001Hey, hey, hey. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> My name is Haley. [music] I'm a senior and I attend Mccclure High School. Um, what made me decide [music] to join the dig program was when I found out that I know that I knew I can earn my associates degree. Sign up. When I [music] first signed up, it was smooth and easy. Everything went nice. But then when it came to [music] coming to my first class, I was a little confused cuz I was new. So I didn't know where to go and everything. [music] Heat. Heat. N. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. N. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Hey everybody. Heat. Heat. N. [music] [music]
002Heat. Heat. N. [music] >> [music] [music] >> To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. >> Good evening everyone. Uh meeting norms we would we would do our best. Right. Just read out to us. >> No, just say [clears throat] board please remember. >> Oh, board please remember the meeting norms. Okay. All right. Call order um adoption of agenda for regular meeting under provision of public meeting law of the state state of Missouri. The board must adopt by roll call vote an agenda to include the time, date, place intentive agenda for the meeting. A copy of the notice of and agenda for the meeting was posted on Tuesday, January 13th, 2026 at
003the administrative center, 8855 Dur Road, Hazeswood, Missouri, online and sent to local papers. Recommendation to adopt agenda as posted. >> Second. >> Call for a vote. >> Miss Manserie, >> yes. >> Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Dr. Martin, >> yes. >> Um, Dr. Graves. >> Yes. Secretary votes. Yes. Dr. Thurman. >> Yes. >> Mr. Tyson. >> Yes. >> That was loud, too, but okay. MSBA updates. This portion of the meeting is allocated to show a short video for the Missouri School Board Association to provide a report of current activities and events that may be interest to the board members in the community. Welcome to the January edition of the Missouri School Boards Association's Board Report. We start the new year with a look at what to expect during the 2026 legislative session. As always, education
004will be a topic of discussion throughout the session. MSBA Executive Director Melissa Randall and senior director of advocacy Caitlyn Wheat got together recently to recap the end of 2025 and provide a 2026 legislative preview. Melissa and Caitlyn recorded the first episode of MSBA's new podcast, Always Bored, Never Boring. During the episode, they covered a wide variety of topics, but zeroed in on the education topics that could come up during this legislative session. >> Well, let's talk about what are those topics? Education obviously is one of them. What are some of the topics within education do you think will bubble up and what are the other big things that are going to drive the general assembly this session? Yeah. So, I think it's going to be kind of some of the main topics that we've been
005talking about year after year. I think we're going to see um open enrollment is going to be a huge topic this year. Um another topic that I'm certain is going to come up is expansion of charter schools. Um, you know, [clears throat] right now, with the exception of Boone County, who got its own special law, um, charters can [clears throat] only be expanded in, uh, when there's, you know, a a subpar kind of accreditation status and there's no not any schools that currently are are in that, which um was a point of contention at the DESIE hearing, at the Senate education hearing this week. Um, but I do think that people are are going to look to expand to create new ways for charters to exist outside of those categories. >> Caitlyn says that one
006topic in particular could be a focal point of the session and it greatly affects public schools. >> I think taxes is going to be the topic during session. I think it's a complex issue and it's an issue that everybody is talking about in one way or another and you're right, there's there's a a big push on the property tax front. There's a big push from the governor on the income tax front. Somebody made a comment to me a few weeks ago that it seemed like nobody has a plan. And I said, "No, I think the problem is that everybody has a plan." [laughter] Uh, and so I think um I I do think that both of those will be on the watch list throughout session. And I don't know if if if one's going to
007win, if somebody's going to find a path forward for both of them. Um obviously property taxes incredibly important to schools. Um and we have been closely monitoring and engaging with um other groups that are in interested and and you know focused on defending local services, local schools um and that funding stream because that is that is what keeps Missouri schools afloat as 49th or 50th dep depending on the year in state support for um public schools like that is how our schools survive and exist. And um that's why we're so worried about Senate Bill 3 and watching that lawsuit so closely and that's why we're going to be extremely involved in, you know, advocating for why that funding is critical for public schools. >> To listen to the full legislative preview, visit the MSBA website
008for links to the podcast. New episodes will be released every month to not only keep you up to date on the latest during the legislative session, but also year-round conversations on the issues, opportunities, and stories shaping today's schools. Speaking of the legislative session, MSBA's 2026 advocacy series starts this month with the first legislative lunch and learn, which takes place on January 17th. There will be monthly lunch and learns through May, and of course, there's MSBA's advocacy day on Tuesday, March 10th. Advocacy Day activities begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Mill Bottom in Jefferson City with the student showcase in the Capitol Rotunda in the afternoon. And finally, school safety is always an important topic. And with that, the most important school safety gathering ever held in Missouri is coming soon. Join us April 22nd through
009the 24th for the Missouri School Safety Conference in St. Louis. This statewide conference is hosted by MSBA Center for Education Safety in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Public Safety, the Missouri Department of Mental Health, and the FBI St. Louis division. >> This event is built specifically for those at the forefront of school safety, principles, [music] superintendent, schoolboard members, school safety coordinators, and directors, mental health professionals, SRO, and other first responders. You'll find sessions [music] on crisis mental health, threat assessment, incident command, emergency [music] response, and so much more. >> If you've been navigating the new requirements of Senate Bill 68, this conference is for you. And if you have the ultimate responsibility for keeping students safe, this conference is for you. >> Together, we can lead, prepare, and protect because [music] our students deserve
010nothing less. For more information about the Missouri School Safety Conference, visit the MSBA website. That's it for this month. Thank you for allowing us to have some time at your board meeting, and we'll see you in February for the next MSBA board report. >> And at this time, we'll have public comments pursuant to policy PDDH-1, public participation at board meetings. The board allocates a portion of each meeting to allow stakeholders the opportunity to comment on agenda items. The board president will or in this case the vice president will read aloud comments that have been submitted in advance. All written comments will be included in board material for the for this evening may be viewed under public comments. The board may limit the number of comments read aloud based on the length in repetiti or repetition.
011The time allocated for in-person public comments shall not exceed 30 minutes. People before the public comment period begins. In-person participations are part participants are asked to complete a comment card including their name, address, and phone phone number, email address, and topic to be addressed. Speakers will be allowed up to three minutes to present their remarks. Individuals wishing to address the board are asked to speak from the podium, identify themselves, and in keeping with policy PDH-1 and personnel law, refrain from making any personal personally identifiable or negative comments about individuals. While the board will not directly respond to speakers during the public comment period, the board president may provide brief brief clarifying remarks at the end of each session to correct misstatements of fact. Following the meeting, Dr. Fields will cons confer with the leadership team
012of the Ferguson Florison School District and privately assign a staff member to to respond to public comments. If a response has not been received within five business days, please contact Dr. Fields directly. I have two here. Uh first, Carol Randazzle. >> Hi There we go. I'm Carolyn Randazzo and I'm a member of the Ferguson Human Rights Commission and I'm here to talk about our Ferguson Human Rights Commission awards for advocates of the year. We actually give out three awards. one for a group, one for an an adult individual, and one for a student individual that must live in Ferguson since it it does come from um a commission of the city of Ferguson. And so the nominees should, like I said, be individuals or groups who have made specific significant contributions to improving civil rights,
013human relations, or civility in our community. We would like to recognize a group that's based in Ferguson and does their work in Ferguson, an adult or a student 21 and under who lives in Ferguson. And so um the applications are open until January 31st, 2026 for this year's um awardees. The application and more information is on the Ferguson City website at fergusoncity.com/h human rights commission. And so we're looking for people from Ferguson and especially students who have displayed these qualities. So, we're really uh encouraging people to apply for this or or to nominate someone that you know of like a student who's been very active or in some leadership position um in the district. And of course, any adults that live in um or live in Ferguson, I should say. Um any adults that fit
014that model or a group um we would really like to recognize them. Um, also on the city website on the page for the human rights commission, it lists some of the previous awardees. So, if you're, you know, thinking, oh, this these people, they may have already been recognized. Um, but at any rate, we're really looking for those applications. Um, I'll be around if you want to talk about it a little later or have any questions right now. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. And then we have a write in um regarding the nursing department changes from Barbara Walker to be board of education meeting comments. I am aware of the current change to the nursing department at Ferguson Florison School District and have a few concern as follows. Number one, will the lead nurse
015be assigned a school to monitor? If so, it seems a bit overwhelming with such a broad responsibility. And number two, will the new coordinator have some medical background to assist with the day to day to problems of healthcare? And we'll be passing the floor to thank you. Is that it? All right. At this time, I'm going to invite Dr. Ebony Shaw, coordinator of grand writing, community engagement, to the podium for the wonderful presentation that she has for us this evening. >> All right. Good evening, board and community. selected by student representatives from each high school. The following students were selected as finalists for student representative to the board. Those students are Jabbori Jones from Mccclure North High School, Priana Bevanu from Mccclure High School and Leila Williams from Mccclure Steam High School. Students interested in
016serving as the student representative submitted a two-page essay outlining how they would represent district students at the board level. Essays were reviewed and blindly scored by administrators to identify one finalist from each high school. Our three finalists then completed and recorded a two question interview which was st shared with students districtwide. Voting was conducted by four designated student voice representatives from each high school. So drum roll please. Please join me in welcoming our 2026 Ferguson Florison School District Board of Director Student Representative Mccclure High School's Priana Beanu. [applause] Can you come on up? Come on up. Priana is deeply committed to ensuring that student voices across uh Ferguson Florison are truly heard, respected, and represented. You're going to stand right there in the in the middle. And Mr. Tyson. As a current student in the
017district, she brings firsthand understanding of the challenges students face and a strong determination to advocate on their behalf. Priana has already demonstrated impactful leadership through student government and student voice. Successfully elevating student concerns from advocating for more culturally inclusive food options to influencing updates to the district uniform policy. Known by her peers and teachers as a thoughtful, respectful listener, she balances academics, athletics, and extracurriculars with strong organization and accountability through tools like surveys, school visit, and open communication. Priana is dedicated to amplifying student perspectives and sharing them accurately with district leaderships. We are excited, Priana, to have your leadership, your experience, and your passion to serve the Ferguson Florison students. Welcome and congratulations. [applause] >> [applause] [cheering] [applause] >> the Constitution of the State of Missouri. >> Awesome. And I will faithfully >> I will
018faithfully >> and impartially discharge >> and importionally discharge >> the duties of the student representative >> and in for >> the Ferguson Flores school district >> the Ferguson Florison School District >> number R2 number R2 >> number R2 >> County of St. Louis Missouri >> County of St. Louis, Missouri. >> And to the best of my ability >> and to the best of my >> my ability >> according to law. >> So help me God. >> Everyone please welcome our new store student board of education representative Priyani. >> Priana Priana >> Bevanu. >> All right. [laughter] Beanu [applause and cheering] Priana Beanu. All right. >> Okay. >> Congratulations again. >> Thank you so much. Let me say one more thing >> before um we have our new board rep um say a few words from
019her new seat. Can you all help us thank the family because we understand it takes a fantastic family to be able to support and lend their child to help us with this business. So again, can you help me thank the family for the work that they are doing? [applause] Today is an important day for me because this is a new beginning to in a new chapter where I can make new decisions. I can be able to make change and improve the for Ferguson Florison School District. I want to be able to help students all around the district. The people that couldn't be able to say something or the people that's given up because of some adults that give us a blind eye. I would love to continue to be in this role and continue to
020listen to all students and be able to appropriately and effectively voice their opinions to the student board of education. >> [applause] >> And come on y'all. One more time. [applause] All right. Okay. So, at this time, uh, FFNA representative, uh, during the public comment portion of the meeting and FA >> shaking. >> He's shaking his head. No. All righty. So, we're going to move right along. Uh, so now we're going to have Dr. uh Howard Fields up. Uh, during this portion of the meeting, the superintendent may provide a brief report or communication highlighting recent developments, updates, and key information. A brief detail of such an update might include academic progress. Keyboard. Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. Tyson. Uh, good evening, community colleagues and, um, congratulations to Miss Bevanu being able to see the entire process.
021I want to also thank um, Miss Shaw as well as Miss Hullman in terms of the entire process for you to have student voice. That is absolutely fantastic. And we are not only happy, but we are lucky to have you. Before I turn it over for the actual comments with regards um to celebrations, um one of the more difficult portions of my job is also to um communicate when we lose a student. And so here in a moment, I'm going to ask for us to have a few moments of silence for a fourth grade student at Griffin, uh Miss Paige Buckner, who lost her young life right when we went on winter break. And this is the first board meeting since then. And so if you all before we go into celebrations and recognitions, if
022you can just bow your head and give us a few moments um in honor of Paige. Thank you so much. I will come back on for a uh portion C, which is the third floor forward update. But before then, I'm going to turn it over to an who will get us started with the FFSD celebrations and recognitions as well as community survey. Miss Holman, good evening board, Superintendent Dr. Fields, and members of our community. Thank you for giving us a few moments this evening to share some of the district's celebrations and recognitions. First, we would like to highlight historic growth in their dual enrollment program. For the first time in district history, we have nearly 80 Ferguson Florescent High School students that are participating in the dual enrollment program at St. Louis Community College in
023Florescent Valley. This this spring, students from all three high schools, that's Mccclure, Mccclure North, and Steam High, are earning college credit while still in high school, giving them a strong head start as they prepare for the plans after high school. We also want to share that during the fall semester, our Ferguson Florison students achieved a 98% pass rate in their dual enrollment courses, surpassing neighboring districts in the region, making our students one of the highest. Let's give them a round of applause. [applause] Providing resources for our families. Cross Keys Middle officially opened a new school market in December. This was made possible through a partnership with the St. Louis area food bank and sponsored by Boeing. Cross Keys offers a permanent on-site food market that provides fresh access to food for students and families. The
024ribbon cutting took place in December. And we want to thank our St. Louisis area food bank and Boeing partners for their partnership in bringing this resource to our families. Ferguson Florescent's counseling and social work department were selected as a giveback recipient for Katie's Pizza and Pasta Give Back Tuesday. This fundraiser generated over $4,000 that will be used to provide support services for students and families. Let's give that a round of applause. That's amazing. [applause] And lastly, with generous funding from the James S. McDonald Foundation, Ferguson Florescent School District's personal finance students are participating in the goal setter curriculum. The program brings personal finance to life for students. It introduces key personal finance concepts from earning income to managing risk. During the past semester, our high school students demonstrated exceptional growth, including engaging with guest speakers
025on topics such as investing and financial decisionmaking. As an incentive for their participation in the financial literacy curriculum, nearly 100 students at Mccclure, Mccclure North, and Steam High received Air Jordans to celebrate their growth and participation. Thank you to the James S. Macdonald Foundation for their partnership. Can we give that a round of applause? [applause] Thank you. And this concludes our celebrations and recognitions of the great things happening in our district. Next, we are going to um talk about our community survey results. So this evening we have Rick Nobles from Excellence K12 and he will give a presentation on the community survey results that the survey was conducted in December and January. So Mr. Nobles, you can come on up. Good evening everyone. Um thank you for having me and for Hiring Excellence K12. I'm
026going to talk about the survey. Uh I'm going to start off with talking about the methodology for this. We completed 300 telephone calls in the district um to registered voters who were head of household and knew they lived in the district. Um we matched your population pattern to the percentage of calls completed. When we do those two things together, it gives us a margin of error of 5.8%. Random digit dial uh calling has been uh the standard since the mid50s. Uh it's the same it is the same methodology that Pew uh Gallup and USA Today use. Uh so you can feel good about your uh data uh that you're getting. Um we start these surveys with a section uh where we ask people to grade the district. Uh we do that first because you don't
027need to know a terrible amount about the district to have an opinion about what grade that the district should get uh on certain items. Um I know you have seen this and it's on the board. Uh you had four items that graded out at 3.86 or better. Um those are good scores in comparison to other school districts uh your size in the state of Missouri. Uh and we have worked with more than 250 school districts in the Midwest. So, we have a little bit of um data to compare those things to. Uh the only two that were below that, 371 for prep for college, uh 348 for class sizes, uh 348 was your lowest score, and we have school districts where that is their highest score. So, you should be proud of the grades that
028you got on that. Uh we then asked two open-ended questions. The first is uh what are the strengths of the school district? Uh in your case, three strengths that we note. The first was do not know. The second was provides a good education and academics and the third was teachers and staff. Um don't know as the first answer uh when we ask strength of the district is less than ideal. Uh in an ideal scenario, you would want people to be able to say teachers curriculum whatever it is. Um so that's an opportunity to communicate uh with your with your patrons about that. In terms of areas needing improvement, do not know was the first answer. And that's the one place on a survey where where you won't don't know is the first answer because if
029nothing jumps to the front of people's minds, uh that's a good thing. The other two, um control spending and budget, which is number one or two in every district that we have ever worked with. Uh nobody's happy with the budget. Everybody always wants a a tax break or a less unless it's spent with the budget. uh and then more quality teachers uh which is a good thing for you uh considering what you're talking about doing. Um so that's all good. We then do what we call a statement exercise where we ask people uh do they strongly uh agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, strongly disagree with a number of statements. This is uh what we call a civics exercise. We want to know if people are civic-minded. Uh the the idea of civics is that I
030will pay to plant a tree today whose shade I will never sit under. Uh that's the that's a kind-hearted uh approach to civic bindedness and your scores are exemplary. Um every score you had uh six scores over 73 uh% as you can see there. You only had a couple of scores that were under that uh or I'm sorry that were over 69%. uh you had three scores that were under that. Um our schools have made a positive difference uh for students. Uh again, there's a communications opportunity there to educate people about that. Uh maintaining the quality of the schools is the best thing we can do to protect investments in our homes, investments in home values, and and I'm not sure uh why that is where it's at. That only had 56%. Um, I'm willing
031to support building improvements to make sure we are a high level district was at 53%. Again, [snorts] I think all three of those uh are you would look at them uh not as a problem but as an opportunity. Uh the next section we talk about uh kind of some general district district performance questions asking people is the district excellent or good or what have you. Uh excellent, good, fair or poor. Uh top scoring areas, um safe and secure, equitable facilities, uh classrooms with up-to-date instructional uh technology, uh all scored highest. U middle scoring items included um communicating with area residents regarding all aspects of the difference. Great to see that as high as it is. Um making sure high school graduates are prepared. uh lowest scoring areas. Encouraging public input uh into the work of
032the district is something that we see in every school district uh that we work with. Uh there's no school district that's whose patrons don't want uh to have more input uh to be asked. Um keeping average class sizes at an acceptable level. Uh we saw that earlier as well uh is an area for concern. Uh supporter opposition for operating levy ideas. Um, good news, bad news in these next two sections. Uh, or [snorts] good news, not so good news, I should say. Um, uh, support continued enhancements to safety and security. 84% of people, uh, would more likely vote in favor of that. Provide funds to increase salaries for non-admin staff such as bus drivers, aids, etc. 78% of people supported that. Uh, add staff to help support radiation exposure compensation act. uh 55% so more
033than half uh were on board for that as well. Uh the the less than uh great news is when we started talking tax tolerance um people h had some concerns uh about the amount of money [snorts] not surprising. Um, we asked about um a 77 75 cent um levy which would cost the owner of an average home $342 a year. Uh, support for that only range from 36 to 48%. Um when opponents uh of that were asked if they would support a lower tax levy, a 50cent levy at 228 uh 228 dollars per year, support increased slightly to 48%. Um keeping in error the margin of er keeping in mind the margin of error, sorry, uh support at the lowest tax levy ranges from 42% to 54%. Um, so you have your work cut out
034for you there, but you you know people want these things. Uh, you just have to position that in a in a manner uh that they can accept it or look at trimming the budget. Um, talk to Dr. Fields about this. Uh, I haven't seen a school district in Missouri pass a levy more than $200 a year for the owner of an average home in a while. Uh, that seems to be the high water mark. If there would be a way to get that down into the 190s, um I think you'd have a much better chance. I think your numbers would have been higher. Um other than that, uh that is the uh that is the information we gathered. We also did three online surveys for you. I don't usually present that information because it it
035goes on forever. Um and I assume most people don't geek out over research the way that I do. U so I will entertain any questions that you have at this point. Would [snorts] anybody like any questions on this end? We'll start on that end. Okay. >> Good. Okay. Thank you very much. Have a nice evening. While we're getting the slides aligned to the third floor update, which will be the last portion of the superintendence report, um thank you. I will provide us with a brief update with regards to third floor forward which this has been customary for the last few board meetings as we discuss progress as well as goals for the district. Um, and so just for starters, if you're just joining us, um, during the state of the district addressed, I introduced third
036floor forward, which is a commitment to immediate as well as strategic steps that I will lead to help our district overcome current and existing challenges while simultaneously making sure that all learners graduate believing that anything is possible and prepared to realize those possibilities. As we talk about those three primary goals of Fergor Forward, it is to create a new future together, expand community partnerships with intentionality as well as to maximize every resource for learning. And so as I focus on goal area number one, um these are components of goal area number one, but you will see the ones that are bolded are the ones that I will kind of provide a update on today, which is to launch student staff and community advisory groups to shape the district's future. I am happy to report that
037I met with student staff as well as community advisory groups in December. And this month, I will meet with student, staff, and community advisory groups again to follow up on our prior conversations as well as to obtain feedback on district finances. Um, as you may or may not know, there is a preliminary budget that goes into the budget cycle and we want to make sure that when we speak about community and when we speak about transparency, we have as many eyes as well as voices in the process. And so, not only will that be taking place in terms of those advisory groups and asking um the key individuals, what are some things that they certainly suggest we look at, that is also going to take place as part of the finance and budget committee, which
038Mr. Chance will talk about later on in the agenda. It is not too late for individuals to sign up for the advisory group. And so if we have staff, um certainly our community as well, um we ask that you sign up by scanning the QR code or visiting the link that is listed at the bottom of the slide. Focusing on GR um goal area number two, um I am going to highlight tonight's comments with respect to engage partners in addressing evolving community and student needs. We just heard from the survey results. Uh we certainly want to make sure we have quality um instructors and putting the best possible candidates and teachers in front of our students and we cannot do that alone. And so one of our many partnerships which is with St. Louis University
039um was highlighted for um St. Louis Post Dispatch, specifically IMATE. And so the individual who was front and center is VCash. He's one of our um stu I'm sorry, one of our teachers over at Cross Keys um middle school. And so if you haven't had a chance to read that article, it just talked about a number of pieces including highlighting the relationship and partnership that we have with St. Louis University. And so again, we are fortunate to have such a partnership, but that's just one of many that we have as we do everything we can to expand community partnerships. And the last goal area which I will um speak to most at length is to maximize every resource for learning and the bolded areas which is to align staffing, facilities and finances to directly impact
040student achievement as well as to continue transparent communication about our fiscal needs as well as a potential levybond discussion. And so, um, tonight I will continue with phase two of the staffing restructure for those of us, um, who were here with the prior restructuring that focused on district level administration. And so tonight, we continue with phase two. Now um if you're asking why we are restructuring in the first place, this slides provide a little bit more context which with regards to persistent deficit spending talks a little bit about aligns with two of the three goal areas for fur floor forward and it also is designed to protect studentf facing supports while modernizing senior level leadership. So that's just overall. But if you're asking specifically, well, Dr. Fields, why do we need restructuring phase two if
041we already completed with phase one? Um my response, a thoughtful one would be um highlighted on the slides. The first of which department level um efficiencies and instructional service alignment help extend the financial relief without reducing classroomfacing staff. We think that is the most important um piece to uphold. The second of which is the Ferguson Florison School District currently lacks a designated science content lead. So as we restructure um we want to make sure that we are able to address any misalignment in curriculum delivery as well as inconsistent instructional practices and any underperformance in key science areas. Earlier this year um the CNI department talked a little bit about our APR, our annual performance report. And when we dove a little bit deeper into those numbers, we see that there are some opportunities with science,
042but we don't have a science lead. So, that's something that we certainly want to make sure we address. And last, but certainly not least on this slide, due to the financial reductions from last year, the district did eliminate a second accountant/bookkeeper position. However, there are growing demands around compliance, audit preparation, and internal controls. and we don't have to look far to see how the financial situation can impact a school district as well as our accredititation status. Now, a few shifts uh with regards to phase 2. The first of which focused on student support realignment. So, we are eliminating um two positions. the proposal with respect to the director of counseling as well as school nurse manager introduce the coordinator of support services to oversee counseling nursing wellness as well as section 504 services. Um we're
043going to add statements in the proposal for two lead counselors and an additional lead nurse to ensure continued support across buildings as it relates to instructional support enhancements that I spoke of. introduced two science coordinator stipens to address curriculum and avoid any instructional gaps in science while also supporting our K12 science alignment professional development as well as our STEM integration as we continue with those shifts from phase two technology and innovation replacing an instructional technology specialist with a new instructional design and technology coordinator position aligns with the district's AI I policies and advances technology integration to support both teaching as well as learning finance and compliance. I spoke briefly about this but just to reiterate that point add an accountant as well as um an accountant/bookkeeper role to improve our audit readiness grant management as
044well as internal financial controls. And last but certainly not least with the key shifts is um for administrative support here at this building is eliminating two administrative center secretary positions as part of the overall streamlining of central office support functions. As I stated um in prior presentations um as we are looking at cost savings and redirecting back to the classroom, we see that this is over um $340,000 in total savings potentially with respect to phase one and phase two and the next steps. Tonight I am presenting on phase two um January the 15th which is tomorrow post those phase two positions which are um as well as the stipens um from January to February and however much time we would need is to begin planning for phase three of restructuring and at the same time
045ongoing which is to continue both legal review as well as alignment with the third floor goals that I had previously stated. And so with that, I will turn it over to Mr. Tyson to yield any questions that you may have. >> All right, board. Uh, we will start on this end. >> I don't have any questions at this time. >> I don't have any questions, sir. >> Thank you for being thoughtful and keeping us updated in the process. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you as well, but I don't have any questions at this time either. No questions at all either. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you so much, >> Madame President. Do you have any questions? >> Thank you for asking. No, I just want to say uh I appreciate the
046thorough report and the reason we don't have questions because I think you answered most of them. So, thank you. Thank you for that, Madam President. And again, I would be remiss if I don't provide the kudos to the team that I get a pleasure of working with every single day. Uh we take both a lot of great honor as well as time into preparing for not only the board meetings but the documents and responding to board members questions. And so the kudos goes to them. >> Thank you all. >> And at this time we'll be moving to the consent agenda. The items listed under consider agenda have under undergone board subcommittee review. Documentation concerning these items has been provided to all board members and the public in advance to ensure a thorough review. The consent
047agenda is voted upon in its entirety. Any board member may ask to have any item on the consent agenda removed to be voted on separately. Recommendation to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> So move. >> Second. >> Call for a vote. >> Dr. Graves, >> yes. >> Dr. Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Manserie, >> yes. >> Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Secretary votes yes. Dr. Thurman, >> yes. >> Mr. Tyson, >> yes. And since there were no items pulled from the consent, we'll move to dispersements. and Tony Tony Chance, chief financial operations officer will represent. All right. Good evening, Board of Education, Dr. Fields, administration, and community members. Tonight, I'm will be presenting the dispersement report for the month of November 2025. The mission of the Ferguson Florison School District is to provide highquality
048instruction to every student in every neighborhood while prioritizing equity and compassionate relationships. The vision of the Ferguson Florison School District is for all learners to graduate believing that anything is possible and prepared to realize those possibilities. For the month of November 2025, payroll is $8,256,6642. Operational dispersements is 3,586,7994 to for a total monthly expense of 11,842,86546. So in this chart are the descriptions of the four funds used in the budgetary process. Uh total revenues for the month of November 2025 are $32 million 989,570 which represents 21% of the overall budget. And this is a graphic representation of the current revenues compared to budget. Total expenditures for November year to date 55,845,234. The remaining budget is $11,498,960 which represents uh 35.5% of the budget. And this is a graph showing the um the comparison between the
049budget and the expenses and the available budget. Okay, these are the descriptions of the six object categories used in the budgetary project. Okay, for salaries, year-to-ate expenses are 30,256,337 with an available budget of $59,159,14 and that represents 34% of the overall budget. benefits. There we go. Benefits. Um, year-to- date we've spent 9,522,743, which leaves a budget of $21,626 with percent used of the budget of 31%. Purchase services expenditures to date are 5,862,275 with a remaining budget of 10,5235 and that represents 37% of the overall budget. supplies. Year-to- date expense is $3,784,452 with a remaining budget of $4,971,580. And that should that represents 43% of the overall budget. Capital outlay today. Uh this month's expense year to date is $1,393,416. remaining budget of 3,677,084 and that is 24 27% of the overall budget. Long and short-term
050debt year-to- date expense 5,26,11 with an available budget of $2,623,394 which is a 66% of the budget that's used. Um, this shows the uh the uh t the county tax revenue dispersements through the end of December. You might notice that there's uh variance um through the end of December of negative8 million. Um, I will let you know that we have received uh another dispersement in the first week of January which more than uh compensates for that dispersement. For some reason, there was uh there was a timing issue with the county. So, that's normal. That's usually a little bit high uh for a variance, but it's normal that things vary like that. Um we will still have um probably two to three more dispersements in January. Um we will let you know and show you um
051what those dispersements are in the uh report for next month. >> Any questions on the dispersement report? >> Are there any questions board from? >> We need a motion first then questions. Is that what we do first? >> Okay. Recommendation to approve all expenditures for the month. >> So move. >> Second. >> No questions. >> I apologize. I did not send these in ahead of time. So if you can't answer them now, that's totally fine. Um, two quick questions. one I noticed on the subteer amount that we are at uh 1,459% of the amended budget expense while at the other there's two spots where it says uh subteer in the 16 accounts and 11 accounts that probably means more to you than me I don't special fund and something else I'm trying to decipher what
052it means >> 16 accounts are basically accounts that are held by buildings and departments. Those are those are part of the overall budget, but those don't really play into the general fund or the teachers fund or the others. >> Got it. So, it looks like we're charging all the subteers on that account and not charging it in the 11 account. So, I was just curious because the 11 account has zero dollars, but we budgeted $3.5 million and then the 16 account we budgeted >> uh 89,000 and we spent 1.3 million out of it. >> So, those are teachers >> subteer salaries 16 accounts >> 16 accounts instead. So, I just >> Okay, that doesn't sound right, but I I'll definitely look. >> When I saw the other one, it made more. And then just a
053question. Uh, do we have a water leak at this building? And I say that because we spent $52,000 on the water bill at this building alone in one month. Just seems like a really lot of money to spend in 8855 Dun Road to spend in the month of September to spend $52,000 just seemed like >> a lot for this small building. >> I know there was one leak, but it wasn't that severe. Um, but we also have a couple of student areas down here, plus the offices upstairs. >> That seems like a lot. I would just be curious to know then, I guess, if that is true. >> If we can just dig in a little bit more and see what is that abnormal. I just saw the bills and I was like, wait, $52,000
054for one month bill. I thought it was for the whole district. >> Yeah. This is multiple >> and that's it says just 8855 Dun Road is what it says it's for. >> Multiple. >> It says one month. So, if we can just dive in a little bit more to that. I'm just curious. >> I can see how that compares to history >> because that just seems like a lot of money to spend on one month. Sorry to dive in on that. I was just like that doesn't seem right. Apologize for not answering that ahead of time. No other questions though. Thank you. >> Thank you for that question because it does help us to your point Mr. Bailey possible a meter reading. I know we're trying to get healthy and drink a lot of water,
055but I don't believe it's that much water either. So, we'll certainly look into that. >> We didn't beat the world record if we doing that. And madame president, do you have any questions? >> Awesome. Thank you, Dr. Chance. >> Call for the vote. Miss Manserie, >> yes. >> Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Secretary votes yes. Dr. Graves, >> yes. >> Dr. Martin, >> yes. >> Dr. Thurman. >> Yes. >> Mr. Tyson. >> Yes. >> Oh, you know what? >> What? >> We also need to check in with our student brother. >> We do. >> Miss Miss Beavenude, >> if you were to vote, >> how might you vote on this? >> I'll say yes. >> Thank you. >> All righty. And Dr. Any chance is still on you? >> All right. I guess the next
056item on the agenda is a proposition for an operating tax levy increase. So administration will be recommending an operating tax levy increase to be placed on the April 7th, 2026 ballot. Proposed increase would be 48 cents per $100 of assessed value. The current blended rate for operations is $4.2595. This increase would raise the operations tax levy to $4.7395. The amount of revenue generated would be approximately $7.3 million. At a collection rate of 95%, the amount of revenue actually received would be closer to $6.9 million. The proposed tax levy increase does not affect the debt service tax levy. The revenue generated from this tax levy increase would support the district in several key areas. It would allow the district to strengthen safety and security measures for students and staff. It would also provide capacity to add
057staff to support radiation exposure compensation act documentation requests and related processes. The levy would provide funds to support increased salaries for non-administrative staff including bus drivers, classroom aids, custodians, facilities and maintenance personnel and others. This revenue would also help reduce the district's reliance on the tax anticipation notes. During this current fiscal year, the district has borrowed $10 million against the TAN with accumulated interest of $119,000. The prior year of borrowing against the TAN was $7 million with accumulated interest of $113,000. In addition, the district has one of the lowest tax rates in St. Louis County. The last time the district went to voters for a tax living increase was in 2014 for 50 cents and it was approved. Currently, the district is not receiving any tax revenue from certain properties within the boundaries due to
058tax increment financing or tiffs. The total assessed value for these properties comes to $57 million. For these reasons, administration is recommending an increase to its operation tax levy of 48. Can I have a point of clarification, Mr. President? >> Is this are you just giving information or trying to have it approve? because I I just didn't see any resolution because that's we need to approve the actual ballot language with the resolution in order for it to go to the county. So, I was just trying to get clarification. We went um great question. We went back to 2014 and all of the information there and it was from what we gathered was that we needed to approve if it can go on there and then having the board look at the language before it goes out
059um to the ballots which it's my understanding that um I believe Stifil grabs that language for us to assist but again we're just going back with the way that we did it in 2014. If we need to do it differently that's certainly fine but we just went back to there. Okay. Is this for with that then would we need to approve it before the deadline for the county which is in January the ballot language? Got it. So we'll have a special meeting then I take it. Sorry. Yes. If in fact that's the process again what we we just went back to the board meeting and it was more so you have to approve it going to the ballots first and then the board will look at the language as well and we still have more
060I think it's like 10 days or something like that. Don't quote me on that. So the recommendation administration recommends to place an operation tax levy increase on the April 7, 2026 ballot. The proposed increase is 48% 48 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. Um do I have a recommendation? >> So moved. >> Second. Call for a vote. >> Questions? >> Oh, questions. I thought that was a question. Okay. >> Okay. >> Can we can we just get a recap of what it's going for again so we're clear of what it would be supporting? >> Oh, sure. So, it would include uh the district strengthening safety and security measures for students and staff. It would also provide capacity to add staff to support radiation exposure compensation act document requests and related processes. The levy would provide
061funds to support increased salaries for non-administrative staff including bus drivers, classroom aids, custodians, facilities, and maintenance personnel and others. This revenue would also help reduce the district's reliance on tax anticipation notes. Uh, in addition, the district has one of the lowest tax rates in St. Louis County. The last time the district went to voters for tax levy increase was 2014 at 50 cents. >> Mr. Chance, um, just quick question um, as we want to be as data driven as possible. We heard from excellence um, K12 tonight. Mr. Noble spoke to his recommendation for essentially we have some level of support, but he recommends that the district try to get underneath the $200 a um year um for homeowners to the best of your knowledge 48. What would that be for the average um homeowner? When
062I did a calculation using a property value ofund a residential property of $120,000, my total for a year increase would be around $109 overall. So, >> and so just to clarify, we have some level of support in the community with the number that was above that. And if we take u Mr. to Rick Noble's suggestion, which it sounds like we have, and we've gone underneath that number to 48 cents. >> Correct. >> And you're saying it's how much again for the average homeowner um per year and then per month if you can? >> At about I'm sorry, at about $120,000 in residential value. Um it's just a little over $100 per per year um additional. So that would be just under 10 bucks a month. >> Thank you for that. >> And Madame President, did
063you have a question? >> Yes. I um didn't hear anything um about improvements to our buildings with that uh tax levy increase. Can you talk about that a little bit because our buildings definitely need um some improvements. >> Yes. >> Some buildings more than others. >> Well, firstly um some of that money will go to um increase the budgets. Um, our facilities and maintenance areas do need some definite help, but we also are hoping that in the future we could propose a bond issue as well to help our infrastructure in that capacity. >> And just to add to that, Madam President, uh, thank you for the question. I think it's a fantastic one. Um, typically school districts can go off of the tax levy as well as the bond. Um the tax levy will give
064us um some opportunities to address some some of the things that uh Mr. Chance um just stated. Um we do have bonding capacity. We've been in touch with Steel um Stifo and we do have a decent amount of bonding capacity. However, to ask voters for I guess two different things right off the bat. The recommendation in terms of speaking with um different entities was to look at the tax levy first and then because we do have bonding capacity to come back and look at our facilities. Now our facilities team uh maintenance etc. They've done a fantastic job. However, what we're talking about doing with the bond is to have a sizable shift in our facilities, the infrastructure. when we talking about for instance vest of fuels for an additional layer of safety we could not
065cover that with a tax levy that would be an actual bond and so again we've um had a lot of conversations as you can imagine with the experts related to this work and again the recommendation was more so we look at tax levy look at those pieces first and then come back with a bond given that we do have bonding capacity I hope that answered your question >> it absolutely does, but I wanted to make sure that the community understood the difference uh and that yes, we're asking for an increase, but this is not for our facilities. This is for other things that we have to do and we may come back later and ask for a bond increase, but not at this time. And the only other thing that I would add is with
066our when we look at our compensation for many of our essential workers and if we look at uh custodial staff maintenance etc. We have a number of vacancies, positions that we have not filled. And when we look at comparing ourselves to neighboring districts, a large part of that is in fact what we are able to pay uh commensurate to others. And so while it won't look at those major pieces as I just alluded to, if in fact it is passed and our community supports our schools, which we believe they will, we believe that it will have an impact on us being able to fill those vacancies and certainly the condition of the buildings before we look at some more structural pieces. So I just wanted to add that as well. >> Thank you. Um I
067just have a concern about um one of the items that was stated that it was going to address and that's the RA staffing. To my understanding that position or that that whole um not that necessarily the position but the filing of the application it ends 1227. And so why would we uh spend bond money on that when we can have that actually be allocated to someone else and then maybe try to work with um different nonprofits to help with that uh work instead of putting funds allocated to that? >> Absolutely. A fantastic question. Um what we believe as a team is that the amount of calls and the amount of time that our office professionals are are being utilize to look for um yearbooks and and all of that. It it is it has be
068become it's continued to be burdensome. Um you are absolutely correct that I believe at um December of 2027 is when that particular uh all things have to be in and that I believe that the application is like 27 pages or something like that. And so we would be able to free up our office professionals to do the work that they're doing but we would also then sunset out that position if that is the board's prerogative. Additionally, um, with the number of RECA town hall meetings that I've been a part of in this particular community, um, I do believe that this is something that based off of those those questions, those comments, what can the school do to assist? We do believe that it could be helpful. But you are absolutely correct. It would sunset that
069position if in fact we are successful and if it is the board's prerogative. Um we would sunset that position out shortly after the 2027 deadline. >> All right. Thank you. Um and then my other question is how do we know that um that amount that we are asking for is enough? like um I mean I guess for me it would have been good to see like a breakdown in regards to how much is going to be allocated to what. >> Yeah, great question. I think we try to balance and I'll ask um Mr. Chance as well um and we'll be following up um with some more information, but I think it's a and but and I think it's a dual compete component where when we look at our spendings and all of that, we would
070love for it to be 20 $30 million. frankly that we just noticed something that our community won't support. And so what is the sweet spot between needs, wants, and still looking at where we are, that is something that is reasonable for our community. And so that number, which again, um Rick Nobles presented tonight, given his experience in all other districts just recently, they um were the um the organization that supported with um Rockwood and in their failed attempt. And so learning from both successes and not so much. That is why he was saying going underneath the $200 mark would be successful. Um we have some additional data from Stiflu that essentially says since 201 um 14 through St. Louis County both successes as well as nonsuccessful tax levy campaigns. Those that were 53 cent and
071above was the failure rate on average. Again this is on average. and those that are 49 cent and below were the success rates. And so we took a lot of data, we took a lot of um just having conversations with the leadership team, pushing back, looking at historical pieces, looking at a lot of things here in the Ferguson Florison School District. One thing is for certain, um going out every 10 or 11 years. Um you know, that's something that we have to look at, but we're also in a part of a restructuring so that we are not asking the community for more than what we actually need. So, if we need to continue and go out or consider going out every five or six years, that decision will need to be made. However, for right
072now, what we're asking our community for is something that we believe is both reasonable based off the data. Um, we don't take it for granted, folks getting out and vote and also um leveraging their capital to support our schools, but also putting us in a situation where our students are not at a disadvantage because they're in the Ferguson Florison School District. >> Thank you. >> I do have one question though. We we mentioned um non-certified staff, but or certified staff as well. How are we going to try to leverage that? Are we trying to do that another bond or it's all-encompassing? Again, great question. Um when we look at multiple positions, frankly, we have a ton of positions that are relatively underpaid. And when I say underpaid, we look at the seven or eight districts
073that are regionally close. We look at size. We look at all of that. And for most of those classifications, we are the eighth. We are the lowest paid. And so when we see our staffing go out to other school systems, um we stated custodial, we stated bus drivers, etc., but that also includes certified staff. It does not include administrators. It includes certified staff. It includes non-certified staff. And so we look at a lot of data points to see which positions or position is most underpaid. and then we will try to build from there. We won't capture it in one year. Typically, this is a phased approach. So, you try to look at three to five years where you can catch up and try to get middle of the pack. But yes, Mr. Bailey, um this
074will look at all staff, including administrators just I'm sorry, including certified, but not administrators. This will not impact administrator salaries. >> Thank you. I think to uh to Dr. Graves point, I think it's just good if visually everybody just gets a breakdown so we understand fully um what what everything is encompassing. Thank you so much. >> Any other questions? >> If not, roll call vote. >> Dr. Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Manserie, >> yes. >> Dr. Graves, >> yes. >> Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Secretary votes yes. Dr. Thurman, >> yes. >> Mr. Tyson. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you. >> Chief. >> At this time, we're going to ask for uh Charlie Moore, chief of staff, to present policy updates. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. Good evening, board members, Dr. Fields, and members
075of our community. Tonight, I'm presenting two sets of policies for first reading. The first set is legislatively driven based off of recent MSBA Missouri school board association updates and the second set is recommended by um administration. So to start with the first is policy I IA instructional materials as instructional materials increasingly include internet connected educational technology. This update reinforces the district's responsibility to protect students privacy and to ensure our ability to effectively deploy and maintain these products are consistent with existing privacy and data governance policies. The second of which is policy IA instructional media centers and school libraries. MSBA updated this policy to align with MEP 6 and added references to procedure KB um administrative procedure one which outlines the formal process for addressing unresolved public concerns regarding instructional media and library materials. This update
076will improve clarity and consistency across the district. The final one is policy IC regulation 1 instructional media centers and school libraries. MSBA is recommending that we resend this regulation at it as its content is now either outdated or addressed in elsewhere in policy. The second set is administratively led. It's only one and that's policy JCA to the eligibility to enroll in the district. This proposed change clarifies the superintendent uh design's authority in very limited circumstances to wave residency requirements for certain non-resident 12th grade students when continued enrollment is determined to be in the students best educational interest and consistent with law. This applies only when the student has already attended Ferguson Florison School District in grades 9 through 12. the student did not enroll in another district or school and the student has demonstrated the
077ability to support and support needed to meet graduation requirements. Um within your board packet we have included those um examples of when in a limited circumstance we would allow this to happen. Um these items are presented tonight for first reading and I will return next month um for second reading and potential approval um pending any questions. Um, these are items for our street. Any questions? Thank you. Moving right along. Uh, Madame President, did you have any questions? I'm sorry. Okay, great. Awesome. All right. Is there any new business from the board? All right. So it's time to adjourn. If there's no further business >> meeting is a journ >> call for the vote. >> Dr. Graves, >> yes. >> Dr. Martin, >> yes. >> Miss Manserie, >> yes. >> Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Secretary
078votes yes. Dr. Thurman, >> yes. >> Mr. Tyson, >> yes. and Miss Beaveno. >> Well, she can. Well, I guess she can. >> She busy. >> Okay. Well, I guess that's the end of the vote. >> All right. So I get to do