001[music] my turn on right again yeah in the middle call the uh March meeting of the Board of Education to order uh we are missing uh one member uh Karen bird so four members are present meets a quorum uh if you guys would all be so inclined to stand for the national anthem presented by Aquaman Middle School say can you [singing] see the dawn's early light what so [singing] proud We at the Twilight [singing] last gleaming who brought stries and [singing] bright star through theight or the [singing] were so G streaming and the rocket the bsing [singing] in through the [singing] night that our flag was still there oh [singing] say do that star sple for the [singing] of the free and the of the [applause] if if you guys would all remain standing for
002the Pledge of Allegiance led by the students from the great Long Branch Elementary School I pled alce to the flag [singing] of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all all right yeah all of hold on they're going to do a school a school M all right we're ready standing for the long bridge [laughter] it's going to be a great day I'm at school so I can learn and be the leader that was created today I be educated and empowered by my teachers with the tools to be successful within my community throughout the country I apply myself daily I study and I ask questions when I don't understand when I'm confronted with a problem or conflict I think before
003react I IGN all negative influences I'm proud to be a part of the next generation of leaders I take your responsibility and I welcome the challenge [laughter] MD [laughter] pi as much we get a picture already Chad did we get a picture you oh my God you all right uh now we're going to move on to item four good news items I'm going to turn the meeting over to Dr houseal for good news yes good evening board uh tonight for good news item number one break the mold Kyle Holbrook congratulations to Connor High School history teacher Kyle Holbrook Mr Holbrook can take just about any subject matter and make it your favorite through his unique style of teaching at the very least you can see how he becomes a student's favorite teacher in this video
004the 1950s who we talk about very good we each have that one teacher we remember fondly because of the way they taught their class and the way they made us feel as their student he still starts off his classes with what he calls a question of uh the day you know Ju Just to get kids riled up and engage a little bit [music] I either ask them how their weekend was which do Report with them shows that I actually care and I like to do that as kind of like an ice Breer today was what's the nonessential thing [music] that you've bought that you really love you know it just gets kids talking it gets kids engaged Kyle holber teaches us history 50s through 80s contemporary history and AP US History he's been at Connor
005High 16 years we were able to exper firsthand why his students feel the way they do about him his class was fun and the way he teaches makes the subject matter memorable he's really good about like like you can tell that he like cares about us and about like how he can turn like a conversation into like something that relates to like what we're learning about just easier to learn because it's easier to engage and you feel like a whole class and you're not going to be ostracized for speaking out what I tell students is not hey this is what you need to know or this is the right way but hey this is a perspective this is a perspective let's look at both and kind of compare them which one do you believe is
006is more credible is there bias in it I think one of the things that they leave his class thinking is how can I take that guy again you know because he he he teaches a required course but then he's able to teach a few of our other elective courses and kids want to take him because he's so engaging I'm going to try to take AP um US history with him if these are active and we Act rationally what can happen we visited his classroom on a Friday and in his classroom Fridays are called fun fridays when they do the penny challenge if you interact in class you'll give you pennies and then you can spend them and you'll do little challenges with your classmates at the end of the day like last 15 minutes and
007you try to rack up as much as you can and come get you awards for and that helps with engagement as well I think that's a pretty smart system in my opinion CU we get rewarded for particip and all that and that encourages us to stay more active during class and just overall keep focused Kyle has had such an impact with students that principal woff has made him part of his mentor program there are three people here that teach that subject and those teachers watching Kyle uh I specifically put a younger teacher with that group so that they so the Kyle can mentor that teacher and and having Kyle available to do things like that is going to last for another generation Bailey cow is a 2015 graduate of Conor high school and has been
008teaching history there for 3 years he is also Kyle's minty I've gotten to work with Kyle really closely both teaching US history and uh is it's just awesome he's he's a great mentor to me the biggest thing I've learned from Kyle is um he's very adaptable like he really is adaptable in his lessons he sees what works with his kids what's sufficient what what really kind of gets an idea across [music] some kids love history but not all kids with all the news of late about our government releasing classified documents it coincides perfectly with Mr Hook's next history lesson you talk about the Kennedy assassination what do you think of when I say Kennedy assassination other conspiracies and [music] and whatnot and I kind of uh will start with that um hook if you will
009um for kids and then get into [music] well what actually happened what do we know and we're actually going to look at interviews of people that are alive still today that live through it what did they say right who cares what Uncle Joe on the internet says um what the people that actually saw it or live through it what did they say and to me even though it's a video that's a primary source like it doesn't make me m it's you know it's an interview with somebody and I think that really kind of draws in um students to understanding new people at real time Kyle hobber has definitely broken the mold in how history is taught and understood no one can legitimately say learning history in his class is boring it's been awesome to be
010able to learn some of those skills from Kyle and kind of implement that into my own uh teaching Kyle I just want to congratulate you on the break the mode award if I could choose any teacher in my building to win this award it would be you You're great for our kids you're great for my teachers you're great for the community I'm very proud to have you part of counter High School good job Mr hook congrats on uh winning breaking the mold congrats on winning break the mold Mr hook congratulations Mr H Brook congratulations Mr hook you got break the M uh if you'll come on up front here [applause] we have a a a presentation as a token of our appreciation [applause] con micone any anyone recognize or anything you like to say we
011to say a few words put you spot no pressure uh no I I just I love Conor High School um my student Wyatt um up there makes me proud every day uh Mr woff just being an awesome Mentor uh and just being able to work in a great environment at Connor and boom County schools in general uh thank you guys for this award appreciate it [applause] I'm actually just going to take a couple seconds to uh just thank Mr hook again and congratulate him I'm going to talk a little bit about my own little personal testimony with Mr H Brook I had him last year as a junior and he was one of the best teachers I've ever had and I can't emphasize that enough he doesn't treat teaching like a chore like a job
012like a lot of teachers do the amount of hours he puts into it the time the dedication it is something that the students can see right uh this is exemplified in the activities he does they're not you know one-dimensional they're very creative I have countless memories of a good friend of mine yay on doing a I forget what the game's called but we played basketball essentially with uh reviewing for history he loved to break the backboard that was his favorite thing to do and tear the basketball hoop off the wall but uh that in you know president tier listing just those little activities that most teachers don't think of is really what sets Mr hook apart and on top of that these activities allow for his students to talk to him and I think that
013is one of the most important qualities that any teacher has but especially that Mr Holbrook has is that he treats his students not like students but like family so while we're not in your family I hope that you agree with that sentiment and I just really really do appreciate all that you've done and thank you very much and this is to say that I am waiting on the wreck letter from you all right thank you [applause and cheering] that's awesome uh well we're going to move to item five um and hear from our student board representative Mr Levi all right now this is typically my favorite part of the meeting today was probably talking about Mr hook a little bit but uh last or a few last week sorry we had our delegate assembly for
014ssac where we got to nominate a couple of people uh I'm pleased to say that our two nominations one from ignite and one from Connor will be Nolan Fitzgerald from ignite and uh Andrew W or AJ woff I should say from Connor High School uh I'm very very pleased with both of them they are both fantastic applicants and candidates for such an important position in our district and I am so grateful for all the work that they're going to do going forward uh no matter who wins I know that this seat will be left in great hands moving forward so I'm looking forward to see what their speeches entail and all of that and who eventually gets elected but before we did the nominations we had Mr vocal from Cooper come in and he talked
015a lot about uh what is the delegate assembly and what is you know the role of participation in democracy in politics and you know a lot of the people at ssac are young whether they are uh Elementary or middle school kids even high school kids a lot of the time do not have a clear understanding of the political system and while you know what can you really do and half an hour is absolutely amazing what Mr vocal can teach these students so whether it is just a little bit of information that they take or the whole thing no matter what every second he spends there is it is very important and enlightening to a lot of these people uh furthermore I just want to say that at the very beginning of the meeting we had
016a little bit of an activity where we had uh different groups of students eight groups in total with two having opposing viewpoints an example was one group had the prompts that Superman is the coolest superhero the other one had to prompt that Batman is the coolest superhero and no matter what you agree with you had to figure out how to defend that claim how to defend that argument and then we had the groups debate each other the whole point about this is with you know the whole election coming in and that being the theme I wanted to make sure people had an idea of how to actually discuss and have civil conversation and debate their claims respectfully whether they agreed with them or not they have to be able to defend in articulate an argument
017and I think it went really well I think everyone was engaged we all had great conversations and at the end of the day it was fun so that's how the last meeting went I'm looking forward to the next one where we're actually running the elections and with that being said I'm all done thank you uh it's Batman by the way I agree I completely agree all right move on to uh item six superintendent report uh Dr House well uh yes uh good evening board I just have a few things for you uh first uh as you know um as uh part of being a a beginning superintendent in the state of Kentucky um we are required to do an overview of some of the leadership strands tonight is on collaborative leadership so I'll just go
018through those really quickly they're on the website if anybody would like to take a deeper look at them so uh this is number six of seven so we have one to go after this superintendent in concert with the local Board of Education designed structures of processes that result in Broad community engagement support for and ownership of District Vision acknowledging the strong schools build strong communities and superintendent proactively creates with school and District staff opportunities for parents community members government leaders and business representatives to participate with their Investments of Resource Assistance and Goodwill and um these are just a few things talking about collaborative uh Partnerships um with the 21st Century Learning priorities um many of our educational Partners um engaging with the local uh school board and Community State stakeholders and proactive Partnerships with community
019colleges universities professional organizations and and and such um just a just a real few uh a couple few examples of course we recognize uh uh many of our outstanding uh Community Partnerships uh many of our students uh many of our teachers and staff each and every uh meeting such as we did tonight with the break the mold um of course I always have lots of opportunities to engage with the board and learn with you and to learn from you uh there's examples I know tomorrow night we have uh a fundraiser for the uh Community Foundation um and of course you can see a sample of of agendas and many of the things that we do uh really working together board superintendent relationships is is integral to the success of a district and then of course
020out and about in the community as as you're well aware I I enjoy being in the schools I I meet with uh students for lunches uh once a month um part of uh as Wyatt mentioned an opportunity to participate with the student leadership group um and speak to various groups uh such as uh City councils uh uh rotary I think I'm speaking to them next week and uh just out telling the story of Boon County because Boon County is doing amazing things so that's just a a brief overview and uh next month I'll have my seventh and final required presentation and with that we're going to move on to the second item on the uh agenda uh for superintendent report and that is strategic plan goal number two an empowered Workforce uh if you're not
021familiar the uh board adopted a strategic plan that basically consists of four key priorities and those priorities uh related to uh to learning um the the second one is uh really what we're going to talk about tonight that's empowered Workforce that's professional development the thir the third one is uh the community piece of of a strategic plan and the fourth one is our operations and efficiency in making sure that we maximize uh our our dollars and we we put them uh where they they they most benefit uh student learning in our community so tonight uh we've done one on objectives uh one and three tonight I have uh Mr Egg ball who is Director of Human Resources who's just going to give a little bit of an overview of some of the work we're doing
022as it relates to um um priority two within our strategic Plan Eric yeah thank you Dr hell thank you board uh I I won't read each of these bullet points as they uh pop up here we do have four slides uh for the four components of uh strategic planning goal two uh but I will kind of hit on a couple of these as we go through [clears throat] uh and some of them you'll consider tonight so first of all we have a salary analysis and restructure you guys guys saw that last month and you have uh an agreement before you tonight um which we are really excited about uh and then the bullet point number three there just wanted to advertise our upcoming events I think it's a great time to do that next week
023is our alternative path of certification open house right here um at uh Ralph Rush uh it gives people an opportunity that uh are taking non-traditional paths to certification that information connects them with local universities uh and then on April 24th we have our career fair we'll have that Boon County high school again uh last spring we had over a hundred uh folks visit that so we're really excited about that uh goal 2B uh we're looking to increase uh staff retention and make sure our benefits are are solid and again that wage analysis that I mentioned in the last uh uh the last slide as well and some of the annuities and non-salary benefits so was really excited to see uh the desires of the principles uh and the desires of uh the the board kind
024of coincide and and really value those people coming in uh with these benefits uh and one of the things that these uh these groups that we talk to stakeholder groups really want us to focus on classified employees in their professional development that's really important for us to provide them opportunities for both that mentorship that we see for our teachers as very valuable uh for those folks as well as uh professional development opportunities uh for those those various groups as well again uh our goal is always to increase uh a diverse Workforce um and and you can see some of the things that they request that we do here these stakeholders um they want us to have pipelines from really Parenthood to to leadership in our district and we do that through our alternative path to
025certification openhouse uh and engaging with Multicultural events at the school level is something that we really think in those stakeholder groups really think would be valuable in in increasing uh the minority uh number members of our Workforce to better represent our students and then finally um again uh the induction and retention program there's a lot of uh research out there that shows that teachers need that support in the first two years not just the first year uh so our uh sorry retention and reduction or not reduction retention and induction program sorry uh is focused I know I know I fixed myself uh is focused on really making sure that we support not just the first year but beyond that first year that's very important uh and we continue to build on that and one thing
026that I really want to point out uh is stay interviews uh the the district and and I have to give a shout out to my HR team have put together in operations and and pretty much every Department have put together a process to complete over 400 stay interviews this year we're on track to do 500 next year uh and the feedback we're getting from those employees is the way they feel valued and honored through that process uh has been pretty amazing so we are we are honored ourselves to be able to do those and and you know take across the Finish Line some of the the vision that both Dr houseal and our stakeholders had as well thank you Eric I appreciate all the work and the update we have this information on our website
027it's part of the board agenda so if you have questions of course you can reach out to Eric uh you can let me know I know the last thing he touched upon stay interviews is something that the cabinet working with the principles uh really introduced and the reason for that is that um a lot of times the the the story we hear is from an employee when they're leaving and the value is if we have conversations regularly with all employees and understand why they uh what it is they love about their job and what we can do better we have better retention so we've implemented a plan beginning this year um with stay interviews every five years so people kind of get interviewed on what we call the speed limit years 5 10 15 20
028uh and and we have a format for that uh and it's been great I know I'm uh conducting the stay interviews for people what year 30 so for everyone who's been here 30 years they have the opportunity uh to to give input I'll be the one doing the interviews for a day and uh we get great and it gives us a ton of data it lets us know what it is that our employees uh need what it is that they they value um concerns and again it's it's better to hear those concerns while they're employed with us than than than after they resign so that's just one additional thing as you said 400 interviews is a tremendous number but it gives us a a huge amount of data to sort of understand uh at the
029end of course then we give our employees a a gift tokens of our appreciation and just an opportunity to thank them and it's that one-on-one personal conversation so that's just one of many pieces that's come from the Strategic plan really based upon interview uh based on feedback um from many of our principles um and from District staff so uh thank you again Eric for the for the overview um board you may have before you a funding update um we move that funding update you may recall last meeting if you were not here and you want information about where we stand in terms of our salaries and wages we did a in-depth a deep dive if you will comparison regionally and with across the state and we took that information and used it for bargaining and
030so um we presented all that last month it is uh on last month's board agenda but you can also find it under quick links on the main website um we also did a study on allocations and kind of understood the the relationship between the number of Staff members we have and salaries and we have more details on that if we get into it uh as um as Mr B mentioned we're really pleased that that earlier than than in a long time we had a very collaborative uh bargaining session this year uh we had follow-ups with with our classified staff uh uh leaders and and we um from that have arrived at uh a tenative agreement and and a recommendation of the board tonight we'll talk about later that addresses many of the things that Mr
031B mentioned within HR that includes um things such as attraction strategies uh retention strategies and and things like that so um the last thing uh that we have on the agenda tonight is uh mental health support update uh and again um if you uh and we'll mention this later but we I cannot thank enough the Community Partners uh Community organizations and the parents and the many many community members who participated in this Tuesday this past Tuesday night two nights ago right here uh our mental health forum and we have another one next Tuesday night it's on our website um it's really coming together for um taking a district that does so many things well uh addressing the mental health challenges that we face in our community and just coming up with strategies to continue to
032improve and it was a great conversation and I know a board member had asked for just a quick overview of some of the things that we do and so um Miss Kathy Ro rootman executive director of student services has that presentation it's really a pleasure to be here I I enjoy talking talking to you every time I get to do so this will be just a quick overview of what we're doing I will have the presentation to you tomorrow I left them sitting on the corner of my desk so I apologize if you would go to the next slide Chan we prioritize Health wellness and safety in this school district some of the key components to what we're doing and I'm not going to read everything on here Access to school-based Health Services proactive mental
033health initiatives Education and Training integrated safety measures health and wellness programs and our Boon County Mental Health task force by embedding all of these strategies and using and having our Community Partners we're able to excuse me in able to uh work with our school environment we have boom County Schools provide a holistic approach to maintaining safe healthy and supportive learning environments and attestment to that if I may real quickly Kathy is um we were talking about this uh at the mental health Forum on Tuesday night um this District invests heavily in counselors School sites and and nurses and and and health professionals um because all of those are are necessary and and important in this conversation and you know the fact that all of our schools have a students and staff have access to Personnel
034in those areas um you know I think last night we mentioned the number of counselors we have at it was in 62 yeah so 62 counselors a tremendous number uh just speak to the investment we make in this and that's just something that I wanted to highlight that we talked about Tuesday night the number of staff that we invest in to to to accomplish these goals so I'd like to add to that before I go further is that we have uh 20 Family Resource and use service centers 15 School psychologists and over 15 Community Partners who come in and do uh small groups and work with our our children come in during crisises we also have worked with we took took the lead to start a crisis team a community crisis team not a Boon
035County Schools crisis team but a community crisis team to help address the situations that we're having here in the community so once we had our first meeting our um the Boon County uh Fiscal Court and their employees took over the communication and of safe messages but internally to Boon County we have our own message system but the county is the official message of what's happening in Boone County we participate and will continue to participate in a crisis response team uh postvention training and Strate strategic planning we're doing that with um Beck Whipple who is a suicide coordinator for the state of Kentucky he and his team are here working with us so that we are aware of not only what we do for prevention but postvention right now we're in postvention time we are working
036with eth Ethan's purpose and hope Squad and we as Dr houseal had said we have coordinated some mental health forums the last one was Tuesday we'll have another one next Tuesday and there we had approximately 10 Partners who had uh tables and our panel was composed of Partners our panel will be a little bit different next week but it will give the same kind of encouraging information and resources we work with as individuals and organizations that are also reaching out to us asking how can they support our families and missions postvention we've convened the um crisis response team on that crisis response team are Boon County mental health staff Community Partners First Responders from both Boon County and the City of Florence and it's facilitated Again by the coordinator from the Kentucky bavor Behavior Health
037the other thing in postvention is making sure that we reach out to students parents and staff giving them support and other services I'm going to read this part though any student who feels bullied abused sad or depressed or who has experienced threats of violence or concerning Behavior can reach out to a school administrator counselor or trusted teacher for assistance anyone can also make an anonymous report on the kcss stop tipline found on the Boon County website or by calling or texting or by calling or texting or by uh calling 866 I on Kentucky what that is is Homeland Security another source that we have is for skilled caring support anytime please call or text 988 our call to action to all of the community in Boon County is together we can break the stigma around
038teen mental health it's time to create a world where teens feel safe to talk about their struggles without fear of judgment let's all stand together to break the stigma around mental health by starting conversations offering support and listening with compassion every teen deserves to know they are not alone their feelings matter and help is available Reach Out share resources and be an advocate for mental health awareness together we can build our community where seeking help is a sign of strength not weakness join this movement to empower teens and create a brighter more supportive future thank you thanks Kathy [applause] Dr house and again the information on the Forum is on our website um that is uh from 5:30 to 7 next uh uh Tuesday uh March 18th right here in this building as well um
039and especially thanks to all the people who came out this past Tuesday we had counselor standing by for individual support um great feedback um and again you can see that there's a tremendous number of um groups uh organizations convenings and conversations uh to continue to to recognize and address U the Teen Mental Health uh crisis that exist uh dashley as well as in our local community and to step up together to do everything that we can again thank so much sorry I just want to tell um Kathy and everybody who worked on this thank you very much um and parents if you're listening and you can make the next one please come to the next one there was a lot of great information in there and a lot of opportunity for you to ask questions
040um and no question I mean there were some great questions that came up um some great resources that were available but it was great to see so many community members come out this room was pretty full on Tuesday night and um you know I'm hoping we can see more things like that throughout the year well thank you and you know I saw I see Barbara Brady director of communications over in the uh kind of hiding over there she worked with Kathy we've uh sent out a three-part newsletter on um suicide um awareness and mental health um tips and strategies and and really over and over we hear the the the best advice we uh we that we've been told for for parents and for for peers is to just be aware uh to look for
041signs uh to talk to your to your child talk to your friends and anytime that you have questions or concerns uh um um get help or refer someone for help or talk to a counselor um or a a a trusted teacher um or a an administrator any of the sources we have here so uh we're we're we're really uh coming together as a community and and providing great resources to our families um um because uh one uh one more teen suicide is one too many so thank you Kathy and with that I close my comments all right let's see here [snorts] G to move on to item seven I guess it would be uh that's the audience of citizens all right guys excited okay all right the board welcomes the opportunity to hear from the
042community and inform the board of your views on matters before the board meaning they have to be on this agenda the Board of Education agenda is set and by Statute the board can only discuss the items present on the agenda by Statute Kentucky law the board cannot legally nor would the board discuss an issue specifically to an employee or a student and respect to privacy the meetings are streamed live on YouTube I see a couple of news media cameras here so be respectful in your comments if you have a concern that you'd like a response please be respect um please see Mr Eric ball over there raise your hand that guy and leave uh your information as as directed keep the comments to two minutes so that all wish to speak may speak and the
043gift giving of time for another person is not permitted so everyone that wishes to speak can speak now I want to add if you have a concern specific to an individual student or a staff member as I've said the board cannot legally discuss these items however you are welcome to write your concerns down and submit them to Eric ball for consider for consideration by the appropriate District staff member all right don't know first up Darren Alexander [applause] guess the I guess the question will be can I speak but you just can't answer or I can't mention specific employees or students Kentucky statute no no specific students or teachers I will uh do that exception of one I'd like to congratulate uh Mr hook who was here for winning his award um I would uh um
044I'm sure that the Connor um family would be very very they'd probably be shaking their head if after he won that award if the someone decided that he uh no longer had the culture that was um right for that school so um with that in mind um I'd like for everyone to look at the people in this room those that have bought shirts respond on social media uh many students here that uh have personally shown their support of someone uh those that have cheered loudly at the region game that this man has uh has fought very hard to be the type of leader and excelling establishing a culture that any parent would want their child to grow up in and be coached under uh this man is a passionate man a family man he holds
045his players accountable preaches family the players generally feel that he loves them and wants the best for them the team in the program is without question revered and respected throughout the region and the state my son who only started one varsity game for this man repeatedly comes back to show love to his teammates and that program because of the culture that has been established it is a team that is full of uh diversity Mr Alexander yes I feel like we're talking about a specific person are we I I'm I'm I'm I'm not I hear you if you could hold my if you could hold my time too for a second we can do it a cou hold time for a second you could hold my time as I apologize for interrupting however as advis at
046the beginning of the audience of citizens the board cannot legally discuss a specific employee this includes Personnel matters which are currently attempting to discuss I understand I understand I'm just just just happen to speak on behalf and just for the people that are here wait are we talking about a specific employee no no just in in general you know I'm not talking yeah yeah we're we're discussing the the culture of a of a program just yeah I just feel that it would be just be I think the the school board would just like to know if just the the culture and the passion that a scho you realize [clears throat] the board has no jurisdiction over employees I'm I'm sure yeah you know yeah we understand I I I will welcome that discussion with Mr
047ball and find out who does so we can as a community find out exactly who the proper steps are because we do get told that one person they don't have it they don't have it they don't we're just wondering who does um but maybe that's a question that I will gladly email him and hopefully I will receive an answer to that all right thank you Mr Alexander hold on I I still have 4 5 seconds Sir I apologize here I will I will make this quick um yeah um yeah so uh the question here um you know as we're trying to find an answer um to the to the culture issue um it's very easy to sit back and say that a person doesn't have to explain themselves and how a 17-year employee with countless
048parents and players are we talking about an employee I feel like we are just you know yeah you know yeah mean we just had a 16 I'm this is my meeting welcome to it yeah would you my time just for a second welcome to my meeting yeah we're talking about an employee at a board at a business meeting I'm sorry come on I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm trying to go man um um I just in general I I just I just want to let you know that we're that we um we're always going to be supportive of uh a gentleman who is a maker of men uh if you're on the uh outside and you're only looking at wins and losses uh you're greatly missing the point uh this man is a pillar of stability
049and it is it's amazing that as long as he has been there that the the other there's been other places that have coaches that been there for a very long time that is what makes him who he is and the culture what it is at this place thank you [applause] [cheering] [applause] I don't know [applause] Olivia could you provide some just some guidance I'm well aware that that that um probably that that violated uh discussions about Personnel um what what would you advise us to do last year there were federal district court judges who advised that the board is not allowed to consider or discuss any kind of issues pertaining to personnel there are very clear statutory prohib prohibitions for our board members ethically speaking they can get in trouble if they discuss or contemplate
050interfere in any way shape or form with personnel Personnel is in Kentucky by Statute rests with one person every Personnel decision in this District rests with the superintendent of schools so the so that hold on hold on and if you'd give me a minute where you could listen I'd explain why we can't do this here this is a Schoolboard meeting this is not open mic night for the superintendent communication with the superint attendant has to go through the proper channels within the Boon County Public School District at the district level this is the Board of Education meeting doesn't because by Statute is well until a personal action has actually occurred and it has not the superintendent of schools is not continu consistent with Kentucky records laws a superintendent is not allowed to discuss any type
051of personnel issue until final action has occurred that is a clear rule under privacy laws open records you name it there's not been any kind of final determination there's not been any kind of personnel action that is subject to open records so we have a really unfortunate situation where the superintendent takes all of your information reads it keeps it to himself and considers it when the time comes but until final action has been taken the district cannot discuss it period fine but when we you're not engaging in the discussion unless Mr interrupts the People speaking and giving their time and letting you guys be aware of the issues that are going Onin our community so if there is no discussion being and we are just simply making a statement that would be great as well
052but you're not discussing unless you're speaking way he is now while I'm speaking thank you disrespectful [applause] we by Statute okay so I think we're missing the point here this is we cannot excuse me we cannot have this discussion here you need to have this discussion via email with the superintendent who has oversight on the issue that you want to talk about the board members the board members cannot hear because we can unduly influence Personnel issues which is why this is such a dangerous situation where people are allowed to come and openly discuss any employee because we don't the board is not elected to do that all we're elected to do is is monetary issues that's correct I am elected I no we're not elected to listen to you at the audience of citizens because
053we have a statutory requirement put on To Us by the state of Kentucky to not hear Personnel issues at a board meeting you act like this is my rule it's not my rule this would this that's a great question Olivia excuse me there was a question where do you go where do you say who do you who do you direct your information to Olivia will provide that information anyone who would like to express a Personnel related concern should do so with Eric ball the director of resources that information will be considered when there is a decision to be made but at this time there is nothing that can be discussed because no final action on a Personnel decision has been made final that final another question we are parents we are students we have family
054members of something that is happening in our school that is not right and it is affecting our children what is the purpose of the schools for our kids correct that's why they're there this is not about schol and this is not about kids this is about going and the parents are standing up for it for the record what is your name what's your name we need it for the record again it's a very statutorily controlled meeting we all know school here for years there are things that are happening in that school that is affecting the students the students are the number one priority in this school they should be and that should be all of your all's concerned as board members I know you can't answer me but you all need to take a deeper
055look at that you are all up there for a purpose and that purpose is to serve the kids and when it's not being just in the schools something needs to change so I'm just leaving that there for you all to know that you all need to take a deeper look what it's affecting our children and our kids and what is happening in their schools thank you for your comments [applause] [cheering] [applause] all right Austin Alexander [applause] my name is Austin Alexander hello boor I'm a current student at the University of North Carolina I play football there and I uh didn't come for conflict [clears throat] but I came for justice I came to tell the truth growing up around my guys all I wanted to do was just be with them and play in a
056place that was we could all be connected we could lean on family and we could lean on we could lean on each other and that's exactly what I found when I went to this place he was able to play for the 33rd District title and win it over and over and over again but that wasn't just because we just showed up and and did whatever it's because we had a foundation that we were built on we were built on family we were built on trust and we were built on toughness and that held me as a rock and mentally it allowed me to stay firm it allowed me to keep on going through the hard times allow me to keep on going through the High Times where we're winning but then also the low times
057where it feels like things aren't going very well built on this every single year no matter who came through we came together and we understood these values and that's something I I want to emphasize that that isn't just something that's just formed and to take that away would be leading kids down a path of Destruction leading kids down a path of darkness and this is something that I cannot stand for as I'm at North Carolina I'm hearing about um uh this culture that's going to be taken away and I already know where this leads to this this leads to the the declination of mental health this leads to people becoming lost and it's something I cannot stand for and I must Express that the coming together having a family that you can lean on through
058the hard times and the tough times is something that's essential and must not be taken away and I cannot stand for it thank you [cheering] [applause] thank you I appreciate that all right looks like uh Jord Hampton [applause] you can go ahead start it um first of all I just want to say hello to you guys um I hope you guys are doing well I know that you guys are probably stressed just as much as we are um but I'm not here to talk about that specific person I'm here to talk about my dad um everyone in this room I'm pretty sure everyone in this room knows my story my dad and in July of last year had a meningioma brain tumor which means he wasn't supposed to live um and it was bigger than
059a baseball and in my lowest moments I called on my team and they were there and one specific person not I'm not mentioning who one specific person called me the very first person called me um Family Trust toughness I have a family outside of my personal one that's that supported me and I just want you guys to know that that person not not saying who has been an unbelievable man not a coach not a not a man even at that but an unbelievable Father Figure in my life I'm not saying who but I hope you guys are okay I know you guys are stressed just as much as we are so I hope you guys are okay and and God bless you all God bless you [applause] uh thank you Mr Hampton and it looks
060like uh Sarah Lutz [applause] hi thank you family and culture so let me tell you my oldest son Gavin we relocated to Boom County out of another school district where he was being bullied and he found a home in the culture that was created with these guys as his family and the leadership that they have so know that he was a he was a recent graduate I have a middle one also that is a sophomore and I have a youngest that is a sixth grader at Bal Shannon covid was really tough on Gavin being the oldest he was diagnosed with some different things mental health anxiety and depression this team these guys and the community that surrounded him to be able to get through that is like none other that I had ever seen or
061experienced he was able to call on the leadership that he had in tough days he was able to reach out to Prior players that that leadership knew had been through similar situations and get just a different perspective from somebody that had been there they listen they give real honest and sound advice and they create a family when he went to a school event and the kids just took them under their wing not even being a part of that school he came to us and said that's where I want to be and we moved our family to Boom County specifically for that so as I've heard today the struggles with mental health and what our community is going through you need to know that the right people are in the right places just open your eyes
062and see who those people are because we've got great kids and great leaders in our schools to really help support them in those moments thank you [applause] uh pardon me if I mispronounced it handwriting uh kayn Johan [applause] welcome all right so just as Sarah stated she has kids in all schools I also have five kids one in high school to a middle school to an elementary school going up to our feeder high school that is Cooper um we talk about mental health and as the woman up here stated before it's it sounds like a lot is being done to help the families but I just need you guys to know that a lot is it didn't sound like like much is being done inside of the schools so when our students are going to
063teachers or staff members or all of these counselors that we have here and nothing is being done that's where you need to look as well it's not just on the parents because the parents can only send an email to somebody or raise raise a riot inside of a school building before it is brought to the board because we have more students committing suicide than we have months in a year [snorts] so if you're not here for these students there is work that it there's vacancies elsewhere that you guys can definitely fill and do great jobs there as well but I just want to speak on this culture right like you've got an entire community that came together to stand for something these kids love each other whether they're freshmen or they are F or seniors
064or even in like grade school you see our basketball team going to support a fifth grade championship at the local elementary school you see those elementary school kids getting out of school to go support them play at state [snorts] that is something that everybody should want to be a part of but I can tell you one thing there's several people that aren't there so look at the people who are showing up for their Community however they can when you have husbands and wives going across counties with their students and with their team showing up for each other I think that holds a ton of value when you don't see the man in charge at any events [applause] uh Kenny loner my apologies if I mispronounced it [applause] welcome hi um I'm going to be in
065a little different perspective because I don't have any kids at Cooper I don't have parents I never went to cooper cooper wasn't built when I went to school my kids with the r but what I've done I've coached youth football for 32 years in my life and what I see here is what I Bas my coaching in it's not about winning games coaching is not about winning games coaching first and foremost should be teaching whether you're teaching coaching or head of the photography class your job when you're dealing with youth should be first and foremost teaching the people young adults to be good people to be good citizens to be good in the community that's your first and most important job I came here because what I seen that uh they don't like him because
066of his culture whatever kind of culture he's thinking is that's probably what's wrong with a lot of people in this world feel like we're talking about a person not a person but a culture I'm just saying what was culture all right the culture the culture is he's teaching the guys teaching adults these young men children be good adults and be good students which should be one and two both as my opinion is paying tax dollars to the board you guys job should be looking at are they doing good stuff kids are growing up to be good students and getting a good education it's not about winning games you've got the bonus he's winning games that that's the bonus part that's he meaning an individual person cuz it looks like a whole team of win right
067here excuse me excuse me there's a whole team of winners right over here but that's bonus you as a thing real quick you all should be looking at that so on the outside looking in I think the biggest question they need to do they need to know other than an email that doesn't get answered they need to know who do they respond to thank you that's what they need to have [applause] right uh Kelsey Shackleford hello hi um so I'm actually here to talk about something different um um so I work at Mental Health America of Northern Kentucky in Southwest Ohio and um we have a lot of different programs one of which is the boom County Alli Alliance which I know that you all um have met with them before that there's some kind
068of a relationship building um I just wanted to talk about a couple of the things that we have available um one of the things I want to encourage is I know that you're doing these mental health forums and that's great um but there as you said there are a lot of Community Partners and there's a lot being done that you may not be aware of and there's a lot of free things that can be done um one of the uh boom County Alliance has suicide and prevention resources on their website uh another program that I'm more involved with is M Health First Aid it is an evidence-based um tried and true taught to Fidelity program that's National there's both a youth program and a teen program so youth is for the adults that are working
069with kids and then teen is something that they teach in schools peer-to-peer and um that's something that they've been doing more in Ohio um but we do have we we get money we've actually we've been trying to actually get into Northern Kentucky and it's been very difficult um trying to do it school by school and well common theme not hearing back so um that's [laughter] I mean so I did I I you know like coming to this just so that like we can be on the record a little bit um I you know it would be awesome I work I live in Boon County um I live here I've lived here since 2017 and it's my home now and I don't think we're going anywhere in one day um you know I might have kids
070in the system so I just I want there to be resources for them um in resources for the staff and the parents and the families um that that have the loss and the grief both before it happens and after um that's something definitely the staff that's something we've done in the past with other fields so thank you [applause] all right um I will say I am I am actually one of those people that do attend your basketball games quite often you'll see me with a 14-year-old girl about this High I look forward to the next game at that we'll move to agenda item well eight recommended action consent agenda Dr houseal thank you chairman Parks I recommend the board to approve the recommended action consent agenda items a through o as presented with the treasures
071report that sign by Miss Katie nan no that's all that signed up so no we're going to we're going to move on my friend no we had a signup sheet that was it no no at this point Miss Nunan will give the we'll wait just a second it's not really a question and answer session by St I'll be here after the that's on the website I'm pretty sure that's okay we're going to move on to the next agenda item our our agenda is set by Statute my friend all right we we wait Eric ball right there guy the pink tie Katie we'll wait a second so okay you didn't sign up he called everybody on the list yeah you're not on the list for what it be put on the agenda no email you have
072to sign up when you those all responded to that we don't put people on that you had to sign up on the list my my apologies my friend we'll have a meeting this same Thursday next month the list is thank you you thank you thank you for coming see you thank you the agenda is set and by Statute we have to follow the agenda yes after the agenda after the meeting I I'll be agreed okay at this point I will refer to KD Nunan watch more of these meetings they're all the same and Katie will give the uh Treasures report all the same thank you Katie thank you Dr hawald for the month of February we began with an adjusted cash balance of 102 m314 we have total receipts of 8.3 million and total expenditures
073of 13.7 million for a net decrease in cash of 5,389 our balance on hand at the end of the month was 96 mil 92467 um some of the notable items for the month that we are continuing to collect property taxes we collected about 1.5 million this month of which 3 57,000 was uh put in the restricted we also collected 1.2 million in utility taxes and we had uh Debt Service payments of 6.2 million thank you okay uh do I do I have a motion to approve consent a agenda items a through o as recommended motion I second it second all right uh is there any discussion on items on the consent agenda I'm seeing none all in favor please say I I I any Nays nope all right motion passes 4 Z all right move
074on to item nine recommended action old business there's no old business we move on to item 10 recommended action new business uh item a instructional time for 2025 26 school year Dr houseal uh yes you'll see A and B uh um uh [snorts] pretty closely connected it's pretty a standard operating procedure um I would recommend that you approve the recommended action new business item a instructional time for the 2025 26 school year as presented I second it do do do I have a motion to approve new business item a did you motion a motion okay a second M wolf any discussion seeing none all in favor please say I I I I any Nays motion passes 4 Z move on to um Item B Dr houseal uh yes similarly similarly to item a um I
075recommend the board approve recommended action new business Item B instructional time adjustment for elementary schools for the 25 26 school year as presentent do I have a motion to approve new business Item B instructional time adjustment for elementary schools for 2025 26 school year as recommended second any discussion all in favor please say I I hi motion passes 4 Z all right let's uh move on to item agenda item 10 recommended action business item C yes I am very pleased to recommend the board to approve recommended action new business item C Boon County Board and Boon County Ed Education Association salary agreement for the 2025 2026 school year and if I may just a special thank you to the uh tremendous work of um the Teachers Association Kelly Reid thank you for you and your
076team um a special thank you Charlie buffano uh for individual meetings and input that you provided um as mentioned by Eric ball related to our strategic plan um we really um went um in in a direction to address concern that have lingered and and I'm very pleased to announce uh that upon approval our beginning teacher salaries next year will be at F over more than excuse me $50,500 um I am very pleased to announce that we um are able to add significantly uh across the board for our teachers and for our support staff that we are able to guarantee that our classified staff will receive no less than $1 an hour a pay raise uh with inflation and with pressures uh we hear from our all of our staff um particularly those who are um
077um our entry level positions whether they're beginning teachers or beginning staff members um that um that simply the the cost of living sometimes can almost make um some of these uh entry level positions almost prohibitive so um we also as mentioned are pleased to announce that upon approval we'll be implementing an annuity program um with some incentives for um for for our beginning teachers but also for all of our employees to help build um longterm I say in 30 40 years someone may thank us um but to build um an additional layer of um of retirement benefits for all of our teachers um this is a really a comprehensive PL package that is about twice the level of detail as what uh the the the Boon County has considered in the past and it really
078took um uh collaboration uh trust communication um we really uh shared as I mentioned earlier publicly at the last meeting um some of our comparative wage data so that we could understand the need um we had uh input from many many staff members uh there are a few principales still here tonight um they provided a tremendous uh amount of of of input on the struggles they face with with hiring um uh new teachers and and new support staff whether that's Food Service workers um um par professionals and so I I believe this is the first step hopefully the first of many in responding to the reality we face and the challenges we face um and and I am beyond pleased to to recommend this tonight to the board um and in a timeline that allows
079us to begin immediately with our our Career Fairs job fairs um and and searches to communicate these these new uh salaries and wages and to begin recruiting staff members and again Charlie and and Kelly thank you so much for your leadership thank you to uh chairman parks and board member bird for serving on the negotiations committee and for all those who have been involved and with that I recommend approval as presented um do we have a motion to approve uh it's a mouthful new business item C Boone County Board of Education Association salary agreement 2526 is recommended motion all right any discussion no I want to say thank you guys for the work that went into this I know the negotiations are never easy but I'm glad that we got to a place where I
080think it's going to benefit everybody fairly so it was I will say it was important to me um to try to provide some additional um you know basically income for the people that are the newest to our district uh the new hires both in classified and certified so I appreciate the work uh that Dr houseal and bcea [clears throat] and bcca put into that endeavor to make sure that when we hire a a custodian or a a cafeteria worker that uh we at least provide a little bit better wage I I won't say it's all the way there yet but we'll get there um hopefully and yeah and so I I appreciate again uh talking with um as passed by resolution the official bargaining unit for bcca the classified staff um Charlie and um and
081BCA Mr Kelly and with that all in favor please say I I I any opposed motion passes 4 Z all right um move on to agenda item 10 recommended action new business item D Dr House uh thank you I'm pleased tonight to bring to you to appr uh a recommendation to approve new business item D our two-way communication platform uh as previously discussed and mentioned this brings greater uh efficiency it's part of the board goals um in terms of streamlining our communication so that we have one platform for everyone it adds uh increased protection and it's hard to put a dollar sign on that um for our students and staff by um by by documenting and uh all uh communication uh it helps protect our students and protect our staff it provides trans a much
082needed translation that doesn't exist in many of our programs for many of our um uh English Learners or for our families that that do not speak English so they can receive the information and also be uh equally aware of the things going on um better communication so uh this is a really a comprehensive tool and I'm pleased that uh um by the work of the uh by the cabinet um we're able to commit funds uh including conversations with the budget committee commit funds to the district level thus alleviating an additional expense for our site based committees so uh really it moves towards streamlining it uh it's improvements significant improvements uh with modern technology um and greater efficiencies and greater protections so um I'm I'm really thankful to I know Miss rootman who led that uh
083committee work and the conversations and the reviews and I'm really pleased to bring this to you uh and looking forward to full utilization beginning with the 25 26 school year and I would recommend you approve um as uh presented um do I have do I have a motion to approve new business item D two-way communication platform epig is recommended second it's all right you got it um I do have a question so this will start it'll be rolled out for the upcoming school year is that correct so it will it be in place [snorts] at the start of the next School Year yes it'll be at start for uh next school year um and we have will be and have communicate with site base so they're aware that they don't have to enter into some
084of these other expensive contracts this ultimately will save the district money um and also add so many more services that don't exist um for the current platforms we use I believe we'll have some training uh prior to that time we've been told that even though uh the the start date is next year we'll have access so that we can begin training our staff members on how to use that and starting to inform from our uh families uh at the end of this school year in preparation for next school year so the full Suite of various apps that we've had over the years Cameron and I um we can narrow that down maybe the communication apps our goal is to take it to one um but we did say that if there is an app that
085does not um that does something that this does not do we will review um but the reality is this is modern and very comprehensive and we believe it will eliminate a whole host of those apps um in which you have had to learn a lot of different passwords and access points and it's something that quite honestly many many of our families have shared with us that if we could uh create one platform and one system um that it would be much preferred because uh the the number of different ways that we communicate oftentimes results in in missed messages missed information um or quite simply we have families that that can't read what we send them um because of the lack of translation so it improves all of those things but you're right it will streamline
086it and reduce the number that you currently have I I think I don't know how many you have one one of the one of the issues in Boon County is the um transient population where in other words not they move from one Elementary to another um in this in the middle of school year or one high school to whatever um will they need to resign up or will it be more fluid than it is now that's right it'll be more fluid and it's because it's one system you know when we talk about some of our systems work um we've talked about this within our strategic plan you know looking at a common hqi highquality instructional resource for math [clears throat] and language arts for example um we used to have many many different ones um
087and what you're speaking to which I I I I fully acknowledge is a concern um chairman parks and that is with our transient population and those who have forced Mobility um when you switch from one curriculum to another from one learning platform to another from one um communication tool to another with the with the curriculum there's often times greater learning loss um but in this case uh there's there's uh new barriers to communication and so streamlining this uh will help all of our families but it'll particularly and even greater so help our families that are forced oftentimes by no choice of their own it could be because um they're from disinvested communities they face housing insecurity and they're they're they're attending many of our schools and so uh your point is very well made in
088the sense that by streamlining this it it creates greater consistency for many of our priority populations and we should be proud of that um one more question a you some of our fam's first experience in Boone County is uh through our preschool will they at that time give be given access to epig for communications yeah we're really folding prek into our overall K12 I say K12 but it's really prek-12 especially as we move towards opening our prek Center uh I I believe where is C at 2728 that's the latest right so we're excited about that uh and so yes they will have access to that and those families um uh that have pre you know tonight we had many if you some of the the parents that spoke talked about having students at high school
089and middle school and Elementary and then you have some in prek so yes uh they'll have access to it as well those are great Qui question great questions by the way um all in favor please say I I I motion passes 4 zero all right move on to agenda item 10 recommended action new business item e Dr houseold uh yes uh last uh new item for tonight I would recommend the board approve recommended action new business item e job description update Director of Finance as you know um we um been gracious to Katie for being our our Treasurer uh and many people have stepped up the last semester um but they have been working with um some advisers and with Mr mcarter and really overall reviewing so that uh as we begin the process of
090hiring a new Director of Finance we make sure that from their feedback that we're very clear on all of our job expectations um uh as well as really looking uh using the six month six months as an opportunity to look at ways we can be more efficient more effective um that's allowing us to do things like uh the implementation of annuity plan matches because what was mentioned was the the annuity plan match we be doing a 1% match for our employees that takes additional capacity from our business office so all of those things has led to some recommendations to just slightly tweak um the job description and upon approval we'll get that posted um and then start the interviewing process and and introduce and bring to you a recommendation for a Director of Finance so
091that they are in place by July 1st 2025 so I'd recommend the approval of the the revised job description as presented we have a motion to approve new business item e job description update Director of Finance as recommended I motion [snorts] any discussion on item a or E sorry got a typo here um questions no all in favor please say I I I any opposed seeing none motion passes for zero all right we going to move on to agenda item 11 information proposals Communications uh anyone oh we were going to do we we have some committee reassignments can you Michelle can you forward me like a the form oh you did okay that's fine if it's in there and then I'll I'll get that out in the morning because I know I pretty much heard
092from everybody that thank you that's okay sending on on all um to for to go over committees and then um anybody have any committee reports that they want to share from this past month no all right okay any other Communications in information I know Karen's not here to give whatever um update she would like I wish I would have gotten them from her in advance but I did not so with that we will move to item say that one more time okay do you have information on that you would like to share okay just a reminder [clears throat] that our Education Foundation uh is is a group of amazing volunteers that meet monthly uh for the purposes of really enhancing opportun for our students and our teachers they have one of their their largest annual
093fundraiser is uh tomorrow night uh it's at Turfway um it's a night at the races I believe it's from 5:30 until well stay as long as you like I guess um 5:30 until 9: or I mean I'm I understand when so um so it starts at 5:30 and I believe there are limited tickets at the door um is that correct there registrations closed oh they're sold out so so we appreciate everyone who has already signed up and uh if you didn't get to sign up this year but would like to make a donation to The Community Foundation we have information on our website and we really appreciate it and I'm grateful for to the Community Foundation um for the the ways the many many ways in which they they benefit our our students our staff
094Jesse I did have one thing to say can still bid on auction items online and there is an online auction that you can bid on um and where is that auction is that on our main website do you know we will make sure that it is placed there so I wanted to um acknowledge that our middle schools are doing defensive learning um I sat in for about three hours at Camp erns middle school and got to listen to some amazing children um present their defensive learning on and communication because they all took that on and today my daughter did that at Connor so Connor middle school did it today um more as a student-led conference but they also Incorporated that in there to get the kids used to presenting and I have to say what's
095impressive is watching the quality of work that's coming out of our middle schools it's really impressive is very impressive to see this level of work coming out of middle schools um this is stuff that when you're looking at senior level defensive learnings you're seeing the same quality coming out of sixth grade so by time these kids get to senior year it's going to be a sight to see so I was but I think the middle schools are doing great and if you haven't signed up for defensive learning make sure you sign up to participate and community members have that opportunity too the schools send them out all right uh the only thing I have the budget committee meeting was um moved to next month I think there was uh kind of a lack of information
096Mr mcarter right that's why we moved it there the what the budget committee was not held in March right and then it'll be in April [clears throat] is that correct okay all right um I will say there was a state of the ignite meeting um about all things ignite which went really well run by uh Mr Gs and staff and we heard from lots of students uh and the wonderful things they're doing over there uh with our collaboration with multiple school districts including our friends at Kenton County and I appreciate the information that they provided and then the last thing I got to say is um go Jacks with that uh item 12 there's no closed session so we'll move to item 13 right move to adjourn the meeting do I have a motion to
097adjourn one second all in favor please say I I I motion meeting adjourned