LSR7 Board of Education Meeting - 06/22/23

001foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] okay all right we're going to call this meeting to order if everyone will please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice all right I kind of got thrown away there I was ready for the young people to start walking in and and leading Us in that I'd like to welcome everyone to our official board meeting on June the 22nd at 7 pm thank you for those that are watching via YouTube and also those that are in person at this time I'm going to ask for an adoption of the agenda I moved to adopt the agenda as presented do I

002have a second second okay all in favor please raise your right hand all right and I'm going to turn over to Dr Buck for superintendent's reports thank you next agenda item is 2.01 superintense report and I have several things for us today first off congratulations Lisa mcwest student Jacob clipple for who earned a perfect composite score in his act let you know how rare that is about 1.2 million kids take the ACT every year and just over 4 000 get a perfect score that's 0.03 percent of them so congratulations to Jacob congratulations to 118 LSR 7 students who completed and achieved the pathway to buy literacy award students earned this award and first third fifth and eighth grade I recognize the students who sought out second language acquisition opportunities in their communities or who have

003worked to maintain the native language spoken in their home so thank you for that you can find the full list of those kids on our website to Summit Point Elementary students were recognized by the Missouri Association of school librarians they're both fifth graders Michaela and Grace were both recognized in the annual book trailer contest so congratulations to them congratulations to Lee Summit North students Brooke Isabella Clara their PSA Public Announcement placed in the annual National School journalism First Amendment matters contest so congratulations to them at least I'm at West student William is in the fifth district of the Missouri winner for the 2023 Congressional Art competition his piece is called Blue Slumbers and it will hang in the U.S Capitol over the next year so congratulations on William three Lee's Summit students renamed to the

0042023 scholar athletes by the Kansas City Star so congratulations to Lee Summit High School's Chloe wilmes Lee Summit Norris Maddie sibbing and Lee Summit West Aubry Cole and last one on the uh this first section every year the Police Department fire department picked their employee of the year and I just want to point out the police department's employee of the year is Officer Beth Glover she was named officer of the year and she works in our school district in the impacts program in fact she was one of the co-authors of the curriculum so congratulations to officer Glover I want to congratulate our former board president board member Kathy Campbell who received her certification as distinguished board member we had two former board members recognize that our conference this past week down in Branson so that

005was kind of fun to see we already recognized Megan for her achievements at a previous meeting and congratulations to Ryan Murdock who was named the non-rotarian member of the Year by the Rotary Club of Lee's Summit which is the largest Rotary Club in the Metro so congratulations Ryan I would also like to recognize this entire board this entire board received the governance team award there's 518 public school districts in the state and only 17 of them earned this recognition so congratulations to all of you and your continued education and engagement Hawthorne Hills secretary Sue Markley and the Y Club Lee's Summit director Lorenzo Harrison received the president's Lifetime Achievement Award and recognition of their service congratulations to them and Lisa mcnores Mike mcgurk he's the athletic director over at North he is a nominee for

006the leadership playbooks administrator of the year that's a national award and I would be remiss if I didn't also remind everyone that registration opens up next month I believe on July 17th so if you have kiddos registration opens up on July 17th that concludes my superintense report we're going to move on to 3.01 and I'm going to turn it over to Dr Barger over at the podium good evening as we know we have worked our way through right time to metrics throughout the course of the Year and that brings us to our second to last version of that throughout the year we will give you another in July and then we as we discussed this summer at board summer Retreat this will move to written report moving forward and it'll be a different form of

007reporting for future years so for the purpose of the June data there was a request for us to take a look at this aggregated discipline data as well as your ncsip data and specific Equity plan metrics when we take a look at the disaggregated discipline data what we have done here and there's lots of ways that you can look at discipline data we actually provided I think some supplemental information to the board as well what we've done here is we've taken a look at actual account of infractions so this isn't individual students it's actual infractions and we've taken a look at it at the elementary middle and high school level and we've broken it down as the original request when we put it on the metric sheet indicated was to take a look to ensure

008whether we had proportionality as it relates to our discipline and way to take a look at this for example is that we can take a look and say that of the infractions that happened at the elementary school 54.4 percent of those infractions happened by white students you can look to the right and then indicate that 66.31 of our elementary students are white so what this provides is an ethnic and racial breakdown of the distribution of infractions in elementary and you can compare that as in relationship to the enrollment at that grade level as well to help us identify whether there is potential bias or disparity in our infractions in our schools so you can take a look at the gaps that may exist here and there certainly are a few a few gaps proportionality for

009example you can take a look and see that 27.2 percent of the infractions who are associated with students who are categorized as black and that enrollment at the elementary school for black students is 13.28 so there is some disparity and that would be a way to take a look at that chart similarly looking at the same data you can look at the data at the middle school level exact same format where you can see that 46.5 percent of the infractions came from students who identified as white and if you go to the Middle School population 65.57 percent of our population at that grade span is white and again when you look at disparity potentially between racial groups and infractions you can see that 30.3 percent of the Middle School infractions occurred with students who identify

010as black whereas in terms of enrollment at the middle school that population is 14.7 and you certainly can look at that sort of data across each of the race and ethnicity subgroups as well that takes us to the last of the three categories which is high school which reads exactly the same in terms of format and again you can take a look and see that 42.2 percent of the infractions came from individuals who identify as white were at that population at the high school and grade span is 64.3 percent of our students in terms of infractions we were looking at 39.3 percent coming from individuals at the high school who identifies black and that population is only 15.64 percent of the population so again there are certainly some work to do as we think about

011discipline and just um uh proportionality of discipline and representation as well so that's one way to take a look at infections and that's the way we chose to present it for this wrap-up the second piece of information that we had readily available and was provided to us by our transportation director was simply the amount of discipline that was provided or happened in our transportation department Mr Maples provided data indicating that there were 26 64 incidents investigated by Transportation which resulted in a little over 1700 of those being documented in PowerSchool and when you look at those breakdowns you can take a look at the breakdown of the 190 at a high school the 1005 at the middle and the 1469 at the elementary and the breakdown between the AM and PM routes so it's worth

012noting that we could look at discipline a thousand different ways right and that's absolutely just one snapshot for the purpose of opening the door to conversation with regard to discipline and we know that that is been identified as something that the board would like for us to continue in more depth moving forward potentially as a goal or a priority with regard to a csip update that actually is best provided to you in a written report that was included in this particular item as well just a quick update with regard to how that process works we had our original csip team the csip team consisted of a little over a hundred people through some graduation and family attrition we're probably sitting at about 60 folks I think I invited 60 folks to the last meeting the

013original csip team members come to the meetings at the end of each year and reflect on data and summary that is provided by the stakeholder who is responsible for that item so for exam example Dr Carlson will provide update on the human resources report or Mr Holder will provide an update on the budget report I would report a report on the instructional and we would share that with our csip team members and at that point they can act on that and make recommendations so that's actually a later item in today's agenda but this end of your review Dot document that's attached to this particular item was designed to be the item of information providing year-end summary for year two of our three year csip plan to help guide that recommendation process that brings the recommendation

014later in today's meeting so really then that brings us to questions as it relates to either of those documents either discipline infractions as provided or the year-end update as it relates to to the second year of the csip thank you for your presentation board is there any questions or anything that we would like to address pertaining to the metric update that was given to us and I see Mr Murdoch so I'm going to follow up with some of the things that I wrote to you guys um in terms of questions on the discipline stuff first off this is a this is tough information to make any conclusions on without us being able to know what the infractions actually were meaning seen a pie chart is great but at the same time knowing Dr Buck to

015your point earlier that we had 2 000 incidents of Chromebooks not being charged right that fall into these particular categories what does that do in terms of skewing data right from one category to another I just think everybody needs to be very mindful of that so this is more of a comment than anything else obviously and so I think that that becomes important the second thing is and I asked this question and I used PowerSchool obviously as a teacher as well but in the coding system for infractions there's how many I mean there's there's 100 probably maybe more probably more even than that so the concern becomes a are do we code things consistently right so that then data is reflected consistently and B then is there ever a level that PowerSchool uses understanding that

016I'm now have been out of the classroom for a few years so is there anything that we can do that would say if it is coded this way these instances are more severe than for example a non-charged Chromebook or getting your fifth tardy for a semester or something like that so let me answer then you're going to follow up with what they do to make sure they have iterator reliability but yes and so if you remember seeing the sorry I got a throat issue here oh you're good so uh remember the capturing kids Hearts data from two months ago when we had that data we've looked at discipline codes that dealt with conflict and we compared last year this year and we can see that after three quarters a thousand less at least I'm in

017high school all right so we can do that to your point I will say you're correct that 2 000 write-ups for chart you know your Chromebook coming to school not charged that was a concerted effort on Middle School based on feedback from staff from the year prior saying this is becoming a bigger issue and it's impact the instruction can we make a focus on this so they did that accounts for one out of nine write-ups in the entire district for last year so it is a significant number of write-ups as kids when they came with their computer not charged now they weren't getting OSS for that right but they they were getting addressed by Administration saying hey let's come prepare for class it's actually impacting the instructions so yes we can we can sort things

018by um blocks and so I'll let Dr Barger talk about what they do to make sure they have inner radar reliability amongst um not only people within buildings but building to building yeah absolutely so I know you referenced being a Power School user as a teacher all of the coding of infractions happens by our District administration right so collectively our administrators spend time and in typically I would say this is a more relevant practice at the secondary level just given the nature of of infraction um in which there are certain items in which they Norm themselves so I don't know that we're spending a lot of time norming ourselves on Fifth tardies and those sorts of things but there is absolutely a norming practice on if a first infraction for a fight happens at least

019some it was how does that look in terms of consequence and and in in what is a fight versus what is a physical confrontation and how we're delineating what is inappropriate language versus what is a slur so some of those big ones come up each year as part of that norming there is also sort of a standard set of kind of anchor points from which we can add or subtract consequence associated with each that are outlined in both board policy and in the student handbooks that typically a first fight is X there might be circumstances that mean it's X plus one or x minus one but to allow for some of that the other piece that comes into play you're right is not just the number of infractions but much like to what Dr Buck

020talked about the number of infractions paired with the consequences so there's sort of a dance that happens with all of those things to get the whole picture okay and I I 100 agree um with that and I just think when we're getting data presented like this I for me it would be more valuable and this is only my opinion more valuable to choose some of the most egregious coding things that we have going on with that we have infractions on because it's not that I don't care about charging Chromebooks I do right but I don't care about it in terms of the overall discipline that's going on within the district I do care about physical confrontations I do care about fights threats against staff for example all of those kinds of things I think sometimes

021maybe if we could just choose maybe even eight to ten things and then pull that kind of data we might be able to glean a little bit more information that might be a little bit more helpful for us going into the future especially from a trend perspective right because a fight we can track those things a little bit easier than we can for example profane language right where there's a lot of variability within buildings within levels how teachers are going to address it a lot of times a quick hey don't be saying in that right usually will suffice to get it to stop it doesn't rise to a write-up and so I think choosing some of those might be might be really wise especially since we get to present it in a written report going

022forward I think that it could be really helpful in that regard because then it'll be forward-facing to the community as well so thanks yeah I think that written report helps that too I'm going to call on board member sled but before I do that just to Ryan's Point um it would be also nice to be able to see how does that equate to students outside of the out of the classroom so how does these discipline infractions how does that relate to kids not being in the classroom where they're learning okay board member slick foreign pushed but I uh I will say that I absolutely agree with board member Murdoch I think it would be really helpful to have some additional focused data um and even if you want to Overlay it with some of the

023other um group statuses um I think that that's that's fine but it's kind of out of context if we're just kind of looking at one element um and I don't know if we track this but I know we look at IEP free and reduced lunch status are is there like a higher frequency of our students with learning differences having disciplinary infractions and what are those um and if that's if that's something that's worthwhile that's just my opinion but um that the the rest of the board would find worthwhile knowing to try to help understand where our discipline actions are happening and how we're helping support our kids so that's it thanks I think some of this discussion is going to probably help you prepare for us in July with some of them absolutely I think

024that you know part of that conversation is we'll be happy to bring whichever categories are of importance for the board to see so once we know what it is you'd like to see we'll make sure we get it together and again that written format helps for the written reports but it also helps in the crafting of that um those potential options for July absolutely and just for the board's information when we did the equity toolkit if you go into board docs you can actually see where all the infractions are listed that was some data that Dr Buck provided to us I'm not saying go do the math and do the because it can be time consuming to do so but when you do it you will be able to see some of the stuff that

025you're trying to see I'm going to turn to Dr Johnson so I have a question when thinking about trending and evaluating the data are there action plans that are put into place when we see something is trending High I guess similar to what we did with the Chromebooks we needed a focus effort with Middle School so so the answer to that is yes but I think then we have to also be very cautious as to how that might impact our data right so we have to be again there's a very fine balance between if we believe that we want to support our teachers by ensuring that students are bringing their Chromebooks to school charged and one way to do that is to create a system in which there is a conversation with an administrator and

026it's logged as a log entry right we've empty the ante a little bit for the students we've potentially remediated the behavior it's going to Surge a little and then go down but it's also going to show infractions going up right and so really being able to find and we also want to make sure that the end goal isn't just about infractions going down because we also need to ensure that students who need consequences or getting consequences right so it's sort of like finding that sweet spot between between that intervention our best example of that would be last summer when we approved capturing kids Hearts Lee Summit High School came to us it was very much an equity piece right they were they had some struggles and with some things and capturing kids Hearts the data

027after three quarters showed it was very successful to achieve what they we're trying to achieve as I was thinking of the capturing Hearts when I heard that data that was like a focus effort that had positive outcomes so just making sure that's a thought when looking at other things that we could help all right is there any other questions or comments about this report all right thank you so much next item is 4.01 it's public comment I'm going to turn it over to our parliamentarian who I believe is board member esslic one second okay I got out of it to go look at something else within board docks and excuse me okay we appreciate your attendance and your willingness to speak to the board please remember that while this is a public meeting this part

028of the meeting does not contemplate a conversation between speakers and board members 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 if appropriate we will direct the subject to the administrators who are responsible for that particular subject matter pursuant to board policy bddh we will be limiting all comments to no more than 10 people with a limit of three minutes each your allotted three minutes will be counted down on the screen please conclude your comments when the timer expires only those who have signed up prior to the meeting will be allowed to address the board please refrain from using the names of any students staff in your remarks remain respectful and ensure your comments pertain to District Operations we

029also ask all audience members to remain respectful pursuant to board policy bddg profane language or comments that constitute a threat to the safety of others is prohibited lastly when your name is called go to the podium and clearly state your name and the organization you represent if any first speaker is Melanie Olson Cox the reason this feels entirely different than being over there so hello not maybe the best view from the internet sorry internet good evening and thank you to the board for the work you do and the volunteer hours that you give to our community in our district your time's been advocating for our students and staff does not go unnoticed and is highly valued in May I emailed you all to share my perspective regarding the recent book challenges reviews as a parent

030that has kids in elementary middle and high schools I wanted to share some of our lived experiences after being actively involved PTA parent and volunteer for the past 10 years now as you work to make decisions on further rounds of the book review process I'm here to ask that the work of the book review committees to be valued and trusted with a vote that accepts the recommendation of the Committees full stop there has been criticism from a handful of people that have challenged the books that the Committees were not inclusive or representative of a variety of perspectives or members of the community I would disagree and I would hope that the entire board can agree and recognize that there was a large cross-section of people that had been involved in committees that came from a

031variety of perspectives life stages and most importantly that it had a previous stake or an ongoing stake in the overall well-being of our district said differently the folks involved in the Committees participated because they have a stake and more issues than this one they have been ongoing contributors not distractors and they fully understand that these book reviews are one small piece of a much the much broader work to be in partnership with our schools and staff I believe in the process that allows the books to be reviewed I also believe there's a lack of integrity and sincerity from a handful of people willing to challenge a book with the intent to remove it from a library when they haven't read the book and they aren't willing to read it before they take action again I

032ask that you listen to the committee members and Trust the process and the people who've been committed to it as we move into 2023-24 it's my hope that the board will lead the effort with our community and challenge parents and community members to take action and be contributing partners for our schools this includes encouraging specific actions like getting involved in school-wide efforts and stepping up for events where volunteers are needed less online bickering and grandstanding more actual participation to be closer to what is going on there's good things going on this request must be driven from a sincere desire to have a focus on belonging and inclusion as one of the three board priorities I would expect to see actions from all of the board that demonstrate your commitment to use an equity lens in

033all decisions actions practices and resources and resource supports lastly as a PTA parent and volunteer I look forward to the continued partnership with the board and the district to continue to advocate for our public schools and the things you need to be successful thank you Reuben Mitchell yes this is different I prefer over there everyone's staring at my back good morning or good evening depending on what time zone you're in I'm Reuben Mitchell I live in the district got three young kids and I represent myself to no one else so these views are my own and I wanted to talk tonight about school choice and before you throw anything at me I have a slightly different view about this because I met my wife here I married my wife here we bought our first house

034here I had our first two kids here we moved to a wing to be across the street from my parents uh excuse me her parents kind of help with a child who has some life challenges and we always wanted to come back here so the first opportunity we had we did we like the summit this is where we want to be and we've probably got our forever home now until my hips go out and I can't do the stairs but um the important point is we chose Lee stump so school choice is a positive thing and I feel like this is being threatened now with these crazy property assessments and I'm not going to go into it because you're probably very aware of it you've talked to your friends your family they've got one you

035know someone who's got one and tell you I know at least two people whose mortgages are going to go up like 200 a month and obviously they're going to dispute from that type of thing so it is a uh it's going to affect how people how many people can come and want to come into this District and I was very very happy to hear that leadership is aware of this and and looking forward um about addressing that watching the finance community yesterday very good and I'm sure you talked about it today and like I said you're very aware of it but I just wanted to make the connection that that is a school choice issue that affects it and should be on your minds anyway thank you very much appreciate it Kristen Grubbs what okay

036my name is Kristen Grubbs okay and I'm here to expose an inconsistency in our District's Administration that conflicts with the tone put forth by the school board's recent actions policy klb is currently under revision and changes are being made to demand a swift response from those in the community who choose to submit complaints over materials the new policy is expected to demand complainants who wish to appeal the committee's decision on a material to respond with their appeals within five business days after receipt of committee decisions how can such a swift response be expected when our District's top administrator doesn't follow such a standard himself of the six people who submitted complaint complaints regarding library books in January of this year I know at least two of those six people that did not receive letters detailing

037committee decisions until this week that wouldn't be a problem if the reviews for those materials had just completed but there are titles they just received letters for that were from reviews concluded in March how were these complainants to even know the Committees had completed the reviews I received letters dated March 22nd for the first 55 books that were reviewed how can these two complainants letters for the same titles were dated June 12th some of the titles they submitted complaints about have already been appealed and the board has already made a final decision Dr Buck is the one responsible for sending these letters of committee decisions what he did what he did by not sending those letters at the same time as back in March is prevent these two complainants from having the opportunity to appeal

038I think it's rather bold of our board to expect such timely responses from the public when their main job is to keep the superintendent in check and in this case he failed at his duty I also find it interesting that during the board's discussion it seemed to be a problem by some board members that I was the only one that submitted an appeal well if our superintendent was acting acting in a timely manner as our board is expecting of community members than there possibly could have been more appeals unfortunately we'll never know moving forward I strongly suggest that the board consider putting a definitive timeline on everyone involved in the complaint review and appeal process if I is a complainant am to abide by a timeline so should the committee members and the superintendent on

039another note allowing only five days to complete and two is submitted an appeal is rather quite limited there are several scenarios in which this might be easily missed say someone's on vacation or on a business trip when the letters arrive in the mail that could easily cause the complainant to miss the opportunity to appeal a minimum of two weeks to receive from receive a committee decision seems much more reasonable especially when the complainant is not given any date to expect decisions a timeline and expectations for all involved would benefit everyone all right our next agenda item is 5.01 this is board reports and meetings attended and I'll turn it over to you board president Murdock I keep messing us up today I'll get it right here Boardman board president Sparks to start which direction you

040want to go he misses you Ryan he [Laughter] all right let's go ahead and start with board member sleek I was ready for you this time I got it um I'm not going to go into a ton of detail because a lot of these things that I attended everyone else was there too so since our last board meeting we and I can't believe it's actually been this long but we all attended the graduations which were amazing um it feels like yesterday and also like half a year ago at the same time which is really weird um so uh graduations are always fantastic and the weather was perfect and the students were amazing so I really enjoyed that and I'm sure everyone else did I also attended the csip Review Committee which was my first interaction

041with the csip so that was a great experience to learn and listen to um our different departments going through this esip and making those recommendations so I was glad to be part of that I attended the World Cup stakeholder session as well that was hosted by our Chamber of Commerce and Dr Barger and Dr Shelton were there as well and that was just receipt of information there wasn't uh you know this the World Cup is still several years away so so they're doing a good job of trying to engage the different communities in the metro area to try to hear concerns and give information and open up that two-way communication so it was a good start but we've got a long way to go until the World Cup so that's going to be really exciting

042um I attended the board retreat again with everyone else which was very informative uh training and good team building so I also really enjoyed that and then I attended the Lee's Summit education foundations board retreat as well which was this week um and that's a great group that's really trying to put forth a lot of focus and effort to how we can the that board can support our students in the community and continue to raise funds to support our staff and our kids with additional funding opportunities so they do great work really glad to be part of that group that's it thanks okay board member Miller um the commencement as board member esslic mentioned was amazing I just want to commend our schools and the principals every single commencement was really really beautiful and meaningful

043it was just fun to watch the students go across the stage grab their diploma and you know step into the next phase of their life so that was fun board retreat was amazing it was an opportunity for us as a board to connect and to start building relationships with one another obviously learn about other things amazing things that are going on in our district so really enjoyed the board retreat and then I was I was able to complete my 18 hours of continuing education as a new board member and I finished that up with eight hours of in-person training at the Missouri School Board Association summer Summit that we just went to this past weekend so I'm excited to continue to learn we had a great lots of great speakers there and I'm looking forward

044to continuing my education as a board member Forman Murdock all the things um with one suggestion on graduation by the way we're moving venues right um I think it'd be really cool for the parents if they knew which side the graduates were coming on for pictures and all that kind of stuff because even in the arena you're still going to be relatively far away if you're sitting up in the seats if they're I know that could be an organizational nightmare sorry but I'm just suggesting that I think parents would dig it if they knew which side to sit on so that when The Graduate is coming to their seat that they have a better shot to get a picture just something to think about other than that graduation's awesome as always um I did go

045to government relations this past month it was actually kind of sparsely attended because it was on Memorial Day weekend and so but it's always a productive and informative meeting so that's that's good and then I also did the community engagement committee I think we met back on like the 24th of May lots and lots of discussion about how the public can better interact with the board and vice versa and also I think the best part about that and the only thing I will say is I appreciated the discussion of pros and cons because we toss out ideas of how the public can interact with us there's good and bad to each suggestion right um and and so um especially right towards the end of the meeting we started talking about the possibility of town halls

046and we didn't really get into it um in that particular meeting um but I think people already are kind of starting to think about well there could be a lot of good to this but at the same time there better be a pretty good format as a result of it so that the discussion is actually productive and it doesn't just go off onto lots and lots of different tangents so I appreciate all of the people who showed up for that committee back there in Maine I'm looking forward to the next meeting thanks all right more member Garrett sorry about that um well I attended last month at Lee Summit North the Lee Summit North and Bernard Campbell Middle School jazz band picnic that was a lot of fun um I think it was kind of

047a potluck style so a lot of a lot of food brought in so that was enjoyable to see a lot of families of the band members partaking visiting and listening to their children play which was phenomenal I was really impressed and that was uh I was invited by the band director John Johnson so I've met him before I know he was honored at the teachers of the year um Awards and then also attended the commencement I really enjoyed that full day with all three high schools so um just being able to recognize how hard that all these students have worked through the pandemic and highly decorated I saw a lot of decorated graduates so very impressed um and then we of course had our board retreat a couple weeks ago gosh it seems like it

048was not that long ago um and so where we could kind of discuss um where our where we want to go as a board and we got to know each other a little bit better as well as we were able to attend last weekend in Branson Missouri training so we got some of that as well as our board was awarded so I had a lot of fun last weekend so that was it all right Dr Johnson hello this is going to be repetitive but I did attend the graduations it was a awesome time kudos to the principals and I liked a little bit of competition they have between each other in terms of who's going to have the best graduation ceremony also the board retreat just want everyone to know it's not yoga massages so

049um it's a two-day work session they should change the name of it but it was awesome opportunity for us to get together and get to know each other and set goals for the district it really gave me an opportunity to get to know the people that I'm working with and it put me on the other side of knowing who they are and what they stand for as opposed to what I saw pre-election and I appreciated that I also attended the msba Missouri School Board Association summer Summit which was pretty awesome got to meet other people in the state and they actually give a lot of kudos to Lee's Summit so be proud that's all right vice president Foley thank you um so I know we've already talked about several of the graduations but I just

050wanted to give a shout out to one in particular which is Summit Ridge Academy so I really appreciated how even though their students have the opportunity to attend the graduations from their home schools they do something just extra special for their students and really show them how they belong and it's just really so encouraging to see the love that they put into really caring for every single student that goes through those doors um as far as the board retreat grow goes I want to thank all of the members of the public and members of committees that joined us to share about their experiences so not only did the board members get to know a little bit more about each other and get to a little know a little bit more about some of the administrators

051but we got to hear from representatives of different committees and so I appreciate them taking their time to come in on the weekend to talk to us and at the msba summer Summit I gained some additional information and insight into public engagement that's something that I'll be sharing in the near future but I thought that was really excellent thank you okay just a few things I want to acknowledge Summit Ridge absolutely I'm going to go ahead and yield to Miss Miller that was one of my moves go ahead Miss Miller sorry for the interruption I do I forgot to mention something because the month of May just flew by but I did want to give a shout out I was able to visit Longview Farm Elementary which is my kids home school but I was

052able to go in the classroom of um Mrs Carrie Bryant and if you have not been to her classroom I suggest well I don't know if you Al can go but too bad you can't go she she did a day at Disney and it was so amazing like as soon as you walked in the door you got you got dis you know you got the The Mickey ears you got a little band you know the kids came and scanned in and um I mean she makes learning fun and and if you look on her Facebook page you will see throughout the year she is constantly engaging her children her classroom different themes the team does different themes it is amazing so board members I am encouraging you to go and check out Mrs Carrie Bryant

053at Longview farmer entry she is pretty darn amazing so just one example of of the amazing teachers that we have here in this District so foreign when you get a second try you only got 15 seconds okay all right all right all right just joking just joking so listen um Summer Ridge Academy uh we had a wonderful time with that graduation um and it is um the fun part is the stories being able to see um The Journey that these students have gone um and how they have been able to learn and then go on to either um college or the workforce or even military service and so um that's great to see the things that we're doing when it pertains to the board of retreat I want to highlight the fact that we had

054a 40-minute video that was highlighting the different programs outside of our normal high schools middle schools and elementary schools so Miller Park um the diff the three programs over there the Aquatic Center we got Hilltop all of those different things that was great for us to be able to see um the great work that we're doing as a district also I was able to participate in the community engagement um Team committee that's also great to be able to see outside stakeholders and being able to play a part on the things that we're doing as a district and then also we had the board retreat which was great um thank all of those that did attend and then msba was also great we got our award that that just pertains to the good work that we're

055doing as a district it but we could not do the things that we do if it wasn't for those that actually serve our students every single day and so that kind of lead me to my last two things we had we've lost two students within our last board meeting and today and so I want to recognize those families because when those families hurt then as a community we hurt and so I want to recognize that and then also this is probably a sad day for us as the District but a happy day for three individuals Dr Flack Dr Wright and then also Dr Potts they played a very big part in the things that we do as a district and so I know Dr Buck I saw some party pictures Dr Buck we did not

056get invited to that party Dr bug um but uh but I want to say thank you for all the work that you've done for this district and I wish you well with whatever your future endeavors are that is my report thank you board president Sparks that brings us to 6.01 finance committee report and I'll turn that over to board member Johnson so I wanted to let everyone know that the finance committee meeting is recorded and those meeting minutes can be found in board documents you can also review that meeting yourself at your own Leisure if you go to the website and check it out we will be talking about some more things later but just moving forward you'll be able to watch that recording on your own and you'll be able to review the minutes

057in the board in the documents for that meeting that brings us to 6.02 approved transfer of funds I reckon I have that recommendation I moved to approve the transfer of 4 million 585 688.81 from the general fund to the special Revenue fund do I have a second second okay all in favor raise your right hand say aye aye okay can I also have a motion for 6.03 I moved to approve the treasurer's report and the payment of the bills do you have a second second okay all in favor raise your right hand say aye aye our next agenda item is 6.04 and I'll bring up Nathan holder for amend budget of 2223 um he'll be up here for the next two agenda items thank you Dr Buck we have two agenda items tonight that are

058regular items for the month of June at a regular board meeting we have the 2022-23 budget amendment which is what you see before you and earlier at our work session we had about an hour-long presentation that went through both the budget amendment which we're talking about now and then also the preliminary budget for 23 24 and so that is available on our work session if anybody would like to review that so I'm going to hit the highlights of both and then obviously we'll if there are any further questions I'll be happy to answer those so the first item is the 2223 final Amendment just a reminder that our we we budget we make adjustments for revenue and expenses but the main requirement is that the budgeted expenses that we have are actual expenses do not

059exceed those and so that's what we're looking to do with this June amendment should there be a situation where we had to come back in July and amend a fund we can do that but the goal is is certainly to to have this be the final Amendment so to highlight just a few things if you look at the two yellow shaded boxes the top left you see our beginning balance 75 million just over that to start the year we are ending uh up 2.814 million dollars so we will end the year at 77.88 million a slight decrease in the percentage again that's just related to your final fund balance as divided by your operating expenses which are incidental and teacher fund expenses for the year we have made a conscious decision this year two things

060I want to highlight uh if you look at our capital projects Revenue the 10.49 million dollars in local Revenue we we have decided to move approximately two million dollars from incidental into capital projects to help with the Myriad of projects that we have scheduled for next year and even beyond that and then also if you look at the transfer down about two-thirds of the way down you'll see a capital projects transfer of approximately 8.4 million that is close to the max transfer that we have and again trying to build that fund for capital projects balance and so you see that reflected with the beginning balance of 11.9 million in ending balance projected at 14.676 million the other funds Debt Service restricted or Bond just a reminder our bond fund we are amending that next fiscal

061year we anticipate that all of those bond funds will be spent which means all of our projects are completed which is always a good thing so before you again is the recommended Amendment for the 22-23 budget I'm happy to take any questions okay are there any questions vice president Foley um an item that we discussed earlier in the work session I just wanted to Circle back and bring it up publicly real quick would you speak a little bit to the uh the levy amount that has to do with property taxes and kind of what's kind of a brief overview of kind of what our discussion has been and what the district is looking at doing in the future sure is uh we look at the 23 24 preliminary budget you will see highlighted and so

062I'll it's it's good to point out on this side you see at the bottom uh the tax levy by fund and you see that the total over in the bottom right 5.3089 are Levy next year with the ballot issue that we had it the levy next year could be 5.3089 um what you will see on the next preliminary budget is a recommendation and again this is preliminary because we still have to have all of the tax information in which we don't have but we will we know that there will be a rollback uh and right now that voluntary roll back will roll back almost 35 cents uh to 4.9611 and you will see that reflected on the the 23-24 preliminary budget okay is there any other questions board member excellent no I don't have a

063question I actually just wanted to repeat the part that tripped me up which was the fact that we because of because of our bond I think I asked this question three different ways in the work session so I'm just going to repeat it because it confused me and I just want to make it clear to the public that the school district by Statute because we had a vote on our Levy transfer in April we could keep the entire increase in RSS valuation the district could do that if they chose to do that but I think it just Bears repeating that the district also understands that we can be a lot more fiscally responsible and respectful of the position that our constituents and the community is in and is choosing not to realize that entire gain

064so I just wanted to repeat that again because I think it's really important and I know it's on a lot of people's minds especially if you got particularly hard hit in your assessed valuation so I just wanted to make sure that that's very clearly communicated that this team over here and all these people over here hear that and um are taking that to heart so excuse me thank you that's all I have thank you Mr holder I appreciate those comments I think that it just indicates the commitment that we have to our community um and the commitment that we have of making sure um that we do what our job is to do and that's what we can do we can't control what's beyond our scope but what we can do is do the best

065that we can for our students and for our families so thank you for all of those comments Mr holder thank you okay can I have a motion for 6.04 if you're looking for it I got I got you I'm I moved to amend the 2022-23 expense budget as follows the incidental fund from 86 million 600 11 915 to 88 million five hundred and fifty thousand the Teachers Fund from 146 million 115 743 dollars to 147 million four hundred thousand dollars the capital projects and bond fund from 111 million 654 757 to 87 million to 87 that number I don't recognize that number sir just as an FYI um somebody help me with that one since I'm not on that chart where are we going uh bond fund from 111 to what Mr holder if if

066you the capital projects fund and bond funds combined yep because those are both fund for expenses so if you add the budget for capital projects and the bond fund you should get that number right if somebody honey I need that number so Nathan they're missing a digit we're missing a digit in the hundred thousand range and there it was I was I was moving along on that too by the way yeah great yeah that's an important digit it is an important digit sir that's that's what that's where I stopped all right everybody quick break you're not going to get a shout out when you decide to retire just FYI he's doing the math we're good it's okay 87 million three three four five two seven okay so 87 million 334. 287 million three hundred and

067thirty four thousand five hundred and twenty seven The Debt Service fund from 29 million six hundred seventy five thousand three hundred and forty six to forty two million sixty thousand the restricted fund from fourteen million five hundred fifty one thousand three seventy four to sixteen million one hundred and fifty thousand and the incidental fund transferred to the capital projects fund from six million to eight million four hundred thousand utilizing portions of the transportation seven percent in food food service transfers do I have a second second all right Mr holder you redeemed yourself sir is there any discussion all right so all in favor raise your right hand say aye aye aye all right the next item is 6.05 and that's the adoption of the preliminary budget for 22 or 2023 24 school year or fiscal

068year 24. uh Mr holder I was going to hit the highlights all right and I promise this motion is much easier and I always feel bad when I write that now I really feel bad because there was a missing number um okay the 2324 budget is is on the screen and it is uh again a reflection if you look at the top those balances are the projected preliminary starting balances for next fiscal year which starts July 1st and so those match identically the numbers at the bottom of the the graph that we were just on which is how we will end this fiscal year in 2223. and so throughout that then you see at a high level summary both revenues and expenditures that are projected for the district again I just want to highlight a

069couple of bring back a couple of things that I mentioned earlier if you look at capital projects you'll see again a fairly healthy amount of local revenue and so we are moving a significant percentage of our merchants in manufacturing Revenue that comes in into capital projects next year and we are also budgeting a six million dollar transfer and so for us again typically if you look back historically beyond the last two years in the three to four million dollar range for it for a transfer um and so even with doing both of those things we are projecting a balance of to increase 1.8 million dollars now again the operating percentage will decrease slightly from 32.63 percent to 31.02 percent but still a healthy fund balance and one that even with all of the activity in

070our our Capital project needs we will still also project to finish the year with the 10 million dollar balance now that also positions us you know as we go through the year if we have more Capital needs um you know then we can discuss that and we may have an opportunity and if we chose to we could go even further into that fund if we wanted to uh to get some needed things done the bond fund just again to mention you'll you'll see that on the far right that goes to zero and that is intentional we certainly hope to have all of our bomb projects wrapped up in this fiscal year and we would anticipate that that be finished at the end of FY 24. just to highlight there again at the bottom text will

071be by fund you will notice that going from 5.3089 on the last slide to 4.9611 that's still a projection as I I told the board earlier in the work session these are all preliminary numbers especially beginning and ending um they they won't be exact but they should definitely be close to where we end this fiscal year uh and and same with the projection for the fy24 budget the last thing I'll say is what we have is a one-page summary but when the board approves the budget also in the board docs and it's publicly available is a much larger document the budget book it's 56 pages long it goes into much greater detail there's some narrative there but also breaking out these expenditures and the different funds the different categories whether it be the salaries and

072benefits contracted Services supplies or equipment and it also just has some other pertinent information as it relates to the school district and and ultimately as it relates to the budget so that document is is available it will always be available in board docs but then we also post that to our website and we'll do that after the official budget is approved one last thing we always have a preliminary budget and as is mentioned in the the budget board book we'll come back in September we'll likely have a an amendment then we typically do one in either January or February uh and then we will do our final one next year at this time and so that is the typical rhythm of of the budget and uh you know just to make sure that it is

073as accurate as possible at different points uh during the year thank you Mr holder I would like to entertain the motion at this time I move that the board approved the 2023-2024 preliminary budget as presented do I have a second second okay any questions I just wanted I just wanted to make sure that people knew that the final tax rate actual hearing is in September as well when we go through that just so people know when you're looking for that 4.9611 or very close to it's the last couple days of September so that's when we'll do that at that particular meeting thank you for those comments any other questions okay all in favor raise your right hand say aye aye our next item is items of decision consent 7.01 through 7.42 I would like to

074entertain a motion I moved to approve the consent agenda as presented throughout the second second all in favor raise your right hand say aye aye okay that was unanimous let me just make this statement real quick about our consent items this is also for the public we have this long list of consent items it is always we're trying to make our meetings more efficient as we're doing our business just a reminder to the full board at any moment like we've already stated you're able to pull an item from consent if you want to have some discussion and we're going to get to see one of those items today as we discuss it but I just wanted to remind the public that we are trying to make our meetings more efficient and that's why we have

075the lengthy consent items and going to that item is 8.01 which originally was a consent agenda so these are the changes the school board made at The Retreat so 8.01 and the reason I I believe it's being pulled is we had uh Missouri School Board Association would give us a little context um we had a decision made to pull out the organ donation from a different policy that state statute we have to have in policy it didn't really make sense where it was am I saying this right so we thought we'd create our own our own policy and have it separate uh School Board Association has an A system that doesn't allow them to do that readily so we were struggling with that I think midday today Miss ismirtz and Kelly Hopkins at Missouri School

076Board Association came with a workaround so in board policy um I think it's bdd b or bddh bddb there will be a reference to bddc and you can click on that and go to bddc which we will house in a different system but then you can see it all within our if you're on our website you won't notice anything different but that way Missouri School Board Association system doesn't get messed up but yet we have everything on our website so you still have bddc there's just an extra line added at bddb where you can reference it that way Missouri School Board Association doesn't forget that we have bddc okay is there any discussion Mr Murdock yeah just I first off thank you for getting a work around it it still makes no sense to me

077why organ donation is among a policy about an agenda um so to that point I'll just I'll let that one lie but that still makes no sense um my question is is more of a process here so we have in items for decision the board all the board policies listed but in terms of the recommended motion we don't list bddc and that's we need to add that to the motion correct okay I just wanted to make sure thanks for remember esslick no you're fine we we haven't we haven't we haven't had the most no the motion has not been made so let's go then I will like to entertain a motion and then let's have the discussion I I moved to approve the second reading of board policies bddb bddc b d d h GBM

078gcba IGA B K C and klb as presented you have a second second discussion Boardman wrestling that was really loud I punched the button um actually I did want to have a conversation around klb um I know typically we maybe don't incorporate a lot of uh public commentary into our discussions but I think some valid points were brought up and I feel like it Bears discussion um I think that there were some valid concerns brought up about the timeline of five days especially in consideration of people who work who travel who might be on vacation and I think if we're going to retain the five days we need to add some provision in there for electronic notification to allow someone the ability to be out of town yet still be notified and not miss their

079opportunity to respond so I think maybe that was something for conversation if the board potentially would like to consider that um also when we're talking about uh this policy I think it's number number one um I was curious if how it's going to work with materials that have already been reviewed prior to inaction of this policy so if we're considering say you know with the book this evening um is that approved if it is approved or uh removed either one um does that decision stand in perpetuity forever because this policy was not enacted so we haven't put a timeline on it how is that going to work I I'm in Joker correct me if I'm wrong but if we adopt the policy tonight and the book tonight should it be retained then it couldn't be

080challenged for the three years it would still fall under the new klb policy it would not be in perpetuity it would fall under the three years so anything that had been reviewed previous to this policy like the previous book from last year or something so that would not fall under the three years then or how would that be work okay anything okay all right yes I just didn't know if there needed to be something added to clarify I apologize okay no on your own Point gotcha okay um sure okay so I just wanted to bring up the part about um maybe five business days revisiting that as either moving it to 10 days or putting a provision in there about electronic notification so so um thank you um is there any discussion on what we

081just heard from the board Mr Murdock I think it's perfectly reasonable to go to attend business day I I think that that makes a lot of sense in this particular regard and quite honestly unless Dr Whaley or Dr Buck would tell me differently I actually personally think it should be probably 10 days and you get an electronic notification that the letter is being sent we already have the contact information right I mean I think that's I'm fine with either one I think we actually could do both but I absolutely think that 10 days is absolutely reasonable so to move move from five to ten yeah every once in a while we do have somebody Reach Out reach out to us they do not have email they do it by letter so if you put Electronics

082there are going to be a rare but every once in a while we'll have an individual that does not have email so could it just be or and electronically if available and then it kind of solves that right if it's not available it's not mandatory it's fine I think what we yeah what we'd be doing is putting together administrative procedures to implement this and I think that could be incorporated in the administrative procedure without having to go through I think we can do the 10 10-day Amendment pretty easily tonight crafting the language around that as long as there's consensus that we will give electronic notification when appropriate we can make that a part of the administrative procedure uh and that way it gets implemented going forward I think that'd be a way to solve that

083issue okay is there any other comments around those two issues that have been raised okay so do we want to amend the motion that is on the floor currently to extend to 10 days from the five I think we should so um so I could Mrs mert I would amend my emotion um to include a revision of policy klb from five business days of appeal notification to 10 business days appeal notification do I have a second second who was it okay miss that click you win so to clarify when we vote on your Amendment you're voting whether you're going to amend the first motion so you're voting are you going to vote on ten or five and then we will actually vote on KOB after that all the policies of all the policies so you're

084just now saying are we going to change what we're going to vote on correct so the motion that's on the floor I just want to be clear to the full board the motion on the floor is that we are going to approve the policy but it's with the notion that there's 10 days instead of five days and then we will then make another motion to approve all policies it's it's a very fine detail but we're actually only approving the amendment from five to ten KOB still will stand alone with all the other problems correct correct correct yeah any other comments or concerns Miss Eslick sorry before we made the amendment I probably should have brought up another what the question on bddb um number nine um there's a reference to the board being able to

085vote on whether a person has violated um our procedure our rules for speaking in public comments but my concern with it is that there isn't a timeline so it says the board can move um to say yes there was a violation and should the most motion pass the person shall not be allowed to speak about a resident initiated item is that forever does the board get to vote and decide how long they're not allowed to speak about Resident initiated items I'm a little bit uncomfortable if they're not being some sort of that's a probationary period for X period of time or are they banned for life I think it's a great question I think there was consensus around one year but I think we should vote on the amendment and then come to have that

086in case you want to amend this okay but I think it's a great question yes yes so if we can vote on the amendment that's on the floor then we'll come back to your conversation okay so all in favor we are amen we are basically approving the amendment to extend to 10 days okay all in favor raise your right hand say aye aye now miss s slick with the statement that she just made um is there any comments around that question um to Dr Buck's point I know we did talk about a year um and so if there needs to be some additional language added in there then let's do that now before we ask for that emotion Mr Joe yeah I I seem to recall that one year as well and I think the

087appropriate place to put that in would be at the end of paragraph nine so it would say the person shall not be allowed to speak about a resident initiated agenda item for up to one year and that allows the board to do something less than a year if it thinks it appropriate but no more than one year Dr Johnson um it was about a different point but in bddb still yes because we can do it all together we can do it all together okay so I may not be reading this correctly but bddb number two where it says they can meet or not meet and then number three says they can still put it on as to put on agenda if they don't meet I thought they had to meet Mr Mr Hadley can come

088up he authored this so he'll he can answer his words probably the best but yes you're right that's what we talked about was the required meeting first in this this person must first request to meet with the superintendent but then the next part comes into play as if the superintendent doesn't meet with the person within 20 days then it gets to they get to put it on the agenda irregardless of whether they've had that meeting so if there's if there's neglige negligent on our superintendent's part then that pop that basically they automatically get to have an item on the agenda and it should say superintendent or designee correct okay and number two I think it does say no it doesn't it needs to be superintendent it doesn't mean number two but it should say that

089again at number three correct right so it does need to be amended to say or designee okay I just want to make sure it wasn't stating that the citizen just decided not to meet it's only if it's negligence on the superintendent's part that is correct and do we think that can be implied by the public I I think I think it actually does say that within the within these two things meaning I think it does read that way that you need to meet with the superintendent and then number three um that if they haven't met with you I I I don't think we need to change it I guess is what I'm what I'm trying to say yeah that the language there is largely from the statute so we try to track the statutory language

090as best we can but they're not always perfect either so sometimes we try to clarify it and make a good point but I think the intent there is pretty clear that uh superintendent superintendent chooses for whatever reason not to meet then person automatically has a right to have it uh make a request for it to be put on YouTube Dr Johnson I would tell you though in number three I think it's per it would be reasonable to say after meeting with the superintendent or if the superintendent has re has failed to meet the 20-day deadline for a meeting after the submission of the request the resident may I think that that's perfectly reasonable too to add it for better clarification and I would Advocate also adding that designation since the number two put that organization

091because if it's a transportation thing we're probably going to say meet with Mr Maples in the first way days so I do want to have that designate piece in there Dr Buck um I'm okay with the Disney piece I just want to make sure from our conversations from the board of retreat that the board is receiving the report of whatever that meeting was or with whoever had it that is coming to the full board okay um is everyone clear before we um Mr Murdock well I was just going to offer that Amendment unless somebody else wants to try to knock that one out Mr Murdock is on you um so miss espart I would move to amend policy B ddb by adding and designee to each area where it mentions the superintendent excuse me it

092should be ordered or designee sorry not and designee that's a good point that's a very good point um and in number three after meeting with the superintendent or if the superintendent has not met the 20-day deadline for a meeting the resident May request and then it would go on and then down at number nine adding should the motion pass the person shall not be allowed to speak about a resident initiated agenda item for up to one year do I have a second okay all in favor raise your right hand say aye aye that is correct and so the original motion is going to be us covering all of the policies that are before us is there any discussion well actually let's call for him well we already have the original motion on the floor so

093is there any discussion okay all in favor raise your right hand say I I motion passes unanimously next item for decision is 8.02 book Appeal on damsel I like to call for a motion at this time before we have the motion can I get some clarification on why we have the three options because I thought that we had had discussion about the fact that retain with restriction was not a real recommendation it is something still in a vernacular restrictions means we would not add it to a lower level than it currently is so if it's a high school only and you pass it with restrictions it means it will you can't go below High School but we were told right that that doesn't happen anyway yes practice we don't do that already correct but it

094isn't it is it is in our vernacular practice right now but yes all right got it so there's really two options so what um I believe will happen is once we get through um the appeals that are before us and once we get through the second set of recommendations then at that point um it will be asked for the district to Pivot to the two options moving forward in the future um am I did I cover that correctly correct we don't want change vernacular Midstream here okay so can I have a motion on the floor I'll just be the person who makes all the Motions there you go apparently um tonight understanding that I get your point here right um in where we're at I move I move to retain damsel without restriction drop a

095second second okay open for discussion for memories link Ryan makes all the motions and I talk so this is how we go all right um so I'll start this off um I just wanted to again reference some points that were brought up and just overall on the appeals process I just want to First say that I appreciate the work that the Committees have done and I just want to say from my perspective that I don't think engaging in the appeals process as a board and coming in with a difference of opinion from what the committee uh had indicates a lack of faith or consideration for the work that was put in by those individuals I think we're honoring the request from the constituent who brought forward a concern and by its very existence this entire

096process is meant to provide a review of The material through a different lens so I don't want to say that we're negating what the Committees have done to that end when I uh I'm going through this process and in my own mind I am viewing my charge um as a question of not whether to ban a book but to evaluate its place in a public school where parents give us their children to educate but also to safeguard so when I'm looking at this book or any book that comes before me as a board member I'm evaluating for age appropriateness and educational relevance and to that end I think it's important to note that I I'm also in no way making a statement towards our library staff because the Librarians and all honestly probably did not

097read this book or any or many of the books that come before them to put on the shelves because they get thousands of them so I don't I think if you were just reading a whatever this award is that this book was given if you're just reading reviews by some of those um reward committees then um you know you're you're not really going to know the content excuse me unless you actually read it and as a parent you're not going to know unless you actually read the book or go online and read some of the reviews and if you do that then you will see a few more of the things that might be a little bit more give a little bit more insight as to the content so with that in mind I am

098going to just bring up some of the concerns that I had when I read this book um just some of the the content concerns for me there were references to rape sexual assault animal harm suicide self-harm and mental and physical abuse there were scenes depicting in graphic detail the look feel and appearance of genitalia there were detailed descriptions of non-consensual and consensual penetration which included the look feel and appearance of genitalia there were scenes depicting bestial necrophilia because honestly that's the nicest way I can describe what was depicted and there was graphic literary description of forced partner-assisted masturbation So based on those things personally I do not believe that based on that content that this book is a vital necessary or appropriate addition to a public school library for students as young as 14. I

099think this is a resource that can be accessed easily from the public library or through private purchase if someone desires to read it or provide it to their child I do not support this book in our libraries thanks okay is there any other comments vice president Foley thank you um I agree a lot with what board member Eslick just said and I do want to add a couple things one that this is a fictional story involving dragons and a damsel so it's not like this is a true story about a person that has encountered some horrible things and has persevered and is sharing to help other people get through it this is a fictional story um also Beyond reading the book myself I looked at reviews and one of the things that I saw that

100really stood out to me is even people that love this book mention the fact that there's trigger warnings trigger warnings and that they don't believe that this book should have been marketed to young adults they say it's inappropriate for young adults a lot of the content if they do understand it it's inappropriate and can cause all kinds of issues but otherwise it could go over their head because it's way too mature and I'll note the the items that she just mentioned so when that I agree I do not think that this is an age-appropriate book for our students okay is there any more comments or discussion all right board member Gary sorry I didn't get my button um I read the book uh well I listened to an audiobook um and there was a lot

101of there was a lot of graphic descriptions along the lines of what board member esselict had described um I honestly this type of style book I don't think that I would really get into but I wouldn't allow my child to watch or to read a book like that um it was kind of along the the the lines of uh Game of Thrones type of which was pretty graphic on HBO I don't think that this really has an educational background to be in our our school library you know there are a lot of books that are missing in our school libraries that I think would be more appropriate and educational and thought-provoking this just to me seemed very dark at times that I I couldn't really get into it I just couldn't get into it um

102I don't think with all the mental health issues we have going on especially in our school district that this book would be helpful in any way um I wouldn't recommend to retain this book in our school library is there any other discussion board member Murdoch I'll reiterate a couple of things that I said previous in terms of Just Books in general and then I'll give a couple comments on this one number one if we're going to say because the book is fiction that we're going to get rid of it we're going to be getting rid of half the library that doesn't make any sense books can be fiction books can have educational value when they are fiction so that's one thing it's a fairy tale to read a list of what you might find inappropriate

103I think made it sound like every single page had things that were inappropriate which was far from the case in this particular book far from the case in this what I would choose to read would I choose to read it I don't know right I don't know I didn't I mean it was an easy I thought it was a relatively easy read um overall but to the point of what we are trying to decide and to vice president Foley's point and I'm just going to fight disagree looking at reviews which I did too there are dozens and dozens of reviews that say opposite they say that it is young adult they say that it is appropriate we have people who say that it is valuable we have people who were talking about um and the

104awards that it did win and it's one of the reasons that we should go and look at all these different things and I don't question by the way that there are reviews that said exactly what you said I don't question that at all but that's exactly why when we have something like this that the seven of us in my opinion should be looking to the Committees who read the book should be looking to our library media Specialists and understanding that they read the book they've gone through the discussion about it and they chose to retain it lastly we continue to get The Narrative of go to the public library and I respect that narrative except for the fact that we actually have better checks in schools than the public library does because my 13 year

105old right who's in middle school could go to the public library sit down and read read the book right it's not accessible in the Middle School so this whole notion and by the way one of the other things that we continue to hear and we get messages about it too is my tax dollars shouldn't fund this particular kind of item or this particular items our tax dollars from the public libraries too so um it's a matter of choice on what we are choosing to read right now this I told I told president Sparks this after I read the book I had to go back to the review process of the complainant who who submitted the complaint and then the initial thing on like I think they gave us the book look site right to go

106and look I had to go back to that to find all of these different pages that supposedly they're all of these things that were that were awful um it doesn't mean that there aren't some items that are for kids of high school age or older that's not that's that is what that means um but I just think we're on a really slippery slope when we start saying it's not what I would read and therefore I want to get rid of it so thanks vice president Foley thank you I just want to clarify my comment about it being a fictional book that has no bearing on my view of fictional books in general I was trying to State the fact that this wasn't a true story this is a book that I feel provides no value

107and I believe is inappropriate for minors Boardman wrestling can I I just I apologize I need to respond to that though What fictional books then if they are stories just in general would you consider then that have educational value what is the marker that a fictional book needs to have to be considered educational what's the marker what's the what's the bright line that it needs to have from a fictional standpoint to be considered educational because what you've just told us here is you don't think it has any value and I respect that opinion right that that's absolutely a valid opinion but to say that because it is fictional and what you're commenting on is because of the nature or genre of the book quite honestly it has no educational value then my question bounces right

108back to What fictional books what do fictional books need to have to be considered educational for example if I'm going to go and get a fictional book on I don't know I mean I used Harry Potter as the example before what's the educational value of the fictional of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter does that make sense what I'm asking there has to be a line if you're going to say that there's that as a fictional book it has no educational value then there has to be some line that you can cross to get into the fictional realm that does have educational value so I'm just interested what that line is I don't know whether I have a good um response in how to define that but I think also it is of note that

109Harry Potter doesn't contain this graphic you know inappropriate content and if it did then maybe we would have the conversation about that book but when you have books that do not contain sexually explicit content and they're just for enjoyment then even if it doesn't provide necessarily educational value it can still be considered appropriate and I and that that I understand that part absolutely understand so then it becomes really just a level right what is so in your opinion the tolerance level right is really where it's at because and we mentioned it in the work session right and I think this is one of the areas where you and I actually agreed on this right we're really talking about suitability right that was the word that you used in the work session and I thought it

110was very applicable to this particular discussion and I thought that that was the right probably the right word right was are some of the books that were on the list illegal No in fact we've had legal who've already told us that right that they're not illegal so then you brought up that it wasn't suitable and I think that's a much better word to use right do we believe that these are suitable but then to that point I just go okay well what I think is suitable is clearly different probably than what you find suitable what anybody on this board probably finds we probably all have different ideas of what is suitable which is why we lean into the Review Committee recommendations and the library media Specialists and our buildings and our staff when we actually

111make these kinds of decisions I guess that's my ultimate Point here is that we all have different levels of what we find to be acceptable and not acceptable and because we probably do disagree on that and I would Venture guess that out of the 50 people in the room that there's probably 50 different opinions of what suitable really is so um that's why we had the process that's why we stick with and and make sure that we're going with people who have years and years and years of experience but I do understand what you're saying with that last example foreign I'll just comment a little bit um on this thread of the conversation because I think uh I was going to just respond to the comment about reading the list of inappropriate content and I

112read that list and not to indicate that it is pervasive it's on a number of pages but I think it goes back to the question of uh suitability and what the threshold is and if is is it three pages is it 10 pages is it 200 pages does it have to occur just once so again it goes back to where's your threshold and I respect that again we have committees and we have people in our district who were put in positions to review these I also respect that we are the elected officials who were put here to represent the public and to make those decisions not to necessarily take every recommendation that's brought to us and just say sounds good we can also have independent opinions and disagree with the individuals who have brought recommendations

113to us that's not disrespectful to them that's respectful to the process I went back and read the committee feedback on the Forum I made sure that I went back and read it right before the meeting so that I had that opinion fresh in my mind but I did read the book I didn't just rely on reviews this is I read it cover to cover and um then I read reviews I didn't taint my opinion first with anyone else's opinion I read the book and the comments the contents that I pulled out of the book are concerning and I don't care if it occurs once or twice or 25 times I don't think it is appropriate I don't think it is um suitable and that's a fair comment that is my opinion um to the comment

114about the public library I'm going to clarify I simply mean when I reference that I simply mean we don't need to like burn any books that we decide not to keep I'm not saying it doesn't have a place in the world I'm just saying it has a place and a pla in a location where a 13 year old has to be driven there a 13 year old is not obligated by law to be in the public library building Monday through Friday during the school year but they are obligated to be in our buildings Monday through Friday by law you know from August until May um so and within that building is a library that we facilitate materials for our students to have access to so that's very different than a minor who is probably going

115to be driven to the public library or have access to Amazon and buy books at the behest of their parents and the knowledge of their parents so I completely understand that there are less safeguards but a minor child also has to be driven there and typically I had to sign my own kid up for a library card they couldn't just get one without me so um those were the points that I just wanted to respond to so thanks any other discussion or comments around this I just want to just make two statements and then we'll go ahead and vote um I would like to remind us as a board that um our job with reviewing this book and the three additional books that are I'm slated to be reviewed by us um was not to

116determine if the book was suitable for our personal preference because one of the points that I made to um a colleague was that was not my cup of tea this book was not a book that I would go purchase it's not a book that I would go to the library and take off of a shelf but I don't believe that that is what my task was to just to to determine if this was something that I would read for myself I think the discussion that we should have is in line with the discussion that the committee had and the discussion that the committee had was is it in violation to the Statue or would this be considered pornography because a lot of the discussion as a board that we had we had legal to stand

117up and to give us the definition we have the Librarians to stand up and to give us the definition and every and the comments that were made was that these books were pornography and that's why they were wanting to be banned and if you disagree with that and I believe Mormon wrestling probably do because you pushed the button so I'll let you speak if you disagree with that sentiment that that is what was brought to us when it came to these book Appeals that may be the commentary from the book appeals about pornography but that was not the lens I was not looking at this and saying is it violating the law because I think we had just as board member Murdoch had mentioned that had already been established that was not the case so

118we to me I was reviewing from the lens of does it have the educational value and is it appropriate or um what word did you use suitable I was like that's a good word I need to just continue to use that word so that that was my lens but also I did want to just comment that all of my comments and not any of them did I make any comment about whether I liked the book or would choose the book for myself because I agree with you that is frankly irrelevant because that does not matter whether I liked it or not or whether anybody liked it and I I was very careful to make sure when I was reading the book but that's that what that should not be factoring into the decision that we

119were trying to make here so agree with you I also felt the same way so would you also agree that when the books were when the recommendation came to us that the record recommendation was not based on it being educational that these books were Leisure books that were in our libraries that they were not educational books they were not part of our curriculum that were demanding students to read to learn from sure yeah they're optional but we could go through a lot of things that are that are optional in our buildings that our district still takes the effort to make sure that we put quality safe uh good things in front of our students I mean we could go through you know the food we choose to put in our in our uh lunchrooms to

120making sure that they have quality things lots of things are optional and yet we as a district still choose and try to make good effort to you know make sure that we're not putting unhealthy things in in our students path so okay yeah I hear you it can be a choice but that doesn't absolve us of an obligation to make sure that when something is brought to us I'm not saying go on a Witch Hunt with uh you know seeking out other things but we have now been made aware of the content that's here and I I feel an obligation to make sure that we're addressing that not necessarily through the lens of uh is it instructional in the classroom no it's not but I also think that that at this moment is to me

121irrelevant okay and I guess my last question is while we know that this was a fiction book it's a you know fairy tale novel um do we feel like all of the things from the list that you provided that you basically read off that those are lived experience of individuals and maybe lived experiences um to the students that this book is available to because I know we mentioned the 13 number but this book technically is not available to 13 year olds unless they're a 13 year old and they're a freshman I said 14. I said 14. I don't know if somebody else said 13. okay um okay well Ryan your son can't read this book not in lsr7 um uh to whether they are our lived experiences I think that there there's two sides to

122that um there is um sexual abuse in this book there's a power Dynamic that is incredibly unhealthy and yes that can be a lived experience of some individuals but that can also be traumatizing re-traumatizing to individuals who have experienced that and there is no indication anywhere on this book that that's going to be something a reader encounters and it's violent it's it's graphic the whole undertone is very um you know um sexual it's very sexual there's this it's hard to describe without somebody having read it's very out of context but um that is the undertone throughout the entire book as as I read it as you read it um that that was my feel and you know to me it was uh certainly an uncomfortable feeling and I've certain not lived through that experience but

123I can only imagine someone who had lived through some level of abuse that would be potentially re-traumatizing um but I'm not sure that that really this particular again my opinion that it would really serve as a lesson to someone who had been through that lived experience again because it is fictional and again beastial necrophilia should be no one's lived experience so I would hope that's not ever part of anyone's so one last question would you say that it is um that there are instructional books or there are books that are available that may not have sexual content in it but they are triggers for individuals should those books then be brought before us for us to review and to potentially remove I suppose it depends on the situation but I would say that that's definitely

124a slippery slope and I see we were going with that but one of the comments that I have brought up before is the fact that books are our only media that we don't rate for Content you know we have music that has sensitive parental advisory on it you have book um excuse me um movies that have ratings on them there's nothing in books unless you seek Out reviews on the internet for what the content is and what trigger warnings might be involved so that's a limitation of our current written media capabilities and I think it would be a great idea for our library not our library because that's a huge daunting task that's not probably a fair ass but maybe American Library Association to Endeavor Upon A system that does have a sort of rating

125system because I think that that's a long way to say I don't have an answer for that but I think that that should be something that is out there especially since we know so many authors are writing very graphic stories and I don't you're not going to know unless you read a review or you crack open the book and you discover what's in there thank you I appreciate this dialogue I think it was beneficial and this is how we get things done is there any other comments or discussion around this topic okay we have a motion we have a second all in favor to the motionless on the floor the motion that is on the floor is to retain the book damsel Mr Murdoch okay all in favor raise your right hand and say I

126I all opposed raise your right hand and say nay okay we have a 4-3 vote um and the motion passes all right our last section is items information written reports 10.01 through 10.04 okay so we have our item for information we have our elementary handbook um is there any questions or discussions around it just just one because we brought it up previously to make sure that the handbooks matched up essentially the student handbook versus Athletic handbook versus coaches handbook and since we only have that I just want to make sure that that was still noted to make sure that we got that those consistencies uh that we got those changes that was the direction given yes right okay all right thanks okay any questions all right the next one is High School handbook any questions

127same we're good all right curriculum revisions any questions or concerns all right and bond update budget update any questions or concerns all right this meeting is now adjourned thank you [Music] thank you [Music]