001start a meeting and uh begin with the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. It is tradition to honor our outgo our outgoing board president. Tonight we are honoring Gina Knap who served as board president during the 202425 school year. Would Gina and Dr. Chapman please come forward? We have something to present to you. [Applause] Congratulations, [Applause] Gina. Thank you again for your service. It's time for public comments and uh want to welcome those of you who are here for the open forum. Our goal is to allow a time for individuals to address the board in an orderly, efficient, and dignified manner. The board will enforce a threeminut limit per speaker for up to 30 minutes. If you have handouts, they can be shared with the campus officer for distribution. At the conclusion, the board will close
002the forum and proceed with its agenda items for the evening. We appreciate your presence as we value the opinions and concerns of our patrons. If you're unable to address the board during open forum, you may address the board by by email. I have a few reminders about the open forum that will help our speakers have a constructive and positive experience when discussing items with the board. So when making remarks, please be civil and use respectful language. Please limit discussion to the relevant business of the board tonight. Discussion of matters related to a specific student or employee are not allowed. Instead, comments should be submitted to the superintendent in writing. Uh please remember to limit your comments to three minutes and avoid repeating the concerns of a previous speaker. And please remain in the designated visitor
003area and refrain from appro approaching the dis where the board of education is seated. If you've got questions that need a response, someone will follow up with you at a later time. So on behalf of the board, I welcome you and appreciate your interest in Blue Valley as we provide the very best education to our students. When your name is called, introduce yourself before beginning your remarks. And as a reminder, we ask that all remarks are limited to three minutes. So, let's get started. Steve Roberts. Thank you, Mr. President. I represent uh the citizenry. I live about 133rd in Handio here in the district, former state uh board member, state board of education. Um I thought I would talk about the the need for a greater distinction between primary and secondary. Um, we've had this
004distinction for teachers for well since we started licensing teachers roughly a hundred years ago depending on what part of the country you're in. Um, my teaching license is secondary. I have three endorsements on my license, math, physics, and earth and space science. And on my license, it says grades 6 through 12. That's just a bureaucratic thing. Um, would it be unlawful for me to teach math to a fifth grader? I certainly hope it would not be. But in in keeping with the uh agenda and remarks uh from the public that should be geared toward your agenda tonight, I've heard a lot of talk about raising teacher pay, and I'm all for that. Uh I have a bias being a teacher, a licensed teacher in Kansas. Uh but I think there are some some things we
005could do to raise teacher pay, particularly in this district where we are not affected by the teacher shortage as much as other districts. I think it's fair to say that uh the teacher shortage has very little effect on USD229 as as compared to certainly other districts. So what I recall is a conversation I had with Jim McNiss on the state board, my colleague from Witchah, and we were just chatting one day in a in a break and I I said, "Well, you know, teachers are professionals. They should be able to negotiate their own salary." And Jim shot right back, well, we're not set up for that. And that's exactly right. We're not set up for that. But what if we were? What if we were set up so that our professional educators could negotiate a
006salary? I dream of the day when teachers are regarded by their fellow citizens with a regard similar to that of engineers or doctors or dentists or lawyers or accountants or other professionals. Um my own personal experience has been one to compare that of a teacher to that of an engineer. I was going to be a math teacher. I told my high school math teacher at the end of my junior year that I wanted to be a math teacher. He said, "No." I told Mr. Brown, "No, I'm going to be a math teacher." He said, "No." What should I do? Engineering, he said. I said, "Why?" He goes, "Biscuits on the table, boy." And it was a defining moment in my life. And I went the engineering route. And I'm darn glad I did because it
007opened so many doors over the years. But I can tell you there's a great difference between um describing myself as an engineer over the years as an adult. Various functions could be a backyard barbecue or a wedding or cocktail party. Anything. What do you do, Mr. Roberts? I'm an engineer. Oh, very good. At a different function. What do you do, Mr. Roberts? I'm a teacher. Well, isn't that nice? There's a world of difference between engineers and teachers in our culture and there shouldn't be. So what if as we talk about raising teacher pay, what if we got away from the idea of paying teachers as well similar to the way we pay postal clerks, you know, how long have you been on the job? and actually evaluate teachers with the understanding that good teachers should
008make good money and very good teachers should earn very good salaries and excellent teachers should receive excellent pay. Well, how would you do that? I think the short answer is multiple measures and to get into multiple measures, I'll have to address you another time. I appreciate your time. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Roberts. So that wraps up our open forum for tonight. So on behalf of the board of education, I'd like to thank you, Steve, and we appreciate the time you took to share your thoughts with us. And please know that the board and the district administration took notes, and we'll follow up as needed. Thank you again. So now we'll call the meeting to order. Is this also where we have the Oh, good time to leave. >> Okay, it's a good time
009to leave if you don't want to stay, but I think you all came for that. >> See, I missed Christiey's speech. We're gonna leave Clay Stay. All right. So, welcome to the monthly business meeting of the Blue Valley Board of Education. It's the time when the board publicly conducts its business of governing the school district. And while these meetings are open to all, public interaction is limited to the ini individuals who had signed up for the open forum. So we kindly ask all attendees to contribute to a positive atmosphere by conducting themselves with the quorum. Please engage in civil and polite behavior toward one another. It's crucial that everyone present extends courtesy to both the schoolboard members and those presenting by listening attentively. Please refrain from making comments or sounds and foster an environment of
010respect. Thank you for understanding and your cooperation in making this a productive meeting for all. So I'll call the meeting to order and uh we need to approve the regular board of education meeting agenda. >> I move that the board of education approve the July 21st, 2025 regular board of education organizational meeting agenda as published. Moved by Jody, seconded by Gina. All in favor, raise your hand or say I. Moves unanim. It passes unanimously. Uh time for board advisory committee reports. The Finance and Operations Board Advisory Committee met on July 17th at 7:30 a.m. in the Board of Education room. Kyle Hayden, deputy superintendent, welcomed the committee and introduced Blue Valley's new superintendent, Dr. Gileian Chapman. He also facilitated the introductions of all members of the finance operations committee. Jeremy McFaden, CFO, reviewed the meeting
011agenda. Shane Dewald, BVRC executive director, presented the BVRC budget for 2526. Uh Jeremy McFaden presented the quarterly investment report ending June 30th, 2025. Jason Gillum, director of business operations, presented the bids and contracts uh on the agenda. The next finance and operations meeting is August 7th at 7:30 a.m. >> Thank you. How about a superintendent's report? >> Thank you very much. Um, good evening and I'm excited to present the first report. Um, wait for it to come up on the screen. You would think in the summer we wouldn't have a lot to celebrate, but we have a lot to celebrate in Blue Valley. Um, next slide, please. Oh, you want me to do it? Got it. I have to do everything. Okay. Thanks for bearing with me everybody as I figure out this system. um
012the um the spring AP exams um I it is just really incredible when you look at the data um with 4,000 more than um 4,000 AP exams administered u with an 89.3 pass percent pass rate which means 89% of the students taking those 4200 um exams scored a three or higher which is really incredible and a mean score of 3.8. Um, and I'm told this is a an all-time high in record. So really something to celebrate when you have that many exams um with a pass rate that's so um high. So uh congratulations to our students but our faculty prek through 12 that are are really preparing students for that success. the summer issue of Blue Valley Today has been uh delivered uh to all the mailboxes in um the community and I know from
013my family's personal experience um this is something that uh my parents who live in the community look forward to because they really find out all the wonderful things happening in Blue Valley. So look for that in your mailboxes. Uh obviously we had Independence Day as a recognition and a holiday this month. um student celebrations. We have three former Blue Valley seniors who were named for the 2025 college sponsored merit scholarship winners by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation uh from Blue Valley Northwest, Sydney Barnett um from Blue Valley West, um Eric Marte and um Massud Jagana Kazame. Oh, and I'm sorry, I also skipped one. uh Shereiva Pradhan. Um so congratulations to those students. Sorry, the staff member is Massud uh the custodian at Lakewood Middle School. Um and he's being recognized as a 2025 teammate
014of the year for the facilities and operations. So Miss I also counted you as a student. So congratulations. Sorry about that. Um, activities and athletics. Uh, Blue Valley Southwest Crew Alvarez named the 2425 Gatorade Kansas boys soccer player of the year. It's very exciting for crew as well as um, Blue Valley High School's Grady Westfall and Blue Valley West Haley her. The 25 scholar 2025 scholar athlete high school honores by the Kansas City Star. And we continue with celebrations. Um, Northwest Katon Humphrey, the pitcher, was selected as the 2025 Kansas Association of Basketball Coaches Allstar Game. Um, that's exciting for for them. Um, and then we have some alumni celebrations that you may have read about in the paper. Benby, graduate of Southwest, drafted to the San Francisco Giants in the eighth round of the
015Major League Baseball draft. We also have Charlie Christensen, graduate graduate of Blue Valley West, drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 15th round. And Jackson Lovich, graduate of West, also drafted by the New York Yankees in the 16th round. So really exciting um to see our graduates excelling at such a high level. Julia Meismer, graduate of West, qualified for the 25 2025 US Women's Amateur Golf Championship. And J Jason Adam, graduate of Blue Valley North, selected as the National League Relief Pitcher for the 2025 Major League Baseball All-Star game. and recent graduate Jack Punwick of Blue Valley West recently named one of this this year's Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation heroes. So, we're really proud of Jack and his wonderful family as well. And that concludes the superintendent celebration report. We'll move now to the consent
016agenda. Now, I need a motion to u amend the consent agenda as published to remove uh item C6 designating the official district newspaper for publication of school notices for 2025 26. I move that the board of education amend the consent agenda as published to remove item C6 designate the official district newspaper for publication of school notices for 2025 2026. >> Second. >> Moved by Jody and Clay. Seconded. All in favor raise their hand. And it passes unanimously. No, that was just changing the agenda. Now we need a motion to approve the regular U board of education organizational meeting consent agenda as amended. move that the board of education approve the July 21st, 2025 consent agenda as amended with minor edits deemed necessary by legal counsel. >> Second. >> Moved by Gina, seconded by Sonia. Any
017discussion? All in favor raise their hand. And it passes unanimously. Now we'll move over to new business. First item on new business is to approve Pinnacle Staffing Group, Cyno Staffing, JS Grace HR Solutions, Ags facility and ondemand employment services contracts. >> Uh Kyle Hayden, deputy superintendent here to speak about the Pinnacle Staffing Group. Uh this is a a contract for temporary staffing uh to meet our custodial needs also for grounds and food service only as needed. Um so this is only at times where we have open positions or in between uh trying to fill positions. Uh the pre-approval allows us to respond very uh quickly to those needs and to move forward um as as quickly as possible. The contract is for the bid is for not to exceed a $ 1.5 million figure. Uh
018if we were to exceed that, we would come back to the board prior to that and approve it. Uh just for a notation, last year was $1.1 million in costs. >> And can you remind me, we discussed this this morning a little bit. You said this primarily ends up being elementary school custodial, didn't you mention? >> That's the next >> the next one. Sorry. >> That's the corporate cleaning one. I think is a few more items down. Yep. >> Any questions? Any other further questions? So, do we hear a motion to approve? >> I move that the board of education approved the contracts with Pinnacle Staffing Group, Cindo Staffing, JS Grace HR Solutions, ATA TAC ATS facility, and on demand deployment services with minor edits deemed necessary by legal counsel. >> I hear a second.
019>> Moved by Jody, second by Jim. All in favor? Passes unanimously. Now we move to the next item which is to approve the CDW government contract. Good evening. Um tonight I'm asking the board to approve the purchase of Vivy Wireless Connect devices that will be purchased through reseller CDWG. Um, these devices will replace aging technology uh to allow staff, students, and employees in conference spaces, classrooms, common areas throughout the district to wirelessly display from their devices. Um, this was bid out by our purchasing department. It's a five-year agreement. Um, and this first round specifically will go towards upgrading conference spaces and targeting our our uh math teachers at our buildings. Any questions from the board? Do I hear a motion to approve the CDWG contract? I move that the board of education approve the CDW
020government contract with minor edits deemed necessary by legal counsel. >> Second. >> Moved by Gina, second by Jim. All in favor, raise your hand. >> Thank you. >> Passes unanimously. Thank you. Next item is to approve the Children's Mercy Hospital contract. I am Mark Schmidt and I'm the assistant superintendent of special education and I am asking that you uh approve the ninth contract renewal for the Blue Valley or for Children's Mercy Hospital for the amount of 2,647,5146. This money pays for 30 34 M's level social workers including a supervisor who provide social work services on students IEPs and provide general education support for students in every district school. Just like in previous years, Children's Mercy conducted a survey at the end of the year of all staff members and administration. And once again, I believe
021this is for the seventh year in a row, they scored at the 95% satisfaction rate for this contract. Um, I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. >> Seeing no questions, do we have a motion to approve the Children's Mercy Hospital contract? >> I move uh to approve the Children's Mercy contract as presented with minor edits deemed necessary. >> Second. >> Moved by Clay, second by Gina. Any further discussion? All in favor of approving the contract, raise your hand. It passes 61. Next up is to approve the corporate cleaning group incorporated contract. Kyle Hayden again, uh, deputy superintendent here to speak to the, uh, corporate cleaning group. Uh it's a not to exceed $1.5 million um for temporary staffing in up to uh 10 elementary schools. Typically, this is evening uh assisted with cleaning
022only as needed uh depending if we do not have the staff to cover it. Last year's cost was uh $528,000. So, we hope to uh be well under the 1.5 million if staffing holds true. >> Any questions of Kyle? Do I have a motion to approve it? >> I move that the board of education approve the corporate cleaning group, Inc. contract with minor edits deemed necessary by legal counsel. >> We have a second. >> Second. >> Moved by Jody, second by Gina. All in favor, raise your hand. Passes unanimously. >> Sorry, can I just ask one? >> Sure. >> Out of order here. We used to I thought that when we first uh approved this we had two two vendors. Now we just have one. >> Uh yes, we have one. >> Are they kind
023of one out over the other one? >> Yeah, I think from a pricing standpoint um and uh quality of service. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Jim. Uh next item is to approve the Wood River Energy LLC contract. Uh so this agreement with Wood River Energy is for our annual uh natural gas pricing. We lock in that pricing in advance. Uh gives us a very competitive rate and uh for unexpected uh circumstances in particular for freezing cold temperatures especially if it's a duration of a week or longer or something like that. So um this uh um cost estimate is at $600,000. Um, last year's uh cost for us was $546,000. >> Recognizing that freezing cold for a week doesn't sound all that bad right now. >> Any questions of Kyle on this contract? >> I just
024had one followup from this morning. Um, so if there's volume, do we have volume commitments in that that we could underut or we have to that we have to purchase it even if we don't use it or is that not at risk because we set it low enough that it's not really an issue. >> Yeah. My understanding is we have a threshold and if we uh don't get to that threshold then we're not paying for it and usually the pay the cost that we're putting in towards it is a unit cost for usage. So um it's not a it's not a $600,000 cost for us. It's a up to $600,000 cost for us that's estimated off of previous use. >> I got it. >> Right. But it's >> we're hedged up to $600,000. If we
025go above that, then we are unhedged. >> Great financial term. >> Okay. Okay. Uh next item is to approve our We didn't. >> Okay, we're backing up. In case we haven't done it, we're gonna Let's >> Let's have a motion to approve the Wood River Energy LLC contract. >> I move that the board of education approve the Wood River Energy LLC contract with minor edits deemed necessary by legal counsel. >> Thank you, Gina. Move. Jody seconded. All in favor, raise your hand. It passes unanimously. Now we can approve the 202526 district goals. >> Good evening. Dr. Katie Collier, your deputy superintendent. Um this morning during workshop, we spent uh quite a bit of time talking about our um district goals and I am um just going to review those. you have the uh PDF document
026of that. Um this morning we did talk about an addition uh to our district goals and I'll point where point out for you where we've made that addition uh for this evening's meeting. Uh the first goals around um advancing academic excellence and exceptional student experiences as a summary of our discussion during workshop. Um these goals are um intended to emphasize standards alignment um across levels um in our courses so that um the standards build upon each other and we further um ensure rigor in our courses. Um additionally we're going to continue to provide um high quality professional learning um for our teachers in particular. Um, in these goals, we emphasize the PE uh professional learning for um our teachers as they um as we adopt our um I think I need the clicker. Sorry. Kyle,
027if you want to just pull up the PDF. Do you have the running document? That'll be fine, too. While he's working on that, I'll continue if that's agreeable to you. Um, so we will um continue to support our teachers as they implement an elementary uh reading resource, which you have approved for them uh to use with our students. Um, additionally, uh, we will provide a report to you about I need you to keep going there a little bit. And again, uh, you're fine. Thank you. Um, we'll provide a report to you regarding our work with middle school math. Uh, we presented those changes to you last year, Kelly June did, and we will, um, update you on that. We'll also keep you updated regarding our accreditation uh work across the district and again um we're
028emphasizing that work of standards alignment quality instruction and feedback from our teachers um to teach u feedback from our principles to the teachers in their classrooms around that work. We'll also be launching some work in uh regarding the development of a middle school um caps model. again that is not about building a middle school cap center but instead providing them instructional experiences um tied to um professional studies work at that level. You'll also continue to receive updates from the high school study work. You've heard um updates from uh Scott Roberts around indivi independent individual plan of study for our high school students. We will uh continue to do that work as well and report on that to you. Next slide, please. We will also be providing for you an analysis of Thank you. We'll also
029be providing for you an analysis of our career ready programming and sharing for you the opportunities we have there for um increased opportunities to potentially expand programming and ensure that we're providing um opportunities for students um that may currently uh not be accessing um some programming options. That includes some work that we're going to do around analysis of our transportation opportunities for students to CAPS or our career ready program, career ready program opportunities at Johnson County. We'll be talking to you further about that. And then we will also be bringing to you recommendations for screen time uh recommendations for use of devices in our classrooms in the area fostering supportive and healthy and healthy school communities. During our discussion this morning, um we talked about the importance of ensuring that we are referencing um continued
030emphasis on um supporting the mental health of our students. And so copied over from the full strategic plan in its entirety um are uh goals one and two and that is to provide um on I don't think it made it there. So, I'll read those to you. Uh, but they should be there for you and diligent. Providing ongoing professional learning opportunities for teachers at all levels as they work to support the social, emotional, behavioral needs of our students and to maintain and expand coordinated mental health resources for students and families. Um our teachers will continue to engage in ongoing professional learning um in the area of um helping to ensure positive healthy school cultures and so our teachers will be going involved in training across all levels to uh develop strategies to assist in that
031area. We know engagement and motivation are crucial for student success. So we'll continue to emphasize training in those areas. Um you'll continue continue to hear us monitoring um ongoing um any potential revisions to at risk or uh federal funding which impacts um programming to our students. And then finally this morning we talked about our foundational commitments and Those foundational commitments um will be those areas that obviously they kind of are the they're the bedrock if you will of the operations of the district. We will pro pro uh provide updates to you annually regarding um academics, communications, facilities, financial resources and safety. Uh we'll provide you reports throughout the year but then you'll also have a year-end report around those success areas as well. Every time um administration reports to you on any of these topics
032during workshop or a board meeting, we will explicitly define for you the goals that that work is connected to from the strategic plan which was built in collaboration with our staff and community as well. Um again, that's just a brief synopsis of our discussion this morning. I'm happy to answer any questions for you. >> Thank you. Just a um these aren't really questions. Maybe just um thoughts. There's a lot of meat in the there's fair fairly um you know long set of goals. Um do you think you're biting off more than you can chew? >> Well, we know we're not going to um we won't be eating bon bonss. Uh that's that's for sure. Um you know, this some of this is work that's continuation um of work that we currently have going on. But
033we've looked at this and we believe this is work that we can initiate this year. So obviously some of these goals are around initial study and analysis. That's um reasonable and that some items won't necessarily come to you for recommendation for revision. We'll give you updates in our study. Um but we do think that this is reasonable. We know some of these, Jim, will be carryover goals even into the into the next school year, but honestly, a lot of this work is work that's already on the canvas and we're just continuing the movement of the work. >> Okay. So, then just a couple of um specific questions on the very first one, first slide, I think it had some discussion about math. >> I'm just wondering specifically why that one showed up as opposed to
034the other academic Sure. That first one really is emphasizing the work that we're doing at the high school level in both ELA and math. So, we've had our math symposium that has been taking place. I know Adam Wade has and Kelly have talked to you in the past about the work that they're doing to really enhance um practices at high school, increase rigor, really focus on um standards instruction at the high school level. So just looking at student performance and student needs, we know that's an area of emphasis and then a need for curriculum revisions in that same area. So we look at what do we know about curriculum revision? What do we know about resource needs uh to again continue to uh you know drive results and drive student growth. So um we we
035identify that clearly as a need and then also the same in the area of ELA. So, we've done quite a bit of work in those two areas at elementary and middle and we're moving that work up to high school. >> Okay. So, um you you had mentioned the Johnson County Community College like this morning you mentioned that we're capped out in terms of enrollment possibilities. >> Is that is that for everything or just what you called career ready? >> So, we could I could provide to you through Dr. Chapman a report of where we're at with enrollment and courses at Johnson County for this school year. What we know is that we have a really great relationship with them and students and families are really driven toward that programming. But we also know there are
036other districts who are also trying to take advantage of those opportunities and only so many students can fit in those courses, if you will. So, we're trying to look at what do we see from our students in terms of express desire for courses and then we have to pair that against uh seat availability in our Johnson County courses. And so, um really it's kind of supply demand issue a bit. Jim, >> if if I could just jump in too because I've had this conversation because I work at JCC a lot so I see a lot of our students kind of roll in. Um and and our staff people that are involved in that program said we had like a white list of about 50 I think this last year is my understanding of students that
037wanted to take advantage of these great programs and this great partnership but could not. And so like Dr. Kier said the more kiddos that are interested especially within you know our community Shauny Mission our private schools um tha there's there's less space and right now they can't handle the capacity they're looking at expanding but they can't handle it right now >> but those are just um specific course courses it's not like kid wants to take high level German or whatever they have >> these are the ones that are part of the >> right that we're offering and that then when they are enrolled there they're also getting blue valley credit as well. >> All right. So just my final question on on this do you do you draw a distinction when you use the term
038real world learning versus career ready. >> So great question. Um so really we see those honestly as one and the same. They so if you think about professionsbased learning that's students being able to understand and apply what they're learning in the classroom in a professional setting. So when we engage in opportunities for our students to go out and participate in um client connected project whether that's in a from a home high school course or they're doing it through the CAPS program those experiences Jim are really very similar. So you will see for instance as we're working getting ready to work on the middle school work we've had conversations Kelly and team team members have had conversations that really were talking about work that's very synonymous with each other. So >> okay so to me it
039raises opportunity you know it's a cool opportunity I think for a lot of of kids but I also think it raises a concern at least in my mind and and that is the the younger that the younger the student that we say here's a career ready opportunity um the more we it feels like we're we are a job placement uh service as opposed to you know a broad-based education service to equip kids to go do anything right and so I think real world learning is valuable but not really because it's you know they're going to become whatever the real world learning that they're engaged in just it opens our eyes to the world. >> I think what we're really working to do is to ensure that students understand um their postsecary options and that we
040are helping to give them those opportunities to explore in their learning to explore um in their passions connected uh to our curriculum to assist them. We all know that what the cost and rise of um cost of what's happening with college education is certainly um certainly expensive. And so we certainly do them a favor too if they're able to explore opportunities in high school and determine gosh I thought I was really interested in that. I don't think I want to go to perhaps the medical route. So, we have I've heard stories where students have attended the CNA program through CAPS and have determined that they learned that that really wasn't for them. They didn't want to go the medical route. So, that's one of the advantages of uh continuing with this work. Again, just trying
041to ensure post-secary um option awareness. But I hear what you're saying, Jim. >> Any other questions of Dr. Collier? I have one. um when you do your how often are you going to do a report on progress to goals? >> So there's a lot here and there's only so many board meetings, right? So we'll provide you uh weekly updates on various topics to keep you aware of the work and then we'll decipher from these topics what those updates look like throughout the school year based on the nature of the work and where we're at. Jan. >> Okay. What I would like is at least quarterly tell us what your goal for the coming quarter is and then what you've achieved. I don't want to hear just what you've achieved as because that's sort of like
042throwing a dart on the wall and then draw a target around it. >> Uh I want to know what it is we're shooting for and then in the next quarter say well here's how we what we did. Here's what we learned >> and and on for that great and you know we don't need it every month but >> quarterly I think would be appropriate. >> I think we can achieve that request. Do I have a motion to approve the 202526 uh district goals? I move that the board of education approve the 2025 2026 district goals. >> Moved by Jim, second by Patrick. All in favor raise your hand. Passes unanimously. And highlight of the evening are we're here to approve the 2025 uh 26 Blue Valley Recip Commission budget. Shane. >> Okay. Kyle Hayden, deputy
043superintendent. Yeah. Um >> annually. Yes. >> I I figured they need a proper introduction, you know, every even though everybody knows them, so at least you all do. But um yeah, Kyle Hayden, deputy superintendent. So annually the board of education approves the Blue Valley Recreation Commission budget per statute. Um so here this evening um is Shane Dwald the executive director of the BBRC along with some of his associates who are some financial experts in their own right. So I'll turn it over to them. >> Thank you Kyle. Uh Shane Dwald got Thank you, sir. Just um like like Kyle mentioned earlier, just um designated by state statute to be here. We come before you every so we've been seeing a lot of us here lately just presenting this stuff. So um just wanted to kind
044of start off a little bit. We start this process in our budget around the end of January, February. I know I mentioned that this morning, but just uh a lot happens along the way. I want to make sure we meet with start meeting with Kyle and Jeremy a few months prior and we kind of just work work out all the different different thoughts and processes. So, um I did want to start off a little bit. Uh the picture you have on the slide in front of you is one of our capital projects that's on this upcoming budget. Um so we have a couple different plans. I think I want to uh make sure that all the different acronyms we throw out there. You guys are probably familiar with them. We have a CIP, capital improvement
045plan, and we have our COP, our certificates of participation, which the COP is very equivalent to what you what the school district would do with a bond. Um, so I know we throw out a lot of information, but I want to make sure that we're kind of making sure. So, some of the the capital improvement plans, if you remember a few years back, we raised the mill levy. We had a five-year plan. We had a lot of things like real flashy like parking lots, entrances, uh, pool pack, if you remember some of those. So, fast forward as we get we wrap up that five-year CIP plan, we we go into an ongoing uh preservation of assets and we kind of that's just an ongoing thing similar to what you guys are used to with that.
046So, at the budget, we just came to the end of that as we go as we as as we got through the projects and we wrap up some of the projects this upcoming year. So, um all right, we're good. A little bit of what we do. Uh we all serve the same. We serve the school district. So the goal of Blue Valley Recre is to provide act recreation activities for everyone uh from we say cradle to grave on many instances. But um we have three facilities which are everyone here is very familiar with. We have the activity center which houses our gymnastics, dance and um aquatics. Gymnastics I say gymnastics, dance and aquatics. And then um we have if you go there right now you'll be ran over by a couple a lot of kids
047probably in that five to 10 year range with summer our summer camps. We also have our newest facilities the rec center at Hilltop. Um this morning I think I told you I was a little bit off. We actually just a little over 1,600 members visits a day. So we have around right around 10,000 members right now. I know several of the district employees are are are taking advantage of that too. And then we have our sports complex. Um we have 28 fields out there. Uh 24 right now and then we have four more being constructed. So to back up a little bit, last year we went through the coop, the certificate participation and we have several projects ongoing with that. We have the four new fields being built out there right by coaches in that
048big green space. And then here in this fall, our activity center will be going through a a renovation as well. So, just to thank you again for approving that budget last year, making sure that happens and and watch the progress. Um, uh, we did grow by about 60 teams this this last year for baseball and softball and we continue to see those numbers grow. So, adding those four new fields will be will be very important. So, um, Linda, I know we'll be digging in a little more of the numbers here, but and we'll have some questions at the end for anyone that has any questions. So, >> all right. >> Okay. So we have the two funds that are um partially paid by taxes um and we have the ability to split the mill levby
049between those however we see fit. The taxes that we get the majority of that because it's come from the mill levby we also get part partial tax revenue is from um vehicle taxes and delinquent taxes. So we're going to start out with the good news is that our total mill levy is going to come in at 2.8 8 this year, which is a slight decrease from what we had last year. We have come down three times since we increase the mill levy for our capital improvement project. A lot of that's been due to the um increases in appraisals that have happened out here in this area that have allowed us to do that. But we've also seen our local revenues, our program fees, and our membership fees increase, which is also a big factor in
050that. So, we have our benefits fund and that is totally subsidized by tax revenue. That is by state statute and the only expenses that can come out of there are actual employee benefits. We have 85 full-time employees and so that's going to cover all of their insurance, their retirement, and we have about 900 part-time employees. And so that's also going to include all social security taxes for all of those. Our general fund is subsid is partially tax revenue and the other part is what we call local revenue. So you'll look at the orange lines. What you see under the revenue are program fees and our membership fees. Those are going to cover all of the direct expenses for those three facilities that Shane mentioned earlier. the activity center, the sports complex, and the recreation complex.
051And then those are also budgeted to cover about one and a half million of administration and facilities costs. Facilities cost includes our maintenance, our custodial, our utilities. So, we've got all that. The tax revenue is going to cover, we have a line that's called leas and government obligations. That's where our certificate of participations are. And you're going to see a big increase between the 2425 actuals and 2526 proposed. And that is because we have three cops, one for each location. And two of those will be making the final payment on in the fall. And we'll be making the first payment in April for the ones that were approved earlier this year. And we've done an intentional realignment of that so that our payments will now be due in the spring. and we'll use our January
052taxes to pay for that. And so we can go into the new year, the new fiscal year with a lower cash balance. Um Shane talked earlier about our existing capital needs. Those are pretty steady. Um and that's pretty well it on that page. This is the graph of our revenue sources. Um this is the first time. Okay. This I don't know. I didn't this this morning but for some reason this has gone ahead and um rounded up to whole numbers. Our our pro the property tax advalorum is actually 49.7%. So we were really happy to get that below 50 but right now it's showing at 50 but um but like I said this is the part that the ad valorum and that's the only part that we really have any influence on by how we
053set the mill levy. Those other taxes I talked about um are just determined by what the county decides to send us. But we do have influence on what the mill levy is. Um what you're also going to see is we're going to use our reserves and take those down a little bit more and that's related to being able to put that those lease payments out into April. Um and our expenditure summary, what you're going to see here is our personnel and benefits end up being the biggest piece of our expense pie. Um you're going to see the lease is going to be a little bit higher this year. Um but the is also a big piece. And our last slide u just shows where we are with the budget timeline. By statute, the school district
054has to approve our budget. We are the only recreation commission in the state that has that added step. And so that's why we're here tonight for you to approve it. And then next month we will have we've already gone ahead and notified the county that we will be slightly um uh exceeding revenue neutral. And on August 20th we will be having our budget and RNR hearings. Um we'll be publishing we designated our official newspaper is the Johnson County Post and that will be um in that newspaper next week. And then you all when you guys all do your budget next month, you'll see Blue Valley Wreck the two funds on there. But we are totally self-sufficient. So there's nothing in the budget for the school district that actually filters over to us. The funds that
055come from the county are distributed to the school district. All rep commissions are either associated with a school district or with a city. And in our case, we're with you guys. So, the money filters through you. Does anybody have any questions? >> Yeah, just a few. Um, this is a lot of this is regurgitation from what I already talked to you guys about, but I I think for the benefit of the public, it'd be good to hear. Um, by my calculations, the total tax revenues to be collected are effectively the same as last year in an aggregate basis, but >> between the two funds, >> but the benefit fund is quite a bit lower than last year and the general fund is is by the same amount higher. >> Yes. Thus, by state statute, um
056you're required to file a notice of um exceeding revenue neutral. >> Yes. Because we're slightly over. And just I want to add something to that too that I didn't go ahead and mention, but when we're looking at the amount that we want to start the year with with our unencumbered fund balance, because we get our distributions in June and July or June, I'm sorry, June and January, we're looking having enough tax funds on the books to get us through that distribution in January. And then we're also getting about $5 million for our distribution in early June. So the bulk of that unencumbered cash balance is for that tax distribution. >> Okay. So yeah, so by my calculation, it's within a couple the amount of tax revenue to be collected this year is within a couple
057of hundred of hundred dollars of last year, which I commend you you guys for. Um, one just being able to drive the um, membership and programming revenue, which has helped that. And then but can you just go into a little bit of more detail about the the extent to which you're dipping into your reserves and what you would anticipate with respect to those reserves next year. >> So we will be dipping into our reserves. Um actually based on this it looks like it's about $3 million but between two and three million. Um, and a big portion of that is for those that extra payments on those certificates of participation. So, that's going to be a one-time thing. And a little bit more of us actually going to be going for that inclusive playground. Now, the
058inclusive playground, and that's been brought up in a couple of meetings. We are hoping to be able to do some fundraising for that, which could have an impact on our actual bottom line for our expenses this year. But, at this point, we have to go ahead and budget for it because we don't have any idea what that's going to be or when that would happen. So both of those are one time um expenses. So so going forward we don't see a need to keep we would not be it would not be sustainable to reduce our fund balances in that manner. But like I said at this time it works good because we want to get that lower at the end of the 25 26 year. >> So um to where it says total expenditure is
05923 million. You would see 20 the next year 26 27 likely to be lower than that. >> It's Yes, that's what we would expect. >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I I think um my observation having four years now of of watching it that the rec commission has done a really great job of kind of recovering um from the the fallen enrollment and and participation in COVID and also taking care of the physical assets. So I'm I'm um you know I'm enthusiastic about what you guys have presented. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I just want to commend you guys for doing great job, great presentation. Of course, pulling the bud budget together is always a task and I know you guys have a great staff, Linda, Jamie. Thank you so much. And I know you work
060uh just as hard as our staff here and I know you work in conjunction with them. So, great job as always, Shane. And you've got your commission chair, Mike Lewis, out here as well. We appreciate all the work that the commission does and we have a great partnership between the commission and the district. Um, you know, I I love that you guys the commission continues to rent our facilities and actually brings in some revenue for the uh school district as well. So, thank you. Keep building. We'll keep filling them up. >> Thanks everyone. >> Thank you very much. Do I have a motion on the uh approving the 2526 Blue Valley Rick Commission budget? >> I move the board of Adam approve the 2526 Blue Valley Recreation Commission budget. >> Do we have a second?
061>> Second. >> Moved by Clay. Moved by Clay, seconded by Gina. All in favor, raise your hand. Unanimous again moves us to 2526 science and social studies new curriculum. >> Yes. Good evening. My name is Jennifer Luzinski and I serve as director of curriculum and instruction and I'm here tonight I do have the clicker uh to share with you just a little bit about our work in curriculum and then specifically um talk to you about those draft documents for your consideration. So, as you are aware, board policy 4000 directs our work in curriculum development, and this work culminates in sharing those draft documents with you and seeking your approval of these documents. This slide makes visual the purpose of standards, curriculum, learning experiences, and instructional resources. Our state board of education approves standards which are
062the what a student learns over the course of a particular class or grade level. From there, our district curriculum documents organize these standards into manageable and logical units of study with lots of teacher involvement and feedback to help to tee or get to the starting line for teachers designing those learning experiences. Our teachers utilize these documents as they design that instruction and they use it in conjunction with district adopted resources as their anchor for designing those learning experiences. You've seen this document before, but this is just a reminder that our district curriculum documents always are in a standard format or template. And you can see um with the arrows there some of the key points and components of those district documents. I do bring your attention to the power standards which we talked a little
063bit about uh this morning and that those power standards are being identified by each course as the documents are being um updated, rewritten or revised. So this evening um to share with you and for your consideration um we have elementary science curriculum documents for students in kindergarten through grade five. A little bit of background information for you though. First um our previous elementary curriculum documents were integrated ELA or uh English language arts, science and social studies. And last year dur during a review cycle, our elementary teacher feedback indicated a preference for integration only when it was natural. So the documents I'm presenting to you this evening reflect that articulated teacher preference. It's uh important to note that there are no new standards in either the science or social studies courses, nor are there any new
064district adopted resources. These documents instead are really the result of that unfurling or un um integration of the ELA science and social studies documents. They will be shared with the returning members of the former board of ed curriculum and um and instruction uh board of education committee later this week for their feedback as well. Finally, you might be wondering why is she presenting these outside our more typical established cycle. And I would kind of hearken back to last school year when our teachers, our principles, and our elementary instructional design coaches were engaged in a robust ELA resource review um and and selection process. Once uh that group really got rolling, one thing they did was to determine whether or not we wanted to retain our 95% group resources for teaching foundational skills a as a
065resource and they did in fact. And so the n the um knowledge strand of amplify CKLA third edition was adopted as the co-curricular resource for our elementary students. Once that was finished, we began the process of identifying power standards for K through5 English language arts and then working on these very science and social studies curriculum documents. This work took place all the way to the end of the fourth quarter. I would add that you don't see in front of you tonight the ELA draft documents for elementary and that is because those were finished so very close to the end of the school year that we were not able to engage our teachers in our typical feedback and review cycle that we value. And so our plan this year is to implement those documents as drafts
066and engage in lots of feedback from our teachers and present those for final consideration as non-draft documents to you this spring using our normal cadence and cycle. So that's a lot of information, but um I want I felt that background is really critical to consider both those science and social studies documents that you have um to to take a look at. Um, and are there any questions? >> See no questions. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, Jennifer. >> Time for board member comments. Patrick, Dr. Evans, former president now. >> Thank you, Jan. First of all, welcome, Gillian. We're very excited to have you here. Um, and it's got off to a quick start for you. Um, I wanted to make a comment about um, the social workers we approved tonight um, and the importance of
067it in our community right now. We just had a third um, unacal death in our Northwest community this year in 2025. Um, it's absolutely devastating to lose one, to lose three. I can't even express how devastating it is. And these social workers, the school psychologists work so hard and we're so lucky to have them in our schools. Um, I know that the community, not just the community, but the teachers, the administrators in these feeder schools just have to be devastated. And um, I mean, my heart goes out to them. I'm so appreciative to everything they're doing to support our community and our students. >> Thank you, Gina Clay. Well, our hearts are with the Northwest community during this time. Um, I do want to thank you, Gina, for your year of service as president. Thank
068you very much. And Jan, congratulations on coming near to the end of your first board meeting, evening board meeting here as president. So, thank you. Congratulations. Um, again, welcome, Dr. Chapman. your first board meeting as well. So, we've gotten to stumble through a lot of good things together here. So, thank you very much. We are so happy to have you here. Um, thank you to Mr. Roberts for speaking during open forum. Appreciate those comments. And of course, thank you to all of the presenters from administration tonight. um especially all of the finance folks who have been working so hard on our budgets for approval coming up very shortly. I know that's a lot of work. So, thanks >> Jim. I just wanted to say welcome to Gillian and and uh look forward to working with
069you. >> Last but not least, um the stumbling was not you, it was it was more Clay. I'm just gonna say that. I'm just gonna throw it out there. But that's >> um >> as long as you leave me out of it, that's fine. >> I didn't mess with you people over on that side. It's it's usually um just a reminder because I honestly am not as diligent as I should be about re-registering my child uh for school. And so just a reminder, parents um register your kiddos uh so we can get an accurate count. And guess what? Pay your you know fees. that would be great too because yes, I I'm a little late on that also. So, um just just a quick little reminder for our community. >> Oh gosh, haven't done that
070yet. >> Great. And I just want to also add my welcome to Dr. Chapman. I'm very excited uh to have such a highly qualified uh person to come in as our new superintendent and to build on what Dr. Marrian had built before. Uh, and I'm looking forward to nine years of great things. >> Did Did you not say nine years? Yes, I heard it. Um, anything else for the good of the uh district? If not, then we stand adjourned.