001so you're stuck with me uh 401 public comments uh I have five here starting with uh Rob hurt there we go okay all right thank you members of the board and uh the administration uh I want to start by congratulating coach Macklin on the 10th straight Turkey Bowl victory and I think one thing we can learn from coach Macklin is you don't take the effort to drive the length of a field get to the five yard line and then decide to punt you don't punt from the five yard line it's time to kick a field goal you take the points you get the good that you can out of it I think that's there's a lesson to be learned for the administration in uh regarding the redistricting talk and and uh boundary adjustments there are
002small changes that can be made that would have a tangible impact on students immediately we don't have to wait five or six years to see what happens with projections we can make immediate changes we still have students who grow up in the shadow of knifer middle school and yet they're sent to North we can change that we can fix that now we still have the meum neighborhood divided amongst three elementaries and two middle schools we can change that we can fix that now we still have schools that regardless of what coffen says might happen five or six years from now today tomorrow next year the year after they are overcrowded we have the space throughout our district to to address that we can fix that we should fix that now last work the last board
003work session uh Dr Fields gave a a great presentation on class siiz guidelines and it was really disappointing because I realized we can't do anything about any of that the way our elementary entries are right now we we we are above every at at every level uh every Elementary level we are above the average when you compare it to comparison districts but we can't address that because we just don't have rooms in every single Elementary to make that work if we make small changes around the edges we can lower class sizes and and address some of these things that need to be addressed um in fact it would be a fun thought exercise if if the board were to vote to implement the class siiz proposals I don't know how we would address that without
004going back and readdressing three districting uh and the boundaries adjustments so I just asked that this board continue to uh consider what are the small changes we can make that that we can make fixes right now not worrying about five or six years out there are fixes that we can do now that make sense I ask you to do so thank you thank you uh Kelsey Guerrero I think it's still up okay my name is Kelsey gerero and I'm here as a concerned KSD parent ask you to ask yourselves the following have we done the boundary adjustment work to the best of our abilities by doing nothing at this juncture are we doing right by the kids of Kirkwood I'm here to express my support for one additional M minor boundary adjustment work to alleviate
005overcrowding such that we can consider reducing class sizes now two an actual solution to address the Tillman split I hope that if if a motion is made during tonight's board meeting to undergo such work you will all support it I listened to the presentation on class siiz guidelines and reviewed the accompanying material from the last Board of Education meeting I was shocked to see the current KSD guidelines for class sizes range from five to six more students per classroom for K through four than is the recommended standard we have the physical space to address this and set our kids up for Better Learning outcomes with smaller class sizes now with minor boundary adjustments at the elementary level we could rebalance enrollment alleviate the pressure that schools at capacity feel and reduce class sizes at a
006time when that is so very crucial my youngest son showed me his new classroom at Tilman last week and I literally walked through a hall of vacant unused rooms to get there those could be filled with kids who are current currently overcrowded and suffering in other parts of the district I understand the sentiment overcrowding will quote unquote work itself out in four to five years if the most recent enrollment projections are correct and if birth rates do in fact decline as predicted but that's an entire Elementary School experience for some kids why are we hindering the potential for our children who are in school now to experience the best learning outcome learning environment additionally redistricting was supposed to address as many of the issues and priorities set forth as possible these include things Beyond overcrowding
007they include the tman split walkability meum Park attendance utilization Etc we have to consider all possible solutions to address these issues and set our schools up for continued progress regarding the Tillman split if there is no way for our five elementary schools to feed into our two middle schools in a holistic way that results in near equal utilization I'd like to see the board reconsider a solution based simply on geography and home address similar to option C in the second round of scenarios where three of our centrally located elementary schools feed two different middle schools based on a north south boundary line it is simply not Equitable that we treat one Elementary School and how it feeds into Middle School differently than the other four we have the opportunity and resources to make minor changes
008today that will have Major Impact now and into the future for all thank you your time is up thank you Miss gerero uh Kate Meyer sorry this still on hi my name is Kate Meyer I have three children in the district at North Kirkwood Middle School Tillman and KCC I myself I'm also a 2002 graduate that experienced the tman split I'm here today to speak on the now seemingly defunct boundary adjustments there's a laundry list I could sit here and go through but my focus today is on my community and the tman split on October 30th when I received the email from the district the boundary adjustments were being halted my stomach dropped and my phone blew up till and families already in the midst of dealing with the aftermath of the trunk Retreat shooting
009were dismayed and Confused over this news we wholeheartedly believed the tman split was ending why would we believe that it was never promised you might say we didn't say those words to you but I would like to point you to an article from the Webster Kirkwood times that was published on March 29th 2021 that stated and I quote the district said adding new classrooms will also help eliminate the tman split in which students at tman elementary are split between North Kirkwood and ner middle schools possibly dividing friend groups if capacity is increased all tman students can move on to the same middle school there it is in black and white in our minds a promise was made the words were said and I refused to be told otherwise fast forward to today and the rug
010has been pulled out once again the Tillman split is not is not going to end all because of one data projection we all like data but sometimes data has faces and the faces are Tillman kids at the end of the day these kids will be fine but that doesn't mean it won't be a struggle that doesn't mean kids won't eat lunch by themselves in the bathroom because are unable to break into already formed friend groups this doesn't mean that kids won't walk into classrooms where they don't know anyone or that they won't be socially isolated as someone that has lived the tman split as both a student and parent I can tell you firsthand these are things that happen we are at a point in time when kids mental health is worse than ever and
011we have the ability to make a change a positive change it is long overdue for the adults in this District to do the hard work of boundary adjustments and stop putting the burden of on our tman kids to do the hard work of overcoming the social inequities that the split makes happen we don't want them to just be fine I didn't move my kids back to Kirkwood to just be fine I move them back to be great I sincerely hope you find a way to revisit boundary adjustments and end home and split thank you thank you Kate Stegman hello I am Kate Stegman and I am speaking to you tonight on behalf of my children I'd like to start by acknowledging the responses to emails and conversations I have been fortunate to have with several
012members of the board thank you for your time and especially for listening to my concerns and suggestions regarding the proposed boundary adjustments in preparing to speak tonight I wondered what was left to say I could speak to you about Equity many parents and concerned members of our district have shared countless stories of their children neighborhoods and previous experiences with separation and exclusion I share with them a concern for my children's well-being but do not believe the burden of proof should be on each family to quantify or qualify our potential trauma I believe that you do have empathy for these families and I'm asking for your support in identifying and providing an equitable solution I could speak to you about the Tillman fifth grade class you have by now heard about their response to being split
013apart for middle school I'm incredibly proud of their maturity confidence and eagerness to engage in difficult conversations they are learning every day about being a change maker and using their voices and talent bance to make a difference it cannot be overstated that they are watching their parents Educators Schoolboard members and administration can we show up for them lastly I could speak to you about Community while it is not easy to direct change as a district we have invested our time and financial resources in a process that has not come to an appropriate conclusion I am proud that so many voices have participated and believe we have learned a lot about each other and what we prioritize it is critical that we move forward with Clarity and specificity in adjusting the current Elementary School boundaries in
014doing so we can accomplish what the district set out to do and build a spirit of trust going forward now is the right time to do the right thing thank you thank you uh Gwen Stegman okay hello uh wait is this on it is yep you're good the uh I'm Gwen stman uh one I'm the oldest of Kate Sten sons and daughters and I'd like to talk to you about the tman split the tman split is a big problem so I wanted to talk to you about it as you all know the Tillman split is when some of us go to North and some of us go to knifer now I don't like the tman split and I did a lot of work I made a petition and talk to the whole class about it
015uh some of my most of my friends will be split away from me if the tman split continues now one of your ideas was for all the school stud to split but that doesn't solve the problem the problem is Tillman splits I'm telling you this first hand from a fifth grader at Tilman the boundary lines you still have the boundary lines I did so much work you did so much work let's make a count I'm also shy which will make it hard for me to make new friends my best friend and I will go to different middle schools and if the Tillman splits does not stop this will be one of my least favorite years I've been worried about this since kindergarten this is true for a lot of my classmates thank you for hearing
016my opinion thank [Applause] you m sign re do we have online comments yes we have online comments and as a reminder all online are virtual comments must be submitted by 4 P.M on the day of the meeting any comments submitted after the deadline will be shared with the board and the first one is from Zach Martin Safety and Security I would like to start out by thanking the board for their service so thank you it was a little less than a year ago that I stood in front of the board expressing my concerns for the Safety and Security of KSD schools I explain that we cannot be naive to the evil and violence in our community I pleaded that we need to put Safety and Security above education the premise behind this statement is that
017we need to protect the school before we can educate it cold brutal fact it doesn't matter how educated our children are if we are unable to keep them alive the recent Trunk or Treat incident was awful but we were so fortunate no one was severely hurt or killed it is a reminder of how those how close violence if unchecked can get to our children less than a year ago I asked for school resource officers at every school I ask that we secure our schools and put our money and resources towards us before educational programs I ask the board where do we stand with this and are you doing everything you can to expedite it I am looking forward to your prompt response the next one is Skyler Kim I strongly urge you to end the
018tman split I understand that ending the split is a difficult task but it is more difficult experience to go through for years we have asked our students to endure this challenge because we cannot find a reasonable solution and I believe that we should take that burden off of them and fix it it is doable Tillman students have been through a lot this year and while that does not justify ending the split what it illustrates is that we cannot protect our children from all difficult experiences but if we can make something easier we should we can do hard things we can do this when others minimize the impact that a child enduring the split may have I ask you to to think about a few things if the Tillman split became the Kaiser or North gindel
019split how would parents respond my guess is not favorably this is because the split is a challenge for parents teachers and especially students to face additionally Middle School is a developmentally challenging time and keeping students together May provide the support they need to thrive I understand that it's easier to throw up your hands in defeat and pass it off to the next board but that is not the right thing to do I urge you to end the Tillman split and keep our kids together thank you this is from Laura heurn unfortunately I unable to attend tonight's meeting in person but when I saw that boundary adjustments were on the agenda I felt compelled to advocate for the boundary adjustments to be Revisited while the specific boundary changes would have no impact on the schools my
020kids attend the benefits of addressing Equitable capacity throughout the district would have offered numerous benefits to everyone first and foremost it would have put us in a position to improve our class-size standards which would create more positive learning environments for hundreds of children even with the new data Kaiser will still be in a tough position capacity wise for several years with one school unable to reduce class sizes how will we be able to make progress as a district furthermore as a former nkms student I was thrilled at the prospect of ending the Tillman split while I had been a Kaiser student and the hall of North were filled with my friends I saw firsthand how few tman kids there were and the increased social hardships they faced during the transition to Middle School these are
021only two of the major of the many secondary benefits that were tied to the boundary adjustments while new data might indicate that the scale of adjustment could be edited to discard the project entirely feels like a major disconnect from the community as a whole I strongly urge the district to consider revisiting these conversations and increase focus on the many facets of the issue Beyond Simple capacity this is from Nicole Brown boundary adjustment and Tillman split I recognize that the original initiative may have been accomplished by seeing a trend of future enrollment decrease thus allowing the potential to meet 85% utilization however several potential improvements and initiatives that families Administration teachers board members Etc uncovered along the way need to be under continued review I.E boundary adjustments at the elementary level Tillman split meum Park equity
022and fairness for all schools Etc we are asking that these initiatives not just be swept under the rug but addressed and Revisited fairly by the board and Dr Al and then Dominic Viano I've lived in Kirkwood my whole life and now have the privilege of sending my children to Kirkwood's amazing School District specifically Tillman Elementary while I understand there are many challenges with rezoning priorities it was a bit confusing to hear after the numerous letters options around upcoming changes over the past year which could prevent the Tillman split that actually nothing was being done because of the new data projections if there are any alternative actions and solutions out there which could be considered I would ask they explore all options and not rush to close the topic as I can't do on their list
023it's important to many families and students within Kirkwood that's it thank you moving on to 4.02 approval of the agenda I need a motion a second to approve the agenda for the December 18 2023 regular meeting as presented so move second all those in favor raise your right hand and say I I opposed motion passes uh 5.01 consent agenda approve approval I need a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda items 5.02 through 5.18 as presented so move second all those in favor raise your right hand and say I opposed thank you 6.01 Financial reports I need a motion second to approve the financial reports for November 2023 as presented move second Dr or turn over to Mr even revenues in November operating revenues in November were $1.7 million and that consist of
024203,000 in current taxes this is our first uh property tax payment for 2023 uh the 2023 tax year um most of the revenue property tax revenues come will come in December and January they'll be much more significant than this one so this is just the start of it um to linin taxes you see that's a negative amount of $116,000 uh this is due to property assessment Corrections and withholdings made by St Louis County um this is somewhat typical we see these um every year and we'll likely have an opportunity to recoup the that money when and the 2024 taxes are set in September operating expenditures in November were 6.8 million and that mainly consists of salaries and benefits in our prop I fund we paid $525,000 for the Kirkwood High School Turf project we budgeted
025$780,000 from this fund so the next payment we make on the turf the balance of that will be charged to the propy fund in our constru construction fund we spent 4.1 million on Prop bar related projects thank you anything to add Dr o any questions from the board all right we have a motion in second all those in favor raise your right hand and say I all opposed thank you thank you 6.02 boundary adjustments uh this is a topic before uh well I guess the motion first uh Miss Motika did you have a motion on this I do and what is that motion to direct the superintendent to look at elementary boundaries to investigate whether and propose if recommended modest adjustments could be made that would further one or more of the priority eras as
026identified on pages two and four of the administration's presentation on Boundary adjustment updates presented to the board on July 24th 201 23 is there a second second thank you and uh before we start uh further discussion uh president shurn could not be here but she did ask me to read this uh as part of the uh board's deliberation on this she says good evening apologies that I could not be here in person today however I would like to again acknowledge the hard work time and effort that has gone into the boundary adjustment discussions on behalf of Dr oric the administration particularly Dr Bailey our families and last but certainly not least my fellow Board of Education members there were strong comments made from board members at the last meeting and it is my hope that
027tonight's discussion will be one that is professional and productive it's okay to disagree and as a board of seven we won't all be on the same page all the time and that's okay there will also be times where the board challenges the direction of the superintendent and that's okay okay as well the key is to continue to work and do what's in the best interest of all of most sorry if not all students together we are doing great things in this district and we will continue to do so thank you all again for your time and dedication to serving the students of the Kirkwood school district and that was President sher's comments Miss mtika do you have anything to add about your motion yes this has been a very difficult time consuming process um I
028want to thank Dr Bailey Dr olich all the parents who've participated all of my fellow board members this has not been fun but it's important and the initial sorry the feedback summary that I referenced in my motion from the July 24th meeting said the main themes to add to overcrowding was walkability ending the Tillman split waiver options and a variety of other things the only item that Dr olich said at the last meeting that was his determination to not change boundaries was overcrowding and that we are I am asking you I am begging the district to have a broader look at what could be done to better address overcrowding for one the Tillman split class sizes walkability it can be done and it should be done uh questions I'll start on uh with Miss Bernardi
029okay thank you um yes I I do have some questions and comments and these are about the motion and the motion um is asking for the district to look at elementary boundaries although the district has been looking for the past 3 years and has seen some significant changes in enrollment the district recommended the boundaries remain the same after careful study and can continue to assess the building utilization and enrollment each year as the new information comes available It also says look to investigate and propose modest adjustments that would further one or more of the priorities who will determine if the adjustments are modest and which priorities will be chosen to further priorities were identified through the listening sessions the priorities were identified but not ranked the company that provides the software to make boundary scenarios
030could not make adjustment based on the rankings of these priorities the district waited to make the recommendation to get the most up-to-date enrollment information in October based on the data collected the district recommended no change to the boundaries and so no vote was required some board members disputed the data in the enrollment study and did not like the recommendation so we have a directive here to possibly make some modest changes based on furthering an unspecified priority so the question is has this work already been done my heart goes out to the tman families as I said in the work session I'm concerned about the students this year we all know Middle School is a difficult transition and the Administration has made waivers available and is working on a welcoming transition committee but I believe that
031it's too late this year to make this change the timing is bad why would you want to rush through a change in boundaries without a thoughtful decision process in order to get things done we need thoughtful decision making we need to listen to the administration the families and the community the board can make directives but is it really the best idea why not work collaboratively listen and continue to improve the process for for the future through strategic plan objectives further studies and engagement boundary adjustments are complicated and pose unintended consequences we should not abandon those carefully planned and implemented procedures with input from the community and administration this evening we approve the new board member ethics policy BBF this is a new policy which states our roles as board members I see that con conflicts
032with our policy in this motion it's item six delegate board policy Administration and school operations to the superintendent and maintain a productive professional relationship with the superintendent and District staff finding Solutions is not board governance rather than issuing directives why don't we work together with the administration to find the best solution for our students and families a solution that is well thought out and best for all thank thank you uh Miss PB sure thank you um I'm really happy that we are here today to talk about this um and to have this discussion openly about again what we have been talking about for a couple years now and to have an opportunity to voice a vote on this um because I I don't feel that that was had before so Dr ol I do have
033a couple questions for you um the last set of scenarios that were brought to us before October no scenarios included minor adjustments at the elementary level to support the Tillman split is that correct question one more time no scenarios were brought to the board that included minor adjustments at the elementary level to end the tman split I'll have to look to uh Dr Bailey to to make sure that I'm saying this correctly is it okay Dr Bailey come Jo come join us um what I want what I want to say is is that one of the things that emerged after um the July listening sessions was the idea to minimize the impact that we had on the number of students and so uh I think the way that we had said that was to minimize
034the disruption of the number of students that were impacted and so that was one thing that we that we did try to take into account in terms of keeping that number of students whether it was at the middle school moving Middle School um boundaries or moving Elementary School boundaries uh we did look at it under the with a lens of Trying to minimize the impact to our students that's not answering my question okay that's that's why I want to make sure go ahead and ask it again Dr Bailey Dr Bailey did a scenario come to the board that looked at minor adjustments at the elementary level so that we could make adjustments to end the Tillman split I'm yes or no sorry the sorry I don't have a voice from last week so I'm looking
035I lost mine too so I'm getting it back as well I'm going to sound kind of scratchy not evasive I promise um both the scenarios that came forward last time um impacted about 10 to 15% of our elementary current elementary students so I'm not sure where your minor um is but just wanted to say that's about the number that was impacted but those were the three last public scenarios correct thank you okay perfect so no scenarios were brought to us with the full intention of making Minor Adjustments because those scenarios were based on the last round of public feedback and I think that's really important because what we what this motion is essentially getting at is saying where could we make minor adjustments at that Elementary level based on these these goals in these prioritization
036factors and I just I wanted to make that really clear so um one of the things um that I also wanted to add here is um regarding utilization um I think now is the time to address the overcrowding we still have issues for four to five years um so when we're looking at that as a priority and a goal now is a time to to address that um I don't think we should have to wait four to five years I really love the parents point tonight that said that's a whole Elementary level of a student that has to go through school before we're going to actually make improvements for them um I also would like to um when we're looking at it for this next round if our board uh chooses to uh stress all
037students and what's best look at Equity um no discussion about equity for all of the elementary kids was brought up in any of this um it was purely looking at utilization like was said and we have a strategic plan and one of our pillars is all about Equity we are supposed to be doing everything with the lens of equity and social emotional learning and so I would ask it we really think it's Equitable to have one of five elementary schools go to two middle schools and I don't think that the answer can be yes um one of our pillars is seal and you know we've talked about well we've looked atal data for the Middle School to base our decisions on making no changes in removing the Tillman split but have we asked the fifth
038grade teachers have we asked the other ele elementary teachers who have been working with these kids since kindergarten to understand what it impacts those students I don't believe we have um from the teachers that I've talked to so I would ask for that to be part of this next process um and then lastly um I think now is the time for us to stand up and do what's right and to vote Yes to do what's right for all of our kids to not accept the mistakes and bad decisions that we made 50 years ago um because we are supposed to be prioritizing what is best for all students so I hope that this motion passes thank you Miss Andrews yeah I want to first start and recognize that um this is a really confusing and
039hard time for a lot of families and a lot of students um Dr R does feel like this decision is best for the majority of students but I want to recognize that there are some students in families that don't feel that this decision is best for um them um I want to start by asking can you speak to um the boundary adjustment and the impact it would have on current overcrowding so if we were to adjust boundaries what impact would that have on current overcrowding and I'm asking this because we were told that it would be a 10-year one of the things that we had emphasized from the beginning was that there would be waiver opportunities for families to stay at the school that they would stay at which is where kind of that 10-year
040thought came in that if if all families stayed at their current school that there wouldn't um that there may be a delay in the impact of those fam of those uh boundary adjustments looking at the elementary level at the very least but without under without knowing what adjustments would be made I can't speak to the direct impact that that would have tomorrow for example so but in order to impact current overcrowding um would we still be able to um provide waivers I guess I don't know who I I I'll be I'll be happy to answer that in terms of uh if if any any curve let's say we say any curve that would get us closer to um the utilization that we're hoping for um ahead of what our projections are currently showing uh would
041necessarily have to have us take a look at um that commitment in terms of uh waivers and whether or not the students could stay at their school um until uh until they are done or the other thing that we had committed to was not splitting sibling pairings okay so Dr rri at this time um given this motion is there any new information or another solution that you and your team have come up with that would change your recommendation at this point no as I said two weeks ago I I I stand by that decision I I recognize uh how difficult um it was and and has been for parents especially and students at Tilman um that is why as part of my recommendation I included a very direct um engagement uh with family um and
042with administration of both middle schools um and with the Tillman Administration leadership um and teachers so at this time um certainly I think it would be um uh I certainly would want to be consistent in saying that my recommendation from two weeks ago stands as it was presented okay so it's fair that I even if this recommendation passes you would come back and it would be the same recommendation again I can't speak to um the the until it passes I can't pass comment on that that's so you know this is hard stuff this isn't easy and I know that we all um being a board member is not easy and I know that we all signed up for this but um my experience as board president has given me some insight into school governments Schoolboard
043governance the direction given to the superintendent is through policy and evaluation if the board chooses to direct the superintendent um in his recommendation that sets a bad precedent that the board can act as the superintendent Tillman families I want you to know that I support you um but I cannot overstep my my role as a board member and change the superintendent recommendation this would have potential long-term negative implications for all students I will remain um committed to holding the superintendent accountable to help develop a plan for transitions to middle school for our tman students as he indicated in his recommendation thank you thanks Mr caffy yeah just a few quick comments so uh Dr o as I understand it as you've seen the motion and we've had time to review it that um as stated
044what this motion is asking for is work that has already been completed by the administration is that that correct I believe in terms of uh well yeah the short answer is yes in fact I would I would point to the two slides that were included from the ju July 24th meeting that was uh the work that we did and Dr Bailey and his team did uh to go back and um basically this was the work that developed uh scenarios a b and c that were presented to um our families okay um to Echo some other statements I I want to state that I'm aware of this process and the recommendation earlier this month has been hard for some families U specifically I want to say to tman families that I know the past several months
045has been difficult for many reasons um I'm committed and I know all board members are to do whatever we can within the current framework to support students in any way including an optimal transition to sixth grade thank you mtiga anything to add I think that that um I think we're going to have to respectfully disagree I do not believe that after the second round of scenarios were presented and we were all when I say we I mean the whole Community the board everybody we were all under the impression that there would be a third round of scenarios taking all the information from the first round and all the information from the second round and I think as I said to some parents at some of the different meetings we're going to kind of smush them
046around together and figure out something that works because there were good aspects in each scenario and there were not good aspects in each scenario but I was certainly under the impression that we would get a third round of scenarios with more Community feedback and that with those third round of scenarios we would still be looking at overcrowding utilization a walkability ending the Tillman split that those had those were the priorities that had risen to the top all four of them not just overcrowding and then we not only didn't get a third round of scenarios but the recommendation was made based simply on overcrowding that's what it stated in the letter that went out to parents on October 30th that's what was stated at the meeting last or two weeks ago when Dr R said I've
047done my work in the context of the priorities specifically addressing overcrowding in our schools none of the other priorities were mentioned that was made very clear I understand the concern that you know well if we move the boundaries because of the waivers nothing's going to change anyway that's assuming every single family chooses the waver I don't think that's going to happen if I had a kindergartner who was just starting and was moving to a school that then that kindergartner could walk to I would make that change in a heartbeat and finally I understand the concern about policy and overstepping and all of that but again at the meeting two weeks ago Dr olich said if the board makes a decision to tax Tas myself and our team with predicating it on a different Foundation as
048has been discussed here that is certainly something I look forward to continuing as an agenda item at a future meeting that's exactly what I have presented in my motion to fully look not just at overcrowding but at the four priorities that were clearly stated from the beginning and then seem to disappear sometime in the heat of August thank you and before we vote I I will add um first of all if this was easy we probably would have done it once or twice in the last 45 years uh but we do need to um be aware that this is a district that historically has fluctuated uh thousands of students smaller than it is now and thousands of students larger and having boundary lines uh that are able to uh adapt to that situation is particularly
049important when as we've seen from the priorities uh that have been stated uh allowing some level of waivers uh for students and families is important to the community uh and it's something we want to respect and that makes it all the more important that we be proactive about uh adjusting lines uh sort of before we need to so that we can also accommodate those waiver opportunities to miss moa's Point uh that it assumes um no one would take advantage of going to a closer school it also assumes that no families would move in or out of the houses that are uh changed so I do believe that the impact would be seen um you know obviously over time but perhaps somewhat faster than we anticipate uh and the last point I would raise uh is
050that uh I I drove along Rose Hill on my way over here I don't want to pick on any particular house um but I I did drive past a house that is a half mile from us here in Robinson um that has a sidewalk on the north side of Rose Hill and the south side of Rose Hill that goes straight to Robinson uh and that those houses are currently uh set to go to Kaiser and under our projections uh Kaiser will be at 82% and Robinson at 72% of the last year that we present uh project and so it's it's examples like that that um cause me to think that there is uh probably a better Elementary map that we could come up with that accommodates more of the priorities that the uh the administration
051uh expressed at the beginning of this process and also through uh feedback that we received over the course of the the fall spring and summer so with that do you have anything to add Dr or no I don't think so thank you all right we'll proceed to a vote I have a motion in second uh raise your right hand and say I if you vote to approve uh the motion all and those opposed I all right motion fails 3 to three next topic 7.01 Equity task force hiring report all right uh good evening vice president Boo and board um excited to bring to you an update um on where we are in terms of our task force focus on uh our staffing throughout our district and so a lot of the beginning will be very
052familiar information um information that we typically go through in terms of why we have this report um it comes out of the ask from our task force report from back in 2016 um where we looked at our achievement and said that we need to make an improvement in terms of our staffing in order to impact that achievement across our district um we tasked our human resources department to look at intentional focus on racial diversity amongst buildings and positions and so that's a part of where a lot of this work comes out of um this report is given in July and December every year um and can be found on our website as well um I will speak to specifically where we are in terms of numbers for staff and what things we are doing in
053terms of um continuing to ensure that we have diversity of our staff um to ensure that again moving towards that achievement of diversity for our students um not a whole lot here that really speaks to other than kind of where this information comes from is what you see there um and then the next number of slides we'll go through actually building by building again I won't spend time really specifically diving very far into that I know that you all as a board have had this information I know that it is available online um and so I will kind of move through those I will just point out uh as far as our district numbers we are currently at 15.48% across the entire District in terms of Staff of color that includes both certified and support
054staff across the district um this is down from where we were in the beginning of the year or in July um again that July number fluctuates quite a bit because that's literally still in the middle of our hiring process season our turnover moving into the following school year and so um we'll talk a little bit more about kind of the recommendation as far as when is most appropriate for this report moving forward uh based on that information so again I will go building by building but will not um spend too much time specifically delving into detail in any of them um I will just kind of again point out um you will see again the designation at the top our certified staff being our administrators and certified teachers and then moving through the rest of
055the um list that you will see will be all of our support staff U broken up into SE several categories um historically you might have seen for example our technology is usually there as a separate thing uh in this report that I got um and it against comes from our systems our um Finance plus and Infinite Campus system and so it does not have that as a separate designation they are within the office Personnel for this one um so again it just some fluctuations that are out of our control but again everyone is represented in the data that we do see here um so again it is broken down by building um and you can see as we go through those we do include our um ASC staff uh our buildings and grounds and our
056Huff learning staff Learning Center staff as well um our maintenance department all of those are part of the what we call the other category um within our district as our District staff we do have numbers that we get as well from First Student in Chartwells um that is listed there and then also from Special School District um as part of our report that we're able to provide again specifically for the staff that service our students within our district overall um again you can see the breakdown of our staff across our district um and that is specific to um all every building again is specifically broken down there by demographic as well um and then we have that breakdown for our comparison for year to year and so from December of last year to December of
057this year you can see the change that has happened um we are we do see a decrease um overall in our um staff of color throughout the district um and so we'll talk a little bit more about where what implications we believe that has and how we continue to see an improvement in that um as far as our student demographics these numbers come directly from Dr Bailey's report um that's given in October and so this specific graph is specific to our student demographic and our makeup across the district in terms of students um as you can see as a district we are at about 21% students of color across the entire district and again you can see they're broken down by building there as well in terms of our certified staff um again we do
058break it down to where we can see again year toe um and breaking into certified and support and so this is for our certified staff um again we do see a decrease uh overall and staff of color but we do see one of our biggest increases normally and it's happening across the district definitely is Hispanic um and so we are seeing that But continuing to want to see um and not having a decrease in one place and an increase in another but just an increase in all would be the goal in terms of Staff of color um and all staff and being able to make sure that we have um the diverse of a pop as we can and so looking specifically at support staff again um we do have a decrease there as well
059and so again want to make sure that we continue to highlight where we see a room and need for improvement and how we can make sure that that can happen across the district um our certified again broken down by building and also by demographic and again I'm not going to talk too much through these pieces here um going to get specific to what we do with this information um and so as other piece that I did want to highlight um based on the task force report and the task force feedback um we did add in a couple of new slides this one being one of them particular to our our applicant pool and so um you can see there kind of the variation first uh grouping our white applicant pool compared to our people of
060color and then also those who chose not to respond um we do have a pretty robust applicant pool of uh staff of color that are applying um and that is Contin that is there um throughout the years that's a four-year Trend that you see there um and so the applicant pool is there um and and now we're focused on okay well what what do we do to make sure that that's yielding the results that we want to see um we do see a kind of again looking at um year to year back in 201920 a total of just over 2 30 comparative to our most recent year 270 applicants of color throughout the district and this would be for all positions um throughout the district and throughout an entire school year is where this information
061would come from uh you have seen this slide before which is our retention rates specifically across the district in terms of support and certified staff um and we do have a pretty high retention rate across our district um and that is something that we want to again look at in terms of how is that happening um for all staff but then again we specifically want to break it down in terms of how is it happening for staff of color and so you'll see here on this slide um and again this is a new piece that was added based on the equity task force feedback um that we do have specific information that you can see here moving into each of these school years as a a point of information so for example into the 23
06224 school year 88.6 eight% of Staff of color were returned had returned at the beginning of that school year so that's what those are for is that they are specific to as we roll back into the school year those are our retention numbers for that school year so you can see the breakdown specifically for certified um staff and then also we do have another graph that looks specifically at our support staff breakdown and that turnover year to year and so those pieces both the applicant pool and the retention are new pieces to this report um based on the the task force feedback um wanted to just highlight a quote um that is is important to me and that I think that we I I really wanted to make sure that we focus on in terms
063of doing this work um learning how to retain black teachers needs to be a focus of the entire School retention needs to be a recruitment tool um it has to be a focus for all of us it can't be that um you know it's the focus of the Dei person or of um a few principles it's the focus of our entire Community um is that we see the value in making sure that people are seen as people who are valued in their space and then from that valuing they will be able to hopefully continue to recruit people and want people to be able to come to that space as well we have to Value them and so through doing that we can be able to continue to move towards the next piece in that terms
064of recruitment so um specific two things that we as a district have been doing and continue to do um again you do you do see from our strategic plan um that the Human Resources office and myself um have been meeting quarterly with our principles to focus on again that focus of retention and recruitment um the specific ask that I can give a very specific example um we did ask in our most recent in uh conversations for principles to have what we call stay interviews and so that is an interview with staff that we believe are staying specifically to find out reasons why um as we look at and think about in terms of retention um we have to understand what things we're doing that makes people want to stay in order to continue to promote
065them to stay um and so that's a specific ask that we have asked principles to do um not with all staff but with a number of our staff to kind of start developing some data and information for us in terms of why people choose to stay um and that is a focus for us um right now um other pieces of that continue to be thinking about you know recruitment efforts um in terms of for example hiring fairs and different things like that um that our human resources department continues to work with our principles to continue to push out as well um also the opportunities for our diverse staff to connect in Affinity spaces um again we've seen this happen and it continues to happen across our district um all the time in terms of people
066of color often they flock towards people of color they look for people who have experience and who have had the experience in that setting um to be able to to have the experience that they want and so I would and I would say particularly you know as a in a predominantly white institution there is a need for us to be able to know how do we navigate those spaces and those are things that um you're able to get from colleagues that that look like them and so having those spaces and opportunities is something that we definitely continue to promote the opportunity for people to connect and have a better understanding and have those conversations to again create that sense of belonging and have opportunity for that um and finally an intentional focus on belonging for
067our current students um to again Foster that interest in teaching um and those who are interested to be able to come back to Kirkwood for example and to teach um we have definitely focused on as we saw a need um Dr Bailey and myself last year uh spoke with a number of our students particularly our black students at Kirkwood High School um who felt like there was a lack of belonging there was a sense and a need to be able to um have a better community and culture specifically for themselves that's Kirkwood High School and we have put some things in place to really focus on that and really make sure that students can have that sense of connection and have opportunities to connect with one another um and so that has been a piece
068of again continuing to make sure that those that sense of belonging is something that we see um throughout as well so some other next steps um we do have a collaborative recruitment event we've historically done a uh a hiring or networking event as a district historically and so we are collaborating with some other local districts to do that this year um because we Fe we see and we believe that there is power in being able to do things together um and we don't feel like it's something where um we need to have people going to six events but we can have one event and that can be the one where multiple people can get to the same see multiple districts and so that's going to happen in February actually we will host it uh Kirkwood
069High School as well and then again those conversations um with principles and with our sta leadership staff um as at our leveled meetings continuing to allow them to be able to really remember that this is a focus um it's not until we give it the attention and we make sure that it's a conversation that we can actually have the attention to do to have work come towards it um and then finally I do want to recommend um that this report be given once a year and this was based on the education task force feedback it is something that again that July number fluctuates so much and it is something that that number and that the pieces of information come from that are a little less reliable and so we do recommend that in December this
070is a time when our um our numbers are stable um we know where staff are have gone and all those pieces and it's a time of the year where we're not seeing things that will change very quickly um over a couple of months which is definitely what happens in July August as we continue to have those changes in Staffing happen even during that time um and then finally um we do want to make sure that we acknowledge and think about our task force report um it is now 7 years old uh as we look at 2016 um it is time for us to investigate where we have continue to see things grow and where we've see things change um one of the um examples that I could certainly give you of this work uh and
071the report um coming to fruition uh is just my role in general um it's been a specific ask from that report that we have a specific focus on diversity Equity inclusion as a full-time piece um and that is what this role is able to do um I do want to again speak to I don't do it alone I do it with the collaboration of our principles I do the collaboration of this team um in leadership and so we have to continue to make that the work that we do together it can't just be one person or a group of people's work it has to be the work of all of us in order for us to see the growth that we want to see so um I will leave it there and open up the
072opportunity for question send it back to you Mr boyo thank you for that uh presentation Dr or do you have anything to add just uh every opportunity I have want to thank say thank you to Dr map and the work that he brings I think that uh you see with this presentation uh the passion that he brings to his role um and uh certainly have been able to witness him working in many different environments with community members staff members and students um and he is uh uh truly very good at what he does and we're very lucky to have him all right questions or comments from the board starting with Miss Motika thank you Dr Matt for all the work you're doing and it's really great to see um how you know almost across the
073board the 23 24 retention rates are are good um I really like the stay interviews um you know we usually interview people when they leave but to find out why they're staying I think is great um and just you know thank you for what you're doing and let us know how we can further support you Mr caffy yeah uh Dr M I had forwarded some questions uh related to just the the numbers tying back to the Strategic plan so wanted to I I hear your points on the July numbers fluctuate excuse me fluctuating but if I'm correct those are the numbers that are the Baseline for our 2324 strategic plan correct in terms of I think in qu in terms of staff in I don't know if those are the Baseline I guess for your
074question in terms of if we make this presentation in December you're saying how do we then make the Strategic plan based on the December numbers becomes your question so to oversimplify our strategic plan you got a point a and we're trying to get to point B by the end of the year our point a if I'm correct and correct me if I'm wrong Dr MPP and Dr oric but we're basing a 10% increase in buildings where you know current staff of color is below 15% based on where they were in July MH correct so go ahead I would just say based on our most recent data point which I would say if that were December of the previous year still that's in terms of like that's our staffing start and then we move on to
075the next December when the report would be given would be that next time that we would have that change um I guess I I I guess in terms of the report um the data would be yes we would just look at the December number instead of the July number in that case that's what you're recommending yes okay Dr o is is that making sense to I totally get the point that July is a kind of a difficult point of time so going forward if we're basing our starting point on the July numbers that might be something we need to look at right in other words I see what you're saying is we just need to make sure that we're looking at the at the same data when we looked for a Delta to judge whether
076or not we're doing it successfully that's a that's a fair point we will definitely look into that make sure that that's exactly what we're doing yeah because the the way I look at at it and I think I shared with you uh via late night email uh in prep is uh our strategic plan in set terms of setting our Baseline almost all but one building fall with a goal of 5% increase in staff of color from beginning year to end of year so I'd like to like some consistent feedback that we had from when we reviewed the development of strategic plan is to actually have like what is the true number knowing that the the um denominator is fluctuating a little bit on us but like what true number of staff are we chasing out
077there and that number we definitely I'll make sure that Dr olor has that for you and this week's update um and I definitely believe that that's something that we can those like you said that's a concrete thing it's something that we can look at and see that change yes I'd really like to solidify as much as possible with that true you know black and white numbers that we're we're chasing for this and all the targets and then my last question is um I appreciate the info on retention and how important that is to all this right um but the recruitment piece um it was mentioned I believe in the the PowerPoint that the the the buildings have a role in the actual recruitment so can you speak to that briefly and I know you're not
078the HR department so yeah um but and the point of my question is is I know our principles have a big job um and we've talked about what some of their levels of accountability could be for these numbers and I just want to be sensitive to if we're tasking them with actual reten I get they need to be accountable for along with everyone's support retaining their staff but the recruiting piece yeah um go ahead and I and I I would definitely say that's a joint effort um it's not the job of one principal and their building so much as it's a collective effort of all of our principles um all of our principles definitely support our collaborative diversity our diversity collaborative event we couldn't do that with just our HR staff and other pieces of
079central office staff we do require we need principles um and so they are part of that work they're part of that recruiting piece because you know they're the ones in the front lines and that are supporting people when they're in the buildings and and they're helping people get there and so they do help they go to some recruiting fairs as well um that's part of their role and that's something that again they find Value in that's that building of that relationship even before they even have people possibly in their buildings and even networking for future people that may come to their buildings um so I would say that they are part of that um certainly you know as a as a as a whole our human resources department and then our even our teams are
080able to support and lead some of that work as well um but we do we do rely on some of that that collaboration with our principles not saying that they do it all but certainly they're they're part of that team okay thank you m Andrew Miss ping thank you Dr map for going through that I appreciate all of your data and your passion here um I really appre appreciate the work and it's really exciting to see where we've come um as a district right and really focusing on this um because we directed and supported the the district to really focus on Equity so it's just really exciting to see some of that work in progress um and and and again just how everything that you are doing here especially with this discussion brings back you
081know we're making all decisions based on Equity um and and what's best for for our students so I I appreciate that um and I would you know I think as time goes on and we get more input love to map out the stay interviews um information that you hear over the years to really again see how we can make adjustments in our strategic plan um because I think those can tell us a lot and it would be good to see themes um in future years and lastly I love your comment here on the last bullet um on your second to last slide um which is about the intentional focus on belonging with current students and um again if we're really talking about belonging we need to be talking about you know all of our community
082and the culture and all our buildings so I I just really appreciate that thank you Miss bernardy thank you thank you Dr Mt for all your work on the equity task force and the renewed um focus with you at the home so thanks for that appreciate appreciate it and compliment you on all these great numbers over the years and also had a quick question about your percentages of your staff of color and I wonder about the um if it's reflective of the building the student population I couldn't really see from the way you present the numbers but I'm sure it's something you might look at because when you talk about belonging and have the students seeing themselves I think that's really important and it looks like we're showing great strides and I just um wonder
083if maybe next time we might be able to look at it reflective of the building populations also absolutely yeah we do we have the student side there and then the the breakdowns by the other buildings but then comparatively that might be something that we could we could definitely consider if there's a way to to see that happen absolutely thank you so much and I just like to comment quickly obviously and I think the Dr understand this the board has a um commitment to uh diversity equity and inclusion and and the work of the equity task force and uh putting the resources that can be used behind um the very metrics that we're seeing in this report uh and obviously if there's more that can come from the board uh with our support for that would'
084be interested in hearing that and the other thing I wanted to mention which has a little less to do specifically with the diversity of our staff but looking at the retention numbers I did want to just frankly give a shout out the trend line for support staff overall is um I mean frankly remarkable uh in in a positive way and the trend for certified is Bucking a trend I know the the m6 data came out uh earlier today and there was some reporting about Statewide uh retention among certified uh staff in all districts has been uh sharply decreasing over the last few years and so any sort of increase uh that we're showing is is Bucking that Trend in an impressive way and so I did want to give it a shout out about that
085and Dr B if you had anything to add about that feel free well thank you very much and I do appreciate you tying that uh because uh MIP 6 is something that's looking at and I know um I sent you a a picture today I met with a a local state legislator um and uh teacher retention and really education as a whole K through2 public education is uh certainly on the radar in Jeff City going into the next legislative session a couple of things that I want to make sure that I point out um one is uh I do believe that we can look at the District certified staff retention and really point to the efforts of our cni department of our professional development department um a year ago with that complete and total focus
086on um really trying to recapture that idea of of the of the Kirkwood staff and be being a part of a family uh that idea of the welcoming and the belonging we were obviously very excited about that and then I think I I I I certainly want to uh point out is if you're on that um Dr map if you turn to the Kirkwood School District support staff retention while I do believe a lot of that still um we did include all of our support staff with the Board of Education support U for the first time that any memory um we paid to have our support staff be part of our professional development um last year and then most importantly and I want to say this to the Board of Education um I I do
087believe uh that it is more than just a correlation that that support staff retention is higher going into this year um based on what was an unprecedented move by the board a year ago um to increase support staff compensation in the middle of the school year um and then again going as part of the salary package giving the support staff an increase going into this school year so every opportunity I have uh to hold up the board and their work um I think this uh data is uh is showing that in fact uh it's working so thank you thank you Dr M moving on to 7.02 prop R Finance report do we get a uh reprising of the role of Mr Rome all right thank you uh very much uh Mr Boo and um as
088our um as Miss Andrews is already alluded to I'll have you introduce U because I know that his last name is not from navigate um but introduce Nick here but before we get started u i want to take the opportunity for the Board of Education certainly for our community um I want to make sure and and thank uh the board Miss shern in particular for allowing us this to put this on uh tonight's agenda we are nearing the completion very near the completion of almost $70 million of improvements to our district whether it's Ada um improvements that it's two years ago we were we were cutting that ribbon with masks on still in the midst of covid to all the way to today with new spaces that our kids will be able to occupy um
089we will continue to have ribbon cuting into um second semester but I wanted to take this opportunity to give Mr R um and U our our partners from navigate uh to really highlight the work that has been done um I will say it because I don't think uh Mr Rome would say it quite like this uh in the face of unprecedented supply chain issues uh in the face of uh inflation rates uh to the point where uh we had to revise our schedule um to add U nearly a year to the completion dates on our projects under that revised schedule our projects will be finished um on time and under budget and and so again I know this isn't something Mike Rome would say as part of his uh as part of his report but
090the the literally hundreds if not thousands of people from the two people that you have sitting in front of you all the way down to subcontractors that that might be working right now as I look at my watch uh as we finish up some of these spaces literally hundreds of thousands of people have contributed to this um and it all started in um in Winter of 2021 when this board of education made the determination to um uh to put prop r on the ballot in our community um supported that and so again want to hold up Mike and his team Mr Rome excuse me and his team and the work that navigate has done um because it is truly impressive and I I don't want for a moment to take it for granted Mr Rome
091thank you um I think all of you have met Nick feler in the past that is his last name feler um so he's with you probably just made that up but we we can't check it he's with uh navigate Building Solutions who is our construction management firm they serve as the owner's rep so they um they've really helped us for the last couple of years uh with all these projects um with their expertise um all their guidance they've been on site every day um I probably have um either emailed text or talked to Nick every day for the past couple years um so um we couldn't have done it without navigate and and Nick and his team and um I'd also like to thank Russ Larry and Trisha Horton they're they're from our uh maintenance
092department and the rest of our maintenance staff as well um they too spent um the last couple of years every day um making sure that prop bar was completed on time on budget and um the quality that we require for our buildings um so um so anyway I'll move into the present ation I too want to thank the Board of Education and our community for supporting prop r as you know prop R will improve all of our schools has improved all of our schools and so that's what I'm going to show you tonight and then we'll get into um the budget and um and potentially deciding uh what to do next all right there we go um so prop bar we will um enable us to address safety access ility and overcrowding we built 45
093additional classrooms um at um five of our schools but in addition to that we improved accessibility and in a few of our schools we added ramps added lifts elevators we made security improvements which included secure entrances at a couple of our buildings connection corridors and cameras and um all schools received additional cameras we d DED the number of cameras that we have in our buildings and then we also made Heating and Cooling improvements so at KCC couple of the main things that we did was we built a new secure entrance and moved the main office to the front part of the building and we built a new canopy around the side and back of KC parents drop off their children and pick up their children each day at the classroom it's a pretty long walk
094around the building to do that so uh the canopy was really important uh to give them some protection from rain and snow at Kaiser Elementary we built a new Ada vestule we also made renovations to the nurses clinic and added a couple restrooms at Robinson we built a new Ada ramp added a lift inside we uh built additional boys and uh girls restrooms and we also made other restroom improvements and we upgraded her elevator we basically built them a new elevator at North Glendale we added a secure entrance this was uh the uh North Glendale and KCC were the last two schools that did not have a secure entrance we built a new Ada ramp made restroom improvements and renovated the nurses Clinic uh we also made HV HVAC improvements there so the next few
095schools are schools that received building additions we added on to two of our elementaries Tillman and Westchester both middle schools and the high school and so at tman we built eight new classrooms uh you see in the photo on the left that's a one of the classrooms four of them will be used for third grade two will be used for second grade and two will be used for fifth grade uh that enables us to use some of the other classrooms in the building for things such as stem and maker space and Robotics so it gives us a lot of flexibility within that school the middle photo is the new library media center so if you uh if you're familiar with tman their their old library was too small very small and in the basement um
096so now they have a a brand new library it's on the middle uh floor of the new edition um we also built a new gem that's the right-hand photo um at Tilman um the gym that they have their current gym was used doubled as a cafeteria so half the day they were using half the gym for seating for the cafeteria so um so those important to build them a new gym to make them Equitable with our other buildings so it's great to have that um in addition we improved uh their entrance and parking lot and made HVAC improvements at Westchester we built a total of 10 new classrooms two of them were completed almost two years ago now um and the eight classroom Edition that we just finished in August uh that will include um
097six classrooms for third grade two of those are um new sections that were added just this year uh one will be used one of the rooms will be used for special ed one will be used for reach and then one art and one music that too just like Tilman enables us to have some flexibility for classrooms like robotics SSD and collaboration spaces spaces um in the middle you see their new library of media center the uh it's a beautiful space if you haven't been in there it's it's wonderful um the old library will be converted into or was converted into a fifth grade classroom and an otpt room we also expanded a cafeteria and we added some additional parking in the back of Westchester at kner middle we built four additional classrooms which include a
098pltw engineering classroom Art band and a sore or science classroom the existing Band Room will become the new Orchestra room orchester room will be used as Wellness U their existing art will be used as uh a flex space space or potentially fax and then their existing P pltw room will be used for work woodworking uh we also enclosed um two of their wings so that new addition then uh provides connects it to the two wings of the back of the school which just imp improves the flow of the school and uh improves safety as well we also made some Ada uh interior accessibility improvements with some uh ramps at North Middle we converted the old central office into eight new classrooms four of them will be used for World Language uh one will be used
099for an ALC room a staff collaboration room and a gifted education room uh that then provide space spaces for social worker elll seal new counseling room new music room we also relocated the main office so that's on the opposite side of where it was in the past the old main office is now a much larger band room and then Orchestra moved from that um exterior classroom that you could only get to by walking outside of the building uh that enabled us to move it to the front of the building where the old band room used to be and now that Orchestra room as you know will become a new meeting room space where we'll hold U board meetings and we hope to be in there uh for one of the board meetings that starts in
100January we did build a the um enclosed connection quarter that's what you see kind of in the middle on the top uh that connects two of the wings um and then we also converted three existing rooms to into science classrooms and made Fitness room Renovations at Kirkwood High School we built 15 additional classrooms we have a 10 classroom Edition that's on the dhy faery side and then we renovated the existing main office office into five new classrooms because we built the new main office and welcome center on the dhy fery side so the new addition will include uh three fax classrooms two commercial K kitchens and one fax demo classroom those images are on on the next slide uh but also an SSD classroom an act classroom and a math and Engineering classroom um the
101renovated main offices we're using that for a study Focus block class Esports room and three uh Special Egg classrooms um so these images up on the screen are the uh the one in the middle is the um the new Welcome Center main office uh on the bottom right is uh the one of the connection corridors that we built so it connects the Northeast building to the Northwest building in addition to that we built another connection Corridor that connects to Northeast building to the west building so now all the buildings are connected uh with the exception of the two gyms and the Walker nitorum so kids don't have to exit the school to get from one building to another other than um the gyms and the in the pool um we also built a new security
102office on the es side of Campus that was completed a couple years ago um we added 21 additional parking spaces and made some HVAC improvements at time high school so these are some of the images of the high school on the top left is an image of the commercial kitchen so there's two of those the middle one is a demo classroom and the one on the right hand side is your more typical classroom so those are U beautiful spaces if you haven't been in there um it's it's incredible you'll uh it'll kids will love being in there um so navigate as I mentioned they really helped us throughout this process uh we did um it was kind of a a rocky Journey just because we passed prop bar in April of 21 at a time
103when interest rates were low um and shortly after that a lot of things happened interest rates climbed um but also we um experienced um material shortages High inflation labor shortages um and so it was really difficult as we were designing these projects to really work to keep them in budget and that's where navigate really helped us tremendously so um along the way they were um helping us and guiding us um and as that oops sorry I didn't change um and so along the way um we couldn't have done it without them with without their their help and guidance and so um construction cost uh inflation was 19% from June 21 to June 22 and so some of the work that uh navigate helped us with was number one um doing continuous cost estimating throughout the
104process um they helped us identify $4 million in um scope savings without changing the program spaces that we had originally planned they aligned the uh projects and bid packages to really increase the the bids but also the quality of the bids that we got so for example they recommended package in the high school knifer and North together as one project that then attracts larger construction firms which usually usually equates to um you know better quality um it also attracts more firms which helps with getting better bids so that's some of the recommendations that they made um an example of uh another example is changing construction schedules so when we put that bid package out uh we only received one bid the the um the specs required that they finish the project in August of 202
10523 but again that was at a time when contractors were having a really difficult time getting materials finding people to do the work um so they recommended uh extending it to August I'm sorry October of 2023 so we gave them a few more months uh we rebid it um and got four bids at that time versus the one previously and um saved $1.5 million just from doing that just from uh changing the construction schedules um navigate recommended U because of all their work and their estimating and working with um our Architects recommended lowering the construction contingency to 2.5% that's uh of the construction cost which was a total of $1.5 million um they felt confident that we could stick within that uh contingency budget industry standard is much higher 5 to 10% and we normally
106carry on all of our maintenance projects we typically carry a 10% um but with their help we were able to finish these projects within that contingency budget and um in fact um about onethird of it it's on this next slide about onethird of it uh we use for uh things that we added to the project things like the Esports room at the high school or North Kirkwood middle school's fax classroom so those are things that we added um that came out of that 1.5 million contingency uh navigate also helped us negotiate the architectural contracts back when we were first uh negotiating those contracts soon after prop bar passed U that saved us 445,000 um and then along the way an additional $169,000 in savings uh from um negotiations um they helped us with the procur
107procurement of all of the construction projects all the furniture and Equipment a total of $58 million in in contracts um we were able to complete some of the work early uh within the first 12 months of passing prop bar uh which included North Glendale Robinson and the two classrooms at West Westchester elementary um and some of the work is just now finishing up but all of it will be completed all the spaces will be used second semester starting this January 2 semester so all the projects uh will be completed as planned for prop bar so next I want to go through the budget you see on the screen uh Bond proceeds were just over $67 million we took those proceeds since we've had them for a couple years now we've been investing them along the
108way um we've earned $2.4 million in interest on those uh Bond proceeds at at times when when we first got the bond proceeds we were getting next to nothing on our investments um now we're getting uh over 5% so it it just varied along the way um we do have to pay some of that back to the IRS um the IRS these are tax exempt bonds so Bond holders don't pay federal taxes on the interest that they earn on these bonds and and because of that we can issue them at a low interest rate so if you recall when we issued these bonds the rate that we got were it average 1.4% so very very low interest rate that we have to pay on these bonds um but what we're not permitted to do is
109to take that money and to earn 5% interest on the bond proceeds when we're only paying 1.4% so we have to give some of that money back to the IRS and that's what that amount there is at $967,000 that's going to have to go back to the IRS construction expenditures we uh we will spend about 67.4 million in construction expenditures that includes $58 million that we've already spent up through November and about about $9 million more that we have left to pay so that includes um the final payments on these these um building additions that are just now finishing up is also includes payments on furniture and Equipment that's just now arriving um and then lastly Bond fees $573,000 those are the fees that we paid a couple years ago when we issued the bonds
110um so the bottom line is you see that that we I'm projecting that we will have when it's all said and done and everything's paid we'll have about $577,000 left in prop bar proceeds and so um this next screen shows the ballot language and you see what it says it's it's fairly General um broad um as long as we're improving existing buildings um by addressing ing overcrowding improving Safety and Security repairing or even equipping those are kind of the guidelines that we have to follow when we decide how to use the $577,000 and I will mention it it probably will be a little more than that um but we should at least have those funds available um below you see some of the things as as we were trying to get uh all the projects
111within budget and we cut um some things listed there some of the things we cut that we could add back not saying that we have to or that we should but those are some of the things that were cut um that could easily be added back if if we choose to um so the first one is in North Kirkwood Middle School track resurfacing um we eliminated parking lot control gates at Kirkwood High School we reduced some of the HVAC equipment and we also reduced additional exterior lighting at the school so we added exterior lighting where we put building additions but that was pretty much it um so those are just some examples of of what we could add back I I think what I would recommend is is that um that between cabinet and our
112building principles that we come up with a list and bring it back to the board as a recommendation of what we would do uh Mr Rome just so uh the board is clear in terms of that last piece and again thank you very much um could that could those uh uh funds also be used um I know we're we're just getting off the ground with a facility master plan um it strikes me that those funds could be used if priorities emerged from that as well is that correct that's correct okay yep thank you all right any questions from the board uh Miss BR I just want to thank you for all your Creative Solutions navigate that's amazing what you're able to do and do so much more for our students Mr Rome always has extra
113money left so I look forward to the recommendations for what to do with the rest but thank you thank you Miss Pangborn sure I have a couple questions and then a comment um on slide 14 you said we saved $4 million Mike m but if I'm remembered we had to drop classrooms at knifer which was also from the original plan set we had like below ground right like ground level classrooms that we also cut out so some of that cost savings was also us taking out what we couldn't build that's correct there was um we were originally going to build four classrooms okay the there was going to be a basement level that was going to be unfinished right uh we weren't planning to put classrooms in there but it could have been classrooms for
114future grow growth um it was also going to be the storm shelter right it was going to be the storm shelter the changes we made was to eliminate that that basement level and the storm shelter became the um the first floor level first floor and there's no way to go back and do some of that at this no and even like um at at North Middle we we were going to connect the old ASC Wing to the science building with a connection Corridor we eliminated that and instead we we uh built that fence and walkway and security gates I guess potentially we could come back and add that but um but what we did was versus building the corridor we added that okay all right well and I guess if we're thinking about how to
115use leftover money I would have two thoughts here one is again Safety and Security that you know we have a group that meets on a regular basis and they might have have some additional ideas of things that we either cut or to this point right that we could probably better um so I would definitely you know coordinate with them and Mike you're on that committee I realize that but just bringing it up and then also and I'm glad that Dr alwick brought it up we have the facility Master's plan and we had some things that we highlighted to Dave when we voted on that um so I think that that would be really important to also um wait for if we if we can wait so just wanted to know with that and then I
116just want to address the elephant in the room and say sorry to the tman families tonight um your support for propar really did help us accomplish all of the good things that were shown tonight and things that were needed across all of our district and in our buildings um and I really hope in the future that we can undo the wrongs that were intended to be included in this propar process M Andrews um I just want to thank you for for your work on this and then when when it comes to um the leftover money just kind of making sure obviously the superintendent's gone but you can relay this um just kind of bringing the community along with with uh the community in the board Mr caffy M thank you for all the work and
117uh thank you to the community for supporting all of this and uh let's continue to do it better thank you uh thank you I'll just add uh briefly I if I'm hearing you right we have effectively paid no interest on the money that we borrowed a couple years ago 1.4% but then we we got that money back through the interest that we've received right well yes the the interest that we're going to pay is over the life of the bonds is around 10 million right yeah I guess my point if I'm understanding right the the future interest obviously is not covered but the interest we paid from when we issued the bonds to essentially today has been covered by uh interest yeah that we received on that money yep appreciate that thank you um very
118much for that welcome thank you and Dr or did have to step out to uh allow one of our visitors into the building but for our closed session so we'll move on to 8.01 uh policy review first reading uh Miss bernardy is our permanent member of the policy Review Committee it's a strong word Mr boo permanent but I'll be happy to go and so if you would like to speak to the uh three policies that are here for first reading yes thank you for the first reading these three policies have the same change and it's just revised for consistency with termin ology and the differen is absence from Duty instead of sick leave or personal leave so that's the only change this is the first reading and they'll be um in the consent agenda next
119time unless someone has any question the next group of policies are for first and second reading and then I will ask for um approval of these policies and the reason is that these four policies have to do with the laws applicable the collective bargaining and so this will be our first year of collective bargaining so the legal department and HR has gone through and they've all been changed and they um must be changed to comply with the law so I would ask um to make a motion to approve the policies gbb GC QD ha and HH tonight so it's the first reading and the approval is there a second that Miss Andrews second thank you sorry I just sorry I didn't hear all right Miss Marty did you have anything to add uh to your
120motion uh nope that's all all right any questions from the board seeing none we'll go to a vote uh all those in favor raise your right hand and say I I any opposed thank you motion passes 9.01 future events uh first semester ends on December 20th there is a winter recess December 21st through December 31st the board candidate filing closes December 26th January 2nd is a records day so there is no school for students uh January 3rd is a staff development day also no school for students so the students return on January 4th uh and then we get to return for a work session on January 8th uh the public is more than welcome to attend that as well uh and now uh need a motion to return to close session for the purposes of
121legal uh 610.021 second all those in favor say I roll call that's right M Bernard yes p no uh Miss Andrews I am a yes Mr caffy miss motiga all right thank you the meeting is adjourned