[0:28] e [0:58] e [1:28] e [1:58] e [2:28] e [2:58] e [3:28] e [3:58] e [4:28] e [4:58] e [5:28] e [5:58] e [6:28] e [6:58] e [7:28] e [7:58] e e [8:57] [Music] [9:31] good evening it is Thursday November 21st at 6 PM we are at the district service center in Cottage Grove [9:36] Minnesota we would like to acknowledge that the land on which We Gather is the land of the mawakan Dakota people meakan [9:43] means dwellers of the spirit Spirit Lake our first item on the agenda is roll call Dana rayan Clark here Sharon vaner [9:50] here Eric tesner here Pat Driscoll here Melinda dolles here simy pet here Katie [9:56] Schwarz here um 2.0 pledge of Allegiance please [10:03] stand United States [10:11] nais andice 3.0 is approval of the agenda can [10:19] I get a motion to approve moved second moved by Ryan seconded by simy [10:27] Sim any comments all those in favor I opposed motion [10:33] passes 4.0 is comments to the board we do not have any this evening so we will move on to 5.0 and that is our consent [10:40] items all consent items are considered routine and non-controversial by the Schoolboard and will be approved by a [10:46] single motion there will be no separate discussion of these items prior to this meeting board me members have had the [10:52] opportunity to review each of these items and may have requested for any item to be removed to an action item for [10:58] consider that did not happen this evening so can I get a motion to approve so moved second motion by Melinda [11:05] seconded by semy all those in favor I any opposed motion [11:12] passes okay on to 6.0 and that is our information items we do have one item on [11:18] the agenda tonight and that is 6.1 and that is our high school course catalog and that will be presented by Christine [11:24] Schaefer assistant superintendent good good evening School [11:29] Board chair Schwarz School Board member superintendent Nelson we are here tonight to review our high school course [11:35] catalog and share any additions that have been made to that um course catalog as you're aware this is a catalog of all [11:40] of our High School courses for our comprehensive high schools and our online high school so you may be thinking school year just started and [11:46] you're already planning for next year and yes we are and here's why our high schools have been preparing for the last [11:52] couple of months for the registration process to begin for the 25 26 school year and that'll start in [11:57] December so therefore it's important important that our C course catalog is finalized by the end of November so that [12:02] in December we can start meeting with students so starting in December students get information related to registration and they will start that [12:09] process in January our high school counselors go to our middle schools and share the information with 8th grade and [12:15] they also go to our High School classrooms and talk through the registration process and then in January students start to register and that is [12:21] completed by the end of January and once that's completed our high school administrators begin creating their [12:27] master schedule and looking at staff for the 25 26 school year so as you can see [12:33] the process of course scheduling Master scheduling and Staffing is really a year-long process at our high schools so [12:39] before we review the course catalog I'd like to review quickly the graduation requirements and I know you've seen [12:46] these um these are not new and these are mandated by the Minnesota Department of Ed and so you can see we have four years [12:52] of language arts three years of math three years of science three and a half [12:57] years of social studies one trimester credit each of health and fied two [13:03] trimester credits of Fine Art and then a minimum of 22 elective trimester credits [13:08] the change in the new legislation is this year's current nth graders will be required to take personal finance and [13:14] that will be added so they so starting with this graduating class of 2028 they'll need 67 credits to graduate and [13:21] we have not added that yet we are waiting from the framework from mde to create that course and Mark's going to talk a little bit about that um so as [13:27] you can see with 66 required credits to graduate when they take four years of [13:32] classes with us 18 credits per year they can actually earn 72 credits so they have a bit bit of a buffer in there so [13:38] that's how that works all right so with that with all [13:45] that background information I'd like to introduce Mark mckam the director of secondary teaching and [13:57] learning thank you as superintendent Schaefer good evening School Board uh chair Schwartz Schoolboard members and [14:04] superintendent neelon uh it's great to be with you tonight excited to come and share uh the new changes to the 2526 [14:12] course guide uh as a former High School principal it's an exciting time of the year uh because you know schools are [14:19] really focused on trying to create the best learning experiences right now but they've also pivoted and they're [14:24] planning really actively for the next school year um as assistant superintendent schaer indicated uh we're [14:31] going to start with the big picture in mind and look at some of the legislation that's guiding our work towards [14:38] 2627 uh and I'd like to give you an update on on each one of these if I could please first is the personal [14:45] finance uh we will offer this course as a trimester course in [14:51] 2627 and it's because mde just released a framework this fall uh with those [14:57] details uh we need to gather more feedback from principles and departments and other interested parties to find out [15:04] exactly where that course will land and which department and evaluate the existing personal finance uh class that [15:11] we have uh to make sure that we meet all those requirements secondly uh we have the [15:18] government and citizenship uh requirement it requires students to complete a course for credit [15:24] in government and citizenship within the current social studies uh credit requirements and our long-standing 12th [15:30] grade class uh in social studies uh covers these requirements thirdly we have the ethnic [15:37] studies uh component this requires high schools to offer an ethnic studies course aligned with State social studies [15:45] standards by the 26 27 uh school year and we're awaiting a framework from mde [15:51] on this uh course what we do know is that this will be uh needs to be a [15:56] standalone trimester course uh that an elective offering uh there's a [16:01] legislative working group uh currently on this and we'll uh be awaiting uh further guidance from that group Next is [16:08] the American Indian culture and language class uh this is an expectation that was outlined in the American Indian [16:14] legislation passed in uh 2023 uh it indicates that if uh [16:20] indigenous uh students over a certain threshold in terms of a percentage of population of our student population uh [16:26] that we are to offer a uh uh uh language and culture classes uh TLS is uh [16:34] currently working with her indigenous uh education coordinator to look at the logistics of this and how we would offer [16:41] potentially two different classes Dakota and oju language and culture uh there's currently no uh specific date uh [16:49] indicated in terms of implementation for for those courses but it is a conversation and planning that we're [16:54] having currently next is uh the uh the require school districts to offer as [17:01] part of the social studies curriculum uh education on the Holocaust and genocide in Middle School and High School [17:07] curriculum by the 26 27 school year uh again we're awaiting further clarification from mde there's a [17:14] legislative working group on this as well um we currently uh meet these [17:19] standards uh and requirements based on the 2011 and the 2021 social study [17:26] standards uh but again we're awaiting those specifics to make sure that we're uh covering all of those [17:34] requirements so with that that's kind of the the macro as we think about teaching and learning secondary what's guiding [17:40] our work and looking farther out but now we get to talk a lot about next year uh [17:45] which doesn't seem that far off uh we've been talking about 25 26 uh for about [17:51] six or seven months now uh so uh let's take a look at some of the the the [17:57] courses first of all our course guide let's have a reminder that our strategic plan really calls out the student [18:02] experience and I think one of the special Parts about the student experience is the wide variety of [18:07] offerings that we get to uh offer our students across our high schools we depend on uh our administrators for [18:14] being in tune with our student interests our teachers and of course our students uh for sharing their ideas and then we [18:21] work our best way to put those elective options uh in in play so without further [18:28] ado just taking a look at the process it really is a Sprint as assistant superintendent Schaefer said in the fall [18:34] right so we come back and we get all these new course proposals from staff at the beginning of October and immediately [18:40] we get to work in a committee of principles uh High School principls assistant superintendent Schaefer myself [18:47] in evaluating those course proposals uh we make decisions on those and they get into the course guide for the 25 26 uh [18:55] school year uh from there we're busy getting registration materials uh [19:00] printed and out to middle schools and high schools and we're already into those information nights and opportunity [19:06] nights in January and then in February the students are registering for the next year uh so I always say that with a [19:12] smile because it's just amazing we uh the planning that goes into the next school year so now I'm excited to share [19:19] uh the new courses that have been added for the 2526 school year uh you can see [19:25] here that there are a couple different options uh uh for students in the uh [19:30] family and consumer science uh Department uh we have some concurrent enrollment options there personal and [19:36] family living and LIF span development we have a new English language arts class filmmakers and film Masters movies [19:44] as narrative art and then we have several online options that will be added spanning several different [19:50] departments uh across our district uh we also have brick and [19:56] mortar uh engineering classes that will be added and technically just for your own purposes as you're looking at this [20:02] slide know that we could say it's Creative Design and Engineering a but B and C could be separated here because [20:08] those are three separate classes uh in career and tech ed uh we're also adding [20:14] AP Spanish AP French fine art photography C art and artists of Europe [20:20] robotics 3 and projectly the way computer integrated manufacturing so a [20:26] real Variety in a lot of different departments uh for students in this upcoming [20:31] year something we have our eye on is we know and it's been such a pleasure getting to know as a high school [20:37] principal to know our High School principles and and the staff in each one of these buildings they need to be in [20:42] tune with what the students are really interested in and what's relevant to them and uh they do a great job when [20:49] they come through the course proposal process of being in tune with what students are really after but we're [20:54] going to spend time this year looking at are there even more intentional ways that we can leverage student voice in uh [21:02] in the course proposal and the course offerings that we put in the next course guide a year from now when we're having [21:09] this conversation so we have a great student ambassador group um you know uh from from uh your work with them and we [21:17] also have other technology platforms that we could crowdsource ideas and and expose students to real life [21:23] crowdsourcing that takes place in Industry uh so we look forward to partnering we've got really talented [21:29] principles and I'll really lean into uh their ideas as well with that I'll I'll turn it over [21:36] for questions but thank you it's a good opportunity to come and be able to speak to some of the new courses so I [21:41] appreciate your time tonight yeah I have a I have a question about the um the courses so you said the requirements [21:48] there's going to be more credits that students will be required the personal finance course okay I'm just wondering [21:53] if you can clarify like how that would fit in as opposed to like if you have the High achieving students that are [21:59] taking the AP courses which a lot of them already are a semester more or a trimester more than the other ones and [22:05] if they're also wanting to take language and and arts like you know band Orchestra or choir how they' be able to [22:11] fit that in because I know a lot of them are already having to take like that extra gym course in the summer if this is something they would have to take on [22:17] their own time or how they would fit that in yep well first remember this isn't something that we had a choice right this is legislative you mandated [22:24] but I think if you were to ask um our high school principls they feel like see our seniors a lot of seniors have a lot [22:30] of space in their schedule so we have some um 12th graders that really all they need to take is English 12 and [22:37] economics and the rest are elective so I do hear you that U um students that are taking AP and orchest and all of those [22:43] things might have a tight time but we really feel like we could we could require a lot more for our 12th grade [22:49] students and that's probably where this class is going to land 11th and 12th grade and it will fit without a [22:54] problem um but and I know there was another question about um students [22:59] taking an overload or taking additional classes we offer six courses during dur during the school day so they couldn't [23:05] take another class with us but we um have no parameters around if a student takes a course at night online or in the [23:12] summer online they pay for those on their own and we do have many students that do that and we take those when we [23:17] accept those credits under their transcript so many times students do choose that option I know last summer [23:23] for the first time our sashka online offered some summer courses that students could take so that we could [23:28] offer those too and we had I think Nick said about 40 students that um took a math class or took something in the [23:34] summer so that they could free up their schedule so and we will probably open up those offerings to your point of if we [23:41] have students that can't fit it all in they could choose that as an option too and Christine that's how our um some of [23:46] our students are taking their fied course in the summer they're registering and paying for that yes overload yep [23:52] okay so this Finance course might potentially be offered online too where they could take that absolutely yes yep [23:59] Y and then in terms of the extra Social Studies classes so you said that the [24:06] course for credit in government and citizenship counts with our current government class already satisfies that [24:13] so what is the intent behind the new um how is that new law supposed to fit [24:20] in or or you know because I thought if government has always been required as a it's it's a graduation requirement [24:26] correct it already is yes so what is different about this new requirement do you know yeah so keeping in mind that [24:34] when we when we have direction from MD uh we're bringing the entire State up to [24:39] a certain level and so all we're saying is our existing course meets the requirements that were already outlined [24:46] in the legislation okay so we don't have to do any like this is we have already yeah thank you yeah I have a [24:53] quick question uh with with regards to you had mentioned that the mde was [24:59] um putting forth guidelines or you're waiting for those guidelines for some of the new courses um do you have any idea [25:05] when when those guidelines would be available or when they would be out yeah we currently don't we we have a teaching [25:12] and learning secondary uh uh staff that sit in on all of the meetings and uh [25:18] they they just uh often the language is soon the legislative uh working groups [25:23] are working on them there's not a specific uh date when we receive those so I assume that with the mde they put [25:30] out they put out guidelines for for every course in high for all high schools or [25:37] how does that or just new ones or how does that work just these new ones I mean there [25:44] are parameters around some of our um required classes but not all classes no [25:50] okay they've done this before though they've put out guidelines for for new courses that have been added or or [25:55] acquired in high school yes what you I don't know if you can answer this but is there a way that you can speak about I [26:02] guess what those you've seen out of guidelines in the past as far as how they categorize what the courses need to [26:09] include that sort of thing I I can't speak to specifics and I don't know Mark if you can but I do know they have a [26:15] working group with with people across the state and Educators from across the state that put those together and I [26:20] don't know if you have you have any more information about that no I don't no we haven't we haven't seen the Frameworks [26:26] yet so I it would be I I certainly is something that we can come back and report to the board about [26:33] yeah I guess that's what I'm interested in because I would like to know I guess what what for example what topic matters [26:39] are are required to be discussed and that sort of thing yeah okay is and [26:44] specific course or uh no I I'm just I'm just I mean just in general I guess I'm just interested in how they lay these [26:51] types of guidelines out because I would like to know um how narrowly you know they construe like you're required to [26:57] teach this specific topic within this course or are you or are you not that sort of thing okay um I don't know if [27:05] that Julie maybe this question for you but is that something that you could provide to the board absolutely I think [27:10] um what I hear you asking Eric is what are those standards for the different courses and so like Elementary lit we [27:18] have all the standards um and those standards come down from the Minnesota Department of Education so yes and I [27:23] think we also have to remember that this legislation was passed um June 30th July [27:29] 1st and so there are working groups and once we have that information I'm happy to pass that along so board members can [27:35] see what those standards are in those re required courses um one other question about the [27:41] brick and mortar classes how do students know um what school they're at right [27:47] like if a student is like oh this uh uh personal and family living class [27:53] is really interesting to me is that something that gets offered across all three high schools or how does that work [27:58] it's specific in the course guide it'll say right next to the course which school is at [28:04] yes so if a student wants to take a course that's offered at a different High School do they have to then you [28:10] know transit to another school to take that course right now we do not have students that do that um if we see that [28:17] there are students at a particular brick and mortar school that want to take something what we've been doing is offering it online so we have many [28:24] classes offered online that maybe we're having a hard time finding a license teacher to teach that we'll put online [28:29] with that teacher so that anyone can take it all right any other [28:37] questions okay see none thank you oh thank you I wish I [28:45] could thank you Mark Christine okay moving on to 7.0 action [28:50] item 7.1 is proposed policy changes and that is presented by Julie neelson [28:55] superintendent thank you this evening I'm I am seeking approval for the eight policies that were brought forth um to [29:01] our last board meetings those policies include One 600 series policy that 620 [29:06] credit for Learning and we talked extensively about that one as well as seven policies that fit in the 700 [29:12] series with deal with which deal with our budget um establishment of the School District budget modifications [29:18] fund balance accounting annual audit Investments and acceptance um at our last board meeting on November 7th uh [29:24] there were no other comments or feedback and so the policies are moving forward as presented and this evening I am [29:29] asking for approval of those eight policies can I get a motion to approve moved second motion by Sharon seconded [29:39] by Eric er um any comments okay seeing none all those in [29:44] favor I I opposed motion passes we will move on to 7.2 calendar for the 2025 26 [29:52] school year and that will also be presented by Julie neelson superintendent thank you um again the [29:57] proposed calendar was brought for information to the board um on November 7th this evening I am bringing it [30:02] Forward asking for approval um as you can see from your board cover report uh the calendar has been vetted through [30:08] various groups um we also had a steering committee that reviewed it as was shared last time our calendar just had very [30:15] slight alterations but looks very similar to last year's calendar and this last week at our all district advisory [30:22] meetings with our district advisory groups um we also had the chance to share the calendar with them and gather [30:28] any feedback and um overall uh the calendar was very well received and there were no questions so this evening [30:34] I am asking for approval on the 2526 K12 school calendar can I get a [30:40] motion to approve moved second motion by Ryan seconded by pad any comments all [30:47] those in favor I I any oppose motion passes we will move on to 8.0 and that [30:52] is our superintendent report I feel like I'm going to slow it down a little bit because we've got to be here for at least 30 minutes [30:58] I think no um for the students sake out there who have this as a course project [31:05] right um just a couple of updates our construction projects continue across the district to share with the board [31:12] that gosh was it Monday Tuesday or Wednesday I think it was Monday or Tuesday um we had a meeting at Park High [31:18] School with the city of Cottage Grove um and that was by invitation so that [31:23] neighborhood neighbors around the school could come and see the the plan for the road um while it was not well attended [31:29] we had a lot of Administrators there prepared um but the individuals that did attend shared good information and I [31:36] think felt very positive about the how the roads and how the system of traffic flowing in and out of the school was [31:41] going to work um secondly we had our first district our student District uh youth Ambassador group meeting and so [31:47] starting in December we will have our wonderful students sitting next to me uh so that will start at our next meeting [31:53] December 12th um and then finally uh Tuesday December 26th will be our last [31:58] student day students will be off next Wednesday and they will be off the following Monday for a teacher Workshop [32:04] day so just as a reminder as families look at the calendar and then finally it is that season of lots not a lot but [32:12] lots of concerts from band Orchestra and choir um almost every single night there's some music event happening [32:18] throughout the district so please anybody viewing uh be sure to take those concerts in um our students are just [32:24] incredible so thank you thank you Julie okay on to 9.0 future meeting dates we [32:30] have one meeting in December so that will be December 12th and that is our business meeting and it will be here at [32:35] the district service center at 6m and then on January 2nd we will have a Schoolboard business meeting to go [32:41] through the first of the year um priorities and that is at the district service center at 6 pm and then [32:47] immediately following that meeting we will have our Workshop meeting also on January 2nd with that 10.0 and we are [32:54] adjourned wow two meetings in AOW e [33:08] [Music] [33:56] m he [Music] [34:28] m [34:35] [Music] [35:22] oh [35:27] [Music] [35:57] aahah [36:03] [Music]