001[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] the Ferguson floron 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 Floris School District operates seven pre kindergarden through second 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+ in NCA CA SI accredited high schools The Innovation High School a big picture learning school and the steam High School focused on preparing students in fields including science Technology and Engineering in August US News and World Report named steam Academy at McLure South Berkeley High School as one of the best high schools in America
002placing the school in the top 12% of high schools in Missouri and in the top 35% of high schools in 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 baloran 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 four-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
003goal 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 wellbeing is vital for academic success the district prioritizes the health and social emotional well-being of with students and staff the district has a partnership with hazel Health that offers comprehensive Healthcare and teletherapy services ensuring that students have access to Medical Care and mental health support during the school day additionally Ferg Floor Care Health Clinic
004provides 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 Floris 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 Flores School District's anti-racist standards for social justice in anti-racist schools from early childhood education to Advanced scientific exploration from personalized learning opportunities to comprehensive healthc care services the Ferguson Flores and 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] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] he [Music] the Ferguson floron School District located in Suburban St Louis
005serves 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 Flor School District operates seven pre kindergarten through second 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+ in NCA CA accredited high schools The Innovation High School a big picture learning school and the steam High School focused on preparing students in fields including science Technology and Engineering in August US News and World Report named Academy at McClure 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
006schools and 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 Balor Avid and Elevate St Louis our 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 four-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 incl includes a nationally recognized Early Education Program the award-winning
007Challenger 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 his students and staff the district has a partnership with hazel Health that offers comprehensive healthc care and teletherapy services ensuring that students have access to Medical Care and mental health support during the school day additionally Ferg Floor Care Health Clinic provides free health care services to District employees demonstrating the district's commitment to the well-being of
008its faculty and staff the board of education has made Equity a priority in the Ferguson Floris 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 Floris School District's anti-racist standards for social justice in anti-racist schools from early childhood education to Advanced scientific exploration from personalized learning opportunities to comprehensive healthcare service the Ferguson Floris 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] n [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] he I [Music] the Ferguson floron School District located in Suburban St Louis serves more than 10,000 students from preschool through 12th grade with an excellent comprehensive
009educational program fully accredited by the state of Missouri the Ferguson floron School District operates seven pre kindergarten through second 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+ in NCA CI accredited high schools The Innovation High School a big picture learning school and the steam High School focused on preparing students in fields including science Technology and Engineering in August US News and World Report named steam Academy at McClure 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 in nationally as a district leading the charge in high school transformation
010there 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 Balor 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% besid 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
011Nature 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 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 his students and staff the district has a partnership with hazel Health that offers comprehensive healthc care and teletherapy services ensuring that students have access to Medical Care and mental health support during the school day additionally Ferg 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
012the Ferguson Floris 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 Flores and School District's anti-racist standards for social justice and anti-ra racist school from early childhood education to Advanced scientific exploration from personalized learning opportunities to comprehensive healthc care services the Ferguson Flores and 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] a [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] I [Music] the Ferguson Floris 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 Fergus and floron
013School District operates seven pre kindergarten through second grade schools six intermediate schools two sixth grade centers three middle schools including a cuttingedge steam Middle School which was ranked the number two School in Missouri this year year two A+ in NCA CA SI accredited high schools The Innovation High School a big picture learning school and the steam High School focused on preparing students in fields including science Technology and Engineering in August US News and World Report named steam Academy at McClure 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 in nationally as a district leading the charge in high school transformation there are a lot of Pathways to success all of our
014high schools are Project Lead the Way schools we offer many programs and opportunities such as dual enrollment dual credit International Balor 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 Preserve that offers experiential learning opportunities for for students in
015Science 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 wellbeing of his students and staff the district has a partnership with hazel Health that offers comprehensive Healthcare and teletherapy services ensuring that students have access to Medical Care and mental health support during the school day additionally Ferg 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 floron School District in 2018 the board adopted an equity
016resolution and between 2020 and 2022 the district examined inequities and racism and policies and practices culminating in the board's adoption of the Ferguson Flores and 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 healthare Services the Ferguson floron 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] a [Music] oh [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] the Ferguson floron 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 Floris School District operates seven pre kindergarten through second grade schools six intermediate schools two
017sixth 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+ in NCA CA SI accredited high schools The Innovation High School a big picture learning school and the steam High School focused on preparing students in fields including science Technology and Engineering in August US News and World Report named steam Academy at McClure 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 in 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
018such as dual enrollment dual credit International Balor Avid and Elevate St Louis our red tail Cadet program has also secured private Pilots licenses for students before they even graduate uate 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 four-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 e e e evening it is March 26th 2025 the time is now 6:34 p.m. we truly do apologize about our delay and uh did not expect to keep you here extra time but we do appreciate you being here with us tonight want to remind the board
019members of our meeting norms and uh again call the meeting to order at this time please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you again for joining us uh certainly appreciate your presence and feedback tonight under the provisions of the public law of the state of Missouri the board by roll call vote uh we'll vote on agenda that includes a time date place and ten of agenda for the meeting a copy of the notice and the agenda for the meeting was posted on Tuesday March 25th 2025 at the administration Center 8855 downroad hawood Missouri online and sent to local newspapers is there a motion to approve the agenda mooved by Tyson second second by Paul Walker all those in favor say a roll call please sorry um Dr Paul Walker yes Dr Graves yes Dr
020Thurman uh secretary votes yes Mr Tyson yes Mr Bailey yes and Dr Martin yes motion carries thank you we have uh public comments let me start with this part and then I'll talk about how we will operate tonight for that the board allocates this portion of the meeting allows stakeholders the opportunity to comment on both agenda items and non-agenda items at the start of each meeting the board president will read AOW any comments that were previously submitted while all comments will be included in the board materials this evening they may be found under the public comments the board May limit the number of comments read aloud based on length or repetition prior to public comment period in person participants are asked to fill out a comment card with their name address phone number topic to
021be addressed and we'll be allowed 3 minutes to speak from the podium members of the audience who wish to speak to the board I request to speak from the podium identify themselves in keeping with District policies 4054 4059 and personel law should refrain from making negative comments that are personally identifiable while the board will not directly respond to the speakers during the comment the board president may clar may clarifying remarks at the end of the comment section to correct any misstatement of facts public comments will be found on the meeting and agenda of the district website within 14 days of the meeting tonight we have probably about 50 uh public comments we've grouped together are online submissions and so due to repetition we're going to summarize the different categories there's four categories for online public
022speakers if you're here tonight we'll call you up to speak uh for your for your piece uh for the first category of uh AP layoffs and cuts uh I apologize if I say your name wrong I'll try and say uh Sean Shannon Emily Robert John Khloe Savannah Jeffrey and Joseph these are the ones regarding AP layoffs and cutoffs talking about uh and the board we'll get a copy of all these to receive as well the and I know we received several emails as well about certain uh assistant principles getting cut uh as well as uh the decisions being made and how that will impact potentially class sizes as well as discipline and given the options uh that it's obviously not due to the cause and Clarity to be greatly appreciated there are other issues and
023concerns to be addressed uh we have other grants as well um I'm making sure yes these are all about the sister principal one uh out of 18 applicants which ones are being selected as well as how are board members uh how are the people getting selected for the AP layoffs and cuts the next category is Yonder bags I'm sorry that was not AP in Cuts uh I'll get back to that one in a second those ones must be other ones AP and cuts I apologize uh writing asked the board to reconsider the AP cuts and layoffs it's confusing that stakeholder input from the Google form in a gallery work prior to the last board meeting while at the same time laying off 20 assistant principles without input from teachers or principles although it makes decisions
024more timeconsuming it's important the strongest most qualified people are kept as APS in order to have competent leadership uh I'm just kind of summarizing all of them a lot of them around the idea of uh who gets to be picked uh to be an assistant principal who's getting identified as getting rifted uh is based on seniority rather than Effectiveness and a lot of people shared about various assistant principles and how they are effective more effective than other ones is what they were sharing in terms of that and despite the various challenges uh as well as just leadership in general and how some of the assistant principles have made strong Connections in leadership and they would like to see them saved in the district this one is about Orchestra and F Arts this was our largest
025one submitted uh there are Amy J Geneva Zion Dominica jari jamala Michaela Kyra Jordan Brooke Alexandra James Miranda Miranda rashin tedric Camala Michelle Nicole Tammy Charles Sabrina Denise Lisa and Julie thank you for submitting your feedback uh in summary it is about the um program of Orchestra rumors of cutting the secondary Orchestra program uh which we'll learn tonight it's not cutting the secondary program uh overall and it's about how it's impacted them and the Fine Arts programs impacted them and music is important to the schools as well as kids development and how it's impacted them as a student overall um and about the rumors of 7 through 12th secondary Orchestra programs getting cut I'm just making sure as I'm reading through these to make sure that none of them said uh I know one person
026said they were going to come speak tonight as well which I believe was Miranda um Fine Arts programs and how eliminating the programs at secondary level and how some people are the teachers and have had a privilege teaching uh at those levels as well next one's about Yonder pouches uh Laurin Patricia and Elizabeth uh should strongly consider keeping y pouches uh as part of the mainten keep them in the 17th years this is the most difficult changes uh pouches have made it very effective uh at keeping classrooms engaged to be aggressive in the budget uh they have opportunity to teach at the start and after y bags recent year I felt the first time in quite a while how I felt using uh I felt used as a teacher before phones controlled our students every
027day they felt more needed respected and efficient students were paying more attention in the classrooms and don't take away this resource from the teachers and students those are all from McLure Burke South Berkeley uh exciting news from uh Hall fairy this is not one that's related this is a oneoff one that Dr P Walker went through so we have some exciting news to share we've just heard from the Innovative technology education fund Hall's fairy was awarded the innovator Grant the Falcon steam lab will soon become a reality out of 18 applicants Hall's fair is one of five selected we wanted to announce this during the board meeting tonight very exciting so thank you for uh Miss beg the Dr beg the librarian at halls fery and the great work uh we look forward to seeing
028the grant so kudos to Halls fairy and getting the Innovative technology education grant did I miss any Dr P Walker in there okay we're going to call you up to uh some people just want to response and so if you just want to response we'll have someone follow up with you on that piece of it um first up is Charles about the sensory based seniority based firing I apologize Charles Peterson sorry Hi my name Charlie pet I spoke to you last week I emailed Jamal and J and I really appreciate your response email I was literally planning on coming today because I wasn't going to come and just double down on what I said about seniority based hiring because I felt heard by to be the first group of people to reinvent the wheel over
029and over and over again we are not looking at what has been done before St Louis Public Schools is $35 million in a deficit and they're not doing any layoffs how is that possible how are they doing that why are we not looking at what has been done before I'm sorry that I'm angry but I'm frustrated and I wish that I wasn't here I wanted to be doing grading and writing lesson plans for tomorrow and I'm running out of time but the problems with the budget are bigger than just the seniority based hiring um and I I couldn't not say that that I had to be here next um I uh have the feeling that I keep hearing stories of principles that are hearing from their staff that their staff has been fired that is
030so backwards how can the principal be hearing it from the staff the principal should be the one with the authority to be making decisions like that you cannot delegate responsibility for the school without delegating Authority it doesn't make sense you cannot delegate responsibility without delegating Authority you're making all the decisions unilaterally from a top down um and it's not sorry that's why I said I wanted to go last I'm sorry literally I uh mere seniority is not enough I got a couple of things um we might be thinking like how is history going to remember this how is history going to respond to how we do to what we do in this moment history will not remember Ferguson if we continue to cut the knees out beneath its most dedicated Educators I'm sitting next to
031someone who's been teaching in this district for 20 years and she was fired and her own boss didn't know about it that doesn't make any sense make it make sense please we have to vote no on this budget I want Clarity I Came Here Wanting Clarity that this was done and that I would feel a sense of leadership and that I could know like okay cool I know what's going to happen next year I'm not going to look for a different job because I'm not like worried about the state of my future school if you were my student I would call out your body language Kevin I just I know I'm sorry I sorry just the way that those comments were summarized was really not satis to me um I'm not going to lie uh
032I have 19 seconds left that doesn't make any sense imagine what this meeting would look like if each of you only had 3 minutes to speak these are the people that are doing the work do not delegate responsibility to them without also giving them Authority go to a rehire process go to whatever empowers the principles thank you for your [Music] [Applause] time thank you so much I believe Shannon steam middle traditional schools and Equity Dr hay would will follow up with you oh I didn't know I was starting and you started my timer oh okay let's get it all right I'm ready now good uh good evening hi I'm Shannon Hazen I'm a parent in the district and I have been for the last 11 years I'm here because um one of the things is
033about the steam Middle School application process I emailed a couple months ago I didn't get a response from anyone and we were told that uh a large amount of the students were rejected due to not scoring proficient or Advanced on test and we were told that there were other options available for those students who don't score proficient or advance but steam Academy would be a good fit for them the other problem about that is is that we heard that steam middle was accepting applications from students who live in the district that have been in private school all this time where is the equity and inclusion and loyalty to those who have sent their kids here to this school from K through fifth grade how is that Equitable how is that right how is that fair
034what are we doing the other thing is is about that these um with traditional schools versus our steam schools it seems like it's it's weighing heavy especially as we look at this budget that's the deficit is that 7 million plus dollars I mean the money didn't leave overnight so we know that things can't really change effectively and efficiently overnight but what is going to be done what is the actual plan we've received surveys but what is the followup after these surveys to say which part are we starting first doesn't matter if you want your community in and you want people back there has to be a reason reason of getting them back I went on uh to to visit in Alabama and they were having large growth of building homes and how they were marketing
035is this is this school district we are this we are that to get families to come back to get businesses there we don't see that around here we have a deficit of children reading at grade level at 75% what are we putting in you have to take some money out but what are you going to leave in to uh to safely say that we're going to support our our team teachers when we have teachers doing hybrid classes that do not interact with students how are you really seeing growth and how is that effective and it's more at the traditional schools I don't hear about that at the steam schools because they have Staffing and they're not dealing with as much behaviors as you're dealing with and and don't get me wrong cuz my child is
036one of them behaviors sometimes so at at traditional schools how are we helping how are we being effective how are we moving forward how do you secure parents to say hey we're scared twoo we're trying to figure out what's going to be in the best interest of our children but we know that everything that they have to get they need a teacher for where are the teaching staff coming from if we keep cutting people if we cut them all what are we doing we just want to know a clear effective plan of what's happening and About Steam how is that Equitable that we're taking people from the outside that's been with you riding on the inside all this time that's it thank you Dr Crawford be following up next up uh will be about an
037assistant principal I believe Rand Brown Arman Brown oh he marked that he wanted to speak got it thank you uh next this one doesn't have a name on it uh Bobby small is that correct okay uh speaking about public comments and no one gets back to you and that was mainly it public comments I spoke last two weeks ago and no one has gotten back with the seven questions I asked about but I do have one other thing let's talk how much money is being put into let's talk and is it effective for their overall because it just started this school year thank you do you remember who was supposed to follow back up with you just so got it yes I know the board part I didn't emailed back about Dr P Walker will
038follow back up with you uh Rachel Davis staff retention good evening um first I want to say I'm nervous so you guys bear with me so I'm just going to get right into it Miss Seuss from accl North as someone who has witnessed her exceptional work firsthand I feel compelled to advocate for her and her continued Presence at our school Miss has cons consistently proven herself to be an individual resource and an advocate for our students she is genuinely there for the children and always ready to provide guidance support and encouragement when it is needed the most during her time as acting principal she demonstrated remarkable leadership abilities and genuine commitment to e educational Excellence the potential decision to let go value members of our school school Community Miss Seuss Mr Dickerson and Miss Dolphus
039these individuals are not just staff they are pillars to our district who contribute immensely to our students growth educational overall experience sorry I'm super nervous instead of removing essential team members let's explore Solutions like maybe raising the price tickets to the game I'm sorry I asked I completely forgot to ask all of these young men that go to McClure North and cross keys are here to represent these three individuals I'm speaking about I could have brought more but my car can only hold so many but um um so uh so one of the solutions I was thinking we could raise prices to the tickets to the game maybe have dress down days charge fees for that have more events for the school um to raise money the money didn't just didn't the debt just didn't
040happen overnight so getting out of that is not going to happen in one day so um I would just like you guys to please reconsider of Letting Go these three valuable staff members um who mean so much to the FL far floor community and did I did I mention Mr Dickerson and Mr miss m okay I'm sorry I'm sorry but that's all I have to say and I hope you guys reconsider those three because they are a pillar they are they mean so much to these kids they they care about them they love them they support them they go above and beyond for these kids and letting them go would be devastating to the F Flo Community thank [Applause] you thank you Mr Mitchell will follow up with you Katie Powers is next about program
041cuts hi all I'm Katie Powers I've been working in the district for eight years now I work at Cross Keys Middle School um and first of all I just wanted to say thank you I brought a comment to the board two weeks ago for our TSA funding and that was all approved and we've been able to go um but that's a separate issue so I'm also deeply concerned about the AP cuts that have been put in place for schools I saw in your projected suggestion that you wanted to go down to two principles for Cross Keys Middle School um I mean I've worked there for eight years I I literally cannot imagine going down to two principles I think it would be absolutely detrimental for our student body and the culture of our school in
042general we need more leaders in the school not out of the school honestly when we when the teachers brought up to cook admin I don't think that they were talking about the building admin we're talking about upper admin and I'm really happy that Miss Dolph's name has already been brought up because I wanted to come and talk about her as well she is an AP at Cross Keys Middle School she is one of the best principles I've ever had she is consistent she walks the talk for rest short of Justice she's forgiving with students she has high expectations for students and teachers alike and I've really grown under her leadership and I think it would be a huge mistake to cut her but please do not stop at her you need to look deeply at
043all of the Quick Cuts that have been made based on tenure essentially um let's see also the cuts for Orchestra would be extremely detrimental um it Fosters a sense of belonging students need these electives um it's a grow it's growing in our district despite what has been reported but yeah we need it that's about it honestly oh sorry we have 45 seconds left I think I can handle this okay so I also saw in your projection that Orchestra in general cost about 450 ,000 that was the proposed cut that we would save about $450,000 so I thought it was interesting that the superintendent payment their salary is about $260,000 that's over half of what it cost for the entire Orchestra department and has the impact been the same I don't know I think that that
044is also that could be an area that we think about cutting as well that is all thank [Applause] you thank you Dr Haywood will follow up Kiana Brown keeping our staff hi my name is Kiana Brown I've been in Ferguson floron for over 15 years I have five children four sons and a daughter if it wasn't and I want to add that duch Shan Elementary School is the best school in Ferguson floron school district oh okay all right and I just want to say the foundation for my children came from the preschool program here it came from duchaine elementary with teachers like Mr Joyce with teachers and U like Miss passion Miss house Miss adbury Miss Lin Miss Tyler Miss Tiffany Blackman Miss Lo Miss U Mr Garvey Mr Hunter that's at Cross Keys Mr
045Casey I have sent all five of my children through this system and then it starts to fail them so I took my two youngest ones out and I put them in private school then I brought them back in and my youngest son graduates this year but it's because of Dr Harris Alysa Harris it's because of principal heral it's because of principal um I can't think of his name off the top of my head he's at Cross Keys you guys can't fire these principles who's going to stop the fights you guys can't get rid of these teachers the principles will be overworked they are already overwhelmed I've witnessed it last year you guys dropped the ball when it came to my daughter my daughter was bullied by one of your staff members and nothing was done
046if it wasn't for your security director and Dr goon who heard me if it wasn't for them my daughter's record would be horrible off of a lie then this person question my daughter's sexuality to me and her dad it's a lot of things that goes on in the background that you guys are not addressing and these teachers that's coming in that's faithful y'all not doing y'all not listening nobody to be cut you got to say no student Left Behind no staff left behind that goes for the teachers the principles the assistant principles the janitors the secretaries the counselors they are all a big family when I went to dou Shane Elementary it wasn't just the teachers it wasn't just the principles it was the cafeteria work we knew everybody y'all don't shut the parents out
047we can't even come in if we try to come in you have parents out here who wants to work I'm one of them I have a son my oldest is 25 he graduated from here and it was the foundation you have Dr Katie Katie Sanders who was their principal you they were they're like their parents these principles and these assistant principles bring a lot to the table and y'all please I am begging you do not get rid of the assistant principles we already struggling and give Berkeley back there High School [Applause] uh Dr Mitchell or Mr Mitchell and Dr P Walker one of them will follow up with you uh Calvin Davis staff retention and impact and that will also be followed up by Mr Mitchell or Dr P Walker to the board I thank
048you for this opportunity to speak uh to all of you all who are visiting I want to be naive for just a moment and believe that the remarks that are being made before you all are genuinely being heard and genuinely being um taken as something of truth because there's a lot of feelings that are wrapped up in what you all are deciding to do that ultimately impacts this room and those students that are standing right there let me just say if if the intent is to have students in a seat if the intent is to have the schools open if the intent is just to have the facade of education then you all are going down the right path but if the intent is to make an impact on the lives of individuals like that
049those young men and that young lady my son and daughter collected in that Gathering of young folks who have a fragile future in this country if we don't do everything we are supposed to do in this moment and time in their life here's the thing that I don't understand budgets come and go households have to do it companies have to do it can't get away from it but value is not Quantified in what is cut value is Quantified in what is curated and what we are finding here is that the value of a curated Dr Seuss Mr Dickerson and Miss Dolph are not being curated in the lives that they have impacted over the years of individuals like that I don't want them to just go to school I want them to be educated and
050empowered to live as successful and prosperous and productive citizens in this world and we know that the area we live in has many challenges and all we have is a portion of of time and impact that we can have to insulate and encourage them individuals to do that and how are they getting that they're getting that primarily through who I know is Dr Seuss if you cut Dr Seuss from staff you've done a great job with a budget but you have done an absolutely disservice to the lives of individuals who have graduated and will graduate from ml North and so I encourage you to rethink it to recate what the value is and what you all are trying to do as a board because that's what you're entrusted to do everybody can't make the decisions
051for you but what we can do is say the decisions you make don't just stop at the desk that it's made from but it does go in the front doors of those who have to deal with the impact of what you decide and I hope that you all rethink and reconfigure and recur rate the value that Dr Seuss has Miss Dickerson Mr Dickerson has and Miss Doss has to the school and to the the students at mclo North and throughout thank you thank you next up is Monica cost savings recommendations item number seven good evening hi um my name is Monica bokin and I'm writing to you this evening in support of our music education programs particularly third through sixth grade I'm privileged to be the teacher of 106 Orchestra students at Lee Hamilton and
052Griffith and I'm a product of Ferguson floresent music education program I attended Cross Keys middle school and McClure north um was a member of the orchestra throughout my time there I'm saddened and appalled to hear there is a proposal to cut Elementary band and Orchestra programs in our district the benefits of music education greatly outweigh the costs Elementary instrumental music education is a Cornerstone of a well-rounded curriculum offering benefits that extend far beyond the music room research consistently demonstrates that learning an instrument enhances cognitive abilities including memory attention span and problem solving skills music education has been linked to improved academic performance with studies showing a correlation between musical trait musical training and higher scores on standardized tests particularly in math and reading Beyond academics instrumental music Fosters crucial social and emotional development participating in
053ensembles teaches teamwork cooperation and communication skills students learn to listen to and support one another music provides an outlet for self-expression and emotional release contributing to improved mental well-being and reduce stress students learn perseverance performance skills teamwork and how to set goals they learned that it's okay to make mistakes and that everybody needs to work together to make music and I teach the little ones so they really have to work hard to make some music um and it brings our students to school a few weeks ago I told a fifth grade student at Griffith that I wouldn't be at school the next day I had to go to the dentist or something like that he looked at me and he said he's going to stay home cuz we weren't going to have orchestra class I
054urge you find another way to make up this deficit keep our music programs intact and keep the education of our students moving forward thank you thank you Dr paker Mr Mitchell will follow up Heather uh item six and seven and the budget crisis in general art music and strings in particular hard to tell if it's more appropriate here or elsewhere so [Music] hello my name is Heather gutting I have two children in the district and one who graduated in 2024 and is currently at wasu um so coming after a music teacher there's not a lot that I can add we should absolutely not cut the strings for any grade level music is so important there is data to support it I sent an email that arrived at 1202 has a lot of links for you
055guys but one of the the things I want to get into is that we keep talking about data and not about students our students are not just data points it is scandalous that very few people sitting in this room have been to a school and talked to the children I'm also a guest teacher in the district and I can tell you in the middle school and the high school those kids feel like you don't care they know their building level staff cares they feel like you don't care additionally I was there when a staff member got a mass email that her job was ending at the end of the fiscal year her building principal didn't know and she got a mass email is this Doge and your budget obfuscations you're oh we're saving so much
056at upper admin I have done some of my research first of all most of the people sitting at that table should take a five figure pay cut you don't get us into this situation and keep your job and keep your pay which by the way even at a five figure pay cut is more than most of your teachers make you don't get to sit there at that table and then on top of that oh we cut this position no you didn't you renamed it so that that person didn't have to take a pay cut you went from coordinator to manager see I ask my children to do their homework and I do mine I am furious I'm furious that you're asking for all of this I am furious that you are asking our children to
057sacrifice I'm furious that you're asking our teachers to sacrifice and this isn't just $7 million cuz we were supposed to have a $2 million surplus this is $9 million this is a mistake the people at these two tables made a $9 million mistake and we're supposed to trust you guys to fix it I just I I am beside myself that your Solutions are things that will actually harm your precious data points your data points your test scores are going to go down if you cut music that is shown over and over again in the data and it's bad for their social emotional health as well we know that that's also in data there are NIH studies there are American Psychological Association studies I can give them all to you thank you for your time thank
058you Mr Mitchell will follow up with you Tyler Moore budget cuts funding issues as pertaining to the retention of all music programs good evening my name is Tyler Moore I am a teacher in the Ferguson Floris School District I have been here for 13 years I have taught at McClure high school for Ferguson Middle School McClure South Berkeley steam middle and uh over my time I can say confidently that I am a product of this District it's made me the teacher who I am today and I have to speak to you today in advocacy of music education it is something that is often considered to be on the chopping block we consider um in the X's and O's and the decimals and all of these data points like Miss gutting said um this is often
059something we consider first to cut there is such a wide body of research that states students who participate music programs and Fine Arts programs in general Excel and do better than students who do not there is a Clear Connection I don't want us to ignore educational research whenever we know what works we know that these classes do help our kids so board of directors and friends in this room I encourage you to consider the importance of your music education program and the value that they provide to our students if our goals are to improve attendance to work on reading comprehension and Mathematics music education serves each one of those needs tenfold if anything we should be doubling down I yield the rest of my time thank [Applause] you thank you Dr Pacer will follow up
060next up is Miranda Bell elimination of Elementary Strings program good evening everybody my name is Miranda Bell and I am an elementary orchestra teacher at Colmes and Robinwood I get to serve about 110 students between both buildings right now to the board and to the teachers staff and the administrators of the Ferguson floresent School District I was talking recently with some college students from the University of Western Cape in South Africa and I learned that students in the Township Schools serving marginalized students in Cape Town South Africa seldom have access to music classes much less instrumental music classes like band and Orchestra those who do have access to music are from families who can afford private lessons or The Limited amounts of students who can participate in grant-funded opportunities it brought me to tears because
061I could not imagine a world without music I say all this to say that after all this district has survived through and all you have fought for in terms of equity we cannot afford to create a world without equity and access to music every student deserves access and it is with this philosophy that I have worked to provide access to string music instruction for every student in my buildings who desires to learn I have secured grant funding I've recruited donors I have searched in the nooks and crannies of buildings throughout this District to make sure I can put an instrument in the hand of any student regardless of special needs Behavior challenges academic Financial barriers any student who wants to learn to play it has been my immense privilege to help build the string music
062programs at comes and robinwoods in the board report outlining the cost cutting measures that was leaked last night it proposes the elimination of the string programs in elementary and that one rationale for this was disruption to General music instruction I want to address this and argue that what we do in instrumental music is not a disruption but it's an enrichment and there is rigor that goes far beyond what students can receive in general music classes as we Face these budget shortfalls that have wrecked havoc on the district's definition of normal I would like to say thank you specifically to Mr Joyce down there and to Derek bridges for their investment to me and into the program that I have worked to build over the last years I am saddened that this season may have to
063come to an end not by by by my own volition but because of the financial mismanagement that has rigged havoc on an already overburdened teaching staff regardless I want you to know this with everything that I know right now if given the chance I would choose this opportunity over and over and over again that's how much I love it I also want to say thank you to the families and the little people that I have had the privilege to teach I have enjoyed every minute thank you thank you Dr P Walker will followup Amy uh number seven uh cost savings measures hello hello hold J this okay hi my name is Amy I'm going to be reading my own statement and if there is time the statement of one of my colleagues from Cross Keys
064middle Alexia ly who is a phenomenal teacher um my name is Amy trippidy I have had the pleasure of serving as the orchestra director at Berkeley Intermediate School and Hall's fairy Intermediate School for the 2024 2025 school year I have the following to say about the proposed cost-saving recommendations pullout program music programs are set to be cut due to alleged low enrollment alleged disruption to General music education and alleged resource inefficiency respectfully I would like to address these claims for starters Elementary instrumental music teachers do a lot more than simply teach instrumental music as valuable uh as that is I do 220 minutes of lunch duty per week I'm also one of the first people to be pulled to cover another teacher's class due to the sub shortage and it doesn't cost the district a
065dime because I'm on salary um in addition to teaching music we also serve as critical building support we're additional adult bodies you know we care about the students we build Special relationships with the students and we're there um instrumental music actually helps the other specialists in the building when we pull students from other classrooms that makes class sizes smaller and more manageable for those other Specialists and we all know that smaller class sizes mean fewer um instances of disruptive behavior disruptive behaviors and fewer referrals we add to school culture in an enormously positive way as well students who tend to act out in their general education classrooms often benefit from having an outlet where they can use their voices in a productive manner in my Summit of evaluation this year my supervisor even specifically wrote
066that he was impressed by how students with disciplinary issues are well behaved in my classroom um instrumental music provides critical social and emotional learning development opportunities I have personally seen students become better at cooperating with people who are not their friends develop confidence and discover an opportunity to have a positive learning experience for the first time all year students find a place to belong in the orchestra classroom I firmly believe that students who are engaged in the Performing Arts are far far less to engage in self-destructive and harmful behaviors elsewhere as for low enrollment I have 140 students in my two buildings about half of those students are in third grade meaning and this is my first year so meaning that my program will continue to grow every year that I teach um currently at
067Berkeley nearly 20% of the student population at Berkeley isn't currently enrolled in Orchestra um I'm so sorry as for the cost of my program I was able to raise significant funding this year through instrument rental fees I raised nearly $1,000 at Halls fairy alone that that almost makes that part of my program self-sufficient um we have much much more value than simply putting on concerts and teaching students how to play instruments with respect whoever made the decision to cut our program simply did not take into consideration the full scope of what we bring to the table thank you thank you Mr Mitchell will follow up next up is Robert flake possible program cut okay hello my name is Robert flick I'm a junior at MCL North High School I am a an IB student but
068most importantly for this I am a chist in the MCL North Orchestra it is sadden me and my teachers and everyone else in our orchestra that we were informed during the middle of class that the school board is considering a proposal to eliminate secondary Orchestra programs across the district this decision would deprive our children of invaluable educational and artistic opportunities music education is not just an extracurricular activity it is a critical component of well-rounded education numerous Studies have shown that participation in Orchestra and other music programs enhances cognitive development improves academic performance Fosters discipline and strengthens teamwork and Leadership skills for many students Orchestra is more than just a class it is a source of motivation a creative outlet and a place where they learn to work together and find belonging if these programs are
069cut our students will lose access to highquality music education limiting their ability to pursue College scholarships professional careers in music and the lifelong Joy of playing an instrument additionally eliminating Orchestra could negatively impact the overall reputation reputation of our school district making it less attractive to families who value the art and I just want to leave on this last last thing of all the things that I've been able to do because we have a school orchestra which require school orchestra and have been sever which have been greatly helped by the school orchestra and having Mr Clemens our Orchestra teacher to guide me uh all Suburban uh all Suburban District festivals All State Orchestra solo Ensemble Festival State and District level desle fine artarts Festival conero competitions throughout the St Louis area and some string camps
070all require you to be in a school orchestra thank you Mr Mitchell will follow up with you next up is John flick proposed budget my name is John flick and I would just like to remind the board that several of you have said that you would make cuts that are furthest away from students and um when it comes to some of the things that they've been talking about particularly with Orchestra and strengths and things like that I do not consider those type of cuts to be the furthest away from students at least according to my definition I'd also like to comment on the preliminary budget uh the projected ending unrestricted fund balance is actually correctly reported at 11.29% all budget should disclose this number I believe because it accurately reflects the financial position of the
071district's operating budget you do not get that when you repesent a a percentage based on total funds Financial reports need to be consistent and that has been a problem and they should focus on unrestricted funds because that's what you operate out of if reported using unrestricted funds the 20 24 25 percentage which was reported at 11.7% in February should have been 8.2 we were would be moving in the right direction um to 11.3 by this budget as it currently stands but I am also concerned because I look at the budget and the things that we're cutting and I'm saying we didn't have a problem five years ago with funding some of these programs that we're looking at cutting now why are we cutting off the arms and legs of some of these programs that have
072been around and we've been able to sustain the issue that we have is one that has been perpetuated over a period of approximately four years and it has gone without proper oversight and guidance in those particular areas I do not believe that we can correct this problem in a one or twoyear period and we need to do it in small increments one of the big problems that I see that we have is our Capital spending and where we're getting the funds from starting and I believe it was 2021 the district started Des ating about 4.25% of their levied um money to go towards Capital fun capital projects on top of that drawing money even in this current budget out of General operations if you look at other school districts such as Hazelwood number one no
073tax levy money goes towards capital projects number two no money comes out of General operations we have squandered money in Capital Areas at for the sake of our children and our teachers and there needs to be an end to that thank you thank you Dr Singleton will follow up with you Matthew uh cost savings measures good evening board uh thank you for opening up this forum for public comments today um I'm here to advocate for my colleagues at McLure um my colleagues are incredible people um I'm an assistant principal at McClure and the other assistant principles not only know all their students names but they know their middle names they know their families they know their neighborhoods they know their jobs uh they know what their passions are and their commitment to the students does
074make a difference and and I'm going to go as far as to say that they save lives thank you Mr Mitchell will follow up with you last up is Veronica cutting of Strings program okay good evening my name is Veronica Smothers a parent of two students in a district and a little one is a part of parents's teacher program and I also work in the district as a Pinocchio associate and I've done it for the past n years my daughter is a fourth grader and a second year student string student under the direction of her Orchestra teacher Miss Bell as a as I am proud of Kylie for her academic accomplishments I'm equally impressed by her willingness to task herself in committing to learning to play the viola Miss Bell has introduced a level of
075professionalism to her student through clear and written contracts for both parents and students to assure cooperation and support to upholding the responsibility of creating future musicians through a collective effort of parent teacher and student engagement within the last two years my daughter has had the opportunity to have her first solo attend field trips providing her with exposure to music history and culture beyond the classroom and most importantly she's had the opportunity to perform with a grade higher than her which serves as a reminder that she can accomplish anything she puts her mind to I I recently asked my baby did she plan on continuing to play Viola for fifth grade and immediately was met with a yes as if my question was rhetorical I had no idea me asking her that recently could be a
076negative forecast of a potential that the district will be taking away that opportunity for her to grow as a stram student due to the lack of financial responsibility on the district's behalf mishandling the fund should not take away an opportunity for our students to receive supplemental and necessary creative Outlets I feel that the district's attempt to save money through cutting something such a string shows that the same outdated approach of going after Fine Arts as the first on the chopping block has proven to do nothing but take away limited resources that we already have can I provide private string lessons with sacrifice yes should I have to Outsource and finance for an opportunity initially provided voluntarily through the district because of the mishandling of funds on the districts we have no cutting Orchestra might be
077saving the district money but keep in mind you're are losing and wasting potential student Talent you're potentially taking away a scholarship opportunity and contined growth in personal development you remove these programs and replace them with what nothing this is counterproductive to the positive growth of the district thank you Dr P Walker will follow up so you want to thank everyone who submitted the comments the board takes all of these seriously and many things go through our minds as we're hearing comments as we're making decisions tonight again uh we get to learn much of this information when you all do as well there's no other meetings with this and so we appreciate taking the time in all the emails we do read them uh even if our responses sometimes are generic in nature we are reading
078them and we are just letting you know we have read them so appreciate everyone taking the time to do that as we do this difficult work tonight our student Representatives on a college tour tonight and not here FF Nea is Dana are you speaking or someone else thank you Miss Bell good evening Board of Education members co-s superintendent Dr Walker and Mr Mitchell FFA members Ferguson Floris family and community members after a relaxing spring break we are back to providing the students of the Ferguson Floris School District with the best education from the best professional staff today we completed the 123rd day of school you may wonder why the FFA States how many days we have been in school and why this simple statistical task holds such a huge significance with our members this evening
079I would like to take a moment to explain the importance of tracking our academic days not just as a marker of time but as a reflection of our shared commitment to education and our students growth first and foremost the countdown of school days is a critical reminder of the time we have dedicated to our students each day represents a unique opportunity for learning growth and connection the value of the education we provide cannot be overstated the tally of school days is more than a number it is a testament to our wavering dedication to fostering an environment where students can Thrive additionally tracking the number of school days helps us maintain a focus on accountability as Educators we are entrusted with ensuring that every moment in the classroom Counts from taking daily attendance classroom instruction multitask
080asking encountering unexpected disruptions professional developments plc's IEPs staff meetings lesson planning curriculum deep Dives District level committees classroom observations and parental contacts by keeping close tabs on our school days we can continually assess our academic calendar ensuring we maximize our time to deliver the best possible education this transparency helps us identify areas where we can improve adapt our strategies and ultimately enhance the learning experience for our students lastly let us not forget the significance of this countdown in preparing our students for the future school is not just about the academic content but also about teaching our students the value of time management perseverance and commitment to their goals by emphasizing the number of school days we instill in our students the importance of valuing each day each lesson and each opportunity to learn in Clos
081the administration and FFA will meet tomorrow to continue negotiations there are still a few proposals left on the table as well as salary the FFA professional negotiations team is optimistic that the administration team will reflect on this Collective journey and the continued commitment to Excellence and education that certified and support staff have demonstrated with our collaborative efforts of negotiating in good faith the days we have spent together this school year would be more than just a statistic they will reflect our commitment to Excellence and education together let us continue to inspire Challenge and support our students ensuring that everyday counts in this educational Journey thank you thank you Miss [Applause] B next up is item number five uh dispersements um Dr Singleton good evening to the Ferguson floron School District uh Board of Education colleagues
082and Community uh tonight I will present the dispersements report for March 26 2025 um as always we read the mission and vision statement the mission of the Ferguson flon school district is to provide high quality instruction to every student in every neighborhood while priority izing equity and compassionate relationships the vision of the Ferguson floriston school district is for all Learners to graduate believing that anything is possible and prepared to realize those possibilities um the uh the previous meeting uh contained the majority or the vast majority of the dispersements uh we had some additional dispersements that wanted to bring to the board um and these are all accounts payable dispersements in the amount of 710,000 96 that concludes the dispersement report are there any questions for Dr Singleton on the dispersements that remain seeing none is
083there motion to approve dispersements as presented so move move by Graves second second by done any discussion thank you for providing the reconciliations for February as well it's helpful to see that we are caught caught up on those reconciliations as we manage our money I appreciate that thank you any other questions or see none I'll we'll do roll call uh Dr Graves yes Dr Thurman yes secretary votes yes uh Mr Tyson Mr Bailey yes and Dr Martin yes motion carries oh Dr P Walker yes sorry motion carries thank you it's been requested by the board uh some board members to take a f- minute break before we start the next two heavy topics so we'll take a 5-minute recess and turn at 7:40 e e e we're going to come back together at this time
084we are going to according to get to our preliminary budget with Dr Singleton according to policy 61 6011 the administration shall provide the Board of Education with a budget estimate for the next fiscal year the estimate must contain estimated receipts by Source fund and estimated dispersements by purpose and funds the administration will be prepared a Pim budget with anticipated revenues and expenditures I just want to make it clear this is just this is not even the draft budget this is just preliminary numbers that will change uh to between now and May and so I just want to make sure folks know that these are not final numbers these are just preliminary numbers that we're using based on estimates as we learn more information by policy we have to present this tonight in May is really
085when the actual budget comes together after suggestions this is a chance for the board to give some opportunity of feedback or direction for administration and so therefore we're having preliminary budget first then cost saving measures Dr Singleton thank you all right good evening again everyone um so I will go right into the preliminary budget presentation uh We've read the mission and vision on the previous uh agenda item so let's move into slide number three um thank you Dr Martin for eloquently um articulating that this is just an estimate okay we do not expect these numbers to be final um there's a lot of work that goes into the budget between now and May and of course uh the final adopted budget uh in June uh per per uh State uh State rules uh is that
086the final District budget have to be adopted uh by June 30th and so um we've got a long way to go but this is kind of a start of how we're getting there uh so to speak so um we uh we also thank Mr flick for his comment because we're certainly seeing um the recommendations that are being made um tonight you're going to see what happens in each of the funds um and so we're able to see just kind of a different version uh but we also uh certainly want to look at um each of the fund and the overall fund balance and so if we look at our uh the first green column is the fund uh fund 11 uh which is your general fund okay uh your general fund is typically handles um
087salaries benefits for your non-certified okay that's your catchall account it's an unrestricted account um and it pretty much handles anything that the restricted funds do not handle um and so we're looking at about $70 million in revenues and the general fund um and about $66 million of expenditures also in fund 20 the second green column over looking at about $72 million this is our Teachers Fund uh all the money in this fund are restricted for salaries and benefits for those who hold a teaching certification all right um and so that's very important to know there um and so we see about $ 72.8 million in fund2 about $ 71.3 million in expenditures um those two funds together um make up what we call unrestricted funds okay um and so we see right now um that
088the unrestricted fund balance is about uh I'm sorry um the unrestricted fund balance is about 11.29% okay um again minimally we should be looking at somewhere around 15% uh or higher um and so we certainly want to keep track and and keep our eyes on that unrestricted uh fund balance uh the other two funds have more restrictions we call those restriced funds fund 30 is used for debt Services uh and so the only thing that typically happens in that fund is you're paying Bond obligations uh you're paying uh principal and interest payments on any debt outstanding that the district has uh so we're looking at about $4 million in revenues there about $3 million in expenditures um and so uh we're seeing about an ending fund balance of about 7 .2 million um and we
089see a huge percentage of fund balance here 240% okay um let me pause and say um while that looks like an astronomical number okay the amount of money in that fund $7 million is very minor compared to the $150 million in the budget so that number does absolutely nothing okay to increase the fund balance the overall fund balance all right so I just want to be sure we're clear when we see a number like that and we want to average it with the other two numbers uh that that's not the the weight in that fund the $7 million is is is is is very small compared to the $140 million or so that exists in the other two funds and so while uh debt Services looks very very attractive that simply means we are able
090to meet our bond payment and our bond obligations uh without any issues fund 40 is also a restricted fund it's for capital projects um and this fund typically uh will bring it about $3 million preliminarily we'll spend about five and so this is typically a fund where um historically the district has had to transfer from the general fund in order to cover the overages here one of the reasons that we overspend in this fund is because we do not Levy enough okay uh in capital projects okay uh the tax levy does not give us enough there and so we have to transfer from the general fund to cover uh any additional uh cost as well there so that fund will probably always or should hold uh just about a 0% um uh fund balance there
091okay because we have to transfer from the general fund to cover anything outstanding there so the total of all funds we're looking at about $150 million uh in revenues next year uh again this is preliminary as we as as we get into April and May and we learn more about um those the makeup of those monies those numbers could change and so we're going to definitely keep our eye out there on expenditures about $146 million um and so as the directive of the board came to us we needed to increase the fund balance by at least $3 million okay we know that we're not going to be able to solve all of our budget woes in one fiscal year so we heard the feedback okay do it in increments all right and so uh I
092think the board was very generous at least is considering uh allowing us to grow by $3 million rather than trying to to uh you know to cut or to make massive Cuts uh to try and resolve everything uh just in one fiscal year um and so again the overall fund balance is 15.53% that's overall okay but again uh as we've heard tonight what's really most important is that 11.29% okay that is unrestricted monies that is really operations that's day-to-day operations in our school district that's teacher salaries that's general fund salaries that really that's unrestricted monies it does not have the board can give directive on how those funds are to be spent the other two funds are restricted in nature um and so there's very little interpretation of what can be done with those funds
093I'm going to continue on also again we're still going to have to borrow okay according to the preliminary budget we are are still going to have to borrow um my projection says up to $25 million hopefully we'll have uh a more uh conservative number a more approximate number as we get to the final budget uh but right now we're still thinking about uh roughly about $25 million uh that we will have to borrow uh to make it through December 31st 2025 and as a reminder this year um we were authorized to borrow up to 9.5 million we did borrow $7 million um to get us through uh December of the last fiscal year or last uh calendar year uh December 31st 2024 let me go on to the next slides and the next slides really
094just kind of give you some detail as to what makes up the revenue sources um I I particularly like these slides because it kind of tells you the picture of the school district it kind of Paints the narrative where do we get our funds okay and so when we're talking about local revenues all right the preliminary budget has about $94 million in local revenues okay um the majority of that coming from current and delinquent taxes okay um those are our real estate property taxes uh that's the taxes that the homeowners uh who fall into the uh Ferguson floron School District um those are the taxes that you all pay you have paid um and certainly uh kudos to all of our residents because um we have collected uh the 60 the $65 million or so
095that we have budgeted uh in this year's budget and we're certainly uh hoping and banking that the additional monies uh next year will come in as anticipated as well uh prop c um is the sales tax that's the 1-cent sales tax uh the district gets and we budget about 14 $ million for there uh Eminem is merchants and manufacturers it's a commercial tax um we got about 11 million dollars there that we budget um and then there's some interest that we Budget on investments uh certainly not to the tune uh of about 1.7 million that we thought we were going to get this past year uh but the interest and also there are a few other smaller categories that all come under local uh that we pretty much budget maybe between a million and $2
096million there the county revenues okay about $1.7 million the biggest of that being obviously State assess Railroad and utility taxes so those are for railroads and utilities uh that pay taxes in the school district uh you've got fines sheets and overplus that's kind of surplus monies uh that come in every now and then a sheets or property um that uh unclaimed property uh that the district tends to benefit from as well uh that happens at the county level uh and then there's some domestic insurance tax money as well on the state level this is kind of the second biggest bucket of money that we receive in this school district about $40 million the majority of that money comes from basic formula um it is a complex formula that looks at a lot of things attendance
097is one okay um that uh basically uh deter determines the amount of revenues uh that we get uh in the school district uh we do get reimbursements for transportation Early Childhood sped classroom trust uh those are gaming revenues uh Early Childhood P career a these are state grants uh that we get in the school district a little bit in Food Service public placement and also some other state revenues um the next category is our federal revenues okay um and we're talking about close to $14 million in federal revenues all right those are Medicaid reimbursements that we get um some rooc funds career ad um um EC sped um a big one here is our federal and federal lunch and breakfast programs um we are reimbursed a certain dollar amount uh for feeding our kids breakfast
098and lunch um and that typic typically uh uh amounts to a pretty substantial amount of money uh in revenues on the federal lunch and breakfast side okay um also the title program uh brings in a substantial amount of money for the school district uh more than $4 million and the title is packaged uh you got title one which is for low income uh and again we are a title one District title two uh is teacher quality um those grants are are geared towards uh Improvement of instruction title three title four um and we've got a couple others Perkins CTE as well and so that's kind of the focus on the federal revenues and again this is preliminary as we get to closer to May and June um we will have a better gauge on if
099the district will receive these funding amounts uh in totality and so uh that's where we are uh there's a category we call other uh it's a catchall category uh one of the things that we have in other revenues is our transportation fees uh that we build to other districts this is where our mcken ventos students uh come into play um we do provide transportation for those Scholars as well um and so we build other school districts um as well as they build us okay um and so we've got about $200,000 uh that we have budgeted on the revenue side uh for that as well all right so moving on to the expenditures of course we know that in every school district the number one expenditure is going to be salaries and benefits um that's true
100with our district as well uh the vast majority of our budget 80 85% goes to salary and benefits and so um the expenditures again we had a preliminary budget on the 12th uh the um uh the the now the preliminary numbers after a lot of uh conversation uh and a lot of meetings um and we've had quite a few meetings to just determine where we need to be um and so again these are the numbers for salaries for the preliminary budgets uh $2.8 million coming from title the FTE is the full-time equivalent or full-time employee um that's 41.3 you'll see some de deal uh and that simply reflects the fact that people are paid from multiple programs and so um part of the salary could come from the district part of the salary could come
101from a federal program and so when you see a three or a02 or a 0.5 it simply means that there's a partial salary being paid by that funding source uh that uh and then the other portion is paid somewhere else and so we've get some proportionate dollars uh through special school districts uh 328,000 there uh the FTE those are the employee accounts in those positions administrative central office we've gone down uh to 22.2 individuals uh administrative uh at the building level down to 40 okay at $4.9 million on the certificated side 6125 at $ 41.7 million none certificated 680 at about $ 24.2 million also we budget for stiens we budget for overtime uh as well uh on the salary side on the benefit side we've got about $3.9 million um that is a rough
102estimate at this point um our insurance committee is yet to meet to really determine how we're going to land but preliminary estimates are at least about an 8% increase to expect on the medical side okay um that goes those benefits what are they that's psrs that's peers that's Medicare Social Security um and we have a district that certainly uh helps contribute to those these are uh employer sponsor benefits as well uh so about $3.9 million uh on the benefit side uh on purchase Services we've got about $17 million budget uh We've certainly made some reductions on the purchase Services side um there are several of and these are just a few these are certainly not an exhaustive list but just a few of the contracts that we've looked at and then we've made some adjustments
103to this school year um aramar for instance gave us back at least $300,000 cix we were able to forego the cix payment for this school year um and put the payment into next year's budget at half the cost and so we certainly appreciate cix for being very generous that is the uh Panic alert system that uh a lot of our teachers uh and administrators have at the building level uh Skyward uh that is our software uh that we use uh we migrated over to Skyward uh last year uh music Insurance a big cost almost $4 million and that is Insurance uh that is a mandate you must have insurance to cover you uh in the event of anything uh that can happen in school districts and so we saw a huge increase this year in
104our music Insurance uh and we certainly have to benefit for or we have to um budget for some kind of a modest increase next year as well uh communication software um we spent about $143,000 to in total there are several software packets that we use um uh our SRO contract uh they did give us back a little bit of money on the SRO contract as well uh went from 900 to 825,000 emerges um they provide us a lot of contractual labor um we reduce that contract as well and also about 207 207,000 on the Marco which is our copier lease uh as well so we' made some significant reductions to purchase Services um also on the 6400s those are just our supplies okay $8.3 million um we gave each building a per student allocation um
105and so uh based on that pursuant allocation obviously our buildings will be able to provide uh General supplies uh for instruction uh technology paper those kinds of things uh in general supplies Capital Outlet $5.3 million uh this is where we do all of our capital projects okay um these are our roof Replacements our hfac systems Fire Systems lighting this is where we buy equipment from okay um and that comes to the tune of about $5.3 million in capital outlay uh also on the expense side under 6600 we say other uh the preliminary budget puts about $3.7 million in um on the long-term loans those are loans that are more than a year um and so we've got a few bonds that are out there uh that have that have that we still paying on so
106about $1.9 million that we budget for principal payment of the bonds the interest uh about a million dollars uh okay uh in interest on debt Services also we had to factor into the fact that if we're going to borrow $25 million uh of tax anticipation note that's the T money uh then we had to certainly uh build some interest in there as well um today's interest rates would probably be at about 7% 7.06 and so we got about $368,000 that we need to budget for interest um uh it once we take out the tax anticipation note and also $372,000 uh for facility Capital interest uh that we're paying on as well okay um as we mentioned uh the the percentages as well fund balance 11.29% unrestricted that's both the general and special fund and debt
107Services those are restricted funds debt services and capital projects again we a huge number in debt service but the fact that that's only $7 million out of the total $150 million uh it does absolutely nothing to increase the overall fund balance uh again capital projects because we don't even Levy Enough From the Start uh those monies have to be transferred and then finally again overall uh 15.53% uh on the overall fund balance that's looking at all uh all four of our funds uh combined that concludes the presentation and again I want to emphasize that this is preliminary uh there will be a number of changes uh that happen between now and may uh which calls for the first reading of the budget um and so we will be working diligently to True up some of
108these numbers we already know at least one number Dr Martin uh on capital projects that we uh certainly need to to account for uh with the sale of Airport Road uh and there's some other Minor Adjustments that we will certainly uh be be putting into the budget between now uh and the final budget in June so that concludes my uh preliminary budget presentation and I certainly appreciate your time thank you Dr Singleton again want to appreciate U make it clear that this is a preliminary budget there's not even a draft budget it's preliminary appreciate I think since I've been on the board I feel like this is the most detailed we received at a preliminary budget at least to get understanding where all the money comes from we'll start with Dr Paul Walker work our
109way down to Mr B at the end for questions so Dr Paul Walker thank you um so good evening thank you for being here thank you for all the work you uh put into this as I start with my questions I always feel like it's important to acknowledge that you inherited this budget right and so some of the questions that I know I have might be a little difficult but just know it's not personal it's just like it's where we are um I wanted to ask if you if we go back to the slide that looks at 6100 which is salaries yes ma'am we know that one of the reasons why we are where we are today is because there was a miscalculation of the number of Staff members in the budget uh that was
110presented to the board and so I I would like it if you could describe to us the process that you use to come up with the number of FTE for each area uh because I just want to be sure that those numbers are accurate um yeah so that's kind of the thing I'd like to know about first sure um and and and I certainly appreciate that question I think the person that's most qualified to answer that question as our human resources person and we have worked collaboratively um you know so I can shed some light I think Dr P Walker probably uh Can Shed a little bit of light on this as well um so um the Dr P let me let you start and then I I can come in afterwards sure and I'm
111apologize that that um Dr Heywood is not here this evening she's taking ill um but I do have um and you will receive board the Staffing data spreadsheet which identifies some various categories um that spells out specifically all of the positions within the district based on admin um Co admin building certified adjusted non-certified adjusted um and any changes dispro as well as federal dollars and so each of the positions are listed there and they identify people positions and um and amounts and so those dollars then are filtrated into um the budget and so that's how the numbers are coming together okay so we feel really confident about this number yes so this is where we are as of today um and this number has certainly uh day by day uh it it continues to change
112um it continues to change I'll I'll I'll leave it at that okay uh thank you and so I want to also ask um on this budget each line item of course has a budgeted amount and I know this is a preliminary budget but ideally you kind of want to stay within the realm of this number that you've come up with though it is an estimate and so in light of where we are I'm curious to know what internal guard rails have you all put in place to make sure that we have those checks and balances that are necessary to make sure we don't find ourselves in this situation again yeah so now that that's always a good question Dr Paul Walker um and and so and I think you've asked that question uh before um
113and and I can't remember exactly verbatim the the the response that we gave uh but I can tell you there are some there are some things that we've put in place um you know going forward to just make sure um that we stay aligned um with with our spending um you know first of all we're going to to to do an amended budget at least once um you know that's that's always going to help us get more clarity you know we we do a preliminary budget we've done an amended budget we've done a preliminary budget we're going to do a first reading we're going to do a final budget um you're going to get monthly reports that's going to track the progress of each of these accounts um I think it used to be where
114the the the the reports were just in your package you approve them but you all are asking those questions and so you know I'm I'm I'm obligated to stand before you on a monthly basis to report out on some of these numbers um we again what what wasn't happening prior to is that finance and HR you know weren't always communicating um and so we are uh the the team now is communicating um and and there are lots of players at the table um I like the fact that you know the the the all of the cabinet members were there and we all share in some of the uh you know some of the uh the numbers that are presented are being presented here um and so again to to monitor those uh to make sure
115that anybody that goes over um you know there're going to be budget controls there to keep you from going over um there are things that we put in place we've got an additional oversight policy that's there as well and so there are several things that that that we have put in place that will hopefully put us in a better situation to be able to man manage and track where we are uh going forward okay thank you for sharing that and I do want you to know that I know that I asked the question before but I asked it again because it wasn't clear okay so I wanted to I wanted to better understand it and it's still a little fuzzy okay as you describe it I do think it's really important in light of where
116we are to always be able to articulate what we're doing internally to monitor the budget because of where we are um so if I ask it I may ask it again right it could come up again please don't take that the wrong way I I was trying to remember the answer that I gave you um when I said that but absolutely I I welcome those questions okay and I also want to ask about this the general supplies uh one um I don't know if that we can go to that slide um I wanted to ask about the technology I wanted to this this is something I also mentioned before which is the usage of the programs that we have um I know that there are lots of programs that our students are using and I
117guess of course I'm always concerned about impact right um sometimes you can look at the program maybe and find out that no one's really using it so I'm trying to figure out when you when you did your preliminary number was there consideration given to programs that are actually being utilized by teachers and students yes ma'am and again this is a this this here is a collective when we talk about General supplies um you know technology and things these These are Chromebooks that cost less than $1,000 I think the threshold is $1,000 a capitalize an asset okay um and so these are Chromebooks these are things of that nature uh that will be going into the classrooms um you know other supplies other instructional material um and so yes we met with our technology team and
118they made cuts to programs that were were either ineffective or we just did not have the high usage as well um and so yes our technology team played a role in helping us develop these numbers as well and I have the same question about instructional materials um you know just thinking about curriculum and other things and um I'm just curious to know was the same process used in putting this number together are we looking at places where there might be duplication or programs where we just continue to prove them from year to year but maybe nobody's using it or it's not having an impact yes ma'am I I know and palker and brand I'm going to ask you all to help chime in on that as well um and I I remember specifically Mr Murray
119us having a conversation with one of those vendors uh and we were going to we've reduced some some some some costs in certain in some of those areas but in terms of the instructional programs that's not always my best area so let me let the the experts answer that I don't know about expert but I can it's uh I know we made some initial Cuts I think the initial budget was about $2.1 million for curriculum I think at this time we're proposing about 1.8 and some change I see head not with my team so yes so we've made some Cuts Dr uh P Walker so far but we're continuing to look at programs to determine if we need to make some further Cuts okay thank you thank you Dr Graves um I just need some
120clarification just real quick I think I missed something in um your initial initial um explaining um when you had the uh four different categories yes on the preliminary budget can you share again with fun 11 20 30 and 40 yes uh fun 11 is a general fund um that's kind of the catchall it's unrestricted pretty much um so 11 and 20 when we say unrestricted um it doesn't have um limitations on what can be done with that fund okay the board has the obligation the the the authority to set what happens in those funds so that's fun 11 is for your nuns um you know that's where all the general supplies and things fall in fund 20 is your Teachers Fund okay um that is strictly for in salaries and benefits for those that have
121a teaching certification all right right so the the numbers you see in those funds are reflected for certificated staff the fund 30 um again it's a small amount of money the last two funds are are much smaller than the first two um but the fund 30 is for debt Services um that is strictly used to pay for your outstanding Bond issues and obligations uh and then fund 40 is your capital projects fund which is only restricted to C capital projects so that's your big HVAC projects your Roofing projects those yes and then again and thank you so much I guess my biggest question is um just in regards to the possible Federal cuts um and the federal revenues that are coming in and I know there's nothing has been actually stated that it's going to
122happen but are we putting anything in place like a second type of budget if we actually face some Revenue issues with federal dollars coming in and like almost like if this happens this is we kind of we going to be good and we don't have to act quickly like it are there any um proactive measures being done with the actual making of this new budget with that being in mind because we just really don't know sure sure and I'm going to let you know PW Walker is the federal programs expert and so I'll let her comment first and then I'll try to follow up federal programs expert but absolutely not the expert of all things that are happening in our country right now so as it relates to um Federal programs they've spoken a lot
123about the fact that title one funding more than likely say that will be safe that two through um two and three two is of course related to professional development for staff three is related to elll that those have been discussed as you know um four we speak more about um it's well-rounded students so that it touches a lot of different things there hasn't been a lot of conversation about taking funds away from that um there's been a lot of conversation around CTE and expanding that Career and Technical education for for children and so there hasn't been a bun of conversation about removing those things remember though that all of these grants that we're talking about are on a reimbursement basis so we have to spend District money first and then we get reimbursed for it
124so at this time time one4 and the CTE programs seem to be safe but we'll check the news and then I guess the biggest one for me is just kind of that lunch and breakfast thing um has there been any conversations um and then what do we need to put in place to for that one yeah I I haven't heard a lot of chatter or conversation uh about any reductions uh to the national school lunch and breakfast program um they have been very stable um over time and so um you know and and her response will be mine as well we're just going to continue to check the news to make sure uh but at this point we have no reason to do anything massive in those area simply because um those programs seem to
125be safe uh at this point I guess my biggest thing is I just would rather be um proactive than reactive and just really figuring out cuz we know something is coming with that and not necessarily knowing what it is but just to see if there's any way that we can be proactive on that end and that's all the questions thank you so much thank you Dr Thurman I have one question if we could go to 6200 benefits no no go back stay on the same stay on the same yeah thank you okay and for the 25 26 school year there's $1 million projected I mean that's preliminary on the preliminary budget there 11.4 right and then we go yes ma'am I'm sorry go ahead I'm sorry and then we go to 2526 to 19.5 right
126right you may have said this before but could you remind me of how you got to this new number what is the percentage is that where did you get the number from the the the 25 26 because we're talking about a $8 million is that right is that correct oh you're okay I I think I know what you're you're referring to was the uh the the the total deficit but the oh I'm sorry not the deficit I'm looking at benefits that was the same question that us just asked is the between the 11th and the 20th one I mean the fun a fund 20 these numbers are not the um it's not they're not the same okay that's what I just want to make sure that I'm I'm reading thisd CER certify staff and other
127got yes ma'am absolutely so yes fun just want to make sure yeah fund 11 are benefits that the district pays or incurs for non-certificated staff uh so those are your AIDS custodians those employees so we were asked kind of pretty much asking the same question and F 20 is for teachers okay okay I think I'm I'm I'm okay now yes ma'am thank you um couple questions one just seems odd to me under cap or code uh fun30 what do you spend $500 for in purchase of services uh Dr Martin let me look at it I I I don't it seems like a very odd like $500 when you're talking about millions of just um the other thing is so what are we spending so much in capital outlay on that we keep transferring funds to
128we've heard that from some comments I'm just curious why are we transferring $2.7 million to Capital outlay if we're not bringing in the revenue for it what are we doing with that money yeah so uh and I'll I'll share this with you um a lot of districts don't even Levy into the capital um outlay fund a lot of districts place all the levy money into the general fund and from the general fund you can transfer to cover any other the other District uh the other expenses um but in in this particular case um you know five $5 million uh in capital projects again those are Roofing projects that are on the district now okay those are HVAC when when our systems and equipment and things of that nature break down so most of this is
129facilities work this is what facilities is doing uh to keep our buildings functioning to keep our our grounds running and again we're we just the the levy is like I think it's 20 cents um that Levy just does not generate enough money to fully cover all of the projects that are necessary in the school district so it's really uh facilities I think Mr O'Neal could probably certainly expand on that but it's not only facilities the these fund 40 is also any computer uh or equipment purchase that's over $11,000 you know uh but but the majority of that falls in facilities so are the are you saying they're essential like we absolutely have to have it or are these things that we could reduce in that area as well well we made some reductions um that
130was a few of the things that we've put off I'll say um but at some point I think there's one I know and I don't know if Mr O'Neal is here there was one school that we have to put a roof on to the tune of a million dollars a soul um we've been pushing that down the barrel uh for a while it might be Halls fairy for some reason I think that's the school that I know that we're going to have to put a new roof on okay and I guess go back to Dr P Walker's question like are there big technology purchases that are coming out of there that we need to still do just trying to figure out where the 5.3 is coming from to see why we keep overspending that that
131area yeah yeah um there are some computer leases in here um we do have some leases that we uh do on computers as well um but again I think the majority of that is is your HVAC is your Roofing it's those projects got it um and we did pay back this year's loan already just for the record correct yes sir okay uh and are I guess the question if you go to preliminary Budget on other revenue for transportation fees to others yes certainly I see us paying a lot out we paid another 300 some thousand tonight to other districts for transportation I'm just curious are we billing the other districts as much as they're billing us I'm going to let uh Mr Mitchell it just seems like we're paying out way more than what we're
132receiving oh yeah back I am an expert in this respon so I'm excited um yes sir so the the districts up until I believe mid-march have been invoiced to $200 plus thousand in my report this week to you all we did receive a check from Hazelwood I believe for about 30 plus thousand um and then I've directed my team to reissue invoices for those we've not collected from at this time got I guess to go to Dr Paul Walker's question before like safeguards right do we have safeguards in place to make sure that we are making sure we're billing everyone just it seems like they're certainly billing us correct so we should make sure we're billing them uh when we just paid another District I think $100,000 almost in mckin vinto transportation which of course
133not saying we shouldn't but it seems like we're getting build a lot more than we're building other people yeah yeah I agree so we have safeguards in place to make sure everyone who we're supposed to build is actually getting build and we're following up on building oh I'm sorry absolutely and we've been sending those bills out month-to month and so um we are using a program that allows us to be a little bit more aggressive I think is the word to use with our purchasing because we have to come with our own software and own system to do these type of invoices but we are sending those out uh I am in the network with people in similar positions we've had some conversations which I think is how one check we received here recently came
134about but we'll continue to pursue those options thank you Miss D uh thank you for your presentation I just have one quick question for my own understanding when we look at the expenditures for purchase services in general suppli and general supplies um I just would like some clarification I noticed that instructional materials is underneath General supplies is that more like consumables or materials that we are needing in classrooms to make sure instruction is able to take place or does that include things like um our curriculum and I ask because I notice in purchase Services most of those Services um that well those services are not related to actual instruction um but there's and I know you said it was not a full list and we won't see a full list in the preliminary budget um
135but the list that we do have is well far from 17 million I'm just if we can get some more information on that where curriculum is um and so forth sure sure um and and it could fall in either category if it's in a 6300 account it's generally a purchase services so it's a program that we're we're we're purchasing um but if it's in a general Supply account here instructional material is more so items that we purchase for classroom instruction in usage so um it could be books it could be you know those kinds of materials at the 6400 level the 6300 level you're paying for the company the program the software but at 6400s you're actually paying for the instructional material so would you say what would you say the majority then of purchase
136Services encompasses like what types of services are in there if if you can say I'm just curious because again that's a large number that isn't and I know you said everything's not in there but it's not really accounted for in this list well purchase Services by definition is something that we contract it's a service that we contract with um not using our own employees okay and so again one of the big numbers here is uh music okay that's insurance that we're required to have to operate as a school district um another big number here is air Mar okay that's our food service we contract with aark to provide food services uh to uh you know employees es to our um uh to our Scholars uh to eat and things of that nature um we got
137a lot of other purchase Services contracts with vendors who Supply us staff okay that's a big one uh Staffing Services uh fall under this purchase Services umbrella as well uh because we get a lot of our employees from agencies okay custodians our AIDS Cooks they all come from agencies and so they make up a lot of a big number of that our SRO contract okay it's almost a million dollars uh or it was uh we made some reductions uh but those are external services that we bring into the district to service our Scholars um thank you for that so while I know that um someone else will be sitting in this seat uh come in a few weeks um what I would be interested as a community member as you continue through with um the
138draft of the budget and the final budget is almost like and and I know that we had a very pretty budget in the past um almost like I'm thinking like a pie chart so like how you just said a lot of this is Staffing and you gave all those different pieces what what would that be of that portion just so that it makes it easy to see easy to read um as a community member because when we're seeing these numbers um sometimes I know I was sitting here when we first got it trying to add it up I'm like well that doesn't quite make sense but I'm sure he'll explain that and you did saying it's just a portion so just thinking visually how we can really make this um simple and easy to understand
139at glance so thank you thank you Mr Tyson hey Dr Singleton Mr Tyson um prior to coming to the school board um I spent 25 years in the mortgage industry in that role uh I helped individuals businesses institutions develop sound financial strategies optimizing cash flow and being responsible in managing boring funds first I want to acknowledge and thank Dr Singleton and his financial team for his extensive work and putting in helping keeping our district uh operational through the challenging Financial season we're in this past year it was recommended and approved by the board the utilization of a tan tax anticipated note intens are certainly a recognized and often necessary tool which districts who face Financial gaps Revenue gaps as we did to go to and I understand the rationale behind it and why the recommendation
140and this is why I approved it as a board member as one board member I supported it however tonight I respectfully ask us again to broaden our view again there is a viable alternative that I believe deserves a serious consideration and that is a sweep account a sweep account is a secure automated Financial tool that transfers excess cash from an operating account into an interest bearing investment such as collateralized money market account and repurchase agreement at the end of the day at the end of each day idle cash is swept into an account when funds are needed for expenses they are swept back into the operating account automatically this is smart and a strategic way to earn interest on our funds that we already have without compromising any access to these funds now why does
141this matter we are needing to make cuts no doubt to reduce costs but at the end of the day this district is not facing a revenue shortage we're facing a timing with the revenue that is coming in versus the expenses that is going out okay by defaulting the boring through the 10an we should by not just defaulting the borrow through the T we should leverage our funds that we already have more effectively and here are the key points and I'm going to concede the district existing fund balance can be used for the s account under Missouri law rsmo 16551 school districts are allowed to invest funds that are not immediately needed for current expenditures as long as these Investments are safe this includes general fund Capital project project fund debt Services funds and other fund
142balances not tied up into daily operations by utilizing a portion of our fund balances through sweep account we can generate daily interest improve our cash flow and possibly reduce and eliminate the need to borrow I'm G say that one more time by getting a sweep account we can eliminate the need to borrow without touching restricted and unavailable funds here's the comparison if we borrow another $25 million through a 10 as as suggested tonight at just a 4% interest we could be facing $1 million or more in interest and fees monies that we cannot recover a sweep account flips this equation instead of paying to access our Capital we earn from what we already have this is not about adding risk it's about using another tool that's at our disposal to be more financial responsible in
143that Vision my position as a board memb is I cannot in good conscience support barring another $24 million with the tan without first conducting a full and transparent review of a sweep account as an alternative we're all looking for ways to save money by and again these Cuts is bothering me but to spend another $1 million to borrow money when there are alternatives that a district this size can explore in the financial tools I think it's worth and I believe our community our staff and our students deserve to see both options fully and compare them before borring decisions are made again this is not a rejection of ATT tan it is just a call for us to be more due diligent we have more options available to us than just a 10 thank you thank
144you thank you Mr Tyson Mr Bailey yeah I just have a couple points um first point is uh Dr graser brought it up and I I keep saying it it it is so much helpful if we have scenarios we understand that things aren't as accurate as they need to be but scenarios give the community a look about strategy you know uh I think strategy is important when you're working through budgets the second thing is we made comments in the past about exra funds being youed for used for capital projects can you expand upon how the SRA funds have been used for capital projects um sure and and of course I I'll call on the Esser uh uh expert uh Dr Pew Walker as well we're all experts tonight right um so the Esra funds were
145you know the the infusion of funds that school districts had uh to really combat Co they were originally designed to you know mitigate covid uh improve air quality those kinds of things um and then you know some of the revision so some of the allowable costs were salary and other things uh but but in terms of capital projects um Dr P Walker let me let me let you because I know our website um and she was very very gracious to make sure that all of our eser expend were posted on the district's website so the community can see this but Dr pwalk you want to explain some of the capital projects that we took undertook with user absolutely I was just pulling up the website so that I could see some of them um we
146are actually we just finished up our final um Esser project here in this building uh taking care of the HVAC components but you will see in several of our other buildings around the district that um gymnasiums hbac upgrades at McLure McClure North Hall fairy Robin Wood Lee Hamilton Berkeley F metal air handler Replacements were done here um HVAC and AC upgrades thank you Terry for showing on over there um Innovation duch Griff I mean pretty much all of our schools received some type of kitchen AC upgrade and our HVAC throughout their um their spaces our drinking fountain updates there were a lot we spent uh 6,484 18349 3 cents to outfit our buildings um in a way that would help us to mitigate um the co pieces we did flooring components to ensure that we
147took up the carpets so that we could easily wipe up the floors if there was an issue um roof Replacements were done Chiller Replacements were done throughout our district so I know recently we were speaking with some folks with um FF Nea the other day about um the MGT component and so some of the things that are on that report actually have upgrades to them because we have done that work as I said we just finished up all of those things in the last month and so Esser at the end of this school year Esser will be cleared out and I thank you for that the reason why I was asking that is because of that report that report stated a lot of things that the district needed as far as uh transportation and different
148things that I've asked for information about we still have a lot of outstanding projects that we need to be notified as to far as what outstanding projects like have to be done because that's important as as we forecast our budget so we don't have any surprises and I've asked for that information as far as the capital projects that are still outstanding within the district that's going to be very helpful as you present information to us yes sir yes sir that's just my comment okay Mr Terry all right thank you any other comments from the board seeing none thank you so much sorry Mr I do just have a recommendation um can we I don't know if this is the time to do it but can we direct um Dr Singleton to conduct a side bys
149side analyst analysis of both the tax the tan and the sweep account to give us both to give the board the options of how it looks side by side so that we can show our stakeholders that we're not just being willing to act but being willing to act wisely because I again given options is better than just defaulting to what we know there are more options out there what I'm hearing is if we can have the preliminary the draft budget in by May if we can have some uh information understanding of options as we prepare for the final budget approval in June that we have an understanding that we can have some time that gives you some time to talk to our financial people as well and figure out what are the options and let
150us know legal risk and all those things correct So based on the $25 million kind of what their opinions are I appreciate that is anyone opposed to that on the board if they bring that in May thank you Mr Tyson thank you Dr Singleton with that uh next up is item number apologize what it number is seven um certainly the one that we are not looking forward to the most but certainly as we've been hearing today board how we're going to do this is uh just for the community to know we received this yesterday our uh report of the final recommendations things continue to evolved the board sent in about 27 questions already for them to incorporate various things so although you might not hear every single question please note that we've already submitted 27
151questions for them to incorporate in the various presentations tonight and so um they've been working diligently and certainly when we asked them to take on this role we did not anticipate us getting into the situation and they are uh in a position that they're having to make very difficult decisions that are not easy and we certainly appreciate their willingness uh to help address us as we think through uh other districts we've heard about uh St Louis Public and others uh SSD many of those districts are in a very different finan situation although their deficit spending they had a reserve that they could deficit spend into we unfortunately did not have a reserve or fund balance that we could spend into nearly to the level of degree that St Louis Public or SSD have um SSD
152was around a 70% fund balance and they're trying to get down to 35 St Louis Public although deficit spending had a fund balance that's still substantially above even the 20% marker so we were in a dire financial crisis which is why the terminology Miss Hollman used when we communicated out was a financial crisis because that is really what we are in if we do not cut we will have no money left um and we have to make some decisions uh no one wants to make a decision to affect anyone's livelihood we want to make sure that we are protecting our children and our programs and our schools we know our schools um sometimes need extra love and care and many people it gets hard when you start seeing faces and names and impact and so
153uh what we're going to ask is a little change up just so the board knows the co-acting superintendents are going to sit up here they're going to go through each recommendation the board's going to take a vote on each recommendation instead of as a whole just to allow for additional conversation instead of that there will be changes tonight I anticipate as always um and again they're continuing to dive in as they go through this budget so they'll start with the first overview slide then we'll stop at steam we'll be the first recommendation theard board will make a motion we'll have discussion we'll vote then they'll go to the next recommendation we'll make a motion discussion and vote anyone oppose to that thank you so much to our co-acting superintendent and all the teams that been
154working around the clock to make this happen uh to get us to a place that ultimately make decisions what is best for children thank you thank you we want to begin by acknowledging the Deep commitment of our teachers staff and community members who are here tonight and those who are watching online we understand that the decisions before us are incredibly difficult and impact the very heart of our schools which are our students our Educators and the programs that support them please know that as Dr Martin said that these financial decisions are not made lightly we recognize that every position in this District plays a vital role in the success and well-being of our students every educator every support staff member every program contributes to the the strong Foundation we have built together our goal is
155to navigate these challenges with transparency which is why we try and utilize our website to put the information there for all to see um and a focus on minimizing the impact on students as much as possible everything impacts our students um but as much as possible we are trying to mitigate the situation while we may not have may not have made very easy answers we remain committed to working together to ensure that our district remain strong and continues to serve our students with excellence and with that we will take a look at our presentation so the very first item that is on the um presentation sorry we have a clicker I don't think we do we got it okay can we click up here sorry so we make sure we're following along on the screen
156thank you all right and then if the folks upstairs can just kind of follow along with me please um so we get to this point to where we have been tasked with ensuring the long-term Financial stability of the Ferguson floron School District by while maintaining high quality Educational Services uh together along with uh Partnerships with fnaa we' we've met with the entire cabinet to identify cost we've uh are very thankful for the, for survey responses we've received the emails the conversations we've had uh in this building and without the throughout the community um we've also tried our best to align some of our decisions to the uh Desi guidelines as well so to this point we've identified $10.5 million of potential cost Savings in the spirit of transparency we also want to communicate that that
15710.5 million does not include the cuts and the items that were identified on February 26th I believe board meeting um but I do also want to honor the survey data as we as we identify Trends and things from that Daya we do realize that there needs to be a reduction of administrative overhead and cost that we do need to do a better job of optimizing School structures and resource allocation um we are making every attempt so possible to improve our budgets and to be more fiscally responsible and that we've also taken some consideration in terms of adjusting school schedules and Transportation uh to identify cost savings as well so thank you to all of you um your uh your feedback your commentary your presentations tonight have been very uh very impactful not only for for
158me but I'm sure for Dr Pete Walker as well the first item listed is the Steam School merger recommendation the administration recommends a school within a school merger of steam Academy Middle into the steam at MSB campus the rationale for the merger is cost savings by reducing certified and non-certified staff limited but custodians Food Service two high and one middle um teacher by adjusting the start times to be on the same um level this would lessen Transportation routes and costs um we are also looking at facility optimization since we are currently underutilizing space at that location um the merger would bring steam at MSB closer to capacity academic and extracurricular benefits for students as this would enhance learning opportunities through shared facilities and possible programming this would save approximately 688 86310 um long-term solutions could
159be to combine both schools into a 62 configuration optimizing resources better and further reducing staff redundancies the 2526 school year though we are looking at school within a school processes in that configuration um so that we are uh maintaining the student experience and quality of programming without disruption except the new location per the survey results results it is the request of the people that we return to fewer transitions in grade spans and so again that is a longterm process and when we say longterm we're talking about more than likely the year after next that we should be able to do some of those components and so this space could possibly um already have some of those things in place I'm going to pull further here based on oops I'm sorry here yeah see that that's
160SE thank you uh Administration recommends a school within a school merger of steam Academy Middle into the steam at MSB campus is there a motion to approve move by Thurman second by Tyson we'll start with uh we'll go through every board member every time so if there's questions uh ask questions and then if not just pass we'll start with Mr Bailey this time go down to M Dr Paul Walker I think you I'm going to just concern how how this is really going to save money and what was the rationale behind mergin zo schools well when you when you look at feedback some of the suggestions indicate that we are not maximizing the capacity and steam High School number one um and so when you look at that you then try to determine what's the
161most optimal way to use that space right and so with that if you are merging the two campuses together together there's some significant benefits to that because now for instance something such as a a gifted child who may need a Algebra 2 course that we normally have had to do through Ingenuity or through some online platform that child now can walk into an Algebra 2 classroom in a high school uh you look at how that will impact the extracurricular activities there you look at how since those two schools service both sides of the district there's quite a few bus routes that have to go to uh all point to bring those two kids to two separate locations and so when you look at all of that cuz I believe there's some savings calculated to where
162you are reducing bus drivers and dispatchers and and and honestly you're reducing wear and tear on your buses CU I don't believe that we've purchased buses I want to say Terry in the last three to four years and so I know that we've got some excellent folks in our shops who are kind of keeping our buses afloat um and so when you look at all of that and and some of the conversations we've had with the stakeholders we believe that it would be in the best interest to merge those two campuses and then as we talk about 627 is that right am I right yeah wow 2627 then you look at other ways to to use the existing facility here to offer some other opportunities that would be wonderful for children as well and then
163I thought we had some electric buses coming in as well 16 buses are in at some point um we're ready to receive them I believe in terms of charging and whatnot but they have not arrived to this point yet okay yes sir that was all the questions I had thank you Mr Tyson just a quick question um in the presentation potential cost steam middle 17 classrooms 25 students of parentheses give me I'm I'm not sure what that means because I know there's more than 25 no so no no great question no um and so uh when we met with the building principles when we met with the facilities team when we walked that particular building we anticipated having those classrooms serve 25 kids at a time class right and so now of course some classes
164may have 26 some classes may have 19 but we did the numbers as an average of 25 kids per classroom yes sir is that it Miss Don um thank you so uh my question is on the reducing the amount of Staffing if we're doing school within a school um I'm curious which Staffing positions are being eliminated to be a part of this 688,000 there are some and I'm looking at James so James gonna give me the eye when I missed this up there are some retirements that are taking place on the campuses that we have considered with this there are some resignations and some non-renewals that'll be part of this equation um and then when you go from a eight period Day to a seven period day the number of teachers changed with that calculation
165as well so you you'll need less teachers to make it work and so when you make all those changes I believe we've identified three on top of the resignations and retirements that would need to be placed in other buildings based off certification in need okay so then for the staffing that we're reducing it's you're talking solely about replacing teachers into different spaces and closing out the positions for resignations and retirees or is there additional staff that we're reducing as well yes so you're also going there'll be some a custodian that will be in that mix um let me pull up my sheet so I can cafeteria manager cafeteria manager yes ma'am's see here custodians there's some savings with bus drivers and and other staff as well and is that just eliminating the position that was
166within steeve middle and they'll be able to fill other positions throughout the district and that position will just be gone now if I'm understanding correctly based on the schedule yes Bas so let's say that you know like with anything if enrollment increases and we have to make a decision based on student enrollment then of course we would try to go back and say you know we we I think it's I I I see Jeff tor's face it's like 476 high school kids all right and then there's 20 approximately 50 middle school kids that are going to be combined for the two campuses to coexist within one okay thank you yes ma'am um and then I think that I caught it in um your answer to Mr Bailey's question but I just want to make sure
167that I've got it um so going into this 688,000 in addition to those retirees those um resignations we're also talking about eliminating some potential or some uity classes that we may be had for students here at steam middle so you mentioned like Algebra 2 for instance so they may have had to take that class through uity so we're eliminating that cost we're eliminating cost for bus routes and is that all that's going into that because I noticed it's down to the dime um so I'm just curious if that that's where the cost saving is or if there's anything else a part of it yes ma'am so you you're breaking that down to about 200,000 Plus for the bus drivers um you got some savings with the dispatchers in here cafeteria manager three teachers a custodian
168uh Terry's even identified how much it will cost us to make that move and so all of that has been calculated to that sum total of that $688 that you see on the presentation tonight okay thank you yes ma'am thank you just to go on that are we also looking at the nurse uh Librarians some other Staffing that would be duplicated Services yes um in true transparency wish still trying to figure out the library piece to see if we're going to have two separate sites with the climate and culture of the books that the kids will have access to so we're still looking at that part as well but the nurse the nurse I believe should have been kept but with the Staffing piece the nurses just absorbed correct so we're saving money by eliminating
169one of the nurse excuse me one of the nurses to allow them to fill up and reduce some of our purchases Services of nurses because we have so many vacancies but but we need to just go back and make sure that per Desi guidelines based off the number of students they would need xmi nurses which I believe is yeah 400 to one or something like that okay all right good deal so thank you for that I think that just to go off of that to add on some of the other savings was there any secretary cuts from that one besides the attendance ones that are separate can you use the microphone not at this time based on the way the school be structured so ideally our goal was to just simply pick this building up
170and drop it off inside of stain high with some reductions with some reductions that we were able to to keep the two schools separate as much as possible got it certainly I think that you know as you think about even food service we have a great vacancy rate in there of just like operating Food Service here and that cost and then you know having steam in one place makes some logical sense of sharing staff and uh those things so seems to make logical sense that wouldn't be a huge disruption overall so thank you Dr Thurman yeah just to ask more about uh the STA Staffing changes in terms of Administrators what kind of changes none so at this point none this year because it will be a school within a school okay so no administrators
171will be cut when you transfer and then counselors and social workers none okay thank you Dr Graves um what was the number of um so what would be the total enrollment with both schools together and then what's the capacity the total number is about 725 to 750 in terms of the two schools you're saying for both to be yes ma'am about 725 to 750 I know 476 sticks out to my head for steam High I want to say 239 to 241 for steam middle right now currently but depending on some other recommendations we may have to absorb some additional students based off some additional recommendations that may come forward tonight okay and so what and what's the capacity for MSB when it was a high school it was 1309 is in my head but is
172that right okay Terry 1309 would be the student capacity I believe we'll confirm that for you t I know he's pulling up his chart with the numbers but even if we do it by the classroom spaces at 57 and do a average of 20 kids per class I believe it can at least hold a th I just know uh MSB has been running under capacity for a very very very very long time yes ma'am and I'm happy to see that the school will be used in its entirety and this is um one of the things that I've been saying a long time ago just in regards to for the students that be able to have access to higher level classes if need be so um um this is basically one of the recommendations that I've
173been wanting for for several years so thank you thank you Dr P Walker thank you um I wanted to ask I know that the one of the goals here I think is to cut down the number of buses um and so I'm curious my assumption is that means that we're going to have maybe middle and high school kids on buses together um and and I guess also I'm thinking about the school day as well and so I guess I wondered if they I'm thinking about supervision right like there's a part of me that wants to say that shouldn't be a thing that we should be concerned about right but we are talking about a significant age difference between for some of the kids so I guess I just just wondered if any thought had been
174given to what supervision looks like um on the buses um as kids are moving around the building and again I am not assuming anything is going to happen but I just mention it because it just might be something to think about yes ma'am great question and and and one thing I did forget to capture in the presentation is that we have presented it to where we have made a wing specifically for the steam middle portion of the building and in terms of the buses and meeting with Terry and his team ideally you would have the one age group sit on one portion of the bus and one age group sit in the back of the bus just the bus driver decides to work and then we've had some discussions about drop off uh when students
175arrive to potentially maybe Middle School gets off at one door and high school gets off at another well I think it'd be kind of hard to get kids to sit where you want them to sit but I think it's a nice thought and maybe it's something we could think about the other thing I wondered about is um thinking about the uniforms between the two schools and some similarities and and whether or not there might need to be a uniform shirt color or some sort of a something that makes makes it clear that this is a middle school child just because kids are kids and although they have a wing we know yes ma'am kids move around or have reasons to go into other parts of the building so yes ma'am we and we've had some
176of that discussion um of course if the board gives us the grace to make this decision and then we'll go deeper in that discussion and provide updates once we finalize some decisions in terms of 25 25 26 school year is that Dr power walker yes I'm sorry yes that's any other question from the board seeing none the motion on the floor is Administration recommends a school within a school merger of steam Middle Academy onto the steam at msba campus for Savings of 68885 310 please call for the vote uh doc Dr Thurman yes secretary votes yes Mr Tyson yes Mr Bailey yes Dr P Walker yes Dr Graves yes and Dr Martin yes yes motion carries on to the next one uh collecting superintendant Administration recommends Innovation high school be closed at the end of
177the current Academic School year like many district districts across the country we experience shortages in key instructional positions at some of our sites Innovation being one this impacts our ability to maintain the highest level of service Innovation is currently staffed with um several long-term Subs but also several teachers with certifications but because of the structure of the programming they may not have the certification in all of the areas um because of this uh we fund a $92,000 contract with uity to ensure that students have access to online certif certified staff in core areas like Ela science and math this increases of course our cost to educate those students by $1,756 more per student than in other high schools the low enrollment of students in the program um which generates which generates limited Ada or state
178aid is also a challenge um we spend more um than we receive from the state closure would provide academic and extracurricular benefits to students Innovations performance metrics also indicates that that several of the students are performing in the lower areas of the EOC returning to their home schools with the option to apply for um our one of our choice schools allows us to capitalize on existing certified and non-certified staff and comprehensive high schools eliminate permanent substitute teacher positions and ensure all ffsd students have access to Desi endorsed curriculum and instruction this would also expand our access to cour expand their access to courses and extracurricular activities our potential savings would be eliminating four bus routes that cross the district and eliminating unreimbursed van transportation the district provides to in front internships we would eliminate the
179$1.1 million in salaries and benefits for 20 plus staff members of which um I'm sorry and and other non non-certified are long-term Subs we want to ensure that all students have access to appropriately certified staff closure allows us to dissolve the big picture learning and uity contracts Supply costs and utilities at Innovation all permanent staff will be offered opportunities to apply for vacant positions across the district and this would save us approximately 1.29 million thank you the administration is recommending Innovation higher be closed at the end of the current Academic Year for a savings of 1.98 $298 476 million is there a motion on the floor move by second by Thurman we'll start with Dr Paul Walker this time all right thank you um I think I wanted to just start with a comment I've
180had a chance to participate in a couple of the um graduations at Innovation and um they've just been so inspirational and so I just want to say that I do think that it's a great program I do think that students have benefited from it I just spoke with a woman who whose son not her son her nephew graduated recently um from Innovation and they talked about how he was sort of on the wrong path and that him going to innovation made all the difference in the world for him and he's now thriving in college and I think that the thing that Innovation offers our students is options right you know it it offers us the opportunity to support kids who may have different kinds of interests and needs um my hope is that if we
181do decide to move forward with this closure that we are thinking about the Partnerships that have already been established and the opportunities that students have to uh participate in internships and other things that make them ready for the workforce that we don't lose that um we still have a responsibility to make sure our students graduate college and career ready and so uh I just want to mention that my hope is that this is may be looked at as an opportunity to expand that work in the other high schools um what you know there's I think there's a partnership with Boeing there's some opportunity for partnership or an expanded partnership with Ranken um I've had a chance to visit with Mr Bradley and he's informed me that there are even some certifications that kids are earning
182in the district that allow them to go straight into the workforce and so um my hope is that if we move in this direction that we will find a way to not lose the spirit behind the school right that there would still be these options because the kids that are that are in that school we still have those kids here in the district they still have those needs and again it's not just about getting kids ready for college although many of those kids will choose to go to college it's also about making sure kids are ready to go into a career so I think that's just my my my comment that if we move in this direction I really really feel very strongly that we want to make sure that we keep those CTE options
183uh available for students thank you and that is a bonus of our comprehensive programs our comprehensive high schools that we do have Mr Johnson back there pushing um our we have Perkins Grant funds that provide us a host of opportunities for our children and so being on one of those campuses will offer them more of that opportunity we also um actually earlier today I spoke with um Chenise I believe her name is Johnson over at the Boys and Girls Club they have the slip program and so um that program is related to um providing internship opportunities for students they have lots of connections with several different um organizations in the community it's an 8-week summer program that's specifically based around um internships and then they provide students with additional supports throughout the course of the
184year we've also looked at some other programming that is possible the Caps program um that could be available for students again once we decide whether or not we want to go in this direction then we will explore further thank you for sharing that and you you caused me to think about one more thing um in order for that to happen there would have to be good oversight and in the high schools right to make sure that it's carried out in just the way that you described it and so one thing that crossed my mind is that for some students who ended up transferring out of their home high school to go to Innovation there might have even been some behavioral concerns and the child may have decided to go to Innovation because that was a
185better or a different learning environment for them and they thrived what I what I wonder about is how to make sure that we are thinking about those kinds of options when we are dealing with a child with behavioral concerns in other words not moving straight to suspension uh saying like hey what other options is it possible right so just mentioned that that's something I hope we can keep sight of as we're working with students and dealing with those discipline issues that come up that we know that we have those CT options as an opportunity to maybe reach this kid in a different way thanks thank you Dr Graves so I want to First say um through my uh role here on the board I had have always been a strong um supporter of the Innovation
186High School um I think it started off really strong um and um I think a lot of students were really interested in that particular model and so um as we move forward and if this is the decision of the board my hope is to be able to sit with this approximately 150 students to really talk to them about what was missing from their comprehensive schools and figure out what what do they need is it that um was it that smaller learning um community that Innovation brought to them um was it the be being able to have a mentor was it being able to have additional options and so it is my hope that um with those 150 students that we can sit down with them individually and come up with an individualized plan as they
187enter their comprehensive schools because for the most part those students made a decision to go to Innovation for a particular reason so doing an actual assessment with those students to figure out okay this is why you chose to go Innovation and how can we provide those same things um to them when they go back to their comprehensive schools sorry yes ma'am so we were just here taking notes now we will get together with uh Mr Johnson and our College and Career read his coach that serves at campus and make sure that we survey those 150 plus kids to ensure that we do our best to give them a smooth transition back to their compreh of high schools if this is approved tonight by the board any other questions Dr Graves Dr Thurman yeah I too
188um love the spirit Behind The Innovation uh School model and um I've seen some students who have graduated that I know personally who have gone through Innovation and some who are there now who really love and their parents who really love that model uh because as we know Traditional School for all students is not students don't always um do well in Traditional School settings so this Innovation model was wonderful one thing that I would like to know is how we can even if we think about having some kind of um program in the other schools that looks like this Innovation School model why it's costing us so much more money money per student and I know that that is an issue and that's why on The Cutting block and for for parents to understand that
189who have sent their kids to Innovation that is costing us an additional $1,700 more per child um uh to be educated through the Innovation school so um make sure that the parents also understand why this is one of the the the areas that we feel like may need to be cut and I gotta all righty so yes ma'am so part of that of course with the online platform having to be an option to educate these children cost us about $992,000 I know that for a fact in my head uh then you also look at the Staffing component with having to have five Subs I think is at on the current campus so you got five Subs there and so we know that the subs cost us an additional 250 a day per person right and
190then you look at the other staff that we have that I also know we take some hits as far as our certifications because although they're certified per se if it was me I'm certified in science but I'm a mo I'm a mo moderator for for English class I may be great at teaching things but I don't have the certification and so all those costs absorb and then when you look at the per pupil expenditure for that particular camp with enrollment being so low it just becomes just an option that we need to really strongly consider yeah I just want to make sure that that's explained to the parents yes ma'am well and the students understand it as yes ma'am 100% thank you certainly I know closing schools especially one that's fairly new we just had
191our first graduating class not many years ago it's it's hard um you know one of my concerns is just looking at certified staff obviously when we have I believe the number was one is that correct or three properly certified no there're certified teachers there but they're not certified in all the areas that they have to teach based on the based on the The Learning model is provided in scho and I know we're part of the success ready Network I believe Dr Rose Watson or Mr Mitch uh Mr muray we're working on that as we go through there and you know on my other board I'm familiar with some of the things that they're doing of part of our MIP points Come From Success ready Network and real world apprenticeships and so the Region's looking at
192creating some opportunities with internships I've seen some of our folks at the community college that just open our new nursing and health building of trying to figure out how we can get students in some of our facilities we're getting an automotive center or Tech Advanced manufacturing center that's opening brand new partnership with boeings as well to your point Dr Paulo Walker and so I think I'm hopeful that we don't lose sight of the opportunity because uh as my colleagues have already said there's a reason why students chose to go there uh particularly internships is probably one of them I think about you know my senior year of high school I did a half day where I didn't internship the second half and so there's reasons why people choose to do those things and so just
193making sure that there's no reason all of our kids can't have access to something like that I think it's important just making sure we don't lose sight of that opportunity but I think I I will push I know I heard you say survey so I'm hoping when you said survey you meant really talking to them not just a a Google survey because you know I want to really have that dialogue to Dr Graves point of really diving in to figure out what support they may need during this transition time so I don't need any response back but I appreciate the the thoughts and comments uh Miss dun thank you um so before I ask my questions I do want to say that I also have really just L to see innovation in the big picture
194model um Terry and I a couple of years ago had the opportunity to um go down to Nashville and and spend a couple was it a couple of days I feel like it was a couple of days oh it was just a day we spent a day um learning from their leader learning from their kids and just seeing what big picture can be this was at the very beginning of our process of of um figuring out what is innovation going to look like um I one of the questions I asked also was about the internship opportunities that kids have but I wanted throw out there that within that learning model and our Innovation experts who are here in the building can obviously um correct this um it it's more than just the internship when we're
195talking about the way in which kids are they are working with the content it is all-encompassing it is having their and I and I can't remember what the semester long projects are called or the year-long projects I've had the opportunity to go and see kids present on what they've worked on along with their internship but it's it's seeing how all of these what we say our gened content areas really relate to the world in which they're a part of and that they're going to be leaders in in the future and so as we think about um how we can have opportunities for kids in our comprehensive high schools that maybe aren't big picture learning but mirror some of that um I just don't want to lose that piece with the learning itself um I know
196that we have had visions and and hopes of what we could where we could be um with this learning model and I don't if if this is approved tonight I don't want those hopes and Visions to go away because there are just some really awesome things happening already um at in our own district and in in similar schools like what we have here um with that being said um one of my questions I know Dr P Walker you mentioned that that um we would you said something about ending the contract with big picture learning because there was the school closure so my question is are there any Financial leg legal imp implications of ending this program because we are under their umbrella it's an annual contract so we paid for this year and we can
197non renew for next year which makes sense when I think about um our Innovation kids coming in their droves each year and talking about what in has done so thank you for that um I don't think that my other questions have been asked so um thanks so much appreciate it thank you Mr Tyson well to Echo some of what Jillian said uh we you know going to Nashville uh seeing that and I again I see the reasons why closing this campus is it's at on the table um but I really don't think think we should close the big picture learning approach to our students um we hear I've heard repeatedly how um there's been this sense that we're offering some students something like an innovation and not offering it to other schools well if if
198we close this campus I would like for us to perhaps explore how um you know Big Picture This methodology can be introduced into our home schools and therefore offering it to all of our students in our home schools that wish to participate in this style of learning which is different than the traditional style of learning again we talk about being career in college in career ready uh when we went to lashville we went to the uh radio Studio where the the students were entering oh yeah when we went to the uh when we went to Nashville we went to to see where the students actually worked I think it's two days a week they go to a job uh a couple of them worked at the radio studio and it was actually working the radio
199I mean some of our kids are destined to a career and not necessarily college and I think that we're missing I don't want to miss I don't want to in closing this school I don't want to close that opportunity to our kids and again bring it to the home school schools and incorporating it for perhaps so kids don't don't have to apply for Innovation or move to Innovation it's at it's offered at their home school so uh you know I would personally I I support uh I see the numbers and why we're wanting to close the building but I I don't I don't I would just be like I would like to know what the cost would be uh to reserving big picture in that model um and incorporate it into our home schools um
200and again saving the money in the other areas I would like to see that number myself the cost was 6 $6,200 for that one space for the 150 kids okay so out of the one 1 million 67,000 would be subtracted okay all right okay those kids would not lose if if we incorporated that into their home school I guess what I'm trying to say oh no I guess it would be more because then you have to take the staff over there okay exactly and I don't want to lose the fact that uh I don't have my glasses on but I know you're over there Mr Johnson yes does a phenomenal job of ensuring that our yeah yeah yeah yeah of ensuring that our students have access to all kinds of Career and Technical Ed education
201programs I I think this would be a good opportunity you want to grab the mic to get more students and more parents aware about the resources and services that are available to Children um because we have it we have the information in our comprehensive schools and we have the courses teachers are trained to provide those resources to children and so it's phenomenal and I'll reiterate again because I do federal programs we receive some Federal grant funds that help to um ensure that things are moving forward um related to our kids just continuing to thrive so don't don't worry they will they will get there and they will find out that there are some phenomenal options for them and as we talk about transition sorry as we talk about transition again I'm writing all my notes
202on this page because you talked about making sure that parents are aware I agree that parents need to be aware of what we have we have to do a better job of branding what we offer so ensuring that parents know what's available at our comprehensive schools in the line CTE thank you that that's all I had thank you thank you Mr Bailey um I think it's important to have education that reflects our students and their interest uh so I a big advocate for Innovation I think that's a big uh asset to our school district I do understand the numbers and everything like that and I do agree that you know when I was in school we called it Co-op um but I do think those programs are very influential and and important and those programs
203need to stay in our schools I don't want to berate uh more points that have been talked about but anytime you're closing schools it's it's a difficult decision because you see the students you understand the Staffing um you understand the emotional connection that you have uh it's just a hard subject to even talk about right now um but I do understand the numbers I do understand the reasons why uh but we have to keep programs like this because that's a value added within our district when I mean I'm a Ferguson floron kid that I grew up in this District I mean that programs like co-op programs like Orchestra those programs kept people in our community and we have to do our best to keep programs existing to keep igniting our community and moving it in
204a positive way thank you with that the motion is Administration can I ask question so sorry um I was just wondering um just with this I mean and I know how everybody's truly um passionate about this big picture model and things like that I am wondering I know that we did a school within a school is it possible for that model to could you do that as well in another high school like MSB if you did three programs there is that possible I think you capture some of that by using your college career Readiness coaches um as Dr P Walker mentioned we've also looked at some more cost efficient options to provide those internships for these babies um and then I know that one partnership was discussed it doesn't even exist in the region and
205they wanted to partner with us to be able to provide that for our kids so I think we'll be able to offer some components of that plus we we know what we know right from the big picture model so although we may not pay the fee to use it the the knowledge is here and so I think you use all that you leverage your relationships your Partnerships within the community and I believe you should be able to give our babies something comparable to that without the fiscal constraints that we're currently facing it by having the model within that one particular campus Miss D yes um thank you I was curious so if there is the closing of innovation High School what is the plan um or is there a plan with cool Valley I you
206know I work with P Walker so much I can read her mind sometimes and so what she was about to say is absolutely uh we've done some wonderful work at that particular campus in terms of new flooring uh HVAC systems and so we look forward to making that building a wonderful place for children during the 26 27 school year now how that building will be structured based on grading you know it may be a K5 it may be a K8 it may be a prek center we don't know what it will be yet but absolutely we are looking forward to maximizing that space thank you yes ma'am thank you with that the vote as Administration recommends Innovation high school be closed at the end of the current Academic Year 1. 29847 million please call for
207the vote secretary votes yes Mr Tyson yes Mr Bailey I'm upstanding uh Dr PA Walker yes Dr Graves yes do Dr Thurman yes and Dr Martin yes motion carries next up uh is reducing of assistant principal allocation yes um and so I will present this one on behalf of the team um and so I will be brief in my presentation in terms of this recommendation um when you look at Staffing and you look at desie guidelines we realize that we have an overage in administrators uh those that have seen me present here recently know I have a gift to lock in numbers in my head so when you look at how many people we should have in a buildings of if we have 17 buildings it should be roughly 30.5 people to man those buildings
208when we made this initial recommendation of the 18 cuts we knew that honestly we probably should have added six additional cuts to this recommendation but knowing the needs of our kids and the needs of our district and honestly just sticking to providing a high quality instruction to every kid and every neighborhood got us to that number and so the numbers are what they are you see the savings that could come if this recommendation was approved um and I won't I mean it's it's stated out there I think it's flushed out pretty clear you see what the need is based off guidelines you've heard from some amazing parents um Miss Davis and I have gone back and forth via email I I'm being in a school for 13 weeks I've got relationships with staff let's just
209be honest and so not my favorite recommendation but based on the crisis that we're in this is a recommendation that the board has the option to consider so if approved there the number I'm sorry would be$ 1.9 million plus if we were to remove those 18 building administrators from these particular campuses well thank you so much uh certainly uh the board has heard probably the most uh about this one and it's probably because it has the biggest impact on the largest amount of people um and certainly we know that standards verse um actual need sometimes don't align for what we need and um I think I will say I'm as one I appreciate the co-acting superintendent trying to get to the dollar amount and I know this was probably one of the hardest ones there's
210many hard ones um I know the boards asked lots of questions and email to them based on feedback um I don't think we're going to make a motion on this one and I think we want to give some direction to Administration and as the board disagrees on that direction please chime in uh at the end of our presentation we have a savings of going into the fund balance of 1.4 million on top of the 3 million already if that is the case I believe it's the board's desire to find to use that instead of add that to the fund balance while re looking at additional vacancies that may come up in assistant principles and or certification needs to keep these individuals as allowed based on vacancies and all of that and certification alignment to make
211sure people are aligned to certified positions based on that and uh go through the normal process of attrition if there's people that leave looking at eliminating some positions there to help get down to that number but to use that $1.4 million in the fund balance uh as a starting point and then I assume the board would request that Administration then looks at purchases of services and supplies to continue to take money from or other possible vacancies that may come up so there may be teacher vacancies that come up that aren't needed based on enrollments that come through or whatever the case may be that are just vacant positions but looking at other vacant positions that could be eliminated and keeping these in there I do want to be clear this is not just my thought
212this is came through the board's discussion potentially and so I don't want anyone to think oh someone came with this idea I just have the microphone first so um your feedback I think is just this is one example of how advocating to the board makes a difference um I want you to know that we hear you does not mean we don't have to make difficult decisions cuz we just made two difficult decisions and we have more to make tonight but I think as we've heard over the course of time our schools and teachers need some additional support in terms of addressing behaviors and consistency in our schools and I think there's ways that we could get to a better place of this number and also I think the board's desire is to make sure people
213know whether or not they're going to have a job and uh we've heard over and over from people um that the people who are here want to be here they're not looking to go other places they would have already looked to go to other places and applied in openings and left and so uh we want to respect those voices so I don't want to keep talking but does anyone on the board disagree with that we don't need to take action on it because we're just not voting on it that direction towards Administration yes Dr y go anyone yep go ahead and speak I just I just want you to describe the direction that you're giving again so essentially we would not be approving this 1.9 so therefore if you backtrack there based on the proposed
214Cuts there's still money for salary for increases to non-administrators of 1.9 which we're going to get to at the very end there's also 1.4 million that was going to be added to the fund balance on top of the 3.8 million so instead of adding 1.4 plus 3.8 to the fund balance we're only going to go with the 3.8 which we originally gave the directive of use that 1.4 to cover some of that cost of those assistant principles and then find additional cost savings through vacancies retirements that come open positions purchase of services supplies certification realignment so if there's assistant principles that are not in the right grade level that maybe they do have to be moved because we need people who are certified appropriately um in those so there may be some that get cut
215but it's cut because of vacancies or because they um aren't certified in an appropriate grade level does that is anyone opposed to that on the board we appreciate your hard working having this I want to say to Dr Dr Haywood personally I appreciate her having these very challenging conversations with administrators because these are not easy conversations to have and so I just want to say I appreciate her doing that on behalf of the board because the board gave the directive to our co-acting superintendents we wanted people to know before came to the board and historically people have not known till after the board meetings and we wanted people to know which does create extra anxiety of is it going to happen but we wanted people to know upfront and so again we appreciate your hard
216work and having these challenging conversations and Dr Haywood and others because these are not easy things to face people with and so advocacy helps and I know this is one area that you both have shared throughout this whole process that it gave you a lot of heartburn I'll say because you know our schools need some support I'm not saying 18 is the right number there may be some cuts that come that are still down the line but with that thank you so much with that so just before we move on just so just to clarify these positions as not just as of right now these positions are staying and then if there's anybody who's leaving because they're leaving I think you use the word normal attrition attrition or they're not certified properly there's no openings
217any of those things that happen right but these are staying I just correct didn't quite say that just said we're not going to vote on it correct I mean not all 18 may stay right but these individuals tonight are not they will not be on the Riff list unless there's not certification properly or vacancy they leave on their own accord correct thank you okay thank you for that Clarity co-acting superintendents are you both good with that direction I don't know what word is better than good but I'm there thank you so much um thank you all for your comments and your feedback and we're going to keep swinging thank you and thank you for those of you who've had stress and anxiety since conversations again we don't know till we're going to take a vote
218and so we we hear your feedback and it's hard when you see people next up is freezing additional administration building allocations uh yeah Administration is recommending gotch you thank you Administration recommends the freezing of additional central office administrator positions these freezes are in an an effort to align Staffing levels with sustainable Revenue projections and respond to our stakeholder survey requests to consolidate leadership roles the estimated cost Savings of I'm not going to put that number there I'm going to go to this number $795,000 529 I'm sorry $975,000 752 related to the following positions um some of these are based on attrition others are not so the director of operations facility um is resigning and duties will be reassigned to the executive director of operations director of research and evaluation duties will be absorbed by the
219director of Technology director I'm sorry the math coordinator we currently have two um like our humanities position that is a coordinator is a K12 coordinator position we will have one math coordinator position that will be K12 12 science coordinator the current person is resigning we W be freezing that position for the time being and looking at other opportunities within our district to provide supports and resources again long as our federal funds go the way they're supposed to go um there will be some title 2A funds available to support um as a relat to professional development for science we also know that myi if we should choose to go that route again um provide provid some professional development components for us as well um the next piece is our director of Early Childhood special education that
220position would um the I'm sorry duties would be absorbed by the director of early Ed um but would also we're also looking to have a um contracted services for some of the additional federal guidelines again that is a grant that is reimbursable so we want to ensure that um the documentation that is necessary through EGS and through our federal government are taken care of um the next one is the executive director of curriculum and instruction that position um as again per our feedback and as well as the fact that we have our curriculum coordinators that will be providing the professional development and ongoing resources and supports um that that position would not be um would be Frozen at this time with the understanding that um we would be utilizing the resources and services as we
221have done in the past in the past we have had um two directors actually we had three initially but we've had two directors one for elementary and one for secondary and their roles included them supervising principles but also providing additional um coordination related to curriculum and instruction and so we would be looking to um utilize some of those resources and services as we move forward again we're going to um utilize as long as things stay the way way they're supposed to our federal dollars to support us in um using title 2A for additional professional development uh the senior accountant position is um the senior accountant position would be one that would be frozen for the time um to support the um the components of our finance office and then the last one would be our
222director of student expectation code we would be freezing that position for the time being utilizing um a certified administrator to provide the resources and supports around um those supports at this time so this cost saving measure is projected to result in a total Savings of $975,000 52 for the district thank you the motion is to freeze additional administration building allocations for Savings of $975,000 you sense as presented is there a motion to approve move by Tyson second by Thurman just so we all are on the same page freeze means it won't be in the budget does when budget and finances maybe reappear they those positions can be added back as funds become available for that uh with that we'll start with Mr Bailey any questions I mean my question is Math and Science are very
223important subjects so I mean what do we do what are we doing as far as that goes I had it on so again as it relates to the math and the math coordinator will be a K12 coordinator and I plan to as long as our funds come in the way they're supposed to leverage our 1% which is a mandate of the state that we utilize our 1% dollars and uh M Rose Watson will be in charge of that ensuring that we are um absolutely and I did say absolutely absolutely leveraging the dollars that we have that are specific to professional development for our teachers to receive the training that they need and desire um a professional development survey went out a few weeks back that we are um seeking information from our teachers related to
224what their needs and desires are around Math and Science and other subject areas um but we also are going to utilize the data um to determine what it is that we do in order to provide resources and services we know these are difficult decisions but we also know that um being specific and targeted around our data and determining where we are and what we need to do to move forward um we are going to do our best to ensure that there's training specifically around that currently our our coordinators are providing that training and then as far as the directive Early Childhood special education what that's an important position as well correct and our um our director of Early Childhood special education um has indicated that earlier I did speak to the fact that um the
225role will be many of the duties of the role will be encompassed in our director of special education um to have some alignment there but also we would be looking to have a contract for for the components that give us reimbursement from the state and so it is our intent to have a light contract um to support us in that work and then one of the things in the district we always talk about is facilities and operation what's our plan on cutting like cutting that position how we on redistributing the works and different things like that to ensure that all of our uh buildings and and everything else like that is maintained wonderful question but we do have some good people that work here in our district um and we have some buildings that need
226some support and resources but we do have a plan and actually when someone asked I don't know if it was you earlier but asked about you know where we are as it relates to our um our plan for our facilities and how we have um done what we needed to do and how we move forward so I wrote myself a note down that we do need to have some type of presentation related to what our plans are for how we move forward um the period and that's one of my biggest concerns among others is that we had this big manager or I forgot the name of it plan that came up here and gave us all this information nobody's heard anything from it but they gave us all information that said that we needed to
227update certain buildings and have certain calls and we were in compliance with certain things but certain things were immediate more immediate than than others and it's just like you know not having a plan a clear plan of how to kind of mediate that I understand that we've put different parameters and different buildings and stuff like that just having a solid plan I'm just this is just not easy and I just I mean these positions all these positions and I didn't want to just go by one to one I want to say that all these position is just important to the overall school function um I don't really have nothing else to say Thank you Mr Tyson uh only thing in addition I want to add is as we look at retirees people transfer is it
228possible that we may see some additional freezes in our in um positions anything is possible thank you great answer thank you Miss Don um I don't have any additional questions uh I just wanted to say thank you thank you to the few that I asked about on this um you guys did a great job being sure to answer them in your presentation tonight so thank you thank you I know certainly um these are hard these are people you probably work with more than other people at central office which makes it even harder when you're making these decisions and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to unfreeze positions sooner rather than later and um certainly I know that survey data clearly showed that people thought central office administrators needed to be cut um and we are
229going down to a skeleton skeleton crew certainly at central office and um I appreciate you know those who are going to have to pick up other people's work because there's a lot of people who are going to pick up other people's work that they weren't doing before and so certainly appreciate that as we have to make very challenging decisions as we see people in front of us who are on this on this list but we look at positions and how do we operate as an organization and try to make a decision on the best interest of the district and students thank you Dr Thurman it's been said by just about everyone it's very difficult to make these kinds of decisions one of the questions that I do want to ask the the um co-s superintendent
230here Acting Superintendent is did you all look at the chief of staff position and why was that not considered to answer the first part of the question yes ma'am absolutely we did um in full transparency I mean I know what that role is I know the requirements of that role I know what the the details of that role includes that no job description will ever reflect um that person regardless of who he or she may be it's probably one of the biggest cogs on the Wheel to keep this thing going what other school districts have a chief of staff I know I've seen one when we began this originally we pulled I think roughly 11 surround dist I think there may be two other ones from our neighboring districts and with that role um we
231did also add additional um workload to that particular role when we organized the orc chart in February so that that particular role would have some additional responsibilities as well and um yes ma'am well when I look at this and I I'm one of the ones who said I think someone in the audience said I wanted to cut as far away from students as possible we're looking at Early Childhood we're looking at math and science but I don't but my concern is the chief of staff which is a new position relatively we've done without before so why M we've done without it before so and and this is not about a person it's about a position and I have to keep reminding myself of that because I every one of these people I care about but
232I also want to make sure that we're being that we're really looking and I know that this is hard work for you all but as a board member I have to ask that difficult question so I I still do see that maybe there might be some more other things that we might need to look at before making the voting on this this decision Dr Graves um so I've been kind of vocal in some of these areas um and to say that I do want to remind the board that we got this information very late in addition to this paper that I'm looking at does not even match this paper that's on the screen in regards to um one of the positions um and I'm not understanding like with how serious this is in a decision
233and a choice that we made is it a typo um what happened and how one of these positions is not the same that's on our information that we received um this week Monday um well Tuesday actually and oh I'm sorry so I want to know which which one is accurate um and I don't even see how I don't know I just I don't understand how that mistake could could have been made um in addition to I'm also wondering what does the academics look like now on cabinet because the last time we did the organizational chart we removed academics actually in regards to reporting to the superintendent and then now we are moving we're taking away curriculum instruction we're taking away math coordinator and science coordinator and we have made strides I mean sometimes it seems
234like we forget that we have made some reading strides and so in in literacy and we made strides in math and so and I know we've talked about science so I'm not understanding why those academic positions are up um when they have been a part of moving our students as well okay so I'll be fully transparent and the updated slide deck that you see today is the correct slide deck the slide deck that was submitted uh late and in the spirit of honesty as well this work has been so hard we've been working on this thing all through spring break and everything else and so yes it was late we apologize for that um but when you impact people's lives I rather be late and right than early and wrong um yesterday we had a
235meeting uh with several stakeholders who uh wanted to review survey feedback and true transparency and so some roles came up again in that conversation uh it was then determined to make a change very late I I admit but to make a change to the recommendations to allow if approved the superintendent to be more Hands-On with the academics and so um for where I come from the superintendent has to wear every hat right and so if that's me if that's Pete Walker if that's whoever selected in the search or however we just have to go about the process thank you Holy Spirit uh we are able to be the leader you're the Lead Teacher right and so you take all the things that made you successful enough to be selected as a superintendent to put those
236in your schools to have those schools run to the best of your academic ability you have on the table and so I take the blame for it being late and incorrect that's on me um I'm the one who always wants to make sure that we've met with cabinet members that we've met with the Union president that we've met with campuses that we've met with parents um that's on me so I'll take that hit but I also will say that the goal of trying to become fiscally solvent um makes us be very patient with some of that decision making you have more questions Dr GCE I don't know I just don't think that's fair um that we didn't have the right correct information um and these are people's lives in different positions and I like I
237said I still don't understand with the piece in regards to academics how we are cutting academic pieces when our students need so much yes ma'am and I I'll say I don't I don't disagree with you but I also will say that you know as we dig deep into that stakeholder feedback we've gotten it was specific roles and what identified several times as hot as hot themes and so we have to take some of that feedback into consideration when we make these decisions thank you Dr P Walker um everything I would have brought up has already been addressed so thank you I don't have anything thank you Mr Bailey has St out for emergency please uh the motion on the floor was based on current financial situation stakeholder feedback and Survey data Administration recommends we freeze
238the following central office positions for Savings of $975,000 52 please call for the vote okay I just got a quick question what if what if I um disagree with the position or two in here I mean I feel the sentiments of everyone but there's I mean really back to coury's point you know that curriculum instruction I mean I get the math coordination make it a K12 but that is a role and a person that's going to be affected but that that um responsibility is being absorbed by another person um but even to to Courtney's Point what if I feel that I don't I mean is one particular the the the corrective instruction I don't I don't want if if I have to vote with that in here I would have to vote though anyone else
239feel that way how will that be covered that was what if if that position is aimit um Frozen how would that be covered well so what you would do then you would then lean on your or it your superintendent would be your academic leader him or her would be supported by I believe the current organizational chart reflects an elementary executive director and a secondary executive director who then would be supported by the coordinators for the specific content areas and then you you leverage your plc's your teacher leaders you leverage your experts to help you kind of absorb some of that that work as well are there other thoughts with Harry's thought yeah I still have one that I that the chief of staff that I just you'd like to add one is what you're saying
240yeah there's a motion so certainly we can either do a friendly amendment to remove one of the positions and vote on the rest and like have Administration look at other positions still to come back which I heard chief of staff from Miss Dr Thurman or you can just keep the motion and vote it down which do you prefer do you want to make a friendly Amendment yes you were the one who started would you like to make a friendly amendment to remove that one position okay Mr Tyson is making a friendly amendment to remove the executive director of uh curriculum instruction who made the uh initial motion you didn't write down Miss done I believe I know no I did second second no was it was Terry so Terry do you accept that to amend
241the motion me yes no okay so what we can do is we can vote on this one uh I'm hoping Miss mcwell is getting all these notes down for the minutes uh in there so the current motion stands we can make another motion after that Mr Mr Tyson does that make sense okay go ahead call for the vote Dr Thurman she Dr Sheila Walker no Dr Graves no assistant secretary votes no M Madam Secretary yes Mr President yes motion fails do you want to make your friend your other motion no I'll make a motion that we freeze additional building allocations based on stakeholder feedback survey data and financial situation with the removal of the executive director of curriculum instruction is there a second it's been moved by Tyson second second by Graves what was the
242motion again so we're freezing all those removing the executive director of curriculum instruction on that list discussion Mr Bailey just so you know the motion failed now we're on a new motion that we would approve these freezes with the the exemption of the executive director of curriculum instruction so are we adding or we have to come back we are just removing and then we can direct through discussion I've heard already people give Administration some additional feedback to go look at other positions can that be the motion if you want to make a motion after this you're more than welcome to make a motion after this yes any other discussion or questions again the motion is to remove the freeze based on the financial situation with the removal of the executive director of curriculum instruction call
243for the vote Mr Bailey yes assistant secretary VZ secretary yes Dr Sheila palker yes Dr Grace yes Dr Thurman Mr President yes motion carries would you like to make your motion so my motion would be for us to come back or have the co- superintendent go back and relook at this list and possibly um add it would be just to examine the chief of staff Chief of Staff position yes so the motion is for directing Administration to go review if the chief of staff is one of those positions that can be Frozen as well is there a second a second second any discussion um BR Mr Mitchell I'm sorry it's late bear with me um Mr Mitchell could do you mind speaking to a little bit um because you had just shared you know because
244you were Chief of Staff um do you mind speaking in a little bit just a little bit more detail to me and and and those present that role and what you know what that role entails and a lot of the things that would be added to that role and the position of that role and why it wasn't considered now yes that's what the motion is to have them go research that and bring that information back to us to let us know discussion part okay discussion on the motion okay got it okay is that what you're saying Dr Graves to okay call for the vote uh secretary votes yes Dr Thurman Dr Graves no Dr Paul Walker yes Mr Bailey yes Mr Tyson and Dr Martin yes motion carries for them to research and bring that
245information back so we have some more to go let's get to vote please um Administration recommends the closure of vote Elementary and relocating the staff to the administration Center on 8855 downroad uh this recommendation is based solely on fiscal sustainability facility conditions and being align into I'm sorry and being in alignment with the district's strategic Vision uh the building is current L operating below capacity and causes us a fiscal strain including utility cost uh to maintain along with this recommendation we would lose a custodian and a security officer that would be absorbed at other campuses based on some of our staffing shortages uh the building requires costly upgrades uh and we've been doing some significant work in terms of trying to enhance academic programs and Technology um this consolidation would just provide families with opportunities
246to to uh use these Services here at the administration building and having access to operating operating more efficiently I'm sorry Savings of 176,000 uh $731 Administration recommends the closure of vot Elementary relocating staff to the administration uh building at 8855 dun Road and to also look at the potential sale of the property to generate additional Revenue support the district fund balance so move move by Paul Walker second second by grace we'll start with P Walker this time any questions no thank you Dr Graves no thank you Dr Thurman no uh M only is if you can work with our attorneys to bring the resolution and identify that's Surplus property so we can try and get it for sale if this motion passes tonight sooner rather than later to try and get some additional Revenue in
247the district Miss dun Mr Tyson yes just curious to know since we're potentially sell have we looked at their appraise value I have I have not um I have had some preliminary discussions with Mr O'Neal in terms of it being identified as a historic property so that may be some complications in terms of that yes sir thank you it's for sale for $5 to Mr Tyson just kidding that's not public uh Mr T Mr Bailey no it's just more of a comment I appreciate that families will not be able to come to the administrative Center to handle what they need to handle that's a wonderful thing thank you for that please call for the vote Dr Paul Walker yes Dr Graves yes Dr Thurman yes uh secretary votes yes Mr Tyson Mr Bailey yes and
248Dr Martin yes motion carries next up is restoration and wellness uh restructuring for are you all ready okay yes sorry we were comparing notes um so the administration is recommending uh restructuring the mark TW restoration and Wellness Center um the uh goal of this to get to this $592,000 includes um losing the existing utilities for the building mons routes and then there will be some staffing uh lost with this move as well in terms of Subs a College and Career ra specialist a custodian and a counselor uh we are proposing that our students assign l through our DEC committee will now move to a wing within the Wedgewood Sixth Grade Center and then our credit recovery students will be served into a space designed within the steam High School um the cost Savings of making
249this move would be $592,000 78 I'm sorry $592 78514 and we also will be looking to Surplus that building to add funds to the fund balance thank you so the motion is Administration is recommending the Mark Twain res restoration and Wellness Center be restructured as well as list the property as Surplus for sale for additional Revenue as well is there anyone who wants to still it's been moved by uh done second by Thurman we'll start with I guess myself in the middle and then we'll go back that way uh certainly I appreciate it I know some questions have just come up of is it possible uh to have them come here instead of somewhere else to look at Administration reduction instead of having two sites um I know buses is one of the reasons why
250the and food service was the other but from my understanding food was brought in to there so could it be brought in here and just I know there's still buses but then if you're having one site could you reduce Administration there potentially of needing not needing as much and I know we're not you're just restructuring it so you're not getting into all those details but just curious if you had it here instead of two sides could that help reduce some of those administrator needs uh it could but in initial conversations I think we've had a meeting it may have at the third meeting yesterday in which we identified that uh one issue we would have is that we don't have a relationship with the Hazelwood police department and so that would not be able we
251would have to I guess negotiate that which would be additional cost to have an officer on site to support the campus and then the budget cuts we cut a security officer and SRO from Wedgewood and so by doing this it would allow us to then place a SRO and a security guard back at Wedgewood put them in a specific portion of the building which is I guess kind of why we made it a two-part recommendation because there was no consistent way to pick that space up and relocate it somewhere else with that I just is there a way to still move the SRO to Wedgewood and just bring the security officer here and not have an SRO here if we decided if if it was to move both those here so still having the SRO
252be utilizing to save money for Wedgewood and having a security officer here with them yes but you wouldn't have anybody any relationship in place here to support the campus if it were if it were to be moved here there'd be no are none of our other schools in Hazelwood at all no sir this is the only location that's in the Hazelwood sir police depart got it that's what makes it complicated got it okay Miss D um I only have one question um so relocating um the students assigned through DEC to Wedgewood uh how is that going to impact both the high school students who will be over there or middle school but our students who be over there and the sixth graders who are already in the building yes ma'am so when we looked at
253that we identified some space that that we can provide for students to be in I don't I don't to be in a space conducive for the learning environment there um the concern presented to the committee yesterday was if I if I have a kid and again it's about providing the proper support right and so if I've got a kid who thrives in an environment that's conducive for their learning style then putting them back in that same environment is not giving the kid what they need and so if I've got a baby who struggles with a large Comprehensive High School and he or she is going to this model strictly to be able to graduate and I also want to shout them out for providing a 20% of our graduation through the restoration awareness program um
254but when you take those babies out of those spaces they struggled in then to go back and put them in them spaces um we just didn't feel like that would be a good recommendation to support that group of kids so I know that we provide inov interventions I'm sorry and resources for every particular type of kid this was just our way of trying to support these kids as well Mr Tyson Mr Bailey no questions Dr Paul Walker um so I know that there are some social emotional supports that these students have in place um at the restoration and Wellness Center are those supports going to go with the students to where they're going yes ma'am you're talking about in terms of kvc say it again kvc the mtss support those kids get for the circles
255they have the restorative conversations and what not okay so that's going to go with them but now the credit recovery student also had access to that and now they won't so how will they get that support will they just be supported by the staff at steam High yes ma'am so part of the discussions we had in the steam merger with not impacting the counselor from the middle school and the two that are already currently there those people will be able to provide support and then you'd have an administrator and then you'd have those teachers to provide support for those children as well so the components of the program would be a school within the school model as well so it would follow both campuses but it would be more in depth to a certain extent
256to support the children who have been there recommended by thec okay and then this is more just a sort of a question about the philosophy behind the program itself um there are some programs like this where students go um they you know work on certain skills that they need to build and then there is the opportunity for them to return to their home school and you were saying that you know you want to create a space where kids can just stay like it didn't work for them to be in another environment so we're going to keep them there so I guess I'm trying to understand do we have opportunities for kids to return to their home school because while I recognize that there are some kids for whom staying in this space might be best
257there are some kids who could probably transition back and the reason I mentioned that is because you know we're preparing kids to go out and live in the real world right so sometimes you know kids need the opportunity to go back so that they can you know they've learned their lesson so is that do we mostly just Place kids there and leave them there or or is there an opportunity for kids to work their way back into their home school so that's a two-part answer I'm going to give you and if I mess it up we can just let me know I know in terms of the credit recovery those are babies we have identify early in the school year through the counsels and the senior assistant principles to say hey Brent has x amount
258of credits and he's going to be impacted the co he's going to impact the cohort and so if we allow him to enroll in maybe map or credit recovery in a smaller environment with more intentional support he'll be able to graduate with his cohort in terms of the babies who have been assigned via DED see that assignment is always tied to a specific number of days and so once that assignment has been honored he or she has the opportunity to return to the home campus or in some instances they do reassignment links from the parents for that child to stay in that program which you look at space you look at um opportunities and you have those conversations with that staff to see that's an option you can provide for the child okay so will
259the Staffing be impacted here uh you you'll have a little bit of impact in terms of we I know we have one program that has five sub specifically and so that program will be impacted um you also will have an impact with a middle school counsel I believe and then some supports I'm sorry and a College and Career Readiness specialist will be impacted by this move as well and then custodian so then if they move to Wedgewood they don't have access to anybody to support them with College and Career Readiness or that what the the cosic career Readiness piece would impact the high school children that are going to steam so that person would just absorb those responsibilities there okay so there's two different age groups there right this is the middle schoolers this is
260well the the Wedgewood component would be the middle school and the high school kids who have been assigned right to so what I'm trying to figure out is got it got it got it got it how are those kids going to still have access to College and Career Readiness or we anticipating they're going to go for a short time and then head back to their home school so it won't be as big of an impact or ideally but we still can provide that support for those group of kids that impacts just depending on honestly when they're assigned they may have already gotten that before they got there or we need to set that up when they return but we'll work with Mr Johnson and his team to ensure those kids get what they need okay
261and then I just want to note since we're on the subject that that's a group of students again when we think about the programming that's available currently at Innovation yes ma'am and that being an option yes ma'am um I just you know sometimes within that group of kids you could have a kid or two who might benefit from that so and and and honestly they've built relationships to where they have kids that's impacted by that and so they use their online platform to support those kids and may have to work to provide support for their family outside the school day as well okay thank you yes ma'am thank you Dr Graves I do have I I really have some concerns about um restoration moving to Wedgewood I can just recall several times we have gotten
262emails in regards to just some of the activity that goes on at restoration and we're going to have these with our sixth grade students and then the other middle school students it just seems like it's just too close where other uh schools can be impacted by maybe some of the things that could occur with um with the activity I know that we've seen in the past with uh restoration I just want to say that um the other thing is um I lost my train of thought with that one um I mean no I def I mean that's the thing I really feel like them being over here they have when you think about putting people in a different environment everybody knows how nice this school is this environment is and for some of our students
263who are proven to be very challenging sometimes an environment can just change them and I just wonder what that can look like um the other thing is the numbers how many students are we really talking about in regards to what this can possibly what this is going to hold um and I the the whole Transportation piece like are they still going to Ride Transportation with schools with students that um are not in Mark Twain or do they get their separate bus um because then it can go back to having Maybe altercations with some of the students that they have been separated from so I just think I I Mark Twain been need that that just needed to have been closed regardless but I think we need to rethink about where we want to provide that
264high level service that is needed for those students okay I'm going to make sure I captured everything you asked I know we talked about numbers environment bus routes and location okay uh in terms of numbers I know they've graduated about a and I'm I'm glad y'all are back there so correct me if I'm wrong you graduated about 125 kids so far this year that number fluctuates because once those kids are in and graduate they leave the program just for clarity are you talking about DC ones are Credit Recovery just so we can separate the numbers it could be a little bit of both but the majority are Credit Recovery kids right and so the DC kids are about 49 per session they're shaking their head yes so about 49 per session so when we run
265this program currently you're running a a bus route four times because you have a am drop off am pickup PM drop off PM pickup and so if you route that here then coming from both sides of the district there'll be some additional cost in terms of the bus routes and then again with the police department relationship to support some of those items that you mentioned that have happened in the past that we'd have to look at to establish and potentially absorb more cost to add that relationship with the Hazelwood police department and environment we agree that came up in the conversation and so a lot of the babies they support right now are over stimulated so putting them in a smaller environment we felt would be in their best interest to provide them what they
266need thank you Dr Thurman yeah I'm concerned about putting restor kids from restoration with sixth graders sorry I meant to say that too I'm sorry and so there are currently some sixth graders who are in the program at Restoration Wellness as it exists right now some so yeah you got middle school and high school kids in the program in the DC version of the program they've been assigned from 6th through 12th grade but would the sixth grade students be riding the same bus with students from restoration the sixth grade students from from restoration they currently ride the same bus together right now no Wedgewood no no ma'am no so they would not ride the they would ride the the the way the program is structured the dec kids would write because they don't live in
267the Wedgewood Zone they come from everywhere so some may most wouldn't and then in terms of the credit recovery portion those kids would probably ride I think we captured them riding the bus with the stinky but those kids are so focused on graduating they don't really have many uh Behavior challenges for the credit recovery kids the older kids I'm the say wait say that again the older kids from the older kids don't normally have Behavior those are the kids who are focused on graduating and getting out of school for Fortin right okay but I I'm talking the DC version those kids will have to be routed from throughout the district similar to how they're routed now right and so what I'm saying is so would they be riding the bus with anyone else like from
268from the Sixth Grade Center you saying no no okay so but they would be in the building with the sixth graders from all over yes yes ma'am yes yes and but they be they would be in a specific wing of that bu because that building currently can hold 756 kids we only have I think 274 there now okay now that me you like that better no I didn't know oh yes maam yeah yeah yeah yeah so if you look at how when we when when Terry provided the map yesterday I want to say there's like four wings of the building five wings of the building and so when you look at how that building's created if you come in and go immediately to the right you've got access to eight classrooms that we could separate
269from the original campus yes ma'am yes sir I'm sorry yes does that answer everyone's question Mr Bailey no but one comment because we talked about the building that building is by a major Street um so we really need to kind taking in consideration like security and eloping and different things like that correct which came up yesterday which is why we were excited about providing them with the SRO and the security guard to go with them from Mark Twain to that campus thank you for your consideration because you can dip off and go in the the neighborhood very quickly which is why we didn't put it on that left side of the map because it was right there by the neighborhood this portion that we're recommending to put those babies in would be right in the
270front of the school to the far right okay wait I have one followup question just after you described the way that Wedgewood was and I I apologize in advance if you've already answered this um so if there is the space available already at Wedgewood is there a reason why we're not looking to essentially just move the program fully over to Wedgewood into those wings yes ma'am we talked about that and would once you take away that One Wing they've got to allocate eight classrooms within the rest of the wings of the building and so logistic it just wouldn't make sense because you need to add an additional four if you bring the credit recovery portion over so we couldn't identify 12 spaces at Wedgewood that we could successfully make the transition based on how it's
271laid out so based on how it's laid out there's just not the space for every pod has roughly eight classrooms and two opposites in it and so you need 12 classrooms and potentially two to three more opposite so it just didn't make logistical sense okay um I just want to add one more thing again I've said already my time is limited here so just to say this now to Courtney's point of um the space that we have here I hear that there's some um potential issues when we're talking about not having that relationship with the Hazelwood PD and I know that there's also a cost associated with that when we do have that we've had that conversation over the years um but just thinking about how we might be able to do that I'm sure
272that you already have long-term plans or not plans but long-term ideas of how we might be able to utilize this space but this is already a great secondary space that's set up um so to be able to bring all of our restoration and wellness Scholars over here I think that it's a name that suits the space um versus where they are now uh so just longterm to cont to figure out what would it look like for us to form that relationship I realize there's a cost associate as well with bringing in food services as into a building that there is nothing here already um in other pieces too but just how can we begin to think about making that happen I think this is a good um stop Gap measure right now for where they're
273going to be placed but um what can we do here thank you Dr Thurman yeah I I I kind of wanted to Echo the same thing and I forgot to say that when I was um making my comments but uh having students over over here may give them a sense of Pride it may may even change the way they might you know see schooling and behave and all that um but the other the other issue oh gosh it just went right over my head um soci servic yeah that part okay go on I so I'm I'm what I'm hearing is people understand that this is probably a one-year fix as the district looks at longer term closure of of schools that there's a desire of the board to really explore that this space possibly be
274used for Mark Twain as well as other programming across the district but for one year as a stop G Gap I heard it makes sense but long term we would like to see something as we plan for the future does that seem reasonable boor what we're hearing I it does we don't have our accountability sheet any longer but if we did that'd be top of the list Mr Bailey I just just sparked another uh thought I really would like to see kind of how we can utilize this building more you know figure out programs figure out uh you know adult literacy and different things like that I also want to figure out like things like the annex and other buildings that we have and how we can leverage those and utilize those as buildings because
275we have a lot of building space that we're not utilizing and I really want to see more programs into those spaces inviting noner profits into those spaces providing wraparound services in those spaces that we have yes sir and I know now that the vote transition has been approved we have had some talks about potentially trying to put an Early Childhood Center here since it would not require transportation for prek kids and then putting uh Dr sha is already kind of looked at doing some playground grants for us to build these children an amazing space to play on the property Terry said he can put a fence up fairly cheap and then we make this space our Early Childhood Center maybe close some other spaces and combine those classroom with other campuses to maximize space there
276as well so we've had some you know long-term thoughts about what this could be we agree it needs to be a space for children but we haven't quite captured what that would be in this short turnar around but for 26 27 absolutely it'll be some type of sprace for kids you said you were talking stop gap for one year were you saying bringing restoration over here for one year or Miss dun said stop Gap with that is that what you is that what you were asking about yeah bringing restoration over here for one year no this current the current plan that's in front of us this just being a stop gap for one year but we need to be thinking long term about how to make a space that is suitable for our students that
277are at Restoration Wellness because Mark Twain isn't it being in a building a Sixth Grade Center isn't it being spread out amongst everywhere isn't it a nice beautiful space would be perfect for them I agree and also if you guys can work with attorneys to get a s uh resolution to denote that as Surplus uh that would be appreciated with that call for the vote there is a uh Dr Graves no Dr Thurman yes uh secretary votes yes uh Mr Tyson yes Mr Bailey yes Dr Paul Walker yes and Dr Martin yes motion carries next up is eliminate the 13 High Flex positions Administration recommends eliminating the 13 High Flex positions can you just remind the board what these positions are just briefly what they were created during Co time and all that stuff they
278were created during that time frame it's an instructional model that allows a certified ffsd teacher to teach two classrooms at one time via um video along with a facilitator and another space thank you is there a motion to approve the elimination of the 13 High Flex positions so move move by Paul Walker second by Tyson do I need to go through the whole line or are there any questions we'll start with Mr Bailey any questions was any of these oh it's a never mind because that question is uh well maybe I can answer and you tell me if I can't ask it uh were any of these teachers certified no no that's my not okay all right Mr Tyson Miss D Dr Martin has none Dr Graves what what was what was this position what
279were they for again there was a shortage um of teachers in core areas and so to ensure that our students receiv received high quality education in math Etc U we made sure that a certified teacher provided the I'm sorry a certified teacher provided the um online supports for the students so the certified teacher may have been one room and there may have been a high Flex teacher which could be someone with 60 credit hours that managed the other classroom but the student reive the um direct instruction from a certified teacher so are we losing 13 teachers then or subs subs subs our it is our hope to fill you correct not- certified staff or the high flex facilitators and so these positions that they were covering what happens to those so it is our hope
280to ensure that students have a certified teacher in front of them and if they don't if they don't have a certified teacher in front of them then of course we will have to fill those positions with Subs but that is not our hope we have budgeted for um actual teachers to be in front of students and if we can't find these teachers we going to have to use Subs but they're not teaching right now they're just facilitating that's what they're doing so they're not even responsible for lesson planning or actually executing the lesson so then this 562 might turn into 562 for Subs this is the savings for not having the right but we still need these teachers we need somebody right correct so the budget is for a certified teacher we have budgeted for
281certified teachers to fill those positions and so that's already in the budget correct okay okay Dr P walker uh thank you so um I wanted to ask if these are the positions that get utilized when in the past there's been a discipline concerned serious enough with a student that has come to a hearing and the decision's been made that the child will be virtual for the remainder of the year um so I'm curious to know if these positions were supporting those kids or is that something different no ma'am I don't believe so that support's provided through the restoration and Wellness Center okay all right I'm I'm looking at Jane she's look no these two don't interact so no ma'am okay thank you that's my only question with that call for the vote Dr Thurman she's
282not here oh secretary votes yes uh Mr Tyson yes Mr Bailey yes uh Dr PW Walker yes Dr Graves yes and Dr Martin yes motion carries next up is eliminate the pull out music classes in order to save time uh the board I think has a similar sentiment to the assistant principles on this one and would like the administration to find money to cover this cost through other means instead of eliminating those positions [Applause] just want to confirm that the board thinks that and is good with that are you all good with that down here thank you so much for staying so late to hear that again apologize for the anxiety and stress we appreciate hearing from your kids uh as well and certainly advocating for Fine Arts and I think the board does value
283Fine Arts and does have to make tough decisions but certainly we will look at this and see where holes can be filled and how to be more efficient while still offering programming so again uh looking at how to be efficient and effective um with that so that we will need to cut elsewhere again as reminders we look at Supply so just so I know Dana just as I know you'll get teachers hearing things we're going to have to be cutting from supplies and purchases of services at some point so I know we can't have people and every Supply we need so there might be cuts that come into schools and just thinking how do we use title money and grants and other things to get some of our supplies to make up for some of
284these costs so just want to be transparent that this does come at a cost of finding the money elsewhere uh because our plan is still to give $1.9 million in raises which includes benefits to non-administrators uh for negotiations is kind of our dollar amount we're starting with okay next up okay administr recommends eliminating the 14 attendance secretaries these positions were created two years ago I believe um and as it relates to um the cost Savings of this it's $542,500 to ensure and or increase attendance rates and we have had limited impact on that particular piece and as you know from much of our conversations related to um the budget um our Ada is based on attendance and so I going to just say again that when students are not in your classroom we want to
285make sure that we reach out so that they are here and getting the lovely instruction that you are providing thank you Administration recommends eliminating the 14 attendance secretaries for Savings of $542,500 level of impact in order to continue with the programming and then my next question is a reason why we bought them in too was to help out with the new system we were having so many challenges with the system so where does that lay at now the system you talking about terms of Infinite Campus yes sir we've uh I won't say we've we've mastered Infinite Campus we've become a little bit more efficient in it but still even with this um transition there's just no impact that we're seeing um from adding those roles because we added additional rols last year I believe to
286other campuses to try to capture some additional attendance and we did not see that impact last statement excuse me my last statement is a lot of the complaints I heard from the community is when they're trying to get in contact with their children and they call the secretary and stuff like that they can't so by reducing that that creates a different barrier that I think we need look at as far as if we're telling the kids that they can't bring their cell phones and different things like that the lines need to be open but a lot of times I mean I've called myself in the lines have been busy so we have to kind of look into that if we're going to decrease that that's the thing that I think we need to kind of
287know keep on our radar as well thank you Mr Tyson well know this just a comment I know that one of the issues that we were having with attendance was the reporting of the attendance has that been improved um uh you're talking about I believe I want to make sure I'm right on this you're talking about in terms of single period single period absences being properly coded so that we're able to get some of the 80 that that is still an issue that we're facing microphone please these positions really don't have an impact on that it's just we have to improve I wouldn't say they don't have an impact we're just not seeing a significant impact to just justify the position 542,000 thank you Miss Don so I just want to um clarify that the
28814 positions that we're looking to potentially eliminate are the 14 that were added a couple of years ago this is no increase and the reason I I want to be clear why I'm asking this when I um take a look at our our Personnel document that we received um there was a higher date that was well before for um two years ago on there and so that just it kind of stood out to me as being a little wonky so just if that could be clarified please I'm G do my best I believe that would indicate that those people served in other roades before they went to that position so if I was a ninth grade op and then these roles were created two years ago and I appli for that role and received it
289um um then based on longevity and all that type of stuff you'll still be able to be afforded We Believe other positions within the district based off of attrition non-renewals and retirements okay so some people I know when your report shows they qualify for longevity some of those people that would apply to okay thank you yes ma'am thank you I again I know we added these two years and just to clarify I guess it will just go back to the school attendance people entering the attendants making sure teachers are entering it in grade level there's still people that do the work it's just we've not seen $542,000 reaped back in Ada to justify these positions correct and one of the other pieces that we have put in place through Title One is social workers in
290many of our schools and part of their um accountability measure is to increase attendance mainly through um parental engagement components so that they parents understand how important it is for their children to be here at school and providing them with the resources and wraparound Services throughout the community in order to support that thank you uh Dr Thurman uh Dr Graves do we evaluate what went wrong just with that I'm just was wondering because we put this thing in place um we said it wasn't effective but did we actually figure out what was the piece that's not in effective especially if um we're still having this challenge uh to answer the first part of the question I don't I don't believe we evaluated as if it like like a program evaluation of the I think the
291I think we looked at the data to make this particular decision and so by seeing that the increase was not there was how we came to this particular decision um and then I mean you can look at by campus it could be specifically tied to Performance for a particular employee it could be tied to just some of that just not being captured accurately it could also be tied to just could this be absorbed in a different way and so yes and it's also uh when you look at your Desi recommended stards and guidelines we're also way over in this particular line as well I mean I'm fine with it I'm just my whole concern is if we haven't found what the problem is even removing them we're still not getting our goal to ensure an
292increased attendance right so I'm just like okay if if they didn't work out okay well what is it about this particular role didn't work out is it the system that we have set up where it's not working out because as we are cutting funds we also need to talk about how we going to increase revenue and this is one of those line items where we know our biggest buck bang is right here so we're removing it but if it didn't work what made it ineffective and then what are we going to do so we can make sure that whatever this looks like moving forward when we basically take away that role of responsibility that we don't totally lose attendance oh thank you um the only thing I would probably add is just that if these
293positions are eliminated I think there needs to be some sort of a a a robust uh plan put in place in each of the buildings around attendance monitoring the social workers are good but of course we know as I think um has already been alluded to attendance is everybody's responsibility and so I'm hoping because and I'm just speaking having been a social worker before it's great to have a social worker but this is a this is a lift if you know what I mean if you only have a social worker monitoring this so my hope is that there is going to be some understanding um by the building principles and the the team there that we all have to figure out what the issues are around School attendance and and and figure out how to
294get after it so that's all I have all thank you so much with that please call for the vote Mr Tyson if you can wait one second for the vote go ahead secretary votes yes Mr Tyson uh Mr Bailey yes Dr Paul Walker yes Dr Graves yes Dr Thurman and Dr Martin yes motion carries next up is just the cost savings recommendation uh and again that will be adjusted due to the board's action of not the travel music program and assistant principles after that is additional savings at the administration's cutting that does not need board action they've already cut this uh we can see it on there yonder bags ca.gov thought exchange let's talk program which I think someone spoke about earlier that will be cut uh some teix negotiated our lighting contract our air
295mark DEC decrease reducing twist and reimbursement moving to credit recovery for summer school as well well as reducing spending for agencies of nurses any questions about those yes I do have a question we kept talking about the nurses thing and I want to make sure have we settled that we said that you know we were Outsourcing that but then we we said that it will we actually save money if they became a part of our district so have we kind of settled that or what is that going to look like is that something that needs again to stay in the Forefront of our schools and how we think I go about that so we are aware that we that our um emerges contract nursing contract is quite expensive um they pay the nurses more they
296um and and we do not and so when we have asked if they've done a period of time they have to do so much time with the company and then after that time we can ask whether or not they would like to come on with us and in many instances they do not wish to do that because they make more money through the contract but of course as you know the contract is costing us two to one cost us twice the amount of money that it does for us is it three now 3 to one is it relates to what it would cost us to hire a nurse they're charging more than that and they're also paying them more than that and so what we look what we have been looking at for next year
297is that the registered nurses LPNs and AIDS that we do currently have in our district that they could possibly be split and utilized at the buildings um we did save some funds in in the budget um set aside for the contract with the hope that we would be able to again it would not be it is not optimal we would not be able to have full-time nurses in buildings if we utilize the staff that we currently have but um that would give us and we talked about looking at um the needs you know what the needs are of students so that we can actually make sure that we plan accordingly again not optimal but that is sort of where we are right now and um and looking at the recruitment of nurses could possibly be
298under our circumstances and my next comment is you know is we we're uh a school district of 97% or 95% I think African-American and we know that we suffer from chronic diseases like diabetes and different things like that to ensure that our kids get the proper treatment that they need but another thing that I would really like to explore is we have all these Partnerships that a phenia uh Mercy Hospital Mercy clinics and all those different things it's really time to put a couple clinics in our schools that are not being utilized our buildings that not being utilized exploring those opportunities of creating clinics because a lot of our our uh stakeholders both external and internal use our nurses as as triage um one specific example is when I was working in the schools a
299parent literally told their kid to come to school to get treated and it was a it found out it was a broken leg you know those are things that we need to make sure and I know those things are happening in school is so we need to make sure that we have something in place places for as clinics and different things like that to help encourage it or even talk about safe eating and different things like diabetes and different things that our kids historically suffer from asthma and those type of things as well thank you any other questions on these ones Dr Paul Walker sure thanks um I wanted to ask if the credit recovery summer school only line item I wanted to understand that does that mean we would only do credit recovery what
300we offer in the summer would no longer be available is that what that is yes ma'am that number indicates how much we spent last year for summer school and how much we had in the budget for summer school for this year okay and then I know that uh having dealt with this with my own kids sometimes there's other options like I think Blue Springs um has a online program so I mean are we going to I guess I'm wondering are we still going to provide some guidance and support to kids who need the credit recovery we may not be offering it personally but we can certainly inform them about opportunities in the community we are offering the credit recovery for um for seniors that need it for graduation okay so it's just it would only
301be for seniors okay and then the other thing I wanted to ask about is the Yonder bags I know one teacher got up and or sent in a somebody mentioned that about you know how it had improved things three of them yeah we've we've heard both sides of it right some people are for it some people think it's a waste of money but I know that in some school communities they have adopted a policy around cell phones in the schools and um just making it clear that cell phones are not to be visible during the school day and tying consequences to that I know that's much easier than it sounds right but I still I guess I guess if we move away from Yonder bags I would just want to make sure that we're not
302sending a message that we no longer you know like we would be going totally back in the other direction I still think having the cell phones with students during the school day creates a huge distraction um I just know personally that you know uh some in some instances we see conflicts with students go down um and kids can focus more on learning and they don't have as many peer conflicts because they're not sending all these texts and getting into drama during the school day so I guess I mentioned we may end up not having Young bags but I would like to hear what the plan is going to be around I mean most of us by now have probably heard of or read the anxious generation so we already know that the access our kids
303have to technology is not necessarily good for them and we know it impacts them during the school day so I would really like to see us just look more closely at how we're going to you know what is going to be the alternative plan if we don't have that yeah sir and I do want to jump really quick about policy I I know in our policy work that we've been doing cell phones aren't allowed in school or to be visible or used I think it's just the enforcement of it so I think even our new policies to your point it is in there still just the Yonder bag was like a additional ad a tool a tool that's a great way of doing it yeah I just don't want to go backwards I guess the
304same you know and we still have tons of Y bags on campuses currently and we've also got a pilot program in McLure high that may work for the district that's a little less less expensive um and then schools I believe also will have the option to purchase y bags in their budget if they have that flexibility but that may change based off some of the decisions from tonight as well I guess with that with those schools that are really seeing success let's send the Yonder bags over to those schools and have them use it since we've already paid for the Yonder bags right because it seems like steam was one school that we heard from all three teachers and if they that's really working there why not utilize the Y bags where you look at
305uh I think another school I won't say a name they struggle to utilize them as best they can so let's not waste the resources there and keep charging kids to get new Yonder bags let's use them where because again it's a tool it's not a policy it's a tool great great any Dr griffs I think for me um just talking about the Yonder bags it's um if we look at what other districts are starting to do many of them are starting to go to Yonder bags um and so I'm just wondering did we go too restrictive too fast right did we um basically put something in place where we set everybody up to fail do we need to Rel look at maybe how we um do do they need a set time where during this
306par this particular times they cannot use their phones they have to be in y bags but then they can unlock their phones at lunchtime and then they have to put them back up I just think that before we basically quit cold turkey it didn't work where are the numbers that say that didn't work what does that evaluation look like because we did invest in this we did spend money on this and some people did say it work some people didn't but those who didn't make it work were there other things that caused it not to work um and then my whole thing the other thing is about the CICS we just got CICS and we're still um having um shortages in our Safety and Security Department have we spoken with them to say has strategics
307worked has it been helpful have we talked to teachers do they feel more safe do they feel a little bit more in control with this tool so I'm just wondering before we cut that did we eval oh it's not no ma' so maybe looks shout out to Dr Singleton he was able to negotiate that cost to be cut in half next year so we're keeping it in place okay okay just savings cuz the the contract was 208 plus thousand okay the way it looks like on here like it's no that's that's the amount we saved from the contract being cut in half for next year so is there anything on here that is still staying and we just it's a a savings versus it's actually cut air mark air Mark has been a negotiated cost
308in that too so it's um summer and then the summer school is just the money and the budget going back into the budget cuz we're not doing it the way we've done it traditionally all right again this isn't for board action just for letting us know additional savings if you want to go to the next slide this number will be changing uh go to the next one this is the number board that we talked about so essentially Administration is letting us know that they have around $1.9 million total to negotiate with the uh FFA which includes the benefit side so it's not just a salary side it's benefits and salaries is about the dollar amount maximum that they can afford this 1 four in the bottom is now going towards that assistant principal role they
309still need to find the additional around $955,000 in additional actually not over a million because we cut the executive uh of cni so they have over another million some dollars to find um in the budget for those savings but again so there'll be the 3.8 million going to the fund balance given that everything was true on the preliminary the $ 1.9 million is salary and benefits to be able to negotiate how that would look like with the FFA and during their negot associations administrators we certainly appreciate your understanding and knowing that you will not get a raise this year and your freezing we know there's more workload coming on as well but certainly um we appreciate you doing that Goodwill effort uh throughout this process as well if you want to talk about the long-term
310recommendations that you're going to be looking at can I ask a question about this I just wanted to ask the 2% increase or if that's if that's the route whatever the raise amount is that's agreed to is this for all staff that are not administrators in other words certified and non-certified microphone I'm sorry yes that number includes all staff except Administration so no central office no principles nobody with administrative title all other staff categories thank you so yeah just looking um Forward Thinking U again we kind of already talked about trying to establish Early Childhood Center uh just strictly for prek babies so that would allow us to have some savings cost because we don't currently provide transation for them uh just being uh more handson with the long-term Financial strategies for the district again
311look into Surplus buildings uh consolidating unutilized facilities to maximize efficiency and based off feedback um and and information we need to strongly look at restructuring our campuses back to K5 6 8 and 9 12 um we've done some preliminary look at building so it's going to be a lot of work uh in phase three but that are some of the things we're looking for to working on for you all thank you so much again we appreciate all of your energy again Dr Haywood who did a lot of the conversations certainly appreciate these challenging conversations we hope you all get a day of rest here at some point um certainly can't close the whole District down but certainly uh the team we appreciate everyone uh in these decisions as well next up is consent I'm going
312to go ahead and make the motion cuz we have to pull some things off just so we're clear because some of those people were on there and so uh motion to approve consent with the removal of the eight Orchestra teachers 18 assistant principles and the one executive director of curriculum instruction there a motion to approve with that motion moved by Tyson second by Thurman all those in favor say I I I abstentions Nays eyes have it policy there's one policy up for final and this is student Support Services which you would think is like student services but it's all all about like asbest and hazardous waste and Terry signed up for it thinking it was going to be about like support services and he quickly found out was about asbest uh so is there a
313motion to approve section e to go into effect on July 1st 2025 moved by Tyson I mean mooved by Thurman second second by Dunn any questions all those in all those in FA do you have a question all those in favor say I I I exstension Nays eyes have it next up is superintendent search uh the Board of Education certainly appreciates the community's feedback and all stakeholders and we would like to announce uh that effective now we are starting our search for our next superintendent tomorrow you will receive a survey uh that has is outlining stakeholder feedback from all stakeholders that we're seeking your feedback that should be invaluable for us to engage as we identify who the next superintendent could be with that we also invite anyone including our stakeholder ERS to an in-person
314meeting here at 5:00 p.m. on next Wednesday uh April 2nd to engage in an informal in-person uh conversation with the board to just talk about what's going well at the district what's not going well what do You' like to see in our next superintendent in qualities we are all we are also going to be opening up uh part of the search process to a select group of individuals uh and you can note that if you're interested on that uh on the survey where there'll be a confidentiality agreement FFA will get to appoint some people to that committee as well as well as teachers support staff students as well as parents and community members there'll be a small group who will be part of the interview process at some point along the way our goal of
315course is to be able to find the right person the board is committed to finding the right superintendent and we will not settle unless we find the right one and so uh we are talked through that's why we were late earlier of just discussing what that will look like and so I will say again the board is committed to finding the right fit for the superintendent uh and we will continue searching until we find the right one we will not hire one until we find one that we feel is right for the district and the feedback that you all are providing so please uh the email will come out at 10: a.m. tomorrow uh thank you Miss hman for already getting that and so uh it'll be a survey the board's the only one who
316sees the survey just let you know there's no email collection on it the only time your email be collected is if you're interested in serving on that potential panel so there'll be a small group of people who will be selected for that panel randomly selected uh for that at a later date uh to be determined once we get through the process again our goal is to have someone in place by the start of the school year but we are committed to finding the right person not rushing through this process and making sure the community has clear feedback so again we welcome you to come next Wednesday at 5:00 pmm here in the administration building 8855 dun road if you'd like to partake in direct conversations with the Board of Education that's who will be there
317uh as well as we'll work with some administrators to take some notes for us as well as we have the conversation processing strengths and weaknesses and opportunities and what you're looking for in the superintendent but we really do value your feedback and input for that so thank you for that and be on the lookout we'll keep you updated as time progresses is there a motion to adourn no Mr President oh yes I'll just have one comment I just want to thank the public the community the stakeholders for coming out and advocating um tonight was you know seriously I want to thank you all um as one of seven uh your input is is appreciated um our email are open uh we also take input that way so thank you all for coming out tonight and
318advocating so move move by P Walker second by Tyson roll call please um oh all those in favor say I extensions N I have