001Start with the motion. Mr. President, I move the board approve the November 10th, 2025 agenda. >> Second. >> Motion made and seconded. No, no, no, no. Okay, you want you want if you'd like to. Uh >> change your vote. >> I mean, >> sure. >> Is that Yes. >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. Okay, we know what's going >> on. All right, >> let's go with the report of board members. Starting in the end with Mr. Moore, >> Mr. President, >> uh, and community, I had the opportunity to attend the MSBA annual conference this year. There was a two-day event that was held in downtown KC. It was quite uh informative. I also attended the the government relations committee meeting, the Raytown chamber lunchon and the freshman's commitment day at Raytown High School. That was quite
002interesting as well, but I felt like I had to give a little equal play to Raytown uh South. I went and spent the a few hours with um with John Williams doing a tour of the freshman academy and serving during a couple of lunch periods. So that was pretty that was pretty nice and that's all I have. >> Dr. Douglas, >> Mr. President, good evening everybody. I did a couple of things this uh month as well. Um, I went I met with the Raytown striving hub group, uh, which includes combat and a lot of our leadership here in Raytown, our education, our, you know, department of education and neighborhood watches, community services, a lot of groups get together to see how we can support the needs of the Raytown community. So, I met with them
003on October 23rd, 2025. I also went to the commitment to graduates uh at Raytown South um on November 5th for the class of 2029. Got a chance to meet um the new principal. Enjoyed uh visiting with Mr. Williams. Also got chance to meet with various uh freshman students. My granddaughter is a freshman at Raytown South. So she brought a whole group of people who asked could they call me Amy. Now, that would have made me feel like I'm old, but in my c culture and community, that's an honor. So, I'm the aie and I had an opportunity to join in with some financial giving in conjunction with the One Spirit United Methodist Church to help uh with the needs of the teachers and students at West Ridge Elementary. That's my report. >> Mr. James, >>
004I had a very busy past four weeks. Um, I visited Raytown High School a couple times. I went to um during military week um watched a bunch of our freshman um during their freshman seminar, talked to, you know, some Marines. Um also got to just visit a lot of classrooms and at Raytown High School and just see, you know, how themies are are doing and I've hear nothing but great things. The hallways look much cleaner than when I was a teacher there as well. Um also was there for the commitment to graduation. Uh, I spoke during that time and I've always loved the tradition of having our freshman sign that commitment, see that banner hung up in the school and see that every single day that they walk by to remind them that, hey, it's
005four years and you're committed to graduation. Um, which is our number one job um to make sure that these kids are graduating on time. I also went to um MSB um a conference um that two-day event um and that was a great time um learned a lot of things um that we definitely want to implement in our in our school district. Um I also had a fun time at Raytown South um as a Raytown grad. It was very hard for me to to say this but that was the best pep rally assembly I've ever been to. um they were the loudest I've ever and the thing is it's a smaller school than Raytown High School. So they were all super excited um battling against each class. I got to DJ a little bit there and
006it was just a great great time. Um and that is all I've done. >> Thank you. >> Awesome. Awesome. Mr. Watts. >> Thank you. Good evening. um got an opportunity to uh at REI work with our teachers as we had some um items that we were able to distribute and donate to some classrooms and teachers uh just for extra gifts and things of the like. So I want to thank um our ladies of reap um a lot of them retired teachers um Amber Lyndon she's not a retired teacher but she's she's close uh Janet O'Brien Mary Oiler so I wanted to thank them uh for all their hard work. Popup store is Wednesday. So, come on. Look at Mary. Shout out. Uh popup store is Wednesday. It's a it's a huge fundraiser for us. It's
007twice a year. Our ladies do a wonderful job. Also had opportunity to uh speak with some teachers at uh teacher at Ray South and working with some students who want to get in nonprofit leadership. I've been in nonprofit leadership for 13 years. Uh and so get an opportunity to mentor uh the next generation of leaders and let them know why it's important um that they contribute and and um and donate their time and their talents uh to the community. So excited about that. Mr. Newton, how's everyone doing this evening? >> Good. Uh I had a pretty busy month. Um got up to Righttown High School three times this month. went to visit the freshman center, the freshmanies. Um had an opportunity to to run through there. Went to see Miss Dickerson and the crew. They
008had a a um a thing they was doing also in the gym, the new gym, uh a thing that they were letting the kids come and view all the things they had going on. And we also got to go up there. They had a career expo, as a matter of fact. And we also got to go up there and um I'm working with the physical Special Olympics at Life University. That's the greatest thing. If you guys hadn't haven't seen that, um I got up there to go practice with them and it was like a great experience for me. Um I got the chance to go up to Raytown South a couple times and we went to that and and I was second what Mr. Jameson said that Pepper Assembly to bring the students and the
009staff together. It's the most phenomenal Pepper. I don't know if it's like the safest, but it's the greatest. Uh, it's definitely the hypest thing I've ever saw in my life. Uh, I I I was like amazed that the the level of like the the excitement that that was there. Um, and we we also I I got a chance to go to the MSBA and and learn a little bit more about what this was this whole thing is about. It was just like a super busy busy busy month for us. So, I appreciate you guys letting me be a part. >> Thank you, Mr. N. Um, I also had planned to uh attend the MSBA, but uh I decided to go to the dentist uh the day before and uh got four wisdom teeth pulled out.
010So, um that was uh wasn't able to make it. But I'm really glad that uh uh especially our new board members uh got to attend um and uh and represent us. Uh and there's some things that uh we need we we plan to do that I propose to the board to uh to make sure that we continue to get the plaques that we've gotten and not just for the recognition but so we can be uh just more knowledgeable and uh prepared for serving uh Raytown district. Um, also, um, I got to visit both freshmanies and man, it's a drastic difference. It's a it's incredible. Like, man, the smells was so good. [laughter] The the just the atmosphere of it all, like it was just calming. And just the in the passing time between the classes
011and just the engagement of of of the freshman that the the ownership that they get to have and and knowing that they can call something that that belongs to them. Um it it was really incredible experience. I'm looking forward to uh seeing the results of that uh as the years go by. Um, so I was really impressed with that. And so I just want to thank the board for um what they've done this month. And uh as always, it's like I always say, this is like uh since I've been here, it's the most active board that uh that uh I've been to be a part of and it's a privilege to be uh to serve with with with all the board members. So um that's must the end of the report of the board members.
012Next, we'll have the uh report of superintendent. Good evening, Chairman Burton, Vice Chairman Newton, members of the Raytown Quality School District Board, and members of the Raytown Quality School District community. While I have a few moments to speak with you, there's just so much to share. Some of which the board members have already shared uh with you in terms of their experiences over the past month. But I want to begin the announcements by giving a huge congratulations to our communications department and Mr. Colin Clooney. Um, we actually did a post to recognize our communications department because under the Missouri Schools Public Relations Association, they received an award for the highest honor of a video production. And it was actually our video from last year's time, The Secrets of Education. And so, if you've not seen
013the video, it is out there. I encourage you to go do so. It's better than a TB movie. Uh, it's probably even next to uh Netflix. Uh, so congratulations. I'm serious. Congratulations to Mrs. Clever Wombo under her leadership and to Mr. Colin Clooney for his creativity. If you know Colin, please congratulate him when you see him in passing. I also want to commend our ninth graders uh for their commitment to graduation. we were able to attend those ceremonies uh to make sure that our students understand that they are our priority uh and that we are focused on making sure that they graduate successfully. Um it was just nice to see everyone take ownership and I want to give a special thank you and shout out to Dr. Love and Miss Moore for their leadership and
014making sure that the work is continuous. I also want to say that during that time we also had a career fair expo. uh if you had the opportunity to attend, I just want to say thank you to our business partners for being here with our children and speaking to them about their careers and the opportunities that could potentially be in front of them once they've completed school. Uh the career expo was absolutely amazing. Uh just watching the enthusiasm and the excitement uh in our facilities, it was just a great time uh for all. And I will also echo um the excitement that transpired at South High School the other day. Uh I actually had to self-report uh to HR because there were so many activities that were going on and some of the activities I
015asked the staff was I supposed to see it? Um and so when I left I just want the class of 2027 to know I can still hear you chanting. Uh so anytime we have space where students are able to be young adults and to enjoy themselves and to have fun while they're doing it, I'm all for it. And so it was truly a good time uh for our students and for our staff. Uh one of the staff members actually told me that in the last 10 to 15 years that was the most excitement that they've seen of children. And so it's just nice to hear and see that particularly in the manner in which South High students had to return to school this year. Last evening, I had the opportunity to say thank you to
016our veterans in celebration of today, which is Veterans Day. So, if you know of a veteran, please make sure you let them know we thank them uh for all of their sacrifices and commitment to ensuring that we have the freedoms that we have today. So, happy Veterans Day and thank you to all and to the mayor for putting on an amazing event. This is a reminder that RQS day is this week. It's no November 13th. Please make sure you wear your red, your blue, or your school spirit wear, take your pictures, and please tag us on social media with #RQSday. I expect to see nothing but red and or blue or school spirit wear on that date. Uh so please make sure you show us how much you support the work that our children, our
017staff, and our district is doing moving forward. Another congratulations I have is I want to say congratulations to Raytown High School cheerleaders. Uh if you didn't know they went to state uh and they did an amazing job. I believe they came in eighth and that's a huge honor. Uh because if you've seen them that you see that they put in a lot of work. So thank you to all of our coaches who help uh support our cheerleaders and making it that far. And as I begin to wrap up, I also want to remind our community that while we are experiencing some disruption as it pertains to work and changes in the financial income that's coming to our households, if you have not completed a free and reduced lunch application, I encourage you to do so.
018While we send those applications out in the beginning of the year, we know things can change and they are changing. So if you have not completed an application, please log on to our website, get the application and make sure you submit it so that we can ensure that our children are are nourished properly and that we are here to support you through all those efforts. And my final announcement is to recognize Miss Holly Vender. Holly, would you please stand, please? So for those of you who don't know Holly, she's joining our team in the work of the capacity of our Raytown Education Foundation. And so I just want to publicly say welcome. Thank you for taking on the challenge and we're glad that you're here. >> As we move down from items 8.2, 8.3, 8.4,
019uh 8.5, 6.7.8, 8 and 0.9. All of those items are there for you. But 8.9, Dr. Grryer will present to you information as it pertains to Raytown Quality Schools annual performance report and district data dashboard highlights. He will not be sitting at the table, so don't look for him. He's going to be in the back. So, Dr. Grryer, can you stand and wave to the people, please? So, there. >> So, I'll yield to you, Dr. Grryer. >> Thank you, Doc. Dr. Martin Knox. Good evening board. I appreciate the opportunity to share some updates with you tonight regarding the district's annual performance report. Also want to share some of the metrics that our district is monitoring on our district dashboard as well. So, thank you for the opportunity tonight to share that information. Just as a
020reminder, the annual performance report that is published by the department of elementary and secondary education, it comes to us annually and it is split into two categories. There is a performance score and there is a continuous improvement score. The timeline for our annual performance report typically is the fall. And this slide just shares uh DESI's updated list of dates for the next couple of years and how they intend to use this information to help districts uh classify themselves into an accreditation level. One important change that I want to share with the board and the community is that first of all we are fully accredited and will remain fully accredited. the accreditation timeline that the department of elementary and secondary education has communicated has changed a bit that the part of this that I've circled in
021red they will use two consecutive composite scores uh continuums so this year we are in composite 2 this year's testing from the spring of 26 will be part of composite three and the state will use those two consecutive composits to provide an initial accreditation classification beyond our current classification of accredit being accredited. So, good news to report tonight. Board, we showed have shown continuous improvement over the last three years, growing over 7%. Back in 2023, we earned 65.9% of points possible. Last year, 71.5% of points possible. This year's APR shows a 73% points earned to a composite average of 72.5. So we are very proud of that growth over the last three years. It is due to the hard work of our staff, the support of our families and obviously uh the work of our
022students to see that improvement over the last three years. We'll get into the weeds a little bit farther in terms of how we achieved that score of 73% for last year. I'll remind the board that there are four areas that we can be scored in four groups. Target is the highest area and floor is the lowest. So this slide shows how we have increased our performance uh compared to the previous year. The area circled in red shows us under status which is how we performed just on last year's high stakes tests. We saw growth in math, science, and social studies. However, social studies we saw enough of a increase we moved from approaching to on track which caused us to increase amount of points earned in that category. Also in the growth area which takes
023a look at our performance over a period of years. We saw growth in science and social studies which led to in an increase in points earned. On the right hand side, we continue to earn all points possible with the exception of attendance. This slide shows a comparison of our 2025 annual performance report to districts around us. This slide shows that we are ranked second behind Hickman Mills at Independence. And as we look at our composite APR, that three-year trend, Raytown ranks third behind Independence and Hickman Mills. I will pause their board and entertain any questions about any of the APR information. Okay. So in addition to the APR, the district has developed a homegrown dashboard to really track some of the ways in which we want to get better as a district and really understand
024how are we winning, how are we being intentional as a school district. So on the district website, we have this dashboard that we've developed in partnership with our technology department. Shout out Ian York. We've broken this dashboard into several tabs. I'm going to talk to the first three on this dashboard, but certainly uh the community, the board, you're welcome to explore this dashboard further. Uh but we'll start with some metrics on student achievement. I've already shared some of the updates around the annual performance report which discusses English language arts, math, science, and social studies improvement. But I also wanted to share that we are tracking our universal screening assessment NWA and we are proud to see report that we saw gains uh compared to last spring to this fall on ELA and math. We saw
025our ELA scores grow almost 6% and our math scores jump almost 9% in comparison to last spring's uh universal screener. We've also seen growth in our English language learners assessment, the ACT access test compared to the previous year. And then also I'll mention that we've begun to track the feedback that our building administrators are providing our teachers through walkthroughs. And during first quarter, we saw over 70% of our administrators hitting their weekly walkthrough targets. Moving on to college and career readiness. More good news to report here. Compared to uh the prior year, we saw over a 5% gain in graduation rate for our four-year cohort. We saw increases in college credit and uh students who are leaving us with a college and career readiness assessment. We did see a slight drop in our overall student
026attendance in during the 24-25 school year, but I will mention that through the first two months this year, we are at 75.4% of our students attending at least 90% of the time. And that is an over 8% jump in comparison to this time last year. So, we're very proud of our buildings and the work, the intentional work that they're doing to improve student attendance. And we anticipate that number of 64.5 to be much higher than than it was in uh 2425. We continue to see strong numbers in our graduate followup. We have nearly 100% of our students with an individualized career and academic plan. Both the IAAP and the graduation follow-up are part of APR points and we are meeting in the target category for both. Also, I'll mention our market value asset metric. We
027are tracking that is and down here it explains it a little bit better, but we are tracking those experiences that our students that are graduating have with local employers. These experiences can include client connected projects, internships, college credit, or industry recognized credentials. We saw 75% of our seniors graduate with a market value asset last year. That's an increase of over 30% compared to the prior year. Finally, we know we know that academic learning is important, but also it is important that we are developing the social emotional learning skills of our students. We've initiated our everyday speech curriculum which we're seeing uh in place at a high rate and we're looking forward to that number continuing to grow. We are seeing a decrease overall in our top three infractions of disrespect, disruptive behavior, and truency. Uh
028we saw a 3% decline compared to prior year. And we've also begun to track belonging of our staff and students and through our school's progress plans, they are developing intentional strategies to see that student belonging number increase. I will mention that student belonging has a very high bar under the notes and guidelines down here. The operational definition for meeting the metric of belonging is students at the elementary level answering a three which is the highest category on four or five questions and at the secondary level student had students had to answer a three or four on at least 10 of the 13 questions to qualify as belonging. So, we've set the bar high, but again, we have a lot of great intentional strategy going on to increase these numbers uh when we take this assessment
029again at the end of the year board. Any questions about the district dashboard? >> Mr. President, Dr. Grer, this last part you were just on, is that part of our handout? I wasn't seeing that. >> So, it's linked on the slide presentation. If you click on that link, it'll take you to the dashboard. >> But within the >> Which page is it on? >> It is the second to last slide. for the um district dashboard. Do we have um because I know you guys created this um representing the 2024 um academic year. Do we still have that inside of this doc so we can previously like look how we progressed each year? >> Yes. So we we did make a copy of our 2425 data. We did add some uh blue arrows to indicate progress
030in those areas where we are seeing growth or areas where we did see scores drop or stay the same. But yes, we will be able to uh track this progress over time and be able to understand how we are moving longitudinally through each of these metrics. And then one last question. Um just comparatively um looking at you know state news, how relatively did we you know grow comparatively to the state? Um I know you you know outlined towards you know certain districts that are around our area. Um, but relatively to like the state of Missouri, would you say that we grew just as much as, you know, the rest of the state did because of certain tests, you know, performed well overall in Missouri or did we just exceed, you know, growth um specifically for
031rate down above um the average for Missouri? So in in terms of each content area, English language arts did see a slight decline at the state level. Math saw a slight increase. Um our gains in science and social studies well outpaced what we saw across the state, which is very encouraging. I'll have some additional information to bring to the board once they've published the state report cards. So it's a great question, uh Mr. Jamerson and we'll have more information to come back but generally speaking uh we follow similar trends in ELA and math and we outpaced growth in science and social studies. >> Thank you >> Mr. President Dr. Grer this all good news for us. Uh my comments are again related to Desessie and their confusion in to regular people because I how is
032Higma Mills provisionally accredited yet has a higher score than we do? >> Even if you can explain it, it just makes no sense for just an average person looking at something like this. So the accreditation levels for this year, the state published those a couple of months ago and at that time Kickman Mills was deemed provisionally accredited based on prior year performance. Because of the way that the state will be calculating the next accreditation status, districts like Hikma Mills that are provisionally accredited won't see a change in their accreditation status until after the composite three uh is completed after this year's data goes into the 2026 APR. Yeah, it just still shows that Desi has problems in showing data to regular people and you're making friends with Desi now, Dr. Martin. So, you can be
033a good influence on them >> because it's it doesn't make any sense. It doesn't matter. You compos it two years ago this year that they're provisional yet they have a higher score than we than we do. doesn't make any sense because I think we have a higher score probably than they do with the last thing I want to mention uh board is how does all of this work lead us to our strategic plan. We are proud of the growth that we've made over the last few years but we know we've got we've got to keep pushing and we've got to keep growing. So again, board, just want to direct your attention to our strategic plan dashboard. There's lots of great intentional work happening this year. Over 40 strategic plan projects that have targeted goals around
034improving one of those metrics that's on the district dashboard. I won't read through all of this for you, but just know that there is a lot of intentional work happening around the district to improve operational excellence, not just in academics, but HR, communications, facility operations, technology. There's lots of great work happening, uh, food service. So, I just want to mention that the strategic plan dashboard is on our our website. I will point out though that we have some very intentional work happening this year around each of the areas of our strategic plan. I'll just mention a few of them. First, in terms of trying to support teachers with improving their instruction, some very intentional work happening and a partnership with Marzano Associates to improve our instructional practices. So that's part of our project plan number
035one and it directly supports our collaborative teams and how our teachers are collaborating and committing to improving their instructional practice. We are excited about an early college pilot that we have with Metropolitan Long View. We have over 40 students from combined from Raytown High School and Raytown South High School that are spending at least part of their day on a college campus earning college credit. So that will help us to increase the percentage of our graduates that are leaving us with college credit. As you all see, every month our school progress plans are in full swing. Each of our buildings are championing five goals in their school progress plan. student achievement, student attendance, student behavior, student belonging, and students social emotional learning. All five of those areas, each of our buildings have goals set and
036strategy to improve their performance in each of those areas. And we have um leaders in this in the system, Miss Basset at the secondary level, Dr. more at the elementary level that are leading that work on a daily basis with our building principles. We are growing the proficiency of our staff around generative AI. School AI is a new tool that we are using and so we've been working with our staff on ways that they can use school AI to make their their teaching more effective and more efficient. And then finally regarding our community and our partnership with local business of course our work around the high school careermies that's happening uh in our community. So we are very proud of the work and we know that it's these projects and more that are going to
037allow us to increase the prosperity of our kids and our community. And I'll pause there for any additional comments or questions from the board. president. >> Yeah, I want to commend you guys on the work you're doing. Um, not just you guys, but the staff and the students. Uh, I know when I got on the board where we was coming from, what we was talking about in this work is like hugely intentional. Um, and what you guys have done and what we've done is amazing. So, I don't want to let it go unsaid. What has happened and what has been accomplished is amazing. So, I just want to say thank you to you guys collectively to what has been accomplished and thank you for letting me be a part. So, thank you. >> Thanks, Mr.
038Newton. We're very proud of our staff and our students. They're working extremely hard and we're starting to see some of the fruits of our labor. Obviously, our APR is one component of that. There's lots of of evidence around the district that shows that our staff is collaborating and that that our students are improving uh in lots of different ways. So, thank you. >> Thank you, board. Any um I just want to also say that um I think this is about my eighth year on the board. Um I moved to Ray Town in uh 2004. Um at the time just, you know, just like everybody else, trying to decide uh having five sons and trying to decide what school district should go should send my kids to. Um, at the time I had a whole lot
039of advice not to come to Raytown and uh and it was because of the continuous design decline and how um the heyday was over. But uh I saw something uh the thing that struck me most was just the community because um just the diversity of our community and uh and uh unity involved in it if you were part of it. it seemed like and I I think that that even that community is so tight sometimes you have to you have to break through and so that's good and bad but we decide to come here and uh so approximately about eight years ago I got on the board and uh the decline was still occurring and uh it wasn't until these last three years that any sort of improvement was being made and it almost seemed
040seemed hopeless, but um I'm not a hopeless type of person. So, which is why I know I got on the board and I know this our board members here uh got on the board because of the hope they have for our community. But it's really great to see that uh in these last three years continuous improvement. And so I would also want to and I know we have to look at what other districts are doing and uh but you know what our competition if it's competition because you know we want everybody to be educated. I want everybody to be to improve, but um we need to get better every day and and we need to look at what we're doing and how we can improve the the education in this community and uh I'm really
041thankful for Dr. M. How long you been here? >> Three years. Okay. just uh I don't know, might be a coincidence, but uh I think uh I want to thank you because uh I know she inspires me and uh and it was it was been times where I've been like, man, I don't know if I can be be here, be up here and but uh I know one as long as uh this community have me here, that's where I plan to be because um I see man what what we're going to be. See, we already know we already know we're the best. So, improving is is what we're going to continue to do. I know we got a lot of work to do, but uh I just want same thing as uh Mr. Newton said,
042I just want to thank everybody because it takes it takes all of us to uh really uh do this. and uh there's there's just you know you know that that narrative is going to have to change uh because that's that's not how it is. So thank you Dr. Bren. >> Thank you Mr. Burton. The next item on the agenda is superintendent goals. And while I have presented the goals to the board, uh it's most important that we continue to echo what the expectations are throughout our district so that our students are aware, our communities aware, our parents are aware, and our staff's aware because it takes a collective body to continue to move this work forward. And so, um there will be a little redundancy in the goals and the presentation. uh we intentionally um
043had the work posted um and to follow up with the goal. So Mr. Burton just alluded to a few moments ago, uh, asking how long have I been here and it doesn't seem like it's year four. And so when we come in, it's always challenging coming into a new environment with new leadership, not knowing what to expect. And the same applies for the leaders. But one of the things I can say that coming into this community, my children are top-notch. I don't care what anybody says. Um, and I will continue to bank my money on them. They continue to inspire me to make sure that I can be the best leader I can be. Um, but if you've ever gone into our buildings, our children are simply, simply amazing. Is every day perfect? It is
044not. But I'll take our imperfections any day over some of the other things we can be dealing with. And the same applies for our community. I just appreciate our children. My first year here as superintendent, as you all know, my first year was about listening, learning, and observing so that we can begin to plan, which took place in the second year. And the third year is the year of implementation. While we've only implemented a third year, we are entering into year four. And what I will share with you are goals that mirror the goals that had been established in the previous year. So our theory of action, it's all based then predicated upon our students in a environment where they're continuously learning, while they're continuously being engaged, while they're continuously being supported, not just by
045not by staff only, but as a collective body working forward. So that is indicative of our theory of action. uh the mission statement and the vision statement. The mission of Raytown Quality School District is to inspire, empower, and equip our children, staff, and community to reach their fullest potential. And often times, if you say that you can't, you won't. And so, I'm here to tell you, you can, and we are. And so, we will continue to move this needle forward because our children deserve it. And when we look at our vision, the vision of our district is to make sure that when our children graduate, it's not just about them graduating and getting them across stage. It's truly about them being prepared for college, for workforce or careers, and to just be life ready. So,
046as we look at these three components, this drives what it is that we do. One of the items that we worked on as a community was to make sure that we streamlined the work that we're doing so that it is not fragmented. There is a intentional focus on what it is that we're doing and how we're going to get there. So, one of the things that we've done is we created board and district goals. Again, all focused on the academics and the achievement of our children, attracting and retaining highly qualified staff, strengthening our community, our community partnerships and relationships, and making sure that we are maintaining fiscal and operational integrity while we're doing this work. And then the fifth goal is board governance. That's a new item that we put on for our board to
047make sure there's a self-reflective piece to make sure that the work is continuous with their leadership. All of these components all lead into our strategic plan. You heard Dr. Griner talk about our strategic plan and you hear it being mentioned a great deal. Again, they're all aligned and focused on learning, teaching, leadership, professional learning, and a wider community. When we talk about student achievement, most people think it stands for one indicator that Dr. Grryer spoke about earlier and that's testing. Not only do we look at test data, but we also look at the school as a whole to determine its effectiveness. What are those skills that students need to have and how are they able to get them? But it's through the work that we do in our school houses every day. This is where
048our teachers, our principles, assistant principles, and all of our staff comes together to make sure that we're providing students with an environment that is allowing them to be career ready, college ready, and life ready. All of these factors lead into what we call a profile of a learner. If you know the inception of the profile of a learner, it in most districts they call it the profile of a graduate. But because we are all always learning, it's important that we do so together so that we understand the journey that we are taking and the direction in which we're going. So it's expected that our students when they graduate that they are academically sound, that they're reflective, that they're able to relate, they are contributors positively to society and the school environment and that they're also
049professional in their work. And as we know, going back to one of the factors of communication and building community, this work was not done in isolation. This was done with the voices of our students, our parents, our staff, all collectively so that we understand what we're expected to know and to be able to do. Let's look at our enrollment. As you can see, we just did the work around our enrollment with the enrollment study and we know that our enrollment is declining and has declined over the years. This is not by any wrongdoing of anyone, but instead it's about Raytown being landlocked. So, there's no new developments, which means there's a decline in student enrollment because we also have an aging population, which means no new children are coming into the district. [clears throat] And
050so we will continue to make sure we're examining the enrollment. Right now, today, as of today, we're at 7,690 students. Many people may say that's a lot of kids. It's a good grain of children, if you will. And so that's where our data is today. And this number fluctuates each and every day because we have students who enroll and we have students who um actually leave our district which is a transient population within the change in our students and the enrollment. We also have to take into consideration what our free and reduced populations look like. And I will say this and we'll continue to say this. This number does not dictate student success. So I'll say it again. Poverty is not an indicator of student success, but it's important that we look at these numbers
051because we have to make sure that we're meeting the needs. We talk about Maslo's hierarchy of needs. We have to make sure that we're meeting the needs of our children before we're expecting them to be able to learn. So, if they're coming to school without appropriate meals, they're not going to learn. So, are we meeting the needs of all of our children by making sure their nutritional needs are met? Dr. Brian mentioned this a few moments ago. We took a little dip in attendance, but there's intentional emphasis on what it is that we're doing to get our children to school. And I will say this, and I will continue to say this, there's no other place better for our children to be than in our schools. We need them to come to school unless they're
052really sick. We need them to come to school because if they're not in school, they're not learning. There were some things that we had in place as a practice as a district where this may have been impacting our students coming to school and that's some of the work Dr. Grryer talked about when he talked about belonging. If I don't feel like I belong and I don't feel like I fit in, I'm not going to come. It's called fearful avoidance and there are some other factors that play a part in that. But we need to make sure our children come to school and they know they belong in our buildings. So, we're continuing to work on this belonging piece so that we can continue to improve our attending and our buildings. And I will say our
053principles are doing an amazing job with making sure they're celebrating our children, making sure they have positivity when they come into the building. Um, and so this encourages children to come to buildings. So, to the building. So, when we talk about how loud it was at South the other day, let it continue to be loud. Just safe. Um the next item that I want to look show you is the change in the uh discipline piece. Um when we look at out of school suspensions, which is that red bar right there, the number of students, you can see it's on a roller coaster. And usually when we look at data, we try to look at it from a five-year standpoint, but it's very difficult because we were impacted by COVID uh during that time. So you're
054starting off with a different type of data. But when we look at the numbers, it increases and it decreases. And this is also a factor that impacts student attendance as well. Um when we look at uh in school suspensions, that number has declined drastically. But it's all as a result of us looking at our student con code of conduct, which we made some revisions to to ensure that our students are being handled when they are misbehaving, but also making sure we're not interrupting the learning process for students who are in the building and for those students who may have to be excused for a few days. When we look at the graduation rates, this is good. Still not good enough. And you may say we'll never be able to please you until we get this
055to 100%. We won't be because one child is too many. This is a good increase and our students graduating again with our students entering into the ninth grademies. We expect this number to continue to climb because multiple factors will be uh input into this data trend. One is that sense of belonging. Two giving students a sense of hope. Three giving them options when they come to school. and four, knowing we've built the program around what it is that they are looking for and what they know that they need. Uh, most recently for our ninth grade academy, we just branded, if you will, um, our logos for ourmies and they've been released, but they've been released um, with the input of our students. They know what it is that they need. And if you have not
056seen that well put together video of our students talking about our logos, uh, I encourage you to do so. So when we look at the superintendence goals, again, they're all intertwined in our strategic plan and our board and district goals. They're just a little more specific. So the indicators that we are looking at is what I just spoke of, enrollment, which is out of our control unless we continue to advertise and speak highly of our school district. We will continue to attract our children back because we have students who've gone to charter schools, private schools, and are homeschooled. when we begin to attract those children back to our our schools, that number in enrollment will change. The free and reduce rates, that's not something that we can control, but it is something that we look
057at and monitor to make sure that we're meeting the needs of our students. The graduation rate, if you see, my target for last year was 80%, we exceeded that, but only by one point 1 1.4%. We're going to continue to keep it at 80, and we'll move that needle every time. There's no sense in me looking at this data and shifting the data points and making it even more tenuous, arduous if you will, for our staff to say you keep moving the target until we get a solid 80% in moving forward. That number will eventually change and I'm going to challenge everyone to give me 100%. But if we meet 100%, I'm okay with that as well. So understand that that is the target. When we look at our dropout rate, we'll continue to work
058on the decrease in our dropout rate. Again, it goes back to the belonging student attendance. We're still not where we should be and where we need to be. So, that target will still remain at 75%. And as I indicated before, I'm not putting a label on the suspension data. All I ask is that we continue to look at how we are suspending children and make sure students have grace, but also that the buildings are safe. When we look at the curriculum, instruction, and assessment, all those factors Dr. Riner just spoke of on our dashboard. Making sure that academic exposure and students having access to rigorous instruction is truly the best way in which we can get our students prepared to graduate. It's really about core first instruction, being structured, being uh engaging, being um rigorous,
059and making sure we're meeting the needs of all of our children. One of the things that we've been engaging in when we um started this work is learning walks. What's a learning walk? It's exactly what it says. We walk the buildings as a team collectively. We learn from one another and we share with one another. So there are practices that our leaders absorb and engage in and take it back to their buildings and make it their own to make it work. Our principles take the lead in this work because they talk about their school progress plans, what they're working on. And when we're doing the learning walks, we're able to give them feedback in a non-evaluative light just to make sure everyone understands we're in this work together. Our safe and orderly and caring environment.
060It's the belonging that's a gain. As well, we have uh Mr. Huset who's uh here with us this evening who really leads that work and working closely with our security department uh our security staff and working closely with the fire and with our police department when we need them. But one of the things that we do when we're dealing with a caring environment, it starts with the relationships piece. And I will tell you again, there's a belonging committee that meets regularly and we talk about strategies in which we can engage our staff and our students in making sure we have safe or orderly and caring environments. And the list continues with the safe and orderly. When we talk about attraction, retaining, and recruiting highquality staff, that's the work of our HR department. He will actually
061give a a presentation later on to show where we are and how well we're doing, not only with just attracting, recruiting, and retaining high-quality staff, but when you talk about the financial aspect and what it is that we attempt to do for our staff. Um, and that's in conjunction with our finance department as well. when we talk about the superintendent's goals, making sure that in the goals, I too am engaging in learning opportunities. Mr. Moore alluded to it earlier. I was selected to be a part of the state uh DESI's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education uh strategic planning committee where I meet with other leaders from around the state uh to talk about what that strategic plan needs to look like. The conversations are engaging and of course when I'm sitting in the room
062I'm still learning and ga capturing ideas that I can run back to Raytown. Well, not run back. I send a text before I come back but to make sure staff knows that I'm coming with some new ideas, some creative and innovative ideas when we talk about the community relations. That's where our community uh our communications department comes into play in collaboration with everyone. And so while we're strengthening that community, we know that the school system is only district is only as strong as the community we serve. If our community doesn't believe in our children, then we're not going to succeed. I need us all to understand and believe in our children because they can and they will. And so we will continue to make sure that we provide you with communication whether it's through the
063social media realm or whether it's through CT View, but the information will always be provided to you and readily available for you to understand. And that's with those who have children in and those who don't have children in our school district. And I think I keep hitting this backwards. I'm just going to keep talking. So, as you know, I'll do it, Rachel. Um, so again, this work is regarding all that Dr. Grryer just spoke of. And let me take this moment just to say thank you to Dr. Grryer, academics, HR, finance, facilities, operations, all of us who put in the work in our schools, outside of our schools. And this is our theme for this year. We are what we do. We're rooted in excellence. We are what we do what we repeatedly do. You
064believe that you can, we will. You believe that we will, we'll do. And I will make sure that we continue to move our school district forward. This concludes my presentation of my superintendent's goals. And if there are any questions for Dr. Grryer, he can answer them now because I'm my mouth is dry. As we move from superintendent's goals for the people that we work for every single day, our student representatives will now give their report. Hello everyone. Thank you guys for having us. So we just have a few small reports from Raytown South. So first of all again talking about Oh, I'm Genevu Dio. I'm the president of Raytown South student council. >> Hello, I'm Casey Hayes and I'm a representative of Raytown South. >> So we've been talking about our assembly a lot. So,
065that was pretty exciting on the student end, and we're really thankful for central office that helped plan that. I'm sure it took a lot of convincing, but we made it happen and it was like a really great success. And I think school spirit's kind of at an all-time high right now. And that's that was something like that we really needed to celebrate not only like attendance, but also like grades. And I think that'll just continue to build on those goals that we have for coming years. And we're excited to hopefully build on this in future assemblies. And then in the future, some things coming up at our school are a speech and debate tournament. We're having our first varsity tournament since for the first time in seven years. So, this is like a really big
066thing for us. Really excited to make this happen and it's going to be on December 12th and 13th and we will be looking for judges. So, you'll probably be getting an email from me about that soon. Just kind of need some community support and um to make this a big success. [snorts] >> I'm going to talk about our um Sorry. Wow, that was loud. We're going to talk about our sports and our uh I'm going to talk about our sports and our activities. So, football made it to their second round of districts. They beat Lincoln, but then yeah, we're not going to talk about that. And it's going to have a concert December 15th and orchestra is going to have their concert December 6th. Uh our wrestling program is holding their annual Christmas tournament. It
067wasn't there last year because it was at Raytown, but now it's at it's at Raytown South. We're going to use our new gym and our we're going to use all of our us utilities and that will be December 20th, 19th and 20th. So overall, we're just really looking forward to building on this school spirit and implementing like some new ideas at our school. And [snorts] I know um in future assemblies, we're planning to have like a canned food drive to help like during the holiday season and things of that sort. So, thank you guys. Good afternoon board. Um first we want to start off with um we ended up going to StuGCO districts and >> what's your name? >> Oh my name is Savannah Young. I'm um president Stugo president at Raytown High School. >>
068My name is Brennan Santellin. I am student council secretary at Raytown High School. Um, so we went to StuCo districts which was at Santa Fe High School. We had about 70 StuGo kids join us um from our council. We were there as vice president which we won last year and we were running for president. We became president which means um we'll host it next year at our school. Okay. That means a thousand kids from um the Trails West District will be at our school. Um we are still um figuring out the theme of it. Um but yes, so that was a big accomplishment. Uh recently on October 23rd, our student council hosted a blood drive in the library. Our goal was to hopefully get people to donate around 30 gallons of 30 gallons or >>
06930 units. >> I don't know. I units. >> Hey, I was not there for that. Uh we ended up donating 42 units of blood which >> which will hopefully go on to save 126 lives. >> Um we're doing something new this year. We are getting ready um to do um a um little like just we appreciate you for um every staff in our school. We are buying like the little like singular pies, personal pies from Walmart for every staff member and we're going to just write a little appreciate note from StuCo and give it out right before we go to um Thanksgiving break and Stuco kids are either going to go buy them on their own or at least donate money to go buy them. Also now through the 21st of November, Raytown High School
070is hosting a food drive in collaboration with the Raytown Chapel Church where students will donate what it like canned food, dry food items to their first hour sort of like as a competition to see who can donate the most. And yeah, >> on November 19th, we are going to have a stucco giving. So, it's just like a friends giving. We are all going to either bring food every year and we're going to have like a recap of first quarter and what we've all accomplished. Um, now we were able to talk about sports. Uh, recently our cross country team, which I'm part of, had sent three guys to state, which is the first time that's happened in over 30 years. >> Okay, now we're going to go on to our football team. Our football team passed
071the first and second round of districts and is playing in the district championship this Friday at Gra Valley. This is the first time since um our freshman year, so our senior's freshman year that we've got past the first round and got to district championship. But >> but that is all. Thank you. >> Question question. >> Yes. Yeah. Yeah. >> Um what type of pies >> [laughter] >> Um, there's there's apple pie, pumpkin pie, >> Sweet potato fant Yeah. >> Okay. >> And what's the date? >> What's the date? >> The 19th. >> I wanted to get the right South representatives up here with you guys at the same time >> if possible. >> If it's safe. >> Yes. if it's safe. >> Okay, you guys can have a seat right there. So, I used to
072get invites when I was part of community engagement and I want to invite the whole board to this. You guys don't invite us when Raleigh and the other Raleigh was up there. You guys don't invite the board out and I want to challenge the board to this because I've never been to the schools this year and it hasn't been another board member up there. And I contribute part of this to Jordan. What happened the other day at Right South? I think it was the music that got everybody so engaged to where all of that safe stuff was happening. >> So, I want to blame some of that on the DJ. But, this is what I want to challenge you guys to do because we we try to do a lot of things for you guys
073and I think we can help you guys out in a lot of the things you guys are trying to do. We want to make this like the greatest experience for you guys high school >> and that's what we're here for to help you guys do it. So, I want to tell you guys, send us emails because we want to be a part of you guys meetings and I want to challenge the board to get out to you guys meetings to come and help you guys out in any capacity. And I think we have one of the best community engagement people ever. She's really trying and we are really going to support this effort to help you guys in whatever capacity that we can >> to get especially for all of this. And as you can
074see that our board president loves pods. >> So we really are going to help do whatever we can and they they if anybody knows me, they know I'm going to support you guys, okay, in any capacity. So I whenever I was invited to any kind of student count student council event, I showed up and I'll be there. If I'm asked to be Santa Claus, I will be there. >> [laughter] >> So I will do whatever I can to help you guys be successful to get it done. >> Okay. >> So I want to tell you guys thank you for everything that you're doing and all that you guys doing especially with the school spirit. Then let me know and let us know and I want to challenge because everything that I've been to I have
075seen a board member the the especially the superintendent. I mean, she really invites us to all these great events. Okay. Okay. So, invite us invite. I want I want I want to be there. Like we was I mean I've been to the school all the schools I mean in and the principles are being outstanding. So I really want to support you guys in any capacity. So thank you guys for everything that you're doing. >> I have one more question. One more question for you. Ray Town, Raytown guy on your campaign to be president of the student. Tell us specifically what that is again and how did you get it? Did you have to give speeches and stuff to get the rest of them to vote? >> Thanks. >> Secret. >> Okay. So um yeah. Okay.
076So basically we had to make um a campaign video. Um [clears throat] it was very embarrassing. Um [laughter] um >> we need to see the video. >> I don't think I have the video. >> No. >> Um December >> agenda. >> Um I'll email it to you guys. >> Um but so it was embarrassing video but it had to be played in front of the whole like Trails West. So every school. Um, and there was other schools running up. I think it was >> this Lafayette County. >> Yeah, it was Lafayette County that was running up against us. And so we had to get there like bright and early in the morning. I think we were there at like 6:00 in the morning. And we were loud. We were chanting. We had poster sign like
077signs up in the hallways in the gym basically just saying vote for Raytown. Um we had little like rubber ducks, blue rubber ducks. Um and it had vote for Raytown on it and we would give it out. We had candy. We were just really screaming at 6 o'clock in the morning till like 1:00 and when we won. So >> that's basically how we did it. I just want to say say something. Um, as being a previous um oop, sorry, my mic. As being a previous um student council sponsor, I I really want to just highlight this is a huge deal. Like everybody from the state is going to be our from Trails West is going to be coming to our to Raytown High School, learning about how to be a better Stuco for them, taking
078their ideas all throughout the entire area. And I just again want to commend you. I was told that Grey Town can never be president. We can't host this. We can't do this. And I just want to say I commend you guys for saying you can't tell me I can't. If I want this, if we want this as a school, we can do it. And so I want to again just a round of applause for that's all for the video guys. >> Yeah. Yeah. Next board meeting. Next board meeting. That concludes the report of the superintendent. >> Thank you. >> That's like the best one ever. >> Next we have Ray of Hope. >> Good evening, President Burton, Board of Education, and Dr. Martin Knox. This evening we are recognizing the Raytown South Middle School Student
079Council and they are being recognized for their outstanding leadership and dedication to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment at their school. Their commitment to making every student feel valued and connected which has strengthened their school community. Through their actions, they have demonstrated what it means to be true leaders who foster kindness, respect, and unity among peers. Because of their efforts, South Middle School continues to grow as a stronger, more compassionate, and inclusive community. And here's a little bit more about this student group. >> What we're trying to do is to make a place where kids really want to be. Not because they get away with everything, but because they actually shine and they get real kudos for real things. >> Student here. >> Hi. >> I was just showing you my first experience for house
080points. >> Come here. >> Look at that. That's awesome. >> And I was trying to see if we can get house points for our team. >> Well, I think we should. What class are you in? >> Uh, Miss Mitchell. >> All right. Tell her we got it. I'm giving you 30. That's a lot in house points. Okay, good job. >> That's awesome. >> I've wanted to be involved in student council since like elementary school. I always wanted to like do the spirit weeks, do the dances, like all the rallies and stuff, and I just thought it was really cool. I got involved with student council because when I first found out about it, the requirements were just the same things I held myself to, like with my self- standards. [music] When I was in sixth
081grade, I was very inspired by like other books and my friends. They wanted to do it. So, I decided to join and see what it was like. >> We help a lot with the school and some of like with the district and stuff and helping cleaning and decorating. >> They're all pretty much type A leader personalities. I have some members this year that were really shy last year and now this year like they've really come into their own. They're much more outgoing. They're excited to do the work for the school. [music] They like to be busy. They like to be productive, which is an essential part, I think, of being student council and being part of the community is to be productive and they want to be. >> Over these last few years, one thing
082that has made me really want to stay is it's been helping me build my leadership and communication skills. >> I feel like when I come to student council, I feel like I know I can be like a better [music] person and I know I can help other people become better people and just help other people. >> This is really fun, really kind, respectful environment. I got to meet a lot of new people, really nice. I think a lot of it has to do with just the creation of school community. We've been working on this year. They are going out into the building and doing all of these great jobs for the teachers and the staff and the administration. I have a Google form that [music] teachers can fill out of what they want. They can
083make copies. They make anchor charts. They staple. They organize bulletin boards. [music] They do bullet boards, cut out letters, do all of the things. >> We like normally help teachers, but then we'll also plan like events like dances and [music] like spirit week. >> They've done so much for the school and are willing to do even more. They're just so willing to help and and they just make a big difference. When you can find a way to focus on kids being successful or making a contribution that just spreads [music] like fire. We have to orchestrate what is fun. It's fun to achieve. It's fun to [music] excel. It's fun to get awards. It's fun to go for the gold. It's fun to be number one. It's fun. >> Just the positive culture that we're building.
084This is my second year in the district. It's a place you want to be at as a staff member. We are blessed with great administration. >> So now that we've gotten Miss Boyd, it's been even more amazing and she improved the school for way the better. >> Miss Fry, she's a fun teacher. [music] She's loyal. She's one of the best teachers in this school. >> Everything that we do is really their idea. I just kind of facilitate and organize [music] their creativity, their intelligence, and just being able to say, "I want to be a part of something is really what I hope they don't lose." I was kind of shocked but also happy that we were actually being recognized for what we do and how hard we work. >> I was excited and like surprised
085that we got recognized. >> Maybe because like we help [music] a lot of people in the school. I just think that it's really nice to help others. >> I don't know if it changes, but it's an indication of a change, you know, [music] that people want to do positive things. So, it's been a tremendous experience at South Middle. I feel like it shows that we're trying [music] to like better our school and we want to have everybody like our school and enjoy coming to school. One thing I would like people to know about South is like it's just a happy place. Like I feel like I belong here. [music] So we are fortunate to have a few members of the student council with us this evening. I'm going to ask them to come up along
086with their sponsor Jamie Fry and their principal, Miss Void. >> Congratulations This ride is loyal, loyal to us. Sorry. Next, I would like to recognize two of our board members for completing their board member refresher training with the Missouri School Boards Association. So, congratulations to Mr. Nie Newton and Dr. Maline Douglas. >> Got to do it now. and >> Dr. Martin Knox did mention this in her board update, but I I wanted to give an opportunity to our new ref um executive director a chance to come and introduce herself briefly to the board. So, please welcome Holly Vander. Thank you so much for the warm welcome. It's really, really truly great to be here, not just as Ref's new executive director, but also as a graduate of Raytown South and a former teacher um at
087Raytown Central Middle. Um, and just as somebody who truly believes in this community, so it's been like a homecoming these last couple weeks. Um, I'm excited to continue the foundation's wonderful work supporting our students and our teachers, and I am really excited to work with each of you in figuring out ways where we can continue to make Raytown shine. So, thank you. Seeing that there is none, we'll move on to the next agenda item >> and which is board committee reports. Any report from the finance committee? uh policy review committee. >> Uh we met this evening and referring some policies to next meeting's agenda. >> All right. Um can I get a motion before I continue? >> Sorry. I move that the board approve the August 11th, 2025 minutes, the September 8th, 2025 curriculum and
088professional learning committee meeting minutes and October 13, 2025 community engagement committee meeting minutes. >> Second. Is there any other reports from committees? All right. Um motion is made and seconded. Is there a motion? >> Mr. President, I move that the board education adopt policy IGCD virtual courses. >> Motion made and seconded. Any question? Oh, motion pass. >> Uh motion for certificate of election. >> Mr. President, I move that the board approve the ballot language to elect board of education directors for submission to the election authorities no later than 5:00 p.m. on the 10th Tuesday prior to the April 7th, 25th. >> Second 10th Tuesday. What is that day? >> The 10th Tuesday. Everybody knows >> Kim Tuesday prior Tuesday of the year >> prior to April 7th >> prior which is >> what >> December
08930th >> January oh begins >> like February two months like two weeks >> add to Mikey and I can carry the Tuesday. >> Yeah. So, um, yeah, let's our board members get in that before, uh, so wait till we get the, uh, video from our student council. There are >> get a head start. >> Yes. >> Let's take Let's vote. >> Wait on me. That's it. >> Motion passes. Nix these policies going to first read. We'll hear from the policy committee on these. >> Next is the approval of consent agenda. I move the board approves the November 10th, 2025 consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> All right. Before we vote, I'd like to read the donations. We have donation of school supplies including calculators, backpacks, stress balls, pens, pencils, paper, and more totaling $1,828
090from Hope Network to Raytown Success Academy. Donation of clothing worth $200 from Pauline Stone to Family Support Services. Uh donation of Eve gift cards totally $1982.32 from Office Depot to Southwood Elementary School. Donation of socks, hats, and gloves worth $200 from St. Matthews Episcopal to Robinson Elementary School. As always, we just want to thank uh those in uh leaders in our community and organizations and businesses that give us support that help us fill in those gaps where we can uh help our students and achieve the greatness that we we know that this that's possible. I really appreciate that. Thank you. Let's vote. Motion passes. >> Is there a move that >> I move that the board adjourn the regular board of education meeting at 8 p.m. Thanks. Motion made second.