001e e e start ready okay I think we're ready to get started this evening sorry for being a couple minutes late uh the board of education has been enclosed executive session to conduct employee discipline hearings and to discuss the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees of the public body and Collective negotiating matters between the board and representatives of its employees no action was taking during closed executive session I would now ask everyone to join me in the Pledge of Allegiance a pledge of alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation God indivisible withy andice for do we have a recommendation for tonight's agenda yes we do I recommend the Board of Education approve tonight's agenda July 16th 2024 open board
002meeting agenda as presented so have a motion so moved second any discussion all those in FA favor signify by saying I I those oppose same sign motion's carried we'll now move on to our district highlights uh Dr Marino there he is he likes to make those guest appearances thank you president cleer uh just wanted to say thank you to uh big shout out to our buildings and grounds Department as well as our Our IT department uh who facilitated a major upgrade to our data center we were able to install uh backup generators uh new data center cooling systems and everything that goes into really hardening our data center providing redundancy and backups think we're going to be in a really good spot as we start the new school year so just again shout out to
003buildings and grounds Our IT department and everyone's flexibility while we went through that process so thank you thank you okay we'll now move on to public participation M Bradford okay Board of Education would like to note the following during public particip ation identify oneself and be brief comment should be limited to 3 minutes any public comments submitted to the board secretary will be included in the record please note that during any Board of Education meeting and public participation board members do not respond or comment to public comments All comments are referred to Administration furthermore the board refrains from referring to specific students or staff members by name and request that public commenters refrain from from doing so as well the request that you omit names is made to protect you from allegations of liable or
004slander or from violations of the Illinois school student records act and is not intended to Shield an employee from criticism Miss Bradford do we have anyone wishing to address the board this evening Terry Walker good evening my name is Terry Walker I'm a School uh custodian second Shi johnon middle school and I give a shout out to all the custodians that are here today supporting me as a custodian I just want to Mr wetel you in particular you made a comment the last board meeting that I was in that really inspired me and I want you to to know that but I want also for you to understand because you said if there's any concerns you were voted by the people for the people and I'm a person representing the people at the schools I
005have a total of 29 rooms that I clean 32 trash bags 25 sinks all over it's two 21 rooms two alos three bathrooms three stairwells a total of 34 trash uh trash bags the areas that I vacuum are 26 rooms 26 areas I mop 10 areas I cleaned 25 sinks one in the hallway one in uh another room seven in the bathroom three three three five and six a total of 14 in the classroom two water fountains seven toilets um in a total of to nine alog together because of two journals and what I don't understand is doing all that and it's been said that custodians don't do enough for what they get paid like we're overpaid and I would like an analysis done to determine how many rooms that a person should do in
006an eight hour period I have a 30 minute lunch I can't even take two 15 minute breaks to get my job done and I'm a perfectionist I want it done I want it done right because I'm working for my teachers and the teachers respect me I respect them I want the kids to work and be able to enjoy a clean environment how many seconds do I have left one more minute one minute okay there may be others that may do more or less than I do um I feel like I do the work more than I should um there's there's high schools that um probably have the same amount of rooms don't do as much work and if you were to come and see what we do rather than for me to tell you what
007I do because seeing is more believing and I'd like you to understand what I do and take part in helping me to know what we should do better to incorporate getting a raise for what we do because what's on the board now it's unacceptable thank you Donald green Donald green hello my name is Donald green I'm a custodian at MacArthur High School second shift uh like the previous custodian I have over 25 rooms that I clean at night part of my area is a the life skills area where I have kids that are in wheelchairs in diapers so for me when I go in the evening I'm cleaning bathrooms my classrooms have bathroom in them because they change the kids okay some kids cannot do for theel so guess what I have to make sure
008that their environment is clean and safe for them because of their immune systems okay I have people that and this is staff that do stuff and they leave a mess but it's my responsibility to make sure that everybody is safe when they come into my area because Co ain't went nowhere okay parents are sitting their kids to school expecting for it to be safe Anna for me I take that very seriously because I've worked with at risk kids for 40 years and also I am a covid person so I know what it is to go through it it's not fair to send these kids through it it's not fair for anybody have to go through it but my area I cannot go without cleaning my area okay I like I said I have a life
009skills area I have a science area I have a social studies area and then I have staff lounges I have all kind of areas that I clean and I take pride in what I do because i' like to hear my people say thank you for what you do for us year round cuz we feel safe when we come into this building and see I take pred in what I do and I hate it when some well excuse me I I I dislike when when somebody is is putting a value on what I do because to me you can't put a value on what we do for these kids because these kids depend on us for them to be safe and that means we mop floors we clean our toilets I have cleaned toilets and people
010that came in and used them and messed them up but you know guess what I can't complain cuz I got to go back and C them again because that's what is expected of me and I have no problem doing that okay because when I got into this I got into it for the kids because nobody thinks about their safety everything ends up being about a dollar I can't put a dollar sign on the kids's life I can't put a dollar sign on the kids's safety our job is to provide a clean and safe environment for them when they come into the building and to me I don't mean h but when you bring strangers in my kids are not vested in strangers my kids are vested in who they see every day and for me
011I like hearing people say that's the gentleman that's that's a keeping our building clean and keeping you safe so thank you for you know hearing me out appreciate it that's it okay is there anyone else in the audience that would like to make a comment to the board tonight seeing none we thank everybody for their comments we appreciate your input we always take that input uh very seriously we'll now move on to board committee reports are there and are there any reports from Administration first uh there are no committee reports from Administration this evening okay we'll move on to board discussion is there anything the board would like to bring up and discuss at this point in time okay we'll move on to our consent items does anyone want any of the consent items pulled
012from the consent agenda and moved to the roll call yeah I'd like to do F I'd like to talk about the secretary for that position we are opening a a totally new position I think in that category that's correct okay so we're moving F over to the do you want to pull for a separate Vote or discussion do you want to pull it for Vote or pull it for discussion pull it for discussion okay okay we can go about this with a discussion technically we should move it over to the roll call Action items and then we can discuss it at that point time and then and then vote on it separately that's fine okay so you'll move that over to or I'll move it over to that one okay let me okay I think
013we have that taken care of now Dr Gray uh yes I recommend that the Board of Education approve the consent items as presented which includes a Minutes special Clos meeting June 18th 2024 open/close meeting June 25th 2024 and special open meeting July 9th 2024 uh B Freedom of Information report C bills D decision Ed Group Incorporated renewal 2024 2025 school year e KY administration building parking lot lease agreement and terms do I have a motion so moved second discussion M Bradford Mr cleer hi Mr Dion hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr Wetzel hi and Mr shider Hi Five i0 n to abson motion Carri thank you let's move right on then to take piing up item F which do we have a recommendation from Administration for the job description for secretary to the diversity equity and
014inclusion administrator and the Safety and Security administrator thank you uh yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the the item F job description secretary to diversity equity and inclusion administrator and the Safety and Security administrator do I have a motion so moved second discussion now so this is a brand new brand new position I think um what's going to happen is there may be some consolidation and um move in which this position won't be brand new but uh it will be replacing a position that will be eliminated what position is that right now Dr Clark is still working with the Union to talk about that well I mean to finalize it I'm sorry yeah and this is this is to because there is not a secretary for sec to to the diversity equity and
015inclusion administrator and also not a secret AR for the Safety and Security administrator but there's not enough for two so combine is that right yeah there that's correct there currently isn't a secretary for either one of those positions it's not can I help you out yeah can I help him out please there is a point5 for Safety and Security administrator okay um at this time okay are both of these uh both the Dei administrator and the Safety and Security administrator on are on the district leadership team correct yes the district leadership scene um and not to put anybody on the spot here but uh how many of the district leadership team members have secretaries I couldn't tell you that I have to follow up with you that so are we saying that the security team
016needs a full-time secretary it would be divided between the two people she says there's already he's already receiving half of a secretary right so now we're giving him another half which is a full-time secretary for no correct so I mean is this person currently halftime worker and they're going to become a full-time worker is that what we're basically doing it won't be a fulltime Dr Clark will be bringing back um a job description for the other half the Dei administrator can we table this until she does that be okay yes you can thank you we have a motion to table do we have a second second and I think Luke helped me I think that ends the discussion right there doesn't it do we have to vote on that yes we okay yes and that
017would appear at the next meeting it will it will M prad yes Miss Mr shider hi Mr Wetzel I reminder you're voting to table the item uh Mr Reynolds hi Mr Dion no and Mr clevinger I I have four I one nay two absent motion carried okay do we have a recommendation for the consideration an action on a possible suspension without pay for a custodial employee yes I recommend that the board approved the three-day suspension without pay for for Charles Robinson codan employee effective Wednesday July 2024 Thursday July 18th 2024 and Friday July 19th 2024 as presented have a motion so move second discussion M Bradford Mr Dion hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr clevinger hi Mr shider hi and Mr Wetzel I 5 I 082 abson motion carried we have a recommendation for the consideration
018and action on a possible suspension without pay for a termination of a custodial employee or sorry yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the 5day uh suspension without pay for Jamila Robinson uh custodial employee effective Wednesday July 17th Thursday July 18 2024 Friday July 19th 2024 Monday July 22nd 2024 and Tuesday July 23rd 2024 as presented have a motion so so moved second discussion Miss Bradford Mr wetel hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr Clevenger no Mr Dion hi and Mr shider hi for I one nay two absent motion carried thank you do we have a recommendation for the Personnel action items yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the Personnel action items listed in the memo from Monica wils Director of Human Resources in the human resource department as presented do have a motion
019so moved second any discussion Miss Bradford Mr shider hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr wetel hi Mr cler hi and Mr Dion five i0 n to abson motion carried thank you we have a recommendation for the employment of an assistant principal at American dreamer STEM Academy yes I recommend the uh Board of Education prove the employment of Nicole long as assistant principal at American dreamer STEM Academy as presented have a motion so move second discussion Miss Bradford Mr Clevenger hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr Dion Mr shider hi and Mr wetle I 5 i08 to abson motion carried thank you and I is Nicole here if you would please stand we'll recognize you and welcome you to your new role thank you appreciate it thank [Applause] you do we have a recommendation for the employment of an
020assistant principal at bomb Elementary School yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the employment of Katherine Rogers as assistant principal at bom elementary school as presented do I have a motion some move second discussion Miss Bradford Mr shider hi Mr wetel hi Mr clevinger hi Mr Reynolds and Mr Dion Hi Five i0 n to absent motion carried is Katherine here I am good deal welcome to your new role we we'll acknowledge her you have a recommendation for the employment of an assistant principal at Hope Academy yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the employment of William pittz as assistant principal at Hope Academy as presented motion so move second discussion M Bradford Mr clevinger hi Mr shider hi Mr Dion hi Mr Reynolds hi and Mr Wetzel Hi 5 i08 to absent motion
021carried thank you is William here let's acknowledge welcome him to his new role and look forward to to another year here I want to say thanks to the board and I want to say thanks to hear listening audience cannot hear you sorry do we have a recommendation for the employment of an assistant principal at Johns Hill Magnet School yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the employment of Zachary Murphy at as assistant principal at Johns Hill Magnet School as presented motion so move second discussion M Bradford Mr Dion hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr cleer hi Mr shider and Mr wetel Hi 5 i0 to absent motion carried Zachary welcome for the opp very exed good deal we'll look forward to it do we have a recommendation for the employment of an assistant Prince what
022muffley elementary school yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the employment of Dr Amanda flesh as assistant principal at muffley elementary school as presented motion so move second discussion M Bradford Mr clevinger hi Mr Dion hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr wetel hi and Mr shider Hi Five i0 to absent motion carried Dr flush we have everybody here tonight welcome to your new role we have a recommendation for Schoolboard policy 7-19 student Behavior updates yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the policy the board policy 7190 student Behavior updates as presented do I have a motion so moved I have a second second discussion I as I I mentioned at the last meeting I I'm not uh I'm not at all happy with the idea of high school students using cell phones during lunch
023so I'd like to make a motion to amend this to have the amendment say that cell phone usage will not be used in any of our schools at any time are we adding language or we removing it language I want to amend that language because I don't want cell used by high school students at lunch so however the motion should read to exclude that that's what I'd like to do but in reality the the point of of cell phone usage is to exclude it from the school time teaching time I mean just since the last meeting we've had Virginia voted to exclude cell phones from the whole state from every school in the state there's a momentum about cell phone usage being excluded from the educational process and it's a good good momentum it's a
024good idea and so for us to keep cell phone usage at lunchtime in the high schools goes against what we're trying to achieve we're trying to achieve you know lack of bullying lack of social media uh hurting children you know during school so I'm sorry however my motion needs to read the point is that I don't I am against having cell phones in the high school at lunchtime so you have a motion in second on the table to approve the policy as presented the Clause that Mr Reynolds I think is referring to is highlighted in yellow on the screen uh in terms of mechanically the board has a number of options whomever made the motion could retract it uh and you could have a motion to approve it with that highlighted text stricken uh or
025you could take up the motion to amend the amendment being to strike the uh highlighted portion you'd need a second you'd vote on the amendment and then if that passes then vote on the amended motion or it could be withdrawn and you could have a new motion both options get you to the same place is there discussion on the am amended motion there would there would be discussion on the amended motion um then Mr Reynolds if you asking to remove that yellow highlighted line I would second that but not to add language does that make sense yes do you agree with that yes okay so I'll second Mr Reynold's motion okay so now you would vote on the motion to amend not vote not voting on passing simply voting on the amendment that then you
026would discuss the amended motion does that make sense okay so we're taking up the motion to amend at this point time correct okay Miss Bradford would you call the RO on the motion to amend oh I need to discuss now if after the vote for the amendment motion will there be dis can we discuss the yes original yes motion so a number of things could have if the motion to amend fa fa s you still have the original motion on the table if the motion to amend passes you have an amended motion on the table which you can then discuss as much as the Board needs to okay so we're going to move forward do I need another motion now okay M Bradford would you call the role well just to be clear there's a
027motion and a second to amend which means you're taking out the yellow you're striking that out cell phone use would will not be allowed we're just removing that and this is just voting on the amendment not voting on the passage of that amended motion which then you discuss the concept of the amendment first before we vote can't we you can yes that's what I'd like to do um in the past week since we discussed this you know I said last time I I've feel strongly one way or the other I've worked in schools and and I've talked to some people in schools um I've looked at the survey um it was in the high school and middle school combined staff it was a um a slim a majority not a huge majority uh on the
028on lunch issue um I I'm probably I'm going to vote against the amendment um because I I agree totally I'm very concerned about how social media is used to create problem um I don't know if doing this for the lunch policy would cure that I don't I also want to express that sometimes I think we focus on the very few students who cause those problems and the great majority of our high school students are really good people who are not doing that necessarily um so I would like to give the high school students a chance to see if they can um appropriately use cell phones during lunch and we talked last time about the administration would be monitoring it very closely and if we saw that there were a lot of problems coming up during
029lunch that we could amend the policy at any time during the year I don't think this has to be a you know we don't vote again until next year um I think this is a very special case where we do need to look at it closely see how it goes see what I I also had some people talk about you know just how are high school students going to react in general to having their phones taken away or any students any students at any grade so we have a lot to learn when this happens and as we've already talked I'm totally in favor of of this cell phone ban policy as written um I'm I am I wanted to express while be voting against the amendment with the caveat that I think we need to
030keep looking at it very closely my my main concern in in the um to vote for this amendment is a question of enforceability and having conversations with uh with teachers and other people that work in the schools the question for me is if we have a single gate that when you come in and and we're talking about aoral gate not an actual gate that you come in and you have this gate that uh as you pass pass through you have to put your cell pH on way and let's say that's going to take 10 to 20 minutes at the beginning of the day to have you know a thousand kids thousand students do this now we have doubled that time if we allow them for lunch and we have uh we we spend basically re
031bringing things back uh reconstituting our efforts at both the beginning and the middle of the day and I think that will be disruptive in terms of you know it's basically starting over you have a half a day where we have no cell phones and all and then of course go uh coming after those you know 10 or 15% of uh of students that decide not to follow the policy or whatever that percentage is and they'll have their cell phones out and once that's done instead of an all day enforcement it becomes a two-phased enforcement so that's my primary concern um and I I think that brings up a question I had too is um uh in the high school and middle school situation I assume we're just saying the students will take them straight to
032their locker when they come to school and then in the high school sense they would be going to their locker to pick them up for lunch if they wanted to is that the idea yeah okay because we never really talked about that too much you know the procedures actually so and I would say just one thing about I agree with there are responsible high school students but I I don't believe that this instituting at lunchtime is going to make it easier for administration to enforce it's going to make it harder like Mr wetle has said now you've got two different times where they're taking the phone and putting it in and then taking it out and there's nothing good that we've seen from the cell phone coming out of social media as far as bullying
033I mean we know it's a fact about bullying and and things that happen on social media that cause a lot of fights in the school and the idea of making an exception for half an hour to use a cell phone I think it brings into the into the mix a variable that is that has no positive has no positive side to it yeah I would tend to I would tend to be on the side of in our schools it's I think a lot more from an operational perspective would be would give our staffs uh a sense of uh there's continuity uh we're not getting the phones out we're not taking we're not getting the phone from the locker which is going to take time we're not putting the phone back in the locker and we're
034not cutting edge here this is this is a movement happen happening all across the country lost Angeles for example Los Angeles City Schools just ban cell phones you have school systems with a 100,000 plus students that are talking about this topic and it's um there's some at least I've read some interesting material about the Comfort level that students get it's tough for the first couple of months to implement these kinds of changes but that kids actually get more comfortable in the learning environment without the pressure of the cell phone on there being or around because nobody has it there's no communication back and forth between students uh or whatever takes place so the students develop this more Comfort level without that device and they're more focused on the learning environment rather than the distraction back
035and forth with the device so I would I would be on the side of banning the phones during lunch or not that during lunch yeah that's during lunch if no other discussion we can go ahead and have the vote so that's correct if there if you're finished discussion discussing the amendment you would vote on the motion to amend again this is not an ultimate vote for passage this is just to amend the motion uh the amendment would be to strike the text that is highlighted in yellow on the screen okay everybody have that one now miss Bradford Mr shider no Mr Reynolds hi Mr Wetzel hi Mr cleer hi and Mr Dion no three I two nay two absent motion carried okay now we move on to so now you have you have the amended
036you you you have the amended motion which is to adopt the proposed policy with the yellow text stricken so you can continue to discuss or move to a move to a vote okay so we we don't need a motion on that one and we don't need a second we already have that correct we're on to discussion now we're discussing the amended motion is there more discussion I'll just comment that I as I said last week um and I think you said too either way we see it as a great step forward in terms of this new policy so I'll be voting for the policy as amended okay so she justed out the door okay we need to take a quick pause to track her down and ask we need to pause hold on I think
037our attorney can look at that and give us some recommendation on that as we move on through the agenda correct okay okay so I had asked um a couple questions uh in the overall to be an last week to be answered during this time and the first was uh about what is the strategy for communication that was one of the one of the key questions that I had you communicating the policy out yes to the community um to parents um to our students so so um based on that Dr Clark has worked to put together communication plan where based on the vote tonight information will be going out via social media there's a letter a flyer and things like that that will go out to explain uh the policy and what's going to happen I
038believe she also talked about that the principal would have a meeting the principls would have meetings with the students the very first day of school I that's what I understood so as part of very important new policy to discuss with your students I would hope that would happen yes now what about um I me because we're registering students I'm sure students some have registered maybe have signed the student handbook yep so they talk they talked about there there would need to be a adjustment to that where they have to go back in and sign that they read the modified the modifications made a where do we get what place are we in if they don't because they've signed it once right right so I think that they're going to get some type of alert saying
039that they need to resign but there is a Communications plan plan in place okay now Luke does that sorry I know you were looking at that that doesn't put us into a precarious legal position does it to have a student registered signed on an old handbook and require them to sign the new handbook I think you would want to supplement and have them sign the amended handbook okay but I mean I guess my my question was what happens if you have somebody that doesn't you know I've already done it why do I need to sign another one so the there are any number of times you may choose to amend a handbook during the year and you you would want to track down signatures for folks who hadn't so I think you'll need to look
040at that uh I don't know that it's necessarily a requirement but if you have students signed best practices would have to have all students sign the same version yeah okay I'm just thinking about that one line that's in all of the student expulsion hearings that um so and so has read and signed the handbook so correct okay other questions oh yeah and uh cuz cuz I I asked for three things uh last week um uh to be addressed this week and the second thing was um and and I've requested this a couple times what level of enforcement or what percentage of kids do we think uh students in you know 9 through 12 or say 7 through 12 I mean what's our what do we believe our success rate is going to be it's hard
041to gauge that because this would be considered a baseline year there hasn't been a policy in place that have banned cell phones before right so this would be a baseline year we would have to look at it at the end of the year and say well based on this we saw this number in fractions and you know kind of talk about it as we go but yeah it would just be a baseline year this year um and and then the last question that I had asked was uh specifically about uh parents and Guardians who be uh become belligerent threaten staff uh that piece uh in this that's a that's a oneandone there's no it there's no a two- strike or three strike policy that's just if the parents come up show up into the office
042and get belligerent or start yelling screaming at staff they're just done no trespass correct and yes and I believe that Dr Clark is also including that in her messages and that's going out to the community okay thank you other other discussion so where do we stop did you see the list of schools that are Banning school districts that are Banning backpacks do we go to that point I think with the security system we have where they do the wand and stuff I think that answers that question I think cuz I'm wondering if we're working to hastily in my opinion Implement a rule to prevent cell phone usage with the hope of reducing fights in schools I mean we had 43 expulsions last year that is a lot and that I mean but I'm just thinking
043about the I mean how many things are banned in society that still happen that still do you know um and that's the question of success right is is what what what do we consider success because it's never going to be 100% because we're all humans right and and the other piece of the question is is the overall year-to-year assessment of of this you know if you look at um studies that look at specifically at middle low-income students you see a four to 7% bump in academic performance so the question is do the structural issues at DPS uh will those overshadow a cell phone ban and these are these are questions have been asking myself do those overshadow what the benefit of a cell phone ban is going to be versus uh versus is a cell
044phone ban is actually going to show show benefit and you know one it's just one of those questions that we can look at National information we can look at data based in Illinois and we can say this is what we think the best policy is um I if I could um add I I think to me by far the biggest reason the many school just cross the nation and I why I'm totally in favor of and why I know a lot of Staff in the Ator School District are in favor of just a general concept of banning them from the classroom during the class periods is to improve the learning environment and just countless times you hear about people saying I just can't get kids to do things I can't get them to listen they're
045on their phone to do other things you can't you can't watch every person when you have 28 kids in the room um so I you were talking about you know the goal being to reduce fights I think that a part of it when you were talking about the lunch situation but the whole rest of the change that we've made is to um not have students have that as a distraction and I think that's why it's becoming a nationwide movement because school districts around the country have seen how much it distracts students from their learning and I that's why I totally support this even with the amended that uh concept that I wasn't supporting but still the overall um Improvement I think is going to be very very good and and I think the other thing
046for me is there's a lot of things that we we know that affect our students in this District poverty being the chief uh food insecurity violence um and there are things that we can control inside of our four walls um that can have that net benefit we can't as a body here go out in poverty and indicator I mean we don't have that's not in our purview our purview is to educate children and I know that this is not a Panacea for all ills um in our district but I think that this gives us a set of tools I'd definitely like to see to see where the data Falls I'd also like to really see um and hear from Administration on Effectiveness uh you know uh this is a tight timeline and I think that
047um in the future as we continue to move forward on if whatever planning process we do have we need to have more time to really bring these in but at this point if we want to see this done this school year and if we believe that it's a good thing uh thing to happen you know then we have to move forward and we could be and and here's the thing we could be wrong and we've seen we've changed policies that other boards have had uh we've changed policies ourselves that have been acted here and made tweaks and things like that so it's one of those things that we can just you know charge into fog of war and hope that we get it right I think it it would be easier to I think it
048would be easier to make the decision with data I think that we've got the um the ability to track cell phone infractions now um I think it it might be useful to have a certain number of months or whatever of data before Institute a full ban I I think that way you could you've got that Baseline a true Baseline rather than just say I made a change now let's measure it you know um that's what I think I think there are several things missing in this um in this policy some of the things that I asked about before um you know one of them specifically was uh students IEP and using cell phone to record the lecture I'm going to use that use College terms right um but that what about the person that doesn't
049rise to the level of needing or being eligible for an IEP um I know several people that have recorded lectures so that they can go back and and and go back over the notes and that kind of thing um whether that should be in the policy or not I don't know I don't know if it was considered um it just seems like in my opinion it was hey let's B cell phones and then two weeks later we've got a a first reading um so anyway I think I think the data is by the survey that we had that the staff were strongly in favor of it the people who deal with running a classroom every day and I think that's one of the most important data because they're the ones who are trying to improve
050the learning environment so I think that's the best data that we have one of the questions I would have for our two it experts on the board here is um as we move forward with this the I I heard from a couple of teachers that the IAD will the iPad connect and um our it folks if any of them are here this evening I'm looking around um computer will okay will the iPads connect or will have the same connectivity when a teacher has an assignment in the classroom will those iPads have the same connectivity that the student's phone has um that was a question that that was asked that I want to be sure that if a student's asked to go out and do uh some kind of a project uh that they have the
051same connectivity they would have had with their phone yeah I mean so everybody M everybody else has to hear you out there right now now do you yeah okay now do you mean like um like if I were to take my if I I was given an assignment I take it home and I need to access some program or a website for that that is typically used in the classroom is that is that kind of where you're going if they're in the classroom and and now everybody it's been a variety of different methodologies uh that a teacher May ask for a student to find something and maybe we're set up will their iPads have the same access to the outside that their cell phone has we have securely set up so they can't get to
052anything that securely deems block or that securely deons blocked they can't get to any of that stuff and and so would that stuff be fair to say like uh pornography or drug like skin like if you send a picture into Google Drive and it even has your arm it gets flagged to us that could be potential pornography even if they're at home anywhere they're at same with music if they look up a rapper even all the music it has no cuss words into it through securely okay so and and that's within and Dr Marino that would be within uh that would come alongside as our acceptable use policy uh for the district so ask the question again so so uh securly is only doing what we would what students are already signing uh and parents
053are signing for their acceptable use policy so it's it's enforc it's another level enforcement so we asked parents and students to say yes you use this computer or iPad correctly and then on top of that securely is the tool that we use to enfor that's correct and we we manage the whole securely policies on what is acceptable and what is not we also modify that throughout the year based on things that we find out sometimes something's flagged we look into it and we say that's okay we're going to release that and allow that to come through so it you know there there's a lot of uh it's a dynamic tool that allows us to adapt tighten it up loosen it up review individual cases teachers can also put in a work ticket that says hey
054my kids are trying to get to this site for research and it's not can you look at it and see if you can allow that within securely so we do those kinds of requests as well but but versus a cell phone when a student brings a cell phone into our schools they don't connect anywhere to our Network we don't connect them to the network right if they were on the network though you would be blocked by whatever we have blocked but a student with a cell phone could access whatever their parents allow them to do yes okay y so one of the changes uh Mr wizell that we made was hardcoding the Wi-Fi connection to District owned devices so there no longer is a login with credentials if it's our device it hits our systems
055um or it doesn't go out other discussion um no I I still feel need some more development time um I think at this point I'd like to make a motion to table this so we can do that I I would just like to say Jason I'm I think the reason we are where we're at is because the preponderance of information that we've had says that there's no positive input or attribute for a cell phone excuse me in the in the classroom if anyone can show a reason that a cell phone brings something positive to the classroom I'm I'm more than open to it but I've seen no such thing so I'm going with information that shows the benefit of excluding the cell phones I I think the data from that starting point is is in
056my opinion offering us an opportunity to see Improvement on the socialization of our kids can you imagine now at lunchtime they got to talk to each other huh the now now they don't have to worry in the back of their mind that somebody's talking about them on the other side of the classroom or on the other side of lunchroom this idea of the positive attributes of excluding the cell phone and I'm not meaning to insult you but Common Sense tells us that there there is just nothing that builds an argument for allowing yeah I I guess given that same logic I think that common sense is going to tell us that we're going to have people bringing cell phones in anyway and we're creating this opportunity for this last paragraph parents that become belligerent are
057going to be banned from property and I I don't deny that honestly I hate that I don't deny that but there is a learning curve think I think that if we had a different policy that was a little more well thought out that didn't have an absolute ban like you got a kid that comes in forgets to have the phone I mean it's it's going to happen I mean I you know they're they're so used to bringing them in the next thing you know something happens they've they're getting a referral they've never had a referral and mom dad comes in they're pissed off and you know emotions take off and now they're belligerent what's the definition of belligerent is it defined in this I mean I whatever the person observing considers belligerent and then they
058get a new trespass again little more development time I would ask there's um Jason made a motion to table needs a second there's no point discussing further if there's not a second seeing no second we'll move on so I like to respond to that at at your work if someone and uh come comes in your office off the street start it's yelling at you what's going to happen I can't appropriately respond to that I work from home okay um but you worked in office setting correct right you know and I understand retail retail is different because there's some different opinions for that I know that the places that I have worked and and you and I have both worked in it 100% customer facing people having a bad day computers don't work I understand that
059working with the general public and having having done that in the it sector that I know that my leadership wouldn't take that and at the end of the day that we would ter we would rather terminate that contract then allow for our for our employees to be treated like that and and and I understand that we have to build and have it and well I don't because I've never worked in the schools you know that the parent and school relationship has to be there and right now it's in a precarious place in uh in the decer public schools but at the end of the day we have to prod uh we we have to protect our staff and what is the difference between protecting our staff when we're expelling children who have come after our
060staff versus parents who are threatening to come after a staff are coming after a staff and and adults should know better and and I know that they don't but they should and I I I understand I understand where you're coming from I've had a lot of concerns here as well but I mean that's just a a small example given you know the words that are on the screen that I picked that out from um but I get what you're saying I mean there's what's the policy for deescalation or for diversion or you know you know what I mean like um and and this my reason for saying that is this is based off the implementation of a policy that we put in so why don't we take the time to develop it in a way
061that one we can like I mentioned before less of big hammer and ban you know if you if you bring a cell phone in you know it's a Ken to bringing a beer into school um and you less of that and more ways to to teach appropriate use and and I guess this fals to this question Falls to and I think this is something that this this board in many iterations hasn't done is policy versus implementation and administration you know we have a chief e a chief executive officer who's in charge of uh the executive functions and we are in charge of legislative functions yep which is creating policy right right which is creating policy but I think some of your questions are specific to enforcement of said policy well that's because the policy spells
062out the enforcement no it spells out the how it would happen be arrested or given staff knows they have been trained to handle these situations for other um um con you know other things that are not followed so there's no difference there it's just the same situation and the other thing is that allows for discretion because we don't say in subsection B paragraph whatever this is what we we say is a belligerent is a belligerent person that allows for that allows for discretion of the people in the office the people uh the staff and the teachers to determine what that is and are they going to get it right all the time no just like we're not going to get it right all the time so so one of those things is policy has to
063be both you know to the point but also nebulous enough to allow people to best use their judgment in and discernment in enforcing it but can discretion lead to discrimination absolutely we see that we see that throughout throughout all pieces uh places I think we're really getting off the topic here uh can we keep to the issue which is is whether we decide to have this policy or not we're going way into all kinds of other things I think one good point will you make is the point of administration's role and our role in practice and I think what we have here is we have a policy that we've amended as a board that Dr Clark brought forward and uh I think given no further discussion uh I would suggest that we go ahead and
064call the role and uh determine uh future for this action Mr shider hi Mr Wetzel hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr Dion no no and Mr Clevenger hi 4 I 1 a 2 absent motion carried okay do we have a recommendation for The Parson Elementary School outdoor shade structures yes I recommend that the Board of Education approve the part Elementary outdoor shade structures as presented do I have a motion move second discussion M Bradford Mr shider hi Mr Wetzel hi Mr cleer hi Mr Reynolds and Mr Dion five i z N2 abson motion carried uh with respect to the materials you were presented earlier what I was looking up is your board policy 2230 which is your policy on public comment provides that petitions or written correspondence to the board shall be presented to the board
065in the next regular board packet so I'll give these back to miss Bradford certainly they can be circulated to the board earlier but these will be in your next board packet okay thank you appreciate that do we have a recommendation for the persing Early Learning Center outdoor sun shades yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the Persian Early Learning Center outdoor sunshad as presented do I have a motion so moved second any discussion M Bradford Mr Wetzel hi Mr shider hi Mr clevinger hi Mr Dion hi and Mr Reynolds 5i z18 to absent motion carried thank you do we have a recommendation for the persing Early Learning Center parking lot yes I recommend that the Board of Education approve the Persian Early Learning Center parking lot as presented so move do I have a
066second discussion M Bradford Mr cleer hi Mr Dion hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr wetel I and Mr shider 5 i0 A2 absent motion carried thank you do we have a recommendation for the fastbridge renewal star and DNA pilot yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the fast Bridge of renewal slst star and DNA pilot as presented do have a motion so move second discussion I do have a question about this if wants to come I I when um what's the new I can't think of the name of the new assessment that we are doing this year uh are you talking about the ACT no it's where Stu students are you know taking little tests all the time to see how they're progressing it's like three or four months ago we passed oh it's a
067very common were you talking about just like Benchmark assessment that we were doing through fast Bridge no the progress monitoring oh shoot I thought it begins with an i it's like I can't think no that's what we're voting on sorry start with I didn't know that it was star maybe it is star well star is what we're voting on for the high school or what you're voting on for the high schools and so that would be where it is okay um EXL are you talking about I EXL so I so question so go ahead because I it seems like there's overlap there it's like why are we why are we having kids test so much I mean if EXL shows a student and the teacher how much they're progressing and I've been in districts where
068the kids do get excited about that um to me then we're doing the standardized testing Overkill when we do fast Bridge also soel is an intervention tool it is not an assessment tool they might take a placement assessment so it the program can place them in the appropriate interventions but that is not an assessment tool star and fastbridge are assessment tools that we'll use for benchmarking but we do have the state I Benchmark also that's only given one time a year these are given three times a year so we can track where a student is in the fall where they are in the middle of the year and then where they are at the end of the year so with EXL they can track every week they're different assess it's you say it's is not
069an assessment it is is an intervention tool it is not but it is showing them how well they're understanding concepts within certain subjects whether you call it an assessment or not to me it's the most important thing about what we need to see a student feel feel like they're progressing in when we talk about improving reading scores and math scores in the early grades this to me is what you know the the motivation to do that when you talk about a benchmark I don't know why it has to be done three times a year to prove to the district whether or not we're improving or not if the students can see individual Improvement within themselves on a weekly monthly basis that to me is much more productive than these tests that we're also throwing in
070excuse me um it's the same as I've said PSAT why are we doing it twice a year it you know we use it to see how well the school is done because the state requires us to but it also tells us from year to year but as far as progression within time if you have something like ISL that's doing that I don't see the overlap that's needed and I I really feel and I've expressed this several times before we're just doing Overkill with testing testing testing and I've seen elementary teachers swamped with trying to work with the kids with fastbridge um and you know they do have to do some actual work of teaching in class and when they're spending so much time on on working with fastbridge and if they have kids who they
071have to actually with a really younger kids they have to actually sit with the teacher assistant becomes the teacher for the rest of the time while they're doing that um it's just I don't think there's an awareness of how overwhelming testing is taking up the time of our teaching staff that does hurt the curriculum because if you're taking away time from teachers to actually work with kids on the curriculum because we're spending so much time on testing I think that hurts in general and where have we seen the results of fast Bridge improving our test scores over all you know where where's the big Improvement I really I'm definitely voting against this I I really don't see the need to continue fast bridge when we've gotl to to help kids see where they're going and
072you've got the I state required Benchmark at the end of the year to you know to meet that requirement I really very concerned and I never got a response on why we still keep doing sophomores and freshmen requiring them to test twice a year on something that they have no interest in doing um half the kids are not going to ever you know I just was at a conference where only 14% of the universities in the nation are requiring test scores for admission um you know if we use the argument oh they need to get a great SAT score well that's just for the kids who want to go to college and then also a lot of them are not ever going to need it so I really really think we need to really look
073at what we're do and standardized testing the overkill is amazing and taking away time from what could be more teaching I I personally enjoy getting as many reports as I can as as far as progress on the kids I I think we all recognize that job one here for us is trying to improve the scoring and getting the kids learning math reading all this at grade level I I go back to your intervention wording is is that's a small section of students is it not and so Focus the testing the assessing is really done on a on a very broad thing and then we get reports which will show if our children are improving staying the same or declining is that what we're aiming at and that's what you're proposing okay that's nice I disagree
074Mark when you're talking about the inter no no the intervention statement um if you have 80% of the students districts and I'm just throwing out a number who are not meeting proficient levels in the state all those students are working on interventions or getting interventions to improve so interventions is a big part of what our younger students are doing how how how many are you talking about 80% of our district yeah are you pulling a figure out of the air out oh no have you looked at our scores M so Mary can you tell us the intervention that he's talking about is it a huge percentage of our children well as we've only implemented it um it'll only be fully implemented this fall and so usage was about 29% in the schools that had it
075previously that was where we were we were between 25 and 29% usage but what percent of our students are reaching State proficient levels it's tiny it's that's what I'm saying but that's not intervention see you're you're mixing you need intervention if they're not learning at the level we want them to learn we as a board need assessment we need to know where they're how they're scoring we're getting you're talking against it you're saying no I'm not let me make an let me make an let me make a suggestion here we've got a discussion going on about testing interventions assessment the differentiation between intervention and assessment so why don't we ask our staff to come back and make a thorough report to us about the various methodologies they're using so that we'll understand what they're doing
076how they're doing it how it works why it's used all those various topics that would come up rather than us try to debate that topic without at least some input from our staff can I at least correct what was misunderstood I am not opposed to standardized testing I'm opposed to the overkill of standardized testing if you can get a score at least once every year to show in every subject how students are doing that's very useful I don't think that's enough when we're when we're at Ground Zero where we're so low we need to know quarterly as far as I'm concerned now I I understand your side where over testing can take away from from instruction and I I agree with that but I don't know what that is Al because I'm not an educator
077so I think looking too closely at the data can you mentioned quarterly I don't know what the perfect number is but I think looking too closely at the data though you know we might I'm shivering so we might get a uh a false sense of of Direction you know based on you know these test scores look you know phenomenal or they look you know dismal but I think that you know they they could be anything that that caused an anomaly right so I think that I think I would like to caution to not look too closely at what's going you know and what I mean by that is if you test monthly I mean it's going to be like driving down the road your your wheels are tilted a little to the right and look
078like you're turning to the right but you're not you're just correcting a small correction you know it's kind of the same thing with the data my my point my point only in this assessing and this testing is that I as a board member want to see what direction we're heading and I don't think right now that I have a good handle on it and I I apologize if I'm behind the curve with the rest of the board but the point is is that people are expecting us to help answer the question about why our kids aren't learning at grade level and so for me I got to understand where where they're at on on on that information does that make sense now the the just don't think it's needed is that often to give you
079the information you need okay and I as a counselor myself I look at students um test scores what what they've had once a year and how it changes over time and that gives me everything I need and and you know I I think and and and I'll I'll preface this with a couple things you know it it's very high button issue to look at De Gator Public Schools test scores um that's one of the things that you know a lot of people [Music] who really want to hammer on us have to say but you know that doesn't tell the holistic story of our students and where they are and it also is not necessarily overly fair to only judge on that because I would say and and anyone can correct me if I'm wrong the
080two biggest things in in my mind are you know our truancy rate how many kids aren't showing up to school and why they're not showing up to school because they can't learn if they're not showing up to school and then the second piece uh the second piece would have have to be how are we retaining teachers and how are we retaining staff and what are our open positions because if things are chaos and there's no Baseline then how does learning take place within Thea a classroom and this goes back to to the question I've asked a couple times which is what should we as board members be looking at in terms of key performance indicators for what the district is is and where we're headed because if we can present a holistic view of where
081we are and track on so many things I think we're in a better off place and you know it's really easy to hammer on really easy to hammer on well Decor suck decator public school sucks because their test scores suck because that does not tell the full story and it does not tell the full story that we are a high poverty dist District we're High free and reduced lunch District we're a we have things where you talk to families where they they have kids kids that have been shot that have been stabbed you know kids that do not see meals that summer is the starving time and we have to take that into effect and that's not something that other districts around us have to deal with and that that makes us wholly different than
082a lot of different things and I think that it would serve us well if we were showing what our true key performance indicators are besides just test scores could I ask Mary quick real Qui Qui um is the star being added to the high school is that what you're saying no it'll be in place of we're taking fast Bridge away from the high school and they're only going to do star okay all right thanks now we talked about interventions do these what what triggers interventions is it triggered off of this or not NE not necessarily this can be part of what they start with but it can also be that we see a child on this particular skill when the teacher is maybe doing something in the class that we need to focus on this
083particular gotta subset um and then I guess what happens if that isn't if this isn't approved tonight I'm not saying it looks like it will be but I mean if it's not we fast Bridge just it'll just go back to fast bridge for everybody okay and then with what you said though the star replaces fast at the high school at the school and we're continuing fast bridge at the and we're going to look okay so I mean is this does this translate to additional testing or is just the same amount it's the same amount okay further discussion that's all I have Miss Bradford thank you Mr Reynolds hi Mr Wetzel hi Mr shider no Mr cleer hi and Mr Dion four I one nay two absent motion carried thank you do we have a recommendation
084for the seven mind sets curriculum renewal yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the seven mindsets curriculum renewal as presentate motion so moved second discussion really like the coffee mug it's really big Miss Bradford Mr shider hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr Wetzel hi Mr cleer hi and Mr Dion Hi Five i z to absent motion G do we have a recommendation for the special programs math curriculum yes I recommend the Board of Education adopt the special programs math curriculum has presented motion so moved second discussion M Bradford Mr Clevenger hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr Dion hi Mr shider I and Mr Wetzel I five i z n to abson motion carried do we have a recommend ation for the crowd strike cyber security renewal yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the crowd
085strike cyber security renewal as presented motion don't move second discussion this sounds dangerous Miss Bradford Mr Wetzel I Mr shider hi Mr cleer hi Mr Dion hi and Mr Reynolds 5 i02 absent motion carried do we have a recommendation for the Panasonic tough books for security yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the Panasonic Panasonic tough books for security as presented motion so move sorry discussion I I got a couple of questions for Val about this reunification that means bringing the parent and the child together after an incident is that how I read that that's correct and that this software help helps do that but two different things what we're talking about now is the device that will carry the software so this is an actual um uh it's it's a computer but it's
086designed specifically for um the type of environment security has to work in okay and does this have any subscri subscription annual costs no this is a oneandone type of uh device okay we're and and I really kind of hate to go down this road but I used to support Panasonic te books uh in a previous role I guess the two questions that I have um the first is um these are really really rugged like milspec devices and I I guess my my question is was anything else uh looked at like any other rugged devices that could fill this role versus a Panasonic tough book yeah I looked at Gtech which was also device and then um I I looked at dale dale also had an application where they're similar in nature with the penasonic 7340
08773 uh 7440 not onire with the tough book no not I mean but there's still drop R and and then I guess the second pieces um do we those will have to be sent in for repair as they're a sealed system um is there a spare pool that's going to be used for this once they do get broken I I don't have a spare pool but uh that will be something next the thing that I liked best about the Panasonic is that it has that Innovative xack so that it's a it's an immediate Exchange in the hardware that goes inside which the other devices didn't have and that way we don't have to continue to buy devices we use the shell change out the in in in the Insight yeah yeah and I've seen these
088run over by uh F350s before and survive so oh yeah ambulances yeah yeah yeah um I've got a question you mentioned reunification that means you're going to be in the field with it correct um data connection while in the field is it required do we have a way to do that well we we have we have Wi-Fi and then um uh with the new radios that we're going to get uh some of the radios are going to have a SIMs card in it and that's going to be able to allow us to have the feature gotcha okay that's one thing I was worried about you know they not useful if you can't get to your data right um yeah I think that you covered most stuff I already had so any other discussion Miss Bradford
089Mr clevinger hi Mr Dion hi Mr Reynolds hi Mr Wetzel hi and Mr shider Hi Five i0 n to abson motion Carri thank you do we have a recommendation for the security incident report writing software yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the security incident report report writing software as presented do I have a motion so move a second second discussion M Bradford Mr shider hi Mr Wetzel hi Mr Reynolds Mr Dion hi and Mr Clevenger I five i0 n to abson motion Carri do we have a recommendation for the tentative budget for FY 2024 2025 for the Mak P at special educ ation District yes I recommend the Board of Education approve the fy2 20242 Megan payatt special education District tenative budget as presented and after the motion in second that Kathy horra
090director of special education district will present the information on this item also the following pres also after the presentation and the vote uh for the FY 2024 25 Megan p special education District tenative budget I would ask that the Board of Education set the public hearing for the date of Tuesday August 27th 2024 at 6:30 p.m. at Kyle administration building and note action will be taking place at that meeting as well do I have a motion move second now Kathy good evening everyone I do not have a PowerPoint for tonight um um mostly I just want to remind everybody that this budget is assuming that we're fully staffed and obviously we will not be fully staffed so we assume that we will not be expending the entirety of the budget um this year's budget is
091approximately 1.5 million more than last year's budget mostly because of different Staffing pools that we're anticipating as well as additional private day treatment placement op option that many of our kids are starting to need any questions for Kathy okay do we have to have a separate motion to set the public hearing okay so we need to vote on this one at first there's a motion in a second on the floor will you call the role yes Mr Reynold hi Mr cleer hi Mr shider hi Mr Wetzel hi and Mr Dion Hi Five by0 to absent motion carry thank you now we move on could I have a motion from the Board of Education to set the public hearing for the FY 2024 2025 Mak P at special education District tentative budget for 6:30 p.m. on
092Tuesday August 27th 2024 at the Kyle administration building so mve second all in favor signify by saying I I those oppos same sign motion's carried do we have a recommendation for the Mak Pate special education District to Off Lease 2019 multifunction school activity buses yes I recommend the Board of Education ratify the Megan Patt special education District to Off Lease 2019 multifunctional School activity buses as presented please note that there was a consensus from the Megan Patt special education executive executive board for the director of Megan Patt special education District to move forward with the purchase motion so moved second any discussion Miss Bradford Mr Wetzel I Mr shider hi Mr Clevenger hi Mr Dion hi and Mr Reynolds Hi 5 i02 motion carried thank you uh we'll move on now to there's some announcements
093going to be coming up on the screen here I believe um Board of Education sends condolences to um a couple of about three people this evening Melba Lacy who passed away Thursday July 11th 2024 Mrs Lacy was a wife of Winston Lacy retired Enterprise teacher and grandmother to Michelle Dixon ACC claims Analyst at the Kyle Building Doris Irene Meer who passed away on Friday July 12th 2024 Mrs Meer was the money was the mother of Kent Meer our director of buildings and grounds for the decer public schools and Debbie KY who passed away Monday July 15 2020 2024 Mrs coar was the mother of Michael Kar instructional technology coordinator for for the decater public schools our condolences go out to all those families uh some important dates to remember August 89th our staff workdays the
094August 12th is the first full day of school for the 202 2425 school year August 13th our K8 grade buildings open houses the 14th are Middle School open houses and the 15th are our high school open houses families and please note families please check with your home school for start times of the open houses additional reminders of upcoming dates to the uh October 15th is the deadline for required immunizations and physicals for the 20242 school year uh please note the Kyle Building will be closed to the public every Friday through August 2nd the KY building will reopen on Fridays to the public Monday August 5th and will remain open per the usual schedule through the remainder of that AC of the academic year uh public portion of the next regular meeting the Board of educ
095Education will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday August 13th at the Kyle administration building do I have a motion to adjourn so move a second all in favor signify by saying I I I believe we are adjourned