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Education Services reviews curriculum changes, summer programming and technology staffing
Summary
District education services presented program results and planned summer work: new foundational literacy adoption for grades 3'5, expanded talent-development services, EdTech teacher cohort completions and summer learning and meal programs, and superintendent highlighted compensatory aid recovery and free summer meals.
Amy Winter and other education staff reviewed the district's Education Services work for the 2024'25 school year and outlined summer activities and curriculum plans.
Why it matters: the presentation summarized program participation, curriculum updates and staffing moves that affect classroom instruction and summer support available to students and families.
Key takeaways from the Education Services presentation
- Curriculum and instructional support: Amy Winter said the district resumed curriculum work paused during COVID and piloted a foundational-literacy program (functional morphology) that the district plans to adopt for grades 3'5. The district is evaluating Smithsonian Science for the Classroom for elementary science, Amplify Science for middle school science, and a middle-school ELA program.
- Talent development and advanced academics: The district reported services to accelerated learners: 564 elementary students participated in the K'2 talent development program and 153 students in grades 3'5. Staff are building internal coaches and expanding professional development.
- Community education and out-of-class programs: Jean'led community-education programs (presented by Winter) served more than 900 free meals through a Kitchen Coalition partnership. Kids' Choice served about 350 students during the school year and 120 in the summer; 414 participated in learn-to-swim lessons. Adult basic education reported 13 graduates.
- Educational technology and staff training: The district created an EdTech teacher cohort; 13 teachers completed the cohort and earned ISTE teacher certification. Staff provided training for Promethean boards and implemented a K'12 digital-citizenship curriculum.
- State-approved alternative programming (SAP) and credit recovery: The district continued after-school programming at elementary sites, credit recovery at the high school and project-based learning at the CLC.
Superintendent update and summer services
Superintendent Doctor Zambrino thanked staff and families and highlighted that summer learning academy began the day of the meeting. He described the district's partnership with Open Door to provide free summer meals to all children (ages 1'18) at Lincoln Center and secondary sites through July 24, with mobile meal sites planned; he said families can text the word "banana" to (651) 370-8095 for mobile-site updates. He also explained the state's "Sunbucks" program and said families who are approved for educational benefits may be eligible for up to $120 per eligible student.
Zambrino and board members credited district and community advocacy for recovering and increasing compensatory aid that the district had feared losing; the superintendent said the district did not lose roughly $1.5 million and saw an increase, and that the district's free-and-reduced-price lunch count rose from 54.2% to about 61.4% as the state began counting applications for educational benefits.
Other items
The superintendent described the new strategic plan with three pillars'Packer Performance, Packer Pride and Packer Promise'and said administration used an administrative retreat to build scorecards and rapid cycles of improvement (plan, do, study, act) that will guide monitoring through the school year.
Ending: Winter and district staff said they will continue curriculum work and professional development through the summer and return to the board in the fall with implementation updates.
