LPS Board of Education Meeting from March 28, 2023

001foreign [Music] this is [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and we'll move into the approval of this evening's agenda the board approved the agenda as presented second yes yes yes thank you I'm into honoring Excellence uh there's a lot of Hardware in here I think Dallas yeah I was telling somebody earlier today this is my 13th year doing these presentations as part of honoring Excellence I think tonight might be one of the biggest one we're going to have

002a rousing Ovation I think at the at the end of this um several and they range from students getting it done in the classroom on the wrestling mat in the swimming pool and in Jefferson City and we'll tell you about that here in just a moment but we're going to bring Ethan Burnham to the podium Ethan I saw you earlier come on up we I think we we actually introduced Ethan earlier on in the school year and we have more good news to share and I'll I'll read about this please join Liberty High School and recognizing Ethan Burnham son of Meredith and Brian Burnham for continuing on as a finalist in the National Merit Scholarship program this is a highly competitive academic competition students qualify for by taking the PSAT nmsqt test during their junior

003year Ethan has and the opportunity to continue in the competition become a National Merit Scholarship recipient congratulations Ethan on your hard work and accomplishment great job hand I have to take this opportunity to welcome Dr Mike sharp newly named Liberty High School principal here on the front Road thanks for being here [Applause] moving right along how about we have the uh four students with us tonight and Mr Gates we have Santina Juma Addie kimmerly Mateo Navarro and Madison Tucker with us Mr Gates would you like to come up as well if you guys would just stand here next to me at the podium I'll read all about this awesome group why not Missouri this simple question five years ago LED students in Kurt Gates's AP U.S government classes on a four-year journey to create a

004uniform AP credit policy in Missouri when students realize that many surrounding states guaranteed AP credit for scores of three but Missouri did not they partnered with the College Board and our local state representative Mark ellebrot in researching other states policies and helped craft legislation representative elbrock introduced the bill in the 2020 session and Mr Gates and students from Liberty North and Liberty High School testified in Committee in favor of the bill unfortunately covid-19 and the subsequent shutdown derailed their efforts and the bills stalled there fast forward to paragraph two in 2021 representative Chris Brown of North Kansas City a former AP U.S government teacher reintroduced the bill again students in Mr Gates classes went to work conducting a Grassroots campaign reaching out to other schools throughout the state and lobbying Missouri legislators in the spring

005of 2022 Mr Gates and several of his students once again testified in committee and explained to the legislators the importance and impact of this bill as a result of the students efforts the AP uniform credit policy was passed last spring as part of house bill 681. this bill the only student initiated AP credit policy legislation in the country will save Missouri students and families thousands of dollars in tuition costs unbelievable you see the photo we had a chance that was back during the Chiefs run it appears as we had representative Brown visit and make a presentation a great presentation to the crew at Liberty North you guys should all be really proud of yourselves we have certificates Mr Gates we thank you that's Santa Nina's and Adam Addies Mateo and Madison and Mr Gates you

006need one for your room thank you let's give them a big round [Applause] good job all right we do have a couple of virtual presentations but this one's going to be in person and he stands right here step right up this is Modi Williams Modi promised me he's not going to put me in a headlock before the end of the presentation right Modi okay Modi uh captured the individual state championship and the 285 pound weight class on Saturday February 25th at the Missouri State High School Wrestling Championships down in Columbia Modi a 44 and 5 record he's a sophomore um and in the final really neat story he defeated Liberty high schools Trenton bindel in an exciting matchup and all LPS Championship so uh quite a story there we also want to uh thank coach

007Lance Moore for being here tonight and representing the Eagles the Eagles as a team finished uh with their best team performance 10th in the state so hats off uh to This Crew but tonight we wanted to in person present Modi Williams with a honor for his state championship moving let's go to the swimming pool shall we uh Avery true there she is I said we would have a swimming individual and we have another state champ actually a two-time state champ as you can see from the graphic Liberty North High School junior Avery true made history at the Misha State swimming and Diving championships on Friday February 17th Avery not only won the 200 yard freestyle event in Mission history or she broke that record and secured the fastest time in the event a record that

008had been held since 2019. Avery's individual efforts also contributed to the Eagles Ninth Place team finish at the event held in St Louis a huge congratulations to Avery true State swimming want to also acknowledge head coach Mark Warner swim coach at Liberty North thanks for being here really appreciate it mentioned we had a couple of uh Team recognitions that we also had a chance to do virtually prior to spring break if we hadn't done these virtually we would uh we'd have to call the fire marshal so but they had some conflicts and this actually uh was worked out great for them as well we wanted to recognize the uh Liberty High School Sapphire dance team they won the division the class six Missouri state championship that's the 12 state championship in the past 15 years

009for the Liberty sapphires uh combined score from their first place lyrical Jazz and palm routines The Sapphires recorded the state championship had a great chance to connect with them over at uh Liberty high before an assembly and what we decided to do is instead of just do a couple of interviews we were going to have them each introduce themselves to you here tonight so we are the 2023 state champions now let's meet the Liberty South fires my name is Alana Bryson and I am a senior freshman my name is Juliana serguso and I am a junior my name is Sydney Rogers and I'm a sophomore my name is Ava hunt and I'm a junior my name is Carson Reed and I'm a senior my name is Avery Hastings and I'm a junior my name is

010Mackenzie Overton and I'm a freshman my name is Sabina balandana and I am a freshman my name is Riley Willis and I am a junior my name is Olivia de Giovanni and I'm a senior my name is Sophia Berman and I'm a junior my name is Sarah fannensteel and I'm a junior so there you have your 2022 state dance Champions the Liberty sapphires let's give them a big round [Applause] and we also wanted to recognize tonight again virtually the uh Liberty High School Blue Jay wrestlers that's four state state championships for Coach Brewer and the Blue Jays had a chance to connect with three of their four individual state champions that included uh Christopher Coates Hunter Taylor Gavin lindsman was not there but you'll also hear in a couple of these interviews uh a young

011lady that made Big Time history and that's Lily Breeden who was became the first ever girls wrestling state championship for Liberty High and uh Lily has quite a story as well but Denise if we can go ahead and roll those interviews and introduce you to the Blue Jays great we had a great season uh some good we had a really hard competition at the beginning of the year and then we get to finish with uh you know the state tournament so it was good to see our guys kind of wrestle well at the end of the year and uh know I think this team did did some things and none of our teams have done before they had the most District Champs that most State finalists so I was proud of them for that and

012we're still kind of young and so it was uh it's great to get them guys in there and get those things done and still be able to look forward to some more yeah I feel like the team's in a really good spot as you talked about we have a lot of young guys people are very young so there's a lot of room to grow we had a really successful year so I think the future is right and will be dominant going forward I was pretty excited it's my second one so it means something back to back but I got more to do got more goals to accomplish other than just to stay title so um I was really excited and I was proud especially like being the first girl to ever win state at Liberty

013High School and doing that as a freshman was even better we'll have been wrestling for six years and I've been nursing with victory for most of my career and I don't know they just have made me who like I am a director today and then Liberty High School has made me even better this year oh yeah it all comes from being a team and we all Bond so we all work together and become one team it's just us out there but if we have all of us behind each other then we'll get the job done foreign for the 2023 Liberty High School [Applause] closed tonight again you probably saw some of our Facebook and Twitter activity over the last few days is uh in March is 2023 School Board recognition month and uh I know

014our schools have reached out friends here at the District administration reached out just to show our appreciation and gratitude and I thought I would read the the brief press release released by the state and then we'll have some certificate presentations Missouri's missourians benefit every day from the dedicated energies and countless hours devoted by a group of more than 3 600 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

015in communities and schools all Missouri citizens are asked and asked 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 so each of our cabinet members have a certificate and when I introduce when I say our board members name they will present each of our board members with their certificates I believe there's even one tucked underneath multiple certificates of appreciation so Denise if we could go through roll call I guess we will begin with Mr Nick Bartlow board president let's give him a round of applause we have board vice president Miss Angie Reed [Applause] and then board members Mr AJ bird foreign [Applause] Mr Drew Marriott [Applause] and miss Karen Rogers [Applause] again a big big thank you

016to our Board of Education appreciate all you do and as we saw tonight what a what a night of Celebration so many amazing things going on and uh I'm gonna try to stall a little bit as I always like to capture what's coming next with our final Ovation and capture it and post it later tonight on our YouTube page or maybe your Facebook okay now I'll turn it over thank you no thank you appreciate all that work you put in and good Lord what a lot of great uh accomplishments as is our tradition as a board state champions um we recognize all of the effort and work that you all put into to make this happen it is not easy and I know you're surrounded by family members and parents that help to make it

017happen as well so congratulations to each of you and we give a standing ovation for state champions so board let's let's do that thank you all right as we transition to public comment I know some of our board members want to go out shake hands say congratulations to you personally so we'll take a moment to kind of transition but if you do want to make public comment blue cards are out there go ahead and hand them to Denise and we'll get it going so we'll come back in 10 7 30. I know [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign all right moving into public comment uh just as a reminder speakers May

018address any subject concerning Liberty public schools and or 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 podium and ask to keep remarks concise and to the point and do not repeat what someone before has said person or persons may speak only once at the meeting certainly if we have several patrons wishing to speak on the same topic we may restrict the input to one or two spokespeople each speaker may 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 and the event board members agree the normal flow of businesses being unnecessarily

019delayed they may by a majority vote wave or into public comment concerns brought forward during public comment may be addressed by the superintendent or appropriate staff members usually within a week with that said I have two uh blue cards for public comment and we will start with Eric Lang Horst hello my name is Eric Lang horse I'm a parent and a teacher in the district I currently teach at the edge Mecca school at LPS this year is my 29th in the classroom and my 22nd year as a teacher in Liberty Public Schools I consider it a privilege to teach in this district for the majority of my career the topic I want to address tonight is Missouri Senate Bill 134 SB 134th prohibited any discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation in public or charter

020schools in the state of Missouri SB 134 moved from the Senate education committee to the general assembly on February 14th and is currently awaiting further action during the the active legislative session unfortunately sb-134 is not a loan a total of 27 bills targeting the lgbtq community have been filed this year by Missouri lawmakers that most of any state in the nation Texas is second most with a total of 15 similar bills our schools should function not only as physical spaces for Learning and the discussion of ideas but also in spaces that provide support to all of our students not just ones of specific gender identities for sexual orientations sp-134 would only serve as a source of division and exclusion for many of our students our lgbtq students deserve to be supported and respected in our

021schools not excluded and vilified I know personally how important this subject is and how it is important to have support for these students my wife Jamie and I are proud parents of Addison my horse a 2022 graduate of Liberty High School Addison is gay and came out to us in the eighth grade Addison had both positive and not so positive experiences as a gay student in Liberty Public Schools but I can say that the support she receive from caring and supportive adults who accepted and appreciated her knowing that she was a gay adolescent has made a huge difference in her life I'm grateful that she had the opportunity to express herself and have mature discussions on current events and topics that are directly related to her life I don't believe passing out loud prohibiting any

022discussion of a core component of what makes up your self-identity creates a healthy environment for our students it says the message that a part of you that it sends a message that a part of who you are isn't acceptable and should be silenced in the event there's any further legislation action taken on sv-134 in this session I would ask the board to consider a statement that that does not support the passage of this bill a stance taken against sb-134 would show that you stand with our lgbtq students in Liberty public schools and support that I know that such a statement would be meaningful to a lot of students and parents in Ops thank you for giving me the opportunity to address the board this evening thank you Mr Lang Horst ick and up next Jessica

023Scott hello my name is Jessica Scott and I apologize this last minute but recent events have prompted me to make it a point to get here even though I was a little late um Liberty schools did not pick me I chose Liberty schools in 2011. due to my children have autism they are and I've been schools were Stellar I have a current 8th grader at Heritage Middle School and a ninth grader at Liberty North High School what I have found recently and I'm not sure if you guys are aware of the disparities for special needs children and the extreme need for an Autism specialist not a bcba that is not a specialist in autism so without all the staff understanding what autism is how it presents itself to each individual student and their mannerisms until

024that is done students with autism and many other disabilities will not properly be served by this District recently my son has was victim to a very lengthy and systemic event of bullying which included a threat of shooting at the school and the fat thought that he is going to be the first one that these students are targeting I was not I took him home I had to wait over the weekend until administrators could talk and discuss their punishment for the students I was told it was taken care of he could return to school after spring break it would be excused he had he was riddled with anxiety as he was still receiving threats by the same students while on spring break he did not enjoy his break as he returns to school and there are

025violations of faith in this district is at a huge risk of violating that for not my students my my daughter also same situation years ago but this is today and there are many other students in this autism Community special education Community the very same policies procedures and safety standards are not being upheld um and I urge you to please consider hiring an Autism specialist and providing more support clarification and transparency with the students in reviewing the anti-bullying policy to include communication with parents as to the punishment for the students the outcome of the investigation thank you thank you Miss Scott okay into consent agenda as a reminder our adopted rules of parliamentary procedure Roberts rules provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval by the board in a single motion documentation concerning all

026of 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 have a motion for those items under the board approved consent agenda items 4.1 through 4.7 second and Denise when you are ready yes thanks I just have a question we read that as 4.1 to 4.7 correct did I know it's on there do we need to because that's 3.1 to 3.7 that's a good catch good point I move the board approved consent agenda items 3.1 through 3.7 3.7 okay now when you're ready please good catching yes yes yes Karen yes Angie yes yes or from the administration starting with Innovation and learning we'll invite Dr Westfall up to

027the podium to provide the update from our Innovation and learning Department uh just a couple of notes this evening from Christopher hand director of assessment that his team has been working with Elementary and secondary leaders um to do training for our map grade level testing and and of course testing so just to remind you that we test map testing at grades three through eight and our end of course testing in Algebra 1 English 2 biology and government um the we have a process where we do school test coordinator training and we completed that in the month of March just finishing up our leaders then we'll continue to review those processes to allow and guarantee that we follow the State Building testing security processes and we will begin our testing in April um also speaking of

028testing coming up on April 4th is our district-wide ACT test so all of our students both at Liberty High School and Liberty North will be testing um in English math reading and Science and then it'll receive their scores about six weeks later they can look at those and then decide if they want to retest or look at sections that they want to improve just a quick update on our summer school preparations we're currently still picking applications for instructional staff with selections happening after April 3rd so that's the opportunity for everybody to be in the first election process just a reminder summer school will run this summer from June 5th through June 29th with no school on June 19th which is the federal holiday June 19th June and then we have a summer school Training Day

029on June 2nd for all staff and the last few things we have our district curriculum council meeting this week so we'll be working on our planning for next year in our progress toward transitioning to competency-based learning and extending that through our K-5 in classroom instructional practices this will include the use of identifying learning intentions and success criteria and then aligning those practices to surface deep and transfer strategies and then one more quick update kindergarten registration moving right along we have 328 as of this afternoon so in case you were wondering we are spot on with where we were this time last year so it looks like we'll have that similar classes and that will grow between now and really August um as families transition kids age into the program or folks move to the community

030so when is the map window open seven the first day and it closes when when we finish yeah cute I think it actually runs through the end of the school year but we finished about the first week of May nice so we try to get it done in a month it's a pretty Christopher has a really nice pretty prescriptive schedule in the building for instance we've done a great job of organizing been there done that yeah works out well yeah it also gives you time to to you know be able to work with students who weren't in attendance thank you and we are also doing a lot I don't know if you know the Florida state site for launch testing this year no what does that mean so our virtual partnership with the Springfield launch

031they asked reached out and asked if we would help and so Liberty is now the testing site for I think it's this quadrant of the state for the most part we have quite a few out of you know Partnerships districts that are going to come and test with them so we're not responsible for their scores but we will accommodate their testing needs some supported that too all right thank you and then roughly the I ready testing happens towards the end of May we try I mean we try to deconflict that right so they're trying to get that done now get it done so we can see where we're going to go yeah perfect it does give us some pointers those three pieces allow us to see that student projection yeah they should finish okay good

032if I read it right all the all the students I know are all teachers in in the special special ed we have all the one position field okay I thought I read that Elementary oh in our current yes yes yes I'm sorry I was like thinking for next year in our house like I don't think we've done that yet but no currently yes we're in good shape right now okay they worked really hard to fill those spots yes okay thank you AJ yes maybe it's the question for HR uh is okay I'll wait and ask it but you can ask me anything you want okay how are we doing on hiring thank you about Fine Arts and the speech and debate programs of 20 students qualified for the national tournament yes um that it really

033doesn't I think clarify how well our kids did at districts if anyone has been following speeches first and second Liberty and Liberty North in both speech and debate in the team Awards which is yeah which is amazing and I'm excited I mean really but we're also getting to stand our program a little bit and try to get some more layers in that to get some more depth for next year so that also Mr money has been really helping us develop that because it is really really strong with what's starting to look like Sapphires and wrestling yeah and at that conference or District level a lot of that that occurs at the regional Kansas City area I mean those those schools are beating up on each other so to speak and competing against each other both

034in our district and across the region making it one of the more competitive areas in the state to get through to that next level whether it's state tournament or whether it's the national qualifier those tournaments and there's a few other opportunities before the year wraps up as far as other opportunities for kids to qualify so um to your point if you've been following along with social media some pretty incredible accomplishments with those kiddos so thanks for noticing that yeah I just thought it was a little bit a little humble I just wanted to share too that the students showcase that my daughter did I really I hope you're getting good feedback from from parents about the spring showcases um it was really remarkable to hear the world room talking about their learning where they are

035what they're learning where they're going next what reminding me that I need to think Focus went on what she has learned and what she hasn't done yet quite so kind of reminding me to keep my focus there so I it was I just was curious to hear if you'd had a chance to assess any of the Showcase feedback that you've gotten at home I do love that you're looking at the evidence of learning versus just the grades that makes me really happy other questions of Dr Westfall or innovation and learning report this evening be aware we're asking questions thanks Dr Westfall next item then 4.2 is our Equity report and we'll welcome our chief Equity officer Dr Andrea Dixon seaforn to share out I'm going to try and give enough information where maybe I don't

036get any questions good evening to everyone I just have a few things I wanted to share the first one being around our Equity action plan mid-year progress updates again that's where I just meet with directors 101 and talk with them about the goals that they've established for the year I want to read to you one of the Department's goals and he wouldn't mind reading this one out loud this is for the assessment department and it reads by the end of the 22-23 school year 85 percent of secondary students will participate in the Panorama survey administered three times a year secondary level Panorama survey responses around sense of belonging will favorably score at 55 or better and 80 of LPS high school graduates will report favorably on the profile of a graduate survey with strongly agree

037or agree in the cultural category area so I wanted to give you that just as an example of what how the goals are framed and then our discussions along the way at those checkpoints if you will throughout the year around how are we achieving that goal what steps have you put in place to make sure that that happens and in some cases uh folks have already exceeded their goals at this point and then by the time we get to the end of the school year we can just have some Reflections on okay how did things go uh if we didn't meet the goal what are some things we need to maybe tweak and just kind of pivot for next year and just today I was in a conversation with a director something completely unrelated to

038their Equity action plan and they said you know what I have an aha moment about how I need to frame my goal for next year so this is really the Grassroots level work around Equity it's things we're doing already every day but just really leading through that lens of equity so just wanted to share that with you and we'll wrap back around with all of our directors in May and June for our interview reflections I also wanted to share that our belonging PD for this second half of the year uh is uh kind of in wrap-up phase uh starting Friday of this week we'll have our second round of building Equity cadres we'll have Nathan from the core collaborative coming back and meeting with the rest of the buildings uh in their building Equity cadres

039that's School leaders certified staff members classified staff members and again talking about the goals as they relate to their school Improvement plans with that belonging emphasis so that is underway starting Friday that will wrap up by next Thursday in those respective buildings and then lastly I wanted to share that our office kind of took a different approach this year to our website design we just kind of took an overhaul if you will working very closely with the communications department and so we've kind of made it more interest based with stories about what belonging is looking like live and in the present moment throughout our district so as of this month we're featuring Liberty High School the early Early Childhood Center Liberty Oaks and our Safety and Security Department and one thing we've noticed since we've

040taken this different approach is that we're getting more views like that wasn't our goal we just wanted to just you know share the stories and we're noticing even since the November where we had 69 views January we had 73 February 84. and we're not like necessarily advertising hey they have the website please go there it's just people just interested in I think the belonging work here in our district so those are my highlights to share I'll take any questions or gladly in the comments questions for Dr Dixon I just appreciate the website I think storytelling is powerful I think you know when having students highlighting our students highlighting the work that that is being done and sharing those stories makes it very relatable for everyone so I appreciate that word thank you the students that

041you met with this year in your you'll get a name for them the listen and learn sessions are you going to continue with them are you going to continue that concept with different students do you have a you know what where are you in that thought process here's how I'm going to answer that question the goal is for us to take all the data that we gather this year with Elementary compared to what secondary students told us last year and then really at the school leadership level teacher level take the ideas the principles that really kind of the themes that emerge out of those those discussions and really turn those into strategies that we're implementing in our schools every day because we've got to get Beyond just talking kids and talking to kids and talking

042to kids because then they're going to be looking at us at adults like hey I just talked to you last year about this okay these these are the things that create a sense of belonging for me so just how do you adult make it happen so that's really going to be the work moving forward again after we get the data set back and do the compare and contrast it's really about implementing the strategies moving forward to make the work happen it doesn't mean that we won't eventually Circle back to kids and maybe ask how are we doing but next year moving forward really I envisioned for the next two years it's really about doing the work of belonging in our schools solve that answered the question it does but then it also gave me another

043one oh boy see you have to be careful so so is there a farther plan like farther down the road where the students not only are conversing back and forth but that the students have more of an active role in how things play out in their classrooms in their buildings that that they get more of the you know this this belongs to me do you know what I should I do and I and I can Envision because I'm a Visionary just in that moment what I can see is next year if we incorporate the building Equity contract Cadre concept maybe what we do is add to it the student voice bring them to the table and that's a way for them being a part of that building Community to have a voice and a say

044in hey here's some other things for us to consider so that's what I think it happened very naturally and organically in terms of folding into student voice in our work I like that okay I don't have any I think I can drop the mic now I think not yet other questions I know it was in The Innovation and learning report about the college career Readiness visits and I know that you have played a key role in getting that funding set up so it sounds like it was a great success yeah and again I appreciate all that you did uh to make that happen through the grant program that through the Kauffman foundation so thanks for doing that and what what's that future I mean what I guess what's next with that one too well first

045of all I have to give props to uh Colleen Jones who really just took the vision we just literally were sitting my office one day and said hey what do you think about we worked with the Kaufman Foundation to secure the funding and then boom it's happening so the grant funding will be available also for next school year so we will use Grant funds for next year to make that happen again future forward I'm going to work with another colleague of mine over there the lady with the pink and see how we can just make it happen within our system that this is just what we do with our own funds right funding sources to make that happen for each grade students because that is a game changer for our eighth grade students to all

046be able to go to a community college a four-year College set at a career center and explore all the possibilities so we just want to continue that Legacy here in LPS with or without Grant bones I know eighth graders are tough to get feedback from Dr Dixon Seymour but you have you had anything qualitative come through about their experiences if not it's not as difficult as it would appear I believe Colleen has developed some type of feedback form I know for certain from teachers who helped us to coordinate it and we're a part of the experience and I also believe there's some type of student reflection and so we'll figure out how we can maybe gather some data and at some point share that to just hear from students own experiences what that was like

047and good feedback from institutions oh my goodness but there was one institution that initially told us no but they the word was out on the street that the other universities we need to make this happen and yes they were they were overly excited about accommodating our students and especially the William Jewell who kept rescheduling with us for that one school just as a unique extinguished situation so yes it is a great partnership for the community at Large anything else for Dr Dixon Seymour okay okay next up is Miss Cindy Sullivan our finance report you're going to hear from her multiple times this evening a little later in the agenda as well but turn it over to Cindy thank you Dr Tucker good evening I have one donation to recognize tonight and at the monetary donation

048of a thousand dollars to Liberty High School men's tennis this donation is on behalf of Luke prashan from the M Brody and Amy pershon family charitable gift fund we'd like to thank them for their generous donation to Liberty men's tennis in addition to my report I wanted just to let you know that tax collection which we talk about every month rate is up to 98.4 percent so I'm very very happy about that and with three collection months remaining we could get pretty close to that 100 percent hopefully so I'm very very happy that that has rebounded back from pre-covered I'm going to beat you to the punch with a question um I did have a question submitted this afternoon regarding something that is on the consent agenda related to the fiscal year to date financial

049report for this month regarding the transfers so when you look at that financial report you see a transfer of 9.8 million dollars from the general fund to the teacher fund and another transfer of 1.5 million dollars from the general fund to the capital projects fund so I just want to speak to those and tell you what those are and why we make those as a part of our monthly financial statements State Statute allows for approximately 17 different types of transfers from the various funds we choose to do two of them the first one I'll speak to is the teacher fund transfer and first of all you need to know about the teacher fund we received 75 percent of the state Foundation formula into the teacher fund directly every month and we can also receipt tuition

050payments that we receive from other districts such as Missouri's City students who come here because they don't have a high school in the district that's all we can put in that fund conversely the things that we then can pay out of that fund is salary and benefits for certificated personnel and tuition that we are paying for sending students outside of our district so those are statutorily what we can do within that fund so since we booked that limited amount in there and teacher salary certificated salaries and tuition is more than the 75 percent of the state Foundation formula that we move into the fund we eventually have to transfer money from the general fund to cover those expenses that usually doesn't start happening until November because we pay certificate in staff administrators in the summertime

051so our heavy heavy call on that fund doesn't really start until September and October when the teachers are back in school so you won't see that transfer begin until November but statutorily we cannot be negative in that fund so we transfer every month to set the teacher fund to zero why we set it to zero is we don't Levy in that fund and since it's so narrow in what can come out of it we don't want extra in it so we set it to 0 every month and as part of the consent agenda you you approve that and then at the end of the year in June you approve that in whole so that's why you see that happen every month then you move over to the capital project fund and we're Limited in what

052we can transfer to that fund and Desi calculates that it's called a seven percent transfer and it's typically seven percent of your sat times the water and for us this year that calculation would end up being about 5.2 million dollars we have right now transferred in 1.5 million dollars because we like to leave a balance of approximately two and a half to three million dollars in the capital fund for emergencies or opportunities or expenditures that we didn't Budget on um and so we knew in October when the capital fund went negative which it does every year about the summer time because of projects most of the capital Project work occurs in the summertime and we knew it was going to take about one and a half million dollars to make that fund remain at a

053balance of two and a half million at the end of the year so we went ahead and made that transfer since we had the funds and you should not see it change unless we have excess in operating at the end of the year and have things and needs that we know will happen in the coming years that would um maybe make us want to transfer more into it up to the 5.2 million dollars so that's why you see those transfers happening usually beginning in October all the way through June and I just wanted to explain that to you since we did have a question about that um just if it might not be something you're familiar with so that's the reason you see that on financial every month and they wanted to um give you

054just a little education on that do you have any questions about that piece of my report before I move on a couple days to clarify yes because I don't deal with it every day sat adequacy Target which is what the state pays every per student waited average daily attendance after you subtract out local effort so it's 63.75 we do not get that per student because some of the local effort that the community supports comes off of that and at the end of the day all of these dollars are accounted for within the budget that we set for the year right so it's not like we're covering off on something that was unexpected and it's all statutorily legal your state statute that we can do these things within our budget perfect any questions other questions on

055that piece of my financial report I know exactly the fact that we did have a question very nicely done so that the ordinary person can understand and I appreciate that because it's difficult sometimes to follow it is for all of us so it's challenging all right so if you have any questions on that am I one I want to also mention that the audit and finance committee did meet last night to go over the financials and they had other questions but we talked a little bit about budget amendments and just the general ledger and how we budget in that so they had some good questions there they didn't have anything to bring to a concern tonight as Dr Tucker indicated a little bit later I will be talking about the preliminary Revenue budget then in

056April we'll do expenditures preliminarily and may the preliminary budget document and then June the final budget so I have three tonight any other questions for Miss Sullivan regarding the finance report this evening okay we'll see you in a little bit 4.4 then as far as our operations report Mr Stephen Anderson thank you um just a few things to highlight from the report that's uploaded first we are kind of in the midst of planning and preparing for summer school and the main reason I wanted to bring that up tonight is for those families who may be watching and are interested in enrolling the sooner that they're able to do that especially with transportation and some of the work that we have to do kind of behind the scenes that's very very much appreciated also a couple

057things from nutrition services they they are kind of it's part of their long-range goals implementing some sustainability measures in our cafeterias especially at the high school level and it's in the report middle report they partnered with the Edge program to kind of help with some of the messaging in and around that launch so just wanted to highlight that as well our health services team um has gone out and they've done this um pretty much consistently here over the last several years uh and providing some uh on-site CPR and AED training for some of our support staff uh so they mentioned that and then they have also procured uh free uh some additional Narcan Supply and so we continue to build up that Supply in all of our buildings and the details are outlined in there

058but there's quite a bit of quantity at the high school levels and then it kind of kind of goes down from there but we have pretty good coverage across the district and then last um I think everybody here is aware that officer bratcher with Woodbury Police Department is retiring or actually I'm sorry he is he is moving back into the force as a Corporal I believe um and it's part of that promotion at freed up a spot here for us and we've gone through process Gary majors has been involved with the interview process and working partnership pleased to announce that they've selected officer David uh Cronin uh he's been with the Liberty Police Department for three to four years so he'll be starting pretty soon and working with officer brancher to kind of work through

059the next month and two month or two to acclimate he's very excited for the position and to work alongside kids and and we're excited to welcome them as well um with that I'd have to take any questions of Mr Anderson I mean you let him off like that he slowly snuck away so thank you Mr Anderson next up then 4.5 our human resources report and we will welcome Dr Deborah Delsym to the podium good evening so in March our employee Wellness Focus was mental health and participants that chose to join did a 30-day Mental Health Challenge and the focus of that challenge they would receive a daily email and the challenge was to strengthen mental well-being and resilience resilience with that employee Wellness Focus additionally this month and Dee is here as well this evening

060so today and tomorrow the grow your own teacher program working on face-to-face interviews at both of our high schools making those selections and this will be the fifth Cadre for Liberty public schools of those students moving forward and at our May 16th board meeting you will have a report out for that team Liberty has been actively meeting and April 6th we will convene again and have a recommendation moving forward to Dr Tucker at the April 18th meeting that talking about recruitment I gotcha I'm ready so today we actually had a virtual hiring Fair where we have partnered with indeed sponsored by the White House and it's a today and tomorrow has been with our operations group and then Thursday will be with special education and so that's a nationwide and actually some International interest on

061that hiring piece with our certificated vacancies we've had it was in the report we've had just over 50 resignations we've filled and you know HR doesn't do this in isolation the only way we can fill those positions is with our leaders at our buildings so our principals and our directors do wonderful work and making those candidate selections and recommendations to us and so we have filled over 35 of those positions already this school year this board has approved those positions moving forward you've seen some of those come across and so we have just over 20 that were actively filling each day though that we fill and we may get a resignation that's a busy time of year for those to happen how long do you do you anticipate that period going as far as receiving

062resignations is there a date that in your stuff well the end of May so by June 1st but life is in session so those can still come and then we have a discussion um with Dr Tucker and move forward after that inevitably something occurs during the summer with it whether it's a change in a spousal's employment and move out of the area and on occasion even after the first day of school right in the fall so those are very individualized conversations and how we navigate policy accordingly so great questions but we can see another Chunk in April table tapers down typically that early notice that we have for January gets a lot of that brought forward particularly those that are retiring and have the plan in place what comes after that is a lot a

063lot of times those unexpected ones where someone might be pursuing another opportunity with another District maybe an administrative role or just a change in life circumstance that causes them to need to to resign from the district so hopefully that tapers down over the course of the summer as well but we'll keep you posted should that change otherwise question regarding grow your own this is the fifth core right so there'll be astute actually teachers coming into the system to teach at Liberty man is that right yeah wrote your own I there there should be I'll lean on Dr Dixon C hornan Mr Rosecrans yes the University of Kentucky receiving her Masters office for example or Mizzou so we won't see her she'll even come better qualified in a great state the way that that plays out

064for us is in August when we welcome teachers to that new teacher Innovation Institute many of you have attended that before you'll have that first batch so to speak present and we can report that out celebrate them as well but yeah we're excited about that other questions for Dr Del sen I just The Perennial monthly whatever question how is substitute fill rate looking today was 83 percent so we're on the rise with that and we're working in tandem with Kelly Services working on placement of building subs and focusing on where our higher bill rates has been and kind of targeting that and so when I see four neighboring District that they're offering perks for people to sub for multiple days is Liberty doing that same thing we're working on a variety of scenarios like last

065month foreshadowing I said we were doing the March Madness incentives so tailoring incentives okay I just wanted to make sure and their their percentage fill rates might be higher they might be lesser right in regard to how they're faring and those respective listeners not entirely Apples to Apples maybe red apples to green apples but I appreciate HR and again our building level leaders looking at operations we're cooking closely with Kelly Services thank you all right thank you Dr Del Sam you're welcome the last item then this evening under Administration reports is the report from the superintendent so to highlight a couple of items included in your packet under my report we've shared with you previously the progression in rolling out our graduate profile which I hope everyone is familiar with and then working closely with

066getting smart and developing some rubrics to other resources around our community that leverage or highlight employability or essential skills whatever that might be called in respective organizations we're working on a draft document so that is progressing and moving forward of which we'll bring that forward once it's more fully developed additionally we saw earlier this month in terms of that transition to msip6 the release of our first APR under that new program or that new designation under the Sixth iteration of msip keep in mind this is a pilot year and so we're getting a sneak peek as to this work next year is the second pilot year and then it becomes completely live in the fall of 2024 that then leads us into a little bit of the work that's occurring under the success ready students

067Network in terms of making sure that we're thinking forward as to far as far as what assessment and accountability systems might look like because we know there's a better way but at the same time earlier this month the APR that rolled out was a little bit more traditional of an approach we'll speak to that here in a little bit later on in the agenda additional items to share out in regard to additional HR items those administrative announcements that have occurred recently in filling those positions is Dr delsen mentioned appreciate all of our leaders that rally and assist with that process a couple that are forthcoming are Human Resources Director positions for classified and certificated staff then also filling the vacancy of principal at Epic Elementary and so that will be announced in the near future

068as that process those processes final are finalized additional information we wanted to share with you is that we have had a series of community and building and departmental meetings since January started to present as far as anticipating items that are related to Liberty public schools that will appear on the April 4th ballot Just next week those items include a 120 million dollar no tax rate increase bond issue in addition to a 50 cent no tax increase Debt Service Levy transfer and the third item are the Slate of candidates that are vying for three board member positions so appreciate Dallas and others that have assisted in organizing those meetings we've taken the show on the road as far as providing information to our community I know Mr Anderson and Miss Sullivan myself in Dallas have helped

069facilitate some of those presentations so April 4th is around the corner the last of our community meetings is coming up with the Sertoma Club on Thursday in which I'll be sharing with them the last thing I would say in that regard be sure get out and vote from that standpoint another piece that we're looking forward to doing in the fourth quarter is reconvening our vision 2020 committee and doing some rebranding around some items that are going to appear on our agenda a little bit later mainly the success ready students Network and our demonstration project or innovation waiver and how that's progressing looking to increase engagement opportunities with our community beyond what we currently do whether it's at the administrative level the building level or even as a board of education and interfacing with our community

070and then other items that will be considered as it relates to that work and that Committee of vision 2020 would be a community-based accountability model whereas you're all familiar we've developed our uncommon measures scorecard but how do we take that another layer in terms of soliciting feedback as to what matters the most to our community we've done quite a bit of that in developing our strategic plan but really just continuing that conversation last thing that I would share is regard to the legislative session they were on spring break as well but they're back at it and so it's kind of downhill from here toward the finish line for our legislators but there are a lot of bills that we are tracking in the house in the Senate related to public education some great some not

071so great But continuing to navigate that I want to express appreciation to Karen Rogers she's had a long day because she went down and participated in the msba legislative session today I'm sure she'll report out a little bit about that later but was able to connect with a few of our legislators share our legislative priorities but then also tackle some of the current issues that are navigating both Chambers in Jefferson City with that said let's certainly open it up to any questions you already have of me this evening questions the question I'm very excited about the vision 2020 we got to come up with a new name yes please do okay no other questions that concludes the reports moving into new business we're going to start with a handful of policy updates so you have

072presented to you for first read these are hot off the press from an SBA several items that you'll again see in April there are a handful of them about three in particular that are related to engagement kind of a follow-up from my report particularly as it relates to engagement with the Board of Education in terms of going about placing items on the agenda how we navigate that we have policy in place already but some of these policies are a direct result as of last Spring's legislative session I think the intent of our legislators is good in the essence of how to increase engagement with the community I think one of the unintended consequences that we're hearing about from some districts is that what they pushed out last legislative session is all you have to do

073and so from our District's perspective with public comment and our meetings televised and updates shared and you know a follow-up from our board meeting things pushed out to our our internal stakeholders our employees keeping those pieces in place but then modifying our policies as we feel the need to modify them as compared to other districts that may not televise their meetings they may not have a public comment included who might view these policy updates is all they have to do so the the direction forward is how do we continue to improve our engagement practices administratively with the Board of Education in our community not necessarily taking steps backward to minimize or limit that engagement with our community I just want to clarify that we'll take the next several weeks to comb into these policies there

074are some engagement pieces in soliciting feedback from our community as well we want to leverage our vision 2020 committee to be able to do some of that as well but you'll see these again in April with those engagement pieces from the session last spring really being required to be in effect July 1st as we turn the page into this new fiscal year so more to come in regard to that appreciate that you made that point as I was reading through this and since I won't be here to vote but sure fees next month I was concerned that there are some things listed here that would actually move us backwards um we have very intentionally not limited public comment to items that are only in the posted agenda and if we pass that then neither of

075our two speakers tonight would have been able to talk about what they want to talk about so I just think it's worth further discussion to make sure that we're not and you saw somebody districts do that particularly during covid right where they changed up their public comment practices and so forth again I think that's an unintended consequence from the legislative session because I think the intent was good in terms of increasing Community engagement so good comments or maybe school boards should have local control yeah that's being discussed too in Jefferson so more to come keep those in review to your point Kim Marie and I think Dr Tucker brought it up we are planning to at least talk a little bit more about this in our study session specifically on those three items because I

076am with you the way that they've been sent from msba which is great it gives us a chance to check them out it might not be right for us and that was my question so this is strict straight from msba as they are giving it to us yep right that's right you're seeing as it was received okay yeah so we'll have an opportunity to dive further at our study session make whatever changes we feel we need to make prior to acting upon it or considering it at our April meeting so and just to piggyback on what Kim Marie said I mean we spent several study sessions going through our public comment policy in the midst of coven and it was all about how can we solicit that feedback get that information and make it something

077that um that our community likes right and so that's one of those I think that's important and I think something that our community has come to respect yeah the only other item that's included is a procedure to be rescinded igcd-ap1 regarding virtual courses a lot of that content is picked up in an earlier policy regarding policy igcd so just make note of that as well okay any other questions on the policy updates again that's for review they'll be back next month all right into uh boy excitement uh preliminary Revenue budget update as Cindy comes back to the podium Ms Sullivan shares in March the preliminary Revenue budget estimates and projections we shifted to this approach and looking at revenues in March expenditures in April a preliminary budget in blood May the Readiness for Budget adoption

078in June previous to this we would hold all of that and have a more robust legislative or excuse me board retreat in early June prior to approving the budget later that month this way we kind of draw attention to each of the components knowing that that process really starts in early January all the way to the very last day in June so we're going to turn it over to Sydney we'll hear more from her over the course of the next couple of board meetings as well thank you and thank you for the cheers for this incredible exciting happened in so we like that that's right this is good news and like anything this early in the budget season this is preliminary so we know it will change and once we bring it back to you

079in May and June we will let you know what those changes are and as always it's the information I have to the latest date and if that changes it will change in five minutes and it will change every month so um we have to start somewhere so this is it so the first slide shows our projected total revenue budget which is a little over 208 million dollars that includes all four funds operating teacher Debt Service and capital this is about 5.2 million dollars of an increase over the current FY 23 budget and the primary differences in this overall budget are property tax revenue increase and I will speak to each one of these specifically later on in the presentation but a property tax revenue increase of 9.8 million dollars and non-recurring Esser funds decreasing in

080the amount of about 3.1 million dollars and non-recurring device sale Revenue decreasing by 1.6 million dollars so the net of those three major components is the 5.2 million dollar increase oh I don't want to steal your thunder but I'm assuming that property tax revenue increases is an assessment increase not an increase in the living that is correct that is the levy increase is not included in this presentation because that has not happened yet so we don't um we're not weighing in on that one way or the other until that happens so and your pie chart also demonstrates the reason local control would be important as in that is correct and um what you want that's a great point because last year this local control percentage was 58 so it's already gone up to 61 and

081state revenue last year was 35 percent and it has decreased to 34. so that is to your point exactly why um that item is on the ballot and this is an assessment year right so we expect this is a reassessment yeah so we will only be able to capture a percentage of that total increase yeah because of the Hancock Amendment okay moving on we'll spend most of our time talking about the operating budget because that's um the most important um the operating Revenue budget currently is projected to be right at 175 million dollars for FY 23 is 172 million so we've got about a 3.3 million dollar increase and again that's due primarily to property tax revenue of six and a half million increasing and that's our funds non-recurring of a minus of 3.1 million

082so there's our 3.3 million dollar increase and as we just talked about one of the notable points I have on my notes is the revenue shift the local Revenue support for FY 23 was 51.75 percent this year it's gone up to 54.51 so we're asking 2.76 percent more of a dependence on local Revenue than we did in the current year conversely our state revenue went down from 41 to 40 and our federal went down from 5.57 percent to 3.69 largely due to Essence I want to point out that the Reliance on local revenue is getting heavier because State Foundation formula Revenue right now is flat and that's due to the pandemic provision in revenues that keep it based on our FY 20 weighted Ada so it's the same from year to year now beginning in

083fy25 that goes away and with our enrollment staying flat and decreasing somewhat it could stand to reason if the SAT the state adequacy Target stays the same that our state Foundation formula will continue to decrease slightly every year which then our Reliance on local revenues will continue to increase I want to dive into just a couple of our most relied upon sources in the local and County sector so we have no change anticipated right now for the overall tax levy it is a reassessment year in my conversations with the assessor for Clay County he's anticipating anywhere from a 10 to 13 percent increase in overall property tax that does not get down to the Liberty School District so since that's a range I've chosen to budget conservatively at this point and we will not get

084our preliminary assess valuation until June or July so I really will not even have a good feel for that possibly before the final budget book is printed so we may be relying on 10 percent unless he gives them better information at that time as you know in September we will set the levy and do a budget amendment to true all of this information up but all of the projections right now are based on 10 percent and right now it's a flat collection rate at 98 percent and I budget that historically so I go through and look at both of the last five to ten years and see where our collection rate was also considering coven because coveted data as we know you can tell on this bar graph remember that years 20 21 and 22

085are covered data and that they are not reflective of historical Trends in our district so we kind of have to bypass looking too strongly at those years because of Esser funds and other funds that changed so keep that in mind as we go through this um Cindy just a quick question that projection is again can we brought up a good point assuming the Hancock amendment's gonna not allow us to have everything that would come in the assessment we will likely take down the levy potentially right we're not there we'll see attention um does your projection here take into consideration that the Hancock Amendment yeah awesome I run those through I run those through the state forms to project all of that um cap and a new construction of the same growth rate so all of

086that is taken into consideration yeah what's the percentage of the caffeine I just can't remember sorry the percentage of that Hancock Amendment so inflation rate is eight percent CPI is eight percent in December and the Hancock amendment is five percent so you get the lesser of the two and if you fall below five percent in your growth you get whatever it is but the cap is five and just to add the historical tax rate looking back say in the last nine years we've shared this in our informational meetings as well as the district the Board of Education in particular has set the tax rate every fall nine years ago we were at 6.45 that held steady really for seven years in a row until we saw some significant increase in our assess evaluation two years

087ago and that tax rate was rolled back to 5.93 5.92 these last two years so because of some of those natural Provisions like the Hancock Amendment our assessed valuation growth and so forth as we've set the tax rate Cindy's going to get to that I'm seeing now that has changed a little bit as far as us lowering that tax rate in the fall so we've actually had about a 53 Cent swing so in our tax rate from nine years ago to where we started or where we modified that a couple years ago and then this most recent fall semester and two Dr Pepper's point I always like to include this slide because it does show the assessed valuation percentage of change so you can see that last the reassessment period we had 26 growth and

088that was capped so it's kind of crazy and even in a non-assessment year we had eight percent growth so um to his point this slide shows a little bit of that I'm going to go back to where I was the right way nope wrong way I just wanted to highlight the other areas we anticipate a slight increase in prop efficiency that's the one since sales tax it's anticipated that that payment per water will go up weighted average daily attendance is water so we anticipate about a half a million dollar increase in that that's dependent upon the economy and how sales tax collections go as of right now they're slowing briefly but they're still comfortable in projecting a little bit of an increase from deci for that and these numbers that I'm using are based on

089Destiny information that is provided to us as far as what they're thinking they're going to pay out in the future years we will also see after a great year of interest income we have taken that down just a little bit because it's expected that rates will start declining around December so we've pulled back a little bit on that and that's an easy one to adjust if if that doesn't happen Food Service sales as you know they were fully paid and then that provision was taken away so we went back to having students have to pay for meals and they didn't pop back to pre-covered numbers so we have decided to take that down just a little bit for the next year because we've had to do a budget amendment to decrease that Revenue this year

090based on what we thought it would be all right now I'm curious how much off were we we're going to decrease that probably in the neighborhood of somewhere between 200 and 300 000 dollars hum saddle other than people are just bringing lunches or not and you know I don't know what the cause for that is so so could just declare it by there we don't profit off of food service no it needs to be a break even right and if they do profit from it that goes into their Reserve to buy new equipment for them and our lunch rates are set by the state right we charge the minimum that we can charge and that's set so we don't charge anything above that if we do make money it's because that our nutrition services staff

091are very good at the buying and running of their business within our business so no we don't seek to provide we do it required to be spent um if you build a balance the state will ask you why right so they they do not they discourage highly discouraged building a balance in nutrition services and then Children's Services fund we are slightly decreasing that just because this is the second year of the current Grant and we've applied for next year however we are having trouble getting providers to staff our needs so we have not been able to spend what we are allocated this year unfortunately not for the lack of f for trying but there just aren't people out there that um have time to meet the needs because they're so high in demand so we've

092went we've gone ahead and taken that down there will be what's not spent this year will be carried over for next year to be available so expenses and revenue are added to the budget at the same time so it's Revenue neutral expenditure neutral it's budget neutral so if that does occur and it's on a reimbursement basis anyway so we will true that up as it becomes evident what's going to happen with the Children's Services fund Revenue but they're doing a fabulous job trying to meet needs with the resources that are out there for them so that's why don't you see a slight decrease there I know it's a larger question is there are there any ideals down the road and maybe it's a question I'm asking all of ourselves because we know our children need

093more Mental Health Services is anyone out here looking for those have a pipeline anywhere that's working are we just gonna have to wait till it comes because our children do need greatly need mental Services now that's a great question AJ can anyone grow your own so there's there isn't a different approach rather than sitting back and looking for broader availability among the Mental Health Community flipping the model where we enter into that space and hiring some permanent Mental Health Specialists within our ranks to be able to service that area or that space that creates there's some advantages and benefits to that and some disadvantages but that's something we would want to explore looking ahead just like every industry Workforce is a challenge and so we feel like that's what's happening Clay County is unique keep

094in mind because we're only one of I believe we're up to seven maybe eight counties now in the state of Missouri that have a dedicated Children's Services fund where those revenues go straight into Services support to support kids and families within their districts so in Clay County it's Unique Platte County not too far from us they don't have or benefit from a children's services fund so the the call or the demand may not be as significant that what you're seeing within school districts in Clay County it's a good problem to have but at the same time we want to make sure the supplies is readily available as Cindy was sharing so absolutely I know Innovation and learning department works closely with that specifically Dr meisenheimer as each year we develop our grant we put in

095our application and then it's reviewed by the Children's Services fund board in in our budget meeting this year Dr meisenheimer did talk about you know asking Children's Services fund if we could use these funds to hire our own staff so she had to support that with him as well so um it doesn't go unnoticed and I know she's working in that realm to find what we need thank you this next fight I'm just gonna flash up here real quick we just saw this this is just the history of where our assessed evaluation has been and I will note that in this last reassessment year we did have a new assessor so that could account for some of that Spike up there to the 26 percent that and automobile values during covid and so now we'll

096move on to the state sources and as I indicated earlier our state payment is based this next year still on our FY 20 weighted average daily attendance because that is our highest year since 20 FY 20 of weighted average daily attendance so the pandemic provision that's a state statute has determined that fy24 will also see ramifications from the pandemic which will allow us to continue being paid on the FY 20 weighted average daily attendance so that will be the last year so as I indicated then the state Foundation formula for fy25 will start to decline and if you look at the operating projection spreadsheet you can see that we have built that in that way so that that Cliff is not going to take us by surprise because we're already planning for that so that's

097something to note and of course the state adequacy Target is remaining flat at 63.75 you will hear more on that later and there is starting to be some talk about the possibility of looking at the foundation formula and how it is figured so there may be movement on that transportation we left flat because currently it is still or for fy24 it is in the governor's budget proposal to be fully funded which fully funded means we get 75 percent of the allowable Transportation costs and as I always say transportation is one of the first categoricals to be cut so if anything comes out of the governor's budget it would be Transportation but we are so fortunate that we got the full funding this year and hope that that remains in the budget for next year and

098currently we have it budgeted actual funding Early Childhood special education is mandatory funding and it is paid 100 based on the previous year's expenditures and um I just took that down just a little bit based on where we're at this year so it's basically flat so those are our state sources and our federal sources and keeping in mind especially on this slide that 2021 and 22 have Esser funds in them so that's the rapid rise and then the decline back down when we don't get them any longer but this basically is title programs and idea which is the individuals with disabilities Education Act special education those are currently flat we do not get those allocations until May or June so keeping them flat is just the best thing to do at this point we will

099also have potential carriers carryovers from a prior year being this year if things weren't spent then we can carry it over to the next year and that only happens more in the title allocations where we sometimes don't have expenditure some of our title goes to the boys and girls group home and they don't always spend it so that typically gets carried over so that's where where that lands and as I mentioned there will be no more relief funds currently currently come on that when I go to melasco in a couple weeks I saw that there are some new programs that are coming forward so there may be some opportunities for mental health and safety and security grants that the state has out there with us or funds so more to come there and it's your

100your basically are you saying I guess what I should phrase it are you saying that the relief funds is what kind of created the peak that we're seeing there in the coveted years yes and that if we discounted those then we're really looking 1819 to 20 to 23 24 is really the more appropriate way to yes look at that that is correct those a majority of those Esser funds were Federal so that's and that just shows how we were what years were receive them in so yes you're exactly correct look at 18 19 and 24. it doesn't mean there's a gradual size those funds that came in we had a even higher expenditure for the kinds of things that they we were required to spend money on right so we weren't making any money on

101no we did not make money yeah the caution too is for those districts that didn't put them into one-time expenditures and instead for whatever reason folded those revenues into recurring expenses Staffing primarily if if they're facing a similar situation they have to determine whether they continue to sustain those Staffing costs or not and so there's several districts that are in that boat trying to figure out how do they continue that forward right compared to what Cindy shared where really for us it's one-time expenditures we were very deliberate not to add staff with federal funds right right and you were very good reminded us the entire time this is not something and everybody sees the the influx of funding and you just never want to pay staff with one-time money because it's not sustainable and it

102leads to fiscal irresponsibilities right I know that there are some urban legends out there about school districts and what we were doing with Federal money and incentives to to get it and it's just and they're they're spending far more wide opinions legally whether it was legal and how they were done so we kept it where it was very easy for us and it's going to be very easy for us to do the federal auditing and Reporting out the way we spent the funds so we wanted to keep it to where whatever whoever was around when all this auditing is going to occur would be able to go back and very easily support what we did our last slide then is just the summary and this shows the comparison of the total revenue which you will

103see um the total bar graph the operating is blue other revenue is orange and just shows you how we've changed and you'll note again covert Revenue however you will see 2324 kick up there due to primarily an increase in this evaluation so that's where we stand today again I'll reiterate this will change so it's already out of date you just need to carry a placard I'm just say this too shall change it will so that's what I have for you tonight if you have any additional questions I'd be happy to answer them for you posted Cindy just while you've got it up here what's the difference the non-operating revenue what is that cover um non-operating revenue is typically things like I'll tell you exactly the sales of devices and um Insurance Recovery sale of buses

104tuition from other districts transportation to other districts things like that other questions it's clearly not the last time I'll be back thank you thank you very much thank you all right into five three success ready students Network the demonstration project so this is something we began talking about in the fall of 2021. as you will recall the State Board of Education commissioned along with the commissioner of education's guidance commissioned a study group as far as a work group to convene last spring is when it began to explore new accountability assessment accreditation processes practices release centered around personalized learning or competency-based learning so several of us helped facilitate that discussion last spring and bringing bringing a group of about 100 stakeholders together fast forward to June of last summer that work group brought forward recommendations to

105the State Board of Education in which we presented in Jefferson City those recommendations which again were to rethink assessment rethink accreditation move more toward personalized learning and competency-based approaches and that mindset fast forward at the end of that presentation the state board was incredibly enthusiastic and their exact quote was we want you to move fast so over the course of the summer the success ready students network was created early last fall the Board of Education approved our participation in one of three Innovation zones the first one is a system design Zone where you're really looking at whole system change for those districts that are a little bit further along in the work the second zone is an Innovative learning design Zone where districts may not be fully in or fully ready for that work but

106they may have pockets of that work happening in their systems and then the third Innovation Zone was really an educational support group where you have various associations higher ed institutions educational groups that want to participate and support the work in that third Zone all total in that first and second Innovation Zone you have about 25 districts in each so a total of about 50 school districts that we're working toward rethinking what accreditation and assessment practices might look like in the state of Missouri with the goal being to be able to submit an Innovations waiver to the State Board of Education and the department of Elementary and secondary education for their consideration so that's where we're at this evening that's the quick Journey albeit it's been a lot of work and a lot of time spent

107by several of our leaders as well as other districts time spent with the board of education at various board meetings at our study sessions and as you think about what's presented this evening it's a resolution to consider participation participating in the demonstration project demonstration project is a term that is pulled straight from statute that is synonymous with an Innovations waiver so just as we are piloting the new APR and msip6 as we participated in that continuous improvement process to get in front of things and help inform the work as we roll out in Sim six this is another opportunity for us to participate in an Innovations waiver in thinking about what lies Beyond msip6 we're already starting that conversation even though we're just rolling it out right and so that is something that's forthcoming we

108wanted to share that resolution with you this evening for your consideration there's no action that we're asking for at this point but I do want to speak to the timeline in and around what the next few months might entail the idea being that the success ready students network is sharing the demonstration project with the State Board of Education sometime in June so if we backward plan that if Liberty public schools and the Board of Education wants to move forward with that demonstration project we would probably want to look at considering this resolution at either our April meeting or no later than our main meeting with that interim period between now and then being used as an opportunity to engage our faculty and our staff and our community further just to continue to socialize this beyond

109what we've already done so even today we met with our principals provided a quick update around our APR the transition from MC5 to msip six what the success ready student Network demonstration project might look like as we think about growth to standard and measuring assessment looking at assessment through through-year assessment rather than solely at a static end-of-year map test or EOC exam so that's really what we're presenting to you this evening you have a second document that is a near final draft I'll call it of the more extensive demonstration project it's pretty lengthy we're working on an executive summary that synthesizes it into some talking points the way that I've thought about this is really a couple of bookends if your bookend is msip6 and the current rollout that we're experiencing here in Pilot One

110Pilot year number one if that is a bookend and the other bookend is some of what we're seeing in legislation right now particularly Senate Bill 85 that is presented by I believe his name is I can't remember the name I don't have it in front of me apologies um but Senate Bill 85 actually calls for local control districts and that designation it's actually presented by a republican in the in the Senate her name is Jill Carter found the name if those are your bookends the success ready students Network initiative and that demonstration project kind of sits in the middle it's not relinquishing accountability and assessment it's really rethinking it as to how we can do it better and differently than what we've experienced under msip6 if anything it carries forward some of the good pieces

111tied to msip6 that we've experienced in some of those standards like continuous Improvement the value of assessment but really through your assessment as compared to an end-of-year gotcha but then it also factors in the icap the individual course of study it factors in graduation rate attendance rate and then it also folds in Real World Learning experiences like what we're doing in the Kansas City area so those are the two extremes but then centered in the center in the middle is the opportunity for us to innovate and pilot a better way of doing things so we're presenting that to you this evening just for first read we'll keep you informed along the way the one thing I can guarantee is the final draft document that you have in front of you will evolve things will change

112because we're working very closely with Desi as to what they feel is suitable moving forward at the state level but then there's also some work that's occurring behind the scenes at the federal level as we think about an Innovations waiver at that Federal level as well so that is our update this evening as it relates to the success ready students Network we'll certainly continue to keep you posted on our timeline moving forward if that's something the district desires to pursue later or earlier this summer so okay we talked about that in the study session already that there's no direct expense to the district other than time direct expense the other thing that's important to note is there are districts like ours that use programs like iready right so you get that pre-assessment earlier in the

113year and the parents in the room that have had younger kids have probably navigated that to some extent you get that early you know year assessment to see where your kiddos at and then you see that mid-year assessment and you see that spring assessment that then lines up with that end-of-year map test right we are fortunate to be able to have that system that then our teachers can look at the data and adjust instruction generate learning targets or learning goals that then allows that student to then progress take that another layer the student actually has visibility to where they're at and they can set their own learning goals and communicate the parents right at a PTA meeting or at a parent-teacher conference at a showcase as to where they are and whether they're on track

114or where they need to make those gains that's costs and expenditures that we take care of and we're fortunate to be able to do that there are a lot of districts in the state of Missouri that cannot do and so that's where some disparity exists so you have these districts that are moving forward in this Innovations Zone work but then My worry is about those districts how do we solve that problem for those districts who would benefit from some of those similar systems because right now they're working toward the map they're working toward the end of course because they don't have the resources to be able to do that so there's some inequity that exists there that the state is going to have to address as we think about it differently so and I just

115think it's worth re-emphasizing for our parents I mean I think when when I was when my children were younger and getting the map score at the end of the year the the testing results at the fall the beginning of the year and then comparing that with I ready and I wasn't I was very familiar with end of year standardized testing I was not familiar with I ready and so you know but then it started to click with me and when I started my legal career No Child Left Behind was very new it was 2001 and it was I mean we were working on these tests being the only way at that point to really that was how we were thinking about measuring we didn't have this opportunity the way we do now to test through

116the year as easily and I think that's when the light bulb really went on for me that you know we when we are folk when we had the ability to look real time throughout the year that's really where our focus should be and so I I think that that was that was it that was a transition for me and so I think it's really worth exploding because I don't when I hear through your assessment sometimes I don't always think you know but no no I see yeah and that's the that's the kind of phrase to keep in mind or front-end Center is the value of three-year assessment but then there are three key words when it comes to assessment literacy one is comparability reliability and validity and so as you think of through your assessment

117we can project typically per student how they're going to perform on the map test and get pretty close as we look at that I ready trajectory right so the idea is if that system is in place and it works well and it is predictive in that regard as to how that Indus end of year assessment is going to look why not give students credit for their growth from where they start in August toward the end of May as compared to just that final snapshot in the month of so we know there's a better way of doing things some states have figured that out not all 50 states do it the same way they don't assess the same way they don't set up accreditation and accountability systems the same way so we're trying to move the

118envelope at the state level in collaboration with Jesse in the state board so great questions and comments within the Kansas City area and the schools around this do you have any sense of how many are considering the resolution uh great question the couple is it several you have several and I can pull that in terms of the distribution in those there's two zones remember the whole system design Zone and then that Innovative learning design Zone so we do have Kansas City districts represented in both um there are fewer in that system design Zone several who are probably doing quite a bit of the work wanted to kind of hedge and be in that that middle Zone and allow some of us to be out front and try to figure this out but I can get

119that information for sure I just wanted to have a general sense I shared it in an earlier presentation today but that doesn't come to mind my short-term memory I'm sorry go ahead no Finish Well I was going to say it as much as this is a pilot like you said the book is that's right it's a pilot for a future imsip yeah perspective but it is also and certainly credit your involvement it's a potential pilot for that vocal control too I mean they don't want to call it that but you're right in essence you if you're coming in from both ways you can consider it a pilot for either side if Senate Bill 85 gets through and then the house version gets through and the governor signs it and then we've got this opportunity to

120really be a local Control District I would assume I'm going to have seven people pretty quickly ask me okay what's the plan now that we have that greater autonomy we've got a lot of things moving forward we would certainly Shore some of that out but you're exactly right regardless of how it progresses I think this is the right work philosophically to get down to that student level Beyond just leveraging or elevating I should say an end-of-year assessment as the you know key indicator or key metric of which we know there are so many other metrics that make up who we are as Liberty Public Schools so great points kind of to piggyback on what Karen said and as a as a teacher who did not care for end of year assessments because of it's just

121such a small piece the other I think the other thing you have to look at is with the three-year assessments I as a teacher I as a parent I as a student I can see how I'm progressing when you have to wait until October to find out what happened on map testing I've already lost six weeks of school that that I haven't lost it but this information that you're hooking into the end of the year is six weeks past and so if if I'm so geared onto that end of the year I've lost I've lost that time whereas when I'm doing through year I start with my students here and then we look at how they progress through the year and it's so much I I would I just feel like it's so much better

122for the mindset of your students for the mindsets of your teachers and for parents to be able to see this is what my kid can do today not what they did in May in October by the way is uh right optimistic well that's true too sometimes it's later if you change the map task then more I'll turn off our game so I'm not a proponent of map testing but I do love the three year so again we'll continue to provide updates with you as the work progresses and as we find Opportunities to engage our community further but wanted to make sure that you have the resolution before you to begin wrapping your head around the language the full documents but then also a brief timeline if all remains on track you'll have a presentation of

123the State Board of Education early to mid-summer so okay uh any other questions on success ready students Network okay Foundation formula study resolution another resolution this one though is presented to you for consideration this evening on first read so it is an action item a little context so in our Missouri State history around foundation formula and school funding we've had four formulas in our history some that started as just a membership allocation where you look at your numbers and you submit your numbers and you get paid accordingly and then it evolved from there where there were additional inputs that then created that payment mechanism for schools to receive state funding and then in the 90s we had Senate Bill 380 and Senate Bill 380 had some additional factors and it wasn't being completely fulfilled so

124a lawsuit was brought forward by school districts of which school districts won and then that created the new formula that we have lived under under since the passage of Senate Bill 287 bless you in the early 2000s the current Formula has a lot to it in its calculation but three quick items one is the state adequacy Target as Cindy kind of walked us through earlier another piece is water or that weighted average daily attendance and then lastly is the DVM or the dollar value modifier those are three of the provisions that are kind of key pieces within the foundation formula historically the SAT State adequacy Target for the last 15 years dating all the way back to 2009 which is around the tail end of the Great Recession if you'll recall historically that state adequacy

125target has only grown over that 15 years a total of four percent that is not kept up with the cost of inflation right and so currently that state adequacy Target is at six six thousand three hundred and seventy five it was a few years ago in which we were prorating the formula where districts were not receiving 100 of what was projected that they would receive instead it was a a factor of that or a portion of that all the way to the point where the legislature decided to well let's just call it good and consider the foundation formula fully funded even though it was still being prorated and so we've sat and lived at that 6375 for some time that's a little back story earlier this year in talking with Desi and the State Board

126of Education publicly called for the need to revisit the foundation formula during the course of this legislative session you're already seeing several bills that are trying to tackle that issue Senate Bill 17 proposed by our very own Lauren Arthur the Democrat Senate Bill 353 proposed by Republican Lincoln Huff who was actually one of my former legislators in a previous life in the previous District in addition on the house side House Bill 529 proposed by John black each of those Bills currently working through the legislative session call for an increase to the SAT and so we know the current formula is broken and so what this resolution does is it just solidifies the need to visit the formula and call for a study for a blue ribbon commission we use that phrase at the state level

127to be able to study the foundation formula because one of two things one of three things could happen it could remain the same no change and we still continue to work with a pretty defunct formula we could see something done legislatively which we may or may not like or thirdly we can take the time to study it and study it well and bring a proposal forward as a state as to what those changes to the foundation formula may look like there are not a lot of people in the state that actually understand the formula to its detail to its finite pieces and I don't say that to throw anybody under the bus but that's just how complex and how complicated it is so this evening you have in front of you for your consideration a

128resolution of which about 10 districts have been coordinating and collaborating some districts have already passed their resolution a couple on the Missouri on the St Louis side one in the Kansas City area that I'm aware of but we're working to try to gain some momentum to cause Desi and the State Board of Education to commission that study to focus on the formula so I would present that to you this evening for your consideration questions before we go through it on the foundation formula study resolution this was part of going to be part of my legislative report bill on the floor this afternoon um or I guess it was kind of around lunchtime representative black amended a bill to put some of the adjustments for the state adequacy Target this was actually pretty exciting there was

129bipartisan support and discussion around the idea that the state of the student adequacy Target needed to be they we need to increase the cap I believe and I'm not I'm probably not using any of this terminology right but but like over a period of nine years I think it was that they're looking at and so that was an amendment that got bipartisan support on the floor so I'm glad to see that there's some momentum down there maybe for this so and a little further inside baseball your state adequacy Target is actually calculated based on msip and your highest performing districts and what their per pupil expenditure is that's calculated keep in mind we just switched msip 5 to msip six we are not entirely sure what those highest performing districts are some are k-8s some

130are fully comprehensive k-12s that has implication on the SAT moving forward as well again we're getting pretty deep into the weeds but there are a lot of moving parts why the formula needs to be Revisited our average cost per student every year right now approximately for all in and around 13 miles right and that's not high in comparison to the rest of the rest of them in comparison the metro area assuming we're performing districts and right so the difference between what it cost us 13 something and 63.75 is what our local population has to come up with for every student that's right and rule of thumb going back to the previous slides 33 again is that state piece so then the remainder is made up either through local or federal but our federal processities federal

131is small primarily right so it's just so broken good point well you've seen recent litigation in other states related to you know adequacy of funding by the state but they have constitutional Provisions in those states that say we're going to have adequacy and so yeah you know we've got that issue in Missouri that when you look to how um our formula works and so local driven and that's why we can be 49th out of 50 States and what the state you know provides its funding for for schools and that was the argument going all the way back to the first lawsuit in Senate Bill 380 and then the second are the second lawsuit in terms of Senate Bill 287 again districts one the first lawsuit they lost the second one in the judge's ruling that

132actually makes it harder to be able to bring a third lawsuit forward and actually have that on the school district's favor right so I think politically this is probably the right path moving forward in terms of asking the state board and Desi to take a look at that and then monitoring what's going on legislatively to Karen's point and how that progresses this spring there's a good chance you may end up with an end-of-year Omnibus Bill that then has a formula condition contained within it but we'll have to watch and see how that plays out your Mastery of Bill numbers similar there's a few that there's a few that stick with you but don't quiz me it's like an HR understanding policy code other questions I'm speaking of Mastery maybe we should just assign this to

133Mr Gates class it's a great idea get that badge all right Denise this is a read right so I moved no no we're good we're good I moved the board approved the resolution calling for the appointment of a blue ribbon commission to study Missouri's funding formula as presented second Denise when you're ready yes yes yes yes absolutely yes yes thank you for checking with msba so we didn't have to read the whole thing right all right into 5.5 contracts purchases and we have a few items for your consideration this evening and we'll turn that over to Mr Steve Anderson to walk us through this yes the 42 items are the way that you could uh presented to you last month bring it in front of you tonight as any unit records a signature and then

134the the third item is an agreement with the family can certainly see that's related to it's a renewal agreement that we have related to therapy for security and again there's some urgency there to try to get that in place to your point on that grant that comes out of the Children's Services fund right any questions on either of those three okay I move the board approve the emergency purchases actions as listed second Denise when you're ready yes yes yes yes yes yes all right into section six Board of Education uh wait legislation and advocacy I'd look at Angie but uh don't go straight to care so yeah um it was a good day I I don't I can't really say how many board members were present but but there was a pretty good contingent in

135the capital today and you know had an opportunity the way the program worked had opportunity to set up visits and so I I was able to meet with some of our lawmakers this is the time of year where schedules are very fluid and so you're not always able even if you have a scheduled meeting something comes up there's a hearing or whatever so I got to run to a couple of them and um thanks to Dr Tucker and Dallas as he's here like the communications team we had a nice packet of information that included our legislative priorities our graduate profile some information about our bond issue I think we have the most recent copy of the Educator magazine and they're just to give them and msba provided some nice little notes for us to I

136just left a note if I couldn't touch base with him I just left left that in their office and left them a note to contact Dr Tucker if they had any questions but it was very positive experience audience and then they thought they were going to start on the house side budget today but they ended up going into some of these education bills and the bill in question I did ask I didn't just remember this was House Bill 497 was the bill where they had some amendments on that were it was just it was just a very nice positive experience like where they were all proactively talking about how there is a need to revisit this Foundation formula that it is outdated and so I mean I don't know what in the end is going

137to come of it things are very you know it's very early in the process and then as I was listening on the way back home they moved into budget and then there were some things being zeroed out in early childhood um like some of the governor's requests about Early Childhood special education funding so I don't know where it's gonna go I did ask a couple of legislators what they thought about transportation funding this year and I mean they're hopeful you know never promising anything so I guess the it's all fluid but I think the hope is that you know whatever comes out of the house will go to the Senate and that the Senate will hold the line on some of the most important expenditures for Ed and hope so it was a great opportunity

138to engage I would love to see LPS students there next year if we can get them there because they have a third on the third floor rotunda that that overlooks the bottom um there were students from a variety of different districts demonstrating the kind of things that our students are doing with Project Lead the Way or Northland their equivalent in the St Louis area of Northland caps so there were there were several students doing their presentations there it would be a prime opportunity for Edge students or other middle or high school students to be there so it'd be great to figure out a way to get some of our people down there because I know our students are doing that great work as was nice to visit with them with them and nice to visit

139with someone a very good experience well thank you for taking time I know it takes yeah time away out of your day and appreciate you doing anything else on legislation or advocacy all right upcoming meetings you can see them on there April 4th study session bright and early 7 A.M gosh that's next week you know this spring break election day Tuesday what's on that's right election day look at you who's doing book study hi AJ are you doing book study we're talking about it we'll see yeah uh 6.3 anything on board remarks from anyone I hope everybody was rested over spring break and enjoyed them okay if no other remarks have it under German I moved board to turn second Denise you can choose who got it and when you're ready yes yes yes yes

140yes yes thank you all [Music]