001e e e all right we'll go ahead and call the meeting to order then I believe the first item is reports from the board advisory committee you bet I will start um the first committee report I'm going to give is a strategic planning committee the Strategic planning committee met that's hard to say uh last Tuesday on February 4th uh in this room um the meeting began with a kind of a recap of the work that we've done and the feedback we've gotten from our community uh we looked at the core values and the committee agreed that the top 10 core values that came out of our community survey were great but that they were too many and so our goal was to uh limit those to three to five and so we're we worked on
002that we came up with two but we're still working on the other three we have a a survey going out to the committee uh the mission statement was uh finalized uh the committee uh came up with cultivating lifelong Learners prepared to navigate their future with purpose uh then we worked on our foundational commitments and strategic priorities and ended with just a little bit of time with Dr CER talking about the action steps that would go underneath each each of those uh the committee meets again um on March 25th and at that time it is our goal to complete the draft of the plan so that we can bring that before or we can send it back out to our community for feedback and bring it before the board in April um the other report I
003have before I turn it over to somebody else is that diversity equity and inclusion committee met last Thursday in this room um the committee had a presentation from our uh English language arts coordinators for the district Bill smithyman Abigail Crane and Jennifer lazinski um they talked to them about about uh the reading strategies that are happening at middle and high specifically at middle and high school they looked more at um the secondary level than the elementary I talked about the selection of resources the selection of literary works that they use um and the next meeting of this committee will be in April uh next up we have let me see who else is here Finance which I think Kyle Hayton is going to do and Student Activities the finance and operations committee met on February
0046th in the Board of Education room I welcomed the committee and reviewed the meeting agenda Dr Katie ker provided an assessment update with student performance data Trends over Time Jake slobodnik and Jason Gillan presented the bids and contracts on the board agenda for approval this evening the next committee meeting is scheduled for February 27th the Student Activities Committee met on February 6th in the high plains conference room Matt Ortman provided the committee with an update on the five-year Student Activities Committee strategic plan specific specific attention was specific check check check okay uh specific attention was uh brought to the current supplemental salary schedule and the comparative dat data of other school districts they also reviewed and discussed survey results regarding student interest and in additional activities updates were provided by the middle and high school
005administration and the Blue Valley Recreation Commission the next meeting is scheduled for April 3rd and the final uh committee report is the curriculum and instruction committee that is going to come from Dr CER the curriculum instruction board advisory committee met on January 22nd that evening Adam Wade director of academic programs and accountability shared um the latest student performance data notable in that data um he was able to share successes in uh growth in student learning um year-over-year additionally um Mr Wade shared information about an update that came from a committee that is studying student progress in math and he also uh reported on work that's beginning at the high school level regarding mathematics finally Jennifer lazinski director of curriculum instruction she provided the detail process information regarding um resource adoption and she was able to
006highlight the uh presentation you heard this morning regarding Ela resources the next meeting is Wednesday February 16 uh 26th thank you all right next we have reports from the superintendent okay so here are the February celebrations update first up uh at the mar annual Martin Luther King Jr Legacy and scholarship Awards uh many of us were able to go there we had two amazing students uh Seria and Kayla who uh did very well they won our competition here in the district and um was honored to be there uh the district's BB unmuted series is right now this is my favorite one to do I talked to three students a student of Caroline from Blue Valley North uh Maverick from Blue Valley High and Ariana from Lakewood Middle and they talked about their teachers and the
007influences that they've had on them um both current and former so uh please uh listen to that if you have a chance um recogn recognition dates uh for the month of February we put these up each month it is Black History Month it is Career and Technical Education Month uh last week was school counselor um week and you knew that by going to schools because you would go into the counsel office and they had treats in every single office uh president day is obviously next Monday and then the last week uh February 26 through March 1st is public schools week so we highlight those uh blue valley Northwest Jim mccrosson was named a lifetime a Achievement Award recipient by the journalism uh Education Association he Jim has been here a long time has given so
008many things to our Scholastic journalism programs and and so uh we're very proud of Jim in this award uh 44 Blue Valley students were selected to the Kansas music educators Association All State full Orchestra uh 25 students were selected to the All State string orchestra 35 students were selected to the all State um five and 6A band and two Blue Valley students were selected to the All State jazz band and those students will be going to the kmea conference here at the end of U February and performing with colleagues and their peers from across the state so that's a and you'll be honoring several of them next month uh those who have been here for three years uh Blue Valley noris Caroline massman was named a 2025 Regional finalist for the Coca-Cola Scholars Program uh
009this is a nationwide wi scholarship program and and uh we congratulate Caroline on being named a regional finalist uh blue valley Northwest Rasheed uh was named a winner of the 2025 Kansas music educators Association composition competition so congratulation to um that student and 26 Blue Valley students were named candidates for the 2025 US Presidential Scholars Program um that is just as a reminder is all based on your score 100% on ACT score and it progresses and finally at the end of this competition in may they will name two Scholars from uh the state of Kansas oh a couple of basketball Awards here so uh Julia Davis uh Blue Valley North was named a 2025 McDonald's All-American fourth girl from the state of Kansas and actually the first girl or boy first athlete in Blue Valley
010history to be named to that McDonald's All-American so she will go to New York and play in that later this spring and her teammate Aubrey Shaw was also nominated uh for this um prestigious award and then Blue Valley West Jack punswick um was named the 2024 Kansas State High School Activities Association Spirit of sport award honor and so uh we want to congratulate Jack Jack the swimmer at Blue Valley West and the Blue Valley North debate team won the 6A two speaker debate state championship so congratulations to the Mustangs and the Blue Valley Southwest debate team won the 5A um four speaker debate state championship and I remember how many years in a row that is for Southwest but it's it's considerable and Kyle Conley a head coach of Blue Valley West girls soccer received
011a United Soccer Coaches uh 2024 Regional coach of the Year award so congratulations to coach Conley and then uh just a shout out to a former Blue Valley High grad Brian Schottenheimer graduate of Blue Valley High was named the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys so um always have to shout out our alums and that's it I will note that Tanya won an award and it was in the presentation and she skimmed right over it but she was honored at the Martin Luther King celebration as well so congratulations all right we will go ahead and um can I get a motion to approve tonight's agenda I move that the Board of Education approve the February 10th 2025 regular Board of Education meeting agenda as published I have a second second motion by Jody second
012by Sonia any discussion sorry Jam see none I all in favor raise your right hand or say I motion passes 70 all right we'll move on to the consent agenda do I have a motion for the consent agenda I move the Board of Education approve the February 10th regular Board of Education meeting consent agenda is published Mo motion by Patrick second by Jim any discussion see none all in favor raise your right hand motion passes 70 all right on to new business the first agenda item being to approve the McConnell and Associates agreement so uh Kyle Hayden is going to come up and give a brief overview of this um and be available for questions if you have them yes so this item is the replacement of tennis courts at blue valley Northwest their original
013uh to that site so um dating back to 1993 um this project was part of the planned um replacements for different courts and tracks and different things like that as far as the bond uh 2023 plan so um scheduled for this summer so KY are we just replacing the surface and the and the fence around it or we adding cords yeah complete tear out of everything including fences and rebuild did did you say how long it had it's been there 1993 yeah any Improvement on the surface it'll just be the the latest and greatest quite honestly as far as the surfaces go it's going to be a much better surface than the original for sure um and certainly with without the cracks and things we'll take care that safety issue do I have a motion
014I move that the Board of Education approved the McConnell and Associates Corp contract second motion by Jim second by Jody any further discussion see none all in favor raise your right hand or say I motion passes 70 next item on the agenda is to approve the 2627 calendar so last month Dr CER presented the 2026 27 draft calendar for your review it has been up on our website it's been sent out uh via um several different channels for feedback um we've received minimal feedback on that calendar and we are back this evening with um our recommendation to approve the calendar as presented do I have a motion I move that the Board of Education approve the 2026 2027 calendar motion by Jody second by Patrick any discussion see none all in favor raise your right
015hand or say I motion passes 70 on to the approve the Children's Mercy contract Amendment all right good evening um I'm asking to approve a Amendment to the children Mercy contract we have a contract currently that provides a social worker at each of our school buildings uh but what that means is that we have one social worker in our largest uh high school and also one in our smallest Elementary School uh what this amendment will do is allow us to take advantage of a mental health inter integration Grant uh that could provide funding for up to 12 uh additional Bachelor level social workers to take some of the burden off of our regular Master's level social workers this is a grant that started in 2018 it's expanded every year and this year we were approved
016uh for funding uh starting in the second semester so we're we're right now getting ready to uh put out the advertisement to try to hire these positions with your approval um the way that the funding works is because we have this contract with Children's Mercy they can be the community provider and we have to actually hire these 12 people ourselves and when that's approved or when we hire somebody uh this grant sends us all the money for the salaries and benefits we have to send 35% to Children's Mercy and the contract that you will approve tonight hopefully uh will allow Children's Mercy to count that 35% towards our bill so it will reduce our cost same amount in other words these 12 additional in individuals that will support our children will cost the district nothing
017uh any questions so what's where's the other 65% uh the other 65% just stays with us so that'll offset offset our cost because we we still have to pay the full F salary and benefits of the 12 individuals 65% stays with us to offset that cost 35% goes to Children's Mercy but their contract the amount of money we're going to send to them is reduced dollar for dollar okay it's a shell game so um what uh what um what's the duration uh this is for this year but what I'm what I understand is every school district that has got this they are given priority for the following year and that's part of the reason why we wanted to start this year is we would be grandfathered into the program as assum it's like anything else
018uh assuming funding is there for the following year and they and I clarified that with Angie over at kads that they expect the funding to be there if not increased next year and so then if the funding's not there then the positions go away that's my expectation in fact that's what Dr merrian has made quite clear uh in fact the positions will be classified positions so it's a little bit easier to make that move if necessary and I have plenty of pair of positions to offer if that becomes the case uh so all the other social workers are employees of Children's Mercy but these individuals be employees of Blue Valley that's correct but they all work together on the same team absolutely just like they do now okay so this is not new it's just
019a continuation of our current program right uh it's a way that we can add additional people into our schools so we have our Children's Mercy contract this will put 12 additional Bachelor level social workers into our school our highest need schools do I have a motion to approve I move to amend the Children's Mercy contract as proposed and presented second motion by Clay second by Jody any further discussion okay uh so um at least the last time I understand that the district got uh free social workers a few years later we that funding went away and then we were we footed the bill from then then on program has continued and we incur the $3 million a year of it um which you know I think there's probably views that that's a positive expenditure I
020don't agree with that but um but I recognize that everybody else here views it that way um the my my biggest um let's say criticism of the program is it kind of makes it kind of goes along the lines of a our school systems becoming kind of like um like a supermarket where we provide Educational Services and a bunch of other things including health services and the you know the the buzzword of the in our culture these days is mental health um so we have this rapidly expanding view that schools should be kind of a One-Stop shop all and it it it's it's um in my view Mission creep it's not positive and I just don't support it so I can I appreciate the fact that we're not footing the bill um because it to
021me it is a expenditure that should be born not out of the education budget but by some other you know pot of money at the state but so I appreciate that but but for the other reasons I don't support it you Jim I appreciate your comments and respectfully I have to disagree I mean educating kids is a complicated complexed and very labor intensive process and as they develop and grow each kid has different needs uh and we still are the highest performing School District in in the state and you know maybe this is similar to um computers but computers are tools and so are cell phones but everybody's got one so respectfully have to disagree you any further discussion I believe we had a motion by Clay and a second by Jody all in favor
022raise your right hand or say I motion pass um oh I'm sorry Jim I'll all not in favor raise your right hand is the motion passes 61 on to the next agenda item legislative update so as Kyle puts up the presentation I just want to um thank all the people who are working uh into Peak uh they are fast at work uh it's been a a busy legislative session already and I wanted to give you a little bit of an update of of the work that blue valley has done so first of all this is just their calendar um they are already we're through February 7th which was the last day for non-exempt committee Bill introductions um next week um our board along with the other public schools in Johnson County are going to meet
023with the Johnson County delegation in toeka and so we're looking forward to that and you can see um on down their um goal is to adjourn in March 28th and then go back and do the veto session in April so they are like I said really uh trying to fastly get things done so Blue Valley has and these are all on our website at the end of this presentation there's a QR code that would take you to that website it's off of the the school district website but we have five priority positions um one is to fund special education to oppose tax credits and vouchers money going to private schools uh to establish a fair and Equitable School Finance formula um as we've talked about um the school Finance formula is up for review right
024now there's a committee that's working on rewriting that they've met once and they plan to meet I think later in February again um because that uh Finance formula I think sunsets and so uh they are working on that enhance student mental health we talked a lot about Community Mental Health in that regard so that the schools don't have to do all of that make sure that they our resources in the community and then finally we know that um our staff are the backbone of what why we do well here and so we support recruitment retention and alternative teacher certification programs to ensure that we have quality staff within our schools So based on that um is how we decide what testimony we enter and so all of these that have a link to a specific
025bill um are linked you can hyperlink and from the presentation and you would be able to see the actual bill but these are all the ones that we entered testimony on House Bill 2129 uh transferring teachers from Capers 3 to Capers 2 and defining teachers for the purpose of Capers we testified in support of this um that's a a big factor for us uh as we recruit teachers uh Capers 3 is the newest Capers and is considerably um less than Capers 2 and so we asked for that uh House Bill 2136 expanding student eligibility under the tax credit for lowincome scholarship program that would be U one of our priority positions that we oppose so we testified against that ksde budget KSD this is the first year they asked ksde to present a budget um
026and we testified in support of that uh they testif or they added money for special education which is again one of our priority positions Senate Bill 48 requiring school districts um to demonstrate Improvement in academic performance and be in compliance with all federal and state statutes rules and regulations to achieve or maintain accreditation uh we testified against that and it's mainly the uh burdensome of reporting um we're not opposed to being in compliance or certainly not opposed to academic performance Senate Bill 75 establishing the education opportunity tax credit again that's one of our priority positions we testified against that and then expanding student eligibility under the tax credit for low-income students students again another version of that we testified against that all of our testimony is linked on our website and so people could absolutely
027go and and look and see what we submitted and then another um bill that will have direct impact on us that we didn't testify on but I thought it was important that we talk about it was the house taxation committee because they are absolutely um honed in on lowering taxes U which we all support um but they recommended House Bill 2011 be passed and sent to the Full House for consideration and what this bill does is it takes the 20 mil tax um Levy that is given to all schools that we send we send back to the state uh to be used in the school Finance formula down uh to 18.5 and they say that they would apply money from the general fund to make up for that so that they wouldn't be adding more
028money for us um they also if you look here rais the residential exemption from 75,000 to 100,000 and again said that they would be making up that money um from the state uh general fund so that the out years are a little concerning on that uh because this uh that money again the 20 Ms is uh used we we can't do anything with that at the local level we send that money back to the state so uh that is one bill out there and then here is the QR code or Blue Valley k12.org back SL legislative to read the testimony any time we testify we put it up on the U website it also has a list of all of our state representatives and state senators and how you could get in touch with them
029yeah so on the 20 Mills going down to 18 that view I view that as potentially positive simply because the 20 Mills has crowded out our ability to do things locally but I am I thinking about that wrong um I don't know I'm looking to my expert over there I think that that are you talking about the revenue neutral like those I'm just saying as 20 Mills has stayed constant and property values have increased right then there's pressure on us to either go into our Capital outlay fund our bond fund or one of the other funds and try to cut in order to not have such a high tax B increase yet that 20 Mills doesn't stay local it goes to to only to come back to us through the formula right right which is
030a stupid way of doing it but that's the way they it's yeah an equalization yeah yeah I think the the concern that I would personally have is in the outgoing years so there may be a an overall backfill of of General uh State funding for the entire state right um in year one but in out years if they talk about it from a revenue neutral uh stand standpoint then that's going to essentially keep everything stagnant for the outgoing years I I would equate that to block block grant funding essentially uh back if you remember 2014 through 2016 where um funding was was at a standstill so um I think it's the devil's in the details here it's not again it's not bad to reduce the mill rate on any of them because I agreee with
031you it absolutely homeowners will feel that this year anything else on legislative all right the last agenda item we have tonight is the superintendent search update um the week of our last board meeting uh Hazard young and AA was here in town and they were meeting with um key stakeholders administrators um teachers community members students to develop a leadership profile uh they presented that leadership profile to us later that week um and then they went ahead and posted the position so the position has been posted they're getting applicants um that position is open until March 1st um I believe they are presenting to us on March 3rd at the next board meeting in executive session um um up to five candidates I believe um that we will then be interviewing the first week of March
032anybody else have any comments on the superintendent search I will add quickly um that all this information is posted on the superintendent search website that the communications team keeps updated um and accurate including the leadership profile anybody all right does anybody have anything further this evening clay we'll start with you anything further are these board member comments yes um I just think it's um last month is I've been um out visiting schools visiting schools in other parts of Kansas as well it's been a fascinating experience it's been great to see so many um students in action and taking part in being um really focused in on learning and then also having a great time on the wrestling mat and the basketball court and everywhere else um at the same time I do think it's important
033that we acknowledge um all the things that are happening and coming out of Washington DC lately um also to we've got parents we've got family members that are worried and scared in our district I think it's important to acknowledge that um also let them know that none of the things that are coming out as far as executive orders have impacted us directly at this point here at Blue Valley School District it may some of the things that might come out have impacted families patrons and students in our district we want to be empathetic and sympathetic to that um so I think the um what I do want to convey is that the district is monitoring the situation they're in contact with the Kansas Department of Education um they're in contact with legal counsel throughout the
034country and watching things and as things develop to make sure that we are in the best position possible to continue educating our kids with little or no disruption um because that's really what it's about is taking care of our kids well that was quite a list what about the snow day that might be coming up I mean I mean who knows what's exactly going to happen but right now they're forecasting what three to seven inches um you're speaking it into existence Patrick no I know and and you know obviously the issue is is we've got several days we've already used and what do we have two left we have one official left we build in five we've used four um you know we still exceed the number of minutes so we will continue to look
035at minutes to make sure that we we will exceed the minutes that are required by the state of Kansas um every level is a little different because counting minutes is not an easy thing they have different rules for every elementary middle and high school but yeah we're watching the weather we'll we'll do everything we can be in school if it we can safely do so yeah no it's just one of those things that I think is on every kid's mind not oh yeah I have a group of Middle School boys who email me every time there's a snowflake and I'm sure every parent wants the kids to be in school so we've got that challenge going on but I thought a short update probably worth it Sonia I just like to re at what clay
036said that we are as a board continuously um working under theal okay for the for those that didn't hear me the first time because I had an echo I just like to reiterate what uh clay said we as a board we really value our district and a lot of districts are looking at us and watching us and I just want everyone to know that we are diligently working on the behalf of our student students and our Educators and we know this is very trying times for a lot of people but I just want everyone to know that we're we have a finger on the pulse and we are definitely uh keeping our eyes open thank you Sonia Jody um yeah just a reminder for all of the you who have nothing going on in February
03721st Battle of the Bands Ed Foundation uh event it's absolutely fantastic gets a little crazy with all these uh wonderful parents out here and and the amazing music from um many of our parents are you know playing in like rock bands and stuff it's kind of cool so um I would highly recommend that um I would like to say too um as a reminder I mean our community here know knows this with this piggyback on Sonia and uh Clay's comments that um our school school districts here in Johnson County are one of the largest economic drivers um in the state and uh it's so important that we continue to um Excel um at what we do which is providing exceptional public education so just a little reminder on that thank you Jody Jim uh just
038a quick comment uh we uh do on Mondays we also do a morning session and there's some good information especially about elementary literacy um uh steps that are being taken so if you're watching on YouTube or those of you here um you should check out some of the materials that were posted as part of that agenda and then also appreciate the um whoever uh parents that are here to watch and and speak at the meeting Jim nothing okay um so a few of us went to DC this last week to advocate in support of special ed funding um we know that it's a Hot Topic here in our state and that a lot of times people are saying that the federal government is not doing their part either and so we are um actively advocating
039for that as well just so consents are aware of that um I did notice there's a group of young men in the back and we usually like to acknowledge our students when they come and so we're wondering where you guys are here from and why Southwest from Southwest AP class AP Gov all right well welcome we're happy to have you Gina go Timberwolves I will add you didn't really you weren't a specific on a DC trip at as I would have been so do it miss your a chance yeah I know well I'm your your time has passed Jody Gina and I went back to Washington DC and as Gina said we we lobbied into the offices of Senator ban and Senator Marshall and representative Davids but also Gina took a personal meeting with h
040Senator Von Holland from Maryland to advocate for special ed thank you I might have tackled him and you know tried to strong arm him into it so sorry sorry Mark that's okay um I think that's it for the night if unless anybody has anything further we're adjourned e e e