02/10/2021 Board of Education Meeting

001you can start the live stream and tell us when we're ready to go um yeah we should be good okay all right well welcome everybody um adequate notice has been given and we are going to call the meeting to order as always we uh will start our meeting with a pledge of allegiance to the what's become the famous flag in the back of Sea's background there so we're going to do the pledge to start I pledge allegiance to the flag flag of the of the United States of America and to the it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty Justice for All alrighty well um today we have a h special treat um we have representative Ian Mackey and state Senator Brian William Willams um to start so welcome to you both I'm going

002to hand it over to uh Gary Pearson who's going to Tee It Up Gary thank you all and I appreciate everybody being here and I know that our representatives are still down in Jeff City working hard and having a long day so we appreciate you checking in with us um and for the flexibility of Shifting things around on the agenda with everyone else to be able to talk about this um so I'm just going to give a really brief introduction to a topic that we wanted to get their input on um for the last 5 years or so while uh I've been on the board of education one of the things that I've really enjoyed is being able to hear from people that were involved in the legislative uh process and who were invested in

003that from around our our region and our County talk about things that were going on in Jefferson City and it's been really educational and i' I've learned a lot and watch different things get proposed in in various bills and watch how the process happens and how issues that are important to all of us as people who care about education sort of surface and and get um discussed and um you know debated and you know analyzed in in the public forum so um this year is no different there's a lot of issues that have have surfaced it is a little bit of an accelerated process in my mind and that some of the things have come to some of the issues that we've seen that have been brought up during the legislative sessions they've come out

004early this year and there's a there's a bill that's pending um Senate Bill 55 that has a lot of issues that potentially um affect public education not only in our district but across the state and so we just um very much looking forward to getting some input on this I'm just going to give a really quick uh summary of some of the issues that are are raised in that there are um a number of different bills and and ideas that got sort of combined into this but among the most important at least in my mind are um a few different topics number one um you know an issue of school board member recall that might not be um as important to to some people as as it is to those of on on us on

005this call but there's a process that's been proposed where people like us could be recalled and um so that's an interesting U idea that's come up there and and and been put forward um I'll I'll leave it to you all to decide whether that's a good good thing or a bad thing but that's that's that's one of the issues another important concept is uh charter school expansion we currently in Missouri have Charter Schools only in some pretty limited areas of the state this would expand that quite a bit um you know and additional 61 districts I think is kind of How It's been um estimated and and plus other cities of a certain size would all be um the possibility of charter schools would would come come into play there's also a a a concept

006of of vouchers or a sort of an educational scholarship account type type of a of a concept where people who um paid you for private school education would get eligibility for a certain type of tax credit um and be able to to apply for that that there's there are a number of other issues in there too virtual education and um you know some sports participation in in Misha sponsored activities and things like that but these are some of the concepts that have been put out there in the most important ideas and I think it would just be great to have our Representatives give us their take on these things what's happening in the legislature on these issues and and where things stand and give us their their input about what the importance of these things

007are so again thank you for being with us and I'll I'll turn it over to you all and and and let you take it from there okay I guess I'll start first I want to say uh good evening um it's really good to see all of you you know um a lot of you I'm proud to call friends and you've been doing U not only just very difficult work this year but but exceptional work keeping our children and safe in Clayton school district and ensuring that they're getting as quality of an education as they can um I also want to recognize um superintendent um daughter you've done a tremendous job I'm proud to call you a friend and you've been someone that's been a tremendous leader uh not only in the school Jersey but someone

008that's also been an effective Communicator with myself in terms of keeping a breast of what's Happening Here in Jefferson City and throughout the legislature um Senate Bill 55 um it can come to the senate floor um I mean perhaps as as soon as next week um it's a bill that that combines several pieces of legislation and now has three major components um and stated before to take tax dollars away from public schools through a voucher scheme um it would expand Charter Schools without accountability a local oversight it would also limit local control on virtual education um Senate Bill 55 would also create a voucher system in the state um the fiscal note starts at a $100 million a year with annual increases now that's $100 million that would not be available for public schools in

009districts like Clayton each year forever um the bill also uh does not use the term voucher because our Constitution prohibits that so instead they call it empower empowerment scholarship accounts but the end result is the same less money for our Public Schools less money for roads less money for the things that your community need so U for example um Missouri school transportation program is already underfunded as we know uh the only reason school buses run on time in Clayton is because your local taxpayers have stepped up to pay for a system that works if $100 million is taken out of that state budget because of school vouchers then it would be your local taxpayers that would be asked to step up again and close the gap so this voucher um is is bad for students

010it's bad for schools and and it's bad for your wallets um another piece is um expanding Charter Schools without accountability of local control uh right now our region already has Charter Schools um Charter Schools were the magical solution to all of our education problems remember um St Louis would be in a great shape but what we do know is that charter schools are not a magical solution in fact more than 40% of our charter schools have failed despite the high rate of failure um Senate Bill 55 would expand this failed model to any City uh with a population over 30,000 people so this means that it would apply to Clayton School District uh once again um it's it's clearly an attack on your local money um this is a group of people in Jefferson City

011telling you that the voters and school leaders of Clayton that you have to give a portion of our local funding to a charter school even though you would not have any input on where that money goes or how it's spent you know um I think that decisions about charter school should not be made by uh parents and leaders um I'm sorry um decisions about charter school should be made by parents and leaders in the communities that want them and not politicians back here in Jeff City so you know that that's something that we really need to keep in mind uh it also would limit local control on virtual education and uh finally Senate Bill 55 would undermine that local control um you know the pandemic has opened everyone's eyes to the benefits and setbacks of

012virtual learning um in my opinion right now if a student uh in your district is enrolled in Virtual learning they're still counted as a student in Clayton School District so you'll receive x amount of funding for that student but you're also held accountable for their success but Senate Bill 55 remove that student from your enrollment count and the state would pay someone else money for that student virtual education so l accountability at twice the cost so uh once again I I just you know I I think this could potentially be bad for students bad for schools um and bad for your wallet and and I I'll end on this you know there's there's a lot to be concerned about in this legislation and and I don't know when it will come to the senate floor

013uh but it could be as soon as next week and and there may be changes uh some to improve it um there could be some to make it worse but it's also difficult at this point um in the process to really predict it so you know Missouri's teachers their students um their families I truly believe are the Bedrock of of which our shared futur built and um they are my priorities um because they're yours and and I continue to be honored and and humbled by the opportunity to be your voice in the state senate so again I want to thank the Board of Education uh for opportunity to speak tonight and and I'm I'm truly grateful for all of your service thank you Senator um and I will pick up uh where Senator Williams just

014left off in terms of charter schools um I I completely Echo the sentiment that uh it should be up to local communities and not Jefferson City uh to determine where charter schools go um I am not someone who views this uh debate as pro-charter school or anti- charter school as as a you know Charter if you're for Charter Schools you're against public ad if you're for public ad you're against Charter Schools I don't view it that way I don't think very many of folks that I talk to who are public school advocates view it that way um but certainly if a community is going to uh if a if a charter school is going to uh uh pop up in a community it's going to be because that Community wants it um if I have

015anything to say about it um it's not going to be because Jefferson City dictates it um on the house side we have a number of bills we do we do have the uh tax credit education uh empowerment account bills we also have a handful of bills um that we heard in the education committee this week um that are raising a lot of eyebrows um in terms of folks who are looking for some sort of compromise ground um the speaker the new speaker this year Rob vovo um spent the bulk of his introduction address um making it clear that school choice was his priority it is it is his top priority it is something he believes strongly about um there are 48 Democrats in the state house um this is about as bipartisan an issue as

016it gets because we've got a lot of pro-public school uh Republican legislators from rural areas and also um despite some significant events nationally we actually have a pretty decent bipartisan Spirit uh taking hold here um particularly with the speaker and so we got a lot of folks collaborating and working together which doesn't always always happen um and I say that because um I see myself in the position of not necessarily towing a line to vote no on a bill that I might be ideologically opposed to 60% of but in a position to try to make bad bills better as best I can uh my position is very different in the house than Senator Williams I have such little weight and control and power as a member of a super minority Party in the House of

017Representatives and so any amendment that I can add to a bill and anything um that I can get done in committee work to improve a product um can look like support for something that folks who sent me to Jefferson City might take issue with um but is something that I always do to try to make a bad Bill better so some of the bills we heard were um open enrollment bills those were two big issues that we saw um that had a lot of folks who were traditionally Pro public education taking a hard look at whether or not this is something um we might consider in the state of Missouri um we all I think all of us here anyway the Democratic colleagues I speak to here know that there has got to be that

018that some reform has got to take shape that something has got to be done about schools that have perpetually been unaccredited for decades or more um and or provisionally accredited and so um you 44 states have some sort of open enrollment system for public schools um and that's certainly something that we're looking at um the final package is far from crafted but it's a conversation I would love to have uh we can you know briefly talk about it here but I would love to individually have in-depth conversations with each and every one of you who are I assume are interested in that topic um would love to really dive into the bill language with each of you um and talk about it um and the same goes for um the accreditation Bill uh that we

019heard that would set up a bell curve accreditation system um and we can talk about it in the context generally of is this good for public education which is an important discussion and we should also talk about it is is this good for Clayton um and the same conversation I have with University City Maplewood Richmond Heights brenwood Leo the other districts that are in in my district and Brian's got a ton more um you know we also have to think about it in terms of is this good for our local districts what does this mean for us what is what and so um those are two sometimes very different uh uh sets of analyses and so um I don't think we'll dive into the Weeds on that here I think maybe some questions will'll spur

020some of that but I would love to have individualized conversations um with each of you um sort of about the specifics around those um so that's all I'll say for now um but look forward to the conversation well I appreciate you both uh you know talking about this and I'll I'll jump in since this was um something that I was was really excited to to talk to both of you about and then let my uh my fellow board members um ask questions as well I mean um want I really appreciate you both like giving some insight into the process and including things like you know amendments and things like that and where um things can sometimes um not look as uh you know they things things they get muddy for those of us that don't

021follow the legislative process um from start to finish um but really appreciate your your insights into it one of the questions that I have is um you know we we as you know the Clayton school district and the Board of Education we're we're constantly thinking about students in our district we're also thinking about how we uh we fit into the region and how we can cooperate and and and work with the the folks around us and I'd love to get your insights into um how um these kinds of things that are in this bill and the other you know things that are potentially out there affect that that balance and how um things like we're seeing in St Louis city and the rest of St Louis County and things like that how how does it

022fit into the greater and the larger landscape and and what we're seeing in in public education right now so yeah Gary that's a great question you know when you think about one and and and representative Macky you know he did touch on some really important parts of this um clearly it has to be a discussion we have to figure out uh what the future of these bills is going to look like and that's going to require um you know several several hours and and and days of debate but you know it's it's it's about accountability for me and it's so important that we really focus on making sure that um parents and and teachers and and folks who who educate children every single day are at the table when we make these decisions pertaining to

023uh education and that's how I feel about it um you know we we recognize that we do have struggling schools and in my Senate District I have 11 public school districts including Clayton uh but but also districts like Normandy and and Ferguson Flor and Hazelwood uh Jennings riview Gardens and those school districts uh as well cannot afford to take a roughly $100 million of funding um decrease so if we're going to do uh Charter Schools I don't think they should be at the expense of of roughly uh defunding uh public education sure yeah absolutely no I I completely agree um and that's sort of you know my District's much smaller and um very different um uh set of Dynamics um in terms of districts and uh and their history and their funding mechanisms and their

024per student spending and etc etc etc so um again the two different scenarios of what's good for my district versus what's good for the region versus what's good for public education as a whole in the state um like Brian said require so much work um to to flush out um because they definitely do take Divergent paths um and so that's something that we have to think through and work through um particularly around um certainly with Charters but C you know probably more so around conversations around open enrollment um and and things like that and the accreditation curve and other and other sorts of things that maybe won't see the light of day in the Senate well maybe we'll maybe we'll fly through the house in week three and sit and die over in the Senate

025because you know that they do their own thing over there as Brian will attest to and and they really have much more control and say over what's public policy at the end of the day so um but in terms of the conversations and the work I'm doing in the house that's where that's where my effort has been so far awesome thank you go ahead Jason that's fine go ahead you go next if you want I'm gon start calling on people okay all right um hey guys Ian Brian how are you guys man I appreciate you guys coming out tonight and uh talk about this is important um I'm just I'm thinking about the counter argument in this also which is you know we have a in St Louis city we have a plethora of charter

026schools and it hasn't it hasn't necessarily affected the sing Public School System um where it's put them out of business the the issue I think is is that you know we thought that Public Schools weren't you know the way it was funded and the way we had Public School in the city wasn't good for our children so they put charter schools in there um and we still have the same issues we've had before I guess my question is is what what do you think is going to happen if they have it in the county if they have it in a school in a district like ours and Clayton that we have a Char School option like what do you think's going to happen yeah well I mean Jason you pretty much uh answered the question

027I mean we've seen um in the city where there there's charter schools and we have not seen a different outcome you know and I don't think the conversation is about you know whether you prefer Charter Schools or not this is about how do we sustain public education how do we ensure that public education is getting the adequate funding for U the majority of students uh in the state who who who use it as a primary source of Education are are getting the best tools possible and you know it's it's not a cookie you know cutter fix but I I would argue that um we we've seen the same result I I don't think St Louis Public Schools have gotten any better uh at the expense of of charter schools and and like you said I

028think that I don't think that the children have been educated any better who have chosen to go to those charter schools so you know I think the conversation needs to to to switch more to how do we fund an already existing system and how do we make sure any new system is accountable for students and it's and it's um responsible for providing them adequate and and the best education possible yeah to this question Brian do we have any um like data on chartered schools in districts where they're with social economically um it's much better where the zip codes are doing much better do we have any uh research on that I mean I'm sure my office can provide that I don't have it on hand Jason but I I will tell you this um you

029know I I've I've evaluated and I've seen St Louis Public Schools and I mean they're decreasing the city is decreasing in population they're closing schools um clearly um folks are not um keeping their their their children in public schools um they're not even keeping their kids in school School in the city of St Louis so you know it's that's that's that's where I think the focus needs to be why why are folks sending their children to either other schools outside of the city of St Louis and and how come there has not been an improvement um and the quality of education for students um who have had an opportunity to attend a charter school that was a good point yeah I'm on the same page as you I think what I'm thinking is more more

030broading coming in Back to the point which is you know St Louis city has been uh disinvested for years like that's that's the main point so when we talk about equality there's no true uh uh equality in education across the board and and so it's interesting to have this conversation about having charter schools in the county when the conversation wasn't quite the same when we had in the city and now that and now that they're proposing it one could actually argue you know not not saying I'm for against this or not I'm saying but one could argue that competition is good right I think some of our um people I know have argued that competition is good uh so having another alternative in the school district for kids who might not um bod well for

031going to school in Clayton for example or W grow it could be a good alternative stay in their school district but um not necessarily say that school that's you know that the Clayton we grow school district for example and go to a charge school so it's just interesting because just there's no equality it didn't work in the city it's it's only been worse you know we we've uh defunded more of the public school money's being spread all around now uh it's a biome game and so but my question is I wonder how would it look in the County I know because the county is different it's got more money it's got more Revenue so I just want to know have you thought thought about how it would look and then yeah what's the what's the

032counter to all this yeah Jason and and I'm and I understand exactly what you're saying so um for example in in my Senate District um there will be um a charter school in St Louis County and it it actually would be a Normandy School District and uh it it would be the first in St Louis County it would be the first uh in in that part of the region and um you know it's it's been very controversial because it's a lot of folks that are very fearful that um this Charter School within the next five years would would ultimately derail uh Normandy School District as a whole and you know whether that's that's true or not um competition is is definitely good but but competition uh in a situation where there's there's already already a

033struggling and and and uh underfunded uh School District I don't I don't think that school district has a Fighting Chance whether it's a weak opponent or not so that's my point you know so I I you know when I look at this I and as in uh stated uh we have very uh unique districts and and and I look at it as you stated from an equity lens and and I sit down and I and I talk frequently with superintendant um shaa tell you not only do I make myself available but I I I take the initiative to call him and say hey what's going on and how things are are happening in Clayton and I do that with 11 other superintendents and and I hear firsthand what their challenges are and to think that

034um we would look to add additional education opportunities when we have children in North St Louis County that don't have access to broadband that don't have uh um education environments that that allow them to be able to come to school and and be in a healthy uh mindset you know so it's so many challenges and disparities and that's before we even start talking about mental health and behavior health that are already impacting these children and and I don't know how we make a transition to uh alternative education as in terms of a charter school and and and still haven't figured out how to uh ensure that the current education system is doing well in the process so but I guess my question one last one last question is how would it work in a so

035this is Normandy you're talking about yeah and what to see we're talking about in a district where it's got revenue where it's AO a Clayton a Webster Rose a map height like that a Parkway like how would it play out there is the question because we're we're we're fearful of charter schools because what we know is happening in the city schools but I think or or the or districts where they're um disenfranchised already so economically it's depleted of resources but the question is is that fear getting in the way of charter schools become you know being available in districts like ours where there is where are F of resources yeah and and and and and Jason I I hear you I and I know exactly what you said I don't want to cut you off

036because I do have to jump off here shortly but um you know if I if we can govern by a line item um it my job would be so much easier if I could vote on issues and and It Be by line item um I I guarantee you our state would be in a better place but we can't and and I I have to vote and make decisions uh that that impact the entire State and and unfortunately I I can't craft policies or support legislation that's just um that's particular to Clayton School District or or another school district on another side of the State uh we have to take a a a look at the entire State and look really at at um school districts throughout the entire region and and and even school districts

037that that may not just directly impact people that I represent in my district but can be detrimental to some other part of the state um if you go to Southeast Missouri that's the one of the poorest regions uh in the state um they they have a poverty level that exceeds uh any part of the St Louis region and and and they they have to go through the same challenges that we see in North St Louis and North St Louis County and we have to figure out what's going to be the best option for Education there um so you know I understand what you're saying yes it could possibly be a great alternative for Clayton but but would it be um the worst decision we've ever made when it comes to Normandy or some other school

038district and right now I I I have to look at what I think it's going to be best for the greater good than um than the than the sufficient View yeah no thank you man I just wanted you to be able to explain that because I think some people would argue that point that I was trying that was just you know explaining but that's that's what I want I want that to be heard because it is a problem um it's area not just in St Louis city or St Louis in general but there's also in in the rural areas kind of suffering and this is why this is why it could be a disservice to uh to the districts so yeah and I'll tell you this also you know keep in mind one of the

039one of the uh biggest issues that inspired me to go into public service was was um education reform but it was more in the in the sense of uh not only challenging our students but making sure that we hold our our Educators and teachers accountable as well and that cannot be left out the conversation either as As Leaders we have to make sure we have quality teachers in in every school district and teachers are are being evaluated just like we evaluate our students and you know that's something I think think needs to be a conversation moving forward as well so I want to make sure I get some other voices in here so sorry sorry for taking over the conversation no no no that's okay I just I just want to make sure other board

040members if they have questions so Stacy you got any questions I do thank you thank you Brian and Ian so much for joining our meeting that this is so beneficial to us um I just can't help but think how much good that $100 million a year could do elsewhere when you mentioned that number um it kind of shocked me and uh I made some notes prior to talking to you and I put equity in huge letters so I was glad Brian you brought that up because I think there's so much about this that is inequitable for our region and for our schools and um so thank you for touching on that too and I just I can't help but think that not just us as board members or whoever's watching as parent whether you have

041kids in our school district or not but I just think being taxpayers and um members of the community we need to pay attention to this because of where they're wanting to divert our tax dollars so I would just encourage everybody to contact Brian Ian or or anyone else um involved in our politics to tell them how you feel so they can Advocate on behalf of all of us um I did I did also have a question that um why do you think this could be Brian or Ian I guess Brian um what does it mean to you or what does it tell you that this came up so early in the legislative session earlier than normal I should say it's a it's a priority for uh many of our members in the Senate and uh

042something they really want to get done well well it early well it does but you know it's kind of a unique situation I mean full disclosure but also in respect to my colleague who is um currently dealing with some health issues uh she was to build sponsor and at the moment she's dealing with a personal health issues which has delayed the process so that's why when I stated earlier it can happen uh this bill can come up any any week now depending on uh when she returns back to Jefferson City because she's currently dealing with personal health issues um so you know it it's it's it's a little bit unclear for us now in the Senate but it it is a priority for many of our members yeah got it I um I just wanted

043to also say and Jason kind of touched on this talking about Clayton specifically but I think very often as a as a school board and as a community you know we are in such a privileged School District so we tend to maybe not pay as close attention to some of these bills as we should this one we all need to be paying attention to because um it will and affect Clayton and and the region and we need to care about our neighbors as well so I just want to encourage I attended our last um legislative advocacy group meeting uh Gary did too and Sean's always on those calls too I would encourage the rest of the board to get on the next meeting too it's February 19th um I learned a lot it was the

044first time I ever attended one and I think it was a great idea that this year we opened it up to the whole board um I kind of got the feeling on that call that the other districts I think it's Webster Groves Kirkwood and US city is that it or there more in our group um I kind of got the idea that they just seemed as boards more organized they had as groups maybe done more um advocacy work as a whole than I felt like we had done and I I just would love for us to become leaders in this advocacy work like they have so hopefully you guys can all come to the next meeting too I was actually sorry I hadn't started attending sooner because I really did learn a lot about this

045so I just want to encourage everybody to educate yourselves and the community to educate themselves and and contact Brian Ian and anyone else um if you feel strongly about this so they can tell their colleagues that they've heard from all their constituents and that's how we feel so thank you again so much for coming and and Ian I just got your survey in the mails and he asked questions about money for public schools in his survey so hopefully you all got that too that's another way to communicate and um but thank you to both of you for being here I appreciate it yeah absolutely and and keep mind one thing I will tell you Ian uh someone who was a educator in the classroom at one point in time uh he he spends a lot

046of time focusing on these issues um clearly I'm I'm kind of forced to focus on more macro issues but uh he's he's been a great resource for me uh in a lot of ways as well so um again you know he he's doing tremendous work in a um a far uh far um larger body with with more ideas of whether whether we think they're they're good or bad so um he's doing good work with that thanks Brian yeah likewise uh you know it's been it's been a great team effort I've really enjoyed um working with you and Stacy to your point um I will reference what we talk about in this conversation in my next Committee hearing on these bills um that's how important these conversations are when when it's my turn to ask questions

047or speak up in committee I will reference our exact conversation I will say I talk to a school board in my district I may even say I talk to the Clayton school board and here's what we talked about and here's what folks back home are thinking that's how crucial the conversations are um and and how important it is that we have them so often so thanks for bringing that up thank you um Amy any questions no I'll be short and um Brian and Ian thank you for your time I I appreciate you being here tonight and explaining the um uh the Senate Bill 55 to us um I I agree wholeheartedly that if if it was to pass it would be disastrous um I mean I I for us but probably even more importantly for

048um some of our neighbors as Stacy touched on and I would love to see that conversation be redirected to um what we could do to um be supporting um the public schools in in Normandy and some underfunded other underfunded areas that are um adjac to us so um Ian and Brian um I let me know if there's anything I can do to help and again we we appreciate you being here tonight yeah absolutely and thank you all for what you do and and uh please reach out if you have questions you know all of you know how to reach me and and again um I want to thank your superintendent you know Sean has done a tremendous job communicating with uh us as legislators and and really keeping us a breast of what's happening in

049the school district uh as well as um making himself available when we have questions so again thank you and and I wish you the best in your next Endeavor thanks um so and and Ian and and Brian I don't know if you have just a few more minutes just to see if if um so Caitlyn Tran is actually our student board rep and I want to see if she has any questions yeah I have a couple questions about virtual school since I know that that's something that is really pertinent and directly affecting students right now uh so you mentioned a little bit about local Authority so why is having local Authority important in that what decisions do you think will be made that the community will disagree with if local Authority is taken away well

050I mean you wanna okay and you could take go no go ahead Brian go ahead go ahead no I've talked enough you it's that's quite all right no I no great question you know to the to the to your point about um local control in communities um you know there most the vast majority of the folks that Brian and I serve with um you know some of them have been to a Cardinal game but for the most part that's all they've seen of the city of St Louis um and maybe they went to the arch as a kid and that's it um and they certainly have not been exposed to the education system they certainly don't know what it's like to go to school in the city of St Louis and so um for them

051to make such drastic decisions that impact the economy that impact the education system and that impact the livelihoods of folks um if it's if it's if it is counterintuitive and counterproductive to what the folks in that Community are saying they want um that's exactly the type of government um that most of my colleagues that I serve with the majority claim that they do not want um and it's not really the type of government that I want or or that I think Brian wants either we want local control and we want folks in communities to be making their own decisions um particularly when it comes to how to educate their kids education is about the most um one of more most nuclear topics you can discuss I mean education starts at home and then it and

052then it goes to your neighborhood school and then you know it goes to uh your school district and and that is it's so personal um it's it's not a decision that can be made um from you know some perch uh in the state capital and so um I think that's why local control is is so important um when we discuss these topics and I guess just a followup on that note um will there be any lasting impact after covid-19 or is this just something that will uh be important for the duration of like the next few months in terms of virtual education um I think it's really changing covid-19 has really changed the conversation um we had a lot of uh folks who advocated for access to virtual education and who still sort of make

053this the the argument that that students should get a choice or that fames should get a choice if that's the type of education that's right for them they should get virtual education but they are the same folks who have railed against their districts that have decided or any District that may not even be theirs um that they see as an outrage that has decided to um educate students virtually um and uh you know uh they Advocate thoroughly for inseat education um during the pandemic and so it's really sort of um contradictory those two arguments don't really Jive um and I think there's a lot of folks sorting out um what the future of virtual education will look like um I don't think anybody really knows at this point what it will look like I think

054we're all on the same page on this call about what we want the end result to be but I don't think we know at the end of the day quite yet what it will look like yeah and then really quickly a question moving on to open enrollment so I think you mentioned that like 44 other states have open enrollment so what are some instances in these states of open enrollment being successful and unsuccessful question um I have not so the first time I got that stat was in a Committee hearing this week uh yesterday so I have not had a chance to really dig in and see how long they've been in place in each of these states what the you know whether or not uh schools uh in in those states are satisfied with

055them that's not um research a work I've had an opportunity to do yet um but I do think it's noteworthy that that the vast majority of states do have some type of open enrollment system thank you David any questions sorry um Brian and Ian again um Echo the others thank you for being here tonight I know it's a long a long evening for you I have two questions hopefully pretty short one uh Ian touched on this point from a house perspective I'm curious as to what the mood is in the Senate um whether supportive or you know opposing this bill at least you know from your perception and then uh the second question for um you know folks that watch from home and aren't involved in legislative action what are the just at a high

056level what are the next steps for for a bill like this yeah in the Senate um you know it's it's very unique because you have members of the body who represent rural parts of the state that are very happy with public education so this doesn't come down to party lines as much it'll it'll it'll be uh Democrats and Republicans alike on on on both sides um in terms of of the um the the bill but you know we're we're fortunate uh which Ian is not afforded that that luxury and that's the filibuster and and the ability to debate as long as we we like and as long as necessary and um it's it's very rare that we end debate and take things to an up down vote as they do in in the in the

057state house so I mean this is going to be a very uh contentious uh issue um is far from out of the weeds so um in terms of passing out of the Senate uh I would say that it's it's still um pretty dim just because uh you're G to have a lot of folks that feel very passionate about it like myself and um you know I I think if this bill does pass out the Senate um it will have and and it will need to have several accountability measures in place to ensure that um that there's accountability moving forward and and that whether it's a charter school or or not it's uh held uh responsible for educating our children at a high level just like we expect our our public education system to do as

058well Ian I didn't know if you wanted to add anything about that from the house side I think I think uh you know I sort of mentioned earlier and certainly agree with what Brian said um it definitely Cuts party lines we've definitely got now we are seeing some deals be made in the house in terms of carving out rural districts because we have a lot of Republican pro-public education Representatives who live in towns and cities less than 30,000 people and they are willing to sell out uh the kids in the city of St Louis to save their own hide in their in their party and vote for a bill so we may see some of that happen in the house um but I I I hope and I pray and cross my fingers that in

059the Senate that's not that's not the same scenario to be repeated thanks question let me just ask hey Jason let me just see if Kim has any questions first all right I just want to make sure everybody gets a chance Kim do you have any questions you're good all right go ahead Jason I'm just a follow question Brian or Ian what's the motivating Factor behind this movement towards Charter Schools uh open enrollment all these items that were talking about what is like the what's what's the origin of why this is happening is it capitalism is it the opportunity to make some money on this like what is what is the deal here I think it's truly folks who um have a combination of you know their perspective on what they think education should look like

060some May have reservations or concerns when it comes to public education and you may have folks that just um believe that there should be you know some sense of capitalism I don't I don't ever want to assume that someone is advocating for an issue returning to education for money I'm just you know I I haven't allowed anyone to squeeze that much hope out of me to assume that but um you know I think it's it's just a a perspective of ideology and and um philosophy when folks think about education and you know I think personally and and just based on the region that we live in we should be figuring out how the state provides more resources than to take away resources and then shift them to an alternative that has not been proving to

061[Music] work and and what's the strategy what's the strategy if they if they like Ian mentioned if there are backroom deals where rural areas because they're Republican dominated are being C out but we're going to we're going to go ahead and sacrifice these City schools and in in urban urban areas and what's the straty behind that what's our strategy well I can tell you my strategy my strategy may be bringing the entire Clayton Board of Education to session with me the week that this bill comes up and you guys hang out with me in Jefferson City but um no you know it's it it'll be a moving Target I I can tell you my strategy is to um one uh ensure that that there's sufficient debate we get to um the the full details of

062of what this bill does and and we make sure that there's accountability measures in place to ensure if we were to to move in this direction that um Charter Schools or or or any entity is held to the same standards as public education and it's not at the expense of defunding P public education thank you man I appreciate it I just want to quickly follow to I agree totally with Brian that in terms of the elected folks I think the motivations at least from the folks I've talked to are are really pure are folks who really it's everything down here is based on personal experience it's based on what your educational Journey was like did you have a good experience in the school or did you not um we've got folks with chips on their

063shoulders based on the education they think they received we've got folks who study data and charts and look at other states and say you know School choices worked here and here's why it's great I think the motivations from elected folks are pure I think what happens on the ground is a different story um I think there's certainly profit scheme there you know virtual education I think being the biggest uh folks who are certainly you know that the cor the corporatization of uh schools is definitely something that happens as a result of the laws that are passed and some and in in that regard but I think in terms of the folks who are drafting the legislation I don't think that's necessarily their their end goal and in terms of being in Jefferson City to Brian's

064point about coming down here I will just really briefly tell you that in the hearing committee and every education commit hearing that I've been in uh it's been tough guys because what happens is we have paid lobbyists who all sit down and talk about how schools are going to lose money they talk about the bottom line they talk about economics they talk about we need our money in our Public Schools we need our money in our public schools and guys they are going against uh testimony from moms from kids from kids with disabilities from people of color from people who are struggling and fighting for their families and they think school choice is the way and it's worked for them and that's their story and to you know to sit there and go through that

065for hours is is is really compelling and we need more folks we need parents from Public School Systems we need teachers we need folks to make the trip and travel and tell their stories and advocate for public education because I I'm I'm just going to tell you that the the the the testimony the hours testimony we sit through is really compelling for the case they're trying to make Ian can I can I ask you a quick question yeah I I just I want to I'm kind of Switching gears but um and I and I don't know a lot about this at all but I I know that Missouri is one of the five states that a bill was introduced to ban education around the 1619 project have you heard anything about that and um that's

066really scary to me too um it is yeah it's it's it's I've not heard about the success of movement in that bill um I I I don't I should look I'll I'll look up after the after we get done and see if it's been referred to a committee um and what committee and and and things like that um I have not heard about I I I did know that it was file but I've not heard about um hopefully it's something that if it gets a hearing it's in late April and it's a throwaway and it's you know this big rockus and whatever that I hope that doesn't happen but if it does have to happen I hope it happens late um I don't know what the chances of success are for that I will tell

067you that I have been working with um retired educator who um has has just dived into our um School curriculum our our curriculum um framework for junior high and high school history teachers right now around the Civil War and slavery I'll just forward you the three or four pages on it if you haven't looked at it in a while it's it's absolutely insane um it IT addresses slavery from the context of Economics it's definitely a both sides approach it's definitely good guys on both it's it's you know Charles on paper it's you know find people on both sides kind of stuff so I've been working on that sort of quietly and privately with desie and and talking about it's a huge thing obviously to change curriculum at the state level but it's a conversation I

068want to keep having with them um because it is it's atrocious what's already in our state what's already in our state curriculum great all right thank you for the we love some followup thanks for sure so Ian and Brian we um I I'm gonna just defer my time to all the questions that're already asked because you've given us so much time already I really really appreciate it uh this has been really instructive um just about the process and um certainly about specifically about Senate Bill 55 and the things that are important um for the whole Community to be thinking about so thank you both we really we know you're really busy we know you're still in Jeff City and we appreciate your time so thank you again for being here hey thank you having us

069and again thank you all for what you do for our students in Clayton school district and Beyond thank you both thank you Brian thank you Ian we truly truly appreciate you for sure we appreciate you look forward to following up thank you all thank you awesome so um we are going to um move on to recognizing our own um and I'm going to hand it over to Sean to for in terms of National School counseling week yes so thank you and we are um this we are C last week actually we celebrated National School counselor's week and our counselors have been very patient they've been on the line uh waiting and we asked them to be here tonight so that way we could um say thank you to them and I'm gonna have Robin wans

070talk a little bit about our counselors all right good evening everyone so tonight I have the privilege of recognizing our outstanding counselors in honor of National School counseling week which was celebrated across our nation last week you know the amount of responsibility that this team has managed during the pandemic has been both admirable and astronomical and I can't even begin to list all of the different things that they have been doing since last March um so I will just say that they have had to adapt and juggle all the things they normally do and adapt those things to about eight different educational settings and through all of it they have been such Fierce advocates for our students they have worked tirelessly to keep all of our teachers and administrators up to speed with all of

071the different things happening in our uh in our families in our community and they've been a source of strength for our students uh those students families and then of course our staff so to all of the counselors who are either watching remotely or have joined our Zoom meeting I just want to personally thank you for everything you've been doing to take care of the whole child during these complex times and for all of the times that you may have gotten knocked down with exhaustion but you just got up the next day to do your best all over again on behalf of our students so um I want to say a special thank you to the counseling team over at Clayton High School which consists of Carolyn Blair Maryanne MAOI Joyce Bell Homer Turner jaselyn Cole

072and Toby Smith and then our awesome team over at y down Mark Snyder Liz Tucker and Jason Thompson and then across our elementary schools Anthony Henderson who also serves as the counseling curriculum coordinator Rachel span Crystal Taylor and Adam montuso who's one of our practicum students with the counseling team and is actually a former Clayton student so just a huge thank you to everything you've been doing we appreciate every single thing large and small you have been doing for our students for their families and for our staff thank you so much Robin and I just want to introduce because some of you don't know some of the counselors so I just some of them are on the uh screen and so Anthony Henderson if you could just wave I I'm just going through and then

073I see Jason Thompson and then Toby Smith she's still connecting but she's right there and then Homer Turner and we know know that some of our other counselors were on the line too and and they were uh they may have had to step off but we I I again I just want to say thank you to all of you for all that you do especially during this unusual year you have had to Pivot in so many different ways and um we are very grateful for you so you're welcome to stay on and listen to the board meeting if you want to but you're welcome to go do some other things too so we really appreciate and and Toby's now connected I think to audio so we get just we wouldn't wave to her so all

074right thank you guys and on behalf of the board I want to say thank you so much to all of you too you um you are you all are awesome and I do want to say um sorry that that discussion beforehand took so long and I'm I'm sure some people had to jump off so sorry sorry about that but we really do appreciate you uh each and every one of you so thank you okay and so we as we have also have another recognition um and so we are actually going to celebrate Schoolboard recognition week as well tonight and so this is an opportunity for us to recognize you for your service on the board of education and I I've said this in the past you are the ultimate volunteers you're elected officials but um

075a lot of people like when I when I talk to the students at the high school around board govern and school governance it's one of the things I have to tell them is that school board members don't get paid they don't I mean they have a lot of time that they're dedicated and it's the ultimate volunteer um we appreciate that what you do as a collective entity but what I also appreciate is that you bring your individuality to the to the group and that helps make us even stronger and so um I just want to say personally thank you for all the support that you provided me over the years providing us uh an opportunity and a space to think differently about our approaches uh our strategic plan is evidence in this in terms of

076our focus on equity and new learning approaches and in making sure that we're addressing the social emotional well-being of our students and so I just want to say thank you to you individually so Gary um I want to say thank you to you for being a passionate individual who always ends all of our conversations with how can I help you or like is there any way that anything I can do um you're extremely thoughtful organized and I I think that I would also say thank you for being a person who's willing to ask questions that allows other people to have deeper thinking so you put questions out there others might not so I appreciate you Gary for that and then Joe thanks so much for over the years being a tremendous coach to me and

077and when I say coaches being someone who's a thinking partner is willing to push my thinking and respectful way and also just being there when I need you and and um you're a systems thinker you understand stand education and um and I think that you've constantly always try to maintain a sense of positivity and pushing pushing us to think about the whole child and academics is really important but we also need to take care of the social emotional being and then you've also over in your leadership has been working on the effectiveness of the board and really truly appreciate that Jason I want to say thank you for challenging the status quo and you don't you don't like the status quo and I appreciate that about you and and you're always willing to question that

078and I love the questions that you ask because you push us to think use have a different lens and cause us to see different perspectives and what I love it too is that you bring your whole self to the work and you're Unapologetic about that and I I appreciate that and you're causing us to think differently is asking us to act differently Stacy thank you so much for coming to the table with the lens of an educator and always taking that into consideration and I like that you always ask questions about what about the teachers what about the Educators um you've been a tremendous thinking partner to me um it's nice that sometimes I just need someone else to have that that conversation and you've been there and you're a listener and I like that

079you're always really intuitive about making sure that you're hearing what other people are saying and and taking and and really taking a deep understanding of it um the work that you did on our strategic plan really helped us move forward and I really thank you and you're just a kind-hearted person who has contributed much in your short time on the board um Kim when I had the opportunity to work with you with propy I learned so much about you you as a leader and really enjoyed that time and was so grateful when you decided to run for the Board of Education because you have great ideas you're determined um what I also love about you is you're very pragmatic and you're just like you are you you are you know you understand things very quickly

080but you're really direct and thoughtful about um responding to questions and and also putting things out there that caus us to think differently I love your confidence but I also that love that you're a person who's willing to laugh at yourself so uh David uh thank you for someone being someone who's always thinking about different possibilities um you're analytical and humorous at the same time so that's a real unusual trait to have um I I I also appreciate that you respectfully Challenge and one of I don't if everybody remembers those EF cutting commercials where it's like when you have Hutton speaks you listen so like you don't you you're very thoughtful about when you want to speak but when you do speak everyone makes sure that they listen so I appreciate that and um and

081I also love that you know it says a lot about you when your boys come in at the end during the meeting to say good night to you too and you're just out there and I I I love that so and then Amy thank you so much for your optimism and your and your leadership and I it's been so fun to be on the board with you you know seeing you as you started on the board and and and where you've come in terms of your leadership you've always challenged us to make sure that we're looking at all students and um I appreciate your willingness to be vulnerable you put things out there that I think others might be afraid to say or you just you put it out there and um and also we

082appreciate that you we we have your great legal expertise too that you bring to the table for us and you're just a genely funny person so so I I just need to I just want to we spend a lot of time with one another and people don't see all the things that the board does and I'm truly truly grateful for your service because you are taking us to the next level and you're you're holding us accountable to doing great things for the students of our district so as a gift to you each of you is going to get a book in the mail and the book and I did want to send it first because I wanted to explain it but the book is uh where will you be in 5 years from today and

083I think that it's it's a great book it just offers all kinds of questions about you know you know things that you just to kind of reflect on your own personal life and your professional life but I I wanted to share this book with you because you're constantly not thinking about the present moment as a board member but you're also thinking about what is going to be your legacy what is g to what is going to be the decisions that you make today that are going to have impact on students five years from now so thank you for your service thank you for your time and I really appreciate all of your support thanks so much Sean um we appreciate you and um are G to move on to superintendent communication okay recognize your own

084so I wanted to give you some updates about our current learning model that we are in and um wanted to uh just share a couple things one I I wanted just to say to you is that uh in terms of around creativity in the second semester we know that the end of the school year often brings traditional events we have different thing different celebrations we have like field day we have um performances and what I want to say is that our schools are really trying to think differently about what uh what that could look like and and um we're just not trying to be status quo and so I also think that they're in at the high school we're getting student voice in terms of some things that we want to do for the end

085of the year um but the ways that you know we're not going to be able to do things the way that they we've done in the past but we can continue to think differently about how those things can look and also thinking about ways that we can what we're doing this last semester could potentially move forward into the next year as a creative way of doing things um the other thing I want to let you know is that we're having convers ations with the staff at White down Jamie Jordan has been leading meetings around um bringing the students back to a full day and so one of the reasons why we' want to have those those that conversation our why behind that is because G giving the students a full day of schools an opportunity

086for them to be with us for a longer period of time giving us an opportunity to address some of their academic needs even more time I know our teachers are doing a tremendous job already but even more time would be beneficial for their academic mics and also for the social emotional well-being the other thing too is that we've been implementing risk mitigation measures within our schools that that have proven to be effective and and I think that that that gives us some other uh reasons why it's important for us to say you know if we are able to do this with risk mitigation then we can be able to do that for an extended period of time and making sure that we are doing everything possible to keep everyone safe and then by having extended

087date also you know having the students in a in a space that is safe um for them for an for a whole day um so in the process we are so in this process this conversation we're engaging staff Jamie Jordan has done a great job with engaging her staff around this um and then we're also working on communication out to the parents and then making sure that people understand what it's going to look like we don't have all the answers yet and I'm just going to be upfront about that and I also know that there is fear uh in terms of change our teachers and Community have had to almost like feel like the first day of school four different times throughout this year and that brings a lot of fear and and upset feelings

088and we're working to try to address those and try to be as supportive as possible the other thing is that people you know we keep hearing things about vaccines and I wish I could bring uh an uh information to the table saying that uh we have information about when our when our teachers are getting their vaccines um but we don't and that's the reality I'm really sad about that for us and for our state actually um we're still in the waiting game and uh but I want to say is that we did get some good news today um some hopeful information about uh some signups for our staff and we're going to be learning some more information about that tomorrow um but I will say that once we get the vaccine that doesn't mean that's

089the end all um Beall in terms of risk mitigation so we're going to have to continue to have risk mitigation measures in place we don't know what variant we do and so we just we have to make sure that we don't use the the vaccines as the end all solution to this problem it's school is still going to look the same way as it's looking right now for the rest of the school year and potentially into next school year the other thing too is that we are continuing to still monitor our data and the data is showing that we have um very uh a small percentage of within our district of positive cases among students and staff which is very positive um the other thing that's really positive is that within the region we're also

090seeing a dip in the data and so those school age case per 100,000 is going to those levels that are um considered to be safe and then also that um the r not um the reproduction number is going below one which means that the total number of cases in St L county is decreasing so these are positives that we're seeing now that doesn't mean that they won't fluctuate and they have fluctuated but I just I do think it's important that these are these are things that we continue to Monitor and um want to make sure that we're looking at but most importantly we're looking at the data that's happening within our within our schools um I also have been I've said to this to you before is that we can't make everything that we're doing

091about covid and so we're continuing to do great things in terms of learning great things in terms of um some some of our traditions and during the month of February we have been a we we have celebrated black history uh in a lot of different ways within the district and we have been limited this year and but I wanted to share with you that our schools ACR the elementary schools fifth grade teams have worked across schools to put in this project called BL black his black history is essential and it's a series of 20 videos that we're doing during the month of February and it's evidence of students during research it's evidence of students who are doing public speaking it's it's a really truly great learning opportunity and the other thing too is it can

092be an archive that we can use for future years so I I encourage you to visit the website because it's really an incredible um project that we're very proud of oops oh and that was oh my link went to the website so this is the website so you can see it the other thing I wanted to share with you is that we're making parent learning as uh a priority as like we have done in the past and so tomorrow evening we have Dr Tim Bono who is going to be doing uh continuing our speaker series that we started last year and he is going to be focusing on tools for resilient families in turbulent times and if you haven't heard Tim speak before he is an excellent speaker he connects his spe his speeches to

093uh research and so he was well received last year so we brought him back again this year and hopefully we will have a lot of people join us on that Zoom call tomorrow so we're going to continue to do that and then the other thing I was going to bring forward is that uh there was a question about policies that are connected to equity and we have done we have found out that some school districts have done some work around policy development that's connected to equity and so one of the recommendations that I might make to the board is that we should pull together maybe a small ad hoc group grp again like we've done in the past to study some of these policies and to write some that we could and work with the

094administration of the school district and bring those forward uh as possible considerations so wanted to let you know we've looked at some uh some other districts that have put some energy into this and I think it'd be a good opportunity for us to also do that and connected to the work that we're doing around um Equity within the district and then the last thing as I want to share with you or to one second last thing is that um we we found out I got a call last week from uh the department of Elementary and secondary education that W down Middle School was nominated as a National Blue Ribbon school and I to give you some scope to this is that only eight schools in the state of Missouri got recommended for this and so

095y down is was recommended for its excellent performance and um and so there is a process to get to the final the final award but it's a um a true honor to be nominated by for for this and it's it's interesting because last year our high school was named a blue ribbon uh school and now W down is being recognized and so it's it's a it's quite an accomplishment for our district to have two schools within this period of time and then the last thing is that I'm continuing to we meet with uh Dr Nisha Patel and um we are going to have we're having weekly meetings and those meetings are going great and it's an opportunity for us to um talk about uh the work that we're doing around our strategic plan Anisha is

096asking such great questions and I just feel so even more reassured about how wonderful she's going to be as the next superintendent and I continue and we will continue to hold ourselves accountable to report back to the board all the things that we're doing to make this a successful transition and then now I'm going to turn it over to um Caitlyn for her report yeah so good evening everyone I'll start off my student report by talking about another thing uh for this week that Co school has taught us uh so from having a lot of conversations with students I learned that a lot of students like The Block schedule um and that's particularly because they only have to worry about homework from half of their classes at a time so that's broken up more um

097and another advantage that students have liked is that there's more built-in time to talk to teachers especially if you have have a free period um and although like online school is a bit different in that the classes are shorter um so School opinion may change when classes will be quite long in a normal school setting I think it's still important uh that next year we consider looking into a block schedule and looking into student opinions on that and then moving on to some things that are working with online school uh so some teachers have been using microphones in classrooms so that way students online are able to hear the student speaking in class uh without the teacher having to repeat it um so that has been helpful and also to give you a peek into

098what uh Clayton High School is doing for Black History Month um every day on the announcements uh there's a new uh person who is um talked about and recognized for their work um in black history month and uh so I think Mr P will talk about this a little bit more um when he gives his Equity week update uh but NE and I who is the uh student leader of diversity equity and inclusion are working on planning student panels with Mr pool um and the purpose of these are to have students of like diverse backgrounds and especially intersectional identities engag in conversations um and having the staff and the rest of the school be able to virtually hear from these students um and that helps with humanizing their experiences so NE and I are very

099excited to be working uh with Mr pool on that um and in addition uh clubs are starting to move back to normal school year as well as classes uh so classes have started having socially distanced students presentations again um which is pretty new and hasn't happened yet until starting around this week and culinary arts is also getting to use the kitchens for the first time and Robotics are uh substituting their in-person competitions for having virtual at home challenges and some events coming up are that mock trial is having their first trial on Thursday and also speech in is having their last regular tournament before districts of this weekend awesome thank you uh thank you both Sean and um Caitlyn so um speaking of Mr pool we are going to move on to um 6.01 which

100is the 14-day Equity challenge Cameron you're you're up all right thank you so I'mma share my screen um and then we can get going from there Qui second okay um so I'm going to talk about the racial Equity Challenge and kind of what it entails and you know how the board is going to be a part of it and kind of what that looks like too so we're starting The Challenge on Friday of this week so I'm going to present my screen and each building will kind of be doing the challenge you know within their own building as a team building activity um within the building so we have a equity challenge Leaders with each building who are going to be going through the slot deck and doing some inclusion activities uh dividing their building

101into cohorts and really kind of giveing the chist of what the challenge will entail um so I'm going to go through the first few slides uh the first slide is a video that I put together for each building to kind of uh you know go through as an introduction school district of Clayton happy Friday as many of you know my name is Cameron p and I am the director of equity and inclusion for the district thank you for joining me today for our professional development racial Equity has always been a huge part of our Learning and Development as Educators it is imperative that we are able to humanize each person's experience and grow together as a community in building upon that today we will start our 14-day racial Equity challenge the 14-day racial Equity challenge

102will be an engagement and cohorted learning about racial Equity Justice and systems by reading watching listening and connecting to a variety of resources related to racial Literacy for 14 days straight cohorts will choose one source each day and complete the task by reading listening watching or connecting you have tools of reflection along the way and we will end the experience with a reflection day on February 26 I'm excited to join you in this journey of racial Equity I look forward to us growing together as a district to better serve our students up next you will be hearing from your building PD leaders on the structure of the challenge and participate in some activities to kind of get things kicked off thank you for your commitment to racial equity and to our students please have fun

103and enjoy this racial Equity challenge take care so that's a video just to kind of get things going um and then kind of going into some guidelines um kind of like I said each building will split the building into cohorts of four to six staff members um and the cohorts will have um they will choose one source each day to which they will be reading listening watching or connecting um in just a second I'm GNA go through the website that kind of had is like a One-Stop shop for the entire challenge um that'll have tools of reflection that'll have all the sources listed um and kind of you know put some accountability accountability pieces uh in there as well and with the challenge inding on February 26 um we'll have another PD day where cohorts

104get together with their buildings and they reflect on the challenge um as a whole building so um for the professional development day um we have some norms for the equity challenge of course uh we want people to assume Goodwill uh listen with the intent to understand um speak your truth and respect the truth of others um accept non-closure again just change as a process uh be brave about sharing oops and ouches so really uh we like to create norms and then a couple activities for them to choose from um in terms of you know kind of getting them warmed up for it um and I am but I am not uh exercise to where you list characteristics of yourself and then common stereotypes that might uh you know pertain to the identifiers in in terms

105of the characteristics that you put down and then kind of just having some exercises to share those as well um or you can choose from a challenge warm up 321 three thoughts on your Equity Learning Journey so far two personal goals you have for yourself while participating in the challenge um and then one question you still have about equity and the work toward achieving it um and then sharing that with your cohort as well so uh buildings will have a choice of one of those two activities to choose from to kind of get worked up for so the main thing I want to get into which is our One-Stop shop and you know our Equity committee did a fabulous job of of preparing for the challenge and putting together this website you know for within

106the district so uh here's the website here and there's so many resources so during the 14-day challenge um each building or each person can click this link and get a spreadsheet where they can keep a reflection of their individual ual uh choices for the challenge and the goal is that each cohort goes through the exact same sources so that they can reflect along the way so that uh the first one is just for personal use and this uh the jam board that was created um each group will be able to click it and make a copy and share it with one another and this is kind of an interactive piece for each group to use as they go through the challenge each day especially if they're not able to connect each day so for each

107Source they look through um they'll be taking either a favorite quote a takeaway I want to talk to someone about or I want to go deeper with um so this is the cover page for that and for each day you'll have another slide to go through in terms of putting a sticky note in one of the uh four quadrants uh with the resource that was looked at in the middle and you'll be they'll be able to do that for all 14 days of the challenge so that's kind of a reflective way and they'll be turning those in at the end of the challenge um for the equity committee to look at to kind of get you know a good gauge on where we are as a district from an equity standpoint and use this to

108kind of spur professional development moving forward um within the future um I did another portion of the website um again what teams are picked and they choose their Source selections uh they'll be filling out basically they'll click on their building so for example let's say it's Glen Ridge um and they'll be able to fill out a Google form with every selection for the day they choose so that each group has an opportunity to see other groups in their building or around the district to kind of compare and contrast and the goal with that is to have different groups and cohorts connect with one another through the challenge and that be a part of you know their Reflections as well um so then this slide deck that we're going through also will be available for them

109to look at as well so the main thing that I'm excited about is how we have our sources um kind of broken down but between reading watching listening connecting And discussing so if you take a look at uh the reading portion where we have books um you know it's a plethora of books if people want to start to dive in into an entire book uh different things that they can look at in order to connect with so tons of book titles right there as well as different book lists um and then under read as well we have a little bit of everything which are articles documents guides and blog so we have it broken down by Source um Utopia read P digest New York Times the Atlantic um learning for justice is on there National

110Association for the education of young children uh plus other plethora of Articles from other sources as well um so tons to choose from from there and then in terms of watching we have videos broken down to 15 minutes or less 15 to 30 30 to 60 and 60 plus as well as films talks and other TV shows and we understand people are busy which is why we have a plethora of sources so if it's a seven minute video or8 minute video or a five minute article the goal is just to you know have a crash course of something each day in order just to kind of build understanding so we have tons of videos and things to choose from from that um as well as different films uh talks in other avenues as well so

111different movies movie lists uh that people are able to embark on and then kind of the listening SE we have tons of podcasts that are available uh that people can start to dive into uh the Abolitionist teaching network is a good one um a bunch of other ones like the eight black hands podcast is a real good educational one the equity podcast um a couple of bernee Brown's uh podcast episodes on there as well um as well as a bunch of other sources um that we go into as well so in terms of you know number of sources you know we could use this website for the next three or four racial Equity challenges and then the connect and discuss portion this is the one I'm most excited about uh because it makes it a

112bit more personal we want people to connect discuss and go through experiences um you know so a couple of questions I'll highlight on here um one thing that we did at the beginning of the year is that you know our educators of color that are an administrative roles in the district uh got together and you know have a sit down talk where we talked about our experiences as uh kids of color within the school system and kind of some of the things that we had to deal with so um when we start The Challenge on Friday different videos will be updated highlighting these different uh administrators within the district so you have a familiar face and are able to connect with someone's story uh that you see on a regular basis um as well as

113last week I had the honor to speak at the stateof the black educator Symposium last week um updated uh part one and part two of that as well um so those are some experiences too um and then jumping in we want people to do actual physical experiences so we understand things are limited during covid so you know we we put things up as in terms of like maybe going to a restaurant or you know visiting a part of town that's different than you or participating in some interactive uh program for example eat at a black o restaurant that's recommended from the sauce magazine um Northwest Roasting Company is on there as well so uh that could be an option especially hitting close to home so um tons of different uh opportunities and things to do

114in terms of maybe follow influential black Educators and social media um intended anti-racist Collective meeting so uh terms of things to get you know involved with for everyone to do again one thing each day uh for 14 days so uh you know we're real EXC excited about that um the equity committee within the district putting some good work in terms of getting things together um tomorrow morning I will send all of you the uh you know the information and the website links and everything so that you all can take part in it and I've chosen some cohorts for you all so you'll be able to see who you'll be linked up with um on that so yeah we're ready to get going and to kind of build on what Caitlyn was saying um and I

115had an idea to use within the equity challenge but then I kind of wanted to um expand to something larger in terms of you know really humanizing the you know each you know stakeholder within our district so I know our April 30th professional development day um we're going to get together and you know have panels with you know multiple student groups uh multiple stakeholders in The District in terms of parent groups um so that we're able to understand every Avenue within our district and you know what exactly we need to do in order better serve them so that's something that you know I've been meeting with Caitlyn um and Ne about in terms of figuring out how we want to structure that and getting student voice in the process of equity within the district so

116um I'm excited about that as well so we had some good things on tap um and I think we're heading in the right direction thanks so much Cameron that it that um actually sounds amazing um so I just want to see if a board have any it's an information item but do you have any um quick questions or comments I'm just going to start with David you got anything no I don't Cameron I always appreciate your updates thank you thanks David Kim you got anything I think you're on mute sorry I've got three screens up here at work so I gotta scroll around um Cameron no thank you for the update I said I think I was texting David on the side and what's really impressive about what you put together I think is the

117amount of choices and optionality that's reflected um so you know everybody's on a little bit of a different path here depending on you know um where they are so the fact that you can kind of choose where to start I think is really thoughtful of you know it's a very thoughtful way to approach it and to get everybody on board so I think it's great thanks Kim Caitlyn any uh comments or questions yeah thank you for all your work um I look forward to our next meeting and potentially even been talking about um how students can get involved in some of the cohort stuff cool thanks Caitlyn Jason any comments or questions no no just uh Cameron good job I'm putting that stuff together you and the team that was excellent man appreciate it bro

118thanks Jason Gary any comments or questions just this is going to sound repetitive but appreciate it Cameron uh love that you followed up on all this stuff and um I loved the go do something in the physical world part of it I'm telling you like get your Northwest Coffee and go to the Scott Joplin house go to the Chuck Barry house and go to suar high school and you will have experienced something that most people who live in our region will never have experienced the whole time they live here so thanks Gary Stacy any comments or questions um I was just about to say what Gary said thank you for the concrete suggestions like that of activities and things people could do and businesses that people could could support um and I also like what

119you said and what Caitlyn brought up about getting the kids involved in the cohorts too but thank you for all of your work very thorough and I appreciate it thanks thanks Stacy Amy any commercial questions nope everybody uh uh I I I again everybody kind of echoed what I was going to say so I'm not going to take up more time but thank you Cameron for your work on it and and Cameron I I would just say that um I'm not sure I know of another uh District that has such a comprehensive um kind of link to the website and all the activities so um well done I mean I think it's really you and the equity committee and and and have really done a really nice job there it seems like there's literally something

120for everybody at every level and all kinds of different experiences so I think that's I'm I'm really excited to see how people get engaged with it so thanks thanks to you all all right so um we are going to move on to our action items and today board we have quite a few we have eight action items um and so the first uh 7.01 is a resolution on covid-19 leave so Gary will you read that please I moved that the school district of Clayton uh school district of Clayton Board of Education approved the resolation on covid-19 leave as submitted second okay it's been moved and seconded any comments or questions on this Al righty all in favor I have you got one yeah yeah sorry about that yep that's all right go ahead just um

121just want just want to talkop through it real fast I know I know it's kind of a simple read which is kind of nice every now and again it's nice to have a simple read um but uh on the first page page 101 I I have a print out so can you all hear me I I have a print out but it's uh it says allows the district to require more documentation of the absence then was allowed under federal law let me ask you a question so so is that something that we need to do do we have any instances of people taking advantage of this this situation that's happening with Co and Le no we haven't had anyone taking U you know misusing it to our knowledge it's just something that was recommended from

122msba when we looked at this it would allow us if we suspected individuals that might be abusing it then we could ask for that documentation because this is this is an above and beyond of what uh would be the typical leave and Beyond the uh the Federal Regulations okay and also let's see um yeah I yeah it just just there was another is this the same thing I think it's about where it talks about okay so on the on the second page I guess well on the uh looks like this can you see that I don't mine's a print out so I don't have I'm not looking at the screen so it's at the bottom it's number five and it talks about it says must it says so use of leave Co leave cannot be

123used intermittently or on a reduced schedule but must be taken in a single block time during qualifying conditions so just kind of like if you can just kind of what does that mean exactly so when we with the original leave that we had we allowed individuals depending on their situation to have intermittent to leave intermittently if it was due to a family situation uh we did encourage to have for consistency of our students that we would try to avoid that if at all possible so with Point number five the use of leave we're ask we're saying that we cannot do it intermittently so not if you were exposed but if you were having to cover for your child because of their daycare that sort of thing because their daycare our school was closed and that

124component of this was removed okay okay so the the uh emergency paid leave is no longer valid for if your child's school closes so your child school closes you can't take your emergency School leave doesn't qualify yeah you would not have paid leave do are we happy with that who just asking is that something guys you have other forms of believe that they can use oh okay okay okay all right so as long as everyone's happy with it so can I can I follow up on that Tony is that um that with that the this form of leave that we're talking about versus some of the other categories is there anything that we should know in terms of that explanation of what qualifies as one vers versus the other is that can you fill us

125in on that sure so basically what what this what this leave does is provides additional paid days so it doesn't deduct anything from teacher sick days um and it ensures that if they have covid or if their child has covid or a family member they're caring for that it this will cover them for up to you know the 10 days the part that was removed was the emergency paid um family medical leave so like for example um if they needed to be out to care for under the original Law if you were you would qualify for the Emergency F under the original Law if you if it was anybody that you were caring for it could be a neighbor that had Co that you were caring for this new version does not allow that it's

126basically like your regular FMLA in order for it to be paid any other comments or questions yeah so just make sure one one more thing so so if if if I'm a teacher and my child is sick I can take a different leave right Sean right guys if if your child is sick and it's not covid related yeah you could you would use paid family illness days yeah and if it's and if it's co related though like I say um I'm in fifth grade and the fifth grade got exposed we and the kids now sick but we got to be out for 14 days I'm sorry say that again you're you're you teach fifth grade and you're say that again what can you hear me now is that better so what I'm saying is is

127that if I teach fifth grade and the fifth grade my my my son's class or a class was exposed and we're supposed to sit out for 14 days am am I allowed to stay home with with my child for 14 days or actually 10 in this case but my allow to stay home for that reason does it cover that yes because you'd be at home with your child who's quarantined just not my neighbor not your neighbor that's all want to make sure it's kind of weird how they would specifically say anybody else but right right gotcha okay perfect yeah I think originally the the original intention with that with the um with FFC the original Federal Regulation with this was so individuals that you might have in your neighborhood that didn't have a a family

128member nearby this would allow people to help take care of them and we didn't have that utilized at all um you know up through December 31st so we are keeping the core of what was utilized and what we think will be possibly needed moving forward okay all right cool thank you man I appreciate it thank you very much any other comments or questions alrighty all in favor hi hi any opposed okay passes unanimously 70 okay we're moving on to thank you to 7.02 which is the personal tax credit tuition rate for the 2021 22 school year Carrie I'm 7.02 I move that the Board of Education adopt for the 2021 2022 school year an elementary personal and tax credit tuition rate of $117,800 and a secondary personal and tax credit tuition rate of $23,750 second

129okay it's been moved to Second and any comments or questions okay all in favor hi hi hi hi any opposed okay passes unanimously 70 so we're moving on to 7.03 which is the tuition rates for the early childhood education for the 20222 school year go ahead Gary 7.03 I moved that the Board of Education increase early childhood education resident tuition 3% and non-resident tuition 4% second okay it's been moved in seconded any comments or questions on this one yeah I always have a question about this it's it's always kind of weird to see that we're we're charging PR School prices you know it's always weird I mean I know we I know we have I know we can do it but it's just just want to have a little bit of a dialogue if you

130all don't mind I would love to hear your feedback on this like what do you think about us charging 23,7 $117,000 almost 8,000 for a school I know I know it's a way to generate Revenue but I just want to understand what do you all think we already voted on that one didn't we so Jason that was the last one that we just voted on this is the Early Childhood one oh on the wrong one oh sh okay I'm cool all right I think my I'm looking at the papers I'm you know whatever all right cool so so any any questions on this one on the Early Childhood one no not really man no okay any other comments or questions on this one the um the tuition rate for the early childhood education for the

131family center I guess this is kind of a go ahead KAIT go ahead this kind of just a clarification question but why is there a difference between uh resident and non-resident and like uh do taxes come into play there and how so yeah any of our programs that are supplemented by the district which this program is it's basically supplemented 40% by the district we do charge non-residents more so so go ahead go ahead Gary just Mar just follow up on that so um for the family center even though we charge tuition I mean tell me if I'm wrong but I think I think this is I think this is right because I think you've explained this to me before actually we charge tuition but our tuition that we collect from um enrolled students in the

132Family Center doesn't cover all of the the cost so the district supplements some of that um th those costs is that right so far correct the tuition basically is covering the cost of all the teacher salaries none of the operational like administrative or building costs or anything like that okay so that is kind of why as a district anything that is the district is um kicking in funds to to make up the difference between the the funds collected um for tuition or whatever the activity Fe or whatever it is um versus the overall costs we differentiate between resident and and non-resident um I think it is interesting uh just in the context of all of the uh attention and interest on early childhood education and funding sources for that to to think about um where

133we get the funds to support the family center um as regionally we think about early childhood education and um possible way ways of expanding that so it's it's it's interesting to actually kind of break it down and um and and think about that so appreciate the question Caitlyn and the explanation M I have a question too go ahead Stacey I I apologize if this is a little off topic from the tuition but do we offer financial assistance to families that want to come that can't afford that yeah and Sean can probably speak a little more um in the past the PTO has had a scholarship fund um but the foundation has uh supplemented that now yeah so we've been able to get funding from that has filtered through the Clayton Education Foundation that has also

134and the PTO at um The Family Center has always traditionally raised funds uh as for scholarships and then recently we've had some some support from the Clayton Education Foundation from donors as well okay and have we made any progress in um enrolling any of our like Vick students younger siblings in in the Family Center has that I I apologize that's not about tuition we could talk about another time but I know we've talked about that before yeah I mean it's we have not in so in order to do that we'd have to have another conversation about um students being able to enroll and whether or not we would use the you know our model for Vic to be able to extend that into the family center I think it's a great conversation for us to

135have I think it'd be great for us to think about ways that we can look at diversity within at the family center and would welcome that conversation okay let's have it one day thanks any other comments or questions our strategic plan that's one of the action steps that we put in as part of our action steps great any other comments or questions on the family center tuition all righty all in favor i i i any opposed okay passes seven Zer so we're moving on to 7.04 which is the second reading and approval of policy JCB which is transfers within the District Gary 7.04 I move that the Board of Education approve the policy updates as presented on policy JCB transfers within the district second second okay it's been moved and seconded any comments or questions

136on this one all right all in favor I I any opposed okay it passes unanimously 70 thanks so we're moving to uh 7.05 which is second reading and approval of policy JCC which is transfers Outside The District Gary 7.05 I move that the Board of Education approve the policy updates as presented on policy JCC transfers outside the district second okay this moved and seconded any comments or questions all righty all in favor I I I any opposed all right passes unanimously thank you so we're moving to 7.06 which is the second reading and approval of policy JEA which is eligibility to enroll Gary 7.06 I move that the Board of Education approve the policy updates as presented on policy jeca eligibility to enroll second Kidman moved and seconded any comments or questions all right all

137in favor I I any opposed all right it passes unanimously 7.07 which is the second reading and approval of policy DFI setting the tuition rate car 7.07 I move that the Board of Education approve policy DFI setting the tuition rate updates as presented second getman moved in seconded any comments or questions all right all in favor I I any opposed okay passes unanimously 70 we're moving on to the final action item which is 7.08 the approval of the meeting minutes for the January 27th 2021 car all right 7 .08 I move that the Board of Education approve the meeting minutes for the January 27 21 2021 meeting as presented second all right it's been moved and seconded any comments or questions all in favor I any opposed okay passes 70 unanimously thank you so we

138are moving on to public comment Chris and Sean do we have any public comment yes we have three public comments this evening all righty so our our first public comment is from Betsy mean Smith and she writes thank you to the elementary teachers administrators and amazing students who have done such a great job creating and sharing the black history is essential video series in celebration of Black History Month the videos have been so well done and informative and I know it's been a collective effort and a lot of work to execute thank you all for your commitment to the project and for bringing it to our community I hope the videos are being featured in our schools and will be safe for ongoing learning about essential figures in black history throughout the year and into

139the future I also want to thank Mr P and the team who put together the equity report from the January 27th meeting it was great to hear from all the different areas of focus within the administration about how you're addressing issues of equity and inclusion the follow-up discussion among board members was also really robust I'm happy to hear you are all thinking critically about abar work and how it impacts our teachers our students our schools and our region finally I'm really heartened by the work being done in our parent community Through The Clayton anti-racism Collective and more specifically the stamped book study organized and facilitated by the wonderful Captain teacher eileene mawi in partnership with the captain PTO in a time when we feel so disconnected she has done an amazing job of assembling the

140captain community in a virtual way to have meaningful discussions about equity we've been able to learn more about our history by reading the book together but we've also begun to build relationships within our community something we've all been missing this year so thank you Eileen for dedicating your time and your energy to this really meaningful work our next comment comes from Amber Kemp she writes as the parent of a fifth grader in the district I wanted to take a moment to send my thanks to the board for all of its hard work in the past year towards for further supporting and resourcing equity and inclusion work within the Clayton School District this work is very important to me as a parent in the district and a resident of Clayton I was especially pleased to see

141the creation of the D director of equity and inclusion position and I'm thrilled to see the great work that Cameron pool has already accomplished in just a very short time in that role I'm excited to hear about our new superintendent Nisha Patel's experience and background in the areas of equity and inclusion and what her plans are to further support that important and vital work in the district this attention to and action towards equity and inclusion are wonderful first steps toward the district delivering on its goal of more culturally competent students who can graduate from Clayton High School and go on to be good citizens in our communities and our world I look forward to seeing the board's next step in in this area thank you and our final comment comes from Jenna shamberg she writes

142when we made the decision to transfer our fourth grader to Captain Elementary due to wanting her to be in sync with her siblings who are already in the district we were excited to have her matched with Miss King knowing they would both be new to the building made our daughter feel at ease but this was only the beginning of why we are thankful for her presence in Ed's life while everyone was virtual at the beginning of the year I got to hear firsthand her honesty and compassion coupled with her professionalism and intentionality to connect with the kids I recently began substituting for the district and was excited to sub for her this week seeing the amazing discussion Point she is facilitating in her class was truly inspiring and makes me so thankful we decided to

143move our daughter to Captain she's led the kids alongside Miss Taylor in considering two columns of thinking what I used to think and what I know now I saw some topics like asking someone for an easier nickname if their name doesn't sound American versus learning how to pronounce someone's name and in discussing a poem asking questions like what perspective is centered and what assumptions am I making based on their view these are deep topics and compelling questions to ask ourselves and I'm heartened by the idea that of our students growing up with these ways of considering information stories and the people who carry both how much better equipped they must be to understand and empathize with others because they've learned the tools of the hard work of communication and care I'm so thankful for Miss

144King's bold adherence to listening to Leading with compassion to telling the truth and leaving room for growth I hope her voice and presence will continue to guide the students at Captain for many years and that's all of our comments great thanks Chris um so we are moving on to a board Communications does anybody have a um board communication that they want to share Hey Joe I'll go go ahead David uh so PTO Council had their meeting last night um uh it's kind of interesting to hear um the kind of the feedback across all of the buildings and and what all the schools are doing and really the the focus and and I'm not giving this enough credit um because there's a lot of really cool stuff taking place in each of the buildings but there's

145been a tremendous focus on on just fundraising and and helping to uh support you know the the food pantries and the teacher and the classroom initiatives and the parties and trying to maintain some semblance of of normality if you will for the kids um so it was really that's probably my favorite part of this meeting is hearing what's going on in the in the other buildings a lot of uh a lot of chat around um changes with how we handle spiritwear concessions and and opening up and and uh allowing all of us to get our uh our our liary going um I know Chris is working on some challenges that I've had with that so I think it's uh it's exciting to see that it's going to be evolving um and of course you know

146I think probably the topic of the hour was uh was the buzz book and um I uh just feel like I wouldn't be doing um Justice if I don't just float the idea that it we recognize that the buzz book has got challenges this year and there's a lot of eyes on getting that fixed so if anybody is sharing that pain I know with my wife being uh you know a co-president for ptto i' I've heard about it so it's it's definitely top of mind for a lot of folks um and then the other thing I just want to do a public announcement and broadcast um on behalf of all of our PTO across the district you know this is is the time of the school year although it does seem weird because you know

147it's uh it's not a normal year but we are still maintaining a regular schedule in Cadence and that means that this is the time that new officers are being um selected to serve on the pto's so even though it may feel like unusual year and maybe you know families that are watching haven't been as engaged um you know this year as they have been in previous years I would like to share the request that if you are open to the idea of Serv in the school and volunteering your time and helping the kids I know the PTO would like to hear from you um over the next few you know weeks and you know probably i' say probably the next four to five weeks they need to start shaping up what the executive boards look

148like across the the local PTO as well as the PTO Council so just something to think about if you'd like to reach out um but otherwise Joe I think that's probably all I've got thanks David um other board Communications I just have a small one this is um from the CRS WC finance committee meeting um just a few things that uh are kind of uh I guess new some newer information you guys might already know but apparent but uh in the capital update we talked about um apparently the the roof over the pool is leaking and um so there might be a some financial responsibility there um from the district we don't know yet what that number would be to fix it but we're it's being looked into um and I don't know if you

149guys knew but uh I think Sean had mentioned this that there is not going to be a summerest this summer but they are uh in discussions with uh the district and and the center of Clayton are talking about uh the center of Clayton taking over Sumer request next summer hey tamy bar do you have something yeah just because it goes along with that the parks and recck commission also met uh last last week um and uh some similar topics we also had an update from that group on the planned uh Renovations and updates to the playgrounds in shop Park I just would encourage anyone who's interested to go and uh check those things out the on on the website there's a there's a great group that's behind that and and helping to support that effort

150so appreciate that just want to mention that for everybody thank you Gary any other um board Communications I'll just say um thanks to Stacy and Gary who really suggested that Ian and Brian come to the board meeting based upon going to the legislative advocacy committee so um and and uh hearing about some legislation that could affect our district so thanks for for um suggesting that I think that was a helpful to learn well just maybe to follow up on that Joe I I will say I've been it's been one of my favorite things to do over the last four plus years is to go to that that group and I've just learned so much from it but um if Stacy hadn't also been there and then we hadn't talked about it afterwards um this this

151last one we would have never thought of this and and put it into to action to have them come and talk to us and well you know we spent a fair amount of time on it I think it's really important and um so I just encourage it's open to anyone like like Stacy said um we can all come it's on Zoom it's early but you can you can click in and and listen in and um you know so so drop in if you can I I I really would would love it if more of us did that there are other districts that are have larger groups including parents and students and and other people there all the time um so I'd love to see us be more involved and and and take more more leadership

152in that and thank you Stacy for um for coming and then talking to me about after thank you thank you any other um board Communications all right how about a motion to adjourn all right I move that the Board of Education adjourn all in favor I any