001e [Music] good evening I would like to call the school board meeting for Tuesday March 4th 2025 for the De Moine public schools to order it's really great to see everybody and I also have to make a special shout out to our young people that are here that we'll be hearing from it's always wonderful to have you here and to participate and to be part of this process so thank you for being here miss Rios could you please take the role yes Miss Miss Alonso here miss compos here Mr dicks here miss noox here miss marar here Dr Mayberry mace here miss Norris here we have Quorum I do also want to point out that our superintendent is online he is out on the west coast accepting a bit of recognition on behalf of De
002Mo public school so he is present and participating uh you just don't see him sitting right next to me the first item of uh business is approval of the agenda and I have a few friendly amendments board members um we are going to add board governance as a topic to our work session as opposed to talking about only budget only budget yeah okay so we're adding to that and then we are going to remove the exempt session we're removing the close session and we're removing the presentation on reimagining education uh so with that friendly amendment I may have a motion in a second to approve the revised agenda Alo moved Campos second we have a motion by Miss Alonzo and a second by Miss Campos is there any discussion or clarifying questions I are we
003able to make that adjustment to the work session um what we're actually going to do is we're going to break into uh three small groups okay so we're not um actually um if if we can't make this switch quickly and people feel uncomfortable because it hasn't been posted for 24 hours then the plan is to meet in three small groups um one that will talk about uh monitoring one that we'll talk about Financial Health and one that we'll talk about a different issue if that works yep I appreciate you asking board secretary do you actually have a ruling on that that you want to provide uh I don't okay all right uh so board members please cast your votes the vote is approved 7 to Zer Dr Mayberry Ma I believe you are speaking about
004the public forum yes 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 5 minutes for agenda items if anyone wishes to speak during any portion of the business meeting please email rosa. Ros dmschools.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 city of residence prior to providing comments guests of the board are encouraged to speak to matters relating to the program services and operations of dmps please remember that Iowa law prohibits us from discuss discussing specific employees or their job performance we ask all speakers to avoid reference to personalities or character or attacks as those
005types of comments do not contribute to the purpose for which this public form exists to use the use of inappropriate language would not be tolerated and individuals choosing to do so will be gabbled out of order and asked to excuse themselves from the premises or escorted out by District security as a reminder to the board and public the board will not engage in a discussion with public forum speakers as it is Our obligation to discuss only matters posted in the public agenda for the sake of transparency and opportunity afforded to all Community stakeholders matters requiring attention will receive appropriate staff and or board followup at a time after the meeting thanks for your participation we appreciate your feedback and input Miss real do we have any speakers for public forum yes we do first up
006I'll call Lillian Jaden and while Lillian's coming to the podium jenan J excuse me um Tasha would you upon completion of the speakers be willing to make yourself available in the hallway if anybody has additional questions um Tasha leads our um central campus and career uh Tech education program and so if you have specific questions she's able to answer them since we can't actually have a conversation uh because the Topic's not on the agenda thank you good evening members of the Schoolboard my name is lilan shayen and I'm a current senior at Roosevelt High School and a third year in the agroscience program here at central campus I'm here tonight because I cannot stand by and watch the De Moine FFA chapter and agroscience program disappear this program and more importantly Mr Anderson have shaped
007who I am today without them I wouldn't be standing here as the P County Fair Queen a state veterinary science Champion or a contender on the state job interview stage I would not have the confidence the passion or the skills that I carry with me every day Mr Anderson is the most passionate individual I've ever met he doesn't just teach a he lives it he invests in his students pushes us to be better and helps us find Opportunities we never could have imagined he taught me leadership professionalism and the value of hard work without him I wouldn't have stepped into the fair Queen role I wouldn't have competed at the highest levels and I certainly wouldn't have the voice to stand before you today but this program is not just about me it's about the
008hundreds of students who have benefited from opportunities that no other FFA chapter in the state can provide we are the only chapter in the state with an on-site Barn we also have three green houses a hydroponic system and an orchard we are on the Cutting Edge Of Agricultural education providing Hands-On experiences to prepare students for their Futures we are a self-sustaining program with help from our student ran plant sale and livestock auctions why take away these life-changing opportunities for students who genuinely want to be participating in them not only that but we are incredibly diverse our chapter brings together students from all backgrounds offering a perspective that Bridges the gap between traditional rural Agriculture and urban a we help students from farming communities see what agriculture looks like from an urban setting which is something
009that will only become increasingly important in the coming years Iowa is built on agriculture it's in our Roots it's in our economy and it's in our futures how can you justify cutting an agricultural education program in a state where farming is the backbone of our communities but FFA is not just about farming it's about leadership science business and preparing the Next Generation to feed clothe and care for our world by cutting this program you're not just taking away a class you're taking away opportunities Futures and a sense of purpose for students like me so I ask you why take away something that works why access a teacher who has inspired so many why eliminate a program who's building your Future Leaders keeping this program means investing in students in your community and in the future
010of the state of Iowa please do not take this away from us thank you thank you thank you next speaker is Lucas wood good evening board my name is Lucas wood I'm a senior at Hoover High School and a second year in the agroscience program I came to speak today because the program is being cut next year and I think it's unfair and unjustified for it to be happening I joined late since I joined my senior or junior year rather than my sophomore year so I've only been able to participate in 2 years but in those two years I've had all kinds of opportunities and opportunities to meet all kinds of new people and one of the first opportunities that I think is very unique to our program is Raising fire animals because we have
011the on-site Barn I think that's very important because especially for me I grew up on the North side of De Moine right near City Limits so I would always be around farms and everything just a couple minutes from my house but I never had the opportunity to go work on them or work with the animals and the agroscience program provided that opportunity so I think that it's very important for people especially in the city like me to be able to have that knowledge on uh raising livestock because it is a big part of Agriculture and another big opportunity that I want to highlight because of how special it is is the plant the Moon project me and four others in the Pro program have been working on we are using moon regali or Moon soil
012basically to research how basil will grow on the moon so we've been working on a program uh ran by NASA and our research gets sent to NASA and this gives us the opportunity to go down to Florida if we were to win and uh toward the NASA headquarters and just really be in contact with people in NASA and you can't get that anywhere else uh in De Mo so I think the agroscience program is a big part of the de Mo high schools and uh for students like us because it provides all kind of opportunities that like people all over would dream of because I know a lot of little kids would think oh yeah working with NASA would be cool but a lot of them don't get the opportunity so I think that that
013being an opportunity in the agriculture program is another big thing and another big benefit especially because of the impact it's had on me was the Hands-On learning over desk work because going to school for years and years and just sitting at a desk all day is boring but with the agroscience program it gives us the opportunity to go work Hands-On whether it be with animals plants or even just uh other things like hydroponic systems it provides unique learning opportunities for students in the district that may not learn as well just sitting down all day and even if it's not always Hands-On it's still a big part of it and it also encourages people because when they're working Hands-On with animals and plants that also gives them the opportunity to see the the results from it
014like last year we had probably I think it was like 15,000 plants that we all started from either little seeds or just little sprouts and we sold them throughout uh April and May at the plant sale where we get a majority of our funding for all the programs in or all the opportunities in the program have shaped me who I am as a person it gave me the motivation to go to school it helped me be interested in learning because we got to do Hands-On work and has also giv me opportunities like I said that you can't get anywhere else in De Mo if this program has imp imped me so much and so many others before me think about all the people that maybe won't get the opportunity to be impacted by it next
015year because maybe they're seniors or maybe when they just when it comes back in two years they're not interested anymore because they already had the opportunity to join it and weren't able to I will always be thankful for the program and the teachers in it because without them I would have never found my passion and interest in Plants Mr Anderson pushing me to go out of my comfort zone and compete at FFA competitions Mrs man encouraging me make ENC encouraging me to make friends last year and Miss Estel encouraging me to do anything plant related taking away the program isn't just taking away five classes it's taking away life-changing opportunities for students in the district I think it's very important that we reconsider closing the program for a year thank you thank you next speaker
016is Milton Castro you can approach The Forum hello uh my name is milon Castro I'm Char the Latino soccer league um we are Latinos we come at Mo we stay here okay um I come in here because um we had a problem day about the cost for the rent the soccer fields um and the stadiums and very very uh High the cost they you provide sorry is that the district okay you have a highy high cost for rent the field and they say the stadium uh is uh 525 for hours we are a nonprofit uh we have a children's we have a ladies we have uh girls uh we have a uh High School uh every everybody live and is the mo they coming at the uh School in the mo we think the school
017is for no for everybody right is for the community okay we seeing the the uh athletic campus is for the them the same people right okay um we need West de Mo because they have another prices and we rent uh the stadium valet or another places they cost uh 8070 80 for hour uh we rent the indoor soccer in in in in Winter we pay for uh the elementary we pay $20 for hour uh the middle school we pay $40 for they include the the supervisor and right here in the morning they want to we paid for a supervisor and we pay for the high prices for field the fields and Lincoln um Ruel and the new one in in East East School okay this is why we come in here um we want to
018see you can consider the prices and because we know don't want to go at the mo we don't want to bring do parents pay for everything they pay for fi they pay for insurance because the school required insurance uh they pay for referees um this is the S the people the person they work in uh Gardens they part play work in restaurant they work in construction it very hard for pay pay this as high prices um this is why coming here we want to we want to know what you think about that okay thank you so much thank you so much Miss Becker if you wouldn't mind following up that would be great thank you next speaker is Michaela hello I'm Michaela nans and I am a sophomore at virtual campus and I am a
019first year at agriculture our agriculture program sorry and I am very disappointed that our program's getting shutting down as a first year I am very I was very excited for our vet program next year cuz that would be amazing cuz I want to be an equin vet when I'm older and that would been a great impact on me and as someone who is going to Virtual I don't really get a lot of experience with talking to people and making friends but thanks to our sorry our agriculture program I have been able to make new friends and also be Hands-On learning with animals animals are a great program sorry you're doing great doing a nice thing keep going sorry it's just that this program means a lot to me and a lot of the first year
020that I really wanted to be here for our next year our program brings a lot of students together from different Heritage and also from different school districts as somebody who has problems speaking aloud to a lot of people as you can tell because I'm very nervous right now but thanks to Mr Anderson and all the people that in Miss Estel that I have worked with thanks to this program I have become better able to speak in front of people somewhat and also thanks to um Mr Anderson I was able to come out of my comfort zone by competing in my first FAA competition this year just a few weeks ago so this program has really helped me speak and also make new friends and be with animals and learning about plant soils and plants themselves
021to know that this is being shut down my first year has really impacted me because I was really excited to be a part of another program and to be a part of f thank you thank you you did a very nice job next speaker is Joshua Remington good evening I am Joshua Remington and I am president of the farm i p County Farm Bureau board of directors thank you for allowing me a few minutes to speak and how would you like to follow that I mean really these are great um and I know it's not appropriate but I give you all a great Round of Applause because you've done a great job I I think they really have done I mean I know I know as a as a uh freshman sophomore junior senior in
022high school I would never have been able to get up in front of the school board and even say thank you versus approach on a controversial issue so um but I also want to Echo some of the thoughts I think that there are some great opportunities that are happening some great things that are happening and some actually unique things that are happening only at the central campus location for example the central campus a program is one of two manners programs in the state of Iowa one of two and for those that may not be familiar with manners it's minorities and natural agriculture natural resources and related Sciences we do not want to lose that under any circumstance we want to keep that we want everybody to know that their food system their leadership their ability
023to thrive here in Iowa we want to support them in those missions and opportunities furthermore there's so many things that are just like this when you approach people who you want to hire you want to hire these kids right the kids that'll look you in the eye the kids that'll Shake Your Hands they don't teach that in a lot of a program or a lot of programs they teach that in a they teach that in FFA they teach that in some of these great programs and I totally get totally get that budgets are hard budget conversations are are difficult and I've never ever attended at any school board meeting or supervisor meeting or anything that doesn't come down to budgets being tough and I respect those tough decisions you have to make yet I'm also
024asking can we not throw the baby out with the bath water can we do what every other business on the planet does and reinvigorate while moving forward saying it may not be exactly what we want it to look like today but let's keep going let's take a step today let's take another step let's set goals let's keep reaching for that rather than denying opportunities for an entire year let's just keep reaching further let's keep setting those goals and setting those expectations because I'll tell you there's a lot of folks that believe in this there's a lot of folks that think this matters and I know that there's 11,000 P County Farm Bureau members that think that very thing so please please please take a hard look at this take a moment to say there's opportunity
025to keep the program and make some of the changes we'd very much love to be a part of that conversation and very much very much love your reconsideration thank you thank you next speaker is Senator Tony bisano my name is Tony bisano I live in Deo and to uh put some content here uh I'm here for the FFA uh the reason is I've grown attached to the FFA serving in the Senate uh a number of years and watching the the different uh programs that come up there to visit I've never been more impressed and I'm not here just to say that because these kids that have have come and taught me things that I didn't know uh you know the joke is is FFA and de get out of here right that we're that uh
026you're Urban guy you don't care and then I heard their story and after I heard their story it's like I went around the chamber challenging other members on how well that their programs are going because this is truly one of the most successful but the thing that is probably the most unique is the diversity uh and with with de Mo schools becoming more diverse it's more needed because we're bringing people from countries that are Farm countries that are agriculturally uh driven and granted it's not from what I read today some of the uh some of the disc discussion was is well it's not addressing all people's needs yes it is for these kids it is addressing their needs they have a real interest in agriculture and in De Mo the southide that I represent we
027have Gardens we all groww up with Gardens we all have that that Urban type feel of of Agriculture but this is bigger than that and when I met a young man from Roosevelt couple of years ago African-American head a Dio state to be a veterinarian that's phenomenal this is the kind of thing that plants the seed and and I agree that if we disconnect uh there are going to be interested Today Gone Tomorrow students because they're going to find another group to associate with some other club some other activity but I can say if if there is one thing I think De Moine needs more of is a awareness uh I'm I was ranking member of Agriculture which became kind of a a joke from De Mo he's a ranking member I had an interest
028in agriculture when they gave that to me and and so FFA day is really popular at the capital what we do as senators and representatives is run around trying to find De Moine on their back or Mount Pleasant or wherever because we're looking for our own kids and we get excited when they come up this is a group that excites me and uh I don't just drop in here every week or two I haven't been here for 10 years uh I asked that you rethink the disconnection I understand some of the things I read um is funding I come from a place that's dominated by funding uh but there are things that get cut that shouldn't uh that long term we regret uh this is one of those that we only have these kids for
029four years we only have them in high school four years they don't have time to wait two more years they want to stay steady if they they connect with Iowa State um they send their research to NASA I mean how much more do we need to be proud of what the De Moine school system has done with FFA so even my recommendation as I read don't even change the name because if you think well we're not into the F the agriculture uh in a component like out in rural Iowa FFA is a definition of people it says who you are it says what into and it's a group in this state and to call them something different we'll take De Moine and put us on the wall separately and that's not what we want to
030keep doing is highlighting De Moine is separate or exclusive just make ours the best that's all I ask make it the best give these students the opportunity to pursue what they love thank you thank you thank you [Applause] next speaker is John Preston good evening my name is John Preston and I'm the Future Ready coach over at Hoover High School I'm here to express my concerns about the termination of the six Future Ready coaches in dmps due to budget concerns this position exists at all five comprehensive high schools and central campus and we're in our third and final year of supporting the class of 2025 for two years dmps has told our schools that when the Future Ready Grant ends we will continue the same work with the gearup 3.0 Grant and support those students
031until they graduate in 2029 for two years our team and schools understood that they would have a future ready coach in the building to help accomplish the grant objectives of helping our students engage in the critical work of exploring College and Career options as well as the important aspects of personal growth and development in essence we'd be there to help support and achieve the goals of the District board goal 3 last Friday our team was informed that the district had decided to terminate the positions of the six Future Ready coaches use the yearly $350,000 Grant to fund services for these students and schools would simply offload the labor of supporting these students to current building staff I ask you who will be doing this work can you find a school counsel with extra time in
032their day our district counselors are amazing but schools need additional supports if School staff is already overwhelmed who is going to be doing this work according to the Iowa Department of Education the four-year graduation rate for the dmps class of 2023 was 72.2% we need boots on the ground we need staff who can guide classrooms through our career and uh exploration software to discover their strengths career interests and potential future Pathways who is going to be doing this work our team has been taking students on College and Career visits for the last three years Hoover took roughly 14 trips last year who's going to be doing this work who will promote the events who gathers permission slips who send outs reminders the day before who can miss 14 days in their building Future Ready coaches
033this year are helping coordinate the districtwide trip to build my future Hoover's taking 100 plus students who will be planning promoting and coordinating right now in partnership with the Community School orators at Hoover we're planning a career fair to help our students connect to local organizations summer jobs and network with potential future employers next year who will be doing this work it won't be our community school coordinators next year csc's will not be in one building but spread across multiple schools in their feeder pattern they're amazing Assets in our buildings but they cannot absorb the work even if they weren't now spread across multiple buildings I don't know how to distill my past seven years of college and career exploration at High School into 3 minutes but I would not have continued with this work
034if I was not positive we were helping students be more resilient engaged and successful so my name is John Preston feel free to reach out if you have any questions about the work that we do thank you thank you next speaker is Sylvia po hi my name is Sylvia por I a um I am from De Moine and I a former FFA member I was very uh distraught when I originally read the article about um the removal of this program I do not think it is a good idea uh this program teaches students about every aspect of the processing of an animal um so that goes all the way from breeding to the actual processing of the animal and there are many many different breeds of animals that are taught while in this program so
035you are not just um solely focused on one breed that would be um in these industries it is also very important to note that you that we have breeding an or they have breeding animals at this facility I am very curious to know what is going to happen to these animals for the year that um is something I'm very concerned about uh as an animal scientist at um Iowa State University so that would be very concerning to me because I want to make sure that these animals five freedoms are maintained at all times um these students learned multiple different um skills well at this program they learn how to take responsibility and do the job and work with others and have fantastic communication skills when managing the farm and communicating how to do and handle
036animals and farm um chores this is an incredible part of the of the program that really teaches people how to communicate with their peers and the people that they're going to work with in any job um so not just agriculture I'm very concerned with the future of these students because a lot of them will not be able to receive certain degrees in the FFA there are multiple degrees that you get as you progress to the program that look very good on resumés and school applications um the discovery degree is when you figure out and learn about the FFA um the greenhand degree is your first year the chapter degree is um your second year in the FFA and your state is your third and then you can go further and get the American degree this
037would be something that these poor students would miss out on if you to take one year of this away it would be very unfair for them um it also takes away advancements in horiculture and agriculture when you think about it because these are the new future Temple Grandin or Norman Bor logs that you're pre preventing from being able to study or learn about their um passions it's very concerning to me um there's also a lot of things that I'm concerned about when it comes to um sorry just lost my place uh to competitions that they're going to be attempting to do some of these competitions take a lot of practice and um you can continue to do for multiple years and this would be something that they would miss out on these also look good
038on resumés and um building up uh transcripts for colleges and things like that this program is is phenomenal in helping building up their students without it I wouldn't be able to speak to you without it I would not be able to go to college really um without it I probably wouldn't be on the track to becoming a vet and it's just incredibly concerning so please please reconsider thank you thank you thank you next speaker is representative Jason Gearhart jacket here uh so I'm state representative Jason gearheart I'm from Strawberry Point Iowa and I don't really have a a dog in this fight but representative uh Johnson over there was talking this morning about this issue and it's something that's near and dear to my heart so here we go uh so I stand here before
039you say not just as a state legislator but as someone who whose life was profoundly shaped by the FFA uh for four years in high school FFA wasn't just an extracurricular activity for me it was my sport it was my community and the foundation of my leadership Journey um Iowa is an agricultural state but FFA is so much more than farming it provides students with leadership opportunities public speaking experience teamwork skills Hands-On learning to prepare them for their future careers program like the Washington leadership conference District State national conventions and competitions as well as FFA officer positions that equip students with confidence and skills that they need to be successful the FFA plays a critical role in career development offering real world experiences in agriculture business mechanics and science it Fosters agricultural advocacy ensuring students
040become more informed uh become informed voices for one of Iowa's most vital industry through competitions projects and Leadership roles the FFA teaches responsibility discipline and personal growth life lessons that extend far beyond the classroom this year nine students from the de Mo FFA program and I looked this up online so correct me if I'm wrong competed at subdistrict contests with many advancing to districts and Beyond last year four of your students competed at National level at the national level in Indianapolis which is a once in a-lifetime opportunity to brought in their Horizons I was fortunate enough to be part of the FFA I travel all across the state and the country ultimately earning my American FFA degree as one of the gals pointed out earlier so this is the highest the highest award that the
041FFA can bestow on one of its members uh I know firsthand the opportunities that this program provides and I know you're contemplating table in this program for a year to reimagine it I would ask that you do that while keeping the current program in place I believe that it's important for our for FFA to remain available to your students if changes are needed so be it but dissolving the program I don't believe is a solution the future of the workforce our agricultural industry our next generation of leaders depends on it who knows what the future for these students here will hold uh they could be they could look back in 24 years like me and trade this code in one like this so with that means said Thank you thank [Applause] you next speaker is
042Jamar Lan um good evening members of the board my name is Jamar Leon I am the vice president of manners in my agroscience program I am a senior at East and I am a third year in the ad program I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today I would like to address the reasons we were given surrounding the pause in our program number one current program limitations we were told our program is primarily focused on FFA plant sales and animal husbandry and that doesn't fully meet the needs of students however I would urge you to consider the impact these areas have made on me and my peers have y'all have you've heard today from several of my peers this program has shaped and changed our lives in ways words can hardly Express number two
043industry and Workforce misalignment another Point Raise was the alleged M misalignment between our program and the a industry in fact um through the school year we have had the privilege of visiting multiple College ad programs which offer invaluable insights into the higher level higher level education our Capstone class is titled work-based learning which places us into real world real world scenarios where we get hands-on experience in the in the an industry as high school seniors it is difficult for us to understand how this could be SE seen as a misalignment and number three lack of representation and inclusive inclusivity I must say I found this difficult to accept I invite you to spend a day at our facilities where you will see firsthand the diversity within our program it stands as one of the most
044inclusive and diverse agriculture programs in our state especially when compared to other programs lastly we were told that that resource allocations are being strained due to low enrollment and insufficient recruitment proc resources what has not been acknowledged is that is the tireless effort put forth by student officers who who have worked to recruit students from all the high schools to make up for the lack of formal recruitment practices the enrollment decline we're we are experiencing in large part is due to our first year class being capped at just 25 students with seniors receiving priority over younger students this is a key factor to our decline in enrollment and one that has not been fully addressed when you ask um most of our students what they think about these reason I believe that the overwhelming response
045would be that they lack credibility in closing I urge you to consider the points we' raised today we hope that you make your decision not based on assumptions but on clear understanding of the values this program has brought us and continues as others thank you thank you thank [Applause] you next speaker is Carol bars hi I'm Carol bar and I'm from De Moine I am a parent of a former um FFA a program um my daughter was very very shy when she started the program and she gained a lot of confidence being in the program she will be in the fall starting Iowa State and going to the veteran school um she currently has a job as a um kennel worker in a vet place and I don't think she would had that opportunity if
046she hadn't been in this program um I myself was a Hands-On parent in this program um I have helped um my daughter sheer sheep um I have gained confidence in growing like tomatoes because I wasn't because of the the horiculture part of it um and this program is very very important to my daughter she has done several competitions she won the Star Award her first year um I've seen a few of these ladies grow as well and this you know I do believe it needs to be revamped but don't take it away even just for a year please thank you thank you thank [Applause] you next speaker is Trinity Bar hi my name is Trinity and I'm from De Moy I spent three years in the dmps agriculture program and I'm a graduate of pen
047Foster High School which is an outof District online high school but despite not attending a dmps high school I remain deeply dedicated to this program because of the incredible opportunities knowledge and growth that it gave me some of you may actually recognize me I was here just last year standing in this very spot talking about how great the agroscience program is and sharing details about a once in a-lifetime opport opportunity that I had just last year um like it was mentioned earlier I went to Indianapolis to compete in the National FFA veterinary science CDE give me one second I stood here as proof of what agricultural education can do for students not just academically but personally and professionally and yet here I am again but this time I'm not here to celebrate the program I'm
048here to fight for it this program is so great that many people recognize it from all over the state multiple times I've been in conversations with industry professionals other a Educators and state fair staff and when they ask me what FFA chapter I'm from I proudly say De Moine FFA and without fail every single time their response is oh so you're one of Kevin's kids you're in a great program kid don't take it for granted this is the kind of impact that this program has people know it people respect it and people see the difference that it makes in the lives of students like me because of this program I have competed in countless Agriculture and animal science competitions at the local state and National levels through these experiences I've gained real world exper or
049sorry Real World skills that set me apart from my peers I have over, 1300 hours of just Hands-On animal experience and 200 hours of volunteer hours because of this program I have built a stacked resume one that has opened doors for me and made me stand out on a level I've been offered opport sorry I've been offered scholarships to some of the top schools in the country including $80,000 from T Lane which has only a 10% acceptance rate these are opportunities that I would have never had without the foundation of this program the decision to pause this program for an entire year is not just a change in the curriculum it is it is a decision that risks setting back years of progress agriculture education is not something that can be put on hold it
050is a fundamental part of our our economy our food system and our future and for students like me it is a Lifeline to opportunity before I enter the a program I was incredibly shy I struggled to find my voice I would have never imagined standing in front of a room like this let alone twice but because of this program I found that confidence I learned the importance of educating others about where their food comes from how agriculture affects everyone and why it matters I got to share my experience of what it was like raising livestock as a a city kid because of this program I have fought to bridge the gap between Agriculture and urban communities to erase the stereotypes that have been dividing us for far too long and now with one decision all
051of that work is at risk of being undone a education is more than just an academic subject it is is it sorry it is an essential link between the students of De Moine and the industry that feeds them clothes them and fuels their future our state is is built on agriculture and yet many Urban students grow up completely disconnected from it this program has changed that it is provided hands-on experience leadership opportunities and a pathway to careers that students especially in a city environment may have never considered by pausing the program for a year you are not just delaying education you are closing doors you are taking away experiences that shape Futures scholarships that open New Paths and a sense of purpose that students like me have found through this program a pause does not
052just mean a temporary hold it means lost momentum lost student interest and a program that may never fully recover and let's be honest a pause often turns into something bigger after something is taken away it is far too easy to say well maybe we don't need it at all and I refuse to let that happen the reason this program has declining enrollment is not because of the curriculum it is because of the district not advertising the this opportunity to its students in my first year in the program Mr Anderson gathered all of the first year students and said raise your hand if you have never heard of this program before you've applied for it and over half of the class just raised their hands I personally only heard about this program because I talked to
053a state FFA officer at the state fair when I was in seventh grade and she recommended that I apply when I got to high school and I was so excited for that opportunity de Mo needs agricultural education students need agricultural education you may be thinking the pause is only for one year right students can just join the following year if you know it's paused however I know many students who didn't join the program until their Junior and or Junior or uh senior year instead of their sophomore year by pausing this program for even one school year students are missing out on a huge opportunity that may that many students in other areas would die for think about the future veterinarians the scientists the conservation the leaders who will never get their start because this program
054was put on hold for even just one year think about what you are taking away instead of pausing the program let's work together let students Educators and Industry professionals have a seat at the table and redesigning the curriculum over a summer or two not during the school year not pausing it right allow us to evolve while keeping the program alive give students a voice because I promise you no one understands the impact of this program more than we do I ask you do not take that away from us do not take away something that has changed lives including mine do not put agricultural education on a hold because agriculture is not something that can wait thank you thank [Applause] you and last speaker is Christina Estes thank you for your time this evening I appreciate
055it my name is Christina Estus and I a future ready coach under the Future Ready Grant um at Roosevelt High School and as U Mr Preston spoke before me about this you know there's six of us all together um so we support a lot of students we help and assist students um in um their dreams for After High School so and I personally have found this position to be really uh rewarding and I am grateful to have um played a part in creating a future for so many students but we are losing our positions for next year um it goes into the gear up 3.0 Grant and we have been told that we will not have our positions for next year which is is supporting freshmen so the really amazing thing is that we will
056follow we would we would have followed those freshmen all the way through their senior year so every year um the areas we could have supported them would have been academic support um advising um which entails numerous things when it comes to students as many of you know um College and Career Services which is information on it FASA taking them on trips um also family knowledge and engagement which is really huge especially for those um students that are first generation and also skills-based learning um so this would have been support for them all through High School their High School journey and now as Mr Preston stated who is going to be able to do this um our counselors you know a lot of it may fall back on them and so uh they have a tremendous
057job as many of you are aware um and all of us see on a daily basis how much our counselors um do so it includes you know scheduling classes but also helping students navigate that emotional roller coaster of growing up and their developing brain um which is also influenced by their personal lives these are only a few of the things that our counselors do so when you think about it how many of you decided on your career based on a life experience um so we have been able to give reality to these students and their dreams we're able to take them to see a campus many of them for the first time I have seen kids so excited after a campus visit and they're like this is it this is where I want to be
058this is what I want to do and at the time they had no clue about any of it because especially for kids that didn't have F family members that went this is their first experience um they were able to talk to college students hear their story talk to professors professionals and their peers um they've also it's not just college that we help them with so we've helped take them to skilled trades and they've talked to them many of them signing up for apprenticeships I myself am a first generation college graduate my parents didn't understand anything about the College college or what it takes to accomplish my dreams so I think about if I had had that support since I was a freshman all through high school at this point I could have landed on the
059moon I could have been a flight nurse I could have discovered a new organism at the bottom of the ocean become governor maybe that might still happen um all these things I could have been if I had had support so can you imagine if our ninth graders have the support all through High School it takes a community it takes many voices saying you can do this you you are amazing dream those dreams this is how these are the steps I will walk with you and your family this takes time which those who have numerous responsibilities already are saying to themselves how can we possibly do this the gear up positions that are being lost would play an intrical part in the community of our De Moine Public Schools we believe in our children's dreams and
060making them a reality we would like the chance for reconsideration and allow us to be able to walk with these kids 9th 10th 11th and 12th grade thank you thank you thank [Applause] you madam chair those are all the speakers I have signed up I don't Dr Roberts do we have any District recognitions yes mam sure we too good evening everyone you know as we continue to bring forth recognitions at school board meetings where we celebrate the successes and accomplishments of students and staff throughout the mo Public Schools tonight I have examples that I am truly excited to share I'm pleased to share these recognitions of work of our staff and students both in the classroom as well as what what happens in the community each year the business record announces the 40 on the
06140 list this is the list of upand coming leaders in our community who according to the paper demonstrate impressive career achievements and unparalleled Community involvement as a matter of fact this marks the 26 year of the list bringing the total number of 40 under 40 honoraries to over 1,000 people in our community and this year it's an honor that one of our very own dmps teammates is on the list I'm pleased to share that Kaye Becker or chief of staff for philanthropic engagement is one of those recognized in the 2025 40 on the 40 list K was nominated for this recognition by board member JX who also shars our deont Public Schools foundation in her times since joining the MPS kayy has worked closely with the foundation including on the recent successful dinner that we've
062had but more importantly day in and day out Kelly has been building support for some of our important work among allies and funders to the community really aligning with our priority number five in our strategic plan where she is spead in the work helping us all to do more to support all the children res serve I want to personally congratulate publicly for this well-deserved honor and thank board member jeno for your support in highlighting our outstanding staff I don't want to put yes I do I will put K in the spot and ask her to come up and share a little bit about this recognition and some of the things with some brevity that she's been working on lately so kayy please take that slow deliberate walk to the podium and share a little bit
063about what you have been working on and express with Community a little bit about how this honor has impacted you are we supposed to know recognition I didn't realize I was being recognized but thank you thank you Jenna for um nominating me thank you for the school board members that wrote letters I read them and they were amazing and I just um appreciate all of the community members and leaders that continue to believe in me and and especially thank you to Dr Roberts for um assisting me in growing and being the best I can um for our students and staff and community so thank you all for the recognition I really appreciate it and I'm really honored to be chosen this year [Applause] thanks I just can I just take a moment and add something
064uh just for some context for those in the room uh k 's role is new although it was a vision of um Terry Caldwell Johnson's for many years to have someone who has really had an eye on philanthropic engagement for our district as we know uh when the budget comes from the state that's what we have to spend but philanthropy can fill holes for us um and we have seen an outpouring of support and she's really taken on a huge job of trying to organize it and um maximize the impact so that we don't have to have or maybe we can have less tough budget conversations down the road so Kaye thank you because the the path forward philanthropy has to be a part of the conversation for our Public Schools unfortunately but also fortunately
065we have a great person leading that work so thank you great thank you Dr Roberts any other District recognitions yes Madam chair thank you for indulging this also this evening while they will not be able to join us um and they will probably get here at the next board meeting in person I want to give um our congratulations to the Lincoln rails girls bowling team on being the runnerup in this recent state tournament the team also featured two individual medalists who earned third and fifth place finishes and the Lincoln boys team also had a really strong season anding up Fifth at the state tournament fifth in the state last year of course we celebrated East High School being home to the state girls champion this year we are celebrating outstanding Bowlers from Lincoln High cool
066I am really proud of our student athletes who are competing and succeeding in this Sport and it just tells me that if ever I decide to select a weekend to go bowling I know exactly where to go to have my teammates at one of our amazing high schools and I'm not a good bowler so uh Lincoln East and other high schools in the M public schools look out for that phone call Madam sh that concludes this evening's recognition thank you I'm going to recommend we take just a brief pause uh I know for those those of you that may want to learn more talk more um Tasha Brown's going to make herself available in the hallway uh otherwise we'll keep going with the agenda uh and uh on move on to consent items so thank
067you very much I just I think we all want to make sure we say thank you so much for everybody that came and spoke uh we really appreciated your voices and I I'm I'm so impressed at how poised and well spoken all of you you you were this evening so thank you madam chair if I may uhhuh certainly want to Echo your sentiment and say um I am incredibly proud of our students um who are currently enrolled and those who have graduated who spoke this evening I have tremendous gratitude to our state representative and state senators who also spoke um about the program um in addition to the conversation that Tasha br will have with them Madam chair I am going to offer myself up for um continued conversations um so I can hear from
068the voices of our students so students we thank you great thank you thank you madam chair we are now going to move to the consent agenda items uh as a reminder to the board in public the board will not engage in discussion or deliberation with a speaker regarding comments made to agenda items discussion and deliberation will remain among board members at the board table with speaker comments informing the board's discussion deliberation and determinations as deemed necessary Miss Rios do we have any speakers no speakers for consent Dr Mayberry Mays I believe you have the consent motion I do you all can stay we're still having fun thank you for being here I move that the board approve the consent items in accordance with the recommended action for each item on the consent agenda including bills
069previously authorized certified and approved for payment by the board secretary in the amount of 4, 96,4 36 is there a second second we have a motion by Dr Mayberry Mays and a second by Miss uh board members uh any discussion or questions please cast your votes the consent agenda is approved uh 720 Now we move to public hearings first item is E1 public hearing for fy2 downtown school calendar the public hearing will come to order is there anyone wishing to speak to this item hearing none uh I will turn it over to Super inant Roberts uh please introduce the matter thank you madam chair most certainly I recommend the Board review the revised FY 2526 dong school calendar hold a public hearing and approve this calendar May have a motion in a second martarano so
070moved dick second we have a motion by Miss martarano and a second by Mr dicks any discussion or questions board members please cast your votes the vote is approved approv D 720 next item is E2 public hearing for CIP 3505 Jackson Elementary School parking lot Edition the public hearing will come to order is there anyone wishing to speak to this item hearing none uh I will turn it over to Dr Roberts uh to introduce the matter thank you madam chair I recommend the Board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by Bishop engineering for parking lot additions at Jackson Elementary hold a public hearing and approve the plans may I have a motion and a second to approve this item Marano so moved dick second we have a motion by m Rano and a second
071by Mr dicks is there any discussion or questions board members please cast your votes the vote is approved 7 to0 next item on the agenda is E3 public hearing for CIP 3506 Garden Elementary School parking lot addition the public hearing will come to order is there anyone wishing to speak to this item hearing no one I'm Clos the public hearing superintendent Roberts would you please introduce the matter certain M I recommend the Board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by Bishop engineering for parking lot additions our Garten Elementary School hold a public hearing and approve the plans may I have a motion and a second to approve this item March Ron o moved dick second we have a motion by Miss Marano and a second by Mr dicks is there any discussion or questions
072board members please cast your votes the vote is approved 7 to zero next item is E4 public hearing CIP 3504 Lincoln High School classroom and office remodel the public hearing will come to order is there anyone wishing to speak to this item hearing no one I'll close the public hearing Dr Roberts please introduce the matter yes I recommend the board reviewed the proposed plans and specifications prepared by BBS Architects and Engineers for classroom and nurses office Renovations at Lincoln High School hold a public hearing and approve the plans may have a motion and a second to approve this item Mayberry may move second it's a battle I believe we have a motion by Dr Mayberry Ma and a second by Miss Alonzo uh any discussion questions board members please pleas cast your votes the vote
073is approved 7 to Z we move next to other uh the first item is a personal recommendation for Dr Roberts to present to the board chair Dr Roberts thank you madam chair I asked that uh roserios in my absence uh physically presented I recommended the board receive file and approve determination of the contracts for reasons stated forth in the superintendent's notices may have a motion and a second to approve this item Marano so moved Campo second we have a motion by Miss martarano and a second by Miss Campos is there any discussion or questions board members please cast your votes the vote is approved 7 to zero next we turn it over to Dr Roberts who will present to us on the districtwide cell phone policy uh and guidance update thank you madam chair uh
074certainly much appreciated uh and good even evening everyone um several months ago uh we started our public discussion and engagements around the impact of cell phones in our classrooms um we talked about the fact that um one of our schools um Hoover High School and their leadership team teachers and staff uh took the initiative to Embark up on a journey where they prioritized not just necessarily uh the removal of cell phones for the purpose of denying students access to their phones but they couched the importance of reducing access to cell phones during the instructional time and the instructional day to the impact that those devices are having on student mental health since that uh those conversation started several months ago uh the board and our district leadership team engaged in several uh conversations and had
075some really healthy discussions around ensuring that we not only consider the kind of impact that Hoover High School spot will have at the conclusion of an evaluation period of one year but to use that data to inform how we intend to move forward with a possible districtwide policy since then we have concluded evaluation with our data and assessment team we've unpacked and analyzed the data and certainly there are some very compelling points um that are grunged in research and certainly grunged in some quantitative and qualitative data that informs the decision we've now made to move forward with a districtwide cell phone policy or guidance at the M Public Schools we are really committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive learning environment that truly empowers all of our students to sort of achieve their full potential
076we recognize that cell phones and personal devices are an integral part not only of our students lives but of the lives of the adults who serve them each of us as a cell phone we also know that our students utilize these devices as tools for communication learning and equally as important for personal expression our goal uh board and community in moving towards a district-wide cell phone policy is to implement such a policy of guidance that respects these needs that our students have while minimizing and ultimately even eliminating distractions to our instructional program supporting and valuing the mental health of our students and more importantly enhancing education outcomes as a result of the evaluation over one year and based on the last two months or so where we have convened a number of our school district
077leaders teachers and staff's perspective on what will it take for us Implement a require policy that scans grace prek through 12 but also being thoughtful for one that is differentiated because we recognize that developmentally students based in where they are in terms of their age or grade level band may have very different needs and so the policy that is up for public consumption in a draft form will really apply to all campuses and students within the point M schools and that includes as I mentioned the preschool elementary middle and high school schools because we are committed to ensuring developmentally appropriate access to technology the policy will be differentiated by three grade level beds high schools which will serve buildings of grades 9 through 12 middle schools serve in buildings of grade 6 through 8 and
078elementary schools to serve buildings in grades prek through five and in some instances next year because of a pilot we are expounding upon prek through six in situations where some of our campuses serve more than one grade level band building principles will be supported by District leaders and encouraged to create sort of differentiated policies as necessary want to share sort of at a high level what should be expected as a result of the policy that will go into effect for school year 25 26 and my team and I intend to bring this to the board for your additional review reactions and certainly approval at our next board meeting in April all High School principles including leaders of specialized campuses within the district will be expected to implement a cell phone free policy during class time
079individual campuses may choose to allow the use of cell phones during class time if they are directly integrated into the curriculum and used to the purpose of teaching and learning we recognize that there are many instances where teachers can can skillfully integrate the use of Technology including cell phones and other smart devices into teaching or learning as they deliver strong pedagogical practices principles may also allow teachers to permit cell phone us in a classroom solely not only for educational purposes but also to consider utilizing it for things such as research digital assignments or Interactive Learning activities we wanted to highlight in this policy that preference should be given for these activities to occur on a district provided laptop device and when not able to do so or if there's an additional benefit to utilize a
080smart device then certainly teachers should be allowed to use their discretion to do so I know one of the the conversation points that we have entertained from parents community members students and others is what happens in cases of emergency well in emergency situations they will be addressed on a Case by case basis with the direction of teachers and administ rators students remember ultimately our goal is not for this policy to be punitive but we certainly want to make sure that we are making the decision to improve the quality of Education experiences you're having but more importantly to make sure that there is a healthy balance of how you engaging and utilizing screen time we have seen the compelling research says it is not healthy for you it's certainly not healthy for any human being but
081our primary respons responsibility this time is to protect each and every one of you during and out of school finally I want to share that Our intention with this policy is not necessarily to prohibit or ban but we are anchoring our policy in a commitment to guide and support and to guide and support responsible use of Technology within all of our schools students again I want to reiterate that we truly understand that these cell phones are a significant part of your lives and we aim to respect that reality and even as we respect that reality we are going to do so while really prioritizing environments within grades PR through 12 that are really conducive to learning let me overemphasize your mental health your ability to regulate emotionally and certainly the opportunity for you to be
082engaged in the strong pedagogical practices that all work teachers are delivering are all tenets in which we anchoring this program we appreciate the cooperation of all of our students our families and our staff as we move forward to bring this to the board at our April meeting to implement this policy and remember we are always here to support 100% of our students and parents between today's meeting and our next board meeting please feel free to reach out to my office or individual schools if you have questions inputs or additions that you want us to consider in our upcoming school year 2526 cell phone guidance Madame chair that concludes my presentation I C open to entertain in any uh conversations or questions great thank you Dr Roberts I think board members what would be helpful is
083we'll do a round of clarifying questions uh and so if there's something that you want to clarify or ask let's start with clarifying questions and then um we'll we'll go from there um one one point I just want to ask uh Dr Roberts um even though the cell phone legislation with the state is not confirmed that is the reason why the board would approve the policy correct I think that's that's part of the potential law yes Madam chair you're absolutely correct uh but what I will share is that we have certainly worked collaboratively with many of our legislators including the governor's office um and having looked at the proposed language in that state law um we have the utmost confidence that we will be aligned with what is expected and it's primarily grounded in uh
084this commitment to reducing disruptions the instructional time great thank you okay uh clarifying questions any questions you spoke about supports and I see that you've identified um in this document that you've shared with us um that District level support will be offered to buildings can you will you speak to what that looks like Dr Roberts from now until the time of implementation and then post implementation what what do you mean by supports Kim where is that policy um it is reference Madam chair in specifically in the areas when it comes to enforcement and compliance thank you Dr Roberts go ahead thank you board m m I really appreciate that question um and my my response is twofold um the first is uh whenever we are going to implement any um districtwide policy I think it's
085it's prudent for us to be really thoughtful about ensuring that um every single teammate uh who such a policy will impact particularly those who are expected to implement um and we using words in this case such as enforce um is not left on their own um so the district level support that we are speaking about includes um training includes a thoughtful socializing of the policy to every single teammate and giving them an opportunity um to reach out to us with any feedback that will be helpful to them um during the upcoming and and subsequent school years and secondly one uh serious consideration of ours is uh what kind of pivots will uh School Personnel have to make in terms of the amount of time that they may have to allocate or allot um to supporting
086students and enforcing this policy and so we will remain open to uh receiving feedback around whether or not we need to consider resource allocation um the resource allocation that I am referencing will include either Personnel or other resources that may be helpful um to the success of this program and poliy thank you and and you can you speak with a little bit more detail regarding the training that will be administered or available yeah absolutely and and so um you know I I don't want to minimize the importance of this training by suggesting that it's not going to be uh um sophisticated but it's essentially I'm going to build in some of the kind of training that um our teammates are already exposed to right and that includes one looking at our tenants for example or
087um one of those five tenants of social emotional learning is really uh uh grounding so much of what we do in um self-regulation a second tenant is around a responsible decision making and so we want to make sure that when we think about the adult that we are offering um the kind of training that may be related directly um to cell phone use around responsible decision making for students and how adults can navigate those spaces so that those interactions do do not become combative or contemporist and then certainly around um self-regulation wanted to make sure that we are exposing again our adults to even more training so that when they are engaging with students they're engaging with them from a supportive standpoint unless of an enforcement standpoint um additionally when I I think about cell
088phone use I generally want to make a connection to um the cell phone policy to some of what we enforcing right now with our I love you guys safety protocol and we right now are being t ful about what connections are there as we come back in the summer to offer training around safety um with all of our teachers um and building staff who have to enforce the policy maybe I'll just ask a followup to that one of the early push backs I believe we heard was around Staffing to support the execution of the policy so that it would not fall on the teachers responsibility if we're trying to put this into effect starting in August how how have um how have school buildings been asked to factor in the the support they need to
089execute this on day one effectively thank you yes Madam Sher and and the feedback that we have gotten thus far is uh that many schools have what they call radio teams and their radio teams um based on their current Staffing model um are are are in place and there's not necessarily A need at this time it doesn't mean it will not change but there is not a need at this time um for any additional Personnel to support um those radio teams and certainly though we are um going to continue to remain open uh to the possibility of having to add um additional supports great thank you Mr JS Dr Roberts just um uh uh curiosity I don't see anywhere in the policy about um the adult staff members team members at dmps is there was
090there any discussion or is there going to be any discussion of sort of practicing what we preach here um and making sure that during instructional time particularly that um the adults are also not on on their cell phones uh thank you Di and and know I really appreciate that and certainly um we want want to be able to model uh what are good habits and practices for our students um the policy at this time is a student centered policy um I uh have the utmost confidence in the adults in our buildings um because they two are being exposed to uh our tenis of social emotional learning uh I truly believe that our adults have the ability and the professional maturity to self-regulate um certainly don't want to um put a policy in place at this
091time uh to minimize how our adults are utilizing their devices um our adults again are consumate professionals and I committed to ensuring that we treat them as such other questions I one Dr Roberts I'm hoping you can provide some clarity on the acceptable use of high schools in comparison to the middle schools um for acceptable use for high school what I'm reading is that it would be primarily used uh intended for educational purposes as an acceptable use and then as I go down to Middle Schools I see that one of the acceptable use could be in the case of designated breaks such as lunch or during passing periods um could you help me understand the rationale behind having designated breaks added for the middle schools as acceptable use for cell phone Pol cell phone usage
092thank you uh Dr uh m m yes one of the considerations that we um give to the differentiation between two gr level bands um is uh the pilots that are currently place and so we have for example um one Middle School pilot um where students are not allowed to use their cell phones at all from Bell to Bell and so we wanted to find a healthy balance where um some of our middle schools actually um thought that it would uh sort of add value to student experiences if there is some differentiation by allowing students to have designated breaks uh with your devices I think ultimately um we want this policy to be um a a living policy and to be nimble enough to make make adjustments um based on the first quarter of first 6
093months of the school year uh the the final consideration is the fact that as we think about an age appropriate policy um we are are certainly um making the case that our high school students um have a a different level of maturity um based in really are developmentally and so we wanted to have that distinction can I just ask Dr so are you saying that in as it's written because I need clarification it's not allowed in Middle School reverse oh Middle School are allowed to use it during breaks yes Middle School allowed High School not high schools I'll double check if we will make that correction high schools are also allow use yeah you're saying both are allowed to use it during both are allowed to use it during braak but again we we like
094you to see um uh some differentiation in terms of the frequency but which just happens so actually that's follow-up comment I think that I just I want to play off of when I think about all the conversations we've had about curriculum everything that's been said is we try and make it easy for a kid who goes from school to school to school and that's why there's all this pacing and all of the things that are asked and I struggle because at the same time each experience that a student is going to have at a different school is going to be different and uh I understand that each school is a little bit different but not having having a consistent policy is a real struggle for me uh dmps historically has struggled with consistency across the
095organization and so I would just say I have some pretty strong feelings about not having a consistent practice across the district thank you m let me offer clarification again we got build another question that um Dr asked high schools um in terms of acceptable use will have opportunities to use their phone doing an instructional time middle schools will have a bellt bell um restriction on cell phones so cell phones will be kept in their lockers backpacks or AO designated ears throughout the entire day and and there's some flexibility that we're thinking about we on a Case by casee basis students may be allowed to access your cell phone during designated rates but for the most part we are seriously considering a bell-to-bell um policy for middle school so we make the necessary Connections in the
096draft policy and I think just my only followup would be the same thing with the way that phones are taken and handled uh the consistency by grade has to be the same also so elementary school middle school high school I know that there's a concern about um accessing parents or guardians but the same thing should happen at every uh building level so there's uniformity in experience uh for for the student for the staff for the for the family as well so i' appreciate you considering that as well as well and I guess Dr Roberts to follow up with that I'd offer up just a by way of consideration to tighten up the policy a little bit talking about some of these um exceptions as extraordinary exceptions the rule is no cell phones under some kind
097of an extraordinary exception you might be able to allow one as it's written um just from a first reading it feels very much like n it's up to the school leader and um and I don't think that that was the intent and so I think maybe tightening up the language a little bit to really emphasize that this um the base policy is Bell tobell um and I don't even know if there's an opportunity to say that there could be some kind of a you know want to make it too complicated but a a petitioning or you have to ask and come up with a good reason um that this is going to benefit students because the research we're seeing more and more is that there is no benefit and and there may be a negative
098effect to having uh electronics used in the classroom uh for student outcomes and so so I think I would be in favor of tightening up the language to to Really emphasize what I think you intend in this policy is which is that Bell tobell in Elementary in junior high uh and then more flexibility in high school on the Hoover model that is absolutely correct certainly Bas and we uh because of our draft status we'll certainly make sure that we have finded um policy for the board's approval Miss Alonzo Miss Campos Miss Knox Dr Roberts um do we know or uh do can you tell us when this policy will be shared with families or how soon we plan to uh provide this to everyone thank you uh board member Alonzo yes as soon as the
099board approves the policy uh the communications and team um and I will talk about a Cascade of communication and so I would probably offer that within at least 30 days of the board's approval of the policy we will Cascade this out to all of our our stakeholders including students and families Miss Alonzo I think you're just to are you referring also to the effective way that Hoover did it and do so just maybe say a few things about that so as we think about Communications what you thought was really good about the Hoover Communications well I think that just I mean overall my concern is that um the district at times does things and we have not historically done a great job of informing families on a timely manner and um the cell phone policy
100I think a lot of parents have been waiting for it maybe requesting it um expecting it and I don't know that we have the best method of communicating or sharing that information with families and what that would entail when I'm when I look at um the um student communication the building policy must include um the appropriate method of communication between parent uh Guardians and students during class time and so and then you have parent Guardian may contact the office to connect with students during class time um I'm I'm trying to picture an office and a person during class at office um getting calls from families and families perhaps not being able to communicate um effectively because we might not have um the person at the office who might be able to effectively communicate back with
101parents and so I'm wondering about how we communicate the policy to families and what we have in place for families to be able to interact effectively with whoever it is at each building that will be taking uh sorting navigating these calls thank you so I'm hearing two things um one I'm hearing uh concerns around implementation uh particularly at the school level and how are we going to operationalize the plan and I'm also hearing uh about our uh maybe gaps that exist in how we communicate with our families in general and we certainly have a plan to address both um at the school level when I think about um who will be designated as someone who uh will respond to parents um that is certainly something that our school and building leaders uh will have the
102responsibility of an authority to do in terms of the communication around the approved cell phone um guidance and policy um once the board approves that um I have the utmost confidence that my team and I will have a really solid Cascade of communication to socialize this to all of our families and students um Within 30 days or so of the board's approval other comments or questions I think the only last thing I'd love for you to consider Dr Roberts is I think part of the reason we're here is because parents schools family members didn't do do a great job actually working with their children on digital literacy and and media literacy and so um to the degree that you're thinking about that whether it's integrated with seal or somehow making sure that we're actually educating
103our young people on how to use their phone because I think it's unfair to expect that anybody might have had that conversation with them so I I know there's not a formal curriculum but I just feel like that will help them be more effective citizens thank you madam chair I appreciate that uh let me just offer that um we are certainly aligned um with the thinking of the board around digital literacy and the vision that we have um as it aligns to one of our priorities uh in our strategic plan priority one that is our Chief Information officer actually um is currently uh looking at um to fill a position for a direct of it that will work very closely with classroom teachers and school leaders and so we certainly are um looking forward to
104improving how we offer digital literacy so thank you for that prompt great thank you I'd just add uh one last thing and that is thank you to you Dr Roberts and to the entire staff the teachers who worked on this uh the principles who gave their input this has not been an easy um or obvious solution I think it was to some people and uh the education helped the complexity of the situation helped you know it helped to hear different perspectives and um to take a minute to put this together so appreciate the thoughtful approach and um coming to a a strong policy uh that we can build on to get better results in the classroom great uh with that Dr Roberts we are going to uh move quickly to uh F3 uh if you
105think you have enough time to do a brief um stakeholder Improvement advisory committee update and and board members the way this came about just so you know was that I think um for those of us that have been on the board for longer the impression was that there was a Sak in each School building and that's different and so I asked Dr Roberts to provide an update so we and the public as well could be clear on how um voices are coming into the superintendent and board and Leadership yes Madam cheer and so uh my my teammate who um is leading this work in Services app Point um is out ill but what I'll share with you um is that you know when we in October of um 2024 we sort of start we reconvene
106the SI this take the school Improvement advis committee and we our Focus was on um sort of galvanizing a lot of Community Voices and so we have a number of stakeholders that included um students and a number of community members um who not only convene but continue to connect to offer really strong input um so it's our school Improvement advisory committee is twofold one is where we have the overall District school Improvement advisory committee um that looks at um really Mission critical um plans that looks at um uh what are some of those key areas where uh we need to work on as a collective body um valuing the beliefs desires and ask of community members and for this committee to serve as a voice to represent all of our stakeholders um to provide a
107superintendent and board with input advice and guidance on some of these critical areas the second part of our our school Improvement advising committee is where individual schools are utilizing their own PTA to do some of this work um some of the work that we've done thus far um with these convenience included um in October we looked at how are we looking at Federal programs and overview of those programs looking at titles one two and four plans um how can we improve our bullying prevention plan as a district um in January we looked at of course our strategic plan the remag education work and then some additional work around school performance profiles so we continued to refine um what this committee looks like and looks at and so happy to answer additional questions um offline but
108or take additional questions right now and get back to the committee that is leading this work I think the only question I have is the board is supposed to get on an annual basis some type of report or feedback from Sak and whether that's in writing or they come and you know talk for a little bit but somehow I think that's actually state law which is um so I just want to make sure we understand that and think through the best way to do that yes we will be prepared to furnish the board um but report at least once a year absolutely the team is poised to do that any other questions okay uh with that we are going to move uh we are as we talked about not doing the reimagining education update so
109that has been moved to a work session next week uh and now we move to items of privilege so board members would you like to share anything I would like to share statement on behalf of the board and um upon completion Maria will also be sharing the statement in Spanish so thank you for the opportunity Madam chair as the largest and most diverse School District in Iowa de Mo Public Schools remains unwavering in our commitment to fostering a welcoming respectful and accepting environment for every student every staff member and every every family who walks through our doors Public Schools serve all students and we recognize that families come in many forms in our classrooms we strive to honor and reflect the relationships and support systems our students have at home every child deserves to feel
110seen valued and safe because when they do they learn better they grow stronger and they reach their full potential we are proud of the ways our community has come to together to show support for one another just this last week members of uh one of our elementary schools shout out to Oak Park Elementary School stood along the street holding signs of love and kindness this was a simple yet powerful reminder that in dmps we stand for dignity and belonging our commitment extends beyond the classroom as we continue reimagining education we must also reimagine our fac facilities to ensure that we meet the needs of all students and staff this includes increasing access to necessary spaces that affirm the dignity and safety of every individual in our buildings most importantly let us be clear as a
111board dmps will not be removing protections from our own non-discrimination policies our anti-bullying and anti-harassment policies remain firmly in place for both students and staff we know that many of of our employees and students are feeling fear and uncertainty in this moment and we want them to hear this directly from us you are seen you are valued and you are protected in our schools as a board we will continue to ensure that dmps is a place where every person regardless of their background individuality or lived experience feel safe respected and empowered to thrive thank you you and I turn over to miss Alonzo thank you Miss Marano V Oak Park a El m I also want to apologize to my board colleagues this was the first thing we were supposed to do it is the
112most important thing we were supposed to do and nobody hit me over the head to tell me I had not done it so uh please know that this was my mistake we were supposed to lead with this and I really apologize and thank you very much for your leadership I really appreciate it board members will now turn to items of privilege before we have a brief break just thank you again uh to everyone that continues to show up every day for kids for families um doing the work uh regardless of all the changes um happening um it's what you do matters and what you do truly counts for everyone so thank you I just wanted to give a really quick acknowledgement to one of the high schools that's often overlooked and that's our sixth Comprehensive
113High School virtual campus um I had the recent opportunity to go and visit virtual campus with Dr alarin and principal banakar and to see what they're doing as we talk about a 21st century model of learning to see what they're doing as it relates to learning modalities and really helping meet students where they are with their learning needs I had to give a special acknowledgement to them because we often times don't think about those types of programs and those types of campuses that are really helping us keep this ship moving I just want to thank the families and the community members that showed up for us um in our reimagine education talks that we had uh with our community members on all sides of town um so I just want to thank you guys for
114coming out and um supporting us and I think that is what I'll add which is hopefully Matt Smith Amanda Miller and Dave burger and I might be forgetting um somebody else are like sleeping because and Dr Roberts I know was at most of them that was a test of endurance uh so we appreciate appreciate you as staff uh for doing that as well okay so with that we are going to oh Dr Roberts would you like to say anything thank you madam Sher with brevity and and certainly I um would rather uh have my presence felt um certainly there at the school board meeting but as you shared earlier Madam chair um if there's ever a good re Reon for me to join the school board meeting virtually um this is one over the last
115couple of years uh we have literally had thousands of teachers and leaders um with the board support around resource um allocation that have been a part of our Unbound Ed um sort of Consortium this is a Consortium of school districts from around the country who recognize the importance and value of culturally responsive leadership and more importantly culturally responsive pedagogy and unbun Ed is has created a framework that is nationally recognized and is certainly inspiring strong student outcomes and the mo public schools has been identified as one of three districts in the entire country um that is serving as an Exemplar around implementing strong practices that truly focuses on grade level learning but also delivers um on uh engaging um meaningful and affirming instructional practices for all of our students a district such as the one
116schools where we have more than 80 languages spoken and students healed from more than 110 different countries um it it's necessary is absolutely critical that we are focused on cultural responsive education in order for us to move the needle for students and so as I think about what uh the recognition means here being one of uh three school districts in the country to receive this recognition um Kudos goes out to our teaching and learning team our curriculum team and the thousands of teach leaders who have committed to gleam instruction um as we look at how this is embedded in our 5year strategic plan with Priority One and at least two or three of our strategic actions and so on tonight on behalf of uh uh 3,826 students and almost 5,000 teammates and our board of
117directors I am happy to accept this recognition on behalf of the morning public schools and um bring it back to um America's Heartland so thank you thank you for excusing my presence there to you all thank you very much and last but not least Miss Knox sorry I uh realized I did want to make sure to invite the community to come see our fabulous students artwork on display at Mainframe Studios this Friday uh it is the first Friday featuring de Mo Public Schools uh from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. it is a really big deal uh please come bring your families and enjoy an evening of art by our town talented students great thank you with that thank you for joining us this evening we appreciate you uh for being here uh we are going to
118adjourn at 7:16 p.m. we're going to take a brief break and go into an open work session to discuss the district's budget unless I hear differently from Dr Roberts in the next two minutes so board members let's take a quick break and we'll come back and we'll jump into budget e e e that's a big deal hello okay we are starting the budget session so if you want to talk about the budget uh and learn more we are glad you're here um Dr Roberts is not on the line uh but has entrusted his talented staff to take us through the presentation and I'll maybe just give one or two framing points Dr Roberts and Shashank and I have been just a a brief back and forth about how we make sure the board sees the
119full budget in the context of these expenditures which is something that um I think maybe has been missing or we haven't caught it or whatever it might be so I think um just expect Dr Roberts or I or shashan to come back uh because part of this is we want to make sure that um we're being transparent with the community but also that we understand and can point people to documents if they're wanting to know how dollars are being spent and by what funding source and things like that um so with that I think we're going to turn it over to you and our goals for today are to review your recommendations for funding for goals and guard rails just goals just goals okay perfect just goals anybody have any questions okay and this is
120definitely being recorded right for Dr Roberts okay thank you perfect great good afternoon so today's agenda is we want to talk about the property taxes which we have to send to the Department of management and then review of 25 board goals and the Investments and the same thing for 26 so what exactly is the process and this is what I had laid out in the first meeting that I had on the budget so March 4th which happens to be today is when we are meeting to set the hearing date for March 25th and that was part of the agenda session consent agenda sorry on March 5th is when we sent to the Department of management our proposed tax rate 10th we have to send it to the de Mo register which will get published on
12114th and then on 25th we have to have a standalone special board meeting for the proposed tax hearing this is something which has already been shared with the board and the community so what is our rate did I jump a slide yeah why is it jumping okay no that's your next slide perfect so our rate for FY 25 and 26 is exactly the same we are not increasing or decreasing it even though the rate is the same it brings in an additional $3 million for the district $3.4 million and that is because the valuation of the properties on which the properties are being valued has increased our enrollment has increased marginally and the SSA now here I would like to highlight to the board the Assumption since the SSA has not been approved we know
122there is one side which is saying 2% the house is saying 2.25 the governor has proposed 2% what the law says is if we propose a tax rate with we can always lower it we cannot increase it so to be conservative I have used 4% and I sure hope it gets approved but we all know that is more than unlikely right but I would rather apply for 4% and reduce the tax rate than be in a situation that we have to give leave some money on the table now just I just want to make sure that I'm following that we apply for a higher rate knowing that we will probably use a lower rate is that we knowing that probably a lower rate will get approved by the governor the house and the Senate okay
123yes so our tax rates for the last few years I wanted to show this slide because since we're talking about the geob bonds we know that if the bond we go for the bonding and the bond gets approved there would be an increase in property tax rates so historically we have hovered from 25 to 21 at 18 plus a rate we started coming down and right now it is at 14.68% or maybe tell us why this is our favorite question Jackie yes I know this is the cash Reserve Levy and solvency ratio oh we talk about this all the time yes thank you you're more than welcome okay so investments in the board goals 2025 we know what the three goals are so I don't want to repeat them so this is where we were
124as far as 2025 board goals goes $8.67 million was the total investment that we came to the board with what we have tried to do over here is a few things one is four large buckets curriculum materials extended learnings Staffing and scheduled changes professional learnings in each one of them we have listed Big Ticket items we have detailed spreadsheets which we sat down with the different uh Direct dors and their team and discussed and the G1 G2 is basically goal one goal two goal three that is what comes under actions and under Investments we have tried to show what is general fund what is sped and what is title or what is coming from gear up or donations or whatever it is so that is what we have tried to really highlight over here I
125know it's a busy slide I want to pause over here if you have any questions versus me saying anything about it please feel free to ask questions so this is this is actuals this is of as of uh feary January January yes February has not been closed we typically close our months the February books will be closed by around 12th to 13th of March so February is has not been closed shashan can you help me understand and the and this is more so from some of the comments and public forum around the Future Ready coaches I see that they're in here this was fy2 FY 25 okay this is 25 so what has happened with Future Ready is this was part of a grant that we had received under Essa from the state and that
126Grant is sunsetting in June of 2025 so in actuals you will see that but the reason why we don't have it because that funding has sunsetted and there's no funding available to us we're going to try and find some yeah thank you you're you're welcome so a lot of general fund expenses which we see over here are actually using the money that we are getting from aea a lot of it is coming from there and that's not restricted money it is not okay the second the other large bucket that we using is a lot of eupd money which is again that we getting so there's very little new dollars that we truly have over here what is the role of a curriculum manager and that is why I have Dr line to provide color to
127all that things curriculum manager is taking the lead on um working directly with our directors of teaching and learning and their curriculum specialist teams to look at specifically where we need to be uh revamping and or restocking uh curriculum tools and uh aligning that with our budget to make sure that we are on track in terms of spend how many do we have currently one maybe help me understand teaching and learning and the role of teaching and learning then staff and rolling out curriculum so our directors of teaching and learning Take the Lead they have under them a group of curriculum Specialists and then we have a curriculum manager who is taking the lead on keeping a breast of uh what the condition is of of our various curricular tools and coordinating that with the
128curriculum Specialists so my understanding you that it's more of an administrative position almost like a like a um doesn't sound like inventory position I mean it's like it's is it literally like the condition of the inventory I wouldn't say it's a condition of the inventory I would say it's uh appraising where where our future needs are going to be uh in terms of curriculum tools and is this position been hired already this is FY 25 yeah but has it has it actually happened got it questions on fy2 anyone thank you so fi 26 the goals are exactly the same wait I have one question about fi25 I was sort of reviewing our uh last go round at the budget and you had presented a slide last year that said you know we slotted to spend
1299 something million on the goals and we to date had really only spent 5.16 I was just kind of curious how does this investment uh have we executed on all of these strategies that we said we were going to and if not are we planning to can you provide any insight yeah it's listed here it's something that we have executed on yes what was our I think my question is what did we say we were going to spend versus what we spent I think is that what you're asking the you made a re not you but like a recommendation was made to spend I'll just say $10 million and only $5 million was spent why right I think is that what you're asking but it sounds like you're saying that all of the funds that
130were predicted to be spent have been spent or are being spent I'm that is accurate yes okay yes yes so for fi 26 we have tried to provide a little bit more details but very similar formatting the four different inputs that we have what the Investments are what action are we taking and what is the funding source how many if any dyslexia Specialists do we have on staff currently we currently have uh one uh dyslexia specialist that's working with the curriculum specialist and a couple of others who are in the midst of receiving the training in that area but we wanted to devote one exclusively to K5 and again we are leveraging AE funding for this Jack year so another position that wouldn't work directly with students but would be working with teachers and curriculum
131coordinators primarily working with teachers yeah can you talk a little bit about the americore reading core plan absolutely americore uh operates a group of tutors that for a limited cost uh deploy themselves out into schools uh and engage in Reading with particularly students at are younger grades under the direction of our director of Elementary teaching and learning Alison Salo she's really sparked a partnership with uh the americore organization where we're going to be able to have a group of these reading core tutors working directly with students in K excuse me first and second grade uh in the coming year do you know how many we're talking about and what are we going to cover all our elementary schools are we going to cover what's the it will be targeted elementary schools um and I want
132to say the numberers close to um what is the can you give I guess I'll ask this in a different way along with americore volunteers what efforts are being made to engage Volunteers in the city of De Moine in this to get this reading goal going uh particularly in Reading um what efforts are being made to get to the business Community to supplement that and make sure that we have volunteers across the district instead of the ability to just do targeted sure so um I I don't want to steal the Thunder of Kaylee when it comes to what we're doing in the community um but we are uh very open and eager to bring in uh prospective volunteers to work directly with our students uh in in Reading in schools I think one of the
133that we've heard is that uh background checks are taking two or 3 months to get done um how can you accelerate that we've had conversations with talent and Personnel around uh what process needs to look like there um not their process it's a third party right it's a third party but it's processed through the same platform as a talent Personnel is so um that's something I can come back to you with more information on in terms of how we might be able to accelerate that yeah cuz I think that's part of the issue is that people want to volunteer but they're not able to get in I think Maria yeah what um can you talk a little bit about the specially designed instructions to support students with IEPs what what do you mean by that
134um it's it's more of a catchall basically uh have tailored instructional support for students with our individualized education plans um whether it's specific curricular materials that are unique to one students IEPs or or goals um it's more of a catchall category there I have a question about prek so prek is only funded at 05 um can we support the movement for prek and yet it does have costs to that are taking general fund dollars and I think it'd be helpful for us to fully realize the cost of adding prek uh because we are supplementing it and now we're supplementing Transportation so um I guess the question I want to ask is included in this 1.6 is this just to increase prek classrooms or is this all prek classrooms this is continuing of our pre classes
135the money that we got from the city plus our money it's a combination of both that's why that's where we have got city of De moin money which is coming and then the upk money that the district has but the city this is our last year with the city of De mo money is a three thing is it year two or year three next year last year okay next year is the last year next the last okay yeah okay um I'd love to know how much is coming from the general general fund and does where does transportation for prek come out of so it will come out from the general fund I just think it'd be helpful for us to understand the investment in Pre it's really important I think we all agree it's really
136important but this is why the state of Iowa should be paying for it um I'll stop there where members other questions so going back to the curricular materials the National Geographics Ms curricular for elll phonics is that something that we have currently or is that going to be that's FY 26 that's going into the next school year maybe you ask this Janet just to clarify within Staffing that $1 million how how many of those are actually students positions that work with students full-time so um looking at the list there uh as I we mentioned the K through 5 dyslexia specialist is going to be supporting teachers who will in turn be supporting the students uh with dyslexia instruction um K through one classroom integration Associates are working with students uh reading Specialists will be working
137with teachers and with students uh so it's a mix how many k through one classroom integration Associates are there I don't have the number off hand but I can get that for you what and what does that role do classroom integration Associates um are I don't have an exact definition for you on that one so I'm GNA have to give you I'm GNA have to comeb back you on that I think it'd be really helpful to understand uh a little bit more there's probably a theme here which is we need more my sense is maybe more people working directly with students and or to understand how this group is going to accelerate our literacy rate quicker I I guess I would add on to that and I I guess I would say I have heard
138from teachers who give the feedback that having one more tell them what to do is not necessarily as helpful as having the support of someone to actually do it and um and so we have budget realities here but I would give you that feedback because while that's a well-intended this might be a well-intended role some of these um that's sometimes the candid feedback that we get um that it's like okay thanks for telling me another thing to do but I um it adds to the list of 9 six other things that a teacher is doing in the classroom so um just for what that's worth sure so maybe as we move on maybe the feedback is how does how do these new Staffing positions and this new investment actually accelerate our ability to um accomplish
139our literacy rates which we're currently not meeting right now that's fair thanks so goal two very much similar and goal three would be very much similar so if you have any questions please fire away is the director of teaching and learning a new position for Middle School no that's funded from the sources there but no that is not a new position so it's funded by aea in part yes so there's general fund dollars too that fund this position but it it's just an open position right now or no it is not okay so yeah to clarify these are just all of the items in the budget that you've identified that support the goal they're not all necessarily new Investments great these are investments that you're making that are supporting our goals the as items are
140new okay thank you at least that's how I'm reading it correct that absolutely I think it'd be helpful to know so for example on go two then how much is going into the ell phonics that's new any ballpark 100,000 give me just a second that's really the only new investment on go 2 is that am I missing something else no that's only one you're right okay uh add new elll phonics component to National Geographic Middle School curriculum is roughly $45,000 do you think we could uh get a breakdown of all the new Investments maybe uh not doesn't have to be right now but that'd be really helpful to just be able to see you know where I I believe that the strategy was accelerated uh growth right when when the uh data for the projections
141on the board goals were and so um you know I know we have some really big numbers that are put forth for this year and wanting to just make sure we really think through if the Investments are enough that's fair and actually I think what would be helpful is what's been cut right so what isn't working that was cut um you know with a strategic plan and goals and guard rails that are intentionally very focused what are we not doing I think would also be helpful I mean I I feel like we're giving you a laundry list in in uh apologize to be that Curt but it's just helpful to see how we're also maybe try to save money for other things board members other questions in this area out of um in Staffing the
142reading and an Ela coordinator what's the difference between that and just a reading specialist a reading coordinator is somebody who's going to be working across schools a reading specialist would be more of a coach within schools is there any data to support either is more effective I think they serve different purposes but uh I I wouldn't say that there's data necessarily to show one versus the other um coordinators become experts uh across uh the curricular area that are able to uh sort of disseminate best practice across various schools whereas a reading specials can be sort of embedded within that campus what's the relative cost benefit of doing one over the other again getting more resources actually to not that somebody who works across buildings doesn't work directly with kids but just a more focused approach
143both are good practices but is there is there any sense to doing one and focusing with what we have uh with limited resources I think there's value in being able to have the combination of breadth versus depth that the com that the combination provides um and being able to uh draw from the lessons across multiple campuses as the coordinators are able to do um reading Specialists are able to hone in in a more concentrated way so answer to your question um if there is a cost benefit analysis there I think we're trying to find the right balance of what that that balance would be I guess I would ask why can't building leaders fill that purpose of coordinating and and disseminating information across buildings so that we we get to Best Practices you know I
144mean I just like I'm just trying to find a way to yeah well coordinators the the the term is a bit deceptive um in that they're truly um content area experts in the various curriculum areas that are there uh and their job is to be engaged directly with the schools in the infusion of specific training and support and coaching with the schools is that something teachers could be um incentivized to do teachers often make the move from teaching into the coordinator role based on exemplary performance in the role board members any additional questions on this slide okay let's go to goal three uh just maybe a framing question uh Dr lendine when will we actually see the the vision and the metrics for the goal three um I know that uh Josie sturis was working
145on that as well and she know she's out today but we plan on uh coming to you at the next board meeting at the end of the month and having an update at that point and generally it's can you give even just even if you don't have the numbers like what is the goal that you're recommending I I would want to wait until Josie uh is here so that we can speak with with one voice yeah it's just really hard to make any decisions on investments if we don't know what the like is it diploma plus aligned is it my vision is that it is dipla plus line yes got it um tell us about ninth grade on track that looks like a new nth grade on track is our initiative will actually be bringing
146forward uh folks that have been working on that project at our next board meeting as well in which research that's been done uh with Chicago public schools and a couple of other school systems around the preconditions by which students who clear some benchmarks their freshman year are likely more successful as they graduate and Beyond um are offered uh advisory type opportunities so that's where we'll be bringing in the house es uh that we talked about at our last meeting for uh students to be uh sharing together what what their progress is and where there's monitoring of grades and and academic performance uh in the ninth grade year is what is it exactly like is it a person and it's uh basically we have a ninth grade on track coordinator who is in turn working with
147uh teachers and academic advisers on the campus level to implement in the coming year but if we don't have any campet if we don't have the advisors across the if we don't have the six advisors well they're not our only advisers we've got a counseling team as well that I think there was some concern ex expressed about their bandwidth to to do this work right and that's where our n9th grade on track coordinator has been working closely with uh not only the counselors and uh academic advisors but with folks across the campuses to make sure that there is appropriate bandwidth so we have counselors and academic advisers i' sort of use the terms interchangeably the same person yeah yeah I just I have yeah go so the ninth grade on truck person is hired already
148yes they've been on board for several months oh so that's not a new investment then it's a new investment for the for this school year yeah but again just so I'm understanding correctly C have a much wider job than just helping advise students on classes and future work they do I just I'm going to say it because it's really been heavy on my heart this is the major goal of our district this is the big Vision that are board cast and we are cutting positions that are working with students right now and I don't know what we're replacing them with and I'm very frustrated because we seem to be moving back backwards not forwards and I I'm sad and I'm angry about it and I'm angry about you know $2.35 million going to Staffing and
149yet six people who are I think pretty good at their job don't have a job next year that's going to be tough to support that's really just going to be very tough to support if the if the mission of this board is to to set out goals and then focus our resources on the goals that we've set out we're not doing that and um and I I would just Echo what Jackie said I I was very encouraged by the report that you gave us of a vision of freshman students next year starting their year with a four-year plan and then being able to execute on that that's a vision I really like of our high schools in general um I feel I feel very nervous about that with the budget that's in front of us
150um and understanding that there are limited resources and that those tough choices will fall to this board but um I would say that this does not deliver on that and so I would encourage um maybe a second look and uh some further movement on goal three especially but I think you heard us say the other two as well if you could help me understand just the process in which you make the decisions for which roles programs get cut is there is there a priority to maybe not continue roles that were Grant funded is is that how it's being viewed or are you looking at the Fidelity the successes of the role themselves or or is it really prioritizing it by this was Grant funded the grant has is no longer continuing so that's a larger
151amount of money we're going to have to pull out of a general fund or wherever else it's great question MH for future ready yes that was one of the large decisions big reasons why we made that decision so it's not effective no because the grant has sunsent it yeah this is the second time we've seen a grant sunset with no plan same thing happened with the community school coordinators and so I'm thinking of um the the people that came and spoke to us earlier and the nature of their work seems to me like directly aligns with what we're trying to do here in go and you know if we're all about student outcomes and providing support to students if these individuals are with students from 9th grade and follow those students through high school um
152where are student outcomes if they are not going to have that support anymore and so I think I I just the frustration I feel your frustration um because again it's exactly what you said we're repeating p patterns and it seems it fear it feels very regressive yeah I I'd be interested in knowing and I'm not asking you to do this but if you were to make a a recommendation of a fiscal year 26 budget looking at efficacy of programs versus funding of programs would these be the same recommendations um because right now it does seem like it's leaning more heavy on the fundings versus the efficacy of the program's outcomes I really appreciate that thank you Skyler yeah and I think just a continued look you know a lot of coordinators and and again when
153we're talking this way I hope if staff are paying attention to this what you I don't want you to hear is that you don't have worth and you don't have value I I feel the need to say that because these are hard conversations but but I think the focus is positions that work with students not just adding more to counselors and teachers I'll Echo that and say I I hope you don't hear us saying why don't you just do this like we want our cake and eat it too I think we understand that if we are asking for more somewhere something's going to have to come out somewhere else and um I don't think this board is going to shy away from those conversations but we do need to know more about the budget so
154that we can help be creative about those decisions and and that is my frustration for a year and a half now of saying I I would just like to know where the money is and what is permanent and what's not and um and not at the 30,000 foot level it is very hard for us to help make good decisions or help make hard decisions back you up um if we don't know where the money is and I understand the argument is that that gets into operations but um I I I think it's very difficult to ask anybody at at this table to make decisions without information and and so I I would encourage us next time around to continue to work more deeply in our budget because this doesn't go away next year that's the
155other piece of it it doesn't this doesn't stop I think I'd also like to just challenge my board members to look at this I think this is my third year of looking at a budget presentation in the in our goals and guardrails in this way in a very high level way and and ask how you feel after asking our community to come out and give so much of their time and energy to set these goals and put faith in us to come back and make improvements if we feel like this is really sufficiently delivering back to our community what they asked of us I mean I feel like we deserve a greater explanation to our community for what we're going to do to deliver on what they asked us to deliver on I appreciate that
156and I was just going to say and what we cut because clearly we've put on a recommendation to cut a program so what are we cutting that fits in this goal and I think that's part of proving out what we're trying to get to in the long term as well I think if we don't prove that we can show some fiscal responsibility and focus um knowing that we have limited resources asking going out and asking the community for more if we're not getting real deep into making sure that we are as efficient as we possibly can be with delivering education then um that's also a really difficult ask so I think this sets up this kind of conversation sets up larger ones Miss Marano one thing that I'm currently grappling with is this conversation and
157line of questioning as a budget presentation versus the conversation as a monitoring um or these questions as a monitoring conversation and you we're asking a lot about inputs and how do we know it's successful regarding these goals and I just you know Shashank is not the person to answer these questions um you know he's the person that that takes what it is that as far as inputs are concerned and finds the money to invest in those items um so when it comes to us trying to identify whether or not the action items are sufficient as have been identified to reach our goals I think that we as a board need to really look at asking those questions as a part of monitoring the goals and ensuring that those next steps that are identified in our
158goal monitoring process are outlined and one thing that I'm hearing is maybe we should put into our monitoring reports that this is the next step maybe it's ninth grade onrack Ops um but maybe we should put a line item that says what that budget allocation would look like as a part of the monitoring um because I just don't know that it's fair to ask these questions as a part of the budget conversation as much as it is more appropriate to ask it during the the monitoring conversations throughout the year because that's when we're determining what those next steps are but I just I want to say one I think you're right and we have given a year to have this goal created and to have a vision put forth and um we still haven't had
159that and and we have to pass a budget yeah so I think my just my only other thing is that our whole premise of reimagining education is grounded a lot of it in this and so somehow I would actually say we have to go back to the beginning and and like how does all this stuff fit together and then what's the investment needed to accomplish that vision and whether that means start at a zero based budget and start from scratch but I don't the the pressure that we have now is we have to approve something when we actually don't have any context and so that's the challenge that we have I agree I agree I just think I think that that dror Roberts needs to be answering these questions quite frankly yeah and your point
160is well taken for me I think as a board member it's not so much as it's not so much about um getting to pick at budget time it's understanding at budget time what the big picture is to Jackie's Point understanding how all this fits together that's the way we get to really effective monitoring because our questions become much more focused and help Dr Roberts think about the execution of the vision that we've all set out and so I I I think that's what's missing for me is there's a huge piece because we say well you know this is what we funded okay you know yeah I guess because I have no idea what that is or what that means or where it came from or uh so I think I'd like more a deeper dive
161here so that we can be more effective in the monitoring I'd like to take oh a question maybe a level higher U because it seems as if Communications have already happened as if this budget was approved um with especially some Personnel uh what is the process if if employees are already being notified that their roles aren't continuing next year or programs are being sunset or whatever what is the process and what is our role in this if these communications are already happening right staff allocations are done without Board review and approval and it is part of that process staff allocation sir okay so I just want to back up to kind of what you said Kim cuz I clearly you everyone else got it except for me I guess I can't I couldn't quite figure
162out what you were talking about but my my approach to my comments around the budget was from what I understood our role to be in our governance model is that we're supposed to look at this budget and decide if we feel like the investment that the district has put forth matches the urgency to which we expect them to achieve the goals while honoring the guardrails that we put forward and so that was my question to this board as a whole is do you believe that 45,000 more into goal two is going to help us really achieve those numbers and I think we all should look at the numbers that should be put forth and the district should look at the numbers and goals they put forth and really think hard about whether this investment matches
163what we have put forth as the number one thing that we're supposed to be doing um because and if it's not then it's an insufficient budget believe is what we're taught to do and we're supposed to reject it and so that's where I was trying to bring the board along because this is our point in time to say that that this that we have really big goals next year and we are not sufficiently convinced that $445,000 more until goal two is going to help us achieve it that this is the moment for that according to my training and so I just I Empower us all to think that way we agree thank you for being that clear I think for us to and and Shashank has I think been through this how many years so
164hopefully he doesn't take it personally um you know thank you for navigating us through this um and I'm sure it's equally as hard that Dr Roberts isn't here so damn him for receiving an award and being on the west coast but he's watching this so um what I might recommend is a path forward and maybe there's other slides but I think just for the three slides that we've gone through is um let's all reflect on it let's think about what questions we have I mean we've given a couple uh but if I'll just ask you know the two everybody send it to Skylar and I by Thursday um so we can give it to Dr Roberts uh and and team to reflect on it because we're going to have to come back uh and look
165at this when when you feel ready um is there more that can I ask one other thing a clarifying question and Shashank maybe you know or Kim maybe you do the the practice staff application occurring before Board review and approval how has that been a forever practice is that a relatively new practice it's been a very old practice it's been how long is very old I've been with the district for around 5 years it's definitely older than 5 years okay I I don't know when it started I don't know maybe m m would have some idea zero idea zero sorry no help in that area and Madam chair Ros just alerted that um AJ and Sendel are also online in case we have any questions for them oh just s oh s just left the
166call oh okay a one of one of the two of them AJ has just left yeah okay I would offer if there's coaching to be provided then provide the coaching speak up yeah okay uh other slides are there other things there was basically last slide is just a consolidation of what we have over there okay just sorry um just for the context of this conversation on a budget of we're talking about these Investments on a total budget of the total general fund budget would be close to 500 Plus close to $470 $480 million okay yeah and I think that's why seeing the full budget is going to be helpful because we have no perspective on that number in the context of what so it's not to go through that budget but it is to understand
167how I mean the budget is what do they call it like a reflection of your of your values and your priorities so that will help us understand it as well okay I'm going to recommend that we wrap up this work session but then we uh stay here and we talk a little bit more about governance uh Rosie did check and we are able to have a conversation as a group but then really intentionally we're going to go into small groups for a 30 minute or less assignment thank M chair I just want to acknowledge Shashank and Dr lundine really quick you know I feel like sometimes as bore we we put you in the hot chair anytime someone sits there or stands there outside of the students they get put in the hot chair um
168so I do want to just acknowledge you maintaining composure and knowing that we're asking this out of the kindness of our hearts because we care not because we're challenging your your thought process so thank you than thank you I appreciate that thank you okay thanks everybody thank you appreciate it team do we want to go right into this or do people need a a break