agenda. >> Good evening, Chair White, Dr. Thomas, members of the board. Um, I'm going to talk a little bit about um academic excellence in action and kind of the steps that we've been taking towards um implementing that component of our strategic plan. Uh you just heard a lot about curricular resources. that is a lot um more at the ground level. We're kind of going up a level um and talking more high level um what we're working on in terms of our academic excellence area and then um Dr. Anderson will pipe in um as he sees fit. So, as um we all know at this point, um academic excellence is the key part of our strategic plan and it's the area that has risen to the top as the priority um across uh all of our different departments and schools. Last year, we aligned all of our school improvement plans and department plans to that uh academic excellence um pillar of the strategic plan. Um this year is very similar. Um the added component is just um deepening and making sure that those goals are continuing to to push in the direction that we want them to go. Um last year was a pretty quick turnaround time between the adoption of the strategic plan and um the formation of those plans. So this year we have a little bit more time to dig deeper and push to kind of that next level of implementation for those um department and school plans. Um when we think about goals, um we cascade from our strategic priorities and um in the process we're kind of at the point where we're really honing in on school goals and PLC goals. Um we call them learning teams. That is really um the opportunity for educators or leaders or groups of individuals to come together and do that collective learning and capacity building. Um we have very limited number of professional development days. Um that's not super unique to us. Um it's just difficult to uh provide professional development um for staff uh within our um our contract and um schedule. So a lot of the uh capacity building and learning that's done is in that team uh level. And so it would it might look like a department at the high school. It might look like a grade level at a school, but that's an opportunity for teachers to come together or principles to come together and really look at data, figure out what's working, um improve their practice, um figure out kind of the next steps and what they need to do. Um we're really focusing on that team level this year to make sure that those are um functioning at the highest quality um that we can um get to in order to really um build the capacity of our entire system. Um as I was just thinking a lot about these other presentations, continuous improvement and goals and getting better is a never- ending um um it just never ends. Um, so regardless of where we are, we always need to continue to get better. So this is just an embedded way for us to do that. Um, and then we are tightening the relationship between um, uh, built, which is our building instructional leadership teams and our learning teams to make sure that there's a really clear connection between that leadership team at the school um, and the teaming that happens uh, with teachers. Um, as we talked about last time, um, our results are not where we want them to be. So, we're trying to figure out, um, in a strategic fashion how we get to the next step of, um, improving those results. If we look at our curricular, um, implementation area for bridges, um, we know that we are currently in year three um, of implementation, that's when we would expect to see those outcomes. Um we are uh seeing if we break down the grade levels that have been implementing our curricular resource, we are already seeing some improvement in that fourth grade across the district. Um and so that's one area that we want to focus in on what is going well in that grade level. And um there also might be teams of teachers within other grade levels or individual teachers that are really those exemplars and that are getting those results. And so part of the work is to really understand the areas in which things are working um and to leverage that across the whole system. Um I'm sure we've seen this a lot of different times. Um I think our arrow we're probably somewhere in the middle range. Um we're we're really trying to get that um all the arrows going in the right direction. Um we have some of them going in the right direction. So, it's a matter of figuring out why um and uh replicating that and making sure that we have those practices across. Uh I know we've received some questions about um implementation and why is it not happening to the full extent or why does it take three years? Um that's really um it's implementation of a curricular resource is not a light switch. So, we would love it to be as soon as we have a new new resource, we're able to just hit the ground running and do all the different components, but the learning that students are doing is very complicated. And the um the way that resources are designed are also complicated. And within our bridges resources, there's a lot of different components to implementation. Um I know it is um desirable to have it um all show results immediately um but that's just not the way um that it works. We have some teachers that are having a lot of success in areas. So figuring out what supports or what um things that they um had that enabled them to get to that place and then how do we spread that learning across the district to make sure that we're really all moving in that same direction. Um, in terms of our district academic plan, um, these are really built out of the findings that we had at the end of the year. We analyzed all of the school improvement plans, um, and what, um, the focus area was for each of the schools moving forward to next year. Um, our priority one, which I spoke to a little bit, is that building educator capacity. um it's something that always needs to be built and specifically this year it's through that aligned professional learning. So really focusing on those opportunities that we have for job embedded learning which happens again at that team level. Um as we uh talk about tier one instruction uh we really have to always continue to improve that. The the stronger we have in tier one the less we have referred to other areas um including special education. So, the extent to which we have a really high quality tier one and that we're able to um give students challenge opportunities and then also support um within that tier one instruction. That is going to be the most efficient model. That's going to be the most effective model. Um so, continuing to do that. Um obviously in math, we're in a little bit different of a place in elementary at least um than literacy in terms of our ability to do that at scale. And then um as a system really using data to drive instruction and interventions. Um our learning teams uh do use data to drive their conversations. Uh we could always do a better job of um doing that in different teams and um identifying again which teams are doing that really effectively and how do we take those practices and put them into place elsewhere. Um, I know we've also gotten some questions over time about um the strategic plan. The strategic plan isn't a plan. Um, it's a vision. And so when we talk about what it looks like in operation, this is some more concrete things that are happening this year within each of the areas within our strategic plan. Um obviously the four pillars across uh we did an exercise with our learning leaders which is all the department and school leaders to talk about um specifically in their department and school plans what are they doing in each of these areas and this is a highle compilation of all of the things that got pulled from those plans. Um in terms of core instruction, it's really um each of the elementary schools is working on implementing uh some practice that they learn from OLA. It's a little bit difficult because they won't have that resource, but they there are things that they can do um to bridge that gap until we have those in place. Um so each of the elementary schools is um figuring out a concrete way to implement some of the um practices they that they learned in their OLA training. Um and then really ensuring that fidelity to implementation and bridges um and looking to make sure that we're aligned with pacing and using data to drive instruction. Um in terms of in um instructional excellence, uh we're really over the past couple of years, we've been focusing on the Danielson framework. That's a very a nationally um known rubric to identify the key areas of high quality instruction. Um we're continuing to implement that and really figure out how to help teachers improve in the areas of of instruction. And that happens through peer coaches and principles as the building instructional um leader. Uh and then really um taking our learning teams to the next level. um not to get down into the weeds there, but um kind of transferring it from more of a functional team to uh we found that throughout the system we have a lot of um focus on logistics and that's the nature of the work a lot of times, but how do we embed structures to ensure that we're having important conversations about um the the content that that we need to focus on it's really easy to get distracted by um operational things and and fires that happen uh in in schools and bu and classrooms. So, how do we provide structured space so that we can continue building our capacity? Um and that's from top to bottom. And then a lot of our departments are really here to to provide that academic infrastructure that we need to keep things moving. Um I won't go through the other ones but just wanted to share a little bit about some concrete steps that we're taking um to operationalize the strategic plan. Um an update on our scorecard process. Um this is the most updated um visual of what our um district scorecard is going to look like. I know I provided one last spring. Um it's not drastically different. There's some things that have been changed. Um, one of the things is I've just entered um if there is some missing information just um clarity about when that information is going to be coming to you. So um for the science MCAs that transferred from MCA 3 to MCA 4, those are currently embargoed. So I wanted to be clear that you'll be receiving that information in October along with um the report that we get for ACT compared to state averages that's in October. um our graduation rates come out in the following May. So just to give you a cadence of if there is a missing component, when would you expect to see that um come within optimized resources? We have um our staff that really is our key resource, our most important resource. Um so how do we continue to um track metrics around um our our staff? And really our goal um has been to complete the um Danielson uh feedback for teachers. Uh the the observation component is helpful, but the key part of that is the debrief and the coaching that happens after. So now that we're kind of back to normed in in terms of making sure that it's happening, the next step is to um continue to improve that coaching conversation afterwards. um positive learning environments. Um this has a lot to do with um some of our student survey items. Um I'll show you uh some of the student survey items overall and the direction um we're headed with data visualization for that. Um but these are really pulled from the key areas that the schools have been working on. Um and then attendance is something that currently have as um a consistent attendance rate that's um reported through MDE. Um, but I'm in the process of developing more specific um ongoing attendance um information for you all to look at on a regular basis. It's going to be a little bit challenging to get up to speed with that because um some of our attendance codes have gotten revised and consolidated. So, um I'll just ask that you be patient as we um roll out this um attendance reporting. Um similar thing with behavior. um the way that we track it um we had a lot of legacy codes that have been cleaned up. So we might not have per perfect comparisons um yeartoear um but hopefully this will be cleaned up moving forward. Um and then our community partnerships um these are the key metrics there. Um we will be um posting all of the stutter survey results um on the website. So this is just an example of what those look like. These are the um items from the employees, the students um and the parents. And then um full charts of each of the items and then what the results were for each of the three years we've done that survey. And then we'll continue to report that longitudinally moving forward. Um and then finally, an example of um I know we've had some questions about what metrics might look like at the school level. Uh we've also talked about how we need to be very careful with that because there's a lot of reasons why a school metric might look the way that it does. So what we don't want to do is be pitting schools against each other, especially in a time of site consolidation. Um but I wanted to to show a little bit about what it could look like at the site level. Um this is an example of a um some components of a school improvement plan that was used as an exemplar in our learning leaders meeting. Um so as an example this um school has a math goal of increasing their the percentage of students who meet or exceeds on the MCA from 2025 to 2026. That is consistent across all elementary schools because we are in that year three of implementation. Um so what that might look like externally is reporting those MCA scores um by building and what their baseline was and what their outcome was this year. Um, in terms of internal metrics, we'll be monitoring FastBridge. We're going to be looking um, again, um, doing an implementation study to make sure that we're continuing to move to that next level of implementation for bridges. Um, and then just utilizing our continuous improvement um, feedback cycles. So just what you can expect from the external um more the internal metrics we can report on the things that we learned from those processes and some of the adjustments we're making. Um in terms of optimizing resources this has to do with advancing and their qualifiers and their Danielson framework. Um this is something that does not get reported externally because that's um personnel data. So that's something that we hold. Um but we again can talk about um areas that um we see trends or um we can look at it at an aggregate level and report what we're seeing and what we're doing in terms of um the continuous improvement process there. Uh for the positive learning environments, this school has a goal about wanting to go to school every day. Um all of the school improvement processes had um a root cause analysis or a needs assessment to figure out what was it that really would be the highest impact strategy to focus on. Um so that was this one and you'll see that external metric um in that stutter survey data. Um we've asked um to have um intern or um check-in points. So they will actually be doing an internal survey with their stakeholders of this item to get a mid-year benchmark to see whether they're making any progress in this area. Um and then in community partnerships um this one um has to do with the stutter survey item of receiving positive phone calls, emails and messages. Um and again you'll see that at the end of the year through that stutter survey data. And then um similarly they will be doing a mid-year survey internally. Um the school will be um disseminating that to figure out whether they're making progress in that area and if not um what are things they can do to to make improvements in that area. Um so that's all I have for you uh tonight. Are there any questions? just have a a couple of thoughts and questions. So, >> um you know, having students in the district, I think there's a a wide range of um expectation set for our students at time. So, from teachers. So, is there anything as far as alignment whether in these plans or elsewhere like for example planners? Um some teachers use them, some teachers don't. Some say read 20 minutes, the parent has to sign it and send it back every night. some I've never seen him use it in two years. So like is there you know I always think of this like you know as a parent if I invested probably half of what we invest in academics is we doing sports and everything else we could be doing a lot more and I think it's um I would prefer to sign the planner because I'm not the one nagging then as a parent like is there are there things we can be doing to standardize expectations not only for parents but for students across our buildings that you've seen collectively. It's interesting you brought the planner um one because that actually is uh the main direction that the middle school is going in terms of their um planning their um school improvement process this year. One of the main things that hap and um Dr. Dr. Anderson was a middle school principal. So he can probably speak to this better, but middle school is really the age where students learn how to manage their time, how to manage deadlines, how to pace themselves, how to study, how to take notes. Um it's a very important developmental time where they're um really having to take ownership over their learning. Um and that's been the conversation at the middle school. Last year we had the big challenge of um kind of combining the both of them and principal Kabushek had some work to align um experiences across sides of the street to make sure that was kind of evened out. Um and now the focus really is on what are some of those things we can do to help students get to the next level in terms of their academic progress. um they have purchased um paper plan like actual hard copy planners for every student and that is the expectation in all the classes that they are using that um so I think that is an example where um that was identified as something that was an important component of learning in middle school and really um students need to set goals and um that's really the key to success in middle school so that is something that is standardized I think the the ideal would be yes that they would all be exactly the same. I think the coordination um you know it this was something that was prioritized for that um coordination. Um I think that in certain situations like if we have a new curricular resource implementation, we um use that as an opportunity to be as consistent as possible across experiences. um in areas where there may be um some legacy um you know teachers maybe have written their own curriculum, you may get a little bit more inconsistencies, but I think that is always the goal is to make sure that if a student were to get picked up and put in another school or put in another class that they would have a um continue like a continuum of experience that wouldn't be disrupted or expectations wouldn't drastically change. >> Yeah. Um Yeah. And I and that's kind of when where my mind went was just like what else can we be doing? This doesn't feel like enough while we wait for three years to for curriculum to be implemented. What can we be doing as parents for our community as a community? Have have there been any other kind of big bold ideas raised? You know, do we try to, you know, take a cohort and take away the iPads? Do we try I don't know. Like I'm looking for, you know, ideas in that. And like even the planners, like you said, I have two middle schoolers. they don't use them at least the first 12 days. So, I don't I don't know like where is that inconsistency, right? I I just I really struggle and I feel like I can't rely on it as a parent and then I go on to you know the apps to check it just because I'm not sure if it's there. So, where you know how can we help as like a board and with policy or um like what else can we be doing? Yeah, I I would just say that um the uh technology has shifted this year. So, we have eliminated some of the technology at that younger grade level. So, we're going to see what impact that that has had or that that may have on on our students. Um I would also say that um last year we introduced the concept of the Laker Lighthouse and this year we have more expectations for the completion of that so that we can begin to highlight the promising practices and the expectations that there's requirements for schools to submit into that Laker Lighthouse on those practices. So we begin to st you know one uplift that but also begin to standardize that across the district. So that's another um tool that we have made now mandatory after its introduction last year. So but there's a lot of different practices that are happening you know at the granular level within classrooms and I think that's how we're going to try to sift through that you know outside of our big investments on building capacity and strengthen that tier one instruction. I can't stress enough that um our ability to have that foundational learning um really strong for our students um is absolutely critical. You know, we talked last last couple weeks ago about some of our walkthroughs and uh and I think I mentioned one of my goals going uh with some of this intentional rounding to understand how are we actually operationalizing these plans and what would I be looking for in the classroom to see changes in practice. um you know whether it's the the resources that we mentioned earlier um it's the fidelity and and usage of said resources and that's another thing that is a big focus for us um so that we have that consistent implementation if if you're you know gung-ho and all into it and I'm a bit more reserved or I you know always had this lesson that I've designed or this this set of lessons and I still want to bring those in and it's hard for me to separate from those. I'm just kind of being real here. Those are the kind of expectation level sets that we're going to have to start standardizing. It's not to say that some of those lessons aren't good, but we can't do everything and we have to find our highest leverage impacts. And that's what we have shared in terms of our big academic priorities for the year and how we've aligned a lot of our plans to fit within those priorities. So that in our monitoring sessions, rounding sessions, walkthroughs, etc. um even some of the work that you might do coming into the building um looking for some of those leverage points that we've mentioned um as well. So Dr. Andrew, you want to add anything? >> Well, I appreciate the question and that um fidelity of implementation certainly matters and it's not an easy thing. I mean just what's represented in this case study of a school improvement plan, that's a lot to monitor and support. Yeah. >> So you have to organize your whole system to monitor and support that. So, uh, it's not that people haven't been working hard. We've got a bunch of folks who work super hard. >> Um, the the arrow slide that we've been putting up is really the work. And so, um, to the degree that we can get, uh, folks align, to that same degree, you're going to have more even experiences. So, one thing you can do, whether you're a board member or a community member, is to ask the question of the teacher, hey, my kids not using their planner. I thought I understood the planners were going to be a thing. while I'm going to do my work at home, can you help me understand what what you're seeing? Because we need that parent partnership. So, that's an example of a movie can make. And leading with curiosity, I think, is a helpful thing for any educator. So, um sometimes educators in 2025 and maybe throughout all of history feel like folks are leading with condemnation, like you're doing it wrong, Chair White, you're doing it wrong. Instead, help me understand why you chose to take the recess when you when you took it. There's a difference there. Educators want to be partners with families. They they want to have that connection. They love the partnership with families. Um and when the kid or our young learners experience a consistent type of approach at home to the one that's in the classroom, that's when magic uh magical outcomes can happen. So, I love the question because because that's really the approach. And so, it's not to say we haven't been working hard or trying to align things. Um but uh we are in the move to try to do that alignment work and it's not a press the button thing. In my own experience continuous improvement in schools which are constrained by legislation by limited resources by expectations that vary differently from every parent of the kids in that person's room. um it's a three to five to continuous improvement to get a whole system aligned takes consistent energy over time. Monitoring and supporting the things that are very most important. So um that's the move. So I love the question. There's a lot more to say over time, but that's the work that's the overall approach that we're engaged uh in. And we have really a lot of hardworking talented people in our system. So despite all these barriers, um I'm very optimistic about the progress we can make, but it's going to be a process. I love the question though. >> I have one more example as well. If you have an elementary student, um Minnesota Department of Education just came out with a family toolkit for um practices aligned to the science of reading. I know we've gotten a lot of questions about how to support our readers at home. And I I I haven't dug totally deep into it. I'm not sure. there there probably are some other things that could be um applicable to middle school students as well, but especially if you're in elementary. Um go look at that toolkit on Minnesota Department of Education, the extent to which we can um all learn about the science of reading. Um I it was an important journey for me to go through as a parent as well. Um, I actually was practicing out with my son and he corrected me and said, "I thought it was a an E that was making a long A." And he's like, "No, that's an R controlled vowel." So, I knew what he was talking about when he said that and he corrected me. So, um, it's really important that, um, everybody understands some of those important concepts of the foundations uh, or the science of reading. Um, and I was pretty impressed with the toolkit that MDE came out. So, that's another component. Um, reading is really something that happens um at home and at school and that's something that we can all do together um and learn what a CBC word is and why it's important to know what a CBC word is and how to like what what phonics is teaching us and how to explain that because if we're using the same language at home that the students are hearing at school and if they you know if if I didn't know what an R controlled vow was I I don't know that conversation would have been very confusing but I was like yeah You're right. And I um so I think the extent to which we can continue those conversations at home, that's a really um tangible thing that we can um work together on. >> Um just a couple quick questions. Um timing on the dashboard. When will it be live? >> I know we've been talking about it for about a year, so I'm just curious when we'll get to see it on our website. >> I mean, these are the main components of it. Um >> going to be on the website, though. >> Yes. >> Okay, we'll push that up. And I know um Aubrey is uh putting fonts, color schemes and all that to make it plas but we'll be ready to upload kind of the similar visuals what you see that will then get posted up on the academic website. >> Yeah. So I have a shared document with communications. So it's at the point where we're trying to translate the work that was done into something that's um website ready. You can I don't know if you noticed, but the color scheme is now aligned with um Christy helped to um reformat some of those components. I am working with Aubrey to change that. There's the by the numbers that I previewed for you last spring. I'm working with them to align to our um color guide and all of those. There's not enough the branding. We don't have enough colors to put all the colors on the chart. So, they need to create some that go with So, um I believe this is in the a later part of the agenda, but um I believe the superintendent has it in his goals for November. So, I I imagine it would actually be before that, but um we're working through all those branding components at this time. >> Okay. No, I appreciate all your hard work. Um the the other question, I have two other questions. I'll try to make them brief. Um regarding the behavior and number incidents, I think it might be helpful. um sort of a data person here and so I've gone into MD and I've seen the different bullet points of behaviors and different classifications and over time I I don't know if you're looking at that as a total number of behavior incidents or perhaps you could add some more um information there as far as what does it mean because I think behavior incidents to one person is totally different than I mean there's different classifications of incidents as well. >> Yeah. So, a similar process is happening with um behavior where the codes are getting I've worked with um the deans at all the sites to uh clean up those codes. I'm also transitioning to Aubrey which is brand new um and working through some transition issues in terms of I'm just wanting to make 100% sure that I understand exactly what's being reported. Um so I do have more granular information on attendance and behavior. Um, behavior is a very complicated metric because, and I've said this before, it's a combination of what the student does and what the adult does to react to that behavior. Um, so it doesn't only tell us about one or the other. It tells us this kind of confusing combination of both. Um, so a behavior to me might be different than a behavior to Dr. Anderson. We may qual we may categorize it differently. I may count it as I may refer a student for something that he wouldn't refer a student for. So, um it's so as you see the more detailed information, as I um make sure that everything is the way that it should be reporting in Aubé, um just knowing that the behavior is a very complicated um metric and having a behavior rate go up or down doesn't inherently mean something is good or bad or having, you know, a behavior reported behavior decrease does not mean that our behaviors are decreasing. So, um just wanted to to um preview that I am working through all of the um the data transitions into a brand new system. Um >> I think it just might be helpful to say these are tier three or tier one or tier two or something like that. So that from a you know from helping >> yeah I can when I when I'm ready for that I can walk you through the different um ways in which be behaviors are coded and what they mean. Um there are different levels of behaviors and certain that get certain ones that get reported to the state for specific purposes. So um I can dive deep into that when I'm ready. I'm just not >> Oh, that's okay. >> There you go. >> Um I loved what director um Mason asked and part of my question goes back to like are are we doing anything um with behavior? like are there any changes in policies or like we can we bring anything um forth that help support changes in our district that create a more positive learning environment um in regard to behavior and and you know we could probably circle back on that because that's a big hot topic. Um the other thing when I think about like the use of planners um I was just talking to a colleague of mine who lives in a different state and was talking about all the homework that his um students receive and I think a consistent feedback I hear from parents is my kids never get homework we used to get homework we don't get homework so is that something that like making a change to now we're going to have 20 minutes reading at night or we're going to work on our core math facts or like I would also love to hear some more like what are we doing from a change that is going to have like doesn't cost any money from a resources standpoint, but perhaps a change in our learning model that will have a positive impact on our students um academic outcome. >> Well, I'm not familiar with any particular strategy related to homework. Uh but it's something that we can look into over time as an example of something. Yeah. So, thank you for bringing that up. I also know that the research on homework is nuanced and mixed. Um there's certain situations where homework can help and there's certain situations where homework can actually do the opposite. So um I don't think it's um it it's more nuanced than a policy that says we need to do 20 minutes of homework. um that would not be indicated as a um across the board uh change in practice or policy that would inherently make any sort of positive difference. >> I appreciate that. But I think if we go back to the way we were doing things back in 201617, we did have homework where we were learning some foundational things. So it's you know looking at things differently and being positive solutions for is all really really that I'm looking for I'm asking for. So >> Charles You mentioned um as far as curriculum, right? And we are clearly testing an abundance of curriculum that curriculum to what we're testing and not having that correctly kind of >> um I think that um if I'm recalling if I'm understanding your question correctly um it is very difficult to supplement and modify high curriculum until you have a deep understanding of what it can and can't do. Um, so the the goal initially would be to especially in a resource that is highly aligned to Minnesota state standards, the goal would be to implement it with fidelity as much as possible. Um, we learn this through various um, pilot processes. A teacher might say there's no way this is going to work, but they tried it and they actually that did work and I learned something from that. So, um I think that it's really hard to make um uh strategic changes in a curriculum until you fully understand the way that it works. Um like our bridges curriculum is um cyclical. Um, and so the idea that you get introduced to an idea and then you loop back to it a little bit later in the year, you're not going to fully understand that whole um, process until you've done it for an entire year and then you might modify it um or or understand it at a deeper level. So yes, there's always um, to what Janine was saying earlier um, we can always make modifications. we can understand where the gaps are in terms of um Minnesota standards alignment but it's really hard to do that until we have a deep understanding of the resource first >> right so with that what are what is being done at the higher level to make sure that that is that it's being done that way right are doing this to 100% >> yeah I think that's a complicated question because it's a very timeintensive thing to understand. Um we did I believe I presented it we did a study um we randomly entered 100 over a 100 classrooms last spring um and strategically collected data on implementation to understand what that looks like. We also have information from our observation data through Danielson. Um, but through that implementation study, we learned that there was a difference in implementation between the formal observations and the informal check-ins. And so we know that's an area um that and I think that makes sense. If you know someone's going to come watch you, you're going to do something and you know in a much you spend more time preparing than the reality of a day in and day out um situation. So, um, one of we'll continue to do those informal check-ins, give feedback to schools about what implementation looks like, identify areas where it's really strong, um, to the extent that we can. This is a resource restriction, but to the extent possible, you um, release teachers from their classroom to go see a different classroom that does have it implemented um, at a at a different level. Um, and then it's really building the capacity of principles. um none of the principles to my knowledge have ever taught bridges. That's not I mean they're they're um so it's a learning curve for them as well. So for them to be able to identify um what that looks like that is a learning curve for them as well. So that is something that we're really really focusing on is building the capacity of our peer coaches and principles to see that. um and our small team that we have here, we we look at we do systematic implementation studies to the extent that we um are able to do that >> and I think all of that for sure we do have a small team. This is the leanest system that I've been in and one of the ways you accelerate fidelity of implementation is to get for example coaches there. So if it's monitored and supported it's more likely to be implemented with high fidelity. It's not because folks are intentionally trying to, you know, go out into left field. Um, so when we have those rare interfaces with principles, for example, helping them have the skills to monitor and support effective implementation is what we want those built teams to do, principles to do, peer coaches to do. So bringing some attentionality to that uh in addition to the to the strategies that uh Dr. just outlined. >> Yeah. >> All right. We good. >> Dan. Dan. >> Mary. >> Oh, sorry, Mary. I don't see you, so I couldn't uh couldn't see through the screen. Go ahead. Um first of all um I appreciate um this discussion and I like the fact uh directors ambush that you brought up um particularly what uh principal uh Kabushek is trying to do with the middle schools with uh creating consistency between them. My concern in in a lot of this is fairly general. um as we're creating uh the consistencies and creating hopefully efficiencies and making things better for the educators um and we're taking all of these initiatives um you know as class sizes are becoming more uh diverse and complicated and sometimes large um I I'm worried that if we do too much at once and we boil the ocean are actually going to be detracting from the educator's ability to create those meaningful relationships with the parents of the students and also spend enough time with the students as we're developing these curriculums and going through all this. Um, and I'm hoping that all these changes that are being introduced are being prioritized so we do uh, in my opinion uh, a few things uh, very well instead of trying to boil the ocean. And when we're throwing all these initiatives at once and creating these um, dashboards, etc., Uh it's it's it's kind of hard for people who aren't doing the work of the educators to kind of realize what they need to go through in order to experience this change and still be able to do the best job possible for the students and for the families. So I guess I'm I'm just kind of asking for priorities in that uh so that they can do what they do best. Um we've had other years um particularly earlier in the you know uh was brought up actually 2620 2017 when so many um um initiatives were brought up. Uh so many committees were formed and so many new curriculums were being discussed that um it turned out that the teachers weren't able to actually spend the quality time that they needed to with each student and also be able to return parent phone calls and etc because of the workload put on them. So I just want to know that we are prioritizing this and not trying to boil the ocean. >> Yeah, I appreciate that point. I think prioritization is the name of the game for sure. There there, as previously stated, there is a lot there's a lot uh from the state. There's a lot that our our local community uh is hoping from us. Uh and there's a lot that we're trying to do as we try to do continuous improvement work. So, I think it's it's a fair point to note that and prioritization is a super important part of this and it's part of what we're trying to use our scarce interfaces with principles to to do that work too to say let's prioritize and try to do that in an effective manner. So, it's a noted. Thank you. >> All right. There's nothing else. Thank you, Jane. And we will move on to the elementary boundary discussion. >> Do you want to use >> I think this one will look good. You want to start from the beginning? >> Let's just start from the beginning for a moment. >> Good evening. Um, tonight we want to bring everyone up to date on our enrollment boundaries um, school boundary discussion. We're starting from the beginning of the presentation, but I'm going to fly through a few of these real quick. Um basically the why, right? We talked about this before for those who might be tuning in for the first time. Um the why behind this is adjusting elementary attendance boundaries to reflect board approved site consolidation decisions. And the slide here has more specifics as um people can read through that. What we won't do are listed here on the next slide as nothing's changed from the last presentation we've had. This is just a a recap basically of this information. Here's what we're looking to do. the desired results, what we are keeping as goals as we move forward through this process. So we wanted to make sure that those were presented again for people to know that this is kind of our base. Next slide is about the boundary change process. So slide hasn't changed where we are on this slide has. Right. So now we're past the minimal criteria. We are looking at that feedback opportunity from our board of education committees and also um we have options that we are sharing with those teams so that we can then um also present that with our learning leaders and um and it would be October according to the time slide or timeline slide if you want to go to that one. October 27th is when we would then be bringing forward two options to the to present to the board and a recommendation for the board to take action on the new boundary for elementary schools November 10th. So that is in a nutshell where we've been. Um the assumptions we're using are here. This is kind of the basis of what we needed to make sure we understood was happening as we began the process. We haven't changed that. Um just making sure people are aware of it here. I won't rehash this necessarily but I will um move on to the minimum criteria which um is we are making sure that each of these scenarios that we bring forward meet these criteria as a minimum um focusing on the data and gathering feedback on additional possible data points. That's kind of where we're at right now um to be measured in finalizing our recommendation to the school board. and Dan's going to take it from here to talk about um the work that's been accomplished and where we're at with our actual scenarios. >> So, when we're looking at all of these different options, um there's certain assumptions that we have to have so that everyone can be on the same page when we're creating these. First assumption when I'm looking at those numbers, the Lola Delago students are pulled out because they're coming from all over the district. We're not going to include them in the rebounding. It wouldn't make any sense. We're also pulling out all of the open enrolled students because they're going to have to go through the enrollment process again. I mean, they're already in our district, but their preferences of which location they're going to want to go at may change. So, that part of those all those students are pulled out of this base data that we're looking at. IDTs are being pulled up back to their home schools. There again, they may be choosing those as their primary school. That might be where they wanted to be all along. So as we're looking at these base numbers, those are the assumptions that we absolutely start with for every one of these scenarios. Once the boundary discussions have been completed, then we will go back and make sure and include all these IDTs to get them their preference or their apply for their preferences and then um start that open enrollment pro process again so they can pick their choices. And then the regular enrollment, all of that's going to be at the same time. So, the enrollment office is going to be exceptionally busy for a couple of months. Now, as we're looking at um we provided a bunch of the basic raw data in here. I did not put any maps in here and I did that kind of on purpose. Um we're really going to be presenting a lot of that stuff to our committee so that they get all that stuff thrown at them and then they can see those how those maps change for each one of those options. I did toss in a little bit of the information in here as we talk about I mean I was getting pretty crazy with some of the names I had. So it's now scenario A through E much easier. People can really understand it. But when we're looking at those things it's this description isn't going to mean necessarily much to anyone here right now. When they look at the map they're going to be like oh yeah that makes sense. But there again I just wanted to provide some of that basic raw data that we're looking at. Um when we're looking at these um the numbers um the number of students impacted some scenario may be um a lot less students impacted but there may be other things that are impacted greatly like bus drive times. So, as director Ryder mentioned earlier, we will be meeting with both the finance and operations committee tomorrow and then later on this week, we are meeting with the bus company to go over those options to see, okay, are these things that are going to potentially reduce our costs, less busing, or are they looking at increased drive times if we pick a different option? So, we want to make sure and get all of that information from them as well. So when we go back to analyze all these scenarios, um we have the at least as much data as we can come up with. But you can see we've we looking at everything from the percentage of non-white students, um English learners, free and reduced, special ed. We've got the total capacity available in these locations and then we've got the total enrollment by location. So you can kind of see how full a school would be. Um, scenario A is a good one to show that's it only impacts 437 students, but we've got one school that's over 80% capacity and the other school with the low side is at 52%. That is about as unbalanced as you can be when you're looking at that. So all of those types of things we're going to make sure that we're looking at and sharing with everybody. One point it was mentioned to me the fact that as you look at the students impacted we are not including in these numbers any IDTS in district transfers or any open enrollment considerations there. This is just simply our resident students that we're referring to on these counts and um and so consider the fact that some of these capacities are going to be impacted by those decisions then after the fact too. So, you know, there could be a possibility for things that might look more um distanced from percentage wise, right? But those two sites might actually come closer together by the time everything is said and done after the IDTS and the opener moments. >> Can I ask a question to that? Do you mind? >> Go right ahead. >> Just that was my question. So is it oversimplistic to say? So like say you take scenario A for example and you look at what is it Glendale for example is would be at 52% capacity in this in this particular scenario again using this as just an example but since IDT and open enrollment is pulled out is it oversimplistic to say those students would very likely be put at Glendale because of the capacity issue or is that there's so many other factors to put parent preference. Um, it's going to be that's going to be a big chunk of it. You know, where do these parents really want to have their students at? They may not pick Glendale. >> You know, we may get to the point where we fill up a school or get another one at higher capacity and Glendale might be their second or third option at that point. >> So, it's not oversimplistic, but it's just something that we can't look at or consider at this point. >> Right. Okay. which is one of the reasons that in a lot of these scenarios, my goal was always to aim for a more balanced approach so that we can look at that a little bit more um holistically. You know, when they're adding in um there may be one school that's everyone's second choice, but it may also fit in to where everyone that was open enrolled gets their first choice. You know, we really can't know and we can't design any of these systems that way. So, we'll look at balancing the best we can. Um, coming up with that recommendation we think works best for the district and then open it up and let the community decide where they would most like to go. >> Yeah. >> You know, it's we can't design a system based on whatifs. I guess that's the best way to look at it. >> Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for letting me interrupt there. >> No worries. >> I I had a question with that too. Could I ask that now or do you want me to wait? >> No, ask it anytime. Um, we also have land for sale that's zoned, some mixed zoned, some residential, etc. You know that we don't want to go through changing boundaries. But if that land were to uh were to be developed and more residential housing options, particularly low income, were to move into some of those areas, that could also change the demographics as well as the percentage. uh um of some of these schools. Is that taken into consideration when you develop these scenarios? >> So that is that's a good question. So um we did approach the city and I've mentioned this to a lot of different groups. We talked with the city of Prior Lake. We talked with the city of Savage to find out where the growth areas are. Um there are a couple of these scenarios that work particularly well with any potential growth. Um I'm I'm not going to pick anyone out in particular right now. I could show you by maps where every one of those locations are. Um, and as you're looking at, um, some of these scenarios work better for that. And that was one of the things we were looking at. Where is that potential growth? Um, when you're talking to the city of Savage though, they aren't expecting more than 50 new housing starts a year. That's not very many. And we would get.7 kids per housing start. So when you're looking at changes that happen, it's not going to happen quickly. Um I suspect I mean this is my hope is that once this um boundary adjustment is made um that we could be good for 10 years. Um that's my hope. Um there's a couple of scenarios in there that are very very flexible for the potential growth that we could see. Now, if we were to suddenly see every one of those locations max out in the next couple of years, that could be a different story. I mean, that could be a thousand new starts. I don't expect to see that. Um, not when even the city of Prior Lake is looking at less than 75 new housing starts a year. So, between the two of them with our potential housing or I mean decline in enrollment, um, combining those two things, I mean, is there a happy medium in there? I would love to see that. Um I don't expect it, but all of these plans will take that into account and we'll that's how we're going to help rank them. And that's part of the reason we wanted to come up and talk with all of the board as well as with our committee in the morning. I may be missing something that is really critically important to everybody. um and that we would love to find out so that we can evaluate these options better or I come up with a completely different option because none of these are fitting into that priority or that one particular 10 different things um that people see and I want to make sure that people are seeing at least some of the stuff that we're looking at um so that they can bring those other things forward to us. Um I can scroll through a few of these other scenarios just so you can see some of the other things. Um one of the ones that we've got the last two scenarios affect the most amount of kids. Um but one of the things that I really kind of like it um is that they're about as balanced as I can possibly make them for student enrollment. and that um something like scenario E well D there's a couple of them in there that really are I'm trying to future proof them a little bit better you know looking 5 10 years down the road um and I think that we've got some of those scenarios that really um do that well >> one other note is we did not put in all the different grade levels we have that data but we you know shortened this up so you could see it better um but what we did do is we took a look at all of those numbers by grade level. The highest numbers, for example, divided by four, is it within our our range that's acceptable? And that was the case for all of these scenarios. So, just know that that's the case right now. Um I think that there's some buildings of course that um won't be able to do more than four classrooms, right, per grade, but there might be a couple that that might be a possibility should it be necessary as well. Yeah, we'll we'll make sure that in the final analysis that we're looking at every grade in every location to make sure um that we can fit in for that capacity. But then also when we open up the enrollment, that will be one of those things that is going to have to be a criteria. We're going to the CL we'll open it up until we hit that point where we're full with either four sections per kindergarten or five sections for a couple other grades. And when we hit that point, that's it. Then they'll have to pick their second and third options. That's absolutely no different than has been done previously for any of these things. So that's just it's it's just a part of the process when we have the open enrollments. Any other questions? >> Um is forgive me if you said this. I think you touched on it a little bit. um when you're looking at the different um scenarios and the different columns, you know, free and reduced um things like that. Are you in terms of like busing for example? So like in this scenario, you know, these particular students would be on the bus for 40 minutes, you know, to and from or five minute. Do you know what I mean? And and maybe >> that's an awesome question. >> Maybe that's not there yet. Yeah, >> it it that is a part of one of the So, that's one of the criteria that we are putting in there and when we talk to the bus company, we're going to find out. >> Okay, that's that's what you said. You're going to talk to the bus. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hey, Lisa. >> Oh, sorry. I have a question. Um, when I look at like scenario A and that obviously has the less impact on our district students, students about 94 students. Would we ever I don't even know if this is possible. So maybe I'm asking a question for our for Dr. Thomas or someone, but would we would we ever as a board look and so we we'll say like, okay, we place our our district students um within, you know, this is our boundaries. Five Hawks is at 82% capacity. We're going to close open enrollment for that one particular school. Do we ever do that where we I mean I'm just ask for specific schools >> and even and and even currently it might even be specific grades within a school too. Um so yeah that is that is a practice that we have. >> Okay. So maybe not to scare you know to I mean I understand the balance and I get that but keeping that in mind because I think that scenario does actually have the least amount of impact on our indist. And it's got the worst busing situation. >> No that's okay and that's good to know. >> Yeah and that's one of the things that I'll be and that's and I wanted to show that too. That's a perfect example of something that is awesome in one regard. >> I'm sure there's lots of different >> good in another regard. So as we look forward with all of those types of and that's what I want to hear is I want to hear that feedback to so we can look at these things from different viewpoints. >> Thank you >> Jessica. >> Yeah I I mean on that note could we maybe in future decks potentially see like our pros and cons. I know there will be a lot of questions coming up tomorrow morning but also but you know that would be helpful to see it as output of why we didn't choose things or why we're recommending. >> There's going to be an analysis on each one of these. Okay. Yeah. And I think I shared that with the the committee, my initial analysis part. So, we'll go through that tomorrow and we'll increase on that. So, that when we get down to selecting these, we're going to have a lot of pros and cons, a lot of different analysis for all of those options. >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> Just a comment too, just for everyone's sake, I think there was some really great questions asked at the last um finance and operations committee, so it was very helpful. Charles, um, once it does come back to us and you've narrowed this down, are you going to be providing us everything? Uh, maps like so, so you didn't provide maps now. Get that. Completely understand. Right. Are you going to provide us the maps in advance? plus um and or should we just like I would love to see the full on breakout all the way down into classrooms, right? That might just be me, right? >> No, the plan is definitely to bring down the bring everything in for a breakdown and everything else. Bring in the maps. >> Um the detail level of maps um that depends. I mean, I could get a a blown up sheet. what I see on the computer is very different than what I can show you in a JPEG because it's just the detail level just overwhelms the picture. >> So let me clarify just basically the information that you are bringing towards into the committee right and all that information just bringing it >> that's exactly the next the next board meeting is exactly what we were going to do. Yeah. >> That's all that's all I was Yeah. Just trying to to make sure. >> Yeah. And then I would just uh uh close chair with this that the next phase in this obviously we're going to work through this um process to get to the recommendation um that we'll eventually bring to the board but simultaneously we are also starting that initial um phase of looking at the DSC and the all for a lack of better term I'm calling it the educational services center where um we'll be reoccupying a space of central services support, community ed support, as well as special ed and our transitions program all being under one roof. So that information will start to kind of build some capacity of that process kind of as this is coming to a close that will be ramping up. So I just want to foreshadow with all of you similar process of building maps and space usage um um things of that we're considering and building up our assumptions. All of that is starting to happen now as well. Um, obviously with the sale of of this building, but that's something else that we'll be bringing to uh the committee and then coming back with you with some different scenarios of how we would occupy that space with programs and central services. >> All right. Great. Thank you. >> All right. Thanks, guys. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. And then the last thing on our agenda is uh um draft goals for the superintendent for 2526. Michael. >> Yeah. Thank you all. Um so what you have here this evening are the uh uh draft goals for 2526. Um this is uh kind of in the it's in the MSBA format. So what I've done is aligned it to the uh strategic priority. Um so you'll see in our in the first one um I've taken uh the strategic plan alignment for academic excellence as well as positive learning environments. Positive learning environments isn't a standalone. It's kind of woven in between this one and the last goal, but there's three kind of big areas that I'll be focusing in on. Um obviously teaching and learning is, you know, our bread and butter. It's always going to be an area of focus. And so um you'll see the format. And I won't read through everything here, but you'll see the format of the um strat plan, the MSBA standard that's required, the elements that are aligning to that uh MSBA standard, and then smart goals, and then uh progress indicators as well as um examples of evidence that may be pulled from and then the rubric that uh you all are familiar with as well. That will be at the at the very end, but I just put that out there so you can see that. Um and then second uh area is uh MSBA standard uh school district finances and then um same process and then the third is um around communication and community uh relationships. Some of this you'll see intertwined in partnering with you all as board. Um also picking up on some of the goals that you had set for yourselves, particularly at the last um portion of communication and community partnerships. Um and ways that we as an administration team and a governance team can tighten up those bonds. And so there are some aspects there that I would be looking to facilitate um those those uh connections between the board and uh administration as well as um joining on some of those rounding sessions as well because I know you all are now going to be assigned to schools that might be a joint activity so that we're working in tandem with one another. So So that's that's what I'm proposing. Open it up to you chair board um for any uh feedback. Anyone have Jessica? >> Yeah, I had a few things. Um, so I guess under the first one under progress indicators, which are essentially deliverables, right? Um, >> are you on the first >> the first goal? >> First goal. >> Um, why do we not have one included for reading proficiency rates in addition to math? Is there >> because we have not done anything different in terms of our reading resource um, holistically. We're now in the year three of the math and so that's why we should be able to start seeing evidence of that. We wouldn't have evidence at this stage in in the game. >> Okay. >> But again, um every building is going to have its reading and math goals. So that's part of that first um deliverable is that we have that built in so that because they're going to see different nuances at their building level before we would see it at the aggregate level as a district as a whole. Right. Okay. >> So, that's why I've included both. >> Okay. Um, and then at one point we had talked about um a goal to have like a curriculum listing. We talked about it not being an audit, but just like a listing of curriculum by grade and like links and things to it, >> mapping mapping. And so, the four core is kind of an area. I actually don't have a list here but as it's actually one of the things that I'm doing this year and I can certainly add it I think here for as a deliverable and really looking at uh math and reading um obviously but then just focusing on the four core um yeah uh science and social studies then of what's kind of what resources do we currently have and then starting with those because that's going to be the the kind of the biggest pillars. >> Okay. Yeah. I mean I would love to see that. I don't know others but um and then under the second goal um >> can can do you mind if we maybe just go goal by goal >> any other feedback from that way and we can track better okay I could track better >> anyone else >> I'm happy to go unless if you want to go in order and Amy >> okay um um a couple different things one of my questions was reading as well so thank you for answering that. Oh, my mic is on. Okay. >> Um, for the curricular alignment, does that also include like putting it on the website so we have transparency? So, it' be like curricular alignment and transparency. >> So, the curricular mapping would be something that we can upload similar to what we started to do with the elementary. >> Yep. >> Okay. And then, you know, um, one thing that, um, so I like the, you know, elementary proficiency goal. would love to see sort of like what a stretch goal is there knowing that you know I understand it takes time to move the needle but um so my feedback was there is you know is two points enough um to really move the needle for kids within the next three to five years um but also there's there's one other thing that is concerning to me is and I was just looking at other goals from other different superintendents there's not a lot of them posted because we're doing them all at the same time to be honest with you but Um, I loved one that I saw about documented plans for students below benchmark because those are really the students that you know were are really the ones that are struggling is those ones that are below benchmark. So, it was basically creating and this would maybe go into the school improvement plan, but creating a documented plan for students below benchmark. I don't know if that's possible, but I love the idea of having a specific plan for these students who are below benchmark. Director Atinson, there that is actually something that we are looking at with regards to some additional support through our ANI work. So I think I could um have an artifact there um with the three success co success coaches that we're going to be u bringing on and their sole purpose is to look at students that are um statistically um in that gap analysis and that are below benchmark. So I think that would be the cadre that we would be looking at and then I would present our findings from their work and efforts. So I think that would be something easily captured there. >> Okay. And then the last thing is um our graduation rate took a little bit of a dip last year. So I know you were diving into that but I don't know if there's any sort of goal setting around getting that graduation addressing the graduation rate. >> Um we we did talk about that. Um our rate actually stayed consistent. What has gone up is the extended time that many of our students in special ed are taking. Okay. >> So our rate I mean >> that was we did the analysis and shared that analysis already both at the staff welcome back as well as at one of our most recent board meetings as well. So so yeah that the the rate has remained fairly consistent. What we're seeing more so is some of our students receiving special ed support. They need longer time to graduate and that's the aggregate that brought the average down. >> That's the aggregate that brought the ground. Okay. All right. So, that's the only feedback I had in that in >> Charles. >> Um, the only thing for me is you and you kind of already hit it, so I just want to echo it. Um, >> with the ANI restructure, um, >> something I think it fits really well with that. Um, I think, you know, we've talked a lot about that and I think it definitely deserves something to be on there and how we're going to >> move that process process forward. >> Got that noted. Great. I think that's a two for one there. >> Yeah. Mhm. >> Love it. >> Appreciate it. >> Anyone else? Jessica took mine. So, >> Jess, >> um I just um in actually along with that um I'm not I would love to see more um equity put into the goals. That's across the board. Okay, I've got that noted to review and how that can be woven in. >> Do I'm just curious just do you have a like a specific example just for context? >> Well, I mean that's you know we don't have a resolution anymore. Um but you know the you know one of the I guess promises of redoing ANI and things like that is to and along with other elements of our district is and and this is an every everyone thing not just the superintendent um but just to put you know keep equity at you know as a consideration and so if I'm looking at this is just an example I because these are your goals and I want you to to um take that. But just, you know, if we're looking at, you know, looking at our curricular resources, you know, having an equity lens on things that we choose, things that we consider, things like that. And I don't know if that, you know, you may argue too that maybe that's not part of your goals necessarily, but I know that was one of the promises um of, you know, redoing the ANI plan. So, I just want to make sure that's considered. I just want to be sorry I just want to be clear. We'll be redoing the ANI plan um for adoption for the next three years this year. >> We just um reorganized a role. So the plan stays as it was and then we'll rewrite the the new plan going forward. But I hear your point and can see how, you know, we could incorporate or I could incorporate some of that more intentional and then call outs in my goals. Um, just so that it's front and center and folks understand that you as a board >> and if I could just comment just um to piggyback and please Dr. Thomas, if I'm if I'm getting any of this wrong, but the resolution not being um the equity resolution being rescended or suns sunseted um that doesn't hasn't impacted your stance on equity in giving students and teachers exactly what they need to be successful. >> Correct. That that was not my goals weren't tied to your resolution. >> Correct. And I would just elaborate on that. Um um director Bullan have giving every student what they succeeds to be successful um is there a lot of that is already implied within these goals like we talked about um you know elementary proficiency. We're not singling kids out. We're going to give every student what they need to succeed to to to advance that level for all students. So I I see that sort of embedded within here as well already. >> Good on number one. >> Next goal. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> This will be um school district finances. >> Guess we can start with you Jessica. >> Um yeah, I mean I guess my initial thought was something around uh balanced budget and delivering under budget. um especially given updates today. um if we could add something like that under progress indicators um I don't know how you want to word that but um just to present a a balanced budget and and sure you know whether we put like a smart goal where it's a percentage under or whatever whatever you feel is >> appropriate but um I think that was the main thing Well, the on the balance can you say that again because I I didn't hear it. Can you >> Yeah, I mean I think I think one of the the main goal around district finances, right, is to try to achieve our forecast or under it, right? Um so so that we're not dipping into fund balance again. So how do we >> set a goal around that? I'll let you word it. I'll the line to the policy where it says strive for, you know, 8% I'll have strive for a balanced budget. You know, I'll I'll mimic that same policy language. >> Right. Okay. Perfect. >> I think that, you know, just it just brings a question to mind given our our reality and is this isn't a this isn't a question that can be answered here. I don't think but like I I totally agree like how how do we have get where we have this balanced budget and um given the all the factors um legislatively and it's I I think back to just even the um graph that has been shared since before the um the levy >> discussion I mean we are just seeing that you know without passing a levy with things not changing >> us having a balanced budget us I mean the the pro the trajectory was mapped like with nothing changing with nothing changing as far as revenue sources I mean the projection of statutory operating debt is looming you know, 28 29. >> I mean, sorry, but I I don't necessarily agree with that. Like, I think that we as a board made millions of dollars worth of cuts to set a balanced budget. The expectation is that the SI is achieving that as a goal, I would think, right? I mean, I understand there are constraints and we're making tough decisions and but we have to live within our means. We we don't have a choice. Um, and we set a balanced budget, right? Or we set the budget. So the expectation would be to achieve that or make changes so that we can achieve that >> and I I I think and I hear you. Um I think my um the consideration I think that needs to be a part of the discussion is um making cuts to balance the budget cuts into the very fabric of the resource we we need to get then get the outcomes. So, so doing that w with you know in isolation um without having revenue conversation um that's where it gets challenging because then the very first goal of the delivering well it takes resources to do that you know um great accomplishments don't happen for free and I'm not saying that you know it that nothing will happen but I'm just being mindful Mindful of the expectations to deliver outcomes and the five7 million cuts every year that we'll be taking without any revenue adjustment. So that's just just a factor that >> just so I understand this I mean we set the budget for this year based on our revenue projection and our expenses and enrollment and all the factors like this is this year's goals. So I think that we set a budget based on all the cuts that we made that we feel is achievable. So then the expectation would be that we're working towards achieving that this year. Right. I'm understanding. >> Sure. No, I I I'm not disagreeing that with that. >> Right. I mean I think >> that should be a >> an annual goal really and that we're setting a budget that we we think we can achieve. Well, and I would just say so I think one I had the same type of thought, but I where I put it where I thought it mo made made the most sense for me is under the very first bullet point where it says present a 5-year financial forecast and roadmap to the BOE by December 2025 and I had a comma comma by maintaining a fund balance within policy. So, if we're looking at a projection, and I understand that it's just a projection, but if we're building our budget out with a 3 to 5year forecast and we're building that budget out so that we are within fund balance policy, then we should be okay because we always know that we're going to have that money in the savings account to account for things that are unpredictable. You know what I mean? So, for me, I I felt comfortable with that. And then the other thing that I I would feel comfortable with in order to ensure that we are staying on budget, if you go down to bullet point three, um maintain a district budget aligned to the BOE financial priorities verified through an annual audit, but also through month monthly monitoring. So we're not only just doing it through the annual audit, but we're doing it through monthly monitoring. >> Yeah. And that's what I have down in examples of evidence, the monthly financial reports. So I've got that captioned there. So, I well, I just thought it was a little bit more clear to have it written in there. >> And actually, I I I I like what you where you're going with with with that first bullet point. >> Um, and maybe because it's going to be a constant struggle, maybe having that that fund balance target on here will >> will help it keep that in the forefront of our mind. >> That I think because a lot of the things that maybe I think you're talking about, Jessica, Michael can't control. And I want to keep things that are within his control on this list. I mean, if revenue falls short because of something that happens in St. Paul, I don't want to have hold Michael accountable for that. Understand where you're going, but maybe doing what Lisa says here gets to the same place because as long as we, like I say, as long as we have that fund balance in that window, we should be okay. Yep. >> At least here to ear. >> Yep. Um I I agree with your with your second bullet point there. Um, how and this is going to stretch into your number three, but I think there's got to be something specific with just the budget more than um the semiannual or the two times with with um what am I trying to think about? >> The town halls. >> However, we're getting that out to the community. Um because if we're going to talk about bullet point number two, we got to do more with just budget and I think so it might deserve an additional bullet point just within this section here. Um >> would that be director? I don't I don't >> and that's I'm trying to I'm trying to >> however we can um push that out to like what is going on financially, right? And whether that's in newsletters, right? Ju just financial something, whether it be in your your soup >> Yeah. >> that you do in the magazine, right? um more updates financial wise of what's going on within the district, >> publicly communicating financial updates. >> Um more often than what than what we're actually doing. >> I I know I'm just spitballing here. >> I got it. Well, if I have questions, I'll circle back to you, but I've got the note taking to kind of process through on that for some edits. >> Yeah. >> Director Olstead, anything? Yeah, I'm I'm struggling still with the first bullet. I don't I don't think that for this year's goals, I don't think we should tie a goal to a forecast, especially five years, considering what Dr. Ryder said earlier this evening about how going in just three years is not ideal or realistic sometimes given any potential scenario. So, I'm struggling with tying a goal to something that isn't >> Well, I heard I heard two things and and maybe I'll just reflect back. So, there's like a three-year financial forecast which is a presumptive model. Okay. um based upon assumptions, fixed cost projections and if our you know if we strive to have our fund balance in that 8% range then that's what we use as our reserve that we got to build as a constant. So that's that's the one goal. Okay. So that we kind of know where what's the where's this train possibly going. The other goal um kind of as I heard it was given what where we're at right now, how do we how do we get to how do we strive for that balanced budget with some of the factors for just this fiscal year given the realities that are with us. We know that we've got two things that make up a big swing right now. Are there controls that we can put into place? Are there going to be cuts that we're going to have to experience? Or are there going to be other types of freezes of of positions, you know, etc. that we'll have to rectify to manage through just this fiscal year? Did am I saying that correctly from what you all were saying on the two bullets? >> I would say with the forecast, sorry. I would say with the forecast that >> the first bullet point is just presenting a forecast like we've done in the past. But what I was saying is that as you build that forecast that forecast should keep in mind that we are maintaining a fund balance >> so I >> within that forecast that was what my whole intent of that was. Yeah. >> So it's the practice of because there was a years a couple the first couple years I was I think it was the first year on the board we didn't do a three three to five year forecast. So >> um anyway it helps us to road mapap where we're going. >> Just a question on that because I may be misunderstood when you're saying that like I think When we said like by maintaining a fund balance, I took that as for this annual financial period. Certainly the forecast that we're producing whether it's five years or however long um is kind of a separate ask. >> That's why I had two different bullets. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I see two different things. But I wanted to clarify how I was talking about the part that I talked about because I think it was different than what you were saying Jessica Olstead. What you I what I heard you say, Director Olstead, was that we are committing to a three to five year goal and that's not what it is. It's really just presenting the plan, >> right? >> Yeah. >> And I I think I agree with you like maybe it's not fully accurate, but I do think it's something we kind of have to have in place, especially if we're looking towards a referendum or you know, like how do you know what to ask for if we have nothing planned? >> I don't know. That's where my mind goes. Jess, you okay? >> Yeah, I'll get there. >> Clear at least. >> I'll get there. >> Okay. >> Clear as mud. >> Yeah. >> Moving on to number three then. Are we good? Director Mason, anything on number three? >> Yeah, I think maybe just a question on the second one around growing district partnerships by securing at least two external collaborations. um how um I'm trying to understand like what the priorities would be around that or what you would be seeking like are these in specific again to make a specific goal are these in specific areas so do you want to try to partner with like an anti-bullying or you know rock with food or like are there priorities there >> it would be it would fall within one of the four strategic priorities >> okay >> so that at this point but like >> yeah this in one of those in one of those four. So, for example, is is there, you know, a tutoring agency that's going to come in and do some additional support for our kids that we've not had an established partnership with, you know, >> uh I I'll just >> say Learning RX. They were at our fall fest. Okay. So that that that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about that would align and and for me you know I'm centering a lot of our work on how do we you know we've heard quite a bit from Dr. Anderson tonight, you know, being new and taking his first blush looking at the landscape very very thin, you know, um we look at some districts that have, you know, 10 to 15 interventionists, you know, for reading and math. We we don't have that capacity. So, how do we find partnerships in some of those capacities? Um so, that's where I was focusing, you know, on some new connections. And that was some of the feedback directly from my end of the year um eval or review was making more connections with community. >> And I appreciate that. I think it's a good goal. I was just looking for it to be, you know, specific, measurable, like specific to like what areas are we trying to focus on. Um >> for me, it's academics is my first area that I'm going to be focusing on. >> Academic partners. Um sorry, I'm trying to read my notes. Um I think I felt like the other the fourth one to facilitating dialogue with elected officials it just was sort of in my mind like how do we measure that um or what is the expectation? Yeah. And that would be having the reports. May is that on this one here? >> Um, not to interrupt, is that something you were talking about like having broader >> broader open engagement sessions? There's there's uh I would like to have one broader event and that's uh um uh let's see in yeah in that in that bullet right there I'm looking at trying to have one broader community touch point on kind of the whole educational system in Prior Lake Savage area community that pulls together stakeholders from policy from business um you community etc. So that's the event that I was looking at doing there. And in that from there um it's that third bullet of documenting and reporting at least two instances of direct advocacy impact from said dialogues. There's a lot that I engage in, you know, at the state level and national level. uh but having greater intentionality bringing that information back kind of going back to director Johnson's point earlier how do I then communicate that back to the broader community to understand you know where things are at kind of like the state of of our district um from some of those uh engagements that I'm involved with. That's that's one area that I thought I could tighten up um in terms of that reporting back out. Like it's like going to a PD session or a training and then coming back and then I got great stuff, but am I sharing that, you know? >> Yep. >> I'm sorry. And then the last one, I don't know. I like establishing two board development sessions. I felt like that should be more like our goal versus yours, but >> uh the formal staff meetings. >> Sorry. Under progress indicators. The first bullet. That's I went backwards. Oh yeah, >> establishing team development session. >> So, so what I'm looking at doing there, yes, this does include you. Um but looking at ways that um we can have direct facilitated uh team building with the executive leadership team and the board um and bringing in a facilitator to help you know look at I think I talked about this in our retreat about leadership styles understanding one another's approach to how we lead so that we have greater alignment because the more aligned we are the greater outcomes we can be to our um staff and to our broader community. >> Okay. >> Yes. You have a secondary benefit as a board to that, but the primary impact is um for our team to gel with the board. >> And would it be your intention to have one yet before the end of 25? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Should we do should we put one on there instead of two then? Like is two achievable? >> There'd be a kind of like a fall and a spring >> and there would be one new board member. >> Yeah, there would be a new board. might be helpful to have one in the spring as well. >> With that one, I think if you take out the word um if you just move the word, you're not taking it, but established two development sessions to strengthen governant roles and communication with executive leadership and the board. It doesn't sound like it's a >> reward that Yeah. Gotcha. Yep. I like that. >> Um do you want to go in? Okay. Um the only thing I one Well, two questions. Um, how long is our stutter contract with? Are we done with using them or >> No, we're using them because you're you've got board goals now tied to them. But no, we're just only doing it for the stakeholder feedback. We're not doing all the other coaching stuff. Just >> But is our contract up with them? >> Um, we're extending the this for this year just the survey piece, not all the other stuff. >> Okay. Because I I've heard some really good things about other survey companies. So that's why I didn't know if you were open to looking at like perceptions and there's different companies that are different boards are using different I mean I get we want to be have consistent data but >> I just didn't know like I was more thinking about the the contract date. I thought we were done with our contract with them so that's why I asked. >> Okay. Um the last thing is I think something that was really effective last year is um and this would be you trying to get staff to do this because they they fall under your leadership is >> um under the let's see one two three four about um facility and dialogue with elected officials >> but getting people to advocate up at the legislature for things that are helpful to our district. And I'm thinking about when um Patrick um Glenn went up and um spoke about the non-disexclusionary discipline. Um you know what what type of powerful impact that has having come from a leader in our district up at the legislature. Um so I don't know how you word that as far as um >> trying to recruit people to do that because I know it's always hard to get people to go out and up and um speak. >> Sure. Yeah. We had and we had two um like administrators last year. >> Um but I I you know I think that could be woven in as an example of evidence. Um so perhaps getting staff and perhaps even parents. >> Um you know so that could be an an example of evidence um that I could add to that >> or like a legislative >> voice at the capital. >> Yeah, that's a good way to put it. And that that's that's all I have there. >> Charles, >> good. >> Jessica, good. Amy, >> I'm good. Thank you. >> All right. Are you good? >> I got my notes and uh I'll come back and probably touch base with a couple of you. >> Okay. >> Before uh October 13th. >> All righty. Then we are done for the evening and made it to 410. >> We can keep talking for seven minutes if you like. >> No, that's that's not necessary. >> Thank you everyone. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.