9/25/25 Board of Education Meeting

001I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Chris, will you please move to adopt the agenda? >> I move that we adopt the agenda as posted. >> Second. >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Okay, motion passes to adopt the agenda. Um, we're now move to recognizing our own and I will call up Jenny Todd and Dr. Kachuski. Good evening everyone. We're extremely excited to be here tonight to recognize our own Clayton High School students and an absolutely amazing achievement to discuss this evening. So, every year, College Board recognizes our students who are except who demonstrate exceptional academic achievement through their

002performance on AP exams. And so last year we had a total of 187 AP scholars that were recognized. And of that 187 students, 91 earned the top honor of AP scholar with extinction. What that means is that those students earned a total of on five exams a score of three or higher and averaged a total of 3.5 on all of their exams that were taken. And that is a testament to the hard work of the students of our educators and their families. Now, because the tests were taken last year, some of our students actually graduated in 2025. But we would like to recognize those students and our current students who earned this amazing award. >> Thank you. Um, I'd also like to note we have so this is a great problem to have. We have

003so many that we couldn't have them all come here today. So, that's why their names were up on the screen. And um I just want to congratulate um Dr. Kachuski and Miss Todd and everyone at the high school and especially the students who put in all the hard work studying for the exams and so thank you and congratulations. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Do you have any idea? Do we have like um more than most schools in the area >> or the most I thought I actually scores. >> Great. Great. Well, thank you and congrats. >> Okay. Um, we moving on to public comment. We do have a few tonight. Um, I'm going to start with Sarah. You can come up to this microphone here. Um, before you get started, I just want to remind

004everyone if you have not made a public comment before, um, you're each given three minutes. There's there will be a timer on the screen and we don't um, respond publicly here at this meeting, but you will get a follow-up email um, so that we don't engage in discussions about public comments. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Can you hear me? >> Go ahead. >> Great. My name is Sarah. I'm a resident of Clayton and I'm also a former Clayton student K through 12. I'm here today because I'm concerned the district doesn't have the full information about what partnering with the Anti-Defamation League entails. Um I'm also an educator and an instructional coach and in that capacity I've worked in a number of schools and districts across the country and we've had conversations about the ADL. So

005I'm here to share what I know with you all today. Hopes that you'll reconsider this partnership. Um, the Anti-Defamation League presents itself as an anti-hate and inclusive organization, but it is in fact deeply biased and political. And they have a history of fostering environments of fear and intimidation through their work that I think is important to consider when bringing this into our district. I'm worried that it threatens the tradition of fostering student curiosity, student voice, um, and critical thinking that we have at Clayton. The ADL is in fact an anti-Semitic organization. It regularly attacks Jewish organizers and individuals and organizations that don't align with them politically. And I think that's also something to consider. They in addition to other Jewish organizations, they attack other civil rights organizations, often civil rights organizations that advocate for the

006civil rights of minorities. Um, in the 90s they were sued and fined for amassing legally information um about members of the NWACP, the ACLU, organizations that work with LGBTQ members um and congressmen. Um the other thing that I think is important to consider is that their definition of anti-semitism really craftly includes this idea that criticism of Israel, the state of Israel is anti-semitic. Um and the program takes something that we care a lot about which is prejudice based based on prejudice and involves um their political agenda of quashing anti-Israeli sentiment. Um so one of the things that concerns me is their practice of encouraging students to report and surveil on their teachers and their peers. It's kind it's reminiscent honestly of China under Mau in 1930s Germany. And I'm worried that bringing that type of

007surveillance into the school will threaten what Clayton promotes in terms of free speech and conversation. Um the National Educators Association this summer voted to distance themselves from the ATL and sever future ties. Um and that is the biggest teachers union in the country. And I think that that speaks volumes to the fact that educators across the nation understand that this organization is not what it claims to be. So I really encourage you all to look into these things in addition to their commitment to police training before continuing to partner with them in our district. >> Thank you Jess. Hello everyone. Um, I'm an CHS alum and I wanted to talk about how my education at CHS earned me a full ride merit-based scholarship to college where I had the privilege of studying human rights. Education

008around anti-semitism was a major part of this curriculum. One of our core classes was a Holocaust education trip to Poland where we spent two weeks visiting and paying our respects at 13 of Nazi occupied Poland's most notorious killing fields and forests, ghettos, prisons, and concentration in labor camps. Because of this, because of the many hard conversations that I had as a student about how our history impacts our present, I want our students to be able to dialogue about these same hard questions in their educational spaces. And because I know that if we do not learn history, we are doomed to repeat it. I want to share with you some history about the ADL. In August 2017, following the white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, the ADL issued a primer for law enforcement advising cops to film

009and plant undercover agents among anti-racist protesters in order to use surveillance footage to prosecute them. The ADL's actions in Charlottesville are part of a long history of surveillance. In the 90s, the ADL was investigated for surveilling and infiltrating human rights organizations, including groups opposing South African aparttheid and US racism, United Farm Workers, Jewish peace groups, and thousands of members of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. Today, the ADL continues to attack black and Arab organizations that advocate in particular for the rights of Palestinians. This well doumented history of surveillance is mirrored in the surveillance system that the ADL introduces into schools through their incident reporting form that they have used as evidence in their multiple civil rights complaints against universities and school districts. Bringing the ADL and their reporting measures into Clayton schools opens our students

010up to risking their chances of college acceptance and teachers up to losing their careers if they dare to share critical information about the actions of the Israeli government in something like a history or a literature class. It encourages students to snitch on each other rather than engage in a hard dialogue with hard but necessary dialogue with trusted adults. And there are alternatives. I definitely sympathize with y'all that you care about the students in the district and you want to offer anti-semitism training. You want to do right by student. I understand it's very convenient that the ADL comes in with a prepackaged curriculum um that's free. However, this training is not free. It costs us the Clayton School District's vision of developing students to change the world through independence, creativity, and critical thinking. and it could

011cost Clayton students their chances of getting into college and educators their careers through their reporting measures. The ADL is a highly biased political lobbying group and at the end of the day educational decisions shouldn't be made by political groups. I have here a list of alternatives for anti-semitism trainings including an organization called Paro that teaches the curriculum on anti-semitism in the framework of collective liberation. Thank you. Maxine. Hello everyone. My name is Maxine and I'm a resident of St. Louis and I was once a Jewish high school student not too long ago. Um, actually in the Bay Area in California, but I work for Missouri Coalition for the Environment. Now, I'm doing this in my free time though outside of that work, just to be clear. Um, but I hope that you see that we

012are all a group of people that really care about anti-semitism and really value um opposing anti-semitism. And I want to thank you all first of all for um bringing this to attention to really wanting to do something to bring in curriculum that does address anti-semitism. I speak from personal experience when I say I experienced a lot of anti-semitism growing up. um as one of very few Jewish students in my high school and I take the issue very seriously. Um and I echo what other speakers have said when I say that the ADL curriculum is just not the way to address anti-semitism in schools. Um luckily there are many great alternatives and I would love to hear what Jess has to say about all the alternatives but um upon you know a cursory glance I know

013there's also JREG which is Jews for racial and economic justice which offers a very holistic approach to looking at anti-semitism as a part of a larger framework looking at how white supremacists and Christian supremacist systems impact all minoritized communities um and how we we all suffer under um a regime of white nationalism. Uh, and people have mentioned before, but you know, the ADL has a long history of actually targeting groups that speak up for civil rights of all kinds. Um, and they do something very dangerous, I think, for Jews, which is to conflate anti-ionism with anti-semitism and to label all criticism, and I mean all criticism of the state of Israel as anti-semitic. I am a Jew who has participated in protests for Palestine and for um just collective liberation and have been labeled as

014a terrorist by the ADL for my participation in those protests which is a little bit absurd to me as a Jew. Um and so I would just encourage you all to really take these criticisms seriously and once again I just want to reiterate that I appreciate your attention to anti-semitism. Um, anti-semitism is on the rise along with many other forms of hate right now and along with Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism and anti-black racism and I think in this current administration in this current governmental structure that we find ourselves in. Um, it's really terrifying and I think probably many of us have experienced what it is to feel utter fear at the political climate that we're in right now. Um, and I really encourage the anti-semitism education to reflect that spirit of collective liberation. Thank you.

015>> Thank you, Maxine. We didn't get your email address. If you'd like us to follow up, could you um please give that to Gina in the back corner? Thank you so much. Michael Berg. My name is Michael Berg. Um I my my father graduated from Clayton. A lot of my family is from Clayton. I've got a 13-year-old son here. And I'm speaking on the same subject as the previous speakers. Uh, no school district should work with the Anti-Defamation League. The anti anti-defamation league claims to fight for the rights of Jews, but that's not true certainly for all Jews such as myself. I'm part of Jewish Voice for Peace, a very large and the fastest growing Jewish organization in the country. The ADL actively opposes us and works hard to undermine organization through legal actions and

016through public attacks. And the ADL does this specifically because we oppose political Zionism. We believe everyone in historic Palestine Israel deserves equal rights regardless of the religion or ethnicity. And the ADL smeares us and falsely claims our actions are anti-Semitic incidents. And because we believe in racial equality, the ADL calls us a hate group. Uh the ADL claims to be a civil rights organization, but it is not. The CEO of the ADL, Jonathan Greenlet, recently denigrated Black Lives Matter protesters and comm compared American student peace activists to ISIS. He said this about left-wing activists. They're opposed to the West. They're opposed to capitalism. They're opposed to America. Uh this is not a neutral uh you know, civil rights organization to talk about hatred. At the same time, a few months ago, the ADO went out

017of its way to excuse and explain away a Nazi salute given by the richest man in the world, Elon Musk. Uh Musk has a long history of expressing unambiguous anti-semitic ideas. Now, how hard would it have been for the ADL to just say that what Musk did appears to have been a Nazi salute and that we oppose it? They did not for various political reasons. Right now, the state of Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. According to all reputable observers, the United Nation Independent Commission, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Betelm Alhak, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, anybody who's observing this sees what's going on. And the ADL sees as one of its primary missions to the protection of this genocidal state from harsh criticism. Uh that's why it's much harsher towards anti-genocide

018activists than it is towards Nazi curious billionaires. Uh it's not a civil rights group and has no place in public schools. Thank you. >> I'm going to turn it over now. I'll turn it over now to Dr. Patel for our superintendent update. >> Great. Thank you everyone. Thank you for being here and thank you again for the public comments. we will make sure that we respond to you. So, thank you for sharing that with us. Okay. So, this week um it's exciting to be in Clayton. Every week is exciting to be in Clayton, but this week in particular, you will have noticed an enhanced level of school spirit occurring from our family center, elementary school, middle school, and high school. And one of the things that's been really neat to see, I would say over

019the past five years, my time here is how much school spirit, community feel has increased throughout our district. Um, quick example, I was at W down Middle School today and they were having their pep assembly in preparation for homecoming, which is the Saturday, and the band, the high school band was there, the cheerleading group was there. And what I noticed was I remember five years ago we had three cheerleaders and now we're up to 17. >> Wow. >> Like that's a whole another um engagement that our students are having and participating in. So that's again just one small example. But tomorrow morning starting at 6:00 a.m. Fox 2 Prep Zone is going to be at Clayton High School. So, we're hoping even though there's no um school for students, we're hoping the gym's going to

020be filled with students and we're going to highlight all the activities and just get excited for homecoming. And that's a great segue for Saturday. I hope the community shows up for the parade that starts at 11:00, football game against U City at noon, and then we're going to have the alumni barbecue that we have every year. And we have a huge alumni turnout and support that comes to our games. So again, thank you for participating and I'm looking forward to Saturday. So hope to see everyone there. Switching um transitioning off to the next part and the second part I want to talk about is our long range facilities master plan. The work continues to happen. We're making strong progress in this area. On September 10th, I believe, yes, September 10th, we had our first community

021engagement forum. We had a good crowd, a good amount of people that came in. We had our design team. They went over and they shared the early preliminary design work for our elementary schools, our um Clayton High School, the academic area that we're trying to look to enhance as well as athletics and activities in terms of what is early concepts look like. So, we shared that. Then we had some time at tabletops conversation and we got some initial feedback from the community from that. So, we have two more community engagements coming up, one in October, one in November. And I hope to see a lot more um individuals come to those. And if you happen to miss that, we do try and update our website and give all the information that we shared that night

022there as well. So, we did the community engagement forum. In addition, what we're starting new and we're going to be uploading all the information on the website, sharing it on social, sharing it via email. We're going to begin our building tours. Um, elementary schools is one of our priority areas. So, we're going to open our buildings to the community to come and see firsthand some of the challenges that we face at our elementary buildings. So, more information to come for the building tours that should happen this month, which is October, or I guess next month, which is October. And then tomorrow, we're launching our community survey. The survey, remember, will have a telephone component. So there will be randomized calls that will be made. If you get a phone call from that, please answer and

023please do respond to the community survey. If you don't happen to get a phone call, you also have an opportunity to give us feedback on this important work that's happening online. So we'll have the survey that launches tomorrow. It's going to be open for two weeks. And the feedback that we get from that also is additional data for us to decide where we're moving where which direction we're moving forward with our priorities. So it's important information that we really ask our community to please participate. So again, if you can't be there in person, we've got information out there for you to find and we will share it with you. Please engage with us with our survey and or telephone survey as well. And again, we'll use that information. And then as a last reminder, community

024engagements happening in October and November. So that gets to our presentations for tonight. Our design team is here. They're going to give us a presentation and an update on all of the early design work that's been happening. Please know this is preliminary work um preliminary designs, but a lot of work has already happened to get to this stage. So we'll share that. That'll be a presentation, the first one for the night. And then the second presentation for the night is um Dr. Soulberger and Mrs. Turner will be here and they're going to talk to us about our partnership agreement with special school district. It's a um packed agenda today. And now I'm going to hand it over to Nina, our student board rep. On Wednesday, September 10th, a select group of 45 7th grade students

025from Rhyon Middle School got the opportunity to see Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor speak at WashU, which is the picture you see up here. Right now, the seventh graders are learning about politics and government. So, the opportunity to see what Justice Sotomayor had to say was pretty incredible for them. Not only did they get to hear about her experience as a lawyer and judge, but they also got to got the chance to get a hard copy of her book signed. This is a great chance for students to hear about a career in law and justice from a professional. Additionally, here's another update. Last week, I met with Clayton High School's principal advisory club. This club meets roughly every one uh one to two or three weeks sometimes um and is composed of around 15 students

026who were nominated by teachers for having a unique or interesting perspective. Our first gathering was meant to serve as an introductory meeting. But our group was so eager to get started that we ended up discussing everything from new school policies, which I'll talk more about in the next slide, to the overload of nachos in the cafeteria, which we spent a lot of time on, but was fun to talk about. Our next meeting is next Thursday, and we are planning to discuss the possibility of a facilities update, as well as what can be done to combat hate and anti-semitism in our community. I had a great time meeting everyone, and I'm super excited to see what this group can do. So for the next slide, um, additionally on the topic of focus groups, next Wednesday I'll

027be having my first focus group meeting with a group of fifth graders from Glenidge Elementary School. In the weeks following, I will also meet with fifth graders from Captain and Marramac, as well as why student council. I plan to ask these students a variety of questions, including how they feel about their school building, which will hopefully provide valuable information that can be used in crafting our long-range facility plan. and I am very eager to meet with these students because I'm sure they'll provide me with a lot of important feedback as well as a lot of laughs. Speaking of feedback, um I'll kind of now touch on what I got from the high school students who I met with last week. They had a ton to say about the implementation of the new cell phone policy.

028When asked if they felt like the policy was effective, an overwhelming amount said yes. While some say that they don't particularly like the policy or find it necessary, the majority concluded that although it's been an adjustment, the policy has been beneficial. Here are some examples of specific pieces of feedback I got. Um, someone said the policy was hard to get used to at first, especially for sophomores, juniors, and seniors who experience CHS without the cell phone policy, but they think it's a good thing in the long run. Um, they say that the school has a lighter mood, which I got a lot, just like lighter, happier mood. And then one person said, "My friends and I get so much more work done during Greyhound time," which is kind of fun to hear. Um, additionally, I

029talked to an English teacher a little bit. This is just a little anecdote I thought was really interesting. Um, she told me that last week at lunch they thought something crazy was happening outside their office in the cafeteria because it was so loud. But when they went to go look at what was going on, they realized it was just people talking and for the last couple of years it had been so quiet in the cafeteria. This was just such a change. All in all, CHS community members are seeing the success of the policy. And though many were annoyed at first, they are cons they are excited to continue the year cell phone free and I really do think it's working. Thank you. >> Thank you, Nina. That's all. All great reports. Thank you. Um, okay.

030Item 6.1. Um, we're going to have a long range facilities master plan update. >> Come on up team. >> Yeah, John and team. Yeah. Thank you. >> We have Paragon and Perkins and Will, BLDD, BSI, everyone here to give us an update. Thank you, John. It's a pleasure to be here this evening and to share an update on the work that's happened. Just trying to provide in one on one slide a lot of things that have that have been underway. It's colorcoded. Your board meetings are of course up at the top including this evening's board meeting the 25th. So that's just, you know, a point in time is in terms of where we are. There have been building tours that have happened. The elementary workshops, three of those have taken place, the last of which

031was last week. Two high school workshops. The BLDD team uh has done athletic workshops as well. Community engagement started last week with our first session on the 10th. Surveys about kind of repeating a lot of what you just said, Dr. Patel. the survey is just about to roll out and all leading up to a potential bond bond vote in April. Uh that which is really what was our starting point in terms of laying out the overall schedule sort of working backwards from that and understanding that if that is to occur in April then you need to finalize your ballot language in at your January board meeting. So there's a lot of work that's been done. There's a lot of work that's in front of us yet uh to be done. about that button instead. Okay.

032The elementary schools, um, I just talked about we had we had uh between the last time we met with you, we've done the our third workshop with the elementary schools where we were pouring over building diagrams, different options, uh, weighing pros and cons for each of those, and trying to to narrow the focus a bit. The same thing happened at the high school with its second workshop. And of course again just mentioning the community engagement session that happened just last week. Uh one of the things that came out of our very first workshop with the elementary schools was a set of guiding principles that we feel are really important uh as we consider the options moving forward. Not going to read these. These have been presented a number of times. but just really a guidepost

033for us and for the uh the building teams and the community at large as we start to develop options to really keep these uh issues and ideas and thoughts in mind. So this should look familiar from the community engagement session if you attended that. Um it's really summarizes the programmatic elements and challenges that were addressed in the elementary school options that you'll see tonight and you'll see them um morphing and changing as we iterate with all of the input from um the educators, administrators, community, etc. Um so this is just a summary a couple things we're doing right sizing classrooms um providing a larger indoor space for school and community activities creating storm shelters among many other things programmatically that are being addressed. Um so what we'll share tonight are each of the three elementary

034schools with um the existing site plan so you can have some context for uh some of the challenges at Captain. Um we know that there is a um right of way in that hatched area on the west side of the site. So we're trying to steer clear of that and you can see the area of the site that does not have a building on it. Um which would be a logical place to put a new facility of some kind. Um so what we'll share are the options summary that we shared with the workshops as well as the community and the uh slashes re are um showing what the uh workshop group uh recommended moving forward with. There was there were strong opinions throughout the day of of what was the best option. So this is

035representing what the workshop group wanted to move forward which was the larger footprint building at captain the one that um had better adjacencies or more ideal adjacencies of space um and it says shifted so it avoids that right of way that is not owned by the district. The next slide shows where we've gone from uh the in the feedback on September 10th from both the workshop as well as the community and sharing the two options that are moving forward at the moment. One is that same option one that you just saw um which shows an idea of phasing uh which comes about by avoiding the right of way and needing to um build build a building in phases. Um, option two is is an option that came out of the community engagement session where somebody

036asked, "Why would you not save the existing captain? It's the newest building even though it's over 50 years old." Um, so we uh did some due diligence and did some test fitting of that existing building and showed what the new building footprint would be. Um and what you see is that the um captain is two stories and the new building that would have to supplement the program there would be two stories. The option one is a three-story building. So more efficient, more compact and it means that option two gets less uh playground space in the end. So um that's really the the major difference there. Steve will go through Glenidge. >> Yeah, Glenidge at elementary school. Uh again the existing site just for context and but moving into the three options that were presented during

037the workshop. Uh differences between these would be uh the how the lower level uh is used. Um in option one uh in option one and option two no students on the lower level and option three we put specials specials being art, music, science and so forth in the on the lower level. the uh the workshop group really sort of kind of vacasillated kind of between option one and option two throughout the day, but really gravitated toward option one at the end. Um and what that's progressed to now is three options and a little bit of a different take on where the the addition is mostly in the back side of the building. We've actually pulled the addition off the front side of the building. So the front side of the building is exactly what it

038is today. consolidated everything to the to the backside to make one uh more consolidated addition to the building. But you can read in in the descriptions across the top that uh options one, two, and three, one thing they share in common is they don't have classrooms in the lower level. Uh and then option one has got administrative space in the lower level. And then it's also one of the descriptors there is where is the gym in the cafeteria? Um, it's new. It's combined and it's at the main level. Option two, the cafeteria is renovated. It stays in the lower level and the new gym with a stage now is on the main level. Option three, um, the admin and cafeteria are renovated in the lower level and the gym gym and stage are on on

039the main level. So, there's slight variations uh, you know, sort of variations on a theme here. And then option four, which is not illustrated here, would be, you know, a new building of the same square footage on the site. So, it's basically taking down the existing building and building something new on the site. >> And if I could add that option three, um, there's a little more site because you're using more of the lower level by putting both the admin and the cafeteria down there. So, that's the main kind of footprint difference with that option. um for Marramac. Uh here's the existing site. As you can see, north is to the right on these plans. Um the outcome from the workshop group was that um they were happy with specials in the lower level of

040Marramac. Um the gym cafeteria com combination uh was was in all of these options at the time and uh the smallest footprint on the site was option two. And that was why the group uh gravitated toward that option. and they wanted to preserve as much play area as possible. So that's the one that they wanted to move forward. Um so we actually studied a couple of of iterations of that option um similar to Glenidge. The first option one is very similar to what was presented to the workshop group with that combination gym cafeteria where the cafeteria serves as the stage. So the gym is the the um house to the theater if you will. Um, and that's all new together on um, the main level. And you can see it just takes up more space

041because the cafeteria and gym are the largest programmatic areas. Um, if you leave the cafeteria where it is and renovate it in option two and provide a smaller stage for the gym, still allowing performance to happen on the main level, you get a smaller footprint. Um, and so that that is the option two here. And again, option three showing kind of just bookending cost because there's co going to eventually be cost associated with these um that we have, you know, renovated area, new building area, and sometimes those complexities of renovations can be more expensive or nearly as expensive as building new. So that's where option three and option four for Glenidge come in just to eventually provide that bookend so you can see um what that cost could be. Not suggesting that that's what you

042want to do or that you should do, but just just to give you a sense of what it would cost to build brand new. >> Uh so just looking at some of the uh challenges at the high school similar to the elementarymentaries, those right-sized classrooms and uh the specialized learning spaces such as geometry and construction, AMP and robotics. Also looking at how we can just come up with some more collaborative flexible uh spaces and looking at the quality of those spaces as well. Making sure that the spaces are fully accessible. Looking at the uh adjacencies and those circulations and then also making sure that we can get a storm shut at the high school. So here we have the uh CTE wing edition at the high school. So the color boxes there in the middle

043is the addition. Uh so on the left of that main image is the edge of Adzik Field. Uh we have the back drive right adjacent to that that we're protecting just for circulation fire lane access. On the right is the gray area that is your existing school. So we're looking at a one-story addition there in the middle. Uh we went through some iterations with the workshops but right now we've got a one-story addition. Um starting at the top there we have the pre-engineering space that uh will reuse that existing classroom. Uh below that is the shop area. reuse that as well. And that uh purple box there in the middle, that is the new addition for the geometry and construction space. So having that direct adjacency to the shop and pre-engineering is important. And then

044uh switching over to robotics there in the green, having a 27x 54 practice field in there and an area for uh robot staging and working on the robots as well. Below that in the yellow is a connection corridor from the math wing uh through that existing corridor and having also a dedicated entrance off that back drive. And then the three blue spaces that you're seeing below that uh having a dedicated space for amped large storage area uh have all their equipment in that space, a classroom setting. And then to the left of that is a CTE classroom, more of a flex classroom that could be used for robotics or different needs. And then we are proposing to demolish two existing math classrooms. That's the red dash box. So, we'll have to relocate one math classroom

045in that addition and the other on the uh uh existing building on the north side there. Uh some other things that we're looking at is the school store at the main entrance of the uh school. So, that's the center image there on the left. Uh right off the main entry there, high visibility, heavy traffic right next to the auditorium. So, having a glass display to display all your school gear. uh that does take over the hounds grounds. So, we'd have to relocate that to the bottom level uh of the commons area. And then something else that you're not seeing on the screen is the performing arts work. Uh we've got uh some renovations included in that as well. So, looking at the HBAC noise uh in the back area for band, orchestra, and choir. Uh

046we did a walk through and did some testing with our engineers and the levels are above the standards. So, how do we uh address those HBAC needs and uh improvements there? Also at the back of the performing arts area behind the auditorium and the stage is they've got multiple levels that creates some ADA challenges and some uh logistics issues. So while there's an ADA lift on the stage, uh a student can get stuck on the stage for a while to the end of performance. So um creating an ADA lift behind that backstage area and an equipment lift for just some logistic needs is something else that we're looking at. And then just some renovations inside the auditorium, uh replacing the seating and then that lo is pretty tight. So, how do we expand that a

047little bit by pushing that vestibule out to give a little bit more breathing room? And then looking at those uh restrooms in that lobby, too. Give them a nice refresh with some finish upgrades and fixture upgrades. So, that's the work we're looking at the high school. Okay. Uh it's great to see everybody again tonight. With me tonight is John Whitlock. He's our president of BL Architects. He's also our in-house athletic expert. So, he's going to present the three conceptual designs that we've gotten to thus far. I guess I missed something. Okay. Um, so, okay, looks like we took the timeline out. Okay. So, all right. So, um, as Stephen mentioned, we've done two workshops so far. Workshop one, workshop two. Um, I'll get to that right now. And then we did the community engagement workshop

048three we still need to get scheduled and that will happen before community engagement number two. Um so workshop number one really was discovery and visioning. So we had the participants break out into groups. Um and the first activity was a scatter map activity. So we asked them basically to write down any activity that happens at athletic event. So this could be the actual sport that was being played. Um it could be any uh social interaction um that the spectators are doing before the game or before the event, during the event, after the event. Um what are people's children doing? Are they watching the event? Are they just running around? Are they on a playground? What are all those activities um that they want to see or that they do see? So um all the groups

049broke out, had a lot of things written down. Um the activity two of that workshop was we lift and play designer. So we have them take all those activities um to the best of of their ability and put those activities on the three different sites. So um and where they made sense where they fit best. So that was at the Gayfield site down as well as the Adzik uh shop park area. Um with all that information we took that and we developed uh two different design scenarios which we then presented at workshop number two. So that was the first time that the participants saw those conceptual designs and so we asked them to give us pros and cons of each of the um both scenarios at each of the three sites. We also asked them

050to give us recommended improvements or other information they wanted to see. So we took that information um which helped us refine uh concepts number one number two which when we then presented at the community engagement uh meeting number one um during that meeting uh you know the groups broke out they gave us a lot of good feedback a lot of input um we went back to the drawing board and essentially generated a third uh scenario which John will get into at the end of this I will pass it off to John and we'll get into the three scenarios that we've designed thus far. >> Well, thank you. Um, scenario one. So, the good news is, um, I'm going to explain these at very high level, but scenario one really reflects the the committee's desire and

051the school district's desire to have all of the athletics in one place. Um, that's obviously beneficial for student safety. It eliminates having to drive. Um, a lot of benefits, but does it fit and how does it work? So, for scenario one, there is work at all different sites. So, I'll start with Y Down. The good is this happens at all three scenarios and so why down has trouble growing grass in its current location. So replacing that with a multi-purpose uh play surface with a surrounding running and walking track and then shade uh shelters uh at team areas uh would be the work at white down and that is included in all scenarios. In all scenarios, ADZIC ads the ball field will have improvements to the dugouts and a two-story press box. And what you see

052here in scenario one is at the area of the ball fields just southwest of this building is what it would look like if we put two stadiums um on site. And so right now you actually have access to three what I'll call soccer fields. So it allows you to play field hockey, soccer, lacrosse, football. And so by using ADIC as your field hockey, you still have a football field stadium and then a track, soccer, stadium, lacrosse and you can across the you know the the turf sports amongst the different stadiums. The problem issues um challenges with this scenario is getting people efficiently and more importantly effective in and out of this site parking um those are some drawbacks to this site. And then also what happens at Gayfield is we're replacing those ball fields that

053we've be displacing by these stadas. Um having access to soccer fields, improvements to parking, adding playgrounds at the at gay field. So scenario one is really reflective of trying to get everybody all the student athletes in all the community where they gather right next to field. Scenario two says, okay, again, our work at W down is the same. Our work at Azic is the same. And actually the work at Gay Field is the same. The difference is we'll use one stadium that allows us to have a larger stadium with home and visitor bleachers. Does accommodate all of the throws and jumps and everything associated with the track. Um but the drawback challenge to this one is it does require you to still use some of the fields at gay a gay field. So um while

054it's an improvement in terms of space and efficiency and getting people in and out um doesn't really allow you to have everybody in one place. So scenario three is the obvious thing. All right, let's again do the work at W down. I failed to mention on every scenario there is improvements to the softball field here to provide some turf. Um so easier maintenance for the softball field. Sorry I missed that. It's on all scenarios. As a field would still do the work for the the dugouts and the press box there. and then creating a one-stop shop in Gayfield for all of your athletics. Um, which would have a large track facility where you play soccer, lacrosse, you play field hockey. Um, again, providing perimeter fence so that these are all um well protected and so

055that it's it's your fields. It's taking the existing soccer field, putting a fence around that so you're able to control the use of that field a little bit better. It's so where the parking lot is now, we're suggesting that uh for the stadium, where that parking lot is now, we're suggesting that's a pedestrian way, an area where you would gather before a game and enter the stadium. So, it could be a really uh dynamic place to be and gather, using the areas north of that for parking for the stadium, have the throw areas basically where they are now. And again, improvements to all the parking so you have a little bit more parking and area there. So scenario three really says, "Okay, we're going to put all our eggs in the gay field basket, we'll

056call it, and uh go from there. Thank you. >> Well, thank you so much. Um appreciate you being here and sharing all the options and scenarios with us. Anyone have any questions?" I'm sure people have questions. Okay. Um Anyone questions for them? Go ahead and ask Jason or whoever. >> On the spot. >> Okay. >> I have a question. Um uh for the Perkins Well team. So can you one of the things we heard um in the study of the Paragonstead was that some of our buildings particularly Glennidge and Marramck are starting they're not very close but they're starting to near the end of their useful life. If we're to renovate, pursue renovations at Glenbridge and Marramac, how far out do we push out that useful life? Do you have any sort of sense of

057that? >> Yeah, that so the renovations we're talking about at both of those on both of those campuses within existing space uh is pretty significant uh in terms of the level of renovation. So we're talking we'd be talking about new mechanical systems, new plumbing and electrical systems. So that so the infrastructure piece of it, the stuff that's above ceilings and behind walls that you don't often see is being taken care of. The uh so everything gets refreshed uh from an interior environment standpoint. The addition of course is you know substantial and brand new. So that's got you know a long it's got a long life ahead of it. The existing building that remains you know the structural systems of those buildings is sound right. I have no qualms about saying that'll extend out into the

058future, you know, as far as the new construction would. The the the place that you know want would want to look would be like your exterior enclosure, right? So the buildings of this vintage oftent times um and there's not a lot we're actually suggesting that we're doing to the exterior enclosure you know like facing the public streets just because of the look and feel of those buildings is so sort of endearing to the community. But those those you know the exterior enclosure is very sound is very solid but it wouldn't it doesn't have the insulation that we would have in in a modern new building. So I don't have any issues necessarily saying like we're going to extend the lives of these buildings for decades um in you know via these renovations otherwise you know

059why do it right? So they've got a lot of life left in them um but it you know doing a lot via the renovation to extend that life. So both things are kind of true at the same time right they are nearing the end of you know the use for life today but we're going to be able to extend that through pretty extensive renovation. Okay. Well, I I understand it's hard to like, you know, it's hard to give an exact answer. I guess my my concern of of of a renovation versus a rebuild is what I don't want to do is saddle this community, this board 20 years from now, you know, with having to just rebuild the entire school because we didn't take, you know, because we pursued the cheaper option the first time

060or whatever it was. So I guess like but what you I hear you saying is you're not do you're there's some degree of confidence that you're not doing that was when you say decades I hear 20 30 plus years. >> I think I think we're talking about a long time. I at the same time even a new building there are systems in a new building that after 25 years you know an air handler for instance is typically going to get renewed or replaced after 25 years. So even in new construction there's a typically a rolling schedule when things you know carpet doesn't you know 10 years probably right painting rooms every five years. So there's that ongoing maintenance that needs to happen >> uh even in new construction. >> Okay so >> right and then

061I guess for the BLDD team. So, um, one of the things we heard in the community forum just at least some concern about switching from grass to turf or at Yown. Can you just talk a little bit about some of the struggles of growing grass at Wide Down and why it makes it difficult to do that? >> You're trying to grow grass over a parking deck, right? So, the the ability to maintain that at the level that you would have to provide fertilizer and ongoing maintenance is just an overwhelming amount of work. um and really your best option in that area. Also, because of all the use that it gets, that's another um the what's happening to the turf that's there now is the excessive amount of use that it gets is deteriorated at a

062faster rate that's making it even harder to keep up, you know. Okay, great. Thank you. >> Anyone else can jump in? Any other questions? Chris, >> um a follow up on both of those. Um first can you tell us more about it? It's it's it doesn't seem at all a stretch to understand that um the grass is you know it's a issue right because of where it is etc. It's getting so much use. So it seems like the lot like there's this logical sense of oh we go to something that's you know like we have at gay etc. But can you talk about those cons if there's concerns about um health and safety around turf versus grass? Because we're not just talking about usability, we're talking about the fact that one is a natural substance,

063one is not. So just give us your thoughts on um what turf um how that compares in in safety and health to grass. >> Difficult question to answer. There's a lot of surveys and reports done for both sides and you all kind of wonder where they're who's supplying that information. Um, and I don't know that I can speak to necessarily the health. I will say that pesticides and herbicides that need to go into your grass can be just as dangerous as plastics, the microplastics, the rubbers that are in your turf. So, there is some danger in both both of those, right? And I'm suggesting that to get your turf to grow, the amount of maintenance, herbicides, and pesticides that are probably required are a lot. I will say that there are hybrid synthetic turf systems.

064Now, I I like to say I practice architecture, but I don't practice architecture on my clients. So, this is probably leading edge technology um where it's it's actually tying both synthetic and natural turfs together, and it has been used. It's it's being used. There are organic infields where it eliminates the rubber that you typically see when you watch college sports or the NFL on Sunday. All that black stuff kind of gets kicked up. So, there's organic solutions to that that's been used fairly successful. And there's a lot of products out there right now that are non-infill. Now, it's still a plastic grass in both of those scenarios where you have organic infill. But by eliminating that factor, which is kids crawling around and digging it up, that's that sort of benefit. It could help. Um,

065have you guys done any of the hybrid? >> No, I've just read about it. >> Okay. So, it's that new. >> Yeah. >> Yes, please. Yeah. >> With this hybrid one, like one of the issues with the grass there is not only that the grass isn't growing, but that it's so many days wet and unusable >> with this hybrid thing. Is that still an issue if it gets lots of rain or snow? >> I'd be afraid to answer that because I don't know enough about the system to answer that. I do know that with turf systems there will be a drainage system associated with that. A lot of rock and some drainage to get that out. So you wouldn't have that wetness um typically associated but to get the grass to grow. I would assume

066that we're still dealing with an amount of dirt. So my guess is that it still struggles a little bit with the wetness. Probably still does. >> Yeah. Yeah. Since probably one person Yeah. Yeah. Um, so to follow up on what Jason asked also of you guys, um, I mean it's it's it's the biggest, you know, most important question we can ask whether or not we want to do rens versus um um new construction completely. Obviously, the other big question that goes alongside it, which is, you know, what this community will support. But um in your eyes, I just need to hear from from architect's point of view now that you've sat at all of these committee meetings and you've heard from our teachers, staff, etc. what it is that they're looking for for the next,

067you know, as many years as possible. Glenn Ridg's been 100. Um can you tell us in your eyes whether or not a renovation which is a going to be of grand scale obviously um whether that how that is comparable and whether or not they you feel that there are things that they aren't getting in a renovation that they would be getting in new construction. Again, you've been at these meetings. You've you've heard our staff talk about um what it is they're looking for for future ready learning and what they'd like to what they'd like to do in spaces that, you know, um allow the types of learning that they they are trying to make do in hallways now, etc. Um so I'm just curious about really your thoughts on what what we might be missing

068out on if we don't do a full complete, you know, from scratch. >> Sure. disclosure. Um I think it's at at captain I would say your existing infrastructure is really challenging for a lot of reasons. The structural system, the floor to floor heights, the lack of windows. Um that is something that would be um an extra challenge with a renovation. And also the as all of your sites are challenged with size, when you take a two-story building and you just extend it as a two-story building versus building up, um you get less sight area. So for if I were you, I would look at Captain as probably your best bet would be new um just for those reasons alone. When you look at Marramck and Glenidge, they have they they're stately buildings, right, that are

069part of those communities. So, there's some there's some aesthetic value in what exists. Um, so I think you have to weigh that and also just the the love of those facilities from from your community that that have had them around for 100 years. Um, they're they have good floortofloor heights. They they have really nice spaces. There's some challenges with, you know, a little bit of maybe some columns in places you might not want or um a little bit of a narrow space, but for the most part um the programs that we have planned in any new option are the same programs that we would be renovating the renovations to. And by kind of peeling off some of the areas that are not functioning very well along the backsides of both of those buildings, we solve

070a myriad of problems. and keeping the front keeps that aesthetic that you've had for a hundred years and fixes everything behind it. Um those additions are are significant and they fix a lot of wrongs in the existing building and allow you to have those collaborative spaces and those relationships that you want. So I I would say could you do it better in a new build for anything? I think always you can recreate it probably better, you know, like perfectly better, the exact way you want it, but there's so much that can be done with a really good renovation. And sometimes, you know, if you talk about sustainability, the best thing to do is to reuse a building. So, um there's a there's a lot of embodied carbon that comes with a rental versus a a

071new build. So, there's a lot of things to take into account. Um, so I don't know if I have a good answer for you for Glenidge and Marramac. As clear-cut as Captain seems to be. Okay. Um, those are a lot of things that you could weigh. Um, and cost will come into it. Um, community sentiment will come into it. But >> does that give you a decent answer? >> Okay. Um, it sounded to me like you said when you during the presentation that the cost of a rental can be >> it can be close. Yeah. >> Yeah. I don't I don't have those numbers today, but I the what we've done in the past in situations like this is it always comes up in a community meeting whether or not somebody asked for it is

072well you tell me it's going to take maybe longer to renovate and build an addition than it would to build new and you're telling me it's going to cost about the same like shouldn't I consider that or you know the the new build may be significantly more and you don't want to do it. So, it's it really provides when we get those costs added in just a way for you to to weigh the options and be fully informed like the renovation option of captain fully informs you um the cost and the pros and cons of that. Whether or not you would actually do that, maybe not. But, um it it will allow your community to make a more informed choice. >> Right. I actually think not you apologized for not giving a clearcut answer. I

073actually think that was very helpful because to me it tells us if we choose the route of a renovation over a new addition, >> we're not there's nothing clear and obvious that we would be giving up. >> Well, that's so I think that was helpful. >> Yeah. And I was going to follow up and say then it sounds like maybe the only thing maybe um that we could pinpoint is is it useful use? Is it the longevity of the building? Is there longer useful use on a brand new building than there would be in a rena? >> I think Steve touched on it, right? You're all those systems that age and that are at the end of their useful life at at Clenidge and Marramac, the the expensive guts of the building. >> That would

074be the same in a new build as you would get in a Rena. um an exterior wall, as anyone who owns an old home, you're always going to have things go wrong with it. And perhaps an older building, you know, those things may happen a little bit more often. But the the general gist of these renovations is to make sure that you've got a better and like you may improve the windows, you would maybe tuck point where you need to, you fix the roof. So you have you've you've done it once and you've done it for the next however many years until that next cycle of repair comes along. But the goal would be that you're not going to have a a leaky roof or a bad mechanical system in in a renovation that you'd

075be kind of starting at the same baseline, but you still you still have those old bones, but the bones are good. So, I appreciate you bringing up the sustainability of the renovation option as well because that is something that's come up in the forums and with our steering committee and the workshops. That's something that is asked about a lot. >> Yeah, that's all you have. >> Thank you. Kim. >> Yeah. So, I I guess I have a more fundamental question that I should I want to ask because I've heard it from the community. So, when you talk about um writing the existing wrongs of the building, right, and talk about uh these extensive renovations to a lot of things that are behind the walls, right? The ceiling, the roof, behind the walls, underground plumbing, all

076of that stuff. So, as a school district, we have never really deferred maintenance on any of these buildings. So the perception in the community is that we have kept these buildings in good shape. So then the more fundamental question is why do they need to be renovated at all? So I'd like to get your expert opinion on why they should be renovate, why we should make this investment at all and what happens if we don't. Um I think there's a lot of different layers to to the answer to that. The first one I'll start with is just programmatic. Um if you look at the goals that came out of the very first workshop, the guiding principles and you try to lay that or stack that up against your existing buildings, you fall short in a

077lot of areas, right? in terms of flexibility, adjacencies between spaces that you would want to have, um size of spaces and so forth. So like a lot of buildings and your your buildings don't suffer from this so much, but you know, buildings of this age and have been added on to so many times, oftent times daylight gets compromised because we're closing off windows to spaces and so forth. Um, so I would say programmatically is is definitely one one part of this that would weigh heavily. I think you know if I were sitting in your in your seat and looking at thinking about the next 50 years, you know, what is education going to look like? What's it look like today and are you keep you know you you do great in your schools today? You're

078really solid good school district. But if you think about what's that going to look like 50 years from now and trying to set yourself up from a you know sustainability standpoint, a flexibility standpoint, those would all be considerations that I would be thinking about in terms of um why you would want to be acting now and doing something with your buildings. So I think programmatically is one. The um the infrastructure is a whole another layer. I think that buildings of this age, those systems are just worn, right? You know, school districts do a great job of trying to maintain and a lot of school districts have an attitude of we fix it when it breaks, right? Um deferred maintenance in terms of the way the commercial building sector does deferred maintenance typically does not happen

079in public school districts. So if you look nationally at deferred maintenance and public schools, it's literally billions and billions of dollars, hundreds of billions of dollars of need. Um, and so addressing that and setting yourself like up again for the long term is really important and those all three of the elementary schools are, you know, more so in Glenn Ridge and Marramac because the age of those buildings, I'm talking infrastructure now is is a need. So I think there's a as I said I think there's a number of different layers in terms of you know your point in time today and then looking out into the future why you would want to make the investment. >> So even though we have not deferred maintenance on those buildings there's still significant um upgrades to infrastructure that

080need to be made just based on the age of the buildings is what I heard. >> Correct. >> Right. In addition to the programmatic benefits of if you have to do them anyway, then this would be the time to change the interiors because you got to take out the walls and you got to take out the you have you in order to get to the studs of the building to where you need to do this work. If you're going to do that then >> yeah, I think that's >> start thinking ahead. Is that >> I think that's a great point. In fact, that's a it's a that's an example that we use quite often when we're talking to school districts about doing a long range facility plan. At some point you need to change an

081air handler. Well, before you make that decision, maybe the spaces that air handler serves need to change themselves, right? The configuration of those that maybe then is a different mechanical system solution. So, don't invest the money to make that first fix without understanding what the, you know, sort of the programmatic need is and do them both at the same time as as possible. That's the best use of your taxpayer dollars as that you that you're going to get. I I believe >> and do you believe that we're doing that through this process? We're accomplishing that through this process. >> Absolutely. >> Great. >> Kim, thank you for asking that and the way you summarized what he said was perfect. So, thank you because I think it actually helps all of us. That's what we're going

082to get asked, right, by the community. Why are we doing this? Why do we need to be doing this? And I I think that question and answer what was helpful to me at least, but I think help helpful to everybody. So, thank you. Any other questions, comments from anyone? Ben, Leo, >> I I most of my questions have already been >> asked, >> but um I just had two questions. Um kind of tactical, I guess. Um so, at Glen Ridge, one of the big problems is moisture in the basement. Would this be would that be remedied through this renovation or obviously in the new building would be renovated but um or is that just is that just built into the the way it is and no I think we would we would it's something that

083we are certainly aware of and we're looking at in fact we're have received a proposal from a I call them sort of forensic building experts right to go in and take a look at um those issues and advise us as a team on what the poss you know what you know what needs to happen relative to that uh there's a lot if you can imagine if you looked at those diagrams for for Glenidge we sort of removing large sections of the back side of the building so anywhere where we're touching it there we can get down below grade and address any you know be covering up with new construction so we should be addressing it there and we may need to go as as far as doing some excavation around the perimeter of the building

084to do some exterior waterproofing to mitigate and do some, you know, under, you know, drainage as well to pull water away and get water away from the building. So, there's a lot that we can do uh to to help with that. >> Okay. >> Like to note, too, we're also actively getting our mechanical engineer engaged on that process to look at the HVAC systems for leverage as well, you know, tackle that component. >> Okay. Awesome. Thank you. Um, so another issue that's come up, I know it's I think if I go back to the original Paragot study, there was uh air quality was something that was identified as a concern among parents. So I would I was just curious with some of the newer HVAC and so forth, would that include some kind of filtration

085or other air quality, you know, enhancements? >> Yeah, for sure. The new um any new mechanical system is going to have filtration associated with it. Um, and so that's maybe the short answer is >> I I'm kind of sort of rhetorical, I guess, I suppose, but uh I'm assuming that it's basically the lifespan of these systems are just kind of like they are what they are and that's maybe a result of some of the air quality concerns and this would be remedied by this. >> That is definitely the goal. >> Okay. >> Absolutely. >> That's that's it for me. Thank you. >> No. Okay. Nina, do you have any questions? >> Great. >> Just kind of like a little bit of a clarifying question. Um, for scenario three, so what exactly is being like condensed

086into like the gatefield area in this situation? >> So you would still So again, you have access to three what I'll call soccer fields right now. So you use at >> or for field hockey, right? And so you would have soccer, lacrosse inside the track and you still have access to a grass field which would be your soccer field on the north. So that existing field would still be there. >> Okay. That's kind of what I wanted to know because I know it's kind of a problem sometimes like after school practice where every team is going. So I just want to make sure there would still be like enough space. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Well, thank you so much. This was really helpful. >> Um you know, each time we hear from

087you helps us more and more kind of narrow um our decisions, you know, what we're thinking of and narrowing the options helps. So, thank you all for being here. Appreciate it. We'll see you again soon. Thank you. >> Yes. >> In two weeks. >> We Yes, I meant it. We'll see you soon. >> Huh? Oh my gosh. Safe travels. Um, and now Dr. Kelly Sberger and Miss John Turner are going to present us with the special school district partnership agreement, which um we will need to vote on as well. Um, I also see Dr. Mlin's here who's a superintendent of special school district. Oh, we've got all kinds of other people here. Great. Thank you everyone for being here. Shikita Moore. Okay. Thank you. Oh, yes. Hello, chairs. >> Y I'll turn it over to

088you, Kelly. >> Yes. Um, good evening. Uh, tonight we're going to present the partnership agreement. And the partnership agreement is really just a framework that we use to make sure that our collaboration is effective between the school district of Clayton and Special School District. I want to start off with some introductions. So we have um the superintendent of Special School District, Dr. Mlin is joining us. Um we also have um to my left over on the other side we have Chaita Moore um and her title is Chief Partner District's Officer. Um so thank you guys both for joining us for this meeting. We're really excited too because this year we have a new member of our leadership team um in special education. So Shannon Gerald is joining us. Um so she's our special education coordinator

089and then you guys all know John Turner, our director of special education. We're also really fortunate to have a couple of our parents here. Um we have our president of PACAD, Megan Lennahan is here as well as Michelle and Na. They're all here too. There might have been more parents who have come in afterwards, but big thank you all. Oh and Kate Pavson, our coach. We'll talk about her too when we get to our org chart in a little bit. So, huge thanks to everyone who's joining us for this presentation. I think it's just an excellent example of the close partnership that we have between the school district of Clayton and Special School District. Um, so our role as partners is that we have a long-standing relationship between the school district of Clayton and Special

090School District. And it's really to deliver that high quality education to our students because they're able to bring in resources that would not be as sustainable for just the school district of Clayton to have on our own. Um, so that's really what it's about. It's highquality compliant student centered special education services that we have here in our school district. Um, within this partner district model, SSD is responsible for providing our staffing and evaluation, um, instruction related to special services, compliance oversight, um, and and school district of Clayton has the things like the curriculum piece, our assessment systems, school operations, and then also that family engagement structure. So, it's a partnership between the the two school districts um, working together. Um in these concentric circles, you'll notice that it starts off all the way at the

091top um with our federal regulations like IDEIDA. Um and then this is just outlining that legal framework that guides the relationship between special school district and the school district of Clayton. Um you'll notice that within this there are some parts that are separate but we all work together on them. So for example, separate compliance areas. We collaborate on matters like um child find, our evaluation and eligibility, least restrictive environment. Those are things that um we have separate compliance but we work on together. Um so it's a strong partnership and then we also have resources that fall within that too. Um last year we spent a lot of time in this presentation talking about the principal and coordinator collaboration tool. We're actually going to spend less time talking about it this um this presentation and more

092time being able to update you on the progress of the goals that we had from last year and what the new goals will be um moving forward into next year. So in our partnership we have 271 students um throughout the school district of Clayton that are also receiving special education services through special school district. Um you can see the breakdown um on there. I'm not going to read through all of those numbers. Um but similarly to last year um the the highest area that we have students identified as that OI other health impaired um we also have many students who have learning disabilities and um students with an autism diagnosis. Those are kind of our our highest areas as far as percentages of those 271 students. All right. And I'm going to let turn it

093over to John. She's going to talk about um the staffing that we have. Can you reach that or do it? >> So, our staffing through SSD, like Kelly alluded to, is is really based on student need. And so, we receive staff or um staff might leave the district based on the number of students that we have that require that service. So as a result um for example last school year we received a part-time social worker because our number of students who required social work services through SSD increased. Um this school year we have moved a couple of teachers throughout the district to to support student needs. Um of course in collaboration with the principles and other admin. Uh so we have a teacher who is traveling between Glenidge and Marramac to support students and we

094also have moved pairs based on student needs. Um so some of our students receive pretty significant pair of support on the middle school level. They graduated 8th grade and they're now at the high school. So those paras have moved with them and that's usually how SSD um does staffing. This is just a picture of our organizational chart at the foundation and of course at the heart of what we do because 85% of our students with special needs spend the bulk of their time in the general education setting. So again at our foundation we have our general education teachers um our special education teachers and Miss Palverson who supports both special and general education teachers with instructional strategies and supports for students with special needs and students who do not have special needs. Um and then

095we of course have our principles. We have um Miss Shannon Gerald who is our um special school district coordinator, myself um Dr. Tammy Yates who is not here this evening but she's the executive director of partner districts and so we collaborate with her quite often and and of course with the support of Dr. Patel and Dr. Mlin. So I'm going to talk to you a little bit about the purpose of the partnership agreement. So in general it is a document that provides an increased knowledge and awareness of the expectations that we as both special school district and Clayton school district are um using to provide what our students need. It's an inclusive and collaborative approach that puts um all of our stakeholders on the same page as far as what our students, excuse me, what

096our students need. And it's also a tool that we use to monitor decision- making and um guiding our practices in seven different different categories, which I'll talk about briefly in just a moment. And it also guides our conversations and the work that we are doing for our students to ensure that they are getting the services that they need. So the next couple of slides really are just a breakdown of those seven categories. They cover quite a bit of information. So I'm just going to briefly touch on some of the highlights for each of those areas in staffing um in order to collaborate um with our our um Clayton um counterparts. Um we have um an in we're trying to create an inclusive environment, welcoming environment for special school district staff so that we can retain

097those staff and provide high quality staff to our students in the district. In the teaching, learning and accountability area, one of the focuses is on shared resources that we can provide for both special school district staff and general education staff. um as well as allowing our special education staff to also participate in the resources that Clayton has for um teachers as well. So, it's that shared piece. And then the collaboration category. Uh again, many different areas that that covers, but one of the areas that I wanted to highlight was the partnership that we use to ensure that we are implementing um a variety of IEP services throughout the district for our students and to support the our students who um may have some social emotional learning needs and may go into crisis at different times

098and making sure that our staff have the resources that they need to support our students with that. Student services um includes a partnership with our MTSS process, our social emotional learning as well as transition plans just to name a few of the services that we provide. Our data and technology component um includes sharing of student data so that we can make database decisions for our student needs as well as provision of technology resources to staff and u augmentative communication devices for students who are in need of that. Our transportation category focuses on making sure that our students are receiving transportation in their least restrictive environment and also helping guide those conversations about when it's required as a related service for our students. And then finally, career and technical education um provides access to programs that

099are aligning with our business industry standards in the community so that we are providing an alternative pathway for students in post-secary education and um career choices. So these seven categories are really again that guiding piece that allow us as a partnership of the two districts to have an agreement that's prioritizing equity, collaboration, and excellence for our students. Okay. And so now to bring it back to the school district of Clayton in particular in regards to the um partnership agreement. Last school year, we came up with several goals um that align with the needs of our community. The first goal was to uh take a look at our transition process to make sure that families um receive the support that they need with some of those um milestone transitions from preschool to kindergarten and from 8th

100grade to 9th grade. To do that, we said we were going to be focusing on chart in a life course, having our teachers trained and implementing those particular IEP meetings with that format. Uh, which we which we did for all of those transition meetings. We got our um special education teachers trained and also the school district of Clayton guidance counselors were trained in charting the life course too so that they would be able to support families uh in those meetings. The thing I like the most about charting the life course is it puts the families and the students at the center of the IEP meeting and not the IEP document. So it turns more into um like a conversation about the whole child versus compliance. So that's why we chose that and I think we

101got some really great feedback. Also collaboration between um myself, Kate and the family center um administrators. We had a good time with them talking about all of our incoming kindergarteners and um also you know like getting getting the little kid feel. I really like it there and I like to go back. It's um I'll go Yes. Uhhuh. Yes. >> It's Yeah, it really is. >> We Yeah. So, we took a look also at our um continuum of services for sixth through 8th grade because that's the that's the um I I would say like that was the most challenging transitions for for kids and families because it's the shortest amount of time that kids are in a building within Clayton, that middle school time. And so, just making sure that our services are aligned with both

102what kids received in the elementary schools and then also what they're going to receive in the high school. Um, so we spent a lot of time looking at our continuum services and making sure that there weren't any gaps. One of the biggest celebrations u for this particular goal is that we got a lot of feedback, anecdotal feedback from parents that they felt heard in their meetings and to me that was of great import. Um, and we also we also uh completed any kindergarten transition IEP that families were willing to complete. I think we had one student who had the privilege of traveling through Asia and so we postponed their IEP into the fall. Our second goal was to align our resources um both SSD and the school district of Clayton have a lot of resources

103and a lot of experts um in reading, writing, math, social emotional supports. Uh, so we worked very closely with our um Oh, thank you. It changed on my paper, not up there. Sorry. All right. So, we worked very closely with the reading specialists and the math specialists um in the school district of Clayton. We did some collaboration with the instructional coaches from SSD and then also the reading and math coaches from SSD. I'd like to highlight some of the really hard work that the CLA the school district of Clayton staff did to support us in the areas of reading and math. Angela, who's the district math coordinator for um SDC, she collaborated with us throughout the school year um and and played a pretty big role in us identifying appropriate curriculum for our replacement math

104courses on both the middle and high school level. That was a huge that was a huge um that was a really large amount of work that she was passionate about and purposeful about and we really appreciate it. Not only did she help us with the curriculum, but she also came throughout the school year and supported and coached our staff which I think was really really beneficial. Um she also this summer said, "Well, in the fall she said, "John, I'd like for you to go to this virtual PD." And I said, "Yes, I want to go to this virtual PD." And so we did it and it was on a book called Rethinking Disabilities and Mathematics. There isn't a lot of um research on disabilities and mathematics. So she found this book. We went to the

105PD and then we did a book study this summer for um the school district of Clayton teachers and special ed teachers and she co-f facilitated that really took the lead. So that is a that's something that's very unique to Clayton. We also worked pretty closely with Julie Parr who's the school district of Clayton literacy coordinator and she helped us pick out curriculum for our replacement classes for ELA on the secondary level. She's also someone that helped us figure out what um program what reading program in particular we could get our teachers trained in that kind of covered every area of the reading rope. And so we have that as a foundation in Clayton now because of because of Julie. So Julie and Angela really helped us with this second goal here and we appreciate that.

106Highlight them. We um our third goal. Okay, this time I'm on it. Okay, great. Changing both places. Our third goal was to increase collaborative walkthroughs and we did that. Um I just want to focus on the result of that collaborate collaborative walkthroughs between myself and the principles. Um there's some big rocks. There was some revisions on the playground of Marramck um elementary school to um provide more accessibility to students that to one student in particular there. Like the principal really did make a lot of changes for one student to be included and to have a really amazing playtime on that playground. So, I thought that was really something to highlight. Um we changed the format of our study skills classes on the middle school level. The principal Jamie Jordan there, Dr. Jordan, she spent a

107lot of time with us going into special education spaces trying to figure out how we can make it best work for students. Um the both the physical space and the academics. Uh as a result of that, our teachers, we have a teacher, three teachers, and then also Kate and myself are going through um executive skills coaching for students who have um some of those executive skills deficits with Dr. Peg Dawson. She's one of my heroes. And so we're taking a course with her so that we can revise our study skills curriculum K through 12. And so that's pretty exciting. Um they also added classroom space at Windown and Clayton High School. We have beautiful classroom in particular at the high school with a lot of windows, tons of windows for our replacement classes. Um, and

108then we also added a a room like a calm-own room at Glen Ridge, which was really amazing because it allows for some of our students with with big feelings to be able to stay in the building no matter what and and get and be able to be with their peers and get their work done. So, that's some of the highlights from that goal. Goal four was to expand that two-way communication with parents. parents in um in this in all areas in all of the goals but in this goal in particular very very important I think in Clayton the parents are extremely involved and really do guide the work that we do to support their students. We have um a lot of our students are very vocal and able to advocate for themselves but our most

109vulnerable students who are not able to use their voices in a traditional way. They have really passionate parents who work with us to make sure that they receive the things that they need. and I personally appreciate that. I've not experienced that anywhere else. Um, so we worked closely with PACED. We co- uh planned um two events with them last year. We also worked with them to figure out what parents need from us for that um fifth to sixth grade transition. So we held in addition to um the the the general transition meeting for parents coming into YOM middle we held an additional meeting just for students um for parents of students with special needs at Yown 2. Wasn't that we also have a podcast I don't think any of you have heard this podcast because

110it it has 15 listeners and my mom I think is like 10 but um I appreciate her. Yeah, it's so it is it takes a village. >> It's called It takes a village. Real. Yeah. Because we Yep. So, but this year we're going big. We are going big. >> Email to everyone. Yes. The families of students invite people. >> We are. We are sending it to everyone. Yes. Yes. And I think the more people we get on there, the more mothers that listen and so like if one of you come on, maybe your mom will listen and be like, "Oh, this is my child." And like So that's that's something to work on for this year. >> Mom. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, looking forward into this school year, um we would like to increase

111of course family participation. We send out um surveys to parents each semester. Um in particular for for the students who um receive services in Clayton um their general experience and then also for their experience at IEP meetings. the feedback from parents really helps us drive um the work that we do as a a as as a partner. And so it's very very important for us to increase um their increase the the amount of parents that fill out those surveys. And so that's one goal that we have for increasing parent and community engagement. We'd also like to unify our progress and specialized u measures for our students. It's a very small demographic of students. Um let me go for the bulk of our students. We have uh we use fastbridge and now we've changed and combined

112so that we don't use fastbridge just for students with IEPs. Um and then the students with IEPs also have to take two other benchmarks for the school district of Clayton. Now they just have to take the school district of Clayton uh benchmarks throughout the school year. And so we're doing that so that our data is on edge of climber like Clayton and um and that we're able to really have data conversations, you know, across districts about students. We're also trying to come up with some ways to track um data on our students who are not in traditional classrooms and and a way to to really monitor their growth um for their social communication skills and then also for their academics. for that we have a cohort like an essential skills cohort um that we are

113working with led on where we're collecting the same data and sharing that data having data team meetings and um coming up with with uh ways to problem solve to better instruct our students all of them but in particular some students who are in our essential skills classes. This is really really important because our parents want to see comparable data for all of our students and I think this will give us the opportunity to do that. Um let's see. And then the next goal is family engagement in uh postsecary readiness. So we have this again is where the podcast is going to come into play. Okay. So we're going to have some new guests on the podcast, but we have a we a lot of our students go to college and we're very lucky for that.

114for our students who might go to different programs um alternative college programs or work programs or um assisted work programs. Um we want to make sure that their parents have all of the options available to them. So really spending some time investigating those options, bringing some of those options to the parents of Clayton and of the school district of Clayton is a big priority for us. Um I think that's all I can. Yeah, I just stopped talking soon. >> Do you have any questions for us? >> I I don't usually talk first, but I'm going to talk first. I just want to commend all of you on this work. It is truly remarkable how far we've come with developing this agreement from where we were a few years ago. Like I see parents nodding in

115the back. Um, I don't know what other districts are doing. I can guess because we used to kind of all use the same template for this agreement. Um, but I truly believe that we are leaders in this work and this is to me a great example. Like this is a real partnership. Everything you're describing like I'm so proud of our Clayton teachers for how they're partnering with you. like the examples you gave about Angie in the math and getting new classrooms and you know all of those examples to me are just such um great examples of how we collaborate and work as one entity not two separate entities not two separate districts like I'm not sure anyone would know in our buildings or in this process who works for special school district and who works

116for the school district of Clayton because it feels like we truly are are one team and um so I just want Uh, thank you all for bringing us to this point and developing this partnership agreement that I really do think is a great example for other districts. And so, thank you all of you and Dr. Mlin and Dr. Moore and you and your staff too. Thank you for your um for what you're doing on your side of this too to collaborate with us because I'm just I'm just so impressed especially knowing where we were a few years ago with this agreement and how hard we worked to get to this point. So, thank you. I don't have any questions. I just had the comment. So I will open it up to everyone. >> Yeah. And

117I'll echo some of the same things. So this is the sixth time I've sixth year in a row that I've heard a presentation from SSD. It's seventh year for Stacy. >> And um last year it was better than the year before. The year before was a rough meeting and previous to that I would say I was too new on the board um to really know any better what it should sound and look like. And at that time a lot of parents some of who are um are sitting in the audience in person here today you know had kind of brought to our attention hey it kind of feels like yeah it's great our kids are getting great services compared to everybody else but there still doesn't feel that great I mean to kind of sum

118you know there was a lot more detail behind that right there was a lot of tough conversations that were happening and um to see how far you've come knowing that there's still you know improvements to be made. And I love that the goals that you have here are now they're smart goals, right? I mean, they're specific, they're measurable, they're actionable. All the things that that we asked for and requested a few years ago is really great. So, um you know, well done and keep up the good work. It's really hard work. Um but these are very very valued students to our school district and to their families and to you guys participating in this work as teachers and administrators. So, so keep keep fighting the good fight there. So, I just have a couple questions.

119Do you feel like we've you guys have heard maybe you have, maybe you haven't. I hope you have. Um, but do you feel like SSD's voice is in the long range facility masters plan that we've been talking about in the last a lot in this last year? Have you guys had the opportunity to participate in any of the workshops at the schools? Um, you know, and do you feel like your voice is represented there? >> Yes. So, I I was able to participate early in the process and I did feel like my voice was heard in there, but I also felt like I did not have to speak. There were several general ed teachers and parents who said a lot of the things that were on my list already. And so, to me, that also

120speaks to the partnership. >> Great. That's wonderful. And then I know last year um there was I remember there being that you guys uh new teachers that were coming in from SSD but were full-time and even some that might have been part-time uh coming to work in the claim school district participated in onboarding for new teachers at the beginning of school year. Did that happen again this year? Um, and are you guys besides the like unique professional development opportunity that um that Angela found on the math program, are you still getting access to all the PD opportunities that our full-time Clayton teachers are getting? >> Yes. >> Shannon actually went through it because she was new to the district, so she was there with us. >> Okay, that's great. We went through it and then

121we're doing um we're working we are going through the same PD. We have the same PD days. we have the same PD opportunities and I really try to make sure that I'm not pulling my teachers out so that they're getting the same PD and and really focusing on the priorities that the school district of Clayton has right now >> and some of our our teachers with special school district even lead the PD opportunities for our school district like it it goes both ways like we're we're both contributing there >> and then my last question is I noticed that the numbers of students we have we We have we have a you know there seems to be 30 to 35 students in each of the elementary schools. That number shrinks in the middle school and then

122it grows again in the high school. Can you speak to why we see that trend and it's been pretty consistent the whole time that I've been here. >> I don't know why that's happening but I I can find out. I can do some digging. I um >> is it just a natural since those are natural kind of that's my question. Is it, you know, it's kind of a natural next stage in adolescence at the end of elementary, at the end of middle school. Do we pull in more >> kids that were not in the middle school into the high school? >> We get a lot of students. So there we get a lot of students coming in from other middle schools to enroll in Clayton High School. That number is very, very large. >> Explain

123that. There was a little bit of um we're getting we're getting parents coming from um Miam too. >> Okay. >> I don't know if you're familiar with Mariam, >> but we have parents coming from Miam um for Clayton >> and we have people coming from uh a couple of the other private schools that work with students with special needs to attend Clayton High School. And we spend we we spend a lot of times with those transitions so that the parents feel comfortable. um coming here, >> right? >> So I do as I'm looking at it too, the other thing is why has three grade levels, the high school's got the four, right? So it's it's not that far off. >> Yeah. Great. Thanks. >> Any other questions or comments? >> I just want to say

124thank you. You know, uh in January of 24 here and as a new superintendent that night was a very long night >> and you guys can remember that night and so um I knew that some things have changed and I'm very thankful to Dr. Mattel Dr. what I saw when I came in and really for the leadership and being able to really buy in with us and to make some key changes and so that the students um felt really what they needed really three pieces from that night which was transitions the other was programming or continuous services and the feeling of fostering inclusion so I'm thankful here those pieces and I just want to say thank you as one of the newer board members who has not seen these years that um like hearing this

125presentation, it is so incredibly clear and to echo what Kim said about like these smart goals. You gave us your four goals from last year, explained how you met them, and then your next your three for next year. And I'm I'm really excited to hear more next year about your first one, the increasing family survey participation, because in my experience, I remember hearing about um the district and the families really wanting to hear more from each other about what was needed and how different families were being met or their needs were being met or not being met. And so, thank you so much for making that a goal. >> Yeah. One more thing and then I will leave and go. But we so the the goals stay the same but we go over these goals

126with our packed with our parent group and there will be additional benchmarks that they will add. We'll get their feedback and they'll add those benchmarks. And then when we're finished with that meeting, Dr. Patel allows for us to present um a similar presentation to the principles and the leaders within the Clayton school school district of Clayton. and there might be some other things added in terms of benchmarks, right? And so I really like that Clayton does that. So these goals don't just stay here. All of the stakeholders get an opportunity to give feedback um and to figure out what their role is in making sure that we reach these goals. And so I think that's unique and really important, too. >> Any other board member questions or comments? Um, I'm just going to echo what

127everyone has already said, which is that this is incredible work that you guys are doing and that we are so appreciative of the time and the effort and the clear um just passion you have for your work. It It's really shining through and I'm we're just so thankful to have you here. Um, and yeah, it's gotten better every year. I mean, this is is my fourth and yeah, this is pretty incredible. So, um I just want to give you a huge um you know, kudos for being the people that you are and doing what you do for our students. Um uh the one thing I'll ask more about is PAC. Um have we seen um better uh more involvement in terms of parent like the numbers etc? Can you talk a little bit more about

128the experience so far? >> I'm not sure. um who came to the pack meetings before, but there are a lot of people that come to the pack meetings. We have snacks. Um and and I think what Megan, who's the pack president, has done she has recruited parents in every single school to be a representative. And then she's also working with other parents. I think I had a conversation with Naja and Michelle about um planning for people to take over their leadership roles when their kids age out. So, they're really planning so that we can have a strong pack for years to come. >> Great. >> I I was previously a part of the pack committee but prior to being on the board. So, I just I'm I know what great work and what um great

129support that is for parents and um I'm so appreciative to all of to both of you to all of you for um making sure that that piece is there. Um uh and what was I going to say specifically? And I remember, you know, prior to being on the board thinking about all those things like shouldn't we do this like PTO where we have one in every all this and it's happening. So, this is extremely cool, right? It's small steps, right? But you're going to make it happen because you're you're committed just like these folks here. And um we are here to support you and whatever you need. So, yay. Um for for our families, I'm very very happy for you. Thank Thank you for doing what you do. Anyone else? Nina, do you have any

130questions or comments about this? >> Good. And I I just wanted to also add despite uh I'm reassured despite what we maybe hear like in the news or whatever that we have the staffing we need for our kids and I appreciate I appreciated you um pointing that out to us. So thank you. >> Thanks again and thank you again Dr. Moore and Dr. Mlin for joining us as well. It's always a pleasure to see you all. So thanks so much. >> Thank you. >> Oh we do need to move. We do have a motion to approve it. I forgot. Um, Chris, if you'd read the motion. I forgot we need to vote on the agreement. >> I move that we approve the special school district partnership agreement. >> Second. >> Okay, it's been moved and

131seconded. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? No. Okay. Motion passes. Great. Thank you so much. >> Yes. You're gonna be here for a little bit. So we have um >> we have four policies uh for first reading um all with Dr. Sberger. Uh first one is policy EB BC lamentation support. >> Yeah. So all all four of the policies that I'm going to talk to you about first tonight um are really the result of either um federal or state law changes. So the first policy which is the EBBC lactation support um that is tied to the pregnant workers fairness act and um we are recommending that we we do review and make these changes. Um Leo actually brought up a really good point. If you look at um on for me it's the

132second page, but it's it's under the part where it says employees um it says the district will not deny employment opportunities or take adverse employment action against an employee who has requested reasonable accommodations. Leo pointed out that that's um imprecise um because we may have to take adverse employment action against somebody. It wouldn't be because they need lactation um support. So, um, his recommendation was maybe we clarify it like because they requested reasonable accommodations. Um, so that's the only thing that I would suggest that we change. Well, earlier it came from Leo. Um, unless you guys have any other questions or thoughts on this one. >> I don't necessarily have a question about the policy. I agree with completely with with Leo's suggestion though, by the way. But um so we obviously have lactation rooms

133in our buildings now. >> We do. And when I was reviewing this policy, that was one of the you'll notice that the word exclusively was was taken out because I reached out to the buildings and I said because I even thought about central office like we don't have a room that's exclusively for that. Um that's right. So that's why we're taking out that word exclusively. We do have places that can be used for it that are not bathrooms that meet all of the parts of the law. We can take that word out. It's not by law. >> Yeah. This was this was already sent on to um MSBA >> and obviously because it is law, it will be included in any new facilities planning. >> Correct. >> Okay. That was my only question. >> Okay.

134Thank you. >> Any other questions for support before we go to the next one? I I thought you wanted me to make the adjustment. >> All right. >> Okay. We can move on to G. >> So >> GB1 part-time and substitute employment. >> Yeah. So this one um they they changed um the state changed the minimum requirements to be a substitute teacher. So really because of sub shortages. Um that being said though, you could potentially have um people who are younger that now would be eligible to be substitute teachers. So one of the things is that if you're under the age of 20, you will not teach in grades 9 through 12. So we're going to add that in. I confirmed with Rachel Benz in HR who um is the one who staffs this that

135she knows this rule and we're we're good here. Um and then the other part is we h we have to we have been doing this for a while offer a survey to any of our substitutes for them to get feedback that's required by DESI and they collect that information. We have already been doing this. It's in our frontline absence management system. So when the substitutes take positions they automatically get that survey. So we've been doing these things but it's just putting it in policy. So since the state decreased the requirements, can we or will we or uh keep our requirements higher than these standards? >> So that's a great questioning and need to decrease. >> So our so to be a substitute teacher, you have to hold a substitute certificate that Destiny gives. So we

136can't change how you would get a substitute certificate. What we have done is um put more things in place to be hired as a substitute teacher in the school district of Clayton. So we started using specific questions with Sparkhire which is like our online video interview. So everybody goes through that process now and submits that any um of the interviews that you know are um maybe people are unsure if they would be the right fit. I review all of those before we move forward with hiring. We're making sure that we have three reference with everybody including their most recent supervisor. um in Missouri they have if they've been substitute teaching or working in any other school districts um by law we have to get a dusty disclosure from that other district that they were not

137dismissed as the result of any sexual misconduct and then obviously um all of our employees including our substitutes are entering into that mock system our Missouri automated criminal history system and that gives us ongoing background checks anytime um somebody who uses our code is arrested so I feel pretty confident that we have a lot of things in place The other thing that we did this year that I would say is was a huge success. I can't take all the credit for it because professional learning did a lot of it, but during back to school time, we allowed all of our we had professional learning specifically for our substitute teachers. So, two of the um instructional coordinators from the elementary school came and facilitated that um with Robin Hog from professional learning. And we had like

138over 40 people that came in the summer and and participated in the half day of professional learning. half of it was like um classroom management and engagement and you know relationships with students and then the other half we had Mike Parkinson do a safety presentation and and officer Riley came too. So it was a I think actually a really great success. So those are some of the strategies that we're using to make sure that we have really safe qualified adults um with our um students. I would not recommend that we make like different requirements there because I I think you could have a substitute certificate and be you know less experienced and still be a great sub in our district. >> Yeah. I don't think we need to change the policy. I was just curious

139if we had other standards. >> We have we have some stuff in place and we have been gradually increasing that because we do see that it's really important. >> Great. >> Any questions on that one? >> Anyone else? Pam. >> Um I think I have two. Uh you just spoke about the option for that the trainings for them is that is not a requirement. >> It it was not a require so they go they all go through onboarding but to attend that was not a requirement. That was the first offering. We did get really great feedback. Um and they're you know all want to know when the next one is. Um so so that's definitely something we would want to continue doing but it's it's not um it's not a requirement. They do go through

140all of our annual compliance training. So all of the training on policy and everything like that they do just like all of our other teachers do. >> So my question was how do we ensure or have assured learning about our emergency procedures like those people who chose to do that do and do they get badges on the days that they are subbing? >> So they don't have the strategics badges on the days that they are subbing. Um that and that was a question that that came up in that I I don't think that's something that we want to do yet. Um, as far as the assured learning, that was some feedback that came out of that day, too, was that it's not the same in every single one of the buildings, like where the folder

141is or where. So, those are things that that I then emailed out to the principles of like, okay, in your buildings, like we need to make sure that it's stationed at the same spot and like this was the feedback that we got that day from the subs. So they are trying to um make sure that it is more streamlined and consistent because that was identified as an area for growth. Yeah. >> Any other questions on this one? >> Okay. GBCB protected staff communications. >> Okay. Um so this one MSBA is recommending to districts um to add the section that's in green on protected communic or protected communications. It's specific to federal programs and so it's really um protection for whistleblowers. Um so we are recommending that we accept their wording unless you have any questions.

142>> Anyone? The only question I have is actually not in the green section. Maybe I know you can help answer it. Under protected communications, that whole sentence seems a little wonky to me. Maybe because I'm not a lawyer, but it says district administrators or supervisors will not prohibit and then blah blah blah blah blah. And then it says unless allowed by law. Why would they allow law allow you to prohibit it? That unless is what hangs me up. Lawyers aren't always great writers, Kim. I mean, I think the the the meaning the meaning is what you suggested that. >> Okay. >> I agree with your interpretation of the sentence. I also agree that it is a very obtuse sentence with >> Yeah. It's like we won't prohibit it unless it's allowed by law. I don't

143understand like >> what what that means. You'd have to go dig up, well, this language was presumably descended from some statute X years ago and somebody interpreted in that way and you could try and figure out what they were doing with it. It is not a model of great draft. >> Okay. >> Agree with that. >> But it doesn't that's not in conflict as far as what you see. >> No allowed by law. >> I don't see it as incoherent. I just see it as awkward. We can agree on that. >> Anything else on this one? >> Nope. >> Okay. Uh IC2 academic calendar. >> Um so this one is because we are in St. Louis County, we are supposed to take this updated version of it that it basically is because in 2627 there's

144going to be a our calendar has to have a minimum of 169 student attendance days. Before it was just based on 144 hours. I think because some school districts were starting to move to those four day weeks, they wanted to have um a minimum number of days or you had to take it to the voters. So that's what it's about. Um I will say we are already um protected against this because we build 173 days in our um our calendar. So we already have over the 169, but we're just aligning um our policy with state statute. >> Good. Any questions on that one? >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. I'm gonna take a break and then I'll see you again in a little bit. >> Okay. Now we have some um second readings. Um

145so first policy EGAA copyright compliance. You'd like you want to read that motion? >> Yeah, we do. I got Mine was just out of order. >> Do you want to go ahead and read the motion, Chris, and then we'll see if we have questions? >> I move that the board adopt policy EGAA copyright compliance with proposed changes. >> Second. >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Does anyone have any questions on this for Dr. Gargano? Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Any Um, all those in favor? >> I I Any opposed? >> No. Okay, that motion passes. Now we have the second reading for policy IGBI, homeschooling. >> I move that the board adopt policy IGBI, homeschooling, with proposed changes. >> Second. >> Okay, that's been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments on this

146one >> as it's proposed? No. Okay. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay. No. Motion passes. IGCD virtual courses. I move that the board adopt policy IGCD virtual courses with proposed changes. >> Second. >> That's been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments on this? Okay. All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? >> No. Okay. Motion passes. So, IGCDA full-time mocap virtual courses. I move that the board adopt policy IGCDA fulltime mocap virtual courses with proposed changes. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments on this one? Okay. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay. Motion passes. ILA test integrity and security. I move that the board adopt policy ILA test integrity and security with proposed changes. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any questions or

147comments on this one? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Okay, that motion passes. Okay. Policy IND ceremonies and observances. I move that the board adopt policy ind ceremonies and observances with proposed changes. >> Second. Okay. Any questions or comments? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay. Motion passes. Um, IGAA, resident participant student involvement in activities and groups. I move that the board adopt policy IGAA, resident participant student involvement in activities and groups with proposed changes. >> Second. >> Okay, this one's been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments for Dr. P on this one? >> No, except that the title says activities and events. Does it matter? >> Um, when you read the motion, the second >> maybe just read the motion again. >> Or do we need to It's been seconded.

148What do you think, Leo or Felicia, that we do? probably we >> moved to move to amend it to conform to the title I guess or something. >> Yeah, I mean it's probably >> I'm sorry I brought it. >> No, no, you're No, but you're right. Um Chris, why don't you just move to amend >> the motion >> to read as events, not groups? I move that we amend the motion to read as uh events and not groups. >> Yes. >> Second. Okay. All those in favor. >> Any oppose? >> Okay. So, we amend it. >> Now, we need to vote on now we need to read it >> right the right way. >> Yes. I move the that the board adopt policy IGDA resident participant student involvement in this is where I say >>

149activities and events. >> Yeah. Activities and events with proposed changes. Okay. >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> No. Okay. Motion passes. And now we have a third reading of GBCB staff conduct. I move that the board adopt policy GBCB staff conduct with proposed changes. >> Okay, >> it's been moved and seconded. Oh, >> it's been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments on this? >> I was just going to ask we we removed the the staff conflicts language. Is the intention to to do a more holistic revision of that and bring it back later or where we stand? Yes, that's exactly um the intention. So, I'm going to go to the coordinators council meeting where all of the coordinators are at and kind of see what what does tutoring private

150lessons look like in the different departments. What are like what's the kind of the current reality so that we can get more of an understanding of what's going on and then use that input to make an informed decision of what we think would be best for the district as a whole. So rather than just kind of unilaterally making the decision, we want to kind of see what's actually going on and and try to do something that's in the best interest of everyone involved, including our students, obviously. >> Yeah, >> makes sense to me. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Yes, I have a Yeah, sorry. Second paragraph. Paramount in the district's ability on the first line. I believe it should say paramount to the district's ability. >> The first line. >> Yeah. I So

151the public trust and educators is paramount to the district's >> ability. >> Yeah. That part was copy and pasted from our old but if if everybody wants to change it, we can do paramount. dramatical. >> Um third paragraph, the second um where it says um that it is important that all education employees exhibit good judgment and conduct both on and off duty. This second sentence to me feels like an aspiration and not a fact. Such good judgment and conduct will result in a culture of trust and safety. So I would recommend that we just take out that whole sentence or we say something like the hope is >> so I would >> fosters >> we hope it will foster a culture. >> So I don't think we need that but if if you like it

152we could reward it like that. >> So I'd recommend we just take it out unless someone wants the idea and then we can speak to it as an aspiration. >> I'm fine taking it out. Okay. >> All right. Take it up. >> And then we have that one sentence left that you can easily move up to the paragraph above. I'm happy to >> So the the it is important will go to the one before the paragraph before >> um to the I had suggested as the third sentence. It just makes sense when you read it through that way. Can't take the high school teacher out of me. Sorry. Okay. >> So that it would become it would be before the district has the utmost duty. >> That's where you could move. What I would >>

153you're you're suggesting we move. It is important that all education employees exhibit good judgment and conduct both on and off duty. And where >> and put that after public's one, two, three, the third line of the second paragraph. So put it after support and cooperation and before the district has the duty. Okay. Um, we I see we've lost Oxford commas in this one. Just wanted to point that out. >> Yeah, don't remind us. >> Um, oh, number Okay, go down the number eight. Um, it says like it will be protected by law. that is repeated in number eight and nine but it's all of this is already said it already says to the like unless as protected by law so I don't know why we have to repeat it in eight and nine what it

154already said it above >> I think we added it in the first reading I think we added that in a lot of places because we felt like some of these were trying to prevent some of the freedom of speech but we wanted to be clear that they still had freedom of speech speech. So, it was like almost we were adding it as like a disclaimer in places if I recall that correctly from that first meeting. >> Yeah, that's fine. >> Okay, >> that's it. Those are my questions. >> So, if if we're all agree with those few small changes that Pam suggested, can we can just approve it approve the policy tonight too though, right? Like with the proposed changes because I don't want to bring us back. Okay. Do we need a new motion?

155>> So now I have the proposed changes. I'm I'm going to have to >> these are the proposed changes. So I'll fix them and that's what we're approving. >> So can I can >> Can someone just move that we pass the policy as amended? >> Right. >> Perfect. >> You say second this time. >> There you go. We switch. >> Okay. All right. All those in favor >> I >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Motion passes. Thank you >> for the suggestions, Pam. And thank you, Dr. Sber. Okay. Now, um we're moving on to actually voting on the property tax rate that we discussed in the tax hearing earlier. Um if Chris, you could read that motion, please. I move that we approve property tax rates as follows. 3.5 Three. Wow. Okay. Three. Do it has

156to go all four of these numbers. That's amazing. That's why I don't do uh treasurer or those $3. >> Yes, I do. That's that's it. It all those all four of them. Jason Yeah. Yes. Totally part of the motion. All of this is very important in the motion. Sorry. Sorry. Okay. Um $3. And how do you say that? >> Thank you. 35039 per $100 assessed valuation for residential real estate which includes 0.5110 debt service levy. $4.4 4427 per 100 assessed valuation for commercial real estate which includes 0.5110 debt service levy plus.13000 recoupent levy 4.4447 per 100 assessed valuation for personal property which includes 0.5110 debt service levy. >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments that we talked about it earlier? Okay. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? No. Okay.

157Motion passes. And um next we'll be moving to approve the CRSWC um budget which we all were reviewed and discussed at the last board meeting. Will you read that motion please? I move that we approve the CRSWC budget for the year beginning a October 1, 2025. >> Okay, that's been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments on the budget? No. All those in favor? Any opposed? No. Okay, that motion passes. Consent agenda. Chris, if you'll read that motion, please. >> I move that the board approve consent agenda items 9.1 through 9.12. Um, any questions or comments on any consent agenda items? All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes. Um, and now we're moving to board communications. Um, I think a few of us have had some committee meetings. Chris maybe had a couple. I

158did. I had two on the same night um SSD governing council as well as um uh my first of the year meeting of the health and seal and wellness committee is what it's called. Um so I'll I'll start with that one. We had Mike CBI, is that how you say his name? >> CB. He um that was his first meeting that he did for us as in that role and um it was fantastic meeting. I called Nisha right away afterwards to say I really wanted to talk about how great this meeting was um because Mike has done a great job of looking back at what we've done prior to this in terms of our assessment for our health and wellness and what we offer here in terms of resources and services etc. Um and realize

159that we're really overdue for another assessment on that and you know he He engaged the committee in such a way that um all of us you know he gave us the option would you like the district to um work on this you know assessment and what it should look like and making sure this gets done or would you as a committee like to be involved and everyone was yes we all want to be involved and it made perfect sense for everyone at that table um to be part of you know a group that looks at what you know what assessment tool we're going to use this year and then making sure that um that is a very streamlined, efficient process across all of the different disciplines that were in that committee. You know, food services,

160social work, counseling, um all of them. Um >> nursing, >> uh nursing, thank you. A big one. Um so anyway, uh we have the fitness director from, you know, the center. So anyway, it all of these experts in this area um are going to be really vital in making sure we have a great assessment and I'm really happy that Mike has taken on this initiative and we've all committed to making sure that we get this assessment in front of us by April. So us as a board will get to hear um all the great work that is already happening, but we don't get to hear about it enough, especially if we haven't done an assessment um recently in a you know timely way. So, I'm excited for us to get to hear um um about

161that work by the end of the year. Um SSD governing council was very basic. It was basically an introduction for all the new um council members, which I'm not. So, it was a you know, here's what SSD governing council is. Here's why we have it. Here, how it's here's how it's different than SSD um board of education, um etc. So, not a lot of meat there, but um just a general first meeting of the of the year. Dr. Mlin and Shakita Moore were there as usual. And um they're doing amazing. I I I give I want to give them again more props for continuing to fight the good fight and what they have to do in order to write the ship. Um they continue the numbers that they show at every single meeting, you know,

162are continuing to improve and faster than they even thought. So, um I'm, you know, pleased to be able to report that. They're doing a great job. >> Um, before we move on to the next committee reports, I apologize. I, um, skipped over I I didn't see that. I wanted to announce some donations that we received in the consent agenda items. Um, I wanted to thank um, Jay Douglas and Gail Workman for their donation of $2,000 to the Globe, the Jewish Federation of St. Louis for their donation of $250 to the CHS debate team. DAFF Giving 360 for their donation of $500 to CHS soccer and also thank Big River Running Company for their donation of $700 to CHS track. So, we thank all of them for their generous donations to the district. >> Gail Workman

163was my 10th grade English teacher. >> Oh, that's great. >> Um Ben, I think you had a couple meetings. >> Uh I had just one meeting. Um so I joined uh the tech study committee which was awesome. Uh Luke and Melena uh led that efforts at Glenidge in the library. >> Very engaged group was really awesome. You would not believe how much tech is being used in our schools. It's incredible. I mean like the amount the number of platforms and titles and uh you know electronic devices in the classrooms that that assist uh and what the teachers do and um you know it was really kind of structured around the empowered learning uh framework um and um sort of this is a tech study that's happened before so it's kind of a cyclical thing um

164you know some of the key elements and we'll we'll hear about this more like for example in spring the spring there'll be a recommendation around uh devices um but I think the the work of this will will also uh branch out into some different subcommittees uh so AI is going to be a huge topic obviously it's uh front and center for everyone these days uh and kind of looking at AI how it's how it's used today what are some you know kind of best practices uh there's also looking at some of the governing bodies around this kind of work like IST and others that provide a lot of good guidelines uh for this this kind of thing. Um and yeah, and there'll be other things like infrastructure, but really I think AI and the devices

165are really kind of the big goals for this year. So I it's been great. I'm excited to be part of it and uh it was really really a lot of fun. >> Great. Um Pam, you had some meetings. >> Let's start with the equity committee. Um so the equity committee was formed five years ago and so Cameron we Cameron has just completed the first five years and so he reviewed what has happened in these five years and set up goals for the next one to five. Um and so just for all of us to hear that in the last five years there has been an expansion of affinity spaces at K12 for our district expansion of cultural celebrations. They have done the equity walkthroughs which led to building improvement plans for each of the principles

166building principles um using the implementation of datadriven platforms like educ and the MTSS system. So that was very exciting. Um he discussed kind of the the new district initiatives now. Um and there are four of them two of them I think. Yes. Um, one is the Clayton Cares Community Series. Um, they will be focusing on issues of anti-semitism, LGBTQ plus, African-American, and Asian cultures, I believe. Okay. Um, then he also spoke about the No Place for Hate curriculum that is coming to or has come to our district and they really gave some time to these intercultural dialogue groups that we're now having at Widown and the high high school that include students from many or all cultural I'll say many cultural backgrounds and the intention of this work is to maybe transition our focus of

167teacher to student to also add student to student and help students learn how to communicate with each other about their differences and I thought that that was really there was a lot of emotion in the room when we talked about that so that's equity committee. Um the second one for me was the Clayton Education Foundation. Um which Nisha had updated us about. Um but they basically made some bylaws changes. They voted in two I think new members. Um discussed homecoming and the rock and roll bingo that is coming up November 1st as a fundraiser or soccer. That's it. Great. Any other committee meetings anybody had? Pam mentioned this, but I was going to mention and thank Dr. P for um organizing and creating the Clayton Cares community um speaker series events um as as Pam

168said that highlight the Jewish, African-American, Asian, Asian, and LGBTQ communities. And I assume I guess there'll be maybe one a quarter or some I think that's how it turned out. and that the first event that's um in partnership with the Jewish community is coming up on October 9th and it's been publicized on social media and on the website and I know the district has reserved a block of tickets for Clayton staff and families and community members um for free. So um if you're interested in going everyone can go to the website and register for that. So thank you Dr. ful for um I think this whole year all these events for the Clayton Cares community community speaker event series um will be great. So um thank you for for setting that up >> and for

169that event that you just mentioned as of today 71 people have >> and there's a block of 100 >> there's a block of 100 >> to attend please >> and I've gotten a lot of positive feedback about that as well so um so thank you Dr. P. >> I'm attending so I look forward to it. Um and um with that I think we can >> um I should also mention or maybe we should mention that we're also been visiting the PTO's to talk about to answer any questions or to you know give any feedback or get any feedback from the attendees there about our facilities planning and um all the things that we talked about here tonight. So I was at Marramac >> Leo and I went to Glenidge today was great and I know

170he's been to high school and will be attending like all the PTO meetings for the next >> handful of months. So, thank you. Now we can >> I move that the board of education adjourn. All those in favor.