Board of Education Meeting November 16, 2023

001to order first we're going to start with a pledge of allegiance I think I've got a card some here with Mr bees andal son is gonna join us to start in the Pledge of Allegiance where he ah Evan is Evan gonna come down no here here he comes oh he doesn't want to he don't he doesn't have to David he doesn't have to we'll do it from there we'll do it from there all right all right repeat after me our mission statement learning today leading tomorrow we'll start with recognitions of one of our very own president Goodson if I may yes we do not have an item to approve the agenda oh we should definitely do that do I have a motion to approve the agenda as presented so moved second any discussion on that

002I have a two amendments to the agenda I motion to amend the the agenda to remove the new business item 15.4 policy committee update policy priorities from the agenda second was that a removal Al together remove it 154 okay we've got an amendment to the agenda to remove 154 discussion on the amendment there can can I have some thoughts on that there was some first readings aging and um over I was under the impression it wasn't going to be on the agenda so I didn't prepare for it any other comments from the board on this one okay um all those in favor of the amendment say I I those opposed motion carries so now we have an amended motion we will vote on that you have another have another amendment a motion to add board

003reorganization upon approval of the agenda second just to be clear you want to do that the front set of the meeting or in the discussion where on the agenda yeah it's on the agenda no I said where on the agenda do you want to put reorganization I guess I'm looking for feedback from my peers I would like it at the approval upon approval of the agenda so it would be the next item but there's discussion somewhere else I would agree with that do it before recognition I think it's I personally would like to wait until the end of the meeting considering you prepared as current in our current roles to continue the meeting as outlined in the agenda and then add it to the end president Goodson if I may um I also would like

004to wait until the end of the meeting for just you obviously have prepared to preside over this meeting and I think that's the best plan for tonight friendly amendment to my own Amendment at the end of new business yeah look my my plan was to make that motion to reorg here on 15.8 when there was a discussion of board education resolution so which I think is what you're saying so yeah I agree with that that was my intent so everybody good with that so we'll have that motion down there to reorder okay all those in favor of that Amendment say I all those opposed motion carried so now we have an amended agenda we'll vote on that amended agenda all those in favor of the amended agenda as presented say I I those opposed all

005right motion carries now we go into recognitions let's do that all right this evening we are recognizing Dr Jerry lebrat who was honored as a St Louis Business Journal 40 under 40 Honore in a ceremony at the Marriott Grand in St Louis this month as the deputy superintendent of student and schools in the Wentzville School District Dr lebrat oversees the school district's academic Services student student Services discipline special education and more congratulations Dr lebrat and Dr lebrat for those of you who don't know know her is absolutely amazing she is such a stunning educator she has brilliant ideas and she uses the biggest vocabulary words that any of us have ever seen so we're super honored and proud that she is part of the wsd family and she's on our team so okay these monitors

006up here are what's creating this feedback is there anyone that can help us like slide them away turn them a different way that may help with this issue up here all right so let's move on to yeah these monitors are what's creating this feedback when these mics turn on these monitors are creating that feedback I guarantee she this will be fun to watch BR do that all right so now we move on to the public comment period the Board of Education um has and wants to hear from residents and employees patrons regarding District related matters so it's provided this set amount of time for residents and employees of the district to address the board during the public comment period individuals and residents wantan to address the board may do so but needs to follow policy

007412 and elicit behavior that we would want in our um young ones as well um as similar to last month there are a num uh a numerous amount of speakers um assuming there's not a motion to disagree with this as chair what I would propose is that the first 10 speakers that have signed up which is in accordance with policy get their get their three minutes to speak and then every other speaker after speaker 10 get a minute and 30 we want to hear from everybody but I think we want to cut that back that'll give speakers 11 through whatever there are a chance to maybe edit their prepared remarks to get within that time cap um but then allow those that did meet um the criteria for first 10 to speak for their three

008minutes is there a motion to disagree with that otherwise I will move forward I'm not going to motion to disagree but I do disagree I think if we're changing the amount of time for anybody it should be for everybody any other comments from the board there okay then we will move forward as I've stated and I'll call my first Speaker I have Rebecca Curley can you still lots of feedback is that better it's still tingy I can project are you ready okay uh my name is Rebecca Curley I'm a resident um a wsd teacher since 2000 and a proud parent of a THS graduate so I'm here tonight to share the reasons and our need to expand the Early Childhood Program to better serve our community I am an early childhood special education teacher at

009Barfield we are in desperate need of more space and the ability to allow more children into our program I just wanted to take some time this evening to share some stories of success from other ecse teachers so first of all when parents as teachers identifies our students at risk these are our scholarship students they are able to attend Barfield when otherwise they would not have been able to go to a preschool which has made a significant impact personally I have seen students increase skills from being below average in multiple developmental areas but not low enough to qualify for services to being at age level upon enduring kindergarten we have also had multiple students identified tested and begin receiving services in the early childhood setting which continued into kindergarten at times because of the early intervention

010these students are dismissed from special education because they perform at grade level in elementary school with the access to early interventions these families have been given some of the basic normal things that children can do things that they were told would never happen some of these children have pulled up on a walker or taken steps held a toy to manipulate it or pushed a car or maybe even just rolled a ball to a friend these may seem like very small things but they are often very large gains for particular children another student um came to Barfield without words and only grunts at the age of three through a trial a variety of communication devices from the teaching team over a period of time a device was found at the end of last year that just

011worked this student is now almost 5 years old and a whiz with their communication device they use it to make requests for items or to answer questions during class um s these success stories aren't just about students with special needs typical students at Barfield also benefit from being at a program that is integrated these students have gained compassion and empathy for friends that have varying abilities while offering help and friendship typically peers also befriend and stand up for their friends with varying abilities by speaking up when their friend requires a little bit of wait time to answer or need some time to go up the stairs on the playground equipment and ask others to wait the value of peer models in early childhood classrooms is important they help provide important language models for students that

012struggle with communicating to be able to practice for a friend with a severe spir speech delay sometimes the peer is able to decipher what was said peers help to provide positive social models for how to play with toys waiting for a turn sharing or how to be a friend probably the biggest value of early childhood educ education intervention comes directly from the staff at every Elementary School in this District specifically kindergarten teachers in the spring we have transition meetings and events where the response is we know which students come from Barfield this statement translated means that the children that had access to early childhood education is evident at the beginning of the new school year because they are prepared for the next step and I see him down to one second um just I just

013wanted to close by saying that um early childhood education intervention provides the foundation for a successful School career thank you next up next up Megan Kur all right um are we good okay um I am Megan Kur and I'm a parent educator in the wsd today I'm here to discuss the vital concept of inclusion and the significance in public education inclusion as defined by the American Psychological Association is practice a practice of creating an educational environment where every student feels respected valued and supported regardless of their background or identity 2021 it's not just about accommodating differences but fostering a sense of belonging and acceptance for all the significance of inclusion in public education is not to cannot be overstated research from a journal of educational psychology highlights that a sense of belonging significantly impacts a

014student's academic engagement and overall well-being good eat all 2008 by fostering an inclusive environment through social emotional learning schools create a positive School climate where every student feels empowered to actively participate learn and grow ultimately enhancing their academic success furthermore inclusion plays a crucial role in promoting empathy and understanding among students by exposing exposing students to diverse perspectives and experiences schools cultivate a culture of sympathy and respect promoting understanding and acceptance of various identities and backgrounds an international Journal of inclusive education emphasizes that promoting inclusion does not only benefit students with diverse learning needs but also Fosters a sense of empathy and social responsibility among all students by embracing inclusion through seal schools nurture a generation of compassionate and socially conscious individuals who are qu equipped to thrive in a diverse and ever connected World

015more over inclusion is instrumental in creating a supportive learning environment for all students by implementing inclusive practices through seal schools can ensure that students from marginalized communities feel supported and empowered to succeed by prioritizing inclusion schools promote a culture of accessibility and support fostering a sense of belonging and self-confidence among all students in summary the significance of inclusion and public education extends Beyond academic success it is about nurturing a generation of empathetic and social respons individuals who can contribute positively to our increasingly diverse world to Champion inclusion our students need access toal to further a supportive and nurturing educational environment as well as lay the foundation for a more Equitable inclusive Society for generations to come to embody these ideals of diversity Equity inclusion the wsd should consider and implement the following recommendations one establish

016a position for a director of diversity equity and inclusion two form a diversity and Equity inclusion committee three adopt a formal board policy to highlight the prioritization of diversity and Equity inclusion by implementing these recommendations the wsd can take significant strides towards creating a truly inclusive and Equitable educational environment where all students feel valued supported and empowered to succeed thank you next up Jenny Jenny McBride my name is Jenny McBride and I'm the district's Ela content leader I am here tonight to address a vital issue that affects the well-being of our students and the Heart of our society diversity equity and inclusion in public education as white individuals who are responsible for making decisions that impact current and future Generations we must actively prioritize diversity equity and inclusion why because the future of our students

017our community and our Collective Society hinges upon the universal re realization of the power and promise that Dei brings to our public education system some members of both the Board of Education and the wizville community claim these values are targeted divisive and devalue those within the demographic majority however diversity equity and inclusion initiatives are crucial for all of us and create a more Equitable environment for everyone including the majority the research proved this it consistently shows that when Public Schools prioritize Dei initiatives all students including students within the demographic majority benefit Studies have shown that students in schools with strong Dei initiatives tend to have higher test scores graduation rates and college attendance rates than students in schools without such initiatives due to more inclusive and supportive learning environments for all schools with strong Dei

018initiatives also reported improved social and emotional develop vment in students such as higher levels of self-esteem empathy and cultural competence additionally schools with strong Dei initiatives experience a reduction in prejudice and discrimination at last month's board meeting we heard from students who have personally experienced racism and homophobia in our schools it is our responsibility to protect all students from these injustices and a strong focus on Dei can help us put an end to this hate as the research proves that students in schools with strong Dei initiatives are less likely to hold prejudiced or discriminatory views schools with strong Dei initiatives also see that the recent graduates have increased economic opportunities in an increasingly globalized economy employers value those who can collaborate across diverse teams and communicate effectively with people from various backgrounds by prioritizing Dei

019initiatives in public education we are equipping all students with the skills needed to thrive in this interconnected Workforce and World in addition to recogn ing these benefits we as white people must also recognize that our own privileges afforded us vastly different experiences than those within marginalized communities as advocates for all students we have the responsibility to dismantle the systemic barriers that imped the progress of those within each culture and Community we have the honor of serving as representatives of the wizville school district which is becoming more and more diverse the achievement experiences and safety of all of our students regardless of of the intricacies of their identities should be our primary for Focus I implore you to do better by them I ask that in order for us to embody these ideals of diversity Equity

020inclusion the wizville school district should thoughtfully consider the implementation of the following recommendations one establish a position for a director of diversity equity and inclusion two form a diversity equity and inclusion committee and three adopt a formal board policy to highlight the prioritization of diversity equity and inclusion thank you next next up Katie [Music] hubard okay hopefully everybody can hear me with this one all right the teacher have a right to stand in this Podium just like residents and the past F members did um as their first amendment rights after the last month the usual people of social media tried to falsely discredit our teachers that finally spoke out calling them disrespectful for speaking bring them as Pawns of the Nea and Dr T for um for speaking out some took it even further sent

021teachers physically sent teachers harassing and extremely threatening email telling them that they need to quit teaching the same French group of people relentlessly accusing teachers of promoting woken ideologies grooming pedos indoctrinating students not to mention I want to point out that a current board member before she became a board member put a quick link to file a police report against teachers who had books and curriculum in the classroom that did not align with parents are you freaking kidding me there is no we sent our children my my husband and I sent our children to the public school not to have their education books and curriculum controlled by Conservative Christian religion or any religion for that matter we sent them to be immersed in all different viewpoints and trains and thoughts your religion should not control

022my children's public school education period if this is a priority for your family the heck yeah take your kids to private school or home homeschooling but that might be a better alignment with your family values how embarrassing is it that this community some of the members of this community still continue down the path of harassing threatening and intimidating people this District so you they can try to be submissive to you then you stand here at this Podium attempting to gasline everybody say that you love your teachers and that you're not teacher haters and you're not pitting parents against teachers I'm sorry everybody sees through that and your actions and your words says a completely different story so heck yeah I stand Here 100% supporting all the teachers behind us because they they do not deserve

023any of this finally not finally because this is a big thing for me as a as a Barfield graduate the the approval of the uh Early Childhood Setter is absolutely in need and in need and near and dear to my heart good grief I can speak due to being overc capacity they are turning families away they're in desperate need of early intervention before my family got to Barfield I was fighting for over a year if not more and constant going the doctors to get my son assessed and diagnosed so we can get outside Services you know how long it took me to get a speech appointment it still took me over a year and a half I still was not able to get outside Services thanks to his amazing speech pathologist from First Steps who

024happened to also be his speech teacher in Barfield by some was officially diagnosed as spee at 2 and a half years old as was accepted into Barfield mid semester we were one of the lucky ones most families are not our Early Childhood Center is absolutely in need this Center Barfield and the teachers there changed his trajectory and he just blossomed by Leaps and Bounds now he does not stop talking um our community needs this and there should never be know this delaying vote Yes and get this here their District thank you next up Amy venning hoffen good evening um I didn't realize other people were going to be talking about Dei but I think I have a different perspective um tonight I would like to speak about Dei it occurred to me that we hear

025a lot about Dei but I don't believe the district has ever given us a definition usually we just get the onville that onville does not have Dei in our curriculum let me explain what I think it is and maybe that could start a discussion I think that Dei the Dei concept is used to promote activism activism has the potential to undermine family values and encourage Conformity of thought so my argument isn't against Dei it is against the method that will be and has been implemented to achieve something that is subjective and unmeasurable diversity is a beautiful and wonderful thing but what I am against is teaching the children that if you are B born a certain color you are either an oppressor or the oppress or oppressed Equity to me is the biggest issue in

026education today example a child has difficulty mastering the content so they will get an A for effort and their Peer who was successful excuse me they will get an A as well that is Equitable the goal would be to what find Value in everyone in the process you have done both students a grave disservice We Now read out loud to middle schoolers and high schoolers why to make sure everyone has heard the material or is because we know some of the students wouldn't even know how to read the material I have shared with this board and administration my own daughter's story a couple of times now she got A's and B's even though she was testing years behind in math which we didn't find out until she was in the fifth grade and I had

027to advocate for her to be tested for an IEP I have spoken to several parents and I have heard the same story over and over and over just like my daughter their kids can't read they're in the seventh grade they're in the fifth grade they're years behind their parents had to advocate for them Equity fails not only but but but what I want to point out is that in all of these stories the children have had A's and B's the whole time so how are parents supposed to know their children are failing Equity fails not only children who but it holds back the more why we are teaching these children because this concept will not apply to them in the real world because we cannot all be leaders we cannot all be CEOs we can

028can not all be superintendence thank you next up Mike barklay good evening members of cabinet Board of Education my name is Mike barklay and I'm an educational support counselor at North Point middle school and a former student of the Windville School District actually went to this school I've come here on behalf of the educational support counselors to speak in favor of the agreement between the w&a and the district that will be up for a vote this evening specifically I'd like to talk about how values such as change and growth serve to promote further Clarity and understanding this aim will only help us in better supporting the needs and goals of our students staff and Community while change and growth can often be challenging and sometimes a little scary is often a meaningful opportunity to become

029a better version of yourself every day we work with our students our staff and our community to face tough situations that are often intense and complicated our hope our goal continues to be to bring Clarity and understanding in order to support those in need as the role of the ESC expanded from an idea then to a few ESC to currently 22 ESC across the district and for those of you listening at home and here we are hiring we are we we were presented with the opportunity and the need to change and grow we did for ourselves what we often seek and those we work with we hope to become a better version of ourselves and took the necessary steps to make this a reality with the support and guidance of both the w&a and District

030leadership we elected to take that next step in our growth the product of which is reflected in the agreement that was unanimously ratified by the eses and that you the Board of Education will vote on this evening this agreement represents a step forward for both the educational support counselors and the winville school district who together can confidently continue to address the challenges that face our students our staff and our community it is our belief that this agreement strengthens the unique role of each ESC to benefit those we serve and it is our belief that this will not only positively impact our individual schools but the district as a whole as it continues to grow thank you for your time next up Michael [Music] holes can speakers come a little bit closer to the microphone too

031I think there's some people in the back that can't hear just talk closer to the [Laughter] microphone okay can you all hear me my name is Michael holon A lot has said about taxpayers in this County so I just want to mention that I have been a taxpaying RIS resident of Windville for over 20 years um everything I'm about to tell you except the very end is a complete lie it's a fabrication I'm making it up but imagine if you will a law has been passed that forbids non-christians from going into a Christian church if you go into a church and you're not a Christian you could be arrested fined and jailed now also since we're imagining that imagine if you will there was an ancient religious sect following a death god named Bane and

032his followers were called banites and the funny thing about banites is they all had a very distinctive physical characteristic now it may surprise you to learn uh director Olsen that you identify as Christian as I understand it and yet you have this distinctive physical characteristic would Mark you as a bayite and under this hypothetical law you would not be allowed inside of a Christian church but Mike you say I accepted Jesus in my heart I am a Christian I know I am a Christian no you are confused you may think you're a Christian but you really don't know what religion you are well but I talked to the deacon at my church and I talk to my Minister I even talked to the bishop they all agree I am a Christian no you were talking

033to the clergy and they absolutely have no idea about religion you should have been talking to politicians and political pundits because they're the ones who are the real experts on religion but Mike you say if I go to this Bane church I don't know the prayers I don't know the rituals I do not know the songs I will be laughed at I'll be pointed at I'll be criticized and possibly even attacked well that's what get because you're pretending to be a Christian if you didn't pretend to be a Christian then they wouldn't be attacking you well then I will just convert to Christianity with a good answer you could give except we're making on working on making that illegal as well now obviously there is no such law nor should there be nor could there

034be and director olon of course you are free to go whatever Church you wish to go to but if at any time during my little talk here you felt singled out or you felt attacked or you felt ridiculed or sad or angry or upset or scared you have some idea of what it's like whenever a transgender person has to go to the freaking bathroom thank you next up Priscilla Frost I'd like to start with a definition of equality versus Equity a definition of equality is everyone gets the same thing and Equity means everyone gets the right thing for them so that's just want to make sure we're clear about what that means today I'm here to shed a light on a powerful correlation that has the potential to transform not only our educational system but

035the trajectory of our students lives is the undeniable link between a public school district's commitment to diversity equity and inclusion and the consequent surge in academic achievement by prioritizing these crucial principles schools can create an environment that Fosters not only social harmony but also academic excellent as supported by numerous studies and research findings first and foremost let's examine the impact of diversity on academic success research in the American educational research Journal highlights the exposure to diverse perspectives and experiences can significantly enhance critical thinking skills and problemsolving abilities among students when students engage with peers from different cultural social backgrounds they are more likely to develop a deeper understanding of complex issues fostering a more comprehensive and well-rounded approach to learning moreover the pursuit of equity within a school district is directly linked to improved academic

036outcomes a comprehensive report by the National Education Association underscores that reducing disparities in resources and opportunities can lead to increased student engagement and motivation ultimately translating to higher academic performance by ensuring that every student has access to Quality education support services and extracurricular opportunities schools can create an environment where all students can Thrive and reach their full potential lastly fostering inclusion with the educational setting has been shown to positively impact academic success research published in the Journal of educational psychology emphasizes that a sense of belonging acceptance significantly influences students academic engagement and persistence when students feel valued and supported they are more likely to actively participate in the learning process leading to improved educational outcomes and heightened sense of self-efficacy in conclusion prioritizing diversity equity and inclusion within a public school district is not merely

037a moral imperative but a Strategic investment in the academic success and holistic development of our students by creating an inclusive environment that celebrates diversity addresses disparities and fosters a sense of belonging we can pave the way to a generation of students who are not only academically accomplished but also equipped with the critical skills and empathy needed to thrive an increasingly diverse and interconnected world thank you Lee palish hello good evening my Topic's going to be a bit different than the first few um so what I wanted to talk about tonight was the policy review and adoption policy 520 which is up for a first read tonight the policy currently reads the superintendent receives or initiates a policy proposal first read second read and then adoption or rejection at the September 21st board meeting it was

038discussed having a policy committee made up of board members admin community members and Educators many policies were tabled at this meeting I believe it was mentioned at the last meeting that they were working on a uh committee the revised policy 52 for tonight's reading States number one superintendent receives and initiates a policy proposal two superintendent reviews the policy proposal and vets the recommendation through admin and Leadership seeks input from the stakeholders as appropriate and conducts a legal review three superintendent will present the administrative guidance on the proposed policy language to the policy committee to facilitate stakeholder Engagement review and feedback should the policy committee recommend changes or request further review the superintendent will consider the feedback and repeat step two if necessary the superintendent will make revisions to the proposed policy language that the superintendent

039to terms appropriate or and or necessary and finally the superintendent may bring the proposed policy to the board for a first read did you hear the word superintendent too many times per the school board power and duties the board is responsible for formulating and interpreting policies to govern the operation of the the district with the constraints of state and federal statutes and regulations I would like to see this policy remain as it is currently without the revisions or to remove numbers two through four on the amended policy and to add after receip by superintendent the policy proposal will go directly to the policy committee policy members will V with varying backgrounds and roles will be chosen by the board the committee will then formulate a new or amend an existing policy the majority of the

040policy on this list tonight should be tabled until the committee is formed the next thing I would like to discuss sorry I'm getting over being sick is the attorney situation within within the district why are we utilizing mixo tool for everything we have retained Pat Brazil for mix as the District board attorney we have or want to use MCE which is a company of Thomas micas to help update policies we retain MCAS to represent the board in the a lawsuit but the newest piece of information I would like some transparency on is why did we choose attorney Ranken with MCAS to represent a portion of the board when there are 21 out of 29 of their attorneys that are experts in education law and is it true that attorney Ranken lives directly next door to

041you Dr Tamala again perhaps not a conflict of interest legally but ethically and are we crossing over that line so this is our 10th speaker here is Becky Tilly hello my name is Becky Tilly I'm a resident of Lake St Louis parent of two wsd students and a proud teacher at Barfield tonight I am here to read one of many letters from the community which I will be forwarding them all to you that I have received supporting the expansion of early childhood education in this District this is a sampling of some of the letters we've received um in support of expanding Early Childhood um again these are not my words but the words of a parent of one of our former students let me first start off with emphasizing the importance of inclusion inclusion is

042not just meant for people with disabilities inclusion is about providing equal opportunity to every student despite their background inclusion creates an open and equal environment for every student to flourish on their own in their own unique way my daughter attended barfield's Early Childhood for two and a half years has a physical disability that requires her to use a manual wheelchair unfortunately a lot of experience in this experiences in this world are not created with disabilities in mind that's a really hard reality to accept of course as a parent our greatest wish is that our child will grow up to become kind and caring but also accepted seen heard loved as a mother of a child with a disability I want nothing more than for others to see her for who she really is and not

043just her disability inclusion in this in the school allows that to happen Barfield paved the path for her school experience and life experience at that having her surrounded with other peers who also have different abilities and strengths and weaknesses allowed her to feel seen it allowed her to feel welcome and wanted and safe having her also surrounded with typically developed peers allowed her to learn Independence and strength it allowed those peers to view disabilities and differences in a different light it taught the importance of acceptance and respect inclusion and equality it created an environment of understanding and empathy the lessons and experience Barfield offered were beneficial for every student in attendance not just the kids with a disability or developmental delay having a full staff of special education certified providers created an environment for her

044to thrive it allowed her the space to be who she is unapologetically if it wasn't for Barfield she would not have been able to experience preschool at all she would have been forced straight into kindergarten without any prior School experience due to her disability Early Childhood gave her a chance to learn and adjust to the school setting it allowed her teachers and therapists to pinpoint strengths weaknesses opportunities for growth Barfield set her up for absolute success upon entering kindergarten I could not have dreamt of a more seamless transition into kindergarten she was able to gain friendship and peer interaction at Barfield that made the transition easier for her she was able to be confident in a regular classroom and the peers that transferred with her from Barfield were able to teach other kids about her

045the inclusion mindset rooted in early childhood truly set her and her peers on a path to success it is imperative that we keep Early Childhood going and continue to expand with the ever growing population these kids and parents deserve to experience the benefits of Early Childhood Barfield changed my daughter's life thank you okay now we move into speakers 11 and on which we'll have a minute and 30 seconds I'll call that next speaker is Becky Jennings you'll have to excuse my voice I I lost it for a few days recently so I'm still recovering um good evening my name is Becky Jennings I'm a resident of the district a parent of two wsd students and an educator for 28 years I've served the students and families of this district for 19 years I'm also a

046proud member of the Wentzville Nea at last Bo last month's board meeting the board and the public heard from the families of several African-American students who've experienced racism and racial harassment in our schools in response to these families director Olson said quote if we're ignoring the words said to each other you know you can ask some kids and they'll say it's words of endearment you can ask other kids and they'll say you know maybe he means it in a different way or whatever and we need to draw the line so that there's no more confusion end quote what I believe director Olen was saying there is that if African-American students can are allowed to use the n-word amongst themselves then our white students will be confused about why they can't themselves use that word let

047me be clear let me clear up that confusion for you they cannot the n-word is one word in the English language that white folks should not use it's very simple don't use it don't sing it in a song don't call your friends that word simply don't it is not our word African-American folks have taken this horrific abusive word and turned it into a word of empowerment a word that belongs to them now if you don't mind can I finish one short parag quickly please the proposed policy um the proposed policy change states that all students who use racial slurs will be punished the same the proposed policy includes suggested consequences for the use of racial slurs which are laughably lenient I believe that the application of this disciplinary change will fall directly on the shoulders

048of our African-American students I want to leave you with a quote from a speaker at another school's Schoolboard meeting he said quote there is no right way to do the wrong thing end quote please don't do the wrong thing here about this very real racial bullying going on in our schools listen to our students and do the right thing the right way and truly address it don't just put a Band-Aid on it thank you I know I know I allowed that but let's try to be succinct on a minute 30 I'm gonna cut you guys off there please so next up Rebecca paace um I was going to read some letters from teachers but since I didn't prepare for that to the teachers and Educators that spoke at the last meeting we agree and I

049quote our kids deserve the best teachers put their Heart and souls into every single day that they walk into their classroom and we want students to thrive however as a very involved parent myself I left last month's meeting feeling defeated I want you to be that person I want you as part of my Village you have them for eight long hours a day I don't feel like any good teacher needs a process to do that if someone has made you feel that we don't trust you or believe in your abilities as teachers I truly apologize we see your compassion and love for our kids daily but parents need to be involved especially in today's culture we want to make sure that what is being taught is in line with their age their critical thinking skills

050their values that we as parents want to instill in our children isn't that what makes the world go round isn't that what we all stand up here and preach about if there's a child that needs extra help or guidance The District offers many qualified counselors in schools and has an abundance of outs outside resources if a parent asks for that or you see a child that might benefit from that by all means reach out but we as parents need to be the final decision makers we trust you so trust us theity Community also needs to hear from our teachers that are afraid to come to the podium teacher letter one number one please finish yes what please finish like okay I am a teacher speaking for several teachers we are overwhelmed with expectations teaching our

051kids and enjoying our time with them has been on a back burner we spend a lot of day dealing with behaviors the board approved consequences are not being followed so many of us do not want to teach leader and me we don't have the time perhaps our district could just follow through on discipline and the administration wouldn't think we need that we want to teach our subject matter in the matter which we are qualified to teach there is more but we are done so I will go ahead and send these to you next up Chris Grom good evening my name is Chris Gom and I have been a Wentzville resident since 1997 I'm a parent of a student at reach I had the pleasure of watching I have had the pleasure of watching The Reach

052staff help my son for three years you will not find a more dedicated determined caring group of professional Educators OTS pts nurses and support staff the environment in which they are task to work within is sad a strip mall that is split by a business in the middle of the building is not safe for any wsd student daily safety issues arise amongst the reach student body no fault of their own it it is next to impossible for the staff to keep their students and themselves safe the location on Brian Road a five lane road is dangerous when a student elopes it is to be expected some of the student body will go into flight when disregulated the number of students needing services at reach is unlikely to grow smaller in the coming years the Department

053of Mental Health has reported a notable increase in children requiring dmh support noting Coit as the beginning of a perfect storm it was shared by Dr Kane a few years back that trauma was the biggest Factor the district was addressing trauma continues to affect the children each and every day ma'am can you please conclude that was your minute 30 the proposed new building for reach can provide safety for the existing students and future students thank you thank you Katie Vander plug got it right did I get it right you did get it right nice job uh good evening my name is Katie Vander plug and I am here as a resident a parent in the district a grandma in the district next year a mom of a teacher in the district a former teacher in

054the district and is a member of your academic Services team I am also a Conservative Christian but please don't decide who I am based on that statement my family is multi-racial contains multiple members of the lgbtq community so I do have some thoughts on how we can best support some of the people that I love most but I'm gonna come back to that in a minute the last time we were here I heard teacher after teacher asking you to trust us I heard families begging you to listen but today I stand before you and I ask that you don't just trust us and you don't just listen to us but you partner with us I was involved in some professional learning this week and I heard the superintendent of a district describe year after year

055of high academic growth and I had to wonder what was their secret and you know what it was they said that it starts with relationships and the most important relationship was the one that they had with their Board of Education guys a board with a shared vision for Student Success the bottom line success begins with you guys performance and growth for our district is in your hands lack of growth lack of achievement make you ask yourself what has this board done to directly support growth and achievement you need to partner with your academic Services team we are here every single day just like you for the kids the teachers in this District the administrators in the district every person that works with kid kids is here because we want to do what's right for kids

056it is truly if you truly want to see The Unbelievable potential that this district has partner with us to do the amazing work that we are already doing meet with us and ask how you can support our work not take away from it Focus your time and our time on the great work that benefits kids sit down with us and work together to create a shared Vision where every child can succeed and every teacher feels supported and trusted and to be clear coming back this is my last I promise we are here for the kids we are here for every single child even the kids that don't look like you even the kids who don't think like you and that don't believe what you believe every single child every single day they are worthy and

057they deserve our support and our protection and you are charged with supporting them just like we are thank [Music] you next up Sabrina Looney yes you I'll start very quick since I have a minute and a half zabina Looney first I want to thank Dr Toma last month you did something amazing and I want you to know that I appreciate it many families appreciated it and I need you to hear that publicly uh Jason Goodson although I know you had much rest strength I appreciate you also and so I want to say thank you even as you depart from your position as president president that's it okay moving on uh Becky took my shine with her speech so I won't reiterate all of that but I will say that in policy uh 201610 uh is

058up for revision my concern about that policy is that when that statement as Becky Jennings uh uh said a minute ago was said at the last board meeting from the parents you didn't make that comment director Olen I I recognized the comment and the problem with that is that the parents said that their children were being called n g g r you said that was used as a term of endearment now I don't know about anybody else but I don't know anybody who uses that as a term of endearment or who receives it as a term of endearment so your position to revise this policy is implements it tells me a lot of what I need to know about how that is going to be done so I would suggest to you Ma'am get some

059uh unconscious bias training prior to you actually going back and redoing that POS now 19 seconds let me go on with that I I do understand that the teachers here do not have Dei training that is a problem we want to hold them accountable for things to go on allow them to be educated and trained on how to not have these incidents happen within the school it is a problem um what else since I have a few more seconds um it is also said that there was a pull or removal to act or remove the words racism and racis from the behavioral policy claiming that it can be uh subjective and uh indicative of the oh claiming that those words can be subjective if you have them in the disciplinary policy that type of stuff

060that type of toned death right wording is why we are in the state we're in today this is why we are dealing with the things that are going on today you don't need to remove the word what you need to do is hire a diversity officer you need to get unconscious bias training okay that's what needs to happen super I will add this and I'm done hold up did he do the one thinger let me do the one thing I'll leave it at this right we see you we see what you're doing we are not standing down and we are not standing by okay besides that aside from that I have lived at my residence for over 12 years and I don't know my neighbor so I'm not sure what that comment before meant president

061but it doesn't matter thank you so very much next up Trina PE is there a Trina peek here no okay moving on to Casey Lui I need help guys minute 30 it's hard for me to go I don't have great fingernails so yeah no the finger doesn't work let's let's not go there good evening my name is Casey luking and I'm an employee and parent in the winville school district last month we heard from a brave student who stood before us to share their story as an lgbtq plus youth in our our district I am sure it touched many of your hearts as it did mine suicide is the second leaving of cause of death among young people aged 10 to 17 lgbtq plus youth are more than four times more likely to attempt suicide

062than their peers it is important to note that these young people are not inherently more prone to Suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity this High figure is the result of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society which means that we have the power to do something about this horrible statistic today I stand before you with a heartfelt plea for a more inclusive and supportive environment for the diverse Community within the winville school district it is time for us to recognize that diversity Equity equity and inclusion are not buzzwords meant to divide us but powerful tools that can dismantle discrimination and create a space where every student feels safe and respected this entails implementing policies that protect lgbtq plus students from harassing and discrimination a study by the glsc network found

063that students who attend schools with Dei policies and practices are less likely to experience bullying have higher self-esteem and lower levels of depression and are more likely to achieve academic success that is something we all want for our students every student in the wizville school district deserves to feel valued for who they are to embody these ideals we need to establish a position for a Dei um director can you finish form a diversity equity and inclusion committee adopt a formal board policy on Dei and it just may save lives thank you next up Donald Looney he's out here I got a waving in the crow next up Haley Jano I want to start by saying I'm sorry I've been sick and president Goodson is goino thank you good evening I'd like to address with you

064guys the lack of progress I've had on one of my 1300 complaints I emailed Administration on November 7th and have yet to hear back I asked for a different attorney to be appointed as my investigator because you see out of multiple other candidates confirmed to be available the one chosen by the winville school district formerly worked for mixo Tool and with Pat Brazzle until March of 23 and I think everyone in this room can agree my complaint will not get a fair and unbiased investigation which is ironic considering the reason of the complaint is discrimination and for those naysayers in the room I have been writing from plan Pam glidewell Human Resources with wsd that in fact there are multiple other candidates to choose from but I think it's clear to see why you guys

065chose who you chose for anyone wondering I'm still waiting for my reply as are other people who have asked for different investigators I was shocked to hear that uh Dr tala's neighbor friend and you guessed it employee of mixo tool was just hired to defend the district and the Sunshine lawsuit brought by the attorney general question for my board members did Dr tormala notify you that her neighbor was the one you were voting for prior to the vote or did you guys find out about that afterwards because either you're complicit or you were lied to and either way I'd be mad I will wrap up by saying this you have't email me back you dismissed me at 5:00 when I showed up for a closed session meeting found a babysitter and took that time from

066my family that was a discrimination hearing do you hear me next up Vanessa Hagadorn before I start I would like to say that no one ever should be bullied regardless of their skin color sexual orientation religion nothing thank you all right you start the clock over please would you please start the clock over it already started let's go Vanessa oh as a parent and an educator I'm here tonight to share a concern around October 4th our district superintendent gave all kindergart through third grade counselor some books the titles of these books include lgbtq plus rights call me Max what's gender identity pride and sports Justice is they have a specific purpose that if your five to nine-year-old child has any questions these books are to be used to answer them call me Max is about

067a transgender child I'd like to share a quote from it transgender means being a boy or a girl or a little Abol not only is this book on hand for counselors to use to guide your children it's also available at Wabash Elementary library according to Destiny folet however according to wsd policy 4630 discussing these topics is not appropriate line 20f prohibits communicating with students about sexual topics outside approved District curriculum unless done as part of a district investigation into sexual abuse or sexual harassment so why isn't District policy being followed on this why on this and so many other issues as a parent and educator I find this very disturbing do better wsd next up Anthony cillo good evening I didn't know I had a minute 30 but going to try and do this quick

068um I was here last month first meeting I've been to probably in over 30 years that I've been here in Wentzville been here since ' 89 have a total of six kids going through this have have gone and went through the school system my background is Mexican from the West Coast I've come here to the Midwest and um very happy that I've been here but my kids have been brought up here I was was bothered to see people that are trying to tell us as adults what discrimination is what hate is what bullying is and yet I hear educated people calling people up here uneducated people and that's not very subtle when I can see that that's um that's bullying and I can see that I don't like it I've taught my kids to be

069brought up I've brought them up to treat others the way you want to be treated I don't appreciate letters under or titled over kids black white brown yellow People Are People respect people the way you want to be respected most of my family is Black and Hispanic I've come here the people that I voted for on this board the first time I voted in the school district that I voted for them because I know who they are I've known one of them as a teenager the other one is a neighbor whose son is a friend with my son my son has been called a Mexican bean my daughter who's Mexican lightskinn like me has been pushed by black girls white girls her friend who's autistic who's white was hit upside the head by a black

070girl with her shoe now I don't want to hear colors I'm not from that but please let's keep the racial stuff out of here and the people who are principles and vice principles do your job follow the policy and take care and protect these kids because it's now been almost two months and I've gotten no feedback from any principles or the superintendent to ask how my daughter's doing or that the situation was taken care of this is two years in a row my daughter's been bullied next up Cindy [Music] Swanson I am an English teacher and I would like to start by reading a passage that explains the fear that I have been feeling lately two teachers look up in anguish they are holding something that's absolutely forbidden in owitz these items so dangerous that

071their mere possession is a death sentence cannot be fired nor do they have a sharp point a blade or a heavy end these items are nothing more than books old Unbound with missing pages and in tatters the Nazis ban them hunt them down throughout history all dictators tyrants and oppressors whatever their ideology whether Defenders of popular revolutions or the privileges of the upper classes or martial law have had one thing in common The Vicious persecution of the written word books are extremely dangerous they make people think these words came from the book The Librarian of owitz when I read them I thought of my own students and what is happening right now all across America and right here in Wentzville I teach my students to read write listen and speak but most importantly I teach

072my students to think not what I'm thinking but to think for themselves when I was in high school it bothered me that sometimes I thought differently than my peers and then I read Emerson and thorough I read Civil Disobedience and self-reliance my junior re year and I realized I was okay Emerson and throw help me discover who I am that's what reading does for our students it helps them discover who they are do we want to force what gets placed into the hands of our students or do we want students with intellectual freedom and a good chance of growing up into adults who can think for themselves thank you next up Brad Welsh see Brad next up Jamie Becker good evening my name is Jamie Becker I'm a parent in the district I have concerns

073about proposed changes to board policy 6310 these appear to be in response to concerns expressed by a single individual after reviewing previous board meetings at which the individ individual spoke and then subsequent board comments at a following meeting I'm alarmed at the board aced upon the concerns without consulting The Experience expertise and experts in your District your school librarians I bring these concerns regarding the revisions to board policy to your attention as an educator a school librarian and a PhD student who's actively researching issues related to ship and book Banning and its effects on school librarians and students these actions you bring seem to be motivated by either politics or fear under the guys protecting students it's my opinion that these choices are made attempts to extremely to extremely revise the policy are irresponsible and

074unnecessary yes verbiage may be needed to add it for the new Missouri law but there's little reason to change anything else traces like these may play well and the idea sounds good to the ears of vocal minority but it only harm the students of lville school district in the long run we must be must have inclusive diverse Library collections instead of completely gutting board policy 6310 and bowing to the bias of minority I feel that this board is missing the opportunity to do something heroic to stand against bigotry and hatred to be a shield against the rising tide of radical nationalism and to make it clear that wiel school district is a place that values and welcomes all Learners history doesn't remember cowardice well it takes far more courage in this day and age to

075support those who have been marginalized your challenge change your story thank you next up Deborah no deor bur no okay moving on Jill Clan Smith good evening last time I spoke last time I was before you I spoke about our district and the momentous challenge of a change in Direction similar to that of a cruise ship many thought I was going to suggest we head out on a cruise however I'm not going anywhere I prefer the journey I am on with the teachers and students of our district the teachers are amazing and the students leave me speechless with the incredible things they are capable of when given the opportunity experiencing the Wonders that happen each day in this District far out way a brief trip on an actual Cruise our overall goal is to have

076high performance and high growth both of these things take time methodical calculated small research-based Corrections turning the ship last time I was here I spoke of us being first in the county and moving students from year to year none of you had any questions regarding that data however I wanted to make for sure you did understand this extraordinary information about the work that is happening in our schools each year after our students take the map test each student receives a map proficiency index score or MPI that is based on their scale score and performance level we have compared students over the years and looked at average increase in these MPI scores our students are outscoring students in the county in growth this means we are moving the ship as an example fifth grade ELA as

077a whole grew students 7.6 MPI points from the year before this is 9.5 points higher than the county is a on average and lake views fifth grade ELA group students MPI 20 points our educational professionals are doing their work thank you next up Kyla Clayton hello my name my name is Kyla Clayton and I'm speaking as a part of the students in the community English talks about real harsh things that some people would deem as in appropriate but if we can't address them in literature then how can we address them at all if parents are really that surprised by what is taught in literature then they should have become more involved with what their children's were reading before for me it becomes a bigger problem when there are individuals trying to make these choices for

078the district as a whole I agree that parents have every right to determine what their child should be able to read or not but at the high school level students should have a voice in what they read students should have the right to pick something out and decide it whether they like it or not being able to choose is how we get more readers not by forcing them to only read specific books reading is a part of figuring out what you like and who you are we can't do that if all the books are the same students should be able to express themselves in their reading and their writing even if parents don't agree with me there are always other ways to ban books for your children rather than trying to ban all the books

079outside their curriculum if parents did not want their students to be able to check out books with certain content there are notes about that in the school library system if parents went our teachers went to school for this years and years put into this studying and learning and following all the rules that have already been put into place by this District this is their career that we are messing with a lot of English teachers have spent thousands of dollars for books on children in the classroom if this gets passed they will have to take all those out of the class classroom to stuff in the back of a closet we need to create a space for teachers to feel supported do their job and all students discover through literature we need to try to find

080other Solutions rather than the most drastic ones what will we read and learn about this teacher told me that she thinks we should all read Fahrenheit 451 and then discuss this and I agree Fahrenheit 451 is about a future Society where all books are banned and people burn any that are not discovered we are the voices that matter and we are the Next Generation okay next up Danielle Harper hello I'm Danny I'm the educational support counselor over at reach adaptive Learning Center the escs have received numerous testimonials regarding our roles within the wizville school district and I'm going to read some statements this is from a teacher over at winville middle I think of many instances where our ESD at winville middle school is helping our students process through their struggles on a day-to-day basis

081our ESC has been able to do what others in our building have not been been able to I am just one person in our in our one feeder pattern in which an ESC has impacted the life of a child on a l level where others could not can you imagine the full impact of our esc's across the district on it the the impact our escs are having across the district on a daily basis that we don't even know about our escs are vital and in intricate part of our students daily survival and should be most definitely become an official part of the wsd family reach has been honored to have our ESC she has been an essential piece of our daily programming not only does she provide educational support to our students but she has

082now built a strong Foundation of trust to our students she sets our students up for growth as she builds relationships and safe learning environments the educational support counselor position at our school gives students the ability to understand themselves while reaching new heights I am a long tenur staff at FMS many things have changed over the course of time in the field of Education including us understanding the need for mental health health support I am the one of those old school teachers who just wanted to teach and expected my students to learn because that's what school is for I'm almost done prior to Mr Yin I think that we only had one ESC for all three middle schools I didn't even know who it was or what an ESC did now I can't imagine a school

083day without Mr Yin being here he has improved the climate at our school by being a compassionate leader heck mo mo most of us look at him like almost an ad administrator when he's not meeting with kids he's in the lunchroom on bus Duty or sometimes even on the actual buses helping to get anxious or perhaps angry students off the bus in into our building to learn thank you next up Kimberly Sher hi my name is Kim and I'm here as special education teacher at reach for those of you that don't know reach is an Adaptive Learning Center it's a school within wizville School District we are providing alternative education placement that provides education and therapy to students with a variety of special needs from K to 12th grade reach is a relationship based program

084that provides an individual whole child approach to education reach gives students Active Learning experiences in the areas of communication awareness regulation social emotional learning along with academics that promote student learning and growth in all areas students enrolled in the program begin with a low student to staff ratio and transition toward larger group engagements when they are ready our vision strives to prepare students for the quality of life successes by providing compassionate relation B based culture within a safe and supported environment the whole Pro child approach we use seeks to provide learning that has a primary focus on physical cognitive social emotional development in order to encourage students to succeed educationally reach meets the students where they are and it provides them um what they need in order to grow and reach New Heights our students

085are reaching new educational altitudes and breaking through barriers with this new proposed building um please consider our location is posing safety risks and um with more space we can impact more students in the wsd community with this proposed idea please note that the needs of our students are currently extending the walls of our building thank you next up Mildred poke hello my name is milder poke I am the parent of milin poke milin started Reach Center nine years ago he has excelled all nine years while attending reach there are some things that are concerned for the well-being of the students and the teachers there number one parking lot danger for students and teachers with the other businesses in the same Plaza as the school very heavy traffic coming in and going concern number two weather

086conditions hot rain snow sleet windy students and teachers going outside from door to door in the weather and the envir environment to protect our students students and teachers need to experience a school building setting environment all of the teachers need ESC contact contract excuse me this will benefit the teachers livelihood thank you for taking the time to hear the concerns that will help Reach Center to excel even further then now they are excelling now thank you [Music] next up David betho good evening board uh thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight I'll be real brief I know I'm one of the last one so I just want to start by saying uh thank you to president Goodson for your service I know it's been a lot to be president not just to be on

087the board but the additional responsibilities as president I just thank you for for what you've done um my wife for coming up here tonight uh was my son who was with us with me earlier um of course he had to get home to get to bed um he had an IEP he was a early child he was at Barfield um and the services that he received there is what allowed him to now be thriving as a kindergartener um for my family it worked we live a ston throw from Barfield so we could easily get him there for the Services because as a parent two parents of working um adults we couldn't afford to send him to a halfday preschool program uh we needed full day so to be able to get him there it was

088a stretch but at the same time we were right there um I can only imagine for those parents that live on this side of the district or even farther in North Point what it's like trying to get all the way to Barfield on a daily weekly basis to transport their children there um so I know before you tonight is moving forward with building an additional space for the early childhood and reach and I would highly encourage you to consider moving that forward because our district as big as it is and is continuing to grow we need all the space we can get for our early childhood students so thank you last but not least Melanie May good evening my name is Melanie May and my husband and I are um parents of three African-American Sons

089we have we moved into the Winfield School District um in 2021 we our our goal is to raise our children and we've we are helping them to navigate a world a city a community a country that will sometimes they will be judged they will be ridiculed will be mocked and they will be hated because of the color of their skin now moving into this District our kids were first question that they asked is why does the high school that they attend because we have one attending H and we have one attending W WMS why is their mascot an Indian so now we're having conversations about you know I don't know why this community continues to use a mascot that will that is um representing a group of people and how insensitive it is and how

090offensive it is and when I've looked over the history and seen where people have had um you know they they've tried to get the mascot changed over and over and over again and over and over again the the concept has just been shut down because it's a part of tradition but why are we allowing a tra an error in Tradition to continue in our school District so if it's not a priority now when will it be a priority to change the mascot thank you president Goodson yes I make a motion to take a 10-minute break I second that motion 10-minute recess any all those in favor say I can we do 15 15 works for me and a friendly we back at 818 what's that what's that all those in favor say I I okay

091just give us a minute we're waiting on a few still all right let's get started so we have a resident agenda item 11.1 this was added at the request of mnie Maus Maus so this is a time with five minutes on the uh on the clock on the agenda for residents to address the board uh you can allow time for the board to ask questions but that's part of the whole five minutes do you have questions you are do you want the board to ask questions or go back and forth or do you just have five minutes to make statements no all right Works no click sorry I think just now hi I am Dr mnie mesus I'm a resident of the Wentzville School District as well as our District's lead librarian in the librarian

092at Boon tril Elementary I hold a PhD in library and information management and three master's degrees I began my teaching career here in Wentzville in 1986 so my dedication to the education and the development of the children within the wsd spans nearly 40 years additionally I am a mother of six children who all went through the Windville school district and soon we will welcome our 10th grandchild to say that I am dedicated to children would be putting it mildly I'm speaking today regarding proposed changes to library policy another Community about this policy and admitted to not understanding what portions of the policy and regulation meant now rather than seeking input from the numerous educated certified Librarians on staff this board simply mimicked the reing recommendation of this Community member and in so doing is proposing

093to implement a policy that is detrimental to the students families and staff of the Windville School District first are two issues the time will not allow me to discuss in detail the first is the coverage of this policy over both School libraries and classroom libraries which are two very different things classroom libraries should not actually be called libraries but rather are collections of books additionally intellectual access is addressed in the policy but intellectual freedom is what should be addressed I'd be happy to speak more on these topics if you wish to be informed next are two issues that do require more time first the addition of the words abide by Missouri law have been inserted into the policy now while our district as a whole is mandated to follow both Federal and state laws the

094insertion of these words into a library policy creates a hostile work environment those words diminish the capacity of our Librarians to work collaboratively with families by creating a heightened sense of fear surrounding our libraries and perpetuating an ongoing false narrative suggesting that libraries and Librarians cannot be trusted this language insinuates that our Librarians do not comply with the law when the reality is that the Wentzville Librarians have done nothing but that complying with the conservative interpretation provided by our District's legal council more books were reviewed by Wentzville Librarians than any other District in the state and we continue to comply with those directives in spite of the fact that neighboring districts retained the very books in their school libraries that wizville deemed illegal finally and most importantly the revised policy proposes to remove language addressing

095diversity and instead directs that Library resources solely focus on curriculum this seems to be a biased effort to control the information accessible to our students as a whole rather than recognizing and validating that families and individuals of all types are valuable the revision of this language should reflect the federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and they should require age appropriate materials that support diversity on the quote basis of race color national origin ancestry religion sex sexual orientation gender identity disability age genetic information or any other characteristic protected by law unquote Additionally the verbiage needs to be in compliance with other Windville District policies including 2100 titled non-discrimination in student rights the proposed change of this verbiage seems to be an effort to circumvent following these laws in an effort to control the narrative and the

096types of information to which our students will have access and to remove the rights of parents to decide what books are appropriate for their own children Additionally the removal of the diversity language goes against our own District's mission of learning today leading tomorrow by narrowing the learning experiences that a library could bring I re that abide by Missouri law be removed from All Points in this policy that the diversity verbiage upholding both Federal and Missouri law replace the existing diversity language that policies regarding classroom Collections and school libraries be separate and that intellectual Freedom be addressed in this policy and finally that the board seek input from the educational professionals they have on staff to ensure Clarity within this policy and its regulation these actions will ensure that our students May learn today in an

097age appropriate manner accompanied by trained dedicated professionals to prepare them to be leaders tomorrow I ask that you discuss an open session your intentions surrounding this [Music] policy president Goodson yes go ahead um I just wanted to make some statements and some comments I I understand the concerns I I hear the concerns they're valid concerns um I want to personally apologize for not reaching out to the Educators as you you said that um we definitely should I was kind of I was a board member working on revisions of that policy I do I do want you to know I did not do that on my own I worked to collaborate with Dr tormala um our our attorney and Dr lebrat and Dr Brett Schneider um it it is a first read we're we're working on

098it um I want to extend an invitation to you to be part of that collaboration um I'm sure Administration would definitely be open to that but I did want you to know that the intent is is definitely not to do what was suggested in your in your statements I appreciate that invitation and I would welcome that invitation I am very sorry that it took months for that to be extended but I appreciate that it's being extended now president goodsen so uh Dr Torla if if I just may um may I ask that your team work um with her and we work together to set up the time absolutely and the item that was on the board agenda for tonight um that we pulled off it actually stated in the status notes for um a couple

099of the policies and this was one it said that it was tabled and feedback from AC mic Services has been requested and that was to work directly with our school librarians on their suggested revisions anything else from the board on this item okay moving on we have 12.1 superintendent comments Dr Torla all right good evening bren's going to pull up uh the presentation here so we have a lot of great things happening in the district so we're gonna move through this fairly quickly first we want to uh give a shout out it's happy National School psychology week and so we have a great team that works in the district so we want to thank them for all that they do we also um since the last board meeting Holt High School was featured on KSDK

100is tackle hunger tour our school celebrated V Veterans Day and that was such a wonderful opportunity for many of us to be able to get into the schools to celebrate with our veterans on staff and from our community and we just want to thank all veterans in our community for their service we also had fun with lots of our elementary schools as they celebrated Halloween and had their Halloween parades we also had parent teacher conferences so um all parents had opportunities to meet with their teachers and discuss their children's progress we'd like to celebrate two National Merit Scholarship semi finalists both from Liberty High School RAF Chima and Santosh manican I hope I said that correctly so congratulations to them we also want to say congratulations to um a few of our students for their

101participation at the national level for our na the national leadership and skills conference congratulations to Ethan Trager and Isaac Roseberry from North Point High School for placing sixth in the skills USA national competition and Jackson Vander plug from Liberty for placing 22 in the national competition at Windville middle too their National Junior Honor Society hosted a successful blood drive with the Red Cross and they surpassed their goal of 40 donors so we were excited for their efforts as well um just recently uh St Charles Community College had their groundbreaking ceremony for their new Innovative campus that's coming here to the to the Wentzville area actually located in our school district and our megatech Tech students who attend programming through St Charles Community College they were invited and were able to be on site and help

102um with that ceremony so we're excited for that as well then um earlier in October we sent a team to the Kansas City area we are continuing to look at revising our programming at the secondary schools and we visited um three different locations we visited the Missouri Innovation Center we we visited the Independent School District and Lee Summit school districts and we specifically looked at how they're creating program opportunities for students specifically focusing on Capstone experiences during their Junior and senior years and how they're supporting both their local Tech schools and collaborating with local two and fouryear colleges and universities to be able to offer many opportunities for them and so what's new and Innovative about this we learned a lot about our next steps for internships and Capstone experiences for students especially to go

103along with our new pathway ways programs that we're going to be able to launch next school year and some of the information on those purposeful and intentional Partnerships between k12 and higher education were very intriguing to us and something that we continue to uh want to pursue along with additional Partnerships with business and industry and as we're moving to our next phase of the pathways and purposeful connections between the courses and those long-term goals this information is going to help inform our practices moving forward and so we do have a few action steps that the team is continuing to um pursue meeting with the chamber to explore additional Partnerships internship planning business Partnerships um and bringing them into our school district through information and partner breakfast and exploring high school summer school offerings so this

104visit was very exciting we're we're looking forward forward to um pulling many of those items back into to our high school programming last weekend we also were very excited the Wentzville um fire district Outreach uh works with this the wizville school district and this is their 11th year of operation warm to supply brand new coats to our students and families that need them and it's such an amazing opportunity they provided nearly 300 brand new coats to our elementary students and it was great to get them to come in pick out the coat they love the most and just with a giant smile on their face ready for winter we're also excited to recognize three outstanding teachers for the 2023 Emerson teaching and Excellence um teaching Awards jod Owens is a special education teacher at w

105bash Elementary Leslie Brown a math teacher at North Point High School and Megan Ms a fifth grade teacher at from Journey Elementary are our um Emerson Award winners this year and that can be a round of applause for sure we also want to say thank you to our um wiell Foundation Lake View Elementary was selected as the foundation's People Choice Award winner and they have a $2,000 grant that just came to them so thank you to to the foundation for that generous donation also sept or November 7th we had a professional development day um if you want to follow along with what our staff is learning you can follow the hash wsd learns at this um on this day we had almost 400 responses to our survey that went out 87% of those responding found

106the PD relevant and 85% found it very engaging and so we're continuing to um Monitor and evolve our programming to best meet our our staff and then as they went through it to some of the feedback that um they said I appreciate the opportunity to have time to plan and prepared to run reading success plan groups I also appre appreciated the asynchronous style as it allowed the team to pause and process information at our own pace and discuss things in real time I loved how we discussed how we can help our leaders run more effective PLC meetings I've always been interested in knowing the EOC government scores it was pretty cool to sit with the high school teachers and engage with them and analyze the material and test data and so those are just a

107few comments to give you a glimpse at to things that teachers were working on we also wanted to give a quick update for our English language arts curriculum process and um the the pilot that we're getting ready to um start so around 50 of our kindergarten through fifth grade teachers will begin the first round of piloting this month they're they're going to receive training on the comprehensive program Benchmark advance and that training is going to be set for November 20th and they'll be begin implementing the program the week of November 27th the two unit two two units that each grade level will pilot have been identified in The Benchmark Advanced resource the units chosen over the tight um over the tightest alignment to our Cur current pacing and scope in sequence the piloting teachers will

108have an opportunity to get support from trainers and have weekly virtual check-ins and two check-ins will be required questions and comments will be submitted prior and Benchmark Advanced trainers will address the needs of the teachers and the pilot principes and literacy coaches will also receive updates and an opportunity to check in with the trainers and Benchmark Advanced has dedicated National professional learning and piloting experts to the onville school district and so this phase of the ELA pilot will go through early January we also wanted to inform anyone who's interested in potentially running for um the Schoolboard election that will be held in April there will be a board candidate information meeting that will be held on November 20th from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the administrative Center um and so if you're interested please come

109and join us and we uh receive lots of information on on how to work through that process we also are excited to announce the board literacy Workshop has been scheduled for December 6th and more information will come on that soon we do have a couple of updates the community engagement event that was originally scheduled for December 6th is currently being rescheduled for North Point we will have more information soon on that and the district will be closed for Thanksgiving break from November 22nd to 24th one of the things that um I will be sharing with the board um this evening as we start to reflect over the time that I've been here as superintendent I wanted to share some of that information with the with the community as well just looking back as almost an

11018-month recap during the last year and a half we've opened North Point Middle School we were able to reorganize the district um in a very comprehensive way for Staffing support we've invested um significantly into Safety and Security from Partnerships with our first responder groups in emergency planning to additional SRO officers and other um enhancements we have um had several Cris crises that have happened in the district from the floods that happened or the um water main breaks that happened over winter break to the fire at Green Tree and we've been able to respond very quickly to those we've embarked upon Community engagement events that have been um very successful as well we're very proud of the fact that our Bud we are on budget we have 25% reserves we have clean Audits and we have

111the lowest District tax rate in over a decade we conducted a wage analysis and were able to provide salary increases to become more competitive for all of our our our our employee groups we engaged in interest bargaining based bargaining last year that really helped us in um improve morale and relationships and communication and uh address problems together we've worked on many incre opportunities to increase communication within the district and with the community and we also Focus very heavily on revising our school improvement process we were lucky enough to be able to start a care tolearn chapter which is providing resources to all of our schools to help combat the ba the barriers to learning around Health hunger and hygiene we were able to have a come home campaign last year that brought over approximately 70

112veteran amazing staff members to to our teaching ranks and we're excited for that that we're being able to Embark and move forward with leader and me we have the facilities Master's plan that for the district that you're going to hear about tonight that we were able to do um the first 100 days campaign with learning walks throughout the district really focusing on and observing instruction and learning we were able to completely revise and overhaul our code of conduct which also include dress code and cell phone revisions we were able to also for our our employee and District awards banquet add in four new categories to to celebrate our district Partnerships and volunteers of the year and um so uh substitutes and things like that we were also able to get everything in the work Works

113moving forward to add a much needed stoplight at Frontier Middle School we are currently also in the process of CIP planning for our strategic planning one of the things that we're excited about that went out in the mail yesterday so if you're a resident this is going to be hitting your mailbox is we have our very first district wsd annual report if you're not a district resident or you would like to get an advanced copy we have a few over here on the stage that you're welcome to pick up we hope that you you read it it has lots of highlights and many accomplishments for the district from the last school year and the most important thing and the reason why we're here is academic achievement and so the last couple of superintendent reports I've

114been um really trying to highlight academic achievement in our district and so you've heard me talk about how we've had growth in every single one of our early our end of course exam and map areas for every content area across the district that is amazing we also had growth in our AP scores of our scores of three fours and fives over the previous year it was a 16% increase and what this shows the blue area is wizville this shows the growth that you actually heard Dr Jill Clon Smith talk about a little bit earlier when you look at our counterparts in the county this is for reading data we are number two in the county for growing our students year over-year um as compared to our County counterparts and when you look at math we're

115number one in the county for growing our students and that deserves a round of applause also in terms of other updates I just wanted to share an update regarding the concerns around discriminatory behavior and diversity concerns that you heard last four meeting you also heard some this evening um and I since our last board meeting our team has met with Community groups and and heard from various parents listening to their stories um and we are currently setting up meetings um as you know I have my student leadership advisory groups and the students are bringing this up to me as well and so I am in the process of setting up um a meeting with some of our student leaders who want to start talking about value and belonging and what we can do in this

116District to truly understand the experiences of our students and then begin to address them as um a a cohesive United Community moving forward we also um I mentioned our CIP strategic planning process and so with that we're reviewing our community input around belonging for all students and staff as we consider the future priorities and recommendations for the district the code of conduct committee has also had one meeting since our last um board meeting and they have met to look at um the process for uh clarifying consequences for discriminatory language against any protected class so those conversations are in um are happening right now and the administration also has begun some preliminary stages of creating a format for potentially creating a value and belonging advisory committee to help provide input and feedback on this important and

117sensitive issue uh by bringing various perspectives to the table to help guide us through this process as we move forward again have a a plug in here we are always hiring and looking for great people to join our wst family so we are looking forward um to um having more people join us and the last thing is just I want to wish all of you a very happy and restful Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving break with your friends and families and as superintendent I am so so grateful and thankful for the amazing staff students parents and community that we get to work with on a daily basis so with that that concludes my comments all right thank you Dr tormala so moving on we have the consent agenda president Goodson oh sorry yes I may I ask

118that the flashlight camera thing that's yeah Manda that is in the eye that is bright yeah director Lewis did you have a comment yes I do couple couple questions from the presentation by by superintendent uh one of the statements that was made about the the El trials that were starting up there are those programs that were were trialing or demoing or whatever the word is are they different than what were available for us when we've had a discussion two months ago I believe that those are um The Benchmark program is on the Desi approved list so that is one that we we desie has had on the list for so I'm just I mean this is this becomes challenging as we talk about dates moving and and different votes that been taken on the board

119so back in September we voted we said let's push things forward so that we get get things started for the the the new uh the new program and we got significant push back from all parties related to The District saying that you didn't give us enough time it's not reasonable so we we we stepped back and we said we listen to you give you enough time so what ended up happening is when we to said originally we were supposed to we wanted to have this by November you said it wasn't possible now in November we're demoing and we're at the same place where we would have been because you didn't choose any different programs that were available in September am I right um D director Lewis I can also ask Dr Brett Schneider to weigh

120in on this but last month when the academic Services team presented they showed that we were moving forward with the recommendation of bringing forward um a proposal to this meeting and then they had the timeline for if we had extension and so so the opportunity for our staff to actually pilot would not have been able to occur if we brought you a recommendation today so since we're able to take more time the staff is piloting that program and we will have more information to inform that decision and recommendation Dr Brett Schneider would you like to add anything yes so um and just that very well said but um one of we have two of the resources those two were the original resources um that we were considering those are the only two resources recommended by

121desie um and so what the extension like Dr tala said gave us the opportunity to do was put in teachers hands and be able to give us feedback on which one they liked better which one worked better for their students which ones we saw more growth in um and then it also allows us to kind of get a feel for the companies that we're going to be working with and training with um and and just have some more experiences with them so we plan to go through those two pilots um and then bring that recommendation um in March like we said in October I believe okay well thank you for the for the explanation I guess I still am confused and I I just make one comment I move the second point I mean if

122there was only two to choose from there wasn't a lot of due diligence had to happen to end up at the same placees where we're at now where we're demoing that and so so we actually we originally had 15 that we reviewed and we narrowed it down to two Oh I thought there's only two there so there's only two to choose from that excuse me that desie recommends okay um but we originally started with 15 I believe 15 or 16 that we reviewed um as a curriculum committee okay thank you and the other thing director Lewis as well even though Dy only has a few on the list for um approved vendors the district could choose to go with something that's not necessarily Desi approved as long as it meets all of the research-based criteria

123that desie has set forth and that the district has vetted and has documentation that that it meets those so there are other options that you can choose to go for that may not be on the Desi list as well okay thank you one last question and I'll I'm done with this part um superintendent when you talked about we're number one and number two in growth statistics are a funny thing you can make them say whatever you want relatively speaking depending upon how you package it how are we if we're number one this year or right now in math how does the achievement not against the rest of the counties but against you know our our targets the are we seeing real growth um do it making sense what I'm asking so over the last couple

124of months we've been bringing um achievement data to the board for for um review and understanding and so for math in particular for our EOC testing but from the spring of 22 to the spring of 23 our Algebra 1 scores grew by 3.4% our Algebra 2 scores grew by 2.9% our math MAP tests so that would be grades three through eight those grew by 5% and so when you talk about creating realistic goals for improvement one of the benchmarks that we typically hover around is if you can get to that 3% Improvement Mark you're moving you're moving the kids and so we are starting to hit all of those um for example English 2 eocc is grew by 5% biology eoc's grew by 15% government eoc's grew by 3.6% the map Ela grew by 2%

125um the map science grew by 5% you heard me say earlier that our AP scores of 3 four and five grew by 16% over the year prior and so we're moving with our scores and what the Highlight for the growth that we're mentioning is that's looking from child to child from one year to the next and we are individually moving our kids at a much faster rate than our peers in the county and so what you saw was for reading we were number two in the county of moving children from one year to the so during our time my time here we're starting to really move individual kids as well as move the needle on overall achievement scores as well and then for math with growth we were number one in the county for moving

126growth for kids from one year to the next okay thank you you're welcome president Goodson yes just real quick uh Dr Toma on on the resource that we are piloting I was just wondering have we reached out to Lincoln County School District I know that they've had this um this is their first year with that resource do you think it might be worth to collaborate with them kind of see what's going on I'm seeing and Miss McBride you don't have to answer to it it would just as a followup it would be um good information to see the feedback you're getting from that District so that's that's something we can maybe put on a staying on board but I'm hearing her say that they have reached out and they have that information and I believe

127too director Su uh vice president Su they went and they actually went and visited and saw kind of saw it in action to last year yeah that would be nice if we could just include the takeaways from that visit your conversations with them for the board okay any other comments here all right moving on to 13.1 we need a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented motion second any discussion um I just have some questions I didn't want to pull it pull things off the approval of the custodian of Records is that a promotion from within so the new custodian of Records is a new employee for us Joanie Goodwin so she's it's it's the replacement for she's already here she is currently working as a substitute for us and it's she's on the

128agenda for approval okay I was just checking and she's training right over there wave Jody um the other thing was I just wanted to comment on the 3.10 I think it's still 3.10 maybe it's not the bid for the uh window film it is 3.10 uh we'll be voting on accepting that bid from a local company here in oallen called total tinting for Windows safety film and installation and I just wanted to thank Josh Schaefer as well as the staff and community members who have worked on the Safety and Security committee I think you all have great ideas and input and I've enjoyed working with you all in our efforts to secure our buildings and keep our kiddos safe and staff safe any other comments no okay all those in favor say I all those

129opposed motion carries moving on to Old business 14.1 we've got a presentation on an Sesser fund update I don't know who I'm turning that one over to though we're going to turn that over to Dr lebrat and Dr Brett Schneider okay good evening um this evening we would like to provide an update on our essr funding these are the elementary and secondary school emergency relief funds that we received to support schools um during and after the pandemic um on slide two do I have it I do thank you on slide two you will see the breakdown of the money that was allocated to the school district as are 1 two and three equal approxim $10 million for the onville school district 20% of our sr3 funds must address student learning loss and our planned expenditures

130actually for sr3 um exceeded that amount in order to obtain Sesser funds the school district had to submit a plan to be approved by desie this plan was called the American Rescue plan Elementary and secondary school emergency relief the plan was submitted on August 23rd 2021 and it was approved um by desie on November 9th 2021 so almost exactly two years ago um we're going to walk through some of the components of the plan this evening and then if um people have questions we can go ahead and take those as well um the wiell school district started this process by surveying our community to gather feedback regarding the allocations of funds their survey was open from July 26 2021 to August 4th 2021 and the feedback indicated that we should use the funds for unfinished

131learning interventions both academic and mental health related social emotional learning and mental health related positions and programs this survey data was used to determine the best way to move forward in meeting the needs of our students after the effects of the pandemic it's kind of small I guess you can see it up there too um as you can see these are um just kind of a sampling of who Took the survey we had around 2600 people who took the survey and in that survey um our highest priorities kind of that Rose to the top were Recruitment and Retention of high quality staff addressing unfinished learning among students and providing Mental Health Services and supports from that data that we collected a plan was created within the school district um in the teaching and learning tee

132at that time um the district provided professional development to staff one of the biggest um things that we focused on was student engagement and small group instruction last year alone we held over 248 professional development learning opportunities in this in these areas both virtual learning and in-person learning were offered and students were given devices to remain connected to their class in the years after the P pandemic even if they had to be out sick or if they had to be quarantined so that was a priority as well the district Focus focused its plan on creating an intervention structure at district and school levels to meet the needs of students Based on data we were able to hire an intervention coach to lead this process and create a three- tiered structure focusing on academics behaviors and

133social emotional learning we have worked to create a three- tiered support model and problemsolving team in all of our buildings to date and this work will be completed by the end of November this work consisted of identifying tier one tier two and tier three instructional practices in tier one it is a prevention level all wsd students will have access to a central grade level standards tier two is intervention that all wstd students will have additional time during the school day and support to master essential grade level standards that they have not mastered in tier one instruction and tier three was defined as remediation all Windville School District students will have the have intense remediation and Universal skills not mastered in other grade levels from this funding we also hired a reading interventionist at the secondary

134level at Pierce Hall the district also focused its plan on Mental Health Services and support and the adaption of social emotional learning into the Core Curriculum school day we were able to provide an additional ESC at the middle school level and an additional counselor at the elementary level the district piloted and adopted a social emotional program for kindergarten through 12th grade we will continue to monitor the effect on our students through the use of belonging surveys and the measurable results assessment that is provided in the leader me content and measures the effectiveness of these practices within our school buildings another aspect of our plan was to provide collaboration time to teachers regarding student data and to participate in professional learning we've begun the implementation of PLC professional learning communities we the PLC processes and we

135are currently training our teachers and our administrators to use data to guide instruction and meet the needs of the students in the classroom we've worked to identify tiered interventions and align them with unfinished learning in the classroom through the use of I ready benchmark assessments progress monitoring tools and my path in grades kindergarten through 8 and the NWA Benchmark assessment to guide instruction in math Ela and science at the secondary level this SL here is a breakdown of our Esser expenditures by category 19.1% was for operational continuity and other allowed uses is 14.1% was for mental health supports for students and staff 66.8% was for meeting students academic social emotional and and other needs the the these this excluded Mental Health on slide nine this slide um breaks it down into Dollars amount dollar amounts

136for the three categories so the three categories were meeting students academic social emotional and other needs excluding mental Health was about $6.8 million the mental health support for students and staff was about $1.4 million um and the operational continuity and other allowable uses was about $1.9 million these last two slides that were included there's no way that you'll be able to read these on here but um they really just break down that different spending within each of those categories um and tell you specifically kind of what was spent in those three areas to add in to um Dr sher's presentation on these last slides 10 and 11 um although you can't necessarily see it well on the screen it is available in diligent so that you could look through that it outlines the year that

137it was allocated um whether it was Sr one two or three what the description was as well as the amount and it's also colorcoded to see it easier Kathy and Joanie um I know you said that it's the Powerpoints in the agenda as her overview PowerPoint but we are not seeing it on our end of it I think it's loaded as a PDF document perhaps Dr torula on item 14.1 um Esser overview. p PDF is a PDF the PowerPoint presentation it's right underneath the title okay sorry yes it's not an attachment it's right underneath that the title s or fund date I apologize next time we'll name it presentation we made ourselves a note it also isn't letting us open it I think we're okay with that was that that was the end I assume

138any comments questions from the board on this issue yeah director Lewis you'll find over time I always have questions um so I'm I'm looking at SRA 3 and and this is this is new to me but what I heard when I came on board was that we could only spend Esra dollars on certain things therefore we dumped $2 million a million of it of of Esra and a million of of board or the school district into leader and me what I'm looking at here on this it looks like all the other Esra things that we could have done uh instead of the leader and me we could have uh moved up Ela K through 8 curricula maybe instead of this year and next year it could have been a year or so ago um I

139see where we have the things with HVAC we all know the condition of our schools and HVAC challenges we had a five-year plan that we're still trying to figure out where all that fund is going to come from maybe looks like we could have used s for3 funds for that as well this is the problem that I've talked about in the past and it still really irks me we went and spent money that has nothing to do with the teaching of the kids has nothing to do with the maintaining of the school districts buildings and and infrastructure and that pretty soon we're going to be asked to spend some more money that we probably don't have that we're going to have to come up with and yet we have money to put things that don't

140even tie directly to learning and I'm going to be asking when it comes time for this where's my $2 million dollars back that we wasted on leader and me to cover these other costs that we now have I just have a question um Rick on the or maybe it's Dr leat on the virtual salaries and benefits numbers or line items in that last slide were those were those for staff to to work on in Virtual when we were virtual Crea a virtual option during Co and are those employees still here to date I can speak to the fact that some of it was like virtual enrollment for offsite but Rick would know more about the Staffing I guess it's it's really a question Rick around recurring versus non-recurring is the is clearly where I'm going

141with that question uh those are non-recurring but then there was additional headcount that is recurring which is the interventionist the ESC addition Etc so look my my view on that and I think I added it up it's I thought the virtual was a one-time non-recurring but there's about 600k of of recurring costs that are embedded within this number the eser funds were a fungible amount that had dictations of what we were allowed to spend on and when the HVAC was clearly for covid during ventilation needs that were specific at that period of time the district has signed up through Esther funds paid one time almost $600,000 in the $10 million that we will reoccur every single year and so that being said it's not the simple trade-off of leader and me or not we we

142have now this recurring expense that we are taking a one-time cost then basically paying for that over a recurring basis it's a flip and I don't think it's a fair assessment to say it was a waste because we are agreeing to take on within our General operating fund a 600k recurring cost every single year and not acting asking for taxpayers to benefit from that and that's how we've done this in my opinion president Goodson yes so so the things that that I I guess I just would like some clarification on better understanding on um well first I requested that we have this discussion just so we could be clear about what we're doing um and how we're doing it and the timeline of all all the things that we're doing um when it comes to

143some of the positions that President Goodson was talking about um one of the things that I was just you know Dr Toma we were having a conversation wanted you to speak to was because these are one-time use funds I'm assuming we're going to want to keep these keep these um positions so just moving forward how what is the plan to support those positions financially so that that would be the first question um the other question um Dr Brett Schneider was just about the multi-tiered systems of support um you had mentioned that the work is going to be done in November is that is that what you said the timeline had tier three and problem solving teams ending um being completed in November so so does that mean we we should be able to have this

144throughout our school district next school year or what when are we going to implement this and implement it with fidelty yeah so we're we're a go right now we're we are constantly consistently working um on that um the the goal was by the end of November that the plans were actually written um and so throughout that process they have been implementing their plans um so they're kind of writing and doing at the same time um the um RSP process really kind of expedited that for us at the beginning of the year especially at the elementary level um just because um number one it was good for kids and and we wanted to absolutely meet meet kids needs um in the area of reading um but we had that data we had specific goals we had

145to write um and a process we had to follow and so that really expedited our process for elementary they really got to experience erence it while they were writing it um and they really they really Rose to the challenge and did a good job with that it was a lot it it was very stressful and a lot of work but they they did a great job any other questions comments oh there's a question there you had yeah sorry I kind of skipped over Dr Tera just with this Staffing and I think Mr Angie Vine wants to answer that question uh what I'd like to say about that is I think the the district did an incredible job on on not spending money on recurring items there are districts who are in dire need uh and

146have spent a lot of their money on recurring expenses yes we did spend about $600,000 on recurring expenses one thing I do have to say is is I am not and nobody would commit and I don't until we have the budgeting process for next year uh we will look at all positions we'll look at everything that we do I I can't guarantee that we will or we won't that's not my decision but I think we've done an excellent job in uh very much cutting back the use of recurring uh expenses with the Esser considering we had $10 million worth of Esser funds and when we did do these recurring funds we we knew what we were doing when we did them it isn't anything that snuck up on us this was a conscientious decision made

147by made by this staff and I just I kind of want to just real quick sorry Shannon I'll go to you um and then my my view of comfort of that um point is every year every year when we approve the budget we get a five-year rolling view of that as well um while it's simplified it assumes the current staff plus a 3% on employee cost increase over that period of time it makes assumptions around revenue and assessments that we will have and at least the two and a half years now three budgets I've seen we've largely stayed aligned to that and been able to then meet our budget hit our threshold of 25% and so I take comfort when approving this is a while ago we approved these recurring costs that when we go

148through that you know strategic planning process and those um points in the budget that we will have that ability to meet those recurring needs that um we've shown in the future and in the past of being able to do if I can add as well one of the things with um Brian Bishop coming on board and myself we are taking time to really this year go through all of the different positions that we have and really take a close look at them as well making sure that we are meeting um the intended outcomes and needs with our current Staffing models and so we will be looking at all of those positions um and working with Rick and his office as we are beginning to put plans in place for the beginning of budget development for

149next year so I I do have a request and um I'm I'm just kind of looking for board feedback here on some of these big ticket I items um the seal and the multi-tiered systems of support um it does say on the application that there's going to be an evaluation frequency of on those things every semester um I I think it would be really helpful and great information if the board receive a highlevel report out of where we are on some of those things things um some data that can speak to how it's helping our students um move them forward so I I think that would be helpful for the board to know and and I would just also request that not be in stain on board maybe it's just a document we include and

150consent and then if we want to pull it to talk about it and get get some more additional information we could do that then but again SE seeking input I'm fine with that ask we could put on the action item list and have those clarification points added to that I think that's fine all GRE Shannon vice president stoy yes all right any other discussion on the yeser fund update okay let's move on to 14.2 the CF process update Dr Le Brat's gonna take this one all right I am really excited to um lead you through where we are so so far in our CIP process update I was fortunate enough to be on part of the CIP committee as steering committee as a principal 5 years ago and so it's awesome to help lead that

151work um in this five-year iteration we have worked in CIP planning closely with a steering committee and um that's who initially guides the work so essentially at the very beginning of the CIP process um your executive cabinet starts determining what that might look like plotting out some timelines starting identifying some key stakeholders and in our steering committee Bren if you'll switch to the next slide um that started meeting in September of this year and it's comprised of District administration Board of Education members building Administration from elementary middle and high school um our teacher of the year Ina and 4894 presidents a student from each high school and they are the most exceptional members of our entire committee they provide more insight than we ever could as a group of adults each time they talk um

152it's just really exciting also parents were invited from each Feer pattern and they often come and participate as well as a couple of community members too um so that we have good Partnerships with our community members as I said those meetings started in September we've had meetings on September 8th 20th and most recently on November 14th um we'll also be scheduling those out from uh late November through March as well the goals of the steering committee is to do just that is to steer that CIP process and if you're unfamiliar with what a CIP process is it's comprehensive School Improvement uh plan and it's for a five-year period as I mentioned earlier kind of just driving that Mission Vision motto what are our main goals for our district for the next three years um what

153are the sub goals under those what are of those action items and so the steering committee not only helps um create that mission and vision with the main and sub goals but it also oversees that subcommittee work we've had over 70 people who've expressed interest in being parts of subcommittees so really trying to seek a lot of community student staff feedback and our um our goal also of the steering committee is then to produce a final CIP draft once we've sought out that input and provide that to the board of education for their recommend Commendation and approval in regard to community engagement events we have had four of those if you'll switch to the next slide in those Community engagement events sorry we had two for staff um October 9th and 10th an early session

154for our secondary staff so they could come right after work and a little bit later one on the 10th for the Elementary staff so they could come right after work and then following each of those staff engagement sessions we also had some first students families and community on nth on the 9th and 10th one a little bit earlier one a little bit later to try and accommodate for um availability for as many people as possible I would say we had um between 30 and 50 at our staff events at each of those and our community events I would say probably 50 to 70 at each of those um so we did get some pretty good feedback there um in regard to the goals of the community engagement events those were to teach our community about

155the CIP process we want to make sure that you know what are we're doing what the vision is for the process um so that you can be part of that and be involved we asked for feedback from our community after we reviewed the district data we shared academic data we shared uh parent survey data we shared demographic data from the last five to six years just a really um strong showing of what our current reality is because if we don't ID identify what our current reality is then we don't know where we're starting from and it's hard to identify where we're going next so in reviewing that data we then asked our um Community to provide feedback we wanted to know what do you see from these presentations or from your lived experiences what are

156our strengths as a as a district and what are our weaknesses and then adjacent to that what are opportunities because of the time place um current events that we're in what are our opportunities for growth what should we capitalize on because we are in this unique time and place and what are the threats to Our Success the antithesis to that opportunity there same as strengths and weaknesses um so that's a SWAT activity strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats we identifies those as a steering committee shared those in the community engagement event and then asked for stakeholder additions and also feedbacks um and sorry feedback and allowed them to vote on those um SWAT items we also requested um anybody who is interested in working in subcommittees to let us know through a QR code which we'll

157also share up here and then we will be selecting those subcommittees very soon the next slide shows you some of those swats strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats again partially established within that initial steering committee and then shared out and built upon in those Community engagement events um we were excited with the amount of community feedback we had but we want to reach more people and we know that more people want to provide feedback than are actually able to even attend those events sometime uh so we sent out a community survey we put it in newsletters um Bren put it as um like a an alert on the website so that if you got on the website it asked you to take the survey we got I believe 700 responses 728 responses if you click to

158the next slide and we asked them after looking at the information from the community engagement SWAT what are the top three priorities that you believe the wsd should focus on in the next cep 482 people said academic achievement closely followed by College and Career Readiness which is also in that vein um we had a strong showing for safety followed by social emotional learning uh facilities and finance we also had representation for diversity Equity relationship building attendance and then sense of community so that's our 728 responses and the feedback that they shared not only did we ask them to share the top three we also asked one by one what type of priority that was for them on a fourpoint lyer scale very important important um not important or like extremely not important um just trying

159to get a feed on what each one of those topics meant to them and then also trying to figure out what are your three big rocks asking in multiple ways so we could really drill down um to what the priorities of our community are and then next steps which is exciting again there's a QR code here if you have interest in joining a subcommittee we like I said we've had SE over 70 people who've said they're interested in joining we are excited to bring um lots of diverse ideas and experiences in the steering committee will develop or will review input from all the forums and develop strategic priorities which we've just finished on the 14th priorities will be assigned to subcommittees we actually need to finish a little bit of that work identifying those three

160main priorities we know academics is clearly one um and then those subcommittees will be tasked with developing goals metrics and then the minutia of those action steps and who's accountable finally the steering committee will review that subcommittee work they'll synthesize it all up create a final draft and um seek input from the board prior to asking for final approval we are shooting for March 27th of 2024 so we are excited about the work that we've done we are very appreciative for the community members and input theyve provided whether it in person or via survey also appreciative for the staff and student Fe feedback that we've gotten as well so thank you guys so much for participating in CIP I see lots of familiar faces and appreciate that and we look forward to seeing some of

161you Ser serve on subcommittees or providing further feedback thank you guys okay any questions on the CIP update from the board director Lewis you you always said you had questions I'm just kidding by the way just kidding I was holding off what I was was going to say is that I was very appreciative of 10 slide deck I appreciate the point very nice job okay pardon me president Goodson yes I think we have solved the issue with the missing PDFs if you all would like I do see that now if you refresh refresh everything should be up to date thank you for your patience okay so let's move on sorry I lost my spot yeah so moving on to new business uh we need a motion to approve it's on 15.1 uh we need a

162motion to approve the board of directors election resolution as presented so moved second that was Shannon and Julie any discussion here on the election resolution should be pretty straightforward okay all those in favor say I I hi all those opposed okay eyes have it motion carries moving on to 15.2 the construction conu of facilities long range planning presentation I don't know who kicks that off I'm going to kick it off for us and I think bren's going to pull it up here and run the PowerPoint so good evening the goal of this presentation tonight is really twofold the first is to gain authorization to go out for bid for the proposed reach and early childhood facility that's been recommended by our construction committee both in 2021 and again more recently this school year and the

163second reason is to really give an overview of the comprehensive research that's been completed and the long-term facility needs of the district so our two most recent Bond issues were props e and C C was approved by the voters in 2020 and it was to construct northp Point Middle School which opened last fall our last 10 construction projects have been on time and under budget and so in 2021 the construction committee looked at the remaining funds from those Bond issues and the reach Early Childhood Center was a unanimous top priority so since becoming superintendent about a year and a half ago we've really focused a lot of our efforts on determining the facility needs future planning and those types of things in the district and so to give you a quick understanding of the work

164and the research that's occur heard we began engaging in facility walks to make sure that we began that Master planning process to truly understand all of the needs of all of our facilities we identified priorities of HVAC Roofing Legacy building upgrades playgrounds for Ada safety enhancements we had an energy audit and we also determined other facility needs last winter and spring we hired new staff last winter we hired Josh schaer as our new executive director of facilities and in March we hired Angela Hawkins our director of Maintenance and they brought in fresh eyes into the district to really look at all of our facility needs we've met with all of our municipalities to talk about growth and future developments we've created an interactive map that we use it in our office for all of the

165new developments we've met with Ducket Creek and as you may be a where in 2024 they're going online with a new sewer treatment plant which has will have immediate capabilities to be able to provide service to 18,000 plus new homes we engaged in a demographic study we've created building capacities at with future five-year projections we reviewed possible boundary adjustments we've worked very closely with our Architects and Engineers to create updated maps of all of our facilities a master facilities document that's never been created in this District before that has literally everything we need to know about every facility that we have and we've also talked about potential additions on buildings we've investigated land options looked at our current Parcels of land that we have and we we've also begun discussing areas that we may want

166to consider in the long-term future for future campuses we've worked with our finance team to review our bonding capacity for long-term projects the possibility of a no tax rate increase bond issue and we've also investigated Creative Solutions to possibly lower our overall tax rate for our residents in the process which earlier you heard me say that our current tax levy our overall tax levy is the lowest it's been in this District in over a decade and we actually have ways that we could lower it even further but all of those will require Community engagement which we hope to engage in over the coming months we also reconvene the construction committee as I mentioned and they again unanimously approved the reach Early Childhood Center as the priority moving forward and as I mentioned previously the last

16710 construction projects from props andc came in under budget due to solid fiscal oversight the district also has been able to reserve funds to fund a five-year maintenance budget to cover our HVAC Roofing and other maintenance priorities and again our construction committee was convened in 2021 and to identify the priorities for the remaining funds and they determined reach in early childhood identifying ways to address welding needs at Holt High School and with that now I'm going to turn it over to Rick anguine our CFO to talk with us about District fund funding and financials thank you Dr tala looking at this Slide the district started this fiscal year with over $80 million in our capital projects fund this $80 million is closely split between Bond capital and non-bond capital Bond Capital came from the sale

168of bonds and is restricted to expenses which were approved by the voters These funds must be spent on these items within a limited time frame non-bond capital primarily comes from local taxes and only can and can only be spent on Capital items on the next slide you can see uh as previously mentioned by Dr tlaa unanimous consensus was reached by a long-term capital Committee in 2021 to build a reach ECC Center this is represented by the term reach plus alternates on this slide with board approval the the wsd admin administrative staff has spent over a million dollars in developing plans and moving forward with this project the board recently asked Administration to have the long-term capital committee reconvene to take a second look at the opportunities for using the available funds the reconvene committee looked

169at other opportunities as represented in the first column on this slide these options will be discussed later in this presentation looking at the second side of this chart both committees 2021 and 2023 agreed that the $40 million in bond Capital should be used for the 5-year Capital plan both the $40 million for reach plus alternatives on the left side of this chart as well as the $40 million for Capital maintenance on the right side of this chart were included in the balanced budget approved by this board in June now I'd like to turn this over the presentation over to Josh schaer the ex excutive director of facilities thank you Rick as Dr tormala pointed out when this District hired me in January uh she tasked me with developing a comprehensive facilities master plan since then

170I've engaged our skilled trades teams in-house project management and our friends with owner uh honer Architects and McClure engineering the information we review that we reviewed beginning in January I started meeting with our teams doing facility walkthroughs and meeting with building administrators uh since that time my directors and I have met weekly to discuss goals Vision Values and creating buyin and build our teams to improve accountability the board has approved several contracts that provide routine preventative maintenance and all of our large equipment freeing up our hardworking technicians and maintenance workers to perform other tasks in support of our students and staff other identified priorities that my team and and I discovered were timelines and life expectancies including but not limited to hfac Mechanical Roofing needs and warranties playgrounds and sustainability and our energy star scores

171districtwide getting into some of our uh HVAC in this slide in red you will see that just shy of 25% of the district is scheduled to see large HVAC and mechanical upgrades beginning immediately and into the next three years those sites include Timberland Wentzville middle South Middle this building Holt Heritage green tree and our non-instructional sites about 177% of the district as you can see in yellow we'll see major upgrades in the three to six year window and all else in green are not forecasted for major components or major upgrades until the seven-year plus window moving into districtwide Roofing needs in this graphic you will see districtwide uh needs called out keeping with the same model immediate needs uh into the three years in red making up 27% of all district RS needing attention or

172warranties that are about to expire that list includes the following Prairie View Piney Ridge Pierce Hall Frontier Middle Dell Elementary Boon Trail Barfield and again our non instructional sites there are four buildings indicated in yellow that should see some form of attention and then the in the next three to six years three to seven years all of the rooms have been replaced or restored and are covered under warranty at this time sliding into playgrounds you can see the list of the priorities that we have identified as needing attention keeping with the same model Boon Trail Crossroads Barfield and Heritage primary uh again immediate needs into the next three years those priorities will include play structures playground surfaces and we will have a Keen Eye on ADA compliance next slide we're going to talk a little

173bit about sustainability and building envelope um just to clarify for the room that may not be aware of what a building envelope is uh the building envelope refers to the physical shell of the building that separates the indoor environment from the external environment it consists of walls Windows Doors Etc as we look at our uh districtwide energy star performance ratings The Graphic outlines where we are doing well and also where we have opportunities for improvement those buildings include Boon Trail Piney Ridge Frontier Middle Dello Elementary Lake View Prairie View Discovery Ridge and Stone Creek all those buildings that need a little extra love future projects include energy efficient equipment tighter building envelopes LED upgrades with dimming capabilities and occupancy sensors uh I'd like to point out also five of our buildings are close to qualifying

174as certified energy star buildings that's something I plan to accomplish this year while bringing the scores of the other buildings up and increasing our annual utility spend with that in mind I added notes I'm not sure if you can see them here on this graphic uh I did add notes um that if we were able to get our all of our energy star scores across the district up to a median score of 50 we will see an annual recurring Savings of around $266,000 a bit of a loftier goal but I think we can get there is if we were able to get our energy star scores up to 75 we will see an annual recurring Savings of around $760,000 a year and last but not least for me uh wrapping up the the master planning

175Ducket Creek as Dr Toma pointed out is scheduled to be online by the end of 2024 or early 25 and uh this District needs to be prepared for that growth uh at this time I'd like to turn over the presentation of Dr Janelle Mueller executive director of operations to speak more about the demographic study thank you thank you Josh and good evening through the demographic study that was completed this summer and shared with the board we learned that the wsd can expect a slight decrease in enrollment with incoming kindergarten classes over the next several years this is primarily due to the declining local burst since 2017 we also know that the multiplier used to project future student enrollment for single family homes is 0.54 with this in mind we may need to discuss boundary adjustments

176in the future potential future growth in the demographic study did not include Ducket Creek within the executive summary of the de of the demographic study we also learned that the elementary school populations are projected to be study over the next 5 years at the middle school level the population is is expected to increase by about 5% over the next five levels additionally at the expect the by more than next five years Dr tormala will share further information regarding the Ducket Creek development which was not included in the demographic study so as you know Deca Creek's the new sewer treatment plant it's opening in Fall of 2024 for and will immediately be able to handle 9500 plus new homes with non major modifications at a later date it could handle up to 18,000 homes and it

177could be expanded in the future with more infrastructure to handle up to 26,000 homes if the Wentzville boundaries and students were perfectly balanced so all of the students that come to us they were appropriately balanced at the right schools and the right grade levels our district at 100% capacity for our K12 buildings could hold students currently we have 17572 students in the district K12 with Ducket Creek being able to serve 18,000 homes and the demographers projection of 0.54 students per fingle single family home that could be approximately 9,000 plus more students over the next 10 years now I'm going to walk you through our current building capacities with fiveyear projections from our demographic study and again remember that these do not include any projected growth from Ducket Creek unless the development project was already on

178file so if we start with the Holt feeder pattern currently the Holt feeder pattern and schools are comfortable with the building capacity and current student enrollment that they have the fiveyear projection show some increases to the middle school and high school as you heard Dr Mueller discuss that those those areas are growing by about 5% over the next five years we anticipate that the schools in this feeder pattern will be able to continue to serve their students comfortably the Ducket Creek service area will not impact this feeder pattern however on a side note these are many of our Legacy Schools that will need future attention due to to the Aging facilities and we will discuss that a little later in this presentation the Liberty feeder pattern continues to see growth and will absolutely be impacted

179by the Ducket Creek expansion Liberty High School is currently operating Beyond capacity at 101% capacity when our schools begin to operate beyond that 85% capacity threshold that's when we're beginning to hear concerns about space utilization and being tight and needing more room Frontier Middle School has expressed concerns about our current capacity and space utilization in the five-year projections Liberty Frontier and dwell will see growth Liberty and dwell are projected to exceed capacity again this does not include any additional homes from Ducket Creek that will absolutely feed into these schools dwell may need to be considered for a potential boundary adjustment in the future in the Timberland feeder pattern it continues to see growth and also will absolutely be impacted by the Ducket Creek expansion when again when our schools begin to operate Beyond 85% that's

180when we begin to hear concerns about space utilization Timberland is very full at 93% capacity green tree and dellow are also at or Beyond the 85% threshold in the 5-year projections South Middle green tree Stone Creek and dwell will see see growth again dellow is projected to be exceeding capacity and may need to be considered for potential boundary adjustments to balance the incoming population Boon Trail in this feeder pattern could absorb some dwell students if necessary and again these numbers do not include any additional homes from bu Ducket Creek the north po Point feeder pattern also has potential for growth North Point High School is still filling out from the opening and does not currently have a full senior class this school year next school year North Point High School will serve all the students

181that live in their attendance area most schools in the North Point feeder pattern are operating comfortably or have room for future growth with the exception of w bash Elementary that's currently operating at 93 % capacity W bash may need to be considered for a potential boundary adjustment to balance the student population tiny Ridge could absorb some of the wall bash students if necessary since they are currently operating at 55% and are projected to be at 48% in 5 years as we've continued our master master planning our future Focus areas that are not currently budgeted in our 5-year master plan budget include the Reach Center and you're going to hear in a moment from Dr lebrat about the facility needs for this group of medically fragile and vulnerable children The Early Childhood expansion Dr lebrat will

182also talk with you about our early childhood Needs wizville school district is currently the only District in the county that does not have full day full week or a fully comprehensive tuition paying program to serve typically performing students and we know how critical that is to Future achievement also our Legacy Buildings absolutely need attention and have a long list of items to be addressed future additions to existing buildings for potential growth we will we will discuss those a little later in this this presentation a future purchase potentially for land purchase for future additional growth we will also discuss this and then other facility upgrades or construction needs without W within the district Dr labr Deputy superintendent of students and schools will now speak to us about Reach In The Early Childhood Center good evening again

183thank you so much I'm excited to be able to talk to you about um two of our facilities that really serve um awesome populations of our students and families as we mentioned the construction of a new reach adaptive Learning Center is proposed area of focus to expend the remaining propy funds in addition to the financial timelines bonding parameters and other District priorities I'd like to take a few moments to provide an example of the current reality at reach the corresponding limitations and the potential value that could be added to the program in District as a whole by investing in the construction of a new facility let's take a look at some general facility limitations as as well as some ADA compliance concerns our maximum capacity is at 25 currently and we have current student placement

184needs both inside of our buildings and students in outside placements of our district well beyond that our current Reach Center is a facility the district rents our lease expires in February of 20126 and it's also important to note that all upgrades renovation and maintenance is the responsibility of the district for both labor and expense since this wasn't constructed as an educational facility there are significant concerns including segmented spaces lack of an outdoor space and no kitchen in regard to ADA compliance we have several students who utilize Wheelchairs and hallways are not accessible and restrooms aren't equipped in regard to accessibility or full sanitization needs safety Cur concerns are also considerable in the Reach Center communication such as lack of an alert or Public Announcement system combined with limited self-service are a definite limitation there is

185not an area of Refuge for severe weather nor an intruder situation entry and exit security is lacking without access to be on the district Locking System in no official vestibule area for entry access supervision and response time are also a concern as there is no SRO access in the building or shared with a nearby building and the principal's office is on the separate side from the main office there are several logistical safety concerns as the parking lot is shared with several public businesses there's no school zone nearby students must walk outside to access various parts of the building and a lopment is exceptionally close close to forlane Brian Road this next slide shows an aerial view of reach including its immediately adjacent proximity of being within 10 to 15 feet of Brian road on the

186left side of the screen other public buildings are within this specific structure as well as directly across the shared parking lot the blueprint displayed here provides insight to the logistical structure of the actual facility with tenant two literally splitting the Reach Center in half students and staff have to exit one side of the building to access the other there's limited protection from the elements and the front side of the building's exterior is unsecured and the backs side of the exterior has a fence that's previously been breached so while it's disheartening to talk about the struggles and limitations that we have it's exciting to talk about the value of reach some direct benefits of a new reach building with significantly increased capacity include the ability to retain more students in the district versus paying for an

187outof District placement contract and would reduce time on or eliminate some of these weight list in the last year four students were placed outside of the district who could have been serviced at reach had there been room additionally sometimes outside placements are so full that weight list are six months or more out if they're even accepting names increasing capacity at reach increases our access to the Continuum of services available for families within our district you might ask about how a program and facility that supports a small percentage of our students positively impacts an entire District Not only would we save money as a district on rent Transportation tuition and maintenance expenses expenses but we would also create capacity for each of our K12 buildings both in space and Staffing Resources allowing in-building programs additional space

188for students who need to access those and providing the opportunity for students to flow through INB building and in District programs to access an appropriate Continuum of services more students will have access to an environment and staff who can support their unique needs both in our district in the Reach Center in centers that are located inside of buildings and therefore trickling to each individual classroom keeping our students local and serviced within our buildings by our staff in the least restrictive environment is an overarching goal over the last three years 37 students have received services from reach versus an outof District placement this opportunity keeps our our students in our district boundaries with our District staff it significantly decreases the amount of time spent traveling to and from school reduces time spent on WE list and

189significantly reduces expenses moving on to the Early Childhood Center which is another area of focus another fun place to visit and learn and meet the kids and staff the construction of a new Early Childhood Center is another proposed area of focus to expend the remaining propy funds the construction of reach would provide not only their communal space needs but also those for Early Childhood Center these shared common areas would also Encompass the parents's teachers program the three areas reach early childhood and parents's teachers station would share a warming kitchen for students a student lunch area a mechanical plant a data room and a multi-purpose activity room for students by combining these three spaces together we would be able to combine our resources and share and utilize those common spaces depending on the construction bids we'd

190like to build as much of the attached Early Childhood Center as possible at the same time much like the previous slides with reach our community is asking for additional slots for early childhood education this is made known by the extensive weight list over the last several years this year alone there are 128 students on the weight list and during the two years prior there were more than 60 each year this doesn't take into consideration the fact that we often stop adding to the weight list once they reach a certain capacity and it also doesn't consider families who choose not to be added once they hear there's a weit list or families who can't access it because it's only a partial Day program although we've indicated the birth rate is declining slightly as you saw in

191the slides prior the number of spaces we have for Early Childhood is significantly disproportionate to our needs the birth rate is 2,000 plus per year within the wsd boundaries meaning that's well over 4,000 plus students and probably closer to 5,000 because students who qualify for special education needs can go up their third birthday at any given time that's three and four and three four and five year olds currently Barfield Can Only Hold approximately four 00 students and that is only for halfday programs the location for Barfield is also a limitation and a deterrent for many of our district families being located on the far eastern boundary of our district it's not convenient for many of our families who transport their students and necessitates exceptionally lengthy bus rides for our youngest Learners on our special education

192Transportation routes session options as I've mentioned before are limited there there no full day partial week options nor are there any full-time five day a week options all classroom spaces are now full and the music and movement classroom like the special area class is now traveling on a cart to each classroom to make space for additional classrooms which is a good problem to have that you have so many people in the community accessing and wanting early childhood education and then sliding into the value of early childhood education worldwide research as well as lived District experiences support that early childhood education is both valuable and desired in our district the addition of a second facility would more than double our capacity to serve students decrease the weight list and increase capacity for general education spots meet

193our community's request for more Early Childhood opportunities provide added convenience for our families and introduce our kids to wsd curriculum therefore better preparing them for k 12 before they even step foot in kindergarten research shows reaching kids at an early age has strong evidence of future academic success and even points to increased MTH academic performance to address some of the educational impacts High School graduation and college matriculation increases as a direct correlation of Early Childhood access and the need for remediation and special education actually decreases not only does early childhood education have a direct academic impact but it also has a significant and sustaining economic and societal impact as well $1 invested in early childhood education yields a $16 return an increase in early childhood access increases both Economic Development and personal income and decreases

194dependence on social welfare crimer related cost and incarceration rates academic achievement post-graduation success a Vibrant Community and a healthy economy are common goals for our district Community the following call outs about the value of early childhood education all drive home points that support our common Community Vision early experiences promote future improvements in learning behavior and health and ensur students start school ready to learn children who come to school ready to learn are more likely to read on grade level and less likely to incur academic learning gaps and therefore children who read on grade level by third grade or more likely to graduate from high school and therefore high school graduates are more likely to successfully enter the job market upon graduation or seek out higher education opportunities um I was grateful the for the opportunity

195to share with you the current reality the limitations and the value of each of these programs and now we'll hear from Dr tormala and she'll speak about our Legacy Buildings possible additions and purchases thank you Dr lebrat as mentioned previously our Legacy Buildings are aging and have not been given much attention needed during the last decade or more since the district was in the construction phase to address the hyper growth that it was experiencing when we look at our Legacy Buildings we're really going to talk about Holt High School wizville midddle Heritage the Heritage campus and Boon Trail Elementary at Holt High School the lists are long the building upgrades include lighting ceilings doors flooring tuck pointing painting Auditorium upgrades family and consumer Sciences industrial Tech upgrades a main canopy and entrance area stadium and

196turf upgrades among other items at wizville middle school they have very similar things they need lighting ceilings doors flooring tuck pointing painting classroom Cabinetry many of the items still in winville Middle School are from the original high school and have not yet been upgraded for the Heritage campus there are so many needs for that facility that it actually may be cost um uh it may actually be advantageous for us to rebuild that facility instead of repairing and redoing the envelope and all the infrastructure and electrical and technology that it would need in order to meet the current needs and at boont Trail Elementary looking at trying to connect the kindergarten building with the elementary school addressing their HVAC systems if you noticed on the energy rating they are act the absolute worst in the district

197they need lighting upgrades and they also need a a potential gym that could also ser serve as a multi-purpose room and storm shelter when we want to talk about possible building additions since we do not yet know the true impact or the timeline for the impact of the Ducket Creek expansion I believe that it would be more prudent for the district to investigate the possibility of expansions at the schools that most likely will be impacted the most the completion of a building expansion may occur at a quicker Pace when compared to the design and construction process for a new building if the district approaches the growth through expansions it will also provide more time to assess the long-term needs due to the Ducket Creek expansion most schools in the district do have space for additions

198if necessary of the schools that will most likely be impacted by Ducket Creek or are already projected to be at or Beyond capacity Liberty High school could potentially add 12 classrooms at Timberland they have the potential of adding 12 classrooms fairly easily and if necessary we could potentially move with a more significant construction for additional at dellow we could potentially add four classrooms however it would be more prudent at this time to discuss boundary adjustments for dwell at Frontier Middle School one more Wing could be added and then they are completely landlocked which could give them potentially 12 more classrooms and all would need to be carefully reviewed for instructional need if additional facilities like cafeteria expansions additional specialty classrooms Andor storm shelters potentially could be required due to the added capacity and so just

199for um math purposes too if we're adding 12 class classrooms and just estimating 25 students per classroom those would accommodate up to 300 more students at each of those facilities another area we've been reviewing considering for the potential growth is a land purchase for future school campuses to address future enrollment needs of the district over the next 10 15 and 20 years I believe that with the preliminary information that we have regarding de Creek that we will not need to build a school for the next several years we need to reassess the impacts of Ducket Creek and monitor the situation very closely over the next few years but at this time our best guess is that we may need to consider building a new campus in 7 to 10 years based upon the information that

200we have currently we believe that if the district were to purchase land for future growth and development we would want to prioritize in the following areas first the highway in Corridor and that would be fed by the Ducket Creek service area second looking at that North Northwest Windville Area North of Highway 70 and that would be dependent upon the future sewer infrastructure in that area and then also looking at the South Southwest forestell area South of Highway 70 which will also be within the decet creek service area currently the district owns three Parcels of land we believe that the highway in and shaper parcel will be utilized in the future as a middle school the highway in in Morrison parcel this property needs to be evaluated further it was purchased most likely for an elementary

201school but it has a 7 acre Lake on it and the acreage will not be enough for our current elementary designs and we also have a West Meer and Dinky property and that was purchased for an elementary school as well now we will transition to Brian Bishop Deputy superintendent of staff and operations and he'll speak about our construction committee thank you Dr tormo good evening everyone as previous previously discussed in the presentation the construction committee Met originally in 2021 and made two recommendations the first was to use Capital funds to upgrade hbac Roofing and other Capital needs the second was to use prop andc funds for reach and ECC and a welding facility at Holt the committee was reconvened at the request of the board the new committee was provided progress updates on propy andc

202they reviewed previous committee information and recommendations funds that had already spent towards those recommendations and provided an overview of the current reality for the district the committee looked at the possibility of new construction outside of reach and ECC an important factor considered was the need for propy money to be spent 5 years from its issuance which would put the deadline in September of 201 25 due to timeline constraints new construction projects which would require identifying and purchasing land initiating new schematics obtaining construction drawings and obtaining construction bids these were not a feasible option the committee then began looking at other options to utilize the roughly $40 million available from prop C current estimated cost for construction of reach in the alternates land purchase and the Frontier Middle Edition were all evaluated by the committee the

203committee also discussed what work had been done since the 21 committee made its recommendation to move forward with region ECC an important factor considered was that over $1 million has already been spent on schematics construction drawings and bid documents for reach in ECC the committee unanimously recommended moving forward with reach plus Alternatives this plan will triple the number of students who can receive services at reach and depending on bids could could allow the district to significantly expand Early Childhood Services that we offer Dr torm will now share our facilities priorities and our recommendations in next steps as we move forward when we discuss immediate needs within the next one to two years short-term needs within the next five years and long range needs we have the following priorities so for our immediate needs we we're

204going to talk a little bit about the reach in early childhood Construction you've heard reasons why these facilities are needed for our students the current reach facility rental agreement is ending in February 2026 and those students will be displaced the funds remaining from the bond issue must be utilized from 20 by 2025 some have asked if we've considered purchasing the current reach facility or another available property while we're open to those ideas other limiting factors are at Play and we have not found a property at this point that would be desirable Architects and Engineers have stated that retrofitting current construction that was built for retail space or other purposes can be more timec consuming and equally as costly especially given the specialty needs for students at the Reach Center we will be required to add

205storm a storm shelter at any property the proximity to Major roads can be a concern as you heard pre previously access to Green space for playgrounds is a necessity ability for staff parking bus Loops parent drop off and pickup and the ability to purchase design and retrofit in a timeline needed for bond funds to be spent and when the current lease expires is very unlikely in addition since this meeting has been delayed for several months we also are in the position that if the board does choose to approve this this evening and we move forward the current reach ECC Center would be open for our students to move in in December 2025 any delay continues to move that date back or forward and with that as we mentioned the current lease expires in February of

2062026 so we don't have much time we also for our immediate needs have safety enhancements currently $2 million of our funds are earmarked for additional safety enhancements includ including window safety film which the board approved this evening and an active Intruder defense notification system within the next five years we need to address our Legacy Buildings we may have to add possible additions for future buildings for growth we will want to consider possibly purchasing land for future years we will want to have continued safety enhancements for our facilities and there are other facility needs that we will also need to address and when we talk long range that's when we're talking about the potential of building a future campus and also needing to address our buried infrastructure at our Legacy Buildings everything that we see above

207ground is aging but everything below ground is aging as well so what are we asking the board to do tonight we're asking for for them to authorize the next steps in the process to allow us to issue a bid document for the reach in early childhood construction the bid recommendation authorization would still need to be approved by the board before construction would occur again important information the current lease for the Reach Center expir expires February 2026 and a delay in the approval will prevent the building completion before the lease expires the money for propy has legal spending obligations which must be contractually committed by September 2025 and the board has previously authorized schematics construction drawings and bid documents for the reach in Early Childhood Center with over $1 million spent to date if the board

208authorizes the district to issue the bid documents then the next steps would include advertising and issuing the bids reviewing the received base and Alternate bids determining the feasibility of the alternates with the budget and then recommending the contract and project scope to the board of education for construction you might be thinking well what about all the other needs we talked about tonight the district will begin a series of community engagement sessions over the coming months to engage the the community in conversations about our long range facility priorities to gather input to also educate the community on the district finances bonding capacity a possible no tax rate increased bond issue including Creative Solutions that could potentially pay off other debt and reduce our overall Debt Service Levy for our residents this could be a potential win-win

209for the district and the community the district is able to appropriately plan for and manage growth while addressing our aging facilities and other priority needs and the community could have their overall tax rate lowered we would also conduct a feasibility study for the community's appetite for a no tax rate increased bond issue or a no tax rate increased bond issue combined with other Creative Solutions to pay off debt to lower The Debt Service Levy and tax rate and so with that our president presentation is over we've talked a lot so we'd like to open it up for discussion and questions um I'll start that off I'm going to make a motion to issue a bid document for the reach in Early Childhood Center contract second okay second let's start discussion any questions comments from the

210board here president Goodson if I may yes um I want to first thank you guys I it was incredibly comprehensive and I really do appreciate all of the time and effort you put into the presentation for us this evening um my question is regarding the reach uh the current Reach Center um I took the opportunity to tour and Dr lebrat like you make it look a lot better on paper than it does in person it's it's I don't even have words for it um but my question about it is how much annually does the district pay for rent and various maintenance for that building uh I'm looking at the uh the lease right now currently we are paying $126,000 a year uh the last year of the lease which would end in February of 26

211would be just under $150,000 a year for the lease director Scott if I can answer the second portion of that question the district is currently spending on average about $10,000 a year in uh maintenance and and funds to keep that building operating uh Capital Improvements uh included in the year 2018 and in the year 2023 uh we about 55,000 so with Rick's numbers and those other numbers that I just gave you thank you other questions comments I have a question for me uh what are we currently paying for the outof district placements all right stick with me I've got a couple different numbers here um so typically on an out of District placement we have three zones at reach depending on the impact in the needs of the students so if you are looking at

212your lowest conceivable cost for a reach student a reach student who has um the least support um the least need in regard to Transportation all of those things you would be looking at about um 120 $530,000 a year at an outside placement um I would say a typical student that you would look at could be upwards um a little over $200,000 a year including Transportation um a student who has medical fragility um potentially needs medical intervention a a nurse um potentially two AIDS instead of a nurse those types of things um looking at Transportation the Staffing and the tuition would be um close to $420,000 a year in looking at our expenditures on reach students last year um on average we spent $122,000 per student um that was inclusive of all staff nursing therapies rent

213the electricity bill transportation and gas questions comments director Lewis dark in here didn't it going down uh question that I had was uh when we if we put this Bond bid out uh what type of criteria are we applying to that for biders should be in Wentzville biders should be in St Charles County uh subcontractors to the General's GC should be in St Charles County is there any limitations that we're placing director Lewis I thanks for the question tonight I put together or you guys approved the RFP for Windows safety film when I put that RFP out uh I specifically put on that RFP that we would be accepting bids from local biders and that's something I'd like to stick with if we can keep the money in this County or somewhat local to the

214state I think that makes the most sense for us thank you any other questions here president gon excuse me so I just had a question about the facility maintenance piece uh Dr Toma you mentioned that the Heritage campus is in is in it's not in good shape so and and you mentioned that we just might have to start over that definitely raised my eyebrows so but with that this plan includes that that's going to be a priority building where we're going to address HVAC and Roofing so I mean I would obviously love to see improvements but I'm just trying to figure out like kind of have to be one of the other right you want to invest the money and then end up so what are can you provide some thoughts with that sure and

215I might have Josh also chime in so they the Heritage campus needs significant renovation right HVAC Roofing the building envelope and I could be wrong on the estimate the building envelope updates 1415 million correct that's 14 million so those are just what we kind of need to do to keep it watertight and preserve what we've got right and then in addition to that if you haven't been to Heritage this is also a place that we need to take people on tours because because literally I still get lost every time I walk in there and there's not enough electric there's not enough power in order for us to have the technology that we need in our classrooms or to be comparable to what we have in other schools it needs so much work and to then

216if we renovate that while it's currently a school we have to displace those children and we don't have enough space to displace those children and so when we've started looking at the pros and cons of how do we renovate what we have or do we build something new and protect the character and the Academy Gym and you keep those pieces that make that the heart of that area and rebuild it in phases and move children in phases you can do that without displacing them and what we're finding is the difference in cost and the difference of impact that it would have on our students is leaning Us in the direction of a rebuild would actually be more advantageous for our students and for our district than trying to continue to peace me it with millions

217and millions and millions of dollars of Band-Aids any other questions here yeah um I just have a couple comments not questions um I did get to sit on this committee the second time that it was around um and I went into it with an idea of what I thought would be the most beneficial to the district and that idea was definitely confirmed after all that information was shared with the committee um I'd say second to the reach and ECC campus uh a soft boundary adjustment to elementary schools I feel should be a priority um but when it comes to reach I did tour reach right after I think Dr TMO was hired that summer Brian Bishop Danielle and I went and uh a Community member really prompted me to go she called me and she

218just had a really passionate compelling um you know plea to me so we went um you know both facilities are inadequate for different reasons the Barfield is just too small um both services are critically in need of our advocacy by passing the motion to go out to bid uh reach the t-shirts while I was sitting here you know they said that it's an Adaptive Learning Center um but the program needs a facility that allows it to be just that uh strip mall is not adaptive the playground is not a playground by any means uh the fact um in fact the space as a whole simply is not compliant part of our job is to provide the space but in my my eyes it's not just provide an adequate space which we have not done it

219is to provide a safe space an exceptional space for our exceptional students and this motion has my full support any other comments questions yeah um sorry go ahead um I I do have a few more questions so I I agree with Katie that the boundary issue needs to be addressed so um if if can come back to the board so we're not surprising our families about talking about those kind of things if you could just later at a later date just provide a timeline to that and then as we talk again back with the maintenance the facility maintenance plan so it has you know buildings that need to be addressed within three years three to seven years so when we talk about this bucket of money that's going to go to this maintenance plan it

220what is the timeline for that is it up to seven years or are these just building that there's enough money there that it's only going to be for the three-year plan or like how how much time is that is that director Sully vice president Sully um yes to answer your question we're budgeted out Rick and I have actually been meeting on this uh for the last several months and we're budgeted out easily for the next five years Rick um so most all of our Capital needs uh outside of bond are pretty well covered and we feel able moving forward okay and one more question I'm sorry but you guys it's 69 slide deck presentation so you got to bear with me so the other question is with if this is if the board approves to

221move forward to the next step is there flexibility with the building since half of it is going to be for reach and half of it is going to be for Early Childhood is it can you talk about the flexibility that's this building might have as enrollment uh Trends could change on either either one side of the building or the other absolutely so I'm going to have Dr lebrat talk about two things can you highlight the shared spaces that would be shared between reach and early childhood and then can you also talk about should we have any open space how other District programs could utilize it absolutely I had mentioned if you say slide 62 if you'll show slides 62 I don't know what's on 62 it's going to be a surprise all right so while

222that is queuing up um some of the shared spaces include um a warming kitchen a mechanical plant the student lunch area a data room and the multi-purpose activity room um those are spaces that can be used for um Early Childhood those are spaces that can be used for reach and I would expect that the um multi-purpose activity room could even be one that we rent out to our community much like our our high school common spaces additionally parents as teachers is going to be there and that's a huge piece that connects um our families and our community with really early Learners to the extra supports they need at Early Childhood um they would have communal spaces many times families feel more comfortable meeting outside the home there will be spaces and resources there for those

223families and parents as teachers would be able to work hand inand with Early Childhood which is critical in identifying those students who need us the most and the most quickly um in addition to those spaces there's a lot of flexibility why we built it intentionally for the needs of reach and took input from those staff members and those families we also have considerations and in any open space is great we love open space because there's places and things that we could put there um some considerations that we could use districtwide if reach did or reach your Early Childhood did have some extra space at some point in time which we don't anticipate but we always want to have a plan B we could look at our secondary level one autism centers if they were to

224expand we know that our um population of students who have autism is increasing and as we see those numbers increase that could easily be an area for um to serice students those are adjacent to North Point middle and North Point High School so they wouldn't be isolated students could still um pop over to North Point middle or North Point High and be part of that Community if that were in need um the Pierce alternative program is also busting at the seams we have our anab Branch social emotional secondary program at Pierce Hall and um we also have Middle School intervention at Pierce Hall we'd love to extend that Middle School Intervention Program into a high school Intervention Program as well a little bit different than your typical alternative program but any of those programs would

225flourish in that building um which would open up more space at Pierce for our traditional alternative programming or even other options and um lastly we could look if we needed to at some Elementary options such as um additional social emotional programming additional autism programming if if we were um in need of additional spaces and there it was available any other questions comments yeah so I'll just make my my kind of last points on this I I think it's wonderful that we have this choice in front of us that we even have the $40 million to have options to weigh in the first place it's a testament to the way in which we've operated construction and the bonding money in the first place over the last 10 you know as not just this board it's been

226pass boards and administration that's created this space I I find it encouraging to hear Josh after doing facility walks for the better part of six months a year to say that we've got the capital funding to meet those needs and those High priorities that were highlighted into those I I think this is an absolute abolute must for our district you know when we talk about academic achievement and compare to other districts and use other reasons on why maybe we're not achieving and using excuses for why that is we're never using this as an excuse to talk about the fact that we are behind and what we're meeting those needs on those kids I mean there's stats after stats that Jerry has shared that proves this will improve academic achievement and that is one of our

227four goals as a board and I don't think we can ignore that I've been an advocate for this building for this expansion of these programs and will continue to do so far beyond my time here this you know cross functional admin team has put I'm sweat and tears into this presentation but two years worth of work leading up to this to prove that we didn't have a growth concern that we were busting at the seams that we needed this money for instead that we can meet this master plan Etc and I and I commend the work that's been done to date and I am looking forward to voting yes on this motion I have some comments president Goodson yeah So and I've tried looking back through the 69 pages but do you guys know off

228the top of your head what the max capacity of the reach side and the Early Childhood side would be separately we do so re let me see if I've got it Jerry so reach um Max Capacity is about 70 60 but we could do 70 and then for the Early Childhood it's about 400 and where are we at now with both of those so reach right now we're sitting at 25 and we have students that are outplaced and we have students on weit lists and we have the students on weight list are on homebound so they're not anywhere but at home with that right now and then we have students in our schools that we know could potentially qualify as well if we had additional space and then for um Early Childhood we have approximately

229400 right now at uh Barfield currently okay so I guess my question is and you guys probably did look at this but um why aren't we making it bigger so we're not maxed out at 400 as soon as it opens the doors so in the grand scheme of things also looking at the funding and the budget that we knew that we could work within um we weren't going to jump out of the gate right off right out of the gate and build a massive facility but we do have room for additional additions for additional classrooms to be added on the Early Childhood side so the design is such that it can continue to expand in the wizville way of you build it they will come and we keep we keep adding right the other thing

230as um I think maybe one of the speakers tonight kind of talked about proximity once we see that we've filled this location it very we proximity is a need for families for um tuition families too because they won't have transportation so they're going to have to transport their children so at some point we may want to add another Early Childhood Center when the time is right when we filled and we know that we need room at one of our NE other feeders and continue to grow slowly um as the need is there and as our students and our community grow it's realistic that at some point given the size of our district and the needs that we have that we potentially could have an Early Childhood Center for each of our feeders at some point

231but that's many years down the road so we would have Barfield and this new center totaling in 800 student capacity yes any other questions comments okay can I make one comment just to tag on to clarify too so when this goes out to bid there's a base bid for reach plus some of the common areas and then there's alternate bids right and so when we get all of those in we're going to look at the budget to see how much we can build we're hopeful that we're going to be able to build the whole thing but if not early childhood would be built in phases so that um we're at least able to have some classrooms and then continue to add classrooms as the funding is available okay um Kathy can we do a roll

232call on this vote please yes can you tell me please who made the second on that motion that was uh director Scott thank you uh roll call uh director Lewis I director Scott I president Goodson hi director hanky nay vice president suy I director Olen I secretary liac I thank you thank you Kathy motion carries moving on we need a motion to approve so we need a we need a motion to approve the 2023 2025 W uh educational support counselor's Master agreement as presented so moved second that was Shannon and Julie any discussion on this item okay hearing none all those in favor say I I all those opposed nay okay motion carries 61 moving on to f 15.4 uh this was moved to new business by director hanky uh we need a motion to

233approve the November 2023 bills for payment I make a motion to pull Ed Council for a separate vote second is that which one is in that or where is that in the list of attachments um that was um I are you just saying all payments to at Council just separate vote okay yeah and I have I have a couple other motions you want me to do them all at the same time because I want to pull a couple from different areas yeah I'll take them all okay so that's the first one um and make a motion to pull all the books for a separate vote so you don't need a Moote let just give me the list of what you want I'll make I'll then go make SE separate motions for those just you want

234books Ed counsel what was the other one that was it okay Renee can you speak closer to the mic yes I can do that so I think what we have here is to pull out Ed counsil invoices and charges as well as any and all books in the list or separate votes so I'll need a motion first to approve all payments for the November 2023 bill payments as presented excluding Ed Council invoices of payments as well as purchases of any and all books so moved okay second that was Shannon and Katie all those in favor of that motion say I I I I all those opposed nay motion carries now moving on I need a motion to approve the Ed Council invoices and payments that were presented in the November 2023 bills payment as presented

235so moved second was Shannon and Katie all those in favor say I what are we vote on sorry we got a motion a second to approve the Ed Council payments and invoices discussion please okay yes please oh I'm sorry I did I thought we were voting on the bills all the bills to be paid we just did that first okay so then so I need to make a motion on the Ed Council payment I I just got a motion in a second to approve those payments so we're in discussion on that motion that I have on the floor I want to amend the motion I make a motion to hold all of Ed council's payments until they provide to the board the documents I have asked them to send to the board which includes all

236virtual conference meetings conference and meeting notes emails phone call records phone calls phone call notes voicemails and related documents to all of that labeled board matters policy matters and Personnel from April 1st to present to include answering the question why Dr tormala legal requests are at no charge second discussion I have an amendment on this motion discussion from the board I think this Mr President Goodson if I may I think this is important because we spend a large portion of money on our outside legal council and we've been asking for these documents for months with nothing and if we're about transparency and working together as a board I think that's in that's a very critical piece of that puzzle uh to add on to that I think it's an appropriate for our district council to

237withhold any information from any board member which they have done constantly and repeatedly yeah just my my view on the why Ed Council or any council is going to withhold a request like that for a single board member as it needs board approval to do so and I think that's obviously what we're asking for here but pres yes if you are privy to any information the boor should be privy to the information that's been the standard since the GetGo and I have not a privy to those information their phone calls with you and what I have asked Ed council is to present that information to the entire board I'm not asking it for myself individually I understand that but I'm that's what I'm saying like you're bringing that forward now for us to consider but

238that's why they haven't to date uh Pat do you have comment to add yeah we have a pending RFQ that was issued last week and I've have serious reservations can you hear me better serious reservations about the message that it sends when we are publicly seeking new outside counsil and um I have been involved uh to a certain extent with some of these requests for records and Ed to council has been very clear it requires board approval by a majority to obtain those records president Goodson if I may yep those aren't the records we're talking about Pat we're talking about the records that include phone calls emails all correspondents with members of this board we're not talking about what I believe you are referring to also everybody who works in the education industry knows that

239school districts are going to need legal counsel and I don't think any but there's a line out the door for people willing to come here and put in respond to our RFQ or RFP to get our money so I don't think we're going to have a problem getting legal representation all we're asking for is transparency if one board member knows something we all know something okay got a motion I've got an amendment on the original motion um so I'll do a roll call vote on that please Kathy could you repeat that um excuse me president Goodson um and director hanky is it possible for me to get a copy of your motion so that I can put it correctly in the minutes do you need it right now or you are you asking me to

240email it to you I'd say just email it we don't need to clarify that I think the board understands the motion that's on the table okay could I please clarify so we are I make sure I have it correct um vice president stoy made a motion to approve the Ed Council bills and the invoices for the books that were pulled and secretary liac seconded it and then director hankki May wanted to amend the motion with her statement is that correct Andor partially correct the motion that uh Shannon made was specific to add council's uh invoices and payments not the books so it's only on the Ed council issue that we're talking about here and then yes it's right that the statement that or the motion that Renee made she'll send that to you an email

241so it's reflected in the records but I think the board understands the motion here thank you and just to confirm um director Olsson seconded director Hank's that's right requested Amendment okay and did you say you want a roll call on this thank you for your patience director Lewis hi director Scott n president Goodson n director hanky I vice president stoy nay director Olen I secretary liac nay Amendment fails so moving back to the original motion and second Kathy can you give me a roll call for that please yes what's the original motion the approval of the payments and invoices for Ed Council just Ed Council okay thank you um for the motion to approve the invoices for Ed Council only director Lewis nay director Scott I president Goodson I director hanky nay vice president stoy

242I director Olen nay secretary liac I motion carries um I need a motion to approve the payments for any and all books within the November 2023 bills for payment as presented so moved Julie that was Julie do I have a second president Goodson I'll second that motion y go ahead discussion I am I just asking that we um do not approve the books for payment um until we are given like th this is the packet that I have of books that were being asked to approve tonight and there is about 40 or more on a page and if we're going to do our due diligence to ensure that we are putting appropriate content into our schools this in my opinion is unacceptable I am I don't know if I need to make a separate motion

243but I I don't think that it should be Pages like this I think we need to have a limit on how many books we're putting into our schools every month if I may what I would recommend because this is a theme I would recommend you work with Administration on a potential policy that allows for this to be clear um hamstringing purchases in a way that's unclear and seems to be individualistic doesn't help so let's manage by a policy and if you want to work on a policy that helps that issue I think that would make um this go a little smoother are you talking about the library policy then or is are you saying if it's a general policy that gets to this place of where we're purchasing books how we purchase those books how

244they're procured how they're considered how they're considered age appropriate whatever that may be that causes consternation on the issue I think could be put in a policy that then allows the district to be able to purchase books and not be you know at the whims of an individual board member but specific that the board then approves Katie did you have a comment I think we've had a conversation about what I'm going to ask but just for a refresher um and I realized that appropriate content is a subjective you know term based on who you ask but can we definitely say that that packet of books at least complies with the um explicit sexual content law that was passed by the state what two sessions ago is that Dr BR Schneider or yep Katie can you

245go yeah sorry um I have I've not gone through every single one of those books personally um but we have explicit um explicitly worked with our staff and our teachers um on Senate Bill 775 and so yes we're confident that we are absolutely abiding by the law one of the other things after Senate 775 went into play one of the additional layers is that sometimes when we're purchasing books right we're looking at reviews and things like that we may not know what illustrations are in a book until you get the book so one of the safeguards we also have as before any of the books go into inventory they are personally gone through and if there should be anything that's questionable it does not get distributed and it comes up for administrative review so that

246is an additional safeguard that was put in place with Senate Bill 775 once that initial review of all the library um collections were reviewed so that's an add-on so just to clarify why why are we putting this many books every month into our libraries I don't see any being surplused out this just seems like a lot I'm I'm just curious why there's so many going in at one one time Dr Bren Sneider do you have any thoughts Rick it looks like Rick wants to have a conversation yes uh we do a surplus books uh this board uh Surplus books in both uh well hold on let me look it up for just one uh second here um bear with me I did see some textbooks like some biology books from one of the schools being

247Surplus but I think these are like library books well I think I can kind of as Rick's looking for his information too our libraries and our schools have budgets for library books classroom books they have books for additional instructional materials and so they do work throughout the year to place those orders and if they are collaboratively working together then across the district then that's where you're going to see some large purchases like that as well um and typically and I don't want to speak for our Librarians but what I've known to be true in school districts that I've worked in previously that Surplus and weeding out process of the library typically will happen later in the school year with large numbers being surplused like at the end of the school year or during the summer

248and I'm seeing head nods that I might be saying the right thing so I'm seeing head nods from our staff out there so I think that that ALS Al plays into it is that the Surplus process the weeding process usually comes later uh I would like to make a comment I do have a couple numbers here we do Surplus them mostly at the end of the year but this board approved 160 boxes of library books to be surplused by this board on March 30th 2023 so 160 boxes of books were s Surplus then and then again in April 20th of 20 this year uh the board also approved curriculum book books to be surplused but it is true most of the books will be surplused later uh in the year this was a surplus that

249this board already did approve if I may um one other consideration in regard to Surplus I know that many times as Librarians are weeding books um they offer those to the teacher classroom collections as well so many times that's how our newer teachers add to what they have in their classrooms so they stay within the school okay any other discussion here yeah I just want to follow up um and say I think some of the concern with this very long list of um books being purchased is a couple years ago I remember um speaking with Librarians speaking with Administration past administration about how certain books were getting into our schools and the response that we got back was that books come in in such large quantities that there's no possible way to go through them

250all to check to see if there's an appropriate content in them and they don't know every title that they're purchasing they're on a recommended list and some of those recommended lists are not following Missouri state law because they're National lists so that's the concern it's not it's not a a indictment of our librarian staff it's a huge mountain to climb every month when you have aate stack I tens of thousands of books it looks like there a lot of books to go through so that's that's part of the concern this isn't it's not just about not um Surplus when we're buying this many we're not get getting rid of that many or they're not appropriate material per se based on one person's opinion it's about the state law and that's it and I just want

251to say I'm not accusing our librar our Librarians of anything that I think that's going to get twisted I'm just saying this is a humongous bulk and they may have been able to go through a few of those books but this is a lot to go they are buying recommended and all of the books that all of the books were getting again as part part of the revised process in Dr Brett Schneider or act Services team if I say anything incorrect here please correct me that part of us moving forward with Senate Bill 775 is that our while some of those lists are curated lists from the different book companies that we are still pulling reviews on all of those we're also looking at lists of like controversial books and things like that to double

252check and if any of those lists are on noncontroversial list then we are pulling multiple reviews we're also having staff multiple staff members read or review them before we're purchasing and then when they're coming in then we're they're scanning those those books and looking at the pages for any anything that could be a violation of Senate Bill 775 I would also say that because all of those things are happening getting a list like that now in November gives our Librarians time throughout the course of the rest of the year to have those reviews done because our Librarians don't work during the summer they may have some additional days here or there but otherwise like you said that is a lot right um we also have 24 campuses so depending upon how many different campuses put

253in those book orders um it it may not be as large per school as what that that might seem but that will them time to look through those and make sure that all of those checks and balances are met president Goodson yes so director hanky I I understand your concern and I I I do think it's a good suggestion if you're willing to take it up to to try to work with Administration try to think of a policy so that the concerns are addressed and they're addressed you know know to us so we we have a full understanding of what's coming to us and not in the form of a bills for payment would you be open to that yes I would president Goodson yes I I'm just really struggling I think this is very

254much skirting the line of micromanaging our superintendent and administration and not governing um so I just wanted to add that I do think um Dr tmla made it very abundantly clear that since um the Senate bill passed that the district is following appropriate um procedures when ordering new books and um that should be enough can you point me to where it would say I'm micromanaging by asking a question by a large purchase when asking for nitpicking through um I guess maybe I should say this is uh goes beyond just the book issue but when pulling um individual items from Bill lists yes you are micromanaging part of our statutory duty is to make sure we're get into excuse me president Goodson part of our statutory duty is to make sure we're following the law yeah

255understand so I I but we can ask a question if we feel we need to let's have dorum no no cross here to make your state ments let's not have cross against the board members here okay we've got a motion in a second Kathy can we roll call that please this is a motion to approve these purchases thank you the motion on the floor is to approve the um invoices for books pulled for payment is that correct that's right out of the November 2023 list um director Lewis I director Scott I president Goodson I director hanky nay vice president stoy I director Olen I secretary liac I all right motion carries I think uh vice president stoley you had 155 and six pulled together I think you were going to make a motion for both

256of those I'll let you do that I I am thank you so I would like to make a motion to approve items 15.5 and 15.6 as presented I'll motion that do I have a second second I'm pulling it up my bad you motion I second sorry so um since I asked this to be pulled I just wanted to have a if you guys could explain briefly um we we talked on the phone this obviously is to approve new new positions at at Pion Elementary for Early Childhood we just had a big discussion about this I was just seeking um more information like is is this something that we plan on doing with other schools if there's um if we're you know have low enrollment um just if you could speak to that quickly those are

257all great questions um we were really excited um to receive some additional fun through Federal programs this year um and so with that Dr lebrat and I um worked feverishly this summer to try to pull aside some preschool funding out of our federal programs money um we are investigating and we've been working um diligently over the last few months to research and work with our current Early Childhood um director Crystal um Hunter and um with ryy Andrews the principal at Piney Ridge um because they are not at capacity within their building and had some Open Spaces we had the funding to outfit classrooms we've also applied for a grant through an early childhood Grant through desie that we're hoping to hear about soon to um outfit those classrooms as well um and we're hoping that

258we can service up to 30 students in full day preschools um I I don't know what the you know I can't foresee into the future but it is our goal um moving forward that we have various opportunities for our early childhood families throughout the district um and we are absolutely hoping that we can we can grow this and if I may I just want to clarify that this is just a temporary solution um as you heard us talk today about the potential need of boundary adjustments Piney Ridge would be a school that is earmarked to receive students from W bash and they also do have some additional growth that will be coming into their area as well so um this would be a temporary solution once the new Early Childhood Center is developed we would

259Envision that that would be the comprehensive Hub with with that and Barfield so that our resources our professional development our early childhood supports they're all located together which allows us to operate more efficiently and effectively to meet the needs of our students okay we have a motion a second any questions comments still okay all those in favor say I I all those opposed okay motion carries moving on to 15.7 I'm gonna turn this back over to vice president stoy as well thank you so um this really is just an opportunity I think for the board to recognize that we um I think anybody it's it's not a secret we have a lot of work to do um so I spent some time putting together a resolution on hopefully some things that we can agree to

260work on together um moving forward I can kind of break it down for you if you would like um and go through it or um would would you all like me to do that or did everyone have an opportunity to read this yes no you sorry I don't know what that means are you guys saying you did get a chance to look at it did everybody get a chance to read it yes okay so I mean I am asking for a vote and I'm asking all of us you know if we agree to this to sign to it it's it's I do kind of want to give a high level view it's defining um board responsibilities and Leadership talking about the structure and Frameworks of our meeting delegating tasks um you know rather than going

261back and forth I'm all for a robust discussion but I think you know delegating that and getting the work done is also important um going through professional development that states what our statutory Duties are um and what our roles are um and then a succession plan uh there's two seats that are going to be open um this election and we're a very young board and I think it would be great while we can't pick the new president of the board in April we probably should work on getting some um training and just exposure to the role and what that all encompass is so that's what I was trying to do with this and I try to keep everyone's uh concerns in mind as I compose this you want to make a motion yeah sorry thought

262I was on there I just want to be clear this is just a resolution this does not change policy correct yes correct I move that the Board of Education resol resolution a United path forward charting a new course is approved as presented do I have a second second any other discussion here all those in favor say I I I those opposed motion carries so moving into board reorganization if I can just make a few comments um so I obviously made a post about my intentions here to step down as board president before I take a motion on reorganization and step through the the protocols here Pat I've got just a quick just technical question um just to make sure before the motion we've approved a lot of contracts and typically I sit down and sign

263those right after this this discussion or after we close the meeting I assume because those contracts were approved while I still chair it would be appropriate for my signature to be on that I'm not I don't care either way but I just want to make sure if there's a motion that you want differently because I see my signature name on those contracts if we want to change them it can be you know how this works but I wanted to think through the motion specifically if you have a point of thought there does anybody have an objection to Jason just signning all the stuff tonight or president Goodson okay no all right director Olson that was actually gonna be my recommendation so long as the board is authorized Bon to or president Goodson to sign the

264the documents irrespective of whether he's board president or not it's fine for today's meeting for today absolutely okay all right that's clear so so I make a motion to uh reorganize the board and step down as board president effective at the end of this meeting here I have a second I'll second okay any discussion okay so we have a motion a second so I am stepping down so I'm gonna I've got the script here for how reorganization works I'm the chair today but all right now so I'll work through the um the way the nominations work for this process for the chair seat and then whoever then is elected as chair will then step into this seat and then War through the rest of the board positions for leadership um so what I'm looking right

265now is nominations are open for board president do I have a nomination from anyone on the board for that seat Kathy go ahead I'm sorry I don't believe we had a vote on your motion to reorganize the board that's fair so we should do that first okay fine fine fine um all right so uh let all those in favor say I I I those opposed okay motion carries good call Kathy so now we'll go into reorganization uh so now nominations are open for president do I have a nomination from someone on the board for the board president I nominate Jen Olen Jen has been nominated are there any other nominations for board president any other nominations no I may I I nominate Shannon stolley okay any other nominations we'll now proceed with the election for

266the candidates for board president which are both Jen olssen and Shannon stoy and what we'll do is we'll roll call just name the name of the person you are voting for for that seat Kathy can you do that please yes I can and are we going through first jenon thank you uh no no the way they works just call out the board members they will state the name of the individual they are voting for and you just roll call down the list thank you director Lewis and I vote for H director Olsen director Scott I vote for Shannon stoy president Goodson Shannon stoy director hanky Jen nson vice president stoy Shannon stoy director Olen Jen Olson secretary liac Shannon stoy okay the results are tallied four votes for Shannon three for Jen ol Shannon Su

267has received the majority of the votes is now declared the elected president and now I will relinquish this chair and hand it over to Shannon to finish this out all right nominations are now open for Vice President are there any nominations for vice president please I nominate Jen Olsen any other nominations for vice president I am nominating Katie liac I would like to nominate David Lewis any other nominations Kathy may we have a roll call vote please yes um nominations for vice president are um director Olen secretary liac and director Lewis director Lewis Jen olssen director Scott Katie liac president Goodson Katy liac director hanky Jen Olson vice president stoy David Lewis director Olen Jen Olen secretary liac Katie liac that is three votes for director Olson three votes for secretary liac one vote for

268director Lewis so with that said we get to do this again are there any nominations for vice president I nominate Jen Olsen I nominate Katie liac any other nominations for vice president Kathy may we have a vote now thank you yes this is the second vote on the position of Vice President the nominees are director Olen and secretary liac director Lewis Jen Olen director Scott Katie liac president Goodson Katie liac director hanky Jen Olson vice president stoy Katie liac director Olen Jen Olson secretary liac Katie liac that is four votes for secretary liac and three votes for director Olen thank you Kathy moving on to the next uh officer position I need nominations for board secretary please I nominate Renee hanky I nominate David Lewis I will not accept that if if if it's voted

269I'm I'm not good at that I love your honesty David by the way we really do so right I love your honesty thank so right now we have um one nomination for board secretary Renee director Renee hanky are there any other nominations I nominate Julie Scott any other nominations all right hearing no more nominations may we have a roll call vote please yes this is for the vote of secretary nominees are director hanky and director Scott director Lewis Renee hanky director Scott Julie Scott president Goodson Julie Scott director hanky Renee hinky vice president excuse me president stoy Renee hanky director Olen Renee hanky secretary liac Julie Scott that is four votes for director hanky and three votes for director Scott all right we have finished that moving on to 16.1 board member comments do we

270want to just agree that the msba delegates are the same or how yeah we can do that did anybody want to change the msba or delegate or alternate okay moving on to item number 16.1 board member comments I want to open the floor for any board members who have comments at this time I get the word out president if I may um I wanted to um thank Jason for his leadership for our board um this year it's not been easy and I know that truly very few people understand how difficult it has been and I do appreciate that um and I just wanted to let him know that although initially we did not see eye to eye and never in a million years did I think I would be in a position where I would

271be very sad that he is not our president I um I just also think that that's an excellent example of working together and not seeing I to eyes actually okay and we can um have great conversation and work to move the district forward so thank you any other comments from the board president sty yeah you know J I've worked with Jason and talked through a number of things as well and we uh we agree and we disagree but we keep talking and that's something that I just hope that as we move into this next phase of the year with the the new um agreement that we we've all voted for here that we find a way to focus on the things that we need to with the kids and uh we prepare for what's going

272to be another busy per of time as we move into next year as well thank you president stoy yes I'm longwinded all the time but I won't be here I I just want to thank everybody that shows up to these meetings and has and especially the last couple months it's been great to see different perspectives be brought to the table and to that mic um it brings a balanced view to things that are going on and and gives this board a perspective you know especially in the mic because it does matter when people speak at that mic it really does matter um it certainly influences my decisions um every meeting uh the emails that we get the communications that we get really matter and I appreciate that the community has stepped up in this way

273to to be engaged in what this district is doing going forward I think we have a lot of things that are positive there's a lot of things that are going to be good for this district and can be good for this District so I appreciate that so I just wanted to make a quick comment myself um this is hard work everybody sitting up here knows that it is um Jason thank you for your commitment and your work I appreciate it um I'm hopeful and optimistic that we can these next five months we can work together um and and I know we can and so I'm I'm just really confident that we can do that and and move forward for our students are there any other board member comments all right at this time I need

274oh I almost skipped ahead um 17.1 board action items do we want to go ahead and review our list and see if we want to move anything on up in priority um we are having the literacy Workshop December 6 is there anything on this list um that the board would like to move or ad I just had the one ad that we already discussed just with the Esser funds just a reminder to have a semester report out I'd like to move the bathroom facilities privacy facilities usage policy back to the December agenda for approval second read that was on yes you had mentioned um wanting support from the board about the evaluation frequency for I just typed that refresh my memory what you have yeah that's what I just talked about just making sure and

275then one thing I just when would be a good time to start having the boundary um adjustment conversation so what I have listed for a couple of things for the to-do list we had the semester report out on Esser fund evaluation and having that go into consent I also had on there boundary discussions with communic Community engagement and communication I see that as part of the conversation that I was mentioning earlier that will start in the next couple of months when we talk about long-term facility needs the potential of a no tax rate increase Bond is you this is all part of kind of a package and so I see that those conversations will start here in the next couple of months with our community and then on that we will then keep that as

276a you know keep the board updated of that progress um and then I also had down that um uh potentially looking at our policies around P book book purchasing curating those types of things that we will um have Renee hanky work with admin on potentially looking at some of that for um future consideration and then just my own little personal to-do list then is to add update District letterhead and website based upon our current reorganization okay there was something on here that I did want to go ahead and at least just ask a question the policy 2673 reporting violent behavior is is that something that we can move up to our December meeting as well anybody board anybody take issue with that I would like to see that I'm sorry secretary hanky I I didn't

277hear you I would like to see that I agree with you all right are there any other things before we move on all right hearing nothing else um I need a motion to adjourn Open Session and go into close session for the purposes of legal and Personnel motion second and Cathy yeah I'll need a roll call vote please discussion I'm sorry I missed who made the motion and the second Julie motion Katie second thank you director Olsen did you did you want to say something yeah I would like like a 20 minute break yeah let's just take a quick recess after we adjourn here 12 minutes yeah so so we need to go ahead and vote on a motion our motion to adjourn Kathy can we have a roll call vote thank you I'm sorry

278and I'm going to try to get your positions correct uh director Lewis hi um director Scott hi director Goodson hi secretary hanky I president stoy I director Olsen I vice president liac thank you