LSR7 Board of Education Meeting - 2/23/23

001foreign [Music] we just are so proud of you and want to recognize you um as earning your distinguished certificate from msba we know how hard it is to be a board member we enjoyed working with you so much as a board member and we're just so proud to be able to share this distinguished certificate with you as well fellow board members while I walk down does anyone else have any other comments they'd like to make I'll go I will say that it is no secret that Meghan Marshall is my friend she is my friend I consider her a sister I am ecstatic I'm ecstatic because in the month of February uh celebrating Black History Month and for you to have paved the way to being the first person of color to serve on this board

002of education um that opened the door for me and I appreciate that and I want to recognize that and then for you to also set the bar So High by being the second person in this District to be able to that have served on this board to been able to accomplish the level of distinguish we also have former board member Jackie Clark here who is that um if I'm Going to Be an Effective leader I have to do what I'm asking others to do so the amount of hours that teachers put in on their own time continuing their education and becoming better it was my honor to do this because I believe that you should inspect what you expect and leaders are readers and if there's professional development out there and things to continue your

003education we have to go get it it makes us better and it makes the people around us better so thank you I miss you all dearly but I'm having a blast thank you thank you thank you congratulations awesome now we'll move to item 3.05 our board metrics update and Dr Barger good evening wanting to share with you our monthly metrics update as we have brought to the board each month as you'll be reminded we have right time to metrics in which each month we bring to the board of education and update with regard to data that is best timed with regard to the release of that data this particular month we're looking specifically at extra curricular participation to date and we've added one other piece which is with regard to the board of education's request

004from the diocese last month with regard to csip action plans 2.3 and 2.5 so that will be a quick update because really what I'm going to share with you is what our process is going to be to provide the Board of Education those updates on a regular basis and depending on how quickly you were into emails earlier today you may have already seen a pre-glimse of that what our plan of action is going to be if you'll recall as we looked at our csip and looked at where we were in terms of being progressing towards being on target we saw that there were two action plans in which it looked like we may not be progressing to one target there is some ongoing conversation if perhaps the metric was not the best metric for us

005to have used to measure those targets but all in all it is worth us articulating to the board on a regular basis how we are utilizing student voice and student and staff Wellness in our schools so what you will find is that each month each of our schools will be completing a form a template asking for what ongoing measures they are doing in the area of 2.3 student voice and 2.5 and then more specifically what has happened in the given month different than what is on what is ongoing so that you don't just get the same report each month right you get to see what's happening from month to month they'll be aggregated in a PDF so that you can see each of our schools and that will be provided to the board via board

006update during the week of the board meeting so we will have a month-to-month update as we progress and see some of the qualitative data even if we may or may not see some of that quantitative data moving given the metric that has been chosen so that's an update with regard to how we'll be communicating that from the last metrics update and then really I'm going to turn this presentation over to Dr Kenny and Dr Potts since the extracurricular curricular world is really in their area of expertise all right good evening how are you so Dr Potts and I are responsible for csip goal 1.5 on extracurricular and co-curricular opportunities just want to remind you that we had an if you remember this is a three-year plan but we had to kind of redo the Benchmark

007here for this year just knowing that we had lots of changes at both Elementary and secondary with our sixth graders going to the middle school as well as band being kind of 6 12 now and a few other small changes okay so the goal is to increase participation and opportunities for extracurricular and co-curricular involvement for students of all backgrounds and levels so you can see I'll leave that up there for a few minutes oopsie sorry so you can see we have them listed by school just a couple of pieces to remember as you're looking at this data for elementary and Dr Potts will show us we'll share a secondary in a second just that this again is our Benchmark year and a reminder that we had kind of talked when we revise a csip just

008that K2 is really hard to have come early before school and really stay after school they're they're very little and so we just have to be creative with some of those opportunities in most of our clubs and opportunities come before or after school in elementary we also added this is first semester data last spring we added three enrichment stipends to every Elementary including our Online Academy and we had principals go back and look at to make sure that we had kind of a range of activities a lot of our activities were based in the Arts which are really great but we have some kids that maybe that's not their thing whether it be fine arts or choir in instruments and so we really looked at how can we kind of expand those and then we

009talked a little bit about barriers which obviously transportation is one and so some schools have built it in during the day and then um I just think that it's really important that we find other ways to connect with kids not just through extracurricular activities and opportunities but I think that's important to mention too and then the second slide you can see is just the co-curricular and extracurricular activities participation by ethnicity if you have questions I'm happy to answer them or I can let my counterpart Dr Potts go do we have any questions I have a question board member Murdoch on that side can you help me with math which one so on on the on the co-curricular activities by ethnicity so just like seeing one of these we have 931 black students in the district

010320 participated and it's listed at 10.5 percent is that I think she's showing the percent of all kids who participated yes it's ten percent yeah I think it's the yeah so she's not saying a third of students of of that uh whichever one you used was as participating she's saying it feels like the metric would be better served though if we put the percentage of the group that we're identifying that's participating in the activity because in the previous slide we did it by the school percentage based on the students we certainly can do that I just think it's going to continue yeah it does we have we have all the data we're happy to share it however you choose that'd be fine right yeah oh oh so yeah so yeah just for consistency sake yeah

011perfect thanks so my only question and this is the assumption but I just want to make sure I'm correct um Woodland Elementary is that one pretty is that one 98.8 is that because they have implemented it during the school day for their extra curriculars they have okay so they have a they have a club system I think it is on Fridays and it's about midday I think it's at one o'clock-ish and so they have every student in the building is in some sort of club they're pretty I went last week and they're they're pretty fun not not every building has done something during the day but but Woodland and Lisa will mention there's a couple others that are looking into it so if there are students that choose not to participate what does that look

012like are they just shipped to a room and they're just kind of sitting there everyone's in something they're pretty they're pretty there's a huge wide range I saw cheerleading club I saw handwriting Club there was math club games club kids are really excited and they they they're choosing something I didn't know anybody who wasn't in the sun one in one just a question um action plan what are we doing to eliminate some of those barriers to where if schools choose not to implement during the day but because of the time frame that some of these clubs may require what are we doing to do that to create more access for more students don't know that I have an answer to that right we're kind of working through that we don't have access to transportation so

013we're trying we're just trying to kind of get them engaged during the day okay okay thank you for uh paying attention to us here tonight um I'm going to report on the secondary data so um there we go um so here's the data that we have for our secondary if you look at that across the board for secondary schools that's about 63 percent of our students total secondary level are involved right now and again I want to reiterate like Dr Kenny did that this is our Benchmark year and so this is our first start with that data you can take a look at that for a second and to preempt a question you look at Bernard Campbell's percentage board member Sparks it's the same question they they've instituted I believe a monthly during their advisory

014time frame a club program and all their kids have a club to go to and they sign up for teachers sponsor a variety of clubs like I can't even keep track of all the different opportunities that there are for kids during the day Bernard cambly other schools have not elected to do that at this time they're using their advisory time or interventions and some other things during that time but you can see that so if you take that outlier out we're still over 60 percent of our students at the secondary level are currently involved um you can see our data I think the data that that we put in here was the way that what you were talking about and so you do see the percentage of the students in that subgroup that are of

015the students are actually in that subgroup that are involved and just kind of some final thoughts thoughts like I said Benchmark here this is just first semester data in the in the secondary level we still have our spring activities that are coming up so we still have a number of kids who who may haven't made this list that are going to be signing up for things this spring as that comes around um I think you uh due to your generosity we were able to start a D-League program at the middle level at one point I think we have like 70 some odd additional teams at the middle level we had a year ago so we would use last year's Benchmark data it looks a lot different this year because of the expanded opportunities that we

016have for our middle school kids this year you can also see on the on the on the presentation that we've started sixth grade cross country and wrestling so we're getting those youngest kids in middle school involved in things and there was huge turnout for those activities and then we've expanded football to include seventh grade one of the things that you asked for that's going to help us move forward is we've created a database in PowerSchool and we've asked our club sponsors as they roster kids to enter that into PowerSchool so we can pull that data pretty pretty frequently so we've asked them to fill that out Diane Sharman had software she came up with that it wasn't easy come up with a system to track all of that in in PowerSchool so we've got that

017rolling we're the students that you see on this list have been have at least been on the roster so they made it to one meeting it's hard to track if they eventually for some of those clubs that's not real strict attendance policies some of them may have tracked out of it but these kids were rostered and participated enough to to make it onto a list I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the activities in athletics strategic plan that many of you are involved in this this activity or this csip goal lines up with the first two Focus areas of of the activities plan which is focus area number one which is marketing and and trying to expand our activities and focus area number two which is K-12 development of programs Dr Potts we have a

018couple of uh questions Dr Buck did you wanna I just wanna share why this would be in a csip so and why this is an important metric one of the highest correlates to successful career is that you participate in two or more cohort extracurricular activities in high school sometime in your career so you have four years to do so and the thought on the research behind it it really came out of redefining ready out of Chicago the thought is when I was on the football offensive line or the next kid was on in the band I have an employer I have a head coach I have a band director but I also have they set goals and I gotta live within those goals I can set my own goals but they better be congruent I

019learn how to be an employee I learn how to work with my fellow alignment all right and my I so I have interdependence My Success depends on their and their success depends on me and so I need to support them so you learn all these work life skills uh that you don't you're not going to learn in algebra class um you know algebra class is very important but these are also very important so in order to help build the culture of every kid participating two or more extracurricular activities we're backtracking Elementary try to build the culture of you go to school but you also participate in these other things and the added benefit is obviously if you participate you feel more of a sense of belonging if you feel more since belonging you end up

020attending to your academics at a higher rate so it has you know cursory benefits as well but I just want to put out there's actually research of why we're talking about this it's really focused around secondary and what that means then later as an adult as you as you work in a career board member esslick so on that as we think about when I think about students and student engagement and making sure that our students feel like they're included and feel like they belong I automatically think of the students that might have the most struggle in school um like for any of your students that might have I be on IEPs struggling academically students with disabilities I'm kind of curious what kind of how difficult would it be two-part question can we get data that

021relates to students on IEPs that are engaged in extracurricular students who might be on free and reduced lunch status that one might be trickier I don't know if that's possible to correlate it without pulling that out but that sort of data for the students that might be more at risk of not feeling like they're included with their peers because those are kind of the kids I think of are we missing those kids that already have something that makes it more difficult for them to feel like they belong for sure we can we can pull that data for the next time we'll report also I would be remiss if I didn't mention um Dr Mathis and and her team have worked really hard to create opportunities I think you all know the opportunity that we had

022in the fall for for students to be participating and I think those students are counted in in this data to include that but that would be uh important to know because a lot of our students with special needs do participate but also we need to make sure that that we're making an effort to get them included I agree with you thank you all right yeah thank you I would like to see those numbers I I'm glad we can do that appreciate that uh board member Sparks um to First Dr Buck I appreciate your comments because I was going to pull that point out so I appreciate that and then to board member eslick's Point um I also know that there could be um economic um barriers that is created um transportation all those other things

023so I think that that could also help if like free and reduce lunch could also be part of that data of who these students are participation this is an Ask um I appreciate the report um love the report when we are presenting our benchmarks I would love to see us also as a district to present goals because then what that would help us to do is a it'll it'll challenge us and but also Force us to have an action plan on closing those gaps um and also giving the board an idea where our goals are and so I appreciate to see where we are but I also would like to see what our goals are so pull out the csip goals and put them in the slide as well yes but also what are our

024goals to where do we want our kids to be and and actually show that on the graph so that we can just even from a visual standpoint see we're getting closer no we're not getting closer great questions any other any other questions board members all right well thank you so much Dr Potts Dr Kinney Dr Barger love the update to help us with that monthly update of where we're going in the areas that that we have some additional work on thank you so much all right we'll move on to item 4.01 our public comments or remember Murdoch uh for public comment tonight uh we appreciate your attendance and your willingness to speak to the board please remember that while this is a public meeting this part of the meeting does not contemplate a conversation between

025speakers 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 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 we ask that you 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 also ask all audience members to remain

026respectful pursuant to board policy B ddg profane language or comments that constitute a threat to the safety of others is prohibited lastly when your name is called please go to the podium clearly state your name in the organization you represent if any thank you good evening my name is Jacqueline Clark former vice president of this board and I represent the third generation of four taxpayers here in the school district Dr Buck I concur with you that losing talented staff and teachers is always tragic and we lost some during my tenure tonight I'm here to congratulate Megan our good friend who is now County Legislature Lake tour for earning her msba distinguished certification it was lonely being the first and only distinguished certificate owner for the last few years and I could not be more proud

027of her hard work in an understanding the role of governance as a board member from the first moment I met her I knew that she was a leader congratulations Megan we board members must model continuous learning as board members sadly though one of the worst decisions the Lee Summit R7 board made in 2018 was to no longer require public comment to be confined to topics on the board agenda I voted against the change and I'm proud to stand here tonight and remind folks of the wisdom I shared then when you try to amend this in the future it won't go well today I feel like a prophet in my own land these school board meetings are held in public but are not public forums voters elect directors to lead districts and they govern through a

028Board model not a legislative model they are volunteers and receive no compensation the board is different and it does not carry legislative responsibilities and again they're unpaid volunteers with the citizens of the LSR 7 District here during public comment has become a veritable parade of jabroni's again parade of jabronis it feels a lot like we've returned to the 1970s Lee Summit when Junior High talent show dance routines were criticized as risque no caring adult in the LSR 7 School District wants to expose children to inappropriate materials on any topic they know that if they do the only things that will be missing at a board meeting in the future will be pitchforks and lit torches it is 2023. book Banning is so last Millennium a curious child can access what a parent prohibits there's this

029thing called the internet in most public places and private homes where people and even kids explore the world there's no putting that Genie back in the bottle in my 80 year old plus parents agree a hundred percent maybe maybe instead of bashing caring adults in this District we should carve a pet New Path during the next 38 days the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity is Holy Week and our Board election is on April 4th that we that falls that week regardless of your beliefs let's give up bigotry judgment misogyny hatred bias and divisiveness love God love your neighbor love all kids thank you Jackie our next speaker will be Liz Jeffries can you hear me okay oh I have to push it okay do you push or don't listen okay all

030right hi I'm Liz Jeffries I'm a resident parent and most importantly I'm a veteran teacher in the district I'm here tonight because your vote denied me the opportunity to visit with you in a more private setting to discuss this very personal matter I'm here tonight doing something that is extremely difficult speaking publicly to share with you and our community a discrepancy in what you communicate is happening and what is really happening within the district it's been nearly a year since I filed a grievance with the human resources department regarding the phase 2 salary adjustment I'm unsure whether you were given all the information regarding my situation and if you were did you have ample time to go through at all before you voted to deny me the opportunity to have a hearing when I came

031to the district I was granted two years less than my years of experience on the salary schedule due to District policy at that time however I caught up when the district adopted the EMS schedule after teacher salaries were then Frozen three times in this span of five years I fell behind again despite new hires being given their full Year's experience on the schedule when we were frozen though phase two promised to get me back on step I was told I do not qualify this is why I filed the grievance and was absolutely deflated with each step of the process that was denied repeatedly the district advertised to the Lee's Summit Community that all teachers would be made whole and on step after implementation of phases one and two nowhere in the multiple District Communications to

032staff in the community was board policy gcba stated as part of the qualifications for a teacher to be deemed eligible in fact the district continues to be unable to clearly Define what eligible means for each of us even your agenda item on March 17 2022 when you approve the implementation of phase two did not include anything about gcba I'm not asking for anything special I'm just asking for what is guaranteed to me per your the board adopted phase two policy I recently discovered a lawsuit filed against the district that states board policy gcba requires the adoption of guidelines for placement and movement on the salary schedule however the district had never adopted such guidelines and at least one of my grievance denial letters I was told gcba has not been waived yet there are no

033clear guidelines within gcba that would prevent us receiving our Phase 2 salary adjustment the board can make this right today I received a district publication explaining the district's goal of the levy transfer on the upcoming ballot the goal is to move funds around so the district's allowed to and I quote increased staff compensation as part of the district's goal of recruiting and retaining quality staff on April 4th our community will consider whether or not to approve this transfer of funds before the election continues or election occurs the community needs to know that not all of our veteran teachers are being paid as we were promised we would be with the adoption of phase two last spring the promise that teachers whose years experience don't match their salary step placement would be made whole by phases

034one and two if retaining quality teachers truly is a priority why hasn't this been corrected for nearly a year if you're not honoring your promises of phase two how can Lee Summit Voters trust you to properly utilize Levy funds as the district has stated this board has the power to do exactly what you promised to do thank you for your time thank you Liz next we'll have next we'll have Ashley Auschwitz recently I had a bad day upon arriving to work I received an email from one of my superiors asking me to help him run an errand he asked me to purchase him some gift cards and get them back to him it wasn't until I found myself at a grocery store telling him sorry they didn't have the Apple brand that he requested that

035he responded don't worry the Google Play wins will work just as well and don't forget to pull the gray tape off the back and send me a picture before you buy them that I realized I had been completely scammed when I returned back to the office I learned that every other assistant had received the exact same email and with much better intuition than what I had they did not engage for just a moment I want you to consider that what if these third-party Consultants are just like that robot that I was talking to trying to get our school district's money for just a moment let's pretend that lsr7 is one big house and every member of this community lives in it and the equivalent of keeping the lights on means focusing on the achievement Gap

036and literacy rates and math proficiency I don't have to tell you that the students that are hurt the worse in these numbers are minority students so if we are one big house and we've hired someone to help us with these very category of students minority students that need more Equitable resources then it's time to say no thank you Consultants you haven't done your job and our community has got it from here just last month at the board meeting we heard District leaders admit that there are other options that you could look to and still meet your csip in Missouri standards last month we also heard a wise board member question J.E Dunn on the accountability of finishing a project on time I'm ready to see some of those same accountability questions directed offenders like Panorama

037dignity Consultants core collaborative eec Etc we also heard board members discussing requests that they've had of companies like Panorama and Panorama being unable to deliver simple interface changes lsr7 please do not forget that you are the customer and you dictate the terms of your own contract you have the opportunity to be a leader in this state and walk away from large Consultants that are not in the business for our kids imagine if other school districts followed that lead remember if we're one big family living in this house and if the house falls down if the school falls down then our community falls down parents in this community I am begging you um let's show our children that we know how to set our differences aside and show them how we know how to work together

038let's show them the reasons why we chose Lee Summit instead of finding reasons to fight with one another we're better than that board members please I'm begging you our tax dollars are being left outside getting rained on while our students are being left behind and even those third-party results show that the results they produce are pathetic and they are not an accurate representation of our district please have better intuition than what I myself had I'm not smarter than any of you and there's a reason why you're elected to be good stewards of our tax dollars please look again to local resources let's redefine equity and redefine the approach we can come together and we can be better thank you Ashley our next speaker will be Rachel Rooney [Applause] I am not very practiced at using

039microphones um I am an lsr7 parent my oldest child is an lsr7 graduate I'm currently attending Mizzou and my youngest son is a sophomore at Lee's Summit High School I hate public speaking so I'm going to try and keep this short I'm here because last month a friend forwarded to me a list of books that a local parent group wanted to remove from our school libraries included were instructions on how to file a formal request for reconsideration and detailed notes on each of the titles I am here because I want to speak for the books books are tools for understanding complex issues young people deserve to see themselves reflected in libraries books parents should not be making decisions for other people's children I trust our school librarians to stock our libraries with age-appropriate books libraries

040should have a book for every reader but that does not mean that every book will be appropriate for each person sorry that makes sense before I could drive I got 90 of the books that I read from my school library books help me make sense of my world see things through other people's eyes and have helped me through some difficult times um I want to finish with an anecdote from my job I work at the public library and last year a teenage girl came in to pick up her holds she went to the shelf and brought her stack of books up to the desk and said I want to check these ones out and this one my mom said I cannot read I'd like you to put it back for me and I said great

041I'd be happy to do that and she went home with just the books that her mom had approved and I believe that this is how the process should work and that we should be talking to our kids about what we want them to read and what they are reading thank you thank you Rachel next we'll have Michelle Barnes [Applause] do we have Michelle Barnes here okay we'll move on please to Regina Garrett good evening everyone my name is Regina Garrett I'm a 14-year resident here in Lee's Summit I have two young children in the LSR 7 School District I'm speaking tonight as a parent a concerned parent now I wasn't really going to speak on the books but I've been hearing a lot of comments tonight on them um I believe that that the school

042books should be restricted because the kids have restrictions on their on their Chromebooks so I don't know what the difference is I mean we don't allow pornography we don't allow certain sites for them to have access to on their Chromebooks so why why are we putting it in the school libraries I understand there are some parents that are for this book I think that it's available because I've seen it front and center at the public library so they do have it available there they can get it on Amazon I've seen it there I I don't understand why it's so important that this is an educational tool for our children when there are plenty of studies that show that pornography can mentally it can be mentally hurtful for children or for anyone so if it's not

043really educational and it's more about the sex that is put in these books sure parents have that right I don't want to take a right from any parent to have access to these books that's your choice it's your home it's your child it's your choice I don't want my children to have access to it and I'm sorry but slapping on a red sticker on the book and then notifying parents afterwards is not a good solution I don't want my child to have access to this book and then be notified later after the fact I want to know beforehand I would rather it be in the hands of a counselor let a counselor check it out to a to a child and let them call the parent and ask them if they would like their child

044or their child to have access to the book it can be monitored that way we can see who's checking it out how many times are they checking it out because believe me if a child has access to check it out believe me they're going to pass it to their friends maybe somebody who's whose child or a parrot doesn't want their child to have the book so I believe that we need to come up with a better way this book is already in our school I understand it's not going to go away but we could probably have it here with restriction of some kind and I would like to see that happen thank you thank you Regina we'll now move on to Dr Camille Johnson good evening my name is Camille Johnson a concerned parent and

045mother of a student in the Lee's Summit School District I would like to say thank you to the board for allowing me this space to speak and for the unpaid hours all of you dedicate to move our school district forward and navigate it through trying times it is clear that the topic of books in our schools libraries has caused a lot of community consternation this issue has divided our community at a time when Unity is needed more than ever both sides have legitimate concerns and both sides deserve a seat at the table to have their concerns addressed as a school district it is imperative that parent and Community concerns be addressed in a timely and appropriate Manner and it is the community's responsibility to present grievances to the Board of Education in a manner that

046is civil respectful and in good faith we all want what is best for our children we all deserve desire to place our kids in environments that are safe inclusive and loving the ongoing controversy over books has called into question whether or not our schools represent this type of environment for all students I believe they do but I am also willing to admit the fears some parents have and they are absolutely valid it is time for the Board of Education and the community to work together to create policies that honor the rights of parents while protecting the free speech and the freedom of expression rights of authors teachers Librarians and families who wish to provide their children with the broadest array of information available to ensure academic rigor and representation in literature of people of all

047Races backgrounds cultures and orientations I believe in our community I believe we are strong I believe that we have never been as divided as the loudest talkers and the angriest doomsayers what have you believe the sky is not falling the end is not near we are experiencing A Moment Like many moments before the required calm patients compromise and perseverance to move forward I challenge every person in this room those watching at home and anyone who may ever hear these words to humbly consider that there is a world of knowledge that today you do not know that there are points of view that you have never considered and that there is information that you don't even know you don't know yet I challenge all of us to bring humility with us into these discussions about book

048policies in our school district and commit to providing more than simple passion and indignation to the discourse but add to it compassion dignity and a willingness to learn more than we know today lastly I would like to offer my serious condolences to all of those who have lost a family member in the Lee's Summit School District I want to say that the community and thoughts and prayers are with you and we stand United and willing to help in this tremendous time of loss thank you thank you Dr Johnson next we have Madison Grubbs hello my name is Madison Grubbs I've spoken a few other times I might be a child but I have a voice that needs to be heard at a young age we are told when there is a problem we can't solve

049to go to a trustworthy adult and ask for help but sometimes the students are pushed aside and silenced there was a little girl that did whatever she could to get help but she was ignored every time she still asks for help but this time not for her but others struggling like she did that little girl is me help is one of the easiest yet hardest things to say asking for help is one of the most difficult most courageous thing you can do when kids have a problem at school they might go to a teacher or counselor but what if the problem doesn't get solved after often the ones who continue to ask for help are silenced Equity efforts in our district say that dignity is being worthy to belong and that belonging is measured by

050those around you one of the worst thing things a child can believe is that their worth is defined by people around them what if those people around them think that they are worthless do you really want your children coming home from school believing they are worthless it's messages like this that can lead to depression and suicide for the last two years Lee Summit police crisis and intervention team responded to four complete suicides by juveniles is this the outcome you want for your children worth we all have it no matter what anyone says we exist so therefore we have value and worth why can't that be the messages in our schools and community I challenge you to make changes in our schools to ensure that all kids are able to have a future thank you for

051your time thank you Madison and now we have David Grady [Applause] Eva Grady good evening my name is David Grady and I appreciate you taking the time to listen to me tonight each of you members of the board and president Campbell Dr Buck tonight I'd just like to talk to you a little bit about some of the experience we have the saying up we prepared student for success in life I'd like to think how do we define success is it being the richest is it being the best looking is it being the smartest I don't know I think we would all define success in a different way and my thought and I am a college educator so I work with students a lot I work with a lot of high school students who come to

052me on the dual enrollment program but my thought when it comes to success is what's best for this student and I don't think we can make a a cookie cutter thing and say this is best for all students they go to a four-year school they get a degree this many go on and get a master's this many go on and get a doctorate I think for each person it's different I was looking at some of the statistics through our apprenticeship department where I teach and out of all the students that go to four-year schools only 64 percent graduate and that's in six years not four so it seems to me a lot of young people are going to school thinking I've got to go get a four-year degree and it's not right for them it's

053what I would like to do is see us as a district expand our opportunities for other things if a student is right for four-year College I want to do everything we can to help them get that education if they're going on and be a masters and a doctorate I want to do everything we can to support that what I don't like is I see students come to my program and they say well I went to four-year College I got this degree or that degree and I can't get a job I hate doing it so now I'm here to learn something new that I really like to do what I would like to do is take those a little bit more than one out of three that don't graduate and let's try to focus them early

054on on something they really like something they're going to enjoy doing because to me success is not about having the best job that pays the most money it's about doing what you love I've done what I love most of my life so when I go to work I enjoy it I just enjoy it actually teaching has been the best job I ever had I have to say and I've only been doing that for 10 years but I'm a tool and die maker by trade I work with my hands I just really enjoy it and what I would like to see us do is Mentor the kids from early ages I know we've got the program where we send the trailer out to the elementary schools I think that's fantastic let them get their hands on

055things and try stuff out running out of time Summit Technology is great but I notice everything there seems to be white color I'd like to see us focus on gold color okay thank you for your time thank you David all right now we'll move on to item 5.01 our board reports and meetings attended and I think a board member Foley will start at your end of the diocese thank you this past month board member esslick and I had school visits at Longview Farm Elementary Hawthorne Hill Elementary and Summit Technology Academy I attended the CSD gkc business meeting and legislative appreciation dinner where I was able to connect with our local legislators state senators and state representatives to talk about issues facing our district one of them being the potential landfill going in very close proximity

056to an elementary school and reiterated their invitation to the upcoming lsr7 legislative breakfast at the appearance of struggling readers meeting I got to meet additional parents that have students in our district that have struggled with reading I'm glad to see the increased awareness and Partnerships to really serve all students literacy is so important to success in life to truly prepare students we need to do everything we can to equip them with the foundational tools that they need to be able to succeed as a reader the parents of struggling readers team has created a website with resources for parents including a terms glossary videos dyslexia characteristics and additional resources and that link should be uploaded to the board docs agenda and available if any of you guys would like to visit it for more information thank

057you I think we'll go then to board member Sparks I first would like to acknowledge that I also attended the struggling readers group Dr Flack he spear heads that and we're going to miss him that was on the kind of announced and talked about but we are a district that is committed to all of our students and there are interventions and things that we have in place but we do have room of opportunity and I think we as a district have acknowledged that but I also think we need to need to acknowledge the success with being able to one of the things that was talked about was the fact that we have our teachers that are getting certified in letters that is a success the science of reading and being able to make sure that

058we have teachers of all grade levels starting our elementary but then also being able to expand and so I agree we're a district of of great teachers but then also we're a district that is really trying to meet the needs of all of our students I also attended the did not attend the policy committee meeting but I did give a notice of that I did attend the timely Summit meeting we had a work session so we kind of got to hear kind of what's going on there and we'll be looking forward to a recommendation on the on the 5th of April for that recommendation and then also today I was at Lee's Summit North for their black history program they did a wonderful job and I also was supposed to be at least I'm at

059high school for their black history program but go Chiefs we won the Super Bowl it's homeless Super Bowl champs and so they had to postpone it because we had our red day and that is going to happen on the 28th and so I will be attending that for that black history program that is the end of my report thank you board member Sparks board member Murdoch uh just a couple of things number one I appreciated uh The Joint meeting with the city of Lee Summit that we did um on the 24th of January they continue to be an excellent partner with us on many different issues um and so I did appreciate that um outside of that I did want to obviously say thank you to the rest of you up here for the special

060session that we had after that particular meeting where we did pass a resolution to oppose the landfill I do need to full transparency I'm the assistant City Manager for Raymore and we are right in the thick of that going on right now and if anybody is not aware of that particular issue that is a 270 acre proposed landfill 0.1 mile from Summit Point Elementary School um so my soapbox tonight is there is legislation in the Missouri house house bill 909 if you know legislators and want some activities contact them it's the representatives Senators their Senate Bill 590 which is its sister bill um but I was telling my wife the other day and these I would argue pretty darn partisan times um this bill now has 20 sponsors 11 Republicans nine Democrats it is the

061most bipartisan Bill going in the state legislature right now so if you feel inclined it's not about being opposed to a landfill it's about being opposed to a landfill sitting next to an elementary school and just about 40 000 residents across Lee Summit Raymore Grandview and Southern Kansas City so if you have any questions about that obviously you can come and see me but I appreciate our board passing that resolution we joined with the city of Lee Summit the city of Raymore raypack school district Grandview School District the city of Grandview Cass County Commission the South Metro Fire District are all opposed to this but I will tell you the developer put drilling equipment on the land today so um I we got to keep up the efforts thanks thank you board member Murdoch board

062member essay thank you um most of the things that I have attended were already mentioned so I will just go through by exception I attended the Lee Summit Ed Foundation board of directors meeting this excuse me this week um just a little update from that as most of you know who have kids in the district we just completed the major saver campaign so I hope everybody got their major saber card the taste of Lee Summit is next Saturday March 4th I believe you can still buy tickets so by all means continue to support that it's uh 13 restaurants I believe 14. one signed on okay so 14 restaurants okay additionally uh the Ed Foundation just closed their scholarship application on February 10th and they had 570 applications so that's amazing that scholarship Review Committee is

063going to work through those applications starting on March 6th so I have no idea how long it takes to go through that many applications but I'm sure that will be a lengthy process Peak Grant applications are are open and actually due by tomorrow so short window from my announcement now but I'm sure most people were already aware and the next meeting for the Ed Foundation is going to be March 21st and on the heels of several of the board members in their updates talking about the struggling readers group I did attend that meeting as well but as it relates to our board policy committee meeting that we had just a couple of weeks ago we did have a conversation during that time because during our board policy committee meeting this time around we are reviewing

064the I series which um for everyone else's benefit are the policies on academics and curriculum development so most of the review was fairly routine with some recommended updates to the policies that reflect changes to Missouri statutes but one of the topics that I brought up was that I made a request of our leadership to implement specific language in our policies that reflect a focus on literacy so I'll read you the language that I introduced just as a starting point to have our team kind of have a conversation about this my recommended language was it is this District's goal to equip every student with the tools to become proficient in Literacy By employing the most relevant instructional methods to accomplish this in the classroom whole classroom instruction in the areas of literacy will be founded in

065the science of reading structured literacy with systematic instruction in phenomic Awareness Phonics spelling vocabulary development reading fluency and comprehension in evidence-based curriculum will be adopted to achieve these objectives I made my own suggestions um to this policy but of course ultimately it will be the board's duty to have that conversation but I kind of suggested some policy opportunities where maybe this could be inserted but I wanted to start the conversation because we've had so many conversations as board attendees in various groups and literacy being so important to this District we already Implement structural literacy programs in many of our in our schools having it in policy I feel like bringing that to the table for the board to consider is an opportunity for us to really solidify and codify that that's going to be the

066basis that's what we support as a board and it allows the district to build upon that as a focus so that was my suggestion and I really look forward to hearing what our our team comes back with with the next committee meeting so that's you know a significant update that I wanted to bring to the board that came out of that policy committee meeting so if you have any questions about that now or later please let me know thank you great thank you now moving to vice president for Chi thank you president Campbell um I think the the one I the team meeting this last month that I really like to focus on is team Lee Summit um this month team Lee Summit well teamly Summit focused it's January the 26th and the February 9th

067meetings the last two meetings on developing salary recommendations for our staff and that encompassed the results of the proposed Levy transfer on April the 4th 2023 ballot this work included a comprehensive review of metro-wide salary data so we were comparing to all these other school districts in the metro area and developing at the time developing multiple possible salaries scenarios for team Lee summit's consideration Nathan holder are off our Chief Financial Officer for the district provided updated information on the operating Revenue available to team Lee's Summit this year to allocate for salary recommendations with and without the additional operating revenue generated by a successful passage of the levy transfer on April the 4th so all of that information was put on the table for team Lee Summit to examine teamly Summit discussions included High vacancy positions

068in lsr7 as well as positions in the bottom third in area District salary surveys it included board policy gcba and its impact on staff placement on the salary schedule it included FY 24 salary scenarios that meet lsr7 Recruitment and Retention needs and so our next meeting for team Lee Summit will be March the 9th those are very intense meetings they are eight hour meetings of which we have about six of those during the school year of a team of of comprehensive team of folks from all around the school district in all the different employee groups that meet together to examine all of those issues and then bring a recommendation to the board so they will prepare that and will then present it to the board in addition to teamly Summit in the last month I

069attended on January 24th the lease Summit Educational Foundation Advisory board meeting and I appreciate board member esselict being on the actual board and she brought up team Lee Summit which I just wanted to put an additional plug in there tickets are 75 dollars and some of you may say that's a lot of money to pay 75 dollars for a ticket but it's an evening well worthwhile 75 dollars and that money goes toward a good cause and that's our educational foundation's support of all of our teachers in the classrooms classroom grants and all of that that helps our students and our schools so I hope we can count on a lot of you getting out there and buying your tickets we have 550 tickets already purchased and we can only take a maximum of 600 so

070we've really only got like 50 tickets left so that's awesome and 14 fantastic restaurants a lot of our great standbys but we also have some new ones this year I just got Gusto coffee and that's why it's 14. so we've got some great coffee and some desserts coming too from them I'm on the restaurant committee for that and as far as scholarships yes it takes a really long time to read those scholarships because I read the teacher scholarship every year so anyway um the 24th Ryan Murdoch mentioned the Joint City Council and the school board meeting and that was a fantastic meeting it was great to be able to sit down with our city council members and our mayor and just share and learn more about what each group is doing and how we can

071work together and that's fantastic nobody mentioned mayor's Character Breakfast that was on January 26 sponsored by Lee Summit cares but the mayor's Character Breakfast in which we honored many of our very admirable people in our community who demonstrate those character traits in our community so thanks to each of those folks and Lee Summit cares for sponsoring that I think it was board member fully mentioned cooperating school districts of Greater Kansas City and talking to our legislators it was great to have them sitting right there at the table with us so we could talk about the landfill so we could talk about issues that impact our district and have them genuinely listen to us and that was that was fantastic we really appreciated having them there of course we had our board leadership meeting with Dr

072Campbell uh Dr Campbell not Dr Campbell president Campbell I I'm just I'm used to saying Dr Campbell because Dr Campbell was the superintendent when I went to Lee's Summit High School um no but Dr Buck president Campbell and um anyway we have some good discussions there and then of course Dr Buck mentioned February 8th the 100 people who care event that was really kind of his and Carl chenerys brainchild but that was a fantastic event so positive for our community that really supports the non-profits and got everybody out to understand what all of our non-profits do to help make the Lee's Summit Community be a great place to live so thank you thank you thank you thank you that was great and I'll just um highlight a couple of things but I do want to

073point out because mentioned in almost everybody's board committee reports were the talk about our Partnerships that we build and you know Dr Buck your inventive in thinking about new things where we can get Partnerships and we can engage our community in our buildings in our schools and I appreciate you setting this event up for the very first year kind of the inaugural event and you've done that with many different opportunities with our community as well so um with that appreciated so much our legislators joining us that evening and that was great conversation um also appreciate the work that and the Partnerships that we have with the city of Lee's Summit both that joint meeting which was fantastic as well as I got to sit in on the city of Lee Summit governance committee and I

074don't often get to sit in on that um but it was great to just hear legislators there as well presenting information and sharing information and just this different leaders across our city having good conversations and building Partnerships as well so that was very exciting I attended my very first chamber Gala and that was an amazing night and just um so amazing to live in a community where so many business people work so closely together building each other up and building Partnerships there as well and just to be a part of that from a school district standpoint is is really an honor so excited to do that also I attended the struggling readers and loved that committee and the continued work I also went to the Lee Summit Economic Development Council luncheon where they talked in

075depth about their strategic plan and honored and and partnered with us as a as a part of that strategic plan as well as the Lee Summit workforce alliance committee and heard great updates and you know just Kudos I think I say this often I'll say it again tonight Shannon booth and her team are just doing a phenomenal job and we're recognized by so many Business Leaders in that group but if you have a business and you want to get engaged that's an awesome um group to get engaged and involved with because that is helping with Dr bonnison as well that is helping us build those career pipelines where their students want to go to college whether students want to just be career ready that is the connection the glue of helping us engage with our

076businesses to really build those pipelines for our students and I will share there was one specific specific student that was called out in that meeting and just the Kudos of their engagement and involvement in that internship I was so proud to be there from a school district standpoint and hear the amazing work of this student out in the business world and just how hard they were working and representing our district as well so I'm very excited about our students I want to say thank you again Shannon to you and and all of your team and Dr Bonas and you as well you all do amazing work for our students so thank you all right so moving on now to our finance committee report board member s slick okay thank you uh so this month we

077reviewed our less than fifteen thousand dollar contracts um there's nothing um super significant to really discuss in there so I will move on to some of our larger contracts over fifteen thousand dollars uh so going through this list first we are going to be approving the annual fuel purchase which this is uh the same company that we have been using this past year or more and this company supplies our Diesel and unleaded fuel to the district so this company's bid was competitive a little bit under um the second bid so uh Carter energy is the contract that is up for approval this evening second is sports Graphics Incorporated Incorporated contract and this is a contract to provide just standard Dugout padding for our new baseball and softball complex over uh for Lee's Summit High School

078um these were competitive bids so we're going with the lowest bidder um and that vendor contract is up for approval um the next couple of contracts uh these are three contracts for converge one and these contracts are for networking equipment and Licensing and all of these bids uh fell with fell under into excuse me words I'm struggling fell into our e-rate program which with that e-rate program we anticipate that we will get a 40 rebate it's a federal program so when we when we initially discussed these contracts during our finance committee meeting some of the questions that I had were related to why we have so few bidders because that's always a question anytime we're trying to get competitive pricing and so our the e-right program like many uh government programs does make it a

079little bit difficult to get that rebate because it's kind of a cumbersome process so that ends up with some limited amount of bidders that want to provide pricing so that's kind of the result there and I just share that with the board because it was a question that I had so naturally it might be something that others may consider as well but I felt very comfortable hearing from our technology department that they felt the bids were very competitive and that we were also going to get that 40 rebate back so I mean that's a significant savings so I feel very comfortable about those contracts and I feel like our team did a really great job explaining that and also doing their due diligence moving on okay for our facilities contracts we had a couple of

080bids out there for restaurant supply and through index restaurant supply for some walk-in freezers and coolers and we had three bids on that I believe and we'll be going with the lowest bitter and that was a pretty significant saving so great job to our team soliciting competitive bids on those projects as well uh we upcoming will be also up for approval for a budget another budget amendment this is our second budget amendment for the FY 23 budget and as we reviewed this in the explanation of why we are receiving this amendment this change is due to revenue adjustment increases that are due to some grants that we were awarded and some better than expected investment interest income um as you know with the inflationary environment one of the benefits of that is that we actually

081get a better return on some of our investments which is a good thing so this budget amendment has to do with an increased expected income there's a correlating increase in expenditure as well so really it's a net of zero but it does change the values so that budget amendment is up for approval this evening as well and we will be approving a transfer this evening of uh four million two hundred and seventy thousand nine hundred and sixty nine dollars and 24 cents uh to the general fund from the general fund to the special Revenue fund and that is it for my update unless anyone has any questions I don't believe we have any questions okay well then I moved to sorry is that you no no it's you okay okay sorry I moved to approve

082the transfer of four million two hundred and seventy thousand nine hundred and sixty nine dollars and twenty four cents from the general fund to the special Revenue fund second all right we have a motion and a second uh do we have any discussion forward with a vote All In all the end of a raise your right hand and say aye aye motion carries unanimously so now we'll move on to item 6.03 okay I don't I don't uh have any does anybody have any questions because I was not gonna talk on this point you want to move I just oh okay I was just sorry worries our move to approve the treasurer's report and the payment of the bills all right I second all right we have a motion then a second do we have any

083discussion on this paying bills is good all right all right we'll move to vote we'll move to vote all those in favor raise your right hand and say aye aye motion carries unanimously and now we'll move to item 6.04 yeah do we want to have the motion all right then that's fine um can we get a motion I recommend the board approve the second budget amendment for fiscal year 23 budget as presented we have a second second and uh Mr Nathan do you and Mr holder do you want to come up do we have any discussion or questions I do uh just when I have just kind of for clarity so you know we've talked about in finance committee and I think here in the board meetings as well um the kind of the frequency

084or the the plan that you have laid out around when we do budget amendments and why can we just run through that as a reminder yes so typically excuse me so each year is in June of each school year we are required to uh approve a preliminary budget and so we do that really is the first step for the next fiscal year which begins July 1st typically our SEC our first amendment to that budget which would be the second time we talk about it would be at our September board meeting and that's because that's when we approve our tax rate the third amendment or I'm sorry the Second Amendment to the original preliminary budget is typically in January or February and a lot of that is just the timing on when the board meeting is

085in January how are local tax revenues coming in because that gives us you know the biggest piece of our our revenue and so either January or February is a good time frame for that and then typically the the last Amendment the final Amendment which is required to make sure that the budgeted expenses are greater than actual expenses as required by Missouri statute we do that in June um occasionally there may be a need for another budget amendment in between there but but typically that's the cycle a preliminary budget in June and then three budget amendments as you go through the fiscal year so agreed and then with this I'll just run through real quick the highlights if if that's okay yeah the so what you see here is our second budget amendment and if you

086want to to look at really the three I'm sorry the two boxes there that are highlighted in yellow the first is our starting balance and the incidental fund that is unchanged the dollar amount from our budget amendment in September the percentage there changed from 33.49 to 33.57 a very minor percentage change but in the right direction that's just due to the final asbr and the audited fund balances what is different with this budget amendment is our ending fund balance which has improved by just over three million dollars from what we anticipated in September and the ending balance which right now is slated to be just over 78.3 million which works out to be the exact same percentage that was not intentional just it worked out that way when we were plugging in our amendments the

087so that is an improvement so it's always nice to give a positive budget amendment update and that is primarily due as I said in the finance committee to one thing and that's interest rates a significant change even from September when I look at our our daily liquid interest rate it's moved over two percentage points from when we had that we're meeting in September and so with our fund balances that's a significant movement even over the course of five six seven months in terms of the revenue we can generate so the primary revenue adjustments are all related to interest and or grants that we've put into the budget grants are budget neutral because you're going to budget as much in the revenue column as you do in the expense column the other adjustments which I've been

088highlighting in finances are contracted services our supplies they're coming in a little bit higher than we would like at this point in the year so I've adjusted those amounts even with those adjustments we still have a positive budget amendment so any questions board members do we have any questions around that all right thank you Mr holder so we'll call for a vote um Mrs Mark can we do a roll call vote on this please board member Murdoch aye vice president Richie aye board member Sparks aye or member Foley aye board member Eslick aye president Campbell hi motion carries unanimously now we'll move on to item seven our items for consent decision can I get a motion I moved to approve the consent agenda items as presented second we have a motion and a second Mrs

089Mark can we do a roll call for this please vice president Richie aye board member Sparks aye board member Foley I remember Eslick I remember Murdoch aye president Campbell hi motion carries again unanimously so now we'll move to item eight items for decision and the first item is item 8.01 the annual fuel purchase can we get a motion please on that I moved that the board approved Carter energy to supply Diesel and unleaded fuel to the lsr7 transportation department we have a second ocean and a second do we have any discussion I do appreciate your update board member Wesley sharing the details around each of these items thank you for for doing maybe it makes it go faster right it does all right Ms is Mark can we do a roll call vote on that

090please board member Sparks aye board member Foley hi or member Eslick aye board member Murdoch aye vice president Richie aye president Campbell aye motion carries unanimously so now we'll move to item 8.02 the sports graphic Inc contract can we get a motion on that please I move for the board to approve the contract with sports Graphics Inc and the amount of 16 629 dollars second we have a motion and a second Mrs can we do a roll call vote please oh do we have any discussion okay can we do a roll call vote please board member Foley aye board member Eslick aye board member Murdoch aye vice president Richie aye board member Sparks aye president Campbell hi motion carries unanimously we'll move on to item 8.03 Indus index restaurant supply for Bernard Campbell Middle School

091and Trail Ridge Elementary walk-in freezer and cooler replacement can we get a motion on that I move that the Board of Education approve a contract index restaurant supply for walk-in refrigeration and freezer equipment at Bernard Campbell Middle and Trail Ridge elementary schools at a cost of 131 915 is detailed in the bid tabulation second we have a motion and a second any discussion I do have one on this one only to ask do we have other issues related to this kind of purchase that's coming that we essentially kind of just need to be aware of like the since it is such an expensive purchase obviously um and with the repairs like what's the essentially I guess kind of what I'm asking is and I'm sorry to bring you up here is just how are we

092looking at all of these units essentially throughout to make sure that we're not spending more on the repairs than it would cost us essentially in the long run to go ahead and get things replaced yes we do work with um with Lori danella to prioritize her walk-in freezers and coolers our staff also maintains the rest of her just everyday kitchen equipment the reach-ins as well as her her ovens we do have several pieces of equipment left in the district that have older refrigerant in them that is more expensive and it's hard to get so we are prioritizing those first we're planning on just so that we have some even spending and a replacement cycle that we can maintain in the future as you guys may remember I mean we're replacing a couple of boxes every

093year and that keeps us in a good long-range replacement cycle we feel good about the other equipment the district and our guy's ability to to keep those running until we need the next round of replacement yeah you're welcome no other questions we'll move to a vote Mrs can we do a roll call vote board member Eslick aye board member Murdoch aye vice president fritchie aye board member Sparks board member Foley aye president Campbell hi motion carries unanimously we'll move to item 8.04 the converge one network equipment support can we get a motion and a second on that please I move that the board approves the converge one contract for Network equipment support and the amount of 29 484.34 cents second we have a motion in a second any questions or discussion let's move to roll

094call vote please vice president Richie aye board member Murdoch aye board member Sparks aye board member Eslick aye board member Foley aye president Campbell hi motion carries unanimously we'll move to item 8.05 the converge one network and Mariachi Hardware can we get a motion and a second on that I move that the board approved the contract with converge one in the amount of 84 667.98 second all right we have a motion and a second any discussion on that hey then Mrs Mark can we do a roll call please murmurdock aye vice president Richie hi we're member Sparks board member Foley I remember Eslick aye president Campbell hi motion carries unanimously we'll move on to item 8.06 converge one network licensing Enterprise agreement and we get a motion and a second there I move that the

095board approved the contract with converge one in the amount of 575 886.60 second we have a motion and a second any discussion or questions you probably just needs to make sure that he gets noted that this is three years worth of license renewals this is not a one-year thing that we'll see come back at 575 000. I know we got that in our board packet but I think that that's important to note that this is a three-year contract for this um and so Dr Whaley good job on this one I think is what we're saying so thank you board member Murdoch vice president fritchie yes and and and I also wanted to add to that comment I was the one that asked those questions in the board uh packet um about these because I wanted

096to make sure um of the amounts because each of these descriptions states that we get a 40 rebate is that correct uh Dr Whaley yeah absolutely so what we'll do is we'll pay the bill and then we reach out to e-rate and request reimbursement for up to 40 percent I mean that number is based off our free reduced lunch status plus our student enrollment so the federal government establishes a formula um it basically says where our reimbursement rate will be so yes that's correct very good so on each of these last three 8.0405 and 06 will get a 40 rebate after that's correct and the third one since it's a three-year contract we have to request reimbursement each of the three years so we'll go back next year request request reimbursement we'll do that again

097the third year okay thanks very much for working on that absolutely and for Christopher taglia for working on that too um no other Toro roll call vice president Richie aye board member Sparks aye board member Foley aye board member Eslick aye board member Murdoch aye president Campbell aye motion carries unanimously so now we'll move on to item 9.01 our special services department annual program evaluation and Dr Stacy Mathis executive director of special services we'll share that program review thank you good evening I'm excited to talk about our special services department it's always good to be able to share some strengths and celebrations which we will get to um here in the end but just want to do a little bit of an overview of the program this is an ongoing program evaluation that reflects a

098lot of the same information that you see in my written report for the past couple of years and so just some updated information from that we do serve our sorry we do serve students from ages 3 to 21 of course our parent educators are are helping with those early screenings and helping to identify some students and we do get them referred from first steps program through the state of Missouri for evaluation and so we can start serving students as early as three at our Early Childhood Center and we serve students until they turn 21 if that's appropriate according to their IEP some of our students on IEPs do graduate with their cohort at the same time but other students do um have eligibility to receive a free and appropriate public education until they turn 21.

099whoops first this is a child count just showing a graph of kind of what our numbers have looked like over the past few years on December 1 we call it the December 1 count we report those numbers through Moses to deci and we get an updated count of that information because we've switched over to PowerSchool special programs as our special education software our data is even sturdier than it has been before I would say because it connects directly with our student information system as you can see this breaks down each eligibility category as of December one for this school year and you can see we have had an increase in enrollment of our total 3 to 21 enrollment we have increased 76 students since December 1 last year overall and 73 of those are K-12

100um we do have activities and tasks and things that we work on within our department that are directly related to the board priorities so for board Priority One about meeting each student where they are by utilizing the equity lens in all of our decisions act and actions practices and resource supports we have been really digging into evaluation identification and the IEP process overall that supports this priority just in and of itself what we do in special education but we've also been doing specific work to really drill down our data at the district level and at the building level to look at how we are placing students in different eligibility categories from the reports that we get from the state looking at discipline and if we have over identification of students who are receiving discipline who

101have disabilities and what we can do to help to prevent that all also identification and other noticeable Trends and we'll talk about a few of those things through some data are the second board priority about increasing achievement we have really been looking at a review of all of our instructional resources in the district to provide accessibility and that consistency across programs so regardless of which school you attend based on where you live you have access to similar resources and instructional tools we've also really looked at increasing clubs and unified peer groups that are forming at schools in addition to the peer inclusive environment courses and the PE mentors that have been in existence for years even before we added that peer-inclusive environment course we're continuing to work to really enhance access for our families to

102Community Resources and information that is out there for recreation and leisure activities for community-based support and resources while they're in attendance in the school district and after they leave us we've also worked hand in hand with Shannon boost Department to really increase the community-based instruction opportunities for our students uh for board priority three really strengthening those that communication building engagement collaboration and confidence with stakeholders our transition and resource department has really focused on things like our community resource Expo we really increased attendance for that with our resources that were in attendance as well as attendees this year looking at the reverse career fair which is coming up this spring and you'll be getting information I think I sent a save the date already for that but we're definitely looking for businesses in the community to

103come ready to hire our students that have really been training for employment opportunities um also Department communication that we send out internally I send that out semi-regularly they usually get a five to six Department Communications uh from me within the entire special services department we communicate information through monthly department meetings at the buildings talk about some of the issues with data that we're discussing and ways of increasing that and how we can address it and of course increase community-based instruction that I've talked about we have also really focused on family engagement and collaboration and family focus groups were held last spring to really talk about how we can engage and how we can better communication communicate with our families we'll be holding another couple of those this spring but also sent out a communication at

104the beginning of the year one in January and then we'll do one at the end of the school year as well to really kind of highlight some of the activities that they may want to get connected with some of the things going on with the Department resources that may be available and family nights as well um this is just a little bit of a highlight of the community resource Expo the pictures on the left show that and there's also a link to a January family newsletter if you're interested in looking at what our families of students on iups receive and we just use the PowerSchool School reach program to be able to do that Dr Mathis they get a PDF in there no they can't you send a link to Linda so she can include

105it in the packet After Effects I will sorry about that um so the pictures on the left kind of show that attendance of our community resource expo from the fall and then the picture on the right shows a special programs college night many colleges are developing programs for some of our students who would not be your typically developing students who would take a regular College course load but for some of our students who might be served in more modified curriculum classes or within our life skills programs so we hosted a family night for our families to come in and learn about three different college programs that exist one of our former students actually participated in that program at Missouri State and he actually spoke to our families as well and came back um financial implications

106um just a little bit of a breakdown that I usually include in program evaluation that kind of shows the overall total dollars spent and how that breakdown is for State local and federal this year we have the American Rescue plan grant that we've been working through spending some of those Esser funds that are very specific for special education we have been working on fun things like the Miller Park Center all-inclusive playground things like other sensory equipment and instructional supplies and resources for our buildings as well as assessment tools that we may need to look at whether or not they're culturally responsive some of our testing materials we want to make sure that we don't have bias within those and have options for different populations of students so we've been working through the cross-categorical teacher groups

107our related service provider groups are instructional valuation Specialists and school psychologists to be able to provide input for materials and resources that we can do to enhance our students experience um High need fund reimbursement we submit for students who it costs more than three times the typical Ada amount that we receive per student we can submit for reimbursement and this year for last year's use we will be receiving that amount of over 500 and then Medicaid we also have been receiving cost settlement last year was the first year I reported on that information and um they're two years back so from 2021 our cost settlement is estimated at over 700 000 and that money all goes back into the general fund Dr Mathis before you leave that slide so you and I both went to

108Washington DC last July same way we did different days the same week yes to Advocate on your first bullet there because the federal percent I believe in idea Part B is supposed to be the feds pay 40 percent um actually when it first came out they were supposed to be fully funded ending idea it's never been really over 18 percent I believe was the number that that I heard so Dr Mathis and I both went to our U.S senators and representatives advocating for meeting the obligation they made to to special education throughout the nation so because they're not meeting it nationwide not just for us absolutely now I'll add to the high needs fund so let me make the math let's say we spend an average of ten thousand dollars because it's easy whole number

109right on an average kid and then I have special needs where the district has spent about forty five thousand dollars on they have to we have to spend that 45 000 this year then next year we can look back and say hey we were 15 000 higher than three times the average so ten thousand times three is thirty thousand but I cost forty five thousand so we can ask for reimbursement of that fifteen thousand that's a lot of work for our folks to track everything they track to do so so um I can't thank Dr Mathis and her team um as well as working with the business department to do that thank you and yes I'll be going to Washington DC again and advocacy day here in Missouri is coming up at the end of

110March great question on that high need fund is that that's a federal fund or is that a state fund it is a federal fund and so the state gets those funds and we are not guaranteed every dollar that we claim for reimbursement So based on what they get then they can distribute those funds that being said I can't remember not getting the funds we work with but it is federal dollars that give to the state and state administers it okay thank you well second part of my question comment was actually just a thank you because again we I briefly talked about the cumbersome nature of federal funding programs thank you for going through all of the red tape to recoup tax dollars for our community I I appreciate you thank you thank you I have

111a great team it's definitely a team effort because it's a lot of number crunching remember Murdoch okay based on your two answers it brought up another question for me Federal fund can't remember a time that we haven't gotten the reimbursement what does the state do with the extra money that must be most likely left over where does it go I believe and Nathan you maybe know this answer but the federal government doesn't allow you to have the dollars for more than three days if you haven't spent it yet so I don't believe they actually send it through I think I think the state passed through I think the state is a true pastor but I don't think they have it sitting in a bank account okay all right thanks right any other questions you Nathan

112do you have further information yeah it's Federal funded but it's state administered tell you what we'll find that answer for you go ahead do you have any anything else oh I'm still yeah sorry um okay so also the um annual program goals and action steps we have been working on inclusive practices and data review and Analysis I've mentioned some of those activities but they are here for your review as well um also looking at transition and resources I've mentioned some things and there was a shout out for choose to include event um earlier in the in the evening and that was definitely a kickoff to really inspiring some additional unified opportunities for our students to get involved in clubs activities and Athletics there at their schools but we also do have Special Olympics teams that

113are connected with the district that we're trying to grow as well um this is just a snapshot of our placement data and this is based on the special education profile data from last year the 2122 school year we have been working on increasing that percent of students that are inside the regular classroom 80 or more and that's at 51.4 percent which is a slight increase from the school year before I will also say when we did a quick a quick like a snapshot view of December 1 count we're at 55 percent this year so hoping to continue to see students in more inclusive opportunities this also shows like a breakdown of those educational environments over time and how we've been building back up in that 80 percent or more category this shows a breakdown of

114incidence rates by types of disabilities you can see each race ethnicity is represented by a color you can look at the total District enrollment in this First Column and see what the overall percentage of total District enrollment is and then there's a breakdown of the total IEP count and shows how many incidence rates of students who are eligible for a disability in that particular uh race ethnicity and that's data that we are looking at within our teams and we're breaking down and drilling down at the building level too because like I said we want to make sure our materials and evaluation processes are um definitely culturally responsive follow-up of previous year's graduates you can see the number of students on IEPs that graduated and what they're up to after graduation we did have a just

115kind of a brief summary of this it kind of shows the breakdown but the number of students on IEPs that graduated that were total that were employed or continuing their education was 70 percent that we could confirm the four-year graduation rates comparing district and state we continue to exceed the state percentage there so that's definitely a celebration I've mentioned some of the things that we've looked at the December 1 count data the special education profile data we also have other survey data and we're continuing to track the participation in extracurriculars and co-curriculars as well and I believe we can tease out if those Club sponsors to respond to that question from earlier if they're indicating that that student is participating will be able to identify students who are on an IEP through PowerSchool strengthen celebrations

116I thought would be more fun in photos so the choose to include event these are just a couple of pictures from that I think Roderick Sparks is pictured in one of those taking a picture but this is also a QR code if you're interested here's my plug if you're interested in volunteering or learning more about Special Olympics or becoming a unified partner an athlete it's right there to scan but we definitely had a great turnout for that and it was a wonderful beginning to a partnership with the Kansas City Chiefs as well they also came and hosted a flag football clinic for our Special Olympics athletes and unified partners and they also donated some flag football kits to our pde department um these are just some of the the great things that we have going

117on some of our great students and staff pictures from esy last year um a coffee card at one of our elementaries at Summit Point we do um have various student-run businesses in different schools where there are special programs and they often have peer Partners or mentors that support them as well the peer-inclusive environment I mentioned as a course and this is at least some at West they by far have the largest program right now that's the coffee cart on the left there and then that's their whole group because all of their pie kids came to the choose to include event so that's their whole group at the event we've also been trying to promote some of the things about special education and and really educate our community about special services and the things that our

118students can do and want to connect and so these are just a couple of the plugs for the podcasts that have been done through Katie Bergen's Department this year and then of course we have the exciting groundbreaking happening um at Miller Park Center for the new flight building Paradise Park Renovations are also underway to continue to educate our youngest learners opportunities for improvement I've mentioned a couple of things about the data we'll continue to analyze that data collaborate with building teams to look at discipline look at identification data look at um overall achievement data and really continue to develop some next steps at the building level I think we've talked about some things at the district level and we're ready to hone in kind of at the building level and make some individual building goals

119as well we're continuing to increase opportunities like co-teaching practices and professional learning we've done a lot of that at the middle school level trying to expand now to the high school level so definitely continuing to work through those things and streamlining those resources for our families and engaging them on a more regular basis one of the things I've heard from the family focus group is that sometimes they do feel like the overall information doesn't apply and so making sure to highlight when it really does matter for them to pay attention which is why I started a special communication for that group and then I also have some calendars that they can follow but these are upcoming evaluation questions that we'll be working on as I mentioned with some of those opportunities to look at we'll

120be trying to answer these questions as we do some data review over the next year and I'll provide that through written report next February upcoming program goals and action steps not a lot of change except that we're really modifying that transition and resource to really increasing family engagement opportunities because that's what we're hearing from our families there are links there that I will provide separately since it's a PDF but you can always follow our Google Calendar of resource events for family nights and things that we hold and there's also a Special Olympics calendar a couple of quick plugs are 5v5 Special Olympics unified basketball team is going to State the last weekend in March so I'll be in St Louis then next Tuesday we're holding an AAC device family information night Kelly Moore our assistive

121technology specialist who's an SLP a speech-language pathologist is hosting a night for families to come and learn a little bit more about how they can use communication devices with their own child and we're providing child care with partnership with Ashley Turner's teacher Academy she's providing some students that are going to come over and help me play with kids while their parents get to learn so those are just a few examples of some of the fun stuff we have going on questions that's great Dr Buck Mr holder good catch it is both state and federal so I sent you the manual it's a 15-page manual but it delays it it doesn't lay what percent of each one it is but it to answer your question specifically if it is short they will uh in the manual

122it says they will ask for a supplemental funding from the state and again in my 21 years Administration I never remember I need fund not being fully funded so I assume we will continue that route vice president vice president Richie thank you um Dr Mathis thank you um always am amazed by your reports I know they've been written the last couple of years and you have a rotation where you get to actually do it in person so it's kind of fun listening to you highlight those highlights in person I think the highlights that particularly stood out to me tonight were the communication with parents and the engagement opportunities for parents to come and engage with their kids because I think oftentimes parents don't realize how they can be a part of some of those activities

123and communication is always you know sometimes has roadblocks to it but I think that it's fun I'm having I've said this before but haven't lived with a special ed teacher all growing up I know how hard they work and I know how hard they want to they work to engage their students and how that parent communication piece can sometimes be hard but it is very very very rewarding and so thank you to each and every one of your staff members who go through that just just a big kudos to your department and all of it's so many moving pieces I know that so thank you for all of your hard work thank you for that we have amazing teachers related service providers paraprofessionals the list goes on and on we have we have a really

124great team a couple of things that you point out about the parent Partnerships and the Knights of having them come in and providing child care that's that's fantastic because that's engaging our parents in every step along the way and the opportunities that are available for their kids so thank you for all the hard work everybody does but also for that great connection with parents thank you all right any other questions or discussion board member Sparks uh no question yes it's an Ask um so first thank you um I appreciate as vice president for G stated your reports are very thorough detailed give us a lot of information and I appreciate that I also appreciate the photos that you tend to add with your reports that's always good to be able to see it in action

125this is just an Ask of mine and it'll be a pretty standard that I'll be asking and that is to give us baselines on progress and the reason why I'm going to start asking for that is because we are a district of high standards and we've been I want to challenge us even though we already have a high bar how are we still setting goals to even be better and so I think seeing that Baseline of where we are and then being able to contribute what action items are we doing to make great strides and so if we can just see that I would appreciate that but continue the great work and anything that I can do to support let me know thank you thank you Dr Mathis thanks we will move on now to

126items of information our written reports and 10.01 building level engagement with board priorities for R7 online vice president Richie thank you um 10.01 is building level engagement with board priorities and this month for those of you who didn't read your agenda and click those attachments it is the R7 online and it's the elementary folks who who filed a report this month and I really loved seeing that lsr7 Elementary online report because you know we always hear from the schools and everything and we see them in front of us at the beginning of the meetings but just to hear from our Online Academy and see what those kids are doing all of the photos of the students and their activities that was really great and the colorful presentation that they really highlighted some of the really

127cool things that they're doing in the Online Academy all those components of the program and the activities that the students get to do so I just thought it was a really great report this month and I learned quite a bit in just a one simple one page presentation so if you want a quick highlight and you want to see what the heck are our online students doing that's a great report to look at in our agenda um but can I move on to 10.02 okay okay all right and that's the diploma plus annual program evaluation and for those of you out there who aren't familiar with diploma plus um that's a whole nother big presentation I mean the report is here but it's not just about a diploma folks it's about what we're doing from

128the time they're little all the way through when they graduate from kindergarten through seniors and first I'd just like to thank Shannon Booth back there who put this very comprehensive 25 page report together that was like reading a novel almost okay yeah it is no pictures yeah Roderick points out board member Sparks points out no pictures um yeah it was a lot of reading but I'm telling you what it is it is packed with info and if you don't know about our career education programs in the district you gotta read this report our Career Education Department certainly has worked diligently to provide a broad spectrum of opportunities for our students from kindergarten through their senior year and I also appreciate that we have added on the portrait of a graduate questions to The Graduate follow-up

129survey I think that's that is important to survey our graduates to see graduates to see exactly what they're thinking I certainly hope that our efforts in the area are impacting our graduates and empowering them to be more prepared and confident as Global Citizens because I mean that's our aim with all of our career Ed is to help them in in their Futures and I would just like to thank every single staff member who's contributing to this effort and I don't just mean our career Navigators and our career at and our and our vocational Tech teachers but I mean every single teacher who contributes to this because I know it's just not those career Ed teachers they're doing this in advisory programs uh components of this program and I would say it virtually touches every classroom

130in our district so I would like to thank all of our staff members and support staff members who support this program too that benefits all of our students so thank you very much thank you item 10.03 are Bond budget update any questions or discussion on that all right hearing none we'll go ahead and adjourn our meeting this evening and thanks everybody for joining us and great meeting [Music]