001Next we have a report of board members. >> Yes. the board and uh Ray Town School District uh attendees. Um I did attend a couple of events this past month. One of them was um the CAC's course meeting and I attended the West Ridge >> microphone. Oh, >> the West Ridge uh musical where the K through third graders uh presented a performance that was totally exceptional. There was a lot of excitement in the room and the children were extremely excited to be there and their performance was phenomenal. Uh I also attended an event in community where one of our own from Ray High uh received a scholarship from the urban financial group. I was really caught off guard by by seeing him and it was totally amazing that he was one of the recipients and
002the way they acknowledged his um achievements in Raytown schools was totally phenomenal. I believe he's in drama. His name is Jeremiah Washington. He's in drama. He the list, the litany of things that that young man uh is involved in was totally impressive. And it was really nice to meet his parents and uh it was a great um accolade to the Raytown School District and just wanted you guys to know that. And that's what I have. >> Good evening everybody. Um this uh past month uh and I uh attended the uh Raytown quality school day here at this building and we got a chance to fellowship and eat and have fun with the administrative uh team of of Raytown. Uh it it was it was quite the day and we had fun with the cheating members
003and playing Family Feud. [clears throat] And so we we just we love our superintendent and I'm I'm >> into that story. All right. I also got chance to attend the West Ridge Elementary uh uh PE and music performance on the 18th. it as as uh my sister said here, it was phenomenal. The the the leadership team on the group that was leading it and the kids were right on point, excited and glad to be doing what they were doing. Uh I attended the ref board of trustees meeting on the 19th and um just was updated on a lot of good things we'll hear about later. I also participated in giving to shoes across America with the Raytown Rotary uh group. Uh and the group gives shoes to needy kids all over the world. And I
004was proud for me and my family to be a part of purchasing and giving shoes uh to that event. Also, uh I've adopted me and my family have adopted a Raytown Elementary student uh for Christmas in cooperation with the Raytown South Student Council. Glad to be a part of that and I'm I'mma have the gifts by Friday. [laughter] We gonna go shopping tomorrow. That's my report. >> Thank you, >> James. >> Good evening everyone. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and since our next board meeting is not till January, I hope everyone has, you know, happy holidays. Um I had a great month. Um also went to the Westridge performance. Um again, it's phenomenal. Um, it was I went to the evening session and I had to park way down the street. Um, and I
005won't tell Dr. Kaka how many people were in the gym. Um, but there might be a little issue there. But it was an amazing attendance, great performance. I I really enjoyed it so much. Um then on that Friday um they had an entire Thanksgiving feast of all the elementary school kids got into the gym and got to either have turkey or chicken nuggets. Um I passed out a lot of juice, a lot of milk and uh I shadow boxed with a couple kids and so that was that was super fun. I I really enjoyed that. Um I also got to go to our Raytown Academyy's um designation ceremony. Um that was a great time. Um, again, I love seeing, you know, our cheerleaders, our band kids, everybody, um, giving a performance. Um, speaking of performances,
006I also went to the performance at Rayton High School. Um, they were doing, um, a play. Um, and I just want to shout out to, uh, Miss Coulter, Miss Katie Colter, um, for all the work that they do. Um, Hayestown was amazing. It was again I I've been going to Raytown High School performances since you know 20 years now and that was the most intimate amazing performance that I didn't know that a high school could put on. Um so again I highly recommend everybody go to one of the high schools go one to one of to the middle schools go to your local performance and watch the talent that our kids have. um because it is it's phenomenal. Um last thing that I did um I went to um a transition night that we had
007at um Raytown High School. Um some of our kids with um with um disabilities um got to talk about their life after high school. Um which was amazing to to know. Um, again, some of those kids I I was in the building um when they were there and to see them have an own apartment. Um, to be able to, you know, go grocery shopping. Um, it was amazing to see um, one kid talk about how he took his first vacation ever. Um, and also to see how some of the parents are like the weight that they've had to, you know, always trying to protect their kids and things like that and to feel that that has been lifted. um and to be able to, you know, trust their their child to be be a full
008fully capable adult. It was just amazing and and inspiring to me. Um so, shout out to um Vivian at Raytown High School. Uh Vivian McKenna. Um she is amazing and if there's ever anybody that needs anything um for in a special needs um for postsecary um please reach out to her. And that is my report. >> Mr. New? >> Yes. I yield all of my events until next month. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um, since the last meeting, I did get it to to go out to the uh construction site where we had the gas leak at Ray South um high school. And uh you know, we talked about it uh a lot uh especially the inconvenience that it caused at the beginning of the year. Um but um tell you what when I
009went out on that site and walked it I was happy to be leaving um because um it's a very hazardous tenuous situation and those guys showed a lot of skill in doing it. Uh I know uh um that Josh has already got his accolades for it, but uh we've really done a really good job at that and uh you know and keeping people safe uh in the community at the school, the uh the people that's actually working on the site. Um and uh from what Josh tells me, uh tomorrow they'll be uh laying asphalt. And so uh we're very uh thankful that uh we had all those people, all our all the stakeholders involved that can really uh you know rectify that situation. So that's the end of the uh board member reports. Next we'll
010have uh the report of superintendent. >> Thank you, Chairman Burton, Vice Chairman Newton, members of the Raytown Quality School District board, members of the Raytown Quality School District community. Thank you for being here with us this evening. And it seems just like yesterday I was saying happy Thanksgiving. And as we prepare to exit for the winter holiday, I just want to remind us that this is the season where we demonstrate how grateful we are for one another. And so my announcements this evening are truly just that, the gratefulness that I have as the leader uh of this amazing school district uh and the work that's taking place. Prior to us coming together this evening, uh we've had several events many of the board members have spoken about. Uh the first one was our ninth grade
011commitment ceremonies that happened at our high schools where all of our ninth graders signed a banner making a commitment to make sure that they are going to graduate. And I'll say it again that they are going to graduate. And so it is just nice to see that they are focused and engaged and making sure that they are not only signing a document but holding uh true to what they have promised. and I know that they will do it with 100% completion. We also had an opportunity to have our designated designation ceremony with Ford Next Generation Learning. Um, and it really does me good when I read the comments of someone from the outside coming in to see the fruits of the labor that has taken place. And when you hear the remarks from individuals who
012have not walked our schools to talk about how engaged the children are, how engaged the lessons were, how amazing our schools are. I just smile uh from the outside to the inside and back again just because I'm proud of our students. I'm proud of the work of our teachers and staff and I'm proud of the leaders and the work that they are putting into these efforts. I want to take a moment just to thank uh all of the team here in Raytown, but even more so Dr. Grryer uh for taking the bull by the horns and pulling this work uh just to make sure we're looking at the way in which we educate our children in a different way. So I say to you, Dr. Grryer, thank you uh for your willingness and your uh
013ability to get this work moving. So, just thank you. The other thing that I want to say is uh many of you have said it already, but um prior to the holiday, just all of the events and activities, whether it was the collaboration between Fizzad and music at Westridge or whether it was going to Raytown High to see Hades Town, I will concur with you, Mr. Jamerson, as an as a musician. Uh the intricacies and the difficulties and the level of the performance from our students was remarkable. So, I just want to say thank you to uh Katie Coster and Alex Coster, the pit band, all who put their efforts in, the sounds, the sound crew, the lighting crew, everyone um who put in the work to make sure that it was a mark of
014excellence. It was truly probably one of the best that I've seen. And I always say it can't get any better. It did. And so, uh it there's only there's really nowhere else to go because it is beyond my expectations. The other thing that transpired this weekend, when we talk about community here in Raytown, we talk about our schools are only as great as the community in which we serve and vice versa. It was just nice to be a part of the mayor's Christmas tree lighting this past weekend uh as we came together as a community to make sure we are bringing in the season with joy uh and festivities. So, thank you to Mayor Mcdana for making sure um that that event took place and that uh the fire department brought Santa in to bring
015joy to the faces of many of our children who were there to celebrate. To our chamber, Raytown Ma main street uh and to the Raytown Community Band, which is comprised of many of our teachers. Uh just thank you for giving your time and your dedication. And I want to close with this. This is not grateful, but it is grateful, but it is one that is of learning. I'm grateful for the staff in the wind which we responded last Monday uh to the weather related incident. I will be the first one to tell you that the most difficult decision a superintendent has to make is what to do on a prediction of weather. Our staff with Mr. Hustead and others are up at 3 and 4:00 in the morning testing the roads, testing the temperatures, making
016sure the buses are ready. And there's nothing worse than when the predictions of the predicted are not predicted correctly. And so when we make decisions, the first thing that comes to mind is how we are going to get our children to and from school safely. If that is the direction we're going to take, we take into consideration the information we get from the National Weather Services. We get information from our uh facilities, whether they're prepared, the roadways. And last Monday, four o'clock in the morning, we were on the phone talking, myself and other superintendents as well as facilities, and nothing was happening until about 6:20. And at 6:20, we had one or two options. Leave children on the bus stop to understand that nobody's coming to pick them up because the buses were already out
017the gate. The planning began immediately of how we're going to get our children home safely and our staff home safely as well. So, it is never an easy decision, but it is one that has to be made. And I am grateful for our transportation, our food services, our facilities for making sure that we got our children home safely and our staff was able to get home safely as well. So, again, kudos to everyone who comes together behind the scenes because no one sees what goes on behind the scenes. The only thing we see is the decision that was made. And so, I'm grateful for our students as well for understanding um the number of emails I received from students that said, "Dr. Mart Knox, I know you can't control the weather, but can you plow
018the streets? Well, I don't think I can, but we'll see what we can do. So, collaborating with the city of Raytown and the city of Kansas City as well, uh, just to make sure all the roadways are conducive to travel. Um, so, as we begin to wind down the superintendent's announcements, I just want to say to everyone, happy holidays. Happy holidays. Happy holidays to you. Um, and so 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, and 8.5 are all information items for our board. And the most important part of the superintendence report is 8.6. Good evening. My name is Genevalo. I'm the student council president at Raytown South. >> I am Riley Rap and I'm the vice president of Raytown South. >> And I'm Casey Hayes. I'm a representative of Raytown South. >> Okay. So first uh let's talk I'm
019going to talk about the assembly that we had last Friday and uh what we did for the assembly. So first we had um hungry hungry hippo which we played during the assembly and lots of kids really enjoyed brought a lot of spirit as we all wore our class shirts that we got from the school district as well as well as during the assembly uh we won against the basketball game. We did the assembly for the basketball game which we did win against Barstow that Friday which is really fun. But the main point was during the basketball game, we did a canned food drive, which is two cans for a ticket into the game. And we got a lot of canned goods from the um from the game, which we're going to be donating here soon.
020And then two other things that are coming up this week and next week. So, we have our debate tournament this Friday, uh the 12th, as well as the 13th on Saturday. I want to say thank you to Mr. Nody Newton who signed up to judge for us and all other members of the community who did sign up to judge. We're expecting 31 schools to come attend. So there's going to be hundreds of students that are going to be at our school for the varsity tournament which we haven't hosted in over seven years. So this will be a great opportunity to hopefully kind of grow our program and um just demonstrate our dedication to public speaking and extracurriculars. And then on the week of the 19th and the 20th, the wrestling team is hosting their annual
021holiday tournament and um they are also looking for volunteers. And I think Casey can speak more to that. Hello. Hello. We're looking for more uh members, sorry, volunteers that will help uh track the scores of the wrestling tournaments. It's usually around six mats, but we have like more gyms, so it's going to be way more than that. So, we need way more people than that. We need Yeah, just uh if you're interested, please contact Cole Reeves or Angela Lee for that. Uh then for the Christmas party, we have a Christmas party on December 18th, next Thursday. Thank you to all the board members who have sponsored a kid. That's greatly appreciated. And thank you for all the board members that signed up to I already said that. If you're still interested, please reach out to
022Moren Thomas uh for our music and arts and stuff. Our our Christmas band concert is on the 15th of December at 7:00 p.m. And then our Christmas our Christmas orchestra concert is tomorrow. So at the same time, but also our choirs had our had their Christmas tourn Christmas turn the well saying well sorry my bad Christmas concert on that Thursday and they also participated in the music I think Kansas City music at I'm guessing Ray Peek for Yeah. holiday Christmas holiday music. Yeah. Thank you guys. >> Hello, I am Brendan, the student council secretary. and I'm Donovan, the student council uh marketing chair at Raytown High School. >> Uh all we have for you today is a few upcoming events that we have for these last couple of weeks before Christmas break. Um next week
023we have our annual cookies and cramming event. We have help in our library. We have hosted that for the past couple of years. It is an opportunity for our students to study on their week of finals and also get to enjoy some cookies. And then we also have um coming up next Tuesday we have our this is something I believe this is our first year doing but we're having a scavenger hunt. We're gonna hide, I think it was 20 or like 30 tickets around the school and um students who find them, they'll be able to go to our our sponsor and, you know, get a get a reward for it, I guess, and you know, just uh spread that just spread that holiday cheer. Uh the last upcoming event we have is next week. We
024haven't decided the day yet, but we will be putting candy canes as well as a nice note on every car that is parked in our school's parking lot in order to spread that holiday joy to hopefully any staff member or student who drives to school. That'll be all. Goodbye. And this brings to a closure the report of the superintendent before but before Mr. Burton, you go to the next item. I just want to personally thank the board um for your presence in schools. Not just your presence, but your uh your engagement um in our schools. Whether you are serving food, passing out juices, uh participating in lessons, I just want to thank you for being present. I know it means a lot to me and I know it means even more to our children just
025to see you engaged and involved. And I just want to say thank you. And that concludes the report of the superintendent. Next we have the ray of hope. >> Good evening, President Burton, Vice President Newton, Board of Education, and Dr. Martin Knox. This evening for Ray of Hope, we are recognizing our RQS day winners for the Why I Love My School contest. This is our second annual contest. Um, and we want to give a big shout out and thank you to Ref for rewarding each of our recipients a $100 gift card. >> So, thank you to Ref. So for our winners, in recognition of your creativity, school pride, and inspiring contribution to the why I love my school contest for RQS day, your heartfelt entries reflects the spirit of RQS and celebrates the people, places,
026and experiences that make your school a special community. Through your words and perspective, you have helped amplify the positive stories that define our district. Thank you for sharing your voice and helping highlight what makes RQS a place where students feel supported, connected, and proud to belong. And here's a video with more about our contest winners. >> I've always liked art. I've always liked creating things, especially like now that I'm in like drawing and painting, too. I've been working on art way more often than I have been. Guess it just [music] like makes me feel good to like have like a finished product that I enjoy. [music] I'm really surprised. Like I'm excited that I won. >> It was definitely shocking. I wasn't expecting to win again. >> I was really excited. >> Yeah. >> And
027a little bit scared. >> Excited and happy. I was really, really happy. >> I was a little shocked at first and then I got surprised and like excitement in that order. >> Really happy. And I like that you know everybody who inspired it were here to celebrate me. My teacher said that it was for like a $100 bail and that's when I got really excited. So, I just started going at it and I started like thinking about all the good times and like what they [music] do for the school. >> I just kind of wanted to make an art piece that like celebrates our school and I already did a video last year so I didn't want to do a video again. >> Sure. >> And I just thought art was easier than writing like
028an essay about why I love the school. I felt like just writing something would be way easier than trying to make a video and [music] make it look good or draw something. >> I did videos in my history class last year. I really enjoyed like editing them and making them. That's why I did a video. I think I could probably go into like making videos. I really [music] like doing artistic stuff, so something along that field would be something I'd be interested in. >> I'm not like entirely sure yet, but probably like journalism. >> My favorite subject is probably geography. I think I'm going to be Oh, yeah. an archaeologist. I want to discover like meteors and stuff like that and dinosaur bones. >> My school is a great place and it's my first [music]
029year at the school. Being a fourth grader is kind of hard and really fun because being a fourth grader, you get to do a bunch of fun things like a bunch of experiments [music] and science and get to learn more hard things in math. We have a really great principal and she organizes really fun things for us. >> The rallies, the dodgeball tournaments. >> It [music] definitely makes me proud of my school that we just like keep on like continuing like this tradition of [music] like this contest to celebrate like the people who like truly care about like our school. >> I think it was a really good opportunity to express my feelings on how I [music] feel about the school and to let people know that hey, we're out here too. My school is
030just a really great place and I love it so much. It's been the best 5 years of my life. >> Most important message was when I said [music] the teachers because that really means a lot to me this year. They were really nice to me and that's probably the most important thing. [music] >> We just have like really good teachers. >> The teachers even if they're not having that good of a day, they still have a smile on their face. And [music] if a teacher sees the kids that doesn't have a smile on their face, they [music] make that kid have a smile on their face. >> I want to shout out Miss Bruner and Miss Gary. They're really nice to me. I had Miss Megan in preschool and I really liked her when I
031was in preschool and she inspired me to come here and do my A+ hours here. >> My mom at home, she definitely is like my number [clears throat] one supporter in like everything I do at school is probably Miss Hazel. She like is what got me like into this contest originally. >> Miss Holloway, she was my teacher throughout middle school and she helped me with a lot of things. She's [music] a really good teacher. >> I think people like often give Raytown schools a bad rep and I think they're [music] just like focusing on like all the bad, but I feel like there's so much good to be found in this school. Some people don't like to go to school, but to inspire people to like going to school [music] to make it even funner.
032We have most of our winners here today, so when I call your name, please come up. Dominic Edwards, Casey O'Neal, Kinsley Atwell, Harper McKinley, Heidi Hetszel, and Kelsey Bey. Love it. Love it. Good job. >> [laughter] >> Next. [laughter] >> Next on the agenda is our uh public comment period. And we have no one signed up. We have no one signed up to make public comment. So, we'll move to the next item. Well, it's a good thing they all left because didn't want to disappoint that one girl to say that five years of elementary is the best five years. >> All downhill after that, >> man. >> Dude, just have a u just a little bit of finance committee because you mentioned the South project. I'm glad that it is wrapping up, but the project
033was not cheap. It's about $3 million worth of not cheap. But our hopes are that we are going to get a favorable report from insurance that's going to hopefully pay a big portion of that cost. They need to pay a big portion of the cost >> the cost >> because we're not going to accept no for an answer. So yeah, $3 million. So, uh, we've we have the money on hand to pay that for now, but we need to recover that money so it can be spent on more better things like classrooms and school stuff. So, I appreciate Josh and everybody on that project. Uh, uh, so no other report. We're going to have audit report in a few minutes. Uh, and that's all we're going to ask. Um, policy committee [clears throat] I'm sorry.
034Uh let's do the motion first November 10, 2025 policy committee minutes and November 18, 2025 citizen advisory committee meeting. >> Second. >> Motion made and seconded. There's no report from uh policy committee. None from capital improvements community engagement. Um, I guess this would be a place to talk about this. >> Yes, ma'am. >> All righty. [clears throat] The community engagement committee met back in October and we talked about sponsoring or supporting a school board walking and that's where we as a board would support the school districts, teachers and students by raising money for on a annual walk. The walk would be a 5K, a 5K walk that would uh encompass businesses to be sponsors as well in the in the walk. The city of course was the um law enforcement board. Oh, I'm sorry. I
035keep forgetting about this, Mike, guys. Sorry about that. The whole the whole idea of the boardwalk of excellence is to give support to students and teachers to incentivize uh them for work. Well done. So that would be either academic uh attendance um anything that the teacher or the administrators deem rewardable that we as a board will raise funds to support that and the um schoolboard walk of excellence would be a 5k walk or run for all you athletic people on the board and and about me. [laughter] that it would that we would do a 5K walk, do map it out and just do it annually every year so that every year the board is active in supporting students and teachers to incentivize them and we would involve REF because I understand that REF has done
036it in the past and it would be a collaboration between the two of us so that we'd work together to ensure that this annual thing occurs. ers and every year our students and our teachers know that our board is out there walking for excellence for them. >> Man, that's an excellent idea. >> Oh, thank you. [laughter] >> Yeah, that's man, >> Mr. President. Yeah, I think uh Miss Ed even talked about because I know Dr. Douglas, we talked about virtual as well. >> Yes, participate virtually. >> So, that was one of the things that she had also mentioned was virtually. They could do it virtually as well. They didn't wouldn't have to physically walk. They could in their minds, >> right? >> Walk to walk. That's why I walk right to >> I do that
037all the time. >> Right. >> They are walking that 53 but they're still supporting. >> And I got this idea because I was at one of the walkthroughs at one of the high schools and I did a one-on-one talk with the teachers. I said, "Well, what do you guys want? I mean, what would be helpful for you?" And the feedback from them kind of sparked the idea of >> we could support them in that in that regard. We could support them by being visible in community and it would tie us to the businesses around as well. It would give us that visibility with businesses to help the get the businesses to tie into what month do they do they usually have that >> you know I honestly don't know. I think it's >> used to
038be October when Brett did it. in the fall. >> Oh, fall is a great time for a walk. >> So, >> and it gives us time to plan it as well as a as a board. It gives us plenty of time to get >> buy in from community and all that. >> So, I also spoke with Mr. Ding >> who was at the table with Michael Ding >> too. Yeah. >> So, I was telling >> so we can train. >> So, you absolutely sir >> cuz for 5K you're going to get five steps. 5K. >> So I definitely >> Mr. Mr. President um so like the structure of the 5K would be um people who pay you know to be able to participate in uh we also get sponsorships from local businesses to um you
039know to be able to showcase for advertisement like that. >> Um and And also, you know, there's food trucks. Do you think that we could like go shoot for example um create a food truck that's right down the street um to provide food people? Uh is that like a plan of like how we are teachers? >> Yes, absolutely. I put together actually a little packaging you guys kind of look through. It's not set in stone, but it's kind of awized template of things that can occur. Um and I think we have room we have enough wiggle room that we could it's since it's in the planning phases the limit to open road map and it's up to our creativity in terms of how we execute and just said >> absolutely not just that we'll incorporate
040everybody's engagement from students, teachers, business people. >> Mr. President, um question of just you know how we could also get more engagement smart piece right here. Um but we allow students to help um market this. allow students to um be able to, you know, maybe partner with RA on sub student councils and have them also be able to, you know, promote and market this for, you know, their parents also those students as well. >> Absolutely. The whole idea is to get everybody engaged, meaning community engagement, not just the teachers and students, the board, the business communities, all of us. So that all of us collectively say Raytown is the place to be and we want to be a part of and we want to support our school system because when you get the community involved,
041when you get the community engaged in the school system, the school system inev inev inevitably will improve because they have a vested interest. Especially since we've started the ninth the ninth grade academy where we're focusing on career pathways. What better way to get the the businesses around us to tap in to that academy even? So, there's a lot of ways that getting the community involved starting out with the simple walk that can end up with the major run home run that is. >> Oh, Mr. President. So with the with I know we have ref coming up next, but with this our educational foundation of any district usually is the one who will put something on like this. So is this a conversation that we are prepared to have with their new leadership? >> Absolutely. >>
042Okay. Because I Yeah, we don't see a lot of this >> I mean I would like to see more of this, you know, coming from our our education foundation more integrated into the district versus being a separate entity. So, I would like to definitely see more of that coming up in this new year. >> Absolutely. I've already kind of reached out to Miss Holly >> to let her know that I would like to be meeting with her after meeting with us uh to further discuss or show her the plan and get them engaged as well so that there's a a lighter lift on our side because there's already a a plan in place that they've done it in the past. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel. We're just trying to add another spoke. >>
043Yeah, I think um as um we can get I think probably as a consensus we can agree that this is something we want to uh get involved doing. Um and there's u we need to maybe set a time frame or maybe next meeting or meeting after that to have where we can actually make a motion to actually do it once uh some of the things. One of my initial >> questions would be um the funds and where are they going >> and what do they what do they go to and so is it to ref and then ref does what they do or stuff like that. I we may not have that answer right now, but I think that would be uh like our next steps to as you guys develop it more in detail
044with ref and how we do it and that'll be then present some motion for an agenda that we as a board we can vote on >> and you guys on the committee it would already have [clears throat] already approved it. That way we know that you know you've already done the >> the details. Yes. And we did bring that up too in the meeting talking about how the funds would be disseminated and REF was the avenue to use and we would reach out to our finance department, Miss Jackie, and figure out if it should go somewhere or if REF should just direct all those funds. That should probably be our dissemination avenue would be ref. >> Thank you. >> We'll figure it out. We'll get it figured out. We'll talk to whoever we need to
045talk to and we'll get it figured out. >> Thank you. That's great. >> You're welcome. >> All right. >> Um, curriculum, professional development. >> I think we can in January. >> January. >> Um, citiz citizens advisory. >> Citizens advisory. Oh, you're going to do good. >> Josh is doing such a tremendous job. I want to jump on the Josh train. I'm sorry. Mr. Hugh said train. We didn't really have anything going on because Josh was doing such a tremendous job and I want to tell you guys about our next meeting after being famous. >> Josh about to hit the big head. No, Josh and his job. That's why I made his camp post. >> No, I mean literally >> I mean you should have I wanted I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt but I
046did >> I apologize. >> I was I don't know why but I was going to come back to that. >> Okay. Yeah. But yeah, I wanted to make sure I gave Josh's accolades because we didn't have nothing to do with Josh. I actually got talk to Josh on the Sunday. So I wanted to say hey when I get to talk to Josh before football then it's a plus because we don't have nothing to do because he been doing great you know walking you over months. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, thank you, Josh. >> All right. Well, with that, >> yeah, >> advisory committee. >> So, I I my brain went to cancellation last week, so there was no report. So, I apologize for your safety. >> Um, citizens advisory, we had a meeting a couple of
047weeks ago. We provided an update regarding our strategic plan, but we also put uh concepts and ideas out there for our community to bring back to the table of information that they want to see uh being presented, but also information as it relates to research and how we can be as effective as we possibly can be uh with um citizens advisory. Um so we will have our next meeting. Um I don't think we've scheduled it yet, but we will. Um but that's the report of citizens advisory. And while I'm on citizens advisory, I didn't address this earlier, but please know that I was finding creative ways to win the game. It's not called cheating. >> No. >> Oh, >> Mr. President. >> Yes. >> That's why I didn't give a board report. That's why I
048table my reports till January because we did have a nice solid game going, but somebody got eliminated. We have to review the tape. [laughter] >> Thank you. >> All right, let's vote. Next we have the Raytown Education Foundation report. >> The Raytown Educational Foundation November 2025 highlights program and partnership updates. Share the Love Community breakfast planning is underway and preparations have begun for 2026. Share the love community breakfast uh for 2022 26. Share the love community breakfast. This month ref met with district leaders, performing groups, community partners, and vendors to begin shaping the program theme and event logistics. Registration is open in January. Dual credit collaboration. Ralph held meetings with counseling departments to review process for dual credit programs. Counselors shared insight about participation and REF is beginning early planning in 2026 27 roll out
049to ensure students are aware of opportunities. Data on current student participant is being gathered for communication and support processes. Graduating graduating senior scholarship program 2526 season launch. The rep is updating the scholarship application materials, including clearer instructions, improved checklist, and a new verification step to reduce incomplete submissions. Scholarship package will be delivered to counseling centers in January. Community and donor engagement professional development scholarship presentation. Rep. surprised Ashley Bacon, the 2025 recipient of the Amy Tiddle Professional Development Scholarship during a school visit. The award presentation was coordinated in in partnership with building leadership and the donor was notified of the recipient's heartfelt response. RQS day student contest. Holly Ben during dark served as a judge for the district's RQS day contest and presented awards and gift cards to the elementary and secondary winners across all three
050submit submission categories which were essay video [clears throat] and multimedia strengthening strengthening district partnerships. Initial meetings were held with several district leaders to ensure open lines of communication as REF transitions to new leadership. These meetings are helping shape the foundation's priorities for 2026. Foundation's operational transition, executive director onboarding and transition work continued throughout November as ref experienced an executive director leadership change. Meetings with staff, trustees, and school leaders have supported long range planning for 2026 and strengthened alliances with different district priorities. And lastly, we had our annual audit completed. The foundation's annual independent audit was completed in November with no significant findings. And that concludes my report. >> All right. Thank you. That concludes the uh board committee reports and is there a motion or policy board Mr. Jip motion made and seconded. >> [clears
051throat] >> Motion passes. Financial year end. Second. >> Motion made and seconded. >> Jackie. >> Good evening, President Burton, Vice President Newton, board members, Dr. Martin Knox. I'm Jackie Vernon. I'm the executive director of business operations. Um, we have had our audit for the year for the 2425 school year. And at this time, I would like to introduce Sandra Barrera with KPM CPAs and Advisors to go over our audit report. And I would also just like to mention and Sandra you will probably be mentioning this also but due to the federal shutdown and OM um was not released with the federal compliance supplement was not released. So our federal supplement will not be completed until January. We will bring that to the board for approval in January but we are required by state statute to
052have the rest of our audit um posted and approved by the board in December. So hi Sandra. Hi. How is everyone? >> Blue. >> Wonderful. I'm guessing you can hear me. >> Yes. >> Perfect. Perfect. All right. Well, let me um let me share my screen. I hear that uh the hard copy reports did not get to you. So, they were sent on Thursday uh overnighted. They were supposed to be there Friday. We got a notification from UPS that due to weather somewhere um that they were delayed and that they'd be delivered Monday. And apparently you guys still haven't got them. So I apologize for that and I'll um tomorrow try to figure out where they are. So um let's see. I am going to share this screen. Jackie, can you see my screen? >>
053I do not see your screen. >> Okay. >> They do have an electronic version. The the version you sent me. >> Okay. >> But that is all they >> Okay. H. All right. Because it is letting me share it and I picked my screen. So, but that's okay. I'll um I'll I'll march march ahead here. So, um my name is Sandra Barrera. As Jackie mentioned, I am an audit manager with KPM. Um and I'm going to present the audit for the district's year end June 30, 2025. Sorry, I'm having an issue with the Zoom screen getting out of my way here. [clears throat] So, I'm going to start on page three. I have a PowerPoint here that I'm kind of following, but since you guys can't see it, um it's going to be a little
054little different though. Um, on page three of your electronic copy is our independent auditor's report. And this is where uh we we lay out our pension our opinion on the financial statements. Um, first off, like Jackie said, our audit is comprised of three different audits or examinations. Uh, the first one is on the financial statements. The second one is the schedule of selected statistics and that's DESIE state portion requirement. Then the third portion is a federal audit. Um typically the OM issues the compliance supplement prior to June. They did not get it out this year um prior to the government shutdown on October 1st. They finally released it on November 25th. Um, prior to this, DESIE released a memo stating that um, they would extend the deadline for that federal portion until January 31st. So
055what that entails for us, we need to go through the compliance supplement. We need to make sure that the federal programs that we tested at Raytown that we actually did do all the testing that there isn't anything new that the compliance requirements uh supplement is requiring us to test. Once we do that, we'll we'll compile everything. We will issue a separate report. It'll be called the single audit reporting package and that will include the schedule of uh expenditures of federal awards along with our opinion on that and our letter over those compliance requirements and we will have that to you in January so that the board can approve it prior to that January 31st deadline. So on page three, this is our opinion over the financial statements. Our second paragraph states that in our opinion
056the financial statements are presented fairly in all material respects. This is the best opinion that you can get. Um an unmodified opinion. Uh for those that are kind of new to this audit process, uh this independent auditor's report also has an area down on on that first page on page three that is the responsibilities of management over the financial statements. And then on that second page of the report, it also um details out our responsibilities as an auditor um of those financial statements. Then we'll jump into uh page four. Actually, this is on page 10 of your electronic copy. So this is the balance sheet. And this shows uh the cash and investments of the district which is at 66.2 million in total across all of the four funds. And then down at the bottom
057it shows uh the restrictions of those assets and fund balances. So as you can see out of that 66 million there's there's a piece that's restricted for debt service student activities. There's about almost three million uh remaining in bond proceeds that were not spent as of June 30th, 2025. >> And then um there's 45.9 million that is unassigned. So that is um operating funds of the district. Did somebody have a question? >> No. Okay. Um, so I just kind of wanted to point out that the district's fund balance this year is at 36.24%. Last year it was at 39.75%. And then in 2023 it was 24.92%. So you guys have a a healthy fund balance at 37%. It is coming down from that 40%. Um, there's a lot of different organizations out there that have
058varying fund balance percentage recommendations. We're a little bit conservative. We always recommend at least three months of operating fund reserve and you guys have a little over four months. You have about 4.3 months. So, so you have a healthy reserve. Um, and that's good. You guys have been very conservative in your spending over the last couple years. Uh what we have actually seen this year is a lot of school districts kind of got used to all the ARPA money coming in and they've spent it. Um they I I kind of think they started relying on it. Um and we have seen several several school districts um falling to 10% even 3% even 1% fund balance and um kind of on the verge of being stressed. So So it's good to see that you guys still
059have that fund balance over 25%. On the next page, on page 11 of your electronic copy, this is your schedule, your statement of receipts and dispersements. [clears throat] And I just kind of highlighted a couple of the big ones. Um, as you can see, the district had uh 147.7 million in overall receipts. Uh the biggest change in that was your federal your federal receipts decreased by about 5.2 million. Uh the prior year but the prior year actually had 8 million of esser funds from 2023 spending. So even though it looks like it's 5 million less when you discount that esser from the prior year that the federal actually increased by about 2.8 million. Uh the other thing is if you notice on the local receipts local receipts were about 86.5 million. Last year's local receipts
060were about 86.7 million. Uh >> so the variance is very very minimal. A very slight decrease. Um, what's interesting is last year your property taxes increased 23%. From the prior year and with the Jackson County property tax issue that that is ongoing, this lack of an increase um, is to be expected and we're going to keep an eye on that. I talked to Jackie about that probably a couple times a year and kind of see what's going on with that issue. Um >> on this page on page 11, this is a very condensed view of the receipts and dispersements. Um >> this this is what how that works. >> If you if you go to page 25, there is a a much more detailed schedule of receipts by by source. So you can kind of
061see how much uh investments earnings are, property taxes, etc. So we go down to the dispersements. The total dispersements were almost 169 million. Uh this was an increase of 7 million or only 4% which is considered pretty flat. So there was a total net loss of 21.2 million which sounds like a lot. However, you know, at the end of last year, you had over 25 million in unspent bond proceeds. So, of that 21.2 million net loss, the expenditures on those uh facilities acquisition and construction was 23.5 million. My slides are messed up here. Okay, I am not going to go through the notes to the financial statements. I highly recommend that you do look at them and do read them. Um, I did want to uh just point out a couple things here on my
062presentation that you can't see. Um, I I was just going to point out, you know, the general obligation bond payment schedule. So, it looks like, you know, next year it's about 12.7 million expected to be paid out for bonds. And then, uh, there's also some other long-term obligations such as fleet vehicles, buses, classroom spaces, um, software subscriptions. Um, and those those are about 353,000 due in the next year. Does anybody have any questions to this point? No. Okay. It's a very high highlevel overview here. Um on page 39 of your electronic copy, this is actually our independent accountants report over the uh state or selected statistics um examination piece of the audit. And this is a requirement of DESIE. And this is where we we report on the items that we tested such as the
063calendar, attendance, membership, free and reduced lunch counts, transportation, and then other state regulated financial requirements. And those statistics begin on page 40 if you're interested in looking at uh the numbers and the amounts that we've reported on. And those are the the two pieces that are in your reporting package this month are just those financial statements and the uh schedule of se selected statistics. And then um I don't know if you have the letters in your electronic copy. Um you will be receiving hard copies but we do have a couple management and board recommendations. Um we have three general recommendations. Uh the first one is a new standard that the GASBY or the governmental accounting standards board has issued. It's statement 103 which is a financial reporting model improvements. And this is going to have
064some minor but noticeable changes to next year's audit how it looks. uh we prepare your financial statements so there's not a lot of action on the part of the district but uh just to be aware that that some things will look a little bit different and the layout will be a little bit different. Our second general recommendation is uh a cyber security program. So this is just a general recommendation to remind the board and management that cyber security issues are always arising and that acknowledging this and ensuring that the district has continual monitoring of current situations and a strong uh sense of internal controls uh a sense that they are needed. It's the first line of defense. So every year there are local school districts who get defrauded. So, um, so we just put this
065in here as as a reminder. Uh, the third general recommendation is in reference to stipens and extra duty pay. So, uh, Desi specifies that districts must develop written policies. Uh, written documentation before any extra compensation is paid. The written documentation should include details about the work that's to be performed, the period of performance, and the amount or rate to be paid for the extra duty. Uh the agreement must be signed by both the employee and a district representative and it should receive formal approval by the board. Also be sure that if stipens or extra duty pay are funded with federal dollars, DESIE requires that employees complete time and effort documentation to demonstrate that the additional work performed is separate from the regular contracted duties. So, we recommend that the district continually review its policies and
066procedures to ensure that all stipens and extra duty payments are formally approved by the board prior to payment. Again, this is just a general recommendation. It is not because we found something at Raytown. Um, we've actually had a couple school districts who have, um, I wouldn't say been tricked, but, you know, employees, uh, you know, state that they should be getting a stipend or whatever for something that they do, uh, that is part of their job and these stipens are being improved at a managerial level. um and management isn't having the board approve these. So, um we have seen that a couple times this year. And then the the fourth uh recommendation is about the district's new student information system. So, the district transition to a new student information system this year. Um the district
067personnel spent many hours and months making manual hour making manual entries to the desi upload file in order for accurate reporting to desi. So, uh, the the initial file that we received was hundreds of thousands of of ADA of of hours short, right? I know Matt Matt and his team spent countless hours um, prior to us, they spent countless hours with the new um, software provider getting them to fix things and make things right. But um they have spent countless hours manually looking at individual student attendance and getting it more correct. Um, so at this time the district's historical records for 2025 are kind of a combination of manual records and the the new systems uh the SIS system records. Um, so we we recommend that the district monitor uh the calendar hours, the hours
068of session, and the attendance records on a regular basis throughout the year uh beginning on the first day of school. I know we're halfway through the year, but it's never too late to start this. um just to make sure the accurate information is within the SIS, you know, and the base layer to the attendance hours is the calendar. The calendar in the system must agree with the calendar that was reported to DESIE. Um and then after that, there needs to be a comparison of the total available hours, which is absent plus attended. Make sure that those total posible hours match the calendar in the desi system. If a problem persists that's outside of the information being entered by the district, the district really needs to notify the software vendor immediately and promptly. The software vendor
069is unable to assist with the software solution. We recommend that the district reassess uh the student information system and maybe consider alternative solutions. um that will meet the district's needs. And that is all I have. Does anybody have any questions? Uh, yeah, you go ahead. >> I was just going to say I don't think we have any questions at this time. >> That is what I was going to say. Go ahead. >> Okay. [laughter] Well, I would like to thank Jackie and her team. They are phenomenal to work with. Everybody at the district has been uh very courteous to us during our audit process and we very much appreciate that. So, thank you and thank you for allowing me to present this to to you tonight. I I love what I do and I love
070my job, but gosh, I I sure seem boring after the first, you know, everybody who's went before me. So, apologize for not being more exciting. >> This is pretty exciting. >> Okay. Well, good. [laughter] >> Thank you, Sandra. >> All right. Thank you, Jackie. I just uh want to say, you know, we um seem like well, we're always tasked to do more with less. And just seeing looking at like the fund balance and the percentage and thinking about all the things that like for instance the project we had to do uh all the way to um the salaries and all those things that we have uh spent or savings in ways that man I couldn't imagine that I just remember the days where we're like 20% 20 we got to make sure we got 20%
071and now like 39 That's that's uh that's that's pretty incredible. So, I'll give you the credit. [laughter] >> Yeah, let's do that. >> All right. Is there a motion? Did we make that motion already? Yeah, let's vote. >> You got it. You got it. All right. Motion passes. On to new business. Uh, [clears throat] is there a motion for Missouri United School Insurance Council renewal? >> Mr. President, I move that to accept the 2026 insurance premium [clears throat] schools insurance council in the amount of >> we already paid that we on that project. Motion made second. Let's vote. That's why they don't want to. >> We'll get it back. Rick, >> that's not even three million outside. [laughter] >> Yeah, but it's the insurance, right? 13% increase. Are we going to talk about that or
072[clears throat] >> I'm happy to come talk about that? >> I mean, is there anything that's just a normal increase? >> I think um >> Yeah, I guess we talk about that. >> The largest um portion of that is an increase to workers comp. Our mod went up quite a bit. So that section went up almost 200,000 for workers comp. The rest of it is there was a 4% overall renewal. So that was just the the normal music renewal. Um we have an increase in buildings because of um the the new gyms and the new pack. So that was an increase of 126 almost 127,000. So that's that's normal based on that. And and so those were the three things. the increase with buildings, the workers comp, and then about 48,000 49,000 in just the
073normal rate increase. >> You have a lot of more work workman's comp claims than usual this year. >> We we did we had quite a quite a bit more. Our mod rate for the renewal went from 1.54 mod in 2025 to this renewal ending at the 1.81. So, it went up quite a bit. >> Let's uh unless anybody wants to change their vote, we probably move on. >> Thank you. Motion passes. Aruba wireless management renewal. Is there a motion? >> I move that the board approve the network and license support renewals of 130,65. >> Second. >> Motion made and seconded. Any questions? Let's vote. Next we have um the first read of new policies. Just for the information, Mr. President, move that the board approve the December 8th, 2025 consent agenda as present. Motion made
074a second. I have some donations to read. We have a donation of a Toyota RAV 4 worth $13,500 from Ken Cooper to Hearn and Career Center's autoc collision program. We have a donation of $125 from Lauren Deont at GAP Inc. to Fleet Ridge Elementary for school's PE field day. We have a donation of $500 from uh John Leer to Raytown High School soccer. We have a donation of $400 from Michael O'Donnell at Strawbridge Studios to Raytown School District's Christmas lunchon for elementary principles. Donation of donuts worth $1435 for donuts with grown-ups event at Northwood School from Lamar's Donuts. Donation of gift cards, gift baskets, food, and dessert worth $600 from Sisters in Christ to Raytown Success Academy. And a donation of gloves worth $15 from Christina Brooks to Robinson Elementary. Once again, we thank you
075and greatly appreciate all the donations from all our stakeholders and those that are uh have a shared interest in the success of our school district, especially our students. >> Thank you. You got it. Man, it's your world. It's your world. It's your world. >> We're just here, man. We don't want no problems. >> All right. Hey. >> All right. Is there a motion to adjourn? I move that the board adjourn the regular board of education meeting at 7:57 p.m. Third motion made second and >> third meeting is adjourned.