Urbandale CSD School Board Meeting 5.06.24

001all right we will begin our evening and we will first open the hearing for amending the fiscal 24 year this so this would be the budget for the 2425 school year is there anybody who wishes to speak it's actually the 232 23 24 this year my apologies it just says fiscal year4 so this year amending the budget for this year are there any thoughts comments all right I have J can I is this the time that I would ask one sure can you just tell us what the non-instructional sure programs were for uh non-instructional is management fund expenses renutrition Services Adventure Time and Community Ed it's kind of our Enterprise funds plus the management F thank you no other seeing no other comments we will close the hearing and call the work session board meeting

002for May 6th 2024 to order we'll begin with a roll call Hower here Kent here me here minky here Ben rwi Williams here young here okay the district mission is to teach all reach all our vision is Urbandale will be a school district that brings learning to life for everyone and the school board mission is to partner with stakeholders to teach all and reach all through governance of board policy and operating protocol would entertain a motion to approve the agenda Kent will move do I have a second will second all in favor I opposed motion passes agenda is approved item number four Teacher Appreciation Week Proclamation you that's me the National Education Association and the national parent teacher Association recognize the week of May 6th through the 10th 2024 as Teacher Appreciation Week the Urbandale

003Community School District Board of Education would like to express our appreciation for everything our teachers and staff do to assure our Student Success a letter of appreciation was sent via email from the board to staff members on Monday May 6th 2024 so on behalf of myself and the board once again thank you to all of you who do this every day we would not be here without you all right and the next item is School Board appreciation month I first want to thank um Jesse saer and the nutrition services staff for providing our board members with a little treat tonight you have a something to take home and eat before you go to bed and get you all riled up on sugar but I know you're going to enjoy it also um the nutrition services

004provided are every building today a yogurt parfait just a little bit of a sweet treat to get them going to um we hope everybody enjoyed it they came out to AO as well so all of our staff were able to partake in those um they'd be a little hard to keep cold here so hope you guys enjoy the brownie um our Schoolboard members this is Schoolboard appreciation month and I want to point out our school board members volunteer that's capital volunteer countless hours of time each year to provide the best possible education for every Urbandale student the month of May is designated as Iowa's Schoolboard recognition month to celebrate and thank our local Schoolboard members the 2023 24 school year has been a year of challenges and we thank each of you for your work

005on this and your governance of the educational system you've spent a lot of hours in the last couple of months so we do recognize that you have personal lives and you've given up a lot of your time so as the superintendent I personally thank you and I encourage the community when they see you out to also recognize your work so thank you thank you all right we will move to public comments before we begin um I would like to thank everyone who is speaking for coming tonight um our board policy limits comments to 3 minutes per speaker for confidentiality reasons the board cannot discuss specific person Personnel matters but we do appreciate your comments the board has a significant interest in maintaining the decorum of our meetings and we expect that members of the public

006and the board will address each other with civility the orderly process of the board meeting will not be interfered with or disrupted by public comment only individuals recognized by the board president will be allowed to speak comments by others are out of order if disruptive the individual causing disruption may be asked to leave the board meeting defamatory comments and other personal attacks may be subject to legal action and with that I would invite Josh Heen to come forward please to the table up front perfect never been to a board meeting before so I wasn't sure where to go for this you're pretty easy going yeah I like it Josh if you could just for the record state your name and address and your connection to the district please sure uh I uh Josh Hagen I

007live at 4114 in 24th Street here in Urbandale uh I have two daughters one who is a junior Urbandale High School and another one who's a seventh grader at the Middle School uh both my girls have been extremely active uh while in school doing everything from show choir to cross country track basketball uh pretty much any activity that's in the school they have participated in in fact I'm leaving here and going to a 7th grade choir concert as soon as I'm done here uh I love nothing more than watching my kids participate in their activities I come before the board today to ask that the board take action or direct staff in the near future to leave our Sports conference the ciml and either join a new conference or be a team with no conference

008until a new conference can be found I've had this topic on my mind for a long time ever since the CM ciml split several years ago into two different conferences I first emailed Dr Watson about this back in January of 2022 asking that we consider finding a different conference I had a follow-up email with our new activities director and October of 2023 about the same topic the need to change our conference and several additional emails more recently I'm not shy about how I feel about the topic people know and my feelings so the Friday before last I got multiple calls and some emails and some texts from some people I knew that were wanting to organize and try to Lobby Urbandale to leave the ciml and I was pry pretty excited parents have heard that

009some area schools are reaching out to Urbandale about possible a new conference and parents would like Urbandale to be part of the conversation I know our activities director has had a number of emails calls and has met with some parents recently about this topic I love basketball I love watching my girls play basketball I've coached them all when they're both very young uh playing basketball so seeing our high school girls play in the CM ciml playing each team twice during the regular season is a bit crushing our girls since the cim ciml change have been 0 and6 in conference play each season 0 and6 0 and6 0 and6 it has been devastating to the girls and parents and coaches girls have quit playing and even left Urbandale Schools for other schools just because of basketball

010Juniors this year will this is the third different coach they've had in three different years uh because every single coach has left the program this isn't the girls or coach's fault the players are good the coaches are good parents support is great and our facilities are topnotch we were not like everyone else in our conference every team in our conference is top ranked even some of them nationally ranked dominating state playoffs each year this just isn't about basketball it's happening in every sport both boys and girls we are the smallest School in the ciml some schools are over twice our size we are on the same conference and similar in terms of geographic location but we are not equal Valley High School has 440 more kids per grade than Urbandale Johnson has 274 more kids

011kids per grade Southeast pop 247 Etc erdale schools are not growing yet the schools we play grow each year the last bit of open undeveloped ground Urbandale School District from what I understand has been optioned by De Mo Christian for high school campus thank you please state your name and address and connection to the district for the record please my name isy Bond and I'm a senior um we are here to read a open letter on behalf of over 70 students and teachers from the district we the students at Urban High School refuse to accept that this district is incapable of providing adequate anti-racist training and policies for staff in order to create the safe environment for minority students that we claim to prioritize our Administration and staff continue to show that they are ill

012equipped to handle racism and to teach anti-racism to their staff and students this prevents students from feeling safe enough to learn participate in community and school activities and call out their fellow students in consistent instances of ignorance when the administration does not care about their students of color why would the students care either speaking through years of core students and alumni enough is enough today we brought firsthand accounts from students the people you work for and all over to demonstrate um how much change is needed and we'll start with our student accounts one student told us that in the cafeteria while sitting with two Asian students two other students came up and commented stinky Asians in the presence of School faculty and upon realizing that one of their students their other friends were nearby they

013laughed and offered an insincere apology the student wanted to say I wish our staff had the courage to speak up and say something because this racism is not okay let our students continue Kiki if you could state your name and address thank you kiks 12910 Tanglewood Drive and I'm a student at her um one student said while in class the teacher put on the World Cup it was the us against Iran just before class ended the teacher said is Iran going to carpet bomb the us because they lost almost jokingly can you imagine how it must have felt for the students whose entire family is from Iran the teacher was put on leave for a few months and eventually returned but while they were gone other students came up to the student telling them all

014the things the teacher had said but had never reported telling two Swahili students they should speak English in on in class and many more the student who told the wanted to ask you this that was one report document and one mistake in the eyes of HR but how many students suffering silence is enough how many blatantly racist islamophobic and Zionist comments would it take how many times is one too many another student who file who filled out our form said that they were harassed their freshman year for being Hispanic during one of her classes an administrator at her High School said her name adding El work at the end because she is Hispanic she writes that she is appalled by what they just said and repeated L War once more whether intentional or not this

015was a microaggression compounded by the rapal trauma she has experienced from the harassment from freshman year their harassment or Administration was unable to resolve after she fell silent they laughed and said work this student says I feel like our student does not care I feel like our school does not care one bit about minorities they only care about their reputation the school has no regard for people of different cultures state your name and address connection married to Sal 34 44 56 street I'm a junior at Urban High School a student stresses the importance of of training by emphasizing the fact that our staff continuously makes the school feel unsafe people color Le to almost all white staff and administration the student said that training is necessary because they owe it to our students of color

016to treat instances of racism with sensitivity and importance further the personal beliefs and behavior behaviors of the teachers impact the students as well they go on to state that it's not the job of minorities and people of color to educate and call out the people on our school it is the job of everyone we need to implement anti anti-racism educ UC ation and teachings throughout the school for admin teachers and students these trainings need to be from qualified professionals and people of color that understand the complexity of this issue this student has heard slurs and insensitive comments from students are they decorated and unreported by staff they finish off by saying it is hurtful to many communities groups and students our Administration and teachers must be held accountable for their actions equipped for our students

017I've encountered teachers who made ignorant comments while some of it is not intentional and the most glaring problem I see is that they fail to take accountability when one teacher is mistaken mistakenly another agent student for me instead of aping she said give me a break she deflected the issue by blaming her situation what's funny is this came from an English teacher who has talked about deflation FY by before in her classes this is not the only isolated case of her pred predes I she's made BL racist comments in the past as well the fact that she's been a teacher this long and she's still acting like this is concerning I felt disrespected whenever teachers who are supposed to be role models and someone we feel safe to confide in fail to practice what they

018preach I'm Sophie rugama 10425 doet Drive um I go I'm a senior at R High School another student told us about the normalization of these incidents and activities they described how they felt unsafe when a no when a known racist who is suspended for racist remarks is still in their choir program they talk about how staff does not Institute racial Equity causing those activities to feel unsafe they point out how many members of Staff have not faced discrimination based on their race which allows them to stay silent and not care about racism that's the end of our personal stories however we do have um our ending section after speaking with building Administration they claim that these trainings that they want these trainings but they don't have enough time for it per District policy and training

019schedules however it is clear that they are refusing to prioritize anti-racist education and students of color we should not have to ask our staff to be trained and qualified we should not have to beg to our school board to give time for necessary trainings and to support our students of color but here we are our Administration our district you all are failing us we've spoken with teachers who have said that the only anti-racism training that they have received was one mandatory personal development day from core and one optional Cabin Fever presentation as grateful as we are for having to been able to engage our staff in training that can truly change the environment of a school this training is needed more than two times per year despite sessions with the middle school and Elementary School

020teachers who were grateful for the skills and tools that we provided we were unable to bring this change where our staff needs it most in fact after one of our presentations a teacher at the Urbandale Community School District was discussing with us how she teaches kids from the Congo and then proceeded to say the nword three times as if we did not just explain the harm that using slurs causes as if she did not was not present for an entire presentation the fact is Urbandale Community School District staff and faculty are failing us because of their racist actions and their lack of appropriate training that woman who said the n-word three times she teaches Elementary School students state your name and address adri I'm a sophomore UE high school anti-racist training is not just a

021solution to these problems it is the fundamental necessity we will Empower students and staff with the knowledge and tools they need to recognize and challenge biases create an inclusive environment and support students from diverse backgrounds as much as staff claims to care about all of their students racism and Prejudice run rampant in our buildings schools should be a place where students feel safe to learn and grow but we students face discrimination from students staff and administration daily the training is not just about addressing symptoms of racism it's about addressing the very Roots within our own District organizations like learning for justice have programs and teachings made from people who have experienced and studied racism unlike the staff from our district who have demonstrated time and time again that they are ill equipped and uneducated we

022need professionals who dedicate their time solely to anti-ra education to teach teachers and administration we the students of Urbandale High School stand before you to demand districtwide anti-racist education for administration and staff from qualified professionals and more equit Equitable action within the school refusal to give this training to admin and staff will once again show the racism and Prejudice plaguing the school plaguing the people meant to protect us when our Administration is unqualified to deal with reports over racism when our Administration ref refuses to to submit students of color when our Administration does not prioritize anti-racist education We are failing our students our community and ourselves and the open letter has been shared with all you guys through we not all right we'll move to the next item on the agenda item number seven the

023school board responds to house file um what is in the sorry my mind just went blank in assembly executive summary um is a recommendation from uh me the superintendent that the board um not allow staff to carry guns on our campuses this is um as a result of house file 2586 if the board wanted to have that they would have to you would have to take an action for that so um I've given a motion a potential motion you can adjust that however you see fit if this is the will of the board um just so the public knows house file 2586 was passed in this last legislative session um it also speaks to school resource officers in schools in districts where there's at least 8,000 students we do not have 8,000 students but we

024have had an SRO and will continue to have an SRO um unless something changes that I am not aware of um there's no Financial impact to the district this is just simply the board's public transparency of what their wish is and relative to that house file that was passed so I would leave it to you guys to have that conversation so does this call for Action this me it does and I um put it on because we started to receive some emails and inquiries from the public wanting to know if they could find out which of the teachers are carrying guns um also I felt like it was important to be transparent to the staff so that they understood the it passed but that doesn't mean you can start bringing a gun that this has

025to be a board action to decide to do and I thought the formality of it would help you guys make that point right so this so this will not be a policy at this point but it could become policy later without objection I would move that um the urban Del Community School District deny School Employees permission to carry weapons on school property as outlined in hf2 2586 can't we second that I just have one question has there been staff that have desired to do that when you say that you not to my knowledge but I felt like as a protection for the staff if somebody did and we found out about it if they weren't explicitly told the implication of this Poli this house file and that the board has to take action I felt

026like that's not fair to them so I wanted to make it clear to start with okay so no staff has reached out in any way okay no okay thank you I know I I understand that I'm just I'm wondering though if we would want to amend this to direct the administration to then formally communicate to staff it's it's already set up ready to go if the board passes this we hit the button to do to pursue the adoption of a formal policy or direct the administration to do that or is there I think we need to wait until iasb has their recommendations it's already in uh 509 and the weapons section that guns are not allowed on campus but if iasb comes up with their primers should be coming out soon it also appears that

027there are a number of other factors including insurance coverage that are up in the years so I think making a statement is probably adequate at this point okay I have a motion and a second we will do a roll call vote Hower sorry yes Kent yes need yes minky emphatically yes Williams yes y yes motion passes all right move [Music] to item eight and all of the ACT items below it business office and operations item 8A the approved Amendment amended fiscal year 24 certified budget Administration recommends the approval of the certified budget amendment I would move to approve the amended uh 24 2024 certified budget I have a motion do I have a second and will second this will also be a roll call vote at the pleasure of our secretary Kent yes me yes

028Mankey yes Williams yes young yes CER yes motion passing 8B set the date for the public hearing for the flexibility fund transfer yes um the administration recommends the setting of a public hearing for May 20th 2024 for a flexibility transfer of $300,000 out of the TLC funds back into the flexibility funds that the state allows us there discussion questions we move to set the date for May 20th 2024 motion do I have a second need a second this is a simple yay nay all in favor yay opposed motion passes 8 C approval of the mowing contract for 2024 through 2027 Administration recommends with the changes that we did from the last meeting uh to approve the uh mowing service for Fred Nixon lawnmowing Services I'll make a motion to was a little second I'd be

029[Laughter] worried this is a roll call vote so me yes miy yes Williams yes young yes Hower yes Kent yes motion passes thank you 8D the approval of demolition for the house on 72nd Street there's two houses on 72nd Street um we have quotes from several um businesses to do this and Mr Wheeler head of buildings and grounds supervisor uh recommends that we have you approved Iowa demolition for the removal of houses and dead trees at both properties at 4011 and 40372 Street I um D Carlo is the lowest base price and I'm wondering were they both I mean because he's his recommendation is based on the fact that they're going to do the Hydro Seating and was that requested in the bids and I and I think I probably added the confusion there because

030I input this for Zach and it that's just an additional cost that I could have left out because that's not something that's not the reason that he recommended that um let me pull up his Z Zach I talked to Zach today regarding this and he said all the companies that he called to get the bids on all were given the same information on the difference between the two is um Iowa demolition was going to add six inches of dirt over the top of with a removal area to try to make a level grounding and that was not done in the other two bids that was a selection for that business was the word it was it just the wording that was the same or not because I I I D Carlo's work it's not worded

031the same but would be the same and I I guess I don't I guess it's the lower bid and I feel like Dar Carlo has been a loyal loyal supporter of Urbandale Schools and they from my understanding the wording they they are going off of what is standard because there wasn't specifics in the in the bid that they were asked to give and so they went off of that and it they would do a standard backfill which is procedure and in in Reading Iowa demolitions um the the wording is different in one place it says like backfill and then in a different place over here it's saying um uh what was the other wording there there that they were going to do that I just not I'm not sure we're comparing Apple I I I

032think D Carla would do the same thing that IA demo what you're saying I would them was going to do from my understanding and my conversation I know Zach said based on the information that he' asked them to bid on this was the bid that he felt the best with because the last time um there was some areas that needed fill in on the last removal of the house and that them saying that on this bid that's why he chose that that company to do the bidding but do you think De Carlo would modify what they've written so that it aligns because it could be a lower price and they would be doing the same work what I'm not seeing so when I look at Dar Carlo here um and I lost it but it

033says that they're going to backfill but when you look at the other one Iowa demolition um it does say that they're going to backfill with suitable fill just like it says on to Carlo and then number 11 says that they're going to place 6 in of top soil on the disturb areas um and that's top soil is different than back fill it is but then under exclusions if if you read it the fine grading is not included which is what would be with the six Ines of top soil let me make that bigger um bottom of page I feel like we're getting into the um same area that we did with the last quote um in the mowing Mo where we had to consult with an attorney because now each of the companies has seen

034each of their bids and you can say what anything after the bid is revealed and that's that brings us into some issues so I I would recommend the board either table this or um make the appropriate vote I I think we're in a a touchy area and when a bid's put out I mean the language that's used should be kind of a universal thing with I don't do that work so I wouldn't know how to bid that but I would assume that there is some uniform language that would come through and if it wasn't clear then we're now giving a bid company an option to make theirs more clear after they've already seen what everybody else bids so yeah but I would also argue that it could be a legal issue if the if the

035specs that were requested weren't clear do you know what I'm saying you can um one option would be to table it and have those specs brought to you so that you can see what they are and you can see how it was requested um I'm just assuming there's an industry standard for how you would respond do they write the specs once and they send them to everybody so everybody goes off the same everybody has the same specs yeah is that kind of the question right but if it yeah I guess I don't know if the if it's I mean when you was it requested to have six inches of top soil that I guess that's my question because if that was just something they threw in there is that different than or was it said

036we want 6 Ines of top soil because if that's what if we're basing the if we're basing the decision on that factor then then was that specifically put in the request does that does that make sense Lauren do you recall that was that part of his request I don't really know that answer I don't know answer to it I just know what the the companies's provided I just know yeah I just know he took their bid based upon them doing the back fill and adding the top soil as an addition because the last house was not done that way and right after Consulting the grounds people so that's why he chose Iowa this IA demolition okay because that's just my that's my question if it wasn't specifically said this is what we want we're making

037a decision on something that one company did but maybe we didn't ask for that and so I just I'm curious if we asked for that and if we asked for that and they did include it in their bid then yes that makes sense I I don't know that answer but I I would have to say based on what I'm reading from his email I don't knows if that was on the request but I don't know that answer okay because I didn't but he thought he thought the difference in the two prices between the two bids uh 1,250 more or the backfill the soil and the grading was a better solution for that area based on that okay because yeah I'm looking for a motion I would move to accept the administrative recommendation of the I

038would demolition do I have a second CC second this will be a roll call minky yes Williams yes young yes Hower yes Kent yes me no motion passes 5 to one all right we move to item nine the annual employee compensation agreements 9A for the Urbandale Education Association agreement for the coming 2425 school year Lauren do you want to come up in case there's questions on these [Music] just give the gist of what the recommendation is I'm sorry so for a uh 9A uh The District in UA settled at a 3.06 uh salary base salary increase for 2425 uh the TSS uh increased more significantly than it has recently uh up 900 total from last year which is why the number is at 4.67 as a total salary increase uh and then I won't read

039all the rest to you of the details there but you can see how each cell was impacted on the teacher salary uh TSS is distributed equally that has been the case for quite some time and remains that way um for this uh for this round as well and then an additional $500 uh is added to the extra Duty base for co-curricular contracts which which is also part of the agreements generated base for those uh extra contracts or co-curricular is 35 828 um and um I'm guessing you probably looked at what the tenative agreement has in it um there was just a few um edits that we had uh at the end when we uh finished our negotiations just for the benefit of people that might be watching can you tell people what TSS is teacher

040supplemental salary so it's the addition to bolster teacher salaries um and like I said that those those dollars are almost 100% spread out to all uh throughout the teacher contracts so it's an additional $6,500 this year it was 5600 last year uh and that's all reflected in the salary schedule so those Fe those funds come from the state yes in our yes and one of the things that's significant this year is that uh we were with the the uh requirement of 475 for initial teachers and the $60,000 minimum for 12 years of experience um the dollars that we uh were allocated by the state just pushed us over uh in terms of what the final agreement was so in our case unlike a lot of other districts the salary schedule didn't need to be changed

041around that um to make it okay and it was literally a few dollars um at 12 especially that um it got us there I would move to approve this um contract agreement for 2425 do I have a second second Jos second okay I have a motion and a second um this will be a roll call vote Josh is in time to be the first to vote Yes okay Williams abstain due to conflict of Interest my spouse being covered by the UEA agreement thank you young yes Hower Yes hint yes me yes Mankey yes motion passes six Z with one Obion all right Item B the 2024 2025 the certified contracts and set issuance and return date so there's uh where we've just got all the contracts ready uh for each individual and um if approved

042by the board this evening they will be put out electronically very soon I would move to approve can second a motion and a second this is also a roll call load Williams abstain spouse being includ young yes Hower yes Kent yes need yes yes yes motion carries 6 Z with one abstention excellent item C the 2024 2025 coaching contracts and set issuance and return date and we are ready with the same thing for all of those contracts CC will move to approve the issuance and return dates for the 2425 coaching contracts second and another roll call vote young yes Hower yes yes me yes miy yes and rwi yes William abstain motion carries 60 with one all right item D the 2024 2025 administrative contract approval okay um the the based on what we are

043offering the UEA we are asking to approve a 4.5% salary increase for administrative positions for next year to come as close as we can to the similar number is there discussion questions I would entertain a motion I would move to approve the administrative contracts for 2425 William second Williams another roll call vote if you please Madam Secretary Al sir yes Kent yes me yes Mankey yes Ben rice yes Williams yes young yes motion passes 70 item e approval of the 2024 2025 classifi exempt letters of assignment so track different ones this was you said f right or no this is e e sorry e so it's the same um I got ahead of myself um it is the same increase that's being proposed that uh of 4.5 uh that Dr Daka proposed for administrators Kent

044will move to approve the 24 25 classified exempt letters of assignment Williams will second I have a motion and a second this is a roll call vote Kent yes me yes NY yes Westy yes Williams yes young yes Hower yes motion passes 70 item F Urbandale educational workers agreement for 2024 2025 and the 2024 2025 classified wage schedules yeah so this was the uh final one that we got completed just recently in negotiations so you'll see it's a 2.93% increase approximately 1.57 uh is Step movement um from one step to the next for a total wage increase of approximately 4.5% uh the full tenative agreement is attached and historically we have um done the same sort of wage increase for our nonew classified employees who work hourly as well um the we say it's approximate

045because not each cell is exactly at 4.5% but it's uh in terms of total package um that's where it landed I would move to approve the UAW agreement for 2425 do I have a second I'll second that seconds to the surprise of no one this is a roll call vote I'm keeping up so for good so me yes Mankey yes and rwi yes Williams yes y yeser yes K yes motion pass 7 I'd like to express our Delight that this is settled and um everyone being willing to come to the table and agreed um and mostly to Steve for helping us to find the money to do this it's all good so thank you I appreciate your willingness to work with us as well since I've been here it's been a pretty simple process so

046that open dialogue and HR department's work as well you say Kate's work yeah sorry of course Kate just locked in her office getting all this ready on Friday that did happen she's getting paid getting paid she's getting a brownie isn't she we'll take care of her thank you all right we'll move into agenda item 10 superintendent cabinet Personnel changes for the 2024 2025 school year yeah there are um five individual items under this action um that I'm asking for number 10 if you look at the executive summary if you've had a chance to read it um with all the aea changes with the legislative changes and everything else that's being thrown at us we're trying to make sure that the district stays in a good fiscal position not knowing what is going to be coming

047down the pike we've asked schools to make uh efficiencies or Cuts I like the word efficiency better than a cut seems a little less negative um and I don't feel like AO is exempt for that and we had an opportunity with a recent resignation to make some changes that would save the district money um the changes that I'm recommending I think I put in here $16,000 but given that you've just approved what you did and I um take a look at this it's actually $123,000 that would be saved if you look at changing two positions to a director they were going to get a certain amount of money anyway so um it gives us even more savings so the way that it's laid out ABCDE was at the advice of um Melissa Schilling um the

048attorney that we use for our HR um there were a couple questions about the elel lead supervision yes I left that off mistakenly but that is a duty that would be on the um uh student services an equity position should that be approved um the job descriptions that were there prior were simp they were merged together so everything that's in there um was from that job description so the first thing that you'll take each of these individually is to eliminate the coordinator of equity and inclusion position and merge that into uh director of student services and Equity that you would vote on in B and then appoint that person as Stephanie who's in in half of that position right now and then after that I would be asking you to approve the job description for

049the director of special education Melanie hatch who's currently the coordinator of special education her job is going to change drastically we just don't know exactly what that's going to look like but she's going to have to take on a lot of the work that the aeas were directing before to make sure that we remain in compliance as well as the fact that the legal work that she's had to do that I expect that her to leave without having to come and ask me every time she's taken on a lot as well just like Stephanie has taken on with the title nine and some situations that you've um recently been a part of and then the last thing would be to appoint Melanie to be that director of special education there was a question about do

050we need to eliminate the coordinator of special education I didn't want to eliminate that one not knowing where the future was going to go with special education that might be a position position in the future if that becomes so big and encompassing we might have to go back and take a look at adding something like that and I just wanted it to be sitting there for updates if that was the case I think that's all the questions that I got asked if I remember correctly are these each separate each ABCDE would be separate yes and the um the pay for a director would if you approve these they were on the administrator pay scale that you just approved that this action would supersede that we just put that on there as a precaution in case

051it wasn't approved so that they still had a a job so questions one question I have do do you feel like we have adequate support um helping these director roles like are they out you know like is there enough like because it seems like the the new director of student services and Equity that seems like it's becoming a very big job and so tell us who who how many people support that role or that that position that does look like a really large job description and I kind of did that intentionally because I started to bucket the equity uh standards and I wanted to be explicit that that work was not going away and those standards are from the state for whoever is your Equity person so I wanted to leave those so that you

052could see that they were not going away and a lot of that there is a lot of work on there and it's really my job and my team's job to support each other and me to support them so whether that's training or you know we always talk about every year what are our items in the right place is there somebody that can help with that so we continue to do that anyway but I wanted to make sure it was clear that I was not tossing that work out the window and it used to be one job anyway the the position prior to me coming and Ryan being hired it was one position can you speak to the history of the position and why it was split out I wasn't here um it was in 2020

053that the former staff member was hired um Lauren I know I hate to bug you again but do you have anything to add because I wasn't in the district for that um I know he started July first 202 um I think that at that time and remember we these were coordinator positions um that it was seen as necessary to have um somebody whose Focus was that work and this was um um I think where we were in initial discussions regarding an equity audit and what that might look like uh in the district and the scope of work that would go along with that um and it it was just seen as an important piece of um focusing on on something that ultimately um even became a strategic plan pillar with the goal being that you

054know ultimately where equity and inclusion is so infused into all of our work that it doesn't need to be its own pillar it's just infused into all of them um so I I that's probably a pretty General answer but and Katherine you was there anything you want to add I know you were on the board at the time I think if you think back to preo 2018 2019 um there was a rising concern Consciousness legitimate I I felt um you know George Floyd and there was just a a growing awareness and a desire on the part of the district I would say and particularly the board to to address that more overtly um I think the board at the time felt that it was worthy of a separated position I would say that since that

055time you know you think about intervening events and we have covid and we shut school and we've you know gone through a number of things but also some Rising Consciousness that e Equity had a narrower Focus I think at that time that might have been more racial and ethnic whereas now we are trying to begin to address facility Equity uh opportunity Equity um funding equities you know all kinds of opportunities within our system that we deal with and and I I think it's a progression um at the time um I would say that most of the people on the board were very surprised that the administration went for it because that's what they asked for and honestly at that time didn't happen very often so um I think most of us on the board considered

056it win um at this point I think we're at a different place um and um you know I would point to Stephanie and Melanie if they're prepared to take this on because now they know what they're in for um I would applaud that because there are all kinds of issues now that we didn't have to deal with that I mean who knew the aea would blow up um so again and I don't know that may be sketchy that's what I recall right so I wasn't on the board but I was paying attention to board meeting way back when um and it was a much more like you said narrow um vision for what was then called diversity equity and inclusion we know that you know like it's it's it's morphed it's changed year after year

057um last year became Equity inclusion you know um I guess in my mind Equity is inclusion they're you know kind of one of the same because is if things are Equitable then everybody is being included um and that goes for not just that narrow scope it goes for all of our Learners regardless and I don't know that it was necessarily ill conceived but I think the interpretation unfortunately was much very tied to ethnic backgrounds um um and I I I don't know whether that was shortsighted at the time that's kind of where Society at large was uh I would say so yeah it's just bigger and again I would applaud both these two fine ladies for taking this on hopefully it was willingly and they did I did talk to them I was gonna say

058can we can we so boldly as because I know Stephanie you have a passion for diversity equity and inclusion and you have a you have a passion for that and so so you have been in this role and you have seen the job description and is that is it um a manageable task in your eyes to Encompass and infold both of these jobs and and do justice to all the things that that that's being asked of you in that role don't mind me I'm yes um I do see um how the two jobs overlap and much of um I've had a wonderful opportunity to coordinate or to collaborate with the coordinator of student services this year um and so a lot of a lot of what involved um helps to lead to Equitable outcomes for

059all of our students and I think it's important to remember and I've said this at the board table before um while I may be the coordinator of equity and inclusion Equity lives with everyone the district and moving that forward I do have something to say and I am I allowed to interject here um just to give the student perspective I don't know what's happening on the administrative end I can only tell you how students feel in the environment that we are in and when we say like Equity means that everyone is equal but we don't focus on things like being Equitable racially or ethnically a lot of the times it feels like minor minorities can fall through the cracks so if we don't look at things through a racial lens it doesn't feel like we're

060acknowledging the real racial and diversity issues that we have within our schools so we have to make sure that while we make it Equitable for all we understand that some people need more and some people need less and making sure to specifically address problems that impact minority communities yes I agree with you thank you and so do I I didn't mean to make that seem less sure I just I can only give the student perspective and that's what I feel um the student body the consensus is that we need minority training we need we need training on how to handle these kind of situations because it it's everyday life it's not just big picture it's very specific events indeed yeah thank you I like what you said where the maybe you said it too but

061equity and I think inclusion is an action Equity is the differences and what we give to people but inclusion is the action and the leadership we take to make it happen and make sure all of our differences are celebrated and that we can come together stronger is that culture in the district are we there yet we are not there yet there're still work to do we have a lot of wonderful things started but there there is there is work to do for all of us so I think where my mind is going is this is our one of our pillars this is something we have been working towards and we see as important we just heard from our students saying that they want to see more actions of inclusion and they want to be our

062teachers to have the training that they need to be sensitive to race and to all of these other issues and I'm concerned that by separating taking these positions and putting them together that we're not going to give the inclusion actions the robustness that they deserve and I want you to be successful in your job and I see that you bring a lot of passion and heart to it but I've been in situations before where the position ahead of me is too big to be successful and I want you to be successful and so my concern is that by putting these two together neither is going to get the Justice they deserve I I wouldn't recommend this if I thought that was going to happen and I I've been around long enough to know what that

063entails and I feel like the best shot of infusing equity throughout is to have the person who's doing that work be that person the the touch points that that position will have is going to there's it's going to be hard not to make sure that we're looking at equity and I I don't think that it's going to be too much to be done by one person the pillar when we talked about it for a year was a blank pillar because we didn't know what we didn't know we didn't know what to put in it this is the first year there's been actionable items in the pillar and the idea when it was created I think Katherine said it was somebody said it is that pillar is not going to be there forever it's only there

064temporarily and when we went through the equity audit and we sat with the the the firm that did the audit that was that was part of the dialogue that we had do we do we create a pillar or do we not create a pillar because it should be infused well we have the start now of what we know we need to do so it's time to start infusing it it's it's not a separate thing it should be infused just like special education shouldn't be out looking for their curriculum without collaborating with the gened curriculum to make sure that they're aligned that the students are going to have the same experiences this this is never going to be just she does this job and she does this job we all do these jobs together so that's

065why I don't what additional supports will be provided because you took one job and you made it into twoo and I understand there are synergies what things are going to be taken off of her plate so that she has more efficiency what support will she be given to there's a lot of processes that are either created already this year to make the student services job more efficient there's more processes to continue to create to make sure that we're doing the right work in the right way so that we can be efficient there were a lot of inefficiencies in how that happens we we've figured out registration we've improved registration we've figured out how to put an assistant with the registar so that there are things that can come on some of these are not her

066physical work it's her leadership and her oversight of other people that are going to make these things happen and the responsibility lies with me to make sure that I'm giving her the support that she needs if there's training that she needs to go to if there's help that I can provide we have um eight weeks so she's with Renee for eight weeks to Shadow and learn the pieces that she needs the most information on so it's I'm not going to put her in that position and then say good luck with that if she wants to go and Shadow other student services um directors in other districts I'm open to any of that whatever she needs whatever Melanie needs because she'll be a new director as well I'm that's my role is to support them each

067of these items are considered separately correct so if the board feels heartburn or stress about eliminating the coordinator Equity position based on where we feel it doesn't preclude us from creating a student services in Equity Title of a director over that Andre maintaining a coordinator position like I wanted like I mentioned with the special ed if you want to hold it out there and leave the leave it so that if in the future it needed to be Revisited you can do that and obviously we wouldn't have the financial savings then because potentially that coordinator role could at some point if hired take up that savings that's perceived we would still have the savings because if it was added in the future I'm going to have to find it again to be able to do that

068I wouldn't I think what you're saying is that there are all kinds of variables with services from the AA that we don't know how those pieces are going to fall the other thing that I would would say is um with the improvements in the registration process um you know it's kind of nice that people don't have to go back and try to take care of things so if you have have accurate demographics and you have accurate uh IEPs from another district and that doesn't always happen sometimes parents come in and say I don't want to do that anymore you you don't have the power to do that and the district is responsible for an IEP so all of those things having that accurate data to begin with precludes some of the work that had to

069be done in the past to make it okay for every student the other thing that I would say is um making these two people directors um May largely be symbolic um of a little more money but the bottom line is then we are saying that their services between special education and student services and elll and ESL or whatever we call them all are all just as important as teaching and learning Finance um you know operations HR that all of those pieces and I would say that that is one of the primary messages of this is to literally tell people you're on an equal basis with all these other areas so you need to have the confidence to bring forward to us and the powers that be that these are things that need to happen because

070it's in your area so I don't know if I've made that clear clear enough but I do think there are other dimensions to this that literally raise those concerns to a different level than they might have been in the past I also would like to point out that this is a continuing Journey nothing is written in stone and we all know we have huge variables out in the community in the legislature the governor the aeas and so none of this is forever it can't be I mean we're just going to do the best we can for what we can control is what I'm inferring so with that I would propose that we approve can I say something sure um I guess my concern is everybody is talking about how this the Dei piece has grown

071and is so much bigger but yet we're talking about taking the person that is in charge of that and giving them more responsibilities and that's my concern concern is you know yes maybe this isn't something that needs to be there but I don't think we've solved this in three years and the three you know the first whole year of that was just doing the parent study and learning what our where our short fings are coming and I don't feel like we're at that point as was exhibited earlier when the students came and talked that we're there yet I I think we still need more focus on that and not to take it away and give Stephanie something else to do on top of what what her job description is by combining two different positions um

072I think you know the board fought really hard you know three years ago to get this position put in and now we're saying oh you know we're good now we figured it out and let's do something let's put it back with back with them to something that didn't work before I'm not saying that we figured it out and I'm not saying that we're done at all I'm saying that I feel like it's time that we can combine this and start infusing it in everything that we do and student services is one of the biggest areas that touches all students and that's the best place to do that so if Renee wouldn't have resigned we would have cut we would have cut the position and combined him no I wouldn't I wouldn't have had that opportunity

073because then I would have said Stephanie I'm cutting your position go look for a job I wouldn't do that we have an opportunity to do it with the right person to do it and that's what I want to take advantage of that opportunity and then and the reality is that the legislators have already looked at Dei positions in the colleges and don't want them and that's going to hit the public schools soon too and I felt like this is also another reason to preempt that because if that happened then that's what the legislature is saying is okay anybody who has Dei person in the public schools you got to go and that's it there's no there is no other choice so that work would have to come to somebody anyway I mean maybe they won't

074do it I I don't know but it sure feels like that's coming down the pike within the next couple of years and I don't want to be stuck in a position where I have to tell staff member I'm cutting you because the legislators told me I have to that's that's just not right I guess I still don't feel like we're in a point where we can combine the positions and effectively serve our serve our district in the way that the district needs to be served and and looking at what the legislature might do or to try to save some money and cut efficiencies I think this is an important piece that needs to stay the way it is so I have think back to when Rene was sharing about the elll restructure and there's not

075a coordinator teacher role for the elementary and she said she was going to support that is that something you'd also be asking Stephanie to do so this seems like it's just getting bigger and bigger I I I would refer to table it until we can see more descriptions of how Stephanie will be able to be successful in this role what it delineate at what it is what a schedule could look like where she would be directing her time I want to see that this focus on inclusion continues and I want Stephanie to be successful and all of our students to have the best experience possible I appreciate that but I do have a motion on the floor from director Hower to approve was there a second Julie or we waiting for a second waiting for

076a second clarify what the motion was for is motion to eliminate a to eliminate the coordinator of equity and inclusion position I have a motion but I do not have a second is there a second can I ask a clarifying question before that yes because like like you said before if we are just holding the position I mean is there I mean because what if we jump to B and approve the job description you know can we just hold that position without eliminating it or I I guess I don't I don't know you know what I'm saying like how how do we this is the language I use that I got from Melissa but I suppose if I mean I know you have a motion on the table but I suppose if you said that

077you would vacate the position and archive the job description that could be acceptable you're not getting rid of it you're just I mean in reality they're always going to be in our Drive we're not going to we're not going to throw them away are we able to approve B without eliminating or archiving a um you would need to approve B and C so that Stephanie has a role but we could maintain a I what do you I if we maintain a it would simply [Laughter] uh I think that would be us not filling a position leaving it unfilled and what's the implication of that so it would be better to Archive it I've never thought about the terminology archiving a job position but um if but I want to keep I don't know how much

078matters because if if there was if it was to come back it would be simply be a recommendation to bring it back that the board would vote on and it would be right back so I I don't know how important that is to Archive versus just to eliminate knowing that kind of to Katherine's Point like it's a fluid environment that the board has every two weeks to take different actions on um and legally speaking I am not I just lawyer I just Ed the language she said but again if you appoint in C she's not going to be holding two before we motion on anything I would like to be able to say something so you go ahead and continue your conversation but before we make any other motions can I just can I ask

079a question here if we table a and we go on can we approve B and C I'm willing to give it a shot and we table until we can get clarifications to what we do with that position what's can I ask what's the urgency is there a harm in Waiting two weeks to get more information and be confident in the decision that's two weeks more that we don't get to crossover training well and that's two weeks more that if we're hiring both positions that we're not hiring our unfilled position at this we're not hiring anybody but I would like to have you consider the fact that we could hire someone we could direct them and so in order just throwing this out there you can brush me off but if we were to approve BNC

080it allows that cross training it elevates Equity into a director role and then allows us to maintain a coordinator role that prioritizes that if we want to do that um and we don't have to do both at the same time so I think that's I can I mean if you approve B and C and you table a I'll of course be following up and at the next meeting should she tell me no they have to formally do this I'll bring it back okay I'll withdraw my motion I would um like to put forward the job description Item B we we have to I need a motion on a jie jie yes okay so right now there's a motion and if we don't second that motion then the motion dies she she with withdrew the motion

081so then I need another yes yes and I just said I'm move a need a motion on a yeah move to table a yes young will move to table a so is that the motion yes think we need time to make the Hower makes the motion to table a I didn't make that was that okay was young young young made it okay and I'll second that and then rwi seconded this will be a roll call vote so this is yes to table or no to table yes to table okay so minky yes and rywick yes Williams yes young yes Hower no Kent yes me yes motion passes 61 to table item 10A okay then we move on and approve the job description for the uh position of equity and student services one second and then

082just wanted to clarify that you'll add those position the yes yes I have a motion in a second can we have some discussion on this yes okay um I'm just a little confused so we're tbling a but we're going to approve the com com combination of the two jobs when I feel like my concern was that this is too much for one position and by what we did in the F the by tabling doesn't really accomplish anything other than just saying we're not going to eliminate it and but we're going to keep it on the side and never fill it because then because it would be doubling up the the job as to fill to have an equity coordinator would be doubling up the job that is the student services and Equity director so I

083don't think we should approve this just because I think we really need to meet out what is that role and is that role something that can be done effectively and keep going keep our focus on the diversity and Equity piece that we've been working so hard to get to so that's just my two yeah for me I want to feel confident that the role will be successful and it will bring those inclusion inclusive practices to the district I want to see that it's possible how are you going to see that it's possible if it's not in motion so when we looked at the elll structure they made up a schedule of who would be at which building at which time I just like to see a description of the job duties and the time that

084it would take to do them and if that adds up to 40 50 hours a week then I would be convinced but I I feel that it's going to be more than what's reasonably expected I just want to be confident that it can be done successfully you also have to look at those items and it's not every item every day all day that that's not that's not how that is going to work and I I don't know that Renee could tell you every day at 8:00 to 8:30 I'm doing this and from 8:30 to 9: I'm doing that we all have to-do lists and we all have calendars but they also get changed at the next Crisis or at the the next emergency that comes up there's not when you're doing this job there's not

085a schedule I mean you can say yeah I have joint principal I have to go to here and an AC I have to go to here and a lot of those things are happening anyway for this job Duty will take me about five hours hours to do this and this job duty is a four- week long project you do have a bit of a gut feel the title 9 for example over the last couple months it's taken about 150 hours so then would try to be consumed with that that's not usual though that's never happened before so everything I had to do got dropped everything she had to do got dropped it's that's not it's a part of the job but it's not a predictable part of the job and it's not a timec consuming

086part of the job in normal times you can't predict that you have if you have two positions you have double the fires to put out so then your time is spread even further so it again takes away the focus on the inclusion there there's a there has been a desire of the board previously to see that our directors and coordinators that there's Equity amongst the job responsibilities and the size of the jobs so I I see your concern where you're afraid that this might be too big um but perhaps one or both were some of the smaller jobs um and like Stephanie said there's some overlap between the two jobs and the responsibilities um so it's not made it's not all black and white that you're taking two full-time positions and pushing them into one

087um I got the impression and Stephanie can correct me if I'm wrong that Stephanie and Renee were working closely together with their jobs um in some you know some of their duties so Stephanie you know that overlap already has existed um because just a few years ago it was one job right yeah yeah well there was a time historically when all three were one job but when it was one job the diversity Equity part wasn't getting done so if it's saying like right now that Stephanie saying Stephanie you have a lot of free time on your hands in your regular workday that's what we're saying right now by saying that she has capacity to add more to her current job do you do you have a lot of extra free time on your in your

088job job on a day-to-day basis no and I would also say that there's a lot of procedures that we've put into place this year that will allow for um that that job to be done by one person there's um procedures that have been put into place to um clarify some of our bullying and harassment and um and our title line procedures and so there's been a lot of work done especially with with as we've stated with enrollment um that am I sitting around twiddling my thumbs and eating bon bon certainly not um but there are a lot of things that we have both done and put into place this year that would allow for the work to be done I just am really scared that the diversion Equity piece is the part that's going to

089be left behind because a lot of the reporting and things like that are legal or legal things that need that have to be done by for for legal means so that means that we have to push something else out of the way I'm I'm afraid that the Dei pieces are the ones that are going to get pushed out of the way and so I've said my piece so I made a motion do we have a second a second second all right we'll have a roll call vote Ben r no Williams yes young no Hower yes Kent yes me yes Mankey no motion passes 4 to three so I would move that we appoint the director of student services and Equity item C need will second need I have a motion in a second is there

090any discussion right this will be a roll call as well Williams yes young yes Hower yes yes Yes Man yes Ben rwi yes pass to 7 Z I would move that we approve the job distri description for the uh director of special education hence will second I have a motion in a second is there any discussion all right we'll move to a roll call n yes Hower yes Kent yes me yes Mankey yes Ben rwi yes Williams yes the motion passes 70 and I would move on E that we appoint the director of special education I have a motion second me me Motion in a second this will be a roll call Hower yes H yes me yes Mankey yes then riswick yes Williams yes yeah yes motion passes 70 and I would move that

091we bring forward the consent agenda I have a motion count to a second there is a second all right any questions discussion on the consent agenda items a through F gu I had a long clarification from the minut um let's see this is maybe probably focused on one detail but the um Apparel Store um we clarified with daa that it was a 15% and not 12% and I don't know if we clarified that in the motion that we made but it was clarified in the question I don't believe it was clarified in the it wasn't actually specifically called out in the right so I didn't know if we needed to update that or if we're not well the minutes are just a record of meeting not necessarily saying that but that's what the percentage is

092and I would just like to point out that for the last two meetings we have approved in the Personnel report teaching positions for former Urbandale High School alumni to come back home that says an awful lot about this District so and someday we'll have contracts before they leave that would be lovely so right Lord possible congratulations happy graduation see you in four years right exactly three and a half you work really hard yeah take you a semester all right so with no further discussion on the cons consent agenda do I have a motion to approve no we just we okay let's do roll call then God I'm gonna get this right before I Kent my term me yes Mankey yes L Rice yes William yes young yes Hower yes motion passes 7 Z jul I

093got you Jason Julian I have Youk you all right item number 12 the superintendence report I just have a couple things um first is the status of our open positions um I was asked kind of where we stand right now and as of this morning um Kate gave me a list of the positions that need to be filled we had 14 total two were filled um after she gave me this so we're down to 12 and she did want to point out that um many of these positions had interviews last week or have interviews scheduled for this week so they could be not technically filled because they may be checking backgrounds and doing that kind of thing so we don't expect that we don't anticipate any problem getting these filled this is probably the best

094not saying it inaccurate but this is the best that we've had since I came here the fewest number of positions a number of these are brand new positions as well um we have a special education at Karen Acres is new We the People we've lost at that we're trying to fill at Homestead are still in the district they just went to a different building so I think that I'd be confident to say that these will be filled soon um if the board wants another update this summer we can give that as well but I'm going to hope we have zero to fill yeah we're in the best position we've been in by a long way uh since pre-o for sure this time of year I hesitate to say anything still saying it we're in good

095shape and we're we're in a good place for he as said with positions that are open currently um the other thing that I have is um the facilities uh group pre-planning met uh two weeks ago to set up the first um session for the committee to work and I need to have um board representation I would like to have board representation on that committee um it's the boards perview if you want one person two people that's up to you guys I think last time we did a commit we just kind of talked here and people volunteered so I'm going to let you guys take this part from here and I'm open to what your recommendations sure um that's exactly how we did it for Sak and the boundaries committee um those are the most recent

096boundaries we were asked for one representation and Jenny stepped up and volunteered her time um Sak the same thing happened um the original facilities before any of the construction there were at least a couple of board members and given the importance I think this isn't like a gy r model I mean I so I would advocate for a couple and barring anyone else when I'm not working at the greenhouse I would love to do this because I've done it before if that would be okay we do we do need to keep in mind though too I don't these committees won't be open to the public or will they um i' we're trying to keep it around 25 20 to 25 people and I've gotten some people that have reached out with interests too so I'm

097looking at those as well as Josh fry through activities um has a group of people including parents that he's recommending also be on it I I'm just trying to point out we need to be really cognizant of of a majority of the board or the appearance of the majority of the board being at these committee meetings because I think another consideration is how long you have left right you know because it's probably a we start June 4th is our first meeting so I was going to send invitations out next week um but I'm talking about how long it goes four to five sessions is what they think okay yeah okay and I didn't set dates after the 4th we agreed on that in our pre-planning but I want the committee members to help identify the

098next dates so that we know they can actually attend yeah do we have a is it a certain night of the week that Mark that's the first one Whatever June 4th is I want to say is a Tuesday after that it's I'm going to let the group decide what is most convenient for them because I want the ma majority of the people to be the same people y are you expecting weekly commitment monthly quarterly well given we start June 4th I'm not going to guess we're going to do a whole lot week after week in the summer we've got that month of July that's really tough to get people so I'm going to guess that it'll be June and we may not meet again in July I I have to see what the group can

099do but it would be if we could do a monthly meeting that would be nice to get it done are we um like when we had the boundary committee we H hired an outside group to come in and help facilitate that do we have is this I mean there's a lot of moving parts and pieces to what is happening in this are we using an outside Source at some point you approved a couple of months ago for DLR to take us through this process so Eric and Andrew are going to be taking us through this okay okay do you I'm interested I don't know who interested I I am too um I don't have any other committee work right now either so there was a long time when I represented the board but I never

100talked during the facility meetings I mean because I wasn't there for input I was there to listen and so that is another possibility what if we put our name in AE if we're interested in the drw out yeah is I mean I and I can withdraw too because I was on the boundary committee but I I have an interest if if we need people and time yeah but I can withdraw too I don't know who else is interested kind of busy okay someone else got a few things on your plate what do you have going on I'm interested too but I'm also don't feel very strongly like GNA F we'll have a brownie eating contest [Music] [Laughter] mown um how do I does it matter it's Well I this it's a great opportunity to get

101engaged and these are going to be really important decisions important deis and so I mean you know I just understand that if you this is a big undertaking and so if you can make the time commitment and you have a desire and passion de are we thinking we only should have two is that I mean is that what we're kind of thinking from the board what tell me yeah if there's 25 people I mean three out of 25 would might be too many okay um that they would be responsible for coming back and reporting to the board and involving them in okay conversation as wellex is too okay okay I can withdraw if you guys want to do it that's great okay so we have I've heard interest from Katherine Margaret and Rachel rock paper

102scissors how long are you thinking it's two to four years two to four what did you say years yeah how how long is this commitment I'm I'm hoping like four months oh I heard four years and I like here no we we have learning how to tuck points I thought you said year no I'm not looking for years no I am interested but I'm also happy to defer to Rachel thank you Rachel and Katherine all right we've appointed Rachel and Catherine okay and now Brandon's team can come up and they're going to talk to you about the literacy comprehensive lit early literacy plan good evening Brandon TR director of teaching and learning Jill Miller Elementary facilitator of curriculum and professional learning so tonight we're here uh to provide an update of where we are um

103under the equity and inclusion pillar one of the Strategic actions for this school year was to develop a comprehensive early literacy plan uh for birth through third grade uh specifically we know uh through evidence that when students aren't reading by third grade it has an long a lifelong impact um and can lead to significant inequities and opportunities so just an outline of the process to give you some context uh back in August we contacted 28 district and community members um leaders within our community and across our district and those that serve um our district and 16 of those 28 um replied back and committed to the work and then uh we had monthly meetings September through April uh the process after forming uh the group led to Norine and that included reviewing current District literacy

104data uh we identified drivers and potential preventors uh to reaching our goal of 100% of students being our meeting proficiency and literacy on either isasp or the fast reading screener and then we articulated our purpose vision and our mindsets around this work then we engaged in a significant amount of learning together related to literacy Milestones those are the important um um indicators along the way of progress towards our goal and then the importance of literacy and then we did some specific learning around Community involvement and parent and guardian engagement and then that transitioned into the planning stage uh where we outlined um how potential ways to involve our community uh parent and guardian engagement uh potential timeline and then moning monitoring and evaluation process processes and then communication and branding related to this uh work

105so you have a copy of your plan with your materials it includes background um of the group and then rationale for why this would be a valuable addition to our community and our district also evidence of best practices around uh language and literacy acquisition and instruction um current reality within our system what does the data currently look like and reasoning um again why this would be a valuable addition and then our potential followup what our next actions would with that would be so that leads us to next steps um within our own circle of influence the K5 literacy curriculum review has been running concurrently this year um a lot of the work uh Works they work hand inand with each other um so that will then lead us into streamlining um resources and instructional best

106practice across our four Elementary buildings um with that continued work with the review process um we will also launch the Read With You campaign you can see our brand right there was created um as part of the work and then of course we'll build community support meeting with Community leaders and organizations um with the the thought that this would become a community nonprofit and we can work hand inand with the community including the the um Urbandale Public Library as part of that work that is really the work of the team what questions might you have I don't have any questions but I'm just so excited for this that's what I was say yeah and we appreciate the contact you gave us and Spencer we were able to meet with them over Zoom to get some

107context for how that community has lifted up similar work and we'll be meeting with um raising readers at Story County soon soon as well because they also have done great work in that Community than you thank you guys the student representative report I guess I'll go first um I just wanted to mention uh that a lot of students uh especially in upper level classes are taking AP tests they've either taken an AP test or they have an AP test coming up I know AP and AP CM were today and the AP Cal test is next Monday so I'd just like to wish the students who are taking those difficult tests luck for their AP tests and good luck to you too I'm not taking milk no thanks they're very long that's what I can say

108um I would like to say thank you again to the after prom committee and for all the community members that donate their time or money or both to make this after prom possible I can speak for the entire student body that attended it was a blast and we so much appreciate it it's just thank thank you so much um mat oh um uh the end of the year is coming up uh the seniors last day is May 17th so that's coming up really quickly and I believe the last day for everybody else is the 24th and then graduation is on the 23rd for the seniors so it's coming up quick and along with that we have a bunch of fun senior activities including the barbecue the sunset the element school walk graduation practice and senior

109night so make sure to be on the lookout for information from that in the newsletters or in emails I know that the year is quickly approaching and that's kind of scary for a lot of seniors I can for me and for Matthew I'm sure and um it's just a time to look back at the year and say thank you guys for this opportunity um to be on the board and thank you for having us thank you for serving thank you both scale from 98 to 105 how how high do you think the senioritis fever is wa just wanted you to be alive too all right thank you both all right presentations for the next meeting on May 20th the first presentation is the build and maintenance summer project list Lauren's going to handle that keep

110forgetting that's morning director HR and operations uh I'm just going to briefly go over some of the big projects and some of the things that are on the docket that may or may not happen this summer uh based on a few different factors but in terms of the high school uh the the really big one and one that's been in the works for a while is the replacement of basically all doors uh in that facility and um I know it may not seem like a big deal but when you think about it um that is one of the original the only original pieces that was left those were original doors uh there's doors throughout that facility that some of which work some of which don't work very well and and this is just a really

111important thing to to make that area very functional uh painting of of both gyms is going to happen both the Middle School um or excuse me at the high school uh specifically and uh and then new wall pads for both gyms at the uh middle school and the high school uh in terms of the Middle School uh new carpent the media center is going to be happening and then uh we have proposals for uh new band practice rooms and replacing a a pretty sizable old section of roof um we we need to engage with Architects on both of these projects and that uh slows things down a little bit um and as a result that's it's likely that this won't happen this summer but the the work is in progress um the the roof is

112a pretty sizable um bill or will be a sizable Bill and and there's work that we have to do financially to make sure we can do this but obviously it's a very important infrastructure uh situation that we need to take care of uh just a small thing at hestad is getting an exhaust fan in one of the restrooms that was not there originally um and then some wary work on the learning stairs at valious is going to happen this summer which uh which will be very good uh and Webster a new umbrella shade in the Outdoor Classroom area uh we're hopeful that um it's going to be in and time to be able to do that this summer um and then at Karen Acres uh the new playground which the board obviously engaged in approving

113that uh they have a short window obviously but plans are in place right now now to try to get things going right as they finish up um and then hopefully to get things completed in that short window before they start next school year there's also as you can see on here um some different proposals on some of the safety features that um could be not could will be happening at some point um once we um finish the the entire process regarding uh what we've done with our vulnerability assessment and um utilizing some funding from the state to um further enhance our security measures at our schools what questions might anybody have what color is the umbrella I have no idea what color the umbrella is but I'm sure I know their PTO their PTO is

114involved with this I'm sure they're doing a wonderful job of uh choosing nice color patterns she goes to the umbrella color and I'm thinking who's responsible for the need for the staff restroom exhaust F all I know is that it for some reason or another was omitted about four years ago and it needs to happen that's all I know so I'm going to ask a more relevant question what will this be funded out of uh which one which one in particular is it all Capital Improvements yeah most some good good chunk some of you've already approved 72 71 doors being done already been out Pebble most be Pebble I think the biggest one that we we have to maybe do a little shuffling is with the roof repairs it's going to be hundreds of thousands

115of dollars that um to get that done correctly yes it's been leaking since it was put up yes yes I know continues to pen and pencil are going to be going EXC that one will not be coming back on the 20th that was just where it landed in the agenda that's for information can you come back with the umbrella color we'll make sure we get that for you and nutrition services is up next hello director of nutrition services jesser all right um the first one is the renewal agreements for next school year um food and supply through Martin Brothers Chemical through Martin Brothers bread through Rella Italian bakery and milk and dairy with Anders and Ericson so we're part of the central buying Consortium um so we go out for Renewal um and for bids

116every so often and they came back with pretty decent prices um they're attached here for is that a state Consortium no it is with other districts in the Metro districts so we go for Vol by purchasing thank you thank you and all of the school lunch Heroes thank you there's more um the next one is the student meal prices um that document is attached unfortunately due to the increases of cost and supplies that we saw this year um I recommending that we increase our prices by 5 cents for lunches however I feel like breakfast could stay as is I don't see a need to increase prices there any questions me prices all right and then the last one is the adult meal prices um as you can see in the detail section the federal government

117is the one that sets that price nationally uh we do have some say when it comes to increasing it so we can round it up we just cannot round it down um and the calculation for it is based on the performance-based reimbursement USDA food meal rate and all of that um they came back at $3 this year so it is a decrease from last last year set at 485 but because of the um price increase with supplies and food um I think that we can leave our prices to be as is with no increases so we'd be at 485 again for lunch and $3 for breakfast so that would be an increase as the breakfast thank you for staying till the end all right item e the 9 through 12 math math course electives curriculum

118review I am Janine Hower I'm the facilitator of curricul professional learning for 612 mathematics and science and a few related arts again I'm BR TR director of teaching and learning so tonight we're bringing you uh the second part of the what was the prek 12 math curriculum review um we did all core content areas for all core content and math last year and then the remaining electives were held till this year and so with that uh just kind of an outline of the process the process looks a little different than the curriculum reviews we brought you earlier um this year um largely because of the scale and context these are often um one section courses or two section courses um and largely taught by one instructor and so they just look and feel a little

119bit different um but still aligned with board policy uh so it began back in September where those empathy interviews talking with the current instructors um and engaging in conversations about what seems to be working um what areas or opportunities might there be uh then there's the phase of research of just what's the current landscape of instruction in those specific content area or courses and then uh identif working with Administration to identify uh teachers uh largely those that have been teaching these courses uh bringing forth um their voice in the process and working with them throughout the year um on this and then div um that scope and sequence of the work uh and just how to lift up the work with those individuals involved so when thinking about that um we had six courses uh

120that are largely elective courses uh that we were working um to engage in this process and so you see those courses up there and then the individuals that were involved uh through the process so one thing to note is currently we have a course called general math we're renaming that Bridges to algebra uh to make sure it's oriented ated towards the next phase which is algebra um and then consumer math looking to um rename that as Financial algebra and that lines with the updated math standards that are actually um close to release from the state of Iowa so you see up there uh the courses that were of focus we missed a circle around general math up there that we're proposing change to um that purchas algebra so the process that we engaged in when

121we were reviewing instructional materials um we took a look at the current materials that were be used that were being used within the courses and we identified areas for improvement of those materials and then we took a look at some different options that were available um for for the uh teachers to use you know to support their teaching and the student learning uh once we determined what materials uh they preferred to use then we went through the process of the creation of all the the standards documentation that they would need to support their teaching that includes coefficiency scales updating those into our new format determining what the scope and sequence of the course would be uh looking at a block map which indicates what does it look like with you know a day in the

122life of this course and then also the standards on wrap documents which go through and give a more detailed view of each of the standards that will be addressed within those courses so the recommendations that we have for Bridges to algebra we're recommending um that we use M Power mathematics it's a pathway to understanding algebra for the financial algebra or what now called consumer math the nextg personal finance resource for the technical math for College and Career um we're we're recommending the elementary technical mathematics that is the resource that's currently being used by all of the dmac um instructors and so we' like to just keep that aligned with what's happening actually at dmac also and as a reminder this was a course that we um brought to the board this fall for approval it's

123new course that we're adding um to the electives for Math and then for college statistics um stats medic was chosen it's um a digital resource and it engages students in a lot of Hands-On problem-based learning pre-calculus um the the choice was to stay with the current resource that they're using and to add onto that a digital component which allows for some individualization of instruction and the calculus also decided to stay with the current resource with the addition of that digital platform so with that we'd welcome any questions or comments is the on the technical math does dmac review and change their curriculum like we do I mean do they have a cycle or do we are we just kind of I mean I I think it's great that we're aligned with them but are we

124they do each year look at their course competencies and update those and so and with the addition of new state standards for well the they'll be connecting those with the updated state standards that are coming out okay and so but they do look at course competencies and make changes to those every year so often when the course competencies change what it triggers is a look at our proficiency scales um because we want those to be tightly aligned um so there's not so the instructor is not navigating those course competencies and uh State Standards but instead how do we work together okay and that's what we spent quite a bit of time on looking at the state standards competencies finding where they overlap so that in the building of the proficiency scales the focus is on

125the standard with the alignment to the competencies okay okay DX not in July going to be like we're changing not that I'm okay and are any was there there was not field testing done in these because of I mean obviously the pre-cal and Cal it's the same um I mean so like this I mean stats is a new one stats medic Yes actually actually um Abby has used that resource to supplement what she was currently doing before so she did have some experience with that okay curricular resource and largely when we field tests because the really the kind of the purpose of field testing is to measure usability I mean obviously we want it to meet other things but largely that's the focus it's almost like taking a car for a test drive uh to

126see what the usability is like and get the feedback um you know from students and with our staff um and so we didn't do the twoe field testing uh with with this but part of what we did do was we looked at each of the resources and we kind of tried them out so um I presented the resources in a way that they experienced it as a student was experience it and then we processed how did that how did that feel for you as a student as you are experiencing it and from those experiences and those conversations then they chose which one they felt would be the best fit okay so there were there there were other resources that you considered correct in each of the areas yes and this is just the one that

127roast at the top correct okay thank you thank you item F the 9 through 12 English electives curriculum review yeah so same uh context and situation uh we did 6 through 11 um English language arts English language arts last year uh and so had the electives to bring back to you this year uh the other component that we're bringing to you is kind of phase one of English language arts and that review 611 was kind of core instructional materials uh and then the next layer or tent was uh to add some novels in each grade level uh to build off of the units that exist within um those core instructional materials so again um when that group that leadership group that met all of last year uh engaged in collective learning there were nine instructional

128shifts that they identified and this just summarizes those nine instructional shifts when I say shifts uh that doesn't mean that these weren't already in play in our system though there was acknowledgement of the shifts and then where uh to lean forward as we continuously make improvements these shifts are well articulated in the literature around literacy instruction um and largely um came about as a result of when the original common core standards uh emerged though the state has continued to lift up those shifts um through the work they've been doing so with the outline of this process um the first piece was really sitting down with the individual instructors and finding out what their needs were um through empathy interviews then doing some research for these specific courses um I identified specific leadership teams for these

129courses that we'll be talking about sometimes there was only one instructor sometimes the instructor changed over multiple years sometimes there were multiple instructors um using primarily teacher created materials so we really just wanted to tighten up all of that and then we really looked at um like just determining what our drivers and providers are to align our these electives with our instructional shifts so with that we worked with the administration uh to identify and the department to identify Uh current uh instructors and then those that may potentially be teaching a course in the future um and so these were the courses and then the individuals involved and then this just uh illustrates the courses and the electives um that we were focused in on there are some courses that we did not address uh this

130time around uh so we have a few more remaining uh but that's largely just due to the sheer volume that we were working through another piece on public speaking we have heard from dmac um about their public speaking course that they are reviewing their competencies um and we are wanting to make sure that when those competencies change we are ready to react and do the work at that time so we're not that that work there has been some question um about whether the public speaking at dmac actually meets the rigor of the three state universities and so um we're waiting for that okay so part of um our process is that we evaluated our current state and what materials we did or we currently were using umid some opportunities for improvement and strengthening and tightening

131up those those materials and that instruction and then again reviewed the proficiency scales aligning not only the competencies from dmac if the dmac um if they are dmac courses but also strengthening with the I course standards and then reviewing and tightening with the scope and sequence and documenting our units of study because an Ela is not common for these elected courses to these elected courses to have more teacher created units and so our desired state was really to have documented units of study so that um we have consistency from one teacher to the next from one year to the next because our students deserve that so for creative writing um the selected resource was the New York Times writing curriculum this is a free resource that actually um is geared towards having students actually enter

132contests um very similar to what our current creative writing course involves but they're going to be selecting some of the units like Memoir short story um and then Nar so power of persuasion is a course that really has been revamped it was offered a couple of years ago and now we're revamping it um true or false it's going to be the primary text as far as a resource is concerned for students AP Literature um we're keeping the current text and then um have the desire to add an additional text counting descent is a book of poems by an African-American author experiences in writing one um this is a senior level course it has been primarily teacher created units we had a desire to really find some more common um a a a resource for this

133course and then the following courses experiences in writing too and so Odell education units um High School literacy program it actually offers nine different units that our teachers can choose from and so for each of the semesters experiences in writing one and experiences in writing two the teachers chose specific units that aligned to the fiction course and then the non-fiction course experiences in writing too those are the selected Odell units Advanced comp one and two these again are dmac courses um we've used parts of they say iay and parts of the Norton Field Guide to writing in the past we just want to make sure that we have those text available to all of our students Advanced creative writing again is another dmac course this text that they selected you the story is relatively new

134um newly published text but it really focuses on the individual and the identity of the individual writing about their own personal experiences and then adding that to their creative writing and then um with the adoption of amplify Ela for sixth and seventh grade last year and well implementation this past year and my perspectives for 8th through 11th grade we held off on having um additional full novels being read we really wanted um our teachers to be comfortable and confident in using the new instructional materials and aligning them aligning instruction to the instru to the best practice instructional ships and so this year we opened it up and they requested novels that are Ed and aligned to those high quality instruction materials and so up above that's the the list of novels that they're choosing to

135add for ninth grade and 10th grade there are Advanced courses also so those some of those texts will be used in um Regular langing lit and then also Advanced Lang lit or English n and also Advanced English great what questions might you have out of curiosity have you gotten any push back from parents with using the hate you give um that's a class or a text that actually they you have used and experiences in writing over the last several years um when I reach out to teachers who have um used that text in the past they actually report know that there's not been parent push back what they do find actually is that students are highly engaged in reading that text do you have a student perspective yes I that is an incredible book it

136really changed the way I think about a lot of issues and I do think that every student should read it so I'm so glad that it's included in the curriculum so and we have had instances where um a parent or student has um expressed concern and we've worked with the family uh to identify uh an additional title thank you guys are we buying new classroom sets to refill all these novels is that is that the goal because I know some of these books have been read for years and we have classroom sets but are we is that what we're you're asking to purchase is new classroom sets of all of these yeah well and some we base the amounts on uh so for example in eth grade The Outsiders has been read um over time

137uh but there are some well the cover has been re imagined uh so you know I think that that's important when just the cover is the first thing that pulls a reader in um and then there's just some wear and tear on books that um for example The Outsiders there are uh text that we need to replace they're kind of falling apart we did base the numbers and the quotes and we actually did three different quotes and found the cheapest way to move forward for each one how how is I love a good textbook it's hard to beat a paper copy how in the high school are we how how do they are they just used within the classroom is there a classroom set or does each student get a textbook um are you talking

138about the novels or the textbooks like the advanced yeah like they said they said I said and for advanced comp so for those particular um courses for advaned comp I believe those are for the classroom like for they say I say for AP Lit um that is something that every student gets I believe they can check out okay okay yeah so so it was really when when talking with teachers it was really what is your use of the text so how will students use it do they need to have their own and if they need to have their own then then we're asking those numbers are based on enrollment for the next fall thank you thank you okay Kent will move to go on Clos session her Iowa Code 21.5 to evaluate the professional competency

139of an individual whose appointment hiring or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual's reputation and that individual requests a close session I have a motion do I have a second second this is a roll call vote me yes thank you yes R yes Williams yes young yeser yes yes everyone get home save for me to watch e e e go 2024 we're good 1034 um all right we are reconvening in Open Session um I would entertain a motion on item 18 I will move move to approve the superintendent's contract for the 2425 school year with a 4.5 salary increase as was done with the other administrator contracts and extend the contract one year I have a motion do I have a second it hower hower seconds this

140will be a roll call Vote mkey Yes and rice maybe no yes will will you yes young yes Hower yes Kent yes yes Mo car 7 Z I would move to adjourn I would entertain a I can second second all in favor I opposed thank you all for your time and consider