[0:04] hey everybody this is Carissa ker from

[0:06] Stillwater area public schools home of

[0:08] the ponies and you are listening to Pony

[0:10] voices on this show we celebrate the

[0:13] amazing people of Stillwater schools and

[0:15] give you an Insider's view of what is

[0:17] happening across our district not only

[0:19] is our mascot unique so are our stories

[0:23] so grab a cup of coffee get comfy and

[0:25] settle in for our latest episode2

[0:28] [Music]

[0:32] sticks and stones may break my bones but

[0:35] wordss will never hurt me you've

[0:38] probably heard that childhood rhyme

[0:39] before it's something many kids learn to

[0:41] say on the playground when other kids

[0:43] tease them it's also a lie the fact is

[0:46] words do hurt and for many of our

[0:49] students the experiences they are having

[0:51] on the playground in the classroom the

[0:53] cafeteria or the hallway can cause deep

[0:56] wounds and have a lasting impact on both

[0:58] their emotional and physical wellbeing

[1:01] just listen to what some of our students

[1:03] have to say I don't think many people

[1:05] know what like like certain derogatory

[1:08] terms and their history behind it and

[1:10] how it's been used and how impactful it

[1:12] can actually be it was a leadup of

[1:16] multiple years of verbal harassment and

[1:19] racism which kind of turned into

[1:22] physical altercation and then it kind of

[1:25] just turned into this huge schoolwide

[1:28] issue picking on somebody for I don't

[1:31] know their hair or their skin color

[1:34] religion their size their gender

[1:36] identity there's also been stuff about

[1:39] how much money somebody has or like

[1:42] their bodies you know there's lots of

[1:44] body shaming and I feel like that's just

[1:46] been normalized but it does cause harm

[1:49] to people's mental health today we're

[1:52] talking with superintendent Mike Funk

[1:54] along with Caitlyn Willis and jacn bis

[1:56] Caitlyn is the district's executive

[1:58] director of Elementary educ

[2:00] and Jac is the district's integration

[2:02] coordinator thank you all for joining me

[2:04] thanks it's great to be here so you just

[2:07] heard from a few of our students about

[2:09] their experiences in our schools and

[2:10] what does what comes to mind when you

[2:12] hear the stories from our kids I think

[2:14] that a lot of our kids are experiencing

[2:16] some really positive things within our

[2:18] schools but they're also telling us that

[2:20] there's a lot of room to grow um in

[2:22] terms of how we treat people the

[2:24] kindness that we show and just the

[2:26] communities that we're building I go

[2:28] back to you know a couple years ago the

[2:31] district did a strategic planning um

[2:34] exercise in which we sought input from

[2:37] our students from our staff and from our

[2:39] families and I go back to to Really what

[2:42] our students were asking for the

[2:44] students in their own words so they want

[2:46] to feel safe they want to be seen they

[2:50] want to be heard and they want to be

[2:52] accepted and they want their

[2:55] individuality and their diversity valued

[2:58] they also which I think is pretty

[3:00] important talked about rules and

[3:03] expectations that are applied

[3:06] consistently you know as superintendent

[3:08] here in silat going into my third year I

[3:11] can tell you that we've got a lot of

[3:13] great things happening in our schools

[3:16] but we are not necessarily consistent in

[3:18] our approach and what we are attempting

[3:21] to do here with the implementation of

[3:23] these

[3:24] protocols is be consistent and support

[3:28] the needs of our students

[3:30] and these supports are in line with some

[3:32] of our board policies so that's our

[3:34] charge here with the adoption of these

[3:37] protocols so we're talking about the

[3:39] identity harm protocols and for those

[3:40] who Maybe This Is A New Concept what is

[3:42] identity harm and what's its impact on

[3:45] kids identity harm is any kind of harm

[3:49] that is caused whether it's intentional

[3:51] or unintentional on another person or

[3:54] persons based on something that they

[3:56] value that is a part of who they are so

[3:59] the it could be overt and the things we

[4:01] think about with race um or gender it

[4:05] could also be things you don't

[4:06] necessarily think about with body type

[4:09] or

[4:10] ability so it's a wide range um many

[4:14] students shared experiences that we

[4:16] didn't think about as the adults going

[4:19] into schools with the food choices of

[4:21] the the cultural foods that they bring

[4:23] in when they bring their lunch or when

[4:25] they're sharing stories of their you

[4:27] know family's celebrations so it it's

[4:31] wide a wide range of

[4:33] things I think even if we talk to like

[4:36] when we talk to students I know there

[4:38] was one who said um sometimes I get made

[4:40] fun of because I'm short he goes I just

[4:43] haven't grown tall yet you know and so

[4:45] he's like I can't change that and his

[4:47] friends might think that's really funny

[4:49] but that is something that he

[4:51] internalizes as a when am I going to hit

[4:53] that growth spurt and so when we're

[4:55] thinking about identity it is just those

[4:57] things that make us who we are that's

[4:59] all it is it's we're all unique and the

[5:02] students recognize that so it's time for

[5:04] the adults to also recognize that and I

[5:07] think that our teachers and our staff do

[5:10] a fantastic job of celebrating

[5:12] difference and I think where we're

[5:15] hearing that we need to grow is when we

[5:18] how we respond when those differences

[5:21] aren't celebrated but are being used um

[5:24] to harm harm other students or or

[5:27] frankly other staff as well so uh one of

[5:30] the themes that jacen and I heard when

[5:32] we were in schools was students saying

[5:35] very clearly I know what is expected of

[5:38] me but in these situations I'm not

[5:41] always sure what I can expect of the

[5:42] adults so this these protocols will help

[5:47] students understand what they can expect

[5:49] of The Trusted adults so that they feel

[5:51] more comfortable in bringing to our

[5:54] attention when these instances occur and

[5:57] the students said repeatedly what they

[5:59] want is for all of us to come together

[6:02] to educate each other to educate one

[6:04] another about um each other about

[6:07] identity about cultural differences and

[6:10] so it's not about judgment it's not

[6:12] about punishing somebody but really just

[6:14] helping them to learn so we can all be

[6:16] better someone as I was talking about

[6:18] this just in the community mentioned to

[6:20] me it sounds like we're just asking kids

[6:21] to be kind right I mean is that what

[6:23] this is really

[6:24] about I I I think it's more than that I

[6:27] I think if you take a look at our

[6:29] student body and one of the things we

[6:31] take a look at is our Minnesota student

[6:32] survey and we look at how kids feel

[6:35] about themselves and and um you know

[6:40] kids who you know are they feeling

[6:42] emotionally okay and I don't have the

[6:45] exact number but I think you know our

[6:48] students took this survey 10 years ago

[6:50] and I think 2013 I think they took it

[6:52] again in

[6:53] 2022 and you know we were in the teens

[6:57] as far as um our girls

[7:00] um feeling uh you know emotionally

[7:03] secure or or excuse me emotionally

[7:05] distressed and then um I think we took

[7:08] the same survey again um in 2022 and it

[7:12] been in the middle of the teens to

[7:14] almost 38% of our our students female

[7:17] students in the high school are feeling

[7:19] some sort of emotional distress and so

[7:22] if if that's what's happening in our

[7:24] society what are we doing as a school

[7:27] district to ensure that we are me

[7:29] meeting their social emotional needs and

[7:32] then one of the ways we can do this is

[7:34] we can address harm and you know people

[7:37] say okay well it's being kind it is but

[7:40] also as a school district it's what are

[7:42] we doing as a staff to ensure that when

[7:45] kids are not necessarily kind with one

[7:47] another that we are addressing the

[7:50] behavior and that we are consistent so

[7:53] the students have a consistent

[7:54] experience in elementary school in

[7:56] middle school and high school and that's

[7:58] what these protoc calls are about is to

[8:00] put consistent um approach to um how

[8:04] we're dealing with some of these

[8:05] challenges that uh our teachers see on a

[8:08] daily basis and students feel on a daily

[8:10] basis thanks for explaining that I think

[8:12] that ties in with a lot of the work

[8:14] we've been doing at the district level

[8:15] and our strategic plan our key

[8:17] initiatives we're talking a lot about

[8:19] that idea of mental health and social

[8:21] emotional learning for our kids anything

[8:23] else that you want to bring up as far as

[8:25] how this supports the work of the

[8:26] district well again I mean you know

[8:29] think people have heard me say this a

[8:31] number of times that people go out and

[8:34] they develop these strategic plans and

[8:36] then we look at the Strategic plan and

[8:38] it looks really good on paper and we go

[8:40] back to what we're doing and what we are

[8:43] doing with this protocol is we we're

[8:44] looking at okay what the kids told us in

[8:47] the plan what our teachers and parents

[8:49] have told us in the plan we what we want

[8:51] our daily experiences to be and now we

[8:53] are devising protocols to enforce that

[8:57] to reinforce that and I think that's

[9:00] different rather than okay plan's done

[9:02] now let's go back to just instruction no

[9:06] the plan is purposeful and we are

[9:08] developing these Pro protocols in in

[9:12] collaboration as an administrative team

[9:14] um with input from our um teachers and

[9:17] our students and and and again we've

[9:19] shared this with our families as well I

[9:21] think we had a curriculum meeting the

[9:22] other night we're going to be talking

[9:23] about it publicly at a school board

[9:25] meeting um but it is our responsibility

[9:28] as the district admin Administration in

[9:30] Partnership um with our communities to

[9:33] devise systems that uh make our uh

[9:37] District as good as it can be and

[9:38] provide a safe environment for our

[9:40] students and that's what we're doing we

[9:42] already have things identified in policy

[9:45] even state law federal law that require

[9:47] us to respond to bullying discrimination

[9:49] harassment how is this different what's

[9:51] what's different about this protocol so

[9:55] it's a good question because I think

[9:57] it's very important to call out that a

[9:59] lot of the elements of these protocols

[10:02] and this

[10:03] plan is happening does exist and we're

[10:06] codifying that we're we're being

[10:08] transparent with our students and our

[10:10] families and the larger community

[10:12] community about how we respond to these

[10:15] things but um well here's here's maybe

[10:18] an example so as we have started to roll

[10:21] out just the foundational level of

[10:24] identity harm across our buildings with

[10:27] in collaboration with our principles for

[10:29] staff an important element of the plan

[10:32] is denounce the act and that's one of

[10:35] the first steps that we expect all staff

[10:38] to do when incidents of identity harm

[10:40] happen and many of us as teachers are

[10:45] used to classroom management we see

[10:48] something and it we're not comfortable

[10:50] with it we see that a child is hurt and

[10:52] we

[10:54] we intervene with that action but we

[10:56] miss the step of calling specific what

[10:59] it was calling out the behavior

[11:01] denouncing the specific behavior and so

[11:05] it creates or perpetuates identity harm

[11:08] because the students are not learning

[11:10] this is the specific behavior this is

[11:12] the specific word or action that caused

[11:15] harm to my peers and this is the

[11:19] response of the adults so it's it's

[11:22] being more specific and it's also giving

[11:27] language to our step and students and

[11:31] parents on how we can have discussions

[11:35] with students when these incidents

[11:38] happen I think it's also what Dr funka

[11:40] said it's about consistency so we do

[11:42] have policies in place for bullying and

[11:45] harassment but the steps that we go in

[11:48] handling those could potentially look a

[11:51] little different we're handling them and

[11:52] then with what Caitlyn saying denouncing

[11:54] the act when we hear foul language in

[11:57] the schools we have no problem saying

[11:59] that language isn't welcome here when we

[12:01] see bullying we don't have a problem

[12:03] saying those actions are not welcomed

[12:05] here when it comes to Identity harm

[12:08] people get uncomfortable so this is

[12:10] getting all of our staff and our

[12:11] students used to be uncomfortable and

[12:13] saying those actions are not welcomed

[12:16] here with the student you are welcome

[12:18] here those actions are not so it's about

[12:21] being consistent and comfortable with

[12:23] denouncing all acts of harm thank you

[12:26] for that clarification I think that

[12:28] helps another thing we heard from

[12:29] families over the years too is that they

[12:31] don't always feel like they're being

[12:32] brought along or that they know what to

[12:34] expect in a situation and that sometimes

[12:37] um you know I heard a student actually

[12:38] in one of our examples talk about a time

[12:40] where there was a a word being used

[12:43] towards them and nothing was happening

[12:44] and she just heard it over and over and

[12:46] got so frustrated she responded and it

[12:48] was her behavior that was um the one

[12:50] that was disciplined so those sorts of

[12:52] incidents are happening I think we're

[12:53] hearing from parents that they want to

[12:54] be more involved in what's happening

[12:55] they want to be communicated with they

[12:56] want to be part of the problem solving

[12:58] and it looks to me like this protocol

[13:00] helps to do that as well it does it

[13:03] there's a whole component of this

[13:05] protocol that's around

[13:07] communication and fact finding and

[13:10] that's not done in a silo so it's

[13:13] engaging the student Witnesses the

[13:17] parents the school Community um

[13:21] depending on you know the level of

[13:23] impact

[13:24] in responding appropriately from the

[13:28] standpoint point of repairing that harm

[13:31] and providing education and moving

[13:33] forward

[13:35] collectively because that's what we're

[13:37] that's what we're here to do as an

[13:38] educational entity we're here to grow

[13:39] citizens and so we want to have citizens

[13:42] that know how to have difficult

[13:44] conversations know how to repair harm

[13:46] when harm happens and then move

[13:50] forward what challenges um have we faced

[13:53] in the past with identity har there

[13:55] examples or things that have happened

[13:56] and what what are we trying to help who

[13:59] are we trying to help in these

[14:01] protocols we are

[14:03] evolving as a society and we're evolving

[14:07] as a school district an example I can

[14:09] provide is this um you know in my

[14:12] previous District I was there for 13

[14:14] years when I came to the district we

[14:18] were 24% students of color when I left

[14:21] the district we were um close to I think

[14:27] 42% students of color so in 13 years we

[14:31] had sh we had shifted that much when I

[14:33] came to Still Water the number similar

[14:35] SE High 7s as far as what our white

[14:37] population is um but our s our system is

[14:42] evolving and what are we doing to

[14:44] prepare our staff and our community for

[14:48] differences for Change and so I had a

[14:51] really um we had a real um couple pretty

[14:57] significant fights at our high school

[14:58] last year year and they involved members

[15:00] of our uh White community and members of

[15:03] our Hispanic Community um Latinos and I

[15:08] had a meeting at Lake Elmo with a group

[15:12] of families I would say there were close

[15:13] to 100 people in the room um from from

[15:16] the Latino Comm Community they were

[15:18] purposeful and focused on our kids are

[15:21] being treated differently based upon who

[15:24] they are and what are we doing as a

[15:27] school system

[15:29] um to address how they're being treated

[15:32] differently and so I heard that loud and

[15:35] clear from a certain population within

[15:37] our district but if you were to take a

[15:39] look at our district and we have various

[15:41] populations various identities you hear

[15:44] it all the time people are picked on for

[15:48] how they look what they eat um how they

[15:52] talk what they wear and so what are we

[15:57] doing as a district to ensure that we

[16:00] are addressing these issues and we are

[16:02] preparing our staff to address these

[16:04] issues so that our student experience is

[16:07] a more positive one and that students

[16:10] can go home and they can tell their

[16:11] families that yes the this was an issue

[16:13] at school today but the district has

[16:15] addressed it the teachers have addressed

[16:17] it the the principles have addressed it

[16:20] so um but we cannot sit on our hands as

[16:24] our society changes and and this is what

[16:27] we're doing with these protocols

[16:29] what role do families in the Brer

[16:31] Community have in all of this work well

[16:33] that's a great question because um I

[16:35] will share this with you it's almost

[16:38] been I've been a superintendent for

[16:39] almost 20 years now and I'm thinking

[16:43] back

[16:45] to various um roles I've had in that

[16:48] time and various positions and um

[16:52] different communities and I'm thinking

[16:54] back to my experience in the military

[16:57] where I was 30 years

[16:59] and this is the first time I can

[17:03] actually

[17:04] remember that we are actually developing

[17:09] procedures and we are going out and

[17:11] talking about our ad we we we have

[17:13] administrative procedures for everything

[17:15] we do but we never talk about it in the

[17:17] community and I think it's important and

[17:20] that's why we're doing this podcast

[17:21] today and that's why we talked about it

[17:23] at a curriculum meeting earlier this

[17:24] week and this is why we'll be talking

[17:26] about it at a Schoolboard meeting next

[17:28] Tuesday night even though it's

[17:29] administrative in nature the community

[17:32] needs to be aware that you know we are

[17:34] taking the the safety and mental health

[17:38] of our students seriously here and we we

[17:42] need your help in uh taking a

[17:45] collaborative approach to how we're

[17:47] going to be addressing these issues

[17:48] moving forward so this is a significant

[17:51] change but again as I stated most of the

[17:55] time when we develop administrative

[17:57] procedures they just develop we

[17:59] Implement and we move on uh the

[18:01] seriousness of this and the importance

[18:03] of it is we want the community to be

[18:06] aware of this and uh and really work

[18:09] with them on supporting the needs of our

[18:13] kids this is new I mean we touched on

[18:16] some of what we've been doing but it's

[18:17] kind of a new protocol um are there

[18:19] opportunities for people to give

[18:20] feedback and thoughts and share ideas um

[18:22] even students families as we go through

[18:25] this uh we have been going out to school

[18:27] so we've talked to to students at both

[18:29] middle schools the high school and then

[18:31] we've also been going to the elementary

[18:33] schools and going through the protocol

[18:35] with students getting their feedback and

[18:37] it's insightful um the things that

[18:39] they're saying to us what like

[18:41] experiences and thoughts that we hadn't

[18:42] yet considered um and yeah so I mean

[18:45] we're going through that with students

[18:46] in the schools and by default um in

[18:50] doing that process and engaging student

[18:52] voice in this conversation it has

[18:54] provided the opportunity to have more

[18:56] one-on-one conversations with families

[18:58] and parents

[18:59] um so we've heard from many parents

[19:02] through email through phone calls

[19:04] providing us with feedback or asking

[19:06] questions we provided the slides that we

[19:08] would use to work with students to

[19:10] gather student voice to to parents

[19:12] involved and so we've been able to have

[19:14] some really good organic conversations

[19:16] with families but that said of course we

[19:18] welcome additional

[19:20] feedback by the other thing I can tell

[19:22] you is um we created as a result of the

[19:26] U the meeting I was talking about a few

[19:28] minutes ago

[19:29] a high school Advisory Group for the

[19:30] high school

[19:31] principal and we showed that Advisory

[19:36] Group an initial draft version of these

[19:38] protocols last spring so we got some

[19:40] feedback from there um and so we have

[19:45] had an opportunity to talk to to parents

[19:48] to students to staff and the other thing

[19:50] I can tell you is this from from my

[19:52] prior life experiences we're going to

[19:55] develop the protocols we're going to

[19:56] move forward with them and then guess

[19:59] what all right we're going to be

[20:00] analyzing and reviewing are there things

[20:02] we can do to make them better and so

[20:05] it's it's a living document and uh we

[20:08] will adjust as time goes on um to best

[20:11] meet the needs of our of our student

[20:13] body and our community I know I actually

[20:16] had um someone come to me just today and

[20:17] say hey I talked to kids and they

[20:19] thought maybe this word would be better

[20:20] here instead of that word so we are

[20:21] making changes to it as we're getting

[20:23] that feedback so I appreciate that um

[20:25] thought that this can continue to evolve

[20:27] based on the experiences that we have

[20:29] last question I have for the group is

[20:31] just um this is new so a year from now 2

[20:33] years 3 years from now what do you hope

[20:35] is different because of this protocol

[20:38] Jacqueline and I got into four

[20:42] elementary schools yesterday to to have

[20:44] these kind of start these conversations

[20:46] with students and I think every at every

[20:50] school correct me if I'm wrong the

[20:52] students said well will we see you again

[20:55] can we continue these conversations and

[20:57] so we left

[20:59] I think in in both of our notes we both

[21:01] you know underlined and exclamation

[21:03] points theide return and and continue to

[21:06] have these conversations so that the

[21:09] students that are

[21:11] experiencing coming through our

[21:14] educational system can give us their

[21:16] lived experiences good bad or otherwise

[21:19] and we can use those experiences to

[21:21] inform how this work moves

[21:24] forward um it happened uh last week when

[21:27] I was at the secondary schools so all of

[21:29] the students said so will you come and

[21:30] talk to us later this year after we've

[21:32] implemented this after we've like had

[21:35] time with it can we give you feedback

[21:36] again and then just to know that the

[21:38] students also said like they felt so

[21:40] comfortable and like valued because they

[21:43] were able to talk about their

[21:44] experiences um and so to be able to have

[21:46] that platform so I really love that part

[21:49] but I also love this idea or the

[21:51] possibility that students are going to

[21:52] be more successful academically because

[21:55] they feel safer in school so when

[21:57] students come into a building and they

[21:58] feel like they belong they're going to

[22:00] be more engaged they're going to talk

[22:02] more they're going to um go after their

[22:05] studies more like we are going to see

[22:06] more successful students because they

[22:08] feel like they're in a safe space where

[22:10] they belong where their ideas and who

[22:12] they are as a person is valued I'm going

[22:14] to go back to where I

[22:16] started I'm G to what the kids said and

[22:19] they said this I want to feel safe seen

[22:22] heard accepted and my individuality and

[22:25] my diversity

[22:27] valued and then the other thing that I

[22:29] think is important that they said I

[22:31] understand the rules and expectations

[22:33] and I see staff applying them

[22:36] consistently this is what they want from

[22:38] their daily

[22:39] experiences what are we doing as a

[22:41] district to ensure this happens and

[22:43] that's what this is

[22:45] about thank you I think that sums it up

[22:47] pretty well well it's clear from this

[22:49] conversation that you all care very

[22:50] deeply about our students and about

[22:52] keeping them safe so I want to thank you

[22:53] for your leadership and your commitment

[22:55] to this work and thank you also for

[22:56] talking with us today if if you'd like

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