001Good evening. We are glad that you are here. Our pledge leaders for tonight's meeting are from Becky David Elementary School. Uh this might be our largest group ever to lead the pledge at a board meeting, but we are proud to welcome students who are part of the Becky David's Conversational Sign Language Club. They will be signing the pledge of allegiance as we recite it aloud. Later in the agenda for our spotlight presentation, we will learn more about these students and the great work they do in sign club. So I invite you to please welcome uh Adler, Anna, Nicole, Olivia, Lena, Liam, Evelyn, McKenna, Kaylee, Gwyn, Eevee, Anna, Emma, Caroline, or Caroline. Carolyn, uh Auggie, and Ariana. Please welcome them. I invite you all to please stand. >> Make sure you all get in, please. >>
002Yes. And I'll say the first word if you're >> stand to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> No, guys. Thank you. >> Thank you. We'll see you in a few minutes. All right. Um board, before we uh jump into the agenda, uh every single month we've been focusing on our strategic plan. Uh I invite Director uh Harmon to share our vision for where we hope to be in the year 2030. Actually, let's try pause for a second. Thank you. >> Thank you, Ron. Recognized as one of the top 5% high performing districts in the state. >> The employer of choice for talented educators, leaders, and staff. >> Fiscally sound with
003a track record of smart long-term planning. Known for graduating well-rounded students who are equipped with the skills and experiences they need to be successful in the world. >> Celebrated for the work we've done on culture, morale, and ensuring all members of our community feel safe and welcome. >> Trusted by families and the community to make good decisions and do what's best for our students. >> We have created a board agenda for tonight that helps us get closer and closer to those goals. Uh board, I have a motion to approve the agenda for March 19th, 2026 as presented. >> Second. >> Director Pushkar followed by Director Oli. All those in favor say yes. >> Or I. And any post say no. >> Motion passes. Apparently I will read everything that you write down here. >> Uh
004motion passes. >> I have a funny thing. Um we do need to be consistent if we say yay, nay, yes, no. So, >> okay. All those opposed, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose say no. >> Motion passes. >> I >> What are you doing to me, Jane Heer? >> Okay. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Post say nay. >> Motion passes. >> That be consistent. >> I gotcha. Well, we we are consistent here. Jane Hler, I'm going to say your name multiple times for the crowd. All right. Um Okay. Now we have some special recognitions. Um, I'd invite Miss Joles to come forward. >> Thank you, President Blair. And before we jump into recognitions tonight, I want to share that our monthly strategic plan spotlight will be
005presented later in the agenda. We typically start the meeting by highlighting a component of our strategic plan work, but since tonight's update is a longer presentation, we put it under reports so that our special guests do not have to wait so long. So, we will kick off recognitions this evening by recognizing you, our board of education. The Missouri School Board Association has declared the entire month of March as schoolboard recognition month. And so tonight, we celebrate you for the time and dedication that you give to our schools and community. While some believe that you get paid by the district or given red sports cars to drive, we know that you give freely of your time and talents in a purely volunteer capacity. And for many of you, your board responsibilities require the same time and
006attention as a full-time job. We've left some small tokens of appreciation at your seats this evening and hung some community created artwork in the hallway in your honor. So, let's give our board of education a round of applause for all that they do. Next, we are excited to celebrate another state championship team. This is becoming a theme for us at board meetings. We have amazing teams in our district. In January, the Barnwell Middle School mighty miners brought home the first place championship award for the first Lego League state competition. They are now heading to the first Lego League World's Championship in Houston, Texas. Hopefully, some of our patrons were able to visit with the Mighty Miners ahead of the board meeting this evening. And if not, I'll invite you to grab a cupcake on your
007way out later tonight. At this time, I'll invite Barnwell principal Dr. Aaron Thirstston to come forward to share more about the team and this victory. And I think we might get to see the robots in action in just a bit. Dr. Thirstston. >> Thank you. Good evening, members of the board, executive cabinet, and patrons. It is my honor to introduce to you the Barnwwell Middle School award-winning robotics team, Mighty Miners, along with their coaches, Laura Nearling and Previne Kota, and sponsor, Miss Heather Thomasich. Miss Thomasich has worked tirelessly to turn all of our robot robotics teams into an extreme point of pride, not only for Barnwell, but the entire district. And the Mighty Miners are the best of the best, being known for their team spirit, teamwork, and gracious professionalism. At this time, I will
008turn it over to Miss Heather Thomas to share more about the program and this amazing team. quicker. It should be One moment so much this way. If you guys want to move it closer that way, we can get it in the camera. >> If you move it closer to the then they'll be able to get it on camera facing this way. >> Correct. >> Put it up towards Mr. Blair. >> If you move toward us a little bit, the camera will be the people from home will be able to >> four steps forward. >> And then turn and show that to keep going. Keep going. You're good. >> Keep going. >> We got to see it up front close already. >> Keep going. >> Oh my god. >> How much do I have to go?
009>> Keep going. >> Just good. >> Good work. Okay. >> Hello. I am Heather Thomas. robotics sponsor, but my full-time job is I am the gifted education specialist at Barnwell Middle School. I have worked 26 years in this district and plan to be a lifer. So, uh I am privileged today to talk about the robotics program. We are in partnerships with the first programs. Uh there used to be four programs. They used to have junior but here recently they have narrowed it down to three. So, we participate in the first Lego League, which is the LL program. That is kindergarten through 8th grade. There is the first tech challenge, which starts at 7th grade through 12th grade. I do know they have um two FTC teams that we feed into at Francis Hall North. So,
010we're very excited about that. And then we have our first robotics program that is districtwide taking place at Francis Hall High School. and we have all three high schools that participate in those in that program. So, how it all began, I like to tell the story. I promise I'll keep it short, but in the year of 2007 and 2008, I had a couple students who came to me and they're like, Mrs. T, we need a sponsor for our robotics team. And I was like, what do I have to do? They're like, not much. It's like, oh, okay. You just have to show up. I was like, great. This is my 18th year as the robotics sponsor. So obviously I truly believe in this program. You can see from the happy faces that I have over
011all the years. It's been a glorious experience for all of them. First Lego League requires a a maximum of 10 people on the team. And so that is their rule, not my rule. And then we try and accept all levels and all abilities on the robotics team. There are two required coaches that have to be background checked, but also uh yes, they spend tireless amounts of hours volunteering. Mrs. Nearling and Mr. Kota have spent tireless amounts of hours doing that. And then last but not least, we serve anywhere between three and seven teams a year. So you can do the math. It's a lot of students who come through our program. I will tell you as a pride point that out of the 18 years, we have gone to at least 13 state competitions at
012Barnwell and have had either one or two teams that have competed during those 13 years. And this will be our third international competition that we will be participating in these last 18 years. It is exciting. It's all the students. It's definitely not me. So this year for the season we had three teams that participated at Barnwell. The digging dinos, the Mighty Miners, and the Super Splash Bros. Here are our digging dinos at competition that the qualifiers. Here is the Super Splash Bros, which is a household name. So we've had that name many years. And they had the exciting um opportunity. They won second place at the innovation award. And they also won second place for their robot performance award, which is the competition portion where they actually run robot runs on the board and complete
013missions. And of course, our mighty miners here, they won first place in their robot performance with how many points? >> 435. >> I knew they'd knew uh 435 points. And then they also won the first place champions award at the qualifiers. So then we went off to state competition and lo and behold, they won the whole thing for the state of Missouri. So first place state champions award. We want to give a special thank you to Francis Hall School District. We could not be where we are without your support financially and just support from behind the scenes. So, we want to thank you very much for all you do to help support us, our program, and to keep it going after 18 years. So, at this time, I'm going to turn it over to Tis
014Kota, who is our captain, and he's going to tell you a little bit about their innovation project and their robot. So a little background knowledge about our innovation project is the FLL organization they give us each of our FL teams they give us a prompt and the prompt this year was what problems do archaeologists face and what solutions can you have for that? So the catch with that is they don't just give you a problem and you just have to find a solution. You have to do extensive research and interview archaeologists to find a solution yourself. And then after you find a problem, you have to isolate it down to only one problem. You can't do multiple cuz about time. So after you find that one problem, then only then you can have extensive research
015and building to create many prototypes, which you guys can't really see, but that after many iterations and 6 months of work, we have that. I'm not going to say the final because we're probably going to have more iterations. And what our innovation project is, uh, during archaeologist, whenever they find like artifacts or something, they have to log it and scan it before they put it in a museum perhaps. And that takes excessive research over 10 to like 10 months or 10 hours. And so we created a conveyor bot that does it over an hour or maybe 2 hours and that is without any human interaction. So we decided to take more of an AI initiative. So in the 3D scanner, it scans our uh artifact and then it goes through a cleaning process and then
016another camera and then there's the XRF where it scans the material the artifact is made out of and then it goes through another camera which takes it all into the thing. So this entire project is over the course of 6 months which we all contributed in and many different experts we interviewed. And after all of that, we also have to put it all into a script which we have to present it to judges. That by far is the hardest part because we have to condense it all down to 5 minutes. So everything in 6 months to 5 minutes and in that 5 minutes we have to show our what we did in the 6 months, what who we interviewed and our planning stages. But most of all, we had fun throughout this entire journey. And
017we continue to have fun by going to different events like pickle ball and having fun doing projects. Maybe a little bit more than actually doing the thing. >> Yeah. >> Oh yeah. And that's only half of our thing. The other half is our robot. And in our robot, it's the same thing kind of. The FL organization, they give us a kit where it includes Lego missions. And another way to think of these are the kind of like puzzles. So there's different there's 15 uh puzzles that we have to complete in a set amount of time, 2 and 1/2 minutes, which is kind of stressful. And we have to build and design our own robot, which is really hard. And we also have to learn as a team how to code this robot and complete these
01815 different missions. And there's a video that will be showing our robot and so it can give you a better image of what I'm telling you. So that there is a robot and it's kind of hard to see but there's tires on the bottom so it's making it move. >> And so with a robot I kind of like to think of it like those tires are its feet and each one of these are giving it two little arms. So, we're giving it two different arms each time we change it to complete different puzzles. >> So, this is it in action. >> Um, so each one of those is a different puzzle like I said and it's doing these hopefully in the under two and a half minutes. Here's another example. So you can see if
019you noticed that arm is actually different than the ones we had before. So they're interchangeable. So we changed these arms. So during the actual robot game, we changed the arms. And right here is the code. This is all the behind the work of what we do. So this is what we do behind the thing. It's not really shown during the robot thing, but this is in the computer and what we code. That's it. AMAZING. To wrap us up, we really appreciate it. Uh, I do want to give a little shout out. President Blair has been a robotics coach at Bernwell Middle School three years. And so, thank you for volunteering your time to be our robotics coach IN YEARS PAST. COME OFF AND TAKE A PICTURE. >> Giant people in front of us. Okay, come
020back next year. I bet it won't be the same. >> No, no, no. My girls, everybody. >> One more. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. Good job. >> This is a coin. We make these 3D printed coins. So, everyone is >> Thank you guys. >> Yes. All of you get one. >> You're all getting a 3D printed coin from the Mighty Miner. So, thank you so much. A little token of our appreciation. >> Thank you so much. >> That's so cool. Thank you. >> Thank you so much to uh Barnwell >> Robotics. Congratulations on winning state. Good luck in nationals or internationals. >> Thank you very much. >> We'll see you all soon. >> All right, Miss Jules. >> So, we are excited to introduce our student board representative for March. And as you know, the
021purpose of the student board program is to honor and recognize talented students to elevate student voice and provide growth opportunities in the areas of public speaking, leadership, and governance. Students are selected for this honor by their principal with input from the student body. They have an opportunity to prepare and deliver a short speech to the board and public that is focused on their school or the district. So, I will invite Dr. Thirstston back to the podium to introduce our board rep from Barnwell Middle School. It is my privilege and honor to introduce Elijah Dustin, our eighth grade honorary board of education representative from Barnwell Middle School. Elijah is currently ranked number one in his class based on grade point average and accomplishment an accomplishment that reflects his dedication, discipline, and commitment to excellence. He is
022actively involved in National Junior Honor Society, Student Council, Science Olympiad, Jazz Band, Web, Yo-Yo Club, Robotics, FCA, and the Spectre Program. In every one of these activities, Elijah does more than participate. He leads. Elijah is respectful to peers and adults alike. He is a forward-thinking leader who leads by example, often without needing the spotlight. He models kindness, perseverance, and integrity in a quiet but powerful way. He notices when others need support, especially new students, and steps in to help them feel welcomed and included. In the classroom, Elijah takes pride in doing his very best work at all times. He extends help to classmates who may be struggling and demonstrates exceptional teamwork. Elijah has continued to impress his teachers with his drive, collaboration skills, and ability to motivate others. He ensures that every member of his
023group feels heard and valued, an essential quality of true leadership. Beyond his impressive list of accomplishment, what stands out most is Elijah's character. Elijah represents the very best of Barnwell Middle School, we are incredibly proud of him and confident that he will continue to do great things in the future. Thank you, Dr. Thirst, for introducing me, and thank you to the school board for inviting me to come here. Today, I wanted to talk to you about what makes me proud to be a student at Barnwell Middle School. I won't talk about test scores or grades. Instead, I want to share some experiences I've had at the school and what I will remember most about them. The first thing is the NJHS introduction introduction ceremony. At the ceremony, the seventh graders who are being inducted into
024NJHS get to walk up in front of their parents and friends to receive a certificate. I was fortunate enough to be there and speak at the ceremony. While sitting there, you could feel the excitement from the of this that the students had about joining this club, which what what made me proud was seeing how excited everyone was to spend their time in the club focused on helping others. Another great experience I had at Barnall was the mock trial. In this event, the eighth graders the eighth grade spectra students prepare witnesses and argue a case in order to prove who is right. I was one of the students who got to argue and I'll say it was incredible. The amount of work people put in was astonishing and their ability to think on the fly was
025amazing. Overall, the experience made me even more proud to call Barnwell my school. Of course, you can't talk about these events without talking about the people who made them happen. One of these people is Miss Thomasitch. Miss T is the gifted teacher and I've been lucky enough to have her as both one of my teachers and my pack-time teacher since sixth grade. During that time, she has taught me and my classmates everything from how to make a movie and how a court to how a courtroom works. She's done it in a way that keeps it interesting. Above all, she is one of the teachers who makes me proud to be a student at Barnwell. When I look back on my time in middle school, it won't just be the events I remember. It will be
026the people who make the community what it is. Thank you. CONGRATULATIONS. >> Find your seat and she'll talk a little bit about we'll get we'll get Mr. I'm going to get in the window. Okay, >> one more. Okay, big smile. Perfect. Thank you. >> THANKS FOR your director. >> Elijah, welcome. as our student member of the board of education in front of you. You'll have an agenda on an iPad. I'll show you how to use it. You have a microphone. You are welcome to ask any questions. The only thing you can't do is vote until you're elected. That's okay. Um but your input is very valued and very appreciated and we're super grateful that you're here with us. >> Thank you. So, we are moving to the point of patron comments. I have to take
027it back. I apologize. Uh, we have conversational sign club from Becky David Elementary right now. >> Yes. So, you did that intro for me. So, I will just go ahead and invite principal Dr. Ed Beckman and Lana Brewer, a teacher of the deaf and heart of hearing to tell us more about the conversational sign club. Good evening, Board of Education, Executive Cabinet, and Francis Howal Community. My name is Ed Beckman. I am proud principal at Becky David Elementary, home of the stars. And I'm joined this evening by with Landa Brewer. She is our teacher of the deaf and one of our special education teachers. All right, a little bit of a history of the deaf and heart of hearing program at Becky David. We have been the elementary DHH hub in St. Charles County since
028and I didn't realize it was this long but since 1984. So whenever there is a family that has a child that is deaf heart of hearing um they are kind of rooted at to Becky David so we can provide services to make sure that they have the supports they need being someone that is deaf and heart of hearing. Um our building also has American Sign Language interpreters. They provide services in our classrooms. Um, our interpreters are master level interpreters. One is nationally certified and one is actually known as a kota and a kota is a ch a child of a deaf adult. And Lwanda >> Oh, it's two and two. >> Two are national, two are >> two are nationally certified and two are kodas. And Miss Brewer is also a nationally board certified teacher.
029Um, the St. Charles community has signed events throughout the year. We also participate and organize some deaf storyteller events. The picture that's on our slide is actually from last year's event through the St. Louis Storytelling Festival and that involves the entire St. Louis area and today actually we had our first deaf and heart of hearing self- advocacy day. As far as the club at Becky David, it has expanded over the last year. We actually now have two different types of sign clubs. Last year we offered it to grade levels 3, four, and five. We had an overwhelming amount of interest and we kept the program going this year. We added another level where our students had experience last year stayed around for the conversational sign club. Originally our grade level sign clubs were intended for
03015 to 20 students. But this year in our clubs we had 35 third graders, we had 13 fourth graders and 31 fifth graders. And we actually had to do an application process and we'll cover a little bit more of that here later on. and our conversational group had 34 total students. Uh we also had some of our students that are in in our essential skills programs. We had some of our students that had some hand deformities and they were able to fully participate with the club and it also helps with some of the the fine motor and hand limitations they might have. So that's allowed them to communicate even more effectively and feel more included in our school setting. Our overall goal with our sign club, our students are going to say that they want
031to learn sign language, but it's so much more than that. Our overall goal with sign club is to have an inclusive community at Becky David that acknow allows all student abilities to be acknowledged, highlighted, and showcased. I was walking the building in the morning the last couple days, we're having our variety show, and we actually have some of our acts that are going to have sign language as a part of their act. So, walking through the halls in the morning and the kids are nervous and they're preparing and they have their signs going ready for their act and it's so fun and it's inspiring to watch as an educator in the building. Um, some other stats that we have uh with our sign club. Um, our students in their 6 to 8 weeks that we
032have our grade level sign clubs, they're learning more than 300 signs and it could even be as close to 500 different signs. Um, as far as the vocabulary they're learning, they're learning the alphabet, numbers up to a 100, colors, days of the week, months of the year, weather, animals, food, verbs, family members, and the list goes on. Um, it's not only just learning the vocabulary and skills, but it's also immersing ourselves into teaching some deaf culture. And if you noticed at the end of the pledge, they were also clapping with uh American Sign Language. um they are playing activities and games which you're going to see here in a second with a video that we have provided. And once again, the attendant goal is for students to converse directly with students in our DHH program
033and peers who use sign language to communicate. And it's long-term to be able to communicate out in the community. There it is. Um to close this evening, we actually have a student create a video from FHN today. They uh completed an article about our sign club last year and this highlights a little bit more of what we do at Becky David. Do this one. >> W Becky David Sign Club is a unique extracurricular for their hearing elementary students where grades third through 5th each go through 8week rotations to learn the basics of American Sign Language. With the help of new building administration, the sign club was approved last October by the board of education. This year we've started our sign club. So we had a fast turnaround to figure out how we could like reach
034the most kids. Everybody wants to learn sign. So all the kids that are in sign club, they had to do like an application process. So we do have a weight list. That's like been the biggest challenge. And then just trying to figure out how best to equitably, you know, get the kids in and learning >> with their current students. The sign club's goal is ultimately to teach them to converse with deaf and heart of hearing peers in the community and even in their own school. >> From what I've noticed, they just have conversations in like the cafeteria uh outside recess in the hallways with other uh via deaf and heart of hearing students who use that the sign language. I want them to be able to use the sign language uh in the community and
035in the future like if they have a co-workers or friends in college or whatever they can learn and sign with them, communicate with them. >> Already the sign club has received positive feedback from parents and the deaf community for the thorough skills students in the sign club possess. I know that the deaf community was very like impressed that one of our sign club members could sit there and carry on a conversation with them in ASL. I have a parent was like, "That's so cool that my child will have peers that can communicate, you know, like at their level directly with them." >> While the sign club at Becky David has just begun, the sponsors hope to see more programs in the district focused on deaf culture. So other schools in Francis Hell do not have
036a sign club other than Francis Halmore North. >> I feel like the value of learning ASL is to know that culture. I hope that we have more sign clubs and then more students that are uh interested in having clubs and being involved in that. I love that. >> It is a little later for some of our elementary folks. We do have a few science club members that have that have stuck around to see the presentation. Uh guys, can you stand so we can give you a round of applause for your awesome work today? And we do have one more token for the board. We have um some coins that actually have some sign language on it. So, we're going to make sure we hand that to you guys. >> Do we need to take a
037picture with the kids who are still here? We didn't take a picture. >> We would like to invite the kids from the sign language club to come forward so we can take a photo together since we did not get a chance. And obviously the teacher >> um please come and the principal. >> Thank you. >> Please come forward. would like to have along with you. >> Thank you so much. You're welcome. >> Oh, you're fine. No worries. Thank you so much. over there. >> Perfect. Thank you. Before we move to patron comments, I want to offer um Mr. Delaney, just a quick moment. Mr. Delaney has a connection to the group that just uh presented and share a little bit about your story. >> Thank you, President Blair. I definitely wanted to first give a
038shout out to Lwanda Brewer. I will just tell you uh uh both of my parents are hearing impaired and so growing up in a alternative type uh environment. It is just amazing to see a teacher like Miss Brewer who is just so dedicated to kids and provides experiences and opportunities that are just different. So you saw the picture of the deaf storyteller uh for anyone who's never been. It's just a unique experience and it uh they bridge um you know the the deaf storytelling world with our students. But even beyond that, I will tell you that Miss Brewer and the other teachers in Francis Howard bridge the entire community. We've had kids from East St. Louis public all the way from Hillsboro, Missouri and many other districts that she invites to be a part of
039this. And so it bridges the deaf community as a whole uh to to one particular space and place for kids to interact and learn together and have fun with the storyteller. Um we'll talk a little bit later about today's uh thing that u Miss Brewer and her team uh did. But once again, just opportunities for kids that are outside what she has to do. It's things she wants to do. It's experiences she wants to provide for kids. Uh, and it's they're they're amazing. And so I do want to just thank uh Miss Brewer for all the work that she does. She's truly an amazing educator in Francis Health. >> Miss Brewer, could you please stand? And now we transition to patron comments which okay to have a different feel to it. Um during patron comments
040uh residents of the district and staff members are invited to address the board of education on issues related to the school district. Uh speakers are called forward in the order of signup and each speaker has three minutes to make their remarks. Uh, please remember that only one speaker is allowed at the podium at a time and combining time or giving your time to someone else is not permitted. The board appreciates that you have taken the time to come this evening and we value both your input and perspective. I would like to remind everyone that we expect the speakers will remain civil and respectful when giving remarks. We also ask the patrons of the audience remain quiet in order to be respectful of the speakers allotted time. And we welcome Randy Cook to step forward. Good
041evening, Board of Education. I hope not to be back in this room and I'm sure I'm not alone there. But um I felt I owed it to myself and and the supporters of mine and contributors over the years um that helped fight for this policy 6310 that you have on the agenda today to come by and um plead with you a little bit, find it in your heart um at least three of you to uh to vote against this change tonight. Um, I worked hard on this with with several other uh staff members and board members and there's, you know, there's a lot of uh different opinions about the the learning commons in the libraries. I get it. As you know, I've heard I've heard a lot. Um, I don't think either side got everything
042they wanted in the current policy here, but I felt that it was a good a good solid policy that an average person would be hardressed to to disagree with the things in it. Um, and here you're you're you're proposing to strike a lot of the definitions. I think the defense of this policy revision that that's on the agenda today is going to be that well the the policy still restricts u library com contents to age appropriateness um including considerations of nudity, sex content, alcohol, drug use, profane content and uh depictions of or incitements to violence. In the research I did writing this, the problem when it comes to the court cases defining terms like that, the uh the rulings regularly state that if if there's no definition in policy, of course, it's up to the
043school board and at the time that something's being brought, usually it's a book challenge. Um, and these cases involve the school board removing a book and then a community member or rather the ACLU bringing suit against the district saying that you're violating the First Amendment. And where districts get into trouble is when they don't have these terms defined. And so that's why so much painstaking effort was taken to define these. Um, so I'm going to leave it at that. I think you know, you guys know what you're voting on here. Um, these definitions are not um, as I as I said earlier today, they're not just pulled out of thin air. A lot of work went into them, a lot of coordination with with the community, with librarians. Um, like I said, nobody got everything
044they wanted. That's the nature of what uh, what you guys do here. But that's my plea. I hope you find it in your hearts, your maternal instincts, your paternal instincts uh, to vote against this one and and take another stab at it. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Up next is Jason Adams. >> Good evening everyone. I'd like to begin by recognizing the district for putting on the citizens round table on school finance. I was lucky to attend the session at Henderson and in in addition to getting to see their long overdue gym, I learned a lot about the revenue streams and the challenges we would face if they were interrupted. It was disappointing that the available sessions were not as well attended as I'm sure everyone hoped, as this was a very important information
045to learn prior to next month's election. If possible, I would like to suggest that Dr. St. John record a short by-siz video for those who were unable to attend, highlighting key takeaways from what was discussed. As we know, the district cannot tell voters which direction to cast their ballot, but they can absolutely be educated, and having an accessible video would allow this information to reach a much larger audience. Secondly, I'd like to congratulate Mr. Gallon in the technology department on taking the first steps towards making FHSD a one-to-one district. This has been a long time coming, and I'm very happy that all students will have access to 21st century resources both in and out of school. At the last board meeting, a few members brought up a valid question about the correlation between devices and
046academic achievement. But the main point of onetoone is to provide equal and equitable access to technology, especially for students who may not have that access at home. With that said, one thing that wasn't discussed at the last meeting that I wanted to mention is the current use of Chromebooks and cards. If you speak to any teacher who uses them, the beginning and end of class often revolve around go get your Chromebook and go put your Chromebook away along with student issues such as my Chromebook is in charge, someone picked off the keys or I can't remember my password. With every secondary student having their own device along with appropriate policies, this will teach accountability. It will increase instruction time as those lost minutes will be recovered when students simply reach into their bags and begin
047working. So, while added instruction time doesn't necessarily equal better um better academic outcomes, it certainly allows for more content to be delivered. Next, I'd like to make sure everyone is aware of the central and house student candidate forum on March 31st of school board candidates to answer questions from students and the public. As I'm sure most are aware by now, Mrs. Pushkar and her running mates have said that they do not plan to attend as they have a conflicting engagement with potential voters. I would like to take this time to sincerely ask Mrs. Pushka and her running mates to reconsider, recon schedule their reschedule their event and attend a forum. This is a long-standing tradition in this district that is fully organized and run by students. Showing up matters. Those who RSVP to the other
048event would understand a change in plans because when students take the time to prepare questions and engage in the process they deserve to be a priority. If there are questions that are uncomfortable or difficult, that's part of the role that we are all take asking to take on. The six of us are asking the community to trust that we can lead responsibly and transparently. Choosing not to attend an event like this sends a message, and I don't believe it's the right one. Finally, in addition to the schoolboard race, there are other items on the ballot that deserve careful attention. Please visit vote411.org to see what's on the ballot, understand the language, and see what opponents and proponents are saying. Everyone is entitled to vote, but only voting for. Up next is Grayson Joseph. Good evening.
049Um, election day is in the next month. But before I speak on what I think the three candidates that I think they are most capable of, I want to talk about the other three candidates that most people including me do not have what it takes to become board members. Lauren Greenwood, David Jorski, and Jane Poscar. Their main focus with the financial support of the and help of the friends families, a mega right-wing pack group are banning trans students from going to the restrooms and locker rooms by forcing to go to their dead dead gender restroom and locker rooms or just use the only single used restroom in school. Um, two, banning high school level books that make themselves uncomfortable even though they haven't read the entirety of the book. enforcing other parents on what books
050the not to read in a public school libraries. Three, blocking anyone on the socials who don't agree with their mission or their views. And finally, targeting communities African-Americans, LGBTQ, especially our transgender brothers and sisters and special needs and disabil uh disabilities. Plus, the candidates have a have that I mentioned have expressed disinterest on attending a studentled canon forum that has been a school district's tradition for years. Why? Because they're attending their own event at the same night in the hour before the forum. What a joke. This is not acceptable behavior and they don't deserve to be board me uh school board members. But I know three people who are acceptable in becoming board members. They listen to the community, make sure everyone has a voice, and they really care about our students, teachers, staff, and
051community of Francis How. Sarah Dillard, Jason Adams, and Kevin Maguire. They are the best candidates for the Francis How Board of Education, and they are here to support our schools, our district, and the community itself. Again, vote for Sarah Diller, Jason Adams, and Kevin Magguire for school board, and vote no on Prop RT, Lauren Greenwood, David Jorski, and Mary Jane Puscar on J uh April 7th. Thank you. Thank you. Up next is Sarah Dillard. Good evening, members of the board. Still short. Okay. Superintendent Delaney, administrators, and members of the community. My name is Sarah Dillard. I'm a parent, a district alum, and a candidate for this board. Tonight, I want to address Director Pushkar's repeated claims about wasteful spending. That's a serious accusation. And if it's going to be made publicly, it should come with
052transparency and accountability. So, I have a few direct questions. In May of 2025, while serving as treasurer, you authorized a $3,000 payment without board knowledge or district approval to contract the JCA Adams Consulting to identify what you called inappropriate books in our libraries. Exactly how is bypassing the district's financial approval process not itself wasteful or inappropriate spending? You've also voted to approve this district's budgets year after year. In which of those budgets did you identify this so-called wasteful spending? and if you did, why wasn't it addressed at the time? Or maybe this is less about fiscal responsibility and more about campaign rhetoric. You further claim that legal costs have increased over the last 3 years, something that ironically coincides with your time on this board, and you'll reduce those costs. I agree. We should definitely
053reduce unnecessary legal spending. And with this community's help on April 7th, we can take a meaningful step toward doing exactly that. But most concerning is that you have publicly referred to the education of students with disabilities as wasteful spending. I would genuinely like you to explain that because educating students with disabilities isn't wasteful. It's a legal and moral obligation, that every child matters and every child belongs. This role requires integrity, transparency, and a commitment to all students. When those values are called into question, so is the ability to serve. On April 7th, our community has a choice and we can choose leadership rooted in accountability, respect, and a commitment to every student. Or we can accept more of the same. I know which future I'll be voting for. Thank you. >> I'm aware of the
054theme she's referring to. I'd be glad to talk to you about it afterwards. You can do response afterwards if you like to. Up next is uh Harry Harris. Uh good evening board members. First of all, shout out to Farmwell. That's where my son went. Loved it. Um I hope that despite the head spinning weather that we've been going through uh with this spring that it's treating most of you well. I came here tonight as I wanted to address the board on a pretty historic evening for our district as no matter what happens in next month's board election, our board will look very different. But first, uh before I do that, I want to uh thank the district staff and the community for working to inform everyone on the dangers of the upcoming Prop RT. I
055was at the community roundt session um that was held a few weeks ago. Dr. St. John did an incredible job in presenting the district finances and what they could look like under this tax freeze debacle that RT would bring. We've been touting one howl for a while now and while it's usually shared around volunteering, it certainly applies in this case as community members push back on this effort to defund our district. While we slag through one of the worst and most difficult economic times we've seen in decades, we must center the needs of our schools. Plain and simple, when you pull back from the false statements, RT is a danger for every county resident. Our staffs have continued to do more with less, but this would put us at a breaking point. The reality is
056that if this passes, nothing is off the table. Class sizes increasing, teachers being let go, beloved sports and after school programs would possibly be a thing of the past. And if you look to the future, you have to ask what sort of young family in their right mind would move into a district that can't properly fund itself. Speaking of the future, that brings me to my initial point in that our district is set for big change no matter what in April. It's no secret that I've been disgusted at the actions of three outgoing board members, but I must thank them. Three years ago, our community was not aware of the dangers that could come when nonpartisan school boards are handed over to those with a political agenda. Our community had to see you cower to
057your financial backers and remove the resolution against discrimination and racism. Our community had to feel the impact of being a laughingstock across the country as headlines document documented your impotent efforts to ban our black history and literature curriculums. Our community had to embrace the anger at a pious I know better than you attitude as you tried to eliminate brain pop and ban books. Our community had to endure the hate you give watching a racial slur come across your lips from the seat you were elected to. So, thank you for awakening our community and emboldening us to say never again will we allow this embarrassment. Vote for candidates four, five, and six on the 7th. Thank you. Up next is Liz. >> May I pass this around as a photo? Is that okay? >> Um uh
058hand it to Miss Hler and let her decide. >> Okay, she can decide. That's fine. >> And if nothing else, we'll have a conversation with Miss Someone afterwards see it then. >> So, I just lost 15 seconds, so I'm going to talk really, really fast. Um, hi everybody and thank you so much for having us here for patron content comments. There are so many important things to talk about in our district. A lot of them good, some not so much. But I'm here to talk about something that I'm very excited about and something very refreshing in our district that I don't think many people know about. And that is the Francis Hal Independent Drum Line. This is a group that is comprised of performers from Francis Hell, Francis Hell Central, and Francis Hell North. And
059with 38 of them, I think this is the only program that spans all three high schools. I could be wrong. I kind of hope I am. So, let's put an asterisk there. So, what is a winter drum line? Well, it's like a marching band, but it's inside and it's just percussion. So, drums, mimas, xylophones, all of the things that your kids like to bang on and make lots of noise. So, what they do is they practice about 10 hours a week. They compete. They have a great team of instructors that work with them. This year's show is called All That Remains. And it is a really beautiful show about capturing memories in the moment, the good and the sad. And we have to hold on to those memories and capture them and grow from them
060because when those days when these days are gone, our memories are all that remains. And it's very emotional and I cry every time. Um, this year's ensemble includes these performers from all these schools. So their competition circuit has required them to compete at a higher level than groups with performers from only one school. With that, they found themselves competing against groups that they had previously watched with that, wow, they are so good. And not only are they competing against these groups, they're giving them a run for their money. Um, their last two contests, they have received second place solidly on the heels of first, which again is kind of amazing. Um, winning is fun, but there's something more incredible happening. These kids who came together in November for practice did not know each other. They
061and in just a few months they have built friendships. They support each other. They celebrate together. They play games. They have group texts and snap streaks and session spection specific Instagram accounts and other words my daughter says I'm not allowed to say anymore. It's totally cap man. Um but they all come from different backgrounds and different schools and different experiences. So, I think we have something that we can learn from them. That there must be a way that regardless of what happens on or after April 7th, we can heal as a district community, lift each other up, and set a positive tone for our kids and our peers. I do not intend to minimize or hurt the fear felt around this community. That's all very real. And my hope is that we take inspiration from
062the independent drum line and find a way to make this community others want to join. We must do this for our kids and our community because after April 7th, they are truly all that remains. And they are performing on April 4th at Francis Hall North. Your time is up, so please come. >> Thank you. >> Up next is Caroline Duncan. >> I might be shorter than Sarah. All right. So, I wanted to first of all thank the outgoing directors. So Mark's not here, but thank you, Ron, for your time and your service. Um, I really want to talk to Jane. I would do that on social media, but I've been blocked for over a year. So Jane, I remember your campaign back in 2023. You touted your credentials as a nurse and a former accountant.
063You promised to eliminate wasteful spending. During your term, the board has been audited. You've served as treasurer and Francis Hell family's candidates have held the majority for two of the three years. You cite the payoff for Dominguez and increased legal fees. You voted no here and there to some spending items, but it was because you were clutching your pearls over the content of Brain Pop or the optional sessions available at a professional development conference. And about those legal fees, they went up when you joined the board. It's an interesting correlation. Although I do acknowledge that there's a difference between correlation and causation. So just saying. So here we are 3 years later. You're again campaigning to eliminate wasteful spending. Where is the wasteful spending? 85% of our district's spending is on salary and benefits. So
064it seems that's the biggest place for it to be hiding. Is it in special education, gifted education, practical or fine arts? Do we have too many teachers? That can't be it because my son's AP class had more students than desks at the beginning of the year. Should our teachers have less administrators pushing more work on to the teachers and reducing the ability to deal with disciplinary issues? Should our children have fewer guidance counselors helping them navigate schedules and make college and career decisions? Maybe it's the facilities or custodial staff. We don't know. You haven't offered us any solutions. You've not told us where all this waste is lurking. What are you going to find in a second term that you couldn't find with the backing of the majority of the board? Let's generous generously say
065that you found maybe a million dollars in waste. Everything I mentioned doesn't add up to that. But at approximately 50,000 households in our district, that's less than $20 per household per year, less than $2 a month, less than a gallon of gas. So, while you failed to call out substantial ongoing waste, you are simultaneously openly supporting Proposition RT, which will cost the district $5 million in the first year. Our own CFO has been providing projections of a fiscal cliff even without RT, and it's now going to be accelerated by it. Personally, my youngest child graduates before the district would be impacted. But I want an education and an educated society. And I will continually I will gladly continue to pay my taxes so that kids can have a strong public education. I'm voting no on
066RT and no on a second term for you. >> Up next is Megan Guilford. >> Thank you. I just flew in from Iowa to make it to this meeting and boy are my arms tired. My name is Megan Guilford and I moved into this district 10 years ago for Francis Hal's reputation. This is my first time speaking at a board meeting. Recently, I stumbled across the quote, "Never assume the loud is strong and the quiet are weak. The loud people can be the strongest bullies." A schoolboard candidate started the school year by doxing an ELA teacher for her collection of pride books. Nine months of yelling from the church steel that these books don't belong in a classroom. These are optional books. No one is forcing her child to read them. A popular blog recently
067shared the story, but I want to reiterate the most important part in part. In August, an online troll identified as Lauren Greenwood began urging others to report this teacher for talking about books for having books, books that are in our school libraries. Sunshine request revealed that Lauren Greenwood skipped all the steps a normal parent would take, contacting the teacher, the principal, the superintendent, even the board, and went straight to straight to online social media harassment. And she didn't slow down. Recently, the board of education president called out Lauren Greenwood on her school watch list page to take down a photo doxing the teacher, citing that candidates should be following the same code of ethics the board members are held to. Lauren Greenwood has waged a war on one teacher this year. How many more will
068she target if she has voted onto the board and sits in front of us? This is exhausting. Aren't you exhausted? I'm exhausted. I'm tired of parents and certain board members who want to impose their relig religious beliefs, close-minded worldviews, and 1950s mindset on my children and my family. I believe that all students should have access to the tools they need for success and the education that teaches them how to become critical thinkers who listen, research, ask questions, are taught to be kind and share and respectful many humans. My children and their classmates cannot become critical thinkers if they only read the Bible or whitewashed history. I want my kids to be prepared for adulthood and have a good understanding of how the world around them works. I want them to be kind. I want them
069to understand there are children different from them, that they have different religions, opinions, likes, and dislikes. We don't all have to agree on these things, but we have to be kind and show compassion. I believe that teachers are underpaid for the amount of bull poop they have to put up with. No teacher in our district should have to put up with the behaviors and actions from a parent like Lauren Greenwood. It's damaging to our community and to the future teachers who are considering taking a position here. We need to vote for the candidates who will be a positive influence for our children, our students, and our staff. We need candidates who support our teachers, support our children, and support public education. Please, on April 7th, vote for Adam Dillard Magguire. >> Thank you. Uh, up
070next is Mark Brown. >> Thank you, uh, Mr. the president and members of the board and superintendent. I appreciate being able to come here and speak uh of my concerns for the one-on-one computer program. Not that I'm against computers, not against computers, but I'm uh very concerned about the use of the computers. If they're used for general teaching, uh PowerPoint presentations, things like that, I don't think that is the most effective u method of using computers. uh if it's used for special teaching uh children how to use special programs to solve certain issues then yes that's a great and using the programs how they're designed to be used that's a great use let me just give you a little background about myself did I I'm sorry did I introduce myself Mark Mark Brown uh I
071meant to do that uh my wife and I moved here three years ago uh we were from Lincoln Nebraska retired moved here to be near our uh two sons and and their children And uh I my my I and my family have had 90 90 years of combined uh dedication to public education. So my grandfather was a teacher, superintendent, president of a state college. My parents were both teachers. My dad was a state teacher of the year. My mother was just as excellent. Myself, I've uh I'm an a licensed attorney in Nebraska. I practiced for 43 years there, but I also taught at uh our community college some law classes for 22 years and then I taught at the University of Nebraska College of Business for 15 years. I had tremendous teachers uh in our
072department. We won we were named business week uh by business week as the number one um department in for business loan in the nation. and um I my mentor was the uh director of the the post-docctorate education in Nebraska. So I I was very concerned about pedigogy and making sure that I use the best practices in my class and got the best coaches and instruction and I studied many hours to uh uh better myself on that. computers. If if you use a computer and get his keyboarding, it goes into his fast processing part of the brain. If you have uh a program that um uh if you just take notes with your pen, it goes into your memory analytical uh relational part of your brain. And if you're handing out uh pages from powerpoints to
073to have a kid study that for an exam rather than having them write their their notes, then uh you're really degrading the the uh education. And I I went to a seminar with four distinguished teaching uh uh professors at the university and they said the same thing. I did not allow electronics in my class and uh they did not either for that reason. So appreciate you you uh taking my comments concerns. >> Time is up. >> Thank you. >> Up next is Jared Pillsbury. I'm going to ask that Kathy Veloff from the Life Wise Academy program come to the very front. We have three minutes for him and you'll be next. >> Okay. Well, first welcome Eli. Was it Elijah? Did I get it right? Awesome. Welcome. Always a fun time coming to these things.
074So, good job. You've done a lot, so you deserve to be here. Congratulations. There was a reference to 1984, I think it was earlier. Just want to let you know back then video games were simple but brutal. Things were in color. We did not ride dinosaurs no matter what you've seen on the internet. Okay. And also to President Blair, I'm sorry you had your Ron Burgundy teleprompter moment tonight with the question mark. I'm Ron Burgundy. Sorry. I couldn't help it. Love that movie. Um, good evening Francis How. We're about to turn the page on the last remnants of a culture war imported from South Lake, Texas and implemented through thousands and thousands of dollars injected into the board races by Ken and Vivian Gantars and a few other well- moneyed donors of the Francis Hal
075family's pack. >> A culture war that brought vitriol and division to our great district. A culture war that landed us in the national headlines in many embarrassing ways many times. A culture war that had many bad acts visited upon teachers, students, faculty, and staff, award candidates, and even sitting board members. And in 2023, the efforts of that pack I mentioned culminated in their slate of candidates securing a majority. And for one year, Francis How got to see this majority lead the district. And one year is all it took for the voters of Francis How to realize this was a mistake. In 2024, hoping to secure a 70 majority with the Francis How family's candidates, the district soundly rejected these latest candidates, depriving the pack of its quote unquote clean sweep, as they put it, we
076edged closer back to normal. The second year that brought us the FHSD5 brought more embarrassment, more focus on culture war nonsense, and no real problem solving for pressing issues facing the district. In 2025, the district moved closer to turning the page again by rejecting the Francis how families candidates and taking away their board majority. This district has seen what Francis Hal families pack candidates and board members do to this district. And it is not at all good. As my friends Harry and Caroline and Grayson noted to my earlier point, we have an opportunity on April 7th to not only turn the page, but to fully close this chapter for Francis Howell of the failed experiment that is the FHSD5, now the FHSD3. On April 7th, I invite you to vote for serious candidates. Vote for
077Jason Adams, Sarah Dillard, and Kevin Magcguire. Candidates four, five, and six on the 7th, and vote no on Rob Bartt. Great schools require funding. Thank you. I invite Kathy to come forward with 8 seconds left. Uh I also had earlier and wasted uh where it's spent 10 seconds without stopping the clock and she gets a chance to speak. She was called before the time went up. Lifewise um please speak. >> Good good evening members of the board. Thank you so much for giving me a few minutes to share tonight. My name is Kathy Velof. I'm part of the Lifewise steering committee here in our community. We would like to introduce you to this program likewise and explain why our committee which is community-based is exploring this option and begin an open respectful conversation about how
078this could serve families in our district if they choose it. The simple is simply an option not a requirement and not part of the public school curriculum. Life wage operates under the longstanding legal framework of the 1952 US Supreme Court case. Historic versus Clawson. This ruling allows public schools to release students during the school day for religious instruction. As long as these three items are followed, a parent must give written permission. The school is not funding or promoting the program and the instruction does not place is not didn't take place on school grounds. We share this to provide reassurance that this model is common among the country and has been successfully imple implemented for 70 years and now is in 35 states serving 6 thou uh 61,876 students. The survey shows it increases school attendance,
079reduces suspensions and provides character education. We want to express very sincerely how much we respect your work and the weight of responsibility you carry for students and staff. We want to come alongside you, not pressure or com compel you, but Lifewise is committed to working around the school's existing schedule, coordinating with administrators to protect the instructional time, ensuring that trained and background check staff are in place, making transition smooth and safe for students, communicating clearly and consistently. Thank you again for your time and for the way you serve our uh community's children. We're happy to answer any questions or provide additional information. I have folders for each board member that explains it. >> Please hand them over here. Um, please hand them over here. >> Thank you. And again, for clarity, if a person starts
080to speak before the 30 minutes is done, they're allowed the full 3 minutes. And I I was the one that caused a 15-second um time taken away from community patron moment. So, I wanted to uh respect that. So, thank you very much for your speech. Uh up next, we have comments from FHEA. Good evening. My name is Francine Hill and I am the FHEA president. We have successfully ratified a new agreement for the 2026 2028 school years. I want to thank our negotiations team, Caitlyn Charlton, Kimberly Hunter, Joey Hall, Daniel Marion, and our negotiations chair, Katie Shot Mueller, along with the guidance of Lisa Blaha for all their hard work. We would like to thank the district administration for working collaboratively with us to reach this agreement and look forward to continuing to work collaboratively
081in the best interest of our students and district. Most of us realize that not just our district, but others here in St. Charles are possibly facing some hard times and difficult decisions due to current legislation. We hope to be surrounded by boards that are interested in the truth and lead by facts. As we enter the last quarter of the school year, we are preparing for state testing. We want to thank all of our staff that will be there to encourage and support our students. We hope that everyone gets the rest they need over spring break and come back ready to have a great end of the year. know you are all appreciated for all you do every day. Thank you. >> Thank you. Up next is FISA. >> Thank you, President Blair. My name is
082Jennifer Vineyard and I serve as president of FISA. I'd like to talk about Prop RT this evening and what it means for the Francis Hall community because the real impact matters. Based on the average home value in our district, which is $330,000, the estimated annual property tax savings for a homeowner would be $121 in 2027, $132 in 2028, $25 in 2029 and $217 in 2030. That's about a savings of $10 to $20 per month. The senior property tax freeze program already in place only saved the average homeowner about $110 last year. Those are pretty trivial amounts. Now, let's compare these minor savings to what's at stake. When revenue is lost, Francis How will face several difficult decisions to reduce or eliminate salaries and employee benefits, staffing levels, which creates larger class sizes, transportation services, and
083cuts in student programs and extracurriculars. The first to feel these impacts will be the support staff. The people who keep schools running every day, paraprofessionals causing fewer supports for students, especially those with learning disabilities, clerical staff, nurses, creating limited care to students, interpreters, IT techs, as well as maintenance grounds and custodial crews. When the funding becomes unstable, these are the roles that will be reduced, stretched thin, or left unfilled. And that directly affects students and families. A strong school district supports property values, strengthens our community, and shapes our children's future. Let's be clear, this isn't fear monering. It's being informed. So the question I would like to ask you is this. is a small yearly savings worth placing added strain on the system that educates our children. Our students only get one chance at their
084education. The decision you make in April will shape their future. In conclusion, I have three requests. Number one, do your homework on Prop RT. More information can be found on Francis How's website. Two, carefully consider the full impact of what it means. And three, go vote on April 7th. But I strongly urge you to vote no on Prop RT. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right, board. I have a motion to approve the consent agenda for March 19th, 2026 as presented. >> So moved. >> Director Pushkar. Second. >> Seconded by Director Harmon. I heard him first. Uh all those in favor say I. I. >> Any oppose say nay. Motion carries. Board, I have a motion to approve the 20126 through 2028 FHEA closure document and salary schedules as presented. >> Director Pushkar >> second.
085>> Director Oli with a second. Um, Miss Sumpkins. >> Thank you, President Blair. Uh just very quickly, I know there has been some confusion about how our half-time FHA president position will be paid if this agreement is approved. And I just wanted to share with the board and publicly that we worked very closely with FHEA uh in collaboration to clearly define in this closure agreement how that would work. the association will reimburse the district the full actual cost which would include salary any stipens uh contributions to uh retirement benefits of that halftime release president. So the district will only be responsible for paying the halfime of that president while she is teaching and the FHA association will pay the half time of the president when she is released for her duties there. So, we just
086wanted to clear up some of that confusion. And then finally, just echo everything that Francine said. The teams really worked well together. We had a great mediator. Uh we worked collaboratively through some tough conversations and some big celebrations and we are excited to recommend the approval of this agreement tonight. >> Thank you. Any other comments? >> Yeah. No, I have some questions. So, the district pays half and the union FHA pays half. Is the teacher or the president of the FHEA tied to working halfime for the union and half time for the district? Meaning that will that president have a full-time teaching position that she has to be relieved from when there's union business? Does that make am I asking the question? >> Yes. So, we will we will post that other half position and
087fill that with another person. So teach those students will not be impacted. So um if it were a full-time PE teacher, they would teach for 3 and 1/2 hours and be released for the other half and we would find a half-time PE teacher to cover that part of the portion. So the district will still pay for a full-time teacher, uh but we will not be paying for the president while they're doing their released time work. If that exceed if that exceed how do we know that that won't exceed the four hours is I mean there can't be a time clock you know okay check in >> sure well no but an instructional day is 7 hours that's our day and so if it were it's a little bit easier I would say at the secondary
088level they would teach three hours three sections and then have their time off so that's a little bit easier at the elementary level we'll just create a schedule with the building administrator um so that um the teacher will be there for 3 and 1/2 hours and then be released for the other 3 and 1/2 hours just splitting up that 7-hour instructional day into two. Okay. If the if there's an emergency during the day and the during the three three hours or whatever when the president is teaching and and a sub has to be called in or how do we handle that is my question. Do you mean an emergency? Like >> isn't the president called away at times? >> Sure. That that has happened, you know, just even this year. Um and there is some
089release time that is included in the contract 15 half days that the president can be released full days for that work. Um and if there was an emergency that she needed to leave, we would work through finding coverage for that classroom just as we've done this year when we didn't have a release president. Are we paying for those 15 half days or is that >> it's part it's in the contract? >> So we're splitting that with the union, >> right? >> Okay. >> So a teacher the first half of the day we're paying the teacher, the union rep, the union president to teach. >> Correct. >> When they teach, we're paying for them. When they're doing union stuff, the union pays for them. >> That's I just wanted to make sure that that was clear.
090Y So the in the afternoon the substitute all right substitute teacher whatever you're going to call them it's probably the wrong terminology but the replacement afternoon teacher >> what is their full-time position or are they a halftime position or where are they coming from? >> We're going to work we are waiting for you to approve the proposal before we start working through that staffing plan. Um, but we'll either post as a point a 0.5 teacher and just fill that with a regular permanent certified teacher for the other half of that time. There are teachers out there that like that schedule of working a half day. I I want to make some things clear for people watching online and for people here that may not have wanted to read the 36 page document. So, I just
091want to point out some things just so we're all very clear of of what was negotiated and that is that teachers get one extra sick day per year. Is that that correct? >> Yes. >> And so they now have 12 instead of 11. >> Correct. >> And they I mean they've always been able to what I'll call bank days, sick days. And currently they have they can bank up to 100 days and that has changed to 185. That correct? >> Correct. >> Okay. And then they can sell back days if they have now wait a minimum of 60 days in their bank. They can sell anything back above that. And they used to be able to sell it back at $75. Now it's $125. >> So we worked with FHA to create a teacher attendance
092incentive because we know that having that certified teacher in front of those students is the best way to get academic outcomes for our students. M >> um and so we wanted a more immediate attendance incentive uh for those sick days. The reason we have that 60-day limit there is so that we can protect the district from um teachers utilizing the sickly bank and making sure that they have time in their personal bank for FMLA related issues, materies, things of that nature. Um after that 60 days, we will if the teacher uses the sick day, we would pay $125 to a substitute teacher. If they don't use the sick day and would choose to want to sell that back, we would pay them the $125. So, it is measure it with that substitute rate. Um hopefully
093incentivizing teachers not to use that sick time if they don't need to and instead choosing to be in front of our students and providing that instruction. >> Well, that's a step forward. I appreciate that. Um, so you used to have a a normal every minimum duty and maximum duty stipen that was given used to be at an increase of 5% per year. Correct. >> Talking about the extra duty salary schedule. Yes. >> Extra duty. Yes. >> It used to be just a 5% increase every year, but this year there's going to be a meeting in the fall to make recommendation to the negotiations committee to set an extra duty salary schedule. Can you explain why? Yeah, sure. So, we used to years ago have a step schedule similar to our teacher salary schedule where our
094coaches would move a step with every year of experience. Um, that schedule did not it had 25 steps and each step was about a 2% increase. 2% on $500 was not a strong enough increase. And over time, we really fell behind in our stipens for coaches when you compared that to districts throughout the area. So we did a study at that time uh it was back in the 2018 2019 school year and we went to a a range. Our goal at that time was we started with a minimum and a maximum and our goal at that time in working with FHA was to come to $1 amount one stipen for our coaches. Unfortunately after that we had resource struggles and we had some freezes with our our extra duty salary schedule. we weren't able to
095really move that to one stipend and again we have fallen a little behind in the stipens that we offer to our coaches and our sponsors. Um this year we provided that 5% increase to all of our coaches in this agreement and to that minimum and maximum. But what we really want to do is focus on studying how are other districts providing those stipens for coaches. How where are we competitive? Where are we not competitive? and really get a good understanding of that so we can make good recommendations to the negotiations team for the next year. >> Okay. Um, article nine, point number two, uh, I'd like to bring that up. It says FHA will receive the same materials that board of education members receive at the same time the board of members receive them. meaning
096that up until now board members received the patent, call it the packet, the agenda with all attached documents on Friday evening and they went public on Monday. Um, so this changes that to the FHEA will receive all documents and the agenda on Friday evening. So this is some legacy language that has that is just language that has been in our policy that FHA asked to be placed into their closure agreement as well. It goes back years before we had electronic board docs where things were actually paper copies and FHA were provided those paper copies along with our board members for years. Um so now things are electronic. Uh I I would have to defer to Jane to know really understand exactly what access they have electronically but those things that are provided they have access
097to those at the same time. Yeah, I am going to ask you to add but I would say that is that is not a new practice that has been going on for years. So when the board receives their uh board packet um our associations also have received their board packet and Jane you might be able to give some history over the last few years that you've been in your role. >> Yeah, it's been a work in progress. Um at one point I had one drive and folders that had the attachments and they had a PDF of just a simple agenda. Um, now we've kind of progressed to where they actually have one full entire document. It may be 435 pages of the agenda that you've been provided for open session and all of the attachments
098are there for them. So, you get notification in your in board docs that your agendas are live and all the materials and then I follow up with FHA and they get the same documentation. >> Do you know how long that's been going on? Uh well I mean >> I'm asking the question because it looked like from the closure document it was a new change this year. >> It was new language added to the closure agreement. It has been going on since I've been employed in Francis Holland well before. Um there was a lot of language that we had in our policies that were not noted in the closure agreement. And that was one of the items that we worked through with FHA to get some of that language from policy into their closure agreement. Things
099like um they received three paid holidays. that was in policy but not in their closure agreement. You'll see that noted in the closure agreement as new language that was in there, but they've received three paid holidays for for years in their contract. Um, another is that lunch is a 25minute duty-free lunch that was in policy, but it was never clearly stated in their closure agreement. And this this board packet is part of that language that used to be in policy that they asked to be uh written specifically in their closure agreement. So, nothing new there as far as practice, just where the language is living. Okay. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions board? >> Um, I will say I observed a couple different times of the negotiations and just appreciate the
100um professionalism from both sides to be able to talk through what's best for students. And um, thank you and thank you for the best key lime uh dessert I've ever had. Um, just put that down for reference. You're welcome. >> Want to make sure I want to make sure that's on the public record that the best key lime dessert is your box. >> No, she's got something better than that. >> I'm very interested in that key lime. >> I didn't get that. >> Just >> You all should have showed up that Saturday morning. >> Just Well, we were a different Saturday morning. We had different desserts. >> Yes, we had some stuff dipped in chocolate. It was also delicious. >> So, uh are there any more questions about the um closure agreement? >> All right.
101Um, all those in favor say I. I. >> I. >> Any oppose say no. >> Any oppose say nay. >> Motion passes. And so we will take a brief moment to do a signature. So everybody do a stretch break. We'll come back together board. I have a motion to approve the financial report as presented. >> Director Pushkar followed by Vice President Grder. Deputy Superintendent of Finance and Operations will present. Thank you for the opportunity to share an update for the 2025 20226 school budget related to pillar strategic plan pillar 3. An effort for both the board of education and the community to remain informed in a timely manner. Each month we share an update in the areas of our operating budget including any amendments as necessary, our bond financials, self- insurance revenues and expenditures and
102each month I provide a legislative update as it is related to school finance. We do not have a budget amendment to discuss this evening. So I will move right past this. We expect there might be one next month as we do remain each month to or we are dedicated to looking at our budget to actuals each month by each of our um object codes and functions within the budget. As a reminder for the 2026 trajectory through our school year of 2829, these are the parameters for which I um use as the assumptions within the budget. The green column, as a reminder, is the current year that we are in and without a budget amendment, the fund balance remains at a 27.34%. The top portion of the revenue again remains to be low or flat in
103the trajectory I have on this chart and it shows the 3% including the step gross pay change for all of the salaries. So that is an average of multiple salary schedules as well as an 8% increase in our benefits. And then finally a transfer of $5 million for the capital transfer. This is a similar information in a chart format. Again mentioning that the top portion of that chart remains flat whereas I show the bottom half or the expenditures to be increasing which over time will create a decreasing fund balance for the bond financial update. This month we are in that last stage of the Prop S funds and the phase two will begin actually next week during spring break in preparation for those final six HVAC units to be in our um last six sites
104that we will have for that for our self insurance fund this month. You will again uh remember that each month I've been bringing to you that the revenue is down just slightly and the expenditures are up just slightly. I would like to take us to the next slide and discuss a little bit further of the employee insurance committee update. So as you might remember this year the committee has been meeting each month to really um begin to understand the increasing costs within the self- insurance fund. These are the three key areas that we are looking into as a committee and we are looking at again the remaining or the other self-insurance school districts that are in our area as well as our peer districts to seek out better understanding of plan design and district benefits.
105Three main areas that we will talk about are co- insurance, max out of pocket and short-term disability. In addition to that, we will look to either reduce, eliminate, or understand better the dependent contributions of the district. We will be doing a dependent audit in the fall of 2026. And what that means is as we move into the new benefit administrator program, business solver, and that's how each person enrolls into their benefits, we will be reviewing each employees dependent and we will go through a process to understand and make sure that that person should be on the insurance or not. It's a very common practice. It hasn't happened here in a while. we have an opportunity because we are moving to a new system and that's a good opportunity for us to ensure that the correct
106people are being insured as well as discussing um those that are Medicare eligible um into the next plan year and really counseling them on the best benefits um for the plan for them as well as as an employee and on our program. And then finally, the HSA contribution in the district currently the um the board has elected the current practice is a $1,000 lump sum on the on first day of plan day, which is October 1, and $2,000 for a family plan. That is a connection to the IRS. So once that money leaves, there's no way to receive that money back. But what we know is we've done an audit to see how many people have actually left during the time after that money was contributed to them and then they were not remaining on
107the plan from v various reasons, retirement um or resigning. And so that we look at other school districts and we're starting to see sometimes districts don't do all it at once as a lump sum. They do it in either a monthly contribution or in two an initial plan time and once more during the year. So, we'll bring that part of our recommendation back as well. For the legislative update for this month, I draw your eye to the left side. You've heard um me talk about Prop RT or Senate Bill 3. each month since August or since July I think actually um the in the board report I just want to draw your attention to the bottom left hand corner as I've updated it to indicate it's a $4 million increase in the first year but
108it is an estimate of 54 million cumulatively over the five years >> uh I I think you may have used the wrong word you mentioned increase did you mean decrease as it says >> I did I appreciate that yes >> can can you say >> that would have been a miracle moment Wouldn't I be I love Yeah, that'd be >> I'm going to say that one more time. >> Yes, please. >> Thank you for that. The fiscal impact would be $4 million decrease in the first year and $54 million decrease cumulatively over those 5 years in the estimate that is what is before us immediately. That's on April the 7th. In addition to that, I have mentioned there are several bills that are currently on the 2026 watch list. A good number of them are
109for tax reform or for school finance changes. Many of them have multi-million dollar decrease potential to the school district to all school districts. And the bottom portion I would like to use as an example as they could seem as if they are just curricular changes, but I would draw your eye to specifically the last one, the 60 minutes of PE each day for K12. If an initiative like that were to be mandated on school districts and unfunded, it would require a school district to hire more PE teachers in order to be able to offer more PE classes, as an example. So, we may fundamentally support that and think that that's good for all students, but there is a fiscal impact to the district even on those that are connected to curriculum. The next slide talks
110about the school funding modernization task force and as a reminder this will be finalized by December 1st, 2026. The only new updates to this area as those three uh work groups have continued to meet are really just to finalize what the final adequacy target amount is. As a reminder, that's currently $7,145 at the full um funded formula. it is not currently being funded at that level. And so when talking about future and um being able to estimate this out um there are some concerns um just among school finance friends in regards to what that future might hold as it's not being fully funded today. In addition to that, there are looking at whether the performance funding would become permanent performance of the school districts um in addition to changes to the student weighted factors. So,
111we have weighted factors for free and reduced lunch, students with an IEP, and students that receive ELLL services. And then finally, the state cost estimates for implementing the new formula. As anything that's a new change and things you have to do, there are going to be implementation costs for that. I'd like to show you what it looks like with Senate Bill 3 or Prop RT taken into effect. I have shown you this um chart to the left for the last several months. So I take where we are today in the green column and I decrease it by those estimates that I have. But what I want to draw your attention to this particular time is on the right side. These are the calculations based upon an average home in our school district which is 3
112or $329,820. And that homeowner would have an estimated savings of $121 in that first year where we cumulatively in that year would have a negative $4 million. And then I carry that out through the year 2030. That would be a long way to estimate. And in that year it would be a homeowner savings of $217. On my final slide, I'd like to provide a little bit of clarification from last month's February um board update with um Mr. Scott Gowen in regards to the technology presentation. And I just wanted to provide the board a little clarity as I've seen a little bit of confusion in social media about this. So, as a reminder, Dr. Aaron Thirstston and Scott G will be running a task force to support the distribution for these devices in the fall of
1132026. And to be clear, the breakdown for by grade level is that the secondary students will have Chromebooks issued to them in the fall of 2026. And this is an estimated cost savings to the school district of about $300,000 per year. We will not need to have as many computers as we do today in our future. So I think that's important takeaway. There will be no change to grades preK through 5. They will continue to have devices available in the classroom. And there is no change to current practice. For March, we have had our wellness committee meeting, our insurance committee meeting, um our budget development, which I'll be back to the podium shortly to give you an update on that. And we are fully implemented with the Raptor visitor management system with that. Do you
114have any questions? >> Board members, do you have any questions for the presentation? >> I just had more of a comment, I guess. Um, just going back to the uh insurance committee information, I just want to say thank you again for making that committee what it has been and incredibly valuable me just meeting every month and just like tackling different components of this because it is incredibly complex. I've learned so much as I think everybody that's part of that committee has. Um but this last session that we had to also so much work just goes into I know you guys even presenting all of that but we went through competitive analysis with you know neighboring districts and everything because I think that's really important too because benefits are so crucial as part of our compensation
115package here but that was so enlightening and so I think giving you know everybody on that committee the opportunity to be able to say these levers make sense or oh gosh look at this or look at that. I just want to just thank you and your team that does so much to put all of that together because it is just a sticky yucky situation, but I think all of us feel so much better informed and will be able then to make tough but informed decisions um moving forward. So just >> thank you for serving on that committee. I appreciate it. >> Yeah, it's been fascinating. >> Other questions? Uh, I want to ask um part of your budget is you forecast through the next couple years. You identify the loss of funding through Proposition RT,
116the $4 million in year one and so on. Um, we just uh during the consent agenda, we just approved the receiving of $268,0007 and $754 from the DDRB. Um, and that goes to fund our special need um services at preschool. and not just the preschool but also in other ages for vacation station. >> Correct. >> So the information you are sharing that forecasts the the loss of Proposition RT that does not include the DDRB or does that include the possibility of loss funding from DDRB for our special needs? >> That is a very good point. It does not. So that would be a supporting service that those grant funds are coming to us. they are receiving property taxes and then they are pushing them back into the community. That's a very good connection. Whereas my
117calculations are based upon revenue that's coming in just strictly from our levy. >> So it would be additional. >> So a couple months ago we were celebrating how you were able to piece together a early childhood plan that actually was able to expand some of our early childhood services. >> Um DDRB funds that plan. Is that correct? is more based upon that plan is more based upon um the the state dollars that are available through um prek average daily attendance. So it wouldn't be as strictly connected um as some of our services in our um K12 buildings. >> Okay. So the DDRB would more closely impact our funding for K through 12 vacation station or one-on-one um >> high need situations for high need situations. >> Correct. And so that would be an additional cash
118that's an additional loss, >> right? >> Which would then put pressure on the the pool of local money um to shift over and have to pay for something that's currently grant paid for. >> We have to pay for that, right? >> You'd have to pay for those accommodations. Correct. >> Question. >> Yeah. Do you know how much of the um DDRB how much of their revenue comes from property taxes? >> I wouldn't want to quote that from the podium. I know it's a very large amount um that that they have been sharing the majority of their funding is coming from. >> I heard or I read a very small amount so I don't know which one is true. >> I'm not representing them at this point. So yeah, >> understand >> uh are there any
119other questions? Oh, one question. Um if Prop RT passes, what would be the next steps for the district? Mr. Laney, if you can share comment on that. Well, I think initially we would uh there's a chart that uh Dr. St. John shows about our reserves. So, obviously our uh reserves, our fund balances uh could face some uh shortages or decline in a in a much more rapid uh way than what we're showing right now. Um and then you know I think one of the things not knowing what the overall outcome is other than the loss of the that total revenue we would more than likely uh form some both you know internal and external stakeholder groups to analyze our budget analyze where our our resources are being allocated and have to make some decisions about
120what that would look like moving forward. >> Thank you. Um, I know that the DDRB funds the association on aging with developmental disabilities, the Boon Center, Caring Solutions, Community Living, the Disabled Athlete Sports Association, Down Syndrome Association of Greater St. Louis, Easter Seals Midwest, Family Advocacy and Community Training, Firefly, Port Zumalt School District, Francis How School District, Gateway Region, YMCA, ITN Gateway, Latitude Therapy, Lifebridge Partnership, Mercy, MS, Missouri Goodwill Industries, Options for Justice, Orchard Farm School District, Pathways to Independence, Recreation Council, Greater St. Louis, Rise, uh, Show Me Aquatics and Fitness, St. Louis Arc, St. Louis Crisis Nursery, The Child Advocacy Center, Treehouse of Greater St. Lewis, UCP H Heartland, United Services for Children Variety, the Children's Charity, Willows Way Incorporated. So, just want to read that into the record as well. >> I hope
121that the people who rely on those services vote appropriately to protect them. >> Uh, any other questions about whether to proper? Uh, I have one more question. I want to create space for this. um been a boardman for about two years and I've uh approved two budgets and I spend the time I read through the notes even the boring parts um and I've done that alongside and I want to make space that if I have missed some sort of wasteful spending I would love to learn and have uh Jane if you could call it out and say here's the wasteful spending. so I can see what I have missed and I can be a better board member. Is there anything that you have noticed that you can share with Amy St. John right here that's
122a wasteful spending that you want to call out? >> I'm not going to do that. I don't think this is the time or the place to single out a board member and ask their particular opinions on what is wasteful spending and what isn't. If you want to go down and ask all the other board members, that would be perfect. >> I appreciate that. I I don't like being singled out. So >> I >> You have been out sharing that you're aware of >> wasteful spending. >> If a board meeting isn't the time to say it, I don't know what time it is to say it. >> If you would have told me that I I would have to bring my list and read it off, I would have done that. But you didn't do that.
123>> But don't you have like one or two things you can say right now? >> Yeah. Okay. So $86 million as we know on a >> that happened 20 years ago >> but right now the last two years >> we're still paying the effects of that. Okay. So this is why I don't say what wasteful spending is because you want to argue with me. That's fine. >> Just over the last two years when you and I have served together. >> What have I missed? >> Why? Yeah. >> I didn't >> Why? Why? What? We took away Brain Pop. You voted back in. There's uh $41,000 that we're spending on the election authority because everybody insists on April elections. >> We're hiring a >> I'd like to know why we're hiring a dedicated district mentor provided
124to support all new special ed teachers and new special ed teachers. Is that a new position? >> Is that a new position? >> We didn't have it before. >> So >> in a environment before all the moaning I'd like all the moaning and >> yeah the the crack in a second. >> Yeah. The problem is is that we we've been projecting a downward trajectory and then I see new positions on there that we haven't had before. If we didn't have them before, I think we should wait to approve those positions until we know what the outcome is. >> I think there are a number of seven that we've been holding off and we're not approving during the December work session. We were told there are open spots, >> right? >> And I I don't think
125you can dismiss $86 million just because it happens sometimes. >> Oh, no. No. The phrase stop wasteful spending means there's wasteful spending happening now. >> And if there is, I want to know so I can do a better job as a board member and and and look at it because we're all together. >> Well, you should ask Miss Oki and Miss >> Well, they're not the ones saying there's wasteful spending happening. So if you know if there's stuff >> we can take this offline and talk about I don't think this board meeting is the place to discuss the dollars that I have identified that are wasteful especially since I was not told that I would be singled out. >> Um >> thank you. Um I want to create a space. >> No you don't. >>
126I I wanted to create a space. All I had to do was say, >> you didn't have to ask me three times either, director. >> I I will take that as a guidance. Um, thank you. I will respect that boundary. >> So, um, I'll tell you what. Um, thank you. Thank you. >> And if there's um anything else that a person sees that uh has to do with wasteful spending, >> uh, please let me know. or or Amy Amy, has anybody contacted you with any wasteful spending um concerns >> since you've been here? >> I have not been contacted. >> Okay, this this is pretty crazy. I'm not sure that this is really the environment. It's almost like a self-s serving purpose here, Stephen, and I've never really seen seen or heard that from you
127before. >> There's an there's an election coming up. >> It's district serving, not self- serving. Steven's not >> well that's a matter of opin I if there's a board member saying that there's wasteful spending >> we need to know what it is because that voice matters and so that's >> not just say it on Facebook we get all right so I apologize uh if the conversation went too far to one direction I just want to create space for uh people to share opinions um are there any other comments regarding the finance report um any concerns or questions you have about it. >> All right, >> as always, thank you, Dr. St. John. >> Okay, all in favor of the report, say I. >> I. I. Any oppose, say nay. >> Motion passes. >> Mr. Blair,
128I'm going to ask for just a temporary pause so that our student rep is able to uh depart the stand there. He's got a early morning at school tomorrow on our Friday right before spring break and we want him to be well rested and uh Elijah I just want to say thank you for your participation tonight and uh your talk at the very beginning. You did an amazing job and certainly an amazing representative on behalf of Barnwall Middle School. >> Board, I have a motion to approve the purchases as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Harmon and Grder. Uh any conversations? >> Thank you. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Any post say no. >> Motion passes. >> Board have a motion to approve the exploration to let bids for pavement
129improvements at Independence Elementary Westwood Trail Academy and Barnwell Middle as presented. >> Director Pushkar >> second. >> Director Pon uh Director Harmon, excuse me. Um any conversations? >> All those in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed say nay. Motion passes. Board, I have a motion to approve exploration to let bids for roof section replacement at Daniel Boone Elementary as presented. >> Director Pushkar >> second. >> Director Harmon, any conversation. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose say nay. >> Motion passes. Board, I have a motion to approve the middle school ELA purchase as presented. So moved >> director Oki. Any questions? >> Uh I happen to sit in on that uh conversation. Looks like great curriculum that's going to help our kids um advance in reading. Just want to add
130that to it. Any >> I have a question. Is this phonics? >> Yeah. >> Okay, please. Okay. >> Any other questions? >> All those in favor say I. I. Any >> oppose say no. Motion passes. Board um I want to share this. We're talking about uh item 9H. Uh the board directed that administration engage with legal for a full review and recommendations to upcoming policies and regulations that would open some doors for some non-dist sponsored high school athletic teams uh to access um announcements or trophy cases, pep rallies, and homecoming parades. Um, so board, I have a motion that the administration be directed to explore opportunities to allow nondist sponsored athletic teams with majority participation by district high school students to have additional access to things like school announcements, trophy cases, pep rallies, and homecoming
131parades. and that administration is also directed to engage with legal counsel to begin working on potential changes or amendments to policies, regulations, and practices that will reflect these new opportunities for the board to consider at a later date. Do I have a motion? Do you have a first? >> Some moved. >> Oki. >> Second. >> Uh Harmon, any discussion, board? Yeah, we um solved some of the questions that were raised the last time this was brought up about oh let's say a disagreement between coaches and the kids and on the that don't attend the school. Have we settled all that with legal? >> It's a great question. >> Um Mr. Delaney. So, this uh particularly references like if we're looking at hockey, there are there are opportunities um within that structure that there might be
132a player or two uh if they're coming from a neighboring district that does not have a hockey program to be on another team. So, for instance, I believe right now Francis Hall North does not have a hockey uh program or team. Uh so if they have students in that uh area I think I I think the way I understand it there's kind of a maybe a draft process that occurs and that individual might play at how high or how central. We would be looking to have uh the attorneys review all of this as a part of that process. Um I don't know that that creates a a blocker to this happening. Um because what we're really seeking out are opportunities for them to have student announcements be shared uh about when their games or structures
133might when their games might be. Um we're looking for uh you know opportunities for if how high should win midstates which is their governing body like a trophy to be in the the cases at our thing. We we do want to be mindful that we are not looking for our athletic directors, our high school administrators to have extra duties and responsibilities in the evenings uh of monitoring hockey tournaments or things along those lines. That's why we're asking for legal to take a look at uh some of these uh policies and regulations that may apply. And we're looking for a pretty specific carveout based upon the request from several parents at both How Central and uh How High that have requested um acknowledgement for uh the student athletes that are participating and and essentially wearing uh
134the badges, those jerseys of of those respected schools. Um all while really wanting to not create a carve out that opens like a big box. So we have uh you know district approved activities right now that are district sponsored. We also have studentled initiated clubs and activities. Um and then we have non-dist sponsored clubs and activities. And so we would want to engage with legal to make sure they felt like they could uh create in our policy language some particular carveout that would uh not open the district uh to any additional liability. I I know you you wouldn't know this, but I guess it's impossible to estimate how much legal expenses are going to cost. >> Yeah, I that would be hard for that would be hard for me to estimate. I would tell you
135um and you know just roughly uh looking I'm not saying that there certainly couldn't be more but you know we've identified maybe three policies three regulations that might need legal uh lens or review there there certainly could be more. I I I I don't want to say for sure that that's all that there could be. Um but uh it would be it would I would be unable to say like it would cost x amount of dollars. I don't know the answer to that yet >> but it is an added legal expense which I was have been complaining about the legal expenses going up but thank you >> good question >> it's under pillar four >> any any other comments >> okay uh all those in favor say I >> I any post say nay >>
136nay >> motion passes board I have a motion to approve the rate category 2 projects for technology contingent upon -ate approval as presented >> Harmon followed by Grider. >> Board have any questions. All right. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose say no or nay. >> Motion passes. Miss Lisa Simpkins, chief human resources officer will present. This will be brought back to the April board meeting for a vote. We have a comment about school year calendar. >> Thank you. Yes, I wanted to share uh just a small presentation with you um as we present to you a draft of the 2027 2028 school year calendar. Um, our practice is to create and approve a calendar two years in advance that allows our staff and our families an opportunity to plan ahead for
137those breaks and vacations, hopefully increasing attendance on planned student contact days. So, we have some new folks in the room. I just wanted to share a little bit of calendar history with you. It helps to know the Francis Hall School District journey and how our calendar today came to be. We're going to go back a little bit to like Miss Dr. St. John says the 1900s. So beginning in 1975, the district operated on two calendars. Uh one for elementary and one for secondary. The need for a yearround elementary schedule was necessary due to our skyrocketing enrollment at that time which resulted in school buildings quickly reaching capacity. A decision to implement a four cycle year- round arrangement was an alternative to split sessions where one group of students would attend early in the morning and
138another after lunchtime. The decision to go to a year-round schedule at the elementary level was a financial one made due to unprecedented circumstances that were faced at that time. We're going to fast forward quite a few years to 2009 and the district created a calendar task force to create the 201120 school year calendar. The task force came together to look at fiscal student achievement, family and staff impact of our calendar and at that time the district was reduced to a single cycle at the elementary level. All students attended 174 days, but on different schedules at the elementary level. For each day that those schools were not on the same schedule, the district spent approximately $28,000 in additional transportation costs. So, it was approximately $764,000 in additional transportation costs each year when that was happening. uh
139by reducing the number of student contact days from 174 to 169. There was also additional transportation savings. The task force included administrators, parents, teachers, students, a board representative, and representatives from our union, and they worked to create a calendar in which both elementary and secondary would follow the same schedule. Oop, sorry, I didn't mean to do that. And reduce the number of student contact days. However, in order to um meet the number of required student contact hours, each instructional day was increased by 5 minutes that year. This recommendation included keeping the teacher work calendar at 185 days, which is what it still is today. The memo to the board at that time indicates that teacher professional development would occur on five hour five days for 4 hours in length and these shortened days would count
140as part of the 185 full contact days. Um and that would offset the additional 5 minutes of work time for each teaching day uh necessary to reduce the number of student contact days to 169 and that is still followed today. Our PD days are noted on the calendar as full uh contracted days for our teachers, but they are only in attendance four hours on those days, still making up for those five additional minutes that were added years ago. That following year, administration recommended a calendar with minor tweaks after living this new reality for one year. Um, one of those changes included an additional PD day for teachers as the state teacher meeting day was eliminated. Um, and since that was a contracted day for our teachers, it was replaced with a professional development day at
1414 hours in length. And this created the sixth PD day that we have on our calendar today. In the 2014 2015 school year, we negotiated with FHEA to add two full PD days to the calendar as part of a 6.5% salary increase provided to teachers. That was a year that no step was provided, but a largest salary increase was provided to our teachers. Increasing the work calendar from 185 to 187. In 2015 2016, we negotiated with FHA to add again an additional full PD day to the calendar as part of a 5% increase provided to teachers. Again, not a step that year, but a percentage increase in lie of that increases the calendar to one from 187 to 188. The next year, the tax levy did not pass and we were unable to sustain this.
142In the 2016 2017 school year, we did freeze salaries. In the 1718 school year, we froze salaries for a second year, but we negotiated the removal of those three full PD days that had just been added, and the calendar was again reduced to 185 days. We often hear about the the date that we choose to have uh students return, that first student contact day. On July 11th of 2019, Governor Parson signed legislation that bars districts from setting an opening date for the school year that is more than 14 calendar days before the first Monday in September. And this rule does reduce our flexibility in creating our calendar. Since the law began, staff and family responses to past surveys have indicated that we should start school as soon as we can, uh, giving us the most
143options in the calendar the rest of the year. So, we do start on that Monday. We often hear that it is more desirable to start on a Tuesday or a Wednesday. Uh, but starting on Monday really allows us some flexibility with fall break, winter break, spring break, and making sure that we finish the school year before Memorial Day. In 2023, working with FHEA to find some additional teacher work time, we reduced our student contact days from 169 to 168 as we were meeting the required number of hours of instruction. This allowed an additional workday for teachers during the school year and we eliminated the evening spring parent teacher conferences. However, in 2024, Senate Bill 727 offered districts an additional 1% of funding if students were in attendance for 169 days. In order to do this
144without increasing student contact days, we took one full meeting and workday and divided it into two. Students attend in the morning and the meeting or work occurs in the afternoon, creating those partial student days that we have lived uh this year. So just a little history to tell you where we are. Um for the 2728 calendar, we really created the calendar following the same format that we have used since the 2021 school year. Uh with that basic framework in mind, we have two changes. We will continue to end first semester before winter break. Um and and uh in addition within the 2728 school year, we were looking for ways to increase instructional time with students while protecting the meeting and work time for our teachers. And so we have eliminated those partial days, making them
145early release days instead. A little bit of a longer period with students in in our schools and in front of our teachers, less meeting and work time. So instead of those partial days, uh we'll add the early release days that we have a have come to understand that schedule a little bit better. So we'll talk a little bit about all of the parameters that impact our calendar. Um one calendar for all levels is fiscally responsible and it allows families with students in multiple levels to be on the same schedule. Again, that 2019 legislation bars districts from setting an opening date for the school year that's more than 14 calendars before the first Monday in September. In 2027, Labor Day is later. That first week in September starts on a Wednesday. We like to start with
146a shortened week as I mentioned that is always desirable for our students and staff. However, if we do that, we limit the number of days available for fall, winter, or spring break. and the end of the year uh happens later into May or maybe even into earlier June if we start after that Monday. Creating equal quarters and semesters so that students have an equal number of school days in each elective class has always been our goal and that was reviewed very thoroughly with leaders as the direction was uh provided to end first semester before winter break. So, our quarters and our semesters are not equal in this calendar again this year as we will finish uh first semester and have finals before our students go out for winter break. Fall break is a long-standing tradition
147and it does support the recruiting and the retention of our staff. It was introduced when the elementary and secondary school calendars were combined shortly after that elementary transition from a year- round schedule uh to a more regular student schedule. Two weeks of winter break and one week of spring break is also desired in our calendar. Again, those were things that were created when that calendar was uh brought down to one level. The breaks do provide much needed time as we recharged as we work through the school year. Our teacher professional developments are included in the calendar and research states that PD is most effective when it's relevant and participants have the opportunity to immediately practice what they learn. Spreading those days throughout the calendar also provides time for facilitators to plan effectively and provide good
148learning to our staff. This will be the second year that there will be two PD days held before the first day with students in an effort to have as many student contact days in first semester as possible. Um our several of our schools buildings are used as polling sites when necessary on election days. The election authority determines when our buildings are needed. So we schedule two of those PD days on those election days. So, we know that we can't have students present when we are providing professional development to our teachers. And so, we purposely put two of them on those election days so that we can provide for the safety of our students as many different people are coming into our building on those election days. It also impacts things like parking or if the
149voting um is happening in one of our gymnasiums, it would impact that PE instruction. So, we just put those PD days purposely on those election days to provide for that. We always try to schedule the last day of school, not considering snow days before Memorial Day. Um, but really the start of the year, the length of the breaks, and how the dates just fall on the calendar will impact that last day. Graduation is hosted at the family arena, and that allows all of our graduates the opportunity to invite as many guests as they would like. Due to other commitments at the venue, our graduation is held yearly on the first Saturday of June. So, we do have to make sure that our students finish their instruction. We have time for getting report cards done, grades
150out, diplomas done, all that great work that our high schools uh do and to ensure that we have a smooth graduation. And of course, when it comes to snow days, it's important to remember that we are now required to have students in attendance for 1,044 hours. And to be eligible for the funding in Senate Bill 727, we must include 169 student contact days. So, we'll use a combination of AMI and traditional snow days to meet that state requirement. So, let's talk just a little bit about the big ideas in the 2027 2020 inc calendar. Um, again, it follows that same format in all of the other calendars since the 202021 school year with that major change of ending first semester prior to winter break. Our returning teachers will begin work on Thursday, August 12th, and
151students will return to school on Monday, August 23rd. This recommended calendar includes 169 total student contact days. First semester will be 77 days with second semester being 92 days. Fall break is included. Uh the 5-day break is there. It's it's a strong retention tool for our staff. Um, again, historically we um offered a full week of break not tied to Thanksgiving holiday. I know that other districts throughout the area do a variety of different things with this break from a long weekend around conferences to maybe an extended Thanksgiving break as each district offers something unique. It's difficult to coordinate that same fall break with other districts throughout the region. We've talked a little bit about election days um and those are included in our calendar. Winter break is included. It provides for a nine day
152weekday break for staff and 10 week days for students and then of course four additional days for those weekends that fall in there. First semester will end on December 21st with finals planned for December 20th and 21st. And students will complete their finals and end first semester before winter break. This is also helpful for those students who are graduating early or maybe heading off to military or college for second semester a little bit earlier. Spring break is scheduled for one week. Um, a majority of districts offer one week of break. The fourth full week of March has been our traditional break. Uh, several years ago, we had several districts come together at Ed Plus and we all agreed that that fourth week of March would be the best ideal time for spring break. Over the
153course of years, different districts negotiate their calendar with their teacher groups or have done moved away from that fourth week to maybe the third week, but we do try to stick with that fourth week as most of St. Charles County is on the fourth week of March for spring break. We do end the calendar, the school year before Memorial Day if we don't have any snow. And again, those six PD days are included in our calendar. Finally, I just want to share with you that we are not making any recommendations to change the 2026 2027 school year. We know that those late changes can really impact our staff and our families. So, those student partial days that we have worked hard to eliminate and find some additional instructional time. They will stay for the 2627
154school year and these changes would be implemented for 2728. just giving everyone the opportunity to see those changes, plan for any child care issues or things of that nature that they might need to address. Um, we have not done a survey yet for this calendar, but we would like staff and community input. So, there is a link here for a Google survey. You're welcome to share your thoughts and ideas with us before we bring this calendar back to the board for a vote in April. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have now. Any questions, board? >> Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Thank you, board. >> Up next, uh we have our strategic spotlight. Uh we've been focusing on our strategic plan in multiple ways and um right now our focus
155is on the workplace culture survey results and Miss Jules is going to walk us through it. >> Am I taller than you, Lisa? I actually have to move this up a little probably. I have heels on today. >> People are taller than me. >> Probably. Um, okay. So, this work that we're going to talk about tonight is aligned with pillar two of our strategic plan, which is people and workforce. I will first share some information about the survey process and timeline before presenting a summary of the quantitative and qualitative survey results. I will also share some possible solutions or improvements that could be implemented to address some of the survey feedback. and then at the end of the presentation, my cabinet friends will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the action
156items in their respective areas of responsibility. The workplace culture survey is designed to collect feedback directly from employees. The survey asks staff about their experience working at Francis Howell and how the district can better support them in their work. It also provides baseline data for a couple of our strategic plan KPIs. We anticipate distributing this survey annually to all employees so that we can measure our progress over time. Finally, this new workplace culture survey streamlines the data collection efforts across the district by combining several existing surveys with new data needs. It includes questions from previous staff climate surveys and MSIP 6 requirements along with some new questions that align directly with our strategic plan. So, while the workplace culture survey is essentially a brand new survey, I did want to just highlight some of the
157things that are different from how we've measured staff climate in the past through other tools and surveys. So, first is that this district-wide survey is much more comprehensive than past surveys that schools have used. So, for example, we had 40 questions on this survey versus nine questions on the school staff climate survey. The new survey includes a mix of questions concerning the district as a whole and those that pertain specifically to their school or work location. Previous climate surveys used a four-point scale, so strongly disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree. And this new survey includes a neutral option making it a five-point scale. The workplace culture survey is administered by district office with the survey link and reminders coming from the superintendent. The survey is to all district employees. So it goes to anyone on
158the all FHSD emails or all FHSD employees email list. So this includes substitute teachers and other part-time positions that were not always included in past climate surveys. We also did not hold principles accountable for any certain response rate this year. In the past climate survey season, we've had an expectation that principles would continue to remind their staff and follow up until they reached an 80% response rate. We removed that expectation for this initial survey year as we did not want to in inadvertently influence the survey results. And then finally, I'll just highlight that the new survey includes several open response comment boxes that solicit more information on items that are rated low. So people who select strongly disagree or disagree. So by design it prompted some detailed negative responses. And so when we get to
159the qualitative data, I'll remind you of that as we go through those themes. Terms of timeline, we launched the survey on November 5th, and it remained open through November 21st, which was just before Thanksgiving break. A total of 1,236 responses were collected during that time period. In December, cabinet reviewed or received the district uh district-wide survey results. Reports were prepared for all 23 schools, and we began to analyze more than 2,000 open-ended comments. In early January, the level leaders who oversee elementary and secondary education received the survey results for the schools within their scope of responsibility. And then later that month in January, principles gathered in person for the first senior leadership team meeting of the new year. And at that meeting, building principles received their individual building survey results for the first time and
160level leaders provided some guidance on how they should share those with their staff. Following that senior leadership team meeting, a summary report of the district-wide survey themes was shared with FHEA so that we could have some conversation and negotiations. Cabinet and pillar leaders then spent the next six weeks developing plans to address district level items while principles were doing the same to address their building specific survey feedback. For consistency across the district, we asked that all principles make an effort to share their building survey results and action plans with all staff in their schools before spring break and then to continue monitoring staff climate in the identified areas of growth for the remainder of the school year. And that brings us to today where we are ready to share a summary of the results with
161the board and the community. So before we move on to the results, I just want to be sure you know who responded uh to the survey. So we chose not to collect detailed demographic information in the survey because we wanted staff to feel comfortable sharing honest feedback without fear of being identified. So we really just asked staff to indicate their primary work location, like what school or facility they might work in, and select from one of four job categories: teacher, support staff, administrator, or other. And so, as you will see on this slide, more than half of our teachers responded to the survey along with 33% of support staff and 59% of administrators. There were an additional 219 people that either selected other or skipped the question. If they selected other, they had the option
162to specify a job role, and the majority of those that we reviewed were substitute teachers, bus drivers, or monitors just based on what they wrote in that box. The first set of set of data we'll look at are the rating questions and then we'll move into some of the qualitative themes we found in the open-ended questions. I mentioned earlier that the survey included a mix of questions with some focused on district level themes and others concerning a particular school or work location. So the first set of questions we're going to go through are those that we would consider primarily district level questions. As we move through the slides, I want you to look for some celebrations in the data. You will notice that some of the areas we score the best in are directly tied
163to our core values and have to do with people, relationships, community, and kindness. So, the next four slides are going to follow a similar format, and I'll take just a minute to explain what you're looking at on the screen. Each line of yellow text up here represents a question on the survey. The number to the right in white reflects the percentage of employees districtwide that expressed positive sentiment on that particular statement, meaning they selected either strongly agree or agree. You'll recall recall that I mentioned the survey used a five-point scale and so the percentages you see here are really the fours and fives. We did not include neutral responses as part of the positive sentiment. On this slide we can see that 59% of respondents trust leadership to make good decisions. 71% are proud to
164represent the Frances School District. 47% are happy with the uh the direction the district is heading and 85% say their job provides a sense of accomplishment and personal satisfaction. Now, since this is a baseline survey, there's nothing to compare it to, but in the future, we'll be able to see if we're making progress in any of these areas. Here are the next set of questions. 70% of survey respondents see themselves working at Francis How until retirement. 46% say their pay is fair compared to similar roles within the district, while only 26% believe their pay is fair compared to roles outside the district. Finally, 53% of respondents feel that the benefits offered by the district meet their needs. And later in the presentation, we'll share some of the themes we found in the open comments regarding
165compensation and benefits. Here we see that 31% of survey respondents feel their total compensation is fair for their work. 45% feel that non-monetary rewards contribute to their overall job satisfaction. Just over half of respondents feel their workload is appropriate and manageable. and 84% say their co-workers work together to meet goals. So for areas under 50% specifically regarding compensation, we sought out other sources to see how we measure up against trends nationwide. And what we found is that teachers feeling overworked and underpaid is not an issue that is unique to Francis How. Unfortunately, a national representative survey by Rand found that 66% of US teachers say their salary is inadequate, which closely matches what we're seeing here in our community. And this is the last slide in this section. Though the rating scale stayed the same,
166the verbiage on two of the questions changed from agreement to satisfaction or likeliness. And you'll see that noted on the slide. 58% of respondents say they are satisfied with the work life balance they are able to achieve in their role. 74% are satisfied or very satisfied with their employment overall. And 62% are likely or very likely to recommend Francis How to friends or family as a great place to work. The second statement there in yellow is one of our new strategic plan KPIs and will be reflected on the KPI dashboard this fall. We present that annually to you in September. Another important call out before we move on to the next section is that though many individual areas like compensation were rated low, nearly 3/4ers of all Frances employees are overall satisfied to be working
167in the district. The next set of questions are those that we would consider primarily building level questions. Again, the same slide format here. So you'll see that 80% of respondents say they have the opportunity to do what they do best every day. 75% believe their immediate supervisor treats all employees fairly. 87% enjoy being around their co-workers. And 84% take pride in working at their school or in their department. So lots of strong celebrations here. On this slide, we see that 57% of respondents feel recognized and appreciated for their contributions. 78% feel safe at work. and we'll talk more about that in just a minute. 83% say their supervisor or someone at work cares about them as a person. So you'll see we have another strategic plan KPI here. And if you recall, our goal is
168that 100% of our staff and our students feel safe at work and at school. In this survey, 78% strongly agreed or uh strongly agreed or agreed with the statement, I feel safe at work. And so that's what you see on the slide. But we drilled down a little further and we found that 10% indicated that they do not feel safe. and the other 12% of staff selected a neutral response to this question. So stated another way, 90% of staff either felt safe or were neutral on the matter. So this is a metric we will continue to track annually and we'll also reflect on that KPI dashboard that we present to you in September. Here we see that 73% of respondents feel that their supervisor provides the necessary direction they need to do their job. 66%
169say they are able to provide input on decisions that affect their work. and 70% enjoy open channels of communication in their school or work location. At the end of that set of statements, the survey asked employees to provide an overall rating for the workplace culture at their school or facility. Across the district, the average rating was a 7.5 overall on a 10-point scale. And then I'll just review a few more questions that were shown only to staff who identified as teacher or certified staff. I know this is a lot of numbers, but we're almost to the open-ended stuff. So, the three questions on this slide are all required by DESI's MSIP 6 process. 76% of respondents say their school assures that student voices are heard and respected. 82% agree that their school shares culture and
170climate data, and 84% believe that educator teams at their school address positive learning environments. Our uh four final quantitative questions for teachers and certified staff are here on this slide. 87% say their staff holds high expectations for student learning. 69% agree that opportunities exist for shared decisionmaking in their building. 75% say they are provided clear direction on how to improve student learning. And 65% agree that staff collaboratively address student behavior. Now we will move on to the qualitative survey data. As I mentioned, there were more than 2,000 individual comments to analyze across four open-ended response boxes. And again, most of the prompts were designed to capture negative feedback by asking for explanations of ratings of strongly or strongly disagree or disagree. So, if you selected one of those, it would just prompt you to say,
171"Please explain any areas that were rated uh disagree or strongly disagree." But first, we are going to start with some positives. Um, question 28 on the survey asked staff to share what they liked most about the workplace culture at Francis How. So, these are some of the reasons people stay and work long careers here. And again, you will see a lot of connections to our core values. First and foremost is people. This was by and large the dominant theme. Our Francis House staff value their supportive colleagues and caring leaders. The student- centered mission and doing what's best for kids was another standout. Our employees have a passion for this work and they find meaning and purpose in serving students and their families. Staff also noted the family feel and sense of community they experience at
172work. This was particularly prevalent for staff who work in school buildings as opposed to administrative buildings, with many staff members noting that students really added to that family feel. Our staff value the collaborative environments we've built here, complimenting the shared problem solving and support they receive from colleagues and from leadership. They also noted the professionalism they've experienced at Francis Howell, highlighting staff interactions that are both respectful and kind. And another theme centered on the various opportunities that exist for staff to be creative and think outside the box. There was also an appreciation for a level of autonomy and feel entrusted by other staff to do their job. The final key theme that emerged was one of continuous improvement. Our staff appreciate being held to high expectations while also being provided opportunities to continue to grow
173professionally. So this slide shows a summary of key themes that emerged from question 11. This particular open response box followed a set of questions that were primarily concerning culture and climate districtwide, not specific to a particular building or work location. It was the first opportunity on the survey for staff to share open feedback. This question actually came earlier in the survey than the one I just presented. I just wanted to start with a positive. So, as we go through this, we kind of thought of this as a pressure release valve question, if you will, where staff were able to describe why why they disagreed with the survey questions or really anything else that might have been on their mind. This was the first opportunity. So, we had the most response here. For context, remember that
174the workplace culture survey was launched last fall, which was a very busy time with some transitions, curriculum rollouts, and some negative press, which certainly influenced the survey results, and you'll see that come through in the themes. It's also important to note that only those who selected either strongly, disagree, or disagree commented. So, this slide shows the summary of themes among the comments left, but does not these themes do not necessarily represent Francis How employees as a whole. So across the 576 comments on this question, the overall tone is concerned, frustrated, and often exhausted, but still coming from people who care deeply about students in the district. So the strongest concern centered on compensation, low salaries, frozen steps, inequity with comparison districts, and symbolic rewards that feel dismissive. Benefits, so especially insurance dissatisfaction. Some staff expressed
175frustration with rising premiums and reduced coverage. overwhelming workload exhaustion and lack of time. Teachers and support staff describe workloads that require extensive off-contract hours. Some of this is due to the profession in general and some is attributed to curriculum assessment and initiative overload in general. Community dynamics and reputation due to negative press primarily attributed to board and district level decisions such as the highly publicized superintendent exit princess how north cost racial incidents book challenges and other issues were all themes in those comments. trust in leadership. Um, again, the negative news and highly publicized missteps led to distrust and disappointment in the board and district leaders. Staff turnover concerns were also noted. Another strong theme particularly at the leadership level, just the rate of um, people turning over. Student behavior and safety concerns was another theme.
176Um, comments noted, physical aggression by students, a lack of perceived consequences, and escalating student needs across the district. And finally, lack of recognition and undervaluing staff contribution. So, feeling overlooked and unappreciated for the work they do. When we move on to uh this next slide, this is a summary of key themes that emerged from question 25 on the survey. So, this open response box followed a set of questions that were primarily concerning building climate. Many of these themes echo the same things we just talked about on the previous slide. So, again, workload concerns was by far a dominant theme. Many comments describe an unsustainable volume of work made worse by teacher apparel shortages, increased student needs, new curriculum demands, lack of planning time, and evening responsibilities. Uh, student behaviors and safety. Staff site physical aggression
177by students, threats, and unsafe conditions in the classroom. Some say student discipline lacks follow-through or consequences leaving teachers feeling unsupported. Um, in terms of staff input, some staff would like to have more of a voice in key decisions that impact them. There were some comments about leadership at the building level. Teachers and support staff described problems at some buildings with principal visibility, communication, professionalism, tone, responsiveness, and follow-through. At the same time, I do want to note there were a number of positive exceptions noted where administrators are celebrated for being strong, supportive, or visible. So, it might have been someone who commented on one of the other things but wanted to make sure that they called out their um building admin. And then in district in terms of district office u there was some frustration with
178decisions and rollouts from central office citing the need for clearer direction more planning time and more support for implementing new initiatives and curriculum. So obviously the survey highlighted um some opportunities for improvement and I will wrap up the presentation by sharing just some of the ways that we plan to address the feedback and improve workplace culture for our staff. So, first we want our staff to know that we hear the concerns regarding compensation and we also know that we aren't alone. As we noted earlier, 66% of public school teachers feel their salary is not adequate for the work they do. Salaries and working conditions, as you know, are regularly negotiated with our employee representation group, so FHEA, FISPA, and Teamsters, and we will continue to work collaboratively with them to ensure we can attract and
179retain the very best educators and support staff with the resources available. The analysis of the open comments revealed some inconsistencies about the district's history with staff raises and step increases, as well as some inaccuracies about how Francis Howell's salary schedules compared to neighboring districts and private employers. So to provide clarity and inform those negotiation processes moving forward, we plan to publish a compensation report that includes research and data on key questions, things like how does our total compensation stack up against peer districts? Have Francis how teachers receive consistent step increases and pay raises? Are all teachers on the appropriate step? And do we have the appropriate staffing levels in all areas of the organization? Um, we also know that public school districts provide benefits beyond a paycheck and some of those same benefits do not
180exist in the private sector. We plan to provide a personalized annual total compensation report for each employee that reflects the district's total investment, including salary, employee insurance, and retirement contributions. To address concerns about workload, we intend to launch a workload reduction initiative where staff across the organization are empowered to find efficiencies in their work. Staff members would work with their immediate supervisor to identify tasks that can be stopped, streamlined, perhaps through the use of AI or delegated. And at the same time, we are asking district office leaders to pace new initiatives and rollouts to ensure that staff have capacity to effectively implement the desired change. Finally, we worked collaboratively with FHA to develop specific solutions to address workload concerns among special education teachers, counselors, and therapists. A full list of those commitments is included in
181the FHA closure agreement that you signed earlier today. Collectively, these solutions better equip staff to manage case loads by providing software and technology tools, training, and step-by-step manuals and guidance documents to make tedious tasks more manageable. In terms of employee recognition, we want to ensure that all staff members feel recognized and valued for their contributions. Our current service awards program is inadequate. Staff members receive token gifts in certain anniversary years. For example, a ruler to mark a milestone 10-year anniversary. Um, pillar two of the strategic plan calls for a reimagining of our formal staff recognition program to include more meaningful methods of recognition, and we will be embarking on that work next year. The survey also revealed the need for less formal, more regular types of recognition. One idea is to create a Howell Hero
182award or some other staff shout out program that would allow employees, families, students, and community members to recognize and appreciate teachers and staff throughout the year. And in a similar manner, our new core values offer opportunities for recognizing staff when they demonstrate one of the values in actions in action, I'm sorry. Next school year, we will provide core value cards that allow leaders to recognize staff and staff to recognize colleagues for living our core values. To address concerns about benefits and insurance, uh Dr. St. John, as she shared earlier, will continue to work with the employee insurance committee to monitor costs and recommend adjustments to benefit the majority of employees. The committee is actively reviewing options for dependent coverage and short-term disability insurance. And the goal is to design an insurance program that is more
183equitable for all employees. The wellness team is another new initiative that kicked off this year to help encourage staff to adopt healthy habits, thereby reducing our overall health insurance costs. As you know, there is a board work session scheduled for May 7th where the employee insurance committee will share more about their work and potential changes to benefits for next plan year. And we would invite employees in the community to tune in to learn more about what could be ahead there. Next, we'll talk about some things we are doing to address student behaviors. This is another problem that is not unique to Francis Howell. uh neighboring districts are experiencing similar issues. Even outside the school system, we see disruptive and disregulated students in churches, in stores, and restaurants. It really is a societal concern that is
184deeply impacting our schools. If left unchecked, disruptive students can have a negative impact on the learning environment for other students, and certainly there's an impact on our staff from a climate perspective. So, this slide includes just some of the things we plan to do to begin addressing student behaviors in the classroom. Some of the items I will highlight are connected with the strategic plan and others emerge from some problem solving sessions with FHEA. Some things are already in motion while others will take some time to implement and we know we need to balance our responsiveness to this concern with the workload and staff capacity concerns highlighted in this same survey. Our top priority is making sure that the schools are that are experiencing the greatest number of behavior incidents are provided adequate support from district
185office. As a proactive measure, we believe that the safe schools curriculum, if approved by the board, will help curb some of the negative behaviors we are seeing in the classroom. It provides a common framework and expectations for student behavior across 23 schools. Will take some time to implement, but we do think that that will have an impact in the future. In a similar way, we need to make sure our responses to student behaviors are consistent across classrooms and across buildings. As part of our MTSS work, we will establish a framework of expectations and responses to help staff and students navigate behavior challenges while fostering the development of positive academic mindsets and behaviors. The survey highlighted the need for additional staff training and managing student behaviors. And we worked through this with FHA during negotiations and
186the closure document outlines those specific agreements. Beginning next school year, administrators and crisis team members will be provided with crisis and deescalation training so they can better support our teachers when incidents occur. As another layer of support, we have communicated with staff that special education coordinators are available by request to observe, model practices, and provide classroom support for special education teachers. Understanding that escalating student behaviors is not a problem that is unique to Francis How, we often look to our peer districts to see what's working for them that might be able to be replicated at Francis How. And we also encourage best practice sharing among our 23 schools. So during a recent principal meeting, several schools shared successes successes that they found and one of those that I'll highlight quickly for you is from Henderson
187Elementary. Dr. Borman shared that last fall they implemented a program called Flight School Fridays with the Eagles. uh where they encourage students to fix it and fly. The goal is to decrease office referrals and office referrals can happen after a student logs three minor offenses. At Henderson, when a student earns two minors of the same offense, they go on the flight school track. They miss their brain break and instead go to an instructional pair professional where they fill out a think sheet and reflect on their behavior. This provides another opportunity for reteaching uh and the expected sorry reteaching the expected behaviors. Sometimes during flight school the kids are reading social stories or role- playinging situations in order to provide a replacement behavior should that same situation occur again. So for example, if they were hitting
188on the playground when they didn't get the ball, what could they have done instead? Use their words, paper, rock scissors, gone to an adult to mediate, etc. The idea was that by implementing the flight school program, those students would never reach the third minor offense, which becomes an office referral. And this proactive approach and reteing is working. Henderson reports that a large number of students enter the flight school track after those two minor offenses, but only about a hundred have resulted in office referrals. So, they are seeing success with intervening and stopping repeated behaviors. And that's just one example of some of the amazing things that our schools are doing to change student behaviors. Finally, to wrap this slide up, we continue to monitor behavior behavior data monthly to identify additional needs and supports for
189our staff. While it may not be possible to completely eliminate the student behavior problem, we can put some things in place to better equip staff and leaders to manage situations consistently and effectively when they arise. We believe that consistency, training, and proactive measures to reduce student disruptions in the classroom will help our staff feel supported in what is an increasingly tough job. Finally, I want to highlight some of the things we're doing to address feedback concerning leadership and change. We talked about workload earlier and the feeling of overwhelm that many of our staff are feeling. We recognize that we need to be mindful of institutional capacity when thinking about new initiatives. Slow rollouts with careful planning and ample training time are the goal and where possible, we will begin with pilot programs to make sure
190the full rollouts go more smoothly. We are also making a commitment to better coordinate the remaining strategic plan work. Our pillar leaders are ambitious individuals with timelines they want to meet in in order to achieve our lofty vision that we've set for ourselves by the year 2030. But what we are recognizing is that we cannot work in silos. We must carve out the time to plan and layer big initiatives from various departments so that we aren't doing too much new stuff all at one time. Another theme we heard in the survey was the desire for input into decision-m. One way we that we are creating space for that is through superintendent chats at every school. Mr. Dr. Delaney and the cabinet members travel to each building before or after the school day begins to meet
191with staff. After sharing some strategic plan updates and key work, staff members have the opportunity to ask questions, share concerns, and offer suggestions about virtually anything that is impacting their work, their school, or the district as a whole. Other survey comments revealed opportunities for continued leadership coaching and support for new administrators and leadership PD for all administrators when we gather several times a year. So, this will help equip our leaders to be better prepared to support and advocate for their teachers and staff. Another theme that emerged from the comments was this feeling that bad press has damaged the district's reputation and can impact employee morale. We want all staff members to feel proud to work at Francis How and we want to continue to shine a light on all of the amazing things that are
192happening in our buildings every day. We will continue to highlight these stories in our people and also ensure that we are providing factual information about key issues that impact the district. That was a lot of information. I just talked a very long time. But with that, we will be happy to answer any questions that you have about the data and our initial response plans. And uh I will go ahead and return to that microphone and allow my cabinet friends to join in the conversation if you have questions. >> Board members, any questions? >> Yes. >> Hi. >> Go for it. >> When a teacher struggles, their first step for help is their building principles. How using this data will building principles um be sharing their plans for improvement with their staff? And then also how
193can their staff not only participate in that progress, whatever it is. Um but also hold that building leadership accountable. um and how can that growth be measured before the next annual climate survey and we can see hopefully progress being made more like a quarterly um and and I'm I'm hoping that that makes sense. My question makes sense does >> Yeah. I'm not I can't remember if she shared but our uh principles did meet with their staff or representatives from their staff to kind of go over the survey results and talk about in their building some next steps that they're doing. Um each of our schools, they do have in their school improvement plan kind of a um a goal around behavior and supporting behavior. So they're monitoring behavior along the way as well and working
194with their staff to help uh put in solutions uh where applicable. Um that is something that we're continuing to look at. So we also will continue to monitor data uh during our senior leadership team meetings. will look at data uh and we'll share some of the you know one of the as Joel shared the flight school that was shared best practices and so that way schools can learn from each other around some of those practices that have been shared and then ongoing work is what are those universal expectations as well as those responses that we'll have and that'll be part of the ongoing MTSS multi-ter system support work that we'll be doing as a team. >> Thank you. As a teacher, I absolutely loved hearing about flight school. Um, wow Henderson, you guys are awesome.
195Um, that is amazing. And I think that's a model perhaps that I would love to see at the middle school level where we tend to see some of those behaviors get a little bit more middle schoolesque. Um, as a middle school teacher myself, I will be stealing a lot of ideas from flight school as I learn more about it. Um, and I think I think that like um what what Jen had said about working in silos as a as an educator myself, I think that is the the fastest, quickest, and most direct way that we hurt ourselves is to not collaborate and not communicate and not share. And I I think seeing this data, the first thing that that came to my mind was if these were translated into a report card, those percentages would
196not be super great. And um I would love to somehow find a way to take the metrics that we have right now and maybe quarterly just re-evaluate and see if we can create more than just an annual opportunity for our teachers to share that information with us. Um but I also want to keep in mind that um equity equity is important and that we want to give a lot of voice to people who are sometimes not the most vocal and um that can sometimes you know yield change in a good way if we're open to listening to so those people and what I guess I mean by that is like you know um building principles being that funnel, I guess, up to administration, but more roundts with educators and more time spent with the people
197who are doing the day-to-day. Um, I love that you guys are going to the buildings. I think that's fabulous. But, um, I just want to see that more of that feedback is happening more frequently in a way that we can see that growth rather than just once a year. like every say facts are our friends and I appreciate you guys sharing our uh the facts and that was something that was helpful whether it's a something that makes us look great or or not as great um to know it publicly in front of us is really helpful. Thank you for that. >> Can I >> Yes. Um, I was very disturbed to see these percentages cuz they were so low. And as we know, you know, going into a building every day and I remember as
198a teacher and not being happy and it's it's really hard to put on a good face for your class when when you feel like you're either disrespected or not listened to, not appreciated, not heard, not seen. and that administrators aren't doing their job of disciplining students. And I I know this is, you know, it's a continual problem across America. And I know it's worse. It's got to be worse now. Um, I would love to see an addition on the leaders leadership and change page of adding offering one-on-one support and coaching for struggling administrators or administrators that are not providing a safe environment for teachers and students because it's not just new administrators. And I know it's not all about administrators, but I mean it it's a team and if if you know it starts at
199the top and they they provide the vision and the safety structure and you know they I think they guide the climate of the school. So I I think administrators, you know, many times they they just they need help like teachers need help. And I think we should be very very concerned about that cuz if we don't help everybody, it's it's not going to get any better. And I think once a year is not enough. I agree. And I I wonder too on the page that talked about um look looking monthly at was it office referrals or discipline or whatever. Um I've seen instances where um administrators will try to hide you know what's going on in the school and and maybe just like not tell you everything that's happening. So I don't know how you
200fix that. like we always they don't want people to know how bad it is. But I think we need to teach administrators that you've got to be doing this to make things better and you can't hide it. We I think we sometimes hide what's going on. I know it's difficult. >> Yeah. I just and and I know I mean we we certainly acknowledge some of those survey results. I want to be careful though that our administrators are hardworking individuals who are are doing their best with the tools they they have every day. Um, as as we've identified, there's some training that we'll be providing across the board uh to all administrators to uh better support kids that uh we're seeing some increased behaviors with. Um, you know, that is a commitment we made and a
201commitment we made with FHA um that we would continue to do that. Um we do have district leaders uh that do support our administrators uh specifically if there are concerns that come to our attention in certain buildings. Um you know we do try to go and and specifically target certain buildings to provide some additional support um for those individuals. Um you know that could be um you know you you've seen some things that we've talked about some additional mentoring and additional supports uh both at the administrator level and the teacher level across the district. We certainly are committed to doing those things to try to help uh with student behaviors and help with overall climate in our buildings. >> Yeah. >> Just want to add one other thing too. I know this is all aggregated
202um but kind of to that point. Presumably there are some schools who are scoring higher, some schools who are scoring lower. Um, so hopefully we can use like crowdsource, right, the the stuff that's working really well and be able to share that. And I'm assuming we've got platforms for them to be able to do that because there are some programs I think that are, you know, maybe happening in one building that other buildings could benefit from. So hopefully there's some of that knowledge share happening too. >> Yeah, absolutely. At each of our principal meetings, we have a segment dedicated to best practice sharing where schools will take turns sharing some of the best practices whether it's around uh behavior and discipline or whether it's around academics. So yes, attendance all those. >> Thank you. >>
203Anything else board? >> Thank you very much. Um next on the agenda is the budget development uh presentation regarding capital fund and bond fund. Dr. Amy St. John, deputy superintendent of finance and operations will present. >> Hello again. I would like to share with you as we are building the 2627 budget for the capital projects fund and the bond fund. I will work through um showcasing the things that we will have allocated in that. And so as a as a reminder, this is something that will build over time. Each month I'll come back and share with you segments of the budget that are being built for the next school year and highlight the things so that it's not overwhelming when I get to June and I have the one budget presentation. We'll have broken it
204down and shared with you each of the pieces as we go. This is where we are in that process and the budget development calendar. And for tonight's presentation, we will focus just on the capital projects or fund four as we will be looking at things that will be for um school improvement overall um for our facilities and in the buildings for the revised expenditure budget. Um for this for all of our funds rather, I wanted just to show you the percentage of the funding that we spend. Um, and this does include the bond fund. And so with that, you can see that the capital projects portion is really a small component of the overall budget. When we talk about capital projects and the revenue that comes in, the fund balance that is a carryover um
205that's the number that you start with and then you have any of the transfers that are from the um general fund. Each month when I talk to you about the just the overall presentation, I will remind you and say that I'm going to transfer $5 million in from the general fund into the capital projects and that is an allowable transfer from Dusty. They actually allocate the amount that we are able to transfer and that guaranteed tax base calculation. It's estimated at 7.5 million would be the amount we are allowed to transfer, but our current budget is showing a $5 million transfer. So you move money out of your um general operating kit dollars and you put those into building dollars. In addition to that, there are other um revenue sources that come in and that's
206going to be under the merchants and manufacturing sir tax as well as the fit tax which is un we're unable to calculate what that would be each year. And then finally the levy distribution from those taxes, the property taxes and the the personal property tax as well. Capital projects funding can only be spent um for items that are greater than $5,000 per item or in group purchase if they are $5,000 or greater. Those dollars can also be used for lease purchase, land, buildings, or other major improvements. This is the capital spending over the um since 2011. You will note that there is a spike in the 2019 school year and that was because the transportation department was brought back inhouse and there was a $9 million expenditure that year just for the buses. On average,
207however, the district spends about $6 million in the capital spending, but it has ranged from 2.6 to just over 9 million. for the capital P planning process. I want to say thank you to Saloon Stutzer and Matthew Bulick as they meet with each building and each department including our friend like Scott Gowen here and anyone that's planning to spend capital dollars next year. They set and they meet with them and they have a lengthy conversation in terms of things that are priority, the things that are the needs um versus the ones and they go through each of those areas and work with the operational teams to evaluate those requests. The leader submits then those into a work order and then the final costs are identified and looking for items to ensure that they are each
208um over the 5,000 threshold or otherwise they would come out of the operating expenses for the FY27 capital project request spending cycle. It's just important to know that capital projects can sometimes carry over from one year to the next. So there's a little bit of a um a swing and that happens because those projects are all squished into that very very short time frame over the summer, but our fiscal year changes on July 1st. And so oftent times money that we think we were going to spend in one fiscal year will carry over to the following year due to delays of scheduling. Um can be weather um just that the projects are taking a little longer. So, for instance, with our HBAC projects that are going to get underway, we try to get a jump
209start on that as we go into spring break so that we can hope to finish those um over the summer as well. Our leaders put the use operation hero software in order to log all of the capital expenditure requests that they have and then that's how those are tallied and brought forward. I will go through a series of slides in order for um you to see what those capital expenditures are expected to be and then I'll do a summation slide at the end to show you year-over-year. This will be about $9.4 million of spending going into next school year. Next school year, we are not expected to purchase any buses. As I mentioned, the majority of those were purchased in 2019. They have um we have about 154 buses right now. We expect that we
210may actually surplus a few of those buses at this time and so really it's not a need for next spending cycle. Cafeteria tables. This is a section that is a district-wide um we have a life cycle replacement that we follow. Next year we're hope we are needing to spend $260,000 and that's for 86 cafeteria tables, 13 of which would be ADA compliant. And you with each of the slides I list the buildings that are um going to receive those capital expenditures. So I won't read each one of them, but know that that is um designated on each of the slides. Each year we need like a home budget, you need a contingency um because you don't know if a a large pipe is going to burst or um something is going to happen in that
211year. So, we have a $250,000 contingency allocation that's just built into the budget for the overall custodial equipment. We have a $30,000 placeholder there. This would be things like uh new vacuum cleaner, extractors, wetbacks, auto scrubbers that would be needed going into the next school year. For electrical, we have $200,000. That's for John Weldon's cafeteria and Holland Beck's gymnasium as well as intercom systems for Francis How Central, Francis How High and Hollandbeck as they have obsolete or they have a ended their life cycle um for the equipment that they currently have for our fields next year. I may have skipped one. >> Yes. Um the exterior buildings comes next. That's $500,000 and that's for replacing siding and guttering. Um that it would be at Meadows Parkway, Hackman and Central Early um Childhood Centers and that
212again is about half a million dollars in that estimate. For fields, we are looking at Francis How North. You can see in the picture down below that there's a pooling that's occurring. Um they're needing a new drainage system, um irrigation system, and that the outfield area. That's about $125,000. And on the right side, this is the outdoor area for Brian, Francis, how middle, Barnwell, and Hollandbeck. As we have eroding conditions, cracks in the um the fields. This is where kids are out there for PE um and for after school area. The next slide is talking about flooring. We're needing a few more um areas updated, replaced in the flooring area. These have been prioritized as France House Central Fairmont and Warren treads on stairs is the qu what you see in the picture on the
213right at Warren Elementary needing those improvements. Sometimes you'll hear us talk about FF and E or furniture fixtures and equipment. there is a placeholder of $950,000 into next school year's budget and that is um really a large amount of um buildings that we're looking for that. But as you can see, we are really down to just double-checking what needs to be fixed that is absolutely broken. So that's what the those dollars are sitting there for. Tonight you all approved a let bid and it would be to cover um the next step for this um slide that you see here for grounds parking lot and exterior of $1.2 million. This is for the entire campus um for the Independence Elementary as well as the Westwood Trail Academy. And then at Barnwell, there is a need for
214resurfacing the walking track. Um the bottom right hand picture shows you that there are some very large cracks in that surface. Gymnasiums are always needing to be updated in some cases. Um we are looking at 46 years old um for our bleachers that we have repaired along the um way and it's time for those to be fully replaced. We have $149,000 per site for two sites that need to replace for next year. H um HVAC is a $513,000 request and that is for Meadow Parkway HVA system had been upgraded automation controls and in reducing that and so just again just on cycle just trying to make sure that we're staying the most efficient um with the HBAC systems in our buildings. Information technology is connected to what Mr. Gowen um offered as an overview last
215month in needing the updated of our networking components as well as those classroom audiovisisual um sometimes known as interactive panels previously called smartboards. Um that's a brand name. So really interactive panel is what we call those. So we've identified um several locations that are really needing the you might remember that heat map that he shared with you last month and that's how we would prioritize which of those need to be updated. Next is just some interior building um things that need to be done. Some rest restroom partitions, some lighting. Um making sure that we are able to reduce our annual electricity cost. We will do that actually as a celebration in next month. Um just some of these changes and updates are allowing us to realize some energy cost savings. And so this investment is
216for $550,000. The top box on this one is our leases that are current and those are um in grand total of 1.2 million. New leases that are we would be bringing on cycle is for 467,000. That gives us a total of 1.7 million. In the new lease, again, Mr. G spoke to us last month about the um there's $875,000 in there for the touchscreen Chromebooks for the elementary grade. $600,000 replacing some outdated AV equipment and $80,000 in piloting the next um staff laptop as well as a refresh for some copers. We do not need a budget allocation for playgrounds as those have just been replaced. Daniel Boone is in need of a roof replacement and that also was a part of the let bid request that we had earlier tonight. There are eight spots within
217that roof that need to be fixed and that is for an estimated cost of $845,000. We do not have any additional safety capital expenditure request for the next budget year. Our white fleet uh has a $225,000 placeholder and this is a recommendation to maintain safe and operational um sound fleet which is including the replacement of the HVAC van as well as transportation for the plow truck and a 2007 model maintenance van that needs to be replaced. And this shows you the year-over-year change for the capital expenditure. So, in the year that we are living, it is a $10 million um budget for that. And the next year's budget is a slight decrease of $9.4 million overall. And I would draw your eye to the right hand corner, which is a potential $1.4 million. As I
218mentioned, that might carry over. So, things that wouldn't get complete by June 30, you would see that in that revision um going into the next year. So, that's where you can see um year-over-year we're down on our spending about $739,000. The next few slides are really just to explain how the fund summary works for the capital projects. And so, reading this on the right hand side from top to bottom, if you understand the um where I mentioned earlier, the beginning balance is how you start with that. So, you start with the the 16 million. We receive additional revenues of 2.5 million. We have estimated expenditures of 10.1 million and then you have a subtotal and then you do the transfer of 5 million. That leaves your ending balance at 13 million. That's the current year
219that we're living in the bottom right hand corner. That just takes us through showing what the estimated ending balance on 63027 would be at just under $12 million. This is the same slide I showed earlier tonight, but as a part of this presentation, just so that it's the current reality of where we are with the bond financials. This gives you an overview of what we do expect that by the end of 2027, we will have spent all of those bond dollars down because again, we're earmarking those for that final phase of those HBAC systems. So, in the bottom bottom right hand corner, that's why it zeros out um because we do expect to spend all of those during that school year. And with that, I do again want to just thank um Salum and Julie
220Walsh um as well as Matthew Bullick just for being able to work um handinand to prepare this, gather those pictures and work with those leaders in order to present to you um what we expect to put into that 2027 budget. Do you have any questions? board. Any questions? >> Thank you. Um >> I just uh for the April meeting, can you share uh what about the increased fuel costs that we're all experiencing will happen on the >> effectively have on buses because >> yes, >> the auto driving dollar more per gallon. Just want to see how it impacts our budget. >> Yes. And that would go hand in hand, I think, with the well be presenting next month too. So that's good. >> Appreciate. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I'm I'm just curious actually.
221I just read an article. I don't remember where I read it. I read I read a lot and it was a school district that was struggling with funds and they had to take the cost of transportation and basically have their families pay to um use the buses and it was like a cost sharing kind of initiative and I'm kind of of course you know thoughts of like Prop RT and you know all of the things that are causing us to have a a decline in funding are kind of swimming around in my head and I'm wondering if that were I don't want to give you more work but I was curious if that were something ever considered. I can share the article with you. Not that I would want it to be considered at all.
222I would want it prevented. Um, but they were talking about in the article like the average family was paying somewhere between like 200 um a year, maybe even more depending on how many students were actually riding the buses. And it um it was somehow the way that this district pulled together the solution for what they were facing. And I would never want to see this happen here. Um, but at some point maybe in the future, I am curious if that's something that um and what that would look like with rising fuel costs and equipment and um how we can prevent that. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Any more questions? >> All right. Thank you very much. >> All right. We have a tax liability notice. It's anformational item. Uh provide
223I just want to uh take a moment look at that at your own uh at your own pleasure. Uh number 11 we have first readings. So these are policy and regulations being brought forth for a first reading. It will be brought back to the April 16th uh that's 26th meeting for a second read and votes. Um, so up next, uh, number 12, uh, this board directed policy was brought forward, uh, for a first read at the February 19th meeting. It is being brought back to this meeting for a second reading and vote. Uh, board, I have a motion to approve 6310 as presented. >> So, uh, Treasure Owens, uh, Vice President Grider for second. Uh, any discussion, board? >> Uh, yes. I'd just like to remind everybody that um well, some some research says 82,
224other research says 90% of all children that are exposed to sexual material before they're old enough or mature enough to understand end up with sexually aberant behavior behavior later on in life. What we're doing now is we're making it harder to take a book out of the library and making it easier um for kids to be exposed to it even and I understand the parents have an opt out but that's always subject to human error and uh you know a parent may not know that these books even exist. So sometimes that is debatable as to whether or not it's an effective um thing. So I just want to make sure that everybody knows what they're voting for. Thank you very much. Uh any other uh comments? Any other discussion? All right. Uh all those in
225favor say I. >> I. Any oppose say no or nay. >> Nay. >> Motion passes. Uh we have curriculum documents number 13. These curriculum documents were bought for a first reading at the February 19th, 2026 board of education meeting. Uh they are being brought back at the meeting for a second reading and vote. So board, I have a motion to approve the curriculum documents as presented. Second by director Pushkar. >> Second. >> Uh director Oki. It's that one. any conversation. >> I have some questions. Great. >> Has there been any research on on this curriculum? Can you please tell us what the curriculum is about for the benefit of the audience or people that haven't read it? >> Yeah, definitely. So, this is our safe schools curriculum. Uh this curriculum was designed uh by a
226group of teachers, counselors, our inspired team. Um they looked at behavior trends. uh they used uh standards that are in our counselor standards, our health standards to develop a curriculum that kind of provides a a set of expectations and so of u behaviors and how to help students with u when they're experiencing conflict, how to help manage conflict um whenever they are sharing their emotions or their thoughts, they can convey those. So it's just a a curriculum to help provide universal expectations to set a stage for the behaviors that we expect. Um as we mentioned earlier, we are seeing an increase in behaviors. And so this curriculum provides that kind of first layer of those universal expectations. So when students are um experiencing those behaviors, we have kind of a a curriculum to go back
227to as the first teachings to help them with developing and having those behaviors while they're in school. >> Okay. But you're using counseling standards for every child in the district whether they have behavior problems or not. Is that correct? >> Correct. It's in our in our counselor curriculum. So there's the state standards inside the counseling curriculum of expectations um to help students learn a proper um appropriate behaviors for interacting with others while they're in school. Well, it's my understanding that that curriculum as far as what you're talking about is only used for shouldn't be used in tier one because that is used in a counseling. >> There are there are tier one standards that are expected for >> counselors to share with students as well. >> Just want to clarify too for grades K through
228two. You're going to have a kindergartener identify classroom behaviors necessary for school success. A kindergartener. >> Yeah. So um the those are also grade spans that we will as part of the next steps we're going to go through and do a scope and sequence. So each grade level so in the K2 span we'll talk about what's going to be explicitly discussed at the kindergarten level first grade level second grade level. So in the K2 realm those are expectations that are appropriate for that age to be working through. >> Another standard I hope you can explain to me the rationale. You're going to have a K through two um recognize different types of postsecary education and training. A kindergartener >> well in >> I think isn't that just asking them what they want to be when
229they grow up? >> Yeah, it just want to be a fireman. >> Well, they don't have to commit to what they're going to be, but it lets them talk about careers and what's out there. I mean, you know, you think about they want to be a policeman or a fireman. like they talking about careers that are available out there. >> And on a second for the board, just when we're asking the question, let's let the person answer. Take turns. >> I I'd like to I'd like to just remind everybody too that we voted was it last month or was it the month before talking about belittling behavior towards a member of the board? I don't know. I mean, smirking and making comments and whatnot. seems like that might rise to the occasion of belittling. So
230I I just want to raise that point. So >> thank you very much. >> Okay. Kindergartener again identify refusal skills and when to use them. >> Well, how to say no. U you know teaching students at a young age how to say no. So peer pressure different things they might can be confronted with. So again, how to have those skills so when they disagree with something, they're able to express themselves appropriately. >> Okay. And then identify similarities, similarities and differences between themselves and others. >> So understand their strengths, what they bring to the classroom, um areas that they need to continue to work on. >> Gardeners. >> Absolutely. We want to know what we want to help them understand um their strengths, what they bring to the classroom, what they can help each other with.
231Absolutely. Okay. >> Uh, when I was reading through this and I sat in on the advisory council conversation, um, K through2, um, how does knowing what makes me special help me feel good about myself? Um, as a lesson, uh, how do I make friends with people who come from different backgrounds as a question, how can I tell the difference between safe and unsafe touch? um will be mentioned um grades three through five. Uh the key understanding helping others in the community regardless of their background or abilities is essential to building a supportive and connected environment. Acknowledging and respecting different groups of this school and community helps create an inclusive environment and fosters a sense of belonging and acceptance. Um that's sixth through eth identify my unique strengths sixth through eighth grade talents and skills. explain
232why I'm proud of them. I can honestly look at my own work and behavior to find specific areas where I want to grow or improve. Um the essential question, how can appreciating others talents improve team dynamics? Uh also how uh the thing to learn is I can evaluate different conflict resolution strategies like compromise, mediation or cooling off. I can respond respectfully to others from different backgrounds and abilities. Respecting others with different abilities or backgrounds means recognizing the impact of words, symbols, and gestures. I was thinking especially about the uh sign language we just had earlier. Um what what does it look like to put yourself in smiles to shoes? And then um these are just a few points, but a high schoolers, how do I experience different cultures, deepen my appreciation of others, how do
233I practice conflict resolution to create a safe community? When I was reading through this, what I understood it is largely a proactive discipline. So instead of saying we're going to discipline you there and then don't hit, respect others, take a deep breath, all this stuff. It seems as if a lot of this falls underneath the category of proactive discipline. That's teaching something ahead of time before the action um and as well as other lessons that would end up addressing bullying or harassment. >> Correct. And it Yes. And um it's important that we teach the expected behavior. Um sometimes there's assumptions that they just come ready to participate in these group activities. Um they participate in how to handle conflict well, but we need to teach those skills just like we would teach how to solve
234two-step equations. We need to teach appropriate interactions, how to handle conflict, um how to proper ways to deescalate, um and those sort of skills. And those are those are academic mindsets and behaviors. will help them be successful in the academic world. Much like you saw the robotics team here this evening, you know, they're working in a team. They all had a part in the roles that they do uh to be successful in Win State. Um those are skills that we continue to build. We do that already. This just provides just the universal expectations that we are now just transparent about here's the expectations we're going to be teaching for all students. It's also based upon Missouri learning standards, social studies K through five, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Health Education class as well.
235Uh health health education class, Missouri Department of Elementary and secondary education health education class uh in addition to school counseling. So I appreciate you addressing and >> does are there any other questions about or comments you want to share anybody on the board? >> Thank you to the entire team who worked on this. Yes, they did a great job. >> Fabulous. >> Okay, any other comments or questions? All those in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose say nay. >> Motion passes. Next is superintendent comments. Mr. Delaney. >> Thank you, President Blair. Uh, Director Owens, I may need a little bit of your help on this one. I'll start my remarks tonight with a celebration for the Francis How for Francis How North. The talented singers from Francis How North High School's Bella Voce Choir.
236I'm going to guess my Italian is pretty good. >> Singing. >> Perfect. Uh are attending the Southwestern American Coral Directors Association conference which began in 1968 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This honor follows a blind audition where choirs from seven states submitted three years of recordings. More than 1,000 choirs applied and only 18 were selected. Belloce is the first high school choir in the St. Louis region to earn an invitation and just the fourth in Missouri since the conference began. We are proud of these musicians and the way they represent our district. Another celebration in the world of music. I enjoyed listening to an incredible performance by the Spartan Community Band this week. This band includes musicians from the seventh grade to 77 years old. This band is special because it's made up of more than
237120 members, alumni, current FHSD employees, parents, students, and any community member who wants to play. There really is no better way to celebrate music in our schools month than to come together as a community. And I want to especially thank uh Director Evans and director Kreps who lead that just amazing workout. It is truly awesome to see all these people get together. As you saw earlier today, I want to congratulate Lwanda Brewer, Michaela Doden, Ed Beckman, and the team at Becky David for hosting a successful deaf and heart of hearing self- advocacy day today for the first time ever. We were able to learn a little bit about the DH DHH program earlier this evening. I'm grateful for the opportunity to attend today and spend some time with our students as they get engaged in
238activities. It was great to see students fully engaged in escape rooms, including both a science themed challenge and a library-based experience along with a sign language craft. These hands-on activities created space for collaboration, problem solving, and connection among peers. Self- advocacy day continues to highlight the importance of helping students build confidence and develop skills they need to speak up to for themselves. I am proud that our district is leading the way in expanding this opportunity. I also would like to recognize Freddy Oswald, an eighth grader at Barnwwell, who was named the 2026 advocate of the year. Freddy's ability to advocate for his needs is a strong example for others, and this recognition is welld deserved. I want to congratulate Chrissy Lent, English language arts teacher at Francis Hall Central High School, who has been named
239the 2026 District Teacher of the Year for the Francis How School District. I also would like to thank or uh congratulate Samantha Lidle, a site administrative assistant at Francis Hall Central High School, who has been the named the 2026 support staff employee of the year for the entire Francis Hall district. Francis Hall Central takes a clean sweep this year. And then just over the past couple weeks, we've had the opportunity to surprise Chrissy and Samantha along with our 10 Hall of Fame inductees. Those names will be publicly announced in early April, and we'll celebrate all the winners at the Hall of Fame ceremony. I want to take a moment to thank a couple of my peers here that uh that are working beside me um for their work on the citizens roundts to learn more
240about school finance and the projected impacts of Prop RT and other legislation. We had about 130 people total that attended. For those who weren't able to attend, I encourage you to visit the district website to access the FAQs and handouts that were provided at the roundts. A special thanks goes to Dr. Amy St. John and Jen Joles who organized the roundts and also have been embarking on a PTO road show traveling to PTO meetings across the district to share out information. On Friday, April 10th, we will be hosting our senior pals for a special dinner and theater performance at Francis Hall North High School. Anyone 55 or older who lives in the district can attend senior pals events as long as they pre-register. The event is limited limited to 50 guests and is now full,
241but a wait list is available and so anyone on the list will be contacted if a spot opens. Visit the link on the district website to join the wait list. Thank you to the Francis Hall Central and Francis How High students who will host a board candidate forum on March 31st. And I would like to remind the community that the school board election is on Tuesday, April 7th. And finally, spring break officially starts tomorrow after the partial school day release. Students return to school on Monday, March 30th. I wish our students and staff who have time off a safe and restful holiday. And I also want to recognize that custodial, maintenance, vacation station staff, and others who will be here next week preparing for the return of students and staff the following week. And finally,
242to all of you, I just want to acknowledge that March is National Board Appreciation Month, and I know uh Miss Joles acknowledged that, but I want our community to know how much time and energy you all invest in this district. I I I truly I don't know that people know how much time it takes to prepare for not only one of these meetings, but you you guys are contacted throughout the month by various community stakeholders and I just want to say from me to you, I appreciate all that you do. I know that uh your work is hard and I know that you all have difficult decisions to make on a monthly basis when you're here. it doesn't go uh unnoticed uh by any of us or the community. So, thank you. >> All right.
243Do we have any board comments? >> I'd like to address a patron comment that was given this evening. The idea that I am against students with disabilities and don't support them is absolutely ludicrous. What I suppose you are reading is written by a detractor that was recently banned from a codle codle forum online. The situation that he misrepresented was from a night when I questioned a budget item that paid for six students and it the cost was five six students with needs and it was $500,000. The reason I question it is because I had such a belief in or we were paying outside agencies to do this work. I had such a belief in our teachers of such faith in our teachers that we if we could bring this inside we could do it not
244only better but less expensive. I made that very clear that night. But unfortunately admin didn't think or didn't agree that it would be possible. And that's okay. But the biased detractor started spreading that lie that you are now believing and repeating. I am so deeply disappointed by some of the choices that Director Pushkar has made in um this boardroom and online. I just watched some recent social media posts and how we're responding to other candidates, the things that we're saying, and how we're responding to patrons in the district. Um, I just really think that we should be ambassadors for the district and champions for the district. And while I can't control what you do, how you interact with others or how you interact with other people, I'm just saying out loud that I don't condone
245these behaviors and I believe that they undermine the district you were elected to serve in. Since the code of ethics was violated by Director Grider, there were no consequences. I believe that opens the door for my direct comments. Director Grider, it's my belief that you have undermined this district by your support of pornography in our schools. Even after I have stated numerous times that if children are exposed to sexual topics before they are old enough are mature enough to understand them, research has shown that these children will end up with aberant sexual behavior later. The timing of your comments is unethical since we are now very close to an election. Are you trying trying to sway votes using district resources and knowing that you have an audience? Those that were paying attention before you were
246elected remember you telling young ladies that because crossex bathroom usage was to be tolerated, they should know the difference between danger and discomfort. You are undermining every young lady in this district whether you know it or not. Stephen, your support, your the pack that supports you and has said to keep politics out of the school district at this very at at the very first meeting that you attended, you called out our state legislators and now you are calling out a campaign discussion and and singling me out. Why didn't you call out Director Brder at the last meeting when she violated the code of ethics? I'm deeply disgusted at your five texts asking me to corral Miss Greenwood's behavior. I even after I gave you her phone number to contact her directly, I will not be
247put in the middle. I refuse to be put in the middle. I refuse to take this sort of abuse any longer. And if you don't want to file some code of ethics complaints, um, well, I think you should. >> Thank you for your comments. Appreciate you sharing your opinion. >> Are there any other board comments >> right here? >> I just want to make sure I have any hands up. >> It's my hand. I can see. >> Yeah. Uh, Owens. >> Okay. Um, I would like to comment on some of the recent public statements regarding students, district personnel, and schoolboard members in the Francis How School District. It would be too lengthy of a commentary to list all of the inaccuracies and hateful rhetoric, so I will focus on a few. Words and truth matter.
248We hold our students to these principles, and adults should be setting the example for them. Our recent student protesters had the First Amendment right to protest and were punished for missing class time. Students received detention for missing class and were given zeros for the period's classwork. This punishment is consistent punishment for any student who skips class. It would be inappropriate to give a greater consequence simply because some don't approve of student protests. Students rights and democratic values matter. The recent bashing of our librarians was hurtful and hateful. Calling them porn pushers is probably the worst thing that could be said about these education professionals. They work hard every day to engage our students in the quest for knowledge and truth. Encouraging students to explore the world through the joy of reading is a high calling.
249I am grateful for the service of our librarians and I apologize for the unwarranted persecution you have suffered. Librarians expertise and dedication matter. FHEA is another group that has endured accusations that are untrue. To set the record straight, they did not ask for a full-time release president with the district paying the full salary. They did ask that the previous arrangement was reinstated. Full-time release with FHEA paying $50,000 of the president's salary. What was negotiated is a halftime release president with the district paying for the halftime work and the FHEA paying for the release time. FHEA's work supporting teachers rights matter. Finally, some of the Francis House School Board members have been referred to as leftists. Name calling is juvenile and unprofessional. I can assume this is to cause division in the quest to divide our
250community and win an election. I wish we could all work together with a spirit of collaboration and respect. Unity matters. Thank you. Uh other comments just >> I just want to celebrate women's history month. Um, this there's a if anyone's interested, PBS actually has a cool thing on their website. If you just do a search for girl power, five powerful women in history, just a little reading, celebrate the women in your life. Um, please vote April 7th. Municipal elections are so important. Last year, our voter turnout was 13%. So, like every vote counts. Please do your civic duty there. Um, and finally, I just want to offer one of my favorite quotes as a reminder of the power to make a difference we each hold, especially when life can feel heavy. This quote is attributed
251to Desmond Tutu. Do your little bit of good where you are. It's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. >> Thank you, Ron. or uh Sarah, >> I wasn't going to say anything, but I was just going to ride off into the sunset. Um, but I would just like to add to the unity. Um, what matters most and keeping this in mind, it's unity of purpose that matters. This is what you're pursuing. All the other stuff is outside noise. >> Yeah. that the books and whatnot just allow parents the opportunity to challenge and understand what's going on in the book process. That's all I've ever wanted. And then one of the great things, one of the fun things I sat on on several of the book challenges and one of the
252the good things I noticed and I was shocked to see it quite was that I saw a plaque on the wall in the teachers in the teacher's classroom and it said, "If we have no peace, it's because we've forgotten that we belong to one another." >> Mother Teresa. So if we can go out on quotes, >> wait. All right, >> I got to go then. >> Rod's a preacher. >> All right, I I picked this one this week because for whatever reason it resonated with me and it's from Theodore Roosevelt and it's from um the speech at Sorbon Paris um in 1910. It's not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man
253or woman who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who hes and comes up short again and again because there is no effort without error or shortcoming. But who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, and who at best knows in the end the triumph of a high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least he fails, while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat. And I chose that quote just to say that so much of the work in education is done by people who dare incredibly greatly to make a difference in this world. So, as we go off into spring
254break, I appreciate all of the educators and administrators in this district who dare greatly and continue to air and get stronger and grow and make those strides um day in and day out. That's it. And I just wanted to uh uh hit a couple different topics before we wrap up. Uh it's a long night and thank you all for watching us online and those of you who are here um the 15 of you are still here getting all the browning points. Um number one, it is a hard free speech is the darnest thing, isn't it? >> Yeah. >> Just the in terms of like we all want it for ourselves and we you know when other people use it, it feels different ways. And I'll just say like there's nothing that Jane said towards me
255today that was wrong. And so Jane, if if you're disgusted by what I'm doing or what I did, that's okay to share. And I hold no ill will. And other people, if you have negative views of of me or things that I can do better, uh feel free to share. Um you know, just do my best here. And if there's ways that I can grow uh as board president or or serving the kids in other ways, um I welcome that as well. I want to call out the 1:1 technology for those in the middle of the three and a half hours who might miss this. The plan saves $300,000 of taxpayer money and it just improves the distribution of the Chromebooks. It doesn't increase the amount of time somebody uses technology, uses the screen. It
256just changes how we distribute that. And I just want to call that out as something we should all be proud of that once again um the people who are looking at our books are asking how do we do that a little bit better and you found $300,000 to improve and I appreciate that. Um I believe you follow facts. Facts are our friends and you follow it. And uh a good fact should shake off a a faulty opinion. And I'll just say publicly over the last year as president, I get a chance to have some other information regarding like legal fees and stuff like that. I can say that um there's no one particular board member who is racking up legal fees for the district. Um and there's just a lot of stuff that happens in
257close session that has nothing to do with anything that we're bringing up. Sometimes there are, but it doesn't mean a brought up a question for legal is necessarily a bad question. And so in the spirit of facts are our friends um on that topic, I don't think there's any board member who is racking up the cost over the last year that I've been president. as well. Um, I do want to share over the last couple of weeks, I want to make a call out, um, that whether you're a current board member or or running for the board, um, family is off limits. um especially kids. Uh over the last couple weeks, um my kid was doxed um on a group that had 1,600 people who saw it and saw the kid's face blurred and last
258name. It was all part of a attack on me. About 83 people jumped on and just said, "That's crossing a line. I don't want to get into it." Um and then one person said, At least they had the dignity to blur children's faces. It was already made public anyways. And they included a link that any of the 1600 people can click the link and see a picture of my son connected to his school, my last name, and his face all combined. So, uh I haven't heard uh any apologies. >> You won't. >> Regarding, it's my turn. Um, so sorry to interrupt you, but um, but for me, um, I offer forgiveness and I've learned a long time ago that it's important to offer forgiveness even if a person chooses to say I'm sorry or not.
259Uh, I say this publicly for all six candidates. Um, do not go after people's families. Um, there's a lot of stuff that we say and do that you use against us um, without going there. So, mistakes happen. Uh, not admitting it was a mistake is a problem. And I just want to say for everybody, just keep kids out of it. Keep family out of it as well. Um, I will say that if any harm happens to my kid because of it, we'll be having a different conversation as well. Lastly, Proposition RT is really terrible. It's terrible for the entire county. And you've heard this for the last nine months. It is terrible for Francis Allen. And these people, they can't say it because they're they're employees. They can't go around and saying, "My job, my
260ability to to do this plan is way easier if you don't cut $4 million out of my budget." I do not want to be in a meeting in late April, early May where we're talking about how do you cut $4 million out of next year's budget or the right after that because 75% of this is is people in the most simplest way. There's a kid in second grade who needs help reading. just needs help reading. They don't care about red and blue stuff. They don't care about all the stuff that donkeys and and elephants do to us. I don't care about that. Second grader needs somebody to take care of that kid on a one-on-one basis while the teacher teaches the rest of the class so that kid can catch up. And I do not
261want us to collectively say you don't get a reading specialist to help you read. No. And so in the simplest term, name the kid, whatever you want to name the kid. Prop RT is is not just really terrible for the entire town, but for that one kid who needs help reading. And we are in the business of a school district to help educate kids. So all kids. So, I just want to say um emphatically on that and I'm going to say one more piece. I want to thank Ron Harmon for his time on the board. Uh Mark Ponder wanted to be here. He had to be gone for work. Um the two of you uh regardless of difference in opinions people might see on public fact uh face outward facing um I have seen a
262commitment in you to show up to be at the meetings to come prepared um I just want to say publicly that there's just a lot of things that I respect in you and I'll say the same thing to Mark Ponder here and depending on everything else uh I have some appropriate kind words to share with Jim Pushkar as well. Um but that's for a later date. So there's a lot. So uh board >> I want a motion to go back to closed session >> adjourn open session. >> Motion to adjourn open session. Go to closed session. Kushkar with the motion and >> second. >> We got a second by Grider. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose say no. >> Motion carries.