001going to call this meeting of the board of education to order. Like all the board members are present. If um everyone would like to stand for the pledge to the flag led by the students from Kelly Elementary. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for All right. >> Julie, would you like to >> I don't know what you're getting. find out. >> All right. Uh we're going to move on to item three. Turn the meeting over to Dr. Housewald to the good news. >> Uh yes. Uh first up, uh it's it's a privilege to to welcome Honorable U. Judge Strandback and he is going to be swearing in the 202526 student board member um AJ Whiteoff. [Applause]
002And AJ, if you and the judge will stay there, we're gonna have the family come up and we'll get a photo. And uh if the board would also come down, we usually get one uh photo with the swearing in. So, if the board members will come down front, we're going to grab a quick photo. And while they're doing that, I do want to just introduce AJ. Uh, he'll be able to say words in a few minutes. He was elected by his peers as the student school board representative for the upcoming school year. Um, he will be the 24th student representative elected to the Boone County School Board by student delegates of the student student the superintendent student advisory council. Uh, the council was established as a venue for authentic student voice in 2002. The student
003board representative is a non- voting member of the board of education representing all students. Uh and AJ will preside over the SSAC at the start of the school year. And again, we're going to get a photo with the judge. Thank you. [Applause] Okay, at this point, uh, real quickly, I'm going to allow, uh, AJ to, uh, introduce himself. Um, and, uh, do some introductory comments. Of course, throughout the year, there is a place on the agenda for a student voice, always led by the president of the SSAC. And uh I know that over the last year I've experienced the tremendous benefit of that voice as well as uh watching the student um body president uh lead the student advisory council. Uh each month I have an opportunity to speak to them and it's it's amazing
004work that they do and the way they represent uh the students of our district. AJ, I'll turn it over to you. >> All right. Yeah. Hello and good evening. My name is AJ Wyoff and I am a senior and I run track and cross country at Connor High School. I'm incredibly excited to be representing the students of Boone County schools and doing my best to improve them for the future students. One of my goals for this year draws inspiration from the governor scholar program that I attended this summer and is to make SSAC a place where some of the brightest minds in our county can grow and learn from each other and their experiences which will help create better leaders at all of our schools. In addition, our previous leaders that past few years have
005done a great job at setting up high school committees that meet after our normal SSAC meetings such as the mental health and student committees. My goal for me and my fellow high school leaders is to set goals and do whatever I can to help them achieve their goals, whether providing resources or helping hands. Thank you for your time and I will do my best to make the Boone County schools better for you and your students. >> Thank you, AJ. We appreciate that. 24th year of this program started in 2002. Do we have any former um student body presidents? If so, if you would stand. I don't know if we do. >> Oh, there's one. >> That was all on purpose. So, her picture's out there if you want to see her high school photo. All
006right. Good news item, too. This is exciting. This is the I I know. I'll pay I'll pay for that. Um this is the second uh first day of school video. Uh um I have the opportunity on on opening day just to really get out and uh see our schools, thank our staff. Um talk to the staff, talk to the students. Um I see Kathy smiling. I didn't you were last year. So this year we picked different schools. Um and uh this year we really spent a little more time with our staff. Uh last year we engaged a lot with students. You'll see student voice of course in this, but we're going to show a quick video. Thank you. >> A little bit more. Whoa. Perfect. Perfect. Nice job. >> Well, have a good first day,
007everybody. And I love the car. >> Thank you. >> I may paint mine senior citizen. >> Just seeing the kids being excited, having fun. >> How many first days is this for you, Mr. Schaefer? >> Number 20. But who's counting? >> Right. >> Good morning, guys. Doing all right. >> Morning. >> Everybody's rolling in. >> Half awake. Half awake. >> It's the first day. >> Yeah. First day. >> First day. Will it be you're saying they won't be tired on day one? Uh 173. >> Yes, sir. >> They will be tomorrow. >> Morning everybody. What's the best thing about the first day of school? >> The excitement of meeting all >> the excitement of meeting the students. I like it. Are you going to have a teacher today? >> Is your teacher going to be
008your mom? >> Is she? She's a kid. You just She's not a kindergarten teacher, is she? No, I don't teach kindergarten. >> So, she's but at home. So, so she's not the boss of you here. Is she the boss of you at home? >> It's good to know these things. It's good to know these things. >> You guys are always on the go. >> There's always an issue. >> School looks great. I mean, you work all summer to get ready >> and then there's no rest for the weary. >> No. >> Well, we get it looking good. >> Yeah, it looks great. Jessica, thank you. I appreciate it. It really does. So, thanks. I mean, you guys all summer >> and it just starts over. >> Well, this is my first class. So, >> for
009Oh. Oh, so to be determined, right? They're ready to go. I can tell. >> There they are. Everybody doing all right? Ready to go. >> We only have 345 more meals to serve this year. So, we're getting excited. >> Come on. Look at their faces. I know. >> They're so excited. And everybody's showing off their new outfits and shoes. >> It's the coolest thing. >> Jump faster. >> Makes them run and jump faster. >> Yes. >> So, you're telling me if I get some new shoes, I'll run faster. >> That's what I hear. Especially if they light up. >> If they light up. >> Light up. >> Go in. If you hope that you have a really great school year. >> Absolutely. All right. >> Ready for the first day? Everything going okay today? >>
010The wheels haven't fallen off yet? Not yet. >> Yeah. Everybody has air conditioning. That's the big question. Because when air conditioning goes out, that's when they uh the years they never It just cycles, doesn't it? There's no beginning and end, is there? >> So, I get it. Well, thanks, guys. What's the best thing about the first day? >> Just seeing the kids. It's fun to see them. >> What about co-workers? >> Of course. >> I don't know. That's the best. >> Well, listen. I'm gonna let you two work this out. >> Okay. She's awesome. So, uh, this the first time we used the bus loop today. >> First time. And it went great. >> That's great. So, it's is this the first time ever Yay's had separation between buses and and car riders? So, it
011has to make it more efficient. >> It's way more efficient, way quicker this morning. Way smoother. >> And in terms of I mean, this is a multi-million dollar construction project, but this is year two. But all the classrooms are done. >> All the classrooms. >> So, all the students are in brand new remodeled classrooms, new bus loop, and then we just have the hallway and the gym. cafeteria to do. >> That's it. >> That's great. Well, it looks good around here. >> This looked great and the traffic on the streets was taken care of, so we had no traffic jams. We should be great this afternoon. >> Thanks for showing me. Let's go visit the classroom. >> Okay, let's see. Let's do it. >> How are we doing? >> We're doing good. How are you?
012>> Good. >> There's that one moment of the day where we're speechless. >> That's right. That's the one moment we're like, >> I like it. I love the new rooms. It's looking good in here. >> It is. >> And fifth graders. So, these are the leaders of the school this year. >> They are. >> And they're going to do great. >> This is an amazing group. >> You can already tell. impressed. You >> you knew from the beginning. >> Yes. From the first. >> How many first days is this for you all? >> This is 19 for me. >> 19. >> This is my second. >> Second. >> This is my first >> Oh my goodness. >> Yeah. >> I remember my first day >> a while back. This is my 29th. >> All right.
013Well, too great. >> Thank you. It was a great day. And I know uh special thanks to uh Barbara and Chad in our communications department. They said we're just going to pull a few comments. You clearly made a lot more than that. And uh and so uh they they just spotlighted just a few of the conversations, but we met so many families. I know that we we greeted families at many of the schools uh uh as they were coming in and and the get the car riders and the bus riders and the drivers and then all the staff. Uh it's just a great day. And then about half I don't know it was halfway through the day. They had to go back and make the video and I had a chance to visit a lot
014of more schools and my last visit was was right here on this campus. I know I talked to Charlie here in the uh the Rise building and then finished getting the students on the bus at Florence. So it was a fantastic day and I am grateful for the opportunity to to serve uh as superintendent in this amazing school district in this great community. Good news item three, education support professional of the year. Even more exciting, uh, tonight we're here to congratulate transportation department Beverly Daniels. Uh, she was awarded the education support professional award of the year and will represent Kentucky next year in California at the national ESP awards. Uh, uh, the KA and the BCCA leadership recently made a surprise visit to announce her award. So, if we could have I saw her here
015earlier. I come on up there. I saw her talking to Officer Walters earlier and uh Beverly, we're going to get a photo and allow you to say a few words if you will. So, it's up to you. delaying because I figured that by the time they came to see me in June and June, beginning of July that uh I had not won. So they they they really uh surprised me very much and I greatly appreciate you honoring me. It's a privilege >> and you're getting the national is in where? >> It's in Anaheim, California. Come back. >> Oh, I will come back. Proud of you. >> Well, thank you. Yes. I want to thank Charlie and Marcy and of course Miss Helen for all their help and their dedication to to help me achieve uh
016winning ESP of the year 2025. [Applause] >> All right, next one. Good news. Item four, lifetime service award. Helen Cotengim is the recipient of the Student Transportation Association of Kucky's Lifetime Service Award. She was nominated for the Stack Lifetime Service Award by transportation director Nick Greer. Congratulations, Helen. Uh she has been with Boone County Schools Transportation Department for 53 years. 53 opening days. I got I got double that. half of that. A few years ago, we celebrated our 50 years as the district and we are going to take a look down memory lane before we do photos if >> and this was a little program that we had developed that was recognized by the department of education uh for safety while children were riding the bus. Yes. This was in uh uh 1979 at the
017first mandated uh kindergarten class. Helen Cotengam pages through her photo album, verbally footnoting her memories of the last 50 years. She was officially hired at the Boone County School's transportation department as a bus driver on October 13th, 1972. Back then, All in the Family was the number one TV show. The top selling car was the VW Beetle, and the cost of a gallon of gas was just 36. When I started driving school bus, I made a $100 a month. Think about that. My daughter says, "You're the only person I know that took a job paying $100 a month and made a career out of it because you wanted to." >> And boy, what a career. She became a driver trainer in the 1980s, then a national driver trainer in 1990, and traveled the country advocating
018for classified school employees while serving on the boards of the NEA, KEA, and KESPA. She was the first president of the Kentucky Education Support Professionals Association, and in 2010, she was celebrated as a bus driver, organizer, and advocate, receiving the NEA ESP of the year award. I really have had a desire to make this more uh make everything out of this that I could. I've always liked the school bus. I've always liked the kids and I've always had what I think is a a niche to be able to teach and relate to people. This was with a group called the Sparkle Group. It was a gifted and talented group and they would go every year on a five-day adventure. This is really funny. We didn't have GPS, so I drew a handdrawn map of where
019we were going on one of the sparkle trips to Eastern Kentucky. In 1977, on a trip to Pine Mountain, the road to Whitesburg was washed out. She had to find a way across and decided to trust a gas hauler going the same direction. His CB handle was mountain man. >> He goes, "Well, honey, I'm going over that way." He said, "And if you think you can follow me in that school bus, I'll take you over there." That was the challenge. If you think you can follow me, and I thought, "You're driving a fuel tanker, a golf fuel tanker, and surely goodness, I can take this school bus across behind you." >> And she did. The kids on the bus thank the gas hauler on the CB. >> They hollered, "Thanks, mountain man." and he comes
020back and says, "That's all right." He said, "You just passed the mountain man road test, little girl." This is me in my bus. And this was my evaluation from my very first presentation in 1984. Another handdrawn map going to Alabama. We went to the space museum. Helen's been the recipient of many awards and letters of commendation. Some serious, others provide comic relief. >> And it says to Helen Cotton for discouraging a wino maneuvering on unmarked Alabama road in the best ever sparkle trip bus driver. I don't remember the wino. But evidently a wino was coming up and I was like, I don't know. You just can't go there. Coming out of Buffalo, we got caught in uh in a tornado. There was a threat. the wind was blowing and she wrote in this letter, the
021only way that she could tell I was concerned that I had held the steering wheel so tight that my knuckles were white and I was chewing my chewing gum double time. Helen considers it a blessing that she can say she worked for 50 years in the same job for the same employer and loved every day of it. And while we celebrate this with her tonight, she will be back at work tomorrow in her current role as safety and training coordinator. no retirement plans yet. >> I'm not sure people are really meant to retire. I drove three generations of children and I think I'm still having that impact by trying to uh you know get across that we're going to do the safest transportation as we possibly can. To sum up what 50 years feels like
022is looking forward it's a long time. Looking back, it was yesterday. I do kind of have an endgame. I really I really do, but uh I want to keep my options open. >> On behalf of the Boone County School District, thank you for all you've done and continue to do for our students and the transportation staff. Congratulations, Helen Cotton, on 50 years Let's see. I'm like I don't want family. >> I do. And I do want to say >> this is my daughter Regina who when I started driving school bus was two years old. This is her husband, Greg. >> He reminded me he was >> when I started driving. >> You stay up here. >> Stay up here. >> Well, you know, I said at 50 years I had it in plan. Well, I
023guess I do, but I don't know what it is. And When you all people were talking about 20 years starting school, this is my 53rd year of first day of school and uh for the the most part I have loved every bit of it. Uh I have enjoyed it. It has been u my life and and you know to receive a lifetime achievement award award I guess I had to live it a lifetime. So it has been my life. It has been my lifetime. Uh my children uh I have a son that uh was four when I started driving and they have grown up in the school bus world. They can tell you more about rules and laws and regulations uh how to drive a standard shift, what to do, count the kids, do this,
024do that. So they also have grown up in this world and it has been our world and I have loved it and I appreciate this recognition so much. Thank you. Thank you. And finally, uh, good news item five. Kelly Elementary School students make a difference in their community. Every year, Kelly Elementary School gives back to the community by supporting a local nonprofit. this year student, staff, and family in condu in conjunction with the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 4 raise $10,000. So, um we are gonna the plan is we're gonna have the since we have students here, Kathy, if if the staff will come up, we'd like to get a photo with the board and then we'll ask you to just give a brief explanation of what you did and and and the beneficiaries of of
025the funds. Okay, come on. Let's do a photo first and then we'll step away and let you explain. Yeah, >> we have kids out in front and everybody feel kind of introductions and we'll do a big round of applause. >> All right. So, with us today, I'll come up to the mic. My voice is >> I can hear you online. Thanks. >> Okay. So, with us tonight, we have representative from Mad Kicks, who was our nonprofit that we had chosen, our student council that leads the decisions each year. So each year the student council, they talk about it. They say what they want to look for. They heard about Mad Kicks because the the partnership we have with the American Legion auxiliary unit and I'm gonna ask Marene to come up with up here with
026me. So Marene Marleene story hit me that the students wanted to give back and support students other students and Mad Kids is a nonprofit organization based on Marlene's daughter Maddie who was born with cable pausy and this is a nonprofit that for students with cerebby came and talked to student council and they asked her how much does it cost to open a store and the store was free to these students for these children and she told them 10,000 our president Sawyer said that's our goal we need to make $10,000 they worked We had a color. They did a lot of fundraising. And then American Legion Auxiliary stepped in and said, "How much did you make?" We raised about 6,000 and the American Legion stepped forward and said, "You're making your $10,000." And they gave us
027$4,000 so we can present it to kids. So it is a complete all complete around all community. It's working with partnerships with the American Legion. It's working with students and it's working with nonprofits. So we'll let Maren talk to us a little bit about a wonderful Hi, my name is Marley Ty. I'm the founder of Math Kicks. I'll try not to cry because I'm a crier. My board member Charity knows that as well. So, Mad Kicks like Abby said is I found it because of my daughter. She uses a walker at school and or she uses a walker in general and um she wears leg braces. So, she was diagnosed around the age of two cerebopy. We didn't know before then. and she just couldn't straighten her legs and we couldn't figure out why. So,
028it's been a long journey of therapy. Um, we went to the Pman Center for a couple years. I actually have a day job. So, I've worked there while she was in therapy. It's about three hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays is when we went and then I just started hearing stories about families that um there the children have cerebal palsy. We're lucky because she's not as severe as some children. There's nonverbal. They're in wheelchairs. Um they can't really their hands or arms or anything like that. And it takes two parents to care for them where I'm lucky where my husband and I can both work. But I just started hearing stories about shoes and they're newly diagnosed because they're under the age of kindergarten and under to be at the prom center. And I wanted I
029asked my husband if he wanted to help. So we gave 10 families shoes that year. Then I started talking to my friends and I said, "You know what? I want to do this on a bigger scale." So we together kicks and we've been running for five years now. From the Pearlman Center, we started to go into the PT centers at Children's Hospital. So, we have two what we call mankick stores where kids actually just go into a closet and pick out the shoes they want, but it mimics shopping at a store. So, my kids when they go back to school, they'll go to the store and they'll pick out shoes, but Madison can't do that. So, these kids actually get to look in a store and pick out the shoes. Right now, we have two
030stores, not counting the two at Pearlman outside of outside the Pearlman Center at Crest View and Green Township. And with your donation, I'm going to open another one. I'm going to put a plaque in there with Kelly Elementary and the auxiliary for and all those kids that go in there and try shoes on, they'll know that you guys did that for them. And that'll open the store and it'll stop the for a year and they'll have shoes that they need for a year and it helps them walk. It help it helps them on their journey. So, >> thank you [Applause] Thank you everybody that was recognized tonight. We really appreciate it. And I I'll turn it back over to Chairman Parks for the continuation of the meeting. Never ceases to amaze the wonderful things that
031happen in our school district. All right, we're going to move on to item four to the superintendent report. >> Yes, thank you. I just have one item on the agenda tonight for the superintendent's report. Um, as a secondyear superintendent, you'll be pleased to know that I will not be doing the monthly presentations uh on the various threats. However, I look forward to bringing you other information and data that's a result of of the work that we're doing uh that reflects the board's priorities and our strategic plan tonight. Uh you should have before you um information from last year's an executive summary from last year's employee stay interviews. If you look at standard two, an empowered workforce, part of that requires um regular conversations with our employees um and the way that has been structured is
032that our employees um will be interviewed um every five years. Uh we know that research research show that when our employees are engaged in conversations related to their employment, we get much more feedback and data to improve their experience. But most importantly, we know retention is higher. And so, um, we, uh, had the opportunity last year to interview every, uh, to offer an interview to every employee, excuse me, that was in their in a multiple of five. So, we call them speed limit years, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. I had an entire day where I sat down and interviewed people that were in their 30th year. Interestingly, I see Mr. Whiteoff back there. He was one of the people I interviewed. So, um, and that day was filled with joy, emotions, and, uh, some
033made me cry, some made me laugh, some made me do both. So, tonight we, um, want to enter into record some of the information we found, and then we'll summarize that at the very end, but in general, it reminds us what a great place this is to work. And I'm going to turn over to Eric Ball, who led the state interview process. >> I'll try to be brief. I appreciate your time. Interviews are really So before I get started I have to acknledge the team of people that really drove 260 interviews this year. Uh we have approximately 500 510 individuals who will be invited this year. So we're really hoping to get that number closer to 400 participants. But Jen said human resources did the overwhelming majority of those interviews. We compress those into a
034half year. So they seen also participated in interviews of people. So a very very high level summary here. You guys have a much more inepth summary. So please in your free time feel free to look through that. a lot of really great information from this, but essentially the the survey is four multiple choice or scaled questions and seven open-ended questions. And so I just kind of wanted to share some data about the multiple choice questions and then some couple of bullet points about the openended questions. So of the the four scaled questions, 92.7% of our employees agree or strongly agree that they are satisfied working with county schools. National average is 62%. Uh 91.1% of county school employees agree strongly agree that they would um continue to work. I'm sorry. Would u sorry I was
035trying to jot down notes really quick and I apologize. uh they would recommend Boone County schools. So 91.1% of employees would recommend Boon County schools to work with. Uh 53% is the average for employees across the nation. 89.2% are enthusiastic strongly agree or agree about coming work 31% and 94 yeah 94.6% said they will continue working for schools and the national average on that scratch there 72%. Thank you so much uh 72%. So in short this gave us some information on some things that that really drive the passion of our employees and it's going to be student centered folks in the district really appreciate the supportive environment and the benefits that they receive. So this is the This isn't information on um the relationships that they have with students and the personal and professional growth
036they see the district really are the things that they really passionate about. But it also gave us a couple of opportunities for growth. Uh the challenge of continuous change is something that our employees really verbalize to us. We understand as a cabinet, as a district, uh that we need to be consistent in our messaging and try to make the changes that are necessary but understand the impact that they have on our staff. Uh and then communication is always key that came up in in a good deal of our interviews and the narrative portions. And so we know that's just a point of emphasis not just in operations but instructionally communicating with our employees because when they know what's expected they often rise to the occasion and do an amazing job. So that is a true
037cliff notes version of state interviews. You guys have a much more extensive summary there. It was such a wonderful thing to get to this year. We're so excited. We've already uh started together. We'll have that out to schools. >> I just want to say thank you. I know that this is a lot of work and I know that this board has kept you very busy over the last two years. So, um, but thank you so much and it's refreshing to see this in, you know, terms of data points and I'm just very excited to see that our employees are exceptionally satisfied. So, >> it's nice to see above average. I will point out that Kim worked with the facility department. They renovated um spaces in our basement. They're very nice professional offices where employees are
038invited to come. I know and there's coffee in there and they're given gifts and they ordered they always receive pins but they also receive some nice like coffee mugs and other other gifts thank you. So it's a way to formally recognize their years of service rather than just passing them out to the principal whatever. So, you know, you brought all that together and and you know, just the stories, whether it's about pay, salaries or consistency in our communication, all of those things imped our oldest longest running employee of the district. >> I'm gonna feel like it's a pretty solid >> That's what I was thinking. I was I'd like to meet the other people that have been here. >> Yes. >> I know this year our highest speed limit for this coming year. >> The
039thing that amazes me is when I go to schools, I ask like the teachers how long they've been there. when I was at the Conor um teacher thing this year, seeing the amount of teachers that raise their hands that have been there for 20 plus years, that was amazing. It says a lot about our district and you know, thank you to all of our district team and the teams at our schools. That's a big accomplishment. That's a big part of the work that they put into >> and we don't since we have Eric here, we're having HR conversation. We don't have this on the agenda, but you know, we are seeing an uptick in applications. We have more spots filled. I had a welcomed approximately 100 teachers certified teachers uh to the district this year.
040Um and of those you know just just the hand raising I'd say half are new and half are transfers maybe 60 40 but a lot of people are choosing to come here so we're hiring people with experience which is good as well as uh people new the profession and we have about 100 classified hourly staff but we we're expecting there would be closer to 15. So um So we're looking at 200 250 new employees and that's a lot a lot of work but a celebration that people are many people are leaving their current employer and choosing to apply to work with us and I think this data kind of reflects why this data ref and I would Another thing that was really great about the orientation because we have all certified and classified come together
041for HR orientation. So we usually have roughly 150 to 200 people and it is great to see all employees because we can emphasize the fact that it takes every single person that our students find success. But what was really great was I would say 20 25% of the people when Dr. had such a such a wonderful experience as a student that they knew they wanted to give their professional lives to >> and the feedback I remember at the um PCA dinner last year one of the two main celebrations was able to get our starting salaries above 50,000 way above the state average on that I can't remember the statistics you gave but we know it's making a difference we're increase our our starting hourly wage to in most cases over $15 an hourreed it implemented
042again. So this is on staff feedback first the only large district in the state of a few districts in the state match which we're already seeing 70% participation. We continue to work hard to be more efficient, put more dollars towards our employees. Any other comments? I'll just say as you described a whole bunch of work. It does I just remind you that it every person that works for the public schools to make them work well. And there's a couple of comments in here that are pretty enlightening, you know, being told that you're a positive influence and they're reasons come to school. That doesn't just apply to teachers. I know for a lot of our students, it's not a teacher, it's a school resource officer. driver. And so I'm glad to hear that and I'll just
043continue the mission of the remaining% whatever thoughts they have. We have to continue to make sure that we hear that you know it's a communication issue that they struggle with focus on make sure I'm exceptionally proud that we're so far above the national average but it's not a triple digit number like students Thanks, Eric. And I have no further comments. All right, we're going to move on to item five, which is audience of citizens. I'll read a brief statement and then invite our guests up. The board welcomes the opportunity to hear from the community and inform the board of views on matters before the board. Please keep in mind the board of education agenda is set and by statute the board can only discuss the items that are present on the agenda. The board cannot
044legally nor would the board discuss an issue specific to an employee or student respect privacy. The meetings are streamed live on YouTube. Please be respectful of your comments. You have a concern that you'd like a response to from administration. Please Mr. Paul please keep comments for two minutes so that all wish to speak may speak and I would prefer given the time not with that being said the first speaker is going to be the president of our Mr. Welcome was just um I want to start by thanking I am serious. I'm always serious. I want to uh start by thanking the members of the board, central office staff and BCA members who've been on the salary calendar for the past two years. Earlier this week, days were dedicated to our students by teachers to complete
045mandatory trainings and yesterday uh for getting to get ready for the first day of school. I've heard nothing but compliments over the past two years thanks to themselves in their class when our district and association work great. I also want to thank those who helped to become the first district Commonwealth,000 salary Dr. I also want to specifically acknowledge two board members. Today is my 28th opening day. I want to echo Karen B's comments. I also want to acknowledge a question that was answering child Since last year, members of met letter was sent to all members. Here are the child policies for county's educators. educators. I always talk about I will email these even to work with the board to craft policy so that we can be the first district. Uh thank you. Like our work
046on the calendar and salary and our collective bargaining agreement we view child as >> All right, Mr. Dailyy. It's been a long day. Um, so I heard a story once of a man who would wake up an hour early every morning and go to work. After years of seeing her husband do this, his wife asked him one day, "Honey, why do you go into work so early?" The man paused for a moment, then calmly responded, "Because, sweetheart, maybe one day one of my boys will catch me in the act of excellence." If you happen to be lucky enough to walk through the hallways of Valley Shannon Middle School one day, even better if your children are lucky enough, you will undoubtedly witness that same devotion to excellence and consistency in the everyday actions of Sarah
047Fay. Miss Fay teaches math, but for the Ballet Shannon community, she is so much more than that. She's not only a master of her craft, but she's also a champion of others, resolved to make sure every single student gets the care that they deserve. One parent told me, "I know what you're going to say, Mr. Parks. >> Are we talking about an individual?" >> We are talking about celebrating Boone County educators. One parent told me, "Teacher didn't just teach our son with dyslexia. She believed in him. With kindness and patience, she pushed him to reach his potential, turning challenges into victories. She change the way he sees himself. A former student of hers said she cares about us like family. That family treatment doesn't just apply to her students either. For Valley staff, >> Mr.
048Daily, >> I didn't say a name. >> Okay, we have to not talk about it. >> Okay, perfect. So, I will I will just publish this. Um, I'll just publish this with the acknowledgement that today while we did some amazing celebrations of students and their work and we did some amazing celebrations of certified staff, there wasn't a teacher celebrated on there. And I think with a staff as large as we have, with a district as large as we have, I would love to see us invest more time and energy into uplifting more educators because one educator a month, one teacher a month is not nearly enough celebration for the amazing work that happens here in Boom County. So I hope that you will all read this as it's acknowledge that it was not permitted to
049be spoken. It's beautiful to see you. >> All right, that's all that signed up uh for the audience of citizens. Okay, is there any students here that are here? Okay, >> we're going to move on to item seven recommended action consent items A through Dr. House. >> Uh, yes. Thank you, Chairman Parks. For agenda item six, I recommend the board approve the recommended action consent agenda items A through Q as presented with the treasures report by Miss Kat. >> Thank you, Dr. H. We began the month of July with an adjusted cash balance of 47,500,268. We had total receipts of 8.3 million and total expenditures of 7.5 million for a net increase of cash of $850,46. Our balance on hand at the end of the month was 48,350,314. Some notable items for the month were
050that we collected 2.3 million in PSC property tax and 1 million in both utility and vehicle tax and this is a little higher than what we generally collected at this time of month. We did collect less occupational tax in the month of July um but we feel this is a timing issue and expect to see more in August. We received just under 98,000 in delinquent taxes and we made debt service payment of 4.4 million I have a motion to approve agenda items through any discussion on it. If there's no further discussion, move forward vote. All in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? move on to item recommended action business item A. Dr. Household. >> Yes. Thank you again, Chairman Parks. I recommend the board approve the recommended action business item A annual board policy
051updates for 202526. This is the second reading so far. App Have a motion to approve business item A, annual budget board policy updates 256. Second reading is recommended. Any discussion? There's no further discussion. Move forward with a vote. All in favor, please say I. >> I.e. action new business item A. Dr. House. >> Yes. Thank you, Chairman Parks. I recommend the board approve recommended action new business item Agency policy adoption uh 2025. That's policy 8.23. 23 based on requirements and timing and meets the statutes for such an approval in accordance with our do I have a motion to approve new business item A emergency policy adoption 25 as recommended Just for people that are listening, emergency policy adoption sounds >> happy to do it. So under standards of normal practice, of course, when you're passing
052new policies, the district and the board have to read something twice. There has to be substantial amount of opportunity for the public to read new policies and weigh in. The exception to that is when there are exigent circumstances that require only one reading. So the public still gets their opportunity to come and weigh in on new policies, but for timing reasons mostly, um the board's not going to do it twice. something we try to use very sparingly, but with the continuously unfolding guidance on these various legislative acts that came into play over the summer, we've been chasing a moving target. And this particular policy was about Senate Bill 181 and what a traceable communication system entailed. Um, obviously the board was already aware that ACT was going to be in full force because Dr. Dr.
053Housewald and his team were so far ahead of the game. thankfully on getting APG in place long before the bill even became an issue. Um but while we were trying to figure out what other systems and platforms that the district had at its disposal would fit under that definition, there just simply wasn't time to add all of those into the policy we passed at the last board meeting. So all that this policy does is add in um I think it's a little less than 10 just about a handful of new platforms that the district already has implemented in various schools that do fit that definition. So it's not a substantive process change to the policy. It just creates more avenues that are board approved for those traceable communications to occur in the classroom. >> Any
054further discussion question? We'll move forward with a vote. All in favor, please say I. opposed. Agenda item eight, recommended action, new business item B. Dr. House. >> Yes. Thank you again, Chairman Parks. I recommend a board to approve the recommended action new business item B, which is a reimbursement resolution. >> I have a motion to approve new business item B reimbursement resolution is recommended. Any discussion on item B? Seeing none, all in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Seeing none, motion passes by. Move on to agenda item, new business. Action, new business. Item C, Dr. Housewalk. board. Once again, I approve the I recommend uh that the board approve a recommended action new business item C, which is assistant director of operational technology job description, which brings this more in line with the assistant
055director of educational technology. So it gives us two basavions reality. So I recommend the board approve this updated this new job. We have a motion to approve the new business item C assistant director of operational technology job desript job description as recommended. Any discussion on item? Seeing none, we'll move forward with a vote. All in favor, please say I. All right, we move forward on to item nodes communications. Any board members have committee reports or information they would like to share. >> Budget committee met last week was a great meeting, great discussion as we're looking ahead to our budget and setting priorities and looking at where our tax rate will need to be to support everything wonderful that we want to do in B County schools. So, um just be watching for those materials to
056come out. Um and thanks to Dr. House for doing a great presentation there and I got to see him with the chalkboard in action. I've heard that that's quite the thing now. That was here. I thought we were trying to get all the chalkboards out of the school. County high school. They'll just add some. Not >> I can't tell. She's complimenting me or making fun of me, but I'm going to go with the with the prior, not the ladder. >> You have the right to choose your interpretation. Um I I do have a few things. Uh one is u mainly to the board. KSBA is doing our legislative survey of board members and superintendent. Hopefully, you've seen that email. Hopefully, you have responded to that email. Um, if not, please do that. It is vital.
057Um, KSBA is an organization that values what its people that it represents say. And your voice will craft our legislative agenda for next year's general assembly. So, and if you know board members in other districts, with them, encourage them so that we can get a great participation rate for that. Um, I also want to say um, thank you to all of the, uh, buildings who put golf teams in our, uh, golf outing that we had August the 1. We had a completely full outing this year again, which is wonderful. You know, the early reports I had in like the end of June, 1 of July, there was they were panicking and I went, "Everybody comes in late than does this late." Some people historically show up the day of and say, "Yeah, of course I'm
058playing." And um I want to thank the ladies out of the district office um who came and volunteered their part of their last Friday, free Friday of the summer to help uh with registration and taking photographs and just being good ambassadors for our schools to do that. And I I saw that Emtt Hayes split away and um I want to thank him personally. He has sponsored pretty much at some level every golf outing we've had every year. Not just as a sponsor, I'm talking sponsor. Um and he also helped sponsor since this was the 25th year 25th year of the golf outing. He was also one of the sponsors for the golf shirts that were given to every participant that played this year commemorating the 25th anniversary of that particular outing. And a lot of
059those 25 years, maybe we were trying to figure maybe 18 were have been with Boone County Schools. they had another community organization that they sponsored before us. But when that started uh kind of fading away, um that's when I got to know uh HBridge and some of the guys that have been around for years and said, "Why have you ever thought about Boom County Schools?" You know, it touches the whole community. So, um but thank you to Emit for his faithfulness and and supporting that outing for our kids and our staff here. Um the last thing I want to briefly say is um this is kind of my back to school message. So it was very appropriate to see the surveys from the staff. I'll be curious to see how it compares to the 25
06026 survey. Um when I was listening to Helen um because she's one of the few people that's been around longer than I have and u she's always been an inspiration to me um when she said that you know she doesn't think people are meant to retire and I think there's some truth to that especially if you love what you do. I get asked on a daily basis when I'm retiring from my job and my response is why would I want to? I enjoy getting up and going to work every day. I enjoy getting to make a difference in my clients lives. I enjoy getting to work for a company that gives back unselfishly to the greater Cincinnati area community. And that's what Helen epitomizes to me is that joy and loving what you do. And
061it's nice to see some of that joy coming back across the district. But it's a very fragile thing and we have to protect it and we have to nurture it and we have to remember that we're human and that we're going to have bad days and that we still need to support each other. be kind to each other and treat each other with respect. And that we need to work collaboratively and in sync because we have one goal and that's every child that walks into every building getting the best that we have to offer and that goes across all ranks classified certified. It goes across district leadership. It goes across the board keeping first things first, which is our students because if it's good for our students, it's going to end up being supportive of
062our staff. So that's my back to school message. Thank you for a great first day. Thank you for all the nextund bazillion days that's going to feel like coming. And know that you are appreciated for everything that you do. And somewhere today At some point, you made a difference to a child, to a colleague down the hall, to one of our food service workers, to a bus driver, to a custodian, to our paras. And I'm just asking to remember why we do what we do. And thank you for all of that. I had the privilege to go to several back to school moments today at both a middle, high, and elementary school. And it's amazing when you see these kids get off the bus and hug their teachers from prior years and and the love
063that their bus drivers have for them and then you see cafeteria workers which we got to talk to the cafeteria workers in um Conor Mill today and how they take their job so seriously. It's it's not just a job for them. They know that what they're doing for those kids is important and we see that in person from, you know, our custodial staff to the cafeteria workers to our paras to our teachers to our admin. Everybody knows that the kids are what's important and what they're doing there is the most precious work. And I I thank all the teachers for providing that and our staff for providing that for our kids because it's it's critical especially for our kids that are high risk. Some of those kids that might be the only hug they get,
064that might be the only hot meal they get. And It's critical to remember that and keep in perspective the importance of what public education offers to our community. So, I thank all of you that have put the work in to get ready for the school year. I thank you all in advance for everything you're going to pour into our kids because they depend on us. So, thank you for all you do. >> I would just like to say I was very happy to see what they were doing at Kelly Elementary. That's my I was at Kelly for 20 years. I was happy to see that they're getting kids to be the leaders to give back to the community. They're teaching them, you know, these kids are I had some kids, they're like third graders, you
065know, fourth graders, second graders, and um I just think it's encouraging that they're learning. Yes, we can we can make a difference. We can raise money and we can make a difference. So, I was really glad to see Kelly Elementary just recognized Um, we do have a communication house. I just simply wanted to introduce I'd be remiss tonight to not introduce. We have a new executive director. We welcome Daryl Denim. Daryl, if you would like to quickly introduce yourself, Daryl is an alum county school. So, he's one of he's you're one of those statistics, Darl. That's right. That uh and so uh We're grateful to have Kelly Katie right by his side who has continued to do our treasures reports um and um and they're partnering together to really uh advance the work of the
066business office. So Darl, I'll just let you introduce yourself. >> Yeah, thank you. As you said, I was uh one of the 25% that you know have come back or were an alumni of the Boom County School. So Goodidge Elementary, Connor High School was part of the 1983 state football championship team. I was actually part of the second governor scholar program in Kentucky center college back way back when. So uh spent the last 30 years or so in uh in the corporate world mostly in manufacturing variety of finance and uh accounting and marketing roles but it's good to be back in the community. It's the first time I've ever worked in Boon County although I grew up here and lived here most of my life. So glad to be here. lot to learn and a
067lot to do. >> Um, okay. So, first day of school is fantastic, right? So, you drive around the county and you see the kids with their little backpacks and they're on the corner and some of the older kids with their friends and you know, they're waiting for the bus and all that. You see the lines of parents somewhat frustrated in the lines, you know. traffic, you know, doesn't know how long it's going to take, you know, to get in the loop and out of the school. And so there's this, you know, but there the the energy from parents to teachers to um, you know, the community in general, you know, if you go into it's alive and it's just a really fantastic experience. We do cherish, you know, all of our schools, all of our
068buildings, So very much not only if you have a student there or not just you know it's a great place to be. Um I wanted to encourage the board members to embrace the changes we made to our committee structures. Um we will get that information out. So because the school year starting work will become more important in those committees over the next few months and I know there's some things that we all have look forward to discussing some good work. I will one thing that has come up and I'm just saying this because I said I would say it is for families that have dual houses but in the same school district in the past and drop them off one week with dad. So we will be talking about that transportation committee see if we
069can return to that type of structure and I know there's some complication to that otherwise it's going to be a fantastic school year and I hope everyone is very excited for the work ahead and I know that maybe The first time my daughter and her crew I call the tribe were really really excited to go back to school which I thought was I mean for me I wasn't that excited back to school. Um so I I'm encouraged to say that and seeing the video you looks like it's the samewhere. All right, with that we'll move to item 10. There's no closed session, so we'll move to item 11, which is to adjourn the meeting. Do I have a motion to adjourn? All in favor, please. All in favor, please say I. >> I passes.