Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Programs topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
DPACC urges small daily minute increase and expansion of BAR model in middle schools
Summary
The district planning advisory council recommended adding instructional minutes districtwide (as little as 10 minutes) and expanding the Building Assets Reducing Risk (BAR) strengths‑based model to middle schools; DPACC cited comparative district data and pilot results and recommended a working group, cost analysis, and listening sessions before implementation.
At a presentation to the Osseo Area Schools board, the District Planning Advisory Council (DPACC) outlined high‑priority recommendations drawn from the 2023–24 family stakeholder survey and district strategic directions.
Rose Tan, DPACC chair, said the council focused on increasing instructional minutes and improving stakeholder survey scores. DPACC reported a comparison with seven neighboring districts that showed Osseo’s school days are shorter; the committee proposed adding as little as 10 minutes per day and estimated that, accumulated across K–12, this would amount to about 373 additional instructional hours over a student’s educational career. Chair Tan said the proposal is intended to provide additional time for intervention, enrichment and advisory activities rather than reduce core instruction.
Dr. Britt Stusi presented the second high‑priority recommendation: a districtwide expansion of BAR (Building Assets Reducing Risk), a strengths‑based model to support transitions to middle school. "We recommend that the district implement a strengths based approach similar to the BAR program in all middle schools district wide," Dr. Stusi said. She noted BAR had been implemented as an opt‑in program for 9th and 10th graders at Park Center Senior High School and cited internal and external data showing higher attendance and modest academic gains for participating students. Stusi also provided cost estimates: about $19,000 per site and roughly $1 million to adapt a middle‑school model districtwide, and she recommended creating a working group, running a cost analysis, and holding community listening sessions before any rollout.
Board members asked for clarifications about scheduling, transportation impacts, opt‑in counts for Park Center and whether alternatives were considered; DPACC replied that staff would follow up with site‑level implementation details and that BAR was chosen in part because institutional knowledge already exists within the district.
