001foreign before we get started I wanted to formally welcome you to our new boardroom this will be our regular meeting location moving forward unless otherwise noted in board Docs I hope many of you have the opportunity to tour the building earlier tonight and learn more about the Francis Hall Union Alternative High School located on our second floor as well as the various academic and administered offices throughout the building a special thanks to the many staff members especially those in the facilities and Technology departments who worked hard to get this space ready for us in that we will start this meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance congratulations One Nation father God indivisible with liberty and justice for all foreign bored I would like a motion to approve the agenda for February 9 2023 as presented so
002moved second there all those in favor say aye aye any opposed say no She carries Miss Jen joles thank you Mrs Lang we are excited to have in our presence this evening the Misha 2022 division five football state champions our very own Francis Howell Vikings thank you this might be the largest group we've ever had recognized at a board meeting um and as you know by now for the first time in program history the Vikings won a football state championship finishing the historic season undefeated with a Monumental win against Fort Osage at mizzou's Furrow field the team took home the trophy with a final score of 49-21 hopefully you had a chance to stop by conference room 1A tonight to see the trophy and congratulate the team the Vikings have had a bit they have
003a busy night still ahead of them they're going to leave here to receive another special recognition from the city of O'Fallon tonight here to tell us a little more about the team and their winning season is how high is activities director Mr Sean Urban uh first of all I'd just like to thank uh each of you for the opportunity tonight to recognize this great group of coaches and great group of young men that we have uh representing our school our district and our community um and how we have over 1300 kids that are involved in an activity club or sport which is about 80 percent of our student population that's participating past the school day and the three things we have high expectations and that we talk about is that we want our students to
004have success in the classroom have success in their activity or Sport and then also have success in our community and I personally can't think of a program that has done a better job than that in my nine years at Howell than our football program this past season one of the things we're very proud of with this group this is a group of 130 student athletes that have a cumulative GPA of 3.25 which I think is excellent additionally our starting offensive line this year had a cumulative high school GPA of over 4.1 so very impressive what they were accomplishing in the classroom I think everyone's well aware of the success that they had on the field as well first undefeated season in school history the first state championship for football and school history only the second
005football state championship in St Charles County in the history there so very proud of that on top of that this is a group that broke 16 program and State records along the way and accomplishing that one of the things that very proud of of this group as well is their involvement in the community whether it's Oasis food pantry yearly them making a donation of over two thousand dollars worth of canned canned food Goods for the past nine years to one of our largest events that's more attended than graduation our First Responders night where this group has donated and helped raise over twenty thousand dollars to be donated to the backstoppers organization so this group does everything that we ask of them and more and I think the community piece is very important as well um
006this year I think it was very evident how supportive our community is our district is of our activities clubs and sports and the things that they're doing in the community I think it was great to see standing room only at our events this year it was awesome to be able to ask our First Responders to help support our send-off and have 16 first responder Vehicles show up to be able to escort our program to the highway I think it's awesome when we're getting to the stadium we have over ten thousand owl fans and and seeing Dr rumpus taking pictures with graduates from the 60s and the 70s that are putting on their Hall apparel from high school in their in their jerseys and I think it just really shows a sense of pride in the
007program in the community and and having the city of Weldon Spring decorate their Christmas tree in blue and gold lights this year in honor of of the football program so I think it's really great to see what this group has not only done for Howell but has also done for the community and the support that communities provided this group and last but not least none of this would be possible without coach shanaki um there is not a there is not a better person a better leader a better role model a better Coach than coach Nike the things that he's done with this program the things that he's done at holiday past five years are truly impressive he cares about each and every one of these kids their families their parents takes an active role in
008their life and the things that he does behind the scenes that no one will will ever know about is what truly makes this program stand out and is a big part of why this group is here tonight so very proud of this group very appreciative of the things that they not only do for Hall but for our district and and their recognition they're receiving tonight [Applause] thank you foreign [Music] sorry yeah thank you for having me our next recognition tonight provided our entertainment this evening the Sager jazz band Led by Mrs Shannon crufts and Mr Drew Steck was selected to perform at the 85th annual Missouri music educators Association otherwise known as mmea it's a state music conference that was held in January the band was one of only three jazz bands invited to perform
009at this year's conference and the second middle school jazz band to perform in the entire history of the conference we'd like to congratulate them on this amazing honor and at this time I invite Mrs Krebs and Mr Steck to the podium to introduce the students Who provided Your Entertainment this evening [Applause] thank you it was an honor for us to represent not only Sager middle school and our Band program but also the Francis House School District at the state level and thanks to all of you for your support along the way I know that several of you at our preview concert and Dr ruppas was able to attend the conference and we were really thankful to have your support along the way we have a fine group of 23 7th and 8th grade musicians back
010there who have been working so hard all year some of them actually played this conference after only having played their instrument for about a year a year and a half and their first beginning band concert was about a year to the date before this uh and so it's pretty impressive how hard they've worked and how hard that they've come so we'd like to recognize them individually they'll come up to receive a certificate Victoria Anderson Brian Latta [Applause] Benjamin Tam [Applause] Lucas ostermeyer [Applause] Hannah figura Avery hook Ellen lavellet Sydney murison [Applause] Adrian Wang [Applause] George Stallings [Applause] Kinley crane Luke Brown [Applause] all right so now for the rest of our amazing performers here starting with our low grass section Evan Lin [Applause] ethano catch Andrew Kemper [Applause] AJ Weber [Applause] Chris Layman [Applause] Claire
011Bess Tyler seep Chase Neville Luke bounds Tyson Blaze and Jacob Lomax [Applause] no come down [Applause] all right let's give one more round of applause for our talented student positions and athletes this evening and parents also thank you to the parents who drive the students to rehearsals and brought them here tonight we know it's a lot of time for your part too to make them successful finally tonight we have our student board representative from Bryan Middle School and here to introduce her is Brian principal Mr Jeff gruner [Applause] good evening board I'm Jeff Kerner I'm principal at Bryan Middle School and it is my honor to introduce to you our student board representative from Mary Emily Bryant School Miley Hale is currently an 8th grader 8th grader at Bryan Middle School she is our selection
012for this privilege because she's an excellent well-rounded student and she's involved in a multitude of activities Miley's has attended Francis High School since kindergarten currently right now she's the president of our student council she's a member of National Junior Honor Society she's a student leader in Fellowship of Christian athletes and she recently even had a part in our school play on top of all that she has a GPA of 3.9 outside the school of Miley enjoys playing tennis hanging out with her family traveling and she has her own jewelry business she sells a product on Instagram Miley says her favorite things about schools being involved in collaborative activities in a classroom and to be given opportunities to be creative Miley's an outstanding young lady and we are proud to have her as our student board
013representative for this evening [Applause] a little bit more right [Applause] welcome Miley we're excited to have you with us and it will get you all situated over there you have any questions or comments during the board meeting feel free to turn your mic on and talk the only thing you can't do is vote you're welcome next up we have Patron comments during Patron comments residents of the district and staff members are invited to address the board of education on issues related to the school district speakers are called forward in 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 giving your time to someone else is not permitted the board appreciates that
014you have taken the time to come this evening and we value both your input and perspective I would like to remind everyone that we expect speakers who will remain civil and respectable when giving remarks if anyone fails to comply with board policies regulations and rules will reserve the right to cut those three minutes short for your convenience our three minute time clock is ready and we welcome Ken Gators to step forward good morning board good evening board attendant it's hot over the last 18 months look what's happened in School Board elections Across the Nation in Loudoun Virginia Florida Texas and in San Francisco voters have ousted existing school boards and have successfully stood up to local Nea leadership voters are demanding change we are alarmed and offended by Progressive left-wing so-called forward agendas that are
015socially engineering our children our schools and our nation go to the district webpage and view the last the 18 months of school board meetings note the various narratives agendas and positions that have been exposed by our friends on the left and they call us extreme and radical within the Francis Howell family's extensive network of political social media and church organizations it is regularly discussed if we want to continue with the school board or past administration that non-transparently overspent by 79 million dollars nearly double the budget to build out a new high school and then defended its position as a good decision that tried to silence a stakeholder organization forcing a legal challenge in federal court with a Court ruled in favor of that organization the district wasted tens of thousands of dollars to in legal
016fees which the organization that brought that suit received not a penny that continues to teach a course developed in part by LeGarrette King a self-proclaimed critical race theorist and paid him fifteen thousand dollars that approved of a social justice standards document written by the Southern Poverty Law Center don't ask stakeholders and Community deserve a school board who will work diligently to to advance Back to Basics education concentrating on the fundamentals Reading Writing Math and Science who will address recent tumbling test scores and diligently work to restore them who will support our great teachers and develop disciplinary standards so that teachers can do their jobs more effectively with list disruption who will stand against the radical and extreme agenda of the local Nea including CIT gender indoctrination and the sexualization of our kids who will call
017for parental rights including medical freedom and transparent access to Wild instructional material Francis South families is encouraged with the new superintendent Dr Olympus and with a new CFO Dr Kim Hawk we wish to work together to enhance our our appreciation of our great teachers and remind people that when they hear Francis Howell schools they hear of Excellence success greatness for all equally on April 4th we urge you to vote for pushka Ponder and Harman thank you foreign next up we have beef Beth Abraham good evening first let me start by saying thank you thank you to for your service to our schools and our community most of you have been serving us through some very turbulent times your efforts to stay focused to find balance between needs and wants and to keep the children as
018the focus for everything is very much appreciated my family has two students who have grown up in the district first at John Weldon then at Francis Hall Middle and now at Francis Howell High I have volunteered at every level I've had the privilege of meeting and working with amazing School Employees of every every area in the administration I'm here tonight highlight one area in particular that my family has found most valuable throughout all our years at Francis Howell our libraries and librarians I have watched with growing concern over the past year as these dedicated responsible literary staff members have had their worlds rocked by radical voices in our community I want to speak my truth our schools would be nothing without these wonderful people I trust our librarians I've seen them in action I've witnessed
019their expertise when a book is questioned towards content I trust their training their depth of knowledge their ability to research materials and above all their intentions their life's work is to help every child discover the joy and the power of reading so as a parent what concerns me most I'll tell you this it's not what books are available for them to read no my biggest concern and that of every parent I know is safety the fact that a student brought a gun to a basketball game the fact that bullying is so unchecked I personally know two families who moved away from the district to escape it the fact that there are students considering suicide and self-harm to escape feelings that they find Hard to Handle our children are watching they are frustrated with we adults
020as we get caught up in arguing about books and other shade throwing made-up issues instead of thinking about their safety as the focus of our energy they live in a world where active shooter drills are commonplace because the danger is real they live in a world where the n-word is used to belittle a fellow student they live in a world where drug use and suicide takes away a friend and they want us to do better the good news is that I will leave you our school board a new superintendent understand these very real issues I chose to sign up to speak tonight to let you know that you have our support we want you to focus on the things that keep our kids safe not on voices to want to distract you from that mission
021thank you [Applause] next up we have Vivian gontars I sent a letter to the board thanking them for several things for the hiring of Dr Hawk and Dr rothas for keeping in class learning during covid and for the service of two board members who did not run for reelection positive changes have happened in the last 21 months because parents got involved in board meetings I wanted to publicly say how nice here she is Dr Connie Buckman was to stay after last month's meeting to talk with me after a long school day thank you Dr Buckman I wanted to publicly thank the board for not granting the president of FHA full release the current president has been president since 2015 if one looks at the IRS filings of fhea their five officers tell the IRS every
022year that they each work an average of 10 hours a week on Union business so how is it that the president now says it's a full-time job and she needs a staff of seven while her membership has declined through the years to less than half less than 40 percent maybe a third of the teachers teachers are telling the board something and I'm thankful that the board listens I also thank Dr robbas for opening the literacy Workshop to the public I learned that the mythology curriculum has not been updated since 2010 and the English 3 and English 4 curricula have not been updated since 2013. yeah black history and literature elective courses were added in 2020 for approximately 176 students while the rest of the social studies curriculum remained largely unchanged for the other sixty thousand
023District students I learned that the district is now moving towards science evidence-based reading instruction possible retention of kids at the third grade level per SB increased amounts of phonics and grammar and the requirement that parents use a tutorial program at home and this is good it's too bad the declining MIP scores and the state law to Institute these changes I heard that the teachers would need a science of reading training from outside Source involving 14 days of training and then observation by the outside source I wonder if the science of reading has been around since 2000 haven't the ELA certified teacher studied this in college I heard the ELA Department Place importance on phonological awareness and cultural background knowledge for children so why have a book like Monday's not coming in the high school library
024a book written at the sixth grade level with profanity and improper speech and with a description of students having sex on top of a teacher's desk if the district is serious about bringing up the scores of subject groups then the low quality typical stereotypical portrayals of black should be removed it's also if the district is interested in SEL and trauma-informed classroom environments and not re-traumatizing students as Jesse says then they should remove the book prank with its graphic thank you your time is up next up we have Jane pushkar I need to bring this down so I can be heard I want to thank the board and everybody here tonight for this opportunity to speak and I also want to compliment you on this beautiful building and thank you for the tours it's very very
025nice to go through this building my name is Jane pushkar I've lived in the district for over 20 years I've always been heavily invested in education I have a degree in accounting and an MBA that I went to night school for 12 years to obtain while working full-time I also have a BSN in nursing and finished my career at Barnes Jewish Christian specializing in neurology that gives me a unique perspective when looking at the district and its Evolution within this context I am a candidate for the Francis House School Board but this isn't about me it's about our teachers and our precious children first I support our hard-working and dedicated teachers these teachers are where the rubber hits the Rogue I believe that we have the Good Fortune of having some of the brightest most
026talented and most dedicated teachers in our state I also believe that we have had many they have had many distractions as of late and those distractions have caused us to fall from the top 10 in Missouri in the academics of reading and math I intend to help minimize and or take away those distractions that keep them from doing what they do best which is teaching second I believe our parents have rights they have the right to see what their children are being taught this is not a new idea the curricula being taught in France is how are not transparent and we need parents to understand and support what their children are being taught schools should support parents not replace them understandably the curriculum is approved by the board of education but sometimes even though the
027curriculum is approved parents don't always know what's being taught until their children reveal it to them as a school board member I will make all curriculum transparent and will seek input from the hard-working and dedicated teachers as to whether or not the curriculum is appropriate I know that our teachers want only what's best for our children and I will work hand in hand with them to Minima to make sure that they achieve this goal third and last our district needs fiscal responsibility moving forward funds will be limited and needs will have grown that's not a good combination with my background in accounting and a master's in business I possess unique skills to analyze fiscal responsibility and good stewardship I will use these schools to ensure our tax dollars are spent efficiently and wisely last I'd
028like to see Francis Howe return to Excellence in the basics reading math and science not all children are Adept at to didactic learning that might be more Adept to learning a trade or a skill our job as parents and Educators is to help them in this journey and equip them with the tools that they need that they are going to need to succeed if we keep the welfare of our children and the support of our children in Focus I know that we can bring Francis Howell back to the top ten and I look forward to being a part of that team your time is up [Applause] next up we have Amy Grider everybody my name is Amy greater I grew up in Francis Howell and moved back here so that my kids could grow up
029here as well I have three kids in the district um technically two remaining one graduated two years ago so she's at Mizzou now um tonight I just wanted to share a little feel-good experience from last week so I was inspired to speak tonight ironically by a Facebook post uh from a new community group I started following called Francis Howell forward so they had a post last Friday that was titled on Fridays WE Post fhsd wins and encourage followers to share their stories so it was actually super refreshing to read the comments on that post somewhat rare on social media these days so I posted there about um the recent Culture Night hosted by Becky David Elementary where my youngest goes and then figured I would share that praise here and spread the love a little
030bit also so the culture night was January 26th it had several continents which were actually rooms that you would travel to for us to visit with tables that were set up by families representing their different countries of origin it was a lot of fun and there was a great turnout the kids learned a lot had a great time um but for me I think one of the greatest Parts was that we were celebrating the school's diversity and the overall Community Building Spirit of it like most importantly parents were there with their kids learning and asking questions trying Foods it was a nice moment to appreciate that we live in a community filled with so many people from all over the world right here in the middle of America that's pretty cool so other great posts
031on that same fhsd wins thread talked about family night at Brian middle a backpack program to help with food for the weekend for families who are food insecure at Casio Elementary praise for the transportation Roundtable bringing the community together to solve problems and FHN a.c.t program uh the debut of the house step team and great work the team at Independence is doing teaching kids about character um and kind of teaching in a way that isn't and instead of an ore to academics just so much praise overall for teachers uh was on there and staff and great recognition of how so many continue to go above and beyond kind of that extra mile to help our kids Thrive and grow in so many ways even outside of the classroom and on their own time so really
032good stuff so okay for all of them all of you guys uh anyway for me it was a good reminder that we are not broken here we just need to keep Francis Howell moving in forward Direction and bringing a community of building a community of support for our students our teachers our board and each other so thank you next up we have Grayson Justice let me do it sorry hello everyone my name is Grayson Justice um I'm an alumni here at Francis Hall School District of class of 2013. and happy um Black History Month equality the state of being equal especially in status rights and opportunities diversity the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders sexual orientation race Etc these two
033words are what Francis hell stands for and it's shame that the people on the other side are against using hateful and scare tactics like CRT which we don't have C uh s-e-l trans girls in sports and banning books Missouri lawmakers want to set up with Department of Elementary and secondary education on a training program on patriotism and if a teacher passed this program they would see the one-time bonus of three thousand dollars my question is what is their definition of patriotism teaching them the full history of America or cherry pick not including what happened on January 6. but wait there's more the Missouri Mega gqp introduced a Missouri version of the don't say gay bill which is a much stricter than the one in Florida whatever happened to treat everyone like a decent human being
034another thing in Florida every K to 12 classroom and library books are removed mostly but all African-American Native American Asian American immigrants the Jewish Community women's rights and of course the lgbtqia books because of a fascist law every book must be removed or covered and had to be accepted by a trained media specialist if not they suffered a third degree felony sounds like uh Nazi Germany to me what's next clubs lunches school plays special needs students before and after school activities students need to be represented in schools because it's their second home and if they don't want to be science from the things that the other side are planning to do in our schools and different different districts let's make everyone here Welcome to our district and be the best that we can be Freedom
035the quality or state of being free next up we have Amy easterling I gotta put my readers on sucks to get old uh good evening board staff and patrons my name is Amy easterling and I am running for school board April 4th um given that next week is Valentine's Day I thought tonight would be a good time to spread some love and give some much deserved shout outs and I think some of my other fellow speakers had the same thought there's a lot of great stuff happening in the district I think it's easy for us to get bogged down in things that we don't like and forget to share our appreciation so I want to do that you can just think of me as the cupid of thank yous first thanks to Dr rumpus and
036everyone in the administration who put on the citizens Roundtable last week I'm sure the logistics of planning those events are complex and take a lot of hands and a lot of time I was there I thought the event went very smoothly and I really appreciate the transparency in sharing the challenges that we have had with our bus transportation and also the inclusion of our community and problem solving thank you next thank you to all the administration and staff who put together the literacy work session last week I really appreciated how clearly it was to me that our district is focused on continuous Improvement I left that session feeling reassured that we have a lot of smart people who are always looking at our curriculum and making adjustments based on the latest data and the experience
037of our students here in the district so thank you continuing on the topic of literacy Independence Elementary held an event this week called for the love of literacy I wasn't there but I did hear from a reliable source that it was a huge success over 150 people attended and enjoyed the fun the event included celebrating student writing making bookmarks a storybook walk and most popular and when I heard about this I was really bummed that I wasn't there reading to service dogs how cool is that so the staff and the teachers who planned and worked at that event I'm shorted a tremendous job so thank you finally I just like to recognize all of the fabulous teacher staff Administration Paras bus drivers custodians substitutes and I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody everyone who steps up every
038day for our kids I know that it must be a thankless job sometimes but I just want to say that we see you our community sees you our students see you and the parents see you and we thank you I hope I have a chance to be a part of this work in our community it would be a huge honor have a good evening [Applause] [Music] next up we have Christopher Brooks there have been a lot of good speeches tonight I I don't want to spoil the mood but I kind of have to uh but I do want to talk about something on the board agenda oh my gosh it's such a such a concept um tonight there's an approval for another curriculum textbook right the AP language hopefully I've had some time here as
039part of the committee that reviewed that book actually checked it out unfortunately the committee has a lot of people wanted to vote pass things forward that don't actually read it I want to share two things a very big concerns of this textbook number one the textbook has topics that are picked from the headlines it has a great ideological bias with a selection and its opinion piece so this is the AP language so the goal is to teach students rhetoric persuasion okay how to write properly how to read how to understand that kind of thing the new textbook does not do that in the same way the old one did the old one had topics okay which had different opinion pieces from different people pro and con a lot of students taking care and contrast things
040the old one also segregated a section for teaching the techniques of persuasion of rhetoric versus the Ematic topics themselves now this older textbook is older and this is why we're looking for a new one unfortunately there is a new textbook a new version of this textbook Edition that's out unfortunately the district didn't look at it I don't understand why we can make a decision on a new textbook without having looked at the new edition of the one that served us for many years okay let me give an example so the old textbook in it had for example John F Kennedy's inauguration speech which was studied and examined as an example of persuasive writing the new one relegates it to Simply an AP practice at the back and replaces it with a large number of student
041essays now I have nothing wrong with the student essays they're fun however a lot of them lack yeah when we when we study rhetoric situation we need to learn from the great speeches the great writing people who are experienced in this who have a lot of experience and abilities to persuade people and when we when we focus on a textbook like this that spends its time doing ideological things and headline topics to be or hip or current Etc it ruins the experience of diminishes it and I'm frustrated that the academic team continues to seem to have a process or by textbooks they're chosen for how pretty they look or how much someone loves them for one particular thing and not necessarily how accurate they are or how good they are for those here and that
042that's not my prepared speech unfortunately I have a prepared speech that uh that talk about Mr ziegelmeier's chemical website I'm going to to your pizza at Falls I would ask them to take those down okay or we'll bring this back next month we'll talk about it tonight folks next up we have Jamie Martin good evening board and community members last school year like many other districts Across the Nation ours saw the formation of a political action committee called Francis Howell families Francis Howell Family says touted parent choice while simultaneously calling for the removal of elective black literature and history courses and labeling parents groomers they claim to support teachers while threatening the jobs of District staff the organization speaks of fiscal conservativism yet drained our district of seventy thousand dollars in a lawsuit against the
043board in October one of the two current board members endorsed by Francis Howe families contains compared diversity trainings to Nazi propaganda and another member of the group declared the teachers were preparing students quote straight for hell in November the president of Francis Howe families used public comments to suggest that the concepts taught in black literature and history courses would result in a rise of criminality and hinted at a connection between blackness and crime Francis Howe Community I believe this is what bowling game looks like but bullying only works when there are bystanders and this doesn't have to continue together we can change this dynamic I ask those of you here tonight and those of you watching those of you who reject the methods of this disruptive pack to model for our students what it looks
044like to stand up to bullies my name is Jamie Martin and as president of a new Grassroots organization Francis Howell forward I invite you to step with me out of bystander role and into action if you are tired of attack s on teachers if you're weary of organizations which give lip service to conservative buzzwords but reject those principles in practice if you feel dragged down by the negativity and the vitriol we invite you to visit Francis healthforward.org where you will find endorsements for a bipartisan slate Doug's diekemeyer Harry Harris and Amy easterling Francis how forward is a non-partisan political action fund and a place in our community where members believe in letting teachers teach Learners learn and parents parent we make room for anyone of any party and we work together to find Solutions we
045know that as we make space at the table for those who agree and disagree with us we are preparing our students for their future in a global Community thank you next up we have Emily women I'm Emily winham I've had four kids in the district I also want to speak plainly that if someone is discussing Marxism socialism teachers being groomers or random crimes where black suspects weren't convicted of a crime that person is not actually concerned with the school district they are just trying to scare voters none of these are actual issues facing the district our main issue is that voters keep choosing not to properly fund the district Tao District's time and money with absurd Sunshine requests since we knew they were making Sunshine requests a friend made a sunshine request asking about their
046Sunshine requests how many have they had from June 2021 to December 2022 18 months two members of the pack have made 25 requests of the school district if the pack actually cared about the district and the fact that the district doesn't have enough money members would not have sued the district for wanting them to not recruit people for their pack at the school board meetings wasting time and money and legal fees it should have been possible to reach a reasonable accommodation without the need of a lawsuit judging from all the sunshine requests submitted by their path they know full well how to contact the administration members of the pack have supported said they support school choice since many people seem confused I wanted to explain a bit why school choice is a bad idea if
047school choice is put into place a lot of parents will pool their kids and move them into private schools the money the district would receive for those students would go with that student private schools are not required to take special needs students or students with discipline issues the school chooses the student both these groups of students cost more than a typical student the district would then be left with a greater percentage of students that cost more another big issue is that statistically non-white students are more likely to have an IEP when doing research for this speech I learned that black students were 40 percent more likely to have an IEP than their peers in a nutshell since private schools don't have to take students with IEPs having school choice could make schools more segregated this
048is absolutely a step in the wrong direction there are also ethical questions about using State funds for religious schools and teachers at private schools do not have to be certified that is it for our Patron comments this evening Miley you doing okay next up we have fega good evening members of the board Dr rhombus and cabinet as part of the president of fhea I would like to thank this year's fhea negotiations team Raquel Babb Katie shop Mueller Dana King Patrick Keller Aaron yak and Lisa Blaha I'd also like to thank Dr rhombus and the executive executive cabinet president Lang and director Lane along with Jim obano El Bono our federal mediator for a successful negotiate successfully negotiating salary and working conditions for our certified staff during an ice storm and on a snow day we
049want to continue to hire and retain highly qualified Educators our working conditions are our students learning conditions our members ratified the closure document hopefully you all will vote to honor this contract thank you [Applause] okay next up we have our prop s update with Mr Jimmy Miller foreign not a lot has changed since the last time Matt was up here doing the presentation so this will kind of be quick tonight but a lot of the same things we've been talking about within your installation continues on the uh East and West elevations I'll show you some pictures of that in a little bit it is exciting the window window installation has started along with some of the curtain walls so we're starting to see some of the permanent structures on the building the permanent glass which
050is always an exciting time um structural steel detailing this is what we call cleanup it's kind of finishing little miscellaneous angles and lentils and stuff like that but the stairs all the structural steel stairs are being installed as we speak so there's some pictures of that as well nefp continues throughout the building CMU interior wall installation ongoing along with Framing and painting and sealing grid and stuff like that so we are starting to do some resonance fluores installations which is exciting those are the hard floors that we put in the locker rooms and stuff like that go to the pictures here we have the outside here we have the outside um so not a lot has changed you can't see they're kind of moving from the top left to the bottom right that's kind of
051the way the brick is being put on so they're kind of moving up to the right upper portion of the page um I would anticipate the red brick will probably be done um probably sometime in the summer or fall so you know we're getting there you can see here there's a lot of stuff happening but um slowly but surely it's going on this is actually the um Auditorium or the stage area um too you see the cones on the right that's actually the edge of the performance stage so kind of exciting they finally poured that all be covered in Wood eventually and will become the stage so you're kind of looking at stage right here towards that so um you know some this is actually the storm shelter that we saw Bill for a long
052time the big concrete is actually starting to look like an auditory here we see some of our glass curtain walls going in these are the stairwells what you see on the left is actually a finished product that's what it will look like that brick has been cleaned that is the permanent Glass Tinted glass installation and then you see the same thing on the right from actually the inside looking out so exciting that those are all starting to get wrapped up here we see one of the academic Wings hallways just how much piping and stuff is going in above and how far they're getting along with the painting of the CMV block here we look actually we're sitting on the lower level roof this is actually one of the hardest parts of this project you see
053that white wall there that's actually brick or cast stone um we actually have to build that on top of the roof it's kind of the middle of the building so getting materials to the middle of the building and building that and Scaffolding it is quite complicated there's actually talk during design of making this a different system and stuff like that but this is what we settled on but they're actually finishing that up and getting out of there which is exciting that that is like I said one of the more complicated pieces of the project here's the stairs going in exciting for all the construction workers they don't have to use ladders anymore to go floor to floor so it's good for everybody and then here we have the ask Gene to pause in this for
054a second Rich which ones I'm sorry who's in charge of Technology foreign so it's just an interesting um I I like this uh shot here because what you can actually see is there's an overlay of actually where the uh the black lines are actually what the um eventually this is all going to look like so if you said I see the track going in down here sorry Wonder there it is Pointer's not working but the track's going in right there but if we see the existing building on the right side there and in the black slashes you can actually see what's eventually going to be there so um this is a good depiction of what you know how close that stadium is up to the existing school um that Stadium um and the school will
055obviously be done in the fall of 24 and then you can see where the existing building is the existing school that's what will be demolished um starting in the fall of 24 when the school moves into the new stadium and the new academic building and then that area actually becomes practice fields actually up top where you see them on Hackman road you can actually see some of the layout of the Slackers that'll all be practice fields and track and stuff like that so you can kind of see how this is going to work we're going to flip they're going to go to the left and we're going to go to the right and twin into school year 24-25. um I also had a question asked I believe on the website that was sent to me
056that was a good one I want to just repeat the stadium will open with the school so there was talk about this in the beginning of the project about exactly what was happening but in the fall of 24 when they move into the new academic building the actual Stadium will be completed and ready for use um we won't actually have the visitors are actually closest to Hackman Road those bleachers won't be built yet because you can see they would be built actually on top of the existing school but the actual field and the home side bleachers will be completed and June July of 20 just excited go ahead and thank you Jane for stopping in um tonight we're going to do a walk through at the bottom right area this is the dirty shop the
057wood shop the pltw lab this is actually the wood shop you're seeing here as we walk in here you'll see some of the spray booth rooms on the left and the right you'll see some of the storage rooms they have wood storage that's actually where they bring all the materials and machines in the dust collection system will sit just outside that uh smaller wood door there all those openings will actually just be windows and glass where you can see it so here we're actually walking into I believe this is a dirty shop you can see just how far along this is lighting is already installed um you know everything's painted this eventually will get some kind of either resinous flooring or VCT um it's all kind of different depending on what the use of the
058actual space is but quite far along you can see some of the electric is is starting to go in um and then here we're going to walk in I believe this is a robotics room so you know robotics is a big thing obviously so this is a there'll be some shelving in here where they can store stuff and work on it and bring it out so you know kind of that lower industrial Tech areas that we highlighted this month um you know quite far along I mean really you see the wires hanging down for the ceilings but um once those ceilings get installed the flooring gets installed they're pretty much done in those areas so exciting there's one more slide well I did that you go back so this is the final slide just on
059the budget dashboard we always give you guys that she pulls that up there really hasn't been any changes on the left we're still at the same plot we're at with the allowances the billing table is about 54 last month it was 50 percent just about our halfway mark so things are progressing you know as expected on that no real changes on the financial side of side so I'd be happy to ask any questions support us I do have a question yeah I've been asked twice over the last few days where the ice rink is going yes Main North yes it's in your backyard recently okay it may be very clear that we are not building an ice rink that's fine to double check no there's no ice rink there's no mandatorium nothing like that okay
060just just it's a practice gym and a full full-size performance okay great thank you bored I do have a comment question um I just want to publicly say thank you for this beautiful building I know that um you guys really worked hard and together with with our facilities crew to make sure that this looked good so um I think everyone will agree this is a really nice place and I really just wanted to say thank you and work it so hard to get it all together for us thank you still waiting on my tour yeah I think we are I think we are we haven't forgot about that we already I heard that before yeah we are actually setting that up it um Jane and I'll keep talking about it I think we have some
061days coming up in the next one it's a little muddy out there right now we kind of were trying to wait until it gets a little lighter out because um but yeah we're we're waiting close though problem the typical questions um you said that I think the school the stadium will all be ready to go for fall of 2024 correct that's correct so everything's on track yes and then as far as the project go everything's TurnKey right there's no like extra thing that has to be done like we need another building or an auditorium that needs to be built it's TurnKey that's complete that's a new academic except for the ice rink yeah except for the ice rinks right yeah no that's a completely TurnKey building I don't want to you know there is there
062is ffne that we call it on like on any project we have to move moving expenses to move over and stuff like that I'm sigmeyer but yeah there is there is no additional buildings being built there is no additional additions needed as a full functioning academic building yeah and you may have the answer in this question I'm not sure if you do or not if you don't don't bother answering it as far as the initial budget goes for this project when the 2018 numbers were derived there weren't any drawings that were developed blueprints anything like that to give us a hard action yeah that's correct everything was just based on square foot historical data free 2018. so that number was more or less just an ear mark for prop s ideas yes of what may
063be wanted by the district at some point in the future yes correct thank you report any other questions or comments thank you bored and like a motion to approve the consent agenda for February 9th 2023 as presented all those in favor say aye aye aye any opposed say no motion carries boarded like a motion to approve the pro-social green to application as presented second discussion um just a few comments on this one thank you for pulling that off for a separate vote here president Lang um I I can't support this one there's a I've spent a lot of time with the documentation on this Grant application ultimately this Grant on the on the website the project mission uh through the through the university and all the groups that are involved is uh to improve student
064achievement and social skills in high poverty rural schools and we are neither at poverty nor rural so I I don't see why I would be applying for this stop that's my main objection to this report any other questions or comments I just would want to say one one thing to Connie and our team Miss Buckman and her team Dr Buckman and their team uh just thank you for all answering all the questions and then going through from the research side and making sure it's where we're following those those policies and having parents opt into this program so just really thank you for all your hard work over the last week pulling all that together I just have one question I know that Mr director cook just mentioned poverty do we we do have Title One
065schools in our district how many Title One schools are in our district right now three we have three I thought so I just wanted to be sure thank you just just to clarify it's not high poverty or rural it's high poverty rural schools okay thank you director cook anything else bored all those in favor say aye aye aye any opposed say no no motion carries more than like a motion to approve the January monthly financial report as presented so moved second Mr Langan Mr Bertrand Dr Hawk did you have anything to add at this time I don't think I have anything happening any questions or comments all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed say no motion carries board I'd like a motion to approve the purchases over 7 500 as presented so
066moved second and Mr Lang all those in favor say aye all those opposed say no motion carries reported like a motion to approve the purchase over 7500 number one Bedford Freeman and worth as presented so move second Mr Langan discussion a discussion um yeah Dr Buckman maybe you could talk a little bit about the approval process of the books and two roles and the conversation from the Patron on why we didn't consider or did we consider the other both in Canada process around that sure happy too um so we followed the typical process that we follow you know we've talked through the our content leader takes the um visits with the school so this is a High School AP language text she meets with the AP language teachers at the three different high schools talks
067about the ones and the needs they have when it's time to purchase a new resource she then reaches out and researches reviews several different resources from different Publishers we look at the suggested resources resources from college boards since it's an AP text uh we collaborate with other districts from the area to see what resources they use for the same class and then given all of that she found five different options that she brought to the team from three different Publishers including a newer version of what we already have the team narrowed it down then to two resources one of the resources or is organized by writing skill and the other resources organized by theme the current resource that they have is organized by theme and so when the teachers came together to talk through the
068materials really the conversation kind of landed on do we like it better organized by theme or do we like it better organized by writing skill and the the gist of the conversation in the room there was a newer teacher that was part of the conversation there were several people but a newer teacher's perspective and then a very seasoned teacher who's been teaching sap class for a length of time and the newer teacher shared that she is a little overwhelmed by the current text that's organized by theme and she found that the resource the potential resource that's organized by skill would actually be significantly more helpful to her found that it because it's organized by skill it's very tightly aligned to the AP curriculum and so it provides that highest levels of support to our newer
069teachers our very seasoned teacher was also supportive of the switch to skill based from theme-based his perspective was when I have a wide range of students in my classroom with a wide range of reading abilities if I'm really focused on a skill I can then choose from a large range of texts of uh not of pieces text pieces because I'm just focused on a skill as opposed to if I'm trying to stay within a theme I'm a little more limited on the pieces that I I can use so at the end of the day both of the team agreed that they really wanted to switch to a skill based resource and that's really what drove the decision from the two that they landed on so the folks who have experience teaching the class are content
070leader who leads the work of the district in this area they were all supportive of the team the team felt that the text they landed on had a balance of viewpoints from a wide range of authors the purpose of the class is about ideas and arguments our students should be reading about different perspectives they should be taking a stands they should be writing about their scans the team felt like that text met the goal our current text is beyond the age of what college board would say we should have our current text is also aligned to the old AP language standards which is why we're bringing the request for a new resource tonight thanks for that question and I think you won't answer it wonderfully so it looks like there's a lot of thought and
071process that goes into selecting books like this and during the academic advisory committee and whatnot there's a lengthy process basically the team leading up to it and then those recommendations are brought to academic advisory and they share here's the process we use here's what we have the members have an opportunity to check the book out ahead of time if they want to take an opportunity to look through the text and then the content leader comes depending on the availability sometimes a teacher who is part of the process comes they talk a little bit about the process they talk a little bit about why they landed where they landed and then at the end the team gives a thumbs up thumbs down kind of vote on the resource I think this one there were three thumbs
072downs and everybody else was enough I appreciate it so it wasn't just a haphazard type of process that we searched on Amazon and I came up with a book gotcha great appreciate it thank you Miley do you have an opinion board any other questions or comments all those in favor say aye all those opposed say no no motion carries boarded like a motion to approve the 2023-2024 fega closure document and salary schedules as presented so I'll move second Lang and Mr Clean the Simpkins thanks Mrs Lang I just wanted to Echo Anita keener's comments and just to thank everyone that participated in our process her team as well as the administrative team and the board members that participated we did have two days of great conversation we collaborated through some tough conversations and really worked
073together to bring this document to you I would also like our teachers and our staff to know that we recognize that this modest increase does not reflect their hard work their dedication and their commitment to our students Our intention was to be as aggressive as possible when it came to discussing our salary and the salary schedule presented to you tonight but given the financial resources available we did not feel at this time that we could increase the salaries more and so please know that we value your work we value the things that you do every single day for our students and we hope to continue to work with fhea and with our community to reflect how we feel about our teacher appreciate that Mr Simpkins uh I love that we're able to give a step
074at this point even a slight bump to the base that I think it's right around two and a half percent or something like that which is something done nothing uh but it obviously in comparison to missteps in the past in the DraStic inflation that we've seen uh over the past couple of years it's it obviously is somewhat majorly undescribed so there's a lot of value that we have in our Educators uh and we hope that we could get more so with that kind of being said uh I know that there's some ideas that there might be some uh Avenues of uncertainty with projections that possibly will shake out to the benefit of the district and whether that's recapturing money from unfilled positions or through natural turnover and possibly other things if this is true and
075a substantial amount of money is realized I would like some of that to go to the teachers given the increased demands our teachers have been under and historic inflation rates like I mentioned before I believe our teachers deserve every dollar that we can give to them given the situations of what they currently work within in turn this would also help morale retention attracting applicants so I would like to make an amended Amendment to the motion as follows and I will actually send it to the board look so you guys can follow it along and that executive cabinet as well check your emails but the amended motion would be as follows motion to approve the 2023-2024 fhea closure document and salary schedules as presented and had a required I'm sorry requirement that if the projected operating
076funds ending balance on April's revised budget is increased by one percent or more for what is indicated on January's 2022 2023 revised budget that the district would offer to reopen negotiations for this agreement if this requirement is triggered negotiations would be limited to discussing discussions around monetary compensation for newly realized monies repeat that if you guys want as you guys are reading I'll repeat it one more time hopefully I won't start a motion to approve the 2023-2024 fhea closure document and salary schedules as presented and add a requirement that if the projected operating funds ending balance on April's revised budget is increased by one percent or more from what is indicated on January's approved 2022-2023 revised budget but the district would offer to reopen negotiations for this agreement if this requirement is triggered negotiations would
077be limited to discussions around monetary compensations of the newly realized Monies do I have a second so in speaking to this discussion right so in speaking to this uh kind of the thought process is if we have some more realized monies uh we did delay the budget process by a few months uh this year uh the new CFO a lot of different things that were uh shaken up within our department as well as it unfolds if there's any more realized money I think a chunk of that should go into the pockets of the teachers and so this gives us that Avenue that kind of triggering if that does happen to open up negotiations to talk strictly about uh that new realized money uh the thought process of also putting it on April's uh contingent new
078revised budget in April is that in March there are I think other employee groups that are also uh involved in negotiation so we can deal with those employee groups and then figure out what's happening and realize the true budget uh ending balance for this year so it's kind of where it's at so just to clarify this is just opening reopening the negotiations to have a discussion yes if we have one percent increase on the operating funds ending balance so from basically the uh revised budget that we just approved last meeting if the new rudely revised budget in April there's that one percent increase that means we realize some monies so therefore we would be a pot of money that we could hopefully distribute to some of our teachers given the meager uh two and a
079half percent increase in their pay president Lang mask a clarifying question we do not necessarily bring a revised budget Board of Education every month historically that's done at one point in the year we do have that ability but is the expectation then that we would be providing the board with a revised budget in April I guess if this emotion passes yes Dr Hawk speak to the ability of the department to provide a provides budget in April the budget is a living document that is constantly being revised and so yes we could certainly have a revised budget um I too want the teachers to have great raises this was the hardest budget projection I have ever put together and the most disturbing I've ever put together in my experience I contacted lots of other folks from
080around the state thinking surely I'm doing something wrong surely there is better than this surely I've missed something and you know there are some opportunities that may come our way for next year if we're are we talking about how we're going to end this year or how we're where we're going to be for next year what are that one percent gain is that looking at how we're going to end this year or what we're projecting for next year's members yeah so uh I think if we and it's and it's not a slider attack against you you kind of walked into a house fire and and had to deal with a few things and so as a result of that we there's a common uh conception out there that there's always this dire urgency and then
081there's money that's towards the end of the year that we kind of realize not snow bearing on you because obviously you're filling in a new position and so if if that's potentially the case I want to make sure that with other districts taking a much larger increases I want to be able to actually give as much as possible and if this is as much as we possibly can that's that's all we can do right we may need some future additional fundings in order to support our teachers a little bit better but if there is something that we could provide for them I feel like this is a trigger that would reopen that door to discuss that and I guess for us as a district what we'll have to think about and decide could we do
082more for this next year absolutely for one more year we could um but it's going to come at a cost that we are not going to be able to afford moving beyond this year when we make those salary decisions you're not making that decision just for a one-year it compounds going forward in the number never goes away it just gets bigger and bigger as it as it goes forward over time and when we've got one more good year that we're going to be within an acceptable range after next year we're going to be in a very not good place unless something miraculous happens to our budget unless Revenue comes from somewhere that I can't imagine where it's going to come from or we have less expenses and when 85 percent of our budget is salaries
083and benefits and that's the part that that scares me like we can get through one year we can make it till next year but to make it to the next year we're either going to have to cut cut cut tighten our belt at a level that's going to be hard or we're going to have to have more money because we don't have enough Revenue to keep up with our expenditures our fund balances are dropping at a kind of going off the cliff right we can make it one more year but beyond that here is what I'm worried about and I think any time when we make the these uh Revenue projections I felt like we were as aggressive as we could be without being um unwise I guess and there are things that we can
084do to try to grab a little million dollars here grab a little million dollars there to make the fund balance look a little bit better for one more year but beyond that I don't know how to make it better something's going to have to change I believe that the expectation is to Simply reopen negotiations based on that trigger that we can do that I think it's us being very clear to our teachers to the rest of our support staff and administrators whose salaries have not been determined for next year and with our public that just reopening wouldn't guarantee that there would be changes that could necessarily be made Dr Hawk and I have committed this year to being more transparent and open about the budget we do believe that historically when we've entered a negotiation
085with our employee groups one of the concerns as we moved through that process was that we weren't being transparent that we always did find Mondays Monday and so we've made an effort this year to be more open about where we stand we're trying to provide that information on a more regular basis to our employee Association leadership as well as with the Board of Education and so I think again the idea that we could reopen them yes I just want to make it clear that that's no guarantee that there definitely can be a change because again as Dr Hawk said it's one thing to talk about next year and doing what we can but also recognizing that we want to have accurate three to five year projections to know that we can sustain whatever decisions we
086make now as we move forward in the future I couldn't ask for anything different I just want to chime in here up just seeing this for the first time so I don't I think this is actually it's a it's a win-win here because you had a ratified agreement with what you already had worked out so there's nothing if this doesn't even transpire so there's really nothing at stake here pretty good report any other questions or comments just one question Dr Hawk when do we normally prepare like an updated budget from this point on I updated the budget again this week I mean so um I went in and updated projections based on negotiations or updated projections with the fit coming in from the from the conversations that we had during revised when it hadn't made
087it in yet updated projections with a Medicare change that wasn't calculating properly so it's it's being revised all the time there will be a revision for Career Tech Ed 50 50 a grant opportunity should that come to pass so it's in a constant state of revision I just uh trying to find a big chunk of Revenue is the the part that you know trying to find some significant new revenues what I'm hoping or wish that I could find but I don't know exactly where to find it I mentioned one percent just for people that are listening in I believe there's a half percent uh about a million dollars yeah okay yeah so one percent would be about a little over two million dollars yep forward any other questions or comments okay so now we will
088take a vote on whether or not to amend the motion all right all those in favor say aye aye any opposed say no motion carries foreign bored I would like I would like a motion to approve the 2023-2024 fega closure document and salary schedules as presented and add a requirement that if the projected operating fund's ending balance on April's revised budget is increased by one percent or more from what is indicated on January's approved 2023 revised budget that the district would offer to reopen negotiations for this agreement if this requirement is triggered negotiations would be limited to discussions around monetary compensation of the newly rely realized Monies any discussion okay all those in favor say aye aye [Music] all those opposed say no no Russian peers we will now take a few minutes break to
089sign the closure documents all right next up we have superintendent Commons thank you president Lang um I want to again welcome everyone to our new building and to our new boardroom we were thrilled with the number of patrons and family and visitors we had here not only to celebrate our students this evening but to tour and see the new building while we're fortunate to now have all of our administrative team from throughout the district Under One Roof I want to remind everyone that the purpose of getting this building in the first place and why we're here is for Union school which as part of prop best was going to receive a new building I hope everyone got to the second floor and had the opportunity to see a beautiful new space and when I think
090about a group of students who may be disconnected or disenfranchised from school for one reason or another for them now to come to a building where they can feel pride in the space that they're coming into is incredible I will also tell you from my role and for the rest of us on this team to come to a building each day when we're coming to work we're seeing students arrive and to get to be in a school with them to see throughout the day coming in and out really it's special and helps us remember our why and the work that we're doing it's great to finally have everybody else here also moving our admin office and Union to a new municipality also means that we're working with a new municipal units to support the building
091and so I want to welcome and thank in the back of the room we have several members of the O'Fallon Police Department who is here providing us support tonight and they will be with us moving forward at events that we hold here and want to thank them and welcome them for their service and for supporting the district [Applause] in addition to the Sega jazz band that we recognized earlier this evening for their performance at mmea last month we also had three Elementary School students who were selected to be a part of the Missouri All-State choir and had the opportunity to perform during the conference so I just want to recognize Violet Manila from Becky David Elementary Tamika Barlow from kosley and Brenna lebish from Central Elementary it's quite an honor to be selected from throughout
092the state to perform at that conference this week is National School counseling week and we're excited to recognize the work of every counselor we have throughout the district it's a vital and an important role and we cannot have a more dedicated group of people and the way that they care for our students and ultimately for our staff and families amazes us daily so I want to thank them for everything they do for the district a couple people this evening have mentioned the transportation Roundtable that we held on February 1st if you didn't have an opportunity to attend I want to encourage you to complete the survey that is currently open through next next week February 13th you can actually watch video clips of the presentation that was provided that night by our director of transportation
093and then share your thoughts on the one mile walk rule that we discussed as well as the possibility of potentially changing start and end times for some of our schools we're considering these changes to improve efficiency throughout the district and address some of our budget concerns but even more importantly we have to explore these options because of the significant shortage of bus drivers that currently exist in our district and throughout the area and the reality is regardless of the budget and efficiency we are not going to be able to staff the current number of routes and liberal transportation that we're currently providing in the district so we are forced to look into several other options and this is an opera to provide input on on I shared last month that our Hall of Fame nominations
094are open and they'll remain howl the same foundations will remain open through March 1st this is one of the top Honors that we offer as the district and we want to get as many nominees as possible so that we can make sure we're recognizing some amazing people who go above and beyond for our students in our district each and every day our next family learning series will be held Tuesday February 28th at Westwood at 6 30. that night we will have an officer from the Saint Charles County cyber crime task force who's going to be presenting to parents off social media and some of the dangers of online and some popular apps and really what to look for when your kids are online to make sure that you're protecting them in at home when they're
095using their phones and other things um last I know that there is concern a lot of concern among our families and staff regarding recent threats and safety concerns that we've been experiencing throughout the district we too as a leadership team share these concerns as I know you do as a board safety remains a top priority for us we all understand that teaching and learning can't take place if students and staff don't come to schools each and every day where they feel that they are safe and they're in a safe environment we share in the communication that we send out to parents whenever these events take place that we take them seriously both in following our district code of conduct which involves consequences for students as well as pursuing all legal ramifications that might be appropriate
096given the situation this fall we had stakeholders complete a survey providing feedback on the current security and safety measures we have in place in the district it was also an opportunity to share suggestions for other things that we can do the task force will be meeting again early next month to review those suggestions and ultimately provide updates and recommendations to the Board of Education moving forward I also want to use the opportunity to thank the student Last Friday Night who alerted a school resource officer when they learned that there might be a weapon on campus that student's brave action helped avoid a potential catastrophic situation for us and for the district it's a reminder for everyone that when you see something to say something that ultimately it's our collected responsibility for us to keep one
097another safe and I think about student enough for making that decision in that moment um we conduct after action debriefings after events such as that to make sure that we have the right protocols in place and look for opportunities how we might handle things differently moving forward and so I also want to learn part of our process and that that has taken place with our administrators and others who are involved in the incident last week and last because I do get the microphone to get to speak I want to wish my third oldest child a happy birthday um your kids know as your children do and everybody else in leadership roles in schools they'd often on Thursday nights there's a rotation of whose birthdays you miss and so he will be a Spartan next year
098and so I'm just thank you Lord do you have any questions or comments I just have a couple um for the patrons out there and watching online you don't realize that somehow but we have buddy schools here as board members and we get to go to view because we can't get to every event obviously but Miss Amy who talked earlier stole my thunder when she talked about uh Becky David's cultural night I had the opportunity to be there and it was really really amazing I walked in thinking I was just going to be walking around and I left knowing more than when I walked in so when that happens it is always always a good thing so I really appreciate Becky David and everything that they had done and what a great job and then
099on Tuesday night I had the pleasure of attending Barnwell they had a leader of the pack night where all the teachers came and nominated one student that they recognized as to be their leader of the pack because they're the Bulldogs and I'll tell you I walked away with tears again in my eyes and thinking this is why we do what we do those kids were amazed is in the teachers spending that time spending to write those letters about each one of those kids and to see those Smiles on those kids and these were kids that you know don't always get recognized so it was amazing so um I know we talked a lot about here about things that aren't always so good and we hear so many negatives but you guys there are so many
100positive things going on in this district and we are very very very lucky to have the administrative team this this the Board of Education and our teachers and our support staff working together to make sure that everything comes to fruition I just want to say thank you [Applause] thank you any other board comments um I want to thank all those people who participate and help with our mobile market we had it again this week and we served 70 families I know that Hollenbeck and other schools have food drives to help with that and it is a variety of people that come and do that monthly and say well worthwhile Endeavor for the families of the Francis House School District secondly I'd like to recognize it's the 100th day of school and Janet did it first
101so I'll call out Ken and Ken because they're in my position 100 day of school everybody dresses like they're 100 years old they're really old people and my kindergarten grandson called me and said Grandpa can I borrow your hat vest in bow ties oh so it kind of hurt to hold the belt but you know it's all good it's all good but it was wonderful and he dressed up and he was a very proud little boy and Happy Valentine's Day to everyone and happy birthday to the person that really runs the district thank you [Applause] Miley what about you it's been quiet and that's okay thank you for coming hope you enjoyed yourself I definitely have okay is that it board all right I would like to adjourn this meeting but before they do now
102I will like to make a like a motion to enter closed to discuss personnel 610.021313 and negotiations 6100219 rsmo so move second what's the time okay bye roll call director cook director Lane aye director Lang aye president Lang aye vice president ziegelmeyer aye aye director Bertrand aye director stiglitz aye thank you for taking a five minute recess and head to closing thank you