001Heat. Heat. [Music] I would like to call the school board meeting for Tuesday, April 4th, 2023 for the De Moines public schools to order. Miss Rios, will you please take the role? Yes. Miss Alonso Dias here. Miss Bradley, here. Miss Kell Johnson, here. Miss Knox, here. Miss Marana here. Miss Norris, Miss Sawyer. We have quum. Thank you. Um I would like to first um ask for a motion to approve uh tonight's agenda. Motion and a second. Bradley move approval. Alonzo second. We have a motion from Bradley and a second from Alonzo. U board members, please cast your votes. Motion passes 50. Uh the next item on our agenda is the public forum followed by the consent and regular agenda items. We provide speakers at the forum an opportunity to address the board for up to
002three 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.riosdmsschools.org. The same speaking protocols apply to all individuals who wish to address the board. Speakers will be called individually and we ask that they state their name and address prior to providing their comments. Students and minors do not have to provide home addresses. Guests of the board are encouraged to speak to matters relating to the programs, services, and operations of De 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
003or 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 gabbled out of order and asked to excuse themselves from the premises and/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 the opportunity afforded to all community stakeholders. Matters requiring our 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 Rios, do we have any speakers for the public forum?
004Yes, we do. First off, I'll call Chris not. You may approach the podium. Uh, good evening board members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Chris Nath and I'm the director of the Youthworks program at Project Iowa. Youthworks is a professional internship program that provides De Mo public school seniors with job skills training, mentoring, and post high school planning support. The program is centered on a nine-month paid professional internship where students learn transferable skills such as communication, self-management, and problem solving. And they work side by side with professionals building their network and social capital. This year, the program placed six East High School seniors in IT, finance, property management, and government. The mission of Youthworks is to empower youth to succeed in life beyond high school by connecting them to pathways to
005meaningful living wage careers. Youthworks partners with DMPS to serve students who have historically not had opportunities to participate in work-based learning programs. Far too many students are graduating high school in De Moines without the skills, plans, and social capital necessary to get on the pathway to achieving their dreams. All too often, even in 2023, a student's zip code is predictive of the opportunities available to them. Together, we can change this. Youthworks cannot exist without business partners who serve as hosts and provide mentors and supervisors for interns. From my conversations at East High School, I know there are more than six current juniors who want to participate this fall, but we need more internships in order to serve them. So, this is a community call to action. If you would like to help create life-changing opportunities
006for local teens and help local companies create pipelines of young talent, there are a number of things you can do. First, talk to people in your workplace. Does your office need an extra set of hands or infusion of youthful energy? Reach out to people you know in the De Moines business community, decision makers in executive positions, human resources, or diversity, equity, and inclusion. Tell them about youth works. Three, come to the Project Iowa Gala on April 13th in De Moine. We're always trying to raise money, of course. And also connect with us at projectia.org/ youthworks. When school districts, nonprofits, and businesses team up to create work-based learning opportunities, students win. With your help, Youthworks will grow and impact students all across the district for years to come. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
007Next up, I'll call David McCuten. May approach the podium. David McCuten, 410 North Hickory Boulevard, Pleasant Hill, Iowa. I uh I'm here to talk about the third grade math curriculum at De Moines Schools. I help in my daughter's third grade with my daughter's third grade students in math. I know there's been a difficult time for the past two years with CO. In fact, I didn't work with children during CO, but it wasn't much better prior to CO for the three years that I did help in the classroom. Many children come into third grade not knowing how to add or subtract. Before they're proficient in addition and subtraction, they're moved on to multiplication and division. Without good addition and subtraction skills, multiplication and division is even more difficult. When you throw in word story problems, especially
008two-step problems, it gets more confusing for most third graders. I try to use the distributive property as often as possible to help students with multiplication. For uh when multiplying by four, I tell my students to multiply by two twice and then add the two numbers. For example, 2 * 4 is 2 * 2 + 2 * 2. 4 + 4 = 8. They can usually do that, but four * 8 is 2 * 8 + 2 * 8 = 16 + 16. And they have a hard time coming up with 32. Uh, one one student was trying to multiply 2 * 4. They didn't know the answer. So, I asked them, "What's 4 + 4?" They still didn't know the answer. I got frustrated and I told them they should have known this in second
009grade. It made them cry. something I'll never forget. You'll have to excuse me. I have an anxiety disorder and this is really hard for me. You're fine. Take your time, sir. Take your time. Uh while these children are still struggling struggling with multiplication and division, they're asked to learn fractions. Even the students with good math skills are struggling with fractions. I think it would be more helpful to teach them double-digit multiplication and long division. That would help that would build on their multiplication and division skills. It would also help them understand fractions in the future. In my opinion, fractions shouldn't be taught at least until the fourth grade. Students are separated into different groups for reading according to their their skill level. Perhaps we should do the same thing with math. It would be much
010easier to teach children that are on the same level in the same class rather than try to teach three or four different levels at one time. We need to give our children a good strong math foundation to build on. If our children don't have a good math foundation, they'll get frustrated and just want to give up. Many of the workbooks and worksheets should be easier to understand. I have trouble understanding some of them myself. And once I do understand them, I think, why make it so difficult for nine-year-olds to figure this out? And at the end of this, I would love to see all of you come to Brewbaker Elementary and see what we're up against. It's frustrating for teachers. It's frustrating for students. I'd love to see more parents come, get more involved. It's
011really It's a struggle if you can't tell. But a lot of this is is just me and my my disorder. I I really appreciate your time and I hope that I hope to see some of you at Brewbaker and work try to work on this problem. I think if we could send them into fourth grade with the good with just good addition and subtraction skills, it would be so much easier for the fourth grade teachers and then they could build on that. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much for being here this evening. appreciate your comments and you can count on seeing me at Brewbaker. Thank you. Um we don't have any other recognitions. Correct. We have speakers. We don't have any more speakers for the public forum. Okay, great. So um we'll
012now move to district recognitions. Um in De Moines public schools, we have some great partnerships. And one of the partnerships that I think is not only uh one of our longest standing but one that has paid huge dividends is our partnership with Prairie Meadows and Pulk County. Um I can't say enough about the collaborative work that we've done and the investment that both organizations have made um in De Moine public schools. So, I would like to invite Julie Stewart from Prairie Meadows and Angela Connley from the Pulk County Board of Supervisors forward for a check presentation that we are thrilled to receive. Well, thank you for allowing us to be here. Um, this is one of our favorite things that we get to do together is to present a check to De Mo Public Schools.
013So, first of all, I want to thank you for all the work that you do and um I know that your job is one of the toughest that we have in our city. So, uh I'm sorry of all the things that you're facing in your district. I wish I could do more to help you, but know that if there is anything that Poke County government can do that we're here to help you in any way that we can. I relayed that to Terry. I've told Jackie that. And I just want all of you to know that we're here to help in any way that we can. So with this small amount of money, um we hope that you can use it. I know that you can. God knows that you can. Um I wish that
014we could do more. So we have a we've had a strong partnership with Prairie Meadows and we're thankful for all the work that they've done and um so thank you again for all the tireless work that I know that you do and the tough decisions that you have to make. Um I just want to um reiterate that we um love this partnership. We have a great partnership with Poke County supervisors. Um we love this this half million dollars because this is um discretionary which means you all choose how you want to use it. Um and on behalf of our board of directors and Gary Palmer, there's no better impact for us than to impacting our youth and impacting the next generation. So, I just want to reiterate one of the things that we do at
015Prairie Meadows is we give away our used cards. And so, your classroom is not the only your daughter's classroom is not the only classroom that um needs to go back to the basics. We get hundreds of calls from grade schools in Poke County all the time. And we give our used cards because that's how they teach them how to do math. So, I'll connect with you to make sure your daughter's classroom has those used cards. But um that's just another way how we give back. So thank you. Thank you. So I think we would like to do um a photo and if all the board members and our interim superintendent can join us down front, we'll get that taken care of. And thanks again um Angela and One, two, three. Okay, now I'm done. As
016they say, thank you so much. Is that already factored into our webinar? Um, no. Set it aside. 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 a speaker regarding comments made to the agenda items. Discussion and deliberation will remain among board members at the board table with speakers comments informing the board's discussion, deliberation, and determinations as deemed necessary. Miss Rios, do we have any speakers for consent? No, we do not. Since there are no speakers, I believe Miss Alonzo Diaz has the consent motion. I do. I move that 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
017board secretary in the amount of 12,914,500.35 and procurement card transactions in the amount of $571,45920. Is there a second? Marano second. We have a motion Zas and a second from Marorano. Is there any discussion or are there any questions on our consent items this evening? Hearing none, please cast your vote. Motion pass. Now we will move through a series of public hearings. I believe there are 10, so you'll just have to bear with me. Um, we have item E1, public hearing for B8872, Ruby Van Meter School Playground. The public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone that wishes to speak to this item? Hearing no one, um, I will close the public hearing and ask the superintendent to please introduce the matter. I recommend the board, Try that again. I recommend the board review
018the proposed plans and specifications prepared by BBS architects for new playground and ruby van meter. Hold a public hearing and approve the plans. Do I have a motion and a second? Marano. So moved. So your second. We have a motion from Marrono and a second from Sawyer. Um is there any discussion or are there any questions hearing? None. Please vote. I thought I pushed it. 70. Uh the next item is item E2, public hearing for B8937, Lincoln Gymnasium floor refinish. The public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone that wishes to speak to this item? Hearing no one, we'll close the public hearing and I'll ask the interim superintendent to please introduce the matter. I recommend the board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by Studio Melee for gymnasium floor refinish at Lincoln
019High School. hold a public hearing and approve the plans. Is there a motion and a second to approve? Norris. Nor a second. Norris. Motion to approve. Alonso second. We have a motion from Norris and a second from Alonzo. Is there any discussion or are there any questions? Hearing none. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. The next item is item E3, public hearing B8973, Monroe Chiller Installation. The public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone wishing to speak? Hearing no one, we'll close the public hearing and we'll ask the superintendent to introduce the matter. I recommend the board review the proposed plans and specifications prepared by BBS Architects for Chiller installation at Monroe Elementary School, hold a public hearing, and approve the plans. Is there a motion and a second to approve? Marano. Move
020approval. Nor a second. We have a motion from Marterano and a second from Norris. Does the board have any questions or comment? If not, please vote. There we go. Motion passes 70. The next item is item E4, budget amendment public hearing, year end 2023. The public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone wishing to speak to item E4? Hearing no one, we'll close the public hearing and ask the interim superintendent to introduce the matter. I recommend the board approve the budget amendment for FY23 as are presented following the public hearing. Is there a motion and a second to approve? Marrono move approval. Nor a second. We have a motion from Marrono and a second from Norris. Any discussion or questions? Hearing none, please vote. Motion passes 70. The next item is the public hearing
021for fiscal year 2024 proposed budget. The public hearing will come to order. Is there anyone wishing to speak to the fiscal 2024 proposed budget? Hearing no one, the uh hearing will close and I'll turn it over to the interim superintendent to introduce the matter. I recommend the board adopt a proposed budget for FY 2024 following the public hearing. Is there a motion in a second to approve the proposed budget? Al so moved. Nor a second. Any discussion or questions? Just want to say how much I again appreciate how the budget was laid out. And for those that are um catching up, there's three wonder sessions that you can follow along to learn how the decisions were made. Thank you, Jackie. Anything else from my board colleagues? Thank you. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70.
022Uh we will now move to information items. The first um included in the agenda packet was F1, De Moines Public Schools Foundation financial statements and the second was item F2, Head Start Committee meeting minutes from February 2023. Um we'll now move to items of privilege and I think I'll go last and open it up to my board colleagues to share anything that you'd like to in these items of privilege. So, I' I'd really like to thank our superintendent. Uh, it's hard to believe that maybe less than a week, uh, there was a bill that was signed into law, um, otherwise known as the bathroom bill that went into effect immediately, which for a school district with a lot of kids can be a lot of work. and I shouldn't have guessed any different, but you
023were on the phone immediately with all of the principles and all of the staff and set such a beautiful tone. Um, and the tone was around how do we continue to create a welcoming environment for our students and still comply with the law and I really appreciate that and principles appreciated it and parents appreciated it and it I'm sure our students did too, but it really meant a lot and it says a lot about who we are as a district. So, thank you very much. other board comments. I just have um a couple. One, uh at our next board meeting, we will be monitoring um several monitoring reports and you should have all received an invitation to sub me with the new monitoring documentation. So, please use that to prepare for our next meeting. Um
024and the other is today was the first day of ISASP assessments and I just want to thank all of the teachers who have been tirelessly repair tirelessly preparing um the data teams who um got all of the information into the system so that it would be a success and of course the teachers who are giving it their all um in a in a tough time for assessment. So, thank you to all of you. Other comments? Oh, well, I just wanted to give a shout out to the North High Polar Bear Gayla, which was on Saturday. It was very fun to be there um with Kim and Kelly and to watch and Matt Smith doing a wonderful speech and uh just kudos to the North High community for raising I think it was 88,000. Uh so
025an impressive amount that really goes a long way to fill the gaps for the activities for our students at North High School. Um to be able to have all of those amazing extracurricular activities that we know pay off uh when it comes to their education and engagement. So um if anyone is interested in contributing or attending in the future, please make sure that you check it out on social media. It's always a wonderful time and just so proud to be a part of that community. There we go. Okay. Um I just want to thank Cindy for um having me at Mary Jackson Elementary. Have not been there since the name change. So it was great to see um the things that they have going on there and some of the changes that they'll make in
026their their new school year. I'm going to go to Hubble on Friday. So excited to be um with those young people. And also I just want to echo the sentiments um to our teachers as well. Thank you for all the work you do. all of our staff um within De Mo public schools. I won't embarrass my daughter. She's in the crowd, but she is a product of De Mo public schools and I'm truly proud of her and she's going to be a future teacher one day. And that's just because now I won't make her wave. And that's just because of um the dedicated staff that we have in this district and the impact that they've made not only on her but all the other students within our district. So, always want to just say thank
027you for all that you do because none of us up here know what it's like. Um, but you are in the trenches every single day and we appreciate all of the work you do. I'd like to say exactly what Miss Dana said, but in Spanish. [Laughter] No, I just want to say thank you to everyone. And I know um everybody is full of work and it's beautiful to see people that are so passionate for serving the people, the community that we have, the students that we have, the families that we have. Um it's inspiring. And so thank you to all of you that do the work every single day. And when it comes to budget, um thank you for all the work that your staff has done. Thank you to my board colleagues. A couple
028of things I would mention and thank you Miss Norris for your comment on the bathroom bill. This has been a particularly challenging legislative session and one of the things that I'm most interested in uh once the session has concluded which hopefully will be here in the next few weeks is to really do a broad recap so that our community community can understand not only the implications of the actions that were taken by the Iowa General Assembly but the requirements of our district to in some respects literally turn on a dime and be in a position to make realtime decisions uh within less than 24 hours. Um and I applaud our district, but we have so much ahead relative to this year's session. And I really want to take the time to make sure that we
029as a board fully comprehend uh what has taken place, but it's equally important for us to convey to the community the impact of the legislative session this year and invite them to be our partners in advocating not only for public education but for the 30 plus thousand students that we have here in De Moines public schools. So you can expect that once the session concludes, we'll be preparing a recap here and also speaking to the impact of that legislation uh not only on our district but our students and families. Uh the other thing I wanted to um lift up was um we are in the middle of a superintendent search and we're hoping that our community is following us online. Uh we have a ticker that sort of shows you where we are in our
030four-phase process. Uh we are in phase three which is the interview phase. Um of course we indicated early on that this was going to be a closed and confidential process and we have done our best to adhere to that. Um and we thank the community for understanding the position that the board took in that regard. Uh but I believe that um given where we are right now um we can anticipate likely at some point um later this month uh an announcement on the superintendency. So, wanted to just update you on that. Um, and then finally, um, I I would really just like to echo my board's, um, statements around the budget process this year. Um, it was one of the most thorough processes that I've been involved with, and it gave us an opportunity to
031put our money where our mouth is, to fund our board goals, and to be able to articulate how those dollars will hopefully advance the work that we have ahead of us. So, I want to thank U. Matt, Shashank, Shashank staff because I know there were a lot of people behind the scenes um working to not only crunch numbers but also put together the presentations and um I guess um what I would say is um teamwork makes the dream work and you have amazing team and I just really want to acknowledge the uh work that you've done. Um, final thing that I would offer is that um, while we did have the budget on the agenda tonight and I anticipated we may spend a little bit more time, I think that this is a record and
032I'm personally going to claim it for a no for for no for approval for a meeting where we've approved the budget. It may not be the record for a meeting but a meeting where uh we have approved the budget in such short a short period of time. So I'm going to claim that and I'm going to put that check next to my name and whoever comes after me, let's see if you can beat it. Um so that notwithstanding, those are the things that I wanted to share and I'll turn it over to our interim superintendent. Yeah, thank you so much. Um you've I don't know how to thank you for your comments. Um, this team has worked incredibly hard and uh it pays off. Um, and we've learned a lot and we will continue to
033get better. So, thank you so much. Um, I would like to to recognize some student awards. Uh, we've got a few things to celebrate. Uh, we always do and uh, so I want to lift a few of these up. So, central campus teacher Tim Coleman took a group of students to Minneapolis for the Upper Midwest's Emmy Chapter Awards for Student Productions. North's Abriana Hilson, virtual campuses Mary Chandra, and Roosevelt's Luke Garcia, John Carlson, and Logan Weston were all nominated for awards. Aana Hilson received a crystal pillar for her short non-fiction, My PBS mentorship. Her film will now go on to the national competition and will be judged by the National Academy of Television of Arts and Sciences in New York. Each of these students represents if you come here, you can become a film maker
034here. So, congratulations to each of you. Also want to recognize the Central Campus Marine Corps JRTC shooting team hosted and competed in the 2023 Iowa Junior Olympics Air Rifle State Championships. Central Campus won its 18th straight championship. The Central Campus JV team placed third. De Mo Public Schools also swept the individual awards. North High School senior Hope Doc won the individual state championship, followed closely by teammate North High School junior Liza Wright, who finished second, and Lincoln High School senior Paul Sleath, who finished third, also representing that if you come here, you can become a marksman here. So, congratulations to each of you. Thank you, Matt. Um, if there are no other comments, we want to thank the public, both those in the room and those that are viewing, uh, for joining us this evening.
035We greatly appreciate it. And without objection, this meeting is adjourned at 6:01.