001it is now 6:30 I'd like to call this meeting to order Mr Cathy can you please lead us in the pledge thank you I need a motion in a second to approve the agenda for the March 10th 2 2025 special meeting as presented second all those in favor please raise your right hand and say I I all those opposed Motion Set uh passes I need a motion and a second to approve the 2025 2026 k&a collective bargaining agreement as presented so move MOA second heurn Dr Fields good evening Community colleagues as well as our team here um I had a pleasure of working with the two individuals you see on my right and so I will yield over to them before going to some of the comments that I want to share about this year's
002collective bargaining agreement which was our second year having fun so it absolutely was I want to Echo that um Dr Fields has heard me say many times that I believe we are all in the same boat and what I love about the collective bargaining agreement is it helps make sure we are all rowing together and when we're all rowing together we can do so much more for our students and for our community I really appreciated uh Dr Field's professionalism uh and his wonderful team I can't foret get Miss Monahan I can't forget uh Mr Rome over there whom we are going to miss terribly next year uh and uh the principal from Kaiser uh Miss Taylor we are going to miss all or we're going to miss Mr Rome but we really appreciated the professionalism
003and the frankness they brought every day to make sure that we kept the focus on students and what was going to be best for the whole District uh because when we do work together we can do wonderful powerful things which way I think we've done this year yeah I second everything that unofficially second sorry but uh everything that that Amy said um you know and I think one of the things we probably we're all most proud of is is the establishment paid parental leave yes in this contract um and that was it was a work of um not just compromise but really um collaborating to try to make it work in a way that would be best for all um the stakeholders for to be work workable for the district um and be something that
004really does serve the needs of teachers and and I think you know as we were kind of going through this one of the things that occurred to me is I would would be really proud of of us to sit here and be able to present um an effective um paid rental leave policy to you and and I think we've done it um and we could not one of us could have done it in the best way on our own so I really do appreciate that collaboration and to me it really just speaks to the importance of communication um I really do think that all of us at that table felt comfortable and open uh communicating with each other and I really do think um you know as we move forward there's there's no problem that
005we can't solve if we're all communicating with each other and really know what we're trying to have to get done and and What needs to get done so um I'm really appreciative of the team and of the school board for supporting this type of work getting a chance to um engage with Dr bordon as well as Mr bordon on topics related to what's best for our school district has been a great opportunity uh one of the things that I try to say all the time is that we're the same team different departments and so we all have unique perspectives um they pushed us they pushed me they pushed my thinking and I like to say we we did the same and so some of the most effective organizations of all time research is clear it's
006not the organizations where everybody get along all the time smiling and we just agree we are supposed to push each other's capacity in the most professional manner agree as well as disagree and so um the team did a spectacular job of that I do want to thank the board for giving us an opportunity to have those meetings trusting us with the process you all know that I'm a stickler for a process and with that the process was exactly what it was supposed to be in addition to that I think you've heard Dr or mention at least a hundred times now about the Strategic plan and making sure that Kirkwood school district is the best place to work not just in education but in St Louis and as I continue to engage with many of my
007HR colleagues as I continue to hear some of their stories about staff um as well as some of the stories that you all heard with our our teaching staff coming forward this is a celebration today in the event that we were able to bring PPL moving forward um that is a a great thing in itself that was The District's number one priority for that particular reasoning and I do believe it's going to help us recruit in fact we've already had some calls from people about openings and potential openings and is it true that you all I said I can't speak until after the board meeting and so we can wrap this up pretty quickly I have a few calls to take but um outside of that um in HR we have to have a lot
008of difficult conversations what I will say is some of the best conversations that I've had that was centered around students and what's best for staff took place not just last year but this year as well and so sincerely I think the two individuals next to me I thank Mary Beth who's in the back I thank everyone as I look over for moving forward because we do have some um opportunities to continue to get better in our practices across the board but we were all on the same page in this regard trying to make sure Kirkwood Remains the best place to work in St Louis and so thank you for that and again sincerely join Amy I really appreciate you okay so open up any questions from the board I'll start with I really app everything
009um Dr fs and definitely focus on process goes a way quick question when we're really talking about celebrating the period for to leave how many other districts have that in terms of the way that we are doing it I am not quite certain we had a few districts that did a few Unlimited in terms of sick days and all of that education wise if there are a few there are not many um this is pretty much a standard what we hear outside of education so in many of the corporate America pieces that we were hearing about and the reason why I bring that up we're hearing more and more about us potentially losing staff um based off of other jobs that are outside of education and so we did not just look at some of
010our educational spaces we looked at spaces outside of the education uh field and so we could not find many districts that did the PPL meaning the days and everything Apples to Apples comparison we couldn't find many I'll yield over to um Amy or Joe because I know they were involved in research as well to see if so how many districts um most of the districts in the area do offer something as Dr veld said uh some of it is connected to leave Banks some of it is connected to uh the unlimited leave uh but we really do believe this brings Kirkwood up to where we need to be to remain competitive with all of our sister districts perfect thank you so much heer nope I'm just thank you and I'm excited that you guys could
011work together and um that's always a great outcome absolutely Miss Motika Andrew good all right so Dr I don't know Dr o did you have anything on no other than the only thing I would add is uh would just be piling on at this point uh guys the the process is working uh we're setting a foundation that I my hope is uh will um last for generations and ultimately uh as long as the outcome is focused on on our students U I think we're always going to be okay uh and as Dr Fields kept me up to date um on a weekly basis on the pro on the process and on the progress uh it was clear that that was always the focus and so I just appreciate everybody's work thank you thank you okay
012so all those in favor of approving the 2025 2026 k&a collective bargaining agreement as presented please raise your right hand and say I any exensions I abstain I abstain as well okay so motion passes with four votes thank you thank you yes that's a good thing thank you thank you all right next up is the 2025 2026 salary packages I need a motion in a second to approve the 2025 2026 salary package for certified staff as presented so move MOA second P all right Dr Fields um thank you again and it is my pleasure to recommend a oneyear salary package for certified staff with a combined operating fund package increase of 2.85% also included our package increases paid from other funds that range from the minus. 13% to the 4.64% all right I'll start to
013my left any questions right okay so all those in favor huh yeah please raise your right hand and say I I any extensions I obain motion passes with five votes all right next up is the 2025 2026 salary package for support staff as presented I need a motion and a second so Mo all right good evening again it is my it is my pleasure again to recommend a one-year salary package for support staff with a combined operating fund package increase of 4.18% also included our package increases paid from other funds that range from 3.95% to 4 89% awesome okay any questions to my right my left okay all those in favor please raise your right hand and say I I abstain motion passes with five votes five votes all right great so I need this
014was the fastest board meeting ever okay I need a motion and a second to enter enter into a closed session for personnel 610.021 rsmo so penor second heurn Pangborn yes Heburn yes Motika Andrews Cathy yes all right thank you thank you all are we here huh