001All right, now that we finished with all those amazing recognitions, on to public comments. There are none tonight. Okay, thank you. Now on to our video. Thank you, Madam President. Earlier this year, we honored Mr. Ed Herusa, our longtime crossing guard at Eagle Glenn Elementary School, with the staff spotlight video for the month. Ed has served the district faithfully for many years and is also the 2025 support staff employee of the year. So, let's go ahead and roll the video to get this meeting started tonight. I know you'll enjoy hearing Ed's story. [music] My name is Ed Herruska. I'm the [music] 2025 sports staff employee of the year with Raymore Peculiar School District. I'm a crossing guard at Eagle Glenn Elementary School. I'm from Nebraska. I've lived in [music] the Kansas City area since 1983.
002I retired from the Social Security Administration in 2004 and uh I just needed something to to do to get me out of bed in the morning and Lisa Hatfield who is now the human resources director was the principal at Eagle Glenn at that time in 2005 and they had placed an ad in Thrifty Nickel I believe it was little magazine and I saw it and uh and they were looking for crossing guard. I thought, well, it might be a pretty good job in retirement. So, I went [music] and interviewed with them and and uh they hired me. It's turned almost into a second career, I guess, because it's been 20 years. But it um just to realize these children and they all need it. They all need a chance. They all need to start and
003you just think like you want to be there and and encourage them and so that they'll want to go to school and learn new things every day. I try to tell them that sometimes, learn something new every day, you know, try to learn something new today. So, well, I hope I do when I greet them in the morning and and [music] show genuinely that I do care about them and that they do have a good day. Um, and then be there again when they get them safely across the street so they can go [music] home in the in the afternoon. So, as the years have gone by, it's become more and more important in my life really. to get out of bed in the morning and and go and do it for the kids and
004then be there in the afternoon for them even though um I'm not in young but uh young man anymore but [music] it's been it's been a great retirement job for me. It really has been. I really enjoyed it to and uh the rewards have been been very rewarding really [laughter] and uh it's just been a great experience. I I'm just so glad that I saw that ad, the Turfy Nickels, 20 years ago and that I chose to answer it and go go apply for the job. >> Board members of community, we're incredibly proud of Ed and the many dedicated employees like him uh that we have across this district. uh they may not hold direct teaching roles, but they absolutely hold a direct relationship role with our students and are major part of what makes
005this district special each and every day. So, congratulations to Ed. That was a wonderful way to start their starter board meeting. >> Absolutely. All right. Now, on to the Ray Peek Academy update. >> Yes. Next, we'll move into this month's presentation. I'd like to invite Mr. Skyler Meyers to the principal of Ray Peek Academy to the front for this month's principal update. Mr. Meyers. Oh, here we go. Uh, good evening. Uh, thank you guys for having us here this evening. Um, I am the very proud principal of Ray Peek Academy. Um, and I also have some great people here from my team tonight. uh who the work that the kids are going to present about would not be possible without Tammy Novak, our instructional coach, uh Hillary Waters, who is our math teacher, and Gina
006Rigert, who is also uh our science teacher, uh among other things. All of our teachers wear many hats. Um and then the rest of our team is also excellent. Um I talk too much and the kids tell me that a lot. So because of that, uh I was like, well, you guys can do it better than me. um and presenting and sharing what your learning is. So this year we made a big transition to competencybased learning, also known as CBL. Um and the kids are going to share a little bit about that with you tonight. But a big part of that is having a clear learning intention. So our learning intention for this evening is um to inform the board and Dr. Slaggel about what our awesome students at RPA are doing, how they're doing
007it, and the outcomes that we've seen so far this year. Uh, so with that, I'm going to let them take it away. And first up, we have Felix Moss. [applause] >> Hi. So, like you said, I'm my name is Felix Moss and I'm going to talk about the community at the Ray Peek Academy and why so many students love it here. A lot of students like it because it is such a small school. We have a maximum of 75 students here compared to the high schools, hundreds of students. Because of the vast difference in size, we can actually make sincere connections here and understand people deeper um even with people who we never thought we would get along with. Many of us came from larger schools where we felt our needs were not met. And
008for those of us with IEPs and 504s, we feel our needs have never been met to this degree. Because of how small our school is, our it makes our classes even smaller. We have around a teacher for every 10 students. This means that if a student is falling behind, they can talk to their teacher and come up with a plan together on how to catch up. This also we also have flexible assignments for people with different learning styles. This includes the idea that if somebody is not the best tester, they can talk to the teacher and come up with an idea together on what to do instead of testing. Um, when the size of a school is so small, you see the same students through all throughout the hall all the day, all throughout the
009day. Um because of this, if students have a problem with each other, they are more likely to want to solve it, to want to work together to fix it. This makes a more comfortable environment that helps people learn. And each of us are seen as who we are, which makes it a positive learning environment, allowing us to grow who we are as people. [applause] Hello. Um, I'm Marbel and I want to talk about the academic growth of the academy because the numbers this year ma actually matter. Uh, from last fall to this fall, more students are earning 2 3.0 GPA to 4.0 GPA than last fall. And that didn't happen by accident. And it's not just grade inflations either. [laughter] Um, our NWA scores back it up. In math, we grew at the 60th percentile
010nationally. That means rapic students showed more real showed more growth than 60% of students across the country. in reading. Our growth also went up 60% uh right on pace with national peers as well, which shows that GPA actually reflect real learning. Um for a lot of us, this is the first time that our grades and test scores are all telling the same story. Uh personally for me, my GPA score went up and um I'm very grateful to one specific teacher, Miss Hill. She really inspired me. And that's all I have for [applause] Hi, I'm Colton Boxley. >> And I am Mari Salon. >> One of the biggest changes this year is competency based learning or CBL. >> For a lot of us, this is the first time we've had really clear learning intentions. Instead of
011guessing what a teacher wants, the purpose is right there. >> We also have success criteria, so we actually know what meeting the standard looks like. Sometimes we even help create the criteria which honestly makes it easier to own your work. >> Another big part is feedback. We get specific feedback, meaningful feedback instead of just a greater a letter grade. It helps you know what to fix and how to get better. >> The routines help too. It's predictable. When the structure is consistent, it's easier to focus and take academic risks. And for me, a moment when success criteria helped me is last quarter, my geometry teacher helped explain the questions more deeply and thorly one-on-one with the students to help them understand and get the answers done better. [applause] Hi, I'm Ariana Pina and at RPA,
012learning isn't just a worksheet. We're doing real world projects that actually matter. During fourth hour, during fourth hour, we pick a project groups based on what we care about. Some of us planning events like the fall festival and holiday dinner. Others are doing public service interior design projects or working outdoor projects like landscaping and raised beds, problem solving things. These projects teach us way more than just academics. Teamwork, planning, leadership, problem solving, things you need in the real world. Doesn't that sound familiar? Like a portrait of a rape grad. We've even earned grants and built partnerships in the community. It feels good to create something that lasts, not something that just gets graded and thrown away. Um my personal experience is we had um went to the Ronald McDonald House um for one of our
013community service projects and we got into a little bit of an accident and got stuck in the parking garage. So, we kind of we were supposed to have like an hour to cook the food for 50 to 60 families and we ended up only being able we only had like less than an hour. So, we were able to get all that food out and cooked and everything for everybody and we didn't worry about ourselves. We worried about everybody else. [applause] >> [clears throat] >> Hi, I'm Maurice Helen. And this last slide is really why RPA matters to us and students who will come after us. Here we find purpose when school actually connects to our lives. It's meaningful. We grow academically and personally because expectations are clear and we have support. And the biggest part
014belonging every student here is valued a lot. A lot of us didn't feel that before coming to RPA. The data shows we're growing. We feel growth personally and people who visit our school see in how we interact and how we work. My personal experience of on how I changed since coming to RPA is that I'm now on student leadership and honor role. Thank you for supporting RPA and giving students like us a chance to thrive. [applause] >> You guys are here. picture. >> Get a picture. >> Okay, I can remember. Hold on one more. [laughter] >> Thank you guys very much. That was awesome. [applause] >> Mr. Miles, before you head out, I saw you trying to dash for the door. >> [laughter] >> Um I cannot express to you the thanks for what you're
015doing in that building for having had um someone try to go through that process and it didn't work and it would have been a totally different experience. So thank you for what you do. You make a big impact every single day. [applause] All right. Now you can go if you'd like. [laughter] >> Thank you guys so much. >> Thank you students. You guys did a great job. >> All right. On to the consent items. Is there a motion to approve the consent items as presented? >> Some moved. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any other discussion about them? >> All in favor? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Now on to ourformational items. The sharp focus three. >> Yes. First, we have Mr. Craig Derking here tonight to talk about our monthly look at several
016key data elements. I invite the board to hear his update on the trends he's seeing at this month's data review. So, Mr. Derking. Good evening everyone. This month's iteration of Sharp Focus, which is the strategic highlights at Raymore Peculiar, we're going to be looking at some data that Desi provided us through the APR report. Um the annual performance report looks at a variety of ways that school districts move forward. And what I wanted to do is do a really deep dive, an analysis in how RayPek did in our four core subject areas based on the MAP and EOCC test that we took earlier this spring. In looking at these, I broke everything down so that you could see this by content in a way that that Desessie would score this called MPI. Now, I know
017last month we talked about RIT and how NWA scores those specific pieces. This month, I wanted to kind of give you a new version of this with a deep dive based on again MAP performance index. So, in looking at this, we're going to start first of all with the ELA all student data. And looking at this, you can see that Ray Peek is towards towards the top of the list on this. But when I talk about again MPI, that map performance index, you have a variety of scores that could be anywhere between 100 to 500. In looking at this, I wanted you to be able to see exactly where Raymore Peculiar did on this exact version of the test when we took that in the spring. again. So when we look at ELA, that's based
018on the 3rd through 8th grade and the English 2 EOCC test. For the next version, I wanted to look at the math portion. Again, in looking at this, this test is taken from the 3rd through 8th grade, but also the algebra 1 and algebra 2 EOCC's. You can see that again, we're in that same 100 to 500 range with the Raymore Peculiar School District performing in the top part of this survey or on this uh MPI review. For the next one, which was a huge glow for us earlier this year, we talk about the social studies, which is only given by one test, which is the government test taken at Rayek High School. You can see that we had 401.2, which was again a huge glow for us that we talked about earlier this year.
019And we have the entire Kansas City metro area big school districts that also where their scores fell in. Our last look at this data piece would be the science scores. And looking at the science piece again, you see Ray Peek on the top portion of this with everywhere around the uh Kansas City metro area. Now, you'll notice that these schools have all been the same. The reason I chose these exact schools is they are the big schools in the district that have a 200 point APR score. There's many schools uh 500 uh and I believe 33 current LEAs in the state of Missouri that do get a report like this. But rather than look at the scores and all of the minutia with this, I wanted to do the four big contents like I said
020earlier so you could see exactly how we rank in the Kansas City area amongst our peers that are the big schools doing the same types of tests that we do here. Now we could get into what is the glow and what is the grow but as you look through this there is a lot of glows here. We are on the top portion of all of these but again that's still what we talked about last month too. That's also our grow. We we are on the top part of all of these but we do see exactly where we need to be. We do see who's leading and this gives us kind of that motivation and that that look to say okay what are our partners in the Kansas City area doing? How do we need to
021move forward? what are some of those best practices that we can bring to our district so that we can look at all the different pieces and again perform in those MPI ranges that everyone else is doing as well. Can I open this up to questions that you guys might have? I don't have any questions but you know I love data and and the numbers and it shows really you picked like our peer groups um there and so that is good I think what we would ask I think as the board is what you said is are there are the other districts that are consistently ahead of us doing do they have different programs do they have you know are they using you you know, we're now using you flyier. It's some, you know, something like
022that. Just to kind of look and compare as we're looking at our programs, what they are what they're using that maybe is helping them perform higher. I think we're we're doing a fantastic job. >> Absolutely. So do I. >> And and again, with that group, it's nice to have those those schools that are getting the exact same point totals that we have because we we can't compare ourselves to all 533 with all the different districts. But by picking our neighbors again, this is the ones that we are the closest to and not just closest to geographically, but by size and by all of those point pieces as well. We had a discussion today with our principal group and we talked about the point of comparisons because I think sometimes the comparisons can get taken out
023of can be taken a life of their own. Comparisons are good is that it allows us to ask questions as to why this compared to that. comparisons fail when you start ranking ordering if it's one is better than the other because of because you don't know what's going on within that district but it certainly allows us to ask questions and some questions I have okay is you know I see grain valley where grain valley is I'm curious what's going on in grain valley and what what can we learn from them and likewise I bet people are looking up at us saying okay what can we learn from rape so hopefully this culture we've created around the data and looking at our neighbors is one of asking questions so we can become the best version of
024ourselves. >> I would ask because I know you don't have the question or the answers right now but you know at a future time in discussion and we've started it I know on math what are we doing to look at math and aren't we looking at new >> we doing a program >> yes we did as the board knows we did the program review last year um Dr. Bar and her team have been working on some implementation strategies. We had a presentation of some visual math as an opportunity for students to experience math differently and we're going to have in February I believe is on the calendar uh an update in work session as to where we're at with the implementation of that. Now remember that is a long-term movement of the shift. Uh so
025uh we will see results uh two three down years into that that progress but uh we have started to make some changes in the uh and we'll you'll probably see some budget requests in our March budget meeting for new materials as well and that's part of the discussion that was in that report >> you know and I wonder if some of our new programming is what helped our science pop up there like it did to a lot of our more technical stuff that we have going on now. Oh, I would absolutely agree with that 100%. Um, and again with science, there's only the three tests. We only look at fifth, eighth, and bio one. So, it it's critical that again where you guys made those changes that that implementation because there is such a smaller
026uh testing group. Um, that you would see changes quicker, >> you know, and I think about that on the government, you know, it's only the one class, but that means that they're doing what they need to leading up to that class. When the kiddos take that class, they've got what they need. >> Especially with it being government. I mean, while it is only the one test that year, take the middle school, the early elementary, all of them had a piece in that score, which again, like you said, it's a proud day to look at these to see where we are. Um, and I think all teachers in Ray Peek need to take a hat tip for this. One last question, Greg. I don't want to put you on the spot, but I know you're drilling
027down in this data for our principles to the student level so we can see where students need a celebration at the same time need a push in on for what standards align to what. So talk to our board about that work because I think that is the critical work of Craig and the team of getting the data to the principal ship so they can get to the teachers about kids in their classrooms. So the biggest part about a data piece like this um is how granular do you want to go um with with what Dr. Slegel said when we talk about how student scores and what they're doing. Missouri and NWA while two separate entities they really look at the growth of a kid and and we're not chasing scores. We're we're really chasing the
028growth of the student. So what we're able to do is we're able to provide VAM scores which are value added model scores based on what DESIE and NWA again completely independent said this is what we believe a student would be able to grow. this is where they are and if they were to take another test this is possibly where they should be and by looking at desi scores and then quickly creating a zcore so that that I could compare it to the NWA pieces were able to see two independent bodies look at this and say are our kids growing and if we see pockets where they are and are not this is where that we almost have prescriptive PD to say well if third grade is not doing as well nationally or you know fifth
029grade is really exceeding in this content area, you're you're able to then look at what were the successes that attributed to that. Can we replicate this in other grade levels? What were some things that maybe if there was a deficiency and we're not growing to what we thought that they were capable of or what those two entities said our kids should be growing? Then again, that becomes a program review. That becomes looking at curriculum pacing curriculum maps and it starts asking questions. So being able to pull this data together on a student level um I think is the greatest tool for not only administrators but teachers for everyone to really be able to make the best decision based off of where our kids are not a year ago but where they are right now in
030this moment. >> Well Patty and I were in a building with Dr. Slaggel uh this last week and I specifically kind of put the principal on the spot and she chuckled but you know I said is what you're doing really making an impact yet? and and the response was absolutely. They, you know, remarked that that was time they could go invest back into the teacher and into the classroom instead of sitting behind a computer. So, what you're doing is already being appreciated. >> Well, the opportunity that you have afforded me to allow me to do this, which is a passion of mine to be able to provide this information to all the stakeholders and to be able to give those kids just the best shot of moving forward. Um, again, I can't thank you guys
031enough for taking a chance on me. Thank you. >> Thank you guys. >> All right. On to policy 4310. Dr. Hatfield. >> Good evening. Policy 4310 is one of our board policies related to staff attendance. Revisions were approved for another one of our attendance policies in July of 24, which included removing the limit on the number of leave days an employee could accumulate. Policy 4310 is on your agenda this evening to revise the language to bring it in line with policy 4320. Um that is just an additional policy that isn't referred to very often and there was some language that needed to be changed to make it match 4320. I would be happy to answer any questions that you have. >> These days that they get is was already established, wasn't it? >> Correct. So
032when you 4320 was changed, there was a um stipulation that employees could only keep up to 150 days of leave. Um and once you hit that, then you just couldn't accumulate anymore, which encouraged you to take them. Um leave is often used as an insurance policy for people should they have some sort of illness or need, and the request was that we not limit that. >> All right. Thank you. Was there any other questions for Dr. Hatfield? >> I just remind the board this is the first reading of that policy tonight. It'll be on your consent agenda for approval next month. >> Thank you. And if you would come up with any questions, make sure to let Dr. Slaggel know. All right. On to action items, the finance report. >> Yes, Miss Tiffany Banks will
033come forward to with our monthly financial report. As you know, this reflects our ongoing commitment to uh clear communication with you and our community regarding our district's financial picture. Miss Banks, it's all yours. Good evening. Um, thank you for this opportunity to present the October 31 financials this evening. Revenues and expenditures um are tracking right in line with expectations and our overall financial position remains strong. The small decline in revenue compared to last year's reflects the planned phase out of one-time federal and -ate funds. While expenditures are slightly do lower due to the timing of capital projects, salaries and benefits continue to trend upward as budgeted, reflecting our ongoing investment in staff and compensation. Overall, our financial activity remains steady and aligned with projections, positioning the district well as we move into the second quarter
034of this fiscal year. So, I would now pause and ask any questions you might have. I would just like to remind everybody we talked at quite length uh in our work session last week on this uh topic. So thank you for the uh information you've given us. >> You're welcome. So if there are none other I would respectfully recommend the board approve the October financial reports as they are presented. I would also like to say thank you for putting this into a language that those of us who don't look at finance every day that it's still very knowledgeable for us in understanding what what we're doing. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. All right. Is there a motion to approve the financial report as presented? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >>
035Any other discussion? All in favor? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, Tiffany, for all you do. All right. The architect RFQ approval. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I missed one. >> Athletic apparel bid apparel approval. >> Yes. Mr. Gerald Van Rainwell is here to present the new apparel and equipment contract that will begin with the 20 26 Yes. >> 27 school year. >> Yes. Uh the district's three-year contract for athletic apparel and equipment is expiring at the end of this year. Um, as we're planning to uh look into the 2627 school year, it's time to enter into a new agreement. District administration has determined that maintaining a comprehensive multiport contract with a single provider continues to be in the best interest of our district. This approach provides improved pricing, consistent quality, and enhanced customer service
036compared to the previous practice of making separate purchases for each need. It is. It also supports the long range planning and budgeting for the district's activities and athletic programs. A new RFP request for proposal was issued in the fall of 2025. Two vendors responded consistent with the previous bid cycle. Proposals were reviewed by a committee composed of activity directors, building and district administration. Both vendors offered discount rates off manufacturers suggested retail price for uniforms and equipment as well as promotional packages and volume discounts. The committee then evaluated customization costs and quality along with delivery lead times and customer service history as well as references. The recommendation that we bring before you today based on a comprehensive review of the proposals, it is recommended that the district enter into a five-year contract with BSN Sports for
037the purchase and supply of athletic apparel and equipment. The contract will be brought to the board of education for reapproval each year and may be cancelled at any time with 90 days notice should the district choose not to continue for the full five terms. fiveyear terms. >> Are we switching? Is BSN who we had? I thought we had >> So, currently we're under a contract with game one. >> Game one. Okay. >> Yes. Um, so the way that it works when you change, we're under a contract till the end of the school year with game one. Um, if this one's approved and we end up going to BSN, there's some sports in the fall that because of lead times will have to begin um, ordering through BSN for next year, even though orders will be
038placed while under contract with game one. >> Will they have the same websites and designs available for parents um to Yeah. Um, BSN's a lot more robust um than what has currently been offered by Game One. Um, I've I I've heard from other folks that have been around for a while that, you know, it's kind of the same old thing year after year. Um, BSN does a really good job of putting together uh quality art and quality products and they they change it each year and sometimes by sport. uh coaches have the ability to to help design and and do some of those things as well. >> Quality and price similar consistent savings. >> It is. So, we would continue uh being a Nike school. Um so, the discounts are pretty much the same. I
039mean, we get 40% off retail. Um, I think what separated game one and and BSN were the promotional packages and the um the rebates I think were a little bit a little bit stronger. Um, so overall it just seemed like a better way to go. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. I will entertain a motion to accept the athletic bid approval as presented. So moved. >> Second. >> Any other discussion? All in favor? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. >> All right. Now, on to the architect RFQ approval, please. >> Well, thank you very much and good evening. I want to start this process by thanking some people that help serve on this committee. So, I want to thank Scott Dobson. Uh this is an exciting time as we look for the future, look towards
040the future and facilities in Rimo Peculiar. He did an amazing job of organizing uh this RFQ process for architectural services and putting that together. Then I do want to thank the board members who served, President Johnson, Vice President Olsen, and board member Janet Jones for helping a lot in this process and serving on that committee. It was a lot of information. It was a lot of work. It's an important process. Uh but I really think the process was quality and the team came together to make the right decision. So, we're proposing that for you tonight. Following the district's RFQ process for architectural services concerning the 26 uh facility plan, the selection committee made up of district administration and board of education members reviewed all submissions and conducted interviews with four architectural firms. Based on this
041comprehensive evaluation, the committee recommends Insight Design Studio or IDS as the architectural partner for the projects. IDS demonstrated strong alignment with RFQ criteria. The firm has a solid history supporting the remote pecular school district possesses the capacity to manage the scope and complexity of our projects. Their assigned personnel and established engineering partners bring a high level of expertise to each phase of our work. IDS has meaningful experience supporting prior bond initiatives particular in the areas of community engagement, planning, and communication which are all key as we move forward. The firm presented a clear approach to schedule management and cost control and supported on time and onbudget completion. The design philosophy and project management approach reflected collaborative mindset and that was evident in their presentation. We really focused on the meeting the needs of our students,
042staff and our broader community. IDS is an established partner with us at Remo Procure and we're excited to continue that partnership. Based on the committee's evaluation and confidence in the firm's ability to support both pre-bond efforts and implementation of our facility plan, Insight Design Studio is recommended as the architect for our facility plan projects. Any questions? Many of you were a part of the process. You probably have as many answers as I do. Um, but I really do I want to speak to it again. When you put together the process that Scott Doddswin worked really hard to put together and we ask as many questions as we ask and we dig as deeply as we did. Um, I I will say I was very pleased with all the firms that came and presented. But I
043think Insight Design was the one that I really think will tailor to our needs at Ramo Pecular and design uh facilities that meet the needs of our students and community. I was going to say, uh, Scott Dobson, please extend our thanks to him. He did a really good job with the whole process, >> and you're right, we did have four good quality, >> uh, firms that we interviewed, >> and it really was a tough choice between all of them, but I think IDS has a good well-rounded approach for the differences in projects that we have on this scope this time. >> Absolutely, my agreement. >> All right. Is there a motion to approve Insight Design Studios as architect for the 2026 facility plans projects? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >>
044Any other discussion? >> All in favor? Motion passes unanimously. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. The MSBA student scholarship nominee. Um we had 12 applications. Several? >> Yeah, several. >> Um to pass on to the next level. Um all really good nominations. Um it was interesting to read uh their answers because they got to choose from three different questions. So those uh were some interesting things to read. and the one that um we decided with really tugged at my heart this morning when I was reading it. So, I really wish that we could offer and allow everyone to move on. It was a really tough decision this year. >> Yeah, this was pro I've served on this before and it was probably some of the best uh essays I've seen this written. >>
045I would agree with that. >> You know, and for those that say um AI wrote it, no, I don't know that I ever read any of them that I thought, oh, somebody else wrote it for them. They were all very heartfelt and very poignant on what their perspective was on some of our stuff. So, the uh nomination is for uh Lillian King to go on to regionals uh as our applicant from the uh Rayek on this. So, I will entertain a motion to approve Lillian King as Raymore Peculiar's nominee for the MSBA student scholarship. >> So, moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. Any other discussion? All in favor? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. On to Cass County Kids First legislative priorities. Dr. Slay. >> Yes. Thank you, Madam President. Before you this evening
046is the approval of the Cass County Kids First legislative priorities. As you know, these priorities were introduced last month and comes after several months of revision and renewal and also collaboration with the nine other Cass County school districts uh here in the county. Uh these positions will guide our advocacy efforts this coming legislative session which begins in January and they come before you tonight with a recommendation for approval. This is probably the third time you've seen these uh the first time in a very uh preliminary draft format but the final two times have been a fairly final format. So come before you tonight for recommendation for approval. >> All right. Any discussion or questions? All right. Okay. I'll entertain a motion to approve the 2025 Cass County Kids First legislative priorities as presented. >> So
047move. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any other discussion? I was laughing about the typo. Sorry. All [clears throat] in favor? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. On to committee reports. Okay. Then we will move on to superintendent's comments, please. >> Thank you, Madam President. I have three items for the board tonight. Um, you and as well as the public have my uh updates and they have been posted on the u the board, what do we call this now, Pam? Assembly >> the the board docs that we have for uh the public to take a look at. Um, I do want to highlight one item in particular that I highlighted in our update to you probably a couple weeks ago, and that's our work related to the National Defense Cadet Corps and the Junior
048Reserve Officers Training Program. I highlight this because this is one of the strategic plan action steps that we promised to do some work on for you this year. And so, I want to give you a brief update on that. It both of these programs have long wellestablished traditions of developing leadership, citizenship, and character in our young people. And we are actively working to bring one of these programs to our district because I think this is a a great next step for our students and for really the all nine uh cu school districts here in Cass County because the JOTC units are limited. We may begin with the uh National Defense Cadet Corps model, the NDCC. Lots of acronyms here. Uh they mirror the J the JC structure and standards. The primary difference is that the
049national uh cadet corps is fully district funded. Okay. So, it's a quicker way to get what we need instead of waiting around for a slot to open with the uh uh JOTC. So, we think this might be the best approach, but again, we are still looking at those options. We anticipate including all these costs in our 2728 budget, so a couple budget cycles from now. And this program is also a significant component of our facility needs that insight design will be working on and we're getting information back from our community and a decision that this board will make about future facility needs probably in January. So like any new program implementation will depend on future budget decisions and really what's happening externally to us at the state and federal level as well. But I wanted
050to know the the board to know that this work is underway and moving forward as part of our promise to you uh back in June with how we're going to implement some of our strategic planning priorities. Very excited about the potential for this. I know our team is as well. Uh student interest I believe will be high and this is something that uh that this county needs to do and Ray Pek is going to try to do. Second item is board. As you know, we celebrated American Education Week this past week, a time when we honored and thanked our employees who work with our kids each and every day. On behalf of the board, we delivered treats and healthy options and breakfast items through all of our buildings. I want you to know that we
051have received so many cards of thanks and emails expressing sincere appreciation for the gesture uh for your cards because you signed each and every one of the cards that went to our buildings. So, thank you for your participation and a heartfelt thank you from our staff to you as well. And this is our final meeting before Thanksgiving. Want to take a moment to wish you, the board, our families, our students, and our staff and community a wonderful holiday break. I hope each of you finds time to re connect with family and have that uh decompression time that's so incred incredibly needed this time of year. And I know our many of our staff members are ready for that and I was talking to some students today. They're definitely ready for it. So, uh, wish you
052a great happy Thanksgiving. All right. Thank you. On to board of education comments. >> Uh, I helped serve at Bridal Ridge yesterday and there were hundreds. I don't know how many hundreds ended up coming through, but there was a lot of uh turkey dinners served at Bri Ridge yesterday. And so, thank you tremendously to our foods and nutrition department for all of the extra hard work they put in for this event this month. Um, and to to see those kiddos faces when their person showed up to have lunch with them, you know, the smile couldn't have been any bigger on those faces. So, it's fun to help with things like that. Anyone else? All right, on to calendar of events. December 18th is our next regular meeting. 6 pm closed and 7 pm open. And
053happy Thanksgiving everyone. And we are adjourned. Thank you.