January 22 Meeting Highlights

January 22 Meeting Highlights

The minutes from the January 22, 2024 meeting will be reviewed and approved by the School District 197 School Board at the Monday, February 5, 2024 meeting. For more information about meeting agendas and minutes, please CLICK HERE.

 

Action Item - Approval of the Agenda

The motion carried (7-0).

Action Item - Approval of Consent Agenda

The motion carried (7-0).

Comments to the School Board
Staff member Brian McCarthy addressed the board regarding the teachers negotiations process.

Discussion on Proposed School Age Care (SAC) Fee Increases
Lisa Grathen, Director of Community Education, and Missy McGinty, SAC Program Coordinator, presented proposed SAC fee increases for FY 24-25. SAC is a fee-based program. Fee increases were proposed to address inflation in the programs’ operating expenses.

  • The current daily rate for the program is $23.50
    • AM K-4 at $6.50 and AM 5-8 at $10.25
    • PM K-4 at $17.00 and PM 5-8 at $13.25
  • The proposed new rate is $28.25
    • AM K-4 at $8.00 and AM 5-8 at $12.25
    • PM K-4 at $20.25 and PM 5-8 at $16.00
  • The current daily drop-in rate is $3.00 additional for AM and $4.00 additional for PM. The proposed rates will go up $1.00 in the AM and $2.00 in the PM.
  • The current “pick your day rate” is an additional $2.00 for AM and $3.00 additional for PM.
    Those fees will not change.
  • The current non-school day rate is $49.00 with a proposed increase to $54.00.
  • The current summer daily rate is $44.00 with a proposed increase to $48.50.

The proposed increases for drop-in and pick-your-day rates are higher, given the difficulty in scheduling and staffing. Even with the proposed increases, the proposed program fees for next year remain within the range of comparison districts’ fees. The SAC program has had a waitlist since the Fall of 2021 due to staff shortages. The district has focused on recruitment strategies and employee incentives to retain current employees and has hired new employees to address the waitlisted families needing childcare.

This item will be brought back for approval at the February 5, 2024 School Board meeting. Once approved, the fees will be published in the School Age Care brochures and emailed to homes in February.

Discussion on Proposed Lone Oak Road Improvements
Mark Fortman, Director of Operations, and Jacob Bongard, an engineer with Bolton & Menk, Inc., presented information on proposed improvements to Lone Oak Road in Eagan. Dakota County, in partnership with the City of Eagan, is planning roadway and trail improvements to Lone Oak Road (County Road 26) between Highway 13 and I-35E in Eagan to create a safe experience for vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists. This section of the corridor is a critical component of the regional trail and transportation network as it provides a connection to the Minnesota River Greenway Trailhead, Highway 13, Pilot Knob Road, and I-35E. It also serves the Pilot Knob Elementary School and area residents and businesses. Construction is planned to begin in Spring of 2025 to incorporate the following improvements to the Lone Oak Road corridor:

  • A multi-use trail along on the section between Highway 13 and Pilot Knob Road (County Road 31)
  • Travel and turn lane improvements, trail improvements and enhanced crossing improvements near Pilot Knob STEM School
  • Lane reduction from four and five to three lanes on the section between Pilot Knob Road (County Road 31) and I-35E.
  • Watermain, drainage, and storm sewer improvements
  • Improved pedestrian and bicycle crossings
  • Lighting and landscaping enhancements

This project requires the acquisition of a temporary easement and a settlement agreement. The county has done an appraisal of the property and is offering $39,400 as just compensation for the temporary easement.

This item will be brought back for approval at the February 5, 2024 School Board meeting.

Middle School Schedule Update
Cari Jo Drewitz, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, presented and update on the Middle School schedule. An update was provided at the December 11, 2023 School Board meeting. To recap, on June 13, 2023, the School Board approved the structure of a new middle school schedule. The approved schedule provides a consistent schedule across both middle schools and included:

  • 6-period day with 4 lunch periods
  • Included homeroom and flex
  • 50-minute class periods
  • A/B elective schedule for grades 5-8
  • Grades 7 and 8 stay on a 6-period schedule but will have a flex time which could allow for student choice, meet student needs, and allow building of relationships
  • 3-minute passing time

This option best met the guiding change document as it offers one schedule building wide; allows for staff to serve multiple grade levels particularly in Special Ed, ESL and intervention; has a common rotation (every grade level is on a two-day rotation); and it has flex time. This process is about the schedule and number of periods, not courses. Course options will be determined during implementation.

One of the action steps following board approval was to address the new schedule during contract negotiations. In the ongoing collaboration, it was determined that two separate periods for homeroom and flex within the confines of a 6-period day does not comply with the teacher contract. As a result of that, suggested changes to the framework include no homeroom, lengthen period 1 by an additional 10 minutes and add 2 minutes to each period from 50 to 52 minutes. Staying the same would be the 6-period day with 4lunch periods, A/B elective schedules for grades 5-8 and the 3-minute passing time.

Students in grades 5 and 6 will have 1 period of language arts, writing, science and math every day and 1 period of social studies, physical education and health and wellness (half of the year) every other day. Students in grades 7 and 8 will have 1 period of language arts, social studies, science and math every day and 1 period of physical education and health every other day. Students must be offered at least three and required to take two arts areas each year of middle school. The five areas are dance, media arts, music, theater and visual arts. In grades 5 and 6, students will be required to choose 1 option in music (band, choir or orchestra) and will identify their preference for 1 option in visual and media arts - visual arts with ceramics or visual arts with photography. All classes will meet every other day with music for the entire school year and art classes for half the year. In grades 7 and 8, students will be required to choose two arts areas with an option in all five areas.

A list of the planned elective options are listed below. It is noted that students will need to express their preferences in fine arts and other elective options they wish to take and they may not get their highest preferences. Options will only be offered if there is sufficient interest, can be staffed and works within the overall master schedule.

  • Spanish – students will need to take Spanish in both grades 7 and 8 to complete Spanish 1 and would meet every other day all year
  • AVID – the AVID elective will no longer be offered but there will be an elective course open to all students meeting every other day that will help them prepare for the rigor of a high school course
  • Design and Modeling
  • Coding and Mechanical Systems
  • Medical Detectives
  • Teenager 101
  • Outdoor Physical Education
  • Competitive Sports
  • Additional options related to the magnet theme may be offered at Heritage including Marine Science, Zoology and Engineering, and “What’s happening at Heritage Middle School”.

Sites are working on their plan for flex. Flex will occur in the afternoon around the lunch period and each site will determine that specific schedule but it cannot require teacher prep. In grade 5, flex must offer unstructured movement breaks as many days of the week as possible. Students should be provided with options to include indoor, outdoor and academic activities. For grades 6-8, flex will be a minimum of 2 days a week of academic support with the goal of student choice sometime during the school year.

The registration process will begin in February.

First Reading of Policy 425, Staff Development
Cari Jo Drewitz, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, presented a first reading of Policy 425, Staff Development.  The policy was last reviewed in May 2019. At that time, the policy was updated to align with current district practices as well as statute changes. In doing this, some changes were made that did not match the recommendations of the Minnesota School Board Association (MSBA). The current policy is being updated to show changes suggested by MSBA. The changes are in response to statute changes related to teacher mentoring, funding, and professional development for paraprofessionals. This policy will be brought back to the February 5, 2024 meeting for a second reading via the consent agenda.

First Reading of Policy 630, Organization of School Calendar and Student Day
Cari Jo Drewitz, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, presented a first reading of Policy 630, Organization of School Calendar and Student Day. The policy was last reviewed in 2017. This policy is not required but has sixteen legal references included. When this policy was first adopted in 2009, it did not use MSBA language or follow their numbering structure. Administration recommended that the district adopt the MSBA language and re-number the policy from 630 to 602 to be in alignment with the current MSBA policy.  The district’s current practices are in alignment with the recommended MSBA language.  This policy will be brought back to the February 5, 2024 meeting for a second reading via the consent agenda.

Proposed Revisions to 24-25 District Academic Calendar
Cari Jo Drewitz, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, presented proposed revisions to the FY 24-25 district academic calendar.  The FY 2024-2025 academic calendar was presented at the October 23, 2023 board work session and approved at their November 13, 2023 meeting.  In May 2023, the Minnesota Reading to Ensure Academic Development Act, known as the READ Act, was passed and signed into law. The goal of this legislation is to have every Minnesota child reading at or above grade level every year, beginning in kindergarten, and to support multilingual learners and students receiving special education services in achieving their individualized reading goals. 

As part of this legislation beginning July 1, 2024, each school district must provide training on evidence-based reading instruction that is approved by the Minnesota Department of Education for phase 1 teachers. The first phase requires districts to provide professional development to the following groups and for that training to be completed by July 1, 2025:

  • PreK Classroom Educators – PreK educators 
  • Grades K–3 Classroom Educators 
  • Grades K–12 Reading Intervention Educators 
  • Grades PreK–12 Special Education Educators responsible for reading instruction
  • Grades PreK–5 Curriculum Directors
  • Employees who select literacy instructional materials for grades PreK–5

There are three approved professional development programs. The administration has selected CAREIALL.  CAREI stands for the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement, part of the University of Minnesota.  ALL stands for Advancing Language and Literacy. The CAREIALL training includes 45 hours of individual work and 16 hours of whole group training. 8 professional development days are needed to make this training possible. 

The current school calendar includes six professional development days, two the week before school starts and four throughout the year.  The administration is recommending that 5 of the 6 professional development days are used to support the READ Act training and that 3 student days be turned into professional development days. Further, the administration selected and LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) for early childhood.  Early childhood educators will be able to complete the LETRS training within their professional development days as well.

For the 2024-2025 school year, the following professional development days would be added to the calendar: Friday December 20, 2024; Friday February 14, 2025; and Tuesday April 1, 2025.  These dates were chosen to ensure the CAREIALL training is spread out across the year in manageable chunks and allows time for make-up for any staff member that may miss one of the training days. 

This item will be brought back for approval at the February 5, 2024 School Board meeting.  

Mid-Year Update on 2023-2024 Superintendent Goals
Superintendent Peter Olson-Skog presented a mid-year update on the 2023-2024 Superintendent goals. The goals were first presented to the board at their September 18 meeting and approved at the meeting on October 23. Annually, most of the superintendent's goals are detailed in the Strategic Implementation Plan and are reported on to the board throughout the year. Two additional goals that were added focused on the November referendum.

  • The superintendent will oversee the communication of the two requested levies

  • A survey was conducted in June of 2023. According to the firm that conducted the survey, districts typical experience a 5-9 percent drop from approval ratings for referendum identified through surveys.  As such,

    • Support for the technology referendum was predicted to fall between 55 and 59 percent.  The end result was 66 percent approval.

    • Support for the operating referendum was predicted to fall between 51 to 55 percent.  The end result was a 60 percent approval.

  • The administration believes many factors led to the passage of the referendum.

    • Primarily, the establishment and maintenance of community trust and support over the long term.

    • Clear and comprehensive written communications.

    • Varied and frequent in-person and video communications.

    • Communications, in general, providing a simply understood explanation of the need for additional and continued funding.

    • The work of other organizations who advocated in support of the referendum.

  • Based on the referendum's outcome, the superintendent will oversee the budget planning and/or adjustments for the 2024-25 school year as required within the parameters of board policy and in alignment with the strategic framework.

    • Following the passage of the referendum, the key element in planning for the 24-25 budget is to determine the financial impact of the various bargaining groups’ contract settlements.

    • In support of negotiations, while the superintendent is not a part of the bargaining team, he has been visiting bargaining groups to deepen collective understanding of our financial position.  Key communication points include:

      • State and local funding have increased. However, some of this increased funding must be earmarked for specific mandates, limiting its allocation for contract improvements.

      • Federal funding has decreased.

      • Due to increased costs, the district has been spending more than we have been receiving, which has been depleting our funding balance to the point it will fall below the board’s fund balance minimum.

      • While the overall impact does increase available funding for contract improvements, the actual amount is less than anticipated when looking at the raw increases in funding.

Summary of 2023 School Board Self-Evaluation
Byron Schwab, Chair of the Board Results Committee, presented a summary of the 2023 board self- evaluation. Each year, the school board conducts a self-evaluation across five competency areas. The evaluation uses a five-point scale through which the board assesses their achievement of each competency.

Competency #1: Develop and maintain a collaborative and trusting relationship between the Board, the Superintendent and individual board members. Establish consistent, open and honest communication. Trust, respect, confidentiality, communication and transparency were viewed as strengths. Additionally, the board described a clear understanding and adherence to the difference between the board’s role of governance and the administration’s role of management as a strength. The value, need and importance for onboarding of new board members was supported (average rating was 4.75)

Competency #2: Board's performance in working with the Superintendent to formulate district policy, defining mutual expectations of performance with the Superintendent and demonstrating good school governance to all district stakeholders. Ethical standards, adherence to open meetings laws and policy development were themes among the strengths identified. A theme was refreshing the board on Robert’s Rules of Order (average rating was 4.71).

Competency #3: Board's performance in understanding and modeling of appropriate value systems, ethics and moral leadership. Confidentiality, collegiality and appropriate handling of conflict were seen as strengths among board members. No themes among board members were noted beyond continuing the systems and habits in place (average rating was 4.88).

Competency #4: Developing each board member's understanding of broad education issues, trends, and best practice. Effective meetings, member preparation, and orientation/onboarding were seen as strengths among board members. More professional development opportunities for board members was supported (average rating was 4.5).

Competency #5: Thoughtfully planning for the future and regularly making necessary adjustments to ensure continuous progress toward achieving stated goals. Vision/Mission and goals, as expressed through the district’s strategic framework, were seen as strengths among board members. Continued and deepened awareness of progress towards the achievement of the district’s mission and goals (average rating was 4.71).

A summary of this information will be presented at the meeting on February 5, 2024.

Adjournment

The motion carried (7-0).