Park Hill School District Board Meeting 05/08/2025

001[Music] Good. Yeah. Good evening. I call the May 8th, 2025 meeting of the Park Hill Board of Education to order. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. Thank you for silencing your phones tonight. Um, I would like to remind the board of our norms. Um, stay in the role of a board member. Be respectful, be inclusive, be prepared, and be missiondriven. And the Park Hills mission statement is through the expertise of an engaged staff, the Park Hill School District provides a relevant education in a safe, caring environment to prepare each student for success in life. Uh board members, any announcements this

002morning, Miss Barnes. Uh hello. I would like to tell all the mothers, grandmothers, auntes, those who do mother roles, um happy Mother's Day this weekend. Um very grateful for my own. And just um a little note, you know what some of us mothers do do or a little note. Um you tell me that you love me when I don't love myself. You're the one who holds my hand when I need the most help. You smile when you're you make me smile when I'm sad. You make my life so much better by everything you do. So, thank you, moms. Yes, you're here. Well said. Um Mr. Todd. Yeah. So this week is teacher appreciation and staff appreciation and public service recognition week. And this last Monday, the board had the privilege to accompany um district administrators

003and visiting each of our buildings to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to each of the people who make education the education of our Park Hill students possible. Engaging in public service takes a special kind of person. it. Such work uh is a commitment to our neighbors and also to ourselves and it requires a belief in the power and the agency of not only the individual but also their community as a whole. The people who choose to dedicate themselves to this work must have empathy, generosity, creativity and patience. And it's clear that our teachers and staff have these qualities in spades. So with that, I would like to thank them all for who they are because that's what makes them able to do this work and to do this work so well each and every

004day. Thank you, Mr. Todd. Uh Mrs. Woodley. Yeah, I was going to did say the same thing about staff appreciation, but Mr. Todd wrapped it all up very nicely. Um at times when we were going through the buildings, it was almost like a battle of like, "No, I appreciate you. No, I appreciate you and I'm like I know it's about you today, not being a board member, but we just have wonderful uh staff here at Park Hill. Um also wanted just to say congratulations to all the students and staff for all the achievements this year and um good luck to all of our graduates um on the next step in their journey of their life and um everybody have a great summer. I know we're not there yet, but we're getting close. So that's all.

005Thank you, Mr. Woodley. Uh Mr. Monas. No, thank you, Miss Bolan. Uh I'll just kind of echo the statements. um for staff appreciation week. Thank you so much for um all of our staff and all the work that you do and um it was a privilege to go around on Monday and um thank people in person. So I hope the appreciation is felt. Thank you. This is Barbara. Then thank you. Um yeah, I I also had the the privilege on on Monday of going to Where did I go to? I went to M Plaza Middle School, Park Hill South, English Landing, Tiffany Ridge, and Prairie Point. So, we we covered some grounds. Uh, and yeah, it's just amazing to get into the classrooms and and be able to uh speak directly and appreciate the the

006people that are doing the work every day that uh makes this district great. So, um yeah, so happy celebration season. Um, we have a full boardroom tonight with all sorts of celebrations, uh, district art fair, um, excellence in education awards. Now, next is coming to graduations, uh, professional studies capston. There's just a lot to celebrate in the district over the coming over the past weeks and coming weeks. So, thank you everyone and uh, you're all appreciated. All right. Uh, Dr. Kim. Oh, yeah. I just want to say one student when we were walking, Miss Woodley and I um and so I was like I went I gave the teacher something and I was like here you go. Thank you so much for what you're doing. He came and hugged me and he said thank you

007for loving my teacher. And I just was like this made my day the best day ever, you know. So I just want to again say thank you to the staff cuz that that young man coming to me hugging me telling me thank you for loving his teacher lets me know that we have some great people in this district. Awesome. All right, Dr. Kimble, do you have any uh announcements? I think it's been said across the the room here, but um I'd like to thank the board for spending their uh day Monday to uh come and uh recognize our staff and I know that that's taken time out of your days and so I appreciate that. They are certainly deserving and I hope it was uh as uh I heard all the way around the table

008um well received. Uh just a couple things coming up as well in our celebration season. Uh next week, uh a week from today, actually, uh Thursday, May 15th, we have a ribbon cutting uh at Angeline Washington Elementary, which is our 12th elementary. So that's at 5:30 and the public's invited. And then graduations are right around the corner. I see some students in the room. How many of you are seniors? Okay, a couple. They're getting itchy, I bet, big time. Um and uh Park Hill High School on the 17th and Park Hill South on the 19th at H High Arena. That's all I have. Great. Okay, we'll move on to um item two, adoption of the agenda. Uh we'll need a motion and a second to adopt the May 8th, 2025 agenda as presented. So move.

009Second. I have a motion from Mrs. Woodley and a second by Mr. Todd to adopt the agenda as presented. Uh Dr. Kimbell, are there any modifications tonight? Uh, none tonight. Thank you. Uh, board, do you have any modifications? Okay, seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Any oppose say nay. Any abstained. All right, motion carries. 70. All right, we'll now move on to recognitions and awards. Um, we have a lot of those tonight. So, Mrs. Wait, I will turn it over to you. Good evening. Good evening. Hello. Check. Check. Thanks for being here tonight. I'm going to have Ben Turley come up first. I saw Ben earlier. Come on, Ben. Ben's going to come stand right here next to me and we're talk about Ben for a moment. Um, this is a Walton

010Middle School student Ben Turley and he's here because he received the 2425 middle level student council member of the year award from the Missouri Association of Student Councils. As part of this honor, he's headed to the MASC summer leadership camp right this summer in June um at William Woods University in Fulton and is going to bring together almost 600 of Missouri's top student leaders. Ben, congratulations. We're going have to say a few words. Um, also Ben's family waved to us. Grandma was here as well. Everybody waved to us. Hello. Okay, Ben, say a few words about what this means for you. What is this? What are you doing this summer? This summer, I will be going to William Woods College, as she said, to learn more about StuCo and how to make our community a

011better place and our schools a better place. StuCo means so much to me. It's taught me how to be a better leader. It's taught me how to make connections. And it's just taught me how to like be able to interact with my community better and help to get my community involved better. And I can't thank my two adviserss enough for helping me out. Excellent job. Congratulations. You're going to shake the board's hand now. Go around the circle and shake their hand. Good job, Ben. And good speech on the fly. That was excellent. We do make them on the fly say a few words. So, this is good preparation. Congratulations, Ben. Um, Miss Todd Murphy is going to take your photo out in the hall right out there. Okay. All right. Next, um, if you're here

012for DECA, come on up. That's all of you guys here in the front couple rows. Come stand right here next to us, please. Hi. Yeah. If you're tall, be careful. Isabelle, be careful. Yeah. Okay. So, these are DECA students and they're from all three of our high schools, Parker Parkill High, South, and Lead. And I'm going to let them do most of the talking, but we're here to recognize them tonight because these are students who attended the International Career Development Conference in Orlando. And they're going to talk to you a little bit about that national recognition they received. And I'll let them do the talking for us. So, again, name, where you go to school, what you did in Orlando. Fair enough. Y. Okay. If you're a senior, where are you going to school next

013year? Uh, hey guys. I am Hudson Saddowski. I am not a senior. I'm a junior. I go to Lead Innovation Studio. Um, my favorite of the three high schools. And in Orlando, in Orlando, I um I I learned a lot about marketing and how these business conferences typically go. Obviously, they're very popular. And um I think it was just such an incredible opportunity for all of us to get to act professionally, uh learn what it's like in the real business world. And I just wanted to thank everyone uh who supported me, all of my advisers and all my friends. So good job. Chamberlain's next. Okay. Hi guys. Uh my name is Chamberlain Webster. I'm a junior at Park Hill. Uh this is my first year in DECA and um in Orlando I was chosen as

014one of the Missouri representatives for the Ignite Leadership Academy. Uh I've I've I've been really grateful to be a part of this experience. I've been able to meet just such great people, the people standing right next to me. Um I've been able to make connections, especially in Orlando, with people from around the country, from around the world. and I'm really grateful to to be a part of this. And thank you to my advisor and thank you to my parents for always supporting me. Okay. Um I'm Lily Moore. I'm also a junior and I also go to Lead Innovation Studio. Um in Orlando, I competed in principles of marketing and it was a really cool and unique experience, especially because it's my first year in DECA. Um yeah. Um that was a really fun experience. Um

015and I also was able to um like win a special award. It's like an award of excellence or something because because my like scores were high enough. So that was a really cool thing to um hear that I got. Um I'm Addison Herd. I go to Lead Innovation Studio. Um, and just like Lily, I competed in principles of marketing. I think my favorite part of DECA would probably be just getting to know everybody on a different level. Like we got to, you know, meet people from Canada, from Saudi Arabia, just people from all over the world. Um, it also gave me a view into what, you know, a career in business and marketing would be. And as much as I respect it, it's not for me. Um, but it was a really great opportunity. And

016um I got to, you know, go out of my comfort zone and do something I didn't think I'd be able to do. Too. Hi, my name is Sean Pachasa. I'm a student at I'm a junior at Lead Innovation Studio and um Deco was a extremely fun experience. I got to network and meet a lot of new people. I got to learn about marketing, hospitality, entrepreneurship, and I uh sorry, I forgot to go over this. I went into buying and merchandising. It was a team event with Hudson who's in the back and uh it was a lot of fun. I got, like I said, to meet new people. Got to go to like Disney World and Orlando, which were obviously fun. Uh but I couldn't be more thankful. I want to thank everybody who made it

017possible. Uh Michelle Congratulations Isabelle. Okay. Hey. Hi, my name is Isel Tot and I'm a senior at Park Hill High School and next year I'll be attending Georgia Tech. Um, I don't know, DEC has just been like such a great experience. So, when I was at ICDC, I served two main roles. I'm a state officer for Missouri, so I served as one of the voting delegates for the national advisory board of DECA. So, that was really, really fun being able to vote and choose our next executive officer team. And then I competed with Ava here in the buying and merchandising category. Um, we went to ICDC last year as well and it was a lot of fun and we were just able to network with people and we really really enjoyed talking to judges and

018being able to like explain our ideas. So, it was a great time. Sure. Good job. Next. Hello, I'm Ava Hubanks. Um, I'm the other half of the team. Um, state champs. What can I say? Um Um, I'm a senior at Park Hill High School. I'm going to Rockhurst University next year and I'll be studying business, which freshman me would have never imagined. I went into high school. Um I wanted to study healthcare, but DECA has completely changed my life and I'll be studying business next year, which is so crazy to say. So, this is my last year in DECA, fourth year in DECA, and it's just it's been the best experience. And I've gone to ICDC so many times, and it's just it changes my perspective every time. And I love being able to talk

019to people and um be super creative in my events, and I just love it. It's a great time. Thanks. Hi, I'm Carson Smith. I'm a senior at Park Hill South and I'll be going to UMKC and DEC has meant a lot to me by teaching me like foundational skills of life and not career specific things although it does teach career specific things. It's more about communication and professionalism which is important to any career. So it's definitely elevated me able to get new jobs and new opportunities for me. Congratulations. Okay, if you're a family member, please wave to us. Congratulations to your students. All right, you're going to shake the board's hand. Congratulations and go take a photo. Okay, Tracy's going to take your guys's photo if you guys want to grab your stuff and she'll

020take a photo of yours out in the hall. Good work. Good work. Right. You have a performance tonight, Chamberlain. I know you do. I know. We're trying to let everybody hustle. Okay. We are going to have all of our art winners shuffle in here momentarily, but we wanted to kind of clear these kids out because there's a lot of our art winners as well and they're gonna file in. You were not wrong that we have a lot of recognitions tonight. Okay, come on in, Tracy. Hi, guys. Good work. Come on in. You guys follow directions really well. We're going to have you come this way and we're going to make a little circle behind the board. Okay. Keep following me. Yep. Follow Dr. Dylan. She will take you where you're going. Good work, everybody. Hi.

021Hopewell Hawks. Go run over to the front. Okay. I think Yeah, Amy, there's quite a few of them. Yeah, probably right there. Be careful. Hello. Okay. And we're going to have parents kind of shuffle in. So, parents, come on up here. There's going to be plenty of room up here. We'll be tight, but come on in. And we'll wait for you all to come in. Come on in, everybody. We might have to stand up here a little bit. We might have to stand over here. We're gonna make everybody fit. Yeah. Come on up. Come on up everybody. We're going to stand up here a little bit too. Come on [Music] in. They're still shuffling in. Thanks everybody for being patient. Still some more. Come on in. You guys can come stand up here in the

022back. Don't be shy. We'll make everybody fit up here. Plenty of room in the front. Come on up, guys. We can be in the front, too. Okay, I'm gonna start and then we'll everybody keep shuffling in. So, we're here tonight because all of these students that you see up here are winners in our district art festival. And how this works is that uh superintendent, assistant superintendent, Dr. Bridewell, Dr. Kimberell go around and actually pick best and show in collaboration with our art teachers. So, of all the district artfest submissions from every single school, these students were selected for their talents um and their artistic uh prowess uh in the district art fair. So, we're really glad to have you all here tonight, students, and we're really glad to show off your artistic talents. We're going

023to start over here. You're going to remember say your name and what school you go to. And if you want to talk a little bit about your art, you can. Okay. Couple words. You ready to go for you to go first? Oh, I don't know. Just kidding. Hi. Okay, you're say your name, what school you go to, and like a couple words about your art. Sound good? All right, let's go. Um, I'm Mia Val. I go to Chin Elementary. Um, I'm in fifth grade. And, um, show them what you did. Everybody, what did you do? I did, uh, like a pumpkin and, um, a landscape and, um, I did it with watercolor and oil pastels and Yeah. Perfect. That was excellent. Good job. Okay, next. You ready? Okay, you can hold that. Um, my name

024is Sloan Powers. My name is Sloan Powers and I'm in I go to Southeast Elementary and I'm in first grade and I did a pattern cat. Um, I This is watercolor. And this is oil pastel. And you did good. Okay, good job. I didn't want to cut you off. Anything else you wanted to say? Okay, good job. All right, next. My name is Tempo Roberts. I go to Graden Elementary and I'm in second grade. And this is the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. Yes, it is. Good job. That's beautiful. All right. You're a kindergarter, right? All right. Let's go. My name's It's working. It's hard. My name is Roads and um I built this out of I made this out of paint sticks and that's basically it. Good job. My name is Remy Fish and

025this school I go to is Union Chapel. I'm in sec second grade and this is my koiish. My name is Corey Cox and I go to Hopewell Elementary and this is my day and night village that we did for our art project in school. My name is Ana Condan. I'm a seventh grader at Walden Middle School. And this is the frog that I did in water colored pencil. [Applause] My name is Lizzy Landit and I'm a junior at Park Hill South High School. My art brain got to me today and I was in the wrong place. So I don't have my art piece with me, but it is a hyperrealistic watercolor portrait of a lime. So maybe at some point we'll get to see it. I'll be in there. My name is Gavin Kerso. I

026go to Park Hill South. And this is my city oil pastel artwork. [Applause] Hi, I'm Jolie Graham. I go to Park Hill High School and this is my colored pencil self-portrait. Music makes me and how music will always and forever inspire me as an artist. My name is Annabelle Stapleton. I go to Park Hill High School and this is my drawing of things that represent me. My name is Chris Fam. I go to Lead Innovation Studios and I'm a sophomore. And this is my photograph. I um uh took a photo at um Montreal, Canada in the Notadam Basilica. My name is Lazarus Gifin and I am I go to English Landing Elementary and I made this wolf ear out of metal. Hi, my name is Andrea Garcia. I go to Park Hill South and this

027is my drawing of me and my dog. Our art 8P portfolios, we were pursuing themes and I chose the emotion of love and this is depicting grief. Hi, my name is Christina. I go to Park Hill South and I made my best friend. Hi, my name is Paige Washington. I'm a sophomore at Park Hill South and I drew this in pen and marker of a Billy Isish eye. My name is Caleb. I go to lead and I made this Viking cat scratch board. I'm Maddie. I'm a freshman at Park Hill High School. And then this is my mixed media proportion piece. I'm Harper Humphrey and I go to Hawthorne Elementary and I made this mosaic thing cuz my te my art teacher told me to. Oh, I love that. Okay, parents wave at us. Thank

028you for coming, families. Um, kudos kids. I call you kids those students, but kudos. That is talent. Um, several of these were featured on our social media platforms that got thousands of likes from your peers. Our students like Instagram and that was very highly engaging. So, congratulations. Really proud of you. You're going to try to maybe shake the board's hand and maybe we start this way. Yeah, maybe we start over there. Dr. Dial will help you and we're going to go shake hands. Congratulations, everybody. [Applause] Good job everybody. We're going to look [Music] at truly my favorite. Good job. Good job. Okay, good job. Good job, everybody. Okay, we're going to go back out and take a photo back where we were. Okay, Miss Tracy's going to take a big photo of you guys. Beautiful

029work. Yes. Good work. You did great. It was so easy, wasn't it? So easy. Oh, thank you guys for coming. Yep. Miss gonna take a picture back in room 230. I love that. Okay. [Music] cleaning windows. [Applause] Okay. Um, we're going to do AVID next. So, English Landing and Lake View, come on up. We're trying to Thank you for overlapping here. All right. This is fun. That was awesome. I love hearing their own words about their work. It's really awesome to hear. All right. Uh Kevin, come sit over on this way so that the video can see you. The live stream can't see you if you're not over here behind me. No, understood. Okay. We're here to celebrate AVID. Um and these two schools, uh Lake View Lake View Middle School and English Landing Elementary

030are both two really big top honor winners for our AVID programming. Um both of these programs are in the top in the country out of over 8,000 schools. So, I'm going to have them tell you a little bit about AVID um for Lakeland as and why they got this award. Josh, you want to go first? Uh Josh Peters, assistant principal over at Lake View. Um this year is the 45th anniversary for AVID. So, in honor of their 45th anniversary, they did something a little different and they went and selected the top 45 schools in out of all 8,000 schools that have AVID programming in them uh that they thought best exemplified AVID. So amazing honor to be one of the 45, but even more amazing when we have two of the 45 right here in

031our school district. Um it's a testament to the work that our all of our teachers do each and every day. All of our students uh work on each and every day. Um we're extremely honored to be able to be associated with AVID. We know that the college connections, the career connections, just the success in their everyday classes that all of our students get because of the AVID program um is is something that we're super excited to be able to have as part of our DNA at uh Lake View. Hello, I'm Emily Day. I teach sixth grade language arts at Lake View Middle School and I'm part of the AVID site team at Lake View. And one of the things I want to highlight about Lake View and AVID with our program is that we are

032a national demonstration school and we have teachers all around the nation get to come in through a showcase that we put on and they get to see live in action. Teachers and students working AVID every single day and it's amazing to see the growth that students are excited about and teachers are excited about. It's a whole community experience and it's a wonder to get to be a part of it. Hi, I'm Angie Doss. I'm the principal of English Landing Elementary. And um being an elementary school for us, there isn't a demonstration process yet at the elementary level. So, this is a huge honor for us because we are one of the first elementary schools in the state. We were the first in the state of Missouri and Kansas. And now there is another demonstr or

033showcase school. We're considered a showcase school in Kansas, Sunflower Elementary, which we visited recently because we wanted to see what's going on there and learn some things. But this is a testament to the work of these individuals. This work has been going on before I came to English Landing and we've partnered with Lake View. We've done joint showcases and this year we had some single showcases that we did and we're just really excited about the work and it's a dedication and passion of the individuals in our building and just collaboration across the board for our families and our students. So, we're really honored. Hi, Jennifer Steele. Um, I'm a special education teacher at English Landing. Um, what I love most about AVID, especially at the elementary level, is it's for all kids. I love that

034our kids learn organization skills and how to keep a planner and to set weekly goals and individualized goals and track their data. So, they're learning those life skills beginning in kindergarten that um my own kids who graduated from Park Hill years ago didn't get. So, I'm just so thankful of the work of the administrators to bring AVID to the elementary level. I'm Heather Fritz. I'm the instructional coach at English Landing and also at Southeast. And one of the things I love that we've done this year with AVID is we have wicker bulletin boards outside of every classroom, outside of every special area, every specialist. And so every time you walk in the building, you can see all the evidence of AVID in every space in our hallways. And I think it's really a testament to

035all the work that the teachers and the students are doing together. I'm Kevin Collier. I'm the assistant principal. And this all happened way before I showed up. Uh I'm my second year. And I think the thing that is most impressive with I see AVID at our building is touch on a little bit what you said is it is for all kids. Uh they do AVID in their specialist classes. They do AVID in PE, in art, in the special education classrooms. Everywhere they go, they do AVID. It's just what we do. And it's it's just impressive. I'm Elizabeth Beck. I'm a third grade teacher at English Landing and I think what's really exciting about this moment is that you're seeing the through line of AVID for our students. So they which is what it's all about.

036So we started Avid Elementary to um help them be prepared for middle school and like V was showing that they're continuing that path. Um, so then they'll continue on and be successful high schoolers as well. So it's working. All right, let's go. Shake the board's [Applause] hand. Congratulations. Congratulations. [Music] Um, Miss Beck, Tracy, take a picture of you guys out in the hallway. All right. And then Josh, follow them out for a photo in the hall, please. All right. And last but not least, we have all of our second semester Park Hill star winners here. If you're a star winner, come on up. Don't be shy. Okay. And we have we do have a mother daughter duo here tonight. All right. Danny right here. Matt right here. Kirk right here. Yeah, as long as the

037live stream can see you. Um, all right. I have your certificates over here. We'll give us to you in the hallway. But we're here tonight to recognize you as Park Hill Star second semester winners. As we know in Park Hill recognized once a month uh a support employee, a secondary teacher, and an elementary teacher as Park Hill stars nominated by either students uh community members or other staff or administrators. And these are some of the best of the best. We're h we're glad to have them here tonight. They're going to tell you what their name is and where they work and what they do. Kirk, here first. Uh I'm Kirk Henry. I'm a American history teacher at Park Hill South High School and a assistant football coach and I've been there for 20 years and

038I uh I'm really old but uh I enjoy it a lot and it's it's been a blast being there. I'm Matt Allen. I work at Plaza Middle School. I'm an administrative assistant. Um my job I there's not really an easy way to summarize my job. So what we'll what we'll do is we'll say I support our staff so they can support our students. And seeing how all of that falls together is is a joy every day. And I don't have 20 years, but let me tell you, working with middle schoolers definitely makes you feel old real [Laughter] fast. I'm Danny Henson. I teach at Park Hill South. I am a math teacher. I teach from algebra 1A up to AP Calculus BC. Um I also am the head coach of the robotics team. I'm Chris

039Cohen. I'm proud to serve the instructional coach at Chin Elementary and at Rener Elementary. Um, I am a star because of three groups of people. Uh, it's the administration and the staff and the students at Chin. It's the administration and the staff and the students at uh, Rener. Uh, and I'm also a star because of the coaching team that I get to work with within academic services. Those are three groups of people that nudge me and push me and challenge me and are continually um continually willing to work with me as a thought partner as we provide the best education that we can for our students and provide the best uh community that we can for our families and for our teachers and everybody involved at Chen and Rener. That's hard to follow, Chris. I

040am Becca Hurt and I teach kindergarten at Hawthorne. So, I have our little ones and start us off. Um, and I I'm Add's mom. So, it was kind of fun because we I was reading the agenda and I was like, "Oh, Addie's on there." Oh, so am I. Um, but I have over 20 years. I will not say how long I've been in the district. So, lots of experience and lots of time here. Our kill stars, everybody. Thanks very much. That's all [Music] right. Here we [Music] go. Very sweet. All right, that was a lot of celebrations. That was awesome. All right, we'll now move on to item four, public comment. Um, during this part of the agenda, we will receive public comments from patrons who pre-registered by the noon deadline today. And we have

041one uh patron that's pre-registered. Um when called upon uh by the board president, patrons are to approach the presenter station speaking to the microphone and state your name before making comments. Uh each speaker will have a 3minut time limit. Uh the board secretary will monitor the time. Um please direct your comments um to the entire board. Uh generally board members will not provide any response during public comment. However, if needed board members and or district staff may provide a response at a later time. Uh discussion about individual staff members or students is not allowed. Um so we have one uh comment here from Brandon Kleinmeire. You may approach the presenter station now. Thank you for coming tonight and you can begin whenever you're ready. All right. Um, sorry. I'm probably going to be a little

042bit of a buzzkill after all that recognition, but um, I'm here because of a lack of communication from the school. Um, my daughter goes to Line Creek. Uh, last Tuesday, which was April 29th, at Lang Creek, a fifth grader found a note stating that the author of the note wanted to blow up the school. I was informed of this by my daughter when she got home from school that evening. There was no communication from the school about this incident. I had hoped that it was just a rumor. The next morning, I called the school to ask about it. I was transferred to the principal where I left a voicemail. About 6 hours later, I was finally contacted. I was told the incident did in fact happen. They knew who wrote the note and it was

043not a credible threat. At that time, I expressed my frustration about having not received any sort of communication about this directly from the school and having to rely on rumor. I was told that they did not realize parents had heard about the incident and was given a thank you for your feedback type platitude. I am happy they figured out who did it. I am happy the threat was not credible. I even understand not wanting to cause any unnecessary panic. However, a simple email or automated call, both of which happen daily or can happen daily, to the L Creek parents stating that the note was found, they know who did it, it was not a credible threat, and the situation has been resolved, should have gone out to parents. Kids talk and rumors spread. I should

044not be learning about these types of incidents from my fifth grader. Most of us have played the telephone game in our lives and know how details change as rumors spread. Direct communication about these types of incidents from the school is the best way to prevent bad information from spreading. This lack of communication coupled with a statement I was given on the phone makes me wonder if other threats of this magnitude have happened and we have not been made aware of it. In today's day and age, all threats should be taken seriously and considered credible until proven otherwise. And it is our right as parents to know when our children's safety has been threatened. This lack of communication on such a serious matter has made it such that I do not currently trust the Park Hill

045Schools District with the safety of my children. Thank you. Thank you for your comments this evening. Right. Um we'll now move on to um item five um the approval of the consent agenda. Uh before I call for a motion and a second u to approve the consent agenda, are there any items that need highlighted? Dr. Kimberl, I have a couple that I'll highlight real quickly. Um the first is uh 5.14 is an easement at Hawthorne. This is for sidewalks and wastewater. Uh but the reason why I'm highlighting it is it is a request for uh waving the first read so that we can allow the developer to go ahead and get that work done. So we are asking the board's consideration on that tonight. I also want to highlight uh 5.15 which is the uh

046followup from our work session in which we were talking about the scoreboards video boards that are being purchased or being considered for purchase here with this particular item uh for our new gymnasiums at Park Hill High School and Park Hill South. uh all of the information in the item there uh talks about the invoice, what we have in place, what we will be returning for uh credit and so on. And so I'd be happy to answer any questions there. The final thing I'd like to highlight is the uh 5.22. This is uh both the board and the public that this is asking the uh board for approval of our initial timeline relative to the bond proposal set of projects for what just passed known as Proposition O. Um as presented at our work session last

047week, uh this is a $128 million set of projects. The highlights include first steps of hiring an architect and construction manager and design of Park Hill High School phased uh replacement and Park Hill South Stadium and athletic improvements. We would start that design in the fall. So, those are the items I'd like to highlight on the consent agenda and be happy to answer any other questions about any of these items. Um Dr. Pimbro. Um I know when we looked at these last week when they were given to us on 5.9 with the agreement between Park Hill School District and Flat County for our SRO's, did we put anything in there about them taking our training or did we bring that back up to them about them taking any of our training? What we researched was

048uh that we have brought that back up with them and also that we've vetted their training. So they they do what's called the uh continuing law enforcement education uh which is CL E uh and those particular training modules are given to our resource officers every year. I believe if I researched that correctly, this is off the top of my head, not on my notes, um that they have to do 24 hours of of training. Um we've analyzed this training and we've compared it to uh our internal training. We uh know that they received that annual annual training on topics like racial profiling, deescalation, and implicit bias and we have vetted that um and worked with the sheriff's department to make sure that those things are matching. We work with our law enforcement partners on our

049understanding of drivers and narratives as well. So, that's where we're at right now with that particular uh topic. Um but I'd be happy to get any more information about their specific training on the continuing law enforcement education. Uh we also provided that last year about this time as well looking at that um same uh and is that the same also for on 5.8 for Riverside is is theirs the same as well? Yes ma'am. All right. Any other questions board? Right. Then I'll need a motion and a second to approve consent agenda items 5.2 through 5.22 as presented. Seconded. All right. I have a motion from Miss Bolan and a second by Mr. Todd to approve the consent agenda as presented. Any any other discussion board? All those in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose

050say nay. Any abstained. All right. Motion carries. 70. All right, we'll now move on to action items. Um 6.1 is the approval of substitutes uh May 8th, 2025. Uh Dr. Kimmel, uh I have no other additional information on this one, but be happy to answer any questions. Board, any questions? Okay. Then I'll need a motion and a second to approve uh 6.1 approval of substitutes as presented. Second. All right. Have a motion from Mrs. Barber and a second by Miss Barnes to approve substitutes as presented. Um any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed say nay. Or I said I too. I I'm sorry. Any oppose? Say nay. Any abstain? I abstain. Yes, Miss Bowen is abstaining because your daughter's on the list. So motion carries 6. All right. Um

051item 6.2 is approval of amendment to 2024 2025 board meeting schedule. Uh Dr. Kell. Yeah, this is a request for the board to consider a May 22nd uh virtual meeting to approve uh teachers negotiated agreement. We are currently in negotiations with PHNA and in the final stages of that process uh we would be looking to get a tenative agreement to their membership so they can ratify that and uh we need to add this to our calendar to be able to hold that meeting. And this would be a a digital meeting. Yes, it'd be virtual and it would also be uh live streamed and recorded so that it would be able to be um in the same platform as like what we do now. Okay. Yep. Great. Uh board, any questions for Dr. Kim? Okay. Um

052then I'll need a motion and a second to approve item 6.2, approval of amendment to 2024 to 2025 board meeting schedule as presented. Moved. Second. All right, I have a motion from Mrs. Woodley and a second by Miss Barnes to approve the amendment to the 2024 2022 board meeting schedule as presented. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose say nay. Any abstained. All right. Motion carries. 70. All right. We'll now move into our information presentations for the evening. Um 7.1 is our 2024 2025 and 2025 to 2026 uh budget information uh with the focus on expenditures and uh fund balance. And I'll turn it over to Dr. Carol. Dr. Kelly. Yeah. A reminder to the board that one of the roles that you have as a board is to provide fiscal oversight

053which includes uh approving an annual budget by June 30th each year. Um, last boarding meeting we discussed revenue projections and in the next few board meetings we'll be providing you continued budget updates in preparation for that recommended uh budget for approval on June 26th at the regularly scheduled meeting. Uh, tonight Dr. Kelly will start with the fiscal year 25 and fiscal year 26 budget with a expenditure and fund balance focus. Dr. Kelly, thank you. Uh, as you know, this is part two of our uh, budget presentations. We addressed fund balance and revenue last time. Um just as a reminder the uh the approach that we had take we take for forming the budget is outlined in our strategic plan specifically the systems objective where um we um one of our objectives is to maximize the

054human and financial resources um and address aging facilities in order to remove barriers. And so um this is seen throughout this process and as we make uh choices uh we often look to our other goals so that we are um forming an intentional budget and then also one that we can sustain. And so I I'll show you um where we believe we're going to end this fiscal year, which of course ends on June 30th, and then I give you a um a introduction to where we stand for next year on expenditures. So this is where we're at in the process. We are um here where we're looking at estimates. We're currently obviously in May and so this is a part of our annual process. It's very cyclical in nature um and in which each year

055at this time we'll be looking at expenditures as we head towards the end of the month uh June where you'll recommend a budget to you. um you know that we form uh internal goals, financial goals or targets um to help demonstrate uh that we're bringing to you a financially sustainable uh budget. And we've talked over the course of the last um couple months about changing our target. We've we've had a target here in the capital fund for a number of years around maintaining a certain percentage of a fund balance or a certain percentage of our capital expenditures. And so um we have made a change to that and are moving forward with that change to where it would be a flat value um somewhere between 3.5 and 6.5 million annually. And so that is the

056that is the target that I am aiming for not just in um next year's budget but then also to demonstrate that uh our actions are sustainable uh in uh three future years as well. We're now on uh expenditures. This is again uh all outlined in our Missouri accounting manual. And so you'll see the the codes and some very um familiar uh categories when we talk about expenditures. Uh we we group those expenditures in salaries, benefits, purchase services, material supplies, capital outlay, and then debt. The one thing about an expenditure um that you may not know that is that the policy that you have is that something doesn't actually become an expenditure until that item has been ordered and received or that service has actually been received. And so that brings us into um a little

057bit of flux or uh uh at the end of the year because in some cases something may have been ordered with the intention of paying for it in May or June but through no fault of our own. Uh perhaps a supply supplier is unable to u fulfill that or it gets delayed. And so oftent times in the months of May and June, what we anticipated and that I've projected out to be an expenditure in fiscal year 25 becomes a budgeted item for next year. And so that means that these are very much a work in progress. And even over the course of the last 5 days, uh, since I published this, I will I'm thinking that this will change a little bit over the next month before we bring to you the final budget. So

058this is where we stand and have stood with our operating fund balance. This is the one that we like to keep around 20%. And so um this is demonstrating that at the end of this fiscal year, the purple bar here uh is showing that we will at the end of this fiscal year be within that range. This will be the last year. You're looking at the capital fund balance target. So this is the one that um we're moving forward with the change. And so in future years, we'll pull this orange line out uh of of the metric and then we'll just look at a flat amount. And so we're looking at changing this to um a fund balance of 3 and 12 to 6.5% or of six three and a half or to 6.5 million

059annually. And so those dollars will be really the kind of emergency fund that we'll maintain for emergencies uh or unanticipated capital expenditures. Um, this will obviously grow this year and that's an intentional part of the budget that you approved for this year is to grow that such that we can go into our buildings that were doing bond projects u and then supplement those with other work uh so that while we're there we're getting them the biggest bang for our buck uh by combining capital fund balance with um our bond funds uh that the voters approved not as pro proposition uh G and O but as a part of uh the last bond issue in April 2022. So as we look at where we're going to stand with our expenditures by the end of the year,

060these are projected values. These are um this is a very similar uh pie chart in terms of how our expenditures lay out. This is looking at total expenditures. And so, as you know, a large part of our organization is in salaries and benefits. And so, that is that blue and red part of the the chart. Um, purchase services are in the green. U, the purple is supplies and materials. This is the one that's the most variable. So, that's the capital projects list. And so much of that teal part this year uh has been bond proceeds that we received in a prior year. So, as you look at Angeline Washington, Park Hill High School renovations, Park Hill South renovations, uh the aquatic center, those are projects uh that led uh to a sizable expenditure this year.

061Uh and then also the bund all of the bundle two or the uh school improvements that we did last summer are also in that. So, this is really the largest uh year of expenditures in our history. um this is going to drop significantly next year. So, we're not going to spend nearly as much. We simply don't have those uh kinds of projects. Um and the projects that we do have, the large ones are going to uh be completed at the early part of the year. So, um one big change will be in this piece of the of the pie. Dr. Kelly in a typical year that salaries and benefits that would be closer to like 60 65 70% of the right and often times that is only looking at operating which is actually highlighted on

062the next slide. So sometimes we pull debt and capital out or bond out for the purposes of talking about our operating because that the bond and the debt can fluctuate and kind of throw that chart off. But when you're looking at our operating expenditures, you're right. We're looking at about three quarters um of our of our budget and and compensation. So this is just operating. And so you can see a very consistent year. Um this is uh the blue bars represent um what we had budgeted or what we anticipated. And then the red bar is where I'm projecting we'll end up by the end of June. And so you see that um in each case we're very close. Um the one thing on this red bar is that um what that's showing is that our

063nonbond funds, we just are not spending as much of those this year. Those are going to get spent next year. So uh the fact that we're lower than anticipated or than budgeted this year will help build that balance so that we can use those dollars to complement our bond projects next year. So, it's part of that spending that fund balance down um in capital. I provided a detailed report for you and I won't go over it, but it's um accompanying this um board item and it'll show you uh more detail in terms of our actual performance to budget and that's provided in the board item and happy to answer any questions about that. If we fast forward then to next year, uh what we're looking at next year, this last bar is kind of the

064first glimpse that you see of where our expenditures are anticipated to be next year's. The first thing that you notice is that it's significantly less than it is this current year. And that again has to do with all of the bond projects. In fact, that blue bar is almost single-handedly the cause of the drop in which we've got such a sizable amount this year and not as much next year. And so that is really uh where we're seeing the the significant drop. In fact, the other areas like salaries, benefits, purchase services um and supplies are also increasing. Um but the bond part of this blue bar is decreasing at such a rate that it overall we're going to be spend spending much much less money next year. Again, there's actually another report in the board

065item that will detail this where the changes uh year-over-year. You'll be able to see um a more granular look at where we see increases and decreases in our in our budget for next year. So, big picture, uh again, our our fiscal year starts on July 1. uh all of these fund balances are within uh our target or our expectation or our budget. Um we're looking at of course changing that capital fund balance target to 3.5 to 6.5 million. And then just very very big picture, we're looking at a $55 million decrease in expenditures for next year. Um but a $38.2 million increase in operating expenditures. And so that is largely due to all of that capital money that's in our operating fund being spent next year. We didn't spend as much of that this year.

066Uh and then of course uh the staffing with opening a new school, uh compensation increases, and then just natural increases to services and supplies um would account for that increase in operating expenditures. This lays out uh kind of more detail. This is many of these items are seen in the budget assumptions document that you reviewed in February. Um again, these are repeated. Um so there's not a lot of new information here, but these are the large drivers or large levers uh that we're uh using to make changes to next year's budget and ultimately bring you one uh propose you one by the end of June. In terms of uh large swings in the budget, I've listed the top 15 large differences year-over-year. And so the red values on this chart are um are areas in

067which we're increasing the expenditures. Uh and the blue is where we're dropping expenditures. And so we'll be spending $68 million less next year on buildings and building improvements. And then you can see the rest of the list here where are the largest differences year-over-year are um some of these are obvious things like regular regular salaries is a little bit of a mislabel but this is what DESIE requires. Regular salaries which is 611 is actually all teachers salaries. So that is um with uh the increase in in teachers and then the compensation increases with Proposition G um we will um see a sizable area. That's of course our largest expenditure overall. Uh and so that's why that's such a large swing. We have a large uh laptop uh replacement cycle scheduled for next year and so

068that's reflected in the hardware and then you can of course see the rest of those and if you have questions I'd be glad to answer any on those. In fact that is the end of my presentation and I'll be glad to answer. I see that says less for other professional services. Is that because we the abbot of everybody's trained and or is that more with our staff we don't need as much or where does that come from? Yeah, I I actually pulled that up uh this afternoon just as I anticipated that question and it's it's it's a little bit abstract and I can get you more uh detail on it. It's not one thing. There's a lot of expenditures that are grouped into that. Um and so and it's just not coming to me exactly

069what the detail was, but I can get you that information about the large swings. It wasn't like AVID and and training so much as um services in other areas. and I can get you more detail on that. Thank you. Mhm. I am curious about the the technology related hardware uh line. When in the year next year are we expecting to to make those purchases? They would be almost always for the spring and to try to target receiving them. you know, obviously getting the best price and the best product. And so they wouldn't be ready for a actual replacement cycle occurring until the next year, but then all of the setup would occur over the next summer. So the summer of 26 and so they would be rolled out in the fall of 26. Okay. Thank

070you. So I follow Mr. thought his question raised the question to me and that is with the tariffs going up we may you know if laptops costs double we may want to push a year or something like that. So yeah and that's uh obviously we'll have time to kind of play that out but that's exactly what we'll have to do is make a consideration. In fact, um Derek and the technology team has already split that very large um maintenance cycle into two years. And so unlike the following year, the fiscal year 27, we would actually order another half of these um to be paid in this in the summer. And so you'd have half of the technology being paid for in June and then half in July or August, all to be rolled out in

071in um u August or the first school year of 2026. Um those expenditures though will be approved by the board next year. So we'll have obviously more information um on what we can and can't do or if we need to defer. Obviously we'll uh we do have a budget that we'll have to keep in mind as we make those decisions. Well, I'm more concerned about the maintenance of the current making sure they can go here. Yeah. Be my biggest concern. Yeah. Is there any thought to repurchasing them before the tariffs are a little bit? Um, we could look into that. We haven't had that conversation. So, um, we don't know enough about really what the tariffs will be, but um, we could look into that. I can ask Derek to work on that. And remind

072me, what's that replacement schedule? Was it four years, five years? Yeah. And so that does vary. That's where um we do look at um the warranty that we purchase as well as just what the maintenance costs are are. And so that's really looked at every year and just um looking at work orders and costs in terms of repairs. And so three to four years is the average. Okay. Yeah. And we could save some money for a year by deferring um and going to four years just knowing that we'll take there'll be more replacement costs associated with it, but it may save us money on tariffs or or other supply chain issues. Okay. All good. All right. Well, thank you, Dr. Taylor. Thank you. Thank you. we'll be ready for the next installment in June. All

073right. Um, next is item 7.2, our special education program update. Uh, we'll have Dr. Kimbell and then Dr. Ridewell and Miss Kelly approach the speaker station and Miss King and Miss Kings. Um before I turn it over to our pres presenters, uh just to kind of give the board background and and the public background, obviously over the last several months, we've been uh working diligently and it's been uh you know, tough to try to make things balance and make things uh work so that we can guarantee that the unique needs of our students are being met at the high high quality uh level with our staff and our facilities. um that threading of that needle is very very uh important to us. Uh obviously uh space issues uh staffing issues in fact we have 13

074sped openings uh still today and so continuing to uh have that challenge. Um but with these challenges, we believe uh these three are going to present a plan that uh has uh been a enabling us to meet the unique needs of these students um in our specialized programs um and specialized classrooms with high quality services and dignity. Um tonight, uh you're going to hear from Heather King and Adrienne Kelly and uh Dr. Jasmine Bridewell with an update to spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe spe specifically uh hit feedback we received over the last couple um months. Uh specifically uh more clarity and definitions around all special education programming, increase future uh use of inputs from parents such as focus groups and so

075on. Um how to ensure we honor the IEP team process and decisions that have been made by IEP teams. Making sure that the the integrity to that process is being upheld. location questions and clarity around that and to ensure high quality staffing. So, um I'd like to remind the board that we presented a a plan uh in February that was uh with budget assumptions and you'll see a slide in this particular presentation that has uh one of those coming back uh relative to the budget assumptions and that includes the addition of seven special education teachers, six school psychologists, two process coordinators, TAs, and a coordinator of special education to have an investment in this program and meet the needs to be able to meet the needs needs of all of our students um in the

076special education programs, all of our special education programs, but specifically tonight talking about our specialized classrooms. So, with that, I'll turn over to Dr. Bridewell and thank you for your preparation tonight. Um I will add that throughout the presentation. We will also make note of the feedback we've received and how uh the information that we're sharing addresses that feedback as well. And I'll hand it over to both of you ladies. All right. Well, good evening board um administrators, staff, and community members. Um I would like to I would like to um thank you for letting allowing us to present this evening. Um I would like to highlight the slide that you see in front of you. Um which is our our mission building successful futures each student every day which all of you see which

077we have it behind um our board president there. Um, and so I just want to highlight that because um, when you think about that, we are making sure that all students are successful and we're preparing them for the future and we're making sure that all of our students are able to go on um, into society and be able to be successful. Um, so um, when I look at when I talk about special education, um, I just want to talk about that alignment with special education and supporting our special education students. um because we want them all to be successful as well. Um and so just this year in my learning um and my listening um I am passionate about creating rigorous opportunities for our special education students. And what I've noticed that our staff um

078and our parents also want to create those rigorous opportunities for our special um need students. Um so how do we do that? how can we improve to create those opportunities? Um, we're going to ensure that students are able to make progress on their IEP goals. We're going to ensure that our students have that there's alignment between their IEP goals and the standards, the learning standards. Um, we are going to ensure that students have access to grade level content and curriculum in the general education environment. Um, and we're going to do that by providing the appropriate instruction, have quality special education services, and make sure that they all have the supports that they need through their IEP. Um, so what I'm saying is we want to make sure that we're not having low expectations for our

079special education students, but we want to um set those expectations for them, and we want to make sure that they are successful and that they're able to move on um beyond high school. Um we want to ensure that um they have proper transition plans that are in place um as they move on from high school, but not only high school, but from early childhood to um elementary to middle school and throughout high school. Um we want to make sure that they are able to um be productive citizens of the community. Um we want to make sure that they're able to be employable. um that they are able to go to a four-year college if they wish, go to a two-year college if they wish, um go to a trade school if they wish. We want

080to make sure that they are able to um live independently and be able to um do those things, buy a house, buy a car, um and be able to live on their own and have we want to make sure that they've got those skills so that they can function in society. And so that's an overall goal of what the special education department wants for our students. We want them to be successful um and whatever that looks like for them. So I just wanted to um start with that. All right. Um so throughout tonight we will talk about our connection and the work that we started even back in April of last year was looking at how do we improve academics culture and systems within our special education programming and what do we need to do

081in each of those areas to make those improvements. And so um we just want to point out that that was a focus for us and we'll visit that uh revisit that through the presentation. Um, while I'm not part of the special education program in of itself, we wanted to include information tonight about 504 plans. And a 504 plan is designed to provide support for students with disabilities to ensure equal access to general education curriculum. And it's part of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Unlike an individualized education plan, which utilizes specialized instruction and student centered goals, a 504 plan outlines specific accommodations that help that student continue to access the general education curriculum. The plans developed collaboratively by a team that includes the parents, the 504 coordinator, counselors, administrators, and the student themselves

082when they are ready to do that. Accommodations are individualized based on the disability and that disability's impact on learning. Examples of 504 accommodations may include things like extended time for a standardized test, being able to stop the clock during a standardized test for medical needs such as I need to check my blood sugar because I'm a diabetic. It may be copies of teacher notes or outline outlines to help the student keep up and keep pace um during a lecture in an American history class. Can I ask a question on 504 plans? Just curious. Um, so the the 504 coordinators, are they like teachers that take special like training? Is there like certification that they have to take in order to like implement that? Because I I'm just looking at that there's physical, there's mental, there's

083a lot of things in that. So what exactly do are the 504 coordinators have to to do in order to be in that position? So, our 504 coordinators in Park Hill vary. At the elementary school level, our assistant principal service 504 coordinators. At the middle school level, it is teachers that take that on as an extra duty. And then the three high schools each have a dedicated 504 coordinator. Each of those um individuals get trained by me and I go to training at our regional professional development center and um receive training annually to then be able to support those staff members in in that role. So there's no extraation. Correct. And one of the reasons we wanted to talk about 504s this evening is through the feedback we've received. there's some confusion about um because

084my child has a 504, does that mean I might have to change locations? And so we wanted to highlight what is a 504 and how that's different than a specialized program um that might have uh students that have uh intensive needs that need additional support and how those are different. Um before we dive into the details, one more. Absolutely. So the special educ we have a multi-ter education for our different students. So 504 students are generally in tier one. Is that correct? Correct. Yes. Okay. And then the students with IEPs, are they considered a different tier or how does that? Um, so when we talk about interventions, a student might receive tier 2 and tier three interventions and be in special education, but a student that receives and we'll talk about that in a little

085bit, resource, for example, they would uh they they can have co-eing model or they can have a pullout model where they would have specialized instruction for those goals that they have in their IEP. Okay. For students that receive those specialized instruction, they've been through that tiered process and haven't been successful most of the time, which is why then we've gone through the eligibility process to see if they do qualify to be a student um in the special education program. Okay. Okay, that makes sense. Thank you. Okay. Before we dive into the details of each special education program, it's important to understand how we've organized them. Our programs are based on areas of student need and specific goal areas from students individualized education plans. To help clearly define and describe each of these programs, we outlined

086six main areas. These are communication, adaptive, cognition, social, emotional, sensory, and academics. Each category guides the structure and services of the programs, and we'll review each program in detail. And then I'll make a side note. Some of the feedback that we received in our focus group uh was that they would like some clarity on these descriptions. So we will um go back to the drawing board and add some more clarity for that. And then eventually we would like to have those posted on our website so that parents can easily access that at any time. So the first program we're going to talk about is our resource program. And special education resource program is a placement design designed to provide targeted support to students who require specialized instruction. It's one of the least restrictive environments on

087the continuum of special education services. Students in a resource setting most often are eligible for special education services under the category of a student with a learning disability or an other health impairment. The primary purpose of this setting is to provide instruction in specific targeted skill areas such as basic reading, written expression, math calculation, or maybe behaviors related to learning. Maybe I'm impulsive and I have a really hard time sitting and focusing. So, that's one of the things that we may work on is strategies to help that student be able to focus for longer periods of time. The special educator works with the regular education teacher to support academic progress in students areas of deficit while the student continues to access the regular education curriculum. At elementary school, we call this a pullout program is

088the student is most of the time primarily in their regular education setting and then leaves that setting to go visit the special education classroom and special educator for certain periods of time that have been determined by that IEP team. Then at the secondary level, students schedules are set up to include that support for them. For example, if I were a 10th grade student and I had a reading disability and so being in that general education fast-paced English language arts class was difficult for me because I couldn't keep pace and my IEP team determined that I needed a resource setting. that student schedule would be set up so that that student is with a special education teacher as their teacher for that English language arts course. Um, in some instances, students have co-eing services where a

089regular educator and a special educator work together within the same classroom. Examples of IEP goals for students receiving a resource or co-eing service might be something like given 20 math problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, the student would solve those problems with 85% accuracy. It could be something like given a visual checklist, the student will begin an assigned task within 3 minutes. Or the student will compose a five-s sentence paragraph using a graphic organizer with a clear topic sentence, three supporting details, and a concluding sentence. Most of the time those students goals are very academic based based on the general education standards. Sometimes they are behavior-based as um the example of being able to use a visual checklist to get on task within within three minutes of being given that direction. As we begin

090to look at our specialized programs, it's important to understand Can I ask a quick question? Sorry. Um on this type of student, they're are they going to be in their home? They'll be in their home school, right? Yes. Yes. 100%. Yes. Okay. Y great. As we begin to look at our specialized program, it is important to understand the purpose and scope of these services. Specialized programming is designed for students with more complex and intensive needs. These programs provide highly customized instruction and support all focused on students individual strengths, challenges, and goals. Related support services may include speech language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and/or assisted technology depending on what the student needs to access learning and build essential life skills. Students IEP goal areas can include academic skills like elrating their name or formulating a

091sentence, adaptive skills such as personal hygiene or cooking, communication skills, excuse me, communication goals uh like using a communication device to express their wants and needs or behavioral goals like learning coping strategies and social interactions. One of our specialized programs is an intensive classroom or what we currently refer to as specialized two. And this is an intensive classroom in a highly structured educational setting designed for students with significant and complex needs. These students require a low studentto staff ratio, highly individualized instruction, and consistent access to specialized supports to make progress towards their IEP goals. Intensive classrooms will provide a safe, structured, and predictable environment for students with severe disabilities or developmental delays. Teachers deliver highly individualized functional functional instruction tailored to students developmental needs and across multiple domains which may include academic, adaptive, communication, sensory

092and behavior. They will utilize alternative curriculum aligned with alternative state standards focusing on life skills, communication, and functional academics. This setting will foster increased independence, communication, and social engagement through consistent, repetitive, and highly supportive instruction. Additionally, addressing maladaptive behaviors that may interfere with learning through behavior intervention plans when needed, proactive sensory or communication strategies as part of this program. IEP example IEP goals for students in this setting are students could use a break card instead of engaging in self-injurous behavior. student will complete a sensory regulation routine with adult assistance and return to task within 10 minutes. A sensory regulation routine may look like a student using a weighted lap pad or a student using a compression vest. Um, another example might be a student will use a voice output device or picture exchange system to

093request preferred activities or preferred items or activities independently. [Applause] Our next specialized program is crosscat cross categorical which we currently refer to as a specialized one classroom. A crosscategorical classroom in a is a special education setting that serves students who have mild to moderate cognitive behavioral communication or academic needs and require specialized instruction. Adultto student ratios are more flexible than in intensive classrooms, but higher than you would find in a resource classroom or a general education setting. This setting offers social, behavioral, and academic interventions within smaller, more structured environments while still promoting inclusion when appropriate. Teachers provide targeted instruction that span both functional and academic goals tailored to each student's IEP. Some students work towards general education standards while other students work toward the alternative state standards. Uh supports could include augmentative and alternative communication,

094visual reinforcement systems, task breakdowns, behavior intervention plans, and integration of sensory supports into daily routines. Examples of IEP goals for students in this setting include things like student will independently complete a three-step hygiene routine with no more than one prompt. Student will solve single edition singledigit addition problems with visual support and student will read and answer wh questions from a short paragraph. Next is a social communication classroom which is designed to support students who struggle with pragmatic language, social interaction, and emotional regulation rather than significant academic or adaptive delays. These students require a structured setting that teaches social communication skills while offering access to the general education environment when appropriate. Social communication classrooms will offer a structured, supportive home base that students can return to when the general education setting becomes overwhelming. Teachers in the

095setting will provide explicit instruction in pragmatic language, perspective taking, flexibility, and coping skills, as well as support academic success through adaptations while addressing underlying social, emotional, or sensory challenges. Students will work to gradually increase independence and integration into general education as their behavior, excuse me, as their skills develop and their behaviors stabilize. Goals for students in a social communication classroom might look something like student will identify and label their emotional state using a visual tool such as zones of regulation. The student will initiate and maintain a top topic of conversation with a peer for at least three turns with visual supports. student will use a visual checklist to complete a four-step independent task with no more than one prompt. And last is a behavior support classroom. A behavior support classroom is designed to meet the

096needs of students whose primary barrier to success in in the general education setting is significant behavioral or emotional regulation challenges. These students have individualized behavior intervention plans to guide consistent proactive intervention and reactive strategies across all settings. The special education teacher will collaborate with a team that may include the school psychologist, the social worker, the counselor, regular education teachers, and teacher assistants to provide consistent interventions. Access to general education settings is planned, supported, and then that support is faded as students demonstrate readiness to be independent. This setting will provide a structured learning environment that teaches self-regulation, coping strategies, and social emotional skills. The behavior support classroom provides a higher adult to student ratio than a resource setting to facilitate consistent implementation of behavior plans. Teachers will prepare students for increased time in general education by

097reducing behavior related disruptions and building functional replacement skills. Academic instruction is aligned to grade level standards with necessary accommodations to be provided as well as daily explicit instruction in social in social emotional regulation, conflict resolution, and executive functioning skills. Students will have access to a calm, safe space equipped with a sensory area for deescalation. Accommodations such as visual supports for schedules and coping cards, token economies, and self-monitoring tools will be utilized. Examples of goals for students in a behavior support classroom might look like student will identify emotional states and select an appropriate coping strategy from a visual menu. Student will accept a redirection or correction without verbal or physical aggression. Given a triggering event, student will use a taught deescalation strategy such as breathing or a request break. We've been very fortunate in Park Hill

098to have a behavior support classroom at Union Chapel Elementary for the last several years. And next year, we will add a behavior support classroom at Congress Middle School in order to allow a continuation of that support from elementary to middle school for those students as they get older and leave elementary school. All right. So, we wanted to talk to you about the feedback process that we used this year. Thank you. Um, one of the things that we did this year was start our um, special education community council and we talked about this in our board presentation earlier in the year and that is where we went through our drivers and narratives and talked about what does that mean to our special education community. Um, and so you can see each of those dates. In April,

099we did not finish. We had a listening session instead about program locations. So, we do plan to finish that out and use that information um as a pillar for all of our departments to make sure we're looking at that and considering the feedback that we got during those sessions in all that we do. A curriculum team, um, maybe we're making decisions about purchasing PE supplies. Want to have that. Uh, one thing that we heard from our focus groups is that while we were getting feedback on the entire special education program, what our parents really wanted was to be able to give feedback on locations. And so, um, we just wanted to acknowledge that that we heard it and we want to use that feedback moving forward. All right. Next, I'm going to talk about the

100timeline of special services feedback and kind of how we got to where we're at now. Um, so back in the fall, um, I heard from teachers that they were struggling with, um, you know, managing classrooms, um, being able to adapt curriculum and meet all of the students needs um, within the classroom. And so, um, I sent out a survey to all of the specialized teachers to get their feedback, um, on, you know, what their, um, experiences were. And then, um, we started a teacher focused group. Um, so being able to listen to teachers and with me being new to the district, I wanted to hear their experiences and, um, some of the things that they were going through. Um, so um, with that, we continued to meet. Um we continue to uh look at our

101specialized programs and kind of research um try to find um other district models and see what other districts were doing um and best practices that they were doing. Um we were also going through redistricting as well. So really analyzing those programs and looking at our students across the district um what are the needs of our student population. we knew we saw an increase in our um special education population and so really honing in on those factors. Um and then we continued to meet and um were able to identify program descriptors um on what those programs could be titled um and then what it looks like for each student or a student that may go into that classroom um based on needs. Um, we were also able to get feedback from our administrators as well. Um,

102and we were able to give them a draft proposal and kind of look through um, what it was going to what the plan was going to look like. And then throughout that process, we were also sharing updates with our um, special education teachers as a whole and our administrators um, just keeping them informed, keeping them updated um, throughout the throughout that process. Um and so we shared a draft proposals with um teachers, staff and administrators and were able to get feedback on that. And then um we made changes based on um their feedback um from teachers, staff and administrators. Um then we were able to send out the communication to our um to our parents. um we wanted to make sure that we sent out communication to the individual families that were impacted and um

103provide that um that personal experience and being able to really um help with that transition, make the transition smoother. Um we also sent out communication to the whole special education population as a whole letting them know um you know that we are u making some changes to our programs and there will be some different adding some programs um based on the needs of students. So then um through all of that feedback um from our teachers and administrators um I want to talk about the challenges um that um that we're facing and what that feedback came from them and identifying those challenges. Um so some of those challenges that we saw um throughout that process and what we heard from our from our staff and administrators um was that um scheduling was a challenge and um

104it was hard to find adequate times um for breaks and planning and our teachers and TAs were struggling to get those breaks and plan times um and so which could impact um their effectiveness and their well-being. Um, we also saw the need for collaboration. We want to make sure that our special education teachers and our general education teachers are able to collaborate. Um, because we know the more that we collaborate and the more that we're able to talk um about um our student information as far as student data, we are able to to make help make progress. Um, so we want so that was a challenge. Um, and then another challenge is the specialized focus. Um, so our teachers are right now are serving students that are within a wide range of needs and abilities

105um and grade levels. So we may have some that are serving from K to five who may have different levels need different levels of support within the classroom. Some may have um more behavior um concerns. Some may have more medical concerns. Um some may have more um lower cognitive concerns. And then we may have some who are actually integrating into um general education that may be higher cognitively but have still have some needs where they still need to have a specialized setting. Um and then also we tal behavior challenges um was also a factor and so that can also be taxing um on our educators and and can impact the learning environment as a whole. Um and then staff morale was also a concern. our teachers were feeling isolated and alone and so we want

106to make sure that um you know that they're supported and um make sure that we can um address those concerns as well. And then we also have faced um issues with classroom space um and so wanting to make sure that we have the availability of appropriate classroom space and um we don't want to have that be a barrier for some schools. Um and then uh recognizing those challenges you know that is a crucial part of our growth. Um that is something that is just with going through that growth process. Um looking at our challenges and how can they be addressed? How can we address those challenges? Um so we want to continue to um find collaborative solutions for that. Once our challenges were identified we wanted to wanted to focus on our goals. Um, these

107goals were developed based on thoughtful feedback from caregivers, from administrators, and from staff. And each goal will serve as a foundation for the decisions that we make. One aim is to continually improve instruction and programming, ensuring what we offer to our students with special needs is meaningful and effective for all of them. We're committed to incorporating stakeholder voice because we know our voices are stronger when we listen and when we collaborate. We also want to improve the qualification process experience, making it clearer and more supportive and more efficient for families. Accessibility is another focus, making sure that families can engage with services and information without any barriers. And we're also walking to foster an inclusive mindset throughout our schools. We want to create environments where all students feel valued and supported. And we also want

108um everything with that throughout our special education department to be aligned um throughout the district so that no matter where a student is served, they receive consistent highquality support across our system. Can I interrupt with questions? Mhm. Um, are we able to get a synthesized version of some of this feedback that's been um, collected over the past year? if we could. And um if these are our goals for special services, um are they kind of laid out like our CIP where they have underlying um steps to achieve each of these goals and things that were um moving along on the plan to achieve these? Um, we don't have it set up like an action plan, but we could certainly do that. Are are these goals just um I guess how are we expecting to achieve

109these goals just based on the plan that we've set up or we were we going to do action steps later or how are these goals? We're going to talk a little bit more about the goals and identify um how we're going to address those goals. Great. Um so that brings us to the next slide. Um the main components of the plan. Um so um how the proposed plan and how we program um we noticed that um we created grades span focus um services. So we we noticed that at the high school level we have grades 6 through 8 or I'm sorry middle school we have 6 through 8 and we have 9 through 12. Um and so at the elementary level, we want to be able to focus on um grade level spans, so K

110through 2 and 3 through 5, so that we can focus on targeted instruction and allow our um general education and special education teachers to collaborate and truly focus on grade level learning standards and content. Um this will this plan will allow our teachers to do that and also it will allow us to focus on inclusionary practices and co-eing models. Um we also are adding a social communication um classroom um for programming so that we can focus more on our current needs that are supporting um for behavior intensive support and cross cate cross categorical support. So, social communication is a newer is a new um program. Um we are also making sure that our uh staff is trained on inclusionary and co-eing practices. Um we just recently um last week had uh training for our special

111educa some of our special education teachers, a team of teachers and our instructional coaches and our process coordinators on standardsbased IEPs. Um and so that is where we are trying to align our our IEPs with the grade level standards and truly diving into the Missouri learning standards um priority standards and also essential elements which are part of our um MAP A which is our part of our alternate curriculum for our students who may not take the MAP um assessment. So those may be students who have more complex needs but they also have assessment that they take as well. And so um really diving into that our teachers really um enjoyed that. It was very hands-on. And so, um, in the fall, we will actually roll that out with the rest of our special education staff

112and, um, do a training with them. And then throughout the year, we will, um, do training updates on that. And so, the teachers that went to that training, they are actually going to be resources for those buildings. So, we're trying to build that leadership capacity. Um, we also, um, have added additional staff. Um so we um were in the process of hiring um school psychologists um as u Dr. Kimbell spoke before two process coordinators um special education teachers, TAs and then one coordinator of special education. Um, we also are focused on creating a teams-based approach um because what I heard from the um feedback from our focus groups and our teachers, our administrators and our parents is that um they sometimes don't understand, our parents sometimes don't understand the process. So, the evaluation process or

113they don't know who they're supposed to talk to. And so we're really trying to streamline that process and make sure that we can focus on our school psychologists can focus on the evaluation process. So um how how a student goes through eligibility and qualifies for special education. Um and then focusing on our um the IEP process is what the process coordinator would be able to help support. So they would help the support the IEP teams and then our instructional coaches will be able to truly focus on instruction and be able to help teachers and be able to help uh grade level teams and um professional learning community teams um be able to tear down and figure out the gap between um uh the grade level and where students are at instructionally. I have a quick

114question on the staffing is um so seven new teachers is the 13 open positions does that include the new seven? Yes. Okay. Okay. It is a very difficult uh sector of our workforce to find special education teachers. Okay. I would just when I heard those numbers quoted I wasn't sure if that was before or after this that does include Okay. Gotcha. And with the school psychologist, the six, how will that be divided across our buildings? Um, we have a slide on that later. Okay. Um, we did want to pause and take a moment to provide some context on how our special education programming has evolved over the last several years. Prior to 2019, our model relied heavily on satellite locations. For example, all autism focused programs were placed in one school. medically fragile students were

115served in another school and we had just one middle school option for some specialized programs. This meant that most students in a specialized program were not in their resident home school. Their placements were IEP team decisions and their school of attendance was based on where that specific program was offered. In fall of 2019, we made a significant shift shift by moving to a school-based program model. This meant that nearly every school in the district district was equipped with at least one specialized one classroom and many of our schools also had specialized two classrooms. This change to reduce the number of students needing to leave their home school for services. However, currently we have 30 specialized students in we currently have 30 specialized students who are not in their resident home school. And this information is

116being provided not to minimize the experience of our students and families, but to help communicate that intensity of need. Looking ahead to the model for 2025 and beyond, we're introducing those focused grades span classrooms such as K through 2 or 3 through 5 when feasible. We'll also be offering more specialized programming such as the social communication class and adding the behavior support classroom at middle school. With these refinements, we anticipate that 42 students in specialized classroom will attend a school that is not their resident home school. We know that staying in a home school is important to families and we're continuing to work toward balancing that goal with the need to provide highquality intensive support. Our priority is to ensure each student receives the services they need to thrive while minimizing disruptions to their education

117whenever possible. Have a quick question. Um, so the 30 is like today and then 42. Okay, so 30 is not fall 19. Okay, gotcha. And then 42 resident homeschool. Is that their current home school or their home school after redistric? Their home school after redistricting. Okay. Is there any probably not, but is there any that group that's would go to what their school currently is? Does that make sense? Like they're redistrict to another school in front of me. It's possible. It's possible, but probably. Okay. Sorry. Okay. So, how did we use the criteria to make decisions about this program? So, these are the goals and broken down into how we're addressing those goals. Um, so the first one is improve instruction and programming. Um, again, we want to make sure that our special education teachers

118and our gened teachers are able to collaborate um so that they can plan for um instruction and help improve instruction for our students. Um, we want to make sure that we're providing innovative teaching and learning um for our students. Um we also um have a co-eing model um where that's where the special education teacher um is in the classroom with the general education teacher and they um co-e together and supporting um all students within the classroom, but there's a um number of special education students who are in that classroom receiving their services. Um, and so throughout this plan, we want to make sure that we can provide access to the general education environment and curriculum, and we want to make sure that we can align the IEP goals um with the grade level standards. Uh

119quick question for the students that are not in the general education classrooms but are still in the school. They still have access to the elective program. So they still have integration with general education students for classes. It's only the core learning where they're perhaps in a different setting for it to be more focused and specialized. Is that correct? So the co-eing model um is where the special education teacher is in a classroom, but then we may also have students who are accessing the general education environment in their elective classes, which could be PE or it could be um a family consumer class or whatever that might be. Um where we may have a teacher assistant that is going in to support um those teachers. We also um this is also a thing that we are

120trying to move towards um aligning the our aligning the standards um within the special education classroom so that in that special education classroom it's also mirroring what the general education is doing. So students are getting the access in the general education classroom and if they make progress and they are ready to move to general education it is a smoother transition. Um so those are some things that we are implementing now and trying to work towards. Um so we are also um the next goal I'm sorry um is stakeholder voice. So we want to make sure that we continue to get our um get our voices um from all of our stakeholders. So that means our families, our teachers, our staff, and even our students. um we had listening um lunch and listens and we were

121able to get feedback from our students as well um this year. Um so we want to continue to provide those opportunities. Um, we also want to ensure that u continue to um make sure that our special education teachers are um able to be a part of the curriculum review process um so that they can help provide input on, you know, what what do our special education students need as far as like scaffolding or differentiating? Um what does it look like to help them where they're at instructionally get to that grade level standard? Um, and so, um, we want to we want to continue to provide those opportunities. Um, also, like I said before, continuing to build the leadership capacity, um, for our special education teachers. Um, we've been sending them to lots of different trainings

122um, and they are loving it. And so we want to continue to do that and um provide those resources for our buildings as well so that we have our our uh special education teachers are equipped at the buildings um that they can answer questions, they can support their special education um team and they can support general education as well. Um we are ensuring that we have mentoring um for our teachers and then also represent having making sure our special education teachers and our um our parents are able to um represent on building and district committees. And then the next goal is improving the qualification process. Um so we want to make sure we're clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the eligibility team um team members. So um that is making sure that we know everyone

123who is on the team and what their role is and how they can attribute to that um to the IEP team. um with also with our IE team IEP team members. Um we are uh making sure that we're streamlining across our um our staff with the school psychologists, process coordinators, and instructional coaches and make sure that everyone knows the roles and responsibilities of them and so they know who they can go to for support. Um we will ensure that um special education processes and procedures are clearly explained and transparent for everyone. Um because in the role in the special education roles things can become confusing. Um there's a lot of you know term terminology um and so we want to make sure that everybody understands. Um and that's what we were hearing from our focus

124groups um that there may be some misunderstanding and we just want to make that clear. Um, we want to make sure that our parents are understanding their rights in the special education process and so they know how to advocate, they know what questions to ask. And so we want to make sure we're supporting them and helping them understand the process because it can be a lot. um you know going through that process especially when you're starting with the initial evaluation you know the the initial request um going through the review of existing data and then going into the um the the evaluation plan and all of that that can be that can be a lot. So we want to make sure that they understand that process. And then we also want to improve accessibility. Um

125so improving our physical accessibility in our school buildings and facilities. Um not only this but also making sure that our students have access to general education. Um we want to make sure we're utilizing high leverage practices to support this. Um we want to make sure we continue to provide assist of technology. Um and make sure that our students have access to that. Um a lot of our students need that communication assist of technology for communication purposes. Um and then we will provide training to all educators regarding specific student needs. So making sure that everybody's informed um because all of our students have different needs and everyone needs to be equipped for that and um know how to support them. Can I ask just ask a question? Um so um so are this is for the

126special education. Are the 504 coordinators getting this this all this information too? I only say that because um especially on the high school level cuz those those plans go with those kids to colleges or if they go into um a workforce they have FMLA and those plans. And I know just in being in healthcare like we have to implement those same processes the same that you do here in high school. And I guess my my feedback on that is just like are they getting the same process because I know a lot of 504 coordinators at other schools are administrators or former counselors or former special education teachers because they understand that process and all those things that they have have to implement. So, I just want to make sure that we are setting up our

127504 coordinators in high school level to help those students advocate for themselves when they get to other levels. You you understand what I'm saying? And I want to make sure that I know that you say that you teach them or whatever, but I mean I I I don't know. I think there needs to be more training. I need to think that they need to go to their own certification. There's just a lot that goes into that, especially if you have to maintain your own healthcare. And that's part of you telling all kids to be able to take care of themselves every day. Then that's part of taking care of themselves. And I think that we need to make sure that we are equipping the right adults to be there to assist those students and parents

128in those paths. So you mean additional training opportunities for our 504 coordinators? Yes. Absolutely. I don't think that that's something that we have had an opportunity to discuss, but that I think that's something that we need to make a note of. I know one thing that I did um last summer as this is my second year in my role and one of the things that I noticed was there was weren't a lot of resources for our 504 coordinators when they had a question about how do I do this process or when a parent calls what do I do? So I created a team's notebook for them and said, "Hey, if a parent calls you, here's what you do. Here's what forms you need." And I outlined all of that for them. And so that that

129was kind of our first step. And so now we just have to figure out how best I know there certification and different trainings out there. And I only say that cuz we have to take it in my field. But I think that um that would just be helpful to help prepare those students, especially on the high school level to be able cuz you know when they get a certain age, parents can't advocate for them as much and so just to help them through that process to be able to do that because those are lifetime. I mean if you're diabetic that's something lifetime, right? I mean so you those are things that you need to be able to know how to help yourself with. I was a process coordinator at Park Hill High School for about

13015 years and some of my favorite meetings were always the ones where my students had turned 18 because I was like, "Oh, no. They mom doesn't get to sign this. You have to sign this now." So, some of those initial learning how to adults. It's very important. Well, and I to Sherekica's point, I mean, I'm I guess I'm a little disappointed that you would have to put together a information packet for them because I feel like they should know that, right? That's why I was like, aren't the people that in those positions? They should already know the things like a special education teacher or a counselor or I'm glad you did. But I'm saying but I'm saying the people that should be in those positions I think should already when we put them in those

131positions should already have this kind of experience for those positions. It's just my thought process. I agree. I hear that. Thank you. Okay. And then um the next goal is fostering an inclusion mindset. Um, so we want to make sure again where there's collaboration with GenEd and special education um so that they can make instructional decisions um providing training and resources um for all of our special education staff. And then the components of this plan will focus on student academics um behavioral and social growth. And then so how does this align with um with our district um strategic plan? And so this hits under objective one which is academics and teaching for learning. Um and objective two which is culture. So the sense of belonging the DEIB work with drivers and narratives. Um this is

132where we really worked with our um community council um to uh focus on the DEIB and being able to be a part of their DEIB councils um and then also focuses on systems. So adding staff and resources. So, I I want to go back to my question about goals because I um I know you laid out kind of on each slide a goal, but I feel like the um the bullet points on this are are more aspirational and not specific plans. They they just kind of generalize it through this plan, it's going to be this way and not specific steps that we're going to take to ensure that these things are going to happen. So, do we have that or are we just assuming this plan is going to naturally take care of all these

133things? Well, I think most of this is also within our special services program where we have identified um goals that for the whole program which are which is also aligned with um this content as well. Okay. Can we see more of the detail of those goals and the steps that we're going to take to achieve them? Thank you. And can I just say to Jan's point about all the goals and everything else? Is this now that I mean you both are fairly new to this position, so it's like fresh eyes, is are you guys really looking at this? Is this is kind of why this is coming as well the need for um our specialized um students and families? is I'm just trying to understand like where this all came from, you know, because we're

134developing. Is this where the the basis of it is? Because assessing the programming and assessing because that's part of my job is to assess um where we're at with student programming um you know, with staffing, with instruction, those pieces regarding special education. So yeah, um I think you guys have seen this this slide or a similar slide but um to this before. Um but based on feedback from our community and student needs as discussed in recent IEP meetings, there have been some changes made from that original plan and those are indicated in red on this slide. And so those are that um at Shen the grade levels have been updated to reflect K through 5 program for intensive needs. The social communication classroom at Angeline Washington has changed to a cross-categorical K through five classroom.

135Lion Creek grade levels have been updated to reflect K through five. And Tiffany Ridge will have an added classroom for students with intensive needs in grades 3 through 5. So part of the feedback that we receive from our focus groups is that it was confusing um at L Creek for example if it said crosscategorical K through two because what we were um originally doing was indicating that the students currently in that program are K through two but what it communicated to the public was in third grade now I have to go to another school. So we wanted to make that correction to say that you would not have to go to another school. It's K5. We were um marking what the current grade levels were. Uh so that's what you see the corrections for Chin,

136for Lion Creek, and then adding an intensive uh program at Tiffany Ridge, we were able to do the same thing. So that's what you're seeing uh reflected based off feedback. So on this slide, I think if I had to say one thing is a summation of the feedback I've been getting, it's this. Um, so in my head, I want to like break this up into two parts. The first part is transitioning from this school year to next school year and then the other part is our big picture improvement of the overall program. So, and like I said, this is where all the feedback seems to be coming from. And there's a lot that goes into this, right? Each one of these lines is a is a there's there's students in that classroom, there's teachers in

137that classroom, and there's TAs in that classroom. Correct. Um in Angel In Washington and Tiffany Ridge, there are those are newer facilities with better um you know, bathrooms. So there's there's a lot there's a lot of theory and information that goes into this and I just want to make sure we all understand it. I want to make sure I understand it. Um that it's not it's not being done to I don't know segregate kids. It's to is to try to best use our physical resources and our human resources to try to give the best special education program we can can give for our students. So, just wanted to I guess throw that out there and then I don't know where I'm going next, but can we well can we receive information on the 42 kids

138that are not going to their home schools and what their home schools are and where they're going and maybe some reasons why if we could. Well, the reason why in general is going to be because of the IEP IEP team decision. When they go through the IEP and determine what the needs of that kid would be, then they're looking for the uh appropriate program in there. Um, one of the things that I learned, I asked this question directly when I was uh speaking with a large group out at uh Green Hills Library that was uh providing uh feedback and and concerns about this particular uh this particular configuration right here and I asked the question is the gold standard from a parents perspective to have one of these classrooms crosscategorical intensive um social communication and

139behavior support in every single school. And the parents answers was yes, that's what I would assume. The problem with that obviously is that from a just capacity standpoint, both uh for the quality of of what we could offer to students for the human resources and uh capital resources that we had. um that's somewhere in the neighborhood of another 25 teachers and and and some other things that are extremely uh and I don't even know if that's the best decision because then you end up with kids in classrooms of one or something like that. And so that's partly what we're trying to make sure that doesn't happen as well. So these were things that we were challenged with, but uh we can certainly get you that information about that. I mean I don't know I don't

140know if I'm asking for the right information because I just want to make sure that the way it's set up provides the most inclusion for our kids. Okay. And so I guess I would like some sort of information to say if we specific reasoning on if every building doesn't have full service of being able to include the the kids that should go to their home school. Mhm. Whether it's because there's only going to be one kid in a ch one child in a class or whatever it is, some sort of justification for why we don't have a full service of every for all inclusion of kids at every building. And that's what I'm looking for when I say why are they not going to their home school? Not I don't want to hear their IEP

141discussion or what the IEP team came up with. I want information on kind of how it was decided how it landed on this. Okay. And why we don't why can't we provide things for the across this thing, right? Even if it comes down to Hawthorne only has one class or you know whatever it is. I I would like justification on why we landed on this. Okay. Or like the Angeline Washington. Sorry about that. Scott, I'm sorry. Is it like because I I mean we toured England Washington and we see like the bathroom facilities and I'm pretty sure like those facilities are not at L Creek you know like you understand I'm just like that was my point with the goals because it just kind of said oh it's going to provide more accessibility on the

142buildings. I'm like well how is that if L Creek doesn't have that? I want to see specific plans on how we're how that's going to be played out. Right. I agree. Yeah. Okay. And so I want to understand that a lot of the feedback I heard was well they're moving me to a different place. So but there are 30 students right now. They're not at their home schools. That's correct. How does that 30 map to the 42 is what I Yeah, that's the question I think um Mr. Toiliger asked earlier about are some of those kids ones that are currently already not in their home school? we can we can get that information and and look at those kind of pieces there. We can look at the information relative to uh why a particular, you

143know, decision couldn't be met at their at their home school. I think I'm hearing two things for inclusion as well. And maybe I'm uh off on this, but and and you guys correct me if I'm wrong, but what I'm hearing is is that there's this inclusion idea about including me in my home resident school, and there's this idea about inclusion that we're talking about from a special education perspective. All of these students have access to the general education obviously because they are in our uh schools that have uh general general education programming. But I'm hearing you. I just want to make sure I got this right. Is that the question of how did you know sometimes we had to make a decision about this went to a certain place because of what Miss Barnes was

144talking about relative to a higher quality uh potential or a facility need a staffing need. This is part of Park Hill 2034 and the idea that we've got additions that are going to be going into some of those uh aging facilities and how do we involve uh programming decisions in those particular pieces in in the capital needs that we might have in the next few years. Um, so all of that is part of this, but certainly we can get you that information. And just some of the I guess statistics I came up with is it looks like before we had 37 classrooms and after there's 41, so it's an increase of four. Um, the elementary level goes from 22 to 23, but we added a building. Um, and then middle school goes from seven classrooms

145to nine and high school goes from eight to nine. So there is a four classroom increase from the end of this year to next year and then um I know like Plaza only has a cross categorical while Congress has more space and there's more programming there but other than that there's this is all I feel like is focused at the elementary level because it from if I'm reading this right there's no real changes. I know there's changes, but at the secondary level, there's no real changes, right? That's correct. Yes, that's correct. Okay. So, it's elementary and it's these. Yeah. Correct. Just want to kind of zero in on the on the on the issue. Yes. And it's the locations at the elementary level. Yes. And Dr. Kimbo, you said um the IEP team is the

146one who makes the decision for what the student needs. And I know that IEP meetings includes every touch point of that student from parents to specialists and everything else. Are they not parents? When are they brought into that decision part of that? They're part of the team. They're part of the team. Okay. Just want to make sure that that's they're part of that meeting. They're part of the meeting. Mhm. And and then this is going to be one of those classic board. There's gonna it's a tough decision, right? There's sometimes and it stinks, right? It's I wish we could have everything we needed for every classroom and every building and for every student. And and that's why I said there's these two parts. I want our long-term goal to to get there, but it's for

147next school year. we got to figure out what's the best and it's maybe seeing that data as Miss Bolan said would be well and I do appreciate that the extra clarification around because that was a lot of the feedback that I was hearing and a lot of the anxiety that I think parents were feeling you know it wasn't listed because there weren't going to be students there but then that left that question so um I think that that for me was a big kind of piece that I'm I'm very appreciative that you put that information there so that families know they're not going to just leave because that's not right. I'm going to tie in this with what we did last um when we had our previous board meeting and the EAL and I know

148that there are some students who are that and sped both and I just want to make sure that the communication and the parents understand you know that those processes because I mean like if a letter went out to someone and they don't quite understand that or if they sat in an IEP meeting did they really understand the information that was told to them about their student because I mean it's one thing to you know have a parent teacher conference you know in for your student in a different language but if you have your student has special needs and all these people are making decisions and do I really understand these decisions and what they mean for my child I just want to make sure part of our DE IB like we are including people and

149making sure equity and people understand like these processes because sometimes those people and those students can get lost in this process because you know there there are two there's two different things that need to be happening at that same time. Right. Absolutely. Yes. And I do know our um process coordinators have been working with our families and they've been communicating with um families, our process coordinators and instructional coaches u multiple times. So, and especially with our families that have special education and ELD, they've been working with those families, um, contacting those families and working through the transition piece of it. So, they've been, um, having multiple meetings. Somebody had asked earlier about um, what the teams looked like and where the school psychologists would go, and I said there was a slide coming up about

150that, and this is this slide. Um so one of the things that um one of our parent focus groups shared was clarity needed for understanding those school teams and this slide does visually represent that. You can see um kind of the schools that are grouped together in their feeder patterns with the school psychologist and a process coordinator for um each trio of elementary buildings and then as well as two middle schools combined. And then um we've paired Park Hill High School with Russell Jones and Park Hill South at LEAD. And so you can see with on each line there's a school psychologist and a process coordinator for each of those groups of um buildings as well as um one special education instructional coach for those specialized classrooms. Um at the elementary school, the specialized coach

151will cover six buildings. And then at the middle school, um one specialized coach will cover the four buildings. And then at the high school level, the three high schools in Russell Jones. In addition to those process coordinators, school psychologists and coaches, we also have 1.5 assisted technology specialists. We have somebody that's a halftime speech language pathologist and halftime in um assist of technology specialist. That's how we have 1.5. And um then we also have one elementary resource instructional coach. The our assisted technology specialists cover the entire district. and that one resource coach covers all of the elementarymentaries. So, we're hopeful that in future years we can add a secondary resource coach as well as um add some support to those assisted technology facilitators because one and a half of them for every building in the

152district. We have a lot of kiddos that have um assisted technology needs and they do a really excellent job covering that, but we could always use more support for them. So, we're hopeful that that could be something that we look at in the future. Um, and then clarifying who does what within those roles is something that we hope to or that we intend to do for parents. Our school psychologists are hired to help with mental health needs as well as student behaviors and run that evaluation process. So, when a parent requests a special education evaluation for their child, that school psychologist will be the run one that runs that process. Then if the students determined eligible, that IEP process, the individualized education plan process will be run by the process coordinator and then they will

153be at each annual IEP meeting thereafter. So I assume all of that is going to be spelled out for the parents with like contact information because like this clarity does not help me whatsoever if I'm a parent. Um, and like how quickly are we planning on being able to get that to our parents? When you say we plan to do that, is that like next week, next year? What? So, we would do updates. Um, we currently have all of the staff on our website, we would once we have our hiring completed and everyone placed, then we would update that over the summer for the following school year. Okay. But I guess when you say you have staff, I know everyone's st the staff is listed on the website, but if you don't know what staff

154you're looking for, that doesn't help you. So if I'm going to Hawthorne, I don't know still who I mean, I could contact everybody on there if I wanted to, but I still don't know who to contact for whatever I'm doing for whatever my question is if I'm a sped parent. So you're what you're asking for is Hawthorne, the school psychologist, the name, the process coordinator, and the name. Yes, that's what we would post. Okay. So that will be on the website. Yes. Yes. Okay. But but spelled out my main contact if I have something who's that first person I call. Yes. But this is just for IEPs, not 504 coordinators. Yes. This is for IEPs, students on IEPs. So we don't have any kind of similar for for for helping parents navigate that process. The

155504 process is different in that there isn't the same testing process. So we can I don't list on the right for even supports throughout it. um if parents have questions or issues and so forth. I mean Mhm. what resources do those parents have or how do I even go about doing that process? Mhm. Are they listed on our website now? I honestly don't know if they are. Yeah, my plan is to revamp the website and cuz I've already looked at other districts and how they kind of set up their websites. So to put all of that information on there with like questions that parents might have, you know, like question answer type of thing so that they know, you know, they can go to the website and find some information, know who to contact for

156each thing, know where the locations are, the programs are. So that's going to all be revamped. That's great cuz I know this is much more complicated than the 504 process, but that doesn't make that process any less difficult for those parents and those families. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. In the school psychologist will be just for IEP evaluation and not for other students but mental things that may come up. Um they will also be a part of the like um tier three teams. So they will be helping support um our part of our MTSS um process, but it'll be the tier three where they may sit on like the team whenever students are um if the team is thinking that they've looked at the data and they're ready to do a referral for special

157education. So they may give strategies and things like that to help support. Uh so after announcing and contacting families about program locations um we received feedback and we were just wanting to make sure we acknowledge those additional opportunities uh with the community where we were listening. Um the first session April 1st was our special education community council where we did a listening session um getting feedback that helped us create the screencast and the frequently asked questions that we sent out. Um you can see April 9th we sent that out with a survey link where families could give feedback on um the clarification that they were asking for and they could also choose to join a parent focus group uh that we would host addition in addition to what we already have here. Um April 14th

158uh with Dr. Kimbell, we attended the special education parent advisory committee with PTA. Um that was um done at the Green Hills Library. And then April 30th, we hosted our parent guardian focus group and Dr. Dial helped lead us through um a protocol on getting feedback for additional information and that's what we were able to combine all of those things and bring it to you today about how we're responding. Um, adding to my list I hear is we um are wanting clear contact lists of who to contact as we're going through these processes. Um, that can feel overwhelming for our families. Mrs. Woodley just said something that raised a question or it's hard to find psychologists right now. Are we going to be able to find these psychologists? Yes, we've already hired five so far.

159Mhm. I think we have one. Well, yes. Well, we have two more. Okay. So, we hired Yeah. four. Very good. Mhm. Um in addition, the community feedback, uh we have four main categories. The first one is communication. So, we've been asked for a lot of clarity. Um how what are those program descriptions? So, we would like to add more detail to that and provide clarity uh for parents. the ones that we shared um could seem confusing to parents. So, for example, one of our focus group members uh commented, "Well, that could be autism, that could be autism, or this one." And so, while that's true because we might have different severity of needs if your child has autism, it still didn't communicate what does that room look like and what kind of supports would be

160available. So, we'll be adding detail to those things. also for behavior programs. How um do students qualify for our different behavior programs? What is that process and information like? So, we want to uh share that. We do have a process um but we need to make sure our families are aware of what that is. Um transparency. So, really asking for can we have the minutes? Can we have the information? Can we add virtual options to our focus groups or our special education council meetings? Um, and also asking to communicate districtwide. So, we've already started talking uh to Miss Witchel about how can we do this uh districtwide. What are some things we could add to our newsletters, uh, to our website, to our social media so that more parents feel connected and in the know

161about what's going on. Um, continued is also parent engagement. So asking for more focus groups, um more sessions with our special education community councils and continue our caregiver nights. So you have those available to you. We already have them scheduled for next year. Um and they are on our website and so we'll be sending those out as well. Are there virtual options for those for caregiver nights? We don't have those virtual for the special education council sessions. Are those are those virtual like this year? They weren't, but that's what we would be looking into. How can we do more virtual opportunities for parents that cannot attend? They're also looking into that for parent guardian feedback. I mean, caregiver nights and those kind of educational opportunities because I feel like this population especially would have trouble

162getting away to be able to come here for a We do um have child care at many of the um caregiver nights, but we definitely want to look into the virtual. Um they've also asked to explore activities, special Olympics, communicating disability awareness days and months. Um through our DEIB council work, we have designated months. Um if you remember from our work session where we talked about that October has been designated uh disability awareness month. uh but our focus groups are telling us we would like more of those and the more specific uh days and awareness events. Um then feedback about uh program locations. So specifically about siblings, making sure siblings can attend school uh where their brother or sister may be attending due to programs. So we want to ensure we can do that whenever

163possible. uh the grade level concerns to ensure K through 5 programming. We talked about how we made those corrections so it doesn't just say K2 and you wonder what happens at third grade. Um grade level spans. There's a general understanding for how grade level spans are beneficial. So we've received feedback from teachers and from parents about I have a kindergartener and they're in a class with a fifth grader so they understand that the K235 is helpful. Um, and so we'd like to offer that more. Um, but we also know that we're trying to stair step and um, offer what we can at this moment based on the students we have and their needs. Um, we would like uh, the parents would like programs in their resident home schools. So that goes back to again what

164Dr. Kimbell and Miss Bolan were talking about for inclusion. uh we were really focused on inclusion in the classroom, rightful presence and how we're improving that relationship for co-eing and being in the grade level. What we're hearing from our parents is inclusion to them means being in their resident homeschool. So, how can we offer more of that? Looking into those things, um then we've been asked to pause or stair step the plan and find ways to move less students. Uh so again we would be continually evaluating how can we do that. Um the plan you saw represents about 253 students. Um and for most of them we were able to do that and want to continue looking for how we can improve. Uh and then we want the focus groups told us they want to

165ensure that location of services is an IEP team decision and we agree. Um that should be something done at the IEP table uh with the team with the parents that are there um to make the best decision based on their goals um and what kind of services they would need. Uh finally on staffing our focus groups are asking for more behavior supports, hiring additional staff at the building level and more instructional coaches and more training for our teachers and staff and not just special education teachers and staff but general education. Um and so that is also um what we're working on for professional development, how we can offer more opportunities for our teachers um to get that training. Okay. So moving forward, um so we want to stay dedicated to incorporating our feedback in our

166work um within the special services department and continue to improve and address the concerns from our teachers, our parents um and guardians. And so we will um continue to have additional focus group sessions. We'll increase communication and um newsletters. We will continue with our quarterly special education community council. Um and that will include like guest speakers andformational things for um information for um our parents. Um specialized program locations. Um so we we've made a few change a couple changes to improve improve clarity um with the grade levels. We're adding an additional program at Tiffany Ridge, changing a program at Angeline Washington. Um, we are going to do a district-wide survey to all um, stakeholders for feedback and input about our special services department and school experience because from our um, focus groups, we heard that

167um, everyone would like to be included and give feedback on that. Um, so we will be doing that in the fall. Um, and then additional and continued training for our administrators, teachers, and our teaching assistants. And we um will continue to uh work on the long range facilities plan addressing the needs and ensuring that our um that our parents are able to be a part of the design teams and um and committees um to provide their input. I'm curious, is there a reason we're waiting until the fall to do the survey for everybody? cuz then there's not really much time to make any changes for next year if we wait until next year. Yeah, we we think that the plan that we have right now is changed to the place that we need to be

168moving forward to how we're going to start the next school year. a lot of tonight whether it's this presentation um and other information we're trying to get in front of the public is about uh what the beginning of the school year would look like and then these particular process improvements would be something that we want to continue as we get into the fall but I think parents deserve to know you know that this is where we're at and that was one of the things we heard was clarity is something that they they need right now and so I think we need to be clear on where we're going to be these IEP meetings have happened and uh parents are have these expectations and now we need to figure out how do we improve by doing

169things like focus groups, surveys, things that are on a regular basis. Um I would agree with um I I don't know that it's logical to do it before the fall just based on where where we are in the school year, but um I would hope that would be early fall and not end of November fall. Um, and can we include staff in this? Because I guess kind of what I'm hearing maybe doesn't jive with what I'm hearing from staff. So, um, and I might be hearing from a very small percentage of staff, but um, so I I would like to be able to get information from this survey in the fall. Okay. For feedback. Yeah. Our focus group really wanted to make sure it was everybody, right? Teachers, parents, administrators, administrators, um, everyone. Okay, great.

170Thanks. Thank you for this presentation. I really appreciate the the clarity that you've brought. Um, I I really feel like I understand better the the what and the why. Um, I I think the why especially has been clear the whole time. Um, but I think that there could be some more explication as we go forward with the the the how and the when. I think that those really need some some more development. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for listening and thank you for your feedback tonight. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks. Thank you. All right. Yep. Thank you so much for your presentation tonight. Um, all right. Next we have 7.3 electronic personal device task force presentation. Uh, Dr. Kimbles, Dr. Dial, and Dr. Brutin. All right. Good evening. Presentation. It's not, but good

171evening. Uh and and also uh welcome. Um thank you. Since implementing our uh cell phone policy that we put in place or practices that we put in place in the middle schools starting in August of last year, we've had uh a lot of conversation about getting a group together to talk about what does that mean for high school uh coming up. So uh we have Dr. Brutin um I believe it's Miss Jeepson. Is that right? Okay. and uh we'll be presenting uh the task force process and recommendations as we move forward to the uh fall 25 and where we're at with that. Dr. Burton, thank you. Thank you board for having us this evening. Um I'm glad to be here and I'm glad to be joined by one of our task force members and a

172parent in the district of three students at three different levels um this evening to to kind of share with you our little our journey um this uh late winter and spring um as we looked into this issue as a task force group. Um as Dr. Kimell mentioned um we um you know made some changes at the middle school level and the elementary level and and what our practices were this last year, but we knew um at the high school level we probably needed to bring a together a group of folks um of of students, parents, uh staff members in the buildings because it's a little different beast at the high school level than maybe at some of our other grade spans. Um, this work is largely based in our in our cultural objective of our

173strategic plan where we want to, you know, include voices in a decision-making process and give people a sense of belonging and maintain a positive culture and environment in our schools. Um, and so in that effort, as we look through that, we kind of worked with this group under a a common primary goal. And I'm going to turn the floor over now to Miss Jeepson to share some of that with you. Um, yeah. So the primary goal was to go over what the current practices are at the high school level to look at any relevant information um out there as far as statistics on how things are going mental health and um academic and things like that of how it is affected by the cell phones being in the room and then also what our recommendations

174would be moving forward for next year. Um the three primary concerns were um the distractions and disruptions that happen in the class and how that affects the academic development of the students. the um significant changes in mental health that have kind of come about in the last 10 to 15 years with the introduction of smartphones and how that affects the classroom um as well as just the increase in um disruptive and violent and illegal behavior that the phones can aid in happening at the school setting. The task force was made up of 30 people. There was parents, staff, teachers, um students and administrators. So, we kind of had a voice from everybody. Um, at any given meeting there was about 25 people in attendance and then it just kind of goes over the dates and

175different things that we talked about at each meeting. Um, the first one being just kind of talking about our introduction, what the purpose of it was going into what the current practices are at Park Hill um, in the whole district and then um, the third meeting, I think the February 11th meeting was really the most effective. it. We we really delved into the um research out there that shows just kind of the staggering um statistics that show the increase in mental health, anxiety, suicide, um depression, the decline in some academic um things as well as just social aspects of people getting together less in person and um attention span, all of those things. Um and we're really able to go look take a deeper look into that. And then the last two sessions we just

176kind of went into work trying to look at in light of all of that you know better and do better how can we implement that into a recommendation for next year for Park Hill. Was there an February 11th says the expert opinion was there an actual expert there to or research research? Yeah. In addition to that, we also conducted a uh series of optional surveys that were sent out to uh stakeholders um that would be most affected by this. And that's our current uh high school student population 9 through 12 where you can see we have 2 55 respondents. Um our 9th through 11th grade parents since this would be they would be their students most affected by any changes that might be made. We had 665 parents respond to that survey. And then we

177had 145 staff members respond to their survey. We got some, you know, it asked some general preliminary questions. And so we had a good mix of of parents, students, and staff members from all three of our secondary comprehensive sites um that were really representative of a diversity of opinions, perspectives, and viewpoints. Um in the student survey, some of the key takeaways that came across is that um students found that their that they that their devices have productive uses. Um um that they often considered them their go-to device um to to be used. Um they also through their information it came across that they did not want they were against something that was punitive and punished the whole for maybe the wrong behaviors of a select few. um access to their device they felt gave them

178often a sense of control in their life and personal autonomy um that was you know age appropriate for them. I would also highlight that 71% of students of the students who responded reported that they do use their personal electronic devices daily during instructional time for non-academic purposes. and they listed that the four most common things that they use their device for during that time is texting or sending personal messages, streaming or listening to music, checking social media apps, and watching videos. On the parent survey, parents definitely um one of the strongest things that came across was worries about phones disrupting the learning um and the suggestion that the policy should be tailored to minimize classroom distractions without being overly punitive. Um, there was a strong desire out of the information that came through the survey

179to see something that was fair and equitable for all students and consistently applied from classroom to classroom and school to school. Um, while the phones um should should be controlled, they felt in the in general in the school setting, they also recognized practical uses for them, especially the idea of communicating with their child, the communication between parent and child. Um, parents listed these um as their top four concerns. um distractions and disruptions or off past behavior during the school day. Students taking or posting audio or visual or pictures of their student without their students consent. Mental health impacts related to social media and/or peer communication and viewing inappropriate material or content on the device. And the staff also um recognized things that rose out of their survey as large takeaways were that device use of

180personal use device is a significant disruption to the learning environment and negatively impact student engagement, attention and ability to academically perform. It also highlighted managing the behaviors with student use of personal devices uh uh was a challenging thing in their classroom that needed more clear consistent schoolwide policy that support with supported enforcement that doesn't vary from classroom to classroom. While recognizing the potential of technology and learning, staff emphasize that personal devices are more of a while a tool are more used for personal reasons that are not necessary in the classroom and do create significant dup disruption in during the school day. 89% of staff reported that they regularly on a daily basis observe students using these devices for personal reasons during instructional time and 81% of them identified it as a top three to five

181problem that needed to be addressed in the schools. So after kind of taking a look at all of that, the recommendation that we um as a group put together, that's just kind of some of the highlights of it. Um we had recommended that there's no use during the school day, meaning um any class time. So they would be allowed during um passing periods and during lunch. Um however, we were kind of split on the lunch situation. I think um to some people it felt like a happy median, kind of a compromise. um in the beginning we would like to see it re-evaluated at semester maybe because I think it does kind of takes it it focuses a lot on the distra disruption and distraction for academic but it kind of takes away the social aspect

182of it we want to see kids in the lunchroom talking to each other and communicating with their friends as opposed to you know sitting on their phones and stuff so that's something to look at um moving forward um there would be a tiered um discipline plan that would be um readily available everyone would know what it was in terms of what what are the steps that are taken if um the rules are not followed. Um it would be off their body. Um we think that physical separation would be an important aspect of it in terms of whether or not that's a lock box or the caddies on the back of the doors that some teachers use now. Um but that the students would kind of check in their phone at the beginning of class period

183and take them with them when they leave um each day. And then um clear communication plan um to students, family and staff. I think that's a really important one because like I said, there were people in the meeting that kind of felt one way and as we looked at all the information and saw the data, it was hard to not um be compelled to change it. And so I think giving some of that information um to the students and the staff and to the parents and the community so that they know kind of where that was coming from. It's easy as a student to be like, "No, I don't want my phone taken away, obviously." But when you're looking at the statistics and seeing what um is actually happening, it's really staggering and it's hard

184to deny or to argue with. Um so I think that's an important part. Um and then also another really big thing was that there would be consistency across all the buildings that um every building would be the same that every teacher is on board that they are um aligned because um if it's not consistent then it doesn't work. And that's kind of what's happened now with what the handbook says versus the reality of what's happening in the classrooms. And so that there is um very clear expectations and boundaries from the teachers and staff and that the teachers are also modeling that behavior. Um, and then other than that, there would be a few um, exceptions obviously, whether it's medical needs or there's a certain class project that they're needed to be used, and we recommended

185that there be some sort of process to go through that, whether it's filling out a form or something, but that it's clearly cut in their curriculum or something that there's a specific reason for needing it, that there would be kind of a an option for that. Um and then also another one of the concerns that people said was just that sometimes there are really last minute um changes and information coming from um coaches and stuff as far as practices changing and stuff and that that needs to be clearly defined earlier in the day so that they're not you know that can be an email or something so they're not needing that at the end of the day. So those were kind of some of the general things that we highlighted and what our recommendation for

186next year would be. You may also be aware that the state of Missouri legislature has pending legislation in relation to this topic as well. It is changing by the day and um a little bit of this slide is inaccurate because yesterday there was a new release that changes some of the language that is proposed. Nothing has been passed into law um at this time but certainly um both bodies of of the legislature, the governor are in have signaled their support for this. It seems relatively bipartisan. Senate Bill 68 seems to be the one that is prevailing at this moment in time. However, there is a competing House bill as well. Um the proposed legislation calls as of yesterday calls for districts to adopt a written policy effective the next school year and that has gone

187back and forth a couple of times between next school year and the following school year 26 27. Um as of yesterday it also proposed a restriction. Um the previously it had allowed some time for it to be used during maybe passing period or things. The most recent version um is a prohibition from start of school day to end of school day. Um and so we do not know at this time exactly where the legislature will will land on this issue or whether this will cross the finish line by May 16th when the legislative session ends. Um, but we are watching that very closely. As you probably note in some of the comments I just made, most of what um our the task force has recommended um is relatively in alignment. However, we would probably need

188to tighten up should the present uh as of May 7th um um language we would need to tighten up like at meal times and passing periods. Um and we may not need to revisit that conversation depending on whatever action the legislature takes. Um, so the next steps, the processes are already underway um to implement this for next year. Uh, student services and communications office are working on getting that information out, whether it's flyers hung in the building, emails to teachers or to um parents and stuff like that. Um, and then the handbook will need to be updated with all of the new guidelines and all of that verbiage. And then obviously we will keep um and following along with the legislative action that could change some of that. So now we have any questions from

189the board. We would be happy to answer about our process um andor our recommendations. I think it's um thank you for all your work that you did on this. Um I think it's um a good concept. I do like the fact that we made sure we took exceptions for medical needs cuz like for diabetes and stuff, you know, you have to use your cell phone to use your sugar, especially if you have that your hearing aids. Yeah, your hearing aids and different things like that. So, you know, whatever process that needs to happen. I mean, I don't know. Do people just have a note? Do they have to get a 504? I'm just asking. I don't know what the the whole process is. Well, yeah, actually that's a great point because some students actually do

190have it written into their 504 plan that allows it. So, how would it impact that? Yeah. And so 504 teams would need to make those decisions. So, to answer your question, a lot of those students may have a individual health plan. Some some assisted device use um may be written into an IEP or a 504 plan. Those are all documented and there's already an established process for that. Okay. We may have other students who may have intermittent need where it doesn't really qualify for any of those particular um plan processes but we would want to create a separate process where we um you know we documented approved and processed and and monitored such things as well as any other um permissible allowances that might need to be made. And so we'll need to make a

191supplemental for the ones that aren't already governed by an established process. And we figured that out at the middle school already, right? Yes. Those are already kind of largely in place at the middle school level. So in four years they all just be used to. Mhm. They'll be used to it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They'll get used to it. Um is tutorial. Is that class time? Okay. Yes. Tutorial all class time. Tutorial CT time. So no uh streaming music during weights class or anything. Got to listen to what they're playing in the wait room. Yeah. Okay. Good old days where you listen to the radio playing through the room. I the tiger. I also really want to thank my my the members of the task force. They worked really hard. Our sessions were jam-packed um and

192full. We often ran a little over and they were appreciative to stay. We had some wonderful student participants too. And it's not always the most exciting thing for a teenager to come spend their evening with adults. And they really they they were honest. They told us some eyeopening things. It was um about the things that they saw, the things that they did. Um um absolution was given and we appreciated their their participation. It was also impressive to see though that even the students that were involved were all on board with the change and seeing even though they do it and they see it as a distraction, they saw the need for it to be eliminated also, which I as a parent, I was surprised to see that. You noted in a lot of the the

193findings from the surveys, the discussions, the expert information, everything seemed very that cell phones are not good for students, for educate, for learning as well as the environment. So, what was the piece? Cuz it's overwhelming to me that they shouldn't be in the in the schools um because we need our students to be successful learning as well as being able to engage with other people and just be prepared for a future as we talked about earlier in the meeting. Um what's why did we not go to a full van just because we didn't felt to be punitive to take their phone away or is it I think that there was a lot of information particularly out of the parent survey that was asking for opportunity to have opportun you know for the for they to

194have a a a connection point with their child through their personal device during the school day. um you know, concerns about wanting to touch base, um arrange schedules, um safety concerns related to that. And so the the the group really wrangled with that for a while, um and kind of we went from one end to the other and back again a couple of times. um and kind of tried to settle on maybe some middle ground to honor that as if unless the legislature says legislature says otherwise to honor that um that perspective from the parent voice out of the survey certainly and and members of the committee. There were certainly members of the task force who also shared that opinion. Was there discussion or is this to come down if um if the legislation doesn't

195pass to help our administrators? there's going to be a policy in place so that they don't have to constantly be on top of teachers, teachers on top of students so that they can still focus in on on the the um the learning environment. Is that going to be in policy? Like so they can direct students and and families to this is like this is what it says so you need to adhere to that or if not this is going to happen so that they're not constantly saying give me your phone, put that away and then the whole day of learning is disrupted still. Yeah, we're going to obviously update handbook language um and be a little more explicit in what the range of consequences are. We looked at a number of school districts across the

196region and state to get some samples of ideas and we kind of settled on, you know, uh one school district's kind of model is one that we like to maybe emulate. U also creating visuals in to be posted in the classroom and throughout the building that kind of articulate that as well as a reference point and then obviously communication out to to families beyond just our natural handbook communication to say this is a a shift in change in practice and procedure for us. Please be aware um this is how we will operate moving forward. And then also follow-up support to administrators and teachers to make sure that their variance comes more into line with the expect the guard rails that have been established from this point forward. I think too part of the issue was

197that from the teachers involved was that there really wasn't a clear-cut rule and so they were left to decide on their own and so some teachers maybe didn't know like how far can I go how strict can I be and when it's across the board that it's just a rule then it's easier to follow and then I think the second that it's why we recommended physical separation cuz it's you don't have that put your phone away put your phone put your phone away if everybody has to put it in whether it's the lock box or the things on the back to desk, all the phones are put away, so they don't have that option to keep pulling them back out. So, I think that will eliminate some of the policing because that was a big

198teacher concern was just not wanting to the headache of having to police that behavior all the time. And when it's coming from the top down, that's an easier thing to follow. Were there any um for the putting a phone in a cubby or a shoe organizer, back of door shoe or organizer, is there any concerns with I don't know what could possibly happen, but like STO phone getting stolen or dropped or by somebody else. I I don't know. I'm trying to think if there's any your research showed any what the best practice there is. The the research really there's not much that speaks to that as a problem. Doesn't mean that it probably doesn't exist in places, but certainly one of the things that the task force did recommend is that we explore some type

199of secure place to place these devices in. That could be a wide range of things depending on the particular building, the particular classroom and whether or not you know you think about a place like lead where many of the door you know it's kind of a more open concept. So you might need something a little more um um secure because you may not have a closet or an existing structure in the place where you could lock these up. But certainly teacher perspective on that was that they would prefer something that was um secure in the event of something like just what you spoke of that a phone may go missing um and stuff and that would help eliminate maybe some of the risk associated with such things. Okay. Well, thank you very much for for

200the presentation. I think that that's that's um I know we've heard a needle to be threaded a few times and I think that you you've done an admiral admirable job of threading that needle. Um for better, for worse, cell phones are in the world and they exist and we have to learn how to deal with them. Our students have to learn how to deal with them appropriately. And I think that that what you suggested is makes sense to me. we'll be able to get the questions from the surveys. I would just like to see if there's anything with bullying, threats, or stuff like that that was asked to students and other things. Yeah, their their survey results seem to be that's cool. Yeah, it's interesting. Um, I want to thank the board for uh taking

201on an extraformational item tonight. And we did this uh if you remember last year when we were wrestling with this relative to the middle school uh practices, we didn't actually get a decision from that group on recommendations until late in the summer. And it was difficult to communicate with families and teachers and so on. So our purpose of this was to uh get this uh in front of the board tonight so that we may uh have this in front of the public. This will go out in our board highlights. And that is one more way we've already communicated with our staff to uh help with before the end of the school year people knowing what the expectations are going to be so that they can start uh getting their minds around that. So that was

202uh the purpose of this. So thank you for your extra uh attention and time tonight. Yep. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. All right. Um item eight for tonight is information written. We have um information items. Tonight's 8.1 through 8.3 are relative to bids, contracts, and agreements. 8.7 is related to curriculum. 8.8 is professional development committee plan. Uh Dr. Kimbo, are there any that you need to highlight? Uh none to highlight. I'd be happy to answer any questions. All right. Any questions, board? All right. We'll be asked to take action on these on at the next board meeting, which is June 12th. All right. Now we'll move on to reports and requests. Uh Mrs. Barber, do you have any reports or requests tonight? None. Thank you. Uh Miss Bowen. None. Thank you. Mr. Monzos, I

203do. I want to know why there was a bomb threat and I don't know about it. Mhm. That disturbs me. Okay. Uh Mrs. Woodley. Um maybe you know, Dr. Kimber, when we have our 101's um later on, I don't know if this year or summer or whatever. Um would just like to get a gist of like what topics or concerns that come up in the district that are considered to be a committee. I don't say committee worthy but have to go through a committee to make changes versus things that you know district office the administrators being experts making that decision and that call you know all for student success just to know the difference. Okay. Mr. Todd none tonight. Thank you. U Miss March. Um yeah, just um a couple of follow-ups um on some

204of the presentations that we saw today. I just would like to know [Music] um on the 504 coordinators just how we are helping those people to make sure that they are helping our students. it seemed from that presentation that there's not a lot of training or you know or there the training is a book that and kudos to her for making that book like but I think that we um although you know 504 504 is still part of special education and we need to make sure that we are um doing everything we can for our students especially at the high school level. So, I just think we need to look into that, get some more things and information and research on that. Any follow up you can give on that would be appreciated. Okay. Thank

205you. All right. We'll now adjourn to closed uh session. So, I'll need a motion and a second to adjurnn to close session uh pursuant to chapter 610 section 021 of the revised Missouri statutes uh for the purpose of discussing matters relevant to subsections one uh legal three and 13 personnel and nine negotiations. So move second. I have a motion from Miss Barnes and a second by Mrs. Woodley to adjourn to close session to discuss legal personnel and negotiation matters. Miss Freeman, can you call the role? Barber, yes. Barnes, yes. Bolan, yes. Yes. Yes. Todd, yes. Woodley, yes.