001Got it. Oh, here. Thanks, Ron. Thank you. Oh, I see you. Really? [Music] She's the board. Well, good evening. I'd like to call us all to order with the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. to the board. I'd like to a motion to approve the agenda for April 17th, 2025 as presented. Summit here. Jane as first and Mark as second. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed say no. Motion carries. Now we have student board representative. I'd like to turn over to Miss Charles. [Music] Thank you, President Blair. Our student board representative this month is from Sager Middle School. And as you know, the purpose
002of 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 the public that is focused on their school or the district. And with that, I'd like to invite principal Dr. Amy Benkkey to the podium to introduce our board rep from Sager Middle. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Dr. Amy Benkkey and I'm the principal at Sager Middle School. Uh thank you for this amazing opportunity. I'm excited to introduce our student representative, Tis Morath. Uh he is currently an eighth grade student at Sager. He has been a
003leader uh during his entire Sager experience. He is passionate, driven, genuine. He's engaged in his education. Um he's also very aware of the importance of human connection with his peers and the adults on a daily basis. So I'm very honored to introduce Tis. Um it's been an honor to witness him flourish over the past few years and I'm excited to see what happens in his future in high school and beyond. So I would like to introduce [Applause] Tis. Good evening. Oh, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I sincerely appreciate this opportunity given to me to speak here today. I want to sincerely thank my principal, Dr. Becky, for this chance. Your support means a lot. Let me begin by expressing my sincere gratitude to the staff and faculty members of Sager Middle School. Every day they
004go above and beyond to create a positive and healthy learning environment. Their dedication to academic excellence and personal growth is truly remarkable. Whether through engaging lessons or providing guidance, they play a crucial role in shaping our educational experiences. Additionally, their efforts extend beyond the classroom, offering support through extracurricular activities and fostering an inclusive community. We are fortunate to be in an environment that promotes both intellectual and personal development. I would like to thank every member of our school community for their hard work and commitment to making Sager Middle School a place where we can all thrive. As I take a moment to express my gratitude to our staff members, I would like to specifically acknowledge Mr. Lent, Mrs. Miss Flood and Miss Giljum for their support and dedication. Mathematics has always been a subject that
005has sparked my curiosity and last year I was eager to explore math competitions. To pursue this interest, I reached out to our gifted program director, Mrs. Flood. She expressed enthusiasm for the idea and discussed it with the other math teachers. After further conversations, the initiative was successfully implemented this year and for the first time, Seager Middle School participated in a math counts competition. Following several months of preparation, students were selected to represent our school at the chapter competition and I was fortunate to be among them. Let us now transition from discussing mathematics to the overall academic environment at my school. I consider myself fortunate to be part of the franchises school district which offers distinctive opportunities. We are the only district that provides foreign language instruction as early as the eighth grade and the only
006district that allows students to advance by two years in mathematics in St. Louis. These initiatives cater to students with varying learning paces, enabling them to achieve their academic goals while continuing to develop their intellectual capabilities. For instance, in fifth grade, I took an assessment that granted me eligibility to enroll in a seventh grade math class during my sixth grade year. The following year, I advanced to algebra 1, a 9th grade level course while still in seventh grade, placing me two years ahead of my grade level. Currently, I am enrolled in honors geometry, German one, and nth grade science as my high school courses. At Sager, numerous awards are presented to honor student achievement. One such award introduced this year is the Sager Star Award, which is teacher nominated. Each instructor had the opportunity to nominate
007one student who exemplified leadership in academic excellence. I am proud to have been selected as a recipient of this award. Additionally, there are other awards available to students which will be distributed at the end of the academic year. While academic achievements and opportunities such as math counts competitions and the Sager Star Award have been incredibly formative, there are other experiences from middle school that have equally prepared me for high school. As we all know, transitions can be challenging. This shift from middle school to high school can sometimes feel overwhelming. Whether it's the new environment, the increased responsibilities, or the uncertainty about what to expect. Fortunately, my time at Sager played a critical role in easing those transitions and helping me face high school with greater confidence and a sense of readiness. I believe that going
008to school is more than excelling in academics. I believe it is making connections and bonding with people along the way. I have been blessed because I'm surrounded with people that are ready to help me any time of the day. I would like to give a special shout out to my school counselors, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Braden, and Miss Kunover. I am a person that likes to have things planned out and ready for the future. In my years at Sager, I've had countless meetings with the counselors, and they have helped me and guided me a lot throughout my years. One memory that I'll never forget is when I got a chance to go on my first educational trip alongside a teacher that has supported me throughout my middle school years, Mrs. Flood. We both got the chance
009to go together to Costa Rica through a company called EF Tours. In Costa Rica, I made new connections and many friends whom I still talk to. I experienced a completely new culture, tried foods I had never seen before, and saw some of the most beautiful views in nature, waterfalls, beaches, and wildlife that I'd only ever seen in pictures. Every day felt like a new adventure. And it made me more curious about other places, too. That trip didn't just teach me about Costa Rica. It taught me more about myself, about being independent, open-minded, and willing to try new things. Looking back, it was one of the best experiences of my life. Before I leave the podium today, I would like to say one last thing. Education is not just about reaching goals. It is about the
010people who guide us, the experiences that shape us, and the journey that teaches us who we're becoming. Thank you all for your time. [Applause] All right. [Music] Great job. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. in the front. No, no, you're fine. Am I afraid? Windows. Windows. Oh, actually got one for Momstone. Thank you. Good job. [Applause] Okay. And now for our spotlight. Oh, excuse me. Sarah, did you want to welcome our student onto Oh, Mark, would you want to help him? Welcome. um you are just as much of a member as uh we are uh this evening. Um one thing that you cannot do is vote, but if you have questions or um have any anything that you would like to say, please feel free to grab uh Director Oli's uh mic and and ask away.
011All right. Yeah, welcome. Congratulations. Great honor. Thank you. [Applause] And now for a spotlight. I'm going to turn back over to Miss Charles. Right. For our spotlight presentation tonight, we're going to learn more about the Spartan math team at Sager Middle. And I'll invite our student presenters and two of the club sponsors, Miss Karen Flood and Miss Emily Gilchum, to come forward to kick things off for us. Good evening. We'd like to thank the board of education for having us here tonight. We'd like to congratulate Mr. Blair with his new appointment. We'd like to welcome our newest members and thank our returning members for their service to the Francis Hall community. We'd also like to give a huge shout out to Dr. Bempy for choosing our team tonight and to Tagious for such a wonderful
012speech. We are very excited to be here. I'd like to start by introducing my team. Unfortunately, my team is not here tonight. Mr. Lent was unable to attend and Miss Gil was struck ill at the end of the day today. Um, so I'm Karen Flaud. I am part of the gifted program. Austin Lent and Mrs. Gilgrim represent our math team. And if you don't recognize Mr. Lent, perhaps you might recognize this guy as he was Teddy Roosevelt in his stage debut in our Sega Musical Newsies this year. But we are here to talk about math. So, we are going to start off the same way one of our club meetings would start off, and that's with some warm-up problems. All three of the problems that we're going to show you here tonight were solved by
013our middle school group. And paper and pencil ready if you'd like to work alongside with us. Let's start with an easy one. So, here is a nice power of 2024. Anyone? All right. No calculator as you solve for B here. And what would a good warm-up be without a word problem? So, if you're reading those the same way I am, you'd be amazed to see how fast our students would answer these questions. In fact, if I would read that out to you aloud, I would already have hands in the air of students who are able to answer this question. That shows a lot about our students skill and the wonderful strategies that they're learning from Mr. Lent and Coach Giljum. Not me so much with math, but I am so honored to be part of
014the club. Our club does meet twice a month and we are involved in two programs through the math counts program. We have the national math club where students are given a different uh avenue of math to explore every month and the math counts competition where they have an opportunity to uh compete against students from St. Louis and St. Charles area at local, state, and national levels. We have two students here that are going to be uh talking to you tonight. Henry will be talking to you about the National Math Club and Prik will be talking about math counts. And we do have students in our club from 6th to 8th grade that are representing pre-alggebra through geometry, honors geometry at [Music] SA. Thank you for allowing me to speak to you today, members of the
015board. My name is Henry Tonius from Sager Middle School and I'm here to speak about the math club. When I first heard of the math club, I was excited. It was math leads. I would learn advanced math concepts. I walked into Mr. Lens's room and saw a lot of my friends there. They were also enthusiastic about this new learning opportunity. There was a complicated math problem on the board of a pentagon, a dotted triangle in a circle around that pentagon. Then after a quick lesson in math to those who weren't in geometry, we were put in less in teams and started to solve it. We were doing things that were challenging and would help us learn and grow. I went home and told my little brother August all about it. He says he is going
016to middle school in 2 years. And when he does, he says the first thing he's going to do is join the math club. He's that excited. I love the math club and will continue next year. Thank you for your time. [Applause] Hello there board. I'm Pratik Krishna Swami and I had the honor of representing Sager at the St. Louis Mathcons competition. Out of 150 competitors, we had nine people representing Sager. When you're in a competition with that many people, it's a different feeling than competing at the school level or maybe just some friendly competition. For me, I've had experience competing once in elementary school. I actually made it to the state level and I was pretty confident I would this time also. But something I realized was the difference between the competition then and the
017competition now. I had high expectations for myself, but I was surprised by the intense competition there was. It was a sort of humbling experience. However, that experience drives me to do even better next year, to work even harder, and to push myself till I can really perform at my best ability. The knowledge that I've gained from the opportunity of competing, I never would have gained that knowledge without Mr. L, Miss Flood, and Miss Gil putting in the time and effort to make these things happen. Thank you for letting me speak today. [Applause] Oh, and I forgot I had pictures of them at competition to show during that. Um, so, um, co, Miss Coach Gilgum did have a statement that she's not here, so I'm going to read that for you real quick. Um, as you've
018heard from our incredible students tonight, the Spartan Math team is more than just numbers and equations. It is a place where curiosity meets challenge and where students build their confidence, teamwork, and problem solving skills. Looking towards next year, one of our biggest goals is to open the door for any middle school in the district to join us at the Sager competition so more students can experience the excitement of competing, collaborating, and discovering what they're capable of. Thank you to everyone who cheered us on this year and believed in our students. And thank you again for having us here tonight. Without math, life doesn't add up. [Applause] [Music] Take a picture. You want a picture? Oh, thank you guys. Yeah, we're up for it. Here we go. [Music] Wait. Okay. All right, everybody. Very good. Thank
019you. Thank you. Thank you. And now we move to P uh patron comments. 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 the 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 evening and we value both your input and perspective. I'd like to remind everyone that we expect the 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
020cut those three minutes short. We also ask that patrons of the audience remain quiet in order to be respectful of the speakers allotted time. And at this point, we welcome Felicia Hines FAPA to the podium. Good evening. This is my eighth and final year teaching for the Francis Howell School District and I am one out of six librarians choosing to leave the FHSD libraries. During this time, I have served Independence Elementary School as their library media specialist. I am speaking tonight because I had previously lost hope in Francis How leaders, but tonight I have gained hope that wrongs will become writed. In recent years, FHSD leadership has made decisions that have fostered inequality and exclusion. Decisions that run counter to the fundamental principles of public education. The previous board implemented book collection policies that prioritize
021the personal beliefs of adult community members over the needs and rights of students to access diverse age appropriate literature. They removed librarians, the book experts from the book challenge committee, silencing those best equipped to evaluate literature. They discontinued our district's subscription to BrainPOP without consulting librarians, the resource experts who understand its value in the classroom. Most concerning of all, the previous board consistently failed to recognize the dignity and worth of our most vulnerable student populations. students who deserve to see themselves and their histories reflected and respected in our classrooms, our curriculum, and our libraries. I didn't want to leave Francis Howell or my role at Independence. But as the district drifted from the ideals of public education, I began searching for a place that better aligned with my values. Bnee Brown's words guided me. Integrity
022is choosing courage over comfort. It's choosing what's right over what's fun, fast, or easy. And it's practicing your values, not just professing them. That quote stayed with me as I looked for a district that truly supports inclusion and access for all students. Integrity is choosing courage over comfort. It would have been comfortable to stay, to keep working alongside colleagues and students I love and a library I've poured my heart into. But when comfort means silence in the face of injustice, courage must speak louder. It took courage to acknowledge that I could no longer serve fully in a system that was moving away from the values I hold dear. It's choosing what's right over what's fun, fast, or easy. Change is never easy, especially when it means leaving a school that has shaped me. But choosing
023what's right meant standing up for inclusive practices and every student's right to feel seen, safe, and valued. It meant making the difficult decision to walk away when I saw those priorities being deprioritized by the previous board. And it's practicing your values, not just professing them. I believe in the power of education to uplift all students, regardless of their race, identity, background, or beliefs. In my next district, I will be joining a community that actively supports inclusion, student- centered education where all learners feel seen, valued, and supported through meaningful policies and practices. I'm not leaving because I've lost faith in public education, but because I still believe in it. Your time is up. [Applause] Thank you very much. Uh, up next is Chris Heyman. Chris Heyman. Up next is Harry Harris. Um, thank you. Uh, first
024off, I I want to say Alicia, uh, your your speech was moving and you are appreciated. Um, and and I thank you for all the work that you've done. And I on behalf of our district, I'm sorry that we're we're losing somebody like that. Um, on that note, congratulations to all of our new board members and to the new positions. Um, we are really looking forward to a new day here. Uh, I know a lot of us have been invested in a lot of time and energy and uh, we're hoping that you guys will really get us moving in that right direction. But we can't ignore the pain in the current history of our district and our community. In the days since the election, I've heard of a number of discussions from community community members
025about what they would like to see. I've definitely heard, as you just heard from uh Felicia before me, restoring the use of brain pop seems to be a pretty universal chant. Um I would ask that you all meet with our librarians and really listen to them and not just hear the words coming out of their mouths, but hear those deep concerns like she just expressed about how they're being treated and about the book materials. I've heard quite often uh regarding the resolution against racism and discrimination's removal. It's been 637 days since it was removed and same time period that we were promised from director ponder uh that he worked with the community to establish a new one. We have not had that yet. There have not been those discussions even though many of us have
026offered to have those. Many have posted that they want it back, but it's not that we need it back. It's that we need to admit that it should have never been taken away. And we really need to look deep at what our community has been going through with this. how that simple statement that was made during a really rough time period has affected our community so much that people are constantly posting about it that people are constantly upset that it was taken away and that people are looking for a solution with that. But you don't just want to go back and reignite it. You have to have something behind it. It was put out there because we were having problems as a district and those problems are still there. So I urge this new board
027to go back and take a look at it. Look at what we can bring forth with it, but to really at the heart of it, address the problems that are there. Talk with the community members that are out there, talk with the people who are concerned about it, bring folks together, but again, get to the root of the problem and how we're going to solve it. Thank you. Up next is Jared Pillsbury. Good evening, board. So, first a question. Is there anything more fun than giving a speech that you've neither rehearsed nor timed? Okay. Um anyway, uh first I'd like to welcome the new board. Thank you for stepping up. Thank you for serving. Thank you to your families as well. Uh, congratulations to President Blair, Vice President Grder, Treasurer Owens, and Director Uli. Especially,
028I'd like to welcome the new andcoming superintendent. I know he's not quite on the job yet, and we got our eye on Dr. Roas for a little bit longer, but uh, we look forward to welcoming him into the Francis Hall community. Um, I paused before signing up tonight to give others an opportunity to speak as I know many are frustrated and feel unheard, perhaps even censored. That's not a good feeling, and I hope more voices will be represented at the podium and in communications with the new board. So, here's a few things from me in no particular order. First, I'd like to uh pay a special thanks to Mrs. Jaws who co coordinated a community forum uh not that long ago uh hosted uh I think at the the old building um over by Hollandbeck
029uh where we had uh uh discussion amongst the community members and there was a consensus there which is a rare thing these days uh that improved communication is going to be key to a wellperforming district and I just want to I want to emphasize that point tonight uh that that as we can communicate we can do better as a district we can have a better informed district and we can make better more clear decisions we can understand your decisions and where we fall into that mix. Um, I'd add something else based on the recent election results. We have an opportunity based on the way that uh several districts went to build a coalition with other districts to seek speak plainly in opposition to school vouchers and school choice pro proposals which have wrecked other state
030finances. possibly even we could put in place a resolution reaffirming the district's commitment to protecting public education and speaking out against vouchers and uh school choice schemes. Um I would welcome I want to echo Harry Harris's sentiments. I would welcome an update from Director Ponder on the resolution against racism and discrimination. I know that it's been quite some time. I didn't do the math Harry did and we need those math kids to do it. Um but uh I would welcome any updates there uh relative to the resolution and where we might be able to find a way forward. Um to on that note and just echoing what Harry had said, I think it's important that we could strengthen policies that accompany such a resolution and make sure that said policies are better enforced. I know
031other folks have plenty of examples of encountering incidents in the districts where nothing happened, nothing got done. That's not acceptable. Um I'll say a quick word. I know that there was an auto sunset policy uh that was uh put in place uh during the last board's tenure that needs to be undone. We shouldn't be playing whack-a-ole with all these policies coming in and out. We need boring board. Um I will echo the uh the comments from the librarian. I I I don't have enough time to get through all of this. I think a reinstatement of being able to election on school grounds is important and I would ask the board do it good job at listening. I look forward to the board putting board in future board meetings. Your time is up. [Applause] Our next
032speaker is Mark [Music] Kimman. Good evening everybody. Stephen, I know from the look on your face, you already know what I'm going to talk about. um with uh the conversations going on in the community and other communities around the country. Um, I'm here to let you guys know that as a district, we need to start planning on budgeting for cyber security services apart from the cyber security and infrastructure security administration as their budget has been slashed drastically. John Easterly, who was the director, has resigned and people are leaving and getting fired in that position. Um, so we we need as a district, we need a contingency because we've already suffered one incursion which puts us at risk for more incursions which can turn into full-blown breaches, data lost, data stolen. our children, their financial futures
033potentially ruined if we don't have something in place to safeguard the infrastructure should, god forbid, we lose the services from CISA, Mornet, and other uh taxpayer funded services. I I I uh I I I have to stop calling them free. I get yelled at by my cyber security uh advisor from CISA for saying it's free. No, they're taxfunded programs. So, um I am working with the technology department already on a volunteer basis. Unfortunately, I can't volunteer for everything, but I will do what I can. So, board of directors, if you have any questions for me, administration, I am readily at your disposal. Thank you. [Music] [Applause] And now we will have comments from FHEA. [Music] Good evening. My name is Francine Hill and I am the president of FAGA. We would like to welcome our
034new board members and we look forward to working collaboratively with all the board of education and the new administration. Our district benefits when all of us work together. Many of us are concerned about the changes with the Department of Education, but we can work together to keep our district moving in the right direction. It was nice to learn that the district is moving teachers, excuse me, Frances North to a location away from the toxic odor. We know the teachers have been struggling with being able to work. In fact, two of our teachers went to the doctor today and were told they can't return until Monday um because um the doctor said that they're um it's due to an unsafe work environment. So, um our teachers dedication and hard work make them wonderful educators that they
035are. And when things challenge their abilities to do this, it's hard on them. Hopefully, the new efforts to locate the source of this odor will result in a solution to the issue. FHEA is hopeful that the district will be able to finally bring back some form of the resolution that was removed. We will happily help with any team that will be willing to work on this. We also look forward to district committee starting up again soon. So, let's move forward to a bright future. Thank you. Thank you. And now somebody from FISPA. Thank you, President Blair. My name is Tracy Edelin and I've been an ASL interpreter with Francis Hall School District for 18 years. I serve as the vice president of interpreters and speaking on behalf of the members of GESPA. We would like
036to congratulate Vice President Grder and Director Oli on their victories in the of the April election. We look forward to getting to work with you both and we would like like we have with the previous board members to make Francis Hall School District an amazing place for our students and staff. We would also like to congratulate President Blair and Treasurer Owens on their new board positions. The odor issues that have plagued Francis How North since the district took possession of the building are a major concern. Our staff and students have been suffering negative health effects during this school year. Staff members have had to take numerous sick days due to horrible headaches, migraines, and other issues. Classes have needed to be moved throughout the building due to the horrific odor that the smell has. And
037the smell has also reached most every part of the building throughout this year. Recently, the learning commons was closed for multiple days. The district needs to be firm with SM Wilson. This problem needs to be resolved. Temporary fixes have not worked and are only harming those subjected to the issue. Building staff have been vigilant and done everything they can to assist on factf finding. Office staff run around the building with emails and phone calls about smells going out. The district is spending a lot of time and money on manpower to fix a problem not created by this district. A permanent solution is required and not in a distant future but now. District leadership needs to be open and honest with the staff of Francis Hell North and what is going on and what they are
038doing to fix it. They need to come into the building and talk with everyone face to face. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you. Like a motion to approve the consent agenda for April 17th, 2025 as presented. So moved. First from Jane, second from Mark. Discussion board. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed say no. Motion carries. For our first action item board, I have a motion to approve the purchases as presented. Second motion by Jane, second by Mark. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed say no. Motion carries. Next up board, I have a motion to approve exploration to let bids for the projects as presented. Jane as the first and Mark has a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed say no. Motion passes.
039Board, I have a motion to approve Burn and Jones through the utilization of the interlocal purchasing system, TIPS, job order contract number 2301041. Number 230201 01 23020102. That's all for you math people. in 2000602 to provide labor and materials to replace the rubberized track surface at Frances how high for a total cost of $51,000 as presented. You have a first second. Mark is the first. Second to Jane. Any discussion? [Music] Just have a question. Um, and maybe this is for [Music] um maybe this was for um [Music] Sir, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Good. Um, just quick question. What's the uh lifespan on that kind of you know tracks uh you typically get 25 on a rubberized track 25 to 30 years. Um, this track, as I noted in the recommendation, has
040been resp-sprayed uh three times. And I believe the original install was, I believe, 1998 is what I uh noted on that uh particular recommendation. And has the technology changed from the time that it was first installed till like the new is the new stuff better, I guess? Um, in some ways, yes. Um, but for the most part the standards pretty much stayed the same. There's different levels of uh track systems and I believe the one that uh we've recommended here is a 200. I think they go up to three and 400 systems, but those would be what you would see like at the University of Oregon uh that has a really high level uh track program. Uh they put that um more expensive track system. We reached the point where we've already sprayed it enough
041times like we can't spray anymore and so this is requiring a full fix. Right. Correct. So uh you you could potentially uh but you lose uh continuity and performance in that track system. You end up creating more hazards uh for for students and staff. Any other questions board? Is there like a warranty on the work where we would be guaranteed a certain amount of time that it would be? Yeah, I don't have it right in front of me, but I believe this track system comes with a 5year warranty. Is that about the normal warranty? Yeah. Um, yes, you can always buy more. Uh, but for for our purposes, I I think we felt that 5 years. Everybody's always trying to upsell. Uh but the basic warranty on a track system usually is about 5 years.
042You can buy an extended warranty on a track. Yes. Yes, you can. Guess you can buy one for everything. Any other questions? Would you suggest that? No, because um really on any track system what you end up having just like um turf, you know, if your base uh as you see in part of that proposal once we uh scrape off uh the rubberized track system, we're going to inspect the base and mill an overlay where the base is shifted and moved. And that's always an ongoing thing unless you do post-tension concrete uh which you're starting to see across the country uh where folks that are tearing out track systems uh are going back with post-tension concrete and that gets you about 30 years. Yeah. But you also pay significantly more. So to do a post-tension
043track you're looking in the 1 to 1.5 [Music] million. Any other questions? Thank you. All those in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed say no. Motion passes. Next we have a finance and operations report. Uh I'd like to have a motion to approve the finance operations report as presented. Second. Jane is first, Mark is second. Missed. Good evening. Just saying. Oh, just thank you. Good evening. So, this is normal information that we provide each month and uh all of the information including the general financial reports are posted online for anyone to be able to view. And as you will see, we do not have an actual budget amendment uh recommended. We post this each time though so that you can see uh you have a handy reference point of what our current status is
044on our fund balance trajectory and uh expectation for June 30. So as noted on this slide, we are anticipating still the 30.23% uh based on the current information that's been approved. We know that that will change because we know not every expenditure budget will be expended and uh revenue budgets can come in high or low depending on the particular revenue type that that document also includes uh transfer information or your information. And so then as we move forward with these next two, it gives you the summary for each month of the budget amendment for revenue and for expenditures. This slide shows you our operating fund trajectory and it it remains unchanged as well. And I provide for you that FY28 uh we would estimate a 14.6% fund balance uh which is slightly below the board
045policy of achieving the 15% fund balance but we know that that information will change as well too as uh new revenues and expenditure information is known. uh we had that new information from Governor Kho back in January that the state adequacy target would not be realized for us. However, I will tell you that there has been recent activity out of the uh Senate budget committee that they have added it into the budget. Again, um much more to come. There will be debates and discussions and we don't really know where that will land. uh at when I present to you on the budget, you'll be reminded that the legislative session ends in the middle of May and we'll know more then. This is our reminder on the bond fund financial information that's posted for you and
046it's small print, but as you can see, we currently have uh an amount just over $4 million 4,3,296 that has not been committed for any projects. As projects continue to be finalized, uh that number will also adjust and we'll be making recommendations for you in the future. Uh that would be for utilizing those funds for our self- insurance fund. We we're not recovering at this point and I'll be sharing more about the health fund during the budget presentation. But as you can see based on this information when you compare our ending balance at the close of March for last fiscal year to the current fiscal year we have um dropped down by 3,5000 and that includes the 4 million infusion that we've already made to the health fund. We know that our um current trajectory
047on that increase uh was reported to you last month at 23.5%. We did receive some updated information just this week. Uh it's dropped slightly uh but still in the 20s. So we will uh continue to unpack that and once we're able to get our employee insurance committee launched then we'll have more conversations. And that new information was effective through what exact date? Uh it would be through the March data. Okay. March. Yeah, I believe I'll I'll double check that but I believe that's um Okay. So this is just a summary of some of the work that's taking place. So again, as you know, we had the 23.5. Um there wasn't a great deal of new information to share. We do have one particular claim that's very um expensive against the plan and it's getting worked
048through and discounted and all of that. And so there could be a major fluctuation. We're also running behind on receiving some of those rebates that we typically get and uh they will significantly impact the number two. So I'm still hopeful that we'll see that uh drop more, but that's where we are at this time. So as you know, you've approved the moving forward of the facility master plan. So that work is underway and the de demographer study work is underway will provide us data to inform future uh conversations and recommendations and decisions. uh director of finance Julie Walsh and I are working uh fast and furiously on the budget development piece so that we can provide you with detailed information on that and uh that debt defeasence will be coming your way for a vote
049in the March um or excuse me May 15th meeting. So scheduled for May our budget review will take us to general and teacher funds. It would be very high level just to get your mind uh in um an understanding of what goes on in those funds and uh we'll cover that uh in greater detail on the details coming up at the June meeting in terms of revenues and expenditure recommendations. So that concludes the finance and operations presentation. Are there any questions? Hi. So, I have a question. Yes. Um, in your, um, speech, you mentioned that we have $4 million in funds. So, hasn't that any of that been put to improving the odor, the so-called hazardous odor at Francis Hall North? Well, I will tell you that uh we have a number of contracts underway
050uh with our existing provider in terms of addressing that. The district is also pursuing other uh needs and doing our own uh investigations and more of that will be provided in a presentation later in the meeting that will help you better understand that. But uh whatever the fund balance is, we if we bring a contract to the board for approval that exceeds a certain threshold, then they would approve it during this meeting. And so at this point in time, the work that's been done has come in under that threshold, but a great deal of activity has taken place to attempt to solve that situation. Good question. How long do you anticipate the study taking the facility master plan? Sorry, the demographic study. That's a great question and I don't have an answer for you, but
051I'll get one. Sorry, I guess. No, it's okay. I I need to get up to speed on that and check in. So, we just launched that about two weeks ago and I'll get an update for you. The dental self- insurance fund. Yes. $17 million. What can you just briefly explain what the major um what contributed to that mostly? Uh so let me just oh whoops I went too far. Okay so interestingly enough in Francis how uh we do keep dental and medical separate and so we're able to report on on it separately. uh a lot of districts combine those together to where it's not so noticeable, but uh if you're referring to the uh the change in the balance, it's very minimal. Uh 17,441, it remains fairly constant and it just isolates out the premiums
052for dental and then the usage, the expenditures. So which number is it that you are I was look looking at the 17 those 17,000 because for the dental fund it seemed like it was I know it's only 3%. Yes. Yes. The total but it looked odd. It it it remains very steady. It's easy to project and predict and there typically aren't any big surprises with it as compared to the medical fund. Any other questions? Right. All those in favor say I. Any opposed say no. Motion passes. Next, we have a motion to approve the technology equipment purchase presented and authorize the execution and delivery of a lease purchase agreement with Clayton Holdings LLC Commercial Commerce Bank as Leser for the acquisition, purchase, financing, and leasing of certain technology equipment authorizing the execution and delivery of
053other documents required in connection therewith and authorizing all other actions related to the lease purchase financing contemplated by this resolution. Is there a first? I'll second. I'll do Jane is first. Amy has second. Yes. Okay. There's no presentation. There's no presentation. Uh you'll recall that uh Scott Gallowan provided an update regarding all things technology and he's right here ready to join me at the podium. This is our standard process uh that is utilized for financing our technology and it's a standard process that districts throughout the state use. Um I will apologize to you for the motion. Uh you can tell whenever you have many many lines to read that we have definitely had legal eyes on all things and so that's a that's a comfort for you. But uh Scott and also Julie uh Walsh,
054our director of finance, worked uh collaboratively to uh bring this recommendation. Scott of course navigated all things technology and the challenges with the devices and uh as you're aware, we were meeting some tariff uh implications that uh caused us to need to bring this forward to you very quickly. So if you have any questions, I'm sure Scott would be the one to answer those. The financing piece of it is a very simple process and u I've worked with Clayton Holdings or Commerce Bank in the past on these and they are excellent at the work that they do to help us make sure that we meet all the requirements with that. Just curious, Scott. Okay. So the vendor number three is the one you're recommending and at the top you say it's bar million211 but you
055want approval for the lowest bid best bid proposal and the lowest was a million84. The key word there is lowest best bid. We had actually submitted an RFP for a specific device which was an Acer Chromebook. Um, and the lowest bid was not an Acer Chromebook. And the uh the Chromebook that it was for is a model that I've used in other districts, but uh in this case, it was not as good as the device that we saw. As you'll recall from my February presentation, we have to buy the device that's going to make sense for us 5 years from now when that device will still be out there in the field. And so, one of the things that we were looking to do was to get the touchscreen. The other thing that we were
056looking to do was to get um a higher processing power. Uh but this particular device has some additional features that were just not present in the other ones. So this is the lowest best bit recommendation. I I have uh just a question or clarification I could help uh you could use your help with. So last month, I believe it was when we went through the technology report and we listed out we have a lot of Chromebooks, right? Or like more than one to one as far as like the actual technology goes. Help me understand and help uh the community understand why we're moving to this where we're putting this lease out on a whole new set of Chromebooks. Like what's happening to the old ones? Are we one to one? And I know you talked
057a lot about that, but just as a refresher for everybody, for the audience, that'll be in the February board meeting, which of course is online if you if you'd like to go back and see my presentation on that. But uh in a nutshell, um we are purchasing a a larger quantity because again, we are moving to a touchscreen. We are also moving uh to one that has eight 8 gig instead of 4 gig in terms of processing power. So, uh, in order to have this asset, um, at the best place that we need to have this asset, again, the touchscreen is going to be better suited for those that are more inclined to to tactile interfaces. So, in order to have that where it is best positioned, we're purchasing a larger quantity than we're retiring.
058And the intention behind that is to take what is now a 5-year cycle and to purchase Chromebooks in four of those years instead of five. And we talked in the March uh board meeting about our capital plan. And part of that is the reason why we're doing this because in that middle year we purchased teacher devices and we're trying to level out our capital plan. So So basically think of Chromebook years as years 1, 2, 4, and five and our teacher device year as being year three. So that's why it looks a little different. So what happens with all of the old Chromebooks that we had? I I know there were PTOs have purchased a number of these. So it feels like it's disjointed a little bit maybe from what one schools has versus the
059other school and and it currently is and this is this is our first phase in the move towards more continuity among the district. Um but as part of that first phase um the older Chromebooks that are out in present circulation are going to be retired and recycled. Thank you. No problem. I wanted to bring up there was an emergency authorization for purchase that is correct and that is something that's within policy. The idea is if a big like a chiller goes out we don't have to assemble to authorize a purchase of the chiller. It can be purchased and then used um to immediately improve the situation. Right. So we have this in place and it was utilized recently. Can you u share like who noticed what was happening because I think everybody would like to
060hear uh just how much money was saved because of uh somebody's forethought. I'll have to give you the uh exact amount later because I do not have that exact calculation. But um after we collected our bids and prepared for the for the board meeting, uh after we prepared for it, we received a call from our vendor saying that those bids would no longer be valid. And we were kind of in a scramble. They did suggest at that time that we go ahead and see if we can get an authorization outside of the normal uh procedures and in speaking with the superintendent we were able to do all that they asked us to do. Um, I haven't shared it widely, but they did tell us that was not going to be enough. And, uh, so we
061fought and we requested that they honor the agreement that was put before us cuz we've we've run through all the hoops. And, um, as of right now, uh, we are still being that price that has been quoted and that you have approved uh, potentially is going to be honored for us. So, and that was definitely some savings. it is upward of a half million dollars or just over um because we were facing at that time 145% tariff um given these devices were going to come in China with the $1.2 $2 million purchase. Yeah. And just for everybody to catch on to that, basically our financial leadership of the district was paying close attention and because of your faithfulness in that moment, you saved the district a considerable amount of money for this purchase. And I
062just whenever that kind of stuff happens, I think it's helpful for us to highlight it and um celebrate it. So for everybody here, just want to say thank you to um everyone who was involved in that decision that saved the district a lot of money um because you are thinking and watching very closely. So thank you so much. Thank you. Any other comments? Okay. So for the technology lease purchase and financing, uh all those in favor say I. Any opposed say no. Motion passes. Now for the 2627 calendar approval. Like to have a motion to approve the 2026 2027 calendar as presented. We have Amy as first, J uh Jane as second. There's no presentation. Um any question? May I just share a few things of information for you? We just wanted to take a
063minute to thank the stakeholders who provided input after our March meeting in the survey. We received 91 responses and a large majority supported the changes to ensure finals would be completed before winter break. There are no changes made to the calendar being presented to you tonight from our March meeting in regards to the 2627 calendar. [Music] Any questions board? [Music] All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed say no. Motion passes. And now for a motion to approve the 2025 20226 calendar revision as presented. Jane first and second is Mark. Any questions? Board. President Blair. I just want to share with you that we presented a revised 2526 calendar that matched 2627 for your consideration. Um after much stakeholder input and thought um there is a little difference in the calendar that you see
064this evening. So spring break was returned to the original date uh that had been previously approved and that keeps us in line with St. Charles County School Districts and that really was because of our our stakeholder input and so I appreciate everyone taking some time to share that. We are still recommending that the start date for staff and students be moved uh just so that we can ensure we have as many student contact days in that first semester to allow for winter uh for finals to be completed before winter break. And we will work very closely with um any of our teachers that that might cause some hardship. So, happy to answer any questions if you want. I know that we all got an email stating that the two days uh were a problem for
065the start at the start of school because they had already made um vacation plans. What can be done? I mean, you said you'd work with them, but what will happen? Sure. We can offer some options like uh flex time. The day and a half that would be required of teachers on August 7th and 8th is work time. So whether that is coming in sooner, maybe that's coming in on the afternoons of the PD days that are scheduled in August, August 18th and September 19th, completing that work time then. Um maybe working uh longer hours that other week to adjust for that time. But we can absolutely work with teachers if they can't come in on that day and a half of August 7th 8th and offer some flexible time for them to to come in
066and work in their classroom or get I would hate to have them see them have to take vacation day extra vacation time or anything like that. So okay that's great. Yeah. I just had a question too. I know we talked about this a little bit last month with the difference in the imbalance between semester 1 and semester 2 and from a curriculum standpoint the teachers. Um, is there any discussion that you were able to share so far about ideas for how to balance that from a curriculum standpoint, especially for those semester classes? And yeah, the curriculum team has had some high level conversations. They know that it's a need. We haven't had the conversations yet. We're waiting to see if the calendar is approved. And so, we'll give the team the green light to start
067problem solving those courses and what adjustments we need to make. So, I don't have an answer for you today of what will happen, but we recognize that it needs to happen and the team is ready to have the conversations once approved. Okay, that's great. Do we, this is just a question that I just really don't know. So, I'm just curious. Is there um with finals because I know like the finals thing really throws things off. Is there a possibility like do we have to have finals at semester each semester or is that something that you could do like end of year assessment versus except for semester courses, you know, for any other courses where that wouldn't that balance wouldn't throw things off so much? Are you asking instead of having semesters, instead of having finals
068at the end of each semester, if we could just have one cumulative final at the end of the one end of year seme or one? Yeah. End of your assessment. Is that a possibility? We could do anything. We might need to adjust some policies. I'd have to go back and look at the exact language in the policy. It actually was an idea that was recommended during our monthly meeting with the FHA reps came from one of the high school teachers. Um, and we all kind of had an aha moment that that's a great idea to explore. Um, to Dr. Bookman's point, just making sure we're in line with policy though. So now that those decisions can be made, it's something we can look at in the future. Okay. Thanks. Appreciate it. Any other comments? All
069right. All those in favor say I. Any opposed say no. Motion passes. I would like to have a motion to approve the selection of the employee insurance committee members as presented. Salute. Jane, Mark, any questions to the board? Yeah. Curious about some of the community members that were chosen. Um, how how did this just curious how did how did this get processed? Who picked the community members or whatever? Just curious. Is that you, Stephen? President. Yes, absolutely. So, um, looking first at the employee insurance committee, we followed the rules of the bylaws and the amount of staff who was interested matched perfectly with the amount of staff that we needed. Same thing with retiree, FHA, FISA, teams. Um, when it came to community, um, there were four people who had requested or offered their time
070and services to be part of this committee. Uh, we had, uh, two spots. So those two members were drawn out uh randomly and it was drawn in a unofficial ceremony with Jane and uh who else was present? Michelle. Jane and Michelle. Michelle grabbed Andrew uh Guthrie and Cliff Steve to be part of that. Uh because this is only through the end of June, the thought is that this would be a good start, but it might be helpful to go through the bylaws a little more uh more uh I guess inspection and detail as we prepare for the next year. Well, President Blair, that sounds very reasonable. I'm glad to hear that because um in one of the people that uh volunteered actually has policy, the one from the policy committee actually has policy experience. So,
071I thought, you know, I was just hoping that maybe that person, but you're right. It's only till the end of June. So, hopefully you know who you are. Please apply again because we could use that expertise. I just want to affirm that's absolutely true. And so, basically, we have four people who all have their own credentials. And how do you know without taking the time to interview them and ask them questions, realizing that that could also be a good part of the process? Um, in this case, there were four amazing people and that was a reasonable way to do it. Yeah, I appreciate that. any other comments regarding the employee insurance committee list. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. Any opposed say no. Motion passes. Now a motion to approve the selection of
072the policy committee with the members presented. So Jane with first second with Mark any questions board like to share the update is that in the same way um the amount of people that the bylaw is required for staff the numbers were almost a perfect match in terms of how many people offer their services and how many people uh and slots were available fa Facebook teamsters there were 11 members members of the community who had offered uh their time to be part of this. Um but we also drew those names randomly um as well with Jane and Michelle as well. So u in the same way there were 11 people who may have all been fantastic fits with this position but without doing fuller interviews felt like this was the best way of doing it in
073the shortness of time. When is the team going to be filled? Do you know? That's what I was going to ask. We reached out to them to get a name and we're just waiting to hear back. We had it for one committee and not for the other. They're not listed. Um given that the association gets to appoint their person, it wasn't necessary for the board to have that name to approve it tonight. Any other questions about the policy committee? Okay. All those in favor say I. Any opposed to say no. Motion passes. And now uh item J, motion to wave the sunshine fee as presented. Jane and Amy second. Any discussion? How many sunshine requests do we get in a regular month? Is there a rolling average or anything? anywhere from um 1 to 15.
074But the amount of detail of a sunshine request is what's significant. Some are real quick to answer, others are hours of um and then that's not including the subpoenas that the district receives. So, it's all hands on deck most which is kind of my concern. We we've kind of opened up the door. So, how do we now all of a sudden start selecting who gets a waiver and who doesn't? It's going to, in my opinion, it's going to start looking like we're playing favorites for granting one and not 15. So, in my opinion, we either have a sunshine fee waiver or we don't. So I think you have to sometimes give some allowances for certain things. But can you tell me a little bit more about this this waiver? What is the situation? Why would
075this person sunshine this information? Does anybody know? There's always a motivation behind it. So anybody know? I can speak a little bit to that. Um, so this is a request being made by a parent um for emails that mention or pertain um to the parent, their spouse, or the student. And the invoice is charging um for review of over 4,000 emails that were captured in this parents request of dates and request of what they wanted pulled. Have you come back and ask if that is the scope of what they really want? You know, sometimes they're awarded these waiver or these requests are awarded that they want, you know, they only want something this big, but the way it comes across is they they want something this big. There's been multiple back communications back and forth
076and this is um what they have requested and we have to review every email. Some email could be related as part of their educational record. Some could be other students that have been captured in that email. And so that entire portfolio needs to be reviewed each indiv excuse me each individual email to ensure that it's a potentially responsive record. The items have to be redacted and that's one person doing that manually. Um so 4,000 emails is a significant amount. [Music] Any other comments? I want to be clear. This is a motion. Um, all those in favor of waving the sunshine fee. Correct. This is all those in favor of waving the sunshine fee say I. Any opposed say no. No. No. Motion fables. Item K, sunshine fee waiver request. Motion to wave the sunshine fee
077as presented. First, Mark and second is Jane. Any discussion? Again, is there a a backstory to why this was this sunshine request is for academic data for a reading program intervention and progress monitoring that's done across the district. Um so this what they're asking for is individual um outcomes not pertaining to their particular student but all students and so it has to be reviewed has to be redacted for PII. um emails. I don't know what the um data amount is, but this one is less um related specifically to emails, but also to the reports that are being requested related to the student chief of data. Um and the law allows us that we charge the hourly rate of the um lowest per hour person in the district that can do that search and provide the
078information. In this situation, it is ultimately our director of assessment who understands those assessments, how the data is reported in the system, has the expertise to pull the specific reports um and then to make sure that individually identifying student information is not in those reports. And so that's why this one has the cost that it does. We do um just for the public's knowledge when we provide this invoice as an estimate of hours. If we were to do the work and it took half the hours, then we would reimburse the difference. Um, I would say that historically we underestimate the hours that it takes to do a lot of this work though. I s clarity. All those in favor of waving the sunshine fee say I. Any opposed say no. No. No. Motion fails. Next
079item is curriculum. We have a curriculum first reading. It will be brought back at the May 15th meeting for a second reading and a vote. Uh is there any discussions on the list of curriculum listed? I have a quick question. This is um will this curriculum be what we just adopted the new HMH curriculum? This is the curriculum we would use with the new resource. Correct. So you approved the resource. Um this is the curriculum correct. [Music] Okay. And this will be used in conjunction with STAR as an assessment tool. All right. Anything else? All right. Moving along. Um we have FHN building update and I believe SM Wilson is here. to invite Essen Wilson to come to the podium. Board members, as you are aware, we have continued to have an ongoing over issue
080at Francis Hall North since an update was provided to you during the December business meeting. Um, we share the concern that you've heard tonight and I know that you've heard via email and other communication um that our teachers and our staff have that the odor continues um and that it's negatively impacting anyone at the building. Um there has been a lot of work and investigation over the last few months. Yet unfortunately it has not resolved the issue. Um we do want to be transparent about the work that's taken place, the work that is planned moving forward um in what's happening ultimately to try and identify a resolution. So we have Mr. Matt Frank with us tonight, project director from SM Wilson, as well as our dire executive director of facilities and operations, Mr. Salum Stutzer
081to talk through the work that has taken place since you last had an update and the work that's planned as next steps. Hi, good evening. Uh it's nice to see everyone again. We saw you in December and um it's a pleasure to meet the new board members as well. Um I I do wish it was a more sunny report today. Uh but we are going to talk about some difficult things. Um you know I we I'd like to start by saying that we share your frustration with the odor problem. Um you know the the building was constructed. We put our heart and souls into it along with hundreds of workers on site and a lot of other people. And truly the last thing that we want is a a nagging problem that is causing disruption.
082So, um, tonight my plan is to give you an update on the work that's taking place behind the scenes and in the open, answer any questions that you may have, and also provide an update on what we're doing and what the future plans are to uh, resolve this as soon as possible for everyone. Um, at any point, please stop me uh, if you have a question that comes up. So the first item uh just starting in December, I was here and uh gave an update and we were really cautiously hopeful that the problem was solved in December. Um we found a major clog in an exterior sewer main. It was hydro flush. The clog was cleared. The smell dissipated and we were you know feeling okay that that was the problem. It was uh something
083that was identified fixed and it did seem to alleviate the problem for some time. Um, right after we cleared that clog, we went ahead and camered all the exterior sewer mains just to see if there were any issues, make sure that there wasn't an issue in that sewer main that that may cause a future clog. All that camera work uh showed that everything was draining properly, slope correctly, um, all those things. So, Christmas break happened. students came back after Christmas break and the odor uh did start to creep its way back in in December and it it persists to today. In February, uh we did some investigations and um and I would like to point out too that during this time we have a full-time superintendent on site. Anytime that uh Cara or Mr. Fletcher
084report a smell, we know about it. our superintendent comes in the building, investigates the area, collects data, tries to figure out a source, etc. Um, so so we are on site and uh we're there usually within a matter of minutes if a smell's reported to try to identify the source. Um, in February though, we did find through investigation, we found a floor drain in the mechanical room that was missing a trap. Um, so we repaired that, installed the trap. Um, certainly a contributor. It wasn't a main uh solution, but it was a minor issue that we identified and repaired. In March, we did camera the underground sewer mains within the building. So, in December, we came all the exterior sewer remains. In um March, we came the interior sewer remains. Now, the exterior is an
0858 inch line. The interior typically 4 inch. They're a lot smaller. there's a lot more of them, so less likely for it to cause a systemic problem. But through the effort of being thorough, we can't remember those lines. The results all came back that they were um all training properly, not clogged, uh no identifiable issues. And also that in March, we hired a third party engineering group. Case engineering was hired to help uh solve the problem. They are a different engineer than designed the building. Uh- which is good and that's why we hired them. They're doing a peer review of the design drawings to make sure for one there aren't any design issues with the building. Secondly, they're also um helping to assist in identifying testing uh that can be done. They're monitoring testing and
086they're being a thought partner as we work through to solve this problem. Um in April the engineer group the third party case engineering has been doing their uh peerreview design now the the drawings there are 600 pages of drawings it takes a long time it's a big building um and they're being thorough so they are doing that work and then tomorrow they're coming on site the district's closed so it's a perfect time to get in uh really open up the ceilings and do a lot of investigation they're sending four engineers on site we also have uh the commissioning an engineer will be there. We've got four plumbers. Uh several of our own general superintendent and others will be on site for just the most thorough investigation that we could come up with basically things that
087we've done to date. Uh some of these you know, some of these you may not. Um so we did, you know, clear the the clog in the west sea. Uh we inspected all the sewer lines interior exterior of the building. They're all flowing. Um there don't appear to be any issues. We smoke tested the vent system uh on three occasions. We smoke tested the system. And what that means for those of you that are unfamiliar, you have your underground sewer remains where the water flows out of. Those need to be vented. Kind of like a milk jug. If you try to pour milk jug out, it grips. But if you poke a hole in the back, it pours out freely. A plumbing system needs vents. It's kind of like the hole in the back of
088the milk jug. So what we did is we uh applied smoke to those vent systems uh to ensure that there's no breaks inside the building that could be causing a smell issue. Um there was no smoke. They appeared to be uh all intact. And during construction, the vent system was also water tested by Aberger who installed them, which means you have to fill the vent system with water. It sits for 24 hours. The city of St. Peters comes out and monitors that the water level didn't drop and then it passes inspection to make sure that there's no breaks in the system. So that was all done. Um we did do the floor drain repair in the mechanical room. Uh we did find a uh small chip out of a uh plumbing vent in a nurse
089station. It was report of a smell and it was in a piece of case work. It had been chipped. Uh so we repaired that. And then uh in the auditorium restroom above the ceiling, there was a uh a section of vent piping open. We were able to find that and and fix that as well. Uh last year we cleaned out the grease interceptor. Uh that also seemed to help the problem for a matter of days. Um and then came back, we removed 1,000 gallons from the grease interceptor. Um the plumbing vents on the roof were have been and maybe continue to be a possible source. Um, a code requires that when you sube the vent out of the roof, it has to be a certain distance away from an outside air intake on a air
090handler that's on the roof. So, we measured all those vents, uh, ran it by the engineer. They confirmed that they are all code compliant. Um, no issues there. Sometimes what can happen is the smell comes out of the plumbing vent and can get sucked into the rooftop unit, air handler. We wanted to make sure they were per code and they were. Um, we've also done visual inspection of the plumbing systems. Both our staff and the plumber has been out um, literally putting their own eyes on the plumbing system, making sure things are rotted correctly and no breaks that are visible. So, the reason you might ask, and I'm sure a lot of you thought, why is it taking so long? Uh, you know, what's what's hold up here? It's difficult. Um, you know, one of
091the problems is the building's 400,000 square ft. There's 23 air handler systems on the rooftop unit. They're complex systems as well. There's literally miles of plumbing piping. Um, that's not exaggeration. I mean, it's a lot of plumbing in in the building. Um, the smell is typically on the west side of the building. There really hasn't been experienced on the east side. um mainly in the center to the west side of the building tends to be where it presents itself. The other thing that makes it difficult is we can't reproduce it. Um there's nothing that anyone can do to create the odor. If you in your home, for example, if you had an open sewer pipe, you'd smell it and the closer you got, it would get stronger and you'd be able to fix it. This
092is difficult because the smell appears sometimes for a matter of minutes and disappears and may not appear for days or a week and then appears in a different area of the building. Um, often times I've personally been on site where a smell was reported and from the time the report happened and I walked from the main office to the location of the smell, it was gone that quickly. Um, so it makes it Mr. Can I interrupt one minute? So it's to clarify because I think this is important for our staff. Nobody is saying that the smell doesn't exist or that it's not there. We most of us that have visited the building during these times have smelled it. It's just the idea that it's it's a smell in, you know, an air system. So it
093is intermittent. It comes and it goes. So I I just want to be clear. I think some people have felt like we're saying they're lying. We're making it up. And that's never been the case. We acknowledge that there absolutely is an odor that has existed. That's absolutely true. Thanks for clarifying that. Um yeah, we we do not deny that there's an issue that needs to be resolved at all. Um I'm more just trying to share the difficulty in in solving it. Um we also have outside influences which you you think okay the odor's inside the building. What does the exterior of the building have anything to do with it? Well, we have these 23 air handlers on the roof. Um they have outside air dampers. So part of that is efficiency. When it's cool out,
094the system doesn't have to fire up your chillers. It use a ton of energy and it can draw the air in from the outdoor and cool the interior of the building and that that's something you want. You want that. Um but what can happen is it draws in if there's some a smell outside it can draw it in through the air handler. Um we we do have a video that illustrates what it can what can happen. I guess just to help um you don't mind. Oh yeah. Thanks. So this is a case we're intentionally creating smoke or smoke in the vent system. And what you see on the air handler system is an exterior louver. Um those louvers, some of them draw air in, some relieve air out. But you can see how the wind
095blows. Now imagine the smoke is smell and as the wind shifts it can blow it to the rooftop area in their system and as the wind moves the other way it can move it away from it. If it if odor looked like smoke, it could be easier to find, but it's clear. You can't see it. Um, and when you're outdoor and the wind's blowing, it's hard to smell it, truthfully. However, it can, uh, find its way into an air handler system. So, um, now we have 23 of those. There's, uh, I don't know how many vents on the roof, but there's a number. Um, so just to help understand the complexity and maybe share why it's taken a little bit to get us out. Go ahead. Move on to the next. Ah, yeah. Um, okay.
096So, next steps. Um, so I've talked about what we've done. Here's what we're doing as well. Um, we have case engineering. They're reviewing the design drawings. They're they're through it, but there is a lot to absorb. Um, you know, we have we have bin models, asbuilt drawings, actual drawings, photographs, submitts, reports, all that stuff. They're digging through it. Um, just check the uh the design of the building. Um, additional smoke testing. So, we are smoke testing again tomorrow. Um the reason that we're doing that is uh we want case engineering to observe it. We smoke tested it. Uh last time we had several people there. There was nothing shown. Tomorrow uh we're turning off the rooftop units. Case engineering is going to be on site. They're going to observe the test. Um also direct any
097areas that they feel like may need to be tested that we may have not thought of. Um so it's just uh as thorough as you can be. The vent pressure monitoring. So, we talked a little bit about the uh plumbing vents on the roof. Use the milk jug illustration. When the water's coming out of the milk jug, it's pulling air into the milk jug. And that's the way a vent should work on the roof is when you flush a toilet or run a sink, the water should pull it on the drain and it should draw air in through the roof. And that's typically how they should work. Um the the vent may be neutral. Maybe there's not air coming in or out, but when you run water, it should go in. Uh we do believe
098that some of the vents on the roof are pushing air out of them, which is smelly air because it's a sewer system. Um so that's one of the things that we're looking into is why would that be? Um so we're going to test the vents on the roof with a monometer. And what a monometer does is it measures pressure differential. So you put one side of it in the vent, the other side in the atmosphere. And if it's trying to draw air in, that tells you it's functioning correctly. If it's trying to push air out, that tells you that there's potentially a problem there. Um, so that's going to give us some good data to try to help find a solution. But we're also going to target uh drain check drain checks and uh trap
099seals. Basically, floor drains. You know, we have floor drains in our house. If it dries up, you can get some smell out of it. Um, we're going to check those, make sure that they have guards on them, that they're full of water, that they have traps. We have done that. Uh, to date, we're going to make sure that it's very thorough. Uh, it's kind of one of those things you you you check the big things and when they don't work, then you go back in a finer granular level of detail. And that's somewhat what we're doing with these uh drain tracks and traps seal. Um, we also have uh on-site third party inspection of the plumbing and HVC system. So case engineering is going to be there, the installing plumber is going to be there
100and a third party plumber is going to be there as well to visually verify the uh plumbing system along with the smoke tests etc. And then we have our commissioning agent who is uh investigating the HVAC systems just to help us again with the thought process and the testing to see if they're functioning correctly. Are they drawing in more than they should? Is there a negative condition? something like that that could be causing it. Um, and then we are also doing additional camera inspections. We've came the sewer lines. We're also done some cameraing on the vent lines. We're going to camera those more thoroughly uh to see if there's an issue. Now, we've already smoke and water tested them, but we want to make sure that we're not having restrictions in the vent piping or
101u other minor things that maybe could be causing an issue. Um lastly, I just want to reassure everyone that we are committed. Um we're not giving up on this and in fact we're amping up our resources to get this resolved. Um we're fully fully vested to work hard till the end. Uh we completely understand the nuisance um of what you're experiencing as a district and we truly don't want that. We want to resolve it. It's been a complicated issue. Um, but we are not giving up. And also, uh, moving forward, I think sometimes it's easy to not understand what we're doing be because, uh, you know, we're just working you, you're busy, we're busy, things like that. So, we're going to start providing weekly updates on what we're doing. Um that way everybody understands here
102here's what we did that week and here's what we find or didn't find and here's what that is helping us learn to take as the next step to help resolve this issue. Um so that that's my update for this evening. Um I'm happy to answer any questions. I'm sure you may have some. Any questions board? Yeah, I have a couple. Um when you do these weekly updates, how are you going to communicate those and to whom are you going to communicate them? Well, I my plan would be to send them to Slim and then allow Sim to distribute them to it'll be our normal communication uh that we communicate with you in terms of getting that to the superintendent and superintendent will provide those updates. Can I make an update we provide both to the
103board of education as well as to the Frank North staff so that they're aware as well. I I also might suggest that you go back because we we've all gotten emails and you can you shake your head. Um we've all gotten emails and and there seems to be a lack of communication on the part of the staff that's suffering from the the odors and you know that's I know you're doing everything you can but it's not fair to the teachers. And furthermore, um, they have reported to us that there's a mood of condescension, that for whatever reason, they're made to feel that, not everybody, but that some of the emails that I've gotten, they're made to feel that they're out of their minds, the smell isn't really there, you know, things like that. So, my
104my advice is maybe a little bit of a PR campaign, like you said, you're going to update, which I was going to recommend, but the other thing is to um warn your staff about being very, very sensitive with the teachers because I can imagine that it's not much fun to work in under those circumstances. And please make sure all of your, you know, whoever steps foot in that school does that. And thank you, Salum, for um offering to, you know, distribute the information. But I just wonder is this a job for Jen Joles. Mhm. You might help him write or something, you know. So just make sure I'm wondering if the families need to get a a report every week. This that has to do probably a good idea. Yeah. They know you're doing something.
105Yeah, exactly. I'm wonder have you uh I I don't know if this is possible or if it's kosher. I mean, would you bring in the EPA or OSHA or anything like that? [Music] Um, I it's certainly something that could be considered. I suppose I um I think that would be a bigger discussion potentially, but uh we I think it's gone on long enough that um there needs we have to have some other things to resort to. What I'm concerned about is um I've worked, you know, on smokefree Missouri before, you know, cigarette smoking. And when we say that it's just in one part of the building, then I recall, you know, if there's cigarette smoke in any part of a building, it's everywhere. So, I'm thinking people are probably being exposed to this, but they're
106not aware of it because it be could be milder in other parts of the building. And what is the cumulative effect on this? I'm very worried that it's going to cause harm to people for maybe their lifetimes. And I think we have to get this done now. I'm worried about summer school. I don't think we should have summer school in a building that's not safe. I I think we need another contingency plan uh for summer school that this isn't fixed by summer school. And then how do we go into school next year if it's still not fixed? Continually exposing people to this. It's it's not it's not moral. I I know it's not healthy, but it's also not moral. And I've I've taught in buildings that were not healthy. And we had a lot of
107sick teachers that didn't have very long lives because their building wasn't safe. So this is not just, oh, it's annoying. We don't know what the cumulative effect is on people that are in this day after day and we have to be thinking that way. Not that oh it's just an annoying smell because we don't know what it's doing to people. I appreciate those thoughts. Um actually so one thing uh going forward would be uh for the May meeting if you can bring a contingency plan on uh for summer school if that's a possibility. The other thing is you identified that tomorrow will be the most thorough investigation. So basically you're you're throwing all your resources at it. Anything that you have an idea that might work you're using that tomorrow right? Yes. Yeah. And so
108I would say if that doesn't produce the information that you need, that might be a sign of having to have somebody else involved in the process afterwards because if you're throwing everything you can think of and that still doesn't solve the issue, we may need to go a different direction and have some people who are new investigating this. And so, so for uh Superintendent Rumpus, the idea if this doesn't work out tomorrow and they've exhausted all their ideas, um is it possible for you to also come up with other ideas at the next board meeting for us to discuss how to handle this? I think that's too long. Yeah, I think that's a home. I think we need information a lot sooner because our teachers would be going back into that building on Tuesday or
109Monday. So, and we want to be aware. Do we know what gas is happening in there? Like, is that methane that's flammable and toxic? Can you speak to the tests that were previously done around the air quality? Yeah. So, um, typically sewer gas is hydrogen sulfide is the the gas that would be present in sewer gas. Um I can't not being a medical prof person or a chemical engineer I can't speak to um hydrogen sulfide specifically other than that is typically what's present in sewer gas. Now we um when there's been smells reported uh there's a thing called the four gas monitor and that tests hydrogen sulfide amongst other gases. Um those monitors has been have been used when smells are reported and they have not picked up any hydrogen sulfide. Um so today it's
110been uh tested with handheld monitors um to check those areas. There was also a and Mr. Stutzer can speak to there's also a um and these were done previously so we've talked about initiating them more but even beyond the handheld there was an air collection study air test that was done at 1.2. Yes, there was a third uh third party that came in and utilized uh their testing equipment. Um they were around that day for approximately six six hours or so. Because of the intermittency, we were trying to uh when there was an event, we were trying to capture the air quality in those spaces and they were successful in capturing several samples. They took those back to the lab. They tested them. They were negative and we'd be happy to provide those uh reports
111to the board should the board request those. Is there an option to put monitors in there given that it's intermittent to be able to just monitor and track to see like hey this set off this many times in this many locations just to be able to get a good gauge of what's happening when is that an option? Yeah, we'll we'll certainly take that note. Uh and just given the intermittent way that it's happening, you know, it's hard to catch it while it's while it's there, but that way at least if there's a way to track that, monitor it. Yeah. Like monitor consistently. Yeah. Just on an ongoing stage. Certainly understand. We will explore that. Well, you mentioned hiring third party consultants, right, to look at those. I'm sure they have gas sniffers themselves that they
112used. If they could leave those and there's a way to electronically monitor them so you could record it, I think that would be helpful. So, there are systems like that exist. I think all of us just feel like at some point there needs to be some accountability for the health, our students and staff in the building. This has been I know you guys had said I believe November initially, but I believe there emails back to July and August when the building was first open. So, Yeah, it's it it's a big issue. [Applause] Uh Dr. Rumpus, I was wondering if you have a number of how many teachers and students have become ill this year from this. We are aware of three staff members who have um visited the doctor related to it. Um and then
113one student prior to this week and then one student this week. Now, when I say that, there may be more. Those are the ones that we know officially that reported to us and went through um the workers comp process, but um we acknowledge that there could be others that we're just not aware of. Well, maybe we could, you know, send out to the staff how many of you have felt ill this year, something from something like this gas smell. Be happy to capture that information for you. Just Yeah, I'm worried about it. Are there log files with the reports? is how frequently is there a log file that's the building and the staff in the building have access to a Google sheet where they're capturing um I think every day whenever it's reported what area
114it's reported and that exists. Okay. Has there been analysis of this for any patterns? I think that's what Mr. Frank was trying to explain is that it's it's consistently inconsistent. You know it is in different parts of the building. it was in that um even in the past two weeks the 1400 hallway at one point then in the learning commons area then it's more in the cafeteria space and then it's back in the hallway and so um I I don't know that they found any patterns yet that exist that are consistent that allow them you know to help along with the investigation. Will the smoke test be done in in a different area than it was before? We're going to focus on the west side of the building. Um we did it's going to be
115mostly in a similar area. Um the east side of the building has much less plumbing, fewer air handler units, uh fewer vent stacks. They we can so we can look at the drawings and see which uh rooftop units and which plumbing systems are interconnected and it we're testing those systems that could be a problem. Um, so some of the systems we've tested previously, we are testing a few new systems as well tomorrow. I would just add this final closing thing, I guess, but if you guys can't figure it out, I would assume that we've got county, state, federal, I know Carol, you mentioned the EPA, like whoever we've got to bring in who does know how to figure it out because that's obviously a weird issue, right? It's not a normal thing that you guys
116have encountered. So, it's understandable, but we still have health concerns. So let's pull in whoever else we need to pull in to to get it resolved. Yep. I understand. Awesome. Our student has a question. Yeah, I have a question. So earlier you mentioned that uh you contacted a third party company called Case Engineering. So how wasn't this initiative taken earlier when there were reports of this odor happening? Well, initially we were working with the design engineer, Mccclure Engineering, who designed the building. And that would be the standard uh approach to if you are having a problem with a newly constructed building, you would um approach the engineer that designed the building and work with them. And we have been doing that. Um and eventually through that process led to um the value of hiring another
117engineer beyond them to help that. Great question. So, how long have you been working with Case Engineering? They uh since March we hired them. And have you um like found any benefits or any more clues to where this odor could be coming from while working with that company? Um a few clues and you know a bit of it is um as I've mentioned before it's a a really large building and there's a lot of data to go through. um they are uh very motivated and energetic to help solve this issue which is is great. Um it does it's kind of like um you know in school if you have a um your final uh test for the year you can't really learn it in 3 weeks. It kind of takes you that whole semester. Now
118I'm not saying this is going to take the whole semester but just for comparison there's a lot of data to absorb and they are in the process of absorbing that. Um they have mentioned a few things that they think could be um an identifiable issue um but they're not prepared to fully report on it until they complete their uh review of the drawings. Matt, you mentioned earlier that um you found a trap that did not or you found a a drain that did not have a trap. We did. Um, it's pretty easy to figure out which drains have traps, I'm sure, for you guys to see if there's water or not. Yeah. Yeah. Have you guys checked all the floor drains? Make made sure all the traps are there. We uh we are doing that
119tomorrow uh as we're doing an audit on all of them. Now, we have we have gone through and checked for traps. Um check to make sure that um there's um there's a trap guard that goes in them to help the water from drying out. Make sure those are in there. Um there are a number of them and it appears that we missed one. So that is causing the initiative to go back through and check all of them uh again. And I'm certain that you did some sort of before even beginning construction there's some sort of vast topography surveys and land surveys and things like that. Was there anything found below the construction site that was that might contribute to this? Some sort of other structure that might have been there? anything that I mean we
120all have you know uh radon um uh monitors in our homes and things like that that come up through the concrete can't smell it but you know anything that was found in topography surveys or anything like that it's a great question it was actually one of the first questions that case engineering asked us as well um now on this building we we did not design the building um we constructed what was designed by others um but there was a soils engineer that did a soil survey on the site. They drilled um they drill holes 30 ft deep and take cores of the soil to see what's in there. Um there was no mention of there being any concerns of fill. And you know, you think of a building being constructed a landfill or something that
121can create methane gas and literally seep up through the floor of the building. They would have an underground venting system. There was no uh concerns or mention of that in the SOS report. Um I maybe go back and just look at that again. um just to see if maybe something was missed. I would hate to, you know, I I look back to AA's razor like maybe that's the the one thing that we just are trusting that we may be able to verify again, right? Um I I did look up whether or not hydrogen sulfide is flammable, and it absolutely is highly flammable. Um, so I think maybe identifying exactly what that gas is, um, may be able to pinpoint, you know, it may be able to eliminate a lot of other places and surfaces and
122other things as to where that gas might be originating from. Much like a virus, you figure out, you know, what it is and then you can identify the the origin and then a solution. Um, so I I would I would suggest that for sure. Um Um, yeah, I mean, I think you guys are on the right track. I I think that the the community and the board and the administration are just getting frustrated because there's we it's just so erratic that we we can't figure it out. Um and one of the questions that another question that I had was to just reiterate I I would like to know exactly how many exactly how many students how many teachers have fallen ill to this or had any sort of medical issues whatsoever um mis work etc.
123um symptoms and symptoms even that you know a lot of these kids like our like our current board member would probably just power through it. You know, he he loves school and he he's just going to go. So even kids like that, I want to know um and uh and and and get this done. I I I know that you this is very frustrating for you, everybody here. Um and we appreciate you guys doing your due diligence, but let's uh let's get this done. So maybe like I said going back and and looking at things that you may have just trusted the the information on um and just verifying that information like the topography surveys and the core samples and things like that might be a way to go. Yeah, all very good thoughts and
124uh we are extremely frustrated but our frustration isn't our concern. Yours is um we are um not holding back on bringing anyone on board that can be of value. we reaching out to peers um other people and um it's we've had a lot of smart people working on it. Um it is just a um unusual complicated problem to solve. So are there any tests that you haven't done yet that you think should be done? Um nothing comes to mind at the moment. Now what I would say is that uh we're not holding back. If there's a test that can be of value, we are engaging in it. Um you know tomorrow it was mentioned that uh you're throwing everything you got at it and that is correct. I think um you know some of that
125is going to be tomorrow we we give it we give the college effort everything we have and then we take that data and then we uh review it and make a plan for the data that we've collected. Now, some of it can be um no result as data, right? So, you do the smoke test and there's no smoke again. Okay, we rule that out this time and we're able to shift focus uh on where to place our efforts after tomorrow. So, tomorrow is a big data collection effort and then from there we process that data and figure out the next step. I am concerned about the teachers who are getting um doctor's notes basically saying that they're having the effects of these. Are they they're getting workman's comp? Is that right? If they're not able
126to come to school, correct? Okay. And um they're not are they using their sick days up or is there They're all gone. They're all gone. Director Oli state statute is that the first three days related to a worker's comp um filing claim is that you do use personal sick vacation or dock days that you would have um and then when you reach 14 days that those can be given back to you and so there is short-term um disability short-term reimbursement that happens within there as well. Be happy to provide more detail to you but um yeah I just want to make sure we're looking out for our people. So he's saying they will get the money. Not necessarily. Not necessarily. You're not saying that again. Not until they've been out 14 days. They have to
127miss 14 days. I I don't want to give incorrect information. I believe after three is it 60% of wages, but you say it a few times so I get it. Yeah. Yes. So, um, Treasurer Owens, the the state statute requires you to use the three the first three days of your person, your personal sick leave, and then the workman's comp case kicks in. And there is a percentage of their salary that is provided to them while they're out in their workman's comp case. It's not their full salary, but the salary is is figured using all seven days of a week instead of just five. So, it typically comes to about 65 or 70% of the salary while you're at on workman's comp. Um, and then after 14 days, if you're out for that same situation,
128that longevity, then the three days can be reimbursed to you that you originally took in that what's called the waiting period by the workman's comp state statute. Well, would SM Wilson presumably be accountable for reimbursing any of that? It doesn't feel like those things should fall on the district. Is that something that we can look into as far as accountability goes whenever we figure out what's going on? It's not any that's not something we can answer right now. That's beyond our scope because again part of this is tied to um state statute when it comes to this. So we'd be happy to engage get more information with our insurer legal anybody else in that situation if again if somebody was found to be at fault which was leading to it which is a little bit
129different of a question I believe. Okay. So if tomorrow does not produce an answer an an actionable answer. Sure. Is it fair for us to assume that means you're out of guesses? You're out of tricks to be able to find out the answer. Um, I I wouldn't view it that way. So, so how do you make tomorrow be more thorough then? So that it truly is the most thorough investigation as you said. Well, um I feel that the investigation tomorrow is designed to be extremely thorough. Uh I mean we are smoke testing Camry and we have multiple engineers, plumbers, you know, everybody out there taking a look. Um you know I think the the intention of tomorrow is to collect the data and then we use that data with our uh third party engineer to
130deter if we don't find an actionable step then we take a look at that. We regroup as uh the engineers and us and we talk about okay here's what we know now cuz tomorrow is going to confirm a lot of things. one way or another it's going to confirm certain things and then we take those confirmations and then we make that plan for the next next action. I can't say what that action will be until we collect the data tomorrow unfortunately. One more question. So and then just so that I understand what I heard in your presentation what I understand is tomorrow's data collection and it's going to take time to analyze with that data. So expecting actionable steps by Tuesday is probably unrealistic. Because what and let me finish. So then the other side
131of it is you've hired a plumbing contractor to or an engineer to review the plumbing drawings and those plumbing drawings for a construction project that big you said was 600 pages. Not the plumbing drawings, the total construction documents. 600 drawings. So the plumbing drawings are probably 40 50 something like that. Something like that. So they're going to review that. So you have another then engineering firm who's doing their own independent analysis to come in and see what and they could possibly include the sniffers and doing electronic data collection of any sort of smells that they may have in the building. Mhm. So it just there's a lot of data that they need to collect yet. And I get it. It's we're in April and we started this and the first email I said they they
132smell in July. So, and you guys got heart and heavy on it in November. So, it's I just I I think we need to be realistic too in what our expectations are is there's a lot of data that they need to put together and analyze. So, I think Tuesday would be unreal. next Tuesday would be unrealistic but because they're talking weekly communications with us. So, so what is realistic? So, well that as far as tomorrow and I don't want to mislead you that we're only trying to collect data tomorrow. The the goal would be to find an actionable step. I mean that's that's what we hope tomorrow is to get out there with everybody and we've there's the problem and we fix it. If that doesn't happen, uh then we're analyzing all the data to
133make the plan for the next step. But the goal tomorrow is to find the problem. Uh that's what we're hoping to achieve. Um we can't predict if we will, but that's the effort that's out there is to find the problem so we have an actionable step. If not, the second phase of that would be then talking as a team with what we now know and making that next plan of action. Another question over here. Yeah. So, um, do we have any district or board supervisors that are going to be there for the investigation tomorrow? Um, great. I plan on being there tomorrow. Um, obviously it's a district paid holiday, so I will be there during uh the conduction of the test. [Music] And so for Superintendent Rupus, uh, we'll just pay attention to your direction
134on how to respond after tomorrow. And I think we're all together. And I think I heard you shared as well like it's enough like we we wanted to change. We all wanted to change. And it we hope that tomorrow is is as successful as possibly can be. And if it's not as successful as possibly can be, we'll just be interested in other opportunities, other options. Anything else? Good luck tomorrow. Thank [Music] you. Okay, we have the 2025 2026 budget development for debt and insurance. Miss Embry to present. You can stay. [Music] We always give opportunity for students to go. It's it becomes a late night. So, he's checking with his and he's coming back, ladies and gentlemen. Y I like that. Okay. Thank you very much. So, yes, this evening, uh the presentation regarding the
135budget development process is focused on our debt service fund and our self- insurance fund. I often call it the health fund. It's the same thing. uh these are funds that are maintained separately and I'll provide you a slide that reminds you of that. This uh reminds you each time that I present that this is the cycle that we follow in terms of the budget development process. And so we start early on in January and start meeting with our leaders and identifying our needs within the system so that we can provide you with a comprehensive update. uh we then in March, April and May begin providing these presentations to refamiliarize you with that which uh will ultimately be presented as a recommendation during the June meeting, the first meeting in June. And then uh the budget
136does need to be approved prior to July 1. So that recommendation uh with a motion would be made during the second meeting in June. This is our budget calendar and as you can see we are highlighting that we have reached the April point in time. I referenced earlier that mid May is when the legislative session ends in the state budget and any potential impacts to public education are made during that time. This is our fund requirements. I often times provide you with the state statute that uh this is referenced within and impacting public education and we are to maintain separate funds for a variety of reasons. And when we talk about operating funds, that's the general and teacher funds. We're allowed to have sub funds and we do that for ease in accountability and accounting
137process. And then our capital projects fund is grouped with them because the operating levy may be uh contributed to any of those three funds fund one, two or four. Our debt service fund is a separate fund and we maintain a separate bank account for that as well. And uh you can see there the purposes for each of those. Uh beyond this we'll do that general and teacher fund presentation before the comprehensive presentation. So the first fund that we'll reference is the debt service fund and uh I'm providing for you the bond fund connection. I first would like to mention that there are slide numbers. If you do have any questions and you want to jot notes to yourself, I'll journey through it and then at the end I'll pause and we can go back to
138any slide needed. So the connection is that as you see on that yellow box highlighted that the voters approve a bond issue and bonds are for major capital projects whether it's building renovations or new construction and uh the voters then would authorize the sale of bonds and also at the same time anytime patrons approve a bond issue they're simultaneously approving the debt levy necessary to repay the principal interest and any fees on that. And so then investors have opportunity to buy the bonds. And investors can be large corporations or they can be individuals within our very own community who are interested in purchasing bonds uh as an investment opportunity. And through that process, the loan is then given to the district and those proceeds get deposited into our bond fund which is maintained in a
139separate account. And from that we begin paying any construction related bills uh to support the bond projects that were approved. Then simultaneously the debt levy is constructed for the repayment plan of all the debt based on uh each year and for that we're using those state auditor office calculation forms the interactive process and the loan is repaid using any debt fund balance. So obviously in describing that process that tells you the purpose of the debt service fund to repay those loans and the revenue is uh primarily generated from our local tax resources. Uh there can be some additional revenue types that can be directly receded into the debt fund. We're very limited on that and that's all laid out in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education uh accounting uh manual for us. And so
140we follow that uh very specifically. And um I think that's probably all I need to really tell you about that one. Uh we do again set the levy and the our levy must be set prior to October 1 each year. Our current levy for the debt service fund is 67.13 cents. And it's consistently calculated at a higher rate. And I covered this during the September presentation. But for this year, just for your understanding, this past September, the debt service fund levy actually calculated based on our needs at 86.04 cents. And then we rolled that back by 18.91 cents to the 67.13. So we could set it higher. We don't need to accumulate the balance in the debt fund, the debt service fund. And so therefore, we set it at that lower rate uh that had
141been referenced during a a bond approval. And important to highlight that Senate Bill 190, the senior citizen property tax freeze does not apply to debt service revenues. So the patrons who applied for that freeze, that will apply to operating dollars, but it will not freeze um any increases in their assessed valuation and ultimate tax bill calculated on the debt piece of it. Um I'm confident that many um assessors and collectors throughout the state are challenged in figuring all of that out to navigate the calculations and keep that all separate. But that is uh what they've been charged to do and we're anticipating special reporting to us as we move forward to understand the details behind that. So I mentioned that it's primarily the tax revenue. Everything that we do compliance with the Missouri statute and
142also our board policy that supports that statute policy 3320. Uh as you know we conduct a hearing in September, the September board meeting prior to the board meeting and that gives patrons an opportunity to uh speak to the board if desired. And uh the St. Charlie Charles County tax rates must be set by October 1 year. I think I referenced that before. So, some of these slides you will recall from uh information that we provided uh perhaps during the tax uh levy setting that occurred in September. But this uh slide just shows you our debt service fund expenditure overview by year. And you can see uh the golden box is highlighting uh FY26. And so while uh when we're making these budget uh presentations for you and developing out the FY26 budget, sometimes we're talking
143about current year information, sometimes we're referencing what we already know. So in a situation like debt, we mostly know uh what our revenue and expenditure needs to be for next year and that's what we've highlighted for you. But what will change is any defeasance that would be applied to uh our current debt. So, I mentioned to you previously, we'll bring you a recommendation in May to pay down some of the debt early with some excess balance. And so, that will change that budget number for next year on our uh principal, interest, and fees payment. This slide summarizes for you our debt overview by series. So, you can see each year that uh the debt was approved and how much is still outstanding. They typically carry a 20-year uh span for the debt obligation. That's normal.
144And then they carry a 10-year call date. So whereas you and I, if we have a a real estate mortgage, we could decide to refinance when we see that the interest rates have hit a sweet spot and be able to reduce our overall expenditures relative to that. For us, relative to bond obligations, they do carry a 10-year call. So we aren't able to just refinance at any point in time, but by doing a defeasence, we can pay down early. We're still paying uh the interest on that debt, but we are uh able to retire it earlier. This shows you our debt amortization schedule. And I like to highlight just to provide context for people each time that uh as you can see the the uh green section there represents a 10year span. And over the
145next 10 years, we will retire absent defeasence uh $123,495,000 of the total debt. We are very blessed in our community. I've shared this before, but we uh we have bonding capacity. Excuse me. We have bonding capacity. We are not reliant on um residential properties. I worked in a district previously where it was primarily a um a residential community and we were in a situation where our district was growing significantly but we didn't have the bonding capacity to be able to borrow money. And so we have significant bonding capacity and ability. And as you can see through paying down debt, we do have um we're we're equipped for success in that regard should the board determine that uh changes need to be made in the future. This is the gross debt service schedule and this is
146a chart that's prepared for us by our bond underwriter and that's Piper Sandler. And it basically shows you year-over-year the varying uh bond amounts uh for each of the issues. So again, absent any changes that we already know are going to happen, but I don't know what those are yet. We would be telling you that we have a revenue estimate of 29,427986 for next year's budget and then an expenditure estimate of 27 million687700 uh with an estimated fund balance uh ending result of 27,881943 for this current year. I did add in this slide it's regarding bonding capacity. So, I mentioned, you know, if you have a bedroom community and you don't have businesses that are helping prop up public education that you can get find yourself in a bind and what districts need to do
147then if they have needs in the district to protect the building assets is um seek a uh capital lease. Basically, they pay a higher interest rate. You have to mortgage collateral. I know I've shared that in other uh presentations and context, but this is where I'm saying to you that we have uh we're significantly blessed in this community currently based on this calculation information using the assessed valuation from December 31. The district could, if voters approved it, borrow near just over $400 uh million to take care of building assets. So, we're capped by Missouri Constitution and that's a 15% cap using that calculation process. 15% of assessed valuation data. Okay. So, do you have any questions for me relative to debt? I know these presentations are pretty riveting and you probably want more. Any questions?
148[Music] Questions? No questions. So, let's go to the tax liability notice. Uh actually I still have another part. Oh, the insurance. Uh yes, we'll go to the health fund. Thanks. Okay, thank you. All right. Okay. So, uh for our self- insurance fund, again, you know, a district, there aren't very many districts in the state that are self-funded. I should share that with you first. And you can appreciate that whenever you are self-funded then the district has the full liability and the responsibility of managing all the pieces and parts whereas there are um organizations businesses that directly uh seek insurance coverage through Blue Cross Blue Shield or Sigma and then you h they are pricing um the premiums the cost to the to the district or the business. um based on what they believe would set
149them at a profitable state. And so with self- insurance, you are eliminating um that middle uh profit uh uh branch of the insurance. And so uh for us, our uh self insurance fund uh includes our employer contributions into the health fund as well as the employee deductions for medical and dental. and everything is used relative to health insurance costs and I shared earlier that we do keep dental and medical separate. Um we maintain it in a separate bank account. Uh we also uh you know again overall it should be reducing costs. It does allow for greater flexibility in terms of plan design whereas if you are partnering with a provider they may have very stringent rules. So um we still have to be responsible through that process and uh we do rely on uh third
150party providers and I'll reference those soon but we carry all the the financial risk. This shows you our revenue and our expenditure information and also expense reductions. So when our actuary with Marsh McClennon agency, the district's broker is looking at data, the the preference is is that the reductions relative to stop-loss insurance rebates or um other rebates that we receive that those are uh impacted on the expenditure side. We used to carry them on the revenue side. So it's a little interesting to look at it that way. But again, just that reminder that all the premiums that the employer pays or that the employee pays or that people who are participating through COBRA uh after they sever with the district or our retirees, they're paying that in there. We also attribute any interest income that
151has been acrewed by in within that bank account to this health fund. And due to the nature of how we pay uh a significant portion of our staff, and that would be our teachers who receive balance of contract checks in the summer, uh we do see a revenue spike that occurs in June. Uh we um then we'll pay those out through expenditure costs in the in the fall months often times. So on the expenditure side, it's all the claims relative to health and prescriptions and the care ATC clinics that are provided for employee benefit and all the fees associated. Excuse me. And I'm referenced here that the expenditure spike typically occurs in the fall because there are uh more services oftentimes received during the summer months. And so this slide now shows you our um
15222 23 23 excuse me 2023 2024 revenue uh relative to employee premiums versus employer contributions and interest income. And so you can see that the uh employer contributions are significant at um a total of 20,52532 based on the current con construct. the employee premiums were 5,597828 or that and so that would also include um uh the retiree actually I need to check on that we may have left that off intentionally. So, uh, moving forward, this, uh, provides for you another breakdown, another slice view of all the claims and prescriptions and that type of thing. So, you can see the, uh, trend that occurred, uh, for FY24 actual. And none of this uh, the none of the expenditures referenced include the health savings account contribution. So that's another piece that we uh make contribution for for
153people who are on the high deductible health plan that they have that HSA account or health savings account that they can utilize to pay for out-of- pocket expenditures. Um and again I'm noting that uh does not include the health savings account and a $4 million transfer from the operating funds that was done earlier this year. This provides you an understanding of the number of lives that we are providing coverage for and that total is 4,134 as of the data uh that was presented. Uh there's a slight variance between medical and dental but uh for the most part those remain consistent uh from medical to dental. The third party providers are those uh uh entities that assist us in doing this work. And so important to note that uh our broker does provide actuary services and
154helps us with our employee insurance meetings and informs us of what they're seeing from the data that is presented. And then we do not know any of the specifics about claims for employees. I always like to emphasize that we pay others to administer all claims processing and um we get summary reports. We also get reports on the highest utilization on prescriptions and that kind of thing but we don't see employee names. So that's all uh protected data and that's exactly how it needs to be. So as you can see we have Sigma for medical express groups for pharmacy, Delta Dental, IMED for vision and Tokyo Marine HCC for our stop-loss insurance. This visual helps you understand what happens if we do have exorbitant claims uh relative to stop-loss and it doesn't cover everything and so
155we can max that out fairly quickly. This example just provides you an understanding of what each claimant one through four uh would result in in terms of a reimbursement. And as you can see, um, we ended up being capped on claimment four, uh, because we had reached the maximum that they would pay us, the million-doll cap. So, um, hopefully that's helpful in understanding that. So for plan year 2025, um our uh medicalbased option is $727 per month per qualifying employee and our high deductible is 662 per month for qualifying employee. The district is paying 100% of the employeeonly insurance and the district pays varying portions of the dependent insurance for both options. Retirey and Cobra participants pay 100% of their cost. And again, um, relative to the HSA, the district is contributing $1,000 per for
156an employee coverage plan and $2,000 for family coverage to the high deductible health savings account each year. And uh, for the current year, for your understanding, we paid a,712,000. And that did post to operating funds. it is not posted uh against the health fund which is on my list of wonderings uh as to why we do that and should we change that behavior. So, uh, just for your understanding as well, we have a board regulation 4540 GE. And that text is listed here to help you understand that it's saying that the district shall pay at least the full annual single employee premium for the base option medical, the low dental, and low vision. But then the employee has the opportunity to select their own menu of options and apply that bucket of uh funds toward
157what they need for their personal needs. That is standard in many districts uh uh over the years that employee only insurance premiums would be covered. There has been a trend uh in the most recent decade of there being more cost sharing even for employee only insurance. And uh we look at that data every year. We'll be updating our insurance committee participants with that information as well. Self- insurance fund premiums plan year 25. Uh this is showing you on a monthly basis and on an annual basis dependent on the plan selected. It shows you the varying contributions. And I've provided this data in the past. it was set up in a different uh format but it's basically uh I'll highlight the annual contribution. So uh for an employee if no medical or individual only medical is
158elected then that would be a contribution uh basically of 9,288. But you can see the the other variations leading up to if family medical is elected, it's 19,572 on an annual basis. I know this gets confusing and uh I struggled with this in terms of presenting the data to you. So, I decided, okay, let me give you some examples because it's also hard to accurately project exactly what it's going to cost until we have new enrollments occur in uh for the October one start date and uh then we can see how those uh calculations play out. So this first example uh is showing you where um the medical option is the base plan for employee plus child. And in that situation 926 um $926 is paid monthly and the employee out of pocket would be
159$485 for that plan. But if it's high deductible, it's showing you that the district's paying 1,631 monthly and the employees paying 3349. It's very it's a it's a very interesting setup is what I want you to understand by looking at these examples. Uh the next slide, this is another example and this is um where the high deductible plan with employee plus spouse is selected and in that situation the district is paying 1,233 monthly and the employee out of pocket is 30317. The example right below that is where the medical option is the base plan and employee only and in that situation the employee uh the district's paying 774 and the employee has an out- of pocket of 9917 and so those are monthly rates. Okay. So you you're following what I'm saying is that it's
160all over the place in terms of uh who's receiving what level of coverage in terms of a dollar amount from the district. And I'm not asking that you would completely understand it because it took me a bit to get my head in the game in terms of uh what it is we we do here. Often times the way these are structured, there's not that opportunity like our board regulation indicates that you can take your bucket of money and allocate it wherever you want. Usually in most districts, you pick a plan and here's what the district pays and here's what the employee pays and it stays consistent for all employees whomever picks that plan. Does that make sense? It it is confusing. Okay. So, uh the district contribution annual estimate. Uh so what we're showing you
161here is on an annual basis what the district is contributing the total district contribution possible and that causes us then to achieve those total dollar amounts there on the far right uh for base plan of 9 million 342 384 and for high deductible health plan 13,376868. The total calculated is 22,719 and that's assuming all funds are utilized by employees through their insurance selection process and because sometimes that doesn't happen. Um and then the um the census information again is what is uh factored in in terms of calculating the total costs. The district is uh contributing approximately 4.8 million annually for dependent care coverage. So I mentioned to you before that the uh typically the employee is covered and in our district we make a significant contribution towards dependent care. So uh this shows you and
162I won't belabor the amounts here but you can see participation levels for medical premiums. Um the the top is the base plan in the gray. It's a little hard to see on this screen but then the blue section is the high deductible health plan. So you can see that in total we have 936 employees participating in our uh current base medical plan and 183 participating in the high deductible health plan. Uh the totals also are noted for each of those two types of of plans uh for which the district pays those contributions. This next slide covers the dental section of that and uh we have 2009 uh participating in the uh dental plan and also I should mention the green then below is the vision plan. We have 1,84 participating in the vision plan. I
163did include this slide that helps give you context on our retiree and cobra participations. So you can see uh for base medical we have uh retirey COBRA participation of 69 and uh for high deductible 129 on dental we have 182 participant participants and for vision we have 165 participants. So again, I know most of those slides are very confusing to process uh and consume, but overall this slide, slide 34 shows you the summary of our costs. And so you can see that the employee only portion uh that the district is paying is representing currently 17,368250 which is 57.21%. The district pay dependent coverage is that 4,92109 or 16.21%. Our health savings contribution that I referenced previously is a million712 for a total district contribution of 24 million 1,259. That's 79.06% of all costs for the
164medical and dental and vision plans. And then the employee portion is 3,864741 which is 12.73% of all costs. Retirey contributions 2,491928 which is 8.21% of all costs. So this is based on actual enrollment enrollment that was from our February 2025 census data. I've shared before that there is no legal requirement in terms of a reserve balance. I uh I also would share that um the industry standard basically or the general rule of acceptance is it used to be that we would carry three months of administrative costs. So the overhead that would also include like care ATC and that type of thing uh three months and then two months of claims and that has changed recently uh just based on utilization and that's across the nation I would offer and now the recommended balance would be
165equal to three months of both claims and administrative costs. So based on current year data $7 million would be our desired minimum fund balance reserve balance in the health fund. And I reported to you earlier that we are far from that and that includes our $4 million transfer. So we have significant work ahead. Uh shared previously the 23.5% increase is what's being called for at this point in time that was reduced down by about a percent based on data through March. So this shows you what has occurred with our fund balance and uh FY24 our ending fund balance for medical was a million159728 dental 554817 uh reminding us all again of the $4 million transfer that was provided and um we need to take action to correct that trajectory. So the this represents our current
166revised budget and um again that includes uh information relative to a potential of an additional 4 million. It could be more that needs to be made in the current year to sustain the fund to make sure that we have enough money to cover the bills as uh those are provided. Um we'll make the full recommendation I would think likely by June 6. Sometimes we've made insurance recommendations uh during the May meeting. I don't know that we'll be equipped for that this year at that point in time. I added in this slide. I went back and found the best data available to me. And what you can see is that we've consistently maintained very very low increases over time. And we shared with you previously that based on actual utilization we we really needed to have
167increased at a greater level uh the past year and likely the year before that. So uh the preliminary increase again is noted at 23.5. Uh the only levers we can push and pull include changes to the plan design, changes to the amount that the district would be contributing which would push costs to employees. um we are looking at all things and we will have robust robust conversations. I've committed to you already that I'll keep you apprised through that process. I know we have uh uh director Grder and Director Ponder who will be serving on the insurance committee. So uh that's fantastic, but we'll help them in sharing uh what they learn and then they can add additional commentary for you during board meetings. So that concludes the presentation. Happy to answer any questions for you.
168I have a question. Just looking back on slide 25, you had mentioned that you were curious as to why some of that was coming out of the operational fund and not the health fund. And I share that same question. Is it possible to figure that answer out? We we wouldn't be able to opine on decisions of the past. Um uh it it's a practice that I understand I I inquired about it with the director of finance and the benefits manager. It's a practice that has been in place for many many many years. It's it's different. I mean it's not wrong. It's not illegal. You know, there's nothing like that. But it's just interesting that we would separate that out from the comprehensive health fund. Do you think there's any benefit to investigating moving that over?
169Well, right now it's consuming operating fund dollars. Okay. And that that's impacting our operating fund. Now, until just two years ago, I think two years, uh, we were including the health fund within the operating fund from a reporting perspective and we separated that out. And while some people may feel like, oh gosh, wish you wouldn't have done that. For me, it's important that we monitor it separately and make recommendations that help it sustain itself. And so, uh, in my mind, that might be a recommendation that's brought forward for the board's consideration among a number of other recommendations. Got it. Thank you. So, Miss Emry, for clarification, on the slide earlier that showed the health fund with an approximate $3 million deficit after the $4 million transfer this year, does that include that 1.7 or that
1701.7 would actually if it lived with that would be worse. The deficit would be worse. It's currently being absorbed by operating funds. None of this is the news that you want to hear and it's not what I want to deliver for you either. that. So you you also mentioned that we do need to take action. Are you kind of able to consult on those actions for us in the upcoming months? Well, and that's exactly what will play out. We will we are receiving an update from our broker every month and uh they're monitoring the data as quickly as they receive the information from those providers like Sigma and others. Then they're uh looking at the data to determine what is the recommendation that's needed to create a sustainable fund for the upcoming year. We can't
171predict predict um the massive claims that might be presented. I shared earlier we've got one that's going to take a pretty good hit on the fund and the fact that we don't have a reserve balance built up means that I'll need we'll need to do a transfer right away to pay the bills as they come in. So expect that that we'll be making recommendation in the coming potentially next month. Um I don't have the insurance committee meetings uh established yet. I'm preparing an email to go to all the people to welcome them and thank them for their service and we'll get those meeting scheduled and the broker will then be equipped to start delivering the information. So yes, updates will be forthcoming. Carol, we made that change to the the plan. When was that? October.
172And yes, we were running three months behind. Then we're now into April. You have March data. The impact of changing that that plan. Have we realized the worst of it or not? What I'm trying to say is, you know what, why why it went up so much? Have have we realized those costs already for the most part? Uh, I hope so. That that information hasn't been fully unpacked yet and that's part of the work of the actuary uh in terms of being able to give us that comprehensive update of No, I know. Yeah, I I know it is frustrating. Uh, and the actuary, Marsh Minton agency, they're doing the best they can, but we're all uh held hostage basically until we receive updated data from the providers. So, it may not be much worse than
1733 million. Maybe. I don't I I couldn't speculate. I couldn't speculate. I would love to bring great news next month. We'll give you one more chance. Okay. Yes. Anything else? So, moving on to the tax liability notice. Yes. So, in the past, I haven't approached the podium to talk about this, but because I was up here anyway, I decided I would hang out. And I'll just highlight for you. I I did post text within the agenda item that reminds us all that there is a Missouri statute 137.243 243. Uh that requires that on or before March 15th, the county clerk is to send data to the taxing jurisdiction. So, not just the public school districts, but other taxing jurisdictions. And then we take that data and we run a preliminary tax levy calculation and we
174are required to send it back to the county um uh clerk by April 8th each year. And so it doesn't coincide well with our board meetings but we did that work and so we posted that for you and that uh was submitted to them in a timely basis. So basically it's indicating currently and this is using the updated assess valuation data that they provided us that was certified March 2025 that uh our projected tax rate for our operating would be 3.277 2777 and again our debt would be 6713. Okay. Anything on that topic? All right. State audit update on recommendations. Okay. [Music] So, the slide deck, uh, there's not a really great way to provide the updates other than to just help everyone remember what the recommendations were. And so, it's con constructed basically uh
175to provide you a reminder of what the recommendation was, followed by uh what we provided as a response to the audit, and then the update, the current update. So, this reminds us that the state audit was received December 2024. Uh, notification of the state audit had originally been received by the district in April of 23. And you'll recall it did take a number of months for that to happen. Uh, we learned from the state auditor office that they had some significant turnover in staff. And, uh, also the primary lead on doing the research retired December 31 of 23. And so that delayed them significantly. Uh the scope of the audit uh that um was included it was uh through June 30, 2023 or they may have reached further beyond that. So it was not necessarily
176limited to but mostly focused on June 30, 2023. And again, we received the report uh December 2024 and provided them our responses on the recommendations. And this represents the seven primary categories uh that were included within the state audit. The first being proposition S. And here is the base recommendation that uh full transparency would be provided for all existing and future capital projects and that we would uh ensure that the board was fully apprised and received the information timely uh for the the board to evaluate the project and uh I have included that there in some cases there's a 1.1 and a 1.2 that type of thing. So that's why you'll see uh different slides as well. And so um relative to that, our response at the time was to highlight that back in March
17716th of 23, a comprehensive report to the board was provided on all the changes that had been made internally in terms of the process and seeking board approval and uh providing consistent updates. We um you know highlight for you that uh new operations leaders provided the board a comprehensive update during the September 2120 23 meeting and during a March 14, 2024 meeting with the board of education. A recommendation was provided for moving projects forward. we are providing bond financial information monthly and that the board is approving all the required steps of projects um if if the protocol allows for that. Now, an example this evening was when we use a um a uh purchasing entity, they have the bid process. They've um developed that. That's why we brought it as a separate agenda item so
178that the board could then approve it. So, we don't have each of those stop signs that are now reflected on this page right here. That was information from that March 2023 uh report to the board on the opportunities for the board to review the specifics and vote to allow us to move forward. So that work was very significantly changed by new administration and we are behaving that way with all of our projects. So that's really the update that that there is uh no further action from our perspective on this that we changed the behavior. we're following the protocol and that's our commitment to you uh as we move forward. So 1.2 two was regarding ensuring that the selection process is equitable and transparent uh and qualification requests do not unfairly limit eligible candidates. And that
179was uh if if you read the audit report, it was specifically relative to a certain contractual arrangement. And at the time when we responded December 2024 uh to the recommendation, we indicated then that we have protocols in place to ensure that that behavior uh is not occurring. We also uh remind you that we added a new purchasing manager position that was approved July 1 of 2024 to support the requirements and that that individual will also begin assisting on construction related projects. We did also uh part of that recommendation was that we um would ensure that we're seeking a an architect process uh in terms of selection. And so we did let uh an RFQ, a request for qualifications for an architect May 2nd, 2024. And I've indicated within this slide that we had 11 firms
180respond. We interviewed five. Uh that was by a team of board members and administrators and had a recommendation approved June 6th. uh to approve Hollis and Miller Architects partnering with RTM Engineering and Mccclure Engineering. And so at this juncture, we believe we have uh corrected that path and that no further changes to the process are needed at this time. On item two, safety drills, ensure that safety drills are conducted. And I will just say to you uh for our December uh recommendation, we would uh indicate that that would take place uh the unfortunate situation in that is the safety drills have been performed, but we didn't have the documentation as buttoned up as it should have been. And so uh we have ensured and the update for today uh is that um we are making
181sure that those have taken place. I checked in with Mr. Stutzer, as you know, uh we went through a safety audit and uh had a physical safety report to you in close session and then we had the threat assessment piece reported during the open session meeting in December. Um we will um we we also recommended to you that we would have a new director of safety and security uh for July 1 of 2025 and you approve them. We're thrilled about that new position and the assistance that will be provided. But in the meantime, our update to you is that uh we have uh indeed and I'm keep hitting the wrong button on this Scott. Uh that we have indeed uh changed our process and we're we've ensured that we have appropriate documentation for all of
182our drills that have been conducted. We've have a few more to that need to be conducted because of snow days that had occurred and those will get caught up. for attendance. The recommendation was that we implement additional controls and procedures over the data and restrict the time period when changes can be made uh without authorization and uh reviewing available reports limiting user access. And so we had a few instances where we did have opportunity to to tweak that. The response at the time to the recommendation in December was that we would form stakeholder groups to address all those needs and that would include building in department leaders collaborate together to ensure we had an efficient process for collecting data and also ensuring that access levels were appropriately addressed. Now, one of the things um in
183our system that is a gatekeeper for us is when an employee severs from the district, their access is shut down. Even if they're still on a list of having access, they can't access anything. So, that was a nuance of that uh recommendation that we we still understand and we'll do what we need to do to uh make sure that's taken care of. So, I'm happy to report in this update that the stakeholder meetings have occurred. leaders have identified the most efficient process for collecting that attendance data and managing it on a district-wide level. And we have a routine review process also implemented uh to help you understand that. The leaders that are over these systems, they have perpetual calendars that maintain all the the lists of things that they need to make sure are happening
184either monthly, quarterly, annually, whatever the case may be. uh for attendance. This was a secondary recommendation that we correct attendance records uh for any coding that had been improperly reported. And there was some minor uh information that was identified where we had um students that had uh they were absent from school for college visits and the coding within the system was such that we uh claimed attendance uh when we should not have it. the the absences were allowed and approved uh by their parents but we should not collect and in the state of Missouri attendance matters instructionally and also from a foundation formula payment process. So that was corrected early on uh in the middle of the audit. It was identified for the 22 23 academic year. Those corrections were made and we implemented systems
185to shore that up to make sure that that didn't happen further. And uh our update now for you in April is uh again that these stakeholder meetings have occurred to collaborate on ways to ensure that we're doing the right things and uh we and I I'll reference uh Scott Gallon has taken the lead on that uh technologies under his purview. It does involve other leaders throughout the system including uh our principles. Uh the review of codes will be conducted annually. So that's part of his process now. And attendance codes will be standardized uh relative to elementary and secondary schools. And there uh will also be personnel with added access um and they'll receive special TR for district financing. This is a a recommendation that is in most school district audits provided by uh the state
186auditor office and that is that the board would consider in the future that there be open competition on any future bond sales. And so we have negotiated sales and we have um open com competition sales. And uh and so at the time of the December 24 recommendation, we indicated that the board and administration commit to ensuring that the appropriate sale methodology is applied. And the reason it's worded that way is truly that will need to be a decision of the board at the time any bond issue is navigated in the future because there are pros and cons to both pathways. And no one can armchair quarterback and really proclaim that an open competitive sale is better for the district from a strategic planning perspective long term because you get boxed into when your payments are
187due and that kind of thing. Whereas with a uh negotiated, you know how you need your payments to play out so that you create a financially sustainable process and you can ask for bids on those certain sale uh moments. So that's why we worded it the way we did in December and we believe there are no further action uh items to be addressed at this time for accounting cash handling controls and procedures. Uh I will tell you that uh I I'm never surprised when opportunities present themselves uh for improvements to internal controls. And so uh I appreciated the opportunity for us to do a bit of a deep dive on this. This says ensure district procedures are consistent formal formally documented and communicated to all employees responsible for cash handling on this one in particular.
188So 5.1 uh we explained that um new leaders have worked to improve process but interestingly enough uh we have a shared drive for our administrative assistance and I'm not we don't know with whom the uh state auditor representatives spoke but uh there was confusion as to where the information was located and it's always been in the shared drive and they have routine training sessions and so I I felt like there was a little bit of a um gap in communication there. And so uh we said at that time that uh we provided a follow-up communication. We've added including building principles to that communication so that there is complete clarity. This is where the procedures are located. These are the training sessions and invite them in for that. So we'll continue to make sure we're doing
189a great job on communicating with the teams that are involved in handling cash and that type of thing and also uh keeping those building principles prized too. So no further uh changes are recommended at this time. Uh and but it is an ongoing thing. That's the thing I need to highlight for you. And so then these three items 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4 that were part of the recommendations has to do with segregating accounting duties and ensuring money is properly receded and all of those things. And so typically when an auditor comes in, they'll pull a swath of of items and transactions and do a deep dive to establish if those have been appropriately handled. And it's not uncommon that there are some gaps in what may be taking place. And so at the time of
190the December response, we said that a third party consulting engagement is planned to review all of that and to help us navigate that. And that review did occur in December and January. And um uh I've noted that there that we have recommendations. We're reviewing those now and uh we will be implementing any uh of those recommendations that are applicable for us. Also, all petty cash amounts have been audited. That was one of the findings that we hadn't uh done that and and that's been separated out now on the general ledger balance sheet. Those weren't maintained separately uh in the past. So no further changes beyond that beyond our perpetual calendars and continual monitoring that type of thing. So uh another recommendation item six for payroll and personnel establish a formal annual leave schedule for senior
191administration and excuse me. So uh at the time of the audit when the response was provided we indicated that yes we would uh uh develop that formal leave process and that it would be communicated and any update to board policy would occur as is warranted. Uh that could also include regulation that probably should have been noted in that. And so our update for you for April is uh that the formal annual leave procedure was developed December 2024 that was uh appropriately addressed and uh as you well know uh December 12th is when the board uh approved a new policy and regulation relative to board appointed committees. Then we went through the process of uh having bylaws approved in March and just this evening you approved the formation of the committee members to serve on that.
192So at the next available um board policy meeting uh committee meeting that information will be provided I would expect. So so for that um so other than that and bringing that back to you for approval that's that will tie a bow on that. So this last this next one 6.2 two was with regard to complying with IRS guidelines for reporting French benefits uh related to personal and commuting mileage. And so I will say that this one when we provided the response December 2024, we indicated the procedures and policy will be updated to reference compliance with uh the IRS publication. there are multiple options in terms of how it's handled. And what I learned is that the key question that someone had answered and understand that there were multiple leaders uh who are no longer here
193that were interviewed by representatives of the of the state auditor office. Uh the question was posed are these employees required to drive the vehicles home? And that's the bright line in terms of how you handle it from a taxation perspective. The whole reason that our security um employees and um and our facility employees drive vehicle have vehicles that are provided them that they drive home is so that they can be those first responders and address eent issues that occur in the middle of the night or whatever point in time and that they are fast to respond and make sure that we do not have disruption to instruction. And so after further uh significant discussion with leaders uh and evaluating the IRS publication, our update for you is that and there are seven people that we're
194talking about um that we uh believe that our current board policy that covers how we have been consistently doing this and taxing this uh board policy 3191 that that does not warrant further change and we do not need to change our behavior. What I will tell you about the gap in the two calculations is if you're provided a vehicle because let's say it's the CEO of a company and they're provided a vehicle, it's part of their benefits package, right? And they end up being taxed based on the market value of that vehicle and it could be a pretty significant tax obligation, no different than if they're receiving the salary equivalent of that. Whereas the calculation process that we deploy for commuting value um uh that that is a minimous it's a minimal taxation for these
195employees. So they are taxed so that any value that they have of not having to drive their own vehicle uh is um is appropriately referenced on their W2 and uh it it again it provides a greater benefit for the district than than it provides for the employee is what I would offer to you. So from our perspective no further action is required that certainly um could be a discussion that you might have uh relative to that. Uh go ahead and I'll keep moving and wrap it up and then we can go back to any. So the next uh recommendation was ensure employment records are maintained and complete for all employees and uh that's always our goal. We uh provided uh information during the December response that uh we would develop queries. Many of those already
196exist. We just needed to do do a little more, right? Go a little further with it. And so our um we were going to form a group to work through checklists and that type of thing. And uh also we noted December that beginning in the 2324 fiscal year, the team recommended and the board approved us uh implementing Vector Solutions K12 training system. And that's a it it used to be called safe schools back in the day uh for districts. And uh that's a system where we online go in and I believe you also participate in some of that training. Uh but we're able to uh receive those mandatory trainings that ensure that all employees understand policy and federal law and a variety of of expectations. And so that had been implemented that addressed part of
197what the state audit was referencing. Uh but now we're telling you that we had a team of leaders and staff meet to identify additional queries that might be implemented to ensure that all fields are appropriately populated. Uh the human resources data queries are in process of being developed. Uh and we're analyzing payroll queries. we'll have that routine audit process to ensure full deployment of the query applications uh is working and uh identify any future gaps of data. So all of that again will be placed on provincial calendars to make sure that we don't misstep on this opportunity to keep the data clean. So, um, this next one then, uh, it kind of is like that, uh, previous one on attendance where it's saying limit user access, uh, in the payroll and leave systems. Again, we,
198uh, know that people are deadended when they leave the system. They cannot log in and therefore, even if they're still listed, uh, they cannot access these applications. But we're doing all we can to continue to shore that up. So at the time we said that we would uh make sure that that was happening uh that there would be a supervisory review of all new employee profiles and periodic review uh on proper assignments of access. Our update is that a a review of user access has been conducted. Appropriate access levels have been granted and again that's on a perpetual calendar for future monitoring uh by the responsible leader. Uh the last one is district property. the board of education provide guidance to building officials to ensure property records are complete and consistent and we committed in
199December that we would um uh form a stakeholder group. I also did include information relative to engagement with music which is the Missouri United Health Insurance Council. That is our property and liability coverage for the district. they have no requirements of maintaining property uh um listings and that type of thing. If in the event of a total building loss, there are ways to identify all the things that we would need to be reimbured for. We did check to see um I think I might did I list it there? Yes. Uh we did a preliminary estimate on what it would mean to have a third party provider come in and conduct an inventory assessment of all things in the district. and that would cost approximately $110,000. And the value that comes from such an assessment, we
200just did not feel it warranted a recommendation for that. So, a meeting was held with all senior leadership team members uh to discuss the best approach for this. And I will tell you what I learned is that a variety of our principles are maintaining lists. They have different uh processes. There might be Google Sheets. Uh, I've had them email me all of that information so that we can identify a standardized process that will be the least intrusive for our principles and our teachers or others that would be helping to maintain those lists, but that we would get something established and the commitment is that we'll get that done by the end of this year and that this will again be added to our perpetual calendars for an annual review to make sure that we are
201hitting the mark on that. So, uh that was a lot. Uh and I am happy to answer any questions that basically restates that uh district and board leadership has changed significantly since 2023 and that uh we have done a lot of work to uh ensure we're doing things as we should in Francis Health. Any questions board? Car, excuse me, Caroline, you were talking about the petty cash and all that. You said um there was no further action taken isn't but you said it was ongoing. So can I can we just be sure that at least once a year maybe when the school year starts that the building principles whoever oversees that cash gets that training that that absolutely I I may not have articulated that well but definitely that is part of our uh communication
202with the administrative assistants and we're very limited. I don't recall if it had the number in there. We really don't have petty cash in very many buildings at all. PTO funds, I don't know. Yeah. And and so but yes, we will continue to to emphasize that training and it will be occurring likely more than annually. Um there are different times during the year when um students aren't in the buildings and it provides this opportunity for professional development and oftentimes any of those finance administrative assistants will gather in this building in this very space often times uh for that training. Um going back to the cars. Yes. And the seven people and now they have to track daily mileage. Well, no. We're going to continue the process that we had in place before where they identify
203the distance from their their home to their standard place of employment. And I don't want to misspeak on that, but that's b the basic calculation on which they're taxed. So the taxation is very minimal for them. I thought there was a formula where the IRS said you just need to impute this this amount. Well, the the information that we have researched indicates again that you can take the path of the market value of the vehicle. That's not good. Yeah. That it it's it's not a good option and it it it it doesn't meet the needs of our system. And so I I personally just feel like I don't again I don't know uh the person I don't know who it was that the auditor representatives engaged with. I don't I don't know why the answer
204would have been they aren't required to drive their vehicles home because that's the whole purpose of them having the vehicle. So, Right. Right. Yeah. For response time. Well, years ago it was all if you use the car for work, mainly work, they know you're going to use it personally. So, just impute 1.7% whatever it was. And made it just so much easier so that you didn't have to track every mile because it gets a little tiring. Okay. We did have our our uh those with the vehicles begin taking that daily process applying that daily process beginning last this past January so that we were equipped uh to implement the new process and after further discussion and research we that's not our recommendation. Thank you so much. Welcome. Thank you. We have superintendent comments. Our student
205is going to leave us. Thank you. Thank you so much. [Applause] He said after 3 hours of a board meeting left right before Kim started talking. Don't take it personally. Superintendent Rumpus. No one ever stays for no one ever. I think that was a record for you. Uh, thank you, President Blair. Uh, first I want to thank, you know, I don't enough thank um this team for the work they prepared for board meetings. You know, Miss Embry being at the podium tonight for multiple presentations. Um, there's a lot of departments in this group providing input, but that was a heavy lift this month and then also Miss Simpkins who we all need natural breaks during this meeting, but the number of drafts of the calendars for the next two years that we as a team
206have reviewed and gone through um, in the hours put in that, it's pretty unbelievable. And so we continue to be open to the feedback and in an ideal world we wouldn't be bringing you new calendars each year but um as we get better information we want to do them. So Lisa I just thank you while you were out of the room. Um no love for Lisa. I do want to take one moment um back to North I I just want to say it's hard sometimes when there's a topic that we're trying to look at objectively um when we know that it involves people and feelings and health. And I um I think the one thing that stood out to me tonight that you received emails as did we that we have employees who felt either
207a that we weren't validating what they were experiencing or the concerns they had. And I know that was not the intent of our team. I hope it's not the intent of any of the vendors or partners we work with. Um but we will continue to think about that as we move forward that at the end of the day we're talking about staff and students and their health. um and we need to look at it objectively and the different pieces of it, but also remember that this is um people and human work and that's a big part of it. And so we're all hopeful that tomorrow um there's information or something else that we find moving forward and if not, we'll continue to work with the board to look at what immediate next steps may be
208um for us as a team. Um, speaking of North, I also want to take this opportunity to recognize Principal Fletcher and the admin team and staff at How North who a couple of weeks ago when the rising flood waters forced the cancellation of prom, um, literally minutes before prom was beginning. Um, had to make a very difficult call. Um, but it was needed to make sure that our students and our staff were safe that night. I want to thank the amazing North community for how they really responded to the news. our our students and families while they were disappointed um there was overwhelming support and accepting of the decision. Um and our local businesses really stepped up whether that was um tuxedo and formalware companies, florists, other vendors um that said that they would cover
209the cost or they would provide um things for our students when problems did happen. I I also want to thank the board as that was happening that evening at in real time. the board stepped up and actually was prepared to try and put an event on at How North and there was offers of DJs and pizza and other things and unfortunately with the timing we just couldn't make it happen but it was a great moment of um one howl people coming together really focused on trying to make that happen for North and you know we're all happy that while we're here this evening that hundreds of our Knights are over at Old Hickory celebrating prom finally this evening. So that's great. Uh, as I mentioned last month, um, our senior pals, who are our residents
210age 55 and older, our last event of the year, they are invited to join us on Wednesday, May 7th at Howell Central. It'll be the middle school cupcake war event. Um, those pals will get to be VIPs at that event. Um, teams from each of our middle schools compete in the bake off where their cupcakes are judged based on their taste, originality, presentation. So, if you or someone you know is interested in attending that event, all the information is on the district website and social media, and we'd love for people to sign up and join us that evening. Um, the Francis Hall Central Library was just recognized this week for earning the distinction of exemplary school library program from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It was the third year in a row
211that the um library program at Central has earned this distinction. Only six libraries in the state of Missouri received the award this year. So, that's exciting for them. and we hope to have them here with the representative desi next month for the board meeting to celebrate them in person. Um, congratulations to our Hall of Fame winners. As you have been seeing, we had over 130 nominations this year and the committee worked through all of those nominations and selected nine very deserving recipients. We will get to celebrate them on May 12th at the How of Fame awards ceremony. Um, but there's a fantastic video that our communications department um, put together highlighting each of the winners and when they were celebrated. And so, if you haven't seen it yet, I encourage you to check out the
212district's Facebook page where you can see that. Um, as a reminder for everyone that there is no school and the district is closed tomorrow for a spring holiday. Our students will return to class on Monday. And last, I would also like to welcome Vice President Grder and Director Oli to the board of education. Um, as I said on Tuesday evening, the demands of schoolboard service really are significant and have an incredible impact, a lasting impact on our students and our community. And I really believe it's one of the greatest service opportunities that you can do. And so, thank you to the two of you for joining us and always is thank you to the seven of you for the work that you do as board members. Thank you. More comments. I have something. Um, I
213have a request for you, President Blair. and uh that is I'm asking for some type of a forum such as a special called work session or the board retreat to discuss the future of the resolution against racism and discrimination and I was hoping that uh next month you could let us know how we could proceed on that. [Music] I appreciate. Are you suggesting some kind of a different setting than an ordinary board meeting where it could be discussed? I I didn't know if the retreat or a a special called meeting, right? I will uh look at the options. I'll talk with um Superintendent Rumpus and and see if there's options for those kind of meetings and I will share the May meeting um which avenue we can take to discuss it further. Thank you. Is
214this the point in time where we can ask for um items to be added to the May agenda? I think yeah, you can share what you're thinking. We can take a gauge of the people here. Okay. Um I I was just kind of uh concerned or inquiring. Oh, I need a motion. Are um Sarah before the meeting next month, you can email President Blair and ask him to put it on the agenda. Hey, he and Dr. Robas who developed the agenda, you can ask him to put it on then. If if you make it now, what I've been told is you need a motion. I mean, if you want to go through that now, it's okay. But I think the easier way is just to ask the two of them. Unless you want board approval
215to put it on, right? Um, got to learn. I'm learning. No, it's okay. It's okay. No. Um, I still am, too. Yeah. I I would like to put it on if possible. Um, because that gives everybody some time to gather whatever information. You can make a motion then make a motion for what you want to I make a motion. Okay. I am so sorry. Wow, your first made a motion. I would like I know I would like to make a motion to add an item on the May agenda. You have to say what that is. Oh, I'm so sorry. Um I am wondering I I was looking over as a new board member. I was going through a lot of the policies um that are currently in boards and I was concerned about um several
216policies that may have impacts on our students and impacts on our staff. And one of those that came to mind was 6310. Um I'm concerned that maybe that there is a lack of accountability in terms of how that policy is holding up over the time that it's been active. How is that serving our community or providing a disservice to our students and or our staff? And if it has become an unfunded mandate at this point in time. Um, so I was concerned if it were possible, could we ask our library staff to analyze the effectiveness of this policy and its impact on our district staff and students? and if so, can we please get that pulled together and something we can address on the May agenda? So, what I'm hearing you say is you're running
217a agenda item on May where we discuss the pros and cons of 6310 and what might need to be changed or something like that. Is that yes? So, so that's the general. So, make that motion. So, so that's so your motion is to discuss 6310 the pros, cons, possible changes at the May meeting. I would like to make a motion to add the discussion of policy 6310 to the May agenda. Is there any second? Second. So, motion by Sarah, second by Amy. All in favor to discuss uh any other discussion about that? First of all, okay. Uh, all in favor to discuss 63 tenant that may Are you looking President Blair? May I offer some? Please do. Yeah. Yeah. Um, we'd be happy to explore this further. Um, I'm a little concerned about the timeline
218of getting a group together to get the feedback to be prepared to discuss it with you at May. I mean, we can we can work to gather that information if that's the direction of the board. Um, I'm just not It's a busy time of year. We may be able to come in May prepared with all the information and we may not. That makes sense. But if if the direction of the board is to talk with librarians and explore it and get the information, we can absolutely begin that process. Um, I'm just What's what's a more realistic time frame for you to gather information like that? June, July, or could it even Yes. I feel like even be part of our June retreat that we talk and there's a chance by May I I don't if
219you're open to it if we're not prepared at May to bring I mean we could share the feedback um just well could we have librarians at the meeting that would give us information um so generally the librarians would not come and speak directly to the board of education we have curriculum leaders and a um a coordinator of library that would work with that group to gather the information and then we would share that information back with the board I thought maybe they could do testimonials or I I think in that case you might be asking more for a work session to discuss it but again um normally the board would work with administration to gather the information to would it be more reasonable to not require a complete thorough where you've talked to every single
220librarian but but maybe you've talked to two or three at different levels. Yeah. At each level in other words more of a here's what we're having or just an email asking them just to email their findings. easy to share. Happy to initiate the process if that's the directive the board and I think we can share the information that we have and if we're at a point that it would um be appropriate for an agenda item in May we could do that and if we need to hold it until you know as a reminder we have two meetings in June. We have one the first week of June as well as the third week. So um yeah so do you want to remove your motion? What do I do? So, one option might be to remove
221your motion to put it on the agenda and and just realize there's a we see if you can put it on there. So, instead of a formal mandated motion to to request, I remove my motion. Oh gosh. So, it's not a motion. So, it's just the discussion. Place the discussion. If you could do the research, I would appreciate that. Yeah. She would. So then I'd like to confirm if it's the direction of the full board that you would like us to explore that with the librarians to get that feedback. Remind me what 6310 is. It's the writing down all the information all the books that are coming into the school district and just asking if that's the right process or there's a different software or different thing whether like so right now every single librarian
222has to put down the entire information for every book even if it's been approved another library. And so the question see if it's unwieldy. Yeah. So as part of that discussion, wouldn't it include outside expertise to probably help the librarians in such a process? [Music] So it could be anc members of the community commenting on it too. Yeah. Yep. I mean or I I would like to just find out too. I mean what is the student impact? It's been almost a year so that that policy has been in effect. How is it impacting our students? How is it impacting our staff? um is it serving us? Is it not serving us? Is there a burden? Is it an unfunded mandate? Um these are I guess it's just kind of part of that accountability process when
223we look at policy at you know at that 12 month mark you know is the policy working right. Yeah because that impacts every I mean it impacts parents it impacts students. So instead of a formal vote if I just thumbs up thumbs down is are you is that a picture of the general desire of the board to discuss it at the May meeting? I thought it was June May if they get in June. We have two meetings in June. So I I can go I don't have to ask you to repeat. I think we can go back and listen to understand the questions of what you'd like us the information you'd like us to gather. There's a consensus to do that. Um the the reality is it we're thinking about next steps as well. It
224isn't a policy and so I think the discussion would be then is it um based on that feedback a policy provision that would go to the policy committee that would come back to the board as opposed to just coming back to the board for discussion. So we can capture that information share it with the board and then talk about the appropriate next steps. So we're not going to solve the problem or if there is a problem on May 27th or not May 27th but the May meeting it would just be to be aware information. how's it going? And then if there is a solution or action step after that, we can decide and thank you. Thank you. Uh others. Yeah. Um my welcome to Amy and Sarah. Congratulations on winning a tough race. Anybody who
225has run for office knows exactly what I'm talking about. I look forward to our meaningful conversations that I know will be held with respect even when we are in disagreement. I look forward to working with you and sharing ideas and vision for what is best for our students. I know you may have questions moving forward and I I want to offer my help. I know that President Blair and Treasurer Owens will answer all of your questions, but if I can offer anything of a historical viewpoint, I'd be happy to since I'm one year older than those two. Now, that was meant to be funny. So, please don't go back to your computers and start telling me how old I am. How are you? What does that mean? I'm not sure what you're referring to. I
226don't know the one you're older. You're wiser. No, don't take this person. You're older than me. Is that what you're saying? Well, that's what you told me I was, but let's not go there. Let's Well, let me let me get through this. Okay, just let me get through. Um, my many thanks to Dr. Kevin Morrison, I'm sorry he isn't here, for his hard work and heavy lift on a district-wide cell phone usage policy for the board to review. Dr. Morrison include all stakeholders in the process. First, he sent out surveys to get a gauge of the expectations of those in the district. The final team to draft and approve a policy included teachers, parents, administrators, and a member of the board. Throughout this process, I gained much respect for Dr. Morrison for not only the
227work that was performed, but his ability to run orderly and productive meetings. Those two don't always go together. His talents were appear apparent throughout the entire process. It's my understanding that next year will be a type of practice year, meaning that the proposed policy will be adopted as a trial um to see how it works over the first year. The last the last item on on my talk that I wanted to give was about the odor at FHA H FHN, but I think I think that's been addressed. So, so I won't go into that that diet tribe. So, anyway, thank you and welcome. President Blair, may I respond to one thing? Director Pushkar said just to provide clarity that we did not pass a policy. We put a process in place. I said proposed policy.
228Proposed. Fair enough. But I just I didn't want anybody to think that pushed a policy through without board approval. Yeah. No, but it it is it is written up as as a policy, but it's not coming to the board until after a trial year. Thank you. Uh others I just wanted to ask a question I guess in question and then a recommendation or a request I guess. I know we've talked a lot about BrainPOP. Um I wanted to see what we need to do to be able to consider that for reinstating that, refunding that for next year, what that would be. So again, similarly, I think to what Sarah was saying, if we can get some feedback or figure out if that, you know, can fall within the budget, I'd like to revisit funding rain
229pop. And then also, I just would like to get some clarification on whether or not in absence of a licensed funded version if their teachers are still able to access the free version. There's already policy around it. I know we didn't fund it again, but I think there's some confusion as to whether or not those resources can even be used right now. There's a lot of Brain Pop videos on YouTube for free. So, I think the question is, can our teachers use the free versions of Brain Pop even though we've discontinued the subscription version? Yeah, I think it's based on the direction of the board. So, previously it was not approved. the request to purchase Bring Pop was not approved and it wasn't necessarily about the money. It was about the resource. And so based
230on that conversation, the direction that we provided to staff was please don't use Spring Pop free on YouTube purchased privately, it it's not a resource available. Um I think if this board is open to that and um we are happy to go back and tell teachers that they are able to access it. I'd like to advocate for that. I just know how many teachers we have had really struggling with not having that resource. And I don't if it wasn't part of a policy, I don't see why we would not let them. Yeah. Like voting on that right now would be out of place, right? Because it's not on the agenda to discuss. Should we vote? No. That's not a policy. I I would offer that there was never a vote not to you not allowed
231to use about the resource. Um, I would also offer a as the superintendent that generally we we don't ask the board to vote whether or not teachers can use a specific supplemental resource. We have an internal process for approving that. So, I think it would be more of a what is the general direction and feeling of the board. Um, we could work through what that looks like on a practical side on our end. Okay. But I heard two I I hear that question but then I also heard questions about [Music] refunding or moving forward paid version. Right. Yeah. Because I I know that I thought that the brain pop was um just a financial thing. I didn't realize that it had a a overreaching I and I know as a teacher myself I'm always looking
232for resources to someone real handicap for my curriculum and if it's available to teachers for free on YouTube which some videos are not all of them but some are um I think are I know as a teacher I use it at my school where I teach um and it's very helpful and the kids really love I think we need to talk about it. But what are we are we not do we need to put it on the agenda? It does need to be on the agenda. But just quickly the there's been some executive orders and things that have come out that you know disallow certain topics CRT that that sort of thing. I'm not familiar with all of them or even how farreaching they are, but my only my only caution was be sure that
233that information um isn't give, you know, put in there for the kids to watch because that can affect funding. Absolutely. So, they don't they don't discuss here. I don't think our major I don't know. I don't think our major concern was that resource in total. It was more some of the topics that were being covered in it. And now, like I said, there's not repeating myself, might be better to have somebody look at it, make sure that something that would be fit really nicely on an agenda for an open meeting. Right. So, we have two different issues. The first issue is to discuss it um in the main meeting for you all to just present. Does the superintendent by talking to teachers want to add brain pop as part of the budget that we have
234to vote on in June? Just what are the pluses or minuses? we get a chance to judge it based upon its merit versus any other pieces to it. So that would be a possibility for me is to discuss it because we have to decide if it's on the budget or not. So, so the budgetary is it feasible to put on the budget for next year assuming that and I mean I'm just thinking from my own personal experience as a teacher in the classroom I you know um if I have any parents who have concerns those can easily be alleviated by a permission slip um and you know and just respect for whatever those parents wishes are. Um, and I find that to be copathetic for everybody involved. Um, but most I would say like 99%
235of the content is is perfectly acceptable and valid and um connected to curriculum and um a good supplemental resource I think for teachers to rely on. So I think what we're asking is is can we find out if we can validate its use? Then can we put it on the budget if we can afford it? But then also in the meantime until that happens, can teachers use any of the free videos, assuming they're using them with professional integrity and or perhaps a permission slip if that's something that we need to consider. So, President Blair, to the first part of Director Oki's question, is it the consensus of the board? It sounds like you're asking us to next month bring information about the pros or the cons of Brain Pop and what the potential costs would
236be if it were to be added back into the budget for next year. Ron, does that sound like something that could be put on a open session agenda? That's your guys' Well, but but that's I mean, would you support that? Yeah, I'm open to it being up in open session. Absolutely. And so I think to this that I think we have direction I think to part two of that though administration did not make the recommendation to stop using it. Again that came from a board directive around not continuing the purchase which came with a clear directive of why we were not moving forward with the product. And so, um, I I believe it would be the board's perview to change or indicate that if teachers were interested in using the free version that that would
237be acceptable. Do we need a motion? Do we need to thumbs up it? I think Sarah brought up a good point in the professional integrity surrounding that. Just make sure that you know you're using something that is live on the web that is not something that we purchased. make sure that whatever they're putting out there to the kids is, you know, common sense. Don't make sure that it's it's permission or whatever. Absolutely. Yeah. I think the teachers are all very cautious at this point about what they're doing. So, I don't expect that would be a problem. And there is an expectation that any instructional materials are previewed prior to being used in the classroom. I'm a thumbs up on this for free resources for now. Anybody else teach Can we just do thumbs up? I
238don't think so. He just needs a general indication. Yeah, we're going to talk about whether or not we're going to refund it for next year. We've only got how many days left of school. So, can we just give them a little nudge for the next month and a half or whatever they've got to just use those free resources? It is hard to give you the general consensus of the board about voting. So, that's why it's kind of a But what do we do informal? Does anybody have Does anybody have anybody reason not to? No. No, no reason. No, just everything that's already been mentioned, you know, and maybe gets maybe it gets to a point where the teachers are happy with the free version and we don't have to pay for it. The school responsibility,
239right? I don't know if there's enough material in that. We will have time to discuss pros and cons. We'll provide with the information we have to you and if you choose to make an agenda item. Perfect. Good. Any other board comments? Thank you. No thanks everybody. I'm going to I promise mine will be short. Here we go. I'm going to hold you to that, Ron. Yes. Welcome Amy to to the board. Good luck to you all and enjoy it. The the And then I'd also like to say the uh the math students, one of those students made an awesome comment talking about how he didn't meet his own expectations. I'll paraphrase as best I heard. Didn't meet his own expectations. he fell short of what he wanted to do. So, in a sense, he failed,
240but he stood up and he took the challenge. He's going to do better next year, which is a tremendous message that Dr. Rumpus gave during your graduation speech last year talking about failure should be part of education, should be part of life. Learning from your failures and getting up and moving on. It's a tremendous message. It's an awesome attitude. And that's what we need to encourage as failure is never final. It should just be learned from and we should encourage students to to to learn from their failures and move on and and achieve. Huzah. His teacher probably taught him that. Yeah, that that was short. That comfortable. That was short. Um, anybody else? I just want to end with this. Um, but there's a sore awards at Henderson. I want to thank um the people
241there for doing that. It was just a great event. I appreciate Director uh Pushkar and Director Ponder for being there as well. Uh I want to point out uh that if you want to be involved in what's going on in this school district, uh one way is to follow every single school on Facebook, you'll find out that the Barnavville Middle School is having an art show next Thursday. Cosley Elementary School had a battle of the book where 12 fourth and fifth graders read 12 Mark Twain books. Uh Frank High School uh had uh congratulations for a scholar bowl on third place finishing districts. uh Hollowbeck Middle School at a recent performance of Goosebumps the magic uh the musical. Just follow every school. There's so much good that's happening. And I wanted to list one last
242feature. There's a guy named Benny, elementary student in Central Elementary who is one year cancer-free. And the whole school rallied around. And uh I just want to share this one sentence that was written by his mom to Mrs. Sarah Caswell. I don't really know how to begin this, but what I do know is the woman is a treasure who must be protected at all costs. She saved us. We had become an unsure, insecure family. We knew he we had so much to be grateful for, but we still hadn't found our feet. From the very first day, he came home smiling. He loved her in all caps. She has helped him find who he is now. Anyone who is familiar with chemotherapy probably knows the word roadmap. It's the term they use for the next course
243of treatment, what it will look like and what has saved his life. But Sarah Caswell has also provided Benny with a road map it but it's one that has taught him how to live and it's a much longer and I just wanted to highlight Sarah Caswell this one teacher as we talk about all the names and all the stuff we're going to be able to focus on and hope that Mrs. Sarah Caswell um hears that as well. So we at Francis How are the number one school district in St. Charles County and our best days are still ahead of us and we get a chance to be all part of that together. So with that um there's information items to look at at your own time and we need a motion to close so move
244a motion moved by everybody. We'll say and we'll say it was seconded by by Carol Lee. Okay. All in favor? I all opposed. Motion passes. Thank you.