001all right we're going to go ahead and call this meeting to order all right first up we have the Pledge of Allegiance all right welcome everyone thank you for being here today can I get a motion to adopt the agenda I move to um adopt the agenda as presented second motion and second all those in favor raise your hand say I I motion passes next up is item 2.01 superintendent report welcome Board of Education and members in the audience um I have several good news things to share with you first off Summit Tech Academy's FCCLA students and their advisor had some success at the national leadership conference in Seattle Washington um first place for events management are NOA Harding Haley Dawn and Sophia Isel and then first place for Hospitality tourism and Recreation is Sydney
002snelson and the teacher also got an award National master advisor award went to miss Rachel Mitchell so congratulations to all those folks also a big congratulations to our lsr7 teacher of the year Jennifer Jones at leis Emma West she was honored at the 2025 Kanas City Regional Teacher of the Year celebration and she now moves on for the state semifinal consideration so good luck to Miss Jones and thank you for representing lsr7 so well congrats to Bernard uh Campbell Middle School's own Suzanne mitco who was a 2009 Missouri State Teacher of the Year by by the way she was selected as one of two C-SPAN teacher Fellowship Award winners this year so congratulations to her earlier this year we made an exciting announcement regarding the district launching its first prek program um separate than our
003Great Beginnings programs that we have at Legacy Park in Paradise Park and we're going to have 200 Young Learners at Prairie viiew Elementary starting next month while our initial plan was to host free and tuition based programs I'm pleased to share that thanks to a grant appropriated by the Missouri house called the m o qpk grants U we received a grant no one will have to pay this year so for the tuition base folks it's free as well that's $6,800 savings per kid um that the families don't have to pay so they go for free regardless if you're qualified for free reduce launch so awesome news I'm pretty excited about that just let you know that's a byy year no guarantee we get it in again next year but for this entire next year no
004tuition at our prek um registation registration is officially open now that we're we're past the uh crowd strike fund that we've all had we tried to open Friday but the world had a different uh idea as none of our computers worked on Friday as many of you know though families registration in District we do this every year and and the only reason is not there's many reasons we do it but one one of the really important ones is transportation we use that updated data to actually TR uh route all of our 370 plus routes that we do every AM and PM um so we can get your kids to school safely so um please fill that out registration runs through August 2nd finally I want to congratulate the Board of Education last month we attended
005the uh lease Summit not the lease Sumit sorry the msba summit and Branson and the lsr7 Board of Education was one of 31 in the entire State out of 518 Public Schools only 31 who earned the Missouri school board association's 2024 governance team award this PR prestigious award is based on outstanding commitment of the school board and superintendent I do have to go to things too um to ongoing professional development and effective governance practices so kudos to you uh in the room um and that of high honor so that concludes my superintendent's report Mr President thank you Dr Buck next up is item 4.01 board committee reports I want to remind the board that this is the opportunity to share about your uh board committee appointments and the things that you have it items of
006information from those that you want to share with the rest of the board this time I'm G to start with uh board member Johnson I have no report summer is pretty light board member Meyers I Echo that board member Haley yeah unfortunately I was out of town when my committee met earlier this week so I was unable to to be there or zoom in because I was working so I I don't have anything to report today thank you board member [Music] Miller well we all went to the summit that's a report for everybody but okay um I do have one thing it's not specific to um committees but I do think it's important to share if you're okay with this board president it's good stuff you want to hear this it's about our students okay
007okay so um I most of you know this I just got back from um well most of you don't know this um I was able to attend as a chaperon um on a recent trip to Europe and I have to give major kudos to two of our incredible incredible Educators here in Lee Summit um at LSW um Ronda Ireland and um Victoria Zano who who have been leading working since 2019 to provide scholarly International experiences for students that encourage curiosity and things like that and so um really we should be proud of our students um they were among a thousand other students from across the country 18 different countries were represented 10 of the students at the summit um 10 of our lsr7 students were asked to present on stage their prototype that they um
008they came up with one of which one and his design along with his group will be featured in the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm Germany so pretty amazing just in a you know attestation to the amazing work we're doing here in lsr7 um and this is an opportunity for Real World Learning opportunities for our students so really um the goal of Miss Ireland and Miss Zano is to get this opportunity for all three high schools um so that all of our students have opportunities to take part in this International um and cultural experience so really exciting thank you board member Garrett I don't have anything to report we had um let me see um Le Sumit carees meeting when we were out in Branson so I missed that meeting but yeah there's nothing new thank
009you vice president hle I attended the finance committee meeting um which was of course recorded so I'm hoping everybody had a chance to watch it um I don't really have anything out of that meeting to uh report that was super significant so unless there are any questions that's all I have on that does anyone have any questions about the finance committee meeting okay well somehow during the summer even though typically it should be a slower time for us I ended up attending a lot of committee meetings um uh so first I'll start off um I am one of the msba delegates and we while we were there at the summer Summit um I was uh involved in the appointment of the new officers um but something that I want to share with the board is
010that they are right now open for advocacy position changes so if anyone would like to suggest a change of the msba policy we would need that we would need to have that by the August 8th work session so that we could host the discussion before the date that it's due um so that's something I really want to be intentional about us being able to have opportunity if we do want to get involved with what msba is doing and what their advocacy positions are to be able to have time to discuss that um so we would need to have that to us before that so that we could have that conversation now next up I have government relations where we heard updates about the 2024 legislative session then we had the board leadership meeting um highlights
011from that would be ironing out some of the future work session dates U the dinner with the board events in September and the exciting prek grants that Dr Buck mentioned earlier I attended a Le Sumit workforce alliance where I heard uh industry Partners um with a focus on the Lisa air for uh airport in a local flight school in their partnership with the Aerospace Academy that was really exciting work and I attended the Chamber of Commerce Jackson County legislative breakfast for government relations where we heard from our County legislators um one of the questions that I did ask was uh moving forward how are we going to address the issues that happen with the property tax assessments this year because regardless of how things go through the court system uh it is not good for
012our district to have that sense of instability and not know what our funding is going to look like and then the final thing that I have is the citizens advisory committee steering committee meeting and over the next few months they will be reviewing the cfmp data and will'll be formulating potential Bond recommendations that they will be bringing to us and the board um for a decision in December so citizens advisory committee will be reviewing a lot of information and we will be having some updates along the way um but kind of be keeping in mind that around the December time point is when we would be making a decision on their recommendations and that's what I have all right next up is 5.01 approving the transfer of the funds can I get a motion I
013move to approve the transfer of 15 m528 6418 from the general fund to the special Revenue fund can I get a second second all those in favor raise your hand and say I I motion passes item 5.02 approving the treasurer's report and payment of the bills can I get a motion I move to approve the treasurer's report and the payment of the Bills second all right motion and second all those in favor raise your hand and say I I I I all right motion passes next up item 5.03 amend the fiscal year 24 budget to actual revenues and expenses can I get a motion I move that the board approve amending the fy2 24 budget to actual revenues and expenses can I get a second second okay do we have any questions before we vote
014I have one question do the people in the audience have access to this information do they know what we're voting on they do okay just just curious thank you you're welcome all right with that all those in favor raise your hand and say I I I motion passes all right next up on the agenda is item six point or six so uh items for decision consent agenda 6.01 can I get a motion I move to approve the consent agenda items as presented can I get a second second all right all those in favor raise your hand and say I I motion passes all right so it looks like next up we have the items of information written reports 9.01 through 9.03 do we have any questions okay seeing none we'll move on to public comment
015item 10.01 and I will hand that off to our parliamentarian 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 bdh 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 include your comments when the timer please conclude your comments when the timer
016expires your comments must align with the subject described in your written request to 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 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 reviews board meetings and because children of all ages frequently do attend board meetings comments may not include obscenities or sexually explicit Conta 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 BBD bdh prohibits
017the use of signs or audible responses this includes Applause cheers or jeers 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 when your name is called go to the podium and clearly state your name and the organization you represent if any Adriana pz not here uh Kristen grubs my name is Kristen grubs and I'm here yet again to just discuss the book situation in our school libraries last year a swath of books had complaints filed against them and they were reviewed by appointed committees and eventually round up before the Board of Education every book retained was stated to be acceptable for interested high school students unfortunately some of those books were already in Middle Schools one book
018called breathless by Jennifer nien when reviewed was only in high school libraries earlier this summer I checked up on it and found it at pleasantly Middle School in a meeting with our superintendent brought this book's availability to his attention and strangely after our meeting he said he didn't find it in the Middle School level this suspicious disappearance stirred me to check on some other books sadly I found the book Speak by Lori Hall Anderson not only at all three high schools but it's available at all four middle schools too our superintendent responded to this fact by saying it was approved to be retained without restriction unfortunately the letter he sent me after committee reviews last year States the book was to be retained but that it was to be made available made accessible to interested
019high school students if it was not restricted then why did this letter not state it was to be accessible to middle schoolers too if the supposed firewall between the grade levels is there to provide Assurance to parents by providing young children sorry protecting young children from materials inappropriate for their age then what are parents to think when things like this happen when a book is under review why even offer the option of retaining it with restrictions if the restrictions are not going to be implemented or respected the system is broken I've spoken before the board several times on this issue and yet the system is still broken books with pornographic content have been allowed into our schools and by the previous board's majority vote allowed to stay in our schools I don't know what curricular
020value our leaders see in books that detail the look and feel of sexually stimulated body parts in exchange of body fluid or the exhilaration described by drug and alcohol induced sexual encounters but they insist on retaining them anyway a system of assessing these books before they enter the schools would prevent admittance of destructive materials that offer no educational value to students and assure that the books entering the schools will meet student curricular needs the current way is broken if the district cannot manage the simple task of securing age appropriate and education Ally sound to library books then what else is it failing at managing if our district truly strives for excellence then why is this failing system being ignored board members I challenge you to hold our district leaders accountable and responsible for these failures
021and to task them with remedying the issue rodri Sparks all right first I would like to take this time and publicly thank um Dr Bud Hera for his commitment and his service to our community and um to this District that he has served for two terms also I would like to um say to his family that you will remain in my prayer um and um um we will U forever um remember all of your contributions secondly I would like to thank this board for your commitment and your service to this District but I must remind you Board of Education that it is your job to be fiscally responsible of taxpayer money and two former board presidents felt that it was not necessary for us to contribute $25,000 to the Le Summit EDC along with the
022board it was also we felt at the time that it was not a good investment of taxpayer resources so I asked this question while there was some conversation there was not the conversation about this we are the second largest donor to the EDC of $225,000 is what we were giving the question that you should be asking is what are other districts giving to their EDC another question that we should be asking is with us being the largest employer in the city of Lee Summit why is it that the mayor and two council person serve on their board however we only have the superintendent that serves on the board of directors why is board members not also on that committee as a board member also let's talk about this matter of the diversity lens I know
023that this is a touchy subject for many of my former colleagues but in the policy that we all adopt it said in all decisions so my question for us tonight is does that not mean this decision when you see 20 board members and not one person look like me not one person look like board member Miller not one person look like board Dr Johnson that is a problem it's a problem because it was was a concern that was brought up three years ago and the response that we received today you received was the same response that uh I received which is we're taking note of that do we not have black business owners do we not have black taxpayers we can do better we must do better last but not least discipline we always want
024to talk about fights fights fights fights the last time I check fights have been happening even when all of you were in school so my question is is when we're looking at data are we looking at data of all infractions and the disparities that are in that data that data do exist and it also exists for the referrals that is going to the family court so please ask for it last but not least since I had to add this line baning books here we come Banning books here we come we got to do better with that we are adjourned thank you everyone