The school board Regular Meeting started at 530pm at the district office on Bridge Street. As the meeting began, all members were given a laminated card, each side clarifying and asking the relevant questions:

Governance: Why? To what end? At what cost? Through what policies? (School board’s role)

Management: What? When? How will this get done? Who will be responsible for doing it? (Administration’s role)

Superintendent Jeff Elstad used Mission Moment to recognize student Carter Hanson as a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist. Congratulations Carter and best wishes to you in all your future endeavors!

Mr. Elstad also gave an update on the Learn and Earn initiative which is connected with our district’s Career Pathways program. This is a new project funded by a $1 million grant, organized by a collaboration of the Owatonna Chamber of Commerce, Riverland Community College and ISD 761. The initiative includes the new Owatonna Scholarship and will help to fulfill Mr. Elstad’s vision of educating our pre-K through “grade 14” students. The class of 2024 will be the first class eligible to receive the new Owatonna Scholarship. More info on Career Pathways can be found here: https://ohs-reg-guide.weebly.com/pathways.html. If students are interested in the Owatonna Scholarship, they can talk to a teacher or principal at the high school.

The enrollment report was reviewed and again noted that Lincoln is over 100% capacity. Because of this, the board previously approved the Teamworks proposals on 8/28/2023 to address boundary lines and possible changes for the next school year to help with this.

During board forum I took the opportunity to make a statement to the board and noted this a few days ago in the previous blog post here. Since the board’s work seems to be focused on policy work, it seems reasonable to me that we need to be having respectful discussions as a whole board regarding topics of concerns or questions that any one of us as a parent, community member, or board member may have.

The first reading for policy revisions was reviewed for policies 513 (adds gifted and talented student provisions, early admissions), 514 (adds malicious and sadistic conduct prohibition, updates general policy statement and notice), 524 (adds cell phone provisions), and 602 (adds E-learning provisions).

Mr. Elstad gave the Administrative Report noting that the round-about on Bixby and 18th should be completed in early November, hopefully mitigating some of the traffic congestion on 18th Street. The auctions at the old high school building will be completed October 4th, with October 8th as the last day to pick up items. Then on October 9, 2023 the old buildings will officially be a construction site and the public will not be allowed in the buildings moving forward. Parents in the district will soon be notified of a 30-day window to comment on the updated Social Studies curriculum proposals. This is info organized by FAIR and can be found on their website: https://www.fairforall.org/join-us/

Minnesota K12 Social Studies Standards Instructions, artifacts and sources   Deadline for comments: October 25, 2023 at 4:30pm Administrative hearing: November 8, 2023 6-8pm & November 9, 1-4:15pm (contingent upon receiving 25 requests for a hearing during the comment period)   Statute that outlines how K12 Academic Standards must be established and reviewed: Minnesota Statutes 120B.021   Proposed replacement of the (2011) K12 Social Studies Standards: Final draft   Instructions for comments and to request an administrative hearing: Notice of Intent to Adopt Rules   MDE’s rulemaking page   MDE’s justification for its proposal: Statement of Need and Reasonableness (SONAR)    p. 17 MDE’s summary of the history of academic standards in Minnesota    p. 33 MDE’s summary of establishing the review committee      p. 51 MDE’s summary of feedback received during drafting process    p. 63 Itemized justifications for each of the 25 new standards

Mr. Elstad also noted that on October 10, 2023, at our next work session, we will be hearing some operational plan updates. Lastly, he noted that the open house at the new high school was a huge success with an estimated 5,000 people in attendance.

The Consent Agenda was approved including minutes from previous meetings, the disbursement report and the personnel report.

Several votes were taken:

Director of Special Services Sarah Knudsen noted that we have a $65,000 grant to cover social services in the district and the long-held agreement with Steele County Children’s Mental Health is due to be renewed. Vote passed 7-0.

Policy reading #2 with a vote to approve them (policies 102, 406, 410, 413, 414, 415, 419, 504, 506, 507, 509, 515, 522, 807, 901, 902, 905, 906) was met with discussion regarding transgender girls (biological males) playing sports with biological girls. Ms. Deborah Bandel raised concerns about the fairness of biological males playing with biological females. Comments were made about the guidelines and limits within our district’s membership in the MSHSL and with regard to the Title IX funding we receive. As I understand things at this time, our membership in the MSHSL requires us to allow transgender females to participate with biological females and to use restrooms and locker rooms of biological females. Title IX is a less clear on this topic. Title IX was put in place in the 1970s to prevent discrimination for females playing sports. However, in today’s era of various opinions regarding biological sex differing from gender identity, Title IX is not well defined… yet. I asked about clarity in our district as to the process of transgender students’ participation in sports. Mr. Elstad noted that there is a process to follow that does not allow for hasty decisions in this matter. At this time, I am not aware of any transgender students participating in sports or using locker rooms of their gender identity. I would appreciate more discussion on this topic, out of fairness to our female athletes that work so hard (as Deborah mentioned) and more specifically out of concern for the safety of all our students, on the field/court, in the restrooms, and in the locker rooms. The policies were approved 6-1.

Several other votes were taken and approved, and I will update the Decision Updates section with this information soon! This includes ratification and tentative agreement for custodial employees, preliminary tax levy certification, assurance of compliance report, extended trip requests for OMS students to Washington DC and FFA students to attend the National FFA Convention in Indiana, the old high school asbestos removal contract, and gifts to the district. Meeting adjourned.

Congratulations Huskies Football for their Homecoming WIN! I had so much fun in the homecoming parade with my boys Carson and Michael! I only wish we had more candy since we ran out 3/4 of the way through the parade. Noted for next year… !!

I’ll be writing a summary of tonight’s board meeting, but first I wanted to provide you with a copy of a statement I made tonight at the meeting…

 I’ve been on the school board for 9 months, and during this time we’ve reviewed several policies.  The policies are updated by the policy committee to reflect changes in laws, then we as a board read and approve them.  Most, if not all, of our policies are copied from the MN School Board Association Model Policies guide.

I’ve been taught that the school board works on district governance and not district management. The board’s work is in policy, and I’ve been told that policies are meant to solve problems.  I’ve also been taught that policies need to be carefully chosen and worded… first, to follow federal and state laws, and second, so that we do not open the door for any unfair or unjust perceptions or treatment. 

In addition to solving problems, policy can serve as guidance and boundaries.  One of the positive outcomes of having boundaries is prevention of problems, it is proactive.  I’ve been told that our current board has never created new policy.   At this point, I’m not sure that we need a new policy, but I do believe that we need to discuss topics that our community is concerned about. Then, out of those discussions, we can determine if new policy is needed, or current policy needs amending.   Simply having me or any one person present an idea to the policy committee for consideration does not allow the full board to work collectively as it was meant to do.  Also, I believe just a few board members having a discussion about a topic, is not fully utilizing the board in the way it was created to work. We are a collective group of 7 board members, with different perspectives, each of us representing constituents.  We have more than 5000 students and adults walking through our school doors and hallways, each one of them with a personal perspective, belief system, political view, and moral foundation.  We are allowed, and should have, these differences. As a public school district, it is our duty to welcome everyone into a safe environment.  One of our strategic goals is to have a safe and caring environment.

The only way that all can feel welcome and safe is by remaining neutral in areas of ideologies and political views. With this in mind, I have concerns that our district does not have guidelines for the speech and displays within our schools. I’ve been told that our teachers can display things like signs and flags in the classrooms, as long as the teaching itself is not biased one way or another, and all aspects of a topic are taught. The constitutional right to free speech allows us as Americans to speak and display what we want in our personal spaces such as homes and vehicles, and even on our children.  However, when working for a public entity that is funded by taxpayers and government, it is of utmost importance that we remain neutral.  This neutrality needs to be reflected in speech, displays, and clothing while working as an Owatonna Public School employee and using the physical property of Owatonna Public Schools.  Requiring our staff, teachers, and physical buildings to remain neutral in areas of ideologies, political views, religion and personal beliefs (including sexuality) does not violate the First Amendment Freedom of Speech rights.  Other districts in Minnesota have taken a “viewpoint neutral” stance and I would like to see Owatonna Public Schools do the same.  I request that the board have this discussion at a future school board meeting.

Governor Walz recently signed a new law regarding the use of restraints in Minnesota schools by School Resource Officers. Many have felt that this law is confusing, lacking clarity, and therefore places our SROs with too much dangerous liability. As a result, several school districts in Minnesota are now without any SROs.

State law enforcement associations: School resource officer law needs clarity. House speaker says it’s clear.

In our last school board work session, I confirmed with our Superintendent, Mr. Elstad, that Owatonna Public Schools has been communicating on this topic with the Owatonna Police Department. There are no plans at this time to remove the SROs from Owatonna Public Schools. Currently, we have 2 officers, with the hope of someday adding a third.

Please let us know if you have any concerns, questions or comments!

The school board work session occurred on Monday September 11, 2023. Please take a moment to pause and remember 911, and talk about what happened to our country on that day. Thank you to all of those that have made significant sacrifices on that day and since that day.

The majority of the work session was spent reviewing and discussing the 3-year governance work plan and the school board’s role in district policy, annual operations oversight, unique operational oversight, board governance, superintendent relations, annual public engagement, and unique public engagement. We pulled forward topics and concepts from 2022-2023 that are reviewed annually and ongoing issues that take longer to complete, plus added topics that need to be addressed in the coming years. The edited and updated version will be sent to all board members In October and we will review this quarterly over the coming years. Each topic on the work plan will be brought to the agenda at some point over the coming year. I believe that the updated work plan will be available for public review when it is completed. Mr. Elstad agreed to write a quarterly report sent to board members updated with the plans and topics he’s working on that align with our district goals.

Alongside our review of the governance work plan, we reviewed our moral imperative as a school district. Our moral imperative is reflected by our mission statement: Inspiring excellence, every learner, every day. This is also revealed through our vision: Owatonna Public Schools inspires a community of learners with equitable access to high quality, innovative learning opportunities ensuring all students are college, career and life ready. Our core values are: build and nuture relationships, develop and maintain a growth mindset, and challenge the status quo. Our strategic directions are categorized into 4 groups: 21st century learners, safe and caring community, high quality teaching and learning, and equity (I’ve been told that equity in Owatonna does not mean equal outcomes).

The board agreed that it would be beneficial to connect our district policies with our strategic goals as a means to help us move forward in setting and reaching our goals as a district. This will also aid in determining policy effectiveness and where policy revisions may be needed or new policies created.

Mr. Elstad and Sarah are going to set up visits to the schools for all board members at various times over the coming months so that we can meet with principals and tour the schools again. One of the best, if not the best, aspects of this work is seeing the important work in action, the teachers, students and staff working together!

Keep an eye out for upcoming “Coffee with the Superintendent” which is a time for anyone to meet in a small group to discuss questions, concerns, and updates in the district with Mr. Elstad. This will be occurring every 4-6 weeks throughout the school year.

Board forum included updates from the facility committee. The new high school is up and running, no major setbacks or complications. They are working through final change orders and punchlist items. Phase I of the auction at the old high school is complete and Phase II is underway. Check out Grafe Auction https://www.grafeauction.com/ if you haven’t already. I clarified the application deadline for the District Curriculum Advisory Committee public applications was September 1, 2023. Our Teaching and Learning director confirmed that a recent article mistakenly reported the deadline was October 1, 2023 and another article accurately reported September 1, 2023. They are not taking any further applications for this committee at this time.

Upcoming dates:

New high school open house: September 23, 22023 11:30am – 2:30pm

Homecoming parade and football game: September 29,2023

Regular school board meeting: Monday September 25, 2023

October work session: TUESDAY October 10, 2023

Meeting adjourned! Go Huskies!!!!

I just received this email and wanted to share a great resource for anyone who knows children starting a new school year. This resource is called Success at School Handbook 2023-2024 and was created by the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism. Lots of helpful information is here to assist you in navigating and finding answers to questions or concerns you may have about our schools! https://www.fairforall.org/success-school/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Plus, another event, also hosted by FAIR, to help parents understand the concerns about Social Emotional Learning:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sel-surveys-and-student-data-what-parents-need-to-know-tickets-696186822527?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

I hope that everyone is having an exciting start to the new school year. Have a great weekend!

Since I was not able to connect to the school board meeting to attend virtually, I watched the video recording and will summarize the meeting here. Here is the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUyyCxhP5w0. Most of the audio is difficult to hear but I will do my best to accurately report on the meeting.

First, the Schoolhouse Closing Public Hearing as required by MN Statute 123B.51. This is a public hearing “regarding the necessity and practicality of closing the Owatonna High School building located at 333 E. School St. Owatonna, MN.” The is to allow any person to “give testimony for and against the proposed closing” before the school board. One community member spoke with a suggestion to consider building “tiny houses” on the school property after the old buildings are gone.

Mission Moment by Superintendent Elstad was used to recognize all the district employees that have put in hours of work and extra work to help prepare the new high school for opening to students this week. This includes administrative staff and the custodial team, the teachers, the technology team and the nutrition staff. Many thanks for all the hard work this summer!

Public forum had one community member speak about the importance of school systems and apprenticeships. I do believe that our Career Pathways program is moving forward with many similar concepts already!

Mr. Sebring reported on the Superintendent Evaluation Summary and discussed some of the comments made in the annual survey. Various positive comments are noted including: encourages creativity and innovation, Vision Cards, advocates for growth and professional development, strong communication skills, providing every learner what they need to be successful, is a tireless advocate for our students. Thank you Mr. Elstad for your hard work for Owatonna schools!

A policy review report was given by Mrs. Jolayne Mohs. Several policies are review only, however she noted that policies 419 and 506 required quite a bit of time by the policy committee to review and update and be sure that new MN Statutes are followed. Policies to review at this time include 102,406, 410, 413, 414, 415, 418, 419, 504, 506, 507, 509, 515, 522. A second reading and a vote for approval will be held in the near future. Ms. Deborah Bandel asked about the discrimination policy, and questioned if our district is allowing transgender students to participate in the sport of the gender that they identify with. Mrs. Mohs responded that the policy discussions didn’t specifically address this but were to make sure that our policies follow the state and federal mandates. She stated that “all means all.” No further questions or discussion was noted on the policies.

Mr. Elstad gave the administrative report, and first recognized the sudden and unexpected death of varsity hockey coach Dave Fromm last week. Much of the Owatonna community and many hockey communities are grieving. Rest in peace Coach Fromm, you will be missed greatly. He also noted that completion of the round-about at the corner of Bixby Road and 18th St SW will be completed in November 2023. The delay is due to the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and he cautions that all drivers and pedestrians be extra mindful and careful navigating their way to and from the high school this fall. The auction has begun for items at the old OHS buildings, starting with the 1921 building and A/B plazas. The first phase will remain online until 9/6/2023 and the final date to make a bid is when the item is presented online for 20 seconds on 9/7/2023. Phase 2 and 3 of the auctions will hopefully be completed by the end of September.

Several votes were taken by the board, all passed 4-0.

1. Resolution to Close the Owatonna High School Building
2. Teamworks (third party) proposal: attendance area development (to assist with developing new school boundaries, allow for transparency in the process with a design team, input team, and communication strategies)
3. Teamworks proposal #2: continuous improvement through school analytics (for data gathering and strategic planning)
4. Designation of 12/11/2023 at 6pm as the Truth in Taxation hearing date/time for formal approval of the tax levy, which is needed when any entity intends to increase local tax rates.
5. Increase of adult lunch meal price from $4.95 to $5.00. Breakfast price stays the same $2.25.
6. Extended trip request from choir director Paula Asmus for the OHS Concert Choir to travel to the Twin Cities.
7. Two-year Compensation and Benefits package for 10 individual director/supervisor (non-cabinet) employees in our district.
8. Two-year Compensation and Benefits package for 35 individual non-affiliated employees in our district.
9. City Council Chambers Lease Agreement, allowing the school board to use the city chambers for school board meetings. The lease is for 3 years beginning 11/1/2023, but can be stopped by either party at any time. There is no cost to the district in this lease agreement.
10. Gifts to the district, including refurbished lampposts that were originally donated to the OHS by the 1920 and 1921 graduating classes, now replanted at the new high school.

Meeting adjourned! Enjoy the smiles and moments of excitement that come with the start of a new school year!

First, my apologies to the Owatonna community. I had prepped and planned to be virtually present for the school board meeting on 8/28/2023 while my family was spending a long weekend in Wisconsin Dells. When I attempted to connect to the meeting with the Google Meet invitation received last week, the wheels were turning but never connected. After 3 attempts between 5:30 and 5:40pm, I sent a text to Mr. Elstad and let him know that my attempts were futile, and I was not attending. I’m sorry to my fellow board members and Mr. Elstad that I wasn’t better prepared to connect to the meeting. I will watch the video recording and write my summary blog post this weekend. Thank you for your grace.

Secondly, my family was deeply saddened to hear the news of Coach Fromm’s passing. Our son Carson was looking forward to one day playing for Coach Fromm on the varsity hockey team and Coach was one of the reasons he worked so hard playing hockey. Thank you, Coach, for the inspiration and encouragement you have given to our son. Hugs and prayers for the Fromm family, as well as the many hockey families and communities that are grieving his loss. Another painful reminder that we are not promised any more than the moment we are in with this very breath in our lungs.

Lastly, I wanted to let you know of the organization called FAIR – Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, and specifically FAIR in Education: https://www.fairforall.org/fair-in-education/ . This is a great resource for anyone who is interested in a pro-human approach to “defend civil rights…advocate for individuals who are threatened or persecuted…support respectful disagreement…believe that objective truth exists…promote compassionate opposition to intolerance and racism.” https://www.fairforall.org/#what-we-stand-for . Please consider joining Tanya Simons, FAIR in Education fellow and Osseo school board member, who is hosting a virtual meeting through eventbrite.com called Parent Advocacy Training: Engaging School Boards: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/parent-advocacy-training-engaging-school-boards-tickets-685835130337. Tanya Simons was in Owatonna not long ago, invited by our own OPEN Owatonna group (https://openowatonna.org/) and she presents much wisdom and understanding! FAIR in Education has developed some curriculum that I would like to explore as future options for Owatonna schools.

More to come, thank you for your patience!

The application process is open for anyone to apply for the District Curriculum Advisory Committee. This committee allows up to 25 members and will meet once monthly during the school year. Membership is one year, but could possibly be longer if desired and space allows. District meetings are “closed” meetings, meaning that the general public is not allowed to attend.

From the district website:

The general purposes of the District Curriculum Advisory Committee (DCAC) are:

• to serve as an advisory committee that ensures active participation in all phases in planning and improving instruction and curriculum, especially aspects affecting graduation standards;
• to advise the school board on implementation of the state and local graduation requirements including K-12 curriculum, assessment, student learning opportunities and other related issues; and
• to make recommendations to the School Board and the Superintendent of Independent School District on district-wide standards assessments and program evaluation. (https://www.isd761.org/district-services/teaching-learning/dcac)

More information regarding this committee and curriculum development can be found in policy 603 Curriculum Development: https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1671132142/owatonnak12mnus/lsnp6oq0xnjmvift4x1b/603CurriculumDevelopment122022.pdf

Please consider applying for this important committee!! Thank you!

The school board met on August 7, 2023 for a four-hour retreat at The Learning Zone and again on August 14, 2023 for our monthly work session at the district office.

The retreat was led by Dr. Ray Queener from TeamWorks (https://teamworks4ed.com/). We engaged in a team building exercise and Ray led us in discussions about governance and how that differs from operations management. I’m taught that school board members are the only elected board that does not work in details of day-to-day functions and management. Our role as a school board is overall governance and policy. The MN Statute 123B.09 Boards of Independent School Districts Subd 8 reports, “Duties. The board must superintend and manage the schools of the district; adopt rules for their organizations, government, and instruction; keep registers; and prescribe textbooks and courses of study. The board may enter into an agreement with a postsecondary institution for secondary or postsecondary nonsectarian courses to be taught at a secondary school, nonsectarian postsecondary institution, or another location.” This is still a bit confusing to me.

We briefly reviewed and discussed the 3-year governance plan for our district and agreed to review this again in the near future. Ray led us in an example discussion that will help future decisions when we have multiple viewpoints in the community and need to come to a consensus for what’s best for most students and the district as a whole. The meeting concluded with board forum comments and adjournment.

Monday’s work session had two main presentations. First Bob Olson talked about school safety, and secondly, the district cabinet members gave planning updates for the new school year.

Mr. Olson focused his school safety discussion on districtwide security measures and then site security measures. The presentation was kept generalized for discretion, to protect the details of emergency responses in the event of a planned attack by an intruder or outside source. Each building has an Emergency Response Guide and an Emergency Alert System. Staff attend Active Intruder Response Training. Each school has video surveillance cameras, with the new high school having many more than previously at the old high school. Each school has secured entrances and a visitor management system. We have 2 school resource officers (SROs), Derrik Quinlan and Brady Vaith. These are full time police officers that have offices in our schools and are available to go to any of our schools as needed.

Each building has a Building Response Team to handle situations or incidents as needed. Mr. Elstad noted that most incidents are related to classroom disruptions and fights. However, we have had an increased need in the elementary schools for officer presence due to aggressive or unpredictable parental behaviors, often related to children’s custody issues. Because of this, there are discussions regarding hiring a third School Resource Officer, but no formal request is presented at this time. Mr. Elstad notes that all incident reports have to be signed off by him and are sent to the Minnesota Department of Education for tracking. Only administrative staff have access to incident reports. Parents of the involved students are notified. All parents of the students in a school will be notified of an incident if an emergency response is needed. There could be a community wide notification if outside law enforcement is needed. To clarify, the SROs are in schools daily for safety and security only. The school district is responsible for discipline as needed. Outside law enforcement is only called if absolutely needed.

Mr. Elstad reminded us that during school hours, the schools are “in loco parentis.” He notes that safety is our first priority. From Cornell Law School https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/in_loco_parentis: In loco parentis is a Latin term meaning “in [the] place of a parent” or “instead of a parent.” The term refers to a common law doctrine which denotes the legal responsibility of some person or organization to perform some of the functions or responsibilities of a parent.

Next, each of our district cabinet members gave a planning update for the new year. Chris Picha, our director of human resources, commented on staffing shortages in many MN school districts, including Owatonna. Hiring is often limited due to licensures required for some positions and this will most likely have the biggest impact in our Special Education Department. The district will also have to absorb costs for unfunded mandates by the MN Legislature including costs for increased unemployment and sick leave and extended FMLA time for its employees.

Sarah Knudson, our director of special services who began working in her new role as of July 1, 2023, reiterated that teacher and para shortages often coincide with a “related-services crisis.” To maintain federally mandated requirements for public schools, we will likely be contracting with virtual services for things such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.

Lori Volz, our director of finance and operations, discussed levy and grant applications and the growing online enrollment. They are still in negotiations for teacher and custodian contracts. Of importance at this time, she noted that despite breakfast and lunches being free for all students this year, we still need families to fill out an application for free and reduced lunches. This is because of the correlation of this number of students with government funding, scholarships for activity fees, and the new Owatonna Scholarship.

Julie Sullivan, our new director of teaching and learning, added that she is working with Lori Volz regarding Title funds and also noted that online enrollment has exceeded 100 students to date. With new and recent legislation regarding the READ act, she notes that there are 3 staff developement tools required and in January 2024 the curriculum options will be announced. Also, the official change of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day will require schools to spend 1 hour of dedicated education on that topic for the day. There were also changes from the legislature regarding topics in Ethnic Studies, Personal Finance and Social Studies. We are still waiting for the details on Ethnic Studies requirements and there are open State committees that help with this development at the state level.

Bob Olson, our director of facilities, infrastructure, and security, noted that his custodial team continues to be short-staffed. However, they have all been working hard to not only take care of their own building, but also now helping a significant amount at the new high school. There will be 3 online auctions through Grafe Auction https://www.grafeauction.com/ for anyone to bid on items from the old high school. There will be tours of each building section before the auctions. Even things such as doors can be auctioned. The purchaser will be responsible for coming into the building to dismantle and remove any item bought through auction. As the old building comes down, they will move the bricks to a fenced section so anyone can take and save a brick if desired. In addition to the old coming down, there will be 4 new playgrounds installed soon. This is due to the inability to repair the old playgrounds.

Deb McDermott-Johnson, our director of community education, was not able to be present tonight but Mr. Elstad made a few comments in her absence. Our School Age Care program continues to struggle for staffing. At this time, 2 of the usual 4 programs will be open, at Lincoln and Washington schools. Elementary students from the other schools will be transported to those schools as needed. Our Adult Education program is growing and Brian Coleman has been a significant benefit to that program.

Our meeting concluded with board forum, with comments focused on the retreat and also the tours that occurred today of the new high school. Many positive comments! I’m so eager to see the new school and all the amazing details that I’ve been hearing about! Also noted, applications are open to the public until the end of August for the District Curriculum Advisory Committee. This is a one year commitment. Please consider joining this important committee!

SAVE THE DATES!

August 22: parent and student open house

September 1: first home football game at the Federated Football Stadium

September 23: New Owatonna High School open house with self-guided tours 11:30-2:30pm

October 14: Governor and media tour of the new high school

Enjoy the last few weeks of summer vacation and please be safe at the fair this week! Soli Deo Gloria!

The only school board meeting for July was held in the school district office, 5 school board members attended. I was not able to attend this meeting but have listened to the recording on the district website. The link to the meeting video: https://youtu.be/_fBdhY9RVRE

As per all regular school board meetings, public forum was an option, but no cards were presented. As a reminder, if anyone desires to speak at public forum, you need to arrive, fill out a comment card, and turn it in to the board prior to the 5:30pm start time of the meeting. Also, please know that the board will listen to all comments but does not respond at the time of the comments. After the meeting, concerns will be addressed by the chair of the board, Mark Sebring, or our superintendent Jeff Elstad. Please see details here: https://www.isd761.org/our-district/school-board/meeting-dates

During board forum, Mr. Sebring and Mr. Schuster gave updates from the recent facilities committee meeting. These updates include new high school move in to start this week by office staff. Furniture is being moved in. Final touches and finishes on all three floors… hopefully this includes any “punch list items” as I became familiar with this term when my husband did contracting work in the past.

Mr. Elstad was absent at this meeting and I see no Administrative Report to review at this time.

The Consent Agenda was approved, which is a single vote to approve a grouping of votes all at one time. This vote included previous school board meeting minutes, the disbursement report (treasurer’s report and board payment report) and the personnel report. Documents are available online for review.

The next vote was to approve ongoing membership into the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL). The MSHSL was founded in 1916 and its mission statement is: “The Minnesota State High School League provides educational opportunities for students through interscholastic athletic and fine arts programs and provides leadership and support for member schools.” The MSHSL Handbook has specific information regarding the policies and bylaws that school districts must abide by. In 2014, MSHSL made its statement regarding transgender student participation in school sports and fine arts programs. From the Child Protection League, “The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) made its controversial 2014 transgender policy. The MSHSL policy left the decision on these matters up to the schools but implemented a subjective appeal process for student/school disputes over the matter.” https://cplaction.com/hs-athletics/#MSHSL

This is what I could find regarding the appeals process:

300.00 Bylaws: Administration of Student Eligibility 2022-2023 MSHSL OFFICIAL HANDBOOK, p. 61-62, section 3. https://www.mshsl.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/MSHSL%20Handbook%202022-2023%20300%20Series.pdf

The board approved ongoing membership in the MSHSL. As I understand it, there are no other organizations even similar to MSHSL and therefore opting out of this membership could be very detrimental to our students and the district. Given the benefits of athletics and fine arts to our students, and MSHSL being the only option for us, whether or not you agree or disagree with all the policies, maintaining membership seems to be the best option at this time. As it should be, parents are the primary defenders and protectors of their children. If there is a concern that you as a parent or guardian have for your child in any classroom, sport, activity, locker room, bathroom, or school event, please bring your concerns to the teacher, coach, director, principal, or if needed, the superintendent. As an aside, I found this article written in 2022 about the origins and history of Title IX and the permission of female athletes to compete in school sports https://www.mshsl.org/about/news/league-news/title-ix-and-sports-medicine-have-grown-together.

The next vote was to approve the Long-Term Facilities Maintenance expenditures and revenues 10-year plan required for the MN Department of Education. This was approved and the link can be found on the website.

Lastly, the vote to approve gifts to the district was done recognizing another gift for instruments by Music Boosters of Owatonna, and then adjournment was declared.

In follow up to the last June meeting I attended and noted the increasing financial needs for special education, I started doing some research. While this is a large topic, I was shocked to see that the rate of autism diagnoses has risen dramatically. In the 1970s, the rate was about 1 in 10,000 children. Today, the CDC estimates that 1 in 36 children are diagnosed with autism and this spike seemed to start in the late 1990s! As I stated before, this deserves attention and research. More to come!