001Is everybody ready up here? >> I'd like to call this meeting to order. If you would please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance. I'd like to welcome everyone for being here with us this evening. Um, and uh, could I get an adoption of the agenda, please? >> I move to approve the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say, "I." >> I. >> Motion passes. All right. 2.0. 1 superintendent report. >> Thank you, Madam President, board of education, and everyone else in the audience. I got several good news to share with you. First off, congratulations to Summit Tech Academy educator Rachel Mitchell. She earned a 2025 Missouri educator of family and consumer science and human services teacher of the year, distinguished service award.
002So, she's the fax teacher of the year for the state of Missouri. So, congratulations to her. She's out of Paradise Park. Um, two of Mrs. Mitchell's students also had some big awards recently. Both Hannah Rayburn and Jada Ring won first in the nation national champs in hospitality, tourism, and recreation star event at the National Leadership Conference. Um they had to go up against top students from across the nation and present a hotel concept designed for the Kansas City area. Another teacher who won a big award, Ashley Turner, um educator Ashley Turner won the Aaron Young Student Voice Empowerment Award at Education Educators Rising. This is a nomination by a former student um who wanted to acknowledge her for allowing them to take risks and make mistakes without fear. Congratulations, Miss Turner. Yet another teacher and
003our former district teacher of the year is Stephanie Renty. She was just selected as the best educator in the Kansas City People's Choice Award. So congratulations, East Trails Stephanie Renty. Um, several students from Lee Summit North and Lee Summit High School spent two weeks this summer participating in the mind exchange 2025 trip traveling through Germany, Austria, Switzer Switzerland, Lickenstein. Uh, and a huge thanks to the chaperones host families and tour guides who made the trip possible. I have several updates for you. Um, first off, thank you to the registars and design and those staffing our welcome center who have helped our families enroll for the 2526 school year. Enrollment classes are closes tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. and these staff members have helped ensure our families have a seamless start to the school year. If
004you need help, please reach out. If something was a mistake, please reach out. We'll do our best to uh to fix those. Um, thank you to the summer school staff who provided for our students with incredible enrichment opportunities from our incoming kindergarteners to our high schoolers. A reminder for families who potentially could qualify for free and reduced lunch to fill out an application even if you already qualified years past. Those qualifications are determined not by us but by the US Department um of agriculture and are listed on the district website. Um last high school athletes practice starts August 11th and school begins August 20th. We can't wait to welcome everyone back for the 2526 school year. That concludes my report. Madam President, >> thank you very much. Okay, we're going to move on down to
005u item 4.01, public comment. We appreciate your attendance and your willingness to speak to the board. Please remember that the board does not respond to public comments during the meeting, but may ask clarifying questions. Your comments will be noted by the board and administration, and if appropriate, we will discuss further action with the superintendent. Only those who have signed up prior to the meeting will be allowed to address the board. Pursuant to board policy BDDH, we will be limiting all comments to no more than seven people with a limit of three minutes each. You may not transfer any of your time to other speakers. Your allotted three minutes will be counted down on the screen. Please conclude your comments when the timer expires. Your comments must align with the subject described in your written request
006to speak and must directly relate to the business or operations of the district. Your comments may not discuss individual employees or students in the district, regardless of whether your comments speak of them in a positive or negative light. Any such comments should be directed to the superintendent who will then determine if further action is needed. Because the board does not and cannot impose age-based restrictions on who attends or views board meetings and because children of all ages frequently do attend board meetings, comments may not include obscinities or sexually explicit content. Furthermore, comments may not include threats of physical or emotional harm or threaten in any way the safety of others. We also remind all those in the audience that board policy BDDH prohibits the use of signs or audible responses. This includes applause, cheers, or
007jeers. If you are in the audience and wish to respond in some way to a public comment, you may contact the board or superintendent after the meeting. Your comments must be directed only to the board because the purpose of public comment is to bring something to the attention of the board. You may not speak to or interact in any way with another person in the audience. When your name is called, go to the podium and clearly state your name and the organization you represent, if any. Aisha Ali Just before you start, Aisha, do we have a timer to pop up there? Is it not working? Okay, we'll I'll keep time. I'll try to give you a 30 second warning. Is that okay? All right. Give me one second. I got to get it up. Got
008the volume on. Am I okay? Yeah, there we go. Hi, I'm Aisha Ali. Dr. Beck, let me know when almost. >> Okay, >> I'm ready. >> Okay. Good evening. I come before you tonight to speak on a simple but essential expectation that our school board leads with integrity, transparency, and accountability. Not just when it's convenient, but especially when it's hard. In June, every member of this board attended a retreat. At that retreat, you all agreed to support the dignity taken. You agreed that there was nothing about its content that was controver controversial. You reformed the board's priorities to maintain a safe environment where all students and staff felt engaged, included, and that they belong. You approved the district's comprehensive school improvement plan, including the clear goal to foster a responsive, inclusive, and caring student environment.
009And yet at the most recent public meeting, two board members, Mr. Haley and Miss Garrett, chose to contradict those commitments. Instead of standing by what they had already endorsed, they raised performative concerns and used politicized terms like DEI to stir division and delay action. Let's be clear, this isn't about DEI. This is about dignity. And if we're being honest, DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion, it's not a dirty word. It's a framework that benefits everyone. Women, veterans, individuals over 45, people with disabilities, children of every single race and background, and frankly, all members of this board. Miss Garrett, as a tenur board member, she should know how items get added to the agenda. Asking that question publicly was not about clarity. It was about creating confusion. Mr. Haley, referencing state and federal opposition while those same
010entities are currently withholding funding from public education. Is that the direction you truly support? What you both did wasn't leadership. It was a performance. And we're not here for a performance. We're here for our kids. We're talking about children. children who deserve to walk into classrooms where they feel seen, heard, respected, and safe. This is not political talk. This is not a political talking point. This is a moral obligation. You were not elected to posture. You were elected to lead. And leadership means honoring your word even when it's inconvenient, especially when it's inconvenient. This is not about left or right. This is about right and wrong. about showing up for children with consistency, not contradiction. About ensuring that what's said behind closed doors matches what's said and done in public. Our kids don't have time
011for political games. They're watching. We all are. And we deserve better. Thank you. >> Mike Mcgru. Hi there, Mike Mcgru. Are you are you ready to >> It's okay. I'll just Mike I'll hold about 300 and I'll try to say 10 seconds if you didn't see it. >> Okay. >> Hi, my name is Mike Mcru. Uh I am a parent at Le 7 Elementary. I just wanted to express my support for the consent agenda item for the dedication of uh easement for LSE. Um I know consent agenda items aren't really, you know, big controversial items, but um it's such a big asset for us in the community that you um have this on this on your agenda. This dedication for sidewalk um it's huge for we have I think that we have the highest walkable
012uh student population in the LSR7 uh school district. And I know uh from personal use, you know, my my kids and I when I you know practice uh bicycling with them and teaching them how to ride their bike, go down to LSC and the the big uh lot there and and so having that kind of access and having that ease of access for everybody in the neighborhood is such a huge asset. And so um I just wanted to come down here and just say, you know, I express my support for this issue and uh that's all today. Thanks, >> Kristen Grubs. My name is Kristen Grubs and for over three years I've been attending board meetings and addressing many topics before you. Seeing a need for accountability, I am here regarding the recommended renewal of
013Wilson language training. I've been told by multiple sources that Wilson is an extremely difficult program for students to get into. It is strictly one-on-one and for a student to be approved, they must be recommended by a reading specialist, but a committee actually makes the final decision. I've heard from many parents in the district that uh I've heard from many parents in the district who've been told that their students aren't failing enough to receive special specialized services. to a district that proudly claims to be preparing each student for success in life. I counter that with my observation that our district is merely preparing some students. When I hear about an elementary student who doesn't want to go to school because they struggle with reading, I wonder, what is our district doing to instill a love for
014learning and the joy of reading into these children? When I hear about a child whose grades are suffering and they're acting out behaviorally because they can't read to understand the material, I Why aren't they getting the help they need? Wilson Training and Curriculum entered our district in late 2021. That year's MAP scores for ELA recorded 16.6% of our third graders below basic. Three years later, that number sat at 22.3%. This captures those students who were in kindergarten the year Wilson entered the district. So, they would have had the most time in screening for access to Wilson. Why then has our below basic rate increased? This renewal contract quotes the cost of $20,330 for eight teachers to be trained. I did the work and added up all our expenses since July 2021. And so far, LSR7
015has spent $153,939.86 on Wilson materials and training. I've been informed that only 105 students have been able to utilize this program over the last four years. If statistics ring true in Lee Summon, one in every 10 students are dyslexic. That means our district of over 17,000 students should have at least 1,700 students with dyslexia. How come our specialized reading program for these very students has only reached 105 students in four years? My goal in speaking before you tonight is to remind you about the thousands of other students who may very well need special reading services in our district who are being underserved. worse yet, unserved. I implore you to do your due diligence and find the most fiscally responsible and educationally sound ways of meeting the needs of all of our students struggling to read
016so they can be better prepared for success in life. >> All right, 5.01 board committee reports. We'll start with Mr. Haley. I attended the finance committee earlier this week um which was uh conducted by Dr. Herzog and he was very informative and everything is right on track according to Dr. Herzog. So >> thank you Dr. Nickens. >> Um just today I attended the orientation for team Senate. I'm excited to be on the committee and excited to meet the other committee members when we have our first meeting in I believe September. >> Dr. Johnson. >> So again, I don't have a board report, but I want to give a disclaimer. My committees run September to March. So it's not that I'm not doing my part. I just haven't had any committees yet. Thank you, >> board
017member Dawson. >> Uh yeah, I also attended the finance committee meeting with board member Haley and uh thank you all for for all that you reported to us. We appreciate it. Um we did not have a policy committee meeting uh this month, but we did review some policies asynchronously. So, thank you Dr. Carlson for that. And uh that's it for my committees. >> Vice President Miller. >> All right. also attended the finance committee meeting. So I won't um say much more but ditto of what Haley and Dawson said um for the finance committee. The other committee that I attended was the LSEDC and so lots of exciting things happening. Um, one of the big ones that I just wanted to make sure that everybody knew about is, if you haven't already, the Green Street opening,
018um, is something that that we've been talking about with other members on the council there. Um, and that is August 15th. So, mark your calendars. And then um they have been really invested in trying to start collaborating again with LSR7 on um some of those workforce development um pieces for our students and connecting them to job opportunities. So more to come on that. >> Awesome. Uh I attended the government relations committee and much like Dr. Johnson. Most of my stuff runs September through May. So anyway, that that's all I have for this month. Um, okay. Items for decision. Um, item 6.01 to approve the transfer of funds. Can I get a motion, please? >> I move to approve the transfer of 16,789,45548 from the general fund to the special revenue fund. Second. >> All those
019in favor, please raise your right hand and say, "I." >> I. Motion passes. >> 6.02. Approve the treasures report and payment of the bills. >> I move to approve the treasures report and the payment of the bills. >> Second. >> All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say, "I." >> I. >> All right. Items for decision. The consent agenda. I move to approve the consent agenda items as presented. >> Second. >> All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say I. >> I. >> All right. Items for decision 8.01 25 uh 202526 meal price increase. >> I move that the board approve a 10-centent increase for 2526 meals. >> Second. >> Discussion. Um yeah, I um so I asked that uh this be moved to items for decision because um
020after uh reading the report that was shared with us by the administration and listening to the description at the finance committee meeting, I felt that this was worth highlighting to our community that our um that our nutrition services team and our administration is looking very carefully at um and thinking very conscientiously about the needs of the district and the funds that we need to break even uh in nutrition services. But then also to think about those families that don't qualify for free and reduced lunches and not increasing the lunch price so much that it hurts their budget. and the fact that you were able to you were allowed to raise the price by 75 cents per meal, but instead chose to take a more conservative approach and raise the meal prices by 10 cents and
021then form a Pratt a group to look at how to make up that gap. Uh just shows the community how conscientious you are and how careful you are and how much you care about our our families and our budget. So, uh I just wanted to thank you for that. tradition and history here recently has been to raise it a dime and that seems to be best practice uh to raise it a dime each year. Uh the uh the uh paid meal equity tool indicates that we should raise it 75 cents. Um what we plan to do to uh I'll say close the gap uh is to uh form a process action team this fall. Bring stakeholders together which would include uh staff, parents, board members, uh other interested parties and come up with maybe a
022two or three year plan to close that gap and to help say ease that burden on our families. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Thank you. Okay. All those in favor of the motion uh for the 10 cent increase, please raise your right hand and say I. >> I. >> Motion passes. Uh items for decision 8.02, the Wilson language training. >> I move that the board approve the purchase of training at the of $20,330 as well as renewal of the service agreement through June 30th, 2026. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> I have a question for Dr. Berger. U Thank you very much, by the way, for all the questions that you did answer um regarding Wilson and I and I have no criticisms of Wilson particularly. I did want to address the comments that one
023of the uh the citizens made during their comments. They they commented that that we had spent about $150,000 on Wilson over the last four years. And and I don't know if that's true or not. I I didn't substantiate that, but uh according to your numbers, we had only served about a little over 100 kids. Is there any way we can get this out to more kids? Um it seems like a if we're going to spend that kind of money on it, maybe we can maybe get more bang for our buck by getting it out in front of more kids. So, I'd have to I'd have to go back and look at financial numbers, but I'll tell you that Wilson is a really intensive, um, training. And so, uh, I like to kind of equate it
024to in a medical situation. I think about, um, you know, sometimes they'll start somebody and say, "Hey, we're going to start you on eating a little bit more fruits and vegetables, then we're going to give you some cholesterol meds, right? and then we're going to do this small procedure and then oh gosh after all of these interventions haven't worked. We're now at the point of having to consider this pretty intensive procedure for you. Um if you think of that logic through that Wilson is the most intensive procedure. It's one-on-one or small group. It's very intense. It's very focused. And so really before we get to that level of support um in which students may be um being pulled out at a more frequent basis uh we try to work through that process. So it's not
025necessarily the most appropriate intervention for for more. >> Do we have another program for struggling readers that's less intensive that we might be able to cast a wider net with? >> Absolutely. And I think in some of the questions that were provided today really that's through that SIPs and those interventions that are being provided through that SIP work. >> Thank you. Anything else Mr. >> Oh, Dr. Nickens. Sorry. I got this control panel I forgot about. Um I just wanted to make a few comments because I am not a literacy expert. So I did take time to consult with some literary expert literacy experts not only within the district but also colleagues that I work with and to ask some questions myself. Um I think it's relevant to question cost right especially if you feel
026that not a lot of of students are served. However in the case of Wilson being ensive intervention. It really was developed to work with kids who have dyslexia, not just struggling readers who may have a wide uh range of different difficulties. And as with anything, when we're serving special needs, the interventions often need to be very personalized and individualized so that that child's needs are being met. With Wilson, it is intended as a one-on-one intervention. Um it is often used in small groups with the caveat being that all the kids in the group kind of have to have the same need. You can't just plop five kids in a group and think that Wilson is going to be the effective thing when they don't when they're not all at the same place and they don't
027all have the same needs. So I guess for me um after my discussions and doing some reading um and looking at the information that's available and how Wilson has been used in the district, I would say um one thing that I noted in our board docs was that we are looking at developing our own resident expert in the district which will defay future training costs. Um you know a train the trainer model. Uh keep in mind that The time commitment for training for instructors, for teachers that use Wilson is really um it's a big commitment. It can take a couple uh two to three years to complete certification at both level one and level two. And so it's a big commitment. Having our resident expert here who has gone through that training and is able
028to support and coach other teachers will be um a good investment. Um another that I that came up again and again in my reading is the effectiveness of Wilson programs depends heavily on an instructor's skill level. Meaning you can't sort of halfway train a teacher and think that magically this is not a scripted um program. This is a program where a teacher makes diagnostic decisions and the next thing they do with the child is based on those decisions individually. Wilson is the only intervention that allows continuity of support from elementary into middle school. We currently have a specialist that works with middle school kids. That's I I actually can't think of anything else that we're able to take straight from elementary into middle school and have that continuity of intervention for uh for kids that
029don't have, you know, an IEP or something like that. Um Dr. at the parents of struggling readers meeting that I was able to attend I think in April, March or April. Um was uh talking with parents about our goal to make sure that we continue to set um goals for literacy in middle school and high school. And a big part of being able to serve students who are still struggling in middle school and high school is to have an intervention that actually was created for that age group. And Wilson is Wilson allows that continuity um into the older age groups of kids because we still do have kids that struggle um and need that kind of intensive support at those levels. Um so basically um this is a this is not a tier one intervention.
030It's not a tier two intervention. It really lands more at tier three which is why there aren't hundreds of kids receiving it. We don't we literally don't have enough teachers trained in it. um to to provide it, you know, unless they really have exhausted tier one and tier two interventions. So, those are my support points for the program. I think with all the goals that we have tied to literacy in our district that it would really be indefensible to not continue a program that does have good research support behind it. >> Thank you. Yeah, I think um the motion on the floor to approve the Wilson uh language training. All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say I. >> I. Motion passes. Okay. Uh items of information 10.01 and 10.02. And I
031think that concludes our business down here this evening. Thank you. Thank you all for being here.