April 2026 Olathe Public Schools Board of Education Meeting

001Matt Johnson, director of athletics and activities up to the front. Matt was awarded the 2026 Kansas Inter Scholastic Athletic Administrators Association Athletic Director of the Year and the Kansas Athletic Director of the Year distinctions. The Kansas Inter Scholastic Athletic Administrators Association or K I AAA is a professional organization serving athletic administrators across the state of Kansas that provides leadership training, professional development, and advocacy for education-based athletics. Matt is rounding out his 30th year in education, 15 of those serving in an athletic director director role at either the building or district level. He has shared that his favorite part of that experience has been watching students perform and compete in the activity they love and excel at. And there is no doubt that Matt has made an impact here in Olathe. And while we're so proud

002to recognize him, we are sad to share that it will be his last year in Olathe because he is retiring at the end of the year. And so, I just want to take this opportunity to thank you, Matt, for all that you have done to positively impact our district. It's been such a joy getting to office next to you and get to work with you over the years. So, thank you. You will truly be missed. Congratulations. Now, we've joked it's the Matt Johnson night because all of our honorees happen to be athletics and activities related tonight. So, he gets to stand up front for the rest of the night. So, we have another K I AAA award winner in the house tonight. And at this time, I would like to invite Andrew Miller, Olathe South

003High School assistant principal and athletic director, as well as Shawn Demaree, Olathe South High School Principal, up to the front. Andrew was named the KSHSAA Art Newcomer Promising Athletic Director Award recipient. Established in 2006, this award recognizes a Kansas Athletic Director in their second or third year who has demonstrated exceptional promise and leadership early in their career. Dr. Demaree shared in his first two years, Andrew has established himself as a leader for all, one that teachers trust, students engage with, and parents see as a true partner. He has shifted South School athletic culture to a culture of winning, but more deeply, he has shifted our whole school culture to a place full of Falcon pride. Congratulations, Andrew. All right. We now shift gears to wrestling. So, next I would like to honor several of our

004winter sports champions, and to begin, I would like to welcome two of our wrestling champions to the front from Olathe East and Olathe South with their coaches, Audrey Griffin and Connor Fitzgerald, as well as Olathe East Principal Kerry Lane, Olathe South Athletic Director Andrew Miller, and Principal Shawn Demaree. So, tonight we have Audrey Leonard with us and Giovanni Cowdell, and both of these athletes are back-to-back state champions. Olathe East Audrey Leonard won state wrestling in the girls' 145-pound division. And Olathe South's Giovanni Caudill earned the state championship in the boys' 165-pound division. And I believe both are seniors, correct? So, what a way to end your wrestling career. Please join me in giving these two athletes a round of applause. Congratulations and thank you, guys. All right. Next, we are excited to recognize the Olathe

005North boys' basketball team for their outstanding achievement. YES. THIS TEAM IS the 6A boys' basketball state champion team. So, come on forward along with your principal, your coach, Adam Ullrich, athletic director, Josh Price. This year marked the fifth consecutive year that the Eagles went to the state championship tournament. However, this time was different as they achieved the ultimate goal of bringing home the first state basketball championship in school history. REFLECTING ON THE SEASON, coach shared with this group, you see the talent, you see the ability, and you see the passion for playing good, hard-nosed, tough, aggressive basketball, and they played for each other. We are so excited for this Eagle team on achieving this monumental moment in school history. And if I'm not mistaken, Sam Simmons Jr., are you here? You were named Kansas Gatorade

006Player of the Year AS WELL. CONGRATULATIONS, EAGLES. WE'RE SO PROUD OF YOU. YEAH, parents come on up. Take pictures. Awesome. Thanks, guys. As they make their way back, I'd now like to welcome Olathe East senior Ellis Malone along with head swim coach Dave Eukar and Olathe East principal Carrie Lane. Ellis was named the 6A boys state diving champion this year. AND ELLIS ELLIS IS NO STRANGER TO RANKING among the top divers at the state level, having come close to winning it all in his sophomore and junior year. After finishing third as a sophomore and second last year, Ellis entered his final season with a clear target in sight, a long-awaited state diving championship. And he achieved it with a score of 500.8. Ellis, we are so proud of you for this accomplishment. Congratulations. Olivia, you

007can take your photo, but I'm going to make you get in there afterwards. Um get one with your family. Okay. Lastly, I would like to invite Oregon Trail's Sarah Ackerman up to the front along with her principal Denise Herman and Olathe Fine Arts Coordinator Martha Gable and KSHSAA Assistant Executive Director Megan Hayman. WE ARE thrilled to recognize Sarah Ackerman, theater teacher at Oregon Trail for receiving the Kansas State High School Activities Association and National Federation of State High School Associations Middle School Theater Outstanding Educator Award. Sarah is known as a dynamic theater educator whose career blends educational leadership, instructional technology, and arts innovation. She has built an innovative theater program where students participate in quarterly one-act plays as well as annual musicals and main stage productions. She also launched initiatives such as the Amplify Latinx

008Voices Playwriting Residency, which secured a $10,000 grant to commission an original play written by students and mentored by a Latin playwright. Ackerman collaborates closely with autism CBR and English language learner teams to ensure theater opportunities are accessible to all students. Her work creates a supportive environment where students build confidence, creativity, and community through the arts. And Sarah, we are so proud of you for receiving this award. I know Megan with Kesha has your official plaque and also had a couple of words she wanted to share. I just wanted to say from the bottom of my heart and then Mr. Babble sends his regrets for not being able to be here tonight. We could not have been more thrilled to have a quality applicant. Not only did Sarah receive the award for the state of Kansas

009that she was a section five winner, which means out of all the states in our region, she was the most excellent nominee. So, I'm absolutely thrilled to present you with this award tonight. Congratulations. All right here, one, two, three. Thank you. Congratulations to all of our recipients tonight. At this time, I would invite Stacy Shipley, principal at Woodland Elementary, to come forward for the spotlight presentation. Good evening. Dr. Yeager, I would and the board of education I would like to thank you for the invitation for me to represent Woodland. It's an honor. As I thought about our presentation, it is amazing for me to stand before you and say that Woodland is completing their 18th year as a school. As the principal to help cut the ribbon, it was just a blink of an eye

010ago that we opened Woodland and now we're 18 years in. So, it's my privilege to just share some highlights with you. So, Woodland opened in 2008. We opened as the first green building in Olathe. We are also a lead building working on energy sustainability. Our current enrollment is 322 students. We are an ELL site. Our student population represents 19 languages and 16 countries. We also have a CPR autism program in our building. Our mission statement is for Woodland Elementary to be a positive learning environment and that we create thinkers and leaders that will serve our school, community, and the world. So, when our students do announcements every morning, we talk about how we think, we lead, and we serve. If you were to visit Woodland tomorrow, this is what we hope you would see. Differentiated

011instruction based on evidence strategies, real-world learning experiences like dissecting a squid, active, visible, and cooperative experiences for our students. At Woodland, we have the Wolf Pack, problem solvers that find ways to make things better around our school, achievers who work hard to reach goals and complete exciting projects, community builders that help everyone feel welcome and connected in our school family, and kind hearts that show kindness and empathy all to our classmates and teachers. And those were some of the students that you saw leading the Pledge of Allegiance today. We serve. We focus on service at Woodland. We want our students to be great thinkers, but we also want them to serve the world around them. We serve our school. We might have peer mentors going into first grade and helping students read. We serve our

012community. We have a partnership with Mission Southside, but we also serve the world. We have a preschool in Machakos, Kenya, that we raise money for each year, and over the 18 years we've raised $32,000 to help preschool children go to school. Another important component of Woodland is our behavior positive behavior support system. We have the three Rs at Woodland. We talk about respect, responsibility, and building relationships. We really want kids to understand that it's important to treat others as you'd like to be treated, to do the right thing even when no one's looking, and to appreciate the unique qualities of others. To partner with that, we recognize that social emotional supports are essential for our students to be available for learning. And so, we want to create that culture of belonging where every student is

013known, valued, and empowered to learn. We work hard at creating a sense of belonging. We do a lot of learning about emotions and how to regulate our emotions when things aren't going well, as well as how our brain works under stress. We believe that the strength of the wolf is in the pack. But it's not my pack, it's my students' pack. And so, Mr. Cal Essex has put together a little video to end our presentation. Okay, so now we are doing first grade. And your name? Taylor. Now, what do you like about Wooden? I like my class and specials. And all the teachers that help me learn stuff. Thank you, Taylor. This is fourth grade. One Wooden fun project that fourth graders are doing is a food truck project. What where we we're paired in

014groups of three. We each make a food truck of our own choice, and it's so fun. Beyond what I can what I could have imagined as fun. We get to our my group gets to laugh and it's a phenomenal friendship that Okay, speak. This is fifth grade. What is your favorite thing about Woodland? Um my favorite thing about Woodland is how teachers are very nice to the students and how we get to do projects and that we get to go on mini field trips. This is second grade. What's your favorite thing? Um my favorite thing about Woodland is what um is what what our teacher teach us. And like what class we do and stuff. What is your favorite thing about Woodland? My favorite thing about Woodland is how much we learn from our teachers.

015Okay. You can go. This is third grade. What's your favorite thing about Woodland? My favorite thing is how the specialists really exist on our everyday life. Okay. This is kindergarten. What's your favorite thing about Woodland? PE. Is there anything you like about PE? Well, I like games. Thank you. Future filmmaker and reporter right here. Well done. >> Thank you so much. >> Well done. Ms. Shipley, before you step away, board, any questions or comments for Ms. Shipley? All right, thank you for being here tonight. And thanks to the rest of the Wolfpack as well. Um Dr. Little. Welcome back. Um good evening. Stuart Little with Little Government Relations. Happy to be here during a break at the end of the legislative session. I'll kind of go through the PowerPoint. You also have our written report

016and I'll talk about kind of where we are and and kind of what lies ahead. So the regular session ended on the the the 27th. They'll come back next Thursday for what's called the veto or wrap-up session where they will come uh and deal with governor's vetoes and those kinds of things and there will likely will be a lot of those and deal with those and um figure out some of the issues that they have left. Um as usual during a legislative session like this in particular, there's been a lot of conflict between folks and if you've paid attention, some of it's kind of risen to a level of awareness um and there's a lot of effort to try to do tax policy and those kind of things and so that's been the source of

017a lot of the engagement. Um they have passed a budget. They have passed a property tax reduction bill and a variety of education bills and I'll talk about those. So the tax bill that was passed, they had three options of what they wanted to do in the last three days of the legislative session essentially. They hadn't passed anything at that point. And they had three options and one of them that did pass include schools and it puts a 3% cap on the growth in your budget each year and if you want to exceed growth of more than 3% then you would have to be subject to a protest petition where 10% of the people in the last election could stop the the budget from exceeding that amount. Um it has a lot of other provisions

018in it but that's the gist of the of the idea. It applies to schools, to counties, to cities, all local government entities and um that was the one that got the most votes but it was they were they kind of barely passed in both chambers. The other bill would have capped that growth at 3% but put on an election then if you wanted to exceed 3% there had to be an election. And then the last issue they were considering was a constitutional amendment that would cap the growth and assessed valuation. So this is part of trying to figure out whether we want to cap assessed valuation or whether we want to restrict how much local governments can increase their budgets. They've settled on this one. They sent it to the governor. It's a reasonably believed

019that she's going to veto it um and they'll have to that's one of the things they will try to reconcile when they come back next Thursday is do they want to try to override that or do we want to come up with or are they coming up with another idea right now frankly. Um there's a lot more detail on that. I'm happy to to discuss that but um lots of other things to to cover cuz I'm not sure we're going to have to live with this this bill for for for much longer. Um on the funding side of things I would note that the the budget that was approved has for example the CPI increase for K-12. It adds 6 million new dollars for special education and it cut 5 million out of the MH

020program, the mental health intervention team program that funds in a variety of school districts around the state. Um there were provisos meaning language in the budget that says you can't do this or you must do this that goes into the budget and it has among the requirements are we have to use the the new CDC immunization schedule, which is the shorter list. It was reduced down with the CDC in January came out with new recommendations and KDHE, who sets that policy in the state of Kansas, uses still the full list and this requires school districts and child care and all those folks to adhere to the new standards, which take seven of those immunizations off the list. There's some restrictions on the technicality side of student assessment. They don't like the change made to student

021assessment of scores a year ago, so that will change and they're taking the money away from the contract for the contractor that does that and the other component added in late in the session was the the the student walkout provision that I talked to you when when I came back last month. Um, if you allow, support, encourage truancy according to the definition of the bill, being out of class without parental consent, then that would invoke a financial penalty and the loss of that day as an instructional day. There's these are five provisos that are in the the education section of the budget bill. The governor has the ability to veto any and all of those in the line item veto. And when the legislature comes back, they can try to override those if they want,

022but that all of those survived the budget process. So, um, stuff that's gotten to the governor's desk, the cell phone bill, we've talked about that, the bill about multi-occupancy private space, we talked about that early on in the session. A couple of other things, the expansion of the state scholarship program for non-public schools, increases the the the size overall of that that tax credit here in the state from $10 million to $15 million and the maybe the more important thing that it does is it aligns the state and agrees to participate in the federal tax scholarship program that was part of the big bill that was passed last summer, that big budget bill that did everything. Also created a federal tax scholarship. So, that was passed, sent to the governor. Again, it's on the list

023of things that she might veto cuz they were short of the ability to override veto when the bill passed the the house. And so, that's one that's kind of on the list. There were they actually believe so much that the governor will veto that that they actually passed another bill on the last day of the session that only joins the federal tax scholarship program and it doesn't do increase the state one just in case she vetoes that then they want to have another one go there. The other one that I would note here is 23 2593 which requires the approval of the attorney general for any contingency fee litigation contracts that are undertaken by any local units of government, cities, counties, and school districts. It it passed last year. The governor vetoed it and they

024did not override it. It passed again this year with um basically the same number of votes and so, it's likely that she'll veto this again. Um I will move on to other things that have passed. Some of these are highly nerdy and technical and I'm happy to answer questions about them. There was an originally a bill that was going to require us to verify the free lunch status of every student in the district and that went away. And then there was another one that was going to allow ask us to verify the number of students that we had were in were in direct certification in federal programs and in the free and school lunch program. It ended up getting passed where only districts with over 50% of their kids could do this. And then you

025had to consider if you wanted to participate in this program where the federal government would come in and fund the lunch programs, but it was kind of a cost benefit cuz you lose at risk dollars cuz that's part of our formula. Um but but it was watered down a lot and the more challenging bill that would have required verifying every single kid and we testified against that did not go anywhere. There was another bill, a couple of policy bills here to note. One that the State Department of Ed will create a fit and all education program and that districts will have to secure supplies of naloxone. They give them away lots of places. So that's something that adds into it a requirement for the State Department of Ed to create a crisis drill including active

026shooter exercises and those kinds of things which everybody already has, but I guess there are some districts that don't. So it's going to now on the list for the State Department. And then a couple of other components. I'll skip on down the Couple of the other things. The blueprint for literacy was a reading program that passed I believe two years ago and it's been slowly being put together by the Department of Education and the Board of Regents and there's a special group set up. We're kind of getting closer to the point of implementing that and the bill establishes for this kind of joint effort to emphasize reading programs as to get a single statewide reading assessment that's used by everybody. Will require a reading specialist in every elementary school building and creates kind of an

027individualized literacy plan and all of those things as of yet are unfunded. So, that's that was passed and sent to the governor. And that will be dealt with as well. I I can't imagine it getting vetoed in particular, but it it lays out a lot of obligations that are coming that don't have any dollars connected to them. There's a new law that was passed having to do with not employees of the district, but uh volunteers and other folks that come on the campus and tying that into the the sexual misconduct on at the school and those kinds of things. And for youth in DCF and child welfare custody transferring schools as their placements transfer, the the requirement is to get records transferred within 3 days, which I understand is the federal law anyway, so we're

028just going along with that. Um I'll pause. This is kind of the bulk of the the legislation that went to the the governor. I can talk about the things that did not go there and the list is about five times as long, so um Ms. Steel. Thanks, Dr. Little for being here. Just a couple clarifying questions on the bill, I lost the number that deals with walkouts. And you said allow support encourages. Is that is that wording in the bill? Um it's the it's a provision in the budget bill and so it's the bill, I forget the budget bill number. Um but it is it it does have that's the language that's that's used in if any of these things are identified. Okay, so allow is one thing, support and encourage is another. And and

029isn't allow already covered by Supreme Court? Is anybody talking about when even if it's in proviso or or an actual bill that can't be vetoed for some of the things that rub up against what's already um case law? Is anybody there talking about that? >> Um there was lots of conversation about litigation in other states. And I think if this happens, I think this will happen here as well. Okay. And some of the the the precedents that are already out there that govern student free speech and those kind of things. Um this will be determined by your local district attorney or the attorney general of the state to make those determinations. And um I think there's I'm interested enough to make sure that this showed up in the budget bill that that may be a

030path they want to go down. But yeah, there were lots of folks in the conversation were bringing up, you know, we've got other standards and and cases that deal with that. Okay. Um as for 517 on the reading specialist >> Do you mind if I interrupt just briefly on the walkout bill? I was going to mention a thing about that. You know, I I think obviously there's differing opinions perhaps in some in Topeka about walkouts and legal ramifications and and those kinds of things. But one of the things we've tried to approach people with is just the practicality of it. You know, one of the things that the bill says is parental consent for students to walk out. And you know, many of you have seen our high schools that have 50, 60, 70 doors

031in and out of the schools. And it's also illegal for us to you know, stand in front of kids and not let them leave if they're demanding to do that. Obviously, we try very hard to keep kids within our control and and safety and things like that, but even outside of the parameters related to the bill, just the operational part of it is is really concerning to us as well because there is a world where, you know, certainly like we did with the walkouts we experienced where we would, you know, notify parents that that was going to happen, but in some cases we had several hundred students walk out and, you know, if you've been in a high school, just imagine saying to hundreds of kids in a high school, we're going to need y'all

032to line up right here and we're going to start calling your parents to see I mean, it would just be mayhem, you know, that kind of thing. And so, I I so appreciate your comments about that, but just in practical sense there's a lot of that bill that we're worried about as well just if we were thrust into the place that we had to manage it just from a practical standpoint in one of our buildings. I might add too, Dr. Yeager, just um you know, with regard to that our as our kids, our students are learning who they are and we're teaching them to be critical thinkers, not what or or how how to think, but teaching them to think. And um as they are processing their decisions, we've been clear that we have consequences

033in our student code of conduct and learning who you are sometimes might result in those consequences and and we've carried carried through with that. So, as a as a side statement. Okay, so um 517 with the reading specialist. Does the bill define what a reading specialist is? Yes, and it does have provisions in it and I I don't know if it's specific but the conversation about it was in particular in rural areas where rural school districts showed up. I know it's a problem for everybody, but for for them as well. So, the degree to which you might be able to share resources or do some of it virtual or those kind of thing. It acknowledges that that may happen, but I think the language does still say you need to have a a person in

034each building. And it and it I guess what I'm processing cuz I haven't read it and I apologize I have not done that, but compared to me a classroom teacher I would consider is a reading specialist. So, I didn't know if they define that by degrees that are held or certifications that are held. There's a structure and gauges. I'm sure there are other folks here that can describe the technical side of that. It's it's geared around a process. Is it a I'm looking to someone in HR? I make you reading specialist master's degree in just looking out the room, anybody? Yeah, okay. I see people going like this. So, thank you. Okay. And is there a date on that bill? I don't remember right now. >> Okay. I think it's not next school year, but

035the following school year. >> year, yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. That's right. And still want to find the the assessment tool. Yeah. And and I may just take team topic by topic. I'm sorry about that, but you know, we we have tremendous reading specialists in our district who do a great job. You know, unfortunately, we've never been in a position to put them in all of our buildings. We've prioritized things like MTSS and and what have you. And a lot of these things unfortunately sounds like it's, you know, when I'm speaking it's about money and those sorts of things. But should that remain an unfunded mandate, we would suspect that would cost our system somewhere between 1.7 to 2 million dollars to implement what what the law says in terms of um new staffing for

036our system. So, yet another mandate that would be at this time unfunded for us to support. Okay. Lastly, um I talked a little bit last month about the idea that I'm and I think this passed. I lost track of it. I don't know Dr. Yager if you know, but um new assessment came out and along with a new assessment in order for it to for it to be valid and reliable, it has its own cut scores. And they want us to use previous cut scores on a new test. And wouldn't that invalidate that test? >> Yes. Okay. Thank you. And they were they were told that, yes. Okay. That's all I have. Thank you. I I'll wrap up cuz I have no doubt that our friend Ms. Reagan probably has things she wants to speak

037about, but I'll leave that to you. Hi. Sorry. Go, Claire. >> Can you hear me? Yes. All right, everyone, sorry. I am under the weather and uh but I did not want to miss the meeting. So, um speaking of uh just the following the law, like when are we accountable for following the law and and you know, making sure we're following statute. That was asked a couple of different times in a couple of different ways. Uh Dr. Little, I am just curious. Why And this this might be your opinion or objection. Thank you. But the time that the law statute and when it was Ms. Reagan, we are losing you. I You're on mute. You're losing me? Yes. I don't care. Okay, hold on. Let me try to Okay, this is good. However, however you're

038positioned right now, yeah. Right now. Okay, so I switched to my computer. Okay, so I I'm curious, Dr. Little, if you heard the beginning of that. We as a district are beholden to these statutes and when they're enacted and all of that. Why is the legislature not beholden to the 92% that is in statute that they are supposed to be funding the excess investment in special ed? Well, and I I know this is the answer that um you heard from folks in the legislature who did not want to use the resources to fund at 92%. But in the same way that every contract or agreement that you have with vendors or people that says this is subject to us having the resources to do this, and that's the same thing that they say in the

039legislature is that subject to having the the the revenue, we uh are not going to fund it at that rate. Now, I understand that opens up well, we had revenue last in last fall through consensus caseload and those kinds of things. So, yeah, but it it is not unusual uh for the legislature to not do what they say they need to do sometimes. That's an interesting way of putting it because it says in a letter that our amazing superintendents here in Johnson County wrote to the legislature that the state has approximately $269 million in excess due to various factors, declining enrollment, all of that. And so, it's interesting they don't have to fund something when they say they don't have the funding to do it, but it's very clear they appropriated the funds last year

040for education and chose to not use them for education. So, that was more just a comment. Thank you for humoring me there, Dr. Little. Um I'm curious about, you know, the budget is an interesting animal because the governor can line-item veto from it versus, you know, there's she can it's not one fell swoop. Um and it's just a revisit a moment. how do you Do you have any theories or predictions on how you think the governor is going to hand the budget back to them? I would expect there to be line item vetoes, and lots of people have been engaged in conversations with her and her staff about vetoing various components of the budget. So, um the degree to which um um she wants to exercise that is we'll see. Right. Um so, I also

041is there no hope that she said she throws the baby out with the bathwater, and then they have to go back and make a new budget? So, legally, if there's no budget that gets uh passed by the legislature, then the exact same amount of funding that was provided for fiscal year 2026 is the same amount of appropriation that will exist for 2020 fiscal year 27. That's right. Wasn't that Was that put into law last year, if I'm remembering? Um I feel I I I feel like we've had that for a while. Yeah. Okay. Well, I was just curious the different choose your own adventure book we will be dealing with here. So, um Pardon me. Thank you for the information and for keeping us and our constituents here in LA informed. I appreciate you. Thank

042you. Any other questions, comments for Dr. Little? Ms. Johan. Thank you for everything, as always. Really appreciate you. Um I think just a point of clarification, I know it passed the cell phone bill um 2299. Um the storage is lined out of where they'll be for the students in this law, is it to be an accessible or is it, you know, I understand we have implications on how we're going to put that into effect in the next school year. And so, what do you have an interpretation on how that's supposed to be? Is it backpacks, is it lockers, or is it a alternative storage solution? There are some well-intentioned people saying a backpack is inaccessible, and that's not what the Okay. statute says. Okay. It's It says it needs to be an accessible, um, and

043um yeah. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. Dr. Yeggy. I was just going to add on to that with regard to the spell cell phone bill. A lot of the educational groups across Kansas are trying to figure that out right now. Um, you know, as Dr. Little indicated, we do think there's some well-intentioned people in the legislature who maybe didn't mean for the bill to be as restrictive as it as it's written right now, and I don't know what will change related to that, but um, we're kind of being told one thing and the statute says another right now, and so, um, that's part of the reason why we haven't said, "Here's the exact plan," because we would hate to, you know, spend money, time, and effort on something and then have a little bit more

044flexibility with the implementation of the cell phone bill. Um, we do know though since it's, you know, been signed by the legislature and the governor also that it will become law. So, we're we're waiting for good, um, guidance from, you know, State Department of Education and others about what that looks like, but I do know there's some high-level conversation happening right now, and where that turns out, I don't know, but it's but it's taking place, uh, right now. I did want to mention the special education piece just briefly as well. Obviously, that continues to be something that's very important to to really, I think, almost every single school district in the state of Kansas right now, but certainly you've seen us work as a Johnson County group to try to um, educate our community and

045you know, stick together in terms of the messaging to our elected officials in into Topeka. But, I do want to point out that the additional $6 million won't even keep us even with where we are this current school year. So, you know, the the $6 million, you know, once it's spread across the state with the increases that we're seeing in terms of students with special needs IEPs and then districts providing the you know, the staff to do that. What we've been told is that won't even keep us flat where we are this school year. So, while $6 million does sound like money going in the right direction, the reality is I think the number I heard was about $14 million would have needed to be in the budget bill just to keep us as a

046state flat for what we're doing currently this year. And so, you know, as we look at that and you know, it does sound like it's on the positive side when you think about an increase of $6 million, but I just want to be clear that that likely will add challenges for us here in Olathe even though we're not adding sped staff and sped services necessarily right now, the rest of the state is and that impacts our ability to have the solid amount of reimbursement as well. So, I just wanted to point that out. The other thing I wanted to mention really quickly is the 3% cap on assessed valuation growth. So, a lot of the conversation that I've been privy to in the last few days since this has been talked about and with Stewart's

047help we sent some message messaging to the governor and the delegation. I think today it was just today, which is great. I really appreciate that. But, you know, a lot of the conversation is about certainly districts bond dependencies across the state of Kansas paying back bonds that have already been sold, the ability to you know, issue new bonds for bonds that have been passed by our communities, but it also impacts things like our local option budget, which is, of course, the budget that we level levy locally that that you all support with you know, our our levy each and every year. And for a district like Olathe, that is general fund money that goes into supporting our our staff's salaries, benefits, all those kinds of things. So, the quick conversation often times goes to those

048bond dependencies and those sorts of things, but the reality is that cap could have implications across lots of different areas and and the funding mechanisms, the levers that John and Cassie and others are able to pull to you know, fund this this large school dis system. So, I wanted to point that out as well. Dr. Yeager, just a clarification. So, you indicated it would require $14 million in sped monies to just maintain. That would still require us to transfer out of the general fund >> Yeah. 40 plus million. >> so that's a statewide number. The 14 million just to maintain the current percentage, if you will, of excess cost for each district. So, even if they would have put an additional 14 million in, I don't know what we'll transfer this year. Last year we

049transferred 44 million. Next year I'm guessing this year is going to be a year or more than that. So, in order to keep that number flat, likely for us and other districts, it would have taken about $14 million. >> And so, with 6 million it's a guarantee we're going to be increasing >> We're we're probably going to increase our general fund transfer. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Anything else, board? Dr. Little, as always, thank you for your work and for the information. Our next presentation, Ms. Jennifer Kennedy, is going to present some information, uh, director of technology and advancement and training, um, AI and what's happening in the district. Thank you for being here this evening. Thank you for having me. Really excited to share Olathe strategy with AI over the last 3 years, really a

050progress report. Uh, before I get started, just to establish a little bit of credibility, education is a second career for me. I initially worked in the business world in marketing and accounting, and then I went back to school to become an educator. And my career with Olathe started in 2010. Started as a substitute teacher until I obtained a role as a middle school social studies teacher. Found a home over at Chisholm Trail Middle School teaching eighth grade social studies. I love being an educator. I loved using technology in my classroom. And in 2019, I eventually transitioned over to technology where I could pursue that passion. So, it's been a really exciting journey. Uh, really I started my career in technology just a few short months right before the pandemic started, so it was an interesting

051transition. So, and then we have AI. Wow. Uh, so that's just a little bit about me and my history. Uh, our philosophy on the use of AI in Olathe schools is empowering learning with AI and doing so responsibly. Quick overview of what we'll talk about today. We'll focus on what we're doing to empower educators with AI, how they can leverage AI uh, to reach their students, how we're protecting students in the world of AI, and then we'll talk about some ideas that we have and what's on our road map with regards to artificial intelligence. A few highlights. Uh, this is a very concise list. We've actually done quite a bit since November 30th, 2022. That is the advent of Chat GPT. Uh, AI detection was added to our Turnitin licensing in 2023, the spring of

0522023 in response to the emergence of Chat GPT. Turnitin licensing is set for high schools right now. And that was a contract that we already had. We just added the AI detection. In 20 the 23 24 school year, we quickly began with staff education on artificial intelligence while trying to wrap our heads around it ourselves. And that started with fall site council in 2023, really educating staff on what is AI, what are we doing about it, understanding that it's actually already a part of our daily lives. If you use Google Maps or Netflix or play Fortnite, it's already a part of your life. Uh, then we began our deep research and trying to understand the impact. It's been a short span of time, so it's hard to understand the impact with solid data, uh, but

053we're still doing that. In 2024, we began to block student access to Chat GPT due to age restrictions. And then in the spring of 24, myself and two other staff members from all eight of the schools participated in the KI state AI work group, Kansas state AI work group. The work with that work group stalled, and so we chose to move forward as a district and convened our own OPS AI work group as a result. And the purpose of that work group was to start looking at how to design guidelines and policies that were flexible to allow for the technology to change, but then also maintain policies that we felt would be unchanging over time, like maintaining data privacy and things like that. In 2024, we also blocked student access to Google Gemini due to

054age restrictions. That was actually imposed by Google. And we also developed our OPS AI toolkit. This is an internal resource. It provides our expanded guidelines that we developed, professional learning opportunities, details on tools that are open to OPS staff and students, and classroom resources. That's new. Uh classroom resources, so posters that display the student guidelines, how to cite AI, and um the AI assessment scale, which we'll see in a bit. We also continued with our professional learning, and then we drafted formal policies that were adopted last summer as part of the staff and student RUPs. And then this year, we published our formal guidelines separate from our policies. We intend for those to be flexible as the technology changes and evolves. We want to be able to um modify those as needed. We also promoted

055our AI integrity challenge. This is an interactive uh PD opportunity. We visited several schools during faculty meetings. It's a 30-minute discussion activity where we challenge participants to review a scenario and tell us how a guideline uh was adhered to or how it was violated. It's just a unique way to present the guidelines to staff and students rather than talking at them. And then we also created our classroom materials. So, those posters that are available on digital storefront. There are also digital copies that are available on our website. And most recently, we pulled Grammarly, the Grammarly extension, uh because it's become a little invasive and it's gone beyond our punctuation support and grammar support and starting to rewrite entire phrases of text and our young people are not equipped to discern the difference between their writing

056sometimes and what Grammarly has produced. So, we pulled that off and we are in the processing in the process of removing Google Lens. Uh it's advertised as a homework helper in the address bar, which is a little deceiving, but if you're not familiar with Google Lens on your cell phone or on a Chrome browser, you can grab a screenshot or a picture and ask it to get the answer for you. So, there are many layers to pulling that off and technical explanations that I couldn't offer, but I do know that it's very challenging it's proven very challenging to pull that off of student devices and we're working diligently to do that. So, that is the last 2 and 1/2 years, 3 and 1/2 years, sorry. Uh before I move on, I want to make a

057quick distinction between open access AI and tools that are approved for instructional use. I think when we hear artificial intelligence and education in the same sentence, we might start to think about students using ChatGPT. And we really should go beyond that and kind of define what AI looks like in a classroom. It's not just generative AI, but also AI-enabled tools that allow us to assess students faster, allow us to interact with students and provide monitored spaces for them as well. So, what we might call high-risk generative AI are tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and AI video generators. These are interactions that are between the user and the AI, and they're not monitored. All websites that are categorized as AI are automatically blocked for our students. If an educator submits a request for an AI tool

058that goes through our vetting process, then we allow that to to be open to students. But these are specifically blocked. And the reason for that is because they lack the guardrails in place to protect our students. They are not built for students. Teachers cannot uh keep a human in the loop perspective uh without, you know, physically walking around and um taking a look at screens. There are also safety concerns, so exposure to inappropriate content. There have been uh situations in which uh students or young people have utilized AI as AI chatbot friends and things like that. And those situations have have led to self-harm. So, we want to avoid that. Additionally, those free accounts are not COPPA or FERPA compliant. So, we want to ensure that our data is secure as well. The secure instructional

059AI, the tools that I mentioned on our screen, are currently approved. We have vetted those. And when I say approved, our security team has evaluated it for safety and security, and then we've checked it against a a rigorous and robust uh rubric to evaluate these tools. It does not mean that we pay for them. We don't pay for any of these. But those that staff and students can use are Curry Pod, Magic School, and School AI. Uh they are vetted and approved. Teachers must create the space. So, teachers must be involved, and they have a dashboard where they can see everything that's happening and how students are interacting with the AI. So, in this situation, it's not just the end user and the AI, it's the end user or the student, the AI, and the

060teacher. And the teacher must be involved to create those spaces. They inherently have those safety guardrails because they're built for students. And we also ensure that this data is secure uh by vetting that through our security team. Okay. So, ways that we are empowering our teachers, we have designed those guidelines for students and created resources that teachers can share in their classroom. Uh at the beginning of the school year, all staff received a copy of the infographic to the far right of your screen. It details our core principles, our guidelines for teachers and staff, and how to use AI effectively and responsibly, and then our guidelines for students and their responsible AI use. We also embedded those policies within the RUP. We actually have policies in the staff RUP and the student RUP. They're a

061slightly different, but they focus on ensuring that uh we're not plagiarizing AI-generated text, we're not using AI tools when they're not permitted, be honest about your work, cite your sources, and always always always keep your data safe. Never enter personally identifiable information into AI, and that includes your picture. Another resource that we have uh distributed to staff is something called the AI assessment scale. This is not original to Lowell Public Schools. Uh some research or some higher ed researchers have developed this. Initially, it was in terms of AI and literacy and they expanded its scope to include other content areas. It's kind of like a stoplight system, but it provides clear guidance for educators who want to innovate and want to try using AI in the classroom. They can give clear guidelines to their students

062as well. So, I can say today, "No AI. We're not doing anything with that." Well, there we go. Or I can use it as a collaborative partner and as educator, I can use the tools that are approved in our school district to allow students to do a little bit of planning or brainstorming with AI. All the way to AI exploration, which really assesses the learner's ability to leverage AI to solve unique and novel problems versus assessing the mastery of the content itself. Another way that we're empowering educators is by reviewing the AI enablement within our existing tools. So, all of our vendors are jumping on with AI and most of them are now allowing for educators to leverage the AI features to create content like lessons, things like that, question generators and whatnot. The example

063that you see here is question authoring that now exists in Canvas. So, that would be one example. Nearpod also has AI features for the teacher to use and the same with Seesaw as well. Another way that we are empowering our teachers is by leveraging Lightspeed Classroom to detect AI use. Really, we'll see the little sparkles that you see highlighted on the screen. If a student is attempting to access AI websites, however, as I mentioned a few moments ago, anything categorized as AI is blocked for students, but we can see them attempting to access it. And then how we're protecting our students. The print is very small. I apologize for that, but we have a very detailed rubric that we evaluate all AI tools with. So, our security team will check for data privacy. Uh and

064then we will start looking at cost-effectiveness and equity. Many of these tools are very expensive. Uh and it would be difficult to sustain over time due to those expenses. But then we also look at safety and security, ethical considerations, accessibility, educational value, pedagogical soundness, and usability and support. It's a weighted rubric, so we do prioritize uh the cost-effectiveness, safety and security, and those ethical considerations uh significantly over the other uh values. And then finally, our road map. None of these are set in stone, but some things that we are considering as we move forward into the next school year. AI compliance training for staff. We've learned that the private sector is is doing this, and we think we should follow suit. And it's something that uh we need to get ahead of our staff to

065ensure that everyone has some sort of awareness around AI. We're also considering an AI integrity pledge for students. Uh we will be developing OPS AI literacy lessons internally over the summer and making those available in the fall. We are considering parent education. Those uh resources are to be determined. We'll continue to review AI-powered technologies as new AI features emerge with our existing tools. And we'll conduct annual review of our policies, guidelines, and our evaluation rubric because the technology evolves so quickly. In terms of teacher empowerment, I'm really excited about the potential to develop our own lesson evaluator agent internally at Adelante Schools. And this is in alignment with the TNT TNTP framework in which teachers will potentially be able to submit their lesson plans and have it evaluated by a an agent that we have

066created against our knowledge base of resources to ensure academic rigor. And then finally, we'll continue with that professional learning on approved tools. Are there any questions? Board. Ms. Jordan. I I just want to say thank you. I didn't realize the timeline was so short that AI was been around and and now I I was just talking with a colleague today. I don't think I've received an email in a while that hasn't used AI to generate it. I I said, "I don't get any cringe emails anymore." and I kind of miss them. But but I just I think it's really neat how we can lean into it, um, for education and we can we can find ways to be innovative, um, for our students. So, I just more of a thank you than anything. Appreciate it.

067You're welcome. Thank you. Mr. Babb. Hi. Thanks for all the work I know you've been putting into this. So, what's the go forward plan? I like I love the rubric for being able to look at new tools. But obviously, as we know, this is changing daily. Right. So, what's the plan to be able to adapt as as the industry is and as our kids are, too, obviously? Right. I would say it's consumed about 90% of my life right now. Uh so, the plan for moving forward is really focusing on AI literacy and responsible use. It's making its way into the hands of our students. And so, we want to ensure that even though most generative AI tools are blocked on student devices, we want to ensure that they have that awareness that AI produces false

068results. Uh AI can be misused. We shouldn't be copying and pasting from AI, you know, and getting answers to our math homework. Uh so, a lot of that is that vigilance and constant research and awareness. But, I would also say that right now, we're not adopting AI. If educators are interested, we want to point them in the direction of the tools that are available and then the resources available to them. I've had two recent vendor calls, in fact, and I was on their technologies just 2 months ago and they had brand new features that they were able to show me this week that I had never seen. It's constantly changing and so, we have to constantly monitor it. But, I would also say that for staff who feel overwhelmed by that, it's not a requirement.

069Keep doing what you're doing. And if you have time, come see me about a basic prompt engineering session. You know, that I think that's one of our biggest needs is how can I save time in my day? I met with, if I may give an example really quickly. >> Please. So, two elementary schools asked me to come in and speak to them for a joint PD session on AI, which is interesting. I don't usually hear from elementary schools. Uh but, it also happened to be the same day of their sneak a peek. And I asked a group, we had a little bit of time left and I was just going over the AI integrity challenge with them. And I asked the group, what is one thing that you still need to do before this evening's

070sneak a peek? And one teacher gave me a really great example and they said, I still need to make my scavenger hunt for my classroom. And I said, great, let's do it now. And so, I demonstrated for them using Google Gemini. We would recommend using Google Gemini because when we're signed into our school accounts, that data is protected. But, what we did right then and there in about 2 minutes was we generated a classroom scavenger hunt based on where things were located in her classroom in the voice of Dr. Seuss. Super engaging, saved our a ton of time. And by the time that I let that group go, I think it was noon and so they didn't have a whole lot of time and probably bandwidth to to create that out of thin air. So,

071I would showcase examples like that for for teachers who are a little hesitant. But, to go back to your question, just that constant vigilance and education on my part and my team's part to stay ahead of the game. Can we use AI to vet all the AI for us? The rubric was AI assisted. Yeah, because you don't see a lot of those out there out on the internet, you know, to find those examples. And so, sometimes we need to use that collective brainpower. But, I would also add that it's critical to maintain that humans in the loop and I'm constantly verifying information. Is this in alignment? Having conversations with people to see is this is this something that would really work out for us? Yeah. Great. Thank you. You're welcome. So, Ms. Kennedy, the compliance

072training, will that be an annual expectation? Will it be at the building level, the district level? What are What is that plan? Right now, the thought is to include that in our annual compliance training along with the rest of the professional clients that we distribute every compliance that we distribute every year. Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. Anything else, board? Thank you for the information and your time. Thank you so much. I I just want to mention real quick how much I appreciate Ms. Kennedy coming tonight and and and sharing information with us. Um she's someone who I don't know that has been at a board meeting to speak before. It's been a little while and you did a great job, but um she really is such an important person in our system in terms of keeping

073the eye on technology, but the other thing I'm glad she shared her background, is she also has a background rooted in teaching in the classroom as well. And so, I didn't want to miss the opportunity just to quickly say she is such a conduit between technology and learning services and the work that we do collectively to support our teachers and and so much of that uh literally just sits right on her shoulders. So, thank you for doing all that. >> Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you so much. Ms. Steele. At each regular meeting, the Board of Education reserves limited time for individuals to address the board. We ask that your comments be germane, that is related to the business this board effectuates. Non-compliance may result in the president interrupting to redirect. We request that individual speakers

074limit their comments to 5 minutes. The clerk will monitor the time and notify the speaker when the 5-minute time limit has expired. Please direct your comments to the board and not the guests or staff. If a response is appropriate, the president will respond or refer to another individual. In an effort to respect privacy, we ask that speakers refrain from discussing personal complaints involving individual staff members or students. Audience disruption is also not permitted. Those speaking are advised that public comments are video-taped recorded for broadcast on the district's YouTube channel and audio-taped recorded as a matter of public record. Individuals addressing the board should come to the podium at the front of the room, state your name, city and state, and your relationship to the district. Thanks. Thank you. Our first uh speaker this evening is

075Angela Epps. Good evening. My name is Angela All Epps, and I reside in Lecompton, Kansas. I'm a proud product of Olathe schools and graduated from Olathe South. I'm also a retired educator having served all 32 of my career 32 years of my career in Olathe Public Schools. I was in the science classroom for 26 years and my final 6 years as the 21st Century Academy's coordinator. This district has truly shaped my life as a student, as a educator, and as a member of this community. I'm here tonight to recognize Julie Miller and thank her for her 38 years of service including 17 years as science coordinator K-12. Her leadership, along with George Creighton and Carol Williamson before her, has ensured strong teacher support, high-quality instruction, and real-world opportunities for students to pursue future careers in

076science. The strength of our science program today is a direct result of that district's of the district's long-term investment in leadership. I'm also here because I'm concerned about the decision to not replace the science coordinator. Science is a core content area and it is state assessed at grades 5, 8, and 11. But beyond testing, we are at a time when understanding topics like public health, artificial intelligence, and environmental science is more important than ever. Science fields are no longer separate. They are connected and increasingly shape the decisions we make every day. Our students are not preparing for the world we grew up in. They are preparing for a world where scientific understanding shapes everyday life and for careers that don't even exist yet. Science prepares students for high demand, high paying career pathways, and that

077kind of preparation requires strong leadership. In a district as large as Olathe's, this is an an essential investment in our students and our future workforce. I was encouraged to see the district plans to replace the fine arts coordinator. Martha Gable dedicated 20 years to that role, providing excellence, leadership, and support across the district. Fine arts are an important investment in a well-rounded education. However, it raises the question of why science, a core and state assessed subject, would not receive the same level of investment and leadership. The science coordinator plays a critical role ensuring teachers have materials, advocating for science education, supporting enrichment opportunities beyond the school day, and ensuring labs K through 12 are equipped and safe. Distributing these responsibilities among multiple people reduces consistency, support for teachers, and our ability to prepare students for

078future opportunities. The coordinator's responsibilities directly impact the quality of learning and represent an important investment in our classrooms. I recognize our district, like many across Kansas, faces funding challenges that require difficult decisions. I am not sure our whole community fully understands these decisions are tied to inadequate funding from the state legislature. While I understand those constraints, how we prioritize within those constraints still reflects our values. Choosing not to replace this role sends a message about what we believe is essential for our students. We all know the legislature should fully fund Kansas public schools, including special education, which is essential to providing support and quality education all students deserve. Olathe reminds us that their future is our future. As a community, we all play a role in supporting children's growth and learning. However, our public schools

079are where every student must be guaranteed access to strong instruction in the core subjects: language arts, math, social studies, and science. When I was a student in this district, it was my teachers, Mary Viewer and Keith Barnes, who inspired me to become a science teacher, and they still influence me today. Every student deserves that kind of opportunity to be inspired, to be challenged, and to see themselves in a future where they might not yet imagine. That kind of inspiration grows from classrooms where teachers are supported, and where there is continued investment in science education. Preparing students for high-demand, high-paying career pathways. Their future depends on what we choose to prioritize today. And science education, supported by strong leadership, must remain one of those priorities for our future. I respectfully ask the board to reconsider this

080decision and restore the science coordinator position to sustain Olathe's investment. Thank you for your time and your continued support and commitment to the Olathe schools. Thank you. Thank you. Karen Bishop. My name is Karen Bishop. I am the librarian at Mission Trail Middle School and my three kids all went through Olathe. They had great times at Olathe West, Olathe Northwest, Mission Trail, and Fairview with a new to the district principal named Brian Hager. Hope it goes. Um I've gotten to speak to this board a couple of times and usually it's for kind of fun things. Um I love to talk about the dedication to performing arts. I've invited you guys to the Trail Challenge selection party. It's April 28th, by the way. You're totally invited. Uh but tonight is less fun. I'm here tonight out

081of concern for the proposed changes to the district retirement plans. I'm speaking of VERP and especially the conversion of accrued illness and bereavement leaves to an HSA account. Although there are many reasons that I think that discontinuing these policies is wrong, my main concern is that the sudden discontinuation affects the teachers, dedicated career educators, and at a time when it is too late for us to anything about it. We have worked for literal decades and with the understanding that our sacrifices would be recognized and financially rewarded at the end of our careers. We did the work. We came in when we were sick. We did not take vacations in the middle of the year. We missed family milestones. We committed to serving our students above our needs and our desires. We did this for years

082and for years and for years the district told us that this would be worth it. Now you threaten to retract that promise as your part of the bargain. I am definitely concerned about discontinuing VERP, but that is something that can be adjusted to. If that goes away, I'm just going to work another couple of years. Much more concerning though is the threat of losing the ability to convert our unused sick days into an HSA account. Paid time off is not a gift or a favor. It is a negotiated part of our compensation package and is contractually obligated by the district. And I want to repeat that part. Our paid time off is not a gift and it's not a favor. It is negotiated part of our compensation package. It's contractually obligated by the district. Education

083has never lived under the corporate mindset of use it or lose it time off. We've been limited in what time we're allowed to take off, when, and how many days in a row. Until recently, we didn't have a chance to be reimbursed for most of our unused days. And the district has always asked us to value our students' educational needs, to be in the classroom, and that our reward would come at retirement. Had we known all along that our accrued sick days would just vanish at the end of our careers, we would have taken more time off. If this policy disappears, many of us will be faced with a choice of either to burn through hundreds of sick days, two at a time, or most likely, we will continue to place our students' educational needs

084above our own, and we'll just have another all of our accrued days will be another sacrifice that we've made to education. It's too late for us to change, but apparently, it's not too late for the district to change. I'd like to remind you that the people who will be most affected by these changes are the very ones who grew this district. We rolled with changes in pedagogical emphases, curricula, teaching materials. We endured recessions, hiring freezes, years without salary movement, two major salary structure schedule revisions, and those resulting bands, which drove everybody crazy. We increased our workload when the district laid off library clerks and kindergarten aides, we uh subject coordinators, and even administrative assistants. We kept our buildings stable through a global pandemic. Your career educators did that. Many of us have seen five or

085even six superintendents. We have broken in dozens of administrators. We opened new buildings, and we're being asked now to close new buildings. And that's the sad part, because the cynical part of me feels like the district is taking advantage of this right-sizing moment to go back on its word for the career educators. And um you're not worried about a teacher shortage anymore, are you? In fact, you need us older educators to move along in order to close the buildings, to consolidate staffs, and to decrease payroll. We understand that. But, how sad that you might be seeing us so coldly and callously and so dismissively. Teachers have always endured the general public's disrespect for our careers, knowing that we might not make a lot of money, but we definitely make a difference. For our very own

086district now to change course and show us the same disrespect is so painful. Do not dishonor your career educators by changing the rules in our 11th hour. Thank you. Carrie Van Buskirk. Good evening. Carrie Van Buskirk, Ben's mom, and coming a late this South senior who died on July 27th, 2024. As we enter into this graduation season, I am pleading that you revise board policy JP to include reading the deceased names of graduates allowed during the ceremony at the very least. I'd like to share an excerpt from my grief journal in an effort to describe how much that meant to me. This is a letter to Ben. Hey, I got through another first. It may sound like I'm merely surviving these events and simply pushing through each one, and perhaps I am. I'm honestly not

087sure yet. I think that clarity will come in time. For an extroverted person, I've suddenly become a quiet observer of others' lives and watch life move on without you, only in my heart and present within me, yet absent in each one of these moments. Oddly, your essence is often felt and even seen through the lives of others. Your graduation ceremony served as a reminder that life goes on without us and is worthy of celebration, but is also a time for quiet reflection, raw emotion, and outward expression. I wasn't really sure how I would feel sitting there upon those hard and uncomfortable bleachers for hours waiting for those few seconds set aside for your name call along with your classmates. I don't even know how I can find the right words. The stadium was full, full

088of 497 classmates, their loved ones, administrators and staff with you in their hearts, but also bursting with excitement and pride for numerous others. Like a mother of so many of your close friends, I cheered each and every one of them on with exuberance. One by one, I heard and saw and felt your childhood pass across that stage. Your baseball teammates or soccer team, your one year football teammates, your first kiss, your many late night gaming sessions, the broken arms, your dates, and even those first house parties. Like a movie reel, the moments played in my mind as I heard each and every one of their names. Interestingly, the entire time that we anticipated your name being called and your image displayed, pink skies formed all around us and slowly storm circles storm circled the stadium.

089Almost immediately upon hearing your name, the storm began to appear and the rain fell. I rushed out into the field to love on some of your close friends, the very classmates that fought so hard to hear your name and see your image. Forever a Falcon, forever their classmate and friend. I desperately needed to chase your light in the midst of the storm within my own heart. I can always feel your warmth and your light within the hugs of your friends. Abem is always radiates brotherly love for you and he lifts my soul. Miss O was frantically picking up tossed grad hats and empty diploma sleeves, knowing that many excited and impulsive graduates would want them later. We shared a Ben-filled embrace. She too was elated to see your face and hear your name. No words

090were really said. We knew what we were both feeling. Oh, how we miss you, Ben. Mom after mom found me on that field and celebrated your name being said and your image displayed. Their hearts empathized with my pain, and I could see the pain in their eyes, but the words just weren't found, and that's okay. Love doesn't always need to have words. As those clouds rolled in, I felt the void. I can't lie. I saw a surfacing rage that I feel at times when I think of all that was lost and thrown a football field across the pavement, the fatal early morning that you died. Oh, but to have seen your beautiful face on that Jumbotron and to hear your name was a reminder that you lived. You packed so much life in those 17

091years, 4 months, and 11 days. The storm storm did come for a brief moment, but was completely washed away with exhilaration and joy felt along with your classmates. They overcame so much. Miss O and I shared that you were probably laughing at that very moment, literally laughing in tears as we were scattering from the storm, but I didn't. I allowed myself that moment and felt every drop as though they were your tears of laughter and my tears of longing. Dad stayed home. He couldn't do it. He couldn't honor your memory with everyone else, and that's okay. He's a private guy. Your theme was stay golden, and what I'm asking for you all is to stay golden, Olathe. Get back up. Set the bar high. Say the names of deceased grads during the ceremony at the

092very least. Thank you. Thank you. Rachel Pratt Good evening all. My name is Rachel Pratt. I'm a single sole parent to five children enrolled in the Olathe School District with one of them graduating in May. A wise woman once told me there was power in the pause. Too often we speak without listening or quick to react without pause and disregard the plea for understanding. I followed the advice of the wise. I paused. I observed. I asked hard questions. I attended meetings filled with an abundance of information. What I have yet to hear is effort, consideration, understanding, or at minimum a willingness to collaborate for an area of concern that has already been identified by staff, administration, and leadership at the district level. I attended board meetings where the new e-sports facility was the highlight. Schools

093were highlighted. Funds were discussed. Legal jargon is presented and etc. I want to feel the same excitement for the kickoff of an e-sports facility where energy, effort, and understanding created a space for inclusion for our community of gamers. I want to celebrate the elite athletes and honor choir competitors who receive funds to travel to other states and win. However, I am having a hard time celebrating these very things that are being funded and created because one particular concern continues to get pushed further to the bottom of a dusty pile. Right now in the Olathe School District, we have students who are autistic and or mildly intellectually disabled and have some strong splinter skills in their academics. The ongoing problem is this. The students in this gap are not are too smart for CBR, not unregulated

094enough to qualify for SER, and are three to five academic grade levels before their gen ed below their gen ed typical peers due to their complex learning profiles, full scale IQs in the high 60s and low 70s, and their need for regulation supports to perform academic demands. An inclusive learning environment is not placing SER kids at the back of a classroom because they might have a behavior. An inclusive environment is not isolating our CBR kids to one lunch table off to the far side of a lunch room. An inclusion does not consist of simply warehousing children in gen ed to make it appear as though they are included. The reality and problem is the district simply does not have a learning environment for kids like the Kensleys of the world. Warehousing students that remain stuck

095in this gap of learners is not inclusive, nor does it provide a faith. Creating an inclusive learning environment that is tailored for our high-functioning autistic learners and are also mildly intellectually disabled has been ignored by the district for years and today remains unresolved, ignored, and dismissed. The request to create a classroom tailored towards our students that are stuck in the gap is not impossible or unreasonable. I sat in a board meeting as leadership expressed their excitement while kicking off their new found facility. I wish there was an ounce of enthusiasm, excitement, effort, and grit put forth towards our students that don't have a classroom to bridge the never-ending gap that remains ignored. Stop ignoring our students in the gap and collaborate with us to build this a unique environment together. If you build it, you

096will come is an iconic phrase from the movie Field of Dreams and shares a strong principle for the need of this unique classroom. Where in the Olathe School District can our disabled students, who are in seventh grade with IQs of 65 to 70, but are on overall academic levels of second grade math and third grade reading comprehension, access FAPE in an inclusive classroom that provides specially designed instruction to them at their present levels and meets their required modifications and accommodations to their curriculum? This is the experience for the kids that fall in the gap. Where do they belong? Where do they fit in? And where can they access FAPE in the same capacity with their typical peers, their peers with profound autism, and our CBR students? It is time to bridge the gap. Thank you.

097Kinsley Pratt And Ms. Pratt, we are adding an extra minute, so you have 6 minutes to speak today this evening. Hi, my name is Kinsley and I live in Olathe. I'm in sixth grade and I go to California Trail Middle School. I'm here to talk about what inclusion means to me as a student with special needs and a very unique way to learn. I'm autistic and mildly IDD. Recently, I experienced sharing para support with another student with problem The problem is not having to share a para, but it is a big problem when I share a para and I have to leave my genetic classroom because my para is unregulated. This makes me feel like I can't be taught anything in my classroom because I have to leave in the same middle of class when

098my shared para has to leave with my peer. Some of us have unique skills for learning, which means we can learn, but we need a lot of support. Gen Ed class can be too much for us because there are a lot of students being taught really fast. At the same time, work in CBR may not be on our levels and some of us may not need SCR classrooms because we learned how to use our resources. The big problem I have right now is you don't have a classroom for kids like me and that sucks. During lunch, I have to sit with my CBR friends, but we sit at a separate table away from students that are not in my same grade. That means our peers in Gen Ed do not get to hang out with

099the cool kids. Isolating us to one table is not inclusion. I also don't like sitting in the back of classrooms and want to sit next to other student peers. Peer one's support and friendships are important to me. My question to all of you is where do kids like me belong? If it is not CBR, is not SCR, and is not Gen Ed. Can you help my school be the first school in middle school in the Olathe district create a special learning environment for kids like me? I want to learn at my academic level. I want to make friends with everyone. I want to eat lunch with everyone and I need your help to help all kids like me. Can you be part of the change so we can finally have a place to learn and

100belong? Thank you. Thank you. Our last speaker this evening is Rhonda Rice. Hi. My name is Rhonda Rice. Um I'm retired last May from teaching for 37 years and I loved every minute of it. Um and served 23 years as Olathe North's uh um uh department chair. Um, I am here in support of just like Angela Epps was speaking about the science coordinator position. Um, and I just wanted to let the board know science has been one of the four big core core I think everything in a school is core, but the four big core um English, math, my language arts, math, social studies, and science. Um, and I've even had some I've even had some assistant principals not know this information I'm going to tell you, which is when you go to hire a

101science teacher at a high school, you need to hire somebody with a biology certification if they're teaching biology. They have to have a physics certification if they're teaching physics, chemistry for chemistry. So, this is a different problem in the when you're trying to make a master schedule. You can't just have an English teacher or a math teacher pick up an algebra two even though they've got a calc class. It is a nightmare. Now, to say that, that causes and we have seen it in all of our high schools in the last 5 years, we cannot hire a science teacher with the right certification. So, they get provisional things. There's a number of ways we can handle that, okay? But, it's not optimal, okay? A science coordinator and we are so lucky in this district that

102in the late 1980s when and yes, I was teaching here then. Um we needed somebody that could be a coordinator to bring the people together, all those teachers of different disciplines. It is common to have some physics teacher say, "Wait a minute, I can't answer this. I need a biologist." Or vice versa. And so, we're very fractured. Now, I'm not speaking about the elementary kids because frankly, other than doing science shows for them, I don't know anything about teaching elementary kids. So, I'll keep my mouth shut. But, for high school, you need somebody that's super well-trained, okay? In their discipline. And if you can't have somebody, then you have a permanent sub. This is a problem. So, hey, let's just go get new recruits from a university. Well, that's all great if there are any

103graduates. I talked to Kansas State today. They have two chemistry teachers coming, one physics teacher, two earth science teachers, and one general science. That's it for the whole university. When I called KU, they said, "We don't have exact numbers easily to give you, but it is similar." Those are all our science teachers that are coming, people. Now, how do we handle this, okay? First, if we have a coordinator, that is a number one big job, because the other issue that we have, in a science classroom, we have safety issues that are akin to running a table saw in industrial arts. And there is no training when you show up as a new teacher for chemical safety, hazard storeroom safety. We don't have to run by all the OSHA guidelines. This is a tragedy waiting to

104happen, and a science coordinator, a coordinator, is somebody that knows who's at each high school, and they can get people to work together to do that training and oversee it. If this job passes on as an additional job on top of a very great colleague that I had for years, Julie Fishburn, she is fantastically wonderful, but this is a full-time job. Recruiting, mentoring, safety. It is so bad that districts that don't have these positions are now going to companies to try to get somebody to come in and train their science teachers. I was just hired and was in a meeting today hired by Flint Scientific to travel around the country and do the job of a district science coordinator for hire. It's $5,000 for 3 hours of training if I walk in. A science coordinator

105can share the information between buildings. They can make the phone call to a high school. They know all the people and then I can get supplies to a middle school and they don't have to buy them. They don't have to inventory them. We with a coordinator like Julie Miller, Carol Williamson before her and Craig Clayton before that. That is somebody that doesn't have to do all the work, but is the coordinator. So, please, I know we have to cut funding. I know I mean the funding's been cut. I know that. But, please consider maybe not a secretary for that person, but maybe the position. Thanks. Thank you. Board, we move to the action consent area of our agenda this evening. Is there a motion for approval? Item 6.01 to 6.26. I move to approve action

106consent 6.01 to 6.26 as presented. Second. Motion by Ms. Johan, second by Mr. Kuhn. Mrs. Steel. Yes. Mrs. Reagan. Yes. Mrs. Johan. Yes. Dr. Yurkovich. >> Yes. Mr. Babbitt. Yes. Mr. Kuehn? Yes. Motion passes 6-0. Action bids, contracts, agreements, items 7.01 to 7.06. I move to approve item 7.01 to 7.06 as presented. Second. Motion by Mr. Babbitt, second by Mrs. Steel. Mrs. Reagan? Yes. Mr. Kuehn? Yes. Mr. Babbitt? Yes. Dr. Yerkovich? Yes. Mrs. Steel? Yes. Mrs. Johann? Yes. Motion passes 6-0. Action other item 8.01, student fees and miscellaneous charges. I think Mr. Hutchinson was going to make some comments related to that before we vote. Good evening. I I know there have been some several questions about our proposed fees for the coming year. As we do every year in April, we bring forward any

107necessary adjustments in our student fees just to try to recap our main fees. The first one is instructional material fees and in the state of Kansas, instructional material fees go towards funding textbooks and consumables around those textbooks such as workbooks. The the textbook fund is where these this fee goes. It does not cover the full cost of textbooks or textbook licenses. The general fund and the capital outlay fund have to help subsidize this, but we do try to do keep pace with inflation and do a nominal increase in that fee each year. Another major um, fee that we have is our, um, pure model in our early childhood program. Uh, we we have peers who do not receive funding that who are like one-to-one with a student who, uh, does receive special education at-risk funding.

108And that that's what establishes that fee in order, um, to help pay, uh, for that student. Uh, I know there, uh, we also analyze our facility rental fees every year. And, uh, one of the things about facility rental is you'd think you could just charge whatever you want for facilities. We can't. They're actually uh, they're they're built with public funds through our bonds. And so we have to make them available so we can recoup our cost of operations. And we did adjust them slightly last year, but in looking again this year, we are covering our cost. Uh, you can also get into some trouble with if you were to overcharge too much, the IRS will say, "You're no longer running an educational program. You're now doing a facility rental and you need to, uh, be

109taxed on that. You'd have to set up a separate entity." I know that sounds like an extreme, but that's why it's more of a reimbursement model on facility rental. And at this point, um, we are we are breaking even on on those costs. Uh, I I think that would be the major points, but I'd be happy to answer any questions. Just briefly, working with families. Oh, absolutely. Uh, just just a point of, um, our instructional material fees, we actually if you qualify for free or reduced lunch, they they're reduced, um, by, uh, 50%. Uh, uh, and if if you still have a, um, some sort of complication in your family where you just can't afford it, we can work out plans on an individual basis. Uh, and actually as as we conduct registration and the

110fees are paid, it really doesn't um make you pay everything at once. Uh you will receive a statement later on if you don't pay the full fee, but uh it it doesn't block anybody from trying to register for for school. Um transportation, if you are eligible for uh uh free or reduced lunch, um all the the transportation fee is waived as well. That was another major fee I did I I'm sorry I didn't uh mention that one is is um uh for our pay rider program. Uh we established a a fee there. And um any like I said, anybody uh facing a hardship, uh we work with those families. Any other questions? >> Miss Steel. Thank you for mentioning that. I appreciate it. I'm sensitive to um you know, the the climate that our families

111are facing, all of us are. I remember the year, several years in a row, that our family had four kids to enroll, and it's it's it's a big number. Um I'm thankful to know that there are opportunities for those conversations, and I'm guessing if I'm sitting at home, you know, wondering about the fees, or in July or June when we enroll, and I'm realizing the number, is my step to continue enrollment, but then reach out to my principal, whom we have have They are trained, and this is their sweet spot of curating cultures and relationships with their families. That's exactly the process, and then we rely on those principals to to work with us and and tell us about those hardships. So, not a single student is denied No. an education based on paying the

112fees or not paying the fees. Okay. Um I had one more question about that. Um it's escaped me. I know it's only 25 cents for lunch and what, $5 for the fee, but you know, year-over-year, I think it's good that we spend time talking about this. Oh, I know what my question was. It's perfect for you. Um, this is operational and will not come out of bond dollars. We just passed a bond, but that there's not a crossover. >> Oh, correct. Okay. Can you speak to that just a minute? >> Bond dollars can't be used for any to help subsidize any of these things. They they have to go towards more I'll say bricks and mortar construction type items. Um, it it if if we don't have enough fees to cover something, it's basically the

113general fund is what supports those items. In food service, it would be uh, they will not receive enough federal funding uh uh that in in order to stay um liquid so to speak or in the black, they they have to adjust that fee based on what they are told their reimbursement rate's going to be from the state and federal government. Okay. Thank you for mentioning that. I know there's some confusion and we are very thankful that our community passed the bond and maybe it looked like um we did that and now you're asking us to pay higher fees and and they're totally separate and we don't get to decide that. >> It's the tough It's the tough communication that it's not one bucket of money. You know, you're tired of me talking about buckets, but

114the perception is that you have all this money just take care of these things, but there's 32 buckets with all kinds of restrictions on what you can do with them. Thank you for addressing that. Ms. Johan. Thank you. Um, I'm trying to remember because I feel like we had this conversation last year on this time about the online um service charge. Is there a way that families can not have to do that? There. Is that right? >> Can you comment on that one? Yeah. Um so we do offer the option still to pay with cash or check to the cafeterias. So they don't need to pay online. We can't waive the the fee if they do go through the process. >> Okay. Thank Um Ms. Reagan has a question, I believe. >> Yes, ma'am. Hi

115Mr. Hutchinson. Can everyone hear me? Yes. >> Yes. Great. Um I just I really appreciate the the work you've done to help educate all of us on the board, but also in the community about the different buckets of money. Um the one bucket that I keep hearing come up though is that general fund. And it is doing a lot of work. And you know, we are transferring money from it to cover that special education uh reimbursement shortfall from the legislature. And then I'm also hearing you say that you know, what we are not passing on to our district patrons um in instructional fees are also then coming out of the general fund. And I guess I'm this is less a question, Mr. Hutchinson, as my comments during your portion typically are. I am just wanting

116to point out that everything is connected. Sometimes it's like a crazy string that's through you know, all these different ways. It's not a smooth connection, but making sure that we understand that those purse strings in Topeka reverberates into different areas. And while some things not a direct we can't take from Peter to pay Paul. Um that general fund is doing a lot of work for us. It and and when the legislature does not support our needs in the area of special education. That general fund that we have to pull from for so many things is spread very thin. Isn't that right, Mr. Hutchinson? That's correct. Thank you, Mr. Reagan. Thank you, Mr. Reagan. Mr. Babbitt. So, could you just go over I I know if this was not approved essentially, does that mean that all

117this money we whatever additional we would be raising would come out of the capital fund? That's correct. Uh some on the textbooks with the licenses, some of it may come out of the capital outlay fund, but mostly it's the general fund that gets impacted by these. Food service, it would be food service fund, which is fairly lean. Uh there were years where we were able to absorb that cuz they had a a balance, but it's been declining over time as we've held those costs down. So, looking at the 5-year look back, it looks like we're essentially paying for keeping it flat for a while Yes. because some of these are jumping by 20 25%. On the um the on the peer I if peer had a fairly large increase uh it hasn't had a substantial

118increase in a little while. Um Right. And uh competitively as you look around at the other districts we uh we felt there was uh a fair amount to increase it. Uh similarly on the transportation, that's driven by the cost of the of the routes and and as you as you said, to kind of keep pace, these are the recommendations. So, so how is it decided what's raised and what's not? Is it just going against our peers to see how we're below or above? Correct. One thing I would just mention as a quick side note, you may remember and this was part of just the conversation around fees last year. Last year I think the initial recommendation for transportation was 350. And because we didn't and I can't remember where it was before 290 something like

119that. I'm going to use loose numbers that might you have in front of you. And so we had talked last year about going from 290 to 350 but you know, we we stepped back and said, you know, we know we're going to obviously incur some additional expense on our community. So part of it is also us knowing kind of where that benchmark is and trying not to do it all at one time but stair-step over a couple of years. Transportation's a a good example of that cuz I think on the recommendation we're still not to that 350 yet. We're at 340 I think. 340. >> And and still the lowest in Johnson County. So as our our team works on on these, you know, we also try to be cognizant of where we need to

120be but also try to stair-step it so it's not maybe as abrasive in some ways but knowing we're impacting our families. To to that note, are there ones that this year we're not going up high enough that we should expect future impacts from beyond this year? It's it's sort of a trade-off. How far can you go? I I'll use the transportation as an example. Shawnee Mission's at $370, Blue Valley's at 410, we're at 315. So yes, there's room but what's the tolerance? Every dollar would help but we also recognize families are under tremendous strain to do this if you have three children, four children. So um obviously we'll monitor that and and see if if we can increase it or not next year. I I I would add one other piece. I mean, you know,

121like the instructional material fee is a fee we're allowed to assess as a school district with our families but there's never been a place in our history where we collect enough in our instructional materials fees to accommodate our instructional material needs as a system. Um if that was the intent, I mean, we'd probably double or triple what we're asking for. Um you know, that that kind of thing right now. So, I say that to say there will always be some pressure on the general fund to make sure that our teachers and our kids have the materials that they need in front of them. And it really is just the dance of what's palatable to our board and our public and I mean, you know, trying to also make sure we have those great resources in

122front of our kids and you know, for our staff to use every day. So. In the old days, you would delay a textbook adoption by a year just to try to string it out. Now, they'll turn off the license. You don't have that luxury of waiting. Mr. Reagan, did you have another question? So, um I I'm we're going to be making a motion when this discussion is over, if I understand it. And so, I just want to point out that in the last previous years, you know, we've made $10 increases in fees. And this year, it is a $5 increase, which is less. Um I do appreciate, and I as a parent in the district, I feel that as well. I know many of us here on the board feel that. Um but, I did

123appreciate what Mr. Hutchinson said about you know, if the fees are not recouped at the time of registration, you still get to register your child. And I want to make sure that our community knows that it's clear. We always do what we can to work with families. And you know, knowing that our family will be impacted by these, you know, slight, but still significant raises in fees, that I plan to support it knowing that um we need to reaffirm just making sure our families know that we will do what we can and this will not be a barrier to registration in the district this summer. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kuhn. Can you remind me I can't remember if we talked about it last year when we started charging the families the the fee for

124using the online service to pay for lunches? I don't know if the right term is how much do we save? I know it's not how much do we make but how much did we keep from spending out of our general fund for paying the credit card fees by transferring it over to the parents? Do you guys have any idea? Rough estimate. I want to say it was around like $200,000 a year and that actually for the meals comes out of our food service fund. Yeah. >> Board, any other questions before we make a motion and vote. Mr. Hutcheson, thank you for the background information. Very helpful. Very helpful. Is there a motion? I move to approve student fees and miscellaneous charges for the 2026-2027 school year. Second. Motion by Ms. Johann, second by Ms. Reagan.

125Mrs. Johann. Yes. Mr. Babbitt. Yes. Mr. Kuhn. No. Dr. Yurkovich. Yes. Mrs. Steele. Yes. Mrs. Reagan. Yes. Motion passes 5-1. Item 8.02, the staff recommendations of school capacity for open enrollment. Dr. Waters, thank you for all of that information. Um and as was clarified in that in those details, this meets a legislative requirement as well to make these decisions. Board, are there any questions or clarification related to that before um we make a motion and move. Okay, I would welcome a motion 8.02. I move to approve staff recommendation of school capacity for open enrollment as required by Kansas statute. Second. Motion by Ms. Steel, second by Mr. Kuehn. Dr. Yergovich? >> Yes. Mrs. Steel? Yes. Mr. Babbitt? Yes. Mr. Kuehn? Yes. Mrs. Reagan? Yes. Mrs. Johann? Yes. Motion passes 6-0. Item 8.03, the approval of

126bond resolutions and I believe Mr. Avery is here along with John Hutchinson. Thank you for being here. >> Yes, thank you very much. Just introduce Dustin Avery. He's the managing director and co-head of public finance for Piper Sandler. Who they serve as our bond advisor. More importantly, he's an Olathe dad. He's had several kids go through our system and still have one more to go, I think. So and he will not toot his own horn, but I just have to say that through his leadership on our plan of finance over the years, we have saved millions of dollars in his monitoring and structuring of our bond sales. So I'd just like to I'll him for all his work over the years and turn it over to him to explain what is sitting before you this

127evening and what it means and what the next steps will be. Thanks John. Good to be here in front of you all all of you this evening and I see a lot of my kids principals here in the front row. Nice to see all of them. Um really I'll be fairly brief here. Obviously there's a lot of moving pieces to the plan finance just as a as a refresher I think that the primary objective of our plan of finance is to make sure we deliver on the mill levy commitment communicated to voters through this bond election that was approved last month but again it's been the same objective that the district and the same commitment the district has made for all of the elections here over the last decade plus. Um and if you can

128think about it the financial plan there's a very large spreadsheet and and you think about the current mill levy that's being levied in the bond interest fund that levy is a committed mill levy to not only pay the existing bonds of the school district but also any future bonds that are issued as well including the 389 million again that was approved last month. From a issuance perspective again there's a lot of projects being covered with the 389 million. Really the timing of the issuance will be split up over multiple years. The exact timing will ultimately depend on the timing of when the projects will actually be completed but also there's some factors relative to interest rates and mill levy constraints that will be focused on as well. Um based upon the projects the district is

129considering currently the proposal is to to issue 150 million of the 389 million dollars with this issuance. We would expect the 150 million to be used for a number of projects that will be spent over the next two and two to three years. Um as with every other election the district has approved the the bond financings have been financed over 20 year term and uh as a refresher the district's been actually very aggressive with the repayment of bonds under state law, Kansas school districts can issue bonds for a maximum of 30 years. So, uh I would tell you just um generally speaking, if you compare the school district to others in the state, um the term of repayments uh much more aggressive than probably probably overall average in the state of Kansas. Um a couple

130objectives, obviously we're not spending all $150 million at one time, and so we'll be working with the district on an investment plan to make sure we're maximizing the dollars available for the construction of the projects. And again, just as a reminder, any investment earnings that are generated from investing the 150 million have to be used for one of two purposes. Number one is um um used for projects um that were approved by voters in in the ballot question, or number two, transferred to the bond and interest fund and used for principal and interest payments. I appreciate the question and still on the buckets in in John's comment as well. I'll just reiterate that again, bond dollars can only be used for for bond-eligible projects that were approved by voters. The dollars levied and collected in

131the bond and interest fund can only be used for principal and interest payments. Those dollars can't be used for operations, nor can operations be transferred into the bond and interest fund and used for uh principal and interest payments. So, very I love the bucket analogy. I think it's very very appropriate, and just just uh want to provide that clarification. Um In addition to the new money issuance, again we continue to monitor refinancing opportunities. There are a couple There's a couple opportunities we're looking at currently. Uh number one is the refinancing of the 2022 B bonds. Again, every refinancing that we're doing we're looking to get to to do one of two things. Number one, save interest cost, or number two, accelerate the repayment of the bonds. In this instance, we're looking at interest cost savings

132as a result of of current market rate and of the current interest rate environment. Um so, So, see notice um uh probably on the summary you have in front of you um the 2022 B bonds based on current market conditions generating about $2.7 million of overall savings. Uh and then we're also looking at the 2016 B bonds as well as the 2016 C bonds. Um and refinancing those bonds generate about $3 million of total interest cost savings. And again, I just want to point this out cuz I think this is really critical. I think the district has done an exceptional job over a lot of years just managing their overall uh bond interest fund. But but by doing that, obviously interest cost savings in refinancings has been a big part of the overall strategy. Not

133including these potential refinancings again cuz they're subject to market conditions over the next 60 days, uh the district has saved well over $35 million of interest cost um over the last decade. So, a lot of a lot of savings, which has been obviously part of the overall plan of finance and managing the overall uh bond and interest mill levy. Uh logistically, um you have before you this evening a resolution. Um that resolution just starts the financing process. Um and and just like us as individuals going um to to get a mortgage or a loan from the bank, there's a lot of things that happen before we actually get the money uh from the bank, and that is the case here as well. Um our intent is to obviously prepare all the documents but be in

134a position to secure interest rates and final terms for the bonds by mid-May through your first meeting in June um with the intent of coming back to the board for formal approval of what's called a bond resolution, which will contain all the final terms of the bonds at your first meeting in June. So, a lot of work to be done. Um obviously, market conditions will be will be a thing that we'll be monitoring. If for some reason um market volatility is um excessive, well, obviously, we have flexibility to monitor that and react accordingly. So, glad to stand here for any questions related to the the plan of finance. Mrs. Teel. Um Dustin, thank you for being here. Um you know, I I I draw the line with the work you do. I am so thankful

135for you finance people that get this in the sale of bonds and the timing and the complicatedness therein. So, I'm glad we work with you. I know in our 22 bond, um we stretched those dollars and it was really exciting to have Travis share with us um the things that we weren't sure we'd get to do at the tail end there and it was all because of you and your company looking at how we can best um save money and in the timing of the sale. So, that's as fancy as I'm going to get with my words because literally it is complicated, but thank you. Absolutely, glad to help. Any other comments, questions, board? Dr. Yerkovich. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. So, board, we are on item item 8.03, approval of bond

136resolutions. Is there a motion? I move to approve 8.03 as presented. Second. Motion by Ms. Johann, second by Mr. Babbitt. Mrs. Reagan. Yes. Dr. Yerkovich. Yes. Mrs. Steel. Yes. Mr. Babbitt. >> Yes. Mr. Kuhn. Yes. Mrs. Johann. >> Yes. Motion passes 6-0. Items 9.01 to 9.25 are all future action items board for your review before our May meeting. And then um as always, thanks to those individuals and groups who provide the written information. Um the 2022 bond issue with the April update, Mr. Palangi, the parent-teacher conference information from our our GA, and, um, Head Start Director's report. Really appreciate the work to combine compile and provide the data that was a part of that, um, this month as they meet some requirements. And we are ready for topics for discussion. Ms. Reagan, did you have

137any comments? You know I do. Sorry about that. Um, so, we talked about the budget with Dr. Little and then different questions with Mr. Hutcheson, and I I realize it feels like I'm playing a broken record here, but that I really feel based on the conversations I've been having with folks in the community that the understanding of the different buckets and kind of walls between those money and then the limitations and the decisions we are facing because of the special education shortfall, I do feel our community it's starting to really sink in what's happening here. We are at a really tough inflection point, and there are difficult things happening, lots of feelings, and lots of hurts, and and lots of anger. I'm pretty angry about the things we're having to decide and do, um, and

138working it out as we need to amongst ourselves and each other is really important. But we also need to remember that there are people in our state capital who have chosen since 2011 to not meet their special education funding obligation and we are paying the price here in Olathe. Districts across Kansas are paying the price. And all of the feelings and frustration are valid and I want our staff to hear that from me. We need to remember that we are in this together and it may not always feel like that but making sure that the lawmakers we have serving us in the capital continue to hear our voices and to continue to hear us united in our commitment to Olathe students is so very important. I do also want to say that I find it

139so odd that we have our meetings in the evenings when people can watch them and be cognizant of what is happening. This state budget passed at like midnight. Good things do not happen in lawmaking bodies when people are that tired and grumpy and ready to go home. And again making sure that our community we are directing our frustrations in the right way and we remember this when elections are coming in August and in November. Um many of us lived through the the Brownback era of public education here in Kansas, whether it was as a student, as a parent, or as an educator. And I just have to say that the fighting we have to do to make sure that we all in this district are able to give our staff and students what they what

140they need. Um I I am thinking back to those days, and that is why the fire in my belly is burning so Oh my gosh. So anyway, I'm just going to go cuz I'm going to start coughing, but um I I just None of this is easy, but that doesn't mean we can't do it together. And um There we go. So also it is autism World Autism Day. Um my journey in this work of advocacy for public schools began with our family's journey through special education. And just um our district was has been a lifeline for our our little boy who's now not so little. And um please know that this is all very personal to me. Thank you. Any other comments for it? I I have just a couple. Um and and this first

141part is truly is a statement to those watching and those in the room. You heard tonight the update from Dr. Little and comments from board members um related to decisions the legislature um those in Topeka have made. You've seen items on the news and in social media. Please do not be misled when those elected to serve us in Topeka and to provide for public education, post statements like "Protecting children was a priority this session." While some action was taken to enhance laws that are already on the books, they have fallen far short of taking care of our children. Bills were written, proposed, some passed and signed, others still sitting on the governor's desk that usurped local control, attempted to diminish First Amendment rights of our students, reduced by millions monies in the budget for mental

142health support, and yet they still failed to fund special education and that funding that is a legal requirement. This failure impacts all students, not just those with IEPs. It impacts our staff. We heard comments tonight in during public comments, some changes that are going to have to be made related to staffing, and it's it's due to the lack of funding for public schools. I just wonder how that is protecting or making children a priority in the state of Kansas. On a positive note, March was music in our schools and um I had the opportunity over over the month to um see no shortage of musical performances, including a third grade musical called Hats, um middle school choirs, high school performances, and then most recently the continuation of our fifth grade honors orchestra concert, honors choir

143concert, and honors band concert. And those things don't happen, especially the extra piece with the Honors groups for fifth graders, without talented and dedicated staff. And so, I do want to thank our music staff district-wide for their endless energy and the support that they provide to our kids. And then, one last shout-out. And this is to the 48 high school students across all five high schools who have been awarded $78,500 in scholarships through the Hispanic Development Fund. Um, the cool thing is that the colleges that they have enrolled in, been admitted to, match the scholarship that that is awarded to them. I had the opportunity to attend the awards, um, the recognition at Olathe North earlier this week, where 21 students received scholarships. And every recipient that morning had at least one family member there

144to celebrate with them. And and many of them had their entire family. Um, it was truly a joyous, um, opportunity. And although it started at 7:30 in the morning, and I don't often set my alarm anymore since I'm retired, but, um, it was beautiful and and so fun. So, best wishes to all 48 of those scholarship recipients and congratulations. Dr. Yager, I'm sorry. I I had one last thing come up I wanted to say just I assumed somebody else would and I didn't want to step on somebody's toes, but I wanted to talk about the Taste of the Town. Mhm. It's the first thing on my list, Mr. Babbitt. Come on now. I am happy to steal that from you. Uh this is my second attendance of the Taste of the Town last weekend, and

145it was yet again so much fun and so inspiring um to hear the stories that the mental health professionals are helping our students with, and it's to see the uh community come together to raise over $410,000 in one night for mental health in our schools was really inspiring. So, I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to that, and then I'll let Dr. Gager give uh round two. Thank you for that, and um I know over time I think most of our board has participated in that evening, and that's just really a special thing. Um I I would say, you know, Mr. Babbitt shared the the real important piece, you know, it is something special to live in a community where mental health and support for our students and our staff is valued to such

146a high degree. Um you know, and and Cindy Von Feld, our executive director of the foundation, did such a good job of talking about that last weekend at the event, just how supportive our community is, but how important it is right now, especially with some of the headwinds um that that we're facing in terms of just support for our kids. So, um I really want to thank uh Cindy Von Feld, um Molly and her team. I That's what happens when I start naming people, I'll miss people. So, I'm just going to say the entire staff at the foundation um because they do incredible work. I think they're a group of four at the foundation. I'm looking for Becky to confirm that I'm right about that. Um but they do tremendous work, and you know, I

147have the opportunity to be on several boards, but I will tell you um the opportunity, and you all many of you've done this, too, to sit on the foundation board, and you know, be at a table with people who are so deeply committed to our kids, our staff, and our community is something really special, too. So, the only thing I would add on is, you know, our board and our leadership of the foundation, we are just so blessed to have all of them bringing their passion and care to our students and our staff each and every day. This week is also para appreciation week. I think I mentioned that it was going to be maybe at our last meeting, but you cannot walk through any of our schools in the district without seeing the important

148work that our paraprofessionals do each and every day to support our students, lend a helping hand, being part of the school climate and culture. So, thank you to our paraprofessionals for all that you do each and every day. April is also autism awareness month and, you know, certainly one of the great benefits we have as a public school system in the United States is we serve all kids that that come through our doors and we are so proud of the the work that our staff does specifically in the area of autism, but also our students in partnership with our families. What a richness that all offers to our school community. So, just wanted to to mention that tonight as well. I would mention that Dr. Little, after he left, he texted me and said, "I

149did want to mention that the really bad election bills are gone." So, he didn't mention that when he was here, but you know, to follow up on Dr. Yerkovich's comments, there were some bills that really would have inhibited our ability as a school system to just provide even basic information about bonds, election-related type things. And so, he wanted to take note of that as well. He asked me to to share that. And then finally tonight, we're going to do a lot of celebrating over the next couple of months for for this person, but since we last met, Dr. Reeves has formally announced his his retirement from Olathe Public Schools. And you know, anybody that's worked closely with Dr. Reeves know what a knows what a special person he is and how much he cares about

150our school system and you know, I've had the opportunity to work with Tim closely since I've been in the district and I got to tell you that we have a really good one retiring. I'm going to stop there cuz I can feel the tears in my eyes but we will celebrate Dr. Reeves a lot over the next couple of months and huge shoes to fill and you know, you just think about legacy and the mark that somebody leaves on a school system and yours is truly immeasurable. So, thank you Tim. So, those are my comments tonight. Okay. Uh board wave one executive session at 13.01 and we will need 30 minutes. I move that we go into executive session for consultation with an attorney or the body or agency pursuant to the exception for matters

151which would be deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship under coma and that the board return to the regular meeting at 8:40 p.m. in this room. Second. Motion by Ms. Steel, second by Mr. Kuhn. Mr. Babbitt? Yes. Mr. Kuhn? Yes. Mrs. Johan? Yes. Mrs. Reagan? Yes. Mrs. Steel? Yes. Dr. Yurkovich? >> Yes. Motion passes 6-0. Mr. Babbitt? Ms. Beam, could you please note that I'll be recusing myself from this executive session. Thank you. Yes, thank you. And also I'm signing off cuz I can't attend via Zoom. Goodnight, Ms. Reagan. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> The other three for sure. Are you there? I have a computer. Whoever gets it all. Whoever doesn't. Do you have a hot mic? No. >> wheel Uh-huh. Good. You got it? Okay. Here you go. Okay, board. Uh

152four 14.01 action post executive session. Is there a motion? Uh I move to approve agenda item 14.01 action post executive session acknowledging that the sale of certain real property is in the best interest of the district. I move to authorize the termination of the real estate contract and development agreement both dated October 7th, 2022 2022 between the district and CB Holdings LLC, as well as the termination of the sanitation sewer and easement acquisition and reimbursement agreement between the district and the city of Olathe dated March 25th, 2024. I further move to authorize the sale of 65 acres of real property owned by the district that is located located on the north side of 143rd Street between South Lakeshore Drive and Cedar Niles Road to 143rd Street Ventures LLC and the execution of a real estate

153contract and development agreement between the district and 143rd Street Ventures LLC. I further move that Mr. John Hutchinson, chief financial officer, be authorized to negotiate, finalize, and execute any and all deals, closing statements, and other documents necessary to effectuate effectuate sale of the real property as well as to take any additional actions necessary to or appropriate that are consistent with the intent of this motion. Very good. Second. Motion by Mr. Kuehn, second by Ms. Steel. Mr. Kuehn? Yes. Mrs. Steel? Yes. Mrs. Joe Hand? Yes. Dr. Yurkovich? Yes. Motion passes 4-0. Meeting adjourned.