001work. Start the pledge. The Jenny Barker Elementary School uh students will lead us. Are they in here? We get them in here. Guys, come on. All right, you can start and we'll jump in. To the flag of the United States and to the stands nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Get your exercise in. Take a moment for silent reflection. Okay. Meetings of note. Garden City High School Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Friday, May 15th, 2026, being at 5:30 p.m. at Garden City High School. Four or more board members may be in attendance. Garden City Achieve graduation Saturday, May 16th, 2026, 10:30 a.m. at Horses Good Middle School. Four or more board members may be in attendance. Balora ceremony Saturday, May 16th, 2026, 2 p.m. in the Garden City High School Auditorium.
002Four more board members may be in attendance. Garden City High School graduation, Sunday, May 17th, 2026, 1 p.m. at Garden City High School. Four or more board members may be in attendance. Staff appreciation dinner Thursday, May 21st, 2026, 5:30 p.m. at Garden City High School. Four more board members may be in attendance. It's a busy time. Okay. On the uh approval item D, approval of agenda with the following amendments. D1, additional certified and classified personnel actions for consideration. Item F3. D2 add item F4C consent agenda. Other the board of education is asked to consider and approve outofstate travel for members of the Garden City High School JOTC to attend cadet leadership camp in Rapid City, South Dakota May 26, 2026 through May 30th, 2026. D3 revise item G6. The board of education is asked to
003consider and approve changing the date of the May 28, 2026 board of education meeting to May 26, 2026 at C 6 p.m. first read action is requested tonight. D4 remove item E2 recognition of K&A student expression campaign winner. D5 add item F4D consent agenda other. The board of education is asked to consider and approve an equipment purchase and installment agreement binding between the board of education, unified school district number 457, Garden City, Phoenix County, state of Kansas, and Next Generation Recreation and Missouri Limited Liability Corporation. >> I'll second a motion. >> I need a motion. >> I move to approve the meeting agenda as amended. >> I'll second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the amended meeting agenda. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor, raise your left hand. Pose right hand. Motion carries.
004We have public comments. So, Becca Bernin, Becca, you know, you know the you know the drill. You got five minutes. >> How are you >> doing? Well, how are you doing? Good. I've talked to most of you, some new ones. Um, but my name is Becca Bernin. I'm rounding up my 18th year in education. I have served in many K12 roles in um, our public schools here in Garden City. And I'm a parent of a 10, eight, and 5-year-old. One of those started his education journey here with behavioral complexity. So, the thing I'm going to talk about tonight is really important to me because his teachers deserved support. I am commenting on the first read of the behavior policy addendum. Classrooms and students needs have changed significantly since 2020. Systems and supports obviously have not
005come to pace and collaborative intervention structures for teachers and staff alike are important. I also want to acknowledge the frustration that local educators have regarding the timeline of the work that this has that has been placed. during the 2025 negotiation sitting. I sat right back there as I do on all negotiations nights and I heard leadership state that incorporating the revisions to the discipline policy would be better if we added it to the one through four behavior charts than yearly negotiations. At the time, the district said they were quote unquote not opposed to the language we had introduced. However, providing members less than 24 hours this week to review and respond while also expecting meaningful productive outcomes from my perspective does not reflect good faith process that allows for shared understanding, thoughtful input, consistent implementation
006policy, and directly impacts our classroom and the safety and instruction of our students and teachers. This follows multiple negotiation cycles in which concerns surrounding behavior policy and classroom safety have often been minimized or treated as secondary issues. This is not about splitting hair over wording. Clear policy language matters because it defines procedures, expectations, and accountability for everyone involved. I appreciate the work that my colleagues have done into revising this policy and shared goal of maintaining safety and supportive learning environments for their peers. However, I have concerns with portions of the proposed language tonight because of several items that are subjective and may unintentionally place disproportionate responsibility on certified staff members. Specifically, phrases like primary responsibility, reasonable efforts, significantly disrupts, are difficult to measure and consistently could not could lead to varied interpretations across buildings. As
007written, this creates implementation inconsistencies and and lowers accountability in classroom educators and judgments about not equally supporting or having a clear system where administrative expectations are held to equal power. Teachers are expected every day to create and maintain safe learning environments for students. That's important. policies should protect safety for our staff, not language that unintentionally places the weight of the system on a classroom teacher. I also want to acknowledge my role in the process as a union advocate. I have felt a a disappointment to my peers that I did not advocate for delaying negotiations until this was done as it has become clear that they were not intended to take our wording for granted. This is something I carry personally and professionally and I I deserve to stand up for it and be just as
008equally as accountable. In September, I was here for rush policy and I believe it was important then and I believe it's important now to name the systems are not functioning right. There should be a collaborative process. When negotiations are delayed or compromised due to short timelines or adequate time for reviewing and response, it becomes difficult for members to engage in meaningful and reflect the importance of the policies being brought and talked about. I think it's a part we saw where this process began and that we're an integral part of fixing it. So, I end you with leaving the draft copy that we handed over to district leadership last year for your decision-making process tonight and next. Thank you. Thank you, Becca. >> Tracy Mer. Sorry, I filled that out really quick. >> This I'm Tracy
009Mer. Um, I am a librarian at a Pubert Elementary. How many years have I worked in the district? 12 13 over 10 below 15 in that range somewhere. Um, and I want to speak to the same thing that uh, Miss Bernin just spoke to as well, which is the safe learning policy that I believe you're being presented with tonight. And I know Slack looked at this policy. And I want to start by saying that I really appreciate the fact that it's coming to you guys and that we are talking about this issue because it's really important. Um, and I want to keep moving forward with the issue. At the same time, I do have some frustrations for my perspective. As Miss Bman mentioned, the language that we brought came at the table last year and
010we were under the impression that that was going to be brought straight to the board and instead it's been brought to the Slack committee. And I'm okay with that because that's part of what they're doing is looking at safety. But in that process, there's been some major changes. kind of the fundamental drive of what we were going for that impact the policy overall. Especially we had some clear safeguards in our language for immediate options to protect teachers when they need to when the environment has become unsafe and they need something to be done. And there was especially language that in ensures that teachers and admin conference before a student is returned to the classroom. And we feel like those are really really important changes. And I want to make sure that those pieces stay part
011of the focus as the discussion moves forward and don't get left behind. And I believe it's very important that the board reviews the original language that Miss Bernin just gave you alongside of the language from the Slack committee before you make decisions about policy language. >> Thank you, Tracy. >> Thank it. Okay. Item E1, recognition of the National Speech and Debate Association state finalist and national qualifiers. Think Tim's gonna do this. >> Hi, I'm Russ Tidwell. I'm the forensics coach at the high school. Um, this is 32, year 32. Uh, I I don't think we did this last year. I wanted to bring our national qualifiers to you for recognition and our students who uh made the elimination rounds at the state tournament. Um, we will four of these students will be competing at the
012National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament in June in Richmond, Virginia. um and we're really proud of their work. Um we had a really young team this year and so everything they've accomplished they've really worked pretty hard for and and made a lot of progress. I want to start with state elimination students, kids who made it to elimination rounds at state. Um Steve Medillo or Daniel Medillo um was in semi-finals of international extemp and um he is a junior and our one our freshman representative tonight Bobby okay I try uh is uh the semi finalist in pros at state term representing us at the national tournament will also be Steve in international extent. Um and Kaylee Urebe, Angel Regto Solzano, they will be competing in public forum debate. U and Issa Sadler will be competing
013in program of war. So this is this is our team for the for the extreme postseason I guess. So thank you. I want to say thanks to the board, thanks to administration. Um costs for these tournaments are not getting they're not getting cheaper. Um and it's a long way to Richmond. And so um I've been really really supported and encouraged over my career by a board that continues to allow us to have access to some funding for those trips. um I don't very often have to fund raise and when I have to fundraise I don't have to fund raise an awful lot and so I I really appreciate that in a time where I'm watching colleagues make the choice not to even be able to go to the national term so thank you for that
014and I give you the kicks so >> well before before we do this uh it it's great that we're recognizing these students and and their accomplishments they're all tremendously worthy of praise but I think we also at this time need to recognize the fact that their coach, Mr. Russ Tidwell, at the same national tournament is being inducted into the National Speech and Debate Association Hall of Fame for his 32 years of service to the profession and for his coaching. So, congratulations, Mr. >> He won't say it's a good man. That's what you did. Kids in a good me. >> Congratulations to you all. >> You want to meet them? >> Good job. Congratulations. >> Mr. You got to be in the picture, too. >> Yes, >> you're short. your insurance kit so you can >>
015Okay. Ready? One, two, three. One, two, three. Thank you. >> Good job, guys. Thank you. >> Well, that's awesome. Students achieve that. Congratulations to you. E2 building presentation. Jenny Barker Elementary School right. >> Thanks. See? All right. Good evening. Um, I'm Justin Reich, principal Jenny Barker. I brought uh a lot of special guests with me here tonight to uh discuss our school and and let you guys know how we're doing this year and and share um a lot of things that they thought were important about our school. So without further ado, this is the Jenny Barker Lighthouse team. >> Good evening everyone. We are the Jenny Barker Elementary Bobcats. We are so excited to be here tonight to share a 2025 through 2026 presentation with the board of education. At Jenny Barker, we have a
016clear vision. Our school aims to be Candace's exampler school. We do this by making sure everyone feels like they belong, staying consistent in our work, and challenging every single student to reach their full potential in both growth and achievement. We have big goals called wigs. Our first goal is for our younger students in kindergarten through second grade. That's right. Our goal is for 80% of us to meet our phonics and fluency fluency benchmarks on fastbridge. We are working hard on this through highquality ELA instruction every day. >> For those of us in third through sixth grade, our second week is to focus on our KAP assessments. We want to increase the number of students achieve level three and four in ELA math science by Tus. >> We know we'll get there because our teachers are
017bringing rigorous grade level content to our classrooms and holding all of us to very high expectations. >> To reach these goals, we follow the ROAR principle. >> R stands for respect everyone. O stands for offer help. A means act safely and R means rise to challenges. >> At Jenny Barker, when we are showing leadership skills by practicing roar, we earn shout outs. Shout outs are positive acknowledgement for us when we do a good job. When we need to bring them home to our parents so they know that we are doing a great job at school. >> We also love to celebrate success at Jenny Barker. This year's shout out yearly total has already reached 5,165. When we get a shout out, it goes into a drawing every month for a cool prize like board games,
018toys, Legos, and two students even won electric scooters this so far this year. Every month, each class nominates a roaring leader. These students get their picture posted or in our trophy case all month long. They and they all get a special reward for that month. We have a very good robotics team at Jenny Barker this year. Our team won state and then went and competed at the VEX IQ World Championship in St. Louis. >> We worked really hard in the classroom at Jenny Parker, but we also get to do a lot of fun and exciting things. This year we held a trunk retreat where parents and community members came and handed out candy. >> We have leader assembly. Every month we were we where we celebrate all of the success we had at Jun. We
019invited local businesses high school FFA and community members to come teach us at our acting. We also got to invite family members to join us in our family fitness day where we can play compete against them in dodgeball. We finished off the year with schoolwide carnival where hundreds of people came and played games eight and participated in a raffle to raise money for our school. Thank you for letting us share what makes our school special. We are proud to be Bobcats. Any questions? You guys questions? What do you guys like best about Jenny Barker? >> Anybody? >> Um, our teachers? >> I like um I like the PE and the learning. Our teachers are just very good at making sure their students um get taught like the right way and get they're good at making
020sure they get the help that they need. >> Excellent job with your presentation, guys. Thank you. behind. >> There you go. There you go. Act like you guys like you on the other side. Ready? One, two, three. One more. One, two, three. All right. Thank you. You can do one. Okay, moving on to item F, consent agenda. Second move and seconded to approve the consent agenda as amended. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor raise your left hand. Opposed right hand. Motion carried. Move on to item G. New business G1. The board of education is asked to consider and approve the following curriculum council items. This is a first read. Dr. Virginia Duncan, director of secondary instruction. Welcome. >> Hello. >> Um, okay. I have a few um new items on here that that have
021been to the curriculum council and are up for um request to one of them is to um delete a course which I know we don't often bring something to you to delete a course but um we have a STEM course that is at the intermediate centers that is a duplicate of the science curriculum and so they felt like that was not serving the needs of the students and wanted to kind of delete that but in replace in place of that, they would like to add a course so that the students still have an elective. And it's the course that they're proposing that is called a leader lab. And what they would like to do um with this course is add in more of that um leadership, college, and career readiness, and taking a look at
022some career explorations. Um looking at some organizational skills, study skills that will help support them as they move into um their courses in the future. And then in addition to that, our new requests at the high school, we just have um a couple of new requests for that. So CTE, um a Gardens College elective for advanced programming as well as um another one for mobile robotics and vision systems that will support their um certifications. Do you guys have any questions? Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Item G2, the board of education asked to consider and approve the updated discipline policy. First read Gina Galpin, director of special education. >> Hello, Dana. >> How are you? >> I'm good. How are you? >> Um, I am the director of special education, but I also co-lead the
023safe learning advisory council uh with a teacher from Garfield. Um, Breen Shrimplin, she's not here tonight. This committee is made up of five teachers from all levels. We have an early childhood teacher, elementary, secondary, and then special education elementary and special education secondary. And then we have three principles and myself. Um Josh Gave us this draft uh or a draft uh that was provided to him at the during negotiations last year. uh he gave uh the safe learning advisory council the draft uh this spring for us to consider and make recommendations to. And so we met and went through the draft and made some some changes to it to propose back to the district leadership team. We're not a decision-making team. We make recommendations. Uh and so we went through we've been working closely with
024TASN this year to get training. Uh, TASEN is technical assistance funded by KSDE and they've been working with us on behavior and social emotional learning to make sure that we have the proper supports in place um to help our students be successful. And the focus is always on making sure that uh tier one classrooms are strong in supporting students um and their behavior and social emotional well-being. And so we took that training into account uh as we went through this. It is very difficult to create a policy that applies to everybody across the district because every teacher, every classroom, every student and all behaviors vary so drastically. Uh and so we felt like it was a challenging task. Um and we knew that we would also be working on the discipline policy going into next
025year. And so we will have um more revisions and recommendations for our discipline policy. So if there are things in here that we need to address further, we knew that we could do that in the upcoming school year. And by the end of next year, we hope to have a revised discipline policy that includes all the things that we've been learning with TASM through our training this year. And so I believe you have read through this yourself. Is there anything that you want me to clarify or any questions you have for me? We wanted teachers to understand they they did have support. There is a time when students need to be removed from the classroom in order to maintain a safe and productive learning environment. And so we did agree that there needed to be
026some parameters. So question uh so I'm comparing the draft that they were uh that we were given with um what is here in this presentation. Um, so I mean this is the first time I'm seeing this draft because I was not part of this process last year. Um, so it looks like the return to class consultation has been um in this policy here change to incident debrief. Um, so what was what was kind of the reasoning and this decision- making behind the changes that were made to the original draft? Um, and then what >> to number three. >> Yeah. Um the conversation was that the original draft said that a consultation had to take place before the child could return to class. Uh and we do want there to be conversations. We struggled with the
027word consultation. Um in some cases there because these are level four and five behaviors. most in in most if not all cases, level four and five are a safety issue and there will be more extreme consequences for those types of behaviors. And so um in cases where it's a disruption or significant disruption to class uh there were a lot of scenarios. Sometimes a student uh is disruptive in fourth hour and then the principal holds them and they can go back to fifth hour because it's a new teacher and they can have a fresh start. But that's not true in the elementary level. So there were a lot of in order to make it fit all situations. Uh we thought it would be difficult in some cases for a consultation to happen between the principal and
028teacher before the student could return to class. But we did understand that it's very important for teachers and principles to debrief about the incident and make sure that there are interventions and supports in place to make sure that student when he or she does return to class uh there are interventions ready and a plan in place to make sure that it is successful. So the main issue was with the with the before returning to class part or >> Yes. And I think the word consultation they they liked the idea of more of a conversation or the principal debrief. Um I know principles once a discipline referral is sent to the office the principal ultimately has the decision on what that consequence is going to be. uh they're the disciplinary officer um that ties an action
029summary to every discipline offense. And so um they the team and the you know the majority of the council is made up of teachers. Everyone that just a debrief or a conversation was important and a plan on how to move forward to support students who have these types of behaviors so that they can be successful in the future. Can you give us like maybe just like a like a brief scenario of what this would look like in I'm assuming elementary is where you're having more of these problems where the kids are going to go back to the same classroom >> like what what a level four or five violation looks like and and what that like currently and what it was look like after this policy was put in place. A lot of times if
030it's a level four or five, they won't be returning to class because level four and five are safety issues. So more of the um disruptive behavior would be what would be sent back because those aren't safety issues. They're disruptions to the learning of others. So they would be sent to the office. Uh it says school staff will ensure the student is safely escorted to the office. And that can be any school staff. It's up to the building to determine. Uh most buildings if not all have a call button so teachers can call the office and somebody can come and assist. The teacher doesn't have to leave the classroom to escort the student. Um so they go to the office and they meet with the principal or the designate whoever's handling the discipline and that person
031determines when the child is deescalated and ready to return to class. um and it it's individualized based on each student and when they are ready uh to do so. So it would look different for everybody. But if this is something that's occurring often, then there would definitely be a plan going down to number four, ongoing support for recurring disruptions where the team comes together and develops a plan, whether they go to the student assistance team, the SAT team, or if they're in special education, back to the IEP team to revise a behavior intervention plan or put a behavior intervention plan in place to which would outline the proactive measures to help the student be successful. and what interventions are in place to support that student. >> So like maybe the kiddo is chitchatting and won't
032be quiet or refuses to stay in their seat, something like that. >> And those aren't level four and five behaviors. So um we would hope that that could be handled in the classroom um with some of those behavior supports that are in place. uh if the disruption continues and it is something that is impacting the learning, they could be asked to remove them to the office and then it would be on a case-by case basis on when that child could return. So currently when the principal decides they're ready, the principal or the secretary or a nurse or somebody just walks them back to class and tells the teacher, "Hey, they seem to be calm now. Let's try this again." That's what we currently do. And that would be similar under your policy, but under this
033one, they would want that discussion with the principal before the child was brought back. >> Yes. This one does not say it has to happen before the child returns to class, but there will be a debrief. >> Just so I'm like understanding because it's kind of a big deal. So this this piece is no matter what level of violation it is, if the child's removed from the classroom, whichever one we choose or somewhere in the middle, that's what happens every single time. >> That's what this is. Yes. >> Right. Okay. I just make sure I'm understanding properly. And tonight's just right. >> Right. >> Don't need to take any action on this tonight. >> No. Okay. >> It'll go to consent agenda. Then if y'all have questions before then, just >> Thank you, Gina. >>
034Thank you. Item G3, the board of education asked to consider and approve the disposal of curriculum resources no longer in use in the district. First read action is requested. Steven Norby, assistant superintendent. >> Yes. Um in January, we this board approved uh the adoption of a new English language arts curriculum throughout the district and that curriculum is arriving and we're getting it into teachers hands. We're doing professional development. We're making plans for the summer, making plans for next year. However, uh we still have the old materials and those are assets that have been purchased by the district. um some of them do have some value to them and so uh it's our usual process that we come and ask you for permission to dispose of the the old assets so that we can get rid
035of the old language arts curriculum and have the new come in. Um, we've developed a plan with plant facilities and with some cooperation from the city of Garden City where materials that can't be resold to a book buyer or some other company will be uh uh recycled. And so we'll take care of that in a in an environmentally friendly way through the recycle bins with the city of Garden City. They'll deliver them to schools. the other materials that have some life left to them and can potentially be resold, we will um invite companies to come in and look those over and to to uh negotiate a market value for some of those things. But uh in order to go through and dispose of those materials, we need your approval to get rid of those old
036assets. That's what I'm asking for tonight. I mean, do do companies come and buy many of those books back? Like what percent of those books? >> Not not a ton of them, but some of them that are still in boxes, brand new potentially that do have some value. We want to see if we can't get fair market value for some of those. Yeah. >> Mr. President, I move to approve the disposal of curriculum resources no longer in use in the district as presented. >> Seconded. >> Move to second to dispose of curriculum and resources no longer in use in the district as presented. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Raise your left hand. Those opposed, right hand. Motion carries. Thank you, Steve. G4. The board of education has asked to consider and approve the
037renewal of the district's KASB membership including season pass and legal assistance fund contract for the year 2026 through 27 in the amount of $18,77063. First read through town. >> Yeah. So, um up here tonight uh to talk to you guys about KSB. This is obviously your guys' association uh that we are also a part of. um the Kansas Association for School Boards. Uh we use a number of of things from the Kansas Association of School Boards. Um one thing I will note, we don't always agree with their with with their policy or their practices. Um but the nice thing about the Kansas Association School Boards is we get to pick and choose what we take and what we don't take. Um as an example, uh they may come out with a policy recommendation. we always
038have our legal counsel also read over that policy and then you guys ultimately approve or or don't approve the policy. So, um things that they do, one of the big things that that I utilize them for is employment law. Uh we attend their employment law conference. We also uh have a direct line to Lori uh the KSB lawyer. Um we use them for things like negotiations training. Robin, I think you were a part of that. Um, we also use them to review some of our stuff. Uh, as an example, our negotiation letter, uh, that we sent out, we obviously send that, uh, to them prior to publishing our negotiation letter. Uh, we have them review with us. The union's negotiation letter, uh, as an example of things that they do. Um, sped law, we use
039them quite a bit for special education law. Special education law is pretty nuanced. Um, and the details within special education law are pretty nuanced. So, we do use them uh for that policies. Um, there's getting to be more and more uh legislation through the house and the senate and ultimately um approved by by the governor that deals specifically with public schools. A lot of that stuff used to be uh used to come from the the board campus board of education. more and more of that is coming out of the House and the Senate. When that happens, oftentimes that legislation isn't very clearly defined. Um, and so we use KSB to help us navigate uh those new laws and those new bills as they're being developed and then as they come out. A perfect example is
040the cell phone bill. Um, there's a lot of misunderstanding on on what the cell phone bill does say and what it doesn't say. So KSB is going to be very important for us in navigating that cell phone bill policy and and how we write that policy that will come to you guys uh late June or early July. Um, KSB toolkits. Uh, myself and my office, I know Steve, uh, I know Jennifer a ton and Josh, uh, they have toolkits that we're able to get online and look at and use and utilize that have a lot of, uh, pre-structured stuff that we can kind of copy and edit uh, to make fit for Garden City Public Schools. Um, KASB is also over the over the top of KBS, uh, which is where we get our insurance
041ultimately from. It's called Kicks. Uh, Kicks, we moved away from EMC last year. >> Last year, and moved over to Kicks. Kicks is actually a piece of KSB housed underneath KBS. Um other things that we use uh their media relations and uh a lot of their communication stuff. Our people attend um as an example uh leadership for tomorrow. We have um future people that want to become principles that will attend that. Uh we have people that want to become principles that will attend uh Western Kansas Leadership Academy uh through KSB. um thrive in my office. That's the HR component of KSB. Um when we took over, well, I shouldn't say when we when Leanne and myself moved into that office, uh there wasn't a ton of HR background. And so, uh we both attended Thrive
042Bold. Uh Josh is in Bold, right? Or Josh has gone through Bold. Steve has gone through Bold. I'm currently going through Bold. uh in in order to become you don't have to you don't have to do it to become an assistant superintendent, deputy superintendent or superintendent, but it's suggested that you go through bold. There's actually starting to be more and more um board of education members that are going through that program so that they have a better understanding of what is going on in the state of Kansas as far as education. So, if any of you guys are interested in going through bold, I would I would highly suggest it. um clerk training um and all the things to do with uh being a clerk of the board. It's uh a complicated business um and
043making sure that we have the minutes right and we have the agendas right and motions right that all comes Jennifer working hand inand with KSB. Um, so like I said, KSB, um, while we don't necessarily agree with all their politics on everything, uh, we're a little more nuanced out here in western Kansas, we understand that. They also un I would say that they're they're starting to understand that now. Uh, and you're starting to see a a bit of a migration of of where they are um with things like cell phone. um on cell phones. They were a local they are very strong about local control. And so when they have policies or bills come in front of them, the majority of the time they're going to kick it back to we believe districts should decide
044for themselves what they want to do with their with their policies. Now, once a bill is passed, they're going to help us navigate what our policy should look like in order to stay legally compliant. But there the the big mantra we've heard the last couple of years is based around local. So that's KSB. Um we I didn't realize until I got to my seat how much we use KSB. We use it a ton. Um, like I said, they don't they don't always have um, you know, sometimes people will talk down on KSB because of some political leanings on one thing or another, but um, we obviously have our our ability to accept policy or not accept policy and navigate those things that in that realm and I'm sure there will be questions. Mark, >> I
045would also say that they they have a lot of training for members too. I know a couple I think Becca, you and and Katie both went through foundation supportsmanship which was I think is really good and if members haven't gone through that I would encourage you to sign up for it next year. Um but there's a lot of really good training so I think for port members for for you all to to learn and and >> strategic planning they they help us with our strategic >> which will be up. Yeah. Well, and your guys bring that probably in July. Ask them to walk us through updating our strategic plan for the next five years. >> No, I get I get asked this question. Why you guys remember me at KSB and and and what we
046talked about the other day was what are all the benefits? How do we use them? And you went you did a very good job here. So, thank you for >> Well, and I I do want to mention uh one thing. So I served on the executive board of for a long time and then I actually served as the president of. Um the one thing I would say about KSB KSB KSB is is a group that is your peers and the only way that we can make change in KSB is for us to get on the board of KSB and make change through KSB. Ultimately it's your guys' board. uh you guys are decision makers as a part of that association and if we want to make change with KSB um that's how we make change
047with KSB because ultimately it's not um people at the top you know it's no different than this board education they have a board and that board is what sets policy and what sets uh the guiding light for for that organization >> I think you hit on point there one of the criticisms I've heard is is the political yeah >> leaning that's that that they may have at the at the capital and and that's you know we don't have to be a part of that. Um there's something else I was going to say. >> You're going to run for the board for the KSP board is what I heard you say. >> There's there Oh, there there is one school district in Kansas that is not a member. Is that correct? >> There is one. Is
048it Weskin? >> I don't know. >> Wes used to be my last I heard there was only one in the entire state that was not a member. Yeah. >> So, I thought it was West Public Schools in North West Kansas. >> Well, it sounds like we use them a lot. >> We do >> for different reasons. >> That was going to be my first question. If every school board was part of it to that $18,000, is that based on like district size or is that every district pay that amount? Is it schools pay? >> It's a it's a per student. Yeah, you pay per student. And that's how most of our uh stuff in education is. Whether it's buying software or being members of organizations, you basically pay per people to be a part of
049those things. This is uh this is a first rate. Uh if you have questions, like Josh said before, uh please feel free to reach out um and we can get you all those answers. And it'll be on consent on the next one unless uh you guys tell me otherwise. If if not, I'll be back up here next time. Josh, you had something. >> One thing I would say is um so next next month we will get well sometime between now and and mid June we'll get all the updated policies. So KSB usually has two big rounds where they send policy updates to us. Usually they come for us to approve in July and then another round will come in December. Um those are the two big batches. And so Drew will have all of the
050policies that'll come here in the next few weeks that we'll get them. We'll send them to Jennifer. She'll she'll look over everything and then um he'll have them to the board for you guys to to take action on um in July. We usually do that in July. There's a whole lot of things you new members will see. There's a whole lot of other things we'll do in July, but July is a big business setting meeting for the entire year. Another example Josh just brought up of how we used them. Two years a I'm losing track. I'm getting old. I think a year and a half or two years ago, Josh and I sat down with Leanne and we went through every single one of our policies and we used KSB's policies. We used the line
051of public schools policies and Manhattan's polic. So we went through a whole bunch of different district policies and updated ours because ours we had some that hadn't been looked at since ' 89 93. Uh, so just to make sure that we're up to date as much as possible with our policy document. Drew and I have read every single one of those policies. So that was fun. >> Yeah. Josh. >> G5 board of education has asked to consider and approve the updated policy JBCDA and district transfers. This is a first read, but action is requested for the family. >> Yeah. So, um this is a pretty straightforward policy. Um it's on unpaid fees. So, um Jessica, well, I shouldn't say Jessica in 2021. Um you guys cleared off the board of education uh cleared off over
052a half a million dollars in unpaid fees. Um, we are back up over a half a million dollars in unpaid fees. Um, and Jessica's been trying to find ways of how can we collect these fees and make sure that that we're staying on top of fees. A lot of this is I iPad related, uh, JROTC related. If a kid doesn't bring a uniform back or a kid breaks an iPad and doesn't pay to fix the iPad, those sorts of things. So, we're back over a half a million dollars in unpaid fees. Um, one thing we've been doing and and we uh just need to update policy is um amend the policy on in district transfers to say in good standing. You have to be in good standing to be able to transfer inside the district.
053And one of those things being all all fees paid in order to be able to transfer. Um, yeah, I'm sure you guys have questions. So, that's kind of the short explanation of it. You guys get this through. >> I make copies just and it's just that one line, >> the one line, >> the one red line on uh what in good standing means. um there on toward the back of it. The student must have no outstanding school fees. >> I mean, how many students do we have transfer? >> Um so I'm at >> 377 in district transfers as of right now that we're processing and it'll be over it will be over 500 by the time the end of summer hits. So there's there's other things that we can do as a district. Uh we
054can uh not allow them to attend uh things like the pumpkin patch or um nonacademic related things, activities, sports, those sorts of things. Um this is just one of those things that is a benefit of being inside the district. There's a lot of districts that don't allow in district transfers like this. uh you guys have have allowed for the last years. I >> think it's smart to be able to do. I think it's an option for students, parents to be able to do that. Um there's one thing that as I read through this, I went through a situation this year uh dealt with a family uh that we came up against this policy not for this purpose of transferring for fees or whatnot. And um so there's some verbiage I'd like to add to this
055policy. uh if we could and I think this is the place to do it. Uh because of the the issue that I came across was uh where I say under no circumstances will transfer be considered after September 20th of each school year and uh a little bit of the background. I had a family moved in uh from a a rough family situation and in that place uh they were not allowed to go to a place where they had a a few friends in which way they they were comfortable the parents or the grandparents were willing to transport the students. So it wasn't an issue as far as that went but it really created some tension in the family and caused some other issues in the family when they came in uh because of this one
056line here. And so, um, I've worked with, uh, with leadership on coming up with some additional language that would allow in a situation like that for some an opportunity to bring some peace in a home, in a family, in a time of transition to add. And so, I'll read that to you here uh, as it goes along with that. here. It says, "Transfer requests will not be considered after September 20th of each school year except for students who newly enroll in the district and reside outside their assigned attendance boundary. These students must submit a transfer request at the time of enrollment for consideration by the superintendent or designate. Requests submitted after completion of the enrollment process will not be considered." And so that clearly states they had the opportunity when they enroll to be able
057to request a transfer, but not anything beyond that. So I think it'll keep the intent. I know uh we've talked about why this is in place, keep people from transferring if they get mad about something in the middle of the school year and situations or whatnot. I think just this is a a great addition to the policy to help us to be able to serve all the students uh from any on many different situations. So, that would be my recommendation or request that we add that into the policy while we're amending this policy. >> And administration's in favor of that. Um, we oftent times get students that transfer in from um other districts and they may reside outside of a of a given boundary and never get that opportunity to transfer like other out of
058district students have the chance uh to transfer or in district students have have the chance to transfer. So, it it's a fair compromise. We obviously don't want students transferring multiple times like uh like um I was going to call you Reverend like Mr. Heg has said, but uh it does give that student and that family the ability to if their space that initial time pick their school uh that they want to go to like any other student could. >> Does that make sense? One of the big reasons that we we put the shut off on on September 11th is just because we were getting so many before when I was doing the transfers when before Drew took over and it would happen all year long. And so there was one family that I I got
059a transfer request and we moved them in like October and then they got upset with that school and I had another transfer request and it's you know I'm trying to talk to the family and we need to we need to try to work the problems out you know and and I mean you it just we were moving kids all the way through April and that's just not good for kids if they've been in one school for the entire school year and we're going to move them for the last five or six weeks of school that's that's not good for anybody. And so, um, I think this really is what's best for kids. And this also gives our families that are new new to the community, an opportunity if if there's reasons, like pastor said that,
060um, you know, that that if if there's an opportunity to to transfer and we have room for them, um, we want to make that opportunity available for him if we can. >> Nathan, could you read the proposed language again? The addition would be transfer request will not be considered after September 20th of each school year except for students who newly enroll in the district and reside outside their assigned attendance boundary. These students must submit a transfer request at the time of enrollment or consideration by the superintendent or designate. Request submitted after completion of the enrollment process will not be considered. Look at this on that moment and administration is good. >> Yeah, we're good with it. >> Any other questions, comments? >> So, this will come back on consent agenda. Um, like KSB, if you
061have any questions, concerns, be sure to reach out to us. >> What's that? >> Action requested. >> Oh, action is requested, Josh. >> Yeah, cancel that. Actions requested. >> Yeah. So, I'll make Yeah, I would make a motion. >> Okay. Uh, I'll make the motion with the uh as it was presented to us with the the transfers there or the the uh wording there as well as the addition of my wording there. Do I need to read that all? >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. with the addition of the language that says transfer request will not be considered after September 20th of each school year except for students who newly enroll in the district and reside outside their assigned attendance boundary. These students must submit a transfer request at the time of enrollment or consideration by
062the superintendent or designate. Requests submitted after completion of the enrollment process will not be considered. >> There a second. >> Got it. Jennifer. >> Yeah. >> Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor raise your left hand. Oppose. Right hand. Motion carries. Thank you. Okay. The board of G6. The board of education has asked to consider and approve changing the date of the May 28, 2026 board of education meeting to May 26, 2026 at 6 PM. First read action requested. >> Um June. >> Yeah. So, I'm back. Um May 28th, uh on May 28th, Steve, Josh, and myself, uh will be at the annual, uh Kansas USA conference. Um our hope and desire is to move that board meeting to the from the 28th to the 26th at 6 PM would be uh would be
063our desire. Um you guys will approve our our calendar for board meetings next year. Um last year when we approved this we didn't have any idea when the USA conference was going to be. So this year when we do this uh we'll make sure that we get that board meeting corrected on next year's calendar. >> So we can either keep it the regular day and have a party. >> Yes. >> Instead of a meeting or Yeah. You do you don't need us here. So, our request would be six o'clock. I know that's a little bit different for that Thursday meeting. We normally do five o'clock. Uh, one of our longtime grid employees, Tracy Johnson, is retiring at the end of the year. Uh, we're having her going away party just before that on the 26th.
064So, we want to make sure we can attend that. >> Mr. Vice President, I would move that we move the meeting to >> so >> May 26 at six o'clock. Um we have to make a specific motion for this is my understanding. We have to move we have to you have to >> do we have languages in here >> make the motion to amend >> to amend the >> Mr. Vice President I move to amend the board meeting schedule. I move the May 28th, 2026 board of a education meeting to May 26 May 28th, 2026 board of education to May 26, 2026 at 6 p.m. >> Second move and second to move the meeting again to move the meeting through 26. Favor raise your left hand. Who might still have a party without you on?
065>> Right. A motion carries. >> Okay. Boundary G7 boundary study recommendations for three. Drew Tone. >> Yeah. So um for last week, last Friday, uh our committee got together and uh looked at the uh two boundary proposals. We sent out that RF RFP, that request for proposals um for the boundary study for when we do reconfiguration uh in the fall of 28. From that, we got uh we were able to get two proposals back. Uh one was from RSP. Uh the other was from MGT. Um when you look through that, you guys should have those in your board packets. As you look through that, um they are very simil they're they're very similar in scope. The big thing that you will notice is there is a significant price difference uh between the two. Um MGT
066came back at 115,600. Um RSP came back at 85,860. Um they're doing essentially the same work. Um RSP has worked with us for a number of boundary studies. Um the last boundary study they worked with us, but uh the one prior to that they also worked with us. Uh MGT is a company out of California that we have not worked with, but they do come very highly recommended. Uh they oftentimes work with much larger districts uh than what they than what we are, but they have worked with uh Witchaw Public Schools and a few other uh Kansas schools. Um I'm I'm open to answering questions. Um, it's going to be our recommendation that we go back with RSP and select RSP services for the boundary study. Um, but I am open and that was the
067recommendation of the committee, but I am open to questions before uh I ask for that. >> I do because I sat there Friday morning and I know you said you were going to talk to RSP about reducing the number of of community hearings and things like that since we're simplifying what we're asking them to do. Were they receptive to that or I know I hear that you're going to renegotiate the the deal? >> Yeah, so they are receptive to that idea. Um we we had a long conversation and they kind of explained their processes to me. Um what we got down to was five meetings is is what they would like to do. And the reason being two of them being in person and then three of them being virtual. They would like five because
068they want to be in person at the beginning of it. They would like to be in person at the end of it and then they can do the other three virtually, but they really want to be present for the community conversation and that should have a a substantial reduction in cost. Uh, as you look over both of them, the big the big bulk of the cost is is obviously those in-person meetings just because of the cost of uh getting to Western Kansas. I also talked to them. Uh, Becca, you you wanted me to talk to them about how much data they could use of ours um, moving forward. They can use some of it, they want to take a fresh look at things uh, and make sure that the data they're using is the best
069data that we could possibly be using. So, while they're going to use some of it, a big bulk of the stuff they're going to they want to see, okay, of of the things that were supposed to happen, what has happened of the changes that we expected to see in our enrollment data, what has actually happened, what grades has that happened in their their uh birth to prek numbers. They want to see how close were we on birth to prek and K. Uh so that they can actually we can get a boundary that that will fit us for >> actual contract. >> Yeah, we'll come back with an actual contract later on. So all all we're asking is to move forward with me uh rendering RSP services to negotiate a contract. Any other questions? So, uh,
070it's our recommendation that the board of education approve RSP and Associates as the district selected, um, consulting firm for the boundary study process and authorize administration to move forward with contract negotiations for future board approval. >> Just appropriate, but I guess I would want to say for anybody who does like tune in to the board meeting and is wondering, okay, RSP is coming back. What is the board doing? would like to say publicly that that we did put in the scope of what they're going to do that this is just boundary reconfigurations based on the the grade reconfiguration not based on you know conversations or decisions that we were looking at three years ago. So yeah >> um since the board approved the previous board approved their grade reconiguration this is kind of a necessary
071step. >> Yes. Correct. And and just uh kind of like you said to remind everybody what the new great great configuration is going to look like. Our four one-track schools, Jenny Barker, Ply, Gard Walker, Georgia Matthews, those will be onetrack schools in our new configuration that goes K5 and then everybody else will be two track schools including Charles Stones and Bernardine Sense. So again, no school that will not be in the scope. It will not be discussed. None of that stuff is is happening in this uh grade reconfiguration boundary study like it was last. >> And that's something that Roy and I have been talking about. Once we once we get this mall in motion, we're going to we're going to put a lot out publicly to make sure that the community knows that as
072well because I do think that's going to be an important piece. >> That would be helpful, I think. >> Yeah. Alleviate any concerns before they happen. Yeah. the scope has narrowed considerably from one of its back asking right now. >> Yeah, it's it's a um it is a pretty narrow scope. So, we know that they're you know generally when they do a reconfiguration they're going through and they're deciding, hey, this school's three tracks, this school's four tracks, this school's one track, this school's two track. For us, we've decided, you guys have already decided all that. You guys have said we've got four one track schools. Everybody else is is twotrack go draw lines essentially is is what we're doing. So it's it's just a matter of deciding you know where the car goes where the
073lines go >> and making sure that they're lines that we're going to be able to use for the foreseeable future. You know >> realistically if you can get 10 years out of a out of a boundary that's that's a pretty good run. >> Yeah. And and more often you're seeing districts at year five or year six >> Yeah. redoing boundaries because communities are shifting so much because of of community uh dynamics because of population and and age and and where young young families live and where old families live and and you're not seeing um the migration of old families to um they don't size down as much as as they used to size down. Um and and because of that, older or older families are taking up certain areas that used to be predominantly younger
074families. So you're just seeing boundaries have to be redrawn more often because of those those things. Okay, I'll bring back a contract. Thank you. >> Okay, we move on to item H. board open discussion to pull that out. >> Well, it's always good to hear from this the students at at our schools. J Barker tonight was great to hear from them and bring the lighthouse team here. The recognition of of the of Russ and the students there. That's that's some great stuff happening in Garden City. Uh make us proud. It does make us proud. town. Jacob's not here, Ry's not here. Rebecca, >> um I would say first of all, I won't be here for graduations this weekend, but congrats to all the students and the teachers who are graduating these students out um this
075weekend. That's always exciting. Um and I saw a few graduation parties last week, and I'm sure it's hard for parents to send those students on, too. So, big deal. Um congrats to all the national, you know, forensics and debate students. That's exciting. Uh I did it once in high school. Was not good at it. So kudos to them. Um I say yeah good to hear from you guys teachers who who came to talk about discipline policy. Um I do think there's some merit to having you know discretion written into the policy instead of you know requirements but happy to hear what you guys have to say but I do think it's good to have discretion um and some leeway in those policies. >> Thank you Nathan. Uh it has been uh exciting to be involved
076in a lot of events with two kids in high school this year and a lot of things going on hearing things and so we've been to several choir concerts and band concerts and um to see a lot of the the summer spring sports that are doing well. Seeing some of those reports and seeing some of that very encouraging and the the theater performances are all doing very well. So, congratulations to all those kids and the teachers who put in the time for all of those uh different activities over the course of the year as they kind of come to the end of the year. Uh do appreciate um the recognitions of our qualifiers and the teachers that are part of debate. Uh I did it once as well in high school and did not do
077so well. So, um uh the Jenny Barker is always fun. U it was also been fun to uh sit on the councils this year uh with teachers and staff. uh the curriculum council said in several of those and the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. I appreciate all the teachers and staff that are doing that. Um also um ESL committee um last meeting we had I was just uh continually shocked at how many languages we continue to get here in our school district. uh we now have 41 different languages spoken in our school district and so it's exciting to see that but the challenges that come with that and so pretty excited about uh I just how we're here and just getting good things going on for all the students and um very
078much appreciate our teachers. Uh last week was teacher appreciation week and so appreciate all the staff and all the teachers behind the scenes and all the things that they've done for the school year and finishing strong. Um I know a lot of teachers are counting down the hours and the minutes not just the days but appreciate all of them and their hard work this year and I just ask them continue to finish strong and do the right things which they always do. Um letting everyone know u balora also be a part of graduation weekend. I want to say that publicly um and so that is this Saturday at 2. I know chief graduation is at 10. Uh the balorates at 2 o'clock at the high school in the uh auditorium. Everyone is welcome to attend
079in the community. uh many many different churches involved in that this year. So that's a uh a time to honor our graduates in that sense. And then uh looking forward to the boundary study and the positive steps that will come from that moving us forward and getting things refined and getting us to continue to do things smartly as a district. So that's all I got to say. >> Thank you. >> Um I'm not going to be here for graduation either and I'm super disappointed. Uh, one of the most rewarding things was when you're handing out those diplomas and the just the blow in those kiddos face that they they've accomplished something and they're ready to take that next step. So, I'm sorry that I'm not going to be here for that. Um, every meeting I'm
080always reminded of how much we actually have to be proud of as a district and I like the fact that we get to see so many positive things and we we need to do better at tooting our own horn so everybody in Garden City knows the quality that we actually have in our district. >> Yeah. Thank you, Katie. >> All right. Um, so I'm gonna start off with a little bit of personal pride because Jenny Barker is where my kids attended. So it was great to see all these kids that I know. Um, my son was actually one of the ones on the robotics team that got to go to worlds. So I was super proud that um, we got a little shout out there. Um, thank you Miss Palmer. She's not here right now,
081but uh, Miss Palmer is the robotics coach there. She's just done an amazing job. She's been our robotics coach for years. She's brought so many teams to worlds. It's really fantastic that we have this program um in the school district and that we continue to support it because it's the most amazing opportunity for these kids. Um I also when it comes to the safety policy uh teachers I hear your concerns. Um, I definitely intend to ask a lot more questions, follow up hopefully like with the with Slack and with the teachers, um, and kind of figure out what can we do to make sure that that discretion is there and the ability is there to be flexible in certain, um, situations, but also to make sure that the safety of our teachers is considered. Um,
082I will be at graduations this weekend. I'm very excited. I'm especially excited to get to see a bunch of kids that I got to have as middle schoolers now going on to graduate, which is crazy. Um, but always a fun time to get to see former students and see where they go in life. So, thanks for letting me do that and for the invitation. >> Thank you, Katie. John. >> Yeah. Um, this is this is an exciting time of the year. This is where we get to see the, you know, the all of our work come to come to an end as as the kids walk across the stage and get their diploma. You know, there's a lot of work that goes into making that happen for our kiddos. And so, um, it's a great
083opportunity for you as board members to get to celebrate with the kiddos as you get to because you all are the ones that get to actually hand them their diplomas. So, that's an exciting time. Um, and as we come to the close of the year, um, and and summer happens, that's when, um, we'll start, we've already started actually, but, we'll we'll really start digging into planning for next year. And so, um, the, uh, the week that we come back after Memorial Day weekend, um, we're going to start have start out with ELA camps at at Horus Good. So, as we get our new ELA curriculum and starting to put some of those things together, Heather's organized a lot of a lot of staff to come in and begin digging into that and working on that,
084talking about what that's going to look like. And so, that'll be a process. Well, we've already started working and talking about what uh what back to school is going to look like for convocation and and things like that. And so, um exciting to see things come to a close, but still a lot of work to do because we don't ever completely end. we just kind of switch gears, I think. But I'm really excited excited to see our kids graduate. I think it's um it's it's been a great year and and and a lot of things to be be proud of and and to celebrate for sure. So, >> thank you, Josh. Item, next board meeting. The next regular meeting of the board of education will take place on Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at 6 p.m.
085in the board meeting room at the Educational Support Center, 12:05 Fleming Street, Dart City, Kansas. We'll go on to item J, executive session. >> What do we need? >> 20. Mr. Vice President, I move we go into executive session for 20 minutes to discuss negotiation for the 2026 27 school year pursuant to the exception for employer employee negotiations under coma beginning at 7:20 and and the open meeting will resume in the board meeting room at 7:40 p.m. I would like to invite Josh Gman, Drew Tone, Steve Norby to join us in executive session. Second move to second. All those in favor raise your left hand. his right hand. Motion carries. session. Okay. Entertain a motion for adjournment. >> So moved. >> Second. >> A second to adjourn the meeting. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in
086favor raise your left hand. Post right hand. Benny Sher are