001update Mr Smith Madam president members aboard Dr Smith as of count today we have six projects simultaneously going on uh right now to LC opened up the kitchen in that space continues to be demoed and put back together Media Center glass doors and uh for furniture going in place a lot of site work around the building uh the parking lots of uh on the North side have been demoed and new infrastructure going in LC athletic fields what you're seeing there is a new baseball field which is to the left and then the next slide are the two soccer fields on the right side of that Elsie pool continues on a lot of inside work being done as the roof continues to go up Ellen kitchen again is demoed and going back in place new walls
002ceiling lights and wall coverings continue with the demo on the two-story we also demoed demoed the north athletic entrance a new face and a new entryway will go in place there all inside improvements continue on again you see the football or the baseball diamond uh there where the JV field used to be and again soccer field is going in with new turf a new parking lot at the baseball and soccer area and then also the south and north parking lots getting new curving new traffic flow and Milling of asphalt Belzer continues phase one uh actually we've got a lot of demo taking place and even some replacement items going back in this is the auditorium at Belzer the new area on the west side has started to develop all Creek Valley a lot of roofing
003going on that building uh staged in the south parking lot ready to go on actually they were shop backing The Rock off today and Fall Creek Valley again phase one on the inside most of the demo work has been completed and uh put back is going uh has already started LCD side improvements if you've been driving around this building uh a lot of sight work going on a lot of people have asked yes this tennis courts are going to be put back uh we're taking out the old and putting the new in and portable is almost finished they got the concrete work putting up the uh ramps and steps and soon to be wired a lot going on in the district I have one um thank you Mr Smith a lot of construction um good
004stuff uh I just had a general question about the middle schools I know there's a lot of excitement about that getting underway do you can you tell me what point like I don't know how to word this by the time students go back in the fall um what what portions will be done as far as the classrooms for them to move into the goal is all classrooms that we have torn up this far will be back together and teachers back in their uh into those rooms before school starts okay and then we'll move into another phase yes thank you go ahead I don't mean to interrupt you uh Mr Smith I I do have a question that was asked from a member of the community do you know if Our intention is to keep early
005voting at the lecc site given the amount of construction that's happening we will continue with our voting site here yes thank you and I have a question that's been asked to schedule a little bit and Ln being ahead of schedule at the pool um will the projects finish together on time um they are still different because they're about six uh months apart so roughly maintaining our same schedule so they'll both be done within six months of each other okay oh the the pool correct Ln pool will be accessible in July for them to utilize and LC's pool will not be until next spring okay okay so and um the same for Belzer and Fall Creek Valley you know if one side of the district feels like their school's getting done first the other school's not
006getting there they're both on schedule two and a half years for both thank you very much I appreciate that that gives me my talking point thank you that's great um are there any other Miss Dunn do you have a question no are we good okay so thank you very much Mr Smith and we'll move on to classified employee handbook updates Miss Johnson good evening Madam president Dr Smith and members of the board this evening we bring to you our classified handbooks that are being revised to be implemented for the 23-24 school year our classified employee book is um is really comprehensive and we have a revision overview and the revision overview on page three the in-service professional development training optional training will be paid at the per diem rate determined by the appropriate Department there's
007updates to the translation services pay on page three in which employees are scheduled to perform a sign language interpretations for parent-teacher conferences on a weekday that's not a school day will earn their hourly rate regardless of the time of the day of services are offered we have just a list of revisions retirement pay bereavement leave jury duty pay social media use code of conduct Progressive discipline attendance all of those pages and the anti-harassment compliance is included in there in which we've updated a name change but all of those are are there for your review and then the second handbook that we are updating are changes to our transportation handbook and there is a summary of the pages and that a new director of Transportation came on in October and has updated the purpose statement there
008were some deleted verbiage regarding choice of physician and payment for a CDL physicals on page seven we changed the verbiage for the bus maintenance request to digital form and added verbiage for linking specialized positions eligibility to employee evaluation scores on page 11. an added clearer definition of employee probation all of these points have been reviewed by our district attorney added disciplinary offense verbiage for failing to maintain and submit pre-trip vlogs changed and added cell phone usage verbiage added disciplinary offense verbiage for failing to use sidewalks crosswalks and covered walkways while walking on the bus parking lot added disciplinary offenses verbiage for parking school buses anywhere the bus parking lot other than the buses assigned space and they closed the loophole regarding repeated cell phone violations disciplinary action great um board comments that's probably page one
009it goes on to page two if you if you care for me to read all of those on the second page pardon please continue yes yes alrighty on page two added disciplinary offense verbiage to category four critical offenses for negligent actions that directly result in endangerment injury or possible injury to a student on page 14. moved and changed disciplinary offenses for failing to use special needs equipment or other bus safety equipment improperly to a category three which is a major offense page 14. moved and changed disciplinary offense for operating a school bus with the entry door open to category four critical offense page 14. moved and changed disciplinary offense for driver exiting the driver's seat without the parking brake engage split into two levels a category four critical offense if the bus moves but does
010not make contact with any other object Category 5 terminal offense if the bus moves and makes contact with any other object page 14 and 15. added disciplinary offense verbiage to category five a terminal offense for unauthorized releasing of a student with special needs from the bus unsupervised on page 15 change from two to a four additionary disciplinary points for a preventable accident while backing unassisted unauthorized page 15 and 23 added verbiage to category five a terminal offense for knowingly failing to report an accident involving a school bus and change verbiage regarding two-way radio communication to reflect new operating system and channels on page 24 and there was just numerous changes to their staff contact list which has been updated on page 22. I think so um wow okay so board I have a couple questions
011please Madam president yes I um first of all thank you so much for all this wonderful information I was curious about on page um you talk about child abuse and I'm just wondering um how employees are developed on reporting the mandatory child abuse and how that is documented at the school level or perhaps at the its Transportation um at that department beginning of the year we have our safe schools modules in which all employees from all categories are trained and they sign off on that so then it's in their file that they have knowingly gone through the training and signed off and then a leader whether it's a professor division leader will be able to follow up on that and and talk about the steps that are involved if there should be a violation thank
012you and then for professional development I know in our strategic plan thinking about alignment to our strategic plan one of the things that are in the board goals is increase or which is in our strategic plan is to increase staff support to improve retention um and reduce turnover and improve workplace play Satisfaction is that something that we could name in the professional development session section on 18 um so that they understand the alignment to our Equity goals and our strategic plan thank you it says on page 18 of the classified I just thought since we're giving so much Credence to our strategic plan and our Equity goals it would be because that is part of it's my understanding all employees will participate in Comet District developed PD for all job classifications that potentially it's named
013in there that is specific towards equity and once we put it in the board goals it goes for everyone but I do want to do from this down a point of clarification when we talk about students reporting for um any form of abuse that goes through Sean Bush's division um man I know we have that in the handbook I just want the board member to know that that goes through student services so miss bush is our point of contact completely for all of that so the the handbook just aligns of what we have Carla Johnson for all of our employees okay but I just want the board to know that just on the record okay okay and I would just like to add thank you so much for the hard work on all of these
014changes and you know when when we're asking you know what is safety um you know this you've spent a lot of time with Transportation on explicit safety items so I appreciate that very much thank you um shall we board go on to the proposed Board of Education meetings for 23.24 and that I I'm presenting that evidently yes so let's take a look at those and as I look at those proposed dates I am very glad to see that we have fewer months this year let this last school year dates fell kind of strangely and we had three or four months where we had one meeting so I'm glad to see we don't we only have a couple December and another one so I'm glad to see that I also want to mention that it would
015appear that we're meeting right after the sun disappears on April 8th isn't that April 8th so we have a work session scheduled that day is that a problem for anyone here is that a problem for any Administration or board members if we're all in agreement that's not a problem just don't look at the sun before next purchases it passed by them I believe that it will have passed by that time it will so we've had a chance to see it so yeah we've not had a chance to see it safely we've had a chance to experience it we're not going to look at it okay all right um that's the only that's the only question I had or do you have any other questions about the dates they look good to you okay and then
016we're good with those dates thank you sure um student achievement Mr noteworth thank you madam president Madam president Dr Smith the members of the board I bring to you this evening part one this is the first installment of student achievement reporting from the 22-23 school year there'll be several more to come as we have data available that we're able to share in the public so we always like to to frame this in the context of your board goals so the this board goal we're going to talk about this evening is growth of 10 percent in the number of students meeting grade level proficiency on our district benchmark assessments and reading and math in all racial subgroups and just as a point of of reminder and clarification for the 22-23 school year that assessment was fast
017Bridge which is administered through the parent company illuminate for 2324 we will be moving to i-Ready so I'm just sharing that with you as a point of clarification for this board goal as we look at our overall District level results as a district we had eight percent growth in math in terms of proficiency seven percent growth in Reading specific to subgroups we did see a 12 percent increase in our Asian population and although that's a small subgroup for us it is a growing subgroup and because of the numbers we are accountable for the student achievement in that subgroup also our dual language English Learners we track that data closely as we're expanding our dual language programming also grew by 10 percent in math our Black and Hispanic subgroups at the district level grew eight percent
018in terms of of individual School level all four of our elc's and five elementary schools met the board goal and math as we switched to reading we had all of our subgroups grow but no subgroup at the district level reached that 10 percent our highest subgroup growth again our dual language Learners English Learners at plus eight our white subgroup and our multiracial subgroup at the building level two elc's and three elementary schools met the board goal in Reading and so this is the hard data there's a lot of data here but I do think a couple points um to take a look at here the total number of students tested that just gives you an idea of the number of students this is a K-8 assessment and so for instance our black subgroup continues to
019be our largest subgroup followed by our Hispanic subgroup followed by our white subgroup and so you you can see the the number tested for each subgroup in the fall and then comparing that to the spring and so that's for math you see green in terms of all of the increases in proficiency from the beginning of the year to the end of the year for both math and reading in terms of of next steps we have a extreme focus on continued professional development for all of our teachers we have very robust offerings this summer in the following areas so Equitable student outcomes leads the way and is woven through all of our professional development more specifically the science of reading as we're looking at the attacking our reading achievement particularly in our younger grades our primary
020grades focused on the science of reading we do you approved last month our new curricular resource for Math and so we'll have significant professional development around that curricular resource and our instructional framework with the focus on culturally responsive instruction within our instructional framework and then social emotional learning and particularly our partnership with Dr Lori desitelle's she's back with us this summer one point I'd like to make is our continued Partnerships that that support accelerated learning we know that in terms of recovery from the pandemic and unfinished learning that we can't do this by ourselves that we've got to have robust Partnerships and so we have tracked the data closely of our students who have been receiving Huntington tutoring Services both within our schools and at the center and we see a positive growth percentile accelerated
021growth for those students also students who are being tutored by our retired teachers we ended up with 34 teachers retired teachers that came back to serve our students during this school year and as a Cadre those students who've received tutoring from retired teachers also showed accelerated growth and then ongoing data-driven support for principals each of our schools is very unique and very different in terms of the population that they serve and the type of support that they need and so we really work hard to individualize that support for our principles based on their current data the next board goal we're going to take a look at tonight is our rigor diagnostic goal and the goal for 2223 was to achieve or exceed an end-of-year rigor diagnostic score of 9.0 or grow by two points from
022the beginning of the year to the end of the year and and just a reminder to the board um or or maybe not a reminder but to share how we've arrived at this this goal over the years as we introduce our instructional framework to the school district several years ago we rolled it out in phases so our elementary actually is a couple years ahead of where our secondary is and so that's that two-point growth knowing that we were rolling out at different different paces and different levels and so 9.0 or two points growth from the beginning of the year to the end of the year as a district our growth was 1.75 we did have four elementary schools that achieved the 9.0 or higher and I do want to call out three by name because
023they scored 10.0 or above Mary Castle Forrest Glenn and Crestview we had six additional schools that grew by two points including for the first time ever all four of our secondary schools so the instruction is moving at our secondary schools and again for the first time ever all four of them reached the the level of the board goal so this is just an overview of the process this is a beginning of the year to end of year type of assessment so all schools receive their rigor appraisal or their rigor Diagnostic in at the opening of school August 9th so that is shortly after school starts getting them there to evaluate instruction we have some schools that receive a mid-year check-in mid-year boost all four of our secondary schools did and then our Consultants come back
024at the end of the school year same measurement same standardized process and assess our instructional practices and those practices on the next slide um are divided into five different areas so on this slide you can see what those areas are so conditions that's your classroom environment what's the classroom environment look like related to learning rigorous standards standards-based student evidence so are we on point in terms of Teaching Standards that we're not off doing something else but our students are actually producing work that is related to standards it's not what the teachers are doing it's what the the students are doing the next one is achieving student teams to or activating student teams to achieve the standard so are students talking with each other are they working together are they collaborating is there that type of
025environment in the classroom and are there structures in place for students to be able to develop language through collaboration in the context of achieving rigorous standards then are our teachers verifying learning so this is that check for understanding that teachers do are they verifying that students are learning and if they're not are they taking action immediately within the lesson and then what are our tracking processes that we have that we're tracking student progress towards achievement so those are the five pillars that make up the total score in terms of next steps for that particular goal again it's very individualized based on where a school leadership team and the principal are what their current data is so continuing that individualized support for our school leadership teams the continued alignment of our evaluation model so our teacher
026evaluation model it's also known as ftem the focus teacher evaluation model and aligning those particularly with the focus on Equitable student outcomes and again lots of professional development offered at the learning Summit around our instructional framework would be happy to entertain any conversation or questions celebrate the 34 retired teachers who are coming back for our kiddos that is that's a big celebration when we talk about retaining highly effective teachers they don't even get to count in that right right that's a big deal that's a big deal hooray for our secondary schools for meeting that two percent growth that's a big deal because I do see year after year the higher the rigor score the higher the achievement that's correct I do see that so that is a big deal for for our teachers and for
027our kids Bravo to the staff and the teachers um we we do notice that there are some schools that are very high performing High achieving both in rigor and otherwise and I guess um I will leave you to mull a little bit till the end of the conversation are we doing something so that those schools those teachers can share their practices throughout now I know you said the populations of the schools are different but what are we doing so that those schools can share their practices I notice on slide 10 on the bars I'm thinking if we could just skip that beginning of the year we they'd all made two percent well so by the question that begs the question what's the dip in the middle of the year was it a different team that
028came through oh we only do five schools in the middle of the year so we did four our four secondary schools and as I said their implementation is a couple years behind our elementary so it doesn't really that brings the average down right okay um and um could you give me just one quick example of culturally responsible instruction so I think related to this slide even that's on the activating student teams to achieve the standards so we know that our students need opportunities to interact with each other they need opportunities to tell their story to each other and as much as we can do that in the context of academic learning it really makes a difference for students when we think about our English Learners and developing academic language that only occurs when you're practicing
029academic language and so if it's the teacher who's talking all the time and the teacher directed instruction versus turning it over to students turning it over to students would be an example of a culturally responsive practice and it's reflected in in that data fabulous and these are all huge wins for the district and Bravo to your team Bravo to everybody um the achievement is up but however we we created goals last year and we didn't didn't quite meet our goals so I just want as we go to board goals I know we're going to have another day of discussion about board goals before we're ready to pass board goals so as we go to board goals you know there'll probably be some directed questions about um what's attainable you know because I don't think anybody
030could work harder than Lawrence has worked this year for those achievement gains but they didn't quite meet that 10 or that and rigor that oh they didn't all meet that two percent or nine nine point two points or nine points so let's have that conversation in board gold sure okay question I have a question and I know one of the cultures of one of them um I'm huge on cultures cultures have a huge impact on achievement and just all that goodness do we know what are some of the cultures I know Forest Glen because my children had went there but the culture even of Crestview and Mary Castle I only ask that because if you are parallel paralleling the achievement Gap with the opportunity Gap a lot of it is culture also culture access feeling
031included what are those cultures and do you think that I'll just I'll just put a Ellipsis there from a demographic point of view um Crestview and Mary Castle are very diverse schools um Mary Castle has a dual language program with a large Hispanic population uh Crestview has a growing Hispanic population but African-American is their largest subgroup but at Crestview um so they're both very very diverse may I ask also even as far as the um longevity of the teachers are are there teachers that have been there what is the how does that look is there I know Crestview has a lot of teachers that have been there for a while right well we we've actually had quite a bit of turnover in both of those schools um and so I would say more than longevity
032of teachers it's the systems that have been put in place um by the the leadership teams that those systems transcend um the the turnover of teachers and so there's a certain way that we do plc's there's a certain way that we do data analysis there's a certain way we do professional development and that has lived on Beyond turnover of teachers and so I think that stability has helped okay just just from just from what I observe and what I see just like with horse Glenn like we have a very unique culture everybody it's more family Orient it's just so just thinking of in Terms as we're looking at rigor achievement just as equally important as the cultures of our schools I thought that was kind of cool that the the schools that did very well
033were the ones I think have a I don't what's the what's the verbiage for that one um strong family culture culturally diverse but also there's a connection piece that's a little differently there we go success breed success when you're successful then you're able to solidify those systems and achieve more successes As you move forward so absolutely thank you for entertaining my question I just had three clarifying questions um thank you again for all this data and the work you guys have been doing uh the first one that was just the thought I had as a non-educator is there data on students um student achievement for those who've attended jump start there is okay and you you may recall um last year we had Purdue University do a study for us where they actually tracked the
034end of the year data for on our district benchmarking on Fast bridge and beginning of the year data for students who attended jumpstart versus similar students who did not attend jumpstart and there was a very statistically significant difference between the two we also had Marion University do a data study on our Orton Gillingham approach which is specific to the science of reading and those students who received additional jump start instruction in small groups for Orton Gillingham specific reading instruction same thing a definite increase and statistically significant increase in our district benchmarking for those students thank you for that and then to go along with that um my unders this is on slide three um I believe learning loss was noted higher in math uh from the pandemic is that correct that is correct and now
035it's looking like our our district data it was this past year it was more in Reading is that correct that didn't more schools didn't meet the reading goal is that correct that's correct and and we saw this last year too in that um because there was more loss in math we're making that up faster where there was more stability in reading and so even though we we only had a one percent difference between math and reading we are seeing that accelerated growth with math for the last two years thank you for that explanation and then I promise this is my final question just again so I can understand the data um on again on slide three that was on K through ART k through eight schools correct correct so would that be 17 total schools
036that that data was collected on so the two middle schools the 11 Elementary and the four years okay okay thank you for clarifying that thank you I um thank you so much for this report a couple of questions so I know that on slide two that you indicate that we're moving from Fast bridge to i-Ready yes what type of training is being uh done for the teachers as they get ready for a new assessment yeah we've actually done iready this year this has been our transition year where we um and it's been a lot for the teachers to administer two assessment systems they've done both fast bridge and I ready in preparation for the switch next year and so we've had ongoing professional development all year and administered I ready all year so that our
037teachers could become familiar with the assessment but really more importantly become familiar with all the instructional resources that are within iready so even though the board goal was around fast Bridge we were also learning I ready at the same time so that they're prepared for next year and so um is there I know that you have presented on the board goal of Ben benchmark assessments but wondering what type of data that we have about our because I know you were talking about the science of reading about our dyslexia screener and how many students are at risk or at some risk for dyslexia at boy compared to uh end of year yes we do have that data I don't have it off the top of my head but we do have that data what assessment have
038we used this year because I understand we might be switching assessments is that correct or as a mirror what is that the assessment that we've been using we use the i-Ready assessment for the dyslexia screener and that's what we'll use next year as well okay okay I do have one more question um I want you to get out your crystal ball um because I understand that state standards changing again and so just as we start to make progress do we have an idea it looks like the they're diminishing the number of actual State Standards making a more streamlined do we have any idea what that's going to look like we do yes we do and we have our curriculum teams working on that now aligning the new plan from the state with our scope and
039sequence the iLearn assessment doesn't change for next school year and so we'll be implementing new standards with the priority that the state has given but they've also identified important standards so there's essential standards and important standards and so um for next school year we're going to need to to be able to do both because the iLearn assessment won't change the following year is when it's predicted that iLearn will begin to change so that'd be the 24-25 school year and that school districts can opt in to participating in those changes with iLearn that right now the the department of Ed is indicating that it would be one vendor that would be the Benchmark assessment and the summative iLearn assessment it would all be the same vendor across the state so we could opt into that in
0402425 with then it being Statewide in 2526. it seems that that would be helpful to have one vendor doing both so yeah I do think that that would be helpful yes okay thank you for that yes all right stick around long enough Dr Smith you kind of yeah all right so let's move on right now Dr harsh Barger our Neola policy is done this is not normal Tim Madam president doc Smith members of the board are bringing tonight for information the Oliver revision packet volume 35 number two consisting of 38 plus policies for first reading just as a reminder policy revisions are a result of ongoing review of statutory language at the state and federal levels Court decisions OCR investigations and recent legislation which there was many ad Deliverance the revisions recommended in the update
041are deemed necessary to comply with changes in the law both at state and federal level board we have read our policies on so and I I would like to know if you have any questions before you say that I just want to say I was very disappointed because I usually find at least one typo I didn't I'm very no I I think there was one policy that there was one policy that was displaced one over I apologize so we got that taken care of it kept coming back other than that I think I would yeah go ahead board go ahead we'll start on this side Miss Dunn I just want to extend a mass amount of gratitude to you for your incredible incredibly hard work on in such a tight turnaround because literally it was
042we got the the information and you've met with Neola we met and we're going back and forth and just an incredibly well done job and so really appreciated working with you and appreciate your willingness to take feedback and listen to any concerns but all in all it was an amazing process so thank you for your leadership I appreciate your flexibility in meeting we've met a lot okay so I'll just thank you both for doing this for doing just that there's a lot of reading this time around hopefully fingers crossed next year we don't get so much legislation that impacts uh impacts our district uh because I know how hard that is to change the the policies to reflect it um and I will say nothing is more riveting for a Sunday afternoon reading session than
04338 is that what it was 38 policy revisions thank you guys for your efforts Miss Norman Miss Puckett I I just I second and third that thank you Miss Dunn and Dr harsh Barger for working on this um Dr Smith just informed me we normally don't get this many policies um and so or revisions so um honestly I've been reading through it I still have to chew on it from my mind at this level my only concern is what extra burden some of the legislation might provide on staff um and that's just that's just my deep thought out there um but I appreciate what you guys are doing right now so thank you all right second third fourth everything everyone has said seriously thank you Mrs Dunn thank you Dr harshbarger that was a lot
044of reading great reading as far as just stand in the know of things um just thank you I'll just leave it at thank you but I'm concerned as well that's yeah board um more to come many of the July ones uh legislative changes have not come out so we will expect some more guidance so we'll see more policies coming forward once we get guidance from the Department of Education and so we'll we'll see even more policy updates some administrative guideline updates as well isn't that correct yes our next package should be coming July mid-july so it's going to be a quick turnaround some of the policies will not go into effect as laws until January 1. so we'll also find that out soon which those will be after July 1. Dr harshberger I wonder if
045we might just be able for the members of the public to clarify how these policies come through the state legislature and then make their way and how the board is then beholden to even if we maybe personally disagree with some of the changes that have happened how the how the board is then held accountable for State legislation and that's it most of it's coming right out of the legislation there may already be existing policy but because of what has changed in the laws then the policy itself has to reflect that change we obviously can have counsel review anything that we're concerned about we have that ability up to a certain point and so really that's that's the biggest chunk of it you'll see when there's a legal case that will trigger policy adjustment as well
046we have usually seen it be pretty consistent twice a year now it's going to start coming probably three times a year okay so I would just like to Echo what everyone has said Miss Dunn I have I have been on the policy committee it's a chore but Dr harshbarger makes it a lot easier so have fun so thank you both and also um Bravo for um making space for our nursing mothers that's a that was a nice policy that's good yep um okay there's no more questions we'll move on Mr miles permission to advertise Furniture RFP thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board tonight I bring to you first as an information item and then later this evening as an action item request the need for an RFP to to advertise for
047new Furnishings new furniture for our new projects that are coming up the last time we did this was early 2020 um in advance of the high school projects and our referendum so we wanted to do our due diligence and do the similar process for our upcoming middle schools and other projects so that's what I bring to you tonight are there any questions what uh what do we do Mr miles what do we do with the old furniture the that is uh calculated into the the transition when we purchase new furniture so that's that's all part of the removal of and and um disposal love and and actually Roger may be able to speak to that a little bit more than I can because he's been involved in that process so project yeah some of that
048what little Furniture can be resold back to them they do purchase a lot of it then is uh thrown out if you will it has extended its life expectancy so most of it uh we're the broken items we don't want to move on we have donated in the past uh to uh overseas if you will several containers where we did it in bulk rather than auctioned it off so we're looking at some of that as well as we move forward Dr House Brown and Mr kuznick I bring to the board our action items and the number first action item board goals and before we get started I would like to say I do believe the board will have one more meeting today defining our board goals before we're ready to pass them at the end
049of June which hopefully Keeps Us on track to have those board goals ready July 1st do we agree on that board yes okay that would create a meeting that goal okay so um do we as we've as we've been through this a few times do we need an additional reading of the board goals at this time for the public we've published with Madam president we've published these as part of the agenda so I'm comfortable okay all right so I'm comfortable too then if you're all comfortable with that let's move forward into discussion and who would like to begin that discussion board members you can start so I um for me it was really important to do a crosswalk of the currently proposed board goals um as long as well as potentially some shifts and then
050our alignment to both our strategic plan and our Equity work um and so I think the first board goal that that we have is Implement Equitable student outcomes action plan and progress and outcomes to be reported for the public on the dashboard um and so as we were talking about in previously is really be helpful if we had smart goals that we were you know obviously measurable And Timely in in one of the areas where I feel like we are really missing calling out things that are in both our strategic plan as well as our Equity goals is specifically our strategic Plan D point one through D point four which really is talking about our culture and um on climate and so just as a reminder D1 is new discipline data collection system um so
051having disciplinary dashboard Institute and restorative justice program um defining terms and then tracking data of racial identification for student students referred to leap and so I think when we're thinking about student achievement we know as secretary Puckett was saying earlier that the culture and climate of a building is Paramount to how students are performing and so I would respectfully request that we look at potentially adding some type of goals specifically surrounding culture and climate Miss Dunn do you have a wording for that that you would that would so I think I would like to have something I'd like to have some discussion but also to have it aligned to um what really I think if we had some baseline data um pertaining to and this is something that um I think we could see if
052we could see um discipline data that's desegregated by our subgroups then I think it would give us a launching point to know especially if we're making a measurable goal to know what are the suspensions like for our students of color compared to our non-students of color what our suspension rates what um what is attendance at I think there's so many different metrics that we could look at but not knowing the specific data it's hard to create a goal without knowing our Baseline data do you have any ideas on that I think I understand what Miss Dunn is saying I think what she's saying we have it it's just in two places what she's saying it needs to be in one place under our board goal so what section would we put that well Ms Dunn
053just describing the culture and climate would that be under because see I I see that clearly under our Equity goal Equitable student outcomes Mr noder and our team where does that fit or is that a separate goal from the board I think that's what we're trying to determine I would like to see it as a board goal because I think it is so prevalent in our um in our it's in our strategic planned Institute restorative responses versus punitive Behavior infractions as well as Equity alignment D1 through D4 so I think having a very um in knowing that there's alignment between the culture and climate of a building and the success of students in that building I think it's something that um that I would really love to see right in place as a board it's
054there as a superintendent who evaluates all of our principles it's in our Equity Equitable student outcomes plays the board is saying we want that to stand out so how do we write that and make it stand out we don't have to determine today but we got to think about that because you have an you have an equity goal here that clearly has what Miss Dunn just described in it and and may I suggest s that we 'd rather than disaggregated school by school because if we disaggregate at school by school I think that I think that moves into administrative work sure so I think I would like to see that number a district as a whole right um which doesn't preclude our seeing in soup notes a disaggregated version but I'm not sure that as
055a board we want to prescribe school by school right right each school is going to look different they're different okay we got work to do um I can keep going if that's okay please do um so the the graduation rate um I would like us to Define accelerated growth um kudos to um to all of our Educators and individuals in this room for maintaining such a high graduation rate but we do know that there are disparities between our subgroups so if we could Define accelerated growth for those specific subgroups um in addition uh I'm wondering if and this is a question we're saying that we're going to have average growth of 12 in the number of students meeting grade level proficiency on District Benchmark data and given the transition between testing um is that something
056that we think we should keep I know in our strategic plan we are talking about the 80 percent of third graders but there's nothing in either a strategic plan or an equity goals pertaining to that um either the rigor goals or The Benchmark goals um and I think that that brings me to really thinking about the achievement Gap again in thinking about our June 2024 average of 80 percent of third grade students I think again defining accelerated growth for our black Hispanic English learner sped and free and reduced subgroups because accelerated learning are we talking about one percent growth to me it needs to be clearly defined and then when we're talking about increase by 10 percent the number of students designated as approaching at or above Proficiency in every subgroup on iLearn um I
057to me if our strategic plan is talking about 90 percent of students receiving reading intervention will demonstrate growth um on iLearn with no subgroup disparities then where our black children are currently is far below that expectation so I think we need to specifically call out achievement and what we are expecting specifically for our black students is there um as we look at their data across all assessments um they are performing below um their peers significantly below those are my suggestions and recommendations at this time thank you very much others yes and I want to thank Miss Dunn for her expertise in the field of Education I do not share that same expertise and um I just would want to acknowledge that and call that out that it's I'm really grateful for the amount of rigor
058that you're putting Behind these goals and um and for the cabinet for suggesting and providing a great place for us to begin these conversations um as I mentioned in the last uh in the last board meeting a couple of things I would like to see called out just given the competitive environment that we are in right now for teachers and for staff both within other school districts and externally from competing competing Industries I would like to see more rigor placed around how we understand the culture of our buildings in the Strategic plan we call out specifically the extending the Panorama data or the Panorama survey to all staff and I do understand Dr Smith that there are some potential implications with the Lea we I you know every indication I have from you know just
059general conversations with members of the public and um and others who have come up and had conversations with me I I do hope that this is attainable because I I do really want to understand and give our teachers as much of a voice within this District as possible I think we all share that same goal um and so as was called out in the Strategic plan I would like to see the Panorama data survey extended to all staff including teachers administrators and classified staff with an 80 percent with no less than an 80 percent response rate which is aligned with the response rate that we get from all of our students so I do believe that that's an achievable response rate given the amount of of um of responses that we get from from our
060students themselves additionally and I do understand that this is already in the work or is already happening but exit surveys for 100 of all a trading um uh teachers and staff I would like that information reported to the board so that we can understand if there are some issues at hand obviously we recognize that there are Personnel issues that you know we don't want to get in the middle of that is not our our responsibility but where there are challenges that may need to be addressed at the board level certainly raised to the level of the board and then the final uh the final point that I would raise is around increasing attendance rate for both students and um and staff to pre-pandemic levels this is not yet called out in our board goals I
061do believe that this is a really critical goal for all of our for all of our uh schools and something that we should as a as a board and a district be held accountable for that's all at this time great and Miss Lawrence the Panorama data would would be that without being people are we are we going to create a new that's I think I think it fits under people I think because I I view it as a cultural conversation okay as well as the exit Service as well as the exit and then our attendance rate I guess could also could also go under people potentially people you know I do think though and I maybe it's a separate I think that's up for conversation with the board that it could be a separate goal
062um just you know given the fact that we are still rebounding from the pandemic um and you know that we have seen a pretty significant drop in our attendance rates over the last year last couple of years I think it's it's potentially significant enough it can be called out as a goal in and of itself I will make mention that it is in our strategic plan under the culture improve the learning Culture by focusing on Behavior expectations Norm inconsistent services to students families and staff under the initiative Institute restorative response Sciences versus punitive to behavior infractions metric the bullet number four is return district attendance rate to pre-coveted levels beginning with the 23 24 school year yes so perhaps we have a new subheading potentially I'm open you know I'm open to anything I think
063it's yeah foreign culture yeah okay okay very good thank you concerning attendance because that's also a state thing right you have to have like 95 of your school attention so question um if it's a state mandate is there funding or something that could be utilized to have like a survey to see like what are keeping parents from what is the hindrance is it possible to do a survey to see yeah what it costs must Puckett absolutely no there is no money coming from State you know I thought to do that but that would be something but we believe we would pretty much know the answer to it because I know that that's like a Statewide thing so I wonder like is I know that lots of schools just based on some of the visits that
064we've done to schools are doing creative things to encourage families to and you know perhaps There's an opportunity for us to share best practices I don't mean to get in the middle of how we actually achieve that goal I think our goal is just to say we we want to see the attendance rate increased um but I do think that there are there are lots of opportunities that a lot of different schools are doing to increase attendance rates and I think it'd be worth digging to to your point Ms Puckett about the culture in these different buildings and maybe what is working in some buildings versus another that it coincides concerning I know we can't publicly speak on some of the uh specifics of the Panorama data but the attendance and how some of that
065may coincide as it relates to like SEL mental Wellness because I know that we've had to have a few mental days um for my children um so yeah I'll be interested to see how we lean into that great I I just had a couple questions uh one was on slide three for student achievement just the clarifying question on the rigor diagnostic it's said to grow to receive the score of 10.0 or grow by 2.5 points from beginning of year to end of year I believe this past year it was 2.0 is that correct um I'm just trying um I know that we had it was at nine or ten of our schools achieved that is that correct um yeah the 2.0 from last year um I just wanted to understand better um I I appreciate
066having the lofty Eagle I just wanted to understand how that number was arrived at so um this is about accelerating student achievement accelerating student achievement through strong instruction and so we can see the direct correlation when a school reaches 10.0 to student achievement data the 2.5 is for those schools who may be like our secondary schools they achieve the 2.0 now let's ratchet that up to a 2.5 and within a year or two they'll be at the 10.0 as well yeah thank you that makes sense um thanks for explaining that and now I'm going to jump over to left field and go to slide seven for Mr Smith on security um this is kind of a area I lean into myself but um my first question is on bullet point one the requirements per Indiana
067code emergency preparedness plans and drills is it possible we could actually add the code number it's 20-34-3-20 just so that um because I talked to a lot of parents and you know a lot of community members are always School safety's kind of top of mind I just think it would help make a quicker access point to find what all that entails um okay yeah that's just one little addition and then Could you um expound upon just a little bit more on what I I know you can't go into details because you don't you know that's not public knowledge but pre and post security checklist can you give us kind of like a broad overview of what that might entail uh-huh emergency preparedness plan in place and touching all the required areas within where the state's
068requirements and then also we look at that based off individual schools where they set and what kind of variables do they have around them that may be specific to their buildings as well so and then we do a visible monitor of the bit of each building on a yearly basis we'd like to do this before each semester so that if there's items that maybe the building hasn't seen but we have or vice versa then we want to make sure that we address those needs per the building okay thank you and now I did think of a third question when it talks about expanding or updating our our new equipment and personnel that's probably encompassed within our Blue Ribbon um updates is that correct the majority of that is yes but also we're looking at updating
069for example uh our metal detectors uh they're close to what six seven years old now so we look at new technology because it changes over time and can we improve our Safety and Security and the efficiency by investing in new equipment thank you for that explanation as a martial artist I always am very curious about Safety and Security so I appreciate that Ms Norman we're just going to put you at the doors of every school since you are a black belt I do have one additional question as it relates to Safety and Security Mr Smith I assume that this is where we would want to add any goals around um for any parent who has done pick up and drop off at any of our schools is this something that's of concern or do you
070think that would would Merit calling out specifically in our board goals potentially kind of an assessment just in particular given the amount of construction that we have in some of our middle schools which as a Fall Creek ballet parent I can attest is a little confusing when you go through it the first time so I would just be curious if that's something that we should maybe think about calling out here and would appreciate your perspective on that that's something we address every year it changes so making sure that we do address it based on what the building is going through what the surrounding neighborhood is going through uh road construction has been another one so that's a moving Target but we do it try to address uh parent drop-off pickup uh each and every year
071and every building is different and I do want to say to the board as a former building principal a lot of that fell on my shoulders and Mr Smith Jim Parrish and his team they support because it does change from year to year and time to time our goal is is to schedule every kid to catch the bus to ride our buses but we know that doesn't happen until school starts and it changes so that kind of really plays into the schools and what they need and so Mr Smith works very closely with the principles on what they want to do including the high schools of course they have a larger footprint just to make sure that we understand clearly what their needs are because I think if we set something here in expectation it
072may not fit with what our school needs are okay understood I just wanted to call it out because it is something that it is important top of mind for for me daily as it is and Mr Smith and his team really come into those principles and support them directly on the first few weeks of school and additionally our safe schools committee meets twice a year Mr Smith yeah we're trying to meet uh beginning of each semester beginning of each semester a lot of individuals and um always your parents you go through the drive-through you do all these things you have specific concerns bring them to Dr Smith he will get them to to Mr Smith and um those things will be taken care of you know we're there for our community so if we we
073see it they see it right and if someone you know sees is at a different school and lets you know let let Dr Smith know because you know those there's nothing is more important than the safety of our children um Mr Smith do you think um per um to Amy's Point um putting the the specific Indiana code in our document that when it's on the website we can make that a link yeah so okay and then and then I I would like to work with the board a little bit on maybe wordsmithing a little bit of these Safety and Security goals because I don't think um I don't think a parent would understand pre and post security checklist so maybe we can have some um idea of you know what that means and how to
074measure that President lesson I was curious and uh Mr Smith you can tell us what you think but um obviously every every time we meet we are given such incredible updates um about the Blue Ribbon facilities and so is there something that we could tie in because I I know for a fact that there's a lot of thought and consideration into the buildings and ensuring that they're up to the most up-to-date security standards and so I didn't know if maybe something of that nature tying in the incredible work that's being done with the blue ribbon work with the work that you're doing already right to make sure that offices are secured that you know just all the things if there was something that we could mention here because I think it is worth mentioning because
075so much time um and resources are being given in such incredible work is being done and we know that work is being done but others may not others may not I think Mr Smith updates that in the boards private notes shoot notes that you do have um Roger I think we can do that um with no problem for the community and I think if you look at past history I know we have some new board members one we've made a major initiative change like we brought the metal detectors in we had did a massive upgrade of our camera systems we did those updates to the public so I think Roger we can just note that and and share that with because we had some major some more things that Rogers got a lot of toys
076it's got a lot of toys and and security cameras and metal detectors and wanders and police gadgets that we have but I do think it's worth information for the public to know and we we can certainly do that we want to know all the secrets we don't want to share all this again well the secrets are the people and where they're going to be okay so okay so I guess my my point is just the point to pre and post security checklist just add just a little more definitive of what that entails just a little bit um I think I I appreciate the work of this Administration um I I appreciate the work of the entire board but I want to say to our new members I think that you have upped our game and
077I think that our board goals next year will be largely the same but I think they will be better defined and easier to measure and more directed at specific targets we want to meet so thank you very much to everyone specifically to Miss Lawrence and Miss Dunn and the hard work you've done on that is there anything further so I I do have a question about that so our when you say that they'll be roughly the same can you expand upon what you mean by that categories okay roughly the same categories um and you know um I this this point that we made Mr noder earlier that we we set these uh achievement goals last year but we didn't quite make them um it's possible that we don't make them again um and smart goals
078need to be attainable so if there's anything you want to change in our achievement goals let us know in with all due respect since these are are the board's goals I would respectfully request that we specifically name to me the culture and climate is of utmost importance from personal experience um I think it is imperative that we have a very deep understanding of what the um the discipline looks like for our black and brown children and the potential disparities that exist um especially when we're seeing achievement and I understand that our district is doing incredible incredible work but at the end of the day you can't turn a blind eye to the fact that we have single digit students who are black achieving on iLearn and that is problematic and so to me um I
079I do understand that we want these goals to be goals that are attainable but we inspect what we expect and if we expect that we are grounding ourselves in equity to me Equity is making sure exactly what we're saying and that is is that we're not leaving any student behind and currently our black children some of them are being left behind um and so I think it's imperative that we name that um and I um and I certainly don't want to be coming across as combative but I am Unapologetic about wanting to make sure that my daughter and every student that looks like her has a fair shot and it starts the prison to pipeline school to prison pipeline is a real thing and I don't want to see it happening we've seen way too
080much um way too much um just incredible violence in our community and as a school district I think it's incumbent upon us to do all we can to ensure that the equity Gap does not exist and so that is um that is my request that we take that I would say that everyone in this room shares your concern shares your deep concern and my question for you is would you like to add a heading culture and climate to our board goals okay so board what what we need to do is make suggestions for the wording we want and and the measurements we want to take okay um keeping in mind there are some culture surveys Etc our schools do that we get overviews of and we don't necessarily we will not get school by school
081data because that again goes to administrative work right but we we can get District overviews right um and um so if we want to add a culture and climate I'm thinking there was something else that we added over here I'll have to look through all my notes um but the Panorama danorama data as well as the exit surveys you know in attendance we that maybe those things can fit under culture and climate instead of people and I think defining what accelerated growth for the subgroups are is incredibly important I would say that I know that schools are required to report data on discipline and so that should be data that is easily accessible so in order to be able to create a draft of any sort of goal I would need to know what our
082Baseline data is but I'm happy to take a shot at that okay so Madam president so that I'm clear you will collect all the suggestions from the membering board we'll put that together share with Administration we'll try to word Smith and bring it back so that we can seek approval later on this month is that correct yeah board please email me those all the suggestions made I would say no later than the end of the week so that we have time to so I have time to put that together so Dr Smith can have it Monday morning for his cabinet meeting and um so we and so that over the weekend I have time to compile it and you all have time to assess my compilation and make sure it reflects what you want to
083see okay yes can I add to that also yes I wholeheartedly agree I'm on the other side and just thinking also that as we are doing um we're currently um the equity audit as where we are like with category D with the discipline portion of it um specifically like on D4 I'm just gonna just give a brief d four oh my God lord I need some glasses um where we're basically uh no D D3 I'm sorry where we're now in the process of defining terms concerning behavioral in fractions and so forth so that slide there so my only concern as making it a goal for this year um is that it's could we be hitting a moving Target right now as we are establishing a definitive culture on what defines as disciplinary um terms changing
084the culture as far as that my only concern is would that be us are we able to streamline it to where it's actually measurable if we're currently in the process of defining specific terms for it or would this be something I don't want to say next year because we definitely have to monitor and does that am I articulating it's being worked on currently in our Equity audit so what would that look like as a goal if basically it's kind of moving and we're adjusting to what needs to be done now my concern would be like if that is a goal would that be an attainable goal while we're still trying to find measurements and movements and language for what we're defining for certain disciplines behaviors this Puckett is it possible that we could say something
085like um Define the Baseline yes maybe Define Baseline for this year so that we can change so that we can have a goal to work with next year yeah just a thought yes because that we're in the part of just getting started with that and so language and definitions are everything and so while we're defining the TR or getting the you know training and yeah that that would be my only concern is how accurate or how attainable that or what that goal would look like with us in the where we are with the equity audit um dashboard right now that would be my only concern right so so it will be really important to gather all of your concerns and all of your um all of your points for the for the changes to the
086board goals definitely by the end of the week so that over the weekend um we can I can compile them get them to you and we can make sure make sure that we're saying what we want to say and have a chance to have this conversation because I think I think your cabinet would like to have those Monday it does say on D3 that next steps where that training with peace Learning Center was scheduled for July of 2022 and so that should have been done a year ago so my assumption is is that there's got to be some baseline in terms of or a code of conduct that's being utilized just something just to have that metric that we're talking about it states in the equity goals that that was done in July 2022 and
087board of course I'll have a conversation with you where I think we may have some problems on what we say because remember your board goals have to be easily understood and as well as your administrator and teachers out there have to be able to achieve them because that's where the work is going to go so I like I hear what Miss Dunn is saying to her all of you are saying let's bring that together you got a team here that can work it and we can put it together where it's understandable for all and achievable for all of us to that end the one thing and I don't mean to interrupt uh to that end the one thing that I would also call out is that if we don't believe that something is achievable we
088need to ensure that it's changed across all of our documentation and that the board is aware of when those changes are made because the last thing I want to do is have a goal that does not align with the other board approved and Community created plans that are in place the other thing I would want to call out as well is I feel very strongly as you all know about the Panorama data and the cultural piece of this I know Dr Smith that you um that you wanted to have a conversation with the Lea I would actually like to have the Lea at the next board meeting so that we could have an understanding of how they're feeling about this survey perhaps we could invite them or whatever whatever whatever sort of approval process we
089need to go through in order to ensure that it aligns I if we're going to vote on something I want to see the Panorama data as part of that board goal and I don't want it to be left out simply because we haven't gotten approval or gone through this sure I don't change that sure sure business is done because because your administrators they have a process to talk the teams I think in my notes I share back with you all that we will have conversation with teachers about those things that we have a lot of surveys in education and so we want to make sure that it fits if the board survey becomes a priority we've got to filter out some of the other things that we're doing or they'll come back and start complaining
090to you that we're giving out too many services I should say that this is not a board survey this is a defined survey that was articulated in the board previously board approved strategic plan the Panorama data survey would be extended to staff so that's where that comes from I mean Justin we have the whole process because if you don't want us to do that and it happens here we don't need to have those processes no I understood I'm not trying to get in the way of any process I just want to ensure that we have that as something to vote on and that it's not delayed in the next board meeting okay great comments um I feel that I feel pretty strongly we can get this done by the end of the month and that
091was the stated goal to have it ready for the beginning of the school year um we're not I don't think the board is trying to create a 70 page um strategic plan document for board goals I still think it'll be concise and easy to understand and your cabinet will come back with it to us through you um with recommendations based on our requests okay can I really ask a quick question about that because I know that the July 1st is an important date um superintendent how is this information shared with the various stakeholders including our families our staff and um just kind of to the point of getting it done by July 1. you're talking about our board goals yes we will obviously utilize technology to send those out we have newsletters that go out
092a Madam board member every single week but in our district we go a little bit different borgos have always been shared by myself I visit every school and speak directly with our staff in their buildings and their culture and I'm not going to brag about that but I don't know a lot of superintendent districts this size can do that we do that and so the staff they fully understand I talk with them it's a dialogue that takes place uh first and foremost we're going to share them with our administrators and then we take it to their buildings and we talk directly with our teachers about the board goals and I think guys do your work once you get those goals settled up you vote on them you'll have full support from our community of Learners
093and leaders that we have in our district I mean teachers and leaders that we have in our district referring to your road shows yep so um I know in years past they have been extremely informative and Dr Smith visits with all of not all but many of the administration come along to you know talk about the various silos that make up our district right will you let the board members know when those are because years past if we wanted to just be there for for one of those presentations we could and it's very helpful if you can show up to one of those it's very helpful to see um how the communication is made it out to our schools which is very personal and I think unique so all right are we ready to move
094on okay thank you thank you board thank you very much um thank you Dr Smith cabinet um approval of the permission to advertise Furniture RFP Mr miles thank you once again Madam president Dr Smith members of the board as we discussed earlier um we would at this time like permission to advertise an RFP for furniture for our upcoming building projects and again the time sensitivity tonight is somewhat due to our board schedule over the summer and just the lead time on getting these materials and the furniture ordered for those upcoming projects as you know everything takes longer to get in these days so the sooner we can get going on that the sooner the better so I would ask tonight for a permission to advertise that and that the board approves so do we have
095a motion for approval so moved second properly moved and seconded are there any questions about the RFP for furniture all those in favor aye aye any opposed the eyes have it thank you Mr miles you have permission to send your RFP out now we come to the approval of the Personnel report Miss Norman do you want to make a recommendation I recommend oh I see yeah this is Personnel standing along yeah that's the only item okay Miss Johnson technically Madam president Dr Smith and members of the board approval stops for the Personnel reports this evening that have been submitted a motion to approve so moved second properly moved in the second Ted um all in favor aye aye any opposed we've approved our Personnel report and do we have a guess Paula Johnson hey Madam
096president Dr Smith and members of the board the Board of Education of Lawrence Township has just approved the appointment of Miss Amanda curta to the position of principal of Crestview Elementary School effective July 1st 2023. Miss kirga comes to Crestview from Sunnyside Elementary where she has served as the assistant principal since 2019. throughout my years of service to Lawrence Township I've had the opportunity to learn from its Dynamic leaders and develop my service and organizational leadership skills I look forward to utilizing all I've learned to best serve the Crestview Community and to support all students academic behavioral and social emotional growth according to Dr Smith I believe the Crestview Community will be impressed with the experience and the skills that Miss kirga brings to the school I'm confident that we have selected the best person
097to continue leading the school on the path of successful teaching and learning Miss kirga began her career in Lawrence Township in 2013. she has served as a teacher at both Harrison Hill and Sunnyside Elementary Schools prior to joining the Lawrence Township staff she was a part of the core number of teacher core member of Teach for America for two years kirca holds a BS in elementary education from IUPUI and completed her master's degree in education leadership at IUPUI in 2016. congratulations Mrs gerga [Applause] family here and I apologize for our interruptions I have a 16 month old who is very busy my daughter Abriana is here with my dad Dan and my mom Kelly so thank you it's the cutest possible distraction we could have so thank you for bringing her along and you a
098child's a child's happy noises will never be an interruption to this board not at all I love it we have reached that point in our meeting where it's time for administrator and board comments and I would like to begin by saying graduation was exciting it was wonderful it was it's it is really the thrill of a lifetime for all of those graduates and you know that you shake all those hands and that thrill of a lifetime kind of kind of just runs through your body there's so many times during the music that was played um during other moments in the graduation when I just had goosebumps so it was wonderful to to to be there with all of you um and um asked my board for further comments it's done I will defer to Miss
099Lauren she's got her I was well I was excited I was I was just gonna Echo what you were saying Madam president you know one of the um when I first I actually wrote about this recently on LinkedIn because when I first decided to run for school board I was worried that it was going to interfere with work and school and family objectives and things but it's it's really stunning to me how much not just my professional uh my professional group of people but also my personal group of people are very supportive and especially last week when I missed a very major conference for my company but everyone at my company was so thrilled that I was going to be at graduation delivering diplomas into the hands of students and one of my colleagues said
100to me that is so cool you're there at one of the most important moments in someone's life and you're actually handing them a diploma that's something that not a lot of people can say so I just want to Echo the excitement and uh and you know grateful for the community of people that allow all of us to sit up here on this Deus and be able to to work through all the important work that we do as a district Ms Dunn okay oh okay I just have two points to cover tonight so um yeah I Echo that on graduation it's always a thrill I could do it a hundred times and love it and um again special thanks to all you who worked behind the scenes Operations Security the secondary group I know it was
101a labor of love um getting to that point and I just I felt like it was such a great event both nights so thank you for that and then my final point is one as a parent to fellow families make sure you do the RSVP process I have three kids at three different schools and it took me less than 30 minutes so just my own uh friendly reminder on Skyward it's because we're board members doesn't mean we always remember it it's up to you do either way I'll go ahead and go um y'all y'all know I'm that caller outer person lady um I'm grateful that we are being adaptive in using data as a flashlight and not a hammer um and I was just writing down what I was just feeling as we navigate the
102goals and expectations of our district I'm grateful that we're able to hold space or positive tension um there's is a thing of positive tension and that's where the greatest change takes place this enables us to dialogue and lean in for the greater good of our district I'm I'm grateful that we hold space for this tension some may see it as negative however I ask that you reject that negative feeling and see the tension as heart speaking to hard decisions that we make and follow through on um I'm encouraged to know that EQ is equally important to IQ for us all and that we will continue to utilize both in discussions so I just wanted to name a feeling right now I wanted to just speak to the positive place of it and I'm grateful for
103all of you because it's allowed me to dig deeper it's allowed me to grow and so I'm grateful I'm thankful for that so that's it thank you I want to Echo everyone's sentiment I also want to say happy Pride um as a mother of a daughter who is part of the LGBT lgbtq plus um it is uh it is extraordinarily special that we can look around and see the culture and climate that has been created here in this District that welcomes all students including my daughter when she was in high school and that doesn't happen um in every single space and so um I just want to express my gratitude I know I'm very passionate about the outcomes for black children because of my own daughter but I'm equally as passionate about the love and
104nurturing environment that everybody has given all three of my children including my child who was struggling with identity when she was in the halls of Lawrence North and Fall Creek Valley and so just thank you very very much for that and continue to provide those safe spaces for our students as they're navigating uh tumultuous time in our nation's history so mad gratitude to the LT community Dr Smith I I was so excited about graduation I was so excited about I would Echo the happy Pride um and um doctors and I and I will say I'll just as a one-off I was um challenged by family and friends at the recent wedding of my daughter um to please wear a sari to one of our board meetings don't know that that's going to happen but you
105may see it you may not see it okay well I'll keep mine brief Miss Bush and our team this weekend we have a big celebration Juneteenth celebration that we will support the City of Lawrence and arts for Lawrence uh the culture center on Saturday so just a reminder of that important event and that we will our office will be closed next Monday for the Juneteenth holiday so that's all I have today Madam president and board members thank you thank you very much um our our being a work session we don't need to have a motion so we are dismissed you have a minute okay we'll meet I have to make sure I get this oh my user