Issues & Discussion · A Proposal

Show Your Work

We ask students to show their work. The district should do the same. Show Your Work is one place where a parent can find what came home from school, what their child is learning, and every board decision along with the reasoning behind it, in plain language.

First published September 27, 2026. Version 1; this is a starting point for families, staff, and the board to shape.

The Gap

The Pieces Exist. The Why Doesn't.

ISD 831 already has good tools, and each does its job. What none of them does is tell a parent why a decision was made, or put everything a family needs in one place.

What parents can reach today
Tool	What it's for	What it doesn't do
ParentVUE	Grades, report cards, attendance, test scores, discipline	Nothing about district decisions or curriculum
Canvas parent access	Your child's coursework, class by class	No district-wide view; no parent guides
BoardBook	Board meeting agendas	Shows what's coming up, not what was decided or why
Minutes and meeting video	The official record of each meeting	Procedural; the reasoning is buried in hours of video, if it's there at all
School "Family Resources" pages	Link lists for each building	Different in every building; handouts come and go
None of these is broken. The missing piece is the one that connects them and explains the decisions.

When a family finds out about a change after it happens, with no explanation they can read in two minutes, the district loses trust it didn't have to lose. That's the problem this solves.

What's In It

Five Things, One Place

The Decision Record

For every board action, one plain-language page: what was decided, when, the vote, what staff recommended, what input the board heard (for and against), the reasoning, and what changes for families. Linked to the agenda, the minutes, and the moment in the meeting video.

What's Coming

Upcoming items that affect families, posted early, with how and when to give input before the vote, not after.

Take-Home Handouts

Everything that comes home from school, searchable in one place, so the paper in the bottom of the backpack isn't the only copy.

Curriculum Parent Guides

When curriculum is adopted or changed, a parent guide comes with it (a parent handout for AI instruction, for example), along with how to review materials and request an alternative for your own child.

Policy in Plain Language

A short summary of each district policy, with what changed and when, so nobody has to read a redline to understand it.

How It Works

The Rules It Runs On

Built on what exists. It links into ParentVUE, Canvas, and BoardBook; it doesn't replace them.
Public records need no login. Decisions, policies, and handouts are open to every resident, with or without a child in the schools.
No student data. Anything about an individual student stays in ParentVUE, where it belongs.
The two-minute test. If a decision can't be explained to a parent in two minutes, the explanation isn't done.
Posted on a clock. A decision record goes up within a set number of days after the vote, and the district reports whether it's hitting that clock.
Both sides on the record. The summary of input includes the input the board didn't follow, and says why.
In the languages our families use. The welcome has to reach every family; so does the information.

Know the Difference

What This Is, and What It Isn't

Show Your Work IS

The district explaining its own decisions, in writing, in one place.
A way to give input before a vote, not after.
For every family, whatever they think of any given decision.
Built in steps, measured, and changed based on what parents actually use.

Show Your Work is NOT

Extra paperwork for teachers.
A replacement for ParentVUE or Canvas.
A new, expensive software system.
A promise that everyone will agree.
Something one board member builds alone.

Parent guides come out of the curriculum adoption process, not from asking teachers to post every daily lesson. It starts with the tools the district already has. And it won't make everyone agree; it means nobody has to guess.

The Path

Pilot, Checkpoint, Scale

A board member doesn't build software, and I won't pretend otherwise. The board's job is to ask for it, fund it inside a budget that can carry it, and measure whether it works. The superintendent and staff decide how to build it. If elected, here is the path I'll push for:

1. Propose

Bring Show Your Work to the board as a discussion item, so staff, families, and students can shape it before anything is decided.

2. Scope

Ask the superintendent for what it would take: staff time, cost, and which existing tools it can sit on. I'll know the cost before I ask for a vote.

3. Pilot

Start with the Decision Record for board actions for one semester. It's the cheapest piece, since staff already prepare most of it for the agenda, and it's the piece nobody has today.

4. Checkpoint, then Scale

Report back on use and what parents say, then add handouts, curriculum guides, and policy summaries if it's earning its keep.

The Short Version

If You Read Nothing Else

Show Your Work: one place for parents to find what came home from school, what their child is learning, and every board decision with the reasoning behind it. For a parent who sees a decision differently, the first answer is being able to see how we got here.

Where this came from: a parent's question about representing every family. See Ask Andi, Question 20.

Sources

Where This Comes From

ParentVUE (ISD 831 student information portal): Forest Lake Area Middle School, ParentVUE
Canvas parent access: Set Up Parent Access for Canvas
Board agendas: Forest Lake Area Schools on BoardBook
Minutes and meeting video: ISD 831 School Board Meetings
Parental curriculum review: Minn. Stat. 120B.20