2/12/2024 Special Meeting and Work Session

Monday’s meeting began at 5:30pm with a Special School Board Meeting for the approval of the 2023-2025 agreement with the Owatonna Education Association, which also authorizes the board chair and clerk to execute the agreement on behalf of the school board.

Immediately following the Special Meeting, the work session began and it’s full of information! First came a report from McKinley Elementary School staff. Mr. Kiel, the principal, introduced several members from the staff who presented information about what’s happening at McKinley this year. The theme for the year is “belonging” which incorporates listening sessions that allow students to talk and express their voice. They are working for increased family engagement with various activities. There is also ongoing work in “supporting the whole child” and “high quality learning.” Efforts include morning meetings, a tiered support system, a collaboration team, and McKinley Strong celebrations. Teachers are working on purposeful planning, co-teaching, PLC Reboot and adult learners. This is just a brief summary of many good things happening at McKinley. 

The second report was from our Early Childhood program, supervisor Maggie Goldade, a Bright Beginnings teacher, and a Little Learners teacher, presented updates. All of our early childhood teachers are licensed either for general education and/or special education. All of the “Covid Babies” that were born and started life in quarantine are now 3-4 years old and these teachers have seen the challenges of this. This year our program is at full capacity and we’ve had a waiting list. They have worked to increase access to preschool by improving transportation opportunities using both the Owatonna Bus Company and Smart Transit. They are able to do Fastbridge assessments with these young ones, and have a goal of 80% proficiency in math and literacy concepts. At the end of the 2022-23 school year, math was 86% and literacy was 76%. They have also been working with Social Emotional Learning, one program called Conscious Discipline has been very effective.

Julie Sullivan and Ann Mikkelson presented an update on the very complicated READ Act (Reading to Ensure Academic Development Act). This replaces the World’s Best Workforce measure which was for all students to be reading at grade level by third grade. Essentially, the READ Act’s goal is to ensure all students are reading at grade level every year. With an understanding that reading is not natural and has to be taught, the end goal is reading comprehension–being able to read and understand what is being read. Three components of the READ Act include having a screening tool (Fastbridge assessments), professional development (which Ann describes as the power of the READ Act), and the literacy curricula. Due to the extensive training needed for our teachers that has to be completed before July 1, 2025, the academic calendar has been modified to allow for this training, and will be brought to the board for approval. Ms. Sullivan noted that our teachers have had a lot to manage with employing new science standards, upcoming social studies changes, and now this training. (It was overwhelming just listening to the details of all this!)

Superintendent Elstad gave a quarterly update on some of the projects he is working on. This includes the cybersecurity work for ongoing protection and safety in the district. Also in progress is the family reunification plan and training for staff should any building need to be evacuated.  The elementary school boundaries development plan is in process with the next Input Team meeting at OMS on 2/20/2024. The TeamWorks leader helping with this has asked to meet with the board and an upcoming meeting is scheduled. Mr. Elstad notes that he’s had positive feedback from local businesses for the Owatonna Opportunity Scholarship. Finally, the Grow Your Own teacher development and Apprenticeship programs are a work in progress.

Next was the review of the school board’s governance work plan which can be viewed as an attachment to the agenda on the district’s website. This is a 3-year work plan to guide ongoing board work and includes district policy, operations oversight–annual and unique, board governance, superintendent relations, and public engagement–annual and unique. I believe that I was the only board member to ask questions, focusing on the 2023-2024 school year. Asking about the Transportation Safety District Committee, Mr. Elstad noted that this will be a new committee in the district upcoming. Also, Mr. Elstad clarified that the intergovernmental meetings have not been reinstated since the pandemic started but included various local government members coming together to discuss any issues at hand. Lastly, I noted that our work plan included a statement, “board member term discussion” and asked for clarity. Initially, there was some confusion on this, and then Mr. Sebring noted that this came about to allow for discussions around possible board candidates for upcoming elections. (It is noted that there will be 3 open seats on our school board with voting this November 2024.)

After the last school board meeting, at which time a new library materials policy was introduced, I asked our chair Mr. Sebring, to add this topic to our work session agenda for this meeting. Up to this point, our district has had a policy (606) guiding instructional/curriculum materials, but not specifically for Library Materials. I started the conversation about the new policy noting that we could ask why we should have a library policy, because this can help to identify what we want to include in our policy. Our policy committee members, Jolayne Mohs and Lori Weisenburger, commented that library books have been questioned and controversial in many Minnesota districts over the last few years, so a policy basically helps us to plan and prepare for any future issues. Plus, library materials have been part of the operational plans, but now this will give a more solidified base to reference if needed. In addition, MSBA recently developed a model policy for Library Materials and therefore our policy committee agreed that it would be beneficial to our district. Secondly, I asked about including more specific statements in our policy, since policies tend to be generalized. For example, I asked if it would be unreasonable to state that we shouldn’t have materials with sexual content. Also, I noted that the age appropriateness determination of materials is difficult because we have varying opinions as parents and teachers and staff. Julie Sullivan and Kacie Clausen, our media specialist director, offered insight into the discussion, noting the importance of parents having discussions at home about the books their children are reading. However, I added that in the last week, I was contact by parents concerned about a book in one of their child’s sixth grade classrooms. The child told his parents that this particular book was in the “banned book corner” of the classroom and when the parents discovered one of the books their child was exposed to, they became concerned, believing that the content was too mature for middle schoolers (the father noted that he had read the book in college). The teacher felt this book was appropriate for sixth graders, the parents did not. Books in the classroom are regulated by policy 606, Selection of Resources. I also asked about determining books appropriate for public school versus the public library or the bookstore. Library materials are used by our students for research but also for reading enjoyment. However, I commented that it’s one thing to read in a book that someone was abused, but it’s very different to have graphic descriptions of drug use, abuse, rape, and prostitution (books in our high school have these writings.) Finally, I questioned the policy in that the General Statement of Purpose states, “the school board has the final authority on selection of library materials.” However, the formal process for reconsidering a library material, does not include the school board in any decision making. Ms. Sullivan and Ms. Weisenburger noted that this was discussed in past meetings, and it was felt that since the superintendent is part of the process and he reports to the school board, this was adequate, and the board members did not need to be involved. The policy committee was scheduled to meet on 2/14/2024 so this topic can be reviewed again.

Board forum began with an update from Ms. Bandel with notes from the recent Facilities Committee meeting. The old C-plaza continues to be remodeled. In the destruction process of the old buildings, a time capsule was found dated 1920. Mr. Elstad noted that it was put in a safe place, and they are determining the best way to open the capsule, maybe with a livestream for public viewing. More to come! This is SNOW week for our high school students with various activities, and practice is ongoing in the new Wenger auditorium for the musical Newsies with performances scheduled for the end of the month and early March. Several community members are using the walking track at OHS. The FFA organization is celebrating 100 years this year, having a breakfast in the Foundation Room on 2/22/2024. See the district website for more info. Mr. Elstad has done much work with the organization Schools for Equity in Education and notes that they have just been renamed, now called Schools Advocating for Fair Funding. His work here is aimed at helping our district receive more government funding, as other districts do, in order to relieve some of the burden from our taxpayers. School board members continue to have site visits at our district schools with Mr. Elstad and the principal, allowing us to see and hear and learn more about the good things happening in our schools.

Meeting adjourned. Please be in touch if questions or concerns. Thank you!