001Excellent comprehensive educational program fully accredited by the state of Missouri. The Ferguson Florison School District operates seven pre kindergarten through 2 grade schools, six intermediate schools, two sixth grade centers, three middle schools, including a cutting edge steam middle school, which was ranked the number two school in Missouri this year, two A+ and NCASI accredited high schools, the Innovation High School, a big picture learning school, and Esteee High School focused on preparing students in fields including science, technology, and engineering. In August, US News and World Report named Steam Academy at Mccclure South Berkeley High School as one of the best high schools in America, placing the school in the top 12% of high schools in Missouri and in the top 35% of high schools nationally. As a district leading the charge in high school transformation, there
002are a lot of pathways to success. All of our high schools are project lead the way schools. We offer many programs and opportunities such as dual enrollment, dual credit, international balorate, AVID, and elevate St. Louis. Our Red Tail cadet program has also secured private pilots licenses for students before they even graduate. The number of FFSD students enrolled in advanced placement courses has also dramatically increased. The district has intentionally focused on college and career readiness and has increased the 4-year graduation rate to 93%. Besides the secondary school coursework, the district ensured opportunities for each population of students in an effort to support the goal of college readiness. In addition, the district includes a nationally recognized early education program, the award-winning Challenger Learning Center space education facility, and the Little Creek Nature Area, a 97 acre nature
003preserve that offers experiential learning opportunities for students in science, biology, ecology, and related areas of study. Through our partnership with varsity tutors, all students and teachers will have access to live tutors on demand. The district has also transformed alternative education with the restoration and wellness center. Recognizing that well-being is vital for academic success, the district prioritizes the health and social emotional well-being of its students and staff. The district has a partnership with Hazel Health that offers comprehensive health care and teleaotherapy services, ensuring that students have access to medical care and mental health support during the school day. Additionally, Ferglo Floor Care Health Clinic provides free health care services to district employees, demonstrating the district's commitment to the well-being of its faculty and staff. The board of education has made equity a priority in the Ferguson
004Florison School District. In 2018, the board adopted an equity resolution. And between 2020 and 2022, the district examined inequities and racism in policies and practices, culminating in the board's adoption of the Ferguson Florison School District's anti-racist standards for social justice and anti-racist schools. From early childhood education to advanced scientific exploration, from personalized learning opportunities to comprehensive healthcare services, the Ferguson Florison School District continues to lead the way in providing an exceptional educational experience that truly is providing equity and access for all. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hi, my name is Stephanie Go. I am the librarian at Colms Intermediate School and I'm also the district's library content leader. Um, what the school library means to me is a place where every student, no matter their background, will come in and feel loved and accepted for who they
005are. I want every student to see themselves in the books that are here and that they feel represented so they don't feel alone in the world. And I hope that's what the students feel here as well. They feel challenged. They feel loved and accepted for who they are. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] You've come too far to slow down now. Take a breath and lock in. Testing isn't fun, but success is. Show up. Own it. Prove what you can do. Hi. Uh, my name is Joe Hosey and I am the librarian at McCclor High School in the Ferguson Forest School District. It's hard to pinpoint just one interaction because I feel like I have 25 or 30 different interactions a day that are memorable or mean something. anything
006from being artistic and creative and drawing posters and uh people coming in and getting information about problems that they might be facing or just telling me that they're facing problems at home. Uh flooding, uh clothing, food, any number of different needs that our students have. Um, I think that coming to the library specifically and or talking to me or getting my attention is sometimes just something that the kids need to venture outside the classroom for. Um, they they see their teachers in a different light in the classroom and in the library. This is a place where they could go and find some form of comfort whether it's the chairs or the books or a friendly smiling face. And uh you know I think that's one thing that I really love about this place is our
007comfort factor and that everyone feels [Music] welcome. Heat. Heat. [Music] N. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] The Ferguson Florison School District located in suburban St. Louis serves more than 10,000 students from preschool through 12th grade with an excellent comprehensive educational program fully accredited by the state of Missouri. The Ferguson Florison School District operates seven pre kindergarten through 2 grade schools, six intermediate schools, two sixth grade centers, three middle schools, including a cutting edge steam middle school, which was ranked the number two school in Missouri this year, two A+ and NCACI accredited high schools, the Innovation High School, a big picture learning school, and Esteee High School focused on preparing students in fields including science, technology, and engineering. In August, US News and World Report named Steam
008Academy at Mccclure South Berkeley High School as one of the best high schools in America, placing the school in the top 12% of high schools in Missouri and in the top 35% of high schools nationally. As a district leading the charge in high school transformation, there are a lot of pathways to success. All of our high schools are project lead the way schools. We offer many programs and opportunities such as dual enrollment, dual credit, international balorate, AVID, and elevate St. Louis. Our red tail cadet program has also secured private pilots licenses for students before they even graduate. The number of FFSD students enrolled in advanced placement courses has also dramatically increased. The district has intentionally focused on college and career readiness and has increased the 4-year graduation rate to 93%. Besides the secondary school coursework,
009the district ensured opportunities for each population of students in an effort to support the goal of college readiness. In addition, the district includes a nationally recognized early education program, the award-winning Challenger Learning Center space education facility, and the Little Creek Nature Area, a 97 acre nature preserve that offers experiential learning opportunities for students in science, biology, ecology, and related areas of study. Through our partnership with varsity tutors, all students and teachers will have access to live tutors on demand. The district has also transformed alternative education with the restoration and wellness center. Recognizing that well-being is vital for academic success, the district prioritizes the health and social emotional well-being of its students and staff. The district has a partnership with Hazel Health that offers comprehensive health care and teleaotherapy services, ensuring that students have access to
010medical care and mental health support during the school day. Additionally, Ferglo Floor Care Health Clinic provides free health care services to district employees, demonstrating the district's commitment to the well-being of its faculty and staff. The board of education has made equity a priority in the Ferguson Florison School District. In 2018, the board adopted an equity resolution. And between 2020 and 2022, the district examined inequities and racism in policies and practices, culminating in the board's adoption of the Ferguson Florison School District's anti-racist standards for social justice and anti-racist schools. From early childhood education to advanced scientific exploration, from personalized learning opportunities to comprehensive healthcare services, the Ferguson Florison School District continues to lead the way in providing an exceptional educational experience that truly is providing equity and access for all. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hi, my name
011is Stephanie Go. I am the librarian at Colms Intermediate School and I'm also the district's library content leader. Um, what the school library means to me is a place where every student, no matter their background, will come in, feel loved and accepted for who they are. I want every student to see themselves in the books that are here and that they feel represented so they don't feel alone in the world. And I hope that's what the students feel here as well. They feel challenged. They feel loved and accepted for who they are. [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] You've come too far to slow down now. Take a breath and lock in. Testing isn't fun, but success is. Show up. Own it. Prove what you can do. Hi. Uh, my
012name is Joe Hosey and I am the librarian at McCclor High School in the Ferguson Forson School District. It's hard to pinpoint just one interaction because I feel like I have 25 or 30 different interactions a day that are memorable or mean something. anything from being artistic and creative and drawing posters and uh people coming in and getting information about problems that they might be facing or just telling me that they're facing problems at home. Uh flooding, uh clothing, food, any number of different needs that our students have. Um, I think that coming to the library specifically and or talking to me or getting my attention is sometimes just something that the kids need to venture outside the classroom for. Um, they they see their teachers in a different light in the classroom and in
013the library. This is a place where they could go and find some form of comfort whether it's the chairs or the books or a friendly smiling face. And uh you know I think that's one thing that I really love about this place is our comfort factor and that everyone feels [Music] welcome. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] a heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] The Ferguson Florison School District located in suburban St. Louis serves more than 10,000 students from preschool through 12th grade with an excellent comprehensive educational program. Fully accredited by the state of Missouri, the Ferguson Florison School District operates seven pre kindergarten through 2 grade schools, six intermediate schools, two sixth grade centers, three middle schools, including a cutting edge steam middle school, which was ranked the number two school in Missouri this year, two
014A+ and NCA SI accredited high schools, the Innovation High School, a Big Picture Learning School, and Esteem High School focused on preparing students in fields including science, technology, and engineering. In August, US News and World Report named Steam Academy at Mccclure South Berkeley High School as one of the best high schools in America, placing the school in the top 12% of high schools in Missouri and in the top 35% of high schools nationally. As a district leading the charge in high school transformation, there are a lot of pathways to success. All of our high schools are Project Lead the Way schools. We offer many programs and opportunities such as dual enrollment, dual credit, international balorate, AVID and elevate St. Louis. Our red tail cadet program has also secured private pilots licenses for students before they
015even graduate. The number of FFSD students enrolled in advanced placement courses has also dramatically increased. The district has intentionally focused on college and career readiness and has increased the 4-year graduation rate to 93%. Besides the secondary school coursework, the district ensured opportunities for each population of students in an effort to support the goal of college readiness. In addition, the district includes a nationally recognized early education program. Hop right on over. Okay, we're going to get started. want to remind the board of our norms. And I'm going to call this meeting to order. Let us stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. Hello everyone. Good to
016see you all. Under the provisions of the public meeting laws of the state of Missouri, the board must adopt a rec a roll call vote. An agenda that includes the time, the date, the place, tenative agenda for the meeting. A copy of the agenda for this meeting was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025 at the administration building located at 8855 Dun Road, Hazelwood, Missouri online and sent to local newspaper. May I have a recommendation to adopt the agenda as posted? So moved. Second. You get it? Mr. Bailey. Yes. Dr. Graves. Yes. Mrs. Mansery. Yes. Dr. Martin. Yes. Dr. Tyson. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Mr. Tyson, she was on a roll. Secretary votes yes. And Madame President, yes. Yes. Thank you. Okay, we're going to go on to the consent agenda. And I would like
017to pull one thing off of the consent agenda. Uh it and I want to see if anybody else needed to pull anything off of the consent agenda. I am pulling off the FFSD financials. So for uh let's let's just approve the uh the consent agenda with the correction. I have a recommendation. So moved. Yeah. A second. Okay. All right. Oh. Well, you want to do all in favor? Yes. All in favor? All All in favor? I Any opposed? Okay. So, when and and I just want to say to everyone, um I am the new president and I am learning this position all over again even though I've done it before, but uh just be patient with us. We may make some corrections up here. Uh, as a matter of fact, maybe we should uh introduce
018our new who our new um officers are. So, our vice president is Dr. Tyson. Don't put that in the record. Um, our secretary, uh, Dr. Sheila Pow Walker. Our assistant secretary, Dr. Jamal Bailey. our delegates, Dr. Courtney Graves and Dr. Jamal Billy again and we have a who's your alternate alternate Dr. Kevin and Martin and we have a new new new new board board um director if you want to introduce yourself. Vivian Manserie welcome. We are so happy to have you. Okay. Now well he's been here. These are new people. These are new these are new positions. But if you would like to introduce yourself. Yeah. Dr. Isaac Gate. Go ahead. I love it. I love it. Yes. explain it. Yes. Yes. We're happy to have all of the doctors here today. So, I need
019to make sure um Dr. Martin, when we pull from consent, do we go we pull we go directly to discuss the one that was pulled from consent. Is that correct? After we prove consent, yes. And we go to item five, which is anything that was pulled for discussion after a motion. Okay. So, we need to do a motion to accept consent. to approve. Uh, so I move that we approve FFSD financials. Oh, okay. I see what you're saying. I gotcha. Second. Okay. Discussion. Okay. Uh, we wanted to get a report from Dr. Singleton. So, where we are and what's going on with with our finances and our reconciliations and the testing. Good evening. Good evening. Um, so the uh financials or the reconciliations uh were uh uh submitted uh earlier this afternoon. I think uh
020Mrs. McWwells did upload them to the system. Um and as of uh we are caught up through March of 2025 where we should be at this time. Okay, that's where we were last time when you reported. Is that correct? No, no, we were so No, we were we are in the month of April. Um, and so obviously for the previous month, uh, the reconciliations uh have been completed. Uh, when I gave the dispersements report, we were at February. Uh, so two weeks ago, we stood and gave the dispersements report. We had reconciliations completed through the month of February. Um we asked for that additional uh the next meeting or we promised the board that those reconciliations would be done by the next meeting and so we've delivered on our promise Dr. Pette Thman. So the
021reconciliations are before you and so some of us have have not had an opportunity to to go through it. Is there anything that you need to point out for us that the community needs to hear? Oh no, not not as far as the reconciliations go. I mean, we're we're tying back to, you know, the actual the reconciliations kind of show um you know, what's at what's the bank what's in the bank uh versus uh what's in our books. Uh and so the reconciliation just ties the two together. So, at this point, uh you know, things are things are okay. Okay. And in the future, we would love for you to because we are have struggling with the budget to have a presentation to share with the community no matter what it is. If if we've
022gotten earned a nickel, we just need to make sure that the community hears about it. I know there's some other questions too that may have for Thank you uh for catching up uh for that and following the deadline. question is though on the upload it says bank reconciliations it only shows us through September 2024 so I'm just were the rest of them literally zero variance no so the if I and I think Jackie and I talked about that today um it's just a download problem we could send the Excel version which has so you should have a tab for every month from September to the current or through March and if you're not seeing that in the upload If it's if you're only seeing one month or it says September, then apparently something got missed
023between the download and the upload. Uh so there there is a file the file that I sent does contain all of the tabs from September of 24 through the current of March of 25. So we will it's only showing at two months. That's why I No. So that that's that's I think something happened with the download um or with the upload. So, um, Jackie does have the, uh, Excel file. Uh, Charlie has it as well. So, we'd be happy to get that to you as well. Then, but Dr. Thurman, if you're okay, can we not vote on this tonight then since we don't have the right? We cannot vote on this tonight. Thank you. So, uh, you want to take back your motion or Oh, sure. I withdraw my motion. Okay. And we will And
024you get it. So, um, we will wait until we get the correct Yes. Yes, ma'am. You you guys have the file, but I understand the the fact that you have not had a chance to review it. So, we'll we'll we'll make sure that uh that uh between by tomorrow morning, you guys will have the correct file. Okay. Any other questions? Any No, no other further questions for Dr. Singleton. All right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. You should send it to to you. Okay. Okay. So, the question uh from Dr. Tyson is um when if we have any questions if the board has any questions about the uh file that we get where do do we refer the questions to and it would be to Dr. P. Walker. Okay. And then I wanted um Miss Mcwell
025on the agenda for our next meeting. It's not show. Well, we we'll talk about that later because I don't know why it didn't translate or whatever, but uh we won't be labor the point. Did you find it? Are you finding it? Okay. We just want to make sure that everyone understands and knows what we're doing with our um with our budget and and so in the um we're wanting to be transparent with everyone and especially with our community. So, um at our next meeting, we will have an update. Thank you again, Dr. Singleton. Okay. Okay. Now we'll have number six which will be our MT SS update. Hi, good evening. All right. Any minute this is gonna show up there. There we go. Good evening. My name is Dr. Colette Higgins. I have the honor
026of presenting the MTSS annual update. Before I begin, I would like to share a video that was premiered at the National Conference for the Association of Positive Behavior Supports, where acting co-superintendent Brett Mitchell was recently invited to highlight our district's work in PBIS and MTSS. [Music] You can be a king or a queen. Step out of hatred, put your foot down, and walk tall. You could be a king or a queen. Set up your sights to the mountain top. Climb a little higher every day. All right. My favorite thing about my classroom is the LED lights and my nice teacher. I like about my teacher cuz she's awesome and fun. Miss Bryant is cool. My favorite thing about my classroom is all the cool stuff she has in there. I love her and she's beautiful
027and she's and I love her so much. She is the best teacher in the whole world. I like my class because my teacher is nice. Ryan is fine. Our teacher is the best teacher there can be. At the Ferguson Florison School District, relationships are the foundation of everything we do. From the classroom to the culture we build together. Our mission to provide high quality instruction with equity and compassion comes to life through the connections we nurture with every student every day. Because when relationships thrive, students believe anything is possible. And that belief fuels excellence, innovation, and transformation we see across our schools. Basically, the students and the staff came up with ways that they want to be treated. There's three components to it. uh students treating students in a certain way, students treating teachers in
028a certain way, and teachers treating students in a certain way. When it comes to behavior, we rely on the PBIS framework. If you have a PBIS school, but PBIS isn't actually happening in classrooms, then you don't really have a PBIS school. Um, my main focus for my classroom was creating an environment that my kids feel loved and safed in. I know my students are thriving when I see them building healthy relationships. Teachers and staff help by providing guidance and offering extra help needed when necessary and having and creating welcoming classes and making me push past my limits. Having a positive environment in the classroom is important for all of the kids because then they feel welcomed and loved every single day at school and are wanting to come to school. [Music] I know students are
029thriving when I see them able to work through their issues and come out with a level of confidence that they did not know that they had prior. Our district provides a social emotional curriculum for all of our students. And in advisory, we do like a lot of lessons that like help us during like our school day and our regular lives. RCL lessons. They help me learn some coping methods for when I'm stressed, when I have a lot of work, and help me find new ways to appreciate the things around me. When students feel seen, valued, and supported, they rise to meet high expectations, not just academically, but in how they show up for themselves and their community. Recognizing students for their positive behavior reinforces the culture of respect, responsibility, and resilience we work to build
030every day. It's not just about rewards. It's about affirming that their efforts matter and that they are an essential part of a thriving school environment. Um, I feel like it feels really good because knowing that you're doing good, it's going to obviously push you to like keep doing better and like we've had many things that's happened at our school. For like example, we've got popcorn for uniforms. Uh, we had freezies for uh grades and we had candy for no referrals. I like fries day. Yeah, me too. and club Friday. And she gives us treats if we do grill um packing up. Every single time we read, the best students that be good during the day will get to get a reading buddy to read with them to be recognized, meeting expectations. It's just like making
031sure people understand that like you get what's going on around you. And it's just making sure that everybody around you knows like what you what you have accomplished and what you can't. Advice I would give to other students is create goals, stay focused and meet those goals and strive to do your best no matter how hard something gets. Believe in your cause and state it plain. So whatever you want, state it plainly. I advise you guys to do something very special. I want you guys to write down who you guys want to be and what you guys see yourself being in the future and hold that accountable, right? Hold that to your heart. But while many students thrive within our framework, we know that there are still those who need more support. Some students carry
032challenges and they need patience, creativity, and intentional interventions to help them succeed. By identifying struggles early and responding with the right supports, we can catch behaviors before they escalate, ensuring every student has the opportunity to grow and succeed. Um, we utilize restorative practices in our school district so that we can get to the root of the problem and so that we can restore relationships and friendships within our staff as well as our students. I have a student that struggled with um their behaviors and they also struggled academically. Um with that student, we sat down and we created goals for her. We did check-ins, checkouts. Um we talked to other teachers and they're all on board to send her to me if she is struggling and having issues. She has made a complete turnaround. Although she
033has some struggles, she is doing much better. Um and she has goals that she is actively working towards. We have our social worker who was added this school year and she has her office in what we call our therapeutic classroom. And in that particular classroom, she's able to meet with students one on-one in small group sessions and check in with them throughout the week and just help them with understanding how to regulate their emotions throughout the day. Well, here we are a non-traditional school and the biggest piece that's not mentioned I think overall is that these students are not perfect and when students come here people tend to think that that's who they are. That's not who they are. Those are the behaviors that they exhibit. And once you deal with those behaviors and stop
034dealing with the child, things change. Say good, better, best. Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Never let it rest until your good is better. Until your good is better. And your better is best. Your better is best. All right. Thank you to Levi Matthews who produced that. All right, that should be it. I'll go ahead and get started. The Ferguson Florescent strategic plan includes six indicators directly tied to MTSS and culture and climate. MTSS priorities also align with community engagement and communications, which is an ongoing goal for the team. The MTSS framework encompasses academic, behavioral, and social emotional domains with layered tiers of support for students. All students across tier 1 access tier 1 universals. Some students do not respond to tier 1 and need more support in the form of targeted interventions. A
035few students will need individualized intensive support. We use care team protocols to problem solve and respond to intense needs. The MTSS district leadership team or DT drives MTSS work forward through data driven decisionmaking and goal setting. It is a representative body whose members collaborate across departments and schools to make key decisions. This chart depicts progress over three years in DT fidelity and effectiveness. Universal expectations and acknowledgement systems are the core of PBIS. Our universals are safe, persevere, responsible, cooperative, and kind. We know that clear expectations set the standard for how we do school to encourage positive behavior. We also recognize success. All schools have acknowledgement systems and celebrations. As a district, we recently acknowledged 7,411 students across all schools for being referral free for the entire year. That is that's right. That is 80% of
036our students were referral-free by spring break. I think the video does a great job of sharing our systems in MTSS. Those systems are based on intentional researchbased structures that are communicated and supported across stakeholders. I am going to focus on outcomes. We are required under MUP6 to administer and analyze the culture climate survey for students, staff and families each year. The submission to DESIE in the fall earns us four accreditation points. We report strengths and areas of opportunity to the state. I use three-year longitudinal data. Staff results indicate improvements in behavior and how students treat one another, both MTSS priorities. Perception of safety continues to improve across all three surveys. This is especially true at Mccor and Mccclure North where the district invested significant time and resources last year. There was an overall increase in
037staff survey results for the second year in a row. Moving forward in areas of opportunity, we'd like to focus on the student experience at school, better aligning students perceptions of our high expectations with how we acknowledge success. We want to see more students responding positively to I like school. And finally, we continue to recognize the need to engage families. All right, outcomes on referrals. When MTSS is well implemented, we should see a change in referral data. Over the last several years, we've monitored disruptive behaviors, fighting, and physical aggression. I've added here inciting and disturbance, which is the code most often used for a fight with multiple students. You see here districtwide, there's a three-year decrease in all of these incident types, with uh disruptive behaviors down 37%, fighting down 25%. Suspensions are also down, which
038should happen as discipline issues decrease. This chart depicts overall removals from school. So that's both ISS and OSS. There's a district decrease of 35% in total removals with the greatest decrease at the middle school level. More than 50% reduction in suspensions in our middle schools. Not shown here. ISS is down 44% and out of school suspensions are down nearly 30%. Restorative practices for when harm is done has also played a role as an alternative to suspension and as part of a re-entry to prevent future incidents. The district uses DESA social emotional universal screener to screen for risk. This year, we've achieved the goal of improving teacher participation for completing the screener with 90% of students screened. The percentage of students in tiers two and three have each decreased from a combined 20% down to 14%
039and students in the tier 1 range have increased. This is over three years. And I remember presenting this to you three years ago. And we were concerned with nearly 25% of our students in risk. And that number has decreased. Because MTSS comprises the three domains of academics and social, emotional, and behavioral wellness, we have academic data here for you. The Missouri State Legislator has mandated that districts identify students in need of a reading intervention and develop reading success plans. We use the Renaissance Star Universal Screeners. You see reading here. Results pictured here indicate interventions are in fact improving outcomes. Currently about 2700 students are supported with intervention plans in reading. Uh 843 of these are supported with UFly which is the intervention associated with our reading success plans. We see an increase in math performance
040as well. The percentage of students in tier 3 has decreased by a third and students in tier 1 has increased from 24% to 41%. Growth reports in reading and math indicate similar findings. This is a testament to the work of leaders in the instructional services department, building principles, ISLs, and teachers. All right. In the spirit of serving all students in all schools, MTSS objectives are directly aligned with improving outcomes for students with disabilities. Each year, SSD publishes a partner district report. In 2017, our district had the highest percentage of students identified for special education in the entire region at almost 18%. An immediate need was to serve more students with tiered interventions to be certain we were not overidentifying students in need of services. We were by implementing MTSS more effectively. It's led to a
041decrease in incidence rates from almost 18% down to below 15%. We've seen in the partner report that access to least restrictive environment increased 10 percentage points. There's a decrease in suspension ratios for students with disabilities. In St. Louis County, students with disabilities are suspended at twice the rate of gened students. In Ferglor, the ratio is 1.5 times and it continues to drop. In 2017, 67% of students with disabilities graduated in four years. The grad rate has increased to 91.5%. The grad rate for students with IEPs is the same as the grad rate for students with with general gened students, which erases a disparity. Nationally, black students are 40% more likely to be identified for special education than any other student group. In this district, there's no discrepancy for identification based on race. Finally, SSD notes
042in the report that our district has the fourth highest poverty rate and third highest mobility rate in the region. Many of the students we serve are vulnerable based on circumstances outside of their control. What we do makes a difference. In fact, the SSD R& team has talked about using our district as a case study in the areas I've just shared with you. Each year, the Missouri Center for Positive Behavior Supports recognizes schools throughout the state. This year, 10 of our schools submitted applications for awards. Uh we have some people here tonight. These schools are Bermuda, Commons Lane, Holman, Halls, Ferry, Lee, Hamilton, Robinwood, Johnson, Wabash, Wedgewood, Steam Middle School, and Steam High School. So, PK through 12 is represented. I commend school leaders and staff who worked on these applications. Several of them said they'd
043like to support colleagues throughout the district to apply next year. Our partners at the University of Missouri recommended that Ferguson Flores apply for the prestigious district level award. Only one winner in the state will be named. In many districts throughout the entire country, PBIS differs widely school by school. What sets us apart is our district-wide systems that allow all students to benefit from an equitable framework. Our application tells the story of progress and not mastery. We provided all the data you've seen here and more. The Missouri Center is concerned with two questions. Are you doing the right work? And is it effective? We are. It is. We have recently learned that we are under consideration as a model demonstration district from the National Center for PBIS where several of us will be presenting at the
044National Conference in the fall. In closing, MTSS is equity work. As we look to the future, we need to ensure that our foundation and tier 1 universals are firmly in place for all students, all schools. Currently, our school-based teams are using action plans to drive progress that will lead them into next year. Leaders utilize the data and communication feedback loop with culture climate data to develop goals for next year. We are expanding access to character strong curriculum across the district. We're growing in capacity in our restorative practices, strengthening parent and family engagement, and next year we need to prioritize advanced tier systems and the impact it has on students. I am honored to share MTSS successes and I want to acknowledge those who support and contribute to this work. This includes the MTSS district leadership
045team. We have several of these people here tonight. MTSS coach Tamara Johnson who supports secondary and the support services department. Uh Mr. Mitchell and Dr. Crawford, both serving as successive assistant superintendents of support services are strong proponents of this work. Um most of our work is funded through federal grants. So I'd like to thank Dr. P. Walker for ensuring proposals are tight and funding flows to benefit students. We also work closely with our SSD colleagues. As we all know, central office initiatives are doomed to failure without school leaders taking charge of implementation. I appreciate the dedication of building principles and assistant principles, everyday teachers, counselors, social workers, and support staff. Create safe, connected learning environments for all students, and intervene for those who need more. Finally, thank you so much to the board for supporting
046and investing in this work. I welcome your questions. First of all, let's celebrate you [Applause] guys. Very encouraging. Thank you so much for everyone who who took part in making those numbers increase in the right way. Um, we do have time for questions or we're going to take time for questions. Um, you have any? We'll start with um Dr. uh Pow Walker. All right. Hello, Dr. Higgins. Hello. Uh thank you for uh leading this really important work. It was good to hear uh such positive data. I had a few questions. Is it possible that we could go back to the outcomes referral data slide? Yep. Okay. Um one of the things that you referenced was a decrease over three years. Um when I look at disruptive behaviors, physical aggression and inciting a disturbance, I actually
047see an increase uh for 23 24 and then it drops uh in 2425. I know typically there's probably a reason why numbers might look like that and so I was curious to know if you could share why you think the numbers might have because it looks like the work started in 2625 and then some things went up and then some then they came down. Important thing is we're were down but I was just curious if you knew why the numbers might have gone up. I do that's a fair question. So we look at disruptive behaviors increased but you see that in the second year fighting decreased. What happens with fighting decreasing is that physical aggression might go up because physical aggression means you invited someone to a fight and they declined and so that's one
048incident instead of a fight which would be multiple. And so we did see an increase in disruptive behaviors in uh 23 24 and I would say that is a lot of the MTSS framework especially in the secondary schools being pushed and some students not immediately enjoying that environment and so it was increase in disruption and then that decreased and then you see it's almost cut in half um from last year disruptive behaviors. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And I wanted to also ask the the four areas that we have here in front of us. Are these our top four areas of concern? Is is are that is that how they were selected? They are uh more so in the secondary schools than in the elementary schools. We see some other indicators uh like classroom disruption
049in this in the elementary schools but really we've been tracking this since co because what happened in co is when kids came back to us they were more likely to engage in physical responses and less likely to engage in verbal altercations. And so this is something we've been tracking over these years for that reason. Okay, give me just a second. Um and then I think I have the same question about the data for um the next one. Yeah. And I guess it could be the same logic but for elementary again uh I guess and I do want to ask for the total removal number is this the number of kids or is this the number of days? It is kids ISS plus OSS and you're right you do see an increase um definitely at elementary
050in 22 I'm sorry 23 24 uh actually we have an increase in elementary from two years ago also of 14% and we have the substantial decrease in middle um and then a decrease in high so we are looking at that in our elementary schools and I'm also curious to know um is are the numbers representative ative um I think I know the answer to this but I just want to ask it this number for elementary for the total removals 1087 for 2223 does that number include the same kid multiple times that's right it is incidents of it could be the same student with more than one referral do you have any data on the number of suspension days that resulted from that. Does that make sense? Yes. So, what I can get you is um
051individual students with suspensions and number of days out. Right. Well, and I'm looking more so at a total. So, for example, we're talking about 1,087 incidents, but the,087 incidents might have resulted in, I don't know, 5,000 days out. Does that make sense? It sure does. Also, these are total removals for ISS and OSS. The percent. So, you put them together. Yes, because the state does. So, um the OSS is down 28%. We were we see more ISS at the elementary level, significantly less OSS, but I'm going to get you all of that. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. Do you Hi. Do you have any um statistics on or data for culture and climate for spring? I do and thank you for asking. Absolutely. We have preliminary data for the spring culture climate report hot
052off the presses from last week. And uh so I will acknowledge that uh staff perceptions of teaming and connectedness has taken a hit from things going on this spring. So, as expected, we see that elementary students are alarmingly consistent in their responses to every single question over the last multiple years, but excited to share that secondary students have increased overall across all of their questions and their percentage for I like school is increasing. And we didn't think that was moving, but it is in the right direction. Uh the staff results also have some really good news. One is that perceptions of safety continue to increase actually across staff, students and families, which is something we work hard on. Also, uh which is pure PBISMTSS. Staff perceptions of how students treat one another and student behavior
053continues to get better and better. Thank you for asking. No questions. I don't have any questions either. I have no questions. Okay. Can I ask a just a followup not related to you? Sure. Can we get the climate culture survey data at a future board meeting? Just an update of where we were reportwise. Of course, if that's okay with you, Dr. Thurman or others. Well, you just took my Oh, yeah. Sorry. I was asking you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Um, again, thank you for your presentation. All right. Thank you so much for having me. And this was for I do have a question though. One thing I want to like and this may not be doable. I want to get kind of parents perceptions of what they think as far as like
054the data points as far as them coming home and do they see some improvements at home and different things like that? Because I mean social emotional learning, you should see improvement in all facets of your life. And I think it would be interesting to kind of see some data points of the perceptions of how kids kind of react at home or are they using some of their skill sets with their siblings? Are they using some of their skill sets with the parents and all of that? If we can do that, I'm not sure if it's even feasible. The culture climate survey we use is not going to have those questions. Though when I do present again, you'll see what it is comprised of. We could do a different kind of survey for parents. One thing
055we notice is that parents get survey fatigue. I would also be interested to know if it's carrying over to home. All right, Dr. May I ask one more question um to kind of tag Mr. Bailey made me think of another question. So, there's a piece in here that talks about um I think it says something like per the surveys uh something about family engagement like that. That's an opportunity for growth, right? And so I was curious to know uh for the parent engagement, what are what where's that like what are people saying they want more of? They want parents engaged in what way? Is it around student behavior? What is what is the ask there? The challenge with the survey is the questions it's asking are do parents go to PTO meetings? Do parents volunteer
056at the schools? Sure. And that's not getting to the heart of parent engagement. Not at all. We know we can stand to improve in this area because I think something happened with restructuring and with CO where we need to build up our parent and community support. They support us 100%. But how we engage parents has to change in a new world. And and if we're continuing to look at engagement as PTO meetings, volunteering, that's that's not appropriate anymore. And the best way to engage parents is to ask parents, how do you want to be engaged? And that's a conversation that we just haven't had at the level that we need to have it. We need to increase our communication feedback loop with families. Um I'm going to know we're doing better when more parents are
057filling out surveys and realizing that what they say impacts what we do and we turn that back around to them. So there's work to be done. Sure. And I I think um the engagement that I'm thinking about is specifically for our kids who have some chronic behavioral concerns and wanting to do more work around um accountability uh for parents around supporting their kids with improving their behavior at school. So that's the that's why I kind of was curious to know like what what were teachers asking for when they were thinking about parental engagement? Was it was it around things like you should do your homework or we need you here at the school to volunteer or are teachers concerned about student behavior and the partnership that we have with parents around helping students do better
058at school? So that's what I was curious about. Yeah, I think we can ask those questions. I do think that as we expand our work in restorative practices, we can bring that to the community and give tools and skills in RP to to families to be able to align with what we're doing in schools. And I have one other thing and I don't know that we have time for you to answer it tonight, but whenever you come back, I'd really love to hear uh specifics around the work you're doing to grow our capacity around restorative practices here in the district. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? If not, thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate you all the work that's being done. Thanks. Up next, we have our junior baby bonds pilot and it's
059Mr. Johnson. Okay, just a reminder, the MTSS report was just for information only, so the board didn't have to take action on that. Hello. Good evening, Board of Education and Ferguson Flores and stakeholders. All learners will graduate believing that anything is possible and prepared to realize those possibilities. This exciting presentation focuses on the latter part of our district's shared vision. Prepared to realize those possibilities often irrespective of the path chosen those post those post-secondary possibilities are linked to financial hurdles. However, with the generous funding of the James S. McDonald Foundation. The Ferguson Florian School District is partnering with partnering with Mobility Capital Finance, known as Mochafi, in a pilot to reduce some of the economic barriers faced by our students. Specifically, eligible seventh grade students can receive an Edward Jones managed investment account of $5,000
060in baby binds. Joining us from Mochafi to further outline this journey toward closing the wealth gap for for Fergor students is Mr. Eddie Moonguy. Should be coming up in a minute. Okay. Okay. While we wait for the slide deck to pop up, I just wanted to say thank you to the Ferguson Florescent Board of Education for allowing me to speak today. Um, I also want to thank Mr. Johnson for the kind introduction. Um, and I also want to thank uh members of the community that are in attendance here in person as well as online. Uh, so I just wanted to say thank you. So, as uh, Mr. Johnson said, my name is Eddie Mongai. I am with Mochafi and um, we are really excited about this program that we are introducing in the St. Louis
061area. Um, I'll go a little bit into detail about what the program entails, uh, who we are going to be partnering with, um, in addition to Ferguson Florison School District, which other school districts were partnering with. Um, so I'm really excited to talk to you, um, about that. So, there we go. So, a little bit about Mochafi. Um, Mochafi may be an unknown entity to many of you. Uh we have a physical location in the New York area. However, I am the St. Louisbased employee in in in uh Mochafi. Um so our mission essentially is to provide financial tools to individuals that want to pursue their wealth building goals. That's in summation what we do. Um so we have some banking products that we do offer. Um, but that's not the focus of discussion today.
062But I just wanted to give you a brief introduction about who we are and what our mission is. And that's just our CEO and founder. His name is Wle Kokum. Um, and this is just a quote that he says, "Social justice without economic justice is like one hand clapping." So this is not the entire Mochafi team uh what you see here, but this is just the members of the team that are focusing on delivering this project that we're aiming to do here in St. Louis, this baby bonds project. Um so you have Stanley, Nisha, and Steve. Um and as I mentioned, I'm based here in St. Louis. Um so you'll see uh a lot of me during this uh roll out of this this uh program. So even though we are physically located in the
063New York area, um St. Louis is not a unique um area in terms of where we've served. Um so what I mean by that is we've we've had some history in terms of the projects that we've done in St. Louis. So we've done some engagements with the city of St. Louis. There's two key programs that I wanted to touch on such as the direct cash assistance program. Um that was something that happened in 2022. Essentially um 10,000 city of St. Louis residents that were negatively impacted by CO were receiving um $500 onetime payments and we were the dispersement mechanism for that. So we had um our cards that were used to distribute those $500. Um, another program which is actually still going on right now is the St. Louis guaranteed basic income program. Similar concept
064as a direct cash assistance program. However, um, this was a smaller size. So about 540 um, participants were elected to or selected to participate in this program. Um, and they were receiving 540 or $500 for 18 months. And also we've done a lot of community banking events as well. Um so basically we would be stationed in various parts of the St. Louis area. So um these events we would invite keynote speakers from the financial services industry to talk about there would be various themes. So one theme would be around small business ownership. how to pursue um you know starting a small business. Another topic a keynote speaker would talk about is real estate investing things like that. So we would host these community events to one encourage people to sign up for our banking platform
065but not only that uh we would bring a host of um sort of wraparound services if you will. Um so for individuals that were interested in purchasing a home we would have a mortgage lender present. for individuals that were um you know interested in starting a small business, we'll have some folks from US Bank from the small business department be present um just for people to have access to different resources all in one room. So the program I'm going to talk about in depth today is the baby bonds program and we're calling it on our block St. Louis investment program and as Mr. Johnson said it's a baby bonds program. So for many of you or for some of you who may not be familiar with this concept, baby bonds is seen as a tool
066to wealth building and it's seen as a way for youth to get access to assets at an early age and essentially let's say it'll take about 18 years for the youth to get access to those assets. So, right when they're born to the turn to the time they turn 18, they can withdraw those assets and use it for various wealth building purposes such as small business ownership. Um, pursuing a higher education. Um, it could include um let's see um there is one that's escaping me, but uh I'll I'll touch on that later. Um but yeah, those are some of the wealth buildinging purposes that baby bonds uh that can be used for. So uh the purpose of this slide is just to show that we are not the originators of this baby bonds concept. This
067is something that is has been going on for maybe the past like 10 15 years. So it's still kind of relatively new. Um but this is something that we thought one it aligns with our mission and two it would be very beneficial for the community in St. Louis. Um, so this is just a little bit more detail about the program in its entirety and our version of the program. So like I mentioned, um, we'll be partnering with seventh grade students and there'll be six school districts that we're partnering with. Normandy, Hazlewood, Ferguson, Florison, University City, Hancock Place, and the St. Louis public school district. And um, the duration of this program will be 10 years. So I'll explain. So, there'll be a six-year vesting period. So, as I mentioned, with traditional baby bonds programs, um
068they usually start from birth up until the youth is 18, and then they can withdraw the funds when they turn 18. So, we're doing an accelerated version of that. So, instead of waiting 18 years, we're going to start with seventh graders when they're what, 11, 12, 13, and then by the time they turn 18, they'll be eligible to withdraw those funds. So, that's roughly 6 years. And then when they turn 18, they have about four years to decide what they will use the funds for. Um, so they can use it for higher education, entrepreneurship, home ownership, or they can just put the funds in retirement savings. Um, in terms of the investment amount, the seventh graders will be guaranteed $5,000 and those funds will be invested by Edward Jones as Mr. Johnson mentioned. Um, in
069terms of the eligibility criteria, there's two key things. So, one, we have to ensure that the seventh grader is enrolled in one of these six school districts and they the time that they apply, they have to be a seventh grader in the 2024 2025 school year. Um, and the other uh criteria that we're looking at is the seventh grader. They have to be in a household who meets the 80% they are at or below the 80% of the area median income. So on the application, they'll be able to see a chart that sees okay for a household of two people this is the particular this is the maximum income that I fit three people etc etc etc. So they'll be able to see that. Um and then selection criteria. Um so we all lot different
070um number of allocations for the school district. So for Ferguson Florisonent out of the 300 total 7th graders that were going to be participating in this program 59 will come from Ferguson Florison. So that's the number 59. Um and in terms of selection, it'll be sort of like a mixture of uh a lottery. Um that's how people get selected. So this is just an idea of who we are partnering with in this program. So as Mr. Johnson mentioned, we are recipients of a grant from the James S. McDonald Foundation and we'll be using those dollars to seed the accounts of these uh uh 3007th graders. So that's where the $5,000 will come from. It'll come from that grant money that we received from the James S. McDonald Foundation. Um in terms of the implementation partners,
071we're partnering with Edward Jones who will be investing the funds forward. Those are the people who are sort of creating the application. So the application process will be primarily online and moneybird is a institution that specializes in financial literacy. So one of the requirements that we're having for the students to be a part of this program is they have to take these financial literacy courses that are related to the eligible uses of the funds in in the program. So, they have to take a financial literacy course on uh purchasing a home, um starting a small business, um or pursuing higher education. That's one requirement that we have. Um we're also partnering with St. Louis Community Foundation, Public Design Bureau. Our research partner is Washington University in St. Louis. Um and we've also solicited the input
072from various um thought partners as well as community partners. So, you may see um Invest STL, the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation, the Scholarship Foundation. Um that list is not exhaustive. There's there's a few more um community partners such as the Boys and Girls Club um of Greater St. Louis as well as Jean Slays Girls and Boys Club, the Legacy Center, as well as Lifewise STTL. So this slide sort of depicts the projected impact. So, let's say if a student wanted to use the the uh the money for higher education, um we start with 5,000 right now. In 6 years, when they turn 18, if they decide to withdraw the funds when they turn 18, that $5,000 could be estimated amount of $8,000. So, these are just estimates. Um this is not guaranteed what the
073amount would be but we're just um you never know how the market will perform. Um so I just wanted to state that. Um so for instance if somebody wanted to pursue home ownership or entrepreneurship and they withdraw the funds uh 10 years later the $5,000 could be $11,000 and they can use that for purchasing a home or starting a business. And if they decide to put the funds in a retirement savings account and they don't want to touch it for 50 plus years, um that money could be 150,000 or more at retirement age. So this is just a depiction of where we are at right now in terms of our program roll out. Um, so we've gone in person, talked to schools, or we've been in schools, um, and we've done like a media roll
074out as well. The month of May is when the application will open. Um, and we're looking at the week of May 12th potentially for the applications to be open to the public. Uh, so that's sort of where things stand at the moment. and we're looking at finalizing the selection of the seventh graders by the end of summer, probably before the next school year starts. So that's our aim. Uh this is just to show you our various community outreach channels. So we have um talking to different schools within the like the middle schools within the school districts. Uh we're utilizing the community organizations to host in-person community events. We're leveraging our social media platforms and uh engaging the school district's social media platforms as well, radio ads. Um so those are our various community outreach channels.
075And then this is just to show some of our upcoming community events. These will serve as information sessions. So, we'll have one tomorrow at the Boys and Girls Club Teen Center of Excellence in Ferguson. Um, we'll also have another one next Thursday at the Legacy Center. And May 3rd on Saturday will be at the St. Louis library. Um, the Central Library, this will be in St. Louis City. And then, uh, Jamestown Bluff Public Library. That'll be our last information session. I think we should have another one on the 17th, but that's to be determined. Um, so for folks that are in the audience, uh, you can feel free to scan this QR code. What will happen when you scan this QR code, it will take you to our website just to have more information about
076this program. Um, and you can also join the weight list, meaning you will be notified of when the application is live. So that's what the weight list means. Um so that's my presentation and I'm happy to answer any questions. Oh yes. Also I wanted to repeat um the application will be opening the week of May 12th. So I just wanted to make sure um everyone was aware of that. What an awesome opportunity for for our kids. 59 of them. You sure you can't up that? Okay. We wish. I mean, that's contingent upon funding. I mean, that's something that you hear all the time, but it's it's the truth. Yeah. We appreciate you coming and explaining all this to us and giving us us the opportunity to to participate in the program. Uh, Mr. Johnson, do
077you have anything else you want to say? Nothing else. If you all don't have any questions or comments at this time, uh, just know that we're in the process of disseminating this opportunity to our families. It's already been placed on Peace Jar and then we're going to be partnering with um Miss Hollowman and the communications team to make sure that families are apprised of it um with Dr. Crawford. We met with our middle school principles and counselors a few weeks ago to let them know um that this was forthcoming. So, we welcome your questions. I just have one question. The application process, is it lengthy? Is it something that the people can our community get help with if they have any challenges or anything like that? Because a lot of programs that offer these type
078of opportunities for our kids, the application process is so lengthy that it's it becomes a deterrent. Sure. Yeah. So, I think we're estimating the application process to take maybe between like 15 to 20 minutes tops. Um and in terms of the application, we'll be hosting some in-person application events as well so that people can get that assistance um to navigate the application. Um so in terms of like documentation and things like that, um all that's required is just various forms of income documentation. So it can be one of the following, your 2024 tax return. It can include um some of the government benefits that you know some uh individuals are receiving whether it's um TANIF or SNAP or etc. Um so there's a number of documentation uh that you can use to prove your income.
079Um and um yeah so in essence that's what we're estimating in terms of that time um around like 15 20 minutes. Uh thank you. I'm super excited to get kids investing at a young age. I think it's important of just teaching how money grows and obviously the last couple weeks you don't want to check your stock portfolio, but certainly uh we look in the next six years that I mean when you think about a kid starting in seventh grade being able to have 20 plus,000 to buy a house or pay for four-year institution is certainly a a great way that's uh free money. Just a quick question, does it grow taxree or do they have to pay income tax on it when they get it? Just out of curiosity. Yeah, it's a great question. Um,
080I will have to double check on that. Um, yeah, so I don't want to say anything that may be incorrect, but I'll I'll I'll double check. I don't need to know just for I mean, just I think it's important to make sure you're teaching kids about taxes when you get $22,000 in income all of a sudden. And there's there's a fee that comes with that. They don't just get uh free money always. So, thank you for that. I think it's a great opportunity. They will learn. Yes. Who is FICA? Any other questions? Let's start with Oh, I was just going to say I so thank you so much for just bringing this opportunity and Mr. uh Johnson for your work around this too. Um this is this is more so just a um sort of
081an ask. Um I really appreciate the fact that you're already doing a lot to get the word out and um I don't have a way to fix it, right? I don't have a way to wave a magic wand, but what I'm sitting here now thinking about is this is an amazing opportunity for some of our more vulnerable, right, our kids who really, really could benefit from this. And what I worry about is those kids being able to take advantage of it because of whatever barriers there may be, right, around needing assistance filling out the application. You know, there may be some parents who are not literate. uh and and um I'm going to say this and hope that people don't get offended, but we also know that uh sometimes we have situations where uh parents
082are just not as well informed about this sort of an opportunity and the difference it can make in their kids' life. And so like tonight listening to you talk about it, it made me think like like I just if I were a parent and I heard about this, I would really be interested. So, I don't know whatever we can do to just make sure that we're connecting with the most vulnerable folks in our community and that we are not just saying, well, these people showed up, so and I'm not saying they shouldn't be considered, but you know, sometimes there's just places where we might need to push a little harder to make sure that certain people get access. So, just wanted to make that comment. And to your point, uh, do Dr. Pal Walker, we
083did have a financial literacy night um last week on Wednesday and Mr. Moon Guy came out just to plant the seed and I know that we had some families who were in the space, but there are a lot more who were not in the space. So, we're going to be deliberate around how we um communicate um this opportunity thinking about some of our McKenna Vento students and so on. So, uh thank you for that comment. Thank you. And I just wanted to echo what um Dr. uh P Walker said. It's just more about actually touching people and say this program is for you or this is something that you might be interested in. Um because a lot of the times we do just put information out there hoping that they find it um on the
084website or wherever. But just actually having those conversations with families to say here is a program that I think you guys might um want to take advantage of. But all in all, um I need to talk to you later, but uh no, um I I have an event that I think um which would be June 7th, we're having a health fair and I would love for you to be able to come out and um host a community table. I will um with the Salvation Army. Absolutely. All right. Thank you. Quick question. Oh, I was thinking about what Kevin just said and and this is just a chuckle. I remember my son got his first paycheck and he was shocked because he didn't get all his money. He was like, "What are all these things?" I
085like, "You didn't know about taxes." But that's funny because kids don't know when they get them checks. Uh what is this? Who's FICA? Um but uh don't quick question. You said seventh graders and sometimes my math don't be math. So are we talking about current seventh graders going into eighth or sixth graders going into seventh? current seventh graders. Current seventh graders going. Okay. All right. Thank you. You know, I also want to make mention um and I I mentioned it at the offset that the James S. McDonald Foundation has been instrumental um especially to our school district. Um I know I met with one of their liaison yesterday. um Jennifer um they have purchased curriculum um for our school district for three years, personal finance curriculum um for goal setter and then to have this
086initiative to be uh attached to it. Um so I do want to recognize again the James S. McDonald Foundation for the significant investment that they're making in Ferguson Flores and for our students. Awesome. Yes. Are there any other questions? Again, this was for information only. Um, and what great information we received. So, you will get back with us and let us know when you select the students. Correct. So, Mr. Johnson doesn't select the students, but we're going to be working closely with Mr. Moon Guy. Want to make sure uh and then uh Ferg we we are available to support where we can. Um, but we don't make the selections. And again, we've met with um middle school principles and counselors and we're going to be pushing around this because our goal is to have north
087more than 59 students who apply who are eligible so that we can ensure that we capitalize on this opportunity. Yes. Yes. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. I just thought about something. Um I'm sorry. Is it possible so for the application the parent has to be involved in the application as well? because I was wondering as a district if we can host a night where we have um them to come up to help if anybody needs assistance filling that out. We we'd definitely be open to that. Um yes, but to um to affirm what you said, the parent has the parent or guardian has to be involved in the application. That's a great idea. You want to spearhead that? Of course I would. Thank you. I delegate really well. So you'll get with Mr. Moonong
088and Wonderful. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Okay, our next uh Oh, I hit the wrong thing. Oh, up next. Yes, this Mckenn Vento uh update. Good evening. How's everybody doing? Uh you should have a little quick little one pager in your board packet. I think that we also was able to add it to our assembly documents, but we have current numbers in terms of our McKenna Vento population. As you can see, uh, as of 420225, we currently serve, uh, 1,496 McKini Vento students. And then you've got the demographics in terms of grade levels in the packet as well. Um, still under the number of students that we served on last year. Uh we I want to give kudos and a shout out to my team at vote uh for the way they process and
089look at those applications. So thank you. I see a few of them in the crowd tonight. So shout out to my team at vote. Uh but we're we're about 400 less than last year in terms of the student population that we serve. And I know we also have several outstanding invoices from other districts um that we need to we've just recently sent I'm looking for Lenel. We just recently sent followup invoices to some of our uh surrounding partners. So, we would love for you uh please ma'am and please sir to process those invoices and send us our checks. Um other than that, I'd be more than happy to ask any questions that the board may have in terms of McKenna Bento. Thank you, M. Mitchell. I know uh when the board met in a workshop
090in August, I believe one of the things your goals this year that you were trying to work on was reducing the cost of transportation because we know there's a large cost. So certainly I don't want to put you on the spot but at some point whether it's in a weekly update can we get a report of how much do we send to each district so year to date and then how much have we expect to get from each district just so we can see of total build total collected from each district how much we paying each district and then if there's any analysis you have so far about through March 31st 3/4 of the way down have you been able to I know you talked about I won't go into all the details of the
091things you talked about in August, but have you been able to become more efficient with some of those routes to be able to get cheaper or reduce the cost of some of those expensive things? Yes, sir. So, I'll do a brief update just so the community can be in the loop as well. And Leno, just just wave your hand if I mess this up. I know that we are currently owed around 38 or 98, I can't remember the number. I know there's a 100 plus is outstanding in terms of what's owed. We have recouped a few funds. I think the funds we have recouped is about 38,000 from a few partner districts. In terms of the transportation, we have streamlined that quite a bit up until midepptember. We were able to provide transportation for Mckin
092Vento students on our own transportation. Uh we have now had to enlist the services of a few vendors such as Axel Assist and the other company. um I can't think of the name of but so we use three vendors and we put our RFP out early in the year for those three vendors. We do have a I would say a better rate still expensive but a better rate and then in terms of what we we are owed and what we have recouped. We will get that number for you and put in our report this weekend. Thank you. Yes. By district if possible. Okay. Yes sir. No problem. And I've got that broken down in our new software package that we bought. So, it should be a pretty easy lift for some of us maybe will
093call board members from other districts us and try and encourage I'll get that to you tomorrow. We'll get it out. Could you could you quickly uh explain to the community what McKenna Vento? We we're saying these words and some people may not understand what uh McKenna is and how how we use that in our district. Okay. So, I won't be a historian in terms of when it was passed or what not, but the McKenna Vento Act is basically an act that qualifies students and families to declare themselves as homeless to be able to access your district. So, you get those kids in a variety of ways. Those kids could have been families that were enrolled in your district and somehow transition somewhere else in the process. And so, they're wanting to remain in Ferguson, Flores.
094And so, we would then have to provide transportation to and from wherever they live. So I'll use an example of we may have a family that has been relocated for some means to Wsville and if their family decides to stay in Ferguson, Florida as we go through our process to determine if they qualify then that family would then be busted in and out from Wsville via either if we were able to use our personal buses through Tererry's department or if we would have to use those three vendors that we've partnered with in terms of uh transportation. Now the the act also states that whatever district that we're partnering with with that and I believe it passed in 1987ish but that district then is we share that responsibility costwise right and so if we say hey
095Orchard Farms owes us $10,000 for transporting a kid well then we split that bill in half and so we would occur the 5,000 or farms will pay us the other 5,000 to make the 10. So, we determine based off mileage. There's a formula for mileage, rates, miles, etc. that we get the funding for. Um, also the most important part about that that I do like about this year's process is if a kid misses consecutive days, the vendor will then stop transportation. Then we look at doing uh, you know, just having meetings and placements to determine what's in the business of the child because some families through this process this year, we have determined that the district was not a best fit for them. And so, we're pretty extensive with that work. Um, I've got a
096I've got a three-man team that kind of mans that. So, we have been able to create an invoice system. We have been able to recoup some funds. Uh, we've partnered with Dr. Singleton's department, particularly Mr. Cooper, who's helping us to heals when we receive checks. Uh, we just have the new system now allows us to be a little more intentional with those requests. So, we we we're sending out like a collection letter to some parents that says, you know, second notice, third notice, etc. We just have recently, I want to say last month or last week or so, started doing follow-up emails from surrounding districts. So, that's kind of a nutshell of what it is. I'm sorry if I was too fast or what not, but No, thank you. Thank you so much. Another question.
097Real quick, I heard you say 50%. So, whatever we pay out, we should also be getting the equal amount back then. Yes. So, if we paid out $700,000, we should be seeing $700,000 back as well. Is that what you're saying? Pay out 700? Because if we're only paying 50%, we should be receiving 50%. So essentially whatever we pay we should be seeing a match from someone else. Correct. And I see the face of our organization back there shaking his head as well. So yes, that's correct. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Will you keep us updated on those ones that you need to collect? Yes, ma'am. I will uh I'm I'm looking back at the back. Somebody has texted me saying we'll have it tomorrow morning. So, we'll get that to you all tomorrow. Please call your
098fellow board members and ask them to cut the check. Thank you so much. Again, this was for information only. Are there any other questions? If not, we'll go we'll go to the next on the agenda. The next thing on the agenda is Mr. Mitchell again and he's going to talk about district registration update. Absolutely. So, thank you again for this time. I want to uh number one echo the sentiments of Dr. Higgins work and when she stated that we were the fourth highest mobility and poverty, third highest for poverty um that also attributes significantly to our McKini Vento numbers. I forgot to say that earlier, so I'm sorry about that. Uh in terms of registration, so exciting news, we are returning registration to our campuses uh for next year. So our principles and office professionals
099are excited. We've had that conversation. Uh several reasons behind that. won't go into a lot of detail, but we just feel that uh I trust our staff within our buildings to manage their populations way more than I trust four people to manage 9,000 plus kids. Um all right, so with that though, uh at vote, we still will remain in terms of new families, McKenna Vento, foster care, ELLL, those services will still remain at vote in terms of registration. Um we do have training scheduled at the admin center. I'm sorry cuz vote vote is moving. Yeah. But we're going we're going to work at vote to June 30th, July 1st. If you're trying to register, come on over to the admin building. We'll get you taken care of. Um we are having some training just to
100ensure that everyone in the building knows what that registration process looks like. And so for ops, I know we have April 29th. We also communicated today we're doing additional training on May 2nd for those that cannot make it. Uh, I also know that we are going to train principles in this process as well on May 13th. I want to give them a shout out because they asked for this training specifically and our last principles be to be able to support. Uh, and lastly, super excited about kindergarten roundup on May the 3rd. Looking forward to getting our new families registered properly. Uh, just to eliminate some in this role for this first year. Just knowing that, you know, we got to be a little cleaner with our process. I see was a lot to lift the
101uh first year. I feel like we're in a better space this year. Shout out to Amber Robinson. She's been meeting with Hazlewood uh trying to mirror their process as well. So, I feel really good about registration. Um I'm excited that principles use their voice to express they wanted it back at their campuses. Uh I'm excited about our office professionals being able to get just clean data, clean numbers so that we present numbers to Desi moving forward. the numbers should could match more and should hopefully impact our funding. I am excited about that. As a former principal, I'm thinking about how we used to do it in the olden days. Yes. So, I'm glad it's going back. Well, it's a in the olden days. Yes. Um it it's it's community friendly. um is it's much easier
102for parents and it's also I think it's going to uh give us more um accurate numbers in terms of students being registered. Yes. I just want to say amen to that, Dr. Thurman. Yes, ma'am. Um 100%. And I I agree as a former principal, there's nothing like just knowing who your families are. Exactly. And and folks, you know, when you like when we have to look at zip codes and we say, "Hey, does this house go to this school?" where ops can say no, they go to my school where they can fix that internally. So, we're excited about that and it just I just think it's a better lift in terms of maximizing those people in those buildings and our staff at Vote SLadmin as well. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. Okay. Are
103there any questions? Again, this was for information. I just do have one question. Mr. Bailey, as a person that had to register my kid, that infinite campus was difficult. Uh, so is there any help for the parents or anybody get another tutorial? I know we did a lot of big rollouts last year. Um, but that I think that was helpful. I mean, I I'm pretty I'm pretty good at being technology savvy and it was still kind of difficult for me to be able to navigate through that with the 28 password length and all of that. Um, so I just want to make sure we ensure that all of our parents, you know, one of our biggest focus is equity to make sure that we make sure and ensure that all of our parents have the
104tools to register their kids to make it seamless because a lot of times as we know they get up there and then they prolong register their kids because it takes so much to get their kid registered. Yes, sir. and and we affirm everything you just said. We also know that that kind of leads to that data being inaccurate because parents get frustrated in the process and stop and then mom may say, "I'll do it." And then she registers and then she gets frustrated. Then grandma says, "I'll do it." And that kid shows up three times. And so we're fixing that process. I know Amber specifically is focusing on trying to get that down from 28 clicks to maybe 14 clicks. Uh, I also know that we developed a beautiful little handout that kind of shows
105you how to do it page screen by screen. And then I think just having the actual personnel cuz you know at vote on some days we may have eight people to serve. I mean we spend some long nights and order a lot of emos. Um, but just having it to where you're at a school with maybe 10 to 15 people that can support you and then having those opportunities just to be more efficient with the process helps especially in terms of frustration. Uh, also I know that Oliver and Amber are collaborating to make some type of infomercial video or something that they're going to put out that shows parents kind of in video form how to do. So, I just think that I think we got it. We we we learned a hard lesson this
106summer. We took great notes. We debriefed quite a bit and uh shout out to my team for kind of leading this work as far as moving forward for next year. Any other to the acronym challenged like myself? What is what is the OP? I know the AP the the OP is the office professionals who if you can hear them in the background are probably the most important folks in our district. So shout out to the office professionals. That's the voice you hear when you call the schools. The voice you hear when parents are upset. So shout out to them for the work that they do. We thank you for your lift. Yes sir. Oh gosh. Um so the other question that I have are are just an observation maybe parents will because of the way
107we have our our grade bands will be going to multiple schools to enroll their children. Is that correct? Yes and no because in the process let's say that your your oldest baby goes to Mccclure right when you complete the restoration process you can add all of your kids in one site. So, or like if I'm a parent and I say, "Hey, I live closer to Lee Hamilton." Then I make go there and enroll my kids. Or you can do it at home. So, the process itself, especially, we're working specifically on returning families. We're hoping to send an email out when your lease expires to where you can knock this out and we don't have to harass you over the summer to get the process done. So, again, like Amber and Oliver have done a tremendous
108job of trying to make this more efficient. Yeah. Give them some love cuz they they take my crazy ideas and and make them into fruition. So, I want to make sure I give them their flowers. Make them stand up. Yeah, y'all should stand up. Amber and Oliver, y'all stand up. Yeah. So, yes. Uh you can either register at home in that whole process or you can go to a campus if you need support because we know some families have trouble with scanning and sometimes on a phone it's not as good as a computer. We have that capability throughout the district. Mobile friendly. It will be mobile friendly. this year really. [Music] Yeah. So, I'll repeat that. I'm sorry. Uh it will be mobile friendly. So, those of you who prefer to do those things on
109your cell phone devices, uh if you have the app, you should be able to have an easier transition than last year. Uh we also will have support for you in person. So, if you need inperson support, come see us at our local schools. Uh we can't wait. And if you're a brand new family, come see us at vote until June the 30th and then we'll serve you in July here at the administration building. All minds clear. Okay. Again, that was for information only and we thank you so much for for that report. Yes. Oh. Well, it is office professionals day. How many office professionals do we have here tonight? I am telling you, they really are the ones who run the buildings. And so, we appreciate you. We want to say thank you for the
110work that you do. Uh, continue to to to do what you do. And hopefully we will you will stay here in our we want retention here. Right. Right. We want to retain them. So we want to treat them right. So thank you so much for the work that you do. I know how important office professionals are. Any other comments are okay. Thank you. Let's go to policy update. I think it's just we just need the motion to approve those two final readings. I how you know what where are we with our you know what um Mr. um Moore is not here so we can't get that update unless you have something Mr. Mitchell. Yeah I want to celebrate that policy J has been completed and so that's what I was waiting all of all of
111our stuff has been done Mr. more and I will clean up the recreation and policy Jay. Get that to you. Should be about the May 14th meeting for the first read. That was a booger, wasn't it? Yes, it was. Policy J was a very, very long policy. We got some good stuff in there, so it'll be good. Yes. Then I guess I move we approve uh policy section H and policy section K for uh effect of July 1, 2025. So move discussion. Second. Oh, I'm sorry. Need a second. Did you get it? Got it. Okay. Any discussion? Questions? Hearing? None. All in favor? I. Any oppose? Motion passes. And now we're down to Oh, no. I'm sorry. I'm going to about to skip one. Uh, the first reading. Nope. No business. We don't do that.
112I mean, we're done with that. Okay. How about new business? I didn't know if Mr. Tyson wanted to share what you appointed him to do earlier that we passed tonight, the resolution. Yeah, that Please share it. location. Go ahead. We have a resolution to sell two properties and that would be the Mark Twain building and vote building. Any other? No, we were saying they're for sale. I thought Mr. Tyson wanted to make sure the public knew they were for sale tonight. Yeah, because you have been appointed as now it's clicking. Got it. Thank you. We've already passed it. That's what I was saying for Hey, we got some properties for sale. Can y'all come? But no, seriously. Um, yes, we have um decided to surplus those two buildings. Um, so they are for sale. Um,
113so if you know anybody wanting, let us know. And also, did I get a hand over there? Oh, I thought I saw a hand. Okay. Also, you want to do an update on the superintendent search, our lead person. Yes. Oh, yes. Um, so the board's reviewing uh applicants here. Do you want me to share how many applicants we got? Does the board want me to share how many applicants we got? Yes. Okay. So that we got received 12 applicants that the board is receiving uh all the way from the east coast, west coast, midwest, locally, and afar. And so from Kansas City, Midwest, all the way from both sides of the coast, the board's reviewing that and we'll be starting our interview process next week. And if you interest if you were one of the
114stakeholders that expressed interest in serving, you got an email uh Monday, Monday to fill out. You have to Monday to say we gave you kind of a date and time when that would be to say if you're available or not. And so then we'll randomly select two people from each of those categories to come join the confidential panel. We have to sign an agreement uh and we'll let you know where it's going to be housed and all of those things. So and we will have people from you know teachers teachers staff FFNA gave uh reps uh Mr. Gates and one other student. Uh parents, caretakers are one category as well as community and business partners are another category. So we'll have about 12 stakeholders from outside the board on the second round of interviews. We
115want to make sure that everyone that has a stake in this um that you're all involved with choosing our our next superintendent. Are there any other questions or comments or new business any other new business hearing? None. Um, may I have a motion to adjurnn to close? So moved. Second. All in favor? Oh, yeah. We have to do a roll call on that one. I'm sorry. All right. And to be to be clear, just to check in, we are adjourning to close. Close. Yes. Okay. All right. Um, Mrs. Vivian Mansery. I. Dr. Kevin Martin. I. Mr. Terry Tyson. Secretary votes yes. Um, Mr. Jamal Bailey. I. Dr. Courtourtney Graves. Yes. Madam President, yes. We are now adjourned.