001All right, I would like to call this meeting to order. Mr. Cathy, would you lead us in the pledge? So, good evening board. Uh, before we move into tonight's agenda, I just would like to take a moment to recognize something important. Um, as many of you know, March is school board recognition month and it gives us an opportunity to pause and thank the individuals who serve our community in this role. Um, I often say that I think serving on a school board is the greatest of public service. It's a way to directly give back to your commun community um in a very meaningful way. That's a working board. That's day-to-day interaction. It's not a show up a couple times a year and get paid a lot of money to sit in a boardroom, but it's
002a volunteer service of thousands of hours a year preparing for meetings, attending school and community events um and engaging with the community who elected you around pretty complex issues and then also working with us as a cabinet with me as a superintendent to best serve um more than 5,500 students and hundreds of staff members. So, um, we would like to thank you for that incredibly important work. And I think Miss Miss Dedric is going to tell you a little bit about the little gift bags that some of our wonderful students created for you. >> Yes. So, um, we had some students who wanted to thank you for the vital role you play in their education. Um, we partnered with Kirkwood Early Childhood Center to present gift. The, uh, adventure club students spent time creating the
003Kirkwood themed ceramic pot and the planted succulents that you have. Um, you also might notice that there is a card in each of those bags. Those are from students at Kirkwood Early Childhood Center. And then they um because they always like to go big, they also created the banner that's behind President Motika there um to show their appreciation. So, if we could um take a moment to take a photo maybe with the plants, that would be great. >> Whenever you would like. You were the boss. So to our seven guests in the audience and cabinet, if you join me in thanking the board for everything they do for the district. >> Thank you very much. Um, now we need a motion to approve this special meeting for March 9th, 2026 as presented. >> So move.
004>> Second. Okay. >> All those raise your right all those in favor raise your right hand and say I. >> I. Motion passes. We now need an action to approve the 2026 2027 K&A collective bargaining agreement and certified salary schedules as presented. >> Second he >> Dr. Rich you're on. Good evening board and congratulations as we honor you all this month for the work that you have done. Uh I will uh use that as a a smooth segue for some folks that are behind me here. Some work that has just recently been completed. Uh proud of the fact that we were able to collaborate u over several meetings. um some effort was put in to uh meet in the middle on a lot of good things that are going to impact our certified teaching staff
005and ultimately I would say both uh groups know that all of this is about the kids and so the work that we do to create great working conditions um for our certified staff members ultimately um is there to impact instruction and to and to empower our great teachers to do great things um for our students and our families. So, um I won't belabor this much longer. Uh I think everybody who is uh a stakeholder who is uh linked to this are I know our certified staff has been well educated on all the on the highlights um in a very general sense. Um you know those range from work around personal days and bereavement to assistance with beginning teacher assistance programs, work done around uh the extra pay for extra duty, step credits, tuition assistance, uh
006details around the workday, uh added voice when it comes to professional development and and uh uh other topics that we decided that were uh worth the time to to lean into. Um would also just like to state that while we were collectively bargaining um and using that very formalized process uh the work continues um with our union friends a pace u at the district and building level. We meet monthly um with our union colleagues um again focusing on what is best for the the students of Kirkwood School District. So uh I would just like to say thank you uh to the to the following people but I have an audience here. Um my team Of course, Scott Cook has been a great uh partner in this work with me. Um Kathy Monahan is not here
007with us, but she did a phenomenal job um serving on our team, director of human resources. Uh Alyssa Taylor was our admin rep from Kaiser and our legal aid, Celinda Brazier, um did a phenomenal job for us. Um the team who is uh audibly clapping behind me that is also going to be recognized. Um, starting with the co-chairs, uh, Amy Barker and Dan Lingford. Um, we stayed connected throughout this process and, uh, want to thank both Amy and Dan for their effort and just making sure that the process stayed, um, smooth and, uh, productive for everybody involved. Uh, Jenny Ono, Jason Evans, uh, Joe Barton, Mary Beth, uh, and, uh, Alice Fuos were all a big part of that team. So just want to thank everybody um who was a part of that work. Thank
008you very much. Uh so without further ado, we have copies for signature >> the vote. >> Hoping the vote goes the way we want it to go. >> Before we vote, Mr. Cathy, any comments or questions? Miss Neman, any comments or questions? No, Miss Andrews. >> Um, yeah, I would just say I would like to take the opportunity to recognize that uh Dr. Rich, this was um your first time at the table and and Mr. Cook, your first time at the table with with our team and being an old board member, I have been through a number of of these um salary deals. Um, and I would just say that your leadership um really was impressive. Um I could go through and list the things that that was impressive, but I just want you to
009know that I recognize that and I see that um that in and it impacted the success of this. And so I thank you because I know that it's not easy. It's um like you said, Dr. you mentioned we work together and we met in the middle, right? Um that's what this is about, but it's not always it has to be that we have good leadership that helps us work in the middle and get to the middle. Um and I just want to thank you guys. Um, and I want to just encourage that we continue to keep that in mind that this is a um a situation where we do need to continue to work as a team to represent all of our staff and work and work to a common ground. So, thank you Dr.
010Miss Heburn. I would just like to echo what Gene Marie said. Um, this is still just our second year of working with the CBA and um, I want to thank everyone because I think everybody, like you said, met in the middle, feels good about it, and stayed within the financial parameters that you were given. So, that's pretty cool. So, um, all those in favor of accepting the collective bargaining agreement for 2026 2027, raise your right hand and say, "I." >> I. >> Those abstaining. Motion passes. Now, we need to take a pause and sign things. Okay, moving on to new business 5.03, we have the elementary and middle school staffing 2026 2027 information. Dr. Rich, you're still on. >> Great. Here we go. >> Oh, okay. Uh so board I want to take you back
011to July 28th which was the first board meeting that we had as a new team um with you and coming into that meeting um as we were meeting with principles leading up to it quickly learned that there was an ex exceptional amount of anxiety about the start of the year and we had principles wondering um were they going to have class sections collapse because we learned that that could happen through the end of the July board of education meeting. So, um, principles wondering, are the class sections small enough that we might lose a section? Will a teacher lead to another building? What does that mean for their rooms, for their class lists? And then at the same time, we are moniing monitoring those sections where they were getting close to our Kirkwood standard, um, which
012we would say is our limit. Um, because if they went one over that, we add a section. And so that causes a lot of nervousness for teachers, for our principles. And so, one of the things that we heard from the board during that meeting when we made the recommendation to add a couple of sections was um, the idea of looking the process we use for making decisions around the elementary class sizes specifically. I mean, we look at class size for all levels, but this was more of an elementary issue. Um, were there opportunities to be more collaborative to get input from our building leaders about what the needs were in the buildings to understand the students in the classrooms? And then was there possibility of doing this in a timely manner that would allow us
013to make decisions that would have less of an impact on teachers and preparing for the next year, knowing what they're teaching, knowing how many students they're going to have. And so, um, working with our cabinet and specifically with Dr. Rich and Mr. Cook around um the budget and staffing work. We feel like we have put some things in place to really move us in that direction. And so that's part of the presentation and the discussion tonight at the elementary level and then leads into a recommendation around the middle school staffing. So um although this is a special meeting looking at this more like a workshop topic so Dr. Rich will go through some slides, but as you have questions along the way, um the entire team might jump in to help answer some of the
014questions as we go through this um this information. >> Thank you for the leading Dr. Rumpus. This is uh the title here. I want to make sure everybody keeps in mind we are we are having a discussion around certified staffing and that is at the elementary and middle school level. So that that kind of keeps the the frame around what it is that we're talking about. The first end of this conversation uh is something as uh Dr. Trump has alluded to tried to keep some of the graphics very very similar um but as he had mentioned and we'll get into detail now the approach uh somewhat different here and so we're going to take a look at some ways that we uh effectively tried to avoid a scenario like we had this last July when
015we had to come to the board and make several um last minute hires based on um projections and enrollment. So, our approach uh to staffing in terms of our uh elementary class needs, we're all looking at class sizes and we'll continue to do so. But the new staffing standard that we've set up for ourselves to use as one indicator is the idea that we are looking to avoid cutting sections if the result of cutting would put a class threshold two or less students away from the guidelines. And so those guidelines is the this board is aware and that'll they'll show up in this first slide. But for instance, the guideline for kindergarten is at 20. So if we find ourselves in the 18s or in the 19s um that that we we want to avoid
016being too close if a cut means that now you're going to see some numbers where our current staffing puts us in the 1819 range and and that's okay. Those are our current numbers and we're going to keep an eye out on that enrollment. Um but if a cut results in us pushing us closer to that whereas with existing staffing, we can keep something of a buffer um between uh our reality now and not trying to add a staff member in June or July. That that's that is the um that's the decision we've come to here. And I think as you you'll look at more directly at some of the specific numbers, I think it puts us in a really good position with uh with class sizes here at our elementary levels. uh that cushion provides
017us that ability to know in advance. Uh okay, we should we all intents and purposes and looking at enrollment, we should be okay moving into the spring. But again, I want to remind this board, we are still going to be tracking those enrollment numbers. That is, we're going to be doing our due diligence, but the hope would be we would not come back to the board asking for any new hiring needs. Um I'll say all that to say, this is bolded at the end of that first section. It's providing stability. It's eliminating last minute hires, but I need to remind the board that we are still being fiscally cons uh responsible and this this uh report is still going to show an overall decrease of 3.0 elementary FTEES and so where we were able to
018keep staffing static with this new standard. We took advantage of that, but it still resulted in in some reduction in staffing. You'll see that specifically on some of these slides. paired with that new approach to the numbers was as Dr. Rumpa spoke about this idea that we we wanted this process to feel more collaborative. So I I I was aware of um the human resources uh team in the past had taken into account uh some Google form information that was shared back and then decisions were made a pace um you know at the HR level working with finance. We wanted this to feel more collaborative. So when I say we, these were a combined effort. Scott Cook and myself with Dr. Rumpus obviously uh as our leader in this work. Scott and I sent out
019two different Google forms asking our leaders of buildings and departments to speak to their budgetary needs and their staffing needs in advance. So we knew coming into the meeting what what were some of the topics that we were going to be discussing, talking about, so we could come in with some some clarifying questions right out of the gate. having done some homework of our own obviously around uh in Scott's case the budgetary piece and then in my case some preliminary staffing numbers what that allowed us to do when meeting with folks was to find out you know what what's the story behind the number you know what's the narrative beyond just you know enrollment factors and and how can we speak about an opportunity to you know look at ideas and needs that principles and
020building leaders department leaders may have around staffing needs they may have that we wouldn't just see in the numbers The flip side of that is, you know, that that leads to some accountability and some transparency. If you're advocating for needs, then, you know, that that sets us up moving into the next school year. Having discussed, you know, some of these opportunities with our building leaders as we move into smaller class sizes, we need to take advantage of this. So, we're painting on a canvas with a little bit more opportunity um for making some some moves for kids that otherwise wouldn't be there. class sizes. So with that comes that commitment to our students and being able to do some of the creative things that one would be able to do if someone had class sizes
021that you're you're about to see here. So um so that is a conversation that that has been had with our building leaders and they're they're up for the challenge. They're ready for this. So when we speak about these meetings and we speak about the new standard that ultimately leads to this idea around smaller class sizes, right? So you know these these bullets speak to staffing decisions being about achievement, right? That all that we do should be about our students, smaller class sizes, being able to help identify learning gaps, right? Research showing that K through three specifically benefits from smaller class sizes and being able to push achievement and making it possible for our teachers um to in a general sense feel like they're being more effective. Um that sustainability piece and that peace of mind,
022frankly, um works increase burnout to increase retention. It's not just the things that you see in the classroom. The work for our phenomenal teachers happens as we know in the evenings on the weekends. A higher case load is more grading. It's more analysis. It's more phone calls, it's more email. So, it's not just the students that are physically in the room Monday through Friday. It's all the work that happens at base. The work that we don't always see with our teachers. So, those are the standards that we used in uh investing in in a different a slightly different approach to a system that I think as we move further into the slides that you'll find very familiar. Um so if we can speak about specifics we would move to Kaiser and you would see here
023now Kaiser is an is a building that is going to be losing uh some staff. We see a much smaller group of kindergarten students moving in in terms of enrollment our projected enrollment. So some decisions needed to be made here at Kaiser where we are reducing from four sections to three sections in kindergarten and from five sections to four sections in the third grade. You right there is what you would see in terms of those class uh those numbers of classes and the number of students that would be in those classes. So again achieving these lower numbers with either static or staff reductions. Right? So this would be the first example. We're recognizing opportunity to do some of these great things for students in these, you know, maybe first thought, you know, thought would we
024ever get to a point to to invest resources in smaller class sizes. This is happening through static staffing and no additional requests at the elementary level and just, you know, this slight decline in enrollment. This presents an opportunity um to realize hopefully some of these gains with our with our achievement, things that we can do for students. As I said before, especially in some of those younger grade levels. So that is Kaiser and our reality there. As we move down the line that we look at North Glendale. Now, North Glendale is a school that will not uh be experiencing a reduction in staff, but there will be a move um from uh to move a third grade section to first grade. So, just some internal movement there in North Glendale. Um but recognizing opportunity for
025some slightly smaller class sizes and again static staffing. We're not asking for any additional staffing to get this job done. Robinson, there are no changes. They happen to have steady four uh teachers across the board projected for next year and their enrollment um supports the idea that that Robinson uh as building will be okay with the current staffing that they have and with some numbers that will allow them to do some creative things again especially at that K through three level for our students. Uh Tilman is another that will not be uh uh experiencing a reduction in staff, but we'll instead just be seeing a slight switch where we see a move from second grade to first grade. So, their staff remain static and again recognizing some smaller class sizes. And then Westchester is recognizing
026a second grade reduction from six sections to four, but we're retaining one of those second grade teachers on the move. and that uh that would be a position that would move up to third grade. As you can see, there's a bit of a bubble moving its way up through Westchester. So, because of the increase in the number of uh students that uh we hold as a threshold for our uh student to teacher ratio, we can uh we can use less teachers to get uh where we need to be with our third grade sections. So, we would see one reduction with that staff. So that is our elementary presentation. I'll continue now to move into our middle school staffing request. Now we are in a position and I am coming to the board uh this evening
027to uh speak about some requests in adding staff to our middle school for two different reasons. When we talk about Nifer, the enrollment is right around where it's been. And you can see actually there's a slightly smaller group of sixth graders coming in compared to uh they're moving up in the seventh and eighth grade. These are their numbers for next year. So why the addition? Well, when you look at NIFer and their opportunities again through this collaborative process, wouldn't wouldn't have necessarily known this um without some of that dialogue going back and forth with Laura Havener and uh some of the data that she was able to present at uh the meeting that we held is that uh there has been some inequities with the core teaching staff at Knifer. uh they they've been making
028it happen at night, but if it was a chance for her to advocate for her building, her request was an additional 2.37 core teachers so that their core teachers could realize the benefits that have been uh in existence at North Kirkwood Middle for some time where core teachers instead of teaching a fifth additional class much like their counterparts at North Kirkwood Middle, I would say exactly like would be the proposal, they would move to four core courses taught in that additional fifth core course. uh that period would be utilized for intervention time and some of the uh opportunities that have been had at North Kford Middle for some time now for some of the extended encore opportunities. Encore is a word as a former middle school guy who's interchangeable. Those are your electives at the
029middle school level. So I don't want to start education ease here. So outside of the core um those are some of your fine arts and some of those other classes, right? Um with knifer this allows them to start to align their So it is more like their counterparts at North Kirkwood Middle and it allows them at the same time to expand um some of their uh MTSS MTSS intervention uh time. So it it's it's an opportunity for Knifer to align their uh instructional day uh more closely with their uh middle school counterparts at Northwood Middle. Um approval of this staff would again um allow them to do that. also realizing there's some inequity that has been trailing through the data that knifer a higher student uh toteer class size ratio and we'd like to impact
030that. So I'm coming to the board this evening with that request for an additional 2.37 core teachers. North Kirkwood Middle, their ask is a little bit more obvious when you're looking at that big group of sixth graders coming through and I'm uh I'm just following on the heels of Matt Bailey who a couple months ago had presented a lot of this data. So, this piece is nothing new. We knew there was a bubble coming through North Kirkwood Middle. I'm here this evening to speak about how this manifests in terms of staffing requests. Uh the idea that there would be two uh 2.0 core and 1.0 health and wellness teachers needed in order to address this bubble that will move its way through North Kirkwood Middle. Um also slightly higher uh current fifth grade class that'll
031be coming up the following year. uh in talking uh with Dr. Libertton, she believes that this addition this year will actually be able to sustain this bubble for the next two years. So we the the hope is that we're not coming to you for any new ass next year. That this is forward thinking staffing that would help this bubble kind of move its way through North uh North Kirkwood Middle as they deal with this influx of larger cohorts coming through. uh this structure. It just uh allows them to continue to offer the the programming that they'd offer. They they have been offering for staff through um that move to have four uh taught four subjects taught by their core teachers and that fifth additional course. Um adding some flexibility to those encore and elective offerings
032as well as some intervention time in their schedule. It also in both instances helps to protect some of that dedicated PLC and collaborative time which is very very important uh from the work that uh our friends at CNI do every day for our teachers and with our teachers for our kids. So these are our middle school staffing requests that would be the 2.37 for at middle and the 3.0 total requests at Northwood Middle. The last slide kind of encapsulates all this. To the right, we see the requests that are being made at the middle school level at the top. So, it's 5.37, but then keeping in mind the reductions that are happening at the three elementary schools. And then related there uh a decision uh made to collapse or really shift the resources here for
033an alternative education program. Um that had existed shared out at Knifer and North Kirkwood Middle. Looking at opportunities potentially utilize staff that exist in alternative settings and other spaces here in the district to to address those needs for our middle school students potentially. Um but ultimately realizing the savings of.5 at both buildings of course easy math news of 1.0. So hopefully that those numbers figure out on the right uh that we are asking for a total increase with All that realized the reductions at the elementary the request at the uh the middle level of 1.37 at TE total increase for certified staffing at the elementary and middle schools for this upcoming school year. Uh quick recap of the why here is we are coming to uh the board of uh this evening hopefully highlighting what
034the process looked like on our end and that this we are basing this on actual enrollment numbers and uh this is the type of work that we want to do to be thoughtful and collaborative in advance to avoid the work that had to be done last summer. We wanted to uh hopefully demonstrate fiscal restraint where reductions uh needed to be made that uh we did so again addressing that enrollment pressure um and not doing that uh again realizing these these buffers for needs of ads at the elementary level without adding anything to the elementary level. I think it's a unique opportunity to do that this year. Uh these disruptions that can happen happen late in the year with with classes collapsing or classes being added Suddenly teachers are shifting around. I it is a part
035of the work but we find ourselves I would say in a unique position in this district to avoid that disruption um with you know the use of resources that puts us in this position today. And and I I believe it's very important to point out again especially when it comes to that request for knifer it really promotes equity um between our two great middle schools. I think that's important in this work for a myriad of reasons. So that is the end of my presentation and I am ready and excited to answer any questions. >> Thank you very much Dr. Rich. Before we ask questions, I need a motion to approve the elementary and middle school staffing plan as presented. That should have been done before. >> So moved. Andrews. >> Second. Sean. >> Now we
036can go with some questions. Laura, middle of the room, caught off guard. Um, just yeah, I a couple things. I want to start by saying that I love this presentation. Um, for very I just to be very personal, everything in this presentation is what caused me to run for the school board when I ran for the school board was I wanted this kind of problem solving, this kind of approach to serving students and being dynamic and being creative and um to see it come to fruition right now is honestly like really emotional for me. So I I love this. I love this so much. To see um what you've outlined here is um is really everything in this is just a direct line to something that I see as a positive for students and teachers.
037Um and it's it's just really really good to see. I'm I'm so excited about the equity piece between Nifer and North. I'm so excited about the partnership between the administration and the school staff. I'm so excited about not being rigid with just a chart of numbers and um being able to be flexible enough so that we're not putting ourselves into a situation where teachers and admins and parents and students are panicked and crying and stressed. I mean, this just solves so many problems and I love that. so much and that's all positive, loving, wonderful, excited feelings for me. Um, I will say um that I I see some opportunities here to work with potentially the communications department. I think there are pieces in this um and some of the details that I for honestly I
038appreciate you not going into the details because we've had a lot of staffing presentations that were very long and I really appreciate the topline important points here. Um, but there are some details in here that I know the people around these tables are very aware of and I'm not interested in necessarily going into, maybe somebody else is, but um, I think some of those details are going to come up and I think we're going to have to be very proactive about the messaging and the way we communicate those things to different audiences. So, there's going to be some of these pieces that we're going to have to communicate to parents very carefully. There's going to be some of these pieces that we're going to have to communicate to these principles very carefully and there's going
039to be some of these pieces that we'll have to communicate to teachers very carefully. And um so the net of this is super positive. I'm so excited. I'm so proud of you guys. I'm so proud of us. I'm so so happy. This is such a good thing for our district. Um, I'm just also looking forward to just um, you know, honing those little details and polishing it out um, as we kind of execute this hopefully. So, thank you very much, >> Nicole. >> Oh, I was on already. Go ahead and say anything while you were talking. No, but that was I I um echo what um, Laura said. And then question the question that I have was the reduction in staff these numbers. So does that mean we're getting rid of people or are they
040being moved to different like is it truly a reduction in staff? >> So uh happening a pace with this staffing plan we have uh 11 great educators that have given a year to our students this year um but recognizing because of their late hires they signed one-year only contracts. Now I I want to say in in a public forum they have worked hard just hard as every other teacher on our staff. And we we very enthusiastically encourage all of these individuals to apply for the jobs that um based on what the result of tonight's staffing plan may be um will be open for them in the in the days and weeks to come. But what I would say is the the recognition that some of those individuals will will see jobs that they have filled
041will reopen and some will see potentially not reopening in their buildings but will be um again invited to apply for any of the openings um whether they're related directly to this work or whether you know opportunities abound for our all of our staff out there in the nine buildings. Right. So um So, it's it's kind of a more nuanced way of of telling you that there are no uh probation truly probationary or let alone tenur staff members that um need to be reduced in force nor anybody shifting away from a building. Everybody that calls one of the five elementary schools their home will remain in those buildings except for as I said before um you know our teammates that are on those one-year only contracts. And uh in a general sense based on the feedback
042that I've gotten or received from our leaders about those folks, we are going to try to retain as many of those individuals as possible through the hiring process as well because they've done great work. So >> thank you Jim Marie. I along with Miss Hepburn could sit here and ugly cry. Um because I am so proud um this work is moving us to the next level. You took board feedback and didn't just implement change. You actually did the work to figure out what the change what change was needed. Um you developed approach an approach or um a structure to solve a problem that you heard from administrator administration and staff. This is the kind of thing that impacts culture and climate. You you heard the teachers and staff and administrators and you made change. Um
043this makes people feel good about where they want to work. Um, you made your thinking very clear. You defined it. It was clear. It was structured. Um, I um you put structures in place to get feedback on the budget and staffing, which t to me is huge. Um, and then you set very clear expectations about the academic outcomes for kids because at the end of the day, that's what we're all here for, right? The academic outfits for every child here. Um, but this this change also impacts you recognize a teacher's load because five more kids that that's a lot more work. Um, I'm not surprised about the middle school ads because again, that bubble is moving up. So, that is is no surprise. But I love how you defined and figured out what was needed
044through a budget staffing lens. You're connecting them both and focusing on kids needs. um you've done a great job bringing the board along and sharing your thinking and justifying your ask um with keeping kids as your focus. Um you not only really studied the needs, but you also did the work to assess programs to determine if things needed to kind of shift on what we're doing. Um, I would just I'm so thankful for um Dr. Rupus' leadership and your your team for this work. Um, and I would echo what Miss uh Heburn, I love how she broke it down as a communication expert that she kind of broke that communication piece down. I think that'll be really important. But you guys, this gives me goosebumps and and makes me um so proud h like I
045can't even tell you. This is this is going to impact kids and so you guys have been busy. I'm sure you're exhausted, but great work. Lisa, anything? >> Thanks. I just want to echo the appreciation for this uh adjustment to the process. I did have a few clarifying questions on the process that I might have missed at the beginning, Dr. Rich, that you were describing. Um, one, I just wanted to verify, is this a proposed the way that it's positioned is kind of as an ask. Um, is this proposed staffing changes that then we'll have final decision on? And if so, when is that final decision? >> Yes. Uh so this this staffing proposal is being brought to the board this evening for a vote and >> Okay. So we're going to vote on it.
046>> Yeah. If possible. um uh with hopeful approval. We have elementary principles and uh uh a hiring coordinator and Candace Harris ready to to go to work this week before spring break uh to realize the opportunity to get out in front of some uh some staffing needs specifically at those middle schools. um we've been holding for a while in elementary, but um the middle school piece recognizing that this is a little unique. Um and I appreciate the the board's patience and and bringing some of this new learning. Um but we we do want to be as aggressive as possible and hiring the very best people um to be in front of our students. And so bringing both pieces um to the table tonight, that was our logic is really taking uh advantage of the opportunity
047to uh to just start the hiring the best folks that are out there in the market while they're out there. Yeah, Miss Neman, I'll just add to be very clear to you as well as everybody who's watching at home, um, a change in the process is that normally we might be talking about these projected class sizes and continuing to watch them through July to reduce sections. We want to lock these sections in. So, if this is approved tonight, that this would be our elementary class sections. The exception would be that if we have a large number, you know, kindergarteners come to one building or if we were to have a big increase at a grade level, which is much less likely, that we could potentially come back and ask the board to add a section.
048But again, we feel that by building in that buffer, we eliminate that. But that the key change is that we want to say this is the number of sections we'll have at each grade level and we won't make any reductions moving forward so that staff and principles can plan ahead for next school year. >> Thank you. That was next that answers my next question, which was if we a larger than expected increase in kindergarten because of course that's the more of a wild card and that we don't know registrations um until we get there. So, thank you. Um and then my next question was just clarifying the alt ed the reduction in in the alt ed positions um at both middle schools. What impact does that can you speak maybe a little bit more to
049that alt ed those alt ed positions and what impact that could have on the students, teachers and school environment? Miss Neman, this is Matt. Sorry, Dr. Bailey. I can go ahead and answer. Um, with that enrollment bubble that's coming up and looking at the additions that were requested for both core areas at both middle schools, we think that the needs could be better met uh for those specific students with those changes at that core level. um knowing that there's continued enrollment coming up through the uh Kaiser and Westchester specifically, but looking at this large bubble at the elementary age uh that'll be filtering up over the next three to five years, we felt like the needs will be better met through those core additions and teachers being able to to provide that service to those
050students uh through their teaming approach and team process rather than having a alted model that was we've gone through different variations of that. We've had two different teachers and about four different models of that and we think that the better bang for our buck is going to come through with the additions and and the enrollment growth is really driving that. >> So can you describe then what alt ed is? I just want to make sure we understand what >> Yeah. So what we've had at the middle school is is a variety of different things where some students maybe are not taking a typical math class. are taking that with our compass teacher or they're taking a science class with compass teacher where that compass teacher is pushing in to team teach a class or to
051pull students out that might need a therapeutic setting or it's been a variety of different pieces and it looks different in each building. So really, it's just if a student has been struggling with some of those traditional middle school models that those students have had a different pathway. But when we talk to our students, many times they're struggling with the size of the class or maybe some of the supports that were available or not having a specific time to go get help from a teacher and some of those changes with the programming and additions um with the staffing do address some of those areas uh for our teachers. >> Great. Thanks. It sounds like um some of these recommendations were developed in partnership with the principles. So trust that the principles and teachers and staff
052were able to inform these decisions that best reflects student needs and and staff and teachers needs in those buildings. >> Correct. Yes. Very much input on that. Yes. >> Great. Thank you and thanks again for um going through this process of developing a new approach and really making that we are focused on what's what makes sense and not just overly focused on numbers. That's all I have. >> Ben. >> Yeah. So, my first question has been answered, but so we're locking these in just to summarize for everybody who's who's watching at this point. um which is a significant change to the process. But I I agree with everybody that I I fully um support that because I know this board and I've spoken specifically to a strong appetite to to be first to market for
053recruitment purposes. So I'm really excited um about that. The piece that's been touched on and and I understand that the work in this area is early, but we've talked about this as a board in the past, but it's the needs beyond numbers. Um I I know there's a lot of support among the board. Um, what I would encourage is the um, answer to a question I would have absolutely no idea how to answer. Um, and I know it's going to be difficult, but how do you quantify that? And I know professional judgment is going to be a piece of that. And I'm absolutely comfortable with that, but I do think we need to think about where can we come up with some structure there because we we do need to be accountable to our community
054and to our to our families about how we do make those decisions. Now, privacy and needs need to be respected with that. Absolutely. But, um, just know that we support this work, but we know that's going to be difficult as you tow the line between kind of standards, but also relying on our on our experts in the buildings um for that. But I'm incredibly excited to see that um component as well. And then the last piece, I've I've asked a lot of questions the past 24 48 hours, which I've I've gotten answers to, but I'll summarize by saying in the leadup to our budget approval in June, there was a lot of conversation. Um, a lot of that centered around what we've talked about with enrollment changes, um, and that bubble coming up through the
055middle school that there was going to be kind of a a plan, but you know, an awareness that an attrition of nine certified teachers would take place through attrition, not RIF, right? Um, and my question was, was that included in those financial projections that we saw in the in the future? So what I'm um summarizing is that that's was not baked into those projections. So what we're seeing in terms of a net 1.37 FTE um increase is not like a 4 point or no sorry do my math. Yeah, 4.37 and ultimately an 11.37 3 years from now. So um I just wanted to make that point because I I personally spoke to that a lot and I know we had a lot of conversation around that point. um and knowing that that's the context of
056how we viewed our our operating budget. Um we're able to do this because we're in incredibly strong position, but we're able to do that be because of where we're at from a revenue perspective, but also keeping an eye towards that in the future. Um and I see this this ad in this context being very responsible. So, um did I summarize that correct? All right, good job. Okay, that's all I got. Thank you. >> Thank you. I will echo the excitement of some of the other of all of us about this process and making these decisions now and having that buffer. Um, I know some of us from a couple years ago remember the um, you know, back to school night where suddenly a section was added and class lists got changed and that was a
057mess. And I think this will really help us avoid that um, with a great deal of care. And I'm I also love the um, smaller class sizes for teachers. I remember getting up at 4 am to grade papers. Um and so maybe now I would be able to sleep until 4:30. But um this is amazing work and this is what our community's been asking for and quite frankly what we as a board have been asking for. So thank you Jane Marie. really quick just to to recognize the the point of the you know how this is changing and we're adding some components and so to quantify that those ads it is essential that we do kind of come up with some real like clear kind of guard rails because we have you know um I
058have seen it where we you know, would add. Um, and sometimes when you don't have those guard rails, it's easy to keep adding. Um, and and we always I mean, you can't add enough, right, to to make it successful. So, I I really appreciate that kind of guard rail piece. Um, and then the other piece that I just want to speak to is is that that last year's budget. I mean, I think that We we need to rec just so I'm clear like that was not put into the projections. The the nine teachers was not put into the projections. >> I I don't really see evidence of that. I I do see that we're close in projection when it comes to expenditure on that package. So, >> and I think I also want to recognize
059that it's a little bit of a difficult position um to um put projections out there that um told the a new team what to cut. um that that that places people in a little bit of a tricky position and um and so I just want to recognize that. >> No, it this is good. I mean that >> I'm sorry it's just one very I know you said that if this gets approved tonight that the the job postings would get posted very soon. Um, would the other teachers with the one-year contracts, would they be communicated with soon enough to be able to apply for those positions? >> Yes, they they've been aware of the deadline and we've located this as the the goal that we were hoping to bring this package. Um, so early March was
060kind of the general uh approach, but that this was what we had in mind. Um really it was a debate around you know the elementary as I had said before the elementary work well versed the middle school work a little new um but I appreciate this board allowing us to to kind of package both because as I said before and as Mr. Kathy pointed out it's about getting our very best educators in front of our kids at the end of the day. That's what this is really all about. So >> I believe we're ready to vote. All those in favor of approving the elementary and middle school staffing plan as presented, raise your right hand and say I. >> I. Those opposed. Motion passes. >> Thank you board. >> Now we're moving on to just
061information. We have our first reading of uh the curriculum review which is KHS biology, KHS honors biology and library media curriculum K through 12. So um I ask you all to review those, shoot me your comments, your questions, and we hope to come back and um vote on that on the 30th. We also have a draft of our 26 27 board meeting dates. The notable part about this is we're moving to Tuesdays. So, um that will be voted on on the 30th. Put it in your calendar. Future events. Um this Thursday is the League of Women Voters Board Candidate Forum at the high school in the Keading Center. And all of you watching on YouTube, I encourage you to come. Spring recess is the 16th through 20th. The 23rd, there is no school for students.
062And we have a business meeting March 30th, board reorg following the April 7th election day. And I encourage everyone to vote. And with that, we need a motion to return to closed. So moved. Andrews. Second. He miss. Yes, Dr. Shern. >> Pull the chat. No, no, no, no. >> Gene Marie, >> yes. >> Lisa, >> yes. >> Ben Motika, yes. Motion passes. Let's go.