Monday’s meeting was a big one, divided into 3 sections, with lots of information.
COMPREHENSIVE ACHIEVEMENT AND CIVIC READINESS (CACR) ANNUAL REPORT
What was once the World’s Best Work Force is now CACR as developed and required by the state of Minnesota with five specific goals. The information can be found on the district website with a link to view the entire presentation: https://www.isd761.org/district-services/teaching-learning/cacr. There is much information to digest here but a basic summary is as follows.
Goal 1 = All children are ready for school (measures literacy benchmarks in preschool age children.) Goal not met. Staff are working to connect with families of preschool children, and preschool classes are teaching phonics. They have also applied for a grant through SMIF.
Goal 2 = Close all racial and economic achievement gaps comparing white students to Asian, black, Hispanic/Latino, two or more races, and students that qualify for free or reduced lunch, in the areas of reading and math. All gaps widened except one. So then do we ask ourselves, with the focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) over the last several years, is it working? Gaps are widening and/or showing no consistent improvements.
Goal 3 = All students are college or career ready. Positive results showing more OHS graduates having earned college or advanced placement credits and more students taking career and tech ed courses.
Goal 4 = All students graduate with no student group at < 80% graduation rate. This data comes from 2024 as the state graduation rates are delayed by one year. OHS graduation rate in 2024 was 89.4%. Our Hispanic/Latino student graduate rate is still <80% but overall improving at 74.6%.
Goal 5 = Prepare students to be lifelong learners. This is a work in progress and will be better defined once the School Perceptions survey is processed. It seems to me that this may prove to be a difficult goal to set measurable outcomes.
RESOLUTION CANVASSING RETURNS OF THE SPECIAL ELECTION
The levy failed in the special election vote last week on 11/4/2025. All precincts voted no, showing a total of 7990 votes, 3048 (38%) voting yes and 4941 (62%) voting no, 1 vote was defective. Our superintendent has very seriously taken this to heart. The board will be working closely with Dr. Champa and finance director Mr. Stotts, to determine next steps and where budget cuts will be made for the 2026-27 school year.
WORK SESSION
Daren Sievers from School Perceptions gave a presentation showing data from our recent survey of parents, teachers and staff, and students in grades 4-12. Much data and information were presented. Dr. Champa has been given the comprehensive data tables that she will use to connect with each schools’ administration in order to set priorities and goals and make changes in the schools as indicated. It’s difficult to summarize everything that was presented, but the overarching theme is that Owatonna students, staff, and parents generally have good opinions and perspectives for what is happening in our schools. The parent group identified the top 4 concerns they would like addressed with students: learning life skills, address mental health issues, continue to work on career and tech ed options, and safety/security in our buildings. For our new superintendent, the top 2 desires from parents were for transparency in the district and for an achievement focus for students. The staff/teacher group also gave high ratings for most categories, but the biggest concerns were for discipline effectiveness, consistency of discipline practices among staff, recognition for good work, and fair pay practices. The top 2 desires from staff for our new superintendent were for transparency and to be approachable. Our student group had the highest scores (above parent and staff groups) for several categories. Their lowest scores, areas of biggest concern, involved students not following the rules, finding someone to talk to if being bullied, and being able to relate to what they are learning. The top 2 barriers identified in a given day were other students’ distracting behaviors and test anxiety.
The next presentation was the Language Access Plan, given by our coordinator of equity and English Learners programming, Matt Berg-Wall. This plan is a new requirement from the MN Legislature and involves schools providing necessary interpretation and translation for students whose home language is not English. Our district now has 32 different languages spoken in the homes of our students. Several resources were outlined that provide services to our students and families for daily learning and communication. This includes an emergency communication protocol for school closures or lockdowns, etc. Our district currently has 11 success coaches who interpret and translate documents for our families as needed.
Mark Stotts, our director of finance, gave a presentation regarding student enrollment and future predictions out to the 2029-30 school year. In summary, our graduating class sizes are decreasing which is reported as an effect from decreased birth rates nationwide. In our district, nonpublic school enrollments appear stable including St. Mary’s student counts. While the homeschooled student numbers have increased, Owatonna Christian School student numbers have decreased. Our rising Owatonna Online and Area Learning Center student counts have helped make up for the decreased enrollment in our incoming kindergarten classes. Currently, the average class size in elementary school is ~ 22 (kindergarten classes are smaller while 4th and 5th grade classes are larger), with the average school building capacity at 82.75% full. Average class sizes at the middle school and high school are ~26, but vary widely depending on the class.
Dr. Champa gave a brief update on her current goals with action steps. The levy was briefly discussed (with Mr. Stotts), plus the ongoing work for safety and security in the school buildings was reviewed. As a reminder, a change in the school calendar was approved previously, students will be released 2 hours early on Tuesday November 25, 2025 so that staff can complete the necessary safety training.
Our school board student reps briefly discussed a new student advisory group that will be meeting quarterly. A few concerns raised at the first and recent meeting included ongoing vaping in the schools, particularly the bathrooms, and secondly, cell phone use, particularly when it’s distracting such as in classrooms.
Well, this is plenty of information to share for one night. Take care. Please reach out if questions or concerns.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Elizabeth for Owatonna Schools 