001Hey, we're all here. It's on you guys. Okay, >> go ahead. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stand with all good job. Thank you. Okay, move on to item B in the agenda. We'll take a moment for silent reflection. Item C, meeting a note. Board member tour of transportation be on February 17th at 1 p.m. Four or more board members may be in attendance and a board member tour of plant facilities on February 25th at 1 p.m. Four or more board members may be in attendance as well. Item D, approval of the agenda with the following amendments. Additional classified personal actions item F30. Mr. >> President, I move to approve the meeting agenda as amended. >> Second move and second. Is there any discussion? All in favor
002raise your hand. Post. Motion carries. Okay. Item E delegations public comments. We have one Levi B. Hello Bin. Um Garden City. Oh, sorry Randy. Do you need to >> You're fine. You know the >> Okay. uh regard the education association president. Um I just wanted to it's been I know you guys have already had several meetings as with the new members here, but I just want to kind of introduce myself um again, especially to the three new ones. Um I might be up here um posing a few of the few of the things eventually, so might as well um start us off on the right note. So um I just really wanted to take a moment to say that um I thought the last board had done a lot of positive things. Um, and I
003think um, I think with the new makeup, I think I'm really hopeful um, to continue that direction because I I think we've got some uh, some positive momentum going. So, I just want to say welcome and uh, thank you guys for serving. Appreciate it. >> Thanks. >> Okay. Item E1, the building presentation. Principal Ben Luna from Buffalo Jones Elementary. >> Thank you for being >> welcome. Okay. I am Ben Luna, principal Buffalo Jones Elementary, our student leadership team with us. Um, also our student council lead, Mr. Guadi, who works with them closely, our instructional coach and school counselor are here with us this evening. Also, just a little bit about Buffalo Jones. We are a two-track school currently about 210 students. We also have a Spanish dual language track, kindergarten through 2 grade. These guys
004are going to do the majority uh of the presentation. They've worked hard to create it, write their own parts, and and they're ready to print it for our building. So, we'll get started here. There we go. Our wildly important goals, which match the rest of the districts, were in line with that. So, I'll kind of skip past this. I'm sure you've heard from other buildings. Um, just looking at our winter fast bridge data and some of the assessment data from the classrooms, we are well on our way to meeting both of these goals. And that's just a tribute to our hardworking teachers and what they do in the classroom every day. Before we get started with their parts, I'll go through and have them introduce themselves and start. >> My name is Leila Sejo Washington
005and I'm in third grade. >> I am Isaiah Sanchez and I'm in grade. My name is Adri Flores and I'm in fourth grade. >> My name is Ian Munos and I'm in fourth grade. >> Guard and I'm in third grade. >> My name is Faith Cara and I'm third in third grade. >> My name is >> and I'm in third grade. >> My name is Cassandra Sanchez and I'm in third grade. My name is Elisa. >> My name is Anna Velasquez and I'm in third grade. My name is and I'm in third grade. My name is Eden Vega and I am in third grade. Our vision is build into our kind of strive for personal excellence and are lifelong learners because who we become is as important as what we learn. Our mission is empower
006all students to reach their personal excellence by building strong relationships, guiding selfdirected learning and provide equitable high quality extraction. And our school model is hardwood counters all at Buffalo Jones. We have our student council that is made for third and fourth graders. To be chosen, we need to make a poster and give a speeches to our classes as why we can make a great leadership to our school. Our teacher uses a rubric to vote on us on how we follow our social contract and our leadership skills and how responsible and trustworthy we are. We have our buff school store where we sell a lot of fun fidgets as well as school supplies. We even learn how to run the register and purchase and price items. We have our yearly Freddy's fundraiser where we raise money
007for students to our school. >> As part of student council, we create an organized red ribbon week as well as other spirit weeks. Each morning we create I mean each morning we give high fives or a fist bump uh to others because it's welcoming and it feels good being greeted by other students. We held a canned food drive which nearly brought in 500 cans which we donated to the Amaya's house. Lastly, we have daily announcements which we announce new important items. Here at Buffalo Jones are hardworking, fun, and welcoming everyone who comes to our school. The first staff member we see each morning is Mr. Luna. He greets us with a good morning greeting and a high five. He even has music playing as we arrive. The lunch staff put together a monthly birthday celebration
008for those for those students whose birthdays are that month. We get special decoration table and a birthday cookie. Staff purchase it p together in a schoolwide Christmas Caroline during the holiday months. Christmas decorations were everywhere in the building. It was beautiful. Our office secretaries designed a schoolwide shirt for each student staff. Here at Buffalo Jones, we have a lot of exciting things happening in our classrooms. Our classrooms and hallways are colorful, decorated, and inviting for all students as part of our social emotional curriculum, which means capturing kids hearts. All classrooms have morning greeters. All classrooms have fun and unique social contracts. A social contracts is a list of terms that we create and agree to follow in the classroom and in the building. All classrooms also share daily affirmations and end each day with the
009lunch. As you walk into class, teachers greet you into their rooms. During the holidays, especially Christmas, you'll see all teachers decorate their doors and hallways and fun festive holiday decorations. Lastly, each Friday, Mr. Luna plays the Friday long song. And in many classes you'll see teachers stand you'll see students stand particip pretty much your favorite local things they added to our school. The biggest thing we will be adding in the playground equipment. If you had driven by our school, you will have noticed our new jud buffalo drum sign and window stickers. In May, we will hold our spring third and fourth grade mathematics competition. The winter competition kids, we're focusing on the lead to trade word of the month, which is kindness. We will be doing many activities and a few we will hold our
010third binary social contract for celebration. The community college teams will continue to stop in and visit us. We also have two hardworking robot teams that compete. They do an amazing job here. We have a lot of fun and excited events. Our big event that takes places in our end of year family night which brings many of our families as well as great priceways, games and food. We got Freddy's night, donuts, grown nuts, and lit night which also brings many of our families to our school. Our Thanksgiving lunch is always 15th each year. Community college come visit us and help serve the lunch. This year we have Halloween parade which was supported by community college athlete. Lastly, we have quarterly social contract celebration with AC with students that come without with >> Thank you for having
011us. >> All right. Hey, any questions for our leadership team? >> Your school is capturing kids hearts or leader me which >> captures. >> That's right. >> Go ahead. >> The way you guys encourage each other as you finish your words, you were there and encouraging each other. Great job. >> When did you say the math competition was? Third and fourth grade math competition. >> Uh for automaticity. So we have a challenge in the fall. Um they get together. It's kind of a an old school just math competition as far as a multiplication fact comes up. Whoever gets it first gets a point for the team, but they get really into it. There's a trophy, there's a bracket, and they are m practicing their automaticity. So, it's kind of just a way to encourage automaticity,
012but they love the competition and we've seen a dramatic increase in third and fourth automaticity through that. So, questions for these guys. Okay. Uh this was primarily all of them. They uh brainstormed. We took our building leadership team of teachers together and they kind of did an activity where they thought what was the best things happening or greatest things in Buffalo Jones. Then we met with them did the separate activity. Same thing sticky notes. They organized them, put them in categories, compared them to the BLT and they started to write their individual parts and then start have been practicing for the last few weeks. So they were pretty excited to come see you guys and present. So uh thank you guys for all your hard work. did an amazing job. Awesome. >> Yes. Outstanding. >>
013Good job. Well done. >> Thank you all for the notes as well. >> Yes. Thank you very much. >> Part of the capturing kids hearts process. Uh actually students do that in the classrooms for each other every week. There's affirmation stations. Um they're always just encou encouraging notes to each other. Uh they also will deliver those to teachers and we have challenges in our uh building as well as well where teachers write those to each other. And so it's just part of the CK program and it's been really great for our culture and to kind of get the positivity going throughout the student staff. Can >> you talk about the Excel model a little bit about that? >> Anybody want to talk about the Excel model? >> Hey, go ahead. >> The top of the
014Excel model means that like we're doing like we're doing it all like with effort and >> maximum effort. Yeah. What would the middle be? The middle means like you're doing great but you're not doing like your effort. >> Yeah. Your top and what would be at the bottom there? >> That you're like you're not following directions and you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing >> or doing average effort, right? Whatever. >> Good job. So, if you walk in uh throughout the hallways, any kids from kindergarten and fourth, you'll see them do this to me all the time because that they're showing that they're excelling. So, I've had a lot of visitors like, "What is going on with this?" because um they're just trying to show you that they're excelling and they're working hard
015each day. So, kind of a cool model for them to use in the classrooms. Good question. >> Anything else for these guys? >> Okay. Thank you. >> I think I think Roy wants a picture. So, if you guys want to just come up right here and if you uh also want to get a pin and take you can as well too. All right, guys. picture. >> Squeeze in a little bit. I'm guessing how Mr. >> Yes. >> Why don't you guys >> act like you like each other? >> Okay. Ready? There we go. >> On three. Ready? One, two, three. One more. One, two, three. >> All right. Good job. >> Did you boys get a pen? >> Do you want a pen? Thanks for saying right through. >> Okay, we'll move on to item
016P2. Uh, receive district audit reports. Lisa Axman and Tiffany Oer. Yeah, please. I'm Lisa Axman and this is actually Katie. She's filling in for Tiffany tonight. We're with Louis Super and Dick and we're going to touch on the audit at a very like high level and then kind of compare you to districts of similar sizes. So the first graph that we have for you is a comparison of the budget per pupil and the mill levy in the general fund. So kind of just starting at the bottom and working your way up. And I don't know how well you can see it, but this red line at the bottom is the um 20 mills. So the state has a state tax levy assessed on all property tax owners that helps fund K through2 education. and it
017has been at 20 mills since back in 1999. Prior to that, it was sitting at about 35 mills. And this pink line in the middle, that is your budget per pupil. Sometimes people call this your base state aid. And this amount is appropriate by legislation every fiscal year for your general fund. So for 2025 that is sitting at um excuse me um $5,378 for 2026 that is at $5,615. That blue line above the budget per pupil actually kept up with inflation. So you can see back in the early 90s inflation and the base state aid per pupil is pretty comparative and as over the years the gap has started to grow and the districts fund that gap with your capital outlay your LOB and then doing spending cuts. So, if the budget per pupil actually
018kept up with inflation for 2025, this year could be getting additional $2,189. For 2026, you'd be getting an additional $2,194. The next graph is a comparison of your full-time equivalent, budget per pupil, and mill levy across all funds. So once again, kind of starting at the bottom, the red line is the mill levy for the district. For 2025, it's sitting at 51.071 mills. Um, a little bit higher this year just due to a change in your tip calculation. Um, in 2024 is a little bit lower just due to an RNR timing. Um, the green line is your full-time equivalent. It is sitting at 6,466 for 2025. staying relatively consistent but a slow slow trend down. And then the blue line is your budget proupo across all funds. And this is going to vary just depending
019on kind of capital projects that the district has going on and then changes in your enrollment. So as your enrollment declines, that number is going to change. As you guys are doing little capital projects, that number is also going to fluctuate. The next graph is expenditures across all fund types as a percentage. There were four areas that were up this year. Instruction, instruction support, central services, and operations and maintenance. There are three areas that were down were facilities, food service, and healthcare. Um rest kind of stay relatively the same. Um looking at the graph, the district spends about 43% of the expenditures on instruction. Um if you look at instruction and directly related categories such such as student support services, health care and instruction support service, the district is probably spending about 64% of their
020expenditures directly related to instruction. So the next two graphs look at expenditures across all fund types looking more at the dollars. And we kind of broke this up into two graphs so it's a little bit easier to read. So the first set of categories you can kind of see a slow trend going upward each year. Um kind of dealing with in raises kind of inflation causing that slow trend up. Um general administration there was a few fluctuations in 2020 and 2023 that kind of has to deal with retirements and pay out of crude leave. So there's few fluctuations in those years. On the next graph, those categories, other supplemental services, um that is mainly your IT services for the district. There was a few fluctuations in these last three years as you experienced your retirement
021and then you hired a few more additional IT staff. Um the facilities and acquisitions from 2022 to 2023, there has been a spike in your capital and project improvements. So, in 2022, districts spent about um 10 million on HVAC system improvements. In 2023, they spent about 2 million on re-roofing. And then in 2024, they spent about 1.3 million on additional HVAC improvements and about 1.7 million on re-roofing dish a few school buildings. The next graph looks at receipts across all funds as a percentage again. And to kind of put this in a little bit of a perspective, if you look at this as a dollar, 65 cents of that dollar is coming from your state sources. 12 cents of that dollar is actually coming from your local taxes. 10 cents of that dollar is coming
022from federal sources. The next graph looks at your comparison receipts as dollars. And you can kind of see similar to your expenditures, there has been a slow trend up as cost as revenues has risen. Um, federal sources, there's been a few fluctuations in 2022, 2023, and 2024 as districts received the ESRE funding and they have been spending those money. A lot of that has been spent on your HVAC system projects. Um, fees, those have fluctuated yeartoear just depending on what's going on in the district. that is your food service. Um there few years where you had federal aid to help fund those fees. Um driver's ed, textbook, and gate. The next slide just kind of summarizes statement one, which is on page five of the financial statements that you were given. At the end of
023the fiscal year, the district had about 54 million in total funds. There was an increase of about 14 million in those funds. Um those were planned increases. And just to highlight a few of those increases, bilingual education um is about $1.1 million higher than the prior year. That was intentional. They're putting a little bit more money aside in that fund due to federal funding freezes. Um capital outlay is up about 7.6 million. Also intentional as a district tries to build reserves for your KH edition. Um grant activity is up about 2.1 million. also intentional because there was just timing of reimbursements on your grants at the end of the fiscal year. So, it actually caused an increase in your grant funding. The next graph is not crap slide is a summary of the debt outstanding
024for the district. We like to kind of summarize this for you because it's not something that you'll see in the monthly reports that you get from Jessica. So, at the end of the year, the district has about 70 million in bonds. um finance leases um is about 12 million that is mainly due to the HVAC projects that the district has been had going on and then employee compensation compensated absence and this is about 700 and something the next few graphs there's about three of them um compares 457 to districts of similar sizes so what we did is we took about 15 districts with an FTE of about 5,000 to 15,000. And this first graph, that red bar or red line is your FTE for the districts. The bar is your mill levy. Giri County comes
025in at the lowest at 43.58 mills. They do get military funding, so that helps keep their mill levy down. Andover comes in at the highest at 65.48 mills. Um, Garden City is the fifth lowest in this group of 15. You're coming in at 51.07 mills, about 4.4 mills higher than last year. Dodge City is coming in at 47.923 mills. Um, they are actually 9 mills lower than last year, but that has to do with them paying off some of their bonded interest, so they are able to drop their mil levy. And then Liberals coming in at 49.374 mills. So, as your close neighbors, you're kind of in line with your neighbors that are surrounding you. The next graph breaks down the mill levy. So, as you can see, that red bar is the 20 mills
026that all the districts get. The yellow bar is your bonded interest, which is going to vary the most among all districts. Um 457s is about 6.513 mills. If 457 didn't have the bond and interest, you guys would actually be lower than Dodge City. The green bar is going to be your lov7s is sitting at 16.58 mills. And then that blue bar is going to be your capital outlay which all districts can go up to 8 mills. Um 4x7 is sitting at 8 mills. And the next graph um is taxes on $100,000 home. We like looking at this graph because it takes it more at apples to apples if each different each district is going to have something different going on. Um once again, Gary County is going to come in at the lowest at $455.
027And do's coming in at the highest at $76. Garden City, like I said, is the fifth lowest coming in at $541. Um, oops. Dodge City is coming in at 505 and Liberal is coming in at 521. The next graph is just a history of 457's mill levy. 2026, the proposed mill levy is going to be 49.94 mills. That is comparative to almost 30 years ago back in 1995 when it was sitting at 49.8. Eight L's and then just kind of summarizing the audit. Overall, the district did have a clean audit report. There were no findings that we had from this audit. Um the management letter and the letter to the governing body was provided in the detail that we gave you. Um, we went through both of those letters in detail with the audit committee
028and um, 457 staff. So, we won't really spend a lot of time this evening going over those letters comments. Majority of them already have been addressed by 457 staff. Um, like I said, there's nothing really major or any concerns coming out of the audit. If you have questions or if you want to go over the audit more in detail, please feel free to reach out to us. We're happy to sit down and go over it with you, especially if you have questions or this is your first year. So, that is the audit. Very very. Do you guys have any questions? >> The bonds is that the high school what what is of that 70 million? What is is it mostly the high school? >> When does that set when we pay that off? Do you
029know? >> I want to say >> 34 or 35. work. >> You guys are on track to pay it off a little early if I remember right >> the finance leases where are they >> that's primarily the Hback system that you guys put in. So part of that was covered with the ESR money and then part of that was done through the H or through finance leases and you guys are very much stuck in that agreement. I don't think there's any way you can take it off early payment on it and there's a penalty for it. It's 20 year lease purchase. So, and we're in year. >> It does have a a very low interest rate. I think it's 2.3. So, that's the good news. And the bonds also have a pretty low interest rate.
030And that if you want the detail, I think that's on page page 12 of the financial statements. It's footnote three. It kind of breaks those down for you. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thanks, ladies. All right, move on to item F. Mr. >> President, I move to approve all consent agenda items as amended. I'll >> second. raise your hand. Same motion carries. >> You guys need to the audit to make a motion. >> He's trying to find it. >> President, I move to approve the district audit report as presented. >> Is there a second? >> Second, >> Jacob. Louder. >> All right, it's approved and seconded. Any discussion? on f well I I don't have sorry I don't have discussion wise I'm very pleased with the audit
031Jessica you do amazing thank you very much it's great and I'm very very thankful good report and I'm I'm happy with so that's all I have now all in favor carries Okay. Item G board reports. I'm on the G1 winner data report. Dr. Duncan, welcome to Okay. All right. Um, my name is Michelle Vyer and we're gonna be good if I can get my voice doesn't give out on me. Um, I'm the curriculum and assessment coordinator for those of you that um, don't know me yet. We do a couple of reports every year about our FastBridge data. And so I'm going to use a lot of terms that may not be familiar to some of you. So if you have questions, please ask. The first few graphs um in this presentation are here to show
032you um how many students we have above benchmark and below and then the national average and where we are compared to the national average. So the first two graphs are our four-year-olds. The next two are kindergarten and the next two are first grade. Green means above benchmark. Um the gray line is the national average and the blue line is USD457 average. Okay. So what is good about this uh graph in particular is that the gap between us and the national average is closing. Um, we decreased our gap in our first grade by 1.5 points in the wintertime. And then in the fall, we also just decrease the gap by one. And the gap I'm talking about is is right here. It's getting smaller. Okay. Then also our four year olds, if you notice in the
033winter, those are above average in the winter. And so that's um I'm going to talk about phmic awareness here in a little bit. And so that's a really good sign for later reading. Okay. So this one is second grade, third grade, and fourth grade. And what you'll notice is that the gap pretty much is is very consistent. Um, we did have a decrease in high risk uh with the second graders. The orange is high risk. So, that's really good that our lowest kids got better. We had a decrease in third grade, a little bit of an increase in fourth grade, but the national gap is it stays consistent all the way through. fifth and sixth grade. Um, we had a little bit more of a gap here this winter with our fifth graders and I
034done a little bit of research uh this afternoon uh just because I was curious about a couple things and I'll mention those here in a little bit with fifth grade. Um and then um they're they're relatively consistent from year to year. So these graphs look about the same as they did last year. Um some of you were here for the presentation and some of you weren't. Um but for the most part, um these haven't changed much from fifth grade through 8th grade. We did have a little bit I'm going to skip to the eighth grade real quick of good data with our eighth grade. um in the fall they did really well. Uh our college pathway went up 7% from last year. Okay, so I'm not talking about this year fall to winter, but I'm
035talking about the fall this year fall compared to last year went up 7%. So that's really good. And our winter high risk went down from last year. So even though it looks like that our higher risk didn't change much, it actually went down from what it was last year about 5%. Okay. So I'm going to talk a lot about phenemic awareness. Well, I forgot the high school next. And this one this one looks scary, but it's really important to keep in mind that at the high school level, once kids meet benchmark, they do not have to test again. Okay? So, we have our ninth graders here. This looks like we got a lot worse. We didn't. These are the kids that weren't in the top two categories in the fall. Okay. So, we had 7%
036more of those kids that weren't there met benchmark. And so, actual numbers, um, 56 students moved out of high-risisk category from the fall to the winter at the high school. So, that's really good. Um, the self-contained ESL kids had an average growth of 1.5 points, which is a little bit higher than what's considered regular growth. Regular growth is is 1.1 points. our um students who were uh tested below their grade level um grew an average of 4.5 points. And the ones who were down here in all the oranges, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th, they grew six points. Okay? So when I say four points, I'm talking about all these kids combined, they grew an average of 4.5. All the kids in the orange grew an average of 6.3 points. And keep in mind, the average
037growth is 1.1. So we're doing a good job with our interventions. The 11th graders, we had 25 more students that met benchmark. And the 12th graders, we had three more students who met benchmark. Okay. So it's showing. Sorry. Go ahead. You say it again. You start you the thing that you said right when you went to this slide. It looks scary because once they meet benchmark that they don't have to retest, >> right? >> So, so benchmark is what is considered grade level. >> They just >> Yeah. They don't have the state does not require them to test anymore once they meet benchmark in high school. >> So all your all your high-risisk kids are the only ones that were tested for. And so what we're showing is that we are showing improvement even in
038nine or 10, 11, and 12th grade. We're getting more kids above into grade level because those are the ones that are that we're testing. Did that help? >> That's what I wrote down when you said I just make sure >> that's Yeah. >> Okay. >> And if you've never listened to this before, it's that can it can get confusing about what we're talking about a little bit. Um so now I want to um most of the buildings that have done their building reports have talked about um the wigs. So our um district wig is that we have 80% of kindergarten through 2 graders will meet phonics and fluency benchmark by the end of their second grade year. And that we're going to do this with our structured literacy program. Okay. So A reading is the
039overall score that we were looking at in those bars. There are subcores inside of the A reading. There's phenemic awareness and there's phonics and fluency. Phenemic awareness is the first thing that kids learn K through two. Phonics and fluency then is is what makes you become a a fluent reader that can comprehend what you read when you get older. Okay. So the phenemic awareness we want eventually to be 90 to 95% of kids are phmically aware so that they become good readers. Okay. But we want 80% for phonics and fluency. So that's a different section of what we call our screening to intervention report. You're going to see that we're making some growth um in this area which is really exciting. Um anyone any of you that are new have any question about the difference
040between phmic awareness and phonics and fluency or anyone. Okay. So that's um the graphs that I'm going to kind of go over right now. So our winter data from our kindergarters. Now, um, these graphs, we are just looking at this year's data and then the one that follows, we're going to look at comparing last year to this year, the same kids. Okay? So, I'll when we get to that, I'll explain what that is a little bit. Okay? So, our kindergarteners, um, this is phmic awareness on the left. This is phonics and fluency on the right. Okay, so their phenemic awareness went up 8% from the fall and it says that their phonics and fluency went down. But here's an important thing with kindergarteners. That's letter sounds. When they test in the fall, they're only expected
041to know three letter sounds. In the winter, they're expected to know 26 of them. So that's one of the reasons that it goes down because of the jump in what they're expected to know by winner. Okay, our first grade winner data, they were up 9.2% on their phmic awareness. So see, we're getting to 74% there on first grade. Remember what our our goal is over here on phonics and fluency to be up near 80. Now, first grade goes down in the winter normally on their phonics and fluency because they go from reading sentences to reading paragraphs. And the number of words that they're expected to read um goes from 12 words per minute to 37 words per minute in the winter. Previous years, this graph has usually dropped about 7% in the wintertime. Last year,
042it dropped 4% and this year we didn't even drop 1%. So, that's really good progress for our first graders. Now, this is what I was talking about comparing the same kids. Okay, so last year's kindergartens, this year's first graders. Okay, so they improved 20% from last year to this year. and they're um phonics and fluency. No, phmic awareness. Sorry. The next one will be phonics and fluency. So, they were 20 almost 20% on their phmic awareness from kindergarten to first grade. their phonics and fluency went down. But remember, we're talking about kindergarteners that are only looking at letter sounds in the winter to first graders who are reading sentences and paragraphs. Okay? So, there's a big difference between letter sounds and reading entire words. Um, but what is good about this graph is um that
043last year we dropped 25% and this year we dropped 17%. So that's a that's a good increase for what we're doing. The second grade had big increases in both areas, phmic awareness and phonics and fluency. And then their change from last year went um up 14%. Okay, so this CBM winter right here, this means that they're read the first graders are reading and remember we said they're going from just thinking about letter sounds to now to reading and in second grade they're reading a lot. It went up from first grade 14%. So even though we're making a little bit of a drop in first grade, we're getting that back in second grade. And um so that data looks really really good for us this year. >> You want this golden 80%. >> Yeah. >> Um
044third grade. So their phenemic awareness. Remember at the very beginning I said we eventually want kids 90 to 95% we're going to get there here pretty quick when we get into fifth sixth grade. Our kids are phically aware. We just keep working on the phonics and the fluency. Okay. And the the negative 4% um was a little bit more than what we had last year in third grade drop. So last year we only had a 1.4% 4% drop and this year we had a negative four. So this is one grade where we had a little bit of a drop in phonics and fluency. Um but from second to third grade they got better. So it it's confusing to look at that and go wait a minute you just said we dropped and now this you're
045saying we got better because we're looking at in the first graph we're looking at apples and oranges two different sets of kids. On this, we're looking at the same set of kids. So, the same set of kids got better on their phonics and their fluency from second to third grade. So, kids are improving. Um, fourth grade. I like to look at last year and this year because we finally got some longitudinal data that we can really take a look at. So last year we were up 1.1 on a phmic awareness and this year we're up 1.3 so a little bit more and we're getting closer to that 90% we're at 88.8 and then um on our phonics and fluency we dropped 3% from the fall and last year dropped about 3.3 so it's about the
046same drop as what we had last year. And is that like normal across everything that kids >> as things get harder, they're gonna struggle a little bit more those first tests? >> And I'm going to talk about this change in fifth grade because it seems like there's a big drop in fifth grade and I did a little bit more research on the test and things that are included on the auto reading in fifth grade which is a it's part of the A- rating. Um, but what I look at is what happens from year to year to year. And this is about the same as what it was last year. And remember our national trend lines that we had on this that we're staying where the nation is. Okay. So from third grade to fourth grade
047on phonics and fluency. Look at that. Look what our kids did. They were third graders. Last year they were at 45 and this year as fourth graders they're at 69. So they're getting better. Even though it looks like they're dropping in the wintertime on that test, they're getting better as they go through the grade school. Okay. So fifth grade um the phenemic awareness stay the same. That one's not going to change very much as they continue to get older. It's 89%. Well, we're going to hover between 90 and 95% on that. Um, the phonics and fluency went up 2.3% from the fall. And then this is what concerned me the most last year and again this year. And then um I looked at the test that we look at, the A reading test in fifth
048grade. auto reading is what affects the phonics and fluency. And in fifth grade, what they test changes. Okay? So, they add in um matching synonyms, decoding, morphology, and all those things that they haven't done before fifth grade. And so, that's probably why it's dropping like that in fifth grade because of the different. And then you'll see that in sixth, seventh, and eighth, we start making gains in that again because those same things are tested on the auto reading test. Sixth grade, that's about where we were last year. Not a lot of difference there. Um, but look at how they grew from fifth to sixth grade. They went up six fifth to sixth grade. seventh grade. Um, pretty negligible differences from fall to winter in both areas and then they went up 4.4%. Then 8th grade
049not much difference in phenemic awareness. Remember I said that won't change very much once they get older but their phonics and fluency is getting better. And um it says they went down a little bit but not I mean 0.1%. That could be one or two kids. Okay. But the green circle is getting closer to where we wanted it to be on finding symptoms. Okay. So um what are we doing well? Um I think that the data shows we're really growing over time and the kids are getting better as they're going through school. Um we really focused on structured literacy um for three or four years now and you're the data starting to show and it takes that long for data to change. Um our letter letters training is almost complete for our uh third group.
050Our first group had 40. Our second group had like 120 and then this is our third group that has around 40 in it. And then um we have a fourth group that just started this year that we'll finish next year. And so, um, we have, uh, facilitators that we got trained in our district and they're the ones providing the PD now for our teachers. So, we can, every time we have new teachers come into the district, we can get them letters trained. Um, we have given our staff many opportunities for professional development after school this year and from all of our departments. um supplemental department focuses on ESL instruction, migrant and migrant things. Our technology department helps teachers implement technology. Elementary secondary curriculum, we're work working on literacy and and improvements in instructions and literacy.
051And then our special education department um gives PD on Thursdays uh to help with the instruction in that area. So, every department is given PD after school almost every day of the week um to help improve our instruction and it's what the teachers need. Um we're in seeing more reading in our students in our walkthroughs throughout every building. Uh we selected our ELA curriculum and adopted our ELA curriculum and we're going to emphasize our professional learning um for that new curriculum next year. um things we're working on. Um we're going to continue to use our fastbridge screening to help us identify students who might be performing below grade level. Keep in mind it's a screener, so it's going to over identify a little bit, but we'd rather really pay attention to kids and make sure
052um that they're doing okay. um that we want to uh keep working on our triangulating of our interim data, our CAP data, and our fast brush data to make sure we're meeting the needs of all students. And we're going to keep improving our um intervention systems uh for our secondary level schools. >> Questions? Is there a is there a a level for kids that you're like if you're not an adequate reader by this point you're really going to struggle like where it almost becomes too little too late >> first first grade >> doesn't mean you can't help kids >> I don't remember the >> don't need intense intervention to get caught up if they don't have intense interventions they won't get caught up which is what we focus. Yeah, it is. And that's what our
053teachers are learning in letters and and those programs and why it's so important that we have kids reading as much as we can get them reading at first, second, third grade in a classroom >> for fun. like just >> yeah if you can convince them to read for fun >> then all of a sudden they're like oh >> so that's where you need the parents to help right >> all of our jobs yeah >> it's really good the hinge point is the structured literacy and the foundational skill at first grade kids that are behind at first grade in the fall that CBM data is th that's kind of the point where um if they're behind there like 80 90% of them nationally stay behind unless they've had intense interventions. So yes, reading with parents is
054important because it builds background knowledge and vocabulary, but the structured literacy piece of phonics and phmic awareness that we summarized. Kids aren't going to just pick that up because we read to them. Um they're going to need explicit instruction and like letter sounds and how to manipulate sounds. So there's five main components to to reading. Vocabulary, phmic awareness, phonics, um comprehension, background knowledge, and what we summarize here in this screener is largely anemic awareness of phonics. the other questions. >> I was pretty pleased with it because normally when we do this the winter it's always the worst. >> So much better. >> Yeah. >> Still got work to do, but we're going in the right direction for sure. >> The data is starting to kind of make sense. Look, I got a couple more years
055to catch up with, you know, like how you're comparing things and and yes, when you pointed out that this is the same kids and then these are different kids. >> Yeah, >> it kind of help. You might have just a really really smart class one year. >> Okay, thank you. >> No problem. Yep. >> H no business item H1. The board of education is asked to consider and approve the following curriculum council items. Dr. Doc, are you up? >> Yes. All right. I promise. >> Yeah. >> Um I know I come before you quite often when it comes to to new courses. Um the first part of this are just a few name changes at the high school level mostly with our music classes to um add some clarity to the courses. So for example
056that semester one symphonic band to marching band is what influenced marching band. So they wanted to shift some of those names to make sure that it was clear what those courses were actually doing. Um the second part of that um I know so this is the part that I come before you quite often when it comes to CTE courses. So um we have been updating and improving our CTE courses uh making sure that they align with the recommendations for the states and also to make sure that um we are um offering some additional courses and middle school I've talked a lot about the high school level. So middle school is actually also for that process too. So in the first part of that we're just changing some of the names to align with the CTE
057pathways that exist. So those courses already exist. We're just making sure that those those line up with the state recommendations and what they've changed their names to. The third part um is the middle school courses that we would like to add. And these are introductory level CTE courses. So the recommendation from the state is we start to push those down into like eighth grade level so that they can start those introductory courses and explore some more um before they get to the high school and they start taking the pathways. And what this does, um, they won't get high school credit for it, but what it does is it offers them the ability to explore those courses, those pathways, and then they will be able to become completers earlier, so they have more time in their
058schedules at the high school level to then take the um, focused CTE courses at the higher level. So, it's actually a really good thing. Um, what I brought for you, I only have one copy of this. I'm going to leave it with you. I told Mr. describe it, I would send a digital link. But um I realized I had never brought you the actual like guidelines for the 2627 school year, which is what we're working towards. And this has all the CTE pathways and it shows you like the introductory courses for it. So I did bring one that you can kind of pass down, but I told them I would send the digital link for it so you guys had it. >> I'll include it in the newsletter on Friday so that you all have
059a copy of it. And that's a lot of pages to make copies. >> It's a lot. So I just made the one copy and then we'll get you the digital link for it. Um, so some of those when we look at the pathways, there's like exploration courses and introductory courses. Those are the ones we want to start pushing down into that eighth grade level. So that's what we have on there for this first part. A little at a time, kind of focus on some highinterest um, introductory courses for those middle school level. You guys have any questions for me? I'm really excited to see the CT courses in middle school. I would think that's going to be a a good deal. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Okay. Item H2 board education is
060asked to consider and approve the purchase of a bell and intercom system at Horses Good Middle School pay alert in the amount of $238,43416. >> And so uh last fall um we finished installation of two bill and intercom systems at uh Florence Wilson and Bernie sits. Uh so just ev evaluating systems across the district. We can turn horse goods kind of the next in line to get uh theirs upgraded. They're having quite a few failures and just things not running as as smoothly as they need to for on a day-to-day basis. And so uh in December we put out an RFP for bids uh to seven companies. We got had a walkthrough that they had to attend uh to put in a bid. So we had two companies show up in alert. um and SWC.
061SWC is the company that put in Florence Wilson and Bernie Sits. So, we weren't surprised to see them uh put in a bid. So, uh both companies came out. We did a walk through uh this January 5th. Um got all their questions answered. Um they submitted bids the next week. Um then we had a meeting with since we already had SWC's product in place, we really didn't need to see them again, but we had an alert come out and present their product. um with the class being uh significantly cheaper than S SWC's, we wanted to see their product uh you know, live and and see how it works. And um all in all, the the products are almost exact same. What what we're getting um from from an alert is is similar to SWC. Um
062the benefit from what we're looking at versus just kind of an analog bell and intercom system allows us to kind of future proof our buildings a little bit by putting it all IP based and putting it on the network allows us for expansion into other areas besides just bells and intercoms. What we had them quote was just the bell and aircom because that gets us going. Um we have camera systems and door locks and all those things already in place. But as we move down the road uh having the system set up this way will allow us to um expand that if we need to. Um the nice thing about the system also will allow us as we move forward if this is this is kind of one of the things um we talked about
063as a committee was you know we want to kind of standardize on one system and so this gives us a chance to see this one get in place I think this will probably be the better product going forward probably will be cheaper going forward um so you know if we standardize on that one we'll probably add more schools allows us to centrally manage that system uh here in the building a lock down buildings if we need to I mean there's a lot things that will benefit as we move forward into other schools as their their systems also will need upgraded. We um it kind of long-term plans. You know, there's other schools that are going to need this down the road. So, uh Horit's one of our bigger buildings, so it's it's going to be
064pricier than some of the others, but on >> will they ina and SWC will they work together or No, >> not so much. No, we're gonna go one way or the other. And so, um, you know, I think as a group, we just decided we wanted to go with an alert. Just again, the cost is is a big factor for us. But, um, the similarity of the product is so close that we're not losing anything by going with their product versus the other. Um, and so they do all their own installation, which is different from SWC contracted a lot of their labor out. Um, and so in Alert has their own technicians. They come out, they do the work. Um, those kinds of things. So, I think it'll be a good good transition. It was
065It was like $60,000 difference, wasn't it? >> Close. I believe that. >> Yep. Yeah, it was close. I think theirs was 295 compared to the 230 >> here. >> Casey, you said >> 294. >> SWC did Florence Wilson and burning. >> Yes, they did. >> Have we had have we worked with >> We haven't worked with them. They bid some other products projects or they've been in they've been in to see other things with us. Um we haven't ever used them that I'm aware of for any product. So, >> that's all I think. provided us three references here. We have we contacted any of them yet or >> I haven't. I think Drew had contact with a couple of the schools in Witchaw that have worked with them and knows them. Drew knows a little
066better than I do, but has contact >> talked with the the college and the county and >> college and the county also use an alert other systems. So, >> they're well versed in Garden City and have technicians out here all the time. So, I don't think service is going to be a a factor at all. kind of warranty do they have enough of >> um we required a certain warranty I particular sorry I can apologize up one I kept on top of my head just how are we as part of that plan? >> So, normally we would use the this is part of the safe and secure schools grant that went away that we would support it. So, we would >> we're going to be doing we're going to have a couple of like you
067do every year more than likely. I mean the elementary schools we're doing a smaller school probably do horse good is a big school and so there be it's got a big paycheck really horse good wasn't on our list to go this year but because their intercom is in such bad shape we need to get that one fixed sooner and so we kind of moved them to the to the front of the line but most of our intercoms were all put in in the early 2000s and so they're all pretty much it end of life and so last year was in 2012 and so and it's starting to show it's its age too. So >> I don't have that rubbed on my head. I needed that for you. >> I didn't have that. >> Don't want
068to do a year down the road or something. >> No, no, no. We part of the bid they had I think it was a 5year guarantee um as part just the to even bid the project they had a guarantee for that long I can but I'll definitely get you the it's definitely way more than a year questions for Casey thanks sir thank you Hey, we're on to item I board open discussions. Robin, you're up. >> Um, it's always great to see the kiddos and man, I'm like so jealous of all those kids that are bilingual. like I makes me want to take some Spanish classes and figure out how to speak two languages. Um, appreciate the presentation and like I said earlier, it's starting to make a little more sense. The first year you see
069the negative numbers and you're like, ah. But as time goes, it makes a little more sense. And I like seeing the changes from like this year compared to last year that most of those were better improvements. >> Mark, >> yeah, I echo what Robin said about it's nice to have the school presentations, have the students come in, the kids come in, and I thought that the Buffalo Jones students did a great job tonight. They were well prepared. Uh would like to thank me and staff for everything they do. Um Casey for getting us together for course good middle school Michelle and putting all that together for us and yeah I remember last year uh asking some questions because some of this stuff didn't look so great. Um and I think we're heading the right direction.
070There's always room for improvement but u I think we're heading in the right direction. And u it >> Nathan, >> I agree with everything that's been said so far. Um appreciate uh just all the instructional staff. I know there's a lot that goes on and all the teachers in the classrooms and everything that's happening to get those scores to come up. There's a lot of hard work that happens day in and day out. So I wanted to say thank you to the teachers for doing that, the interventionists that are working there and the support staff that are there to support them and that's a lot of the paras being there helping out as well. So I've seen that. So I appreciate all of them. Uh it's exciting to see spring coming. It feels like that
071way today a little bit and uh I know sports teams are gearing up for the spring season. So exciting to see what those are happening and the winter season's winding down. But um I know the it's been fun. We've had the basketball boys come over do some volunteer community service hours at the church. So, it's good to see the community them getting out in the community and connecting with community well. So, I appreciate that. So, appreciate the effort of our our coaches to be able to get involved in things like that. So, looking forward to what we can do in the future for that as a community together. So, appreciate that. That's all I got. >> Jacob, >> I agree with every with what everyone said. Um Jessica, I think you're doing a great job
072around the budget. It looks pretty good compared to some other big schools. So appreciate that. Um we've been going around doing school tours and really enjoy that. Getting to meet the staff and um today we went the kids actually put on the tour. I thought that was really cool that they did that. Um I'm excited to see what the graph will look like next year, maybe even in the fall. excited about the way things are going. >> Becca and clean up again. Um, I agree with what everybody said, but um, so I've gotten to see a new board member, but have been able to see the way those fast merge test scores work just from our own my own parent conferences and the way those early readers awareness and the the phonics work and those
073tests and stuff. that interesting to see our district and especially compared to the national average and I mean it's pretty encouraging. It looks like good growth. So that I mean can walk out of here feeling like you know our teachers are doing good work and our students are doing well. So that's good. Um it'll be interesting to see how it changes with the new ELA curriculum, especially since our teachers and our administrators are excited about what this ELA package will do to improve. So hopefully hopefully that moves us even higher. So that's good. Um, agree with Jacob, thank you for all you do. That's a lot of numbers to keep track of. So, I appreciate that. Um, and outside of that, just yeah, I mean, seeing the kids here like at Victor and Ornales earlier
074today, that was fun to have them lead us through the school and then to see those kids in here tonight. I that's what it's about is watching these kids grow and learn and stuff. So, all good. And I do appreciate that you're getting us into the schools early and quickly and just getting us integrated into that. And I think that's good. >> That's important. >> Okay. Yeah, I did everything that every said. Um, I always love Buffalo. It seems like Ben always has the students so prepared when when they come in and always do a good job. Um, money side of things, you know. Yeah, I'm the last that's so far above my head of that. But I do feel like we're in a good place even though we do have some struggles coming. I
075mean the declining enrollment and the federal funding and state fun all that stuff that comes in. I do feel like though that we're in a good place and I know it's because of staff and you and everybody else what we're doing we are going to have some tough challenges in the future but I think we're we're doing well. Um, I I am going to use that graph the we're the fifth high lowest t in the state because I get told by everybody that we have the highest taxes in the Kansas. I hear that they so throw that graph at them to show them no. But that that's it. Josh >> um yeah just kind of piggybacking on the discussion with the fast bridge data. Um we're obviously not where we want to be. Um, but
076we are we are moving at least in the right direction. And I think that's a that's a shift that you're not going to get turned right away. It's going to take a little time, but I think we've got a lot of the things in place to to make really good movements. I think um the new ELA curriculum with it being, you know, lined up with with the science of reading and and like Heather said, and and it's it's based on structured literacy, I think that's going to be huge for us. Um, Wednesday, uh, Steve and I are going with some of the folks in his instruction office. Mark's going to go with us to go f visit the Philips Fundamental Learning Center. Um, I think the more that we start targeting our kiddos that are
077really struggling in reading and figuring out how to address their needs, that's going to move that needle for us. And I think the work that we've done with letters and that that we've really kind of committed our staff and we're going to be able to do that inhouse is going to be huge because then we'll I think we can build onto that. So this is letters and you've learned that, but now what do you do next? And I think we'll be able to do some of those things and kind of take things to the next level. So I'm really exciting excited for where we're going to go with with literacy. It's going to take some time, but I feel like the data is finally starting to show that we're we're making progress. One thing that
078was really exciting when um at the beginning when Michelle was talking about the prek and how we actually were above the national average, I think that's a testament to we we moved Hagerty and did the footmic awareness thing. We started doing that at at three years old. We're working with kiddos and so we're introducing them to that stuff early and that's going to and we're seeing that impact as our fall as our kids go into kindergarten and they do their fall assessments, they're scoring higher in the fall and I think that's all because of the the foundation that we're laying early. And so I think those things are huge. Um I did want to piggyback on on uh what was said about what what was said about the audit. I think Jessica and her staff
079do a phenomenal job. One thing that wasn't shared that I think is really important is there were no material weaknesses identified this year in the audit, which is the first time in >> years, >> five years. So that says a lot about the work that she and her staff are doing. Jessica's got a really good understanding of that and does a great job in that office. So a lot of good things happening. >> Hey, Adam J. Next board meeting, the next regular meeting of the board of education will take place on Thursday, February 26th at 6 PM here in the board meeting room of the educational support center. >> Mr. President, >> yes. >> Um, we need to make a last minute amendment to our executive sessions. Um, K2, the second executive session need to
080we need to remove. >> I just got a text from Jennifer and she's deathly ill and not going to make it in. So we just need to make a motion to amend the agenda to remove that. >> Mr. President, sorry. >> I move to to amend the agenda to remove K2 consultation with attorney for the body or agency which will be deemed privilege and attorney client relationship. >> Second. Is there any discussion? All in favor raise your hand. post. Same motion carries. Okay. Item executive session K1. >> How long do we need? >> 30 minutes. >> 7:30. >> Who likes to talk a lot? >> I don't want to have to talk. All right. Ne 10 more minutes. >> It's 7:16 right now. Mr. Mr. President, I move we go into executive session for 30
081minutes to discuss the negotiations for the 20 26 27 school year pursuant to the exception for employer employee relationships negotiation under coma beginning at 7:20 p.m. and the open meeting board meeting room at 7:50 p.m. I'd like to invite Diamond Drew Ton Steve Norby and Jessica Ner to join us in executive session. So move in second. All in favor raise your hand. I was saying.