HRIEC Minutes 07-17-2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Human Rights, Inclusion and Engagement Commission Minutes July 17, 2019 Page 7 of 17 Ms. Olson explained from a staff perspective, what she would like to have from this meeting is to have the topic identified and at least some draft concept of a question. One of the things she would like to do is once the Commission has that question sort of identified to run it through the City Communications Department to make sure it is grammatically correct and all the communication pieces fit in and then it can be brought back for final approval at the August meeting and then once that is done staff can get packets ready to send out to the principals and teachers at the beginning of the school year. Chair Beltmann stated one of the things she found obvious in reading last years essays was that the older students essays stood out because the students were older and had more years of writing. She wondered if it was possible to consider judging the essays based on grade and selecting the top from each grade. Commissioner Peterson indicated that could be done. Commissioner James explained he taught middle school and there is a dramatic difference between the sophistication of writing skills between grades. He thought breaking it down would probably be better and encourage more students to continue to participate. Ms. Olson knew in the past there has been some discussion on making the rules clearer. There has been some discussion on including more information under the rules. Youth Commissioner Iverson thought the big issue is that the rubric is not provided to the students, so the students are not aware of what the Commission is looking and judging for. He thought it would be helpful to give that rubric to the teachers to give to the students participating to help them. Commissioner Peterson thought that could be provided. Commissioner James thought that would be a great idea because the more information the student gets, the better focus the essay will have on the question. Chair Beltmann asked if any Commissioner liked one of the topics in particular. Youth Commissioner Iverson indicated for the Privacy Information, he liked number five in there and the Commission could discuss and include other parts but stands out on its own and is probably the best one. He indicated for the Good Community Member, there are a couple of lines from all three questions that would make a really good question put together. He noted it could talk about how you would define