Boone County School Board Meeting For May 2025

001We're going to call the um May board meeting to order. Looks like all of our board members are present. With that, we'll stand for the Anthem presented by Boone County High School on video. [Music] So we held the twilight stripes bright. [Music] So the bird [Music] through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say for the of the free. [Music] And if you could remain standing for the pledge of allegiance led by the students at Kelly Elementary. United States of America to the republic for it stands nationy. All right. It's Thank you all for coming. All right, next we're going to move on to item four. Turn a meeting over to Dr. Housewald for good news. Uh good evening board. Thank you everyone for being here. Uh, as you'll see, we have a

002lot of good news tonight. This is sort of our a culmination. We have good news celebrations throughout the year. However, we generally don't uh do them in the summer. We know people uh uh really kind of take a summer break and people are all over the place. So, um we have a lot to celebrate tonight. So, we're going to begin uh by our break the mold uh who is Deputy Chris uh Saunders. Uh congratulations to Aurman Middle School Resource Officer Chris Saunders. Uh, Deputy Saunders has been the SRO at Orian for nearly a decade, but it was his prior career that prepared him for the work he does now. He was once assigned to presidential security for President George W. Bush as a Marine. He served a third battalion, third Marines as an infantry uh

003mortman and was deployed to Afghanistan with the rank of sergeant. In his current role as SRO, he values relationships with students and goes beyond his law enforcement role by being involved with the students beyond school hours participating in after school events and projects. We know he's a man around town and very uh goes above and beyond at Orian. I had the opportunity to have lunch with him uh earlier this week. Rotary did scholarships and I know that his sons received one of those scholarships and we had a great lunch and a great conversation and we're real proud of uh Chris and at this point we're going to watch a video and then we'll do recognitions. It's okay. Do you ever wonder what a school resource officer does at school every day other than provide safety

004and security for students and staff? We're not disciplinarians. I don't enforce school rules. Um that's that's not why I'm here. Maddie, when's your next game? There are times where you might have to fall in line as a law enforcement counselor and you might have to talk to kids who had witnessed a domestic the night before and they don't understand what's happening. Deputy Saunders spends his time relationship building. He says it can be the hardest and most rewarding part of his job. What really stands out to me is the relationships he builds with kids. There's a young man that uh his his family is from the Pacific Islands. I'm a Pacific Islander. I'm born on the islands. Uh Guam. I just came back from a trip from Hawaii. One of their things is a delicacy called

005msubi. He made this. It's kind of like sushi. It's with sticky rice, seaweed wrap, and some spam. It's really good. And I was like I asked him was like, "Hey man, do you do you know what that is?" The name of it is msubi. And I me personally, I really love it. like that's my favorite food. I'm not going to lie. And I was like, I'll bring you one. I brought it in. And it's just neat to see like how that um changes their outlook. When he gave me that, it it made me feel like like I was important to him, like I I meant something to him. If there was something that I would say we value so much or the greatest about Deputy Saunders, he's like every adult that comes in this building,

006he's a teacher. And while people may see that badge and that uniform and make certain assumptions, I get it. He is a deputy for Boone County Sheriff's, but he's a teacher in this building and he does as much teaching and encouraging and modeling as any adult does in this building for our kids. He just brings a positive police interaction for all of the kids, not just the students, but their families, too. I like off the guns. Why him is nice to me and give me a radio and a kid. One month after I was here, me and him like started talking and became friends and I've liked them ever since. Me like, especially me, I'm like a bad kid. Like the worst kid in this school. I'm not going to lie. But, uh, he he's

007been very nice and he's he's let me down easy because he knows I can be a good kid and he sees the good in everyone. In addition to his duties as school resource officer, Deputy Saunders serves as the SRO Division liaison on the Boone County School District Monthly Safety Committee. We discuss things that come to light, you know, that could enhance the safety and security of our buildings and all of our campuses. It's ever changing because of the world we live in. I feel safe every day and I know that's because of the work he's doing, not only here, but at the district level, too. I think I got the safest school in the state of Kentucky because of Deputy Saunders. He's always willing to help, even if it has nothing to do with his

008official job description or job title, meaning he isn't opposed to stepping into a classroom and give a brief lesson based on his knowledge and experiences as a Marine. With my background in the military, uh they might ask, "Hey, we're studying, you know, World War I, like what do you know about World War I? And the Marine Corps was always huge on history, so I could be like, well, I can tell you this piece of it. I'm finishing up my ninth year here. And so, I've now had whole families come through. I've had siblings u that are now, you know, graduating college. So, it's kind of neat to see that development, that growth that they have. But yeah, the kids are definitely the best part. I think I've got the best job in the world. Deputy

009Saunders, we are so excited and we could not think of a better person to earn the break the mold award for this month. Thank you for all you do for not only our students but our staff. Thank you for what you bring to our building. Thank you for making Arian a great place to work. Congratulations Saunders on Break the Mold. Nobody deserves it more than you. Congratulations, Deputy Saunders. You absolutely are deserving of this Break the Mold award. Thank you for all you do at Auckerman Middle. Good job. I love you, Soners. All right, man. I didn't think you gonna win this. No, I'm just kidding. You You deserve it. Uh congratulations on uh winning the award. Uh Break the Mold, but this should have been mine. I'm just kidding. But congratulations. Congratulations for winning

010Break the Mold. You've done a lot. You've changed my life actually in so many ways. Thank you. All right, come on up here. Yeah. Uh if you have your family here, bring them on up. We'll get some photos. All right. Thank you, uh, Officer Saunders. I think that for we recognize all the SRO, maybe it's your turn to be in the middle of that photo. That's up. All right. Our next good news item, excellent dinner award recipients. The following students and teachers were recognized in April for their dedication and excellence in education during the annual Northern Kentucky Excellence in Education dinner and awards celebration put on by the Northern Kentucky Education Council. Congratulations. As your names are read, please come to the front for pictures. I have a highlight of some of the people we

011know are here, but I'm going to read them all. I want to make sure we don't miss anyone. So, career and technical allstar Madison Nickel of Ignite Institute receiving the student leadership award of Ignite Institute. I think I saw coming up. We're going to read them all and then we're going to do um receiving the against all odds recognition. Elm Elm Nun of Cooper High School receiving the St. Elizabeth healthc care scholarships from Boone County High School or Vashi Nan Nani from Connor High School. Jay Cami Camdi I didn't see him from RA High School Argul Maria the craft and Courtney Mair from Cooper High School. Ethan liked Leah Tfairy and Tom Vash. And from Ignite Institute, Maria Lemono. I did not see her. Oh, I did. See, Maria, congratulations. this year. All right, let's

012give them a round of applause and we're going to hand out certificates. continuation of this good news. This year, nine teachers in the Boone County School District as part of the same evening in the same organization received the region's highest honor. We call those our golden apple award winners and I know several of them are here tonight so we're going to recognize them next. Uh Steeplechase Elementary Rhonda Herald Rhonda Long Branch Elementary Sher Kilmer Florence Elementary Taylor Padet Long Branch Elementary, Jenna Stewart. I think Jen is at these meetings more than I am. Aman Middle School, Jennifer Davis. Gray Gray Middle School. Nicholas Dorning. Saw Nicholas here. Jones Middle School. Scott Reed. Conor High School, Jessica Co. saw her and Cooper High School, Haley Dance. Also, as part of this, the Kentucky High School teacher

013of the year as part of the same uh uh award ceremony was Haley Dance. And finally, the 2025 community partner of the year honore. The community partner of the year award recognized an outstanding nonprofit organization in other in Northern Kentucky that has shown exemplary leadership by facilitating partnerships, outreach, and the impact with local public school districts. And this year that organization was First Church of Christ and their partnership with New Haven Elementary good news item number three. We have two Rotary awards tonight. The first are our Rotary Teachers of the Year. The Florence Rotary Club recognized three Boone County School District teachers as teacher of the year recipients uh just a couple Mondays ago. Each teacher received $500 check from her from Heritage Bank to donate to an education charity of their choice, a banner

014to hang at their school, a citation from the Kentucky Senate presented by State Senator Rollins, a Boone County proclamation from the Boone County Judge Executive Gary Moore, uh naming Monday, April 21st as those teachers days, and the Kentucky Colonel Award signed by Governor Basher. So, congratulations. And if you'll come up when we announce your name, uh Ry High School teacher Rachel Brand, not a teacher yet, but we we will be enrolling him in an education program soon, I thought. Okay. Aman Middle School teacher Blair Sullivan. I didn't see Blair. And Steeplechase Elementary teacher Jennifer Jennifer McCarron. She's not here. Okay. All right. So, and they received like five a large check and like five plaques placards. So, they they really did a nice uh ceremony. It was great hearing their stories and they had an

015opportunity to speak before Rotary on April 21st. So, next for good news item 3A um Rotary High School scholarships. I kind of Chris's son is one of these. I kind of stole that from her earlier. So, the 4in Rotary club awarded $1,000 scholarships to five deserving high school students from Boone County high schools on Monday of this week. Qualifying students must show high academic achievement, leadership, and community volunteerism. Financial need uh is also a consideration. They also demonstrated courage, strength, and perseverance. Congratulations to the following students. So, James Squires of Boone County High School. He's watching me. He got to have lunch with me today. Austin Saunders of Connor High School right here. A uh Yousef Sad of Cooper High School. I saw You is no stranger to the meetings. Jacob Camidi of Ignite Institute

016and Isabella Burke of Ry High School. This time we're going to do a photo. Uh, and we thank you guys for coming. It's time for someone else to do some speaking. So, tonight for good news item five, we have 34 students who are recognized for this. No, this is not true. Good news. This is what they get for using Roman numerals. I'm all turned around. Good news item four, teacher appreciation week. We would like to acknowledge teacher appreciation week. This week we celebrate and honor our teachers for their hard work and dedication. Thank you. We would like to spotlight another of our awardwinning teachers, George Canfield of Selechase Elementary. Uh Mr. Canfield is an art teacher and has been named as one of the only 15 art teachers nationwide to receive the 2025 Artsonia Art

017Education Leadership Award. Congratulations, Mr. Canfield. Come on up. But instead, good news item five. At this point, uh I'm uh we are going to recognize our students who received the state of biiteracy. Um the names will uh fortunately be read by our community communication coordinator uh Barbara Brady. As your names are read, please come forward in front where we'll take pictures. Barbara. Thank you so much. So, we really appreciate it and congratulations to all the students. Uh it's a significant certification to uh to have uh as an as as a strength and a skill set to be bilingual or multilingual. We know that today uh as the world is uh becoming smaller and smaller. Um it really gives those students that we us tonight. Leg up. We're really proud of them. That's one of my

018biggest weaknesses. I I admit that openly. And so, we're really proud of these students. Many of them uh speak three, four, five languages. So, congratulations. Uh we're real proud of you. Um it's quite an accomplishment. We do apologize that the order we read them is different than the order we had prepared. So, hence the the shuffling of the name. So, congratulations to all of you who earned that award. Next, good news item six, career and technical education. As you have seen tonight, because of the emphasis we put on education and career pathways, our Boone County School District students are the cream of the crop. Our district prepares students early for career and college and the results are students who eventually become successful in their career choice or and our leaders in our community. We want

019to share with you how some of that is happening through the career technical education pathways in our high school. And tonight is the first in a series of videos on our the strength of our CTE program. At this point, we're going to show a video. These tomatoes that we've got here, they're going to be transferred over to the bucket system. Our district vision is every graduate ready for college, career, and life. We recognize each student has different abilities and opportunities to succeed when connected to what motivates and engages them. I learn by doing. I'm a much more like visual learning. Lily and Alex are taking career and technical education or CTE classes at Cooper High School. They're trying to get a jump start on their chosen careers. It already be kind of settled a little

020bit. Alex plans to pursue electrical engineering. I love having my hands and stuff. I love going out and actually doing something and learning by doing that. It really teaches me and shows me that, hey, I did this and this worked or this didn't work. And it it makes it really clear for me as to what I know. Hands-on learning is important for students. When a student can get their hands on something, right, they remember it. Alex takes Mr. White's greenhouse technology class and Lily takes two CTE classes, agrobiology and greenhouse technology. The greenhouse is such a cool aspect. I love just being able to play with the plants um and get my hands dirty. So, I had a clear view every day the greenhouse being built. It was really cool. And then when we do

021a scheduling, I saw it was already a class. I'm like, that looks fun. Like, I would love to be in a greenhouse. I love plants. Love growing stuff. So, I'm like, "Yeah, I'll take that." We can teach students that, you know, any number of concepts. Once they take those concepts and apply it, actually take a situation and figure it out and do something with it. That's I think that is whenever it solidifies in their minds. If you teach me how to do something and they make me do it, then I'll learn better that way. Our students graduating from our programs, they're going into any number of things. I have students that are um going into the veterinary science field that are in my greenhouse class and students that are going into the horiculture field and

022hoping to open their own green houses or operate their own, you know, production enterprises. CTE is funded through state level financial allocations. The funds provided for the equipment needed to build this greenhouse and the technology required to run it. What the students grow here, they also sell as well. They're also learning important marketing skills. The product, the price, the promotion, and the place. A portion of our plant sale proceeds will benefit our FFA. And then the other portion um half of those proceeds will go back into the greenhouse to fund the sales going forward and kind of continue to expand this. But the other pieces of CTE, the business side, the family consumer science side, all of these things are teaching our students not only concepts but practical skills that they will be able to

023use regardless of what industry they're going into. Some students are stalled by lectures and tests. With CTE, instead of textbooks, there are tools. Instead of lectures, students get hands-on training. CTE gives purpose to learning by emphasizing real world skills and practical knowledge. These students also gain industry recognized credits and certifications. CTE is also an enhancement for those who choose the college track. It's changing what we can do. Thank you and thank you for that uh presentation. Next for good news item seven um 30 years of service recognition. It's an annual tra tradition to recognize employees who have 30 years of service. We're going to talk about a little later in the meeting if you stick around. But uh we've implemented stay interviews this year and stay interviews are an opportunity to to uh interview specifically

024our employees who have been with us a certain number of years. Um, and and one of those is 30. And I had the opportunity this year to interview people with 30 years of of experience. So, uh, I had the the really the the privilege to sit down with each of these employees for 30 to 45 minutes and really get insights into the wisdom, the experiences, and the knowledge they've gained over 30 years. So, um, it was it was a just a a real privilege to have the opportunity to sit down with each of these employees. Uh, and so we're real, um, I'm personally proud and I know the district is is proud to be able to honor the following people. If you'll come forward. Um, and again, these are those who have completed 30 years

025of service. Pamela Hearn Oh, I'm sorry. Come on up. Our uh, director of HR, Eric Ball, is going to present these tonight. So you you got me, but Eric is going to do the presentations. It did say it real clearly on my notes. Sorry, Mr. Ball. in the interviews. They were they really were open, honest, and appreciative. Uh the wealth of knowledge, the experiences, and the commendations that they love their job for to do it that long. But many of them did get this really big smile on their face when they told me that uh they were retiring after this year. So I don't I don't know. It's it's uh you know as my dad said when he retired from teaching for 38 35 years he said Jeff every day is a Saturday when you

026retire. So I don't know. I'm just trying to keep focused on that. All right. Next. Uh and again thank you all very much and congratulations for the well-deserved award. Next good news item, V I II, school resource officer appreciation. Starting Sunday, May 11th through Saturday, May 17th, is National Police Week. Tonight, we would like to acknowledge and especially thank all of our school resource officers from the Boone County Sheriff's Department. We want all of you to know that we have deep appreciation for each of you and we understand the sacrifices you make to keep our schools and communities safe. Thank you. Um, on a personal note, um, I've had the, uh, the opportunity to work in multiple school districts. 15 years as a superintendent and and and never have I seen the strength of a

027partnership that exists like it does in Boone County between the school district and and and our and our sheriff's office. It's it's incredible. Um uh they are constantly alert building relationships with student and staff, but most importantly keeping us all safe. Um I really appreciate it. The advice they give me, the insights. Um we we couldn't do this. If you if you look at our org chart we're going to talk about later tonight um you know we're really focused on on two main things and that's our students learning and keeping our students safe and you know uh we couldn't do it without them all of them. And so uh this is uh it's significant and I don't know that all of us realize just how uh important but also how unique this partnership is. It's

028one of the first that I know in the state and definitely one of the strongest. And so um from the bottom of my heart thank you. Um, it is, you know, you don't realize what you're missing until you experience this type of of partnership. So, I I really appreciate the the kindness you guys have shown to me, but more importantly, keeping our our students and our staff safe. At this point, names are going to be read by Barbara Brady. And when we when you hear your name, of course, step forward and we're going to get some photos. [Applause] Yeah, he doesn't want to get on my list. There she got solids. He has shot. Spread the word. Okay, next recognition. Item nine, Debbie Zigar from Ethan's Purpose. We'll be doing a check presentation for the

029Hope Squad. Debbie, do do you want a microphone or loud? Your choice. was not prepared for this. No. Um, okay. So, I'm I'm Debbie Ziggara. This is my husband, Richard, and my good friend, Christy Campbell, who's on our board of directors. Uh, we started Ethan's Purpose six and a half years ago when we lost our son, Ethan, to suicide. And since then, um, we've helped, we've partnered with several schools to provide counseling for students. We some suicide prevention training. We do a teen mental health program. And tonight, we're proud to say that we've worked very hard with the district um to provide $105,300 to be exact. Um so, um the hope squad is a peer-to-peer suicide prevention program that we currently have at Connor High School. And not only is it suicide prevention, but it

030helps teach kids uh emotional intelligence, social emotional curriculum. And so we have committed to providing it for all the middle schools and high schools in Boone County school system for the next four years at a minimum with the intention to continue raising money to to continue it in all the schools. So tonight we wanted to present um check to the school as our commitment for the next four years with the hook squad. And finally, good news item 10, our student board representative recognition. So the school board would like to recognize Wyatt Levy for his ser Levi I know your name for his service for his year of service as the school board as a student school board member representative. Uh Wyatt you've done an outstanding job in the superintendent student advisory council. Uh we're confident

031that that I I don't know why I need to read this. So if you don't know um Wyatt attends all of our meetings. He was elected through an election process with the ballot box uh late last year and he has served as the board president as as the president uh and and representative of the student body uh throughout this year. He sits uh down here. He gives insights and inputs and and I will thank him um from July forward every month. Uh why and I have lunch. I know that I participate in the in the student convenings but really Wyatt leads the group and he leads the students. He develops leadership skills uh and he's made a huge difference uh in our school community uh and throughout our community and I know it's been a

032privilege. Uh Wyatt is uh um has a bright future and and whatever he does it I'm sure it's going to involve leadership. So Wyatt from the bottom of my heart congratulations. Thank you for your time and I know why he gets comments later. So it's on the agenda and it's before mine. So, uh, we'll give him the opportunity, but we do want to, uh, thank you formally and get a photo, uh, with Wyatt. I believe this is your last meeting, correct? All right. [Applause] the date. And I said, "Yes." I said, "I confirmed it with your They both go to Connor High School." So I said, "Yeah, I confirmed it with your principal." And so AJ writes back and said, "Well, we're clearly going to have to go on a communication improvement plan with my

033principal." So, it's already started and it's already begun and I'm I'm really excited to see how that plays out. But, uh, again, AJ, congratulations and why it's been an honor. So, your your words are in a minute. [Applause] So, with that board chair, I conclude um my comments. With that, we'll turn the meeting over to Mr. Levi for the student board report. Excuse me. Sorry, I need to take a drink before that. All right. Well, first off, I just want to say thank you to this amazing district. Uh, this is an opportunity I never could have dreamed of. When I moved here from Texas back in sixth grade, I just I thought I was average, right? And then uh it took special special administrators and teachers in this district to notice who I really am.

034Uh had I never came to Bo County, I never would have be in the spot that I am today. And to that I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank each and every one of you. You have touched my soul. Now, let me talk about the SSAC meeting before I shed any more tears. Um, uh, last meeting we had our celebration and it was a celebration of SSAC and all that we've done. Uh, it was went great. I got to see everyone one last time and it was it was a complete blast. But after the meeting, we talked about the future and the new positions that we will have. So, the start is, as we already talked about a little bit, the school board representative for next year, AJ Wobb. Congratulations to

035him. A big round of applause to him. As well as our vice chair, Autumn Barker, excuse me, from Cooper High School. Another round of applause for her. She's not here, but thank you. And lastly, Morgan Brown, who will be our secretary next year from Ignite. So, one more time. Yeah. and each and every one of them as well as the other rep uh members of SSAC have absolutely wonderful ideas that they're going to carry through and make SSAC in this district better and better year after year. Uh I also just want to recognize the other seniors, excuse me, sorry, I have a whole list. Uh the other seniors that will be graduating from Boone, we have Verra Patel who is going to the University of Louisville studying biomedical sciences. We have Austin Reed and his

036sister Aubrey Reed as well. both taking a gap year and going into the workforce before moving forward with what they do. Next, we have Cooper Sid from Cooper High School. Yousef Sidy, sorry, my apologies. U he is going to the University of Central Florida and studying mechanical engineering. We have Emma Cordin from University of Louis from Cooper High School as well who is going to the University of Louisville and she is studying American Sign Language interpreting studies. Next we have at Riyle High School, Laney Har who is going to the College of Charleston, South Carolina and double majoring in international relations and environmental science. Then lastly we have myself uh Wyatt Levi going to Vanderbilt University and double majoring in biochemistry and human organizational development. And um I appreciate it Dr. Hwald wanting to give

037me the opportunity to say this. I mentioned it a second ago with how much this district has helped me. Um it is a great honor of mine. I was given full tuition scholarship to the university of to Vanderbilt University thanks to the work that I've done in this district. Uh thank you to everyone like I said and I'm sure that this isn't the only success story that you'll have in this district as I know you have many more this year and you will continue to have many more in the future. So with that I conclude my speech and I just want to thank you guys for this amazing opportunity. Thank [Applause] you. You guys suck. I don't know why you made me cry. That sucks. I'm blaming all you for this. Thank you, Mr. Levi.

038And congratulations, by the way. Thank you very much. And I'll move on to item six. Turn the meeting over to Dr. Housewald for super. Watch him run. Thank you. as as why and I have talked about, he is uh he's going to excel down there in Nashville, lots of time at the Vanderbilt Herd Library and not so much time at Robert's Western world. So, uh um I know he's he's gonna he's going to do great. All right. Uh next, I have remaining in the room uh just amazing group of people that I've had the opportunity to get to know and to work with this year as a beginning uh superintendent in the state of Kentucky. uh you'll see uh who they just moved to their suits that just moved to the front. So either we're

039getting audited or uh you know I'm not sure but uh I think they're evaluating me but this is uh Mr. Fred Carter. Uh I had a chance to get to know Fred uh actually before my first board meeting and uh Fred works uh for KSA with the beginning superintendent training program and there's a series of requirements. He's been flexible and adapted the program to make sure that it's meaningful to every superintendent but including me. They also assigned mentors and a mentor uh um which is assigned I I didn't pick him but if I if I had a choice I I I would have picked the same the person uh is is uh Dr. DL Ligins DL is the superintendent in Lexington Faget County. So both of them are here tonight and I believe that they

040will say just a few words after the presentation. So um I'm going to give uh instead of a capstone presentation. Uh we have leadership standards in in the state of uh Kentucky and I have gone through them ad nauseium honestly um all seven of them in detail and that's uploaded to the agenda. Um and if you want to hear detailed explanations about all seven of them um you can look uh from about October to April. Um so those are all there about 30 minute presentations. you've had the opportunity to to to sit through and enjoy those with me. Um but also um we compiled all of those uh into about 28 exactly 28 slides. Uh if you'd like to see those those are available. So, I thought tonight um as a as as a sort

041of culmination of the year um I would take the the opportunity uh number one because I had to and number two um as as a sort of a different approach was to sort of take those leadership standards and embed them not directly into the standards but to connect them uh to our strategic plan. The strategic plan is located on the on the back of the wall there and really to do a progress report. Right? So, it's an end of the year progress report of the things that we accomplished together uh in 2024-25. Many of them are previews to uh to changes uh that will be coming in um 202526. Uh and and then I'll give just a quick update what I anticipate looking forward as we prepare for 2026 27. They'll be here before you

042know it. So in going through these things u I'm also uh taking advantage of opportunities to speak to various community groups during the month of May. I know I was speaking to to Rotary on Monday. I had an opportunity to speak to business association last week. And so there's just a couple reminders of who we are uh before we get into what I would consider um some of the hallmarks that we've achieved this year together. Um, and so, um, real quickly, as you know, um, 3,700 employees, uh, 20,600 students. Um, we have, um, if you, if you look at our, um, priority populations, we have 6,300 um, students of color, 2,000 English learners, and 10,800 free and reduced. Our annual budget, it's kind of interesting. It's kind of a fun question for throw out your

043groups. Um, what's our annual budget? I know a lot of people say, you know, $4 million or something like that. and we're the fifth largest uh employer in all of Northern Kentucky. Um uh what we do uh you know quite clearly uh we provide all students with vibrant learning experiences that are grade level appropriate. Um and uh if you look at our academic data um from our 23 24 report card uh we're really uh really proud of much of the success that we've had. our graduation rates 96%. Uh you can see some of our average composite scores and our proficiency rates. Recently um a report um uh from Harvard University and it was reported out um looked at the 100 school districts across the United States that have higher performance scores in 2024 than in

0442019. That's significant because which school districts have closed the uh the achievement gap, excuse me, have closed the learning loss that uh was a result of co um and of the 100 school districts, we're the only school district in Kentucky to have done that. Our 2024 scores are higher than 2019 and we're the 10th largest school district in the United States that's accomplished that. So, uh you know, it's just some examples of of the great work we're doing and how our data is trending upwards. Um and I have examples of the program. So, I'd be remiss not to mention that. And so, now um real quickly, uh if you look, and it's it's it's all over our website, uh we have four, uh tenants of our strategic plan. It's worldclass education. We'll talk about that

045first. Empowered workforce, stakeholder engagement, and then operations and resource optimization. And again, I'm going to highlight just 18 of uh what I would consider the most significant accomplishments of this year. And uh you know, as I said, we're going to hit the ground know when you plant a tree they say that it's sleep creep and then leap the third year that's what my wife she's environmental scientist so we've really just kind of taken it easy this year we have 18 so watch out next year we're we're really gonna we're going to hit the we're gonna we're going to move from a from a crawl to a sprint I hope um if you look at um some of our overall goals um in terms of worldclass uh education um the the first thing that I'm really

046proud that we've accomplished as a team and and and I I don't if you all are welcome to to share any of these successes because really they're your all successes that that I'm just presenting. Um the first thing is that we created a timeline to identify common uh curriculum instruction assessment that didn't exist. Part of the reason was under the state mandates of who was allowed to adopt curriculum. There was sitebased decision making. Um but we just shared with you data related related to our English learners. We have a lot of high mobility students moving between schools. And when they move between schools, what happens? Well, it's a different different pacing guides, different curricular, different different resources. And and so it just exasperates the learning loss. And so we came together and said, you know,

047within the next four years, we need to make sure that there are certain things that are systemic. We're still allowing for the uh for autonomy uh in our schools and in our classrooms related to some of the instructional strategies, the differentiated practices. However, we realized that there were certain things that we felt uh compelled to make sure that we're systemwide. And so, you can look on here. I won't go through all the details, but it's the timeline by which we will have common curricular components, common assessment, and certain common instructional practices districtwide. Because when students are forced perhaps four elementary schools in a year. The fact that we were not singing from the same himnel was a disadvantage to our priority populations and we owe it to to all students, but particularly our our our

048students of poverty that have to go between schools um to make sure that we minimize the disruption. There's already disruption that takes place. They're learning a whole new school environment. Um also when they move uh we were purchasing in some cases four different $150 resources for a subject which makes z This also makes us much more efficient. So this is something that uh never existed at Boon County schools. So we we now have that in place and you can sort of see the progression and timeline by which we will have this uh completed um over the next four years. Next uh amplifies CKLA. U it's an example uh the first example of uh and I won't go through the process by which we adopted a unified curriculum uh that will reduce disparities for students in

049our underserved areas. Um and you can see the timeline by which we're rolling out common curriculum in language arts. Um and and again uh it's not that the the curricular resources at our schools were bad. Um we simply went with HQI high quality instructional resources but we basically said we had to pick one because it is not effective to have our students moving between different resources uh from school to school. Um and we know that that most negatively impacts our our students poverty and our English learners. So uh this is the first time we've ever done that. It was a lot of work uh a lot of um you know retraining um additional professional development for schools that that move from one language arts resource to another. And I'd be um you know remiss to

050not teachers particularly who have switched curriculum in some cases. Um kind of understanding the why behind doing it but also knowing that it's a lot of work to switch from one to another. Uh next uh uh we're we're moving towards new uh K12 screening diagnostic assessments. Again, it's a standardization of those. It's it's overall part of our overall goal um to make sure that all of our students are evaluated using the same criteria. It makes our data comparable across different schools and um it makes us more efficient. Uh it actually comes at a lower cost. Um and so uh it allows us for more districtwide professional development and more support. So um that's another component. Um next uh of course as you're well aware we we discussed this uh last month. Uh last month the

051board approved districtwide uh um adaptation and adoption of district systemwide multil- language communication classroom communication tools. Um as we know um years ago we had um dual language immersion programs that required mult have a Spanish teacher English teacher for example. Now with technology, um, we're able to make sure the students with speaking 120 languages, uh, are able to understand the instruction in real time. We're the first school district, we will be the first school district in Kentucky to have, uh, this translation service for every student, all 20,600 students, every classroom in every school. Um uh and we are um we know that um our students will continue to receive high quality uh English learner support from our EL staff. Uh and and and we know that our students are also through the immersive learning experience

052are learning English. But we also know that some of the gaps they widen those first two years math and language arts or excuse me math uh science social studies. So the ability in real time for those students to learn those subjects in in their uh in their first language while they're learning English uh will really limit that that dip that that loss that occurs when when students that um are English learners come into our district. Um we gave you those numbers. It's a significant number. So um by uh August 15th of next year, actually I think where's Kim? They start installation next Monday. So uh by next week um we will um have uh this service in every single one of our class. So regardless of of the 120 languages the students speak um this

053you know we have more than 70 home languages they will be able to learn in the classroom. We also know um you know I've talked about uh ready to learn rates and the board's commitment to expanding early childhood education because we know that in terms of effect size when students come to kindergarten ready to learn it's the number one thing we can do to limit learning loss going forward. Um, and so our our our major goals, our expansions in uh in in in the in in the building of our our first districtwide early childhood center on Highway 42 is going to make a huge difference. And but we also know just like that if you're a kindergart you ever, you know, as an elementary principal, if you ever been a kindergarten teacher and you have

05415 students ready to learn and five that are not, there's one way by which we teach and we drop back to the 15 students that are not ready to learn and five that are, it's a game changer. So, the focus the board has and the commitment to getting more students ready to learn for kindergarten is is going to be instrumental. Likewise, um for our classrooms that have a high number of e speakers, right, English learners, excuse me, um the ability um for them to to have reg to have instruction, right, to the standards in math and science and social studies can sometimes be limiting because So many students are are disengaged only because they they do not they're not able to follow instruction. So this uh simple uh translation um service um is just a

055game changer. It's similar in many ways to getting students ready to learn. You know when we do our our school takeovers every month I told this story before I was elementary school teacher came up to me and said you know of the 20 students in my class nine English learners and she said and they speak five languages and it's just simply you know just trying to m and engage all the students at once and this is a simple way using uh modern technology to do that. So the board has made a huge commitment to this. You know we are purchasing I don't know how many devices how many how many rooms do we have? You know 1,400. Okay. Uh okay. And so for every single classroom it's going to be a game changer. So this

056is uh again part of our work this year. clearly one of the most uh I think meaningful and effective things that we'll be doing as we prepare for 2526 and we will be uh the first school district actually in the United States I believe there will be universal comprehensive um translation services in every classroom so something to be proud of as as board member Bird said I'm tired of being last I want to be first and first in you first in Kentucky or first nationally I think she's okay with either but it's nice sometimes more so next Um well sure first I'm not sure I go that far. Uh but uh empowered workforce uh the second one of our goals uh we have a a few components of that. You know, I mentioned earlier when

057we were doing our 30-year recognition, our state interviews and um you know, oftentimes the conversation that we have with our employees is after they've resigned, right? Um and that doesn't make sense because it costs more to replace an employee than does it keep them. Um and we also want um high employee satisfaction. So this year I know the idea came about in about September October uh and and Eric B directing HR Kim working on facilities. They said what are the chances that before the end of this year we can do stay interviews for every single employee that's in a speed limit. So 5 10 15 20 all the way up. Um and they said well that's going to take a lot. You know what about next year? We want this data. We want to know

058why they're here. and if there's anything we can do, right, to improve um so that they don't uh resign and go elsewhere. And so, you know, Kim worked with her staff. They have two really incredible state interview rooms that are used all the time. You know, Eric staff does most of the interviews. Um there it's a standard interview questionnaire so that we can make sure that the data is comparable so we can understand the trends. This year we did more than 300 close to 400 of those interviews. Um, and you know, at the end in almost every single case, the employee thanked us and they said, "I've never had the opportunity to sit down with with a district uh administrator or a staff member and and give my perspective and and our employees want to

059be heard. It's a for, you know, I love a good formula. It's a formulaic way to do it. Um, I know that the folks that we represented tonight that we recognized tonight for 30 years was the group I got. So, I had an entire day of doing stay interviews and it was emotional. I mean, half of them It doesn't take much why it made me cry. So any anyone when someone cries I so um but um but nonetheless the stories were just incredible. I just sat and listened with awe and amazement of the differences every single one of those employees made and so we have a database and you know what it t it paints a different picture. Why? Because we're not just hearing those one two or three emails that we occasionally get when

060someone resigns that comes to me and the board and everyone will read them. Um but what we now have is a counter narrative. We have the story of 400 employees um who love what they do but also gave us good feedback for for for improvements and um it it's it's making a huge difference. It's changing the work um and uh it's something we've implemented and we will continue to do so every five years. So we got to change our gifts every five years. I get a coffee four more years. All right. Uh next uh we have implemented employee superintendent conversations. I know this is something that uh in my original conversations uh board member Young brought to my attention saying, you know, it's just it's just how do we make sure that you're more accessible?

061So, you know, this year working with food services, um we have coffee at every single school, um district office maintenance, um and uh it's been a great opportunity to really just go into the schools, be available, um and just listen. And you know, it's not to solve all the problems, but just to listen. And doing that we developed qualitative trend data that we can then plug into some analysis to really guide our work. And it made a big difference. Our employees made a difference. You know, hearing the stories of our employees uh their concerns um that things that they need in the classroom uh personally um has really guided our work um and and and we did 30 of them this year and we're going to do 30 of them again next year. So uh

062it's been it's been great and I believe it's the first time we've really this um this formalizable process and I know board members are always invited and many of you have come to to to some of those or many of those and and I really appreciate that. Uh next uh increase salaries and wages um uh this is um something that we want to point out that we've increased our salaries and wages by a total of 7.8% over the last two years. This has been a priority of the board is just to continue to remain competitive at a time when um school funding is not keeping up with inflation. So that requires a lot of efficiency. It requires just making sure that that every dollar is committed uh in a way that maximizes its strength. Um

063and so you know we gave some data here that our step increases average 1.75%. That's that's an automatic increase. Um in addition to the 7.8% uh I want to point out the inflation for the 12 months preceding 2425 was approximately 3.32% and from July uh to February 25 has averaged 2.8%. So what does that mean? That means our raises over the last two years has exceeded inflation. Something that we hear about a lot uh and and it makes a big difference for all our employees. Uh next uh related to that um You know, we also targeted beginning employee salaries and wages. And this is significant because, as you know, uh the board received external audits on on on salary and wages. We looked at all of the northern Kentucky school districts um where we are

064really where most of our competition takes place. We also looked at some of the like districts uh of our size including FYA across the across the state. Um and we also looked at trend data and that report is available online. We've sent it out multiple times for the community to do and it created some urgency. You know this year for the first time uh as we as we bargained we said we're going to have beginning teachers at the table. We need beginning teacher voices. We had two beginning teachers one with zero years experience and one with two years experience at the bargaining table along with me and the board. Um, and what we said was that if we continue to do percentages only, we're going to continue to exasperate the problem. And that is the

065wage gap is going to continue to grow. And if you think about that in terms of learning perspectives, um, if you think about the fact that would we accept academic scores and where the the top performing students and the bottom performing students continue to, right? No. We we want to make sure that that we are closing the achievement gap. Well, same for wages. But yet, if you look historically over the last 20 to 30 years, that's all we've done. We've done basically percent increases across the board. So, our wage gap just continues to grow. And so, armed with this data, um you know, the board um the district admin um really came to the table and said, we have to end with salaries with the wage gap uh reduced and the slope reduced. The slope

066is from the from your vantage point from beginning to end, we need to move this up, which reduces the the M or the slope. Um, and so the result of that, right, was a $3,000 additional increase for beginning teachers. We did that by, as I said, inverse uh using an inverse relationship and adding $100 to row 29, 200 to row 28, 300 on up, we have 30 rows, which resulted with 3,000 additional dollars. And then we correlated that for our our our support staff, our hourly wage earners, which meant that they got a 3% raise, but they got a minimum raise of a dollar an hour. So, um you know, we are approving those scales tonight. The board's approved this uh at our March board meeting. Um but but in essence, that reduced our pay

067gap by $1,832. And I don't think we're done, but it was a significant first step, and it's made a huge difference for our um for hiring. Um You know, we were at a career fair recently and um we had teachers from other counties come in. There was a I remember there was a a couple came in. One was language arts and social studies. Um and uh they they were they had noticed they heard that our starting salaries were 50,000. Um and so you know combined their overall compensation increase between the two of them was going to be $25,000 and they're high quality teachers. So you know we're working hard to attract the best and the brightest. um and to to fill the limited number of vacancies we have. So, it's really uh proud of this

068work we did and this is a really a new concept uh to to Boone County and I think that it's going to be the beginning of about um you know ideally three more years um so that we're setting that that stretch goal in three years of of getting our starting salaries to $60,000. Uh next, uh we approved, uh the first ever local annuity program for Boone County Schools. And we're using that as an attraction and and retention system. And again, I I thank everyone at the table for being willing to consider this. You know, uh as as mentioned earlier, in in many many states, there are four layers to retirement. You know, there's social security, there's the local pension, there's often a state annuity, and then there's a local annuity. And in Kentucky, there's one

069layer. And that one layer is changing as we get new tiers. our tier four level four tier tier tier four employees um actually put more in. Some of the benefits are getting diminished and you know we we started having a conversation about what can we do to really give our employees that we would recognize here 30 you know 30 years down the road a second layer of return. It's the right thing to do for them. Um, and so we also know that through compounding interest, if they're 22 and they stay for 30 to 35 years, you know, actuarily speaking in a conservative estimate, it could give them an nest egg of an additional $750,000 in savings, which if you take a 4% withdrawal is $30,000 in supplemental income and can really help our teachers. I

070I jokingly said 30 years from now, I don't remember who that guy was. He's he's on a on a rocking chair somewhere. they'll they'll thank me for the idea and they'll thank us and the board uh and and the and this people that were part of the bargaining committee for doing this. So, as part of that local annuity, everyone will be getting a 1% match. However, as you see mentioned here, as an attraction bonus um and a retention bonus, employees in their first five years will get an additional $2,000 per year. So, it's a $10,000 sign bonus. And that $10,000 signin bonus, right, is 2,000 per year with five year vesting requirement because we know that people tend to leave the profession in years two and three. As I said it, as I stated in

071the state interview conversation, we know that it costs more to replace a teacher than to keep the teacher. So, if you think about that, if it costs more to replace them, what can we do to keep them? And this is a small investment we can make. And so what that means is if a teacher is making $50,548 which is year zero uh rank three um and they put in 1% so we're going to save $500. We're going to match it with $500 and we're going to put in $2,000 more. So that means we're putting in 2500 to their 500. In five years they will have put in 2500 and we will we will have contributed 12,500 which means that teacher fresh out of college, average actual average age of 22, although we have so many

072people coming in. Um, by 27 they'll have a nest egg of $15,000. And if you just look actuarily at projections of $15,000 invested in an annuity, the growth to 59 and a half, assuming they take it as early as possible, is significant. if they continue to contribute 1% it's really going to give them a huge second layer of of retirement benefit. It's the right thing to do. Um but it also as you know a special thanks to our teachers association those at the table who said yeah this makes sense that we're going to give more money to our beginning teachers than we are to to our veteran teachers and the 1%. So um you know I think it's going to be a dealbreaker. already by May 30th are setting up uh collective meetings here at

073Ralph Rush and individual meetings for all 3,700 employees so they can understand and sign up for this 1%. Another example of something we did this year. Uh moving on to stakeholder engagement. Uh special thanks to Kathy Rutman who led this. Uh we also uh had no system in place for communication this year. Um, we we had parents telling us that they used six different communication tools with their kids at three different schools and and it was all over the place. We also know some of the programs that were free um quite possibly ran a foul of federal regulations for data privacy and for student privacy and so we said we wanted to adopt a streamlined communication districtwide prek to 12 which we we didn't have. Um there's some savings because sitebased who are purchasing their

074own programs now everyone can use one parents can have one login and one one site for all of the communication. It also adds some enhanced protections um for our students and our teachers um because all communication you'll see policy coming I think I don't know if Maryanne who's pinch hitting of course for for Olivia or Olivia um but we're working on a policy that will require all communication to go through this. Um it protects our staff members um and avoids the the cell phone to cell phone texting that isn't cashed and collected parents can't monitor. That's also unfortunately where the greatest percentage of grooming cases occur across the United States and it's how we can protect not only our our students and and our staff um but it also significantly reduces district liability. So uh

075starting um 2526 we'll have one communication platform. Kathy led that process with a committee and I know we're rolling it out. We're doing some professional development at the end of this year. We have a couple extra days end of this year and uh then getting ready for the start next year. So this is uh really the first time we've had streamlined communication district. Uh next uh increased community forums and targeted newsletters. As you're well aware, we've spoken tonight about the mental health crisis in our community. We've also had other topics by which we're doing more targeted newsletters and more uh increased community forums, a way to engage with our community, provide support when it's needed, but also to get feedback. And this conversation uh is I believe uh is going to roll into some parent

076university conversations next year and just continuing to provide the significant support that our comm our our families need, but also allow two-way communication with our families uh and provide make sure that we're providing the support that they need um and and that they're they're really part of the solution. Lastly, on stakeholder engagement, as you know, um we're increasing family resources and enrollment services. We're looking by 2728 to actually have a family resource and enrollment center um real close to here actually. Um but for now um it's really just adding inerson support services. Um you know we spend more hours helping families in some cases uh do enroll online or look for online resources and we're just trying to provide that inerson support for people who need it. particularly for those new to our community, for

077our um our English learners. Um and so that's a really a big change for 2526 and we know it's going to provide another layer of support for families. And lastly, uh operation resource optimization. Um you know, I I know that we were talking a while back about six uh tenants of our our technology information and communication enhancements for next year. And one of those is simply we've not made the investments that we need to make in cyber security and data security. So we've committed more than $400,000 to internal and external reviews enhancing uh those safety features. Uh this is really just cost avoidance. Um and um it's something that we've added as a priority this year. We've built it in to the 2025 budget. Um and and it's going to provide significant more um more

078protections for our students, our really for the district. Um, another example on on safety enhancements uh uh in addition to we were talking about the translation services uh using the the same programs. We'll be one of the first districts to roll out um through the the audio enhancement company um really new um alerts safety features as well as intercoms. We're spending50 to $100,000 to replace uh all the antiquated intercoms. We can run them through the IT system now. And what that means is that all the video monitors in the hallway, which will traditionally have clocks, we'll be able to display other other warnings. Um we know for our English learners, um when there's an alarm that goes off, you know, there may be a lack of certainty if they need to go into a corner,

079it's an active shooter, it's a lock down under, you know, under a desk or to a secure place for a tornado or And clearly those aren't the same thing. But because we're um combining all of these things, their safety enhancements with the translation services, our students will be able to receive in their in their own language uh instructions when there are safety concerns. We're updating all of our intercom systems. There's more targeted intercom systems and many of our our teachers have communicated to us, you know, they they need better ways to alert when there's safety concerns in their classroom. So, just like your cell phone, if you squeeze it, usually accidentally, but you can you can squeeze on your microphone system, it will immediately set off alerts in the office. We'll know where that teacher

080is. If they're in if they're in a gymnasium, if they're in the playground, um if they're in the classroom. Also, when we do lock downs, it will um allow the teachers to communicate directly to the office if they're aware, if their doors are locked. Um and then um of course, from the office, we can manage all that. So, know that that is really working to to roll all of this out. All these safety enhancements and all the intercom systems will be updated for the start of the 2526 school year as well. So again, this is something that is in many cases saving money because of the antiquated intercom costs we have. Um but it's also doing it in a more efficient way, a more effective way and really communicating uh in in a more timely

081um that an aligned organization Of course, one of the things that the board had asked back in the summer of 2024 and so tonight's the first step of that and that's an alignment greater alignment of of the district uh organization chart. You you'll see examples of that tonight. You know, we're reducing our uh our executive cabinet by 10%. Um which of course means additional work for many of the people that are that are flanking this room. Um but also it's coming at a savings of 90,000 more than And so, you know, um I'm I'm pleased for that work. And then we're continuing to look at our work chart. Um we are really beginning to align our work chart with our two key charges, right? Learning and safety. And so, safety and operations and curriculum and

082learning and you're going to see that play out and we're going to get greater clarity um for our families, for our staff, for our students to really understand where the responsibilities lie. Um and then developing new metrics, new systems um for people to make sure that we're evaluating based upon our expectations. The next step will be looking at our director level and then I call the seuite coaches and all of those folks really just to provide make sure we're providing what we need. We're being as efficient as possible um but also making sure that we're being as effective as possible. So that's our next layer of review related to um an aligned organization. Next uh operation resource optimization review. We conducted an allocation review and if you look at so so fy don't you know

083don't don't just to point out you have the lowest student teacher ratio so let's just let's hope the federal government doesn't reduce federal funding because what you'll see is that the districts with high higher poverty tend to have more federal dollars. You know we're one of the lowest um not only in the amount we're second lowest in the amount of seek money we receive from the state. We're also only receive 9% of our budget from the federal government. We may complain about that, but then when there are reductions, we don't we don't really have quite the sting of a district that has higher free and reduced lunch rates. So, we did a comprehensive study on allocation review, and what we found was that when you look at other districts like us, we really have one

084of the lower studenttoteer ratios, and and that's a that's a good thing. Um, however, the question is, what do we want to do? What's that relationship on the continuum between allocations and salaries? And if we want to disproportionately increase salaries over the next couple of years, right, we need to take have a conversation about allocations. This year we reduced um 20 allocations, 19 actually 21, two at the district level and um 19 in in the building levels, but we were able to use that savings to create an annuity match. And so we're trying to do this uh effectively and cautiously, but really making sure that we continue to keep our wages at inflationary levels ideally um to make sure we're competitive because quite honestly um if if our salary salaries and wages aren't high enough,

085if we have positions that aren't filled, then it's not it's not going to help us to add more positions. We haven't filled the ones we have. And we're near 100% now. So we're really um uh I I think we will be 100% staff for the start of the 25 26 school year. So as you know as part of our um as part of the overall review this year we really took a look at our allocations and we're adjusting accordingly. And uh lastly uh um strategic priority budgeting. Uh as you know um we've had lots of conversations about how we're more strategic and looking at our reduced staff and what those savings looks like. what percent of our money is going to right now 86 87% of our money goes towards salaries and wages a little

086higher than what the state recommends but it does prove that we're putting our money towards our towards our our staff um but we're also doing that we're being efficient as stated we have one of the highest efficiency uh when when you look at student to school ratios um we are the best in the state and what that means is that that means we have less uh office support staff we because um we we don't have small schools, you know, we're we're averaging it was around 900, it might be in the 800s. What is that? So, we average 800 per per school. So, as a district of 20,00 schools, it's pretty significant. If if I'd point out that they have twice the population and they have four times the number of schools and because of that,

087because they It's true, but but because they Sorry, He do you wait do you get to speak after this? But what that means is that right they have twice the number um of disproportionately 200 time percent as many generally office staff workers and some of those support staff things you need because it's expensive their basic costs with running buildings. So because that efficiency and that strategic priority budgeting we're able to put more of that money towards salary and wages. Um and lastly, um we we've talked about our efficiency through systemic efforts. Um whether it's communication, whether it's our curriculum, and you know, when I came in over and over again, you told me, you know, we we want to protect the uniqueness of our schools, protect autonomy where we should. However, we need to move

088from system schools to a school system. And um and that's what we've been doing. We're doing it strategically. Um, it's making us more efficient. Um, it's allowing to make sure that we are more uh, you know, more fair in resources for all of our students and quite honestly more effective. Um, and I think that's about it. And and I'd be remiss to not point out that these ideas came really from not only the the listening tours and the conversations with the board and the community, but our principles. I see a couple of them still back there. back there. And the reality is we had we have monthly meetings with principal feedback. It's this constant feedback loop in which they're evaluating, they're giving us input, sometimes brutal. Um you know, they we we set leadership priorities.

089They said you got to communicate better with us. It's got to be more two-way. We want to hear from they said they wanted to hear from the superintendent that they may give different feedback next year. I don't know. Uh sometimes I can be a bit circumlocatory or verbose. Um so um But nonetheless, that feedback really guided this work. And uh Stacy, what have we already started on uh in the April meeting in the May meeting? Getting feedback as we get ready for which school year? 2627 because as they're well aware at a systems level, there's really a little less little else we can do for next year that it's really now in the hands of our principles, our teachers. Um you know, as a system, we're always two years. we have to be. If not,

090we're not creating a sustainable system. We're being disruptive. And if we're disruptive, we're going to see scores go down. We have to make sure that the work we do is sustainable. Um and and and to do that, we have to be mindful of that. There's nothing that we're going to solve today to fix tomorrow. That's the work of our teachers. That's the work of our our principles and our counselors. Our work is is visionary and it's long range. And so, you know, this is the progress report of 2425. That really is the the playbook, if you will, for 2526, and we can't rest there, right? What we have to do, working with our principles, working with this team that's flanking us on the side, is to immediately begin the process. We already we started in

091March. We have intense work we're going to do this summer to begin mapping out a general sketch of what we need to do differently for 2627. We're going to set those goals. We're going to de the specifics and we're going to have it finalized by December of of 25 and then we begin working on the details and implementation in the spring, right? Because in essence, we have until March of 26. So, we really have nine to 10 months to get ready for the 26 27 school year. If not, it won't be sustainable. Um, it won't be systemic. It may not be fair. It may leave students behind. And most importantly, it may be disruptive. So, that's the work we did. That's my progress report. Fred, it's a little different than the uh leadership standards, but

092uh nonetheless, it it's it's been a pleasure uh to serve you all this year. Um and really uh it's uh been one of the best years of 15. I feel blessed to be here. I've told you all that. I know that uh um on Monday night, I Tuesday night, I recognized that it was 365 days ago where I hopped I was planning to have that Monday off and I hopped a plane from Lincoln, Nebraska. I was marathon and Jesse said, "You know, really, this is the date we picked for the interview." And so I I switched my schedule around and hopped a flight back. I ran the Lincoln Marathon and I rolled in the next morning with and and walked in with Cindy for that interview exactly 365 days ago on Tuesday. And they realized

093then and they have uh they have they realized then and they have validated it now that I can take two hours 60 minutes. And I remember two or three hour interview. It was supposed to be an hour. He said that's enough. That's it. So, uh anyway, with that, thank you all. Um this is online. All the information is there for you. Uh and again, it's going to be back to you all this summer to say what are we missing? What do we need to do more of? Right? Those individual interviews are are coming back again. Um so that you can continue to provide the guidance because I don't want to I'm tired of guessing. I don't want to guess what you want and you shouldn't be guessing what we need. We have to be providing

094with the data, with the relevancy, with the research so that you can make informed decision and then you can help us prioritize so that we can meet your expectations and I think we've done that this year and uh we plan to continue to do it. And again, last thing I'll say is if you look at these folks on the side, they've they've done the work, right? I'm I'm a glorified middleman. They have done significant work on all of these things in details and uh they could have talked about each of them in greater detail. they would probably taken longer maybe, but nonetheless, I I thank them as well uh for the report. And that concludes our 2425 progress report. And I believe I don't know if it's required, but I think Fred and D have

095a couple things to say. Okay, brief. Good evening. Thank you all for having us. I would just like to say Canada. Thank you. from Vanderbilt. So Commodores anchors up full speed. tried our best. Can't get him to say anything. I'm an introvert. What can I say? No. Uh it's been kind of unusual because state regulations require all the superendent Kentucky shows up kind school say, "Come sit at our table. Come sit at our table." Because they know he has inside information on a lot of the issues they may be facing. Some of them say, "Why don't you sit?" No, no, no. Yeah, you're being kind, but I know it's been a great year. He's he's been very successful. He's completed all requ So he is legal now. I've been doing this for 14 years. I'm

096retired superending and 14 years old. Honestly, we have two superendents who didn't pass. So it's not an automatic, but he passed with flying colors obviously. And you guys can be proud of the decision made from the report I just heard. Wow. everybody around both sides tightening. We got a lot of work to do. So, there's good things happening already and there's good things to happen in the future. So, congratulations and full speed ahead of you. And and Fred said, "Can I be early in the agenda?" And so, look, you're getting out before nine o'clock. I actually talked longer just to be honest. Thank you guys. We appreciate it. And with that, I concludes my conclude my comments. Thank you. Do you want to read your name into the record? Tell us. Thank you for being

097here. Norally item seven. Yes. Thank you again, Chairman Parks. I would recommend the board approve the recommended action consent agenda items A through G is presented with the treasur. We began the month of April with an adjusted cash balance of 93,145,040. We had total receipts of 8.7 million and total expenditures of 13.8 million for a net increase in cash of 5,140,57. Our balance on hand at the end of the month was 88,4533. Some notable items for the month are that we collected 1 million in PSC property tax as well as 1.1 million in utility taxes. Our operating expenditures have been fairly consistent with last year. Our transportation costs are lower, but just purchases and we had debt service. You mentioned property any other questions? Motion to approve agenda items through motion discussion on any consent

098agenda. I'd just like to make some comments about I think it's W. It's not necessarily in specific to this with Thomas Moore College on the dual credit agreement. Not specifically a Thomas Moore issue, but it's kind of a dual credit issue that popped up on my radar a few times over the last several months in that uh we go into these arrangements with our local higher education entities and because they're used to operating on a college level, they deal with the I know they do phenomenal open orientations that the parents attend and they get all the information. But basically the higher learning entities are dealing with 15 and 16 17 year old kids as if they are 19 20 year old college kids as as the way that it's structured. And um I had some

099situations brought to my attention where a student because they got behind on their dedicated email from the college um forgot to get mom and dad to pay for the class. The student had been in the class for two weeks and was told they couldn't attend anymore. because the class was overcrowded or whatever, but just because payment hadn't been received. Well, I mean, I was pretty responsible at 15 and 16, but those classes, I don't think I could come up with 400 bucks as a 15 or 16 year old. That's mom and dad's responsibility. And as I was kind of in that viewpoint looking at the ways that these higher education facilities deal with 14, 15, 16 year old kids who are minors, they're not adults. They communicate directly with them for all things like they

100would any other college student. But it seems like that parents get frustrated because kids are kids. They don't always communicate information back. They if they're managing a personal email, a county schools email, and now they're managing college email that tells them they owe $450. I I don't understand why the payment part of it cannot be directed towards the parents. So the parents opportunity to take care because while I understand paying for it is important because of what the universities um provide the staffing and everything like that they have to cover that. But again, you got a 15y old kid who's still a high school student who's a minor who isn't paying for it who lost not one but two educational dual credit opportunities because they were struggling with managing the expectations of a higher education

101learning system. So I'm sure that this language in looking at it tonight, this is Thomas written language, which I understand, but what I'm throwing out to learning support to the board to the district is Maybe our board attorney here would would be able to help too. Is there any way to create a structure other than just an orientation that parents may never not even be able to attend or may not get all the information there or have a clear understanding of the payment responsibilities. that should not be put on the shoulders of 15y old high school students especially when it costs them learning opportunities. I mean it is a good life experience. I mean we are they are trying to get them ready to be college ready if they're doing some of these dual credit

102courses or life ready or work ready and kids do have to learn responsibilities but I just the loss of the learning when the parent found out about it immediately made payment but still lost the opportunity for the for the educational credit and experience credit I kind of struggle there between the wanting to teach your children to be self-sufficient to the parental side saying, "But they're minors. They're not, you know, I'm the one financially responsible for this." And as parents, we get no communication. If it if we don't see get a forwarded email from child, we never know what's going on. And there there has to be a better way to maintain that partnership between the district, the minor students, the parents, and I kind of reached out to other parents to say, "Hey, is this

103common?" And every one of them who had students in these situations currently in the past said, "Yes, it's a nightmare or lack of communication because they're used to dealing with the students. But in this case, the students are not adults. They are minors and the parents are the responsible parties for the payments." So just throwing that out there as an issue that's been around for a long time and um I was just kind of disappointed at the attitude in that particular situation. It's like well yeah you paid it last night but sorry you've been in the class for two weeks but now you're not. That's that goes against my educational brain. Just throwing that out there. I actually have a kid that's taking dual credit classes right now and beyond the payment. Um, thankfully Ignite

104really makes sure that we know when they're supposed to be when we're supposed to be looking out for it. So, I'm appreciative of that. But actually, this situation wasn't Ignite Student. Yeah. I've seen Jerry and the staff there are very good at making sure parents are aware that the bills are due and I don't know how it goes at other schools but I know at Ignite they make sure we know and we know ahead of time but we have to still go through the kids platform so yeah and they don't do it at a realistic time frame either so it's just a very bizarre timing that they have with that but we do have to go through the student which does make it complicated because you've got to make sure that you can get your

105kid pinned down to get on their computer and log in and you know get that information and then pay pay the bill. Um so I can imagine what it's like for parents that work crazy schedules that might not connect with their kids that often. So um especially if their kids out working too, it's going to be a you know two ships passing in a night. So, but beyond the pay, there are issues in terms of making sure our kids are getting or doing what they're supposed to be doing because as Karen mentioned, they're 15, 16 year olds. So, and we have an education system that is not high on executive function. So, they are struggling with executive functioning skills when they get to that level. And it's causing them to miss deadlines, not reades and

106they just think those are what do they call it? What is it? What is it in Pirates of the Caribbean? They're not they're not rules. They're they're suggestions or guidelines. So, the kids don't realize until they realize that their grade's going to suffer. So, you know, I had to intercede twice by getting my kid to learn how to talk to a professor because the school doesn't have access to be able to know what they're doing. So, the school able to see it, they would be able to intercede before we did. And and that's only if you know what to do. I can't imagine if a parent doesn't know what to do and their kid fails class they paid for and they have no clue that it's happening. Um, so there's a lot of hiccups with

107dual credit that I think we really need to try to figure out how we can get parents more engaged in that and getting the colleges to at least, if nothing else, work with the counselors at the schools, high schools, to be able to help guide these kids through these programs because that's a hard that's a hard turn when you're a sophomore to try to figure out how to navigate college while you're just figuring out how to navigate high school. I know one of the having a friend who taught one of the issues was our students are not used to the time frame. They're used to doing something throughout the whole year. Some of them have block sched and every syllabus is different. So, oh, sorry. But they have but they have, you know, like I

108have an issue with Sophie had an issue this year, my oldest, because she turned some stuff in late, but she didn't realize that by turning it in late that every day is late, it's going to be down a letter grade. So, she got that lesson this year. So, thankfully her professor allowed her to do extra credit, but she now knows that that syllabus means business and you have to read the fine print. But kids don't understand that. So when they're going through these dual credit prep things, it makes it difficult. So I guess maybe just working with those institutions and I mean I don't know if you know how they do their orientations. I mean because I I know I I was a parent doing that. We didn't have this back when my kids were

109going through school, which my oldest son reminds me of constantly. Why didn't we have that back then? I would have loved to have done that. But um and just because if you're a parent, I would think it's your first experience something like that. um how well they explain it or how you know do is it do parents really comprehend when they say because I was reading the language in here in this and it says your student will have their you know their own email address and you know they will be communicated through that. I really wonder if any parent sitting there that hadn't been through it before would really grasp that oh this my 15year-old is going to get all of the communication and I'm not I mean there's ways you can get around you

110set up automatic forwards and things like that to kind of help stay on top of things but are you really going to think about that until you get your first I don't know that I would but I just I just think it's I've heard so much about it over the last several months from several different parents and former and incoming and things like that that it if it's that widespread of an issue then we need to figure out how kids shouldn't be taken out of the class they've been in two weeks because they were a week later I think uh we'll come back to on this um my two sentences I've heard similar things um we want um um the wolf we want these to be learning experiences but we don't want them to be

111so consequential that it it permanently you know has permanent effects whether that's through transcripts or that's removal of an opportunity. So, um, we'll, uh, we'll have conversations and and I'll try to get you all some feedback. I mean, I'm looking over LSS. Um, but, you know, for example, um, Bird will there's there's several things mentioned tonight. Part part of it is reinforcing to our students expectations, but part of it is also um, additional educational pieces for our parents. But I do believe to your point, these may be boilerplate dual credit agreements, and there's that says we cannot um add to that working with with our with with Maryanne and Olivia some expectations that we have and those expectations can relate to these are acceptable learning experiences for students these aren't removal for class you know

112until you have documentation that you've communicated to this to the families and what that looks like. So it may be an addendum that we just simply say, okay, these are your boilerplate dual dual credit expectations, but in order for us to participate in this dual credit program, these are some supplemental things that we expect because to your point, you know, a 16y old is not a 19y old or a 20 year old and and we want to provide that support. So we we'll how about we look at it from those three angles and we'll come back to you. But I I I have heard similar concerns. I don't disagree, but also have I mean, if nothing else, you know, Tara, we take this clip and we can sit down and share this with the deans

113of education and from the our our university partners and say, "Listen to this. What's your response?" But then from that, we'll come back with a series of action items and suggestions to to try to um begin to improve these reduce these instances in the future. It's a good point. Very valid. Okay. Fair enough. I didn't over speak. Is that okay? Fair enough. Share that. And Tracy's back there. They ought to hear that, right? They ought to realize that. And what's our acceptable level of consequence? Right. What's the limit? How do we reinforce it? How do we work with the families? But what are our non-negotiables? And understand, I'm not knocking any of the institutions we have arrangements with. They are amazing partners. They've done great things for our county students. Um, and I'm one of

114those mean parents that I raise my kids to be independent and self-sufficient and um they learn the consequences of their own actions. But the only thing again kind of stuck me over this is I would never have held them accountable for a payment that I was responsible to make on their behalf as my child. So to me that's just the biggest difference. So I appreciate everyone's listening. Any other discussion on any of the consent agenda items? Seeing none, we'll move forward. All in favor, please say I. to item. Item 10. Yes, Chairman Parks. Thank you. I recommend the board approve the recommended action new business item AI adjustments descriptions. Have a motion to approve item. Second. discussion on item. All in favor please say I Yes board I recommend the board approve the recommended new

115business item B ten of working budget for fiscal year 2020 special thanks Katie Lisa is not here to all of those who have been involved in in this process. It's a lot of work especially with us currently not having a director of finance. Um so many people stepped up. So a special thanks to all those involved. I recommend a motion. Any discussion on item? All in favor, please say I recommend to item C, recommend action. Yes, thank you again, Chairman Parks. I recommend the board approve the recommended action new business item C 202526 salary wage charts and in the executive cabinet organization chart. As mentioned earlier, this is part of our organization chart review. This will save that this will reduce the district cabinet staff by 10% save the district more than $90,000. Uh and

116of course it provides the detailed salary wage charts and indices that we will immediately um share with our staff. So I would recommend approval as presented. We have a motion to approve new business organiz. information they'd like to share. Um well, I want to start out by saying I um went to Valley Shannon and did their defensive learnings for a few days. Um it is so fun to be in there. eth graders and what I'm looking forward to is later this month I get to be with fifth graders and seeing what they're doing. So I'm gonna go to a couple different schools and see what how they're doing because every school does it different like especially the eighth grade. So um I'm excited. It's like the best thing in the world. It's like Christmas as

117a board member to go in there to spend that kind of time with those kids. Um especially when you knew some of these kids when they were little. It's kind of surreal, but um the Resonate Hope event I it was amazing. I the our we have such gifted musically gifted children in our district. It was beautiful. Um there was a lot of raw emotion in the parent section when you're hearing about their stories and the grief and my daughters went to the hope squad piece and they gave great feedback. that it was just such a well-rounded event that it felt more like a community event and not somber. So you felt like you were learning and you were getting something from it without feeling like it was a memorial service. It was that was the

118take from it. So it was something that I got more uplifted than I anticipated from that. I don't know if that's the right thing to say there, but I really did feel uplifted, especially the music. I can't get over the music. I just can't get over it. Um, but the third thing is I sat in a um I don't even know what to call it, a panel with Mr. Ball and um some other people in the district. We were looking at the timekeeping systems, payroll systems that we're using. They're using front line right now or we're using front line right now. Um, and we were comparing it to another system out there. The other system we were looking at, it just wasn't up to snuff compared to front line. So, what you're going to probably

119see maybe next month or the month after, you're going to see the proposal and it's going to be an upgrade to what we have. which they need. It's going to help streamline a lot of the payroll systems districtwide and at the school buildings. It's going to do other stuff, too. But that right there, if you've ever process payroll, you know the headache that can come from it and the problems that come when you make mistakes with it. So, um, that's going to be coming soon. But I will say this, I was impressed with Mr. Ball. He took this original proposal and he negotiated hard and he got it knocked down in price, too. So, it was pretty impressive. So, um I'm proud of him. So, thank you for doing that. But the features in there

120are going to be great. I even think that we're might have an added bonus of seeing some decreases over time. So, I when you see it, strongly consider it. I think it's a good investment and I think our finance and HR staff and our office staff in the buildings would agree. I also found but I feel that we should say something because I wanted to say that with it being a year since we've met you and not even a full year since you've been here. I really can't imagine a time when you weren't here and I don't know what that says, but looking at watching that progress report, I was impressed. I was like and I and I've sat through it all as in real time and I was like, "Wow, we got a lot

121done in 10 months." It's I know I know seems like forever, but thank you your leadership and um oh the side note with the whole thing with the hiring event. I don't know if you all got a chance to pop by that but when you I heard the feedback of how many people we had at that event but that advertisement that said 50,000 starting pay 50,000 plus starting pay and $15 an hour plus it was as soon as I saw it I knew it was going to attract more people. I just didn't think it would do to the level that it did. So it was pretty impressive. I'm very proud of our HR team. They've done a lot of work the last couple months. Anyone else have anything to share? Yeah, I've got a couple

122of things. First of all, I want to thank Mrs. Park for inviting me to join the Jones team at the education and excellence dinner at their table. I got to sit next to Mr. Reed, who is also here tonight and recognize and reconnected with a teacher at Jones that I knew when he was like five, which makes me feel really, really old at this point. But um it was a great evening and I appreciated the invitation. join your team and be there to celebrate your success at Jones for Mr. Re and also want to thank the other Mr. Reed for the invitation to the DCA recognition annual event for the teachers there. I of course got there a little bit late coming across the river but it was a very enjoyable evening. Great to see

123the recognition of the dedication of the teachers that we have. That was just a microcosm of the excellence that we do have across the district. So those are two very end of year things that have added a lot of enjoyment to again a great year that we've had. So thanks to comments appreciate all the work that goes in working undertaking and it's enormously complicated because of the various ways in which school districts take ins also pointed out very old I I will say I try not to come across the district but this district is moving in a very positive direction many ways We continue to lead the state of Kentucky. One of the first, but it turns out that I but I just point out I joined the board, you know, facilitate that process and

124I think it went pretty smooth. So anyway, my point is that with your leadership, Dr. I wanted to make a comment very quickly to some people in my district. not forgotten about school. This is a priority for myself and I believe that's shared amongst other progress is a little slower than we would like. A lot of that is not willucation. I just want to make sure people represent know that we are working on that alterative increase With that being said, we're getting close to the end of the school year and I'm looking at I want to say again appians So anyway, we'll move to item 12. There's no close session to all say.