001[Applause] Good evening and welcome. I have to tell you, it's nice to have a full house. It was kind of light this summer, so great to see so many people here. Um and hello to those who are watching from home. Miss Beam, you want to call roll? >> Sure. >> Mr. Babbot >> here. >> Mr. Boyd >> here. >> Mrs. Johan >> here. >> Mr. Cune. >> Mrs. Reagan >> here. >> Mrs. Steel >> here. >> Dr. Jükovich >> here. >> If you would please rise and join us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. And welcome board. [Music] Item 2.01, an agenda
002to adopt. Is there a motion? >> I move to adopt the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Brad Boyd. Second by Becky Johan. >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johan. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Babbot. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Dr. Jükovich. >> Yes. >> Recognitions and awards. Miss Kubach. >> Yes. Well, welcome everyone. We are excited to have a packed house tonight and welcome our students and staff back for recognitions. So, to begin our recognitions this evening, we have a lot of spring sports state champions that we would like to recognize. So to kick us off, I would like to invite the tha West softball team along with their coaches and assistant principal Pat Butler and district athletic director Matt Johnson up to the
003front. [Applause] We are so excited to share that this spring the Owl softball team reclaimed the top spot winning their second state championship title in three years. West defeated Washurn Rural in the championship game with a final score of 8 to7 to cap off a 28-1 season. We are so proud of these ladies for their accomplishment and for representing the THA public schools. Please join me in a round of applause. We might need to do some stacking. We may need to Awesome. Thank you guys. All right, Pat, you can stay up front because next I would like to invite our West boys and girls track and field champs to the front along with their coaches. So, we had individual and team champs this year from THA West. This spring, the OA West boys track team
004was named the 6A state champion at the state track and field for the second year in a row. But as I mentioned, we also had several individual students win titles. So, congratulations to Tevin Gasaway on winning the 200 meter race, Kate Zimmerman on winning the Javelin championship, and the boys 4x100 team made up of Braden Johnson, Bryce Austin, Kaden Richardson, and Tevin Gasaway who took home the state title. On the girls side, we were proud to recognize the girls 4 by 800 team made up of McKenna Taldo, Liz Browning, Laney Clemens, and Jasmine Steed, who also took home a state title. Congratulations, Remember how we pull you guys out? Everyone should go over the best of friends. [Laughter] pretty. >> And as you make your way over there, we do have some certificates for the
005individual uh champs, too. So, we'll hand those out. Okay. Keeping on the theme of track and field, I would now like to invite up North's Jaylen Watson along with his coaches and athletic director Josh Price. [Applause] Perfect. We are proud to celebrate Jaylen for winning the 6A state title in boys triple jump. Jaylen was not only recognized for his skills in triple jump with a final leap of 47 feet 3.25 in, but his talents in track and field, the basketball court, and in the classroom earned him the title of the Kansas City Stars male scholar athlete of the year, which was announced earlier this summer. Jaylen graduated with us this spring and plans to attend, I believe, Wesleyan University in Connecticut this fall where he will continue his basketball career. So, please join me in
006congratulating Jaylen. >> Awesome. Okay, the track and field recognitions continue. So, our tha Northwest boys and girls track and field champions can come to the front now along with their coaches and principal Chris Suk. So, Northwest had several individual and small team champions at the 6A state tournament. And tonight, we are proud to honor the boys 4 by 800 team made up of Carson Madson, Benjamin Herpst, Tyler Palangi, and Dexter Favro for claiming the state title. In addition, Mishna Eritus uh brought home multiple medals claiming the title in the long jump. So congratulations students. [Applause] Okay, our final track and field champions are from THA South. So, come on up along with your coaches and athletic director Andrew Miller and principal Shawn Demery. [Applause] The Falcons had three individual state champions in the 6A boys
007track and field events. And tonight we are proud to recognize Dylan Pla for winning the 800 meter race along with Peter Max Sweeney who took home the title in discus and Jeremy Gracia who took home the title in shotput. Congratulations [Applause] Okay, I think I think that concludes our student recognitions for the evening. So now we are excited to recognize several of our staff members. And to kick us off, I would like to invite Central Elementary Principal Brandy Leot to the front. [Applause] I love it. She has her own cheering squad and everything. We are so so very proud to celebrate Brandy tonight who was recently announced as the 2025 area 1 Kansas elementary principal of the year by the Kansas Principles Association. KPA is an organization of over 750 building level leaders from across
008can Kansas. Candidates were nominated by their school communities and selected by a committee of their peers. They were evaluated on their school leadership, school improvement, dedication, professionalism, and service to students. Of course, when we heard Brandy had been named the area elementary principal of the year, it came as no surprise to us. She's known as somewhat of a rock star when it comes to educational leadership. And those who saw her school spotlight here at a board meeting not long ago know why. She's a master at creating opportunities for students, building community, and holding her students and staff to high standards. She's anth North alum, a finalist for the Kansas Teacher of the Year, a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching, and is a National Board Certified Teacher, among other
009accolades. When asked about the award, Brandy shared that she loves bringing real world learning opportunities to her school and instilling a passion for community service for all her students. She went on to say that the award is a tribute to her amazing colleagues who are here tonight, dedicated staff and supportive families, and it is a recognition of the teamwork to create a great environment for students to thrive. We are so proud to have Brandy here in THA, but are also proud to share that we had not one but two administrators represented this year. Earlier this summer, we were able to honor Christa During, who is uh honored as the assistant principal of the year. So gosh, how lucky are we to have two rock stars in our leadership roles? So please join me in giving
010Brandy a round of applause for her distinguished honor. Yeah. Okay. And also we've got a cheering squad. Come on up. Get get in the picture too with Brandy. Yeah. Hey, give it up for these people. >> That's right. [Laughter] >> So, I'll do [Laughter] Big smile. Ready? One, two, three. Go. >> Awesome. Awesome. [Applause] All right. Next, I would like to invite Manchester Park Elementary nurse Bev Vanderlice to the front along with principal Jenny Steele and director of health services Sarah Gilland. In May, Bev was surprised at an all school assembly when they announced that she had been named the school nurse of the year by the Kansas School Nurse Organization for her exceptional dedication, professionalism, and impact on student health and well-being. This prestigious honor is awarded annually to a Kansas school nurse who
011exemplifies excellence in school nursing practice. Eligible recipients must be registered professional nurses with a minimum of 5 years experience in school nursing, be current and recent members of their professional organization, and spend at least 50% of their time providing direct care to students. Nurse Bev's compassionate care, clinical expertise, and unwavering support for students and staff alike make her a vital part of the THA public schools community and the Manchester Park community. Please join me in honoring Bev Vanderlice. [Applause] >> Awesome. Thank you. >> All right. And last, but certainly not least, I would like to invite the South biology teacher Robin Dennis to the front along with assistant principal Andrew Miller and principal Sha Demery. [Applause] Robin was named the 2025 outstanding biology teacher awardee for the state of Kansas. Presented by the National Association
012of Biology Teachers, this is one of the most prestigious honors in science education. Since its inception in 1962, the award has recognized outstanding biology and life science teachers across all 50 states and beyond. Each year uh they select educators who exemplify excellence in the classroom, leadership in the profession, and dedication to student success. Miss Dennis stood out not only for her innovative teaching, but also for her meaningful impact on colleagues in the broader science education community. Julie Miller, a tha public school science coordinator, shared that Robin's ability to support and uplift other educators, meet colleagues where they are, and advocate for excellence in biology education is truly inspiring. Her teaching peers were equally impressed by her application and welcomed her into the long-standing tradition of OBTA recipients. We're proud to celebrate Robin's well-deserved recognition and
013are grateful for her continued leadership in shaping future scientists and science educators. Congratulations, Robin. [Laughter] Big smile. One, two, three. [Applause] Thank you, Miss Gruba. And another congratulations to all of those recognized uh this evening. The next section are our presentations and we'll start with Brent Kiger and Dr. McMullen, safety services. [Music] All right. Well, good evening and uh thanks to the board for allowing us the opportunity to share a little bit about our safety services programming and provide some updates and some changes uh for this school year. Um we'll start with kind of a bond update from the 2022 bond and the the projects that we've been wrapping up. Uh those include video servers, elementary interior cameras, which again were new to our elementary schools, um access control at both the high school and
014middle school, uh upgrades there, increased vape detectors at both middle and high school. Uh we had a crisis alert hardware upgrade that, uh Mr. Kiger will speak to here in a little bit, and then some additional building radios and additional nightlock devices. you know, our safety services team. We're really fortunate in Altha to have the team that we do. Um Brent Kiger, who you'll hear from here shortly, uh leads our team as our executive director. Brad Caldwell, uh 30-year veteran of the LA Police Departments, our manager of safety services. Liz Hawkins is our co-responder. And then Lori Cidle, um basically keeps tabs on Brent and Brad all day and helps dispatch them to many locations. So, a program we're very proud of in our district that's really unique to tha is our school safety specialist
015program. And uh two years ago, we made the decision to end a contract with a third party um contract security and and at this at actually a little bit of a cost savings trade out two for one, but really know that the one that we're getting to help serve our high schools from a safety standpoint are really qualified people. So, um, all six of these gentlemen are are retired Altha Police Department, um, officers. All of them have more than 25 years experience and they've just been a huge asset, uh, to our high schools. And actually, Andy Falcon's here tonight. I want to give him a shout out. Uh, does a great job. Our SRO program uh, is one of the best partnerships I think we have in our school district with the city of THA.
016Um, we are fully staffed in having a uh SRO at every high school and every middle school. And so I want to give a shout out to our to our SRO's and and just the job they do because it's more than just a policeman in the building. You know, they really work on the mentorship side, getting to know students. They wear many hats. Everything from a police officer to a counselor to a a role model um to someone to just talk to. So they do a really good job. And then our our middle level unit with 10 middle schools is a is a pretty large group. We've got a couple new folks and a couple folks that have been around quite some time. So really fortunate to have this group. Liz Hawkins is our co-responder.
017Um it's a position we started in 2023 uh with the state MHIT grant. Um uh Liz is a trained social worker. Um she worked for us uh at Altha West until uh we hired her into this position. Um but she really is someone who works with so many of our students and frankly some of our staff that are really uh going through a mental health challenge. Um and just this last school year she had over 300 contacts with our families uh including 20 Johnson County mental health intakes. and she is such a liaison and has relationships with not only Johnson County Mental Health but so many of the other um outside agencies we work with from Marillac to others and is able to help maybe expediate that intake process uh when necessary and and uh
018really helps our families a lot. So uh at this point in time I'll turn it over to Brent to really dive into the the safety services programming. >> Perfect. Thank you Dr. McMullen. Thank you board for for having me and listening to me tonight. Um I I'll try and be be as brief as I can here. Up in front of you, we have what we call our multi-layer approach to to safety. There there really is no one item that that really makes our safety protocol work. It's a really a collaboration of a lot of things. And I could be up here all night and talk about it and I'm sure nobody would want that. So we won't do that. But I'll touch on a few things uh that that are really key to to our
019our our safety platform here in Altha. Uh first is is crisis alert uh by strategics. So this is a product that we've had. We're entering our fourth year uh now uh with with with great results. We constantly get great feedback from our staff. Uh so as a quick reminder, this is the product that we have beacons and strobes in every classroom, every common area, and all of our staff wear a badge uh either around their neck or or on their uh on their waist or or something. And really, it's an opportunity for all of our staff to be able to to press press a button and and get help right away. So, again, a quick three button press notifies the safety team that there's a crisis in the building. Um, but it also gives our
020staff the ability to, uh, in the event that we need to put a building in lockdown, uh, they can continually press that button and then mass notify everyone in that site that we have a critical incident and we need to be in lockdown. So, uh, it's a great tool, uh, as you can see, is used used by our staff quite a bit. So, this past school year, uh, we had, uh, 3,800, uh, button presses, as we call them. Um, so that's down a little bit from from last year. Uh, last year we had about 4,300. Um, it's it's not I don't believe, and I don't think our staff will tell you that we're seeing less behavior. What what I think this is is is really our uh our staff getting comfortable with the product and
021knowing the appropriate time to use it. You know, it's really not intended to be a classroom management tool. this is really supposed to be for crisis. So I I I think our staff continue to hone on hone in on uh the best the best use of that system. So um like Dr. McMullen mentioned um part of part of this bond we've been able to upgrade uh upgrade this system uh which which has really been good. Um so the the strobes you see now in this room, there's two here, there's one right in front of you and there's another one in the back. Um it will now coincide with our new safety um our new safety protocol that I'll talk about in a second. So, uh, it's been a really good addition for us. Um, our
022our raptor visitor management. So, uh, this is what all of our community, uh, goes through when they check into our buildings. So, this this gives us an idea of how many visitors come in, uh, who they are, what their purpose is in our building, uh, and it prints off a visitor badge for them. But in addition, at the same time, what it does is it checks against all nationwide databases for a sex offender registry. Uh that way if we have an individual checking into our building that that is a registered sex offender, it's a tool for our administrators just to understand how to maybe delicately treat this this situation. So, um it's a great great tool that that our community is used to and and we get great feedback on as well. Uh last year
023we had over 47,000 visitors scanned in across our buildings districtwide. Our nightlock device, um this is what we call an enhanced barricade uh device. So, um, back when we had Alice, and I'll talk a little bit about the transition of that here in a moment, but, uh, or from that rather, but we've always trained our staff in the event, the unfortunate event that we enter in a lockdown, um, barricading the door is just one extra step to keep you safer. Um, I was never a huge fan of dragging file cabinets across the room, pushing couches over. It's not uh, it's not only is it trauma-inducing, it's not quick if you have to then evacuate. Uh what this night lock device does is it makes it extremely quick and easy to to barricade the door. Um
024they're they're extremely strong. We we've tested it with the tha police department with rams and other tools to try and get in. They're extremely effective in what they do yet very easy for our staff to manipulate. And I'll tell you it's interesting to me once we rolled this out K through 12 at all of our sites, the amount of feedback we got from our staff of just how much safer it makes them feel frankly was worth the cost. So, uh, it's been it's been a really good, uh, option for our enhanced lockdown. And again, we'll talk about our new safety protocol coming up. Um, but this has really been a key piece of really emphasizing to our staff if we enter into lockdown or a lockdown, staying in your room behind a locked door truly
025is the safest place to be. And I'll talk about that uh, here in a moment. Um, we some some ballistic film or laminate that we've put on our buildings is another another new addition that that we've done uh, since the since the bond. And uh really what this is, without going into too much detail, really we're we're fortifying our buildings and making them just slightly harder target for for any bad actors. So uh in other words, we do a really good job keeping all of our doors locked at all times. Um however, windows of course are are a weak point of any exterior. So what this film does is it just fortifies the the glass. Uh so if somebody were to try to force their way in uh to reach in and unlock the door
026that this fortifies it. So uh we walked virtually every building in our district. We picked the strategic locations to install that film and and we've done that uh started last summer and then finished phase two this most recent summer. One of the last things I'd like to highlight tonight uh is our is our light speeded software and and full disclosure hats off to Mr. Umprey and his technology team uh for for running this. Uh this is really really their thing. I I just get involved from the safety side, but they've done an excellent job rolling this out uh from a very high level. What this does is it utilizes artificial intelligence to to scan screens. And I'm sorry, Mr. Humphrey, if I messed anything up here, uh some technology words here. It's going to scan
027our our the screens. There's probably a better word for that. Uh for our students and uh basically anytime our students uh type in anything that could be concerned, so it could be um violence towards someone, it oftenimes could be self harm related. Essentially, that that data gets sent to the company Lightseed. a human reviews it uh and then takes a look and see if it truly is a concerning threat. Uh if so, that gets forwarded to the right people um 247 uh to make sure that that we're we're keeping an eye on our kids. You know, as we know and Dr. Dr. McMullen talked about uh Liz on there being one of our health mental health co-responders and mental health is huge right now and and there's no getting away from that and and this
028this software has been been an excellent tool uh and undoubtedly has has given us some saves where we've been able to intervene uh with some students that were just in a really dark place. So uh it's a great tool. So hats off to to Mr. Rumphrey and his team for for rolling that out. Um, the next thing I'd like to talk about is is our transition from the Alice protocol to the standard uh standard response protocol. So, we've been an Alice district uh for active shooter response for a little bit over 15 years or so and and and it was good at the time and and the program still is good. Uh however, we we've we've introduced a lot of technology through crisis alert and lock and and night locks to where we really believe
029that emphasizing lockdown uh is really the the real answer to help keep our students and staff safe if there were an active shooter or or an active threat. Um, so the the Alice Alice really emphasized decision making for our staff and and really gave the freedom to for our staff to decide what's best for them or what they feel is best for them at the moment that there's an issue. Um, which can be good, but it's also it's also difficult uh for a lot of our staff to to make a wide array of decisions in a very high stress moment. So, what we're trying to do is just make it simpler. Uh, especially in a crisis, simpler is better. So, we're really trying to uh focus our staff on on getting behind a locked door,
030utilizing the night lock and in the infrastructure we have to to keep themselves safe. So, I'll talk a little bit about why we made the made the made the switch. The other nice thing about the the standard response protocol is it's an all hazards approach. So, in other words, Alice was active shooter only. What the standard response protocol is is it it covers everything. So, there might be a situation where law enforcement are in the neighborhood uh near the building. We now have a standard protocol for that. U there might be a student having a a medical issue in the hallway or in the lunchroom or in the commons and we need to put our building on what's called a hold where our students will remain in the classroom and keep the the hallways clear
031so first responders can respond. So before we didn't quite have the the standard language for that. Um but this really standardizes that across our our district K12. Um it uses language that's age appropriate uh for for everyone. Um and and we really feel like now is really the the right time to to move forward with that. So um we've been we've been rolling it out uh across our district. Um I'll talk about some of the training we've done in a second, but so far we've gotten really good feedback. Additionally, we've got uh administrators and other folks in our organization that are familiar with it that have either come from other districts or elsewhere. Uh and they they've all had had very positive experiences. So I I think it's going to be good for us here.
032Um, I won't go into too much detail of the of the protocol, but in front of you is are the icons um that that are now the the options. So, hold, just real brief, is going to be again if we have someone in the hallway that's having an issue, we need to keep a our hallways clear. So, the hold is going to be to notify our students and staff, just stay where you are until further notice. Secure is going to be we're going to secure our buildings uh even more than normal. So, we're going to keep anybody that would normally be outside, we're going to bring them in. So if in the secondary level if we have PE or band or sports outside we're going to bring them inside. At the elementary level if there's
033recess we're going to bring them inside as well. Of course lockdown uh we could utilize our strategics button to to do that. Uh that's reserved for our most most severe incidents. Uh evacuate if there's ever a gas leak or or some need to get out of the building. There certainly uh is that option. And then shelters largely here is going to be for severe weather. Uh the way we rolled this out to staff is um we we started really at our our admin administrator retreat a couple weeks ago at LA the Northwest. Um so we started our our training there. Uh we've created uh modules through our technology department and made it part of our mandatory training for all of our staff. So all of our staff will have completed the training by I believe
034it's August the 12th which will be next week before before students arrive. Uh and then also I'm working with our communications division with on a video that we'll also send out to staff to just further explaining the why uh so that they really understand that this is a very thoughtful approach uh done with a lot of research and and and due diligence. And then of course we'll continue to support all of our buildings on on drill ideas and that sort of thing uh moving forward. Um so again couple things that I already mentioned you know the training that that the the foundation it's called the I love you guys foundation. uh they offer DIY training or we can go to paid training if we need to. Uh the language that they use is is trauma-informed.
035Um it's reinforced with simple drills. Uh it's also re reviewed by industry experts every two years. Uh and they make necessary changes just as environment and and things change. Um additionally, this is a widely accepted protocol. It's used by over 50,000 organizations nationwide. So, um, there there's school districts in our metro that use it, um, both big and small, uh, also nationwide that are using it with with with some good success. So, uh, we just felt like right now was a good time, uh, with the with the upgrade from Centix, uh, with what we have implemented, you know, the the new strobes that we have in the ceilings everywhere, uh, will coordinate with the colors. So, um, purple is hold. So, if we go into hold, all the centiggic strobes will now light up purple.
036So, uh, it really it really fits, uh, just kind of blending all of our safety platforms together. So, we're really excited about it. >> With that, we'll certainly entertain any questions or >> I wonder if you might real quickly just talk about with the new badges and the sticker that's going to be on the new badges. It's cool that it all fits in one spot like that. >> Absolutely. I'm glad you mentioned that. So again, all of our staff carry the crisis alert badges and uh through our print department, we are able to print off uh stickers that go on the back of the badges. Uh that way if we have a maybe a new educator or maybe someone that hasn't been through this before and they see it light up purple, you know, again,
037the computer screens are going to take over. They're going to hear an announcement, but if they miss that or they need a reminder, uh we've printed off enough to go to every building to put on the back of all their badges and has all five of the responses uh clearly clearly dispelled spelled out on the back of their badge. So just just a fresh reminder so it's in front of our staff when they need it in an emergency if they forget. I'm glad you mentioned that. Thank you, Dr. Her. >> Miss Fagan. >> Um I I think this transition is great. I I I have more of a comment than a question. Um, I think it's really responsive to just, you know, a lot of the community and national chatter about age appropriate drills and
038and the way that we address these types of issues in our classrooms, especially the younger the kids are. Um, I love the colors. I think that that it it I when I was in the classroom, I didn't want to have to be the decision maker when we were in moments of crisis or panic. And I appreciate taking that weight off of the educators and having a system in place where they're just thinking about their kids and they're not thinking about a plan. like that is wonderful and I appreciate that we're evolving our response to these types of things um and beyond just um active shooter because I think it makes kids safer beyond the walls of our school making them aware of you know medical things they may see out in the world like if
039there's happening oh you should back up you shouldn't you know I appreciate the diligence and the intention behind this and I think the sticker is really a good idea um because when you're in that moment of real panic or the lights on, what does it mean? It's good that you can discreetly just look at your badge and realize that, oh, um, we need to stay put, but everything's okay. So, I appreciate you guys and the work going into this. Um, and we're always going to be changing and evolving as kind of our situation and circumstances shift, but I appreciate that um, we are willing to change and evolve um, in the name of safety for our students and for our staff. Thank you. >> Thank you for saying I appreciate it. Anyone else? Miss Steel,
040>> I just wanted to say briefly in the four years, almost four years that I've been on the board, I am so amazed at the changes that have taken place and the advancement that you guys have looked into. Um, that doesn't happen without great leadership and a lot of hard work behind the scenes. So, thank you for that. most of what you talked about tonight wasn't happening when I came on the board and now it's just um happening on the regular. I think that's great. The one thing I heard you say that I think is so important is that our staff feel safer and more in control with some of the changes you've made and that's empowering. So, thank you for the hard work and appreciate all you do. >> Awesome. Thank you for saying
041that. Yeah. And I'd be remiss for uh not acknowledging this board and our superintendent for putting safety first. you know, I have the the opportunity to speak with safety directors all over the country and and I can assure you that that's not the response that that every district gets. So, it sure is nice to be supported by a board and a superintendent that really puts safety first. So, thank you for that. I have just a couple of questions about the presentation and one you referenced um that when you talked about the total number of button presses and behavior being over 3,000 button presses, what kinds of behaviors are those in response to? >> Uh a wide array of things. Um it could be from in our special education classrooms. Often times it can be um
042elopments. You know what's what's nice about the tool is if a student does alope from the classroom, a teacher can press the button and then it will continue sending that signal for up to 60 seconds. So as a safety responder or a principal of a building, you're able to see, okay, if it's if it's lighting up in room 105 and now it's 107 and now it's door D, you have a pretty good idea of what what you're walking into. So um it's a wide array of of things. You know, I've talked to to one specific principal that that gave me an example of there was a student that just started to become escalating and they kind of know this is kind of typical and it starts a certain way and then it escalates. Well, the
043teacher was able to discreetly press her button as opposed to walking over and grabbing a radio or getting on the phone and calling for help, which would often escalate the student. So, in order to press press the button discreetly, next thing you know that the student has three or four other people around, realizes, hey, there's people here. it completely deescalated the situation which would normally have been a more intense situation. So I would say short answer there's a wide array of different behaviors. You know it is used more heavily at the elementary level um uh substantially. So you know we've got little ones from prek to fifth grade that that you know struggle with a wide array of issues but uh yeah so it's heavily used at the elementary level for gosh a wide array
044of things. >> Thanks. And and then you talked about the staff training. um the roll out and the video and what kinds of communication are going to parents to educate about >> I worked with with Miss Grubball on that as well and and the I love you guys foundation already has a lot of pre-printed information to for for parent notification so we're working together for newsletters to prepare those for not only our district newsletter obviously our staff newsletter but what goes out to parents as well and then there it's also already written up for our buildings to put it out in their building new newsletters as well to go home to parents >> okay >> as well Okay. I would just um ditto the comments the appreciation u to you and Dr. McMullen and your
045staff um SRO's the difference that an it makes in a building having an SRO to build those relationships and work with kids. So um and then those who retired and came back um to us that's that's a plus for sure. So thank you and for your vision and your leadership. Um really appreciate that. Thank you >> Dr. Sig. Some strategy strategic planning. So, as Ron works on some of the technology, I am uh honored to be joined this evening by Corey Shear with Trust Centric Consulting as well as Justin Rickliffs with um Guild Collective. And um they are partnering with us in our strategic planning this year. But before I kind of toss the baton to the two of them to look forward for us, I wanted to take just a quick minute to kind
046of refer back to what brought us here today in looking at revising our strategic plan. Um, as we look back, uh, the init the strategic plan that we're currently working in was first developed in the 2018 2019 school year. And um during that school year there was a great deal of work done to ensure that we had a vast array of voices heard in the process of developing our strategic plan. And so in that process there were really four phases that were worked through and it was quite the heavy lift and um resulted in October of 2019 the board of education approving the strategic plan um which would begin in 2019 and take us through 2024. I'll put an asterisk next to that though because as I just mentioned October of 2019 um we had
047a portrait of graduate um which was really our kind of guiding light for our strategic plan and the strategic plan that were approved but there were then still two phases that were going to be um undergone in the in the coming year to um continue to focus on the strategic outcomes of the strategic plan and identify the metrics that would be used. So, um, great intentions, but the strategic plan did not predict, um, what would happen in the spring of 2020. And so, um, the spring of 2020 occurred and we had many other things that we were navigating. So, in the fall of 2021, you may remember Dr. Reeves coming before all of you and sharing an update and a relaunching of our strategic plan. And that was really to ensure that um, we got
048back to that focus. Um and in that we also were able to um make certain that we were had some adjustments that really were bringing us up to um the areas that we needed to continue to um provide that that future focus for. So at that time we had additional focus around diversity engagement and inclusion and an an advisory committee was developed and then we really then identified the metrics to be used in um measuring our progress on our strategic plan. We had four pillars and continue to have those four pillars today which are really the big visions for our strategic plan and those focused on the high expectations for all and then um behavioral and social emotional development. The third one was human resources and then our fourth one was really looking at our
049effective systems and prioritized resources. So, we um have continued to keep updates with our balance scorecard on our website and I know many people go and kind of check that out and um as you go and do that, I think that will highlight not only the great work that's been done in our current strategic plan um but really has provided us some great information in terms of looking forward and some of the considerations we'd like to make as we look at revising our strategic plan. Um, as you look through that data, and there's a great deal of it there, um, you'll notice that there's various, um, points in that data where we note that the metric changed or the assessment no longer exists or, um, it went from something that was given to all students
050to something that was an opt-in. And so that was and continues to be one of the challenges that um, we face with our current strategic plan. And so, as um, Dr. Jagger and our senior leadership team began the conversation of looking at our revision to our strategic plan um which would be taking place for the 2627 school year. Um, we really felt it important that we be able to continue to have that great vision and forward thinking as a district, but at the same time ensure that we really were able to measure progress and growth towards those goals while at the same time having some fluidity and flexibility and being able to adjust that plan. Um that's where our partners came in with Corey and Justin um to really help us in this work because
051we know how important it is and um knowing that Corey has done a great deal of work with many organizations and really looking at those um visionary pieces that the organization wants to focus to you, but making sure that those um are really embedded throughout all of the work of the organization and the school district and pairing that with the work that Justin and his team do and really telling kind of the human story. Um, we felt like it was an incredible pairing um and great uh partners for us to rely on in our work as we look forward in our strategic planning this year. So, I'm going to hand it over to Corey who you can see is joining us via Zoom. Welcome Corey. Um, and Justin Rickliffs and they are going to provide
052for you insight as to our plan that we're going to be um taking on this year and looking at updating and revising our strategic plan. So Corey, I believe I'm handing it off to you. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Sig, and thank you all for your understanding for me to be able to join via Zoom this evening. I am out in Colorado actually for a family commitment. I have the privilege of being able to attend a memorial golf tournament for my father who was a superintendent of schools in Thompson Valley, which is just north of Denver. and that um start time is tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m. And so getting from Kansas City to Colorado um overnight would have been a pretty difficult challenge. So I'm grateful for technology but Zoom. Also grateful for
053um Justin to be able to be there in person and excited to be able to share with you over the course of the next few minutes just an overview of our process as we begin our strategic plan uh plan planning process with the public school. So u my name is Corey Sheer. I live in the Northland. I live in the Liberty Public School District. As Dr. Sig has shared with you, I work with lots of other school districts, uh, also other nonprofit organizations, other businesses, um, not only in the Kansas City region, but, um, across across the country, and we are, um, members of the Liberty Public School District. We have four children and, um, grateful to have been in the Northland for the past 17 years with them. And then, um, Justin, I want
054to give you an opportunity to provide a introduction and then we'll dig into a handful of slides. Sure, you bet. Thank you. My name is Justin Rickliffs. I'm the founder and CEO of a marketing agency called Guild Collective. We're also based in Liberty. My wife and I have five children, also through the Liberty Public School District. Um, and Dr. Joerger, Dr. Sig, the executive leadership team, and certainly the board. We're grateful to stand in front of you and walk through the process and the methodology that we get to shape and steward your story. This is your story to tell, and we're honored to be a part of it. >> Thank you, Justin. So um this is a very unique u a unique partnership between Guild Collective and Trust Centric. To our knowledge, we know of
055no other school district that is combining both u a deliberate strategic planning process with a brand expert company like Guild Collective. And there's a very specific reason why we're doing that, which we're going to get into in a little bit more detail. But to be able to couple both the strategic planning process as well as the proper messaging and guild specializes in a very human- centered messaging approach which is absolutely appropriate of course for for a school district. So we're excited to be able to partner in this together and then ultimately provide the very best possible service to guide you all through this process over the coming months. So let's dive into some slides. Um I'm we're going to share a little bit about just the purpose of the work and then we'll also walk
056through some of the phases that you all can expect. So ultimately what we want to do together is we want to build a clear and practical trust driven strategy roadmap that reflects where we are uh where public schools is and also connects through authentic messaging and drives forward with purpose. So the ultimate goal here is that we want to align as the slide says people priorities and then ultimately progress moving forward and then also as Dr. Sig said earlier we want to make sure that we're pulling through and pulling forward all of the incredible work that has been done on the previous strategic plan and to just continue to amplify that great work and to clarify that in terms of the context of the plan moving forward over the next several years. We have three
057primary objectives. Number one is to establish a simple and sophisticated strategic plan that is appropriately editable. We want this to be a living document, something that can be easily adjusted u at formal times throughout the next several years to ensure that the strategic objectives are aligning with the resources and and the current context of the district. Then this is where Justin's team is going to really provide their expertise in terms of building compelling messaging that is clear, that is built for connection and comprehension instead of any potential confusion that can certainly arise um when we're trying to communicate the goals and the objectives of a strategic plan. And then finally is to pave a clear path for future initiatives. So there will be strategic recommendations to activate this work through various methods and through various
058channels. And so this is where we will be working closely with district leadership in order to provide them the very best possible solutions. Some expected outcomes of the planning process. I'm not going to read every word. I'll I'll just read kind of quickly through the expected outcomes on the lefth hand side. But a practical, actionable and measurable strategic plan and the measuring of that strategic plan that can be done in a way that is as efficient as possible while still maintaining the appropriate level of data and and being able to be thorough with that data so that we can then translate what is occurring into clear and clear data that is both reflective and also actionable. Um number two, of course, a unified district and community. So you'll see in this process that we're going
059to be um utilizing opportunities to engage with various stakeholders around the district, around the community in order to get feedback on the strategic plan. Um also with Guild Collective, their expertise in helping to provide some core messaging framework. So, it's not just having a strategic plan, but being able to communicate that in a way that will really connect with the entire district and the community so that we're really articulating clearly the vision of the district moving forward with this plan uh activation recommendations. So I spoke about that a little bit earlier, but as these strategic objectives begin to emerge and as they start to fill out these components of the vision and the vision priorities moving forward with the plan, ensuring that there are tactical recommendations that will ultimately support these initiatives. And then finally,
060the opportunity to equip the district with a monitoring and accountability method. And then of course us providing some support along the way and even after the after the strategic plan is completed us being able to provide that support as well. A very very quick um couple of slides on who we are. Um I've already shared with you a little bit about my information as the founder and CEO of Trust Centric. Um here are some of the organizations that I've had the privilege of working with over the past several years. And um it's an amazing opportunity to walk alongside and help guide with various tools and resources not only from a workplace culture and an organizational trust standpoint but also from a strategic planning point as well. And so very grateful to have served and continue
061to serve several of these organizations currently. And then Justin want to hand it over to you so that you can share a little bit about the guild collective team. >> Yeah, you bet. So our team is uh that that's literally the whole company. It's all nine nine of us. Uh we're based here in Kansas City. All of our folks are uh based in Kansas City and and we're a local agency. Um one thing that I could just feel as I walked in the building today is the energy of the community. Like this is a gathering spot. This is a a moment that matters for obviously this meeting, but for this community and and that's the the type of work our team thrives on is understanding the heart of an issue and the heart of a
062matter. And when it came up in conversations with this team already of no, we have the Altha advantage and it's like that was it like we experienced it. And so the work and the four of us on this uh slide, Adriana, Don, myself, and Rachel, I literally have the same jacket on. That's moderately embarrassing. Um um but the the the work will be to crystallize and have concise and compelling language that gets reflected back to the appropriate stakeholders, the board, the community, the leadership team, the students, the parents. Um and ultimately that's one solid object and it gets reflected back like a prism uh based on the target audience that's engaging with the work. And so, um, again, it's it's a it's your story and and these four of us will be the primary folks
063alongside Corey in this work. Uh, this is just a really small sliver um of some of a project we did with Liberty Public Schools and they are such a wonderful organization. Dr. Tucker and his and his team do such a great job. Um, they don't have the advantage, but they they are doing a great job. Um, and this this work is an example. It's definitely not going to be exactly how this plays out with you all, of course. Uh the problem that they came to us with was, "Hey, we have some nonacredited staff positions that are hard to fill and we're struggling to get the right resumes and the right response rate and we're trying to like everybody now hiring, right? And we're looking for great people, and we want them to start tomorrow. And
064we have bus drivers and we have food service folks and we have hospitality folks, all these different roles." And with lots of love and respect, the current strategy wasn't working that great. We had little, you know, yard signs at school bus stops and at pickup lines and near the Chick-fil-A that said now hiring bus drivers for whatever 1450 per hour. And through the process that we will walk alongside Corey and his team and obviously in service of you all, we uh ended up coming up with this very simple phrase for them which was it's totally worth it. And so for someone who's retired and looking for another part-time income to drive a bus at 5:30 in the morning has to be worth it. And it wasn't just bec you got to get paid and you
065got to have benefits and all that stuff, but it was because they wanted to put the student at the center of the story and get them there safely to and from. And so this work uh not only was was helpful and clear and and compelling from a messaging and a creative standpoint, um it worked. And so they they they dropped that uh 60 plus open rate down to about five. in one of our contacts at the Liberty Public School, she's like, I can actually have a Christmas break or holiday break this year because I don't have to be hustling through Indeed looking for resume. So anyway, the this is just a little bit of a visual um again much different project, but in terms of context, thought it might be helpful to show the board
066some examples. >> That's great, Justin. Thank you. This is just a very quick overview of what the trust centric pathway looks like. Um, I had the privilege of being able to work with the Altha Public Schools leadership team two summers ago with a professional development opportunity. We had an amazing conversation around workplace culture and organizational trust. I spent a few hours with the team and uh that was kind of on the phase one side of this work. We're going to be really squarely focused over the next several months on phase two, which is around developing vision priorities, engaging stakeholders in meaningful ways, and then ultimately creating strategic objectives that are actionable and measurable. But this just gives you just a very quick overview of the work that we do as a company. Um, so here
067is just a quick project overview. There's four primary phases. One is around the process initiation, which we are currently in in that phase right now, as well as team alignment. Phase two is around our focus groups and our stakeholder discovery sessions where we are gathering insight to help inform really what goes into phase three which is all around our strategy development and our goal setting. And then finally, of course, we want to implement and then help monitor and then ultimately be able to walk away knowing that you all feel supported and equipped um with this great plan moving forward thanks to the co-creation efforts of many many people over the previous several months. Um this is a visual if you were to take the entire process and kind of boil it down onto one page.
068Um what we're showing here is and Dr. Sig alluded to there are four pillars that were used for the last strategic plan. The pillar language may be converted or will probably be converted into these vision priority categories. These vision priorities there may be four, there may be five. That's part of the discovery process. Each vision priority will have a very aspirational visionary statement that is connected to it. And then what we will do is we will develop strategic objectives. Most likely five to seven, perhaps a couple of more depending on the vision priority. And then if you can imagine clicking into each of those strategic objective buttons, it would open up an entire action plan. And those action plans contain milestones. Who's going to help own the process? who is going to be um in
069charge of ensuring that we have the adequate resources, what are the resources necessary, what are the key milestones along the way. So, it's a much more detailed view than what you obviously see right here. But this just gives you kind of a highle overview and it does even kind of look like the pillars. So, it's a similar concept and knowing that the the main components of those pillars will of course help um significantly inform each of the vision priority categories that we ultimately determine. So phase one um some just specific detail not going to go through this line by line but this is where we've already engaged with the senior leadership team tonight we're obviously working with you all with the board and community we will then move into um the development working with the
070senior leadership team on developing a long range planning committee that will be comprised of board staff students Dr. Sig and Justin and I have already engaged in some very initial conversations around the timeline and what the timing will look like over the course of the next two months. And then uh we will walk through that um phase the phased process like we're talking about tonight with that long range planning committee and get them up to speed and equipped for the for the coming months. Justin and I will then develop a overview video and that overview video will be uh not 20 or 25 minutes. It will be just a few minutes and it will be an opportunity for you all to share this process with um key community members, students, teachers, staff, whomever you would
071like so that you all have a video asset to be able to share um so that we can communicate that more broadly. Phase two, this is where there's a a lot of work, a lot of engagement with various members of the district. Of course, students, staff, uh teachers, uh district district administrative employees, of course, volunteers, board members, community members, parents. This is going to be an opportunity for lots of great feedback to to be developed over the course of these focus groups. So, we will facilitate 15 total in-person sessions and our current goal will be to have three focus group sessions for each one of our vision priorities. So, assuming that if we have five vision priority categories and then three focus groups for each of those vision priority categories, that gets us into that
07215 in-person session range. This will be taking place during the spring of 2026. And this will be an opportunity where we'll gather, we'll pull uh various groups together and we'll give them an opportunity to answer some specific questions around these vision priority categories so that we can start to develop some initial strategic objectives. We'll aggregate the data. We'll summarize the data from the listening sessions and then we'll of course present that data to the long range planning team. At that point, we move into really the specific strategic development or what we would call our strategic objectives. And then from those strategic objectives of course goals can be developed. We will facilitate those objectives and we'll finalize those ultimately with the senior leadership team. We utilize a formula that is called an X toy by when
073which means we define our current reality. We then define what the why is. what is the what is the goal that we want to ultimately achieve and then what we want to do is then establish what year do we want that specific strategic objective to be accomplished by within the next 5 years and so that's going to be very important because not all of those 25 to 30 strategic objectives can be accomplished obviously in one year. So we want to stagger those out, ensure that if there's a strategic objective that is dependent upon another one that has gone before it, that we're articulating that clearly within the overall plan. And so Justin, I want to hand it over to you um in that third bullet point in terms of the visualization process and why it's
074so critical to be able to integrate the true voice of the public schools and aligning that with the strategic development of this plan. >> Yeah, thanks Corey. I think it in in its most simple form we as part of this work we'll get really clear on who those target audiences are and so that when we are engaging them in that context we're presenting the plan in a way that makes sense is not overwhelming is clear and we're we're ultimately all really emotional beings and if we can't connect to that emotion logic never has room to take root and so we want to give the emotional resonance first and then open up the plan uh for much more detail. In a in a silly way, the the the the way to the heart is a story.
075It's not a a sheet of facts. And so for us, we want to we want to condense and consolidate and make this a really concise piece. Um board packet will be different, right, than than someone moving into Oath and looking at houses would would see on the website. Um, and so that as part of this work, we'll get really clear on those target audiences and then position and shape the message. It's the same story. It's all the same thing, but it gets communicated differently to different audiences at the right time in the right context. >> Thank you, Justin. And then um once we develop the vision priorities and also we have the focus groups, we pull together the data, we create the strategic objectives, Justin and his team help articulate and really amplify that message
076so it's consumable in a very meaningful and and authentic way. Then it's at that point that we will ultimately provide any potential messaging or activation recommendations. Um we would review those recommendations with of course the executive leadership team and um if there's any additional um service that we can provide of course we we would help with that. Justin and his team would help with that as well. We also um provide a six-month and 12-month facilitation of the strategic objective audit. So what this means is once the strategic plan launches which would be for the 2627 school year and ready for that it's at that point that we after after the plan is launched we would come back in help facilitate any potential changes or or audits or edits to the strategic objectives. never thinking about
077changing the vision priorities because those are the critical long range vision priority statements. But it's those more granular, more tactical strategic objectives that we're measuring and taking action on that if there is a need to make any adjustments, it is built within the process to be able to do that so that the plan ultimately becomes a living document as opposed to perhaps a static document that remains a PDF for the life of the strategic planning process. So it's very very important that we build in and this is where with other organizations that we've worked with they have just been freed up to be able to make any of those necessary changes 6 months 12 months a couple of years down the road to make the planning document as living and as active as possible so
078that it is relevant to be able to connect to the resources for that particular year. Here's a proposed timeline. Uh phase one is obviously has started. We'll move through the fall and we will activate phase two at the end of this calendar year. Phase two will be the discovery and the insights with the focus groups that will go through April of 2026. And then of course um we will launch kind of phase three which will be the the development and the goal setting that will really take place from late spring through the summer. There'll be a lot of work with the longrange planning team and the senior leadership team and key stakeholders in that. And then finally um launching implementing and monitoring the finalized strategic plan. So with that uh that was a lot of
079information. Uh this particular PDF of course will be available to you to where you can consume it uh a little bit more word by word but we want to be mindful of time and certainly provide an opportunity for there to be any questions that you all might have. So Dr. Sig, um it probably most appropriate for me to hand it back over to you so that you can help facilitate any questions or additional comments if there are if there are any. >> Thank you, Corey. Thank you, Justin. So, um as Corey shared, that was a lot of information. Um we are really excited about this though and know the critical importance of our strategic plan and really guiding all of our work and um have really already um seen the great things that we know.
080um Corey and Justin and their teams are going to bring bring to the process. But at this time, we'd be happy to entertain any questions. >> Board, any questions, >> Miss John? >> I don't have any quit. But I don't know how many people get excited about strategic plans, but I I you too do. And I remember hearing kind of the brief presentation that we had as a board a couple months ago maybe and really got, you know, excited obviously about um what you guys could do and bring to the table and make this a palatable and really neat experience and to be a part of it is going to be really neat. I'm excited. Thank you. >> Excited like three times. [Music] >> Anyone else? Miss Steel. >> So just um a a couple
081comments and then a question actually for Dr. Joerger, but um one comment um you know public education right now is very complicated and muddy and so the idea I've read um Corey on one of your first slides something about um not over complicating the mission. So I think there in lies the crux. I'm really excited about that. I think that's true. I think you can be in a messy space but still have a very clear mission about what you're there to do. So, uh, thank you for that. And then I think Justin, you said um words like make sense, not overwhelming, really clear. That really speaks to me in a time when we don't know what's around the corner in public education and we're going to really need to lean into that. Um, as far
082as the measurables, you know, that's where it matters, right? But your example of Liberty Public Schools with the goal they had and the measurables you could deliver from the work that you did with them um that I think is something that will really um that spoke to me and I think that's something that we're looking for in our next strategic plan. Um so Dr. Joerger, my question for you is what excited you about this particular group and what you see going forward? Well, as Corey mentioned in his introduction, he worked with our administrators um about two years ago and and got to know our senior team fairly well. And I remember asking him a couple years ago if he had ever done any work with strategic plan. Um what I like about Corey, and hopefully
083this is okay, Corey, is he approaches things a little bit differently. You know, I think we could have found a traditional group to help us facilitate our strategic plan that would have probably produced something similar to what we currently have. and and nothing against our current strategic plan. Um the challenge with it though is it doesn't build in the opportunity for us to be nimble. You know, as as as we've talked about it and we have thought about it as as leadership team and we've talked with Corey and Justin about this and and you just alluded to this uh Mrs. Steel, there's uncertainty in in things that happen. And so, you know, two examples I would give you is shortly after our last strategic plan was developed, the state board of education mandated lit literacy
084and dyslexia training on all the school systems in the state of Kansas. Well, that was nowhere on our strategic plan, but it took a massive amount of work and a system gearing up very quickly to meet uh what what we had to do. It wasn't an optional thing. And so I I think having a plan like this gives us an opportunity to say, "Okay, yes, obviously we'll do it, but where does it fit? How do we have a process for putting that in place, but also not losing track of the other things that we've articulated is important?" I think that's really important. And you know, the other thing, this is an example that um obviously we've talked about a lot, but you know, we we had our district dialogues last year and we had some
085specific things that came out of our district dialogues. You know, one of the things that we're talking about obviously is the creation of a K8 alternative school uh program to try to help meet the needs of some of the things we heard in those district dialogues. Again, that was nowhere on our strategic plan. But with a process and having checks, if you will, every 6 months and the ability to adjust things, uh to move things around, to rep prioritize things, I think gives us an opportunity to figure out, okay, how does this fit? Where does it go? The other thing that I like and we talk about this a lot in in education, probably other industries as well, is this whole idea of mission creep. There's always somebody that wants us to do something. There's
086always a new great idea. Um, but I also think having a strategic plan where if something comes to us and you know, as a board and as senior leadership, uh, as our teachers and our staff across the district look at it, if we can't fit that on our strategic plan somewhere in a way that makes sense, it's probably not appropriate for our organization. And so I I think just the approach to it is is very different and that's what excites me about it. You know, I I mentioned this to Corey and Justin when they visited with our group, the senior team this week. I think that was just this week. um that um you know I I would even like us to consider it calling something besides a strategic plan because I really hope that
087it becomes and I think there's a great opportunity here that it really does become our guide um for the work that we do as a school system that all of us are squarely focused on and part of that is what Corey and Justin have shared with you know just the check-in points that there's ongoing check-in points not the we did it we're good for 5 years and let's keep going you know I hope if this is successful like I believe it will be that 5 years from now we'll be like actually we don't really need to do anything because our strategic plan has just kept adjusting with us based on the needs of our students and our community and you know maybe we need to check in to say our vision statement's still good but
088um that's really my hope and and the other part that that does that I think is is powerful is it also really aligns with the school improvement process that we're using for our schools right now because our school improvement process are no longer a write a school improvement plan in the come back and check in again in the year or three years later. It is also a cyclical nature and so I think us having the ability to connect all of that together like that I think is really powerful. So I'm I'm pretty excited about it. Yeah, thank you for the question. >> Board, any other questions or comments? I'll I'll make just a couple too. I thank the two of you for being here um this evening this evening. your enthusiasm is exciting. Um because
089I've been through several strategic plans in several school districts and it's not always exciting. Um, but a a couple of things that I just circled as as you talked through your presentation tonight and and I think Julie mentioned this too is on on one of the first slides, a simple, sophisticated, strategic plan and and I appreciate the simplicity um because I think we as educators can make things complicated trying to get it all. Um and and then the sophisticated strategic plan because as as you've seen um probably already and if you live in Liberty, you're not that far from us. THA public schools are leaders in education um in the region and um and our community has high expectations for us. So to maintain that leadership and and to meet the needs that are coming
090in our future, I think those those two pieces are are critical for whatever we do next. And then as um I think again Miss Steele mentioned the the plan being editable um so that we are responsive to the changes that we know will come um in the work that we need to do. And then the the last thing I'll mention, although I do agree with Dr. Joerger, if we could come up with some other um title uh or or name for this um to help some of the educators who have been through strategic plans. So um to add some excitement, but then the the leadership in the marketing as well and the communication to our stakeholders as we go through the process. And I guess I'll I'll say one more thing and that is your
091timeline. So we know there will be an end to it because that happens sometimes in education as well. It just seems to go on and on. So thank you um for being here this evening and I too am excited to start the process. So >> thank you all so much. Thank you for um your willingness to step into this process and the enthusiasm that you're feeling from both Justin and me. It is very real. It's very authentic because we are just we're so excited to be able to provide some support for an incredible district. And now to be able to to breathe life into a different kind of way of thinking about the planning process is something that we're honored to be able to do. So, thank you all so much. >> Yeah, and I
092echo your comments, Corey. Thank you all for having us and for trusting us with this work. It it it doesn't work when the brand is in in congruence with the core customer. And you could sense it and see it at the beginning of this meeting with the pictures and the cheering squad and the moms and dads and the kids that put on real clothes and dressed up. Uh I've got a senior in high school so I can say that. Um and it's truth. Their future is our future. So, this works because there's a strong leadership nucleus in this district and it's very obvious and it will be fun to rename the strategic plan something like the tha advantage plan. >> Thank you all for having us. >> Thank you. Thank you. And thanks Dr. C.
093>> Mr. Hutcherson talk money. >> Boy, talking about a 180, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, I did. This will be fun. I didn't want to say that. >> Well, Ron sets this up. If you just indulge me for a minute, I'd like to tell you a personal story of uh kind of how the um uh how small the world is and kind of the circle of life. Two years ago, I met Corey um after he had presented um about trust to some of the to the administrative staff. And I did the St. Louis thing. I go, "Uh, hey, did you happen to are you related to uh Mike Shear? I went to high school with him." He goes, "No." And I named the high school as we do. And he said, "No, I actually grew
094up in Rockwood." I go, "Rockwood?" Well, Rockwood is where I started 35 years ago as a very young CPA. They stole me away to be the business manager. And there was an assistant superintendent there who took me under his wing and taught me kind of how to navigate principles and administrations. And that was his dad, Stan Shear. >> So, it was very, very touching to uh kind of catch up and unfortunately stand past uh during CO. So, I didn't get get to see him anymore and let him know I finally met Corey. So, uh thank you uh for the opportunity this uh this evening to kind of go at a very high level the review of our FY uh 26 budget and the resulting levies that we'll be proposing. Uh the detailed budget is down
095in your agenda item 8.02. Uh no need to try and scan 100 plus pages tonight. You have all month to review those, ask any questions. Um I'm open at any time to meet. Uh it'll be brought back to you on September 4th uh for uh adoption. However, uh later in the agenda, you will be asked to take action on uh two authorizations. The first is a notice of hearing uh that we'll have to advertise and post uh in the Kansas Star and also the notice of hearing to exceed our revenue neutral rate. Uh and as I said, that'll be later in the agenda. I'd like to review just kind of the key assumptions that go into this year's budget. Uh as you know, we are starting to enter a new phase in our district of
096uh declining enrollment. And uh we anticipate a reduction in our full-time equivalent, that's not a headcount, but uh what we're funded on is full-time equivalents of about 184 students, which would bring our funding FTE to about 27,248. Now, we hedged that a bit. We build in 5% for grow uh growth. Perhaps um our open enrollment uh we get a spike uh from that and we never know what type of student will get. So we put 5% additionally uh for each one of our waitings. The budget's built around our assessed valuation went up 5.9 uh% over last year and base aid per pupil or sorry showing my age in Kansas. Base aid for student excellence is uh is actually up $237 uh which is great. It's going to be at $5,615 this year. Unfortunately, special education
097reimbursement is declining. This year we um there's always an estimate at the beginning of the year, but we ended at 30,815 in reimbursement for per teacher. It's estimated at 29600 for next year. Across the state, special education costs go up. However, the funding is not going up. Therefore, the reimbursement um is is declining. The good news is over the years that base has been going up. We're in an inflationary uh uh time where uh consumer price index which is what base is tied to has been increasing. Therefore funding comes our way. Unfortunately expenditures go up at the same time because we're in an inflationary period. Some other things we considered in the b in this budget is once again as we do every year we've attempted to maximize our lob and capital outlay authorities. That's
098where we do have some flexibility. uh uh bond and interest levy. We've been uh keep keeping that at that 2022 uh level. Uh so that u we had said it was a no tax rate increase and you'll see that same uh amount proposed. We don't really have any additional ability at this time to move any uh salaries or other costs over to capital outlay. Finally, our BODA authority is starting to diminish and I'll show you that in just a moment. And unfortunately, we've lost uh bond and interest and capital outlay state aid for the coming year. For bond and interest, that's about $3 million. And for capital outlay, that's about $1.5 million. The reason we no longer qualify is because our average home price against the median in the state. We're now above that and
099therefore we're not entitled to uh that state that component of state aid. >> John, I don't mean to interrupt you, but I I think I do actually. So when when you talk about the state aid on bond and interest and capital outlay, you know, obviously we do a lot of budget planning. We'll set our budgets, but the reality is is our budget, at least in terms of payroll and all things, is pretty solid going into next year. When did we find out that we would no longer be getting state aid on those two things? >> You really don't find out until we begin the budget process when the state opens up their budget worksheets. Uh there's a lot of calculators in there and um we found that we did not um meet that criteria. So
100>> have an extra zero or something. >> And and and that would have been over the summer, correct? >> That's correct. I'm sorry. It would have been May June time frame. >> Always a surprise. Uh just kind of zeroing in on that uh that BOD that I've always talked about. As I said, it's almost out of our system. Next year, we'll receive almost $2 million of BOTA. As you can do the math, it's a decrease of about $4 million, but at least that becomes a little more manageable to get out of our system. It's not these big chunks that we've been seeing uh over the last 5 years. Our legal maximum budget, as I I've said before, uh Kansas is very unique. Uh we cannot go out and raise more operating funds. It's um there's
101a formula in our state that drives it to each one of money goes to the state comes back through a formula and that's all all you can get. You have some flexibility in capital outlay and some specialty levies that we'll talk about in just a moment but ours was at $328.7 million for last year. This year it's calculating at 331.4. So, new funds through that uh formula are about $2.7 million. The asterric is really for just to draw your attention. If you try to tie out our numbers in those 150 pages, you won't be able to because we add those buffers I was talking about that 5%. So, you inflate the revenue and you inflate an expenditure line. So it has no impact on a levy, but you have the authority of something new came,
102some additional special ed funding, a federal grant. So that is buried throughout our budget. So I just want I always try to draw a little bit of attention to that. >> So again, you know, I think I read something somewhere in the last couple days that our budget was going to increase by $12 million this coming school year. The actual number is sort of 3 million and if you put the buffer in, that's where the 12 million comes in. We're not getting 12 million more dollars. >> We're not getting 12 $12 million. >> I'd like to find out where that came from. So maybe I could ask for that, but we're not. >> As a result, uh these this is the proposed levies are the general uh levy is always 20 mills. It's statutoily set.
103We have a slight increase in the um local option budget and that's really because it's driven by that increase in the base funding. Capital outlay is at the eight mills. I already mentioned boat is in decline. Therefore, uh the levy is decreasing uh down to 0.22. Special liability is up just slightly also um because valuations are up. Um and it's really more need-based as I'll I'll mention in just a second. So, we're uh making sure we have enough in that particular fund. cost of living. Uh we're you're maxed on that levy, but because valuations went up, it it's rolling back slightly to raise the same amount of money. Special assessments are going down. Those are things like the benefit districts of old where uh uh developers and land owners would come together and have to
104put infrastructure in. We're slowly paying all of those off. And then bond and interest, as I said, um is sitting at that uh at that uh 2022 amount. So overall our levy is going to go down about 1.3 uh mills. The factors that drive it as I mentioned uh the 20 ms is statutoily set. We have a higher base per pupil. Therefore we have more lob. Uh we've maxed out the capital outlay at 8 mills. We had to lower the uh BOD because um we've lost 4.1 million in authority and uh cost of living is down because we can raise the same dollars uh with a higher increased um cess valuation and the race rest are all base needed. Whatever the c whatever the schedule says or uh uh the estimate uh that's where we
105set those levies. As you can see, we're proposing the board continue to utilize every bit of authority they have in order to um uh help fund the budget. Um everything is set at it at its max. This is how a tax bill would appear uh for our patrons. You would see the prior tax rate. Unfortunately, all eight of the levies roll up. Not unfortunately, but they roll up into three lines. There are six levies buried in the in the center one of um school genance can all often be very confusing. The 20 mills across the state can't change bond and interest is going down and the other six combined will decrease by about 4%. So overall the total is going down uh 2%. In comparison to the revenue neutral rate, which is uh one of
106the hearings we'll have, our actuals from uh for 2025 were 63.198 mills. The revenue neutral rate would have us roll back to 59.602. Our actual that we're proposing is 61.910. And I just want to point out some things. We cannot roll back the general fund. Even though they p there's a published revenue neutral rate, it's statutoily set at 20. So that 1.221, we we have to we have to do that. Capital outlay, you could have the flexibility uh to roll that back to the 7.566. We need every dollar of capital outlay we uh can right now. So we have traditionally kept it at 8 mills. Uh just pointing out again, we are a little different than our neighbors. We have a lot more residential assessed value uh residential property versus commercial. So per pupil, we
107do not have as strong of an assessed valuation. So when you apply that 8 mills to our assessed valuation versus our neighbors, we don't raise near what they can with the 8 mills. I will point out all other funds is at the uh revenue neutral rate that you'll see that there is no difference between that but once again overall the levy would we're proposing would be down 1.288. Historically, we've been slowly declining in our um our our uh mill rate. Back in 1718 was kind of one of our most recent high mark. And we've dropped uh as you can see almost uh 10 mills uh since that time. This is kind of step two or uh depending on how you want to look at it uh in the budget process. Tonight, all we'll be asking
108is for the ability to publish about those notices. And then on the 23rd is when we would publish. And uh no, you won't be uh voting on the budget at all tonight. You wouldn't be doing that until uh that September 4th meeting. So once again, just once you remember, you you you're not approving the budget. You have you have the whole month to review the and ask any questions. um you're just you're just uh uh proving uh our publication of them and we're publishing the maximums. Uh you can always lower any of the levies uh upon that final approval. So first thing is notifying the county of the ne revenue neutral rate. They sit just a little higher. We fine-tune as we come in tonight and uh might lower some. But then your final ability
109to lower any levy happens at at your September meeting. questions. Before I stand for any questions, I I would like to acknowledge uh Cassie Osborne and her budget manager, Kristen Slavic, and her staff. I'm as, as usual, I I'm the messenger. They spend hours and hours and hours getting this uh done. And unfortunately, it's a very narrow window. Those spreadsheets that and and um systems do not open at the state level till all the budget workshops are done across the state. So, right around the 4th of July, a race to get this ready for uh uh adoption by September. >> Questions, >> John? I wonder real quickly just with the September deadline. You know, sometimes people have had questions uh you know, how are they, you know, negotiating, but they improved they approved the budget,
110you know, in September for the year that we're already in. Would you just remind us a little bit about the statutory nature of our budget development process? dates, all that kind of stuff. >> Certainly, uh it has um in my career moved back a bit because of this revenue neutral rate because the county has to uh uh send out notifications uh individualized letters uh from all the taxing jurisdictions uh indicating if you're going to exceed the revenue neutral rate. So that added 30 days to it. So it is a bit of a uh a little harder projection as we do negotiations and we're planning for the year. you can't you are looking out 90 days and you're already under contracts to know exactly um uh what your budget's going to be. Uh in some ways
111you're you're making the decision to uh if you wanted to dramatically roll back a levy it's pretty hard to do because we've already contractually obligated ourselves. A lot of states you can't it happens by July when you better have a new budget. We've always been in kind of an August state which is a little more manageable. teachers are coming in at about that time, but this extra 30 days is a little tough. Is that what you were asking? Okay. Board, any questions, comments, >> don't hesitate to call with any questions or I'd be happy to meet. >> I appreciate the thorough explanation. It's it's really helpful because you know we hear a lot of information. Um but we don't live it every day like you do. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, [Music]
112Miss Reagan. >> At each regular meeting the 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 we request that individual speakers limit their comments to 3 minutes. The clerk will monitor the time and notify the speaker when the 3minut time limit has expired. Please direct your comments to the board, not to the guests or staff. If a response is appropriate, the president will respond or refer to another individual. In an effort to respect privacy, we ask that speakers refrain from discussing personal complaints involving individual staff members or students. Audience disruption is also not permitted. Those speaking are advised that public comments are videotaped recorded or
113broadcast on the district's educational access 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, Miss Reagan. Our first speaker this evening is Rachel Broadick. Good evening, members of the board. Thank you for this opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Rachel Bradrick and I live just right over here by Haven Craftoft in Altha. Um I have two kids who attend Haven Craftoft Elementary School and incoming kindergartener and a second grader and then I also have a 2-year-old. So I'm going to be at the district for a little while happily. I'm also a graduate of Tha South. So I have been around. Um I serve
114as the PTO vice president for Havenraftoft Elementary School as well. I am here as someone who believes that every child and school, regardless of their neighborhood, household income, or family background, deserves equitable financial support. There is a stark and undeniable inequity of financial support between our high socioeconomic schools and our title one schools based on their PTO fundraising ability and their corporate sponsorship support. In our higher income neighborhoods, PTO and corporate sponsorships raise tens of thousands of dollars each year. These funds go towards classroom technology, field trips, enrichment programs, staff support and appreciation, including classroom supply gift cards, and staff meals, and playground upgrades. This meaningfully bolsters the student and staff experience beyond the base district funding. By contrast, many Title One schools serving families who may be facing economic challenges rely on significantly smaller
115contributions. These PTOs do not lack in passion, effort, or commitment. They simply lack the financial means that wealthier PTO's have. These parents care just as deeply, but they're up against real financial and time constraints. As a result, the educational experience students receive and the work environment of the staff can differ dramatically depending on the wealth of the school's parent community. Not their ability, not their effort, but their neighborhood. This extends even further when considering a significant number of students have limited ability to participate in education opportunities due to hunger and food insecurity. PTO funding at title schools often has to be used for hunger needs first, further limiting its ability to provide for other school and staff needs and that should trouble every single one of us. The school dual district relies heavily on parent
116grassroots funding and fundraising which perpetuates gaps and inequality in opportunities and resources. We cannot allow the quality of a child's educational experience or the staff work environment to depend on how much money their school's PTO can raise. Because what we're really saying is some kids deserve more than others and some teachers are expected to produce the same outcomes with fewer resources. I don't believe that that reflects the values of our community or our public school system. This is not a a just a disparity. It's a structural barrier. This is not an accident. It's a result of systemic inequity. And it's not just unfair. It's unacceptable. Yes, the district provides certain resources to title schools for a few things. Math and reading staff, literary night grants, maverick field trips for third graders, and I don't want
117to discount any of those in any way. But relying on parent fundraising to fill the gaps means that those federal resources and state resources are still insufficient to provide equitable opportunities districtwide. These disparities are recognized and seemingly accepted. Hanging our hat on the few things that are provided while ignoring the rest of the needs is again unacceptable. I'm not here to blame. I'm here to ask. What are we going to do about it? What more can we do to ensure that students and staff needs are met and educational opportunities are equitable? What more can we do to provide equal access to enrichment programs and decrease food insecurity? How can we secure more corporate sponsorships for title one schools to reduce the reliance on parent funding? This is not about punishing successful PTOs or their corporate
118sponsors. It's about recognizing that public education is meant to be a level playing field, not reinforce existing divides. We're not just talking about money. We're talking about opportunity, enrichment, and the subtle ways we send messages to children and staff about what they're worth. Is the value of a Clearwater Creek student more than the value of a Ridgeview Elementary student? Is the importance of a teacher at Havenraoft less than the importance of a teacher at Manchester Park? No. Then why are we accepting any example of unequitable funding or opportunity? Why is it just an accepted fact? So, I'm asking, can theii the USD233 create a district level equity fund or matching grant program potentially allocating supplemental dollars to schools with limited PTO revenue? Could we create a prioritized district initiative to secure multiple corporate sponsors for
119title one schools, potentially even asking our current corporate sponsors if they would additionally support a title one school? Could the THA school district secure field trips for every title one school grade level, not just third grade, to offset some of the field trip costs to PTO's? Could the THA school district do more to combat food insecurity on non-school days? And could we offer proactive support and training to title one PTO's, helping them build capacity? I'm almost done. And access to community partners and execute effective events. >> Thank you, Miss Brad. Megan Brics. [Music] Good evening, Board of Education. My name is Megan Brics and I'm the proud general music teacher at Forest View Elementary School. I'm beyond excited to be here tonight as we have officially kicked off our 2526 school year. Last week, we
120welcomed over 175 new educators into our our tha public schools. And this week, we welcome back all of our returning educators. I know that this will be an incredible school year. Tonight, I'm here to highlight some truly amazing people in our school district. Tonight, I want to give a huge shout out to our interpreters who support our students, families, staff, and buildings with translation and interpreting services to ensure that all of our students, families, and staff needs are met here in our THA public schools. At the registration support event this year, there were district departments and interpreters representing 16 different languages. This past week, I had the opportunity to meet and speak with two of our sign language interpreters. These two fantastic sign language interpreters are currently supporting this board of education meeting on the
121liveream. Hello. I'm extremely thankful for all that they do to support us and make our board of education meetings accessible to all on our YouTube channel. Tonight, I'm here to shine a spotlight on all of our staff in our school district who support translating and interpreting to meet all of our needs. Thank you for all that you do. Your work is extremely valuable and you are appreciated. I'm excited for this school year and thank you all so much. This is our tha public schools. >> Thank you, Miss Briggs. >> Board, we will move to action consent items. Um, I would welcome a motion 6.01 to 6.06. [Music] Is there a motion? >> I move to approve action consent 6.01 to 6.06. >> Second. >> Is there a second? >> I'm sorry. >> Becky. >> Yes.
122>> Motion by Miss Steel. Second by Miss Johan. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. >> Dr. Jükovich. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mr. Babbot. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johan. >> Yes. >> Motion passes 60. >> Action bids, contracts, and agreements. Items 7.01 to 7.07. [Music] >> I move to approve action items 7.01 through 7.07 as presented. Second >> motion by Mr. Behavett, second by Mr. Boyd. Before we vote, um Josh, would you like to clarify? Mr. Rumprey, sorry. Would you clarify and share some information on 7.05? I believe it is. >> No worries. Uh Mr. Josh is fine, by the way. So, um yeah, to draw your attention to 7.05, 05 the um IT help desk ticketing software and solutions. If if you remember last year uh we
123transitioned from our legacy IT ticketing software to a newer version. As part of that transition, we wanted to identify you what the uh software provided, what it could do to better support our systems. And and as a result, we saw several key features in this new ticketing software that's actually going to be able to enhance some of the um I would call them, you know, blind spots that we had in our previous ticketing software. One in particular is asset management. So to better identify where our assets are, who they are are with. So let's let's say a student's device um gets broken. uh we have the ability to ID that device, check it into our help desk for repair, check that student out a replacement device while this device is being repaired, bring that back.
124That can all be done within the ticketing uh system as part of one of these new modules that we're bringing on. Um as well as some enhanced workflows uh that are going to take some of our kind of legacy workflows that we had utilized in other systems and um actually take those out you mean of of what we purchased out of some of our other systems. So this is kind of in hinds in in kind of looking forward, it's it's to make more of our processes around technology happen in one place rather than in multiple. And um we wanted to identify better over the last year whether or not this system would be a good fit for that. And um we see it as a as a very positive replacement to what we had and
125being able to take some of those um legacy softwares and and move them out of our system and replace it with this. So that's kind of why you see that increase in cost. Thank you for that clarification. Um, there is a motion for items 7.01 to 7.07. Miss Beam, >> Mrs. Steel, >> yes. >> Mrs. Reagan, >> yes. >> Mr. Boyd, >> yes. >> Mrs. Johan, >> yes. >> Mr. Babbot, >> yes. >> Dr. Jükovich, >> yes. Motion passes. 6. Moving on to action other items. The first is a reference Mr. Hutcherson made in his um pro uh presentation tonight. Notice of hearing to consider exceeding the revenue neutral rate. I would accept a motion to approve that. >> I move to approve the notice of hearing to consider exceeding the revenue neutral rate publication
126in Kansas City Star on August 24th, 2025. >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Mr. Boyd, I didn't catch the second. I'm sorry. Miss Reagan. >> Dr. Yerkovich. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Babbot. >> Yes. >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johan. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. 6. Item 8.02 fiscal year 2026. Notice of hearing on the budget publication. I move to approve the notice of hearing publication for the 2026 fiscal year budget in the Kansas City Star on August 24th, 2025. >> Second. >> Motion by Miss Reagan. Second by Mr. Boyd. >> Mrs. Johan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mr. Babbett. >> Yes. >> Dr. Jükovich. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. Motion passes. item 8.03
127board policy updates. [Applause] the con the recommended action consistent with the recommendation of the board of education's legislative policy committee. A new policy CH is presented for the board's consideration. Am I reading the whole thing? That's what I do. Okay. Further with the input of district administration, certain updates of board policies GCRGA, GCRG, [Music] and GCS are also presented. >> Second. Motion by Miss Johan. Second by Mr. Babbot. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. >> Dr. Jükovich. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Mr. Babbot. >> Yes. >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Joan. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. 6. >> Dr. Jükovich. Do you mind if I make a quick comment? >> Sure. >> I just wanted to to mention quickly and and those board policies is a new board policy, not just
128an update. and that's policy CH. And that policy um thanks to the policy committee and and the work of our board really just solidifies our firm commitment around protecting our students from inappropriate behavior by any adults or staff members in our district. And you know, our board has done such a good job of acting swiftly and assertively when those things have happened. But um you know, we certainly want to do everything we can to protect our kids. And so I just want to thank the board for considering a policy like that um investing in a conversation a policy like that uh because it does just solidify the expectation that while our kids are in our hands in our district they are safe. So thank you for that. >> Thank you and thanks to the policy
129committee and you and Mr. Pitman um for presenting that this evening. 8.04 repurposing of Westview Elementary School. Is there a motion? >> I move to repurpose West View Elementary School. >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Boyd. Second um by Miss Reagan and Dr. McMullen is going to before we take a vote um share some information. >> Yes, thank you. So, um, just kind of a refresher because, uh, we we've been obviously working on this for quite some time. So, I just want to remind the board and the public where we are and and starting with how we got here. So, our district has a boundary study group that's that's been in place for over 20 years. Um, and that group continually analyzes enrollment, number of buildings, capacity, future developments, space concerns, programming, uh, many things.
130Uh Westview has been on the radar of our boundary study group for many years. Um their enrollment has flatlined at 150 students. Um and I'll show a little more information on that in a minute. You know, our our data across the district has shown a decline since 2019. And that is uh in line with surrounding districts both in Johnson County, in the KC metro area, and frankly nationally. and and shared that in the uh April enrollment presentation. Um and obviously our district needs have have shaped the recommendation before you tonight to repurpose Westview Elementary. A little more data that that goes into the decision. Um you know in 2002 our elementary enrollment was 12,457 students. And you know to kind of keep in mind that all that number included sixth grade students from 2002 to
1312010. Uh 2010 as a reminder is when we moved our sixth graders up to middle level and our ninth graders up to the high school level. Um this past year our elementary enrollment was 12,615. So essentially the same number of elementary students in 2002 versus what we currently have. However, since 2002, during that high period of growth, we built eight new elementary schools. Um, and since 2002, we've also added 42 classrooms uh in additions at at multiple locations. So, you know, the reality is looking at our current current numbers and projected numbers is that we are we are in the need to um have discussions in the future about right sizing our district and and you know making sure the number of buildings and facilities we're running and operating align with our current enrollment and
132future enrollment. So, as a reminder about Westview, you'll see here on the um boundary map, it is the the pink um color there. Um their their boundary is K7 Parker to the west, Santa Fe to the north, and then railroad tracks provide a a natural boundary uh between Westview and Central. So again, here's Westview's enrollment looking back the previous five years uh to this year and then looking forward to the next five years. And again, they are literally flatlined in that 150 uh range. Uh that current number includes 30 students who are on transfer as well. So, our goals for repurposing Westview and uh one is should the board uh take this recommendation is moving as many of the Westview students together to their new school as as possible. Obviously, we want to keep those
133students together and that community together as best that we can. Uh certainly create boundaries that solve enrollment trends and projections uh for the future in in surrounding schools. uh because what we don't want to do is is is be back right up here with with schools in very close proximity that have similar enrollment challenges. So, we want to make sure we solve those those problems as well. Uh we don't want to put any school in a tough spot by raising their capacity over 85% and making them overcrowded with boundary adjustments. And then certainly ongoing communication and support for the Westview staff um as they go um and potentially move to new homes in 26 27. So a reminder on the timeline that we've been through uh the last four months. So again in in April
134at the board meeting we had I had the enrollment presentation where really look globally at our our district numbers both past, present and future. Um, April 30th, we went and met with the Westview staff to inform them of a future action item that was going to be the next day. Um, it's a it's a step we hadn't done in the past, frankly, for any topic uh that we present on at board meetings, but felt the staff was owed to hear that in person versus uh watching a board meeting. So, then on May 1st, we had the future action item recommending to repurpose West View. May 2nd, we sent communication out to the uh staff and community um about the future action item. Went out and met with the Westview staff um had human resources, general
135administration, Dr. Jagger, myself to answer questions, get feedback, etc. Then we had a parent meeting prior to the end of school um where we presented the what and the why, answered questions, and then had a feedback process where parents could submit feedback to the board of education to consider. Um board received all the information prior to the June 5th meeting and then the original timeline was for the board to take action at the July 10th meeting. Um uh when we got to that point uh we had a few board members out um for different reasons and felt it was important to um have as much of the board here as possible for this decision. So the uh agenda item was moved to this month and here we are tonight. uh pending action. Uh the next
136steps are in September we'll have boundary meetings in the potentially affected um attendance areas and then parents and staff will have an opportunity to provide feedback to the board again on the next big decision which is what the boundaries look like um as we make adjustments look like how do you apply for certain jobs at certain schools what are your preferences etc. So, um, we feel this time timeline is is appropriate. And then, you know, there'll be plenty of, uh, opportunities for students to go to their new school, uh, next semester for tours, meet the principal, uh, meet staff, uh, tour the building, etc. So, that being said, I'd stand for any questions. >> I'm so sorry. Jim, would you briefly just talk about uh with the board's uh potential action tonight, what would happen
137in terms of just the next 24 hours and notifying the Westview community, that kind of piece, should the board take our recommended action? >> Sure. So, um in working with Mrs. Grubell and communications, they have communication ready should the board take action. Um outlining to the parents again the what and the why, um the decision and then the next steps as well. That'll go out tonight. >> Thank you. Thank you board. Um before we take a vote, if you have any questions for Dr. McMullen or if you would just like to make comments um on your vote or this process now would be appropriate. Mr. Boyd, >> Dr. Normal, did you of the 150ish kids at Westview, did you say 30 transfer into Westview? >> Correct. So there's about 120 that live in that attendance
138area. >> Okay. And of those 30 that transfer in, is there a particular reason? Is it a program or services offered at West View? >> Uh, no. It is just parent initiated. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Miss Steel. >> Um, I don't have um any additional questions other than the the ones I've I've already asked, but um I do have a statement if that would be okay. >> You bet. Um, so the decision before us tonight is not one that I've taken lightly. Over the past few months, I've taken time to additionally inquire both deeper and at a surface level to fully understand the implications and the context of of this decision. And while there are many layers, what I want to focus on this evening, just briefly, if you'll entertain me, um is something
139that is much broader and frankly much bigger than just our district, and that's birth rate decline. Um at the crux of this decision is a problem that the seven of us can't fix, but it is still ours to solve. Um you know, there's several reasons why we're being faced with this decision. Um, but birth rate decline is very real and it's not just here at home. Um, but I will say across the United States, our replacement birth rate, the number we need to sustain our economic machine is 2.1 and today we're at 1.6, which is a 25% drop. [Applause] So, what does that mean and why does it matter? Fewer births mean fewer students in our classroom and it shows up in very real ways such as tonight. But in staffing decisions, in building utilization,
140in budget planning, we're not the first district to face this. And I will tell you, we will not be the last. This will not be the last time difficult decisions like this will be required. We've seen the data points and we've heard Dr. Dr. Big Mullen's presentation several times. Thank you. Um I want to thank him along with Dr. Dr. Joerger and our staff for the incredible amount of work that's gone into this process. They fielded every question our board has thrown their way. And regardless of how the vote goes tonight, I want the public to know there is no rubber stamping here. Hard questions have been asked. Alternative options have been explored and vetted. [Applause] To our West View families, I want to speak to you directly. Please know that our care and concern
141for our students, for your family, and for our staff has been and continues to be paramount. I also recognize that tonight it may not feel that way, and that is hard. This decision does not mark the end of a conversation, but a continuation. There are more decisions to come, and we want and need your ideas, your input, and your voice at the table. So, tonight, this is a hard chair to sit in, but I remind myself of the responsibilities we have as board members. One is to set policy, and we did some of that tonight. Two is to hire and evaluate our superintendent. And last, but it's never the last thing, is to be efficient and responsible with our taxpayers hard-earned dollars. So sitting here is often the cross-section of so much joy and celebration
142mixed with painful hard decisions. Even so, I pledge to serve our community with honesty, even when it's difficult. So, two things can be true. Doing the right thing can also mean a really hard decision. So, thank you Dr. McMullen for all the work that's gone into it and I appreciate um the information you've provided along the way. >> Thank you, Miss Steele. I will just add also to our um Westview community. We recognize change is difficult. Um and and obviously this is a change for the students, for the families, for the staff, but Miss Steele has identified a a number of points and and there has been um a lot of conversation and reflection and um before it ever came public um for conversation uh with the board and and with others. I also I
143actually drove by Westview today um because it is such a part of the history of THA and THA public schools and the structure will remain there. Um that history and people's connection to that will not go away because we repurpose the building. Um but but we do as as Miss Steele has indicated have a responsibility to the district as a whole to all 30,000 almost 30,000 students and to the future of our district as well. So I will um also say my thank you to Dr. RM Mullen for leading us through this process and for the others who senior leadership team and others um on the boundary committees and enrollment committees board any other comments. Miss Reagan, >> I don't have much else to say um than my colleagues have already mentioned. I did want
144to thank Dr. McMullen for seeing this through to this night where we're taking a vote. Um and I do appreciate the theme that Mrs. Steel brought up that we can hold two truths. You know, a decision can be difficult and hard, but it can also be the correct course of action. And when people run for office and choose to sit in this seat, um you have to be willing to make those hard decisions. And I'm grateful for the board up here, um who will stand with our district in times of joy and in times of challenge. And the future is uncertain in some extent, but I feel most certain that our district will keep on a course that will bring our kids into a bright future. So um this conversation will be ongoing, not necessarily
145with Westview in particular, but um the challenges we're facing, it's a new chapter in our district, and new can be scary, but it can also be great. And so, um, while tonight is heavy, um, we have the next page to look forward to, um, pending board action. So, I appreciate everyone, um, who's done work on this and, um, I know that this this has been a been hard for those families directly impacted and please know that we do we do see that. Okay, Mr. Babbot, >> the the only thing I wanted to add just most of it's just echoing what these folks have said, but a important part to me is what it's being repurposed as. The alternative ed program as presented by the GA group has been I think is extremely needed by this
146district and it will be a great next chapter in Westview's um future if the uh board takes this action. So I do think that that's it's it's a next chapter in it, but I think it's a very important chapter. That's all. >> Thank you. >> So we have a motion by Mr. Boyd and a second by Miss Reagan to repurpose West View Elementary School. >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Babbot. >> Yes. >> Dr. Jükovich. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Johan. >> Yes. >> Motion passes 6. Thank you board. future action items um are are listed. There are a couple of things I want to draw attention to. One, 9.12, board policy updates. There are some additional updates to our current board policy. And then
147um 9.13 board of education committee assignments. I will be sending an email to board members asking you to identify your preferences of which committees you would like to serve on for the 2526 school year. And then um next month we will actually approve those committees with appointments. Um so please watch for that in the next couple of days. And attached to that item is a list of the committees uh written information. Again, thanks to Mr. Palangi for the um updates on the bond issue. I know I for one am excited to be in the new OPSIC on the 18th. Um to see it in real life um not just photographs and topics for discussion. Board members, any comments? Miss Johan. Um, as we close the summer and get ready for school year, I just wanted
148to give a big thank you to our partners at Johnson County Parks and Recreck. They they did a great job taking care of my kiddos and a lot of other kiddos here in our district. And so, um, we had some really fabulous memories made and, uh, lots of swimming days, lots of Kona ice, and then I just wanted to give the the team at Manchester Park, um, Miss G as they call her, and Alexis, who led the team there, um, did a lot of really fun activities, and one of them I thought was very unique, but but really cool, um, made a space maker day and which I guess equates to some food truck sort of things where the kids got to get creative and design their own little booth. And um parents and family
149members were allowed to come in get three tickets to try things. And so I had smoothies and protein um peanut butter balls and sushi. Um there was there was a variety of other things I could try, but I only had three tickets. Um so I just thought that was a really great thing and the kids were excited about it. They worked on it for a good portion of the summer. And so, um, just thank you again for giving my my kiddos and other kiddos a a good place to be stay busy, get tired, um, and enjoy their summer, um, while our parents and and other family member are working. So, thank you. >> I I may interrupt again just briefly. There's not often a time to do this, but you may have noticed Rob, who
150comes to every one of our board meetings. He's in the purple shirt back there. Stand up, Rob. It's okay. Um Rob facilitates our JCPD in our district and um does a great job and comes to every single board meeting. So thank you for being here and thanks for all you do, >> Miss Reagan. >> All right. Well, I just had a few, you know, schools coming thoughts. So welcome to our new staff, our new educators. Um especially those ones where it's their first time in a classroom. Um, I know that your first year is one you will never forget. You know, three, two, three, and four kind of blur together in my mind, but that first year, you know, I can still picture a lot of those students um, in my mind's eye. And to
151those who are coming to us from other places, um, we are so excited to have you here in THA. And to another really important group, welcome back to our returning staff. those who have been with us for years, those who have been with us for decades, thank you for coming back and being here for our kids in whatever capacity you serve. Um, our district would not be what we are without the support of um, returning staff members. What are you doing? Must be stop talking. Um, and another thing I want to touch on, um, especially when we're talking about money, is that advocacy works. When we use our voices to advocate to the state and federal governments for the things that we need to make public schools what we all know it can be, our
152voices as a collective force are important and they work. And when we put pressure on elected officials um and we do it as a group, you know, our district leaders um in our community send a letter to the federal government. Um you know, the governor signed on with other governors um to send letters and they do that because our leaders can do that because they know our constituency, the families that we serve are behind them. So, please continue to use your voices to advocate. Um, we will have a new funding formula coming out in a couple of years, but the people who are going to decide that are in our legislature and the entire House of Representatives will be on the ballot next year and some people are already beginning to campaign. So, please keep
153your finger on the pulse of that. Finally, in the face of all this uncertainty, I can't speak highly enough for how proud I am of our district, the leadership we have shown, the outspokenenness, the unabashed pride we have for the important work that our staff does to educate our kids. Um I am so proud to sit on this dis and I'm even prouder to be a parent of kids in this district knowing that the people in this room and the educators in our classrooms and in our buildings and across our community have our kids backs that is huge. Um in a time when things can feel as as Mrs. Steel said kind of muddy and murky and we don't know. I am certain about our tha public schools and heading into this school year. I
154am so excited for the road ahead and um I hope you are too. >> Thank you, Miss Steele. >> So, there's some important meetings coming up next week. Um I just wanted to draw attention to them. One is our state board of ed meets next week and they're going to be voting on cut scores. Um so I think it's um important that um we all tune in to how that goes. Um I believe that affects Kansas assessments from the spring but also going forward. Is that right? Yeah. Um and then also as Miss Reagan u mentioned our state education funding task force meets next week as well. they um are having those initial conversations and doing homework to um learn about um different ways that other states, but also the way the history that has
155been in the state of Kansas for funding public education. So, at the end of next week, they're meeting to discuss um specifically special education. I'm planning to go. I know a couple of us are planning to go. So, um I encourage um if you have that availability to go, that's great. And if not, please um watch online. Um I think it's important to have people in the room. And um we have not been asked to give testimony. Nobody has, but um I think when more people show up and they see the interest, um that becomes a very real possibility. And then I want to talk just a minute about at the federal level um you know the the funds that were impounded were released but that doesn't mean we can take a big breath and
156think that all of that is over. Um Congress you know is on their you know summer um vacation. They're all home now. So it's a great time to get in touch with them. um appropriations. Um the the Senate appropriations, Jerry Moran sits on that and um so what a great time to see if you can get um probably not some facetime but maybe but to contact him. Um what they passed was mostly level funding for K12. Um but the House is really going to get after that when they get back from their summer solstice. And um in the president's um budget, the department of ed proposes a $12 billion cut to K12, which translates to about 200 million for the state of Kansas. So while our legislators are on recess, please get in touch. As
157Claire said, it really does matter when we um let them know how we feel and that we want to support public education. So the senators are Moran and Marshall and our representatives for Kansas are Man, Schmidt, Davids, and Estus. So please take a minute to reach out to them. Um, and to wrap up, um, here we grow with school year 2526. See what I did there? And although there is work to be done, we have the best of the best here in THA. And it's going to be a great year. And while I'm confident that the solutions to all the challenges we are facing are going to be hard, they are going to be found here in tha. So, thank you. >> Anyone else board? I'll add just a a couple of more thank yous.
158And I'm actually going to start with um thanks to our staff who offer summer opportunities for kids. Um, Miss Johan mentioned JCPRD, but we have a number of camps in the summer as well, theater and visual arts and sports camps. And personally, my grandkids took advantage of a number of them and had wonderful experiences in in all of them. So, thanks to our staff who continue to share and work with kids in the summer. Um, also, and I'm sure Dr. Jagger is going to say these thank yous too. But um with new educators starting last week, thanks to learning services and HR uh for the breakfast, welcoming them uh last Friday, and then to the foundation for the social, which is always a good time, and new educators are to our district go home with
159prizes and money and and all kinds of things. Um, a a best of of luck and a have a great year to our admin. And we have several buildings with new admin or admin teams. And so our thoughts are with you as as you lead your building and sometimes in a in a new place and building new relationships. also to the office staff and custodial staff and our district facilities who have been working to have those buildings and classrooms ready uh for our educators. Um and I think oh and um to again learning services and calendar committee Dr. Jagger mentioned earlier about our dialogues and um very strongly we received feedback that teachers wanted some additional time at the beginning of the year to prep and so yesterday right was that day and so thanks
160to those who were responsive and OEA is sitting in the back of the room and they were part of that um decision making as well. So, and to all of you, have a great year. >> Well, thank you for navigating uh several challenging issues tonight. I I can't tell you how much we appreciate this board of education and all that you do to meet the needs of our students and our staff and our community. Um, I will just say that what I've shared with lots of groups uh as we've started the year is there is always such a positivity around the start of the school year and that uh I think waxes and waines. Is that how you're supposed to say that? I'm now very conscious about what I say um in the microphone because
161it follows me for a long time. But um but that happens during the year, you know, just based on things and you know, so the challenge I've been giving and I gave it to our new teachers and our folks we've hired into the system the other day and continue to say it to groups is you know being being happy is really a choice and you know focusing on the good things that that are happening as a choice. So um you know I would say as we move forward in this school year just everybody remember the positivity that's happening right now is we're just so excited about coming back to school. Uh it's great and and with that theme um I wanted to share I spent some time over winter break uh cleaning out other people's
162things that are still in my office. Um and I and I found a letter um from August 8th, 1955 that is actually 70 years ago tomorrow um from WB Kentai who was the superintendent of tha public schools district number 16 um at that time. And so we were a district before consolidation. We were district 16. I didn't know that. But I I just want to give you three bullets from from this letter. It's relatively short. Uh it was not done on a computer a word processor. I'm pretty certain it was a typewriter and I haven't seen that for a long time. So I had to reaclimate myself. But nonetheless, um here's here's here's some of the things it says. And this went to our teaching staff. It says, "Your very important work as a teacher
163in our public school system is soon to begin. I'm looking forward to being present for our first faculty meeting." Note that all the staff in the district, first faculty meeting, one meeting, everybody together Friday, September 2nd. This guy was really prepared. This was August 8th for a meeting on September 2nd at 9:00 a.m. at the central school auditorium. The afternoon will be used for faculties of each school to meet with their respective principal to make plans for enrollment. So that's good. We were focused on enrolling kids 70 years ago. This one I really like and some in the room may not, but it says special meetings may be called by administrators on Saturday morning. How about that? Uh but there will be no school on September 5th. And then the part I love at the
164bottom and and this is so true today. It says, "I pledge you my loyal, sincere cooperation. With your help, we can make this school year both enjoyable and successful for the children of our community." So anyway, it was just really fun to read that and I uh I did not think about sending a letter to our staff saying meetings might be scheduled on Saturday mornings. Not sure how that would go over. Um, one other celebration and and this will be shared some, but uh, all school districts and superintendents across the nation, we get several times a year a publication called School CEO. Um, and it highlights just great things school districts are doing across the nation. And in the summer edition of the magazine, the publication, there are three school districts that are listed uh,
165because the incredible branding and imaging with work that they did with their systems. And I'm just proud to share for our comm's team and the great work they did. Altha public schools is one of the three districts uh nationally that was highlighted in this publication that went to all school districts across the country. So uh pretty cool and and thing to share tonight as well. So [Applause] I think that's all I have tonight. Thank you >> board. We do not have an executive session this evening. So, um, if someone would like to make a motion to adjurnn. >> I move that we adjourn. >> Second. >> Motion by Miss Reagan, second by Miss Johan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Boyd. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Reagan. >> Heck yeah. >> Mrs. Johan. >> Yes. >> Mr. Babbot.
166>> Yes. >> Mrs. Steel. >> Yes. >> Dr. >> Yes. Meeting is adjourned.