001[Music] a [Music] to the flag of the United States of America and to the for stands Nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all Welcome to our Full House all look Lely thank you all for being here all right approval of the agenda I move the board approve the agenda as presented second Nick yes Jen yes AJ yes Dan yes Drew yes Karen yes Angie yes motion carries all right Mr Sac you're up I'm assuming these are all here for you there are I know tonight's going to be uh yeah exciting we I we may break a record for most state champions in the house here tonight uh this is this is going to be this is going to be fun um but I do want to play a little bit of catchup as
002you may know we had 12 snow days in this semester right students only 12 only 12 snow days um and um we had a recognition last month that we wanted to move to this month and I thought I would bring Mr Aaron money Aaron come on up Aaron made some news here recently as he was selected the Missouri music educators Association 2025 outstanding music administrator of the year and I thought I would just pull a couple of uh remarks from what the fine arts department uh shared with us he's a a great communicator which I appreciate yes thank you thank you uh he he helps to build Unity across the district in music disciplines uh Liberty music directors can bring students to amazing performances at conferences through travel and local Partnerships as a direct result
003of his support and Leadership Mr money is an Innovative thinker who constantly strives to Elevate music education in the community not only for today's students for for future students of Liberty Public Schools the Fine Arts office they would like to add he's just a whole lot of fun to work with I can appreciate that as well so want to give a congratulations to Mr Aaron money for and here comes the run on the state champions um here the last couple of years we have recognized our bluej wrestling programs boys and girls virtually had a chance to visit with Coach Brew and Co laws over at the high schools this year we thought we need to bring this crew in and meet them uh in person and uh you see there the the boys wrestling program
004class 4 state champions that being for a sixth consecutive time that accomplished on Saturday March the 1 I thought what we would do though Denise uh coach law would you bring up your blue jay lady wrestlers because it's ladies first here as part of honoring excellence as uh they come up we have three blue J ladies with us and I'm going to introduce them one by one Lily Breeden would you raise your hand yeah I can kind of relate to this somewhat um Lily she's a junior at Liberty High School she finished her Junior campaign with a 49 and0 record which now puts her at 13 four and one for her career as a blue jay and now a two-time Missouri state champion three-time medalist for LHS she's currently ranked number four in the country
005according to USA Wrestling this season Lily did not have an offensive Point scored on her throughout the entire season I think that's pretty good Lily congratulations Sandy would you raise your hand for our audience Sandy is a junior at Liberty High finished her Junior campaign with a 47-2 record giving her a career record of 124 and seven as a Jay and similar to her sister is now a two-time Missouri state champion along with being a three-time state finalist Sandy is currently ranked number 12 in the country according to USA Wrestling Sandy Breeden congratulations and Alexis sson raise your hand Alexis is a junior at Liberty High School you have a pretty good junior class at Liberty High uh she finished her junior year with a record of 44- two bringing her career record to 110
006and 12 uh she was previously a two-time state qualifier before capping offer Junior season with a pinfall in the state finyl she currently is ranked number 14 in the country according to USA wrestling Alexis Stinson congratulations I have Coach laws here do want to give a shout out to the entire team uh at Liberty High the the ladies with a second place team finish which was the highest in school history and they have now finished all three years with a state trophy meaning a top four finish at State Take a Bow Jay congratulations [Applause] all right coach Brewer would you bring the the blue J boys forward can we mention these guys winning their sixth consecutive class 4 state champion a few highlights as well as they come forward Conference champions District Champions they had
00713 state qualifiers eight State medalists six State finalists ranked number one in the state overall national ranking as high as 28 I you guys you intimidate me a little bit with that Stone Cold look on your face about to put me in a headlock uh let's go ahead and keep things going then uh Devin Harrison would you raise your hand this is Devon Devin is a senior career record 144 and 28 four-time State finalist along with his state championship Fargo allamerican Ironman Placer four-time academic All State good job Devin Harrison how about pton Westfall pton is not here I do want to coach I'll give this award if you can give that to pton pton career record 114 and 17 four time State Placer two time state champ three time Fargo allamerican three time academic
008All State awesome job let's give pton westall a round of applause Trenton Bendle Trenton over here Trenton a career record of 105 and 35 three-time State Placer of course with the state championship two time Donnie Brook Placer two-time academic All State Trenton [Applause] Bendle and finally Roman Stewart would you raise your hand sophomore Roman is uh has a career record of 70 and 13 two-time State Placer and a state champion uh you5 Placer as well Roman Stewart congratulations great job so those are your blue J state champions and I have a team State certificate coach breu thanks for being [Applause] here all right moving along I did want to um course we have some space constraints here in the boardroom I had a chance to go over uh to the learning stairs last week and
009connect with the Liberty High School sapphires who were recently crowned the class 6A state champions and the uh sapphires were so kind to meet us there we had a chance to uh interview them uh they introduced themselves to us so if we could take a look at that brief video Denise 25 Missouri State Champions Liberty Sapphires and I'm Sydney Rogers the senior Captain I'm soe meid a junior Captain I'm Savina bonadonna a junior Captain I'm Quinn roach a junior I'm Ry Huffman a junior I'm bla Willis and I'm a sophomore I'm Amelia hunt a sophomore I'm Madison Lee and I'm a sophomore I'm Samantha Martin and a sophomore I'm Ashlin Kane and I'm a freshman I'm aella bratcher and I'm a freshman I'm Kendall sheber and I'm a freshman and Ava biki sophomore so there
010are your sapphires if you didn't uh if you no not many seniors on that team so we may be uh recognizing them more and more in the coming years but did want to make mention that they were named the 2025 division 6 Missouri state champions in St Louis on Saturday February 22nd coaching staff is incred incredibly proud of this young team for their athleticism grit and Artistry with an average age of only 15 years old these dancers are student athletes who truly understand the importance of hard work and team commitment the team earned first place in division six lyrical Jazz first place in division 6 pal and first place in division 6 state champions uh the team also finished year with a team GPA of 3.86 five and a team weighted GPA of 3.91 congratulations
011to the Liberty Sapphire dance team Parker come on forward Parker gavina how about that are you all from Liberty High School supporting the the Eagles very good I I love that so this is Parker Parker's a freshman on the Liberty North dance team and has had a phenomenal season he competed with a solo this year and placed first in the Kansas City Classic regionals as well as Le Summit North regionals then moved on to win a state championship with the solo he also competed at Nationals with the solo and placed and the nation with it after advancing through a preliminary and semifinal round North is so proud of him and all the accomplishments this season Parker gavina conratulations told you a lot of state champions to present here tonight we do have one final recognition
012though is tonight it is board Appreciation Night of course board appreciation month cele celebrated all across the state of Missouri and as I do each year just wanted to read a a brief press release missourians benefit every day from the dedicated energies and countless hours devoted by a group of more than 3600 men and women from communities across the state these public servants are elected by local constituents and do not receive compensation for their tireless efforts they are the local school board members of Missouri during the month of March communities across the state will honor the dedicated service of their local Boards of Education during school board recognition month the goal is to build awareness and understanding of the important function an elected Board of Education plays in communities and schools all Missouri citizens are
013asked to recognize the important contributions of these men and women and focus attention on the vital role these public officials play in the education of Missouri's children um I know uh you probably received some tokens of appreciation from our school tools they were so kind to come by over the last week or so I hope you enjoy those I know the ECC is going to they submitted a video that we're going to email to to each of you coming up if you've not received that already and uh I also Denise wanted to share with you that we're going to be recognizing each of you on our social media platforms over the next week or so with some uh get to know information and reason why each of you serve so um and then and uh
014finally we're going to do something a little bit different this uh this year as we had so many state champions with us tonight you're going to be presented your official board appreciation certificate byas LPS state champ as uh We've distributed to them out in the audience so students make sure you bring your uh the the right certificate with you uh as you present those to our board members so let's start over here introduce uh Mr Drew Marriott Mr Dan [Applause] Curr Miss Angie Reed miss Karen [Applause] Rogers Mr AJ [Applause] bird Miss Jen Bower [Applause] and Mr Nick [Applause] bartlo so congratulations to each of you I cannot promise we'll ever be able to do this again with a state champions in attendance with us here this evening before I wrap up I do want
015to thank our coaches for being here want to thank Miss co uh coach mcdorman athletic director at Liberty North coach Cunningham and and her team at at North as well uh what a great night of celebrations here and uh have a great meeting one one thing before we give you further directions is we would like to stand and give all our state champions a standing ovation because that is a so what we typically do I'm not even follow is come out and talk to you and greet you and congratulate you and we will um do that until 7:30 because there's one or two of you out there um and so please don't leave before we get that opportunity to do that um I have four cards for comment if anyone else has wishes to fill
016out a card they are outside the back door um and then submit it to any board member or Denise aler whoo's our board secretary so with that said we've got 11 minutes e e for did anybody have any additional cards I have four is that it all right so for those addressing the board speakers May address any subject concerning Liberty Public Schools Andor education board members will not engage in debates or discussions with those speaking other than to seek clarification of their comments speakers will address the board from the P Podium are asked to keep remarks concise into the point and will not repeat what someone before has said a person or persons may speak only once at the meeting if several patrons wish to speak on the same topic the board president May restrict
017the input to one or two spokespersons each speaker shall be limited to three minutes profane language or comments that constitute a threat to the safety of others is prohibited spontaneous comments from the audience will not be tolerated and may close public comment in the event board members agree the normal flow of business is being unnecessarily delayed they may by majority vote wave or end public comment concerns brought forward during public comment may be addressed by the superintendent or appropriate staff members usually within a week so the first card I have is Olivia Lindsay good evening board how are you doing good evening good uh my name is Olivia Lindsay I'm a Liberty High School graduate from the class of 2023 I'm a proud Blue Jay I was a four-year Varsity letter holder on the speech
018and debate team I'm currently a junior at the University of Kansas I'm a Le legal education accelerated degree scholar um an Accolade I hold without um that I would not be able to hold without um my speech and debate coach I'm today speaking on behalf of LHS alumni um about this debate coach this educator is an excellent debate teacher I myself know that the improvements and accolades I made and earned under his coaching would have not happened without his expertise I became a five-time national champion a District student of the year and won numerous district and Conference champions in just two years under his leadership however the greatest lesson that the Liberty speech and debate coach taught me was the belief in myself a belief that I carry far beyond my high School career this
019coach went far beyond the well um the Call of Duty of an average educ educator in collaboration with my mother while I was living in a toxic household he consistently worked to make sure that I was taken care of snacks were in cabinets for students that needed it no questions asked individual check-ins with students were offered each week about our grades and our home and personal life flexibilities and course expectations were offered for students with different needs so that we could meet the expectations that Liberty had for us he offered advice about when I was overwhelmed tuted my myself and other students in classes well beyond debate including physics facts and calculus and the support I received from the LHS debate coach was nothing but consistent kind and impactful he made it easier to show
020up and work hard and imagine a future for myself when I thought it was impossible I can confidently say that this educator is skilled in seeing the potential in every single student even when they cannot see it themselves I know this because I saw it firsthand he is persistent in his efforts to remind every student that they matter that they value and they are enough and I can confidently say that without this teacher I would not have made it through my senior year much less graduated high school to remove such a power from Liberty High School is antithetical to what this board claims to support it's antithetical to what Liberty High School holds itself to be so today I ask you as an alumni and a proud blue Jam that you take action to promote
021the words that this board holds through thank you [Applause] kayn [Applause] King hello good evening and I hope you all have had a wonderful day I'm here to speak on something a little different I would like to tell you what speech and debate is for myself and many others speech and debate is an event that forces you to fail it forces you to face your greatest fears and it forces you to commit your passion and your livelihood to something that very well may not end up well it forces you to communicate with individuals in different ways and different contexts and in an event that is set up to make you fail it is so of utmost importance to preserve the coaching staff and to preserve the Integrity of the team as a whole Liberty High
022School has been fortunate enough to hit the jackpot with a debate coach not once but twice now my debate coach for the last four years has encouraged us to fail in ways that has made myself and each and every individual on this team a better person and because of that we are part of an event whose taught skill is that of Storytelling we are here to communicate to the world and ultimately improve the world itself our stories are important important enough to write them down and bring them to you here today and because we are in part of an event who is here to tell stories I bring to you the stories of over 20 speech and debate current members raging freshman to senior but also the stories of alumni and parents who took their
023time to write down their stories for you we've brought physical cof I and we will also be sending out a digital version via PDF and email to you by the end of the night I urge you and implore you read our stories they are important they are important enough to write down and they are important enough to Spur change so please I beg of you read and understand seek to explore and take a step in our shoes and learn what it is to cause such massive disruptions in the ways of our lives our individuals our relationships and our home thank [Applause] you Carolyn [Applause] shemwell good evening first of all I just want to shout out you all because we do appreciate you and everything with this March appreciation month with that today many of
024you know me as Caroline shimwell Liberty High School student body president this is a position I have wanted for the past 6 years of my life life however the recent decision to remove the LHS debate coach has made me question the values and beliefs of our district and whether they continue to align with my own I am still president which means I still have a duty to represent the voices of the student body but it has made me question whether I want to represent this District nonetheless I will share the voices of those students I am not here to reprimand you or to spew angry remarks but whether to ask you to consider the implications this decision will have on every single student and staff member fortunately this coach's impact on LHS has been vast
025unfortunately this the removal of this person will have a negative impact of equal magnitude every decision this coach made was done with due diligence on what was best for every person on our team not just one I implore that you all use the same diligence when it comes to this decision an hour ago I was at my grandfather's funeral instead of staying with my family tonight I elected to be here because this debate team is also my family with the guidance of this coach this debate team has been made a safe home for many students I ask that you do not disrupt this safety I ask that you do your job as a school board to speak up for students and look out for their well-being I ask that you take the time to truly
026hear and understand the full story and impact regarding your decision today I ask that you look out for all of us and I ask that you do not remove our home thank you and last but not least orian Middleton good evening thank you all for being here hello my name is Oran Middleton and I have been a speech and debate student for five years and the current Liberty High School debate coach has been my coach for four of those five years Additionally the current Liberty High School debate coach has been one of the most influential people in my high school career believe it or not my first email to him was explaining why I had missed the first three weeks of his class since then he's only grown as one of my favorite teachers he
027has been consistently there throughout every event during my high school career he is the most understanding teacher in this building and number one reason why I'm still in debate today he always knows when to pest for me about a debate case and when to back off if I'm not in a good mental space he knows his students and he values them I also struggle with change this coach learned this and so he changed the way he tried to get me to Branch out every year it seems he waits until the new year settles in and excuse me and slowly begins pressing me into doing a new event my freshman year was extend speaking my sophomore year was Congress debate this year it was trying out policy debate each time he coached me through it and
028helped me prepare for the event sourcing optimism and encouragement he has the work ethic of no other and has the patience of his Saint at a tournament a couple weeks ago for example my debate partner got really sick and panicky before Grant started he coasted her through it gently encouraging her to get round get to round one and we did we mustered up the courage to go to round one and we gave it our all until we had to Forfeit 10 minutes in but his insane worth e ethic didn't end there he recruited a speech kid who has never done a lick of debate in her life and was thrown into my partner last minute because my original partner could not keep going we did well enough to not only survive but thrive in the
029next three rounds she and I had an amazing time debating and it can be 100% attributed to the work he put into the predicament and rebuilding our confidence I wholeheartedly believe this type of teacher student connection and perseverance cannot be Rec recreated with anyone else the Liberty High School debate coach has built strong bridges of friendships with his students I can't speak for others but to me this coach is more than a teacher he's a role model an inspiration and a mentor I don't believe that I can recreate this level of trust and type of connection with the new debate coach and this could entirely determine if I take the class next year I understand that one person one student's personal experience does not tell the entire story so I'd like to share the achievements
030of our team a couple of weeks ago our team sent seven debate teams to the Misha State qualifier tournament and qualified all seven we set a School record from that not having first not qualified that many before in school history second qualifying 100% of our teams we sent and third qualifying novice have been team has been a team for two weeks additionally we qualified students in 10 events for individual speech events most recently we attended the National Tournament qualifiers and successfully qualified eight people to the National Tournament two LD Debaters one policy team who were District Champions as well someone in extemporaneous speaking in three individual events additionally we won debate team steep sweep Stakes excuse me we attended 16 tournaments this year and the Liberty High School debate coach has been at the center
031of our Su success for every single one Merit can be granted for individual hard work but someone has has to plant the seeds of su success however you cannot plant the seeds at the bridges of the fields are burned thank [Applause] you thank you all very much for your comments you are welcome to remain or you are these cards will be given to staff M and will thank you again [Music] appr you made the copy so give us all paper I'm just going to make that decision here is one copy of every letter for you to distribute as you please okay thank you very much for hearing us today thank you thank you thank you for taking your time thank you for have a wonderful night and happy board appreciation thank you guys thank you
032thank you all right on to consent agenda our dted rules of parliamentary procedure Roberts rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval of the board by a single motion documentation concerning these items has been provided to all board members and the public in advance to assure an extensive and thorough review items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member I move the board approve consent agenda items 3.1 through 3.6 second Nick yes Jen yes AJ yes Dan yes Drew yes Karen yes Angie yes motion carries we now have reports from the administration yeah good evening the first one under item 4.1 is our Innovation and learning report and we'll welcome Dr Julie Moore to the podium good evening good evening hello we are in the mid
033of parent teacher conferences this week as I'm sure you all know um had the opportunity to uh make it around um last night and then again today actually um was able to attend my my own child's last Elementary conference um and it was pretty neat to see his last conference at elementary um as a fifth grader um talking about The Graduate profile he had a portfolio he shared videos podcasts um and all kinds of examples of how he has demonstrated adaptability empathy problem solving um critical thinking he talked about chores that he does at home I'm not sure about that part cuz I haven't seen that yet however um it was really inspiring and it's not only at uh SCH Creek it's obviously across all the elementaries that they've been doing that and so it's
034really great to see and so we hope to really kind of expand that next year um into more schools last week we also um were able to celebrate some middle level entrepreneurs um between South Valley and Heritage and using some of our grant money from the Kaufman Foundation we awarded those students Grant funds so that they could continue their um business Ventures and um ask them to consider being at hi ve on April 5th and 6th as hopefully you've all seen that we're going to do another event with them they've been so gracious to allow our students to come back so that will be open for students in grades 6 through 12 also last week we had um the act and preac so nth and 10th graders took the prea and we had over 800
035Juniors take the ACT online which caused um there was a little bit of outage uh Nationwide but we got it done both buildings did a remarkable job of just kind of um managing all of that we also for the first time we've always had some students who've done the work keys um but we had 62 students who took the work keys which is a pretty um it's pretty time consuming and actually we'd already gotten some of the scores back and our highest scoring student was one from Liberty Academy so we're really excited to to cele celebrate um that student um also wanted to share that recently we took part in the um designing the future of public education it sounds similar to Carnegie but this is something different and I think I spoke to it
036previously um a team of us went to Texas as one of 20 school districts who were um considered Innovative and invited to showcase the things that are going on in the school district and then learn from the district we were in so we were able to share Dr camp and I did a presentation um on Liberty Public Schools Dr Schmidt's um tabell and April Fleming also um came with us and um it was a great learning experience for all of us and then finally wanted to share that in our board report there are several celebrations uh from Early College having more students um with an associate degree to uh Fine Arts that we're really proud of so hopefully you can take a look at that if you haven't already that's all I have tonight questions
037of Dr Moore this evening okay thank you Dr Mor thank you uh 4.2 then our next administrative report is uh student equity and access with Dr Andre Dixon SE horn good evening hello just have a few things to share uh from each of the Departments that are represented in our report on behalf of student services we're pleased to announce that as of today's date we have 240 uh kindergarteners that are fully registered for next year uh that does not yet include the 235 uh give or take ECC students who are presently there that will eventually roll over once their families just get them uh enrolled so we are on the Move uh with enrollment numbers since kindergarten enrollment opened on February the 1st also wanted to share on behalf of special programs that uh this
038is that time of the year where we submit the renewal application to the Children's Services fund uh and so we did meet that deadline uh for getting that application submitted we do have a team that will be presenting to their uh board and just kind of sharing uh our programming features and uh just share on our grant outcomes and then we should hear back from them uh before the end of the year to know uh the allocations that we'll receive for next school year very excited about that I'm excited about this next piece here and that is we're so proud to recognize Dr Rob Fischer uh Manor Hills counselor and our district counseling coordinator for being named both greater Kansas City Elementary counselor of the year and director of the Year by the greater Kansas
039City school counselor Association and so that is a very very very significant uh achievement both of those for him and I was able to be at the school along with other team members colleagues uh to celebrate that announcement uh uh for him his family was also there as well including the family dog so that was a very nice nice time um with respect to uh special services just wanted to thank those of you that were able to be a part of course the board tours that happened today to the different sites with Liberty High School being one of them and they were also uh hosting an open house for the ESC and best programs I got a chance to roll through their later uh this evening um but it was just so nice to see
040the quiet sensory room the active sensory room and the other learning spaces to support students in the domains of being social uh emotional behavioral and academic support for our Learners to ensure their success and uh there are some other save the dates that I shared last month but wanted to also just fold them into this month's report that just keep them top of mind for you regarding the Seal of by literacy um the English language Development Department spring ice cream social and then the upcoming Northland uh job Olympics so those are the highlights that I thought it would share this evening with with the equity quadrant it's going it's formal it formally ends this year am I right the structure that we currently have in place yes the structure that we have currently working with
041our PD partner yes that will end this year our initial initial design of that was for three years however the conversations we've been having it's just about sustainability and how we take it and make it our own moving forward without having to have say a consultant work with us so we will just embed the work into everyday teaching and Leadership practices you have any idea of what it might look like or still working on that I'll be able to give you more details about what it will look like for next year because as I've been attending the codr I've been personally taking notes about what schools are saying they want to do finish out this year and things they want to do until the next year and so I can share that more formally a
042little bit later right if that's okay with you absolutely we just know how important inclusion and belonging is yes sir I know thank you thank you thank you congrats to the SP Department of the high school for having a beautiful amazing new space and being so blown away they are by by that space it's amazing yes it is as a special education teacher I would almost go back to for that space But I'm not um and please give my congratulations to Jennifer Henderson for her presentation yes at moch um it is really nice to see that that is her presentation on the parent and family Playbook is of Interest outside of our district it's nice to see those things spreading yes yes people are very interested in that family engagement piece particularly for our families
043U Lear with IEPs yes so kudos to that I will pass that on other questions of Dr Dixon SE thank you thank you thank you uh next up is 4.3 our finance report from Miss Cindy Sullivan good evening good evening I have one donation to recognize this evening um a monetary donation of $2500 from the Brody and Amy pan Family charitable gift fund to the Liberty High School men's tennis team we thank them for their generosity on behalf of Liberty High School a couple of things in addition to the report that was uploaded for you tonight I would like to hit upon the first being house bill 14 which was a supplemental BD budget appropriation was signed by the governor yesterday so that pertains to this current year um we were not the state was
044not generating enough Revenue that we we we're going to get our total Foundation formula allocation and and um monies so with the passage of and the signing of that bill we will now be assured that we should get the fully funded Foundation formula amount that is due to the district it also provides additional High needs funding to fully fund that we were short the um Federal allocation on that so they will now be able to pass that through to us which will be somewhere between an additional $250 and $300,000 so we're very happy that that was signed yesterday an update on Senate Bill 190 which is the senior tax credit frees for Liberty as of yesterday afternoon there were approximately 14,900 applications submitted to the county out of 33,000 Parcels that were eligible for the
045credit and that application window does close on March 31st so they're getting close to the end there and a little less than half of eligible Parcels have been submitted for the credit uh collection rates we are a bit higher than last year we're now at almost 98% 98 and a half% to where this time last year we were at right at 98 so that's good we still have two more collection um periods that typically bring in a significant deposit so we're happy that we are having that success this year and finally the audit and finance commit met last night in person we discussed the financial statements we also talked about Bond projects the FY 26 budget process which I will share the beginnings of that with you a little later and then we also spent
046some good amount of time on the legislative activities so they're very aware of what's going on and um had good questions about that they did not have anything to pass along to you and um we're a good group to talk with last night that's what I have for you tonight questions of Cindy we'll hear from her again later on in the agenda we'll save our questions thank you thanks Miss Sullivan uh next in is our operations report uh with Mr Steve Anderson good evening um couple items I'd like to highlight from the report um first uh our director of Health Services Kathy elmire was uh went to the annual um level up kids event formerly known as miles for Smiles we've been partners with them back to the mids as I understand and she was
047honored she was not expecting this but being this is her last year with retirement she was honored with the smile maker of the Year award and she was very pleased and surprised and so again they honored her partnership over all these years which has been invaluable to the district of providing oral hygiene care for thousands of students that have kind of come through LPS um also want to um recognize um Trey CER with um um our technology department director and the work he's been doing on the side it's noted in here with his work with sisa the cyber security infrastructure Security Agency I think that's right um just working hand inand with them on some of the uh planning efforts and and uh assistance that they can provide in that capacity but also identifying some
048areas of vulnerability and so just it's obviously it's something that's very important to what Trey and his team does a lot of it is unrecognized or maybe unnoted uh but it is probably well it is his highest priority and I know they spend a lot of time on that so I did want to recognize them for that and also wanted to call out transportation department they had their annual uh safety inspections conducted by the state highway patrol uh 96.5% on that first run through for testing which is very good all that cleared out the second run so we're at 100% at the second run and really wanted to not only recognize uh Mr Jones the director but his um shop maintenance manager Kevin Downey he's been with us for quite a while that's obviously that's
049their kind of go time and just appreciate him and their team kind of pulling together and getting the fleet uh ready uh to roll um real quick update on some of the bond uh uh projects uh for those who were willing able to tour with us earlier today uh the next main kind of threshold here is we have several uh projects wrapping up here kind of end of May so not too far off that's both South Valley Discovery Liberty Academy and um Distribution Center Distribution Center thank you afterno yeah uh but all those projects are tracking very well and then I'll be updating later presenting on the Liberty Middle School um Bond uh bid opening and we'll kind of hit on that a little bit as well but um with that I'd be happy to
050take any questions I don't have any question would you have a question yeah Steve and I just not aware of it I know I'm going back to when I was in school requirement to take certain vaccines what what is our policy we follow very strictly State and Health Department kind of guidance on that um so and then you have to have your vaccinations in order I think there are uh opportunities to be excused from that but they're very strict and specific and set at the at the State national level thank you those exemptions are included within our board policy as far as how to go about that okay thank you other questions of Mr Anderson I didn't have a question I was just going to shout out I I I know I've mentioned this before
051but I think when we think public sector and bureaucracy like there's sometimes a perception that that there's maybe not as much efficiency and what I see in the report that was provided here was efforts by our managerial team and facilities and grounds in the maintenance area to do quality control inspections to make sure they're pulling up making sure they're doing their work well so instituting a process to regularly check that and make sure that things are going right so that we can fix it if it's not um I saw that in the grounds that there's a survey in process to communicate with our community about athletic fields and the usage of those so an effort to gather information and better understand how our resources are utilized um I saw um the purchasing department working to
052develop capture here's what we do we know what we do but if somebody were to leave tomorrow do we have a way of capturing how things work in this department and putting that down to capture it so that we have that efficiency there and so those are very unglamorous things that don't necessarily generate the same fund but they are important in making sure the district runs well that our buildings are safe that you and I I think those are things are all very important and then the one other thing I wanted to shout out was um that also your custodian who is wonderful at lilan shoeer elementary if everybody goes and listens to there's a new podcast U at Lily and Shumacher Elementary called from brainstorm to broadcast and they they're in their latest episode
053the fifth graders interviewed custodian and chess extraordinaire Mark KC um for the podcast and it is the cutest he is it is just amazing and so these people are doing a lot of important work and they're also building relationships with our kids so I I just pass for that yeah and we do find it all very clim by the way I'm glad you did all right thank you Mr Anderson thank you thank you uh next in our human resources Report with Dr Sarah Marriott good evening um I will start by sharing that the length of my report is not reflective of the amount of work we've been doing the report is brief um so uh as regarding recruitment I wanted to share with you that today we have 21 certificated openings for the 25 26
054school year which is an exceptional fill rate um we have six Elementary six Fine Art five special education three secondary and one counselor position open but we have additional offers out to some of those positions and so tomorrow at this time hopefully that number will be even lower so we're really proud of our team and the work that they've been doing um as well as all the other teams involved to secure those teachers for the 25 26 school year and then I also need to share that as of March 6th we have 248 new classified employees with our LPS team since July 1st um and we current only have 20 vacancies and we have several upcoming events and recruiting fairs scheduled so that number is again something that we're really proud of and continue to
055work towards lowering team Liberty met on Tuesday March 11th uh the team engaged in those initial discussions regarding salary recommendations for for fiscal year 26 um they will reconvene on April the 3D and then if needed another meeting on April the 10th um and then adsa which is our administrative team for uh benefits and wellness will meet this Thursday and then the last item I just want to share with you is that earlier this year we launched the RFP process for employee Insurance Brokerage Services we do that every 5 years we interviewed five companies for that um who submitted proposals and we secured legal council with Brian Johnston to assist our team with that process and a contract will be presented to the board at our April board meeting I'll take any questions that you
056have thank you for organizing the student teacher breakfast it is one of the most fun events I've well I I can't take credit for any of that and that goes to Dr Copeland and Anne Bell um for their work on organizing that and making all of the arrangements to have a successful event so I think that that a I certainly will I thought it was a great networking together it's very fun yes anything else for Dr Marriott thanks for the word thank you thank you thank you uh the last item then under the administration reports just real briefly couple highlights to share um points to note the legislative session uh certainly is well underway we're currently this week in the legislative uh spring break as they like to call it um so a little bit
057of a a pause to the work happening in the house and the Senate um no shortage of activity make note of a couple of things um in terms of open enrollment that passed the house uh just last week as far as House Bill 7-Eleven um and so that goes on to the senate for deliberation we'll continue to watch that very closely appreciate several of our board members I believe M Rogers Mr bird uh Miss Bower U for taking the time to go to Jefferson City last week I was there the week before um and I know they shared they had an opportunity to connect with several legislators um and felt like they had good conversations so another item to note we'll speak about this a little bit later on in the agenda was just the
058traction around um proposed forgiveness tied to inclement weather as it relates to this calendar year 2425 and I believe that was House Bill 607 uh if I remember correctly so a lot of uh bills that we watching but those were the two that I wanted to make note of would also just reiterate appreciate msba for providing legislative updates weekly um as far as happenings in the capital along with other education associations that we tune into uh whether they're teacher groups superintendent groups business official groups um I know that's a busy time in the spring as far as tracking all the happenings going on in Jefferson City and the implications that it may have on us um as things continue uh during this session whether it's conversations uh phone calls emails um or more formally submitting
059fiscal notes I appreciate Miss Sullivant for helping do that from time to time as we look at bills and have the opportunity to provide a fiscal impact uh impact note uh to the legislature uh we'll look forward to doing that uh in addition to that uh we just wrapped up our 23rd state of the district meetings um appreciate Dallas acrian for helping schedule that and all of our building principles and our department heads uh for hosting really cabinet um to be able to not just provide um a quick 25 minute video as far as update regarding the district but then some additional highlights um as well as opportunity to uh you know provide feedback questions and opportunity to just connect across all of our campuses some things that we highlighted over the course of those
060meetings were really a lot of the transition in leadership that's happening both at the local level at the state level and the federal level locally we know with the close of the candidate filing window we don't have to have an election in April uh because Karen and Dan have signed up again and no others uh signed up so come April we will swear them back in we'll work through reorganization um and then set the stage for the remainder of this year as far as that board structure but then also getting ready for the 25 26 year at the state level the conversation was in and around the change in the governor's position um from Mike Parsons over to Mike heo and what that might entail for us and some of the early indicators of things
061that he included in his State of the State address and then certainly all of the activity going on in the first hundred days of the new Administration in Washington DC um so no shortage of activity that we're tracking both at the local the state as well as the federal level the other thing I would point to I appreciate everyone's participation in many of our spring recognitions uh whether it was support staff of the Year teacher of the year um other events whether they're student recognitions walkthroughs that will culminate later this spring with uh celebrating our retirees as well as our graduates from both Liberty High School and Liberty North High School last thing that I would mention we're looking forward to uh continuing our partnership with real world learning and the Kaufman Foundation uh later
062in the month of April uh several of our team will be sub uh attending the real world learning Summit um which is an effort really to just coales around the new areas identif if IED in the real world learning strategic plan as we move forward just to continue to work toward that goal in 2030 of reaching 100% of our Kansas City area students obtaining a market value Asset um as a district we're over 80% is that right Dr Moore um and Well on our way toward meeting that goal but we still have work to do so we look forward to continuing those conversations with that would entertain any questions that you all may have of us you been very busy lots going on yeah and lastly more snow on the way tomorrow evening is what
063no thank you I did have to throw that out there thank you that's okay Dallas it out is it snow it's just rain temperature is bad enough we don't need to add snow to that all right and no questions for the superintendent thank you we don't need another snow day um Unfinished Business board policy updates you'll recall from last month uh we had some board policies that were presented for first read we're bringing those to you this evening um for your consideration and action that includes BBB B-2 Schoolboard ballot issues and then BDC closed meeting records and votes would present those to you for your consideration I move the board approve policy the BB bb-2 and B DC second Nick yes Jen yes AJ yes Dan yes Drew yes Karen yes Angie yes motion carries
064all right new business under new business the first item 6.1 is an amendment or revision to the 2024 2025 academic calendar uh certainly appreciate everyone's patience uh this winter as we've navigated more than normal uh inclement weather also want to thank um all of our operations teams and those who are behind the scenes often times at 4:00 in the morning uh shoveling snow or blading parking lots or putting treatment down um just getting ready for school in the event that we're able to attend school um and looking ahead couple numbers that I want to mention to you are two 6 2 and two you may recall that when we set the calendar for the 2425 school year we set a calendar of 173 student contact days with the understanding that those first two days would
065be traditional snow days that's where that two comes into play the six are the number of days that we are permitted to submit to the Department of Elementary and secondary education as alternative methods of instruction days where we receive 100% attendance for virtual learning days the following two because you've already used those 6 Ami days we just have as traditional virtual learning days that are not submitted um to desie for attendance and then the final two were the last two days that we received so the first two and the last two are the ones that we are focused in on because what that ends up doing is it reduces those um from our overall um sorry the first two and the last four are the ones that reduce our calendar below 169 days so last
066year you may recall that the legislature put a little bit of a carrot out there for districts to have a calendar in excess of 169 days in the event that they do that they would receive I believe 1% of funding in year one which is approximately $600,000 to the district and then that would grow to 2% uh in years to come and so as you take that 17 3-day calendar and you take off the first two traditional snow days um and then you take those six days of 100% attendance those are accounted for um and then you start looking at those subsequent days that dropped us below 169 and so all that said we have two days that need to be made up initially when we had one day we were looking at the possibility
067of this Friday uh we were also looking at the possibility of April 18th and then we had the next snow day and so right now we're looking at those two makeup days and the proposal you have uh in front of you this evening uh does a couple things it takes May 20th uh excuse me May 21st and makes that keeps that as a full day rather than an early release Wednesday and then it takes Friday the 23rd makes that a full day and then it has the first makeup day is a full day on Tuesday May 27th and then the second makeup day on Wednesday May 28th with that day being a 3-hour early release I say all that to say um as we continue to walk through the legislative session we'll certainly watch if
068the state uh the state legislature provides any forgiveness as it relates to that the second document you have is in and around the Epic calendar and you'll notice just a minor change there as you go to the month of May um you have obviously that May 28th reflects the 3-hour early release because that is the district's last day albeit we know that epic continues into the month of June with their last day their tentative last day of school being that June 6th so would prevent uh provide those two uh revisions to you this evening for both a District's calendar but then also uh epic's calendar round out the 2425 school year so they're presented those revisions are presented to us they've been communicated already to our families across the district we waiting to hear from
069legislature yes why approve it now to solidify it and allow people to have plans to formally act on it as a board because it is an amendment um in the event that the legislature comes back around and provides that forgiveness we'll be back at the table um un fortunately rather than have to wait because it could it could be um it could be the end of the session it could be sooner my sense is if they were going to forgive something it would happen sooner um that would be my hope um so yes admittedly we may have to bring this item back um as it relates to amending the calendar I was able to speak today with North Kansas City School District Park Hill School District uh in addition to pla County School District the
070Career Centers along with Northland caps um they're all in a similar situation albeit um the majority of them are ending on that Thursday because they have an additional day uh to gain as far as making up keep in mind not every District starts with 173 days several were much lower than that so I'm talking with our neighbors in North Kansas City uh they're having to make up five days as compared to the days that we are because they're their calendar wasn't built with as many student contact days so you Jo make sure that we have stacking available for two days if we need to be in session certainly and messaging that out so people can plan accordingly um as we were looking at various options when we just had the one day that that Tuesday
071after Memorial Day we knew attendance would not be great um that's why we started looking at you know this Friday albe it its parent teacher conference week along with that April 18th day on that Friday knowing that if that was used as a makeup day which certainly was an option when we just had had the one that makes for an incredibly long stretch for students and staff to come off of spring break and then you have the entirety of April and May without any breaks in between um so a lot of factors to look at as we we try to land what those makeup requirements are while I have immense confidence in the legislature to do things um I was being sarcastic um but you know I think this is you know the safest approach
072my uh daughter would call me a does kill but I mean historically we've made up snow days right it's not a it's it's not a new or novel concept um but I mean this at least through the use of Ami days I mean we've really is pretty minimal compared to what we've experienced and what some other school districts are experiencing and one thing we may end up going back to um again May would be years ago we used to include and many districts did this we used to include makeup day number one make up day number two make up day number three so that everyone knew ahead of time at the bottom of your calendar here are the days that we're going to make up inclement weather days keep in mind the focus shifted from
073makeup days to the number of hours so what we've done is we've looked at both scenarios in the event that we have to add those two makeup days at the end of the year where do our schools fall in excess of the 1044 required hours they will exceed that even in the event that the legislature forgive those days forgives those days guess what our schools still exceed the minimum number of required hours um the one that gets the closest is epic Elementary because keep in mind um they have their regular school term and the hours they have to fulfill when we talk about epic having an extended school year we actually leverage summer school in accounting for hours both in August and June which then is really what helps us cover off an extended school
074year epic so we do end up getting down to the granular level at the buildings and making sure that they all have meet those minimum required hours along with the days piece um and I appreciate Bob citro um for his giant spreadsheet that tracks all of that information so I know you've explained this to me before and maybe Steve has also but it comes up quite often is why we don't have a late start option your larger systems that have multiple outing uh tiers have a problem with that so then as you start in in our instance we have five tiers and so as you start kind of thinking about when buses start rolling um as soon as they start that first tier and then they go to that second and third that's the the
075entirety of how much time it takes from the time they leave to the time they drop off those students right as you shift that 2 hours you really have to think about the conditions and you have to think of the circumstances es in which you would make the decision to move to a 2hour delay and so interestingly we've looked at it it's pretty problematic to do that 2hour late start with five tiers um districts like shaie Mission and Blue Valley us a few others have those five tiers North Kansas City is in a similar boat um interestingly some of your some of your smaller ones that have four three tiers they've tried it um when we think about those days and we we have these conversations just about every morning where we're cancelling school would
076today have been an appropriate day to do a 2-hour delay in particular when the inclement weather comes in late in the morning right around a 5:30 or 5:00 or 430 decision to be made in addition to that when those windchills are -20 and what we've found is that on those instances where we're having that conversation of might we have done a 2-hour delay today our answer answer is no you could press it you could push the envelope but that 2hour delay in terms of wind chills for example when we had that situation a little earlier this year those wind chills and temperatures were not any better and you end up with the same result as far as having students out there waiting for vehicles and the potential that something could happen or a breakdown and
077so forth and so we do continue to look at it and study it um it becomes pretty problematic for us because of some of those reasons I don't know what you would want to I think you know we we we'll re investigate it again to have it potentially as a tool the toolbx but we do always kind of break it down afterward I I can think of one instance and it was probably about five or six years ago when it was a it was a late coming in really heavy snow with kind of warmer weather on the way and it just came down real heavy real quick and we cancelled but even that you know it made sense 2 hours it would have made sense but making the call in the moment you you're just
078basing it on forecast which as you guys know around here nobody the other Factor too to keep in mind and we know this but I'll say it is that you're always drawing your staff doesn't all live in the district right they live from all over the Metro so then you're also considering some of those factors um but again we we've committed to looking at it and seeing if that might be something that we would try to execute um it's just when we've looked at the specific day and tried to put that decision on top of that day the majority of the time it doesn't make sense to pull that but yet you still have that option for those districts that do have it in the event that the stars align in those conditions allow you
079to do that 2hour delay so do you have any idea five tiers how long that takes I mean they just and then you throw ECC in the middle so everything's just kind of tied together so what would happen is ECC am for sure gets canel it's the only way it works and even in that it's really tight because how each tier bumps into the next so so I think it's it's viable but then you lose some of the other you know any of the um career center Peak you know all like a lot of those other things kind of washed out of the system um so I think it can be done but you lose some things along the way and and then still even in that you're there's no room for error right well
080my question is on the back end if you push it back how many hours so to get back out of there at appropriate time how many hours have you actually put into school I guess is my question oh I don't I'm not asking for number I'm just saying you would dismiss at the same time right okay so you you lose two hours okay I I will say some of the feedback that I've heard in other places I mean is it still it's still disruptive right I mean you're still having families that have to coordinate um around a 2hour delay which is you get different feedback from different people in terms of how that's disrupted their day so that's also not only is it difficult to coordinate but it's still resulting in some of the same
081disruptions and then you'd have kids own care coming in so then you got that they're still coming in to receive some of those early families yeah a lot of moving parts we have an action item we do what were we talking about I'm adopt the 2024 2025 academic calendar and epic calendar as revised second Nick yes Jen yes AJ yes Dan yes Drew yes Karen yes Angie yes motion carries uh the next item 6.2 uh was a topic we discussed in our last study session I appreciate everyone's participation with that um in and around the high school Transformation Network um supported by the Carnegie Foundation of teaching uh for the advancement of teaching so you have the memorandum of understanding that we receiv received after our study session um that's been completed with specific information
082uh regarding this partnership moving forward and just to reiterate uh from the slide deck we shared with you during our study session uh really the aim of this and working to reimagine or re-envision um high school as far as Traditional High School in the United States is focused on a couple of key outgrowths or outputs um to be able to broaden our learning goals Beyond traditional academic measures um certainly maintaining that academic rigor as we discussed at our study session but then expanding really what we already have in place in our district as far as the skills and dispositions of our graduate profile that's one piece incorporating rigorous and engaging learning experiences based on Modern learning science um as far as what does the research tell us um there's certainly an evaluation piece associated with
083this network um and then lastly meaningful signaling systems for tracking student progress think of a signaling system as far as those indicators that show how students are performing so several years ago we branched out beyond the alternative or the annual performance report the APR and looked at um uncommon measures as far as the academic piece the well-being piece and then also the real world learning piece um efforts that we have underway with badging that we have with micr credentialing that we have with portfolios or that we have with extended transcripts um those are indicators of what those signaling systems might look like that then Encompass The Real World Learning components as well as those skills and dis dispositions contained in The Graduate profile um so we would present that to you this evening it does
084come Associated uh with $100,000 Grant to take care of some of the expenses a lot of professional development expenses um that are tied to being part of the network in addition we have a team U that will be established to work closely with the network myself Dr Moore Dr Van bavia in addition to our two High School principes um we will pull in others along the way certainly the academy their leadership Christopher H working with accountability and assessment um Dr Schmidt's as it relates to the curriculum um and instructional side so we're excited to get going um there is another component to this as it relates to a data sharing agreement which we have done in the past um we're super uh focused on that now given some of the cyber security issues so we
085want to make sure that that is solid uh once we receive the data sharing agreement um and we'll work closely with Tom caps to be able to review that uh from a legal council standpoint in terms of his comfort level and bringing that forward for consideration um so we present that to you this evening uh for your consideration I move the board approved the memorandum of understanding with the Carnegie foundation for the advancement of teaching second discussion the um no just so the $100,000 Grant I totally understand we've got some expenses that are going to come out we're going to set those dollars aside and just obviously reconcile against that okay and then I know this is additional work on top of work that's already out there both principles obviously yourself Dr Moore other Dr
086bavia I assume you're all on board for that ready to go thank you for asking in terms of the lift or the load and we talked a little bit about this I feel at our at our study session we do trade off a couple things that we're involved with this year that were for a one-year period um most notably the agile Network which is through lean lab here locally in Kansas City um and then education reimagined um as far as some ecosystem work that Dr more and I have been involved in interestingly what we have seen as you kind of peak behind the curtain with a lot of these networks and associations they're all interconnected and that Carnegie has been working with education reimagine along with the agile Network and a couple others um and
087so as we've grown our Network there are some common pieces there whether it's individuals or organizations that provide professional development or network opportunities um I think Carnegie is leading the charge as it relates to again just rethinking that Carnegie unit right how do we do things differently and a lot of those other groups are folding in underneath them um I think in part that's why we were able to apply be invited to apply let alone to be accepted um because of some of the work we've already done locally in our district but then also regionally across Kansas City area and then also through success ready students Network so a lot of interconnected yep I think it would be helpful to just kind of give a little bit more of an explanation of what the carnate
088unit is and why this is so trans like why the idea that we're being invited to participate in something like this is such a big deal because I think you made it sound very calm and but it's a big deal I think um sure um and it is it is it is um humbling to think that the work we've done over the last several years and our and our across our schools and it's really K12 prek K12 um that's positioned us to even be at the table for the opportunity I'm going to go back and give credit to the board um past and present as far as board members that have um done several things provided thoughts from industry outside of Education along with resources along with um just kind of challenging us to think
089differently around education um our book studies I mean I can go on and on and even name you all as an indiv idual board but then past board members um who have really challenged and stretched our thinking historically the Carnegie unit was that measure um typically around a 50 minute period in which instruction occurred that then informed course offerings credit attainment transcripts for the sake of developing an informed educated Workforce interestingly though it's about 130 years old don't quote me on that but it goes back to the early 1900 unds um in which things were done very differently so that Carnegie unit of measure that then translated into higher ed you know you take a course for three credits guess guess what those are three credits that are Carnegie units right um that's the quick
090version so then as we've evolved the unit itself hasn't and now we know we learn in many different ways um whether it's personalized Competency Based whether it's on a laptop whether it's you know you take the assessment and you move beyond the course to the next opportunity rather than having to sit for a semester or an entire year long to obtain High School Credit um that's the Carnegie unit I'm interest I'm surprised personally when we talk about it how people how many people don't know the Carnegie Foundation U because if you're an Academia and education prek-12 or higher ed like everyone knows the Carnegie foundation and the Carnegie unit but I we have found ourselves having to explain that a little b u because it may not be as common to to other folks so
091all right thank you I me to say it again you call the motion no there's a motion second yes Jen yes AJ yes Dan yes Drew yes Karen yes Angie yes motion carries yeah budget time 6.3 we get to Miss Sullivan back to the podium as we shared earlier um just a quick overview years ago the board would conduct a budget Workshop in the month of June and you would get a lot of information thrown at you in preparation for the June board meeting to approve the budget and so um it was on the Saturday morning okay oh that's terrible so then when breast Club when Cindy and Steve and I showed up in our resp respective positions over a decade ago now we decided we decided we wanted to rethink this and so rather
092than a workshop or a session on a weekend um as you'll recall um that we start off with our conversations on Revenue projections in the month of March followed by April where we talk a little bit about expenditures um and then by the time we get into the month of May we have a preliminary budget um with some minor tweaks maybe um and then certainly that final approval in the month of June and to steal Cindy's words as soon as you approve that board in June what happens the next day it's wrong because it changes and then that constant monitoring of our budget over the course of the year so thank you to Cindy um the business services department all the principles directors everyone that oversees a budget uh for the work that they've done
093in just continuing this process to where we are this evening so miss thank you for my introduction Dr Tucker slide three Saturday morning we're done yeah the Saturday morning 4our ordeal makes this sound like a walk in the park yes but Steve did tell me I had two minutes so we better get at it it was not meant to be shared well since we're talking about time might as well so I want to start this this year by talking a little bit about two key Revenue variables and these these two variables impact approximately 73% of our operating revenue and there are aggregate assess valuation and our K12 student enrollment so before we dive into the actual look how things look I just wanted to share those with you to begin with and the next slide
094shows you our school district aggregate assess valuation since 2015 and so it shows the year-over-year growth the gray bars are reassessment years and the teal bluish color are non- reassessment years from 2015 to 2020 we see a fairly consistent pattern but in 2021 we had Co an assessor who was leaving office and the housing market went on a wild ride so we saw a significant uptick in assess valuation then non assessment growth in 2022 was also up due to new new construction with the continuation of the housing market um growth in that period of time 2023 the State Tax Commission got involved think Jackson County vehicles saw significant growth and we saw a lesser but still sizable increase in assess valuation and then finally in 24 we seem to fall back into the nor more
095nor normal pattern look of um what we would expect in a non-assessment year um that then brings us to the current year and trying to estimate what we think the growth will be the county assessor is still finalizing their numbers so we don't really have any information from them that's um reliable to make that assessment but since we fell back into a pattern in 24 that looked similar to the other gears my first initial response was to go with about a 7% uh increase in assess valuation based on the patterns that we've seen before and take into account also Senate Bill 190 and not knowing the effect of that which I do think won't be significant I just felt that 7% was the um way to start out with this year so that's the rationale
096on the numbers you will see on the local and County revenue for the assessment growth so I wanted to do share that with you this this assess valuation is inclusive of residential commercial all of it this is all of it everything yes the next slide then talks about our second variable which um is student enrollment attendance and enrollment numbers are used to calculate the foundation formula which represents about 32% of that preliminary operating budget I forgot to mention that um the aggregate assess valuation is 41% of our operating budget so this is the second significant piece of that so we can look at this chart and know that our enrollment has been declining and that um was significant in FY 24 and 25 the demographer predictions are less significant in FY 26 with a predicted
097change of a minus 79 students and we base our projections on the enrollment data provided by the assessor or excuse me the demographer the numbers that are actual come from cord data that is shared with desie and that's what they use when they do um calculate the formula so the formula is paid out on the first or second prior year or the current year whichever creates the highest number for you so this becomes a very important um Dynamic to look at as we use our production document to base decisions on what is sustainable in the future so any salary increases or things that reoccur need to be worked in tandem with these numbers because this this revenue is going down because our enrollment is also decreasing so um it's very important to look at these
098and have good numbers that's why I appreciate the the work our demographers do and they have been pretty spoton for develop helping us develop these numbers so so you you said the 11758 is the demographer projection that is correct that's still including the junior class though curious what happens after that right and then is is there a difference between headcount and FTE in terms of the full-time equivalency of students in terms of what's reported in September so September is membership so membership are students in seats on account date okay enrollment is kids that are signed up to attend Liberty Public Schools so weighted average daily attendance is a component of this enrollment number and starting next year weighted average membership will be a component so it will take those two pieces don't laugh it's a
099lot and you take those two pieces it'll be 90% weighted average daily attendance and then 10% of the weighted membership so that's a combination of the September count and the January count averaged so 26 is 9010 27 is 8020 and it goes forth until it's a 50/50 split so not only our kids in seats now affecting our number but also the actual enrollment membership numbers so both components will be taken into consideration as we move forward and we have a tool that allows us to estimate those based on the demographer data and our attendance ratios that we plug in to carry out through the big operating projection so that we feel very confident if our other information from demographer is good that we know what our Revenue will be going forward several years so it
100allows us some accuracy in planning ability as we look forward so for several years even following Co we were allowed to use a number that was from two years ago several years several years ago before so was 20 was this current school year is 2425 the first where we didn't do that last year dropped off I believe yeah last no yeah last year so I mean in a way we we haven't had the luxury of stepping our way down because Co had us up here and we I mean we took all all those little steps we took in one year mhm correct so for this year the FY 25 we are actually using our FY 23 numbers the next year we'll use FY 24 numbers and so on and so forth when we level out
101it might be more um to where we use current year numbers it just depends on how it actually plays out if there's a little bump or not and the the big question there we we saw this when we looked at our demographic study would be birth rates and how that plays out over the next several years right but from from the the co that was extended to this past year I mean we took what is that like a 6% Dro in this category I mean this is this is a like you said it's a 30s something share of your overall but within that share we we took a 600 in FY we yeah we lost 68 students in 23 221 and 24 315 and 25 and then projected 79 next year yeah so and when
102I get to that slide you'll see that state revenue would have actually decreased but for the 169 calendar day provision we would have for the first time in our district history for a long time had a lower Foundation formula Revenue than we've had recently and not an uncommon no situation AC the state and we if you Rec districts that are still growing this is common this is common and if you'll recall when Co began and that provision was put in place we talked every year about the need to be ready for this because this is one of those fiscal cliffs that is now happening right and so you did not want to plan too far ahead to use Revenue that you weren't going to have and why it was so important to use Esra dollars
103on one-time expenditures which we did so that was all part of that planning that we talked every year about I mean through the demographer reports I mean there's some generational shifts and when people are starting families and how many kids they're having and so you know when we talk about kindergarten classes replacing Junior classes that are exiting I mean they're just the numbers are different they are so and you also have to consider that it's happen not only to our district but every other District so that denominator that figures the state formula is also changing so if it continues to change our decline in Revenue might not be as significant as it's projected to be right now but that's one of those things you have to you can't necessarily predict so any other questions on
104that okay so we'll move on now to talk specifically about about each of the pieces of Revenue um as we talked about the assess valuation we budgeted for a 7% increase right at this time we're not planning on a change in the levy and we're assuming a flat tax rate of 98% the Consumer Price Index in December of 24 which is what they cap the revenue growth on was 2.9% so our Revenue growth um on anything except new construction is limited to 2.9% with these assumptions that creates um 3.45 million in additional operating Revenue with a 7% increase in assess valuation so that's the majority it's all of the growth you see in that graph there for the projected 2526 piece of local and County revenue we are expecting decreases in Proposition C sales tax
105that's one of the things that house bill 14 was approved to to cover a shortfall sales tax has fallen off a bit Statewide so um it's not generating as much revenue as it has in the past so the calculator number that we use has been taken down for next year also with the decline in interest rates just a little bit we still will have a decrease in interest income also with Bond proceeds being spent down we don't have as much money that is earning interest income in that fund Food Service sales will decline with a decline enrollment and other local sources um will also either be flat or declining and those include pilot payments which are budgeted flat &m s tax which is not candy it's merchants and manufacturers tax is flat um State Railroad
106and utilities Kids Zone revenue and Children's Services fund are also in there and they've all been budgeted flat because most of those things we don't necessarily know what they'll be till further in the year and we'll make a budget amendment when we find out what those really will be so the total change in the preliminary budget for local and tax revenue is a net of right at $2 million increase okay questions on local and County revenue then we'll move on to state which we spent quite a bit of time talking about that but the calculated formula like I said resulted in the decrease of $334,000 you add the offset of the 169 day provision incentive of $600,000 it resulted in a small increase of $266,000 for State Foundation formula that's the state adequacy Target remaining
107at $ 6,760 if the second half of the increase had gone into effect the SAT would have been 7,145 and that would have generated $4.8 million of additional Revenue so if the governor does decide to put something in toward the formula we could see a little bit of an increase if it did increase to the 7145 we would see $4.8 more million other state revenue all remains flat that's transportation funding High need funding and Early Child childhood special education funding and early childhood special education funding is a state mandated 100% funding so until we know what we've spent this year we won't know what we our final reimbursement will be so that's how that is dictated and the same with high needs fund that's an application that we will submit after um in October when
108the this year is over so we will know that reimbursement yes so for other state you said Transportation early childhood and high need B okay so federal revenue title program allocations are excuse me decreasing simply because our census poverty rate is decreasing and that's provided To Us by the government we don't have any hand in that so that's done to us um other things such as idea will be budgeted out flat and all of the federal re Revenue sources include Ida title programs there's a small piece of high needs fund that is federal there's a small piece of Early Childhood special ed that is federal Perkins Grant is federal school lunch and breakfast are federal and Medicaid is federal so those are all being budgeted um flat other than the clal programs and that preliminary
109budget is down by $510,000 due to title programs we won't know those allocations until May so again some of this information comes in too late for our final document but we will make budget amendments as we know those things further on in the year what's the input for the poverty calculation I don't have that okay all of that it's Census Data okay so but I don't know all of the particulars so um how they gather it or so I can get that to share with you if you would like it out yeah no I mean just be interesting yeah we can do that any other questions on federal revenue the other thing I'd just add and that as we watch what's going on nationally in DC regarding the US Department of Education um certainly Staffing
110reductions within the department all indication from what we're seeing is no disruption at this point as it relates to the federal funding piece um so we continue to watch that closely I did have that kind of walk through this bring sorry I jumped no that's right um but just wanted to underscore that I mean there have been some discussions about question marks on certain programs going forward including free and reduced launch and some of those things um I mean we're just going to have to watch and see right right okay and then so this wraps up the operating Revenue conversation so our total projected operating revenue is 198,199 of that local sources represent 60% state are almost 37% and federal are 3% and again and um a lot of the the federal things will know
111more later on so like we said more to come on that and finally the total budget is basically flat you see the total preliminary budget only increases by about $93,000 and that's due to a decrease in debt service and capital budgets due to lower interest income and a decrease in capital to due to no sales of devices in some income that we had this year that we don't expect to have next year so flat total revenue a slight increase in operating of $1.8 million so that's what we're looking at right now the operating Revenue B that was a ly transfer right in 2023 that was actually well 23 total revenue was Bond 24 yes was the let 50 move correct okay mhm so you can see in 24 25 and 26 we we've stayed fairly
112flat all the way across so that's what I've got for preliminary Revenue budget again in May when we bring the F the preliminary budget document to you we will have some updates which you will see in that document that we will highlight for you at that time um but other than just the unknown things Revenue it pretty much is what it is yeah so not a lot we can do we don't make widgets so we can't affect a lot of change there maybe we should make widgets any other questions for Miss Sullivant this evening I mean just looking at it with that I said kind of looks like hold and steady MH but for this School District that's kind of unusual I mean you've been here a couple more years than what you show on
113the charts I mean has there ever been a stretch where it looked like that no because it seems like because we've been growing no up until Co we were growing right and we were able to estimate revenue and plan for it to increase right and then Co happened and we know what happened there so now we're in a total one you know 360 there where I mean it's you could say it's comforting to see that we're holding steady mhm but given our multi-year history decades M it's it is a little unnerving to see this going flat and could this anyway it's just I guess it's something that we haven't had to face as a school district for a few years it's definitely definitely something to watch on the on the expenditure side going back with
114some history we have had a couple of rounds of U budget reductions in that whole conversation notably in 2012 and then before that in the 060708 Great Recession um so as you see that slow down or decline on the revenue side then that gets you and again in the next next month where we talk about expenditures and how we make decision making sure we got to watch Staffing we got to watch expenditures all of which we're doing um so we'll share a little bit about that as far as our approach particularly on Staffing because we know that's a bulk of our expenditures um and how we're looking at grade levels and and all those different scenarios to make sure that we are kind of watching the signs so to speak um in particular within enrollment
115and the revenue it's plays into the sustainability conversation it also plays heavily into the team Liberty conversation as Dr Tucker indicated that piece of our expenditure budg budget is 80% salaries and benefits so it's definitely something to talk about also recognize that in the past if we had been looking at a decrease the if the foundation formula changed it was typically funded I don't know that this has happened before where the governor has not funded an increase now we may have not been fully appropriated just due to revenue generation but I don't ever recall to you that this has happened this way before so that's definitely something to consider as well otherwise we would have been looking at a much different picture if the state budget had funded the SAT 100% so that's also something
116to consider other comments or questions okay thank you Miss again thanks to your your team thank you uh the next item 6.4 is the health benefit broker U which really has been a team effort um in getting us to where we are this evening you'll recall back in January we let out an RFP for health benefit broker Services uh worked closely with an outside consultant Brian Johnston um out of Arizona uh we had five proposals that were received um that are provided for you in your packet um would turn it over to Dr Marriott uh to kind of walk us through that this evening so we received five proposals and our team comprised of Finance so C Sol served on that as well as our HR team members a select group of them um and
117then Brian Johnson and then Jason brigh through our purchasing department really facilitated that he has developed a Proposal review process that's very comprehensive um and aligned with all of the proposal reviews that they do for other projects as well so we reviewed the pro the proposals individually and then uh given that information we brought all five teams in for individual interviews with our team and met with them asked questions that we um that developed from the review of the proposals that we wanted to dive a little B going deeply into and then really looking at the current relationship and interactions that we've had with our current provider hes Murphy um and so based on that information we really uh truly recommend to continue with homes Murphy we've been pleased with the services they've provided um
118and Jason brgh did add in a conversation back that they are in negotiations of amending their contract and and removing one of the fee structures that they have implemented and then securing threeyear lock fixed rate for that fee structure so that makes them very um competitive with the other proposals when we looked at the feed structure and so then that primarily shifted our recommendation to what those interviews projected what was what was divulged in those and again we all felt um individually and then as a group that homes Murphy was the best choice moving forward so no action this evening you'll see as a board the finalized contract with Holmes Murphy at the April regular monthly meeting anything to add Miss Sullivant or Mr Anderson appreciate Jason brigh for spearheading all of our RFP RFQ
119processes um and that he does a phenomenal job certainly working with our consultant in this particular instance just real quick I think there's so much work that occurs from proposal to agreement that's where Jason does a lot of his work and conferring negotiate out you know the best contract we can get so that's very common and I will add to that that it's not a decision that's taken lightly to rehire an incumbent um there was a lot of good discussion about the merits of all of the people and especially the top two and why um it madees sense to go back with so a good discussion because this will take us to years yes so we don't feel like we're missing anything by sticking with Holmes Murphy that there's a gap or a hole that
120just being with them for a long period of time opens up potentially everybody feels good about it I think that longevity is actually a factor that is positive for the district they have a different perspective that the other four uh candidates that we interviewed weren't able to really dive into because they don't have the historical information that's available so we felt after having those discussions that uh we are very comfortable in the direction that they're guiding us and have guided Us in the past um and that they have really made made conscientious decisions and given recommendations that are best for the district so um we will continue to have those ongoing conversations with them to make sure that they are bringing forward and making recommendations that are benefit to the district other comments or questions
121discussion again no action this evening as soon as we have that proposed final document then we'll certainly share that with the board um and again for Action when we get together back in uh later on in April okay uh the next item then under new business is uh 6.5 that's the Liberty Middle School track and field remodel bids I believe we had originally had this in consent agenda pulled it out um just to bring visibility to it and kind of talk us through it this evening so we'll turn it over to Mr Anderson to walk us through this I'll be brief and and yeah in time in years past we've taken all this work and put under consent this go around we've been pulling anything it's probably over 2 million for you all to kind
122of see uh in Open Session um so really just the point main point here I think you're all familiar with the project and the work that's included um the total amount of the bid pack about 4 million which was right in line with what the estimates were coming from new Kirk Novak so that's that's good a little bit lower which actually we appreciate it um and really much of that work um is making sure that what is underneath the grass inside is really welld designed and developed and so I think we feel so there's money that you're we're spending there that you're not going to really see but we're really going to be able to benefit from so feel really good about that project again six Lanes all new grass field with proper drainage irrigation
123uh all new to give it um a really good plane surface going forward there'll be field goal posts primarily if not exclusively a middle school facility with the opportunity for some U low lower level Varsity uh Sports as well would entertain a motion I move the board approve the LMS track and field remodel bids second Nick yes Jen yes AJ yes yes Drew yes Karen yes Angie yes motion carries 6.6 uh a few contracts and purchases to walk through we'll turn that over to Mr Anderson as well two just to expedite to kind of meet some deadlines that we're pressing upon us one is with act Education Corporation with respect to work keys which is like an assessment module uh for the ACT Testing uh get get that in place and then I think and
124then the second one is for a DJ for an event at DMS um that they were pressed to get that uh in place prior to the uh the show and that's why it's here tonight so appreciate your approval of both of those so an emergency DJ those right now party it's an emergency move the board approve the emergency contract and purchases as presented second yes Jen yes AJ yes Dan yes Drew yes Karen yes Angie yes motion carries uh does he pull up in an ambulance fantastic um legislation and advocacy do you have comments those of you who went to Jeff City I would I would just say that I think it is important for all of us to continue to engage I mean I think each of us has unique relationships with lawmakers and
125it's important to continue to engage with them in Jeff City about the importance of public education and certainly for any community members and I Dr Tucker raised the mentioned several organizations that are doing a lot of work to track legislation msba the Missouri Association of school administr ators the teacher organizations I would throw in their Missouri PTA because they have also been engaged in involved and I'm very pleased to see that because PTA is certainly while it is about supporting our teachers and building it is also advocacy and so I think parents you can very easily do a Google of Missour Missouri lawmaker Missouri legislature lookup and you can pull up a a web page where you can find your lawmaker and give them a call and talk tell the story of why Liberty public
126schools has been great for you and so I certainly welcome anybody i' also add before my voice goes away that it's also a significant um use of your time to actually read the legislation instead of just the news Clips cuz sometimes a lot is missed and um in the language and how it's reported so um I just think that's an important thing and it's easy enough to access and follow along you can click a button to follow along if something interests you I would say from from the meetings last week we obviously have some legislators uh both in the Senate and the house that understand the education appreciate it and have background that is real supportive uh we also had the opportunity to talk to a legislator that on different side of the aisle but
127he seemed that there was a great need to be educated and I thought he was listening um and that's hopeful and of course we encourage him to talk with some of the other legislators uh that we know support what we think is uh quality education what's needed there in terms of Finance so it uh it gave hope there was listening I think also we gave an invitation to visit the uh the school at some opportunities other schools anything else on legislation and the the only thing I'd add is that you know um in some of the discussions with organizations in terms of some of the changes changes at the federal level and I know there are differences of opinions on the US Department of Education and some of those things but um with some of
128those programs that are funded through that I mean I think it is also important to be talking to uh us congressmen and people that are representing us um in in Washington uh as well and and maybe more so now than in the past agree is there anyone at I assume there's somebody at Desi who's liaison with us Department of Ed to anticipate what what's going to happen there there are multiple people connected the various Federal programs um so yes you would hope they would get the heads up yeah and then prepare for all of that that may not always be the case we learned some of that with Co um as far as often times desie not being fully aware of things transpiring and trickling down um in Jan in July actually um side note
129in Washington DC there's a big advocacy conference and that brings people from all across the states certainly from Missouri a lot of superintendents will go and um connect with area legislators our Representatives uh and senators in Washington DC that's probably our window of time in which we connect with them and I've I've tra and attended that for the last several years then also throughout the course of the year um so as we interact with desie folks I think we we get updates as much as they know uh but I question sometimes how much they may be aware especially as things are just flying uh flying as it relates to federal agencies and a lot of activity in DC these days there is a list of um currently there it's beginning with April the 1st it's
130getting shorter for the year just an observation it because it doesn't have the 400 other things L there well you know there's all those other little things that Denise and Dallas keep sending us calendar I love it keep sending them so but they're fun yeah might not be able to make all of them but you pick you know get to see some different things exactly next study session is 1 of April and then that's no joke it's getting really late and then Tax Day Day April pools in tax day how about it 15th yeah there regular meeting and the 15th is also picture day taxes and pictures taxes pictur board meeting I believe that's called a tria okay move the Border Jour second what's Nick yes Jen yes AJ yes Dan yes Drew yes Karen
131yes Angie yes motion Carri do not forget your things [Music]