February 2026 Olathe Public Schools Board of Education Meeting

001Good evening to everyone in the room and those who are watching via YouTube from home to our February 2026 board meeting and we have uh lots of people in the room to recognize tonight. So that's really exciting. But we are going to start with role. Miss Beam, >> Mr. Babbot >> here. >> Mr. Boyd >> here. >> Mrs. Johan >> here. >> Mr. Cun >> here. >> Mrs. Reagan >> here. >> Mrs. Steel >> here. >> Dr. Jükovich >> here. Tonight we have an eighth grader from Mission Trail Middle School, Delaney Smith. Delaney is a cadet in the Civil Air Patrol program. So, thank you for being here to lead us in the pledgece to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,

002indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Delaney, thank you. And break a leg tonight. She's leaving here to go back to Mission Trail. She's in the play. So hopefully you don't hit that train going back that direction. Last month, uh, we swore in our returning reelected board members. And as you may recall, Becky Johan joined us remotely last month. So, we are going to swear her in in person tonight. So, Miss Johan, if you'd like to go to the front, >> right in the middle. >> This is what I get. In accordance, therefore, with the said Kansas statutes, would Mrs. Johan, please raise your right hand, and after hearing the oath of office, respond collectively by saying, "I do." Do you solemnly swear that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the

003Constitution of the State of Kansas, and faithfully discharge the duties of member of Board of Education, Unified School District 233. So, help you God. >> Thank you. Congratulations. And you have some family members here this evening. >> VIPs. So >> yeah. Okay. Smile right here. Board item 2.0. 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. and recognitions and awards, Miss Grubball. >> Yes. Well, welcome everyone. We're excited to have our guests here tonight. And to begin our

004recognitions, we are honored to recognize the University of Kansas Health System and THA Hospital. At this time, I'd like to invite THA Public Schools Director of Community Development, Heather Skunover, and THA Public Schools Foundation's Molly Groby to the front. THA public schools applauds the vision and long-standing support the University of Kansas Health System brings to our school community and tonight we recognize members of the OMC team who have been instrumental in this partnership. Please come forward as I call your name. Tammy Peterman, president of the Kansas City region, chief operating officer and chief nursing officer. Jason Hanigan, president of THA hospital. Mike Jensen, Chief Strategy Officer, Southwest Kansas City Market, and Laura McCarthy, Vice President of Public and Community Relations. For 27 years, the University of Kansas Health System and Altha Hospital have been a

005premier partner to our district, supporting students, staff, and families through a wide range of programs. Their contributions to the student health emergency fund provide critical resources such as prescriptions, eyeglasses, medical equipment, walk-in care, and sports physicals, as well as vision screening equipment for our health department. The health system also supports health education and wellness through substance abuse prevention, fentinel awareness, healthy lifestyle initiatives, and districtwide family day. They are consistent supporters of the foundation's Taste of the Town event, benefiting the Braden Robertson Student Mental Health Fund, and they invest in our four-year career pathway programs through equipment funding and student professional learning opportunities. A cornerstone of this partnership is care for our student athletes. Through five full-time on-site certified athletic trainers at our high schools, students receive exceptional injury prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation support. Altha hospital

006staff is al also support families facing socioeconomic challenges including providing health screenings and information at the annual back- to-school outreach event. A true highlight is the beam program bridging education and medicine which connects secondary students to careers in healthcare through physician panels, career nights, internships and externships, mentorship and volunteer opportunities. Additional collaborations include mobile integrated health services for underinsured families and support for the Miracle League of THAA, expanding access to baseball for students with disabilities. We are deeply grateful for this remarkable partnership and its lasting impact on our students and community. Please join me in recognizing Thank you. Next, we have the Mayor's Children's Fund Board here to tell us about their 2025 campaign. Every penny they raise stays right here in our community to meet the basic needs of THA children. And at this

007time, I'd like to introduce THA Mayor John Bacon and board members Harlon Parker and Brent McHune. Thank you all for allowing us to visit with you tonight for a little bit. Uh, THA has had a lot to celebrate here recently, and I'm excited to be here to celebrate one of the most amazing things that accomplish year after year. Once again, THA students, parents, teachers, and administrators have come together to be the largest donor of the THA Mayor's Children's Fund. Through the Pennies for Shoes campaign, THA schools raised $36,156.14 this last year. Every penny of this campaign will go to the Center of Grace Children's Shoe Fund. This money will help students get a pair of shoes that fit their need and their feet. Not only that, they get to go to the store and pick

008out their very own new pair of shoes. Last year, this fund helped purchase shoes for 1,252 kids. We're grateful uh to the Center of Grace for helping make this program possible and to Heather Skoonover for helping ensure that the students who need the program get the help. So, and a thank you goes especially to the public schools for your leadership and support of this campaign. Thank you to the principles and the teachers who have all stepped up as champions of this effort. We know it's a lot of work to organize so many kids and keep track of so many coins. We recognize this camp this campaign couldn't be so successful without your support. So, thank you for your time, your passion, and for the incredible example you set for your students. I'd also like to

009thank the Mayor's Children's Fund board for all of the work they do on this fund. Here tonight to announce the schools who raised the most money for Pennies for Shoe this year is board members Harlon Parker and Brent McHune. And I also wanted to recognize a couple others that are here tonight. Kathy Hutchinson is the back. 108 and Bev Flores. Thank you guys. And I didn't see any others, but thank you all for being here. So, at this time, we'll announce the schools. Har. So, I wanted to bring along a jug for a little show and tell. So, these are the jugs that uh we distribute to all of the schools, all of the elementary, middle schools, and high schools, and the other buildings. So, the fund's been we've been doing pennies for shoes since

0102011. Since 2011, the fund has raised $399,295.92. Next year, we'll cross the $400,000 threshold. We would like to thank Dr. Jill Smith. Dr. Smith serves on our board and she's our leazison with this with the public schools and the the principles. Uh we'd like to thank all of the principles. As the mayor mentioned, principles are really busy. They got a lot of work to do, but the principles support this uh effort every year. Um, and we're so we're so appreciative and supportive of of what the the principles do to help us. We also want to thank the teen committee. There's a teen committee that's a part of the board for their support in the high schools. And we want to thank Enterprise Bank. All of these jugs, $36,156.14 of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, and

011a few dollar bills mixed in, end up in a in a room at the Enterprise Bank. And it takes a day, one full day for them to count and balance the books to make sure that everything is is accounted for. Uh so we we appreciate their work as well. So this evening, we want to announce the winners and uh Brent McHune's going to help me hand out our award. It's a tennis shoe appropriately. So, Manchester Park Elementary principal Jenny Steele. Come on, Jenny. So, so Manchester Park raised $3,955.94, which is $6.55 a student. >> Thank you. I think we want to do Our middle school winner is Chism Trail once again backto back principal Rick Sola $3,62659 $6.17 per student and Rick always helps us carry out the jugs. which we appreciate. >> And our

012inner winner high school division is the East High School with student council sponsor Brianna Francis. Here to recognize $4,1502, $2.3 per student. Can we get a picture of all the winners then? >> Yeah. One, two, three. Uh so so thank you and uh we'll be back. >> Thank you. One of our favorite things to recognize each year. I would now like to invite emergency medical services teacher Greg Bergman along with Amy Stoles, career and technical education administrator and Jennifer Barnum, assistant administrator up to the front. Tonight we are proud to recognize Mr. Bergman who was named one of the 32 statewide winners of the Kansas Department of Education's Horizon Award. Mr. Bergman brings 32 years of Johnson County EMS experience to his role. In 2022, he retired as a division chief of operations from MedAct.

013He got his start in high school, similar to his students now, picking up certifications on his way to paramedic training at Johnson County Community College. After retiring, Mr. Bergman began work as a substitute teacher, which led him to where he is today. The Kansas Horizon Award program identifies and recognizes exemplary firstear teachers who perform in a way that distinguishes them as outstanding. Each school district in the state may nominate one elementary classroom teacher and one secondary classroom teacher. And from there, district finalists are eligible to win at the state level, which Mr. Bergman did. Please join me in congratulating Mr. Bergman on this amazing accomplishment. Thank you. Next, I would like to invite Drew Smith from Northwest High School up to the front along with his principal, Chris Suk, and athletic director, Mr. Dian. Mr.

014Smith was named the National Federation of State High School Association's 2425 section 5 girls tennis coach of the year. This award denotes his status among the most elite coaches in his section. He was specifically nominated by the Kansas State High School Activities Association to receive this award and was confirmed as the most deserving recipient. Honores were selected based upon their performance in the 24-25 school year lifetime community involvement, school involvement, and philosophy of coaching. You may recall, but the Ravens won the 6A girls tennis state championship title for the first ever championship in either boys or girls tennis in district history during the 2024 season. And then they went on to win the state championship again in 2025. So, please join me in congratulating Drew on this well-deserved honor. And rounding out our recognitions tonight,

015I'd like to invite Rebecca Ibara, Altha South High School senior, along with her principal, Dr. Sha Demery, and Kathleen Smith, director of culture and belonging, up to the front. This year was the 25th annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. contest, a longtime arts competition for students in partnership with the city of THA, Human Relations Commission, Garmin, and THA public schools. This year's theme was love, pulled from Dr. King's quote, "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend." The contest is full of beautiful artwork and written pieces, and there are several awards given out for different categories. And at the end, a best of show winner is selected. And this year's best of show went to Rebecca, who was recognized for her multimedia submission titled You Belong Here. With Rebecca's

016permission, we will show her award-winning video tonight. Let's take a moment to watch. scene unfolding here in New York City. Federal authorities, including ICE agents, conducting a crackdown late today. >> Gets who say that these workers are just trying to make a living. Last week, Judge Ellis said she has serious concerns about immigration agents not following her court order on the use of tear gas and body cameras. and data shows that a majority of them do not have a criminal record. >> My goal has been get good grades, take all the AP courses that I can take. Even right now with a whole college degree, I feel like I've done everything that I needed to do, but yet just because of my status, I'm still not enough. >> What is enough? We say it like

017it's simple. Enough money, enough buildings, enough space, but no one ever really knows what it means. Because how do you measure a person's worth? How do you measure love? Dr. King once said, "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend." And I think about that when I see families being torn apart. When I see people who've come here just to raise a family and work to feed their kids, being treated like they don't belong anywhere. We say we're protecting something, but what are we really protecting? our fear, our comfort, our walls. We use violence and call it justice. We take people away and call it order. But it's not justice to break a heart. It's not justice to break apart families. What is enough? Maybe it's not about how much

018we have, but how much we're willing to give. Maybe enough is a hand that reaches out. A word that says you belong here. It doesn't matter if you don't share the same language. We share the same world because love doesn't need to be big to be real and shown. Dr. King said, "I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great of a burden to bear. Choosing love even if it's difficult towards your beliefs. One open door. One moment of seeing someone for who they are and not where they came from. That is love. And that is enough. Heat. Thank you, Miss Gerba. And again, congratulations, Rebecca. We will start with our presentations. And the first one tonight, uh, Mr. Scott McFarland, principal at Mission Trail Middle School, and he's joined, it looks with

019by with uh Eric Griffin. Congratulations to both of you. Thank you for being here tonight. >> Well, thank you. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to share a little bit about Mission Trail and thanks for allowing me to follow that presentation. Uh my name is Scott McFarland and I'm the proud principal at Mission Trail Middle School. I'm joined here by Eric Griffin. Uh Eric joined the administration team last year, but is not new to Mission Trail as he opened the building as the band director in 2010. Eric serves as our athletics and activities director and overseas sixth grade and half of seventh grade. Heather Rice is the other member of our team, but is unable to make it tonight. Heather has been at MT the past three years and serves as our CNI and oversees

0208th grade and half of seventh grade. And I was worried a little bit about this, so I am of this age. I'm sorry to say, way better. Okay, as mentioned before, Mission Trail opened their doors in 2010 under the leadership of Dr. John or Dr. Jim McMullen. He along with Dr. Relle Waters, his successor, laid an incredible foundation for what the school has become. We want to thank both of them for estab establishing such a wonderful school. And even if Dr. Waters wasn't my direct boss, I'd still say that. All right. We began this year with a large emphasis on being intentional. intentional with time, intentional with resources, intentional with building positive relationships with stu with students, staff, and community members. With this in mind, in looking at some research coming out of TNTP, our

021focus turned to creating a sense of belonging. As you can see from their research, TNTP has five factors of economic and social mobility. But within each of those five factors, there's a core value of belonging. So tonight, we're going to share three different areas where we have put our focus with community, with staff, and with students. Two really important and special groups at Mission Trail are our father's club and our PTO. We have a great group of dads that join us every Friday, welcoming students as they enter the building with a fist bump. This may sound like a simple thing to do, but the impact it has on the culture and climate of the school is amazing. Periodically, they will hand out candy canes, suckers, and sometimes even Chick-fil-A sandwiches, which is clearly a crowd

022favorite. For our night football game this year, they grilled up hot dogs and played several intense games of bags at our annual tailgate. Our wonderful PTO provides many opportunities for both our students and staff. They provided staff with a hot chocolate bar, sent staff home with homemade cookies, provided food during the long days of conferences, and even provided a wrapping service for staff to bring their purchased Christmas gifts to be wrapped and ready to go for Christmas. This was certainly a gift of time, and also just a really good idea. Their service doesn't stop with just our staff. They've provided numerous opportunities for our students to enjoy activity nights of pickle ball and DJs as well as outings at at area activity centers. I can truly say that both of these groups have provided a

023sense of belonging for our staff and students and we appreciate their dedication to our school. I'm now going to turn it over to Mr. Griffin to talk a little bit about PBIS. Thank you. Mission Trail is among the schools in the last cohort to implement our district-wide PBIS program. I know you've heard other schools present PBIS in the past, but to refresh your memory, our system of positive behavior, intervention, and supports is based on four tenants. Number one, identify and teach expectations. Secondly, reinforce and acknowledge desired behaviors. Have a plan for unwanted behaviors. And lastly, to use database decisions to guide our efforts toward helping our kids be their best. During the 2024 2025 school year, a team of six mission trail staff members worked under the watchful guidance of Dr. Will McDow, our PB

024PBIS coach, to design our program in the way that best fits our school community. Before this school year started, Dr. Joerger challenged all administrators in our schools, all in the same room, to do PBIS right. And I'd like to tell you now about how we are doing exactly that. At Mission Trail, we are the Timberwolves. So the expectations we identify and teach are built on the theme of wolf packs. That acronym helps teach our kids to be prepared for learning, accountable for their choices, to be kind to everyone at our school, and to be safe in all choices. Prior to the beginning of this school year, our PBIS team created video lessons that our whole staff has used from the very first week of school this year to teach our students how to apply these

025PAX principles to their school day in all the locations and settings they experience throughout their day. Reinforcing and acknowledging desired behaviors is all about our teachers making positive connections with all our students. This is done in a variety of ways, but one of the most tangible ways is to reward our students with reward tokens we call den dimes. When they are seen being especially prepared, accountable, kind, or safe, all staff, including teachers, paraprofessionals, office staff, and even our food serving staff are empower are all empowered to reinforce and acknowledge positive behavior in our students. Students save and collect these reward tokens and have the opportunity once a week to trade them in for snacks, reward experiences such as assisting our school resource officer, requesting a song to be added to a lunch music playlist, or

026purchasing a mystery bag of items donated by our staff. It has been extremely wellreceived by our students who look forward to seeing what treasures await them in the pack store every week. The impact we are experiencing is significantly positive. Our administrative team monitors teacher reported behavior data daily in our schoolwide information system or SWIS and our PBIS team continues to meet monthly to examine behavior data, pinpointing where and how we can most effectively apply our efforts to revisit, retach, and reinforce our expectations. Moving forward, we are working to build on our initial successes, taking advantage of the same successes experienced by our fellow schools that have already implemented PBIS, but building our own story and culture of students who are prepared, accountable, kind, and safe timberwolves. We have many more ways in which we positively

027engage our students at Mission Trail. And I'd like to invite back Mr. McFarland to tell you about some of them. All right. Lastly, we wanted to talk about the clubs that are offered at Mission Trail. We know the importance of getting students involved at school and we of course have the traditional sports and activities that are offered at the middle level throughout the district, but we are particularly proud of the other outside activities we have to offer. Our goal, as you heard earlier, was to have students come in and present to you about the clubs that are that they're involved in. But with two basketball games and a school play this evening, uh many of our students were unable to make it. So instead, we have a video to share of students talking about the

028various clubs we have to offer. >> Hi, my name is Lola. Um I'm Meredith and I'm McKenna. We're in K Club. Um, we're involved in K Club and I chose to join K Club in sixth grade because it really gets you involved in your community and it gets you I mean they offered us with field trips and all but you definitely get to meet a lot of new friends. I've gotten close with a lot of people and you get involved a lot. It's like community service almost. Um, I've grown as a leader because it helps you just be a better role model for other people in the clubs, but also for your communities and just helping out really gives you like a help for that. Um, this club helps with your sense of belonging. Everybody

029is just super kind and everybody includes everyone and you just feel really involved. My name is Cruz. >> I'm Isabella. I'm Meredith. And we are in Sources of Strength. Um, I chose to participate because it teaches you about mental and physical health and it's just really important for your well-being and learning about and having good community to be. My friend is a leader because I learned stuff about like how my friends would feel if I said this or that to them or just like how words affect feelings. Well, the club helps with your sense of belonging. Why? like you always have to like do stuff and you get to like participate every day and do it and it's just like fun. You make a lot of friendships and everything. >> Hey there, I'm Eric Radcliffe

030and I'm in PEP club. >> This club helps with your sense of belonging because I'm personally a new student to Mission Trail. It helped me get integrated with the community and start figuring out who people were. helped me get out to like basketball games, meet the team, meet the players, and it just lets us all come together as a sense to represent school spirit as a whole. For Mission Trail, I've grown as a leader because I've been doing this ever since school started and it's really helped me come out and express myself more when it comes to school spirit, as a person, as a leader especially, and just really made me feel more welcome to mission trip. Hello, I'm Americano and I'm in chess club. I chose to participate in chess club because there are

031friends there that I know and also other people I know that can I can just make friends and I also um I also chose that because there's competition and it's also friendly and just nice to be around people that actually know what to do. I'm Jackson. I'm in math counts. And this club has made me feel more confident because it's helped me connect with friends and uh it's helped me make new friends because I've connected with people that have the same interests as me. Hi, I'm Juliet and I'm in Lego League and it helps me feel more confident because uh we do a project and we have to present and um it makes us more confident because we have to talk to the judges and tell them why we picked this and how we did

032it. I chose to participate because my uncle runs the club and I love robotics. >> I'm Spencer Bergman. Um, weren't science bump yet? We chose to join science bump yet because we we both like science a lot. Um, some of the benefits are like you get to learn some leadership skills. So like everybody has like an event that they do or there's like some team events that you can do and then you have to like work it out and try to like build stuff. Uh it creates a sense of belonging because uh I've been I've always been interested in science and I like like learning about different reactions and stuff and uh there's not a lot of people that do that. But in science um I am with people who like do the same sort

033of stuff. They they they're all interested in science. >> I'm I'm Eric Levano and I'm in a video game club. Um, the club makes me have fun because I make more friends in video in video game club. Um, the club helps me along by having my friends with me and we're just playing together and like having fun. I'm involved in fishing club because um, one, fishing is like one of my favorite sports. It's relaxing and why not be able to hang out with your friends outside. When you don't catch a fish, it like makes you sad, but then you know that you can catch one another time. I'm involved in cube club in the library on Fridays. I thought it would be fun to make a club where like you could learn how to solve

034a Rubik's cube and like do challenges with my friends. You can learn how to solve a Rubik's cube and also it's a fun start to the morning. Involved in disc golf club um after school on Thursdays because a lot of my friends were in it and it seemed fun to do. I got to play music and play disc golf and just walk around with my friends and get some exercise in and I got Starbucks after. >> Nikki and I'm in sixth grade and I did the double digit book club and I think it's really fun. So if you do like the paper and you do like 10 books each um quarter, you can go into the library for for wolf time. So, that's something I look forward to. And I can like go with my

035friends and hang out. And um during the week, one time a week, we get a donut party and that's really fun. I've made a couple friends and some of my friends from um my other school came to double digit book club. So, it's been really fun playing games with them. You can like play games, read, and help Miss Bishop with like all a bunch of library things. >> Hi, I'm Ari. I am an FCA. Um, I chose to participate because a few of my friends were doing it and I was like, "Okay, cool." And I was in sixth grade and I was just like I wanted to be a part of something and then I decided to be a leader. So, it's like you just lead the the kids and you do pre- prayer. But

036I've grown as a leader. I used to just like not want to talk, but then I've done like my testimonies and I've like talked way more in front of people and did pre- prayer. All right, that's all we had for you. We appreciate the time um to share a little bit about Mission Trail. Thank you. >> All right. Be before you step away board, any questions, comments? Well, just as a father of a fifth grader about to become a sixth grader, not at Mission Trail, but I'm a little overwhelmed by the amount of stuff you have for the kids, it's really going to be exciting to see him do it, and I just wanted to express how cool it is that you have such a wide swath of clubs and inclusive events for everybody. So,

037that's great. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. >> I have a question of that actually because some of the clubs mentioned are pretty universal at all middle schools. So, how are the others identified and who works with the kids? What What does that look like? >> We kind of put it out there for staff. Uh we knew we were wanting to add a few more ways for our kids to get involved. Uh and so we put it out to staff if you were wanting to sponsor a club, if you have some good ideas and the availability, uh the time to put into it, uh we would certainly take those proposals. Um, and so that's where many of the like the fishing club and the disc golf club, those types of things just came from staff members

038who have a passion about it and uh wanted to work work with kids and have have a good time. >> Great. All right. Thank you both for being here tonight and for sharing this student video. >> Thank you. Stuart Little has joined us this evening um to give us some updates on the legislative progress. What do I need to do? Uh good evening. Um happy to be here. We uh will give you an update of where we are in the legislative session. Um happy to answer questions uh whenever you want to do that. We are two weeks away today from the first half end of the first half of the regular session. They'll come back for five more weeks and be done at the end of March. So things are moving very quickly. We are

039probably three to four weeks ahead of where we normally are in the pace of the schedule. And there's plenty to talk about. There's plenty of stuff uh to put into reports. You'll get a written report with sometime in the next 24 hours on what I'm talking about here tonight once we figure out what else happens um tomorrow. But there's a lot of things going on. in particular, leg committees have to finish hearing bills by next Friday. And so there's a giant backlog of of bills coming. Uh real quickly, the the goal from leadership of the legislature was to be cut property taxes, avoid controversy, and move quickly. And we're moving quickly. um that we do have elections for all members of the house and for the governor's race uh coming up in the fall and

040so that kind of politics is is shapes a lot of what's happening there and sometimes some of the decision-m we're in also in the midst of the budget process the we've talked about before the legislators begun writing their own budget so we're ahead of where we uh were normally in the budget I'll talk a little bit later about uh specifically the K12 budget, but they the the House full committee of the House is about to take up the budget next week. The full committee of the Senate will take theirs up on Monday. And so by the end of next week, we'll have a budget bill and and um I'll talk about kind of what specific contents in there. U things that we've spent a lot of time and energy on uh through fast committee work.

041And this is just a couple of the highlights. I I put on here something we weren't anticipating, but substitute for Senate Bill 244, which is the the issue of designating multi occupancy bathrooms. I'm sure you've seen the reports about those kinds of things. And that's that is uh went through a procedural process where there weren't hearings and it was sent through very quickly. It's gone to the governor. It is anticipated the governor will veto it and so it'll come back again. implications for us is is for any public entity, a school or uh local government to to have constraints put on what kind of facilities you'll be able to have. Um cell phone bill fast and furious came out. We had bills that were endorsed by the governor and bipartisan group and kind of nothing

042much has happened in the last two weeks. Had a hearing on one. The house has the hearing on their bill tomorrow. I think because the senate never moved a bill. the house is doing their own now. Um the bill that was introduced is a bellto bell ban and we provided testimony and we will again tomorrow on the work that you all did with the community to come up with the right cell phone policy for you and we're trying to convey that message. So that's still in the works. Something will pass. I don't know what it will look like but this is one thing that I think everybody wants to get passed. Um a couple of election bills we've been keeping an eye on. one of them's past. They both have to do with in some

043ways limiting uh you all's capacity to to engage in things like ballot questions and those kinds of issues and then moving your elections into even numbered years. So you'd be about four pages down on a uh presidential race and those kind of things sometimes. Um, we do have bills that are expanding the the scholarship program which is for non-public schools and it's connected to the uh the federal uh scholarship program that was passed as part of the big budget bill last summer which provides both a federal uh tax credit which would go to the state with the state tax credit. There's some effort going uh into trying to um put some parameters around interaction with students in terms of uh mental health services. And there's a bill that's pretty broad in terms of uh parental

044consent and at what point does that happen? And there's a lot there there's some very deep distinctions between, you know, working with a a kid to do something in a class and and to help them and someone who's getting clinical counseling and those kind of things. And those are some things that we're in the midst of working through and had a hearing and had some amendments on the bill. It's not done and it's not quite right yet in my opinion. Uh free lunch verification. This is something that's popped up with a couple of other federal related things, but there's a bill, Senate Bill 387 that was introduced. We had a hearing on it last week, variety of testimony about um the bill was requires uh verification of every student who is uh qualifying for at

045risk. And right now we're required by federal law to do no more than 3% of the of those kids, those families. And this would apply it to to every kid. And that has a a significant investment in resources and time. And it's also against the federal law. So, what they did was they modified the bill in committee and um they've kind of flipped it around and they're going to try to uh collect that same information from every kid that is at risk. Not a kid that at free lunch. I don't know how that's going to work. It's sitting there waiting to get uh worked on, but it is uh many of these things have kind of come up and they're waiting a little bit. Now, I'll talk about Anybody have any questions? I was I

046was just going to mention quickly we've been doing some work based on the free lunch verification that Dr. Little just mentioned and we believe in our district we'd have to add probably three to four staff members to get that accomplished somewhere between 200 and $250,000 of a year of additional funding just to comply with doing that verification that the that the law has talked about at this point. >> And is there any chance it would save the amount of money it would cost? Let's just say no. Um, >> I I would say that at this point it's too hard to tell to be honest with you. I I don't think the intent is probably to yield more funding for um our schools and and what have you. >> What? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Well,

047and honestly, we don't know quite what this is yet when particularly when it was amended and how you would go about doing that. I think it's important to note though that there there's something bigger underlying dealing with this issue and that has to do with the fact that at risk funds for public schools are generated by the number of families that are and students that are at risk and that's how the school finance formula determines and calculates at risk money that then goes out to schools and the at risk money that that we and all other school districts that does not even match what you all are spending on at risk kids. It's kind of like you're having to spend more on special ed. You're having to spend more on at risk. And this raises

048the issue of is this the right way to count kids and that's related to we're going to write a school finance formula and are we going to change the whole nature of how we generate at risk dollars. So it's got longer term issues as well as just what this might mean right now to implement. Um, real. Yeah, >> that cool. Can I >> Yeah. Um, well, and also the idea that we have to verify this information means that more people are going to have access to the information as well cuz I imagine we're having to share that with the state or whomever. And, you know, then you've got to think about the way the waitings have come in and whatnot this year. you know, families who need to be checking the box for the things

049they need may not be checking the box. And I just if you not you, if if people who are making these decisions continue to put some sort of label, marker, extra hoop to jump through for those who are most vulnerable in our state. I mean what are we telling people about about our willingness to meet them where they are? This is not so much a question for you Dr. Little. I just clearly this is a frustr I think there is other undercurrents under these types of things as well. >> And it's essentially calling them lawyers, >> right? >> Um I'll talk about special education now. Um so where where um we are in the process um the obviously the conversation about how do you get to 92% of uh for school districts there was uh

050at the end of last year and I don't want to get all super nerdy budgety but there the because of uh reduced enrollment last year there was there were savings from uh that were uh savings of about I think in two different pots of money about $150 million that uh was um lapsed essentially through the budget process. So we there was enough money that there was 150 million left over and the legislature in their budget committee in the fall um essentially agreed with uh lapsing those dollars and so those went away. So ideally, some of the conversation we had in the fall and going into the legislative session was that's a perfect almost exact amount to fund getting back up to 92%. But um and KSD, the Department of Education actually put that in their

051final budget request to fund that amount. The governor recommended $50 million and then as of yesterday, I guess the K12 education budget committee on that. So, this is the House side of the budget making its way through committees. Um, added $10 million, but I think the way they worded it was you have to find it out of they're trying to get people to say your CPI money. The increase is just free money to use anywhere. So, you can use that for for special ed purposes. Um, the Senate subcommittee on the budget did not add anything and they recommended their budget out this morning and so they'll hear it next week. So that what we have legislatively is $10 million maybe uh for special ed. Um mentioning as well part of this the education funding task

052force. We spent time talking about it last year. They met eight times. U they have not met since September. They are not scheduled to meet uh during this legislative session. We've heard they might. They may meet during the summer and fall. We don't have any word from that. But um as we've discussed before that they have to come back with a formula at the beginning of 2027 legislative session and the the one bill that's kind of sitting there as a bill that it sets the sunset back another year if we have to do that. So that's sitting around as well. Um I'll move on quickly. Sorry. Um currently in this mix as well a couple of other issues. the free lunch verification. We've talked about that. There's another component that um called community eligibility program

053which is a way of verifying with super high at risk districts the ability for the federal government to to cover all of those meal costs. But it's u it is a a bit of a challenge u because it's limited to the number of school districts that's that's a benefit for. There's a bill that's supposed to make every school district do this that there's a hearing on uh next Thursday or Wednesday or something and it is it would require every school district to do this and that's just not going to be beneficial for everybody. So it'll be oh Thursday it says it on the PowerPoint. Great. So next Thursday. Um so I'm it I'm not sure um how that'll play out. I don't think it's applicable to everyone, but it's just kind of symbolic of people

054are exploring uh other options. I've talked a bit about the parental consent on uh services. We have a bill that mandates 30 minutes of recess that just yesterday they modified it was for K through six and they modified it yesterday to add K through 12. And you're going to have middle schoolers now supposeding to have 30 minutes and high schoolers 30 minutes plus 30 minutes of of I forget the words for it, but it's like energetic activity or something. >> It's it's it's physical activity where their heart rate has to be at like the 75% of something. Yeah. And so and then so the bill is was in Senate Education Committee. They passed it out this afternoon. They put an amendment onto it that apparently the old President's Fitness uh well, we've added that back

055into this bill as it came out. So when it goes onto the Senate floor, um we'll get to talk about that. >> All right. >> Dr. a little you you missed Senate Bill 421, the free speech with penalties. >> Um okay. Um this was a hearing in Senate Education two days ago. Uh it was essentially uh presented to the to the committee as a bill that uh establishes pretty broad uh abilities for students, for clubs, for organizations to have free speech protection uh in that um in that environment in the school setting and and and both individually and as a club. It includes in it if um you believe that you have been harmed by any behavior in any of those uh uh situations, you the the district would be subject to a is it

056$5,000 in occurrence uh penalty. It would be referred to either the attorney general of the state or county county attorney as well if you felt like you were harmed. harms undefined and it's uh it's kind of sitting out there. Um I Yeah, that's what it is. And it's still sitting in committee question. I think we blew past um HB 2011 as well, the lowering of the mills from >> Oh, yeah. >> Okay. the previous slide uh that's under the finance side of things because it it is a bill that was introduced last year, didn't go anywhere, didn't do anything, but it's popped up on the agenda for tax committee for Monday or Tuesday of next week. It lowers the statewide 20 mills from 20 to 18.5. So it takes a mill and a half off

057which generates money that I think probably would be saved as uh uh uh but it and it als the other thing that it does is it freezes the that that mill levy setting at that flat revenue rate going forward. So every year going forward the amount of revenue that can be collected is is capped and the assumption is that the legislature will use state general fund revenue. This gets back into the first point of are we going to cut property taxes. The only thing that the legislature could control in the mill levy last time were two uh building funds, a state building fund and one like 1.5 mil levy. And so if if we're beginning to say where can we cut more from the state, it's 20 mills. That's kind of the only place that's

058left. So, >> and at this point they would be per the language now committed to backfilling through the state general fund the SGF the 1 the money generated by the 1.5. I mean my concern would be what's going to hold them to keeping that back fill if we lower the 20 mills to 18.5. >> Good question. >> Nothing. All right. And this is this is way too much and too small for but literally these are trying to get through the last uh week. We have all of these bills. The the first two were bills that were heard today. Um including uh requiring fentanyl abuse training and having the lock zone in every school and those kind of things. uh through all of these and this is we've crammed I think 10 11 bills in between

059now and next Friday and on my drive over here and sitting watching the the committee meeting I got four more notices of more bills that are going to be heard. So they're trying to get a lot of things through. It's kind of like other than cell phones and I think uh mental health services and parental consent and some of those kind of things. There's a lot of this going on. Most of it's not going to go anywhere. Most of it's not going to pass, but it's kind of clogging up the process for a little bit. Meanwhile, we're not doing funding and special education and those kind of things. So, um, and this will all be in the written report you'll get back from us. So, I'm happy to answer questions. Board, any questions? Dr. Y.

060>> Yeah. I I'm just dangerous enough about this to mention it, but there was kind of a bipartisan effort out of the K12 budget committee, I think, in the last couple of days, maybe the end of last week, to increase special education funding to $92 million. There there have been a lot of conversations among people both on the House and the Senate side working in the budget process. What can we agree to? What can we come up with? Uh because um again, there's an election coming up this fall and there are folks that want to be able to vote for special education funding and um how much it becomes the the point of debate and uh those forces are in in tension and it is some bipartisan conversation, but what we're seeing is the the

061group that says we've funded special education enough. you don't need more money. And that's kind of where we are. It's it's being talked about a lot of places. It's not it hasn't risen to the level of being able to uh change the process of decision-m at this point. And I may just mention just because it's the opportunity last year was about $10 million I think is what the increase was to special education funding which again impacts every student in our district because it's money that comes out of the general fund and goes to special education. So impacts all kids whether they're kids with special needs or not. Our part of that money last year was just shy of a million dollar. And you may remember last year we transferred $44 million from our general fund

062to special education. So, while anything additional to help that is is beneficial, it's a long long long distance from um what we're doing and what we're confronted with in our budget. >> Dr. Little, thank you for being here. Thank you for the updates. So, a number of us in this room, but certainly a number at the DAS had um opportunity to be present this weekend for the first Quaca sponsored state esports competition and Josh Humphrey is going to give us an update on the esports in general. But, um it was pretty fun. Pretty fun. Pretty exciting. So the board here representing the schools that competed this weekend. Um truly amazing event and uh I'll get to talk about that in a little bit. But um as I was kind of preparing for this event, you

063know, I I thought about like all the great people that get to speak up at this DAS and you know I think about you know Dr. McMullen who gets to talk about you know with with such professionalism and um and just uh to talk about the things he gets to talk about and Mr. Hutcherson just the detail and level of detail that he gets to share and you know Dr. Sig just uh you know the poise and uh grace. Well, I get to talk about esports and we this should be fun. So um you know we're going to make this a little bit fun. So you never know if you know Mario may make an appearance or uh you know maybe maybe a Rocket League car or something or you know maybe maybe Link comes

064in to to do some battle. U but you know this is esports and tha and uh this this should be a fun thing to talk about. And I needed to give a quick shout out as I was creating this PowerPoint at my uh kitchen counter last week. Uh my eighth grader from Chism Trail says, "Dad, you need to put the shatter uh transition there." I was like, "Okay, how do I do that?" So, uh big shout out to Graham Free for uh giving me that um little words of wisdom. But, you know, esports in THA and esports in THA public schools is is something that we're very proud of and I'm going to get to talk a little bit about, but I know right from the beginning, you know, when you talk about esports, um

065you're you're instantly going to lose some people. So, I think it's important to kind of put into perspective what esports actually means uh for our school district. So, if you look at um the 2024 2025 academic school year, nearly $51 million was distributed in scholarships across nearly 280 uh colleges. Uh that is a staggering amount. And if you remember, you guys asked me some questions a few months back when we kind of started the conversation about building an esports arena and and building this culture of esports across our our high schools and our district. You know, how much money, you know, was available and the statistics were were relatively minimal. Uh but we've noticed that really every year the number of scholarship dollars increases by about 10 to 15 million dollars uh for kids and

066that's just we see that just continuing to rise. So I think for you know people that kind of say you know why why is the district doing this? I think this is a really good thing to kind of keep in the back of our minds um as we discuss it. So let's let's talk about you know what is esports you know and what does it mean for for our district. Well first off I think it's really important to understand that esports is much more than just a game. Um, esports, you know, yes, we play games, but it is much more than just a game. And it truly does deliver for our students in really three key uh pillars. The first is a true sense of belonging. You know, national statistics show that roughly 80% of

067esports athletes were not previously involved in any other school sponsored extracurricular activity. You mean so we're getting kids that are, you know, historically maybe underserved within our schools. You mean into those things, you know, and we also talk about, you know, like, hey, these kids are playing these games at home already, you know, typically unsupervised and often alone. You know, esports brings those kids into our schools, gets them in contact with some of our most impactful leaders and our coaches and our administrators, uh, but also connects them with with kids who have similar interests as they do. So, it's creating a supervised, you know, constructive environment for some of those kids who again were were typically playing these games, you know, alone. You know, they're surrounded by a community of people like our coaches and

068those of you that were at the esports um state championship, you saw how much those coaches care about their kids, how much they invest in those kids and the time that they give them. And now they're surrounded by a community of people who care and most importantly will help them use the skills that they obtain through esports to find a path for success. And I think, you know, the the the comment that it's a home for our traditionally less um involved students is the best way to kind of highlight that sense of belonging. You know, we also talk about the skill development that comes from from esports. The games that we play in esports, and I'll talk more about those in a minute. You know, they're they're games that focus on things like communication, teamwork,

069leadership, resilience, strategic thinking, you know, all the skills that we want for our kids to be prepared for their future. and all the skills that we know, you know, companies and businesses when they go out in the real world are looking for those skills in their students and and esports helps create them uh create those experiences for those kids to communicate better, to practice teamwork, uh to showcase leadership, uh to understand resilience, and to think strategically. There's also a lot of hard skills that you develop as part of uh being in esports. You know, we're coming from the field of IT and uh if you saw any of our IT professionals helping during the esports event, you saw how we swarmed in and helped navigate the IT things that we couldn't predict, you know, based

070on new controllers, you know, making sure that drivers are updated, making sure that sound is correct, you know, all the things that happen around there. So, we're hoping that esports helps create the next generation of IT leaders, you know, in our district and across the country. Um, and then there's a whole another part of esports you probably wouldn't consider. Things like broadcasting, uh, streaming production, you know, we, uh, streamed the esports, the case, the Quaca state championship across the, uh, the NFHS network. Um, we had broadcasting and shoutcasters. That's the terminology for people that tell you what's going on during the game. And uh as someone who is a casual gamer and can compete enough in like Mario Kart maybe um it was nice to have them to be able to better describe what the

071kids are doing, describing shortcuts, how they utilize different tools, the teamwork, really kind of highlighting the the topics that we talked about before, how they utilize communication, utilize teamwork, and showcase perseverance. And then finally, you know, uh the future readiness piece. though, kind of going back and remembering the the $51 million in scholarship money that's available to our kids. You know, we're connecting kids through esports to STEM programs, to digital marketing, to event engagement, broadcasting, uh game design, and there are scholarships all over the nation that highlight this. So, I'm just going to highlight some examples of scholarships available right here in our backyard, some opportunities available right here in our backyard for kids in Kansas. So, the University of Kansas was a founding member of the Power Ears Conference and they have several varsity

072programs that kids can be a part of uh both scholarshiped and unscolarship at the at the University of Kansas. Kate, they use their um esports and they have a dedicated esports arena, but they use their esports program to emphasize STEM integration alongside the competitive play of our games. Witchah State University is uh known as the Shocker Esports. And if you saw many of our shout casters came uh from Witchah State and they were truly um unique people and many of them if you had a chance to talk with them talked about how they didn't have a sense of involvement in their school and uh esports gave them that. Um Emporia State off State University offered scholarships you know in excess of $2,000 a year. Uh Fort Hayes University uh created a high-tech center where students

073can not only play games but learn how to manage the IT equipment within those facilities. Some of our private colleges in the area, uh, Central Christian College of Kansas offers up to $18,500 a year in scholarships for players in League of Legends, Apex Legends, Overwatch, and Rocket League. Ottawa University, Kansas Wesley University, uh, McFersonson College, and Baker College all offer competitive varsity programs with recruitment focused on regional talent here uh, in our area. So, as you can see, the future readiness of our kids and the oppos opportunities that um affords them is is really limitless in this area. And because of kind of those skills that esports um provides, Quesa decided in the 2025 2026 school year, uh that esports would now be recognized as an official state level competition in the following games. So,

074our kids this year uh played Mario Kart. Um, if you don't know anything about Mario Kart, teams consist of four students, four players who work together to identify strategy. Uh, they identify shortcuts on the map. They use the math uh their math to best determine their path to victory because it's based on a scoring system. Um, where you play multiple rounds to determine who's the winner. Uh, they communicate in real time with their team placement on the map where they're at. Uh, what items might be used and what items and what pitfalls they may or what danger might be lurking. Big shout out to the East. Late the East finished second in the state uh in uh in Mario Kart. Uh those kids were part of our kind of initial practice facility at at the

075esports uh arena over at the public um innovation center. Um and it was truly the nation the public schools innovation campus. Sorry. Um and it was truly just amazing thing to see how much they did work together. Uh how much they got along and enjoyed just the opportunity to uh be together as as fans of Mario Kart. Uh Super Smash Brothers is the second game. Uh this is a unique one. It's a uh one-on-one kind of battle game where teams identify the unique skill set of hundreds of available characters. They strategize the choice of maps and actually negotiate with the opposing team for map selection on each game. And it's really kind of interesting to watch uh because every character has uh you know a pro and a con. Every map has pros and cons

076and they're strategizing on um which one best fits their character and then negotiating with the uh team across from them. One really interesting fact for those of you that have the Acacia State tournament, one of the probably I would consider the best player uh in Smash Brothers was actually a female student from Andover Central. Um so it not only involves, you know, it's a it's a co-ed sport uh which is kind of unique in Quaca and it was really neat to see a young female student um who's really kind of celebrated amongst that community and and there was a lot of people from our division, Witchah State, um who were looking at her with in awe at what she was capable of achieving. I think you know Mr. Wagner can probably testify. I think she

077was what the 16th ranked uh player you know in in the in the area with that specific car character. Um and really cool to see. The third game they play is is Rocket League which requires intense strategy and teamwork. Teams have to ensure they are in position and not double committing. And I learned that from a shout cer. Double committing is when two people go for the ball at the same time. I got that one. So uh um but it's a similar strategy to soccer. And I know there were several of you there uh for the Elate the West, Elate the Northwest uh game, which I mean it held the same energy as a you know state basketball uh final, you know, a state football championship. Um it was uh I've been a part of

078a lot of events in the public schools and that was truly one of the most uh amazing events that I'd ever seen. But one thing really stuck out for me. Um there was a young a young man from Lake the Northwest that was part of our practice sessions early on when we were kind of testing the arena and um and seeing what it was capable of. And you know we were walking out with him at the end of that day and he just said uh to me and I think Mr. Wagner and Mr. Capella who were walking him out he just said in with all sincerity you know thank you for building this for us. You mean before this I didn't have you know a lot of friends. I didn't have a lot of opportunities

079and uh again going back to that sense of belonging in uh addition to the state competition that Quesia provides there's also a club season actually there are two club seasons and students can participate in games during the club season similar to these and uh they can actually qualify for national competitions um across the globe where they can get even more exposure to uh colleges and universities um in the area of esports. So when Quesa did announce that um esports was coming, a lot of schools were not ready. Now tha was ready and we were very proud of this. Uh in fact all five of our high schools had already been able to participate at the club level for the last 3 years uh which is pretty amazing. We wanted our facilities to be facilities that

080were accessible to all students across all of our schools uh and not just for those able to play at home. You know, we wanted this to be an environment where any student because esports equipment is not cheap. And we wanted all students, regardless of their economic advantages or disadvantages, to be able to have a home and be able to play esports across our community and provide to them the best equipment to compete at the highest level. In addition to that, we also want to create a one-of-a-kind uh facility that could be used across all of our buildings and provide a state-of-the-art facility for our highest level of competition. I want to give a huge thanks to uh you know my best friend Travis Pangi you know and and uh you guys as well on the

081board that that helped make this a possibility but also all of SLT who you know while Travis and I you know spent most of our time talking about the esports arena and with uh you know exuberance and glee. Um you know it was just uh just thank you for bearing with us during all those times. Um so these are just a few pictures of the esports arena over at the innovations uh campus you know just kind of from its inception. I know at one point I think we wrote the diagram out on a you know piece of paper in my office and and kind of envisioned this you know on what it could look like. So going back to the the beginning, you know, purchasing our computers, you know, it's a huge testament to our

082staff getting these ready. You know, uh our infrastructure um engineers name is John Rosa. He said, you know, we spend our whole time in technology, you know, keeping kids from playing games during school. Now we get to help him play games during school. And uh we were he was just a huge labor of love from that group. Uh but just something that you can be really proud of. Um something that you know really does set apart. our partner in uh helping us schedule our esports competitions is a company by the name of players versus uh their kind of lead was at the uh esports state championship this weekend and he said he's been all over the country and uh what Kansas was able to produce this weekend. He's like he's like I've never seen anything

083like this in u either at the high school or the or the college level. So, a lot of something to be proud of. But really what makes this place um the most special and just a huge shout out to our partners, you know, who helped provide devices and helped us, you know, construct this uh this space. But really what we know uh makes this special um is the people. And I think the most impactful thing was when we got to first see kids in the environment. Um this was our very first day where we brought uh kids, we invited all the kids from the various high schools to come over and and test out the facilities. We wanted to see what it was capable of. give them a chance to play and um just to

084see you know their faces, the smiles, the community that they built uh was truly truly something special. But also I want to I just want to highlight too like the opportunities for that space do not end with esports. Uh we have plans for you obviously some middle school and elementary tournaments across the city. You know we hope to crown a district champion across all five high schools but also at a middle school and elementary level. But we intentionally designed this space to be flexible beyond the esports uh competitions. You know, I know when Travis and I were kind of looking through what this could be capable of. Um we had in mind using this space for TED talk style presentations, professional development, and uh truly we could even host a board meeting there if we

085would like. We will turn off the RGB lights, but you know, maybe that makes it fun. So, um, you know, we we want this space to be used by our our kids over at OPSIC and, uh, around the around the city to for whatever they see fit. I think this is a really powerful statement on on why esports matters. It's an opportunity to leverage the power of gaming to foster community to drive academic achievement and create a future um, and create future opportunities for our students. I think we are very proud in Altha to be one of the first districts in the region to provide uh this level of esports competition and this opportunity for our for our students. We're really excited to see what the future holds. I'd have to I have to uh

086tame people at times because after what came out of the esports competition this weekend, uh it truly is um you know, we're at the uh we're at the ground floor and continuing to push up. So, I do want to talk a little bit about the uh Quesacia esports inaugural competition. Um this idea came to us and you know huge testament to Dr. Jagger you know Travis and I floated the idea of like hey you know the inaugural state championship is here we think we can have the facility done and Dr.'s like let's do it and uh so we were able to host the 2000 2026 inaugural state championship um and it was truly an an unbelievable event. You know just a huge body of work of people that came together. you know, Matt Johnson, our

087um activities and athletic director, you know, obviously Travis, you know, um Ron Wagner, our entire technology team, uh the leadership over at OPSIC and and the coaches of our esports team really did make this a special event for our kids. But I do say again, the West the Northwest final in Rocket League was truly something to be seen. It was uh a a match for the ages. Two probably the best teams. I don't even know you could do this in within Rocket League or even on a video game, but what they were capable of doing was was fantastic. And the winner of that game actually was going to be crowned the state champion, the overall state champion. And uh the East or sorry, the West edged them out and became the first ever uh state

088champion in allaround esports. So that's a good one. Let's give my heart. But I do want to definitely mention this group of people. You know, this is our our tech team and and there's a lot of great people that aren't in this picture as well, uh that spend a lot of time trying to figure this thing out. And uh we're proud to say that we were one of the first to be able to do it. Uh we're proud to say that we we've done it in a way that makes it incredibly special for our kids and for our students. Um and something I think our community can be uh very proud of. So I spoke a lot about what the environment looks like. Let's just watch this little video just so you can get an

089idea of uh the environment that happened on the state championship day. >> I mean, they were chanting and everything like it was uh you know, it was it was like a basketball game. So, again, couldn't be more proud of of what we built as a district and I know everyone at at this DICE had a had a huge opportunity and hand in it. Um but yeah, just uh thank you for the time. I'll open for questions. >> Any questions, comments? Board will >> uh first of all, yes, please to the next board meeting there. We can play Mario Kart while listening to the presentation. Jim can talk as long as he wants. Um I thought it was really cool to see all the different schools there and what they thought of it. There was one

090I noticed was Hugaton. They're from 7 hours away. They drove into to from they're from southwest Kansas in the very corner and they drove up Thursday night to take part and uh they were blown away by they were really excited about taking part and it was really cool to host all these schools having up there. >> And I think Yugo 10 was a school that maybe made a whole weekend out of it. Like they went to various barbecue places. They were there Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Um and their their coach was so um so kind in in the words that he shared with with our team and and our our community. So thank you. Thank you for sharing that. >> Um shout out to the East. uh for getting second place in Mario Kart. It

091was really cool to see them go. I had never thought of Mario Kart as a truly competitive game until watching them play and wow um working as a team, blocking for each other, being able to help each other, cheer John and the THA East coach was so excited for them. It was it was really cool to see. Um can we rent it out as a data center? We have a lot of we have a lot of We have a little computing power in there. I figured we might be able to make something. >> You're a kid. >> No. Yes. Okay. >> Um, and as far as you showed the construction, but you didn't give a timeline. I want to emphasize how fast >> Travis and your team >> put a deal together. What? Uh, 5

092months. >> Yeah. So, from those concrete walls to this in 5 months is amazing. So, huge shout out to Travis and his team. >> But, uh, no. Yeah, huge testament to his team on getting things done and then our team for coming in. And >> they did mention you were sleeping there towards the end, I think. So, >> I think so. Yes. >> So, and uh my last question, when they have the competitions there, are they streaming at all for people to watch or? >> Yeah. So, we did stream for free uh the esports competition for the state championship. We requested that because it was just the first ever and wanted people to be able to watch. And you know, I know a lot of people um from across the state were were tuned into

093that, but we have the ability out of that to to stream. Um we can stream an individual computer, we can stream the room, we can we can do so many unique things in there um that just make it, you know, really engaging for anyone watching at home. >> Are the state championships available to see? >> Go back and watch now through the uh NFHS network, which is help me with what that acronym stands for. Is not here. >> National. >> Yes. National Federation of High Schools. It's It's our channel for all high school activities. You >> send me that after. I want to see it. That was It was their skill levels was amazing. I was sad at one point Rocket League and Smash Brothers was going at the same time, so I couldn't watch

094both, but it' be really cool to see. >> And uh that was it. >> About streaming, I actually saw a post, I think it was a Letha West High School basketball game. There were kids at that game watching the esports on their on their phones and cheering for their student. Yeah. >> The cheering was nuts. I mean that what you showed up there is >> nothing close to when goals were being scored later. It was deafening in that room. It was I had to stop inviting people because nobody else would fit in that room. So it was great. Great job by you guys. >> Dr. Jagger Ti. Okay. Claire. Um, I just wanted to say like I'm having some major FOMO like having not gone. Um, but yeah, it's recorded. I can watch it. But

095I do want to say like and um, Mr. Humphre, you you t you touched on this. I think gaming gets a bad rap. You know, I think people have certain ideas in mind about the, you know, individuals who that's their passion. And I love the quote you had on your presentation and especially with all the conversations we've been having with strategic planning and whatnot like taking this thing that so many I think the people who are harshest in judging gaming don't game and I would even group myself among those people and I just to see the community like okay let's take this thing that can be isolating and let's turn it into a team let's turn it into skill building and cooperation. And I think while yes, we had how many schools come and compete?

096>> Well, there were there were uh 12 12 schools that could qualify for state, but there were schools 1A through 6A that competed across the entire state, >> right? I mean like while it's a statewide thing, which is it kind of blows my mind in a way like it it feels very tha and like this thing that seems kind of, you know, off the beaten path. We've we've really made it huge. I also think it's cool to bring these schools from all these different portions, you know, to one spot. I it just I mean, I'm really impressed. I think that it's a really cool way to to engage kids who feel often left out because their interests maybe don't line up with what we think of as typical, you know, high school activities. So, thank

097you. Kudos. And it's I've got to come see it now. That I feel left out. So, >> Miss Joan, I didn't go either, but we had the flu in our house. So, anyway, that's a different reason. Um, shout out. Yeah, you're welcome. Shout out to to Will who thought of me today to get me a shirt so that I could wear it and do a little bit of everything tonight. Um, so, thank you for that. Thank you, Chris, for getting the shirt for me, too. Um anyway, I was a little sad, but you you know, we have kind of a group text chain throughout the the board here and Friday and Saturday there were just these pictures coming and like this is so cool and I was just like this is really kind of a

098a neat dynamic that that we're getting to experience and and really neat um just for you all too. I I think it's just great to see you in your element. you know, as an IT guy, you get to do all the other things, but this is like so fun for you and your eyes light up. You got the razzledazzle going on. And so, I'm just really proud for you, very happy for you. Um, and just I just think it's a really neat opportunity. So, thanks for sharing tonight. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Jagger. >> I just want to jump on the Josh bandwagon real quick here and the the IT and uh also the Travis Pangi bandwagon and his team. You know, I appreciate that I said that he gave me credit for saying yes

099and go, but you know what I want to point out is just the culture of innovation that we have in our school district that there probably would have been 57 reasons why we could have said no. Like, you know, we can't get this done. We can't make this happen. But, you know, these guys and Matt Johnson saw some early opportunity and visited other places said, "Gosh, we really got to dig in on this." And, uh, I just think that's our culture in Altha and for the board to say, "Yeah, let's run with it." like that's a really special thing that doesn't always happen. So, I just wanted to point that out. Two other things I wanted to mention, and Josh mentioned this, but I want to be explicit about this. One of the things that

100we always focus on in our district is access and opportunity for kids. And we've talked about that in a number of ways over times. But you know, one of the things that that was kind of a curveball that we didn't expect as quesa approved, I don't know which game, but some >> Nintendo games some games being played on Nintendo Switches. And I think that was likely because many kids across the state, the the state of Kansas had a Nintendo Switch at home. Um, but that obviously put the pressure on families and kids to come up with their own Nintendo Switch. So our technology team really scanned the the world to buy 30 Nintendo Switches. That number might not be right. >> Yeah. Nintendo switches. So all of our students, whether they had the means at

101home or not, we had Nintendo Switches so they all could participate. And you know, Josh talking about we wanted it to be accessible for all kids. I think that's another important mindset that our community, our board, our IT team in this case really sets about to do our work so all kids can participate and what have was just a great example of that and I think it's easy to take for granted because it's just the way we think um as a community in Altha. So I wanted to point that out. And then the third thing I wanted to point out and this really goes back but you know when the the board authorized us to move forward with bond 22 and our community supported that. Um you know Dustin Ay who's our bond consultant you

102know recommended at that time that we sell all the bonds and we do some different things with bond sales and and what have you. But it's really because of that, but also the great stewardship of our board and our staff and savings on bond projects across the board from bond 22 that really enabled us to to do this and make this happen. And so I think the kudos is really far and wide that we were able to uh you know put this in place for our kids that will support them for years and years to come. So, um, it's really fun because we have so many people excited to see OPSIC, but I have to tell you, the number of people that really want to see the esports arena may even be outpacing that. I

103don't know. It's It's pretty cool. So, just just just to point out some things that I think sometimes would be easy for us not to articulate or acknowledge in LA. So, thanks Josh, Travis, and Matt. >> Thanks, Josh. And your presentation was fun but very professional. >> Good. >> Okay. Dr. McMullen, he set the stage for you. A professional presentation. Can you do it? >> So, I may say a couple of words while while Dr. McMullen, okay, um um pops up. You know, at the last board meeting, you all through me asked us to bring back a plan um you know, that that will really focus on the process. we will use over the next number of months to talk about aligning our schools our district with the right number of schools and what have

104you. But to Dr. McMullen's credit, I didn't even go to him and ask him to work on that plan to draft that plan. Um he just assumed the responsibility would be his and uh started doing that. So I I just want to mention I appreciate that. But the other thing I want to mention is this is obviously just the first step in a very long process and a lot of conversations. So, uh, you know, Jim tonight will share just kind of what we envision as our overall, you know, plan to move forward to get from point A to point B, but also just to be clear, and I know the board knows this, but with our public also, there's not there's not an action item related to this on our agenda tonight. This really is

105just information for you all to have the the chance to ask questions as well about how we'll get from where we are today to to where we believe we're going. So, >> all right. Well, thank you for the opportunity. Um Josh, I'm going to continue my streak of board presentations that aren't fun. So, um here we go. So, kudos to you. Um no, but I appreciate the time tonight because we have, you know, some important work to dig into here in our system, uh regarding student enrollment and facility alignment. A quick overview of our our district's enrollment history. And this chart, I've probably sat up here and shown it um you know 50 times, but it always amazes me when you look at our growth. It's truly unprecedented in our state from our inception in

1061965, 54 straight years of growth. Um we averaged growing by 493 students a year from 1965 all the way to 2019. Um, and that chart just shows uh just the the rapid incline uh in our growth. Since 2019, our district, like m most other districts in the area and frankly the state and nationally, have have seen a decline in enrollment. So since 2019 when we we topped out at 30,216 students, um we've lost 1762 students over the last six years. That's an average of about 293 uh students a year. So when you look a little bit into the more recent past, the present and the future, you'll see that again in 2019 we are just over 30,000 students. Today we sit at 28,140. And when you look out 15 years from now, um you'll see

107that uh we sit just under 26,000 students. So again, anticipating from that peak in 2019 a decline of 4,000 students o over this 15ear span that that we're sitting in now. So with that um you know comes the opportunity to look at our our number of facilities that we have in our district, our current and projected student enrollment and how we align those factors. So, we will be conducting a three-phase study um to analyze our student enrollment uh and facility alignment to really look at reducing our footprint of our schools again to align with our current and future enrollment projections. Um as we do with with large projects, whether it's it's a 69 redesign, a bell schedule, change boundaries, etc. This will be a really collaborative process uh that will involve parents, staff, and administration.

108We'll have three phases. Um we we will have a task force and a steering committee which I'll talk about here in a minute um that will work to ultimately coming up with a recommendation to the board um with a specific number of schools to consider reducing. Um, we will also be working with a school consolidation consultant throughout the process who uh will will be present at a board meeting as well. So, phase one of this process begins now and that's that's getting this information out tonight. Again, the the enrollment information is not new. We've been presenting this for the last two and a half years um through yearly enrollment presentations, uh boundary presentations, the repurposing of Westview, etc. Um but we're at the point now where we really um given our enrollment and our frankly

109our financial status, we're really going to have to make these decisions um at this time. So in March, we'll establish our um student enrollment facility alignment task force. Um this task force will be large. Uh it'll be made up of one parent and one staff member from every school. um in addition to multiple elementary principles, middle school principles, and a high school principal, uh district leadership, and then we'll even look for some participation um from both the city and and the chamber as well. Um this task force will meet three times um from April to May. And I'll just give you a quick overview of what those sessions would look like. um session one and again working with a group of 125 to 150 um but really you know go over some goals, norms, outcomes

110of the group, an enrollment review, really dig into our data. Uh Mr. Hutcherson will present a school finance 101 because frankly these two orbits just run parallel to each other and it's why we're having the discussion and then a school boundary overview. Uh session two will be a quadrant data breakdown by area of elementary and middle schools. Um we will also have our consultant here at that second meeting uh to work with the group. And then in May we'll have our third and final session of the task force really digging into some uh specific data analysis and different quadrants, small group work, discussions, survey and then ultimately recommendations. Um and then from that large group we will look at narrowing down to a >> Hey Jim real quickly the first group the the facility alignment

111task force you just mentioned recommendations. What would be the recommendation we might anticipate from that group? >> Yeah. So that that group will come back um to the board and essentially on the next slide um we'll uh spoiler alert um uh we'll we'll be able to give the board a a um recommendation on the a potential range of number of schools that we should consider reducing in our school district. And so um and we will be doing that at the at the June meeting. So in June again, board of education update with the aforementioned um and then we will start our steering committee work again that smaller group of of 15 that will frankly really start digging into those areas of the district where we feel like we can reduce our footprint. Um and for

112example, there may be an area where there are four elementary schools um that you know used to have anywhere from 500 to 800 kids and many of those schools are sitting at the 300 range or 350 range, you know. So, it's not I want to be real clear with with our community and and our staff and um everyone that it this process is not just looking at our 36 elementary schools and the five or six or 10 or three smallest schools are who we're looking at. We're really looking geographically at areas um to really provide the best experience for our students and staff. So, um with that, we'll continue meeting in June and August. We'll provide the board an update in August and then September uh really wraps up phase two. That will be a

113formal presentation to the board. It'll cover the the work done by both the task force and the steering committee. And at that September meeting, we'll have specific recommendations on the number of buildings at each level to um to consider reducing closing and um the timeline in which to do so. The reality is depending on what number the work shows um you know there that there's it's very likely that all those would not happen in one year. It may be a two or threeear phased approach um when we look at that. But again, that'll be dependent upon the number of schools um and some additional factors. We will ask the board to take action on on those recommendations at your October meeting. Um and then we will transition into phase three. Uh phase three is our

114boundary adjustment timeline. So when we have areas where a school is closing, we'll have to obviously um rework our boundaries in that area. And that certainly may not just impact the school that closes, but will also potentially impact the other schools in that area as it most likely won't be just picking up one school and and dropping it in another. It would be um you know as we'll keep it as minimal as possible obviously and work with our community on that, but there there certainly could be impacts to multiple schools within an area uh where there's a closure. So um we will uh have as always when we have boundary changes meet with the respective communities and parents share potential boundary options get feedback analyze that data um and then come back to the board

115in December with boundary options um for the affected um schools. Uh then we will look for uh board to take action on those boundaries in January. Um and then we will begin the process um that really takes uh the work of a lot of folks from human resources as we uh as we've experienced with Westview Elementary this year as we are repurposing that building for next year. Um working human resources done a great job working with their staff both classified and certified um in helping those staff find new homes for next school year. Uh so that work will continue. Obviously transportation we'll have to analyze um how boundary changes might impact our safety variances and eligibility for transportation and all those things. um operations service centers just instrumental in helping take the load off our

116staff who are moving to a new location and um really provide them with all the the materials they need to to pack and then we physically uh move all their items for them. And then you know food production obviously is another area that we'll have to look at everything from staffing in the different buildings based on the enrollment changes, equipment needs um anything else there. So that's a quick overview of the timeline and process and I certainly stand for any questions that you might have. >> Board, I I have a question. As we go through this process and we identify buildings that we will close, what happens to those buildings? At what point are those decisions made? And I know the state has some limitations, some parameters related to that. So where does that fit

117in? >> Yeah. You know, and really ultimately that'll be a decision of the board. You know, there there's different options when when schools do close in communities across Kansas. Um I believe there is a statute that that the state has first refusal um potentially for for purchasing a building. um other school districts in the area that have closed buildings from you know Lawrence um Lee Summit uh Ky Missouri others um you know sometimes those buildings are repurposed internally sometimes those buildings are sold to uh another entity could be a church could be a another educational uh group um or sometimes you know to developers or what have you. So there's a lot of options. A lot of it will be sight dependent and you know things that we will dig into as we start looking

118at different buildings will be everything from the age of the facility, the maintenance costs of these different buildings, value of properties, uh you name there's about already we've identified about 25 26 different criteria that we'll be looking at as we analyze these buildings. So, um it's a vague answer, but it's it's really just a little bit unknown, but there'll be multiple options on what we do with those um buildings. And a lot of it will just depend on where they are and >> okay, >> how that works. So, >> okay, >> Miss Reagan, >> um it really sounds like we're being very deliberate in embarking on this next era, next chapter of our district. Um and just to be clear, so the first board action will be um the timeline of buildings that will be

119identified for reduction for closure. That's the first board action we'll take in October. >> Yes. And so that allows our community all at once to know which buildings will be impacted. So there's not this waiting game where you know everyone has baited breath like that that meeting we will have action that was announced in September and then the very very even more deliberate process of figuring out where those families go um the boundaries. So, I just I do appreciate I think having watched other districts go through this process um having it happen in slow motion where it's one building, one meeting, one building, the next meeting that prolongs the stress. So, I I really appreciate that deliberateness in in having us make the one big vote, one big decision all together because really this isn't

120about individual school closures. It's about remaking what our district is going to look like. And that's a community shift. And so I appreciate us having to all weather this together. Um yeah, I mean I don't really have questions. Um Dr. McMullen, this is very thorough and I appreciate your proactivity on getting going on this and I just taking deep breaths as we all embark on this together. Thank you. Well, I appreciate that and I will say and I appreciate you bringing that up because districts that have gone through this um including some of our very close neighbors, you know, there's there's different ways to accomplish it and and some have done it over a 15-year span where the board is, uh getting reports and taking action on different buildings on a yearly basis or every

121other year. And there's other districts that said, "Hey, here's our numbers. Here's where we're going to ultimately level out." which for us is in the 25,500 range. Um, and for us, we felt like for our community, for our staff, and most importantly for our kids, just having that those decisions made and that stability in place uh to move forward and and grow as a district and continue excellence is is why we chose that route. I would agree appreciate the presentation and I appreciate it for our community. Um because in all of these bond presentations, we're talking not only about the bond that goes out to vote next week. I guess the the ballots drop on the 11th. um but also that facility realignment and so to help because people get emotional about their schools and

122so um to know what the plan is for the next year and a half I I think is helpful for our community as well. So thank you Miss Johan. Sorry. Um, I just was thinking the task force is a really great way to engage our community um to have input and that's kicking off really soon. Um, I noticed it's one parent and one staff member from each building and so maybe you mentioned this and if you did already I apologize but how will they be selected? >> Yeah, you know, we'll we'll actually just work with our principles um on that. You know, certainly they know their their community and they'll, you know, work with both their staff and their parents um you know to identify someone. We will um before the principles even start reaching

123out, we'll we'll give them the dates so people can um see the time commitment um and the and the dates cuz certainly with only three meetings, we we want as many people present at each meeting as possible. So, >> we'll ask for that commitment, but uh that'll that'll run through the buildings. >> They know their folks better than we do. >> Thank you. I appreciate your time on this. Thank you. >> Anything else? All right. Thank you, Dr. McMullen. Public comments. Miss Steel. Oh, Miss Reagan. Yes. At each regular meeting of the board of educ 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 affffectuates. Non-compliance may result in the president interrupting to redirect. We request

124that individual speakers limit their comments to five minutes. The clerk will monitor the time and notify the speaker when the five minute time limit has expired. Please direct your comments to the board and not the guests or staff. If a response is appropriate, the president will respond or refer to another individual. In an effort to respect privacy, we ask that speakers refrain from discussing personal complaints involving individual staff members or students. Audience disruption is also not permitted. Those speaking are advised that public comments are videotape 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 relationship to the district. Thank you. Our first speaker

125tonight is Summer Call. Hello everyone. First, I want to say I don't always sound like an elephant seal, but I have a little cold, so we got the little mask on. Not co or the flu, so we're good. Um, I just wanted to take a moment to let you guys know what is actually happening at Indian Trail Middle School. I've worked there since 2020, the year that shall not be named. Um, and quickly thereafter, Brian Bericman became the principal in that building. I know you guys probably hear all kinds of negative things, positive things, but I want you to know from somebody ground level, he is by far one of the best principles I have ever worked with. That administrative team is phenomenal. The only principal I've worked with 19 principles over my span of

126teaching. I know I don't look that old. It's okay. Um but um nine in gardener and one of those was Tim Brady and Dr. save was there also. Um, and Brian is only second to Tim Brady and probably just because he has doesn't have that many years under his belt yet. Um, as a gifted teacher, I often feel like an island and I don't really feel like a a part of the team and a part of the family. I have three buildings. Brian and that administrative team do a phenomenal job of bringing me in. They hear my ideas. They get me involved. they kind of give me enough leash to help support the kids in the building. I'm working with the math intervention group so that we can kind of bring some of those kids

127along on testing. But probably one of the things that I'm most proud of Brian for is we were sitting in an IEP meeting in the very beginning of the year and the parents mentioned that the student had come from a situation where he had been bullied a lot and they wanted to make sure that he was okay. And Brian stopped the meeting and he said, "Wait, hold on. I want you all to know if that ever happens here, have him come to me immediately. We don't tolerate that at Indian Trail. He can come directly to my office." And the parents were im immediately at ease. Um yesterday I wasn't feeling great at my desk and one of my students said, "Miss Cal, you need to take a day off. You deserve it." Because everybody in

128that building is caught with Brian at the helm to be kind, to look out for each other. If I'm carrying a bunch of stuff into the building, it doesn't even matter. The kids will open the door for me. That everybody says good morning. And I really, really feel like it has a lot to do with how Brian leads that group and his administrative team. They have melded so well together. And so I just wanted you guys to know, and all of you guys know too, um, that Indian Trail is a place that I wouldn't think of leaving. If Brian never went to another building, I'd be looking for is there a gifted position in that building because I want to go there. So, I just wanted you guys to hear some positive stuff, too, about,

129you know, maybe not the heavy stuff of maybe closing schools and that kind of thing, but knowing that there are principles in this district who are so doing it right and Brian Berman is one of them. So, just wanted to let you know. Anybody have any questions? Sorry. >> Thank you very much. Carrie Vanusker. Thank you for hearing me this evening. After sitting through um the last couple hours of um conversations and celebrations and honores and presentations, there were countless themes that seemed to ring true. Whether it was Mr. McFarland talking about Mission Trail or Josh Humphrey talking about esports. As a mom of an autistic child who is an incredible gamer, I'm incredibly excited about the esports opportunities here for all students and staff and community at large for Altha South. It brought my

130child a sense of a belonging in college and his creative writer teacher at Altha South would be happy to know that he's using those creative writing skills to actually write gaming narratives. So, and getting paid for it. Um anyway, the themes that I heard consistently that you will hopefully hear in my heavy speech is community, staff, students, belonging, accessibility, and opportunity. And something that we need to weather together. Esteemed Ward members, I'm standing before you this evening as Benjamin Van Buskerk's mother, the rising senior of Altha South that was killed July 27th, 2024 while attempting to provide aid to a victim of an alleged DUI hit and run. As you are aware, I requested that Benjamin's name be read aloud and his senior class image displayed during what would have been his graduation ceremony. This

131request was initially denied but later granted after significant and widespread public pressure. As promised, the district has now drafted a codifying policy addressing this matter. However, I strongly feel that the policy falls short in fully providing honorable recognition of a life lived and a community connected. This policy still mandates silence and a life lived unseen during the commencement ceremonies. Our current climate and culture frequently buries grief and loss in silence, although simultaneously valuing and desiring human connection because our society, as reflected in this very policy, tends to view grief and loss as an issue or problem to be fixed and perhaps even a weakness to be overcome as opposed to a very natural continuous expression of love. This deafening silence is often motivated by fear of making others uncomfortable, by the pressure to move on

132quickly, and sometimes by one's own wish to avoid being seen as a burden. But I'll be honest with you, I was shocked to learn that two mental health practitioners consulted on this very policy and that no student voice seemed to be heard or teachers consulted. After I shared the initial decision that silenced any remembrance and that failed to put a face to the name, countless staff, students, social workers, school psychologists, nurses, complete strangers, and many mental health practitioners flooded my inbox, my phone, and approached me personally, sharing support for my requests. Senior class leaders during commencement exercises spoke feeling empowered and prideful in the very decision to permit the names of their classmates and friends to be shared aloud and images shared. How quickly it appears that that has been forgotten or were their voices

133truly ever considered? I'm here to elevate that student voice and well perhaps to play a small part in ending the stigma that perpetuately silences them. Please consider amending policy JP to allow the option of a deceased students name to be read aloud and their image displayed during commencement ceremonies with their parental desire expressed and consented. I'm going to leave you briefly with an outstanding movie quote. Why do we as a society bury grief in the darkness when it is the inevitable outcome of the love that we unites us all? Why do we isolate at the exact moment that we need human connection the most? With love and loss, Ben's mom. Thank you, Marta Silva. Good night. Um, dear THA public schools board member and Dr. Joerger. My name is Dr. Martha Silva and I am

134an immigrant Spanish teacher at Thaan North. I am disappointed in myself for not speaking up earlier when our communities faced ordinary challenges and our students were focused on building their academic and cultural lives. I could have shared stories like Danielas, a former Latina leadership president and now completing her engineering degree at K State or Andrea who is studying to be a doctor in California. So many students will make you proud. But too often when things are going well, we fail to speak and we wait. So I waited. I waited until a crisis made it urgent to use my voice to share stories that matter now more than ever. I cannot use real names because of the fear that the Latina and immigrant families feel in our neighborhoods here in THA. In my heritage language courses,

135I use a social emotional framework with consistent inquiry and feedback. Students have genuine conversations with me and I collect data to build trust and belonging. I want to share some of their comments as they connect our text to their own lives so you can see the humanity behind each story. These are some of their translated comments from Spanish. I don't know what my parents think, but personally, I feel afraid every time they leave their house, because I worry that one day they will be detained and I will never see them again. Immigration has taken my uncle and his children, my cousins. I have an app that shows me where the immigration office is located. My mother works at a restaurant, so I'm worried. And I ask God that nothing bad happens. I hate living right

136now with the fear that my mom might not come back home when she leaves. It has been terrible fe living with fear. Every day I pray before leaving the house that my parents and I return home s safe and sound. This situation is serious and my family is afraid to go out because we heard that even if you have papers, you can still be detained. That's what happened to my cousin in Texas and to a friend of my mother here in THA. And after Mikera, I detained my aunt next morning. I want to be able to exist and feel safe again without always having to be on alert or scared. It really hurts me to see how families are separated. I would like my whole family to always stay together. As I write this, I'm

137frustrated because I just want to be normal. So me as a teacher coming to school every day is difficult when students cannot focus on being children and learning the curriculum because they're constantly worried about whether they will see their parents and siblings again. I urge you, the board of education, to release a statement showing your support for our immigrant communities and reassuring our families that they are indeed welcome in our schools, their schools. Thank you. Thank you, Megan Brics. Good evening, Board of Education. My name is Megan Brics. Tonight, I'd like to take a few moments to recognize and celebrate celebrate a group of professionals whose work often happens quietly behind closed doors, but whose impact is felt every day across our district, our school counselors. This week is National School Counseling Week and it

138gives us the opportunity to pause and acknowledge the vital role school counselors play in supporting the academic success, the social emotional growth and overall well-being of our students. School counselors are often the first safe adult a student can turn to when they are struggling. Whether it's academically, socially, or emotionally, they listen without judgment. They guide with compassion and they advocate tirelessly for the students they serve. Their work extends far beyond their schedules, their contract days, and academic planning. Our counselors help our students navigate anxiety, grief, conflict, and change. They support positive mental health, foster social, emotional learning, and help our students develop the skills they need to succeed not only in school, but in their lives. They collaborate closely with educators, administrators, families, and amazing community partners to ensure that every student in our tha

139public schools feel supported, seen, and valued. In today's schools, this work is more important than ever. Students are carrying heavier emotional and mental health needs, and our counselors are stepping up and meeting those challenges with professionalism, empathy, and care. They do so while managing large case loads, increasing responsibilities, and very complex situations. Yet, they continue to show up each day as a steady, trusted presence for both our students and our staff. School counselors also strengthen our entire school community. They help create safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environments. and they remind us that student success is about more than academic outcomes. It's about the whole child. Their insight and expertise are essential when making decisions that impact student well-being, school climate, and access to support. As a school board and as a school district, it is

140important to me that we not only recognize the work of our school counselors, but we also continue to value and elevate their voices as educational professionals. Their perspective is critical in shaping policies and practices that best serve our students. Tonight, on behalf of our students, families, and educators, I want to extend my sincere gratitude to our school counselors. Thank you for the unseen moments, the hard conversations, the phone calls, the late nights, the emails, the calm presence in times of crisis, and the unwavering belief in our students potential. During National School Counseling Week and every day throughout the year, we recognize you, we appreciate you, and we thank you for the difference you make in our schools in the in the lives of the children that you serve. Thank you. Thank you, Megan. I actually

141was going to draw attention to counselor week in my comments. So, I'll just add my words of thanks and appreciation at this time to the counseling staff because as you said, they do take care of the whole school community and sometimes they need some care um directed their their way as well. So, thank you for drawing attention to that. Kelsey Stock is our next speaker. Hi, thank you all for having me this evening and allowing me the opportunity to talk. My name is Kelsey. I am a mom of five children. I have two that have graduated from Altha Schools. I have two currently enrolled. I have a third grader and fifth grader at Fair View. And then I also have my fifth child is at Kansas School for the Deaf. Um so first I want

142to we're going to go on a little journey. Okay. So please join me. So my grandparents Tom and Barbara Corgan moved here to THA in the early 1960s. They bought their house at 726 South Central in THA um so they could raise my mom and my aunt there. Um they stayed in THA. My mom graduated from THA High School in some a date a year that I'm not going to say because she's here. And then my aunt was in the first graduating class at THAA South. I myself am a 2008 graduate of Lake Northwest High School. Dr. Ericovich, I was one of your students your first year that Prairie Trail was open. Um, and now my husband and I are lucky enough to call Altha home with our children. Um, so my children, they um

143attend Fair View Elementary, which is under discussion, you know, with the the bond proposal. So, I'm talking about that scary bond thing. Um, and it's not I don't want this to be, you know, have a heavy negative air about it. Um, growing up in Altha, I knew that there were stigmas around certain schools and parts of the community that I wasn't privy to because my parents worked extremely hard. Um, you know, there were things that we had to sacrifice. You know, I had two working parents, so I was doing homework by myself. You know, I was alone a lot. You know, I didn't have both of them home at the same time a lot. Um, but they were doing the best that they could for me and my siblings so that we could, you know,

144take the next step ahead so we don't have to start all over, which I truly think is what all parents want for their children. So, I was alarmed when I heard about the potential bond issue with the consolidation of our schools because while I didn't grow up in the Fair View community, um it's where I currently live and those kids have become my kids. They really have. You know, this this announcement came and initially I was like, I'm busy. You know, I've got too much going on. It's money. It's not my favorite thing to think about. So, just going to ignore it, right? and I'm white, so I can do that. I have that privilege that I'm able to do that. Um that I can ignore these problems if I so choose to. Um and

145then I was going to pick up my kids from school and I saw all their friends walking home. I know they were going to be going home to probably an empty house because they are in, you know, single parent households where one parents always at work or older siblings are the ones taking care of them. which reminded me of a discussion that I had with my son's best friend last summer or with his mom last summer who unfortunately had to move out of the Altha school district. So, um, let me come to center here. So, my my son's best friend, his mom and I were talking. They were telling us they were going to have to move. And I was like, "Oh, no. Why?" Because this was my son. and it was his first year

146being at Fairview full-time because he was at Kansas School for the Deaf before that and um he really wanted to try Mainstream and it's going incredibly well and it's been an incredible opportunity for all of us. Um so this was my son's first friend and if you're a mom you know how hard it is and how mean kids can be especially when you're different or have a disability. And so this boy befriended my son um and my son was really upset when he was going to have to leave and I was like why are why are you having to move? and mom told me that they just can't afford to stay in their 3lex uh where it was. So they were living directly behind Fairview Elementary. Um there was a domestic violence situation that a

147parent was trying to protect the children from. She told me that uh she was having trouble with her um landlord because they aren't local to here. you know, they're like an offshore investor and their rent for onethird of their triplex was $2,800. I would not want to live there. So whether the bond passes, I'm not I'm not a bond person. I'm not here for that. I'm here for the community. I would ask that THA public schools please partner with the city of THA to protect the communities that are around these schools to protect the cost of the home so that people like my grandparents and my mom and myself who are here and want to stay here so that we can build and do more for our children just like our parents did are able

148to have somewhere to at least start. So community comes from diversity and please allow us to keep the community here in Altha. Thank you questions. >> Thank you Nick Crley. >> Hello. Um I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a listening session um this week for part of the strategic planning committee. Um for those of you that don't know, actually at this point probably that's none of you. Um my students are that I work with mostly during the day are expelled from their home uh middle schools or high schools. So they can't come to district property which makes sense. Um so I was like let me go there so that I can kind of like be in the space since they wouldn't be able to. Um it was super cool. I got to

149see Dr. Jükovich and uh um uh Miss Steele and uh Miss Reagan um as well as wonderful fantastic um uh staff members and in particular Dr. Harrison. Um I am really excited about the Compass program um and some of the comments that we made uh that were made um during that student experience listening session have got got me thinking about um the way in which we exist in contradictions. Also, I totally forgot. Happy Black History Month. Happy uh counselor appreciation week. Uh always listen to Dr. Marta Silva. She is the most phenomenal educator in the world. Um okay, so contradictions that we live in. Um being an organized teacher and not having a good memory. Um so I was thinking about because um when Dr. Dr. Harrison was talking and um I I think that

150she brought up the good point that um you know uh Compass uh and alternative programs in general help students in the general education classroom, right? Um when you are taking students that have needs and you're putting them into a different place where they can get those needs served, then those students who are in the original places are getting more of their needs served, right? Um so it got me thinking about the other contradictions that we exist within um and the bridges between them. Um, and I think that that's what I kind of just sort of want to bring to your attention and have us just think about really really um cognitively uh or uh deliberately is what I'm um as we kind of go forward. Um, and I think actually some of Dr. Silva's comments

151uh uh actually are a really good place to start because when we talk about the things affecting our students in our communities right now um she brought up wonderful examples of immigrant children um who have graduated from Altha public schools and use the wonderful uh education which as uh Claire said on Tuesday is good no matter which high school even if you're not in a program because we do we have great education here. Um those people have gone on and they've done wonderful things. There are also students who are part of this community who don't always necessarily go on and do things that society would consider wonderful. Um those students are also equally deserving of opportunity and chance and you guys have shown repeatedly that there is a dedication here to giving them that and

152I'm really thankful for it. I think that we should also think again though that that contradiction contradiction that exists between us as a public entity and then other public entities and how those the the the interaction of the state in general uh can play on the uh in in the various demands that we are pulled uh pulled between um just uh uh can have an impact on on our students particularly like in the case of Dr. Silva speech are immigrant students, right? Those are those are contradictions, right? I am a teacher and I serve people, but also um some of my co-workers who are wonderful SRO's that do great work um are part of the same system that can incarcerate them. And I'm not saying that that's good, that's bad. I'm just saying that we

153exist within a complex system and we should be cognizant of that. Um other contradictions that I think are probably worth pointing out, administrator and teacher. I don't necessarily know that that conflict needs to exist the way that it's traditionally understood. um uh elected official and voter. Um that's certainly something that um I think people would probably feel is tense, particularly right now, but it doesn't necessarily need to be. Um what does solidarity call upon us to do if not to understand and empathize with people, even people that we might disagree with? Um and what does that look like? Um I try to practice it every single day. um by you know working to ask academic excellence um of students that have traditionally been told that that's not something that they're capable of and I have

154wonderful co-workers um that do the same and I think that you guys have shown over the course of the last 6 years um that you have a similar commitment to that. Um, I would just ask that you keep it at front of mind as we are going through some very uncharted waters, declining enrollment, um, an interesting sort of like the national and state political climate, um, as as Mr. Little pointed out. Um, and and think about those contradictions and where we are working to find the truth that exists in the middle there. Um, so, uh, it's great to see all of you. Happy February. Um and uh yay conference is next week. >> Thank you Mr. Kley. >> Board we will move next to consent action items um items 6.01 to 6.15. Is there a

155motion? >> I move to approve items 6.01 01 to 6.15 is presented. >> Second >> motion by Mr. Babbot. Second by Mr. Keune. >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cume. >> Yes. >> Mr. Babbot. >> Yes. >> Dr. Jükovich. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johan. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. 70. >> Item 7.01. Action bids contracts agreements. Is there a motion to approve that purchase? >> I move to approve actions action bids contracts agreements 7.01 as presented. >> Second motion by Miss Johan. Second by Miss Reagan. >> Mr. Keune. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. >> Dr. Jükovich. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Babbot. >> Yes. >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mrs. Johan. Yes. >> Motion passes 70.

156I do just want to draw attention. Or did you want to? >> I No, go ahead. I didn't see your name. Go ahead. >> It's okay. Just want to draw attention that um the original expected expense um and then the the um bid that and contract we just approved is actually a 33% saving in in what um could have been spent by the district. And so again, Mr. Thank you for um taking care of our resources as well as our students. 8.01 audited financial statement. Cassie Osborne is going to make some statements or introduce a speaker, I guess. >> Good evening. I would like to introduce Jonathan Nyberger of Alan Gibbs and Hulik. Uh Jonathan and his team performed the district's financial statement audit for the fiscal year which ended June 30 of 2025. and

157I'm going to turn it over to Jonathan to give you the highlights. >> Good evening and thank you for having me. I'm Jonathan Nyberger with AGH and I was the officer in charge of the audit this year. I'll briefly go through our reports with you and then answer any questions that you may have for us. Starting off in your financial statements, pages one through three are the auditor's report. Um the auditor's report includes standards that we use for the audit, but most importantly the opinion that we issued. Uh the opinion can be found there on the that first page in that first section. And we issued an unmodified opinion. An unmodified opinion is the highest and best opinion that we're able to issue as auditors and that an entity is able to receive. And I

158feel like that always speaks very highly on the financial management of any entity that receives an unmodified opinion. Towards the back of the financial statements um is our audit of federal awards as well. Um the best page if you're looking at the financial statements is probably page 127. Because the district expended more than $750,000 in federal awards, you're required to receive a special audit over those expenditures, often called a single audit. Um this year we audited the special education cluster of grants. Um, and on page 127, it kind of offer offers a summary there of all of our findings. I'm happy to report that we did not have any findings um, from our audit of the special education cluster of grants, nor in the financial statement audit as well. Separate from our financial statements, we

159issued our auditor's communication letter to those charged with governance. This is about a five-page letter that includes key matters to keep all of you informed about significant matters related to the audit. I don't typically go through everything in that letter, but just kind of hit some of the key points. The first is towards the bottom of that first page of that first letter and talks about accounting policies that were adopted or changed this year for the district. Um there was a required new standard from governmental accounting standards board. Um it was standard 101 for compensated absences that the district implemented and resulted in an ending compensated absences liability of about $24 million that was recorded. um in the district's financials this year. Compensated absences are things like sick leave um and vacation leave for a

160liability that is outstanding at year end. Um towards the top of the second page of that letter, we noted that we are not aware of any significant unusual transactions as part of our audit. And then that page also discusses significant accounting estimates that are included um management estimates that are included in the financial statements. Not every amount in the financial statements is easily determinable. Um, some of these amounts have to be estimated and these estimates include the other post-employment benefits liability, the net pension liability, the compensated absences liability, and then claims liabilities for health insurance and workers compensation that are included in the financial statements. Then there on the third page, um, it talks about audit adjustments and uncorrected misstatement. Um, for the financial statements, we're not aware of any audit adjustments. Um, however, we

161did have two uncorrected misstatements that are included um or excluded from the district's financial statements. The first was due to the implementation of Gazsby 101 for compensated absences and the second was related to um accounts payable. Overall, these amounts are immaterial to the financial statements. They they don't modify our opinion. However, they're of a significant enough dollar amount that we have to note them in our letter to keep all of you informed about those differences. Um, ultimately the goal for our audit is to determine if the financial statements accurately reflect the books and records for the entity that we're auditing. Did the entity comply with laws and regulations? And are internal controls in place and operating effectively? And I'm happy to report that the answer to all of those is yes based on our audit.

162In closing, I would like to thank all of the district staff that we work with and audit is always a huge undertaking and we appreciate all of their assistance in getting everything completed this year. So, thank you for your time and I'm available for any questions you may have for me. >> Any questions? Board, >> thank you for being here and for your work. And Cassie, thank you for your work as well. Uh board, I would accept a motion to approve this audit 8.01. >> I move to approve the audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30th, 2025 as presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Miss Johan. Second by Miss Reagan. >> Dr. Jükovich. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Babbot. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. >> Mr.

163Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cune. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johan. >> Yes. >> Motion passes 70. Item 8.02 board updates. >> Dr. Garage. >> Yes. >> I would like to address policy JP separately from the other items. >> Okay. I would accept a motion to go ahead and approve the other updates and then we will um address JP separately. So in the recommendation just don't include JP. Is there a motion? I move to update board policies BA BBB GAOE and GCOE and retire board policy GCAE as presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Babbot. Second by Mr. Boyd. >> Miss Johan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cune. >> Yes. >> Mr. Babbot. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. >> Dr. Jükovich. >> Yes. Motion passes

16470. Then looking at board policy update JP. Actually, it's um a new policy. Mr. Cune, >> I'd like to make a motion to amend policy JP. >> Is there a second? >> Does he need to say the amendment? We need to we need to vote on an amendment first. Well, on amending the policy. Go ahead. Yes. Thank you, Claire. Go ahead and read your amendment. >> Uh I would like to add um two lines to the policy. Line one, read aloud students name during roll call and display students image on jumbotron with classmates during roll call. >> Is there a second to the amendment? Second >> before we um vote on the amendment, the amended polic. Well, okay. Before we vote on the amendment and then we'll go back and vote on the policy as

165a whole. Um is there any discussion? I have some documents here. This is from the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement. Um it lists several reason several guiding principles for um graduation ceremonies where a student has uh passed away. Um, graduating from a school is an occasion for students and their families as well as the school community to celebrate the achievements of the class u excuse me of the class cohort and accomplishments of individual students as they embark on the next stage of their academic or vocational development. Milestones in life cycle like school graduations are oftent times a memorial memories of those who died or not present can be triggered. Commemorating these students and members of the school community who died may help members of the student body continue

166to process their loss and family members of those who died feel assured that their loved ones are not forgotten. It uh also suggested a policy reading of names during graduation ceremonies. Reading the names of students in the graduating class and other me members of the school community who died during the period of time the student cohort was in school in the school may help many of those participating in the graduation ceremony honored the memory of those with whom they formed close attachments. Uh, as you know, we've had two students this year that have passed away. Um, seniors that were had gone into the school year um, almost to the end of the first semester. Um, and I think that one way we can honor those two students especially is to read their names aloud um,

167and or show their pictures on the jumbotron. Okay, Mr. Boyd. >> Mr. Boyd. >> So, this this was well this this was work in the policy committee. Is that correct? >> This was Sorry. Um this policy came from a committee a district administrative appointed committee um that was established and I I'll can I had some information I was going to share. Are you okay? Sure. >> With me just going ahead and sharing that. >> Um so this committee was um established last summer I believe or the conversation started last summer. We actually had her had or the committee met for the first time in the fall and Clint Alers was charged to facilitate as the assistant superintendent for high school. Um the members of the committee included the five high school principles. Uh a parent

168from each high school that the principal had invited two mental health professionals and then a board member was invited and I served in that capacity. Uh the parents, some have high school students currently, some had graduates. Uh two of the parents had deceased students, one um had died from suicide and one from a car accident. There were parents of students who had lost close friends recently on the committee and then a variety of of experiences. Um the mental health professionals prior to our first meeting had done research and um so provided information at that first meeting regarding um policies of other school districts in Kansas across the United States, recommend recommendations and guidance and toolkits from mental health organizations uh again locally as well as across the United States. Suicense, suicide response, national association for

169school crisis and bereavement um were some of the sources. Um we also leaned extensively on the experiences of our high school principles um because as you know uh four of the five have served in that capacity for a number of years. Um unfortunately they all have experienced the loss of students and on more than one occasion as well. The discussions I would classify as robust. Um we really began with acknowledging that grief is so individual and so personal and um people manage their grief in different ways. principles shared current practices. Um the ways that it has been addressed in the last few years and and most recently um how students have been recognized, how they've been memorialized in activities outside of the graduation ceremony. The language and the processes in the proposed policy were a

170consensus of the committee, um, a recommendation of the committee. And we we really discussed the gamut of um things that happen to students while they're in high school or sometimes before they get to high school. And that's how in the policy language it was determined that it would be focused on those students who had completed 8th grade and had become a part of a high school community. Um when we talked about it, there are as is um described in the policy uh there's a recognition of the importance of honoring the students while ensuring equity, sensitivity, and consistency in the situations across our communities. And then um it is a graduation ceremony. So to avoid causing distress to the school community but still respecting the wishes of the family um to some extent. Um there are

171some specifics that are mentioned in the policy that the the high school principles are asked and would be expected to reach out to the family during that senior year or what would have been their senior year to see if there's an interest in participating. and then also working with the parent for opportunities for other events outside of the graduation ceremony. Also offering an honorary um diploma. So that's >> Can I ask another question? >> Yes. Can you recall what the the mental health professionals the mental health professionals um did they give any feedback as it relates to the picture been on a jumbo or the the other um red line item from the policy? There there were some specifics that um if from the mental health documents that the photo included in a yearbook. Um

172you know there there were some situations where a photo might be displayed um prior to the ceremony starting. But then honestly the discussion amongst that group and and really in my recollection parents brought this forward that again the consistency as to how we would address it for all loss of students and if a student was an eighth grader they wouldn't have a graduation photo or a student was a sophomore or freshman sophomore or junior and the consensus was that the items that are listed in this policy, including their name in memoriam in the program um if the parent so chose because all of this goes back to what the parent um would approve. And then um also the the principles all currently have some kind of moment of silence and it it varied exactly what

173was said during that time but it all centered on people who couldn't be there or or weren't there. Um and and so that's the information that was presented and discussed. I just wanted to add a quick process piece with Mr. Boyd. So, um the the administrative committee that Mr. Alers brought together worked on it. They met with the group that Dr. Uricvich has has described, but it also then went to the policy board committee for review before coming on the board agenda. I just wanted to point that out as a step that did take place. So, if if it went to the policy board review committee, I mean, I hate to put you on the spot, but are any other board members com comfortable weighing in on what the conversations were around this policy? >>

174Um, I'm not remembering specifics, but um of the discussion, but I remember reading over the policy. There were some revisions made about the order we put the language and um how the sentences should read. Um I will also say I I I'm not I don't know if I brought this up in that meeting, but um when this was originally proposed as having a committee, you know, I'm I'm I'm an individual who's had a lot of loss in my life. Um loss when I was young and loss um very recently. And I echo what um Dr. Jükovich said about grief being very personal. And I also agree with Mrs. Van Bug Buzzkerk about um we do need to destigmatize grief. Um and and I think there are ways we can do that as an indivi as

175individuals and as a community. But I mean the thing I got to when I read this policy and I appreciate Dr. Jükovich saying it again. you know, there's an equity in that depending on the year that that the student passes away, there may not be an appropriate photo and then it would also disrupt the flow of what people are experiencing. Um, I I I also, and I don't know that I'm going to say this correctly, um, graduations are a celebration and and grief complicates that. And I just I was really really content with where the committee ended up. um because we are gathered to celebrate the students walking on the stage and I know we all want all of our students who are enrolled to be there but I don't want to cast a shadow

176on that experience by having a disruption cuz people in the crowd won't know like why why that picture's different. People I just, you know, high school graduations are a unique experience. It's one of those kind of universally shared things. And I I just I I was really pleased with how the committee landed on this. And I had some really big feelings about it initially, which is why at first I'm like, man, I wish I'd been on that committee, but honestly, I'm a little too close to it emotionally. Um, and I also think this is going to be hard anyway you slice it, but I plan on um I want to vote on the policy as presented. That's me. >> Any other comments, Mr. Ke? >> Um, I guess kind of to follow up what you

177said, Claire, though, you're right. Grief is hard, but for the parents that have lost a child that could have been at that graduation, would that could that not possibly help them with their grief? >> I can't answer that for them. >> It could or it couldn't. I mean, not saying it would, not saying it wouldn't, but it's a possibility. But these aren't we're not saying they have to have this. We're letting them choose whether they want that or not. Mr. Babbot, >> what would be the impact of tableabling this for future action? >> Well, I we have a policy um that a committee has recommended has sent to the policy committee, the board policy committee. Um we've all reviewed it. I I don't know the value in tableabling it. Um, we also need to have

178a policy in place because it is February and although graduation seems a long time away, principles are beginning the plans for the ceremony. Um, and all of the details that go into that and and so and I I would go ahead and I have one >> I was disagreeing. >> I understand. >> Okay. I I have one more um thing to think about also and that is um these individuals on the committee and I'll take myself out of it because obviously I have a voice here as well but the principles the parents the mental health individuals were brought together and and Mr. Albert's facilitated we asked them to complete a a task if you will and and there you know I I I think every emotion sentiment that's been expressed tonight on the dis was

179expressed in in those discussions um you know and just just to to make the point that it is very individual Both of the of the parents, as I recall, who had lost students said, "I would never have thought about having my child's name read at graduation." You know, it for them it would have been too painful to be there. And and so and and like I said, there were five parents, there were five principles. Um but this is where after the discussions and we talked about all the scenarios of how students could die during their high school career because it's not it's not always an accident. It's all not always a suicide in in our society. And um this is where the committee landed. And I think we need to trust the work of people

180we bring together when we ask them to provide us a recommendation and trust that it has been a thorough I I'm I'm thinking our presentation tonight by Dr. McMullen, we're going to bring all these people together to give us recommendations for other changes in the district and then is there a chance that we'll say, "hm, you know, we really think we ought to do it this way after they've spent the time and had the conversation." So I I think that's another thing we as a board need to think about when we ask a group of people to come together and process and then bring a recommendation. And this I'll I'll just say one more thing and I see Becky you want to make a comment too. Death and grief are difficult. who whoever it is

181in your life, I can't imagine what it would be like for a child. Um, and but the committee, for lack of a better term, powered through that and had very honest conversations and um I I too support the policy as proposed. Miss Johan, >> I think the important thing to remember is having a policy um because we haven't in the past and I know that there are other districts that do not. And so just to have something consistent for our um principles to lean on to guide them through this very difficult time, I think is is highly valuable. And so just the fact that we had these conversations, we pulled these people together um to develop a a short but very wellstated policy to to guide through very strategically um during this time. And so

182for me, I support the policy as it stands because I think this is a good time to do it. It's, you know, it would have been good any time to do it, but now we're doing it. And um policies are revised. Do you know? So this is something that we can review now, we can review later, but right now this is this is good. This is a policy that we can stand on. This is a policy our principles can use, our families can use. Um grief impacts everybody that it touches is, you know, so I I can't imagine to be in that position. Um but um yeah, I I support the policy for for this evening. Miss Steel, >> thank you for really such respectful dialogue. I think it's really wonderful. So, as I'm processing,

183I'm thinking um everybody likes a sound bite and something um quick and easy to think they know what's going on, but I think it's important to read this policy for those who aren't going to open um open that up on our board docs website that what we are what the committee two committees came up with was the following. Honorary diploma to be awarded outside of the graduation ceremony and inclusion of the students name in the printed graduation program in the in memory of section or similar acknowledgement section and discussion of opportunity for non-graduation ceremonybased recognitions. So think sports and clubs and the things that maybe that student participated in. So I just want to make sure we say that out loud before we take our vote that that that is what the policy is is

184offering for um families that are in this really sad, unfortunate um terrible space. >> Um I I'm I'm sorry. I had a thought that um we also in the horrible event where we have multiple students, which has often been the case, who have passed away. um some you know at the forefront if they passed during their senior year but I mean you sometimes have a collection of loss and if the options presented are more public facing it could cause the families who are grieving who've opted out of those public things to have to field questions about why they didn't want their child's name displayed why they didn't want a photo displayed. And I just we are and I I know this is a broken record. We are such a large system. So when we make

185these decisions, I mean, we have to look at a much bigger and so I just if if we got I mean I wish we didn't lose any kids, but if we if there was only one child lost, I think this is a different conversation, but that's so often not the case. and and creating a space where you're inadvertently causing families who decided to keep their grief private to have to be outed because they chose not to be public is something as well that I just thought of. So there Mr. Bab, >> la last quick clarifying question. Were these two options specifically brought up in the committee the the five not the policy committee but the 55 the board and >> they were discussed they were discuss you mean the two that the amendment >> they

186were both proposed and put aside >> discussed as potential. Yes. >> In the larger >> in the parent principal committee. Yes. And no matter which, no matter what what's on the final one, it's options for the parent. It's not everybody's up on the video board or >> So, so Miss Steel had a good point about um we're having this discussion, but everyone may not have the the policy. So, I' I'd like to read a couple more portions, and maybe I'll just read all of it. um the the policy that has been proposed. The board recognizes the importance of honoring students who have died while ensuring equity, sensitivity, and consistency in such situations. Any recognition of a deceased student will avoid causing distress to the school community and respect the wishes of the family. For purposes

187of this policy, student is any student who is in good standing and passes away while enrolled in district district high school or post 8th grade promotion. Prior to graduation ceremonies during the school year, the high school principal will contact the parents of the student. During the meeting, the principal will explain that the students parent may select any or all of the following allowed practices related to their students recognition. And then as Miss Steel identified, the honorary diploma to be awarded outside of the graduation ceremony, inclusion of the students name in the printed graduation program in the memory of section or similar acknowledgement section and or the discussion of opportunity for non-graduation ceremonybased recognitions. I I'm I'm not quite obviously there are different degrees but the difference between having in memory of section or the person

188on the video board it's the same >> or the person I'm sorry or >> or on the the picture up on the video board is the same >> well it's the same ballpark to what you were saying earlier why wouldn't the other person >> is it would >> in the program in the program, there's a separate section. >> Sure. I'm just saying if if multiple students passed and one didn't put their name there, it would again bring up the well, why did you put your >> That that was my only >> thing that stood out to me. But okay, that's all I think we're good. >> Okay. Any further discussion, comments, board? Okay, we are then ready to vote on the proposed amendment. And Mr. Q, would you read that again, please? >> just the

189amendment. Yeah. >> To add the two lines, read aloud students name. >> Can't you hear me? >> To read aloud students name during roll call and display students image on jumbotron with classmates during roll call. And I do have a copy of that for you, Barb. if you would like it. >> Thank you very much, Mr. King. >> Okay. So, the the vote at this time will be to add those two statements to the proposed policy and then following that vote, we'll vote on the proposed policy either with the amendments or as presented. So, we have a fir a motion and a second and Miss Beam, if you'd call. Mrs. Reagan, >> no. >> Dr. Jükovich, >> no. >> Mrs. Steel, >> no. >> Mr. Boyd, >> yes. >> Mr. Babbot, >> yes. >> Mr.

190Cune, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johan, >> no. Amendment motion fails. 43. So, I would now accept a motion um to approve the proposed policy JP as presented. >> I move to approve policy JP as presented. >> Second. >> A motion by Miss Reagan, second by Miss Steel. >> Mr. Babbot, >> yes. >> Mr. Boy, >> yes. >> Mr. Cune, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Reagan, >> yes. >> Mrs. Steel, >> yes. >> Dr. Jükovich, >> yes. Motion passes 70. Uh, section 9 board future action items. There are a number and again um 9.12 are board policy updates. Section 10, written information, the Head Start director's report, and um just to draw attention, the we the Head Start program here in THAA will have um some federal individuals auditing a portion of

191um the practices here. Um, I believe it's later this month there will be someone speaking to parents and staff at Head Start, which is standard. It's not um anything out of of the ordinary learning services and 2022 bond issue and 2026 a 2026 update of the 2022 bond issue. Um, thanks to both of you for providing that information. topics for discussion. >> My parents can't leave yet. Sorry. We'll let them go first. >> I I'll go first if that's okay. I'm sorry. Jump the gun. >> I think she might want to say something to you. Go ahead. >> I was going to text you earlier to tell you when you could strategically leave, but anyway, that's past that point. So, um, thank you. Thank you for the hard discussions, hard choices, hard things that we

192have to do every day, tonight um and in the future. Um I was trying to think of a few things to say. So, thank you to my parents for supporting me. Thank you for being here tonight, my husband, my kiddos. Um thank you to my Orange Theory friends who supported me in this decision to be on the board, Brent McHune and Jen McNeel. Anyway, I'm just really appreciative that they made it here tonight to support me. um and Lelle. Um so, thank you for that. Um and really just having kind of again all my worlds collide with um University of Kansas Health System U, my employer, and and really just what a great night. Um makes me think that about American Heart Month because I'm a nurse. I'm going to just go ahead and go

193there. Um and all the stress that we endure as individuals and in the hard things that we're doing and and decisions we have to make. Um, so breathing through your nose, I heard you say taking deep breaths. Breathing through your nose actually um lowers your heart rate faster than through your mouth. So if you need to do that, that'll decrease your stress and really just help you get through the next thing. So anyway, um and and Rob Kun, I think you shared something a couple months ago about um smile day. >> Yeah, probably. >> Yeah. So I feel like I wanted to kind of go on that. Um, February 17th is random act of kindness day. So, just uh think about that as as we go through the month of February. Really happy um that

194January has passed. While we didn't have many snow days, we had all the flu days. Um and so we've we've hopefully gone past that. Anyway, um so anyway, I just wanted to also give a lot of appreciation for um Summer's comments about Brian uh Barackman tonight. Um I carpulled with his dad many years ago and so it was just kind of a neat moment to hear about his son being great thing. I know I know very random but I just wanted to share that. Um and then I'm really excited tomorrow night I get to go to um the Northwest for the Blues and Barbecue um fest. And so my husband and I will have a nice little date night and enjoy uh Prairie Trail Middle School jazz band and and the Northwest Jazz Band and

195have some barbecue. And um Rick and Karen, you may leave now. Thank you for coming. Appreciate Appreciate Appreciate you coming. Love you. >> Thank you for being here. Mr. Babbot, >> uh part of my talk tonight was going to be about the esports thing, but I think we got that out of the way again next month. Um, so I only really have one topic, but today I went to observe the uh student protest downtown and where five 600 kids showed up and really seemed like they found their voice and I was just really blown away by the amount of kids there, the excitement they had for helping each other, for supporting each other, for supporting the community. And it was great to see students of all walks of life find their voice, peacefully support each

196other. They weren't causing any trouble. They were just making their voices heard and supporting one another, the whole community and the country really as a as a whole. It gives me great joy to see the leaders of tomorrow come into their own right in front of our eyes. It was great. Though there were many chants, definitely not all suitable for work, one stuck with me afterwards. It was a simple message that spoke about the way I feel about our community here in Altha. No hate, no fear. Immigrants are welcome here. >> And that's all. Thank you, >> Miss Steel. So, on the heels of Mr. Babbot, um I want to take my time tonight during board comments to to talk directly to our teenagers. Um, I've raised three and I still have one in the

197hopper. Um, and I can honestly say there's no other decade that is is more exhilarating and fun to parent through. And that really is the truth. The teen years, they really are fun. It's so beautiful to watch them become independent and grow. I am I You know, AM I STILL YOU ALL THIS? >> I AM GOING THROUGH IT. >> SORRY. >> That's great. >> Oh, you know, they're funny and they're becoming their own people and we're seeing them kind of try things out and practice who they are and to to Mr. Babbot's point, find their voice. I I love that part of watching them grow. And what I want to say to teens is that in in today's world, in these present times, your voice matters. It isn't about having all the answers. And you

198don't have to be perfect. And your voice might crack. And you might make decisions to do things that even the adults in your sphere might try to question or encourage you to stay within guard rails that really are somewhat arbitrary. So don't ever let anyone chill or silence your voice just as you're beginning to find it. That is the part of practice of finding your voice and using your voice for good. Every time you stand up for a peer or question a fact that you saw online or express curiosity, you are strengthening your unique identity and perspective. And most importantly, and this is what makes me the proudest, much to Mr. Babbot's point, you are strengthening community. So when we come for those who live and breathe in a different way than you can ever

199imagine because it's not yours to live, you are being brave and you are creating a community that matters so very much to the core of our humanness. So to the teenagers, keep at it. Keep being brave. Don't let anything or anyone diminish who you are or what you want to stand for. And especially don't let it diminish your fire that you're just now realizing and practicing to use. So yesterday was Rosa Park's birthday. So in honor of Black History Month, a couple of her quotes, one of which I think says a lot about what we saw today with our teenagers. Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that held its ground. And to the adults that have teens in your sphere, honor their fire. Choose your words

200carefully. Encourage them finding their voice and don't play a part in diminishing it. So, back to Rosa. I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear. Knowing what must be done does away with fear. Sometimes I think it's our own fear as adults. We fear their safety. We fear them being misunderstood and we unintentionally discourage them. But good trouble is just that. It's good. Thank you, John Lewis. And I will close with my favorite of Rosa Parks quotes. It takes more than one person to bring about peace. It takes all of us. There were times when it would have been easy to fall apart or go in the opposite direction. But somehow I felt that if I look took one more step, someone would come along and join

201me. And today at the courthouse and out here on Blackp, there were a lot of someone's coming alongside. And that is what I love about Mr. Boyd. So, I'm going to preface my comments tonight that um these are my comments and my comments alone. Um I am not speaking for any of my colleagues on the board. Um I also will will layer on um this idea of intent versus impact. And you know, my my better half is always um telling me that um uh and and and my my 16-year-old is also um teaching me to learn my journey. Um so I'm I'm going to read my usually, you know, I kind of speak from the heart or off the cuff, but I think tonight um I'll read some prepared comments because I want to make

202sure I stay focused and don't become um too emotional. But remember, intent versus impact, right? And um I hope you know our staff know the amount of respect and um gratitude that I have for the work that they do day in and day out. But I want to briefly address the communication that was sent to families regarding planned student walkouts. And again, these are my comments and mine alone. Um, I understand and I appreciate the district's responsibility to prioritize student safety, to clarify supervision limits, and to be transparent about attendance expectations. Those are real obligations, and they matter. At the same time, I want to be clear that I had concerns about the impact of the message that was sent out yesterday, particularly on students who are choosing to engage in civic expression. While the

203email stated that students had the right to participate in demonstrations, the overall framing, in my opinion, placed a heavy emphasis on consequences and risk. For some students and families, that emphasis may feel discouraging rather than informative and may unintentionally create a chilling effect on student voice. I believe we could have struck a better a better balance, one that clearly communicates safety and attendance expectation while also affirm affirming in both tone and substance that student civic engagement is a value part of their educational experience. But my heart was so full looking at the videos today. My heart was full looking at pictures. Um, my heart was full listening to the audio message that I receive from students engaging in the process of change. And change is difficult. Change is uncomfortable. But change doesn't happen because we

204want it to. We have to make it happen. And those are uncomfortable conversations. Sometimes feelings get hurt. Folks going to get upset. And that's okay. And I'm fine being in the minority. It's a place I've been all my life. >> Miss Rean, >> man. Brad. >> Yeah, I know. So, um it was really interesting. I went to the demonstration today. um you know met up with Mr. Babbot. We took a selfie so we knew it happened. Um and it was interesting as I was walking up to the demonstration there were these girls and they were so full of joy. They had smiles. They had their signs and I said, "Ladies, civil disobedience. Go do what you learned about in school." And one of the girls said, "I learned about civil disobedience in Lang class, AP

205Lang." And I said, "No way. I used to teach AP Lang. Was it Henry David throw?" And she's like, "No." I'm like, "Yeah, it was, wasn't it?" And so I have to say that like it was so powerful to see the kids that the the the young men and women engaging in nonviolent direct action. And here is a quote from Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King from his letter to B from Birmingham jail. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has consistently refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. Our kids were boisterous. They were loud. They were fiery. The cars driving by met their energy. There were flags from Latin American nations. It was so powerful and it was I mean it's Black

206History Month and I thought a lot about Dr. King and then to hear Dr. Silva and her comments talking about, you know, this 20% that we have in our district who are identify they identify as Hispanic. I I just the the it was a a c a wide spectrum of kids who showed up. They weren't one color. They weren't all speaking the same language. It was community. It was community. Just like Mr. Babbot reminded us of and I just civil disobedience is a bedrock. I mean, you know, like the young people and it was young people at the Boston Tea Party who did all that. They they they destroyed things and whatnot. Our kids were just holding up signs and saying a message. It was really neat. Um so yeah, it was really powerful. Okay,

207I'm going to circle back to my my normal thing. So, um, the full funding of special education benefits everyone and the fact that there are appropriated funds that I don't remember the word that Dr. Little used, but they like just pretended they're not there anymore. They disappeared those funds. Um, th that money would make a marketked impact on our district in real time and it would impact everyone. And to Dr. Joerger's point. So, he brought up that there was a motion made by, I believe, Senator Adam Thomas in the Senate Ed committee that for $92 million to be no, Senator Sykes made the motion. My apologies. Senator Sykes made the motion and she represents part of our district. $92 million um to special ed, which this department of eds asked for 150. Um senators Pat

208uh Petty, Sykes, Starns, Arbrite, and Thomas all voted for that motion. Five other senators did not vote for that motion. Three of whom represent tha Senator Shane, Senator Gossich, and Senator Rose. So, it's 55 and the committee chair broke the tie not in favor of public schools. What's interesting is you may have heard me say this before, this exact thing happened with $87 million on March 5th of 2025. this exact thing happened. Okay. So, my my request from our our our community would be this. Let's let's really be grateful to the senators who represent I just got a hair in my mouth. Oh my god. Okay. So, let's be grateful to the senators who are supporting public schools in the committee room. Let's make sure we encourage them to support public schools on the Senate

209floor on final action because some some of those people who support us in committee rooms don't support us in final action. and let's um let's reach out to those senators who voted against public schools and ask them why. Because if you keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, we all know what that is. And we literally did deja vu. It was 87 million last year. Senator Ericson broke the tie. 92 this year. So fully funding special education, the excess investment that we as district make should be a moral issue. It's the right thing to do. And so I'm going to encourage our our public to reach out to their legislators. And also please remember that every single House member is on the ballot in November and it's an election

210year. So they're going to take votes that we like so that they can, you know, make it through. The votes they take during their entire term are what should we should be considering. So public education is the foundation of our nation of being learned and critical thinkers. The individuals who spoke out for civil disobedience often advocated for strong public schools because a well-educated public means we have better educated voters and those people look out for the little guy. They look out for one another. So, the legislature, they they have some an questions they need to answer from us. And um I hope everyone remembers that for the sake of all Kansas public school students and for the amazing educators and staff who work in our buildings day in and day out. any other I want

211to build on the comments that have been made about um the amazing high school students um today and the choices that they made and the difference that they made, the civic engagement um and and just tie that because I before the the activity activities today. Um, I have had several experiences this week seeing high school students present and be recognized for their civic engagement and and I just want to again um, you know, Julie described it as the most fun time of parenting. I I went through it too. I don't I don't know that it was always fun, but it is energizing and exciting to see those young people developing into adults and the opportunities that we provide in THA for our students build such wonderful presentation skills and confidence. Um, congrats to the tha

212South Roappa National Social Studies Honor Society students. There were 25 who were inducted. Honestly, I didn't even know know of that society until a couple of weeks ago. Um, but the there are high school students participating in leadership which we hosted this week. There there were students at the leadership of THAA from the 3D programs who presented amazing presentations about the opportunities that they have had. Um the student ambassadors at the innovation campus who took all of us on tours, the knowledge they have and the excitement that they have about their programs. um all all of those pieces those the and and that was just this week. Um and it happens all the time. So so so exciting. Um kindness week the week after President's Day as has been mentioned Nick Crley mentioned the listening

213sessions. There's one more round of those focused on system and resource stewardship and that has been so enlightening and um again energizing to hear people in our community staff and and parents uh providing input on this strategic planning process. Um, I'll tag on Becky's heart health because tomorrow is actually women's heart health day and it's a wear red day as as well. Um, I have two more things and one is I had an had the opportunity at leadership to just talk about the board of education um what the board does and and a little bit about our board. And one of the things that I talked about was collectively we work as a board and although there are times that we don't always agree on everything, um we listen to what others have to say

214and and we may still stay true to our initial position, But but we listen and and we take into consideration what others bring to the dis and I think tonight's discussion was a perfect example of that. So I just appreciate the work of this board. And then one last thing, a phrase that I picked up out of um Rebecca's presentation, her award-winning video tonight, and it was, "How much are you willing to give?" I think that's a reflection for all of us. >> Dr. Jer, >> well, thank you very much for uh lots of comments as usual, many of which are on my sheet here. So, um, shout out to esports again. That's I was going to talk more about that, but I think we've covered that tonight, including the the t-shirts on the dis

215up here. Um, I see Alicia Jackson standing in the back of the room. But we've mentioned kindness week, and she is really the the brains behind getting that all started. And, uh, what an exciting thing for us between February 16th and 20th to celebrate that as a community. I noticed there's even some kindness type things over on the wall over here in the room. So, uh, thank you, Alicia, for that and thank you for everybody that's that's joined on with that. Um, as somebody's already mentioned tonight, ballots will show up in mailboxes next week for bond 2026, which is great. You talked about our work with the strategic plan. There is one more listening session on February 18th, so check that out and come to it. Um, I don't know I'm going to say much

216about the legislative session. I think we've covered that this evening. Um, we do have spring site council coming up and we do have a date change with that. We are going to do that on February 19th versus whatever day it was scheduled on. Um, and and the reason we're going to do that is that is also the same night as the open house for OPSIC. And so we thought what a great site council opportunity to invite our community to come in. Our young people will be there to give tours and talk about the amazing programs and the work that they're doing there. So check that out on February 19th from 6:00 to 7:30. Um, shout out to Leadership THA. You know, most communities have some sort of leadership program like Leadership THA. What makes Leadership

217Ta special is there's one kid from every high school and boy do they offer richness to that group. So congratulations to those people that are in that. The other things have been mentioned many times tonight, most of them as well. Um, it's Black History Month. uh so many things important about that in terms of you know mulling our our world today and important lessons for us to remember and um certainly appreciate all the work that's done in our system to honor that. Uh today is n or this is national school counseling week is already has been mentioned mentioned. Um you know I think we can all go back probably to a school counselor in our lives that may have made a positive impact or maybe not when I was in high school. I don't know.

218I probably wouldn't be sitting here had I listened to my counselor but uh sorry Alicia Jackson again in the back of the room. Um but the reality is is is I think we've all had abundantly great experiences with counselors and school counselors. uh even into our adulthood for many of us. So, shout out tonight to Rita Hastings who's the counselor at Colorado Water Creek uh who was my counselor I worked with at Fairview for a number of years when I was there and uh she's as good as a human being gets and uh I love you Rita. I just want to say that publicly tonight. So, uh she's awesome. Um it's also SRO appreciation day on February 15th. You know, I see SRO's in the room with us tonight, but man, are we lucky to

219have quality SRO's that uh do far more than police our buildings in terms of building relationships and interacting with our kids and our staff and our families. Uh so grateful to the SRO's that serve in our schools and and in our district each and every day. And then last, uh public schools week is February 26 to March 1st. And you know, public schools are so special in the United States. And you know, I I think about this and I say this to people a lot. Public schools are the great equalizer in our country. And we are blessed to live in a country where that's the case. The only criteria to go to a public school in the United States is you walk on your two feet to get in the door. That's it. Um well,

220okay, you get in the door somehow. How's that sound? I'm getting feedback uh tonight up here. So um but but but the reality is is you have to live in the United States. you can go to one of our public schools and and that is such a great equalizer in our country that I think when we've been born here, we've been raised here, we've experienced it, it's so easy to take for granted and so many kids around the world um don't have that opportunity and sometimes it's because of of where they live or sometimes it's merely the way education is set up in their country that certain kids go down this path and certain kids go down that path and uh that's certainly not the case and we are we are really um lucky to

221have that and it's something we should always hold precious. So anyway, those are my comments tonight. Thank you >> board. We have three executive sessions. The first one 13.01. Um I would welcome a motion and we need 20 minutes for that. I move that the board go into executive session for the purpose of discussing matters relating to employer employee negotiations under coma and the that the board return to the regular meeting at 9:25 p.m. in this room. >> I'm sorry. Johan, Miss Johan >> motioned. >> Motion and then who was the second? >> They tied Robin. Yes. >> Motion by Miss Johan, second by Mr. Boyd. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Cune. >> Yes. >> Dr. Jükovich. >>

222Yes. >> Mr. Babbot. >> Yes. >> Motion passes 70.