Latest / Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast / How a Small Minnesota District Built Its AI Guidance Plan | Superintendent Scott Monson

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How a Small Minnesota District Built Its AI Guidance Plan | Superintendent Scott Monson · Integrate This! Ed Tech Podcast

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Welcome to Integrate This, your go -to edtech
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podcast where curiosity meets classroom innovation.
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Join your hosts, David Berner and Jeremy Mikla,
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as we explore the rapidly evolving world of educational
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technology. From game -changing tools to insightful
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conversations with today's top edtech voices,
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we're here to help educators stay informed, inspired,
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and ready to innovate. So tune in, level up,
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and let's integrate this. Hey, welcome to the
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Integrate This at Tech podcast. I'm David Berner,
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joined as always by co -host Jeremy Mickela.
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And today I'm super excited because we have a
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guest with us, Superintendent Scott Monson of
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Miniota Public Schools in Minnesota. And very
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excited to have Scott with us because I've got
0:45
a chance to work closely with Scott and his team
0:48
out of Miniota. And I think there's going to
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be a lot of great insights and things that we're
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going to go over today for. many schools. So,
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Scott, welcome to the podcast. We're happy to
0:59
have you. Super glad to be here. This is uh exciting
1:02
and I'll I'll honestly I'll try not to screw
1:04
it up for you guys because you know, we talk
1:07
about uh making mistakes sometimes and I can
1:10
do that with the best of them. So, I'll try not
1:12
to. Yeah, that's alright. We do learning opportunities,
1:15
right? There you go. Yeah. So, um Scott, can
1:17
you kinda kick things off for us and tell us
1:19
a little bit about your time? before miniota
1:22
and just your experience as long as you've been
1:25
in education and the different roles that you've
1:27
had. Yeah, you know, probably the first thing,
1:30
David, is is when people kind of ask me about
1:33
my career. And it's easy to say I've been in
1:37
education for. I don't even know what it is now,
1:39
35 or 36 years. But one of the things that I'm
1:42
really proud of is I've been a rural educator
1:45
all my life, right? I mean, I started teaching
1:47
and coaching in a rural school district in South
1:51
Dakota back in 1989 and, you know, taught business
1:55
education and the old typewriters. Fortunately,
1:59
they were electric, so I didn't have the manual
2:01
ones. But a lot of funny stories with some of
2:04
my former students and, you know, just about
2:07
like like my first day of class as a eighth grade
2:12
keyboarding teacher, I didn't realize that that
2:15
the typewriters we had didn't have ribbons in
2:19
them. So the kids started typing and nothing
2:21
was showing up. Well, I guess I needed to order
2:24
ribbons. So there was about three or four days
2:26
of study hall right there because I wasn't prepared.
2:29
Right. But taught and coached, taught business
2:32
education and coached for for 10 years and then
2:36
was lucky enough to have a a principal, actually,
2:39
in Frazee. Russ Robinson was his name that kind
2:45
of sponsored me, if you will, for aspiring principals
2:48
initiative, which I'd never thought about being
2:51
an administrator. And I don't know why Mr. Robinson
2:54
felt like that was a good thing to sponsor me,
2:57
but I'm glad that he did because from there I
3:00
was. able to go back to school and get my master's
3:04
degree and licensures and all of that and was
3:08
a high school principal down in Fulda, Minnesota
3:11
for a year and then also in Benson in Minnesota
3:15
also for four years. And then the superintendent
3:19
position in Morris came available when I was
3:22
in Benson. you know, just down the road and comparable
3:26
school district to what I was used to, a little
3:29
bit competition between the two districts, but
3:32
that was always good. And got to be a part of
3:35
a really small part of doing some good things,
3:39
I think, for kids and for staff and for our community
3:42
in Morris. We had really talented staff there
3:45
and who I think at the time were kind of just
3:50
looking for some changes. wanted to be a part
3:54
of doing things, you know, we were doing things
3:56
well, but wanted to be a part of doing things
3:59
really well or great and learned a lot so much
4:02
during the 10 years that I was there. And then
4:06
had the opportunity to come down to Marshall
4:08
and serve as their superintendent for six years.
4:12
And again, you know, very different district,
4:15
but learned a lot. I think Marshall was more
4:18
about. leadership and and sort of steering the
4:23
ship instead of sometimes in smaller districts
4:26
you also need to work on the boiler or work on
4:29
the steering or work on the system right and
4:32
then that's not a bad thing and it's not intended
4:34
to be a negative thing towards either size district
4:37
or whatever but um You know, that was also good
4:40
for me. And then the pandemic came along, you
4:42
know, I don't like to talk about that anymore
4:44
and I have to, but, um, or COVID and, and, uh,
4:47
just took a couple of year break from education,
4:50
stayed, stayed in the education industry, but,
4:53
uh, wasn't a superintendent anymore. And then
4:57
when the job became available here in Minyota,
4:59
um, was super excited about it. You know, I,
5:03
I had officiated, um, football, basketball. girls
5:08
basketball, some baseball, been in miniota many
5:11
many times and just had a super high level of
5:15
respect for their their programs, their district.
5:20
You know, started looking into test scores and
5:22
some of the finances and what they had going
5:24
on. And and those were all kind of where I would
5:27
want them to be if I looked at another superintendent
5:30
position. And the one thing that stuck out to
5:33
be about stuck out to me about miniota, every
5:36
time I came into whether it be down to the comp
5:39
to officiate football or if it was here at the
5:42
school, things were just done well. The school,
5:48
our guys do a fabulous job of taking care of
5:50
the building. And you can see sort of that pride
5:52
that comes through. And I noticed that. probably
5:56
15 or 20 years ago. So, you know, to to have
5:59
the opportunity to be here now in Minneapolis
6:01
and be a tiny, tiny part of, you know, what we
6:05
have going on is really cool. My daughter, Logan,
6:10
who will be going into third grade, she she comes
6:13
to school with me every day and goes to school
6:16
here. And it'll be interesting this next year
6:19
because we have a three year old Jordan who will
6:22
be coming to preschool a couple of days a week.
6:25
And Yeah, that'll be an interesting car ride
6:27
in the morning I'll just say that so but it'll
6:29
be a good thing and you know I'd say blessed
6:32
for the opportunity for our girls to to go to
6:36
school here and and You know to get to be a part
6:40
of the school and the people that make it such
6:43
a great place Yeah, and I think we started to
6:47
go down this road here a little bit But I just
6:49
want to you know like expand on it a little bit
6:51
here about mini Yoda itself because you know
6:54
really you know I think maybe it I think it's
6:59
an African proverb or of some sort but it takes
7:02
the village to raise the child sort of a thing
7:04
and I've heard it said many times maybe it's
7:07
a a little bit you know maybe overused but but
7:11
I really feel like the the road you're going
7:13
down really is this point that it does really
7:15
take a community of people and it sounds like
7:18
miniota has that kind of situation in place that
7:22
you walked into but you know I there's always
7:25
a chance to kind of leave your mark, make your
7:28
influence as part of that here. And so how is
7:31
like this, this community of mini Yoda and the
7:34
school in particular, really to kind of help
7:38
lay the foundation and the groundwork for some
7:41
of the work that we're going to talk about here
7:42
in a little bit. Yeah, you know, mini Yoda. There's
7:46
a lot of things that I didn't know about miniota
7:48
when I started here, even though I felt like
7:50
I knew some things and had some insight. And
7:53
none of them are bad. I don't mean that at all.
7:56
But, you know, things like it was my first or
7:59
second year as superintendent. And then you always
8:01
realize there's there's some family names in
8:05
in every school district. Right. Well, in in
8:08
miniota, it's probably more so than than anywhere
8:11
else. meaning our folks want to come back here.
8:15
They might graduate and go to college, you know,
8:17
wherever. But at the end of the day, a high percentage
8:22
of our high school graduates or folks who grew
8:26
up in this community end up coming back here,
8:29
living here, raising their families, you know,
8:31
working here, doing whatever. And I just I didn't
8:34
realize that. And, you know, people come back
8:37
to things that are special to them. And I think
8:40
that's You know, one of the things that, again,
8:43
I probably recognize that as an official, but
8:46
now that I've been here for, you know, four years,
8:49
it's easy to see that this is a special place.
8:52
You know, one of the words that kind of permeates
8:55
throughout Miniota, if you look at... different
8:58
things that we've, um, you know, created or plans
9:02
or whatever is the word excellence and striving
9:04
for excellence. And, and that really is the bar,
9:07
uh, whether it be, you know, in fine arts and
9:10
academics and athletics in our facilities. I
9:13
mean, you name it. That's we, we want to, and
9:16
I, and when I say we, I'm not just talking about
9:19
me, but we really want to strive to be excellent.
9:22
And I think that people, um, take that responsibility.
9:26
you know, seriously. And I think that's what
9:29
sort of led to in my mind. And I realize we'll
9:34
probably talk about this, but that that desire
9:38
for excellence is something that that in my mind
9:41
was sort of the nudge to get Scott Munson going
9:45
when it when it comes to AI and some of the efforts
9:48
that we've had with that. So, you know, this
9:50
is a proud community, like I said, that that
9:54
strives for excellence. It's a really hard working
9:57
community. And, you know, I can't speak to our
10:01
adults other than the staff in our building and
10:03
our staff are incredible. You know, that they
10:07
work super hard. They care about kids. They're
10:09
they're smart. They're I could go on and on.
10:12
And our kids are so hard working, too. You know,
10:14
I mean, you can you can come into our building
10:18
at six o 'clock or six fifteen during the week
10:21
and we might have over. you know, over 100 kids
10:24
in the weight room and doing different things
10:26
because they want to get better. Now, that's
10:28
that's athletics. But, you know, we also have
10:30
kids who are involved in other things that are,
10:33
you know, doing like FCCLA and and striving to
10:37
be on state leadership in state leadership positions
10:40
and FFA. And, you know, the list goes on and
10:43
on. So just a a community that really wants excellence
10:48
is willing to work to get it. I think rich in
10:52
tradition, because there are traditions here,
10:55
certainly like every school district, but just
10:59
really supportive. And I'll just say it now.
11:03
I think that was one of the things that sort
11:05
of leaned me towards, we need to do something
11:09
with AI. I just remember sitting back one time
11:12
and thinking, OK, I've kicked this can down the
11:15
road as many times as I can. My toes are bruised.
11:18
I just can't do it anymore. And then realizing,
11:22
you know, what, what would our, what does our
11:23
community expect? Well, they're going to expect
11:25
us to do something and they're right. They have
11:27
every right to do that when it comes to AI. So
11:30
that was again, because of the, the desire and,
11:36
and, you know, moving forward towards excellence,
11:38
just our school district and community recognizing
11:42
me, recognizing that's what they're going to
11:44
want from us. And, and I need to be a part of
11:46
that. So Scott, you had mentioned the You know,
11:50
like you're kind of sitting there and thinking
11:52
about this is something that we need to make
11:54
sure that we're tackling. Is was there anything?
11:59
Can you remember any early conversations, whether
12:03
internal or, you know, like if there was certain
12:06
conversations you had when I started to enter?
12:11
You know, as a topic, you can think back to that
12:13
and. Yeah, you know. Really, David, I'm going
12:18
to say that it was probably more of a collective
12:22
group of conversations and not even necessarily
12:25
conversations, more like, you know, one staff
12:29
member would say, hey, have you done anything
12:32
with fill in the blank related to AI? And me
12:36
having to say, no, I haven't, because for a long
12:40
time it was just, I wasn't. It's probably for
12:43
me was one of those things that I didn't know
12:45
enough about it to feel comfortable trying it.
12:49
And then once I tried to use AI, I just recognized
12:55
how powerful it was. So it was, you know, this
12:58
person would say, have you done anything with
13:01
this? And another person, I'd overhear them talking
13:04
at lunch or wherever about. they did something
13:07
to create a lesson plan or something, you know,
13:10
where they looked up some standards for the state
13:12
of Minnesota and used AI to earn AI tool to help
13:17
them with that. And just so so, you know, a series
13:20
of mentions, if you will, sort of likes if you
13:24
want to use a social media analysis. But, you
13:28
know, there really wasn't any one particular
13:30
thing or person. I do remember and I don't remember.
13:36
specifically the date or who it was, but I remember
13:40
somebody saying their students were using it.
13:43
And this wasn't like, you know, 10th, 11th or
13:46
12th grade students. This was, I'll say a lower
13:49
grade night. Like I don't remember what grade,
13:52
but, and I just kind of in my mind thought, if
13:56
kids are using it. are they using it correctly?
14:00
And obviously with the, what is it called, the
14:02
Internet Protection Act or whatever it is, all
14:05
the new rightfully so security and data privacy
14:10
laws that we have to adhere to, just kind of
14:13
getting concerned about if students are using
14:16
it, we probably better be teaching them how to
14:19
use it and do so responsibly and ethically. And
14:24
then again, when I started sort of dabbling with
14:27
it, realizing how much time it could save me
14:30
and knowing that we ask our staff to do so much.
14:35
Right. I mean, a teacher from 20 years ago pick
14:40
a topic or grade level subject area. um, had
14:44
to, they still had to teach, which is the most
14:46
important part of their job. But the number of
14:49
other things that they now have to do, um, in
14:52
addition to teaching, I think is just blowing
14:54
up over the last, however many years. And if
14:57
there's a way that, you know, I thought to myself,
15:00
if there's a way that we can help our staff in
15:03
general, licensed or not, to be more efficient
15:07
with their time, maybe even more effective with
15:10
their time. I mean, that's a win -win for us
15:13
and for them. But again, I kind of felt like
15:17
if we're not leading that charge, then it's going
15:21
to happen haphazardly if it's going to happen
15:23
at all. So again, David, to your question, there
15:27
wasn't any one thing. It was sort of a combination
15:30
of a lot of different factors. And I also remember
15:34
a period of time where, you know, every time
15:37
I'd open an email from say district administration,
15:41
district administrator, a magazine or, you know,
15:45
and some of those listservs that I subscribed
15:47
to, the number of AI related articles and informational
15:51
pieces, it was... was kind of overwhelming but
15:55
um and maybe I'm a slow learner but I did learn
15:58
that okay this is significant and I better figure
16:01
out what it what it means for our district and
16:04
um at some point in time I think the light just
16:06
clicked on and and we started to to move the
16:09
needle a little bit. Yeah and you had mentioned
16:12
there was like a number of different conversations
16:14
or things that just continue to pop up and almost
16:17
like um Like keep like tapping you or something
16:21
and say like hey, this is you know This is something
16:23
we need to talk about is there was there anything
16:26
as far as like the AI guidance? so say the document
16:32
itself where you were like We need to do this
16:36
this year. This is something that because I know
16:38
like in talking with you previously the You know,
16:42
you could have just pushed it further. I mean,
16:45
you've got a ton of different stuff. You're working
16:47
on right you've got Building budgets curriculum
16:50
decisions personnel all those different things
16:52
that are going on that are constant What what
16:56
was it that was like? Sending hey what made you
17:00
say we need to do this AI guidance right now
17:02
this year, you know I say this a little bit tongue
17:07
-in -cheek David, but if you I don't know if
17:10
you save your emails or not, but have you ever
17:11
looked at how many emails you sent me about AI
17:14
and technology in general? I mean, dude, it was
17:17
like my inbox. I had to ask for more memory from
17:21
Devon. And I say that in a good way because,
17:24
you know, I think, well, number one, it's probably
17:27
your part of your job. Right. But the service
17:30
that you guys offer is amazing. And I know we
17:33
can talk about that. But again, I think it was
17:37
just a It was a comfort level for me. It was,
17:40
it was, you know, all the, all the puzzle pieces
17:44
kind of fit together. It was okay. Now I know
17:46
a little bit about AI. It was, I've heard all
17:49
of these staff members talking about it. Our
17:51
kids are using it. And we had staff that wanted
17:55
to be a part of and recognized that we needed
17:59
some guidelines in place. We needed a plan or,
18:02
you know, a policy or a procedure or whatever.
18:05
So it was just like all the All the puzzle pieces
18:08
came together, and we really did have and still
18:15
do the right people in the right places. I mean,
18:17
we have a school board who's super supportive.
18:21
We have a community who, a few years ago, allowed
18:26
us to do a technology levy. So they understand
18:29
that technology is an important part of our child's,
18:32
our students' futures. You know, we want to be
18:36
good stewards of those dollars, certainly, and
18:38
maximize the the impact that they can make. We,
18:41
you know, Devin Schultz, our technology director,
18:44
is very open minded and wants to do what's best
18:47
for kids. You know, our principals have have
18:50
been right there. And then our licensed staff
18:53
and, you know, again, our board has been super
18:56
supportive of just where do you guys want to
18:58
go and letting us go there? So I'd love to tell
19:02
you that on. this day at this time this happened.
19:06
And that was the what flicked the light switch
19:08
for me. But it was it was literally just things
19:11
falling into place. And then. You know, I think
19:16
understanding the importance of. A .I. in general.
19:23
Led me to believe that we needed to have a process
19:27
instead of meaning stretched out over time. And
19:32
what that time period is for other districts
19:35
could be different. You know, as you know, David,
19:37
for us, it was it was about a year, right? It
19:39
was a school year, but that we needed to have
19:41
a process to work on this so that in between
19:46
our meetings, if if one or two or six of our
19:51
task force members felt like we were going this
19:55
way and we should have been going this way, they
19:57
had time to. to recognize that and time to think
20:01
about, well, why are we going this way? And why
20:04
should we be going this way? And it just so it
20:06
gave us an opportunity to kind of monitor along
20:10
the way, I think, when we were going through
20:12
the process. Yeah, again, I wish I had a specific
20:18
answer for you, but but I don't because it didn't
20:21
happen for me that way. It was it was really
20:24
just a. kind of a perfect Maelstrom, if you will,
20:27
of different pieces that fell into place. Sure.
20:31
And Scott, I'm just going to say if you think
20:33
David floods your email inbox, don't ever give
20:35
him your cell phone number. Let me tell you.
20:38
I don't know that I have, but I mean, I did a
20:40
search for one of his emails the other day, and
20:43
I think I think I had 137 of them still. So I've
20:48
read 14 of them. So you're you're getting up
20:50
there, David. I mean, you're almost to the 10
20:52
percent. Good to hear. Well, Scott, one of the
20:57
things that you had talked about right before
20:59
here, right before I tried to detract from where
21:05
you were going here is you talked about having
21:08
the people involved here. And I'm kind of imagining
21:11
here, you've got some momentum going, but you
21:14
just you don't want it to turn into that moment.
21:17
And I'm thinking of like Will Ferrell in the
21:19
movie Old School when he's going you see, yelling
21:22
everybody, we're going to run streaking through
21:24
the quad and, and he's out there and he's running
21:26
naked by himself. How did, how did you make sure
21:29
it just wasn't, it wasn't Scott Munson, you know,
21:32
leading, you know, leading the charge and then
21:34
after a while you turn and look, there's no one
21:36
there. How do you, how do you bring that momentum
21:39
with you? Yeah, you know, again, I think it's
21:42
a big, a big part of it is just having the right
21:45
people that are, that are willing to, um, sort
21:48
of embrace the responsibility, embrace the change.
21:52
And again, we just have super talented people
21:57
who want to do good things for kids. But the
21:59
first thing that we did is we opened up our task
22:03
force to all of our licensed staff members. We
22:07
felt like that was important that everybody,
22:10
we needed to be able to say everyone had a chance
22:13
to be on this task force, but we also. you know,
22:16
told them we don't know what the commitment's
22:18
going to be, but we know there's going to be
22:19
a commitment, right? And so I think that was
22:23
the first thing. And then, you know, we felt
22:27
it was important. I say we because it's kind
22:29
of our principals and I that are doing the majority
22:32
of this. So, you know, we felt it was important
22:35
to have representation from both the elementary
22:38
school and. the high school and it worked out
22:41
well. We had two licensed staff members from
22:44
from each of the buildings. Obviously, we wanted
22:47
our Devon, our technology director on the task
22:51
force, along with both of our principals. And
22:54
then our board. I don't remember what what month
22:58
it was. It might have been July, August, September
23:01
a year ago. committed to establishing a task
23:06
force that included three of our school board
23:08
members. So Julie Mead, Emily Cookett and Abby
23:11
Thostenson were all a part of that committee
23:15
as well. So, you know, I think any time and I
23:18
guess for me, I would much rather learn with
23:24
people instead of tell people if that makes sense.
23:29
And, you know, to your point, I've probably on
23:33
multiple occasions, but certainly at different
23:36
times in my career have not necessarily running
23:40
naked through any commons areas or anything like
23:43
that. No rumors starting here. No, I know. I'm
23:45
going to watch those right away. But but been
23:48
out in front of people. Right. And the one thing
23:51
that I guess I feel proud of about my career
23:55
and education, especially where I'm at now is
24:00
I truly believe that we have to collaborate because,
24:05
again, I could sit down. I could have probably
24:08
sat down over the course of a week or two with
24:11
some dedicated time and come up with an AI guidance
24:14
plan. But then it would have been Scott Munson's
24:17
plan. And I say that all the time, whether it
24:19
be a school safety plan, a crisis response plan.
24:24
AI guidance plan or, you know, whatever it is,
24:27
this isn't about Scott Munson. This is about
24:29
the students and staff and families and school
24:33
district of Minneapolis. So, you know, being
24:37
able to just step back and let people do things
24:41
is, for me, just become ultra important because.
24:46
Scott's only going to be here for three, four
24:49
or five more years, but hopefully this plan goes
24:51
on for many years and it needs to be reflective
24:54
of what, you know, is truly indicative or happening
24:58
in our school district. The other thing I'd say
25:00
is, you know, I'm not a teacher, right? So I
25:03
don't know. I don't experience what our teachers
25:07
do. I don't experience if kids are using AI or
25:10
not. I don't I mean, I use it in my in my job
25:14
and in my personal life, I use AI. But again,
25:18
I'm not a teacher who's who's trying to figure
25:20
out ways to use it ethically and responsibly
25:23
and and safely and things like that. So again,
25:27
a recognition probably that this needs to come
25:31
from the ground up. And I'll give props to our
25:34
school board members, too, because they certainly
25:37
contributed to the conversation. But. Um, and,
25:40
and David, you can correct me if you think I'm
25:42
off base here, but I never felt like there was
25:44
a time when any of our board members or really
25:48
anyone on our task force was like, this is the
25:50
way that it has to be. I felt like it was here's
25:53
an idea. Let's talk about it and let's work together
25:57
to get this the way that we want it to be instead
26:00
of it has to be this way. And so again, props
26:03
to our school board members to because that's
26:05
not easy for you know any of us that are that
26:08
are in quote unquote leadership positions it's
26:10
not easy to let go of the reins but it's also
26:13
the right thing to do and and i think the outcome
26:15
is is much better um when we're able to do that
26:19
so yeah i forgot about that movie for a while
26:22
but thanks for bringing it up so You know, one
26:26
of the things that you mentioned there, Scott,
26:27
too, is that you'd rather learn with people.
26:30
And I think when you bring together a task force
26:32
like what you're talking about here is that you
26:34
have to have that time dedicated for the people
26:38
on the task force to be together, to be able
26:40
to experience it together, to learn from one
26:43
another. And you mentioned the fact that you
26:46
had your licensed teaching staff members that
26:49
were also a part of that. which I know from conversations
26:53
with David meant that you had to pull them out
26:55
of the classroom at different times during the
26:59
process in order to bring them together, which
27:01
I know involves finding subs. And I know from
27:05
my experiences as being a teacher in a rural
27:08
district as well, those subs are hard to come
27:11
by, you know, and it's a difficult thing, but
27:14
yet I think it points to the importance that
27:17
you. that you gave a lot of value to the contributions
27:21
that teachers could have. Do you think you could
27:23
have gotten to the point where you are without
27:25
that experience, without having that room together,
27:29
without bringing the teachers into the mix as
27:31
well? No, we couldn't have. And, you know, the
27:35
kind of how we planned it out is we'd pick a
27:38
date six or eight weeks in the future and then,
27:44
you know, allow our office staff to make sure
27:48
that we had substitutes for those folks to be
27:51
involved. Because again, they're the ones at
27:53
the ground level. They're the ones that really
27:58
need to give a needed and will continue to need
28:02
to give us the some direction when it comes to
28:05
what takes place in the classroom because. We,
28:07
you know, our principals are both super smart.
28:10
Devin's super smart and talented, but we're not
28:13
in the classroom every day. We don't see what
28:14
the teachers do. And, and, um, you know, even
28:17
like our paras that that's kind of a, that's
28:20
a next step for us is how can we, um, you know,
28:23
help our paras develop and what does that look
28:26
like? Cause I'm not a pair either. So we're going
28:28
to have to get some input from them, but without
28:31
having our teachers in the room, without having
28:35
dedicated time. off site and I'll advocate for
28:39
that because you know if you're in the building
28:42
somebody's gonna find you and and you're gonna
28:45
get interrupted and you're gonna get pulled away
28:47
because so and so uh you know threw up next to
28:50
the bathroom or you know this this kid didn't
28:53
bring their pencil and and you know you guys
28:56
know what I'm talking about so um as much as
28:59
I don't like pulling our teachers out of the
29:02
classroom and I don't because our teachers are
29:04
amazing and what they can do during a school
29:08
day with however many kids they interact with
29:10
is really powerful. But it was an investment
29:14
that we needed to make. And there's other cases,
29:18
you know, curriculum review. We probably need
29:20
to start looking at how, if possible, we can.
29:24
pull our teachers from the classroom and find
29:27
subs for them as well. But it was crucial that
29:30
our licensed staff were in the room when these
29:32
conversations were taking place. And the other
29:36
thing, and David can attest to this, is we'd
29:41
have, I'll say, homework. But sometimes it was
29:45
during the meeting, and sometimes it was between
29:48
meetings. you know, our folks, I thought they
29:51
did an amazing job just finding some of the things
29:53
that they did and some of the resources and,
29:56
you know, BBS, beg, borrow and steal when you
29:58
can. And, you know, give credit where credit's
30:01
due and make sure that we're citing it and so
30:03
on and so forth. But again, these folks were
30:07
really crucial. I think everybody on the task
30:10
force did a really nice job, but having our licensed
30:14
staff included was to me one of the most important
30:17
parts of it. And Having it off -site so that
30:21
we could just get away and and you know is to
30:24
the best extent possible Turn our phones on silent
30:28
and get down and get to work and go from there
30:31
There's probably a lot of folks that are listening
30:33
that are curious about the the process of what
30:36
that actually looked like from like meeting to
30:39
meeting or the in -between and things like that
30:41
because what I kind of calculated was that there
30:43
was there were six in -person sessions that roughly
30:47
were about 22 hours of investment of structured
30:51
work and time for that that team to really work
30:54
together at at the Marshall offices like you
30:56
like you mentioned. What was your perception
31:00
of that as you as we organized that and it was
31:03
going on because there wasn't really like a hey
31:07
you know when this will be done. It's just that
31:09
you know we continue to you continue to set aside
31:13
the time. And as as the process went along, adjusted.
31:17
So what was your perception like about about
31:20
the time frame or the investment that it was
31:23
taking? Yeah, you know, I think. I think the
31:27
time for I didn't realize that it was 22 hours
31:31
now that you you say that, I guess I understand
31:33
that. But, you know, I thought that the time
31:36
was really well spent. I know we had talked.
31:42
I'll say internally probably more than anything,
31:45
but we had talked about do we try to do this
31:48
from 8 in the morning until 345 and I don't know
31:53
I just You hit about one o 'clock and people's
31:57
interest just tends to wane right and that's
31:59
not a negative thing It's just it's hard to focus
32:01
on something for eight hours So for us where
32:05
we went, you know, typically what we do David
32:08
probably 830 year whatever, nine o 'clock until
32:11
one one thirty with with lunch break in there.
32:16
You know, so that amount of time, I think, worked
32:18
really well for us. I think the other thing is,
32:22
and this is just Scott talking, it'd be interesting
32:24
to to talk to a couple of our task force members,
32:27
which might be another episode for you guys.
32:30
But I never felt rushed. But. I also felt a sense
32:36
of urgency to some extent. I know I'm talking
32:39
out of both sides of my mouth there, right? But
32:41
I just felt like sort of the five, six, maybe
32:45
seven weeks, eight weeks in between meetings,
32:48
depending on when they were, was really good.
32:52
And then the structure of the meetings, and again,
32:56
kudos to the co -op and to you, David, and your
32:59
colleagues for sort of having a process in place.
33:04
But again, when I talk about letting go of the
33:06
rope, I mean, there were times when I felt like,
33:10
you know, you never did this visually, obviously,
33:13
but where you were just going, here you go, folks,
33:16
go whatever direction you want or need to go.
33:19
And then there were times when I felt like you
33:21
were pulling that rope back in because we were
33:24
wandering off in our own direction, but or our
33:27
own directions. But, you know, just I think a
33:30
couple of things that were really helpful. as
33:32
I look back on the process, one was seeing examples
33:36
from other school districts was really helpful,
33:40
because, you know, when you start thinking about
33:42
a vision for AI use or whatever guidance in your
33:47
district, because it's still so new, and when
33:51
you talk vision in general, people don't understand,
33:54
including myself, at times the difference between
33:56
vision and mission, right? So just being able
34:01
to see what what was out there to start to get
34:04
a sense of, well, how does that, what does that
34:07
look like for miniota? And what do we want it
34:09
to look like? And let's put our own touches on
34:12
things. Just, you know, having, you know, when
34:15
you think of the glass jar and you put the big
34:18
rocks in first, right? And then you start to
34:21
put some of the smaller rocks in and then you
34:23
get down to the pebbles and the sand. And I mean,
34:25
in my mind, that was sort of the... the process
34:29
that we utilized kind of filling in the big rocks
34:32
first and then stopping it at a certain point
34:37
and coming back however many weeks later with
34:40
that time in between to tweak and reflect on
34:44
it. So I don't know if, I've never really thought
34:48
about this, but I don't think I would have wanted
34:50
to go any faster. I mean, it's always nice to
34:54
get things done, but I don't think I'd have wanted
34:57
to go any faster because I really think that
35:01
we all needed some time to just reflect on it
35:04
and look back on it. And then, David, one of
35:07
the things that a lot of people probably don't
35:10
know is You know, you and I and Devon would get
35:12
on a call typically a couple of weeks after every
35:15
meeting or a couple of weeks before our next
35:19
meeting and just talk about, well, what might
35:21
the next meeting look like? What do we perhaps
35:24
want to accomplish or what should we, you know,
35:27
work on and what are some ideas? And then, you
35:31
know, either Devon or I were able to or you,
35:34
I think in one or two cases, we were able to
35:38
communicate that to our staff. that we're on
35:41
the task force. Here's what we did. Here's what
35:43
we're going to do. And so those meetings to me
35:48
or for me were really productive too, because
35:53
AI is still something. If you ask me my skill
35:58
level on a one to five scale, five being David
36:02
Berner, I'd probably give myself a two. So I
36:05
still feel like there's a lot to know and understand.
36:08
And so it took me time just working with you
36:12
and Devin and then our task force to just let
36:15
all of this sink into to my own mind as well.
36:18
But so I don't think I'd have wanted to do it
36:21
any faster, nor would I want to do it any slower.
36:24
But I suppose in theory it it could be done.
36:27
But for us, I feel like the the six meetings
36:30
in the 22 hours and how it was structured. Worked
36:34
really well. But again, I'd be interested to
36:36
see what our task force members think You know
36:40
by the way here really quick just like I'm gonna
36:42
say I I use the same scale when talking about
36:45
hair You know, there's one and then there's five
36:48
David Berner. I'd give myself about a two as
36:50
well. I Tell you what. I have a I have a brother
36:53
-in -law as well soon and that brother -in -law
36:56
He's gonna be marrying my niece in in December
37:00
And that that case got the flow going on. I just
37:03
look at them and just maybe I had that at some
37:06
point in time, but not anymore. So. So Scott,
37:11
you had talked about the, you know, a little
37:13
bit about the process, and I think that one thing
37:15
that's super important to get across is that
37:18
the the effectiveness of this whole thing really
37:21
relied on communication because there was there
37:24
was important communication going on with that
37:27
task force group. and what was happening like
37:29
during those eighties and really good conversations
37:31
and getting people's perceptions of things. But
37:34
then there was also the communication, as you
37:36
mentioned, that was going on in between those
37:38
meetings, too. And so I want to I want to talk
37:41
a little bit more about Devin and her role in
37:44
this because and not lose sight of that, because
37:47
she was really important with this process as
37:49
well in talking about like what should happen
37:52
in between and what things should we be looking
37:54
at? So can you talk a little bit more about your
37:57
conversations with with her, whether they were,
38:00
you know, during those days where I happened
38:02
to be a part of it or if it was like even in
38:05
passing, like, you know, in the hallway or, you
38:07
know, you have this meeting upcoming and you
38:09
walk and you wanted to talk with her. Was there
38:11
anything that you can pinpoint there for us that
38:14
was really important? You know, I probably talk
38:17
with Devon every day. I mean, she's she's really
38:20
great about getting out and about and. You know,
38:24
but inevitably it seems like after every one
38:26
of our task force meetings within a less than
38:29
a week, we'd be we'd either be meeting formally
38:33
to talk about sort of debrief, if you will, and
38:36
look ahead, or it would happen just sort of organically.
38:41
But but Devon's, you know, she she gets the technology
38:45
side of things, right? I probably get the not
38:48
that she doesn't understand this as well, but
38:50
I probably get the. application, the professional
38:53
benefit side in terms of how AI can benefit staff
38:58
members, maybe a little bit more than she does,
39:01
but she gets the what do we need technology wise.
39:04
So her perspective was, I think, just really
39:07
important. Plus, she's the one that that gets
39:10
to deal with all of the student devices as well.
39:13
And she knows what's possible and what isn't
39:16
and what works well and so on and so forth. So,
39:19
you know, again, when we talk about just kind
39:23
of importance of members of the task force. Teacher,
39:29
licensed staff, involvement, crucial. Devin's
39:33
involvement, just as crucial, maybe just on a
39:37
different perspective or a different plane, if
39:39
you will. And I just appreciate that, again,
39:44
and I could say this about all of our task force
39:46
members, but I never question if Devin wants
39:51
wants to do what's best for kids. I feel like
39:54
she always is looking at it from looking at different
39:58
decisions and different, you know, directions
40:02
or paths or whatever in terms of. If we can accomplish
40:06
this or when we accomplish this, how is it going
40:09
to impact our students? then our staff and then
40:13
our families and so on and so forth. And so just
40:16
to have another person to bounce that off of,
40:18
because we don't always talk, we didn't always
40:19
talk about that kind of that micro level, if
40:22
you will, when we were in task force meetings.
40:26
But, you know, I just remember a conversation
40:29
with Devon about, well, what are we going to
40:32
do with our students? Right. And there's some
40:35
things in our guidance plan, but. you know, it's
40:38
generic enough where now we really need to drill
40:41
down to what that looks like. So, yeah, her involvement
40:46
was crucial, David, and just, you know, the other
40:48
thing is people respect Devon, and that's really
40:53
important as well. And when I say people, you
40:55
know, that I would say that goes for our board,
40:58
our administration, and certainly our teachers
41:00
as well. So to have her at the table and having
41:04
conversations with You know her her peers her
41:08
colleagues all of our peers and colleagues Was
41:11
really important as well. So and she'd be a good
41:13
one to bring on this On this podcast as well
41:17
perhaps at some time You know as someone who's
41:20
also been a coach, you know I coach football
41:23
and track for over 20 years each and you know
41:26
I I could tell you how important the practice
41:29
and the training time is in the process to get
41:33
to that point, but it does come down to the point
41:36
where people expect a final product in the end
41:39
they expect you know to be able to see what you've
41:42
worked on to see this public kind of facing you
41:45
know end result whether that in coaching is a
41:47
game or a meet or in this particular case all
41:50
of the hard work that your task force put into
41:53
and then like David added a little bit about
41:56
communicating that message out and so you do
41:59
you do come out of this process with with this
42:02
final product and the one that you created the
42:05
public facing AI guidance document built around
42:08
five areas vision and values centering people
42:12
advancing equity ensuring safety and ethics and
42:17
continuous improvement. So when you look at that,
42:20
what kind of stands out to you most? What are
42:22
you most proud of? I think the continuous improvement
42:30
piece of it probably because our guidance plan
42:35
isn't gonna be, I don't think it'll be the same
42:39
in six months that it is right now. And I think,
42:42
that we need to make sure that it's not because
42:44
things are evolving and changing. And we're gonna
42:47
find out that this, yeah, this doesn't really
42:49
work for us, but this does, or, oh, we hadn't
42:52
thought about this, so let's get that in our
42:54
plan because it's a crucial part of, you know,
42:57
what we're doing. I mean, David knows we just
42:59
had a call. Was that last week, David, to talk
43:01
about professional development? Because that's
43:04
gonna be an important part of where we go with...
43:07
and, you know, PD for our students, PD for our
43:10
staff at some point in time, our families, and
43:12
things like that. So, yeah, I think just two
43:17
-part answer. The ongoing improvements, how do
43:21
we get better? How does this plan become better,
43:23
more relevant, more practical, more effective,
43:26
whatever you want to use? And the fact that we
43:29
have a plan, I think, is... Because you're right
43:32
at some point in time we needed something if
43:35
we'd have met for six times for 22 hours and
43:38
not had some Some things coming out of it some
43:42
actions or you know a process map or something
43:45
like that Coming out of it. I people might have
43:48
gone Well, why why did you folks meet as often
43:50
as you did? But to your point, you know, I think
43:52
one of the things that we need to do now is We
43:57
need to pick out I don't have a number in mind,
44:00
but so I'll just say five to seven metrics or
44:05
outcomes or whatever that we can put on a dashboard
44:08
for our AI progress. How are we doing when it
44:13
comes to AI? You know, things like. What percent
44:16
of our licensed staff have completed professional
44:18
development? What have we done with our students?
44:22
Have we developed a scope and sequence? I'm just
44:24
making those things up. That doesn't mean they're
44:27
right, wrong, or in between. But for us to get
44:31
better at anything, whether it be our AI guidance
44:34
or anything else, we have to continue to look
44:38
at it with a critical, but a growth -centered
44:41
eye, and I hope and feel. Like that's what we're
44:44
going to do with this. Right. And it's a living
44:47
document. It has to be able to adapt to the changes
44:50
that. that happened, especially in this era of
44:54
AI, like you said, every six months, you have
44:56
to kind of be looking at it. But I guess I'm
44:59
also kind of curious, you know, I always enjoyed
45:01
when coaching football that, you know, the two
45:04
weeks of practice before that first competition,
45:06
and you can just feel like anticipation building.
45:09
You know, you feel pretty confident as a coach,
45:12
your kids are on the page, but you know, there's
45:14
parents out there, you know, there's community
45:16
out there that are just like, what's this team
45:18
really going to do? You know, and do you feel
45:21
some of that, you know, now that, you know, one
45:24
school year is done, but you're amping up here
45:25
already for the next one. Is there building anticipation
45:29
towards AI in Miniota? I don't know if there's
45:35
anticipation. There probably is, but I think
45:38
it's curiosity, probably. You know, when we rolled
45:42
this out to staff at the end of the school year,
45:45
once we felt like our draft plan was. in a pretty
45:48
good place and we rolled it out. We did that
45:51
kind of in two parts. We did it one with everybody
45:54
together and I just gave a really high level
45:57
overview and talked about the process in the
45:59
background and the why. And then we, the second
46:03
part of that was our pre -K through, I think
46:06
it was sixth grade staff met to talk more specifically
46:10
as it relates to what they do and how they might
46:13
use it. in their roles. And then our seven through
46:16
12 staff did had the same conversation. And I
46:20
think there was a my my sense was that there
46:24
was a OK, well, let's see where you're going
46:27
now. Right. You know, everybody you're going
46:29
to put in a new offense to your to your point,
46:32
you're going to put in a new offense and it's
46:33
a wing T. I like it because we have the personnel
46:36
to fit it, but what is it going to look like
46:38
when the lights come on and they start keeping
46:41
score? And I think it's the same for us. OK,
46:44
we've got some ideas. We're going to be doing
46:49
some things with how much AI can or should be
46:52
used on assignments and even what we want to
46:56
focus on with our elementary kids, the sequence
47:00
of curriculum when it comes to AI, if you will.
47:03
So I think like I said, I think people are just
47:06
sort of sitting back and going, yeah, I like
47:09
it and and uh let's see what it looks like when
47:12
it's actually implemented. So, is anticipation
47:16
probably an accurate word I but I didn't see
47:20
anybody you know, it was also the end of the
47:23
school year. So, nobody should be jumping up
47:25
and down because Scott Munson is is talking about
47:28
our AI guidance plan, right? But um Know our
47:31
folks will give us really good feedback. They'll
47:33
be honest with us. They'll help us figure out
47:36
what works What doesn't work what's missing what
47:38
shouldn't be there what should be changed and
47:40
I? Don't even know if it'll take six months for
47:43
us to have an improved plan and just continue
47:46
to build on that Yeah, and one of the things
47:49
that I often do is if I go around and Jeremy
47:53
does as well we we do a lot of sessions that
47:56
conferences and stuff and so over the last Year,
47:59
so I've done a lot of AI guidance sessions at
48:03
conferences and one of the things I always do
48:05
is I I'll use miniota as an example because Because
48:10
you are a small rural district and a lot of time
48:14
Well, we often hear is that well, we you know
48:17
doing AI guidance sounds great, but we don't
48:20
have the capacity We don't have the time And
48:23
I just like to use you as an example because
48:25
there there's so many steps that you took that
48:28
allowed for that time and allowed for capacity
48:31
or people at the table. So if you when you hear
48:34
something like that, when you hear that, that
48:36
sounds great, but we don't have the capacity.
48:38
What is what would you say to that? Well, I suppose
48:42
there's I probably better come back with an appropriate
48:45
response. Yeah, I that's just not accurate. I
48:50
mean, it it. If you if it's important to you,
48:54
you'll figure out a way to do it. And I like
48:58
I said, going back to I think this is in my 35
49:01
plus years in education, this is going to AI
49:04
is going to be one of the most impactful top
49:08
two changes or whatever you want to call it.
49:12
Evolutions in education. So it's going to impact
49:17
everybody. It's going to and it's going to that
49:19
impact is going to go into the future, obviously.
49:22
So just it's important enough where you need
49:25
to make it. You need to create that sense of
49:29
urgency, if you will. Everybody has the capacity.
49:32
It's just do you have the will? You know, and
49:35
I know I've said before that lack of action is
49:37
action. And, you know, again, you can kick this
49:40
can forever. And that's if that's what as a district,
49:44
if that's what you're going to do, that's OK.
49:45
But. because that's your choice. But, you know,
49:48
if if we don't teach kids how to use it, they're
49:52
going to find ways to use it in not productive,
49:56
maybe not even legal ways. And it's going to
49:58
create issues for us. You know, even even something
50:01
as small as and I don't mean to diminish it because
50:04
it's really not it's really important. But, you
50:07
know, having a conversation with kids about can
50:11
you use AI on? this assignment, and if so, to
50:15
what level? Well, you know, my first thought
50:18
is, why wouldn't we want to use AI? You know,
50:21
somebody, I don't know, I heard a quote and I'll
50:24
miss it exactly. But, you know, somebody had
50:27
said something like knowledge isn't knowing everything,
50:30
it's knowing how to access everything or the
50:33
answers. And that's true. And AI is a way to,
50:37
in my opinion, to get an improved set of information
50:42
or data or facts most of the time. So why wouldn't
50:48
we want to, at least at times, encourage kids
50:52
to use it? And you look at the jobs in the future,
50:57
I don't know if this is true because I'm not
50:59
in private industry, but I think one of the most
51:02
desired traits that folks that are hiring want
51:08
is uh candidates who have AI experience right
51:12
and can write prompts and um you know maybe aren't
51:16
afraid of it if that makes sense and so again
51:19
you know our job is to graduate kids are among
51:22
other things graduate kids that are ready for
51:24
the future and you know AI is the present and
51:28
it's the future so um I just think it's so important
51:31
that again, any district can make that excuse
51:35
that, you know, we're too small or we don't have
51:38
the resources you do. You just have to find them.
51:42
It's the right people. And again, with, you know,
51:45
David, with your help and SWWC, we couldn't I
51:50
don't think we could have done this alone, certainly
51:52
not as well as as how I think it went. And our
51:56
finished product would have looked. a lot differently
51:59
and just have somebody to facilitate the process.
52:03
Scott Munson would rather be a part of the process
52:06
instead of stand in front of everybody and try
52:08
to facilitate a process that I don't understand.
52:12
I maybe know 40 % of what there is to know about
52:14
artificial intelligence. It's possible. I don't
52:21
buy into that. That's just me. So and I do want
52:26
to point out to like there obviously these There's
52:30
a lot of great stuff here that has been mentioned
52:33
and things that have got well But like with anything
52:36
there's always figuring things out and sometimes
52:39
things have to be adjusted or they don't go well
52:42
If you were so if you kind of reflect on the
52:45
process and you think about Let's say you were
52:48
doing this starting fresh tomorrow Thankfully,
52:51
you're not right here They're far along the line
52:54
now, but if you were starting it over tomorrow,
52:57
is there anything that you would do differently
52:59
or approach differently just based on what you
53:01
learned through the process? Yeah, there is,
53:04
David. I think probably. Probably two things,
53:09
but one one stands out to me as I really felt
53:13
like we I whatever should have had some students
53:19
involved in our task force. Again, that's hard
53:22
because you're pulling them out of school, but
53:24
they have insights and perspectives that are
53:27
just way different and at times better than what
53:32
we do as adults. So I wish we would have had,
53:37
at least for some of the meetings, maybe they
53:40
wouldn't have needed to be there for every meeting.
53:42
But for some of the meetings, I would include
53:44
students on the task force. We did obviously
53:48
we had some survey data that we use from our
53:50
kids and from our staff. But I think that was
53:52
that's one thing I look at. And then the second
53:56
piece is just maybe Scott Monson more as a superintendent.
54:01
I would really look at this from a communications
54:06
perspective a little bit more, meaning we have
54:10
some ideas about how we're going to communicate
54:12
this to our families. to our staff, so on and
54:16
so forth. But I'd probably spend more time working
54:18
on the communication part. And maybe that would
54:20
just be like a subcommittee of the task force.
54:25
Because as we all know, if something isn't communicated
54:28
well and timely and in an effective manner, upbeat,
54:33
positive, professional, then it's likely to not.
54:36
be as successful. So the biggest one would be
54:40
getting getting kids involved. I'd also think
54:42
about maybe getting some some parents involved.
54:44
It's really hard to get parent involvement, it
54:47
seems like. But maybe this would have been a
54:49
topic or an area that they would have been more
54:51
interested in committing to. And then just me
54:56
stepping back and looking at it from the communication
54:59
perspective. We have that piece in there. We
55:02
use some some student. opinions and perspectives
55:05
through some survey data to guide our process.
55:09
But yeah, I think I would like to have had students
55:12
at the table as well. Well, let's let's bring
55:16
it kind of to a conclusion here with that a little
55:18
bit with with just one final question before
55:21
we get into the lightning round stuff. And it's
55:23
and it's along the lines of those students here
55:26
that that you're we're just discussing here.
55:28
What do you hope students relationship with AI
55:31
looks like? as they continue through their school
55:34
careers in Minnesota or beyond? Yeah, tough question.
55:39
You know, I think with anything technology related,
55:43
at least in my career, I've always hoped that
55:46
that students number one wouldn't be afraid of
55:48
it, you know, and whether that be a new program
55:53
or in this case, something really powerful like
55:56
AI. So just having a comfort level with it, I
55:59
think. Secondly, it's really important that students,
56:05
this could be a long answer because the more
56:07
I talk, the more I come up with. But secondly,
56:09
I think it's really important that students,
56:11
just like anything online or on our cell phones,
56:15
don't put stuff in there that puts you at jeopardy,
56:18
right? The whole security and data privacy, we
56:21
have to help our students. I mean, we have third
56:24
and fourth graders using AI, right? I hope that
56:29
somebody is telling them, don't put your name,
56:31
don't put your address, don't put some of that
56:33
stuff online. But we need to make sure that we're
56:35
emphasizing to our students how they can protect
56:39
themselves. I think that that's a really important
56:43
thing. I think third is recognizing that this
56:48
can be a really powerful tool for you. And it's
56:54
an opportunity, right? you could probably, if
57:00
it was something you wanted, you can give yourself
57:02
an advantage in the job market in the future
57:05
because of your expertise or your skill level
57:08
in AI and your ability to, you know, effective
57:11
prompt writing and how you apply it and so on
57:14
and so forth. But again, you have to do that
57:18
responsibly. And, you know, so I think those
57:20
are probably the three things that I'd really
57:22
just the comfort level, the the privacy and security
57:26
and then just recognizing that this is a really
57:30
good opportunity. But in the same sense, you
57:33
can't use it to quote word for word something
57:37
that AI creates for you. You have to cite it
57:40
and do so responsibly. Those would be my three
57:44
hopes for our students in the future. Scott,
57:48
thanks for all the insights and the different
57:50
things that we were able to talk about during
57:52
this. One thing that we like to do with all our
57:54
guests is to get to know them a little bit more
57:56
on a personal level instead of everything's all
57:59
business the whole time. So we wanna go through
58:02
these lightning round questions with you and
58:04
this or that questions. The lightning round,
58:08
you can expound as much as you would like to
58:10
or it can be a one word response or whatever
58:12
you want. But Jeremy's going to kick things up
58:16
with probably the best question, honestly. All
58:20
right, Scott, what's your favorite college football
58:22
team? Ooh, North Dakota State University. OK,
58:27
I'm going to say as a St. Cloud State grad and
58:31
playing for them for several years throughout
58:34
college, one of my most favorite games that I
58:38
played in is we had North Dakota State down to
58:41
Selkie Field back in the day and it was probably
58:42
about 95 or 96 and we beat North Dakota State
58:48
34 to nothing. It was the first time that they
58:50
had been shut out since like 1980. Wow. Who's
58:54
the quarterback then for you guys? Yeah, it was
58:57
Todd Bauman at the time. Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah,
59:01
they the the old NCC. And it's it's changed.
59:06
The landscape is a lot different now, but you
59:09
know, my mom worked at North Dakota State for.
59:13
42, 43 years, something like that. So they didn't
59:17
have my major, unfortunately, when I was going
59:20
to school, but yeah, I'm a diehard Bison fan,
59:23
sorry. All right, Scott, one word on this one,
59:29
one word that describes what it feels like to
59:31
lead a small district in 2026. You know, I'm
59:39
going to go too. I know you're looking for one,
59:40
but there's days when it's super, super exhilarating.
59:43
It's, you know, it's exciting when we get to
59:45
work on things like the AI guidance plan, when
59:48
we get to, you know, dig into why this particular
59:51
segment of our student population maybe didn't
59:54
do, maybe did better on an MCA test than others
59:59
when we really kind of get to peel back the layers
1:00:02
of the onion. and, you know, try to figure out
1:00:05
how to improve those. Those are really exhilarating
1:00:07
days. And we I feel like in miniota again, because
1:00:10
of that, you know, almost expectation for excellence,
1:00:14
we get to do those things. And but I think just
1:00:18
in education in general, my second word as a
1:00:21
superintendent would be dynamic. It's it's changed
1:00:23
so much in, you know, 20 plus years that I've
1:00:26
been doing it. Mostly, I'd say for the better,
1:00:32
but there's certainly some challenges too. So
1:00:34
exhilarating and dynamic, two words, sorry. No,
1:00:38
that's great. What does Scott like to do in his
1:00:41
downtime? Family. I mean, I have a three -year
1:00:47
-old and a seven -year -old, and in as much time
1:00:51
as I can spend around them, I like to do that.
1:00:54
I would love to be able to fish every day. That's
1:00:58
just not realistic. But if I could, I would.
1:01:02
And then just faith, you know, having get the
1:01:06
opportunity this year to serve on our church
1:01:08
council, that's been really rewarding and enlightening.
1:01:11
And, you know, just the ability or opportunity
1:01:14
to serve others has been really good for me.
1:01:18
Awesome. The best meal you've had or place you've
1:01:21
eaten. We're talking ever like my life. You choose
1:01:28
whatever you want. Well, I can tell you it wasn't
1:01:30
my dad's hamburger hot dish at Turtle Lake back
1:01:33
when I was in high school because that was not
1:01:35
very good, but You know the probably the best
1:01:39
food I've eaten is Allison and I go to a small
1:01:44
resort on Lake of the Woods every year. It's
1:01:46
out on an island It's called New Moon Lodge and
1:01:49
and you would think in the you know, middle of
1:01:51
Ontario on Lake of the Woods Wouldn't be great
1:01:54
food. Well, their their chef is like an award
1:01:57
-winning chef from Ontario who just happens to
1:02:00
be the daughter of the owners of the resort and
1:02:04
chef Kristen and She is amazing. Like I don't
1:02:08
like I Don't really care for Some of the the
1:02:13
vegetables like sweet potato, for example, I'm
1:02:15
just not a sweet potato guy She can make Sweet
1:02:19
potato soup that I would eat ten bowls of if
1:02:22
I could it is she just it's amazing but probably
1:02:26
the best thing that she's made and and if or
1:02:29
when Alice and my wife sees this she's gonna
1:02:31
laugh but Chef Kristen had made a duck Confit
1:02:36
I think is how you say it the last time we were
1:02:38
up there I don't know if you guys have had duck
1:02:41
before but it's hard to make duck taste good
1:02:43
and I was like dreading this I was like or if
1:02:47
I can get a cheeseburger or something from her.
1:02:50
And that duck confit was, it was amazing. It
1:02:54
was literally like I could have had five or six
1:02:57
pieces of it. It was just so good. So New Moon
1:03:00
Lodge on Lake of the Woods, Chef Kristen, there's
1:03:03
a shout out to her because she does amazing things
1:03:05
with food that I can't even imagine doing. Perfect.
1:03:10
Well, how about like a guilty pleasure TV show,
1:03:13
movie or a playlist? You know, I'm kind of kind
1:03:20
of into is it is it Taylor Sheridan, Tyler Sheridan,
1:03:25
the writer producer that does the TV shows like
1:03:28
Yellowstone and Landman. I don't necessarily
1:03:33
care for him, but I like the shows that he produces
1:03:38
or writes. They just. I don't know if you guys
1:03:41
have seen the Madison, the series, the Madison,
1:03:44
which it's. It's really good. That's it's one
1:03:47
of the better ones that I've seen. So if his
1:03:50
name is attached to it, there's a pretty good
1:03:51
chance I'm going to try to figure out a way to
1:03:53
watch it. All right. What's something people
1:03:59
would be surprised to know about you? Probably
1:04:03
that I really do enjoy cooking and barbecuing
1:04:07
and for others, primarily for our family and
1:04:11
whatnot. I'm not real fond of the cleanup part
1:04:13
of it, but if I can barbecue or or make a new
1:04:16
recipe and somebody else can clean up. I'm I'm
1:04:19
all over that. I really enjoy that. It's relaxing
1:04:21
to me and it's challenging. And ironically, there's
1:04:25
times when I when I've used AI to I've got this
1:04:29
and I've got these six ingredients. What can
1:04:31
I make? And boom, here you go. And it's been
1:04:33
pretty good at times. So I've used AI for cooking
1:04:37
so much. I actually Chad GPT and I co -wrote
1:04:40
a cookbook together. That's that's down there.
1:04:45
Yep, yep So David and I are gonna host a conference
1:04:49
tomorrow and you're gonna be our keynote speaker
1:04:51
and we're gonna You know get the audience all
1:04:53
pumped up here at the beginning as you come out
1:04:55
on stage What do you want that walk -up song
1:04:58
to be? You know my My song my whole life has
1:05:03
been in the air tonight by Phil Collins. I just
1:05:06
I don't know why I Started listening to that
1:05:09
back in high school and in college athletics
1:05:11
remember the days of sitting in the the old auditorium
1:05:16
in Lake Park downstairs before the game listening
1:05:19
to Phil Collins on my cassette tape Walkman.
1:05:24
And just over and over again. So that would be
1:05:26
my walk up song. Probably. We'll make sure to
1:05:28
drop that drum beat at just the appropriate time.
1:05:35
Well, Scott, we've got just one more little quick
1:05:38
session here. Now, these are one word answers.
1:05:40
You can only choose one of them. OK. so we call
1:05:45
it the this or that so are you an early bird
1:05:47
or a night owl night owl would you prefer a trip
1:05:52
to the mountains or the beach mountains if you're
1:05:59
traveling would you rather listen to a podcast
1:06:02
or music music are you an early oh i asked that
1:06:08
one already never mind uh football or baseball
1:06:14
Reffing or watching? You know, let's let's approach
1:06:18
it from being a fan. Baseball. Baseball. And
1:06:26
are you the first to leave the party or the last
1:06:29
one to stay? Well, I'm 60 years old, so I am
1:06:32
definitely the first to leave. All right, well,
1:06:38
Scott, thanks for thanks again for being on the
1:06:40
podcast, and we hope that listeners will. gained
1:06:43
a lot of insights from from our conversation
1:06:46
and is there anything that you want to mention
1:06:49
as like last words on the podcast you know contacts
1:06:55
or anything like that things that miniota has
1:06:57
coming up that are that you want to note you
1:07:01
know I think guys just to reiterate to other
1:07:06
people that are maybe watching this you know
1:07:10
first of all If there's any questions that they
1:07:13
have, feel free to reach out to me. I'm happy
1:07:15
to talk about our process and some of the things
1:07:19
that we encountered along the way that maybe
1:07:20
we didn't touch on. Kudos to SWWC and the process,
1:07:27
David, that you folks have, because it's really
1:07:30
good. Like I said, we couldn't have, I don't
1:07:32
think we could have gotten where we wanted. and
1:07:36
ended at the point that we did without help from
1:07:40
SWWC. And that process is really good. And I
1:07:42
think it's just gonna get better. I hope anyways.
1:07:45
I mean, you know, once you go through it a few
1:07:47
times, it'll just, you guys are smart folks and
1:07:51
we'll continue to sort of, you know, evaluate
1:07:54
and change that as necessary. And I know I've
1:07:58
said this before, but you just, you gotta get
1:08:00
going on it. I just really believe that this
1:08:02
is. going to impact it already is our students
1:08:06
and our staff and our families. And, you know,
1:08:08
while we complain sometimes in education about
1:08:11
we have to be everything to everybody, that that's
1:08:13
what we have to do. That's what our society is
1:08:17
asking us to do. And that's our responsibility.
1:08:20
So with AI, again, if we're not helping our students
1:08:24
and our staff and our families use it the right
1:08:28
way, ethically, responsibly and safely. somebody
1:08:32
is going to or they're going to make some mistakes.
1:08:34
So I just think it's really important that to
1:08:37
the districts that haven't done anything yet
1:08:39
to start taking baby steps, you know, you got
1:08:42
to take that first step. It's it's often the
1:08:44
hardest. But when you're done, you'll you'll
1:08:47
feel good about it. All right. Great. Well, thanks,
1:08:51
Scott. We appreciate it. Thanks, guys. Thanks
1:08:54
for listening to integrate this. Want to take
1:08:57
your learning further? Head over to our YouTube
1:08:59
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1:09:02
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1:09:16
exploring, keep innovating, and keep integrating
1:09:19
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