001Okay, we're going to begin um with 4.01, the public comment section. Uh the school board has established a normal item of its order of business at each regular board meeting. period for statements as noted in policy BDDH-1. During public comments, any citizen of the Kirkwood School District may make a statement or address the board concerning issues pertaining to Kirkwood School District at regular board meetings. The period of time set aside for public participation shall not exceed 30 minutes. No individual will be permitted to speak more than once. Speakers are not to address the board concerning specific personnel issues at a meeting. Board members will not directly respond to a speaker during the meeting, but if a response is required, their appropriate individual will get in touch in the days following the meeting. And the board
002establishes a uniform time limit of three minutes for each speaker. And our first speaker tonight is Janet Meard. Good evening. I am nervous, but I'm very grateful to be able to speak here tonight. My name is Janet Merriner. I work at Kirkwood High School and my three children are recent Kirkwood grads. I've been honored to serve as a master mentor for our new teachers and as one of the district's teachers of the year. I'm here to thank the administrative team and the board for making Kirkwood a meaningful place to work and grow as a professional and a human. I am humbled to say this is my first time I've thanked my leadership publicly since I was hired in 1999. I thought it might be time. My first teaching job was in Taloo, Guam. And I
003joke that coming to Kirkwood High School from was more of a culture shock for me than teaching in Guam. As a student, I had attended small humble schools and lived in the city. Kirkwood was a high achieving public school with deep roots and vast opportunities. Its traditions, standards, and pace were overwhelming for me. However, I was surrounded by driven and admirable professionals and I wanted to stay and become one of them. I discovered that the Kirkwood community is deeply invested in their children's teachers. Being hired was just the beginning of a committed journey. I've received professional development on Socratic seminars to engage students in complex concepts through respectful dialogue. Co-eing strategies to ensure students with special needs receive supports for success. Restorative practices to build rather than break relationships with students and colleagues. To resolve
004conflicts in ways that create community. equity training to broaden my understanding of race, gender, sex, sexual orientation, religion, abilities, socioeconomic status, and to enhance my ability to approach these realities of humanity with more grace and impact. I have grown because of these opportunities and so many others. Most importantly, I'm surrounded by diverse, profoundly amazing group of colleagues who mirror our diverse and profoundly amazing students. Thank you for hiring them and enriching my life and those of our students. When I was a new overwhelmed Kirkwood teacher, I wanted to be those teachers I admired. Now I'm happy to be part of their team. We're not perfect. We're not identical. But we're passionate. We like being part of something good. I want to conclude by urging you to remain committed to this meaningful work, especially our commitment
005to diversity, equity, inclusion. There's so much more to do, but worth it. Next, we have Shiloh Buyers and Braden Coupe. Come on up. I think this is working. Yay. Perfect. Awesome. All right, members of the Kirkwood School Board. My name is Shiloh Buyers and I'm Braden C. Um, and we are representing an AP language and composition class taught by Mr. Roland. We want to open by thanking you for the opportunity to speak, your openness to student opinions, and the dedication you all have to making our schools and environments better for everyone. This is apparent through the teachers you hire, especially Mr. Roland, who has fostered a flourishing garden of knowledge, knowledge, and curiosity. In our class, we took a more hands-on approach to learning with our group presenting at middle schools about high school extracurriculars,
006clubs, classes, and athletics. Our main instruction was to find a problem in Kirkwood and to do something about it. And the one thing we all agreed upon was feeling a bit prepared for high school or as if most of the things we were told were only about our credits, not the genuine experience of high school students. We created presentations and spoke to students, but we only could do we only can still do this for a limited time. That's kind of what we need your help with. Whether students are coming from private or public schools, going to freshman day at KHS or not, lots of them are left with left confused about the electives they can take, clubs they can join, sports they can try out for, and much more about high school. And while many
007of these things can be figured out with experience, we are a school district that promotes the optimization of students schedules and social lives. So why leave them asking questions for a year while their peers who may have siblings or resources can get ahead? A singular day to walk through classes is not enough to calm nerves about high school. But neither is eight high schoolers presentations. So how should we fix this? We have a few ideas and our first idea is that we could start a program similar to an A+ program or National Honor Society where students who are high achieving in electives such as art or journalism or students who are interested in athletics can be paired with a middle school buddy who is interested in the same thing they are. If multiple buddies are
008given to the same student, the buddies could sit in on club meetings after school, see different opportunities and resources at Kirkwood, as well as make some connections prior to walking the halls. Next, offering a class whether it is in person or online by Appella during the summer or school year that introduces students to different parts of the school. This doesn't necessarily have to be a class either, but um can be a resource offered on Schooly. This would likely be made partially by students, partially by teachers, too, but with a mandated presentation to go along with it in classes, students could get a lot more information than they would have before. Finally, having a week over the summer similar to orientation where incoming students can meet their teachers, meet other students, and meet one another. This
009would also allow students with special needs get more of a feel for Kirkwood, plus giving incoming students who are not a freshman a group experience, not just one day to get used to everything. The same thing could be held at elementaryaries and middle schools, almost as if it's our own bonding week. All in all, though, there needs to be a change, and we need your help to make it. The expectation for a bunch of 12 and 13 year olds to undergo social, emotional, and academic stress while also enjoying school is an unreachable one. And as time goes on, we need to provide students with more resources to find their niche. Thank you again for your time and have a great night. Thank you. You last um public comment tonight is from Maria Tutsky. I don't
010think I'll touch it. Okay. Hi everyone. My name is Maria Tudsky and I work at Robinson Elementary. I'm a Kirkwood resident and a parent. I also serve as a building association representative for K&A. I'm here tonight to thank the board of education for their continued support of our Kirkwood teachers of color mentorship program as well as our affinity groups and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the district. As a teacher at Robinson, I have experienced the positive impacts that KTO makes in the professional lives of my colleagues. The positive impacts extend not only to our colleagues of color, but to all of the staff at Robinson. For example, Dr. map supported PD in our building this year to help us build our sense of belonging and establish shared values and vision for how we show
011up for one another and for our students in our community. This has been ongoing meaningful professional development that extended some of the work of KTO to all of our staff. Our district's equity initiatives have been instrumental in helping me learn what it means to be an ally to colleagues and students of color. I continue to learn and think about what it means to support the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion. I continue to work to prioritize the impact of the roles I play in the academic and social emotional successes of all of our students in Kirkwood. I continue to challenge myself to use my voice in spite of discomfort or nervousness to hold up what is just and what is best for kids. Our district's effort to support our KTK program and pro provide meaningful
012trainings and professional development ensures that we continue to learn how to be there for one another, how to help each other belong, and to truly do what is best for our students and for our community. Thank you all again for your continued support of these important programs. Are there any others that were online? O2 um for the April 28, 2025 meeting. So moved. Penguin second. Sh. All those all those in favor raise your right hand and say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. I need a motion to approve the consent agenda 5.0. as um 5.01 through 5.16. So move second. All those in favor raise your right hand and say I I those opposed. Motion passes. Uh 7.01 new business financial statements. We need a motion to approve the financial statements for March 2025 as
013presented. Hi Mr. Good evening everyone. So moved. Thank you. Our revenues in March were $3.2 million. Most of this was uh current taxes, Propy revenue, and state revenue. The state revenue is is fairly high compared to most months, and that's because we received a large payment for early childhood special ed. Our collection rate for current taxes was 84.3% through March, which compares to the prior year, 83.4%. We budget for a 97% collection. So, we're on track to reach that by the end of this fiscal year. Our operating expenditures for March were just over $7 million. And most of this is for salaries and benefits. We'll start with Miss Andrews if there's any questions. Mr. Gabby. All those in favor raise your right hand and say I. I. I. All those opposed. Motion passes. Thank you.
014And now we have um section 8.01 the superintendent board reports 2025 2026 class size and staffing update. Before Dr. Fields get started. Just a a reminder to our board and to the community that this is the time of year where we have already started talking about next year and preparing for that. And so um Dr. Fields has put together the u this first of what will be monthly updates uh specifically as it relates to us tracking our uh class sizes and our sections for the fall. Dr. Fields. Good evening board of education, Dr. Ori community and colleagues. Um, today will be the first of a sequence of opportunities to provide a class- size update, but I do want to set the tone not only for tonight for the subsequent presentations. What I mean by that
015is normally I would peruse some of the information and just briefly provide you with updates, but I think it's important for not only the board of education, but the community to know some of the context related to this class size report. In the spirit of which, the class size and staffing report or update was established in August of 2016 as part of a 2015 district cost savings plan. The primary purpose of this particular report was to provide the board with current class sizes across the district. This information was then used to make staffing decisions that align with the established class size guidelines as staffing levels are directly tied to class sizes and comprise 86% of the district expenditures. This report serves as a tool to assist the district as well as administration in appropriately allocating
016staff based on the parameters outlined in the district's budget management plan. Please note that this report does provide a snapshot of class sizes at a specific point in time um for the purposes of making staffing decisions. As you know, we have to provide staffing information almost a week prior. And so I had a chance to review the class sizes as of today and so there are no major shifts but just understand when you see um the information is pursuant to a particular date, it is as of that particular date. What this report does not serve as is an enrollment report uh which is typically presented by my colleague Dr. Bailey starting in October that focuses exclusively on enrollment trends as well as projections factors such as classroom space programming needs as well as budgetary constraints
017may impact the implementation of the staffing recommendations. All provided data, however, are based on enrollment data in the district's student information system, which is Infinite Campus as of April the 21st. And again, I did review the information um as recent as today. Excuse me. It's important to note as we go through the elementary information, and this is very important that the kindergarten enrollment numbers, the district utilized the Coffron um Dr. Coffin report, which is our demographer, and provides both a low a mid and a high series projections. We use the mid series projections. That has been the case since I've been in the district and as well we will continue to do so. So once you get a chance to see some of the kindergarten numbers just understand those are projections as we get closer
018to particular um school year which in this case is 25 26 school year. I will provide you with an update in terms of how far we are or on or off our actual projections. And again, that is an important piece. What's also important is the desi class size guidelines which is per um Missouri school improvement plan 6 or M66. You will see the grade levels. you will see the minimum standard which is very much used by the recommended standard as well as the um current KSV glide guidelines. If you're wondering MP 5 the language was minimum standard and maximum standard and so this newer language is something that we certainly still look at but then ultimately we do have our current KSD guidelines excuse me which are the same um since last year I We
019want to provide some information in terms of the updated standard operating procedure for adding and collapsing class size guidelines. As you all can um remember quite vividly, I might add that any time that we were previously adding sections. They were based off a formula that both myself, Dr. Orick, and the team we pretty much inherited prior to our arrival. However, that did shift as of the December 4th, 2020 meeting. From January the 1st, 2024 to June the 6, 2024, the district utilized a threshold that resulted in new sections being added when more than 50% of the sections were over the class size. So, what that entails is that if there were five sections, in order to add a six section, 50% of those classes needed to be over the class size guidelines. I'll say it
020another way. If we had three sections, at least two of the class sizes needed to be over our class size guidelines in order for us to add another section. As of June the 6, 2024, um the district shifted to an updated threshold that results in a new class size um being added when one section any section is over the current class size. So what that entails is that if we had four sections and all of which were at capacity, the moment that one section would go over, we would add a new section and depending upon when it happened, if we lost the at the same time due to transferring out of the school system we don't almost collapse the section as well. Now in addition to that to minimize disruption for students and staff and
021this was something um that we move forward with no sections and I do mean no sections will be collapsed after the July board meeting um even if infinite campus results or reflects in a decline of students. So just a vivid picture if in fact this was the June the 28th board meeting and we had six sections over at a particular school. If I were to check Infinite Campus the next day and that should be five sections in this case we would not collapse a section due to trying to disruption of that particular grade level in that particular school but Dr. Bills does that mean we can't add sections that is that entails. We can add sections any time both the facility and the class size would represent the necessary step for adding another section. And
022so with that, this is a chart or a visual to let you know that again, just to um support what I just provided, as of June the 7, 20124, an elementary class size section will be added when infinite campus reflects more students in a particular section that is over our current class size guidelines. And you will see the examples below. Um seven, I have not, knock on wood, I haven't seen seven sections, but I've certainly seen six. This is of significance as well before I then go into the actual information related to the class sizes and I know this has some implications with the actual report or the staffing plan that I was provided. There were a lot of questions about discretionary funds. There were a lot of discretionary positions rather. This information should be
023helpful in that particular context. With the shift in the class size standard operating procedure and the removal of the prior threshold, staffing and class size determinations may flunuate due to implications of a single enroll in the cause that they may have on our particular sections, namely elementary. You will see a reduction of four elementary classroom positions when compared to the 2425 school year class size report which is due to enrollment shifts. What you will not see is four rifts or four educators losing their position. Um due to a lot of conversations with myself um HR department Mr. Rome and the finance department we have been looking at Dr. confidence numbers and enrollment trends for some time. And so during the class side, not the class size, I'm sorry, the um the um the report that
024was with respect to our actual staffing plan. I spoke to the need for attrition and so we are going to increase our enrollment by over 300 students based off of Dr. Pan's work. I'm sorry, we're going to decrease our enrollment based off of Dr. report which is the size of what Mr. Rome has been saying is the size of a small elementary school and thus we will lose sections necessary. There was a lot of conversation about will we be rifting folks etc. And per our calculations which is why we've been so um consistent with looking at not just the subsequent year but years down the line. It was per that intentional work that we anticipate being able to cut due to attrition. Now I come back to the statement and read it again. You will
025see a reduction of four elementary classroom positions when compared to the 2425 school year class report which is due to enrollment shifts. A few sub points for this particular point. The first of which, the district is three students away from collapsing two additional elementary classroom sections. And to the second sub point, five students away from adding three additional elementary classroom sections. And to the last point, if both of these scenarios occurred, the district would have a reduction of three elementary classroom um sections when compared to the 25 20 um 24 25 school year class size report and that trend is supposed to continue in terms of enroll. Having said that, I will proceed now into the actual data. You will see on your screen Kaiser you will see some of the aster which is just
026a reminder this data is per infinite campus as of April the 21st 2025 as a double aster you will see that the kindergarten numbers are not actual enrollment. So if you go into infinite campus you won't see 75 students as of right now for Kais Elementary School. This number represents Dr. conference mid series projections. As we get closer to the summer and as we recruit many of recruit many of our kindergarten enrolles, which is pretty standard within the district, I will provide you with how close we are or far away from the actual projections. With the exception of kindergarten, everything else is pretty much taking our current information with respect to cohort data. And so if you look in Infinite Campus, you will see the um kindergarten teachers, I'm sorry, kindergarten students with the exception
027of anyone who said that they were not coming back. And that makes up the 70 first grade students. You will see 76 second grade students, 102 third grade students, 112 fourth grade students, and 104 fifth grade students at Kaiser. as I continue the same information in terms of the single aster, the double aster um as well as the triple aster. The only difference is the second of which represents anything that's in red. That's something that we're paying attention to and we're paying very close attention to because if you are looking at this, you may say, well, Dr. Fields, does that mean we are two students away from adding a section at North Glendale for grade? The response would be yes. So that is the reason why we kind of color code some of those um
028particular sections so that we can continue to revisit it and make any necessary schedule not section change. Same rules apply for Robinson all of the information there kindergarten mid series if you don't see anything in color then essentially uh we're pretty much okay for the most part but then you will see Robinson in fifth grade and the same rules apply. We are three students away from opening a section in fifth grade. As we go to Tilman, you'll see the information that is provided in front of you. Lastly, as we go to Westchester, you will see the same information with respect to the class sizes as well as the color. The subsequent slides that I will provide before getting to the secondary um not class size but information that I will go over at the secondary
029level. What you will see in front of you is the updated elementary section breakdown. That 126 is a number that I paid close attention to. That number was 130 before. So 130 minus the 126 that lets us know that we have four less sections overall compared to this report last year. If you're looking for a breakdown for school, if you're looking for a breakdown for sections with respect to um the various grades K through fifth grade, this particular slides provide such. This next slide is for those that wanted information in terms of the actual class sizes um and the averages. This will provide all of the information. Anything in red will represent us being right at that particular um class size guideline. And what you will see is the information as we look at I'm
030sorry Westchester and second grade. I went over that information. But before even proceeding, you will see the notes column which is the last column over to your right. It will give you some more information with respect to this report. Let me give you an example. As we look at Kaiser, which is the second row, last column, it says minus two students away from collapsing a section in third grade. That essentially means if two students were to transfer out, we would have that conversation and we would subsequently collapse the section if in fact it is before the July board meeting. Come on, participation. Um, as we look at North Glendale, you have a little bit more information. Two students away from adding a section in fourth grade. However, we also minus one student away from collapsing
031a section in third grade. Robinson you will see three students away from adding another section in fifth grade and subsequently you will see Westchester and again one student away from adding a section in second grade. Lastly for the elementary breakdown you will see the total number of students for each grade. The only thing that I want you to be aware of on this particular slide, again, kindergarten is based off of the mid series. This is not the actual enrollment. That information will be provided to you in some of our subsequent class size reports, which is the standard process we've used up until this point. As we move to our secondary, um, you will see both middle schools, Knifer and North. At Nifer, we have 242 students for sixth grade as of the 2526 school year.
0327th grade 223, 8th grade 212 for a total of 677. You will see North at 225 for 6th grade, 233 for 7th grade, and 8th grade 248, which is 4706. And subsequently you will see the flagship in this case Kirkwood High School 9th grade 447 10th grade 416 11th grade 417 12th grade 410 for a total of 1,690 before I yield over to any questions I want to yield over to Dr. before he yields over to President for any questions. Okay, we'll start with questions. We'll start with Miss Ne. I don't have any. Thank you so much, Mr. Kathy. He want to say that I know how preliminary this is. So that's something that I've mentioned to President Mika that I know this came about, this report with this frequency and this timeline came about
033during cost savings 2015 2016. Um, I'm interested in the idea of revisiting that schedule and whether or not this makes sense because I think it can cause panic looking at numbers that are pretty far from final. Um, that said, I I did want to just comment that I appreciate the changes to the SOP that we've gone through in the last year. I think that they are really benefiting students. I appreciate the idea of minimizing, you know, the um impact to students and any sort of summer panic. With that being said, I I do have a couple of questions about the attrition model and this is something I've been kind of mulling over and and I don't know if this is all you or possibly you as well but do we what I remember from the
034presentation we have kind of a model of like three three FTEEs per year for like x number of years or something like that like we have a sort of year-to-year model right just by way of review for this fiscal year coming up. Mr. Royal may make sure I get this right. For this fiscal year coming up, fiscal year 26, we did not have any we did not have any attrition built into that budget. The budget subsequent budgets the next two, three and four years down the line. We had uh in our projections minus three teachers next year, minus three teachers the year after that and then minus three teachers the year after that. So over the next four years, a total of nine teachers is what is included in the projection. Okay. So, with that
035understanding and as I'm looking at stuff like this and I'm thinking about minimizing the impact to students and teachers and certainly um not wanting to lose great teachers from the district when we're looking at this mix of collapsing sections, adding sections, and I know it comes down to, you know, one or two or whatever. if if we're meeting our sort of projections with losing teachers through attrition hopefully mostly happily retiring teachers who are thrilled to but I mean for some of these things so for example like the at North Glendale um that grade where it's one it's one student away from collapsing okay so that third grade for example say we lose a student is there no realm of possibility where we just leave those five sections of 20 students and keep a great teacher.
036I mean, is that possible if we're meeting the attrition projections elsewhere? Is what I'm saying making sense? It absolutely does before I turn it over to Dr. and certainly Mr. Ro. But I will say we have not been put in a situation where that has been a scenario up until now. So, I want to acknowledge that first and foremost. The second of everything kind of figures itself out the way it's supposed to be. And so for instance, you may in fact will see an elementary position being posted because what that represents is we still have a position that's open that does not change it to 127. It's still 126. The reason why I mention a position being posted because as I pay attention to all of the numbers, if the scenario you just provided played
037out, that wouldn't be a post. That would be a teacher that subsequently placed at another school. These conversations that we're having with the board though we have them once a month um or as needed through Dr. Ol happening on an ongoing basis with teachers and having conversations and so to take it another step further if it looks like we may have to close a section we're already having conversations with principles about a number of things. If we have to add a section, we're having conversations primarily with principles such as space, such as minimizing disruption for the actual school such as what does your teachers at that particular grade level, what are they wanting to do? Because there was a particular year at Kaiser when we were teetering one way or another like, hey, they're attached
038to their babies. Somebody may have they don't want that. So, if this were to happen, it's the teachers ask that we potentially look at having a teachers aid. I don't We ended up making the numbers to add a section. But that's just an example in terms of the level of conversation that we go into. I think it was a brilliant idea by Dr. Orick and the board to look at not collapsing the section after the July board meeting because again, right, our community we were hearing from and frankly we should in terms of some of those things that were causing some levels of um with our students and certainly with our staff. And so again in HR typically my response is it depends and it really a number of factors in this particular case when
039those when those students may have left the district where we are and then do we have an access of teachers because the last thing we want to do is put anyone in a position where we have to get super creative with respect to having too many teachers and not enough positions especially when we're really looking at the staffing plan that was just provided. Sure. I mean I fully appreciate it's a dynamic situation. There's a lot of conversations that happen. I I remember the Kaiser situation. I understand the space and feedback from the principles. I'm just starting out on thinking on this long-term attrition plan and I'm kind of integrating it into stuff that I'm looking at. And so I'm just thinking from a maths perspective if as we're, you know, doing this puzzle with the
040things if with the different class sections and different schools and all that stuff. And I understand teachers can move to other schools like there's ways, you know, I'm just thinking about from a probably overly simplified math problem of if we're collapsing five sections and we're adding two sections, you know, and then we're looking at this attrition plan of this is the long-term net like nine positions that we need to be down at such a point in time. I just want us to be mindful. That's it. The only other thing is before I see if Dr. wanted to add anything, I don't think enough credit goes to Mr. Ro the finance department as well as Dr. and the numbers that he provides they have been very helpful in terms of looking at that and then even
041with the HR department we have a breakdown of the number of staff members at every level including elementary who will be eligible for retirement moving forward so all of those things go into the process we would like to just be responsive to say hey post that position let's do this so much more that goes into it and I think that helps us be in the position that we're in Dr. Thank you. No questions. Just thank you on your work for this and um I know it's preliminary so looking forward to see how the numbers fluctuate for the next time. Thank you. Perfect. I also appreciate the the history that you gave up front, Dr. Fields. um just on the evolution of our processes and how and how we've really changed to improve like uh Miss
042Heer said, you know, what's best for students, really listening to some of our community and and parents, right, as we've over the last couple years specifically and I really appreciate some of the newer tables that you created this year for us um early on. Again, really I think transparent and um appreciate that. I did and you might have said this. When will we act get actual enrollment to date for kindergarten? Well, I can have a conversation with Dr. Oric. I have it like in my back pocket. However, when will it be included on the actual presentation? I can do that as early as the next board meeting. I'll leave that to Dr. Yeah. And that's fine. And we can certainly have those for the board just whenever whenever you would like. It is we're early
043in the in the kindergarten registration. We all remember those days. Um and so uh and one of uh and and some schools typically lag behind and not everybody gets them kind of because has the same response from their communities. Um, and so, but we could get those numbers for you. Maybe even put those in the next report, put it maybe in a uh the actual number that we have to date beside the mid the mid-series number just to give the board an idea if you'd like. And not trying to ask for more work, just again I feel like in the past when that was shared, it was really good to kind of know where where we were kind of behind our expectations on um and I know the principles are doing a lot of outreach
044right right at each of the schools. But just again question um and then just again I want to reiterate something I think I've said for eight years. Um I would love to revisit the class sizes that we have. We are above the recommended size. Um I know that that was changed, I believe, before I got in the board for reasons. Um, but again, we're above the recommended size. So, when I look at some of these, even though we're not pushing the threshold for another um section, I think we need to revisit this and see if we can do better by kids. So, that's my only comment. Thank you. Thank you for that. And thank you for liking the actual u I guess charts because I thought some of the charts were, you know, cuter in
045the past, but these are all automatic. And so, with everything automatic the numbers I'm as confident in as I've ever been. So, thank you for um thank you for being so thorough with this Dr. Fields because it is kind of a complicated everchanging thing and so you did a great job of kind of laying it out there. Um, I would also just say right off the bat that I support what Miss um, Pinkorn said about we need to look at our class sizes because um, you know, we we spend a lot of money in in a lot of things and u if that is a priority then we need to make that a priority. So, I'd also like to just comment um to Miss Hurn's um idea of like can we just like keep the
046teacher there. Um, and I will tell you when I first got on the board, it was right after Prop K and we had kind of moved from an error of let keeping the teacher there and that kind of led to, you know, maybe some some struggles in financially, right? And so then we kind of moved to a place of really strict guidelines where we just like followed the guideline to the tea. And so I do think that I have advocated for one of the things that I've advocated for is that we're basing our class sizes strictly on numbers. And I think that we have so much academic data on our students that we could factor in student academic data into this decision. Um, and I know that it would be um probably more work and
047and I don't want I'm not trying to put more work on you, but I think that we have the data available. Um, and so I I think that I would encourage you to um kind of look at that or encourage us to kind of have more discussions around that. Um, if I may, Miss Andrew, what I will say is to the next question. Um, whatever direction the super through the superintendent that you want us to look at, we will best for kids. You don't have to worry about the workload necessarily proven by some of the other work that the entire team is part of. That's something that we need to look at. Okay. Well, and I also think that it kind of it kind of leads into one of the things that Mr. Kathy has
048mentioned in the past is going back to like teacher workload that I think that the those kind of things can kind of overlay each other and we could begin to build kind of almost a system to determine what you know I don't know okay um so again I don't know president Motica how how that direction wants to come or if it is, you know, I'm I'm a sole board member, so you can take it from there. Um the the next thing that I just want to to ask about is, you know, with regards to, you know, we're losing that elementary, those big old cohorts in elementary that all of a sudden we, you know, they showed up and we were like, okay, here we go. We've got a lot of elementary kids, but they're kind
049of met metriculating up to the middle and high school. Um like for example, um uh last year's eighth graders compared to this year's eighth graders, there will be 42 more eighth graders this year at one of our middle schools. And so I just want to know like have our middle and high school um administrators have they expressed any needs with regards to kind of this needs in terms of I I guess I'm staffing needs because I think that in it's so cut and dry in um elementary where it's like just based on numbers and class sizes and you're like okay I get this, but it gets a little bit more complicated and a little more nuanced in middle and high school. But, you know, all of a sudden you have, for example, a librarian who
050now is serving however many more students. So, or a P, you know, P teacher, how many more students? So I don't know how to kind of judge that or and so I'm just asking like have they expressed a staffing need based on you know the student our secondary more specifically through my collaboration both and north they are as creative as one could be with their staff and scheduling etc. Um and I mean that as a compliment in addition to that you for the actual staffing plan. One of the dynamics that we were looking at is we're looking at a shift in our enrollment um was getting both middle schools on the same schedule um because that will help in some of those regards. Um and so I think that dynamic is going to help. You're
051absolutely correct. In addition to that, student interest does play a big role in terms of more students wanting to show up or take x amount of x expo classes compared to others. So that does have an impact as we look closer and closer of this shift um from that big group that we were talking about and even through the two schools knifer for some time is always having more staff than north those are dynamics that we're looking closer at now than we have in the past so yes has there been some as yes absolutely we're monitoring those pieces and we're certainly trying to do everything we can within the context of both um the staffing plan that we have as well as looking at some of the other numbers that we've looked Okay. Um, Miss
052Monica, I don't know if it would be appropriate to kind of ask for um like what what those ask were. Um, you can take it from there. Um, and then um and we do have that information. So, I'm Dr. Yeah. Okay. Um and then just for um just to make sure that we have you know I think that we had moved from every section had to be over to add a section to then 50% had to be over. I just want to make sure that that people don't get upset like well I didn't get a section. So, um, I just want to make sure historically we're we're, you know, accurate in that. But Dr. Fields, thank you so much because I think that this, like I said in the beginning, is a moving, everchanging thing
053that you are really doing a great job of really trying to convey the message. And um, and then just lastly, I will just ask that this is a huge emotional topic for parents. Um and so just the communication around that because parents, you know, rightfully so, want want the best for their kids. So, absolutely. Thank you for that. And again, thank you to the board for your feedback and even creative ideas over the the years. And again, thank you to Dr. Oric, Mr. Roma, finance department because their numbers have really helped us have a team dynamic in providing what you see today. So, thank you for that. Just a couple followup questions, Dr. Fields. Um, I know we have the not completed here. Um, um, I know that we have the the rule that at
054the end of July, we do not collapse a session, a section. Um, but in August, we can still be getting more kids in. How often roughly do we need to add a section after class assignments have gone out? Since I've been here, I want to say maybe it's happened twice and that's without me looking at the data. If it's been more of that, then that's just the year began to be glumped together. But I want to say it has actually happened twice, if not more. Um, we anticipated seeing the trend, so neither of which um time was a surprise. um being in constant conversation with administrators um and asking them the layout of their building and what do they believe is best for their building obviously in consultation with their staff. So it has not
055happened often. Um when it does happen it happens and there's a lot to look at and in process um having said that we understand that's not the ideal but it has happened. I just I know that that's can be very disruptive and and the the more that we can you know if we think we're about to bump into that before class assignments go out we might want to consider just taking the lead. Um and then I know that the kindergarteners are not all registered yet. Do we have any sense of what percentage of the kids that we expect have registered? If that makes sense. I have that information again in my back pocket. I can share that with Dr. Or if we have the exact number. Um, this is always that tricky time because kudos
056to Dr. Math and his team. He's gotten creative in some of the pieces. Um but we have had certain schools or a certain school and um a certain date that we have circled that we can almost guarantee we would x% more but to your question in terms of where are we as of today I do have that information I'll share with Dr. Thank you very much. And then finally, do we, and I'm sure we do, talk to KECC about them like pushing to be sure that all the kids who were there who were due to go to kindergarten, those numbers are jing and they're pushing them to register. KC has been amazing in terms of not only doing that but taking it another step forward and almost a handoff of communication. I think that's how
057Dr. M for instance came up with some of the more intentional things that he's doing. Um it's not perfect because our scholars from KCC go to different schools. Um but that communication does exist. Yes. Well, thank you very much Dr. Fields and Dr. Olrich for all this information. I know it's a moving target and um this is really helpful. One more quick question, Miss Andrew. I just want to um make sure that you're not only doing KCC but other local preschools. And then the other um thing is is I really appreciate it's helpful to that we got that you know update your child form so that you know you're getting accurate numbers although the Andrews have not filled it out. We will do that tonight. Well, thank you for that and thank you to the
058CRD team. Um, Miss Dietrich and her team have been phenomenal in helping with that and I I'm glad you brought that up in terms of other preschools because my mind naturally goes to KCC. So, thank you for that because we'll get a chance to follow up. Miss Neman has another question. Thank you. One more quick question. So, to the trend that Miss Andrews pointed out of our student populations kind of getting older, we see that bubble of larger classes as they get in older grades. Do we take any steps to try to understand why that trend is happening? Um, and I don't know if it means students are leaving the district, if it means fewer students are moving into the district or family sizes or whatever, but I think that's an important metric for us
059to be tracking and understanding why that is. I would agree with you. It is very important. I think it's a combination of things that we try to get a better provides some information. My colleague Dr. Bailey does a great job with the exit surveys from families to try to find out what's going on. And generally speaking, it it's been an increase. I think there are some residuals to co in terms of folks coming in as well as leading some other dynamics. But to respond, do we know specifically what has led to that particular trend or others? I don't have that information right in front of me, but that's certainly something we can look into. Thank you. I think it's important for us to take steps to further understand that so we can get on top
060of it. Certainly agree. Thank you for bringing that up. Moving on to policy 9.01, the first reading of the student board rep. Um, I I want to share a little bit of information. Um, because I got a lot of questions this week. Um, a year or so ago, we first started talking about adding a student rep to the board and um, Miss Hiden got a bunch of information from other districts and then we it the end of February or beginning of March, we shared um, three policies from Richmond Heights from Clayton and from Webster Groves their policies about student reps and um everyone was supposed to read over them and get back to me and I'm still waiting for that. Um so we thought we would bring it back to the forefront. What we have
061here is a very very rough draft. Um, and at the um agenda meeting, Miss Shern and Mr. Cathy and I um decided that I would sort of take those three policies, one which is incredibly detailed, like five pages, one which is in the middle, and one which is sort of like a paragraph about here's what we think we're going to do. And so I tried to blend them together. Miss Heiden got um our MSBA person to put it in official policy form. This is a starting point. So what I would really like is if we read over this and then share your thoughts with me. Um and then we can continue the process. Um if some of you I know some people said I think and you asked about the other districts. How is it
062working for them? Can we talk to them? And I think if you know, we've got people who want to take on that job of reaching out. Let me know. Again, this is a starting point. It's I don't even think it's a first reading. It's like a in utero reading. So, we'll go from there. Any questions? I just want to just want to make a comment. Um I really love the idea of incorporating student perspective into what's happening at the board. Both for us to gain that insight directly from students as well as to um give the opportunity for students to bring back and learn about how the board makes decisions and some of the things they discuss. Um I reviewed it and had some thoughts and thought it was a a great first start. Um
063I'm happy to help any movement in that direction, including reaching out to other districts who may have um feedback on how it went for them. Thank you. I you know that I said this earlier to you but I will say it for the benefit of the whole board which is just that this has been such a longunning conversation that I feel like we as a board kind of need to regroup on it a little bit and kind of um go back to previous I mean I I can't even remember all the previous discussions that we had. So, um I just want to make sure that we're being really thoughtful about this as it moves forward and and so uh yeah, that's it. I want to make sure I was going to say um Miss Neman
064and um Miss Hrock, you can probably share. I remember you creating a document of she spoke to several different districts and what that looked like um for each district. And Judy, you know, I've talked to you about being able to continue this work. Um, and just recently from a conversation, I know there's another aspect, I believe it's um, yes, Francis, how they rotate a student every month. So, that's another aspect to kind of look at. And so, I think this is just putting the policy in place, not necessarily what it looks like. And we continue to build. So, thank you. I mean, Miss Mot. Yeah. Um, no, and I will share my more thoughtful comments than what I I originally sent you. I do think it would be beneficial personally if Dr. Rumpus was a
065part of the conversation um before we would move forward with any policy. Um, and if I skip over all of my other comments and everything, I really would prefer a longer policy personally with a lot more detail. We could be talking about, you know, students that are minors, parents are going to have questions. There's a lot of expectations that could be again if we're rotating like even more like I would I just want policy to be extremely clear and transparent on on everything. So, um, I just wanted to share that. Oh, yes. I already already shared some, but I have I'll put them more thought out. So, thank you. Email. Um, I would just say that with regards to this, I think that it'll be important that we have kind of a timeline that matches
066up, you know, as we're headed towards the end of the school year because we want to establish something so that it matches the timeline to to choose these students. Um, and then the other comment that I would just make is it really makes me excited as we've had two sets of high school students come and speak to us and just the the great ideas that they have um brought to us and just um you know I really I I think the teacher is Mr. Rowan or Roland. I I want to give him a shout out because that this what a great project that has um created true leaders and true problem solvers and and I think that that is a great example of what the power of student voice can bring. So all right, thank
067you all and um send me an email. How about by May I know. Sorry. Do I need to do those again? No. Um, and then 10.05 is the 2526 draft of board meeting dates. So, we can look at those. And if there's nothing else, we're ajourned. You did, girlfriend. You're right.