APPROVED 08-05-2024

Board of Education Small Schools Committee Meeting (Monday, April 15, 2024)

Generated by Nikkol Sipes on Tuesday, April 16, 2024

1. Board Small Schools Committee

A. Call to Order

Ms. Truesdell called the meeting to order at 2:01 p.m.

B. Roll Call

Members Present: Patti Truesdell (Chair), Tim Daugharty, Dianne MacRae, Virginia Morgan (attended virtually), Eric Pederson, Director of Elementary Education, Inafa Reutov, Student Representative (attended virtually)

Other Board Members Present: Penny Vadla, Kelley Cizek, Zen Kelly (attended virtually)

C. Approval of Agenda

The April 15, 2024 Small Schools Committee meeting agenda was approved as presented.

D. Approval of Notes 02-05-2024

The February 5, 2024 Small Schools Committee meeting notes were approved as printed.

2. Student Representative Update

A. Student Representative Update

Ms. Inafa Reutov reported on the following:
She noted that she met with other student representatives from small schools and spoke to their communications regarding events in their schools which included agriculture, and art work. She gave updates occurring at her own small school, Voznesenka.
Ms. Truesdell posed questions regarding Voznesenka staff. Ms. Truesdell posed a question for one item for improvement at Miss Retouv's school. Ms. Reutov said that it would be nice to have more field trips and better desks and chairs and access to more classes in the schools. Ms. MacRae posed a question regarding history classes. Miss Reutov spoke to this.

3. Small Schools New Business

A. Committee Charge Review

Ms. Truesdell opened up the discussion to committee members on ways to meet the committee's charge. Ms. Morgan appreciated how the charge is written and proposed inviting members to the committee meetings, in particular those who have expertise with small schools and have innovative ideas. Ms. Truesdell appreciated and agreed with Ms. Morgan. Ms. MacRae proposed increasing community involvement in small schools. Ms. Truesdell spoke to her experiences with community involvement in the Hope school and community. She noted that there are strong communities in these Small Schools regions. Ms. Truesdell spoke to correspondence received from small schools administrators to the committee. Mr. Pederson spoke to internet access for the small schools in the district. Ms. Truesdell noted the importance of visiting the small schools. Mr. Pederson spoke to the difficulty of small school staff finding substitutes. Ms. Truesdell spoke further to correspondence received from small schools administrators that were sent to the committee. Ms. Morgan proposed attempting to connect students in small schools with the distance education program. Mr. Pederson spoke to some of the challenges of distance education. Mr. Pederson proposed show casing small schools and having students at other schools-big schools- visit small schools especially during highlight events happening in the schools and community. Ms. MacRae proposed potentially giving students who attend small schools the opportunity to visit larger schools. Ms. Truesdell inquired whether there is a district wide event where all students get together. Voznesenka Student Council advisor spoke to this and that the district wide student council meeting is not as easily accessed for small schools and very few were represented at the event last year. Ms. Truesdell spoke further to the correspondence received from small school administrators in the way of extra curricular activities- in particular sports. Ms. Truesdell proposed Mr. Crabtree potentially coming to speak to the committee regarding M class certification. Ms. Cizek spoke to "mini courses" during her community and school experience where volunteers taught these courses rather than teachers/staff. Ms. Truesdell proposed having a catalog of classes available to small schools offered through M Class certification personnel. Ms. Morgan requested more time for the committee members to research this further, with perhaps a smaller group of people rather than a committee meeting. Ms. Truesdell agreed with Ms. Morgan. Mr. Pederson spoke to challenges of having meetings in the summertime to ensure that the experts on these subjects can be available. Ms. MacRae agreed. Ms. Truesdell proposed dividing research among the committee members. Ms. Truesdell proposed a potential meeting in July to brainstorm steps moving forward. Mr. Daugharty posed a question regarding how might the four-day school week model would impact small schools. Ms. Truesdell appreciated and agreed with Mr. Daugharty that this should be taken into consideration.

4. Adjourn

Ms. Truesdell adjourned the meeting at 2:47 p.m.