Here is a link to the Secondary School Redesign if you would like to submit your opinions: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc4FJozhqNmi8QKNK7fE9HmR5op21fYQz-nlOmGvY55OlUiRw/viewform

“Please take a few moments to fill out the survey. Your thoughtful responses and responses will inform our work and help us build a secondary school system that truly serves our entire community. The survey window will be open Monday, September 15th to Monday, September 22nd at 4:00 pm and should take no more than ten minutes to complete”

My Answers are in BOLD if you are interested:

In your opinion, what is the single most significant challenge that currently prevents students from loving learning and achieving at high levels in secondary schools?*

Lack of relevance in curriculum

Overemphasis on standardized testing

Disconnect between student interests and school activities

Insufficient support for diverse learning needs

Social pressures or emotional well-being concerns

**Other: In my view, the single most significant challenge is a lack of personal responsibility and accountability. When students aren’t held to clear expectations for effort, attendance, and engagement, it becomes extremely difficult for them to develop the habits and discipline needed to enjoy learning and achieve at high levels amongst ALL our secondary schools.

Beyond grades and standardized test scores, what specific evidence (e.g., behaviors, projects, discussions) would you hope to see in their development or schoolwork?*

I would like to know if they feel safe and have a sense of belonging

How can our schools better prepare students for careers and/or higher education in today’s rapidly changing world?*

One of the most important ways schools can prepare students for careers or higher education is by instilling responsibility. If a student can’t reliably show up — and show up on time — it becomes almost impossible to train them for a job or to succeed in college. Building habits of punctuality, accountability, and follow-through is just as essential as teaching academic content.k effectively on a team. They also need a foundation in essential academic skills — at minimum, reading, math, and basic financial literacy — to navigate life successfully after high school.

What skills, knowledge, or dispositions do students need to develop in order to be successful after high school?*

Students need to develop responsibility, accountability, and the ability to work effectively on a team. They also need a foundation in essential academic skills — at minimum, reading, math, and basic financial literacy — to navigate life successfully after high school.

From your observations, what is the biggest reason students might feel disengaged or uninterested in school today? (Select all that apply)*

Too much passive learning (lectures, worksheets)

Lack of opportunities for creativity and self-expression

Curriculum feels irrelevant to their future

Not enough opportunities for social interaction and collaboration

Feeling overwhelmed by workload or pressure

Lack of personalized learning paths

Restrictive daily schedule (7 or 8 period day, few opportunities for off-campus learning, etc)

Other: The school culture is a major factor. When certain sports or activities are valued more than others, or when rules—like those against vaping in bathrooms—aren’t consistently enforced, students can feel disengaged and disconnected. A lack of accountability undermines both motivation and learning.

What kinds of learning experiences or approaches do you believe would genuinely excite and motivate students in secondary school?*

Students are most deeply engaged when their education connects to something real and significant. Programs that allow them to earn college credits, achieve certifications, or participate in internships give them a direct line to skills they can use in the world — and that’s powerful. But we also need to tell the truth: not every worthwhile endeavor is exciting or fun. Mastery demands discipline. Part of our task is to show young people that effort, perseverance, and accountability aren’t punishments; they’re the very things that make competence, confidence, and freedom possible.

What kind of information or support would help you, as a caregiver, understand your child’s academic progress more effectively?

Well, the first thing to recognize is that parents aren’t simply passive observers of their children’s education; they’re active participants in shaping it. So what they need isn’t more superficial updates or generic dashboards. They need clear, honest, and comprehensible information about what their children are actually learning and how they’re performing — concrete data on skills mastered, assignments completed, attendance, and areas of struggle.

But that information also has to be embedded in a real relationship with the school. Regular, respectful contact with teachers, opportunities to see the curriculum, and explicit explanations of expectations and grading criteria help parents reinforce those standards at home. In other words, don’t just tell me my child is ‘developing critical thinking.’ Show me what that looks like in practice, where they’re excelling, where they’re falling behind, and what can be done about it.

That’s not about micromanaging; it’s about taking responsibility together. When parents are given clear, truthful, and actionable information, they can help their children build the habits of competence and resilience that will serve them long after they leave school.

What kind of support do you believe teachers most need to be effective for student learning? (Select all that apply)

 ______________________________________________________*

Professional development opportunities

Adequate resources and materials

Collaborative planning time with colleagues

Recognition and appreciation

**Other: Teachers need strong support from administration to enforce rules and maintain classroom order. Without this backing, even the most skilled teachers can struggle to create an environment conducive to learning.

What changes to the school day (e.g., schedule, length of classes) or the physical environment do you think would best support student learning and overall well-being?*

Focus on skills development junior and senior year. Getting college credits, certifications, and internships.

What makes a school feel welcoming and effective to you as a caregiver or community member?*

A school feels genuinely welcoming when it’s built on mutual respect — and that isn’t some vague sentiment about everyone being nice. Respect emerges from order, from clearly articulated standards, and from the consistent enforcement of those standards. When students know precisely what’s expected of them, when the rules are fair and applied reliably, they develop self-discipline and a sense of security. That’s what creates a climate where teachers can teach, students can learn, and parents can trust the institution. In other words, a welcoming school isn’t one that lowers expectations; it’s one that combines high standards with fairness and care, so everyone understands both their rights and their responsibilities.

If the school decided to make significant changes to the student experience, what kind of communication or support from the school would be most helpful to you during such a process?*

If a school is going to make major changes to the student experience, then parents deserve more than a slick announcement or a glossy brochure. They need transparent, forthright communication about what is changing, why it’s changing, and what the likely consequences will be. That means clear timelines, open meetings where questions can be asked, and honest discussion of trade-offs — not just promises of improvement or survey results no one can access.

And they need support that allows them to actually participate in the process. Give parents access to the underlying data, to the reasoning behind the decisions, and to the people making them. Treat them as partners rather than as an audience. When schools do that — when they articulate standards and take responsibility for their decisions — they build trust. Without that, any change, no matter how well-intentioned, will be perceived as arbitrary and destabilizing.

When you’re redesigning the 6–12 student experience, you have to remember you’re not merely adjusting schedules or swapping out courses — you’re shaping the developmental environment for emerging adults. That means clarity of purpose: What kind of people are we trying to help these students become?

It also means balancing freedom with structure. Adolescents need opportunities for exploration — electives, internships, skill-building programs — but they also need firm boundaries, consistent standards, and adults who model competence and integrity. Without that structure, freedom degenerates into chaos; without freedom, structure turns into tyranny.

Finally, you have to involve parents, teachers, and students honestly in the process. Lay out the rationale for changes, the evidence, the expected costs and benefits. That combination of high standards, real responsibility, and genuine participation is what transforms a redesign from an exercise in bureaucracy into a framework that actually helps young people grow.

Is there anything else you believe is crucial when thinking about redesigning the 6-12 student experience?

I also serve as a school board member. While I’ve been told that this redesign falls under the district’s strategic plan, the board has never taken a specific vote on it. In my view, this survey should have been conducted before the district committed the time and expense of hiring staff to redesign our schools, so that parents, staff, and community members could voice their opinions at a board meeting first. Minnesota Statute 123B.09 Subd. 8 explicitly requires school boards to ‘prescribe the courses of study, adopt textbooks and instructional materials, and determine the graduation standards and requirements for pupils.’ That responsibility deserves full public discussion and board action.