Shakopee Public Schools — Transcript
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Volunteer Recognition
STEM Education / Rube Goldberg Project Spotlight
Winter Athletics Review
Literacy Instruction Reform
Boys Volleyball Sanctioning
Community Engagement and Survey Plan
Talent Acquisition and Retention Strategies
District Budget Update
Policy Updates (Second Reading)
Read Act Training Implementation
Outdoor Space Study Group Formation
Designation of Newspaper of Record
Capital Projects Levy Feedback Committee
Votes (5)
Consideration to approve boys volleyball
Dissent: None
Moved by Peterson [00:45:26] · Seconded by Broy [00:45:34]
Athletics Director Matt Hansen presented a compelling case for approving boys volleyball as a fully sanctioned sport. He underscored Shakopee's pivotal role in the sport's statewide growth, affirmed Title IX compliance, and highlighted that the sport offers significant opportunities, with 86% of current participants having never played a spring sport. Initial and recurring costs were detailed, showing a planned absorption of future equipment expenses.
React training (Read Act Calendar Change)
Dissent: None
Moved by Broy [01:00:23] · Seconded by Valdez [01:00:27]
Superintendent Redmond proposed a calendar change to designate two K-12 no-school days (March 11, 2025, and March 10, 2026) for professional learning, specifically targeting elementary staff for Read Act training. He acknowledged the complexity of the Read Act's implementation, the need for new curriculum, and the extensive training hours required to equip teachers properly for this state mandate.
Formation of an outside space study group
Dissent: None
Moved by Mohammed [01:03:09] · Seconded by Aldridge [01:03:13]
Superintendent Redmond presented a proposal for an ad hoc committee to study the district's outdoor spaces and facilities, driven by community questions and past unfulfilled commitments. The committee's mandate is to analyze current usage, identify maintenance and improvement needs, benchmark against other districts, and develop a prioritized list of future projects, with initial leadership from the Athletics Director and facilities personnel.
Designation of Newspaper of Record
Dissent: None
Moved by Broy [01:06:58] · Seconded by Muhammad [01:07:02]
Due to the imminent cessation of publication for Shakopee Valley News, Tiffany Olson, Director of Communications, recommended the Burnsville Sun (Burnsville Egan print edition) as the new official newspaper of record, meeting statutory requirements. The motion also included a critical provision to transition to online posting of public notices on the district website immediately, should a new Minnesota law be enacted to allow this, citing cost savings and enhanced transparency.
Addition of a temporary committee for constructive feedback (Capital Projects Levy)
Dissent: None
Moved by Valdez [01:09:27] · Seconded by Muhammad [01:09:30]
Superintendent Redmond proposed the establishment of a temporary committee to solicit constructive feedback on a potential Capital Projects Levy renewal. Drawing parallels to previous operating levy committees, this group is designed to provide critical input on communication strategies, ensuring messages are clear, consistent, and well-understood by the community. The committee will comprise key district staff and board members, including the School Board Chair and Finance Committee Chair.
Notable Quotes (7)
when we talk about our uh you know values and shaky where we want an activity for every student and a student in every activity this would be opportunities for us to gain quite a few more students
I just think that it's fantastic when you look at the numbers and see the number of kids that are participating in something that they've never participated in a sport before um is just incredible
I do think too just to pigy back up what said that it it there are still a lot of moving Parts I know the curriculum choices for districts of what they can choose from have just recently been approved by MD maybe spent a while ago now but not not all of them yeah okay um but I think at some point here in the near future um whether maybe it's a summer it that we talk about what is the implementation from a training perspective for all teachers and as I know there's a lot of hours of that's involved with this program um obviously what we're going to act on tonight is just one day but I know there's many many other hours um and we want to make sure that our teachers are trained properly accordingly and can execute this um new curriculum supply for our kids
we want to want to form a study group that uh will will get to work on that over the next you know the coming months uh take a look at kind of an analysis of you know the out you know the current outside spaces how are they used how are they functioning are they serving their their purposes well uh and then what are current Improvement needs
if the state law should change this would allow us to immediately shift from you know posting there to posting on the website which I think is advantageous for all kinds of reasons it uh saves us some money but also uh I think the vast vast majority of people get our information off of our website and I'm not sure how many how many regular readers we will have of the sun living within our school district
when optimistic that this law goes into effect um hopefully by the end of May that we have a very clear place on our website that is easy for people to find that they can click one button and it takes them right there right off the homepage um we don't want people digging for it we don't want to hide anything we want it to be very prominent absolutely
we've got kind of suggested dates of meetings and the ideas to bring folks together uh kind of share the different Communications get more eyes on them get more constructive uh critical feedback and you know understanding and make sure that that we're communicating well consistently clearly
Ordinances & Resolutions (5)
Minnesota state law mandating changes in literacy instruction and teacher training.
School board policy governing public comment procedures at meetings.
Federal regulation ensuring gender equity in education programs, including athletics.
State bill containing an amendment allowing certain school districts to post public notices on their websites.
School board policy outlining procedures for closed sessions, specifically for labor negotiations.