FHSD Board of Education Meeting - January 18, 2024

001nothing I just got to figure out what pocket I put it in oober of the United States of America and to the repu for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all we like a motion to approve the agenda of January 18th 2024 as presented okay all those in favor say I I all those opposed say no I it first up we have special recognitions Miss jels thank you president berand thank you president berand tonight we are celebrating some amazing Educators from across the district who have recently received or renewed the highest credential in the teaching profession the national board certification I'm here to introduce them and tell you a little more about the certification process is director of adult learning Dr Jesse Alman good evening board Francis Hal is

002proud to announce eight teachers in the district have earned or renewed their national board certification overall the district has nearly 50 teachers who have achieved this distinction national board certified teachers are highly accomplished Educators who meet high and rigorous standards like board certified doctors and accountants teachers who receive national board certification have met stringent standards through intensive study expert evaluation self assessment and peer review the certification is a voluntary process in which teachers work to advance the quality of teaching and learning we would like to congratulate two Educators as our newest national board certified teachers in the district Jordan Keel is a journalism teacher at Francis hell North she has been teaching for 10 years and in Francis H for all 10 years congratulations Jordan [Applause] and Sarah Lipa is a special education teacher at

003Meadows Parkway Early Childhood she has been teaching for 10 years and at Francis Hal for eight congratulations Sarah a national board teaching certificate is valid for 10 years what the opportunity to renew certification renewal is a personal and public statement about a teacher's commitment to the profession and to their students accomplished teachers recognize that their professional learning and growth never ends in any given subject and developmental area best practice and knowledge are constantly evolving at the same time changes in technology and policy affect every aspect of Education from the classroom to Administration Francis Francis Hal has six national board certified teachers who have recently renewed their certification so we want to congratulate and honor them first off Dr Ginger Heron is a band director at Brian middle school she's been teaching for 19 years and

004at Francis H for 13 congratulations J Kelly hesin is a gifted education specialist at Daniel Boon Elementary she has been an educator for 19 years and at Francis Hal for 13 congratulations Kelly Kevin hinger is a teacher of students with visual impairment and an orientation and Mobility specialist he has been teaching and with the district for 25 years Missy Kelly is a gifted education specialist at Warren Elementary she's been teaching for 21 years and 13 of those years have been in Francis how congratulations Missy Natalie Morris is a fourth grade teacher at Cosley Elementary she's been teaching for 18 years all in Francis H congratulations Natalie and one renew could not be here this evening so but we do want to honor and recognize her Tara Richards is a geography teacher at Francis hell middle

005school she's been an educator for 20 years and all 20 have been at Francis hell so congratulations to Cara so just another big round of applause to all these outstanding Educators a lot of time and dedication [Music] congratulations good congrat ulations thank you thank you Dr Altman next up is our student board representative and as you know the purpose of the student board rep program is to honor and recognize talented students Elevate student voice and provide growth opportunities in the areas of public speaking leadership and governance students are selected for this Honor by their principal with input from the student body they have an opportunity to prepare and deliver a short speech to the board and public that is focused on their school or the district and with that I'll invite Dr Brian Rich to

006the podium to introduce our student board rep from Hollenbeck middle [Applause] school thank you Board of Education it's my pleasure to be here uh first uh opportunity to face you all as you know I'm a new administrator uh to Francis H not new to Administration uh but can say having been uh in other spaces and other places as a a leader of students and teachers uh Francis how over the last few months it started to feel like home and so I can tell you uh it is my distinct pleasure uh to not waste any more time um to bring to the podium a incredibly talented seventh grade student uh he and a couple of other talented students join me on the morning announcements every morning um so public speaking is something of a hobby when

007it comes to Isaac sprawl please a warm Round of Applause for our very talented seventh grade student Isaac sprw let's give it up thank you Dr Rich good evening and wardes esteemed members of the Francis House School District Board of Education I'm and the respected administrators teachers and fellow students I stand before you today with immense gratitude in a sense of purpose as a seventh grade student at halbeck Middle School firstly I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to this board for the unwavering support guidance and opportunities you provide for students like me across the district your commitment to fostering Excellence Innovation and inclusiv inclusivity has not gone unnoticed and for that I am truly thankful one of my highlights of middle of my middle school Journey that has been far the valuable experience

008of being part of the student team of leadership at hallenbeck this initiative has not only empowered the student body but also countless other students to actively engage collaborate and cont contribute to our school community in meaningful ways throughout leadership we have been given a platform for our voice to voice our ideas concerns and admirations for fostering a sense of ownership and pride in our educational div environment particularly an impactful Endeavor for this our leadership team has been our collaborations with the district's mobile market a commendable initiative that serves as a food bank providing essential skills and resources for individuals and families within our community throughout our active involvement the district Serv Serv we have witnessed the firsthand profound profound full impact of a collaborative effort in compassion and commitment to addressing field insecurity and supporting

009our neighbors in challenging times this engagement with the student team of leadership has been instrumental and Bridging the Gap between Administration faculty and the student body by fostering an open dialogue collaborative decision- making and mutual respect we have been able to initiative positive changes Implement innovative ideas and cultivate a sense of unity her and purpose among our peers this collaborative approach has empowered us to take ownership of our educational and Jour journey and embrace leadership roles and develop skills that serve us all well beyond the classroom walls furthermore I believe that the sex the success of a student leadership team is a testament to the transformative power of student engagement and empowerment by investing in programs initiatives and opportunities that provide student voice agency and leadership development we can create a more inclusive and vibrant

010learning environment for all in conclusion as a proud member of Hollenbeck middle school and the Brier Francis House School District I'm committed to continuing my growth of student journey and learning and service I'm immensely grateful for the opportunities and guidance that has been provided by this board and I look forward to collaborating with each one of you to ensure that every student has the resources opportunities and support they need to thrive thank you once again for the dedication commitment and unwavering belief and potential of every student together we can continue to inspire and shape the Oneal family thank [Applause] you okay okay wait can you there you go there you go right thank you thank you you get to come with me but now normally the student would take a seat at the DI but

011he is actually going to be part of the spotlight presentation tonight so I'm going to invite Isaac and Dr Rich back to the podium to talk to you more about the Hollenbeck student team of leadership yeah once again bard of Ed when you have somebody this T in house uh you'll forgive me for being behind the scenes with this presentation yeah uh this is the Hollenbeck Spotlight and without further Ado uh student team of leadership as Isaac alluded to in his uh brief presentation we're going to stretch out a little bit show you guys some photos got a little video as well um but at this point in time it's my distinct pleasure to not only uh reintroduce Isaac but our talented educator uh Miss Andrea manino who is our STL leader um without further

012Ado I give it up up for Isaac and Miss minino take it away guys thank you Bor so the student team of leadership consists of sixth seventh and eighth grade students that are welcomed Miss manino approves applications by grade teacher input and student rationale why they want to be in the student team of leadership and a total of 50 members are just accepted every school year and just a quick little note here our team helps to create a positive School climate for all of our students our staff support staff everybody and we just expect these kids to show respect responsibility kindness and honesty throughout their days even when people aren't watching what they're doing one of our biggest highlights are our District's mobile market since 2018 STL has committed to volunteering at the monthly mobile

013market it is our second Wednesday of every month the student team of leadership and the mobile market volunteers have truly became a family we have we package packages F food and prepares meals for our community and and members in needs our STL motto that we go by for our mobile market is if you see someone older than you carrying a box you grab it and carry it forward we are truly honored for that for that motto um we act very responsible and maturity is essential in order to be there it's kind of funny because I do anytime I say if someone's older than you carrying a box go get that box and if you have time to lean you have time to clean so we're walking around picking up and I couldn't ask for a

014better group um maturity is very well expected because we see students from the community that come in and out of the mobile market and they treat them like they do any other Community member so it's such a good feeling we have so many compliments on just the way they act and I get to teach a little bit of work ethic in there just some skills on human relations and so it's a great great group of kids to have and we really appreciate sedexo in the mobile market that lets us do that every month and without further Ado I would like to um present to you guys that during Thanksgiving week we made the news district is giving back to the St Charles County Community today students from Hollenbeck and Barnwell middle schools help distribute 150

015Thanksgiving meals to those in need residents were able to pick up a turkey and all the fixings the meal giveaway was in Partnership with the district's food service provider sedexo one of our also big annual events that we do at halbeck is our Turkey Trot this annual tradition is a one mile run around the campus students and staff are encouraged for good exercise and health during the holidays this tradition wait goes all the way back to the 80s When Miss manino was actually a student in the district that was like yesterday I ran the Turkey Trot back in the 80s at H school I did participants are asked to bring two camp food items that will go and are donated to our mobile market STL members are host the schoolwide assembly to announce the winners

016and first place winners get an actual turkey and there's nothing more exciting than the whole school coming out and they line the course with our Hawk hour classes and they cheer on their teachers they cheer on their staff um they they cheered on Dr Rich this year I think maybe next year he might yeah I I sidebar I made the mistake of trying to compete with the eighth graders next year I'll be running with the sixth graders that's which our eighth grade we've had the same guys and girls in eighth grade that ran sixth seventh and eighth and so it's just a great feeling seeing them and getting the turkeys for the winners and watching the whole school participate it's a great and then our can goods are donated towards our mobile market for their

017food pantry and another big thing that we are launching next week is our tab toop fundraiser this halbeck Middle School tradition supports the Ronald McDonald House Charities this is a schoolwide competition of tabs collected per Hawk hour student team of leadership raises awareness for the Ronald McDonald House Charities by sharing our mission to all HMS students and explaining how tap tops supports the Ronald McDonald House students participate in STL in our annual tab top P pandemonium Tabs are dropped off and wait so we take the students to the rald McDonald House and when we drop off all of our can tabs which in the past 10 years we've donated over 500 lb of can tabs at H so the families are asked to donate $5 a night if they can but no families are left

018untreated so we think of one sandwich bag that you fill Ziploc baggy will pay for a family for night and that pays for food and toiletries and their overnight uh bedding and showers and laundry so uh and the kids get to take a tour see what it's like see where the food service is upstairs and see the rooms so it's a really nice experience for them to give back to the community than you miss Mino and a big one once again an annual tradition that is in partnership with this helic Middle School band is our spectacular this student team of leadership partners with Miss D's band for a Halloween concert to promote the hbec middle school band program to our community stdl helps by decorating the halls and providing a fun and safe trick-or-treating for

019our community students and staff and the community members dress up in their favorite costumes while trick-or-treating through our Halls so it's a great way just to get our future Francis H students our little young ones they come running through the hallways and all the estl kids are giving out candy and we know it's safe we know it's fun um the principals and teachers are all sweating afterwards and the kids are just bouncing up and down with bags and bags full candy so it's a great way to to share our band and I started kindergarten at Francis hell and graduated Francis hell so we're working on that next group of kids coming up through our band programs too so thank you and immensely we want to thank you all you guys that are here and our

020board members for this opportunity of me and our student team of leadership to be here for our Spotlight thank you very much welcome Isaac great job on that that was pretty impressive do you do all that by yourself or do you have a big team helping you I do have that big support team from my school helping me with along the way and I am greatly immensely honored to be here in front of the school well we are sure glad you're here I'm Mrs stiglet on behalf of the Board of Education president Beren vice president cook and treasure J pesar and the rest of our directors we want you to know that you we are so glad you're here with us and um you're welcome to ask any questions as we go along you will

021have to kind of turn on your microphone so everybody can hear you and if you have any questions you can do everything but vote with us okay thank you so we'd love to have you if you have any questions lean over you can write me notes we got it we got it but okay all right thank you great to have you um up next we have Patron comments during Patron comments residents of the district and staff members are invited to address the board of education on issues related to the school district speakers are called forward in order of sign up and each speaker has 3 minutes to make their remarks please remember that only one speak speakers allowed at the podium at a time and combining time or giving time to someone else is not

022permitted the board appreciates that you have taken the time to come this evening and we value both your input and perspective I would like to remind everyone that we expect the speakers will remain civil and respectful when giving remarks if anyone fails to comply with the board policies regulations and rules we reserve the right to cut those three minutes short for your convenience our 3 minute clock is ready and we welcome AD school board members we hear you we hear what you're saying when you Sunset anti-racism resolutions and remove black history and literature classes we hear you when you target lgbtq plus students with your policy proposals when you rudely dismiss us we hear you but you don't hear us you don't hear us when we email you when we speak out at meetings when

023we make petitions when we do speak up you attempt to silence us you make no effort to engage students in these conversations so the only recourse was a walk out we are speaking and you are not listening you demean and attack students who disagree with you this board is not for all students it is only for those who look like you act like you and agree with you that's why I'm not asking you to listen today I am here to appeal to students parents and voters in our community the board won't listen to us so I'm asking you to students parents teachers we must keep speaking out I am so incredibly proud of those of you who walked out and those of you here tonight despite a board of education that does not care about

024us we are fighting for a district you can be proud of we cannot stop speaking until we achieve that goal to the adults in this District you will hear from multiple candidates tonight when listening to their speeches consider do they support the board's silencing of students or will they be the kind of board members who listen to students voices in the community I urge voters to listen to the students because this board does not as students we cannot elect the public officials that make these choices for us but you can I urge you to vote for people who will listen to and represent all students candidates who will take action to ensure a learning environment that is welcome for all students and values our voices do not let the board's deaf ears lead us into

025silence speak out speak often speak loudly up next we have Adriana I support our administration's decision to keep black history and black literature courses available for enrollment and I support our board's decision last month to remove the social justice Teaching Standards set by the Southern Poverty Law Center for these courses the Southern Poverty Law Center is not a neutral and unbiased source of standards for academics the Southern Poverty Law Center has been criticized for its divisive approach that inaccurately labels individuals and organizations as hate groups the influence from such a divisive organization on our educational standards raises questions about objectivity and the balanced presentation of information to our children what groups does the Southern Poverty Law Center categorize as designated extremist hate groups well they intentionally lump together true hate groups such as the KKK

026with other groups they claim are designated hate groups like The American College of Pediatrics the Baptist Church the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the American Border Patrol and many more groups they also specifically Target Republicans by labeling people such as Senator Ram Paul and Ben Carson as neo-nazis and white supremacists allowing a political radical activist group to set the standards for our children's curriculum at Francis Hal is unacceptable I absolutely believe we need black history and black literature courses in our schools but we cannot rely on National activist groups to set standards in curriculum we teach our children in our classes due to the previous boards actions in 2021 our academic Independence was erroneously handed over to the Southern Poverty Law Center and now because of our board's vote last month control over

027our educational standards were rightfully taken back last month's vote was never about removing black history courses the issue has always been about us as a district retaining our autonomy over our academic standards others are encouraging our elected officials to skirt their duties and hand over the keys to our children's education to radical activist groups I firmly stand against idealogues that shame our Schoolboard directors for diligently performing their duties we must must as a society take back our schools we must not fall victim to straw man arguments that strip our Administration teachers board and citizens of their rights to govern education in our community requiring our district to follow curriculum and standards set by a national activist group is dangerous I urge Administration and board to move swiftly to advance new versions of black history and

028black lit courses with standards set by our district these are essential courses that provide a diverse learning environment [Applause] is good evening our school dist is being dragged through the mud for removing Southern Poverty Law Center social justice standards those curriculum standards put political activism in support of critical race Theory and diversity Equity inclusion front and center those complaining accuse our board members and their supporters of being racist this is a disgraceful political tactic statements from supporters of the standards have made clear that this isn't just about the black history and literature classes Those Behind the protest have said that it is virtually impossible to teach black history in a politically neutral way this is an open admission that the purpose of the standards are not academic that their purpose is political activism political activism

029using a Dei framework the complaints that these are just electives misleads the public the content lead overseeing the development of these courses in a 2020 email to Dr larrett King said we want to overhaul our entire history curricula K through 12 so the district's plan was to use the splc standards as part of a complete rewrite of the social studies curriculum to incorporate Dei in every grade level the permission to shift our schools Focus from academics to political activism is why the 2020 anti-racist resolution had to go Those Behind the protest oppose politically neutral courses and schools I think our schools should remove political activism from our classrooms the board administrators and teachers should be focused on giving our students a great knowledge base that will allow them to be successful in the future we

030are misleading our students if we tell them that they should be focused on Dei or activism over academics Dei is a powerful movement that has per uh that has pervaded the educational system at large I believe that diversity is important but by diversity I mean diversity in its broadest form diversity of viewpoints ethnicity race experience socioeconomic background and more however Dei is not about diversity in the purest form but rather Dei is a political advocacy movement on behalf of certain groups that are deemed oppressed under de 's own methodology under Dei one's degree of Oppression is determined using a so-called intersectional pyramid of Oppression where whites Jews and Asians are deemed oppressors and a subet of people of color LGBT people and Andor women are deemed to be oppressed when one examines Dei and its

031ideological Heritage it does not take long to understand that the movement is inherently inconsistent with basic American values our country since its founding has been about creating and building a democracy with equality of opportunity for all an ideology that divides students into oppressors and the oppressed based principally on race or sexual identity is a fundamentally racist ideology that will likely lead to more racism rather than less thank [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you next we welcome Stephen Blair I want to suggest that the people here in tenants hold off booing people um we're going to try to live up the high road of Civility and we're going to do our best on December the 21st the board meeting removed the black history and black literature elective courses from our three main high schools it's true that technically

032the vote removed the standards the curriculum was based on and not the courses themselves but that is misleading the public and you knew it you can hear in the 229 Mark where uh Buckman explained that moving those standards meant moving the courses as an enrollment option removing those course offerings as options was the whole point for the Urgent vote happening on December 21st based upon director Cook's Facebook comments on December the 20th the culture the current majority is creating is harming efforts at teacher retention and teacher recruitment I'm eager to learn about the replacement curriculum whose voices are included in its creation and what largely politically neutral means to our board majority no one knows what you think that includes on Martin Luther King Jr Day the Francis H family's political action committee said Dr

033king led a just and righteous movement that started in our nation's churches his dream should never be forgotten or replaced and then replaced a curriculum because it was associated with one of Martin Luther King Jr's allies which one is it do you want to replace or not replace Martin Luther King Jr right schools should teach facts even if they make us uncomfortable that includes accurate math accurate science accurate geography and accurate history true imagine there was a class dealing with the history of the 1990s and imagine the Democrats trying to take away references to Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton's lies wouldn't removing those details be politically motivated wouldn't the absence of those facts be politically motivated an accurate history of the '90s would have to include those facts and whatever the new curriculum is it

034must include an accurate honest history even if the facts make some people uncomfortable removing facts is politically motivated and so is threatening schools and threatening students on MLK day of all days the Francis how family's political action committee of political activists wanted to make sure students were properly punished for participating in today's walk out they were more interested in punishing students for speaking than listening to them we celebrate some people who I have uh students and their voices today my question is how long do we uh support their voices before we start silencing their voices too everything a school does should be for students I'm not saying the students should get everything they want like candy for lunch but what I'm saying is being four students means caring enough to listen to them that has

035not happened with the board majority when they're scaring people about the dangers of the bathroom bill they ignore students saying vaping in bathrooms was a problem and ignored a student who said they experienced assault in a bathroom they haven't listened to Viking voices when they said that there was discrimination in the school and when a student says that they've been bullied by a board member they've ignored that voice too listen to students thank [Applause] you up next we welcome Katie rash [Music] all right this is just informational but um I just want to um draw attention to an article that was co-authored by Ryan Crowley and uh Dr leer King and as many of us know Dr King um was a consultant who was hired in curriculum develop development in our district and um it

036wasn't just for these two courses that are in question there was actually at one point discussion of overhauling all social studies curriculum there's an email from Sunshine request that even says this and Dr King was um there was even some communication from with Dr King about this so we do have those receipts um the name of the article is making inquiry critical examining power and inequity in the classroom it's copyright um in 2018 again Crowley and King are the authors and I think this is an important article because it ties together the concepts of critical theory and critical pedagogy and I um I'm sorry it ties together these Concepts and um Dr King discusses what critical theory is he um talks about kind of the roots of it he goes into the Marxist ties this

037isn't something that conservatives have invented if you want to read this you can read this he talks about um the use of critical teaching practices in the classroom and he specifically advocates for these critical teaching practices in the social justice uh curriculum so I find that to be interesting given the fact that he was a consultant and um you know please do take the time to read this four-page article it's not a huge commitment of time we also have an email from the content um director at the time that which is an email from her to Dr legar King and she says I'm very excited that the group chose the JCPS model as I'm a huge fan of getting the inquiry design model for social studies going here in Francis House school district and this

038is the perfect class to think about teaching this way so the inquiry design model is a specific application it can't it can be it can occur outside of critical teaching but in his article he outlines that the inquiry design model is a road map for um critical teaching thank you for your time next we welcome Sophia Johnson I'd like to start by inviting the students up here that would like to stand in solidarity for the black history and black literature courses good evening my name is Sophia Johnson when I was in fifth grade I was here fighting for representation in the school district I was so excited and proud of our school district for moving in a better Direction when they added the black literature and black history courses but I knew from there that

039there would be pushed back from the community however I hoped that the board at the time and the boards to come would have enough guts to stand on their decision today 3 years later as an eighth grader I stand here to speak speak to the board members opposed to the black history and black literature courses however I not only stand as a student myself but as a representative for many other students that feel disgusted and overlooked by your actions your job as a school board is to do good for Stu your job as a school board to do good for students is being overshadowed by your agenda to keep a bunch of adults with heavy bias happy when in reality this doesn't concern any of them it concerns your students and you the fact is

040School schools are falling apart teachers are underpaid staff is quitting left and right and you have decided to focus on removing an elective course about our history black history and lit black literature are important courses that should be taught your students are protesting in the halls for these courses yet you choose to do nothing and take the opinions of people who wouldn't and couldn't take these classes into consideration more than your own [Applause] students we feel discri ated against and under represented you have made us confused hurt and saddened with the realization that you five are trying to whitewash our history and culture that is beautiful and to the members of the community that are against these courses please silently ask yourself do I believe in the betterment of the Next Generation in their education

041or do I believe in silencing history and keeping the social bias that has plugged this country for too long Alive by normalizing things like this like what the board is trying to do as a community of adults you mess up our future by dividing the youth even more and if you can't work cohesively for the better of students how do you expect your children to we as students deserve better and until you can do better I speak for many students when we say we will never stop fighting for what is right and you will never neutralize and water down our history before I leave here today I'd like to ask you a question do you believe in doing what a school board should do and fight for your students thick or thin or do you

042believe in your own agenda and removing these courses thank you for all the students that stood behind me today I really do appreciate you all thank you for all fighting to do the right thing and I thank your time is [Applause] up those the real heroes there up next we welcome great Keen good evening board Administration students and patrons here in at home I'm Grant kilan senior class president at Francis Al North board I recently learned a lesson that I would like to share with you as you're aware the board held a meeting this past Saturday morning to better inform the district's strategic planning treasur pushkar still recovering from her unfortunate injury and I'm very glad to see here I hope you're feeling a lot better was UN aable to attend the meeting and zoomed

043into to the meeting by a laptop as a consequence thereof to be clear I was totally unaware that Mrs pushkar would not be attending in person she had attended the December meeting in person and I failed to consider that the inclement weather conditions may have forced her to do otherwise this past Saturday however I did not even come to the decision to attend the meeting until late the previous evening and I never informed anybody really of my plan to go in fact this friend of mine told me he wish I had told him my plan to go CU see what it came when I arrived bright and early it became clear that I'd be the pretty much the only student at the meeting now I'm kind of dorky I go to a lot of Schoolboard

044meetings so it wouldn't be the first meeting where I was the only student but uh president berran informed me of Mrs pushkar's absence and asked me if I be interested in help her out by carrying her laptop writing down ideas and putting down her votes I happily agreed i' do that for any board meeting and I think say for some improvements that could be made to my penmanship I think I did a pretty good job yes at times I helped Mrs pushkar to award ideas I gave suggestions when I thought it was of value but ultimately the final call as to whether any idea was posted or any vote was cast was Mrs push cars so I was very surprised as you can imagine I found out some of the more vo vocal critics of

045the board were calling into questions myself and my actions they argued that there was some sort of conspiracy to have me help despite there being no other student and my attendance being totally unplanned and none of you knew about it they argued that I should have been totally robotic and UNH helpful towards Mrs buar despite the fact that I can anytime shoot her a message I'm 18 I can vote about how I feel about this District this reaffirmed a lesson I think the board would benefit from also employing there are some people no matter what you do regardless if you do the right or wrong thing they will be displeased they will always find a reason to be unhappy upon any decision you make or any stance you take they will find some way to

046feel grieved I think the board ought to consider this especially Mr Ponder as he works towards the revamped belonging resolution that not all input is given in good faith and that the board should pay special consideration to those who actually seek to motivate positive change not vocal contrarians who are not concerned with the whole well the welfare of the whole body of students including those I represent as the board looks to improve Cent classes there will undoubtedly be some voices who will only seek to complain and will not find favor no matter what outcome is reached I urge the board to only consider legitimate constructive input I appreciate the board's leadership in this District I appreciate how responsive they have been to the needs of students and I look forward to many good things to

047come thank you very much next we welcome Michaela Clark good evening Adam Bertrand Randy cook Jane pusar Mark Ponder and Ron Harmon I'm Michaela Clark a sophomore at Francis H high school over the years I've faced racist comments and microaggressions experiences I wouldn't want anyone to experience learning about the removal of black history and black literature courses on December 21st was infuriating but sadly not surprising instances like this will be remembered in the future since second grade I've encountered discrimination from comments on my natural hair to uncomfortable interactions with my band director who thought it was appropriate to touch my hair our black history and literature courses are optional and I believe all students should have the opportunity opportunity to learn about their history there are elective courses for all other core classes so what

048makes this one different the nonpolitical reinstatement class erases a crucial part of black history as it is virtually impossible to teach black history in a non-political point of view as a 16-year-old I shouldn't have to call out a racist and bigoted School Board the board should represent the interest of us the students I won't be silenced and many others stand with me this is just the beginning of our fight for an inclusive learning environment thank you up next we welcome Jamie [Music] Wilkins good evening Francis H board Administration and Community my name is Janie Wilkins and I live live in the district with two children attending our Great fhsd Schools two years ago I took another education position outside of our district but I taught for 21 years proudly high school English and advise the

049student council at Francis how North during those years I earned my Master's Degree and national board certification in the teaching of adolescence and young adults shout out to those teachers who just were introduced earlier I see you in your efforts it's not easy over the years te teaching in fhsd I collaboratively wrote at least five English curriculums with teams of other talented Educators I'm speaking tonight to offer transparency about the thinking that went into the writing of the black literature curriculum the most recent curriculum I was a part of writing when the black literature course writing team first met we began our work with lots of questions were we going to teach the semester elective with a chronological look at black writers throughout literary movements like the Harlem Renaissance or beat poets we decided no

050no because the desire to create a highin class for our teenagers meant a different angle with recent texts and student Choice was necessary and backed by learning research could we just jump right into reading authors discussing their hopes dreams and experiences this was also an easy note because all English teachers know that context is everything we know that messages are created with specific audiences in mind and every student in our class was coming from a different perspective as they do in all English classes taught in our district here's what we landed on of course we decided on those Missouri Ela standards that we would hit because every curriculum begins with standards the black lit course needed to begin with framework for respectful discussions lots of English classes also include this these include those opinions that

051agree and disagree with texts that are read because that is how we drive inquiry and critical thinking of teenagers full stop here all of this is preco pre-political polarization pre every American is pressured to choose a side on all issues in the context of my work I had never heard the terms CRT indoctrination or identity groups just to name a few okay back to behind the curriculum decision-making we settled on those standards because we found a document that had great discussion questions for students to enter into tough conversations these are those Southern Poverty Law standards they had great discussion questions lots of us teachers actually have been receiving a teaching tolerance magazine for many years in our career because they sent free posters I once got a free video that had interviews of Holocaust survivors

052from them that I used in the classroom nobody had ever talked about them being a political group in discussing identity that was to become a politize politic politicized excuse me term now we imagine students discussing their identities in terms of their own hopes dreams and backgrounds did we set out to make all white students feel badly you your time is up absolutely not next we welcome King gunters back we welcome Susan Schneider well hello um I'm here to speak on behalf of my daughter Harper who is otherwise engaged tonight um I very proud of her and my son who both attend Francis L North they were part of the walk out today so here is part of her speech that uh she read during the walk out our school board's actions have been marked by

053a discernible pattern of discrimination against our students the rumal of the anti-racism resolution The Proposal of dangerous anti-lgbtq plus policy attempts to silence and intimidate students and the elimination of black history and black literature classes from our curriculum have let us have left us deeply troubled the board sent out a statement a couple of weeks ago saying that if it comes to a politically neutral curriculum rewrite this gesture of the polit politically neutral curriculum raises a sense of skepticism around this especially based on their past actions we cannot stand idle in the face of ir the board's failure to acknowledge the harm caused and their reluctance to revisit critical decisions demand our attention why did they reject motions to maintain the classes until a new politically neutral curriculum was in place why is our school

054board against our students their intentions seem clear on a ratier of black voices and minorities from our education the board tries to keep shutting us down and silencing our voices we will not be silenced we will be heard thank you next we welcome sincere M Daniels three minutes hi my name is sincere McDaniels I'd like to make it known this is my first time speaking at one of these I wanted to come up here today and talk about my experience as a student that has been an fhsd member my entire life specifically highlighting my eighth grade year in 8th grade I was faced with a lot of bullying from other students a lot of passing comments from principles and teachers alike the first encounter I remember in 8th grade was from a principal when I

055went to them talking about how I was getting bullied over the texture of my hair the color of my skin how I present my my social class and how I identify when I told the principal she compared my hair to another black student and said it couldn't be a race issue it couldn't be something with my hair because another student also had an afro another in incident I remember is when a student called me the nword and then I went to report it to the teacher of the class he pulled me out into the hallway and asked if he had called me the e r or the a version of of the word spelling it out he was white I told him exactly what was said and nothing happened I don't blame the principal for

056this specific incident it could have just been a bad teacher but if any of you would be able to put yourself in my shoes you would understand the hurt that this caused and the ever growing untrust they have with the school and the school board I know so many students and so many fhsd members have come up here and talked about the rampant homophobia that occurs in our district I don't understand why the school board removed the anti-racism resolution removing protection from the people that need it most especially when there's so many instances of discrimination happening in the district it's unfair that I have to hear people using multiple racist sexist using multiple racist homophobic and sexual remarks against me and my peers and then seeing the students not be penalized for what they've done

057so I asked the school board why can't you protect the students that need protecting and once again why is it that I have to take time out of my school night to come here and speak before you I wanted to come here today to show you that a person is to show you a person that's being directly affected by your school's pattern of racism and discrimination for my closing statement I want to thank everybody who decided to step down to make sure that my voice uplifted I truly appreciate you and the small act of kindness is more than I've ever seen in a in a setting like this once again thank you fhaa good evening I'm Anita Keener the president of fhaa first of all I want to congratulate the teachers that earned national board

058certification this evening FH believes believes it is important to share some things about our Union with you fhaa are teachers content leads coordinators slps esc's that provide the best education in St Charles County as reported in the state and District in District test scores we work tirelessly for this District in many ways Personnel issues are discussed in closed session for a reason we do not deserve to be attacked on social media by sitting board members Jane pushkar called for the arrest of a teacher when that teacher's Sunshine request was completely legal Francis hell employees do not deserve deserve to be maligned on social media by sitting board members because they share or like posts wear a certain color shirt or support students each other or the district when are we as a district going to

059come together and agree to disagree but be able to communicate and work together no one works well with a my way or the highway attitude that is not what attracts folks to come to our district we should all have an interest in giving our students the best education we can we may disagree sometimes on how to get there so why not meet in the middle coming to an agreement that we can all live with for the good of our all of our students we cannot continue to be the district that is not attracting the best of the best or the district that is getting negative national news for disrespecting our students Educators and our community we can do better yes Visa represent this rooma [Music] hi my name is Mike pagna I'm here I'm custodial

060vice president and speaking on behalf of a local one I'm here speaking speak on behalf on a an issue you guys are on the custodial form in position you guys are going to vote on tonight um I it's I I've been working for the district for almost 18 years since since starting with the district our Workforce has been steadily cut by almost more than half by more than half there there's been always been on on two people overseeing the the department and now with less people you're you're looking to add another foron we feel that it would be more beneficial to help the the buildings and and the cost of salaries to hire two lower paid custodians at starting at as floaters then one working Foreman you would have two people covering more more areas

061than than one at about the same rate of pay that just makes more that's just makes more common sense to y so we just we we ask that you reconsider that that uh position when when you're thinking about it thank you and Bo I like a motion to approve the consent agenda for January 18th 2024 as presented director sish all those in favor say I I all those oppos say no I have it next we have information on the financial report rep um we like a motion to approve the December monthly financial report as presented Ponder all those in favor say I I all those post say no I have it order like a motion to approve the purchases $25,000 and greater as presented soov second Ponder all those in favor say I I all

062say no I have it board I like a motion to approve a resolution authorizing the and directing the issuance sale and delivery of General obligation refunding bonds Missouri direct deposit program series 2024 of the Fran H R3 School District St Charles Missouri prescribing the form and details of said bonds providing for the levy and collection of the annual tax for the purpose of paying the principle of and interest on said bonds as they become due refunding certains of the districts outstanding General obligation bonds and authorizing certain other documents actions in connection there within second cook all those in favor say I I all those poos say no we like a motion to approve the vacation Station and preschool tuition proposal as presented I move second all those in favor say I all post say no

063nice have it up next we'll have a construction update for props from Mr salum [Music] ster good evening board before I uh present to you uh on the construction update I do want to take a second uh to acknowledge uh just a a fantastic operations team as I think several or many of you are aware with the cold temperatures this weekend we uh had a couple of water losses at about five School sites and the response uh was just phenomenal we were able to clean up and restore those spaces uh to minimize uh the impact it had on instruction and I think outside of relocating a couple of classes and a couple of school sites they were successful so kudos to uh to those individuals for being pulled away for their families uh to support

064the district so obviously it's been a little bit since I've uh presented um you know a true construction report on on Francis H North uh we talked about before we I try to kind of provide updates on a quarterly basis and so this evening um we'll talk a little bit about Francis H North as well as provide just a a quick update on where we're at with some of the other scopes of work that uh you guys have recently approved at the uh December board so um and again you know these slides I just had a construction progress meeting today um these slides are about a week old obviously due to needing to make uh the board packets for for public consumption but this is the uh side overview um we've made significant progress for

065all intents of purposes the uh the the playing surface at the stadium is complete we've got about two days worth of work left and really the work is limited to putting down the rubber infield that uh helps protect our student athletes from uh from injury and so as soon as the weather kind of warms up next week I know we're calling for a little bit of rain but for the most part we should have a couple of good days to to to perform some exterior work uh we'll get that piece complete and our goal here uh the track surface is done uh there's only a couple of items that still remain there we've got to add the coloring as well as uh all of the uh competition striping markings but our goal is to have

066the stadium portion uh really ready for some of the spring Sports and so that what that will do is it'll allow us to pivot a little bit and right now we're currently having to transport those kids to various sites throughout the uh the area for practices so if we won't play any competitions there it'll just uh it'll be uh it'll give us the opportunity to just hold practices there and you know for those students who are are seniors uh it'll give them a chance to to uh experience a new facility as they uh as they get out so um that's really the big piece there from a site overview uh the temperatures over the the last week have not been obviously conducive to get a lot of the remaining concrete work that's uh needed uh

067but hopefully next week we'll be able to jump back on that and uh complete that scope War so moving inside I was just on site today this is the auxiliary gym and as you see here we've got a lot of the acoustical baffles in the ceiling as well as the acoustical panels on the wall uh for sound absorption we also have um all of the the subfloor down for the gym floor it's actually installed they're about 90 uh 998 99% complete they've got a couple of more areas to finish and then they'll they'll sand those floors and get all of the uh necessary markings applied this is the main gy um as you see all of the again very similar to the auxiliary we've got all of the acoustical baffles as well as the acoustical

068panels on the walls uh all of the grass the glass uh handrail is uh complete as well we do have a couple of sections that we've left out that way we can still get materials in and out um all of the equipment is hung and the gym floor is actually uh staged in the uh the floor there really for the purpose of acclimating uh we have to acclimate that floor to that environment before we can install it this is the uh one of the collaboration spaces on the upper level as you see see we've got the framing uh complete and we'll be able to uh get get the surface installed here but we've got I think approximately seven or eight of these spaces throughout uh the building just little breakout areas uh for small group

069work as as teachers see fit so that'll be a nice feature as we open that new building uh this is the administrative um part of the administrative area obviously to to the right of the screen there's offices uh but this is really the the mail room and behind uh the mail slots uh will be a staff workspace so you'll have copier as well as a couple of workstations for the front office uh staff to be able to perform some of their functions and again um what's what's taking place right now throughout much of the building we're painting areas we're getting some of the final finishes down such as flooring um and other case work in specific areas this is the the guidance reception area they just uh finished in installing the luxury vinyl floor tile

070in there and so that'll cure and then uh they'll move on to other spaces uh this is the kitchen prep area uh they actually have this a week ago they had prepped the space uh and they've already installed the resonance flooring uh so that's complete it's got a cure for a few days and then they'll start installing all of the stainless steel workstations that are our cafeteria staff will utilize to to prepare food for our students uh financials uh the escalation is is where it's at we've uh used about uh 20 25% uh roughly there and then uh as of the December uh pay application that was submitted we are sorry I'm starting need glasses here uh we have uh 87% build to date uh for a total of m475 ,23 we've got 12% unu

071um so here in the coming months uh as we continue to wrap up some of the work obviously we'll still have some Billings left because we still have the demo to complete of the existing building and the developing of those uh PR practice fields for our co-curricular programs so that uh that completes the Francis hell uh North update uh I'll pause there take any questions before I talk about the remaining Scopes that you guys have approved from a timeline standpoint do we have a I know that we keep talking that the kids are going to be in by um this next school year do we have a completion date when they would be turning the building over to us yet I know there had been some talk that it might might be end of March

072beginning of April has anything been finalized along those lines uh nothing finalized uh what I'll share with you is we're still on track uh director stigl um in fact at the on the lower level a lot of our general classrooms um we're going to start getting those turned over to us next week um because part of part of the district responsibilities with this particular project is um you know our floor Care Program so we'll have to go in there and get the factory finish off of the VCT flooring and then apply protect that flooring with the wax which is a typical standard in terms of what we do throughout all of our buildings so we'll do that uh starting in the lower floor and as they turn those more spaces over we'll uh continue that

073program throughout the rest of the building our goal is to have that finished uh we I've got Furniture scheduled to be delivered uh April 1st uh we'll get two shipments of those uh they'll they'll ship the furniture in two shipments April 1st and April 15th and our goal is to have really all the furniture in the building by the end of April um then there'll be some other FFN things that we'll have to kind of move uh around to to fill out the spaces so we still feel pretty good uh about we're we're on schedule so let me mention the uh rubber fill that's going into the football field um having played on a lot of those fields you know it's it's a necessary thing that goes into it so you don't you know get

074stuck in the and get burned by the actual um grass uh fake grass itself when you were sourcing that um there have been some studies that have shown that um there could possibly be some detrimental health effects uh for this long-term health effects for students that play on that and people that play on those types of field did anything did you look into anything when sourcing that kind of stuff that that those were pellets yeah so I can't speak specifically to this project cuz obviously I wasn't here when uh the sourcing of of of that field was taking place but what I can tell you is uh from an industry standard a lot of people have done a lot of research um and the effects of that um to my knowledge are are non non-existent

075um because it's still a product that is continued to it's it's on the market and everybody from the NFL uh down to uh College as well as throughout the state of Missouri in terms of uh high school programs uh continue to Turf as the choice and uh so every I I would assume a lot of people have done the studies and there's no concerns I'm I'm much like you I would hope that anything that's on the market is deed safe to be you know I don't want you know negative health effects to be you know in the future students come back and say I've played on your football field for four years and here's where I at certainly understand okay I will uh move on to to a just uh there's no pretty pictures in

076the next these next couple of slides but just wanted to provide a quick update on where we're at with behind the scenes were obviously at the December board meeting uh board approved the security vestibules to let that bid package out we uh issued that on the 8th of January we're scheduled for the bid opening on the 25th which I believe is next uh Thursday and just a quick note um we kind of went back and looked at the the data once we issued the bid package we had 12 General Contractors that picked up the construction documents uh which is usually a pretty good sign uh that they're going to uh bid the project and uh I was able to touch base with several of them and I think we have six at least uh six

077commitments that they'll submit bids on one so that's a good competition uh so we hope that that holds true that way we can uh create competition hopefully bring back some good numbers uh for board consideration for approval for Construction contract so uh our goal is still to bring back a recommendation to you uh to award a Construction contract at the February board meeting um and uh pending uh your approval we still intend to start construction on security security vestibules u in June as soon as the academic he is concluded at those moving on to uh Henderson Elementary Phase 2 scope uh again our goal here uh is to bring back a a construction package to you to let bids at the uh March uh board meeting and pending your approval we would issue that bid

078package uh March 28th and make those bids due April 25th and again come back to the board and bring a recommendation to award a Construction contract at the May board meeting and again start construction in June ending your approval and and then uh lastly here uh Fairmount again very similar schedule the only thing that uh really changes is we've kind of built a buffer in terms of a month between the Henderson packages as well as the Paramount just just to allow us to uh to to work you know the market in terms of uh the bid packages as well as bring back recommendations so um we will issue we'll bring a recommendation or a motion to you to collect that bid package at the April board meeting and then we issue that early May and

079for Mid opening uh late May and then bring back a recommendation to award a Construction contract at the June board meeting and begin Construction in July so that concludes uh my construction update uh to you be more than happy to uh answer any questions you may have on these renovation projects how long does it typically take between construction award and mobilization of breaking there's a lot in my my experience a lot of submitt that take several weeks not months yeah so typically uh you know pend you post board approval uh the awarding of the construction cont we'd issue a notice to proceed uh and that really there's a lot of materials that can be ordered just through that notice to proceed after board approval and then we'll we'll we'll have a pre-construction meetings to start

080talking about submittals and those schedules uh so typically uh the submitt phase uh I would probably say about a month a month and a half uh on some of the larger packages the secure vestibule you know mo most of those uh it's smaller package uh in the whole grand scheme of things and we should be through with that process within you know a week or so all right no other questions thank you thank you next we have an update on the black history black literature course [Applause] revision meeting board see you there uh we have a brief update tonight about the black history and black literature courses as you know at the December board meeting the decision to resend the approval of the social justice standards and all curricula tie to them meant that we

081were no longer we no longer had a board approved curriculum for those courses and as I explained during that meeting that meant that we wouldn't be including those two courses in our course enrollment guide given that our current practice is to only include courses that have a currently board approved curriculum um I understand that statement may have caused some confusion because in past years we we operated under a different practice which did allow us to include courses in previous course enrollment guides before they were board approved late last spring an internal decision was made to adjust our practice to only include courses in the handbook that had board approval that decision had nothing to do with these specific courses um and it this really is our first year operating under our updated practice the days

082that followed the meeting we removed the courses we pushed out and updated enrollment guide to our buildings just as we shared during the board meeting um shortly thereafter there was a decision made to make a special exception in this instance um to our current practice and include the two courses in the course enrollment guide in the anticipation of the board approving a revised curriculum prior to the fall semester so with this unique exception we again revised the course enrollment guide added the courses to it and we pushed the updates out to our buildings um into the district website with the courses added back into the course enrollment guide just want to take a minute to acknowledge all of our building administrators our counselors those in charge of helping with the translations who've been very patient

083with us as we've communicated the changes multiple times um in a very short amount of time I recognize that there have been a few different versions of the course enrollment guide and some of you may have received a copy that didn't have the courses included in them and just wanted to take a minute to offer an explanation about why you may have received a copy of an enrollment guide that didn't have the courses listed in them um it it really wasn't intentional on anyone's behalf it was just lots of moving pieces with quick turnaround times our real purpose for joining you tonight is to share how we're moving forward uh based on the direction from the board our plan is to remove the social justice standards from our current courses and bring the revised courses

084to you in the next couple of months for approval uh the court the group actually kicked off their work today they were here in the building working I have Dr Luke lammer with us he's our director of curriculum in high school and he's going to share a little bit about the process and the timeline of what's happening with the group doing the revision work good evening board earlier this month we reached out to the current teachers of the black history and black literature courses to invite them to participate in a curriculum revision process they have joined members of the academic department and I to revise the current curriculum documents as we complete these updates our team is ensuring that both courses continue to be fully aligned with the Missouri learning standards for social studies and

085English language arts and provide a rigorous learning experience as this is only a curriculum revision we are not starting from scratch to complete this work in addition every teacher participating in this effort has been teaching the courses and is very familiar with the Missouri learning standards to proceed in a timely fashion and to allow for productive collaboration we have provided some release time to complete the work one once the documents are revised these courses will follow our updated curriculum process first they'll be sent to content Area Teachers for feedback in this case that will include high school English language arts and social studies teachers at the same time the updated curriculum documents will be made available for Community review and input both sets of feedback will then be provided to the curriculum writers for their

086consideration as they make final modifications one minor adjustment that we made is that we rescheduled the curriculum review event that was scheduled for January 11th we did this so that these two courses could be included in the review process that was already scheduled for 15 other curriculum documents after updated curriculum documents are made available for public review on the evening of January 29th content leaders and curriculum writers for all 17 curriculum documents will be available here in the boardroom so that community members can stop by if they feel the need to ask questions about black history black literature or any of the other 15 curriculum documents patrons will also be able to email the team with feedback or to ask questions about any of the updated courses from there our final step in the curriculum

087process is a review and vote by the curriculum Council this group of volunteers will ensure that we followed our process and didn't miss any steps along the way they will review the teacher and Community feedback and will see um and will see any revisions that were made as a result they will see the final versions of all 17 curriculum documents including the updated versions of black history and black literature that evening we will hopefully receive their seal of approval so we can bring all 17 documents to the February Board of Education meeting for a first reading and then again to the March meeting for approval again what Our intention was just to bring you a brief update of where we are and kind of what we have planned in terms of a process and a

088timeline um I do want to give Dr Lamers and the team working just a quick shout out no one had this in their plan for February and they've been gracious enough to kind of stop and make time to do this and just want to show our appreciation for them um their willingness to accommodate that in their schedules so again thank you for the opportunity to just share a little bit of our our plan [Music] is there a chance to make comments on this part okay great um first of all thank you Dr Buckman and Dr Lamers for doing that I would also like to thank Miss Wilkins for sharing what was done at the beginning of this course since everybody knows that I was one of the one of two up here that voted for

089that curriculum and at the time and stood proudly by that decision and we'll stand proudly by that decision today I would I would really like to hope that this new curriculum it's going to honor the intention and the spirit of the original elective courses that we had going I think that that's really important for all of our kids I treasure every single one of our students and will always do what's best for them I ran on that I heard uh people ran on different things on their election I ran on the fact that I would always do what's best for kids and I will stand [Applause] by thank you next of let's continue with their meeting I'm next Super i' like to make a motion I'd like to make a motion that we take a

090two-minute break so these people can can be under control what time will up next we'll turn over to Dr Rus for superintendent thank you president Bertrand um I wasn't going to comment directly on the student walkouts today as I have communicated directly to our school Community about them and we'll continue to also work with our students to understand their thoughts and what led them to today's action however I do want to recognize that our students behavior at all three high schools during today's walkouts sets an example for all of us maybe you want to hear me finish while I respect and value everyone's First Amendment right to be heard the hooting the hollering and the personal attacks that take place in this room during Patron Commons is disappointing and it concerns me that that's the

091example that we're setting for students in this district and students who attend our board meetings including our student board rep and other students that we're recognizing month after month to be clear I welcome discourse I welcome disagreement but if we have any hope of engaging in meaningful work to move forward as a district it needs to be done in a respectful manner I would also like to reiterate Mr stutzer's comments and recognize and thank our maintenance grounds and custodial teams for all of the extra work they put in as a result of the frigid temperatures last week the strategies they put in place ahead of the Deep Freeze to prepare really helped limit damages to our buildings though we still had a few pipes burst we weren't affected nearly um in the same way we

092were last year or as other surrounding districts many thanks to Mr ster his managers the team members and also the administrators and teachers um who had ultimately both prepare for that and also clean up in our schools last Saturday the board held a workshop to identify areas of focus for the district as we embark on our next strategic planning process we look forward to working with the board to finalize the fiveyear goals and then involve our staff students patrons other interested community members in discussions about how we can improve and innovate in the areas that were identified by the board the areas that were talked about on Saturday include academics Safety and Security District finances and attracting and retaining great employees we'll keep the community updated as we move forward with this process I want

093to share how proud I am of six students from Francis H North who will be representing the district in the Missouri All State Choir a total of 192 singers from throughout the state of Missouri were selected to perform this year um with this prestigious group the Missouri All State Choir will perform on Saturday January 27th as the grand finale of the Missouri music educators conference and Clinic that will be held in oage Beach not only do our schools have incredible choirs but our bands are also outstanding and the Spartan a band has received an invitation to Showcase their talent at the Misha State basketball tournament in March so I want to congratulate the 110 members of that band on that honor um a very special shout out for our very own Jared broad Brooks Mr

094broad Brooks is the band director we have a music theme tonight but um he is the band director at Barnwell but while he's not busy leading Young Musicians he is training for a very important upcoming race which would be the Olympics um he recently flew to Sacramento to race in the Olympic qualifier marathon Race where he plays seventh this means that he is officially an Olympic Marathon qualifier and he will get to travel to Orlando in February to race if he's in the top three he will get to go to Paris as an official Olympian so congratulations to him and good luck I shared in an email last week that we are working to schedule citizen Roundtable conversations for February and March to discuss ways we can create a welcoming environment for all students and

095staff in the district these forums were successful last year in providing a structured opportunity for stakeholders to provide input thoughts feelings um that will support our action steps that we can take as a district to move forward and we'll be sharing those dates in the next several weeks last I want to remind everyone that our February board meeting is a week earlier than normal and will take place on February 8th thank you any board comments um I just want to thank Eric custodial staff and everybody again for keeping our buildings nice and warm as a Wisconsin person you guys it wasn't all that cold come on um but it was cold we got a couple more days of it so get there I want to thank Isaac again for joining us I think he's got

096a few things he wants to share and um I want to thank everybody else and stay warm this weekend guys thank you um I want to bring up to the board's attention as a student in this District I would like to bring up to your attention that as a Latin and Spanish student in the the Francis House School District why can't I have a history class why can't I have a class that's dedicated to my background like I don't I'm from South America I don't my background can come from Spain it can come from anywhere in the world why can't I have that I would like that joy in order to be a student to have that and I would also like to once again thank Miss manino and Dr Rich and my family for

097supporting me during this day thank you [Applause] okay I I have a few comments p on with every video I've ever seen of any school boards with a school board interacting with parents and patrons the parents are yelling at the school board to get the CRT sexual indoctrination and other things out of their schools keep the boys out of the girls' bathrooms not an a FH SD parents yell that we're racist sexist homophobic if we remove CRT and try to keep the students in the bathroom they were assigned at Birth make no mistake we were elected by the majority and we will govern that way I've heard the teachers were wearing black t-shirts on the first day of the new year to show their support for black history and black literature courses certainly I believe

098in the freedom of opinion but think about the opinions you're sharing with the students you're sharing that although the classes have been and will be available this year and next with no interruption you would like to protest the process since there's really nothing else that you could be protesting we are still searching for a suitable curriculum and finally to our administrators and patrons I suggest a read of policy 0310 for those of you that offer up what isn't possible please understand what is entirely possible before claiming that it isn't I've been told that we need to work on Mass scores and retention of teachers I assure you that this board is very capable and willing to work on that and that's exactly why we're making changes to compensation for the teachers more on that later

099my reasoning for um talking well I didn't pull the items so never mind we will be adopting more changes in the Francis holl in order to restore order and decency to this District as mandated by the majority and our board policies I'm honored to be a part of that progress thank you for the opportunity to serve this students of this great District I have a I have a quick qu um comment uh we keep hearing that um that the curriculum next year is going to be uninterrupted but we're still not positive that's even going to happen correct there still have to be board approved so I think it's a little misleading to to state that I don't think so at all I think we have a few curriculums that that I know of has be

100board approved until that time that's vote we wouldn't be approving any I mean we so we'll we'll have them in there could be something else that comes up like what what we haven't even seen it we we know well some of us know that there's curriculums that are perfectly acceptable that are already made and ready to go you tell this is confusing point of order I'd like to start by saying um I'm appreciative of the board and the admin for taking some time out of their Saturday morning um as we continue our strategic planning work started over the summer and I hope everybody in the community has some rest and reflection over the long cold weekend and Martin Luther King day while Dr King's work and thoughts may be more complex and Nuance than many

101know the shared principles that arose have forever changed an imperfect Nation for the better the values that have survived as his legacy have helped our country get closer to the grounding ideals where we judge people as individuals they are and not by immutable qualities they possess the branis H school district has a robust minority population that continues to grow over the last 10 years the Hispanic and multiracial populations have more than doubled and the Asian population increased by a third along with many others I would expect that these Trends continue as the district is one of the highest performing in the state and one of the lowest tax rates the St Louis family can find all children can come to Francis H for an outstanding education it is the last an example the Dr King

102that districts like ours work to empower students and prepare them for their future it is a testament to our time that all citizens even students can use their voices to provide their perspective and contribute to the conversation and I welcome the contribution I'd also like to say some thank yous tonight first i' like to thank all the volunteers for the France H mobile market and know I did not coordinate this with Isaac thank you for all your hard work thank you for everything that you do for our students um I like to thank all the administrators and teachers for completing all the hard work to guide students through the first half of the year and get getting through finals um and finally I want to call out something I felt was overshadowed at last month's

103meeting and deserves recognition um Mr Harry Harris who I believe is still here donated the remaining funds of last year's School Board campaign nearly $3,000 to the lunch Heroes program and I thank him for I'm also thankful for all the actions and all the others that go unrecognized to make our community better it's action like these looking out to those truly in need that help make Fran School District the one how community that it is um and thank you for everybody for attending tonight we like a motion to journ Open session all those in favor say I I supp you know ni