Deep Haven Elementary principal Brian McGinley told the Minnetonka School Board on Oct. 9 that the school is using structured, schoolwide programs to prevent bullying while building student leadership and strengthening early literacy.

The presentation summarized three linked efforts: clear lessons that help students distinguish friend friction from bullying; a fifth‑grade Leaders in Action group that connects students with community service; and newly adopted K–5 curricular resources and ongoing teacher professional development to support reading instruction.

The report matters because the school’s practices affect daily student interactions, teacher instruction and which supports are available for children who face repeated or targeted behavior.

“Conflict is a natural part of being a student,” Principal Brian McGinley said. “We employ many proactive strategies to prevent bullying at Deep Haven, and these include our use of Responsive Classroom, Character Strong, and Social Thinking.” McGinley described a “navigating student conflict” chart Deep Haven uses to teach students how friendship, friend friction, student conflict and bullying differ and when to seek adult help.

Joe Sherry, a fifth‑grade teacher and advisor to the Deephaven Leaders in Action group, described the leadership program’s service focus and open application process. “Deephaven Leaders in Action is a service‑based learning leadership group,” Sherry said. He told the board the group accepts any fifth grader who completes an essay and provides a recommendation from a prior teacher and that the program emphasizes developing many leaders rather than electing a small council.

Two fifth‑grade students, Axel and Kirsten, described projects the group runs: weekly collections to support an ICA food drive, a toy collection, a March “tackle cancer” fundraiser and a May volunteer trip to Feed My Starving Children. The students also said Leaders in Action give school tours to visiting families. Axel said, “I want to make a positive difference in my community.” Kirsten said the fundraiser work helps “connect with the community.”

Third‑grade teacher and K–5 language arts chair Jennifer Peters outlined the district’s new literacy materials and training. Peters said the district adopted curricular resources from Great Minds (referred to in the presentation as Arts and Letters) and a phonics and morphology program from the University of Minnesota. She said K–5 teachers had multi‑year professional development and that district coaches and an expanded chair team will continue classroom support. Peters noted an Aug. 25 full‑day session for K–5 teachers and a planned Nov. 6 session focused on phonics assessment.

Peters said teachers are taking time to confer with students about book choices and that the new materials include both print and digital texts. “Students are getting choice in what text they read. They’re making real‑world connections,” Peters said. She added that about 25 students — roughly one‑fifth of the fifth‑grade cohort — had applied to the leadership group as of the afternoon of the meeting.

Board members thanked the presenters and the students for the report; no formal board action was taken. The presentation combined classroom practice, student voice and district‑level curriculum changes that the board flagged as central to the district goal of “connection and belonging.”

Deep Haven’s programs described at the meeting offer explicit steps for teachers and students to identify and respond to bullying, expand student opportunities for service and leadership, and implement new literacy resources with continued professional development.