FHSD Board of Education Meeting- September 19, 2024

001e e e we coming today this evening um as required by Missouri statute 67110 the board of education is holding public tax hearing on the proposed tax rates for the current tax year after the tax rate hearing later in in the regular meeting the tax rates will be voted on by the Board of Education I'm turn over the Chief Financial Officer Carol Embry who will provide additional information good evening board hello hello hi there okay I am ready now okay so yes this evening we are providing you with information relative to setting the tax rate hearing you'll note within the presentation slide deck and other information posted that we do this process to be compliant with Missouri statute 0.2 and also board policy 3320 in St Charles County our tax rate must be set by

002October 1st each year and we do it through an interactive process with the state auditor office also using data from St Charles County so basically we go online and fill out forms and um verify that all the data is entered appropriately this also does provide an opportunity for patrons to provide feedback relative to the information being shared this next slide reminds you that we have two levies that are set each year one is the operating Levy the other is The Debt Service Levy the operating Levy and this is a familiar slide as we've uh had this in budget presentations and also last year for this tax rate hearing uh the operating Levy can be placed in any of those three funds the general fund teacher fund or capital projects fund and The Debt Service lby

003must go into The Debt Service fund this is the tax rate hearing notice that was posted through in the community uh and it is again representing the data provided by St Charles County we're required to post this 7 days prior to the tax rate hearing and we did that it is conducted so that again patrons have opportunity to hear the prop osed property tax rates the operating Levy uh relies upon the assessed valuation of residential and personal property uh we do have opportunity in odd years for reassessments so this is not an odd year in 2024 so this is not a reassessment year we are in occupancy County that means that as as uh people occupy properties that those properties go on the tax roles and that then uh causes them to end up with

004tax bill for that year the Consumer Price Index is utilized in the calculation and we are subject to the Hancock Amendment provision that caps our Revenue growth and I'll share more about that as we move forward The Debt Service Levy is set so that we are able to pay the principal interest and fees for any of our debt service obligation that patrons have approved this slide shows you the assess valuation relative to market value so whatever your market value is of your proper property then you take that times a percentage to reduce it down to your assess value level as you can see residential real estate is 19% agriculture is 12% commercial real estate is 32% and personal property is 33 and a 3% and I have the statuto reference for you as well 13715

005and these are values that are provided Statewide the assess valuation by primary categories is noted for you you can see that real estate has grown by 1.68% and that would be relative to new construction and then for personal property we're seeing a reduction in personal property of 3.36% the net total is an increase of 0.92% so less than 1% this is when we compare our values to the same period of time last year for new construction and improvements we highlight that because when we are subject to the handc Handcock provision that does not apply to new construction or property values that are considered improvements and so as you can see our new construction value is noted at uh 38 m49 262 that shows a growth for this year of that new construction value we're not

006capped on that this provides you the subcategories within the assess valuation and the uh percentage that they represent of the total assess valuation of 3 b853 m732 825 and as you can see residential property is the greatest uh contributor to our assess valuation data in our community for uh supporting Francis Health school district 74.7 one residential commercial 10.35% agricultural is .14 of a per personal property is 14.38% these numbers all represent after Board of Equalization changes and so we do receive a preliminary assess valuation uh often times that can be in July it might be early August and then we receive the final after Board of Equalization numbers uh in uh time to set the levy so typically that would be at the end of August for our community year this slide shows you the

007assess valuation history and you can see that during this 10year span uh from tax year 15 to to 24 the average increase is 5.79% the average increase in reassessment years or odd years has been 6.1% a lot of that is attributed to that increase we experienced last year and then our average increase in non- reassessment year years would be 1.49% and again that's all absent any new construction uh [Music] implications so this slide tells you a little more about the Hancock Amendment and our um our hold level basically is what it is so we are allowed to grow Revenue it's always based on the total revenue calculated we are completely kept at a 5% increase but that would be the highest uh that we could go the actual valuation is one factor and again that's

00892% the inflation rate that's based on the Consumer Price Index from December of the prior Year and that at this point in time is 3.4% so it's always the lowest of those three and so in this situation we are capped at a 0.92% growth for our Revenue increase the state C Tax Commission provides that Consumer Price Index you can see it's fluctuated pretty significantly and we're not surprised by that given all the other economic impacts that have been experienced over the past several years and the uh in the 10year span we've had an average of 2.82% the low was 7% in tax year 16 2016 and the high was uh in 20122 at 7% this slide shows you our proposed tax rates uh using the assess valuation data after Board of Equalization review the requested

009operating Levy is 3.41 91 and the requested Debt Service Levy is 6713 the same as it has been for several years and this includes a roll back of the state auditor calculated Levy our debt service Levy technically calculates out at 86.0 C so there is a roll back included in that the grand total Levy would be 4.09 in comparing that to the prior year it was 4.08 78 so this is an increase of 0.0026 cents so much less than half of a cent even uh so the information that is uh provided here also shows you that the change in operating is is from 34165 to 3.41 91 and that's where that 20.02 6 cents rests this slide uh shows you that uh we had a tax rate of 4 0878 last year you may recall

010that in April we provided you uh within the board Doc's agenda the projected tax liability notice and at that juncture we had projected that it would be 4.08 A1 and that was based on December values so the state auditor or rather the uh local assessor provides us with values or the county clerk does and we use those values then to calculate they provided by March 15th each year we use those values to calculate the April anticipated tax levy it's not a binding Levy but it's a requirement of Missouri statute so this slide shows you our preliminary to final and this again is relative to the different uh categories for assess valuation it shows you the Board of Equalization changes that occurred during that window of time between the preliminary and the final information and uh

011it also shows you the new construction changes that were impacted by Board of Equalization process this information shows you our comparison districts in St Charles County this information is tenative because I'm not confident at which juncture their boards will be approving their tax levies but we do partner and share information so that we have context of what's going on in the world around us as you can see Francis House school district is highlighted in blue and shows our Levy and the change from 22 23 to 24 Port zumalt shows no change for this current year Wentzville no change St Charles county or city is showing 097 increase and Orchard Farm is showing a decrease of 030 again it's all relative to everyone's own local information this shows you a graph of how we compare with

012those other districts and Francis House sits with the lowest in total tax rates of all the St Charles County District dist this shows you the operating tax levy again we are showing as the lowest in the St Charles County District Community for Debt Service we did move up to the second position in terms of lowest on our debt service tax levy this uh provides you the operating Revenue estimate and the growth that we would see this is a a slice of that tax rate hearing notice that was posted in advance of this meeting as you can see the new revenue from reassessments and other changes is limited to $1,339 for the entire year but for that new construction value of growth we would not see a revenue increase but with the new construction and improvements

013where these new properties are now available for taxation we are seeing just over $1.3 million in of revenue for this the net increase uh being the 1302 [Music] this shows you again that Revenue estimate uh the total budget amendment for all funds will increase Revenue uh by 134,50 so we we had a pretty decent mark on how much to budget for this year and have just a slight budget amendment that we will bring you at the uh during the October meeting the split between operating funds and debt is noted that's a 27,35 increase to operating fund Reven revenue and 7,608 increase to The Debt Service Revenue this slide shows you that if a person had $100,000 worth of property market value property that the assess valuation again this is a residential demonstration so I have

014a 19% market assessment that takes that property value to the assess valuation level you divide that number by $100 and then multiply it times the levy so you can see that the growth in a person's tax bill if all other factors remain the same would be 49 cents for the year per $100,000 of market value of property now I must highlight that this is in aggregate so that's in totality if an individual had some form of change to their individual parcel they might see a differential uh compared to that this is a reminder that there is that old Missouri property tax credit claim that could be made for people uh for certain senior citizens to get uh a reimbursement on that we commented previously last year about the potential impact of Senate Bill uh 190

015relative to uh the freeze for people who were at least 62 years of age as of January 1 of 2024 and we didn't at that time have information but the estimate that the county had provided us is that we could potentially be impacted by a loss of $6 million annual annually based on that and then this does show you this final slide an update I was able to get information from our uh St Charles County collector and the information showed that we uh in the community the entire St Charles Community 34775 um parcel applications have been entered and 18756 have been approved and that again does represent all of St Charles County none of this is impacting Us in this current year it will impact us next year and uh for context I also gathered

016data relative to well what piece of the pie is Francis House school district of those parcels and for Residential Properties we have approximately 30.56% of all those Parcels but we won't know until they tell us uh the actual final impacts to us so tax year 2025 uh they'll still have an open window of application and then they'll have these existing applications that have been submitted so that's new information for you otherwise that concludes the presentation have any questions I would be happy to answer those questions board not really a question just kind of a statement a reminder for community in general it was kind of in the middle but um on The Debt Service Levy I think it's just worth pointing out that uh prior boards prior administrations have uh committed to keep The Debt

017Service Levy at 0.67 67 13 cents there so I think it's important to highlight that we the district we do a voluntary roll back which i' I've come to learn is not common right um I've learned that from you but um so you know the technically the district is able to tax 86 cents and change but we do a roll back of almost 19 cents and uh that's how we arrive at 6713 so looks like Ford zwald bested us this year um but we didn't move up they just moved below us correct so that's all I wanted to say thank you Miss imry um at this time we will welcome members of the public to invite them to come up and comment on propos tax rate [Music] anybody want speak on [Music] taxes hi Penny

018Bartell um the slide that said proposed tax rates compared to the year 20123 I don't know if you're able to go back to it but it seems like there's a a change an increase in incidental but a decrease in the teachers is there a reason for that uh I can speak to that in most districts uh and I might have spoken about it last year in most districts uh or a number of districts I should say there is no tax levy that's set in the teacher fund and a transfer is made at the end of the year from the operating fund or the general fund um in the Francis hell district and and some other neighboring districts uh there is a levy that's set the thing that we need to watch each time is that

019we're not continuing to grow the balance but to meet the needs of the demand of the budget and so that was an adjustment to get it to a normalized percentage and each year we would take a look at that at where it needed to land it doesn't impact anything um that is done relative to uh pay for teachers or other staff or benefits because that is negotiated separately and we always look at all of that information from an operating fund balance perspective and that includes combining those two funds together so great question uh it it is a change and uh it it varies from District to District so the decrease planned for this year does that affect like it does not affect teachers as far as salary and hiring of teachers no absolutely no impact

020whatsoever very valid question it's very confusing that this is how it works in the state again most districts they do not have Revenue to cover all the teacher fund expenditures and so if you go look at and look at the annual report to the state uh it will show that there's a transfer that sets the teacher fund back up to zero okay to set it to zero but again any decisions whenever we talk about our budget impact and available funds we look at it from a holistic approach of these are our operating funds some go in fund one some in fund two but we look at it uh from the full perspective in terms of what might be available okay thanks for the information great question thank you thank you any anybody else to speak

021on tax rates once tce all right we will close the hearing on taxes moving on we're going to proceed to the Pledge of Allegiance i al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all would like a motion to approve the agenda for September 19th 2024 as presented moved president ban yes I'd like to make a motion to remove policy and regulation 0360 from the agenda please so we have a motion to amend the agenda second policy 0360 policy and regulation 03 first byor Ponder and second by director all those in favor of the motion say I iOS say no I have it so now we have a motion to approve the amended agenda for September

02219th 2024 as presented all those in favor say I I I all those oppos say no eyes have next we're going to do a special recognition for our bus driver competition wins Miss jeles thank you president Bertrand tonight we are honored to recognize a pair of dedicated Francis how bus drivers who have racked up impressive awards for their bus driving skills last spring Heath Bey competed in the St Louis Regional safety competition better known as the annual school bus rodeo and came out victorious in the experienced conventional division drivers are awarded points on a general knowledge written test vehicle inspection as well as their behindth wheel skills that call for them to maneuver a school school bus in and around various driving challenges some of which are timed Kei with 29 years of experience has

023participated in the annual competition for six years and placed several times but this year took home the coveted first place trophy as a trainer for the past six years Heath helps new recruits sharpen their safe driving skills we also have the honor of recognizing Hannah scharenberg a bus router and Driver who placed first in a state safety competition sponsored by the Missouri Association for Pupil Transportation or moap the competition tests the skills and expertise of school bus drivers across Missouri in various safety related challenges including vehicle inspection driving skills and emergency procedures it serves as a platform to promote and recognize excellence in school bus transportation safety practices aiming to enhance overall safety standards for student transport Hannah's first place finish at the state level qualified her to travel to Austin Texas for the international

024school bus driver safety competition Hannah and another driver from Pattonville School District were the only two dri from the entire state of Missouri to qualify for the international competition and this year actually marked the 10th time Hannah qualified for the international competition she won first place in 2017 in the transit Division and this year placed sixth at the international level Hannah's participation and bus driving competitions was inspired by her mother's background as a bus a bus driver competitions became a passion for her driven by the desire to learn and improve continuously now if Hannah looks familiar it could be because she recently appeared in a promotional video as part of our bus driving h bus driver hiring campaign we invited a local radio show host to come out and see what it takes to be

025a Francis how bus driver and we actually have that video we're going to show it here for you before we call up Hannah and Heath did you know bus drivers can compete in a safe driving competition called the bus rodeo maneuver a bus safely through an obstacle course that is set up to mimic driving conditions on the road Hannah from the Francis House School District knows all about it because she won first place it's really a good passion for me you could compete too if you join the team because Francis H is hiring we are hiring bus drivers monitors and sub drivers for my official vest so this is our drivers's room they basically get their routes um from their boxes pick up my route Route 38 they'll come here get their keys oh my

026gosh it's so exciting you only have to work 25 hours week that is considered full-time employment it's great medical dental and vision we get a stien for training you also have an attendance bonus you get paid to train people like I can't drive my car how am I supposed to drive a bus well you only get three mirrors on your car and I have seven the driver's seat oh you do see a lot back there my goodness telling you there so many mirrors you would be coming into an amazing District it's a great opportunity to work with kids that is our Precious Cargo you're going to be the start and finish of their day and you can set the tone find out more at fhsdschools.org 419 watch out Julie trist's on the road all right

027help me congratulate Hannah and Heath for their win [Applause] [Music] thank you conratulations thank you all right and next up we are excited to introduce our student board representative for the month of September now as you know the purpose of the student board rep program is to honor and recognize talented students Elevate student voice and provide growth opportunities in the areas of public speaking leadership and governance students are selected for this Honor by their principal with input from the student body they have an opportunity to prepare and deliver a a short speech to the board and public that is focused on their school or the district as a whole and with that I'll invite principal Jeff gruner from Brian Middle School to introduce our student board rep thank you good evening board my name is

028Jeff ker I'm principal at Brian middle school and it is my honor to introduce the student rep for the school board meeting this month and is her name is Payton Bailey pton is an active eighth grade student who thrives in both academics and extracurricular activities she is deeply involved in School Community she par participates in band and FCA National Junior Honor Society and the Yearbook Club she also displays her athleticism by running cross country for Brian she actually had a a meet just about few hours ago outside of school she enjoys playing basketball for the junior H Vikings team her favorite classes are physical education and Ela where she enjoys both physical activity and exploring literature above all pton Chair say the time that she spends with her friends making School a place of joy

029and camaraderie for her she is well-liked by her classmates and she is an excellent role model pton displays the pton way daily by being respectful responsible honest and kind please help me welcome pton Bailey thank you Mr grer um I'm really excited to be speaking today and I I just want to take a few moments to share how much I love our school and why it means so much to me I transferred to the Francis H District to Independence Elementary School during during the fourth grade during the pandemic I was really nervous to start a new school but that quickly changed I had previously struggled with reading through first through third grade and I needed extra help with reading but as soon as I transferred over that all changed I now am a decent reader

030and I really love to read um as soon as I started at Brian I knew it was going to be great the moment that I walk through those doors I felt extremely welcomed I've met so many amazing people and it's incredible how we all support each other it really feels like we're all a big family one of the things I really appreciate is how much our teachers make every lesson engaging and fun I've participated in Hands-On projects experiments and exciting discussions my teachers take the time to help me understand things better and are always encouraging me when I need it it's clear that our teachers care a lot about our success I've also had the opportunity to join a number of Club such as stuco and JHS yearbook and our murals the Francis H feeder

031basketball team and now cross country I've been a part of the Brian Francis how family being a part of the Brian Francis family has provided me with the support and education that I need and has opened many doors for me as such as being um invited to the Joseph Baldwin Academy this past summer a big thank you to our principls and counselors and everyone who works behind the scenes the office staff who always has a smile on our face and a helpful answer to the custodians that keep our school clean and our resource officer who keeps us safe and thank you for all of your hard work it does not go unnoticed you help make our school a better place so we can feel safe and care for in closing I just want to say

032how grateful I am for everything that our school offers it is more than just a place to learn it is a place where we build memories friendships and a sense of who we are thank you for everyone who makes our school such a great place and it's awesome to be there thank you guys for listening [Music] okay more can you send this to Mom thank you [Applause] guys sorry P we just want to welcome you and just remind you that you are uh a gift to the whole District while you're here you can ask questions or share opinions at different points and if you want to do that just kind of elbow me and I'll be glad to let you know if that's the right time um but we're just glad that you're here uh

033just like the flag is a symbol of what we do and why we do it you're a symbol representing all the students of what we do and why we do it and we're very thankful that you're here today thank you so much thanks for joining us um up next we have public 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 sign up and each speaker has 3 minutes to make their remarks please remember that only one speaker allow 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

034we value both your input and perspective I'd like to remind everyone that we expect that speakers will remain civil and respectful when giving remarks if anyone fails to comply with board policies regulations and rules we reserve the right to cut those 3 minutes short and start off with welcome King G for superintendent good evening for those of you who missed the open house last month of the new Francis Howell North High School you missed something extraordinary in a word our do North High School is magnificent it it has all the bells and whistles you you'd expect of $163 million facility this week again and I reached out to the people conducting the Francis Al North High School audit it is in its final completion stage however there is no firm release date at this time

035hopefully the audit's findings and recommendations will prove invaluable in presenting any future overspending of millions of tax pays dollars regaining patrons confidence and Trust in such matters is critical to the current and future State and success of our district I want to commend the board and the ad Administration for staying within the remaining propass funding for completing capital projects in a timely fashion for extensively collaborating with the involved schools and principles and for doing so with such transparency you've put the education safety and Welfare of our kids at the top of your priority thank you nice job last week I had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with attorney general andw Bailey as well as with star pocker the accomplished and well-known black columnist TV host and author I told Mr Bailey how our district is

036working on a common sense bathroom and locker room policy focusing on the safety and the privacy of all our students I emphasize to him that our district is being extraordinarily and painstakingly conscientious and meticulous in approaching any legal actions that may be taken by activists in our community unlike the bathroom policies implemented at Blue Springs and Platt County he saw no problems with our approach none regarding star Parker it may be beneficial to examine her approach and thoughts on ways to address the delicate issues of equality Equity Dei racism CRT bullying gaslighting and activism star is widely read has reaching appeal and influence and is the founder and president of cure the urban renewal and education organization you can read her weekly column in the Mid Rivers news magazine perhaps she can help be helpful

037in bringing ideas on how to move forward at handling such issues it's time to stop the vitriol the hateful post the demonizing of our school board members and focus our attention and efforts on what really matters safe classrooms with the highest academic standards and a nurturing culture for all thank you your time is up up next we welcome Anita cooner sorry haven't been gone that long some might say I'm I'm still not but anyway good evening my name is Anita Keener I a patron and taxpayer in the Francis heal School District tonight we are coming forward with several policy one of them was to change was changed last night why and when these get changed on Wednesday we have looked at board docs early in the week the fhaa President should be notified that there

038was a change I also want to speak about Jane pushkar unfortunately Ely I wasn't able to speak last month in July Jane called out a teacher by name to not renew the individual's extra Duty contract why because she enjoys bullying when she shows up at new teacher orientation to bully the administration new teachers and fhaa why because she enjoys bullying bathroom policies another way to bully students Jane is being sued for defamation of character by St Charles or defamation of character um at the St Charles County uh by the St Charles County Library employee that Jane intended to bully this isn't what we want here in Francis H School District over 350 people attended the June 20th 2023 meeting St Charles County Library board meeting where Jane identified herself as a Francis hell School District

039Board of Education member while using derogatory derogatory remarks to describe a library employ employee pushkar referred to a library worker as a transvestite and this person's purpose at the library was to indoctrinate Children the term transvestite is typically understood by reasonable persons as derogatory pushkar used the term intentionally to incite hatred in a public forum toward a library worker pushkar's statement that the library worker's purpose at the library was to indoctrinate Children was intended to be understood as an alleged int ention to indoctrinate children into a life of alleged sexual misconduct the purpose of pushkar's statement at the library was to fear Monger patrons to believe that a library worker intended to indoctrinate Children which was false both in its literal sense and in its implication that the library worker was allegedly there to indoctrinate

040children into a life of sexual misconduct pushkar continued by stating that a drag queen works in the children's section of the library and this is harmful to children pushkar insinuated that the library workers's intent while working at the library was to gain access to Children ostensibly to engage in sexual misconduct with children pushkar publicly and falsely accused this person of sexual misconduct and potentially criminal misconduct Jane I'm sorry that you're not here but I'm sure you'll watch this you are an embarrassment to the Francis hell School District you need to resign from the Francis hell school board and stop bullying our community in including our children they deserve better thank you your time we cannot be one next we welcome Amy [Applause] e good evening my name is Amy easterling I have lived in the

041district for over 20 years and I have two children who are graduates and I've also been consistently attending these board meetings for more than two years now um over the last couple years I have watched the temperature in our district rise in the way we talk to each other devolve let me be clear I am not here to restrict anyone's right to free speech and I also acknowledge that hurt and fear from all sides of our community can result in strong emotions and perhaps not so polite interchanges however I am speaking tonight in support of the proposed modifications to policies 340 by director Owens As Leaders you should be held to a higher standard of decorum when speaking not only to and about each other but also when speaking to and about our teachers parents

042staff students and community members as someone who ran for the board I do know what it's like for people to be rude cruel and downright invasive it sucks and as humans I understand that we all have an Impulse to Snapback however you were elected by the voters of this District you signed up to be a leader and in my opinion that should be someone who sets the standards of behavior and I could pause now and I could list a bunch of examples of where I personally think some of you have failed in these standards but I'm not going to do that what I would like us for to do is to move on from the past and commit to doing better in the future if we could all listen have empathy and speak with kindness

043and respect to even those who you disagree with I ask you as Leaders to commit to this I would like our community to pay attention to the vote on 0340 if we end up with two for and five against I think it's going to be pretty clear that five of you are not ready to embrace our entire Community but care more about winning if you are a voter in the Francis H School District please really consider what you want to represent you as your school board do you want directors who will say yes to and I'm going to quote the statement to avoid void inappropriate or disparaging remarks in and out of board meetings about other board members parents staff and students or their opinions or do you want directors who are so mired in

044the politics and culture wars of their backers that they can't even agree to be nice the next election is April 8th and we'll remember thank you next we welcome Carrie Zukowski good evening just a quick shout out to FHN we had conferences last night the place was packed great job teachers um admin um coaches uh sponsors all that kind of stuff um I'm here tonight to talk about policy 6241 and some confusion um I saw it was back on the agenda I was here at that really really long meeting last month um and I thought the additions of no hate speech no false science no fake historical claims I thought those were pretty agreeable I think most of us want um you know really strong uh instructional materials um for our students um I guess

045the community is kind of confused too I I read an article this morning published by NPR about it um and I emailed the other day because I had a few questions thank you director Owens thank you uh director cook uh for emailing me back um and I was kind of um interested in uh director Cook's response so I'm actually going to read it today because it it was surprising to me so and if you want to see it I can show it to you later or you can Sunshine it um it's says Miss lowski I'm not able to to discuss the recommendations of our legal council I ask that you find it in your heart to trust that our educators will select the resources that are educationally suitable as they have done for decades already

046if by some chance you feel that there was an oversight policy 6241 affords you the opportunity to challenge certain resources if you feel one of them is educationally unsuitable and that was from director cook um and I just thought wow gosh we're on the same page that's awesome um we agree I've spent two years up here saying that trust the Educators I've I've sent emails trust the Educators I've been volunteering on committees trust the Educators um so I just kind of want to go through a couple of times when maybe you didn't tou trust the Educators um we'll start with I ready that was piloted um a couple years ago um I think May 2023 there was a vote the math curriculum elementary math voted down by a boarded majority um brain pop just this

047past year um really great resource especially for Elementary Middle School social study science stuff voted down by this board um I trusted the Educators to develop black literature and black history electives my son took it it was great standards removed by this board again not trusting the Educators um conferences um a lot of teachers choose to do their professional development at conferences um so you know there's lots of sessions they can pick which ones are most relevant to them um and so um I noticed that many times I think uh director cook I I'm at your count of more than 10 times you voted against um teachers going to specific conferences so um I'm glad to hear that you um are hoping to trust the Educators so as we continue to trust our district professionals

048I look forward to seeing your trust on all the Educators reflected in each of your future votes on the Francis how Board of Education and to Echo what Mr gantar said safe nurturing classrooms that's what we need here next we welcome Amy G hello and thank you this is my first time being in person at um a board meeting and it's been really interesting watching it online it's been like a series for me and it's going to be my new hobby so my 3 minutes is probably going to I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it I talk a lot but for better for worse I'll tell you a little bit about myself cuz I'll be here every every single month until I get what I want and I can be

049a real pain my husband can vouch for that and anybody that has worked for me I can really be a pain um okay but the good stuff um I'm a resident of St Charles County um I have nieces in the school district I have lots of friends with children in the school district I have former clients and families that I care about their Futures and I'm not scared to talk to anybody I think that there are two board members who have been extremely patient and collaborative and then we just had the other Amy just speak and she's being very nice um and I'm not going to be because I think it's time to start fire with fire and there's rules I'll follow um I actually talked to a couple of my nieces and some people

050that are kind of um a little bit more aware of some um different language and to use CU I can't cuss or else I'll get kicked out but I've got some good some good stuff to work with so I might be using that cheat sheet um I'm also a former alumni of the Franc School District I went to Cosley Elementary um I'm not sure if parents have had to go through the Border switching and then I went to Central Elementary little bit terrifying got to know a lot of people there um also went to Sager Middle School awesome experience and then at franel Central of course the best high school of the district no I don't know a lot of things have changed so um just going on to that um I was also um

051a product of the Spectre program so I'm really good at tangrams in 1996 PowerPoint for slide decks as they call them now um so um and also in those classes they've really taught us to think critically and look at you know things that are bothering in bigger pictures and um a long story short I've been an educator before special education physical education uh right now I'm a behavior analyst board certified behavior analyst so I look at things very analytically and I look at things objectively and I help come up with definitions for those and last week's board meeting was just like really frustrating for me to watch because they wanted to go Loosey Goosey on policies and I know I'm I'm a younger person and I've just been involved with doing policies at my new

052job and you need to be good at it and to have the people in the middle of the rows just challenging them and shutting them down um it's really frustrating um and I just want to end with okay I don't know if I have enough time these are all the problems I have with the board so we're going to get through those but I like to prioritize the problems and I think the racism and the transphobia that you guys are doing it's awful and I wish Jane were here because I would like for her to step down she is my first person um I don't like what she's doing and she's bringing to the community time this up [Applause] next we welcome Nathaniel [Music] Basset members of the board Administration and District patrons greetings growing

053up I was a big fan of Reading Rainbow as I'm sure many of you were as well uh Lavar Burton would describe new stories to us that I had yet to read and he'd encourage us viewers to use our imagination uh diving into books for new experiences and new ideas and it's been my experience that those who love to read at a young age soon come to love learning this morning stlpr reported how Francis how School Board may allow hate speech false information in school materials uh that was published at about 6:00 a.m. this morning on stlpr it relates to new policies from director cook uh and others here under such policies new books and materials for students will have to be approved or censored by this board currently there are, 1456 current items in

054board docs awaiting approval I coated the whole list 136 of which are labeled as young adult these titles include Lizzy Rockwell's m a frog Mo Williams I'm a Frog as well as Roland doll's Matilda which may you may have read and a series called the dangers of drugs alcohol and smoking so these are among the materials that the board wants to approve or censor but seriously how will they decide what should and shouldn't be in our schools the metric for their choic is educational suitability which has yet to be defined so since reading can take you many places and teach you many things I made a search to figure out what that meant and I read Ryan El Schroeder's 2021 note in the Iowa law review titled how to ban a book and get away

055with it educational suitability and School Board motivations in public school library book removals I learned how the Supreme Court addressed this issue in 1982 this last big Landmark decision there's been a couple others that play into it but this was the Supreme Court decision which decided that uh books may not be removed simply because quote School official offals disliked the ideas contained in those books and sought by their removal to prescribe what shall be Orthodox in politics nationalism religion or other matters of opinion by some happen stance uh some of that language is identical to director Cook's policy 6341 which passed last meeting a descending opinion from J chief justice Rin rquest excuse me noted how the political stance of a book and the book's content are often inexorably linked making it nearly impossible to

056parse the school board's decision-making process for clear motivation behind their removal decision schroer argues that school boards to date have avoided legal liability through pretextual justifications for their censorship choices but Adam Bertrand Randy cook Jame pcar and other members of this board are banking on past failure by courts to investigate School Board motivations with sufficient depth and given this board's extensive record in public documents Sunshine Communications and local talk show radio appearances I'm fully confident that a future boort will have no shortage of evidence showing this board's book censorship plans are motivated by their Orthodoxy and their ideology the words of Lavar Burton take a look it's in a book I love to learn I hope you learn too thank you your time is up next we welcome jar PSB good evening board I'd like

057to start by thanking Dr rumus for the important safety reminders he shared with the community last week thank you I'll turn my remarks to the policies regulations up for second reading and votee tonight specifically policy 6241 concerning challenge materials and policy and regulation 0380 concerning electioneering and changes proposed by director cook my concern with 6241 isn't so much what has been added as what has been shuck through quote every effort it will be made to provide educationally suitable materials that present a wide variety of views concerning international national and local problems and issues of our times end quote fine right but it's the part that director cook has seen fit to strike through the part reads quote unquote except for hate speech false science and false historical claims so now these things are on the

058table can someone please explain to me how our students benefit from materials about Flat Earth or presenting both sides of the bigotry and hate that fueled the Holocaust because frankly I fail to see it if Missouri and dist and the district want to continue to make headlines in all the wrong ways I guess this revision makes sense but otherwise it doesn't serve students could I just ask that instead of putting all of these policies under a microscope could we consider these wise words shared an email earlier this week quote I ask you to find it in your heart to trust that our educators will select resources that are educationally suitable as they have done for decades already end quote director Randy cook turning to policy and regulation 0380 concerning electioneering I'd like to First say

059that informing voters and affording citizens robust First Amendment protections is a good thing and these proposed changes all contribute to a less informed voting public and stifled speech which I find fascinating given that the pack that carried director cook and Bertrand of victory in 2022 regularly conducted their political efforts on District property including at one point selling T-shirts pack members sue the district on First Amendment grounds in one I might add some questions how will the district prevent this policy from favoring certain viewpoints or political perspectives thereby modeling fairness and inclusivity will this policy impact student Le activities that involve political topics or Civic engagement what specific safeguards are in place to prevent Viewpoint discrimination especially considering the board's previous decisions to remove diversity related statements were the successful campaign activities of specific candidates during

060the last cycle a factor in proposing all of this how does the district justify the need for this policy if similar activities have occurred without issue in the past I like the majority of my fellow community members want to ensure that the policies are fair legal and serve the best interest of the student staff and this policy as it's presented leaves me unconvinced it will do any of that I recognize you and your fellow conservative board members have the majority and it will likely pass but I'm placing my comments on record and if my fellow community members are unconvinced these same five me members will do the right will not do the right thing if they're unconvinced they will do the right thing to protect these first amendment freedoms and election activities as they've been

061play in place without issue for years I ask you to check out no to Randy cook for fhsd wordpress.com and vote for candidates who will uphold those freedoms in April thank [Applause] you up next we welcome Mark Cayman [Music] good evening everyone um I am here not to weigh in on the existing war on whether or not pineapple goes on pizza or not um there is and if you want the background on that go to cisa.gov talking about how how uh foreign interference is to keep us all arguing amongst ourselves while we ignore the important issues it's happening in this room I've listened to it for the last year um as far as trust the Educators I have I sat in this boardroom and watched the board ignore vice president Cook's concerns about the privacy

062of a platform that was passed and in the 5 minutes that I was sitting in this room as a cyber security professional I was at the administrator login panel for that tool think about that for a minute you ignored someone who had privacy concerns and yet he was ignored second of all what is part of the budget that is up for uh approval tonight is the acquisition of Chromebooks and um as a cyber security professional there is no less secure platform out there as far as an operating system as Google Chrome it is easily breached it is easily hacked every pentest that I have seen every pentest I have participated in Google Chrome is hacked Less in less time than Microsoft Windows Linux or Mac OS less time Google is being chased out of the

063European Union and well I shouldn't say being chased out of the European Union but being chased out of European Union Schools over privacy issues Google has been historically notorious along with Facebook and Amazon for data mining think about that easily hacked data mining of our children's data don't we have enough issues I received an a letter from change Healthcare one of the largest healthc care breaches saying that my seven-year-old son's data thank you your time is [Applause] up up next we welcome Nancy solarski ncy next we welcome Jamie [Music] Martin good evening board Community my name is Jamie Martin I'm a mom of three current Francis House students and one recent graduate and tonight I'd like to talk about Excellence good leaders know that the most effective teams are those that adapt to change to

064remain focused on their goals in Francis howal our first priority is Student Success so let's consider what it takes to drive academic excellence in times of conflict and change now every generation brings folks who push change and progress and folks who resist we can balance Innovation and progress with tradition and order but every generation comes with change nonetheless the our but our our focus on delivering a highquality education and building valuable leaders of the future must remain constant unfortunately in Francis Hal instead of cooperation and collaboration we have battle instead of problem solving together to overcome challenges like our fiscal cliff and teacher retention we are entrenched in culture wars no one is winning and because no kid can learn in a war zone it's our children who lose the most when they have to

065hide who they are or face constant slurs and discrimination because of their appearance learning suffers when the language to address those slurs is restricted and adults push the toxic climate and culture under the rug performance drops each month the board has the opportunity to focus and deliver on student Excellence but tonight instead of investing in some of the highest quality teacher training in the nation we have political objections to funding the necessary travel instead of leaving content decisions to Librarians and parents the board has turned to micromanaging spending more time defining what is or is not appropriate on our shelves then we do crafting boundaries around the hate speech our children here on buses and in our hallways last year a combined group of over 35 parents and teachers across 20 two campuses brought dialogue

066and awareness to parent teacher conferences but the election outcome of that dialogue did not favor the stagnant back to- Basics approach of the fhsd 5 our board majority so tonight director cook is asking the board to restrict this dialogue now foundational Knowledge and Skills have their place but this board's approach is driving away expertise and defunding our resources it's time to recognize diversity and inclusion as the assets they are it's time for academic Excellence if your first priority is academic Excellence please look for Francis forward at francal forward.org or find us on social media we look forward to working with you to ending the culture wars in our district let's get back to [Applause] Excellence next we welcome [Music] FHA good evening board Chiefs staff and patrons my name is Francine Hill and I am

067the fhaa President this evening we would like to talk about respect respect both given and received is important in a working relationship we recently learned of a wonderful Act of respect by the weville school district they realized that their fund balance which is nowhere near 31.25% was more than expected the school district reached out to the weville Nea to ask if they would do a memorandum of understanding and they wanted to add $200 to their salary schedule this was a great Act of respect by the Windville School District it showed how much they respect and care about their teachers realizing that the district has unexpected Ed extra funds and willingly sharing them with their staff is amazing we hope this provides inspiration to others when districts receive additional funds our teachers are always doing everything

068they can to make our district the best and being flexible when asked to adjust to changes this doesn't seem to be received with the appreciation it deserves we have fantastic staff in our district we look forward to getting clarification on the questions we have asked about the new policies and our LMS are trying to navigate the new policies and find time for the needed uh the time needed for all their new responsibilities we want to thank Dr Vanderpool for providing us with an opportunity to have input on the district allerg allergy awareness noo we look forward to building trust collaboration and respect in our district thank you next we welcome Pisa good evening president beran members of the board Dr rumus cabinet and patrons my name is Tracy edelin and I'm the vice president of

069interpreters for FEA which is Francis Hall education support professionals Association you might remember that I was standing here last month signing at the same time and I promised myself and my team that I would not do it at the same time today but I was just informed that my student is watching and it's not captioned so I will be here as I forever will be here for my students this week on Tuesday the district celebrated it Professionals Day Bea would like to extend our appreciation to all of our it Professionals in this District over the course of this year we were able to add add our district it technicians to FPA this very week fesa leadership and members of The District administration team negotiated anou which is a memorandum of understanding to help improve the

070working conditions for our district it technicians this will be presented at the October Board of Education meeting we were very very excited to share with all of our membership and all districts stakeholders the progress that we were able to make we would like to thank all of those involved in this mou negotiations session for working so quickly to help resolve these issues accomplishing a large number of tasks and a single evening we would especially like to thank our new director of techn Technology Scott Gowan and his new direct and our new director of human resources Dr Bryant Rich for all of the footwork that they have contributed in this short time in their position we would also commend our maintenance grounds custodial team and we will be working diligently to get the new North up

071and running and keeping it clean the building is close to 100,000 square ft larger than the older old building keeping the same number of custodians and maintenance to the building leads them to have considerably larger area to clean and maintain than they had at the old building so thank you for working so hard to make our newest building functional for our students and staff in North every day finally we would like to thank Jordan fruit for all of her amazing work as president she led us to some very big wins this year in negotiations she has taken a step back from peace leadership at this moment to focus on family and we wish her all of the best thank [Applause] you board I would like motion to approve the consent agenda for September 19th 2024

072as presented all those in favor say I I I'll suppose say no nice have it or like a motion to approve the travel request number one National Council for soci studies as presented move discussion board I've done in the past for this organization um I'll be voting against this one is I don't support the the direction that National Council for social studies taking education other discussion board do you have any followup to that reent classes whatever part of this you want to talk about that the council's materials and professional development and training that they make available um in my opinion has a very [Music] unsuitable ideological Bend to him everything is not everything but a good number of the talks I've seen in the past and are regarding topics and themes theories uh that I

073don't think are appropriate for Francis H all right all those in favor say I I I all the what are we voting can you can you we are voting to approve the motion the motion to approve Trel request number one National Council for social studies as presented president bin could we get a roll call vote on this we can do roll call go for IT director Blair I director Harmon no vice president cook no president Bertrand I Tre pushard is not here director Ponder no director Owens [Music] I next we have items full from consent motion to approve travel request number three National Counselor teacher of English as presented moved Blair second discussion board the National Council for teachers of English um is another organization that I not uh researched before to the best of

074my knowledge not been presented with a travel request to attend a function by this organization but upon looking into this um much with with the prior me many I would even go so far as to say most of their content is uh very objectionable to me and taking education in places that I think is is ruining public education driving people away from it quite quite frankly so I don't support this direction that they're taking I certainly don't support um any of our Educators picking up any of these radical theories and other things that that are presented there any other discussion board all those in favor say I I all those poos to say no no no roll call yes please vice president cook no president Bertrand I director Ponder NOP director Owens I director Blair

075I director Harmon no have three next board I like a motion to approve the design development release the bid for the transportation bus maintenance facility and fuel Island as presented first Mr ster yeah thank you good evening boy so over the last month uh District leaders as well as hollison Miller uh Team here have continued to work on the Transportation uh bus maintenance facility the teams were able to maximize uh use of the existing site uh enhance operational efficiency and discuss construction phasing all while maintaining current operations uh so the design that you will uh see tonight uh covers and accomplishes all those as we've articulated in U multiple meetings including um the August 2024 board meeting as well as the March board work session so this evening before you for consideration uh M Barnes

076will present uh we recommend post presentation we recommend that the board approve the final design schematic as presented uh including the one alternate uh for potential future growth so I'll turn it over to Miss Barnes and she'll take it over from there right good evening Board District leadership excited to be back and um share this project with you again this evening so as Mr szer mentioned we are coming to the conclusion of design and digging into the final details of documentation on this project um since the last time we were here we've met with the transportation team I believe two more times to finalize some additional details um a lot of what you're going to see tonight is very similar to last month but we have refined um a few items relative to the site

077plan and the building plan that we want to update you on tonight and then give opportunity for any questions um as well so with that I'll Dive Right In so um this is the plan that you guys saw from a site perspective last month there have been a few edits here but I wanted to start here just for reference because we are going to make a couple changes on the next slide so if you remember the little white circle in the middle is where your current underground Storage Fuel tank is and fueling operations are happening kind of there towards the front of the site and then just to the right of that um what you're not seeing on this plan this is kind of the end result is your current Transportation facility that would be

078demoed at the end of this project um to give that additional Bus Parking once we bring the new facility online um as we' walked through this I think the last time we were here we were still evaluating that existing underground unleaded tank which is about 10,000 gallons to ensure that it's um up to today's standards and the life cycle so we were able to determine that um based on Missouri Department Records it was installed in 2004 so we are at the 20e mark of when that tank wasn't installed um typically those fiberglass tanks have about a 25 to 30 year life cycle um so not quite to the end of it yet but we are we are getting there by the time this project would be um going on so doing a little bit more

079digging there literally and figuratively I'll make one joke here um as we do this project even if we were to keep that operational underground for um some cost savings based on the other work going around it we would have to actually excavate that tank bring it out do some environmental testing to make sure nothing is leeched into the soil that sort of thing um so with that the the cost differential between having to pull it out put it back in versus actually purchasing a new tank that would get you another 25 to 30 years versus having to come back in another 5 to 10 years to do that um seem to be advantageous so as that continued you know just like the design process sometimes those things spawn another thought um we were currently planning

080to keep the fuel Island where it is to save some dollars and efficiencies there but since we' learned that we are going to need to replace the tank anyways or that would be most advantageous and our recommendation we started to look at is there a way to make the site even more efficient if we were to move it and that also plays into the operations of when this needs to be constructed how can we keep as much of this site usable for District busing and operations so we're not having to move bus off site we're not having to kind of find temporary fueling during construction um so with that I'm going to jump to the next slide here in a second but one thing I did want to note on this one since we've got

081the numbers up there um we currently have 151 bus spots on the site with our new updated plans we're going to be able to get that up to 163 additionally we are also providing opportuni for future if you want to consolidate some of the other District white fleet vehicles there's seven spots for kind of passenger van truck Vehicles right now and the new proposed site would get you up to 60 so additional capacity there as well so with with that um as you can see the existing operations building there to the left um and then kind of that Center area is where your current fueling is we are actually now proposing this is kind of the one I'd say bigger change that we're bringing back tonight is moving that fuel Island actually closer over to

082the new Transportation Center um to get some additional efficiencies with the bus parking layout um and also clean up some of that circulation what that's also going to do is I'm going to kind of walk through what this might look like when we actually get out on site and need to start digging and getting that building built um so right now there's two access points both from kind of the southeast and then fully on the East that buses are coming and going from the site so that's important to know in order to keep operations running when construction starts and then with that move of the fuel Island further to the left on this plan that's going to consolidate construction as well on the site so that way to help um keep operations going we're going

083to be able to keep using the existing underground fuel tank until the new one is operational so hopefully that'll actually be some additional cost savings as well not having to go elsewhere or bring a temporary tank in and then what that'll allow for is all of that construction to happen kind of on that back side of the site and then um after that is all complete that stuff in the orange there the new building in fuel Island will be able to come in and get rid of the current facility um and that fuel Island and then the third phase would be coming in um finalizing grading getting that all cleaned up um repaving the site and then that would be kind of the Final Phase turn over the full project one of the things I

084think we shared with you two months ago was kind of that initial fuel Island design and again with that shift here this is where the final L design has landed as of today um we would be replacing the 10,000 gallon unleaded tank in for the same same um amount there currently there's only a 500g diesel tank that is above ground again with us going and putting a new tank underground um we are proposing that the diesel goes ahead and goes underground in that same vault as well keep everything Consolidated will help fueling operations be more efficient and then we are also looking at upsizing that to 5,000 gallons because some of the newer buses are diesel currently just to protect kind of future proof that um the cost difference between um 500 gallon th000 5,000

085is is not that much when you look at that kind of from a future proofing so that's the current recommendation to give you that flexibility into the future and then we do have kind of three pull through zones so really four fueling Bays there um that will have nice protected areas there'll be some catwalks and things and ladders to help safely fuel the the truck right now and then it'll have a nice canopy over it to protect those from the elements all right that kind of summarizes where we're at from a site perspective that's the one big change that we're bringing back tonight and then as we get into the actual Transportation facility itself um pretty consistent with what we shared uh last month we still have those three main um bus Bays that are

086all pull through that you're seeing with the green outline there um last month I don't think we had this diagrammed out as much but did want to show and make it really clear so the white areas between each of those bus bays are those work zones and we've worked with um District staff to make sure the toolboxes the workbenches overhead air compression all that sort of stuff isn't exactly the right spot so you'll see a lot of kind of those gray boxes though there those are all those parts and pieces that they're using on a daily basis and we've walked through each of those with them to make sure they're in the right spot um from an efficiency standpoint and then kind of that front of house office space has stayed pretty consistent from last

087month um we have tweaked some of the storage just a little bit walked through some of those details of how they're operating how um the service techs are going in and getting parts um where they're storing what so we've walked through that in detail and also talked about which areas require badging in um to protect those assets just from a tracking standpoint um so that's been walked through and then we still do have that singular vehicle Bay there on the left and then the one wash bay down to the South and as Mr ster mentioned off to the left we are showing that future opportunity for a bay that we're proposing um to look at a bid alternate for tonight as well to understand the cost difference um to add that on now versus in

088the future and finally just wanted to share some updated images of what this looks like so as you saw on that site plan there's that kind of strong access as you drive in you're going to see this right in front of you so sign into there on the left corner so as you approach you see um have some way finding there that front entry um feature with the vertical lighter metal panel there and then as you come around we've got some signage so buses know where they're going with the bay doors um and then this image does not show that additional Bay but it would basically just mirror that and extend out for one additional Bay and would look just like those Bays six seven and eight there this is as you come onto the

089site as you rotate around to the current Transportation facility the old um district office there this would be your view from that side and then as we come around to the other side similar materials there as well and then this would be the back side um they're on the West Side similar materials again from a durability standpoint and efficiency those are those three view or four views all together there and then finally wanted to just uh dig in a little bit deeper you saw the conceptual plan for that additional Bay if we were to add that on there as a bid alternate um you can see that core through the center so essentially that that left wall would move over one the metal panel that same design would just move out further um to allow

090one additional drive-thru Bay there for future capacity as well all right that's a quick update for tonight I'm open to any questions or comments thank you questions board I'd like to consider uh suppose I could make a motion but I'll make a motion be good like a motion to strike the following language from the recommendation and this is really just a motion to eliminate the alternate bid so that that's what this is going to be so we'll strike the language as well as approving the [Music] letting I'm sorry St that so this will be a motion to strike the language to include the following one additional Bay for future op operational growth do I have a second thank you so you amending the motion amending the main motion to strike that out minus that piece

091minus the alterate so in my opinion I think we're we're already in our lemit on scope here um and I think it would be I hate to have the contractors put together a bid for something that I probably would not support given what I know about this so that's my thought let's do the let's let's bid the base bid we'll leave this future bid for split it up right is everybody clear what the alternate bid is so what would be the the harm right now is understanding what the alternate is though I guess it doesn't cost us for them to do the work to give us the alternate price it doesn't cost us obviously it costs contractors to put that together right and I in in in some nominal way I I believe that they

092will build that into their cost that I think in the grand scheme of things the cost of them putting together for the extra alternate is going to be minor but it is a cost they they build in their overhead just like every other business so I as I look at the project right now I think it base bit is sufficient so I think to ask for the alternate in my opinion I I don't see myself approving the alternate down the road so that it just doesn't seem to be any any need for me to go forward and just and obtain a bid for it I have no intention of approving it well wouldn't the whole board vote on that yeah yes so he's making a director Cook's making a recommendation and motion that we we

093approve it striking that piece out we would still be letting the the base B but we would just not be we would be the lack a better term we would be killing the alternate right now and saving the contractor and everybody else and the the arxs the trouble of going through all the extra bid paperwork of of putting that cost together we know the alternate will be a substantial additional cost so that's do do we have any foresight as to when we would possibly need that I mean nobody really anybody so I would offer to you that one of the things that we are doing from a comprehensive perspective in the district is looking at utilization of all square footage excuse me and a potential opportunity would be provided by having the alternate bid to

094afford US the ability to move other operational uh departments within that space and um eliminate other um sites that we may have in the district which would be through a surplus process potentially sell uh property and that was the the reason for the alternate for future expansion so it would be cost effective we believe in the at the end of The Run yes overall it would be cost cost efficient other questions Bo uh Mrs emry just uh mentioned uh that we at times have a space issue and one of the things that popped into my head if you can go back to the J if you can go back to the uh just the overview the the most recent overview of the project now keep going keep going where at right there it's fine so

095I guess my question is for all of you included um so as Architects I'm sure you're aware that the reason that people built up and not out is space right you put a skyscraper up instead of a big wine building because you don't have any space um so my question is how I guess what is the benefit of of or is there a benefit I'm sure there is you then you'll tell me is there a benefit to the tanks Going Underground versus Tower tanks or Tower bulk tanks um because having Tower bulk tanks versus underground with the actual big storage or the big um uh fuel site would be a a little bit more spatially beneficial a great question so as you can see on here currently where we've relocated this we've actually taken one

096of the drive aisles that we already needed for circulation of buses and we have put the fuel underground tanks in that aisle so the trucks do have the access to get there and refuel them but we're kind of doing double duty so I I will say you know when the truck is there fueling the underground tanks there will be a point where there are other options to go but it will limit one of those drives for that short duration um but that was actually why we chose to recommend putting the diesel tank underground as well because otherwise that fuel Island would have extended out and taken over more bus parking so at this point um just like going up I think going underground in this case um we feel it's the most efficient to get

097as many buses on the site as possible instead of keep above ground bulk tanks outside of all the the parking area and everything in a separate kind of facility on its own correct I think so at this point yes okay um and then J can you go back to the internal back it was yeah it doesn't matter you want the building floor plan yes [Music] okay perfect uh last time you guys were here uh I spoke about parts room um any developments on that parts counter Parts window parts yeah so we we did talk through that scenario with the transportation team and um we kind of walk through a day in the life scenario of the maintenance texts and um how they're currently operating and how they foresee themselves operating is the tech that's working

098on there is actually who's going to retrieve their own parts so they felt like um actually to maximize wall space not having a counter would to give additional storage space and they would go badge in they kind of go find their parts sign them out and then go so um from that perspective they felt like the wall space um would be advantageous versus a counter since there wouldn't be anybody staffed in there and distributing the parts sure yeah that's that was going to be my next question is when you have a parts counter and a blocked out parts department you have to have somebody in their staff it to give out the parts instead of going the other way around um I didn't know if that was a future possibility or not and just the

099reason and and forgive me because that came from the automotive world the reason that that H that Automotive dealerships in general have that is why to prevent theft everything is put on on roor sent back to the parts department parts department gives out the parts and that way everything is taken care of and um having tour the facility with well quite a few people uh the current facility I I mean there's no reason for me to suspect anything like that at all great people in there they're they're doing their job they're doing it well in that especially in that small of a space but for efficiency purposes and you know security purposes of of parts parts um uh inventory and things like that that could be something that could probably could or should be looked

100at in the future obviously not now but in the general um uh schematic I I you know if you're going to design something along those lines as a as an actual parts department it could go that route and just trying to see what what really made it really made you guys understand that it was I guess um the ability for the actual mechanics and text and go back and and get their own stuff versus having somebody back there what was the the reasoning behind not having somebody I guess in there other than cost but to be frank it's simply not a need in school operations and we're no different respective to that and so really the high value it what a lot of the items they stock are not and bolts lights uh all of

101those high dollar items yeah all those high dollar items that you would have are really Direct ship on on asne basis and they ship them directly and um and working through the the part storage room with the team it really wasn't uh something that they believe was necessary at this point in time and it's highly unusual and uncommon across all bus maintenance facilities across the state from a School District Operations stand okay what about tools um sometimes speak a little bit to that a little bit just to clarify a question regarding Tool St the tool storage as well I mean part of the reason that the tools are stored in that area versus in their individual tool boxes and having an individual tool is security um it's been my experience with almost every single cardiio

102ship in five states that security of mutually used tools is essential so how are those going to be divvied out what's going to happen with there and and because I they had a small kind of open tool room in the current facility and it was kind of well open to anybody to do anything so is that going to is that procedure going to change but also how is that going to be operated in that specific tool room um I think we would probably need to clarify that a little bit with u Miss Simpson and the transportation team our understanding right now as you can see there are the two sets of double doors um opening to each Bay those would obviously all be lockable so um if it is not during the time where techs

103are there working they could lock that down from an asset protection standpoint um our understanding is also that a lot of the daily use tools are actually being stored out in those white areas between the Green Bus zones that they're using on a daily basis that they're out there in the toolboxes um the larger tool storage um is things really that's being used less frequently again there's some tire storage in there some of those other ones that are more of a oneoff that they're not using daily um but there would be that option to lock that down um when they're closing that off or um we we can talk to them a little bit more about that but I think um to date they have not shared that that's been a concern in terms of

104um protecting those assets I mean that's protecting those assets is my concern I mean I there there's a lot of very expensive tools that go in that in that place so yeah and that's a good point and also just it's also our understanding just like a Chromebook or laptop that's inventoried in in a system and uh the tools that are received uh specific for bus maintenance facility are also inventoried and I forget the name of the system that they utilize so that's something that's also trackable uh through the department and because of the it doesn't obviously look as like we have as much tire storage as tires that we have so we're going to continue to store at the uh yeah and I think there may be some code things that we're also required to

105follow obviously from fire one from a fire safety what's your based on your experience how do you how would you expect including alternates not including alternates um how would based on your experience how do you The Architects I guess is sorry so how would you expect based on your experience as to using alternates versus coming back for a separate bid years down the road versus what's your experience and the effectiveness of saving costs so I guess just in general you know this year things have started to get back to a little bit more normal in terms of escalation and inflation we are back to you know more in the 1 to 2% a quarter versus the 4% a quarter that we were seeing um previously so you know we can account for probably 4 to

1065% cost just materials and everything every year that you would wait to do do any project just as kind of a baseline um the one thing that is a little bit unique here um because we are using a pre-engineered metal building system um the majority of the structural system is kind of already there so with this extra Bay you would have a structural membrane kind of a big um T structure on the end there that would then just get duplicated one more time um so you would be adding additional material kind of that width of the bay for for material as well as the roof material um but there are again there's always an economy of scale so the cost per square foot you would see for this additional Bay today is say pretty confidently

107is going to be lower than if you were to come back in a year or two and want to add one Bay your cost per square foot is going to be significantly higher they're going to need to remobilize um order new materials um you're going to have to redo some work because you're going to have to take off that that final a member or just put some doors in it and then you wouldn't have that connection um I don't have the final data with me today we could provide that to you but there would definitely be a cost increase um you know a year down the road it could be 10 15 20% and then that would escalate over time so Adam I had a question uh and there's also for Randy what Carol shared

108was new information I think what you had shared before is because of our financial responsibility if we don't have any attempt uh any interest in the west alternate Bay let's just strike it from the overall U Carol shared new information that there might be some Financial benefit that we weren't told about previously um in L of that information do you want to uh keep your uh motion um or do you want to because it's new information has come out do you want to change the the motion say in line of new information let's hear because there might be a future Financial benefit that wasn't previously shared with us a possibility so I guess my question to the administration about this would be Carol you spoke of closing down some other facilities and uh moving moving

109operations here was that part of our our proposition as rebaseline that we did earlier this year point being we can always do we can always build more to save money the question is was that part of our original Propet scope or something we should say for perhaps a future bond issue down the road when we need it because right now we're we're starting from behind on the rest of the props projects we all know that so keeping scope as tight as possible I think it's it's critical if that was part of the original props you know that was Project 15 and we're only on props project 5 then I could see the the benefit of doing anals and to your point and when we provided the information during the March 14 oh I'm not on

110oh I was on and then I turned it off it was very effective there we go uh uh in response to your question when we provided uh the board with the update during the March 14th 2024 work session regarding the move forward for the proposition s projects uh we provided the review of all the things that have been presented you are correct that this was not part of that but considering you know we have you have fresh eyes uh a new evaluation we had uh new ideas on how we can be strategic and utilizing resources and space and ultimately reduce costs it seemed in our best interest to ensure that you had that opportunity to provide that service to the community in terms of overall utilization of resources so from my perspective the end game

111would be a an added value that would be significant enough to justify uh any additional costs of an alternate that might be considered I don't know if we can get into this here is he you think there's a possibility that the sale of future real estate would cover the cost I I can't imagine that it it would it would definitely be significant enough to cover likely the costs and provide a return would be my expectation we haven't uh if there was a sale a future real estate we would need to engage with a real estate broker per Missouri statute and they would participate in marketing the property and at that juncture we would have a better idea of what what that value could look [Music] like need questions for dor do you want to keep

112your motion as it is or do you want to with in the light of new information yeah I'll withdraw the motion we can we can talk further second withdraw the motion first and the second withraw the motion so motion is withdrawn any additional questions overall board right we on I just want to say thank you for the presentation and and thank you for the information that allows us to have a different vote that maybe I came in here thinking about and so I appreciate you adding that for all of us to be more informed on that thank you so much all right so we have a motion to approve the design development and release of the bid for transportation bus maintenance facility and fuel Island all those in favor say I hi all those oppos

113say no eyes have it that I like a motion to approve the schematic design for the Franc High School auditorium as presented second first by director cook second by director Harmon before we get into the riveting presentation we're going to take a quick 15minute break for everybody use bathrooms everything else um and we will come back at 8:30 ready e e e back in session Mr SCH that's it well thank you um once again uh this evening for consideration we have a the initial schematic design for Francis how high Auditorium Renovations and so team's been working with uh all end users building leaders as well as the performing arts department at Francis aligh to collect U input on the needs for the space and so I'll turn it over to miss bares to present uh

114the schematic design for Francis how High's auditory all right good evening again we're excited to share the initial Design Concepts for Francis hell High's Auditorium Renovations this evening um over the course of about the last 2 months we've been meeting with District stakeholders um at the building to understand the current challenges and opportunities with their existing Auditorium space so to kind of start from the beginning um our first conversation was really a really a really great conversation talking about some of the current opportunities that Performing Arts has at the at the building um and then also some of those opportunities or challenges that they are facing with their current facility um that we're hoping to resolve as part of this project so just to step back um to give a little bit of familiarity with

115the current existing conditions um this is some internal views on the left of the existing seating the existing Auditorium from uh from the stage and then the second one is there from the back of house and then the third one there on the right is that existing entry Corridor and Lobby space um a few of the challenges that were initially identified as kind of being some of the biggest operational challenges and educational experience challenges really was um just the different uh functions within the space as you can see there the lighting the house lighting the theatrical lighting the theatrical rigging the audio visual systems um some of them have had some issues working the last few years um just not quite what they need to do from a High School production standpoint so from an

116operation standpoint that's one big piece um the existing seats too have started to um become challenging in terms of finding replacement parts um there is quite a few of them right now that are not usable because they are not able to be repaired um so the seat count is already pretty small relative to a high school auditorium size and then they've also lost additional seat count based on the the inability to get parts and things for those current seats um kind of looking at some of the support spaces surrounding the auditorium proper um you can see there the storage spaces the dressing rooms the backstage area and then the light and sound booth um starting to see a little bit of age and wear and tear on on um like in the dressing room the

117counters um those wonderful theatrical dressing lights um those have started to become a little bit Obsolete and are hard to find replacement bulbs some of them are not working currently um as you can see the storage spaces are pretty much at capacity um could use a little bit more um storage organization um some updates there as well and then that light and sound booth um is a little bit small right now for having multiple students in there um teaching and learning that space as well as we had those initial conversations and came back to them um as I mentioned kind of there was three primary priorities that really Rose there was a lot of things there was a lot of wants a lot of needs um but in terms of kind of those high order

118of magnitude needs that they identified to really make sure that they can enhance the educational experience for students in that performing arts space um The increased seat capacity just to get everybody um in that space they said they are having issues with a they said sell out however many performances they do um I know some of the middle schools and other um District groups do use that and have um a limit of seating so that is a challenge to get enough quantity of parents and all that in the spaces um so they can truly get that theatrical experience or band or choir um experience as well again those upgraded theatrical systems just bringing those up especially audio systems in there have been a challenge and then thermal comfort and new finishes so just um there's

119there's some s um issues with the HVAC unit that's there now that's creating some acoustical challenges within the space um that was identified as also battling those sound issues and the sound system issues there so based on that input that we've gathered to date we started to look at kind of what those primary Scopes were to really prioritize their needs today um here you can see the plan as we walk into the space um just to orient you a little bit the auditorium is um kind of their on the on the right side and that's going to be the basis for the scope that we're we're presenting and proposing tonight for that renovated space um Additionally the lobby restroom um have started to have some functional issues in there with the fixtures um getting pretty

120dated in there so that has also been identified as a need just from a comfort safety standpoint there to get some of the upgrades down there and then um as I mentioned there's been some acoustical challenges with the h AC unit that's currently SE serving the auditorium we're going to talk here in a minute again about seat capacity um that was really I'd say of all of them the priority to try and get more seating capacity in that space um and with that comes an additional load hbac mechanical cooling load um as we put more people in a space we've got to increase that so that has become a challenge as well if we are to add more people we are kind of at the capacity of that current unit and we know we've got

121no um challenges to deal with there and then finally that entry um Lobby space right now um that has not been upgraded and then also just circulation and access in there one thing we're going to talk about here in a second when we get to seat count is obviously we're working within an existing I'll say box um so without either moving walls or getting really creative in that space we are limited with how much we can increase that seating capacity so as you can see kind of that Navy and light blue overlapping there we are looking at actually moving that sound and light Booth back which would obviously have an impact on that Lobby which is why we' recommend going ahead and updating that space because we're going to impact it um as well currently

122okay so as I mentioned the seat layout being kind of the number one identified need here this shows where the current seating bowl is so that orange area is where the seats are now you can see at the very back as they go back to touch that Lighting and Sound Booth um and then you've got the two aisles off to the side so as we've looked at maximizing the space in here um the one opportunity we do have is to pull that that back as you can see that Arrow there pull the control Booth back into that Lobby space a little bit to gain some addition an additional row or two there um we also are looking at splitting the seating um to get access and circulation down there and based on um based on

123code requirements you get to a certain amount of seats in a row you've got to start to split them so we've worked through a number of iterations to maximize seat count in that space and are currently proposing moving that control Booth back and then splitting the seating into those three seating areas to look at that a little bit more detailed with the seats in there um that also does allow us to get some seats right there up against the control Booth as we work through sight line studies of the space to make sure um every seat we are putting in there still does have good quality sight lines to that stage So currently if all seats were usable um and operational they're at about 300 just over 300 seats um this new proposed layout would

124get us up to 366 seats um including handicap or accessible spaces set within there um so that is the current proposal and that's a pretty good increase for not expanding the space beyond moving that seating Booth so um I know the school was really excited to see that increase there being proposed okay as we mentioned with some of the existing conditions um we're focusing on the Auditorium Box itself and the inside Space of that but there were some additional opportunities that were identified as um additional scope that may want to be explored in the future so we just wanted to bring that to the attention just as we look at kind of the holistic Performing Art Space always just want to make sure we're checking all the boxes there so as you can see here

125um that North Corridor we're not recommending necessarily that as part of the initial scope just because we not actually impacting it with the initial renovation um the dressing rooms um proposing some updates there to um replace the countertops the sinks that have gotten a little bit dated the plumbing in there you can see some of the caseworks coming apart um some of the supports are not fully in there and then the third one that costume shop that you saw cleaning up that space trying to reorganize for efficiency standpoint some storage in there um the drama classroom in there some updates there lighting um has gotten a little bit dated there and just the the lay out of that space probably is not as efficient as it could be and then finally that theater shop space

126back there to give them as much educational opportunities and space to work as possible and then as I had mentioned oop sorry about that as I had mentioned we did go ahead and pull that restroom upgrade in the hpac upgrades because of the seat count increase the hbac upgrades um were something we felt really needed to be handled if we were going to increase the seat count we did need to deal with that so as things have been evolving over the last few weeks and months um currently what we are proposing is leaving the unit that is there to serve most of the auditorium because it does have some life left on it um and then adding some acoustical isolation to vibration isolation to help with the noise concerns there and then adding a secondary

127smaller unit kind of Backstage to to handle that and splitting the zones within the auditorium versus going ahead and replacing um the larger unit there to try and balance the cost there okay so not getting into the fun stuff so as we mentioned um really some of the school pride and Performing Arts there um we heard a lot about kind of just the mood and feel of the space when they walk in there um school pride wanting something that they can really um feel proud about there so what we like to do is we actually um did a survey of the Performing Arts staff and Department to to get some input on kind of what they wanted the space to look and feel like and so how we do that is we send out a

128virtual survey um with different and we asked them to identify different words so you see that all up there I won't go into it in detail but on the right side then um those words you can see kind of in the the grade out areas down there that talk about District brand branding and Pops of color um elevated materials a professional feel those were the words that really came and resonated to that group and you are going to see tonight a difference in some of the um Design Concepts between how high in central um just from those different groups there to kind of personalize the space so we started sharing some different options for what that space could look and feel like obviously taking into account Acoustics and then updating those theatrical systems as being

129a priority so where we landed for high how high right now really is all about pops of color um because of the size of that space that space is smaller than the auditorium at House Central um trying to kind of not create a ton of wall elements because the the ceiling is a little bit lower so creating that colorful pop around there um and then doing some of that visual interest in the seats to get some some movement there and try and kind of help the space feel a little bit bigger and then keeping everything else overhead pretty simple no sealing elements to try and keep that space feeling as big as possible so this is the view from the stage and then as you would come into that space as we split those aisles

130this would be the view um up to the spage from from by that control Booth okay and as we mentioned we are um we actually have another a set of meetings with both of the uh buildings next week for both the auditorium projects to go through some of the Sound and Lighting systems and Theatrical rigging upgrades to get kind of that final layer of input from them before we come back to you guys again next month so um thank you and if you guys have any questions happy to answer them um I was just wondering how long it had been since they'd had any updates in that area to our knowledge there haven't been any updates in those areas cuz I attended and B there and I could tell it was really dilapidated and I

131was wondering if you're going to do anything with um the overhead with insulating it cuz there was a thunderstorm when I was there and it was so the storm became so loud that you couldn't hear what was going on on stage so I didn't know if you could address that from an that's definitely something we can look into um we had not heard that concern before so we'll definitely look at that we can um share some additional information next month when we come back thank you for letting us know that I would agree with Carol it's very loud very loud um I I I also want to say I've been in those bathrooms and you're 100% right that they're disgusting probably because it's a bunch of high school kids using them all the time but

132more so it's actual plumbing and everything um so that definitely needs to be done um the uh the the expansion of the seats is that just due to I guess are the are the are they smaller seats are they 22 versus 24 in are they what how did you get that in there with two rows so with the pulling the control Booth back we were to get a couple extra uh rows in there and then also expanded Out To The Ends um the row spacing um I believe the row spacing was 36 in between actually the seat back and the front of seat pre previously um code minimum is 32 so we did reduce we have currently reduced that to 34 so not the bare minimum still only need to make sure it's as comfortable

133as possible kind of blending that um dropping it all the way to 32 I think maybe added a couple seats but not enough to justify I think that further reduction so that's the current recommendation to get us up there and floor mounted versus back mounted seats correct so that you pull them all up okay and how many uh actual students did you talk to about what what they wanted to see in there cuz they're be the ones that are enjoying it and using things like that did you guys include them in anything we did not currently engage students it was it was staff and uh building Administration today okay maybe definitely if we have the means get some students that are actually using it and see what they would like to see as well other

134questions supp well I would like to see as much done as possible like the dressing rooms and all that cuz you know what I'm saying it it wouldn't go together and you know you want kids to be real proud of what what just happened for them CU I think they've been waiting a long time um to make this a better more functional area and more attractive in Better Sound and better lights and all that especially if they go to North and see what North right seems to me that if I understand the the questions and answers correctly that because we're adding more seating capacity we need another hbac unit all of these things are substantial costs um is there any reason we're not just keeping the existing seating capacity which would negate the need for

135the new hbac unit and we would also obviously recognize the cost savings from not building 66 extra seeds I think for from a from a I guess building um feedback uh where we started seating count was their absolute kind of number one if we can't do anything else that's the one thing we want to do so from a prioritization of scope that is where we um tried to funnel most of the the budget to reconfiguring that and moving that control Booth back um you know that is a large part of the project budget the other very large part of the project budget um and I I can get this information for you before next one in comparison the theatrical rigging the theatrical lighting those upgrades and the AV um systems for the space are a

136extremely large portion of the cost um because you will see in comparison between Francis H high and Central um Central is a larger space and as you look at a cost per square foot and then a seating per seat cost of an auditorium um then the numbers per square foot does go down at Central because it's a larger space because so much of the budget is dedicated to the AV and Theatrical systems um that is taking up a piece of that if that makes sense vice president cook I'll also add you know using the space for performances is one thing but the schools also like to have that to use um you can do a class meeting so to have your entire freshman or sophomore class within the space and within the current seating it's

137a little bit shy in that building it's something they cannot do where the other two high schools are able to do that and this gets them much closer to be able to have an entire class one point that it becomes a a lecture hall a space they could use for other instructional pieces as well also build on that uh specifically from a programming and event standpoint um they're having to schedule almost five to six different Productions on different days in order to get the full program executed in order to serve um you know students as well as the the general population there as opposed to our other High School two high schools that have a greater capacity where their performances may be on two nights as opposed to five or six different nights is it

138also used as a um shelter of any kind or how does that adjust is that is that it's shelter I guess my ask is just just given where we at are with with propass over the years to to keep as much of the scope tight as possible it's only natural that I think if you talk to people they're going to tell you all all the great you know things they want and and I I I would love to provide it all love to repaint it you know but we have a finite amount of bond money and a very I say fragile relationship with the community regarding propass and and the costs for it um I just think we need to be very brugal with with the remaining funds we certainly understand that but uh you

139know what what I would also offer is I'm not sure if any board members walk the space but there's in inherent safety risks in there as well that um are part of this work I mean we've got students that are having to for lack of better terms Jerry rson with the electrical to make the lights work uh in dressing rooms as well as in the Auditorium itself um we don't have the systems necessary to to meet a lot of the um Ada needs for some of our students that are in those programs uh such as the podology loop uh in the space uh and just just quality sound as well so those are all part of the the scope uh from from a base standpoint also some of those additional opportunities but that you know

140to be clear there were some ass that came from the building and we we we veto those and are focusing on the needs I guess I would just like to ask so obviously there's a trade-off so these needs like the lobby restroom renovation those are higher priority than other items that might be on the propest that this will possibly impact I guess it well there's going to be a trade if we do the if we do the lobby and the vest the restroom renovation here in the vest I guess I'm not sure what those have to do with the auditorium so I mean if we're going to do those renovations right something's got to give on future projects so I guess the live the restroom and the lobby these are more important than future item

141other HVAC items for other schools or something well there you know with every Bond program there's always those needs as you get into Discovery and assessments um and really determining what to bring first and I know mmri has shared uh you know kind of what the strategy is there obviously we've got some mechanical life cycle needs that we can uh help uh augment through capital budget if we end up uh having some some Pro some programs from a uh a bidday standpoint that come in a little over so I guess my question that is the restroom is an absolute need or is it just not very pretty or is it a want and same thing with the vestibule does it just not function is that something that could be down the line or does that

142absolutely have to be part of the skope I would offer that for this specific one the current conditions I wouldn't want our students um you know utilizing those facilities in their current conditions [Music] I would just add that I have seen those restrooms and I agree with Mark that they are pitiful shape being generous I think with as for the lobby I don't I'm not really sure the lobby with the daughter that goes to that school I would agree with some of the commentary um as well as an alumni from that school who was at that building before all the construction update I don't think that lobby area has been updated since I was at at school so that was long time long time ago so and there's also damage that's taken place in there

143I think it's been used as multiple um for multiple uses over the years I think you may even have maybe some baseball players warm up in there and so you'll see some ceiling tile that's damaged and some lights that are knocked out so it it certainly needs the attention um you know it we'd have a lost opportunity if we address the auditorium and our students and our community walk through the lobby to a nice new shiny Auditorium that meet student needs but we failed to address uh you know some some basic amenities uh for that that are supporting that space as well additional questions all those in favor say I all say no nice have it next board I like a motion to approve the schematic design for the Franc House Central High School auditorium

144as presented yeah we'll do the next song dance again this is for Francis H Central's auditory so I will let Barnes present give me one more time and then Justin's going to come up here um so switching over to Francis House Central High School um you're going to hear some of the same considerations and needs identified here as well um and then a couple other uh ones that were prioritized here okay so again starting kind of from that start we're going to look through some of those existing conditions just to orient ourselves all to the spaces so again starting from that stage um stage lighting and rigging again um as Mr Su mentioned um some of those are dead hung rigs that students are having to um modify that do have some safety concerns there

145that um were brought up as something that they really wanted to see updated there um existing seats they do have a few that are few that are broken there unusable definitely not to the same degree as at at How High um but there are some there that um are broken that they haven't been able to get parts they believe for as well um same thing there I don't think the theater entry and Lobby have been updated um I don't think since that area was built there um one of the big things that they talked about here as well was there's a couple pinch points as you go to the one side that we'll look at on the plan here but when people are coming in and going out of the auditorium a lot of people

146at one time it gets really congestion congested and it's hard to get people in and out quickly um so that was a concern that they shared and then going to those back a house spaces as you can see here um there are some challenges and concerns there in terms of ADA and and just um condition as you can see with some of those um we don't have some of the knee space and clearances under the dressing room counters um we've got those legs there that don't quite meet that and then some of the counter Heights and things um that are starting to peel apart and come down there and then just the general condition of um the back of house stage storage um light sound booth there that um have been shared as some challenges

147as they try and get a lot of kids through those spaces is and working through with all of that equipment there so similar to How High um kind of new finishes a new fresh fresh feel to the space was identified as priority again those upgraded theatrical systems really here Rose to kind of their priority One um where the seats were on the other one just to make sure that kids are getting that true and consistent educational experience they're learning how to do things that they may go on to do in college or out in the professional world so that was that PRI already there and then for them kind of that third one was that events entry circulation improvements um just because of how much of a kind of a a hindrance that's been to

148date okay so looking at the floor plan here um we do have a higher seating count here than we saw at How High um so we'll get to that here in just a second um this space again um they did share though that seat count obviously um they are doing a lot of Productions they're trying to get um student grade levels into this space so improving the seat count was also something that they would like to see um so we did start to look at the space here and if you guys have been in that space before we do have a lovely colonade around the side and those side aisles that is taking up a little bit of the usable space there that we started to look at um they they have a structural impact

149towards the back of the space but they are not actually structural holding up the roof um that was a new system for us so that is one thing that we explored and are currently proposing removing those to expand the seating aisles there because we do have a little bit of space not a ton because we got to protect those sight lines but there is a little bit of space to expand there to try and maximize that um as we look at improving this space the second piece as I mentioned kind of that vestibule area is really congested so what we are currently proposing there is actually getting an additional double set of doors coming out um to actually get people out another location so as they're coming out they can feed around in two different

150directions hopefully try and relieve some of that congestion with just a little bit of interior wall rework and then a new set of exterior doors um I think they would have loved to have expanded the space but from a trying to identify and kind of solve the the root of the problem there I think that's a pretty economical solution to help some of that congestion there and then as you can see there um the kind of the white bubble there is where that second set of doors would go to help get people out there and then as I mentioned we're we're currently about 500 so we're about a almost 200 more from what they have now than how high currently has and with some of those updates getting rid of that colonade around the space

151um we are looking at increasing that to 534 seats so getting some additional seats in there as well similar to how high we are we've also identified some additional scope opportunities outside of that one just to kind of as Mr sucher mentioned as you come in to make sure that kind of the the whole experience for whether you're backstage working on props or you're performing um or your parent grandparent comeing to watch you've kind of got that whole enhanced experience for coming or for kids coming in for a class grade level meeting um so again that Lobby space be besides the vestibule and extra door um we've identified that as an additional opportunity um because I think it is a little bit newer than um how high there and then as we go through kind

152of those same things so the dressing rooms we've got the Green Room they've got a green room space there um for before and after performances the drama classroom and then that backstage storage um and prop building area um we also did Identify some hbac upgrade potential there um but with the seat count it doesn't trigger kind of the additional occupant load so we have not identified that as a must have if we increase the counts there so that's something that could be explored um if other HC improvements are done throughout the building at a later date so here oops we're a little behind there sorry similarly here we've met with uh building Administration and Performing Art staff also um some some of the different folks there to really talk about um how they want that

153space and experience to feel um a few different words popped out here um they really like the emphasis of lighting for kind of that dramatic effect some more of that modern feel and where that transposed over to as you can see some little pops of color they were a little bit less on kind of the intensity of color here um a little bit more on kind of pattern forms so as you start to see here the shape the space started to shape a little bit different um we also have some additional volume or height in that space so using some vertical elements on the walls and breaking that up with some light accents really made a lot of sense here as you can also see that White Band along the back that's where that lighting

154Booth is up there um we are having to um that is where the colonade kind of died into back on that wall so we've got a few modifications there just to clean up that back wall um but trying to keep that as simple as possible and the focus on kind of those side walls and the main stage so your view from the stage here and then bringing in just some of that Navy there in the seats but a little bit more subtle and then the view from the audience here again a little bit of that subtle Navy at the front and then keeping the more vertical elements around the side there thank you questions Bo these Renovations regarding the flow and putting a new door in the outside are these like fire code requirements or

155what's the driver behind that is just people are congested leave yeah from from a fire code exiting standpoint we do we do meet current codes even with the added seats so really it is more of a a functional um functional concern from getting people in and out when they are doing Productions or other events and they do have 500 plus people kind of coming out at once there's enough exiting between the two but on that left side of the plan right now it's kind of a bottleneck you have to go through I believe it's three sets of doors to get out um so it just does not move very quickly and if people are stopping and talking things like that it does create a lot of congestion there I'd like to say I think that's

156very beautiful I think it's really nice again I would just urge urge the team to look for places I mean I think it's always going to be congested even if we had another door so it was really worth the cost of doing that and getting into the exterior envelope of the building and U which carries its own challenges I know we're just in schematic design here but similarly on the seating you know it would be they're at 500 already and what what just out of curiosity what's the seating at North does anybody little north of about 650 all right um it sound like those you know removing those columns to get it a couple extra seat I'm just seeing dollar signs in my head here um so maybe that's an area to explore just some

157these are just stream of Consciousness from me here so that's really all I have is just please keep the scope do a minimum here the colon name was just aesthetic not low bearing at all so what what's the from a from an overhead roof it is not load bearing um there was some lateral support back to the sound booth there so there are a couple modifications on that back wall um to basically re- um brace that on the back wall so pretty minor cuz when we first went in there we're like oh goodness this is these are structural this probably are not going to go that's going to be a big price tag but once we identified um the minimal amount of work that would need to happen to gain those extra seats it did

158seem advantageous at the time I think at the time was probably a design feature very similar to homes that you walk into during that time period you have some some columns and some peculiar places that don't really serve a purpose take those out and put them in Adam all right all those in favor say I I all those suppos say no IE next board like a motion to approve the schematic design for the franel high school wrestling multi-purpose Edition as presented all right first Mr St last but not least Mr Durham is going to present schematic design uh on the wrestling multipurpose addition at Francis how high and U pending any questions we would hope that board would approve the schematic design as presented as we continue to work through the process and find opportunity

159ities for efficiencies and uh bringing the project as close to budget as we can turn it over Mr dur thank you Mr ster and first off I like to say thank you for hanging in there with us tonight it seems like we've been up here forever but you guys have done great asking good questions and and being very engaged so we do appreciate that very very much so we'll kind of start big picture here and then we'll kind of focus into the plane as we get to go so look a little bit about the existing conditions right now we are we have about two and a half mats in the existing aux gymnasium um the students have to roll the mats Out roll them back up on a daily basis in the winter time it

160has a little bit of extra wear and tear takes a little bit extra time away from students from practice and those kind of things so that was a big point of of focus when we laid out the new space uh there is currently a lack of mass storage so when those are rolled up at the end of the day they just kind of get put in a corner and they're still always in the way it seems like they're just having to be worked around and things like that on a daily basis and then uh sight opportunity and some adjacencies to the athletic pieces so uh let's start at big picture um we are starting on the far northeast corner of the site so as you come in uh where tennis and and football and you

161come to that main north parking lot the building addition here will be oriented right there um on the far northeast corner and you guys can see here we do still maintain some of the athletic um entrances to the building um as you come in off of the north and also to the east so that we don't have to necessarily get into those spaces into the new addition to gain access to the Athletics storage rooms and some of that kind of stuff that are access from the exterior building um so taking some quick looks at what the exterior we really tried to make this look very similar to the high school as it sits today right so you'll see a lot of it's if you didn't know where the delineation was You' probably have a hard

162time picking up you know where the addition starts and where the old building ends um but I will tell you you can kind of see a black line on the rendering right there and that's about where the addition starts and then moves to our left so you can see that we're keeping the same height of the building the same materiality and a lot of the same look that is currently there looking from kind of the Northeast back at the building so kind of as you approach it from that corner um you'll see the the addition here we do have some windows which are kind of unique feature uh in a storm shelter which we'll get to in a minute so we do have some natural daylight and um it kind of just tucks back into

163the site very nicely and as we move into the interior development so we met with um the staff the ad the coaches and really work through a lot of of what they wanted this space to be and what they really needed um to the point where you know we asked them what their wants were they said 4 to six mats I'm sure they would have love 46 mats but we didn't have the budget to do that so what we did is we came to um currently have two and a half so we did settle back on Two and a Half mats um they also talked about using this space for other purposes throughout the school year and that's a great way to kind of use that extra square footage that we're going to give back

164to this building so not just for wrestling but a true multi-purpose space we could use it for cheerlead dance uh on a daily basis for PE and other activities so the things that that we looked at more were on top of wrestling as a multi-purpose Bas and even for for PD on days so what you see on the left would be kind of your winner Sports you'd have the match rolled out um they would be used on a daily basis you will see that on the tan bars on the very top and the very bottom those are matte hoist so when it is not in season or they do want to move those mats out of the way so that is it does become that multi-purpose space those mats actually roll up in hang from

165up high in the space gets them up out of the way gives you that full usable floor plate on a daily basis so that'll be a nice added piece um but during wrestling this space will be dedicated to that so they don't have to roll the mats up they don't have to buy the tape they don't have to resem them they can clean them um it'll make it a much more efficient process on a daily basis for wrestling and during that season on the right hand side what you'll see there is what we envisioned as maybe a PD space right so you'll see 144 different seat seats um you can get several different people in there and you could use that space as a multifunction space not just for students but even just for staff

166right so uh a true multi-purpose space in use for this this facility um as we got into it you'll notice that um we are two and a half mats which did put us above 50 students and so that now means that this space will have to become an ICC 500 storm shelter which is a little bit of an added value so when we have to do that uh when we get over 50 students we do have to provide that type of space it is per code and when you do those spaces um you have to have restrooms mechanical and electrical as part of that so um kind of a space breakdown is you've got about a little over 4,000 sare ft uh for the wrestling facility itself and then you've got those support bases uh

167and a corridor that does provide egress and some structural separation uh for what we have to do for an ICC 500 they have to have separate structures so if one Falls away the other one will still stand there's some code implications there so not not only that Corridor serves for ESS but also for a structural purpose for us as well when it is used for an ICC 500 shelter we will get to about 905 students into the space so that is the add bonuses if there is ever a storm event we can bring students into the space uh for that safety purpose so some renderings that we've done here a couple of the feedback things that we got during our meetings were in the exist existing gymnasium auxiliary gym where they currently use it Acoustics

168were horrible it's hard to hear it echoes really bad uh the coaches have a hard time working with the wrestlers the boys and the girls wrestlers so we've looked at the Acoustics um we've looked at the space and tried to make it as appropriate as we can um we did Pride some natural daylight um the mats the Acoustics so just some nice renderings of what we envision uh the space to be for the Vikings when they are wrestling the m around the perimeter are a safety thing as well so you guys will notice those mats we don't currently have those in auxiliary gym but we will have them in this space so as the students wrestle they get a little bit too close to the wall they will have the mats that go up uh

169for that added safety value as well and with that that concludes our SD update you guys have any questions questions board explain the windows yeah so windows are a little bit unique for us um we do quite a few of these additions and when we have to make them the ICC 500 shelters we don't always get to put Windows in them it's a little bit newer technology um mean I've only done them now for a couple years we used to be able to do windows I will take that back but they would have like the big metal door that would have to be shut in front of them we don't have to do that anymore so these these windows will allow us to uh have natural daylight in a storm shelter which is fairly unique

170so is there a current storm shelter on outline this would be the only one What's the total number of operational day people in that school for the space specifically no entire Squad I know we can fit up to 900 and some OD people in there 900 their enrollments I think about 1,800 half the school go there how do we decide which half goes over other questions Bo all those in favor say I I all say no eyes have it next board I like a motion to approve thank you very much thank you next I like a motion to approve the tax rate at presented so moved last questions on tax rate board any last comments Miss I think we've shared it all M check all those in favor say I I all those opposed say

171no eyes have it we like a motion to approve the safe School analysis proposal as presented second [Music] Miss iy well I have to share I've used this word to describe this to someone else so I'm saying it here for the whole group this has been a bit of a magical experience for me things don't usually just fall into place and feel so right and so I'm telling you that's the the space from where I'm coming uh I've posted for you this presentation it's very brief it outlines a recommendation from a gentleman named John McDonald John McDonald is renowned as the architect of the post tragedy experience from Coline high school and interestingly enough I met him in July I was at the Desi commissioner conference and I attended a safety presentation because we have

172been talking about what are what will we do what's the right thing in Francis hell and so I met this man and the reason he was presenting is because he has relocated to the state of Missouri from Colorado and uh he has gone to work as the Chief Operating Officer for what is referred to as Missouri school boards Association Center for Education safety it's a Statewide school safety organization and they dedicate themselves to all aspects of emergency planning and helping schools keep students in staff have safe so uh I did post some of that information on board ducks for you I also have a little bit of background for you the thing that makes this opportunity unique oftentimes you have a variety of vendor opportunities where they are interested in selling you product and they

173have there are great vendors there are great options for product these are people that would come in as consultants they have no gain other than keeping people safe and so they would come in uh Mr McDonald would partner with uh a a Woman by the name of Maryann parat I think I said her name right and also a gentleman by the name of Michael Eaton so these are also people with great reputations miss parat uh has a master's degree in social work she is a licensed clinical social worker and a certified addiction counselor for the past 18 years she spearheaded spearheaded the way schools respond to potential School violence she was part of a multi-disciplinary team of experts who created a threat assessment tool and the tool streamlines the process of threat evaluation risk mitigation

174safety planning and service referral yielding a consistent and informed response to threats of violence so this is beyond the physical it's beyond building structures or cameras or other devices it includes that but it goes into to what other supports do we need to be providing our students as uh we support them in all ways uh instructionally the other gentleman's name is Michael Eaton and he uh also has a great reputation he served as the chief operations officer at the San Antonio Independent School District uh he has vast experience he uh served as a chief of Department of climate and safety for Denver public schools so that's the largest District in the state of Colorado um serving 91,000 students 15,000 employees and 208 school buildings in his capacity he led 145 officers and Administrative Professionals providing

175247 Safety and Security Services and so my point is that it's just this magical team that's pulled together to do good things for public education so I uh engaged with Mr McDonald and asked him uh is this something that could be provided to our district and so he did provide me with this uh um recommendation in terms of what the focus would be and I've thrown together these slides just to run through that with you so we know that safety of our students and Educators is it's it's the talk right now right and it matters not where you live or who you are we are all dealing with the same uh circumstances every day and so uh again beyond the physical I mentioned that this is from the center of education safety with the Missouri

176school boards Association my understanding is that they are not limited to helping in Missouri that they will go beyond the Missouri boundaries to provide the service to keep kids and and the staff safe uh so I mentioned on that slide oh Jane I did it again there we go I did it oh I'm so proud uh so I uh I know that there was interest that we engage with the St Charles County uh police department and I did have opportunity to do that towards the end of August I met uh with uh Captain Chris Hunt and and Captain Kathy as well and shared with them about this unique opportunity that we have to bring in these Consultants uh for a low dollar to uh assess everything in our district and uh they have done a

177phenomenal job of supporting Francis House school district and many other districts in our community and they are absolutely committed to that engagement this would not be anything that would interfere with that this would be both and uh they appreciate that having a second set of eyes would be a valuable thing and that this is truly beyond the scope of the work that they would do but that they would continue to support us however they could I committed to them that any involvement with any third-party consultant would include engaging with them to further understand their perspective and other opportunities that they have already potentially observed for us and so uh that work would continue so these are the four objectives that Mr McDonald identified and that includes uh reviewing all of our current safety security and

178Emergency Management plans the physical safety infrastructure the behavioral threat and risk assessment programs and a review of mental health support programs under each objective uh these are the actual areas that they would focus in on and again not just uh the uh physical structures but all the other resources that could potentially be available so identifying uh resources but then crisis management plans and practices they would review all policies included in this too just to make sure that we had a a full package of what we should do reviewing our um our M us memos of understanding or intergovernmental agreements that we have with other governmental agencies for that first responder work and then also taking a look at our school resource officers and the Personnel that are allocated at each of the school levels the

179second uh objective again is that physical infrastructure and providing a comprehensive view of that including other options for technology whether it be video surveillance or access control that kind of thing and then on the behavioral threat and risk assessment programs conduct that thorough review of all that we provide currently and we do a lot of things for our kids so I'm not suggesting that we uh have deficits I'm I'm hoping that we're affirmed in many of the great things that we're doing here but that we're also provided a road map of ways we might enhance what we're doing for kids uh and the last one uh provide the analysis of those mental health supports at elementary middle and high school levels so that the wraparound Services meet meet our needs so um the final report

180uh he indicated to me that once we have approval that we would move forward with this they'll get this uh visit on their calendars uh Mr Mark Delaney will assist me in engaging with building leaders department leaders as well as other uh staff that serve as resources to provide safety measures for kids and um and then we would uh provide them with Advanced information that they'll review before they join the team and when they come in for their building visits they'll be well equipped to do a quick review of everything he indicated that uh likely the report would be back to us within 60 days of them concluding their site visit so that's a quick turnaround as well total expenditure would be $8,600 for these three people to invest in US plus travel expenses I

181did indicate that there two of the people are from Colorado uh I don't know if that could carry a total of $20,000 price tag it would depend on what the structure is in terms of uh visits to the sites and that kind of thing but we would do everything possible to make it as efficient as we could so that concludes my magical moment at the podium this evening uh if you have any questions for me I'd be happy to answer those question for who would who would then be the lead once once they generate the port they that that would be determined um Mr Delaney already engages in safy efforts uh if I don't know if my friends to the right have anything they want to contribute to that but uh as as did the

182previous Deputy superintendent he has continued to hold um meetings with leaders to ensure that we're doing things we need to do and so I would expect that would continue we would hope that part of an analysis would also look at our current organizational structure um in a district with 23 School sites and 177,000 students um do we have the right leadership specifically over school safety um so we do have a safety manager in the district um a lot of that focuses around key fobs and entry to buildings drills and that sort of thing so looking at is that the right person to lead all comprehensive safety for the district um would that be under the deputy or under another position within the organization and we might shift some responsibilities but Mark Mr Delany would be

183the key contact initially I'm working closely with Jason Griz now and then some ster who J reports do okay and I don't think in our discussions I ask ask you this but then does this include followup us responding to their reports plans do they provide any followup I know well and I will tell you that you know they have that Center for Education safety their hope is that we would continue to engage with them now that would carry some additional costs if we wanted uh that continued service but I'm I'm confident that they would be open to whatever it is we identified as a need has there been any thought or discussion yet about whether that report would be made public so we manage that expectation among listening I had that conversation with Mr McDonald

184and as we all know at least those of us within this circle uh safety is one of the areas that we are able to discuss in close session that usually gets into the details of the provisions that we are providing Provisions providing I kind of do that often the provisions M made available for those in the buildings and so because you don't want to inform the world of all the things you're doing that's why we can do that under the Missouri Sunshine Law but I would anticipate that from a holistic perspective we would be delivering a public report back to the board and the community so they could have an understanding of the direction we're being made aware that we should take I want to make one one comment and this is for the two

185people watching online um I want to be able to say uh school safety is something that everybody here on the board agrees with in a few minutes we're going to have different things that we disagree with we'll share that and that'll be a conversation that time I just want everybody who's watching to realize that everybody here in the administration everybody here on the board shares a common desire to keep your kids safe and I appreciate this being a good step in that direction but I just want everybody to know that we are locked arms when it comes to your kids safety and I want to make sure um some people might listen to my voice more than another board member and some people might listen to another board member's voice more than listen to mine

186um and that's just the way it is but I think we're locked arms on school safety and I appreciate this be an opportunity to take a step in that direction thank you all right board all those in favor say I I suppos say no I had it we like a motion to approve the financial report as presented Conor Sim this is going to be a 69 slide presentation I'm teasing everyone's tired at this point take another break yeah Dr rumpus just looked at me probably an i okay we'll journey through quickly so uh we do not have a budget amendment for you this evening but I do want to comment to you about the progress on the bond underwriter request for proposal or I should have said request for qualifications and then remind you of

187our primary focus areas in finance and operations this is a a repeat basically of that which we provided you previously nothing has changed in that because we have not processed any budget amendments we are working diligently I've engaged with Mrs Walsh our new Director of Finance uh in a significant way and we will continue that process and and our goal is to provide you at least a partial budget amendment recommendation in November uh whether or not we're able to land I'm sorry in October we'll bring you an October uh Amendment whether we're able to land any piece or part of Salan benefits at that juncture will be determined by our AB ability to work through the data so this is unchanged from last month I've highlighted that for you and again we can never focus

188on the current year projected ending fund balance percentage we have to always always look out because as We Know uh things change and they always will and again reminding us that we are cruising toward that 18.76% ending fund balance percentage uh a few years out so the health of the district is the long-term play not a one-year Moment In Time the bond underwriter request for qualifications we did uh let that uh recently and we had a deadline for questions today and no questions came forward for that we anticipated at uh sealed proposals being submitted by September 26th at a particular time of day that day we have an interview date scheduled for October 1st in order to bring you a recommendation for uh Bond underwriter October 10th and uh this is not something that has

189been um bit out in a number of years a few decades and so this is just an opportunity to make sure that we're receiving the best service uh we can for the district this remind you of our journey and I won't belabor uh this by reading through it but just keeps you informed of the work going on behind the scenes and what you might expect coming forward given that this is our business meeting uh where you're asked to um approve things for us and so I will highlight the auditor work is uh scheduled and moving forward ultimately we'll bring you that recommendation no later than the December board meeting and we'll always keep you updated on all those construction projects that are moving moving forward so that's the end of that presentation if you have

190any questions I'd be happy to answer them questions for I me just make the one comment I know I don't know probably a number of months ago now we refinance some of the propess bonds and and say save million or so just to continue with whoever making sure whoever we have a bond underr is continue to look at The Debt Service and and the bonds so we can see where strategically there might be some good options um the future and that's perfect uh that was part of the expectation that they would provide any um ideas or affirmations of how we're currently structured or ways that we could take a look at doing things differently so that's great thank you board all those in favor say I I all those oppos to say no eyes have

191it board like a motion to approve the purchases as presented second Qui I'll favor say I I all oppos say no have it or like a motion to approve the music Insurance renewal as presented any discussion on this one board I just I would just like to comment and thank the administration for answering the questions um regarding the music insurance program who it released to and coverage and everything so the public has a little more analog on it appreciate that um all those in favor say I hi all post to say now I as have we like a motion to approve the stop loss renewal as presented discussion board all those in favor say I hi iOS to say no eyes have it next we have a report on community stakeholder survey um presented by

192Miss jols [Music] thank you I drew the Short Straw and I think I'm what's PowerPoint number 17 tonight or something so be very riveting at 9:30 at night I've been told that um since I'm a country girl I can do it like an Auctioneer and just talk really fast I'm going to try to do that to make up some time um so first just a little bit of context this this will look fairly um familiar to those who've been engaged in our board meetings we do this survey every year so I think this is my third or fourth year presenting um I think we took a pause right after or right before covid um and so uh right before the end of last school year we may you may remember we distributed a survey to

193get feedback from the community it was sent via email to all parents and Guardians staff and all community members who are on our online subscribers list the survey was also posted on the district website and so tonight we're just going to go through a high Lev overview of the results so here you will see the survey was open for just over two weeks from May 24th to June 10th the purpose of the survey every year is to help us understand what the district is doing well in addition to the opportunities for improvement we wanted to know how to best engage our community as we move forward and use that information to inform the next strategic plan and I want to say upfront as we do every year that we recognize this is not a scientific

194or normed survey the pool of people who receive it is limited um but what is important is the general themes as they serve as an indicator of the overall Coture and climate in the direction that we're moving uh we had 631 participants start the survey this year with just under 600 answering all 26 questions we had a good mix of stakeholders parents staff residents with all areas of the district represented in the responses um one thing to note the survey asked respondents to select all relationships that apply so you'll see that the totals don't add to 100 even if you're not good at math you'll probably see that very quick so for example I'm a parent in the district but I'm also a staff member and a resident so I would have selected all three

195of those boxes um it's also worth noting that we received about half as many responses as we did the year prior and we think that's primarily due to two things one if you think about the timing of May 24th that's at the very end of the school year so parents are busy staff are busy just a lot of activity going on um and possible survey fatigue we had sent out other surveys of very similar sorts of questions around strategic planning culture and climate sorts of surveys within that previous 90 days I think we had maybe three surveys go out within that same period of time so we think that had something to do with just the results that we got this time so the first set of questions we'll look at are the rating questions

196and then we'll move into some of the qualitative themes that we saw on this slide in the next view you'll see three columns of data um this year scores are on the far right of the screen and they're compared with scores from the last two years of data that we have so that was last year 2023 and then the year prior 20122 on this first set of questions we asked respondents to rate the district on a number of topics similar to a school report card with grades from an A to an F A obviously being good and F being failing and so you'll see that on these three topics that you can read on the slide the percentage of respondents rating the districts efforts in these areas is an ARB increased this year suggesting that

197we made improvements in these areas over the prior year we then took those same three questions and looked at the percentage of respondents who rated the district's efforts as a d or f um in those same areas and so given the increase in A's and B's we would assume that we would see the failing grades decrease which we did so the takeaway really is that the district has a better report card more as's and B's and fewer D's and Fs than the year prior which suggests we are moving in the right direction when it comes to engaging stakeholders in the work of the district the next series of survey questions asked respondents to rank each statement from um strongly agree to disagree so this slide is really about engagement it shows the percentage of respondents

198who indicated that they agree or strongly agree with the statements listed here so the results are pretty consistent with last year um more people say they are connected and engaged and slightly fewer people say they are familiar with the district's curriculum or that they often read news from the district one takeaway for us is that less than 40% of respondents are familiar with the district's budget even though the vast majority pay taxes here and that's even with Carol's many presentations on the budget so um consistent with prior years but obviously we still could do more to engage our stakeholders uh about the budget and finally it should be noted that this data represents respondents and not necessarily the entire Community because of our survey pool the respondents by and large are people who are already

199at least somewhat engaged I mean they cared enough to open the email and take the survey and so we understand that there are other stakeholders who didn't receive the survey or chose not to participate presumably because they're less engaged U moving on to our next set of questions so on this Slide the district made improvements in three of the four areas over last year a strong majority of stakeholders agree that Francis how offers a high quality education and prepares students for the future but you'll see that slight dip there from 72 to 71% when it comes to Preparing students for the future and we did not ask followup so I can't say why that little 1% might be um the biggest gains in this year's survey are reflected in those last two rows we saw

200an eight-point jump as you'll see in the number of respondents who believe the district spends taxpayer funds effectively and efficiently and a 15-point jump in the number of respondents who say they trust District leaders to make good decision so this marks the first time in recent years that more than half of survey respondents rated trust this way and so we think that's a celebration to highlight um on the next slide we're going to talk a little bit more about trust and drill drill down a little deeper so this was another question on the survey it asked respondents to rate their overall trust in the district and its leadership specifically the superintendent and his team from a 1 to a 10 one being low 10 being high so on this slide those who rated their level

201of trust as a seven are better we put in a category called high trust and if they rated it four or lower we call that low trust the bottom of the slide in yellow you'll see there were improvements over the last two years um but obviously remains an opportunity here for us to continue building on this trust with all stakeholders this is one of those questions where we did ask a followup and we said if you rated trust as low meaning a four or lower on that 10o scale we asked an open-ended um question we said said what can the district do to strengthen your trust and support and so these are some of the themes that came out of those open-ended responses um there's clearly strong support for our teachers and staff with respondents

202indicating it would take improved working conditions and competitive pay as well as demonstrated efforts to Value the input of Educators to earn their trust and support um many said the focus needs to be on education and urge the district to prioritize academics and student learning over sports and social and political issues other respondents felt the district could improve climate by addressing bullying and other student Behavior and working to create learning environments where all students feel welcome and finally communication you'll see that theme come up a few times there remains a desire for the district to be open honest and transparent listen to stakeholders follow through on issues and hold people accountable um you're going to see some of these same themes as I mentioned come up when we get to the rest of the open-ended

203questions but I think one thing that you don't see among the top answers to this question is the need for better fiscal management and that was a theme the the prior two years so um I think the absence of it this year suggests that again we made progress in that area and spending taxpayer dollars wisely and being transparent about funds how funds are being spent um the slide is about transparency this was there were two questions added to the survey last year um they weren't on the survey in 2022 so that's why you only see two years of data on this slide in the next one and these questions were designed to measure the impact of some of the concerted efforts that Dr rumpus and the leadership team have made to build relationships increase transparency

204and improve trust so on this slide you'll see that 65% of respondents agree or strongly agree that the district has made efforts to be more transparent in the last 12 months with only 9% disagreeing um which is an improvement on the previous year in terms of overall satisfaction you'll see on this slide an increase in respondents who feel more satisfied with the way things are going this year over last with less than a quarter of respondents feeling less satisfied and I want to point out there's quite a few neutral who just felt like I'm just as satisfied as I was and we don't know if that's good or bad it just know we didn't really change too much over this last year and now we get into more of the open-ended responses um there were

205two questions that the survey ended with very broad what is the district doing well and what can the district improve so on this slide um we just summarized the themes on what we're doing well many of the same themes that you've heard in previous years um teachers and staff received High Praise as they always do for their dedication hard work and caring attitudes the efforts of teachers to engage chall and support students are highlighted in the comments in terms of academic and extracurricular excellence um comments expressed satisfaction with the education provided by the district mentioning academic rigor stem programs and a wide variety of elective and specialized courses including AP classes respondents also appreciated the variety of opportunities students have at Francis how with regard to sports band uh and various clubs and student organizations

206communication and transparency was a theme throughout the responses with most stakeholders acknowledging the positive steps that were taken over the past couple of years uh specifically the citizens Roundtable series and the citizens in our schools program were mentioned as positive examples of trying to be transparent and involve stakeholders in the community and involve them in problem solving providing high school students with classes to explore different careers as highly appreciated in the responses and other comments touch on the feeling of safety in the school environment and um measures taken to ensure physical and emotional Security in including having SRO in buildings in terms of leadership and administration the superintendent's active involvement in transparent leadership are frequently mentioned in the survey responses as positive aspects the competence of School administrators and District leadership team are also recognized

207other responses reflect a sense of community involvement with many stakeholders feeling schools are engaging families and strengthening those Community ties was also mentioned a better communication with parents and efforts to involve them in the educational process new to this list and rounding out the top themes was praise for district facilities and the improvements that have been made over the last year many positive comments about the district's efforts to improve facilities um specifically mention an excitement of Francis how North construction project which as recall at this time was just wrapping up people hadn't necessarily seen it so there were a lot of comments about north um and then also those playgrounds that were coming I think at that time you would approve them because people were talking about the excitement for those so that was new

208to the list this year all right and then in terms of opportunities for the district um some of these are going to sound familiar because they're really just the opposite side so the people who didn't feel that it was a strength um might have felt like there was an opportunity so you'll see similar themes here um in terms of teacher support and retention this was was a top theme last year as well um there's a concern that we will lose quality teachers to other districts if we don't maintain competitive pay and benefits Beyond compensation respondents talked about reducing class sizes managing teacher workload increasing resources and reducing case loads for special Educators providing more professional development opportunities and allowing teachers more autonomy in their work student behavior and discipline was another theme there were multiple

209requests for better handling of disruptive students to ensure they do not interfere with the learning of others many respondents suggested implementing stricter cell phone policies to uh reduce distractions and improve focus in classrooms and finally addressing bullying more effectively and ensuring U student safety were significant concerns within this theme the next theme identified the data had to do with comments and behaviors observed at board meetings uh respondents highlighted the need for better and earlier communication about board decisions policies and changes and encouraged more respectful dialogue fewer personal attacks at the podium and removal of politics from board meetings curriculum in academics was area of opportunity for the district um there are calls for greater emphasis on core academic subjects respondents suggested updating and improving the curriculum particularly in subjects like math and science and providing

210more diverse educational materials expanding extracurricular activities including Sports arts and vocational training was also recommended improving school facilities including classrooms playgrounds and overall Building Maintenance was frequently mentioned as well as ensuring all buildings have up-to-date technology and resources respondents want to continue to see opportunities for Parental involvement in schools and opportun for Meaningful Community engagement in terms of student well-being providing better mental health support for students including counseling and intervention programs was highlighted promoting inclusivity and diversity and addressing issues related to racism and discrimination were important concerns for many respondents and for our final theme improving operational efficiency was suggested other comments urge the district to continue responsible spending and avoiding unnecessary expenses as fast as I could go I don't know how I did a lot of words in a short amount of time

211so I'm going to turn it over to um Dr rumus just to talk through some next steps is they Rel to strategy plan you want to come up or St no yeah or I'll just quickly add we we celebrate the positive feedback that we see in there and then we also recognize though that it's an area where we continue to have a lot of opportunity to improve um the ratings that improved in last year's survey and again this year we do believe um are related to intentional work that we've been trying to do as a district we knew that during the pandemic we had lost engagement with a lot of our stakeholders and so we knew coming out of that and as a new leadership team that we really had a great opportunity to build

212relationships and improve engagement communication and transparency and that's been a goal of the board along with the leadership since we came into these roles to do that and we've really tried to do it in a variety of different ways uh and believe that we're seeing um some of the benefits of what we've done this year we'll continue to focus on that and really try to identify opportunities to engage more stakeholders we frequently recognize that our parents the um patrons that we have the most access to are the most involved um and this is a large County with a large frany community so how do we continue to reach out to our patrons who are not parents who need to understand the work that we're doing and to um get input from them as a group

213a big part of that will be through the strategic planning work as you're aware next month we plan to bring draft goals to you to get your input and to finalize that in November and that'll be an opportunity to continue to engage stakeholders as we move forward this year we also plan to continue our community roundtables this spring a lot of this was about communication and lately with some of the safety concerns we've been talking about communication what does that look like from the building and the district level and we think it would be a great topic to really get input from our stakeholders um specifically how do we communicate well how could we do better um and again how do we reach the broader Community who is not just our parents and our staff

214members so again we recognize this is an area that we can never stop trying to improve and have to find Opportunities to engage in better in different ways and look forward to partnering with you and with our community to do that questions board thank you m Jules now we have our academic update with Dr Buckman another presentation I'll talk fast too I'll stick to my notes so I I do go fast um we have our annual academic update for you tonight as always when I get started I like to give a little shout out to our director of data assessment in high schools Dr angelene O'Neal and Zach Brady um it's not lost on me how much work they put into taking those raw numbers and putting it into a fashion that is helpful to

215others start with that um as you know desie is now using MIP 6 as our accountability system under the system districts are measured against performance metrics which are the student outcomes and then also our continuous Improvement metrics and that's what assesses the quality of the work that we're doing to improve our student achievement um all of the information is put together and that's what determines our APR or the annual performance report which informs our accreditation and classification decisions uh the performance metrics shown on the slide make up 70% of our APR and then the continuous Improvement metrics make up the other 30% so tonight we'll talk about our academic achievement which is how our students scored on the spring of 24 map and US assessments we don't have the growth data yet from the state

216so I'll share that with you in a few months when we receive that data we will talk tonight about our um success ready students so that's our College and Career Readiness assessments act and then also the uh completion rates of our AP courses we'll look at our grad rate students who are graduating in four or five years and then also end with our graduation followup and so that's what our kids are doing 180 days or 6 months after graduation um as I mentioned Dy hasn't provided all of the information that we'll get over the course of the year but we're bringing it to a little bit earlier this year than we have in the past um we don't have data from other districts yet but we'll be able to share with you how we did

217compared to previous years and then also how we did compared to the state we'll start by looking at our English language arts proficiency um so this is our data around map and EOC tests the slide shows our overall performance for ELA combined into a single data point so this is the assessment given to all of our students in grades 3 through 8 and then English to which they typically take in 10th grade um when you're looking at the charts there's a lighter blue bar that represents the overall Francis heal student the dark Navy bar represents our students who fall into one of the state designated student groups so those are students who have an IEP students who are direct certified Hispanic students African-American students and then those students in our ESO program and then the

218gold bar on the slide represents the the performance of the average Missouri student so a typical Missouri student that's where they're performing when you look at the data one thing that you'll notice is that students who fall into one of the state designated student groups so that Navy bar they're performing almost as well as the average Missouri student which is a huge celebration um you'll also see that overall in ela we lost a little bit of ground while the state remained flat our new director of data and assessment has been working tirelessly to get all of this information uploaded into Edge climber which you may remember is our newer um data warehouse and it's allowing our students to see how their students performed on the exam all the way down to a specific standard they

219are getting more data than they have ever been provided before um we're working to analyze some of our internal assessments our priority standards and then that state assessment blueprint to make sure that we're focused on the right standards each year um we believe that some of the work we're doing will have a positive impact on this data specifically this slide shows the data of our students the typical Missouri student and then for each specific test given in ela so it takes the previous overall and breaks it down we've also included a column showing the performance of our students who fall into the five student groups that I mentioned on the previous slide and then in the chart the leftand column is our overall student performance when you look at this data compared to last school

220year on this state assessment we saw gains for our third graders fourth graders and eighth graders when you look at all students and then when you're looking at our student groups we saw gains for our third graders fifth graders sixth graders and eighth graders our English 2 proficiency rate for all students and student groups is really a reflection of the ongoing curricular work that those teachers are doing um last year you may remember we purchased a new grammar resource K12 this year we're providing additional learning opportunities for our teachers around this resource um for our Ka teachers to be sure that they're able to use it consistently and with Fidelity this chart shows our overall District performance in the area of math so this would include our third our students in 3rd through 8th grade

221and then also our Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 students this was the second year for that small group of middle school kids who took the geometry EOC um as you can see we saw a slight increase from last year and then this slide shows the Francis Hall data compared to the state for each of those specific tests um a few math reminders I give to you each year so sixth grade data is all of our sixth grade students when you look at seventh grade most of our students take the map test but there is a small group of advanced students who will take the algebra 1 assessment and then in eighth grade again most of our students are taking the map test about 30 to 40% of them will take the Algebra 1 EOC and

222then that small group who took the algebra EOC in seventh grade will take um the geometry EOC in 8th grade that small group taking geometry it's about 138 students so it's it's small um but they're the same group of kids who go on to take the algebra 2 EOC when they get to high school because we're required to give an a math EOC to all our students in high school so if they take algebra one in middle school then they take Algebra 2 in high school compared to last year's scores we saw increases in fifth grade sixth grade 8th grade algebra 1 geometry and Algebra 2 Algebra 1 I know has been an area of interest um they saw a gain of about five a little over 5% for all of our students and then

223Algebra 2 really shined with a 10% gain over last year's um data this school year I'll just remind you is our first year using the new curriculum for Algebra 1 geometry and in Algebra 2 and it's also our new school year our first year using our new resource for those three classes chart shows our science data this includes our fifth grade eighth grade and biology student data um this one's a little unique both fifth grade and eth grade are grade span tests so that means that the fifth grade assessment covers third fourth and fifth grade standards and then in eighth grade that assessment covers Sixth sth and eighth grade standards uh we saw a little Dr in our overall science scores when we dig into the assessment on multiple tests there were some standards that

224had changed from the previous Blueprints and so we're working with our new science content leader to dig into that data with our teams to make sure our teachers have the right information as they're working through their instruction this year like the previous charts this one shows our student performance on each of the individual science tests we saw some decreases in eth grade in biology but we're excited to celebrate our fifth graders who saw a 4% increase in both the all student group and the um or the all students and the student group um again we believe shifting our Focus onto the standards based on what's outlined in the blueprint should help us bounce back there and then finally we'll wrap up with our social studies data this one's a little unique in that it's only

225one assessment it's the government EOC that our students typically take in their junior year it's a newer assessment which is why you only see four years of data on this chart compared to the previous charts you'll notice we've seen consistent growth from the last three years with just under a 3% gain um last school year and then just again like other areas we continue to outperform the average Missouri student and our student group performance is above the average Missouri student so all of that was tied to um achievement the first indicator academic achievement the second indicator is our success ready students so this is the measure that tells us if our students are ready for what's Coming After High School um for this indicator Dy looks at two things they look at the performance on

226College and Career assessments so asbab work Keys act and then they look at student participation in advanced academic or career oriented experiences so um Early College dual credit dual enrollment AP courses we'll start with our act performance so just one of the assessments that students can use for their college incw readiness assessment but it is the most popular among our student body this slide shows the ACT composite this is data provided to us directly from act and this is based on their highest ACT score not necessarily their last ACT score on file um we're bringing this to you a little bit earlier this year which means we don't know the state or national data for comparison yet however we saw an increase in our overall composite which is always a celebration uh fewer colleges it's

227you know been a conversation in the past are using are requiring an act for entrance um but we know many continue to require it for scholarship opportunities and the state continues to hold us accountable as one of our measurement points for M6 this chart it's probably very small to look at I apologize as I'm looking at it now but what I would point out is the top chart that third column the average number of times students take the ACT it really highlights the importance of students taking the ACT multiple times it's why we continue to ask the board to support offering our Juniors the opportunity to take the ACT during the school day we're grateful for you approving that tonight along with the um request for the practice act that gives our sophomores an opportunity

228to take the ACT in the fall and then our buildings are able to receive some data and use that to impact instruction during the school year and better prepare students um for those assessments Switching gears a little bit advanced placement so second area under success ready students it's participation in those Advanced academic and career oriented experiences we know that if you look at the Last 5 Years on average we have about 80% of our graduates going to a two or fouryear college our goal is for all of our students really to access a college level course before graduation so uh our hope is that it's an AP course it could also be an early college course uh right now we have about 59% of our students taking at least one AP course before graduation a

229slight increase from last year last year we were at 57 so happy to see that that bum we offer a wide range of classes AP offerings you can take anything from AP Cal to AP art history and and a lot in between that what we know is that success in an AP class indicates that a student is at that reading and writing level that will allow them to to be successful not just in college but also in a career and we work hard to dispel that myth that AP classes are only for college F students that is not the case um many of our students who go into the workforce are reading technical manuals that are written well above that post High School level so great uh courses for all of our students so this

230chart shows the number of students who took an AP test that's the blue bar and then the number of exams that were written that's the yellow bar so as you can see there was an increase in both the number of kids who took an AP test and also the number of exams written the difference between the two just shows that we have a large number of kids who are taking multiple AP tests the last piece of data that we'll share from AP is how our students scored on the exam so this slide shows in blue the percentage of students who scored a three or higher on at least one exam so just under 82% of our students and then the yellow bar shows the percent of exams where kids scored a three or higher just

231under 7 8% of our students um you can see from last year we saw an increase in both numbers so not only are we increasing the number of students taking advantage of the opportunity but that they're continuing to do well in those rigorous courses um and that we're at a a six-year high on that so accelerations all around with apab graduation rate is the next of the five years that we're accountable for so we earn points based on the percentage of students who graduate in four years and we also pick up some points on kids who need that fifth year so this slide shows both our four and fiveyear high school grad rate if you look at the 2019 column uh the four-year grad rate row you'll see that 97% of our students graduated in

232four years so it's highlighted yellow just to make it a little easier to to find if you follow that on a diagonal you'll see that we picked up some additional students and we ended at 97.8 of that class in the fifth year so that just means that there's a small group of students who just need another semester or two to complete those graduation requirements one of our points of pride is that we typically earn all of our points on the four-year graduation rate since it's so high many other districts need that fifth year to pick up all of their points so if you were to look at the H data for 23 the blue boxes you'll see that we had 95.6 of our students graduate in four years and then when we added that fifth

233year we bumped up to 96.7 um the state hasn't released their data yet so we don't have the comparisons but we would anticipate that we will it'll continue to be a strength and then finally the graduation The Graduate followup so this is where the state wants to make sure we haven't lost any of our students we measure what they're doing once they leave us um are they enrolled in college are they in a technical or trade school are they employed um or are they part of the military we earn points for any of those and so this shows you kind of what our kids are doing when they leave us so this data is generated from a survey that we provide them we saw a nearly 5% gain in students going to a four-year college

234or university as well as just over a 4-year boost in our overall percentage of kids going to a two or fouryear college um compared to last year and that resulted in just a slight dip of students who are attending a technical school are going straight into the workforce we always like to wrap up with some conversation around celebrations and our next steps so high schools have been working really hard to increase their act composite so we were excited to see the bump there we also know that the uh more frequently our students take the ACT the better that they'll score and as I mentioned on that previous slide last year we saw an increase in a and a four-year High um in the average number of Acts a student took and that is a direct

235reflection of a significant amount of effort that our high schools are putting into that our AP numbers are a huge celebration not only are we casting a wider net and seeing more students take AP exams but the scores are increasing which tells us that our teachers are doing a phenomenal job of supporting our student students when that they are in those rigorous classes we've working hard on our algebra scores excited to celebrate the gains in both Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 and excited to see how the new curriculum and resources continue to make an impact there uh we're proud of the effort from our government teachers who continue to see year-over-year increases on their state assessment you might remember uh I don't remember if it was last month or the month before but we celebrated

236the district being recognized as the youth apprenticeship program to showing our continued commitment to ensuring that our students who are are planning to join the workforce After High School are well prepared all of our levels elementary through High School have completed the PLC Academy work professional learning communities they're working now to implement their learning which is a lot of work around unpacking standards making sure that what we're teaching aligns to the state standards what we're assessing aligns to the state Blueprints and that we have solid plans in place for kids who just need a little bit of extra help and then just that we continue to um do a great job quite frankly of collaborating with other districts just last week we hosted an event where we had over a 100 Educators and leaders in

237our uh from 16 districts in the area all here collaborating and problem solving around topics related to curriculum and assessment kind of learning from each other great day and then um always thinking about how we can continue to grow and and know better do better so um as I mentioned before our high school teachers are working hard not only to implement new curriculum but also use their new resources in algebra geometry and Algebra 2 our curriculum team as you know is finalizing the new K5 Ela curriculum and a process is underway to select a new resource a comprehensive Ela resource for K5 classroom teachers we'll bring that to you in a workshop later this year before we bring it for purchase our intent is to roll out both the new curriculum and the new resource

238at the start of next school year all of our buildings have written their annual School Improvement plans we in the process of reviewing those and providing feedback Based on data and goals that the buildings are working towards uh we have really expanded our use of our data warehouse Edge climber this year we've been able to create some efficiencies and how we track students uh we have all of our interventions in there we're streamlining some communication with families allowing teachers uh a better Avenue for having conversations and and tracking the needs of students down to a more specific level and then we continue to provide a wide range of learning opportunities for staff so we had over 60 Educators engage in letters training this summer provided by three of our intern facilitators our elementary and middle

239school teachers are participating in some strand professional learning on District PD days like tomorrow uh variety of topics there science of reading math fluency content knowledge phonics some grammar a lot of curriculum PD our high school teachers will be wrapping up their three-year assessment PD with a focus on instructional decisions related to the data that they're receiving and then all of our levels will continue to receive learning around um just the PLC work from those coaches in their building as they work to uh refine their collaboration on a weekly basis to impact student achievement all of our new hires are receiving Core Curriculum PD first semester from our content leader curriculum team uh we'll continue to collaborate with other districts we're excited to see the data from other districts so we can see where we

240want to pull great ideas from some of our neighbors and then finally just grateful for the middle school math interventionist that the board approved in the Staffing plan last spring we have that at all five Schools running six sections um they've had two days two learning events they've got a day coming up the first week of October to look at their first rounded data to see how the program is working so just excited to Manor that throughout the school year and then you know I always wrap up with a picture of our class of new teachers um while I'm lucky to stand up here and celebrate the the successes it really is all of the folks in our buildings who are making it happen every day and they show up they build relationships with kids

241they support our families they're always defining their practice to make sure that they're engaging students as they teach the curriculum and that our students leave here ready and well prepared for their next steps so just want to honor that work and effort that they put in each day I'm here Angelina is here we're happy to answer any questions you have or just a really quick uh be interesting to see what's going so well with the government teachers that all those on scores are going upward so I don't know if there's a learn better do better kind of opportunity but uh not necessarily need the answer now but just kind of interested to see what that might be uh what's interesting the ACT scores are now able to be enhanced by taking the test more often

242and so you get your best math score and your best English score and I I imagine all of us would have loved to have had that you know for us when we were doing the ACT um but yet the amount of uh people who are uh taking it how often they're taking it has actually gone down last few years so uh whatever we can do to communicate the value in taking the act more often and um you know it just seems like there's a lot of good information here for any strategic plan that we can take and adopt and thank you very much yeah thank you questions board I do have one quick maybe question I've been reading a number of articles about increases in esol Learners just kind of across the board um I'm

243just curious and that you don't if you don't have the data that's fine have we been seeing an increase in our shooting grp with v and do we if so do we have the proper resources for that I don't have that with me tonight but I can certainly follow up with you on that thank you yeah Bo like a motion to approve the policy and regulation updates for 1300s and 131s as presented we have a second second all in favor say I I oppos to say no eyes have it or like a motion to approve regulation 2260 as [Music] presented all those in favor say I allst say no have it Bo like a motion to approve policy 61 180 as present Rich harm all those in favor say I iOS say no I Bo

244like a motion to approve policy 0340 as presented move Harmon in discussion board this do this policy uh have legal review I don't believe so is that it did yes any other questions board all in favor say I I I was supposed to say know no eyes have it we like a motion to approve policy and regulation 0380 as presented under discussion board yes I wanted to um bring up one amendment I think 0380 has a lot of advancements and improvements over uh the way it looked in June I want to commend director cook for those improvements uh my amendment is um policy policy 0380 it it is to add back the language the campaign materials may be dist may be distributed me may be distributed outside of school buildings activities held on school property

245my parents Guardians or par patrons are in attendance provided however that all viewpoints regarding the ballot measure or candidate for public office must be given the same privilege and that the materials must comply with the campaign law including but not limited to the requirement that the materials identify the organization or person who paid for the materials in the sponsoring committee or treasure is the same language verbatim for what's already in um regulation 0380 and so my amendment is to keep all the uh improvements that are in 0380 but to add uh the allowance for campaign materials to be dist uh being uh distributed um I have a hard time that word for distri distri it's a hard one isn't it it's a hard one distributed I'm just going to skip it next time I tell

246you what but but to keep that same line there and then to remove uh page one uh the reference to it is the intent of the district to operate a nonpublic forum and the rest of that sentence uh page two uh election earing is not permitted on District opery uh in the rest of that sentence and then on page two uh point to election heing is permitted by any individual group and the rest of that paragraph So I have this I'll share this with you if if it sees the line of date but um the reason behind it is um this there a second oh yeah apology I have a second I'll speak to it thank you for that thank you for that last year during parent teacher conferences one group of people used those

247as opportunities to meet with uh parents um I was one of them Carol Le Owens was another one uh I attended 12 of them 12 13 met a couple hundred parents and largely uh received positive feedback I know there are some people who said they prefer to be uh um to not have had people share I remember director Ponder sharing that in June um but what ends up happening is this is access for our candidates to talk to parents to be available to share what's going on in the community and what has happened is that group of people that um largely a voting block U and the people who utilize that represent the political opponents of the current uh majority on the board and so this language to remove that expression as the appearance of

248silencing a particular group of people who use a particular way of reaching voters and uh last year there was about 22 uh events where this took place um 22 occurrences 35 volunteers um countless hours spent shaking hands and one side used this legal way of reaching voters at a higher level than another and removing this um would benefit one side over the other so that's why I want to keep this language in the allowance of uh passing out campaign materials outside of uh school buildings activities and I have a question what how do you know that how do I know how do you know that one side used it more than another how do you know sure how do you what what facts do you have that sure beig glad um did the first U

249seven or eight that I attended um the people supporting the other candidates weren't there at all um the people who uh supported kly and I it shown up more often more hours often times showing up without people from Another Side also being there to introduce their candidates shake hands um so a lot of it is personal experience being there seeing who was there who wasn't there and uh and because of that uh this amendment I mean this uh policy as it's written and the regulation silence a particular group of people who found that to be a successful way of contacting voters I think it's written it's Viewpoint neutral just make sure that's Crystal Clear yeah understand keeping it is also two point neutral that both sides can equally connect to voters and I would say

250anybody who's running for school board or running for re-election would want the opportunity to meet with parents before and after and say here I am if you want to talk to me I love to hear your ideas I love to be able to meet you love to shake hands and this would limit anybody's ability to do that either as a candidate running for election or re-election so that that's this reason I mean it seemed like it's uh this disproportionately silence one group of people who use this legal expression more often than the other I guess I'm trying to understand how it disproportionate is said it's Viewpoint neutral it affects anybody that wants to come equally um but I guess my other concern is I understand canidates want to meet there's multiple aventies for candidat to

251meet people but there's also an opportunity for 50 people to show up at a PTO meeting and then principes teachers parents having to go through see people to go to a to a meeting go to a parent teacher conference when they're supposed to be there focusing on the kids the teachers and the parents teachers and the principles are supposed to be focus on the the students and the parents there they learn about what how their kids are doing instead they're trying to manage people outside in front of the building I understand that point the the Sea of people wouldn't actually be an ACC accurate picture most times there's one or two people and I'll just have a card saying my name is Step Blair running for school board I hand is two sure that that's

252usually what it is um and the inequal idea is that one side uses it a lot more than the other so instead of but again you don't have any proof of that that's your opinion oh I I know that there's uh people have used um and counted the amount of times different volunteers uh were used um I know teachers were there um one of the teachers sh shared uh handr written calendar of how many times each person volunteered on what dates so like I'm not outside of me saying it was a long time before we saw anybody representing the other two candidates um and so I I can we can talk to other people get more quantifiable information but it here's yeah here's my challenge with this is this has been out there this has

253been out here for a discussion how many months and now we're coming here for a second reading a vote and this is why 6241 is coming back is because we had a Spur the- moment Amendment at the 12th hour which causes us to bring it back because some language was put in so there's been multiple opportunities for us to discuss this and now it's coming to A at the 12th hour again and then the other thing would be is I believe one of the comments was the parents or people of the community want politics out of the schools yes and I I see this when I show up for a teachers to meet the teacher I don't want politics there and I I believe a bunch of other parents don't want politics in the schools

254so that's why I agree with this 0380 and do you have evidence of thatan like that's right there I guess yeah I mean it it it was up there you hear the speakers tonight they don't want politics in the schools that they don't want to meet I'm not here to debate you with it it's my opinion that's why I'm going to vote I'm not going to vote for your Amendment that's I'm going to vote for the current language and that's why gotcha any additional discussion on the amendment [Music] all in favor to amend the motion say I I I all opposed say no no no no have it on to the original motion any further discussion on the original motion I just have one comment about this whole policy I know we've discussed it before

255but I feel I need to say this um I believe that public school boards in America should not be in the business of attempting to silence voice but should be about lifting up our right to free speech thank you additional discussion Bo right all those in favor of the motion to approve poliy regulation 0380 say I I I all oppos say no no I haveit we like a motion to approve policy 6241 as presented discussion board been some reporting about this earlier today and some other comments I just like to make a quick statement that uh changes that are proposed here are based on guidance from our legal counsel so I have every expect ation that our educators will provide educationally suitable materials going forward as they have in the past Supreme Court of the

256United States has stated in writing that factual information is certainly a component of of being educationally suitable so there's as for you know some of these talk about hate speech we have ample policies around discrimination and other you know forms of disparaging and and discriminating against other students i' just like to point out that this policy doesn't actually talk about hate speech in general it's just hate speech within curricular documents is what is what this is was referring to um so the notion that there would be that in a in a textbook or something I think is is rather farfetched if I'm if I can be being candid so that's the that that's the underlying reason for these changes count discussion board yeah I my interpretation of uh some legal guidance says if if these

257words hate speech false science and false historical claims is bothersome to somebody um each of those words could be um described in further detail um and that that also would uh be an option we can consider um tonight as well and for that option of somebody um especially somebody who voted just last month um to add these words um realizing that we didn't want to allow this to happen inside our school district if you think these words are still words that resemble your values on this topic then you can vote to table um this um and have next month um a policy show up where those three terms are described in more detail and I would be willing to work on that with director cook or anybody else um so that we're able to communicate

258the values that you wanted to communicate last month both more details um so that those terms or similar terms can still be in that document uh the other part is that this is a set of guidance that we give the teachers and um underneath the the previous language language that was approved last month there are certain things that would just not be allowed uh they would not be even considered a possibility for wide variety of views um whether it's the the conversation in Florida about uh you know schools that are teaching that slaves learn skills that could be use for personal benefit that's that's not a why that's not one of the views that we want to have included um views that the Holocaust is a hoax you know that's not a view that we

259want even be considered to be included and those are views that will be uh currently blocked by the current language and um the change uh could allow those to be included where they wouldn't be right now I I'd rather be clear about which views were not interested uh not interested in hate speech we're not interested in false science or false historical claims um being some of the views that we want uh teachers to make sure we represent as a wide variety of views I have never heard of any complaints or even the hint of a complaint from anyone of our educational materials saying that the Holocaust was a hoax or the other example you gave this is uh this just isn't an issue that our that that we have in our district right now I

260don't and beyond that I think that language that has been suggested here is certainly adequate to make sure that there's not incorrect information being distributed to students via resources be handouts or other resour sources and I would interpret the phrase a wide variety of views would be a direction for teachers to make sure they represent and present a lot of views a wide variety of views which might include views that that that these three descriptions and I do think uh on one level because them being proactive just like some of the conversations we've had in the last couple months about being proactive um and we could also say that uh anytime we can take a clear stance against hate speech uh appears to be a good idea and I uh I feel like keeping this

261in there uh potentially tabling it to add more details if you so prefer um is clear and describes the values of who we are as a school board and as a school district and um so I will vote against these um the amendment the the changes that are presented so I just have one more question so is this my just this just for clarification purposes so with that language in there you believe that that's going to or backing up with that language not there you believe that that's going to allow the administration to bring in curriculum that says that the Holocaust was not real or that there's Flat Earth or all those things and you think that they would do that I think this is the board giving direction and saying we want you to

262go this direction and in this case if you're trying to figure out what to um include a teacher would say I'm just want to make sure I give a wide variety of views well how many wide variety of views are there about the Earth being round you know how many wide variety of views are there about this topic um well I better make sure I prevent present a wide variety of views well right but part of our job is to trust that they're doing theirs and by doing this I'm not sure I understand where you're going with that uh I realize there's a lot of irony in this conversation and I think people are probably figuring that out too um I think this is just being clear with um the values of what I wanted

263the uh fhsd did not include in their books um what I don't want any teacher to feel like they have to present um a view that is is uh that might be equal to hate speech or false science or false historical claims or or for a teacher to perhaps just want to mention something they saw on the internet that has no scientific background or something that checks the box for hate speech I this is just a clearity me people who voted for this for it's the same words so just just so I understand so we voted earlier about not making any disparaging remarks H did you just equate if I vote for this then I'm encouraging a teacher to say the Hol to teach that the Holocaust didn't happen no no okay oh I was

264actually very clear I don't think any person I I'll even go one further I don't think anybody on the board wants hate speech I don't think anybody in the board wants false history or false what I'm saying is just the language that's here just clearly doesn't allow mean means it's not allowed I guess in other words we we cut it off at we cut it off now versus having a conversation about it months later about is that educationally suitable I I guess I I don't understand your point either trust the teachers or you don't so I mean I would I I I don't see where we're going to have teachers trying to promote hate speech and other policies would be enacted to prevent that and would get that teacher out of the class I would

265think why are you scared to move the language yeah so and then false science who's going to Define what false science is scientists who's going to trust the science right so if if a teacher happens to have a book and his his class happens to be um modern topics and he has a book in the classroom that's is talking about how man is not creating Global change climate change is that book for [Music] is it false science see is is it educationally suitable if somebody just starts teaching that Global that climate change isn't real even though that I mean obviously this is all about drawing a line it's either drawing the line here or it's Drawing the Line down the road and uh I would imagine that no part of this conversation will shave anybody

266One Direction or another and um I'll be glad to answer any more questions I just feel like right now we have words that would prevent things that we don't want to included um and the people who voted um for these to be included a month ago they still mean the same things just close it by saying since last month this was amended last month in the meeting from the Das it has since been through legal review changes again the changes uh are based on guidance from our legal council right and the option to table it is another option we can consider it to take these same words and dig into them and add Clarity so there's becomes a difficult task to try to Define every single word in every single oh opportunity something could fall

267under that bucket Tak the example like current events class or even historically if you're reaching researching something historically people there's a number of people that believe that R things historically are we no longer able to teach that because well that's no like historic like where do you how do you explain all the Nuance around that versus saying allowing the teachers to decide where that Nuance is well you would say that isn't true if they presented something that like here at this flat you know what I'm saying so yeah you can name it then say it's wasn't true and again this idea about um being allergic to further defining terms like we just defined a lot of terms over the last couple of meetings right um it was very difficult it is it is hard and

268I would go so far as to say that I'm not sure that that was U well yeah it was very difficult and I I'll give you that so anyway I I just will vote against um the changes um I think uh Clarity on these topics especially um especially hate speech feels to be a good thing for us to put into our documents to be proactive to be clear and uh everybody can vote their own way one way or another all right motion to approve policy 6241 all those in favor say I I I all oppos say no no I have it next superintendent CS thank you president Bertrand um first I want to recognize and thank our Francis H High activities director Shan Irwin along with um football team dance team cheerleaders band and all

269of the coaches and sponsors who made the Ninth Annual uh First Responders in Military Appreciation Night such such a success um that game last Friday wasn't just about sports but it was about community and about giving back to our community the fans in um attendance that night alone raised just over $1,800 and the Boosters club donated up to around that total to even $2,000 of a donation to the backstoppers organization which does amazing work supporting the families of following First Responders um the event at how high has raised nearly $25,000 for backstoppers over the past 9 years I'm excited to share that eight of our Francis Hall High School District students have been named 2024 National Merit Scholarship semi-finalists this is an honor that is reserved for less than 1% of all high school seniors

270nationally three students from how central two from H North and three from how high now have the opportunity to compete this spring for scholarships nearly worth $28 million and we look forward to bringing them to Ard board meeting later this year and getting to recognize them with you um I want to take the last couple of minutes to speak a little bit to the recent safety concerns that we have been hearing and experiencing throughout the district we sent an email and a video Last Friday acknowledging some of the threats and concerns that we've been hearing and highlighting the protocols and the systems that we have in place throughout the district to keep our students and our staff safe at school uh in that message I really try to emphasize that we need everyone's help in

271keeping our schools safe we want our students our staff and our parents to report to administrators or to law enforcement when they hear threats when you see something we want you to say something and we know that that is our greatest opportunity to learn of potential threats and to respond to them in a timely manner I want our parents our students our Guardians and our community to know that we take every threat seriously and that every single threat is investigated we have a threat assessment team that's strained at every building that conducts an assessment when we know who the individual is that made a threat we engage our SRO or other law enforcement agencies throughout that investigation process and as that takes place we have a district team that comes together to offer support as

272necessary we always rely on our law enforcement Partners to make the determination of whether or not a threat is credible that is not something that we are making as District administ administrators in isolation that we really rely on them and that's done following the investigation both at the school level as well as often a SRO or law enforcement visit to the home to look into what's going on um with the individuals who are involved in the threat I want to emphasize that we will always a on the side of caution and if we have any reason to believe that there's even a possibility that a threat is credible we would not have school um if we are having school it's because we have enough information to believe that it's safe to do so and I

273know as a parent that sometimes it's challenging not having all the information and trusting that um but again if we are concerned we would not have students or staff in our buildings and that brings me to the second part of this that I just want to touch on which is the posting and reposting of information that we've been seeing on social media um I understand that Facebook and other sites are where we go today to get a lot of information but we're seeing an increase in the number of parents and Guardians who are posting information that they're hearing from their students regarding reported threats and a lot of times that's rumors and students are doing the same thing sharing information information on um social media Outlets that kids are using when this information is posted

274online it's causing a significant level of fear concern um in many cases it's disrupting the school environment so I want to ask our parents and Guardians our students and our staff that when you do hear of something or you see a threat again contact the building administrator or contact law enforcement when these are posted anonymously we we can't follow up on them without additional information um I understand that some people may not be comfortable making that report they don't want to call they don't want to email in that case there's the courage to report hotline which you can find that number on our website um you just Google courage to report they will anonymously take the report and give us enough information to follow up and they share it with law enforcement so if you're

275not comfortable reaching out to a school for any reason I encourage you to utilize that and we can push that information out um over and over again um I really want to thank our administrators at the building and the district level and our law enforcement partners and we're fortunate in this District to work with a lot of different municipalities they have put in hundreds of hours investigating these different threats since school started and it really is exhausting and yes it needs to happen to keep our schools safe but the reality is it's taking everyone's Focus away from teaching and learning and the real reason we're at school and so as I shared in the communication last week I really want to remind everyone that it is all of our responsibility um to come together to

276make sure that our schools are safe thank you any board comments sorry I'm taking more time this past Sunday there is an article in the St L post dispatch with this title racism seen as a Public Health crisis across the US even after 200 cities and counties declared racism a Public Health crisis since 2012 20 little has changed officials believe it will take more than a few years to undo centuries of structural and institutional institutional racism the experts believe the Declarations were an important first step toward creating a racially Equitable Society extensive research shows racism can have detrimental Health impacts on people of color including chronic stress anxiety and higher health risks as a school district we must pay attention to these issues and do something to protect our students from racist treatment in our

277schools in the same issue of the post there was a front page article entitled Francis House School District parents recount years of racism I was horrified to read accounts of racist comments pictures and online posts aimed at our black students what can we do to end the reputation that this District is not sensitive to the plight of African-American students and other minorities how can we be okay with students who are scared to go to school parents are calling for district leaders to address this problem in a serious way I am calling for the formation of a task force to study racism and discrimination in the Francis House School District we need to address how pervasive this problem is and ask ourselves some uncomfortable questions such as are the victimized students and their families really heard

278and is each incident of racism taken seriously and dealt with appropriately do all of our students feel safe why is this happening and how do we decrease these incidents are there programs we can Institute that will help our students learn how to show respect for each other we must always stand for doing the right thing for all of our students every student's physical and emotional well-being should be of utmost importance let's be the district that sets the example for how to create a caring climate in our schools where all students feel heard accepted valued and celebrated for who they are our students and families are waiting and watching to see what we will will do I look forward to substantive discussions regarding race relations in the Francis House School District any other board comments I

279want to say just briefly um thank you all for the conversation today I thought we you know like disagreements really well tonight and just wanted to say thank you for being part of that um and just I just want to say with the same clarity as K Le but maybe not as fluently um we hear you it's not good enough and I want to be part of something better and so whatever that looks like for me I'm in and I think we all care about the safety of each student and I'm interested in taking the step from one layer to the next layer CU it's all safety and it's all students and I want to reiterate what K was saying and offer myself in whatever way possible to be part of good change thank you

280board like motion to adjourn Open Session second all the paper say I allos say thank you everybody