001good evening at this time I would like to call our meeting to order six o'clock September the 13th 2022. this is our regularly scheduled school board meeting we have our school board meetings every second Tuesday of every month and so certainly I just want to thank all of you for coming out this evening at this time um Mr Cullum we have an impact impact student recognition yes sir Mr President thank you and members of the board tonight I have asked Mr Heather Kendrick to assist us in honoring the impact student and also some other Wampus cap Pride Awards Ms Heather Kendrick good evening everyone it is my great pleasure to introduce you all to the first impact student of this school year from Simon Middle School Mr chandray Gaines Tucker [Applause] and when he came
002in he was very shy But as time went on he started coming out but he still kept that reserved in itself he didn't really speak out in classroom but he started working in table part and you started coming out here we go I have loved him from the first day I met him to this very moment now his sense of humor is what really grabs me because he's not realizing how funny he is even though he's that funny when he is in the classroom his presence is known though he's very silent and when he does present information he's usually confident but it's not always exuding um so he is a lovely lovely student to have in the class [Music] chandray congratulations on being September's impact student and now if everyone will stand he will help
003us with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all excellent job I'm going to take a picture of you guys okay one two three got it thank you so much also in our Wampus cat Pride segment tonight we are going to recognize Conway High School's brick column Mr Cullum spoiler alert he's going to be honored in just a minute as Conway High School's teacher of the year but in addition to this distinction Mr Cullum has been named the history teacher of the year for the state of Arkansas by the Gilder lehrman Institute of American History this award honors one K-12 teacher each year so Mr Colin teaches African-American
004history world history and AP comparative government at Conway high school please join me in a round of applause for the Gilder lehrman Arkansas history teacher of the year Mr brick calling thank you one two three got it congratulations [Music] next we are going to honor our 2022 23 teachers of the Year from each School teachers when I call your name please stand with your principal for a round of applause first up from Sally cone preschool Miss Deanne fimple from Ida Burns Elementary Angela blue thank you Woodrow Cummins Elementary Michelle Kingsbury from Theodore Jones Elementary Miss Ashley Dean from Carolyn Lewis Elementary Ashley Silliman from president Florence Madison Elementary Miss Melinda Fraser from Julia Lee Moore Elementary Miss Portia Albert from Ellen Smith Elementary Miss Leah Pierce Miss Pierce is not here tonight but we'll still
005give her a round of applause from gemstone Elementary Miss Haley Ward from Marguerite van Elementary Morgan Williams from Courtway Middle School Miss Deanna Robbins from Ruth Doyle Middle School Michelle Dunlap from Simon Middle School Miss Haley Carr and of course Miss Carr is our district teacher of the year as well from Carl Stewart Middle School Miss Brenda Smith from Conway Junior High School Mr Chad longing and last but deafening definitely not least from Conway High School Mr brick column congratulations teachers you represent us so well and we appreciate you and your principals being here tonight and that will conclude our Wampus cat Pride segment thank you Ms Kendrick let's give all of our teachers another final round of applause thank you teachers for all the work that you do board we're going to take board
006we're going to take just a brief recess if if any of the teachers or principals would like to leave at this time you're welcome to you may have other activities that you want to attend to for your students if not you're more than welcome to stay so we'll take about a 60 second brief pause and then we'll continue on with our meeting thank you again all right thank you certainly I just want to piggyback off of what you said Mr Cullen we want to thank all of our teachers can you hear me can you can you hear me okay just wanna too close when I get too close it we've got some loud feedback Chris if you can help us with that certainly want to thank all of our teachers of the year at this
007time board it called our agenda calls for an approval of the consent agenda does anyone have any questions about our consent agenda no one has any questions I need a motion to approve the consent agenda second all in favor say aye aye aye um at this time we are at a point in our in our agenda where we have Patron comments and so before we ask the our patrons to come forward uh I just want to mention just a few things that we always want the public to know that this board is always willing to listen we're always willing to listen when certain issues and certain concerns and certain issues and certain concerns come up and so we want you to know tonight that that's what this part of our uh agenda is allowing us
008to do is to be able to listen to our community now with that being said we have some speakers tonight who have been designated they have gone through the process of getting with Mr Cullum or myself with this board and they have submitted the proper procedures to be able to come before the board tonight to address the board and so at the end of all of the comments at the end of all the speakers each speaker has five minutes and I guess Mr Cullum will you be the we've got a timekeeper okay so uh you know we we've got a time okay five minutes uh this is not a church service okay we can't hear everybody's testimony but we do want to listen and we do want to hear uh our public tonight so we
009want to be respectful we want to be respectful for those who are coming up and presenting to the board I think I can speak on behalf of the board that we're all going to be uh respectful uh we're going to be courteous and at the end of the comment uh the board may have questions that they may want to ask some of the speakers and so we're going to wait to each speaker comes forward and then after everyone speaks we're going to uh the board may have questions now I want to make it clear that in a meeting like this there's no back and forth we want to to protect the Integrity of this meeting we want to have a good meeting and so with that being said we don't we want to ask that
010the public that you would please hold your comments to the end and uh we'll just have a good meeting so at this time we're going to ask who is our first okay Miss David Miss Stephanie David would you please come forward uh Mr Coleman board members before I start I'd like uh for each of you to have some handouts that go with my presentation uh parents and the adults in the audience if you would like a copy of what the board will be viewing please raise your hand and someone will bring you a copy and I'd also like to say parents before I get started I want to say that I'll be sharing some sexually explicit material that is not appropriate for minor children to see or hear please use your discretion Miss David would
011that be what we have here yes okay thank you good evening board thank you very much for allowing me to speak to you tonight my name is Stephanie David and I'm speaking on behalf of a group of concerned parents and members of the common community I'm here tonight to share some factual information about sexually explicit books and libraries and classrooms over the last several months there have been numerous sexually explicit books found in the libraries all over Arkansas and these books are readily available to students K-12 while there are currently Arkansas laws to protect minors from pornography and sexually explicit material in regards to electronic devices sadly there are no such laws that apply to minors and books in schools Conway Public Schools needs policies that will protect our or our district teachers and students
012I'm going to share some of these books with you now that I've been found that have been found in libraries in our state and I want to make it a point that this speech is not meant to Target members of the lgbtq plus Community this is not an issue regarding sexual orientation or gender identity this is an issue that has to do with the safety of minors who are not legally of age to consent to sexual activity therefore regardless of the sexual orientation presented in these books they are inappropriate for minors to access in schools the books I'm highlighting are currently some of the most controversial books in our country the first book is called genderqueer I have included pictures from the book in your handout let me also state that while this book portrays
013two homosexual males that is not the concern this book would still be pornographic if it included a male and a female couple as you can see from the pictures written in comic book form this book includes detailed information about masturbation and graphic pictures of male genitalia and two males engaging in oral sex and sexual intercourse again sending assembler pictures electronically to a minor is a considered illegal the second book is titled what wait what a comic book guide to relationships bodies and growing up this book is intended for children nine years and older it includes graphic comic comic form pictures of genitalia and one page encourages children to draw pictures of genitals this book also includes a graph titled how do you know when you're ready for sex stuff percentages of young people who have
014had sexual intercourse by age starting with h10 the third book is has in fact been found in a library in the Conway Public Schools it is titled Beyond magenta transgender teens speak out I'm going to read a small portion to you now I was sexually mature what I mean by sexually mature is that I know about sex from six up I used to kiss other guys in my neighborhood make out with them and perform oral sex on them I liked it I used to love oral and I touched there you know what's we were really young but that's what we did guys used to hit on me perverts pedophiles I'd see guys giving me a look and it kind of creeped me out they would touch themselves saying come here sweetie the last book I
015wanted to share with you is extremely graphic and I apologize I do not enjoy reading this aloud but I feel it's necessary for everyone to fully understand the level of inappropriateness this book contains students as young as seventh grade have been assigned to read this book in public schools again this book has been found in libraries in Arkansas this book is called all boys aren't blue a memoir Manifesto by George Johnson and I quote you told me to take off my pajama pants which I did you took off your shorts followed by your boxers there you stood in front of me fully erect and said taste it at first I laughed and refused and then you said come on Matt taste it this is what boys like us do when we like each other I
016finally listen to you you eventually got up off me and told me to come to the bathroom that you wanted to show me one more thing you turned on the light and closed the door you began stroking yourself in front of me I'm going to spare with everyone else the rest of it but it goes on to describe it a graphic rape scene where one boy rapes the other again this book's had this book has no place in our schools and or is being available to minors across the country concerned parents have discovered over 800 books in local school libraries that are extremely disturbing when placed in the hands of minors please let me say that I'm in no way advocating for Banning of books especially Classics Like To Kill a Mockingbird however I am
017for policies that will protect our district teachers and students from pornographic and obscene reading material are these books currently in common Public Schools one of them certainly is again all of these May many others have been located in libraries in Arkansas and Conway is certainly never immune we need to take a proactive approach to protect our district teachers and students from these books ever being included in our school libraries and classrooms everyone involved deserves to be protected from sexually explicit books in closing I'd like to thank the board for allowing time for me to speak I'd also like to thank the board for the two policies being presented tonight please know that the majority of the common Community as well as I made our voices heard at the last School Board elections support support your
018Forward Thinking to make policies that will allow accommodation options for all students so they can all feel respected and safe thank you [Applause] all right at this time thank you Miss David at this time we'll have Miss Jenny Wallace are you ready should I go ahead and go okay can you speak up a little bit hi my name is Jenny Wallace and I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you tonight a little bit about myself I am a wife and a mother of four I am a Christian and I have been a part of this community for several years I'm a teacher I have taught for over 20 years the first part of my um my job was in the public school and the second half of my career has been at home homeschooling in
019homeschooling communities homeschooling co-ops homeschooling my kids I love to teach and I love to learn um my oldest graduated from Conway High last year he is a he's a freshman this year at Hendricks and my second born is a senior attending Conway high in asuvb I am here to address the concerns over the new bathroom and overnight policies I would like to ask us all a question what type of culture do these policies promote in Conway Public Schools why are these policies suggested now why now Conway Public Schools have been around for decades and decades and decades why now had there been formal complaints brought to the board is that what has caused this if not it is clear you are pushing an agenda in the current culture War why bullying while bullying Conway Public
020School students these policies are in direct violation of the student civil liberties under the 14th Amendment how would that reflect on Conway Public Schools have you considered what these policies will do to our community this will have a negative impact on our city because businesses will choose to take their business elsewhere which will in turn impact our property taxes and we know that will impact our schools Allen Denise High School in Florida attempted a similar policy Drew Adams was a transgender student he filed a lawsuit and he won the judge ruled that the school board's bathroom policy singled him out different and gave him different treatment for being transgender the judge also ruled that public schools may not punish its students for gender non-conformity neither May a public school harm transgender students by establishing arbitrary
021separate rules for their restroom use the judge said that the school board did not uphold his 14th Amendment which guarantees equal rights and Title IX which bans sex discrimination in education there are several other school districts who've attempted the same thing do we want and they've lost do we want Conway Public Schools to be next a similar case in Virginia Costa School Board 1.3 million dollars where will that money come from will it come from our district will it come from our tax dollars will it come from the school board members who are voting for discriminatory processes are they going to put the bill again I ask what type of culture are these policies promoting while they're targeting our students I can promise you this the people who are being targeted do not feel loved
022they do not feel welcomed they do not feel valued allow me to share some statistics about the harm done by these policies among the transgender non-videre youth who experience bathroom discrimination 85 percent reported being depressed 60 reported considering suicide one in five have already tried to kill themselves multiple times however I I think many appreciate the policies allowing restrooms of choice but policing which restrooms these students use is dehumanizing trying to erase the representation from books is also dehumanizing what will happen to these children when they do not conform to these discriminatory policies the only thing these policies do is put an already vulnerable group in more danger but on the flip side numerous studies show that welcoming safer School environments actually increase achievement academic achievement it lowers rates of depression it lowers suicidal thoughts
023and I know that's important to this board and this school because September 22nd at six o'clock in this very Auditorium we're bringing a speaker to talk about suicide awareness what what if we asked this speaker what she thinks about these policies I want to end and let you know that I felt I needed to speak tonight not because I have a child who's transgender or non-binary but because I'm a Christian and unfortunately today and throughout history Christians are the ones putting forth these discriminatory policies I want to end with CPS website says this is what we promote every child every day whatever it takes thank you for your time [Applause] thank you [Applause] okay at this time we're going to ask thank you Miss Wallace at this time we're going to ask Miss Stephanie Gray
024hello my name is Stephanie gray I use they them pronouns and I've been a resident of Conway for 12 years I'm also a program director at an organization called sacred spaces as well as a doctoral student I have over a decade of working with queer and trans Youth and I am also proudly and extraordinarily transgender myself in my career I support organizations and schools to formulate and uphold policies that that create safer more respectful and more Equitable spaces for people of all ages and all stages and I particularly work in child safety and safeguarding practices one of the most important aspects of my job is to help organizations not only create policies but to help live out these policies in real time and how to center their values in the face of conflict or adversity
025I want to look at Three core values of the Conway School District Conway schools will strive to create an environment where everyone matters two our schools will be a place where students feel safe and loved and have their basic needs met because only then can real learning take place and three Conway Schools students will always be the first priority my question is are these policies Student First are these making students feel loved and feel safe is this creating a culture of diversity where opportunities for growth are possible I do not think so and I also want to point out that it's incredibly important to think when implementing any policy is there actually just cause to actually implement it what has there been any investigations been done in this District to prove that there is evidence
026of danger harassment or misconduct by trans students this is not even an issue this these proposals seek only to undermine the work of this District the administration and more importantly these brilliant Educators who work with our students every day and are able to support them in affirming ways that they may not be able to receive at home on a personal note throughout my entire High School experience in Arkansas I was verbally and physically harassed for being queer I was scared all of the time in public school it was difficult to focus on my studies and often wanted to avoid school as much as possible I even tried to end my own life no student should have to go what I went through the weight of being different is so heavy we do not need to
027add to this burden to our students and before I close I do want to speak directly to any trans students that are in the audience you are not wrong or confused or broken or burdensome the world needs you desperately and you deserve the world your trans siblings we see you we believe in you and we will fight for you and as my Jewish ancestors have told me we will outlive them and as my trans siblings say we will out love them thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay thank you thank you Miss Gray Mr Lawrence Finley Lawrence Finley hi um and thank you for the opportunity to speak it's actually Finley Lawrence not Lawrence Finley but close enough um I use say them there's pronouns I've been at Arkansas for almost 10 years now um and
028I'm a current Conway I'm sorry I'm sorry we can't hear you can you hear me now that's a little better okay let me try that one more time hi and thank you for listening to me and giving me the opportunity to speak I'm Finley Lawrence and my pronouns are they them theirs I've been in Arkansas for almost 10 years and I'm a current Conway resident attending Hendricks College I'm transgender non-binary and taking a class on human rights and gender currently in college so today's school board agenda is very near and dear to my heart proposed policies 4.2 and 4.56.2 are what is known as indirect discrimination this means that while these policies appear to be neutral as if they are not discriminatory they do in fact favor one group and disadvantage another transgender students are
029disadvantaged by these policies which favor cisgender students bathrooms are a commonly gendered space in in America the very signs on the outside of a bathroom a vague portrayal of a person wearing pants or a person wearing a dress are based on societal perceptions attributing dress wearing to women and pants wearing to men your very own bathrooms say ladies on the outside of one I assume the other one was gentlemen but didn't have the time to check foreign policy 4.2 while not mentioning transgender students will disadvantage these students by not allowing them to use the bathroom with other students of their gender it will make transgender students stick out which will make it obvious to the students around them who is transgender and will make it obvious to them that they do not fit in gender
030dysphoria a mental illness defined by the American Psychiatric association as a marked in congruence between one's Experience slash Express gender and their assigned gender based on their sexes signed at Birth commonly affects transgender people and Layman's turns gender dysphoria refers to the distressed transgender and queer gender queer people experience because who they are is different from how Society sees them and how their body looks and behaves singling out transgender students by obviously placing them in environments where they will stick out compared to cisgender students such as bathrooms and shared rooms on school trips will drastically increase gender dysphoria for your transgender students this increases psychological distress which leads to increased rates of other mental health disorders and suicide as has been talked about before me in your own student handbook you say that you value
031and respect diversity in everything we do our Conway school should be Village and protecting the students in our care but these policies do not value and respect your students and will place them in danger according to the 2015 U.S transgender survey 82 percent of transgender adults have seriously considered suicide and 40 percent have attempted it in contrast only 4.6 percent of the a general American population have ever attempted suicide transgender adults are nearly 10 times more likely to attempt suicide and we all know that the numbers are higher for children these policies will discriminate against transgender students do you want to increase these numbers is this protecting your students I ask you now will you choose to protect your students so many of us are sitting before you today explaining to you with facts logic
032and personal experiences that transgender students are being threatened by these policies we're asking you to hear us and if you don't it will be obvious that protecting students is not your priority I am imploring you to lead by example if you want a respecting and safe environment for your students choose right now to make it [Applause] all right thank you um next on the uh our next person is Clayton Crockett hi thank you so much for letting me speak and I want to add my voice to those that you've already heard who are speaking out against these proposed policies um I'm a professor at the University of Central Arkansas and I've been there for 20 years and I have taught and worked with numerous trans students I'm also the parent of a trans child who
033attends Conway High School presently and I deeply appreciate and I'm so grateful for all the support all the accommodations all the understanding all the compassion and all the Care that everyone has shown administrators faculty and other students to my child my child feels targeted and threatened by these bills my child does not support these my child feels singled out and I've had to learn a lot when my child came out as trans and I've had to read a lot even though I'd already known a lot in one of the books that helped me was a book called becoming Nicole by a woman named Amy Alice Nutt who was the mother of a trans young trans woman who became an actress and an activist Nicole Maines and I strongly recommend that because it's really about knowing
034people and connecting people and seeing them as human beings that helps people get through some of these stereotypes I think in my child thinks and knows that these policies single out in unduly Prejudice Conway Public Schools and parents and students against trans people who are being targeted marginalized and dehumanized by this state they Place undue harms costs and risks on trans students and their families who as we've already heard face severe challenges face vulnerability to violence mental illness and poverty that are directly tied to their gender identity the current scientific research does not support these practices or these policies gender is not simply chosen is actually formed in the brain in the womb prior to the development of external genital sex characteristics as much as we want it to be otherwise or might want it
035to be otherwise nature is not binary in sex or gender or orientation Conway Public Schools needs to emphasize teaching students but that also involves viewing all of them as human beings with intrinsic dignity not as dignity stigmatized by fear out of fear or because of political ideology or ignorance thank you so much for listening to me [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you Mr Crockett at this time Linda Tyler Serpentine at column The Honorable board thank you very much for allowing me to speak with you this evening my husband Hugh and I have been a member of this community for over 50 years and worked for some of the best businesses in Conway and in Arkansas and I have also served as your state representative in the legislature my husband Hugh and I raised our two
036children here and they are proud graduates of the Conway Public Schools I had the opportunity in the town hall several months ago to speak with you as well and I I believe and I told you then and I still do that I believe that is our school and our community's role along with our parents to prepare our children to be successful in a diverse world whether that is what books they read or how they engage with each other in the classroom in the hallways in the football fields and yes even the bathroom it is part of an important to their preparation for success to be able to work with to learn with and build a community with people who do not look like them who may not always think like them and come from diverse
037backgrounds or cultures prepares our children for the real world of today and tomorrow businesses and companies today believe and my company believes that building a company of diverse employees treating them equitably and ensuring that they are included and have a seat at the table is critical to companies success in the global economy as a community There is almost nothing we could do that would be more anti-business than these policies Conway has so much going for it great public schools great hire Ed a great business base great neighborhoods and affordable living but there is nothing the school board could do that would put more of an anti-business bullseye on Conway than these policies in recent months just in the state of Texas alone over 70 large and small companies sent letters to the policy makers in
038Texas with the following message the undersigned companies are proud Texas employers and investors supporters of Texas's unique diverse culture they go on to say that we have long strived to make our workplaces safe and welcoming for everyone we employ but the fullness of our team members lives and the lives of their families and children stretch well beyond the workplace they live in their communities where they rent or own homes shop go out to eat and participate in their community and school activities they deserve to feel safe welcome and treated with dignity in all those settings that was over 70 companies that wrote that those letters there is no doubt in my mind that Arkansas companies will feel the same let's make a decision today to embrace the responsibility to prepare our children for the workforce
039of the future and not make a decision that will signal to our employers both current and future that we don't welcome diversity in our schools let's don't put our children in danger in effect tell them that we don't care let's for the children's sake and our community's sake make the right decision thank you for letting me speak [Applause] thank you Miss Tyler uh this time Vicki Crockett my name is Vicki Crockett and I'm the mother of Lily who is currently a senior I've been here at board meetings before and Lily was in fourth grade and she was recognized for winning the stock market award when she was in seventh grade and she scored 35 when the ACT we'll probably be back next month for her to be recognized as one of five seniors who are
040National Merit semifinalists but I'm here tonight because she's also transgender she has been very supported by the principal and her teachers since she came out two and a half years ago she stayed with two girls in last year's Orchestra trip and they had a blast even buying matching sweatshirts to remember their time together but when they returned home things changed she had to report everything she'd done during the trip and she was afraid she was in trouble these kind of roles make no sense in the lives of actual children I could go on and on about my experiences with Conley High then I'm going to turn over to my attorney hello [Applause] I'm fritzy vollman I'm here excuse me excuse me Madam now miss Crockett okay now Madam who are you I'm fritzy Vaughn and
041I'm her attorney she's yielded her remaining time to me okay thank you I'm uh ma'am I'm sorry but that's not allowed tonight okay well um May I um leave this U.S Supreme Court case that has decided this issue with this police officer to give to you I think I'm here for your benefits [Applause] let me let me just say this um we we've been doing pretty good we've got one more presenter but I want to make it clear that we want to be respectful so we want to ask you that you would please keep all of the the chanting and all of that keep that just don't do that and so let's let's be let's be respectful uh we have one more presenter uh Linda Whitworth now miss miss Linda as you come forward after
042Miss Linda finishes we're going to give the board an opportunity to ask questions or make a statement we're going to give you that opportunity now there has to be some decent and in order everything has to be done decently and in order so the board will make comments they may have some comments but there's no dialogue between the audience and the board okay I want to make that clear now if you don't want to follow that here's what's going to happen if you don't want to follow that I want to be clear if you don't want to follow that we've got law enforcement here okay we don't want to have to escort anybody out of here but we want to keep order we want to be respectful and we want to have a good meeting
043so with that being in with with that in mind uh Miss Linda thank you president Acklin superintendent Colin members of the board my name is Linda Whitworth Reed I am a retired Presbyterian Pastor Reverend is my title I am currently serving as Parish associate next door at First Presbyterian Church of Conway I'm speaking on behalf of a group of students parents and teachers who wish to remain anonymous I am speaking because I believe in the Dignity of all people especially children and youth who have my heart I am speaking because I am a pastor for people in my congregation and for people in the larger community and a pastor cares for and works on behalf of people who cannot always advocate for themselves before I went to Seminary at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and received
044a masters of divinity for my ordination I was a teacher in public schools with a master of arts in education I noticed as I looked through the student handbook that the very first thing presented is a non-discrimination policy on page seven it is the policy to of this execution educational institution to provide equal opportunity without regard to race color national origin sex religion sexual orientation age or qualified disability in its educational programs and activities and then there are policies later from the school board 418 that prohibits certain student conduct pages 39 and 40 of the handbook including disruptive behavior that interferes with orderly School operations willfully and intentionally assaulting or threatening or physical assault or physically abusing any student or School Employees Etc the policies that I have read that are here printed up for
045consideration this evening actually break with the non-discrimination policies of the school district and by singling out students it invites harassing bullying recriminating Behavior the teachers and parents with whom I have spoken want to protect the diversity of the students since Conway schools including racial religious and gender diversity it is my understanding that during covid the school board decided not to micromanage schools and allow them to do the thing which in their experience served students best therefore The Proposal of these policies is an overreach on the part of the board and puts the school district in the dangerous position of perhaps even having to go to court to defend these policies and other um in other states similar policies have been overturned costing schools districts millions of dollars it is the goal of the good teachers
046I know here in Conway to create an environment where students feel safe and welcome and that means first creating a foundation that provides for the physiological and safety needs of students safe classrooms safe Halls personal security that all that leads to a sense of love and belonging so that students can learn the parents I know are concerned and even loving accepting families who have a non-binary children because they have learned of their own students children's depression and suicidal plans their plans students are concerned because they want to be left alone instead of being singled out they want a good education they want to enjoy their education and teachers are concerned because whatever policies you as a board pass they are the ones who have to look students in the eye and enforce those policies whether
047they believe that those policies are for the good of students are not I urge you to reject the proposed policies and let the schools continue to do the good work that they are doing thank you for your time [Applause] thank you foreign [Applause] thank you um Miss Whitworth and thank all of our patrons who presented tonight um at this time I'm going to give the board an opportunity to have comments or give you those I want to give you that opportunity Linda sure let's start um having been in this district for 33 years it is a real honor and privilege for me to serve on this school board I'm really humbled by the experience to be honest with you I've listened very intently to every speaker here I started with the intent of taking notes
048but I was trying to hear so that just didn't work out but I am going back because this is being recorded I'm going back and listening to all the speeches again and I will take notes and I as the rest of these board members I'm sure intend to reflect on those notes and what you've had to say tonight and making this decision um we've all been very respectful listening to you and absorbing what you've said and I would ask the same thing in return that that you hear what we have to say and process it that's really in my intent from this meeting forward is that this is such a passionate subject on both sides that we can move in a in a positive direction here and and for me a positive direction is one
049in which we can all listen to each other have a conversation with each other and respect each other's perspectives because they're all different but they're all important to us and we have to respect others people's perspectives and beliefs you know we've it's just kind of been bickering and fussing but that's all over the United States over some of the the situations now and you know I think about our children and they see this and they hear us fussing and bickering over this and I don't think that's a good thing our children should be watching us come together and talk and respect and come to a consensus or a compromise we've got 10 000 students in this District which means 10 to 20 000 parents in a not so perfect world it's going to be very
050hard to come up with a policy that is perfect for everybody that that's going to be really really difficult to do so what I would like to see come out of this is to come up with a policy that absolutely targets every single single student in this District every one of them we are committed as a board to make a decision based on what we feel like is in the best interest of every student in this District we are sympathetic to the challenges that students who are a different gender than their birth gender to the challenges that they face on a day-to-day basis we are absolutely sympathetic to that we are committed to provide them with safe spaces absolutely here's one concern that I have and that's that it seems that oh sorry all of
051our conversations revolve around this one group of students and we're not thinking about all the other students in the school and that's the job of this board to protect every one of them every single one of them so I want to give you a scenario it's a simple one and I I hope that you can kind of understand what the process was and the procedures here for this policy um I want you to think about a young man who identifies as the female and he does not want to go into the boys restroom he wants to use the girls restaurant now he is um gender identity there has not been any transition it's the identity that's gender now do we allow him to go in the girls restroom okay well from my perspective if we're
052looking at all the students in this District what about all those girls in that restroom that he's in do they have the right to feel comfortable do they have the right to feel safe we can't look at one child we've got to look at if I hit that one more time we have to listen to to or take care of all of them this district has followed these procedures that are outlined in this policy for I'm at my understanding four to five years and they've worked apparently not any complaints we've moved along and they've worked and we talked about it made the decision that instead of addressing this at the beginning of every year and talking about it and getting the word out to how we need to handle it let's make a policy that
053was based on practices and procedures that have been successful and that's what we tried to do here I'm asking you from the bottom of my heart to please leave here tonight and think about the whole picture think about all the kids in this district and how we can accommodate all of them and we felt like giving these transgender students an option not making them go into the bathroom of their birth identity gender identity but to give them an option to use another facility which then protects the girls in this restroom or the boys in this restaurant they tried hard to come to a middle ground here and I just challenge you and I beg you to to just go home and think about some of these things I appreciate your listening [Applause] Dr Naylor yes
054um all you guys know we had a contentious election in May it's probably the it was by far the most votes ever in a school board election so as you guys know the we represent the public that's what we do it's not about me I represent zone two so the public spoke and elected some of us and we take that very seriously um when I look at uh what Miss Hargis said I really don't have anything to add to that but when we talk about the books now these books right here are not acceptable period not acceptable and this has nothing to do with homosexual heterosexual whatever that is if this is heterosexual book it's not acceptable if it's a homosexual book with these this stuff it's not acceptable not here so I didn't see
055anybody get up and speak supporting the books now we've gotten the Freedom of Information Act from activists in Little Rock I didn't see them here and I don't know what their relationship to the school district is but as far as the books these books again are not acceptable uh my last thing I do want to thank all the people that spoke because I've spoke just like you did and it and it is stressful to get up in front of the whole room and speak and so every one of you we all have different perspectives that's what makes this uh country wonderful is we all get an opinion and we all have different perspectives but I want to thank each speaker here for coming up tonight and speaking to the board all right on any other
056comments okay um certainly I just want to say again yes thank you thank you for coming that's what this is for we wanted to be able to to listen tonight to your to your different uh uh point of views and so that's that's what this is tonight we wanted to hear you we want to listen to you and and let you know that we do hear you and we appreciate you and and I can't I usually have a little something to say but uh Miss Linda I'm proud of you see what she said what she said was we have to look at all the kids all the students and and that's what we're trying to do here moving right along uh we have our superintendent's report Mr Cullum thank you board I have a brief
057report tonight on student enrollment we're entering uh just about to complete the fourth week of school and if you can see that it's also on your computer there in front of you we are over the 10 000 Mark for student enrollment and that's big news uh that's worth a round of applause if you want to clap but to put that in perspective it's the third time in the district's history that we've topped the 10 000 marks so right now we're sitting at ten thousand and eight students uh we're going to monitor that as we approach the October 1 enrollment date but that is good news our buses are full Mr Lawrence is always advertising for more bus drivers so if you want to drive a bus here tonight come see Mr Lawrence when we're finished
058and that concludes our board report tonight student enrollment thank you all right thank you Mr Cullum um next on our agenda we have our chief financial officers report miss Robin Keane good evening board members um glad to be here this evening to present our financial report as of August 31st 2022 as you can see on our first presentation slide we have all of our building funds listed our first chart list all of our transactions for our fund balances for the month of August and the second chart list our fund balances for the year to date through the end of August and one thing I do want to point out here is in our building fund which is fund three we have a beginning balance of 12 million 000 and that is after the transfer that
059we made at the end of the 21-22 school year so I just wanted to make mention of that so with the total of all of our funds we have over a 22 million dollar balance at the end of August now moving to our salary operating and Debt Service funds our revenue report again this is as of August 31st 2022 17 of our fiscal year has elapsed I have included the budgeted amounts which we will be approving tonight but for our Revenue today for our property taxes we've collected 2.1 million dollars our state revenue 6.8 million dollars other local Revenue 173 for a total of over 9 million dollars and our total operating Revenue the total of those is a little over nine percent of our budget of Revenue at the same time last year we
060were at 9.26 so we're trending about the same as we were last year for our expenditure report as you can see we have this broken down in three different areas with salaries and benefits that's our largest expenditures we have supplies services and others in debt service and at this point we have a spent to date and also have outstanding encumbrances of a total of over 16 million dollars and at this point we're at 16.4 14 percent of our budgeted expenditures at the same time last year we were about 16.7 percent so we're trending the same as last year and then on our last report this is a multi-year comparison report again this is our salary Debt Service and operating funds um and a lot of these numbers still reflect what we just saw before this
061year for our total revenue we've received 9.11 of our budgeted Revenue last year again we were trending about the same and then we've also have expended 16.14 of our expenditure budget that does also include encumbrances we actually have about paid that out but we have obligated those funds and again we are trending about the same as we were last year any questions on the financials as presented thank you test all right at this time um thank you Miss Keane at this time we're going to ask attorneys Beckett Billingsley and keys Mr J Beckett thank you Mr Beckett for coming good evening Mr President all right so we're introducing two policies for a 30-day read proposed policy 4.20 use of bathrooms affected by gender and board policy or proposed policy 4.56.2 assignment of Roommates while traveling
062overnight by trips you have those proposed policies in your packets and I stand available to answer any questions you all may have about those policies that are in addition or in follow-up to the discussions we've had at board workshops the past few weeks what does anyone have any questions Mr Beckett are you seeing many policies like this drafted across the country or but just talk to that you know just anecdotally Mr President yes we are seeing both board policies that look like these policies in addition to that we're also seeing state legislatures past laws that are similar informed these policies so the answer is yes I don't know of any data to show how prominent these policies are across the country but certainly from an anecdotal standpoint yes they're being passed both by Boards and
063by state legislatures all right thank you very good all right thank you so much we've been working very closely with Mr Beckett uh on these two policies so basically we're those are there for a 30-day read we've got time to keep you know talking and dialoguing and and all of that so uh this time we're going to ask Mr Jason black yes good evening board um real quick we've got a 4.4 student transfers we're bringing this policy to you hopefully you've had a time to take a look at it it's pretty straightforward we're asking that you you take a look at this and and we're wanting to move it from every month that we review student transfer requests out of the district to once every quarter so after each grading period any questions why are
064we what are we looking at these student transfers can you just kind of give everybody a what we're trying to do here yeah we talked a little bit about this in a workshop we went through the the efficiency uh the ease of doing it during a grading period it's a natural transition for kids it makes more sense for our teachers for our staff for the board for for our administrators when we're looking at it from that vantage point to do it once a quarter bring those to you I think if we did it this way we'd be looking at October January and April is when we bring those before you does that make sense yes okay any questions I guess no one has questions all right thank you all right thank you Dr Keisha Jefferson
065good evening board and I won't be before you long I've got good numbers for us we did a lot of hiring here in the district with uh retirements resignations and just uh new bodies and so we brought in a total of 224 jobs is what we had total posted which is I know but it's amazing and and so many of those for were Wonder ones uh one to one you know one resignation or one retirement and one hiring I'm really about to impress you now 25 positions as of yesterday 20 classified five licensed still open we do have uh certified subs and most of those uh class certified positions we do and as of today we're down to three we have two interviews tomorrow but my data I collected was as of yesterday any questions
066keyboard all right thank you Jason Lawrence coach Clint Ashcraft good evening I've been asked to give you a final update on the scoreboard project that's been a huge deal we've been working on this for about four years between baseball softball and then getting over to the stadium into the arena we want to make sure that we are fully transparent on the cost and as we stated in the beginning the project will ultimately be financed through our Community Partners who are advertising with us it's a much needed project and I believe we're ready already reaping benefits uh both financially and more importantly giving those students a great opportunity to be involved and learn skills that they could even take into a job and other opportunities um so we've had a lot of conversations a lot of
067people involved I've had some frustrations uh you know with the install and all that trying to make sure it's that they're meeting their timelines uh but the boards are up and running and uh I think we can all be proud of it I know that the partners who have uh joined with us to help Finance this I've talked to a few of them and I think that they're happy with the final results also uh so to make sure that we are transparent Mr column asked me to give this a final cost report we knew that there would be some owner provided work they will not just come out and do a turnkey we had to bring electricity to the top of the arena and uh connect with Conway Corps to get some extra power out
068at the at the stadium there were a couple of change orders that needed to be taken care of uh typically uh Mr Harrell would take care of these out of his budget they're typically not very big purchases um we need to stay on on time so we went ahead and did those change orders to make sure that it um we met the timelines and have a scoreboard out there for football season and for volleyball season so uh there was some of these items snuck up on us uh we did have to pay for uh bidden performance bonds that's required for anything over 35 000 so we had to get those uh it was three thousand six hundred forty one dollars uh we had to rework the ad panels in the arena because we were going
069to just put them over what we had it didn't fit so we had to uh um we had to rework those ad panels and then electrical service at the stadium service at the arena and um um those were about seventeen thousand dollars each um we had uh soil simple at the stadium they wanted to make sure that the the um it didn't the ground would hold up you know under underneath the uh scoreboard and one that was really frustrating was um their their scissor lift to go into the arena would not make the corner and get in there so we had to rent scaffolding and they had to climb and pull that up and that was about fourteen thousand dollars so um so uh so in the end with all these costs included a little
070sticker shock a little more than what we had asked for but it was one million seven thousand and seven hundred dollars um I think the original po was for uh 932 thousand dollars the good news uh is coach Ashcraft and Coach Hughes um and our partners come together to raise 1.35 million so we're still 342 thousand dollars uh in the good on this project so that's going to be able to uh not only help maintain the boards but um uh supplement that athletic department also because you know they only work off of uh ticket sales and they have to pay officials and and those things uh security and and whatnot we've already received about 35 to 40 percent of those funds uh one partner wrote one check and um and then the others have paid
071paid in so of that you know near million dollars forty percent of it's already been paid uh paid into us uh so and we're still holding with that promises won't be a problem to complete that project we say eight years but it'll probably be quicker than that that the district will be uh refunded for that uh the kids in Miss Lankford have taken over Coach Ashcraft and I thought we were pretty cool up there during the the uh scrimmage games you know making it say touchdown or nice bike or whatever and uh the kids come in here and say get out of our way let us show you how to do it and um they uh they they've gone away from some of the stock Graphics they've already created their own Graphics um they set
072up ads to run continuously on that one side they have video and replay coming in um and uh they'll soon add other cameras get some sideline shots and you know the student Cam and the band Cam and and all that that they'll be able to just push buttons and pull it up there so uh I'm gonna let um actually I went to uh University of Arkansas game Saturday and I found myself which I'm a traditionalist I believe in in grass and uh no scoreboards I mean no boards like that but I found myself watching it the whole day so our kids could do that our kids could do that and and they will get there I'm going to let Coach Ashcraft finish to talk a little bit more about students and and what uh what
073he's doing with the money good evening board I think you all know if you've been in any of the games we've got our 12 sponsors uh that we've partnered with for this project uh like Jason said those 12 sponsors we offered them six and eight year contracts and some of them just have gone ahead and paid their whole six or eight year contract up front uh the way that we have set this up so that the board gets paid back in in a quick manner as well as athletic department benefits each time we receive a check from one of our our partners ninety percent goes back into the building fund which is where the board was paid for or paid from and then 10 will go into the athletic department we're using that for cameras
074computers uh things tied to this board as well as if there's money left over at the end just for General athletic expenses that we incur throughout the year and trying to build up our budget in the athletic department uh actually there's a we've had some more money come in as of today we've already received 430 four thousand dollars of this project so it's forty three percent paid for today and uh our goal is to have it all paid back in eight years but I think we're going to be ahead of schedule so just wanted to share that and then our six-legged production class that's what they've deemed themselves we've used some of this one we bought them all polos so that they can wear them out there on Friday nights they're in the arena right
075now we're playing north side and volleyball so they're in there working uh Miss Langford stepped in we lost our teacher that was going to teach this class the week before school started and Mr Bean was able to bring Miss Langford to the table we talked to her she was excited about it and the class is already growing they're doing a phenomenal job and the class is just going to continue to get better so just want to give you an update on on how the money was working as far as the expense side and then let you know how well the class is going this this fast three weeks into school any questions 40 and questions thank you thank you coach Ashcraft coach I guess you need a motion uh I guess we need a motion
076board we need a motion to approve the purchase orders for the scoreboard projects Soul move second all in favor say aye aye aye um next we have miss Robin King our Chief Financial Officer hello again this is a big night we're approving our operating budget and you'll you should find at your seat there should be a packet of detailed information on the budget we're actually going to have two motions based on this one document but first i'm going to be presenting the 2022-23 operating budget I'm going to present a balanced budget for the 22-23 year if you look at the yellow section of this document I'm going to highlight going from going from the top down to the bottom but you can see that we started with a fun balance of six million dollars and
077historically this District ends a year with six million dollars so that's our beginning balance our Revenue budget is composed of local Revenue state revenue and also some other local Revenue which could be somewhat of federal revenue our local revenue is total of 52 million seven hundred and thirteen thousand dollars that represents 73 percent of our total revenue but forty excuse me 53 percent of our total revenue budget we did see over a seven percent increase in our assessment due to reassessment in the county and we did base our budget on a collection of between 97 and 98 collection rate on our tax revenue our state revenue is a total of 46 million eight hundred fifty four dollars this represents 47 percent of our Revenue budget we did see a decrease in our foundation funding due
078to the loss of enrollment um last year and that's based on our third quarter ADM from the previous year however as Mr column did report we are seeing experiencing current year growth so we can factor in most likely growth funding for this current year with those components of our Revenue budget our total revenue budget is 99 million six hundred and twenty four thousand four hundred and forty five dollars now moving to the expenditure side I do want to go back and say on a revenue side this budget is comprised of state revenue which is not only foundation funding but it also includes our categorical funding such as Esa professional development English language Learners are in Alternative Learning we also have Pre-K ABC funding um career and all the different types of State funding that we
079get so this is all combined within that state revenue on the expenditure budget again we have this broken out in different categories salaries and benefit which is our largest portion of our budget with any school district this is the largest expenditure that you have this represents 78 percent of our expenditure budget this and in our salaries and benefits that includes a 1 1.25 percent raise that was infused in our current salary schedules that we're paying out that this budget also includes a 500 bonus to be paid this year it includes an increase to our teacher retirement employer contribution to 15 it was at 14.75 last year and by state law it did move up to 15 percent it also includes an increase to health insurance premium that will go into effect January of 2023. currently
080we pay 199 over 100 right at two hundred dollars per month that we contribute on behalf of our employees and then we will be moving that to 330 dollars the minimum will be three hundred dollars that's required by State starting in January and we pay approximately thirty dollars more over currently and so we're going to make it make sure everyone is whole and keep that thirty dollars above the required minimum foreign the next section of our budget is purchase Services supplies and materials and capital outlay and that comprises 13 percent of our expenditure budget our debt service this is approximately nine percent of our expenditure budget and when you compare our payment our own payment increased 2.2 million dollars compared to last year and the reason for that is we had a bond refund savings
081and we realized most of our savings up front and so that's that's we realize those savings and move those into the building fund last year so our total expenditure budget is 99 million 624 445 dollars again this is a balanced budget with our expenditures and our revenues uh equally in the same thing and then projecting our ending fund balance again to be six million dollars so that is the budget as presented do you have any questions regarding the budget what are any questions need a motion to approve the 2022-2023 operating budget as presented salt move second all in favor say aye okay um the next item I want to present is the annual financial report for the 21-22 school year we also have to have this approved as we submit this in our cycle report
082to the state and so if you look at column B on the document that's on the overhead and also there at your at your seat I do want to point out a couple of the same things as I pointed out with the budget we did begin the year with a six million dollar legal fund balance and we had total revenue of 98 million seven hundred and twenty six thousand dollars 51 percent of that was local tax revenue and 49 of that was state revenue our total expenditures again were the same 98 million 726 000 which included a transfer to the building fund of a total of 5 million three hundred and eight thousand eight hundred and seventy eight dollars that allowed us after that transfer we had a building fund balance of 12 million five
083hundred ninety six thousand dollars and then with the revenue and expenditures we did end the year with a six million dollar fund balance so any questions on the 2122 annual financial report is the uh million is that with the 6 million counted or the 6 million is added on to that no the 6 million is our operating budget and then the 12.5 million is a totally separate building fund budget so we have a fund balance in our operating of six million dollars and then we have 12.5 million dollars in our building foot so two separate funds gotcha thank you all right so Boyd I need a motion to approve the 2021-2022 annual financial report second all in favor say aye aye all right thank you Miss Keane all right board let's see we've got uh
084several resignations and quite a number of Elections we've all had a chance to look at those does anyone have any questions if not I need a motion to approve the Personnel recommendations as presented so move need a second all in favor say aye aye all right let's have it at this time the board will take a brief recess and go into a for executive session for a closed hearing for the purpose of taking care of a Personnel matter thank you okay at this time I would like to call our school board meeting back into session I do want to um say that I recused myself from the decision because I know this family very very well so I recuse myself of turn it over to Jeff please go back in a session for a decision
085on the superintendent's recommendation of termination do we have a motion we do okay I moved at the school board for the Conway School District except the superintendent's recommendation that the employment contract of Miss Rita Mason be terminated is there a second second all those in favor any opposed all right is there any further business on the agenda you adjourn second all in favor all right all right thank you thank you just a second though when I would like to thank Miss Wilson for your service to our district thank you