001W KRP. >> All righty. >> Daniel, you got us in. Thank you, sir. Alrighty. Public comment radar. >> No, sir. No public comment. Special presentation. Uh, no. Okay, we'll skip all that. >> Not that special. >> It's not that special of a presentation. >> We'll take president. We had one planned, but the receiving party was not able to make it tonight. So, we're going to postpone that. >> Okay, sounds good to me. The chair will accept a me a motion for the consent agenda. >> I'll make a motion that we accept the consent agenda as presented. Second. >> We have a motion and two seconds to accept the consent agenda as presented. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. >> I. All opposed. All righty. Now, it's a special presentation because you're here.
002our student representative. What do you have for us, young lady? Oh, sorry. >> She's gonna be in stereo. >> Well, um I wanted to talk about something pretty exciting that's going on at the high school right now. Um a group of eight students, including myself, are um partnering with Miss Haynes to release a magazine towards the end of the school year. So, in the magazine is going to cover a bunch of things that are going on in the district um from Grace to all the way all the way up to the high school. Um a few of the stories that we are covering um are uh Gladen how they partnered with the senior citizen the angels. They also made the blankets for the dogs at Wayside Waves. So, a lot of community engagement there. So,
003we wanted to cover a lot of that in the magazine. um my group we're covering the success by six library at Grace and how any parents can go there and get any resources they want from there whether their child is enrolled in Grace or not. Um, and then also we have another group in our eight people that's covering the battle axes on Maine and how the construction class got over there and like helped them build it, which was a really cool opportunity for them to do more journalistic things, whether that be photography, writing up things, or like interviewing and getting stories. We're all really excited about that. >> Very cool. Don't give her a big head. I know she does a great job, but she does a Yeah. All right. Anybody have any questions? >>
004Um, where are you guys going to be putting the um published copies of these? >> Um, they're going to be mailed out to I think everyone in the community. That's >> just like calendars. >> Yes. >> Nice. I'm excited. >> Pretty exciting. >> That's very exciting because uh those people vote, folks. All right. >> Yes, they do. Yeah. And >> they don't like it when they don't get their >> All righty. Anything else? Any other questions? What's the play? >> I'm telling you. Uh, the play >> Little Women. Okay. >> Yes. I'm really excited about I'm going to go see. I love Little Women. >> Okay. Pretty good. All righty. Well, thank you. And as always, if you feel the need to sneak out, you are welcome to sneak out to to to uh rest.
005Okay. >> I appreciate it. But I love hearing what you guys have to talk about. Okay. All righty. Well, I want to make sure >> you're going to hear a lot tonight. >> All right. Report of the superintendent. >> Dr. Underwood, what do you got for us? >> Yes, we have some uh building representation here that's going to give an update to the board. Uh it is somewhat systematic. I thank Dr. Mock for that and trying to help streamline. So, the information the board receives is very consistent across the different buildings. Obviously, they have different activities, but just trying to keep somewhat of a format. Uh, and so I see is Scott up first, Dr. Ron Hill, or who's first, Dr. Mock? >> Oh, Amy's first. >> Good evening, everybody. Um, so I'm Amy Lovelin,
006the building principal at Grace, and I'm excited to share some updated data from the new assessments that we have. Uh you might remember last year was the first year we started using the PKOF to monitor our four-year-old prek students and >> PKOF is the pre kindergarten observation form. So >> thank you >> in the district in the state. The KOF is the kindergarten observation form and this is the preK version of that. So, we implemented that with our four-year-olds last year and we were really thrilled um in May. 95% of the students assessed, so those four-year-olds that were going to kindergarten were proficient. And then breaking that data down a little bit more, you know, um we serve children of Belton staff members as well as the Belton community. So when we split off um
007the students to look at those kids that were going specifically to belt and kindergarten classrooms, 74% of those students scored as proficient. Then we looked forward and followed them into kindergarten and this September, 68 of those now former Grace students rated proficient. So there was a a slight decline about 6% from the scores in the spring to the scores in the fall. So, we're going to track that and next year try to look at how many of those students are accessing our summer school and seeing if that is making a difference or if it's a summer slide. There's going to be a little variability because the environment and the assessor is different. But just something we want to keep an eye on. And then this year we expanded. So, we are now doing the PKOF
008with the three-year-olds and the four-year-olds. So those students that are in either one or two years from kindergarten. So that will give us an opportunity to track the kids multiple times in those two years before kindergarten and watch their growth. This year in September, 24% of the students that we monitored were kindergarten ready and then that more than doubled when we did it again in December. So, we're excited to see what we get this May. We also added the DERO early childhood assessment. It's known as the DECA and the DECA is a social emotional assessment. So, it's administered multiple times across the year. And it's similar to the EIS that K12 does. Those teachers do multiple times a year for our K12 students. So, this is an early childhood option for that. 76% of our
009students and it scores all the way down infants through preK demonstrated typical or strong social emotional skills. Now, the best part of this assessment is that for those 24% that demonstrated some sort of an social emotional need, the system provides strategies and handouts both for parents and for the teachers. So, for the home and the classroom environment to address the specific areas and target those skills and then lastly, not necessarily related to data, but we know they all go hand in hand. I wanted to share quick celebrations. We submitted our school of character application and learned last week that we've advanced to the next phase. So, we are going to get to do um a site visit, though they say it's through Zoom. So, we'll we'll see what exactly that entails. I think it will
010be interviews with staff and um parents, the community. So, looking forward to that. We are also participating in DESI's Office of Childhood Quality Assurance Report. It's called QAR. Last week we were designated as demonstrating quality, which is great, but we hope soon to get the distinction of exhibiting high quality. So there's a couple more things we've got to check off and then we'll get that distinction. And as you know, the quality and the care at Grace is directly attributed to our staff. They have not only implemented the new assessments I talked about this evening, but they've also been engaged in training and implementation of our new literacy resources that are all aligned with the science of reading. And so we've got Heggerty, we've got Learning Without TEI, and then all but one of our certified
011staff in early childhood, the two at KT and at Grace, will be letters trained by the end of the year. So that's a huge accomplishment. There's a specific training for early childhood letters that then goes right into what the elementary teachers are doing. So, we're very excited. >> Very, very cool. >> Got any questions? >> Can you tell me what low incident classrooms are? >> Yes. So, the low incidence classrooms are those special education classrooms. We visited a couple of them when you guys came to tour. Those are the classrooms of students who um may have significant medical challenges or other developmental delays and disabilities that impact their ability to be assessed. Um many of these students are non-verbal, so it's not appropriate to put them through this kind of an assessment. Um, and it's
012particularly difficult then when you go to those parents because they know they know that that's not the most appropriate way to demonstrate their child's growth. So, we use their IEPs and some other assessments specific to their needs. >> Okay. And the second thing you you talked about the 74% proficient and relative to that number is a 68% proficient. >> Mhm. is the 95% proficient, which is fantastic, and a 63% proficient relative to each other. >> So, the 95 is when we're looking at all those four-year-olds at Grace. Then I took out the kids of staff members who may be going to other districts after for kindergarten. And then that's when it dropped down to 74. So what happened is I had 95 and we were ecstatic and then we got that September number and I
013went >> well that can't be right. So, I needed to go child by child to line them up. And that's when I figured out, okay, when you take out those staff members that don't advance to our kindergarten, >> that's >> it makes a little more sense. >> That that did. >> I do have a question. Did you have any previous data regarding um the screenings going into kindergarten prior to using this? Does that make sense? Like, did you guys have data you were using before you put in this matrix? So before we were doing the PKOF, we had a common assessment that the teachers made, but it didn't necessarily align exactly with the KOF. And so by adopting the PKOF, then we're able to kind of compare those apples to apples and really see. Um
014I did have a couple of elementary principles stop me after the kindergarten meetings last year. So just that kindergarten roundup experience and say something's different and it's because we were working towards the same standards and goals more specifically and so I do think it's helping with that. >> Nice. That's wonderful. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Thank you. Denise so excited. >> She is amazing. >> She is an amazing person. >> Hey, good evening. Um I have a few things to share from um Scott Educational Center which um as you know it has many different moving parts. We have Ignite. We have about 38 students in Ignite right now and three students in the autism room. Um we have the ISS which also has the ADA program which is our alternative
015intervention drug and alcohol program. Um I believe we've had 10 students go through that so far this year and that's an alternative to suspension. Um our 18 to 21 year old program spend some time in our building. Um uh and we also held an alternative program in MOOPS. Um so let me share just a few things as we work towards our goals. Um 85% of our students have met and this is in the Ignite and um autism room. 85% of our students have met their IEP, have met or are progressing towards their IEP and um BIP goals. And BIP is the um behavior improvement plan. And so in our building, we get students that are not able to be in their their homeschool. And so we're focusing on helping them become emotionally and socially um
016regulated. So that is where our um our uh focus is. Um we do and our goal is always for our students to go back to their school of origin and right now we have and this is more than last year we have eight students that are making that transition. Some of them will make a full transition and some will um share their schedule between the two buildings and that way we're able to still offer them support. Um, we try very hard to include our students in activities that they're able to uh attend in their school of origin. And with our high schoolers, we really try to get them to be part of themies of Belton. And so we have four students that are attending high school classes. One student um well, a freshman and then
017uh three juniors. And one of the juniors is actually in our um architecture and construction program. He's in the second year. He's earned his um OSHA certification and so um he'll be prepared for a for a a job when he graduates. Um we offer freshman seminar as a course now. Um, we've for several years we've been trying to offer more electives for our students to give them a a bigger perspective of of um possibilities and interests they might have and what that might mean when they when they graduate. Um so our we have six freshmen and they're all in the freshman seminar class and able to go through all those um different screenings and um they participate in the career fair and they will do roundts. So um we think that's a real benefit for
018them. Um, we continue to try to find um best practice and programs for our students to regulate their emotions, to be socially appropriate, and to um uh transition to their home school and to be um productive and and happy citizens. Um we've tried to have our su our students integrated into um the community a bit more in the past two years with more field trips. Um they've gone to the Casey Art Institute. I have a student that's already been accepted to the KC Art Institute. Um we one of the we've done this two years now is the Missouri Kansas skilled labor union training um training station training um training center. Um it's just south of Belton and um our students that are in I got to we always call it priettes but I know you're
019going to want to know what that stands for. So I have it down here. um pre-employment transition services. I almost had to ask Tammy. Um so they go there and they have different unions and they show the skills that they would need and and what that trade is and the students get to try it out and then learn about how they could do that when they when they leave high school. Um some other um kind of neat things are um our littles are going to go to Kaleidoscope. And I know that doesn't seem like a real big deal because a lot of kids go to Kaleidoscope, but for our kids it's a it's a big deal for them to go and they're very excited about that. Um, and then our staff continues to try to
020um, learn and be better informed on trauma informed care, emotional regulation, and literacy because we know our students have to be able to read and be caught up on their course when they return to their um, school of origin. We started using that term because homeschool sound is confusing. So um some celebrations we have um our 9090 attendance is 82% and that means that of our 38 Ignite students or of our 38 Ignite students 32 of them have attendance that's 90% or better. And I think that's a real celebration. Um our alternative school continues to do really well. It's a very focused, calm, and supportive um atmosphere, and the students really thrive when they go there. We already have 15 that have met all the requirements for MOOPS, and we have 15 more in the
021program. Um we a big part of what we're doing this year is creating a new strategic plan with the hopes that that will kind of guide us for the next three to five years to continue to improve So, we've been putting a lot into that. Um, and we want to thank everybody that's helped us succeed, the students and the families. Um, we feel like we get a lot of support from the board of education and central office and the Belton Educational Foundation. Um, we've we've been able to obtain several grants. one that created a secondary sensory room where secondary students can go in and and get um movement and um tactile all different modalities of sensory um to help them stay regulated. Um and we have a very dedicated staff that cares about our students.
022>> Are there any questions? So, your strategic plan, where where would you like to take it? Where what do you think it should go? >> Um, well, I mean, we're we hope to build a the program that will really support students um and looking at um making it sustainable. I would say that's a big part of um what we're hoping for is to make the program sustainable from year to year that even if we do have staff that changes um that we'll be able to provide the same um high level of a program for our students. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Um, is there anything in your building that you feel like is lacking that you could use more supports on? >> Um, I I will say that um we've been able um
023and Mr. Miller's really helped us with this. We have two um of our escape rooms have been kind of updated with padding and cameras and um monitors and so that has really um helped a lot with safety. Um you know I think there's always um we need resources just um to keep up to date with our students. Um and they change. Our students aren't just one population. and they change and their needs change. Okay. >> Roughly how many students are of your al or are their home school as you say are belted? Do you still have quite a few from other districts I guess is what I'm saying. >> Um I we only have one student currently that is from another district. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> That's a big change. >> Very cool. Any
024other questions? >> No. >> Okay. >> Thank you. I was going to ask you if you got that other room because I >> Not quite that it's been measured and everything. Yeah. >> Cuz I was I was I was going to lean on somebody pretty hard. >> We all know and we all know who that is. >> It's getting there. Yeah. >> Good evening, President Miller, board members, Dr. Underwood, and district leadership team. I'm Brian Cecil, and I'm the principal of Belton Middle School. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. I also want to take a minute and to thank you for allowing me to be the principal of Belton Middle School. was my first semester at the school and it's been a wonderful experience and meeting all of the great and
025dedicated students and staff members. I'm really excited for the future and working with them moving forward. Tonight, I'd like to highlight several of those celebrations that we have in the building along with some systems and supports that are contributing to that success. First, I'd like to share some positive news regarding our CIP data from the 24 and 25 school year. On your screen, you can see that BMS increased in four out of six academic performance categories. Both math and science increased for all students and student groups. While English language arts saw a dip in performance, this data has brought reflection and positive conversations amongst our staff. It's not holding us back. Instead, it's focusing our drive to improve and have an end goal in mind and hopefully refine our practices and our instructional approach. One
026area I'm particularly proud of is our cont continued and additional intentional use of district supported instructional uh supports. Lexia powerup continues to play a critical role in helping our reading labs strengthen their skills and literacy area. All tested subjects now utilize which helps them practice and strengthen their skills and creates individualized learning plans for them. Last year our math department tried something new. We used Thinkverse which was a pilot. It was a personalized and adaptive AI tutor. The teachers saw great growth in the students and really liked the way the platform worked. We're continuing to use that in our math classes this year and the teachers are excited about the growth that they're seeing with the students and the students performance using it. The great news is that the NWA tests that we take in
027the fall, winter, and spring both work with ThinkVverse. So, we're able to use that data to create individualized learning um plans to focus instructions on specific skill gaps for the students, which is a very big plus for us. When we do look at the NWA data, we've seen some positive and encouraging results this year. For the eighth grade, we saw growth in all three tested areas from the fall to the winter for math, ELA, and science. For seventh grade, we saw growth in two of the academic areas for math, and ELA. The reason that we don't mention science there is for seventh grade, they do not take the science winter assessment. So that's why we only show two. Attendance continues to be a major focus for us and a goal of mine. We have always,
028you can see the last three years we've increased and last year we got very close at 79.5% attendance with the MSI 6 goal being 80% to receive points. That is a big goal of ours and a big push and incentive for us this year. Currently after the first semester, we're showing 81% um proportional attendance rate. So where our goal is with our initiatives and our focus to continue this trend in hopes of getting our first two points for attendance for the the middle school. Finally, I'd like to highlight an exciting opportunity that reflects our commitment to Beltonmies and our meaningful real world learn real world learning. Thank you to Dr. Seismore, Mr. Nen, and Mr. Suri. But we were able to have our first client connected project. Mrs. Banfield Social, Emotional, and Behavior Classes partnered
029with Lily's Rescue Rehab to create promotional videos to bring awareness to their facility. The kids did an amazing job. They created their own videos. They met with the owners of Lily's Rescue Rehab and it was a major success in creating the videos. Mrs. Banfield also interviewed the students about the impact the assignments had on them and the power that it shows with empathy with students and animals. The end goal was to be to actually have a field trip there and to meet the animals that they were promoting. However, with the current fire that took place at the rehab facility, we weren't able to get that done. However, with the work of the high school, hopefully the facility will be up and running soon and we'll get to accomplish that goal in the in the spring.
030So, the project was a huge success for us. We hope that it's one of many and it's just the beginning for us as it becomes a focus to bring Beltonmies to the middle school moving forward. In closing, I'm very excited about everything that's going on at the middle school. I really believe that we have a tremendous staff and I'm grateful to be working with them and the students that we have in our building and the continued support that we see from you and the community. So once again, I really do appreciate all that you do for our students, our staff, and our community. And we always welcome your support. Do you have any questions? >> I I know Dr. Mock has told me this probably a hundred times. What's the difference between all students and
031student group are the individualized student performance groups that is based on um it would be our subgroup categories that we have. So it' be our minority groups and our students with IEPs. >> Okay. >> Hopefully I said that. >> And then the incentives for your um attendance is it obviously it's being successful. What kind of incentives do you have that are being successful? It's a little bit of everything, whether it's the encouragement, it's random drawings if you're coming to school. Currently, we have an incentive for students to come to earn a pizza party. So, we're using extrinsic motivation, but then also some of the initiatives that we're using. We do have our social worker, Miss Leandrea Bruce, that works with us, as well as our SRO, Officer Ksowski. They're partnering to hit those those students
032that really need the intentional focus and the one-on-one. Next, now that we have new data from Powers School that's allowing us to identify those students that are falling below that 90%, we're setting initiatives in place to target the students who really need that extra bump because we know that once we can get them there, we can we can get them engaged and they can be successful Belton students. >> Thank you. >> Go ahead. Um on the think verse piece, what was the previous online tutoring? Is think verse taking place of that or is it additional support to that? >> Yeah, we did have paper >> paper. Thank you. >> And so but that was for all subjects where then an actual tutor would come online. Think verse is completely AI and being a former math
033teacher, I love it. It's amazing. I got to sit in on some of the training. And so it's twofold. You can use it like to deliver individualized skill plans. So I can say you need to work on these 10 skills and it'll create lessons to navigate them through. Or if you're just needing help with your homework, you can hop on there and do it. So it can ask questions. You also can write right on the screen and it will decipher your language. So, if you're doing say a a long division problem, we only have to do long division this way, it will pick up where your air is and point it out and then put you in the right direction >> because I do feel like the feedback a lot of kids were saying on
034paper was math was the difficult one to get the assistance with and it just kept on asking the same question in like a roundabout way and they're like no, I need you to walk me through the problem and it just wasn't intuitive enough to do that like developed enough Um, >> so now this is just something that they can log into through like their Canva or Canvas >> through the class link platform. >> Okay. Okay. >> So, yeah, I I tried to trick it, you know, you know, not changing my sign when I divided it and it picks it right up with your handwriting. >> That's awesome. The other thing the other thing with think verse that's more teacher driven than paper was just kind of a whoever wants to join whereas the teachers can
035actually put in the assignment in that platform and the kids can work through their actual math assignment. So there's much more monitoring and teachers have a say in what the kids work on and what they don't work on. So they have a lot more um over >> Yes. paper's going to go away and think verse will >> gone. Yes. >> And think verse taking place everywhere district >> math >> just remember >> for for our six through nine. >> Okay. >> Mhm. >> Perfect. Any other questions? >> Nope. Thank you. >> And by the way, you don't have to thank us. We're proud to have you there. >> Thanks. Okay. So, I think this is your first presentation with us or were you here last year? >> First of many. Well, we would hope. So,
036>> I like someone who has goals. >> Yes. I like that. Uh like to since it's your first I don't know if they briefed you. Um don't abbreviate don't give me your your acronyms. I work for the army. I'm sick of acronyms. >> I understand. >> Okay. >> We'll be acronym free. >> Thank you. Good evening. Thanks um for giving me some time to share all about the high school and and brag on some of the folks who are making this work possible. Similar to Dr. Cecil, just want to share out how excited I am to be the first of many meetings to come. But, you know, how proud I am to be a part of our school and a part of the community here and um I've been nothing but impressed by the support
037I get from the district office and uh the preparedness, you know, to put a new principal in place, but also uh just the great team that the high school already had waiting on me. So, uh let's talk about data for just a second. You'll notice kind of all the way down the the list here on our results increases along the way. And so we want to share some academic successes that we're seeing with our teacher teams and in this groups. Um you'll see in in all of our subjects some growth year after year there. I want to draw your attention to math and that 404.9 that's the highest that we have in the district. So I get to share that that brag on the team. We have a great group of teachers who are leading
038that work. uh you know we are learning from them and and others are coming to to partner with them. You know we're centered at Belton High School all about uh academic achievement and and learning at a high level. And so a big part of that work comes from collaboration. Something I'm most uh impressed with is how our teachers, they're not selfish. They're not out there for their own agendas. They're there to collaborate with their peers, with their teacher teams. uh because student achievement and what's best for our students is why they're there and and why they're passionate about it. I got to have a guest come who's um partnering with the district about learning and about uh what are the best practices and you know those are the teams that we're going to to visit
039and and that we're learning from and we're trying to spread that all throughout the building. Uh, as we're working our way down, I want to talk a little bit aboutmies. You've heard a couple uh share outs already, took my thunder, but um I'm I'm really proud of some of the work that the academy model is doing for our students. You know this, it's it's all about purposeful uh path to graduation and giving students experiences to prepare them for college and the career um you know, going out of high school. So, one share the chamber of commerce just recognized our student groups who partnered with a new build business in town, the the battle axes on Maine. Uh they had their grand opening and our students got to be a part of that. Those construction students
040were the ones in there. If you've seen the pictures online, you know, they're they were building up that shop and and creating that new business and and they get to see that now in action as their families and and their friends get to go and and be a part of that. And then through that work, you know, next door down the road, um, another local business identified a space where we could help. And so that's the the fire that happened at the the Lily's place. Um, hey, you know, we're looking to rebuild and we need support. And our students have stepped up and we're already making plans on how they can uh partner with that that local business and and give back to their community in that way, too. Our students were featured on uh
041local news reports. So, we always love it when our Belton kids can be out there and and be focus um be featured. So, you know, a piece of that it's it's all about community partnership and we're committed to that uh from from ground up. And so, you'll see that when you're in classrooms, but you'll also see it on the the output. So, these projects are actually coming to life. Uh the next piece I wanted to talk about was graduation. So, I want to celebrate the gain uh Mr. Allen had as he finished out that last year. We had that game from from LA the the last year to 2024 to 2025 and then we're on um we're on the track to continue to see progress for this year. So we had a senior class meeting
042just today. We've been having those regularly this year just making sure that graduation is always something that they're striving toward. Even back in August we were talking about it. And so today, we followed up with those conversations with having some hard talks about students who need to get focused, but also celebrating it's right around the corner. Here's what it's going to take. And and we're going to be with you all along the way. So, we're really excited to prepare for graduation. We got four months before you guys can help me drag me onto the stage and work through all those nerves. Um, but attendance is something that I want to draw your attention to tonight because it it is my number one focus and something that I am bringing to the forefront and to the
043attention of everyone who's involved at Belton High School from our administrative staff to our secretaries, our teachers, our students, their parents. You know, we we have to have students in the classroom in order to to teach in order to hold them to a high standard and and to prepare them for their futures. And so, you know, we're focused on that. We're going to continue to be focused on it. Uh we're using incentives in the building uh to to work through that. And so we incentivized our assembly here recently in the last two weeks um where we recognized our our wrestling team. So students who were at 90% attendance or better got to go and participate. But we also uh incentivized our dances earlier in the year. And so it's not something that uh students can
044avoid. We're trying to have regular conversations. Uh so their anchor or sort of their um their their teacher who's like their mentor that they get to see at least once a week, they're having conversations with them too. So they hear it from their principles, their teachers, and we're, you know, we're calling home. Uh we've recently identified a bubble list of students who are right there on the edge of trying to make that jump into that that 90% or from that 90% to the 95%. And so we're targeting those students and we're having conversations with them. We're calling home with their parents and seeing how the school can partner to to make that jump because we know that bubble list of kids, they're important, too. And and we got to make sure that we're making a
045shift. Uh right now, our year-to- date attendance is up one and a half% from last year at the same time. And so we're really striving to to see some gains here by the end of the year. Uh celebrating students is a primary focus of mine and how I communicate and I ask teachers and our principles to communicate with families and with students. So uh we're doing regular communication home through a newsletter. We're communicating through social media. I I want the community and and families to understand what's going on at Belton High School and how their students are achieving and the great things that they're doing. So you hopefully are seeing some of that as it's coming out in the social media and some of the posts. But I wanted to share a little bit. I
046randomly asked three students this week to share from a student point of view. Tell me about the school community. So a 12th grader uh he's in the business and technology academy. He shared, "This has been a great year. My teachers are always there to help me when I slack off. They're there to straighten me up." And then a 10th grader who's in our science and industry academy, um he shared, "I'm surrounded by good people here. That makes a difference. I always have someone to talk to. And then a 10th grader in the human services academy, she shared with me, she said, "This is my first year here at Belton as a 10th grader." She said, "I I feel welcomed. There's a community here, but there's also a discipline um environment. I feel safe." So, I
047always like to hear from students. I'm always seeking feedback from them. Um as we continue to move forward, we're going to keep getting input from from students in that way. The principles, uh Mr. Allan kind of said it uh in years past where I have a principal's advisory group where students get to come and and give input. Uh they get to go back to their peers and come back with feedback and with you know kind of informal things do better things for the high school for our students. Uh of course I can't leave tonight without a plug to celebrate another group of students. Um last Friday night our boys basketball team on the road uh beat Ray Peek at their courtwarming game. That's a great win. Um, you know, our boys are they're doing great
048work out there, but all of our athletics and activities, um, our student groups and clubs, you know, my big push, uh, you asked a question earlier about like what would be one of your goals? One of mine is that every student is involved in at least one thing. 100% of our students have something they can say this is mine from high school. And so we're looking to celebrate more kids, make sure that we have the right things in place to find all kids a place where they feel like they can belong. In closing, I want to share out just a little bit about how impressed I am with our teacher team. Um, I've never been in a high school in my career where I feel like our teachers are as committed as they are at
049Belton. So they are truly committed to teaching. They're committed to getting better, to listening, for growth. um you know that it's a it's it's very inviting but it's also inspiring to see the people that we in have in place supporting our students um and that's going to have a longl lasting impact on our community and that's something that I want to thank you guys for your commitment on and you as we continue to to push forward that's what we're striving to so thank you any questions >> you you talked about first of all great job um that bubble on the attendance do you see any similarities or habits within the kids in that bubble and are using any type of different incentives that you've already talked about to maybe get that those kids on the
050pre precipice of getting to the 90%. >> Yeah, that's a good question. You know, my feedback with the bubble listed kids is it just starts with their purpose, understanding why high school is important. You know, we're competing with lots of things right now at the high school level. uh you know technology with social media and those pieces, but also uh students see the workforce as something that's very attainable. It's it's right across you know the table from them and hey I could just go work and I can make money but I can't make money here. So, you know, our principles and counselors, they're having conversations with students about understanding the purpose of school beyond just X's and O's, the math and the writing, understanding that, you know, high school is preparing you for what comes
051next. And that if you were ready to have full-time employment and a career and and that sort of piece, you would be there, but you're not. And so, how can we make sure that, you know, the lessons that we're designing and the reason that we're in the classroom is helping students see the why? And so sometimes it's not just about writing an essay. It's understanding that I have to start something, I have to do well at it, and I have to finish it. And that's what they're going to be asked to do in the workforce and and making those connections. That's how themies is different than any school I've been at is we're really targeting our lessons and our experiences around something students can see as relatable but also purposeful. And then I would say
052the incentives piece, that's a it's it's a hard one. You know, food food um excites kids. everything from a Jolly Rancher to, you know, a slice of pizza or, you know, a Chick-fil-A sandwich. Um, you know, we're trying to be creative and see, you know, what are our students truly going to make the decision on? Um, we're trying different things and and we've failed at some things. You know, you know, students in that bubble, you know, trying to identify, you know, making sure they're in the right classes, making sure they're getting the right teacher connections, they're with the right people. I think that's all important. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I'm going to kind of um >> also piggyback off of the attendance piece. That was kind of my next question was like the incentives
053that you guys are providing. Are you kind of charting? Did we see an increase based off of that incentive that we provided? How are the kids responding to it? because I mean the the other variable that other people may not understand with the secondary building is life gets very real for some of our students. Um sometimes they do have to help out monetarily with their household incomes and supplying food. And I mean even our pantry um has seen over double the amount of students utilizing it this year. And it I mean we that's a plug in itself right now. if you want to donate to the Belton Educational Foundation pantry, go ahead and do that because they could really use it. But um so I think it just gets really real like parents are starting
054to depend on their kids at that age and so the focus kind of does shift away from school and education and and I'm not saying either one is wrong. Um but I am curious what we're doing in those regards as far as the um the idea implementing it and are we seeing kids responding well to it? Is it enough to to make them want to come in? >> Yeah, we're seeing the start of it. You know, when students are coming to you in the hallway and saying, "Hey, will you check my attendance? Where am I?" That's the start of, you know, revisiting and and re um prioritizing attendance. Um and we're putting those things in place. And then I think the other leg of that is just meeting students where they are. And so it's
055it doesn't have to be one or the other, but how can the school partner with the with the family to ensure that, you know, we're doing what's best for that student, not just right now in the now, but also for their future and doing it together. >> Yeah. Um, and I will also say that I mean I have a product of that math group and I'm not kidding you, food is the motivator, number one, and number two, they are amazing. I mean, they have really night and day on some grades regarding even some of the freshman kids coming up. I I mean, bravo. They they are the kids and adults are working very very hard. So, kudos. I I'd like to share something that a school very close to us is doing for attendance. They
056call it $10 Tuesday. And if a student is in attendance Monday through Friday, they get their name in a hat on Monday and they draw a name and on Tuesday that particular person gets a $10 bill. And high school students and even middle school students, $10 goes a long way. So, >> I've heard of $10 Tuesday in my house. Yeah. Um, you know, just just Friday, um, we had actually on Thursday, I think it was, one of our other local businesses, Hyper, which just opened in town, they dropped off some drinks for our secretaries and, um, some free drink coupons. And so I celebrated uh, with the team, we celebrated together five students who had perfect attendance last week and we gave them a free drink to Hyper. Um, so I think there are lots
057of little pieces in there, whether it's cash or a quick little, you know, food coupon or or different things to really recognize and push students for shortterm goals that hey, this week I can meet that goal. Um, that can turn into lasting goals. That's great. >> No doubt. >> Thank you. >> I have I have a question. uh did we see a an increase of students at semester going virtual as in uh instead of staying in school face to face? >> You know, I don't have the the the hard data. What I would say is we're seeing a mix and so you know there were a small handful of students come across my desk these last two weeks with some interest in you know how can how could online better suit u but there was
058also a a handful of students at the end of first semester who came across my desk who were unsuccessful and so I think it it just depends on the student and you know some try it out and they find that this doesn't work for them >> and some try it out and that's exactly what them and their family need Um, we're seeing more of it. >> Yeah. And then that was going to be the second part of my question. How many returned? >> Yeah. >> To in school at semester. >> Yeah. I would say at least a handful that I sent back to counseling uh the counseling office here this week to reinvite students to seated classes to support to ensure that they don't fall behind. >> Good. Okay. That was where that that's the
059attendance piece that kind of, you know, is a concern. We're monitoring all of our online enrollments on a weekly basis. Whether you're a student who is full-time online or you, you know, something happened and you had to do this one thing online, we're making sure that they're successful as well. So, we don't want to leave them behind and we want to make sure that they're right there along with their peers. >> And you're still offering like personal finance and health as online courses. Yes. And that's not the kind of courses I was talking about, right? Okay. >> Just wanted to distinguish between those. Okay. Are you seeing the virtual is that is that because like you talked about the kids are seeing money so they want to work and they're going virtual or it's been
060talked about u Mrs. Fletcher and I were in the BHS counseling >> sessions a few times and we talked about kids in attendance and one of the things was kids having to take care of their families some. Are you seeing those as reasons why the virtual >> my feedback there? You know, we have a I think a small select senior group who might fit that category where they have responsibilities that they need more time. But I would say a larger percentage of that are students who are struggling to understand and like cope within the school community and just the supports that they need for that. And you know different students need different experiences. Um and so we're just making sure that you know our counseling team >> for school whether it be live Yeah, I
061mean my my quick answer is like the 85 like qualified staff that we have at Belton High School, they're ready and they're waiting. So, you know, the the few students that I had to say, "Hey, we we need you back in classes." You know, we're making sure that we're partnering them with the the best teachers who will be for them um who can develop strong relationships so they can get that buy in back. uh it's difficult when you go from not being in school on a regular basis to then having to get back into that rhythm. And so that's what I see most often than not is just here here's that habit of waking up every day and setting an alarm and and sitting in class and being able to work through a day. And
062for some students that can be really challenging how they go, you know, from 7 am to 3 p.m. And so it's just making sure that we have all of our our people in place ready to meet them from the teacher to the counselor. You know, I mean, our one of our custodians is having regular conversations with students in the lunchroom. We're we're partnering to make sure that we have we have the buy in. And then, you know, parents are key. So, the more that we can get out there and communicate with parents and and get them in in the doors and I always invite parents, come sit down with us. You know, let's have a conversation. How can we make sure your student is getting everything they need from the school? >> I'm pleased to
063hear that that's an individualized approach rather than a transition class of some kind. So, thank you. >> Yes. >> Perfect. Well, that was a a lot of questions and as always, I think that they're great. Uh as always, thank you. >> Thank you. uh is a nice presentation and uh I enjoy all of you being here but bye-bye if you want to go. I completely understand. >> Class is over. That's right. That purely your your thoughts. >> Thank you. >> I do worry. >> Well, you're welcome to stay but see you. All righty. Yeah. district calendar for 27. >> Yes. Um you'll notice you have two calendars um with the board agenda. One is the staff calendar that's proposed and one is the student calendar. Um I'll share some highlights. This uh start date would
064be August 24th is the earliest day we could start which would make our end date um May 28th. Um the calendar proposes a December 21st to January 1st winter break um with a teacher work day on January 4th. Um our spring break would be proposed for March 26 through April 2nd which would include the Good Friday holiday and Easter Monday holiday. Um Hill uh Hillrest proposed last day would be on June 24th. So the calendar would have a total of 169 days which we have to have due to the later start date as required by the state's Oh wait for that longer semester of second semester. Um you'll notice that the staff calendar um the main difference in that is it does include those um professional development days in August as well as the work
065day that's traditionally on the Thursday um the first set of Thursday this first Thursday when the teachers return Um and a second to approve the 2627 calendars as presented. Any discussion? >> Is there any concern to the longer second semester versus I mean that's a lot of days difference. >> We did discuss that and um the committee discussed that at length. We discussed um we did even send like a second proposed calendar where we could work two days back into the first semester. And the committee um really felt strongly that staff feedback um wanted the um spring the Christmas break and the spring break as they proposed and that um you know just getting the two days back really didn't make that much difference in the end. Um with the 169 days and the fixed
066start date, it's it's very difficult um for us to work out. It was really difficult for us to work out those semesters this year. So if you take a a course >> and the same courses offered in the second those students have >> how many days difference? >> Well, we also have state testing that occurs in that second semester which takes up some of the time from the course in certain courses in the high school. um most of the grades in the middle school and um the elementaryaries. So you will have that state testing or NWA testing that will impact the courses as well that we we think about and figure in as well. >> Okay. But >> was worried about that's a big difference. >> It is an alarm, >> right? And how does
067that impact our dual enrollment classes? They have to have a certain amount of seat time to get that credit. So, are they able to achieve that in that shorter semester, first semester? >> That's something. Uh yes they will because the college uh schedule is typically much the high school they'll finish the 1 of December very typically as well as uh start later accurate very their semester. Okay, I just wanted to verify that and the I was on the calendar committee for many years and the struggle is we don't want kids to come back after Christmas break and do 10 days and then test that that takes away the fidelity of what they're learning. So, uh that's your other issue that you've got to face and do what's best and this is probably best. >> Any
068other questions? All righty. Does this take into consideration the before and after school? We had that problem this year with when you shut down the buildings over the holiday. There was a problem with one of the buildings. >> Now that we have this calendar, then we'll address that calendar. They wait and make that until this is approved. Okay. >> And then we'll work on that together. >> Okay. I just remembered us having >> some >> Yeah. We'll we're going to work on that now that we have this approved. We'll meet and get that lined out. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Uh do we know when senior's last day is yet >> that up? I don't know. >> Not that it matters, but that that evens their semester's out a little more closely because their
069last day is well before the end of the year. So, >> okay. >> Yeah. I was just making that comment that yeah >> once this is approved that kind of sets all the other calendars in motion. >> Okay. >> Any other discussion? >> Seeing none all in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. That passes. Bond issue. >> I think Dr. Underwood you're going to make me put my walking shoes on. I get my microphone to this will work. Thanks. Uh as as the board knows, we have been doing some uh leg work up front in regards to um different items to try to gather uh data as well as just information uh to determine what is our next best steps. Um we had a group meet in regards to long-range facility plans. Um,
070we do have the architect plan to come to the board on March on that uh to have some further discussions. Obviously, we did a community survey as well, a phone survey. We've done those in the past, asked for feedback. I sent those out to the board, I believe, after last month's meeting. So, you guys had uh uh an opportunity to look through uh that feedback as well. And uh Mr. Allen and I have met with our financial adviserss. uh done a lot of work in regards to where we are with our current financial state as well as what we've done uh prior to and where our levy's at. Um we know that there are some um potential legislation out there. Obviously, we had Senate Bill 190 where uh we had the senior citizen uh property
071tax freeze. Uh and so this is our first year of that and and what that uh did to us and uh affect us financially. Uh there is obviously another possible ballot issue in regards to uh the entire county having a a property tax freeze as well uh that was signed up through through uh I believe it was Senate Bill 3 which was the s uh the stadium bill for the Chiefs and for the Royals. And so that is out there as potential. Taking all those pieces into consideration uh and looking at where we are currently uh the amount that we are proposing for a bond issue is 58 million. Uh and that we would be able to pay that pay our debts uh back even if those things were to come to full reality uh
072in regards to where we are. And so we would never want to put the district in uh financial harm uh for the future. Um I mean could the state cut funding for schools? They could. Uh we can't predict that. Um so uh there are pieces that uh we would never have the crystal ball to look ahead that far to know uh you know where where will funding and how will funding be 10 years from now. And we don't know that. Uh but we know based on a conservative um uh financial uh decision that uh we could handle the 58 million and say they passed some new legislation this year uh that was going to cut funding in half for schools. So if we pass this and we see that we could obviously just not spend
073that and then cap it at a different amount uh if that were to be the case in point. Do I believe they're going to cut funding for schools 50%. No, I do not. I don't know how they would do that and think any schools in our state would be able to survive that. Um that's a extreme example. I realize, but just to put that out there, uh we have been conservative uh in these numbers. Um uh we do have some uh plans and some conversations in regards to what this money could be for. We haven't dedicated to every specific item. I think that's challenging to do because we know we have some deferred maintenance that needs to be done in the district. Uh which is some of the unforeseen things like might be a leaky
074pipe as well as rooftops and other things that we look to address. Um as far as our facilities are concerned because we do have some that are older than others uh that need some more. Uh we have a renovation we would like to see with Yokum where we started. You guys see seen a little bit of that but we'd like to do that through the entire building. um look at uh the possibility of expanding early childhood uh some innovation programs for our elementary schools um that we've had conversations about previously. Uh we've talked about activity spaces. One of the latest ones that was talked about and we've had some interest in is our possibility of drones and expansion at the middle school. Uh but they would need a space uh for the students to utilize
075and have that where that can occur throughout the the school year. Uh we've talked about uh activity space for the high school, for JOTC, for band, for uh other um activities uh that we have throughout the district uh as well. And um really just uh the possibility of uh some other spaces for magnet opportunities for our elementary students as well as furniture and different types of flexible seating uh to try to get away from some of the standardized uh desk chair um and rows and trying to allow a more flexible creative environment for our students. So, uh, those are and once again, we haven't pigeon holed. We're going to spend $1 million on Yokum or anything of that nature. We haven't done that. Obviously, we'll be working with architects to to make those uh decisions.
076Um, but the first issue obviously at hand would be to um get this ballot initiative to pass in April if the board so chose to move forward. So, the administration would ask the board approve um resolution calling for a special election on the question of general obligation bonds for the Belton School District uh as presented. >> Motion to approve the bond election resolution and place it on the April 7th, 2026 ballot. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second to put a bond on the ballot for the April election. discussion. Okay. Seeing none, all in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. You can put me down as an I. Yeah. All right. Perfect. Well, that'll be uh that you have some work ahead of you. So, perfectly. Alrighty. Student discipline. This
077came up back in I don't know September, October somewhere in there. So I'm going to let you take the floor. Well, essentially I asked that our policy was re reviewed by central office just to see um if there was any better way for us to um implement procedure when it comes to discipline and primarily our our buildings that have the higher volume of issues. Um, we spoke last week, Kelly Creremley and I did and essentially legal said that we cannot make any revisions to the they didn't recommend that we made any revisions and I still stand firm that I think it's bad policy and that I think um, you know, the way the policy is written now and I'm not saying that we do a poor job of investigating and things of that nature, but
078when it comes to getting in physical altercations. That is where I think the policy needs to be revisited because currently as it stands, even if you physically are defending yourself, there will be ramifications for it. And I know we started this policy when we were starting to see a very big uptick in our buildings. A lot of our staff was starting to get hurt and things of that nature. And so we did this and now you can no longer do the zero tolerance policy according to law. So, um, I'm hardressed to believe that if any one of us were being physically attacked by somebody that we would not, human instinct wouldn't kick in and say, "I need to defend myself or I'm going to get hurt." And even though you may defend yourself, there will
079still be disciplinary actions regardless of how good of a student you are, regardless of your history. It may be lesser than, but now you have a student that's been sought out and attacked and they are weighing their their fight orflight options here. If I fight back to prevent myself from being injured, I'm going to be in trouble. If I lay here because maybe I don't want to be in trouble with my band director, my football coach, my, you know, speech and debate. I don't want to jeopardize those things. There's a mental health piece to that as well. So, it's just me going on. I I applaud our folks for what they do and there's got to be a better way. I just haven't found it yet. So, once I find that, I will bring this
080back to the board and I will say, "Hey, I think I found a solution to this." And I know Kelly did extensive research on her end as well to try and find alternate solutions as well. And it's not isolated to just our district. I want to go on record saying that as well. This is a nationwide issue. Violence has just become part of the culture. I don't care how big of a school you are or how small of a school you are. Kids are just reacting this way as a a means to to file their discrepancy with somebody. So, it's it's not just us, but there's got to be a better way to do this. So, I will keep hunting down policy that I think is a good fit for both sides. And I, like
081I said, I recognize we put this into place because we needed to do something. Um, and now how having seen it played out, I just see the gaps in the policy that maybe we need to figure out a better way. >> Well, I I assume the lawyer said they recommend to stay with there because of consistency. You can't treat one different from the other except through the investigation and how it's done. You can't >> you can't have the same type of situation go on and treat one differently than the other if it's the same type of situ. >> I wasn't providing an explanation. I was just told that >> I I'm just I'm just saying that I assume that you can't treat >> That's an assumption. I don't know. >> Yeah. And then um >>
082now we do say that we look at each case individually like you said there's an investigation piece that comes with it. Um, but I would think in that investigation you're able to decipher who was the victim and who was an aggressor. And I know that not all the students we, you know, a big part of the conversation was in the investigation. Sometimes information comes out after the fact that would have been really really helpful um during the investigation that they just didn't feel confident enough sharing while they were being questioned about whatever took place. Um, but realistically, if we're doing an investigation, then we know who the aggressor was and who the person was that was just maybe sitting there at lunch eating their lunch and somebody came up and started physically assaulting them. >>
083I get what you're saying, but I at and I'm going to throw this out of as an opinion of mine. I I don't know really how many fights where not both of them are probably the aggressor in some way. It could be verbally. It could be bullying. It could be throwing punches. I I >> So, it doesn't make it right or wrong, but you know, it's >> it's a hard subject and it's a difficult thing to talk about. You just have to >> and then creating policy with it. >> Job. Everybody does a good job investigating these things and >> you you kind of have to go with Oh, >> yeah. It's it's perplexing for and and realistically and we talked about like there's things being imp implemented to try and better guide the students
084towards um non-violent resolutions with the students and and working on the culture in these buildings to see each other as a person. Um, you know, there's a lot of behavior that takes place online between all of these students. Um, which is impossible for our district to obviously monitor. Um, and and people are different people online and we've all seen it even as adults. We recognize these behaviors are different online. Nobody would ever come up and talk to us about, you know, in the fashion that they do on a keyboard. And the same thing's happening with kids, but they're just not fully developed. So, how do you make them see their peers as actual people that deserve respect? And if you don't like each other, guess what? Four years is going to go quick. I know
085it's not. Or 6 years if it's middle school. Um, and these people aren't even going to be um on your radar as a grown adult. So, could you just survive it? You know, um, but it does concern me for the physical piece. Um, some of these kids are pretty big and when they get into an altercation that's really scary. Um, secondly, the kids that will not physically defend themselves, there's also a lot of damage that can take place from that too. Um, mentally, emotionally. Um, and it's like you said, Dave, it's it's it's very difficult to try and weed through it and figure out what do we do here. Um, so yeah, like I said, I my search will continue. >> Do you have a particular policy number that you're referring to? >> Do you
086want the proposed policy or are you wanting our current policy? Uh, both. Okay. So, the proposed was I believe that I have what you gave here. It's a state statute regarding self-defense, which was um 563.031 RSMO if you were to search that there was um also aggressor/instigator. I'll share that one too. It was 167 1 161 and 167.7 one 1.7 one one 171. Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. Did you get that? >> Yeah. 161 and 171. >> Yes. And those were um repeated in the proposed policy. And then our policy number just a moment. >> We're about to look at a discipline policy >> in the 25 right now. >> It's JGR1 fighting. >> JG, >> but I would just want to verify that. >> Okay. >> You kept using the word proposed. >>
087JG R1. That's what Mervantes had proposed. Okay. was a um self-defense um addition to the board policy and aggressor slashinitiator. >> Yeah, >> we have a >> to add to the JGR1 student discipline and under that there's a list of a lot of types of infractions. Fighting is listed underneath there or assault is also one of the categories. >> Okay. Thank you. Mhm. >> Okay. >> All right. More to follow then later on is Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you for bringing it to the attention and thank you for talking to Mr. Yep. There we go. Early announcement incentive. >> Yeah. Just wanted to update you all. We offered that this year again as you remember. Um and that closed November 25th. And so I just want to kind of update you on the numbers
088um of retirements and resignations that we received from that incentive. It really does kind of help the district get ahead of the game. Um we had 14 retirees and 11 resignations. So that took us to about 25 early resignations, which was um good to have. Um after that date, we've had a a handful of transfers and one resignation. So you can see the bulk of our resignations and retirements came before that date which has allowed us to fill almost half of those. Um the candidate pools are a little more shallow these days and so it just becomes more and more important for us to to be ahead of the game. Our administrators have already been working really hard to in their busy busy schedules to get interviews scheduled and um find us some really quality
089candidates. I've been pleased with the ones that we have hired and I'm excited for them to join the district next year. Um we've got several interviews scheduled later this week and early next week. So we just continue to plug along and um again just thank you for approving that and I just wanted to update you. We're making good headway. >> Are the is it April and June like April for the teachers and then June for the administrators? you know, what's the last time they have before the contracts are signed or >> June is when they they can turn in their their um their resignation without June 1st, I believe, honor, June 1st, without having to pay some type of liquidated damages. >> That's for next year's contract, though. >> Yeah. Okay. Um, where are we
090at as far as other districts? Are we in line with that program >> announcement? Yeah. Uh there are some that are similar to us. So that's why we bumped it up because we saw some of our other fellow metro districts move theirs up. A lot of people were in January. We had moved up and then it was almost like, you know, you're checkers, you know, one's trying to jump over uh the other. I don't know of anyone earlier, but I do know some that are similar. >> Okay, >> I would agree. >> All righty. Perfect. Thank you. Any other questions? Uh it's that time of year. Legislative updates. >> So, not a lot uh from Jefferson City right now. Obviously, there's a lot of movement on bills. Um but it's way early in the hearings
091that are occurring. Um, the one thing I would point out is that our um, budget department discovered that they made a $240 million mistake and that it was to the good that they had over projected in essence on cost and they came out shared that publicly today um, or maybe it was yesterday uh, that they had made that error. Uh so they're not in as dire straits as they thought they were going to be uh in that regard. But um the chief financial uh person, Mr. I believe you say it. HG, it's H AUG. Uh has recommended that they not spend that 240 million and just keep that in reserve uh in regards to any type of u pet projects as he mentioned that the legislators might have. See how that works out for you.
092240. I saw your eyes roll. Was that a shock for you? Is that Was that a shock for you? Because just about anything goes wrong in Jefferson City. I don't get shocked. Used to, but not anymore. All righty. >> Does um the Chiefs moving to Kansas make any difference in that stadium bill? >> Uh no, but now the Cardinals have come out and said they may try to piggy back off of the same bill as well. Well, they want to wait and see what the royals do. And then after that, they will look to possibly make a proposal as well to uh receive those uh incentives to renovate and or redo the Bush Stadium as current. I believe they said it's 20 years old now and they want to make some major renovations. And then
093our senator came out uh at the federal level uh Mr. Schmidt and said that since the Chiefs are leaving Kansas City, they need to bring back an NFL team to St. Louis. That was in the news today. >> Let me know how that works out for you. Okay. All righty. >> You ne don't ever say never. >> No. Never say never. That's true. All righty. New business. MCBA policy 2025D. Yes. As you will see, there's a list there. These policies are uh based on MSBA and their uh production. So, we have not made any changes uh to these. Um and so, the administration recommends the first reading approval of policies 2025D. >> I make a motion to approve the first reading of MSBA policy 2025D as presented. >> Second. We have a motion and a
094second for the first reading of MSBA policy 2025D. Um, any discussion? I can tell you that when I was with them last, uh, this is going to be a big policy year is what they were saying because of all the changes >> in law. So, and they were trying to send them out a little bit at a time rather than all of them at once. So any other discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. I. >> All opposed. Passes. Horizontal advancement. >> Yeah, quite a few this evening. The administration asked the board to approve horizontal advancement as presented. >> Motion to approve the horizontal advancements as presented. >> Second. We have a motion and a second to approve the horizontal advancements as presented. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say I. >> I.
095All opposed. Miscellaneous and committee updates. We'll start with uh MSBA Mary. >> Okay. We've got the the usual things that I mention every time. Our uh spring or summer conference, our fall conference. Uh we have the lunch and learns. The first one was last week and they mostly talked about um the governor's budget and u the legislative things that are going on. Um it's just uh be ready for a roller coaster ride this year was kind of the theme of the lunch and learn. Um we've got some web uh the podcast I finally listened to that. It was pretty informative. They did a recap of 2025 and a preview of 2026 at the legislative level. So um and it's 37 minutes long. So, it's it's not a bad listen. Um, and it's just a listen,
096so you don't have to look at anything while you're doing it. Um, we have um get ready for new board members webinar on January 26th. And then on uh January 29th, uh Senate Bill 3, that's going to be a big one this year. And it's uh Senate Bill 3 and tax conversions webinar for uh and that's those are both through MSBA. Um they are there is a house bill out 2742 that's uh trying to increase the penalties for blowing by buses uh when they've got their arm out. So uh that will be a good one to look for. Um and I think that'll do it for today. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Belton Cares the uh December meeting was cancelled. And I missed the January meeting, but I do know we have trivia night coming
097up >> for uh Bel and Cares on February 27th. >> That's right. >> There we go. >> That's right. Um I'll piggy back a little bit, Jim, if that's okay. Okay. Tonight, uh is the open house for the harbor, and that's our our teen hangout. That's what they're calling it. And it's at New Horizon's church, uh on um out by West Belton. So, we're hoping to have a good turnout tonight. Obviously, I'm not there. Uh we're going to try to get uh volunteers signed up because they have to be vetted through our um background checks and all that. We want quality um uh volunteers there. But we've I think we've got a good start going. We've had a lot of donations. We've had a lot of interest. So, uh looking forward to moving forward with
098that. Uh next Tuesday will be our first run for that. And we're hoping to have we're going to max out at 30 kids for the first uh night or two. So, that's where we're at with that. Uh they will be able to do homework, play games. We have a washer and dryer there if they need to to do some laundry. Um just a whole myriad of of different things that will be available to try to help um with some of the needs of the kids. Uh we'll even provide some transportation even though it's within walking distance of the high school. Um the weather's not always great and so the we're hoping to be able to do that as well. So, and I'll echo trivia night, February 27th. Anybody have suggestions for um categories for trivia
099night? Uh send them >> categories. >> Send them send them my way because uh this will be my 11th or 12th year writing the the trivia night stuff and I'm running out of ideas. So, thought about going back to year one and see if anybody would remember it was the same, but I'm not going to do that. Well, thank you. >> To help my team, music would be good >> of the like music from the >> the categories >> 2020s, 2015. >> No, no. Old old music. Old people music. Don't be giving me that. >> Yeah, there's two kinds of music. Country and or western. >> Just I'm just saying that would help my team. All right. L Educational Foundation. >> Yes. So, we just had our first meeting of the year this week. Um,
100and our new president is in place, Michelle Wilson. Uh, we kind of had our year-end assessment, looked at all of our accomplishments, areas we wanted to improve, setting some new goals for this year. Um, which means we also start over with our sponsorship. So, anybody who wants to sponsor kids, let us know. um big business, small business, um we'll take any of it and we can tell you how many different ways that we will be able to market your business as well and show you support bel. Um a couple of dates that we have coming up fe uh February 12th through the 27th, we will have our major saver card sale. So don't worry, I'll have some for every single one of you in the room. Okay. Um, also in March on the 22nd we
101will have a charity bingo event that I believe we're co-sponsoring on. Uh, and in April on the 17th we have our pirate dash. And that is about it for now, kids. >> I have to go back to the harbor real quick. We will feed them as well. Okay, >> there it goes. Just have to Okay, perfect. All righty. Uh I don't think we have much for the city of Belton. >> Well, the biggest thing going on talk right now is the 163rd corridor project which could bring and I know their apartments up to 600 new units by what 2030 I think. >> Had they said how many students that'll bring it? >> That's that's why I put my hand up when I said apartments. It's not it's not ideal, but there's 600 more units that
102they're talking about over I think five phases. >> Did Did we ever figure out how many students we got from >> Okay. >> The combination of both apartments, the estimate that Mr. Allen and I received today was 20. >> 20 kids. >> 20. Wow. >> And the new apartments on 163rd will be above retail businesses. Do we feel like it's because of the rents at those two units are higher? So, it's more young professionals or is there any type of rhyme or reason to the data? >> The comment made was they feel like a lot of people there are single and then if they have children that they want space and so therefore they do not have uh students in those facilities. I >> So they want single family homes. >> Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. >>
103I I do believe uh that those apartment complexes are pretty full. I don't I don't feel like they're >> At one point somebody told me 90 to 95%. >> Wow. >> So >> they had two seniors there last year because they didn't know where to put their signs. >> Okay, perfect. All righty. Yeah. >> All righty. Uh board piling update. We had uh three people sign up for three positions. So outside of the bond issue, we would have no election. So we have Miss Cervantes, Mary Cummings, and Mr. Rusty Sullivan. Congratulations to the three of you on a win. You'll still be on the ballot, but I want to thank my family. No, >> you don't have to worry about trying to see whether Tim will vote for you or not. I get it. >>
104I want to thank Teresa for campaign. >> Yeah, you don't have to go walking. Well, although this board will have to go do some walking for the bond, just so you know. And uh there'll probably be some staff that will be uh uh on my radar. and you all know who you are. So, and if you don't know who you are, I'll arrange that where you are. All righty. Some miscellaneous dates. February 13th, no school staff PD collaboration day. February 13th, also open selection for Steam begins. February 16th, no school president's day. February 27th, Belton Cares trivia night. March 12th through the 15th is Cosba in Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky. Uh, once again, I will be driving. Uh, March 27th is the senior citizen lunchon at the BHS fieldhouse. Are there any dates that
105the chair does not have on this agenda? All righty. The chair will accept a motion. >> I make a motion we adjourn. Second. We have a motion and a second to adjurnn. Any discussion? Seeing none. Jim, >> yes. >> Karen, >> yes. >> Dave, >> yes. >> Mary, >> yes. >> Teresa, >> yes. >> We are journ folks. Thank you.