001Okay. I know. I noticed that it's you started having trouble with the your volume scratching the laryngitis. Yeah. Oh, we've got pledge of allegiance first. That's what are they doing here? >> Oh, they are they're the school board from Nixon. >> What are they doing? >> I don't know. >> Yes. And we're going to work on that. Just as a heads up. >> Oh, hi. All right, we're going to call the meeting to order. I do apologize for our tardiness. We ran a little bit over in our close session, but we will go ahead and start with the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. First item on the
002agenda will be public comment. We do have one person st signed up. That is Kaden Irons. Okay, you have three. Good evening. I'm Kaden Irons, a senior serving as Ozark High School's student body president. I'm here tonight after spending about the last two months meeting with students, counselors, administrators, reviewing district policy and procedure and asking one core question. How did individual student rate return and under what authority? Student impact matters deeply and I will address that briefly. But tonight, what matters just as much is process, transparency, and whether the board governing forward or is correcting backward tonight. When individual student ranks appeared on P school late this fall, there was no advanced communication to students, families, or counselors. There was no written or formally approved procedure or policy. Seniors were already in the middle of
003college admissions. Students experienced confusion, anxiety, and avoidable harm. That impact is real, but it is a consequence, not the root problem. The root problem is how this decision was made and directed. From the beginning, I was told clearly and consistently that student rank was not a policy matter, that it was procedural, and that it did not require board action or board policy. Yet, tonight, the agenda tells a different story. This board is now considering changes to policy IKC class rankings. That matters. Policy is not procedure. If Frank truly did not require policy, then policy would not need to be amended. Now, proper governance is policy first, then procedure, then communication, then implementation. What happened here was the reverse. The handbook language stating OS does not individually rank students was removed and approved in June. Yet,
004the governing policy is now being written in December. This is retroactive justification, not transparency. Students were told rank appeared after rank appeared and after the November board meeting where this was discussed publicly for the first time that rank had been reinstated. Yet tonight, rank appears on the agenda as something still under consideration. Both cannot be true at the same time. If the decision is still being made, students should never have told it was settled. Either way, the public does deserve an explanation. When students ask reasonable questions about policy and are told policy is irrelevant only to watch it be amended later erodess trust. I attempted to raise these concerns through proper channels. In an email dated November 21st, I was told concerns were being heard, yet rank was not paused. I was told leadership was
005now working closely with administrators and counselors. The word now matters because it happened after the fact. In a statement sent to seniors on November 24th, the district cited transparency, but students were not informed before implementation policy was addressed only after backlash and the harm caused has not been meaningfully corrected. Finally, at the previous board meeting, the agenda item was student rank. Yet, the discussion was diverted to unrelated topics, heightening tension and avoiding the core issue. The board's role is governance, not operational tinkering. The directive to implement rank without proper process was an overreach. In closing, I asked the board to reinstate the previous policy of non-ranking and going forward to conduct board business in a way that upholds proper process, democratic governance, and actual transparency. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you for that. it.
006Uh we will address that later when it's on the in the agenda. >> All right. Next up is report superintendent update. Okay, so I just want to quickly give you an update. Um, this past was it not this week but last week we had the state school board in Springfield and I want to thank those that uh attended. We had a reception that evening, but also I had the uh great honor of touring SPS as well as um having conversations with the state school board and uh various other people and it was a really great day. It allowed I think the state school board to see all the wonderful things that are happening in southwest Missouri. Um, unfortunately sometimes we feel that many legislative decisions or are made based on Kansas City and St. Louis
007and I know that our school board does not make those decisions, but they also have influence. So, it was a great day for them to see what was going on in our area. Uh, they did at their schoolboard meeting discuss some of their legislative priorities. And um one that is is concerning is that um the most debate the debate they had was about open enrollment. And this is what the board ultimately adopted the language. The state board of education supports legislation on voluntary public open enrollment that is based on best practices as determined by Desi and stakeholders. But then they had a conversation that they really didn't know what the best practices were and so they adopted that language. but acknowledged that unresolved differences among the board members on participation limits, transportation responsibilities, and funding
008impacts uh and funding impacts continue to exist. Members characterize the language as a placeholder designed to ensure that the board and DESIE remain engaged as lawmakers um start to go to session in January. Um one of the other items that they discussed is we all know that there are issues with our APR. It is hard to understand sometimes and how it classifies our schools. And one did um asked to have a timeline and for Desi to develop a proposal to shift our current performance reporting system to an A throughF style. Um not sure how that's going to look like or look at but it is a little bit worrisome. I will also tell you that um there has been from a legislative standpoint, there has been 1,476 pieces of legislation that have already been filed
009across both chambers. That is a lot. And I bet if we were to go back and look at it, there would be a quite a few that are based uh that have something to do with education. And then I quickly wanted to remind you that uh the modern the school funding modern modernization task force that was initiated by governor Kho it is in effect. Um they are currently having their task force meetings and they want to send an update or actually a recommendation to the governor by December of 2026. There are four areas of this. modernizing the adequacy framework which funding targets membership based funding and tiered weights which is a student counts work group updating local effort to reflect true capacity which is a local effort group which we all understand local effort and
010then incentives that's the fourth should incentives be instituted for student achievement um there's a lot of information that you can go and you can look at there are videos and updates on this, but there's I just you need to understand there's still a lot to to come how it will play with h what's happening with property taxes throughout the state. I'm not exactly sure. I don't know if they're all talking together and hopefully they will at some point, but I just wanted to give you a legislative update as well as a schoolboard update. State school board. Okay, thank you for that. Um, next item on the agenda are the district reports. We do appreciate you guys providing those to us. Um, that's a good tool to keep us updated and we do appreciate it. >>
011I have one question about that. >> Okay. >> Is Richie Is Richie in the house? >> Oh, I was looking at the at the update for the baseball field. >> Pretty good pretty technical. So, I noticed there's lots of designs. Is that I just want to make sure is that what the baseball people want the whole thing that's going on right now. >> Coach has been involved in every step of this process. So, anytime we make a change, he has a say in this. So, Deian, Gerald, myself, Justin, and Mark have all been involved in this process. >> Okay. I'm no baseball designer, but is is the alternating light green. Is that is that how that the field will be? Is that part of the >> You'll have a bright green and then more green.
012So, it gives it a little more pop when you put the red in there, you come up over the hill. >> And a non-turf question. I think that there's a green dugout and a red dugout or something. >> Got the paint. They will both be red. >> Okay. The first day we were going to try it, the wind was blowing very hard, so we couldn't do it. Then we had some cold weather. We're trying to get the weather to warm up to try to finish that Christmas day. >> Yes. >> Right. >> I'll leave you. >> Right. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next item on the agenda are future dates. You guys can look through those. Um, this is our last meeting for 2025. >> All right. >> May I add one? >> Just as
013a reminder, tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. If you want to be in attendance, we do have some of our legis local legislators that are going to be here at the OIC at 9:00 a.m. >> So, it's our not not our last meeting for 2020. >> No. >> Here and here. >> Here. Yes. >> Okay. at the school district office. So it needs to be done >> by Friday >> or she will come back on the 30th. >> Yeah. >> Right. All right. Next, I would entertain a motion to approve consent agenda. Second. >> I have a motion by Dustin, second by James. All in favor. >> Okay. Passes unanimously. >> There are some people who on the retirement list. I would rather not retire, but >> we don't that option. I know. They're really good though.
014>> Yeah. All right. Next item on the agenda is new business. And the first one we have is a presentation from our auditors. >> Welcome. Thank you. >> I appreciate the best of attire. I had a red tie on this morning. My wife told me it didn't look good. So >> I'll be presenting I guess first of all Matt Wallace partner with KBMCPA and I'll be be presenting your 2025 financial statement audit results. I think you all have it in your packet, but up here as well, you follow along. We'll start on page three. And if you all have any questions as I go through, don't hesitate to let me know. Um, on page three, we have the independent auditors report. So, the reason you all hire us, the reason we come out is to
015issue an opinion as to whether your financial statements are presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. You can read through the first couple of paragraphs there, the opinion paragraphs, and you'll see that the district receive an unmodified opinion which means that the financial statements are presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles best opinion you can receive. So definitely want to congratulate the district on that. You can continue to read through the the auditor's report. Another way to look at that another view you'll see within there is that there's reasonable reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material in the statement whether due to fraud or error. And other than that I'll just hit some of the highlights as we go through the package. The next stop I'll go to
016is on page 11. So on page 11, we have the statement of receipts, dispersements, and changes in fund balance. Basically, the income statement for the district. And again, I'll just hit a few of the highlights here in that first column, the general fund column. You'll see total receipts are right at 32.3 million. That was up about 600,000 from the prior year. Your largest increase there was your top line in local. That your that's your property taxes. Those were up about 4% from the prior year. Then continuing down, your total dispersements in the general fund were right at 30.1 million. That was up about 1.9 million from the prior year. Of course, salaries and benefits are your largest expense in the general fund. Those were up about 900,000 from the prior year. And if you continue
017down, you'll see the net change in fund balance for the general fund was a little over $500,000, leaving a total fund balance of right at $19.1 million. And when we talk about fund balance for you all, that's also your cash and investment balance at June 30 of about 19.1 million. I always like to stop here too. Another way to look at another way that Desi views that to see whether or not your cash cash position is is favorable or not is they review your net your fund balance and compare that to your operating dispersements for both the general fund and that second column, the special revenue fund, which is your teachers fund. So when you compare your total net position to those expenditures, you have a 26% uh fund balance reserve. So, that's a little
018over a three-month reserve. That's right around what we uh recommend when we recommend that to uh districts. And to compare that to last year, last year you all you all were at 26.12. So, very similar to last year. Just to again to highlight that second column, the special revenue fund. That that is your teacher fund where you pay out your certificated salary costs. Um of course, your total dispersements there of almost 43.9 million. The bulk of that was salaries and benefits. In that fund, salary and benefits increased about % from the prior year. Your third column, debt service fund. That's uh has your tax funding and other revenues that will pay uh off your bond costs and future bond costs. You'll see your total fund balance for the debt service bond is right at 5.9
019million. That 5.9 million is to pay off future service the debt for your uh eight general obligation bonds that the district has. And then fund four, the the third column, fund four, your capital project fund. Total receipts there are right about 2.9 million. That was up about 850,000 from the prior year. Total dispersements in that fund were right at 9.6 million. And of course, that consisted still of a lot a lot of your cop debt projects were still going on in fiscal year 2025, including storm shelter, roofing, and and other building improvements that you'll have during fiscal year 25. And that left a fund balance in your capital projects funds at right at 10. 3 million. Of that total 10.3 million, about 5.1 of that was still related to your cop uh debt funding that
020you received in in previous fiscal years. And then you'll see in your total column there, your total fund balance for all of your funds ended right at 35.5 million for the year. Next, we'll go to the next page, page 12. So on page 12, we have the first page of the notes to the financial statements. I always like to point out the next 20 pages or so of the notes that was part of our audit process. So, anything you read within that was part of our audit process. It's a great place to go for more detail when you're just briefly looking over your your balance sheet and income statement. Typically, there's going to be a note associated with that that's going to give you a little more information since there are I had no new
021notes to go over this year, but I thought I'd hit a couple of the highlights. If you want to go to page 17. On page 17, I thought it was a good idea to point out um note five, which is your general obligation bonds payable. Mention that briefly, your fund three debt service fund that uh is set up to pay off your future bond payments. You can see here a little more detail related to that bond debt. And then I also wanted to go to page 21. So, in addition to your debt service bond and your general obligation bonds that you all have, on page 21, you'll see a continuation of note seven, which shows the detail of other debt that the district has, which is primarily your other COP debt funding, which is paid
022out of your capital project funds. So, you can see there your future payments that will be paid out of the capital project fund related to those that financing. Next, I'll go to page 40. all the way on page 40, we get past the financial statements and we're on to the schedule of selected statistics. So, in addition to issuing an opinion on your financial statements, we're required by the state to express an opinion on compliance on various state statutes. Um, that includes attendance tracking, transportation tracking, budgets, and several other items you can see in the next few pages. Um, I'm pleased to report that there were no findings with your state compliance. Again, the best results you can receive from a state on the selected statistics. And while we're here on page 40, I thought it
023would get up be a good idea. One of your critical funding sources are your attendance hours. You'll see item two there, which is one of the items that we review during our compliance test. Total hours that the district had in fiscal year 2025 were a little over $6 million. Of course, we calculate that down to average daily attendance. So, the average daily attendance for the district was about 5,54. that was down about 118 students from the prior year. And that's all I had within the reporting package. I did want to point out if you're if you're flipping through here and comparing it to last year, um typically we have the federal compliance section within this audit reporting package as well. Um the federal compliance uh guidance didn't come out until actually after this month. So
024it was after we were uh issued your audit report. So we weren't allowed to issue that at the same time. But since it has come out, we have issued that separately. um over I think I issued it this week for you all. Um so with our federal compliance, of course, you're required to have a federal compliance audit when you spend over a million dollars in federal funding. Uh the major federal programs that we tested this year was um your title one program, your special education funding. I'm pleased to report with those two federal programs, we had no compliance findings, nor did we have have any findings on your internal internal controls over those programs. So again, the best results you can receive from a federal compliance audit as well. And then the only other item
025I wanted to go over um if you're looking at a physical copy, it's a separate uh letter, but if you're in the reporting package, it's it's page 45, I believe, in the in the PDF. So this is not part of the reporting package. This is just a separate letter that we send you all um to review any uh recommendations that we have. So just to kind of summarize everything that we did audit perspective. We've gone through this. You know, we issued an opinion on your financial statements. Had an unmodified opinion on that. We also issued a report on internal controls over financial reporting. I didn't go over that. That's part of the reporting package. There were no findings on internal controls over financial reporting. Again, the best results you all can receive. Reiterate again, we
026issue an opinion on your uh state compliance on specific state compliance issues. Again, no findings there. And finally, we issue an opinion on compliance and internal control over your uh certain uh federal programs. No findings there, but in addition to that, we just have general recommendations. And that what that's what this letter is about. You'll see about halfway down the page our general recommendation on cyber security. I want to point out that there was nothing specific that we had issues with during our audit process. Um but it's just such a high-risisk area that we've been sending this general recommendation for the past few years. The idea is is just to continue to evaluate your system, make sure you mitigate the risk as much as you can. Um, but this is just a high-risisk area for
027for every government at this point. On the next page, item two, this is just new, excuse me, new accounting standards. So, next year, Gazsby statement 103 is going to go into go into effect. This is not going to have any uh major impact on your financial statements. It will change the way your budgets are reported in the financial statements. Um, but as far as function goes, how you handle that nothing will change. It's just a reporting uh function. So, we'll assist with that process next year to make sure that that's reported properly in the reporting package. And then finally, item three there, the publication of financial statements. So, in our previous audit, you all did have one finding related to uh the requirement to publish your financial statements within 30 days of receiving them. So,
028this is just in here to say accommodation that the district was able to comply with that this year. No finding related to that. So, definitely wanted to put keep that in there to commend the district for looking that at that and correcting that issue. And that is all that I have. Of course, want to thank the board for allowing me to present. Um, thank Dr. Wilson and and Dr. Gray really, you know, the whole finance team and any more, you know, with federal compliance and everything. There's so many people here that we deal with. Um, they've been very transparent, great working relationship. We definitely appreciate the the relationship that we have with the district and I can answer any questions y'all have at this time. >> I got one or two. I just u real
029quick for my own knowledge here. Um, you you do this independent audit. You do it for a number of schools. >> Yeah, we have about our our our firm does about 80 school districts here in the state of Missouri. >> Great. And and it leads me to my actually my follow-up question is and it's more of a statement with a question involved. Um you know, nobody likes taxes and whether you're pro school or not. You know, nobody enjoys writing a tax, but um part of our funding comes from federal, some from state and a lot from local. Um but that, correct me if I'm wrong, that doesn't come all at one time. Correct. So, you you made a statement. I just want to make sure I heard this correct. You know, it's a pretty large
030budget. You know, it's a pretty large school. Um but my question to you is we have um you know, an endear fund balance. You said um about 26%. Just for everybody's understanding, you said if we if there were delays from the federal government or the state or even local funding to us, we could only cover our bills for three months before we were broke. >> Yeah, that you're you're right. Yeah. So, that's when you look at that operating reserve, that's that's exactly what I was telling you. If you had no revenue come in at June 30th, of course, but if you had no more revenue come in, you'd be able to pay your estimated bills basically for a three-month period, >> right? So even though it looks like a large number, it's not like it
031goes uh excessively far, but we are within the area that you guys recommend and within um many of are we outside the scope of many of the people that you also audit? >> No, that's that's a really good point. So, um, our recommendation, you know, when when we look at a school district, and of course it varies by school district, by size, and what they have going on, but our general recommendation is that three-month reserve, which would be a 25% fund balance reserve. Um, and the reason behind that is, you know, you're right as far as timing goes with with funding. Um, you also have to have the ability to move funding over to fund for if you have a capital project uh going on in future years. Building up that general fund balance a
032little bit to be able to then move some funding over is also pretty important because you know your capital fund or your capital projects don't come all at once. They come, you know, over a 5 10 year period. So you have to have the ability to do that as well. >> Like replacing a $2 million roof. >> Exactly. Okay. So, so, so when you see those reserves, some of it's used for capital, but then also, yeah, I mean, you have to have those operational reserves as well. So, 25% is what we recommend. Sometimes we see higher. Um, you get in trouble at 3%, so you can get all the way down to 3% before Desi starts coming in and really, you know, looking at you and making sure that you you make changes. Um, but
033when you look at your largest expense being salaries and benefits, um, you know, really easy to get that reserve to go down with any sort of changes in in payroll. So that's why that 25% is so important because you are you floating payroll for at least three months and then beyond if you have to. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> I have a question. you said earlier, and maybe I didn't catch all of what you said, but I heard you say 5504 for our average daily attendance is 5,54 students. I thought we were around 57 or almost 58 enrolled. >> Can you help me? >> So, so there's two different ways to look at that and I don't have the specifics with me, but membership is probably what you're talking about. So, so there's
034So, Desi looks at two different things. Membership would be probably the easiest way to think about it is every that you have on your roster that they would have, you know, a number tied to them and that that's the membership number. >> Average daily attendance, then you're taking into account the actual attendance percentage. I don't remember what you all are, but let's say it's roughly 93%. So, you're you're kind of discounting that number down to who's actually on site at each time. And then also, you have to take into account preschool. Um, you're only able to claim certain preschool students. So you're not getting your whole preschool um membership within that number as well. So so it's it's not as simple as just you know looking at the you know here's a here's the number
035of students where our student body is. It's a little bit more in that calculation. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I'll ask one more that just off the top of my head. Did you happen to calculate I know we've talked about it before the uh dollar amount spent per pupil when you were doing that audit >> that is not a calculation that we do that's fine I know it's available in other places but I just wanted to see >> the information is there to do that and and certainly we can I'm sure Dr. probably has that same information to do as well that that information is available. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to see if you verified that. >> Yeah. That that is not one of the test. Thank you. >> All right.
036I will entertain a motion to approve the fiscal year 2025 audit as presented. >> So moved. >> I second. >> Motion by Dustin, second by Ryanne. All in favor? Passes unanimously. We thank you very much. >> Thank you. And Dr. Wilson, Dr. Gray, they have my contact information. I know it's a lot of stuff I just went through. So, if you do have any followup questions, I'm always >> Thank you so much. >> Is Matt still on the Zoom? >> Yes, I'm still on the Zoom. >> Hi, Matt. >> Just checking. >> Hello. I'm just not voting because I'm sitting at an airport. So, unless there's a tire you need me to vote, then I will. >> Okay. We appreciate you. >> Oh, I see he's blinked out. >> Okay. Next on the agenda is
037our district calendar. for the next two years. Before we get into that, I will entertain a motion to approve those as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Christina, second by James, and now we'll have discussion. Um Dr. Link, >> good evening. Before you guys are the proposed calendars for the uh 2627 and 2728 school year. Um both of those calendars are pretty similar to our calendar this year with about one one change. Um the plan is to still keep the uh early Friday release times. Uh so our teachers have that time for PLC for meetings um address student needs timely and also the quarterly um PD days, PLC days, those are still on. So not much change there where we do have a proposed change and this change came through the calendar
038committee which um is comprised of individuals from every building as well as our MSTACTA president Whanja. Um we all get together and prior to that even meet with the directors from our operations team to get their input as well. But we sit down and look at uh what's going well and you know are there areas that we can improve to better support kids and meet the needs of of them and our community. Um and through that process and over the about two months we came up with about two calendars count then that went out to a vote by MSTA. Um and what you see before you was I think option A and the major change that you see uh reflected in both years is on the week of parent teacher conferences which is that uh
039third full week in October. Um on this particular calendar it's Thursday the 22nd will be a student half day uh proposed student half day while it will remain a full day for our staff. Uh once our students leave on that day that will become a parent teacher conference basically afternoon parents will be able to come in meet starting as soon as the kids leave uh and then that will carry on into the evening. Um what this does is it um reduces for our staff the amount of evenings that they have out for parent teacher conferences um and reduces it from you know let's say Tuesday and Thursday to being a Thursday afternoon and a Thursday evening. So the amount of time is the exact same now our buildings still will maintain the autonomy. So, let's
040say for example, like our high school, uh, for example, they really like to utilize um that some of that parent teacher conference time that's allotted, they like to shift it to the spring for IAPS. They'll still be able to shift that evening time um once teacher contracted time is over, they'll be able to shift that time to the spring to still do IAPS. And so, it'll still be um you would say fair for for all employees in that regard. So, um again, that's calendar option A. There was maybe about 404 votes total for the calendars and this uh calendar A got about 59% of the vote. >> So that's really all I have on that. You guys have any questions? >> It's a later start um and it goes late into the year. >> It
041does. And that is um that is uh we have the state law for 14 days. >> Yeah. I just it's when you see it, you're like, "Whoa, that's different." >> So, the the the plus side of that, if I try to find the positive, is that this summer will actually be about a week longer um for for staff and for for families. So, typically our staff get about 10. I think it's nine or 10, and I think this is either 10 or 11. I to go back and count. So, give them a little bit of a reprieve this summer. >> So, do we typically approve two two calendar years in advance before We have before, not not recently. Before COVID, we always projected out two years. Um, the reason why is just so we could
042try to help families better plan. Now, obviously, we don't have OTC's 2728 spring break, but if we follow the pattern, this is about where it'll fall. Now, if that changes, then we'll obviously bring an amended calendar to you for uh for a vote so that that aligns. >> I think it's great that you're putting them out in advance. It helps a lot. >> And and then last year they had the the days off versus the early release. Was there any was there any difference as far as I mean the teachers still want that and >> Yes, sir. >> the benefit. Yeah, >> that was the feedback that we got that was brought back to the calendar committee was just how how thankful and how useful that these days have been for the staff, >> how
043appreciative they've been. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Sorry about that. Um the next item is the I would entertain a motion to recom to approve the director of community sponsorship, advertising and donations job description as presented. So moved. >> I'll second. >> Motion by Dustin, second by Rayanne, and then Dr. Wilson. So, I just wanted to give you a synopsis of why I believe that we need this position. Um, it is rather lengthy, but I think it gives you a good idea of where we're headed. Um, the district currently manages sponsorships, advertising arrangements, and donations in a very decentralized and inconsistent manner throughout the buildings and programs to ensure accountability, hopefully maximize revenue, uh, expand partnership opportunities. I am recommending the creation of this position. It will provide structure, oversight, and strategic direction in
044an area that has significant potential to benefit both students and our district's financial uh revenues. So, in talking about the dis decentralized and inconsistent processes, at present, sponsorships and donations are handled differently across buildings, teams, and programs. This creates several challenges. lack of standard procedures, unclear expectations for staff and coaches, uh uneven experiences for community partners, and missed opportunities for coordinated district-wide partnerships. Also, there's increasing volume and complexity of the potential sponsorships. We can have Ozark's athletic, fine arts, and extracurricular programs. They have grown significantly, and we can have sponsorships in each of those areas. We now have a plethora of new sponsorship abilities or advertising abilities that we never thought of a few years ago, such as our digital uh scoreboard at the football field, huddle advertising, um facility naming opportunities, stadium gym and
045field signage, event sponsorships. Those are just a few of the things that we could hopefully capitalize on in creating partnerships with our community. Um, we also with this position would hope that they would ensure compliance with our board policies with IRS requirements, advertising regulations, procurement standards, and equity in school fundraising practices. I would also want this position to help grow community interest in our partnerships. Local businesses and organizations consistently express interest in supporting Ozark schools. However, without a single point of contact, partners often feel unsure where to start or encounter or encounter inconsistent processes. And I have met with someone and that was uh not even I did not even prompt this person. And that was one of the things uh that she had mentioned is that we would like to donate, but we're just
046not sure who to talk to. So, a director of sponsorship would serve as the district's ambassador to business and community partners, build and maintain long-term relationships, increase district visibility and credibility, and ensure partners see measurable returns on their support. This also uh gives us financial opportunities. This position can increase sponsorship revenues, secure multi-year partnership agreements, reduce the burdens on our athletic directors, our principles, and our coaches, and support student center programs without increasing the local tax burden. We also would love for this to support our real world learning strategic goals. The this directly supports the board goals and CEP strategies by expanding partnerships that lead to internships, community- based learning, and industry engagement, aligning with district branding and communication strategies, strengthening community trust and collaboration, and also hopefully to create sustainable funding streams for any
047of our real world learning initiatives. I probably could go on and on for for next 20 minutes on why I think this is an important position for our district. >> But with all of those, I would ask that you approve the job description and to approve the position of community uh director of community sponsorship, advertising, and donations. >> Let's see if you can go for 20 minutes. >> No, nobody wants to hear me talk 20 minutes. >> I have a couple of questions. >> Yes, ma'am. You know, we've talked before about I'm not really necessarily in favor of just blindly creating a new position, >> right? >> But if there's a need for it, then that's definitely something that needs to happen. So I, and I appreciate you talking about the different things that they
048would do. Would you please, and you've talked to me about this before, so I'm not blindsiding you, please differentiate a little bit between our current executive director of communications >> versus this position. And how is it different than what he already does? >> It is it is very different um because that is not the skill set that we have asked or we have in our communications. Nor have we had that in a communications director. Not just the person that we have now. That is not how that position was necessarily written up or what we have. Um you know communications is just what it says internal and external communications crisis excuse me crisis management. This person needs to have a very specific skill set on how to create relationships, to build endowments, to build donors, to
049build sponsorships and advertising. And right now in our school system, I truly believe at this point in central office um within the uh athletic director, timing wise, we do not have that skill set, nor do we have the time to dedicate to do this and do it well. So, it's more fundraising than it is >> fundraising communications. >> Yes, absolutely. Thank you. >> And who who does it direct to? Who does it report to? >> Well, I see where the superintendent's going to Oh, I missed that. Thank you. >> Yeah, >> but this position theoretically should pay for itself 10fold. >> That is the goal. Absolutely. It would pay for itself. >> And did you tell me earlier that some districts in the area who have a similar position have reported that there's already is
050paying for itself? >> Absolutely. Makes sense. >> Thank you. >> So that makes it worthwhile. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Yeah. And this position could possibly work with the Ozark Foundation, community foundation. I know we have some NIXA board members here tonight who are getting their masters in school board. And so NIXA has a great community foundation. I look forward to Ozark, you know, bulking up our foundation, our fundraising. I know past administrations have really wanted this. It wasn't in the cards a couple years ago. I'm glad you're doing this. So, thank you. >> Yes, I see great things for um advertising and sponsorships as well as really starting to build the foundation. >> Yep. >> Okay. Any other discussion? All right. All in favor? Passes unanimously. All right. Next item on the agenda is
051class rank. But before I entertain a motion on that, I would like to um provide some context before we move forward. Um I want to share with you that back in May, the board did direct that students should be able to see their class rank as well as their GPA. Um we wanted them to be able to see it in Power School. Several of our several of the board members have students that are in high school and we knew that that was not something that they were seeing. Our intent at that time was transparency. It was not to unintentionally or unknowingly change the district policy because whether or not we are a ranking or a non-ranking school is actually a board policy. It became clear later that our directive was implemented in a way that
052had broader implications than we understood. Um, and that breakdown in communication and roll out is on us as a system. And we are visiting again today because we need to make an intentional and informed decision now that we have all of the facts on how to move forward. Our directive was to share class rank that we were already keeping and GPA that we already had. Um but it definitely did not roll out as intended and that is one of the reasons we are going to talk about that now. Um, so before we go into this, I will entertain a motion to add the verbiage to policy IKC class rank and we can discuss once a motion's been made. >> So moved. Second. >> Motion by Dustin, second by James. And um we are open for
053discussion. I just wanted to get that out before we I wanted to set I know there has been a lot said. I wanted to make sure that we were sharing historically why we're here. >> Hey, so first off, Kaden, thanks so much for coming out tonight and last last uh last month. Great job on both of those presentations. Really appreciate it and appreciate your inputs, too. We you know, we talk about it a lot. Um you you did mention like why we're doing it and one thing was because I think you guys had actually recommended us to to make some kind of policy by next year which I think is what we're going to do but in talking to the administration they're they need to have some kind of decision by January for was it
054IAP so for the for the students that are planning for next year. So that's that's why we're doing it now. And if you look at the policy IKC, if I look at historically, it it never said we're non-ranking. It it kind of just said we're we did the kumladi system and all that. Maybe that's what it means, but it didn't specifically lay it out. So, I think whatever we decide tonight would help alleviate that going forward. Is that does that make sense? >> Well, there was confusion and we need to set it straight, >> right? And so whatever the the date back here is 2020, but there is no specific uh delineation as far as what to do. I think there needs to be something at this level. That way the administration knows how to
055move forward. Well, even if we're non-ranking institution, and this is the policy that we're voting on to adopt to be a non-ranking institution to keep the kum lad system, but also if we as a district are keeping the information of rank and GPA, we have to by law share it with the student. So that's the second step of that. So to explain that which didn't make sense to me but previously how I understand it is the rank was available if you requested it and if colleges requested it. So if you were applying to a a school that wanted rank you could say hey I want to send my rank but if you weren't then it didn't matter. So that was nothing has changed there. the rank is still available, but because of this, it just
056needs to be available, >> right? Because if we change to a ranking school, it would be how we base all of our um accolades on. We'd have a valid Victorian and so forth. So, those are different implications. Being ranking and non-ranking is different than actually sharing the information. And I think that's where things got convoluted. So, we are here to set that straight. >> Correct. So you can think of it as we are a nonranking recognition school or we're a ranking recognition school. In either system, we have rank and we have GPA. So that's in both systems, but the nonranking recognition is what you see in the current in the policy suggestion. I just wanted to to kind of address the things you said Caleb about what it has been because in it has been
057where students couldn't see it and we said we were non-ranking but the policy starting in 2022 the policy said OHS will be identified as a non-ranking high school on in the common app and on the school profile which is electronically sent with all transcripts and it says the school profile will include overall GPA such as grading skill, highest GPA, medium GPA, etc. Class rank will not be printed on transcripts nor given to parents or students. But if a college or scholarship requests rank, the first communication will explain or non-ranking system and then the second communication if the college or scholarship requested again that rank will be provided. So the rank was already there and it was being provided. And I would think I would think that if your rank is being told to someone, you
058would want to know what it was too. So you could make adjustments in your planning. So you could decide what kind of courses you're going to take because if somebody else is going to have your rank and evaluate your your ability to receive a scholarship or admission or something, you want to know what that rank is also so you can affect it before they get it their senior year. >> And that's procedure, not policy. that that was the procedure back in 2022 and and it is true that the board handles policy and we don't direct procedure but there is nothing that's outside of the board's purview to review and give direction about and and that is why that is policy IKC is in there so we do get it we do give direction and we
059hope we take input from everybody to see what's the best kind of recommendation that we can give the best direction to give >> and I think in this case the procedure may have been confusing at some level which is why it's necessary to clearly say whatever we're doing >> changing >> we're so the recommendation is to maintain being a non-ranking school to stick with the kumlad system the um the recogn the recognition of that but if we are tracking to share upon request >> to share it where they can see it >> viewable that's >> in the student information system is what that was the sticking point >> recommendation says >> yeah so wait I want to clarify this so they're going to see it in powers school >> but they have to request the
060transcript that says it or not so the students can see it always when they look at their power school they can see their rank But it doesn't get sent to colleges unless the student requests it be sent to college on their transcript. >> Right? Because certain colleges will not entertain you being one of their students without seeing that. >> And that is because if we keep it, which we automatically keep it, we have to share the information. >> That's the law. I think the the as it's being presented so you know was the original intention of the the directive was to simply say hey it's it's there we know it's there. Um you can request it but it was a little painful to get. We were attempting to make it easily obtainable for those that
061needed it, but not to necessarily change >> whether we were ranking or non-ranking, just the accessibility. And as we are, I should just speak for myself, um, school language, just like in my professional career, um, sometimes we're saying the same thing, uh, or attempting to, but, um, the, um, understanding can be a little bit, uh, misleading or we get what what we're saying and we go, "Hey, I think we're on the same page, but we're we're in the exact same or opposite um, from where we intended." But um as it's being presented as I as I recall and I think through multiple discussions that this became much bigger than what it really was. This was the original intention of of everybody. Um and I think everybody had from a board level and from an administration
062level and a school level was no mal intent, right? Um, and so I think we're all evaluating um, how to express our expectation and what execution should look like and what communication should look like in a timely manner. And I think that's probably where some frustrations lie. >> And that's and that's >> I would love to hear what he has to say. Can you please come up? >> Okay. >> So, you know, this is not standard practice. >> Yeah. It's okay. >> If a board member if a board member asks them to come up, >> more of a courtesy. Okay. Please come to me. >> I appreciate you letting me ask a quick follow-up question to that brief conversation. My question is tonight, if that was the board's directive, why was that not publicly explained
063or disclosed when that directive was created and given to students and staff? >> That's an excellent question and something that we are working on because that is what should have happened. Um, I'm not going to make any excuses to you. There there are circumstances. There was a lot going on over the summer. There was a lot of different legislation that changed and a lot of policies that rolled out. I really don't want to make an excuse to you because it shouldn't have happened the way it did. But we um all we can do now is to realize what we did, learn from it, and move forward. >> Thank you. I I'd also follow up to say that I think what Dustin also said and what Amber was talking about was that to us all it
064was a matter of is hey the people that need the rank turn it on. That's what we've already said here. We're not changing non-ranking >> but what was what happened was a little bit different. So it's that's the yeah there is an error in the in the procedure. Right. So um >> the the rank should have been available to see for those people that want it but yet it doesn't impact the ranking of >> versus not whatever yeah the ranking institution >> experts on it now but we were not >> so may I ask just one more question is that acceptable >> please do I want you to >> so for the past couple of years that o OHS has been a non-ranking institution was not been able to be seen by students. So why
065did all of a sudden this change for the board? >> Because it was available by law. It had to be made viewable to you. And at the same time when we gave that directive, you couldn't see your GPA either. So we were saying that you needed to be able to see that. Does that make sense? >> It was a power school issue to begin with. >> Thank you. All right, I am ready to vote on this. >> All in favor >> motion. >> Yeah. >> Passes unanimously. >> All right. Oh, the next item on our agenda is adjournment. I do want to give um a pseudo award for Mr. Merry Christmas up here with your full suit and hat and and I have to say looking over at Rianne multiple times in the night with
066those glasses has been a little much. >> You can't be serious with the glass but I'll take them off. >> But it's very festive. So we do appreciate you guys and we appreciate >> it. Took commitment to wear those the entire time cuz I saw you looking through >> a couple times got crossed. >> It was commitment. So we thank you very much. >> Yes. Thank you for coming and thank you for sharing your input too that matters >> and merry Christmas. So and we are adjourned.