March 2026 Olathe Public Schools Board of Education Meeting

001Stand up here. I don't want to sit down. >> Ready? At this time, uh, we will call the March 2000 2026, um, board meeting to order. Welcome to everyone in the room. So excited to see so many champions here uh, tonight as as well student champions as well as staff champions and some community individuals as well. Um, welcome to everyone in the room. Welcome to those of you who are watching via YouTube tonight. Uh, Miss Beam, would you please take role? >> Dr. Jükovich >> here. >> Mrs. Steel >> here. >> Mrs. Reagan >> here. >> Mr. Keun >> here. >> Mrs. Johan >> here. >> Mr. Boyd >> here. >> Mr. Babbot >> here. >> Thank you. We have some fourth and fifth graders from Indian Creek Elementary here tonight and they're going to

002come forward and lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, for liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> Board item 2.01 01 adoption of the agenda. Is there a motion? >> I move to adopt the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Miss Steel. Second by Mr. Boyd. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Boyd? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johan? >> Yes. >> Mr. Cune? >> Yes. >> Mr. Babbot? >> Yes. >> Dr. Jükovich? >> Yes. Motion passes 70. Miss Gruba. >> Hi. Well, welcome everybody. It is so great to see a packed house tonight for our awards and recognitions. And to begin our

003recognitions, we are honored to recognize former city manager, Michael Wilk. So, at this time, I'd like to invite Michael to join us up at the front. with Dr. Jer. Tonight, we are honored to recognize Michael Wilks for his extraordinary service to the THA community. For more than 27 years as city manager and over four decades in public service, Michael has helped shape not just a city, but a community where families want to live, businesses want to grow, and students have the opportunity to thrive. As the longest serving city manager in Altha's 168-year history, his leadership has guided our city through tremendous growth while maintaining a clear commitment to excellence, safety, and a long-term vision. That growth has had a direct impact on our schools. When families choose tha, they choose both a strong city and

004strong schools. The investments made under Michael's leadership, from parks and infrastructure to economic development and downtown revitalization, have strengthened the shared foundation upon which our school district stands. Thriving neighborhoods, safe streets, vibrant public spaces, and a strong local economy all contribute to student success. What has made this partnership so impactful is a shared belief that city government and public schools are not separate systems, but partners in building community. Together we serve the same families, support the same children, and steward the same future. Michael has often spoken about the dedicated public servants he has worked alongside, and from our p perspective, he has been one of the finest among them. Steady, visionary, collaborative, and deeply invested in THA's future. As he embarks on retirement, we offer our sincere gratitude for his leadership and for the strong

005partnership between the city of THA and our school district. His fingerprints are indeed all over this community and because of that generations of students will benefit. Thank you, Michael, for helping build the THAA we are all proud to call home. All right. Next, I would like to invite the West High School assistant principal Pat Butler along with his head principal Jay Novachek and our district athletic director Matt Johnson to join us at the front. Pat was recently named the Kansas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance Administrator of the Year. This award recognizes leaders who champion the value of physical and health education for all students. It honors those who support colleagues, families, and students by helping implement a wide range of curricular activities and special events, and who further strengthen the field by

006supporting their staff through collaborative scheduling, mentoring, and thoughtful curriculum planning across physical education. Cayla Barnes, Altha West PE teacher, shared, "Pack goes above and beyond for his coaches and physical education staff. He always makes sure coaches, teachers, students, and athletes have everything they need to be successful. His unwavering support, confidence, and high standards are the reasons we nominated him. We could not be more grateful for the hard work he puts in day in and day out. Please join me in congratulating Pat. All right, from high school now to our elementary friends. Next, I would like to invite up our student math wings champions from our spring competition along with melane elementary principal Casey Welch. Uh, Metal Lane Math Wings coach Kelly McCubbins, Canyon Creek Elementary School principal Christy James and Eli Showman, as well as

007the district math facilitator Kelly. Math Wings is a district-wide elementary school competitive club and the meetings consist of intense mental math skills, problem solving competitions, vocabulary review, and various math scrimmages. These students up front represent the winning teams at the fourth and fifth grade levels for our spring contest. In the fourth grade category, Meadow Lane's Benjamin Cole, Haley McKenzie, and Isaac Schwarz and Canyon Creeks uh Macy Saiuk and Ryan Howell tied for first place. While in the fifth grade competition, Meadow Lane students Arav Madaya, Emanuel Matthew, and Madden Shamberger were our champions. So, please join me in out uh congratulating these outstanding mathematicians. I'm gonna do one Kenny Creek and do everyone together. If that works, okay, >> we can fix this. Squish, squish, squish together. Big smile. Okay, one of just me and Candy

008Creek over here. >> And then parents, if you're in the back row and want to make your way to the front, I know sometimes we like to get our photos. So, if any parents want to take photos, now's your chance. We'll do middle. >> All right. You guys want to stay here for a second? All right. Good job, AWESOME. OKAY. NEXT, I would like to invite Rachel Swearing, fifth grade teacher at Regency Place Elementary School, along with her principal, Trisha Putoff, to join us at the front. and Miss Julie Fishburn, our social studies coordinator. Rachel has been named the Kansas Council for History Education 2026 Teacher of the Year, an honor that recognizes educators who demonstrate exceptional dedication to bringing history to life for their students and fostering a deeper understanding of the past. The

009Kansas Council for History Education works to promote Kansas teachers and students as historians by providing contentrich professional development and advocating for a strong K12 history curriculum across the state. The organization encourages educators to integrate historical thinking skills and literacy rich learning into their classrooms, helping students analyze sources, ask thoughtful questions, and make meaningful connections between the past and the present. Fellow Regency Place fifth grade teacher Jess Eaglesen recommended her for this honor, sharing, "Rachel demonstrates an exceptional commitment to fostering historical thinking and literacy rich learning in her classroom. Her instruction is deeply rooted in the standards, yet she consistently goes above and beyond to make history meaningful and engaging for her students. Rachel seeks out new resources and professional development opportunities to enhance her practice, and she inspires both her students and her colleagues with

010her passion for teaching social studies. Her dedication to helping students think critically about the past and connect it to the world around them truly exemplifies the mission of KC. So, please join me in congratulating Rachel. Okay, now I would like to invite the THA West esports team along with their coach Kurt Parker and principles Jay Novachek and Pat Butler along with district AD Matt Johnson up to the front. So, you may recall from last month's board meeting, but earlier this year, esports held its inaugural state championship where teams competed in Rocket League, Super Smash Bros., and Mario Kart. In the inaugural year, the Owls took home first place in Rocket League and were named overall co-state champions. The tournament was held at the new state-of-the-art esports arena at the tha public schools innovation campus. And

011this space allows teams to warm up, features displays of the live match in progress and provides an area for dedicated fans to gather and show their support. During the state championship, fans packed the room to cheer on their favorite esports players. and I heard it was quite the sight to see. Uh, Coach Parker shared that these students have synergized together, played together, and become great friends throughout the season. You can really see that camaraderie, and they just keep pumping each other up. And hot off the press, I just learned that this year we have five scholarships in esports, and one of them is for female sports casting. Is that correct? So, needless to say, this is kind of a big deal. So, congratulation Owls on being our inaugural state champions in esports. Perfect. >> Okay,

012ready. Big smile. One, two, three. Congratulations. >> Come forward. There you go. Go ahead. Congratulations you guys. All right. Well, and last but certainly not least, we would like to round out our recognitions tonight and invite Cindy Vonfeld and Carrie McCarti of the Tha Public Schools Foundation, Cody and Kelly Burgess of Casey Spiritwear, uh, Prairie Trail Middle School Counselor Katie Vina, and assistant director of counseling and college and career readiness Alicia Jackson up to the front. Well, as many of you may know, last month public schools participated in a communitywide random acts of kindness week hosted by THA public schools, the city of THAA, and the THA Chamber of Commerce. This group up here was instrumental to planning the uh the week, the implementation of the week and the support and success of that overall

013kindness week. Community members were encouraged to take part in kindness week by performing a random act of kindness. From handwritten notes, sticker swaps, and bookmark exchanges to sidewalk chalk messages, welcoming students at the door, and even friendship bracelets, our students found creative ways to connect and lift one another up. And on Wednesday of kindness week, there was a citywide tie-dye spirit day. And when this idea idea was initially approached, our friends at Casey's Spiritware Yep. Show it off, Cindy. Yep. When this idea was initially approached, our friends at Casey's Spiritware immediately jumped on the opportunity to help support. They designed a specific kindness ties us together apparel line and offered to donate half of the proceeds raised to support the Braden Robertson Student Mental Health Fund at the THAA public schools foundation. And tonight we

014are honored to recognize this group for their support and also present a check totaling $3,388.70 to the foundation in support of our students. Please join me in thanking Casey Spiritware for their generous donation and honoring this total group up here for their outstanding work to spread kindness throughout our community. This represents 33 kids getting services, sitting down for the very first time with a therapist and being able to really get the help they need. So, you guys are making a tremendous difference. Thank you so much. Thank you, Miss Guba. And congratulations to all of those who received recognition this evening. We will move into our presentations and we will begin with a school spotlight and Julie Slider, principal at Indian Creek Elementary, WILL GET US GOING. WELL, GOOD EVENING. WE'RE very excited to come and

015share all of the exciting things that are happening at Indian Creek. Um although when I think about presenting, I'm sure you would not want to hear from my perspective, but I thought you want to hear from our third, fourth, and fifth graders perspectives. So our presentation tonight is all from their ideas. So we're going to start with our first team. Good evening. Today we're going to talk about um how Indian Creek is a great community and about all the things that we do to help kids. My name is Hiku and this is Joel, your Indian Creek leadership team. At our school, we have so many kids, over 340 students. We have 14 different cultures representing in our school and they work together to share what's unique about their culture. With all those different cultures, we

016also have 16 different languages spoken. Even in my home, we speak Swahili because we are from Kenya. Seeu, what country is your family from? My mom's from Mali and my dad's from Guinea, but I was born in America. Exactly. New York. Indian Creek has a great English language learning system or ELLL to be to help these students learn English. Many new families come to Indian Creek throughout throughout the year and they immediately become a part of our Indian Creek family. We we also have a new autism program that started this year which brought se several new students to join our Indian Creek community. We have another great leader at our school, Boomer the Bobcat. He even likes Casey Wolf. Now, let's learn about how we celebrate student success at our school. Hi, my name is

017Aston and I'll be talking about the way we celebrate kids at Indian Creek. We are a PB PBIS school, which stands for positive behavior intervention supports, which really means cool ways to reward kindness. At Indian Creek, we use character cards as a way to celebrate when kids are kind, respectful, and motivated to do their best. You might want to remember that for the end cuz there might be a quiz. When kids get a character card, they get to show it off by doing a walk of fame around the school. Any adult that sees them walking around can cheer or clap, cheer, or even dance. You can see a character card on the screen and some really happy faces. But that's not all. On top of all these celebrations, kids get to do something really cool

018with their cards. AJ Amos are going to tell you what's next. Hi, I'm AJ and I'm and we're going to talk about Boomer's Market. Boomer's Market is a place where we can use our character cards to earn rewards. Personally, my favorite is extra recess, but we have many more rewards. Some things that kids can purchase are Capri Suns, chalk at recess, or even pizza at lunch. Getting these rewards helps students to be inspired to earn more character cards which helps our school become a place with lots of motivation. >> Good evening everyone and my name is Amos and another interesting and reward we have is our book vending machine. If you get the right amount of character cards, you can choose the golden coin which you pick in your favorite book. There are several books

019in different languages available. Kids can even get books for and reaching their goal. Dr. Slider, can you tell us some of those student goals? They give me the most dry slide. So, we have a very robust PBIS system at Indian Creek. And one of the really cool things is that we have a tier 2 intervention. Check-in, check out, breaks are better. And those students that are involved in that that club, Boomer's character club, um their focus is on individualized goals. So it could be for attendance, it could be for behavior, um it it's a wide range. Sometimes it's just needing someone to connect with at school. And so our team looks at the most strategic adult to place them with and then they check out in the beginning of the day and the end of

020the day. And that relationship makes a world of difference. And so you can see my dry slide um has one of these students from this year and you can see those red dots were all over the place at the beginning of their their time in Boomer's character club. But through that relationship, through that goal setting and the individualized support, they are now having green days. And when I look at that, it's more than just data. It's a kid's day. And so the beginning it might have been struggles with friends, struggles with staff, struggles with academics, and that green is now happy conversations at dinner and loving school. And so we're very very excited at the fact that we graduate at least 20 kids a year from Boomer's character club and then those kids turn around

021and become Boomer's ambassadors, which then they become mentors to other students and it just keeps the cycle going. So it's very exciting. And now I'm back on script. So I'll pass it over to another student who will share how our school is connected to our community. I'm Jordan Boyd and my dad had no idea I was coming to present to you today. Surprise dad. We have so many opportunities for our community to support Indian Creek. We have a lot adopted school partners that help our kids by being lunch buddies, mentors, and even helping providing kids providing food for kids on the weekends. We were lucky enough to have Fidelity Bank give us $5,000 this year to help with field trips, new equipment, and PE activities like our mobile putt putt golf. You can even see

022these kids getting a hole in one. Our community supports our fall fun run with providing our wristbands and equipment. They helped us reach our goal to get a really cool fun bubble party. Something new that made connections with our families was the family table. We learned about our students by eating together and trying out new foods. I tried the Filipino dish called Olympia and it was really good. Now that we know how to connect with our community, let's hear about all the learning that happens at India Creek with Miriam. >> Hi, my name is Miriam. Go ahead. You're in charge. Hi, my name is Miriam and today I'm going to talk about all the fun learning that happens at our school. One of my favorite places is the library because they have so many different

023books including books in different languages. My family is from Algeria and I love how we are inclusive and bring people together through books. If you look at our slide, you can see so much learning happening. In our third grade, they get a book tasting when they started their wit and wisdom unit on space. In first grade, they hatched chicks and ducks, which gave our s some realworld experience. The students even got to name the ducks with some crazy names like Pom Pom Teresa. Weird, right? And in second grade, they read a book about the Macy's Day parade, and they had create a balloon float, which ended with their parade around the school. Next is another fun way to help our school learn. Hi, my name is Finley and I'm going to tell you another way

024we learn at Indian Creek that no other elementary school in THA is doing. Let me introduce you to audio enhancement. At our school, we're piloting to use the microphones for our classroom. It can also translate for people who speak in different languages. And if someone had hearing difficulties, it would it makes it easier for them to hear. Our students use the microphones during our morning meeting or during whole group lessons when students want to share or ask a question. I really like it because it's easier to hear my teacher and we're excited to see how it will help our kids in the future. Stay tuned for more updates this year. Our next student is going to share something that brings our whole school together. Hello everyone. My name is Bryce and I'm going to share

025with you our Indian Creek mission statement. A mission statement is like a big promise that we make to ourselves and our school. Three very important parts of our mission statement is being are being kind, respectful, and motivated. If we do those three things every day, we will know our school will be a really safe place for learning. The last part talks about belonging. We want every kid to feel like their Indian Creek is their home. To finish our presentation, we want you to do our omission statement with us. Don't worry, we'll show you the motions. Let's say all together in a strong voice. I believe that I am kind, respectful, and motivated to do my best. I belong at Indian Creek. Thank you everyone for having us. And if you have questions, ask Dr. Slider.

026board. Are there any comments or questions? I love the student spotlight and oh my goodness, when the students are doing the spotlighting, their timing to wait for laughter, it's pretty impressive. Pretty impressive. >> They've been running our rehearsals for students. Thank you for being here. And Dr. Slider, >> one more. >> Oh, Mr. Boy. >> Hi, Jordan. >> Our next U presentation this evening is Dr. Stuart Little and a legislative update. was too far in the back. I apologize. >> Good evening. Um, happy to be here tonight. I'll give you all an update on where we are in the legislative session and they're actually still meeting right now talking about a cell phone bill. So, there's lots going on. Um, please feel free to interrupt with questions. Uh, so the session ends three weeks from

027tomorrow. and they're the 27th and they are possible that they'll come back for a wrap-up session the 9th of April, but we are getting near the end. Uh, one thing to note as we talk about a lot of the policy issues, it's an election year for everybody in the House. So, that has something to do with how we're doing things. Um, beginning of the session to where we are now, I've not cut property taxes yet. There's been a variety of bills. I'll talk about where we're going. Um the special ed funding, the peak is in the Senate budget bill which is or House budget bill which has 10 million more dollars. I think we're statewide 200 something behind what we need. Um and the cell phone bill uh that kind of started out as a

028kind of a a high mark where both legislative leadership in both chambers and the governor wanted to pass a bill. I'll tell you where we are on that. Um, one of the things that we've kind of been watching here, uh, and as I wrote this and emailed it to Dr. Jerger at 5 something this morning, I described the tax plan that's moving through, uh, the passed the House, passed the Senate. It um, exempts schools. So, it didn't apply to schools, and it sets a 3% cap on cities and counties for their growth. And then if you want to exceed 3% in your vote, your entire budget 3%. And then if you want to exceed that, you subject to a 5% 5% protest petition. Um you could exceed that. But if there was 5% of the

029people that voted for the Secretary of State in the last election, they then um it would overturn a majority decision made by a governing board. And we were not part of that until about um 11:00 this morning. Now we're in the bill and so school districts will have uh budget growth capped at 3% a year. Uh the petition's gone up to uh 10% but in a ironic and kind of devious way. We also restore the revenue neutral rate that whole process. So, we're kind of back to where we were, but now with the cap and the revenue neutral rate that you all required to send out to every um to every taxpayer in the county. The back side of that form has a form to fill out your protest petition against the uh the initiative

030to satisfy the other half of this process and you can just turn it around, sign it, turn around and mail it back in. Um that they added those things this morning in Senate Tax Committee. They are going to meet again on Monday uh to do more work on it and it will come out. So it'll come out Monday, Tuesday maybe of next week and then we'll likely get into a tax conference committee sometime the end of next week. So in the House we're not in the bill in the Senate we're in the bill and that's where we go in to begin to have discussion. So and that is a uh it also another treat for all of us. It does not exempt bonds. So bonds would be factored into the 3% annual growth. So lots

031of work to be done there. Um that's just the first slide. I'm sorry. Um so where else we are in cell phones? The House passed a cell phone bill that um that fairly close on the bill and it uh included uh both non-public schools and public schools. The Senate then passed a bill. yesterday and they're debating it right now on the Senate floor which has um both non-public and public schools. I mean it's build the beginning of the day to the end of the day. Um and cell phones have to be cannot be accessible to a child, cannot be kept on the child, any of those kind of things. And it also adds a number of provisions in the bill that extend accreditation um features to non-public schools as long as you get a regional

032accreditation. I'm not sure exactly what that looks like, but they will be given the same rights as a as a state board of education accredited accredited non-public school. So essentially they um the the the non-public school groups decided that they would support a a cell phone ban just like the public schools, but they got a lot more access to a lot more policy issues. So um that's uh where we are on the cell phone. It'll if the Senate bill passes tonight, which it will, we'll start having a meeting between the House and Senate to figure out what emerges out of that. Um, we've already talked about Senate Bill 244, the uh, multi occupancy private space that's already been overridden. Election bill that's still hanging out, House Bill 2451, which prohibits um, local municipalities, cities, counties,

033public schools from doing providing any information that is not neutral and simplyformational. It will pro prohibit you from sending mailers, flyers, any of those kinds of things to reach out to the uh the the folks in the community and you are simply allowed to provide neutral uh information on a bond issue going forward. um the expansion of the the uh non-public school voucher school scholarship program. Um it passed the house and this also officially connects the state to the federal um scholarship program which was passed in the big bill last summer which establishes a federal tax credit. Now, so this bill officially says yes, we're going to participate in that and it expands the uh the the the cap on the current scholarship program. I think the highest tax credit now you get is uh

034half a million. And then uh it also the original bill increased the overall cap to $30 million. They just decided to go from 10 to 20 instead of to 30. and that just came out of committee about 3:30 this afternoon. Um, the mental health services bill is dead. We don't have to worry about that. I'll talk a bit about funding here in this. So, the budget process, the Senate passed their budget yesterday. The House passed their budget a couple days ago. I'll talk about a couple of components that are in the budget. Um, so originally KSD said we need $150 million for special ed. The governor recommended 50 million. We're now at the point where the House has 10 million, the Senate has 5 million, and we're going to kind of be negotiating over over

035that. In the budget um of the House, there are or in the House budget bill, they require um the state of Kansas, including all public entities through KDH's guidance to follow the new CDC immunization schedules. So that's the one that was implemented just a month or so ago which reduces about six or seven of those uh of the old whatever they're nice I'm sure everybody here knows about this and me but that kind of 181 19 immunizations and then the CDC recommended the uh the list that was about 15 and only with special circumstances or health issues would you be able to get the other ones and when that happened KDH for the state said no we're going to stay with the higher standards that were the American Academy of Pediatrics and that whole group.

036Well, this bill would not allow schools, child care, any of those folks have to follow the CDC uh immunization schedule. So, there's one. Uh it also requires the state uh KD KSD, Department of Education to, if you will recall last fall, they changed the cut scores to the assessments to match up the cut scores with the assessments. They said you can't do that. you have to go back and leave the assessment the cut scores where they were before because they there have been arguments from the legislature that that inflates the appearance of success if we did the cut scores in the middle of the process. They're also going to do a couple of other things in there. The one thing that uh also that happened um last night when they were working on the Senate

037budget bill, one of our one of our uh our senators here um eliminated the $16 million that's in the budget for the Mit program, which is the mental health intervention team program that's been going for about 10 years and took all $16 million out and then stuck 1 million of it into special ed. So there's actually 6 million now thanks to that move, but not 16 million for mental health services. Um they also include a proviso in the bill that would uh has to do with walkouts at schools. And it essentially lays out a process where the state department of education um that if a school district experiences a um a walk out that does not include parental consent that uh and if they uh that would there could would be the state department of

038education would would look into that and it would be uh presented to the state to KSD as a as a failure to uh enforce uh attend dependence laws. And another component in that would be if staff uh encouraged, facilitated or enabled the walk out. And then the uh state board would have a process to review that and would uh could make a recommendation which would include a penalty, a daily penalty, a financial penalty for the district for each day that this happens. and that day would not count as a day of instruction for the number of days that are are there. So that's how our people voted uh in the Senate. It's going to be um debated in the budget conference committee because it's passed. So the House and Senate budget people will get together

039and talk about it. This is the kind of stuff if it ends up being in the bill that goes to the governor, the governor has the capacity to line item veto it. So, and I will note this proviso very I think it 22 to 18 it was very very close and that's not enough people to override a veto if it comes to that. So, so that's where we are on the budget side. Um, oh gosh, what else? Um, we're doing a couple of things that are on this uh Senate Bill 491. I'll just mention it briefly here. I'm just going to kind of highlight the some of the things. This is a bill that creates a position called the education inspector general in the attorney general's office. For those of you that do any healthcare

040work, you know there's now a Medicaid inspector general who goes and looks for waste, fraud, and abuse and then uh makes reports to the legislature. We have two modeled after the federal government efficiency committees. We have one in the House and the Senate. And so the inspector general gives them information and then we go forward with there from there. So, this has this um inspector general position uh hires seven or eight new people in the attorney general's office and has the charge to explore and make a list of um staff that um are have allegations of of nepotism of treating students poorly or a whole variety of things. It's actually very interesting to read 491 if you want. And it um it also uh fairly um uh broad reach. It can look into financial issues.

041It can look into HR policy. It can look into any of those kind of things. And it has this registry where in the same way that they've said bad teachers get to move anywhere and their records don't follow them, they want to create a registry. So, this is going to be interesting to see where this goes, but it's uh it's I think there was when they had the hearing the other day, the it's pretty broad, but you know, I'm not sure I could attest to what exactly is going to pass or not this year. Um, in general, I feel like that's probably enough. I'll stop. Do you guys have any questions? The this report and the written report you'll get has some more details on some of the bills. I'll just do one last thing.

042um they've got one two more weeks of work in on the floor and then they'll do a conference committee for a week and then that last week through the 27th they'll meet on the floor uh and pass anything that there's that's left at the end of the session and then they'll be done. Um so and again of course from all this not a word about the education funding task force that's supposed to come forward and have a new school finance formula by January of next year that hasn't brought come up this year and and thus far those in control of that have not said anything about having any meetings over the summer and fall. So be happy to answer any questions. >> Miss Reagan. Um hi Dr. Little. I was curious cuz I just looked

043um at the bill's progress, the budget, at the amendments and whatnot. Um that $16 million that was cut, how did that happen? Was there an amendment on the floor? Was >> Yeah, there was a floor amendment offered by Senator Gossage to remove that $16 million. They had some discussion about it and then uh part of that motion was to add a million to special education. So, that was debated on the floor briefly in the past. >> Okay. And I didn't see a vote count on that. That's really interesting. So, um, just to reiterate then, KSDE, um, recommended 150 million, governor recommended 50 million, and right now we're at 10 from the House, six from the Senate. >> Yes, >> that math is really interesting. Um, okay. And then, uh, and thank you so much for

044condensing all of this down for us. I um I'm curious. Never mind. I I am not curious. Okay, >> Mr. Boyd, thank you for your time this evening. Um do you know if Senate Bill 491 and House Bill 2 2451 has been blessed? >> Oh, the Inspector General, it's an I believe it's an exempt bill number one. Okay. So, it's not doesn't have to adhere to the time schedule, those kind of I I don't even think it came out until after the deadline. And I'm sorry, what was the other one? >> Uh 2451, House Bill 2451, the election bill. >> Um it it was exempted to fend state affairs. >> Thank you. Miss Steel, >> I'm curious about the conversation, a couple of them regarding cut scores and they want to take previous cut scores

045which are verified with validity and reliability by the people who write the tests and apply them to the new test, which would mean they're not reliable and valid for that test. Is that right? Well, and again, there's probably people that understand this better than I do, but they changed the test that cut scores last year to kind of reorm, if I can phrase it the right way, in some ways, with the state assessments that were being used. And what that did was it moved some of the student population into some into some different categories, you know, from one to two and two to three and made some changes in there. And and a bill that was passed two years ago specifically said you cannot change the state assessment scores without legislative authority, basically. And so

046they went they did that to update whatever they done to the last the latest changes in and the assess including the the literacy stuff and those kind of things. uh and that went to the state board and it kind of generated some energy and then it during the legislative session the conversation from folks was that this was this was an attempt in some way a suggestion that this was done to make the test scores look better the assessment scores look better than they really should and so we want you to go back and use the 24 25 cut scores not the ones that you guys implemented like >> but the assessment changed, right? >> So there there was a new assessment and that was part of the reason for the change. So they they went

047through a long process to put a new assessment in place and then establish the cut scores based on that new new assessment. So I would have believed what you're what you're saying to be true that if we went back to the cut scores that were there previously, they wouldn't align with the assessment that we're using now. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. Um, my other question is in the conversation of applying what I'm going to call retaliatory amendments to the budget regarding walkouts, was there any discussion about federal law saying otherwise in preventing students from doing that and how those two would rev up against each other? Um, yes, there was reference to case law and other issues in the past about free speech and at schools and at public entities and those kind

048of things. And um the the argument kind of went, "Yeah, okay. Well, um I don't think that that really applies in this circumstance." We didn't get into a big, you know, there wasn't a junk. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. We're going forward. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? >> That's all we Oh, >> oh, I'm so sorry. I was going to say I may make one back to the cell phone bills. So, Dr. Little mentioned a couple of pieces. I believe these pieces are still in, so correct me if I'm wrong about it. But as part of that, they also put in there that Quesa would report to the state board of education and that the state board of education would uh essentially establish or dictate who the board of directors are for Quesa. Do

049you know if that's still in there? >> I think that's part of it. And it also kind of waves every accredited non-public school whether that's by the state board or >> it says if you get a regional accreditation and nobody knows exactly what that is and we somebody may create one then you are deemed to have a state board of education uh accreditation and it's and it also very specifically has a whole line there about about that whole arrangement there. So the the quesa piece I wanted to point out because you know that is a really deliberate democracy in the state of Kansas the way that board is established in representing districts of all sizes and athletics and activities in our state. So I think that's an important one to note that's been put in

050with the cell phone bill. The other one, and I think this is probably still in there also, but there was also a a pro I can't say the word in in the bill, um that would give school site councils um some authority in evaluating principles. Um does that sound familiar to you? >> Man, that doesn't ring a bell. I could easily No, that's okay. So I I do I at least as of this morning that was still in there that that that could happen and certainly that raised my my eyebrows just a little bit because obviously there's a lot of statutes around appraising and evaluating our principles and other staff in our our school system that we follow. So I just wanted to mention those two things that on their face don't really appear to

051have much to do with cell phones. Um but there are other things that are being placed in in there that that are of concern. Miss Reagan. >> Um, regarding the cell phone bill, just to reiterate, and it looks like it passed on the Senate floor. >> Um, yeah, I just was looking at that. There is no funding appropriated for schools to pay for the mechanisms to lock up these phones. Correct. >> Correct. But you will not have any liability for what happens to anybody's phones. That's >> Well, right. But there's still infrastructure, you know, whatnot. Okay. So, I wanted to clarify that. And then, um, gosh, I had Oh, so with that 16 million that Senator Gossich cut from the budget and the 1 million that was so magnanimously given back to the districts for

052the excess investment in special ed, what happened to the other 15 million? >> I think it went back and reverted back to state general fund. >> Okay. So, all right. That Okay, that just Yep. board. Any other comments, questions? Dr. Little, thank you as always for your work. Our last uh presentation this evening, Dr. Liz Harrison, and an update on Compass program. Whichever. >> I just don't want to start pushing buttons and make it do the wrong thing. >> Well, good evening. I am excited to get to share with you some updates for our Compass program. Um really my goal tonight is just to do a quick um kind of reminder of what led us to this work. Uh share with you a little bit about um how we plan to serve and support students

053and then just a timeline of where we are to be ready to welcome students in August. So, if you remember last spring, we talked about that um when we look at our behavior data, our Swiss data, and then that Kansas teacher retention survey data, and then our tha public schools uh parent and staff surveys, we really see an increasing number of students in kindergarten through 8th grade with with really significant behavior and social emotional needs that are continuing to struggle despite those really good interventions. You know, Dr. Slider and the Indian Creek kiddos talked about some of the really good interventions they've got in place that work for most kids, but we know that there's some kiddos that are just continuing to struggle. And so what we really needed to create was a short-term intensive

054general education option. And so our goal at Compass is um to create a short-term program that's aligned to our MTSS and our PBIS so that it's the same programming, same things that are available in all of our schools um for our general education kiddos. you know that we have a really robust system um in place to support our students who have IEP goals for social emotional needs and so that would continue through special education but this would really be a pathway to serve those kiddos who have those significant needs but with explicit short-term instruction and really those targeted skills they'd be ready to return to their home schools. So the way that we anticipate students to be referred is of course the homeschool teams that know the student best would make that referral. Um and

055that would be by the building principal to a district interdisciplinary team. That team is made up of building principles, district administrators, school psych um and other district leaders from both elementary and middle school to really be an independent decision-making body. That way it's not all on the shoulders of the compass team or the school team. And also that way they're all working together to support the kids. There's that independent team that's really able to look at that referral and make that decision. As the interdisciplinary team receives those referrals and calls and asks questions and then is able to make that decision, then they would work in partnership with the building principal and also the students family to make sure that they are set up for success in that transition. We anticipate even before the student

056would start at Compass that the Compass team would partner with the homeschool team and the families to make sure that the families would have really clear communication about what the program looks like. They would have opportunities to meet with the Compass staff and even go and visit to be able to see what that learning environment looks like just to have really intentional planning so that we can set those students up for success in that transition as they begin participation in that program. And so then kind of on the flip side of that, once a student's been able to participate in Compass, knowing that it is not a permanent placement, it will be a shorter term placement. When the team, including the student, is ready, then we'll have a really intentional plan transition back to the

057home school that will have continued collaboration between our compass and the homeschool team to best support that student. So that will look like um a personalized transition plan of strategies that we found that really work well for that student because again anything that would happen at Compass is something that could happen in the student's home school and then there could be that um ongoing success in the general education setting with that ongoing partnership. We anticipate the learning environment. Um, one of the biggest differences is that the Compass classrooms will be flexible based on student enrollment. Knowing that throughout the year, students will be coming in and out of that program. Teachers might be teaching different things at different times in the year based on the needs of the students in their classroom. At elementary, that

058would look more like they might teach multiple grade levels. At secondary, that might look like multiple contents. um that we our goal is to have one certified teacher and one um alternative in ed education aid in each classroom so that we can really have small structured learning environments that focus of course on academics but also those really specific behavioral and social emotional um instruction. Our staffing model will look very similar to what all of our schools look like. General education teachers, a counselor and or social worker, a school psychologist and a special education teacher. where that will be different is how those roles work and look at the school. So, um I spoke a little bit about how the elementary teachers might teach multiple grades. So, that could be at the start of the year

059you're teaching some first and second graders, but based on some transitions, you might be teaching some second and third graders later in the year. Of course, we would never have kindergarten and fifth grade together. Um but that so we would want it to make the most sense and be appropriate, but that could be flexible. And then the same would be true with the middle level. Um, another piece would be that because it is a smaller environment, it is an alternative program. All of that instruction would happen directly in the classroom with that really strong emphasis on being able to coach and support the homeschool team. So, some of that staffing will allow us to do that followup and that kind of once the student transitions back to be able to um have that support in

060their home school. So, right now we are in the process of hiring as we are meeting with people. Of course, we're first and foremost looking for people with really strong relationship building skills, um that have experience with behavior support in our MTSS process and that have flexibility in the greater content that they might teach. And our goal is to be fully staffed before we leave for summer because we have some really good um things that we're planning with professional learning for that team even um this spring and summer before they leave um for summer break. So that will start with uh positive behavior uh interventions and supports is something we have in all of our prek through 12 buildings, but we really want our compass team to go through those workshop modules together as a

061team because that will look a little bit different there. Um and so they'll do the first two of those this spring semester and then during our tha summer conference, the entire Compass team will be together for those three days. One of those will be to be the last day of the PBIS to really like iron out exactly what that's going to look like at Compass. And then the last two days will be safe crisis management training for all staff. That is a combination of deescalation and emergency safety intervention training. So that even before staff leave for summer break, they leave having some of those key pieces already so that when they come back in August, they can really focus on being ready for kids and to welcome them at the start of the year. So,

062where we're at right now, we have a program model and a handbook. Um, we know, you know, kind of what we're looking for as far as staffing. We're in that process of hiring. We have the referral and decision-making process designed. We are working on uh the transition and reintegration protocols getting finalized. Uh we've got dates for some of those compass staff training. And so right now we're in the process of meeting with our elementary and uh middle school principles as well as our counselors, psychologists, and our PBIS and behavior coaches to talk through that referral process and what the Compass program is. We anticipate those being the individuals around the table as they're making decisions about, you know, who might be a candidate for Compass. And so we want to make sure they all have

063that common understanding, especially as we just initially get this program started. And then of course ongoing collaboration with schools and families and the famil family's part will really ramp up in the fourth quarter as we start um getting those referrals in so that we're ready to welcome students in the fall. And so really again the goal of Compass is just that short-term general education intervention that really focuses on that partnership and consistency for students and to help build those missing skills um with really the ultimate goal that students are able to transition back to their home school and be successful there. So, I would be happy to do my best to answer any questions that you might have. >> Board, any questions? >> My qu Oh, sorry. I I just had a comment real quick

064to thank you for the work going into this and it has so much intentionality in the prep work for this program and after we spent countless hours uh what a year ago now um meeting with um educators at every site and learning from them how one disruptive student disrupts the entire class. and it may oftentimes not be a special ed concern, but a student who just needs to learn how to be a student. So, I'm super excited about this program and and one of those intentional I'm looking at your um logo calling it the Compass program so that students are still have an attachment to their mascot at their home school. Yes, that was really um and kudos to our comm's department because we're really happy with our our branding, but that was really intentional

065that we wanted them to keep that connection to their home school and to that mascot. And so, this will give us something that they will have while they're there, but not allow them to lose that. >> Great. Thank you for all your work. Excited for this to roll out. >> I also appreciate the compass at West View campus to keep that history of of that building um connected and alive. Do you anticipate that there will be students at this location when school starts in August? >> We do anticipate that. Um to be honest, the referral process will open in the fourth quarter. So part of that will depend on student need. Um and a very common question that we get is you know young learners how how things might look in midappril compared to mid

066August could be very different but we do anticipate that we'll be ready for that. Um and then most likely it we will open with a smaller number of students than we would probably start to see as the year went on. >> Okay. Any other questions, comments, board? >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Harrison. Our next item is public comments. Miss Steel, >> at each regular meeting, the board of education reserves limited time for individuals to address the board. We ask that your comments be gerine, that is related to the business this board effectuates. Non-compliance may result in the president interrupting to redirect. We request request that individual speakers limit 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

067to 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 videotaped recorded for broadcast on the district's YouTube channel and audio tape recorded as a matter of public record. Individuals addressing the board should come to the podium at the front of the room and state your name, city, and state, and your relationship to the district. >> Thank you. Our first speaker this evening is Kelly Force. Miss Forest. Okay, I don't see her in the room this evening. So, Nick Crley, you're up. Hello. Uh, happy March. Happy Women's History

068Month. Um, I had a planned topic to speak about um early in February and for reasons that I will get into later for at some other point. Um, I'm not going to talk about that right now. Um, but this will be lighter actually than what I had planned. So, there's that. Um, I really appreciate that your guys's commitment to the government relations updates. Um, they make it really easy for me to tell my co-workers to just, you know, pop on and watch the video at this point and you can get a really quick summation of what's going on. Um, that is really awesome. I really appreciate it. Um, I continue to appreciate all the work that you're doing and, uh, congratulations on your bond passing. So, that's really cool. Um, we by the time the

069next board meeting happens, we will have entered fourth quarter of the 2526 school year. And something I always like to bring attention to because we get to see all the really awesome stuff that happens at the end of the school year, um is that for certain parts of our our school district, and it's not just Mil Creek, um there are going to be a lot there's going to be a lot of pain and tenacity and teeth nashing. Um as we try really hard to get seniors across the finish line, um those students don't necessarily always end up getting recognition. um they do in the form of a diploma which is you know the goal um as long as they make it there. Um and if not the one of the great things about tha is

070as my great friend and amazing boss Seth Swederman always says is what happens if you don't meet the graduation deadline? Well, we move you over to the next step the next day. Um or sorry step up the next day. Um so it's really cool that we have that opportunity for people to finish their diplomas in non-traditional routes. For those of us that are going to be experiencing the long stretch between here and um I think May 14th is senior's last day. Um keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Uh it is uh it is it is there's nothing that wakes up a kid like spring break and realizing that graduation is around the corner um to what it is exactly that they need to do. Um and so um I love it. I do it

071every single year. Um, it's something that I'm really passionate about and it's really amazing to see um the work and effort and then ultimately the payoff. And you think that graduation is wonderful and it absolutely is and it's my favorite my favorite thing to do. But also equally wonderful in its own way is being able to send a summer school email to a parent that didn't think their kid was going to make it. Um, so we continue to have really awesome opportunities. It is a lot of work and it really does drain on the morale of the teachers that are are are doing it and I can only imagine with the stress that it's putting those families through. So, I really appreciate um I really appreciate your guys' commitment to continue to provide those opportunities

072because it really does make a world of difference. Um and uh yeah, that's kind of just sort of what I wanted to talk about because it's timely and um I continue to appreciate all the good work. >> Mr. Kley, thanks for all your good work. um principles, counselors, teachers who are working and pushing those seniors to get across that line. Our next speaker is Jacob Wilson. Uh good evening. Uh my name is Jacob Wilson. I am a band teacher here in the school district. I teach at Blackbob, Broome, Green Springs, Tomahawk, and Ridge View elementaryaries, as well as assisting at Indian Trail and Frontier Trail. And that is a much smaller number of schools than I taught at my first year in the district. Um, primary school was difficult for me. Uh, my mother spent

073a significant portion of my early years in the hospital undergoing significant treatments for cancer and heart failure. Um, I wasn't a talker and I had little motivation to do well on tests or classroom assignments. I was in resource and was actually slated to be blocked out of junior high band if I hadn't been advocated for. Um, in the fifth grade, Tom Harrington put a trombone in my hands. And if that hadn't happened, I really can't say I where I would be today. Band saved me. Band gave me a reason to be at school. It gave me a community, a culture, and a goal to aspire both to and for. I now have classrooms full of 10-year-old me. We all know who they are. For some of them, we know what they are going through and

074some of them we may may not. The arts, music education are not extra or additional. It isn't a privilege and it isn't discretionary. It isn't disposable. Music and the arts are an are essential to a holistic and meaningful education. They are fundamental, necessary, and cannot be replaced by anything we have yet to conceive. Music teaches cooperation, discipline, responsibility, pride, dedication, creativity, and communication. Music music education also develops visual processing, reading comprehension, fine motor coordination, as well as pattern recognition, and arithmetic, and teaches critical thinking. It is all of the essential skills integrated into one classroom. It is my honor to invite you to see these benefits for yourselves and skills firsthand at the 3rd annual THA District Elementary Honor Band concert on Wednesday, March 25th at THA North High School and the second annual THA

075District Elementary Honor Orchestra concert. Uh the following Tuesday, March 31st at THA South. I am proud to work for a district which has such a rich history of valuing and supporting mu instrumental music education in fifth grade and beyond. Uh, this school district support of fine arts is truly what separates us from the ones around us and what has established us as the leader in the state. If Tom Pington hadn't found me in Mrs. Garrett's fifth grade classroom at Tomahawk and put a trombone in my hands, I wouldn't have made it and I wouldn't be speaking to you today. Thank you for all you do to support elementary in instrumental music. And I want to wish you all a fantastic and restful spring break. >> Mr. Wilson, thank you. Especially for one of those 11

076year olds at Blackpop. Uh Jamie Cernich. Jamie Cernich. Okay. Megan Brics. Good evening, Board of Education. My name is Megan Brics, and I'm the proud elementary music educator here in our Altha Public Schools. And I did not know that I would get this emotional before I spoke. So, I apologize for anything that comes out of me. I'm very proud of Jacob Wilson. I play in a band with him and I'm very proud to work alongside him. Tonight I want to bring awareness to two very important aspects of my life. First, I want to share that this month, the month of March, as music in our schools month. For more than 30 years, March has been officially designated by NAFME, the National Association for Music Education for observance of music in our schools month. The purpose

077of music in our schools month is to raise awareness of the importance of music education for all students. It reminds us that all students deserve to have access to music within our public schools. This is a wonderful time of year where educators are able to display the value that music in the school setting brings to students of all ages, elementary, middle, and high school. Here in our tha public schools, our students have a vast array of musical opportunities. Within the elementary setting, where I live my daily life, students participate in general music where they can explore their interests in music. When students reach the fourth grade, they Oh, I lost my spot. That's never happened before. Oh goodness. Okay. See, I didn't know what was going to come out of me today. And my dad's

078watching and he's probably like, "What is happening after her?" Okay, back on track. When students reach fourth grade, they get the opportunity to join their building's special chorus. Fifth grade becomes a very exciting year as students get to choose to play an instrument and band and strings. When students reach middle and middle school and high school, the musical opportunities just continue to grow and grow. I'm beyond proud today to be an public school's music educator because my cooperating teacher, at the time she was Mrs. Slider, now she is currently Dr. Slater, was our school spotlight tonight. I would not be the music educator I am today without her guidance and support. And I wouldn't have a classroom to teach in if she had not stepped up to become the principal at Indian Creek Elementary School.

079So, it was just amazing to see that come full circle tonight. If you are looking for a music performance to attend during the month of March outside of the elementary honor band performance in the elementary strings um honor performance we have the tha district elementary honor co choir performance next Wednesday March 11th at 7 p.m. in the north auditorium. I didn't know that they were going to talk about that. So look at this coming full circle. I might have had too much caffeine today. I don't know. In addition to sharing about my passion as a music music educator during music in our schools month, I want to share how we can all advocate for public education. March 17th is the lucky to have Kansas public schools rally and lobby day at the Kansas State House.

080Our legislators in Topeka need to be reminded about how lucky we truly are to work in public education. We rally to call on the Kansas legislature to fully fund special education so schools can provide the services students are entitled to receive obviously with sufficient funding. Every child deserves the resources and supports necessary for them to s succeed and our community should not have to make up for the underfunding. We rally to urge the legis legislature to invest in hiring and retaining qualified educators. Strong public schools depend on competitive pay and sustainable working conditions which are our students learning conditions. We rally to ensure the legislature values educator voice and decision-making that directly impacts our classrooms and students. The professionals who serve students every day deserve a meaningful seat at the table because policies are strongest

081when they are shaped by the humans doing the actual work. I hope that you all will join and you all will join us along with public public school educators on March 17th at the Kansas State House for our rally and lobby day. I truly am so thankful and appreciative that I get the opportunity to use my educator voice here during public comment. I look forward to see you seeing you on March 17th wearing your green because we're lucky to work in Kansas public schools. >> Thank you, Miss Briggs. Corey Richmond. All right, good evening. Um, first I want to say congratulations to the esports team. As someone who grew up playing video games, I never thought there would be sports teams in high school playing video games. So, uh, thank you for the opportunity uh,

082to speak tonight. I come to you as a parent and someone who cares deeply about the children in our district. I appreciate your work, the work you do, and the responsibility you carry in making decisions that affect our students. I would like to address the reading of books that include LGBTQ themes to our first graders. First, I want to acknowledge something important. Every child and every family in our community deserves to feel safe, respected, and valued. Our district serves families from many different backgrounds and life situations, and every student deserves to be treated with dignity and kindness. No child should face bullying, harassment, or discrimination based on the makeup of their family. At the same time, first grade is a unique developmental stage. Six and seven-year-olds are still building foundational skills in reading, writing, and

083social understanding. They are they are concrete thinkers, and they look to adults, especially their parents, to guide conversations about complex topics. My concern is not about kindness or respect. Those are values all of us share. My concern is about age appropriateness and parental involvement. There is a difference between teaching children to treat everyone with kindness and and introducing topics that some families believe should be discussed at home first. When books move beyond simple lessons about kindness and begin exploring themes of gender identity or sexuality in ways that require nuance nuanced explanation, we risk stepping into territory that many parents feel is their responsibility to navigate. We should ask a simple question. What is the prim primary educational goal in first grade? It is literacy, phonics, comprehension, and building confidence as readers. I often tell my

084daughter that learning to read is the gateway to all other learning. Once she knows how to read, she can learn anything. That is why those early reading years are so important. They lay the foundation for everything that follows in a child's education. If a book supports those goals while modeling kindness and respect in a simple developmentally appropriate way, many families many families are comfortable with that. But if materials would lead teachers to explain complex identity concepts, we should pause and consider whether that aligns with the cognitive and emotional readiness of six-year-olds. This is not about erasing anyone. It is about balance. I respectfully ask the board to consider three things. First, ensure that materials used in the early elementary classrooms are carefully evaluated for developmental appropriateness. Second, increase transparency so parents know what books are

085being read in class and in libraries and can easily review them. Third, provide reasonable optout options for families who feel certain topics should be addressed at home. Public schools serve a diver our diverse community and we will not always agree but we can commit to mutual respect for families for teachers and for the developmental needs of our youngest learners learners. Our shared goal is simple helping children become strong readers kind classmates and confident learners. Thank you for your time and your service to our children. >> Thank you Mr. Richmond. That concludes our public comments this evening and board will move to action consent items. Items 6.01 to 6.13. I would accept a motion. >> No, you go. >> I move to approve item 6.01 to 6.13 as presented. >> Second. Motion by Mr. Babis. Second

086by Miss Reagan. Mr. Cune, >> yes. >> Mrs. Reagan, >> yes. >> Dr. Urgovich, >> yes. >> Mrs. Steel, >> yes. >> Mr. Babett, >> yes. >> Mr. Boyd, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johan, >> yes. >> Motion passes 70. Action, bids, contracts, agreements, items 7.01 to 7.05. I move to approve actions bids contract 7.01 to 7.06 as presented. >> Second. >> Before we vote on that, I had a couple of questions for Mr. Umprey on item 7.03, the middle school auditorium AB updates. Um I think are you getting a microphone? Are you good? Okay. U first of all, just a clarification, Mr. and what four schools are still yet to be updated? >> Yeah, so good question and and thank you for it. This is actually phase two of a bond of a a bond

087budget plan budget line item that was outlined in in bond 2022. It's California Trail, Chism Trail, Mission Trail, and and Prairie Trail. Uh the upgrades include addressing both the auditoriums, but just through some uh maneuvering and actually some excess funds that we had in the bond, we're actually able to address more than just the AB in the auditoriums. And it included some upgrades in the commons um to both the audio and visual. So adding some visual elements in the common space as well as the main gym as well. Um, so really just a a good upgrade for for all of our buildings and also including some facilities upgrades and some interior work as well as seating and other things that Travis's team gets to do. So, uh, just an overall consistency across all of our

088buildings so that they can operate effectively for whatever event they need to hold. >> Okay, great. In the information you provided, you talked about kind of the connections and kind of flow between the gym and the auditorium and the commons, but there wasn't a mention of the auxiliary gyms. >> Yeah. Kind of going back to the original thought too, originally it was just going to be AV upgrades to just the auditoriums and we were able to add the commons and add the um the main gyms and that was again kind of looking at some funds that we had that were available to to make that happen. And then also how those schools just talking to them and the principles and the facility usage, how how they use those facilities and how really the common space

089is an extension of the auditorium at times. Um, and then also just how important it is to make sure that the the main gym is a primary presentation place for kids and and for other events to make sure that those are they're up to speed. And and I think the auxiliary gyms could be something that we can address moving forward. um you know because we know how those are utilized here as well. But um right now those were those are the best uh things that we could do with the the kind of funds available. >> And then one more clarification question some of the schools probably all of them but I haven't been to performances theater performances at all of them but they have existing technology things like um headset mics that the kids um

090can use during those performances. So, will the existing technology be compatible with the new equipment? >> Yeah, great question. That's always our goal is to utilize equipment that we already have and make sure that it's backwards compatible. And in most cases, we're always able to accommodate that. And in this case, we would for any uh current technology that's supplied by us and in the schools, we can ensure that that can work in tandem. also looking kind of how those schools operate. You know, knowing that there's musicals, there's uh you know, uh choir concerts, band, orchestra, all utilize those spaces. Uh utilizing like inseiling arrays, making sure that that's consistent across the uh um all of the facilities. And then as well as additional lavalier mics so that you can um have more people, more lead

091roles in in a musical setting having access to um direct micing for those students. So, the goal is to make it as great as possible for our kids to make sure that we're trying to think of as much as possible working with, you know, uh, our principles and our teachers to to just create great great spaces for kids where everyone can be heard across no matter where they are in the ensemble or in a lead role. >> Thanks for those responses and for the opportunities for those middle school kids. We see great things with our theater departments at the high school state thespian and it really starts at the younger age with those opportunities. Okay board there is a motion to approve 7.01 to 7.06 >> Mr. Keune >> Miss B. Yes. Chair, Mrs. Reagan.

092>> Yes, >> Dr. Jükovich. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes, >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes, >> Mr. Babbot. >> Yes, >> Mr. Cune. >> Yes, >> Mrs. Johan. >> Yes. >> Did you call my name? >> Dr. Jükovich? >> Yes. The motion passes 70. Um item 8.01 board policy updates and board there's a long list. So whoever reads that motion um is there a motion to approve those changes. I move to approve update updated policies BCBI, BCBJ, BCB K, BE, BL, CN GR A and G C R E as presented. >> Motion by Miss Johan, second by Miss Steel. >> Dr. Yerkovich, >> yes. >> Mrs. Steel, >> yes. >> Mr. Babbot, >> yes. >> Mrs. Reagan, >> yes. >> Mr. Boyd, >> yes. Mr. Keune, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johan, >> yes. >>

093Motion passes 70. Uh, future action items, there are a number of those board listed for next month's meeting. And so, if there are questions uh related to those, please um reach out for that information early enough to get a response before next month's meeting. written reports. Our Head Start director's report is provided as well as our learning services um March report and thank you for the submission for those. Miss Reagan, >> did you have >> No, I sorry. >> Um we are ready for topics for discussion. Mr. Babbot. >> Well, hello. Um, I want to first beat the very tasty horse out there talking about the culinary night at the brand new OPSIC. It was the first time it was served there and it was incredible as always. Uh, there was a great Asian themed

094menu that was served by very knowledgeable first year students while being cooked by the second year, I believe. and it was a great experience as always and I was um very excited to experience it at the new center and um see future ones. Um second, it's uh read across America week as the son of a school librarian who actually taught some of one of the school librarians at this district. Um one of my favorite activities of the year is picking out some ridiculous book and reading it to uh the kids at elementary school kids at Fairview. Um, so that'll that's Friday and I I can't wait. Honestly, it's it's so fun seeing them learn something new and just get excited about it. My son's one of my son's favorite activities is reading and I put

095a lot of that to the librarians that got him there. And thinking about my mom who was a force of nature in life. I just want to recognize March as women's histories month and honor the women in my life and the women on this board for being such a positive influence on me, the district, and the world as a whole. So, thank you all. That's all, >> Miss Dragon. >> All right. Sorry, I had mine on erroneously before. Um, so from all the different things that we've heard about tonight, conversations we're having in the public and in the world, um, it's clear to me that our district, a lot of the people in this room, teachers in our classrooms, people up on this DAS, we are fighting for our kids on a whole lot of

096fronts right now. There are a lot of headwinds facing our district, public schools in Kansas, just a lot going on. And I am so thrilled about the bond because our community chose to support our district. Um, and communities across Kansas chose to support their districts. You know, I I did a little bit of digging and a majority of Kansas school board school districts who had bond initiatives on their ballots um approved those initiatives and that speaks volumes to me. I also know that across Kansas, districts are backfilling the budget shortfall that our legislature has has decided to keep in place the last 15 years. We have backfilled that $440 million as a state of public school districts. And we as a district have transferred how much on our last fiscal business? $44 million. We, you,

097us together, we are invested. Where's the legislature? Why aren't they invested? We are invested. And the passage of the bond, the passage of bonds all over Kansas, um, underscores that for me. Um, going to the 3D expo on I can't remember what day it was. Days are meaningless at this point. um going to that expo at Altha East and seeing those 11th graders presenting their ideas um giving their sales pitch, it was so inspiring. Our kids, they are innovating, they are collaborating, and they are learning how to lead us into the future and they need some help from the folks in Topeka cuz we up here, you out there, you sure as heck are helping them. I mean, I just, you know, our kids are doing great things because of the professionals, the educators, the

098support staff, everybody who is ushering them forward. And I am just getting really tired of our effort not being matched by the folks who serve us in the state capital. Um, and I also want to say that it's really challenging to sit here and to lead when votes in Topeka are undercutting our ability to control what happens in our own district with our own students. Um, local control is extremely important for a lot of reasons and I just I'm grateful for our community more than any of you will ever know. And Tuesday I was in a p I was in a meeting so I couldn't shout when I got the results. But um I'm really proud of us and because I know we have a commitment in our district to our public schools. Guys, we

099got to use our voices to the people who sit up in the state house. And we've got to make sure we show up in November and vote for people who squarely support on the floor in final action public education when they are in the state house. Every single state representative is on the ballot. So I I love our schools. I go to things that are inspiring and all of that, but I just going to those inspiring things motivates me more to beat this drum. We need that support. We need that help. And I am so proud of our district for having um the ongoing government relations presentations so our staff and our community can be fully aware of what is happening under the dome in Topeka. Thanks so much, Mr. Boyd. >> Just have two

100things um this evening. I had the chance to um go to Fair View to read to some fourth graders um this morning and um it was an awesome experience. So, to the Fair View Falcons, thank you for having me. Um, and thank you for showing me your your beautiful building and and being excited um to hear me read to you. Um, the second one, there's an article in the Altha Reporter. Um, first, I want to say thank you to our community for supporting our bond. Um, but there's an article in the Altha Reporter talking about the education that um, our kids get here in this district. And I'm just going to quote one one statement from it. It it says people here support it because it's good and it's good because people support it. And

101you know to me reading the entire article um that didn't that summed it up perfectly. We are in this together and if if one of us fall if we fail we we've all fail and we succeed. We all succeed. So thank you to our community. We couldn't do this without you and we will need you in the future. Thank you >> Miss Steel. >> All right. So, it's a busy season. I too got to read at my alma moater, North View. Um, I was a roadr runner and so I showed them my school picture and they promptly asked me if dinosaurs were roaming the earth when I went to Northview and I so I said yes and we played with them at recess. So there um we also had a ribbon cutting for our innovation

102campus and it was just a beautiful time. We had support from other local districts that are excited for us. Um, we get it in this area that when one district's kids are winning, we're all winning. And it it just there was a special specialness in the room that day. So, that was super exciting. I did get to go to dinner at Finesse. As we all know, Will is the one that always gets the call in the morning they open. But um I don't know, he exercised his prowess and got my husband and I a reservation. So we had date night at Finesse and it was really an amazing wonderful experience. Hey, Will's your man. Um I got to judge debate and forensics, something I didn't know anything about when I was in high school. Um,

103I can tell you these kids, they walk in, they pick a topic for the for the event that I was judging. These are not topics. These are not how to bake cookies. These are intense historical topics. They get five minutes to prep, no notes, and five minutes to present. So, here I am with my notes on my phone. I thought I kind of joked and said, you know, well, at the next board meeting, I'll just go rogue. What could go wrong? Um, but I'm too chicken, so I'm following my notes. They were amazing, amazing kids. I want to shout out that as we are um have asked all of our schools and and our our admin to kind of dig in the couch cushions for every extra quarter you can find that in in the

104district level we're doing that too. And I have been amazed at um Josh Umprey's reports of what is um been um proposed and then what he actually it ends up being in the budget. He is saving gobs of money in our IT department and I'm really really proud and thankful for that and I just want to make sure everyone knows that we're all feeling it the pinch and we're all taking it very seriously. Um, I got to attend our Black History Month celebration of excellence and um, to be in a room full of these uh, changemaking teenagers was awesome. Um, Kathleen Smith, thank you for your work in making sure that everyone in this district, staff and students feel seen and feel like they belong. And I also got to go to the Head Start

105Policy Council meeting which is led by the parents and um, that was just a real joy. they they love their program. They love what that program is doing for their families. And it was just a pleasure to simply sit in on that meeting and and hear them hear them go at it and talk about their personal stories. Um the last thing I want to talk about um is I I'm going to go there. I want to talk about walkouts. And what I want to say about that um our district follows the law. We do not lock children in schools. We're not indoctrinating kids as to the ideology of our ways. And we're not telling them what to think, but we are teaching them how to think for themselves. If you don't want your child to

106participate in a walk out, tell them. And if they do anyway, assess your own consequences at home because our principles in our schools are assessing the appropriate consequences according to our student code of conduct. And yes, this whole DAS, this whole room wants children in school learning. And two things can be true because who says they aren't learning when they make choices such as walking out? Who says our history teachers aren't teaching them the history of sitins and walkouts? Who says our principles aren't assessing consequences? Because freedom of freedom of speech is simply that. It's freedom. Freedom of expression is freedom. But it is not freedom from consequences. And who says our children shouldn't be learning these lessons when they're under our roof as opposed to after they leave us? To the point of one

107of our speakers tonight, parent involvement in how you raise your kids matters. I always wanted my kids making those mistakes at home when they still lived with me so that we could talk about them and we could help help them learn. I want to switch now to our Topeka delegation to still not have a single conversation with us where they want to truly discern the facts of what is happening in our schools for our very own tha delegation to assess threatening costly consequences to districts who have students who decide to walk out truly is an act of fear. fear that our stu students are learning who they are and our stu students are learning who they are not and that it might not be who you want them to be. Don't act in fear. I

108hope nothing less that as we prepare students for their future, we are preparing them to be independent humans in society. So walkouts are not the problem. Students using their voice are not the problem. Students leaving their seats during the school day is actually not the problem. The problem is when adults act on fear and want to punish districts for their students who are learning who they are. I will go so far as to say that Topeka is use utilizing retaliation to districts out of fear and that is wrong. And the last thing I want to address is to the blue in the room, to tha's finest, thank you for being here tonight. In my layman's perspective, you are here because you're preemptively reducing the chance of escalation to the point of violence. When you show

109up to public places where crowds convene, including student led walkouts, you are preemptively reducing the chance of violence. And we need you to partner with us and not wait to be called. That's all I have on walkouts, but I really felt it was important to address some things. And lastly, on a lighter note, thank you to our community for passing the bond. It is going to have reverberations that matter. so much. Congratulations, Mr. Hutcherson. I hope you're not still reciting your bond presentation in your sleep. Thank you. I went because we continually kind of touch on AI. I went to AI and asked them to write me a song thanking the community for passing the bond. And I want to play just a few seconds, but I want you to know this is why we

110should not be going to AI and fully relying on what it produces. >> Our future's looking bright. with all of our might safer schools and learning new things. Think of the joy the future will bring. Thank you all for your helping hand. The best schools in all of the land. >> So you get the idea. AI is not quite ready to be relied on. So thank you everybody. Miss Johan, this is a really good segue actually from for what I was going to say. So, there was a lot of musical things tonight and that was not one that I had on my list. So, um I again also want to say thank you for the community supporting the bond. Thank you for this amazing team for putting everything together to make a most comprehensive package

111for our community, for our students. I really appreciate all the work you guys do every single day today, yesterday, and in the future. Um because of the bond, we'll be able to continue to have amazing music programs and instruments. Um I was able to attend the blues um and barbecue fest at the Northwest at the beginning of the month and just a really spectacular um show. Honestly, those kids are great. That's really cool. Um, in addition to that, kindness week was was really neat. Um, seeing the shirts, one of the best things I've ever done was show up to an elementary school on picture day and greet children and I got to do that with Claire and Stacy and I think I think that was just a really good way to start your day. So,

112anyway, high fives and smiles and combed hair or not combed hair. Um, it was a really really nice morning. Everybody's mentioned the innovation campus. I've I think I've been there four times this month already um for various things and it's just a really cool space. Um Mr. Humphrey uh let my children um play um in the room and that was a lot of fun for them too when we did the open house night. um and conferences were actually this month. And so it was it was a nice opportunity to reflect on on what the year started um where we're at now and um also just a thank you to all the teachers for taking the time in their evenings to to get together to meet with parents to share feedback and and really really um

113hopefully make parents feel proud of their kiddos. Um, and then finally, um, before the end of this month, we'll have the foundation's taste of the town. And that's just always a fantastic time, and I was really excited to see some of the support already tonight for the Braden Robertson Fund, and I'm looking forward to it. So, that's all that I have. And I have no song, so thank you, Julie, for that. I do not have a song either. Um, that's a tough act to follow, but I will add my appreciation to the OA public school community um for their support and trust uh demonstrated through passing the bond and to Mr. Hutcherson and senior leadership team who did numerous presentations um in our buildings and community as well. their future is our future and we

114look forward as a school community uh to continuing to provide opportunities for our students. You have sensed and seen frustration um tonight related and in response to the legislative update and it is real. Um, we as a board, we as district staff understand challenges in decision-m where to spend funds, how to allocate staff, balancing the budget. However, there is money in the state to fund fully fund special education and the domino effect for school districts cutting staff and resources directly impact all students. and those in the in Topeka who have um the power, if you will, um the responsibility to make those decisions are choosing not to. Adding to those frustrations are the number of senators and representatives who have chosen to focus on micromanaging school districts, making decisions and proposing policies that address topics

115that have either already been addressed through pro policy such as cell phones um or in response to events or situations that school staff and leadership are qualified to manage and have managed and will continue to manage in an appropriate way. As Miss Steele has talked about tonight, I think most disappointing is that these individuals are not communicating with school districts or school district leadership to gain an understanding of the situation. And I don't believe there is anyone currently in either chamber who has served in a school district of over 28,000 students or perhaps even as a principal in a building nearing 2,000 students. That being said, there are individuals in Topeka currently serving who are great supporters of public education and are working hard and consistently communicating with those of us in this room and

116other school districts and do support the students of Kansas. And to those individuals, I would say thank you. Thank you for your service, for your consistency in leadership. To change the subject, um I have a a shout out this evening. I got a call or actually returned a call today. I had a conversation with a retired tha public school employee. Um she worked in the district for 39 years at several junior highs and middle schools serving kids lunch. and she reached out to just share words of support to her family, her words. Um, referring to THA public schools. Um, and so it was a bright spot in my day. Um, and so I'm just going to give a shout out to Maggie and thank her for making that call and catching up today. Again, I'll

117close with a thanks to all who supported tha public schools um the last few weeks in the many communications that were provided and specifically through um the bond issue. >> Dr. Jagger. >> So, I will uh quickly just hop right on the bond train as well um and thank our community and our staff for their engagement around bond 2026. Um, we recognize the responsibility that comes with uh our public trusting us with tax dollars to do amazing things for our community and we appreciate that support so much. Um, John has already been recognized a number of times, but I'm going to go one step further and ask John to stand up. Um, what I didn't say sit down yet. So here's here's he's going to kill me. But here's here's one thing you may or

118may not know about John. So so one is an exciting piece and one's not exciting. But John has uh managed 10 successful bond campaigns in his professional career which is really something to celebrate not just here but also in the St. Louis area as well. So uh that's a huge testament. Um so that's good. We can celebrate that. So that's great. >> The part we might not celebrate is he shared with us this morning when our senior team was meeting that this may be his last bond referendum. So we're not going to clap for that, John. But um truly a thanks to you, John, for for your leadership and work with it and to our whole senior team that that does You can sit down now. Thank you. Um and and and everyone that has

119done so much to support that. You know, the thing that I so appreciate about our district, and it's always been this way since I've been here almost 20 years, is we will go anywhere and talk to anybody about what's important for our system. And uh that includes, you know, community civic groups, that includes people's family rooms, whatever it is, you know, we're willing to do that. And and it really does take a team approach. So, kudos to everyone. And then a special shout out to our communications uh division also, uh Becky and Aaron and Tony and the team. They they really did a great job of not only sharing information out, educating our community, but if you were on the district Facebook page, you also noticed that they were popping in at a pretty regular

120clip to say, "Hey, here's an interesting piece of information or go to this link or do you want somebody to call you like that took a lot of work and so appreciate all the all the work that you did with that." So, so much um so much uh to celebrate around the bond and we needed positive news this week. So that's been a great thing. Um with the bond though comes a tremendous amount of work ahead and and you all know that as part of the bond we um will officially talk about consolidating four schools into two. But um as you know Dr. McMullen will kick off our um task force in the next month or so that we'll talk about that. But the thing that the bond kind of reemphasized for me is there

121is no better place to have hard conversations and work through tough things than the public schools. And that's a testament, you know, to our community, our staff, but also our board of education right now who, um, does such a great job of managing really challenging things. So, um, just not a better place to go through some of the hard things. The innovation campus, ribbon cutting, that's been mentioned a couple times tonight. Man, it's just so cool like to go there and, you know, experience the young people. We had a student who spoke that night, um, who that day, sorry. Um, incredible. And it's all the reasons why we did what we did there. But Mrs. Steele, I think, mentioned this, but we had neighboring school districts there. Our institutions of higher education were there. There

122is truly a buzz about what this district has done right there that not only I think will serve tha and our community, but really serve as an example in our region for what can be done um for students. So, so proud of that. Last week was public schools week. Um it's not this week, but it was last week, so we need to celebrate it. Um, public schools are incredibly important to to everything that that happens in in our country and the opportunities that our young people have and really preparing all of us for what's await awaits us someday. So, lots of other special recognitions this month that have been mentioned, music in our schools month. Um, we've had a whole music celebration already tonight, which is fantastic. Um, National Athletic Training Month. So, we uh

123have great athletic trainers that work with our folks and our kids to keep them safe. theater in our schools month. Um, a lot to be proud of in our theater programs in tha and national middle level education month. So, um, those people that work in our middle schools are some kind of special and we are so appreciative of them as we celebrate them. Uh, this month it's also youth art month. So, um, we're getting close here. And then, um, March 1st through 7th is National Social Workers Week. And then finally, a really important one is uh March 3rd through April 3rd, and that's our own USD 233 PAR appreciation week. And um our pair professionals serve such an important role for us in our schools um and so appreciate them. And then the last thing

124is spring break is getting really close uh now. Um we uh hope our community and our staff has a great spring break and we ask our students to make wise decisions while they're not at school those days. So uh that's what I have tonight. Mr. Babot, >> I just wanted to say thank you. Oppy, >> could you sing the song? >> All right, board. Thank you for comments um this evening. Item 13.01 01 is our first executive session this evening and we will need 50 minutes 50 minutes. I move to go into executive session for consultation with an attorney or the body or agency pursuant to the exception for matters which would be deemed privilege in the attorney client relationship under coma and that the board return to the regular meeting at 8:30 p.m. in

125this room. Second >> motion by Miss Steel. Second by Miss Reagan. >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cune. >> Yes. >> Mr. Babbot. >> Yes. >> Dr. Jükovich. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johan. >> Yes. >> Motion passes 70. No one said no. Okay board, um, we are ready for action item 14.01 following the executive session. Do we have a motion? >> I move for the board to resolve the matter involving student JL. >> Second. Motion by Mr. Boyd, second by Mr. Cune. >> Mr. Babbot, >> yes. >> Mr. Ke, >> yes. >> Mr. Boyd, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Steel, >> yes. >> Mrs. Reagan, >> yes. >> Dr. Jurgovich, >> yes. >> Motion passes 70. >> Item 15.01, another

126executive session for 15 minutes. I move that the board go into executive session for the purpose of discussing individual personnel performance for non-elective personnel under coma and that the board return to the regular meeting at 8:55 >> 8:55 p.m. in this room >> motion by Miss Reagan second by Miss Steel >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johan. >> Yes. >> Dr. Jükovich. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cune. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johan. >> Oh, me again. >> Sorry. Sorry. And Mr. Babett. >> Yes. >> Motion passes 70. Yeah, I can go. I was