001[music] >> Good evening. I would like to call the school board meeting for Tuesday, April 21st, 2026 for the Des Moines Public Schools to order. Ms. Rios, would you please take the roll? Yes. Ms. Alonso? Here. Ms. Campos? Here. Mr. Dix? Here. Ms. Hopkins? Here. >> [snorts] >> Mr. Howell? Here. Ms. Martrano? Here. Dr. Mayberry-Maze? Here. We have quorum. Thank you. The first item of of business is approval of the agenda. May I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda? I make a motion. Second, Howell. We have a motion by Dix and a second by Howell. Is there any discussion or any questions? Board members, please cast your votes. Ms. [snorts] Alonso? Alonso, yes. The vote is approved 7 to 0. Next on the agenda is public forum. Dr. Mayberry-Maze. >> [clears
002throat] >> We provide speakers at the forum an opportunity to address the board for up to 3 minutes regarding items that are not on the board agenda and up to 5 minutes for an agenda item. If anyone wishes to speak during any portion of the business meeting, please email [email protected]. The same speaking protocols apply to all individuals who wish to address the board. Speakers will be called individually and we ask that they state their name and zip code prior to providing comments. Students and minors do not have to provide their addresses. Guests of the board are encouraged to speak to matters relating to the programs, services, and operations of DMPS. Please remember that Iowa law prohibits us from discussing specific employees or their job performance. We ask all speakers to avoid reference to personalities or
003character attacks, as those types of comments do not contribute to the purpose for which this public forum exist. The use of inappropriate language will not be tolerated and individuals choosing to do so will be gavelled out of order and asked to excuse themselves from the premises or escorted out by district security. As a reminder to the board and public, the board will not engage in a discussion with public forum speakers, as it is our obligation to discuss only matters posted in the public agenda for the sake of transparency and opportunity afforded to all community stakeholders. Matters requiring attention will receive appropriate staff and or board follow-up at a time after the meeting. Thanks for your participation and we appreciate your feedback and input. Ms. Rios, do we have any speakers for the public forum? Yes,
004we do. I'd like to call Caitlin Hanson. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening. Caitlin Hanson. I am a Focus case manager and my zip code is 50237, but in my heart 50310. Uh [laughter] this evening, um I would like to highlight Focus's therapy dog and the use of therapy animals in Des Moines Public Schools. Uh we know and it's been studied and proven that even being in the vicinity of a therapy dog can lower heart rates. Um interacting with a therapy animal has proven to improve both physical and mental health. Um the ARL of Iowa has a Therapets program in which volunteers who are trained and their personal pets who are also trained are able to come and visit schools and uh anyone who in their facility would like to have the students visit with
005a therapy animal can contact the ARL and um anyone who is interested in turning their beloved animal, which is more than just dogs, uh cats, birds, um all shapes and sizes, uh can look up uh reputable therapy animal organizations and the ARL is a great starting point. Um and I again uh extend an invitation to everyone at the board to attend the Focus graduation ceremony on May 16th, where you might just be able to see our very own therapy dog in his graduation regalia. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Madam Chair, those are all the speakers I have signed up. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is our district recognition. Superintendent Smith, will you introduce the recognitions for today? I will. Good evening, everyone. I'm pleased to share a few highlights
006this evening as a part of our regular school board recognitions. First, a year doesn't go by when the good work of our communications team is not recognized at the state and national level. In the 2026, that is no different. At the recent Iowa School Publication Relations Association's conference, I need to take a break after that one. Let me say it again. At the recent Iowa School Public Relations Association's conference, our DMPS team was present was presented with nine awards including two blue and gold awards representing a perfect score in that particular category. The work winning honors represented their efforts in videography, graphic design, and photography. Congratulations to Phil, Amanda, Adam, Kyle, John, and Amy, and thank you for the support you provide each day to recognize and promote our students, our teachers, our schools, and
007our communities. >> [applause] >> Also, congratulations to our human resources team, in particular Peter LeBlanc and Theron Hobbs, for being the recipients of the 2026 SEED Coalition President's Award for Community Partnership. This honor highlights their work building a strong partnership with Grand View University and creating new pathways for Des Moines Public School staff to become licensed special education teachers. This collaboration is strengthening our workforce and will lead to greater student outcomes in the future. Congratulations, Peter and Theron. >> [applause] >> We are not done yet. From student scholarships to teacher of the year awards, our friends at the Rotary Club of Des Moines have been long-time partners with uh Des Moines Public Schools and supporters of our students, our staff, and our families. And we recently had the opportunity to celebrate this year's teacher of
008the year who they recognized. Congratulations. We've got several of them. John McAllister of Alternative Pathways, Ryan Cooning of East High School, Rachel Andrews of Coles Montessori, Kelly Carpenter of Hanawalt Elementary School, and Nancy Cots of Morris Elementary School. Congratulations to each of you. >> [applause] >> And also, finally, in terms of these recognitions, we got one more coming up after this one, though. Hundreds of people filled Hoover's Hoover's-McCrain um McCrain Stadium last night for the All-City Middle School track meet. All 10 of our middle schools had student athletes competing and a big congratulations to Callanan for winning both boys and girls team titles last night. Yes. And speaking of track and field, we have no classes at DMPS this Friday and that's because every student can attend the Drake Relays for free. Our friends at
009Drake University have provided a voucher, which has been shared with every DMPS family for a free ticket to the Relays. Students in grades K through 8 must be accompanied by an adult, while high school students simply need to show their voucher and their school ID. It is supposed to be a beautiful day on Friday and encourage everyone to take advantage of the opportunity to see some world-class athletes competing here in Des Moines. And also, and lastly, we have a quick sort of conversation tonight with Dr. Kelsey Muchka and Jennifer Scott who's going to talk to us about tech apprenticeships, because that program has really taken off. Come on up. Yes, please. Okay, either way. Great. Good evening, everybody. Thank you so much. We're excited to be here. Um Kyle, do you have our slides for
010us? We've got a few slides for you. Um Jen and I are here to present to you tonight. Uh a while ago, I had got to have a conversation with Anna Campos just about what we're doing with internships and we realized like we've got some real celebrations to share. Um so tonight, we're here to tell you what we've done that's been great um and what we what we want to do next. Um but we wanted to start. Kyle, if you want to go to the next one, we we did want to start with kind of an overview. We just had a video done uh about Central Campus that we wanted to share just kind of the magic of what's happening here this year. >> [music] >> In the heart of Des Moines, there is a
011place many pass without realizing the doors it opens. [music] A place where curiosity becomes craft, >> [music] >> where imagination is sharpened by discipline, and where students [music] are invited not only to learn, but to discover who they might become. >> [music] >> The morning [music] Central Campus is more than classrooms and hallways. It is a crossroads of possibility. Big Camp, can you send her, please? Here, students [music] from across the region gather bringing different stories, backgrounds, and [music] dreams. And sharing the same quiet determination to go further. >> [music] >> Inside these walls, education moves beyond textbooks. >> [music] >> Ideas are tested. Skills are forged. Passions begin [music] to take shape. Because true education is more than knowledge alone. It is the courage [music] to think deeply, to question [music] all, The hottest
012part is cut that sound. and to grow not only academically, [music] but foster character. >> [music] >> For more than 40 years, Central Campus has been a hidden cornerstone of opportunity in [music] our city. Guiding thousands of students toward futures they once only [music] imagined. A place where potential meets purpose. >> [music] >> And where the future of our community begins. Um, if you can Yeah, I know, right? [applause] Yeah. I have chills every time. Um, yeah, so that was just produced, if you can believe it, all that was shot in one day. Like, that was one day that uh we had Estuary Motion come and they shot with our students. Um, so the film and broadcasting, and that was just I mean, it's incredible. That's just what was happening in one day. So, we'll
013get started. First, we want to give some thank yous. If you want to keep going, Kyle. Um, we just want to We couldn't do any of this work with that hasn't been supported, first of all, from the board and goal three, Superintendent Smith and Director Brown, the incredible staff at CC, and our our awesome students, uh cuz they're the ones that make the magic work. Okay, next, Kyle. Um, and then I already shared. We're going to share two things that we've already accomplished and kind of what's next on our goals. So, we're going to talk tech apprenticeships and our summer programming. Essentially, we're talking to you about paid paid employment for our students. How do we get our students engaged in internships? Specifically, most of the time when you hear internships, you think, "Oh, yeah,
014they're going to John Deere, they're going to Ruon." We're talking about internships right here where DMPS is both the sponsor and the employer because it is a win-win-win. Um, okay. Next one. So, the This is a picture of our team for this year. So, in October of 2023, Jen Scott and I met with the Matt Smith um to talk through a proposal that we had asking for some funds to get this tech apprenticeship up and off the ground. He said yes. Thank you, Matt Smith. Um, after that, we launched in November of 2024, we hired seven students to go into each of the home high schools plus Central Campus and Academy to be the tech person in their school. So, they are the ones that the the first call uh that the BTSs can work
015with solving everything from helping new new teachers put up projectors to getting the Dorito crumbs out of the USB ports. Um, which is true. And so, uh our students did an incredible job. Six out of the seven finished, one had a health issue and he could not finish. Um, the other six completed the entire year. Um, Neal Schroeder called it a win-win-win um because our district his district techs had to come and solve a lot less problems because our students solved most of them. Um, our high schools had much quicker response time. The uh A lot of these students are well-known. They're colleagues of our staff uh because they are the ones who are responding to the problems. So, it is a much-needed help on site and on the buildings. And then these students who
016you see on the screen, um all of them started their IPERS uh this year. They are getting paid. They are building a resume. And I can tell you um I actually did my dissertation. So, I I This was the work that I chose to study deeply. If you want to read it, you'll be the only other person than my mother who has. But, uh really the understanding of not just the technical capacities that our students were gaining, but the the social professional competencies that were gained. Um, all of them said that there was a massive difference in how they talked to teachers, how they talked to peers, how they felt about themselves. Um, so we're very excited. Our first year, we hired seven um and six finished. This year, we hired 10 and all 10
017are on track. It's been a really phenomenal program. I'm really proud. Yeah. Next slide, please, Kyle. Okay. So, I want to just uh fill in the gaps a little bit here, back up even before fall of 2023 into summer of 2023 and just describe a little bit about our program history and our growth. So, um like I said, we started in the summer of 2023, five interns, about $35,000. That was a grant, a competitive grant that we uh won uh through Iowa Workforce Development. And we started with one occupation, and that was the the um computer tech that Kelsey has been speaking about. Um, from that experience, we learned that um uh we built a pilot program and we validated our assumption that students desire um real paid work-based learning experiences that connect back to
018their classroom learning. So, with that, we went into the summer of 2024. Um, we shot for the stars. Kelsey is think big or go home. I'm aim small uh miss small, but we went with We went with Kelsey's philosophy that year and uh shot for $100,000. We were fully funded at $98,743, again through Iowa Workforce Development. We hired uh 27 interns and we expanded from one occupation, computer tech, to six occupations that were within Central Campus. And then we also partnered with uh Bill Malone, Neal Schrader at DMPS Technology. Um, and as you can see from our outcome, we validated emphasizing our outcome from the previous year. This is what students want to do. It's meaningful for them. They're going to work anyhow. They want to connect that work to their classroom learning. We added
019a 100% attendance goal. So, we're super proud about that. Um, going into summer 2025, um unfortunately, we were not funded that year. And that can be the peril of seeking competitive funding sources. It just wasn't our year. Um, but we got back on the horse this year. And in summer 2026, we have uh we kind of went after a multi-pronged approach in case one didn't come through. Um, and so we're looking at several different funding sources hoping to hire more than 50 interns. $170,000 would be our budget. Um, and that's still all in progress. Kyle, if you can go to the next screen, you'll see a little bit more detailed. I'm going to work from the bottom up. Um, our aquarium, as you know, is 100% student-run. Um, most summers, most weekends, most holidays, that
020is volunteer time. Um, a couple of times we have been able to hire paid volunteers. We also have um what we call lead interns. So, those particular interns are not only getting work experience in the uh aquarium, they're also getting leadership experience experience, learning how to manage employees, so to speak. Um, they're working with Dr. Berard and Mr. uh Embry. And um managing the 10 interns that would be under them. So, uh we hope to hire 12 interns there. We're funded at $35,000. You may have heard that we received a STEM Best Grant, $50,000. We're building out eight welding bays. Um, I think one of the uh clinchers into us getting that grant is that we committed to those eight welding bays will be built by our welding students. So, we will hire four or
021five welding students this summer. Uh they will work on that project and they will be supervised by their welding teachers. Um, the last two opportunities, uh we have partnered with Talent Collective, formerly Avenue Scholars. Um, they have secured $45,000 in funding to run a skilled trades camp where those students those interns will be participating in simulated work experiences in the skilled trades. We're still waiting to find out um if we will receive the $40,000 to run the the IT tech camp. I would call it an internship. And what that will do is that will provide an additional beyond the tech interns that you saw in the pictures already, that would provide Mr. uh Schrader and Bill Malone an additional 25 interns to help with summer work. So, that would be projects at Walnut School and
022with with the phone system over the summer. They have other projects, but they have some really huge ones and we want to get them 25 more sets of hands to get on those things this summer. So, that's what we're hoping for, but that one's still pending. That intern right there is Leo Cassidy. What is very interesting with these these pictures and these opportunities is um these students don't always make eye contact with you and they don't always smile at you, but through these experiences, you start to see more and more engagement through their emotions and connecting with you on a human level. So, pictures like that of Leo right there, they say a thousand words, right? Um, so yeah. Um before I go on to where we're headed, I want to pause and stop just
023a little bit about why this work um is important. Um most importantly, student impact, which I've touched upon a little bit. Um it's also important to DMPS as an employer, not just an educator, and then to um our surrounding uh community. We're providing clear post secondary pathways that relate back directly back to students' ICAPs. Um we're providing innovative and um alternative uh uh pathways to a diploma, as you guys have envisioned through diploma plus and and goal three. We're aligning all of our opportunities to high needs workforce areas within the the metro or the surrounding area. And as I alluded to before, um we're not only strengthening DMPS as an educator, um but also putting you in the forefront as an employer. Um I really feel like when uh families in the surrounding area are
024making a choice between DMPS and another school, this is one of those things that we can we just like Central Campus and the signature schools that that we're building, this is one of those things that we can push out to our community that is innovative. It's first in the area and um our students are are killing it out the park, so. Where we're headed, potential expansion areas. These are where we have Well, first of all, we're going to do a little bit of rebranding. Um our previous model, kind of our pilot programs, were called grow your own. Um we would like to rebrand to um campus to careers internships at DMPS. We think it has a nice little ring to it. And we're top rate uh we're hoping to expand into operations, transportation, and communications,
025Mr. Roder. >> [laughter] >> Um so, throughout our experience, Kyle, can you go to the next screen? Thank you. Um so, out throughout our experience, we've we've learned a few things. Um we do know that sustainability and scale will require intentional investment. And so, that's part of our our our our plea and our pitch to you tonight. I don't think we have to uh plea too hard. We know that you all agree that this is very important work. Um but there are a few things where we know that we can grow in and we'd really appreciate your support. Um buy-in and capacity among our our DMPS departments. Um we've worked well with DMPS technology. I think that they can provide a first-hand affidavit on how it's not just been a positive experience for our students,
026but it's been, like Kelsey said, a win-win-win for that department as well. And we want to take that model and those outcomes into other departments across DMPS. Um with that, we do have a desire for more stable funding. Uh we will continue to hustle after grants. Um but we would like to see uh departments write student employment, student work-based learning into their their budgets if it's at all possible. And then um another opportunity would just be uh staffing and responsibilities in terms of um leveraging our friends in talent and personnel, building in uh no, excuse me, business and finance, who have all been great so far. It's been a little bumpy here and there, but they've worked with us to work out the kinks. But I want to make sure that our students have access
027to fair, equitable um hiring practices and that they know their resources in those departments so that they have just as positive an experience um being employed at DMPS as I have and many other people have here at at Des Moines. So, with that, these are the outcomes that we foresee. Um we want to take you take us from early wins to district-wide outcomes, specifically focusing and helping you all achieve that um uh diploma plus, raising that percentage to 60-some percent within uh goal three. And then um most importantly, uh we would like to grow the amount of opportunities that we have for our students such that all students, any student that shows that they're ready, has access to high-quality work-based learning opportunities, whether that's internships, apprenticeships, school-based enterprise, um simulated work experience, project-based learning, whatever
028it is, we want to make sure that um if you come to DMPS, you're guaranteed that type of experience. So, with that, I would like to say thank you and invite you all back to Central Campus. I know many of you've been there, but you're welcome anytime, and we especially enjoy enjoy when you come when our students are um in session and doing work-based learning, of course. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much. >> [applause] >> And I don't we can't top that. So, that concludes this evening's recognitions. Thank you. All excellent jobs. >> We will move to the consent agenda. As a reminder to the board and public, the board will not engage in discussion or deliberation with a speaker regarding comments made to an agenda item. Discussion and deliberation will remain among board
029members at the board table with speakers' comments informing the board's discussion, deliberation, and determinations as deemed necessary. Ms. Rios, do we have any speakers? No speakers. Thank you. Dr. Mayberry-Maze, I believe that you have the consent motion. I move that the board approve the consent items in accordance with the recommended action for each item on the consent agenda, including previously authorized, certified, and approved for payment by the board secretary in the amount of $3,674,389.09. We have a motion. Is there a second? Uh second by Campos. Motion by Mayberry-Maze and a second by Campos. Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? Board members, please cast your votes. Ms. Alonzo. Alonzo, yes. The consent items are approved 7 to 0. Next, we have a few public hearings. The first item is E1, FY2027 proposed
030budget adoption and certification. The public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone wishing to speak to this item? Hearing no one, I will close the public hearing. Superintendent Smith, would you please introduce the matter? I recommend the board adopt and certify the proposed budget for FY2027 following the public hearing and presentation. Although there is no presentation tonight, cuz I think we've done that. >> We've done that, yes. May I have a motion and a second to approve this item? Move to approve. Alonzo, second. We have a motion by Mayberry-Maze and a second by Alonzo. I will now request CFO Shashank Aurora to come and present this item to the board. Is there an any additional presentation needed? >> Nope. No. No additional presentation. All right, is there any discussion or does anyone have any
031questions? >> [snorts] >> Board members, please cast your votes. Alonzo, yes. The vote is approved 7 to 0. Next item is E2, FY2026 budget amendment. The public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone wishing to speak to this public hearing? Hearing no one, I will close the public hearing. Superintendent Smith, would you please introduce the matter? I recommend the board approve the budget amendment for FY2026 as presented following the public hearing. May I have a motion and a second to approve this item? Dix, so moved. Hopkins, second. We have a motion by Dix and a second by Hopkins. Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? Board members, please cast your votes. Alonzo, yes. The vote is approved 7 to 0. Next item is E3, public hearing on the sale of student
032devices. This public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone wishing to speak to this item? Hearing no one, I will close the public hearing. Superintendent Smith, will you please introduce the matter? I recommend the board approve the sale of student devices and miscellaneous broken and decommissioned electric equipment after the public hearing. May I have a motion and a second to approve this item? So moved, Howell. Campos, second. We have a motion by Howell and a second by Campos. Does anyone have any questions or is there any discussion? Board members, please cast your votes. Alonzo, yes. The vote is approved 7 to 0. Next item on our agenda is items for first review for future action. Um we have uh we'll move to our first review for future action items. The item is F1, board
033policy updates. Next, we have our information-only items. G1 is a list of bills paid. G2 is a list of new hires. And next on the agenda is items of privilege. Um I would like to ask if our board members would like to share anything. I would like to Go on. [laughter] Go ahead. take this opportunity to share um uh an incredible thank you to Ms. Rosie Rios for all that she does for the board on this Administrative Professionals Week. Um much of what you do is behind the scenes and isn't always um noticed or recognized, so I appreciate the opportunity to share with everyone how grateful we are for your professionalism, your expertise, your kindness, um and um you are just you make the wheels on this bus spin seamlessly, um and we are truly
034grateful. So, just a small token of our appreciation uh and hope you uh stay with us forever, even though I know that you have Thank you so much, board members. It's a pleasure to sit at the table and an honor to sit with you and help you guys out. Thank you. Thank you, Rosie. Thank you, Rosie. >> Thank you, Rosie. You're welcome. Well, I imagine many of the other board members are going to try to jump in here, so I'm going to go first because many of us were able to attend the DMPS Foundation dinner last week and I have the unique pleasure and benefit along with Sarah to serve as a board member not only for the board, but also on the DMPS Foundation. I want to say thank you to the rest of
035those board members. I couldn't be more proud of the work that they're doing. This gala that that they curate, I can't even take credit for it. I just kind of sit in the meeting sometimes, but this gala, this dinner that's created raises money, it raises awareness, it magnifies and highlights the talent and the diversity within our district in ways that you can't replicate or buy in some of our neighboring districts. It is powerful and there's really not a whole lot of words you can use to even describe the experience. So, I would encourage anyone who has not been before to please go and visit next year in the future years. Um it is truly a mesmerizing event and thank you so much to that board for their vision and their continuous work. Um a 100%
036volunteer-based board doing that level of work is impressive. You're here. So, that and also I can't Oh, go ahead, Maria. No, you go ahead. You go ahead. Well, I was just going to say >> Because I think I can just say ditto after you speak. >> [laughter] >> I would just I agree Skyler with the the foundation all that work. That was my first time going and that was it was an amazing event. I also want to lift up and recognize the North High Booster event that happened on Saturday and the wonderful work that and all the work that goes into creating those events. Uh the booster club does such great work to raise money and funds to support our students and so shout out to Chad Ryan and everybody else who was organizing that.
037That was a fun night. Those that missed it, um it was a 90s theme. I'll just say that. We want pictures. I just want to say congratulations to the um uh Roosevelt Theater Department for putting on another great production this year. They had some challenges, but put on a great production of Mean Girls um and Sally and I were able to to go over and see that and then I just wanted to say thank you to the leadership and staff at Cattell Elementary for um hosting Sarah and I uh for another visit. These visits that we're uh able to do during the day just give us a such a a great view into and beyond what we're talking about here at the uh at the table when we think about reading and how it's getting
038done and the challenges that are in front of our students and our staff. Um it just really is invaluable to to see that. So, just thank you uh for making the time and if we haven't seen your school yet, we're we're coming. So, uh you're on the list. Can I say something? Uh por favor, just about North. Um I also was able to attend the gala. Thank you, Ryan, for the invitation. And it was extremely heartwarming for me to see um administration staff um see see them interact the way they interacted um loving on one another, acknowledging one another um the the love with which they serve um our students was is amazing. Um so great job to everyone that worked um to put that together and thank you again for that invite. It was
039amazing. All right. Now that we're talking about booster clubs, I'm going to put a um little plug in for um East High School this weekend uh in Pleasant Hill they their band is going to do a booster brunch um at the Copper Creek Golf Club um to help raise funds for them to go to um competitions. So, uh that's my little plug. I will be there because I love brunch. So, if anybody wants to join me um it's at Copper Creek Golf Club uh uh from 10:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Hey. Sunday. Thank you, everyone. I will now turn it over to Superintendent Smith for the Superintendent's report. Uh just briefly um I just wanted to take a moment to thank the leadership teams and bargaining teams of DMEA, AFSCME, ESP. Um we've got a
040really really strong relationship and it continues to grow and um we've got uh you know, we're close to tentative agreements there with actually we have tentative agreements with everybody actually and um we're finalizing just the details of those agreements and just want to say again how much um we appreciate and how grateful for we are um for the heart, spirit and collaboration that you show up with um in all of those meetings and each and every day for our kids and for our staff. So, thank you again. Thank you. Uh thank you all for joining us this evening. We are greatly appreciate you all and uh this meeting is adjourned at 6:05 p.m. We will transition into closed closed session uh so, we will have to ask everyone to Are we staying here? Uh after
041we move on. Okay. Um uh we will transition into closed session, so we will ask everyone to um unfortunately leave the room.