001dr calcutta has something to share with us please rise [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] no [Music] [Applause] the united states of america to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all welcome to the rockwood board of education meeting we would like to thank you thank the administrative team and all of the staff and students at lafayette high school for being gracious hosts for our meeting this evening thank you also to the ambassadors who are here from our schools to assist with greeting and signing in our guests the purpose of this meeting is to conduct the business of the district hear reports about our progress and listen to the community on important issues we want to remind all of our visitors that we expect the audience
002to remain civil and respectful at all times as the board conducts its business calling out verbal aggressiveness inappropriate language or name calling is not acceptable if the meeting becomes unruly the board may take a recess until such time the audience is appropriate if inappropriate behavior continues by individuals they may be asked to leave the meeting if the audience becomes so inappropriate in their behavior that we can't conduct our business the borders reserves are right to adjourn the meeting this board of education meeting is live streamed for the community's convenience opinions expressed at the meeting are not necessarily the opinions of the rockwood school district youtube reserves the right to monitor and block inaccurate and misleading content the process is beyond the control the rockwood school district we want to we want everyone to have the
003ability to see and have the ability to hear the business of the district reports presented and the comments of everyone who is here to speak we regret we request that all individuals speak slowly and clearly if you have a sign we ask that you keep it down low so you are not obstructing the views of others we appreciate your cooperation and that you took the time to to attend tonight's meeting and again thank you lafayette choir for the beautiful introductory to our meeting i do i have a motion to approve the tonight's agenda so moved second any discussion the motion is to approve the agenda all in favor aye aye any opposed okay do i have a motion to approve the board of education meeting minutes for september 1st 2022 somebody any discussion all in
004favor i'm not any opposed the motion carries we will now move to our patron comments section and i will read this in our introduction before we get started there during patron comments rockwood patrons may address the board of education concerning issues related to the school district under updated policy there are now two patron comments section during regular board meetings the first public comment period shall be slowly for patron comments related to items on tonight's agenda which will be limited to 30 minutes in total the second public comment period shall occur at the end of the meeting order a business and shall be for patrons to make statements or address the board concerning any issues pertaining to the rockwood school district this evening we didn't we do have a number of patron comments signed up to
005speak about non-agenda items and we are allocating up to one where i'm sorry i don't believe we i think we're okay for it tonight yes so we're good okay please know that patrons also have the opportunity to submit comments and writing to the board at any time each speaker will be limited to three minutes combining time or giving your time to someone else to speak is not allowed only one speaker is allowed at the podium at a time the board uses the public comment periods as an opportunity to listen and receive information but board members will not engage in debates or discussions with those speaking other than to seek clarification of their comments a board member may ask that the superintendent ensure that their appropriate staff members follows up in a timely fashion with individuals
006regarding the information question or concerns presented during patron comments we have a stand ready with migrant we have a stand with microphones ready so both the board and the audience may hear the patrons comments clearly i would like to remind everyone that comments about individual employees and our students will not be permitted in public session we also expect that you will remain civil and respectful in your remarks and if anyone becomes disruptive we reserve the right to cut your three minutes short verbally aggressive language and vulgarity in any form is not acceptable whether you are reading someone else's remarks or they are your own it will not be tolerated the board appreciates that you have taken the time to come this evening and we value both your input and your perspective for your convenience our
007three minute clock is ready and our first speaker tonight is jane lee smith i would like to speak about our partnership with ssd i'm a parent of nine children in the district and over the last 17 years my children have been in an ssd out of school placement classrooms self-contained classrooms in the district in tech schools in the resource room and pretty much everywhere that ssd serves my family represents almost every aspect of what ssd is but what you don't know is that your partnership is people amazing people my son wouldn't be here today with us if it weren't for amazing people who went above and beyond when no one was required during the summer after he was graduated they helped my son and his family my brother or my son also edited this so
008i have to figure this out but our perspective is very personal again that's eight of my nine children that is a lot of children um but sarah most defines for us what ssd is because just to get her to lasalle to her point now in her education it has taken hundreds of people and nine years in both districts that's what a partnership is it's both districts working together and every time in the last two years that i've heard teachers disparaged staff all of this i need you to know that my family trusts both districts every single day i put my daughter on a bus to come here i trust that your staff are the last people she will ever see in her life if i can't get there that is how much trust people put
009into all of you and i am hurt and often surprised at the behavior because what i hear is me and mine and you and yours i need to hear hours from every adult in this room not just the ones on the stage every adult maya angelou said it best do your best until you know better then when you know better do better that is what we've been trying to do i challenge all of us in this room in our district you don't need to be kind you just need to be civil you need to respect the people in the room in our community our community our children and rockwood and ssd are in this together all members of our community our staff my teachers and all means all next is danielle mert hello my name
010is danielle meart i use she her pronouns and i'm here to say thank you for the anti-bullying ambassador program in rockwood my family and many others have been bullied by our elected officials the last three years in missouri i actually first learned about the legislation bullying transgender children in missouri on thursday january 2020. my family was at our monthly transparent support group meeting and the room was more packed than usual everyone was talking about the legislation that had been filed in jefferson city there were health care bans education bans youth sports bands bathroom bands bans on marriage equality their it was targeting our health care providers our mental health care team my family personally was being accused of felony child abuse and neglect where we would go to jail for 15 years um the same
011as if we like raped you know a 15 year old and impregnated them you know like just by giving our gender for healthcare we would be subjected to 15 years in prison and the first bill my child a rockwood student uh testified in opposition to was missouri's don't say gay bill like passed in florida this year he was in seventh grade at the time and has since testified countless times in jefferson city facing his bullies in our state's capital and until recently it's been fairly smooth sailing here in rockwood however recent elected officials have been referring to my child's identity as crap which is unacceptable and not in alignment with rockwood and it's infuriating that the same elected official currently uses two different names throughout the week and expects that we respect their identity whether
012it's saturday or thursday night or any other day of the week but my child who has been insistent persistent and consistent for four years hasn't swapped names back you know throughout the week even a single time yeah this official work refers to my child's identity as crap and it gives students in this district the okay to bully my child and that's not okay and i'm here and i will continue to be here because i care about all students in this district and anyone who doesn't shouldn't be in public education in any form at all so again i thank you for setting the example to those of you who support the anti-pulling initiative thank you for sending it a good example for our students that they can be the best citizens thank you jan sprunger i
013hope i said that correctly oh wow thank you dr kane and board members for allowing me to speak i know it's not always easy for you serving and listening to the people of your district and discerning what is the best way to serve our children the students well i know we may not all agree on every issue i pray that you seek wisdom in your decisions for our child's sake thank you for your service as a resident having children and now grandchildren in the district here's my concern first thank you for pausing the diversity equity and inclusion program from substitute teaching in schools and being around parents i see there's much division among our families on this topic and how it is going to be incorporated into a child's daily learning the district needs to
014let the parents know what it contains what research was done and why it is beneficial to our children or students not doing so will only create more distrust of the school board parents need to know how this curriculum is being incorporated into their child's daily learning we have many faiths cultures ethics groups and disabilities in our district which is awesome and special however individual family moral values whether religious or otherwise are particularly important to them families in the district and different for each individual family a set of values or teachings taken from a de i pro curriculum that may be controversial to our children's beliefs may present the possibility of a student feeling unsafe or fearful to talk about their different views this doesn't represent our mission well in short rockwood embraces and celebrates the
015diversity presently in art presently in our society community and schools and provide necessary resources and support to ensure each student's life in a welcoming and engaging learning environment a hefty sum of our tax money is being used to implement this program wouldn't the cost of our tax fund be better used to educate our children in developing strong character traits like integrity respect of others compassion serving in our community etc well providing strong academics which is needed within and outside of school community as it is stated rockwood's mission is to do whatever it takes to ensure all students realize their potential love life and find success my questions are one will you re-evaluate the diversity of equity and inclusion program and or remove it for something more suitable for our students where can i look for
016research on this program and any documented studies to prove the benefit for our students and if you move forward how will parents be informed about the curriculum rebecca league i know i messed that up hi i'm here because i'm excited about the revision of the partnership agreement i also appear it can be easily dismissed as another dry task of data collection and not become an agent of change that a meaningful change that it's intended to be i'd like everyone to understand that this revision is a collective result of families struggling to navigate special education and the lack of partner districts as a leftover over result of historic segregation to actively assist us and share responsibility with ssd what do we want that we're not getting introductory materials overview information transition resources to be giving them
017given the information we need through rockford channels and on rockwood websites we want our building principals and rockwood teachers to be have the ability and agency to answer our questions and help our kids and give us guidance we want a system upgrade where kids aren't placed in self-contained rooms in kindergarten so because they have a moderate or severe disability diagnosis it feels really exclusionary when raqqa doesn't host the basic information we need in its assisted existing established channels when it has the capacity to easily do that so i encourage you all to prioritize action on this agreement and embrace this revision as an opportunity to create systemic meaningful change that families can feel and not another dry task ssd parent survey results show communication was our number one complaint please understand this is not simply
018uh failing to host basic set information on rockwood's website but the segregation of communication that comes from the that starts with the building principles all the way down to take home folders there are lots of ssd staff assigned to rothwood but only one rapid position dedicated to special education in my understanding there's a difference of styles between ssd and rst that families like mine feels and rockwood employees have the freedom to move more openly and freely because they're unhampered by legal restraints ssd is down there i'd like you to consider creating a position rsc ssd collaboration liaison family navigator something to help bridge the gap between districts i know works being done but it's on the full face of current leadership rockaway this revision has the potential to be a hammer flip to break down
019the remnants of the wall of segregation that still exists and still harming us the shark stones remaining are actively hurting our children blocking the road to success forcing them off the main road and onto a path of future separation i urge you not to dismiss this signal to change but embrace it with leadership energy and light the way for other partner districts to follow thank you and that concludes our patron comments for this section of the meeting okay we now have superintendent and board comments dr king thank you vice president mid yet good evening all this week september 12th through the 16th is parent and family involvement in education week in the state of missouri a time to celebrate the importance and benefit of parent and family involvement in education and encourage greater involvement of
020parents and families in their children's education both in school and in home i would like to thank the parent volunteers and all of our school communities along with all the rockwood parents and families for the time and care you put into helping to ensure all students realize their potential as a part of my continuing efforts to listen and learn from the rockwood school district community i am participating in a series of six community meet and greets over the first two months of the school year these are great opportunities for me to have some important conversations with our students staff members families and other community members as i determine how to best lead the district in the years ahead i have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity i have had to meet with our families at forest park
021over the summer for our annual meet me in st louis event as well as the first two meet and greets that we had during the school year one held at selvage middle school and the other at lasalle springs middle school i'm looking forward to upcoming meet and greets at rockwood valley which will be next tuesday crestview on september 27th and wildwood on october 12th and then rockwood south on october 18th you can visit the rsd.org website under the superintendent area for more information a total of 38 students representing all four rockwood high schools that's maybe a first take that off there's no need to get any of that sorry about that a total of 38 students representing all four rockwood high schools have been named semi-finalists for the national merit scholarship program each year approximately
02216 000 high school seniors from around the nation are selected as semi-finalists for this prestigious program which gives them the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7 250 national merit scholarships worth approximately 28 million dollars that will be offered in the spring this pool of semi-finalists represents less than one percent of all u.s high school seniors marquette high school has the highest number of national merit national merit scholarship semifinalist of any public high school in the state of missouri this year and has the second highest total amongst all state schools i think it's also important to note that 12 percent of the national semi national merit semifinalist in the state of missouri come from the rockwood school district [Applause] congratulations to these outstanding rockwood students on this very impressive accomplishment this past sunday
023september 11th marked patriot day nationally in emergency services day here in the state of missouri a day of appreciation respect and gratitude for all of the public safety personnel including police firefighters ambulance personnel and emergency dispatchers in the rockwood school district we are very grateful for the partnerships that we enjoy with our community first responders they work in an indispensable manner to keep our schools safe welcoming places for all of our students staff members and families here's a video message featuring some of our first responders hi my name is protection district i proudly serve the fedex schools in the rockwood school district my name is police officer joe shepard saint louis county police department school resource officer for the rockford [Music] elementary bridge meadows elementary and here at the creative learning center i'm scott walters
024the assistant chief of the original philosophy district we serve high school three elementary schools in the eureka early childhood education center hi my name is protection district we proudly serve the areas of fallen [Music] [Applause] i think it's important to note that um our students literally were not here for september 11 2001. they literally didn't exist and so um there's been a lot that has transpired but um i think we should be very thankful for what our first responders do in our community so let's give them a round of applause with the likes of [Applause] those are all my comments for this evening thank you we will move on to 7.7.01 approval of consent agenda items do i have a motion to approve the consent agenda items as submitted discussion for failure to file [Music]
025it looks like the organization had failed to file with the state of missouri and um they did not file the the proper paperwork so we can cannot operate as a business entity so i would like to remove that one which one 7.05 if it's one item in 7.05 it's specifically that item yes that item and also i would like to have um further discussions on the j w e so i would like those two items removed what was the second one is he i'm sorry what was this what was the second one j-w-e i would like to know uh the process of the bidding on that one where's that one at and the same 7.5 7.05 what is that regarding please is he oh i'm sorry it's under learning and support services can't hear you
026it's in learning and support services under the purchases over 7 500. it's under support services and you're asking that that be removed yes for discussion later or what yes further discussion but the first one the shantae duncan that should be removed completely because they are not [Music] they do not have the proper license with the state of missouri so they cannot operate as a business entity how did you find that out can i ask i looked it up very good and and the last and the other one what to reason i would like to know um how do we go about the bidding why is there just one bidder on that one okay had you contacted paul about that yet sitting right behind you is he yes okay thank you yes on the second one
027for jwe often times we have vendors that provide a unique service and they're considered a single source vendor so in this case this if you look at the uh the item that's presented the number of bits obtained it noticed a single source vendor for this this particular item in other cases [Music] sometimes understood source of problem purchases okay thank you thank you yes ian thank you paul so i need a point of clarification since we've talked about two items do we need to approve each item individually we're just going to remove the first item off for a separate meeting and then now are you clear on the jwe or do you want to pull it off for further discussion of this meeting since paul spoke about it so oh so it is just you're saying
028that it is just the one better paul i'm sorry i didn't hear this particular so when i read about it they're supposed to um offer what exactly to yes it's teacher training for cultural proficiency in the classroom with instruction so they're learning how to interact with students in the classroom and it's a vendor that we've used before she's been very popular and has given us a lot of great construction strategies okay thank you okay we'll leave it we'll just remove the okay shantae duncan it's under student services under purchases over 7 500. it's the second if you scroll down it's the second attachment do we need a motion to remove that from the consent we can just move um do the motion to approve consent with the exception with the removal of the shantae duncan
029item only okay and just for the sake of clarity we're going to go back to our due diligence if everything checks out we will be bringing that item back to the board of education at the next regularly scheduled meeting thank you i was going to ask you about that who typically looks at those licenses and whatnot there's most definitely a process mr northangen will speak to that yes oftentimes require annual filings or biannual violence so uh those who checked typically with a corporate status on those i'll have to research this particular event i did look at it briefly there was a filing back in may that they didn't do their thank you paul all right i am lights are not working with my contacts very well all right so thank you no problem okay i'm
030going to revise the motion to approve the consent agenda items with the exception of the contract for shantae duncan all right do i have a second second i mean do i have a motion so do i have a second okay all in favor [Music] any opposed okay all right now also we have three gifts which are in the in the cons we also have three events three guys we have three donations that are in the consent items and they're up there on the board you'll see a familiar one with rockwood summit every time rockwood summit has something this time they have two thousand two hundred twenty two dollars and fifty cents to support the baseball program and tell us what the different pieces are that they wanted big one from utah valley pto forty one
031thousand five hundred and eighty five dollars donations to school and that's the support the students and the staff and they gave some examples and the third one is stanton pto six thousand and six dollars to the school additional support of stanton elementary provides field day costs class parties and classroom materials boy make sure you send thank yous all three of these those are those are some excellent donations which i'm sure we do each time thank you to all three of those thank you okay next on the agenda is 8.01 educational partnership agreement with with special school district do i have a motion to approve the rockwoods special school district education partnership agreement second and discussion and to to lead our discussion is dr carmen harris and dr jamie smith good evening thank you for the
032opportunity to share this important information about our shared partnership agreement with special school district and rockwood school district i'll be sharing briefly the purpose of our partnership agreement the most recent revisions to the agreement and highlight some of the strengths and growth opportunities for us specifically in blackwood the revised agreement is really a purpose for us to have an increased knowledge and awareness of the expectations between our two districts it helps to guide conversations and provides us with a tool to help monitor the progress that we have in seven specific areas including staffing teaching learning and accountability collaboration of responsibilities and resources student services data and technology transportation and career technical education we had a recent revision in may of 2022 and there were five specific areas that were revised in the current partnership agreement
033one was stacking with some added goals teaching learning and accountability for a review of standards and indicators and progress of those of responsibilities and resources specifically with the ssd administration attending what we know as pac which is our parent advisory committee student services providing equitable services throughout the county and data and technology equitable processes for tech resources and that hyperloop will bring you to the 2223 school year partnership agreement adding to those components that we have in this most recent revision i will highlight three of those for you this evening one is that the directors and special education coordinators will meet with our partner district superintendent to share some of the information with regards to the current standards and indicators for our instructional leaders it's a great opportunity for our partner district superintendent to provide
034specific feedback to us as leaders we also have an opportunity as directors and coordinators to present at the start of each academic year our leadership at this special school district as well as partner district to talk a little bit about what our goals are for the upcoming school year specifically this year we'll be meeting in october and we'll share some information about the goals we have for our children receiving special education services specifically in the area of numeracy and finally the special education director and coordinators attending our partner parent advisory councils in our partner districts and this is an opportunity for dr jamie smith and myself to support our families through the current repack of our rockwood equity parent advisory council and we'll be looking through that lens of supporting students with differing abilities throughout
035our district the plan has an assessment and an evaluation component and it's completed by myself and the partner district liaison dr jamie smith in the fall and spring of each school year dr jamie smith and i complete that evaluation tool annually given feedback and data from a variety of stakeholders the acknowledgement of this particular plan is with both ssdn partner district agreeing to the following we endorse the vision mission and belief statements outlined in the educational partnership agreement of saint louis county we support collaboration and shared responsibility in providing equitable and seamless implementation of services for every student we understand that the educational partnership agreement of singles county will guide collaborative efforts to enable every child to achieve his or her full potential and we commit to working cooperatively to implement the principles of the
036educational partnership agreement of st louis county in our school district we also have an acknowledgement of both the ssd and partner district boards requiring the signature of both superintendents of special school district and rockwood as well as ssd board president and rockwood president specifically outlining some of our strengths and our growth opportunities for us here in rockwood we have a few things that i'd like to highlight this evening one of our great strengths is the partner district will supply all materials instructional resources and technology for the general education curriculum to be implemented in both the general and special education setting dr willa and her curriculum team continue to ensure that our special education staff have everything that they need to provide that access to instruction ms katrin and her team have been instrumental in ensuring
037access to all needed technology for both staff and students we also highlight to ensure the alignment of the assurance document the ssd coordinator and building principal will partner to ensure that there's equitable space allocated for special education programming and personnel each year dr smith and dr cobb meet with me to review what those potential spaces might be we walk those buildings with our building administrators and identify any specific needs and finally ssd and parker district will collaborate to ensure services are available to meet students educational needs in the least restrictive environment and this is actually a point of pride for us in rockwood so over 78 of our students who receive special education services are in their general education setting for 80 or more of their day which is a very very high percentage some
038of our growth opportunities include collaboration around scheduling and staffing allocations to ensure equity transparency and understanding of district decision making at the school and district level so this is really including collaborating with our special and general education administrators when we're creating those master schedules so that we can review options to ensure flexibility in the services and supports for our students who are receiving those services in both gen and sped also considering our students who need adult support we also highlight an opportunity of growth in collaborating annually to update the integrated tiered model of instruction gap analysis and professional learning for our district again we continue to review those tiers of intervention to ensure that all students have access to quality tier 1 instruction and that we have an increase in those tier 2 supports for
039all students and finally ssb and partner districts will collaborate to design implement evaluate and improve multi-tiered systems of support and this is one where we're continuing to design those support those and really looking at a district-wide implementation of those systems finally there are some important dates for the beginning and end of year one is that the 21 22 school year partnership agreement would be evaluated and finalized in june of 2022 which we have done we also would have a presentation which i'm providing this evening that would be no later than september 30th 2022 and that the approved signed 2223 school year partnership agreement will be submitted to our ssb superintendent office no later than october 31st and that concludes my presentation i'd like to bring up dr jamie smith to help answer any questions carmen
040dammy can you go back to the first slide please no no it must be the next one yeah number four on their student services you know i says one of your agreements providing equitable services throughout the county has that been a concern or is that something you want to make sure that you you do are the status of that we always want to ensure that regardless of which school district you are partnering with that you have the same accessibility to special education services regardless of your resident district so that is something that we continue to look at and continue to ensure that all of our services are equitable and afforded regardless of the resident district yeah so as you're not favoring rockwood over parkway or vice versa or anything thank you very much along those
041same lines um on page 12 the first bullet when you talk about collaborating around scheduling and staffing that deals more with just not just with the minutes equitable minutes but the needs of the students are being individually considered in those aren't they absolutely when you collaborate in that master scheduling you have a greater opportunity to meet the individual needs because sometimes that master schedule is looking at the greater you know group of individuals but it's not as tailored to the individual yeah so that more specific instruction can be delivered to the right students at the right time by the right individuals if you're going to have those tiered interventions there have to be some changes right thank you absolutely there's been a strong partnership with through ssd and rockwood in reference to the multi-year systems
042of support training and progress that the district has made uh can you talk a little bit about that certainly so dr roland with the team we have really looked at that integrated model that referenced in that second bullet point so that we could look at where are the gaps in the construction that we have in specific tiers and specific areas so that then we could determine what are those additional resources and supports that need to come together and then being able to highlight how we could implement those services at both elementary middle and high so there's a lot of work that goes into that after will and i look over those tiers and try to determine what those next steps could be with record pointing so i think that's so and i attended those trainings
043last year so the approach for that is more than just students who have been identified as requiring special education so ssd is partnering again with rockwood to support all students in the rockwood school district absolutely and i think that that's one of the highlights we have is having our students be able to achieve and receive that education in the general education setting as much as possible with quality tier one instruction that is for all students so we do support tier one two and three for every student edition so when you're talking about the tiers there are three tiers that right yes okay good thank you so i am the governing council representative from rockwood with ssd and izzy is doing that with me as well and i received this over the weekend actually and that
0442760 students in the rockwood school district received services first in the area of special education that's that's amazing it is we have nearly 500 special education staff and administrators who support our students so ten percent isn't it you said two thousand seven hundred two yeah well that's just yeah that's not gonna say it's about 13. it did seem a little low low to me but that's that's what it said we have been very close to 3 000 in years past so it has between 28 100 and 3 000. is that typical for a normal school district about 13 percent we're actually one of the lower incident rates thank you the other area i think should be a point of pride is really the the students who stay within the rapid school district and and not
045attend uh one of the uh one of the other programs that special scholarship offers correct so up to 22 partner districts we are the least sending district if you will of students outside of the rocket school district so we support our students and maintain them in district more than any other district that's good unless you're talking about the uh trade schools that's not good we're not we're talking more about that most restrictive environment is the highlighted right good thanks for clarifying that yeah so my my um last question would be how can this board help you i think continuing to support our efforts with parents engagement and the opportunity for our parents to be a part of the impact and part of the vision and moving forward with looking at the different abilities of students
046so we support all students in the rocky school district so the support that comes from the board is extremely important for us and we appreciate your time and support and thank you to you and jamie and terry for your leadership i do have a question for you what is what is repack exactly how does it serve uh the students and the families um dr harris okay repack and how does it can you explain not necessarily to me since i'm new to the district but to everybody else so they can hear what is it what does it actually do and how is it connected with the special school district yeah thank you great question so um i think we're probably in year four of our way forward so six years ago we wrote our and our
047comprehensive school improvement plan part of that plan talks about equity and inclusion and belonging and making sure that we're offering character education so part of what we decided to do in terms of action steps is create a parent group so the question that um when you just ask how can this board help with such uh students with the partnership we're asking that same question with our parents so how can parents help us move forward the way forward with our equity and inclusion goals and so we created last year the repack group so reback group is an equity group of parents that are literally looking at all of the goals that we as a community decided on five or six years ago to help us move forward so i love this question because i do i
048receive emails about this often i think that we have to be very clear about what we are saying we're saying equity in the miraculous tradition i think that dr king was pretty clear about that at our last board meeting we're talking about equity in the rapid school district we're not simply talking about race although we are talking about race when we're talking about equity in the rockford school district we're not talking about simply talking about kids in the lgbtqia community although we are talking about those students when we're talking about equity in the radical school district we're talking about how do we ensure that all students realize their potential and whenever there is a group of students who are not realizing their potential and if they have something in common we're going to ask ourselves
049what do we need to put in place to help those kids realize that the potential we have three thousand kids fifteen percent of students who are receiving um special school district services in the rockford school district yeah that's it that's a essential school district by nature is an equity program right what we're saying is there are kids who are in need of certain services therefore we're going to provide special support for those students the ccl is an equity program that we've had in rockford schools for years because what we said is kids are really highly gifted it needs something different and therefore we're going to offer them something different so the repack organization that we have in the rockford district is a group of parents who are saying we're going to come together to help
050us move forward with our goals so parents who have students with ieps we want those parents to partner with this conversation so there's general things that dr grace and our team the equity coaches talk about and then from there they break out and go into the breakout points to talk specifically about um um those uh needs so we have a parent who spoke earlier today remember we met with uh rebecca as well as carmen and jamie ssd staff to talk about what does that process look like specifically for students with ieps so we're building i i assume that at some point someone is going to come to us and say that there are kids with um you know their kids their kids who are we have a large muslim population where i'm scared i'm sure
051someone is going to come to us and say how can we ensure that non-muslim students are doing better or someone may come to us to say how can our kids speak a different language what do we need to do to make sure those students are doing well with the rival's commission when that happens and we're being proactive but when that happens we're going to invite those individuals to the repack group as well so repack is big enough to make sure that whatever group is needing extra support to ensure their students are thriving in the rockford school district there is a zoom room open for them to participate so it is open to all parents it has always been over all of it always when we presented this a year ago we wanted to make sure
052that all parents had an opportunity to participate in rehab and we sent out the email originally it was open to whatever parent wants to participate and i really wanted to say that loud and clear any parent that is wanting to participate in the repack program and we will make sure that you forward to all the reading dates um i would work with communications to make sure that those dates are public publicly out there anyone who wants to ensure that students are going well in the rockford school are welcome to participate in the weekly meetings one more question and then i'll let you go what are some of the goals they have actually have achieved so far what goals have we achieved achieved yeah uh those we i think those that we've achieved in rehab starting
053with the fact that we were organized okay that was goal number one that we had a very diverse community and we've had meetings monthly for the last year where parents 30 40 parents participated in these the last meeting we just had we had 30 something pairs on the call at six o'clock so that's one two dr grace presented last year i don't i can get the board janet can help me with this i can get the board meeting when she presented but she presented all the goals that the repat organization uh discuss it so i'm not necessarily directly over diversity in equity that's not diversity work uh however i do know that the last or a couple of more years ago presented last year but in terms of achievements achievement in terms achievements in terms
054of parents like rebecca said hey we need to make sure that we're looking at students with ieps that's the achievement um you know we still have a couple more years before we go into a new season so i'm sure that we will present some achievements to you but we just really got started with rehab repack is only maybe six months old oh okay okay so if i have a parent come to me and say i have a child with autism and i want to start a group do i send them your way wait wait i i think it's you just want to be clear that repack repack is for all parents but it's not simply like if some parent wants to say hey i want to start a group right like like it's i want
055to be very careful with that you know it's not simply just saying hey i'm going to start this little start district like repack is specific to repackage specific two the goals that we have in our way forward so to europe and your point with this this who has a kid with autism yes they would be part of that but if someone says i want to start a group for i don't know dance or something like that that wouldn't be part of bringing that and we did those calls too and i understand why we're getting those calls but we can we can if a kid is if the kid is indeed a support costume services i will navigate [Laughter] dr harris do you think now at the current time is there a balance of all subgroups
056being represented in repack i think yeah i think that let me answer it this way i think that everyone has an opportunity to participate are you doing anything to recruit so that there is a greater balance um are we recruiting parents so that you have equal representation yeah um i think i said this last time or at least i was going to call him dave ellen said there's no [Music] olympic oppression right and i think that what happens is i'm getting those emails to answer your question directly we probably have more people who are interested in race and we probably have the second group is probably lgbt but those are the parents [Music] that does not negate the fact that the doors are closed to parents with special needs i i don't i don't want
057to um have this approach where we have this hierarchy of [Music] i guess what i'm getting at is that we have equal voices being heard yes they're they they are 100 representing what's also happening is there are some individuals who want to not talk about certain voices and talk about other voices we don't want to suspend voices if you are a parent in this school district and you're saying that you're a child is hurting hurting and pain and need of support then we are big enough to be able to support those two so again if you have a kid with autism and you want to participate absolutely you are welcome you've always been welcome all our parents are welcome and if we need to do something special we'll figure it out i've been working with
058jamie for years i've worked with paris for years and we want to make sure that these parents are part of this group but sometimes parents are you know you know i understand you can't make people join or be part of it but i just want to make sure that we keep that door open and keep that invitation going so that they that it doesn't become consumed by any one voice that that we really do have equal representation of all of our students that's all and it sounds like you are since day one terry the equity the equity piece is very interesting because it comes up a lot anytime you talk about dei equity is a big piece of that and i i have never in my lifetime in education met a parent that doesn't want
059equity for their kid no one's ever come up and said oh don't give my kid equity but i have had people that say i want equity for my kid but i don't care about equity for somebody else and i can't get past that i can't i can't imagine as a parent why anybody would say equity is okay for i want it for me but i don't care about other people to me that's just not right and hopefully you don't i know you don't adhere to that and you don't you're a carmen you don't work on that you have equity for everybody is that true absolutely 100 i spent two hours of my day today meeting with a parent of a fifth grade student who was at their last working a kid with autism a kid
060that is uh so much apparent socially different than their peers worried about middle school we're going to talk about anti-women worried about middle school we walk the pathway center because she believes that this place will be a good space for her her child right um we did we had a conversation with a parent about some race issue we had a conversation with a parent about needing 40 bucks for a charge dead healthy effect like these are all equity issues in our district and district and every single person on this stage every single person on stage when we get those calls at the district level we're putting things in place to make sure that we're doing what's the best interest on kids we do [Music] i think that we need to say that loud and clear
061um so this kid may have an issue that you disagree with or whatever we're gonna make sure that kid is okay because we're a public school but if you have an issue that you need support with we're going to support you as well we're big enough to support all students thank you terry you actually had parents ask you to have equity for their own children but not others no no i've had parents that have indicated as long as i get equity from my kid i don't care about the other ones that's not quite what you said but that's i've had that before i don't care about other people i just want my kid to get equity yes i've had that over the years i am almost cycle back to the parent to the pac and
062and the repack just rockwood has historically has had a parent advisory council it's through the years and what i'm hearing is rather than having a standalone parent advisory council is that that parent advisory council is not going to be under the umbrella of repack not operate in isolation but to join this group and add the lens of disability to add the lens of that parent group specifically in what we do every day for our students so it's an opportunity for us to join but also jenny and i will be present so that we have the opportunity to be answering specific questions related to disability resources etc so we're really looking forward to the opportunity [Music] there are times that students um may participate or families may want to participate in the rpac format because they
063may have um parts of their students profile that that target more than one area that repack is addressing and so by bringing that together it's another form of partnership to support all of our students so that that's truly kind of why we think that housing together makes sense for the district as we conclude tonight um with the partnership um presentation we thank the board for your support for dr kane for all of our administrative team our goal is to continue to continue to strengthen our partnership we work hard to bridge gaps between special education and general education and as we conclude tonight we would like to present our annual proclamation to the board that we honor october as the disability history and awareness month in rockwood um this is an opportunity for us to um
064let let's do the motions go back to the motion as far as the partnership plan and then we'll pick up where you where you're where you went thank you actually before you entertain that motion if i could just address just a couple of comments to dr kendra's question and your comment specifically that's the reason the mission of the school district so important and this work is continuous it's it's going to be never ending as the needs of students continues to to really evolve over time our responses are going to have to evolve over time as well but it always is going to mean all good thank you thank you and i just want to point out that dr harris is also a member of of the cabinet team as well because we need to be
065thinking about this perspective and the needs of our students at all times and it is strategic and purposeful to dr harris in fact um and dr harris actually uh sit on sit on cabinet and and i would just like to say from my perspective and i hope the board's perspective and i believe this is because i know these people is that there is not one ssd student in the rockwood school district there are only rockwood students receiving services and supports from special school district so now with that being said uh the motion is to approve the rockwood special school district educational partnership agreement all in favor any opposed okay motion carries now we're going to have a motion to continue to recognize the month of october as disability and history awareness month in the rockwood
066school district is there it's a move second jamie as we prepare to review the resolution i would encourage the community and the board to continue to watch their stories through the communications department they work collaboratively with our building administrators and special educators to highlight um stories of achievement and contributions by our students with varying abilities the proclamation is or the resolution is available would you like me to read it or something it's my honor to read it a raise a resolution designated in the month of october of every year as disability history and awareness month and encouraging our schools to provide instruction on disability history people with disabilities in the disability rights movement whereas there are approximately 116 000 students with disabilities 100 000 students with disabilities educated by missouri public schools and whereas the
067americans with disability act of 1990 is founded on four principles inclusion full partnership for full participation economic self-sufficiency and equity of opportunity for all people with disabilities and whereas a key method of promoting these four principles is for our schools to recognize the contributions by people with disabilities in our society and provide instruction in disability history people with disabilities in the disability rights movement through school curriculum school assemblies and other school activities and now therefore be it resolved by the school board of the rockwood school district that the board urges our schools to provide specific instructions on disability history people with disabilities and the disability rights movement especially during the month of october and periodically throughout the school year encourage other institutions to conduct and promote educational activities on those subjects thank you very much
068so the i'm just saying thank you you're welcome again the motion is to continue to recognize the month of october as disability and his and history awareness month in the rockwood school district all in favor aye aye aye any opposed that motion carries thank you thank you okay now there is a motion to prove that the rockwood board of education proclaimed the month of october 2022 as anti-bullying month in the rockwood school district do i have a motion second second okay and i think dr harris is going there he is all right um thank you so much for this daily thing thank you i know it's been some of the challenging times but uh thank you for making sure that putting programming in place to make sure that kids are safe students who say adults
069who say this dave and dr counts and i work together on our anti-bullying program so we have middle school students who train elementary students are we trained in middle school students and middle school students that go to elementary schools and teach this anti-bullying framework that we have in rockwood it's called rsd anti-bullying ambassadors are how to recognize william ask say something when you see it and make sure you stay safe and then do to describe um in detail to an adult so we do this wonderful half day training they do teach that um okay and randy you're going to read the proclamation yes thank you anti-bullying proclamation whereas bullying is physical verbal sexual or emotional harm or intimidation intentionally directed at a person or group of people and whereas bullying occurs in neighborhoods playgrounds schools
070and through technology such as the internet and cell phones and whereas various researchers have concluded that bullying is the most common form of violence affecting millions of american children and adolescents annually and whereas thousands of children and adolescents are affected by bullying annually and whereas targets of bullying are more likely to occur equal acquire physical emotional and learning problems and students who are repeatedly bullied often fear such activities as riding the bus going to school and attending community activities and whereas children who bully are at greater risk of engaging in more serious violent behaviors and whereas children who witness bullying often feel less secure more feel fearful and intimidated now therefore be it resolved with the rockwood school district board of education to hereby proclaim the month of october as national bullying prevention month thank
071you okay again wishes to approve the board of education proclamation to proclaim the month of october as anti-bullying month all in favor any opposed 8.04 policies zero three four zero code of ethics first reading i have a motion or i'm the motion is to postpone approval of the changes to policy zero three four zero code of ethics until the october 6 2022 board of education meeting second second any discussion on favor any opposed okay all right uh we have the proposed agenda for the october 6th board of education meeting anything there up on the screen will you put will you put the uh code of ethics policy on there all right it's on there already it's on there as a second reading in the consent can i put on there that jamie bayes will be
072back you're doing a great job thanks okay and 0.09.01 future agenda presentations and events to attend check the calendar i like parent square calendar that's good uh thanks janet is keeping us informed that's where we need to be and we have some great things coming up this is uh it's a very very busy month your meet and greets has cope got any new presentations for us yet cope we have not uh set up a meeting yet we need to set up a meeting here oh okay that's on our to-do list yeah but thanks for asking keith thank you thank you for answering and i think with that we are at the next section of patron comments and tonight we have a number uh and i will read this in reference to this section of patron
073comments we will now hear from those rockwood patrons who have signed up to speak about non-agenda items as a reminder each speaker will be limited to three minutes combining time or giving your time to someone else to speak is not allowed only one speaker is allowed at the podium at a time please remember that comments about individual employees and our students will not be permitted in public sessions we expect that you will remain civil and respectful in your remarks and if anyone becomes disruptive we reserve the right to cut your three minutes short verbally aggressive language and vulgarity in any form is not acceptable whether you're reading someone else's remarks or they are your own it will not be tolerated for your convenience our three-minute clock is ready and we welcome danielle bert hello my
074name is danielle i use she her or their pronouns first i need to apologize that i ran out of time to finish my major comment last meeting and i don't want to be taken out of context for anyone who wasn't here last meeting i cited the book of ezekiel chapter 23 verse 3 king james bible reads and they committed boredoms in egypt they committed hornets of their youth there were their breasts pressed and there they bruised the teats of their opportunity the good news translation reads when they were young living in egypt they lost their virginity it became prostitutes the new living translation reads they became prostitutes in egypt even as young girls they allowed men to follow their class and if any of those translations were in a graphic novel format the bible would
075be banned under current missouri law however i do not support book banning because beginners have never been on the right side of history instead i am thankful that uncomfortable verse gives me an opportunity to have an open honest conversation with my child about anatomy breasts nipples penis vagina whatever they're just body parts we can talk about consent who and why might touch any part of anyone's body from hair to gloss drops to genitals it's never okay to touch anyone anywhere without consent and one unfortunate reality that we've discussed is that many children and many lgbtq children are kicked out of their otherwise loving homes by their families and rely on prostitution to support themselves in financial need as i mentioned last meeting i am not disparaging sex workers i think sex workers work prostitution is
076the oldest profession in the world jesus was friends with prostitutes and would have shared a lunch table with them and students in wheelchairs and transgender kids so maybe there is hope for us in rockwood nonetheless prostitution is a dangerous profession and the demographic most at risk is black transgender women who are frequently the victim of gun violence as inherent of a engineer kiddo the statistics here by me and thankful to those on the board who support an inclusive learning environment that is consistent with the affirming environment that we provide at our home personally it has been heartbreaking to watch a group of parents who have wasted countless hours of the board's time to get 22 books banned 0.005 of the 450 000 books in rockwood's collection because of a few pictures parents don't want their
077child to see when the bible would also be banned if it were translated into a graphic novel currently there are bus driver shortages teacher shortages and countless other things we could focus on to help our community meanwhile students have a phone in their pocket where they can google all of the pictures of all of the body parts countless youtube videos tick tocks all kinds of harmful things on their phones they can even google the brooklyn public library for their own library card and read all the banned books on their phone thank you justin dixon uh good evening i'm here to also talk about the recent decision to pull books off the shelves and rockwood libraries uh but first i wanted to mention how sad it is that a certain member of the board here has
078yet to apologize and or resign from the board after her hateful and bigoted comments last month it's quite ironic that we spent a lot of time talking about anti-bullying tonight when one of the biggest bullies i've ever met is sitting on the stage right now her continued presence on this board stains the reputation of our district i thank the other members of the board for coming out against those comments although i am curious why the decision what was the rationale behind the decision to move the ethics vote if we could get some clarification on that uh moving on though i'm really disturbed by the removal of any literature from school libraries following the passage of sb 775 as i read the bill it looks like it's aimed at sexually explicit materials but makes exception for
079works of art when taken as a whole to have a serious artistic significance and this is where i have a problem uh i've not read every book on the list of the books that was pulled from the libraries but i have read some of them many of them i'm concerned that the definition of sexually explicit is a bit too broad to have any real meaning in this context and that the number of these works of literature definitely have artistic significance one example is the graphic novel watchmen that i'll use this book is unquestionably in the category of artistic significance it's often been named as like the greatest graphic novel ever written uh time magazine lists it on its list of 100 best books ever written it ushered in a golden age of graphic novels its
080themes remain resonant today decades after its publication with both young and old people alike it does depict some panels where people are having sexual intercourse okay one character does walk around naked at parts of the novel giving views of his penis and buttocks uh but to claim that these images are sexually explicit says a lot more about the person making that claim than it does about the literature itself there's nothing sexually explicit in this book uh i was around the age that my son is now when i first read this book it's one of the books that ignited my passion for reading breaks my heart that our state lawmakers are trying to rob my child of that i don't think we as a district have to follow what they've done by pulling books from the
081library i would very much like to see some more discussion about these books that were pulled uh you know instead of just taking them off the shelves i don't know if we can get some more committees together take a look and really determine you know is this sexually explicit or is it just a depiction of anatomy uh because watchmen and i know some other books certainly do not fall in that category uh i understand that some parents and legislators are uncomfortable with their children reading any book that depicts anything that's uh you know sexual in nature or dealing with lgbt issues please don't rob my children of a chance to learn because you're uncomfortable with certain material thank you very much for your time tonight [Music] then murray january hello um this is a summary
082of the content of the critically acclaimed book bingo love which is one of the books removed from rockwood libraries due to missouri senate bill 775. to avoid spoilers for the plot i'll just read the synopsis real quick when hazel johnson and marie mcrae met at church bingo in 1963 it was love at first sight forced apart by their families and society hazel and marie both married young men and had families decades later in their mid-60s hazel marie hazel and marie reunite again at the church bingo hall realizing that love for each other is still alive what these grandmothers do next takes absolute strength and courage now for my thoughts bingo love is a beautiful story not always a story about love but also about loss uncertainty facing incredibly difficult decisions uh the characters are very
083authentic and as are the struggles that they face when it comes to the content i couldn't find any sexually explicit illustrations or dialogue in this book as defined in sp 775 there are two instances of the book depicting a mother breast feeding a child without visible nipples this is much less than what many of us saw watching mr rogers neighborhood growing up in the 80s learning about how mammals including humans feed their young not to mention the fact that breastfeeding is not remotely close to being something that can be considered explicit there is also one illustration which shows just the bottom half of a bathtub with the word splish splash implying possible adult activity outside of the visible illustration but there is no other dialogue or text besides splish splash the illustrations directly following this
084show two characters in the bathtub with bubbles obscuring both characters so there's zero nudity and then these frames they're only talking with dialogue that is not sexual in nature instead their conversation is about how they care for each other another illustration shows two characters on a couch and implies adult activity may have taken place outside of the dialogue and illustrations but again it does not show any sexual activity nudity or include any explicit dialogue and besides those pages there are various other illustrations for trains hugs kisses and other normal family-friendly forms of affection i cannot find anything in this book which seems remotely close to fitting the definition of sexually explicit material as defined in missouri senate bill 775 um and even if this book did include it um it would be a few illustrations
085out of hundreds so based on the language of sb775 it should still be exempt for two reasons one it is a work of art with artistic significance and two it has anthropological uh significance thank you good evening so the city of chesterfield has assembled a tif panel to evaluate the possibility of using a tax abatement to pay for infrastructure improvements related to the redevelopment of the area that currently includes chesterfield mall a tip is a tax increment is tax increment financing it freezes the amount public entities receive from property taxes specifically public schools including rockwood now then the estimated equalizer's best valuation or eav is currently for that area is currently at 27 million dollars and so rockwood's tax rate is 4.1252 per 100 so that's what we're receiving money for is off of the
08627 million so with the tip it would freeze it at that 27 million dollars even though the projected value by the end of the redevelopment will be at 1.38 billion dollars so the difference between the taxes on the 27 million and the 1.38 billion would go into a special fund which chesterfield would then use to pay for infrastructure projects related to that redevelopment now then the parkway school this would affect parkway and rockwood parkway is projecting that the tip would put an additional 800 students into their district because the redevelopment includes residential um that's enough to require a new school to be built they estimate it would create a 2 million 200 million deficit that would take them a minimum of a quarter century to break even on and that's if they could ever break
087even on it if their projections are correct taxpayers would have to increase property taxes or pass a bond issue rockwood's bond issue failed last year in other words every municipality in the parkway and rockwood school district would have to pay for chesterfield's redevelopment project i am asking that rockwood conduct their own analysis of the impact that chesterfield's tip proposal and make it available to stakeholders before public comments on november 1st this would help chesterfield residents decide if the redevelopment project would be worth the impact to our public schools so do we want to steal public school dollars to pay for a redevelopment project in chesterfield and again it wouldn't just be chesterfield resident eureka fitton everybody would potentially be paying for chesterfield's redevelopment project so i think we need that information before before those public
088comments thank you [Applause] janet springer springer i think i said better the first time all right but the last four of maybe i didn't speak i just listened we are all there because we care about our children in this school district and that's why we're here now we came to share our different perspectives a few may have been here for political reasons but mostly people shared because we want to protect our children in what's best for them however respect of other views feelings and concerns were nor ignored among many adults at the last board meeting making nasty remarks laughing moaning interrupting etcetera during the comic times which were intimidating and disrespectful to others as they spoke not all those who were being disrespectful were removed it took a lot of courage not only for the
089young people but others who had opposing views to speak if we cannot be respectful as adults how are our children or students going to learn to be respectful when hearing diverse views we used to teach in the classroom that we are to be respectful listen not interrupt or make fun of others that are different from us or have a view that's different than ours it was shameful that some adults were not modeling respectful behavior at the meeting my hope that is that in the future we adults and the board we'll take more control over interruptions during the public sharing time and be an example to our children or students is that too much to ask we all want to have the opportunity to share our views and concerns for the benefit of our children and
090students in this district don't our children deserve that that's the real reason i'm here hopefully yours too and i'm happy tonight to see that we are respecting each other today and i thank you for that and our last speaker tonight is kate sickles you're gonna defer okay so with that the meeting is adjourned thank you so much thank you all for coming you