FHSD Board of Education Meeting-September 18, 2025

001required by Missouri statute 67110. The board of education is holding a public hearing on the proposed tax rates for the current year. After the tax rate hearing and later in the regular meeting, tax rates will be voted on by the board of education. Uh this will be uh happening before the pledge of allegiance. The pledge of allegiance will happen next. Uh we did not forget that but that will happen next. uh deputy superintendent of finance and operations Dr. Amy St. John is presenting them. >> Very good. Thank you so much. This is an annual um event uh where we get together and we talk about what the assess valuation has been for St. Charles County for our school district and those rates are set for this school year for us to be able to collect

002our local tax levy. As a reminder, there are four funds that a school district is made up of under the Missouri statute 165.011. When I talk about the operating levy, that will include funds one, two, and four. And then when I talk about the debt service levy, that'll be fund three. This is the public notice that has been available for the last seven days that gives the estimated um information that I'll be sharing with you this evening and I'll break down each one of those different areas. As a reminder, the primary factors in calculating the tax rate include the operating levy, which include the assessed valuation of our residential and personal property, which is a breakdown of the reassessment, the occup occupancy for our county, new construction and improvements, and those are a part of

003the board equalization action. In addition to that, the calculation for the consumer price index. And then the Hancock amendment is part of capping the revenue revenue growth and I'll talk a little bit about that this evening. And then finally under debt service that is comprised of what we have calculated to be the payments that we have for our debt service for the school year. Each of our assessed valuation is based upon these four categories residential, agricultural, commercial and personal property. And you take the value of that asset and then you multiply it by the market value in each of those categories. And that's how it's determined in sum total to be the assessed valuation for the school district or taxing entity. Those primary categories for us are in real estate and then personal property. And

004you can see how the um information has been broken down in those two areas. This year compared to last year, we saw an increase of 9.72% in real estate and actually a decrease in personal property by 4.12%. You might ask what causes a decrease. It can often just mean that people are not buying and selling their cars, but they have depreciated over that year. The assessed valuation for our new construction has gone up by just over 7 million, which is an increase of 18.36%. Next, within each of the categories, residential, commercial, agricultural, personal property, and railroad, you've heard me talk before that we predominantly receive our local taxes from residential. So, that portion of that pie chart would be 76.57% of our funds come from residential, which I'll talk about in a minute regarding legislation

005that is related to that. Here's our assessed valuation history. You might remember that we are assessed on odd years. So it being 2025, we were assessed. The full amount was assessed at 7.73% of an increase, but that includes both the operating and the debt service components. You can see through the years um in those odd numbers, you're going to see the spike in those. And then um have included there for you what that 10ear span looks like for an average of an increase of 6%. And the um average increase in the reassessment years um the odd years is just over 6% so 6.3%. When talking about the Hancock amendment, this was put into place several years ago and the purpose of the Hancock amendment is for the um ability for the growth spike to not

006be um fully absorbed. So, it's putting a cap on that and it puts a three-prongong test into place. And so, in this particular year, you can see how I've spelled out the actual assessment growth was 7.73. we have to pick the lower of these three numbers. So it's or the inflation rate which is based upon the consumer price index which was 2.9%. Or a flat 5%. So in our case we had to pick the lower which is 2.9%. This is not an a discretionary calculation. This is just us taking the numbers that come from the county and we populate those into um the calculation sheet and it produces um the information for us. This is the history of the consumer price index. You can see that through the years it also eb and flows and

007has a high of 7% through the years in 2022 and a low of.7 in 2016. Its average is just over 3%. And looking at the debt service, it too is a calculated number that um again we're populating that with what we believe to be the um the payments that we'll be making on our debt. It calculates a max amount that we can charge in that levy category. So our current levy rate was at 67 uh13. We could go up to 7722. However, our bond language actually dictates that we have to roll that back about 10 cents and we have to stay at 6713. So, that's not a choice. Again, that's just part of the calculation that we have here in our school district. And the next couple of slides are just showing you some care

008comparison numbers through the um this year compared to last year. Whereas our um operating levy will now be set at $3.30, 30 which is a decrease from the prior year which was $341 and again the debt service remaining the same at 6713. We received these numbers in the spring and we helped that helps us to set the budget into motion. So you might ask the question is this somewhere in the neighborhood of what we thought the answer was going to be and it is coming in close to what we had calculated and set the budget for. So, we set the budget at $3.94 uh 3.949 and then um we're coming in now at 3.9769. So, we're very close to where we had estimated. So, once the taxes start coming in, we'll just start monitoring that

009to make sure that we are on par for what we're estimating um to be that collection. And again, the information starts to come in in the spring and over the summer and gives us information. And then if anyone decides that they would like to um contest their taxes, it has to then go to the board of equalization again. And then we get a final answer. So we have the first number that comes in um before the board of equalization and then we have the number that comes in after. So our final number is 4.1 billion for our school district. You might ask, how does this compare to our neighboring school districts? And so to train your eye on that, that top section is the 2025 numbers for each of our area school districts. Um the

010total levy um is the u middle kind of number there and then at the bottom you can see what the rate was for them in the prior year as well as for us. And you can see that everyone is just slightly lower. So, what that means to the homeowner um in our school district as well as our neighboring districts is that their tax bill will be slightly less at the end of this year than it was the prior year. And then this is just showing you the um where they rank within each of the um that is the total levy and then that is the operating levy which is at the $3.30 30. And then the debt service is just slightly um lower or excuse me just slightly higher than Fort Zoomwall. Um theirs is

011at 65 cents, ours is at 67 cents. And then finally to wrap it up, it's just to show what new revenue has come into the district and that's the 5.4 million and that's an assume assumption of 100% collection rate. So that's what I was mentioning. We'll monitor that as it starts to come in and we'll see um if that's the collection rate that we are still experiencing. And then the final slide is to let homeowners know that um again per $100,000 of their market value, they would have a savings of $21.56 on this tax bill that they would expect to see in November. [Music] legislative connections to this and I'll speak more about this in my finance and operations presentation, but the residential property that I mentioned there is what most of the legislation has

012started to talk about. That includes Senate Bill 190, which is eligible seniors over the age of 62. And then Senate Bill 3 is actually a property tax freeze for all homeowners, all residential property. And that starts um that would be um freezing those numbers of September of 2024. So if that went into um play then actually we would go backwards in time. This would be considered the highest amount that we would receive. And then um just last week we were actually um we were told that the house joined resolution 567 and 8 and they are proposing to um actually eliminate personal property tax which is a very large category and I'll talk about that more in the finance and operations presentation. Any questions or clarifications? >> Thank you very much. We'll talk more when you

013come back up. >> Yes, I'll be back. >> Um, at this time, uh, before we do the pledge of allegiance, still, um, members of the public are invited to comment on the proposed tax rates. Uh, this is different than the patron comments that you may have already signed up for. Uh, this is a different category of comments. Uh if there's a member of the public who wants to come forward right now and speak um regarding the proposed tax rates, you are invited to do so. Seeing no one moving forward to the microphone, uh we will move forward with the rest of the meeting. Uh we will close the tax rate public hearing part of the agenda and then begin with the next part of our time together. In this case, it is the pledge of

014allegiance. So, our pledge lead our pledge leaders are going to lead us in the pledge of allegiance today um are from Henderson Elementary. They are part of Henderson's fifth grade house leader team. Please welcome Sophie Malia uh Sophie and Malia from the House of Friendship and Kyra from the House of Perseverance. Please come forward. I invite you all to stand for the pledge of >> allegiance. [Music] I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you so much. >> Uh before we move to the agenda, I want to remind you that um our mission here is to empower students to be lifelong learners prepared for the future. We have a strategic

015plan. FHSD third uh 2030. You can find it on your um phones on our website. You can also see QR codes as well. Um this is what our agenda is aimed for. Um and the board is going to say one piece of our vision um before we move to the next point. So director >> 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 a 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

016community to make good decisions and do what is best for students. This agenda has been created to make us uh closer to these goals um as we move forward towards 2030. So board have a motion to approve the agenda for September 18th, 2025 as presented. >> Second. >> Director Pushkar with the motion. Second with director Ponder. Uh all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed say no. >> The motion passes. Uh Jennifer Joles, the district's chief communications officer, will present an update on the strategic plan. Miss Joles. Thank you, President Blair. So, as you'll recall, the board approved strategic plan includes 12 key performance indicators or KPIs. We have three for each pillar, and we thought that this would be a good time to share the baseline data for those KPIs, essentially

017a picture of where we started before our action teams really dive into the work this fall. And then our plan is to present a similar update each fall for the next five years so we can see the progress made over time. So tonight I'll be sharing one slide or dashboard for each of the four pillars. We're going to look at lots of numbers. Um Stephen already took my thunder here. So you know you can find the strategic plan on the district website. There's a a button where you can download an easy to follow uh plan for yourself. So pillar one is teaching and learning. The three KPIs in this area measure student achievement, reading, and real world ready skills. The column shaded in blue shows our starting point. And then the column on the right

018with the yellow numbers shows where we want to be by the year 2030. For student achievement, you'll see our goal is that 70% of all students will be achieving at proficient or advanced levels by the year 2030. Currently, we're at 62.8%. This represents the combined performance on both MAP and end of course or EOCC exams for all grades and all tested content areas. For students in a student group, as defined by DESIE, our goal is 50% and we're currently at 39.5%. Our next KPI in this pillar measures reading skills. Our goal by the year 2030 is that 80% of students will be reading on grade level. This KPI uses the end of school year Lexile scores as you can see in again in the blue shaded column on the left. 58.8% of students are currently

019reading on grade level by the end of third grade, 64.2% by the end of fifth grade, and 71.4% by the end of 8th grade. The final pillar 1 KPI seeks to measure the degree to which students are ready to take on life after high school. We will soon be embarking on a communitywide process to develop a portrait of a graduate. And since this tool does not exist yet, there's no baseline data to share. But I did want to share for those who are unfamiliar, a portrait of a graduate is a comprehensive vision of the knowledge, skills, and attributes a district wants its students to possess upon graduation, aiming to prepare them for success in college, careers in life. It goes beyond the traditional academic measures to define the desirable qualities and job ready skills and

020experiences. So we expect this work to begin this winter and we'll be sharing ways for the community to be involved in that process. Moving on to pillar two. This is all about people and workforce. We have three KPIs in this pillar and they measure teacher retention, employee satisfaction, and qualified educators. So teacher retention is calculated annually by dividing the number of retirements and resignations through August by the number of teachers returning for the new school year. As you'll see in yellow, our goal by the year 2030 is to retain 92% of educators. Our current teacher retention rate shown in the blue shaded column is 90.7%. This means that 90.7% of educators who worked during the 23 24 school year returned to work for Francis Hal in the 2425 school year. The next KPI will measure

021employee satisfaction and a survey is currently in development. So again, no baseline data to share with you tonight on that. The final pillar 2 KPI measures the percentage of teachers that are fully and appropriately certified at the time of hire. Our goal is 95% by the year 2030. And as you'll see again in that blue shaded column, 92.9% of teachers hired for the 2425 school year were fully certified. Others were appropriately certified but not fully, which means that they held a temporary or provisional certificate. Pillar three is finance and operations and the three KPIs in this area measure fund balance, audit performance and stakeholder views about how the district spends taxpayer funds. We are currently achieving two of the three KPIs in this pillar. Board policy establishes 15% as you know as a baseline expectation

022for the district's fund balance. As of June 30, the fund balance was 29.7%. And again, as you know, the fund balance fluctuates uh regularly and is constantly monitored. For the purposes of the KPI dashboard and to ensure consistency year-over-year, the fund balance will be updated once a year on this dashboard and will always reflect June 30 data, although you get the regular updates from Dr. St. John uh regularly at the board meetings. The second KPI has to do with audits. The annual audit is filed by December 31st each year and our goal is to have zero findings. The dashboard you see here represents the most recent audit which was clean with zero findings. And then the final pillar 3 KPI is where we have the most work to do. It has to do with community

023perceptions about responsible spending. We distribute a stakeholder survey each year typically in May. And there's a question on that survey that you may recall. It asks community members if the district spends taxpayer funds effectively and efficiently. In the most recent survey, 31.8 8% of stakeholders agreed or strongly agreed with this statement. And you'll see that our goal is that 70% would agree with that statement. So again, we know we have some work to do there. Our fourth and final pillar is safety and security. This is the only pillar where the target for all three KPIs is set at 100%. Um, as a quick reminder, the three KPIs in this area have to do with students and staff feeling safe at school and at work, having safe and secure facilities, and present preventing cyber attacks. In

024terms of how people feel about safety, 90.5% of Francis House students say they feel safe at school. We do not currently have baseline data for how staff feel safe at school, at work, many times at school. Um, but again, that same survey that will measure employee satisfaction will also take on that question as well. So, for the next update, we'll have that to share with you. In terms of physical security, our new safety director, Randy Gmerson, and his team are conducting regular safety audits and ensuring that all school schools hold the appropriate number of emergency drills. Desi is currently in the process of developing a standardized safety audit tool that all Missouri schools are going to be required to use. This was one of the provisions included in Senate Bill 68, which was just signed

025into law in July. Once that tool is released, we will be able to measure our safety protocols against the state standard and we'll update the KPI dashboard accordingly. Until then, we continue with our current practices for safety audits and drills. Our final pillar 4 KPI has to do with data privacy and protection. Essentially, how we prevent cyber attacks from disrupting learning and compromising personal and business information. The district's technology director, Mr. Scott Gowen, works with vendors to track and address reported vulnerabilities. And one tool they use to identify potential threats is the weekly homeland security report from CISA which is the cyber security and infrastructure security agency. I get that right? Uh on that particular tool 100% of identified cyber security vulnerabilities were appropriately mitigated in the 2425 school year. Moving forward the source data

026for this KPI will be expanded to include other reports and tools in addition to SIZA. This will give you am I saying that right? Siza SISA SISA. This will give us a more comprehensive view of how well we are managing cyber security risks and protecting student and staff data. So that is the quick version of the KPI dashboard and then next month at the October board meeting that will be our first more substantial pillar update where we'll have each of our pillar leaders come up and give you a little more detail beyond the numbers just about the work that's been accomplished over the last few months and then what's ahead. So, we look forward to sharing that with you and we will do that sort of report quarterly just to keep you apprised of all

027the actions there. And so, um I do believe next on the agenda, special recognitions. You want me to >> Next we have the student board representative, Miss Joles. >> There we go. All right. And here I am. Okay. Uh our student board representative this month is from Brian Middle School. And as you know, the purpose of the student board rep program is to honor and recognize talented students, 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. And with that, I'll invite assistant principal Dr. Amy Ridling from Brian to

028the podium to introduce our board rep for tonight. Good evening. My name is Amy Ridley and I have the privilege of serving as assistant principal at Brian Middle School. Tonight, I'm truly honored to introduce Brian Middle School student board representative, Tamika Barlo. Over the past three years, I've had the joy of watching Tamika grow as a leader. She's an outstanding eighth grader who embodies leadership, character, and service. Two years ago, we launched a group called Brian Ambassadors with the goal of creating a student leadership team to welcome new students and help them feel a true sense of belonging in our community. We sought students who were welcoming, outgoing, and kind. And Tamika has been all of that and more. As an active member of our ambassador, she has given countless tours to new students, guided

029our fifth grader visits, and supported transition day activities. She's often the first friendly face that new students see and she ensures that they feel at home from the very start. Tama's leadership extends well beyond ambassadors. She participates in the Missouri Youth and Government program, the Spectrum program, and has been recognized for her positive character and leadership as a Brian Middle School bright star in 2025. Outside of school, Tamika continues to shine. She's an active She's an active member in her church youth group, enjoys riding horses, and loves spending time with her mini bulldog, Chubs. She even she's even working towards her CPR, first aid, and AED certification. Further proof of proof of her dedication of learning skills to help others. Tama is a remarkable young leader who will who is already making a meaning sorry,

030making a meaningful impact in both in and outside of school. We are incredibly proud to have her represent Brian Middle School as our student board representative. Please join me in welcoming Tamika Barlo. [Applause] Good evening everyone. I'm Tamika Barlo, an eighth grader at Brian Middle School. I've spent my whole life in the Francis House School District starting at Ky Elementary and next year I'll be stepping into Francis How High School as a freshman. But before I take that step, I would like to take a moment to reflect on how Brian Middle has shaped me. I have been a part of the Spectre program since the first grade. And in through these years, I've discovered the true value of community, leadership, and connection. One of the roles I am most proud of is being a Brian

031Ambassador. We are a group dedicated to welcoming new students, leading tours, and making sure that everyone, whether it's a fifth grader visiting from an elementary school or a new student transitioning from a further middle school, feels safe and supported here. Being an ambassador has taught me the importance of kindness and friendship. It is something I carry with me every day. Our goal is to make Brian a place where everyone belongs, and that mission has shaped me into a more confident person. In addition to being an ambassador, I've also been involved in Missouri Youth and Government. In this program, I've had the chance to step into the shoes of a legislator, learning how laws are made and how bills are passed. This November, we will be traveling to Jefferson City to participate in the state legislator.

032And I could not be more excited. It's a real world experience that I hope it will show me the power of teamwork, debate, and creating positive skills that I will use in my high school career and further beyond. One of the reasons I love Brian is it has been such a special place since the beginning because of its community. It is a place where you are seen and heard and the teachers genuinely care about our success. I have been so lucky to have so many of these adults who have supported me. For example, Mr. Pearson, my Spectre teacher. He's always connected life lessons to what we are learning, making every lesson feel relevant and meaningful. And then there's Mr. Roso, my counselor. If you've met him, you know how amazing he is at making everyone

033feel welcome. He's a true leader and I don't think Brian Middle would be the same without him. In conclusion, Brian Middle has shaped me to who I am. Confident, involved, and ready to take on high school. I'm incredibly grateful for the friendships I've made, the lessons I've learned, and the support I've received here. As I move forward, I will always carry a little piece of Brian with me. Thank you for your time and being a part of this incredible journey. [Applause] parents too. >> Parents out Sure. Absolutely. >> They said no. >> It's your moment. >> Can we see you, Stephen? >> Yeah. [Music] >> Okay, we're take one side. Perfect. Right there. >> Perfect. [Music] >> Thanks you guys. [Applause] [Music] Welcome to MA. We're happy to have you here tonight as our student

034representative. You are welcome to ask questions um of any of the situations that we're going to be talking about tonight. And other than that, if you wanted to um feel free to ask or Yeah. Thanks for coming. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Uh we're moving towards patron comments. Uh during patron comments, residents of the district and staff members are invited to address the board of education on issues related to the school district. Speakers are called forward in the order of signup and each speaker has three minutes to make their remarks. 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

035evening and we value both your input and your perspective. I would like to remind everyone that we expect that speakers will remain civil and respectful when giving remarks. If anyone fails to comply with board policies, regulations, and rules, we reserve the right to cut those three minutes short. We also ask that patrons in the audience remain quiet uh in order to be respectful of the speakers allotted time. And so right now we in welcome uh Jeff Bridges to come forward. >> Not that started my timer. Uh, good evening, Superintendent Delaney, Board President Blair, members of the board education, and to the Francis House students and parents here this evening. My name is Jeff Bridges, and I serve as the president of the Francis How Hockey Club, a role which I have held for the past

036three years. This is my fourth year on the hockey board and my fifth year with the club. I'm here this evening along with many of our parents and players from both clubs at Francis Howell and Francis Howell Central, united in the hope that this board will open the door to allow our student athletes into the Francis Howell family again. When I became a member of the hockey club's board of directors, one of the very first things I heard from our hockey families was, "It would sure be great if we could get the district to recognize us." The second semester of my son's freshman year, I received a letter from the district encouraging Caleb to become involved in Francis Howell activities. The letter said it was important to be uh part of the uh student experience,

037that it helped prepare students for bigger life challenges outside of high school, to which I completely agree. I responded to that letter and pointed out that he was involved playing that year on the varsity and junior varsity hockey teams. I asked, "What could we do to have those students recognized? How could we, the hockey club, help make that happen?" I heard nothing from the athletic department. In 2023, Francis Howell Central President Mike Hurbert, who you'll hear from a little later, and I joined in sending a letter to this very board asking for guidance and how we could become more involved in the district. We exchanged emails with some members of this current board and felt like we might be making progress. Unfortunately, nothing happened. I'm going to run out of time, so I'm going to

038skip ahead. What do we need from the board? Funding? No. We raise all of our own money. coaches. We hire and pay our own coaches. Student security. Every parent volunteer undergoes a background check and mandatory child protection training. What are we asking for? Recognition. We're here to ask that our student athletes be recognized in announcements at their respective schools, recognition of their achievements on and off the off the ice, be a part of the homecoming celebrations, and inclusion in the yearbook. We currently have to pay to have our student athletes included in the yearbook. What we're asking the district to do on October 31st when our varsity season kicks off, we would love to hear the announcement say, "Good morning, Francis How students. Tonight, your Vikings hockey team will take on Francis How Central at

0398:00. Let's go show up for another Vikings victory." Sorry, Central. Uh so here we are tonight asking you each of you how can we make this happen. We are excited about the opportunity and uh would be delighted to have further conversation. Thank you. >> Up next is Caleb Bridges. Caleb Caleb Bridges. Good evening, members of the board, faculty, and community. My name is Caleb Bridges, and I'm a senior this year at Francis South. I'm here to speak on behalf of the high school hockey team, my team, and why be why we believe it's time for the district to recognize us. I put on my first pair of skates when I was just four years old. And hockey has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. But at our school,

040unlike other sports, our team isn't recognized. That means no access to school resources, no place for us in the yearbook unless we pay for it, no announcements, and no pet rallies. Despite that, we still wear our school's name with pride every time we hit the ice. For the past three seasons that I've been on the team, we've practiced two or three times during the week after school, played games late at night while our parents paid out of pocket for ice time here and coaches. We compete hard and have represented our school with class and sportsmanship. Our roster includes students who are not only dedicated athletes, but also strong students, volunteers, and leaders. We follow the same values our school promotes, such as teamwork, academics, discipline, and commitment. Recognition. Recognition isn't just about a banner or

041a trophy. It's about showing students that their hard work matters, even if they play a sport that's less traditional. It's about giving younger players a reason to stay involved and feel included. And it's about building school spirit through another team we can all be proud of. I understand there are a lot of things to consider, but what we're asking for is a chance, a chance to have a seat at the table like other teams do. We're not just skating for ourselves. We're skating for our school and we'd love for the school to skate with us, too. Thank you for your time and I hope you'll consider recognizing the hockey teams. >> Up next is John Giddens. [Music] >> Thank you. My name is John Giddens. I uh serve as the president for Francis House Central

042Hockey. Um pretty much Jeff Bridg has covered a lot of it, so I'm going to skip through my uh prepared statement. Um last year the uh House Central team was uh allowed to be a part of the homecoming festivities. Um it was a great experience for our players, be out in the community, be with their peers. This year um we expected to be part of it again. Uh although the athletic direct director uh explained to us that it we were allowed to be a part of it in error. I feel uh pretty disheartened by this decision. Um that's why we brought this to the board and working with Francis how uh we believe it's time to have these discussions. Um it's time to bridge the gap between our nonport sponsored sports. Um, I will tell

043you I over half of my education has been in a Francis How classroom. I I take pride in that. My roots are here. I know other districts that allow their hockey teams to be part take part because I transferred from how over to Zoom. I got that first experience. All all we're asking is is for the board to take into consideration allow these players to be a part of the high school. We don't need the money. We don't need any funding. And we we have standards. It's it's the student before athlete. We preach that. You see our students, our players, your students have the highest GPA. You know, they take their education seriously and so do we. And that's why we're asking to for this bridge, this relationship we're here to build with the school

044district. I thank you for your time. Thank you. Uh up next is John Hybrreer. Uh good evening. Uh my name is John Hybrider. I've been a resident in St. Charles for 45 years and I've been pleased to be here in the district the last 15 years. I think this is the fourth time I've addressed this uh forum. I appreciate uh this opportunity to do it again. I've offered to help craft a unified mission statement for all the stakeholders in this district. And um that offer still stands. 84 years ago on December 7th, we had a wakeup call when Pearl Harbor was attacked. And uh 24 years ago and now a few more days, we had a wakeup call when uh we had 911 and five plane attacks. [Music] 8 days ago, Charlie Kirk was murdered,

045assassinated, and that was really a wakeup call for me. Um, I believe that, um, we've got work to do to address the hearts of our folks. I think Charlie was working real hard to do that, but now we can, I think, uh, really dig in and do some more hard work. I see that there's a disparity uh between what I would call truth and the things that Charlie advocated and in look spending a lot of time in the last on and off over the last year looking at various things and the upper leadership of the NEA the AFT uh which I don't think necessarily is reflected here in the teachers in this district per se, but several hundred million dollars of our taxpayer, my taxpayer dollars have went to these organizations that are supporting um

046things that I don't believe are true. I don't want my money going there. So I would continue to offer to lead an effort to see if we can unify with all the stakeholders a mission statement and uh to carefully purge surgically remove things that are filtering down in our education at times that are in fact not true. So, President Blair, uh, I respect you and I believe that you could help in that endeavor along with the other fine members. Uh, I offered five names last time that still stands, and I will, uh, render this, uh, to writing to the board, to administration, and to the teachers union as I've done in the past. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Uh, up next is Justine Glansancy. [Music] >> Yeah, we've had some tall people

047here tonight. Let's move this down. Good evening, everyone. Um, nice to see you, board. I just want to piggy back off of what the gentlemen were saying with the hockey club. Um, I am Justine Glansancy. I serve as the board treasurer for the Francis Hockey Club. I'm also a proud parent of a player on our JV team. He's right over there. Um I also have four boys in the district, so I'd imagine I have some more hockey boys coming up in the club. So that's why it's very important to me personally, but also for our community. Um so when I speak tonight, I'm speaking both as a parent who sees firsthand the commitment these kids give and as a volunteer who helps keep the program running. Our players are truly remarkable. They juggle practices, late

048night games, and schoolwork. They support each other on and off the ice. They show up every day with pride in wearing Francis How's name across their jerseys. They do it because they do not do it because they have to, but because they love this sport. It is a very great sport and the friendships, discipline, and life lessons it gives them. And they are guided by coaches who work just as hard. Our coaches dedicate countless hours, late nights, weekends, not only to teaching hockey, but to mentoring these kids. And as students and young people, their leadership and commitment are a huge part of what makes this program so special. We're not here tonight asking for money or oversight. We're asking, what we're asking for is something way more meaningful, and that is recognition. the same kind

049of recognition that their peers in football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, and all these other sports receive. Our kids put in the same hours, the same sweat, and the same heart. The only difference is that it's not a sanction by Misha. But these kids are every bit the student athletes you'd be proud to stand behind. Currently, we have around 40 varsity and JV players with another 20 to 25 middle school kids coming up. I mean, there's a lot of younger hockey players coming up. So, this is very important that they're recognized and they get to be seen like all the other athletes. But at the heart of all this, it's just about the kids who want to feel seen. They want to know when they skate out and Francis Hal colors, their school is standing behind

050them. Just like every other team, this recognition cost the district nothing. But for our players, it means everything. It tells them your hard work matters. Your school is proud of you and you belong here. On behalf of all my boys, our players, our coaches, our families, and our community, thank you for considering this request. These kids have earned this recognition and I truly hope you'll help give it to them. I also would like to invite everybody out to the games. Come see hockey. Come see why it's such an awesome sport and why I'm up here. Thank you. Have a good night. Up next is Deannie Angelo. I >> actually have a few photos. Can I pass those on to the to the board by chance? [Music] Did my time already start? >> 3 minutes is

051going to be tough for me. I know that the parents in our club are uh >> expecting that. So, um, good evening. Thank you, uh, for having us here tonight. Uh, my name is Danny Angelo. I happen to be the head, uh, hockey coach for Francis Hall, uh, High School Hockey Club. Um, I'm also a proud parent of two students within the Francis Hall district. My daughter is a senior at Francis Hall uh, High School and then my son is a sophomore. He's also part of our hockey club as well. Um, so I come tonight not just as a coach but someone deeply invested both in the development and the recognition, you know, of our student athletes. Um, I will try to keep this brief. I will also not try to rehash everything that some

052of the other parents have said. Um, but I do want to echo the core ask and that is that our hockey team be recognized specifically during student um uh during school announcements I should say. Um, this is not about vanity. It's about vis uh visibility. It's about inclusion. Um you know, as Justine just mentioned, our athletes work very very hard both on and off the ice. Um and you know, they excel far beyond uh the hockey rink. Um you know, at the end of each season, we recognize our players not only for their performance on the ice, uh but for achievements in the classroom. I'm happy to share that last season, 23 of our 33 players earned academic honors across a number of categories. Uh that includes seven players uh with a 4.0 GPA or

053higher. Uh seven players with a 3.5 to a 3.99 GPA and then nine players at a 3.0 to a 3.49. These truly are uh student athletes in every sense of the word. With uh respect to the photos that I shared, um I would like to call out uh the first uh photo, it has uh three of our players uh listed on there. So, if everybody can see that, um that's a photo of our senior night. Uh we honor our seniors um and their families as we do every year. Um but what I would like to point your attention to isn't just the players in the photo. It's the stands behind them. Every uh seat in the stand is virtually empty. There's no students in the stands, you know, and these are incredible young men and

054women who give years to this program while their families show up. The student body is not there. They're not aware of what's going on. They're not aware that we're playing games and they're not there to recognize and their peers at school. Second photo is a little bit harder to uh talk about. Um [Music] >> uh so last season uh the hockey community suffered uh you know a pretty big loss. Um a young man by the name of Colin Brown was a player for CDC who was killed while driving home with his father. >> What this uh the photo that you have in front of you shows you >> Thank you. Your time is up. >> Okay, [Applause] up next is Michael Hurleberg. And while Michael is coming forward, um, thank you for the picture. And

055if you want to send the rest of your story to the board, we would love to have you send the email so the board can hear the rest of your story, please. [Music] Thank you very much. He hearing. >> Thank you very much board members. Appreciate your service. I know a couple of you closely personally. So, it's good to see you again. Um to I am a hockey dad. I'm a hockey coach. I'm a hockey board member. Or at least I was. I I'm no longer doing that. My kids have all graduated. Um, I served on the Francis How H Central Hockey Board from for seven years from 2017 to 2024. And um, I stand before you um, not as a current board member or current hockey parent because they're all gone. They're all done.

056They're all done playing. Um, but as a former board member and a former uh hockey dad, um, I truly enjoyed that experience. Uh, not just because ice hockey is by far the coolest sport around. Uh, but more so because the relationships that are built between the the families, between the the coaches, the families, the board members, everybody involved. It's a true spree of spree decor. We all had incredible pride representing Francis How schools. As with any school sports team, they would be very much like to let their fellow students u and families know more about it through advertising, uh posting about games and events, school announcements, simple things like use of the trophy cases, um participating in school activities like homecoming and senior signing date. Sadly, a policy was put in place years ago that

057does not allow any of that collaboration and alienates them and the Francis House School District from all other um how they support their clubs, their club sports. H how's the only one that does that in St. in St. Charles County? Everyone else is involved. We are asking that you and your fellow members of the board school board please reconsider this policy. There are many club sports that will benefit from the greater inclusion. In addition, it provides a great opportunity to showcase all the clubs and activities that abound in our school district especially to future students and families. Back in 2022, as uh Jeff mentioned, I was president of the club and along with Jeff, we co-signed a letter that we sent to you all. And I want to thank uh Mark and Jean. They they

058had reached out to us um as board members, and we appreciate that. Um I'd heard last year that we the uh clubs were allowed to participate. >> Thank you. Your time is up. >> Wow, that was fast. [Applause] Up next, we have comments from FHEA, our teachers union. [Music] >> Good evening. My name is Francine Hill and I am the president of FHEA. We want to thank all our staff for a great start to the new school year. We know some of you are working in uncomfortable conditions due to air conditioning issues and it's a testament to your dedication that you showed up every day to educate our students. FHE hopes the facilities can address these issues soon. We realize they are short staffed, but we hope the solution is in the works. FHA is

059looking forward to working with Dr. St. John to get an understanding of the new absence reporting system. We also appreciate the board's interest in ensuring equity among our schools for special area schedules. FHA wants to reinforce our support of following district procedures and policy guidelines when challenging books or resources. Calling an individual teacher out by name on social media for using books available in our school library instead of starting a productive process serves no purpose. We fully support our parents right to make a decision about what their child reads. Please reach out to your child's teacher with any concerns. We always want to respect a parents personal choices. Education works better as a team. Let's work together. Thank you. Thank you. Up next is FISA. [Music] >> Thank you, President Blair. Good evening. My name

060is Jennifer Vineyard. I am the FISA vice president of clerical staff. Today marks one full month of the 2526 school year and our staff and students have had an excellent start to the school year. We would like to extend a warm welcome to all new members of our Frances Hall community, our new staff, students, and families. Your presence enriches our school district, and we are excited to have you with us. In our ongoing commitment to providing exceptional educational experiences, we recognize the vital role our support staff plays in the success of our schools. Currently, we have numerous openings across the district, including positions for paraprofessionals, custodians, maintenance staff, bus drivers, and bus monitors. These roles are essential in creating a safe, supportive, and efficient learning environment for our students. We invite individuals who are passionate

061and dedicated to making a positive impact to consider joining our team. At Francis How, we pride ourselves on fostering a collaborative and inclusive workplace where every member contributes to the success of our students. Thank you for your continued support as we work together to ensure our students receive the best education. >> Thank you. The board, do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda for September 18th, 2025 as presented? >> Krucar first. Second. >> Second for Grinder. Um, all those in favor say I. >> I. All those opposed say no. >> Motion passes. Uh, board have a motion to approve the tax rate as presented. >> Director Kushkar. >> Director Ponder second. Um, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say no. Motion passes. Board have a motion to

062approve the finance and operations report as presented. Dr. Kushkar, >> second uh Vice President Grder, uh Deputy Superintendent of Finance and Operations, Dr. Amy St. John is presenting. >> Hello again. Back to the short people. [Music] Familiar slide, green light. It's good. We're in good shape. So we have uh we're good in terms of tracking our revenue. We're good in green on tracking um expenditures. So we look at that the full month over a year ago, the same month, and we look to make sure that the percentages are looking um on par. This is a summary slide of that information. It also gives you an update on where we are with the fund balance. that changes just slightly each month as those expenditures and revenues start to come in and we're recalculating that next month.

063We do anticipate bringing you um the first budget amendment and that is due to the allocations mostly. Um we receive those just after school begins and so it's that time of year where we kind of reset that and look to see um what we need to do for the the current budget that we've set in motion. This is a slide that's going to be updated each month as well and it's a little bit different view. So this you are used to seeing a slide that looks like this. And what I would like to do is to kind of break that down for you just a little bit. So this is the full version of the revenues on top. I'll just train your eye to kind of see what we're looking at on the left side

064here. The revenues are on the top. The green is the year that we are living. The two to the left are actual um expenditures for the years of 24 and 25 school years. And then to the right, those are the projections. And sometimes I get asked the question, how do you live in a balanced budget the current year that you're in, but then it looks as if the coming years that there's sort of like this fall off and the the um fund balance changes um down dramatically. And so what I would like to do is just to kind of give you that visualization, the right side chart and the arrows are pointing. Um so that's going to give you what assumptions that I have put into the spreadsheet in order to calculate that out for

065the next three projection years. And the reason that you do the projection years is so that you can look to see if there's anything you need to monitor in the year that you're living. And so what we have for you is this is our picture as we know it today. So what we do is on the years for which a reassessment occurs, we increase that by that 3% because as I just showed you in the tax rate hearing, that was 2.9%. So that's a very conservative approach for us to take. And non-reassessment years are at 2% and that's really mostly because you still can receive um the change in that new construction. And so that's the assumptions that are put into place. Many changes have occurred with the state adequacy target. And as you know,

066as we built the budget that we are currently living, um it's not a guarantee that that number is going to go up. So for projection purposes, you keep that number flat. However, with gross pay, we have a conservative 3% um including step and the cost that it takes in order for um the salary schedule to be able to do that. Benefits at 8%. Again, that is a conservative number. We know last year the number came in much higher at about 23% I believe um in that increase. So 8% as a conservative expenditure in that projection and then still showing that $5 million transfer um for capital expenditures um for those coming years. So this is the full breakdown that goes with the chart that you're used to seeing. And so this just gives us a

067full understanding of where we are and where the future could hold in terms of that information. I'll take you through a few more familiar slides and then I'll bring you back to that kind of thinking in terms of some effects that may be um on the horizon in terms of legislation. Our bond financials are also a familiar slide that you see each month and those are as we spin down um those for the projects and saloom sets will be here shortly to give you a little bit more information as to the projects that we're moving into phase two as well as um some things that are on the horizon for the next um facility master plan. um but be able to to show where this um information is. Our self- insurance fund. This is um

068the health insurance that we have for the school district. We had a successful um first meeting this week on Tuesday. We had the employee insurance committee and the team were able to take this full uh spreadsheet, this full um expenditure report and look at it and break it down and understand the revenues that we have coming in compared to the expenditures that we have going out. And this is something that we'll definitely need to keep an eye on as the year goes on. But that team does plan to meet each month and we will be able to um have much more further conversations in those meetings. the legislative update. Up to this point, I've just been sharing information about Senate Bill 3, which is information that um is connected to the local property tax as

069I just mentioned. Um and I showed showed you how um more than 75% of our revenue comes from those local taxes that are connected to the residential. And at my best guesstimate calculations, the first year, should that Senate bill go into play, that would um be a $4 million loss to the school district. Um it starts to show 4 million, 8 million, 10 million, and if you stretch it out to 5 years, it could be as much as $20 million per year in loss. More information came on September the 9th, and that was House Joint Resolutions 5, 6,7, and 8. And that is where the um House Special Committee on Property Tax Reform heard and accepted um these joint resolutions. And if these pass through the legislature in the next term, then in November of

0702026 would be the earliest that the voters would decide to eliminate personal property tax. That in one school year would devastate us by $20 million. as the numbers I just showed you in calculation. While other states you think of that may not have personal property tax, they have other ways to offer a revenue stream. There is no information currently um that would replace that current revenue stream. So to take that chart that I just showed you to one step further, what I decided to do is to show you with just the Senate Bill 3 effect. So that would be freezing local revenue and showing you the negative 4 million, 8 million, and 10 million for the next three years. At the bottom, you can see how that changes not only the trajectory that I've been

071showing you, but it would actually take us to 7.43%. 43% if I held everything else the same. So all of the other assumptions that you saw on the previous slide stay the same except for I'm subtracting out those from the revenue line. If I couple that with the year for which the House joint resolution could potentially go into effect and take out an additional $20 million in the year 2029 our fund balance would be at 34%. I show this to you so that you understand so it goes it can go beyond the words that I've been sharing with you to a visualization and to bring context for how those numbers are calculated. They're all levers. They are all variables. And so there we can do this six ways to Sunday they would say in terms

072of things that we could think about but I wanted to show you in a very simplistic approach what that legislation could do to the district. In other news, things that we're working on in the month of September um in the areas of um human resource, facilities and operations and finance, technology, transportation, safety and security and food service. As the first school, the first month of school has opened. As you can imagine, we have been very busy um making sure that all the people are hired and in the right places. We've been very busy making sure that all of the um places of of school is up and going. And then in addition to that, the facility master plan and demographic study that will be shared with you this evening, the state um setting of the

073tax levy, working on the current budget, continuing to work with um the auditors as they finalize the current um or the previous school year's information. We'll be bringing forward a five-year technology plan as this um school year unfolds so that you can see a vision for what that looks like. Transportation has been reviewing um route efficiency so that we are in line with some decisions that were made a few years ago in terms of improving that rate. Our safety and security folks are working on a visitor management system and vetting that through the process for both security as well as a stakeholder group. [Music] and our food service is looking at improving some of the equipment that they have. That's the point of sale um technology that they have in each of our cafeterias. I

074won't read each of those, but in October and November, we're going to be busy. Also with that, if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer >> board. Thanks for that. Um, I know you said that we haven't had any news on revenue replacement should this legislation go into effect. Um, obviously this is a big concern for all Missouri public schools, right? >> Um, a shocking concern. So, I just thank you for calling that out and I would appreciate I think each month as we are tracking this. Um, I would also just encourage everyone in the district to pay attention to what's happening because this will be catastrophic for our public school systems across the state. It >> absolutely will. Amy, not having lived in a state without personal property taxes ever, if they

075do go forward with this, you mentioned some other sources of revenue. What do the other states that don't have personal property tax? >> Uh, of course, there's a variety of things. Other districts count students even different. So, Missouri is one of the only states that count students by the minute that become hours that become the attendance um percentage. um you're seeing that change this year through the year 2030 where it's going to become both attendance and membership. So, you're starting to see a little bit of that. I didn't go into it, but we're um also in the middle of a modernization of the Missouri task force or Missouri um state formula and the governor has pulled together a group of people to redo that formula. it's 20 years old and so we expect that that

076might um have some redistricting and some um in terms of um the way that they're um being able to pull together the legislators. And so there's so many variables in play right now, it's really hard to kind of pick one and decide what we want to talk about. So that's why I went this approach to say this is what would happen if all of these things came to fruition. So >> without any sort of >> without any change >> plans for replacement of those funds. >> And so the first thing you think of is the bottom half of that chart has to do something different. The revenues if they're going to plummet, so would have to be the expenditures. And so that's when as we build this next budget, we'll have to really think about

077um the unknowns that are out there. So the first piece of um will happen in April of 2026. That's the first um that's Senate Bill 3. And then should the legislature continue on with those House resolutions, that would be in November of 2026. So all within the year of 2026, we should have some known answers. That doesn't give us more money potentially, but it just gives us the answers in order to work around. >> I'd like to address uh Director Ponder after having lived in other states. The way that they do it if they don't have personal property is typically they have very high real estate taxes. Um, I've been in states where they didn't charge any tax on food, nor did they have property tax, but you had to buy a little house there.

078And I think the issue here is, and to you, Amy, is is the challenge of trying to find places in advance that we might think that either we can do without or we can cut back on. But in the meantime, I think this comes as a a double whammy. I I'm having a hard time believing that our legislature would hit us this hard, this fast with this much money. That's just my and I intend to let them know that. >> I agree. >> Me, too. >> Ditto. >> Any other questions or I I think we ought to wait and see what the plan is. There's obviously a plan that we're not aware of. So, >> hopefully. So, I would just say I would just say let's just take a step back before we say the

079the world is coming to an end. Let's let's see how the policy >> my disclaimer when I started was this is what I know. >> Right. Exa Exactly. >> So I'm starting with that. Um if we know more, please share more. This is what I know and I'm just showing how it affects >> the budget that we live under >> for our ability to lead the district as the board. Are you aware of any rumblings of anything else that's um Ron Harmon might be referring to? >> I definitely do not know. >> Okay. Gotcha. >> Cards are on the table. just saying that all I'm saying we have >> I was like half a picture >> I know I know I'm just wondering you know I'm looking for some good news today Rod >> I

080can use some good news about this and I it doesn't look like good news um can you turn back to slide eight please and you know this is a going to be a longer board meeting there's a lot of really important things we're discussing um this is if just Senate bill 3 comes in and if you notice the fund balance percentage drops all the way to 7.43 43% earlier than we had planned. Um, and then you start discussing how do you prevent that? And one of the things you do is you discuss either raising revenue in other ways, which I I know there's people here who may have strong opinions about that. And the other way of preventing that is you make cuts. and some of the cuts would have to be very very painful

081in order to balance out $20 million of lost uh revenue for that one year. And I I I share this because you've done such a great job of bringing this up on a monthly basis and the district and administration, you are limited to a informational position on this. Right. >> Correct. and I appreciate you giving us the information. Um, other information would be that um, Senate Bill 3 is uh, scheduled to be on the April 7th ballot, I believe, and it is a countywide vote and so it's not just Francis How, but it's >> correct. >> The entire county would vote on Senate Bill 3. Um, and I would imagine other school districts are sharing similar information as well. This is not a Francis How situation. This is a >> all of us together. Um

082>> it's all the taxing entities actually ambulance, fire, >> right? And so if you could ask, so not just public schools, but it also includes libraries, uh fire, ambulance, roads, um other cities, um resource boards. Correct. >> Correct. >> And so this is not just the school saying this is dangerous to us. This is a this would impact the entire county in ways that are are very dangerous to the things that we liked about living in St. Charles County. Um is how I'm viewing this. Um so part of it, you know, these are questions, right? Um, one of the questions is, uh, what are the other ways that this information is being shared with the public and how does other people besides watching us on YouTube right now and looking at slide eight or slide

083nine at the other house um, pieces pass? Um, how do people access this information beyond just this setting? >> Thanks for asking, Jen. Jules and I will be um, beginning um, on next Tuesday, the 30th. Well, a week from Tuesday, the 30th, we'll start the citizens in our school um the third version and it's um focused on finance. So, it's really just a campaign to ensure that anyone in the community that wants to know more about how school funding works um we will go in depth with that information and so we will be sharing those facts and figures and the fiscal effect is what this is called. So, the fiscal effect of any legislation that's coming because um probably there will be more as as I just mentioned this one just crept up last week.

084Um and knowing that we didn't see it coming, I would imagine that there will be others. So, e each of those I will show you the fiscal effect and what that looks like as well as breaking down each one of those categories to better understand both the revenues and expenditures for this whole district. Uh I'm also aware that while the administration is limited in what they can say purely informational, the board has opportunities to speak more persuasively and share their opinions and uh the board will have a conversation amongst each other about what does it look like for us to voice those opinions in ways that help out the district because we're responsible for every single 16,500 students and all the teachers, all the staff and that's our first obligation. So, we'll talk amongst ourselves

085about what we can do as well. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? Board, >> are we do we have a a schedule or a plan for community outreach town halls? >> That's what Jen Joles and I will be working on. Do you want to speak to it, Jen? >> Yeah. Kind of our and I sent you guys an email today you probably haven't had a chance to read yet, but our first step is really engaging with that group on the 30th. And part of what we want to do with that group, we have two classes of citizens alumni who've already graduated. They're going to help co-create that um really anformational campaign, but you know what Amy and I have talked about is running it very similar to a bond or levy campaign. We know it's

086countywide, but we've got to get information to our PTOs, our parent groups, our chambers, our Rotary. So, all of that is coming. Um early on, we weren't sure if this was going to be a November ballot issue or April. We now know it's April. Not to say we need to wait until April, but it gave us a little more time to understand these new things coming through and know that there there's a bigger story. And as Dr. St. John mentioned, there's just there's new facts coming all the time. So, um, that first up will be that September 30 group and then we will have some other public sessions that anyone will be invited to to to get spun up on what does this all mean. So, more coming soon and we'll certainly make sure that

087anyone who wants to help inform, we'll have factual information from the district that they can share out and that will include social media posts, uh, flyers, all those sorts of materials would be provided. Other questions board areas has anybody reached out to any of our local legislators to discuss this? >> Do we have any feedback from local legislators? >> Do you want to answer? >> Sure. Um we have some tentative meetings set up with some of our uh local legislators uh here in the next few weeks um that we'll begin to engage in that conversation um and share with with them our thoughts and uh how it impacts us. And uh you know uh some of the communication that we've received from some of those local legislators is always about what can we do to

088help public schools and um you know we hope to to share that message that these these things uh really impact us in a way that uh I I don't know that they know fully um and we hope to educate them as well. Thank you. >> So part of that discussion be I'm sure you'll be talking about is what is your plan to replace the revenue that you're taking from us? >> Yes, that is that is correct. >> Might be the first question actually. >> That would be >> any other questions? Want to say again thank you for the time you spend to not just make it transparent but make it understandable. I think that's a special gift and I appreciate you making u the picture understandable for all of us. So, thank you very much.

089Um, all those in favor say I. I sorry, not about her favorability, but regarding your presentation regarding the the report, uh, who all those in favor of reproving the report, say I. >> I. >> All those opposed say no. >> Motion passes. >> Board, board, I have a motion to approve the purchases as presented. >> Some moved. >> Director Pushkar. >> Uh, Director Ponder. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose say no. Motion passes. Board, I have a motion to approve uh Dacon TMI through utilization of the interlocal purchasing system job order contract 200 303 um to provide labor equipment materials automation and necessary supplemental scopes of work to perform the demolition and installation of mechanical equipment including controls at Cosley Elementary, Central Elementary, Daniel Boone Elementary, Frances Central High, Sager

090Middle, and Warren Elementary for a total cost of 22,816,261 as presented. Purchase is compliant with Missouri statute and board policy. >> U motion director pushkar second by director ponder. Um executive director of facilities and operations saloon stutzer will be presenting. >> Okay. Well, this will be short uh but good evening board. And so before you for consideration and your approval this evening is the recommendation uh for phase 2 HVAC improvements at six sites. Cosley Central Elementary, Daniel Boone, uh Francis House Central, Sager Middle, and Warren. Uh this phase of of work was approved during the March 14th uh 2024 work session where the board and the administration worked together to prioritize the remaining bond funds uh and how they were going to be utilized. So, just as a reminder, uh just through good stewardship of

091those the projects that we brought forward before the board, um we were able to bring some of those projects under budget and we were able to add Sager, if you recall, going back back into uh the fold, if you will, in terms of uh scope. So, that was a positive there. So pending your approval this evening, the work uh would commence at the conclusion of the academic school year uh with substantial completion um around July 31st of 2026. Just an additional note to share, I think I've articulated everything in the actual memo itself in terms of cost and we explored different delivery methods for this work and ultimately ended up going the cooperative route because it was the most advantageous for the district. Um, one additional note that I did not include in there is

092we're working with our utility provider. Uh, and with these improvements, we're currently tracking kind of a rebate check back to the district somewhere in the neighborhood of between 500,000 and 700,000. And those numbers obviously can't be finalized until the utility provider has the opportunity to uh inspect the work. There's certain requirements that we have to meet uh before they would approve the rebate there. Um the other big outcome uh of this and we won't realize it until probably a full year of service uh of the new equipment not just phase two but also phase one is uh we anticipate a pretty um good decrease in our overall energy expenditure with these improvements. We have equipment that's obviously newer. If you recall uh in phase one we had systems that were on average about 29 to

09332 years old. Um and in this phase our average u life cycle that's these systems have been in service about 25 years. So we'll gain some efficiencies there just through new technology controls. Uh many of our buildings currently run wide open. Uh so when school's in session they're running and when school's not in session they're running. And so with controls being able to control that and for utility efficiency in unoccupied and occupied uh settings is going to reduce our overall utility uh expenditure. So with that um all these improvements also align uh specifically with pillar three of the strategic plan as we uh find opportunities to better align our expenditures by controlling costs within the district. So be happy to answer any questions the board may have. How did you manage to get the price

094down with tariffs going up? >> Well, that's the beauty about cooperative purchasing. Uh when you you know, we shared that um a lot of the components uh in in phase 2 are sourced here in the United States. Uh there are some es and flows from some material suppliers, but overall nothing too significant. Um, as you see in the memo, the cost is higher than what we were anticipated, but that's really driven by the labor market. I think a lot of the trades received hourly salary increases. And so that drove up cost, the schedule, uh, we've, you guys often hear me say, the number of days that we actually have from the conclusion of the school year to when school opens again. And it's a condensed schedule where we don't have the luxury of a lot

095of other work that takes place in the uh uh private sector in terms of scheduling. And then the biggest piece uh the other big piece is this this phase the application uh that is from mechanical standpoint a lot of more rooftop units. And so what that really entails is there's some regulatory requirements that we have to comply with with introducing more outside fresh air means bigger units means heavier units uh which requires structural reinforcements uh of the roof systems to be able to carry that weight load. So naturally when you start talking about reinforcements and steel costs and the labor that is involved in completing that work cost goes up. So those are the primary factors. Uh but to answer your question, we also did have some price protection through the cooperative purchasing uh tips

096and um many of the many of the items are sourced here in the United States. >> Two things. How much constru how many dollars of construction have you overseen? I haven't had time to sit down and you told me one time actually calculate it but uh just professionally here in the last just in the district obviously you're well aware of what um what we brought to the board from a recommendation standpoint but we had that work session roughly then was about 80 million but uh over the last six years I've probably overseen just shy of a billion dollars in construction across uh my prior experiences. Speaking of Henderson, um I toured that last week and they previously had did not have central air conditioning which they do now. It was such a wonderful change and

097I was really happy to be a part of that and thank you for overseeing that. >> I was there today and obviously um we're aware of just a few challenges once we opened and it's natural uh when you're talking about dealing with new regulatory requirements from a refrigerant standpoint and fine-tuning sensors. So, we certainly appreciate everybody's patience as we've worked through those challenges, but uh I was actually, you know, I can look at all the buildings that have received improvements and see kind of where temperatures are and it today was a good day. So, >> thank you. Just a question on the utility efficiency part. >> Yeah. >> Did I hear that right? Like the buildings are running HVAC and everything 24/7 and not shutting off when buildings are vacated. >> Uh that's correct. a

098good percentage of our district buildings that is the case and part of it is obsolescence and the controls that manage those systems and as part of these recommendations that we've brought controls are part of that. So we now have that function to be able to schedule buildings uh in occupied mode and unoccupied uh and provide the necessary um conducive instructional environment. >> Okay. And those aren't in place yet, but they will be. >> Uh phase one, uh that you know just got complete this summer, that's in place. And so when I was pulling up and just looking at those buildings, uh I can see many of the buildings going into unoccupied. Uh and phase 2 will be in the same scenario. Simultaneously uh just outside of the recommendations that we've brought to the board for

099approval, we are working uh with our controls vendor to assess the remaining buildings that obviously still have systems that are still uh still have useful life and service in them and uh trying to find opportunities or at least have a dollar amount in terms of what it would cost to uh bring those controls to where they're functional uh in in with modern day technology. Are you um planning on monitoring the savings that we get from finally having those in operation? >> Uh yes. Uh we track uh utility expenditures monthly as it is right now. And uh obviously you need the data set, right? And there's a lot of variables in there in terms of uh co-curricular, you know, programs and and when those operate and all of those other factors. So, we'll need probably a

100good I would say a good a good year and a half to be able to have good data in terms of what that final uh savings uh looks like. >> As someone who comes from a district who already uses this, it's as a teacher a little annoying when I come in in the summer and it's hot as a you know, a cooker. Um but I also realize that it's a very big cost-saving effort. So, I'm super excited to see us hopefully save that money. >> Yeah, I'm excited about it as well. But uh you know just keep in mind also uh the you know there's been a lot of approvals uh I think Cameron just received a rate increase from the public utility board that will probably hit uh many uh customers here probably about

101in the neighborhood of 5 to 6% and then uh our the natural gas utility provider also was approved for a rate increase and most are trending we're anticipating a cost increase in natural gas of about 10%. So, while we're doing these things, um, some of those savings may be tempered with those increases. >> Thank you. Uh, board, any other questions? All those in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose say no. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Uh, board, I have a motion to approve the music insurance renewal. Um, just heads up to the people in the audience, music doesn't refer to music. It's just a weird acronym. Um but so board I have a motion to approve the music insurance renewal as presented. >> Dr. Pushkar. >> Vice President Crider. >> All those in

102favor say I. >> I. >> Any post say no. >> Motion passes. Board. I have a motion to approve the stop loss renewal as presented. >> Director Pushkar. Director Ponder for the second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose say no. Motion passes. So, we have a different agenda item um referred to as a discussion agenda item. And uh we've kind of practiced this a couple months ago, but what we're going to do is set a timer for 15 minutes maximum. And uh there's two topics. First is facility rentals. The next one has a reference to substitute teaching. And during these 15 minutes, u every board member is going to have a chance to speak for the first time. Then every board member will have a chance to speak for

103the second time. Um and that would allow uh common and fair uh time for each board member. And in this case, each of those discussion items were presented by a particular board member. And in both cases, that board member will begin with the question to administration. So we are on the topic of facility rentals. If you can have a 15-minute timer to begin. Um the two board members who brought this forward for questions. Uh were director Ponder and Vice President Grder. Uh would you like to be the one I know you and I had the first conversation about would you like to ask the questions please first you me um yeah thanks I think um so director Ponder and I had kind of discussed this a little bit too and we're looking as we're facing

104um a number of challenges I think in the public schools for me one part that I think we have an opportunity with facility rental is community building and so I would love to have some discussion around what that might look like. Um, our public schools obviously serve the kids who attend here uh for district families, but we also have a lot of families that have kids who either go to other schools or kids who are not in school. Um, but thought there might be an opportunity just to kind of help show the value and also kind of show off the facilities that we have here in the district because they're pretty fantastic. Um and then just also to explore the opportunity just from a revenue perspective too. Is there a way that we can raise

105some money here just you know by leveraging the facilities when they're not in use by our team. So that was just kind of the genesis of the discussion just kind of some creative thinking about how we can build some community and then also look for other revenue sources. I don't know why, but >> yeah, I mean that's really what it comes down to is we have these beautiful facilities, you know, take North for instance and you know, I think we have an opportunity to be able to give a little bit of that back to the community um by reaching out and saying, "Hey, if you have an event that you would like to hold, um we do have a a rental schedule. Well, you have to have obviously all of these things in place, insurance

106and whatnot to be able to use it. But, um, you know, we're paying for all of these things. And, you know, a lot of times when you have, for instance, Central's baseball/softball field, the the the turf there, we're paying for it. It's the the taxpayers money and um it sits vacant a lot of time. And so, you know, at it gets to a certain point in my mind, I'm thinking, okay, how do we how do we get our full usage out of these these facilities while maintaining a a level of um I I I guess um beauty or um a level of um uh of of niceness of these facilities um so that we can continue to give back to the community and show these things off. Um, I think, you know, Jen and I

107had a conversation years ago about this now. Um, and and it was more so on the monetary side. Um, how much do we charge to rent out, you know, a basketball court, tennis courts, baseball field, whatever it is. Um, and at the time it seemed to me, knowing what a baseball field rents for, that the district was way out of touch with what it should be renting for. which means that no one in their right mind is going to ever rent it, which means it stays vacant and we don't get our full usage out of it. I think Saloon uh said one time that the the turf has a 10year warranty, Saloon, something like that. So, you know, it's it's under warranty. we should be use utilizing it as much as we possibly can while

108allowing the people that want to use it um to understand that there's a responsibility that goes into place when you're on these fields um and in these these the you know on the basketball court in the tennis court. Um so I guess my question would be um how I I don't remember Jen or anybody else wants to answer it. How is it determined what we rent the fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, whatever for? How do how do we determine that? >> Okay, >> Mark, >> I mean, we have a fee rental usage facility schedule that we've developed. So, a lot of times, um, we're charging for the use of the facility itself, but we're also charging for labor for people that either have to monitor the facility, clean the facility before and after, and all

109of those costs are are built in. A lot of those times, uh, those costs also involve overtime for those staff members. Uh so part of the the unique thing about some of our structures, right, I would say that my perception and and certainly the the the the guy in the back behind me that runs uh you know all these facilities uh could correct some of this, but um our our gyms are heavily used, right? Um, when you think about uh conversations we've had regarding beater basketball programs, a lot of our middle school, elementary gyms uh are used consistently throughout um we had several years ago a desire to and and I and I think a belief that we were going to generate a lot of revenue. Uh some of the problems are that our elementary

110and middle school facilities, they're not really performance courts when you look at the the floors within our gym system. So, they're great for practices, but when you go to uh and I only know this because my kids would travel like Parkway in their middle school structures, they had a lot of uh performance courts. So, kind of a rubberized type gymnasium where you really could have a basketball tournament there that took place that could be competitive and and and have that uh game played and generate revenue. Um, our really performance-based areas are really our high schools and you know, minus like what you talked about the the turf field, our gyms are heavily used at the high school level. Um, and you know, even sometimes, you know, some of our like auditoriums and things like that

111uh are utilized as well. But the fee structure comes from uh determining what we feel like the the facility itself should rent for. And then there's additional fees for the employees that have to help cover. I don't know if uh uh the gentleman behind me wants to step up and add anything or Amy if you want to add anything to that as well. >> Salum is there anything you would like to add? If if there's an interest you don't have to add just >> but maybe at least be available. >> Yeah. So this is it's a really great topic and I think many school systems in the state struggle with it right as they you know try to find opportunities on how to uh generate revenue. Um what I can tell you just from lived

112experiences uh even in my prior system we lost uh money on facility rentals. Uh and the the reality of it is in in order to really generate revenue, I mean our our our overall staffing framework in public education is really to support instruction. I think we all know and understand that. And so when you start talking about uh I'll just pick on custodial, right? cuz that's the one that really carries, you know, lets folks in, cleans up after, provides um service, you know, when when things aren't going well on that facility rental. And that's on top of, you know, in our in our school system, uh they clean their their primary responsibility is to clean uh the end of the day, you know, restore the the the instructional space. That way, it's ready for uh

113students and staff and other educational stakeholders the next day. So in in order for you know a strategic revenue model to really be successful we would need to add FTEES to be able to support um th that additional load. uh because if we start pulling them away to provide the necessary support for all this influx of uh programs that are renting our facilities, it's pulling them away from cleaning their nightly, you know, on average about 25 26,000 square foot square feet per FTE and then we start um declining in terms of the level of service and quality that we're providing for our educational stakeholders. And so, uh, the the big thing too that I think also just for the board to consider is we're moving our own programs on a pretty consistent basis. You know,

114while baseball at Francis House Central might, you know, they might be away, uh, and we end up having rain at how high or house, um, how north who don't have turf fields and as long as it's not lightning, we can get them over to Francis House Center. So, there's a lot of programs and I just use that example because it happens uh frequently, but same thing happens with uh our gyms. We're consistently moving programs around and obviously our our obligation obviously to our our our community and our taxpayers is always take care of ours first. Uh and you know, cuz that's that's our responsibility. And so naturally, what ends up happening in that particular scenario through lived experiences is we bump Reynolds. And so now you have disgruntled uh outside folks that uh like well

115we had a reservation. Yeah, fine print. Um you know, you get bumped if we need the space. And so naturally, you end up creating this vacuum of well, we're not even going to explore that anymore. Uh partly because we need to be able to have solid commitments and communication for whatever program is running the facility to those stakeholders, parents and grandparents. So, I appreciate that. Yeah. Um, other board members, any questions? I want to make sure you all have equal opportunity to share. >> Yeah, I do. Um, I love this idea because it feels to me like it without knowing all the logistics and everything, it just feels to me like it's a it's a a solution to some possible revenue but also community building um opportunities for us as well. Is there a place

116where and this I don't know where we can see the data for the >> Yeah. And uh I had actually asked uh Miss Sarah Vanderpool to pull all that data and we can certainly get that to you. We've got two years worth and um I didn't get a chance to look at it in depth uh before so I'm not going to share anything but we can certainly get that to you. You can see what our revenue and our bookings were and what our expenditures not including utilities uh what those came in at for 232 24 uh actually 22 23 and 23 24 >> also something too I don't know if that includes the like the theaters and things too because I know we talked mostly about sports and things too but also thinking about that

117as a >> it would it would include data for any outside facility rental group um for those those uh fiscal Is there a schedule somewhere where you can see like everything that's available and when it's not? >> So, we use a third party uh platform called Facilitron and uh that's where uh third party groups that want to utilize district facilities when they're not being utilized by the district go and everything is done on their payments insurance submission. You can see the availability in terms of what facilities are available. Are there Hold on a second. Are there any other board members want to have a first question? Anybody else? >> You got two questions. Um Amy Mark, do you have a second question? >> Um yeah, I I guess my my issue, not issue, my my

118um idea is twofold. It's obviously one, give back to the community that's given so much to us. Let them enjoy the facilities that they obviously paid for. Um, but then also the the the the pricing structure. I you're 100% right. There are, you know, baseball teams leave things in the dugout. There's a lot of cleanup. You have to make sure that they're not spitting sunflower seeds on the on the turf, things like that. Light usage, all kinds of different things. Um, so there is a cost there. What I would say is, uh, again, knowing what those fields typically rent for. For instance, um, uh, Car Shield Field or St. English university or GCS, you know, the these are basically either division one or professional stadiums. Um, from what I remember, the cost of renting a

119um who who again would also have the same cleanup, the same pay, you know, pays uh payments to the people that would would clean up. Um I I it I I remember it being the the the discrepancy between the the cost of Franc any Francis Hall facility and the cost of profession professional facilities like that being so far out of whack it wasn't even worth looking at. So that's one thing that I would um advise is maybe take and I would imagine that you probably looked at other districts. You didn't look at you know you didn't look at car shield field cuz why would you? Um, but looking at Zumalt, yes, that's great. See what they pay or see what they charge, but also look at Blanch Chat, look at Car Shield, look at, you

120know, all the uh CNH, look at all the fields in in our area and see what the average is so that maybe we can have a have a shot at at doing this. And yes, include all of those things in there because they do as well. Um, but I I do think that that there's an opportunity to give back to the public that has given us so much um while also generating a little bit of revenue. uh for us and just you know like I said if if it comes to nothing then it comes to nothing but simply looking into it uh a little bit deeper would um I would I would suggest that because I think it is something that would be very that the community would be would be grateful to be able

121to use these things that they pay for. >> Yeah. No, absolutely 100%. So, you know what what I think uh we can commit to is let's get you the data over the last two years in terms of what that looks like. >> Um and just see what the the delta was between what we expense not including utilities and then what we generated in revenue from uh those bookings. And then I think um we can begin kind of looking into doing an analysis whether it's uh a comparable study with school systems and maybe some some outliers such as what you mentioned and then bring back some uh just information not even necessarily a recommendation for the board to consider. So we can we can commit to that. >> Okay. Appreciate. Well we are out of our

12215 minutes. any uh question that a board member has director Oki and others um feel free to send an email to um myself, Mark Delaney, and Salum Stutzer um with additional questions for followup. >> Thank you so much. >> Um our second discussion item um relates to uh substitute teaching. Um again, this item will have 15 minutes and hold off start until I describe what's going on. Um, in this case, uh, the person who brought it up was, um, Director Oki. And so, Director Oki, um, I would like to also direct everybody in the audience, those watching online, there's a significant amount of questions and answers provided in the content here, go ahead and look through that while this is also going on. So, I invite Director Oli since these um, since you uh, initiated

123this topic for this space, uh, for you to go ahead and ask uh, your first question to administration. Then afterwards, I'll make sure everyone gets a first try before we give everybody a second try. >> Did you want me to just ask a question or did you want me to explain why I brought >> However you want to use your time. >> Oh, okay. Um, so the substitute teaching um is definitely a concern within the school district. Um because what we've what we are hearing is that there are several times that we do not have substitutes that are filling the jobs within the schools. When we don't have a substitute teacher coming in and taking the jobs and we have those extra jobs where there's no placement, often times we have situations where other people

124within the building need to um step in and help. Um this can happen a couple different ways. Um but one of the ways that was was concerning it from my perspective as a teacher myself was the the practice of funneling. And um this is what's um this is what kind of really piqued my concern about asking these questions, which was um in a typical scenario where funneling is used um and this is not a um a term that um is like everywhere. It's it's something that is really kind of only used here in Francis Hall, but um a a teacher would make a plan for um her students of her classroom or his and then if they were absent and the job was not filled those kids those students would be the word is funneled

125two or three out to other teachers within the building. So what we would be seeing is that all the other teachers that were there would take on an additional two or three or more children um in addition to their regular rosters. For me um as a teacher, I've done this many times in my capacity to help out a teammate. But I don't feel this is a scalable long-term or equitable solution. And I wanted to explore what can we learn, what can we do, um what can we try to understand about how to definitely um mitigate this in some way, shape or form, especially at the elementary school level. Considering that these are students who, you know, are accustomed to their cubby holes and their hooks and their desks with their names on them and all

126of their things in there. um only to find out like that morning that they have to go and break the classroom apart into multiple pieces and be somewhere else for the day. Um so with that concern in mind, I asked a lot of questions about how does the district do substitute um the substituting process and um what and how that is um how that's being utilized. And so with that um we got a lot of answers back from the district. One question that I do still have is um how when a is there like is there a software program like um Frontline or ASOP that's being used to keep track and manage um getting our substitutes out or is that still um in that substitute pool? Is that still something that's maintained inhouse? Um and

127has the district ever considered outsourcing substitutes like my district Parkway does? we use Kelly services. Um, and that gives us a much larger pool and Kelly handles a lot of the training and things like that. Um, and we don't see the same level of jobs being unfilled. Questions? >> I can answer that very quickly. Um, we do provide our substitute services inhouse. So, we have not used a third party provider like Kelly Services. Um we did uh talk with them and do that research uh several years ago when we started to see the pool of substitute teachers um dwindle a little bit. Um what we found is that they would ask us uh how much are you paying your substitute teachers at that time it was maybe $95 a day. They were going to charge

128us $130 a day for them to do the same service uh that we provided. um we felt like keeping that in-house if we were going to pay a thirdparty provider that rate of pay, we could look at utilizing that and paying that to our own substitutes. So that was one of the strategies that we utilized. We increased our rate of pay for our substitutes. We do utilize Frontline Central. That's an online system. It's absence management that allows uh substitutes to go in and look at the jobs that are open um and take those jobs electronically. so they're not waiting for those old 5:00 in the morning phone calls to to pick up their jobs. Um, and that's been helpful because they can look in advance and they can see in advance um when those positions

129are available. There's also a con to that in that um our substitutes are now accustomed to being able to schedule themselves for work. So when you get those very last minute absences that are put into the system, a lot of the times our substitutes might not be looking for that. they like to have that opportunity to schedule their own daycare or uh make sure that they can kind of have that schedule in advance. Um we really started looking at the no-fill situation in the 2015 2016 school year when we started to see maybe one or two no fills on on average a day. And over the course of several years, we saw as high as 17 no fills a day. um and really started to look at how we were recruiting substitutes, kind of what

130the profile of a substitute was, why there was a substitute teacher shortage, and did a lot of that research to try to respond to that. And I would say over all of those years, our efforts are really working. Um in the 2425 school year, we were able to fill 92% almost 93% of our positions with our own substitutes. And when we did the research of Kelly Services and other agencies, they couldn't provide any higher of a fill rate than what we were filling internally ourselves. Um, and we were able to keep those dollars and those resources to our own substitutes. So that has definitely been helpful. Um, so I I think that answers your two biggest questions there. >> Great. Um, board members, the other first question. >> How about the question? I have a

131comment. >> That's okay. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, I think I I I agree that this is tr a troubling situation and wish that it never happened. Fortunately, sometimes it does. However, there was a patron that was here, um, I think he's here tonight, actually, that brought up a topic about looking at why are the teachers absent so, you know, so much and maybe mitigating some of that by offering pay for sick days. Um, you know, I don't I'm not real sure what the criteria is now for being paid for sick day. I guess it's when you leave is that okay so maybe we need to look at that and bounce that against how much these these absences are causing c cost causing us and come to a more economic solution for that and I

132I thank Mr. Suri for bringing that forward a couple months ago I think it was >> Mr. push card. We have looked at um you said two things. I got to remember my train of thought here. So um one is like a teacher attendance incentive. We had a lot of conversation around that and we can start to look into that just a little bit more. Our um reimbursement process is when you retire. And so right now it's $75 per day up to 75 days when you retire. And then if you have uh 90 to 100 days in your bank, then you receive an additional $1,000. But that benefit is 30 years later from when you start and I think just different generations are different and they like to see that immediate feedback. So it is

133part of our strategic plan. If you look at our uh in the people in leadership pillar, we do have um a strategy to look at teacher attendance and how do we look at the um reimbursement and leave policies that might help people kind of look at that differently as not just if I'm not going to be paid for that time, I'm going to use it because it is my benefit and kind of changing that and seeing if there's something different that we can do. So that's part of the strate strategic plan and part of the strategy that we'll look at. Okay. Thank you for sharing that. either board members have a first comment. >> U so just really briefly for me u can you uh speak to whether or not funneling is the last resort

134and what happens before you move to funneling and along with that was the decision um and process to make sure it doesn't impact one school over and over out of um proportion to other schools. >> Yeah, I I think the word funneling might be specific to Francis Lel. I think Parkway uses splitting a classroom or I think in their closure agreement it says splitting when splitting of a classroom occurs. So I do think it is a last resort or a strategy for many districts across the area. This isn't just a Francis how thing. Um of course we first u when a job is open uh we ask all of our regular substitute teachers to fill those positions. Next, if we see that a position has gone unfilled, our substitute specialist, the first thing she does

135every morning at 5:30 is deploy our 17 permanent subs. So, what that allows us to do is if there is a significant number of absences in one building, we can funnel those resources or push those resources to that building first. So, that will address that. Um, next we can start to look at pulling reading teachers, ELLL teachers, librarians, administrators, pair professionals, and start to fill those vacancies because we know we have to have a qualified body supervising children. That's not always the best option either because then those students aren't getting those specialized services that they need. Um, and then we go into the funneling of that situation. So, there is some data in the um, question and answers that we've shared. I I would say our elementary principles say that it is not happening daily.

136Um I think last year at Becky David it happened 10 times at uh Harvest Ridge it happened twice. Um there is some more funneling that happens when we have teachers that don't have a full day absence when they're absence maybe for a partial day. We want to provide that flexibility to teachers. So we know that it's better for them to be absent for a couple of hours than a half day or a full day. And so providing that flexibility to our teachers so they don't have to take that full or half-day absence means then we might have to do a little funneling as well. Um so it is not a strategy that we say we're proud of and we're going to use it when it happens, but it is a necessity when we don't have

137enough adults to cover all of our classrooms. [Music] >> Any other first comments for any board members? >> Tamika, we have a question for you. Um, vice president, >> I just thought it would be a good opportunity since we have a a student representative here to see if you happen to when you were in elementary school or in middle school if you've ever experienced that when you were had a substitute and you had to be taken out of your class and moved to another class or just if you wanted to make any comments about subs and productivity in general and how those how those days go. I think for elementary school, we only had the funneling done like once and that was probably like in fourth or fifth grade, but the teacher was only gone

138for half the day. And then in middle school, a lot of the teachers who take off sick days, it's usually planned like 3 or 4 days in advance, so we have subs to fill in. Um, but recently actually Wednesday and Thursday this week, my Spectre teacher, he was gone for like an absence and he had one of his co-workers during their plan schedule or ISAP time, they came in and sub for that hour. Thanks, >> Tamika. Thank you for sharing that because that is a big strategy that we use um is to ask teachers to come in and and cover an unfilled absence on their plan time and there is compensation for that. So, thanks for that reminder. >> Any board members want to make a second comment or question? >> I'm sure Sarah has.

139>> No, I have notes. Yeah. Oh, um I did notice when the data did come in, we were looking at um like across from each school. Uh FMT, is that fair amount? >> Yes, ma'am. had a pretty big uh difference um looking at 28 full days of of that versus you know other uh schools having much less. Is there a need in that building that we need to address? >> Yeah. I I would just remind you that Fairmont is a large elementary school probably the size of a small middle school. So when you compare Fairmont to a Harvest Ridge or Henderson, there's just eight or nine sections of every grade level compared to four or five of every other grade level. So the opportunity for absences is greater. Um the need for substitutes is greater.

140Um I think Fairmont also has all of the practices and procedures in place to find subs to pull uh their administrators and their teachers to fill those absences and then go to funneling it as as a last resort. But we'll definitely check in with them and see. Um that was a little surprising to us, but we'll we'll make sure that they are supported and and have that opportunity to to let us know if they need something. >> Other anybody other board member have a So my second thing would just be um could you identify do you need more substitute teachers first of all and if you can continue to think through ideas and options and plans on how to continue to improve this area and then share them with us in the future. >> Sure.

141We have over 728 active subs and we hired 58 new substitute teachers since August 1st. So I don't know that it is um a recruiting problem or a hiring problem. Um we we interview our substitute teachers as soon as they submit that application. We have an online interview to make it quick and efficient. Uh they're brought in very quickly for weekly orientations um and they're put to work. So, um, yes, we can, and you see the list of all of the different strategies that we have used over the years because we know that funneling is not the best option. Um, but I I think some of the things that we can do is look at how do we help our teachers not feel that burnout so they don't feel like they have to take a

142sick day? How do we support the attendance of our teachers to have that same expectation that we have for students? And I think all of those things will be happening in our strategic plan and the work that we do. We have time for one last question if we can have it done in the next 30 seconds. >> Sure. >> Again, is a teacher allowed to say no >> to cover? >> Well, I I guess the the administrator would have a conversation with that teacher. Um I think the issue I and what I have heard is I have talked with our elementary principles is is teachers are are sometimes feel that funneling is a better option than pulling the reading teachers and the teachers. They work together collaboratively when those things happen. I think what it

143comes down to is we can't have a classroom of students without an adult in the room. And so depending on the number of absences that are have happened that day. Um you know if there's some massive flu bug that hits a building and we don't have adults, we have to do something to ensure that there is an adult supervising those children. And and you know I I think our administrators do an amazing job of talking with our teachers and asking how they're feeling and doing what they can to support those teachers through that. Thank you for your help, Miss Simpkins. Um, board members, if you have additional questions outside this meeting, feel free to email as well. And I want to thank you and, um, as well as Mr. Delaney for helping out with that

144question. Uh, next, we have Hollis Miller and our demographic analytic advisors who are here this evening to co-present and provide a facility master plan and demographic study update. Executive Director Facilities and Operations Slim Stutzer will introduce >> Thank you. >> Oh, I apologize. >> The first of all, the policies and regulations are being presented for first reading and mandatory updates. They will be brought back for second reading and vote at the October 16th board meeting. Thank you very much, Miss Hler. And now to Sal and House Miller. >> Uh thank you. Uh good evening again, board. Uh this evening we're pleased to provide you with an update to the facility master plan and uh demography study. The presentation directly and indirectly touches each pillar of the of the uh strategic plan and we're excited to

145share an update of the work that's been taken uh taken place up to this point and we look forward to further discussions around priorities during the board work session uh that'll be scheduled uh soon. So, um, with that, I'm going to turn it over to our partners, uh, Hollison Miller, demo advisors in in collaboration with Cordig and Clark, who will co-present as they work collaboratively, uh, on this presentation. Okay, I'm much shorter than Slooh. Good evening. Um, excited to be back in front of you guys for a little bit different uh, little bit different content tonight. So, we'll go ahead and get going with uh some introductions and then we're going to spend a lot of time today talking about the facility master plan process and then some highlevel data that we're starting to uncover.

146And this is really just the start of this process. There um are some other steps that are going to come right after this. So, um we're excited to start that with you this evening and then we'll talk a little bit about what those next steps are. So, quick introduction. I am Megan Barnes with Hollison Miller Architects. We are a full-ervice architectural and design firm. And one of those services that we offer is facility master planning and long range planning specifically for K12 education clients. Um so I have a long history of working with districts proactively to create really good great plans for moving your facilities in your district forward. So we're excited to be back in front of you um and talk about this process a little bit tonight. I've got a few friends that

147are not here physically with me tonight, but you will see as we go through some of the work sessions coming up this fall and um future board meetings. Uh Justin I know has been in front of most of you guys before, our partner in charge and then John Wayne and Kelsey have been doing a lot of our boots on the ground data collection here over the last 6 months and are excited to get in front of you guys here soon. And then as Slooh mentioned, we have um our friends from demographic advis an analytics advisors. Chris is going to co-present with me tonight and then he has teammates um at Cordigan and Clark as well that have been working on this process. Okay, so stepping back just a little bit talking about what is a

148facility master plan. I know some of you guys have probably been through these before. Some of you might be new to this process. So what this is is really stepping back and making sure that we're taking a proactive view of both your facilities and how you're facilitating education in those buildings throughout the district. always good to step back and kind of look at that long-term viewpoint so that we can make smart decisions along the way. We see this through a five-step process and typically where we start with and like any other project is we really want to talk about what the goals are and how we're going to facilitate that process. So earlier this year um we went through that game planning phase and really talked about what the goals were and what the timeline

149was for this process and how we were going to collect data and move through this process. Our team of about 10 to 15 spent spring break and um a good part of the spring walking literally every inch of your guys' buildings, roofs, exterior, interior. Um spending time really getting to know them and understand what's going on in those buildings. And we're here tonight. We also did some other data collection over the last 3 to four months. Going to share that tonight. And then really those next steps are going to be where do we want to go with that data? Data is great, but what do we do with it? So we're going to talk a little bit about what our priorities are as a district and then how we can take that and implement that

150for the long term. So tonight we're going to focus on that data and how we look at this through a facility master plan is really three prongs. We look at that from the education centric data. So you guys have some amazing educators and administrators that we get that data from them. We do surveys and other um ways of getting that data from them. The people centric data again more surveys. We also want to talk about how we're connecting to your strategic plan. you guys have just implemented that. So that's something we want to overlay as well. And then especially that facility centric data that we've spent a lot of time as I mentioned in those buildings really starting to understand what you're working with and starting with so we can start that process. So the

151first thing that we did as we talked through that game plan was how do we want to collect data and what different types of stakeholders do we want to engage. So the first thing we did was we sent out a district-wide survey that hit both administrative level as well as building level staff. And as you can see up here, this was our response rate which was pretty great. You know, uh we also were getting kind of towards the end of the year there too. So that may have impa impacted some of those numbers as well. And we will be providing a summary report of all that information. There's a lot of good data in there. But just wanted to highlight a few things that may impact the master plan as we move on. So starting

152with district level staff, obviously first and foremost, everybody when it comes to facility safety and security is always at the forefront. So continuing to maintain and improve upon that um as things change in an ever evolving world. Communication and staff input was one that got brought up in terms of continuing to improve on that. And then staff support and retention obviously important as well there from some of the conversations this evening. And then as we go to building level staff technology deferred maintenance and then enrollment and growth were some of the really hot points that came out of that. um what we're going to talk a lot about tonight in terms of maintenance, maintaining facilities, and then also right sizing buildings and understanding what that means for the district. So that next step after we

153get kind of that high level survey data and get that from your educators in the district was really that boots on the ground effort. And so after this, this is we're going to be pretty high level tonight because you guys have a lot of buildings and it's a lot of data to share, but after this, we're going to share out this report um for future work sessions. That's about five pages for each building. And that's actually pretty summarized. We've got lots of spreadsheets and additional photos, detailed information um as backup that will come with that report as well. Some pretty long appendixes also with all that survey data. But what you're going to see is a pretty succinct report for each building. It's going to have the general building information, the age of it is

154obviously important to understand um what we need to do from a maintenance standpoint. It's going to show some photos for context. Um it's going to also then show a facility score. And so this we'll talk about this here in a second, but this is uh relative to the other buildings in the district and it gives us just a starting point to talk about what some of those needs are short and long term. And then the other pieces we're going to talk about today is that capacity of the building. Understanding um both the data and also how buildings are feeling from a capacity standpoint. The second page of that report is going to have you're going to see a lot of red, yellow, green here. And what that really does indicate is things green that are

155in pretty good shape. Yellow might be a little bit of a warning of what are we looking at in the next 3 to 5, 5 to 10 years. We can start again to proactively plan for needs that are come. just like anybody's personal budgets, homes, cars, things like that, over time, they need to be maintained, even if you take really, really good care of them. So, that's some of the thing we talk about is that the more that we can plan ahead, um, obviously with the number of buildings you guys have, if things start to get to the same age at the same time, that can add up to be a lot of things. So, if we can look at how we balance improvements over time, that can help with some of that budget management

156versus having to um kind of just wait and see when they're needed. we can plan proactively for that. Go back really quick. One thing to note here too is um we did do these reports in this past spring. So some of this data is starting to actually get to be four, five, six months past where we're at today. So as you can see up here, this is an example of Francis how high and the little box on the left there, those observed needs. Um the really awesome thing is some of these things have already actually been taken care of since we did the assessments this spring. for example, Francis Hall High has gotten a very large paving asphalt project, concrete repairs there. Um, that was on that list. So, there are some things that are

157happening from a capital standpoint or some of the remaining bond dollars from the last bond that are on these lists that have already been taken care of because of some of that planning in the past. Um, so that's that's a good news that those things are starting to fall off the list already. And then finally, there's going to be photos in there. So, you know, lists are great, but actually getting some of those visuals to see um pretty quickly what some of those things are that may need to be maintained or updated in the future. As I mentioned, there's also going to be a building score on there. And what we do is we have uh six categories here that talk about everything from the building site to educational appropriateness, mechanical systems, lighting, plumbing, um

158all those kind of things, roofs, windows, is there masonry, those kind of things. So, it does go through and pretty um incrementally score those buildings on a number of categories. As I mentioned, these are just the summaries. There's a lot of detail behind those that we'll obviously provide as we go through that. And then finally, that what the thing on the report that we're going to talk about probably most tonight is that evaluating and defining capacity. This is often a question that comes up of how many kids can we fit in a building? And um there's a lot of ways to look at that. And so we'll talk about that here in a second because there's both the data of how many kids you can physically fit in a building from a code perspective or

159from an educational appropriateness standpoint. But there's also other factors, scheduling, staffing, uh specialized programs. If you have more equipment, obviously you can fit less kids in a room. So it truly is a balance um that you have to look at and understand the numbers but then also the feeling of how staff and uh students are truly feeling in that building that you need to overlay on that data. So to talk about how we define capacity again there's a lot of ways you can say there's you know 25 30 kids in every single classroom and fill up the entire building. Um, but we step that back a little bit and we do add some additional layers on there just to account for um, obviously when you have a kindergarten class come in. It's not 25 kids

160in every single class. The first grade class is not 25. It just doesn't work out. Kids aren't born unfortunately in little packets of 25 kids. So, we do have to factor that in. Um, elementary and middle schools we typically look at in a couple different ways. Um, so I won't go through all of this up here, but I did want to provide kind of that backup. If there are questions, we can talk about that of how we define that. Um, but kind of the short and long of it is from an elementary standpoint, we don't include specials like music, art, a gym because kids move in a co cohort as a group to those classes. Um, whereas as a middle school and high school, kids are moving. They have their individual schedule and they move

161separately. So, you're able to um schedule a building a little bit different. So, those are kind of the major differences here. And then the three different ways that we layer is that design capacity. Um, as designers, you build a space or a classroom a certain number of square foot for a kid. That's a starting place. Again, that's not always the final answer. We also look at observe capacity. Um, if you have a square room, you can fit kids in there more efficiently. If it's got some angles, different shapes, things like that, that also reduces the capacity of the space. And then also that desired standard capacity. So obviously um as a district state requirements there are some caps and different ideal and targets and then also maximum capacity from a teaching and learning standpoint. So

162we do utilize those numbers that you guys provide in the state as well to balance all of that there. And then finally, again, as I mentioned, since kids aren't in perfect little packages of 25 or 30 kids, um we do add a a functional capacity factor on there to make sure that um if we have a bubble year or things like that, that we're not overfilling a building um at the front there. So, you got to got a little little space there. And then the major difference when we get to middle and high school is we are counting those special spaces. So, you you do get to utilize a little bit more of the building just because of how you're scheduling it. Lots of numbers. So I know you guys have heard a lot of

163numbers tonight. So okay, so how do we use this capacity information? This is really the big question here. And so this is what we do to take a utilization factor of the building. So the ideal or target and again this is just a this is a general recommendation. This is not always the final answer. So as we move through the planning priorities phase next, this is something we'll talk about a lot is is this the right target for your district? And sometimes we do end up adjusting it because of different factors. So that's something we'll want some additional input on as we move through that process. But typically we say that 75 to 90% utilization of a building is kind of that sweet spot so that you're not you're not staffing a building that has

164too few kids in it and you're not busting at the seams where uh you don't have that flexibility of scheduling and you're being forced into decisions to get kids into spaces appropriately. Um, typically what we would say is under capacity or underutilized is under that 75% uh target. Again, there's some flexibility there. Again, specialized programs, if you have more um unique needs or things where we got to reduce the student to teacher ratio, that would fall under that case. And then nearing capacity is typically that 90 to 99%. That's where it's kind of that warning of let's keep monitoring this, make sure that we don't get into a position where we're too full. Um, and again, sometimes that might correct itself, but that's just kind of that wait and see or start to plan possibly

165for um, a correction to that. And then finally, anything over 100% would be noted as over capacity and at that point would want to evaluate options for adjustments to uh, correct that. And then finally, the last piece here is so what do we do with that? Even if if we know if a building is appropriately utilized, underutilized or overutilized, what do we do with that information? So next Chris is going to talk a little bit about how we overlay projections. So obviously utilization may be somewhere today but we really need to understand where it's going because if it's going to correct itself in a year maybe not a concern. Um so he's going to talk a little bit about how we get that information to understand what projections are saying and then we'll come back

166to this here in a few minutes. Actually, one moment. Uh, Tamika, would you like to continue to stay for the rest of this presentation and the next presentation or do you need to go home? You have school tomorrow and stuff. Wait, wait, wait, wait. You have no school tomorrow. >> No pressure. No pressure. Would you like to stay longer or >> This is a particularly long meeting, so we just want to Yeah. give the option. >> What would you What would you like? >> As much as I love staying here with you guys. And as much as I love the opportunities you guys have given me today, I would love to go home. >> All right. So, thank you for pausing, Jamaica. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> That's good. It's a great

167job setting boundaries. >> Um, every adult in this room could do a better job setting boundaries as well as Tamika. Thank you. Thank you for leading us so much, Tamika. Thank you for the pause. >> Proud of you. >> Congratulations. >> Okay. Thank you for allowing us to have that. >> Of course. Of course. >> All right. Well, thank you all for having me. Um, you're going to miss out on some really fun math. Um, so I'm uh I'm Chris Dick. I run a company called Demographic Analytics Advisors. Uh, here with me today is Steve Raskin from Cordon Clark Architects. Um, and I want to talk to you a little bit about some enrollment forecasts that we built. So, as we were talking about, really what we're trying to do here is understand where your

168enrollment is going by school, by grade, uh, into the future. And really what we're trying to do is look 10 years into the future. So our goal here was to develop reasonable enrollment forecasts that take into account a few different things. Uh building development, um any CO 19 declines and rebounds that occurred because we want to kind of forecast that out as a one-time event. Any changes in market share uh and when I talk about market share, I'm talking about changes in the share between public and other forms of education. And then historical enrollment patterns. But before I get into that, I really want to talk about what is an enrollment forecast and what isn't what what isn't it. And this is always something I' I've had to do doing this type of work. Um,

169you know, I used to actually run the the area at the US Census Bureau that does uh population forecasting. And this was always something we had to talk to folks as well because we're doing 50-year forecasts then. And what uh what an enrollment forecast or population forecast is is a scientific most likely scenario based on all of our inputs. It's an extremely useful planning tool if used correctly and questioned by either folks at the district uh our you know our friends our architects who are doing facility studies um or by you as the board. What isn't it? It it's not a magic solution that's going to tell us to the exact student what your enrollment is going to be in 10 years. Like that's if anyone tells you they can do that, they're lying to

170you. Um but it is also not a random and wild guess of what enrollment will be in 10 years. We're using all of your local knowledge as well as our kind of scientific techniques to come up with what the most likely number will be. So, what are some of the key considerations that we're bringing in here? Uh, as we talked about, we're looking at historical enrollment patterns. We're looking at your school capacities and attendance zones. Then, we're starting to get into the kind of meat and potatoes of of what we do. We look at demographic processes, births, migration, age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin trends, as well as the build environment. We're looking at building permits, developments that are going on. you know, we talk to the county, we talk to all your municipalities to

171understand what developments are in the pipeline. We also look at economics as I mentioned CO 19 and those market share changes. So, I'm a definite bottom line up front guy. So, I just want to kind of get to it and then I'll walk you through how we got there. Uh, our summary of findings, St. Charles County overall as well as your school district are expected to continue growing if we're talking about overall population, not enrollment year, but overall population. The number of housing units and households also continues to increase steadily or slowly. However, like the rest of the county, state, and country as a whole, the population within the boundaries of your school district continue to age. And additionally, fertility rates continue their decline post 2008. Everyone knows 2008 we had a recession. When you

172have a recession, often fertility rates go down. Um, they have continued to go down post 2008. And in fact, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that uh just about a month ago that 2024 had the lowest fertility rate of all time in the United States. Not of the last decade, not of the last 20 years, of all time. So the takeaway here is that population and housing growth are positive for you all. It's going to offset uh some of that population growth is going to be offset by aging and declining fertility. Some growth will occur in parts of the district and decline will occur in other parts of the district. overall over about the first five years of our projection period, we're seeing a slight growth and then a slight decline after that. So

173in 10 years, we're really seeing about a 1% decline for the district as a whole in enrollment. And this is just showing that and I I know people like to look at both charts as well as numbers. Um this is kind of showing what that looks like over the next 10 years. So for the first 5 years, you can see kind of that slight bump up and then a slight decline. So what does this look like by program? Um, I know these are a ton of numbers, um, and kind of small, but I I know you all can also download the document. But what I'm really trying to show here is that we do have some schools that are growing substantially, and that's something that we need to be thinking about, but we also have

174some schools that are declining, and that's going to be a big part of that facilities planning process. I also love to look at this in maps because I love maps. I'm a huge nerd. Um, and really what we're looking at here is the change from your 202425 enrollment. Uh, year-over-year for 2026, 28, 30, and 34. Um, and again, you can see here, these are elementary schools to start. Anything in green is where you're increasing, red is decreasing. So, you can see kind of those pockets of growth for elementary school that then should flow through over time to middle and high school. We look at our our middle school forecasts and some of this is some of the smaller cohorts that we were seeing in elementary school a few years ago are now aging into middle

175school. So we see some of those declines and then over time that actually increases uh at at the end of the forecast period and then finally we have the same information on high schools. So how did we get there? Uh we use something we call a modified grade progression um methodology. So basically we if you've ever seen a demographic study before there's it's kind of a cohort methodology. Basically what we're looking at is we're analyzing or a school how many students for example were in kindergarten last year. What is the ratio of students who were in first grade this year? You take those two numbers you divide them. If you have a number over one you have more students in first grade than you had in kindergarten last year. People are moving in. If it's

176under one you're losing bits. And so that's really what we're trying to forecast is that number. Um, when I say we're modifying that, we're modifying that by looking at your building developments as well. So we're also taking into account any of those developments that are happening, looking at the yield of students for those developments and adding that into the process. So, we tested several different waiting uh regimes and finalized a 10-year weighted average uh with waiting skewed slightly more towards recent data and took out some of the co 19 kind of bumps down as well as bumps back up. We also added in housing based growth by attendance zone minus any of the units that were clearly going to be 55 plus communities. So, if we could find that information, um we then compared those

177issues and added in those uh additional students based on the housing growth. But we also didn't assume that every single development that is planned would actually occur. I don't want you. Basically, what I'm trying to say is this was a relatively conservative estimate. So, housing growth we assumed will occur kind of at the following rates. 75% of all approved housing will be built out over the period. Uh 25% of proposed housing will be built up over that same period. And then occupancy rates, so the number of h those new houses that are actually occupied. Um and persons by per household by age. That's basically your student yield would follow historical patterns. And basically that historical pattern is looking at the last couple denial censuses and looking at a relatively low level of geographic certainty, something

178called a census tract. Um, understanding how many students there are people of student age are actually uh living in those houses on average. We also have to look at how occupancy is going to build out. You know, a new a new home's built. it's not necessarily occupied on on day one. So basically we make the assumption that in year one of completion occupancy will be 50% of their final occupancy rate and then kind of linear growth after that through the fourth year and that's just the the little update that we have for for that and then I will pass it back and we'll talk about utilization. >> Can I ask a question or do I have to wait until the very end? >> I would wait to the very end. >> Okay. So, now that

179we understand kind of where we're at from a projection standpoint that there is some some growth happening, um we want to step back and take a little bit of a look at um what this means for the district. So, one thing we didn't talk about at the beginning really was the number of facilities. So, right now we looked at 27 facilities. Uh this does include your support facilities, so we wouldn't necessarily look at capacities for those. Um and then also the average age of a school. So, you're sitting at 32 years, kind of an average age there. So, um not definitely not the oldest by any means in terms of a lot of districts, but um that is kind of that point where if you think about replacing a roof, things like that, 20, 30

180years, it gets to that point. So, you do have a lot of buildings in that average age that are starting to get to that point where maintenance is going to be needed on a regular basis. So, that's something to keep in mind. Your oldest school right now is 63 years. You do have two that are 63 years old. So obviously more needs there as as buildings continue to age and your new school obviously just under a year old there. So that also helps increase the average age when you have buildings that are very very new. Um as we started to look at the data before we jump back into the utilization and capacity. Um, we're not going to get into all of the the kind of deferred maintenance needs, things like that tonight, specifically by

181building, but we did want to talk about kind of the big buckets of things as we move through this master plan that we're going to want to come back to and talk about. And as I've mentioned a couple times here, uh, deferred maintenance is something every district deals with um, forever. Basically, doesn't matter how well you take care of buildings, how well you maintain them. Over time, there are going to be needs. Things are going to um, age out. your HVAC, your windows, um your doors, your roofs, things like that. So, that is important to keep that plan going, to look out five, 10 years, and to continue to do that so you can proactively work through that. Um, as you heard, I think earlier today, too, there's also good opportunities there for energy efficiency,

182things like that. That can also save the district money on the backside. Um, one of the other things we obviously identify as we walk through these buildings is facility upgrades. Sometimes that might be um a space you don't currently have or a space that maybe is not serving um education as it continues to evolve. It may be that um you need a larger space, things like that. So that's something we're going to look at in detail at each building. Um sometimes that also could be um is a building getting too full and you need an addition like you've had to do recently as well. Um and then that important one there that building size and capacity. Do we need to add on? Do we need to look at making adjustments to balance students between the

183different buildings? And then finally, as we talked about safety and security, um what when we evaluate this, this is not saying that buildings are not safe and secure right now, but we know that the world continues to evolve in technology and different methods as we heard I think as the state adopts new methodology. That's always going to be something that we want to invest in and plan for proactively. So these are kind of the four things that we're going to continue to focus on. Obviously, we need to layer in your priorities as we move forward, but these were kind of the big takeaways from those reports of things that we'll start to talk about in more detail. So, I do want to jump back into data since tonight is all about numbers. And as Chris

184mentioned, the first things that we look at here, trying to kind of walk incrementally through this data, um, we've got the current building capacity, which we talked about how we how we came to that conclusion there on the very far left for each building. And then we've got the en current enrollment. And I will preface this with when I speak about current enrollment tonight, that is actually the 2024 2025 data since we are at the beginning of a new school year. So just a point of reference there. Um so we are tracking that at high school, middle school, and elementary school level here. As we continue to go through this chart, as Chris just shared, we are looking at two projection enrollment numbers. So we're not going to look at every single year. We're going

185to look at trends. So a 5-year outlook and a 10-year outlook to kind of see if it's trending in a different way or if it's continuing the same way. So as I mentioned, we look at these in terms of kind of that target ideal utilization, over capacity, under capacity, or that uh nearing capacity. So we've tried to color code this to make it kind of easy to understand what we're looking at here. And this first column we're looking at is the current utilization of buildings. Um, so you start to see there are a few there are some that are nearing capacity. There's a few that are noting to be over capacity right now. Um, and one that's looking to be slightly under capacity. So I'll come back to that in a second. But really the

186important thing as I mentioned before is that outlook of five and 10 years to see if that trend is continuing. So as you can see here, uh, some of those do continue and some of those do start to correct themselves. So we'll dive in a little bit to each of those categories here. So, first starting to look at those buildings that might be noted as either underutilized or under capacity. Um, we have identified four buildings that do fall into that range. But as you see, oh, I don't have a click. I don't have a pointer on here. No. Oh, I do. Okay, good deal. So, as we look here in our current enrollment, that first column there, there is one building that's showing is underutilized. That's Francis How Middle and it's showing at 74.37%. So,

187as I mentioned, that's kind of a target range, that 75 to 90. So when we look at that, not really necessarily something to be concerned about at the moment. As we look forward 5 years for that one. It does drop just a little bit to 73, but again, not a significant jump. So that's one just kind of that monitor kind of wait and see. But it does tell us in 10 years it does correct itself and get back up there. So usually in that range, that's one of okay, that makes some sense that that's about in the range though. So, um, unless there's other variables or, um, staffing things like that that need to be evaluated, that one's probably not something really to worry about. And then similarly, look, if we look at Barnwell, we're

188okay for the next 5 years. 10 years, it does drop down to 70%, but again, as Chris mentioned, these are projections and they get more accurate as we get closer. So, those are ones we would just usually recommend monitoring. Again, in 5 years, if that's still showing, maybe that's when we start talking about does an adjustment need to be made? Is that as efficient as it can be? um can we balance dollars, things like that. And then with these other ones down here, SA Sager, again, that's right now it's showing kind of in that sweet spot. As we get to five years out, you're at 70. It does drop down to about 65 10 years out. So again, that might be one that in 5 years we really want to focus on of is that

189getting to a point where staffing is getting challenging? Um we can't provide some of those services, things like that. So that's one probably would be kind of on that watch list, but probably more in that five years when we kind of come back to this. Um, one thing I did not mention at the intro that I should have was typically our recommendation is that you do a a major facility master plan update at least every 5 years and then reflect on it yearly just to see if there's any major factors that may have implemented that just so that again with demographics things are changing, education's changing. So, that would be kind of that point of when you'd want to start to look at that to see um is that trend actually accurate or does it

190correct itself or get worse um to see if something's warranted there. And then finally, Harvest Ridge Elementary. Um it's it's actually really close almost to 90% there. This one is probably the biggest jump that we're seeing um right now in terms of a decrease. So, it's jumping from 87 to 69% in 5 years. So, that is one definitely would want to monitor to see if that's accurate. um and then continues to actually decrease even more into that 10-year range. So, kind of two there that would recommend as part of the master plan to maybe potentially identify um some options if that trend is accurate. Okay. So, then looking at those buildings that are nearing capacity. Um again, these are not ones that necessarily any immediate concerns there, but again, just things to monitor. You see

191there again the top three um Francis Hill High North and then Brian Middle School they're in that sweet spot right now but looking five and 10 years out they get into that warning area. So again that monitor that over the next 5 years see if those trends are but they're still not getting to be over capacity. So again that might be okay depending on what programs you're offering. Um that's really a conversation of do they feel full in 5 years? Um and do we need other offerings there? Same thing with Brian Middle School as you see there. Um kind of getting into that warning range in five to 10 years, but now still looking pretty good. As we get down to the elementary schools though, there are four that are on that list in terms

192of kind of that nearing capacity. Um two of those correct themselves in five years. Two of those and then the other two correct themselves in sorry correct themselves in 10 years. One other note item to note here, Henderson Elementary, as we mentioned, this data is from last spring. an addition just opened there this fall. So we believe that has actually already corrected itself based on the additional capacity that was added in that addition. So that brings that down to just kind of those three to keep watching. And then finally looking at those buildings in the 10-year outlook that are currently showing either um showing over capacity. We do have a couple here. Uh Frances Central High School is showing nearing right now and then getting over capacity in five and 10 years. So again, that's

193one would want to monitor and kind of look at um how you're using the building now. That might tell us that actually it's okay and it may actually be okay in 5 and 10 years depending on how you're staffing and what programs you're offering. This is just kind of that warning of let's talk about that more and really dive into the programs to make sure this is accurate. Um and then as we get to those elementary schools, we do have four that are showing currently over capacity, two that are showing that they're going to continue to trend that way. Um, one other thing to note. Oh, I am so sorry. This thing is going backwards. One thing to note here, just like on the approaching capacity, Fairmont also got an addition here that just completed.

194So, that one is also going to correct itself and get it actually into that ideal one. So, that's good news that there's already been progress made there. Um, so then we do have Daniel Boone Elementary that really is the one that continues to trend over capacity. So, and again, that's that's one we'd want to evaluate and see if that's the reality, if the numbers are are accurate in terms of how the building's being run um as we go through this process. So, this is just that first step to see where we're at, make sure that's correct, and again, sometimes in that next step, we we learn more information um about how you're using the building and actually adjust these before the final report comes out. But just some good stuff to start the conversation there.

195So, just a quick summary here. Um, the other thing we typically look at, which I'm not going to go back to the big slide, but one of the things we also want to look at along with each individual building is each learning level and district-wide utilization because that tells us something as we move into that next phase. So, you guys are sitting right about 90% utilized from K to 12. So, that's in that kind of target range. Is it start it's starting to get towards that kind of nearing capacity, but again, pretty far away from 100. So that's not a bad thing cuz you know that target area is really want to be from an operational and educational efficiency standpoint. There's just your current capacity numbers and enrollment. So about 1,600 if I'm doing math

196tonight right 1,600 available capacity right now as we've calculated it. Um then if we look at each learning level elementary school is as we just saw with all those reds elementary is sitting at 98% utilize across the district. So, what that tells us typically in the next steps is um sometimes a district may have if that's sitting at like 75% 80% and you have some buildings that are starting to trend over capacity sometimes that is when the conversation starts to happen about do we move boundaries do we shift kids but when you're at 98% and there's not necessarily capacity you know you also have to then look at where there is capacity is even even geographically close to the other buildings and a lot of times you know, as you add the more variables. So,

197that's kind of the first one of that may not even work if we continue to trend that way. It may be more additions or new builds, things like that to uh correct that if the trends and demographics are correct. Middle school, on the other hand, is sitting at 78% utilized. So, again, that sweet spot and that's reflected before, as you see, there really weren't too many that were in that kind of warning zone there. And then finally, high schools were about 92% utilized. So that is a little bit trending up there of um as kids continue to grow into that space that's one we may want to watch and see if there is additional capacity needed or if there can be adjustments made there. So finally now with all that information where are we going

198to go from here? So, as I mentioned, we started this process uh this spring. We've been going through the data and compiling all that the last few months and then are obviously here tonight sharing kind of this first information and data. There's a lot more data for you guys to to get into understand and for us to process and work through together. Um the next step, and I think I think this is going to get sent out tomorrow is going to be a planning priority survey that I'll talk about here in a second. And that's going to help have allow the board and district administration to help us kind of create some priorities and a um a tool that allows us to uh gauge some of the different process and options in this master plan

199to make sure that we're funneling alignment with priorities that also align with the strategic plan and making smart choices for the district. And then finally, after we do the planning priorities exercise, we'll start to look at what those options are, some of the stuff we talked about tonight. um and then come back with a final recommendation for master plan. Again, that would be an incremental adjustments over the years that could be updated. So, with that planning priority exercise, this is just an example from another district we've worked with. Um but what we do is we send out a survey. We allow everybody to give their individual input and then we come together in a work session to walk through what all came together and then we create this road map that I guess we really

200like road maps tonight. So, uh, good tools here, but we really talk about those foundational elements for success. We talk about facilities first because, um, you know, obviously in order to we've got to take care of the walls and things like that so we can support kids inside. And then we talk about, um, operations and teaching and learning. How do facilities support what you guys are doing to educate kids? Um, this one was the next one was there was a priority there of spirit, openness and belonging, and then empowerment through space in terms of trying some new things in terms of different opportunities for students. So this will look completely different probably for you guys. The one thing is that number one that foundational typically does look pretty consistent in terms of things like quiet

201health, high quality building, safe and security, things like that. That are all foundational elements for any district to support kids. Um but then the rest of those may look very different for you guys. But this is going to allow us as then we as we then move into that next option to explore um where priorities we know priorities can always be different for different individuals and different stakeholders within the district. So that allows us to um kind of guide the process a little bit. And these are just a few examples of things that will come out in that next phase in terms of explore options. The thing on the top um affectionately call that circles, triangles, and squares, but each of those icons is a building. And that is a tool we use to talk

202about what we um just went through in terms of utilization and capacity. When is a building getting over capacity? Do we need to add on? Do we need to build new? Do we need to adjust boundaries? That sort of thing. So, that's a tool we'll walk through with you guys to see um for the future steps there. Then we'll also obviously go through just kind of that deferred maintenance facility needs. Um all of those that we identified in the report, start to actually put numbers to those and talk about what long-term investment would look like, how you can come up with some plans that are maintainable um and scalable over time. And then start to look at what that might actually mean for um building improvements or other facility upgrades over time. If it's an

203addition because to deal with capacity, um if it's renovations, to deal with new programs, things like that. So with that, as I mentioned, I think planning priorities uh survey would go out tomorrow and we'll give you guys a couple weeks to share um information back on that. We'll work together with um the district to kind of bring that together, I believe, with the work session with you guys in November. Um and then after that, we'll come back to you with some of the additional options. Um and then we'll talk about what's next. >> Thank you very much, boy. Any questions? Oh, well, >> I I did, but they did get answered as I was a little more patient and listening. >> Wow. >> And remember, you have weeks to go over this. So, >> I

204just the color red is so intimidating. Um, really the the only thing that popped into my head is not knowing that the elementary schools are mostly all red from from what we were seeing. And this is just way out there in my thoughts, but if we were to move fifth grade to the middle schools who are underused for temporary time frame, would that help alleviate some of that? >> That is definitely something we would explore kind of with that circles, triangles, and squares things. That would be somewhere where we could look at does that help relieve the pressure for five or 10 years or long term if that's something that the district felt was a priority um to balance capacity. And then looking at that from the educational lens of does that make sense? And

205again, where are the kids at in the district? That's the other thing we got to look at just the numbers, but we also got to look at geographically um to make sure that travel, all of that, transportation, everything works out. But yeah, that would definitely be one of the scenarios we could look at in that explore options phase. >> Thank you. >> Other board comments or questions? >> I have one. Um the demographic data, did that also include data regarding race, language, and income level? >> Yeah, it does. I just didn't have it today. >> Gotcha. I just want to make sure because um as you see elsewhere in our agenda, you see um that a title one school uh is using additional funding for instructional coaches and instructional spaces. I just want to make

206sure as we think through this, we also think about those other types of spaces in the rooms. >> Yep. And uh lastly, we actually have a date for that meeting, don't we? The facilities conversation that's open to the public >> for the workshop session. >> Well, we uh uh we have it uh slated for an agenda next Wednesday at 7:45 in the morning to review a date with uh the board and uh but yes, we do have a board date in mind. >> Not a confirmed though yet. >> Correct. >> Thank you. So, we will announce that date so everybody else could be part of that conversation, too. So appreciate. >> Any other questions? >> All right. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you all. >> Chief academic officer Glenn Hancock is here to

207present uh an academic update. Welcome, Mr. Hancock. Thank you. [Music] >> All right. Uh good evening uh members of the board. I'm excited uh to have this opportunity to share a high level overview of our results from our 24-25 school year. During my first three months uh here at France, I have learned how the community can come together, help each other as evidenced by Henderson, the passion for helping students and the dedication to continuous improvement uh with our strategic plan uh agenda that we have. There are a number of positive results uh to share that will highlight the outstanding hard work of our students, teachers, administrators, staff, and families. And while we're going to highlight a number of positive outcomes this evening, we realize there's also opportunity for continuous improvement and growth uh as outlined

208by Mrs. Joles this evening when she was sharing our KPI data and our um our goals as part of our strategic plan. Tonight, we're going to share results that are related to our pillar one of our strategic plan. And we'll begin by talking just a little bit about IMIP uh and MSI 6. So each year schools receive an annual performance report from MS6. Uh MB6 is the Missouri school improvement sixth edition Missouri school improvement plan sixth edition and it provides an overall framework for crediting and classifying school districts. Uh this sixth edition of ISIP includes a combination of outcome and continuous improvement metrics that we're going to share a little bit about this evening. As we move through the presentation this evening, I'll share a couple of terms, a couple abbreviations. Um, a few of

209those might be familiar, few might be new. Uh, such as AP for advanced placement. DESI is our department of elementary and secondary education. EOCC's refer to end of course uh typically at at the end of high school courses. We have EOCC exams part of the MAP test. LEA is local education agency. So in our case, the Francis School District student group. Uh, this is Missou's data identified. uh five groups who tend to perform significantly lower than the state average. These students include low-income students, students with disabilities, English learners, students who are black and Hispanic. Desi then uses this group to perform calculations and perform a student group score. We'll also share our performance metrics that relate to MS6, which include academic achievement. Typically, these include all MAP and EOCC assessments. Academic achievement and growth. This

210is a little bit different. This data we don't have yet. This will come from DESIE uh here in probably another month or two. We'll send a board update with the growth data. Growth data is calculated each year and it is different uh in terms of number of points that you receive uh based on how the whole state performs. Success Ready students data in our success ready student group. This will include data related to ACT and advanced placement exams, graduation rate, and graduate follow-up data. Each of these buckets have uh a certain percentage that the department of elementary second education utilizes to give us an overall score. Uh and again, that score will come out typically in October or November this year. As we present uh a few of our data points this year or from

211this last year, uh we'll be presenting data related to state testing, ACT, graduation, and this data typically happens one time a year. ACT has the opportunity to take it multiple times a year. But we also have a system of assessments and feedback that we provide along the way to help our students know where they're at in relation to the learning targets, including screening and benchmark assessments, assessments that we give, uh, common assessments that we might give as a professional learning community at a PLC. So, we can review results together and talk about instructional strategies to support students, and then the ongoing classroom assessments that our teachers give on a regular basis. We use all this information together to help make instructional decisions and pivot and be instructionally agile whenever we need to be. Our first

212set of data that we're going to share is with our map results. Um, as we begin looking at each content area, you'll notice that the percentage of proficient advance here. So, Francis How will be in blue. We'll have the state of Missouri in green. And this will be consistent on many of our slides this evening. You'll notice the percent of p prof proficient and advanced is a little bit different than what uh Mrs. Joel shared as she shared a combination of all four of the content areas kind of rolled up into one number. Tonight we're going to share each content area separately so you can see the percent of students who are proficient and advanced. So this chart here represents the percentage of all students scoring proficient and advanced on English language arts for the

213past 5 years. The data includes math grade level assessments given in grades 3 through eight for language arts and then 10th grade takes an EOCC which the end of course exam after their sophomore year of English. They consider or they call that the English 2 EOC. You can see here there's a slight increase from the 23 24 school year and it continues to be above the state level. In addition, we had several grade levels that also increased their proficiency from last year as well. This next chart also represents English language arts. However, it is only our students in our student group. As it was shared this evening with our goals towards our strategic plan, we have a goal for all students and a goal for our student group. That goal for our student group is

21450%. So the data here represents the comparison of Francis how um and how our student group scored with also how Missouri student group scored. And again, this is also English language arts for the past year. And you'll see there's a slight increase in our students in our student group. And we also saw an increase from prior year from our prior year of many grade levels as well. This slide shares this is math again. Same data with our Francis being in blue and Missouri being in green. And this represents the percent of all students scoring proficient advance as well. And for math, we also include grades three through eight with our math test and the EOCC's from our high school math courses that would include algebra 1, algebra 2, and sometimes geometry. Students will take the

215geometry if they need one more math EOC. If they, for example, they're end up taking geometry um prior to getting to high school, they would take that EOC. And you can notice there was an increase uh from our 2324 school year and it also continues to be above. This was our highest percentage of students scoring proficient advanced in the last five years here. And again, we had several grade levels, nearly almost all grade levels had an increase from their prior year uh in terms of percent proficient and advanced. When I switch the slide, we're now looking it's still at math, but now with students in our student group, you also notice again a slight increase um from our prior year and continues to be above the state level in terms of how our students are

216scoring in math. This also is the highest in the past five years as well for our students in our student group with math. [Music] For science, we see a slight increase again from our 23 24 school year into 2425 and is our second highest percentage in the last 5 years for our students for all students uh in science. And then switching to our students in our student group with science again a similar theme. students improving from last year. Also scoring above the state percentage of students in proficient advance and again uh we had increases in eighth grade and biology. Science is offered in science um scores are offered in grades 5 8 and then biology EOC. So typically after students take the biology course they would take the biology in a course exam. And then

217we have social studies. Social studies only assessed in government, which is uh a high school course. And this shows that we had a slight decrease from our prior year, still continues to be above our state um percent proficient advanced level. And this also is our second highest percentage of students proficient advanced in five years. And like all students, we also had a decrease uh in our student score and proficient advance within our student group. Switching gears over to success ready students. So looking at metrics that look at college and career readiness data such as ACT, such as uh advanced placement and taking college level courses. We have a lot of uh areas to celebrate and share this evening. uh with ACT burst chart shows that ACT we did have a a small decline from our

218prior year uh with our composite score. So in our graph here we're using our students best attempt. Uh they might take multiple attempts on the ACT. This is using their best attempt overall. We're seeing a trend that ACT is beginning to be utilized for a number of uh a number of colleges are increasing the utilization of an ACT again or an SAT, some type of college readiness assessment. After shortly after 2020, we saw a little bit of a decrease in that usage of it. Now, we're seeing a trend back up again with there. We do offer our ACT for all junior students as an opportunity to take ACT and looking at providing additional opportunities for students that might be um might have an assessment that pairs well with going into maybe a job right after

219high school. Um might be a post-secary trade school. We have a couple or military. We also have a couple of other assessment opportunities that we're going to be increasing uh moving forward this year. In addition to the overall ACT, we do monitor the frequency because as uh the number of times a student participates in the ACT, uh there is evidence that there is an increase in scores should become familiar with the format and opportunity to take it. Uh we did have an increase again this year with number of average number of times a student takes the ACT uh up to 1.63. 63 for advanced placement uh AP exams. Uh students have the opportunity to participate in advanced placement exams. The College Board uh authors of the AP exams started to move several exams or portions

220of them to online. Uh in some years there was options online available to students and they could elect into taking online. But beginning at 2425, several of these exams uh only had the ability of being online or a portion of the exam had to be online. And so many of our students and teachers had to pivot last year to switching to online. And you can see there was a lot of positive results here. We had the highest number of exams taken in a long time with over 2,200 exams taken by over a,00 students. And these are really positive numbers. to not only see that the number of exams are increasing number of opportunities we're providing students to get opportunities at college level courses but as you'll see on the next slide that the percentage of

221students scoring three and above it also is increasing. So that's really impressive to not only continue to grow the number of exams and the number of students taking them but also the number of students scoring three or above. three or above significant because college universities typically uh usually accept the three or above as um a score that you can get college credit for in a similar course at the college level. So this shows we had 83% of our students I'm sorry 83% of our exams getting a three or better. But we also when you look at students 84% of our students that participate in at least one exam. Many of our students participate in multiple AP exams scored a three or better. So again some really great work by our students, teachers, staff uh with

222these accomplishments. Switching to graduation data. Uh the department of secondary uh elementary education they report uh graduation data for 5year also even six and sevenyear graduation data. We typically show uh the four and 5year data. We don't have the uh state data at the moment in terms of graduation rate but we do have our Francis how graduation rate data with 96% of our students uh so slight increase from 24 the class of 24 and 96.8% nearly 97% from our class of 2025 um within graduating within 5 years of their original 9th grade date. And then we also follow up with students what do they plan to do as they are looking to enter uh after they leave high school and enter the world and we can see that we have increase in a few areas

223and where we see a a drop in one area it's usually because they shifted to another area. So you know for example a small decrease in four-year but a slight increase in two-year. So overall our our percent of students enrolling in a two and four-year um college increased uh to 78.6%. And then those that are also going to postsecondary technical institution also increased uh this past year as well. We again follow up with our class at 25 uh about 180 days after to ensure hey this is what they shared they were going to be doing and we kind of follow up with them to um learn a little bit more from them when they're 180 180day follow-up survey. And then in summary overall again a lot of great um a lot of great celebrations here

224a lot of great work moving in the right direction. Uh the percent of all students scoring p prof proficient and advanced uh increased for ELA math and science for not only all students but also students in our student group. The number of AP exams was an all-time high. Our percent of students scoring three or above is at alltime high and also the exams. and then the continued focus on our PLC's that are working together to support instruction. In terms of next steps, uh we will continue uh planning and implementing the work within pillar 1. We'll continue our work with our new K5 ELA resource uh curriculum and resource. We'll begin selecting a new resource for our grades 6 through 8. our multi-ter systems of support, MTSS, that will be work that will be beginning with

225the leadership team, continue professional learning for staff, collaborating with other districts, learning what they're doing for success, data reviews and action planning, and assessment writing and implementation. And those assessment uh those assessments are important because it gives an opportunity to give feedback to students so we can tell them where they're at in relation to the target and kind of what's next uh in their in their learning journey. and I appreciate uh being able to share a little bit this evening. Are there any questions I can help you with? >> I do. Sorry. >> Have no problem. Um okay, question about like map scores, we know we only get that data once a year. Benchmarks, are they being taken three times a year? Um are we writing the benchmarks or did we purchase them from some

226curriculum? >> We have a combination a little bit. uh we are we have several that we've written but we also use screening and benchmark assessments like instar and I ready in some cases >> and then are those systems tracking growth not just summitives and but like growth over time can we see that trajectory for students like something in like Tableau or something like that >> yes and we use a product called edge climber to help look at that >> just got that at parkway it's pretty wild it okay cool I was just curious thank Yeah, [Music] >> other comments board just a question on say for instance your map ELA the percent the scores are are flatlined from 21 and then they're basically if you look at math we're flatlined but then our our our

227mission statement says 70% of all students that's if were flatlined over 5 years. I mean, you guys are going to be hardcore after it. So, how I guess what steps are you taking now to to increase the to get to 70% in 5 years? >> Yeah, I appreciate. So, we're seeing incremental increases right now. Uh the addition with our new ELA program that we're implementing, that will be a huge step in the right direction. um a huge support the have that consistency and the coherence with our instruction uh the work with uh our MTSS or multi-ter system support. So really we are working to make sure we're providing the right intervention at the right time for students. So as we improve that accuracy and work with that that will aid and assist in that work

228as well. Uh same with math. We're also seeing a slight increase each year. And so by kind of putting those things together with consistent instruction, continued discussion with instruction, our multi-ter systems of support, working uh to ensure we have right interventions at the right time, if you will. Uh and then also looking ahead to the future, that portrait of a graduate that Mrs. Joles mentioned, that will be a a huge asset as well, so we can begin planning for what are the um key things we want students to leave with uh those employable skills and such we want students to leave with. [Music] question also, why do we have if so many students if if they're going to go to work after high school or they're going to enter a trade, what's the point of

229having all the juniors take an ACT? >> Yeah. On in on the ACT, there is an opportunity to get a what they call a work keys type of um average on where you're at. So, we do have the opportunity to give the works assessment, which a lot of St. Louis communities have, I should say, job ready um jobs in the St. Louis community and even St. Charles community have kind of looked at the available jobs they have, what are the skills that are required for those jobs and they've matched it up with a a work keys type of um kind of job ready skill set that would be ready. So we do have the opportunity to provide the work keys assessment also which gives them a little bit of a industry credential if you will

230to say hey if I'm a silver score if you will these are the kind of jobs that I'm I won't say pre-qualified for but almost pre-qualified for so we have the opportunity to do that and Dr. O our assessment director is working on creating that system to kind of give the right assessment opportunity at the right time. We also though can use that data from the ACT to know where do we maybe need to um support or improve the instruction in those certain areas. So they could use those scores to know okay I need to increase my math. I need to work on maybe my English and I can use that to help target it before maybe I take my work keys. But we are working on a plan to help students identify what assessment

231would be best for them. That's almost part of the the IAAP uh portion of the work to identify where we're going next uh in my journey and what's the right assessment that's going to have me ready for where I'm going. >> Other questions? Um one number thing uh slide eight might need some updating. U the slide information there is different than the slide information. Y >> um that's one piece. Um, one other piece is that the ACT you now have a super score that is really a great gift to any student. I I have a senior whose super score is better than my score. I was trying to explain to him we had a little extra advantage so we have a little rival house kind of deal. Um, but in here it looks as if

23286% of the students took the ACT once then 36 took it twice. And it seems as if especially if you have that high number going to college that somewhere along the way something's being missed, some communication part is being missed. And so it seems as if having people taking the ACT two times, three times will be a value that we can lean into a little bit. Um because it's a huge asset to be able to take your best math score from every single time you take your best science score and all that. >> Yeah. Just Yeah. >> Well, you mention that real quick. Um when you look back at 18, 19, and 20 when it was uh kind of more of a factor in terms of college entrance, you can see that you had almost

23350% to more than 50% taken at it two times or more. >> Um as you know, ACT opportunities were in decline where we just didn't have spaces open for students to take the ACT. It started and colleges started to not require that. it was like a test optional started to be a play, but you do start to see it going back up in terms of the number of students taking it, two or more. I >> mean, I I would I would communicate the next line, uh the average score depending on how many times you've taken it. >> Mhm. >> Um I mean, I think that's just incredible information just to share um among the other things you're already doing regarding communication. >> I think though the first time we pay for it, but then any

234times after that the parents have to pay for it. >> Correct. And that could be that could be the reason. >> Yeah. Might be worth looking into as well if there's some people who are stalled because of that. >> Um any other questions regarding this? >> Yeah. How many kids took it? Uh I'm assuming it's one um nine nine times in 25. >> That's what you got to do is go >> at 35. If that's like 15 kids, we're doing something right. >> I don't know off the top of my head, but we can find it out. >> One kid took it nine times. I want to call mine in. First of all, I want to thank um director harm for calling this out. You know, this the strategic plan is not just some fancy

235words on some beautiful paper, but just be able to say, you know, this is what we keep on pointing back towards. So, Dr. Herman, thank you for identifying that and saying, you know, we're excited about what you're going to be presenting. um everybody within all four pillars, but um whether it's next month or beyond um the board's interested in knowing what it looks like to support the work of the administration, the teachers, and um not only for the entire population, um but just to name that the the scores for the student group um is lagging behind and it's not okay. Um, I know you we all share that it's not okay and whatever uh we need to do to help support those endeavors, I think the board shares a commitment to that. So, I appreciate

236that. Any other comments? Port. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. One more presentation. SM Wilson will be uh SM Wilson representatives are here to provide an FHN odor update. Good evening. My name is Mark Cochman with SM Wilson. I'm just going to give a real quick update uh from our last uh presentation we gave to you. Uh as you recall, we did some testing on the municipal uh sewer system and determined some pressure in that. Implemented a temporary uh solution. Uh since that time, it's uh we've had no reports of odor since our last updates. Uh with that, um again, I'm just going to there's some graphics here real quick that we've presented before and just uh slide through these fairly quickly. That's the current situation where we've uh allowed

237the pressure to escape the manhole. Uh and this is the proposed uh permanent solution. Uh and where we are right now, uh we're meeting weekly with our design team and partners on that. Uh we are expecting to have those engineered drawings on early next week. uh when we get those we will concurrently move forward with review with the city of St. Peters but also procuring the necessary materials and equipment for that uh and we believe um that probably by the end of October we will have the permanent solution in place uh and fully operational. Um again we're meeting weekly uh with Saloo and his team and our design partners and uh keeping up to date with that. So that's the update we have with with the odor situation. Any questions, board? >> No, no reports

238of any any owners. >> No, >> that's wonderful. >> This is a record for quickest update. >> U wait a long time, >> but uh thank you very much and uh we'll continue to reach out if there's anything pops up. >> Sounds good. Thank you. >> You Thank you. >> All right, Mr. Delaney. Interim superintendent comments. >> Thank you, President Blair. I'd like to start my comments tonight with some positive news. And uh we're pretty confident everyone in this room and those watching online would agree we could all use a little positive news uh in our lives. We're on a mission uh to spotlight incredible people who bring the one how spirit to life. And one of the ways we're doing that is through uh our new humans on how series on social media. Our

239first feature, if you saw it, was Winnie, a Daniel Boone first grader who was spotted picking up trash at a football game. Her story is a great reminder that small actions can make a big difference. I want to personally thank Winnie for seeing an issue and addressing it. Winnie, your help goes a long way in supporting other staff at Francis Hall High, the staff members at Francis House High School, in ways that she she uh will never know. when you think about the way that a football stadium looks like uh after a football game. Uh Wendy was a tremendous help. If you know someone uh that has a story worth sharing, we would love for people across the district to share it with our communications team. We'd like to highlight these uh great pieces of

240work. >> Mr. Can we pause to have a round of applause for Winnie? >> Absolutely. >> For Winnie. Winnie, I hope you watch the recording and you're not up this late. Um, two FHSD teachers, Tara Richards and Michelle Ridlin, were surprised this week with the 2025 Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award. I had the honor of being there on Monday when they were surprised along with their co-workers. Tara Richards, a sixth grade geography teacher at Francis Hall Middle, has spent more than 20 years inspiring students and supporting fellow educators. Michelle Ridland, an art teacher at Francis Hall Central, is known for her inclusive approach, creating opportunities for all students to thrive. Both teachers will be celebrated at November's board meeting. Another positive moment worth highlighting. I want to congratulate a member of our transportation team. FHSD

241bus mechanic Matt Jocken Hefer placed fourth in a statewide competition. Missouri's best technician and inspector event was an event that brought together the top mechanics and inspectors from across the state for a hands-on competition testing skills in diagnostics, repairs, and inspections. Way to represent FHSD. We're proud to have Matt on our team. And speaking of transportation, we desperately need bus drivers. Francis How buses continue to run a little bit later than expected and we know this causes challenges for our students and our families. Safe and reliable transportation is a priority for us, but like many districts, we face a critical shortage of bus drivers. We currently have 27 full-time driver openings and four monitor openings, which is more than about 10% of our workforce. To cover routes, office staff, mechanics, and even coaches with CDLs

242are stepping in to drive. Many drivers are also doubling back to run multiple routes, which leads to a little bit of a delay. While these solutions help, they're not sustainable long term. That's why we need the community's help and the people in this room. We are actively recruiting drivers, offering paid training, providing competitive pay and benefits. New drivers start out at $23 an hour with pay increasing to 27 in in their second year. Drivers also received benefits, paid break uh benefits, paid breaks, and a public school pension. We hosted two bus driver job fairs in September and conducted 10 on the spot interviews. Those candidates are moving through the hiring process now. If you know someone who might make a great bus driver, please have them fill out our district uh visit our district website

243and fill out a short application. We are about a month into our school year now and many are wondering how the new cell phone ban is going. I had the opportunity to check in with principles recently and I report that they report that it has gone much better than expected. During lunch and after finishing assignments, students are engaging in conversations with one another. They're reading books. They're playing games and even passing the old school notes that many of us in this room remember. We're told that the volume level in the cafeterias has gone up because kids are actually talking with each other rather than scrolling on those phones. We're really proud of our students for how they've adapted. Our teachers and our staff for ensuring they abide by that ban and our parents for their

244encouragement from home. Since students no longer have access to their phones during the school day, they can't text from lunch to ask a parent to load money into their lunch account. With this in mind, we're taking extra steps to notify families and if their students lunch account balance is negative. Families now receive a weekly text message if their students lunch account balance has fallen below that line. These reminders go out on Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. In addition to the low balance reminder, email messages uh that guardians re uh are placed to guardians so that they receive those as well. We hope this additional communication method helps families stay informed. Uh I also want to remind families that the deadline to apply for free and reduced lunch is September 30th. I want to remind everyone

245that all Francis Hall schools are closed tomorrow so that our teachers and staff can engage in professional development. And I finally want to close with my appreciation for all of our staff and families. I've been very fortunate to be across uh the district in every one of our schools both during the day to see kids and teachers and other staff in action and also into the evenings at different athletic and activities across the district. Our people in all uh positions work extremely hard to make sure students in this district have great experiences. It takes all of us to make sure that happens. I also have been fortunate to witness the hours and the impact of volunteers across this district. From boosters at sporting events and activities to PTO events like the Daniel Boone color run

246that I got to see yesterday, which was a pretty awesome experience. It takes all of us working together to make a difference for our kids. And just want to say thank you. >> Thank you. Uh board, anybody have a comment? Yeah, first I'd like to say I'd like to thank Mr. Delaney and his entire executive team for being accessible, willing to listen to each one of our different personalities and and things that we uh ask for. Uh we really I really appreciate that uh being able to access most any of you at any point in time and you take listen you you take time to listen and to care. Um, on a on a happy note, I got to go happier. Even h this I'm I didn't tell you that right. Okay. On another happy

247note, how about that? I got to uh go to the first responders football game and I sat in the area where I the ball was just laying there on the ground and one of our guys just came up and just grabbed it and he was right there at the goal line. It was a beautiful thing and and I hope to see more of that in the future. Man, that was really a even even though some of us had to watch I don't know something was going on down in Venezuela or something. Remember you said you weren't there because you were watching that. But anyway, >> there there's a there was a Friday Chiefs game in Brazil. >> That's it. That's it. Anyway, um but I know I know as a district we have still a

248lot of things that that we need to work on, but I know that we have a lot of the right people in place to get those things done. That's it. >> Okay. I wanted to say thank you to all of the hockey families and the hockey players that came tonight to share um their help, their concern, their wish, and their willingness to communicate and collaborate on um what hopes to be um the future of their involvement with Francis Howell. And I also wanted to share on a positive note that this week I got to go and participate at a PTO meeting at Warren Elementary School. And as the school years are getting started, I know that all of those PTO's are getting up and ready for a full year of fundraising and supporting the teachers

249in the building. And I was amazed by the military level of precision and everything that they were pulling together to support their buildings and their students and their teachers. Uh it was absolutely amazing. and I got sorted into my house and my house is Yubuntu which um I read more about and I am absolutely um grateful that that is um something I get to be part of now. So that was wonderful. >> Uh I would just like to to kind of reiterate what Sarah said. Um, I've I played sports all my life and and I I I think I've said this to everybody before, but I was a I was that kid that was not um uh included. I played hockey, you know, it was my favorite sport. I just happened to be better at

250baseball. I don't know why. Um but I it's near and dear to my heart. I understand where they're coming from. Um uh and uh I I I think there's a a common ground and and and a middle place that we can all try to find um that that uh that everybody can uh get to. So u the other thing is I'm glad that Mr. Delaney um shared the news that our kids are experiencing what we experienced in the 80s uh without cell phones and things like that in school and passing notes. I don't know if that's a good thing, but um we'll we'll see how that works out. But I'm I'm I'm I was, you know, going back and forth on it. You know, like you said, the the updates of the lunches and I

251I don't know what I'm going to do. How am I going to get lunch? You know, th those things can be worked out. But I do think it's getting back to a focus of of of friendship and camaraderie and and and and you know, just being around each other and talking to each other versus just having your face buried in the screen is what we need to get back to. I mean, Lord knows they they probably buried in them at home anyway. So, um I I think that's a great thing. So, thanks for sharing that, Mark. Great. Uh director buys attention to the information items there. Uh that information is there for your uh review. I want to call to mind the board collective commitments. That's a different term you've seen before. Uh basically, part

252of our training in August included ways that we could be more efficient and if we're more efficient, the administration be more efficient. It allows more time to be spent not with the board but with teachers and admin. And so I'd like to invite anybody if they want to look at the board of collective commitments to see how we are committing ourselves to be uh a healthier better board and learning along the way. Um my last uh board comment was again a thank you. I uh when my oldest was 3 years old, four years old, I ran into uh somebody who I respected very much who just said, "I can never have too many people in my kids' life that love them." And it sounds like a very simple thing to say, whatever it was that

253stuck with me. Um but uh Tama uh it was neat seeing uh the principal just smiling ear to ear and realizing all the teachers she was referring to and some of us with kids in the in the district or outside um we can never have too many adults in the lives of our kids uh that love them and for the teachers who are part of it for the staff for the employees for everyone who realizes that for every number we look at tonight that matters represents a kid that matters matters and um just want to say uh a collective thank you for every single employee who leads with their heart um and to make sure that kids experience love upon love upon love because we don't know which kid was a little bit thirstier for

254that love that day and I just wanted to affirm that and thank everyone if you're listening and beyond u for making Francis school district a great school district to the rest administration here's your job description for the next month. Um, and we believe in you and once again the very very best Francis how is ahead of us and we're glad to be able to join together to make that happen. Uh, board like to have a motion to adjourn open session and return to close to session. So, >> director Pushkar, seconded by Director Ponder. All those in favor say I. >> I. Any post say no. Motion passes and thank you all for being here.