001Justin panicking still like >> film something here as I'm uncomfortable with that. >> I know John would come out of the woodwork. >> I mean, it might be the most exciting thing he's done all day, though. >> Yeah. >> In case you're wondering, Barry is out. Changing his tire little subplot. Yeah, >> he's changing his tire. [Music] To the flag of the United States of America. to the it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Was the night before and it is like Christmas exciting. So I know we have lots of excitement happening and so we'll just get right to it. I have a motion for the approval of the agenda. Move the board through the agenda as presented. Second. >> Great. Whenever you're ready. Thank
002you, Mr. Tester, for being here tonight. >> Mr. Barlo, >> yes. >> Miss Bower, >> yes. >> Mr. Bird, >> yes. >> Mr. Curr, >> yes. >> Mr. Mariana, >> yes. >> Miss Reed, yes, ma'am. Miss Rogers, >> yes. >> Motion carried. And we're going to move on to honor. >> Good evening, everybody. Um, we're going to slowly ease into honoring excellence as we uh jump into August. And we did want to uh celebrate a young man who uh made some big news earlier this summer back in July. Uh that being Kaden Michaelsson who was a senior this past year. Um I know you see Kaden on your screen, a graduate of 2025. Uh Kaden was honored with the Kenneth Smith award on Thursday, July the 3. Um this award is presented annually to both
003a Greater Kansas City area high school male and female golfer requiring excellence in golf performance, academic achievement, leadership, and community service. No Liberty Public Schools golfer has ever been presented with the Kenneth Smith award in its 26 years of existence until Kaden. feel like I sound like a broken record as I say this often with some of our our young people. Um, in his senior year at North, uh, Michaelelsson won five of the nine tournaments and placed second and three. He won the district tournament with a score of 68, which Mr. Anderson just scored 69 last week. To put that in perspective, through his uh high school years, Kaden placed fifth, first, second, and then another second at state. He also holds multiple mission records and has been all state all conference hall district every
004one of those four years. Uh Kaden was actually kind enough to to meet me up here in the boardroom last week. We had a great chance to catch up before he left for college. Uh we're going to share a brief clip with you as part of our interview. So it was just kind of a shock to find out very chosen. It was a great four years and coaching staff just very very good all four years and you know we were able to play some good golf at times not so good at other times but I mean it was amazing I wasn't trained for any other four years it was it was the most fun I've had in a long time yeah to University of Nebraska to play golf um I'll probably major in finance something
005in the business field >> awesome so uh yeah Kaden went up there last week and and uh I know Coach Braden the golf coach well and uh he told me a a few years ago. Keep an eye on him for potentially making the pros one of these days. Not to put too much pressure on him, but uh let's give Kaden a big round of applause. We'll be we'll be sure to share that also his clip with the community and give him uh give give him some recognition. I wanted to share this. This is going to be kind of a preview and and something we've been working on for quite some time and we're looking forward to unveiling this as the school year uh moves along. But um we're planning on uh rolling out the LPS
006award and and uh LPS not standing for Liberty Public School is going to stand for love, positivity, and strength. And our plan is is we're going to select two to three students from a selected school or students to be recognized during our board meetings, not for their grades, trophies, or test scores, but for the quiet impact they make through their kindness, resilience, compassion, and a positive spirit. I know All of you have participated in the character trait lunchons. This is somewhat related to that, but uh we've heard some feedback. We want to get more elementary kids up here to recognize them. And uh we're going to introduce this to the buildings here probably in the next week or two and we look forward to having uh some young people at our board meeting coming up
007in September. We're hoping that maybe they could then lead us in the pledge to begin each month and then um and and then share some remarkable stories that we hope to capture. So, I just wanted to preview that uh briefly. And then finally, Nikki um just wanted to thank everybody for um coming out Friday for our uh convocation event. I think we have a slide just a a summary of there it is. um just all the the action uh in that uh jam-packed 90 minutes. Uh great to have Caitlyn here uh with us tonight. I was a little it caught me off guard when I saw her earlier, but it worked out great because Caitlyn was so instrumental in helping helping me and helping us pull that event off. And just want to thank everyone
008in the room, including Mr. Gates, who did a wonderful job with his his remarks. So, uh hey, we're off and rolling. We look forward to kicking off the new school year tomorrow. I think bright and early if you're interested in if you watch the KMBBC9 morning show. I think they're coming back to Liberty tomorrow morning. We'll be at South Valley. Um I think as early as 5:00. So um again, thanks for all your continued support and we'll look forward to seeing everybody next month. >> I do have one question. Sorry. On the LPS, is that strictly elementary or is that middle and high school? >> It will it will broaden beyond elementary. Absolutely. But again, I just mentioned elementary. Just the fact that we really want to try to make a point to get more
009of those those wonderful young people up here. >> Yeah. Middle school, too. >> Absolutely. >> Feel like we see a lot of high school. >> Great idea. Great idea. And thanks to you and Caitlyn for all the work that you put into convocation. It was a fantastic event as it always is. So, I hope everybody had a great time and feel energized for the year and that we're going to have a great year. >> I appreciate that. Certainly a team effort as always. So have a good evening. >> Thanks everybody. >> All right. So we I don't know. Next time next would be our public comment section. Do we have anybody who has put in or submitted a call? No, >> Mr. Gates has not submitted a public comment. All right. Well, then we will
010move forward to our item three which is our consent agenda. I move the Approved consent agenda items 3.1 through 3.6 >> second. >> Mr. Bart, >> yes. >> Miss Bower, >> yes. Mr. B. >> Yes. >> Mr. CR. >> Yes. >> Mr. Marott. >> Yes. >> Miss Reed. >> Yes. >> Miss Rogers. >> Yes. Motion carries. >> All right. And let's move to item four, reports from the administration. >> First off, we have our innovation and learning report. We welcome Dr. Moore. >> Good evening. was the night before. >> We're so excited. Well, um on August 7th, um we had Summit 53 and we welcome just under 80 um new staff, certified staff to LPS that included 10 Liberty graduates, which is always exciting to see. Um got to scan the room and see some
011students from Discovery Middle School that I had there. So that's always really cool to see students that I had who had grown grown up and are now teaching. Um during that time together over those three days um we looked at conscious discipline, real world learning, belonging um focused on instructional practices, technology, curriculum, safety and security and ed law. um spent three days in the morning together and then um teachers were able to go back to their buildings in the afternoon and spend some time in their classroom um spend some time with their mentors and with their principles. So um we do a survey with new um certificated staff just to get some feedback from them so we can always try to make that better. Um so we will take that and work to make it
012better for next year. But I appreciate everyone who is able to come to that. I know it's a busy time of year, but we do appreciate that and um I think that it went really well. Um also pre-ervice. So then that started on August 12th. We had all of our teachers back and um on August 13th, we were able to have a keynote which I think all of you were um able to see. Uh previously at MSBA, David Edward Garcia came and um spoke to our elementary and secondary teachers um and had them laughing. I think he was a hit. I um loved getting emails and having people come up to me after and just say thank you. Thank you for just letting us laugh. Um he had a great message about impact. Um it
013was, you know, everybody from the bus driver to the custodian to the classroom teacher, he talked about you never know um when you're going to make an impact, but within that message, he just was really funny. um he had some new material since when um we saw him at the MSBA conference, but um he was definitely a hit. And he walked into that building and he was like, "I can't believe how nice this place is." He actually was driving by and he said, "I'm not sure if I'm in the right place." He called and he said, "I'm driving by this huge stadium. I'm not sure if this is it." And I'm like, "That's it." And he's like, "Oh my goodness." Um so that was really really nice. but um thank you for allowing us to
014bring him in as well. Um we had back to school night last night for all of our elementary schools. And next week um secondary schools will host our parents on Monday and Tuesday nights. Um also this week in addition to starting school um early college starts our uh CNA program at William Jewel will start. Um yes, Dan. Um and um and then our cipher program um which is our cyber security program that we are able to start this year. Thank you to all of you. Um our goal was to have eight students in that program and we have eight students in that program that will start. So we're excited to see how that goes. Um also I wanted to point out that um I shared with you some updates to the handbook based on some
015board policy revisions um that is posted. Um those revisions um are um also posted to the um the handbooks are updated on the LPS website for everyone to see as well. So if there are any questions um let me know about that. Um finally I just want to give a big thank you to the operations team. I can't see um for getting our schools ready um for our students tomorrow and to our HR department for hiring some amazing teachers for us and um support staff so that we can take care of our kiddos when we start tomorrow. And with that, I will take any questions. >> Thanks for adding the handbooks. That was um that was nice to see be able to look through the QA and data appeals note that's in the report. I
016don't recall us doing that before. Is that something new with the MSI six or five or whatever we're in now? >> That has always been the case where you have a window to appeal any discrepancies. >> Okay. >> Often times it falls into those category of students that are identified as level not determined. >> Got it. >> For whatever reason. Um, sometimes it's a clerical error on their part in terms of filling out information and so forth, but it is an opportunity for us to vet and verify. >> Okay. >> Desi is showing is the same as what we're showing >> before that APR goes live. >> So, >> perfect. Okay. >> Do you have an idea roughly how many students we're talking about? I don't want to if it's a small enough number to
017be personally identifiable. >> No. Well, and it really keep in mind you're vetting and reviewing every data point, >> okay, >> for the district and the submission, whether it's EOCC test results or MAP assessments. So, it's pretty extensive, but it literally is combing through line after line after line of data. So, we appreciate our innovation and learning team that does that. So, every student that took an assessment ultimately is the answer. >> Okay. Well, I just wanted to say that I appreciate the one pager that has been going out. I mean, I know that both of my having two secondary students, having in addition to the revised handbook on the cell phone policy, having the communication one pager for cell phone and hearing that reinforced in the PTA meeting that I have been to to
018parents. I mean, I think that continued effort to message on that is important. So the everybody who's helping to push that out, whether it's communications or the buildings or innovation and learning, I think I mean I think that's going to continue to be something that will I mean we'll probably get questions on, but I appreciate the continued communication about how this is the state law and that there's board policy and there's there's just kind of some Q&A. That's all helpful resources to have. >> Yeah, our buildings have done a good job of answering any questions um so far and um both especially the have a plan for this week of how to um address the students, how to work with the students of sharing the information with them and then reinforcing it um consistently and
019and then we'll come back together and just make sure that we're um just seeing how it's going and how do we adjust but it'll be a transition period. >> Other questions of Dr. Moore, >> you've been busy. Thank you. Thank you. >> Next we have 4.2 to then our student equity and access report with Dr. Dixon Seahhorn. >> Good evening everyone. >> You've been busy. >> Have a been busy. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Very excited to share the things that I wanted to highlight on this evening. Uh beginning in the student services department, uh we're now in our third year of hosting that annual convening for administrative professionals. So we did that on July the 31st. And although we have about 80 of them, when you think about districtwide, we were able to host about
02059 of them that were able to be in attendance on that day. And so this is just that opportunity to just come together and learn together. Uh and it really was set up this year almost like a mini conference for them. And so it was amazing. So do want to give a shout out to Miss Rebecca Breman as our director of student services. And then also Dr. Tena Brown who assisted and supported her in that endeavor. And then also another shout out to Dr. Jessica Meisenheimer who was the keynote uh for uh that convening of our uh team members. Uh also want to highlight that we are so so so excited to begin tomorrow with 726 kindergarten students. Now that's as of today's timestamp. A few more could obviously show up on tomorrow. But when
021I looked at some enrollment data from May of this past school year, we ended with about 687. So I think that that's a pretty good uptick. That's about 40 more kindergarteners. So moving in the right direction. Uh also uh we've noted that we have about 97% of our families. These are the returning students um where families got them fully registered. So uh we have given kudos to Alexander Donathan. they reached that goal of 100% of uh their families, their students that are returning and got them all fully registered. And we also wanted to note that many of our elementary schools are like within five uh students who just need to kind of get those families need to get that information buttoned up. So again, we want to thank our administrative professionals who are obviously on
022the front line of this uh registration process and we're very very excited about starting school tomorrow. Wanted to also mention on behalf of special programs, they have a couple of things listed here, just want to uh point out that the Liberty North High School Hope Squad was featured in the National Hope Squad newsletter. This was amazing because it spotlighted their inaugural uh Hope Week celebration which occurred during the spring semester. And so the good thing here is that it was planned by students, right, the Hope Squad team members. And as you may recall, we launched Hope Squad officially for our our district in the spring. And so we'll be able to fully implement uh this school year. Also wanted to mention that our very own Johnny Francis, our uh the campus emotional support dog, was
023also able to make his appearance at that event. Uh and then also the advisors, Angie Curry and Britney Morgan. Uh uh Angie of LNHS and Britney of HMS attended the National Advisor Conference. this is a really big deal and that provided some opportunities for professional learning for them that they can in turn bring back to us as a school district so we can get better at getting better uh in serving our learners. Also, this one is near and dear to my heart that I want to share and that is the annual social work back to school event that was held um this past Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 at Liberty North. This was an amazing event. This was the first year that I was actually able to get up there and just see it
024for myself. And there was a point at which I was able to just assist one of the um social workers and counselors and passing out some um hygiene kits and other materials to families and to see the faces of the children themselves saying, "Thank you. I want this. I want that. May I have this?" It was just a wonderful, wonderful occasion. We had about 300 families that signed up and there were actually about 232 that actually came through that drive-thru event. So, we do have additional backpacks available uh for families, those that are in need that we are able to distribute. Would also like to note that two conscious discipline family nights are planned for the fall semester. I believe some of you may have come out for that last school year. Um and so
025this is going to be held on Tuesday, September the 16th. uh as well as Tuesday, November the 4th. Those sessions will be held at the LPS early childhood center and then facilitated by conscious discipline master instructor Nicole Mercer. And again, we want to note here that although the primary audience is for families of early childhood and elementary students, participation is open to all who are interested in learning about conscious discipline. I also want to make mention that over the summer that Dr. Misenheimimer and team members were able to provide conscious discipline PD and support for members in our kids zone, our our kids zone managers, members of our safety and security team as well as transportation department team members. So, this is going above and beyond just professional learning that classroom teachers get, but any
026and all team members that are interested across uh Liberty Public Schools. And then on behalf of special services, I want to mention that on Wednesday, August the 13th, the special services leadership team under the direction of our director, Dr. Le Alexis Stark held the first parent information night of the school year. Um, they focused on helping uh families to differentiate between the 504 plan and the IEP because sometimes those do get a little confusing. Uh, and then also we had about 22 parents in attendance, which is amazing. and then several that chimed in via Zoom as well as some team members from the SPED department. And so the next convening will be held on September the 10th and cover the ABCs of SPED and LPS. So those are highlights I wanted to share this evening
027uh in this board report and I'll gladly take any questions or comments. >> Any question Dr. Dixon just remind me I love the backpack and and the pickups. I think that's fantastic. But throughout the year, hygiene, we've got hygiene kits available for kiddos if they need them right at the schools. >> Absolutely. Our social workers and counselors work together um to identify those families that have needs. And yes, that that happens all throughout the school year. This is just this serves the purpose of getting ready for school. >> Absolutely. >> Yes. >> Other questions? Okay. Thanks, Dr. >> Uh next in our finance report 4.3. Cindy Sullivan. >> Good evening. Um, I didn't get to say this to you last month, so happy new year. >> Absolutely. >> We're ready to start another new year.
028We're a month in already, but I always I missed telling you that. >> So, but thank you. >> Thanks for filling us in. >> Yeah. Yeah. In case you missed it. Yeah. >> I'm waiting for the next one, which is the budget's already wrong. >> Well, that's true. And you you don't even need to hear that. You know that you are well trained. >> We've been well educated. >> That's right. Um so tonight I'm going to start off with a donation and I would like to recognize a donation of supplies valued at $543.83 from >> Office Depot. There you go. >> Hillary and that's to benefit the students and staff at Manor Hill Elementary. And as always, we we really appreciate that program that they allow us to uh participate in for the benefit of
029our students. I have received some preliminary information on the senior real estate property tax relief program just this morning. Um and this is preliminary. You must remember it's preliminary. It will change. It's preliminary. Um, so the county did receive 17,352 applications for senior tax relief. Out of those 17,4,189 of them belong to Liberty. So approximately 24%. We experienced an AV increase in assessed value increase of almost $30 million over those 4,000ish parcels. Okay, that's a 12.8% 8% average increase on those partials. If you take that increase and apply our tax levy, the current levy that is not debt service, so it's just the operating and the capital levy, and you apply it to that AV increase, that results in a revenue loss of about a little over $1.4 million. That's at 2024 rates. tax rate
030will change potentially when we have our tax rate hearing next month. So again, it's preliminary. It will change when we get better information and the tax levy is final in um September. But that does give us an estimate to be thinking about as we start doing budget amendments. And um it was good to put some numbers to it. So, I appreciate the county delivering that information to us. >> But with that preliminary number of 14, we didn't have that last year. We would have had that this year. Correct. But now it may be >> deferred. Correct. >> Yes, you're exactly right. And the county is actually working through some of those things. You know, what to do if an application was submitted and then the household has value that. So, there's some things like that
031that they know that they have to work on. And um so there the number will change. >> So um it was I had a good conversation with the assessor and then received a couple of emails from um the other departments of the county weighing in on it. So they're working hard on it and I like I said I'm just super appreciative that we got this information right now. But I did want to pass that on to you. So is it your understanding that that they will this will be applicable effective with the next tax cycle? >> That is correct. So the re this will apply to the revenue that we receive in January of 2026. So this budget year >> and this next setting of the tax year >> and this next setting of the
032tax rate >> which is next month's regular >> which is next month September. And the important piece there is that the value of the parcel continues to grow and contributes to how we set our tax rate. The revenue doesn't follow. >> That is correct. >> So it multiplies every year. As long as that initial application is on the rolls and they keep applying year to year, we not only lose the 14 this year, we lose the 14 plus whatever increase next year. So it compounds, it grows, >> and any new citizens that apply obviously. So >> correct. And then as houses are sold or um roll off for other reasons than that revenue that then this is another thing that the county is working on, what how it's valued when it rolls back out of
033the senior tax credit. The um ordinance language doesn't speak to it >> really. >> It does not. >> So >> you're surprised a little bit. I talked to the assessor about that today and he and I feel the same way. So, we'll see what they how they come up with um applying that. >> Well, the statute provided in guidance, too. >> Yes, exactly. So, um yeah, there's a lot for them still to figure out and it'll probably be one of those things that, you know, you fly it as you build it. >> Again, by the time >> there may be some cleanup legislatively Yes, >> but obviously our our advocacy would be around whatever the current market value is for the home and their current assessment, not >> when it was frozen for that citizen
034at the time. But we'll see how that plays out. >> And I would anticipate the biggest change would come and how our levy changes. >> So I don't really anticipate their assess values to change that much >> in a good space. tax on the tax >> and as we'll know more obviously when we have the tax rate hearing >> in September and I do not have the final numbers from the county yet last year I didn't receive those until September 10th >> so our board meeting for the tax levy hearing is set for September 16th so that's going to be a really quick turnaround so I won't have a whole lot of information if the timeline the same as last year until that point. >> Just from my standpoint, a reminder of you're going to
035have the valuation that's going to continue to increase. >> It's obviously not going to be paid at the same rate by those individuals, correct? >> All reasons, how does that impact the tax or understand? >> And I can tell you right now that if and this is a a great question that I'm not sure how it's going to be answered. I'm my assumption is that in calculating our levy, the full value, the full assessed value of those properties will go in to calculating the levy, which then artificially decreases our levy because of the Hancock amendment. So, it's a double ding. >> Yes. if I'm and I haven't seen the tax um calculator to think that it's changed any the preliminary tax calculator does not show >> uh any kind of a ad back for how
036you're affected by >> this ordinance. >> Great question. >> Yeah. >> And note note made for a future study session. So anyway, more to come on that tax rate hearing we talked about. Westbrook and Company will be here September 8th through 12th to perform our annual audit. The audit and finance committee will meet with the auditor on Monday, September 8th. Just to note, this is a closed session and there won't be any district staff present. So, it gives the audit and finance committee a chance to speak to the auditor on their own for any concerns that they might have about any practice, procedure, or personnel in the district. So, um we'll look forward to hearing from them on that. And finally, the audit and finance committee did review the documents this month. I had um
037no concerns to pass on to you, but I would like to just share that I had a great email exchange with one of our members who works as a financial advisor and he's he's really great to bring questions just because he doesn't know, but it also spurs on good conversation and this week we talked about investments and or policy around investments and how that all works. And um he's going to take a look. We're in the process. We just provided cash flows for the year to our company that looks at our investments with us and they're going to bring a plan back to us. And I'm going to pass that on to him and have him look at it because he's in the business. And so that email exchange was just a great way to
038get them involved a little bit more in looking at what we do on um a monthly basis for them. So that was a fun conversation for me to have and I appreciate even another set of eyes from a professional looking at that. Um, so I wanted to pass that on to you and that's what I have for you tonight, but I'll entertain any other questions that you might have. >> Questions of Miss Sullivan. >> Thank you. >> 4.4 then our operations report with Mr. Anderson. >> Good evening. Um, so it's the time of year for operations annual reports. Uh, all eight have been uploaded. I'm sure you've had a chance to review them thoroughly and if you have any questions I I will try to attempt to answer them. But I did want to thank
039each of the directors. Uh won't note them all by name but the work that they did to put these together. Obviously this is a culmination of all the monthly reports uh that they work hard on uh on their own of course. Um and then two to thank them as Dr. more mentioned uh this team has been pretty active over the past couple months and all their crews in addition to the uh varied construction projects just the normal preventive maintenance routine and other things that we uh take care of uh every year over the course of the summer. So just uh thank thanks to all of them of course um with respect to construction and bond activity and capital projects those reports are uploaded as well. Um and uh I made the tour today. I usually
040try to avoid tomorrow and so today u made made it to to every site that's really had any construction of note um and have been obviously monitoring it very closely. Everybody feels really good about where we're at. There's a couple minor glitches. Nothing that's going to prevent us uh from having a great day tomorrow. I think the only issues maybe of note, little disappointment is the South LA Discovery gyms. The bleachers are out. They won't be able to use the space for PE for a couple days mainly because they're they're repairing some issues on the bleachers. Uh both principles were of course great and fantastic um understanding uh knowing that that that that occurred. Um other than that, I also wanted to just thank um both the city of Liberty and City of Kansas City.
041You know, obviously when we're getting after this work over the course of the summer, a lot of deadlines, a lot of lastm minute changes, especially the city of Liberty who we, you know, we have most of our projects on the Liberty side. um and really can't thank them enough for the timeliness of their responses uh to partnering with us to solve challenges and issues. Um and just um really it it just makes a big difference I'm sure as you can appreciate when you're kind of rolling through the the day as as and as crazy as it can get it can get. Um and the only other thing I was going to mention I talked to Megan Lucian over in Kids Zone today just to check on uh the weight list. As you know usually this
042time of year it's a little bit of a crunch. I think she's got two or three at Lewis and Clark on the wait list. Everybody else is in and we have a staff member starting I think Friday. So I think by Monday we'll Louis and Clark will be uh fully uh covered and therefore we will not have any uh prospective kids own students on the wait list which is great and as you all know a change from years past. Um apart from that it's all I have. I'd be happy to entertain any questions. >> Steve, I'm getting a lot of questions about uh heritage. >> Yes. The 19 23. Yeah. >> Building. >> Yeah. So, >> they're saying where are the kids going to go to school at? That's what I'm getting at >> everywhere
043other than the 1923 building. >> I know. >> Yeah. >> Give me a little more detail and also a little more background about what's what foundationally is wrong or being fixed. >> Well, there's a lot there's a lot going on in there. Everything from roof work to hback to tuck pointing to some of the repairs on the front columns that have been deteriorating over time. All the interior space is getting a complete makeover. I mean, they gutted everything. Uh, so it's going to be a complete overhaul trying to be sensitive to the character of the building where we can. Um, but yeah, so the work is is complete right in those three floors. Um, and we've found some things and run into some things that were challenges um that we knew we were likely to
044run into things. We just don't know what those things were, but sure enough, there were quite a few things. Um, but uh so so anyway, they're kind of working through all that. I will say the the the real challenge has been and and we spent a lot of time with the building leadership with a lot of folks on the team figuring out how to accommodate the work, making sure everybody had space, making sure it was accessible, making sure it was safe, fire code compliant, and there's there's a lot of factors, the drop off routine, where to put administration and and kind of secure entry. Um, and they came together with a plan that really I was over there today is working pretty well. It's awkward because you got to avoid that front building. So, you're
045kind of moving around quite a bit. >> Uh but um their their spirits were >> high. I think they're uh they're ready. They're ready for it. >> My kids got her class schedule. She's ready to go tomorrow. >> Okay. >> And they had some of the shifting around when we redid the we reconfigured the cafeteria as well as did the work on the other side of the building. Right. So, they've they've been displaced not too long ago. They're pretty easygoing group over there, which makes a big difference. >> Yeah, it's getting a lot of attention. >> Yeah, >> it'll be so great when it's done. >> It will say it was worth it. >> Could you provide some commentary around the new distribution center, how that's all come together and going to help us out
046this year? >> Yes, I'd be happy to. Uh, first of all, um, it's it's been a it's it's a great project. for those that have been in there and toured it. If you haven't, I would I would recommend you try to get down there anytime you can stop down and and and walk in and take a look. Um, but yeah, it's really come together that both nutrition services and purchasing warehouse and distribution are together in the one space. And it's the storage component, especially with nutrition services products, the freezer, the refrigeration, and then the dry storage is just transformational. one, we're out of the cave now, which is significant, but the ability to really Oh, stockpile is not probably the right word for things like cheese, but you know, we're we're getting a lot of
047added product and taking advantage of of like purchasing at scale options that we haven't had in the past, >> which again just benefits us in many ways. >> Great. >> But yeah, great project. Everybody down there is pretty pride prideful of it. And if you get Mr. Bright uh down there, he'll take you for a tour and uh you'll see >> go to the toast kitchen. Uh, yes, they will. Yes, >> that's great. >> Wisconsin cheese, right? >> I really enjoy actually reading all of these reports because there's just such interesting tidbits of information that you just can't I can't fathom 150,000 visits to the nurse's office. How does it even happen? Like there's just numbers that I just it's fascinating all these things >> for how many square feet we have in this district
048or how many acres. I'm like, "Holy cow, that is Yeah, just like Jen said, there was some great facts in there that were just >> And of course, as we all know, I like the first page best." The letter is awesome. >> It does put it into perspective as far as the magnitude. >> Often times, families know their neighborhood school, wherever their kiddo is at, the feeders, and then they kind of don't don't necessarily see >> the full extent of the district. Other questions of Mr. Anderson? >> Thanks to your team. >> Thank you. >> Uh, next is our human resources report with Dr. Sarah Marriott. >> Good evening. >> To expand on uh what Dr. Moore shared, we welcomed 79 new team members, certificated team members on August the 7th. And um as she
049shared, 10 of them were Liberty graduates to that group of educators. Um but we also received um that included 18 new certificated team members that are brand new to the profession. Um eight of those team members uh did their student teaching at Liberty Public Schools. And what is most impressive to me is that 50 51 of the new hires have a master's degree or higher. So, uh, that's really exciting to see a great group of new teachers, uh, welcoming to LPS. And we've got all of our positions filled in the certificated role with the exception of one which was due to a late resignation. So, we're continuing to work on filling that position, but that is not a classroombased position. And then our HR team has been busy planning several professional development opportunities for this
050school year. Um, including a retirement solutions expo on November the 12th for any staff member who might just be thinking about retirement down the road. um a pathways to teaching cohort for our classified team members who are thinking that maybe they have an interest in teaching and uh we're connecting them with six different universities throughout that cohort. So helping them um get ready for that next career move. And we're continuing with our aspired aspiring classified leaders cohort, our aspiring administrators academy. And then we are hosting five professional development sessions this year for our district leadership team members. And one new component that I've also shared I believe previously with you is that we are conducting new hire orientation sessions this year. And um that is the first Wednesday of every month. And next month, September
0513rd, we will welcome 64 new classified team members. So, and then finally, team Liberty meeting dates are scheduled. Our first one is Monday, um, August the 25th. We welcome two new team members, one right here. Um, and we will have our first review of benefits renewal from Homes Murphy and we will begin discussions about benefits. Any questions? questions of Dr. Marian. >> I don't have sorry I mean question. Thank you for doing the uh mental health wellness focus groups. Just reading through that some of the comments coming back I think are incredibly helpful >> and we'll continue those this fall and spring as well. >> The focus groups you'll do those at different so good at different times too. So that was interesting because it was in May and so it would be interesting to
052have longitudinal to see at different times. We'll host three this fall and then we'll do three additional in the spring as well. >> I also really love the the new hire orientation. How long of a do you know how long that will run or or just is it is it a a webinar? Is it it's in person? >> It's in person. It's about two and a half to three hours and it will be the first Wednesday of every month for the duration of the school year. >> Okay. >> Yeah. As we have new team members. >> That's great. >> And they also have a mentor, right? are classified team members not as to the depth or level as our certificated team members but yes they usually have someone that they can connect with great >>
053regarding those uh meetings with with teachers what uh I think anxiety was one of them and about boundaries in terms of working late what any any initial responses to that or how you going to respond to it >> so we are looking at um a a couple of different ways to explore that. Um, one is having conversations with team Liberty, so taking that information back to them. Um, as well as it is one of our it is our only strategic plan goal for the human resources department. And so we are having ongoing internal meetings um to discuss that information as well as explore other opportunities and options to share information. Um, so we're always looking for ways to do things better. >> Is that the November meeting? That's usually like the quality of >> Oh,
054for team Liberty. Sometimes November, February. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> I don't know if it's you specifically, but it's your report that has the the student numbers in it. I guess I can talk about everybody in this one. Yeah. So, one place to look at the numbers and based on what Dr. Dixon Seahhorn said, kindergarten is up to 726 and I looked and we ended last year with about 100 less than that six something. So, I mean I I guess there's nothing in the enrollment this year that has resulted in anything unanticipated. Uh I mean 100 seems like a lot, but I guess if you spread it over dozen elementaryaries that may not be that significant. I was just wanting to ask that I think that's correct and couple couple notes and jump in here
055too. Um your September count is really the tell all and as we submit that information to Desi that becomes kind of our hard count when you look at the end of the year and how we ended in May and I actually just had it up as well. Dr. provides that information to us compared to where we are presently. It does appear you've got a little bit of an uptick in that kindergarten. Attribute that to people coming back or birth rates or you know a lot of factors going on nationally and so forth. Um Shaw Creek for example is one where you have a very high fifth grade and then you look at their kindergarten this year like it is substantially less. >> You look at Kelly Brook they've got a little bit of an uptick.
056Right. To your point, you spread that across the elementary schools and then you literally hone in on section by section and class by class knowing that full well tomorrow there will be families that show up that are new. >> You also have those that are in the hopper who may not show up who have elected to transfer or moved out of state or out of district. So that's why that that September period allows some of that dust to s dust to settle. I say all that to say as we enter into this year probably at a study session looking at our facility facility master planning and our projections as far as enrollment looking at it as compared to actual some of those factors we'll be able to look at more broadly. >> Seems like a
057couple years ago and that we've had flexibility where maybe we added we had more at a specific school and we needed to add a section of And we were able to do that >> every every year and usually even beyond the start of the year because you may you may end up getting hypothetically another five kindergarteners at a building that then requires an additional staff person or at another elementary grade level. So Dr. Moore, Dr. Marriott, Dr. Dixon Seymour in terms of support services, we're all kind of monitoring that over the course of the start of the school year. So what would you add, Dr. Mar? The only thing that I would add is Dr. Moore and I have frequent conversations um based on Dr. Salori's information of really what was enrollment last year. What
058do we anticipated? Which ones are we watching and highlighting those uh we were just having a conversation right before the board meeting. So, it's carefully monitored and it really as Dr. Tucker shared, it really kind of depends on what flushes out at the end of the week. you know, how many students do return that indicated that they are and how many new students enroll that we weren't expecting. And so, um, there may be some small adjustments, but I think overall Dr. Saluri and Dr. Moore do a really nice job of, um, best capturing those numbers in the best way possible. >> It is interesting that Kelly has more students registered in kindergarten. That is that's a little bit different >> which I go back to our I don't know it's been a couple years but
059when we decided that a certain subdivision was being built right new so I wonder if that's coming to fruition right now you're getting the homes built people are moving in so that's just natural >> yeah it's also interesting that other than that kindergarten delta the of them are pretty dog on close year over year. >> Uh it's just just kind of jumps out. I I think the other thing that it reminds me of is >> well when these kids were born, they were born >> 2020 >> and then you think of conception. I'm thinking next year >> biology class it's very precise. I mean on that note, has our demographer accounted for that? >> The assumption is >> lights in New York City. >> The assumption is is that it it does bounce back at
060some point, right? Or unless we're in this new trend of, you know, young couples waiting longer um to have children. um hard to say, >> but that those are all questions that we would certainly want to engage our demographer in along with rooftops being built and what's the likelihood of that yielding students conversations we have all of the time. >> The other thing I would add to this conversation is just as we're talking about, you know, adding a section or an influx of a kiddo or a group of kiddos at a building, as we look at grades and classrooms across the system, like you might think you can pull away one building because those class sizes are low, but as soon as you pull that teacher out, guess what happens? It pops. >> And so,
061you have to make decisions internally as to do you move a classroom teacher as we're starting week one, even two, week three, or do we post a position to have someone fill in for a period and go from there. So, thus the reliance on our team to watch that and watch that closely of which they do. So, >> and we're grateful. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Other questions of Dr. Marian? >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Uh lastly then, superintendent report just to echo some of what you all have shared and our cabinet members as well. Just an extreme gratitude for all the work that's happened over the course of the summer and getting us to today. It goes by incredibly fast with lots of work going on around the district. I too had an
062opportunity to tour some of our buildings and check in on folks after convocation Friday afternoon. Um, and just when you look at it and you look at all of the construction, um, some of which is still forthcoming and will be completed a little bit later on. We we've done a lot of work, uh, over the course of the summer. Do also want to thank our communications team, Dallas, Caitlyn, and so many others that assisted with convocation um, on Friday. It was great to have our staff back and inside, which I think was the right decision uh, given the heat of the day on Friday. Um, couple things to add as far as current events. Uh, several of us attended a recent regional meeting of legislative committee and interim committee uh that's traveling around the state
063of Missouri in and around soliciting feedback regarding property taxes and property tax reform. Uh, so they hosted a meeting in Kansas City uh back on August 13th. And on that particular evening, it was a full house, a lot of people in attendance. The topic that really was center stage was some of the assessment practices going on in Jackson County. That was not the intent of the interim committee. They're looking more broadly at at the state level specifically around things they may bring forward during the legislative session. U superintendent were represented. Uh Mr. Dr. Southwick from Cooperating School District provided testimony. Took a little heat uh from some questions and from some legislators, but I appreciate Cindy as well as attending that event. I think it lasted right at around three hours before they uh before
064they closed the meeting. They have a couple more meetings set up across the state. So, we'll watch that. That then parallels the work that's happening with the school modernization task force of which local effort and property revenues are certainly an important piece to the foundation formula and how funds are dispersed across districts based upon their local effort. So, it'll be interesting to see how one conversation fits with the other. Uh, that group, the task force met also on August 13th, and we heard from a lady by the name of Bonnie O'Keeffe. Uh, Dr. O'Keefe is from Bellweather who was involved in a study of foundation formulas from across the country. Did a good comparison of Missouri's formula with states that are similar to ours. The big takeaway at that conversation was Missouri is actually a
065little further ahead in some of the work that we've done in our formula that now other states are considering. So, it's not an all that bad formula. Um, basically encouraging us not to completely throw it out and start from scratch. Um, there's certainly some tweaks and things that can be done. The next meeting is scheduled for September 9th and we're also beginning the process of coordinating workg groups and when those meetings will happen into the fall semester. So we'll share more about that information. In addition, in September, there are another set of eight districts that are going to be uh solid soliciting approval from the state board of education for the third innovation waiver uh tied to success ready students network. Uh so we look forward to that meeting um and including additional districts in
066that work. Um the other piece I would share is with the announcement that the federal government had approved uh the state's innovation waiver request through the innovative assessment demonstration authority. Um we now are starting to create and kind of form the plan as to what that work will look like. We still have to take the MAP tests this year and the end of course exams u but then as far as subsequent years we'll have a better as to what that will look like as we start to pilot what new assessments might look like. Last thing that I would say uh which you all have said it already is just hope for a great start tomorrow. I know families, some are ready to get back into the routines uh while others are taking their kindergarten to
067school for the first day. Others are sending their seniors off in their last uh school year. So, we wish everyone well tomorrow and thank everyone for the work that they've done in getting us ready for this new school year. With that, we'll open it up for any questions you all may have of me. >> Did I read that correctly? Missouri was the only state selected >> um in response to >> to the success rate. I thought >> Yeah. for this year. That was the only one that was approved. Um >> it'll be interesting to watch other states and that there was a recent decision in Oklahoma that was made for kind of throwing out the state assessment and allowing local school districts to choose their own assessments. Um, so that's a relatively new announcement. That'll
068be something to watch and how that plays out in Oklahoma and whether the federal government allows that as sufficient evidence of fulfilling federal requirements. Um, not sure how that's going to play out, but you may also see the Missouri legislature bring bills forward that mirror what we're seeing in Oklahoma. So, a lot of conversations around assessment. >> So, are you aware of any elements that made the difference? Um >> I don't know in terms of the feds in terms of the federal government >> Missouri do different >> um we looked at other states but it's also very much a collaborative between the department of education and the field districts I think that's what makes us stand out >> cooperation >> the collaboration between the department of ed and local school districts >> perhaps agency in
069the field >> and did weren't you weren't several of the superintendent also engaged with members of Congress. >> When we were there in July, we brought that up with all of our legislative body in DC asking if they could assist or put in a good word, right? Part of that advocacy effort. So, >> sure. >> I don't know that that attributed to it, but hopefully it did. >> How did how did we receive the notice? Did Desi get a letter or a phone call or >> um Desessie was informed and then they notified Success Ready Student Network facilitation team which I'm part of but then also our districts that are part of that. Um and then they communicated that information more broadly through their communication memo. So >> more work to come certainly on that.
070>> Thank you and thank you for your work. All right. >> All right. So, I guess we're done with administrative report, so we can move on to our unfinished business. >> The first item is some board policy updates. You saw these earlier in July, and so you have several that are uploaded for your consideration this evening. I did want to make mention of one. It's IG, district sponsored extracurricular activities and groups. We have a question into MSBA uh regarding some clarification. So, we did that we'll bring that back to you probably at the September study session with a response or an answer from them as far as language. But the rest of those we wanted to present to you this evening for your consideration. >> As a reminder, not only do we review them, but
071obviously the impact department take a look at it, make sure it fits right. >> Yes. Thanks for that reminder. That's correct. I move the board approve policy BBBA-1 IGBI IGCD IGCBA IGAA and regulation JGR1 >> second >> Mr. Barlo >> yes >> Miss Bower >> yes >> Mr. Bird >> yes >> Mr. Current >> yes >> Mr. Marriott >> yes >> Miss Reed >> yes >> Mr. Yes. Motion carries. >> All right. New business. Item six. >> Uh 6.1 is contracts and purchases of which we have one to share with you this evening. We'll turn it over to Mr. Anderson. >> Yes. This is just emergency purchase a couple weeks ago related to delivery academy. We had accelerated purchase help. policies app. >> I move the board approve the emergency contract with LLC. >> Second.
072>> Mr. Bartlo, >> yes. >> Miss Bower, >> yes. >> Mr. B. >> Yes. >> Mr. Current. >> Yes. >> Mr. Marott. >> Yes. >> M. Yes. Miss. Rogers. >> Yes. Motion carries. >> Yes. >> All right. We're now to the point where we have to talk about legislation and advocacy. Um, you already kind of covered off the special committee. Um, there may be a special session, but I don't know that it's really going to do anything for us. >> So, the other ones that you indicated were to be held, they're going to be in different parts of the state. It's just the first one happened to be >> This is the third one. They hosted the first one, I believe, in Jefferson City and then Lebanon and Kansas City region have a couple left,
073two or three left, I believe. >> This is kind of the same show just going >> similar format. >> Yeah. And the intent is as a listening session. Yeah. >> So, thank you for your >> I have a couple things very quickly. Um first, um education foundations report. would like me to remind everyone this is the 30th year. They have approximately 900 employee um employee signed up through the employee campaign so far. Um education foundation back to uh to the social worker back to school backpacks. The education foundation coordinates that and collects all of the materials for the social workers to pass all of that out. And so just to kind of back, you know, whatever. Um, also the community showcase is coming up. It will be October 30th in the morning, but they don't
074have a location set just yet. So if you want to put October 30th in the morning for the education foundation community showcase >> costumes mandatory. >> Yes, I love it. >> You should probably get a t-shirt. You know, the cool neon thing. Um, also in my role as chair of Laffy, we are rolling out I'm so excited about this because we came up with this at our board meeting this summer. We are doing because my passion is middle school, but we found through our research that really we need to target fourth and fifth graders for prevention and that's kind of scary. So, we're going to shoot for sixth grade. So, we came in with this came up with this tuned in series. Um, so this is something we're rolling out to all of the schools
075and I'll back to school night for at the middle schools. We're posting it everywhere. Basically, we're setting up a a whole series of um parent education nights from mental health to prevention to communicating with your teenager who won't talk to all kinds of different options. So, as long as the sixth grade parents register for three of those and attend, then they can um receive a $50 Visa gift card. So, anyone is invited, but the grant allows us to give $50 gift cards to parents. >> Anyway, so all of that information is on this. It's on social media, and I think it's an awesome I mean, the lineup is fantastic. So, I think as long as we can get the word out, we have the grant money to do that. So, we're excited. I'm also looking
076for anyone who would be interested in sponsoring Laffy Latches on Wednesday once a month. And can you clarify just Liberty Alliance for Youth, right? Yes. >> Liberty Alliance for Youth. Sorry. >> That's all right. And then and that it's open to anybody to join right in the community. If you want to just give a little plug so that people can can come too. >> Yes. So, we um we work a lot with the counselors and social workers and um in the community. We work with like the sheriff's office, the child protective services, um different agencies, synergy services, pretty much anybody that needs any help for their students. We have um clubs at the middle school and we have fresh clubs at the two high schools. Um and those students attend as well. They they have
077programs like the 988 bracelets that they did last year funded those um just different programs throughout but anybody can go like I just went as parents and got involved before any of this um just to see what I could do. Um, but the target is really middle school. So that's that's kind of where we go, but then it kind of filters out. And when we talk to the hospital, we talk to the police, we really probably need to be looking a little younger, but that's scary to fourth and fifth grade parents. So we figure we'll try to catch them at sixth grade. >> Is the meeting schedule on the Facebook page yet? It is. So and anybody can come. >> So it's open once a month >> and we do provide lunch. We're trying to
078find sponsors because we did not get our grant for this year. we did for this particular program but not our spending grant. So um if you know any vendors or anyone we can give you five or 10 minutes to come and speak at the meeting or we can pass out information but >> it's about 30 people. >> Awesome. >> But I'm gonna this is going to be everywhere. So please make sure we share it. >> Other board remarks >> just to echo thank thank you everybody for your work. I know it's kind of a sprint sometimes feeling like a sprint towards a cliff and you know but we're we are there and so I'm so excited for tomorrow. >> I I I mean it in a good way. Um but it just I know it
079feels like a sprint sometimes. So I just want to thank everybody and I know tomorrow's going to be great and appreciate everybody's work. >> I understand a number of our board members have seniors this year. So congratulations. >> That's a great feeling to have a senior. I know. >> You might have forgotten. >> It's a great It's a great experience. >> So then again to adults. >> Yeah. >> Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna dubtail a little bit on Jen and just, you know, to the extent that anybody in the community ever does watch these broadcasts for fun. I would like to invite you. You don't have to have a kid to be involved in some aspect of the school. And I think it is important for people in the community, you're a taxpayer or a
080parent or grandparent. I mean, there is some way that we can use your help. Whether you're a mentor or involved with Liberty Alliance for Youth or just come to a a competition. We have new men's volleyball and other sports starting this year. Just come be a part of it because it's just a great way to be plugged into community. One of the things we consistently hear about in our culture right now is that people lack a sense of community, feel isolated, and one way you can connect is to be a part of our school system. I mean, you don't have to have a kid to be a part of what we're doing. And there's a lot of great things happening here. So, >> that's my soap box for tonight. One of our fine arts performances
081because I did go to Starlight this summer and I actually thought that some of our stuff is better. >> This is Starlight, but We just do really great things. So, >> did you want to touch on the region meeting? >> I think Angie should touch on that on the 4th of September. >> Yeah. >> Is that the high school >> at SBA? >> I know >> it's at Liberty North >> and it's all about phones. And what's the other thing? There's a second thing on there. We're going to get training. We're going to get important training things that we need to be trained upon. And it will be a delicious meal. >> Specifically, it'll be an Eagle Point. So, we're, you know, the high top tables. We're clearing that out, setting it up as banquet
082seating. And then we'll use some of the soft seating. Their agenda, they wanted some breakout spaces. So we appreciate our operations team, tech department, nutrition services, a bit of an all hands on deck for that event that evening. Uh generally they plan for about 100 people. So we'll be ready for that a little bit more. Uh then they'll incorporate some students as well as that nutrition services has had some students or interns working with them as well. So appreciate Nikki and Denise and others helping get ready for that event. So I would also say it starts at 6:30 if there are board members who are attending if you want to get there early and do a little bit of meet and greet >> and just you know welcome people to our fabulous facility. >> I
083agree. So I think to clarify this is for um regional school board members, >> right? This is our training for a different high school or a different district hosted. So now this >> this is this is training for board members. But I think I'm glad Dan that you mentioned it because one of the the questions I need I need to have into MSBA is we have new requirements for the governance award this year and one of the requirements involves us serving together as a group and I'm wondering if we all show up early and greet and do some maybe we like if that will count or if it has >> but also remember we get to run under both systems. >> That's true. We get to run under the current system or we can do
084this. >> That's true. >> You filed a waiver. >> I'll accept for you. >> Um, but it's not a bad it's not a bad thing for us to start thinking about >> thinking about that. >> How we do that? how we do that. >> I just think it would, you know, I don't know that when I've gone to these at other districts that they've had somebody necessarily there unless they've had students >> and we can still have students, but we should >> follow your plan to arrive at six o' >> and we can talk about >> Yeah, we'll let we'll let I know these folks are tired, so we should >> I'm tired, too. >> I am also tired trying to make sure my kids are Tomorrow's the first day of school. Happy first day
085of school everyone. Bo, >> not me. >> All right. >> I move the board adjourn. >> Second. >> Mr. Blo. >> Yes. >> Miss Bower. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bird. >> Yes. >> Mr. Current. >> Yes. >> Mr. Marriott? >> Yes. >> Miss Reed? >> Yes. >> Miss Rogers? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> And again, thank you to Messer for stepping in. [Music]