001hi Joe we're good okay everybody good to go everybody okay to start yep Gary you good this one make sure Gary's good yep sorry in here okay all right awesome okay all right so thank you everybody adequate notice has been given and we are going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance so I'm gonna ask everybody stand and we've got that flag and Shawn's background pledge allegiance okay as we start I just wanted to say if you think that kind of before we start the meeting don't want to start by saying I think it's interesting that we say the Pledge at each meeting and it ends with liberty and justice for all and right now in our country we don't have liberty and justice for everybody right in particular people of color in particular for
002black people and when you look at the stats right the whether it's around incarceration whether it's around discipline whether it's around Co vyd whether it's around who we have in AP and honors it's disproportionate right and so I just want honor that black lives do matter and I want to challenge us as a board to do what we can to be a part of the solution and so I just wanted to start there I know maybe Shawn wants to say something real quick and then I'm gonna open it up actually I know it's a little bit unique but I'm gonna ask each of you if you want to say something you can you certainly don't have to so Shawn thanks Joe well good evening everyone it's good to see everyone and good to see our
003new board members - I will say tonight I'm having a feeling of mixture of emotions and I can't help but feel a little discouraged right now by a lot of the events that are happening in the world such as another wrongful death of a black individual by the hands that were meant to protect him and then I also discouraged by some of the things we're hearing from alumni recently about examples of racism that they've experienced or have seen against our black students and so I also can't help to be feel hopeful and recent marches and protests have really been a cry for change just not for these individual situations but for systemic racism that we see and and I feel like there's a momentum that we haven't felt in a long time or ever probably
004yes on Monday I attended a March that was organized by some of our alumni and it was difficult actually to hear some of the words that they were saying is sharing and some of the stories that they were sharing about injustice they experienced and I I just want to say that I heard them and we're proud of their strong voices and feel committed to making sure that we're always a better school system when we were walking Jason and I were talking at the end and one of the things he said he's like tonight was like an example of the profile of the graduate and thinking about students who are culturally competent and thinking about students who are collaborators and thinking about empathy and so as the leader of the district I am committed to always
005being better and so I just feel it's really necessary to say that I never want any of our students or parents or community members to feel marginalized in our community and and I am committed to looking closely at our systems our behaviors and policies that would contribute to racism so we can't go back and change what's happened in the past or things that have occurred but I will say that we're committed to moving forward in a direction that is going to really focus on how we can be better with racial equality and so I do appreciate being part of a community that holds us to a high standard and holds me to a high standard so that's all I had to say thanks Sean so I am gonna open it up but I do want
006to just note something which I should have said is we didn't put this as a topic to discuss so these are your comments but this really isn't because we we might have a discussion another time but this isn't a discussion so I'm going to open it up if any other board member wants to say something but again I just want to emphasize it's not a discussion because we didn't put it on as a topic and I know Jason you had told me before you wanted to say something so do you want to go next yeah well I'll just say that we want to once again thank Laura from left to you and grace mom for putting that event together and in I'm honored anyone asked me to speak at the event along with some other
007great alumni liam who actually works for me right now we used to work for me inside the last few years and seeing all these young folks convey their feelings about their time their clayton and and how they're feeling about it and what their what they had to go through and what they're thinking about as older adults now that they're completed their first year or second year of college and told us a thank you to those folks and you know the last thing I want to I want to continue my stump speech side when I speak but the speech I had on Monday but I do want to make sure that everyone is on board for change real change where we often we talk about these amazing words like equity in responsive teaching and all these
008things are cool and what happens is we're active what we're smart we're academically trained right what the college we've got our basses our PHP and we be jumping some good at adopting language but then what we're not good at is implementation so you know I think this is a moment in time in this by the way this isn't just about black lives matter or George Floyd coming although the spark is that incident but it's also just as a board in general we need to be thinking about as we've always we've all said it on T playing it over and over however is not make our school system our school district the best it can be so anyway that's all I have to say but it's an unfortunate situation but I'm glad for and engaged and
009tuned in and what's happening and yeah we'll see how it goes so thank you thanks Jason are there others that want to say anything you could unmute yourself or raise your hand either one I guess so I'll say something okay go ahead Amy um it's good to see everybody tonight so I was thinking about how that with it with everything that's been going on especially the situation in Minneapolis that it was it's so sad and unsettling in concerning an unfortunate that in this day and age were still combat trying to deal with this systemic type of racism that we're dealing with but it also kind of occurred to me that its while while a sad and unsettling as it as it can also present a unique opportunity for us to teach our kids of a
010collective action and coming together [Music] and how our collective action can affect change and impact the future you know and also learning about linking the past move I hope sincerely hope that all of our educators shares you know the common belief that we need to eradicate racial inequities and that we we are going to continue to address it head-on and and directly that's really all I wanted to say thanks Amy I think I saw some other hands made I might have seen Stacey Stacey's go ahead Stacey yeah thanks Jason I'm sorry thanks Joe and Jason and Amy I just want to sit to add to that I want to thank Jason for speaking on Saturday I think his voice is so important as a leader in our district and our community and I was so
011energized by all the young people that were there and it did make me feel hopeful like Sean said because they are actively engaged in this movement and as a school district we're in the business of education and I actually feel that schools are an ideal place to facilitate the conversations we need to have to make the changes that need to occur so I think that as a school board and as a district we have a unique opportunity to provide opportunities for our young people to make changes but as a school board and a district we also you know have a responsibility to make sure we are providing an equitable education and that we are making sure that all of our students are socially and emotionally healthy and I think that this gives us even more
012reason to check in on our black students on their social and emotional health but I also want to thank Sean for being such a great leader in this work he has prioritized Rachel equity in our curriculum and I know that that will continue to be a priority of his in the district and I just wanted to mention that as an example the educational March for justice which is scheduled for this Saturday I think is a great example of our district providing educational opportunities for the community to learn about the history of african-americans and black families that lived in our community and as a hands-on activity for people of all ages so so like I said I just think as a school district we have such a huge responsibility but also are in a ideal situation
013to provide change and opportunities to facilitate conversation with our young people thank you Thank You Stacy others maybe I saw somebody else's hand anybody else want to say anything go ahead Lily I just I didn't know we were gonna have an opportunity to say something so I don't want to just kind of off the top of my head I even gonna say a goodbye real quickly in a bit so I'll say a little something it just happens to be part of my goodbyes but yeah I mean I think you all I hope that you know that had I prepared I I care about this very deeply and I'm committed to it so had I prepared a statement you would have like would have heard a mouthful so that's all Thank You Lily Gary go ahead
014thanks Joe I just wanted to say two things really quickly kind of relating to Monday's event number one told Jason that's I was starting to have to hear him talk about the things that you talked about that he's experienced I also told them that I admired that he did so for sure there's a lot of that that's not hard so I appreciate that the other thing that I was thinking about on this this day you know a little while some of us have to say an oath and in that that oath to be sworn in as a board member it talks about defending the Constitution when you're a lawyer you're in law school and you like read about the Constitution and all these things you think you know what they mean and you think you
015know that that phrase it sounds very patriotic and maybe even a little bit try to defend the Constitution but it's just it kind of takes on new meaning right now and to be honest a painful way that we have that Duty that we need to be thinking about because there's some people that have not done it and we need to you don't be thinking about that as an example defending the Constitution in all of the freedoms that it expresses so that really struck me I guess I didn't remember saying that before in my Board of Education but defending the Constitution is part of it for all of us and so that's when I say that that's going to take on a heavier and a more impactful meeting tonight thank you Gary and I think it
016did anybody else want to say anything I think everybody spoke Adam you didn't speak but you're good I'm gonna I'll do it during student communications well there's not there's not a Sal ittle bit different because there's not really student communication so this but yeah sure all right then I'll go ahead now I did it was I wanted to talk a little bit about the protests and just the power of students and I think now would be a good time this month is any and so I did want to thank grace mom and Laura par burlesque you and Brooke Becker and and all the folks who helped out with planning the protest and who did such an amazing job I thought it was really successful and it was amazing to me not only because it was
017the first time that I had seen a lot of my friends in a long time but the fact that so many of them were there and that it didn't feel like I was with my community and that I was standing there with my community and marching with my community which I think was really important and and for me was it was it was important knowing that and knowing that they were there with everyone else and then we were standing together and I thought it again hearing the voices of alumni was really powerful and and hearing their stories is is the best thing that that we can do as a community and hearing stories of oppression is important and it's what we need to do and so I think that that was just another great example
018of how our community is rallying behind those voices and the last thing I wanted to talk about was just the idea of why student voice is so important and and I think that that's you know this is part of the reason that I'm here this is part of the reason that you all went along with this process was because you all know that student voice is powerful and it can create change and it just made me think of my cultural leadership journey and when we visited Birmingham Alabama and we learned about the Children's Crusade and I wanted to talk a little bit about that that on May 2nd 1963 seventh grader Wendell and Sanders helped organize her classmates and hundreds of kids from high schoolers down to first graders who joined her in a massive
019walkout defying the principle of Parker high school who attempted to lock the gates to keep students inside and that day was a turning point in the history of protests and a turning point in what we know as what it means to march and there was a new leader in protest there was a new leader and and walkouts and our students that was young people people who know how to change and I think that now more than ever it's important that we recognize those students who are trying to do that today and so I just want to say that I appreciate them and then I will stay in there with them thank you and again I thank you for everybody's comments again we can't we we will have a discussion at some point but not right
020now so we're going to move on to public comments I do want to just say one thing about public comments you know we often don't read kind of the fine print of the public comments but this time I feel the need to because we had a number of public comments that we can't read tonight so if a public it says very clearly I'll read to you speakers comments are not to address the board concerning specific personnel issues at a meeting a comment will not be read if it's addressing a personnel issue so we do have a couple folks who submitted a public comment around that so I just want to honor that we can't read those certainly the administration will take note and respond accordingly but we can't read those in public so having said
021that I do think there is a public comment or two that we can read but I just kind of want to say that for a sake of the public so I don't Shawn or Chris if you're gonna read the public comments we can't yeah correct yeah so there is there's one public comment left to read and that's from arjan Fahey and that comment reads as follows there are not enough words to describe my outrage and disappointment in the complacency of the school district of Clayton in Clayton high school in its treatment of black students as a non black student of color I am incredibly heartbroken to know that there were countless instances of covert and overt forms of racism bigotry and oppression of my fellow black students and friends throughout my 13 years in the
022district and their concerns were ignored or they were silenced the core values of the school district to Clayton our excellence trust inclusiveness innovation and accountability a district is not excellent when they are not meeting the high expectations of their community to do more to actively combat racism and at school our district is not trustworthy when students and that feel comfortable speaking out for the injustice as they face year after year knowing at the school will do nothing to address the situation our district is not inclusive when our honors and AP courses are not diverse and inclusive for all individuals and support their academic development not discourage them from achievements our district is not innovative by relying upon an anonymous tipline in anti bias training that is clearly not effective that is not actively being practiced
023our district is not accountable to its actions when it refuses to address serious problems of racism bigotry and take the appropriate measures to sanction each student's teachers or staff and engage in any acts of racism or bigotry one way in which our district can make amends changes in this conversations about race and identity is by revising the k-12 history and literacy curriculum to include a more accurate representation and less whitewashed version version of African and african-american history curricula not only should be accurate and comprehensive but must be made part of the core curriculum so every Clayton student is educated on the painful yet essential facts of American history students should not just learn about Martin Luther King jr. but also Marcus Garvey w eb d w eb boys Booker T Washington and countless other civil
024rights leaders black artists we just musicians actors athletes inventors and businesspeople students should know who Henrietta Lacks is and how racism pervades all institutions in American society education health care housing banking the criminal justice system voting and more Clayton students deserve to have a thorough and accurate education when it comes to these incredibly important topics by not providing education to them early in their educational careers the district is not only complicit in the ignorant ignorance of its students but it is not developing leaders who shape the world through independency creativity and critical thinking as it's so envisions now is the time for radical change and to set an example for the rest of school districts in st. Louis and across the state of Missouri if you choose to ignore please at this time just know
025that we will not give up this fight we will not back down until all of these changes are made every power change every administrative decision every substantive discussion that district officials elected or otherwise has about these issues needs to be publicly summarized and available full of you so that all concerned students staff parents and alumni can hold this district accountable to its paws thank you thanks Chris for reading that and thanks arjan for your public comment so we're actually going to move to the election role next but we're going to do kind of election results and recognition of service which is 3.01 and so I guess before we move to kind of the actual results I know Lily you would I certainly want to thank you again for your service I know Kristin couldn't make
026this meeting but would thank her also I know Lily you said you wanted to say something so I would certainly give you an opportunity say something now for lolly thank you boy this has been a long last term extended a few extra months and a week so thank you Joe I want to say congratulations to Kim and Gary and David and please do great work for our students in our community remember that each of you has an equal voice an equal vote and equal responsibility and each of you were elected by our community make sure that you have the information that you need that you're fully informed to make the best decisions for our kids you Bert you each bring your own valuable perspective and share it with the community and the board I'm leaving
027the board to allow myself more time and focused energy on anti-racism work in both my professional and community life I promise several of you that I would help you to continue to push the district forward on the racial on our racial equity and I will follow through on my promise Jason said something similarly we kind of toss around the terms like using a racial equity lens or equity as a through-line and all of our work we all need to push to get beyond the words and make this a reality we need to disrupt the status quo so I will see you all very soon at your next meeting you plan to revisit the racial equity initiative and I plan to be there thank you Thank You Lilly so we're gonna move on to the actual
028I'm gonna read out the results and so the results just as they appear on the agenda are David gulick with 1213 votes at 20% Kimberly or kim hurst with 1432 votes at 23.6% Nathaniel Millett 792 votes 13.1% Gary Pearson 1422 votes the 23.4% and Christine win 1204 votes 19.9% so of course that means the winners are david gulick Kim Hurst and Gary Pearson so congratulations to all three of you so what we do it's a little bit different for a board meeting we actually adjourn this board to what we call scene a day and the superintendent right Shawn takes over the both the swearing-in of the three folks right Gary Reese wearing in and Kim and David right so David you can come on you can come on and then we actually move to as
029a new board we move to the election of officers in our board orientation so I guess we need we probably need a motion to move into seen it the adjournment the board to seeing a day right alright I move that the board of education adjourn Sina da that good okay it's been moved in seconded any questions or comments all in favor aye any opposed okay passes 6-0 so Shaun it's yours thank you Joe so according to state law we shall swear in the new board members within 14 days of the election and so the first step that we're going to do is to swear in our new board members and we're gonna go in alphabetical order so the first one is David so David what we're going to do is have you come on the
030screen raise your right hand I see you now raise your right hand and then you're gonna repeat after me the oath of office okay and first of all I just want to say thank you I I want to say congratulations everyone I know how much work you put into this and truly appreciate the time and energy that you did did this dedicate it to this and it's for the the children of our district and I also want to say thank you to Chris and Nate to for all the time that they put into this and and we'll definitely be relying on their voices in the future in different ways so so David raise your right hand I David gulick I David ghuli do solemnly affirm that I'm at least 24 years of age do solemnly
031affirm that I'm at least 24 years of age that I'm a citizen of the United States that I'm a citizen of the United States and a resident taxpayer of the School District of Clayton and a resident taxpayer of the school district of Clayton in the in st. Louis County in the state of Missouri County Missouri and that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the state of Missouri and that I will support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of Missouri and that I will abide by and uphold and that I will abide by and uphold the school district of Clayton board member code of ethics the school district acclaimed board member code of ethics and will faithfully conduct myself in office and will faithfully conduct myself in office
032congratulations David welcome to the board thanks Sean appreciate it next we have Kimberly Hurst so Kim if you could please raise your right hand aye Kimberly hearse I can really hurt do solemnly affirm that I'm at least 24 years of age do solemnly affirm that I am at least 24 years of age that I'm a citizen of the United States that I'm a citizen of the United States and a resident taxpayer of the school district of Clayton and a resident taxpayer of the School District of Clayton in st. Louis County and in st. Louis County in the state of Missouri in st. Louis County in the state of Missouri and that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the state of Missouri and that I will support the Constitution of the United
033States and the state of Missouri and that I will abide by and uphold the school district of Clayton school board member code of ethics and that I will abide by and uphold the school district of Clayton board member code of ethics and will faithfully conduct myself in office and will faithfully conduct myself congratulations Ken welcome to the board thank you and then Gary Pearson and Gary's our incumbent and so Gary if you could please rise your race your right hand sorry I Gary Pearson hi you're a Pearson do solemnly affirm them at least 24 years of age we solemnly affirm that I am at least 24 years of age that I'm a citizen of the United States and a resident taxpayer of the School District of Clayton that I'm a citizen of the United States
034and a resident taxpayer of the School District of Clayton in st. Louis County in the state of Missouri in st. Louis County in the state of Missouri and that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the state of Missouri and that I will support the constitution of the state of Missouri and the United States and that I will abide by and uphold the school district of Clayton boardmember code of ethics and then I will lie by and have pulled this list reclaim board member of code of ethics and I will faithfully conduct myself in office and I will faithfully conduct myself congratulations Gary welcome back to the board thank you I love all the clappy things that are on the so we now have sworn in our board members so as the
035next step is the next step of this process is the election of the officers and so at this point as the superintendent I'm going to call for nominations for the President of the Board of Education and so do we have any nominations for that role Sean can you guys hear me okay yeah yes okay I've got a bad reception over here but um I I would like to I move that we just that we keep the officers the same as we had last year so so your motion was to keep the officers and the same positions as last year so that would be Jo as president Amy Rubin is vice president Jason Wilson as treasurer and Gary Pearson is secretary did I hear a second second any discussion yeah so you know I've been on
036the board for two years and I've seen a lot of things in the way of plans and I said before a lot of worries about equity and things that we're going to do but yet and still we kind of wallow in this space of complacency and things aren't necessarily being done and this is not a knock toward any one person when it's more so more so at night torn the ethos around the school board acclaim and the community as well as the overall arching community so I feel like this thing with them it can be tough to sit here for another year and and possibly watch things not change we hit another history of things not getting better now that's not on all levels that's not an indictment on one person by them for one
037reason or one regime or term where our principal was in charge this is just a aggregate perspective of what's transpired over the years and I think a lot of you all would if you said and thought about could agree with them things have not changed test scores for african-american kids have not gotten better racism is the same as it was maybe 10 years ago 15 20 and still these issues and keep popping up on a consistent basis now it just look like it with Jewish kids with kids that are Asian kids that are of all ethnicities all states and then it's complement for learning in the classroom it prohibits did this of us I have a thing I'm famous that's not my saying but steel sharpens steel so if everyone is it if everyone is
038he great is it at the best how can you be how can we get gonna do better steel sharpens steel so we're all not playing at the same pace we're all on the same field but a fourth grade basketball for example do we all can't be playing our best game and once again this is not an indictment toward Joe Miller or anyone else so important this is just this is just me saying that I know history history hasn't changed and I want to see the ball get rolling on a lot of different things a lot of things that we talked about another thing I want to mention is that we do these is true your studies so we have new people coming on the board we start a study in nineteen and so when summer
039rolls off the board nests here next study comes up for review in 21 and now could possibly be no one who's familiar with the study sometimes it has to do with race equity especially the word equity and it's nice terminology loose terminology is on the word equity and then becomes tertiary or quaternary in terms of importance and now all of a sudden today for the last two weeks everyone is now engaged in the idea of race being at the forefront and very important well I want to make sure that it is I will I would like to be the president of the board I think I can help steer the district in the right direction help Sean tell the board it's tough doing it from this position now that I can't do enough that it
040can't be done this is nine indictment or Joe Joe Miller or Jerry or cam or David Stacey and I mean you know this is just me saying we gotta make some stuff happen and I you hear me yes okay all right so all right so my point is is that we gotta make some stuff happen and I want to be a part of that process I'm gonna be an impact player I want to be on a team that has it they had impact on the long-term effects of the school district so that's where I am okay thank you Jason I am you know since I'm sitting in the chair also I find this process on that were that's a day people are voted in that the nurses and they are they're forced to vote on
041a process that they're really not privy to firsthand I find that to be problematic because they may not know they may be going off of a relation should be half or something and that doesn't bode well for obsessive governing so swim insurance in it one last thing start with and you need to apologize okay community so I I appreciate your comments Jason I I guess what I would just have to say and I just have to respectfully say that I will say that Ike it's hard for me to hear that saying nothing is being done and I think that I have to represent the work of the administrators who are sitting in this room I was sitting in this meeting and the teachers that are working each day and I will say that yes we
042we have we we have heard some really difficult things recently but it can't negate all the work that we have been doing up to this point and I can't can't sit and just say that nothing has been done and so I just have to say that because it's not true I think we've we definitely have done a lot and have had some difficult conversations we're not we haven't arrived but I will just I just feel like I need to say that night so I'm not saying that we need to get caught on the one thing I said of people things not getting done ever that's not what I'm saying I'm saying that we have put in the world we have put in some work we've done some great research we have move the ball if
043it's a hundred yards we move the ball some inches though if this were if this were white students in any way not getting what they need to be successful we would be up in arms and I said so what's funny is what's interesting is that this is not this is nothing new this is nothing really that I haven't said at the board table I think when we first sat down and saw the scores the test scores the accident American children black and brown compared to everybody else we were all like someone who said I'm not saying the quote unquote but like this is confort with the course and I know how it is around the nation and that's me that's intolerable I don't know it is not a game I play is there anything I
044do in life where I can accept less than average and so I'm not saying that that that you all administration has been doing some great work John told you all yeah on your way I think I think highly of all of you so exacting Holly of general this is just our conversation kind of coming to light but I've told you that but that's not that's not the point point is is that I want to push I want to push on the board to really get more awesome everybody there's no reason why a school district with the resources that we have and the privileges that we have we're not just lightly better we should be head and shoulders above the rest and leading the charge in education as well as innovative innovative stuff and jerking other
045folks who are doing good things and other areas with lesser resources I'm not saying we have it they're saying we should to be doing more of that and there's you know it doesn't just she says we're a wealthy district doesn't mean we have all the answers folks out there and we're doing some phenomenal things so we didn't test the patent bill except some amazing things and some amazing areas we do enjoy some cool things Brent were there doing some cool things but we're talking about Clayton and we're talking about being leaders and being a head and shoulders above the rest and in one one area I think we need compression if it will affect for impact all the areas is having an impact in african-americans experiences at the school specifically in education so this is
046not once again it's not an indictment hold me down on one world on one thing I said it's applying a fault you know you find at home nor anyone just hear me out and understand what I'm saying oh I want to know I appreciate it well yeah I want to be affected so the reality is we're in a motion right now and I think that there was a second and we're still in discussion and so any other discussion to the motion yes so I appreciate comments I will speak in favor of the motion of keeping officers or essentially appointed same officers and same roles I had for the last year I gave that a lot of thought myself in terms of what I wanted my rule to be on the board and felt like I
047had the capacity to to the end to the board and to what I thought the talents and the strengths and each of us were in terms of that leadership I don't think that I make a perfect secretary I don't think any of us are perfect or anything officers old but you feel confident and the roles and the experiences that we have I didn't want also clarify one thing as it's not on our agenda it was it was brought up why we would do this at this meeting that is actually according to the statute that the board has to organize itself but I liked at least of a president and vice president you don't have to like the creditor and the secretary so we don't have to do that part tonight and the motion that was
048offered included that I'm in favor of the motion have you heard the criticism of the things you're saying dates I'm still in a row putting your role in any other discussion yeah I want to say something too so Jason I appreciate your comments I'm a little surprised by them but I appreciate them I'm still in favor of the motion I think we ought to have the continuity I think it's helpful for the district to have a continuity I agree there's some changes we can make but I respectfully disagree with your decision and putting yourself forward as president any other discussion so all in favor can you show by your hand all in favor okay all opposed okay so the motion passes 6-1 and so we're going to maintain the current officers Joe Miller president Amy
049Rubin vice president Jason Wilson treasurer and Gary Pearson as the secretary and so Joe at this point I'm going to turn back over the meeting to you great Thank You Sean and thank you everybody I think actually at this point we would have done kind of some facsimile stuff but since the officers are the same we don't need to do 5.01 I don't think right there right we need to sign anything yes so yeah we just move on to the orientation and I think Sean so really this piece is just as a reminder to the board typically what we would do is we'd have somebody from the outside come in we had somebody from MSBA come in last time last year we've had attorneys come in but we thought that rather than have somebody come
050in virtually we kind of have a discussion amongst ourselves and an orientation amongst ourselves however what we would do is hopefully do that later so we have kind of uh Shawn's going to talk a little bit about kind of the first part and then and then Amy and myself will talk a little bit about kind of being a board member so I guess I'll turn it back over to you Shawn okay so one of the things that I wanted to do first was to I shared a folder with all of you and I know sometimes it's hard to look at documents and to also be on the screen at the same time so I am actually going to try to share my screen with you but what I want to do is start off by
051just saying that we're gonna spend some time just kind of launching us and as joe said that this is just an initial or onboarding type of meaning just to kind of get you acclimated to being a new board member but what we've decided that it's really important that every year we give our board the opportunity for learning and to come back to some of these concepts that are so imperative to be an effective board member and so I so what we're gonna do now is one of the things that's really important is that we have norms for how we're going to work with one another and just making sure that we're adhering to those when we meet with one another and so I am and Chris I'm gonna try to share my screen and hopefully
052this works so I'm having a hard time doing that but I'm gonna turn it I'm gonna go ahead and and if you wanted to look in your shared document the norms that we have been working by are demonstrating respect for one another and our mutual learning making sure that we're contributing making sure we're actively participating and demonstrating collegial relationships I think that one of the things that's really important is that as a board you have the ability to debate issues have the ability to not always agree on something but it's really important that you maintain that collegial relationship we want to make sure that our meetings are purposeful organized and include adequate time for processing and then also practicing that skill of listening with intent and making sure we're sharing the airspace one of the
053one of the things that we did this year as a board was spend some time reading a book called the governance core by Davis Campbell and Michael fullan and this was an opportunity for our board to do some common learning around what it means to be a highly effective board and when we read this book together this year one of the things that we felt was really important was really making sure that we were working with a moral imperative and that moral imperative is that relentless commitment to learn to the learning of all of our students no matter their zip code no matter their race no matter their background is that we are committed to their learning and growth that moral imperative also includes that it also includes that we lead with collective action and
054so when we're when we're discussing and debating we may not always agree upon something but once with something is decided upon we move forward collectively and support whatever decisions made by the board and then that moral imperative is something that always drives our decisions so some of the examples that are given as part of this book is that a moral imperative might be that all students achieve and we will not allow for disparities and achievement all students will have quality teachers and all students will be have a safe and healthy learning environment safe meaning both physically and emotionally and so when full and wrote when I've seen full and talked sometimes a couple times about this book is that it's always having us come back to that moral imperative at every decision that we're making
055and that when we are when we are disagreeing about something if we always come back to that common moral imperative about what's in the best interest of our students that will help move our district forward the other thing that's really important as part of this work was happening that governance mindset and when we're thinking about a governance mindset is that the decisions we make we have to understand that they impact other things that are happening within the district those decisions all of our decisions are intertwined and us truly effective system is one where decisions permeate throughout the entire system we also need to make sure that we have a strategic focus and when we talk about strategic focus is that we have measurable goals and measurable steps towards those goals that as a board member
056you always come to the table as a learner first and making sure that you are taking time to learn about programs learn about issues learning about what's happening in the district so that way you can have to make the best decision possible and then also just as a an elected official knowing that that public manner that you have that our students are looking to you to be a model and our citizens are looking to you to be representatives of their voices as a district we are constantly needing to push ourselves from being what we call an excellent school district to a transformational district and we are in you are joining the board at a time when you have the opportunity for me to be true leaders of change and when we are talking about the
057next steps of our of our strategic plan we are looking at doing things differently than we've ever done in the past in terms of providing personalized learning approaches for our students making sure that each student feels safe and valued and also making sure that we're doing whatever is possible to maintain the social emotional well-being of our students and I shared with you some examples of the action steps that we are going to be taking as part of our strategic plan and one of the proposals that I am gonna present to the board tonight is that I want to set up new structures to the board and and you collaboratively develop them where we have an advisory that's connected to the strategic plan and that advisory would be coming looking at the goals looking at the
058measurements attached to those goals and then we would then that would inform the work at the board table the other thing that I am gonna propose that we look at differently is that starting a new advisory around equity and race and in this folder that I shared with you we had a summary report of our current equity and excellence summary report that speaks to some of the work that we're doing around racial equity within the district and I want to share with you that the way that we designed this report is that it's based on that content a continuum that we've been using that is around where we want to be as a district and our district is once to be a transformational district we don't want to be at the end where it's status
059quo when we're not doing anything we don't want to stay at a place where we're just building awareness we don't want to just have pockets of sustained success like few things we want to have a system change and so there are proposals in here and a focus ere though the areas are focused on those systemic steps that we feel are necessary for us to really make some changes around our work around racial equity and I think that one of the things that we need to do is be even more explicit about it when this initiative started in 2016 that was the best thinking at our the time and our focus was on african-american students because we saw that there is disparities in our data and there was disparities in representation in our programs and we
060initiated different steps and focus areas that were around five different dimensions and we have been taking steps towards those but one of the things that we do need to do differently is that we need to be more explicitly focused on systems that promote institutional racism and we've been talking about breaking cycles and doing things differently and we are completely committed to doing things differently and I think that this and so the other proposal that I have is that we will start a new board advisory around equity and race and that we'd have board members and community members that are on there that are going to hold us accountable to these goals and and I think that the initiative needs to be written rewritten and we need to figure out what are those goals that are
061going to drive us into the future and so connected with our strategic plan when we're talking about equitable experiences this document that I've shared with you is the steps moving forward towards how we look at that equitable approach for our students and we really have to be very explicit about dealing with racism and really promoting anti racism within our district and those aren't just words those are what we need to do and we are we are committed to that and so I'd ask the board to take a look at that we're gonna make this document public tomorrow and put it on the website so people can start seeing some of the things that we're working towards but so as a as a board when we're talking about your responsibilities it's about holding us accountable to
062that strategic work holding us accountable to making sure that we have the right measurements in place holding us accountable to make sure we're having those action steps and the way we're approaching the strategic plan is that we don't want to develop one that is going to sit on a shelf for three years it's gonna be one that we keep coming back to and it's evolving and it's an evergreen model where we're reviewing it we're revising it and we're making sure that it's evidence informed and so so we wanted just to make sure that you've got a little bit of a little bit of grounding in what we're doing and so we move forward I would ask that you take a look at some of those documents Amy and Joe we're going to talk a little
063bit more about what work we have been doing in the boards development and then we're also gonna give you some homework at the end just for us to do some processing but I really do think that in order for this board to come together very cohesively we need to be together it's hard for us to have this two-dimensional type of meeting and we can't have time for really strong interactions and so we were intentional about pushing back our orientation to a point where we could be together and we could collaborate and we could talk and in a way that's going to be more highly effective so I'm gonna stop right there because I've said a lot and just seeing if you had any questions before I turn it over to Amy and Joe yeah I
064guess I'll ask a question I mean my first question is who's gonna hold it accountable like we're gonna we're gonna make some stay on task we continue to revisit this on a consistent basis who's gonna hold us accountable to that I think that our community but also we have to hold ourselves accountable and so we have to keep coming back and asking the questions like one of the things that we've heard this year when we did our equity report 8:00 in in March was that we don't take enough time to come back and have these conversations and so we feel like if we have a structure that has community members on it students parents and board members that is going to be a mechanism for holding ourselves accountable and also giving us direction in which
065way we would ago so I appreciate that that's a great answer actually that's a good point Shawn I guess I guess I guess my question is interesting doing so like where has it been prior and what why do we think it's going to be effective now going forward we've been talking about this for the longest yeah I'm just saying nothing and once again this is not enough toward the idea you know I'm all for it I just want to make sure we have a dialogue I don't want to always be the one talking you know be labeled as a guy who's only talking about race but I would say that there is this work has taken several different iterations so when it first started we had a steering committee that group of people came together
066and came up with the focus areas for what we wanted to do in terms of the dimensions and then we started with that that steering committee was in place for a few years but but I would say is that sometimes our best ideas kind of need to be revised and and revisited in order to make sure that they actually are having they're being effective at at some point I feel at one point I felt like that that steering committee was more centered on just reporting out versus taking action and an advisory board you think it's more around keeping the board on the making sure the board is truly informed of the work that's happening making sure the board has voice to the work that's happening making sure community members have voice to that and then
067it's basically kind of just a new iteration of the work that we've done but III think that this has been something that's been an on and you see all the documents that we've come forward with and that we've tried to make this a focus and I know people feel like the word through line may not be a an effective word but through line is that every decision we make has to have that has to also say say is this in the best interest of our students is this in the best interest of our black students isn't the best interest of their learning and their opportunity so I would say that it's just a different way of thinking and I think that we you know the the initiative that we started in 2016 needs to be
068revised and I think that we need to think about what are the goals that the board and that was a board directive at that time so the board needs to be thinking about what was what direction we need to go now so that way we can feel like we're moving forward to collectively and together all in the same direction I guess I guess what I'm thinking is you know you know we won't make exercise the idea of it by writing amazing pieces on documents that explain what the three line looks like well I mean I'm just looking you know I want to make sure that we are going to implement like you just said tactic right so there's an action oriented directives on the back end of all this and kind of hard to have
069this conversation on his own man but like yeah I mean let make sure this is actually oriented let's just I mean I honestly feel like Shawn that we've done a lot of stuff kind of already we kind of already have a good blueprint I guess my question is is initially just a question like what are we going to do like what low-hanging fruit things can we do right now to ensure the public that we're gonna crack down on the idea of discrimination and racism especially when it comes to ethnicity like what little hanging fruits out there right now for example like I don't know I can um I'm just talking some stuff out so don't hold me accountable for this for life teachers for example if something happens only men you know oh no the
070automatic suspension when they'll pay it's an investigation I mean really just trying to because these are these are non-negotiable right I think I think discrimination and racism it's so violent it's a non-negotiable and that when it happens we need it we need to treat it as such so what low-hanging fruit similar larger said than anything rather than saying but what no here it is out there yeah that we can implement you know rather fast that's more hastily but rather fast can assure people that we are trying to make the right decisions out of beyond the fact that we're going to do what you just proposed which is so let me just say something I'm Jason I I love what you're saying and I think you're right I'm worried right now that we didn't we haven't
071um this was this topic was not really on the agenda for tonight we're supposed to be doing the onboarding and we didn't post it publicly so I'm wondering Joe and Carrie if this is a problem that were going down this Rick I think it's an important rabbit hole but I'm just wondering procedurally if it's problematic that were without posting it for the public that we're going down this rabbit hole tonight I think that's a fair point I mean we're not its board orientation rice listed its board orientation and we're we're going to a different discussion so I do think we have to be careful we can have that discussion we can post it we can but it's not really fair to the public just you know in bad it feels like a discussion that a
072lot of people might wanna let's be able to listen to is what I guess what what I'm yeah and and my intention and including this information in the orientation documents is that I feel like it's important for the understand the strategic direction we're going and also just to know that that equity and the conversation about racism has to be part of this conversation and so I apologize if I was the one that I that inserted that but I just felt it was important that we made this a part of knowing the direction where we're going as a district and with the boards oh right no I mean it's obviously it's super important I just don't want to us be talking about something and then our community isn't able to hear what we're talking about I
073mean maybe to that point I did want to clarify I think you said this Shawn and and you're talking about the folder of in the folder of information that you Pro but at the board members there's a report about there's a number of documents including report equity and sort of a progress report 20/20 and reports of stuff or something yeah and that is what you said is going equity and excellence from excellent equity an excellent summary so I was trying to use a title that I couldn't pull up that's what you said is going to be made public but has not been made public yet yeah and so I'm gonna we're gonna we're committed to putting that on our website and similar to the other reports that we've done but I just wanted the but
074we told the board that we would have something by today and wanted to - do you have that I think what I was going to do is give it as homework as future discussion as we think about an advisory and also wanted to get some input later on down the road about what that advisory would look like but I just wanna it was an update about really a summary of where we've been this year and we're removing next so and then and that's basically appreciate it was so at this point I wanted to see if Amy and Joe wanted to talk about what it means to be highly effective boards and thinking about some of the ideas that we've had and some of the work that we've done around protocols to be highly effective so
075thanks Shauna I'll jump in and again it's hard to you know if you looked at the presentation that Shawn was kind of starting to go through you would see there's kind of four points he talks about highly effective boards first they're student-centered so hopefully that's obvious right that's our mission we should all be focused first and foremost and so proud by the way that we have a student on our board I think that's awesome you know second that we can debate without compromising collegiality so we're not always going to agree we shouldn't always agree but we do have to move forward with one voice and that we use protocols right so that we we have certain agreements of how we're going to work together and I and I just want to say a couple other
076things maybe that aren't in the in the presentation that Shawn sent out you know one is where it's very interesting time in the history of Clayton school boards by the way we're not only a new board but we're in terms of years of service we're one of the newest boards certainly that I can think of right there is nobody among us that is in their third term everybody is in there which is really interesting right Amy is the most senior member of this board moving into her sixth year and I am the next most senior moving into my fifth year and that's pretty unique for Clayton right Clayton has had folks 20 years nine years 12 years 15 years and so it actually gives us an opportunity right to you know we you know we've
077talked about some of the historic stuff and that's a great benefit but it actually is a great opportunity right because we're all relatively new and so I just I want to honor that right and note that right if you all haven't noted that I will note that so that I I think we want to use that as a positive you know and then you think about the role of a board member right you know we're overall fiduciaries strategic you know we're policy governance and Sean talked about the governance core book which i think is great will part of the homework yeah if folks haven't read it you know so I don't know Kim and David if you're aware of it but if you know we'll get you a copy of it and you can read
078it and we'll we'll kind of talk about that as we move forward but I I want also note that you know in Lily in said this a little bit in her goodbye remarks but you know we each have one vote right we're one of seven right no no one person right we work as a collective right which means that it takes four five six or seven votes right no one of us will get anything done right we have to work together and that's important right that's really important and I just want to honor that honor the relationship but also honor the you know collective working together it doesn't have to be seven oh but it's got to be four three five two six one or seven all right they all pass they all count the
079same in terms of it moves forward right and then just a couple other things I'll say and then I'll let Amy say anything she wants but I also want to note that in the governance core book says this and I and I believe it very strongly you actually can't take your board member hat off not in public not in private it's not the way it works right so when I go talk to my tenth graders math teacher and I say you know what I'm just Joe Miller a parent mm-hmm don't work that way I'm Joe Miller a parent who happens to be on the Clayton school board and we have to remember that right and be sensitive to that right that is and it's not to say I'm not going to advocate for my own
08010th grader at Clayton high school my youngest child are well now 11th grader I guess moving till 11th grade but but I have to realize and recognize that and I would ask each of us to write we're not we need to be respectful that you you know you're a board member right we're all board members and then just the final thing I want to say is it really is the 7 of us plus our superintendent right it's a gang of and and actually really eight of us with a student rep right so nine of us overall seven electives student rep and our superintendent and I don't know if any of you are familiar with the social discipline window but it talks about to four with and not right so our relationship with our superintendent by
081the way which is our only employee is with right we want to work with our superintendent right we don't do things for and we don't do things to and we don't blow off our superintendent and we don't go around our superintendent right that is that's part of the deal right it's a wish right and if I'm happy to send that to you it's the kind of restorative justice practice philosophy that we work with not to not not and not for and that speaks to kind of the final part which is the protocols you know you all right so David and Kim as I look at you on my screen you were at the high school library when we were talking about protocols right and hopefully the protocols are with the board too so we need
082to actually finalize some of the onboarding and protocols but what was part of our challenge because we hadn't codified some of the protocols from before quite honestly a couple of the protocols we created felt like more like two protocols because we had some members who weren't following right kind of the general norms of working together and so the hope is though that we don't get to that point right we don't need to address that as a board we get to work with one another and so maybe I'll just pause there and see if you have anything to add Amy thanks Joe and Sean I think you guys are both did a great job covering it I the one thing I lay out and I think that Sean or Joe what do you guys mentioned they
083said really you know we were here the reason we do this is for the kids and it's not for you know as a board member it's you know it's not for my kid or your kid or any of our individual kids but it's for every kid that walks through the doors of our school and so when we make decisions it's incumbent upon us as a board member to make that decision in an informed way such that every single kid that walks through our door is going to receive you know an equitable education and a fair education and a top-notch education too so you know there's times I think when you have you might have to you know put your own I don't I don't know you might you put your own what your own wishes
084aside almost for the for the good of the the entirety and what's best for every child but I you know I welcome Kim and David I think that this will probably be one of the most meaningful experiences that you do in your life and I wonder if any if you guys have any questions or at Jason or Stacy or Gary if any of you guys have any have any words of wisdom feel free to to say it I think you guys kind of said it all I hadn't I didn't I wasn't prepared to say anything but I think I think that covers it I lost audio for a little bit song I might have I might have missed a little bit of this but I I just so like you're kind of opening up for
085their other comments one thing that I think I said to both both Ken and Dave and I know I've said it to a lot of other people over the last however many months this campaign was I think that Joe's point about always being a board member and not being able to take that hat off is one of the most for me personally difficult and challenging things and it was the main reason that I was not sure I wanted to do another term for a while because I felt a real tension with that so if that feels like a struggle well you certainly have me to sympathize with that any of you or not just hand David that's the hardest part for me is just just feeling like it and some that I'm not able to
086be as much an apparent because I'm I'm always a board member and that that can set that tension there so I just know that how hard that is Jason you got anything um yeah David Tim welcome aboard again and the main thing is to be yourself you'll be yourself you know it all sounds don't abuse your power and that's what Joe and Amy are trying to convey to you though the abused your power but be yourself for sure and you know be cognizant about what what happens in certain conversations be wise and not to get involved in being is because it does you know we're traveling back to the wrong people all the time it's a very it can be very messy as you can imagine but just yeah just please you know be careful
087about you know how you communicate certain things if something comes out I think Joe and Amy will mention this to you as well as the storm is you know he reaches out to you about a pressing issue you know supply you know refer that email to Joe right to the board so that that Joe could see it and then he can make the proper as a whole comment to that person as opposed to once again speaking out individually for the board because it can be problematic you know on a simple level but on a more serious Magali level as well so all these things you will definitely have no longer time but you just you know the penta that we've given you if you have any questions at all please feel free to reach reach
088out to anybody on the board and yeah that's good acting I thought of something Joe can I say something I just wanted to say to Kim and David first of all welcome to the board and I wouldn't feel like you always have to say something I feel like I spent the majority of my first year listening to a lot and not necessarily speaking as much because I think there is so much to learn from everyone that's been on the board longer than than I have so I just wanted to point that out I think that you'll spend a lot of time this year listening and learning and I don't want you to ever feel pressured to contribute if you don't feel prepared or you're not ready to but if you certainly have questions like Jason
089said come and ask any of us that's a great point Stacy yes so those all great points thank you and what what I want to say too is you know we're trying to improve as a board and make this board as strong as it can and be and I think one of the things that maybe we haven't done recently maybe other boards did it but we haven't is we want to actually offer you each Kim and David kind of a direct mentor so I'm gonna work with you directly Kim as a mentor and David Amy's gonna work with you directly and not that you can't reach out to any of the board members of course you can of course you can but I think that's something we didn't do and maybe should have because even
090to Jason's point there are some simple things like the public sends us an email and not everybody responds because one it can get us in legal jeopardy but two it becomes a public discussion right so the board president responds on behalf of the board right and when you're a new board member you might not know that right or whatever from the small to the large right so Amy and I will work with you even on that if you haven't read the governance core book right we'll can talk to you about that in all other things and kind of help guide you and my hope is as we move forward and have new folks on the board we you know something we talked about again probably something we should have done and some in something all
091of us could have benefited from right that didn't have that so five of us didn't have that but for the two of you and moving forward we want to try to have that right so because I we want you to have that opportunity and I think we also sean talked about homework right and and this is really for the whole board there's a folder of stuff right that Sean sent us and it has everything from a five or six page summary from MSBA on you know kind of a mini tutorial on Robert's Rules and how a you know meeting should run to you know the equity piece to you know the kind of a overall power point on kind of effective boards and strategic plan so the idea is and and and you know we
092have this board orientation document again that you all saw that many of us helped create but we do want to finalize that as we move forward and we purposely waited by the way to have a new board so we purposely waited because we wanted we knew right we were going to have a couple new board members and so you know that's material to have two of seven new and so we want your voice Kim and David and we want everybody else's voice too and we'll have a new student rep too right Adam will roll off so we'll actually have another person too in the fall so maybe I'll just pause there any questions or comments any other questions or comments so I just wanted the board to know that the onboarding document is linked in
093that agenda and you could go to it I've shared it with both David and Kim and then we also purchased these books for you so that way you have them the other thing that we'll have to give you an orientation on is how to use board Docs and board Docs is the the mechanism for us to store all the the information and and you've probably seen the public side of it but there's a board side of it and so we will be giving you some training to get logged in and so you can get access to all the documents which include executive documents as well that are confidential so I think the only thing that I would say is that being on the board you have and it's like a real opportunity for change and
094I think that there's a lot of joy that you can experience and being part of the board as well and I think that there's it's it's a lot of work it's a lot of time it's a lot of prep and it's the hardest volunteer job you'll ever have elected official and but I think that we can really have some fun with this and and and and really think about ways that we can be different and innovative and moving the district forward so I think this is it's it's an exciting time and I don't think you know I mean our next piece really is to move to adjournment but before we do that I do want to say one other thing which is we are gonna have another meeting right yet this because of remember we
095delayed this meeting from the third to the tense what we're talking about because I know actually stacy has a conflict next week so I want you all to check could you have our last meeting because typically what we do is we have a last meeting sometime in June it's usually early June and then we don't meet again until August of course if we had to have an emergency meeting we would call it but typically we take July off and so the question is could you all have our last meeting in two weeks from tonight which would be the 24th would you all be available for meeting our last final meeting because we do need to do some things to close out the year we need to finalize a budget we need to find we need
096to do Sean's review now we'll be in Zek you t'v session by the way we need to vote on a student being on the board and there's probably a couple other kind of things that we need to address right so is the maybe I don't know maybe well since we have everybody together well people put thumbs up if they can do the twenty-fourth can you do the 24th either either way you know in doing old school yeah that's good all right that's good so I'll get it Gary are you good the 24th maybe oh we might just lost Gary all right well tentatively we're gonna go with the 24th we're going to check with Gary cuz we just lost him but as long as Gary can and because we'll do an executive session and then
097a regular board meeting we might need to start that just so y'all know like it's six yeah probably at six or maybe even yeah 5:00 5:30 I think yeah maybe even 5:30 just to do the executive session and then at 7:00 we'd have the open meeting and Gary I don't know if you're back with us can you do the 24th maybe all right well okay so I think that's it again so excited Kim and David to add you to our board fantastic really gonna be cool to have both of your voices really excited so I think we just need a motion to adjourn somebody want to move to adjourn I'll do it and um I move that the board adjourns all right all in favor Hey opposed all right we're adjourned thank you all appreciate
098it a good night thank you