001thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board uh tonight we have a member of our fond Council Mr Adam stald here with us and I would ask him to come to the mic at this time uh this public hearing is regarding an upcoming um Bond sale for the 2024 General obligation bonds um Mr sterwald has some additional information to share and we are looking at a tentative Bond sale date um of September the 18th for the project where he's going to talk about tonight Dr Smith uh ladies and gentlemen of the board Adam stero with Barns and thorberg I'm filling in for Jeff Walkin Bush tonight uh he canot be here tonight but he has has sent me in his his spot so uh just give you a little background so I think
002back in 2013 you guys went through the preliminary termination uh procedures approved I think up to $80 million of projects to be spaced out over various Bond issues so tonight what we're here for is approval for 8 million worth of General obligation Bond there are two resolutions one is for the actual authorization of those $8 million bonds the second is for the additional appropriation uh of those $8 million wor the proceeds also uh got word earlier I think it was today that we or no late last week that uh S&P came in and affirm the current Bond rating so that's always great news I want to share that news with the board as well happy to answer any other questions or any other details um can you tell the public what that bond that doua
003plus Bond rating means for our projects yes so the higher the bond rating um the more secure the bonds the more Bond Pur will be interested and uh ultimately results in a lower rate and cost to the school Which is less less taxes on the taxpayers so more participation and more participation and less in interest correct great board do you have questions about these Appropriations I do have one can you specifically tell us what these are going to be going towards yeah um at school buses uh other maintenance equipment and other various small small capital projects throughout the district but uh because I see here too it's the long-term facilities Improvement so is that towards anything that is in our long-term Blue Ribbon plans so it it maintained that name from uh board action that
004we passed last year uh part of that $90 million uh overall long-term plan facility plan so that's kind of where that name derives there's these would be smaller smaller uh projects along the way thank you yes any further questions do we have any questions from the public regarding this information if not hearing no further questions or comments um that will end our hearing oh wait do we have oh the school board oh the issuance of that was everything right so yes we'll bring it back later this evening for for a vote okay this will end our public hearing thank you very much for your time for being here with us thank you and now we will call to order our work session um and first thing is Mr Smith our Blue Ribbon facilities update please
005thank you Madame President Dr Smith members of the board uh we continue to push hard with our high schools trying to finish up the pool at LC uh majority of the tile is now down on the pool side uh the multi-purpose gym the new flooring is going on uh actually going down and that will be the last thing to finish this room up the hallway that's just outside the multi-purpose room it's been closed as we worked on that uh it should be open in the next couple weeks Ln new addition we're still pushing away on that the GL glasses going in both inside and out and finished work continues as you can see there uh the entryway is uh nearing completion and they're moving through the North End that's the new community room uh first
006room to the right when you come in bser we continue to uh renovate throughout the building new doors going in this will help secure and partition the entire building in certain locations the main gym is now complete and uh we're finishing up the uh the new Auditorium the seating we're waiting on the actual seat once that comes in we'll put those on and a little bit of finish Works uh site work is near complete out front uh we are and I believe over the weekend they poured next slide uh to the left and right of the main entrance that'll be full concrete uh F Creek Valley classrooms we finished a lot of classrooms uh in both buildings about 40 and now we're moving through the art department at Fall Creek Valley again the art rooms
007been renovated site work continues on softball field dugouts and uh fencing and of course the grass and so will follow here at LCC concrete work continues with the sidewalk once that's in they'll be moving towards a finished coat on the south end parking and the tennis courts are being uh Dressed with with the Finish color and topping and of course the bridge is demoed and will be rebuilt the new lecc the three structures uh what I call the towers uh elevator and stair towers are up uh we have the curtain wall going up around the maintenance area there on the northwest side and then uh actually we have steel started to be delivered today and base plates will start this week as well fantastic questions from the board I had one um thank you Mr
008Smith it's coming along really well um every day I had a question our high school dedications are Sunday October 6th correct okay and then um how close to completion will Ln and LC be at that point Point um like on the North End of Lin we're hoping them to be 100% complete by dedication okay thank you any further questions from the board um and we will move on Mr miles to request for permission to advertise the 2025 budget thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board uh at this time as we move through the process of um advertising and adopting our budget which is statutorily IR ired by the state of Indiana uh our next step is to um advertise and to get in order to do so we need permission from the
009board in order to do that we uh the calendar is in front of you and also shared uh on our agenda at our last meeting with this was approved the calendar and so this next step is to uh get authority to advertise the budget following that we would have a budget hearing on September the 9th and um adoption on September the 23rd in the meantime the budget would be shared publicly available via our website and also shared with the state through their website um all as required can you please remind us of our fiscal year our budget great question that is a calendar year uh per state statute so January 1 through December 31st and the budget also includes as were required by Statute uh not only our our full financial budget um but also
010our Capital Improvements plan and our bus replacement plan all will be shared uh online the questions for I'm just to verify that I understood it correctly um after our vote today then it will be publicly posted um the budget correct okay thank you and AD oh and advertised corre is it's appropriate so one of the questions because this the first first time we've seen the fisical copy of the budget of how knowing that Esser funds are sunsetting knowing that a lot of those were um going towards uh things like tutoring and those types of things how are we aligning our budget to the board goals to ensure that we're Meeting those goals and we're putting our funds in the appropriate places one of the things that we've always done in this district with grant money
011is that we have never ever um brought those Grant dollars assuming that we're going to immediately push that into our budget so we've learned to utilize those dollars in such a way where it won't have a long-term negative impact on our budget so I will say to the board you have nothing to worry about but there are many things that we had through Esser that we're finding other means to support so looking for other grants and other opportunities for example triy we've seek other grant opportunities to maintain that and keep that going uh one of the dangers you have is that you don't have enough money in your budget long term to be able to keep that I don't want ladies here that you have to worry about that because we did not utilize our
012estra dollars in any way that would hurt our budget but I can talk with you guys in more detail about some of the things in Esser and where those are going to be going because we're going to continue to offer tutoring and we will have to make some very tough decisions going around to next summer on how we're going to maintain our summer jump start program and that's why we have the group of Educators that I have here in the room we're going to come up with solutions for that outstanding that would be great if we could add another time have that conversation we can have that we we'll keep you informed board we will do that but we appreciate our federal government we'll take some more money if they have it okay I'm taking
013a moment to write that down to add to our agenda can talk about good great comment thank you um we will then move on to our if there's no more comment we'll move on to our teacher appreciation Grant policy Miss Johnson good evening Madam president Dr Smith and members of the board this evening I bring to you for information our teacher appreciation Grant policy and at this time we are um not amending the policy only changing the date it's just by per statute by law that it has to be done annually and um the good news is for all of our teachers that are highly effective and effective They will receive um a bonus sometime in December it's last year it was very close to the holidays um for their overall evaluation rating so that's
014the information bring brought to you tonight about the teacher appreciation Grant policy are there any questions about the teacher appreciation Grant policy you have a chance to read through it yeah I just have one question in terms of knowing that this is a grant is this seeing that this is going to be continuing for next school year for teachers this school year because I know this is being paid in AAR so is this is the expectation that this will be continued next year for our teachers yes to my knowledge we've done it every year thank you um m board member dun ask a very good question because as a point of clarification for the public this is funded by our state legislature and so each year year or each two years they do a two-year
015budget they have to appropriate money in order to fund this so this is this uh this December will be uh the second appropriation of their two-year budget so when they come to meet in January 2025 they'll have to make a decision if they're going to continue to support the teacher appreciation Grant so we will speak to our state legislators starting tomorrow and we've got several meetings and make sure that they will continue to do this we appreciate our state also we're here for you we're here for you okay fantastic if there are no more questions we'll move on to uh discussion of our board goals uh Dr Brown Mr Kik good evening president hus Dr Smith members of the board tonight we have for you our board goal presentation as approved at our last meeting
016pending amendments and that's here in front of you tonight okay so um I'm going to suggest board that we arrange we we do have paper copies and we might arrange it proposed on the left and um the draft on the right so we can so we can see more clearly and um we'll start we'll do we'll do one category at a time if that's okay that's all right and um Dr Brown Mr kusik please chime in if I'm I get this interrupt Madame President point of clarification yeah yeah that that was what that was what my question was so we'll be voting on the amendments in the proposed the draft is what we approved last session correct right the propos is what we approved and the draft is what we have now okay thanks so
017um but we can see where we came from and where we went to all right so student achievement um we did change we it it doesn't appear to have changed um any our rigor diagnostic was already discussed and that was that was in the draft um the model attendee rate the difference is that we have a really good definition definition of what the model of 10d rate means which is really helpful for someone like me that that looks at the alphabet soup of education and my head starts to swim so that's very helpful um and hopefully helpful to the public too um the average growth rate is is is has been that's something that we proved already um the increase in the I read proficiency for third graders and um thank you Miss Dunn um
018who have been enrolled in LT for two or more years because that's a state um designation instead of three or more years um the next section um increase by 10% the number of students designated as approaching at or above Proficiency in every subgroup on the annual I learn assessment accelerated growth in underperforming subgroups was changed to decrease by 10% the number of students designated as below proficiency Etc and increased by 3% the number of students designated as at or above proficiency Etc um and at the last meeting um this was something that was newly brought to the last meeting and I had not had um enough time to really consider is this change and I would like to propose that we use increase by 10% the number of students designated as approaching add or above
019Proficiency in every subgroup uh with accelerated as stated in the uh original proposed um and my reasoning is that we need to celebrate All growth and and I I know that Dr Smith said out 54m it's 5:48 p.m by the way Dr Smith did send out um to all parents in parents Square our proficiency rates as they compare to Maran County um and I did some research and looked at board goals throughout the county we did some research and um throughout the county um most districts do not have board goals um which is not what we would want to do here in uh Lawrence Township um our proficiency growth surpasses the state average in nearly every significant uh nearly every subgroup the subgroups are black white hispanic paid lunch free and reduced lunch special ed
020and English language learn ERS and between 2021 and 2024 which are the post pandemic years Lawrence Township has exceeded the state average in those growth rates uh that and um I I think very very deeply about our study of uh Ken Williams ruthless Equity um um and I think that Equity demands that no child be left behind and my concern is that if we move to the new goals some children in the below proficiency will be left behind and I see you know in in one particular District in the county um I see that um the board goals are asking for about a 25% increase in Proficiency in several groups and yet the graduation rate remains well under 90% And you see here that we have this steady long-term growth in proficiency with the board
021goal we have and our graduation rate is at 95% so I see that what we're doing is working that our kiddos who are below proficiency when they come come to us our teachers are doing Yan's work to get our kids up into the next category into the next category into the next category additionally I see with State Testing that the goal line keeps changing test keeps changing and it leaves our Educators unable to meet the new the new goal the new goal the new goal um because they just don't know they don't know where that goal will fall so our goal in Lawrence Township has been based on growth model and um I know that um some of the things that Ken Williams has said is in complacency well you know they're they're low our
022demographics are changing these kids don't get support from home aren't we expecting too much from them and it's easy to play the game of just working with those kids on the edge of proficient so if we put a goal in there for proficient um and forget about those that are moving up a category I think we're doing a disservice to those children for instance who come to our district in first grade kindergarten is not mandated in Indiana perhaps not knowing their last name or how to spell it or their address while we have some kids in our district who've been reading since they were four years old three and four years old and it is our duty as a district who believes in equity to bring those kids up to up to the grade level
023and you can't do it all at once it happens over time um um one a couple of quotes from Ken Williams is the ruthless in ruthless Equity we have to be ruthless about Equity the ruthless don't fall prey to the seduction of short-term data and feedback and I think we need to stay the course making sure that all of our kids are growing from where ever they are so that I'm going to suggest that we keep our our goal written the way it was in The Proposal in the proposed boards board do you have any comments I think that the I guess I'm confused because the way in which we were presented this was that we were decreasing the number of students that's how it was it was explicitly stated in that meeting that the
024increase by 10% is actually a decrease by 10% so the proposal was to make this more explicit for our stakeholders I I guess I'm perplexed at any sort of suggestion that Lawrence Township does not have high expectations in rigor and that this is somehow related to equity I I I'm really struggling to see the correlation there because this is this is not about not having high expectations this is about writing a goal that is easy for the public to understand because do Mr notter did State and we can go back and look at our our board meeting that this was actually as written it actually meant to decrease so that was why the proposal was was to actually write the goal as it was stated so we're still keeping the goal of having high expectations
025for those PE those that demographic of students what we're also saying back to the rigor is that we also have to look at the number of students who are at or above proficiency and 3% was not what we had recommended we said please as a Cabinet go back and determine what you believe is the appropriate measure and so 3% this is ensuring that we are capturing all students and not just a small demographic but ensuring that even those that are at above proficiency that we're expecting them to move the me so I guess I'm perplexed as to how this change is Shifting the expectation of rigor in the district my understanding from what um Mr Notre said at the last meeting was that um any goal that um asks us to um increase the percentage
026of third graders I'm sorry let me look at let me look at it again any goal that says increase by 3% the number of students designated as add or above Proficiency in every subgroup can lead to game playing where teachers will take just a few of the kiddos who are ripe to get into that proficiency place and it can leave behind some of the students that are um um in the below proficient category and I think that that's why we have both of those goals to ensure that that's not happening right because I think I actually had indicated that that was a concern of mine having seen that but I think when you have you've got every single every single category is represented on this so no child should be left behind and in fact
027in our um data no child was left behind so and so in our data from last year with the previous goal no child was left behind we had growth in every category so I think that what the proposed goal does is encourage teachers to move our kids uh move our kids through the proficiency levels and I believe that this is an appropriate goal for us I don't think those expectations would change one way or the other based on how we State these goals we would still expect our teachers to bring and to to bring up every child regardless of where they stand on the Spectrum I I agree with Miss Dunn that explicitly calling out the decrease in the number of students designated as below proficiency actually places the onus on our teams to focus
028on bringing those children up to um to uh approaching or add or above proficiency additionally this is how the state measures the district these are things that are reported out on the dashboard I think explicitly calling out the need for increase is an intentional point for we as a board to point to the expectation that just reaching approaching proficiency isn't enough and and it and it will not change how teachers will approach those kids we would not want that we would never want that as a district so I I and I also struggle to understand how the this relates back to any of the equity work given that we expect our teachers to treat kids where they are and to move them forward regardless of what the goal is what the end goal is this
029has nothing to do with the expectation of how we want our teachers to be approaching children I will say I think that's part of the reason why we have the equity audit is we know that there are some gaps within um some of our uh Equity spaces and I'll add I do agree with with having it how we had initially worded it because I also believe um policy by proximity um from Jason that's from Jason Bostic those that are closest to the work would have an understanding on the work and so we have continually seen growth I've been going over data also over the past week and so we are continually in the green so I guess my if this system is working for our leaders for our culture if we have the equity audit
030which shows that there are some gaps I've experienced myself some gaps I love our teachers but there are some Equity gaps in there that I think that we also need to factor in um the I appreciate I feel as though how we have it initially worded would also bring in the um it would present the data in a way that shows qualitative impact also because we have so much we are very comp complex District so that's just my two cents thus thus far but policy by proximity they're doing the work they're in the work we have growth I I take that point but that doesn't change the fact that the state does not measure us on approaching proficiency the state measures us on how proficient our students are explicitly calling out this proficiency piece I
031think is important and intentional and raises the bar for the district I appreciate that input do you have any I think all the points are very valid um again I like I defer with to what Miss D or Miss Pucket said about um the people in the work I'm not an educator so any feedback of that nature is very helpful um I'm looking at this as a yearly goal if we're moving the needle um how rigorous do we make the goal and how how do we state it um I'm kind of looking at it holistically too just even seeing the impact it makes when you move one child from one category to the other um that that's my main comment with this and I would I might add that you know as Miss Lawrence said
032If U decreasing by 10% um those designating and below be becomes an onus on our teams likewise increasing by 3% the number of students designated at or above proficiency increases the onus on our teams um similarly and I I wholeheartedly believe in um Higher Achievement percentages continually I wholeheartedly believe in that I know there's not a teacher in this District that doesn't want to improve their proficiency rates and um I would I would like for them to have consistent work around a basic goal and the um professional development they had over the summer and the professional development they have ongoing and I I know that um we see 95% of our kids come across that finish line um to graduation and I do I am concerned that if we focus on just the proficiency for
033this for the state for realtors we're not really focusing on our children and what's best for them um I know as a board we want to see growth in every proficiency rate but I don't think I don't think that the goal as state um originally is lacking anything that would U encourage our teachers to work diligently with all of our kids for all of our kiddos and I as um Miss Pucket said I want to rely on our Professionals in our district who have done such great work to improve our um proficiency percentages we've done the great work to increase our graduation rate I think 12 years ago when I started here it was um somewhere in the 80s we're out 95% I don't want to tell an educator how to best get this message
034across and how to best work with their teams and I see that we are succeeding with the goal as written and I would prefer to keep it as written there are no more comments please please members of the board I want to thank all of you every single comment that has been made about these board goals is truly good for kids it's truly good for the educators of kids and I've enjoyed 11 years of working for a board that has been goal oriented thank you for doing this and having this debate and conversation I do want to remind the board uh don't get locked into the board goals as the final fin Bible the final Ten Commandments it has to be a working document uh m d as you probably well aware of and we're
035going to have a change next year am I correct my experts not here but we're my curriculum people raise your hand are we going to have a change next year yes we are we're ready for the change we're preparing for the change so our board goals really should be a working document a piece of art that we're constantly working on to improve in order to meet the needs of our children because our children that arrived on August the 1st are from all kinds of backgrounds extremely diverse and we're trying to get them to the end of graduation and success in their lives it requires hard work so I commend this board for having a debate about student achievement we want to be number one in proficiency we want to be number one in growth we
036want that but we want to make sure that our board goals are understandable and easy to follow for our leaders and our teachers it's easy for me to lead a district when that is the case because then I can give the command to our leaders and teachers this is what we're working towards and so board you have expectations in those board goals and so I commend you whatever you decide we will do what's best for this District you don't have to worry about that I will see to it and our principles and our teachers these guys here are the support staff they'll get the materials the resources the building the resources there I see Andy and Natalie that our teachers need in the classroom in order to work with our kids and we will work
037hard to make sure that they meet the standards and Achieve success that's all I have to say Madam president Bo thank you thank you thank you so much can I ask a question quick question absolutely and I I appreciate that I think that that is helpful context um I think one of the reasons that we did want to shift the goals was because they are more easily understandable um in talking to various constituents feedback was that when you do we talked to somebody just the other day about when you name exactly what it is that you're inspecting because it's not an increase Mr Notre said it's a decrease that we're being very clear and clear as kind so that is I don't understand and I don't understand the language not being clear because this was
038very clear as articulated by Mr notter I think the other piece is people ask so what about my students that are at are above proficiency why are they not part of a board goal and so how do we answer that I don't think we have anywhere in our goals that we don't expect for our kids to pass the exam but we're not explicitly stating that in our board goals so how do we answer constituents is I I I'm asking I'm reading goals it is my expectation as a superintendent Miss D when I meet with your principles that all of my kids every building is improving the percent Proficiency in their school building every single administrator that is their goal when I meet with them each of my buildings have a bottom line of increasing student
039achievement they don't have the option there isn't an option it's based on your board goals that we're not trying to get kids to proficiency so I I'm missing something here in our board goals because I thought our kids had to pass the exam let me just say that I think that you know the board has approved U Innovations and gifted and talented this year and we've uh and last year um bringing more children into the gifted and talented program we've added a section of dual language gifted and talented um so we are giving uh massive resources to all of our children to increase their rigor um and that rigor increase goal does apply to all children and to all classrooms and that rigor increase does translate directly into an increase in proficiency but I hear
040Miss no I hear you I do I hear the conversation and so I understand and we continue to have conversation board because as we build for the new exam we're going to make changes this document is a work of art it truly is so I like to have a continued conversation so I I understand the importance of the approaching or encouraging approaching what I don't understand is why we wouldn't call out an increase in 3% as recommended in these proposed to increase at our above proficiency the approaching proficiency piece that's neither here nor there I agree that it's important for us to call out approaching whether or not it's 10% I don't know if that's the appropriate metric but explicitly calling out a 3% increase in at or above proficiency I don't understand why that
041would at all go against Equity or the importance of encouraging students toward proficiency and I think that was answered by Mr noer at our meeting when he said that it's a lot easier to play g games with that group henceforth other children may may not be getting the attention they need it's it's a lot easier to take a small group of kids and push them over that line leaving others without the attention they need what I'm suggesting is that we have a goal for both approaching proficiency and at or above proficiency I'm just I'm just relying on Mr not's I understand and I think it diminishes the abil I think we are not giving our teachers credit if we suggest that they might be gaming the system in order to increase and meet a board
042goal of 3% well and especially since all subgroups are named if it was just the 3% of at or above proficiency then that would be problematic because what we are doing is encouraging the bubble kids to be the students that we focus on I think by having all demographics of students that are captured here that we are and and maybe that the issue is with decrease by 10% the number of students designated as below or approaching because I do not see that that's in there and nobody suggested that we would not look at those students and I think that that maybe is is the issue because those students are not named specifically in that role I just am I missing something know we're throwing a lot of data out I've looked at and if I'm
043listening to this meeting it would seem as though it's kind of going in circles for the symbol are we making progress have we continuously how do you measure I mean how do you measure success you are having progress we are progressing every single year is there work that needs to be done absolutely I do not take away from that but it goes back to if this is working and I'm looking at sheets of green over yet work needs to be done done still continually but we are making continual progress we we all agree that we are making continual progress so the point because I'm I I'm not hearing that from those that I speak to I'm not getting emails I'm not hearing what you're hearing so I appreciate you sharing that but at the end
044of the day if I'm looking at the data majority of it is green so if to get it continuously getting to the green if this is a system that works for our leaders I I I'm not understanding I'll just let that sit there it's yeah I'll just leave that there it's working so I think the data that we also were given was students that were below proficiency and proficient I don't think when we saw the iearn data forgive me if I'm wrong I pulled it back up and I don't think that we saw every single demographic that was um but it was not in the presentation on I learned data so so maybe that because I I didn't see every single student in every single building in green for us meeting those well we looked
045at you're looking at the district AES right not down to each indiv looking at the district that's what we are here I can assure you that every building I deal with that directly as I evaluate all our principles that is a part of their evaluation process so I can assure you that every building we are talking kids being proficient overall proficiency for their school buildings and I have another concern I'm just going um Madam Madam president typically I know that we have these discussions at the D what is the normal protocol because there has not been a discussion outside ASAS even on the continuance until now what is the normal protocol when it comes to because I honestly I feel like we are not coming to the D prepared as a uned front and we
046are in essence wasting the time or we are not honoring the time of our leaders on something that we collectively could I was not further aware of the continual depth of your concerns that is something that I need that I need in order to make appropriate decisions so it's not fair to sit at the de ass and then it's it's it's been silenced and then we come at the day and then it's this it's a lot and so what is the normal prog protol as it comes to board Unity or board conversation when it comes to these topics because I don't want the public to also think that we're having this discussion behind the scenes because I haven't heard anything and so but then we come up here and it's just an in depth that
047I feel should have also been had before now well miss Pucket as you know um we were aware that these board goals were coming um several weeks in front of this and the board was asked to email each other about proposed amendments and uh most of us did um and so we were able to absorb that information kick it around and make a decision for ourselves how we wanted to move forward with these some of these amendments did not come to the board ahead of time um in emails and as you know we can't discuss this in emails it can only come as a suggestion from an individual board member because we don't discuss behind the scenes we don't have a discussion that includes three or more of us right um we can call each
048other we can talk to each other about what we wish to see in our um um any any agenda item that we that we have to vote on we can discuss any of that oneon-one with another member but we can't have that conversation and Mass on an email that would go against the state law um and it would not be so we have to have this conversation publicly but it would be helpful to know ahead of time what amendments are suggested so that we can consider them ahead of time and be ready for the discussion so I feel like that that is um directly based on my suggestions last time and so I thought I was very clear in naming that we did not have the presentation on I learn data we saw that for
049the first time the way that it was presented was that this is a decrease which confused me and then I talked to other people after the fact so it's very clear in that I was confused by that because I hadn't had the presentation so things that I know ahead of time I'm happy to to give suggestions and I did that but on this one I did not understand it I got people that had shared with me as well that it did not make sense why do we have a board grow goal that says increase when really our chief of curriculum is talking about decreasing it was it was very very very confusing and so that's where that came from and I think sometimes conversation on the de is the only conversation that can have happen
050because we are required to have these conversations in public View and so as much as possible email is something that we can do but I feel like it's incumbent of me to express what I have shared and I did share this in the last meeting so I I'm not sure where no that was not that it was actually because we still have had another two weeks even since then which I understand you had shared that even within even the proposed amended changes there's been no conversation and while yes we should have the conversation publicly it and and I take the blame for this also I think it's a reflective thing on having a conversation with you like us having a conversation in depth to to have greater understanding and knowledge of what's actually going on
051here so now it was not a a shot at you for that that makes sense but it's been silenced even within those two weeks even after the amendment or after the goals were amended so that's that's what I was referencing to so as much as we're asking our leaders to be to be transparent I challenge that our Collective efforts as a board we should probably do the same collectively I don't think that yeah I just want to add that P I just wanted to say um to the heart of the matter I am thankful that unified as a board we're actually talking about moving the needle and setting goals for our students you know we want Excellence that is what I see unified across this deos um to me the heart of the matter is
052just is how we're calling call in it out and wording it but I'm thankful that we are each very determined to have rigorous goals for all of our students and I just want to clarify too I'm not saying that there should be conversations had um the knowledge I mean the public should absolutely have have a transparent conversation but just conversation amongst each other to seek to understand where we are coming from that is the overall concern that I have is us um having discussions to seek to understand versus sometimes I feel there's moments Beyond even the board goals these gotcha moments or these moments where it's like I I didn't have time to process that I wasn't aware of that and so I just wanted to make sure that that was something that the public
053should also know too they we're not always a collective front when it comes to being able to seek to understand the knowledge and the insight to what we're going to bring to the DS just want to make sure that that was clear I think we're saying two very different things here we're saying we need to have all this conversation in public and then we're also saying we need to have all this conversation behind the scenes I I would say that I came prepared to vote on the Amendments understanding that that's what we would be voting on this evening um the increase in 3% I believe is important because that gets us closer to the state standard and I agree with Miss Dunn on the decreasing verbage in that it does continue to move our students
054Away From Below proficiency and toward at or above proficiency what what I'm the only thing that I'm seeing is different between the clarity that I see in these goals is the explicit call out for the 3% increase in at or above proficiency that seems to be the outlier here and so when I am advocating for the increase of three % um the number of students designated at as at Orab Proficiency in every subgroup of the annual iearn assessment that is I feel important in that it moves us more toward the state expectation now I'm not arguing that we should not also be thinking about approaching proficiency I think that's called out in the decrease of those that are in below proficiency because if they're not at or above proficiency they are approaching proficiency if we've
055decreased the number so I think the only outlier here is the 3% explicitly calling out that we increase at or above proficiency by 3% I think the other thing that's missing is the approaching Proficiency in this um proposed amendment are there any other comments ments just a clarify Point seeking to understand seeking to understand just for an example is when the information was shared concerning the parking that I had a heads up that that was some of the concern I actually emailed and followed up and said hey that's actually have we thought about this so while this this isn't I'm just giving an example of what was mentioned at our last meeting was the concern on the safety of the parking or the um uh traffic and after the meeting after I had time to
056process it I emailed and voed my concern I was seeing parts of what you guys were talking about but I was seeking to understand had I had that knowledge prior to sitting at the desk that's something that instead of taken that extra time to have to process that to have to email that's something that I actually could have sat in agreement with you on so that's why I say well we should absolutely be transparent up here it is equally important to have discussions amongst each other with the sole purpose to seek I seek to understand where are you coming from what is your Insight it's not a I'm not trying to shoot darts I want to understand where you are coming from but I still stand firm to I policy by proximity those that are
057in the work and doing the work that is what I will stand by they're PE they are the ones that have skin in the game I know even for Mr noer who had programs at Belzer that were very risky on the equity front but he moved those students it's not just him I'm I'm I'm saying him overall because he represents a larger SE sector as our chief chief academic officer he has skin in the game they have skin in the game and so knowing what I know history with Lawrence we're moving students so if they feel like this is what needs to be said or done to move these students in support of our leaders uh this qualitative is equally as important as quantitative m pcket I would suggest that you you are welcome to
058email me call me text me anytime I'm happy to always articulate my viewpoint that's neither here nor there what we're voting on tonight are the board goals as outlined here right and the increase the increase of 3% of students designated at or above proficiency moves us more toward the state standard that's what I came prepared to vote on tonight it and and that was the intention in the conversation last week was to be explicit in our expectation of Excellence for our students I I equally hear you I think we've said the same things repeat I fully understand coming from as I have said even when we amended the proposed goals I was still my stance was still stating or having it voted on how it was so while I hear you and I've heard you
059repeatedly I still I stand firm on what was presented to us okay any further discussion and I will say that um these discussions should happen in public they should absolutely happen in public um um I'll leave it there okay so we will move on now um to our action items um Mr miles the approval of the resolution for issuance of the general Geo bonds and thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board uh following the information our actually uh public meeting um earlier this evening uh as Mr starwalt presented we will have two follow-up uh resolutions for your consideration tonight the first of which uh will bring to your attention at this time that is the resolution for the issuance of the 2024 go bonds and related matters this uh piece gives us
060permission to issue the bonds and I recommend at this time the board approve as presented so moved second properly moved in second and all in favor of the approval of the um issuance of GE resp hi hi any opposed the eyes have it um we'll move on to the approval of the re resolution for the additional appropriation of proceeds and interest earings of the gonds thank you once again this this piece uh this resolution is to give us the school district the legal authority to spend uh those funds and to receip those funds that would be a tight end with the uh 24 General obligation Bond so at this time I recommend that the board approve as presented so moved second properly moved and seconded all in favor I any opposed we have approved the
061resolution for the additional Appropriations the approval of the permission to advertise the 2025 budget Mr M at this time Madam president I recommend that the board approve and Grant permission to advertise our 2025 budget as presented so moved second properly moved and seconded all in favor I I I opposed the eyes have it will move on uh Miss Johnson to the approval of the teacher appreciation Grant policy Madame President Dr Smith and members of the board I recommend that the board approve the teacher appreciation Grant as submitted so move second properly moved in seconded all in favor I I any oos osed um the eyes have it we'll move on to the approval of the board goals and the only board goal we're looking at at this point is our achievement board goal do we
062have a motion is there a second to that second properly moved and seconded all in favor of moving of keeping the board goals as they were presented to us by the administration i i i opposed nay nay thank you we have the board goals passed um the approval of the Personnel report um Miss Norman oh I yeah we just the Personnel Miss Johnson Madame President Dr Smith and members of the board um I recommend approval of the Personnel report as submitted so moved second properly moved and seconded all those in favor I I any opposed um we will now move on to the um end of our meeting which is board and administrator comments so um would like to make a comment I'll go um once again I just wanted to thank everyone for the
063start of the school year um I know August is always a very busy time having grown up with an educator um so thank you and let's you know here's to a good semester um once again I want to thank the board and all the team involved that we all um want rigor and we want our students to achieve and we love seeing them succeed and find their their place find their voice find what they want to do and that's all the work that's being done in the district so thank you everybody this has been a lot of a lot of work and it's because we care and we all want to see success everybody's invested on a lighter note um I'm continuing the work of my former board member Mr Fiji and there are vegetables
064in the back for anybody who is here in the meeting in person so thank you I do I just want to take a moment y'all take a deep breath then let it go please is something powerful about breathing that just helps to release tension yall know I love some tension because that's where the hard things that's where growth happens is intention and so thank you for taking that breath with me I continue and will will continue to seek to understand and so I seek to understand I I really truly do all of our members I really truly do and I look forward to that and so I look forward to this year and I look forward to continual deep breath moments with you all um I would like to thank all of our board members
065U the four women with me here on this de I'll have the best hopes for all of our children and um work hard to make sure that our children have what they need to succeed and I appreciate everything you do I appreciate all that you say I appreciate all points of view and I'm grateful for for you all um I appreciate this Administration and all they have given and excited about the beginning of the school year and along with the beginning of the school year comes the beginning of this board's legislative meetings uh we all serve on the legislative committee this board as a whole is the legislative committee along with Dr Smith Mr miles and our legislative meetings begin tomorrow and um for all that are able to join us it is our chance
066to speak directly with our legislators so whenever possible please Avail yourselves of that opportunity um and opportunity will be spread around equally and please Avail yourselves of that opportunity um I'm excited for the game in a couple weeks um our next monthly board meeting will be Monday August 26 it will begin at 7 p.m Dr Smith r n Smith is that time of the year to the podium as always give us a quick update on the battle on 56th Street that's going to take place sure that's right August 23rd 7 o' LC versus LM Battle of the Bell more information forthcoming but 7 o'clock August 23rd we're back at home this year so at Lawrence Central at Lawrence Central board remind you please wear LT blue as you have to represent both of the schools
067and we will give the trophy out to the isn't it exciting when we start school and all these things come back our kids in this community live for the Lawrence Central Lawrence and our football game that's a big deal for our community and it's the one night when we play football where we're all together and I love that about that game so board thank you yes I will see some of you tomorrow as we'll hit the streets to talk with our state legislators and we've got a lot of work to do board a lot of meetings coming up so I thank you in advance our next meeting Madame President we will be doing some awards and honors so board we will be down below the day honoring our student Susan Jordan readers we've got some
068AP Scholars and we also have a state champ and one of our employees that we're going to recognize so make sure you are ready for that honor of our state employee in transportation so we will begin at 7 though at we will start at 7 o'clock yes it will start at 7 thank you you have a motion to so moved to adjourn we are adjourned thank you