All right. I'd like to call to order the Independent School Board uh District 622 business meeting um for December 16th. I'd like to call that to order. And first we have our pledge of allegiance. Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. And uh first we have the approval of the agenda. >> Second. >> All right. First by Yenner. Second by Livingston. All those in favor? >> I >> I. >> All right. Um the agenda u has been approved. And uh next we have public comment. We have uh three uh individuals tonight. Uh first uh we have um let's see actually one second. Um, public comment is an opportunity for the public to comment on items. Speakers um have registered uh by completing the public comment signup sheet. Um, they need to state their name and they will have three minutes uh to speak on a topic. And uh so we do have three people and Peter Provost is our first individual. I have a kind of a theater voice. So, >> yes, all the fast viewing audience. Well, I just came away from broadcasting hockey games over at the super rink. So, what I'm here today to uh talk about is um the report that was at the last uh meeting uh presented by Dr. Amy Lutner and about the new curriculum, the CACR. And I'm concerned about what is going to define civic readiness. To me, looking at this young man right here, that's the definition of student of of readiness. Somebody who's involved, who's aware, who's taking time, you know, that he could be playing video games or doing anything else, but he's here. And I respect that. And I hope that that this new curriculum encourages that kind of behavior. Great example. Again, hopefully that there's some uh more history being taught as part of this civic readiness. Um and again, we hope that it's always remembered that we don't want to blur the line between teaching what to think and focusing on how to think. Thank you for your time. >> Next, we have uh Gary Templ. Good evening board members and superintendent. My name is Gary Templ and I'm a resident of Maplewood. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I want to speak about accountability and oversight, particularly when district programs are not meeting their stated goals. At recent board meetings, we heard multiple presenter presenters acknowledge certain action ben benchmarks or outcomes that were not met. While I appreciate transparency in reporting these results, I was concerned that there was very little follow-up discussion from the board. When programs funded by taxpayers are falling short, I believe it is appropriate and necessary for board members to ask questions such as why were the goals not met? What specifically will change moving forward? How will success be measured next time? And at what point do we re re-evaluate whether a program should continue at all? Without those questions being asked publicly, parents and community members are left unsure whether under performing programs are being meaningfully addressed or simply carried forward. I understand that some work happens in committees or outside of regular meetings. However, when shortcomings are presented in a public forum, it is reasonable for the public to also hear how the board is holding programs accountable in response. I want to be clear. This is not a criticism for the sake of criticism. I am a firm believer that if a program is not working, it should either be improved with clear corrective action or responsibly discontinued. Continuing programs without evidence of effectiveness does not serve students, parents or taxpayers. Strong governance requires more than receiving reports. It requires engagement, oversight, and follow-through. Asking tough questions is not negative. It is a It is part of responsible leadership. I respectfully ask the board to consider increasing transparency around how underperforming programs are being reviewed, corrected, or re-evaluated so the community can have confidence that student outcomes and resources are being treated with the seriousness they deserve. Thank you for your time and your service. Thank you. Next we have Carla Nelson. >> Good afternoon board members, chair, superintendent. My name is Carl Nelson and I'm a resident of Maplewood. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. So, I'm here to address three important things. Process, inclusion, and our student well-being. You may remember at the last board meeting, I shared my concerns about union influence in our schoolboard elections and about our Christian families experiencing their beliefs not being heard or even being diminished. I appreciate hearing the superintendent and another board member um affirming that yes, the Christian viewpoint, the Christian voice is welcomed in our 622 community. That acknowledgement mattered and thank you. However, a private email exchange with a board member raised concern for me. And this is not a personal attack or issue, but one on process and inclusion. making sure our policies are fair and everyone is included. I had asked a question about the agenda and the lack of discussion after we were told certain programs were not producing results. In that exchange, I noticed pronouns included an inofficial email signature and I respectfully asked why that was necessary in a professional governance related communication. I was informed that conversation would not be ended and a follow-up policy question went unanswered. This experience has left me asking whether what is said publicly that Christian voices are welcomed is always reflected privately in practice. From the perspective of many Christian families, it can feel as though lower values and beliefs are not allowed in the public space and this leaves us feeling undervalued and disrespected. I would also excuse me like clarity. At a previous meeting, I had submitted written requests for policy changes from this podium and have not received any response. So, I'm simply asking how policy requests from the public are acknowledged and what kind of response, if any, should be expected. Ultimately, my reason for being here and most importantly is the well-being of our children. Our children are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and hopelessness. Children thrive with clarity, consistency, and a stable understanding of reality. When foundational truths are treated as subjective or fluid, it can create confusion and stress for young impressionable minds. For many families, including those in the Christian community, belief in objective truth about human nature, it's not political. It's protective. It provides grounding and stability for children who already are struggling. Finally, I would like to raise the policy question. What is District 622's policy regarding the use of pronouns and official email signature lines? In a governing context, neutrality does matter. Maintaining neutral signature lines would help ensure all families feel respected. I raise these concerns because I want our district to be to be a place where all families, religion and non-religious alike, know they are heard and are valued. Thank you for your time, the opportunity to speak. I wish you all a very happy holiday and for those of you that will be selling the birth of Jesus, merry Christmas. >> I thank you. That concludes public comment. Um and um for the um board uh members uh who recently just joined us um we will uh do Sam's oath of office uh at the end of our meeting. Um and but Sam is able to uh vote on on uh agenda items um during the meeting. Um, next we have our make a point. Make a point. I'm sorry, Kayla. Just to note that um the oath of office office is ceremonial, but Sam's a voting member of our school board from the day he signed all the paperwork. So, just letting you know by by putting that later doesn't mean he can't vote on things because he's already an elected member and that that part is ceremonial. >> You brought cake. Um, now we move on to the consent agenda. Uh, the consent agenda consists of routine items that are acted on in a single consolidated motion without poor discussion. Board members have the option of pulling items off the consent agenda if they wish to discuss them or to consider them individually. Tonight's on the agenda we have a the minutes of the November 18th, 2025 business meeting. B. The minutes of the December 9th, 2025 work study session. C. routine personnel. D. Bid award. E. Bid calendar. F. Change orders. G. Dispersements. And H. Proposal for revise review and comment. Um, be it resolved by the school board of independent school district number 62 that consent to item uh consent agenda items VA through BHB approved as written and a copy of the agenda items is attached to the minutes. Can I please get a motion and a second to approve? >> Uh, so moved. Uh, first by Yenner and second by Livingston. Um all in favor please say I >> any oppose say n. All right. Um so the consent agenda has been approved and next we will go on to reports and we'll start with our student schoolboard representatives and tonight um we uh have ued Roskol from North St. Paul High School. >> Good afternoon everybody. Unfortunately, Scarlet is not able to attend because she's feeling sick. So, I will be doing her her update presentation and then I'll be doing mine. Thank you. Um, from Scarlet, I'm sorry I couldn't be here today. I've been very sick and came down with the fever that has kept me out for most of the day. Now, her our winter band concert was held on December 11th, and I heard it was a great success. The students have had a lot of fun and enjoyed performing and listening to music to Christmas music before heading into winter break. Holiday helping hands was an extremely fun and meaningful experience. Students dressed up as elves and some even dressed as Santa. Student council worked collaboratively to deliver presents to children who needed the most. Although extremely cold, everyone geared up and helped divide and distribute the food that was provided by the food shelter. The boys hockey team has a game this Thursday at 600 p.m. at home against Simlin. The girls dance team competed this past weekend in Anoka. Although I have not yet heard the results, the girls basketball team played North this past Friday. I believe we won, but I was unable to find the final score. The boys basketball team has a home game against St. Thomas Academy, which would be the home opener. Our team is currently ranked third in class 4A and has started the season with a 2 and zero record. Hopefully, we can make it 3 and zero on Thursday. Our North Oh, sorry guys. Our National Honor Society Titan of the Tri is Derek Ramirez and Amy Fam. Congratulations to these students and all their hard efforts this first trimester. Now, a personal message from Scarlet. I also want to take a moment to thank Superintendent Tutio for reaching out to the ISD 62 faculty and staff. As many of us are aware, the Trump administration has increased the presence of federal ICE agents in Minnesota. This past weekend, agents were reported at Maplewood Mall where approximately five to six individuals were arrested. I want to address something I have seen online from Tartan students. While the school district cannot prevent or interfere in what students post online, I have seen multiple threads where students express support for ICE arrests in ways that target Hispanic communities as well as posts that included racist language toward Muslim minority groups. Some of these posts included racial slurs, which is deeply concerning. I would like to bring forward an idea that the Adina School District has promoted. Their district stated that students who made light of ICE threats or publicly supported actions that targeted or harmed marginalized communities would face disciplinary action. While some may argue that this limits free speech, I believe it is an important step forward towards protecting students and fostering a safer, more inclusive environment. I am bringing this forward at this schoolboard meeting in hopes that you will consider implementing a similar approach. Okay. And now I will be giving my speech. Um so as it is the start of winter um winter sports also begin. I don't have much to say about that because as I said they have just begun. I'll probably have more by the mid no early spring and end of winter. Um at North many of our clubs such as Black Student Union, Asian Student Alliance, National Honor Society, and Student Council are planning for events after winter break, which is going to be a very busy time, especially for student council and NHS. And the activities office is giving a ticket to a free admission, no, a free admission ticket to any home event if a staff member sees you doing well. in the environment. This is what the ticket looks like. On December 17, our show choir will have a showcase that runs from 6 to 8:30. They will have a performance at 7:00 p.m. And I also heard there will be a silent auction before. Now, on December 18th from 5 to 8:00 p.m., Asian Student Alliance will be hosting a M New Year celebration. Games will begin at 4:00 and performances at 4:45 through 6:30 in the auditorium. Lastly, there will be a free dinner in the cafeteria at 6:30. I heard last year that the food was delicious. And as it is our last week before winter break, we also have our spirit week. On Monday was white out. Tuesday was twin day. I was matching with um a friend I hopefully will run as vice president with for student council. On Wednesday it was tomorrow it's going to be dress as a winter sport and on Thursday it will be character day and Friday the best day I think will be PJ day. Now, um, Nor NHS and Sukco went on a trip on December 9th to feed my starving children, and we packaged 23,760 meals, which is enough to feed 65 kids for a full year. Thankfully, I was able to attend and help out with the packaging. While I was there, I actually realized how grateful I am that this district gives us three meals, free meals from our schools. And it also made made me realize how much we take it for granted. Now, the Minnesota High School League has a program that is created to recognize students and these students are picked on the basis that they have shown excellence in community education and leadership. a unique recognition program that is designed exclusively for Minnesota high school juniors who are active in school activities, leaders in their school, and demonstrate a strong commitment to community service. This year's winners at North High School are Lindsay Lamb and Brody Schulz. Congratulations to them. Now, my turn. Finally, I would like to address a recent and troubling situation. I'm sure many of us are aware that the Trump administration has deployed an additional 100 ICE agents to Minnesota. This decision has had a direct impact on minority communities including the community within this district. It has created widespread fear, anger and uncertaint certainty. I speak not only as a witness but as someone who has been directly affected. Many of many of us now feel compelled compelled to carry our passports or identification at all times out of fear of encountering ICE. As students, we have been forced to become overly aware of our surroundings. In addition to the already existing fear of school violence, we now have to carry another burden, which is the fear that as children of immigrants, we will return home to find our families gone with no explanation and no warning whatsoever. I am grateful that Superintendent Mutosio acknowledged this fear and affirmed that she along with the district education building cares about the well-being of our students, families, and staff. That message mattered and it was necessary. However, words alone are not enough. My question to the school board and to the district as a whole is this. What actions will be taken to protect students from discrimination and intimidation within school properties? While in this country, people have a constitutional right to support these policies under freedom of speech. That right does not extend to creating hostile, unsafe or discriminatory environments, especially in schools. Schools must remain a place of safety, dignity, dignity, and learning for all students regardless of immigration status, race, or background. I am asking this district to clearly define how we will prevent discrimination and respond to harmful behavior and actively protect the students who are living in fear every single day. Silence and in action are not neutral. They send a message. And right now, our students need to know that this district will stand firm on the side of their safety and their rights. Thank you. >> U Thank you, student board repos. And uh well done on your reports. Thank you for presenting Scarlet and uh we all all wish her the best and hope she feels well soon. Uh was there any questions? Uh um yes, Charlotte. >> Yes. So, thank you uh for presenting for you and Scarlet. Double presentation. You did a great job. Um uh my question is about uh I know that you were thanking um superintendent for speaking words. Can you uh tell us a little bit about some of the fears that are happening in the student community and are there having to bring their passport, proof of citizenship to school and all that? What is it doing to our students? Um and I know because >> I also have to do the same thing. >> I I literally cuz I speak with an accent. I even brought my passport today just in case. So, uh, can you tell us the effect of what it's doing to the community? And also, I know we're not supposed to answer students, but >> Oh, yeah. We can later on >> board table. Absolutely. I'm happy to speak to that, too. >> Yeah. I need you to speak on that. >> Yeah. That's why my mic is on. I'm ready for you. >> Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, and also, I wanted to know on character day, what are you going to wear? What are you going to wear for character day? I was probably thinking Batman. >> Nice. Love it. >> Um, now and to answer your question of fear, there has been fear within the district. Me myself too. It's hard to admit, but I have been a bit scared because I am the child of immigrants. >> I myself also had to bring my passport because >> Mhm. because uh I saw a post earlier before I came here that Ice was in Maplewood across the house from one of my friends. So, am I scared? Yes. Am I mad? Yes. I feel a lot of emotions towards this and I know a lot of people within our community do. Just the other week, one of our friends who takes PS, she was at Bethl University. Uh Ice was at Bethl as last week. If many of you did not know, my dad himself works and he sees ice every single day because he works in downtown St. Paul, Minneapolis. So, he has to deal with that chaos. And I have seen at my church and at school that many students of the minority community have been absent. and I have texted them personally and it is due to the fact that they they and their parents are afraid of encountering ICE or just they just have a fear that they won't see their kids or families again. Um I know a lot of people that have stopped working because of ice. A lot of people that don't go to buy groceries anymore because of ice at stores. My sister the other day I asked to hang out. She said no because she was going to be buying groceries for a lot of people that can't. Um, but yeah, that's a lot of like emotions within the community. >> It is. I'm happy to add a little bit to this as well. And you know, one thing that we've been really working on, and this has been, you know, we're a school district with 11,000 students, 2,000 employees, and the number one email we're all been getting is questions about how are we going to do more and support our students and our families and our staff. And I think in addition to the real legitimate fear of ICE detentions is really more the rhetoric and and what you um or Scarlet had said in your message about the online bullying and all of that messaging. I will say loud and clear, in fact, we have not heard those messages yet about bullying between students about this. So, I'm going to remind everybody, always report any kind of time a student is harassed or bullied or threatened, whether it's at school, whether it's online, if it's got a nexus to the school, if you're in classes together, it's our job. We have we have an ability to intervene and support. And um just as a reminder for everyone out there, we do have our anonymous tip line. And so even if people don't want to report their own name, in fact it it truly is anonymous because there's been times where an anonymous tip comes in. I'm like, "We need more information from that tipster." And I asked Josh and I remember I came to you and I said, "Is there any way to really find out who sent it?" And they're like, "No, it truly is anonymous. We have no way on the back end to find out." So you're protected. if you have a concern and um tips come in from staff, from students, from parents, it the the tip line is open. That tip line, as our principal sitting here could tell you, pings them in the middle of the night if a tip comes in from one of their buildings. Um and so it really is about letting us know wherever when everything is happening. Um when last week there was a a real intentional targeting of our Somali community in speaking with our Somali a number of Somali staff and families there's not been a fear of ICE detention so much because the vast majority of our Somali community are US citizens but the fear among families is especially strong for the rhetoric that might make other people hate their child or have, you know, saying things that are cruel or mean or misrepresented, misguided. And there's a lot of fear among parents um of those that are documented families. There's just there's also that fear. There's also a fear among families. We've been really looking at attendance of our students. I would say in the last week more than ever we've seen many students um staying at home and not coming to school and um as you know and as we talk about a big cornerstone of our achievement and progress in our school system is tied to student attendance which has been from the pandemic a really slow and progressive rebuild of strong student attendance And this year we're off to as you'll hear um this evening we're off to some really strong starts this school year with a lot of different our programs which as you know from this time forward you spend a lot of time in October and November getting the data and December on we start talking about how we're addressing all these areas. So that actually is a routine part of how we do our data in presentations and schoolboard meetings. But I will tell you, it's just been kind of a gut punch to see such great progress suddenly falling apart a little bit in terms of student attendance anyway. And so just trying to stay vigilant. Um, our message to families has been, please communicate with your school administrators, your teachers, your school counselors, social workers, whomever, and talk to us about what's happening for you so that we can try to help figure out ways to get kids in school and keep stability in our schools for our students. And I'll tell you, as a parent, my my children are also dual citizens, Colombia and the United States, and they are also having to do the same thing. We have these conversations all the time because there's a lot of misidentification happening out there as well and there's just a lot of fear. And so I think the best thing we can do is just make sure that we're all policing um mean or cruel or harassing behavior and we all try to be very vigilant to it. But we need students to tell us if something is happening. We need to continue to support families and say and make sure we have plans in place if someone has concerns. But it's a real fear and for parents they do have fears. Some parents do have fears of sending their kids to school and then at the end of the day their kids going home and not having anyone there to greet them. And um we've been really encouraging families please um send in additional contact information for families, neighbors, people you trust if you are in if you're concerned about that. The most the most important thing is strong communication with schools. And so we're going to continue to work on those areas and we love suggestions from our students of how we can make things better as well because you are the future and and we want you to have a really successful school experience irregardless. >> Thank you Christine and Nancy would like to say something. >> Um yeah I thought your report was really powerful and brave. Thank you for speaking up. This is why we have student at our board meeting. I think it's really important for us to hear directly from from students. Um I now ICE does not take children, right? There's not a definitive answer on that. We have not heard of any experiences in at least among metro area school districts. Um as superintendents, we're always talking to each other and we're always hearing, you know, um through the grapevine what's happening. They're not often in not everything makes it into the news stories. So, it's kind of word of mouth, but I have not been made aware of any situations like that. Of course, it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. I have I'm not aware of any of those situations happening yet. They haven't been brought to my attention if that's the case. And um according to your last communication with with us, um ICE agents are not welcomed into the schools. Correct. Well, ICE agents have to have a um a judicial warrant signed by a judge in order to enter any facility or any any building. And so um with we actually have in any of our policy, even if it's law enforcement that comes in, we always contact families when someone's wanting to talk to a minor without their parent there. We always make sure families know that. Um that's kind of our procedure with everything, you know what I mean? And so we do not have ICE agents um are not going to be allowed to walk into school hallways and start looking for people. Um they wouldn't know who they're looking for anyway. I mean in a high school of 1700 children, you know, it's not going to be a productive use of time. And we're really about protecting learning time and keeping anxiety and keeping school feeling safe and and staying on track for learning. That's what we're here for. Um, so are we most concerned about adults in the building, staff, um, who might be targeted? >> No, my main concern is absenteeism of students right now. If you want to know my opinion, I mean, I'm not, we have not had experiences with, um, staff in our buildings being targeted either. Um, as a reminder, for somebody to work in one of our school systems, they have to be licensed to work in the in the United States. have to have papers showing that they are eligible for employment in the US. So really that's not been a concern for us about staff. I think the biggest concern right now is the ripple effect of anxiety that's kind of affecting everybody. Um we have staff worrying about students and families. We have students and families worried about sending children to school. We have had families um scooped up in in um some of the ICE rates and had to navigate situations for high school students. You know, um we had a student at one of our schools that parents were um one parent was deported, the other couldn't afford to stay without and the child wanted to finish high school here, but didn't have a way to do so without staying with family. So, that student is no longer in our school district. And it's it's not just hard for the family, but all the friends and students and classmates of that child are grieving this. And it just adds this additional fear and anxiety. And as we know um was mentioned earlier, our students already have a lot of anxiety just being teenagers in a modern world with social media and everything. And it's really um we're very concerned about the impact all this can have on learning, attendance, learning, achievement, college and career readiness, all of it. Because when people miss school, it sets us back. It sets them back. Just just a followup comment. Um this conversation is just chilling. Mhm. Um, I have four grandchildren whose father is from Egypt and he used to tell me about situations where unmarked cars with tinted windows and and u masks would scoop people off the streets in Cairo and you wouldn't see them for weeks. And of course, we were like, well, thank God we're in the United States of America. Doesn't happen here. It does happen here and is happening. So, anyway, >> thanks. >> Thank you, Nancy. Uh, anyone else? Go ahead, uh, Katie. >> Yeah, I just wanted to thank you again, Yu, and thank you, Scarlet, for um sending that in in case you're watching. I feel better, too. Um, and I um am also um really concerned and but also really appreciate that Scarlet brought up the potential um bullying and harassment that's happening. And so I looked up our policy. It's policy 514. And it does extend um to an act of bullying by use of electronic technology off school premises that substantially and materially disrupts student learning or the school environment. And so I'm really glad that we have that policy in place already. And I I know that our principles and um um admin teams are are going to be um uh diligent about protecting students um in this time and in this area and and in general. Um, so thank you for that and have a good spirit week. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Katie. Um, and Sam, go ahead, Charlie. >> I'll go first. Thank you. Um, I just want to say thank you to Scarlet. Thank you, um, as well for sharing your concerns. Um, I want to acknowledge your concerns. Um, it deeply concerns me that our students and their families are afraid to leave their homes. Uh, no one should have to travel around with their passports. I think that is deeply concerning and sad that that's where we're at right now. Um, all of our students, no matter who they are, what they look like, where they come from, uh, what religion they practice, are all welcome in ISTD 622 and in our buildings. Um, you all belong here. And um you know, you should all be excited to come to school to come to school and to learn and to be excited about things like spirit week versus being concerned about um ice. Um so I just want to say thank you again for sharing those concerns and for sharing your experience. >> Um and I also hope that you have a good spirit week as well. So >> thank you. >> Great. And uh um as Oh, and Charlotte too. Sorry, Charlotte. Oh, well, I was just going to add that uh all that anxiety and stress uh does add to uh mental health. I know that with my son, he is a young man, tall looks Somali, even though he's a US citizen. I told him to carry his uh US citizen identification because I don't want him it's my nightmare that he's going to s spend a night in jail because uh for no reason. >> Yes. Um so it's it's it's going to be more damaging to him spending in in jail. So, and and the mental health toll on everybody who's gone through this. And I'm just wondering what kind of resources is the maybe the federal government uh that's sending uh these individuals. Maybe the school district can say something about the toll that it's taking on families >> and uh try to I know they're not going to fix it, but let's try to fix it. Well, and we're getting a lot of inquiries. Um, we've been, you know, we always have regular ongoing conversations with our elected legislators, and that's a conversation that's been coming up a lot from our elected officials asking, you know, what's the impact? Um, how can we help? And, you know, we've always had a long a big need for mental health supports in our schools. And we've worked really hard to take the funds we do get to offer very high more mental health supports I would say in our district than in a lot of places. But we apply for every grant we can. We're constantly looking for more resources to make sure that students have ability to talk to someone when they're feeling anxious and and worried. Um, and I think our student affinity groups also help with students can talk to each other and problem solve together and um, be supports for themselves. That's also really important. And so um, shout out to all of our all of our staff who stay after school to support after school clubs and activities and gatherings of students because all of their extra time means the world to giving students that opportunity for those to be together and navigate problems together. All right. Thank you. Um and then we'll move on um to our next reports and we'll have um Christine um go ahead and start off. >> I will just kick it off. We're going to in just a moment here be hearing from um our two middle school principles. And I just wanted to do a reminder that in the last few years, we've been kind of working this cycle in um October and November, we're getting deep dives into a lot of data that comes through with endofear data that that gets finalized over the summer from MDE in terms of standardized achievement testing, um graduation data, which we know doesn't come out until officially until like almost nine months, 10 months after graduations happen. um because some kids graduate over the summer months. And so, as a reminder, every fall, we begin with deep dives into the data. And then every month, beginning in December, we start doing deep dives into what's happening on the ground level to work within this data, analyze what's happening, and move programs forward. This month, we're hearing from our middle school staff, our middle school principles about the work they're doing to address um academic attendance challenges and needs in our buildings. And next month, you'll be hearing from our high school principles. And I can't remember the order, but we have our elementaryaries principles will be coming to meet with you and share their work. Early learning will be coming. Um you hear from adult basic education. All the different groups come through at different times in the year. And so, um, kudos to our middle school principles to be the first ones to kick off this round of cycles, but, um, we're really looking forward to it. And I'm going to turn it over to assistant superintendent Andy Beaton. Um, he oversees our secondary programs and he will do a proper introduction, but I just wanted to remind you of how we um, progress through every calendar year looking at our our data and program reviews. Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you, Superintendent Tuchio, uh, Jerry Anderson, members of the board. thanks for the opportunity to uh showcase the outstanding work that our middle schools are doing. And we have two outstanding principles that are here to share their work. And we're doing it this a little bit differently this year. So, I wanted to make sure I was able to introduce these ideas to you like I did at the work session. Um the work you're going to hear is going to be focused on our strategic plan, which is what all of our principles do and all our schools do to align our metrics and our efforts around the strategic plan. But a piece that we added uh this year and I've been talking to uh secondary principles about this idea is comes from a some work from a gentleman named John Tanner and he he calls this work benefits-based uh accountability. So it goes beyond the metrics to talk really about what the hopes and dreams are for families. And those of us that uh are parents and have kids, we think about what we want from schools. Um what do we really want? what are our hopes and dreams for how our students will go through elementary, middle, and high school and the outcomes they will have. And it goes beyond the metrics. It goes into some language that I think we can all understand. So tonight, as our middle school principles are presenting, they're going to be talking about the strategic plan, which you can see on the left, but you can see some key pillars that Tanner outlines. And these these uh pillars are the things that in his research, longitudinal research around the country are saying this is what parents want from schools. So you're going to hear this combination of strategic plan and some of these key ideas from our principles tonight. So bottom line, what you'll hear is in relation to the strategic plan and what really matters to families, how are we doing? How are we doing in our schools? And then also you're going to hear about the work uh that is happening in schools which is really extraordinary when you see the number of things that are happening to address these key questions. So with that I'm going to invite uh principal Jeff Kabat and principal Jill McClosic to come up and share about their schools. Well, since we last presented, I know there's a couple new board members, so maybe just some quick introductions here. Uh, my name is Jeff Kavitt, and I'm in my third year as principal at Sky View Middle School. Uh, I'm also a proud Oakdale resident and 62 parent. I have a fifth grader at Carver and an eighth grader uh at Sky View as well. Um, and just grateful to all of you for the opportunity to present tonight. >> Previous teacher, >> previous Tartan High School English teacher. That's right. >> Is this on? >> It is. >> Okay, great. And I'm Jill McClowsich and I'm the principal at John Glenn Middle School. And I am proud to say I've spent my entire educational career in district 622. I started out as a teacher at Cow and then transitioned to John Glenn to Maplewood and then back to John Glenn. And I've had the pleasure of serving at John Glenn for 13 or 14 years as a principal or dean of students. We've chosen four elements of benefits-based accountability to present to you tonight um on work that is going on in both schools as well as some outcomes that we've been able to accomplish. The first connects directly to our strategic plan component of academic achievement and that is student learning. Both foundational skills of reading and math as well as the opportunity to build the skills in students especially in our case as they move on to high school to do deeper learning connected to their own personal interests. We're pleased with our progress at John Glenn in literacy and math and are focused on continuing to make gains for years into the future. Our MCA reading proficiency went up in all areas last year in sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade. And overall, we met our school improvement goals in sixth grade and eighth grade in reading. And overall, our MCA math proficiency went up in many areas as well. Our sixth grade and our eighth grade went up as well as we had an overall increase in our proficiency in math. Our sixth grade and our eighth grade met our school improvement um plan goals and we came very close in our overall math goal. As we continue with this year, we want that momentum to continue. And so some of the things we're doing to ensure that our students are continuing to grow in all areas are we took a look at adding some literacy opportunities for our students as we transitioned from a block schedule to a six period day. Um right now our classes are 50 to 53 minutes. And what we did in sixth grade is we added a literacy six class which is for sixth graders in addition to their regular language arts class and that happens every other day all year. And in seventh grade we added a communications class to continue to work on those literacy skills and that is a trimester class in addition to their 53minute ELA class. We also added some requirements in technology classes and have added some math skills. some more math skills into those classes. And we continue to work across the board in incorporating AVID strategies like speaking, writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading into all areas. We're also continuing to focus on responding to individual student data. Whether this is classroom data or data data from assessments like FastBridge, we're using that data to inform our daily instruction and to differentiate our instruction to meet the needs of kids. We're also continuing to add assessment retakes so students if they do not do as well as they would like to on an assessment, they can retake those assessments. We're continuing with reading intervention and looking at data to identify students in need of reading intervention. and we continue to have afterchool opportunities in language arts and math for our students. >> Before talking about some of our outcomes at Sky View, I want to take just a couple minutes to remind you of some of the content of our presentations from the last two years, especially as it pertains to student achievement in reading and in math. So over the last two years, we've stood up here and we've talked to you about the new curriculum uh that has been adopted by this board and implemented in secondary schools in this district. My perspectives in language arts and illustrative mathematics and math. Uh after many years of no new curriculum and teachers writing their own lesson plans, this board upon the recommendation of teaching and learning approved these two new curriculum to be implemented. We also have been able to use online intervention tools like success maker and language arts and math where teachers based on the grade data that they collect can target students with specific additional exercises in their areas in reading and math in which they have the greatest need. Uh those tools uh are ones that we have discussed in front of this board. Jill mentioned fastbridge learning, the decision by this district to move to sixth through 8th graders similar to their elementary counterparts being assessed three times a year on their grade level knowledge in math and reading. all tools that we've discussed along with something we introduced you to last year that was done in partnership with our teaching and learning department which was a framework for teachers in their collaborative meetings particularly our reading and math teachers to discuss student learning around the standards that are assessed on our state MCA uh assessments. So all of this was done as well under the new 80inute block schedule in which in order to respond to the learning loss that occurred during those COVID years, we increase the amount of reading and math that middle school students received each day, increased the staffing for those departments, and then increased our support with these tools over the last few years. Jill has already shared the exciting growth that occurred at John Glenn. We can report similar things at Sky View. Last year, our sixth graders in reading, which is our highest group, held steady. And then we saw increases in reading achievement. This is an MCA reading proficiency at both the seventh grade and eighth grade level, including our seventh grade students meeting our comp goal of a 5% increase. In math, very exciting gains with significant increases in all three grade levels and nearly an 8% increase in student proficiency on the math MCA when you combine all three grades at Sky View last year. Similar to John Glenn, all three grade levels in math met their QC comp goal of a 5% increase and one grade level in reading did as well. Now, both of these numbers deal with proficiency. how many students were at meet or exceeds on the MCA exam. But we know that growth is just as important as proficiency. And we have exciting news to report on just overall growth of students. How many students moved up at least one level on the MCA. Even if they just went from did not meet to partially meet, we know that they made growth last year. And both John Glenn and Sky View achieved over 50% of our students achieving growth last year. They weren't just proficient. That percentage of students moved up at least one level on the MCA assessment in both reading and math last year. Those are the two highest increases in the district. So, I want to take a minute here to note because I know that you are often asked about this. I know we have residents uh and citizens and parents that ask these questions and they're very valid. uh how are our taxpayer dollars being utilized and what are the outcomes that they are achieving. So if you're looking for examples and I know that you have many one thing that you can say is when given additional resources for reading and math our teachers and the parents and students in those classrooms were good stewards of those resources and achieved growth across the board over these last couple of years. Now, we've made some adjustments this year for reasons out of all of our control. We're back on a sixth period day with 52-minute classes. The very last slide of this presentation will explain some of the approaches that we're taking this year to accommodate that change in reading and math instruction time. Of course, it wasn't just instructional practices uh and these tools that led to that growth. We also know that for a student to be successful in school, they have to feel safe. They have to feel connected to their teacher, the content that's being taught, and to each other. And so, the second component that we're going to discuss tonight deals with student well-being. In the area of student well-being, we're continuing to focus on ensuring that all students feel safe and connected to school. Two pieces of data that we've looked at during first try this year to measure that well-being is our consistent attendance data. So as we look at that after trimester 1, consistent attendance is defined as being in attendance at school 90% or more of the days. So this trimester at John Glenn, we had some of our best attendance results that we've had in multiple years. We had trimester 1 81% of our students in attendance 90% more of the days. So we're really proud of that and we're excited. Kids who like school and feel connected to school come to school. Next we also have been tracking this data through behavior referrals. And what we've done in the last few years is really cut down the physical instance between students at school which makes it feel much more safe and calm. And so we've gone from physical adults be or physical incidents being in the 20s down to two this first trimester of the school year. And so that makes John Glenn feel much safer and the attendance makes kids feel more connected. Some of the strategies we're using to help students stay connected are continuing with our advisory classes every day for 20 minutes. These advisory classes focus on social emotional learning, community building, attendance, organization, which we all know is a need for our middle school kids, and technology safety. We also have a wide variety of activities after school for students from athletics to clubs and teams to flight classes that we have in collaboration with community ed classes. We're also fortunate to have three therapists at John Glenn to support the the mental health needs of our students as well as counselors and social workers. And right now, our therapists see 56 kids a week and they're full and we have a waiting list. So, we're feeling like we are able to tackle some of those concerns that our students have because if their mental health is good, their schoolwork improves as well. We also have two check and connect specialists at John Glenn that help support academics, attendance and social emotional learning with our students and both of them have case loads of 50 to 60 kids. So we're able to support a lot of students. Also something we're very very proud of is our collaboration with Cross Lutheran Church. We've been working with Cross Lutheran Church for I believe 10 to 12 years and we have a monthly community market for our families. We know our families sometimes are struggling with putting food on the table and every month we have about 120 families who come to the community market and that serves about 600 people. This year we were able to increase and invite all of the Weaver students and families as well and our cost is $3,500 per market and Cross Lutheran covers that entire cost. And we also have people coming in the building to volunteer. We have cross lutheran volunteers. We have community volunteers. And then our staff are also volunteering and students are volunteering. Also last year we started training our staff in a collaborative problem solving model teaching teachers and students how to work together and identify problems that are getting in the way of academic learning and social well-being at school. And it's made a big difference. In that process, teachers and students sit down. They come up with a list of, you know, what isn't working, what's getting in the way and then together brainstorm solutions and choose a solution together to try out. Now, our next step is to teach students to do this with each other so that when an adult isn't around, they can also solve problems together. So, those are some of the things we're doing to improve student well-being every day at John Glenn. Again, I want to share out with you some outcomes of work that we previously described as being an implementation at both our schools. And uh one of those is a grant that the district procured from the search institute uh a nonprofit based out of Minneapolis that works with uh schools and other community groups to train staff to be able to surface the assets that are present in the youth that they serve and then build developmental connections with them that will help that student uh or young person grow and thrive in whatever organization that they're a part of. So uh over the last two years both buildings worked on the developmental relationship framework the five elements of which you can see on the screen. And what's different about this is this is not a curriculum that we're teaching to students. This is training that was provided for staff. Of course the vast majority if not all of teachers and staff in both of our buildings already seek to express care to provide support to expand possibilities for their students. What this training asked those teachers to do was to be more explicit about it, to name it so that students knew the why behind choices that especially classroom teachers but also behavior specialists and administrators uh were were making. Um and it was to influence teacher decision-m particularly around rituals and routines. How do we make Sky View and John Glenn predictable places for students to experience so they're not surprised by the outcome of any given choice that they've made? And we uh represent the student success in a few different ways. One of those at Sky View is our Sky View CARES tickets. Sky View Cares is the acronym that we came up with to try to communicate what we mean by the developmental relationship framework to students. and teachers try to catch their students doing something good and then they write them a ticket indicating which aspect of Sky View cares that student was displaying. Then every other Friday we draw winners and read those students names and what they did to show their care for Sky View uh over our Friday announcements. Uh here's some of our most recent winners uh with some new school supplies and treats for earning their Sky View Cares tickets. And we believe you can draw a straight line from implementation of the developmental relationship framework to increased consistent attendance. So students who are attending consistently are showing up to school 90% or more of their school days. Both buildings have very similar numbers to what you see right here. Just about a 6% increase over the last two years and students who are consistently attending school. both students have been a or excuse me both schools have been able to use this framework also to interrupt the physical conflicts that had become too common uh in both of our buildings and so Jill shared her numbers at Sky View we really point to this intentional relationship building from staff member to student to a key part of our nearly 50% decline in behavior referrals for physical conflict and I think we both are proud to report that our buildings feel safer um over these last two or three years as we've done this work so intentionally because of that grant and the partnership with the search institute. Sky View had a chance to partner with the search institute at a presentation this summer uh at a conference hosted by the Henipin Countyy's attorney's office over the University of Minnesota uh attended by most of the county attorneys in the metro area and and we present there were presentations on a whole bunch of different topics related to school attendance and in doing the work to prepare for that presentation uh I came across a data point that really ties together these first two elements ments of student learning and student well-being. The superintendent referred to this earlier tonight. The outcomes that we are able to achieve for students when they consistently come to school. We know that uh in this country, in the state of Minnesota, and in district 622, we have been trying to overcome obstacles that lead to race-based achievement gaps, especially on standardized tests. And in analyzing our data with search institute, one thing that we found at Sky View last year was on the MCA reading exam, when it came to achieving proficiency, when you accounted for attendance, when you accounted for students who came to school 90% or more of the days, there was no achievement gap between black students and white students when it came to proficiency on that test. In fact, at two grade levels, black students outperformed their uh student body peers and then the other was nearly uh the same. So on the MCA reading test last year in our middle schools, the predictor of success was not race, it was attendance. Um and and thus our key emphasis on it in this presentation tonight. I want to pause here for a moment to just note we're only halfway through. Although I think the second half might go a bit quicker, but we can back up with data that over the last three years in our middle schools, students have been coming to school more. They've been learning more and they've been making safer choices in the building each year. Part of this is because of really important systems and structures that exist in our schools. And that brings us to the next element of benefits-based accountability, which is effective adults and systems. Do students get the support that they need from skilled educators? And do we have systems running that allow all students to pursue their hopes and dreams? >> We start our year with our families at open house. And one of the activities we started doing two years ago was have our families on a small sheet of paper write their hopes and dreams for their students. And they are powerful. And I want to share one of them with you. One family said to their students, "Always stay confident, believe in yourself as much as I believe in you, get good grades, and be happy." And this has helped ground us in the work that we do at John Glenn. We are serving not only our students, but we're serving our families. And we want our kids to realize their dreams. And so all of our hopes and dreams are plastered on the wall for the first two months of school. And it's amazing how many kids want to go up and read, find theirs, and then read the hopes and dreams of other families for their students as well. And so moving on into effective adults and systems, we're continuing to create systems and provide professional development to empower our staff to meet the needs of all kids and increase student achievement. One of those systems we actually talked about last year and Jeff's talked to talked about it a little bit already tonight are professional learning communities. Our teachers get together with other teachers teaching the same grade level and class that they are weekly and they talk about things like what do we expect students to learn this week? How will we know if they learned it? And they create assessments that are tied to those learning targets for the week. Then they come back and they analyze that data and they look at what are we going to do if a student did not learn what we wanted them to learn or what if they've learned it already and they're ready to move on. And in those professional learning communities, they come up with plans for all students. It could be an enrichment activity for students. It could be um an intervention type activity for them. but making sure they are looking at data every single day and using that data to meet the needs of students. Then at John Glenn this year we are looking at a study. It's came out in an article called the opportunity makers and it's a study of trajectory changing schools. And the definition of a trajectory changing school is a school that gets 1.3 or more years of growth per year out of their students. and they looked at a variety of students or of schools around the United States and really dug in and studied these schools that are getting this amazing growth. And what they found is that they do three things really well. They create a culture of belonging, which you've t you've heard Jeff and I talk about how important that is to us in middle schools, making sure kids feel connected. They also, these schools deliver consistent grade level instruction and kids get the supports they need to be successful in that grade level instruction. And they also build a coherent instructional program which is part of what teaching and learning in our district ensures happens as well. And so this year at John Glenn, we've been focusing on that consistency piece. And what we're working on is ensuring that all students do the same grade level work, but they get different supports. Some students need more supports, some need less support, some need more enrichment. But we're really looking at making sure kids have access to that grade level content and get support. We're also continuing to work on consistent collaboration through our um professional learning communities. And then consistent refor reinforcement which is educational leaders maintaining a simple shared focus. And what we're talking a lot about at John Glenn is making sure every lesson in every classroom every day is good or great because the accumulation of good and great lessons is what gives you that more than a year's worth of growth in students. So those are some of the things we're working on in our professional learning this year with staff. I want to zoom back out and talk about the system of school safety. Uh, as both a principal and a parent, I am benefiting from the significant work that has been done in this district, thanks to taxpayer support, thanks to this board support, thanks to district leadership on refurbished, remodeled, and renovated schools. uh and all those years teaching at Tartan when we were squeezing through those tiny circle hallways, my children will not have that experience. Uh and we have these beautiful buildings that also reflect contemporary approaches to instruction, especially at our secondary schools. Flexible learning space, more easily moving students in and out of a classroom, more visible to see into other classrooms, to see the work that is being done, and to make connections there. But a byproduct of this has been years of comfort that was built up with safety protocols. Where we go to, where we take students to, how we respond in safety situations had to change. Uh, and so last year we really wanted to pause at the secondary level and more deeply consider feedback from families and staff alike about the adjustments that needed to be made to safety protocols given the design of our new buildings. I know that we partner with uh three great law enforcement agencies and local police departments, not to mention Washington and Ramsey County. Uh I feel particularly fortunate to be in Oakdale and partnering with the Oakdale Police and Fire Departments. Uh so in conjunction with them last year we also sought out the expertise of the Minnesota School Safety Commission which operates out of the Department of Public Safety and is staffed by former school resource officers and other first responders uh and emergency management specialists to do an overview of our safety protocols and our crisis management response plan at Sky View. We met first just around the table and went through that crisis management plan and I'm proud to report that uh nearly all of what was in place meant with the endorsement of this group. But there were small tweaks and changes that we were able to make uh implement right away. mostly just in the language that introduced our bullying form or the tip line, the language in our outgoing messages so that if a family wanted to call after hours and report a safety concern, they would be redirected to someone who would be able to connect with them right away. We also had uh members of each of these departments uh walk our building and make sure that they were staying familiar with our entrances and our hallways, where key population areas were, what access was like to our cafeteria, what access was like to our center-based area of Sky View. Uh and then this all built up to a drill last spring where we ran a schoolwide safety drill that also involved Oakdale police, fire, and paramedics responding. Our students stayed in their classroom and received instructions uh in safety protocols from staff while police and paramedics walked around the building together. And then we debriefed with the Oakdale police and fire sergeants and patrol officers and other members of both of those departments uh in order to uh get their expertise on what our response was like. Uh we were able to make adjustments to uh some of our strategies for certain safety pro protocols that better incorporated the feedback of staff and students and their parents. uh and we were able to continue to enhance these wonderful partnerships that we have with our local first responders. A partnership that will continue um with similar drills this year and moving forward. Speaking of our outreach from our school to the community, that is the last element that we want to talk about, the community connections that we have at our middle schools. Jill has already described one uh with Cross Lutheran Church uh and we have a couple other that we can talk about, but really community connection is about do parents feel like the relationship with the school goes both ways. I'm not just getting the newsletter and the email from the teacher, but I'm part of a dialogue with the school that is influencing my students experience for the better. For us, it continues to be a priority for us to have connections in the community and strong relationships with our families so that they feel like our schools are their schools. One of the things we've been working on in the last couple years is that transition from fifth grade into sixth grade. That can be a hard transition for kids. And what we've done is we've kind of broken it down into five different parts that we go through starting the spring of their fifth grade year going through September of their sixth grade year. So we start out in the spring and we invite the fifth graders who are coming to John Glenn to come to John Glenn for two hours. It's during the school day. It's either in the morning or in the afternoon. And when they get off the bus, we've got our avid students out cheering them on, welcoming them. And we start in the gym and we introduce some of the staff members that are there and we talk a little bit with them about middle school and how we're going to be there for them and it's nothing to get anxious or worry about but we will be here to support you. Then they have an opportunity to go on a building tour led by some of our John Glenn leaders and those leaders have been trained and spent hours preparing for this. So, it's a good experience for our kids and they get to tour the building and see where their sixth grade area is and kind of all the bells and whistles that John Glenn has. Then after that, they come back into the gym. We talk a little bit more, answer some questions, and then they get to play in the gym and go in the pool, which is always a highlight. And so, it's a great start um to the transition process. We had great reviews from our students and from their elementary teachers and it's something we're super excited to continue in the future. And actually today was our first day of planning for this year. So we're getting ready to go. The second part to our transition is our family information night which happens in the spring as well where we invite our fifth grade families in to learn about middle school. And that is about an hour and a half time where we have 8 to 10 different sessions and parents can choose the sessions that they want to learn about. The sessions include things like academics after school um opportunities for kids, how to prep your kid for middle school, special education opportunities, u mental health support. So they have a wide variety of things that they can come and learn about as well as ask questions and start to get to know the staff. The third part to the transition is our open house in the fall. This involves not just our incoming sixth graders, but our seventh and eighth graders as well. It's a time for them to get their schedules, walk around the building, do all kinds of signups for sports and things like that. Then the next activity we have for them is transition day, which we're so happy we were able to implement as a district a couple years ago. So our sixth graders are in the building all by themselves for the day. They get to their classes, they can navigate more easily, and it's just a great day for them to start all by themselves there. And then the next piece or the last piece is a meet your teacher night which happens in September where families can come back in and we run through an abbreviated schedule with families so that they can meet all their students teachers learn about the content and the grading and the expectations. So that's kind of the highlight. Other things we do are things like our um math carnival which we get a ton of people for every year. our student of the month programs where we celebrate and recognize about 250 students a year and our YMCA student art gallery which started last year where we bring our art to the YMCA and they display it there. So, lots of community connections and we're always looking for more. It's an area that will always be a growth area for us because there's always more connections to make. I want to talk about a couple efforts that secondary schools made this year to uh increase the amount of parents particularly but other community members as well who feel comfortable coming into our buildings and partnering with us and educating their students. Every secondary school made this effort uh this fall around coffee and conversation. It might have been called different things, but a weekly effort to invite parents and other residents in uh to do a quick tour of the school and meet with the principal, particularly building up to the referendum in November to be as transparent as possible and to answer as many questions as possible about what at least the morning uh at both of our middle schools looked like. at Sky View. This year we have put together family engagement nights and we have looked to invite specifically families who belong to groups that tend to be experiencing some sort of gap whether it's in the percentage of attendance, academic achievement, behavior referrals, but what is an alternate way to include the voices of families from those groups in our thinking and decision-making. So, these stronger together family nights do not involve presentations from the school to the families with more information being given out. They involve some light snacks, some coffee, some tea, some hot chocolate, some coloring things uh and other little toys for small children that attend, and then an opportunity for families to name the topics that they want to talk about, learn more about, ask any question about. Uh and we hosted three of those in the fall and we will host three more again uh a little bit later after winter break. And then uh in the Sky View family newsletter, which goes out weekly uh for a couple of different weeks, I ran uh this paragraph, which you do not have to read off the screen. I'll summarize it for you. And I want to make the board aware of it so that you can spread the word. Uh which is just an open invitation. If you reach out to me, whether you're a parent, whether you're a resident, whether you're a business owner, whether you attend a religious organization services, whatever your connection to Oakdale Maplewood and the other communities that we serve, if you feel like you don't know exactly what goes on in a public middle school and what it looks like in a classroom and what the cafeteria looks like, let me know that you want to come visit. Of course, there are procedures that we follow for any visitor, and we would schedule it ahead of time. But I am convinced, and I would extend this invitation to anyone in the room tonight, that when folks come into our buildings, especially in our middle schools, they might see one or two kids go sprinting down the hallway. That might happen. They might see a carrot stick go flying across the cafeteria, maybe one or two. But I also think they'll see a lot of students sitting really safely in classrooms engaging in a whole range of instructional activities and you can see the results that we're achieving. And so I I really hope to increase the amount of community members and parents who feel comfortable coming into our buildings and understanding the work that we're doing. I think it's the best way to build bridges with those who feel concerned or more skeptical. One more slide. One more slide. What have we been focusing on this year? >> And this will be short. It's a review of what I talked about earlier. Our focus is consistency. Consistency in content for students with supports they need that they need. Consistency in collaboration and consistency in reinforcement of good to great lessons every single day and ensuring teachers are getting the feedback they need to grow. Both middle schools and our focus areas are really trying to support our teachers in making this adjustment to our master schedule with shorter amounts of instructional time with students compared to what they had the last three years. And so our staff development has focused around how do we have common language around what academic rigor means in all classrooms knowing that students uh are moving more frequently between content areas. Similar to Jill, a focus on instructional consistency across all grade levels and content areas. And then collective efficacy. How do we have PLC and other collaborative team meetings uh in which teachers are discussing student achievement, what they've learned, and how they're going to respond to their learning? That was a whole lot. We are so grateful for your good attention tonight. And I think we're available for any questions. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, Principal Mlausage. Oh, go ahead. Um, and Principal Cavitt. Go ahead, Michelle. >> Sorry for interpreting. >> You're good. >> Uh, okay. I just wanted to say that I really appreciate this summary and I really appreciate the work that you're both doing with the schools. Um, I loved this presentation. I love that you started out with student learning and I love that we're seeing, you know, growth and, um, increases in achievement. I know of course we have a long way to go. I also really appreciated that you had all of these um strategies throughout and that it wasn't just on achievement but also on student well-being and the adults and all of the things that um make up a strong school. So, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Um yes, uh Charlotte. Yeah, I concur with what uh Michelle just said and I uh so I I like that uh our our children are making progress MCA standardized exams and all but my question is around around uh the well-being again and uh we know that you' uh talked about uh uh students not feeling uh safe uh to come to school and we also heard the superintendent say that uh there's some students who confirm that there's some students who are missing school but you also presented that there's a correlation between attendance and academic performance. So what are you as middle school leaders doing to uh reach out to their families and encourage them uh to uh still come because it's safe and I know that there are various reason why children don't come. One is that some of them are driven by their parents and so they're afraid of being you know on the street and some of them are just afraid of being separated period. I mean, it's a it's fear, but what are you doing to communicate with parents about uh that if their children come to school, they're going to be safe? >> I think this provides an opportunity to highlight a really key partnership which is between school administrators and our office of educational equity, which provides school uh liaison who support us in connecting to families. Uh and that has been a critical resource over these last two weeks. Um those liaison paired with our school counselors and administrators knowledge of individual family situations. Their ability to quickly communicate with those families um has been very important both in us getting our message out about your student is safe here at school but also in validating in in validating for those families the really sincere concerns and fears that have been created for them. I would just add on to what Jeff said by saying we are reaching out to families whether it's during this time or any time when we see a student who's not attending school. We're reaching out to figure out what's getting in the way and how we can support and help. I know one of the issues right now are for some of our families who are not comfortable even leaving their house to get groceries. At our community market tomorrow, we have come up with a list of families who need to have groceries delivered to them and we will have staff members delivering groceries to those families and trying to help them in any way we can. And I agree with Jeff, the Office of Educational Equity has been a huge help in partnering with us to make these things happen. I just wanted to echo what Michelle said, say thank you um and that it's a good reminder that um the schoolism success is a lot more than MCA scores and things. So, thanks for focusing on the whole student um and I'll probably be following up with some more questions. Unfortunately, we are about out of time because we have to end early um due to being a primary election night. I hate to cut off comment, but I just want to make sure we're trying to honor that. And we do have some resolutions we have to do before we can get to um so grateful for our principles and their strong leadership, but I just wanted >> Mine will be really short. >> Um we closed a middle school, right? Um I've been watching the news about a district that struggled with rooms full of people concerned about closing of schools at Robbinsdale. Um we did it with you know through great communication and and kudos to you all for you know for doing this herculean thing which is consolidating and and bringing together uh schools and families um even with a closing of Maplewood Middle School. So anyway, um, thanks thanks for for your work there. And I also think it's politicians are finding it's more important to ask people what they want now. H, and so you're doing that, you're asking families, what do we what do you want for your kids over and over? You're asking and responding. And I just think that's wonderful. That's a wonderful thing. So thanks. >> Thank you. Um, thank you both so much. Um all right and um okay um let's see now do we need to start um our truth and taxation meeting >> no promptly at 6. Okay >> has to be after six but we can we can move right on to the policies those will be really quick. >> Okay. Uh so assistant superintendent um St. Michaels with the policy revisions. >> Thank you. Good evening Vice Chair Anderson, Superintendent Tutio and dctors of the board. Um, tonight we have the second of our three required opportunities to review proposed policy revisions. And in the interest of time, I will be listing off the policies and the policy number and just invite you to review them in board book as well. They're available there. So, we have policy 306, code of ethics and behaviors. Policy 417, chemical use and abuse. 513, student promotion, retention, and program design. 519, interviews of students by outside agencies. Policy 601, school district curriculum and instructional goals. Policy 606, textbooks and instructional materials. Policy 621, literacy and the read act. Policy 709, student transportation safety. Policy 712, video surveillance other than on buses. Policy 722, public data requests. And lastly, policy 616, school district system accountability. >> Thank you. Um, did we have any questions about those um proposed uh policy? Okay, great. And uh then our last uh report for the night is uh our uh superintendent um Tutio. I think in the interest of time I'm going to postpone this but um for anyone I was just going to remind everybody about some of our winter weather guidelines and how we make decisions. It's available in board packet already for those interested in looking at that and I'll revisit that in January meeting. >> Thank you Christine. Um moving on to action items. Um for finance u the acknowledgement of contributions um and uh uh our acknowledgement of contributions is uh director yenner. >> Those don't have to be read out loud if you want to. Well, I guess they should be they're quick. Minnesota statute 123b.03 03 permits school boards to receive for the benefit of the district bequest donations or gifts for any proper purpose and apply the same to the purpose designated. In that behalf, the board had the board may act as trustee of any trust created for the benefit of the district and for the benefit of pupils thereof. Therefore, the director of finance recommends the following resolution. be resolved by the school board of independent school district number 622 that the school board accept with appreciation the following contributions and permit their use designated by the donors to the donor North Haven Church donated $500 for Richardson holiday shop for families Alexis Dolken turkey in a bag food items for support to support food needs for families American Legion and North St. Food for 622 pantry to support food needs for families. Polar Pride Kathy and Phil McMmon cereal for 622 pantry support food needs for families. Polar Pride winter coats and gloves for 622 families in need. Chicks and sticks. Homemade hats and mittens for 62 families in need. A community member relative donated a violin and a and a case for a rel from a rel relative passed away and wanted to donate to the music department. Cindy Morirani kids clothes and pull-ups for taste of preschool ECF. Casey Yang mini basketball hoop for prek and ECSE for families to use. Scooters coffee $163.54 to support Beaver Lake preschool programs. Polar Pride winter coat snow pants, shoes, and clothing to support families in need at the 622 pantry. Ryell trip snow pants, jackets, hats, and gloves to support families in need at Richardson. Jodie Sachs $500 in Visa gift cards for Richardson Holiday Shop for families. and Karen Dryer $150 for Richardson Holiday Shop for families. This brings the total fiscal year of 2025 2026 monetary contributions to $25,165.86 and with great appreciation to all those donors, I move to approve. >> Second. >> All right. So, uh motion by Yenners, second by Sw. All those in favor say I. >> I. Uh all those opposed say nay. All right, those contributions have been approved. Um and next we have our uh second action item, combined polling places. This resolution establishing polling places and combined polling places for certain multiple precincts and designating voting hours for school district elections not held on the day of a statewide election. be resolved by the school board of independent school district 622 as follows. Pursuant to Minnesota statutes section 205A1, the precincts and polling places for school district elections are those pre precincts or parts of precincts located within the boundaries of the school district which have been established by the cities or towns located in whole or in part within the school district. The board hereby confirms those precincts and polling places so established by those municipalities. Pursuant to Minnesota statute section 205A.11, the board may establish a combined polling place for several precincts for school elections not held on the day of a statewide election. The polling places and combined polling places described in exhibit A to this resolution are hereby established to serve the precincts specified for all school district special and general elections not held on the same day as a statewide election. The designations herein shall remain in effect unless any polling place or combined polling place is subse sub subsequently changed in which case the board must designate by a resolution adopted by not later than December 31st any changes to such polling places and combined polling places as provided in Minnesota statutes section 205A1 uh sub division 2B. B. Uh, can I get a motion and a second to approve? >> Um, motion by score. Is there a second? >> Um, second by Natardi. And, um, we have a roll call vote. Um, and so u u May will be calling off um each of us one at a time. >> Rosemark. >> I >> Livingston. >> Hi. >> Uh, Yenner. >> Hi. >> Mardy. >> Hi. >> Swore. >> Hi. Anderson. >> I >> All right. Um Okay. So, the um resolution has been approved and uh then we will move on to um B uh human resources, our 2025 to 2027 non-unit agreement. >> Vice Chair Anderson, directors of the board, we've got two resolutions. The first one is for non-unit salaried staff. This group includes salaried non-eing professionals such as specialists, coordinators, man managers, supervisor, supervisors, and directors who are not represented by collective bargaining agreement. Unless specified differently in an individual contract, on employees will receive a 3% salary increase on July 1st, 2025 and a 3% increase on July 1st, 2026. The full resolution is available online if if folks are interested in reading more. Uh but we have this first one to go through this evening again for non salaried staff. >> All right. Um thank you Director Anderson. Um so u the motion is be it resolved by the school board of independent school district number 62 that the 2-year salary increases for non-unit hourly employees of North St. Paul Maywood Oakdale be approved. Can I get a Oh, >> I'm sorry. Oh, okay. Thank you. >> Oh, down here. Okay. Um, thank you. Um, uh, be it resolved by the school board of independent school district number 62 that the 2-year salary and benefit increases for non-unit salaried employees of North St. Paul, Mapwood, Oakdale be approved. Can I get can I please get a motion and a second? >> Um motion by Yenner, second by swore. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say nay. >> All right. The uh the resolution has been approved. >> Secondly, we have the 202527 nonunit hourly staff resolution. These positions are not represented by collective bargaining unit, but they play an essential role in the daily operation of our schools. Employees will receive a 3% increase on July 1st, 2025 and another 3% increase on July 1st, 2026. Anyone not eligible for these adjustments has been or will be notified. Again, this full resolution is available online, but this resolution is for non-unit hourly staff. >> All right. So, uh, the, uh, resolution is be resolved by the school board of the independent school district number 622 that the two-year salary increases for non-unit hourly employees of North St. Paul, Maplewood, Oakdale be approved. Can I please get a motion and a second? >> So, move. >> Um, uh, motion by Livingston, second by Swore. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> And, uh, all those opposed say nay. The uh the resolution has been approved. Um right now we will move on to um um we will uh we'll move directly to um >> it's just board communications future meeting dates and board communications and then you can jump to the taxation. >> Okay. It Okay. I didn't know if I should maybe do those after. >> It doesn't actually matter. >> We'll we'll stick to the uh the order in the agenda. So, we'll we'll start with board communications. Um and uh let's see. Um why don't we start with uh our newest board member, uh Director Rosemark. >> Well, it's exciting to be here. Um, I don't have too much to report um, other than I attended the uh, FU fundraiser with um, uh, our BSU group, our Latinx group, and our Asian student association ASA group. U, there was karaoke. I did not participate. Um, but it was a great event. Um, that's all I got. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, uh, Director Livingston. >> Thanks. Um I attended once again the annual um show choir performance for um the Rotary group uh and it's at 7:00 in the morning and all those teenagers the energy at 7:00 in the morning um to uh to sing and dance in a very creative performance or very very unusual dance and and u uh musical performance. So, it was thrilling and of course they got a standing ovation and the Rotary Club gave them $500 or something. Yeah, it was really it was really fun. So, um thanks Katie was there too, I think. Right. Yeah, it was really fun. Um Yeah. So, that's all. Thank you. >> All right. Um and um Director Yennard, do you have anything tonight? >> All right. Um, director Natari, >> I didn't attend anything because it's been way too cold for me to go out. I've been hibernating. But, um, I do want to wish all our families um, happy holidays. Uh, whatever whether you celebrate or not, just have a good uh, winter break and um, yeah, we look forward to see you guys in uh, 2026. Director Schwart, do you have anything tonight? >> Okay. And um I just would like to echo happy holidays and um I my family and I loved going to see Elf Jr. uh about two weekends ago at Tartan. Um the students did a great job. Um now we will move on um to future board meeting dates. Um, we have our January 13th, 2026 special session um at 6 p.m. in the boardroom. Um, and then our January 13th, 2026 work study session immediately following the adjournment of the uh special meeting. Um, and so the work study session approximately will start around 6:15. Um, and that will be in district 62 Education Center conference room 2020. >> Actually, it should say 202. >> 202. Oh, yeah. Um, and then, uh, finally, uh, we have our January 27th, 2026 business meeting at 6 p.m. here in the boardroom. Um and uh >> and please note that we are actually going to have to adjust that because we've come to realize that there's actually a special election happening in district 47A that evening. So um please check online. We will finalize that um before >> the motion now. >> Oh yeah, you you can I move that we move that January 27th meeting to January 26th that Monday just to put everyone on the spot. Um, so that is uh moved by swore. Is there a second to moving the January 27th business meeting to Monday, January 26th? >> Um, >> uh, I second that. >> Second by Livingston. Um, and uh, um, >> um, let's see. Uh, are there any >> discussion >> discussions before we vote? >> Okay. Um, all those in favor of moving the meeting to be on January 26th, Monday, at 6 p.m. here in the boardroom, say I. >> I. I. >> All those opposed, say nay. >> All right. Uh so the business meeting will be on January 26 uh Monday um of 2026 here in the boardroom um at 6:00. Um and then uh to um uh move on to the last uh portion of our our meeting, we have our uh 2025 payable 2026 tax levy. Um, we have director Josh Anderson. Um, and uh, you can take it. >> Well, good evening, Vice Chair Anderson, directors of the board, superintendent story on cabinet. Uh, tonight we're holding our public hearing for taxes payable 2026. Uh, just as a reminder, you all saw this presentation last week at the work session. Our citizens finance group saw this same presentation earlier in the month as well. State law has two requirements for school districts during their TNT, a public meeting and the presentation. So, our agenda tonight will be as follows. We will give some brief background information on school funding. We will give an overview of the approved FY26 district budget, discuss our proposed pay 26 tax levy, and then provide an opportunity for any public comment. School finance in Minnesota is highly regulated. The state legislature has authorized all Minnesota school districts to levy and then collect property taxes for specific elements of school funding. The state sets the formulas which determine the tax revenue, the tax policy for local schools, and the maximum authorized property tax levy. In other words, districts are only allowed to levy for programs that are allowed by state statute or if approved by voters. The basic general education formula in Minnesota has not kept pace with inflation since 2002 2003. If it had done so, the basic general education formula for FY26 would be 19% higher than it is currently. For our district, that means we would uh be seeing approximately $15 million more in revenue this school year. This chart shows the same information just in the chart format. The blue line is where it would be with inflation and the orange dotted line is where we are currently. Special education continues to be underfunded in the state of Minnesota. Our students who receive special education services are first and foremost our general education students. But some students do need additional support and services to thrive in school. Oftentimes there is a gap between what is received in special education aid and what is paid out from the general education from the general fund for those services and that gap is called the cross subsidy. In FY24 which is the latest data available for MDE the cost to providing special education in Minnesota was underfunded by almost $53 million. In comparison in FY23 it was underfunded by $736 million. So, there are improvements that are that we're seeing across the board. However, the state is still predicting that it will be underfunded by $455 million by FY27. School districts and cities and counties operate on different fiscal years. School districts, we operate on a July 1 through June June 30th fiscal year, while cities and counties operate on a calendar year January 1 through December 31st. State law requires us to discuss our current year budget during our public hearing because of the difference in our fiscal year compared to the fiscal years of the cities and counties. Our district budgets are dispersed between nine different funds. The largest portion by far is our general fund. In June 25, you as a school board approved our 202526 district budget. This is a breakdown of the budget between the different funds. The general fund fund one makes up 70% of our overall budget. Our general fund revenue is received through various revenue streams, the largest being directly from state aid. As far as our general fund expenditures, we are in the people business. So nearly 80% of our budget goes to salaries and benefits for our staff. Every owner of a taxable property pays property taxes to various taxing jurisdictions. As a school district, we are a taxing jurisdiction. School districts do set their own levy based on limits of the law and then rely on counties to collect taxes from the taxpayers. State law allows districts to levy taxes in many different categories as a mechanism to pay for programs and operational expenses. Each category and the maximum is allowed a maximum is set by the state. There are six steps in the property tax process that may impact overall taxes, but you all as a school board only have control over one of those steps and that is step number five. You approve the proposed levy in September and you'll be asked to take action on the final levy tonight. The proposed payable 26 tax levy is an increase from 25 um by about 2.86% or 1.9 million. This is a handout that was available in the board packet. It's also available online in board book. It has the levy categories broken down by fund. Fund one, fund four, fund 7, and fund 47. You can see bottom right hand corner you see the 2.86% increase and the $1.9 million. This is the same information just broken down uh by in different categories by net tax capacity and the referendum market value. Look at the very bottom, you see the same numbers, 2.86% 86% or $1.9 million. We do have some differences that we want to explain. In the general fund, we had prior year adjustments that total about $1.2 million. Every year, we see this on our levy. Uh this uh MDE takes 3 to four years after um each certified year to then um clean up what was authorized and approved by school boards because everything is based on estimates. And once things are finalized at the end of the year, they do the cleanup over a three to four year span. We do have a difference in long-term fac uh long-term facilities maintenance and our debt service fund. Our um LTFM revenue is based on state approved project costs that director Gette bring to you all um on our 10-year plan. And so we see differences of those categories as well. the tax impact. Um what what what this will look like, excuse me, for our taxpayers. Many factors can cause a tax bill for a property to fluctuate from year to year. Let's take a look at an example about how taxes are spread across all the district uh properties, homeowners and um commercial property tax owners. Every property tax owner pays a portion of the pie. A very simple example. We're going to have two homes. We have the orange home and the and the blue home. Um both houses are valued at $100,000. The total levy is $500. In this instance, each property would pay $250 of the levy. Now, let's say they had a valuation increase. The orange house increased by 10% and the blue house increased by 25%. The total levy stays the same, but the orange house will pay less and the blue house pays more because their values changed. The blue house will now pay $266 and the orange house will pay $234. This chart shows the trend over the past several years of property value increases in our district. Generally speaking, when the numbers are positive, that means the tax base is growing and there are more taxing partials paying into the pie. Even though we are increasing our levy by 2.86%, if someone's home value stayed the same between 25 and 26, their property taxes for school portion will be decreasing. So the very top part of that chart shows with a 0% prop property value increase because our net tax capacity has increased that means our homeowners are paying a little bit a smaller piece of the pie. So again with a with a 0% property value increase taxes will be decreasing for our homeowners. And you can see if they had a 3.5% increase and a 7% increase what those changes look like. This chart shows an example. If a home value in our district was valued at $340,000, how their school district property taxes are broken down into the various categories. They will pay approximately $1,531 into school taxes broken down by voter approved operating, board approved referendum market value, voter approved bond. Thanks to our voters in 2019, we have the voter approved bond. Then we have the the uh NTC debt and the board approved tax capacity levy which includes operating capital, LTFM, community ed, and CTE and our leases. These next couple of slides show the voter approved operating authority for our district and some of our neighboring and comparable districts and then the state average at the far right. Now, this important to note that this is for this current year, FY26, because we are all in the process of certifying for next year. This is this year's data. And you can see us on the very far leftand side. Our voter approved operating authority per pupil is $1,19, which is well below our neighbors and comparable districts and also below the state average. When you factor in local optional revenue, which is part of the tax levy, and a capital projects levy, we are still far over on the left, about $1,743, which is below state average and also below our neighbors and comparable districts. The blue is the operating with local optional, and the orange is the capital projects or the tech levy. There are opportunities for folks to seek property tax refunds and deferrals and that information is on the screen. And so next we'll open it up for public comment and then you'll be asked to take action on certifying the tax levy for pay 26. So at this time does anyone have any public comment? Hearing none questions from the board. No questions. All right. Um, thank you so much, Director Anderson. Um, okay. Um, just one second here. Okay. Um, I'll now read the resolution. Be it resolved by the school board of independent school district number 622 that the 2025 payable 2026 property tax levy is adopted in the total amount of 69 million 993,8264 and further that the schoolboard clerk is authorized to sign the document used to certify the property tax levy to the county auditors and the Minnesota Department of Education. Can I please get a second a motion? I'm sorry. And a second to approve. >> So move. >> Um moved by Livingston, second by Swarore. All those in favor say I. I. >> All those opposed say nay. All right. The uh uh resolution is approved. And then to the final order of business. Um we will uh swear in um our newest school board member um Sam Rosemark. Um All right. Um Sam, if you could please rise. >> It is an honor that you were elected to guide the education of our community's children. As you recite the oath of office, you assume a tremendous responsibility as a director of our school district with the duties empowered by the Minnesota legislature. This power puts you and the other members of our school board in the position of being both morally and legally responsible for equitable quality education of every student in our district. In carrying out this responsibility, you will be asked to fulfill the roles of vision, structure, accountability, and advocacy. In providing vision, the board with extensive participation of the community envisions the community's educational future and then formulates the goals, defines the outcomes, and sets the course for the public schools. To achieve the vision, the board establishes a structure and creates an environment designed to ensure all students the opportunity to attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework. Because as a board, we must be accountable to the community. We must ensure a continuous assessment of student achievement in all conditions affecting the education of our children. As board members, we serve as education's key advocate on behalf of students and our community schools to advance the vision for our schools. Furthermore, we must strive to work together and with the superintendent and staff to lead the district toward fulfilling the vision we have created, fostering excellence for every student in the areas of academic skills and knowledge, citizenship and personal development. Having signed the acceptance of office and oath of office, will you please publicly affirm your commitment by repeating the oath of office after me? I affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States. I affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and of this state >> and of this state >> and that I will discharge faithfully >> and I will discharge faithfully >> the duties of the office of school board member >> the duties of the office of school board member >> of Independent School District number 622 >> of Independent School District number 622 >> to the best of my judgment and ability. >> to the best of my judgment and ability. >> All right. Excellent. Well, welcome aboard um Sam. >> We won't take a photo in a minute, but if anyone has any comments to make first or Sam, if you have any comments you want to make. >> I I didn't necessarily prepare any comments. It's all right. Um I will say it was uh so uh Jill and um uh Principal Cav um as well and principal Mlaus. I I didn't have you as teachers, but it was full full circle um coming here today and kind of hearing from you. Um I think uh Principal McClos was my principal for maybe one year at Maple Middle School. Um so >> and she probably might have been a teacher at Cowin when you were there. >> Yeah, she was a teacher at a student at Yes, I was a I was a Yes. Um so um really full circle very appreciative of this opportunity and looking forward to um discharging my duties and u representing our fellow citizens in 622. So excited to be here with all you >> great to have a grad joining our team too. >> Should we take a photo or do you guys want to add any comments? We'll get a photo ready. >> Yeah. Um is uh is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. >> Um moved by Natari. Um second by Yenner. Um all those in favor of adjourning the meeting say I. >> I. >> And all oppose say nay. >> Um all right. So uh we are adjourning at 6:31 p.m. uh the December 16th uh 2025 business meeting. >> Nice job, Caleb. We'll all get in front here for a photo together.