Board of Education Meeting - September 10, 2025

001This year in the Ferguson Florison School District, our students have been on fire, achieving, excelling, and making us all proud. From classrooms to competitions, our scholars are showing the world what they're made of. Tradesbound students are gearing up for success, stepping into skilled careers that keep our world moving. Our spelling be champions have spelled their way from regionals to state finals. DECA and FBA competitors are proving they have what it takes to be in the world of business and leadership. Our wrestlers, they didn't just show up, they made it to the state championships. But it's not about medals and trophies. It's about the 7,400 students with no referrals, showing respect, responsibility, and resilience. It's about celebrating attendance because showing up is the first step to success. It's about students falling in love with reading, unlocking

002new worlds with every page. And when disaster struck with Hurricane Helen, our students stepped up. And oh, did we mention our artists are getting their work into museums and being celebrated on the city stages? And through programs like Trio Upwardbound, our students are looking ahead, focusing on the future and chasing their dreams. This is the Ferguson Florison School District and this is what success looks like. And we have so much more to go. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] This year in the Ferguson Florison School District, our students have been on fire, achieving, excelling, and making us all proud. From classrooms to competitions, our scholars are showing

003the world what they're made of. Tradesbound students are gearing up for success, stepping into skilled careers that keep our world moving. Our spelling be champions have spelled their way from regionals to state finals. DECA and FBLA competitors are proving they have what it takes to be in the world of business and leadership. Our wrestlers, they didn't just show up, they made it to the state championships. But it's not about medals and trophies. It's about the 7,400 students with no referrals, showing respect, responsibility, and resilience. It's about celebrating attendance because showing up is the first step to success. It's about students falling in love with reading, unlocking new worlds with every page. And when disaster struck with Hurricane Kel, our students stepped up. And oh, did we mention our artists are getting their work into museums

004and being celebrated on city stages? And through programs like Trio Upwardbound, our students are looking ahead, focusing on the future and chasing their dreams. This is the Ferguson Florison School District. And this is what success looks like. And we have so much more to go. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] indivisible with liberty and justice for all. I'm sorry. want to remind our board of our norms and under the provisions of the public meetings law of the state of Missouri, the board must adopt a roll call vote, an agenda that includes the time, date, place, and tentative agenda for the meeting. A copy of the notice for this meeting was posted on Tuesday, September 9th, 2025 at

005the administration center located at 8855 Dun Road, Hazlewood, Missouri, as well as Berkeley Ferguson and the Florescent City Halls and the Florescent Valley County Library, the Ferguson Municipal Library online and sent to local newspapers. May I have a recommendation to adopt the agenda as posted? Yes. >> Manserie, >> yes. >> Martin, >> yes. >> Secretary Bose, yes. Tyson, >> yes. >> Madame President, >> yes. And I want to say before we move forward, uh, Dr. Graves is out today. She is at a conference. Um, and so she will not be um in our meeting today. MSB update. Welcome to the September edition of the Missouri School Boards Association's Board Report. A new school year means a first stress test for your budget. Actual enrollment, transportation, miles, salaries, benefits, and fixed costs can shift fast. So,

006when do you amend? MSBA senior director of school finance Linda Quinley explains what to watch for in the first month of the new school year. >> This time of year it is really in my mind about a first good budget amendment to clean up what you thought might be the case in June because now we have some final pieces of data that help us do that. Those being we know what our final assessed valuation is. We know what our tax rates are in by the end of September. will know what our membership count is for the fall and we start getting some of those big pieces that then tell us what revenue is going to really look like for the year. >> Linda says that districts need to communicate budget issues with the community to

007make the process understandable. >> I think that's critically important. It's always time to tell your story. But right now sharing an understanding around local revenue I think is the biggest community message because we are seeing some high increases in assessed valuation that immediately makes people think their taxes are going way up. So helping your community understand that the Hancock amendment is there to protect them from that and how that impacts the net change in their property taxes is huge. I think also helping the community understand and pay attention to what might happen after the state legislature gets done with the work on the formula and then more importantly even just because of the variety of lines paying close attention to federal program dollars particularly in high need districts because the higher need districts get the

008larger amounts of federal dollars. >> Linda says there are many reasons that districts of every size should take part in long range financial planning. I am a huge fan and proponent of simple but clear long- range financial planning. And it's not something a lot of districts have done. Larger districts tend to do it, but I believe that every district, every size in Missouri needs to have a very simple, it doesn't have to be overly complicated, long-range financial planning model because our commitments are growing based on statute and a variety of things, but our revenues are flattening andor declining. And so long range financial planning is just going to set a board up to know in collaboration with leadership where and when you might hit some bumps in the road so that you can be proactive

009and plan for those ahead of time. >> Linda and her team will have a school finance for schoolboard members workshop during the MSBA annual conference as well as multiple concurrent sessions on finance. Speaking of annual conference, registration is still open for the 2025 MSBA annual conference in cooperation with the Missouri Association of School Administrators and the Missouri Association of School Business Officials to be held October 23rd through the 25th in Kansas City. The event will once again feature numerous breakout sessions and workshops, many presented by school leaders from districts throughout the state, the Education Expo, and another great lineup of general session speakers. Pre-conference sessions start on Wednesday the 22nd with the AI in education symposium. MSBA's director of digital initiatives, Mark Henderson, says that the event has something for everyone, regardless of your AI

010expertise or experience level. AI is transforming education right now. Are you prepared to lead the changes in your district? At this 1-day event, we'll explore how AI supports learning and how school leaders like you can lead with confidence. We'll kick off with Kim Carr, co-founder and executive director of Digital for Good and I Can Help, a nationally recognized leader in digital wellness and online safety education. Then you'll experience expert sessions led by practicing educators, technology professionals, legal experts, and student voices covering AI implementation in classrooms, cyber security, policy development, career readiness, and more. Thursday the 23rd is filled with workshops and events for new board members and board secretaries, plus timely sessions on finance, parliamentary procedure, and more. The fall delegate assembly will be held on the Friday of annual conference. The delegate assembly is

011the chance to have your voice heard on issues surrounding public education as we head toward the next legislative session. That's it for this month. Thanks for allowing us to have some time at your board meeting and we'll see you in October for the next MSBA board report. Next up, we will have public comments. The board allocates this portion of the meeting to allow stakeholders the opportunity to comment on both agenda items and non-aggenda items that start at the start of the schoolboard meeting. The board president will read aloud any comments that have been previously submitted. While all the comments will be included in the board materials this this evening and may be found under public comments, the board may limit the number of comments read aloud based on length of uh repetition. Prior to the

012public comment period, in-person participants are asked to fill out a comment card and their name with their name, address, phone number, email address, and topic to be addressed and will be allowed to up to three minutes to speak. Members of the audience who wish to speak to the board are requested To speak from the podium, identify themselves and in keeping with policy BDH1, public participation at board meetings and personnel law shall refrain from making negative comments that are personally identifiable. While the board will not directly respond to speakers during the public comment period, the board president may make clarifying remarks at the end of the comment se session to correct any misstatement of facts. Sorry. I think that's Oh, okay. Sorry about that. There's more. Well, wait. There's more. Dr. Fields will meet with the

013leadership team of the Ferguson Florison School District and will privately assign a member to respond to public comments. If a response has not been given in five business days, please email Dr. Fields directly. Okay. At this time, we'll start with career planning with Mr. Doug Jackson. Good to see you. rolling. >> So, with um with all of the new faces on the tables over there and uh um don't know who actually still works for the district that, you know, has been working with me on certain things. Over the next few meetings, I'm going to be talking about some topics that you guys have all heard from me, but these people have not. Um, the first is this district and myself failed my oldest son and I want to make sure that we don't do that

014in the future. He went to one of his counselors um his junior year and said that he had an interest in carpentry and he wanted to find out how to do that. And they did the equivalent of kind of patting him on the head and saying, "Okay, well, let's talk about college." Um, we all have a bias. We've all been to college. Um, we need to break through that bias. Many of those kids that are going to college, they might get a piece of paper and they might be working a job that's making 18 bucks an hour and now they have a $50,000 bill that they've got to pay. When in fact, maybe a trade or some other thing would be better for them. We have to be open to that and we have to

015have better relationships with companies around the area and we have to be able to break through our bias and show those kids what opportunities are really available to them. Um my son took a carpet he did it on his own. He went and took a carpentry class. Didn't tell me about any of this. Took a carpentry class. They didn't turn on a single machine the entire semester. They did what I call do nothings, which you guys all call do nows, because it was first period and the kids would kind of straggle in over the course of the of the hour. Um, but he never got anything meaningful with that interest that he had. I didn't find out about it until later. And I should have done more, but we all should have done more. We

016sent 135 kids to Northtech last year roughly. Um, and we're over represented with the districts that are served by North Tech. Um, and that's still not enough. Um, we send, you know, we career path kids to college for, you know, probably 2,000 kids, 3,000 kids a year to two to to college pathing and 136 we did to the trades. um with AI and all of this other stuff that's going to be eliminate eliminating jobs like legitimately eliminating jobs that those pieces of paper are meant to for those kids to do. No matter what computer does what, somebody is going to have to go and put that thing together. They're going to have to bang those nails. They're going to have to drive the screws. They're going to have to fix the heating and air conditioning.

017They're going to have to put in water heaters like I had to do last week. Um, we need to make sure that we're doing more for our kids when it comes to career pathing outside of college. Thank you. >> And thank you for constantly reminding us about the trades and how important that that is for us to support as well. Appreciate that. I'm going to do we have a couple of notes that came in through emails that came in. So, I'm going to read an email now from Diana Woodside. Hi there. Would it be possible to post a form on the school district website for those of us who are trying to complete our RECCA paperwork? Some of the various government sites have links right on their homepages to streamline the work. I'm sure you

018are getting uh inundated with requests for these necessary documents and I'm suggesting a form to complete and submit. Thank you from Diana Woodson and someone will be getting in touch with you, Miss Woodson. Also from Robert Hickman, I am writing about a concern with long-term subs. Unfortunately, our district has a lot of them. Pay is something that needs to be looked at. We are asking them to do everything inside and out of school that a normal teacher does, but yet they don't see any difference in pay when a sub covering for them than a sub covering for them when they are sick. There needs to be some sort of increase as they are in an assignment for an extended time. For instance, 90 days increase to $225 and then after 120 days, $250 with all

019of this um will begin retroactive today. This is how it used to be previously and this is how it should be now. Robert Hickman. Someone will be getting in touch with you, Mr. Hickman. Okay. Of Don Wilkins wants to talk about positive reinforcement and parent participation. While she's coming, I'll read our last uh write in. And this is from Tarelle Brainer. I want to know why middle school students were not issued identification badges this year. Also, how are uniforms considered a positive reinforcement when it's interfering with my child's attendance? Lastly, why was orchestrated, I think this orchestra, not offered to students as a curriculum course this year? My family and my students are very disappointed in this school year with students safety concerns and bias selected courses available and Miss Brainer someone will be getting

020in contact with you. Hi. >> Hi. >> Good evening everyone. I'm coming on both topics. First I want to start with the positive reinforcement. Positive re is it on? Can you hear me? Okay. Positive reinforcement. We hear a lot about what goes wrong in the schools, but can we put out more information about what goes right? The students don't know what they're doing if we don't tell them. They can't say, "Well, I tried." If they don't know what they even started to do, they do homework. They try to participate. But if they don't hear that positivity coming back saying, "Hey, you tried. You might have messed up, but you at least put forth the effort." That's why a lot of them don't want to come to school. That's why a lot of them don't like

021their teachers. That's why a lot of them pull back and they are great students. They have they can have straight A's, but they don't have that positive range for action to say, "Hey, you can do it. No matter what that grade might be this time, if you try again, you can do it." I have four students in the district. I have two that are always being told they do good. and the rest the other two looking like I did the same thing but I ain't hear nothing. We need to keep that positivity going because in a household where I have high schoolers, middle schooler and sixth grade and you hear all the differences, it put a toll on them amongst each other when literally my middle schooler can help her high school stu her high

022school brothers and sisters because she's in higher classes but she gets that positivity that she needs where they might the high schoolers might not. And with that, if you get the if we pull the parents, we the parents hold us responsible for our students in the school, you might get a better turnaround. Every school that I'm involved in, I get high I get the I get the positivity because I'm there. I'm showing my face. But if we as parents are not known that we can be hurried within the school, we don't know. I myself put my foot there. I put my face there and I will not stop. I have been called for not only my children but for children they adopt me as their mom and say hey my mama can't make it. Can

023you come up here for me? Hey can you call my mama cuz they not listening. Hey can you step in and bridge that gap cuz I don't care about talking for them. We we as adults can talk for ourselves. Sometimes we overlook what they have to say but they are our future. If we don't uphold them and push them to where they need to go now as a district and bring them together it'll never happen. push us the parents to push our children. If you all get us involved, we can make it happen. But we are not pulled in. If I didn't step in here myself, I would not be here cuz I wouldn't know anything. We need to post more about what the parents can do. Y'all say we a family, we're a district,

024we community right now with schools against homes because homes don't know what the school is doing unless they're in trouble. Then y'all call us 50 times saying, "Hey, they did something wrong." just think about what we're doing. Let's be positive and not just show our bad side. Let's show our good side as well. >> Thank you. >> And thank you for your advocacy and thank you for being that parent that shows up. Next we have this is Bobby Harkls and it's good concerns. Did I did I write read? Okay. Good evening. First I want to say thank you. I want to say thank you for bringing Dr. Fields into our district alone. Wait, let me start over. I am a district volunteer and I've worked in the past. You can't hear me? Okay. I have

025been a district volunteer and I've also work here and I've seen him at least 10 times out of the past two months. Whereas in the past, superintendent didn't make that. Secondly, our principal that you hired, Miss Higgins, she came to our school full blast and ready to work, bringing a light to our building because it was dull and everyone can see that the parents know who she is because she's out forefront in the morning when the students come in as well as when they're leaving in the evening. Thirdly, Mr. for real. We want to say thank you to him as well because when we called him because we had issues this summer, within two weeks the issue was resolved. And I want to say thank you for that because with that when it was time

026for old week with our teachers, they were able to come into the building and do what they needed to do in order to get ready for our scholars. And lastly, I want Nope. Nope. Nope. I got another one. We want to say thank you to officer Porter because with officer Ree and officer Nolan presence, it has been been felt during dismissal as well as at the beginning and you hear it from the parents as well as the bus transportation because it's a flow and the parents see okay, we can't do what we have done in the past. And also thanks to Dr. P. Walker cuz she still pops in and out to see what's going on within our building. So thank you for that. And I left out one, Mr. Moore. He's also been in

027our building. Now, my concerns, admissions is first. Admissions is telling parents they're good once they leave the building. But they're not good because once they get to my building, they're asking me why can't their students start? They were told to leave and everything will be taken care of. Not. So we have been told to answer our phones. The schools can answer their phones with one person because in the elementary building there is one person because the aids are working in classrooms. Admissions admissions do not answer their phones and I've been calling all day every day. Ms. I want to know what's going on with students in transition. I've had several parents guardians call stating that they have come up here. They have met with the social worker, the office person, office OP, office manager. You

028send the information to the principal and the counselor. We're the ones that deal with the parents. Why is it that we don't get the information that we have a student coming in so we can go ahead and try to push them through? I'm sorry, but I can't stop. >> I'm sorry, but you have to stop. >> I think it's bad because there's a lot of issues. >> I understand a lot of issues. And can you share them with us? Make sure you share them with us. Okay. >> That's bad. >> I I will >> I have to uphold our our policy, but I also want to hear from you. So even if you call me personally, >> I can't let you do that. We need to see your not. >> And up next is Debbie

029Weaver. Financial and employment retention and further financial stress. I don't >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay, great. All right. My name is Debbie Weaver and I've lived in the community for 31 years, raised two graduates here, have grandchildren in the schools, currently the office manager of operations and maintenance department, and have worked for the district for over 18 years. Our district faces serious financial challenges. Yet, many recent decisions only add the strain. Neighbor districts are poaching our staff with better pay and proper classifications. We've only lo we've already lost one HVAC technician and another with 20 to 25 years of experience is leaving in two weeks. These positions are difficult to replace and the current candidate pool is thin. Studies show that it costs far more to replace employees than to retain

030them with fair pay. And when they leave, we don't just lose people, we lose expertise. The result is long longer downtime, higher vendor costs, and the real risk of lost instructional days. The loss of skilled colleagues is disheartening. But the greater issue is both safety and financial risk. Our team saves the district significant amount of money by repairing and maintaining outdated systems inhouse. Systems often patched together and at times unsafe. In just the past few months, maintenance and operations saved the district over $60,000 through equipment installation and repairs that kept buildings running. Many contractors refuse to work on our systems this old. When s when the winter comes, and the inability to make in-house repairs could mean school closures, disrupts the students, the families, and our staff. Our staff continues to receive the incorrect classifications

031which puts them in a professional and a financial disadvantage. One example is a groundsman who is carrying the responsibilities of a lead without pay. A temporary pay adjustment was requested and denied with explanation. There was no current position for that despite the fact that we routinely approved for other departments. The refusal to recognize and support our existing staff is discouraging and risks further losses. Over the last 10 years, positions and roles without a department have been dissolved or left unfilled, resulting in an overworked and exhausted staff. Repairs to buildings have been delayed or ignored, leaving our buildings and grounds far below the standards that our students and community deserve. The illusion of saving money by delaying maintenance and not replacing staff has come to a head. And in the end, the approach will cost the

032district far more. We often hear the question, how can we retain teachers? While that matters, it cannot come at the expense of the staff who keep our schools running. Without skilled maintenance and custodial workers, there would be no heat, no air, no working toilets, no sinks, no safe classrooms. You wouldn't call a teacher to fix your air conditioner or repair a broken water water line. These are skilled trades that require training, dedication, and fair compensation just as much as teaching does. Our department is stretched thin. When sinks break, toilets clog, water mane burst, other districts call contractors. But our skilled staff handles these repairs in-house, saving our districts hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. On top of that, we work long hours moving classrooms, waxing floors, mowing grounds, trimming trees, changing filters every classroom,

033and so much more. The district is in precarious position. We cannot afford to lose more skilled employees, ignore the warning signs, or delay action until next year. By then, it will be too late and the district will face even deeper financial challenges, paying contractors to perform the same work our staff already manages, often with inadequate tools and equipment. >> Thank you. >> Are you Janelle? >> I am. >> Harris. Okay. I am. >> And she is going to speak on employee retention. >> Hello. Um, I'm just going to piggyback off what Miss Weaver said. Um, my name is Janelle Harris. I also work as an office professional in the operations and maintenance office. I've been a district employee for six years. I am also a proud graduate of Mccclure North uh Go Stars. Imagine what

034our employees could achieve and how much more they could save the district if they were given the proper resources. Instead, we risk paying contractors $120 an hour per person, plus emergency and holiday rates. While our own staff has repeatedly stepped up, sacrificing holidays as they did last Thanksgiving when plumbers repaired a broken water man to ensure schools were ready for students and staff on Monday. I want to acknowledge our new leadership team. They have inherited these long-standing challenges and we recognize the difficulty of stepping into these roles under such circumstances. We also understand they may feel their hands are tied until next school year or formal negotiations. But the reality is waiting another year is not an option or a solution. Our buildings and staff cannot hold out that long. And if we don't act

035now, the consequences financially, operationally, and for our students will be detrimental. If action is not taken, the financial impact will be enormous. If you think we are in a financial crisis now, just wait until we have to pay contractors to do the same job our staff is already doing. The cost of paying outside contractors to repair or replace our systems will far outweigh the cost of fairly compensating and retaining the skilled employees we already have. These are people who know our buildings, who fix problems quickly, and who save the district money every single day. It is unrealistic to expect excellent, highly skilled work while continuing to pay employees wages that don't reflect their expertise. At some point, we must face the truth. You cannot expect first class work while paying bargain basement wages. We urge

036this board to act with urgency and to support the 31 staff members who are holding this district together. These employees do not want to leave, but when they are forced to make a decision of taking care of their families or taking care of a district that does not value them or their expertise, they are being forced to leave. Instead of following up with we are looking into it, we are asking that you step in and take immediate action. The repercussions to not will be far greater than you will able be able to imagine financially. Thank you. >> Thank you. And we have next up, I don't have the topic, but Melissa Barnes, did you want to speak? >> Thank you. Okay, that concludes our public comment section section. So, we're going to go on to

037our student representative to see if he has anything to share with us tonight. We're happy to have you, Mr. Gase. >> Happy to be here. Good evening, everybody. >> All right. So, first off, um I want to thank the students who have reached out to me again. Um and we're just we're going to get right into it. So, I have some several concerns that have been coming up consistently. So the first one uh is just from seniors. They've expressed like a really strong interest and want to paint their parking spots. Um it's done at other school districts. So they just want to be able to have that same opportunity as well, be able to celebrate their final year in school. Um another concern is about student Chromebooks. So we've noticed that every time that we

038close our Chromebooks, they completely reset and we have to log back in. None of the tabs we have are saved. Um, and especially with the new schedules that we have where we only have 50 minute classes, having to log back into those Chromebooks takes about five minutes every time, they they don't really boot up that fast. So, um, it takes away from valuable time where that could be used to um for education. Um, beyond that, students have also shared concerns about the new schedule just period. switching away from block scheduling takes away one credit per year that they could earn. And on top of that, um it removes advisory. So some weeks we don't have advisory at all. Um on weeks where we don't have five days a week, which takes away from time that

039we would have to do homework, which is really important for people who are in clubs or athletics. Um, also we only have one power hour a week, which takes away support from students who need extra help for tests or tutoring. Um, a lot of students don't have the time or um, some of them don't have the resources to be able to stay after school and be able to meet up with those teachers. So, just having that power hour really, really helps. Another issue is the removal of the activity bus. So without it, a lot of students feel discouraged from joining clubs because expecting them to stay for 2 hours after school is just very unrealistic, especially since they are not able to stay on campus and they would have to wait outside for the bus.

040And finally, um there are concerns about student safety and athletics. So, I believe right now there is only one athletic trainer across the entire district for all the high schools, which poses a really big uh risk to student athletes, especially during like practices and games. Personally, I didn't even know we had an athletic trainer. I've never seen him present at our school. Um, so it was something that, you know, a lot of people came to me about and I wanted to share make sure, you know, all those issues are shared tonight and I really look forward to working together to see if there are solutions that um can help address them. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. I appreciate you bringing those issues to our attention and I'm sure uh Dr. fields will be

041with you and go through some of those issues and you all have some discussion about how we can remedy some some of these things. Thank you so much for sharing. FFNA [Music] Good evening right good evening board of education members superintendent Dr. Fields, FFNA members, Ferguson Forest family and community members. As I stand here this evening on the 16th day of school, the FFNA stands firm in our focus on one critical theme, consistency. For several years now, FFNA leadership has tirelessly advocated on behalf of our members for the implementation of robust systems. systems that are not only thoughtfully designed but also followed with unwavering fidelity. We know we have incredible, knowledgeable and skilled individuals in leadership roles. But far too often when those individuals leave, a carousel effect takes hold, leaving those who remain to

042deal with confusion, frustration, and a deep sense of discouragement. And here we are again back at the starting line. We've welcomed new leadership and with that comes hope. But the fundamental need remains unchanged. We still lack established consistent systems that are essential to the smooth functioning of our schools and the well-being of our educators and support staff. During the 2425 professional negotiation cycle, FFNA and the administration team agreed that comprehensive handbooks would be created for our invaluable ESP staff and that the ESP professional development day would be meaningful, planned, and executed. Yes, the ESP professional development day did occur. However, not all support staff were able to attend, largely due to the district's financial instability at the time. Now, support staff are reaching out to FFNA with serious concerns, a lack of clear systems, inconsistent

043application of procedures and policies, and ongoing confusion about whether their handbooks even exist, let alone what they say. Many ESPs have expressed fear. Fear of being written up or even terminated, not because of poor performance, but due to a lack of guidance and support within their departments. Let me be clear, this cycle must end. We cannot afford to restart at square one every year. We must commit tonight to breaking this pattern. Let's work together to build a solid foundation of consistency that empowers our staff, supports our students, and strengthens the entire Ferguson Flores and community. Let's create systems that not only survive leadership changes, but thrive through them. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. And at this time, we're going to have the superintendent's update. >> Thank you, Madam President. And good evening board

044of education community colleagues, Mr. Gates as well. I'm going to have An come up for our initial um portion of the superintendent update, which is the FF um school district celebrations and recognitions. But before she start, I do want to recognize a few partners that are here. Um we do have our SSD partnership agreement on the consent agenda today. So I do want to thank Dr. Lent for being here, Dr. Moore, as well as Dr. Mlin. As you know, it takes community partners for us to support all of our students and staff. So, thank you sincerely for being here. >> An good evening board, Dr. Fields and school community. Thank you for giving us a little bit of time to share celebrations and recognitions across the district. For our first recognition, we would like to

045recognize Mr. Tim Ryan. He has made it to the next round and the final round. So, um, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has announced that seven educators have advanced as finalists for the 2026 Missouri Teacher of the Year award. And on to the next round he goes. So, congratulations to Tim Ryan from Mccclure North, who is now a finalist running for Missouri Teacher of the Year. Next, we want to recognize and congratulate Taishan Rice, a sophomore at Mccclure High School on being selected to participate in the Fred SAI 2026 Leadership Academy, which is offered through special school district and the Special Education Foundation. This year-long program helps students develop leadership skills to make a positive impact in their schools and communities. Taon was one of 12 students selected and he will begin the

046year-long program next month. And lastly, we have exciting news. US News and World Report. I'm sorry. I'm I'm trying to move. I'm sorry about that. Congratulations to Taishan. We're really proud of him. Next are is the exciting news. Um, US News and World Report has uh listed Steam Academy at Mccclure South Berkeley High School as one of the best schools in America. They have been ranked among the top high schools in Missouri and the nation. And Steam High has ranked number six out of 725 high schools in Missouri, placing it in the top 1% of high schools in the state. And the high school finished in the top 5% of high schools nationally. So, we just want to give a warm round for all three of our recognitions. We've got amazing things happening in our

047district and we love the opportunity to be able to share. >> Thank you so much. We have one um recognition um remaining as I have um Dr. Imhof come up to the podium for student enrollment and registration update. Um speaking of partnerships, um as you know, we do have the consent agenda for our SSD partnership and it's kind of a partnership, we have Miss Nelson here who is one of our um um staff members who we appreciate are being here, but she's also a board member for a special school district. And so, thank you so much for your support as well as your work. I'll turn it over to Dr. Imhof. >> Good evening, board, Madame President, uh, community. I just want to say, uh, thank you again for allowing me to give an update

048in regards to our enrollment. We've come a long way from where we started in, uh, July and to where we're at today. So, uh, with that, I want to definitely give a special recognition to all of our office professionals, not only in, um, high school, secondary, elementary, middle school, it was all hands- on deck, admissions too as well. And so, uh, with that collective support, uh, we were able to, to make sure that we were we're running about 89%, uh, enrollment right now. And so, um, also I wanted to kind of say the the, um, the staff have worked round the clock after our last, uh, August 13th. Uh, fortunately, money man over there, um, Mr. uh, Chance was able to uh, provide us with uh, funds that we could do our um, weekends, we

049could do extra hours. So his whole finance uh department to team uh reviewed the budget so that we were able to provide um afterhour services and on the weekends too as well. So thank you um Mr. Chance and your team. In addition to that, the admissions team. Uh I want to recognize the executive directors uh for secondary and elementary working with their principles because uh through the principles and the office professionals, they were all um uh willing and able to uh assist making sure that we all u got our students into the classrooms. and an you know for that constant communication with all of our um uh community members and it was uh it was daily uh emails that were going out, phone calls that were going out. So uh thank you for for everyone

050and thank you for the community for for uh getting your registrations in. So if you if you take a look at the the grid, you'll see that end of year 2425, we ended with 86% that were completed applications, 6% werewaiting final approval and 8% that was not started. When we came aboard on on in July, you could see where we only had 18% completed, 62% that haven't even wasn't even started. it started to switch in August where it went to 64 um where it was completed and then 20% where it wasn't started. If you look at as of today at 5:00 you'll see 88% um completed applications, 4% awaiting final approval and 8% have not uh started the applications. Now that's all getting cleaned up as of right now. Some of those are dupes. Some

051of those are are um you know uh will be uh removed from our our list as as we're preparing our our final data for DESIE. And so if you if you take a look at the numbers, you can see the actual numbers uh where at the end of the year they had approximately 9,083 students that um submitted with approved applications. And then you go to where today we're running at 88% with approximately 80 8212. So there you can see the numbers have dropped uh from our from our enrollment. Uh but they're um as those have been running every single day. We've been uh really focused on where we're at with student enrollment. you can see the the historical data that uh we've kind of been presenting throughout the um several different board meetings. So, we

052can kind of see what has been taking place from 2020 to 2021 all the way through what the projected amount is. Uh currently, we're running about 8,200. Uh you'll you'll see some influx of uh foster care uh transferring in. uh that may go up, you know, a couple hundred over the over the next couple months or month that as they come in. Next thing we're going to do uh after all of this, we're we're wrapping up our cleaning up all of our data and we're doing the getting ready for our Moses report that we have to submit to DESIE, which is going to be uh right around um uh September 24th. and and so all the the buildings and our admissions office are are withdrawing any anyone that has not completed has not attended uh

053at school at all as of as of this year. Then the next phase is we'll we'll go into that postaction review. That's where we're going to solicit feedback. we got some earlier and um I welcome you to be part of that team so we can make sure that we we get everything um cleared and clean and and we want to make sure that we get it right. And so um yes, there was some challenges uh but I do want to say and commend everybody that was all hands on deck uh to make sure that that we were able to get through it. We also want to um we're going to evaluate the processes, procedures, discuss ongoing uh district and building level communication. We're uh going to outline I identify areas in need and then immediately

054once that action review is complete uh towards the uh middle to end of October, we we're planning for the 26 27 school year. So, thank you. Any questions? board. Do you have any questions for Dr. Imhoff? >> Yeah. >> I actually didn't have a question. I just wanted to thank you for your hard work. Um I know it's it's uh can be difficult entering a new school community and trying to get your bearings. So, I'm just glad to see that the numbers have increased and that you and your team are making some progress. >> Thank you. >> Uh thank you for all the work. I do have just two quick questions. one were you able to get the project the actual enrollment numbers for as of uh today or sometime last week in the presentation?

055>> Uh yeah, the the the ones that are um >> no like by K12 so we could see like by grade level so we could see if there's like where our gaps are existing. Well, one of the things that we kind of actually during our executive leadership meeting, uh, one of the things that we're looking at doing is cleaning up all of those, uh, that withdrawals because, uh, you know, that was the withdrawal date started on Monday and we want to clean that so that way we know the number of of students that are actually in seats and that's uh, where the goal is. on Friday as a team we're we're meeting to kind of run through so that way we can see the staffing along with the the students that are the number of

056students in each building along with number of students with um you know the case load for teachers. >> Dr. Martin, if I may, that's going to be included in next week's um superintendent weekly update um because I'm aware of the data cleanup um from Dr. Imhof and many of our other departments working together for that data cleanup. but the board can expect it during next week's um superintendent update. >> Thank you. And then one other just quick question. I know it's come up in other districts. I'm just curious how our process looks for withdraw. Are these for students who don't have record requests for anything else that we're withdrawing? Who's just not shown up? We don't know where they're going to other schools or anything like that. >> Yeah. So there there's several components uh

057to it and I'm sure a lot of other districts are probably going to. Uh if you looked at the number, you'll see that 9,000 were rolled over when in actuality at the beginning of the year we we started with, you know, 8,000 something. So, um some of it could be uh they've just never been cleaned off the books. Some of them could be the um uh you know, when you when you look at majority of them, we don't have they just haven't shown up. and and so uh some of them have transferred out. We got the transfer request. Uh some of them are Mckenti Vento that didn't qualify according to um you know their when they had their intake meetings. Some of them could be just uh uh duplicate ORRs, you know, and so there

058there's a lot of variables that go with that. Um, but I would say a lot of the ones that will be withdrawn, it's my anticipation as we're going through of it, a lot of them have been uh duplicates. Uh, a lot of them have been um tech uh, you know, errors that have have been going on that went from Tyler to Infinite Campus. Um, however, we'll we'll have a better assessment, you know, come towards the end of the week when we're we're looking at students to seats to to what we actually have. And then then we'll also have a better because when we report to uh Desi, they only get one Moses, you know, one Moses number. So when it goes to Desi, then then um we'll be able to identify who was dropped with

059those Moses numbers and do a comparison. >> Thank you. The only reason I ask is we were at a conference once and one of the sessions talked about just like it's one I know it seems strange but that's how you know child abduction and uh sex trafficking is a thing particularly in this region that sometimes when you drop students and we don't hotline that they maybe truly have been sex trafficked or other things disappear that if we're not hotlining if we don't know where they went. It's just another way to cover our basis to make sure that kids are safe of just something they put out there was from a conference somewhere uh that we had at one point of just safety for kids and making sure if we don't know where they are. Are

060they locked in a basement in someone's house and I'm not trying to say that happens but it does happen. Crazy things happen out there in the in the >> I appreciate that. We'll take a look at it. >> Are there any other question? >> So based how you doing? Um, so based on the numbers, uh, cuz I know, um, enrollment affects everything, right? So we projected 87 8778. We're not that far off. We only got 141 if you take the 4% plus the 88. So we're not that far off, but I'm just curious, and this is not necessarily your question, so I'm look that way. So how is this going to affect affect us um, budget wise? You know what I mean? Because again, when you budget for 8778, we're 141 short. So, I'm just

061kidding. >> I'll ask another question. I'm sorry. Then the other question, out of that 80% that we're missing at the bottom um that haven't started, do you think we might pull 141 up from that >> uh >> to hit our projection? I'm just curious. >> Yeah, there's a possibility the um some could be just coming in right now. Uh but the the thinking is that, you know, they've had, you know, several months to get their their paperwork in. OLR. They could be uh transferred out. They they could be in other school districts that they never informed us. Um you know, there's a a variety of different options. They could have gone to virtual and didn't necessarily have to tell us. Um >> but we're pretty sure I mean 8637 is where we're probably going to

062fall when you take the 88% plus the 4% that's >> Yeah. I I would say, you know, if if I'm looking at that, I'd say anywhere between 82 to 86 is probably um where we're going to and regardless throughout the year, we we might um you know, transfers in and those numbers will go up and down. >> Okay. Thank you. >> That was the part that I was going to add. The trend data suggests that over the last x number of years, we do see students that metriculate in throughout the school year. So, that's one piece and I just want to be, you know, careful until we do the data cleanup. It's it's going to be hard to really pinpoint the exact number, but we'll have that information and some updated numbers um next week's

063superintendent report. >> Good. >> No other questions. >> Okay. >> Thank you again, Dr. Hoff. And second, we have Dr. chambers just to give a very brief update with regards to um vacancies. Um you can expect this is the last update as we will begin to shift on other aspects of um staffing. So I'll turn it over to Dr. Chambers. >> Great. Thank you. Good evening, Board of Education, Superintendent Fields, community. Thank you for being here. Um, again, I'm Katie Chambers, the chief human resources officer for the district with a brief update on our staffing. Since the last time that I have been with you, you continue to see the same slide presented. Um, these were the board approved staff positions by type, administrators, certified, non-certified, title, and dispro staff um that were approved with

064the budget on the 25th of June 2025. Reason I continue to show this slide, these numbers are a base that I use to ensure that we do not exceed these staffing numbers that were approved by the district and thus connected to the finances of the district. Um top right corner you see the priority strategic priorities and anti-racist standards that this um slide presentation aligns to. Okay. So, um so this is our update as far as last week. Um I do have to say as as my colleagues will will laugh that um you know anytime you look at a staffing spreadsheet, you look at it today and in a minute it's going to be different. Uh we are constantly working on staffing. So what we're looking at right now as of last week, uh the blue

065bars you see the board allocated positions as of 625. The red bar you see as of last week filled positions um by um by position type. So administrators, certified staff, non-certified staff, entitled staff. You can see that we continue to remain under the um allocated position. I do want to um connect to my colleague who just shared we have been taking a very close look at our enrollment numbers and I've been working very closely with all three executive directors to monitor those enrollment numbers. So these positions that you see not filled many of which are currently held meaning we are not actively seeking because the numbers are not supporting active seeking. what we don't want to do is over staff and at the end of the day be in a position that we um are

066have more staff than we need to support children. So, we're watching those numbers closely. Um the meeting this week, we'll be taking a close look at those numbers and how that aligns with our staffing. So, our vacancy update. Um, so this is just a chart that will show um the vacancy from um the beginning of uh or the end of June through last week. So those bars you should see continue to go down um as we fill positions. I do want to note that um from August to September, August 2nd to September 2nd, while you may not see a um strong increase of hiring, I do want to note that that was a time that our focus was on ensuring that we had adults ready to go in every building to welcome children the first

067day of school. Um we had a successful school opening um with an adult greeting every child. um all of the um classrooms had um whether it was a vacant position and had a long-term sub that you heard about earlier or it had a certified teacher, we had classrooms filled with um adults that were ready to greet children. We've also been working uh understanding the long game of staffing for the district. As we think about how not only we recruit high high qualified staff for a district, we're also starting to think about what is the framework that we need to set to retain great staff. So in this last month, we've been doing a lot, our department has been doing a lot of collaboration with the professional development department to look at what is the mentorship

068look like in our district, what is the professional development support systems look like in our district. Because if we have early career teachers, we want to ensure that we are wrapping early career teachers with the support that they need to be excellent and to remain with our um students for the long long term. And then finally um uh focus also on the operational leaders. If you recall last time that I was with you, I shared that um we discovered that we were spending more of our focus on purchase services than hiring for operational food service, transportation, custodial specifically. So we our team has been the HR team has been working on providing hiring, training and support so that we can begin to transition those numbers to be in-house staff so we're not expending so much

069on our operational. So in the last four weeks of that gap that that is the work that's been going on um in that time. So then just to um close out uh with kind of what it looks like right now um which is where our long-term vision comes from currently our long-term substitutes. We have 48 of them across the district. Six of those now now are currently enrolled in certification programs. That number continues to grow as we continue to advertise. We have 16 retired permanent subs and again the district has committed to paying for professional development for our long-term substitute teachers. So um while the pay is the same they are um offered those professional development opportunities as paid opportunities throughout the school year. Temporary probationary licensed teachers, we currently have seven provisional um so

070that means they are in their first year teaching. They have a provisional license only to teach for our district's um Ferguson Florescent School District only. We support them with the um finalizing of a permanent teaching contract and they are supported by the university that has place them and that one is through UMS. And then um finally the partnerships that I talked about with really ensuring that we have a robust mentorship program established this year so that next year when we look at um long-term staffing of highly qualified certified teachers in our buildings um that we have already established these firm partnerships with um not only the apprenticeship program with teach St. Lewis is a program out of Washington University that our professional development have have connected with to to offer lowcost programming for new new

071um teachers and then teach for America also looking at um developing that mentorship. So how are we investing in teachers that you know have been here for 5 years 10 years they may not want to be on a track of administration they want to become continuous master teachers. So, how are we investing in those teachers so that they can become great uh mentors for our new teachers as we look at these programs? So, that is what I have for you today. Any questions? >> Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you. >> We'll start with Dr. >> I just have a quick question. >> Okay. Uh I was noticing on the Hi, how are you? >> I am good, thank you. So, just curious, um, because I know it's a nationwide teacher shortage. >> Um, with the

07248 subs that we have, >> when you consider in our neighbor districts to our size, are we average? Are we above average with the that amount of subs or I mean just or have you looked into that? I'm just curious. >> So, I can't say that I've looked at the number of subs. Uh, one thing that I do keep an eye on though is our subfill rate. And so our fill rate continues to be upper 80s, lower 90s at this um at this point. Uh we have one um of our HR generalists that does an amazing job building connections and making sure to get um those positions filled. Um and so that in a in regionally um that is a very strong fill rate for where we are. We have a lot of people who

073want to serve our children. Um, for the sake of clarity, can we go back to the um, bar graph that you had and um, Dr. Chambers, great job. I just want to make sure that the board and the public are aware. Can you talk a little bit about certified positions as opposed to non-certified positions and that count, if you go back a few more slides, the count, this one right here, and that some of our non-certified folks are actually filling in for some of those certified positions. Can you talk a little bit about that? >> So in regard so so these when when we look at this what we're looking at is approved positions in the budget not necessarily approved people. Um so when we look at setting a budget for the year what we

074look at what are the student needs. It goes back actually to Mr. Tyson's question. How how does the enrollment impact the numbers? Well, the enrollment impacts the budget through staffing. And so if we have a strong look at our enrollment and a firm foundation of how many children that we have and what courses do we need to offer to provide a really robust education, once we identify the needs, then we identify the number of staff that we need to support that really robust education. And so that way we then maybe do not need to budget for as many positions and the funds that we have budgeted could be utilized elsewhere. Is that does that speak to >> Absolutely. Thank you. Just wanted to make sure we were clear. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Thank you

075again, Dr. Chambers. And last, but certainly not least, before I turn it back over to Madame President, I just want to thank the board for your leadership and direction. As it states on the actual agenda in the last portion of the superintendent update, um the board has directed myself and the team to move forward to revisit the district restructuring from 2018. And so what all that entails, more information will be coming out as early as tonight. And we look forward to engaging with our student, staff, and school community, as well as the board of education. Thank you. >> Thank you. And I want to thank your team for all the work that they're putting in to um to to make this a really good district for all of our students and parents. So, thank you.

076Thank you for your for your hard work and attention to the details. The consent agenda. May I have a recommendation to approve the consent agenda as presented? And if there before I want to ask is there anything that needs to be pulled from the consent agenda. Okay. Now >> second. >> All in favor? >> I Okay. So, now we're going to go on to the annual secretary of the board. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I did say all in favor, didn't I? All in favor, right? I did do that. Okay. I just want to make sure. Um, annual secretary of the board report. Uh, Mr. Chance. And he's here already. >> Yeah. So, good evening, Ferguson Florescent School District board members, colleagues, and community. This evening I will be presenting the um annual secretary of the

077board's report. The district is required to submit the annual secretary of the board's report to the department of elementary and secondary education on or before August 15th of each year. This report serves to present detailed financial information of the district during past fiscal year which ended June 30th, 2025. The as the ASBR encompasses four main parts. Part one of the report contains a summary of the beginning and ending fund balances, revenues and expenditures for all district funds and any transfers made between those funds. Part two is a summary of all district revenue by object with the four funds. Part three presents the district's expenditures in three separate ways. The first is by function and fund. The second is by function and object. And lastly, expenses are classified by object and fund. Part four shows the

078long and short-term debt the district holds. If you look at the summary page of the ASBR, we'll note that the ending fund balance for the fiscal year 2025 is 10.43% and the ending fund balance amount is 15,755,5181. And that's between the two funds, the general and the teachers fund. So with that um I'll take any questions >> board. Are there any questions? >> Thank you so much for your work on this. I know it's a fluid document to some extent because this audit's not done and there's other things that could come up. Just one question. Is there an easy way for us to get like a here's what our budget was? We obviously know the fund balance is higher than what we originally projected for. I'm just curious what were the big buckets that we

079got additional revenue in or expenses decreased just to kind of get >> sure >> some idea without looking at all 40 or 33 pages. >> Right. Well, most of it was really in the expenditure side. Um it was due to hiring freeze. We didn't take on any new staff and in the prior year there was a lot of um staff resizing. Um also um on the expenditure side there was a a freeze in the month of March throughout the rest of the year for purchase services and supplies and that was significant savings. So that's where we got the majority of the difference between the budget and the actuals. I have one other question. I apologize if you can't answer today. Don't feel like you have to. I know our fund balance increased right to 10.43.

080Um, from your financial opinion, do you think that is money that we should then be expending for nonet-time expenses or our fund balance still needs to grow to be at a safe place? >> Act definitely the latter. Um, we to keep from having to take out a tax anticipation note every year. In my experience, the fund balances really need to be over 20%. Um, probably approaching 25. That way in the eb and flow of uh expend sorry eb and flow of revenue that comes in and come October or November, we won't be having to take out that loan. the uh amount of revenue that we have on hand will be able to cover us for our expenses until we reach u December and January where our local tax money starts to replenish our funds. So,

081>> thank you. I was hoping that was your answer going to be, but I just wanted to make sure everyone got to hear it. >> Are there any other questions or comments? >> I just want to thank u Mr. Chance and his team. Um, as we've been, as you can hear, there are many, um, competing priorities in the district and we are hearing all of them. Um, having said that, one of the first things we want to do to your point, Dr. Martin, is make sure we can stop the tan as soon as possible. As we do that, we also want to engage um, with the union and a few other things as we look at compensation and other things. But in order to do so, we have to first and foremost try to stop

082the tan as well as look at some other potential revenues. And so I'm glad you asked the question. I just want to double down on that. >> And Mr. Chance, you're up again for dispersements. >> Hopefully. There we go. So tonight I will present the dispersements for the month of July 2025. The mission of the Ferguson Florison School District is to provide high quality instruction 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. So payroll for the month of July was $2,936,732.82. Operational dispersements were $2,443,76.74 for a total expense of 5,379,8956. So this chart is a description of the four funds that are used in the budgetary

083process. So the total revenues for the month of July the the current actual was 88 8,627,35 out of a total budget of $151,848,827 and that represents 6% of the overall budget. Since this is very early in the fiscal year, these um actuals are going to be very small. So next, this graph shows the actual revenue to date compared to the budget. You'll see that the the red column is is very small compared to the gray column of the budget. Okay. So, the expenditures for the month of July, the total is 5,25,622. The budget is 157,284 157,284,55 with an available budget of 152 million $152,258,433 which represents 3.2% of the overall budget. in this graph um in the same way as the revenues uh represents what the current expenses are for the month of July. And

084this chart shows the um descriptions of the six object categories used during the budgetary process for the expenditures. First we have salaries. Total salaries for the month of July is $2,927,180 out of a budget of 90,547,278 with an available budget of 87,620,98 which is 3% of the budget. Total benefits it's uh the expense for the month of July $729,780 out of a budget of $31,569,04 with an available budget of $30,839,224. That is 2% of the overall budget. purchase services. To date, uh we've used $676,88 out of a budget of $17,849,430 with an available budget of 17,173,342, which is 4% of the overall budget. supplies. Total supplies expensed for the month of July is $356,285 out of a budget of $8,54,489 with an available budget of $8,148,24 and that is 4% of the overall budget for

085capital outlay. uh year-to- date expenses through July $335,839 out of a budget of 5,70,500 with an available budget of $4,734,661 and that is 7% of the overall budget. Long and short-term debt. Um to date we've spent $451 out of a budget of $3,743,354 with an available budget of 3,742,93 and essentially that's 0% of the budget, very small. To date, we have collected um current tax receipts in the amount of $932,190. That's compared to the prior year which w uh was collected only 453,8 [Music] uh 46. Um still early in the fiscal year as I mentioned before. So that will definitely change as the months go on. So that is it for the dispersements. >> Okay. Before we take questions, we do need to This is for board um approval. So, we do need to um

086have a motion to accept the dispersements as presented. >> So, move second. >> All in favor? >> I have a quick question. Sorry. >> Okay, go on. I'm sorry. >> Just want to um Sorry again. Me um looking at dispersements for leave. Just kind of curious. I believe and if you can't answer it again because I I did not send this ahead of time. The $700,000 that was spent on leave. >> Are we done >> benefits? >> What was that >> for the benefits? >> No, it's for uh I believe it's for the pay leave for like when people who retired last year left the district got paid out. >> Okay. >> I'm just curious, are we done paying every employee who left from last year? Are there still people that we have to pay?

087I believe the answer is yes, but I will need to double check and I can get that information to you tomorrow. >> No worries. And then the other one is is this I know we ran into this before the reconciled dispersements or is this unreconciled? >> Um as we as we move along um these these will be reconciled because we've had the six weeks um since the month end. >> So they are reconciled. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Okay. Any other questions or discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? >> Any oppose? >> Thank you. >> We appreciate your work. Mr. Moore with our policy updates. And this is for board information. >> Good evening board. uh Representative Gates, Dr. Fields, and members of our community. Tonight, I am presenting two separate sections. First is the

088first read for two policies that administration is recommending that the board consider these two policies. Administration is requesting that the board waves the first read for one and vote to approve the policy as written. The first policy is policy JHC, Student Health Services and Requirements. As the policy is currently written, only a registered nurse may perform a tube feeding. The challenge is we are extremely close to having more students who require tube feedings than we have registered nurses available. Under the Nurses Practice Act, registered nurses are permitted to delegate certain technical responsibilities to other trained medical personnel. With this in mind, administration is recommending that we remove the requirement that two feedings must be performed exclusively by registered nurses. I want to stress that this change will not reduce the quality of care that our

089students are receiving when it comes to tube feedings. any medical personnel, whether it's a licensed practical nurse, a CNA, or any other medical personnel, will ensure that they have the requisite training needed prior to um them participating in a tube feeding. This change will allow us to meet our students need more effectively given the limited the limited number of registered nurses that we have across the district. This language has been reviewed, vetted, and initiated by our nurse administrator, Dr. Stephanie Tate Patterson, our legal counsel, and the attorneys at MSBA. Additionally, attached to your board documents, you will see um the manual for school health programs from Desi. On page 77, it refers to technical skills and services to meet the healthcare needs of students in a school setting. You will see that there is language

090that supports our recommendation um to the board. Administration recommends that we wave the first read and that the board adopts the policy changes as written for policy JHC, student health services and requirements. I am standing by for board questions regarding this policy. >> Are you you're asking for us to approve this? >> Yes, ma'am. because it's just for board information only. Okay. So, >> yes, ma'am. It should say for board action. My apologies for that error. >> For JHC? >> Yes, ma'am. It's just for JHC. >> Okay. May I have a a recommendation? >> I move we wave the first reading. Adopt changes as written. >> May I have a second? >> I'll have a second. >> Discussion. Oh. >> Um, so is it okay? Go ahead. >> Um, Mr. Moore, I appreciate you sharing

091um that there will be training provided to anybody who would >> um be doing a tube feeding for a student. Um, but I wanted to ask if you could provide a little bit more information on who will be providing the training, just kind of how all of that is going to work. >> Yes, sir. I wish I had an answer for you. What I do know is whatever training happens, they will not receive approval until they have received the approval from Dr. Stephanie Tate Patterson. So, I can get an explanation from her tomorrow to say what exact training has happened. Um but it's in spite of the training which it would it would be some medical training they will still need us to prove to Dr. Tate Patterson that they can do the task before

092we would give any sign off or okay that they are providing any two feedings in the district. >> Okay. And um I think I probably know the answer to this but I think it's important to at least say it out loud with some of the personnel that would be doing this not actually being nurses. They're trained, of course, they receive the proper training to do it. Um, will will there be uh licensed nurses coming behind these people from time to time to check the quality of their work? Yes, ma'am. >> To make sure they're documenting properly, to make sure that they're using proper hygiene and all those things that are important when you're dealing with something like this. >> Yes, ma'am. I can say that with certainty. That is the work that Dr. Tate Patterson

093does right now. >> Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Um, so if a student who required tube feeding, if something were to go wrong with that and it would be performed by an unregistered nurse, would that be like a liability issue? >> That's a that's a really good question. Um, it would be the same standard liability as we currently have right now for a registered nurse. Um because according to the manual it states who are who can do this work and according to the manual as long as that person is trained by a registered nurse which our nursing administrator is Dr. Tate Patterson um we we would assume the same liability. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you for the question. >> Are there any other questions? If not, all in favor? Any opposed? >>

094Awesome. Thank you. Now, the second one is for board information. >> Please let the record show that we took this vote today. Um, okay. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. The second recommendation concerns uh policy BDDH one, public participation at board meetings. Um, board directors Miss Mansery and Mr. Bailey has worked with the board um to review public participation at board meetings and the policies outlined within red are the discussed adjustments to policy for the board's consideration. Um before discussion I will yield over to Miss Manserie and um Mr. Bailey. >> Is this considered reading? >> Yes, ma'am. First read. >> Okay. Just want to make sure that sir >> um what's missing out of here just so you are aware um is the 30 minute time period. So that should be added in there and

095it's missing out of this document for the public comment section and person to be limited to 30 minutes. If it needs to go over 30 minutes, that will be at the board's discretion if they will allow for that to go over the 30 minute time period. Thank you. I will make sure that is added. >> I have a a a question or comment. Uh something came up today in our public comments where people were sending in um a comment that needed to be read and it was more like a vendor >> Yes ma'am. trying to sell something. And I just wanted to note should we should we in our policy make sure that we people understand that that's not the time for people vendors to come forward and try to solicit um support from the

096district. Is there something that we might need to put in policy or put in this um update as we update the policy for public comments? >> President Thurman, I guess I have a question for that. I I thought uh board member Manser and uh Bailey were trying to do that by saying like they had to be a live within the boundaries of Ferg floor which would be one of the ways to I mean obviously you could have salespeople from other places but I think that was one of but I think we pulled we struck that from did we not I don't I don't see it in here so I'm just making sure I'm not missing >> yeah we've not we've not uh limited people who do not live in the district in the past but

097that's I think is different from a vendor. >> Yeah, I'm just saying that's just one way. Yeah, >> we can have a vendor who lives in the district. So, >> I'd be interested to know what legal says about that, too. >> Yes, that's so that's what I wanted I want to for us to check and see how we should cover that if that should um happen to us. Again, we had two two I think comments. And thank you to uh Dr. Dr. uh Fields and Mr. more for taking care of that before we >> we got here tonight. So, >> I I do agree with that. I think my my thing is when we always take something off, we need to make sure that we have a clear line of communication as far as Yes,

098sir. >> where vendor excuse me, I'm sorry. where vendors go to do I mean because we have a whole RFP process depending on the level of vendor but we need to make sure that they know that they have a place to go cuz I think essentially my assumption is that they probably doing that because they don't know where to really go and they think this is the appropriate place for this but it's really not because you got to kind of it's a whole the process that I wouldn't go I'm not going to go through but we all kind of understand the process of vetting and RFP in. >> Yes, sir. >> Dr. Morton is going to make sure that it's not over 10,000 or more or something. >> Yeah, we we still have the email,

099so we will follow up directly with the vendor on the appropriate process, but we but we did not read that email tonight publicly. >> I think we need to like just get legal's eyes on it on that piece because that's something I think we just kind of I mean, we're faced with. Um but I want to make sure that we like clear on from the legal aspect of it. >> Yes, sir. >> Is there anything else we need to cover? Okay. And again, that was for board information and first reading. >> Yes, ma'am. Uh we do have seven more policies. This is for second reading for board action. Um these these updated uh policies reflect recent legislative changes including House Bill 199, Senate Bill 63 and Senate Bill 68. Throughout the year as new law

100new laws take effect. Um the Missouri School Board Association will provide recommended updates for your consideration and adoption. Each policy draft includes a summary outlining the rationale for the proposed changes. Um pending any questions. Um um administration recommends that we adopt the policies as written. >> May I have a motion? >> Second >> discussion. >> It's me again. Uh just one thing I know as we get policy changes if there's policies I guess for the board to have a discussion at some point. What is the process we want to review policies in the future that are not from legal standing? If there's just something that comes up like do we want to have a process? I know when we did our policies last year, we talked about want to institute some review process. I just

101think I don't want to speak for Dr. Fields, but it might be helpful for him to know what is the board's desire. Is it just to bring it to the whole board for first reading? Is it to have a committee formed to review? What is the process for some of these that are non-legal requirement policies or updates? I would just like to add quickly that we are in the process of reviewing all of our policies um regularly and we do have a um a Google form in which we as the administrative the leadership team we are capturing those policies and we're not bringing them at every board meeting. Um in the instance with the uh nurses and student health services we thought that that was emergent so we had to bring it tonight. Um and

102then the other ones are reflected in legislative updates, but outside of that, we're just not bringing any policy change that we see fit um right now without going through some type of internal process. Um anyway, >> okay. And so just as a reminder even to our community, these final readings for these policies that are changing today is not because of something that we are asking. Correct. It's because this is something that is mandated. >> Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Can you would you mind please just reading through some of the things that so that people in the community can >> Yes, ma'am. So, one of them board member qualifications. >> Let's see this. >> Okay. All right. >> Yes, ma'am. They're able to see the broad outlines of what some of the changes are. If

103they're if you go into assembly, you will be able to see each policy um changes written. Okay. >> You want me to still go through or just >> No, no, that's good enough. I I just looked up at the board and saw that it's >> it's up here. I want to make sure everyone's can see it. Um at this time, I may have a motion. So, we're done. Oh, you want to say one thing about childcare? >> Just really quick. Um thank you again, Mr. Moore. Um many people may or may not know that um you were part of the arduous process of switching our board policies over and so we knew that it was going to continue to be a lot of work and monitoring. So I just want to thank you for um

104spearheading many of these policies. >> Yes sir. Thank you. I think we still need to take that vote though. >> Yeah. >> We still need to take the vote for these seven. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> And again we'd like to thank you too. Oh, I'm sorry. Any opposed? Okay. Uh, I would like to thank you because that was a huge ma undertaking and and it's ongoing. >> Yep. >> So, so thank you for you and your team. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you >> for the work and also the board because the board >> played a big part in going through each one of these policies. So, thank you to the board as well. >> Okay. Is there any new business? Hearing none. May I have a um um um a motion

105to adjurnn? >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? Any any opposed? >> Thank you so much. Thank you all for being here tonight and thank you community for listening in. We appreciate you.