't have school on Monday um but a bunch of music from or like Orchestra choir band um from all over came and they got to like play together and it was a like great music festival and also um they had like music clinicians who came to like talk with the students so that was a great great opportunity for them and yeah I think that's it thank you so much for having us thank you enjoy the rest of your evening bye um all right um agenda item 2.2 uh we'll start with the gift sha would you please read yeah so there were 10 gifts for schools and programs received this period for a total of 29,6 74.75 and there were 18 gifts received for the Ral freeder Food Shelf this period for a total of $19,800 185 and it is recommended that the board accept these gifts and extend our thanks to the donors great thank you shaa um upcoming meetings um our next work session will be on Thursday uh March 6th at 5:00 pm and then due to the um upcoming special election um that Governor walls just announced um that was is on March 11th um Tuesday which is our normal um board meeting night so we have um just decided this evening uh right before the meeting that the next um Schoolboard meeting will be on Thursday March 6th at um 7M so we're doing both the work session and the board meeting on March 6 so both of those will be here at the district Center um at this time we'll move on to agenda item 2.3 superintendent report um thank you Diane actually the students really highlighted the couple things that I wanted they they did a lot more but two things uh Emmy Ren um one of two students in the state to have the opportunity uh to go to the state capital so Em's going to be going uh visiting with Amy kashar and Tina Smith Senators representing Minnesota it's the 63rd annual United States Senate um youth program held March 1st to the 8th it is uh incredibly competitive uh she's just an amazing student and we're so fortunate um that she'll be representing not only moundsview Public Schools but the state of Minnesota so congratulations Emmy wonderful wonderful job um and they talked a little bit about the SEC Music Festival so uh incredible incredible concert Sunday night wonderful opportunity to see everyone who visited the bands orchestras and choirs from across the conference at irell Monday uh so rather than go into all that I I just would like to extend a few thank yous first of all the folks at at irell the custodians our activities director uh Chris Fink the administrators uh the administrative assistants every these events don't just happen uh and so they put a ton of energy and effort into uh getting ready for that uh event to all of our staff on Monday who were supervising announcing guiding kids making sure they got lunch and to and from all the the areas where they were performing incredible work I do want to also mention moundsview high school because they're next year's host site and so the the the site that hosts the following year always helps with Logistics so the staff at mvw and all of them were helping uh the logistics for the iron Dale event so thank you to to them uh the music boosters they always do a great job in fact we're there for the reception Sunday evening uh serving food wonderful thank you for to them Schmid music helped out with instrument rep repairs anybody who needed anything either Sunday or Monday so that was fantastic and finally and I said at the concert most importantly to our students I mean they absolutely are the reason uh we do this and and they were amazing in their performances it was great to see the energy and excitement their passion for all that they did uh all day Monday as well so fun seeing them interacting with their peers and with the clinicians that was mentioned uh a couple State clinicians National clinician that come in and work with uh our kids so thank you to everyone involved wonderful event and we're looking forward to hosting again next year at Mountainville all right all right thanks superintendent Lennox we'll now move on to item 3.0 approval of the consent agenda I would entertain a motion so moved second the agenda has been moved and seconded any discussion hearing none all in favor I any opposed motion carries uh next next up um 4.1 uh review and revisions uh to policies BG 0303 and EG 3115 um and then introduction of policy EG 3116 and I'm going to turn this over to superintendent Lennox and Heidi Danielson Vice chair thanks danan um the board uh periodically goes through all of our policies to review our policies and uh take a look at any potential for changes needed and our committee this year uh a subcommittee of the board was made up of Alyssa Dar Nelson and myself and uh we worked with a education consultant uh Amy Jones who is a previous uh board member here at mzu and uh she worked with us on just reviewing all of our policies so in the next few months we'll be bringing some of those changes um to board meetings uh for approval so I'm going to talk about the two the first two policies um that we have some revisions to and then I'm going to hand it over to superintendent lenx to talk about our new policy um BG 0303 is um a policy formation and adoption policy and uh one of the things that we want uh to revise in there is that policies will receive one reading at a work session and one reading at a board meeting before being adopted or deleted that's a slight change to our previous process um where we had two readings at um uh General meetings of the board and instead we'd like to to dig into them at a work session and then um read one over those at a board meeting so that's a proposed change to that um we'll be approving that next month's meeting and then policy EG 3115 is our electronic technology acceptable use and safety policy um this policy covers um electronic technology and since the next policy that um we're going to be adopting is our cell phone policy we want to make reference to that new new cell phone policy as part of this electronic technology acceptable use and safety policy so we're not changing the content of the policy just on the bottom um where we refer to other policies we're going to include uh new EG 3116 student cell phone possession and use policy and again we will approve this policy for its final revisions um at next month's even and then we'll handle a new one yeah that's right the um so next in sequence we're add add in EG 3116 uh the cell phone policy and uh board members I know you recall but for the public the state legislature is actually requiring all school districts to adopt a specific cell phone policy um as part of that development that we did in the district the school board work with uh Administration to gather Community feedback and we use that feedback then in the formation of this new policy specifically we sent out surveys to our families um secondary students and all staff soliciting their input more than 3,000 people responded to our surveys providing Insight in what they wanted to see happening in our schools relative to cell phones in addition we held two uh separate Community meetings uh looking for feedback regarding cell phone use in our schools that resulted in more than 200 people participating and providing feedback across both uh meetings and uh that data then was collected shared with the district advisory committee that committee if you recall had students it had staff it had administrators uh teachers everybody was part of that good representative group met multiple times uh ultimately discussing the feedback and making recommendations at the December 10th school board meeting uh about where they thought that should go um and the policy that needed to be uh developed uh board members I know you also engage the community you got emails you got phone calls you had all kinds of people reaching out stopping you on the street wanting to talk about uh you know cell phon so all of that was taken uh we all of that information was brought together uh and then shared with the committee as we went forward uh in the formation of the policy um in the end that policy really resulted in very similar to what we were currently doing uh no access at the elementary secondary no instructional time but they can access uh cell phones outside of instructional time so that has all been uh written up in in the form of a policy again it's EG 3116 that will be brought forward um board members I know you've had the opportunity to see it a couple times and discuss but we will be bringing it back for a second and final reading then with the other policies at the next meeting in March great thank you both yep all right moving on to item 5.1 2026 27 school calendar and um I'm going to turn it back over to superintendent Lennox yep I just a lot of talking tonight so uh um tonight we are bringing forward you know the district tries to say two years ahead so people can plan with our with our calendar so we're bringing uh forward the draft of the 2026 27 uh school calendar uh the calendar was reviewed by The Joint policy uh committee and is being brought forward uh for approval this evening the way the joint policy committee uh consists of of Staff teachers uh board members so we all took a a look at this um I can tell you we've gone through it uh certify that it meets all of the statutory and legal requirements necessary for uh student contact days as well as our teacher work days uh I would note that the calendar has been configured to provide as many fed day weeks as we can so those short weeks I know parents don't love them teachers don't love them so as much as we could have full weeks uh we made an effort to do that um our teaching staff really appreciate that so they're not breaking up that that instruction uh in addition uh the committee made it point to prioritize recognizing as many of the religious holidays as possible too and configuring the calendar so days off would align to to those holidays and and that is reflected also in the developments uh of this calendar so School Board I know you've had the opportunity to review the calendar at the work session tonight bringing it Forward uh with a recommendation for approval again 2026 2027 school year and i' open it up to any board member comments um especially to those of you who may were part of the process I would just want to say thank you to um MVA mvea Partners um and the staff that are part of that committee we have very thoughtful conversations um um about what uh will serve our students and our families and our teachers best and I really appreciate as well I mean year after year I know this year I was not on the on the committee I really appreciate the the committee's respect of taking a look at the calendar through the equity lens um and and just making sure that again each student uh is thought about as we make those really important decisions so that families don't have to pull their students out of school um it's really important for each student to have the same opportunities to learn and grow and develop in our schools and so it's uh it's it's always hurts hurts my heart when students have to be pulled out to celebrate something that's so meaningful for their families so uh I was really really uh happy to see that uh we were able to make those considerations and and plan a calendar around each of our families so I would also add it's nice that we're two years out there are school districts that don't even have next year's calendar done um let alone two years years from now so I do um appreciate that Al as a parent and as a board member that we we are committed to having the calendar out two years in advance so as superintendent Lennox mentioned it is recommended that the award approves the 2026 27 School C calendar so I would entertain a motion so moved second the motion has been um moved and seconded any discussion hearing none all in favor I any opposed motion carried um so now we will move on to item 6.1 adult and summer program update and we'd like to welcome up um Carl Brown director of Community Education and Ryan link um principal of snail Lake glad to have you here thank you good evening everyone um as mentioned tonight we are here for a summer program update and kind of a preview this is the time of year where we are getting ready for our summer programs and we will likely see you again in August and to talk about all the things that we shared here and give you updates on how it went and and the things we did um tonight we're going to talk about two different areas one is the academic programs that we have and Ryan will talk about those and then I will uh talk about some of the enrichment classes and camps and Clinics we have um coming up so yes even though it's cold tonight just picture yourself in summertime and it's warm and wonderful right so academic summer school we've got some dates there will be July 7 through July 31st for our various programs that I'll talk about here first of of all it's kindergarten summer school so are incoming kindergarten students and they'll be housed at Pike Lake as they have been for the last several years extended targeted services so a general education summer school experience is going to continue at each of our elementary schools as well as our middle schools um it looks like Edgewood and High View will both be jointly at Edgewood and then Chipawa students will be at Chipawa that's really just around some summer uh construction needs then uh extended school year or esy is really uh supporting some of our students with special needs and on IEPs those are going to be at multiple sites throughout the district uh Credit Recovery is going to be at MW high school and the area Learning Center and then lastly adult education summer school offerings that are going to be at silview uh some of the offerings include elll or some of our need our supports for multilanguage adults as well as career pathway courses in the areas of Technology uh support to be a par educator certified nursing assistant the GED and diploma and it also serves as a Pearson Testing Center for our community so those are some of our things for academic summer school great great thank you thank you uh moving on to some of the enrichment classes camps and Clinics um just kind of the preview on this March 18th so right around our spring break time we will have our summer registration opens um we will continue with mailing a catalog to every household in our district and then as we build these things out and actually have some new availability in our software to preview program as they're built so things will appear online and we'll have the full catalog um online and in place and ready to go for March 18th or sooner um kind of starting in age range we have Early Childhood we're going to have some classes we're kind of working out the details of those those typically in the summer are shorter classes um pretty fun we'll also have um some informal play dates or just meetups at playgrounds um that parents have really enjoyed um moving on to Elementary or incoming kindergarteners through um Elementary age we're going to continue with our summer day camp at Turtle Lake um those are AM and PM blocks Monday through Thursday um every week um for eight weeks we have those running and then we also have optional Friday field trips and really it's a pretty flexible program for families and it's been successful um in that model in the last few years so we will continue again uh with um that at chipa last year was our first year with middle school day camps in a similar block schedule so we had AM and PM blocks at middle schools um last year we did it at two different schools but with the construction uh Ryan mentioned it will likely be at chipa but we're going to have a single site for that and have about eight weeks of programs with a middle school focus and and help middle schoolers kind of feel like they're in a middle school program as opposed to older kids in an elementary program uh high school programs um a lot of the programs we have um either the academic ones um drivered is pretty popular in the summer um now with some of the changes in the state laws online and in person so we'll maintain a couple of in-person classes for students that need the classroom component and they may also take it um online um with a provider we work with and there's other ones in our area um a number of Sports Camps and clinics that are starting to come in just a lot of times they the sports um kind of that preseason prep or opportunities for um added um strength and condition programs the weight rooms will be open and I know those are popular with um athletes or just students in general that like to um work out over that time um We are continuing with an overnight summer camp that we are offering in early August for kind of Upper Elementary Early Middle School um students and that will be in our regular um catalog we'll have more information on that coming up and then another big program we have Summer music um our Summer band and Orchestra program will continue with that that really follows that July 7th through the 31st program with um a big concert uh final season concert uh either the 30th or the 31st and uh band I know is planning on their Valley Fair trip which I can say is almost annual I think it's going on the third year uh pretty popular with that but there's beginning opportunities for students um daytime and evening opportunities across the district and then we're working on where middle school will be with um High View being closed but have opportunities at um a number of uh schools for that and then lastly something that we don't directly have but we hosted in our schools we will have uh summer power or school age child care with the YMCA at four of our schools this summer um typically it would been three schools but the need and the demand has been higher so we we moved it up to three or from three schools to four last summer and the YMCA has anticipating um pretty high demand and I think that aligns with more families either returning back to the offices or needing child care or just choosing to have an option for their students and then um just with this as well um I know often questions come up we have a lot of programs and we're pretty proud of what we offer but in our community we're lucky there are a lot of other programs that are city park and Rex program uh Community Partners with youth and a number of different youth serving Service uh youth serving organizations in our community offer so it's something that um a lot of uh great opportunities for kids during the summer when we're not in session great any questions or just one comment for uh the board as a reminder and for the public like why aren't we at High View it's our geothermal project so if you remember we we're wrapping up at irell we're moving to High View so that summer programming is getting moved around a little bit as those projects unfold over the next couple years I apologize I can't remember um transportation to a lot of these uh uh Pro I mean we we offer so much and thank you so much for how much we offer it's just incredible um is there transportation services for a lot of these things yep school esy some of those programs yep for sure okay great all right any other questions all right thank you Carl thank you Ryan for being here for the updates thank you thanks uh next up is 7.1 superintendent uh midyear evaluation um um so every uh midy year um the board um evaluates um superintendent uh Lennox and um you know compares to where he and the cabinet are um to the district operational plan goals and so um Heidi and I had the pleasure of meeting with um Chris was it earlier it was earlier this week already I'm like yeah earlier this week and so Heidi is gonna um provide um a brief report um about our discussion great thanks danan uh as Dan mentioned uh twice a year the board members uh complete an evaluation on um Chris's progress um towards our district operational goals um and especially the pro progress towards the outcomes of those um as a board we oper operate on policy governance and we uh supervise one employee who we uh we then um allow to manage all of the schools and staff and all the programs um I'm just going to give a very quick overview and summary of um the com ments that um were on this Board review I think some of the highlights for us for this year were um an ongoing connection with families and community that we noticed um uh really um looking at improving and and uh looking at student outcomes in all of our programs um we appreciate involving different stakeholders in each of our different um operational goals and we noticed that Chris and his team do a great job um with strategic long-range intentional planning especially this year around our um dop goals around enrollment and Technology security and the audit that we had last year um just personal and Leadership comments we all feel like uh Chris is a proactive professional leader uh we appreciate his um proactiveness and his um in his uh eye on fiscal planning and note that uh we're a district that's in a really healthy place right now and we appreciate that and um just are appreciative of all that you do and staff um that you manage across all of our programs in schools so thanks you yeah thank you all right moving on to item 7.2 updates um Jim uh any updates for amsd and legislative oh yes the um the um down at the capital this week uh the house representatives are back in session there was an agreement there so we're look forward to working with them as they move forward amd's priorities remain the same uh additions to the general formula um more um aid for special ad and ESL um supplements for school safety um more flexibility and funding to implement the read act which is very important to all of us and so um because it's a little compacted this year um it's going to be kind of lively and see if they actually uh finish up on time in um late May so um we expect a lot of action so thank you and we have an amsd meeting tomorrow morning so all right thank you Jim shaa uh any uh Northeast Metro 916 updates yeah so the 916 School Board met last night uh for our February meeting and we um February is Career and Technical education month so we got to hear from the principal of the career and tech ed programs for 916 um and we got to hear from a student who is a High School junior at Stillwater School schs he's in the dental program so he got to talk to us about what he does in that dental program and then what his plans are um to continue his education in the dental field um so Mountainview has 89 students that participate in Cent technical education programs through 916 um and they offer 20 different programs everything from um EMT to the dental program to diesel mechanic program so they offer a wide variety of uh programs that our district students get to participate in so um it was a really um nice to hear about all the things that go on over there and then we talked about the um there are four intermediate school districts who come together to decide on their legislative priorities um so we got to hear about the legislative priorities that impact our um Intermediate School Districts um and then we will meet again um next month great thank you for the update um now we have item 7.3 uh Schoolboard member updates uh anybody have anything that they would like to share I mean we've talked about it a lot tonight but I uh had the opportunity to go to the SEC music festival for the very first time this year um and I I was absolutely blown away and not not just by the the level of precision and heart um but also with the incredible diversity how many different schools and how many um different types um of of students and just my heart just exploded with um with just such a an incredible group of young humans uh out there doing their thing and you know the Arts and music are incredibly important and and so it was just all around very heartwarming I had a chance to to drag my husband along uh and he enjoyed it as much as I did so um we will be going back next year and taking every opportunity we can um to see the choir and Orchestra and band and just wow wow thank you to all the students and all the families you know for for that commitment we we attempted to have both of our kids um do music lessons and such and one made it through one summer program thank goodness for the summer program and she handed us her trumpet at the end and said she was finished but our other daughter did years and years of of violin and um you know my my heart kind of breaks that that she didn't continue that all the way through high school cuz what an experience but those early years were hard on our ears so thank you to the parents for putting up with that and getting through that so these students can uh perform like they did thank you Alissa as long as we're talking about fantastic music programs in msew public schools the Winter Music of the Night um is going to be Saturday February 15th at 5 o'clock at iron Dale um if you have not seen the winter drum line from Irondale it is incredible um and it it will it will not disappoint I guarantee it'll be worth the price of admission so um Saturday February 15th 5:00 at aale right I'll just chime in I know there's lots of programs going on in our schools right now I've gotten several different requests to volunteer at different things so um I just want to commend all of our Educators who are doing those extra initiatives with their students um I was able to go to Sunnyside Elementary yesterday for I think my fourth year in interview fifth grade students for their bis toown roles and it's always a highlight to read their resumés um their uh what they the things that they excel at and include on their resumes as 10 year olds is just amazing and um I was I was actually really really impressed by the students that I interviewed with um yesterday um every single one of them thanked me for my time and thanked me for coming and participating um so anyway it's it's really fun to be in the schools and see these extra things I know edgewood's doing their History Fair um right now anyway there's just lots of extra things and I appreciate so much when um the staff takes that extra time to plan those things um and that require uh outside of class preparation for them so and piggy backing off of that I know I already went but I'm I gotta go again um on Sunday morning I got to um judge the high school Deca competition for the first time and that was also just amazing so both of these things I got to do on Sunday um her birthday which yes also happened to be my birthday and people were like what you were working on your birthday I was like there is no other place I'd rather be um it was absolutely amazing and fun and you know all levels of um you know preparedness and skill and and experience there um and I think that's one of the things that is so great is that we can support these these students to to start something and then to follow it through and to see the growth in four years is just incredible so I begged them to please invite me back uh for next year to judge uh and they said they would so um just yeah so much programming so many opportunities um just I love our district I agree I was really pleased to hear when the students came to report that they're doing so many wonderful things um in the community and I loved that they mentioned black history month because I'd be remissed if I didn't say uh it's of course Black History Month and and I want to acknowledge that uh and and encourage the folks in our community to go support a black business uh you know go eat at a a restaurant that's that's owned by uh members of our black community uh buy purchase a book from a black author um expand expand the horizons but um yeah do something to celebrate and enjoy this month because uh certainly something to celebrate amen I still have my Ms view t-shirt that was made when my daughter took African-American history and it says black history is American history and um so I uh I I was actually going to wear it to the board meeting but it's a little chilly out tonight so I opted for a jacket but uh yeah please do something to celebrate because it is a a phenomenal month it's a short month but uh get out there and celebrate celebrate and learn learn learn something new this this month yeah and to build on something you love said I uh for MLK Day the m and shw lions had an event over at shiew Community Center and they made blankets for folks they packed up um packets of laundry detergents snack bags folks who were less for folks less fortunate and um the great thing was is there was just a ton of kids there there was about 10 12 kids from elementary school a lot of the Valentine Hills kids I knew there MSU kids Irondale kids they were there uh helping out and you know it is you know it's January and February you know you'll find me at ice hockey so uh the SEC Music Festival was fabulous I I I I love Fantasia by the band I loved America the Beautiful by the choir I loved kmen by the orchestra it was just fantastic and also I attended um also full of M and Irondale kids volunteering something called play for Patrick there's a hard screening uh program in which uh people um get screened for um heart defects that are very very hard to find and um it's supported by the schoonover family who's been a family business out here for a number of years and supports a lot of our youth activities in the community but it was just great to see a bunch of volunteers there too and uh that our uh schools uh serve the community in a lot of ways so was over at High View so that was wonderful so thank you thank you um I also attended the SEC um music festival and I too um caught a hockey game game um the Irondale Boys Hockey game a couple Saturdays ago so I'm trying to get there um all in the public so um thank you everyone for uh joining if there's nothing else to come before the board um this meeting is adjourned e e