The Minnetonka School Board and District Administration believe a commitment to world-class, child-centered excellence strengthens Minnetonka Public Schools. The well-being and belonging of students are both continuing priorities for families and for the District. Aligning and integrating student well-being and belonging together will ensure all students have the supports needed to achieve their personal best. In 2021-22, the District will continue the development and implementation of strategies that support families’ desires to have their students be socially and emotionally strong and that provide the necessary level of support to students for their academic, social and emotional well-being.
Minnetonka Schools welcomes people of all backgrounds, cultures, experiences and identities. We believe that students who feel a sense of belonging and connectedness to their school will experience more success inside and outside the classroom. The District remains committed to providing an inclusive and respectful school environment where all students feel safe, welcome, supported, valued and accepted.
The District will continue to foster and promote positive student well-being and belonging efforts and will identify barriers that have a detrimental effect on students’ well-being and sense of belonging. The District will strive for the fair treatment, opportunity and advancement of all students to pursue their highest levels of academic and personal achievement. The District will provide academic supports to empower all students to achieve their personal best. The Board’s vision for child-centered excellence will be the foundation for these efforts.
This goal, which has become a multi-year goal, will include in 2021-22:
- Significant efforts to deepen implementation and ensure system-wide alignment. The District will prioritize, plan and implement the District’s Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework with fidelity to ensure the District is meeting student needs and improving student outcomes. This will include:
- Continue partnership with Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) to address recommendations from the District evaluation
- Complete remaining MTSS evaluation efforts and identify priorities related to student groups with a targeted focus on special education
- Develop team structure and District and site action plans to prioritize and address recommendations
- Provide professional development for all staff that supports identified priorities and that furthers the action plans to ensure sustainability
- Utilize the MTSS framework and learning to further identify and address barriers to success
- Continued focus on and use of recommendations from the 2020 Evaluation of Student and Family Well-being report to inform the work to support students’ well-being
- Identify and implement universal screeners and progress-monitoring tools to assess student well-being E-12, with an emphasis on mental health considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Identify systematic Tier I social, emotional and mental health education to be incorporated into core instruction for students at each level
- Provide ongoing education and outreach on mental health/student well-being, with students, staff, parents and the community, while continuing to work on ending stigma and fostering strong relationships within the school and with our mental health community stakeholders and resources
- Planning and Implementation of mandatory training sessions for staff and School Board, providing them with tools, supports and resources to help them create and maintain a welcoming, inclusive, and safe school environment for all
- Incorporate training into staff and School Board onboarding activities
- Survey staff to evaluate training effectiveness after each session to ensure staff have the tools they need
- Provide a report to the Board on the effectiveness of the training, including direct feedback from teachers and other front-line staff by March of 2022
- Reports on the efforts of each school’s Belonging Committee. Reports will be delivered to the School Board in January and May of 2022. Incorporate key recommendations from the Belonging Committees into District actions for 2021-22 school year
- Reports on the efforts of the District’s Mental Health Advisory Council. Reports will be delivered to the School Board in January and May of 2022. Incorporate key recommendations from the Mental Health Advisory Council into District actions for 2021-22 school year
- Continued review of hiring activities to further promote hiring staff with diverse backgrounds to enrich the learning environment for all students. Conduct a minimum of six recruiting activities aimed at this effort
- Ongoing communications to and engagement opportunities for District constituents that reflect the work on excellence in student well-being and belonging. These may include communication updates, surveys, website updates, mailings and other communications or engagement efforts. Provide updates to the Board on these efforts in February and June of 2022
- Evaluation of effectiveness of the resources in each building to support belonging initiatives
- District to provide an update/report from staff resource(s). Report to be delivered by February of 2022
- Connect with students to ensure they are aware and have access to student well-being and belonging resources. This will include listening sessions with student groups and student surveys. Activities to be completed by June of 2022
- Establish quarterly belonging summit for building-level representatives and Principals/Administrative Council to share resources and lessons learned to ensure systemic implementation
- Review of the School Board’s Vision for the Future document to ensure alignment with our commitment to child-centered excellence, student well-being and belonging. Note: This Vision review will be completed by the School Board by June of 2022.
