001I yes tell me if it's too loud then or if we're not speaking loud enough thank you apologize uh I call this meeting to order sorry I'm getting to the right spot we need a what would you like to lead the meeting are you sure okay you can all right uh we need a motion to approve the February 20th 2025 Open Session agenda as presented motion second all in favor I I thank you uh Pledge of Allegiance we have brand klippy say that right I had thank you okay is to lead usance tonight thank you moving on to item eight recognitions uh Dr Jerry lebrat is going to lead our recognitions this evening Liberty High School senior brand klippy who was just up here uh has been selected for the Missouri Coral director Association All
002State Choir he was selected based on live auditions held last fall the All State Choir performed at the Missouri music educators Association conference earlier this month congratulations okay up next congratulations to Holt High School senior Riley dryer who was selected as the 20th chair clarinette in the 2025 Missouri All State band um she was selected based on live auditions held in December the All State band performed at the Missouri music educators ass Association conference earlier this month [Applause] congratulations we are proud to announce that Michelle Cherry a science teacher teacher at South Middle School won the prestigious presidential award for excellence in Mathematics and Science teaching the White House made the announce announ m in January for 2021 2022 and 2023 recipients the award is the highest recognition that a K12 mathematics or science teacher
003can receive for outstanding teaching in the United States she won the award for her work as a seventh grade science teacher at South where she has worked since 2003 congratulations okay and a huge shout out to Gabrielle Kier speech language pathologist at Heritage Elementary for her quick response and heroic actions earlier this month she swiftly helped a student who was choking by performing the heick maneuver we are incredibly fortunate to have such dedicated and caring staff among our district congratulations everyone on your recognitions U moving on to item number nine public comment the board of education has approved the use of an electronic process to sign up um um we have eight speak what no public okay keep me on my toes we have eight speakers this evening uh we'll begin tonight with Ella s
004you're fine certainly not hi my name is Ella and I am in sixth grade at wi SP Middle School I have sble poliy but that doesn't stop me from being a part of my school my community and my cheer team for the Ws being included in school has helped it me learn and grow just like everyone else I get to be in class with my friend to work on projects and be a part of active bat Mak learning friend my teachers and Friends help me when I need it and I also get to help them inclusion isn't just about me it makes us all feel better because I've been included I feel I try new things like cheerleading or musicals and I you're cover and and I know I can do hard things my classmates
005learn that people with disability can do a lot just sometimes in different ways including make school was better for everyone it teaches kindness teamwork and that everyone belongs I hope other kids like me get to have the same chances I've had because being included makes a difference so I ask you what kind of world do we want to be Do you want to build for us or do we want to be the generation that says it's too hard or the generation that that makes it happen let's make sure every child no matter their disabilities gets to grow up in a world we're inclusive isn't just a question it's a promise thank you for listening to my story I love my school and I hope you keep making sure all kids feel included like I do
006next up Katie hubard Katie you want to turn on turn the mic on I do again okay we'll try this again okay do I do we need to reset okay the current Administration and GOP and Andrew Bailey are trying to oblate the Department of Education and Section 504 of the real Rehabilitation Act the do sets an accountable for ID f 50 provides funding ands civil rights to laws laws in school section 504 legally guarantees the S if students with disabilities have accommodation they need preventing discrimination ensuring inclusion so that every child regard this in the background receive the quality education dising these would turn back the clock in decades of progress and leave many students without the proper support they need that they would struggle to access the education they deserve as a precursor to
007what what is to come the initial Federal freeze cause chaos and funding for federal funded programs designed to help children such as Head Start First Steps special education subsidized lunches Title One funding Child Care parents and teachers Medicaid and staff the past five years we've had Pro birth only community members certain Bo Boe members and current Bo candidates franzinger politicians Gasol everybody with fake outrage rampant brokeness dni indoctrination KY lther boxes and public schools did we find those yet supporting the funding of fraudulent fraudulent Ponzi scheme voucher programs for private and religious uh tax exempt schools that can freely deny accepting children with disabilities give education back to the States well here we are now back to the States Parson cut billions of fundings from public school the AG along with 17 other states are
008suing the suing stting that 504 is unconstitutional is placing our reach Early Childhood centers and the funding for our staff in Jeopardy how are we going to pay for specialized teachers that provide services like otpt speech and ACC devices and more I want to answer why do we have Boe members and candidates for a public school actively supporting the removal of basic human rights and current federal civil rights away from students are they not worthy enough for you to fight for them do you view these children as parasites and Vermin like a president and unelected cabinet does because they need accommodation services do you comprehend this would result in ACC devices therapy service Services support and food ripped from the mouths of hands and students leaving them desolate I want to hear from your mouth
009here tonight not in social media how you are going to enshrine their federal civil rights and abund District policy to to ensure these kids will never lose one ioda of their services if this goes through if you cannot protect the most vulnerable children in our district to step down and step aside I let people at Julie Scott and Dr jomi way who actually up for advocates for all children and all aspects ofation thank you next up Ashley s hi my name is Ashley schaetzel I teach kindergarten at greench elementary I'm Ella's Mom I have a so she's at South Middle we're residents of the district and um I just want to first thank you for listening to Ella's story we've been here before but as you know inclusion has made a huge difference in our
010lives as it as has many others um inclusion feels very new because it is new it has an always been a given so I brought last time I brought pictures this time I brought a book um this is a story about Jennifer keelen and I urge you to look her up and look her story up she was eight years old in 1990 so just kind of reflect on how that is how young we are and how that is compared to you um she one of people who helps get the Ada passed she's just now 42 years old she in March of 1990 climbed the capital steps from the bottom to the top she also has saal py but she wanted the EA pack and um she had been told no you can't go to school
011because they couldn't help her no we don't have a bathroom for you when she finally did get to go to school she wasn't allowed to eat lunch with her friends because she ate differently and um probably similar to my child she needed a little support needed her food prepared a special way and they told her no and um so it was very important to her to be included she went climbed to the top handed the Ada Bill to a senator and helped get the ad passed Ada passed in July of 1990 so it does feel new and different to us but to this generation of kids it's how life is if you've been to a football game where Ella has cheered they treat her just like any other person and they're probably more observant than
012I am as her mother because they're just used to her and kids like her she's been in school musicals and one of her best friends from kindergarten was like I got her I'll move her around stage and then another person was like no I want to be her partner I want to move around and they're just helping all the kids because that's how it should be so it feels new and that's okay we can continue to support kids in being different and the Ada Dei all of that inclusion isn't charity it isn't a favor it's recognizing that every child has value every child deserves the same opportunities the same educations the same friendships and the same chance to reach their full full potential she was only eight years old when she did that Ellas 12
013we're asking that you continue to support all children no matter their abilities in receiving this same education as you would any other child when I watch her navigate the world I see a child who doesn't see limits but she sees possibilities these possibilities only exist because her teachers her friends her school admin make it so that she can and she goes to South middle and they're phenomenal I'm just going to brag on them too she went to Green Tree Elementary I know I teach there too but again phenomenal staff who've gone out of their way to make sure she go feels included her classmates don't see her as different something as extra they see her as Ella and they tell her yes you can join us and they don't mind it it's not easy it
014takes effort but we can do it I said it last time we're one of the biggest districts let's lead in thank [Applause] you next up Max Calo all right my comments this evening are addressed to school board member Julie Scott on January 20th you compared president Trump's inauguration to flight 175 hitting the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001 writing I feel like I did when the plane struck the second tower that is end quote because you apparently don't know what happened on September 11th I will inform you 19 hijackers used knives and box cutters to murder pilots and flight attendants aboard four planes crashing them into New York Virginia and Pennsylvania the day's first victim was Daniel Luen a first class passenger board flight 11 who had his throat slit
015in front of the other passengers the majority of those killed were in New York City two planes struck the Twin Towers with the resulting explosions scattering passengers organs onto the streets below the the explosions also sent fire shooting down the elevator shafts of the towers Witnesses reported seeing burned bodies drop out of the elevators when they arrived at their floors rather than suffocate or burn to death about 200 people jumped from the towers on the ground floors the NYPD directed evacuees out of the buildings on rots to spare them from seeing the bloodstained windows those who survived all this but weren't able to evacuate were crushed to death when the towers fell I want you to know that I grew up in New York City at seeing the Twin Towers every day from my apartment
016Window lat later living in Connecticut two kids in my seventh grade class alone lost their fathers my father saw that second plane hit that you wrote about a the second plane was the day's youngest victim Christine Hansen Age Two who was flying from California for her first visit to Disneyland she loved rabbits and helping her father with his garden to compare all of this to the inauguration of a president who defeated the terrorist group Isis created 510,000 manufacturing jobs and substantially reduced illegal immigration is the height of offensiveness given your lack of apology for your comparison you clearly lack either the moral judgment comprehension skills or mental Wellness needed to serve on a board of education making decisions about the education of our [Applause] children next up Kelly Rin holes I'm Kelly as you know
017and I'm the student office secretary at wizville middle and this is gonner he is not only my pet but he is a certified therapy dog and um we're back because N9 months ago Gunner was essentially sent home um and hasn't been able to return without a prescribed reason and I'm asked countless times a day if he's coming back when he's coming back how is he doing um can we video chat him um the kids in the staff miss him uh and most importantly the kids really do need him I've gone above and beyond from day one from getting approval to proper permission uh certifications evaluations Insurance vetting countless years countless hours I have sunk into this dog because this is something that I believe in and I've seen work not just at school but in
018the multiple places I've volunteered over the years um it just seems silly that something like an email about cleaning up after a dog that something is so common sense can't be handled at a building level um I know it wasn't me um and this has been drug out for now 9 months and if I'm being completely honest it's unfair that multiple volunteer agencies as well as SRO dogs are in our buildings every single day while this dog sits at home um just not being used for the greater good of these kids so if he's not allowed why are any dogs allowed on District property it doesn't seem fair because at the end of the day this dog is no different than any of those dogs including the SRO dogs they're all therapy dogs and lastly
019I just want to leave you with a sweet note that one of my students who um this dog has genuinely saved this child he struggles on The Daily his mother did give me permission to share this dear winville School District Board of Education I'm writing to you today to tell you how much Gunner means to me and some of the reasons why he is a part of our school Community one Gunner gets to provide support to all of our students and be there when they are struggling two Gunner gets to visit classroom and put a smile on everyone's faces three Gunner is my family and he makes me happy for when I'm having a rough day or a mental breakdown Gunner will sit right by my side through it all I pet him and I
020feel better five Gunner has made the difference for me and has helped more than 545 students at winville Middle School six Gunner shows me that I can problem solve and how I can be kind to others and lastly gunar I love you these are the reasons why gunar makes every day special it when SP midle thank you next speaker Amy benen hoffen good evening um I'm here to talk about Transportation my kids bus situation has been a source of a lot of stress on myself and my children I sure many others in the district as well there have been many occasions that my kids have been at school for almost an hour after school gets out waiting for bus to return to school to get them after they've already done an entire many occasions that
021they have waited for the bus in the morning unsure of when it will be there to pick them up just in the last two weeks my kids have bus has been 35 40 20 minutes late to pick them up in the mornings which has also made all of those children late to school I have taken my kids when I can and especially when it's just too cold for them to be standing outside for an unknown amount of time like this morning when it was5 degrees and I received a text after the bus was already supposed to have been there to pick them up I have already spoken to the superintendent and I am very aware as to the why this is happening and to how many positions how many positions need to be filled I
022came tonight to ask you all to figure out what it will take to keep the drivers we do have and how the district can attract new drivers these kids are missing value Val able academic time every single day across the district imagine the stress that this puts on our kids especially if they have a test or quiz the first hour of the day also the stress on parents who need to get to work on time the administration needs to get in a room with the drivers and work this out these drivers are so important to the functionality of this District I think Frontier Middle School got a taste of what it would be like if most of the kids were brought by their parents this morning I don't think I've ever seen the carpool line
023that long backed all the way up past Discovery Ridge Elementary on sumers road and how many students were late because of that many many many every day are late to school let's come together and figure it out this year has been the worst yet and if we don't figure it out it's only going to get more worse thank [Applause] you next speaker Adam lman well nice to see you all again few months ago I was here and uh talked about the issues that I was having with our contracted transportation for special education with CST uh in that meeting I asked that you all immediately review the contract that you had standing with them um over the concerns that I brought um a week and a half ago my son was in a car accident with
024CST as the driver um after the same paa that you guys honored here was forced to get into a vehicle that the doors wouldn't open um I got to that accident scene 15 minutes after it happened and the door still wasn't open we have issues with CST we have issues with our transportation we have issues with the way that we're treating our most vulnerable students within this District right now we're only as good as we treat the most vulnerable kids and this district is doing a pretty awful job of it I've spoken with superintendent Bishop several times and uh similarly I'm very well aware of the contributing factors but I'm not aware of what this board is is actually doing to fix this along with this I have some significant concerns about how you all
025are advocating with the current uh 54 uh problems that are happening with the Missouri government in Jefferson City that many of you have voted for on the same premises of what they brought to the table they're doing exactly that they promised and several of you here have made votes in favor of these people I'd like to have a little just gut check for a second as far as what you all actually have experience with you can feel free to participate or if you just want to um answer this in this Silence of your own Hearts that's fine curious who on the board currently has a child in the district who here is a parent of a minority child who here is a parent of a special needs child that's being impacted by the 504 uh
026issues that are happening right now who on this board has gone to Jefferson City and actually sat down with our state representatives or AG Bailey to argue on behalf of one of the largest districts in the state that the case needs to be dropped it's probably too late now that's going through here in a couple days and they're going to sign on to it and strip our kids rights like to take it a step further and just find out who voted for the campaign that has continued to ask for merit-based systems who has said they want to strip away the Department of Education who want to remove valuable tax dollars from this District it's honestly embarrassing to be a part of this District to see board members here who aren't making those uh those steps
027if you can't answer things you should be out of here concern last speaker Christa Salvatore good evening board members parents and community members my name is Christa Salvatore and I am both a parent in the Wentzville School District and a survivor of the September 11th 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center I'm here tonight because I cannot stay silent in the face of the disgraceful and deeply offensive comments made by board member Julie Scott Julie you had the audacity to compare president Trump's inauguration to the moment the second plane hit the Twin Towers let me be clear there is no comparison on that day nearly 3,000 innocent people were murdered in the most devastating terrorist attack in American history thousands more including myself barely escaped with our lives families were shattered First Responders gave their
028lives trying to sa save others the pain of 911 is still raw for survivors and for the families who will never get their loved ones back and you an elected official responsible for shaping our children's education sop it to compare that unimaginable horror to a political event Julie I don't need an apology from you but you ow every first responder and every family who lost someone on 911 or in the war on terror ining including two gold star families in our Wentzville School District a heartfelt apology they lost their loved ones in service to this country fighting the very forces that brought Terror to our nation that day your careless words diminish their sacrifice and trivialize the unimaginable pain they have endured you have trivialized one of the darkest days in our nation's history for
029what a dramatic Facebook post a political statement but this isn't just about one appalling comment your actions on this board have consistently demonstrated a profound lack of judgment empathy and professionalism but beyond just your words your track record as a board member has been equally divisive and harmful you have disregarded parents' rights encouraged boycotts of local businesses and weaponized your position to Target fellow board members and community members who don't agree with you our children deserve better the decisions made in this room impact thousands of students families and Educators and it's clear you're not capable of making decisions that reflect the best interests of our children and our community Julie you are not fit to serve on this board and come April I hope the people of this community send that message loud and clear
030thank [Applause] you that's the end of our public comments moving on to item 10 we have a resident agenda item uh Mr small if you'd like to approach the podium you get five minutes um you can use that entirety of time to speak to us or if you would like to reserve some of that time for questions uh you're welcome to do that the five minutes is yours hi yeah my name is Doug Small I'm actually a former employee of wizville I went off to St Dominic and became their director of it for the past seven years and uh started our Esports program there and recently uh a partner and I bought the Regal Movie Theater just a couple streets down and we're converting it into an Esports uh facility entertainment area where we're going
031to have uh bunch of indoor activities for kids and you know mainly Esports um I sent you guys over some documents about what my business Contender could offer to Wentzville um I I really like to start the club program for middle school and high school um we can do one for you know the whole school district or we can do one for IND ual schools uh in Missouri there's a organization called M which is a Missouri high school orts Federation and they uh basically the Misha of Esports in this area or in this state and they have state tournaments and um local tournaments and it's really kind of a a great inclusive place for kids to find their home that represent their school outside if they're not traditionally athletically gifted um so I just kind
032of comeing to you guys and seeing if you guys would be interested in starting off an Esports Club program at cont fac be able to have Team rooms Everything Computers it wouldn't cost you guys anything on equipment it would just be coming and um letting us help you guys start a place for kids to come in and competitively video game against other schools in the state anybody got any questions on so I I send over any questions anybody um I know that there was we would need to get more information from from the superintendent and you know all of that to um I like the idea of the club thing um in my brain that kind of seems like you like the junior leagues like the junior Grizzlies the junior you know like comparatively um
033so you're GNA do summer camps yep so we'll have summer camps um I call them enrichment camps teach kids how to code how to program video games actually how to you know skill development it's crazy I I've coached basketball at St Dominic at the varsity level for the last eight years and I find myself using the same practices as a basketball coach in orts this the same communication skills you have set plays for video games which blew my mind believe me um I come from that area more techie than sporty but um there's a lot of things that Athletics and Esports have that share in common for communication team building critical thinking um I just want to give kids that uh that segue because again not everybody can play basketball um people get cut and
034things like that but in eorts anybody can play um just for example at St Dominic when when I was first start the program we had a D1 football player playing with a kid that didn't even know this D1 football player's name and they became friends because they played the same game um so our school got tighter uh it created a better Community within our building so that's what I'm trying to do I trying to find kids to help kids get their Community find their tribe um and Esports is kind of that level playing feel of video games I mean every kid's playing video games at home in their basement so why not play with some friends and talk to each other and get that social interaction um it's a very kid-friendly place we me we
035got Rush Soccer right across the street we'll have arcades ping pong like it's going to be not just in front of a screen it's going to be an interactive experience for the kids to kind of get out and find their people when is your facility opening May 1 May 1 okay uh I would love to come out and take a tour and see it yes I or paternity right now so you guys can come out anytime my wife's going into labor next week so congratulations yeah so uh we can schedule a time for you guys to come out anybody I mean community members can come to it's it's G to be it's gonna be awesome um so one quick question so like the the ask at least in the documents you shared so like the
036initial startup would cost about 2.2 million is that correct well if you guys if a school district try your magnitude try to imp any sports at every school it would be about 250,000 per school because of the computers and that technology is just it's through the roof suum try to use their business computers to to do it and they started crashing this can't handle the graphics and stuff um so if you guys wanted to start in a house I have all you know all the tech all the context to get you guys up and running but I figure it's like ice time nobody can afford an ice ring but if you guys wanted to use a space that's dedicated to that for education purposes I I would I would love that personally are there other
037districts that have like a set up currently uh so Zumo sorry Zumo no uh Marquette which is Rockwood they have kids playing out of their basement so they go home after school every day and play so sometimes they have to Forfeit because kids aren't home on time or internet's down um so there's no school district that has a unified setup Francis how Central and Francis how North are the two schools that actually have rooms but it's about sorry thank you very much appreciate it can I ask one quick question I was just curious do you have any are you like petitioning this to any other districts or you just coming to us first since you're in our boundaries yeah I I I talked to like Lutheran St Charles I've talked to Fort Zuma but zumo's
038uh pretty ke you know keen on trying to get them up and running themselves which is fine I I've come from here I've I've known this place uh I live just down the street so I just I wanted to reach up to you guys I've been talking with Greg for a couple years about it I had this idea four years ago and it's actually coming to fruition now so I just wanted to come and talk to you guys about it and see if something your kids or School District would be interested in thank you very much anybody else okay all right moving on to District comments Dr lebrat sure I'm stepping in for Brian tonight as he had a prior family engagement so just a cameo appearance here first I wanted to say thank you
039to everybody who spoke during public comment we appreciate the time that you guys took to sign up to prepare your thoughts and to share those with the board and the District administration we do appreciate that in addition Mr small for um the resident agenda item as well thank you guys for participating um in regard to the district updates we have just a couple this month um very exciting Miss Lori bman uh sixth grade social studies teacher at North Point Middle School was awarded the Windville School District teacher of the year um it was a really fun experience to be there with Lori her family was there and I don't know that I've seen a team more excited to um award such a surprise honor to their teammate it was just really special and um I
040think her teammates were as or more excited than she was so uh I I know I Heard lots of chatter and and people kept saying how well deserved it's been a long like been a long time coming she's really deserved this we're honored to be her teammates so I think the best compliment you can get is amongst your colleagues and your peers and um it it was obvious that Miss bman has their support and it sounds like the support of her students and Community as well so what an honor to um have Miss bman represent us as the district Teacher of the Year all right the Beloved snow day calendar so we have gone through two free snow days uh we have done five Ami days and we are now to our last four snow
041days so for those of you who are having fun following our schedule are the the beautiful calendar that bren's created um if we don't have any more large precipitation we will be done because those days will be forgiven prior or sorry after Memorial Day and we'll be done the Friday before Memorial day but we are technically scheduled to go the Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday after Memorial Day so right now just pretend those last four boxes are the Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday after Memorial Day and if we don't get any more snow or ice we get those back so a worst case scenario hopefully right uh would be the Friday after Memorial Day we're hoping best case scenario at this point although some kids last night were not hoping that is the Friday before
042Memorial Day if you guys have any questions or you're having problems reading the graphic or if you forget where we are in the graphic please don't hesitate to reach out to your building to District administration we want to make sure that families are well prepared and know what they're doing because we know that the end of the year um has a lot of anticipation for everyone and planning and excitement we want to make sure that we can help you guys make informed decisions about where we are in the calendar all right so we have um prop L the board has voted to put prop L on the ballot in April for voters to provide feedback prop L build our Legacy is a zero rate change or no tax increase bond issue going to the voters
043on April 8th um please please make sure that you exercise your right to vote um the district has been providing information on Prop L we have a landing site as well it's wsd legacy.com if you have any questions regarding propl we've spoken about it several times during um Board of Education meetings Board of Education workshops please don't hesitate to reach out we're happy to provide you with any information that you may need and last but not least I think this is the last slide um also on April 8th we have Board of Education candidate um elections we have four people running for two seats Danielle Looney Christina McCormack Jeremy way and Julie Scott are running for two seats that we will have available again that is on April 8th same day same time same place
044as you vote on Prop L um at the polls so if you guys again have questions you can go to our Board of Education candidate website and we have all the information that those candidates have provided to us about themselves and their candidacy but thank you guys for participating um those of you who come to our meetings those of you who watch our meetings um thank you for being active participants in um the community's education and your own children's education and we're happy to help um provide any information you may need thank you thank you Jerry moving on to item 12 consent agenda we need a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented I'd like to P something go on sorry um 12.30 focus School software Hall Pass and move it to new business
045for a separate vote am I on the wrong no it's it's 12 29 12.29 all right do we have a motion to approve consent as amended Al motion yeah all right all in favor I any opposed hearing none motion passes uh we need a motion to approve Focus School software Hall Pass agreement that goes to new business oh I'm sorry thank you very good all right well then moving on to Old business uh we have item 13.1 policy 6145 service animals and therapy dogs in schools this is a second read with a motion attached do we have a motion to adopt the proposed revisions to policy 6145 motion second any discussion hearing none all in favor I I any opposed motion passes are you Joanie are you putting that at the bottom okay all right
046Joanie will let us know when to refresh I'm going to put no I'll be hot spot can I make a motion yeah are we there yet uh we are waiting on the ability to refresh the agenda it's probably at about 52% now 90% almost there [Music] you can refresh yay all right all right so let's scroll back down to item 14.1 approval of focus software Hall Pass agreement I'd like to make a motion to table until the regular May Board of Education meeting second why because I'm assuming there's going to be some some training involved and um funds being spent for something that uh there's 5050 Chance is going to go away in a couple months so I think it would be prudent to just wait see what happens um because you may have a
047board that is going to want to get rid of it and that would be a waste of taxpayer funds if we make that decision now knowing that I think and there's been a lot of vocal opposition to this for several years um so and I thought we were going to talk about this in a workshop or something that hasn't even happened yet she hadn't there was the opportunity for there was an opportunity for board members to participate in two trainings on did anybody two sessions did anybody attend that um nobody attended um was this the last minute thing that we got saying saying that they were we had a decent lead time we had a couple we were notified about it a couple times for sure um yeah I don't think so remember seeing it
048I got one email and it was like a late notice or last minute notice type thing regardless um and I don't think it I honestly I don't think it it matters on that um the opposition to it is I mean regardless of the training that they're going to do it's um the tracking of habits that people have an issue with digital tracking of habits can I I'm just curious because I thought we got something that said addressing some of those concerns and that wasn't something that it is able to do so it said that they're not GPS tracking but it's still you're submitting a request to use the bathroom that's a digital tracking of of your habit um or your physical needs so I it's data that's going to be put in a system and
049it's just one more piece that is opened to um circumstances where correct me if I'm wrong aren't we something that's asked the teachers have asked for we've talked about is having more accountability to know where students are when they're during the the power times and different things like that being able to know where they are this would allow that to happen I don't think this is for power no it's not power you don't do it for power lunch that's but this system would allow that to happen it would allow teachers to be able to send communication so hey Johnny's going here Susie's going there right I mean Greg isn't that there is the option for students to request a pass or teach to request a pass for student on the student behalf so that there
050is notification to the teacher of where they're going also notification of where they're they do that already without the hall pass okay uh well we have a motion on the table to table 14.1 um I guess let's go ahead and roll call it secretary hanky I Dr Bethal nay Dr Olen I president ISAC nay vice president Scott nay director Walsh May motion fails now we need a motion to approve 14.1 Focus School software Hall Pass agreement motion second let's go ahead and just roll call it secretary hanky nay Dr Bethal I Dr Olsen no nay president liac I vice president Scott I Dr Walsh I motion carries moving on moving on to 14.2 honer reach presentation uh we have Matt and well Mark are you coming up too no just Matt tonight hello welcome thank
051you get them later okay president liac Dr lebrat Wentzville School Board administrators and Community good evening thanks for this time we'll do a brief update on the reach and ECC facility uh it is a little chilly out there today the workers but we'll walk through this and give you an update so any questions feel free to stop me and go from there so I wanted to start with just a refresher so you understood the the site plan and the buildings when I talk about these is we move forward so the tan area which is BB that's base bit okay I kind of abbreviated that the light blue is alternate two that is part of the ECC classrooms A1 is the main core for the ECC with the off offices and A3 which is sorry it's
052hard to read there on the purple but that is additional classrooms which is part of ECC all of that you awarded and is under construction so just kind of a a refresher on that West Meers on the bottom North Point prairies to the left okay just a little snow covered these pictures are from midday today um so we're going to start kind of on the uh east side and kind of swing our way around as if the North Point middle school is to our back okay so you can see the two classroom Wings on the left there uh they have them enclosed with sheathing they have the metal deck on the roof they have what's called an ice and water shield on top of that deck so they're weathertight and you can see piles of
053shingles sitting there they're just waiting for mother nature to cooperate so they can get some shingles put on the roof uh but they have temporary plastic on the window openings you can see them across the bottom there and they aren't putting metal studs up they are running piping duck work electrical so they are to be perfectly straight they are like two and a half months ahead of schedule on those two Wings because they can work inside so they're doing great on that end so as we swing around to the right you can see the generator enclosure uh with the does this light up on that or no I point this that's fine um so the generator enclosure you can see that with the brick enclosure there and then we'll swing around to the main mechanical
054room just next to that to the right and then the reach offices up there to the right main reach entrance on the west side is up on the right and then as we swing around to the top parents's teachers area right next to the ECC entrance and we're just going to keep kind of swinging around so you get a better view as you can see more snow and snow covered areas but classroom wings now are back on your left generator cooling tower frame is up so we're getting ready to start setting some units on the roof which is a good thing then you've got the main mechanical room a little better view of where the reach offices are and then swinging it back around the top a little better view of the parents's teachers area
055and then the ECC entrance okay a little farther out to the West uh you can see now where the multi-purpose room and the activities gym the flat roof area there then the reach classrooms you see that Arrow going in there and you see the light trusses well inside of that you see a snow covered deck that is one of the storm shelters for that zone so there is a there's concrete block walls and there's a concrete deck on that that's a 250 mph structure for ICC 500 that is one of the four storm shelters that you have in this facility for the students now we're going to swing all the way around to the South and look back up towards the north you can see the steel there frame for the entrance area will become
056a canopy for the reach entrance and swing down to the bottom see nurse area you can see the arrow going right up in there where the trusses are sitting in there and then here's another section where you will see two of the storm shelters of the reach classrooms the snow covered boxes I'll call them two more in their zones for uh the storm shelters for the reach and the reason for this most of you probably remember this was about travel distance Wheelchairs and assisting those kids to try to get them from one end of this building to 96,000 Square F feet to put them all in one area we broke it up so that it's less travel distance and keep the kids in their zones and Swinging up to the top you can see the
057interior Courtyard there and the multi-purpose room and activities area Okay swinging down and looking down to the east get a better view of where parents and teacher space is at where their entrance will be uh ECC entrance you can see they put some metal deck on their entrance canopy so now both reach and ECC will have a covered drop off area so they're not in the rain and in the snow uh so that's going to help them tremendously ECC offices classrooms are in the back and then the multi-purpose room and activity area okay it's kind of hard to read but maybe it's better on your screen so just kind of a update on the schedule so uh we meet weekly with R Construction and their team and they provide what's called a uh 3-we Outlook
058so this one here is started on February 12th and it goes through March 16th so what they do by each of those areas I talked about base bid alternate one two and three they outline all the construction activities for those areas they put it on the schedule they add a duration in there and then they share this with their subcontractors so that they know to stay on target and keep things moving so if you had any questions on that let me know but that's good information just so you can see as things come out of the ground roofs go on what they start doing on the inside but I won't I won't bore you and go through every uh line item there but you're welcome to take a look yourself and then budget I always
059know that's always a question when you're doing facilities uh hardest part of architecture and construction is change orders and there's always something unknown there's always a challenge there's always a tweak so knock on wood so far we are at 0 84% of the project um which is I'm very pleased with that uh there's no such thing as Z perent change order on a project if somebody tells you that that's they're just it's not right so we're doing great here on this project uh you're welcome to look through the numbers but that's about where we're at at this point we had a couple change orders finishing up some hardware and getting things coordinated with all the intricate things on access control and all that but I went through that quickly um if you've got any specific
060questions once the weather breaks we we'll get you over there and take a tour so you can see it now that there's some spaces there's some roofs on uh but we'll wait for at least to get the 40° for you any clarifications or questions on the project I just expected completion date the um reach facility is on schedule for November of this year and the way they're moving on alternates probably in February but they're hoping they can pick that up and have the by the end of the year but I'm going to just you know for the record say probably more like February March yeah but the reach facility will be completed in November thank you so much any other questions comments thanks Matt thank you appreciate it good to see everybody all right our
061next agenda item um adjacent to the presentation uh is the Early Childhood Center name responses there's no motion attached a decision does not need to be made tonight um we did get a fair amount of suggestions um just things to consider um if the board were to go with naming the building after an IND individual there is a pretty kind of lengthy process with that the person that submitted the individual's name there has to be like a resume and there's a policy on it I won't rehash all that right now but just keep that in mind if that's what the board were to go with um otherwise if anybody has any questions or comments about that no okay I well I like I like the North Point Cubs just because we have you know Boon
062Trail South and Timberland we have the wolf pups and then we have the wolf so I think it kind of goes in line I thought that was cute I think Heritage is already the Cubs I know but it does make sense because Grizzlies the Cubs yeah and we don't probably want to mess with renaming Heritage that would not be nice or Fair um but we can continue to have a discussion around it I don't know if it's necessarily um a decision that needs to be made soon the other thing to tack on to this though is the naming of the road that is off of West Meyer back to the North Point campus that's another one that has yet to be determined Grizzly way it's my suggestion all right oh now I have to go
063back to where we were hang on all right moving on to 14.3 we have the W Nea certified staff agreement um we need a motion to approve the agreement as presented motion second any questions comments then um yes so um and I sent an email about some of these questions were kind of clarified but I I guess I'm still concerned about the presence of the language in the contracts I'm going to just for a second and would you like uh Rebecca messic to come to the podium to help answer the questions or do you just want admin contract language okay would it be helpful if she was there just admin um I just want to make sure you have what you need I mean if we don't have the answer then sure but I mean
064it's it's more probably okay well question maybe if Becca if you think you can clarify or help with that feel free otherwise you don't have to so some of the things and it's not this is just um w&a related and not uh the teacher benefits related so um some of the things are in my opinion kind of taxpayer subsidies to the operational overhead costs of the w&a um and given the fact that the w&a is a private entity I don't think that um the taxpayers should be covering that for example in section c the agreement states the district will pay the wnaa president three hours per day and up to 15 days per year 15 full days per year for the duration of the agreement to conduct Association business um and this is with the
065caveat that the w&a will reimburse the district for the sub that needs to cover their classes during that time the taxpayer undoubtedly carries the weight of the cost given the president's salary and benefit is probably more than the cost of a sub it also states that some the same type of taxpayer funded leave will be afforded to several other official delegates for their biannual representative assemblies I believe the w&a should be paying the president for these and the delegates for these types of leave leave for this type of leave and the district should be paying for the sub keeping things clean and separate another example is in section F the agreement states the w can use District equipment to util and utilize our intradistrict mail the nurse agreement spells out that equipment includes resources such
066as duplication and printing equipment phones voicemails Etc all of this comes with the cost of the taxpayers paper ink toner normal wear and tear fees for voicemail Services Fuel and maintenance for mail delivery vehicles wages for the driver of the mail delivery vehicle wages for the Personnel to sort and distribute the mail to the teacher mailboxes the w&a should be covering their own admin administrative costs using their own equipment and Manpower another example is in section g of the agreement that states the district will collect w&a dues and w&a political action committee contributions from employees of the w&a and then send the w&a funds along with the pack contributions for me this is a multi-level issue Brian said that I guess we are not currently collecting pack funds apparently but it is in the contract
067saying that we can do it um the agreement doesn't mention anything about a reimbursement to the district for a cost of compliance which is what most corporations require when collecting dues on behalf of a union it appears that it is assumed that the taxpayers will once again fund the w&a administrative costs members should pay the w&a directly and the district should not be facilitating the collection and distribution of dues or the handling of the deduction authorizations and revocations via the taxpayer funded payroll system and the taxpayer funded employees as for the political action committee contributions we don't offer this ta taxpayer funded service to any other political action committee staff members can't opt to have their funds withheld from their check andent to wsd families and the taxpayers shouldn't be funding the facilitation or the
068collection and distribution of political action committee contributions period I find this to be highly inappropriate regardless of whether the laws allow for it or not it doesn't mean that we must allow for it so basically my issue that I take with the language and the contract is anything that puts administrative cost of operating the wnaa on the taxpayer I believe it's inappropriate and I urge my peers to vote this down and send it back to negotiations to be remedied it's not the taxpayer's responsibility to put the bill do you feel the same about the stipulations for all the all the labor unions we negotiate in general CU I'm sure like with support staff nurses yes the same okay that was just out of curiosity I have a question is it just because it's a we
069are School District taxpayer funded or is it beond because it's government funded taxpayer funded if it was a corporation a CEO could make that executive decision to to have that expense but we have taxpayers so and typically with corporations as I mentioned there's um reimbursement to the corporation for deduction of dues I think it's a quarter of a percent so I'm 100 not 100% positive of this but and maybe Becca can speak to this I know a number of years ago I think it was a state law that was passed possibly Pat um like Union do can't come directly out of your paycheck anymore that's something that is you have to elect separately to get paid out 78 so I mean I know mine don't and it's in the contract language that that we can
070do that along with the pat contributions so if I guess my suggestion is to take those things out if they are irrelevant if um we don't do them anyways like the pat contributions I don't I don't see why keeping the door open for us to do them uh Brian actually said that our policy doesn't allow for us to do the pack contributions but it's in the contract I am just going to say I feel like this is something that for this round of negotiations is like that not being included in negotiations I would hate for us to not approve the agreement have it go back to the union and for them to um vote to not pass it on their end just the risk that's involved in that if this is something that the board
071would like to take into negotiations next year for that to be added into the contract language um taken out there's stuff in the contract language taken out of it instead of added I mean added into the negotiation process um so there's currently language that our policy doesn't allow for I think I would need to look at that a lot more closely than just listening to you read it off a piece of paper just following along as you know you I was listening as you go um being having that um clarification for sure instead of just taking an interpretation which I'm not saying you're necessarily wrong I'm not saying you're right I have no idea I would need to I guess look at it myself Madam president who because I know we I think we got
072an email about possibly some of us I know I wasn't in the negotiations but did we not have board member or two a part of that okay was it just you or was anybody else just me just you if I may yes Katie participated in the wna teacher negotiation and David Lewis participated in the um nurses negotiation we also have the ES negotiation and vice president scottt is in those um I'm not sure Renee secretary hanky are you 4894 representative I can't remember who was but okay and so um that's those are the people who participated in those regards in response to um director Olson the only thing I can think of specifically in regard to some of those questions is those pieces weren't negotiated this year so those pieces of the contract are coming
073back like not withstanding just the same as they have been historically um so I think that if that's a board directive to look into or to research further um that's something we could potentially look at as we have a new book that wasn't one of the pieces that we brought forth this time um so I know that none of that language was changed but I don't think that changes your concern with the language but I just wanted to make sure that you were aware that those were not things that were brought this year but they were withstanding from previous years but I think I think that we're on the same page but I just wanted to make sure it was clear anybody else all right we have a do we have a motion and a
074uh all in favor or doing a roll call all in favor okay all in favor I hang on Renee what was it well I mean Jen brought forth some concern I feel like we're just like whatever and then we're voting we're not making a decision on the concerns she's brought forward we're just going to move forward and would the board like to direct Administration I think if we were to not pass the agreement then the instructions for admin to go back and renegotiate this wording or removing this wording from the whole book so that the whole book is every three years right like the wording in the whole book and then those next two consecutive years are maybe amendments rewording three three years um this is yeah it's the book and then it's a year
075of rewarding and then another year of rewarding tweaking right so I guess I'm confused why would they need to do that when this is just specifically language that came from what they're presenting to us why wouldn't they just change that document it's directly from that document the sections I was citing are on the whole book yes I think instead of just providing the edits that were uploaded I believe that they provided and uploaded a full clean copy of the um New agreement as it will be I guess online or in like in fulfillment so the full document that you see was not all agreed upon during this negotiations there were issues on each side that were negotiated and agreed upon and then those were put those edits were put into the larger document which is
076uploaded in full so the the larger document is the 31 Pages or 30 pages yeah Brad Sorry Brad forwarded right kind of those bullet points and that was kind of the Crux of Crux of what was decided upon this year so no specific area it was because that was just kind of like a generalist ation like typically when we're we're approving changes it's you have direct language for the change or whatever so yes the email is kind of a summary of the change so salary was not negotiated this year um there were conversations around interest that the teachers union has conversations around interests that the district has and a lot of them were really really similar there were there was a lot of really great robust conversation um you know talking about um professional learning
077communities there's a lot of communic a lot of talking around professional learning communities plc's um giving time for that the importance of that things were talked about maybe this year that can't happen but maybe next year when we come together let's you know table that till next year maybe but for the in general these bullet points were kind of the the summary of what was what was talked about and isn't submitting this full book standard practice like in previous years correct I mean it doesn't mean it's proper typically when you're changing something you point out the exact changes so I mean and again these are very generalized bullet points um I don't take issue with with the things for the teachers and um those sorts of things what I take issue is with the things
078that are subsidizing with the taxpayer funds the Nea operations wnaa operations that's what I take issue with okay so the ask is board do we want to direct the administration to go back to the Nea and renegotiate by taking out the language Jen had proposed personally I don't support that I think if we wanted as a board for that to be a part of next year's negotiations that's the appropriate time and place um but if it is the will of the board to do as director Olsen has asked I do not support that I agree with ke so we but we have language in the agreement that conflicts with our current policy so that goes back to people being upset with us not following our policy here's a perfect example we're not going to follow
079our policy would you like to point out the policy language that it's not being met I thinks that we don't the one that says we don't allow our policy doesn't currently allow for p contributions to be deducted from their pay I also think even if they are not currently being deducted the polic or this agreement says that the district will is allowing the deduction of them so that's that's the point here right but then we have a policy that says we're not and they say they're not so so we have a conflicting agreement with our policy are we it's just not something worth going back to negotiations a legal agreement are we I don't want to say confusing but the Nea is a labor union mhm the the union dues that are deducted from their
080no paychecks it it differentiates between the two it says the dues and pack contributions both can be withheld from their paychecks and sent to the wnaa five days after payday or whatever it is that's what both agreements state I'm just going back to your questions and then what um so the question was this agreement states that we can collect w&a political action committee contributions from staff members through their paychecks is this afforded to all employees for the political action committee of their choosing for instance can a staff member request that contributions be taken out of their paycheck and sent to wsd families pack and Brian or somebody answered no this is currently not a district approved payroll deduction so I don't know if he's answering no they can't have payroll deducted to give to any
081pack of their choosing and not I think the interpretation there I guess I misinterpreting it or I'm not interpreting it the same way as you are okay but my broader question was is this something that we offer to anybody right like to all employees to have payroll deducted to give to any pack any pack of their choosing that's how I interpreted the question that you asked and there's just I don't know who answered it I'm assuming it was probably Brian do we currently deduct w a pack contributions no can okay no I mean I not to my knowledge I verify with Becca we do not [Music] correct yes 1413 it's been a while so even the law says that we can't do that yeah which is why districts don't do it but it's in our
082agreement with the w&a that we can you see where I'm coming from guys like it's a minor edit to a document so I'm wondering if if you wanted me Che I could go through and look at the highlights of the actual language that did change page by Page give you a page number give you a couple sentences that change so you're uh comfortable with exactly what changed and then um if you're comfortable with the changes that were made and we were to approve the agreement I could speak with um Becca offline we could perhaps look at anou or look at like friendly edits later offline um if that would be an option for things that are no long like that are null and void in regard to like the pack contributions in regard to sen
083or the HB 143 and like this has been in the contract for long time and now it's just being brought up right when we're going to vote for it so we're bringing up the the last minute I think that's the issue that we have like hasn't been brought up until we're never voting for it right so I wasn't on the committee um I'm just now seeing the contract when it got uploaded for the uh a agenda so that's when I get to weigh in on it that's what I'm doing the only other compromise I had would have is if we want to table it have Pat look at it like literally tomorrow and we're already in the middle of a vote aren't we well we have a motion on the table I'm just saying that
084no we're in the middle we voted like we are in the middle of a roll call vote you are correct we're we're in the middle of a vote we we've got a motion on the table that we're voting for so let's complete that is what I'm saying that's the motion can be withdrawed I'm not withdrawing it though secretary hanky nay Dr Bethal hi Dr Olen um the polite way to do that Brad is to say I call a question what is the motion to approve nay present Li I vice president Scott I director Walsh I motion carries if we have consensus from the board J or Jerry as you suggested maybe talking offline anou something like that if it really is a like a legal issue you know looking at it is not a bad
085idea but if there's consensus from the board for that I can uh already digging into it I have information to share with you after the meeting okay thank you Pat from the administrative purview I wouldn't negotiate or or speak for either side in open session of course but absolutely to look into it to work with Pat to have a conversation with Becca and if there are some friendly edits or some issues that we have brought up that need to be addressed um and that we have Welling parties able to do so then we can absolutely investigate see if there are issues and address those thank you all right moving on to 14.4 we need a motion to approve the W Nea nurses agreement as presented motion second okay any discussion um yes I just have
086the same concerns as with the um First Agreement all most of the same things are in this one I politely call the question okay um Joanie if you'd like to roll call and Pat if you'd like to look into those same things it sounds like it's the contracts may be or it might be copy and paste kind of thing so if it applies for one it applies for the other most likely the the w&a contracts will uh bear most of the same language in this regard so I I'll double check but yeah it's probably the case okay all right Janie if you'd like to roll call please secretary hanky since the question was called and I didn't get an opportunity to talk I going to vote no Dr rethal hi Dr Olen nay president liac
087I vice president Scott I Dr Walsh I motion carries moving on to 14.5 we have a first reading of policy 5550 it's a food service program meal charges uh there is not a motion attached but if there is any questions discussion um or the nature of where this came from hearing none all right uh moving on to 14.6 we have a update to policy 2750 our wellness policy uh well this one says update we can have a discussion who would like to discuss no yeah I mean we can I believe this may have been brought by um director Welsh in regard to recess if I remember correctly and we said that we were going to have a brief conversation about it he had asked a question at the end of our last Open Session regarding
088um required recess minutes what we put into the schedule and I just wanted to bring back some information um I know we had some questions last year about cutting back a couple years ago from it was 20 minutes and then we extended to 30 and then we said that it was 20 mandated and 10 optional and we had some buildings saying that they were concerned with consistency across the district um um Dr Brett Schneider and I Brett Dr Brett Schneider and I had worked together last spring to ask the buildings to make sure that teachers were making sure that kids this year were getting those 30 minutes I think we had further conversation as a board and administrative team at an early open session um maybe August September and said hey let's make them let's
089ask them to call it out explicitly in their schedule to ensure that that's happening at every building that is happening we've had them uh we've asked them to readjust their schedule so those 30 minutes are literally written in and their specific times and then the elementary um scheduling guidance for the 25 26 school year is out um those minutes are required per the district expectation and those minutes should fit in without any concern is there any um like at the high school level they got power lunch and like a lot of people reached out and said they'd love to see something at that Middle School level is there room for that given or how would that even work I just yes yes and no um so middle school has so they do have some passing
090time and again that's not a power lunch type of situation but they do have a little bit of downtime um in middle school they eat lunch by team so they do have a little bit more latitude than your elementary students would um they don't have recess but sometimes on their um they have Flex time where they're working on team building they may have activities the teachers have the autonomy to take them out or do team activities with them um they formerly had core Plus which was more of a um remediation enrichment and sometimes would have Team incentives while they don't lean heavily on core Plus anymore it's more student um student intervention time um but again teachers and teams do have autonomy to make sure that those middle school kids are getting out moving um
091a few years back we changed the electives so they were able to take more electives than they had been previously so short answer is no there's no prescribed recess power or power lunch or anytime like that that is in the schedule similarly to those but are there opportunities for activ activity movement engagement with peers there is some but I would say not to the extent of the other two anything else no all right moving on to 14.7 Ami day discussion uh director Olsen asked this to be added to the agenda yes so I just wanted to and I forgot that Brian wasn't going to be here but I did get um he sent us some of his feedback on this um I just wanted to have a board discussion about uh the use of the
092Ami days as far as how we're utilizing them the level of interaction between students and teachers during Ami days um the level of the assignments I guess or the activities that they're doing I think a lot of the feedback that I've gotten personally is that it's like a free day for the kids and the teachers and they're I mean the younger ones especially given um it's hard unless I guess they're playing a video game or something like that it's hard for them to focus for an entire day or self- lead for an entire day um but yeah I just wanted to get some feedback from anybody else if anybody else is hearing anything um uh that sort of thing and I just I think that the Ami days are just difficult for some families we
093have families that are without internet um without child care just different scenarios where you know the Ami is for online and that is something that is difficult for them and you can't always plan a snow day or the Ami my day so sending packets home because that's I know that's what they've done in the past they they'll send a packet home at parent teacher conference well we're having Ami days now they've already learned that subject matter and now you know they're kind of lost in what they can do so it's there there are some issues that arise from these days and yeah like how how do we make them more effective I get the idea behind the Ami days so there're still the attendance days you know for the formula for all of that um
094I can only speak from an elementary school level um and all of this really all of the assignments that were assigned to my elementary age kiddo could be done offline internet wasn't required and I we didn't rely on a packet there were so I kind of I think this might also speak to the conversation we've had around consistency from building to building I don't know if it's been the same for everyone I have had conversations with parents who have kiddos at Heritage and it sounds like our assignments are really very similar so maybe there is that consistency from building to building um but as a parent working from home on those days the assignments are really pretty short um you know one of the PE ones was it was like 10 crunches 10 you know
095and so they're really I think it took my son maybe an hour to complete you know a square from each section um I know all kidos are different and I also had to do that while I was working you know encourage him to before he can go out to play he has to do those kinds of things but um I mean I do understand where it can be difficult for some parents I have no idea what it's like at the middle school and high school level though so I really can't speak to that to speak to the Middle School my daughter was working probably all day I mean truly um and she did have quite a heavy load I was shocked I mean honestly I guess kind of in a good way that she was
096kept so busy by her work um but yeah Elementary I think is a little different but again yeah my son did not need any internet for his um his either there so I'm I well I see the elementary and middle Sky Middle School side as a parent and then I see the high school side as a teacher so I'm I'm torn over it as a teacher I it because it doesn't extend the school year and it's a way to engage the kids from the high school level we have canvas we can send out updated hey we're currently working on this chapter or this topic go it allows in my mind it allows for some extension activities that we may not have the time to do when we're in class we need to be focusing on
097some other things so it gives some freedom of what to do um but at the same time I know I hear from some students that say well this class they assigned me three hours worth of work and this class only gave me 30 minutes so there is that discrepancy right um as a parent it drives me nuts trying to get my kids to do the work I think any parent would agree with that um but at the same time I like that it gives them some structure instead of just you know laying around doing nothing all day it gives them something to keep their minds engaged especially if we have multiple days in a row off and then getting them back into a routine being back in school um I don't know I see the
098pros and cons both ways can it be tweaked I think 100% the the what elementary does with the with the choice boards I think is awesome because my son can look and say okay I want to do this for math today and it gives him some options um is five days too much I I don't know I don't know what that answer is I would love to get more feedback I mean the alternative is is just a snow day and making up the days right I mean I don't know that we're going to see snow like this for another 20 years but so hopefully we don't ever need to actually do anything but just in case right I mean it could be like power outages or something else we would need to use it for
099so so one of the things that um we have worked to refine and ref Focus this year is uh the choice boards at the elementary level adding prek and then across the board making the elementary ones accessible online so parents could access them on on their phones and they didn't need anything electronic to do them at home um we also um and we will continue to work with our staff about um teachers um and I know a lot of them were available for questions um on their email if parents had questions or needed help um even an email that says um you know um David's really struggling with um you know this math problem I know I struggled with one of my own daughters um on her on her sixth grade math um but you
100know can you can you just look at it with her tomorrow when she comes in and stuff like that so um that's one thing that we did change this year was just the consistency at the Elementry level um and then we went back on last Wednesday when we were at number four and said okay we need to add another day because we might actually you know we need to change a few things up um another thing is is um at the middle school and high school level um they're assignments in canvas and so some of the the those assignments are meant to be self-directed um but if they're not um teachers instructing students of how to access them to access their teachers throughout the day they have the option to meet with them via Google
101meet um that is an option to um talk during for during email to submit the assignment and then asks for help the next day um we don't count those assignments immediately when they come in because we know that some kids will need um some assistance to get their things together to get things submitted and and stuff like that so it's definitely a learning curve for all of us it's the first time we've ever experienced a structured Ami it was always one of those things that said you know 36 hours in case of emergency just if you need it and we all went back to co and we're like no we don't we don't want to hear we don't listen um but but yes we're definitely looking to refine our practices all the time so um
102you know any suggestions feedback um you know we're willing um to work with we know now too that if if we are in in the business of using the days um taking them to the teachers first we kind of were on the back end my department just kind of struggling to get some of those things together and out so it was consistent and you know cohesive throughout all grade levels um but you know we will definitely continue to to work to refine those practices yeah and kind of on that note with um what I brought up earlier too I think it's kind of presumptuous of us to believe that everyone has access to Internet to a printer even or even you have situations where both parents work they have a Young Elementary student they're going
103to daycare they're not going to be doing their Ami work so now how do they get caught up I mean there's just a lot of factors personally I don't like the Ami days just because I think it is adding more learning loss because we do have those situations like that and I would say that they are probably the more predominant cases that we have both parents working kids are going to daycare um kids are if they are not supervised they're not going to be doing their work so I I personally don't like them and I don't know how we could restructure them but I will say one of the pieces of data that we could pull is just our attendance rate on those days so we get um attendance you know credit percentile points um
104for however many days that like the assignments that get turned in and then we get credit for that I believe um the first the first round I haven't looked at the second round the first few days of Ami that we got we were between 96% and 98% of of kids turning in work and being counted for attendance but I would be very happy to pull that data for you guys and share that with you um for at uh next week and staying on board I'll write myself a note all right any other discussion around Ami days okay uh moving on to item 15.1 board action items um would anybody like to really kind of the only thing on there are possible policies um we removed a lot last okay go ahead so we had spoken
105before about restructuring the power lunch and what that would look like I would just kind of like an update on how that's going what that's looking like from ad Administration maybe like at the next meeting or whatever I think um we' started by having a and this is super brief and we can absolutely expand um we've had a survey go out to staff to kind of see their feedback on it and we will be working to get some information out to see what families are thinking um just before we make any huge decisions going forward because we want that Community feedback and buy in as well all right then anything else okay uh actually I did I did have one more thing um and I don't know if we want to do this in like
106a board Workshop or something I would actually like to have the board sit down with Administration talk about Transportation kind of where we're at what the future looks like um if we can all brainstorm on ideas um i' I've get calls from you know drivers and and AIDS about you know different situations working conditions all those Ty type of things I would just like to have a sit down and we can talk about those give direction what we're what we're thinking there I think that's a good idea um I know we were kind of updated on the amount of call-ins that we had um this morning for for the bus routes and it was like I don't know how any buses ran you know and I know people you know um call into work for
107all kinds of different reasons so I'm definitely not being you know accusatory at all but when we have such a vital part of our district um getting our kids to school being able to rely on the people employed to do that is huge so if it's like oh Amy's gone you know what do we need to do to retain a track you know all those kinds of things um yeah it's a good conversation to have for sure because it it does it cripples us when we you know don't have drivers and we know we have vacancies and then vacancies on then Callins on top of that is yeah that's really really difficult so yeah um we can work on getting a workshop I know the March date for the workshop which is March 5th is
108a community what's it called Jerry the community for the Joanie that'll be April second is a community engagement oh I'm sorry the April 2 one is community engagement for the prop for propell uh do we have a location at Holt do we have a time I think it was open it was a drop in 5 to S are you g to feed us I'm joking I'm joking um okay so April 2nd at Holt at what' you say Kat five or six 5 to S um is community engagement for Propel uh we do have then the only other Workshop uh between now and the election is Wednesday March 5th um if we would like to do a transportation Workshop March 5th um hang on oh he is yes that's true um yeah Brian's at conference so
109we would definitely want him to be a part of that conversation um well it sounds like that would be an excellent workshop for well we could do it I mean we we could just we could pick whatever day we want really to do a workshop or have a meeting I mean we've done that before we then we will have to get together and look at availability so I know next week I'm not available at all um when is spring break of March 24th through 28th okay T all right well um we can I'll send out an email uh get some availability from people um I don't know if anyone's opposed to it being a virtual conversation as opposed inperson sometimes that's a lot easier to schedule so um all right well anybody else comments maybe
110maybe he got volen told all right so all right we're at item 17 adjournment we need a motion to adjourn open S did you something else I one comment I want go ahead Brad sorry um because I think it's important because I got a bunch of calls on it we' had a bunch of people talk about it uh even today but um I'm really not into titles labels I don't care what you want to call something but the focus that we have on this board and this district is on these students and preparing them for tomorrow we're going to continue to provide them with different perspectives different point of views expose them to different cultures because we work and live in a global economy we're going to continue to support our kids that got IPS
111504s give them access to everything and have an equal education we're going to foster a sense of belonging for all our students we want them to see them and the staff and the curriculum in the community that is something I am committed to my hope is that this board is committed to I don't care what you call it that's what I want from this board in this district and I think that's what we're doing and I just want to let everybody know that because I know there's a lot of people that are really concerned understandably right now and you have my support and my hope is the support of this board that we will continue to provide those for our students so thank you all right we need a motion to adjourn Open Session motion
112I'll second it and we need a roll call Secretary hanky I Dr Bethal I Dr Olsen I president lysac I vice president Scott I director Walsh I motion passes down