December 9, 2025 DMPS Board Meeting & Work Session

001[music] Heat. [music] I would like to call the school board meeting for Tuesday, December 9th, 2020 2020 2025 for the De Mo public schools to order. Miss Rios, will you please take the role? >> Of course. Miss Alonso >> here. >> Miss Compos. >> Trying to figure out which mic's mine, but here. >> Mr. Dixs >> here. >> Miss Hopkins >> here. Powell >> here. >> Miss Martrono >> here. >> Dr. Mayberry Maize >> here. We have quorum. The first item of business is approval of the agenda. May I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda? >> Dick. So moved. >> Alonso second. >> We have a motion by Dixs and a second by Alonzo. Is there any discussion or does anyone have questions? Board members, please cast your votes. The motion

002is approved. The vote is approved. 70. Next on the agenda is public forum. >> I don't think my mic's working. Is my mic working? >> It's off. Let me turn it on. >> Would you? >> There you go. >> Thank you. We provide speakers at the forum an opportunity to address the board for up to three minutes regarding items that are not on the board agenda and up to five minutes for an agenda item. If anyone wishes to speak during any portion of the business meeting, please email rosa.riosdmsschools.org. 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

003board are encouraged to speak to matters relating to 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 references to personalities or character attacks as those types of comments do not contribute to the purpose for which this public forum exists. The use of inappropriate language will not be tolerated and any individual choosing to do so will be gave out of order and asked to excuse themselves from the premises or escorted out by district security. As a reminder to the board and the 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 the opportunity afforded to

004all community stakeholders. Matters requiring attention will receive appropriate staff and/or board follow-up at a time after the meeting. Thank you for your participation. We appreciate your feedback and input. Are there any speakers? >> Yes. First up, I'd like to call Sheree Martis. Good evening, board. Hello. Am I there? Yeah, I'm there. Good evening, board, and thank you for this opportunity to speak. And good evening to the De Moines Public School residents who are listening tonight. My name is Sheree Ortiz. I live on the east side of De Moines and I am a retired De Mo public school teacher, a proud member of Iowa Citizens for Community Community Improvement and a member of the De Mo public school strong team. We recently scored an incredibly exciting school bond victory during a very turbulent time in our

005district. Our reimagine plan launches us into the 21st century. But I don't know how in the world we can roll out each phase with 2% supplemental state funding. De Mo public schools like districts across the state has been fraught with budget shortfalls. Underfunding has been going on for years, actually decades. As the roll out of reimagine takes place over time, predicting costs will be hard because it always is, but probably harder now with the degree of uncertainty we are dealing with uh economically. I'm sure you have probably tried to incorporate some predictions into the budget, but cost overruns happen frequently. over 60% of the time, especially when it comes to new construction or repurposing buildings. I asked my son about this because he is an architecture critic and writes writes extensively about the built world

006around us. He said the unpredictability is that buildings as opposed to modular homes tend to be unique in themselves because there is no factory assembly line to supply pieces for the design. So the actual building process can be more complicated, more unpredictable and take longer and cost more than anticipated. So we need to push for 5%. And anything lower is starting a negotiation with a compromise. Additionally, underfunding is taking place to deliberately put more money in vouchers, the educational savings accounts for mostly families who don't need it. This too undermines our ability to fully finance the reimagine plan over time. That is why we must stand together and demand that the income cap remains. Our resolution addresses the need to support 5% state funding and a phase out of vouchers over the next five years.

007Without these in place, the roll out of re reimagine will be very difficult. Some of you won't be here to see all the phases of the roll out, but De Moines citizens will be. Let's not take for granted the faith and support they have given us by passing the reimagine plan. Relying on lobbyists won't get us there either. It was great to hear board members Sarah Hopkins and Maria Alonzo at a public forum support being activist board members by supporting going to the Iowa legislation to negotiate, lobby, and support DMPS. Nobody is going to do this for us. We are all in this together. Let's stand shoulder-to-shoulder and demand what our students need and deserve and be a role model for more districts to follow by signing on to this resolution. Thank you. >> Thank

008you. Next speaker I have is Hugh Espie. >> Hi. Hi everyone. [clears throat] My excuse me. My name's uh Hugh Espie. I live at 10:05 63rd here in De Moine, which is uh school district 1. That's Kim. And uh before I get started, I wanted to congratulate both Ryan and Sarah for being elected. And uh we'll see how it goes. And I think I was following you when I came into the building. I was trailing you, but um not on purpose, not intentionally. So uh you know, this public school issues personal for me. And my family, both my boys, uh, went to De Moines public schools, K through 12. They went to King Perkins when King Perkins was together, you know, K through five. And then they went to Kalinan for middle school. And then

009they both graduated from u uh Roosevelt. Paul [clears throat] graduated in 99 and Sam graduated in 2001. So that means I'm old. Um but um the uh and they're both great. You know, they're doing great. They're successful in their lives and and De Moines public schools help make that happen. Okay. So, um but I don't have any kids or grandkids in in uh the public school system right now. But that doesn't matter. If you live here in De Moine, you benefit from public schools. If you live anywhere in the state of Iowa, you benefit from public education. Now, you know, Shri was talking about the SSA, the funding that comes each year from the state, and over the past eight or nine years, it's averaged about 2%. Okay? And the annual rate of inflation for

010the country is more like about 3.6 average annual over the past eight or nine years about 3.6%. And you know our our public school and basically the point I'm saying is that our public schools have been underfunded and more recently they've been defunded and it's not just hap you know you know there's a conscious effort to defund and dismantle. So the um this underfunding has been going on for a long time. It didn't just start with Governor Reynolds but her voucher program has certainly made matters worse. the the private school vouchers have drained about 300 no 650 million out of from our public schools across the state over the past three years. And that's a massive redistribution of wealth um to private schools from that's our money. We think public money should be spent on

011public schools. We're not against private schools, but we think they should fund themselves and we think public money should go to public schools. an analysis earlier this year by senator, state senator Herm Korbach, who's from Ames. He's on the Senate um education committee up at the state house. They did an analysis about funding, school funding um over the year in recent years. And one of his one of his conclusions was Governor Reynolds's total shortfall over the past eight years is, get ready for it, $2.7 billion. 2.7. That's how much public schools in Iowa have been shortch changed >> over the past 8 years. We got to make it up. >> So that's why our CCI resolution calls for at least a 5% increase uh next year. Call we call for a phase out of the

012private, you know, the school voucher program. And we need an income cap before we uh close out the the uh the voucher program. We need to let Governor Reynolds and her state house allies who want to defund and dismantle public education know that we're going to fight tooth and nail to support our public schools. And we want you, meaning schoolboard officials and school board members out there fighting with us as a partner. Fight the good fight for public education in Iowa. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. [applause] >> Next speaker I have is Nancy Husinga. >> Thank you. My name is Nancy Husinga and I live in the 50310 uh zip code. I'm a member of Iowa CCI, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. We're a grassroots organization that works for social, economic, and environmental

013justice. I'm part of the statewide public school strong campaign to win full funding for public schools. My children are grown. I have no grandchildren. I don't have anybody in the public schools, but I do live in a society composed of people of all ages and needs, some of who aren't in a position to fight for themselves. And that's why I'm here. Uh several months ago, public school strong team presented the board with a resolution to fully fund public schools and end the voucher program and we asked the board to adopt it. Since then, DMPS district has been burdened with larger than life challenges and events. Despite that, the De Moines voters have overwhelmingly expressed confidence and hope to fully funding public school. In view of this remarkable event, I would like to again bring the

014proposed resolution up to the board. Some key points in the resolution are over 90% of our students are enrolled in public schools and public schools are accountable to us, the public. In the last decade, our public schools have been starved of state funding with just meager interested interest increases at 2%. And we're spending over 300 million this year on private school vouchers with no accountability for how the money is used. A resolution calls for a 5% increase in state funding and a phase out of the private school vouchers. Excitingly, the school boards of Albia, Belmont, Clemmy, which is my alma mater, and Bennett have all unanimously passed the resol resolution this fall. Dora school board just passed it last night. We're asking the De Moines School Board, the largest and most diverse district in Iowa,

015to pri to provide leadership for the rest of the school boards in Iowa and pass it at your January 6th meeting. $265 million goes a long way toward reimagining education in De Moines, though it will take further funding and commitment to rebuild the foundation that our governor and legislature have set into a crumbling in our state. Your support is for De Moines kids, but it also ripples out to kids of all of Iowa. I urge you to place the resolution on the January agenda and vote to adopt it next month. It's the right thing to do. Thank you. And these are [applause] next speaker is Tom Randon. Rendone. >> Good evening. Uh my name is Tom Renone and uh I live uh my zip code is 50310. Um and I just want to um a

016month ago um Randy Evans published a opinion piece which I can only imagine you've all read about Robert Lundine and what appeared at least from um Randy Evans uh column uh was a pretty lousy management of him as an employee and and and then his um both his performance as well as the way in which the personnel management was handled. And I have read and seen zero from the De Mo public schools and from any members of the board about this event. Now, I'm not going to take an I'm not going to express an opinion about whether I think Ry's right or Ry's wrong about this opinion, but we cannot if we're going to try to maintain trust with the community, we can't uh let um accusations and charges and issues go unchallenged. I don't

017care what the legal aspects of that are. You've got to find somehow find a way to work around that in order that there can be some kind of public statement at least regarding what he said. So it doesn't just stand there because in the midst of of of that uncertainty, people will make their own judgment and Ry's opinion will stand as it as it does. And if you would disagree with that, then somebody needs to stand up and say that and you need to figure out a way to speak to the community because when you don't do that, the very issue of transparency that you uh Mr. Dixs was saying is part of what this forum is all about is questioned. Transparency looks like it's what you're not doing. And so that's why I think

018it's critically important that you respond to these issues. you were given a great gift of the community saying regardless of the past we're looking forward and we're going to support this with the with with the bond issue and the incredible vote of the bond issue that it is you are now starting to erode that very trust that you uh got you are throwing away that gift that you had and so I just think it's critical that you have some kind of response figure it out I don't care what the law what the what the lawyers say about well we can't talk about personnel issues, you can respond. I do not believe that. I believe you are creative enough to figure out a way to have an opinion, express and defend what you are doing without

019having it st stand unchallenged. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Last speaker I have is um Marshall James. Uh, hi there. I'm actually not speaking uh on behalf of Public School Strong. Um, but my name is Marshall James. I'm uh I a resident of 50312 and I'm the parent of a de mo public school student. Um, I was here on November 11th and we heard a discussion at that time about how AI will be integrated into classrooms, specifically AI skill building in preK through fifth grades was brought up and examples about having young students reading with AI through laptops and older students learning how to use AI responsibly on tasks such as creating PowerPoints and doing research. Arch was discussed. As a parent of a DMPS student, the cavalier way AI use in disc

020in classroom was discussed really gave me pause. The speed with which artificial intelligence has been rapidly foisted upon the public by a small cadre of billionaires with extremely questionable ethics and morality is deeply unsettling and it should give us all pause. Further, the basis of all AI has been theft. This is not a personal opinion. It has been settled in dozens of legal cases across the country. Large language models and AI data sets are built on stolen copyrighted work, private messages, and scrapings from the internet, from web forums. The ethics of even using AI is dubious at best in any circumstance. And I'm very leerary of the idea that a for-profit AI company will be integrated into our kids' classrooms. When one presenter casually mentioned teaching students to use AI to create PowerPoint presentations, that

021shocked me. Using AI to create any kind of work amounts to little more than cheating. To have the district consider endorsing such behavior, I'm I'm left without words. We have articles and essays in a variety of magazines across the internet from teachers sounding the alarm about the worrying advance of AI assisted plagiarism throughout grade schools and into college. So I urge the board to consider more deeply the ramifications of accepting the billionaire narrative that AI is inevitable, that we have to just accept it, and that instead we should just be teaching our kids how to use it. As a as a person, I actively avoid using AI for this reason. I have numerous creative friends who have had their data stolen by large language models and by generative AI and I have yet to come

022across an AI company who is acting in any sort of ethical or moral framework with concern for the general public. AI companies are run for profit. Their goal is to extract value. And I don't know if I like the idea of them being in our schools building profiles on our children. There's there's worrying information out there from reputable nonprofits who are studying the way AI is being used to surveil the general public and build data sets about us based on our healthcare records, based on our education records, based on interactions with uh government agencies. So, I just urge the board to make sure we're considering really deeply how much we want to accept the idea that AI is inevitable and we must embrace it at this early stage. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Madam

023Chair. Those are all the speakers. [applause] >> The next item on our agenda is our district recognitions. Superintendent Smith, are there any recognitions for today? >> Uh, just want to lift up a couple of recognitions um that were on the consent. We've got u guard rails two and guardrail four. Um guardrail two represents that the superintendent shall not allow the social emotional learning needs of staff and all students to be unressed. Um just want to recognize and and report out that both of those guard rails 2A and 2B uh we are exceeding target on both of those and so just want to recognize the staff uh for that work. Uh also on guardrail four that the superintendent shall not allow an environment in the classroom for both students and staff that is psychologically or physically

024unsafe or unwelcome. Uh just also want to recognize and support the staff um that we are exceeding that target as well and well on track um to meet those goals. So um thank you again for all the hard work. Um that is definitely a team effort. Um we've got staff in all of our schools and at the central office level that are focused specifically on the safety of students and staff and their health and well-being. So, uh, congratulations and continue the good work. Thank you. [clears throat] [applause] >> Thank you. It's wonderful to see, um, all of the monitoring reports that are exceeding our targets. We will move on 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

025made to agenda items. Discussion and deliberation will remain remain among among board members at the board table with speakers comments informing the board's discussion, deliberation, and determinations as deemed necessary. Miss Rios, do we have any speakers? >> None. >> Mr. Dixs. >> Rosie, I might need an assist here again. >> You're on. I move the board approve the consent items in accordance with the recommended action for each item on the consent agenda, including bills previously authorized, certified, and approved for payment by the board secretary in the amount of 5,882,27952. >> We have a motion by Dixs. Do we have a second? >> Campos second. >> Motion by Dixs. A second by Campos. Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? I do I have a comment. I want to echo what um Superintendent

026Matt Smith said about our uh guard rails. I am very pleased with how we are exceeding that goal. Um right now as a community our students are struggling with a lot on their plate and to know that uh we're working with them in the schools and our teachers are there to support them. I'm very pleased with the with the outcome so far and I can't wait to for that to exceed more. Board members, please cast your votes. The consent items are approved 7 to zero. Next, we have a series of public hearings. First item is E1, public hearing for CIP 3640 Willard Elementary main entrance improvement. The public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone wishing to speak to this item? Hearing none, I will close the public hearing. Superintendent Smith, will you please

027introduce the matter? I recommend the board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by FRK architects and engineers for main entrance improvements at Willer Willard Elementary School. Hold a public hearing and approve the plans. >> May I have a motion and a second to approve this item? >> Dix so moved. >> Campo second. >> We have a motion by Dixs and a second by Campos. Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? Board members, please cast your votes. The vote is approved 7 to zero. Next item is E2 public hearing for CIP260001 Ruby Van Meter exterior restoration. 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 Superintendent Smith, would you please introduce the matter? I recommend

028the board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by Angelo Architects and Engineers for exterior restoration at Ruby Van Meter, hold a public hearing and approve the plans. >> May I have a motion and a second to approve this item? >> I also move. >> Dick second. [snorts] >> We have a motion by Howell and a second by Dix. Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? Board members, please cast your votes. The vote is approved 7 to zero. Next item is E3, public hearing for CIP Kurt School remodel. 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, would you please introduce the matter? I recommend the board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared

029by Newman Architects for renovations at Kurtz, hold a public hearing and approve the plans. >> May I have a motion and a second to approve this item? >> Mayberry May move. >> Hopkins second. >> There you go. >> I have a motion by Mayberry Mays and a second by Hopkins. Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? Board members, please cast your votes. The vote is approved seven to zero. Next we have one information only item. F1 is a list of our new hires. And now we have other business. Uh the item is G1 personnel recommendation. Receive file and action. Superintendent Smith, would you please introduce the matter? >> I recommend the board receive file and approve the contract terminations. >> May I have a motion and a second to approve this item?

030>> Dick. So moved. Second. >> Is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions? I should note that we have a motion by Dix and a second by Alonzo. Board members, please cast your votes. The vote is approved. 7 to zero. Items of privilege. Next on the agenda, we have items of privilege. I would like to ask if our board members would like to share anything. I have one comment. Uh, and this actually goes back to the consent agenda. It's not necessarily a question of the consent agenda, but I know we move quickly through our agendas and there's so many things packed within it. So, I wanted to bring some attention to F6, which is the recommendation of personnel. Um, and I just wanted to for a moment just acknowledge although this is one

031bullet point on the entire agenda, there are dozens of people retiring from our district. And I think it's time or not time I I think it's important for us to acknowledge those that this one bullet point makes up nearly decades of years of service to this district. So I just wanted to publicly say thank you. I know those who are retiring don't always get the appropriate attention that they deserve, but thank you to those of you who have made it to this point and you're now able to retire from the district. We certainly appreciate you. Is this working? >> Our lights aren't working. Rosie, >> is this work? Yeah. >> Yeah, there you go. >> Okay, better. I would like to um [sighs and gasps] just say congratulations to a group of people that will

032be graduating this actually have a ceremony this Friday at Roosevelt and it's a group of 10 individuals who have completed a doctorate degree through the blue program with Drake University And it is so exciting um for me to see that the district supports uh this work and I I can't wait. I wish that we had more people within the district participating and doing this. So DMPS, great job um supporting people. Um, I think that we do a great job of advancing um, education for our students and finding ways to be intentional, more intentional. Um, I love it that we are also supportive in the same manner in developing uh, leaders in our district and supporting uh, the advancement of education for our our staff. So I have a few names that I'd like to mention

033but particularly Dr. Noi Mendes whose focus um is on um let me see I have to just look at my notes really quick. You're like >> yes definitely but it is um Yes. Because you were there. [laughter] Yes. [snorts] Would you like to say something to Dr. Mayary Maize in culturally responsive leadership? Um it's exciting to me to hear that because of the populations that we serve in our district. And so how exciting and I have a list and I apologize if I mispronounce names, but a huge shout out to Dr. Mendes Felicides. Congratulations. And then also Ann Marie Abbott Lewis, uh Aaron Bosley, Carrie from Melt, Christy Abner Cole, K U HL, Katherine Buris, Lions, Virginia Martin, Kelsey Poshi Mochka, Olivia Oricella, and Jared Belden. Muchas much felicides. Many congratulations to all of you.

034Gracias, [applause] Madam Chair. Uh this Monday was the uh Bravo Greater De Moines regional impact breakfast. It was basically an annual meeting for Bravo Greater De Moines. And um as part of the meeting, it was great to hear the regional impact on access to arts and culture for the entire community, but in particular, there were two things that stood out to me as a De Moine school board member. One is the $150,000 or more that we get uh and that we will get through the passport to culture program that will allow our students access to arts and culture through field trips. Uh through that program, about 50% of those kids wouldn't get those field trips and they wouldn't get access to those experiences uh if not for the passport to culture uh program and the

035generous donations that went in into that. The real highlight for me though was as an example of the impact of Bravo in our community. Um a De Moine public school student represented not only himself and his school uh but the city voices program where he takes uh piano lessons. And this is a program that offers private piano and voice lessons, instrument lessons to students who wouldn't otherwise have access uh to uh those lessons at a much lower cost uh to them. Uh, but Eduardo Ramirez got up there. He's a middle schooler from Mcomes Middle School. And he got up there. Yeah. Way to go, Mcomes. [laughter] He got up there and he played um in the Hall of the Mountain King. If you've never heard of it before, and I'm sure none of you are

036going, "Oh, yeah. I know that one. You'll know it as soon as you hear it." And um the way that he got up there, how brave he was to get up there and play this. And he just killed it. Uh it was it was wonderful. and he not only represented um himself and city voices but de mo public schools just in an incredible way. Uh so just wanted to recognize those two things and say thank you to Bravo for its contribution to arts and culture in De Moines public schools. [applause] >> All right, I'll go next. How you two took like two things I was going to talk about [laughter] to figure something out. I wanted to thank uh Madame Chair, uh Kristen War, our city council members, uh Chris Coleman, um Carl Voss, Rob

037Baron, uh and then the principal at uh Woodlon, we and the other community members that were there, we had a great conversation between city and school about safer streets for our students. Uh, and it was eye opening to know that a lot of people in our community care about our young students and the safety and um I love this partnership that De Mo uh public schools and the city council um have together have together to make uh our streets and our schools safe for our students. So, I want to thank you for being there. [applause] I would just like to say thank you to all of our staff members who um are supporting our students as they are preparing for a break which may um be filled with uncertainty and um often times um you'll

038find students leaning on you for certainty. So, thank you for being there for them. Thank you for all that you do and please enjoy a welldeserved break. I hope that you are able to rest and rejuvenate uh while you are away. Uh Superintendent Smith, I will turn it over to you. >> Yeah, thank you so much. Uh maybe just a few um items here. I just want to recognize the the student team uh core at Roosevelt High School. I got a chance to meet with them yesterday after school and uh what a delightful group. uh incredibly insightful and really really curious um about what's happening in DEO public schools and in the community. And so um we've got a number of young activists and um and incredibly insightful young men and women that are looking

039to get involved in our community and in our district. Uh one of the areas that they lift that up is they want us to continue to explore avenues for students to get involved um with the board. and and so um I would not be doing my job if I didn't live that lift that up at the board table because we just spoke about it yesterday. And so they're also super interested in a superintendent advisory committee which is getting started back up here in January. So um thank you for pulling that together Kaylee. Um so again that core group incredible uh group of students um and uh and of course um just want to thank them for that. Also want to recognize Perkins Elementary School last night also had a bingo night. Um and so uh

040that gym and cafeteria were jam-packed um with families. Um Representative Bagnooki was there. So thank you again for being there um and continuing to seek input from the community. So thank you for that. Um and of course that staff and specifically that PTO and PTA there um do an amazing job of serving students and families and staff members. So they're incredible. I also want to give a shout out to our um operations team. Um the folks that clear the snow, that salt the ice. Uh we had our first major event obviously here. Um I don't know, it felt like a was that Thanksgiving? It felt like yesterday. Um and uh they, you know, it's always great when I love it when it snows. I'm from Texas and I absolutely love it. Specifically over the weekend

041and not on a school day. Um and so it was great to see it um fall. Uh it was great to see it fall on a Saturday. And so our crews were out there on Sunday um really really getting after it. They show up also the very next day for kids u many of them at 3:00 a.m. to make sure that we are salting sidewalks and streets and and parking lots. And so cannot thank you enough for the work that you do and the hours that you put in that most folks again are sound asleep when that is happening. So thanks for all that. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you. Thank you everyone for joining us this evening. We greatly appreciate you all. Uh this meeting is adjourned at 6:08 p.m. We will now transition

042into our work session to discuss the budget. And after the budget work session, we will have two close sessions which are closed to the general public. Um >> five minute break. >> Pardon me. >> Do you want to do a fivem minute break or not? >> No, we're going to go right into it. >> [laughter] >> Is that all right board members if we transition right into the work session? >> Shashank is on. >> Yes, >> Shashank is on. All right, we're going to go ahead and begin our work session uh regarding the budget. Superintendent Smith, I'll turn it over to you. >> Yeah, thank you so much. So, um uh Shashank is joining us from a couple miles away. Um and he's going to be uh online with us. So, again, Shashank, thanks again.

043I think it's 5:00 a.m. he said uh where where he is located. So, um we're excited that you're able to join us. Uh I'm also going to ask a few folks, Rainey, Kelly, and Johanna to join us at the front tables. Um they may have a few things to add as well. Uh but tonight, uh we're going to talk a little bit about um we're going to continue our conversation with the budget and we're going to jump into speaking a little bit about some of our federal programs, curriculum adoptions, and um just want to give the board um an oversight of all of those things. I do recognize that it is like an 87 slide deck. Um the goal tonight is not to go into [clears throat] each of those slides in depth. Um the

044team knows that we're looking to um ideally keep this conversation under an hour, but at the same time, we're here to answer your questions and um uh do whatever it is that to give you the information that you need so that um we can all make the best decisions possible moving forward here as we enter into the budget season. So without further ado, Shashank, >> you want this? >> If you're online, the show is yours. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening and namaste from India. Yes, it is 5:00 in the morning and as you guys are getting ready to wind up your day, I am having my morning Joe. [snorts] Uh the plan today as Matt mentioned is we will have the respective subject matter experts present their respective parts. I would be available to

045jump in as and when needed and add some color if needed. Yeah. Next, >> Shank. And before you get started, Shank, sorry. I want to I want to make sure um I don't think I actually said uh Josie Sturgis um when I was introducing everybody, but could we do just a real quick I know we've got new board members and we got folks in the audience, but can we just do a um a quick sort of go around so the folks at home um can see the face with the name. So, Dr. Briggs, you want to kick us off? >> Yes. Uh Rainey Briggs, uh chief operations officer. Kelly Scoffield, Middle School Director of Teaching and Learning. [clears throat] >> Johanna Cooper, senior director of special populations. >> Uh Joe Sturgis, director of assessment data

046and evaluation. >> Thank you. Thanks, Shan. Keep going. >> Absolutely. This this presentation has been built with the help of the four members in front of you and one of my team members called Cassandra. So we have the entire group has built and I thought the best uh way to present it to the board would be by the group who has helped build the bo uh the dayare. So going to the next slide this is the standard format that we will be following through all the presentations at least for at least for this year. We're going to try to highlight what the context is, what the challenges are, what choices we have to make and what impact it would have based on what choices we have made. Next slide. So the items that we will

047be presenting today are the federal programs which are largely title programs. Special education program a federal program will be presented by Joe Sturgis. Special education by Joanna. Dropout prevention Rainey would be presenting English language learner program and curriculum would be presented by Kelly. And then we'll have further question and answer sessions if needed there. [snorts] feel free to jump in and ask your questions as we need it. So with federal programs, Joe, can I turn it over to you to present your portion, please? >> I'll start. >> All right. Thank you all. So to start with this context, um for those of you who haven't heard of the term federal programs or what that means, when we talk about federal programs, what we're talking about is the funding that comes to the district uh through

048the state that is generated by the federal government. Um so these are funds referred to as titles one, two, three, and four. Um, these are all titles under the Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA, which is the reauthorization of ESEA or the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Um, so a lot of our work around title is about having close relationships with the state department of education to ensure that we are staying in compliance with requirements. Um, and with those federal guidelines that come along with spending all of those different funds. Um, a key guiding principle to federal funds is that it is supplemental. um that's really inherent in all of ESSA funding is that it has to supplement, not supplant, what we do with our general fund dollars. And we're going to talk about how

049that complicates how we spend title funds a little bit kind of throughout this entire process. Um our compliance is moni monitored constantly. [laughter] Um this is one of those things that um being in compliance with state and federal regulations is a top priority to ensure that we are both spending the money well the way that it's intended and that we are staying within all of those guidelines. Um so I mentioned that supplement not supplant. Another phrase that you'll hear sometimes is maintenance of effort. Um what that means is that if we are spending general funds on something um generally our title funds need to extend that work in some way in order to be used for that purpose. So typically um for example with our title one funds or title two or title three or

050title four we're you're not going to see those funds spent on something like classroom teachers. your classroom teachers are a part of your baseline general education requirement. What you can use your title funds on is supplemental pieces to that. So a lot of the times you'll see things like interventionists or classroom associates, those things that supplement but don't supplant the role of that classroom teacher. Um for title one, two, three, and four, they all have to be spent in alignment with needs assessments. for our schools, that's their school improvement plans. For the district, that's our strategic plan. Um, so all of the projects that we've identified to fund through title titles 2, three, and four are aligned with our strategic plan in some way. Um, overall, the goals of federal funds are to address achievement

051gaps, enhance instructional quality, and to promote strong outcomes for all students. I mentioned there are four different titles that we get that the that DMPS generates funds around. Title one is support is funding that generally goes directly to schools to that have high percentages of lowincome students. Title two is generally professional development for educators. Title three is support for our English language learners. And title four are initiatives in three different categories. well-rounded education, student health, and technology. What you'll see with those three categories, kind of a little bit of a history lesson there, is that under ESA and NCLB, no child left behind, right? Dirty word. [laughter] But under those, um, there was actually a longer list of titles. When ESSA was done in 2016, they kind of consolidated a lot of those other pieces

052down into title four and then created those three categories. So, that's just a tiny little history lesson there. We'll get into those different pieces in more detail in the coming slides. Um, this slide should actually be with the title one section, but I'll go over it because it's here. Um, in for title one, 50 of our 52 campuses receive title one funds. Um, so that is all of our K12 buildings except for downtown and Kohl's. That's based on the percent of low-income students in those buildings. Um, we also have a set aside within Title One that supports preschools. [clears throat] So, in total, that's about 28,000 of our students. Um, as a whole, there's about 120 funded teachers out of Title One that are those interventionists um or coaches or other things. Real quick on

053the um the ones for the preschool, is that um the preschools that are in our facilities? >> Yes. >> Or is it the ones that are in the individual schools? >> Yes, those are our DMPS those those supports go to our DMPS preschools. >> Um so the challenges around federal funds um there are a lot of complexities around compliance. Um, as you can imagine, every time administration changes, priorities change. Um, and what folks are looking for changes. And so there's always an ongoing conversation with the state to ensure that we are keeping a breast of what of of whatever new interpretations may be coming from different groups. um we have to balance all of those pieces of regulatory demands that come from them and ensuring that we are meeting local needs and showing how what

054we're doing is meeting local needs as well as how it's being effective for for students. Um, one of the major challenges to always highlight with title funds is a very large portion of especially title one which is the largest pocket of funds that we receive um is the fact that the allocation comes in in September um for that year. Um so if you know anything about our hiring cycle, we start hiring about now for next year. Um, so every year when we're talking about how much schools are going to have in their title one funds, we're estimating based on what we know from the last several years and what we think will be coming for next year in order to make those decisions. Um, so a lot so that's one of the challenges that always

055comes up every year. In the spring, we are estimating what we think we'll get next year, having principles based on their school improvement plans hire the staff that are supplemental to their overall staffing plan, and then we find out in September just how many funds we get. Um, so it is a a challenging process, but it's one that we've figured out, one that seems to be working for us now. Um, another piece of that is identifi identifying projects that meet all of our criteria. I work really closely with our teaching and learning team to identify those different pieces. I don't run a separate um title funded professional learning plan that's separate from our from our teaching and learning team. I work with our teaching and learning teams to identify how what they're doing can be

056supplemented to move beyond what we're doing already. um or if there are projects that we can fund out of that process. And again, as I mentioned, those shifting administration priorities and guidelines. So, can I add just real quick uh Joe, just to that um the the combination of those two bulleted points of meeting the identified projects um that are aligned with our um our needs assessment and the shifting priorities. That's why it's important that we're we're cautious with shifting priorities. Um because all of a sudden where we're paying or supplementing um uh professional learning, for example, a shifted priority that becomes something that everybody does is now supplanting all of a sudden. And so we find ourselves that we have to be cautious about that and we have to continue to check our own um

057you know funding um streams and things like that and continue to work back and forth with the state and our partners at the state to make sure that we are not supplanting. But I just want to let that up that is a that is a challenge right so it's it's not something because we hear from the community around you should make this a priority you should do that and we don't disagree with that. sometimes it's the funding um or lack thereof that that becomes the challenge because it's um it becomes supplanting in a short amount of time. So just want to highlight that. >> Um so the next few slides are kind of just deep dives into each of those four titles that I referenced. Um, so Title One, um, is specifically funding for schools

058with high numbers of lowincome students or high percentages of low-income students. In total, the district's allocation this year, including our carryover from last year, is about $17.5 million. Um, we set aside funds within that for homeless support. So, um, the, uh, the a lot of the transportation that we do for our homeless students is funded by that set aside. [clears throat] Um there is a small set aside for administration to support actually the organization of that of the t across the title funding. Um the preschool set aside that I mentioned um and then there is also a set aside in that that's used by each school for parent involvement. Um and we can talk about that a little bit more as well. Um the vast majority of these funds are allocated directly to schools. Um

059and they are used primarily for staff. Uh I would I think it's somewhere around the range of 85 to 90% we are is used by for staff by schools. Um the current list of approved positions that they can use this it uh use title one funds for is academic interventionists uh supplemental instructional coaches, student support interventionists, and social emotional behavior health interventionists. >> Um >> and those are an approved list from the federal government. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Yep. And just does the principal decide what they want? >> Yes. Yep. So the um the principal every year as a part of their staffing process looks at their school improvement plan and identifies which positions are going to best support the action plan that they have in place. Um and then any additional aligned supplemental

060programming. So for example um one of the things that we've seen a lot of schools do [clears throat] is they may have um they get the teaching and learning team provides professional learning every year on EL curriculum but a principal might say hey we really want to deep dive into these two units and so they could pay for EL to come and do direct professional learning for their teachers around EL around that piece of it. So that's when we say align supplemental programming. That's the professional learning piece. They can also do um supplemental afterchool programming. So if they wanted to run additional tutoring or things like that after school, they can fund that out of their title one funds. Um so there are a lot of options out there. We always work really closely um

061and my team works really closely with um principles to make sure that they're um having the opportunity to think outside of the box but within regulation. Um title two um has two primary uses. I think the the biggest one we talked about at the beginning is that professional learning for school staff and direct and district leaders. Um the other piece that it's used for is K3 class size reduction. This is the one place that you'll see federal funds used for a classroom teacher. Um, and that is to reduce uh classroom sizes in that K3 um in that K3 range. Um, these are district level funds. Um, so these are directed at the district level in conjunction with our teaching and learning department um to provide supports in alignment with our strategic plan. Um you'll see

062on the right there, those are the projects that have been identified for this year um out of our allocation um of $3.5 million [snorts] um for this coming year. Title three is our English language learner student supports. Um that >> can I ask a question? >> Yeah. uh under title two the uh use of under the use of funds what does it what is the peer mentoring for new admin look like what would that like can you give me an example of >> yeah Peter do you want to talk about that particular project sorry don't mean to call you out [clears throat] >> good evening everybody Um that is our for for our new admin new principles, new administrators that come on board, we're required to provide mentorship for them and this is uh what

063is used to um supplement their pay for the additional work that they're doing outside of contract time for to support the new principles in the schools. >> Okay. >> So it would be a a stipened amount for an experienced principal that's supporting the new new administrator on coming online. Thank you. >> Yeah. Um so title three um is our English language learner support title. Uh that is an allocation this year with carryover of $1.3 million. Again, these are district level funds that are used to support projects and staff that directly support ELLL students. Um, one of the things to think about with title three is if you think about across these titles, um, the the the picture the DE always uses is of a cupcake. Um, so if you think of general programming as the

064cake, um, title one is the frosting. Um, title three is the sprinkles. You don't put sprinkles just on the cake. Um, so if you have an ELLL student who is receiving Title 3 services, we have to first make sure that they are receiving their cupcake and their frosting, then they get their sprinkles. Um, so that's kind of one of the ways to think about how when we think about how we spend Title 3 funds, how it's supplementing each of the things that comes before it. Um, so you can see there on the right then the use of the identified programs and staff that are being used out of that title three piece. Is this the is this the same district allocation that we've had in the past? >> This is uh there was a slight

065reduction in both title three and title four this year. Um but our total allocation is about the same because we had carryover that we were that we had held on to because we were unsure coming into this year with the change in administration what these pieces might look like. [snorts] The last one is title four. Um so I [clears throat] mentioned before these are kind of three broad categories. Um well-rounded educational opportunities, safe and healthy students and then effective uses of technology. Um there are requirements within title 4 that because of the size of our allocation, we have to spend so much of it on each portion. So we have to spend at least I think it's 15% on um technology. We have to spend at least 20% on safe and healthy students. We have

066to spend at least 20. So you we have some flexibility in how much we spend but we do have to make sure that we are not um leaving any one of them out. Um the total allocation including carryover this year is 1.75 million. Again, these are district level funds um that support projects again identified and aligned with that strategic plan. And then on the right side, you can see the list of what we've identified that we are funding out of title 4 for this coming year. So with title with across title programs um the vast majority of the choices that we make are really about ensuring that we stay in compliance and that we are finding effective programming that meets student needs. Um with that um title one the biggest choice that we make or

067have the ability to make is how we identify our schools. Um when I started uh in this position, we were using um a a different methodology of identification of students. Um we were using what's called direct certification. We moved uh two years ago to the online the home like the home survey um which we collect through online registration every year to create a more um balanced look of how many of our students uh live below the poverty line. Um, and so what that did was it opened up our ability to actually serve more of our schools. Um, until three years ago, um, we weren't serving about a third of our schools, um, with Title One funds. And so we made the decision as a system a couple of years ago that it was really important

068to ensure that all of our schools or as many of our STO schools as we could had access to these supplemental services. Joe, just as a reminder to everyone watching at home, if they haven't heard this number before, what is that percentage of our students based off of the survey that are living at or below the poverty level? >> Uh, currently I believe we're at 76%. >> [clears throat] >> Um the other decision that staff that uh district staff makes around um title one are what essentially are the staff that are allowable for principles to select to hire. So what are those position types? We do that in large part to ensure that we stay in that supplement not supplant um compliance. um if we allowed if at one time we had a much broader

069um list. Uh and what that led us to was that some schools were buying FTEEs out of general funds um that other schools were buying out of title. That puts us out of compliance because we're not onetoone across all buildings. Um so that's that's where we make that decision annually which of those are appropriate to keep on that list. Um and then for titles 2, three, and four, we have a federal program steering committee that meets twice a month. Um as well as as well as a federal programs lead team that meets twice a month um that needs to review all of the different projects that are being proposed to ensure that we have alignment both across our system um and within our different uh project areas. Um so that's the other that's what that's

070that decision-making process in titles 2, three, and four. Um, and then within Title One, schools then do make those decisions about what to fund based on their school improvement programs. Um, anytime you're hearing from me, you're probably going to hear about the CPS, which is their collaborative problem solving process. That is the action plan that we use um that all of our schools use um that aligns with state requirements and allows us to have a single action plan for our schools rather than than them having to have a separate title plan and a district plan and a it's all wrapped into their CPS and then Shashank I think I pass it over to you for this part. >> Thanks Joe. So, so what we have tried to present over here is the amount of revenues

071that we receive from the federal. The challenge over here is our fiscal year is from July 1 to June 30th. But by the time we get to know from the Fed, it's closer to September October timeline now. So we start the budgeting year by not taking the 100% of the amount that we had received last year. Be conservative and take a smaller portion. We typically reduce it by 10 to 15%. Based on that we do our federal funding program for the next year because as as we know our fiscal year starts from July 1. If you see over here, the revenue and expenses are the same. And the reason why they are the same is because our revenue is even though we may get a higher amount of allocation, the expenses that we charge in

072the respective title program is actually the revenue or the reimbursement that we receive from the Fed. Next slide. Nope. >> And this is the impact by different key positions how many FTEEs it actually supports. So in FY25 in the various title programs we had close to 185 positions but as you had seen that we have taken a little bit of a conservative approach to 26 to 231. Uh the number of positions over here are lower. Also, we had some carry >> Can I interrupt you question? >> Sure. Absolutely. Can you help us understand? So, as we project out um and and maybe you were hitting on this, but the assumptions that go into a flat projection of the revenue and what assumptions have we put into there to assume that we're going to have flat

073out there? and and followup comment to that. I think it would be helpful to if we had the data and I assume we do to have a a look back to know what the trend line is as far as the federal uh allocation. So the allocation was a little bit higher the last few years because of the co and as a situation that we had we were allowed larger amounts of carryover that is one. Second is there's a lot of uncertaintity especially to federal programs >> as you may have in the press >> I think he's cutting up >> not either cut they're looking into cutting programs at at a federal level >> so it is at this point in time very very difficult to say how exactly it'll shake take out. The only thing

074that we can say is for FI26 since the amounts have already been allocated and approved, it should not be hurting us. But going forward, there's a lot of uncertainty here. >> Yeah. So Sean, if I can jump in a little bit, Shashank, sure. >> But um regarding the trends historically, yes, we can get that and and send that to the board. Um just so you can see where that is. Um I think you may have been a pickup a little bit is just the the uncertainty coming out of the um federal department of ed around funding of programs that's always in flux and so um the assumptions are made based on just our trend data um looking at that. So um we work with a lot of uh partners at the state and at the

075federal level seeking input on what should we what our assumptions should look like uh moving forward. Um, and so right now we've maintained some of this flat assumptions knowing that there could be some changes to that even even in the months that we meet ahead of us. >> Yeah, I appreciate that. That'd be helpful. And then >> other thing assuming the trend line that you're you're describing is flat, right? And and it does sound like it tick down a little bit, but I you know, like we do it in other your guard rails for example, you know, we show where we're at and overlay that. I think that'd be helpful for us to to a more valuable way to project out what our expectations. >> Sure. >> Thank you. [cough and clears throat] Absolutely. The

076other thing I would highlight since you're asking this question is our state along with two or three other states have actually gone to the fed and they want to convert these programs into a block grant and then give the flexibility to the state to decide how they need to be allocated. So far the fed has not approved it and state cannot decide it on their own. The devil is in the details and we don't know if that does get approved how the fed funds will be allocated to the various school districts across the state. Next slide. So this basically shows based on those revenue projections what the FTE that were funded in FI25 and 26 and beyond would be. Next slide. Joel. [clears throat] >> Um, so when we talk about impact of federal funds,

077um, all of this is really about, uh, creating more equitable and more effective outcomes for kids. Uh, across the board, that's really what we're looking to do. So, that's one of the reasons that you'll see, especially with Title One, with that largest bucket, the largest amount of that funds are spent on staff. We know that people being with kids is one of the best things that we can do for them. Um, in terms of outcomes and evaluations, um, we do have a process every year, um, that we're actually shifting a little bit this year, um, to look at as the year ends, um, how each of those projects that were listed on those title slides, whether or not they got the outcomes that we were looking for. Um, so we do that evaluation every year

078as we go into the following year to identify whether or not we continue those projects, whether or not we're going to do those again, whether or not we're going to increase that or if we need to look at moving it to a different funding source. Um, if it is going to be something, for example, that becomes a systemwide piece. Um, or if it's going to be reduced and replaced by something else coming into the coming year. Thank you very much Joe. I appreciate [clears throat] the the the sharing on federal funds. If I can turn it over to to Joanna to talk about the special education and uh for the benefit of the board, let's try to keep it between 10 to 15 minutes. Joanna, if you can. Thank you. >> I'll [snorts] try. >>

079So in the context of special education, we all we're going to be talking about FAPE or like providing a free and appropriate um public education with for students with disabilities. So this is where um we have um let me go back and we have three um main funding sources which is federal funding and local funding and we also have uh federal funding local and and local funding. Um so this is our enrollment trends. As you can see um our students with special education um we are enrollment is declining which is on par with um the district like decline enrollment not as much but that affects our funding. Um the three um funding for um special education are again our federal, state and local um local sources. for the federal government, we get what we call

080part B um and that helps cover expenses and costs. Um state includes um for special education, we get a waiting and categorical programs, which the weight means is like we get a certain amount of funding for students for general education students. And then when they talk about weight, it's that we get a little bit more for students that have um an IEP. And then we use local property taxes and we use Medicaid reimbursement for some of our funding sources. Um the challenge that we uh face on special education is we are on a 249 million project projected deficit for this year and that is compounded for us with teachers um certified teachers and um not finding um shortages. Well, there's across the state there's short shortages. I can't speak of certified teachers and also a

081rising demand for us is mental health and behavior in the um in the schools. So some of the things that we want to do or we um we're working on this year on special education um to ensure that we use our funding appropriately is align staffing and resources. So um address the shortages. So we're trying to recruit and retain special education teachers. We are trying to enhance those services um the quality of our services by use um through targeted professional development and support in buildings and we ensuring that our students are better safe by matching staff expertise with student needs. Um the the district must allocate staffing, allocate resources and set standard to best serve students with disability while addressing budget gaps, teacher shortages, and increasing demands for mental health and behavior. Again, it's that

082we have um our funding, but we have three main things that we are um have to address with a budget shortage. Um I'm going to talk about again aligning the staff. So looking into our staffing and looking into our department, we're looking at how can we better serve our students? How can we ensure that the services that we are providing to our students are what's the word that I'm looking for are align with what what they need, right? instead of just so what we're looking at in our in our department especially is to restructure so we can reallocate some of those services to better serve our students as especially as mental health and behavior are rising. We want to make sure that we um provide those services for the buildings. Um one of our challenges

083too is the recruiting and retaining of specialist teachers. We see this across the state. So we see with other district is really really hard. Um we are not completely staffed at the moment. Um so and that's um an issue that is across the state and probably across the nation. It's just getting um highly um finding highly qualified special education teachers. And another thing that we have is really prioritizing mental health and behavior as they um those um continue to rise in buildings is just how do we respond to behaviors? How we ensure that our department can provide those support in the buildings. And another thing that we need to always say is maintain compliance as Joe say is really ensuring that our budget is used what for what is intended to be used which is

084again it's supplanted um and it just goes of like on top of like she explained right like the tier um title one title two and three special ed is very similar it's like there's um I always say special ed students are general ed students first so we provide all the things that we provide for general ed students and then on top of that what are they need um how do we supporting them how do I do I think I did less than 10 minutes I think it's your turn now >> can I I have a quick question um so when it comes to um the increased demands of mental health uh is that talking about like counselors therapists in our schools or what is that What does that consist of? >> We we're most talking

085about students behavior and that increase of behavior like as behavior are escalating. How do we support in buildings? Um yes, it could be counselors. It could be um our DMT which is one of our is our demo training team when they respond and they um work with teachers and buildings in the with teachers and principles in the buildings to provide that support. >> Okay. Thank you. But just keeping in mind that we support students with IEPs, but um the needs are there for other students. So, we need to look at our MTSS um processes and how do we support other students that don't have an IEP as a district with those behaviors. But >> for for us specifically, we're talking about students with IEPs. >> So, uh with behaviors, it would be, for example, um

086what do they call them? Alopers, like the kids that were an example of students that it'll all be students. Yeah. [cough] >> Okay. Thank you. >> If I can ask one more question before you move on or to the next speaker. Um you know in in reviewing the PowerPoint, one of the challenges that I kept seeing was the recruitment and the retention of qualified teachers or certified teachers in this case. M [clears throat] and you just mentioned Joanna that um in special education you're not fully staffed. So I'm wondering about the needs of students and how those are met and how you uh kind of project changing this um to be able to retain to recruit and retain students. And I think that in the past also we've talked about how we might be able

087to get teachers in, but then retaining them is a real challenge. And then how do you plan on changing that? And maybe that's like really going into the weeds before Madam Chair says something. I'll just say it. [laughter] So she's like, "Yes, Maria, please." I appreciate the question and also um want to focus on the the budget focus in this conversation and then maybe we can follow up with that um hiring retention and recruitment uh question in a different conversation or offline unless you have something immediately to respond to. I think your your question is spot on, right? That cyclical nature of um the loss of staff and the fewer and fewer teachers that are um highly qualified and certified to teach special education that are coming out of our colleges and universities is compounding

088the issue. And so, um some of our investments moving forward as we jump into that here in January and February need to focus on how we're going to grow our own. Um we've done we've had a lot of success for that. um you know with our blue contract um and things like that. And so there's some opportunities for us to examine and analyze that particular pathway um to grow our own staff um to be certified um in special education. It's also around our support structures um and looking at a different way from central office through the building level of how we're supporting staff because staff are burning out um and the amount of paperwork required um to um document you know um things that are happening with students and again all of those are good

089things to do and um but it's the sheer volume that is really really burning out staff. So, a big part of the plan needs to be and we'll be um um engaging with staff about things that they think um could uh we could do as an organization um that is more comprehensive around supporting their needs to support the needs of the students. So, we've got some things to do to to work on that >> from from a budget standpoint. Could you help me understand? We have a reduction of 93 uh students with IEPs. We have an increase of 93 if I'm doing that right. I might not be doing that right. Full-time employees. That that can't be right. Is that right? >> Yeah, it is. It's actually it's based on the IEP teams meetings. It's

090um IEP teams um recommending hiring of one-on-one associates u over the last many years. Are we back filling because of a requirement that we are working on or is that that >> I mean yeah we're working on filling those vacancies but you know as the IEP team meets like we're required by law um to deliver on those decisions and so um as the team meets and more and more students are being identified as having >> I was looking for what I was looking for >> and most of those positions are teacher associates so they are tied to an IEP so every time we hire someone is going to be tied to an IP meeting the system so yes Just one question on that same that the headcount and the trend line there. Um maybe can

091speak to I think you said that this decrease in the number of students with IEPs is aligned with the overall decrease in enrollment or are we are we seeing those move together the same proportion of folks who are moving out are IEPs or what should we think about that? >> Um I don't >> No, it's not quite the same rate. It's a it's a lower rate of loss for students with IEPs than it is for overall students. >> Exiting students not as much. >> We did not talk about the financial snapshot. >> Uh yeah, Sashan, it's your >> Yeah. Y want to go to the next. >> There you go. >> Perfect. Thanks. Can you hear me? >> Yes. Perfect. because I'm having a little bit of a connectivity issue. So what I wanted to

092highlight over here is first of all the the the deficit needs to be fixed. I had sent to my team to fix it. This has not been fixed. But the deficit actually is $25 million for FI25. Yeah. The revenues is fine. The total expenses they have not included the AEA funds amount. So it's instead of $112 million it should be around $129 million. So deficit is $25 million and the same thing has trended all across this period till FI31. The what I wanted to highlight over here is we are grossly underfunded for our special education needs. As you would see, the revenues that we receive from the state are around $104 million, but the expenses are close to $129 million. The only way we are in a position to provide to our students the services

093that they need for special education is that every year once we close the books we go to the state the SBRC which is the school budget review committee to ask them to give to the district spending authority. We do not get the cash. We only get the spending authority and fortunately the district does have the cash at this point in time to continue to pay for these services. Right. To your point, last year FI24 the deficit was $16 million, but because of the additional staff that we have hired in FI25, that deficit has grown to $25 million. And that trend will continue to grow. So what I would suggest is it's a it's a it's a it's a calculation error on this file. Please add to the expenses the line which is salary and benefits

094AEA funds and the same amount needs to be added to the deficit amount. Now this AEA funds uh De Moine public school is the only school district in the state of Iowa which has this arrangements with AEA for the benefit of both the board and the community. Aea provides services to the school services to the school districts for special education need but because of our size we have structured a deal with the AEA and we have our own staff who provide the services and then we get reimbursed by by AA for that. So that is the reason why that's a separate line item here. Any questions on this slide? Yeah. and we will update the slide and share it again. Yeah. So, my my bad, my apologies. >> Shashan, can you [clears throat] just looking

095at that deficit? It doesn't look like this is the first year obviously that we've had a deficit. Can you share u a little about for how many years has this been operating as a deficit? >> Scarlet, that's a great question. We have always had a deficit but unfortunately the amount of deficit has grown year after year. Just to provide another metric 23 of the school districts in the state of Iowa run a deficit. Almost 65 to 68% of the schools run a deficit. Obviously our size is I mean our amount is always the largest because we are the largest district [snorts] but we have always run a deficit for the last at least 7 to 10 years. I haven't gone before that but at least for last 7 to 10 years we have run a

096deficit. Thank you. Absolutely. Next slide. So these are the number of positions that are funded through the special education budget and and if you see over here the increases that are coming up largely are in the spread associates position there. So if you see it's grown from FI 25 to 26 by almost 80 positions we have grown [snorts] and we had grown from 24 to 25 as well but by a similar number and we can share the historical perspective for the last 3 years for all the different slides that we are presenting for the last 3 years for the benefit of the board. Yeah. Next slide. So, so this is what I was talking about leveraging the AA funds. So, we get approximately $17.8 million from AA and these are the different positions that are

097paid out of those AA funds. There are a few admin positions also that are paid from AE funds. Next slide. >> Joanna. >> Yep, that's me. So um the impact that this is going to have is like we are um continue to provide a sustainable and have quality education for our specialist students. Um and we are proactively going to continue to address staffing funding and and support challenges to ensure that our students get the education that they deserve to be successful. Um next step um for us is stay in compliance. um sustain services, push support, strength our teams and advocate and innovate. I think like the innovation part will come with you know trying to retain um highly qualified teachers um stay in compliance while we have to that's that's a non-negotiable. We just have

098to stay with IDA and ILO. So every student gets FAPE. That's our priority. And a summary of what we talk about it is our funding sources again is federal, state, and local. Um our budget deficit staffing. We're looking into reorganiz reorganizing and focusing on retaining and recruiting. Um the increased demand for um mental health and behavior needs. And again, my favorite word, compliance. We always I always going to end with like it is our duty as um to provide faith for our student and to stay students and stay in compliance dropout prevention. >> Is that you want to go over here? >> Thank you Joanna. I appreciate that >> if I can turn it over to Rainey to talk about the dropout prevention programming. Thanks Reie. >> Cool. >> Thanks Shashank. Um all right cool.

099So just talking about the uh dropout prevention uh program um it is a comprehensive datadriven initiative um that identifies at risk students early and provides targeted interventions through specialized programs, counseling uh and community partnerships. Um you know one of the the big parts of the the program and the overview of it is early detection uh ensuring that we're using data to spot at risk students um quickly for uh prompt help. Um and then you know really focusing on the supports which is offering you know programs counseling for attendance academics and personal issues. Um and it's and it's done through a team effort. Um it's not something that's done with just one person. Um but when you really think about the involvement of the educators, the families, the community um in in support of the student

100more than anything and and we we really focused on uh equity uh which is it works to remove barriers uh and align you know with the state educational standards and and really thinking about our Iowa code which is uh our focus uh with this um uh with DOP is sanctioned by uh 257 u.39 N which identifies potential and returning dropouts uh to identify students uh needing help. Um and then looking at the risk factors um for um dropout uh the dropout prevention is attendance problems. Um we have social isolation, we have academic difficulties and then we have multiple barriers that play a huge part um as we think about how we're going to attack um the challenges that we face. And then that's the economic hardships, family issues and mental health challenges which um create

101obstacles for for our students. And just looking at the the challenge here, um DP programming faces significant challenges including identifying and supporting atrisisk students with complex academic, social, and emotional needs while addressing barriers such as chronic absenteeism, academic struggles, and social social economic hardships. Um, as a district, um, you [clears throat] know, we must also navigate resources, um, resource constraints, shifting priorities, and the need for ongoing collaboration with families, uh, and community partners, uh, to ensure equitable, effective interventions um, as we sustain these comprehensive supports requires um, strategic investments, adaptability, and continuous program refinement to meet evolving student uh, needs. And thinking about the programs that we offer, we have uh support programs which is really uh leaning into our um success program, our alternative learning um programs which is really looking at our flex

102and options um counseling and engagement, you know, really utilizing our resources at the school level with like our social workers uh and counselors. And then with the safety and extras, you know, really thinking about our um campus monitors, our uh restorative service uh service coordinators um at the school level and you know, just looking at the success um program, you know, u we're really thinking about success and the role and the impact of it. The success offers intensive student support through case management. Um, and when I look at our our resources that we're putting towards that, we're looking at $433 million. Um, focusing on 47 students, oh, I'm sorry, staff, I'm sorry, 47 staff. Um and then looking at our alternative learning, you know, options and flexmies, you know, which offers tailored learning to support

103about 250 students um at the 9th through 12th grade levels um and helping them all find success. And looking at the resources for that is about 3.47 million and about 37 uh staff members. >> Is that our what's our group? What's our target group here? like how many students do we estimate are in this risk pool at risk pool >> in DMPS? >> I'm going to look back at Rich Blanigan really quick >> who may have a deeper response to that. >> Yeah, [clears throat] >> Rich Blanigan, administrator for alternative programming. Good evening. Um so looking at last year, I just went back and looked at last year flex option served uh 2200 students. Um prior to that it was 2,300 students. Prior to that, it was right around 2000. So, we're looking at uh

104and so far this year, it's been 1,600 students so far. 25 26. So, we're probably averaging 2,000 students per year looking back for the last four or five years. So, so that number of 250 is actually what options uh as a program supports at one given time, but options throughout the year will serve a little over 500 students. But that's not the total pool of at risk students that we feel are are at risk for dropping out, right? >> No, that's just who we're serving in flex [clears throat] and options alone, right? So, >> and and again, those are somewhat um specific stu uh grade levels, too, because for example, options, you're only serving students that are 17 and over. So, mainly seniors uh and flex uh mainly serves juniors and seniors. >> So, I'll

105go back to my broader question. Do we have a pool of an estimate of what we feel like are the students who are at risk for dropping out in De Moines public schools among our 30,000 students? Have we identified a or estimated a risk pool? >> Yeah, I don't that that Yeah, I know uh Jen will be able to answer that better. [clears throat] >> Good evening. Uh Jen Stalter. supervise the success program and then oversee the student attendance policy. And we do have at risk criteria that has 17 indicators when we look at that. And then when we look at our chronic absenteeism numbers, we're looking right about that same percentage of students that qualify for free and reduced lunch. So we're right around 23,000 would meet two of the at risk indicators in

106our district. >> Okay. Can we do a deeper dive some other day of the this at risk pool to talk about those 70 17 indicators and what we're thinking about for how we're tackling that. I don't want to take up time in a budget proposal to do it. >> Absolutely. >> Okay, >> cool. Thank you guys. >> Yep. >> Can I ask a question? Um, under the and this is getting in the weeds and I know that we'll have to talk about it later, but I'm just going to mention it. Um I I know that this is a group of students that you look at while they're in in school still while they're still in the district under the dropout prevention program. Do you look at students that we have lost um to recover them

107when we talk about you know reenrollment how we can recover students or gain students in our district. Is there anything under this program that is done any efforts? >> Hi, Jen Stalder again. >> Hi. >> Um, one of the other things that I support through my success team [clears throat] is our outreach to students who have dropped out or disengaged from De Moine public schools. So, state law has compulsory education through age 16. However, the state also allows you to start dropping students in seventh grade based on non-attendance. You also can unenroll students kindergarten through sixth grade based on non-attendance. So when students meet those thresholds, um schools have exhausted a lot of their um options trying to engage with those families looking for them. We are really good searching and trying to find them.

108But if schools do unenroll or drop a student regardless of the grade, that's pulled out of Infinite Campus based on the code that they are unenrolled with. And then I have dedicated case managers. and their job is to outreach to those students and those families to try to find them um and engage with them to figure out what their barriers were and what the reasons were that they did disengage um and then find a pathway back in for them. At our elementary and middle schools, we have we don't have options for them to go anywhere different. So, we work with the schools to get them back with some creative supports. At high school, we look at options academy. We look at getting them into the flex programs in their high schools, but we do have

109dedicated staff doing that. Um, schools are busy trying to keep them, but we do lose students for a lot of different reasons. So, then we have that backside coming in and attempting again to locate them >> and get them re-engaged in DMPS. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Thanks, Jen. >> Yep. >> And, uh, looking at counseling and engagement. So, some of our counseling services uh really the role and impact is our counselors provide academic guidance, emotional support, and help during critical student transitions from preK through 12 um here in the district. And with those counseling services, we're looking at the resources of about 4.6 million. And you know, that's about 48.5 uh staff members um in the district here for us. And then looking at our community school coordinators, um you know,

110our community school coordinators, you know, they build partnerships to connect students and families with local resources. Um and again, just really looking at the resources for our community school coordinators, we're looking at about 1.7 million. And then that's about 21.5 U staff members um here in the district. >> Can you give Is this working? >> Hello. Can you give any insight on um these were at schools and then they were taken away from schools? Is that the budget that's currently here? How does that work? >> Can you say that one more time? >> Well, we I know that we had money in the budget for community school resource and then I believe that some of them were moved around and removed because the budget was cut. So that was last year's. Is is this how

111is this determined, I guess, is what my question is. >> Yeah, I'm going to I'm thinking about the history of community school coordinators. Is that what I'm So, >> yeah, I'm not too involved in what happened last year. I can find out. Um, but the >> I know at my kids school, we had one and we were told that they went away because of budget. >> Yeah. >> So, I'm just curious with this overall budget, what how is it determined? >> Yeah. So um it's based on um students at risk um and uh by each school and so we look at the number of um students uh served in that school that have at risk indicators and we allocate to the best our ability with the budget that we have from DOP funds. And so

112there were I think were I think I heard you say this but and I think you're correct. I'm accurate in saying this is we used to have more community school coordinators and didn't have the funding for it and it was actually bleeding into the general fund dollars uh which was also in deficit and so cuts were made. Yes. >> Okay. >> So there's more opportunities actually even this year to continue to look at those structures and how we're actually allocating those resources to schools. And so, um, there's there's just a lot more work that needs to be done yet this year in this budget session to make sure that our investments are actually having the impact on the student outcomes that we desire. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thanks, Matt. Um, so >> can I

113add one more? There are different funding streams. Also, that 21.5 that you see in DLP fund is only a portion of the community school coordinators that we have because we also have United Way funding that pays for some and we have a a federal grant that pays for some. So, the number is higher, but that's just reflected um of what was in the DOP budget. It was the 21.5. So, that number is different when you look across the whole district. >> Thank you. Yeah, >> thanks Jim. And then getting into our safety and behavior um supports. Um safety and behavior supports help create a positive school environment uh which lower conflicts and boost student engagement. Um, and when you look at the positions, I I kind of touched on these before. You have our restorative

114safety coordinators, we have our campus monitors, and then we have our behavior health coordinator um that comes out of these funds as well with the resources of about 2.7 million for about 34.5 um staff members across the district. And then additional supports, you know, we have some professional service contracts. Um, you know, and we allocate about 650,000 to external contracts for specialized dropout prevention. We have summer school. Um and then we also have resource resources and staff development um where we are um having additional funds to cover supplies, travel um and then professional development for um staff within the DOP um budget. And just looking at some of our choices, I mean as a district, we must align our staff and allocate resources to set standards to best serve students um to meet our DLP

115requirements. Um and some of the key decisions that you know we see as a part of success is enhancing service quality um through targeted professional development and supports. You know balance proactive measures um with responsive actions by matching staff expertise to student needs and then prioritizing roles that deliver the greatest impact by utilizing data to ensure continuous um improvement. And again, you know, just looking at our um our commitment, you know, of allocating 16.16 million to support dropout prevention, you know, through comprehensive programs and services. Um and I think going back um to your your point, um Sarah, over the years there have been some um funds that had to be either reallocated or positions kind of reduced. And a part of that is making sure that we're doing everything we can to utilize our

116funding streams the best way we can to provide and meet the needs that are kind of existing. And I think that's where this this budget kind of plays a huge part in that. And then I think I'll turn this over to um Shashon. >> Uh yes, thanks Rainy. M [clears throat] so what I wanted to highlight is for the benefit of both the board and the community the funding that we get for dropout prevention actually comes from property taxes and the way the amount which is calculated which you see in the revenue uh column or revenue row I should say is dependent upon the number of [snorts] students in the district times what is the per pupil funding times a certain percentage which for DMPS is 5%. So this is the math through which the

117DP amount is actually calculated on an annual basis based on what the per pupil funding is and on based on enrollment the revenue can change and fluctuate from year to year. Now in the DOP because we had added positions for the community school coordinators the expenses had exceeded as Rainey highlighted in the previous slide uh compared to what the revenue is. That's a situation we like avoiding because at this point in time this deficit is being funded from the general fund dollars. The other thing that I would want to highlight is in the loss or the in the presentation uh [clears throat] that I had shared with the board there's there's a line item for DP which we are trying to find a home either through the DOP realigning our DOP expenses to revenues or

118through reducing the general fund dollars in some of the some of the plays. to fund this deficit. Next slide. This highlights the number of positions that are being funded through DOP and and as you would see some of the largest positions that are being funded are the success case managers, the flex and optionmies, the counseling, the community school coordinators and the campus monitors. Those are some of the highest positions that are being funded from the DOP budget. Next slide. Uh Rain, back to you. >> Gotcha. Appreciate you. Um and then, you know, looking at the impact, you know, um the dropout prevention program delivers a measurable impact by bolsting graduation rates, uh improving academic performance and strengthening community engagement for students. Um through comprehensive supports, the district addresses academic, social, uh and emotional barriers that

119contribute to dropout risk. Um this multi-layered approach uh ensures equitable opportunities and sustainable student success across uh the district and the anticipated outcomes. Um and with this investment aims to boost graduation rates, uh improve academic performance and then also increase community engagement for for students. And in in closing and just looking at some of the next steps, you know, really the comprehensive student support, um the datadriven, you know, program refinement, you know, doing everything we can to bring data into the space, um so that we can really focus on continuous improvement. Um and then community and staff collaboration. So, building those partnerships to enhance staff training for um professional development and then sustainable equity uh and achievement um establishing systems to ensure equity and success for for all of our students here in the district.

120Any other questions? >> Thank you very much, Reie. Appreciate it. Uh Kelly, if I can turn it over to you for the English language learner program as well as the curriculum program. Thank you. Sorry. >> Hi, good evening. Um, I'm going to be talking to you about our English language learner program. Before we do that, I want to just talk about some definitions or some language we use to describe within this program. When we talk about the students, we talk about multilingual learners because we want to really have an assetbased language that we use when we're talking about the students. When we talk about the programming, we're talking about English language learner programming or ELLL programming. So you might hear me say students in ELLL programming or teachers of ELLL programming. So we call the

121teachers ELLL teachers, but we don't call the students ELLL students because some of our multilingual students are not in ELLL programming. So we want to be sure that we're you so when you hear me use those terms or you see those terms in here, I just wanted to start with that so that we understand sort of the differences between the language that we use. Um, so just to give some overall context around the English language learner program or ELLL programming in De Moines, we really uh the program is designed to target and support um and give resources to help students whose primary language is not English. So sometimes you'll hear people call about L their L1, like their first language is not English. Um, some of our students speak multiple languages, some speak two languages.

122Um, but this program is really to help them be successful with English um in in the school. And we do that through staffing, staff training, um specialized instruction, supplemental uh programming, which we'll talk more as we go through. Uh our program uh is is following a framework through the Iowa code um which is called the LAOW plan. And I'm going to skip ahead a little bit. Um if you see the slide that says ELLL programming includes we have to in the state of Iowa um have a LAOW plan and that the Lao plan and many people ask what the LA plan is. The Lao plan the name LAOW comes from a case um Lao versus Nickels where it was a landmark case that um basically the outcome was that is that school districts have to

123give support specific support to to English language learners. Right. So, the state of Iowa has us develop a plan and that plan has to include the following things that we're going to talk about. Um, we have to have a way to identify and place our multilingual learners into a language instruction educational program. There's a lot of acronyms in here, [laughter] right? So, please stop and have me repeat if you need to. And we refer that to that as the LEAP. When you hear us talk about the LEAP, we're talking about the actual instructional education program that our students in ELLL programming receive. Each grade level has one, elementary has one, middle school has one, high school has one, and they have to be part of the overall LOW plan and they're in there. That LAW

124plan that I'm speaking of is public facing. It has to be posted on our website. It has to be available to the public. Um, our schools use it for programming. It's used across all departments in our district. um are are part of that lao plan. You have to describe the LEAP. So we have to have the uh the different courses or the different um uh uh instructional models that we use for e for our students in ELLL programming um have to be part of that leap. We also have to address co-curricular extracurricular activities um uh central academy, central campus, all of those uh other uh um programs that are available to us have to be addressed in the Lao plan as well as parent engagement. We have to address um ongoing embedded district level professional

125development not only for ELLL staff but for general education teachers and leaders. that is part that that overall um PD plan has to be part of of that LA plan. Uh also how we um assess which we in the state of Iowa use the ELPA 21 that's how students are placed into ELLO programming by the scores they get on their screener their ELPA 21 screener and that's how you exit. So when you score proficient on the um ELPA 21 then you exit program and then the annual um the monitoring of students after they've exited the LEAP program or exited based on their scores on ELPA 21. We monitor students for two years and we have a specific plan and the way we record and document that data to monitor those students to ensure that they

126are um that that they are still being able to access um the the classroom instruction and supports and then the LEAP and the Lao plan is evaluated yearly. So, we have a team that's made up of uh district um directors, coordinators, principles, APS, coaches, um parents, and students that help um monitor that plan yearly. So we monitor based on the data, based on the goals that we have set from our guard rails, but also goals that uh internally we've set for ourselves around uh growth on ELPA 21 and um and our exit rates. The next slide talks about um uh the the enrollment into ELO programming. So the number of students that we have in EL programming you can see has um it we from 21 to 22 23 we had an increase. So several

127years ago um four plus years ago we started seeing a decrease and then over the next four years we started seeing an increase and now we >> we're back in the decreasing numbers. um some of that based on um immigration and um politics, but some of it based on the fact that we are continuing to exit more students out out of ELLL programming. And by exiting students out of ELLLO program, we're saying that we are providing supports and programming that helps students be successful in the classroom, right, without that additional um support that the ELO programming brings. So that's the goal of the program is to really exit students out of the program. >> Your light's just not going on. I think you just got to trust. >> Can you now hear me? Yes. >>

128Trust it. Um perhaps in the future um so that we avoid going into the weeds. [laughter] Um I hear you say that we are exiting students and it would be really helpful and I think this is something that we also discussed in the past. Um being able to talk about at what rate >> we are exiting students out. Um because that really that that makes a huge difference. >> Absolutely. >> Yep. Thank you. >> I would love to talk about that. >> Yeah. And I think that um that was just in our last monitoring of this guardrail as well. So that we were exceeding. >> Kelly, really quick question. This is not about budgets, but I wanted to squeeze it in really quick. Uh, are there ELLL programming supports for preschool students or does this

129start at >> It starts at kindergarten. >> Kinderg Okay, thank you. >> Great. Um, we serve as we said in the slide before 7,343 [clears throat] students in ELLL program as of December 1st. These numbers we pulled numbers in December 1st for allocations for the next year. So a lot of these numbers that I'm going to be talking about today or that you see in here are December 1st numbers. So we pull them every December 1st. We pull numbers December 1st for allocation. Then we relook at them in August and we relook at them in October. Um so that we can ensure that we're providing the support needed for the number of students because the numbers can change and they can move school to school. Uh I think it's important to note that um over

13050% of our students in ELLO programming were born in the United States. So it they're not all coming to us um from out of our our from out of country, but their L1 is still not English. Um and that we have 175 as of December 1st, we had 175 newcomers. And the definition of newcomer in De Mo public school is it's you've been in this country less than 12 months. That's what we call a newcomer. And those 175 are are spread throughout throughout schools. And so based on that, some of the challenges that we face um in the programming is accurately identifying and addressing the actual needs of those diverse linguistic learners, right? Um we have students that uh and also the so social emotional needs of the students. We can't forget that like just

131that social emotional um needs of the students u as well as um students who may have interrupted schooling. And when we talk about interrupted schooling, we're saying that they may not have been in schools. They've come from um refugee camps, some that have interrupted schooling, but we have to all um we have to really understand what that means. Just because a student comes from another country does not mean they have not been in school. You know, even if those schools don't look like ours and then how do we each of each case or each uh student even could have some some unique needs. And so the challenge is applying, you know, making sure that we have the staffing and the programming that can meet some of those diverse needs that we have of students coming

132in. Um, one of our key priorities is that uh to provide language rich classrooms across all of our content areas and all of our classrooms and you saw that in our guardrail report. It was been a focus in um elementary and middle and then moved into middle school. So really supporting um language acquisition in all of our classrooms um as that tier one response um to to support our students in ELLL programming. Um strategic staffing um to to meet the uh the LEAP or the instructional plan is a challenge. Uh just ensuring that we have enough staffing. Uh we're going to get into that a little bit with the funding, but uh the in past our funding students are funded for a set number of years, five five years, but we have students that are

133are in an AL programming in year 13 or year 11, 12, 13. So they're not exiting out. And we pro we according to the law have to provide services for all students that are in ELLL programming even after that five years. So that stretches our teacher allocation and our resources um if we're not exiting students. So really um one of the things we've been trying to do in the last uh years is looking at um the like really looking at data and and where are we um where do we need to give extra support or additional resources and materials so that we um so the next bullet point talks about what we call long-term English learners so that we so that we can exit students um in year five or six that they're in the

134programming because the longer they stay in there in De Moines. Um the p the the chances of them exiting go down. So we exit less students the longer they're in the programming. >> And we want students to be exit. >> We want them to be exiting. Yeah. And exiting doesn't mean you're proficient, right? Or you're at grade level. You're proficient on the ELPA 21, but that doesn't equate necessarily to grade level. It just says you have the English skills. you have enough academic English skills to be in the classroom without that additional support, but you may need other supports. So, Josie spoke to this and title three is connected. So, you'll hear me talk about some of these title three um uh ser staffing and services as well. But, um our students in ELLL programming

135are general education students first. So any uh services that a general education student gets then that we need to ensure that our ELLL students have success um our students in ELLL programming have that access as well. On top of that title one if you're offering tutoring or other supports for students in academic areas with title one our students in ELO programming have to have access to that. On top of that, then we look for where are areas that um we would support with title three funds programming for um >> for our students in ELLL programming. And what we're looking at is those long-term learners. How can we give more support? What could we do in addition to the other things that are happening so that we can help um them gain the skills they need

136to exit the program? >> You mentioned uh title three and there was mention of an ELELLL associate. I know what ELL teachers are, but what is the function of an ELLL associate? >> So, EL associates are in um are provided to schools based on um their data mostly their newcomer data um and that is to support students in the classroom um to do some um supporting some academic language work. schools use them slightly differently and that um depending on which subject they might put them in, but they are really in the classroom and they are supports for students. So, they support the teacher. Um their job description is supporting the teacher in delivering um instruction. They don't design the instruction, but they help support. >> Sure. And the reason I'm asking is because I just

137maybe have been disconnected and I had not heard the term >> and I guess I just noticed it. So, okay. How long have we had those? >> We've had them for a number of years, but we really changed the job description. Um, >> are they called three years ago? They're still called ELLL associates. Um, but we provide uh training for them in instruction and supporting in the classroom. So, we've we we've we had a we had some in the high school um for a number of years and then um but recently changing the job description um and supporting them in different ways and and [clears throat] really allocating them based on data. >> So, do we have them in all grades or just in high school? >> We don't have them in all grades. We

138have them we have uh 10 I think right now. Um and they're in different schools based on the students that are at that school. So the so um so based on the number of emerging or newcomer students that you have at your school, students that are newcomers, that's how we allocate the associates. So the more you have um they're really helpful, especially in our younger grades in kindergarten and first grade because we >> we don't pull those students out as much because we want them immersed in that English language. They learn very quickly when they're in there, but having that associate in those classrooms just helps them sometimes to be able to just do school. >> And the fact that they were listed in title three, does that mean that there is a plan to

139recruit more or will there be an increase of ELLL associates? >> There will be next year based on data the the the staffing standards that we're using. Yeah, there will be a few more that we put in there. Um, and they're paid out of title three, whereas you'll see later the ELLL teachers are paid out of weighted funding. >> Did I answer? Okay. Um, >> can I can I ask clarify on the exiting of the the program, right? When we're they're reaching proficiency, are there certain intervals that we're we're testing so that that would happen on a certain interval or >> they're tested yearly? >> So just >> with the ELPA 21 is every year. So just at the end of the year, >> uh, it's in February, but they exit at the end of

140the year. So we take the test in February, we usually get the results back in May or Mayish, >> and then they're exited based on their scores. If they qualif, you know, if they're proficient, then they're exited out of the program. Um, and then they'll be in regular programming with two years of monitoring after that. >> So it wouldn't be till the next school year where they would correct >> lose that support. >> Correct. and they don't lose all support, you know, because we're trying to put a lot of uh ju just tier one supports in those classrooms and they're still monitored pretty um you know, like so if they need support through title one supports or other supports, they would get that. Um and then we have also I talked about ear the students

141with interrupted formal education maybe have different needs than some of the others. >> Sure. >> Different academic needs and social emotional support needs. Yeah. Um, this will be my last and I didn't know this was on. Okay. I thought I turned it off. the lights on. [laughter] >> Um, so the support, so you're supposed to once a child exits, uh, there should be some monitoring that happens for two years and if maybe that could be added to the list of things that we could be educated on um, [clears throat] >> what that monitoring is. We'd love to know >> what that looks like and then at what rate or if we lose any students during that monitoring period. >> Right. Of course. Yeah, I think just maybe going over the whole LA plan and all

142the components would be a >> Thank you. >> in more depth than I was able to do. Yes. >> Um I think time and resources for tiered professional development for all stakeholders. We talk about that quite a bit. Just the time for professional learning. Um we have embedded it in uh elementary and middle school especially that uh uh we have embedded prof all of our professional development to our leaders and our um teachers have a language acquisition component to it. So, we're really trying again to build those language rich classrooms because it's good for everyone, right? And it really supports our our um uh students in ELL programming as does our glean framework, right? So, our glean framework that we're that you know has talks about scaffolds, the multi multiple entry points, all of that

143supports our students in ELLL programming. Um, one thing that to note is that um, back to sort of that supplanting versus um, supplementing is that ELLL curriculum that we we that we purchase um, for our students that are newcomers or year 1 or some of our high school programming for ELLL students is considered their tier one instruction and comes out of general education. So, we're not able to use tier title three for that. It comes out of our general education budget which I get to talk to you about adoption budget which I get to talk about in a minute but that I think is important to know because I don't I don't know that everybody realizes that right because that is their that is their general education so that makes sense that it comes out

144of that. Um and then translation interpretation services is also a challenge like being um our BFLs are I mean we just could not do this work without them. They're amazing. uh I worked with them over the years very closely. Uh but there are things that they are not equipped to do or trained to do such as IEP meetings or other medical meetings, right? That takes a specific kind of training. So we have to reach out and get some translation service from those people who are trained around those type of things. Um and also just the sheer number of times we need to have um translation or interpretation like we have to have other resources. So we are working with technology to come up with a sort of a a continuum of services based on what

145that is and I think you've heard some about that but um that continues to be a challenge to really meet the needs of all the different types of translation and interpretation that we need. And then back to choices we have to make choices right uh one of the choices that um that we make around ELLL teachers and how many uh we the count and reducing the studenttoteer ratio. So, um, we have in the past because of the sheer number of students that we've had and the long-term learners had to have a ratio that was closer to 1 to 75. So, 75 students per one teacher, 75 students in AL programming to one um, ELLL teacher. But because of the re the the um the decrease in the numbers of students we have which is some

146our exit rate and some just losing students to other places. Um we've been able to keep all of our teachers and lower that ratio. So this going into this next year we'll have a ratio of 1 to 55 which is quite a bit lower. So we haven't had to um we still get to keep the same number of teachers. They may have to move around somewhat in schools but we're able to reduce that ratio and get it down. And we want to continue to get that down. That's why exiting and really focusing on that's important because um we can we can really give um a school more support. Uh and we increased uh our our BFLs or our bilingual family leaison. That was a choice we made this year. We've increased and then we plan

147to continue to to try to increase those to meet the needs of the students because having that connection with the families is critical in us in this programming. you know, >> we increase >> um you'll see that on a slide coming up, but yes, um we did increase this year. We added three this year. >> We did >> and we continue those are choices we continue to make is how do we allocate that staff? Um professional development. Um we're constantly uh working on that and and you'll see those through lines going into next year as well. Um that address language rich classrooms, how we pay for interpretation and translation services, and then supplemental programming. Um, I mean, I'm not I don't have to say much more, but Josie said a lot about that. It's just

148is really what is our needs assessment? How do we show that it's um supplemental and not supplanting? So, those are some of the choices that we have to make or decisions that we make um with that funding and all the supplemental funding. Shashank, you're on. >> Thank Thanks, Kelly. So again very similar to the other slides that we have shared something I would like to highlight is we do not get the full revenue that is needed to fund our expenses and you would see a deficit year after year for the ELLL very similar to special education. We do go to SBRC which is the school budget review committee and I think this was approved by the board either in the previous meeting or the meeting before that where SBRC gives us the spending authority but

149not the cash. So as you would see almost $25 million for special education and $1.5 million over here we are using our cash to pay for the students. One of the reasons why this deficit comes and Kelly jump in if I misspeak is we we get from the state the reimbursement for 5 years for the student but all students do not graduate out of the ELLL support in 5 years but we as a district continue to provide that support. So that is also a reason why this deficit is created. Yeah. Next slide. [clears throat] These are the positions that are funded and as you would see uh from 24 25 to 26 the number of FTEEs are increasing especially in the BFL or the B bilingual family layer zones and the ELLL teachers. This is

150all based on the student needs. Next slide. Kelly on to you. >> Okay. So, um the impact of this is programming has positively impacted schools and students. Um and that was reflected in the data that we shared in our last um guardrail. So, we we are on the right path and we're doing some things that that is that are having a positive um impact on our students. Um and we are using data to to really hone in on areas um that can can improve even more. So um through through um looking at data sources, talking to our families, working with our um BFLs and our schools to really uh talk about what are the the how do we use our supplemental and how do we use our um the resources that we have uh to

151support some of the areas that we talked about in our challenges. um those long-term learners and our um learners with interrupted schooling. And then high school, like there's a lot of areas um that we're working on in high school um to to keep moving up from elementary to middle and then into high school. So um we have a uh quite a few plans um to revise our LEAP and some of our supports in high school to to better meet the needs of our students um in ELLL programming in high school. [clears throat] All right, >> Kelly would appreciate you continuing with this as well. >> You get me again. Okay, [laughter] curriculum adoption >> uh again you you have heard me at this table and others talk about high quality curriculum over and over again.

152um at D and DNPS our curriculum department um provides high quality curriculum and curriculum resources to support all comprehensive buildings and special programming serving more than 30,000 students. So it's not just the core content classes or extended core classes. Uh our department [snorts] also provides to special programs um and as you heard like including ELLL and um special education and other special programs. I [clears throat] want to again you clarify uh some definitions when we talk about high quality curriculum um we're talking about adopted curriculum um that is green light on ed reports is vetted has a scope and sequence has assessments built in and scaffolds and all those things we also have curriculum which you're going to hear me talk about which might be teacher created resources or teacher create created or uh um

153educator created which we often think is high quality it's just not a high quality adopted curriculum. It's more like high quality resources that we use in some in some of our subject areas. Uh our curriculum follows the Iowa academic standards. It has clear outcomes and evidence based practices. Um and supports our educator. So having a high quality curriculum supports our educators in delivering that grade level engaging in affirming meaningful instruction. um current status right now that uh not like all district curriculum materials are evaluated during the uh an adoption process and we follow board policy. Um and but many courses especially in high school have not adopted high quality curriculum or are using teacher curated and other standards aligned resources. our challenge um which are several is aligning our materials with the state um standards

154that that continually change. So we're having changes like in like for instance social studies is going under a major change in standards. So then we have to realign our curriculum or readopt curriculum that um aligns to standards when they change. Um also ensuring that our curriculum it's important to us that it be cultural and linguistically relevant and then getting buyin from educators and stakeholders. Um we have budget limitations, professional development needs and resource limitations. Uh and um these factors really uh do play a part in us selecting and rolling out new curriculum. [clears throat] I talked about many of these um our choices really moving forward and we've worked with executive cabinet extensively on this is uh prioritizing and putting curriculum adoptions into a five-year plan. And we've we've we have done that in the

155past, but we've always not adopted them because we didn't have the money to do it. Um basically, uh right now where we're at, we our budget is such [clears throat] that we can just keep well we can't keep up with the status quo of like printing and um replacement increase decrease needs. Our budget currently doesn't even is not allowing us to keep up with just the status quo of uh providing the resources that we've already adopted or already have. So, we've worked um and Shashank will talk about that more, Matt can talk more about that at executive cabinet to really brightside us over five years to be able to adopt um to adopt our curriculum's um the needed curriculum. [snorts] Uh >> yeah, maybe >> just to emphasize that um we are um choosing um

156to allocate um resources to adequately fund curriculum adoption as well as not only to actually move um particularly our high schools forward to have relevant, viable, highquality curriculum um that is standardsbased um to get us to a um a state of relevancy. Uh meaning that we've got some curriculums that have been in play for the last 12 years. They're 12 years old, 15 years old that some of our teachers are using. And so that's naturally that's why teachers go to um teachers pay teachers, right? And they go to other sort of resources to support one another because those curriculum um uh content is not relevant. Um think about what's happened in the last 10 years for social studies for example. Um and we got to be able to actually put in front of them high

157quality curriculum. So, um, as a, uh, teach and learn department and executive team, we've already committed, um, that in the next 5 years, we're going to actually allocate resources to move the needle on that in addition to plan for what's going to happen with reimagining education and the programming needs that are going to be there. So, you're going to see a dramatic increase in our investments in curriculum because when it comes to the classroom spaces, you have it's a three-pronged stool. Um it's curriculum, it's instruction, um the pedigogy that the teacher uses, and it's the relationships with the students that actually make the difference in the classroom. Um in many of our spaces, particularly at secondary, that prong or that that stool leg of curriculum is not supporting children's needs. It's not supporting staff needs.

158Um and so we're going to make a a different investment in that moving forward. >> So some of the things that Matt talked about is those outdated materials. So, um, also our [snorts] need for diverse offerings. So, we want to be we want to be cutting edge. We want to be able to offer diverse and, um, uh, supplemental and advanced learning opportunities for our students in all areas, CTE, extended core. Um, but we we have to we have to really prioritize and make decisions over the next five years of how we're doing that. So we now have a plan um where we've prioritized those curriculum areas and then over the five years we'll be adopting those curriculums based on the priorities that we set >> [snorts] >> um and allocating resources for professional development and

159implementation support. We've learned a lot over the years about that, right? And so we really want to roll these curriculums out with the support um and professional development that they need. Uh and then um we really have addressed those gaps in the high quality materials especially in our high school and AP courses. So that's where we're further behind because we kept pushing kind of pushing it down the road a year so that we could adopt um early literacy materials and then we could adopt math materials for K12. And so um it is at the point now where we cannot push them any further. We h we need to do it. Shashank. >> Thanks. [clears throat] Thanks, Kelly. So again, in in the in the previous board meeting, we had shared a strategic five-year plan and

160based on that plan, if you see, we had highlighted the investments that we plan to make for the curriculum in the next 5 years. [snorts] So, so this is what is needed to really stay on pace. As Matt and Kelly have mentioned, some of the curriculums were highly outdated and and that is the thing which is really driving this investment. If you see in FI25 and years before that, we had not invested heavily in our curriculum at all. So this was well past the next slide. >> Okay. So that impact in the impact in that investment in high quality materials um has a a a profound impact on our student learning. Um if you've read any of the recent research after the opportunity myth about um school like trajectory changing schools and following that data

161and asking these schools these by trajectory changing the it would mean that they are able to grow students more than a year. So they have accelerated growth in their student outcomes. And the thing that is common across all those is they have high quality curricular materials across their district for ELA, math, social studies, and science, right? Um, so we we are on that bandwagon. We just need, you know, now we're going to be able to fund be funded to be able to to keep going the curriculums that we have and be able to increase and add to um the curriculum areas where we're behind. So, we may have gone a tad bit over an hour. [laughter] I'm certainly welcome any questions. Sorry about that. >> Let's go around um the the table. Final questions. >>

162You've already muted. >> Sorry. Can I just ask one followup question? So, exciting [snorts] to hear about the curriculum investments on a go forward basis. As we know, this is a we're not necessarily growing our pie, so we're reallocating resources. >> Can you speak to where this is coming from? It's it's a fantastic investment. It's obviously very needed, but what what are we shifting from to invest in our curriculum? >> I think that's that's a a larger question. Um because there's a lot of shifts u that are going to be happening um just based on the deficit that we're looking at. and then um taking uh allocations that are currently in other areas of the organization to actually reinvest or invest differently into curriculum instruction. Some of that comes from um repurposing of staff and

163things like that. Um so that's I think that's going to we probably should unpack that question um in a in an upcoming meeting around goals and guard rails because it'll be actually um explicit in those particular projections. I appreciate the question. >> [clears throat] >> Just a comment and you've heard this before from me and it's not necessarily budget related but it it is when we pick this curriculum I hope we will put a strong emphasis on it being apolitical so that there will be students who graduate from De Mo public schools and have no idea what the political leanings of their teachers are. I hope that that's a a goal of ours in our curriculum. I will say our uh in our department a goal in curricula the curriculums we choose. We really want

164to um build the knowledge and skills of our students to make their own choices and go out and activate um be activists um based on their their knowledge and skills that they've um acquired throughout >> not what to think. >> Correct. >> And that's the stake that we put in the ground when we choose curriculum. Miss Maria, >> no questions. Um just um I again in the presentation I read quite a few times uh the idea of involving parents. So parent engagement and just acknowledging recognizing how important that is and it needs to be a priority. It's just part of a student success. It has to be. >> Yeah, >> absolutely. [snorts] Thank you, >> Kyler. >> Yeah, [clears throat] I'll frame I think I have a question and a comment, but they might both

165come out as comments. Let me think about this. So, first I as we went through this, there were really a few constants that I noticed throughout the entire presentation. One, that pretty much every single budget categorical is at a deficit. And two, each of them that is at a deficit, we're increasing the expenses. Uh, and I know that the purpose of this conversation is more educational, but I look forward to the conversation when we start to talk about how do we get out of having a conversation like this. So, I guess that was a comment. The question or the other comment um I think with the exception of Dr. Briggs and the dropout prevention, I did not notice any other spaces um and maybe it's compliance reasons where we talked about how external partners and

166community partners are supporting this work. Um that is one way as you all obviously know that we could probably help with some of the budget situation is by leveraging our community. Um so I I don't know if for future presentation or when we talk about budget in more depth if there are places where we are leveraging community outside of dropout prevention. I would love to learn more about that and if there are ways to engage them um learn about that as well. Anna, >> here here >> [snorts] >> uh just thank you. I know Josie's done this many times with us before and you guys did an excellent job. Thank you. >> I have about I don't know how [laughter] this There we go. I have about eight pages of questions. So, uh I just

167you know I'm going to have a lot to dig into and learn. Budget is a very complicated thing. So, I look forward to learning more about it. >> All [clears throat] right. Thank you to everyone. Um, just to follow up on items that I've noted for future conversations. um the hiring, recruitment, and retention for our special ed vacancies, a deep dive into our DOP at risk indicators, re-engagement, how that works, um post dropout via our success case workers, um our CSC budget and allocation, uh our ELLL exit rates, our two-year monitoring for ELLL students and our allow plan, uh what happens post exit from our ELLL services. uh discussion regarding shifts and um regarding deficits to fund high quality curriculum and how do we engage our external partners and community partnerships. >> I smell retreat.

168[laughter] >> Sounds fine. All right, >> Kim, if I can offer one last comment. I'm sorry. And I know I think maybe someone already said it. I know it's it's not easy for you all and I I don't want to take it for granted that we as a board ask all these questions. look through dig and cross-examine you. But I do want to say thank you. Um I know it takes a lot of time that you put into these presentations and Shashank as well. A lot of time and effort put into this and no matter how much time you put in, we're always going to find a question that you didn't put in. So hopefully you don't take it to heart and it's just us showing passion. So thank you. >> Yeah, this is appreciate

169the questions and we're proud of the work we do and we're happy to share it. Yeah, >> this is laying the foundation for um you know, future conversations that we're going to have and tough decisions that we're going to have to make. So, appreciate all the insight and knowledge that we've gained this evening. >> Yep. >> All right. Um >> thank you, >> Shashank. Thank you. >> Can I make some last comments, Kim? >> Can I make some last comments, please? >> You may make one last comment, Shashank. >> Thank you, Kim. I would really like to thank the entire team which is Joe, Kelly, Rainey and Joanna for the presentations that they have done and I hope the board's ask of trying for them and the community to understand more about the categoricals was

170achieved today as part of this presentation. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you Shashank. >> All right, board members, it is 7:57. We are going to take a short recess um and go into close session. I let's um reconvene at 810 because I believe that dinner is available and um we are going to be going into close session um which is >> Yes. So eight.