001thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] public schools to order Miss Rios will you please take the role yes here Ms Bradley here miss Carla Johnson here Miss Knox here miss martorano here miss North here miss Sawyer here we have corn the first item of business this evening is approval of the agenda may I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda Norris motion to approve Alonso second we have a motion from Norris and a second from Alonso to approve this evening's agenda board members please cast your vote motion passes seven zero uh the next item on our agenda this evening is District recognitions I'll turn it over to superintendent Roberts thank you for many years recognitions at school board meetings that celebrated the successes and accomplishments of students and staff throughout
002the Des Moines Public Schools was certainly something that we looked forward to when meetings moved online during the pandemic that item went away just temporarily but we are committed this year and for years to come to revive in this practice because we believe that there are so many great opportunities lots of celebrations and a lot of recognitions of good things that are happening in Des Moines Public Schools each and every day and we believe that it's important for us to highlight and celebrate those tonight I am excited to kick off this year's uh series of celebrations with two exciting items uh first last year not one not two but three Des Moines Public Schools high schools east north and Hoover were named as news teams of the Year by the Iowa high school press Association
003what does this mean essentially this is the equivalent of a state championship just not necessarily in athletics but something equally as or even more important it's for student newspapers so three state champions in those three high schools the ihspa also honors School administrators and this year they focus on one of the administrators of the year for the entire state of Iowa essentially the administrators uh that were highlighted are those who are really strong and committed to supporting student journalists I'm excited to share that one of our very own has been named as the ihspa administrator of the year for 2023 and at this point I would like to invite one of our Dynamic teachers Natalie Nehemiah Lorenz the journalism t-shirt East highest East High School to come forward and share a little bit more of
004an honor and then to introduce our distinguished honoree [Applause] thank you so much for having us here tonight um it is really an honor to talk to you all about Jill most of you probably know her she is going to be getting the Iowa high school press Association administrator of the Year award um in October when we go to the IHS PA fall conference um I could talk for a long time about Jill but I'll try to keep it brief um being a journal journalism advisor is tough you never really know um what the support from administrators is going to be like when you're in a role like mine luckily in Des Moines we usually have very supportive Administration and Jill is the best example of that um she is always prioritizing time and relationships
005with students literally today one of my students came in and was like Miss Percy saw me in the hall and I was going through a crisis and she pulled me aside and told me how she could help she's just so approachable to students and that is so big for us um my students feel comfortable reaching out to her about any topic and she's always willing to speak with them she treats student journalists like they're professionals and she always respects their time this is not something that happens everywhere um Jill was a first year principal in March of 2022 when a fatal gain shooting took place on East Campus Jill was one of the first adults outside and witnessed the very worst of it the event itself was traumatizing and the aftermath was certainly overwhelming Jill
006supported student journalists in their quest to tell the real and uncensored stories of the surviving victims even while dealing with her own grief she cooperated with students when they asked her tough questions she trusted them to do their jobs and never once questioned the job that they were doing the work that was done by the student journalists and the aftermath of the shooting earns them a 2022 all-iowa News Team of the Year award the first one that East has ever won yes thank you I appreciate that without the cooperation and Trust of the East High School admin team students would not have been able to do this important work um I asked a few of my students today to share thoughts about how Miss firstig has helped support them during their years at yeast and
007Beverly one of our amazing student journalists said that she loves that Jill is super involved in everything that my students are doing she supports us as well making sure we have everything we need to do in order to do our work um and I know that this award for ihspa is about what Jill does for students but um she's been such a support to me personally this year both of my parents passed away and I also became a first-time mom professionally I was not as present as I had been the first 12 years of my career and every day that we talked um she would tell me that I was a good teacher when I was questioning on my bad days if I was really a good teacher and she told me that I was
008still exactly what my students needed and um that will always stick with me so thank you for that um like I said when teachers get new administrators they really worry about the relationships they'll have and how they will choose to support student journalists and Jill has been so supportive of East journalism I am grateful my students are also grateful and she's very deserving of this honor from ihspi so thank you so much thank you now we're honorary to the podium thank you um and really my work on this it's a it's it's an award for the kids because um our kids have their voices have power and their voices need to be heard and it's my job to make sure those barriers are taken away so when I have an advisor and a team like
009Natalie who does that work with the kids day in and day out it's so easy to support them and it's just it's joyful and I would hope I know many of you have come in there and been on the hot seat with some of our student journalists and some of you might you know another time and so I would encourage you if you ever have the opportunity to come over to East to pop into that classroom because it's really phenomenal work that happens there and there's skills that our students will use the rest of their lives so thank you thank you this evening's second recognition uh is a shout out and acknowledgment of the work that is happening at one of our elementary schools if you visit any of our elementary schools you're going to
010see amazing things happening and we are looking forward to the opportunity to be able to acknowledge and publicly celebrate all of them but this evening I want to celebrate one of the schools that I've also had the Good Fortune of visiting a couple of times and not only is this a school where they proudly and publicly state that that literacy equals Justice it's one of the most powerful slogans that I've seen this this is a turnaround art school where it is very clear from the leader and teacher conversations that I've had that they are creating an environment that focus on on cultural responsivity right one that welcomes students and ground they work in inclusivity and you'll find a lot of language-rich classrooms but there's so much more that's happening and to share a little bit
011more about what is happening at the school I want to Welcome to the podium the dynamic principle Eddie McCauley thanks for having me I don't get nervous very often but I'm actually nervous so that's helpful that's actually healthy for me um I don't really like to present I like to have a conversation um but I also like to talk so here here we go um I'm sharing a little bit about our data I want to tell you a little bit about Moulton um in general 90 of our kids are kids of color uh 26 of our kids are ell um eight percent of our students are have an IEP we have the lowest percentage per capita of students in our whole District of students that are special education so our goal um is to look
012at the whole child and to actually give that child exactly what they need to be successful when when Miss Martin here is a my associate principal she has the shirt on that says literacy equals Justice if we don't give kids access to the core they do not get what they need to be okay to to actually have Justice to have their their their equal piece of of success and so like we're really proud of the data because that we have in the last couple years we've exited 53 students from our ell services you we had a we this year we have 115 out of 445 students that are ell that are MLL I still use the old English language Learners because that's what we still test them in I know we're multi-language Learners and we
013honor their multi-languages but anyway that's a side note we won't talk about that um that like our goal is is is to give those students access to the core so our motto this year is activate the core we're going to activate the core in our classrooms grade level like so uh Kelly Scofield has been pushing our gleam initiatives the grade level engaging that's activating the core and then that's a a double meaning is to activate the core in a little kid's heart for them to be self-actualized and to be their authentic self in the spaces and to feel free to to learn and grow in their classroom with their peers um and so our model in the last couple years has been hardcore push in pushing pushing pushing into the core supporting the teachers our
014greatest asset in our spaces our is our teachers supporting them with our students in the classroom and I think we've had one of the highest percentages of our K12 students coming or one two coming out of the ell services and passing um the alpha 21 like in not needing to have so much so that we've lost uh a teacher in the last year like we've lost an ell teacher and also because we exit students out of special ed because we're pushing them in having in high expectations we've lost sped teachers so we're losing when we're like Staffing kids out we're actually losing staff which which is this weird conundrum right um our motto is is our my belief is that we are serving the whole child and so we have holistic interventionists that really are
015serving kids um and we're not we're not just using ell services and or sped Services as are all of our intervention we're we're all in this this this work together um I don't know I don't know where else I'm going with that other than to say that like my favorite quote that I've been resonating with the last couple years is Lila Watson and this has changed my Paradigm and I think it's changing the Paradigm of our staff which is if you've come here to save me you're wasting your time but if you've come here because your Liberation is bound up with mine then work with us and that motto of that that my Liberation is bound up with my kids Liberation that I become my authentic self and I become more self-actualized as they are
016that changes the Paradigm of what our goal is it's not just about them it's about all of us as a collective and you know I joke all the time if you're a Star Trek fan we are the Borg we're doing this stuff together and we're and we're growing and learning together and so I think it's in that space creating that culture we've we've we've got some pretty cool outcomes and there's a ton of growth that we still need to do but we've we're all in on El we're all in on IM we're getting all in on all block and skills block we're using the tools and trying to use them effectively with Integrity more than Fidelity if that makes sense we're trying to use the tools and the resources that we've been provided a viable
017curriculum with integrity and I think because we're doing it out of the right place um we're we're changing some things so I don't know what else to say do you have any questions for me thanks thank you thank you Vince McAllen team what I'll share is I think what we are seeing happening at Moulton right the fact that you were able to exit students uh successfully and have them prepared for the next level of their Pursuits those who are multi-language Learners and certainly those who are students with IEPs release a manifestation of this this sort of belief that sort of sits in the special education Arena around the country and that is special education should be a service not a place and in schools where it's safe place you know we're not exiting students but
018when it's a service the manifestation of that will you know equal some of what you're seeing in that is students are exiting and and teachers are leaving there's no longer a great need so congratulations to the work that you and your team are doing great job thank you and thanks to our guests for being with us this evening and for the amazing work that you're doing um the next item on our agenda is a stadium update and um I will turn it over to Dr Roberts for a brief update thank you Mr Scarlett Johnson another exciting item for us about which really signals um just so much that is happening in the Des Moines Public Schools and the larger Des Moines Community that we are excited about and one of them is to soon to
019be revealed Mediacom stadium in partnership with a number of key stakeholders I will in the spirit of collaboration call and some of our teammates to provide us with an update on the three sort of different buckets one a construction update to talk a little bit about the excitement around the grand opening and then maybe share some information about a sponsor update good evening Gordon good evening um first of all I want to say I I wish I was as cool as Eddie I I'm never going to be able to quite follow Eddie but I do just want to give a shout out to Eddie and Jill and the teams all of our building administrative teams um they do phenomenal work and so for those of us that are not in our buildings working with kids
020on a daily basis um they're a fantastic conduit to help us sort of vicariously do some of the things that they do so thank you very much for everything that that they do as building leaders so um just wanted to give you a real quick update on where we're at with the stadium um this is is actually kind of kind of an exciting thing um in that uh I think this is probably the last update we're going to do uh sitting around this table and uh the next time we will probably all be standing out in the middle of the new Mediacom Stadium Field which is exciting so um just a couple of quick things in terms of where we're at not going to go into a lot of details here but if you've been
021by recently or if you look at the photos all of the grand stands are up it looks like a stadium you can now uh with a little bit of permission go in and wander through the seats and and see what it's going to feel like to watch a game there the scoreboards up all the lights are up really everything is there save for the the green space that will be the field uh that that makes it feel like makes it feel like the field or feel like a stadium um so really the next couple of big things that will be happening and this will all be taking place between now and the end of the month uh is the the Synthetic Turf will be going down most of the Preparatory work is being done this
022week we should see Turf going down next week that'll be getting wrapped up pretty quickly uh sound system will be going in the video board is already up and all the ribbon boards uh but the the sound and and the video will all be tied in and we'll start testing those things out and see how that all works um things will start to green up around the spaces where we have sod and plant things and and just really everything that is going to bring this space together um I can say it it really looks it doesn't look like a hole in the ground I know a lot of folks are wondering you know geez it's just a hole in the ground uh it's not that anymore it really looks like something it's going to be
023phenomenal I think those of us that have had a chance to be in there are very very excited uh about what's to come so a few little more things and some sign offs from the city on inspections and permits and we're ready to play some football and some soccer and uh and really put this thing to good use for for our kids so with that I'm actually going to turn it over to Phil Rader and he's going to talk a little bit more about grand opening so thank you today we've got the most important Day to all completion October one um speaking of dates uh I guess my biggest message tonight is to mark your calendars and save the date uh for the grand opening uh Thursday October 12th we are going to celebrate uh
024the opening of Mediacom Stadium uh we're still working on final details of the program itself but we'll have a program at 5 PM uh brief remarks from leaders of dmps Drake University and some of our sponsors uh we're going to have some field activities uh probably some soccer goals maybe some tackling dummies to bring our guests down onto the field to have that experience um we're uh we're fortunate that Mediacom is the name sponsor of the stadium is providing some funding for the success of this event and so we'll have some giveaway items I think uh we will have I know some footballs for the first I think 250 people through the gates uh uh in the school of colors and and featuring The Stadium uh logo and then um this is just a listing
025uh of the games that uh our four high schools that will call this their home field uh will be playing so Roosevelt uh will be the first game uh uh right after the grand opening celebration uh the next night Lincoln will be hosting Marshalltown and then the following week uh North will be hosting Indianola and then Hoover will close out the regular season uh hosting uh Newton uh in the final game uh of the season even though the main grand opening uh will be on October 12th uh prior to the Roosevelt game we're gonna do a mini Grand Opening prior to the kickoff of each of our schools inaugural game uh on the field so we'll do a short program we'll make sure that those teams have some souvenir footballs uh uh as they arrive
026for the game and uh and take some steps to make sure this is a special night for for players cheerleaders marching band members parents fans everyone uh when they hit that field for the first time so uh the invitation that I on the previous screen here I will share this all with you tomorrow morning so that you in turn can share with anyone you'd like to pass along we'll be sending this out to uh city leaders District leaders Partners throughout the community um but I I'd rather have all of us I'd rather have people get two of these than none of these so I will pass this along uh uh to you all in the morning to share with your your friends and colleagues and anybody else who think would uh like to take part
027in this celebration and with that I'm going to turn it over to Matt Smith we of course have some great sponsors of the stadium we have another to add to the list that Matt's going to discuss um good evening everyone it's good to see you so a couple of most important things um during these grand opening nights I believe Phil Dave and I will be on the grill we'll actually be doing hamburgers hot dogs and cheeseburgers so uh we literally the three of us actually will be grilling so uh take part in that I do feel like I have some sort of expertise having grown up in Texas and uh seen many a stadium in my life um this one is um is right up there with the rest of them I could promise you
028that so uh feel good that we are rivaling that of some of these Texas stadiums that we read about in the news uh that being said um I just want to be able to recognize the community effort in this um first of all Drake has been an amazing partner and they do incredible work and their diligence in this project has just been impeccable and so they are there ready in the moment for a call for a text or a quick conversation a quick meeting so they've just been amazing Partners in this endeavor in this joint project we've also got some other partners in this as you can see Mediacom all about family Casey Shields and Fairway in the most recent contributor to this effort um is the Polk County Board of Supervisors and so we
029definitely just want to thank them for their amazing gift that will absolutely be attributed to the district's share of the cost for the stadium and we didn't want a day to go by without recognizing them for their contribution and their gift and their partnership on this as well so we are looking forward to having everybody out there on our grand opening and a few different soft openings and things like that that will be going on but it's going to be an exciting time and our students um they're gonna they're gonna feel like um the world is taking care of them in that stadium look at his top-notch and it is first class thank you very much true thank you Dave Phil and Matt we are looking forward to the 12th and the games afterwards we
030are excited about uh the benefits our students in the community thank you that ends the update from the stadium great thank you Dr Roberts and appreciate the update on the stadium looking forward to October 12th be a fun evening the next item on our agenda this evening is the public forum followed by the consent and regular agenda 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 we also allow any person the opportunity to speak to the board for up to five minutes following the presentation of an agenda item if anyone wishes to speak during any portion of the business meeting please email rosa.rillos dmschools.org the same speaking protocols apply to all individuals who wish to address the board
031speakers will be called individually and we ask that they State their name and address prior to providing comments students and minors do not have to provide their addresses guests of the board are encouraged to speak to matters relating to the programs services and operations of Des Moines Public Schools please remember that Iowa law prohibits us from discussing specific employees or their job performance we ask all speakers to avoid references to personalities or character attacks as those types of comments do not contribute to the purpose for which this public forum exists the use of inappropriate language will not be tolerated and individuals choosing to do so will be gaveled out of order and asked to excuse themselves from the premises as a reminder to the board in public the board will not engage in a discussion
032with public forum speakers as it is Our obligation to discuss only matters posted in the public agenda for the sake of transparency and an opportunity afforded to all Community stakeholders matters requiring attention will receive appropriate staff and or board follow-up at a time after the meeting thanks for your participation we appreciate your feedback and input Miss Rios do we have any speakers for the public forum we do we have three speakers today first up I'll call RJ Miller good afternoon board R.J Miller district one education must be rooted in love we must see students as human beings first in our student secondary I'm in the education movement to make sure students feel safe to make sure that they are getting a good education and thirdly to make sure that they are being successful as a
033community partner I recognize when education is disrupted additional supports are needed and all students should become proficient in their academics it has been highlighted as the boys go to help blackmail students be proficient in math I'm willing to do Outreach with black students and all other students who are not proficient because I believe that they can perform just as good if not better to any student that is in charter school or in private school and it's time for us to do Outreach to the Unseen the unheard and unreached I also think that students who may be lacking motivation they should get a tour of the central campus so they can start sparking their creativities and I also think that youth Town Halls are important we will be doing one September 28th so if you see
034me um anybody from the school see me sending an email I will be reaching out to you about that to talk to students about amplifying their voices because I truly want to see a transformation in the Des Moines Public Schools I've been traveling to the various different schools throughout the year I went to 11 schools recently went to Central Academy two uh two weeks ago one of the students shared with me that he wants to see a change in the curriculum they want to see things more talking about budgets how to use credit cards other than talking about things that they can't actually use in everyday life they also share with me that when it comes to history they want they want history to talk more about diversity more more about Asian American history African-American
035history Latino history and other different cultures that contributed to American history and they also want to talk about um more more things such as economics and financial literacy so that's that's all I have let's start the school year off good I want to thank everybody who's been letting me come into their spaces and and talk to the kids uh I want to also salute everybody that did the clap-ins for the elementary schools I had a privilege of going to King King Elementary Miss Miss Lord did a very good job at welcoming parents welcoming students also went to Hyatt Hyatt did a very good job as well so I want to salute them and I also want to salute our community school coordinators for the work that they do on a daily basis they work so
036hard for our students so I want to salute that and highlight that and again let's have a good year and let's push all the students that are not proficient let's get them 100 100 proficient in their academics thank you thank you [Applause] okay next speaker I'll call is Stacy Schmidt good evening Dr Roberts and dmps board as stated my name is Stacy Schmidt I'm an instructional coach and a GSA advisor at Lincoln High School and one of the facilitators for the district's staff lgbtq plus affinity group I'm speaking today as an individual but the thoughts and concerns that I'm expressing Go Far Beyond Myself on March 30th of this year following the passage of the bathroom bill and the Banning of gender affirming medical care for minors in Iowa I reached out to this board
037in the email I sent to the interim superintendent and the entire board I included a copy of a resolution that was unanimously passed by the Sioux City Community School District's Board of Education this resolution was in support of lgbtq plus people and denounced the legislative attacks on the lgbtq plus community I asked this board to consider passing a similar resolution or at the very least release a statement of support for the lgbtq plus community in the face of continued legislative attacks on us I was told at the time that a post-legislative session recap would take place and these laws would be addressed therein to my knowledge no recap has occurred nor has any visible public statement of support for the lgbtq plus Community come from this board we have a segment of our dmps community
038that is in a significant amount of pain due to the recent legislation which will likely be ongoing in the spring we have students staff and families struggling to understand these laws and what they mean for our classrooms we have lgbtq plus staff questioning the district's support for us as Professionals in education and valued members of the dmps community and so I'm asking yet again for this board to speak up in support of the lgbtq plus Community our staff and students who are having to navigate this climate of hate and intolerance be more than happy to resend each one of you a copy of the Sioux City school board's resolution thank you for your time tonight and I hope that in the future I can also thank you for speaking up to support your lgbtq plus
039staff students and Families thank you [Applause] okay next up is Noemi Mendez good evening my name is Noemi Mendez ell curriculum coordinator do you need my address yes please 901 52nd Court West Des Moines 50265. thank you thank you thanks again again my name is Novi Mendez I'm the curriculum coordinator the apartment now it's nice you're fine okay there we go okay don't touch it all right thank you again for providing the opportunity and the space for me to be here today to talk about the Des Moines Public School at the next I can't even talk now I'm sorry I got nervous uh affinity group I'm going to start off with a little bit of a data um according to the National Center of educational statistics in 2016 over 14 million students were attending public
040schools that were of latinx ethnicity this is about 28 total percent Nationwide of our students enrolled in public schools and this was about eight years ago so as you can see the numbers are growing quickly within the Des Moines Public Schools our data show from 2001 to 2023 that our Hispanic population has increased and tripled from 9.8 to a little bit over 30 percent our Latino population is definitely Rising and so I'm here to share with you that our Educators and administrators Do Not Mirror the representation of our latinx population today where Latino population represents shortly under six percent of staff and Educators and in administration we only have three principles and four associate principles representing the latinx community there was a clearly a gap in representation between educator leaders and students of the latinx
041population research is provided by various universities but particularly one from Martinez at all 2020 indicate the need for more Educators and leaders of our growing population of the latinx students it's important to increase the number of Latin administrators faculty and staff to ensure the success of all students for their future with that Des Moines Public Schools with the support of talent and Personnel last year started Finney groups I'm leading one of the Affinity groups with a couple of other employees with the district a second we have the opportunity to lead these groups and to support any employee that represents as Latino in our community with intentional purposes we would like to move forward with the plan our plan is to create workshops to support with intentionality to retain and have a necessary space for members
042to receive training this training will include opportunities for public speaking the interview process difficult and necessary conversations particularly with dealing with microaggressions mentoring opportunities networking opportunities not only with their Des Moines Public School leaders and Community but also with the Des Moines Community why is this important all of the work of course is in the best interest of all our students their student population our students of color who grow up and we of course want them to succeed however there needs to be more representation of people who look like them in our buildings on a side note when working as an administrator the first impression from a Latina little girl asked if I was the new cafeteria lady of course that's what they're going to see that's what they usually see they don't see significant
043leadership represented in our schools furthermore data from poor kashore 2018 indicated that Affinity groups are essential for not only healing having a space where others can relate and staying and also staying with your organization additionally when staff are in an environment that is inviting and welcoming in addition to supporting students will also thrive it's a win-win opportunity for students and staff they pay off of this work of the result of students and staff success we need your support along with the support of superintendent Dr Roberts to see more of the latinx population and staff represented in the schools and Leadership a proposal to bring in members of the affinity group to our hiring processes and also to be a voice at the table when making decisions thank you so much yeah yeah thanks for being
044here those are all the public forum speakers today thank you we will now move to the consent agenda as a reminder to the board and public the board will not engage in discussion or deliberation with the speaker regarding comments made to an agenda item discussion and deliberation will remain among among board members at the table with speakers comments and forming board discussion deliberation and determinations as deemed necessary Miss Rios do we have any consent item speakers we do not hearing none Miss Bradley I believe that you have the consent motion this evening and Madam speaker I just want to chair Elevate that I want to request that consent agenda item eight is pulled for discussion and that is the facility condition assessment okay um pardon me I also would request that item two is pulled
045so I was not present during that meeting okay all right so um Miss Bradley I'll ask you to advance the consent motion absent items eight and two I move the board approve the consent items in accordance with the recommended action for each item on the consent agenda including bills previously authorized certified and approved for payment by the board secretary in the amount of 20 million 197 615.56 and procurement transactions in the amount of 555 706 dollars and one cent is there a second nor a second we have a motion and a second to approve consent items absent items eight and two is there any further discussion or any questions from the board hearing none please cast your votes motion passes seven zero um we will come back to eight and two at the end of
046the agenda uh the next item on our agenda this evening is a series of public hearings we have item E1 public hearing for b9047 Central new Nutrition Center Refrigeration updates the public hearing will come to order is there anyone wishing to speak to item E1 anyone wishing to speak to item E1 hearing no speakers we will close the public hearing and I will ask superintendent Roberts to please introduce the matter thank you I recommended the Board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by modus for refrigeration upgrades at central nutrition center and holy public hearing and approve the plans I would entertain a motion in a second to approve item E1 Sawyer move or Toronto second we have a motion from Sawyer and a second from martorano are there any questions or discussion on this
047item before we move to a vote hearing none please vote item passes seven zero the next item on our agenda is a public hearing for b9052 Patel Elementary restrooms upgrade the public hearing will come to order is there anyone wishing to speak to item E2 hearing no one we will close the public hearing and I will ask the superintendent to please introduce the matter board I recommend that the Board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by RMH Architects for restroom upgrades at Patel Elementary and holy public hearing and approve these plans is there a motion in a second to approve item E2 martorano so moved we have a motion from martorano and a second from North for item E2 any further questions or discussion hearing none please vote item passes seven zero we'll now
048move to item number E3 public hearing 4B 8974 Hoover High School re-roofing project the public hearing will come to order is there anyone who wishes to speak to item E3 hearing no one we will close the public hearing and I will ask the superintendent to please introduce the matter thank you I recommended a Board review to propose plans and specifications prepared by Angelo architectural Associates for roof repair at Hoover High School holy public hearing and approve the plans may I have a motion in a second to approve item E3 Alonso moved nor a second we have a motion from Alonso in a second from Norris any board questions or discussion hearing none please cast your vote item passes seven zero couple more public hearings next public hearing is uh for B 8919 Park Avenue Elementary
049exterior restoration the public hearing will come to order is there anyone who wishes to speak to item E4 hearing no one we will close the public hearing and I'll ask the superintendent to please introduce the matter thank you I recommended the Board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by Angelo architectural Associates for masonry restoration at Park Avenue Elementary School holy public hearing and approved the plans may I have a motion and a second for approval of item E4 Sawyer so move Mark Toronto second you have a motion from Sawyer and a second from our Toronto is there any board discussion or questions hearing none please vote motion passes 7-0 the next item on our agenda is public hearing number b9048 Hoyt Middle School restroom upgrades the public hearing will come to order is there
050anyone who wishes to speak to item E5 hearing no one will close the public hearing and I'll ask the superintendent to please introduce the matter thank you I recommend that the Board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by SVP Architects for restroom upgrades at Hoyt Middle School holy public hearing and approve the plans may I have a motion and a second to approve item E5 martorano so moved Norris second we have a motion from Mark Toronto and a second from Norris is there any board discussion or questions hearing none please vote it's not pick oh there we go motion passes 7-0 [Applause] and our last public hearing item E6 public hearing for b9015 central campus culinary renovations the public hearing will come to order is there anyone who wishes to speak to item E6
051hearing no one we will close the public hearing and I will ask the superintendent to please introduce the matter thank you I recommend that the Board review to propose plans and specifications prepared by RDG planning and design for culinary reservations at central campus holy public hearing and approve the plans may I have a motion and a second to approve item E6 martorano so moved Sawyer second we have this motion bum from martorano and a second from Sawyer any board questions or comments hearing none please vote motion passes 7-0 that concludes our public hearings for the evening we will now go to um the next item on our agenda which is other items the first item is item F1 Personnel recommendations receive in file Dr Roberts is there anything that you would like to share yes
052motherboard president at this point I recommended the board receive file and approve the notice to terminate the continuing teacher contract for the reasons set forth in this document may I have a motion in a second to approve the superintendent's recommendation saw your move Alonso second we have a motion from Sawyer and a second from Alonso is there any discussion or does anyone have any questions hearing none please cast your vote motion is approved seven zero the next item on our agenda is also a receiving file and action Dr Roberts Madam president in this file I presented a board for its for them to take action no action on this one so we do not have to vote um all right let's go back to item two Kelly C8 yeah I'm abstaining from boating on that
053item okay all right uh and it's that minutes I don't have the agenda okay so um I would entertain a motion to uh approve the minutes I would also actually tell you that even though you were not there there's not a requirement that you abstain according to Roberts uh nonetheless yeah so yeah Roberts doesn't require that you abstain if you're not at a meeting so can we proceed and or do you want us to vote no we can vote okay all right I'd like to make a motion to approve item D two approval of minutes from August 8th 2023. we have a motion to approve um August 8th 2023 board minutes is there a second nor a second we have a motion for Mar Toronto in a second from Norris any board discussion hearing then
054please vote so just to be clear what is our our policy is because it's not if we could just clarify what the policy is yeah so according to Roberts and I actually this came up in another group that I'm in and so not being a parliamentarian but actually also having a copy of Robert's right handy um I pulled it and Roberts indicates that even though you may not be in attendance at a meeting you do not have to be there to approve the minutes of that meeting so and I can give you chapter and verse if you'd like no and that's I think that's that was my reading and understanding of Roberts but in the past we've done we've always yeah felt like we've always abstained if we were not present at the meeting so
055we're going to move forward with we'll move forward with you don't vote then even if you're not I'm in attendance great and Kim can you remind me the item reference number eight I'd like to make a motion to approve item d8 uh facility condition agreement are we discussing that first we have to make a motion first before so is there a second Sawyer second so we have a motion and a second to um approve the facilities recommendation um Miss Norris yeah I appreciate it and my reason for pulling it is actually because I feel like there's a lot of context that I'm missing with this RFP and it's significant cost makes me want to elevate it as an issue so I was really excited I think several months ago we were hoping to have a
056board work session where I think a lot of this was hopefully going to be covered which is the two-year process that's being kicked off led by dmps staff that is focused on the I'll use the right language the facility master plan and I think I'm trying to understand how lots of different pieces fit together and that's the clarity that I'm seeking because at the same time that this is taking place which is a facility master plan I think how we're defining facility is a question for me but also I thought that a significant effort was being placed on a programmatic review of all of the programs that dmps is offering that's come up multiple times during budget conversations about the programs that we offer and are we going to continue to offer them moving forward
057and their relevance and connectedness two I think the other thing that I want to elevate is we're having conversations right now as a board around vision around goals in the community and Dr Roberts I believe has been asked to think through a strategic plan so for me I just I need the big picture to understand how all these things fit together because my hope I think is that at the end of two years we're gonna have a thoughtful outline of that will inform the direction of dmps multifaceted but all that have budget implications so that's what I'm looking for is just additional context please yeah if I'm if I may um thank you for your question Jackie um so yeah if there's lack of clarity that that's on me that that that's my responsibility um
058to make sure that that gets done so you're right in terms of the programmatic review that's what that facility Master planning subcommittee that speaks to programs will actually engage in for the next two years so specifically heavily in the next 12 months for sure um but so that is a subcommittee made up of staff and stakeholders from our community our student body um families as we talk about some of the programs that we currently offer and we have a complete review of those programs and what do we continue to Value as an organization and as a community that we're going to continue to offer and what needs to be offered universally versus what is autonomous to buildings to be able to support in their own Endeavor so I think just to follow up on that
059Matt is it feels like the facility master plan is done by a third party um almost an independent third party entity that's looking Inward and assessing and making recommendations and I guess part of my question around programmatic is there's been a lot of discussion about the ROI the return on investment of our programs and it sounds like we're not deploying the same type of third-party review as we are with facilities so I'm trying to understand that a little bit more sure sure yeah so the rrsp as a third party is going to help support facilitation and data Gathering of these program reviews which will include things like an academic Roi so but we've got some of our own uh program evaluators on staff that are going to be a part of this process and we'll
060do we'll reach out to additional experts and consultants if we feel like that's needed based on our capacity to support program evaluation so we do have folks on staff that are trained in this work that can do this uh with us um so the third party in terms of RSP is about the facilitation and the data Gathering and the development of the genders to keep us actually on Pace and on track from meeting our deadlines they've also got extensive experience in this facility Master planning uh nk-12 not just in Iowa but in the region in and of itself so that's what that we're utilizing their services to make sure that we are not missing any questions to be asked of our community and our stakeholders through our programmatic review the facility conditions assessment is about
061just that the mechanical the electrical the um the engineering aspects of our facilities so that we can get a cost estimate to know exactly what it would take to make sure that we have all of our facilities up to standard and that we understand clearly as we're looking at a long-term plan where Investments need to be made and where Investments actually might need to be rethought okay thank you and then I guess the follow-up to that is how does the how do board goals how do strategic plan and demographic study how and when do those things come into the conversation and intersect yeah and as far as the demographic study that's the enrollment analysis and so that gives us Trend date of where we've been the last 10 years and gives us some projections over
062the next 10 years so we're utilizing that as that Baseline data to begin these conversations as well as our programmatic reviews look at our financial subcommittee budgets to talk about where we need to actually be thoughtful in fy24 and fy25 and Beyond um you asked another question about beyond the demographic study sorry I missed that could you repeat that um strategic planning yeah important it drives this conversation for sure as we know um through our guardrails that that's the Community Values so the Community Values will have to be represented heavily and in our subcommittee work for the next two years and where is that reflected because I don't see that reflected on this where where is the intersection with the board or however values are represented those values are represented through me and the team
063essential office team as a part of these subcommittees and leading these subcommittees in partnership with our third party these so these are this is a superintendent's committee broke it up into subcommittees and how the board interacts with that I'm certainly open to what you guys think uh is is the next step for that um but this was a a superintendent's committee designed yeah I mean I I def this is not for me about the RFP specifically it's actually just about the process and the intersection of everything and so um I defer to you madam chair on next steps but I just I'm looking for us maybe to be a little bit more in alignment so we're all on the same page with it yeah I think these are pieces of the puzzle that help to
064get us into alignment number one and secondly when we talk about goals our goals are student outcome focused this is operational work so let's make sure we're differentiating the two when we begin to talk about our board goals those are student outcome focused goals that may have some intersection with this but actually our goals that we will work with the community to identify if we determine we need to have additional goals but our first step is really focusing on Vision um and strategy and the other thing that I would offer is I don't really know for sure exactly where Dr Robert is going to be headed with his strategic plan but again I see each of these as sort of building blocks to a larger plan so let's not try to get too far ahead
065of ourselves let's let the process flow the way it needs to so that we have the information necessary to begin to make the decisions that we need to at the board level I would refer to you Dr Roberts if there's anything else that you would offer no absolutely thank you so much Madam boardshare and thank you for the questions and the inquiry Jackie certainly we appreciate them but what I'll say is in terms of strategic planning we are sitting in a space sphere we are being thoughtful about what goes into the Strategic plans sorry um but as of right now we want to make sure that we are setting up the structure and creating the opportunities to make sure we have input from every um stakeholder group before we Embark upon the three to five
066year strategic plan okay thanks and so just to kind of put a period at the end of the sentence are all these things rowing in the same direction so by the end of year two we have the complete package because I feel like a couple times we've had to Kick the Can because we didn't have information so is the goal that all of these pieces flow together so heading into next budget not this year's budget but next year's budget we've got comprehensive information to make decisions that is absolutely the goal so we're looking for coherence from each of these data sources to help inform um long-term decision making thank you I really appreciate you having this conversation it was very helpful for me yes any additional board questions or comments on item d8 hearing none
067I would entertain a motion to approve item d8 it's already been moved by me and seconded by Ms Sawyer thank you your absolutely question I will call the question oh please cast your vote motion passes seven zero um the next item on our agenda this evening is item G1 information only we've included the three-year board monitoring report schedule uh in the information only items um the next item on the agenda is items of privilege I would open up the floor for any of my board colleagues who have items of privilege they'd like to share I just want to say congrats I think it's been an amazing back to school effort and everybody in dmps showed up so well and the adaptability with the drivers and heat and thank you thanks to everybody all dmps employees
068thank you other board comments um I'll do some shout outs for North quickly it's been it has been a wonderful start to the year I think it's going to be a really good year um but just want to give a shout out to north of varsity football be East at their first home game and that was the first home Victory um since 1998 the first first game home Victory there we go since 1998. um and then also just wanted to give a shout out to the swimming team which has 20 more swimmers than they had last year um and the marching band is going strong with over a hundred participants so just a lot of really great engagement on the North side and just wanted to lift that up at the board table and recognize
069that also want to do a quick shout out publicly for uh two foundation events that are coming up so everyone can go to the Des Moines Public Schools Foundation website um and make sure you mark your calendar for our one run which is just around the corner September 23rd our fourth annual one run will be at Waterworks Park um it's such a cool event if you haven't been there please mark your calendar and attend your attendance actually gets money for your school or whichever School you show up for and you can show up for whichever School needs the most support so I just encourage everyone to come out with such a special day to be a part of the Des Moines Public Schools Community we're also hosting a second event that I'm so excited to
070share uh we're hosting a dinner it will be at Drake University in the Olmsted Center on November 2nd Thursday November 2nd tickets are live they're on our website and this is going to be a really wonderful opportunity to welcome Dr Ian Roberts and toast a school district that we all love so a lot of fun planning happening there please check out Des Moines Public Schools Foundation website to learn more okay I'll turn it over to Dr Robert I would like to just say something really quick I just want to thank people across the district starting school um I know that everybody's working really hard I so appreciated the being able to elevate the stories tonight the recognitions and great job thank you everyone for the work that you do for students for families dmps is
071pretty great I would agree ditto Dr Roberts thank you madam president good evening everyone again uh this evening superintendent's report will be uh brief but I want to Anchor uh my quick remarks in three buckets the first is um just speaking of beginning interviewer activities I am really excited about one that will occur this Thursday September 7th and that is the first day of preschool right our little ones um I am truly truly excited uh looking forward to having the team members of the cabinet and auto stakeholders really visit our four early uh childhood centers to make sure that we're seeing those smiling faces and the promise that each of them whole and making sure that we are committing to them that we see that promise and we're going to provide everything that they need
072in order for them to get there so excited about this coming Thursday uh the second item is I I want to speak very quickly um to the first eight days of the school year which concluded in last Friday and some of you have really referenced um all of the accolades and the celebrations um just the palpable energy and feeling and excitement in each of our buildings and our classrooms um really bodes well for what is to come you know as we visited schools and classrooms it is very clear that teaching and learning has already started and we're seeing it in a rigorous way I'm highly engaged in way and we've seen some exemplary pedagogical delivery as well as how leaders have shown up each and every day as well on last Friday the uh the
073state released its state assessment scores and and I have to tell you right certainly as with many other places and districts we receive those scores with sort of mixed reactions and mixed emotions the release of the scores though right will certainly serve as the driver for how we're looking at our goals guardrails and our interim goals in the coming year as a District you know that we're committed to student outcomes for as a focus and we want to make sure that we're going to utilize that single data point of our state assessments as just one of the data points being a sub native assessment of how we are looking at providing support for students in terms of our instructional programs you know um we experience growth in in math at most of our grade levels
074and and that is worthy of a celebration right oftentimes I think as Educators and those who are observing the education Arena from the outside when we think about uh students celebrating student achievement we focus relentlessly on proficiency and proficiency is important and as a district we will continue um to Anchor some of what we are doing in proficiency but we do not want to miss the opportunity to celebrate growth um growth really points Us in the right direction and so we want to celebrate that one other bright spot that I want to highlight is um or a third grade ELA scores as we look at the comparison from school year 21 to school year 23 right we've seen some significant growth around our third grade ELA scores and um that is important for a myriad
075of reasons but here's one reason why it's very important some of you may have heard about or read the statistics that speaks to how critical being able to read at a third grade is one that stands out to me is the fact that um before you get to the third grade by the time a student gets to the third grade they're learning how to read and we want to make sure that by the time they get there they are in a really strong place because any time after the third grade essentially students are reading to learn and so we're going to continue to focus on uh sort of the scores that we've seen the celebrations that we have there make sure that we're building on that the third uh bucketed item that I want to
076reference um during my update this evening is is to share um sort of the one of the linch spins of our work moving forward this year you know I sent out a weekly uh superintendent's empathy gratitude and just sort of weekly message um earlier today in a semester that I plan to send out weekly for the most part on Tuesdays and in that message I wanted to remind our teammates um all five thousand of our employees about the importance of uh really teaching a leading from an orientation that is not only empathetic but one that is culturally responsive as a school system as a school district I remain committed as a member of this cabinet and member of the board to make sure that every single person uh who comes into our school system to
077serve students regardless of their orientation or live identities and live the experiences feel seen heard and supported and and we are going to be relentless in that commitment and and I want to share publicly it if at any time any of our over 5000 employees is not feeling and experiencing that um we need to know more importantly I need to know and I guarantee you because I I know how important it is um for you to show up every single day feeling as if the Des Moines Public Schools is the place where you want to be every day providing supports to more than 30 000 students uh based on what we've seen observed and experienced in the first eight days um I want to make sure that we continue to have the same excitement until
078we get to the end of this school year and Beyond and so our commitment as a Cabinet is to make sure that every single adult and every child feels seen heard and supported and if ever we have fallen short of that Mark please let us know and we are going to course correct Madam president that concludes my report this evening thank you Dr Roberts um having no additional business for this evening our meeting will adjourn at 6 37 p.m and we will now transition into a closed session which is not open to the public so we ask that those members of the public uh to quickly exit the room so that we can continue with the business at hand thank you so much for being here this evening foreign really fast I'm fast thank you