001they were [Music] for e all right thank you everybody for coming um apologies for for running a few minutes late here but we will get started with the Pledge of Allegiance board like a motion to approve the agenda for November 16th 2023 as presented submit second pushard director cook all those in favor say I I all those suppos to say no eyes have it um up next we have special recognitions and turn over to JY jeles yep we're on tonight we have the honor of recognizing a music teacher at Francis hell Middle School who was recently named a semi-finalist in the Missouri State teacher of the year program out of more than 70,000 School teachers in the state of Missouri our own Alivia Howard was one of just 17 semi-finalists in four of the last
002six years Francis how has had a teacher Advanced to at least the semi-finalist round of the state Teacher of the Year Awards in addition to Mrs Howard this year Dr Zur an instructional coach at Harvest Ridge was recognized as a semi-finalist in 2022 Rachel Willcox a first grade teacher at Independence was named a finalist in 2020 and in 2019 Michelle Parks then an English teacher at Francis how North was named Missouri State teacher of the year the Missouri teacher of the year award launched in 1957 to honor the teaching profession the winner serves as a spokes spes person for the state 71,000 teachers and promotes the profession at various events including the national ceremony held at the White House each year more importantly though the teacher of the year program spotlights the positive impact excellent
003teachers have on their students and here to tell you more about Miss Olivia Howard and all the way she is positively impacting kids at how middle is Dr James the principal at Francis how middle the Francis hell middle School Community is extremely proud of Mrs Olivia Howard for leading an incredible choir program inspiring musicians daily and being the heart of character climate and culture at Francis H Middle School Mrs Howard began her teaching career 17 years ago as a music teacher in the fesus school district she followed her heart and continued to teach music classes for another 5 years in the Lincoln County School District in 2012 Mrs Olivia Howard blessed the Francis House school district and became the director of coral activities at Francis H middle school where she has been ever since I
004have had the privilege of working with Mrs Howard throughout her entire tenure at Francis H middle school to see her grow and flourish as an educator and have such an incredible impact on our community has truly been one of the highlights of my career on an even more personal level Mrs Howard inspired my daughter to find her voice and she's been an active choir student for the past three years pleasantly surprising us all my dad who grew up in choir and loves to sing had two children that were not in choir and never developed the confidence to sing in front of others even while undergoing treatment for cancer my dad hasn't missed a single choir concert seeing him light up at Our Choir concerts is a memory I will always treasure so thank you Olivia
005for that your positive impact stretches farther than you can possibly imagine Mrs Olivia Howard dedicates herself tirelessly to fostering Unity among our students staff and families by promoting music and Fine Arts she also leads our community's character initiative making a profound impact on our climate and culture through meaningful connections acknowledgement and celebration it is with great pride and much admiration that we celebrate Mrs Howard this evening as a Missouri State teacher of the year semi-finalist [Applause] get Brooklyn too she's not list she congratulations thank you [Music] [Applause] you next up we are excited to highlight the amazing student journalism program at Francis how North High School students and staff recently recently returned from the National High School journalism Convention held earlier this month in Boston they took home multiple individual and group Awards perhaps the
006most prestigious being two hall Hall of Fame inductions one for fhntoday decom and the other for the Northstar newspaper to be inducted into the national Scholastic press association's Hall of Fame a publication must earn All-American status in annual publication critiques 10 times in an 11year span so this isn't an award you earn overnight Hall of Fame recognition is something you earn by being the best every year year-over-year for an entire decade it's a rare feat and only three Publications in the nation were inducted this year and two of those are produced right here at Francis H North now in addition to Hall of Fame inductions FHN today TV was honored as a 2023 broadcast pacemaker finalist and two of the FHN journalism staffs placed in the top 10 best of Show competition in the nation
007numerous students also placed in the convention's individual best of show categories and I'm going to invite Jordan Keel one of the student journalism advisers to the podium to introduce some of our winners good evening everyone it is an honor to celebrate these creative talented and hardworking FHN media students tonight uh as previously mentioned from a group perspective these students and their peers have been recognized as some of the best in the country and adviser Aaron manful myself admin Francis hell North and I'm sure their families here tonight could not be more proud of them uh students here tonight with us um were recognized nationally at the convention for individual work so I'll be calling their names tonight to get a certificate um many of them you'll hear multiple times times actually and I have uh
008principal Mr Jeff Fletcher here with me to give them those participates um with that placing in the top 10 nationally in their respective categories and earning honorable mentions were Ria Patel and Laney Quant and the broadcast feature Story of the Year category and broadcast commentary of the Year category Michaela manful and comic strip panel of the year Parker Smith and broadcast journalist of the Year portfolio and earning top five finishes we're graduate Amber Winkler who's not here tonight um earning fifth place in the multimedia journalist of the Year portfolio category again Michaela manful Michaela manful who's already up there earning fifth place in the design of the Year portfolio category and McKenna Hudson as well as Amelia Pierce who isn't here tonight earn third place in the multimedia feature Story of the Year category in
009the individual best of show competitions for work um created this year um mallerie Barker received 10th place for Sports Photography Faith Smith sixth place for Sports Photography Payton Johnson is not here tonight but she received six place for feature photography Anita pandurangi second place for feature photography Lauren armman sixth place for editorial leadership Parker Smith who's already upfront third place in editorial leaderships Taylor Sally fourth place in broadcast future story and already up front Michaela manful fifth place in newspaper design and a trio of Kylie tal Talia faroh Jackson Fifer and Kenneth nun who's not here tonight um first place for newspaper design and finally numerous students were honored in the national student media competitions hosted on site at the convention um those were Drew Johnson who received an honorable mention in news writing wo
010uh McKenna Hudson who's already up front received an honorable mention in feature writing Lauren Harmon already upfront received an honorable mention in yearbook cover and end sheets Satie cotton is not here tonight but she received an honorable mention and literary magazine poetry a Duo of Max Ramirez and Maddie Clark received an honorable mention and broadcast package Faith Smith already upfront received an excellence in Sports Action photography pton Johnson who's not here tonight received an excellent excellence in photography portfolio and last but but not least she's already at front Michaela manful a superior in the graphic design [Applause] infographics thank you so much for recognizing these awesome students tonight you guys can stay up front for a photo everybody look here and then you can look everywhere else all right you can look every congrats you
011guys you guys are awesome seriously great job might be one of our largest board recognition groups ever and it still amazes me these are all national awards so incredible good job you guys um okay next up is our student board representative 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 in public that is focused on their school or the district and with that I'd like to invite principal James back to the podium to introduce our student board rep from Francis how meow School Middle School
012uh Dr [Applause] James I am honored to recognize sou Bera nambiar as the Francis H middle school honorary board member student representative this evening sa Bera is an incredible example of a hardworking respectful student whose dedication shines through her exemplary traits of respect responsibility perseverance and kindness she maintains a 3.97 GPA while being being actively engaged in theater Mentor program band jazz band yearbook and Viking voice s Pera displays a profound sense of responsibility in balancing her academics and commitments Sika is genuinely kind consistently demonstrating empathy and support for her peers making her a true role model in our school Community outside of school saera enjoys swimming taking vocal lessons traditional Indian dances during the holidays and just recently celebrated dwali with family and friends when asked to describe s berika each and every one
013of her teachers had incredibly kind words to say about her that portray her character I will share a few highlights with you this evening and share them all with Sika her character connection teacher Mr Hughes said what a fantastic kid she is polite and hardworking with a takech charge attitude she instantly made our new student welcome and see DC academically strong and character-filled S Bera will represent us well her math teacher Mrs Styles said sou Bera is the sweetest she is definitely one of my favorites super kind amazing at math driven and a natural born leader she's going to do amazing things she should be so proud of everything she's accomplished so far and I would expect great things from her her Ela teacher Mrs lamarsh said I truly love having saera in my class
014this year she is a kind soul and she is always respectful in her interactions she really loves to read and is constantly checking out books from my class Library her favorite has been The City of Ember series which she read for the third time in my class I believe she is quiet but when you get her talking she has the best sense of humor and is happy to teach you about her background and culture Sika you are an incredible young woman destined to do great things and we are honored to have you representing Francis H middle school this evening thank you to the board of education for this opportunity to speak tonight and to my mom and dad for bringing me here my name is hel and I'm a seventh grader student at Francis H
015middle school I have one brother and one sister who go to John Wen Elementary I enjoy going to school at Franc toown Middle School my school is a very welcoming place where you can easily make friends the teachers are really nice and they help you with everything you need and any questions you may have my favorite classes are Ela and band because I love to read it's one of my favorite things to do and I love to play music with my friends the after school clubs and activities are fun because the teachers always find creative ways to do activities and events I really like being a representative on wiking voice if feels good to share opinions and work together to improve our school the adults aren't going through what the students are going through every
016day so we have better insight and know what's going on with everybody as students we have ideas for improvement for our breakfast and lunch program that meet everyone's dietary needs and culinary interests another area of improvement we identifi is a language that is used in our hallways and how we speak to one another we will be working together to make sure our hallways reflect our core values of respect and kindness I look forward to being part of this discussion this evening that will help help the school district continue improve thank you [Music] slide this is normally the timer student board up would take a seat with the board but she is actually going to help Dr James and some other students present our Spotlight presentation tonight also from how middle on the Viking voice program
017so I'll invite Dr James back forward to get that started and then our rep will take our seat at the board after good evening again we are so excited to celebrate with you our Viking voice this is a new initiative at Francis H middle school intentionally designed to honor student voice strengthen student sense of belonging and increase our attachment rates Viking voice is an important action step in our climate goal of our school Improvement plan and will be measured by our student climate data and attachment rates currently how metal has a 40% attachment rate which we are very uh excited about but we do anticipate that growing our goal is 45% we think we're going to surpass that with the addition of Viking voice and a couple other clubs in December and January I have
018seven incredible student Leaders with me tonight that are going to be presenting to you this evening that I would like to introduce Harper graser six grade zakaya Petty sixth grade Logan Lang seventh grade saera nambar seventh grade Neta Lomax 8th grade Ryder file e8th grade and Harrison Phillips 8ighth [Applause] grade throughout the year students meet with principes teachers and support staff to voice their ideas share suggestions for improving our school act as thought partners and as they connect with fellow students and build their leadership capacity alongside students from other CC classes as Viking voice leaders it is important for us to stay is important for us to be a voice and not an echo we need to stand up and say what needs to be said and model doing the right thing not just follow
019and Echo others Studies have shown that students that feel as though they have a voice in school are seven times more academically motivated experience more self-worth engage more and feel a higher purpose in addition we spend 37.5 hours a week at school school has a profound impact on our lives and experiences and it helps shape our futures the school is for the students so the students should have some input on the way they learn the expectations and the celebrations as students we have the potential to influence positive change in our school and community and we can offer valuable Insight thought-provoking questions ideas and experiences to help administrators make better better decisions so far so far our first meeting we mostly focus on relationship building and getting to know questions we think that is most important
020to connect with one another and learn about each other we answer three questions where are you from what do you want people to know about you and the most important question why is Viking voice important to you this activity helped us to get to know each other and learn about each other's backgrounds I was surprised where students in my group were from like California IND India Louisiana and different parts of Missouri we also discovered that we had some things in common like why we wanted our voices heard we learned about the structure for future meetings and we also learned how to facilitate meetings in the character in character connection classes and we all the process as a team and talk about the circle of control in our small groups we talked about what we felt
021like the adults at our school should know and how we as a school Community can improve as Viking voice leaders it important that we try to find a way to validate everyone's voice and make them feel after our first meeting we went back to our ccs to share about our role and get their input on what they wanted the adults to know and what areas our school can proove as Viking voice leaders we narrowed it down to the top two and brought what we got from our ccs to the meeting we had with we think it's important to try to get everybody everyone 's voice and see what we can improve in fix at our November meeting we discussed the top two ideas that we wanted adults to know and how we can improve our
022school we recorded in small groups and created posters for the gallery walk of ideas some of the ideas that my group shared for hallway Behavior needs to improve our golden ticket should be more equal amongst all students and food in the cafeteria should be more inclusive of all religions cultures and dietary needs as Viking voice leaders we also got to provide some additional feedback sharing our opinions ideas and concerns on specific topics our feedback was then shared with several groups of decision makers we shared our input on our golden tickets which is our positive behavior recognition and celebrations all of our input is on our fhms Behavior team agenda for the staff to discuss tomorrow morning at the student council meeting this afternoon student council was reviewing our input on the pep rally and future
023Spirit weeks we also got to start coming up with ideas for our fielding and finally we shared our thoughts opinions and ideas about our cafeteria and student breakfast and lunches throughout our consensus building there these are the top thing top 10 things we wanted our adults at Francis how Middle School to know hallways and cafeterias were most were the most frequent reference but add additionally we wanted to be active in our learning and feel that times there are missed opportunities to engage more in the classroom we would also like the adults to consider no homework on the weekend since we have a lot of students who are very busy with sports and other outside activities on the weekends and no homework would give them an opportunity opportunity to breathe and decompress we also wanted to
024explain some of the social language kids are using that adults are clueless about the adults aren't aware of the slang that the students are using they will not be under they will not be able to understand how to address the situation when hurtful things are said and how they can impact the student at our November meeting we had a gallery walk and we built consensus through the spend bug uh method this honored everyone's choice and narrowed it down to the top 10 things that we want the adults to know and the top three areas of improvement in the school after a November meeting each Viking voice representative was responsible for H hosting holding a post meeting with their character connection class we share the top 10 things that our students want the adults to know
025which Dr James shared with the staff in the weekly memo and the top areas for improving our school that we'll be working together as a school Community to improve in the cafeteria we have some areas in need of improvement the last lunch has sometimes R of food and we need a new sound system sometimes the food quality is a concern and student behavor oniz best we also need to work on students cleaning up their messes and there are incidents of disrespect and dis remittive language in the hallway students are not walking with the purpose or walking very slow and are stopping in hallways resulting in students being Ted to classes again we experience disrespectful and discriminative language students grabbing backpacks and at times squirting each other with water bottles our four core values are respect
026responsibility perseverance and kindness we are not following those values if we are not following the rules as a result of student input Viking voice is looking forward to meeting with sedexo on December 7th we plan to start this me Mee sharing the highlights and positives of what we think is going well and then share some things we would like to improve and share new ideas for menu items also we will talk about how us students speak to each other at hallways and cafeteria we need to treat each other with respect and kindness and there should be no place for disrespect and discriminatory language as Viking voice leaders will be working on this together and make a positive change and so it's not advancing it won't advance sorry some slide issues sorry we have a few
027slide issues there our students insights and experiences can positively impact their education and contribute to a thriving School Community as educational leaders it is our job to honor student voice and create a culture that promotes it I encourage you all to consider how we are prioritizing student voice in our district and seek opportunities to engage with our students listen to their concerns and involve them in decision-making processes we would love for you to attend a future Viking voice meeting open invite um to connect with our amazing students who are truly making a positive impact on our school community thank you for the opportunity to let us share about and celebrate this incredible student group this [Applause] evening welcome supera we're so glad you're here on behalf of the board we'd like to welcome you to
028your first um ever board meeting um so please feel free to jump in if you have anything I will share my microphone if you want to say anything out loud you can participate as much as you want as but you just can't vote okay everything else we no if you have any questions just go lean over and ask all right right welcome we're glad you're here feeling welcome um up next we have Patron comments during Patron comments residents of the district and staff 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 three minutes to make their remarks please remember that only one speaker is allowed at the podium at a time and combining time or
029giving your time to someone else is not permitted the board appreciates that you've 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 with their given remarks if anyone fails to comply with those board policies regulations and rules reserve the right to cut those three minutes short for your convenience the three minutes clock is ready I can welcome Alexander Collins hello I'm Alexander Collins and I'm back again I'm a student at Francis hell high school and I was here last month as well as the month before speaking in opposition of the the proposed first read of the highly discriminatory policy 2116 I'm back after standing at this Podium 3 weeks ago when I specifically
030described the traumatic experience of being sexually assaulted by someone of the same sex in a Francis hell high school girl's bathroom afterwards concerns were raised to me by some some members of the community about the fact that no one from the board reached out to me to check if I was okay I received not a single response or followup from any Board of Education members or any Francis heal School District administration or staff despite the fact that we hear so much about policies and strategic plans put in place to provide theoretical systems of support for all students none of you seem to mind that very real assault and harassment is actually happening in the schools you serve to more accurately present the concerns I have with this policy I want to talk to you more
031about the safety of lgbtq students in your schools according to National polling 75% of transgender youth feel unsafe at school and those who are able to persevere had significantly lower GPA or more more likely to miss school out of concern for their safety and were less likely to plan on continuing their education that doesn't reflect well on Francis hell which Prides itself on our outstanding academics and amazing culture when schools have required students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their sex assigned at Birth transgender students have seen a rise in restroom sexual assaults of at minimum 26% often up to 60% when one in four of us are already assaulted every single year teens who have experienced ual assault are also four times as likely to attempt suicide as those who haven't and
032with transgender teens already at a 50% attempt rate I don't have to do the math for you or do I you're putting children in danger it's not only mental repercussions but physical as well transgender youth who Express their gender identity but are required to use facilities matching their genitalia anyways often avoid using restrooms altogether due to harassment and fear which can cause increased risk for dehydration urinary retention urinary tract infections impacted bowels and long-term kidney failures and as well as urinary cancers so I'm back I'm back to beg you to please reconsider the damage you will do to our students I'm back to hope that maybe you'll listen for once for whatever reason policy 2116 has been temporarily postponed I stand here before you asking you to do better Francis hell listen more closely value
033the life experiences that we gender diverse students endure happy trans awareness week now if you'll excuse me I have to use the bathroom [Applause] up next we welcome Chris Hyman I became concerned after hearing Jane's comment at the September board meeting alluding to a forthcoming bathroom policy I emailed her and I'd like to share her resp response thank you for your email what I think you don't understand is that there is a lot of collaborating and discussion with any changes we as a board make it's not my rule or my bill every word will be run past legal before any of us get to vote and yes I believe I am protecting all children as I mentioned what are you as a parent going to do when the majority of the kids get upset and
034walk out of school because they don't want to share bathrooms you're going to call and write and complain to the board of course and how are you going to react when a young lady gets raped in the bathroom oh complain to the board of course are you willing to sign a document holding yourself liable if any of these things happen after you've pushed to have coed bathrooms since the beginning of this country men and women boys and girls have all been segregated in bathrooms I see absolutely no reason to change that now especially since a proposed 1.2% want their peers to succumb to their pressure few things about that email turns out it's Jane's policy turns out it's very wrong to ask a parent in the district to sign a document assuming liability for rape
035hello Francis Howell legal director berran removed policy 2116 from a vote tonight and said some board members need more information if that's true I've sent emails to all of you offering conversation information and education silence I'm asking the board to vote to disclose advice you've received from legal council regarding policy 2116 the community deserves the transparency that you ran on although Randy would like everyone to believe this is impossible it is very possible with a board vote I have a transgender son I know firsthand how badly trans kids can be bullied I know the stats I know the anxiet iy and I know peeing at school should not be discriminatory director bertran thanked the post dispatch earlier this week for keeping Francis Howell in the news this is not the attention we want at Francis
036Howell finally there's not a single person in this room who does not know how to get in touch with me my offer of education on the impact of discriminatory bathrooms still stands legal action is not a threat it is a promise thank you next we welcome Becky hormuth well happy transgender Awareness Week once again like I um Adam said I am Becky hormuth um and I am a 20year patron of this district and an extremely proud parent of a 16-year-old transgender son this week my family and so many others have taken time to celebrate but most most importantly we aim to educate and advocate for the rights and well-being of all transgender individuals on Monday November 20th many will honor all transgender individuals who have lost their lives due to the anti-trans violence on a
037transgender day of remembrance sharing awareness and understanding are very difficult to do in this community where you the elected leaders disregard the overall needs and well-being of a particular group of marginalized students the group that my son belongs in with your continued derogatory comments and actions that you have portrayed these innocent students as an inherent threat and instilled fabricated panic over what for what reason many have continued to ask for the data the proof the need yet we get nothing but occasionally we hear a snide comment of it's Common Sense oh and you never know what a transgender intent is in a bathroom we continue to listen to as our transgender students are misgendered or disrespected constantly in adult conversations on social media or in your media interviews most recently president berran sarcastically posted how
038blessed he felt for having his picture in the newspaper this week blessed over a policy that is blatantly oppressing our students or would be if passed unfortunately it was only a matter of time before this board would contribute to a culture of intolerance and sending a message that certain students are not valued and respected and looking back 8 months ago president berran you proudly posted on Facebook your own version of a transgender policy a policy full of anti-trans verbage and discriminatory ideas in which restrooms and locker rooms were also listed we asked you a par of group of parents what what exactly is this necessary and needed for you shrugged and smugly responded why not I just want to reiterate from last month that if this policy passes my husband will be pursuing legal action
039against the board and the FR School [Applause] District up next we have a kti good evening I'm a student within the Francis House school district and I can't even begin to explain how disappointed I am to have to be step up here on a school night to talk to talk about the hard experience students like I have experienced in your school buildings these schools are meant to focus on our education and well-being and yet we don't feel safe in your schools we feel like our safety is at risk at all times and I can't even walk at the hall without having someone scream at me rude things that no one should ever have to think about hearing most of my life I attended either private or online school so having the opportunity to go a
040public school seemed like a chance to experience new things like being able to meet different kinds of people educate myself in a variety of new subjects or experience fully funded school activities as well as other things little do I know along with all those opportunities I would have to be up here in front of all these people explaining how your recent decisions are unjust and unconstitutional cuz apparently the reports and emails don't see be seem to be reaching you you claim your policies are common sense and keeping kids safe and recently you've been actively setting queer kids especially transgender students up to to be targets for harassment speaking of harassment I on multiple accounts have tried to report many irking cases that occurred in your schools such as myself and others being openly ridiculed and
041had things thrown at us in Halls or the times I heard multiple students in your schools yelling derogatory slurs back and forth across the commons the gyms the parking lot or the classrooms and more often than not intended to offend other students and close every time I told it wasn't reported worth reporting by admin assistance imagine having your boss tell you that issues that threaten your safety and the safety of others wer big enough issues or worth reporting that would be a shattering and self-deprecating experience for your selfworth schools meant to encourage others to try different sports clubs and classes and yet there are some filled with students and teachers that make queer kids like myself feel unsafe and unwanted and the ones that are welcoming on the verge of being removed or severely underfunded
042the thought of many of my friends and classmates leaving school for the sake of their well-being and safety or making life-changing decisions to escape the fears of entering schools were required by law to attend is gut-wrenching you claim your schools are welcoming and safe for all and yet a large per of the student body does not feel that way in the future I implore you to reconsider your approach to student safety because right now it doesn't include all students the policies you have you have and are trying to pass are unacceptable and at the moment I'm ashamed to have some of you be the face of this District up next we welcome Adriana hello I'm Adriana I'm coming to the board today because I have two children in the Francis hell school district and I
043want to show my support for policy 2116 thank you for putting together such a well-written clear and Common Sense policy that protects all the children in the Francis House School District it's a major concern that we do not have a bathroom policy in place and since we do not have a bathroom policy there are currently no consequences for biological males entering female restrooms or locker rooms and vice versa I think we can all agree that when a boy any age is a appropriately using a urinol and a biological female walks in on him that is very uncomfortable and unacceptable this is one reason we have restrooms labeled girls or boys also when a biological male is allowed to walk into girls locker rooms while girls are naked and changing this is also unacceptable and and
044extremely inappropriate why are we subjecting our children to this why are we forcing our children to expose themselves to the opposite sex it is wrong to sacrifice the privacy and safety of many students for the desire of a few additionally policy 2116 is a necessary policy for trans students without this policy there is no alternative option for Trans students who feel uncomfortable or safe using their biological sex restroom none of our students should feel unsafe about something as simple as using the restroom and without this policy in place each school has no direction and no requirement to open up single use restrooms to trans students I urge all seven board directors to move forward with a bathroom policy to ensure the safety and well-being of all 16,000 plus students in the Francis how School District
045they your tax dollars they are mine too to next we welcome Steven Blair there's just so much hurt in the room can anybody else feel it couple things um one Alexander Collins made a report of experiencing sexual abuse and uh the Board District bth you heard it um it's time to follow up Bing voice made a report of discriminative language is a problem at their school we all heard it Board District staff we're liable the bathroom bill that was presented was logistically impossible one of our schools there are classrooms that are 550 ft from a unisex bathroom in the nurse's office takes 2 minutes and 10 seconds to walk there and that is without hundreds of kids in the hallway their big backpacks and stopping to talk things the kids do the passing periods are
046five minutes long that does not give enough time for Wednesdays or Tuesdays it is the same for other rooms and for other schools for everyone here uh when you use the bathroom because if this meeting goes long you'll need to use the bathroom do not use the ones right outside our doors they are 60 ft away and 15 seconds away walk 550 ft 2 plus minutes and see if it feels like discrimination to you the bill is also financially irresponsible the fact that it was presented by our Treasurer is concerning it doesn't include any supporting documents about how much the district will spend on lawyer fees or how much we expect to lose in the lawsuit because we will lose like other districts have lost and if you want this bathroom bill you can pursue
047a bathroom bill but make sure you tell us how much money it will take to retrofit our schools to make the bathroom bathroom Bill possible how do you expect to pay for it could president bertran and other members share what you have learned from our district lawyer and Architects during your board comments later on tonight transparency would be great this bill is filled with political ideology without concern for facts like distance and time money that's not what you want from a school board when I got my driver's license years ago the first thing I did was drive to my friend's house and go to my favorite restaurant I couldn't wait and when this New Majority received the keys to the district it immediately used that power to remove a resolution that says racism is bad
048to limit students education by blocking teachers continuing education to create a bathroom Bill aimed at TR students that is logistically impossible and financially irresponsible you approved brain pop but some of your supporters believe that you will resend that in the future for political reasons and tonight we'll discuss communism of course communism is bad of course but why is coming up is because all these views are also supported by m your time is up next we welcome Adelaide Mitten my name is Adelaide Minon I am a student in Francis Howell School District and I am here today because I believe our public officials especially our school board should be held to a higher standard Ed and held accountable for their actions two weeks ago I reached out to every member of the school board concerning policy
0492116 a policy that would result in the harm othering and harassment of my transgender peers I received disrespectful responses from director pushkar who dismissed my opinion accused me of threatening her accused me of not writing the emails I sent and Fin threatened me with an investigation of my school email account I believe that the ability to disagree respectfully with others is a core part of our democracy these values should be reflected in the words of our public officials I am shocked and disappointed not only by the lack of professionalism displayed by members of the board but also by the general disrespect for the voices in our district District after being informed of this investigation I reached out to every other member of the board and received professional and respectful responses from only two of them
050Chad Langan and Janet stiglet the head of the board Adam Bertrand confirmed that I was being investigated but did not clarify the cause or extent of the investigation he refused to take responsibility for the board's lack of professionalism and denied that I was being silenced director ber R asking those who do not agree with you to stop reaching out is silencing intimidation from a public official in a place of Power Over Me Is silencing an actual investigation of my school email account is silencing this board spends its time bullying demeaning and disrespecting students instead of focusing on real issues real issues such as class sizes teacher retention janit torial and bus driver employment and building security instead you elect to Sunset anti-racism policies and propose harmful anti-trans policies on top of that you threaten and
051investigate those whose views do not align with your own I am a child a student in this District you are adults and public officials you have not only behaved unprofessionally disrespectfully and shamefully but you have also used your position of power to attempt to silence and bully me you harm students not only in your policies but through your treatment of us as individuals I am here today to demonstrate that Francis Howell students will not be silenced by the adults and public officials meant to represent us to my fellow students the board's reaction to my messages is a testament to the power of our voices thank you your time is up thank you next to welcome King Gand good superintendent and patrons I'd like to bring to your attention a couple of disturbing matters during last
052month's Schoolboard meeting there were a number of people in the audience waving LBG 2 Flags wearing shirts for claiming love inclusion diversity and when those opposing and then and when those with opposing views got up to speak many of those people were rude discourteous interrupted and prevented speakers from continuing is this what love diversity and inclusion looks like these people behave like ill- maned bullies some were even in fhea teachers participating in such behavior for our children to see recently at a school board meeting a teacher gave a chilling perspective of diversity and inclusion she said you're always allowed to pull your child from the public schools and either homeschool your student or send them to a private school that aligns with your values this was spoken by a teacher recent posts on the social
053medias and emails received by some of our Schoolboard members as well as at Francis H families have been hateful hostile devices and vulgar may I suggest to the board that if such interruptive Behavior continues in our board meetings that additional time be afforded to those who speak who are interrupted second point a couple of weeks ago the board and for some reason the Francis how forward political action committee received a letter from a trans right activist threatening lawsuits in my opinion the letter was meant to intimidate induce fear and to bully the board into resending policy 2116 the bathroom locker room utilization policy the letter quoted case law and spoke of the burdensome cost of compensatory and punitive damages against the district possibly to the tune of millions millions this letter this letter further pointed
054out the budgetary crisis that the district could could experience that's exact what would happen if these lawsuits prevailed and for what so a biological girl can use a boy's bathroom and locker room think about it we have roughly 16,000 students in our district and for less than 1% of this population these bullies are willing to bring lawsuits that could harm and jeopardize the education of all of our children and further jeopardize the fragile fiscal position of our district patrons we you vote in April in the Schoolboard elections note which candidates support these lawsuits and accept the endorsements and financial backing of these extreme left wing packs your time is up be Sil up next we welcome Ry gy hope I pronounced that right hello my name is Arty I'm a queer student at Francis how
055high school it's my second year in the building and my third year in the district I'm here to talk more about the bullying issue in this District I have been personally bullied at Francis how high school and so have many of my friends and peers students in your schools do things such as calling other students slurs throwing objects at them verbally degrading them Etc in fact there are even students who bark at us like animals in the hall on behalf of myself and all of my peers this is absolutely gross and unacceptable Behavior like this makes me feel unsafe and unwelcome to learn I come to school to learn and I should be welcomed into the community just like anybody else my friends have made numerous reports to the school about their experiences regarding bullying
056just to be told it's not worth reporting or that the problem is simply ignored the school district claims to have a no tolerance bullying policy however when it comes to lgbtq youth you do not enforce this policy and do little to help according to the Human Rights Campaign 29% of transgender youth 21% of gay and lesbian Youth and 22% of bisexual youth have attempted suicide bullying is a direct factor that negatively in impacts mental health bullying should be treated as the problem that it is I know from firsthand experience that has been an issue for in the district for several years instead of focusing on where we use the restroom perhaps focus on the real problems at hand please keep us safe and allow us to learn in a bully-free environment thank you I'm going
057to apologize up front for this one Nancy sari I knew it would be a problem so it's okay so I acknowledge that policy 2116 has been tabled having said that I'm going to speak to the intent of 2116 during last month's board meeting uh at comment uh an attendee said to everyone you know that everyone has a bathroom to use what's the problem well here's the problem according to Major news sources such as Fox 2 CNN NBC to name a few from a May 2019 survey of nearly 3,700 us teens age 13 to 17 the survey found that 36% that's nearly one in three of transgender and gender non-conforming students who attended schools that instituted restrictive bathroom and locker room policies reported being sexually assaulted in a 12-month period after policies were put in place
058from this same survey the percent of sexual assault and harassment in general student population was 26% so you can see that these are appalling numbers all the way around it does show that there is a 10% increase among gender non-conforming youth as compared to the general student population policy 2116 would likely increase incidents of this nature this policy without transgender kids and make other gender non-conforming students more visible targets for assault and harassment harassment simply by being noticed using single B use bathrooms and other locker room facilities Miss PSAR when you talked about preventing the rape of a child in the school a young girl I'm going to assume that you meant a cisgendered girl being assaulted by a transgender girl please correct me if that's wrong naturally I wanted to see if this was
059a legitimate concern I found in my research this is not and I could find no valid reported incidents this is simply a madeup issue for those of you who H don't have children you know this is an issue academic in nature for those of us with trans kids policies like 2116 are painful you know it's anger inducing it's an assault it feels like you dismiss our experiences and our children's very Humanity that you can remain calm under these circumstances is not a result of your objectivity but rather Your Privilege no future no in the future should policy 2116 come to for a vote I urge you to vote thank you your time is [Applause] up next we welcome fhaa good evening board Dr rompus executive cabinet Francis H staff parents patrons and students this week
060we would like to celebrate the amazing educational support Professionals in the Francis Hall School District these fantastic team members make it possible for us to focus on our students and our Student Success is a direct result of their dedication to Francis H School District yet again we have policies being brought for a first read that were never presented to the policy committee well we know that the board has this right isn't it even isn't it important um to have these policy revisions or even policy revisions mandated by the state law are presented to the policy committee before first reading at the board meeting the POS policy committee exists because it is a best practice to get input and troubleshoot new ideas we have to ask ourselves if it is really a policy that is needed
061and good for our students why wouldn't you want input from this committee made up of stakeholders we would we also saw that one board member had questioned about the expense of canvas the decision to choose canvas for our learning management system was a Monumental one Educators have invested thousands of hours in the past four years creating modules and lessons and activities and quizzes and tests most of which would not transfer to a new program the price tag is simply not the only consideration at this point I want fhaa would like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and hope everyone is able to enjoy their friends and families thank you [Music] P good evening president bertran board superintendent rumpus cabinet and patrons Thanksgiving is right around the corner and we believe there is always something
062to be thankful for one thing we are at Francis H is dedicated it's National American Education week and we would like to celebrate All staff and all departments that strive to provide an excellent education and safe environment for the children of the district but we' also like to highlight a few things tonight firstly did you know that fhsd is home of the Fab 5 how did our students get so lucky educational sign language interpreters are required to obtain a basic level three certification through a vigorous round of written and physical evaluations fhsd is truly unique because we are the only District to have our entire team of five interpreters certified and licensed at a master level five this is the highest level obtainable for the state of Missouri their combined years of service is over
06365 years with our district this shows their commitment to all students and their loyalty to Francis H School District they have the skills and expertise to work anywhere but they choose to be the Fab Five at one howl secondly our custodial department is getting closer and closer to being fully staffed there were some Bleak times the last few years with Staffing all the work we have done together and continue to do for our staff shows the benefits and raises are what retains staff but also when it's consistent it makes it easy to recruit so thank you to our department and their heads admir Dennis and salum we are all in this together one one how hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and I appreciate your [Music] time all right board i' like a motion to
064approve the consent agenda for November 16th 2023 as presented all those in favor say I I all those post say no nice have it next we'll have some information from Miss imry and Mr ster to present on Prop s and this evening salum is approaching the podium and he will be joined by the architect Representatives with honer and Associates good evening board members at the October board meeting you provided uh input and feedback during the schematic design presentation phase the feedback was clear and the desire to uh pair down the presented scope the best we can in while providing uh some alternate um some alternates for some phases of the proposed scope uh the team has just done that and Mr Ruther and Mr Welch with honer Architects uh are here to present the paired
065down design development phase for your consideration and approval and uh vote so we can move into the construction uh document phase for the purpose of letting bids I'll turn it over to Mr Ruther he'll lead uh a good part of the presentation thank you Sal I'm going to just jump into the jump into it here got it I'll just jump into it here thank you very much uh for allowing us to come up here as was mentioned we are here to present the uh the the uh information that you had asked us to go back and pres uh revise from our previous presentation the uh districtwide security Vester package will be uh with presenting on Henderson Fairmont Central School El Early Childhood Center hman Early Childhood Center and Meadows Park Early childh Center I'm also
066going to just mentioning that in uh December we will bring revised and revisions uh and updates for the Henderson aramont uh uh additions and Renovations I want to jump over this is just basic the orientation of uh Anderson Elementary School and then go directly into a little bit more detail of that same plan and this is just the this is the existing conditions that we were at last last presentation we did provide a photograph there of a there was some discussion about an electrical panel and the location where we're actually putting in the transaction window so we wanted to show you that just so you had a little bit of reference to that uh that situation so here what I've done is or we our team has gone back and we provide and kind of
067break it up so we can identify a little clearer as how we're approaching it there's yellow that shows the renovation areas the security vable itself and I want to pause for a second and identify by the the next uh slides that I show all the security veses are basically designed in the same template or understanding as the other 13 uh security vegetables had done we had done uh two two years ago so uh we were basically uh put put together that that effort that the security vest ability when you come in you're going to be in a area that's going to be um with a transaction window immediately to your right or your to your left so that you're containing the occupants or the people when they come into the school itself the other area
068is the white we've basically taken out any of the designation of areas in the buildings that are not going to have any work done we try to clarify that so you can see where we extracted that scope of work from the from the plan a bit alternate in this particular location you can see that the um there were bathrooms when we had to renovate the the r the yellow area and the actual um Lo locate a desk in the location where the transaction window is we had to reconfigure the administration area to to provide additional desks in a location where if someone walked away from that desk there was someone else that could basically look and take care of that window that transaction space the alternates there as we move things around and we're very
069in close proximity to those areas we added the uh the bathroom the Ada bathrooms and then also took some space out of that teachers's Lounge that will be nothing more than patching and replacement to where we uh make room for those areas next is the Fairmont add uh renovation again this blow up to the existing conditions so you have a little bit of reference on the existing conditions there and again in this area in this same same uh identical situation you walk into the security area in this particular case the transaction window is to the left and trying to keep all the administration area in the administration ation area per se and so then any rooms or any spaces and that's uh in the administration area that we had to move or relocate in the
070areas of white that represent just areas that we're changing names around basically identify or take out scope in those particular areas the um with relocating some of those spaces we have the um the areas identified as the ada8 toilet in the for the special ad is also accept uh accessible from the corridor itself move on to the next Central School ECC again the existing conditions again as you enter the building you enter into the security vestibule the transaction window to the immediate right we had to relocate an office in that particular area uh to allow for the transaction window and one thing here I want to clarify that there there is an alternate that's been added to provide because we've taken a space in this area there's a conference room and we put an alternate
071together to provide for that additional space for the conference room we have through the the design and through trying to provide ways to uh take scope out we think we might have this is an area we really have to consider possibly being in the base bid because we've eliminated a space a conference room that we tried to put in as an alternate we think that really needs to go back in that area as a conference room uh and build those walls that's a minimal cost but we just believe that's a in an effort to try to reduce the cost we've taken a space out of the administration that does not house a conference room up in the administration area going to the hapman road which is very similar in nature again the ad the uh
072existing conditions and I move on to again the the vestibule uh it immediately when you walk in contains any occupant that are coming in with the the um visitors and then with the uh transaction window immediately to the right and then again the areas when the yellow show the renovation and again I want to back up and basically say that the areas how we've reduced scope is by basically just going in and doing work on the areas that is necessary to get the transaction windows and the security VES in in this particular case again where we have the transaction window to put we had to uh re uh remove or relocate an office we put it back where we have an alternate in this particular case we think that office should be included in the
073base bed because that would eliminate a space where where a teacher or a uh an administrator would be out in a bullpen area which would not have the same function to be able for privacy and things of that nature they really need to be able to have that those space so that it doesn't impede or take away from the the person's use in that in that office next one is Metals Parkway again the existing conditions we move on again this may be the more uh one of the most straightforward areas where we come into the the again the security vesle immediately to the right is a transaction window we relocated an office just uh to the right of it in this particular case and this one here is pretty straightforward no alternates on this particular
074case but very straightforward go to the cost estimates here when you look at uh the the first uh cell here the first line is the what we presented back in 1026 identify the cost you go down Henderson Fairmont Central Hackman Meadows Parkway came up with a total of 975,000 then the soft cost Furniture projected soft cost uh at 10% design fees and things of that nature to get to a total of the 1.13 million through the design and through your uh uh request to remove some scope out of the pro project we were able to identify areas of the bid scope and some alternates in that particular area and we've reduced that uh you look in the green of the the uh green line of 719 by have a hard time reading that sorry 719,000
075for basically a change in scope or reduce of scope of $255,000 uh $970 so that that there represents what we were able to extract or take out of scope to be able to make that get those costs down we would look at potentially like I had mentioned those two other areas if the CH if the board chose to put those two offices back in we're looking at it roughly around uh 9 to 10,000 at Central and we're looking at about uh $115,000 for putting in the office back in and what that is that's relocation of some ceiling tile putting in the walls and things of that nature but I wanted to bring to your attention that was just not reducing cost that was reducing scope in those areas to get to a uh uh a
076scope that the did the uh board wanted us to try to achieve last thing I'm going to get to is the the the uh schedule review again uh basically we're at November 16th with the design development review we're ready to move forward authorize bid documents with direction from the board and uh authorized documents put out on the mark on the 21st of December December at that point time we would give put those documents to permit review for the the jurisdictions have an authority at that point uh look at then uh receiving bids a a contract in February construction period in June to July and complete Construction in August so the one thing I do want to bring to your attention that we talked about this at the last meeting was we're getting to a point
077and there was some things that were voted upon last week there's some there's projects that are starting to get out there and I just want to make sure you're aware that we're in a good position to get this project out on the market with your direction as far as being able to get those things out there get them ordered uh things order so we can keep the schedule going on time um with that said uh that concludes our presentation thank you very much for for your time questions comments board discussion [Music] I have a question for you so the security vestibules are do you have I know it says right here that the constructions completed in August 2024 is there any um guess that you would have to get those security vestibules done before then
078not not commenting on how I'm not commenting on all the other actions that are involved I'm just talking about as you know I've been very interested in getting those Security vestibules in as soon as possible good great question as Mr Ruther just noted um we feel pretty good right now but obviously you know there were some uh ballot measures uh in the St Louis area various school districts uh their voters approved some some funding to make some Renovations and construction updates and so we're getting to a point where we do need to move forward right now we're sitting at a pretty good spot um but that that's that's volatile in terms of whoever's in front of us maybe you know with their packages out uh material procurement and those things we won't know what that
079looks like until we really let bids and uh open them on bid day but as of right now based off of looking at market conditions uh and the the basic information we have right now we feel if we maintain this we'll be able to uh achieve getting those uh V bills done in time summer2 okay thank you I have a question I noticed that this is pretty scaled back from the last meeting that we were at have the principles of those schools all been um communicated with and have they shared any concerns at all with with the um change in the scope of what what some of the changes were going to be yeah and that's a great question and obviously uh as I noted earlier um the board's desire was to try to explore
080uh where we can really pair down some scope and so we're pretty Limited in in terms of how much we could go back and engage them uh but we did go back and refine the best that we can and uh shared those with them there were a couple of principles that did come back to us and uh inquired about specific spaces and Mr Ruther touched uh on that this evening there's really two offices that need to move from alternates into the base bid because because they're current offices that uh serve uh individuals who perform job functions that require privacy and uh or those really the feedback was those need to move into the basement need you have a uh I and forgive me I just don't remember this from the last scope from the last
081meeting um in Fairmont uh the proposed design development scope and this one includes a uh looks like a new canopy was that in the last scope yes it was okay and and the reason for that when we met at the building level if you if you look at most of our others uh secure vules there's an overhang uh so when folks are getting buzzed into the building uh there if you have rain or your snow whatever the elements may be they're under a u a canopy so we extend into that a little bit to be able to incorporate that to provide that you know for our community um so so I know you got U you went by and talked to Meadows Parkway yeah I stopped by today only she had some concerns out there
082and um what did you think of the proposal or her suggestions and stuff out there on that um we in terms of secure entries what you always try to do uh from a standardization standpoint point is to try to funnel and make sure that most of your transactions are with the front office and so what what she's um what the principal there has uh proposed uh we we want to take a look at that uh partly it may work but we want to also consult some of the industry uh professionals from a safety standpoint because typically you try to make sure that um a security investor whe really serves as a man track and interact with the office in her proposal to the left you've got a a large space that I believe um it's
083a large instructional space uh and serves different purposes throughout the day and you really want to try to segregate and protect those individuals in the event that something should happen in that secure vestibule so we've just got to kind of look at that um and we can definitely provide some feedback in terms of what would probably be the best way to move forward yeah CU me as a n I've the engineer architect or anything but it it made sense when you look at it and and the some of the the the reasoning behind it also um for meeting spaces and I understand having a door in the in the in the secured Zone but I figured a locked door would kind of still be in a secured area true but then when you consider that
084that door probably has to always be in a locked State and so that's going to require a staff member if meetings are taking place in there that's going to require a staff member to walk through the security vestibule unlock the door and we just really got to look at that and make sure that we're being prudent from the safety side okay so you are going to follow up still with with that that site we we certainly can at your direction so Chad and I both met with with u principal Caulkins at Mary at Meadows Parkway today uh different times but um she presented to me the same I think the same thing she she showed Chad and I I took a second here to to draw it up and that's the the sheet I passed
085out this is kind of what she's proposing I agree with Chad and on you know it's it makes a lot of sense on its face and um and it appears to save quite save quite a bit of money to boot which is always a nice uh nice feature of of anything so just for everyone who wasn't there this is uh the plan is really to a lot of the office Renovations that were proposed in the slides um those really go away you make a larger security vesal area and then that space off to the left which which would be accessible from the security veset it's labeled as instructional space but the principle there informs us that um it's meetings right it's for meetings and parent meetings and uh for they Meadows Parkway has certain screenings
086and other things that students come in for while the parents wait and at some schools the parents wait in the car and Meadows that have this space so the parents can wait inside um and they don't know those parents a lot of times like they like they know the regular parents so um yes that that door would be locked um you know she she had mentioned some options about you know a button lock that they can do from their office or whatnot but um this is generally the the plan if if the board would be willing to entertain a motion to have them revisit meals Parkway with with these changes or with these ideas I could just offer this before you know the board provides Direction on there what I'll tell you is um in
087my professional career in the last 15 20 years obviously Security's been at the Forefront of uh school school safety um and professionally in the last three years I've over seen about 30 secure entry vestibules um throughout throughout you know my my pre prior experiences and uh in those particular situations the standard has always been to try to really protect and not have meeting spaces Andor alternate spaces where people are going to be gathering and in Fairly large uh sizes within having access to the secure entry Vester within itself so I just offer that um and I would probably also state that we probably want to just kind of consult some security folks you know that uh look at this and kind of see where we're vulnerable um for consideration before really making a permanent recommendation
088to to move forward on the proposed change additional questions discussion board yeah just a couple so it uh at Henderson the Ada refresh my memory are there currently any Ada facilities Ada toilets uh respective to the areas that we're looking at right now um n none of those are currently ADA Compliant and then the so this would be a benefit and these would be access to students and the faculty if needed or simply faculty predominantly right now faculty these are faculty resturants okay and then as far as CU I know in my industry there's been a crazy increase in the price of steel pipe in the last 2 3 weeks how accurate do you feel that the pricing is in what we're being presented tonight um so if if you look at the scope really
089um and and I'll let honer um Mark Andor weight chime in here we don't have a whole lot of structural steel um in this work what we have is a lot of aluminum storefront um and I I don't know we seen any price increases in that right now typically you know also January is when a lot of folks uh in that industry kind of revisit their pricing model in a new year and uh uh you know typically that's when we'll see increases we haven't received any any communication from from kind of our partners in that area on what that might look like uh but from a a structural steel standpoint we don't have very much in the proposed scope just a lot of aluminum storefront and pending what January prices may look like uh we
090we do feel pretty good about the market analysis from the pricing that we we've we've shown on that prior slide okay so with you saying that so these will go off for bid we're not going to see we're not going to receive the bids till February but we're still confident that these prices are going to be come under at this cost or below I'll let Mark speak a little bit more to that CU he obviously they're seeing packages kind of go out right now and they're maybe able to extrapolate what that might look like yeah cuz I I just want to make sure cuz in your schedule we're talking about awarding contracts after the time when you're talking to vendors are going to be saying these these are our new prices for this year yeah
091okay and and some may you know obviously it es and flows and and some may increase some may you know keep them status quo we just won't know obviously supply and demand drives quite a bit of that as slid referenced uh we do keep a a handle on that and you know unlike 3 5 10 years ago we wouldn't hear I mean we would know things were going up for prices but now we're getting regular information as far as things are being uh price increases and things of that nature because now the vendors are actually getting that out out to us we have seen in the past of year or so things have started to level out one of the things we are seeing though is the workforce is just not there there's some of
092the variation as far as the workforce and that's partly why we want to get out there and try to get these things the the the contractors get their their uh their work backlog uh up and running but as salum also said stated that the the metal the the uh storefronts that's something that's going to be big there's a lot of drywall but there's a lot of Labor I mean it's just labor that's really going to be driving a lot of this because there small little projects management of each one of those is going to be critical but as far as the steel um there is some piping but there's not anything other than the storefronts that are there's a lot of lot of it there so hopefully that answers your question all we can do
093is react to where we're at right now we're we're seeing things leveled for the point point in time but it's it's the workforce we're seeing a lot of contractors you can't find a Workforce and if I could add my really my bigger concern you know from my vantage point is is the labor piece you know where we're getting into Peak construction season in terms of when packages are are being put out on the street for uh construction managers and general contractors to to bid on and so if we get into a situation where um a lot of packages are ahead of us and those who choose to chase our work um they may they may bid it double time uh in terms of you know in order to meet the schedule you know that's it
094has to get somewhere so it it's all kind of supply and demand from a Workforce standpoint the later we are in the game uh and getting our packages out there the more the market becomes really saturated to where anybody that chooses to chase our work uh maybe in a position where they may double up you know charge premium time in order to kind of you know meet the schedule as well is just just the labor market at that point in time so that would be a bigger concern at least at this point in time um but obviously we we'll keep keep tune with that and notify executive leadership if we here in the short term if we see any any substantial swings one way or another uh regard regarding the other two Early Childhood centers
095um hman Road and Central I also met with those principles today just to look over the plan and with them and and get their their opinion on what what's proposed here um the Jan kind to your question the principle at pman Road was was it was good with what we have proposed here um tonight the revised plan um the uh promised I'd mention the carpet there is 14 years old and we're going to try to blend it or mix it which you know not a big area but um that's something that I don't know how that's really going to work maybe that's in there already but um that was really her only concern with with this um and and and walking through the space with her and and looking at everything here I I agree
096this is a good plan um on the Central Road Early Childhood Center we have revised the scope down on that one or the Architects have um and that one the the principal there had a little bit more concerns because we were moving an office office and creating a um a conference room and then a you meant you mentioned a future office alternative that you thought would be a necessary bit bit alterntive um and in that case she she was more pleased with the the presentation there in October because it it just added two offices instead of an office in a conference room um and she said those are that office that's that's going away is being used by a speech language pathologist and she's got another speech language pathologist that's basically in a makeshift walled
097room in one of her other rooms um and not knowing much about what what that position does it seems like that would be something you'd want a one-on-one space for especially at that age um to not have any distractions but U so on that one you know the principle there was you know asked that the October plan there be Revisited generally I would support that also the the difference in cost isn't isn't substantial between central from October to [Music] today but after meeting with them that's the that's the feedback that that I got which I think I comment I agree with with with both of them anything additional board this time I will entertain motions I may suggest if we make motions that we do them one by one make it easier rather than one
098giant motion for all of them I'll make a motion to accept the Fairmount Elementary Renovations as presented so moved director cook we have a motion on the floor to accept fair not as presented because there's no B one all those in favor say I I all those post say no I have it I make a motion to accept the Henderson Elementary Renovations as presented just just for Clear Clarity director C you your motion around bid the base scope for the bid alternate well it's my understanding we're it's both we're doing that as a bid alternate right that is correct yes yeah we'll have a base bid to bring back to you as well as the bid Ultra all those in favor say I I I I I was supposed to say know nice have it
099I'll make a motion to move forward with the Amman Road early childhood Renovations as presented soov under all those in favor say I I I all those opposed say no nice have it make a motion to move forward with the Central Early Childhood Renovations as presented at our October 26th [Music] meeting so second just to clarify your motion is to move forward with the recommendation or the plan that was presented at the October meeting correct any discussion on that board does anyone need to rece see that again can I just ask a Clarity question obviously that was just kind of in schematic design so you want us to adopt what we showed you guys in schematic design and develop it into construction documents that's that's correct that's intent on that motion okay all those in
100favor say I I all those oppos say no nice have it and I'll make a motion to revisit the meals Parkway Early Childhood Center revision to the proposed plan of November 20 of November 16 2023 U sheet that's been presented here today so moved just to clarify your motion is to review that again based on the com AR from the principal of the site that's correct take that and I'm I'm I'm happy to I think I want to speak for the board but I would be happy to meet as soon as possible with a a work session or a quick meeting a zoom call however to have that presented if you can do it within a week or whatever as soon as possible we'd be happy to um you you've provided kind of what that
101uh should look like we'll we'll go to work on it and U consult a few folks just to make sure that we're we're putting our best foot forward from a security standpoint um and then we'll make a recommendation back to you for your appr all right all in favor say I I all oppos say no eyes have it Bo like a motion thank you thank you much to approve the purchases over $7,500 as presented some move second stigl honder all those in favor say I I all those suppos to say no nice have it next we have the financial report presented by Miss EMB good evening this will be my shortest presentation since I've been here don't start that time around this is different so I mean I may need help Oh wrong thing that's
102why it was different thank you so this evening uh we have posted for you our standard reports and documents and there's one in particular that I'd like to pause and just talk a little bit about it's a report that my intention is that we'll present it every single month that way you will have in front of you every single month where we stand on our projected fund balance by fund and So within the budget it's called a budget amendment and transfer report and within that it provides you that numerical information it provides changes by object level and by fund and then we have added to that a narrative document uh it's attached to that same posting so sometimes again there will be very minor changes or no changes at all but if there are major
103changes those will be represented within that report as well I do want to tell you that relative to that which has been posted this evening a comprehensive analysis is continuing on our health benefit trust fund or our self Insurance Fund and we are looking at the performance so far this year we have seen spikes and utilization and we want to make sure that we are providing you best information possible so that is underway and we'll plan to bring that to you during the December meeting we're doing that with Marsh mlen they're the uh Representatives that came presented uh a few months back on health insurance so this first slide is the general budget summary and you may remember that this is one of the five components required for a budget for Missouri statute so we
104did provide you with a general budget summary uh when the budget was recommended and what this shows you now with the anticipated change recommendations that we've provided for your consideration our fund balance uh at June 30 is now projected to be 29.71 uh it does Show You by fund how much that is and so uh we'll go ahead and unpack a little more of this for you so within that document there is a summary for revenue and a summary for expenditures again this is by the primary object level so we've divided Revenue by local County state federal and then other District which is uh more frequently than not not it could be tuition to other districts or them paying us it could be contracted transportation services that type of thing falls under that category under
105expenditures it's our standard primary categories again salary benefits purchase Services supplies we have Debt Service and capital projects and then capital projects Bond listed as separate items so you can see the changes in a summary fashion between funds this shows you a little more specificity regarding uh the total for the year so far for Revenue budget amendments and transfers and so you can see during the November uh line that is the first time that we have anything impacting between funds if we've had other transfers that have been posted during previous board meetings they must have uh been within the same fund so as we continue through the year you'll see those additional months added so it will represent all all the months July through June for the f fiscal year this is that same version
106for expenditures again November is our first budget amendment that we are providing you this fiscal year this gets into the detail a little more specificity by object code this one is for revenue and it shows you uh each of those funds impacted and I'll highlight for you just a few things in total we are recommending a revenue uh increase for the fund by 1, 81752 an increase to the Teachers Fund of 3,534 that service 2,3 66196 and capital project 75 592 now most of that is relative you can see the total across each line the very first line represents our current taxes so we shared that with you during previous reports that when we bring the budget amendment to you it will reflect the tax Lev and the assess valuation data that was used to
107calculate that uh in September the levy that you said we've made other adjustments uh throughout our Revenue projections based on the best information we have available to us at this time on the next slide it's a similar view and this time it is expenditures and so you can see we've made some minor adjustments um among various object codes again noting that there are no changes to the 6200 area and we especially have limited changes on uh the salary area as well at this point in time I'll remind you there's a reminder slide at the end but I'll say now I mentioned before we're still meeting with our our leaders of dep departments and uh we will continue analyzing the current year budget as we conduct those budget meetings in preparation of building the fy2 budget
108so we anticipate those wrapping up by the end of January I should mention on that one oh how do I go back top no I'm sorry middle one Bott yeah it is definitely a user error here my friends I'll tell you so on the expenditures I'll give you those totals uh general fund is 1,132 590 for expenditures we have a teacher fund reduction of 74,500 and then the capital fund we have a an increase of 300,000 there was an offset on the revenue side and that's relative to the safety grant that the district was awarded from the Department of Elementary and secondary education okay so this slide is uh replicating for the most part the general budget summary the primary difference is that it does include a change uh whether it's a deficit or surplus
109of the funds from the start of the year to the end of the year and we know that uh we have more budgeted in the bond fund than what we anticipate using this year we likely will go ahead and come back with a budget amendment reduction to that once uh some other decisions are made relative to Henderson and Fa Mount and um again it mostly replicates it still shows that 29.71 ending fund balance June 30 this is a slide that is familiar to you now it shows our progress so again uh other than the health benefit trust fund we've taken a look at all of our funds and all of our uh recommendations for you at this time we'll continue working toward developing that multi-year projection document the intention is to provide that to you
110in December to help you prepare for reflecting on opportunities for changing the budget as we move forward and then we'll monitor the budget as we move forward already reference that we're still conducting those budget leader meetings and this is that reminder slide as well of our budget development calendar so we're in that phase of uh reviewing current year and preparing for next year and uh next up will be collected bargaining starting in January and continuing through May if you have any questions I would be happy to answer those yeah Carol I have a couple um sorry Ron um one of them is how and why did desie have to approve the transfer and do they have to approve all transfers so the department of Elementary and secondary education provides districts with information regarding the maximum
111guaranteed tax based transfer that's allowed by district and and so there's a particular calculation for that and uh it is basically limited to uh 7% of the state adequacy Target and that is uh multiplied to our prior year water so for last year our actual transfer allowed was in excess of 6 million we have 6 million estimated uh it was just over 6 8 million that information typically comes out I think in November each year so we don't know the actual amount this year we may bring you a recommendation within that transfer section that adjusts that slightly uh and desie doesn't actually approve it but there is an expectation that we are providing that to the board of education for approval and that's why we include it within this budget amendment and transfer form so
112you are fully apprised of where that recommendation stands and that's a transfer from the general fund to the capital projects fund to take care of our our building assets um one more thing why did can you explain why the Teachers Fund decreased by 75,000 I can so uh on that object we'll see if I can do this I'll just pull this back up real quick so you can see that yeah is that that's not that's it that that was it oh was it okay whoops uh oh here I go again okay yes okay so I'm looking at the paper so I can see the numbers in this situation if you look at the line that represents supplemental pay 6131 there's a decrease of 4,590 and if you look down into the left one column you
113see there's an increase in general supplies of 4,590 so those are offsetting but between fund and uh those are relative to some tutoring budget allocations in a building and there was a design to shift it between uh supplemental pay to supplies okay to increase supplies and I'm sorry and then the rest of that so in this District we had U budgeted in planning for a short-term loan that we have determined we didn't need to borrow money to meet payroll this year we've talked about that because our fund balance percentage supported uh making it until we receive primary revenue in December and in January and so budgeted uh was 35,000 for interest and 35,000 for fees so that's uh savings for the current okay um I just want to make a comment um that I hope
114at some point we can take some actions necessary you know to address the issue of ensuring that all the teachers are rewarded for their experience their time spent teaching um I've heard as have many others on the board that teachers have missed some steps knowing that that might be a heavy LIF to do all at one time hopefully maybe we can layer the approach to get it done and to reconcile it something to think about or plan for in the future uh we'll get those financial projections developed so that you can have all the information you need and the recommendations uh to consider okay thank you thank you I don't have a question I have more of a comment um thank you for making this much easier process here uh it's it's the narration and
115it's a lot easier for us after all these years it's came a long way of understanding this a little bit more easier so morea thank you thank you all right board I like a motion to approve the October financial report as presented so Ponder all those in favor say I I I I'll suppose say now eyes have it next board I like a motion to approve the additional additional early childhood special education positions as presented buar Missin president B I don't have anything to add but I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have about our request for the additional Staffing for Early Childhood any questions board all those in favor say I I I all those oppos say no I have it I board like a motion to approve the summer school proposal
116as presented so MO bonder any questions we have a presentation from yeah Dr Garland Dr Garland and Dr liur are our director Dr Garland is our director of elementary and middle school and Dr Lamers is our director of curriculum and high school and that other duties as assigned part of that includes um the behind the scenes work it takes to lift our summer school programming off the ground and so so they've wrapped up last year's summer school programming you saw that report come last month in this week this month they are here to tell you a little bit about what they have planned for the coming summer so we'll turn it over to them um first uh thank you for the opportunity to present our uh proposal for the 2024 summer school program Dr G
117Garland and I are pleased to share with you the district's plan for the summer program it offers both uh remediation and enrichment to students in grades K through 12 and as you can see from the chart that we have a o sorry I got a speak into the microphone as opposed to swaying um as you can see from the chart The District offers many choices for students and Families Our summer program is very popular with our parents and with our students and is considered to be one of the most robust programs in our area it provides high quality student learning at a value to the district's fund balances and to start I'd like to introduce Dr Garland and she can share information about our elementary offerings thank you I'm actually going to share Elementary and
118Middle School let me go ahead and FL the slide here all right so little high for short people okay so thank you very much for the opportunity I'm going to just take just a quick minute just to kind of highlight some of the summer programming um this um Year we're proposing to continue to offer our elementary Tre summer success program which is solely focused on reading intervention for our K5 students um we plan to offer this program at two sites which is typical um this year we worked with um salum to determine which sites would be best to host based on work being done across the district um and just everything in general to make sure that logistically um it worked and we're proposing to house those two to house that program at both Harvest
119rdge and independent um you may remember last summer we made a change to our summer programming so typically our summer program for Elementary ran a full day and last summer we made the change and switched to two halfday sessions an AM session and a PM session in response to Senate Bill 681 and to try and mitigate some of the challenges that we were having Staffing summer school um what we found out is that we did see an increase enrollment um based on Senate Bill 681 but not at the significant levels that we were expecting um so this year as we do every year we look at all the data that's tied to our summer programming um that would include just our student progress and growth data as well as our parent and teacher surveys and
120after analyzing all that data and just having anecdotal conversations with our principles and our leaders that oversaw those programs um one of the themes that kind of emerged was that for elementary while it was nice to have that halfday program um it really probably wasn't enough time to do the really targeted interventions that were needed for our students who are served for this program so this year we're proposing a change to go from that half-day programming which was 2 hours and 45 minutes last year to a 4 and 1 half hour program this year so we kind of feel like this might be the maybe middle ground and that it's going to give more time for our teachers to intervene and it's still a desirable amount of time to attract teachers to teach the program
121um but I'm really excited I mean I'm excited about that because that's it's changed but it's I think it's going to be really really good for our students um I'm really excited though to present our enrichment side of things which are our camps as you know our camps are very very popular um and we plan to continue to offer the same um four camps which are stem robotics um Studio Art and then the Sports and Fitness and all those camps will be offered for four weeks in June um same as our summer success program um Becky David will be our host site for all of our enrichment camps but this year I'm excited to share that we are proposing to add three additional camps for our elementary age students um that being a a strategy
122game Camp which would be offered all four weeks a music camp which will be offered all four weeks and a colonary camp that will be offered two of the four weeks for our summer programming all right so on to Middle School not a lot of change um for Middle School moving into this year um we'll continue to offer the Middle School summer success program which is for our middle school students it's a full day and it's focused on reading math and then those students also have the opportunity to participate in PE and some elective classes um this year we're proposing that Sager be the host site um working again with um salum and transportation to ensure that logistically where we were housing our programs um we could meet um the times and get students to
123and from in a very efficient manner um so we're proposing like I said for this to run at Sager um ALS Al um Middle School will offer four enrichment camps um same as we offered last year which was our stem Camp our app Camp Theater Camp and biomedical camp both the stem camp and the app Camp will be offered all four weeks of the summer the theater Camp is just one Camp that's offered all four weeks because just the amount of time that it takes to um their culminating activity is a production and so it takes an it takes a lot of time to put that together to get everybody in their their roles and just the whole nine yards that goes along with that um and then our biomedical Camp will be offered um
124two weeks um I'm going to turn it over to Dr Lamers to share um his um highlights on high school programming so at the high school level we're running a handful of offerings the first um one is our credit recovery uh program so this is designed for students who are behind in credits in order for them to recover some credits for classes that they have previously failed uh the proposal is to host it at Francis Hall Central so we're using the same campus for Sager in central to uh maximize Transportation efficiency there and last year the program was held at Francis how high school and uh Francis how North will be demolished so we can't hold it there um the credit recovery is offered in person only we have offered virtual credit Rec in the
125past and the success rate wasn't as strong with that so we offered the in-person credit recovery students had the opportunity to uh take one full credit of class so a first semester class and then a second semester class so there's a 10-day session that's first semester and a 10-day session that's a second semester uh we schedule out 60 hours of instruction there and then for camps at the high school level um one of the things that we're adding this year is an ACT prep Camp um that's going to be added for the summer or for this summer because in the past um we would allow students to enroll in the for credit ACT prep class um and then stop attending after the first week if they take the June test and so we're just kind
126of separating those two programs now so there's an ACT prep camp that is designed to prepare students for the June act um National test we'll offer our Max Scholar sumary Academy and our AP Prep Camp as well um and then for the credit advancement opportunities we're going to run two different sessions in June is our in-person credit advancement uh this allows students to work ahead and take some classes to free up some space in their schedule so they can take more electives and things of that nature during the uh the regular school year it's mostly in person although health and personal finance will be offered virtually as they have been in the past um again students in Credit Recovery can take up to two classes or one full credit and uh these classes the in-person
127ones they will run three-hour sessions for 20 days so they can do a morning one and an afternoon one in the month of June one thing that we're adding this year is a virtual credit advancement option for the month of July uh we have seen an increasing number of students over the past several years opt to take uh virtual credit advancement courses through the Grand View Missouri school district through their program called MOSI and last year we saw a significant increase where we saw well over 400 classes taken by over over 280 Francis Hall students through that program and they did that in the month of July for a whole host of reasons but you know maybe they're playing travel sports or uh going on vacations and things of that nature so in order to
128keep them with us we're going to offer um virtual credit advancement in the three classes that were um most commonly used by our stud or taken by our students last year uh which would be Health personal finance and um they called it n9th grade PE we call it personal Lifetime Fitness and then just to align with our strategic objectives academically as a district for College and Career Readiness we are going to also offer a four credit ACT prep CL class in the month of July as well um we are proposing to offer those courses through our partnership with lach and of course um we have to figure out how we're going to pay for the summer school program and we do collect Ada um from Desi uh dur for our summer school um offerings and
129so the projected Revenue um for the summer programming based on historical enrollments and the program offerings and the times and all of that our projected um enrollment is just over 1.8 million or uh revenue is just over $1.8 million and if we subtract out how much it'll cost to pay our staff how much it'll cost for bus transportation and supplies and services um that put the revenue over expenses we would project to clear approximately $80,000 based on the calculation or the calculator that Desi provides to school districts to plan for summer school our objective every year is to run in the black on summer school so with all of that do any of you have any questions for Dr G question yeah just for speaking for uh like you just mentioned every year um I
130it's a little late now but what I would have liked to see maybe moving forward or if you can bring it back it's not too much work to to figure out what the numbers these same numbers were on the last slide for the two prior years since you're changing the amount of hours and things like that would be nice to have something to compare to yes I can absolutely provide that thank you got any questions for IT couple of questions on in the elementary school summer success is that By Invitation Only or is that for anyone who wants to enroll last um prior to last school year so prior to Senate Bill 681 we invited students on a tiered basis starting with those with the most need um and then we it was a three-
131tiered system um when Senate Bill 681 passed last year what the legislation stated is that we have to invite if we let me back up if the District offers summer program we have to invite we're required to invite any student that is reading one or more grade levels below So currently what we're doing is we're inviting the students who qualify under Senate Bill 681 given that it is strictly um for reading intervention okay and then um also on Elementary uh are the camps free again this year by yes they're free however transportation is not provided to from camps okay and then on Transportation maybe this is a question more for Carol heads up Carol um is is the summer school transportation factored into our efficiency rating for transportation last I knew oh sorry last I
132knew it was not I mean it it's not a qualifying uh service so but I'll check into that okay does it count against us though oh yeah Jim Simpson says I'm correct yeah um and then for high school on credit recovery um you mentioned first and second semester is offered um if a student needs credit recovery on say second semester of algebra um do we allow that student to audit the first uh basically the first semester's worth of credit recovery class as a refresher or a catchup I've never had that request but that is something that I would accommodate if that request came forward yes yeah the intent being if they yes yeah okay that's all I got quick question on the virtual classes my daughter was one of the ones taking classes through Grandy
133she liked it but I think there was she would prefer to take it through Francis Al um in the I do is the first year probably in there may be changes in the future but is there any plans in the future to or even this year to let other students outside of Francis H or purely just Francis how and then going forward in the future is any thought consideration we given to that I mean that is that is something that we could consider um yeah it's not something that we have in the in the books for around the plans for this year all just curious thank you anything else board all right all those in favor to approve the motion to approve the summer school proposal say I I was say now eyes have it
134thank you thank you very much next we have Miss Simpkins the president's information on the 2025 2026 school year calendar I'm saving all my time from that last agenda item so I could use it today perfect thanks for having me board I just wanted to share with you a draft of the 2025 2026 school year calendar our practice in Francis Hall is to create an approve a calendar two years out uh this really allows for our families and staff an opportunity to plan ahead for breaks and vacations and hopefully increase attendance on those planned student contact days this is a first draft and we'll give an opportunity at the end for community and staff to provide some suggestions and inputs before we bring a final calendar to you next month for your vote I wanted
135to share just a little bit of history as some of you are new to the Francis H calendar and I think it's a good reminder of where we uh where we came from and how we got to the calendar that we use today beginning in 1975 we're going to go all the way back for just a little bit the district operated on two calendars one for elementary and one for secondary the need for the year- round calendar for the Elementary schedule was necessary due to very high enrollment at that time which resulted in our school buildings quickly reaching capacity the decision to implement a four cycle yearr round Arrangement was an Alterna a to split sessions where some students would come in the AM and some would come in the PM um the decision to
136go to a year round calendar uh scheduled at elementary was a financial one uh made due to the unpr unprecedented enrollment and circumstances at that time in 2009 uh the district created a calendar task force to create the 1112 school year calendar and the task was really to review the calendar for fiscal achievement family and staff impact fact at that time the district was operating on a single cycle at elementary and all students attended 174 days but on different schedules at elementary versus secondary for each day that that occurred that elementary and secondary were on a different schedule the district spent approximately $28,000 in additional Transportation costs for a total of about $764,000 per year in addition by reducing the number of student days from 174 to 169 there was additional Transportation savings the task
137force at that time was large it included administrators parents teachers parents a board representative and FHA and they worked to create a calendar in which both Elementary and secondary would follow the same schedule and reduce the number of contact days however in order to meet the number of required student contact hours each instructional day was increased by 5 minutes at that time the recommendation included keeping the teacher work calendar at 185 days the memo at the board at that time indicates that teacher professional development would occur on those 5 days 4 hours in length these shortened days would count as part of the teacher's 185 day contract as full days and that would offset the additional five minutes of work time each teaching day that was necessary to reduce the number of student days down
138to 169 and this is still followed today the following year Administration recommended a calendar with minor tweaks after living this new reality a little bit and one of those changes included an additional PD day for teachers because the state teacher meeting day was eliminated so this became our sixth PD day that we have in our calendar today in 2014 2015 we negotiated with fhaa to add two full PD days to the calendar as part of the 6.5% in salary increase that was provided to teachers increasing the work calendar from 185 to 187 days in the 156 school year we negotiated again with fhaa to add one additional full PD dat to the calendar as part of the 5% increase that was provided to teachers increasing their work calendar from 187 to 188 however our tax
139levy did not pass and we were unable to sustain this in 2016 in 2017 we froze salaries and then in 2017 and 18 we froze salaries for a second year and negotiated to remove those three full days from the calendar bringing it back to uh 185 and that's where we are today with our teacher contract finally on July 11th of 2019 Governor Parson signed legislation barring districts from setting an opening date of the school year that is more than 14 calendar days before the first Monday in September this rule really reduces our flexibility that we have in creating our calendar and since the law began staff and families have responded to past surveys that we should try to start the school year as soon as we can so that we can continue uh the fall
140break and winter break and spring break that we have come to have in our calendar so we convene a districtwide calendar committee any time we are considering a significant change in the calendar when creating the 2020 2021 school year calendar we did form that committee as we were setting a new start date that was different from our history and Francis hell uh the following Year's calendars have followed that same format with only minor changes just depending on how the dates fall therefore we did not convene a large calendar committee for this school year and we haven't done that since the 2019 year after creating the calendar Administration seeks input from our district leadership team and we also provide the calendar to the F fhaa president for review before bringing the draft to you I wanted
141to just take a few minutes to talk about all of the different parameters and considerations that we take into consideration that really limit the flexibility it's like a lever when you move one the other has to move as well and so it's difficult to get everyone's preferences included in one calendar so we are creating One calendar for all levels because we have learned that that's fiscally responsible and it also allows our families with students in multiple levels to be on the same schedule the 2019 legislation um does bar us from setting an opening date from the school year that's more than 14 days from the first Monday in September they really changed the start date in Francis Hall when that law came to be starting with a shortened week is always desired we hear that
142often from our families and our staff however if we do so that limits our number of days available for fall winter or spring break or pushes our end date past May and so we have since the law came into place started on the first Monday that it's available to us we create equal quarters and semesters so that students have an equal number of um Class Days um depending on the electives that they choose um this was reviewed very thoroughly with our Middle School and High School teachers last year as we really tried to consider a calendar last year that would allow those finals to be taking before winter break um but that really threw off those semesters quite a bit and our teachers um that were part of that conversation said that those equal quarters
143and semesters were important in the curriculum that they were providing granis how families our staff and our students have come to appreciate fall break after first quarter um a majority of respondents and folks that I speak with um say that that is an important part of our culture in Francis Hall um it was introduced shortly after those uh the elementary transition from that yearr round calendar to a more traditional calendar we try to incorporate two weeks of winter break and one week of spring break whenever we can the breaks really do provide an opportunity for our staff to recharge and for our students to take a break I would also share that the fall break is a great retention tool for our teachers they have come to enjoy that break we discussed teacher PD and
144how uh those days came to be um Research indicates that our professional development is most effective when it's relevant and participants have an opportunity to immediately practice what they learn and so spreading out those days throughout the calendar provides time for our teachers to practice what they've learned and also for those that are presenting or creating that professional uh development an opportunity to plan good PD for our teachers election days several of our buildings are utilized uh as polling sites when it's necessary the election of Authority really determines when our buildings are going to be needed so we schedule two of those six professional development days on those election days in case our buildings will be needed um it really does uh make a difference in the logistics for the building whether it's parking or
145the use of the common spaces like the gymnasium um and provide some safety as well we do try to schedule the last day of school not considering snow days before Memorial Day uh the start of the school year the lengths of the breaks and how the dates fall really will impact that graduation is hosted at The Family Arena um this allows our graduates to have the opportunity to invite as many guests as they'd like for their big day but due to other commitments at the venue um our graduation is held yearly on the first Saturday of June so that also um creates a factor for when we're looking at the final days and then when it comes to snow days it's important to remember that we are required to have students in attendance for 1,44
146hours each school year and so we use a combination of built-in days Ami days and traditional snow days to meet the state's requirement so let's talk just a little bit about the big ideas for the 25 26 school year our returning teachers would return on Monday August 11th students would return on Monday August 18th the recommended calendar has semesters and quarters as equal as possible you see the numbers there we have 84 days in first semester 85 in second semester while break is included and the 5-day break is attached to a PD day just to reduce the number of intermittent days that we have off again a part of our culture and a strong retention tool for our staff election days those are in the calendar as non-student contact days our teachers will per uh
147participate in professional development winter break is included it provides an 8we break 12 with the weekends for staff and students um there there is some flexibility there and I appreciate all the comments we've already received since the presentation has been um presented we'll take a look at that and see if there are some changes that we can make to extend that break um it it is always difficult when you have aone Monday or aone Tuesday for attendance but we'll take a look at that and see if there are some other changes that we can make there first semester um a winter break sorry is listed right now as December 24th through January 2nd first semester will end on January 9th with finals planned on the 8th and the 9th of January our students will have
148three school days after returning from winter break to review content before their exams spring break is scheduled for one week a majority of districts in the region provide a full week of spring break and several years ago um with ad plus um support we had a lot of conversation as Regional districts to try to have the same break so that families that had students or employees in one District uh students in another that they could enjoy that break at the same time so we have always we have set that as the fourth week in March um for several years it also is good for our students who are in those countywide programs um so they have the same schedule um and and don't miss those days or are going to those programs when Francis to
149is off it does allow for some consistency we will end this year after Memorial Day even without snow but before June so we would end in the month of May and our snow days uh 1 through 4 are built in five and six would be Ami days seven and eight would be traditional snow days made up at the end of the year and 9 and 10 would be Ami days that schedule will be a little bit different for our high school seniors and then the six PD days are also included in the calendar calendar for professional development so we would just ask uh our community to use the link that's included here for any comments or suggestions and for staff will include an article in the weekly hul for them to provide their uh suggestions
150or comments and Bor I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have about this calendar or the process we've used to develop it questions board have you gotten push back from parents about the fact that um the exams are given after winter break it was a big conversation when we brought the calendar uh committee together when that start date was changed by the legislation we had students that also participated in that task force and we we really relied heavily on their input um at that time they felt that if they had some opportunity to come back and have some days of review that they felt that was doable and so that's where we have gone I think it is ideal deal that students can um finish their exams and go off to break and
151just enjoy the Break um but it is very difficult with the legislation that has passed to have those semesters even so that really does hinder US unless there are significant other changes that we would implore in our calendar I think well I can speak for myself I I would imagine that most of the rest of the board have gotten a few complaints about school letting out on December the 24th and I did see that in some of those comments mentioned it I know it's going to be hard to move around but yeah well we're definitely going to take a look at that before we bring the draft back to you and see if we can extend that Christmas break it may um again those levers of the calendar it may mean that the semesters or
152the quarters aren't as even as they were um but we we'll definitely take a look at that before we bring it back to you appreciate [Music] that thank you m all right I'll bring you in December all right next on the agenda just to make the community aware there are a number of new policies up for fresh read for everybody's information um that will be coming back to the board at a later date for discussion and vote take a look we'll welcome your comments on those um next we have superintendent KT thank you president bertran excuse me last Friday all of the schools in the Francis Hall District held Veterans Day Celebrations to salute those currently serving and those who have served in the US Armed Forces um throughout our school community on our social
153media sites you can see the many amazing photos and videos um showing the assemblies student performances um artwork and other celebrations that took place throughout the district um really celebrating the freedom of our country I'd also like to yeah great thing to Applause um I'd also like to thank a moment to thank we actually have many veterans who are working within the district now in many capacities and we appreciate and celebrate their service to our country and now their service to the students and to our community we're honored to have each and every one of them as part of our team last week I had the opportunity along with Treasurer pushkar to attend the one howl culinary showcase that was formerly called the iron chef competition uh it provided our high school students with the
154opportunity to practice their cooking skills in a real world setting teams from all three of our Comprehensive High Schools work together to prepare a meal for the district senior Pals event which took place that evening um we also had their family and friends there to support them they had an opportunity to receive mentoring and feedback from professional chefs in that setting so it was a great event um it's supported BYO our Child Nutrition partner um and our teachers who really helped prepare our students for that event you heard earlier this evening that the district is celebrating American Education week this is a national recognition opportunity that's created as a way to celebrate public education and really honor all of the teachers and staff within the district who work tirelessly each day to make sure that
155all of our students have access to an amazing Public School education um I'm also excited to share that the district once again will be working with our partner sedexo to pass out free Thanksgiving meals to families who have that need um in our community the drive up event takes place at the bbus building over on Central School Road just across from um the old admin building where transportation is now housed if you'd like to volunteer there is an opportunity to sign up currently on the um homepage of the district's website then last just a reminder to everyone that next week is Thanksgiving break there will be no school Wednesday through Friday the district is actually closed completely on Wednesday um I'm thankful and want to thank you board members for your service to the district
156and the community and also the incredibly dedicated staff that we have that serve our 16,600 students each and every day thank you any board member comments first of all I'd like to thank super Nika here for joining us tonight do you have anything you want to say to anybody no you're okay she she shared with me it's been a long night so I said to her I can I can really appreciate that so she's she's normally in bed by this time so she wants to get home so really yeah I know we saw that um I also want to thank uh Jen Simpson she gave me a tour of the trans new Transportation building it was amazing um I used to be in that building all the time when I was the nurse coordinator here
157so to see the changes that her and her team have made it was really special and I would encourage any other other board members to go look at that she's got a pretty great program over there um and I want to wish everybody I want to thank everybody for the support the last couple weeks it hasn't been easy I haven't been able to answer all the emails and I apologize for that but I think we're finally making the turnaround and I appreciate everybody's support Happy Thanksgiving and just please please please be thankful for your family because they're important [Music] count board all right board I would like a motion to adjourn all favor say hi post thanks everybody for coming