Agenda or https://destinyhosted.com/manSDdocs/2022/SBRM/20220207_235/AGENDApacket__02-07-22_1035_234.pdf
The United Way, Mankato Clinic and Mayo will be funding mental health services.
$50,000 from United May, 12,500 from Clinic and 12,500 from Mayo will be donated for this position.
Chairperson Sapp did ask clarifying questions when answered: This is funding for a position that will help families navigate the Mental Health services in our community. The hope is this position would help the school social workers who are not able to address all the needs in our community.
Open Forum
IT WAS AMAZING TO SEE THREE STUDENTS SPEAK! Their were two high school students and then a second grader who came up with her parents (her parents spoke but she was sitting in front of the board). There is nothing more moving then to see and hear students tell their stories!!!
Please click on video to hear speakers, this is just a very short description about issues addressed.
The first speaker mentioned how meeting the needs of all students is tricky and that all the schools have different demographics. She said she supported the equity framework.
The next speaker questioned masking effectiveness and also had concerns about equity policy.
The Third Speaker supported Diversity Equity and Inclusion and thanked the school for continuing to adapt during such a difficult time.
The fourth and fifth speakers were students who spoke in support of their Tennis coach, Mr. Silva. Who resigned from his teaching job, due to a family conflict but was then terminated from all his positions at Mankato Area Public Schools for not fulfilling his teaching contract. Their speeches were well written and absolutely moving. Even if I listened and wrote their every word, I could not capture the impact of their speech, so I highly recommend you listen to their moving testimony on the impact their coach had on their lives.
The sixth speaker also spoke on behalf of Mr. Silva addressing concerns for better communication with teachers and staff. Also thanked the school board for the round table discussion that happened the previous week.
The seventh speaker addressed equity concerns
The Eighth speaker was from the Tapestry program and said they opened a new tapestry program called new generations tapestry that is directed to serving youth. I found an old Freepress article about the Tapestry Program, and their Facebook page had photos and information about their organization.
The ninth speaker was a family with a second grade daughters. They spoke about how their daughter has spent most of school time wearing a mask and how it has negatively impacted her personally. Also another moving moment seeing a young student in front of the school board.
The Tenth speaker was a music teacher who spoke about the difficulty of teaching music with students in masks. She expressed concerns about students being masked all the time during their informative years.
The Eleventh speaker addressed concerns with Race based affinity groups and wanted all our students to learn and grow together. She pointed out the schools Race Based Affinity group Facebook post and wanted them to go through comments to notice community concerns.
The Twelth Speaker addressed concerns with Social Emotional Learning
BRIDGES COMMUNITY SCHOOL
320 Garfield Avenue
North Mankato, MN 56003
507-387-2800
PLEASE CLICK ON SCHOOL NAME TO APPLY
Applications Accepted till February 14th for Kindergarten.
Michelle Kruize, Principal
[email protected] mail
[email protected]
District average range from about 70% in need of help towards kindergarten and 40% in need of additional help in 3rd grade.
All School Meetings had been temporarily discontinued due to Covid Policy but it is an important part of being a community and they are looking forward to All School Meetings.
Some of the Life Skills they have addressed this year are Friendship and Flexibility. They also use their Equity Walkthrough to relate to students.
They are a data driven school. If they see a report where incidents are more often occurring in hallways, then they better staff the hallways and then address those behaviors in life lessons within their class.
They are a school where students need to apply to get in, it is a lottery system.
Bridges does offer more Being There Experiences than in other schools.
Kristi Schuck, Chris Kinds, Jodi Sapp and Kenneth Reid asked great questions and these are the additional comments made by Michelle Kruize, Principal in reponse:
- Our Life Skills give children the language necessary to handle stressful situations, before the situation occurs.
- We do typically have a waiting list for Kindergarten but families move and we will typically end up with openings in other grades that students could apply for.
- Application is necessary for the lottery but there are some questions that do not seem necessary that we might end up removing to make the process easier for everyone.
- Language services were not offered in the past because we are not a Title 1 school but we now have part time help.
- We still have a BBQ on Blacktop for family bonding and community building.
- We have daily volunteers but can always use more help. A volunteer started a knitting club that has become popular.
Mankato Area Learning Center
Brian Hansen, Director
110 Fulton Street
Mankato, MN 56001
507-387-3047
[email protected] mail
[email protected]
They had 100’s of F grades but now have less than 90 and they have an increase in credits being earned towards graduation
Our 5 steps and activities include but are not limited to:
- How we create relationships and get students engaged
- We use the equity matrix to focus on our own biases and how to relate to students
- Making sure basic needs are meet
TAPP is a Parent Program and daycare
We have a Food pantry to help make needs
and a shelf for Hygiene Products and Clothing
Kenneth Reid, Erin Roberts, Kristi Schuck and Jodi Sapp made comments and asked Questions:
- We use our equity matrix to view staff bias and do a mind shift on how to better serve students
- Do you need donation- Most of our donations come from the back pack program and we are typically well stocked. There are different times that we may need donations but we are limited on Space so please call our office first.
- We could use new clothing donations.
- I like to hear about feeding our community partners to help meet basic needs. This should make the students feel validated by our community
- Is there a booster club- No not yet. We typically work with social workers to help address student needs
- I really like attending these graduation ceremonies because these students work really hard to earn their graduation.
- The students here are mostly Juniors and Seniors but we also have Freshman and Sophomores.
Committed to working together equitably, so that each learner has the knowledge and skills to be a successful and contributing citizen in a diverse global society.
Dan Kamphoff
1001 Heron Drive
Mankato, Minnesota 56001
507-387-7672
[email protected] mail
[email protected]
Our school has over 450 students and we do to great lengths to embrace all our learners
We communicate that all our students and teachers matter
We try to set high expectations because we believe they have the potential of meeting those expectations
We are a top 20 school and part of that is making everyone feel like they matter
It is not just language that you hear but the what you feel
Name to name, hand to hand, heart to heart everyone matters
We are hoping that we have addressed behaviors so we do not need to suspend the rest of the year.
Thanks the above staff for making sure everything ran well
We have Pride assemblies and hand out Pride slips to students behaving well
We have a unique and diverse set of needs and we celebrate all our accomplishments and services we can offer.
We have had a lot of top notch people who rose to the occasion. They have been able to guide our families through these uncharted waters.
My job is wonderful because of all the great people I work with.
Kristi Schuck, Kenneth Reid, Jodi Sapp and Paul Peterson Had Questions and Comments:
- How do you engage with parents and how can they get involved- We try to make phone calls and send emails out to parents to keep them engaged. We are always looking for volunteers and try to invite parents in to be part of the learning.
- We make sure all our students feel valued. We try to meet all students where they are at to meet their needs.
- We have Family Ambassadors who help us educate our families and work with us to educate our community about our systems and how we can improve
- During Diebels tests are students able to take masks off? Yes, kids can take off their masks to test their language fluency.
COVID AND MASKING
Department of Facilities
Scott Hogen, Director
10 Civic Center Plaza, Suite 1
Mankato, Minnesota 56001
507-345-5311 Phone
507-387-4033 Fax
[email protected]
Many of these maps and graphs came from the state site
STATE WIDE-
Chris Kind Expressed Urgency in allowing the K-8 have a masking OPTION. Since the kids are out in the community without being mandated to mask, these interactions are not being taken into consideration in our data and our strategy.
Kristi Schuck said she thought it was time to remove the school mandate and allow each school to create their own mitigation policies now that the virus is endemic.
Jodi Sapp has historically been on the side of having each school create their own strategy. She wanted to know if we could provide the administration with new direction.
Kenneth echoed the sentiment of Kristi Schuck and trusted the direction of whatever the district leadership team said.
DURING PERSONNEL
http://mankatoaps.swagit.com/play/02082022-646/#14
Kristi Schuck again expressed wanting to take swift action on allowing schools create their own covid mitigation policies and doing away with district wide mandates.
Also a mention of the Closing Equity Gap in Education at MNSU
Erin Roberts mentioned that they will be rehiring the resource officers for the Middle Schools. Since there are resource officers at the high schools it was easier to adjust the contract with the Mankato Police department then create a new contract with North Mankato, as a result Prairie Winds will get a resource officer before Dakota Meadows.
Resource Officers will:
- Investigate Goals with Admin
- Attend educational programming
- Set Outreach goals
- Focus on Relationship building within the community
Here is the link to the Open Forum where they spoke out against the Resource officers and it was at this time those contracts were removed: http://mankatoaps.swagit.com/play/12222020-501/#6
Part of their steps for learning are:
- how we engage students and keep