June 2 Regular School Board meeting summary
All members present; no public comments.
The board met June 1 from 8:00 - 3:30 in a work session; among things discussed were their Operating Principles. Chair Erin Adams thanked members for their time and commitment to working more on this over the summer.
Before the meeting, the board recognized many students and groups for achievements. Good photos at:
http://view.exacttarget.com/?ffcd16-fe981572766c067877-fe6311707561067a7612 (Note: this web page also has information about graduation credits.)
MCES
Tim Litfin, new Director of Minnetonka Community Education and Services, gave an overview of MCES's progress and future, emphasizing the role of volunteers and greater involvement by students in leadership roles. Their new Advisory Council meets regularly and is chaired by Darel Gustafson, with Lee Aragon, vice chair, and representatives from many parts of our community.
Graduation Credits
The board had a lengthy and somewhat confusing discussion about the new graduation credit requirements, under review because of the change at MHS from 7 periods per day to 6, necessitated by budget cuts. This has been under discussion for several weeks, and the board and administration didn't get as much public feedback as they would have liked. Some board members thought the changes would affect students in the next school year, others were looking a year or two later; Dr. Peterson thought he'd been clear that his recommendation was to affect students graduating MHS in 2010 - students who were in 7th grade this year. Bob Quam wondered why a vote was needed if there was to be no immediate effect for students in the next school year.
The board seemed to agree on 22.5 credits and the need to allow some flexibility in how students would accumulate these. Carol Eastlund, Peggy Stefan and Judy Erdahl all said they'd heard from parents asking for flexibility so their students could fit in music, art and foreign language.
Dr. Peterson recommended 4 Social Studies credits, 1 Phy Ed credit and 1/2 Health credit. (1 credit = 1 year; 1/2 credit = 1 semester) Carol Eastlund asked the board to consider requiring 4 Social Studies credits, but only 1/2 Phy Ed credit, allowing another 1/2 credit for electives. Peggy Stefan favored Dr. Peterson's idea and said kids need to blow off steam and be active in Phy Ed; Judy Erdahl noted that many kids might prefer to blow off steam in an art or music class; Dave Eaton said his boys participate in sports but he favors the instruction of licensed Phy Ed teachers, so he wanted 3.5 credits Social Studies, 1/2 credit Health, 1 credit Phy Ed. Eventually, the board voted 6-1 (Ms. Stefan opposed) to adopt 22.5 credits arranged per Mr. Eaton's suggestion. Use the link mentioned above to see more information from the school district. (Editor's note: If you're following this issue, you might want to read the official minutes and/or speak to individual board members.) Several Phy Ed teachers observed the meeting; there didn't appear to be other teachers present.
Other matters
The board reviewed the new district-wide student/parent handbook, with Asst. Superintendent Craig Hintz, World Language Level I materials for 8th grade with Jeff Erickson (materials on view at DSC until June 16) and unanimously adopted texts for Social Studies grades 6-12 and grammar grades 9-12; they also adopted a new report card format for elementary level.