001You are shut up. This is Good evening. I would like to call uh this meeting to order. Tonight is Monday, October 13th, and this is a regularly scheduled board meeting. So, I want to thank everybody for coming. It's such a great great night to have everybody in the audience uh for tonight. So at this time I would like to ask uh Miss Denise McCormack to lead us in our invocation. Please >> pray with me please. Good and gracious God, we come before you tonight with grateful hearts. Thankful for the opportunity to serve our community and its children. We ask for your wisdom and guidance as we gather to make decisions that will shape the future of our schools. Help us to approach every decision with open minds, respect, and a spirit of collaboration. May our
002actions reflect fairness, compassion, and a deep commitment to the well-being of every student, teacher, and family. Bless this meeting, Lord, and lead us in your ways. In your holy name we pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> And if you'll stand for the pledge, please. >> Salute pledge. I pledge alce to the flag. of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> And at this time, I would like like to ask for an approval of our agenda, please. >> I make a motion that we approve the agenda for the October 13th board meeting. Second. >> All right. Motion is second. Any discussion? All in favor? All right. Thank you. All right. Now is one of our favorite
003parts of the night where we get to recognize some of our schools. So, first up is Far Elementary School. Miss Shannon Jacobs. Thank you for allowing me to come and to share some of the things that we're doing at Pharaoh. We have worked really hard this first nine weeks on instilling a love of literacy in our students. We know that if they enjoy reading and writing, then the rest of the school year we can teach all kinds of things just through them being engaged in books. So the first thing we decided our um media specialist, she is a runner. So she always when the kids come to the library, she talks about how reading is building stamina just like if you're running a marathon. So, our reading coach decided that we would do a readathon
004for two weeks. And so, our kids kept track of how many minutes they read for the two weeks, and then they got um pledges per minute. And we ended up having over 12,000 minutes read by our students in those two weeks. And so, that gave us over $4,000. And we're going to actually use that money to give back to our students. We're planning a one school, one book event in the spring where every student in our school will get the same novel and we're going to do activities where we promote students reading with their parents at home and promote the reading and discussions. We're going to do activities with challenges and this event is going to lead up to our A and art night that we do in the spring which is a really big
005event. So we're thinking about doing a novel that has animal characters to leading to that theme of agriculture. So, we're looking at possibly Charlotte's Web or or some book that um all students would love in um no matter what grade they're in. Our books and Buckaroos night, that was our literacy night. So, our students came dressed in their boots and their hats and our faculty members and we had activities that were based on reading and writing. We had lassoing um sight words. We had campfire stories, bandana bookmarks, and we even had a lady come from Greenville who taught line dancing to our students. So, we had literacy but also some fun um along the way. And then finally, our fifth grade GT gate, they have been working on a wild west zoo. And so, leading
006up to this big literacy night event, they researched an animal of their choice from anywhere around the world. They learned um all kinds of information and facts and presented their information on graphic organizers. And then they actually used some math, used perimeter and volume and area to determine what type of exhibit their animal would be in. And they used cardboard and construction paper to build a model of the animal. Those were on display at our literacy night. They then took it one step further and looked through a debate. So they researched pros and cons of zoos and then had a friendly debate amongst themselves over if zoos are a good thing to do back. So we've really been working to get kids engaged in reading and just to love all that they do with books
007in their hands and writing stories. So this next slide is just a picture of some the first two at the top those are our gate kids their projects and them working collaboratively and then the other are some pictures from our literacy night. >> Great. >> Thank you. Thank you, Shannon. >> All right, next we have Miss McKe from Orchard Park Elementary. >> Thanks y'all. Good evening. So, Orchard Park, our vision is learners today, leaders tomorrow. And so, that's kind of where we focus all of our programs, all of our involvement opportunities, and kind of everything we do. Being that we are a PLC district, we have put time in our schedule each and every day which we call either tribe time or reach succeed time. And this is a time where we say like the
008magic happens. Y'all really need to come see. Throughout our day, our students are shared across the grade level with different teachers and they are seen based on their needs. So we really look at that data and really pull them. It's also a great time for our GT students to be served and us to accelerate as well as our interventionist pool. All of our students get to be in core instruction. They don't get to miss any of that time and it is a great time for us to really hit students where they need to be seen and a great time for us to have small groupoup instruction. Something else that we are exceptionally proud of at OP is our stream lab. Miss Lee in our stream lab does an excellent excellent job of making learning come
009alive for our students and you have seen that probably with our science test scores but also if you come and see all the things happening today she was working on an aquarium and she was like I got to go get the fish and I said oh you definitely have to go get the fish because they have been working and learning about the habitat of these fish and so the kids are going to be so excited when they come tomorrow and the aquarium is ready to go. Um, something else we are doing this year to kind of promote academics but in a fun way is we have our cursive club which actually one of our school monitors is doing and we have book clubs for every grade level and they meet every single day depending on
010the grade level. And what I think is really amazing about our book clubs is that our students are leading them. They are facilitated by Miss Price, our librarian. But our students do the questioning. They do the discussion. I even saw a third grade group. They didn't get to meet one day. So, they asked if they could meet during recess time. So, they are super excited about the books that they're reading and the things that they're doing in there. And then with that, Miss Price really wanted to instill that love of reading this year. And so, we are doing Bean Stack, which is a online kind of reading incentive. Um, but what's really amazing about Beanstack is that it allows both staff and students to track their minutes of reading. We have read this year over
011143,000 minutes since school started. And right now fifth grade is reigning champions, but every month it starts over. Um, and so the staff keeps telling them we're going to take them on. Um, but actually what's been really exciting too about being stack is our first grade and our 4K have ha have um logged a lot of minutes and most of that is at home with their parents or in the classroom with their teachers. So we're super excited about that. So lots of great things happen academically and then the other part of our vision is our leaders tomorrow. So we want to instill not only that love of learning but also we want to give opportunities for leadership. So we have our morning news crew which is completely run by our students. They do the scripts,
012they do the slides, they do the camera, they are the anchors. They do a great job with that. We have our recycling club, our good news club. We have over 80 students that are staying each week for good news club and they are loving that. Also we have garden good gurus and busy bees. Those are run by both our string lab teacher, Miss Lee, and our school librarian, Mrs. Price. Um, they actually just um I'm not a gardener, but they just got lots of sweet potatoes that they are going to be doing something with that you would do with things you garden. And they also have lots of honey. And so, be on the lookout for that because we are excited about those projects. Then something else um that you all have to come and
013check out are OP pep rallies. And something that is really special about those is it's really a time of student recognition. We look at bean stack minutes. We look at attendance. Currently most of our grade levels are running at 96 to 98% attendance, which is huge because we know that if they're there, we can teach them. And so we celebrate that. We celebrate those Chick-fil-A core essentials during our pep rallies and really represent what our students are all about. And then the last thing we kind of do that's a little bit different is we do allp pro families. So it's kind of like a partnership with our community and it's not just all pro dads, we do all pro- families so that all of our parents, no matter what their family makeup might be, can
014be involved in that program. We had our last one the Friday before we got out for break and we had about 35 people in attendance and that's getting up really early and one of the things that they do if you ever get a chance to come is that they start with the parents saying what they're proud about of their children and it's this huge moment of celebration for those families. So, lots of great things going on both in the classroom and outside of the classroom. But these are our friends and you saw some pictures otherwise but come by, see us. We would love to have you anytime at Orchard Park. >> Thank you. >> Always so wonderful to hear about the wonderful things going on in our schools. So, thank you both for being here
015tonight and all for all that you do and and for your teachers as well. At this time, I would like to welcome anybody for public comment. Samantha Owen. Hey, how are y'all? >> Y'all have to excuse me. I'm a little nervous. Not too good at public speaking. Um, I'd like to start off um saying my name is Samantha Owen. I'm the granddaughter of Bill Garrison, the owner and founder of Pickicket Produce. Um, this all started with um I received an eviction right after his death. um from Paty Hubard, the owner of the land uh where my store was. And uh I had stated with the community club that I I would like to move over there and they were fine with it. And so we went through the process of contacting Steve Hamy and um
016we got it approved from y'all. Y'all voted in November to let me move over there. And so we went and got a lease and a quick claim deed. and um they had discussed with me that they wanted me to gather members and get people to join that they wanted to resign from their positions and I I had the community totally behind that. I have over a 100 people that are willing to join right now and then two days before my benefit in March they told me no that they want to keep it the same. Well, I went through with the benefit anyway, hoping that maybe I could change their minds. And then the day of the benefit, they told everybody that the reason was because y'all wouldn't allow me to. That I was a for-profit
017business. And that was their reasoning. All the people that I had asked to join, they wouldn't let them join. And the building that sits over at the community club should be condemned and torn down. I wasn't even able to use it for my benefit because it was full of mold. And I tried to contact the community members and they won't get back to me. And they even tried to tell Steve Hamby that they're active and they haven't been active for eight years. and he even told us three weeks before our benefit when they said they wanted to resign that they've been keeping money in the account to make it look like they're open and active and that's why they keep the grass cut as well. And I'm here today because I'm willing to do both.
018Pick a Post doesn't have anything. And my stores hurt so much to the community. And anybody that's been here for 15 years or longer knows what the community club also did for the community. People used to be able to hold benefits over there. If they were in a time of need, if somebody had cancer and had medical bills, they held benefits for them so that way they could raise money. It's been sitting over there rotting for eight years and we finally had an opportunity to do something with it with two things and then they want to lie and say that the reasoning is because y'all said no when y'all approved me. I have people that are willing to help do both right now. People that contact me every week, when are you going to do
019it? When are you going to do it? And these people that are the community members won't even respond to me. Won't get back to me nothing. And it's a disappointment because it's just wasted. It's literally sitting over there wasted. And I have so many people that are willing to back me on this. I I um gave the woman a petition that I started it. I had over 3,000 signatures. Everybody wants this. I mean, Thomas Alexander even told me to, you know, check with y'all and see if y'all would be willing to do this and let me and the community rebuild this because it meant so much to everybody. And I hate to see it just disappear and be useless because there's nothing else around. And I serve people from 30 miles away. I had customers
020in Florida and New York. I still have customers calling me from Florida asking, "Do where's your new location and I have my mind set on that because that could have been great for everybody." It's not I don't see a negative anywhere. And considering that y'all approved it, I would like to ask that y'all would just let me and my community rebuild this. And these people that are the members, they wanted to resign, but now they're holding it like a toy. They just don't want nobody else to play with. And that ain't right cuz it's not serving a purpose. And it hasn't in over eight years. And so I would really like for y'all to consider um letting me and my community rebuild this and the community club as well, my store and the community club.
021Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Miss Ow. And we will certainly look into this and Dr. Mercer will find out more details and get back with you. >> Yes, sir. >> Anybody else for public comment? >> All right. At this time, I would like to ask for a motion for the approval of minutes. >> I make a motion that we approve the September 8th board meeting minutes. Also, >> all right. Motion and second to approve the September 8 board meeting minutes. All in favor? Thank you. And at this time, I would like to ask um Mr. Scott Price and Gene Moore for the school boards association to present our school board uh superintendent search survey. So, thank you guys for being here. >> Our pleasure. How are you all doing this evening? >> Doing
022well. So, I'm Scott Price and this is Dr. Gene Moore who's a consultant with us, uh, doing superintendent searches and who's handing out copies of the report. While he's doing that, I have to tell you, I was I love hearing school highlights and reports from the schools that are going on. And while she was talking about um, Faroh Elementary and the Wild West Zoo, I had a flashback to this past weekend. My one-year-old celebrated his first birthday and down in Charleston. Of course, it was raining all day all all day Saturday or f Sunday driving down there and and his mother insisted on doing a petting zoo. So, you know, their animals come up and they there been this open container, so they're all dripping wet and we had tents up and umbrellas and the
023kids pretty much spent the whole time in a mud puddle in the middle of the yard and didn't really play with the animals. So the um moral of that story is if you ever want to do a big wppy-doo birthday celebration for your for your grandchild or your child for the first birthday, nothing like a good oldfashioned mud puddle. Um but I want to thank you all for the opportunity to come here this evening and present this report. I'm just going to give you a brief overview and then invite you all to take this and um sit down and read through it and think about it and you know consider some of the comments that are in there. Um this was the online survey uh that we conducted for uh for the search and it
024was open from basically August 28th to October 3rd and you all had 776 respondents uh to this survey and we had three basic questions that were asked and and asked for some rankings and then opened it up for just comments, people to make comments and so you know the rank ranking portion of the of the survey is pages basically one through four. Um, and the comments start on page five and go through page 41. Um and so I wanted to just basically let you know that if you know overall looking at the report the the by and large the largest group of participants and it was open to anybody you know parents, community, students, faculty, teachers, administration. It was open to everybody. Um and 776 is a good good responsive number. people were paying attention
025and I want to applaud you all for making this available to the community so you can get that valuable input input that you'll use down the road as you're you know making your decisions. I obviously the decision is is yours as a board. Uh but I but this provides you a snapshot of what the community is thinking and what they're what they'd like to see with their next superintendent. So it's again it's something for you all to uh consider as you move forward. Uh but by and large the largest group was of respondents was parents at 42.36% that's 327 respondents. Um teachers were next at 29.02% uh that's 224 respondents and then community members uh 13.21% and that was 102 respondents. Um, basically like I said, if you look on starting on page three, um,
026there were three questions that were asked and the first being, what group do you represent? Um, we've covered that. The second portion of that was ranking a list of items um on a one to five scale, one being the least important and number five being or five ranking being the most important. Um so o of that the the probably the number one in terms of most important um was commitment to community and staff. Um and that was uh had a total ranking of 4.69. Uh the second highest was 4.55 and that was a skilled communicator, somebody both uh internally and externally on behalf of the district. Um and nothing surprising really nothing surprising with with any of this. Um but the third highest was accessibility and responsiveness to the community. So obviously some real thought
027on people being respond to the community, being a communicator on behalf of the district. Um and again also with community but internally uh with staff um the least important based on the ranking that we had and the numbers that are front of us um first least important is experience as a former superintendent. So it gives you an opportunity to you know throw a little broader broader net in that case um in terms of thinking about what the community is looking for or not looking for. Um uh number two least important is demonstrated involvement with community civic club churches etc. And then the number the third least important was demonstrated commitment to athletics and other extracurricular activities. Um and again when you read through the comments and if you see one that says you got to
028have this, you'll three you'll have three more that say don't have that. So it's just it's just something for you all to bear in mind as as you go through this. Um the third question that was asked and that's on page four. Um in choosing the next superintendent, which path or strategy below do you think the board of trustees should take and choose one answer and overall the large majority talked us right in the middle. find a candidate with the same basic educational and management philosophy as the previous administration, but one who can make some necessary changes. And again, that was overall the largest. The second largest was uh find a very different kind of candidate, one who was ready to take the district in a significantly different direction. Um and that when you compare
029that with the smallest amount and that was 11.8% 8% find a candidate who will stay the course and continue the good work of the previous administration. Um so again there does seem to be some overall belief that uh good things are going on here. Um but there there's an openness in the community to you know making changes and trying some things differently is the way is the way I read that. Um, so and then and when you look at the comments and again I I encourage you, you know, get you a hot tea or whatever it is you have when you go home at night and and read through there and just consider them and give give the appropriate weight. Some of these things Dr. Moore was was reminding me some of these things. You
030know, I read through there and it tell it says one thing to me, but for you all it might say something totally different and because you this is your community. This is where you live. Um, but they talk their comments focus on obviously transparency and I think everything that's in here is probably stuff that you all is going to be right at the top of your list. transparency, community engagement, um focusing on students and ensuring that everything the decisions that are made are keep students as the first primary focus. Um somebody who's a strong leader and somebody who is willing and able to build strong relationships both in community. Um so that in a nutshell, do you have anything? The only thing I would add to that cuz Scott and I we usually talk about
031these is typically like you said it's not necessarily surprising with that but the comments I always say you know they'll understand that comment and the context of that comment because like Scott said somebody might say you ought to do this and two two more down somebody says don't do that. But at least I think there's what 35 pages of comments or something like that. people took the time to share their comments and their thoughts with you, which I think is great, you know. So, as you read through that and look at that, it's just nice that they participated in the survey and took the time to share those comments with you. So, uh, but you will understand it more than we >> and and that's and that's a great point too, Dr. Moore, because you
032know what it says to me too is people care about this school district. And you'll see that. You'll see that where people just are all over this district in terms of caring. Maybe sometimes they care too much, but at the same time, there is a desire woven throughout here for this district to be the best that it can be. And the support support's phenomenal. I think that if you if you're looking for some positives from that, the fact that as Dr. Moore pointed out, so many people took the time, that's that I see that as support. And again, I you know, you all are be commended for giving folks the opportunity to have that input. And with that, Madam Chair, if you all have any questions, we're glad to answer the board. >> Anybody have
033any questions? >> All right. I appreciate all of all of your hard work and making sure this got done and completed and we've been eager to to read it and hear the results. >> And we left the copy. Um >> Okay. >> Thank you. And next is our special education update with Miss Cox. >> Hello everyone. How are y'all tonight? >> Good. >> Thanks for having me today. Just wanted to kind of start a little bit with our journey. um kind of go back and talk about our journey that we're on to kind of help our special education department and uh the students of OKone County. Um we as you all know last year we uh received our report a final report from our review in October and in that time frame uh it included
034these 15 recommendations. They're kind of small for people to see, but I think they printed you out one. Uh, but those are our 15 recommendations that that was given to us. So, in January, we began to addressing those recommendations. And the first thing we did is we defined specific job uh descriptions for all of the staff and um we tried to re redesign our organizational structure. Um part of that process we were able to add two new folks to our team which really will help um it kind of clearly defined our cl our roles and also allowed us the opportunity to move forward with focus and consistency by having those developed. Um, we also developed a um, program manual for each of our programs of the programs that we serve for our students here throughout
035the district. And we provided that for clarity for all our staff, but also for our families and our schools and stuff so that those classrooms be well defined and that we would make sure that those students were being served to the best of their abilities in those classrooms. At the beginning of this school year, we launched our uh the recommendation of comprehensive review of our IEPs and our 504s. And luckily, we have went through our first round of that in the first quarter. We're very excited to look at those findings to determine um that we're making sure that our IEPs are aligned to what our students need and and the areas that we need to provide professional development and help in those areas. As we continue our work, we divided our focus into four specific
036areas. Our first one will being as the focus of being able to decrease the number of student referrals to special education by maximizing our MTSS process. And by doing that, we are working closely with our instructional department and our school psychologist and our schools to define that process. And our goal is to support that with consistent implementation across all schools. And in addition to that, ensuring that our students receive those right interventions before we move to a special education referral. Trying to do everything possible to make sure that we're intervening and the best strategies for those particular students. Our second thing was to increase the number of students with disabilities who graduate with a diploma. We know that is an area that we need to work on desperately. So we are prioritizing our early and
037proactive support for our students earlier, making sure that they are transition through school and critical that we provide the appropriate um interventions and supports and making them stay on a diploma track. Uh so we're starting early with that, making sure that we're doing everything that we need to do there. The third thing we wanted to do was improve our test scores for students with disabilities to help more schools meet that adequate yearly progress. Um, so we've taken a deeper dive in our data and we're looking more at targeted goals for each school and enhancing instruction in the least restrictive environment, making sure that they are hearing that core instruction and being in those classrooms. We're also, like we're doing with our IEP reviews, we're reviewing those IEPs to make sure that we are targeting their
038specific individual needs to drive their academic growth, making sure that those things are being monitored and done. also working closely with our ATIS SI director and and working with the data there to improve the school there. Our fourth thing that we really want to focus on and increase the number of students with disabilities served in least restrictive environment. That's probably our number one goal is to move to a more inclusive environment in the school district of Okon County. Making sure that we are committed to increing uh providing professional development and creating positive atmospheres for those students both in gened and sped and putting them together. um and making sure that those evidence-based practice, instructional practices are there, giving them the accommodations that they need. And I guess embrace that mindset that I always say that
039we want to make sure that special education is a service and not a place. Um and then our last slide, um these were the recommendations we addressed. And then our last slide we did, the green is the things that we've done and the yellow is the ones that were in process there. Um, we know that it takes a time to take to to make a meaningful change. And so I just want to give a shout out to all the schools, uh, the administrators and the teachers and, um, even um, the pair professionals, the people that are in the room are on the ground working. They're really working hard and uh we're just kind of keeping the forefront up there to make sure that uh we're supporting those teachers and helping them with anything that they
040need to change that mindset that uh we can make a difference with our students with with disabilities. >> Thank you. I'm sure some of us might have questions. >> I don't have a question, but I just want to applaud you for the diligence that you've applied to this process. I know it was tough. I know you've met some resistance and I just really appreciate the work that you and your staff are doing in and the instruction department to make it a reality for us all. >> Thank you. Thank you for your support, too. We I I actually do have a couple questions, but they're just really for for knowledge as as we do move forward because as you well know, this has been a large task that you've been um been put on your your
041plate and so certainly want to echo what uh Miss Holder says and in your efforts to make sure that we're doing everything we can for our special ed students. But do you happen to know right off the top of your head what percentage of students with IEPs currently spend roughly 80% of their time in a general ed classroom? And what's our target goal for moving forward? >> Our target goal would be more of 80% of the time. I do not know that off the top of my head. I wouldn't want to speak. I can get that information for you to be specific if you need me to. I don't mind. >> And then, you know, how are we how are we monitoring and tracking that inclusion? How often does the staff go into classrooms and
042help teachers uh fill in their day-to-day duties? Because I know a lot of them are just bombarded and overwhelmed. How often does staff go in and and try to help monitor and and assist? Well, we started this past year trying to do start with the uh summer institute where we started doing the collab co-eing for the high school and more of the co-eing models in the elementary and middle. Uh we're in a very beginning stages of that. So we are really supporting the instructional team, myself, uh this is Andy and Elizabeth and their team. We still go in and help. And during those times there, administrators have started reaching out to us to ask us what would this look like, what can we do to support that. We don't have a definitive like goal uh
043as far as when they go in there. But we have gave them some specific strategies to look for like the different teaching models that you can see. Uh we were in some classes right before break and we were fortunate to see some of the pair teaching and some of the you teach I teach you teach I watch kind of thing. So it's getting there. We need more time with our teachers to give them that professional development to be able to give them those co-eing strategies and the things they need in their toolbox to help them because that is a new um avenue that we're going now with our teachers both gened and special ed. uh both the the beauty of that you got two wonderful people in there with great knowledge that can really make
044a difference. We just have to let them have that comfort level and know what they can do together. >> I think if I could just jump in for one second, Robin, because I think that maybe uh you undersold yourself there uh in your team and only I only say that because I think since Dr. Mercer has been here. He's recounted the story often of going down to our folks in special education, going to their offices and they're not there because they're in buildings, they're in classrooms, >> having to make an appointment >> daily. Um, so the level of support that the team has been able to provide as an investment uh of the board really in helping us move things further down the line so we can better support students has really just been amazing
045to watch this year. you pick up the phone and there's somebody there that's there to help you and somebody that's there to call. Um, we've even been able to divide out with our program specialists specific grade bands that they serve specifically so that people in the school building know exactly who to call to get direct support. And so we've really been able to see on the evaluation side with all of our related services in addition to in the classroom with kids every day more of a robust attention to detail in terms of the level of support her team has given. Um, so I'm often as well making those appointments. I'm like, "Hey, are are y'all in today?" Um, because they're out serving kids, uh, serving teachers each and every day. And so I just I
046just want to make sure people know that because that is what you guys are doing. Well, and and lastly, that was going to be kind of a a followup to that is because this is such a a large task, how often do you feel like we could perhaps get feedback from on student outcomes, whether it be, you know, any any kind of indicator, graduation rates, those those um least restrictive environments, early childhood outcomes. How often could we receive updates that do you feel would be appropriate? >> We could do uh we we have to report on those every month and there's certain months that we report those on. We could share that um with you as we go forward. Um I do know that we um and our table four we just been working on
047that too. Um and that we would have that results in the next week. So I can share those kind of things with you. >> Be great. I know for me from from my my specific chair over the past four years, this has been the number one >> number one source of frustration for a lot of folks. So just making sure that we're doing the best we can to serve these students, >> right? And as a big population, it took us a while to get there, so it's going to take us a while to get down, but I think we're making a good effort to go there. And like sometimes she'll say slow and steady. Slow and steady wins the race. So too and like building relationships up too because especially it is a is a
048like we talked earlier a difficult time sometimes. So we have to give the support they need. >> Well, thank you for all you do. Thank you. >> I just wanted to applaud. I'm sorry. Um I went on one of the school visits to an elementary school and one of the special needs classes was in the music the regular music class and I you just have to think how great both of those were doing. the regular music teacher and all the special ed teachers and their people that were in there with them. It was a great experience >> just embrace each other and do >> it is so thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> All good. Okay. And now Mr. Shikling with our September financial report. Hey, nice and easy. For uh the
049month of September, we uh we saw about $5 million in revenue and the lion share of that is just our standard monthly state aid payments. Um so the the sum of uh 3.4 million in classroom aid plus additional um education improvement act rendered 4 million right there from state payments. Um as we look at expenditures, it's primarily payroll. Um I will bring your attention because of the next item on the agenda to couple of areas here. Um the kindergarten programs function is the first listed. Um the third listed is elementary programs. You see there's a budget of close to 5 million for kindergarten. Um and uh more than 25 million for elementary. Um there is a a budget transfer request um to move some money out of the kindergarten area. some money out of that
050elementary area and to um increase the salaries and benefits for the uh instructional coaches in the support of instruction area. Um the reason for that is because of our expansion into 10 schools served by the title plans. Um and so now every school has a math coach in the elementary grade levels. and in fitting the staffing into the footprint of the grants. Sometimes we're funding a math coach in the general fund rather than in a grant. And we are funding um in the grant somebody who would have been a kindergarten teacher in the general fund or a third grade teacher in the general fund. So we're doing is allocating um that budget money to where the math coaches are, which is a budget neutral conversation. So that's the um item under possible action if you
051choose to approve that. Um aside from that um you see you know it's another month here in the fall before um school taxes start coming in where our revenues are 5 million and our expenses are 11 and a4 million. So again that's where that fund balance is important for us to be able to meet payroll as the as the revenue coming in is less than our salaries and benefits cost. um in the check report uh it's primarily capital and uh food service management and you can see that food service management is a little bit anomalous to what we're used to seeing. That's simply because the billing was catching up to the beginning of the year. So we didn't see we didn't see billing in August. So now we're paying two months worth of billing. Um
052and then capital is continued pays from the summer and general fund is primarily utilities. um in the capital report shows the status of those various projects. Um happy to answer any questions. >> I just had one question. This is probably more Mr. Handic issue. Um Senica High School rekey why why did we do that? I'm just curious. >> Um over the years they had had issues. There've been a lot of keys given out over there. So, what we when we went over there at the end of last year and we're getting ready for Strategics, we noticed that they have colored dots on each door. They have five different master keys. Um, and then in a safety and security situation, that's a bad that's a bad thing to have. So, we uh work with Cook and
053Boardman to continuing to do that, finish it up now. It's still ongoing um to to get that set where we can get that and have better control of that. and uh we'll work with the school to make sure we do a better job of not giving out out keys. >> Okay. Thank you so much. >> All right. Any questions on our financial report? If not, we can move on to uh the budget transfer request. I know it's listed as discussion possible action, but I I don't know why we wouldn't take action on this tonight. If anybody has any questions. All right. Does anybody have any questions and or need Mr. Shickling to review the request? Okay. Well, I will take a motion for approval of the budget transfer request. >> I make a motion that
054we approve the um budget transfer request as presented. >> Second. >> Motion a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? >> All right. Thank you. All right. And now we've got administrative policy manual section I first reading approval. U Miss Holder and myself met last week with Dr. Mercer and got through this thing pretty much unscathed, but we did make a few updates and a few changes. I don't do Do you want to go through a few of those? Just to update. >> Uh I work at the pleasure of the board. Madam chair, if you'd like to go through, I can >> just maybe give us a uh brief overview of some of the ones I know that we specifically made some changes to. >> I would remind the board that the bulk
055of the work had been done with the leadership team probably in May and June and my arrival is what has laid this. I've since had the opportunity to go through every policy and as you mentioned with you and Miss Holder and feel real strongly that you've got good policy here for you to vote on. this evening. Um few things that I might call your attention to is um policy H AE there was a small change in that it's about physical education we added the part that now JOTC and marching band can be substituted for a PE credit uh in certain situations there there are qualifications with that that we have added that uh in accordance with uh changes in state law because they allowed there. Um IH has to do with religious instruction and we
056relied almost entirely on the school board's association's uh uh suggested policy. So we feel strongly that that is a good policy. Um there is one get to it. IKA-R has to do with grading policies. And if you look in it, you'll notice that the uh floor grades language has been deleted from that policy. Um and then one change that we made this past week was in IKA-R that has to do with testing and examinations. Our previous policy uh stated that only seniors could exempt uh taking final cumulative examinations if they had a C or above. The change that we are recommending for your approval is that we allow both juniors and seniors to exempt uh those final exams, but only if they have an A average going into it. Uh the thought is that it
057might be more of a motivation to work all throughout that semester to get your grade up to an A so that you could exempt the uh the policy and feel like those students who have the A's probably will be all right not taking a cumulative exam which we feel could be a benefit to those students going to college to have had that experience. I plan to run that past the leadership team tomorrow and the principles on Wednesday just to see if there are any objections that we need to bring back to you before second reading. But u I fully support that suggestion. I think it's a great idea. And then uh ICA about parent conferences. Uh the policy communicates the importance of parent teacher conferences, but there's really no set opportunity for u parents to
058know that on a certain day and time we'll have parent conferences. So, we've already passed the calendar for next year, but I'd like to bring to the leadership team tomorrow, and this is a a result of our our conversation last Tuesday, where we could establish two evenings of parent conferences perhaps in the fall where teachers would stay from like 3:00 to 6:00 and parents would know we can come in, have a fall conference, and we would pay back teachers by exempting them from a day of one of their days of staff development. But that's how we did it in the district where I came from before. And uh it uh I can tell you that on those nights, particularly at the elementary level, teachers will be talking with parents for three straight hours. So it
059just really gives parents a good opportunity. So I'll bring that as an idea to them and to the principles and see if that will float those groups particularly since they're the ones will be implementing it. But feel like that was a great suggestion. I fully support it as well. Then I think madame chair u last one I mentioned IMB teaching about controversial and sensitive issues. uh that policy we just tightened up the language a little bit uh these days it is so important how we teach certain things and uh my best example was and probably nobody in this room will remember this but in 1972 Richard Nixon was running against George McGovern and my social studies teacher talked a lot about that election in our class a few years later I was working for him
060painting houses in the summertime and I asked him, I said, "Our entire class knew that you were a Democrat for McGovern. Am I right?" He said, "Oh, no, no, no. I was just trying to make you boys and girls think." So, he he was just uh uh he he he was the perfect example of trying to be objective. That's basically what that policy calls for. But, I think we've got uh the work's been done. I think you have a good set of policies there, and I would recommend that you pass on Any questions? >> Can I get the policy number again for the religious education IH? >> Thank you. >> All right. So to approve this for first reading. Can I get a motion in a second? I do agend that we approve on first
061reading administrative policy manual section one >> I I'm sorry I first read >> okay motion >> second any further discussion all in favor I vote thank you >> okay now that one was a big one so thank y'all >> that was big I may mention that the next section of our uh policy manual is section J which is students that also is a huge um and very important section we do not yet have the school board's associations uh suggested policies and probably Mr. Price, correct me if I'm wrong, that'll be coming out in November, I think is what Miss Cleveland told us. And it's also a section of policy that there are quite a few policies in there that I like to run past the attorneys because that's where lawsuits will come from and we
062want to make sure we have policy that they're comfortable with defending us on. So, what I'd like to do is um skip over Jay, but start with uh K and L easier sections to work through. We can we can bring that to you probably November at least one of those sections and then uh uh when we have time really to go through Jay uh we'll bring that back to you for your consideration. So it'll be a little out of order. >> All right. Next is policy CCA, the organizational chart for second reading. >> I wouldn't mind, Madam Chair, if you wanted to group uh exhibits four, five, six, and seven together. They're all for second reading. And if there are any questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them. >> Sure. >> Yep. We
063can take one motion to approve all all of those if you guys are are okay with that, seeing as how we've worked through those before. I make a motion that we approve on second reading policy CCA organizational chart policy BEA live streaming and board meetings policy GCLE unencumbered time and policy GCLE-R unencumbered time. >> Second. >> All right. Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> Thank you. And now for our superintendence report. >> Madam chair, I had a nice presentation with a very pretty with our school report card graduated for this evening. Uh they were to be embargo was to be lifted as of today and we discovered this past week during the middle of the week that the state department has delayed the embargo status until the first week of
064November. So um I did check today uh with Betsy Kelly to see how much I could reveal and not break any rules about embargo and basically all I can tell you is I think you will be pleased. Results from last year's work uh are are going up well we'll be excited to bring those to you for your information embargo is lifted. I'd mentioned that board meeting earlier about the numbers in the school district. Uh we were concerned some with the slide and we've got our day 45 numbers. They actually might be day 44. Do we have 43? >> I'm getting it. Yes, sir. >> It's not >> day 43. Uh so they might not be the exact official ones that will go back to state department that we use for all that funding in two
065days, but it's the end of the first nine weeks. And uh basically what you'll see uh in this slide is we've picked up in our elementary schools among all the schools 18 additional students from what we had. uh at the beginning of school. We've lost eight at the middle level and we've lost 20 at the high school level. Uh but we know just about where all these students are. Uh at the high school level, u we've had 44 students leaving us, 22 24 coming in from other places. Uh five two of the five that have left us we know are dropouts. Three are just on the count of four we think they'll be dropouts. Four have moved on to adult ed. Uh 12 have gone into homeschool and we've had 19 moving out of district
066and four go to a charter school somewhere. But we're picking some students and losing some students. But overall right now we're down 10 students from the first day of school. So uh that little chart will show you schools where we gained where we lost. Uh basically the the idea is to love them all, everybody that we have and teach them all. Um any questions about that? Thirdly, uh Mr. Han got a phone call from uh Scott Moulder, the city administrator in Synica, and they are looking to annex some property. uh they're looking to annex a church near uh our Bountyland property in the Tangle Wood subdivision and wondered if we had any objection in their annexation if they included our Bounty Land complex. and uh uh he related that if you are within the city
067the benefits to you are the um utility rates are a little less and the trash pickup is a little less and perhaps the city police and fire protection would be a little little better. Uh so among the leadership team we saw no reason to um jump into that with anything other than uh it's okay with us. Am I stating that right, Mr. Hammy? Uh so just >> a whole lot of negative to it. We don't pay taxes on the property. So there's not that not that going up and the service will be cheaper. And >> annexation is an issue amongst neighborhoods. But I think with a school district it it's a it's a positive thing for us. So uh we had no objection to if they included us in their annexation move. Uh fourthly, as
068you know, uh the federal government has shut down. I think it's 11 11 or 12 days so far. And I just learned today that they are riffing employees at the federal department of education. 466 got pink slips this weekend and we're starting to get just a little concerned particularly if the special ed funding won't come our way. Uh so we're keeping our eye on that. Not a lot we can do about that, but that that just is a is a concern that we have. And then finally, I wanted to share with the board that u this was a really good day of staff development though Cody County Schools. I got to visit u in here. We had guidance counselors, mental health counselors. The room next door. We start out with the assistant principles. Uh, Senica
069Middle housed most of the secondary u teachers in the four content areas and u the elementary schools were working in most our schools getting their letters training. Dr. McDonald tells me we're down to two more trainings and we'll be fully trained on letters. I just have to commend uh Dr. McDonald and Mr. Smith on the training that they and their staffs put together. Everywhere I went, I saw teachers engaged and uh tracking with the presenters, presenters were very strong. And uh one thing I would mention with uh Miss Cox's uh presentation, there were inclusion teachers and with our regular ed teachers getting the same training. How positive that was and just uh was quite excited with what I saw. So it was a day well spent with staff's development and I applaud Mr. Smith and
070Dr. McDonald for the work getting that ready and that's all I have madam chair. >> Right. >> Well, thank you for that and thank you to all of our team and teachers for the professional development day. Um I I did hear a lot of good things going on in the district today. All right. At this time, board member comments. >> Well, I just want to thank everybody for coming and uh thank you for engaging with us. I know it's kind of some boring stuff, but certainly enjoy your your participation and just being here tonight. So, thank you. And at this time, I would like to ask for a um motion to go into executive session for personnel items, uh discussion of possible legislative action and discussion of our superintendent search. >> So moved. >> Second.
071>> All right. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> And we will be back. matter about possible legislation effect and open session. So what this is That Oh, it's cold out here. We didn't talk about this cuz I didn't understand any of this any what that we had given her permission to >> this deeper than us. >> Okay. I mean, we obviously Steve will know about it >> and it must not have been recently >> mistake or miscommunication or something. >> Sounded like anyway. Okay, we are now in open session and I would like to ask for a motion to approve the items from executive session. I make a motion that we approve the personnel items, employment recommendations and changes. >> Second. >> So that was Denise and told her. All right. Any further discussion?
072All in favor? All right. And motion to adjurnn. I move. >> Second. >> All right. All in favor? >> Thank you.