001Thumbs up to begin the presentation and video. Okay. Thank you, board. It's my pleasure to share with you tonight the you the you matter video that was produced for the event last Saturday evening at the high school. You Matter is one of those efforts that really reflects the heart of our district, helping students develop a genuine sense of belonging. The event was very well attended last Saturday night, full of energy, and it was clear that our students and staff took pride in being a part of it. I know that you'll enjoy this video. Um, what makes me happy is when I get to go outside and play with my cat cuz she she just makes me feel good. Uh, when I think about my sister, >> uh, I like answering right questions, doing a little
002bit of math. I like playing and like helping other people. >> Um, going a trip to my family, [music] >> donuts, dogs, food, and mason. And seeing other people, being kind to other people, >> gymnastics, um, just playing with my friends and kind of just having fun with the kids. Um, breathing. >> What's an activity that makes you happy? What do you like to go do? >> Playing cars. >> I just go [music] get a drink and just sit down leaving myself. I kind of go to my room sometimes, >> talk [music] to my teacher. Um, I take um four deep breaths. I kind of just breathe in and breathe out and [music] just make sure I'm okay cuz I don't want to get over worried or over scared or anything. >> Usually my friends
003and my brother, my mom and my dad. >> Um my counselor and my teachers [music] and like my mom and dad. Usually they're not talking to anybody or socializing. [music] >> Um when at recess sometimes they are just sitting on the bench and um they have their head between their knees and they're just sad. [snorts] When somebody has a um [snorts] an upside down smile. Um, I can play with them. I say you can do it if they can't [music] do something. >> I pick their hand up and then and then I say what's going on. >> I go ask what [music] they like to do, what happened and like see what I can help them with. If they like want to play, like anything they want, or if they want to go to the
004nurse or need a teacher, I'll go grab something. I make them try to laugh and think help them think of things that make them happy. >> Learning [music] how to ride a bike, it was one of my hardest tricks. >> Um, working like with my like meets at gymnastics and like soccer [music] tournaments. >> The bus. What about the bus? It goes it it plays music. >> You like that the bus plays music? >> I like a lot of things like I'm good at soccer. It's my dream to be a good soccer guy and um good at math. >> When I finally learned to ride my bike, >> getting tested for leap and getting um third and rookie state in wrestling. It's when [music] my sister said I couldn't do a flip, but I know
005how to >> and [snorts] you did a flip. >> That I'm great [music] at at stuff. >> I can do it. So to like sometimes when I'm encouraging myself, I'll say, "You got this, Evie. Don't screw up. >> Thank you. >> I am smart and brave." uh that I can do it. I believe in myself. I can do good things and and hard stuff. >> I'm beautiful. Uh I can I can do hard things and nothing will stop me. That was a video that ran during the matter night. Last Saturday night, we had over a hundred students uh participate. It's all about being encouraging to themselves and to each other and it was a great great event and uh we're fortunate to have a school district that throws events like that for kids. So, thank
006you to our team and all of our parent volunteers who participate in that event. >> Okay, on to the Rayek East Middle School presentation. >> Yes. Next, we'll hear from Dr. Matt Shman, principal of Rayek East Middle School. And I see several students, so we're looking forward to that. Uh Dr. Showman will be presenting on some of the great things happening at East this year. So, Dr. Showman, it's all yours. >> All right. Well, first I'm a little disappointed that our whole gallery left. I thought they were here for us, but um we do need to go to a previous presentation. Well, thank you for having us and uh we're excited to kind of talk about what makes Rayc East unique and uh exciting and what I hope bring kids to school every day. That's
007the one. Yeah, there we go. Thank you. All right. So, one thing that is uh very unique uh at Rayek East Middle School uh is that we have introduced the house system uh which we started um last school year uh as I came into the building as the principal and something that I swore I would never talk about again, but here we are. Uh coming out of the pandemic, we recognized um that that students needed something different and they needed a sense of belonging and um school as much as being about the academics and and about all of the things that students learn, it's about the experience. Um unfortunately, we were seeing a downward trend in student performance. Um some of that performance we're still trying to overcome. Um we were finding life skill gaps.
008Um you know, students were not being able to necessarily perform at the next level. uh behavior regulation, mental health concerns, um kind of an us versus verse them mentality, meaning uh students verse teachers, and just a lot of um um coarseness there that we wanted to be able to work through. Uh and so we started looking at ways that we could get students more involved in the school um setting and and really improve the climate of what we were doing. And so we started looking at uh the Ron Clark Academy uh out of Atlanta and it was designed to provide kind of an innovative and and rigorous middle school experience um with high expectations, high engagement um high levels of of discipline um for students and responsibility addressing kind of that middle school period very
009uniquely because as we know it is such a unique time when when students are changing rapidly. uh we see more cognitive development in that three-year period really than any other time in their life. So just a lot of changes that they have to go through. Um so coming into East Middle and this is really something I had started in a in a previous school. Um we we modeled it kind of after the Ron Clark system um where we focused really on behavior, academics and attendance and building a sense of community and belonging for our students. um teamwork between students and teachers, creating those opportunities for them really to view each other um as collaborative partners in the educational setting and really enjoying one another. Um creating mentorship opportunities for our seventh and eighth graders and
010then developing a program to meet the kind of diverse needs of of our middle school learners. So, how we did that and how we kind of tied it all together um keeping students, you know, we really believed in kind of three key fundamental things at the middle school level. Students need access to grade level curriculum um and access to engage in material in a meaningful way. Uh students should have consistent, predictable routines uh that create a safe environment where they can learn and and enjoy themselves. Uh and then students have to have opportunities to be involved and create connections to school that are outside just the academic rigors of every day. Um so we built our strategic goals around that. Um our academic goals of 70% or higher in all classes for students. um attendance
011of 90% or higher. Uh no ISS, OSS or detentions and then students being actively involved in at least one extracurricular activity or club. Um and so in this house system, all of their house points are built upon these goals. Uh and students can earn earn points toward their house system. So up here I've put a a chart showing how the uh eight houses um of teachers and student uh groups uh and these are multi-grade um houses where we do build in those opportunities for mentorships. Um, and one thing we've really seen this year and a lot of the teachers, um, I I guess it's, um, somewhat perceptual data, but our our older teachers are really seeing, um, those eighth graders and seventh graders really take the sixth graders under their wing and really just bring
012them in as family and and make that transition to middle school that much easier. So, um, you can look up to the the chart and see how those uh those points are are dedicated. We put a lot on the grades and and attendance. Uh but we also, you know, we really push participation, spirit, teacher points, um and the house competitions. Um some of the other benefits, uh students have monthly incentives that are all tied into the house system. So students who earn 70% or higher in all their classes, 90% attendance for the month, and no is ISS or OSS, uh qualify for a monthly incentive. Uh we have rallies each trristster um and any student who earns 70% or higher in all of their classes are eligible to participate in the competitions. Um we do
013view that as as definitely a family affair. So every student comes whether um their grades meet the the the requirements or not but to be able to participate in the competitions uh they do have to meet those um grade requirements. Um and then any students and looking at both an individual accountability as well as the team aspect of it. Uh members of the the winning house uh qualify for a grand prize which this year is going to be to Urban Air. So we're really excited about that. Uh and then um any student earning all of the monthly incentives can qualify as an individual. So, it creates kind of really all of those things that we're looking for students to be that they're individually accountable and responsible, but also that they can be part of a
014team because as we know sometimes you got to pick up your teammates when they're down. So, um we we definitely want to build that that type of character in our students as well. So, uh, not that that previous districts really matter, but, um, just kind of building that philosophy along the way and why I thought it was so important to bring, uh, when I came to Ray Peek was, uh, we saw our discipline h haved, um, within a school year uh, in Raytown. um within the first implementation year uh 45% of our entire body at EMS qualified for the main event trip which is absolutely incredible when you look at um the rigors of the the qualification criteria. Um and then so far this year uh our Trrist one has produced some very promising results.
015Uh we have the highest attendance rate that we've had in three years um for at least the first Trrist of school. I hope we can we can maintain that and even grow that. um our lowest discipline rate also uh in three years at this point in the school year and uh at this point the third highest academic achievement in in at least the two years that that I've been here. So really excited about some of the outcomes of that. Um but I also want you to have the opportunity to hear from our students and how it impacts them. So, uh, if Area, Laney, and Parker can come up, they are going to talk about it. And also, Stuco is is they're like my right hand in terms of, uh, planning the rallies. So, um, they're
016going to speak on the the student portion of it. Um we're going to talk to you guys about how um the rallies have impacted um our uh the students um from the student view. Okay. Um a rally takes place every single trister. At the rallies we play games like dodgeball, musical chairs, just things that like Stuka would do, but dodgeball is kind of a Dr. Shaman thing. Um, we like to talk about each other's successes there and we really get competitive and hype each other up. I think out of the all three years that I've been in this school personally, um, the house system definitely hypes us up way more than how they used to. Um, I think the rallies bring joy and uniqueness to our school as the houses make us stand out since
017like I don't think I've ever heard of a school having it. So, yeah. So, we asked a handful of students and staff questions about the rallies. Not only like if you have positive feelings about it or negative feelings about it. It was mainly positive, but this is um that video. You're doing great. >> I'll take a quick picture while we're waiting. >> Oh, Miss Young >> Instagram. >> That's our head of student council. >> We're gonna have a footballer. Yeah, because we we beat South. >> We beat South. Actually, >> we did. >> Whatever Mr. Kaufman wants, we'll get him. Girls, >> we'll get him some stickers. Don't worry. [snorts] >> Okay. Why don't you just tell them about the video? >> Okay, >> it's not working. >> There we go. >> I love the
018rallies. I love the house system. I think it's so much fun that we kind of have a house family and that we've gotten to create our own flags that hang above us at the rallies. >> I love the rallies are good. People have fun at school because it gives people a >> I love the rallies. The first rally we did, I was blown away. I talked to a lot of teachers about it and how it really felt like the part of it elementary school. >> I think they are chaos seems to be fun. I think a lot of fun and then with the music and watching the kids have fun. that they're very fun and it gives you something to like think about like and not just being the day. >> The rallies are really
019fun like everybody jumping and there's music playing. It's just like a good it's just a good time to end the school day. I would hope that we can do this rally in high school too like more funwise. It's fun to see the talent and it's just a fun way to do. >> There is nothing like hearing that roar from the students when their house wins or when it's down to the final battle. >> Sorry, that was kind of hard to hear. >> [clears throat] >> Um uh to participate in the rallies uh you have to have meet a lot of the expectations. Um so then you can actually participate in the games that student council provides. Um there's a lot of students that are eligible for um to participate in the rallies um more than
020the past years and we've seen an improvement in that. Okay. In elements of journalism, we decided to do hype videos um for the rallies and here's one of them. Sorry. Pump it up. Don't you know? Pump it up. You got to pump it up. Don't you know? Pump it up. You got to pump it up. Don't you know? Pump it up. You got to pump it up. Don't you know? [music] Pump it up. You got to pump it up. Don't you know? Pump it up. You got to pump it up. Don't you know? Pump it up. You got to pump it up. Don't you know? Pump it up. You got to pump it up. Don't you know? Pump it up. You got to pump it up. Don't you know? It up. You got to pump
021it up. Don't you know? Pump it up. You got to pump it up. Don't you know? Pump it up. You got to pump it up. Don't you know? Pump it up. You got to pump it up. Don't you know? [music] Pump it up. You got to pump it up. [music] It up. Don't you know? That was all just from one rally. Like that was so much hype. It was just one crazy from last year. >> Yeah. >> Okay. [snorts] You would think it's just a couple arrows, but no. >> Okay. Uh, for recognition in the rallies, Dr. Showman, I feel like he really does a really good job of including everybody um that like deserves their name to be said. And there are a lot of people at RPMS that do do the right things
022even if some might not be making all the best choices. We really do try to talk about the ones that are good kids I guess. Um like for you get called out if you do a sport. So uh cheerleading. We all three cheerleaders. Um or basketball or something. You get to be recognized for the stuff that you do. And then also grades and attendance having what he talked about the 70% or higher and the 90% attendance. And the best of all, my favorite part of the rally is the MVPs of the house. There's five MVPs for each house per rally that we have every Trist. And when you're MVP, that means you're meeting all that criteria and you get a reward along with recognition that you deserve. Okay. Um, our point of views of the
023rallies, I think I do really really like the rallies. Um, I do think they could be a little bit better managed. Um, I think that it's also because um, I kind of know how they're supposed to go cuz since we're in StuCo, we get the schedule, we plan the games out, like we do all these things. And as someone who does Stukco, whenever I'm trying to like explain how the game goes and then everybody's just like strung out in chaos, I'm like, "Okay." Yeah. Um, but I do think that it puts a positive impact on students to um just like get better grades and just not be as bad as they usually are. >> I really like the rallies. Um I love seeing everyone cheering and uh like in stands jumping up. Um uh for
024cheer we perform at the rallies and last year we did not get to as much in the previous years because of but now with the house system we are able to perform at everyone and be um included in it more. >> I love watching especially like my peers get involved in the rallies and get hype. be like you would just you could walk in and you can just see all of like the joy and the energy that it brings. Everybody has a smile on their face. There's not one person like sitting down. We're all like up and cheering and chanting and it's I I came from a school in sixth grade that we never even had regular pep rallies and it was just it was very boring. Nobody had very much spirit at all. And
025I feel like that's just completely different here. All the students are always decked out in their houses colors for their rallies and they're getting loud for their house. And it's just really nice to see all the students get involved and have a really good time. Even though it could very much appear chaotic, it is an enjoyable time and it's just kids having fun. I feel like we manage it as well as we can because they are middle school students and it sometimes it is a little bit difficult. Um, but I feel like we do the best. I feel like we do a really good job considering we're middle school students. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. [applause] Thank you, Dr. Shman, and the rest of the team. That was very We love to see
026what's going on. And anytime students come up and say they have joy and fun at school, then we know you're doing your job. So, thank you very much. Now, on to the consent items. I need a motion to approve the consent items listed. So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor. Motion passes unanimously. On to uh information items. First up is sharp focus with Mr. Craig King. Good evening everyone. just tell them they don't have to stay. >> I'm excited to share with you guys the second version of the sharp focus, the strategic highlights at Rayek this month. Um for this month, what we're going to look at is we're going to be looking at the NWA map growth scores. Perfect. All right. First of all, there are many ways to score exams. What I
027would like to focus on today is how we did on the beginning of year fall 2025 2026 writ for the NWA. Now, when you think about RIT, that's usually not a common verb. I mean, we sent home parent reports. So, it it's kind of something that we're we're starting to talk about, but RIT is just a different way that NWA MAP growth scores. If we talked about ACT, everyone knows that trying to get to that magic 36 and you know if you're above a 20 or a 25 where you look at those scores. Same thing with AP. If we're talking about an AP test, anything from a one through five is a good score and you're looking at all those pieces. NWA has their own different version of scoring, but it's very similar to all
028those other pieces where we start in one place and we have another. And we're going to get into the piece of that here in a second. But what I really want to start with before we get into how we did as a school and as a district, how are we sitting and what does a writ do for us? And basically, not only what does it do for us, what does it show us? So on this very first slide, I want you to imagine a simple ladder. Each RIT score is going to tell us exactly what rung those kids are standing on. It's not about passing or failing. It's this it's this ladder that would sit and be like, where are our kids at? Where are they? not based on on age uh because age and
029level aren't really the piece here. It's really about where our kids are ready to learn. So, as you see that this illustration where we have kids of different ages kind of all over the place. Each rung is their individual RIT score and that's kind of how that sits with almost all testing aspects. Now, when you think about that's where a writ score is is telling us where they are, then the next question is well, how do we use RIT? Using RIT is basically like a GPS for learning. You know, teachers are going to know exactly where a student is starting from. Um, and that's a huge piece of this. You know, we test the NWA map growth three times per year. So, it not only does it tell us where our kids are, it also
030tells us how are they progressing, how are they growing, what are they learning, and how are we moving forward in that academic journey both in math and ELA through multiple domains. And that's a big piece of this. So knowing that that RIT score is like that ladder where our kids are and the teachers can see that and be able to differentiate instruction and really kind of tailor what does a kid need to move forward within their journey. Those are the pieces of what makes RIT important and how valuable it is to the education world that we live in. So let's get into the numbers of what they mean. First of all, RIT is somewhere between 100 and 300. Too many. So, you're going to see a score between 100 and 300 for all of our
031kids RIT scores. Again, age and level really aren't the big piece here. It's where everybody is. RIT scores will increase as the kids move forward. Um, but with that being said, the higher the kids go, the RIT scores don't increase as much because again, a RIT score really talks about the complexity of what they're ready to learn. A kindergarten has a lot of things to grow and move forward with. So they are going to be able to show a lot more growth where when you get into those upper levels while the growth is still there they already have a lot of those complex processes down. So it's again not necessarily the grade level but what that kid is ready to learn is the whole basis of writ. And one thing to know that's important here
032is they're on an equal interval scale. And what that truly means is it's not going to change if they are in a different grade. It's always going to be between 100 and 300. and that score will keep following them, moving ever so slightly as they grow academically. So, here's the exciting part that I'm really ready to show you guys. Um, this very first table that I'm going to show you. Perfect. You're going to look at two columns there. I want you to look at the green and the pink columns first. That green column is the national NWA reading norms. This is where the everybody that took this test and we're talking millions of kids when they took this test. This is their writ of where the norm is going to be laid in yellow in
033far as yellow for the first one is reading and the next one is math. You will look to see how did the Ray Peek kid score on this. Look up and down that entire list. Here's what you're going to notice. our kids in both math and ELA were higher in every single grade level than the national average. That's that's huge. What a massive accomplishment that shows you how successful our kids are right out of the gate. So, when I look at these norms and I see that we are above in all areas, again, it's still part of our journey. It shows us what we are ready to learn and how we can still move them. But what a successful start to this school year. Now, this next slide, what I try to do is break
034this apart into a couple different ways. This next slide is how are our new kids doing? See if I can get back to that one. So, what I want you to notice here again, the green and the pink on this, the fall norms for both math and ELA, which are our national norms. Um, this is again not going to change, but what will change is if you are new to Rayek, in other words, we do not have a score for you last year. How did you guys score on this? And here's what you're going to notice in looking at this. In ELA, more than half of the average RIT scores are equal to or less than the national RIT. In math, more than 75% of the average RIT scores are equal to or less than
035the national RIT. So that's going to tell you a little bit of a different story between all of our kids versus new. So if we talk about all the and new, then obviously we're going to talk about who are our kids that have returned and where are those kids that have been in Rayek for at least one plus years. And again, you're going to notice the exact same thing that we saw on that very first slide. In every single grade in both math and ELA, all of our returners that have been here one year or longer are higher than the national average up and down the entire chart. So for this month, what I really would like to discuss because we talked about this last time, what is our grow and where is our glow?
036Well, this year it's kind of the same one. When I talk about a glow, like I said earlier, we are so proud of the start that we had for our 2526. Every single place we are surpassing national benchmarks K12 across the district. That glow is also part of our grow though because when we're looking at this, you know, we have a we welcome a lot of students into the Raypek School District family and as they arrive, we notice that some of them are showing academic gaps. So, this is where we as a district need to work on a small piece. We need to work on that journey that I talked about earlier. We need to look at the GPS system that is in place uh because of RIT scores because it's going to give us
037that exact place where those kids can grow and we're committed to that. Um so every student deserves to thrive and truly we are going to push support and our commitment is to uplift them to reach their full potential. Those are our board highlights as far as the grow and glow. What questions do you guys have about RIT scores and how these tables were set up? just another piece of the puzzle for us to look at the things and I love how you've um given it to us to to highlight where we are in the norms versus where we are. So again, a huge you know thing to our teachers that we are doing very well because we know that test is immediate answers and can be used to continue to push push the kids. So
038it was very good slicing and dicing for us. Thank you. >> Thank you. Are there any other questions? >> As a summary board, this is the kind of of analysis that we are now able to engage in. I want to thank you for your investment in uh that particular part of our academic services department because I think our teachers are going to get better data than ever before about how to improve student learning and that's exactly what we're all about. So Trig, thank you very much. >> Thank you guys. Can we put this information on uh like our web page? We were talking about the social media earlier and just you know to get this type of information out. >> I think some of that would be part of our SRSN dashboard. We do show
039a lot of those pieces on how we we grow throughout the year and all those different things within that SRSN piece. Um, as far as showing and kind of celebrating where we are, I know a lot of that starts in the classroom uh with teachers celebrating those kids and then working on the commitment to show the kids so that they can take ownership of that growth. They know exactly where they are. They know where those norms are and then they're able to push forward and say, "Well, I can't wait for the next test to show how much I've grown." And again, as we're taking more assessments like this, three per year, having the kids take ownership and then telling their parents like, "Look how much I've grown." that's going to be a a ground roots
040effort that's really going to light the community and be proud of the the growth that's here and it's going to be able to show them in a much better light. It's exciting stuff. >> Thank you, Craig. On to guidance and counseling program review. Dr. McKenna. Good evening. Um, I'd like to thank Dr. Slegel and the board for allowing me to provide an overview of Raypex's counseling program and the wonderful things our counselors are doing. It's been a pleasure getting to know and work with them. And I know I speak for all of academic services when I say how proud we are of these professionals and the many things that they've accomplished and will continue to accomplish throughout this school year. On this slide, you see what it's all about. Happy students working with caring, engaged
041educators. Starting from the top and going clockwise, you have students at Peculiar Elementary. They're riding the waves of emotions. Kindergarten students are working with their feeling buddies. That's a curriculum that's part of conscious discipline. a student at Peculiar Elementary working on a feelings puzzle and high school counselor Rebecca Williams is helping a student with postc career planning using school links in preparing this evening's program review. These individuals were instrumental and special thanks to Chief Academic Officer Dr. Bar for her leadership and commitment to Rayek counselors and their important work and to my colleagues with me tonight Dr. Hoffman, Dr. Bolt. The counselors listed here were a huge help as we assembled this year's review. And so I would like to thank them for their hard work and their commitment to the district and the students
042within it. The Rape Counseling Department is comprised of 18 counselors. Seven at the elementary level, four at the middle school levels, two at the ninth grade center, one at the success and raymies, and four at Rayek High School, which includes a post-secary and A+ advisor. With their unique skills and qualifications, it's no surprise that school counselors serve as the hub for students academic, career, and personal social development. As you can see, they provide a wide range of supports to students and families around academics, behavior, post-secondary planning, and physical and emotional well-being. I really want to highlight one key impact that's shown here. One of the most important things that all Ray counselors do is facilitate the district's annual SOS screener. This is an evidence-based suicide prevention screener conducted for students in grades 6 through 12
043each school year. The main focus of SOS is to teach students how to recognize signs of depression and suicide and access help not just for themselves but for a friend. While it is a tremendous undertaking under the leadership of our MTSS coordinator Allison Scott and her team, it stands as a shining example of the value Rayek places on the well-being of our students and the sense of commitment our district has towards our fe our families and the greater Raymore peculiar community. On this side, you'll see the goals counselors work to achieve by the spring of the 2425 school year. Under goal one, in March of this year, the tool used to self assess counseling programs, the Internal Improvement Review, or IIIR, was replaced by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary EL Education with a
044new tool, the Missouri Comprehensive School Counseling Program Evaluation, or the CSCP. There has to be an acronym or education. Both tools serve the same purpose, helping counselors assess their work in areas such as the Missouri counseling curriculum, individual student planning, responsive services, and program resources. The new tool, however, includes updated K through2 counseling standards, and greater alignment with student outcomes and accountability. This year, all Ray Pek counselors will self assess using the comprehensive school counseling program evaluation and establish a new baseline. A new goal tied to that transition appears on the next slide. Regarding goal number two, there's nuance in why this goal wasn't fully met. As a district, and specifically within our multi-tered system of supports, we have evolved our evidence-based practices to extend beyond traditional skills-based groups. While skills-based counseling groups remain one
045way counselors implement evidence-based practices, we now use additional strategies to better meet students changing needs, including check and connect and checkin and checkout. Accordingly, our goal in this area has also evolved, as you'll see in the next slide. And finally, market value assets or MVAs are an important component of RAPEC's portrait of a graduate. These meaningful real world experiences enhance student readiness, and include internships, industry credentials, client projects, or nine or more college credit hours. Graduating with at least one MVA is not only a key district objective, it will also be a Rayek graduation requirement for the class of 2027. To that point, it's important to note that counselors have and will continue to regularly meet one- on-one with our district sophomore, junior, and senior students to ensure that they have or are in the
046process of meeting the MVA requirement. Courses that include client connected projects are also being added to future course guides along with the development of communication for students, parents, and guardians within focus. Over the next two years, the Rayex School Counseling Department is committed to the goals that you see here while concurrently working to strengthen the structural foundation of our counseling program as a whole. This includes updating the district's school counseling manual and ensuring alignment with Missouri's model guidance standards. We also plan to review our system of supports by asking the question, are we meeting the needs of our students and families to the very best of our ability. Assessing that complex question will include conducting a time on task analysis and using data to examine student outcomes such as achievement, attendance, and behavior. This process
047will help evaluate program success and guide the development of our next steps. And finally, as proud as we are of our counselors and their incredibly important work, we know there's always room for improvement. Rapeex counselors are committed to continuing their collaboration with Mrs. Scott and her outstanding MTSS team to res respond systemically to student needs through counselor evidence-based tiered supports. They will continue emphasizing college and career readiness standards for K through2 students and increasing the number of graduates with MVAs. And in alignment with Rayek's strategic plan, they are also committed to evaluating pursuing a high quality social emotional curriculum for high school students that promote the development of skills necessary for success not only as graduates and contributing members of the community but beyond. That does conclude my presentation and I and my colleagues will
048stand by for questions. I guess I'll go um with our tagline of choice happens here for the school district with all of the choices. Do you feel that the counseling department has the information and the knowledge of everything that is available for us to help the kids choose? That's an outstanding question and I really do I know that they um are continuing to emphasize those additional programs that are available and they take that role very very seriously. Um they're learning, you know, as we continue to add on additional opportunities for students. They're continuing to learn as well. Um but I do know that they emphasize those programs with students and with families um during back to school nights during um meet the teacher activities and events um parent teacher conferences at the start of the
049year. They meet with students one- on- one and share those opportunities with those that um are ready for that. Uh so I do think that they have a working knowledge of them, but I think that we're continuing to learn how to better um spread the good word as well. >> Okay, perfect. because there's a lot >> there's a lot >> and it's all different than how it was when >> when we sat in the seats, too. So, making sure you guys feel equipped for that. >> I really I think that they are and I think that we're continuing to do a better job of getting that word out there. >> Okay. >> Thank you for that pres. >> Thank you very much. Well, how much time do you spend counseling parents? I mean, it seems
050like, you know, a lot of times the kid is all in, but you know, because of the home life, it's it's tough for them to be allin. >> Yeah, I think that that's a really great question. It's kind of a loaded question, but it's a it's a really great question. And I will say that, you know, we want to work with the student and the family. Um, and I've really seen our counselors do that at all levels. um especially at the elementary level, they begin those relationships, building those relationships with the families very early on and um and then continue those relationships through elementary into middle and then where it gets picked up in high school um where we really are focusing on okay we know where you want to be now how are we
051going to get you there that includes the family and involves the family so I would say it's a shared partnership uh between home and school and that that communication with the student. It's kind of equaled uh communication with the parents. >> Okay. >> Thank you very much for that presentation. Now on to summer school recap. Dr. Vulkar, you haven't had the mic for a while. >> I you know I'm kind of feeling left out. >> I know. >> Before I start, I do want to uh kind of echo Dr. Sliggel and I know this isn't about summer school, but the additions to our academic services staff that their professionalism and the skills and will and the ability that they bring are incredible. So, I I've been here a long time and I know what great
052people and great positions and a great department can do for our kids. So, I appreciate your support and and what they do. So, I know that wasn't about summer school, so I apologize for that. Um I do I do and I don't I'm not going to give it up. Thank you uh for allowing me to talk about summer school tonight. I really want to talk and thank the staff first. We have hundreds of staff that work with on a summer school that develop a program that literally has thousands of students um and we roll out and it's like beginning a new school year all over again. So, we have staff that start really pretty much next month that will begin planning and organizing and setting up for a summer school program that has over 2300
053students and over a hundred staff and really high quality learning that takes place. So, I want to start with a thank you for all those people and I want to thank our administration and our board of education. So, we ask a lot of you um and you deliver time and time again and allow us to have programs like this summer school that's all-encompassing and provides so much for so many different types of learner. So, I thank you for that. So, um I guess we're going to start with the financials, which is just fine. Um some of us like to start with the financials. Looking at that, you can see our revenue and growth in the summer school program. and I'm not going to talk about this for a long time is very healthy. We're at
054the point where our summer school program brings uh funds and revenues into our school district while at the same time providing amazing opportunities for students. This allows us to continue to think how can we expand, how can we grow, what can we provide our students and I know as Dr. Bar and the team um take on there's Dr. bar over here take on the summer school opportunity and grow it as a part of academic services. They will be able to do that because we know we're bringing in revenue that's appropriate and we're fiscally sound in our programming. So, we'll continue to look at that and what we can do for our students. We're always looking at growth opportunities and summer school is a is a an avenue that we can continue to explore new and
055exciting things for our kids. So, we're going to continue to do that. if you could switch back to >> question for you. >> Oh yes, sure. >> Um I noticed that in 2025 we started reporting the special education cost. Have we seen an increase of special education students attending summer school? >> I that's a great question and I'd have to go back and look exactly at the numbers. So I'm going to give you anecdotal and then check a little bit later to make sure. I I haven't seen our summer school special education percentage increase drastically. like it isn't something that I noticed and said we need to increase services. We never had just included them. They were always a separate budget line. So they just were never included in the financial report. And I'm talking
056to Tiffany Banks. She's like they're summer school staff. We need to include them in the financial report. So no, I haven't anecdotally seen an increase, but I'll go back and check and make sure those numbers are are correct. Okay. looking at our summer school enrollment just we continue to see really solid um a little bit of a decline from uh from last year. We'll look at a little bit of why uh we see a decline at the middle level. That was probably kind of our biggest drop in that. We changed our middle level program. I honestly still believe it was probably changed for the better, but it wasn't as long. So, it wasn't an all day program. So, I could see that our sixth and seventh grade parents um that you're always weighing that when
057you think about summer school and sixth and seventh graders often you have to find staff as well and you have to keep high quality programming and so having middle schoolers there for seven or eight hours really was we found wasn't as productive. It might be nice as on the parent side. We'll have to have that conversation. But still really good summer school numbers, really good June. June is our inperson. Most of that is an in-person situation. Will you see July with the 434? That's strictly online. So we had over 400 students that uh access online material. We had over um 1,800 credit varying courses passed, which means that is a lot though most of those were half credit. So we're talking almost 900 credits earned. Think about that. It takes 24 credits in Missouri, 26
058at Raybeck to have a high school diploma. That's a lot of diplomas just grab that wrapped into one summer school. Now, of course, that's not what you do. That's spread across thousands of kids, you know, 900 or so as we talk about the high school, but that's still a neat stat when you look at how many credits kids are able to earn summer. And it's through multiple different ways. So, we've got our online platforms are launch and Viper and our staff doing it. And then we have a lot of credit recovery and then we have students that are taking courses for the first time and earning credit. It's really a great opportunity um whether you're falling behind or trying to get ahead for students to gain and earn credits and then just learn some really
059fun things. So, we're going to scroll down and talk about our survey. We send this out every year. Our participation has dipped every year in our survey. We talk about every year. Maybe this is something that uh Dr. Bar can find a different way to gather this information. And I will tell you, I I know you're going to want to see it every year, but the information is very similar every year. Our parents appreciate what our summer school program provides at a very high level. So when you're talking about just looking at fours or fives, 85 to 90% of our parents are score us in the four to five range on a five-point leard scale. Now, this is enjoyment. If you want to keep scrolling down, we can go through these. This is enjoyment. This
060is quality of teaching in the summer school program. Our quality of administration in the summer school program shows us the same thing. Educational programming and classes show us the same thing as you go. Effectiveness of safety measures, we started that with COVID and I kept it as we do um our secured entries and our check-in process and using Raptor. Are we still doing those? Those are important things. Are we still doing them in the summer? And I want to ask our parents, are they still seeing those? And they're definitely saying. And then the overall quality of the summer school program. So, if you keep scrolling down and I added some actual comments and trends. I think even Dr. Sliggel said, "Are you sure you want to add actual comments um from this?" And I said,
061"Yes." And this is why I really like that. You see this is exactly what they said. If they had a name on there, I removed that. Now, this is not all the comments, but I tried to pull ones that were both positived and themed, kind of chunked together, and then maybe ones that are a little more critical and themed and chunked together. In general, they love the active learning. They love the opportunities to do and be um a part of their educational process. They love the STEAM focus and the STEM focus that we have, science, technology, uh engineering, arts, and math. And they like those projects as we go. Um, if you'll notice, there's suggestions. Some asked for more advanced notice about enrollment for summer school. You know what that tells me? No matter how
062much we communicate, we're going to have to keep trying to communicate more because it seems like we send out so many communications about it's time to enroll. There's still people leave very busy lives. So, we're going to have to keep using social media and finding other ways to connect. And then there were some about um communication themed and I just picked one communication. I we've got we're gonna continue to talk to our teachers that teachers get busy. It's 16 days at the elementary school. Um they parents still want in fact what I've noticed parent wants parents want more communication in summer school than they do during the regular school year. That's what I've noticed. That's really challenging to continue to provide that and encourage our staff. Our our administrators do newsletters and they send weekly
063reports and we still have folks say they want more. So, we're going to have to figure out what that more looks like and how we can provide that. And then the bus service, although I I I think our bus service did improve. I'm excited to see this summer um with Ryan Naylor leading up our bus service. He's done an amazing job for us. Another thank you. Um, and I really think I'm excited to see him take a hold of that and see what this summer's bus service can be as we grow into that. So, that are those are the themes. That's the information. That's the financials. I want to say thank you again. I believe we have an amazing summer school program for our kids. We're just going to keep working to try and make
064it better. Any questions for me? Yes. Are we still seeing a number of children that would benefit from summer school that are not taking advantage of the program? >> Yeah, I think that's still going to be something that we have to work on. We do encouragements and some I would call pseudo required in that. Um, but most of it is it highly encouraged. We do see a lot of take advantage. We wish we had more. And then summer school, sometimes students self- select themselves out. Meaning the realization is summer school is not a required program. If their behavior is disruptive enough to the learning environment, they're going to be asked not to return. Students at some levels figure that out. Um, and I almost call it self- select out. That we don't want that. and
065we work with them to change behaviors and for but it is uh not a required program and if they can't behave and they are disrupting the learning process some are asked not to return so there's a little bit of balance we need those that really need it to attend and we need those that really need it to stay and those are things I think we'll always continue to work on >> thank you Dr. Thank you very much. >> On to the Cass County legislative priorities. Dr. Slegel. >> Thank you, Madame Vice President. >> Included in your agenda tonight are the Cass County legislative priorities. Uh these priorities were de developed collaboratively among 10 school districts in Cass County. Each board of education in the county will review and adopt the same set of legislative priorities.
066Uh President Johnson and I work together on these alongside our colleagues in the other districts. Tonight is an introduction of this document for your review. We plan to bring this back to you for formal approval in November and you may recall seeing a preview of these priorities in your board update just two weeks ago. Be happy to try to answer any questions you might have on on any of them. If not, we will enter this into the record as introduction and approve in November. >> It's very thorough. There's no questions. >> Very good. I'll take that. Um, on to action items with the September 2025 finance report. >> Yes, we have one action item this evening, the monthly finance report. I'm going to kind of set the table for uh Tiffany Banks here. Uh, this
067report contains the same financial data that you've seen in the past. However, we're making a small procedural change tonight. Rather than including it in the consent agenda as was previously, we are moving it to an action item section so that Tiffany can present it to you and you can ask questions as needed. It's the same report, same data that you've seen in consent, but this approach allows for a little more explanation around our financial picture each month. Tiffany, >> well, thank you so much um for the opportunity to present the September 30th financials to you all this evening. Um, we uploaded the customary monthly financial reports to you all in advance for review and I'm pleased to share that our first quarter is shaping up very well. Overall revenues and expenditures are tracking right where
068we expected and our fund balances remain healthy. The small shifts we've seen from last year are all within normal patterns for this point in the fiscal year. Our spending continues to reflect purposeful investments in our people, classrooms, and technology, all areas that directly support teaching and learning. In short, we're financially stable, positioned well for the year ahead, and grateful for the continued collaboration that keeps us strong. With that, I respectfully recommend the board to approve the September financial reports as presented. >> Are there any questions? It seems like most of them decreased the amounts. I mean, is that the amount we're getting? >> Yes. So, revenue um revenue was slightly under where we were at this point last year and expenses were just um slightly higher. >> Reason for that >> reason. Yeah. Under Yeah,
069it's very reasonable. Um very cyclical. Um normal all within normal range. We'll let the board know historically we've brought to you in November a budget amendment. We'll be discussing that in our uh November 13th work session. Paul to your question because you know we set a budget back in June >> and then reality comes to fruition. We shake the tree a little bit and then Tiffany brings to you. Okay, here's where we're really at for the year. We went over it today. I can tell you it's not going to be uh as far as a uh final financial position too much out of what we were expecting, but there are some movements in there that we'll discuss next in two weeks to give you a very clear picture of where we're headed for the rest
070of the school year. I'll give you the 30,000 foot view. I'm not alarmed by it. So, >> thank you, Tiffany. >> You're welcome. >> We have to vote on it. >> Oh, sorry. We need a motion. Gosh, I was so excited um to not have a question, but to we need a motion to approve the September 2025 finance report as presented. >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? Motion passes unanimously. Thank you for reminding me. Um now on to committee reports. Yesterday the audit committee met yesterday. >> That was yesterday. Yes. um and went over the audit uh with timing of where things are. We're going to wait to get the final audit report um until December. Uh so there we're just everything is fantastic waiting just until
071requirements for not Furpa but >> yeah there's something federal wigs not final. So audit is great. Um, Tiffany and her team got another big thumbs up from our auditor. Uh, talked through that. That's why I didn't have any questions today because I asked a lot of questions yesterday. Uh, and so all good there. Anyone else met? Ruth probably has, but she'll give us that next time. So, okay. On to the superintendent's update. >> Thank you for my superintendent update tonight. Uh many of the items that I've shared with you recently are already in the agenda. So I want to point our viewing public to that that the committee can see the same updates that you receive uh each week. I do want to highlight one important area of one of those updates was that within
072our strategic plan uh with our was our portrait portrait of the graduate progressions. I know you saw that last week. This has been one of our key action steps for the year. The progressions give us a very clear way to measure how effectively we're developing the competencies and attributes that you see on the wall right there. uh as defined by our portrait of a graduate. The work is progressing well and I'm very encouraged by where our teams are headed with it. Earlier this week, I know you saw I sent out my annual weather message to parents and staff. Good times, huh? Uh it included details about how we intend to communicate during inclement weather events this year, as well as our plans for handling each type of day from traditional closures to virtual learning options.
073You will note we've also added a two-hour delayed start this year. Don't get too excited because I don't know if we'll use it very often, but at least we'll have it in our arsenal uh to use it if if needed. Uh the work that I have uh been asked to do on this school finance state task force continues where I'm focusing with a group of others on local effort calculations and helping develop a new potential model for local uh local effort when it comes to school finance. That work has been engaging and important and fun and I'll continue to update the board as we progress in that. also had the opportunity to present at the Missouri School Boards Association conference last weekend. Tiffany Banks also presented at the conference and uh we love seeing Rayex
074so well represented there. I want to say how great it was to see so many of our board members in attendance. Thank you for that. Uh your engagement and presence at those events do not go unnoticed. It reflects very well in our district. And I believe we're going to have some time at our work session in a couple weeks to talk and debrief for those that were there about some questions and other uh opportunities that they they want uh to pursue and and talk about amongst their amongst their colleagues. Tomorrow morning is our prime time breakfast. It's an event for our senior citizens in our district to learn more about the great things our students and staffs are doing. As part of that discussion, we'll be presenting the flyer that you have before you. That's
075this one here. one created by our communications team highlighting just how we are providing more life enhancing choice and opportunities for our students than ever before. We are looking forward to meeting with our senior citizens tomorrow at 8 a.m. at the Lead Center. And finally, on a celebratory note, it's been an outstanding fall for Rayek activities. Our girls golf team brought home a state championship about a week ago. And today, our girls softball team won their state semi-final game and will be playing for a state championship tomorrow morning in Springfield. We will be recognizing both of those groups in our November board meeting. It's been an exciting season across the board. You'll receive a full activities recap in your November update and get to meet some of those student athletes when we recognize them. So,
076very excited about that. I know a couple of us will be headed down to the game tomorrow to to support. Uh Dr. Bar will be taking on the uh senior citizens event at the lead center. So we'll be spread out but uh doing great work for the school district. So go Panthers. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Siggel. Um on to board of education comments. >> You guys are so talkative now. I know why Ruth likes me to talk all the time. Um, and as Dr. Siggel talked, we were at the uh, conference on Friday and Saturday. Ruth was there, I think, all week. Um, and had a lot of good things that came out of that from our sessions and we will bring those in the the working our next working session. bring some
077of those ideas and sessions that we um attended to uh the board for us to have conversations on maybe some changes. Um and my other comment would be sunscreen. So make sure you wear sunscreen tomorrow. >> And with uh that we'll talk calendar of events. November 13th work session at 6 pm. November 20th regular meeting 6 pm closed 700 p.m. open. And with that we are >> adjourned. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> The motion.