001all right all right good evening everyone Mr Cathy can you please lead us in the pledge thank you all right so wow here we are um it's hard to believe that just a few months ago in August we began a journey to find our next superintendent after Dr olrick um announc his retirement in April and so now we as a board are both confident and excited about the individual we've unanimously unanimously chosen to lead Kirkwood School District into our future so just before I I name this person um I'd like to recap our Pro process um as I stated in August of 2024 we sent out an RFP for an executive Search firm out of the five firms that we interv interviewed we chose School exact connect to handle our Nationwide search and we are
002so satisfied with the professionalism the diversity of candidates that they brought before us and the overall process it made it just a very smooth and easy task uh the process consisted of two days of focus groups with key stakeholders that included cabinet members members of ASC former board members key volunteers principals staff and students participants were chosen using a randomization tool and then we also had two Community forums for staff and families in addition to a survey that was sent out to the entire Community which yielded 429 responses based on all this information um Kevin omara and Diana Roberson of school exec connect they gathered all of this and created our superintendent profile which yielded seven Great candidates who were brought forward for us to interview of the seven three were local um two were
003women and three were African-American the board is highly confident in the candidate that we have selected this individual aligns closely with the vision shared by all our stakeholders for the next leader of KSD we firmly believe that he will Elevate our District's pursuit of academic Excellence diversity equity and inclusion while shaping the culture and climate of our schools he bring brings a unique balance of honoring tradition and having the boldness to lead us into the future with innovative ideas with this leader we are confident that we will continue to be the Pioneers that we are meant to be our next superintendent has dedicated his career to public education serving over 20 years in teaching and administrative roles at several St Louis area districts he began his career in education as a teacher in the Melville
004and St Louis Public School Districts where he was also an assistant principal in slps he served 13 years in the Ritner School District as an assistant principal a principal and the assistant superintendent of HR he is currently the superintendent at Francis House school district and was previously the deputy superintendent he holds a doctorate in educational leadership and policy from Vanderbilt University a master's degree in educational leadership from St Louis University and a bachelor's degree in music education from McMurray College he is married to Amy a middle school math teacher with four children that range from middle school to college age in addition to all of Dr Robinson's education and oh I can said the name and experience his values and passion for students aligned with Kirkwood's mission and goals the board felt energized by his
005personality and enthusiastic about his vision for our district and just a couple of fun quirky facts that I found absolutely hilarious and interesting at the same time about our next superintendent is that he has an addiction to making homemade vanilla but rarely uses it so that he has gallons of it so if anybody needs a Christmas gift idea we know where to go he has also kept a sourdough bread starter alive for several years and feeds it every day but he doesn't really eat bread so I thought that was funny as well so without further Ado ladies and gentlemen members of the Kirkwood Community I would like to introduce you to Dr Kenneth rompus the next superintendent of Kirkwood School [Music] [Applause] District that's it thank you president Sher um I want to start by
006thanking the entire board of education for their trust and selecting me as the next superintendent of the Kirkwood School District it was clear through each step of the process um not only by the questions that you asked me the presentation prompt but also the way that you answered the questions that I had of you about the district about the vision and mission of the district about board governance and this working relationship um that you really heard and understood the candidate profile and the information that you received from all all of the community members in the district that provided that to you through the surveys in the focus groups it was clear to me that the board was committed to finding a leader that had values and beliefs that aligned with what Kirkwood has worked so
007hard to put in place um and I'm really thrilled to find this opportunity where I believe that my personal values and beliefs do align so closely with the work of yours I'm humbled by the opportunity to join not only this team but this team out here um it's kind of a small close coming full circle for as say that when my wife and I moved to St Louis in 2001 we rented a house down the road on North Kirkwood Road and were in this community for a year where got to experience many of the community traditions and activities that take place that to this day that we're still part of um it's coming full circle that several of you have I've worked with or tried to um steal away from prior districts that you worked
008for you know in a past life and I'm excited to join you here U but more than anything to join this great Community where it is clear that there's such strong support for equity and for making Ure that all students are successful um I've had a lot of opportunity to go back and listen to board meetings and watch the work that's doing listen to presentations from this group and updates and reports and it's clear that this isn't a district that just has those words in your vision and your mission and in the Strategic plan but that it is work that you're putting into place each and every day through your action steps and your strategies and that you're holding one another accountable toward reaching those goals the vision of ensuring that every student is engaged
009empowered and ready to be be successful in life has stayed with me since I first started coming to the website and trying to learn more about this position that doesn't mean that there aren't there isn't room for opportunity when we think about continuous Improvement that there are still students that we aren't reaching in one way or another there are still community members that we have an opportunity to connect with but I heard over and over again a commitment from this group that that is what you want to do and I'm excited to be a part of the team that will get to make that happen as a leader in this community in the St Louis region for a long time I have long um closely followed the Innovation and the success of the things that
010you're doing even in the last several years Kirkwood continues to be at the Forefront and thinking ahead of how can we best serve our students and our community I'm excited to build upon the work of Dr ol and this team that has taken place um and to be a part of the next step in work moving forward I often say to the staff that I work with now that we invest in our students by investing in our staff and in our relationships in order to to ensure that we're doing what we can for each and every student every single today we have to make sure that we are focused on our staff and our community and building relationships where they feel a part of the work and when I say that for staff what I
011mean is yes we need to continue to offer competitive salaries and benefits that recruit people here and keep them here but we have a responsibility to create a culture and a climate where Staff feel like they are heard where they're seen and where they're valued and that they're part of a mission that is bigger than them that they understand collectively we can do amazing work that no individual can do alone when I think about that culture and climate that also carries over to the community at large how are we making sure that we are reaching all of our parents and Guardians not just the ones that can show up to a PTO meeting or to a certain athletic event um but reaching out and meeting our parents where they're at in the community um even
012when they can't be here for every event that we're doing as a district how are we reaching art to our community and business partners and making sure that they're engaged and I believe that we do that through transparency and through open communication and again all of these things are in place and that's what is so exciting to me about this district is there are so many outstanding things happening um and it's really an opportunity to come in and just continue to look as a team of how can we improve in those areas and push it a little bit further because that's where we're going to close the gap for the rest of our students to meet these goals much of my initial um work in the next few months is really just going to be
013listening and learning like I said there is no immediate work that needs to happen overnight it's coming in and better understanding this talented group of leaders that I'm excited to join the board and the rest of the community's hopes and fears for this community um and to best understand what needs to be in place as we move forward next year um this is an amazing opportunity to come into the district as you think about closing out the current strategic plan next year and really looking at what have we done well what are those start stops and continues but then working together with the community with a new leadership team to really focus on what are those priorities as we talk about the 2031 strategic plan so again I'm excited to work with Dr ol with
014the board and with this team on the transition this spring I'm more than happy to be here as much as I can and be a part of the work excited for you to meet my wife Amy and my kids sooner than later um I understand the value of being invested in this community and becoming a part of it and that is all through those personal interactions and building those relationships so thank you for the opportunity and I look forward to getting to know each and every one of you better and being a part of this team thank you thank you small token welcome you yes so thank you again um we're truly excited to work alongside you in the upcoming year um for many years to come to the Kirkwood Community if you were unable
015to attend tonight's meeting don't worry we will have some spring dates um for formal meet and greet sessions that will be announced down the the line so thank you and welcome all right public comments none okay moving right along it's G to be faster I need a motion in a second to approve the agenda for the December 16th 2024 regular meeting as presented move boo all those in favor raise your right hand and say I I all those opposed motion passes I need a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda items 6.02 through 617 as presented you got it second Mo all those in favor please raise your right hand say I all those opposed motion passes 7.01 facilities 5-year maintenance plan yes please please all right uh yes I hope you uh
016I I told Mike he only has an hour and a half uh to go through the comprehensive facility plan um uh in all seriousness uh one of the things that we do at this point every year is bring to the Board of Education a five-year facility plan uh and asking uh for one year at a time approval uh and so what will'll what uh Mr R will uh go through and go over for you is just to give a little provide a little Contex text of the choices that we made specifically as it relates to uh the work that will come from the maintenance fund and from U if our community and the board will recall uh when we set the tax rate we have additional Revenue that the uh the board and our community
017can expect the board uh the uh the district to collect um and I know that we want to make sure that we are as transparent as possible to help our community understand how it is we are going to use their resources to make our district better Mr R good evening and uh thank thank you as Dr rrick stated uh we have a maintenance fund it has a dedicated tax levy and it produces roughly about three million uh each year and so at this time every year we bring to the board A Five-Year Plan uh we ask that the board approve year one of the plan that's for the summer projects that are coming up for the summer um so that we can begin to prepare the requests for proposals get bids bring them back to
018you for approval and get them scheduled for the summer so this is an annual process that we always go through now last year we worked on the comprehensive facility plan I have it here just because we referen different pages in the maintenance plan so we tried to really align uh the most critical projects that we're going to use the maintenance fund uh to this plan um and much of it that you see tonight is building type maintenance HVAC Roofing um some parking lots one playground um Etc um the the plan page 17 of it gives it kind of a a summary of the main categories and building maintenance was one of the main categories and so as I stated um that's what most of this year one is made up of is is building type
019maintenance some other larger categories include exterior lighting that's also um I'm asking for approval of that as well that's something that we heard across um all schools um another big um uh component was enhanced emergency communication that's also something that we heard from all of our schools and so we're in the process of doing that work right now so that's the cellular antenna system that the board approved a couple months ago um so that's the process but included in the maintenance plan we do have $300,000 budgeted for signage um so this is exterior signage it's also going to include some interior signage we probably won't be able to do everything that we identified but we're going to do the most critical signage that's needed that also will help First Responders um if and when they
020need to um come to our schools um there's some other categories in here including restroom and locker room Renovations those are very costly something that we really can't do with just maintenance funds alone for example the the locker room we heard a lot about the locker room at the high school that to do a complete renovation is $2.5 million so that's a a very significant project um to to renovate restrooms these are just the the red category so they divided it up into three different categories red yellow green so just to do the the restrooms at the high school that are identified as red is 500,000 so that doesn't include the ones that are in a little bit better shape in the yellow category which is another $1.5 million and that's just at the high
021school um so those are very costly projects um now I mentioned locker room we are planning to spend $75,000 on a girl's locker room if if you recall a year ago we made some renovations to the boys lock minor Renovations so we are planning to do this same with the girls uh this coming summer um so I mentioned all that um most again most of the work is maintenance type things we have 1.7 million in mechanical improvements there's uh 50,000 for electrical 30,000 for plumbing those are really just repairs and inspections that we know we need um asphalt and concrete $350,000 the biggest project in there is redoing theand Manchester lot out here that we've deferred for many many years um Roofing 340,000 that does include uh Roofing at Tilman uh Building Maintenance and Improvement
022291,000 that includes um the girls locker room that I mentioned it does include $20,000 for some um minor Renovations in the counseling suite at Kirkwood High School um that's another uh big project that we heard through uh the comprehensive facility plan um from talking to uh the principal and the counselors at the high school uh for $20,000 that's what some of our staff doing the work um we can make some of the improvements that are most critical to that area and and which one of them is um closing off the hallway from the library that leads into it so that provides some of the the Privacy that's needed um so we will put up a wall and some doors um to close off that hallway and then there's another area a larger area in the
023counseling Suite that has a copier and some other equipment um we're going to split that up into two rooms so we're going to build a wall to divide up that space one area will be used as a small conference room the other area will be a what um Dr Harold is calling um like a cool down room for students um so that's in the plan um we have $720,000 in grounds and Fields the biggest project in there is replacing the South playground at Westchester that is um the one playground that is in most critical need districtwide um it's 24 years old and it needs a lot of work so that is included in the plan Safety and Security 335,000 and 300 of that is the signage that I previously mentioned so all together that's about
0243.8 million coming from the maintenance Fund in addition Dr allor mentioned the the tax rates that were approved in uh September that provides $3 million starting next year we would like to use 1 million of the 3 million so there will still be 2 million left uh for other uh improvements throughout the district but um the million dollars that we identified was exterior lighting 350,000 and then Roofing at high school 650,000 that would be roofing for uh Denver Miller gym the South artswing and keing Center um so Al together $4.8 million again that's um 3.8 million coming from the maintenance fund 1 million would come from the operating fund that's from the additional funds uh that we expect to receive next year um and then with your approval we'll start Gathering uh putting together the
025proposals get bids and we'll bring that back to you in the spring for approval thanks thank you clarification on this um Mr Cathy do you have any questions just real quick to clarify the um exterior lighting and the rofi the high school that would be part of the million from the operating fund are projects that were identified in the comprehensive facility plan correct okay just wanted to make that point so um no appreciate the summary thank you thank you thank you Miss Andrews um so it kind of seems like the maintenance fund is not necessarily covering our needs would that be that's correct okay so in the past um Mr Roman do you feel like it has covered our needs well our buildings are old and require a lot of Maintenance and it um I
026don't think we will ever stay on top of maintaining our buildings we always going to need um funds to maintain our buildings whether it's through a bond issue or through the maintenance fund the maintenance fund is great to have and and does a lot um we've also done a lot of Maintenance or done some maintenance through prop bar okay um which has helped um but going forward we have you know probably our biggest needs is HVAC and and Roofing and so um the HVAC units when we um installed air conditioning districtwide it was done in the 90s um and we still have some of those units on top of our buildings that are from the 90s so um and they're they're large and very expensive units and it it cost a lot to replace them
027so um so we're always going to have a need to do that okay so um I guess if the maintenance fund's not covering it do we need to like increase the maintenance fund or is that not something we would do well the maintenance fund has a dedicated tax levy so we couldn't increase that without a vote from the community okay um the only option would be to use funds from the operating fund which is what I'm proposing to use one one million of the extra three million that we expect to receive next year okay and then just one more question in the past I know that um schools have partnered with playgrounds that kind of thing is is there a partnership going on with with PTO or anything like that there has been in the
028past but usually it's for additional type stuff okay it's it's not so much to replace so for example at Kaiser years ago we did project idea okay and and just recently we did some additional work at Kaiser we uh raised some funds at Robinson to do some work um let's see it at uh at North Glen we put in the track okay um so there's been different things that we've done but for the most part it's been to do extra stuff not to replace existing existing okay well I think that's important for our community to kind of understand that um this is a replacing kind of an outdated probably um structure that needs to be replaced yep okay thank you Mr Rome thank you Mr boo he so just to clarify then um because the
029cfp had a lot of different projects and I know a lot of them were red I mean not all of them but you know there were more than two red items is what I'm trying to say so I guess I'm just um can you just speak to what made these two projects the ones that you were like we cannot wait we need to borrow this million dollars from the operating fund to do these two things sure well first lighting I think is really just a safety piece of it um and the roofing the the issue with roofs is if and we have a lot of roofs that leak from time to time and and that causes really significant damage if you don't address them so um that's why those two rows to the top safety
030and urgency Yes sounds good okay thank you ping Bor yep thank you Mr Rome I uh I really appreciate you listenting the pages we haven't done that in the past and that makes it so much easier to go back and compare so I just want to say thank you and I appreciate um elevating the Safety and Security on the outside of the buildings because we've gotten so many comments and concerns about that especially this time of year when people are out walking and everything so just really appreciate focusing on there um and you mentioned the guidance counselor improvements so is that like a Band-Aid Improvement that we're doing with a longer term Vision or is that all we plan to do that's all we plan to do right now okay um I think that there's
031been there were some comments about having the counseling Suite being at a different location on campus and um I think you know the work we're doing now is going to address most of their needs that they have with the exception of being closer to the main office I think that that's what they would have liked to have is the counseling Suite being closer to the main office but that would require major Renovations or an addition okay okay and um and then you mentioned the wireless services that are being done is that that's still ongoing work because we yes okay yep it's um we're in a process where the the equipment has been ordered um the company has um done all the wiring diagrams um it's been sent to our technology and maintenance staff for their
032review and so really what we're waiting on now is for the equipment to arrive and then they'll start the installation and they will do one school at a time we're not doing all schools two of the schools um had good coverage um but the rest of the schools will be done and it'll take the smaller schools like in elementary is is a week to 10 days Middle School two maybe three weeks High School a month so um so we'll start it as soon as that equipment arrives they'll start doing the work um I've discussed it with the building principles um most of the work will happen within the hallways so we can do that work while school is in session okay uh there will be some disruptions but fairly minor and so our our hope
033is to have it done late spring perfect that that'll be exciting because I know I still hear from people who they are dead stots right and they can't communicate so um looking forward to that thank you so much thank you thank you Mr Rome for the summary um I need a motion in a second to approve approve the facility's 5year maintenance plan as presented so move boyo second pbor all those in favor please raise your right hand and say I I all those opposed motion passes thank you thank you I'm staying I think I'm next right not in M oh thank you all right I need a motion in a second to approve the November 2024 financial statements as presented so move MOA second pingor any questions oh you haven't said it go ahead Mr
034rman great thank you uh our operating revenues in November were 1.6 million that consists of current taxes propy revenues earnings from in Investments and state revenues operating expenditures in November were 7. . 1 million and most of that is salaries and benefits um the one thing I do want to point out and discuss is our self-funded insurance account um as you know this has been really on our radar for for quite some time now um medical claims continue to exceed revenues revenues are the premiums that there's a premium for each employee that's part of the salary package that's paid out of the operating fund that we put into the self-funded insurance account to cover the medical claims because we're self-funded um we've been increasing those premiums it's just not keeping up and so the reserves
035and the self-funded has been dropping steadily over the last few years um the premiums will increase this January that's part of the salary package by 10% uh we work with a cons Insurance Consultant to help us determine what those premiums would be so we set the premiums um and they recommended a 10% increase so that's happening this January we do hope that um two things happen that number one claims will slow down uh we do know that there's a handful of high claim um dollars that have been coming out um and those we expect to slow down um but it's just something that we really have to monitor and we're we're getting close to a point where if the premium increase doesn't start covering the claims then we're going to going have to do something
036different we're either going to have to take some funds from the op really they would come from the operating fund um or we would have to charge employees and I know we don't want to do that but um but we're continuing to monitor this and I just wanted to make sure it's on your radar all right any questions now yes Mr caffy what's the I'm just curious the timeline I mean it's you know firmly on your radar I can hear it um and I know we're not alone in this so I'm just curious with timeline of having more information towards picking a path the the reserves could drop to zero within the next 30 days really we we dropped 171,000 and we have about 500,000 in uh the reserves and you know depending on what
037claims come in and how fast they come in you know it could be one two or three months before were down to zero and so at that point uh we would have to um transfer funds from the operating fund and that would either become an expense on the operating fund or we would have to charge employees and again I know we don't want to do that it's not something that we committed to um at least not for this year now I don't know if that changes with the next salary package but that is something that we could consider um we hope it doesn't come come to that but again the um the the fund is just not covering the expense of claims okay thank you Andrew I mean do we have any idea you don't
038have to speak to this right now um do we have any idea of on the why well there's several reasons um probably the the biggest reason Reon is just inflation alone and just medical costs have have gone up substantially over the last several years um so that's a big uh part of it um the second issue is we've we've had roughly 10 or um people that have had large claims and and that's um it's it's expensive and so that's um but I think that the biggest issue is really just the rising cost of medical uh expenses are we doing a good enough job of communicating this concern um to our staff to the community I mean I don't want anyone getting freaked out but I want the staff to know if we have to continue
039raising premiums or anything I don't want it to come as a shock sure um I think staff are somewhat aware um just because we have increased the premiums 10% this this will be the third year now that we've increased um our premiums by 10% um we're still when you look at other school districts in the area area um the amount per student is still within what they charge um many of the districts are self-funded just like us um we're all experiencing the same issues um another example of just Rising Insurance costs is is what we're paying for property and liability insurance you know that that's gone up 30% last year and another 30% this year so it's it's um it's just what we're seeing throughout the probably Nationwide um it's so I think they're aware
040I don't know to this degree um and and and we have discussed before about what should be in the package and what shouldn't and should employees pay that's that's been something that we we discuss each and every year really um and so that is and there the salary package is you know it includes wages and benefits and um there's only so much dollars to go around and and that's where're working with um Nea you know we have to decide how much of the available funds will go to wages or benefits and um so those those conversations will continue heer p um I do have a question because you mention so we are self-funded is it more expensive to be self-funded or does it have any bearing versus uh other generally no it uh we've had
041great experience over the years being self-funded um it's it's um there's been times where just the the um medical expense has gone up well over what our increase in premiums have have gone up same with insurance premiums we've been able to keep it relatively low there were several years I think six or seven where we didn't increase our premium at all or there were minor increases in the premium uh because we had low claims really it was it was related to just low claims and we we've been in this period of four or five years now that we've had Rising um medical costs and some high claims and and it's it's really caused a drain on the self-funded reserves and and the need to increase premiums now down the road if if things turn around
042um and at some point they will um then those increases in premiums may be less I don't know that we would ever drop them but um but those increases those annual increases could be less than 10% um because there were several years where we increased it a small amount or Nothing at All so all those in favor of approving the uh November 2024 financial statements please raise your right hand and say I I all those opposed motion passes thank you all right next up 9.01 the education Equity task force report all right good evening good evening uh thank you uh thank you to the board and also uh to Dr o for this opportunity to kind of talk through a little bit of where we've gone and where we continue to go in terms of
043our education Equity task force report um we do report out on Staffing every year um to make sure that we are responding to to um our report from 2016 that ask us to look at and pay attention to our stabbing across the district uh in relation to particularly diversity um and so this report again go comes from our call from the tasw report of 2016 um where we were really focusing intentionally on racial diversity amongst our employee groups uh in buildings and amongst uh positions throughout our organization and so I will walk you through and and and share with you a number of things and highlights of things that we've seen so far uh and where we continue to work as a district in regards to this um I did talk about last year because
044this data is so uh such a moving piece a moving Target you might say um we historically had done a presentation in July and December um but I did recommend uh that we move to just once once a year in December and so this report will pull from data specific from November 1st of 2024 um it's all of our positions and information from our information systems Finance Plus for staff uh and Infinite Campus for students um and the designations that those systems allow us to be able to to have throughout those or uh throughout those systems so uh to get us started we will kind of just highlight the district level um across the entire District um I do show you the kind of the different employes employee groups that we have and the diversity
045within each of those employee groups um overall I will just point out our staff in terms of across the district um 146 or 15.37% of our staff is Staff of color um that's both certified and support staff throughout the district um that is um I'll go to this next slide and show that is um don't change over year over year um one 1100 of a percent um of a decrease in staff of color between last year and this year um not a big change and so definitely we'll dive a little bit deeper and start by looking at um our students and our makeup that comes from our students throughout our district um I will note just a few things that I would highlight here um we do have right around 20% of students throughout the
046district um and in within each building about our students of color um I will highlight also specifically if you look at our KCC number you'll see um a higher number of specifically multi-race and that's something that you would see I think if you think about our national Trends Across the Nation um that's something that you will continue to see increase um is that multi-ratio will be a group where we have uh more people be represented um and so that happens throughout uh you can see kind of just again the breakdown this all these numbers and data and information comes directly from the report that uh Dr Bailey's able to give us uh in October with our enrollment report as far as our staff you might recall that we have a specific goal within our strategic
047plan related to our certified staff uh we did have an increase of 25 hundreds of a percent in terms of our certified staff of color throughout the organization uh currently at 12.78% of our staff certified staff is Staff of color um looking then specifically at our support staff um we did have um we're at 18.78% generally speaking that at that number is generally higher um than our certified staff of color throughout our organization uh I'm not going to go talk through each of the buildings you do have this information I know the board is aware but um I do break it down in each building um as we always have in terms of what our staff of color uh and our White staff all staff throughout our entire organization um are represented and these numbers
048again going building by building um and then I will highlight uh on this next slide and excuse me um we do also have our um staff that is not assigned to one specific building that mean might mean that they're in multiple buildings it might mean that they work at one of our um District facilities the Turner building Huff uh or um within our technology department for example those represented in this other category um throughout our organization and so that's where all those people can be found we do also pull our information thank you to uh Rachel and uh Chartwells to get our information for that and also from Rick and first student we do have and make sure we include for you all um what our staff makeup looks like in those two areas and
049finally we do have Special School District uh that information again to Dr Davis and the rest of the SSD team does make sure that we get this information for our staff throughout uh SSD as well um I do want to highlight and just kind of uh pay attention to one thing that we have a little less control over in terms of Staff um you'll notice that one category you don't see for staff and this isn't new it just has never been a thing we don't have multi-racial and that is because there is no federal designation for multi-racial for one um and so that's not something that's been historically reported out on uh for us to be able to know of our staff um additionally another group in demographic that we've noticed and we've talked about
050um that doesn't NE really get specifically represented is people who may be of Middle Eastern descent for example um they only have white as an opportunity to Mark and so we've talked about uh um Mike Rome and our work is working with us to figure out if within our finance plus system we can even though there is no other designation outside of us perhaps if there's possibility for us to be able to get some of that data um and then I do want to make sure that we uh highlight kind of what is happening across our organization in terms of our applicant pool um you can see this information thank you to Dr Fields and our HR department that gets us this information to know what's happening with our applicant pool throughout our organization and
051all positions um again this is not specific to a position and so we don't know within one hiring what what people applied but throughout our organization we can see that we are having people of color apply um you do also see for example the people who choose not to reply or didn't respond that also was a little bit higher too and so um but within what we information we get we are are seeing that we're having applicants um that are diverse throughout our organization that again that specifically uh is continuing increases in terms of our um staff of color um I do want to also talk about our retention uh that is something that we see and we pay attention to throughout our organization um you'll see here that we do have a difference in
052our staff of color comparative to our White staff retention at the same time both are over 80% which is a very good and high number of people that we would want to retain um what I would highlight and remind the board is certainly because our total staff of color is so much less than our total White staff one person will have a bigger impact on that number and so I just want to make sure that I highlight that but do pay attention to the fact that we um want to continue to have retention numbers that are high in both categories um in terms of our support staff we have very high retention almost um you know o over 95% in both our support and staff of color in terms of St support staff retention um
053and then I just want to make sure and I I highlight this last time and I think that I I always want to bring it to the reminder in the Forefront of why um you know thinking about work that you the board has done specifically thinking about the quak building Liaisons um we have to focus on retention if we want to be able to focus on Recruitment and so I think that uh in appreciation first of all to the board and to Dr oi for making sure that we move that through to get that to happen those are the things that make the difference in terms of retention the numbers that we just saw um and those are the things that make the tools that we can be able to work to be able to
054recruit more people um in terms of uh our work as a district um I've been able to work with uh Candace Harris and uh our HR department um to be able to really work very closely with our principles um we continue to meet with them quarterly uh and we uh one of the things that they are working on it's on the next slide but I'll uh let the cat the bag now um the stay interviews that we uh Dr Fields and I started last year will have been continued and uh principles are wrapping that up now we'll be able to have more of that information uh for you all in the future um so that you can continue to see what what our what is our staff saying and how does that impact um our
055retention and recruitment efforts um I would also highlight our work with our Affinity spaces as well again that kak building Le aison um I've been a part of and been able to see two of our buildings that have had specific Gatherings for staff of color over the last couple of weeks um just to kind of have an opportunity for that sense of belonging and that again comes from the work that you all have created uh in that role um I would also highlight and I know that I've done and I work that I've done um with our um middle schools and high school um I had focus groups as I talked about in our strategic plan and so I did have my first meetings with our high school students and then both middle schools um
056students as a well um and some of the things that they were able to let me know I was able to share with principles in those quarterly meetings over the last couple of weeks and again be very intentional about the work that we continue to do and I really uh want to give a shout out and thank you to miss Motika um and observing something that we talked about in our uh educational Equity task force meeting a couple weeks ago the work that we've been doing has been really focused on being intentional um and that's what we have been really making sure that we put forth as our make how we make sure that Equity is happening um and so my goal is and my hope is that we continue to be intentional in our
057Focus um so that we can continue to pay attention to and then also see the results of that work um next steps again that stay interview information will be continued to be uh analyzed as we move forward um again speaking to that intentionality um we are going to have the diversity recruitment collaborative recruitment event um we did that last year with uh Webster Groves uh maple richond Heights and limberg school districts we'll do that again this year in January um and again with that intentional Focus we originally had planned on having it at limberg just because we were again moving different spaces and trying to be in different places but we also said well the whole point is we want diverse people we want to make sure that we have as Central a location as
058possible and so we're actually going to have hold that at Maplewood Richmond Heights High School and so again that intentionality is something that we are always focusing on Even in our collaborative work even with other organizations um our principles are continuing to make sure that we are getting to our hir through our hiring processes as early as we can um so that we have access to more candidates I mean that's the reality is the if we can get our processes in line to be able to hire people sooner um the the array of people that is able to be applying is much broader when that's the case um we did also take a p a four of our administrators and staff members um were able to be on a panel out at um Missouri Baptist
059University a few weeks ago and we continue to look at opportunities for similar things throughout other or uh universities um I've sent emails to different organizations trying to or universities trying to get opportunities for our administrators because they are willing to go out and and be able to show what Kirkwood is about and why we're looking for staff again specifically staff of color um and then our Equity walks that we talked about um we do have as part of our equ education Equity task force meetings um when we don't don't spend all of our time talking that is um that we are able to make sure that we incorporate that and get an opportunity to connect with our um Community um and get them involved in knowing more about Equity throughout our organization so um
060I do want to make sure that I give an opportunity uh to get questions that there might be uh so I'll turn it back over to president Shar thank you I'm going to start to my right Miss Pangborn I'm going first well thank you Dr map um I just want to say I'm I really love that you've taken some of our requests from past years and Incorporated them into what you're doing even if you're probably already doing it because we're not as brilliant as some of what you're doing but the stay interviews the equity walks and really again like highlighting the retention where I know comments that we've made in the past so I just really appreciate you carrying those forward um and you showed a slide about the support staff retention which has dramatically
061increased over the years is there like anything to that data just I mean that you can highlight real quickly I mean again I would go back to I think that um you know we really really though this past uh last year I would say Obviously the quak building liaison specifically for staff of color I think it's been a big piece I think that you could look at things like our Wellness days where we're very intentional about making sure that it's not just our certified staff everyone gets to be a part of those um really I know our leadership team went around and went to every building building and delivered things last spring um to really show that we're you know I think even one of the things in phrases I remember hearing specifically from someone
062recently was the true the the the term one Kirkwood and just that again that that brings a sense of community and bringing people together that I think uh are a couple a few of the things that come to mind for me and how we've been able to be really intentional about that Miss Bangor um that's a that's a great question and I don't think and I want to make sure anytime I have the opportunity to highlight the board's work in terms of their governance it is no coincidence that you see that number going up if you recall it was the 2223 school year uh that we identified very early in the school year that we were struggling to find support staff in particular uh Dr fields and the work that he did with cbiz we
063had the compensation study this board of education uh came back early in the spring of 2023 and um uh gave our support staff a well-deserved raise and then included the support staff again a couple of months later through our regular process so I want to make sure and hold that up because I don't think that's a coincidence U that that those numbers shot up um that next year no I appreciate that and again if you look at that graph we went in 2018 from in the 60s to in the 90s now um so and it's not just that Dr ol I don't I don't feel it's probably many other things that we are doing and I just um that's a really good story there so um I really appreciate seeing the data but there there
064there's so much there that you can unpack so thank you Dr Matt bar excuse me um and then just for the audience I always like to talk to my the two YouTube Watchers out there somewhere uh yeah right both of the both of the people watching on YouTube but for people who are interested just I I think there's an understanding between us but Dr map if you could just um help connect the dots the Kirkwood School District task force to eliminate the achievement Gap connecting that to having staff of color that that is you know mirrors our student body can you speak a little bit to like how important that is to our students of color and why that's meaningful to them achieving their academic goals absolutely and I think um it it goes even
065further than that in terms of thinking about because we had a board member I think in the past that even asked you know well what's our goal like when we reach when we have our staff of color reflective of our students isn't that that that's the goal that's enough uh and we said well the reality is you know we want our staff to be reflective of the world uh and the world is is much more diverse even than Kirkwood therefore even than our students um and so I think that there is value absolutely uh in making sure that our staff is diverse is diverse to represent the world um and so through that and the reason that matters and why we even focus on those things and particularly I I reminded and and I say
066to the board you know the first thing is we have to ensure that our students feel like they have that sense of belonging before we can even work to help them be able to learn um you know there's the quote that you know they don't care about you they don't care about what you know until they know that you care and so that's the the hurdle and the things that we are working now to create this sense of understanding and urgency around caring about each individual student so that we can then work to teach them and so that's where the work is and why it is so important and it's not yeah I mean the the reality is the other piece that you number one our goal is yes to have a diverse staff that's
067representative of the world to be able to present to our students at the same time when that's not the case how do we equip our staff to make sure that they're able to see and represent and uh and really truly be intentional about being the best that they can for each individual student and that's what our work around professional development and things that we do now really focus on centering that that goal yeah I think it's important to recognize as we always talk about with Dei and these initiatives how multifaceted it is and how it has to get built into different things so I just like spelling it out really clearly for people who maybe don't follow this work as closely to help them understand why all these different pieces are important um my one
068other question was and this was something I think we talked about in a different context with you and Dr Fields at a different point but the state interviews can you tell me can you remind me how those are conducted because I know when we talked about those in another context principles were selecting employees to get the state interviews is that this as well so we what we did last year is um Dr Fields And I presented two principles and asked them um and basically what we have them do is we give them a form to use and then they type as they are asking questions of uh of some of their colleagues um we ask that there be two staff members of color um and that and so we asked each of each person to
069have four stay interviews um or building Administration excuse me to have four state interviews um and of those four we ask that two of them be staff of color and we do also ask that two of them be certified and two of them be support um but yes generally speaking they are choosing those people uh to be able to represent uh to be able to get back to us with that information okay yeah the the the concern I think that I brought up before or just like the thought was around the selection process and ensuring that the building leaders you know if they're the ones doing the selecting is there some sort of selection bias that's always a question for me and maybe there's not I mean you're talking about a relatively small pool to
070begin with so that may not be a thing and then the the only other um thought that I have in this context would be any staff of color if they're responding to the interview to their direct report like the their you know Superior um you know does that leave something on the table if there's an improvement or opportunity to be had with at a building level um so that's just a something I you know you do you but that's I'm just pointing it out that's just something that comes to mind when I think about the whole stay interview process but thank you I this was great work thank you thank you Miss motia thank you for all this doctor map and um since I was at the equity task force meeting one thing I wanted
071to ask you about that um Roberto mcwood spoke about were the Ally groups um and and you know we've got quok and the building MERS and Affinity groups but the rest of us have a part to play in all this too and um I don't know if you want to speak to the Ali groups I would also really be interested if they can be expanded if others of us can participate yeah uh I can definitely speak to that um Roberta uh mcwoods who is our lead Mentor for teachers of color um had an opportunity connect with our new teachers at new teacher orientation and she does that every year um and she had uh someone mentioned the idea that you know it's great that we have K talk and there's an opportunity for people to
072focus on Equity as people of color um but there's opportunity perhaps for our white colleagues to also focus on uh Equity um and so that did emerge and we've had uh well well the fourth session of that will happen in this room on Thursday um where we have staff come together um and really talk about uh equity and really talk about the things going on in our region and in our district specifically um and talk about how we can be like you said the dismantlers of some of that um and so I think that absolutely we we we've already talked about different expansions of it for next semester and moving forward um I don't think it's something that goes away um and I do think that absolutely thinking about how we could expand uh could
073be a very important thing for us to consider moving forward um right now it is specifically for our staff um and so that's that we could consider what other opportunities we might have to expand that moving forward absolutely thank you Mr boo push your button someday someday I'll get this uh for the two YouTubers uh chart well in first student that's the cafeteria and the bus drivers right uh and then on the r ition of Staff uh and I'm you're probably already looking at this and just edit it on the slide but uh looking at the are we looking at the each position as well to say like in other words we would catch it hypothetically if every custodian of color resigned one year um that we would see that hey that's obviously an issue
074that we need to drill down on yes we would um I that would be definitely probably with in each department we would have to be able to be kind of paying attention to those things and so we we can definitely continue to make sure we drill down uh into some of those pieces to get get that information for sure yes yeah and I know you need enough of a an end number for it to be meaningful but at the same time would hate to miss um trends like that yeah thanks Miss Andrews um I appreciate you working with um Mr Rome to add categories um to make sure that everyone feels like they have a category that they can select um I do have a quick question about the stay interviews so what exactly are
075you doing with that information so last year um that information was was given uh to the board um to make sure that we were letting you all know kind of what what we were hearing from our staff and so we will make sure that whatever information we glean from that we also share with you all um and make sure that we have an opportunity to to really be intentional uh about what we hear from our staff um considering what kind of things we can do to continue to ensure people stay and or things that we could do differently um to hopefully encourage more people to stay perfect thanks Mr caffy yeah just a few questions um comment so back to the multi-racial option to select for our current St so that is not an option
076currently am I understanding that correct for staff for staff the system that we use does not have multi-racial as an option to select no okay so we're potentially especially as we drive to our strategic plan goals that would not be captured currently that is correct okay so I think that's I mean a big piece is we're ironing in on a specific num so is there a timeline for when we think we'll be able to capture that um I know that we will definitely work with uh Mr Rome to make sure that we as quick as we can if that's a possibility that we get that figured out the other piece that we would then be at the mercy of is that's something that typically like for example um staff usually note that when they're hired
077and so that's something that we would now have to go back retroactively and basically create a new survey and then we would dependent upon staff to complete that survey to get that information um so so we definitely have it as a goal um it's something that if we can make it happen that we will make sure that as quick as we can we do that yeah I mean we have strategic plan goals centered around it so I would I mean we need to to make sure because I mean again where my mind goes is we could be making progress that we're not giving ourselves credit for ultimately so um question for you and maybe I'll um it's more of an HR question but I didn't sum total all the categories for the years from 2019
078forward but my rough math was that like our applicants was staying pretty uh consistent as you sum totaled all the um categories of e ethnicity and race which I see as a positive um so I want to May my question is is that the case are we seeing that we're getting pretty even numbers year toye in total applicants because I think that's an important aspect of this effort as well the labor market is tight it's tight for everybody it's tight for certified teachers and um support staff so I guess my question is and I'll stop rambling am I even am I accurate No that's an accurate observation yep so I want to make that point that is we make sure that I just got turned up a notch there sounds like um Mary emphasizing my
079point um that that this effort uh to make sure that we're diverse in our efforts to recruit is assisting Us in an Ever tightening labor market so wanted to make sure I was accurate and that's the point um and then lastly and you know you made the the comment about we want our goal to be reflective of the world um I just want to make make the point and this is not just on this topic but as we look at the entire strategic plan as a whole that we really make sure we understand and I know we'll be entering into another development of another fiveyear cycle that we we know what does that mean specifically so if that's our goal and that's where we're striving to get we've got a long way to go that's
080fine but specifically what does reflective of the world mean but not to just point a finger at this presentation here but that to be you know a point around the entire strategic plan so that we're not just looking year toe um I made that point where you're looking at the academic data as well so this is just an opportunity to drive that home for all four sections correct of the Strategic plan that we know what is our ultimate goal and not that the work will ever end if we get there but we know what all this is striving for Beyond just a year over-year growth metric so thank you very much absolutely uh thank you and to kind of go off of what Mr Cathy said I just looking at the data it seems like
081recruiting really isn't like our major issue it's more of the retention of would you agree um yeah I mean I think that there's it's a both and and I think that the reality is retention yes and you have to have people to retain and so making sure that we retain yes is a thing but then in order for numbers to increase we're going to have to also get more new people and I think that the other piece is definitely it's a tight Market what I will say is you know we we are also competing with districts that need staff of color as well and you know I think that that's also the reality is we're not you know there's not a surplus of Staff of color out there it's how many how many there are
082there are then that many people that all these districts are trying to recruit and get to them and so we have to figure out how do we make ourselves the ones that look out and are the standing out one that they would want to come to right and so that's my point with the retention piece are you finding because I know you mentioned that you guys have quarterly retention and recruitment meetings within the buildings because um like how are those going but I also I kind of broke down like some of our schools that have the highest percentages of students of color yet the teacher you know if we're talking about the the staff reflecting the students there's a huge gap so how are we prepping or or you know educating our teach our building
083leaders on the importance or or like how is that process looking yeah uh I mean like I said that there's a number of things that we discuss uh we do we talk about the stay interviews we focus on the intentionality around the openings that the buildings have um and then one of I guess one of the biggest one of the true biggest things in terms of retention is really the work that we have specific to professional development for our teachers of color um and having KT talk sessions and I think that for our principles um you know yes we continue to work with them to make sure that they are intentional and paying attention to the things regarding uh Equity um one of the things that I shared with you all and that was Dr
084ock's expectation is that we will have our administrators attending a leadership racism Institute and many of them or a few of them that attended last year and many that will attend this summer um for them to be able to continue to pay attention to how they are bringing what they are bringing what bias and what things they bring to the table in terms of their work um our professional development day for for example in January we will have an opportunity to have a full day or a morning of professional development that would be led by the district but the afternoon is PD specific for the buildings and led by the buildings and so particular to equity and so our our building principles are definitely doing the work um and we continue to help them do
085the work as best they can and whatever they need within their building spaces um and give them that autonomy to meet the needs of their building but also showing that the expectation is that we're focused on equity for each and every student Goa thank you and then um I did have a question with a sense of belonging I saw that throughout the presentation and we know that's part of our um strategic plan um it includes like the the greater School space not just that that safe space of an Infinity group like I think that was one of the things that you mentioned as um it being yeah um a way to connect opportunities for diverse staff to connect and kind of to miss moti's point point of having those Ally groups like it can't just
086be contained in that space but how do we you know because the sense of belonging isn't the issue isn't within that safe space yes it's within the total space absolutely and that's like I said that's why we specifically have our professional development day on January 3rd will be specifically devoted to that um and I know that our buildings I can I mean I yes there are a number of things happening across all of our buildings I know our focus on Equity um and not just on January 3rd um I can tell you about staff meetings that have happened over the last couple of weeks many of guiding coalitions and plc's that are specifically working and paying attention to where can they be more Equitable where can the work be happening what in our mtss processes
087are not meeting the needs and how do we meet the needs differently and better um in oural meetings and things that are happening across the district big thing that I definitely didn't speak to uh or didn't speak to yet restore to practice has been very awesome um oural coaches have worked with like I said they started with our counselors back in February of last year um and then work with our principls and our administrators this fall and now I've already had one SE uh session uh for restored practice for teachers have two sessions already planned for the spring for half day opportunities for staff to get trained um got to work with our uh walking counselors at the high school our most recent one um again it's and and and really like I've said and
088why I talked about in terms of restorative practice not necessarily focusing just on it in terms of discipline and responding to behavior but focusing focusing on it in terms of our our staff culture um our principal again our principles and I think all of the staff that have been going through it first of all have had rave reviews about it but also are paying attention to how do they use it with their colleagues are paying attention to how do they use it with students when they are having a difficult time and not only that but how do they use it to build community and and re us it proactively with our students as well yeah no that's great and that was good to hear from the middle school last week that I mean not last
089week our last meeting um and how they are implementing those practices within the building so that's great and then my last I just have really a comment um around the equity walks because our last um educational Equity task force I was able to go um around with those however kind of to miss um het bur's point with the um stay interviews um just wanted us to look at how we allow like our building principles to choose who to um ask or Andor like which model classrooms um to go into versus like randomly going into a class or even it taking place in the day not necessarily with the equity task force but just to see what's going on in those classrooms and and and offering the support to those teachers who may be you know
090to see it in action with kids versus an empty classroom with pictures on the wall even that though that can tell a little story but sometimes you can you know see more action when it's Yes actually and I mean as part of those uh quarterly meetings that I have with our principes I do share they have the template so that they could use it even if they want to use it in the staff meeting if they wanted to assign a PLC to spend their time going around and doing that within their space um that's something that our building principles have access to make that happen okay all right yeah just make it more equ not Equitable but you know allow everybody's voice I think would be great all right thank you next up future events
091um December 20th is the end of the first semester that's this Friday everybody nobody's counting down are they um December 23rd through January 1st is WI a recess we will um no school January 2nd and 3rd uh no school records day on January 2nd and January 3rd is Staff Development Day there's no school for students let me clarify that January 6 is our Awards and honors in a board work session January 13 2025 Wellness committee meeting January 20th is Martin Luther King's uh day um observe observation the district is closed and then January 27th is the board business meeting board candidacy filing notice any person wishing to file for the Kirkwood School District Board of Education may do so at the St Louis County Board of Elections located at 725 Northwest Plaza Drive St Anne
092Missouri 63074 filing will be held Tuesday December 10th 2024 through uh at through 5:00 P PM Tuesday December 31st 2024 two board seats each with a three-year term will be elected on Tuesday April 8th 2025 so at this time this meeting is adjourned for those that would like to stay around Dr Romus will be here to uh greet you thank you have some brownies yes have a good evening e for