Board of Education Meeting - August 19, 2021

001You better hide. I'd like [Music] Good evening. It is 700 p.m. So, we'd like to call the meeting to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. United States of America and to the stands nationy and justice for all. Welcome to the Rockwood Board of Education meeting. We would like to thank the administrative team and all the staff and students at Marquette High School for being gracious hubs for our meeting this evening. Thank you also to the ambassadors who are here from schools in the Marquette Quadrant to assist with greeting and signing in our 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. The Rockwood Board of Education is committed to the safety and security of

002all of our students, staff, parents, and patrons. To that end, we are requiring face coverings and social distancing at our meeting tonight. We also ask that that you are fully visible if you have brought a sign in with you this evening. Your cooperation is appreciated in advance. We have reports to consider and business to conduct that are critical to the functioning of our district. We want to remind all of our visitors that we expect the audience to remain civil and respectful at all times that 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

003audience becomes so inappropriate in their behavior that we can't conduct our business, the board reserves the right to adjourn the meeting. We want everyone to have the ability to hear the business of the district reports presented in the comments of everyone who is here to speak. We appreciate your cooperation and that you took the time to attend tonight's meeting. Could I please have a motion to approve the agenda for tonight's meeting? motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. I. Anyone opposed? That passes. Next. Could I have a motion to approve board of education meeting minutes for August 11th, 2021? Motion and the second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. Anyone opposed? And that also passes. Um, next we have a recognition. I would like to invite

004Megan Meyer and Jesse Young Bloodood up. The director of uh development for the arts and education council. Jesse Young will present a trophy to the board of education and Dr. Ricky. The Rockwood School District's 2020 annual employee campaign raised the most money for the arts and education of any educational institution. Good evening and thank you. As you know, every year the Rockwood staff holds an annual workplace giving campaign to benefit the St. Louis Arts and Education Council. The Arts and Education Council keeps art happening across the St. Louis region because they believe that a a region rich with arts and cultural opportunities is critical to creating and sustaining vibrant communities. I'm going to introduce now Jesse Yam, the director of development, and Murphy, the marketing manager to uh present this special award. Thank you, Megan,

005and thank you everyone that's here today. Um, I just want to say congratulations to the Rockwood School District on this distinct honor. I really am constantly in awe with how much um you guys do in addition to your jobs to make our community more vibrant um and a wonderful place to live. So um now more than ever I think our community needs the arts, we need the connection and we need everything that comes with it. So thank you again to hero from the arts education council and we'd like to present this trophy that you'll get to hang on to for this year. [Applause] Thank you so much. What a beautiful trophy. It's an exciting thing to receive. Next up on our agenda, we have patron comments. I read our little piece about patron comments. During

006patron comments, citizens may address the board of education concerning issues related to the school district. Each speaker will be limited to three minutes. Combining time or giving your time to someone else's to speak is not allowed. Only one speaker is allowed at the podium at a time. And when your time is up, your time is up. Please note that at the board's discretion, the board or superintendent may respond immediately to an issue raised during patron comments for clarification. However, our general general practice is to respond to the comment at a later time via a phone call or written message if a response is needed. We have a stand with microphones ready up in the center so both the board and the audience may hear the patron comments clearly. As a reminder, masks are required in

007our buildings and should remain on even when you are speaking. The board appreciates that you have taken the time to come this evening and we value both your input and your perspective. Once your remarks are over, please exit to your right. I would like to remind everyone that we expect that you will remain civil and respectful in your remarks. And if anyone becomes disruptive, we reserve the right to cut those three minutes short. Verbally aggressive language and vulgarity in any form is not acceptable. Whether you are reading someone else's remarks or your own, it will not be tolerated. For your convenience, our three minute time clock is ready. First speaker this evening is Katie Becker with Andrew Fitzgerald. Next Katie Becker first. Andrew next. Thank you. This summer, parents whose children participated in Rockwood programs

008chose whether or not a mask would be best for their children's health as we were mass optional. An estimated 1,400 kids attended Rockwood summer programs. Of those kids, one one tested positive for CO. Since January 2020, zero children 17 and under have died from COVID in Missouri as of yesterday, according to the CDC. Still, we wear we mask our kids. Zero is also the number of mask mandates or even people in this room who wore masks during previous cold and flu seasons, including the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Despite COVID and flu being incredibly similar in size and transmission mode, despite influenza being exceptionally more deadly, exponentially rather more deadly to children according to CDC data. Clock cloth masks were not viable then, nor are they now. Another zero is the amount of data provided to

009show parents what the board and Tim is using to unilaterally make and justify a medical mandate for our 21,000 kids. We've been asking for this and data on how many kids have been physically and emotionally harmed because of masks. Instead of discourse or data, we get sent to a clearing house email and calls are not returned. Tim has deferred to Sam Pa's failed mass mandate is justification. Paige states mask quote significantly and quote reduce transmission of COVID by 3.5 people per 100,000. That's insignificant at best and actually illustrates that mask wearing to prevent CO transmission is in ineffective. Masking our kids in school is killing our kids immune system, stripping them of their humanity and their ability to communicate and learn, creating severe anxiety and depriving their developing brains of oxygen, forcing forcing them to

010breathe their own waste into a damp bacteria fil mask for eight hours a day. Your lungs are in fact an excratory organ much like your bowels. Rockwood parents have shared many personal stories of the harm masking has done to our kids. We provided you with credible studies, data, and expert testimony to back up our stories. You are all well aware there is harm being done. You are ignoring that risk. Is it worth it to maybe possibly insignificantly reduce the chance of contracting CO that is has a statistical z a statistic statistical 0% chance of killing our kids? Is it worth the harm not to miss school because of a quote because of quarantine rules you're imposing on the healthy? Again, where there is a risk, there must be a choice. In the end, none of

011the facts and figures matter because it's the fundamental right of a parent to have sovereignty over their child's health. Wherever you stand on masking, you should be terrified that parental rights have so easily been stripped away un unilaterally and by an admin. Nonetheless, you are all you all on that stage are grossly overstepping your purview. It is not your job nor your right to preside over my child's health. Where and how does this end? Trust the parents to do what is best for the children as it is our right. Mask options is the only option. [Applause] Andrew will applaud welcome after that. First, I want to thank the Rockwood School Board, Dr. Ricker, and your members for allowing me to this time seat. My name is Drew Fitzgerald. I have three granddaughters, all under the

012age of 12, who my wife and I love dearly, attending elementary school in the Rockford School District. I'm here tonight representing them, asking the board to please require that all children, educators, and educators wear masks in school during the upcoming school year. The fear over what would seemingly be a simple decision to protect our children and grandchildren is all about choices. Do you or do you not make mask requirement through the district this year? I'm not here to cite facts on why it's the smartest and best idea. I believe that's self-explanatory. Isn't the choice to protect our children who can't speak for themselves our most sacred responsibility as parents, grandparents, and educators enough? I strongly urge the board to put a mask rule in place because it's the right choice, the most sacred choice, and

013the safest choice to protect all children of the district, including my three grandchildren. Think about the choices at play here. If you were in a public school and saw a public pool and saw a child in the deep end, obviously panicking and unable to swim, would you choose to help? I think so. If you saw a child in a playground being bullied or pummeled or beaten by other children, would you intervene? I would hope so. More to the point, if there was an armed intruder in one of your schools, would you not issue a lockdown and implement all necessary safety protocols to protect the children inside? Of course. Well, there is an intruder right now. You can't see it, but it's every bit as dangerous, every bit as deadly as an intruder with a loaded

014firearm. It's the CO 19 virus, and it's just rearmed itself with the Delta variant targeting the unvaccinated and children at alarming rate. How then could it possibly be a difficult choice to protect our children from this deadly intruder with something so simple as a paper mask? Now there are those who believe it's a matter of personal freedom and choice. But whose freedoms? What about the rest of us? More importantly, our children. What about the choice to protect their health? Do we not count? Do they not count? Are we not to be hurt? I strongly adamantly urge the board to air on the side of caution. Why risk the life of one child when the simple a simple mask can avoid transmission? It's your choice. You can side with global ignorance, ignore the science, and put

015a selfish interest ahead of public welfare. Or you can choose to protect the most precious our most precious children and grandchildren. You can choose emotion and noise over reason and caution. You can vow with selfish and noisy minority or listen to those of us in the great majority. Please, please protect our children. Please on behalf of our children and grandchildren, make mask mandatory school district this year. Thank you. Next speaker is CL Welcome with Camil. You got to keep the mask on, sir. My name is Vlad welcome. My wife and I have a first grader in the Rocky School District. I'm here today to speak on the anti-science draconian policy being forced upon our children, which is a mass mandate. 15 days to slow the spread. 15 days to flatten the curve. Here we are

01618 months later. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC cannot produce one study based on a randomized control trial that show a net positive efficacy of cloth masking. Ignorance RCTs do only focus on observational studies which are widely known to be less reliable is both irresponsible and dangerous. 15 observational studies not one randomized control trial. So what about RCT studies that were excluded? Hand hygiene has been proven to be the best form of protection against the transmission of respiratory viruses. In addition, numerous RCTs have shown that maskearing has a negative impact on hand hygiene. More harm is being done to children when they are taking masks off, putting masks on, and constantly adjusting those masks than if they were to solely practice common sense and hygiene. That which is supposed to protect the child

017acts as a petri dish or worsened hygiene. So what do we learn in our 18month CO tour of duty? We learned that children are at a 0.004% risk of dying from CO and from the asymptomatic nature of childhood infections we can extrapolate that that number is much lower. That is to say that CO poses essentially no risk to our children. The flu is much more deadly to ch to children than co. Yet, does anyone in Rockwood suggest masking up our children during flu season? Of course not. At least not yet. We have also learned that the psychological and developmental damage being done to our children is in fact very real and will only get worse until this madness ends. To force a child to mask up and breathe air through a sweat and spitfilled dirty

018mask after running around at recess is cruel. To raise a society to fear the air and to fear their surroundings is cruel. To put it simply, this is child. So why mask up children? To protect adults. Anybody that wants a vaccine can get one. And those that choose not to have made that choice. My son has EOE and asthma. EOE is a disease that restricts his esophagus. To put it simply, restricting my child's airflow is harmful. Demanding acts with no medical exception is an abuse of the system that you are here to protect and ensure. I doubt my statement will make much of a difference, but my child will not be masking up without any more tit. The major flaw in the decision making with Rockwood's mass policy is that our district and really our

019entire world is only crunching the numbers on one aspect of public health, COVID. Rockwood's decision makers have all the data and statistics for St. Louis County and Rockwood schools about every single facet of CO, but there's been no collection of data on the negative health impacts of long-term allday mask use within the Rockwood community. Rockwood's administrators, teachers, and staff have only gotten sporadic bits of info about how these masks are negatively impacting the health of our students from us parents. There's been no systematic approach of collecting, reporting on, and analyzing that data. So, it's hard to make a judgment call with that huge chunk missing. To remedy this situation, I'm asking Rockwood to set up a system like that. Parents, I'm asking you to document and report all instances of negative health impacts from the

020mass. Step one for the parents is to raise awareness with your kids health professionals. I'm not even sure the health professionals are really getting it. Have your kids had more dental issues in the past year? I know my husband has. Have your dentist document if it's caused by maskearing, which his was. Is your child now seeing a mental health professional or behaviorist, especially if they have not gone in the past? Have a conversation about the masks and have that medical professional documented in your child's file. Has your child suffered headaches like mine only during mask wearing? Drowsiness, fatigue, face rashes like my other child, lung infections, etc. in this past school year. Are those symptoms resolved now that the kids have been out of masks all summer? Talk with your pediatrician and have them make

021specific notes that you believe it's a mask wearing. The masks are supposed to mitigate the spread of COVID, right? Well, my daughter got three crew viruses this last winter, never once testing positive for COVID. I think that's important to document. If this is supposed to work so well and kids are just as sick as they have been in past school years, then we need to stop the masks. Okay, so step two for parents, raise awareness with this Rockwood school district officials as well as your doctors. Every time your child has a negative health incident due to the mass, write an email to those who need to know, CC or blind carbon copy, your kids teacher, principal, school nurse, superintendent, and the board members. It doesn't have to be long and drawn out. I know we're

022busy, but give information to heighten awareness. The stakeholders and decision makers in the district need to know what parents are facing with their kids' health as a result of these mass mandates. Parents, your involvement is critical in helping with this. There's 22,000 kids and a couple dozen parents can't fix it. We need your help. Thank you. [Applause] if you guys can see this. Okay. Good evening. I'm here tonight to advocate for my children as well as every uh child with special needs. I'm a speech language pathologist and I want to express my concerns for the population of children that have suffered the most during these past 17 months. And that's our children with special needs. It's a major challenge for the typically developing children and grown adults to communicate, comprehend, and deliver messages with our

023faces covered. But for a child with special needs, it's agonizing. The mask covers the very thing they depend upon for communicating and understanding language. For example, one of my boys has a central auditory delay. He depends upon visual learning. Seeing the facial expressions and words formed with the lips and mouth greatly help his understanding and communication of his peers and teachers and the lessons that are given throughout his entire day at school. Rockwood did provide the face covering request for medical and disability exemption form. However, it's extremely restrictive and invasive to require a doctor to sign the form on an individualized education plan and/or 504. My doctor's office agreed. They believe that the education team that wrote the plan should determine mass exemptions along with the parents since they were part of that IEP team.

024Since the district or SSD evaluate and assess the child and determine the eligibility for the student, it should be the parents and the IEP team or the 504 members to meet and discuss if the mask impedes the learning of the child. Something else to consider, by only allowing children with medical and/or disabilities access the mask exemption, you're segregating this population, you're violating and discriminating against those with special needs. I have a solution. Mask optional. Side note to SSD parents, you have the legal right to evoke due process. If your child regresses on their goals due to masks, the district is held liable since they mandated masks. It's been 17 months since CO began. Settle science says children's children do not readily acquire COVID or spread it to other children and or adults. As you can

025see from the graphs taken from CDC on April 10th of this year, annual deaths among children in the US per 100,000, COVID ranks the lowest at 0.2% among drowning, cancer, car accident, suicide, homicide, cardiovascular disease, and fleeing pneumonia. And masks don't work. The science is on the side of the box of masks, it states, will not provide any protection against CO 19 or other viruses. The PCR test that's been used to test CO is faulty. This is stated on the CDC and FDA websites. The PCR test will be discontinued at the end of this year because the test cannot isolate COVID, influenza, and colds. In conclusion, the ability to express and understand language in the classroom supersedes the risk of acquiring a virus that has over 99% recovery rate. And also, I would provide I

026would like to provide you with my OPAC documents on topics of sexuality, gender theory, racist theory, and political bias in my children's classes. I will also be requesting class lessons and other course material with Missouri statute 170.231 allows for inspection of all public school instructional material. Thank you. Can I hand this over to you? Um to the secretary, please. Secretary for Okay. Good evening. My name is Johanna Rock with me to stick to academics. On 84, you indicated that the district would re-evaluate the need for masking every two weeks. That was what was the result of that evaluation that should have taken place on 817. Why is Rockwood continuing with the discriminatory practices of modified quarantine? This modified quarantine matrix distributed by the district does not let us know what someone with natural immunity should

027do when they are in close contact. My assumption is they do not need to quarantine as such. That's the direction we will follow. It also does not protect anyone from the vaccinated individuals who are still spreading the virus as you're not mandating that they quarantine. It seems you're quite unclear on the science. If this is truly about health and safety, you're leaving out critical decision points and ignoring specific populations. Perhaps someone simply provided this infographic to the district. Maybe you could call us its origin. Was it Bessie or the CDC? Shifting to that topic of the CDC, in June, I corresponded with the Rockwood CFO regarding the $7.8 million grant that Rockwood will will receive as part of the American Rescue Plan. I asked specifically if funds were tied to following the CDC recommendations. He

028clearly stated, "No, there was a requirement for the district to post their plan on the website, but and I quote, it would not be accurate to assume the funds are tied to CDC." However, on the DESIE website, when you look up the ARP USER Missouri plan, it states, and I'm quoting, prevention and mitigation policies in line with the most up-to-date guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, for the reopening and operation of schools. As noted, again, I'm quoting, "Mo Dusky began extensively supporting strategies aligned to the CDC guidelines." And I'm quoting, "Mo Dusky was pleased to collaborate with the CDC, MOD, DHSS, and Washington University to study the effects of mitigation strategies on transmission rates in Missouri schools. And what is the first mitigation strategy in the table in the rescue plan

029for Missouri? Universal and correct wearing of masks. Issued state guidance recommending schools implement local mask mandates. There are several others including implementing contact tracing with funding provided for additional staff to contact trace, efforts to provide vaccinations, how to handle children with disabilities. However, that last one we've seen over the last couple weeks that um with the scrambled templement exemptions, maybe it didn't get quite right. My specific request tonight is to turn down the $7.8 million in fund grants. Stick to academics. You are here for the sole and simple purpose of educating our children. Jennifer Weston after that John This is the first part. Good evening. The two hardest one principles of mankind are now under assault. These are governance by consent of the people and truth which is not based on single-sided dictates nor propaganda.

030America was the first major country to be based on consent of the people which necessitates that consent be based on reality. When facts are dictated, instead of being a true basis of valid debate, including resolution, there is not free consent. The standards of truth must be applied. I will now share some examples about the loss of the two principles I've just mentioned. Uh the sources include scientists like Dr. Robert Malone, inventor of the mRNA technology. In 2017, Dr. FYI stated that the CO spike protein was safe. So they used it as the identifier for the Fiser and Madna vaccines. But even though the CDC now knows that the spike protein is toxic with serious contra indications reported, the FDA does not follow the emergency use authorization or EUA standards and stop the two vaccines. As

031of August 6th, there have been over 571,000 reports of adverse reactions on the Bears database. Over 12,000 of these were deaths. And these numbers are said to be just a fraction of what the actual totals are. The FDA should have paused both vaccines months ago. If this had been done another time in our recent history, they never would have let the death toll climb into the thousands. The they should have resolved the spike protein issue before continuing. Speaking of the EUA, once it has been issued, it is mandated that we receive the required information that is essential to make voluntary informed consent possible. Most importantly, the option to accept or refuse the vaccine. Our government is not able to mandate an EUA vaccine yet. Current administration is breaking the requirements of informed consent by allowing

032employers to mandate the vaccine. This is our government's way of bypassing the protections of the EUA. It is terrorvoking when you consider that our government is allowed not to give justified approval of anything. They could do anything. They can mandate anything. In doing this, they themselves have definitely removed the main stay of government, which is the rule of law. The irony is that logically their solution does not bypass the EUA restrictions. Since the vaccine is available only under these guidelines, a vaccine cannot legally be administered unless a party consents to the vaccine voluntarily. So if you're being coerced to take the vaccine by your employer, that is not consent. End of part one. [Applause] [Music] Good evening. I want to address the CDC's guidance titled how schools can support CO 19 vaccination. In order to

033promote vaccine confidence among students and parents, they suggest doing the following. Encourage teachers to share their COVID vaccination stories at school. Invite students to wear their COVID vaccination stickers to school. Remind you of anything? Display COVID vaccine educational posters in the classroom. I actually passed we passed these out ahead of time. You should have one with you. The message on these posters is very clear. If kids want to be in the classroom, play sports, or hang with their friends, they need to get the COVID vaccine. And nowhere on these posters does it say that they should talk to their parents. At the bottom, it says, "A safe and effective vaccine to prevent COVID 19 is now available for everyone 12 years and up. This is problematic because for one, the vaccine is not safe. Children

034are experiencing adverse side effects and there have been deaths. Second, it is not effective as there have been mounting breakthrough cases. And third, the Fiser and Madna vaccines are not actually vaccines. Rather, they're gene therapies. What the CDC is promoting and encouraging you to promote is propaganda. Plain and simple. We the parents have not consented to you giving our kids a cherrypicked presentation of your opinion without any of the known issues that are presented here today which refute your position and could expose significant dangers about the vaccine. Will anything you present to our kids include contraindications? This is not education and it is extremely dangerous for all. Your opinions are making what should be personal decisions. Ones that can mean life or death. And that is not anywhere in your scope. None. Especially without expressing

035all of the pertinent information. We gave life to our children. The Rockwood School District did not. You are here to teach, not to take our children. This very meaning is an example of how our current administrations are set up in such a way that dukes we the people into believing that we actually have a say in matters that affect us. But the truth is that this is merely a charade. We stand here and speak to you receiving zero feedback in return. We have no idea whether you understand what we're saying or if you're listening at all. You were voted in your superior position to represent us. You owe all of us discussion over policies that affect our kids. Otherwise, there is no resolution. And without resolution, there is no consent. It doesn't matter if we're

036talking about masks or vaccines or critical race theory. It doesn't matter because it's clear that our understanding of of issues does not matter to school boards and other government agencies. We all share consent about many issues that can be taught. This is a matter of freedom for us and for our children. If there is no free consent, there is no governance by we the people. We the people are the foundation of our time is up. I will not give our freedom to be taken from us. I will not speak until your time is up. [Applause] Jane Cington. And our next speaker will be William Kennedy. Thank you. Hi, my name is Jean Cington. I'm 12 years old going into sixth grade. I go to the school. I go to the district Rockwood School District and

037I would like to speak the truth about masks. I was inspired to write a speech and talk tonight by my aunt Lisa. Before I start my speech, I would like to thank everyone who got up and spoke this evening. Tonight, I am speaking on behalf of myself and the kids that feel uncomfortable about having to wear a mask this upcoming school year. They are a piece of cloth and a cough, sneeze, or pretty much a slight breeze of air will pass right through them. There is little science to back up that masks are actually effective. Even m even if masks did help the spread of CO. There is not many positive outcomes of wearing them. They are uncomfortable, make it hard to breathe, difficult to make friends and socialize, etc. While wearing a mask, it

038can be hard to breathe while participating in physical activities, school, social gatherings, and pretty much the majority of the time you are wearing a mask. Did you know that teachers spend a portion of their class time correcting kids how to wear a mask and going into details about having a mask over their nose? While educators are busy correcting kids, they get distracted and stray away from teaching. Another negative outcome about wearing a mask and it is hard to make friends. While in school, kids tend to back away from socializing because it is hard to hear the other kids, making it more difficult to socialize. Let's say a kid does decide to get up and go to another kid in the classroom to talk to them, maybe make a new friend. Not only would it be

039hard for the kids to hear each other, it would be very tough to see the facial expressions of one another. Not only would this make the conversation confusing, but after this, do you think the kid would be willing to go open up to other kids as much again? My guess would be no. In my in my in my school crest of the Rockwood school district, we have to wear a mask during PE. In the previous school years, it was the same rules. When I was wearing a mask, I would get hotter than usual. It was harder to breathe. Since it was hotter because of the mask, I would sweat more. The kids in gym were not allowed to take off our masks, even if it was uncomfortable. No kids wanted to take back talk back

040to the teachers because they or I'm guessing scare the discipline. Anyway, the sweat caused my mask caused by my mask would irritate my skin and the skin of my other friends causing rationing that would wouldn't go away for a few days. I tried different masks but the same outcome and result appeared. I think it is perfectly fine if you want to wear a mask, but you should and everyone should get a choice on how they want to live their lives as an individual of society. Whether or not you want to wear a mask, I think it should be a choice. [Applause] My name is Bill Benedict. I've been in private practice internal medicine for over 40 years and in that time instructor in clinical medicine at Washington University Barnes and St. Louis hospitals. The issue

041at hand tonight is whether or not masks prevent virus transmission. The only way to assess this is to review all of the data from all the sources you have in front of you. This article dated to August 11th, 2021, which is a comprehensive review of current evidence entitled new masks work. At the initial start of a CO 19 outbreak, the surgeon general, the United Kingdom, the World Health Organization, and the CDC all stated that masks are not effective in preventing virus transmission. So why has the CDC changed its original opinion? Here's why. In analyzing outcomes, there are two types of studies. observational studies which have no scientific validity and randomly controlled trials which are universally recognized as the gold standard of medical research. The CDC bases its recommendation on only 15 a matrix of 15

042selected observational studies and ignoring all of the random control trials over the past several decades. One favorite CDC study that they discussed is a study involving two Missouri hairdressers who were COVID positive wore masks and analyzing their clients about reverting to CO positivity. But they didn't test all the clients and there was no control group where there were two hairdressers with CO positivity that didn't wear masks. There are 14 randomly controlled studies over many decades that have tested the effectiveness of masks in reducing transmission of respiratory viruses. To summarize, I've summarized them here very well. They show no evidence essentially of masks preventing direct transmission. No evidence. One large Danish uh study which was controlled with 4,862 subjects showed statistically no difference in the mass which is the no mask group. And yet the city

043website holds this up as being too small. They don't have almost 5,000 people and they tout the two hairdresser study as being valid even though that study show what they're trying to say. To conclude, if you read this comprehensive summary of scientific data and you continue this mass mandate, then you're ignoring the science which is voluminous to the detriment of our children only for emotional and political reasons. [Applause] [Music] Hello, my name is Lisa. I have four children attending Rockwood schools in grades fourth, 7th, 9th, and 11th. Most of you in this room have experienced raising your own children in school in the past, or you are currently doing it now. You know very well that our children do not express to any of you how they truly feel. They want all of you to

044think they are doing okay. I'm here to tell you they are not. These children are not excited to come back to school with their faces covered. And there is absolutely no science to support children wearing masks. You are mandating these poor children to do something that is not supported from a medical standpoint. I could stand up here and tell you all about my personal life and about my struggles. But the reality of this situation is every single person in this room faces challenges and struggles within their own situation. It is not about that. No decision made by you will make every person happy. It is not about that. Life is not fair. Don't you teach your children that? It's about choice. One of the most used statements in our home is life is about choice

045every single day. And with those choices you make come consequences. I get to make my choice for me and for my children, not you. I suffer the consequences that come from with my choices, not you. This whole situation is beyond devastating for the growth and development of our children. There are many studies out there saying our children's generation will never gain back all that they have so sadly lost during this tragic time of dictatorship. So many important things I teach my children have not been able to be practiced since before co and that has been way too long to name a few. Making new friends, advocating and standing strong for what you believe. No one can do that because we have a mandate on what we have to do. Being a strong individual, these children

046are scared and living in fear. My two children came home after high school orientation upset about the feel of what was supposed to be a welcome back. It was everything but a welcome back. According to my teenagers, all the staff were highly concerned about was the students maskearing. There were constant remarks being made about students masks and no friendly welcoming conversations. This is not how any of you would say you wanted your students to feel after what was supposed to be a welcome back orientation, would you? It is the personal responsibility of each individual to take into account their own health complications and weigh their actions and make an informed decision. No matter how well-intentioned you are, you can't do that for each and every one of us. You can know each of us well

047enough to truly do what is best for our personal health. Even if you could, it would not it would still not be within your rights as our civil government. Ultimately, this is not only about whether masks work. This is about leaving and tax the freedom and the dignity of our students. Nothing should justify mandating the health choices of a free citizen of this country. If you believe masks work and that you are and that they are safe and effective, by all means use them. I will no sooner rob you of that than I would allow you to rob me of my freedom to choose. Do what you think is best for your own health and let each of us face the consequences of our own decisions. We want to preserve the dignity of making our

048own decisions. Masks or no masks. Demonizing those who choose to make different personal health choices other than yours is wrong. Period. We all should have the freedom to make our own healthcare decisions for our own children. As Thomas Jefferson once said, there is no justification for taking away individuals freedom in the guise of public safety. [Applause] Could you please put your mask on? Thank you. I can't. I'll hold it right. My name is Linda Hman. I'm very late to this party. I was just informed of this meeting late this afternoon. I'm coming here tonight as a retired teacher, not from the Rockwood School District, but I am a retired teacher and also a taxpayer in Rockwood School District. And as a retired teacher, as a human being, I have been so concerned about issues I

049hear in beauty shop, in the grocery store. The suicides in Rockwood School District put me on edge and practically in tears. It's not once, it's not twice, it's been too many times. I tell you as a teacher, I had a child accidentally commit suicide. It's something you never ever forget. That empty seat spoke volumes to every kid that walked in that building. Now, I'm not I'm not here to preach to anybody, but I want to remind all of you and everybody in the room, do not suffer the little children, for such is the kingdom of God. We were all children once. Some of us suffered as children, some of us did not. But whatever suffering you may or may not have endured as a child, did not come from the love of God, the truth

050of God. It came from individuals who did not speak the truth, who did not know how to love, who did not know how to educate. I can tell you as a teacher, it was a calling. It was all about the next generation. How do you prepare these children to live in a society where people lie and bullies coming around putting masks on your face? I'm going to remind you, you say, "We do whatever it takes to ensure all students realize their potential." How can they realize the potential of you? How is your faith? You say here, "Getting my COVID 19 vaccine means I can get back to my favorite activities." That's a lie. That's propaganda. Nobody's getting back to their activities, including me, because we're musled. You said, "I want to see my friends back

051in class." That too is propaganda. And let me add one other thing. When I retired from teaching because I considered myself a lifelong learner. I attended I already had a lot of education but I started going to doctoral classes. You know I probably was in classes that some of you attended. It was not about educating children. It was all about being politically correct. You do not answer to who? The NEA. You answer to the citizens, to the children, and you're accountable for God himself for what you teach these children. And if it's a lie, you're accountable for it. And I really believe that. So think about it. The truth is in every one of you. The love of God is in every one of you. I believe that. You just need to get in touch

052with it and act upon it. These children do not belong to you. [Applause] Hello, my name is Molly. I would like to start by saying I am sick of all your masked expressionless faces out there. We have no idea what you're thinking, feeling. You're probably not even listening. You care about one thing. It is not the children. It is money. If you gave parents the choice to mask their children, you wouldn't be receiving $7.8 million from the federal government. Do you not see what is going on here? The government is paying you $7.8 million to keep kids in masks. Why? Have you ever thought about that? for a virus that kills less children every year than drowning, vehicular accidents, homicide, cancer, cardiovascular disease, the flu, pneumonia, and suffocation. But they are going to give you

053almost $8 million if you mandate masks in this district. You don't think that's suspicious? This virus has a survival rate of over 99%. The government is using you, every single one of you, as a pond, and you are feeding right into it like blind, moneyhungry little Nazi soldiers. I know it's hard to say no to 7.8 million. I get that. It's a lot of money. But at what cost? Because if you don't think your freedom is on the line because of the choices you are making, taking money from the government and making these mandates, then you need to attend one of the World War II history lessons taught in one of your schools. Or did you remove that from the curriculum to make time to brainwash our children that they're racists? Seemingly good, rational thinking

054and even highly religious people will sometimes blindly support evil with a near cultlike belief that it is righteous. Outside of Germany during World War II, the rest of the world was dumbfounded at the profound deceit of the Nazis propaganda, the ridiculous exaggerations, the outright falsehoods, the astonishing acceptance of the German people. How on earth could intelligent, rational German citizens have been convicted by all of that government's rubbish, to allow millions of innocent people, including children, to be taken away and murdered. The deportation and slaughter of European Jews and the Holocaust did not begin with actions. It began with words a decade before World War II. So, let's run through 10 of the most devious and effective fascist tricks that Adolf Hitler employed in Germany before World War II and look at the similarities to co.

055Number one, appeal to people's fear. Number two, divide the people into two parties. Number three, portray one group as outsiders, extremists, villains, morally negligent, and then tell the other group that they are morally superior, making small sacrifices of their freedom one act at a time for the betterment of our country. Number four, repetitive propaganda. Hitler expertly used radio, movies, posters, and pamphlets to flood Germany with his lies. Repetitive propaganda delivers a feedback loop in your brain. Each cycle reinforcing the one before. That's a fact. Repeat lies often enough and the people will believe that they are true. Lie about the facts, people, party, science, and even religion. We just had a doctor up here telling you that this is not science and you don't care. You care about the $8 million you're trying to [Applause]

056Taylor Vegas, Elizabeth Smith. Hi, my name is Taylor and I am going to be going into eighth grade at the Rockwood School District. Um, I was excited to go to school this year because they had recently announced that masks were optional, but not anymore. Um, why do I have to wear a mask if other people are wearing masks and they say that their masks work? What what what difference does it make if their masks work and they want to protect themselves from the virus? maybe because they don't work. If those parents want their kids to sit in their classroom oxygen deprived, then they can do that. It's like if I break my arm and I have to wear a cast, you can't force all the other kids to wear a cast. This we went to

057the doctor to try and get a mask exemption because I I have claustrophobia and anxiety and I I start hyperventilating and I feel like I'm going to throw up and I do throw up and that's happened several times before. Um, we went to the doctor and they said that they couldn't do that cuz they don't feel comfortable with it. It's documented that I throw up when I feel claustrophobic and anxious and they still went silent. This is a they say that it's a free country but I guess not anymore. Thank you. [Music] And after that, Shannon Bart. [Music] Hi, I'm Elizabeth. I can't breathe in this mask. I get nauseous after eight hours of wearing this mask straight with only breaks such as lunch and recess. It's awful. you can't do this. I get anxiety

058about masks. Horrible, horrible anxiety. And it's not fair that you have to make me wear one. And it's just not fair. I can't hear my teachers or friends when they're talking. I have to ask them to repeat several times because they can't take their mask off in class. You said we do whatever it takes to ensure students to realize their potential, but I can't realize my potential in this mask. I really can't. Teachers teach independence in social studies and other classes and they tell us about how we came to America for freedom. Then if this is freedom, then I don't want to see you control. That's why masks should be optional. So at least we have some freedom. Thank you. So, I didn't come here with a speech, unfortunately, but I'm just extremely annoyed with

059the school district on how they think that they can dictate the health of my child and how they think they can just sit here and be the parent of my child when I pretty much pay taxes for your salary. Um, what do the mining people wear when they're down there? What kind of mask do they wear to protect themselves from that environment? It's way more than a cloth mask. I can guarantee you that you guys are out in the public just going out without a mask. And if you see one, then wouldn't that be kind of hypocritical against to make kids wear a mask eight hours a day sitting in there breathing in it? Disgusting. What if they didn't brush their teeth that day? That's disgusting. You're literally breathing in your own germs. Sorry, I

060know I'm all over the place because I'm just extremely annoyed with you all that think you're doctors of our children. And you're not. You are not doctors. We are the parents. We make the choice on what they wear, how they wear it, and they should choose that as well when they get to a certain age. You have no right to tell us that our kids should wear a mask. None. With 0% of any type of Sorry, I'm just shaking. Um, it has it does no good. You guys are wearing probably cotton shirts, right? I'm sorry to make this interesting, but if you do, I can guarantee you that it goes out the other side. So, what does a mask do? It does nothing. Nothing. Nothing. I just I'm appalled that you guys are still requiring

061this and not making it optional. If people are that scared to go out in public, then good. Stay home. We don't need you. We have immunity. God created us to survive through things. And if not, then it's your time to go. Sorry. That's just how I feel. You can't guarantee that you won't get hit in the parking lot and die tonight. It's just an unknown thing. You cannot protect kids against every single virus. You did not protect them against every flu. Did you shut down the school for the flu? Did you shut down the school for life? Because that's contagious as well. Do you see them wearing a hair mask? Do you see people out there in public wearing a mask for secondhand smoke because you're standing next to somebody who's smoking a cigarette? No,

062we do have that option. And if people are that scared, leave stay home or wear your stupid mask if you feel that secure or insecure about it or get your stupid nine for all I care. I don't care. We have that option as an American. Freedom and America is free. Correct. Do you guys not want freedom to choose what clothes you wear? Do you not want freedom? Can I call [Applause] They save the best for last is what they always say. Congratulations everyone. 513 days since March 24th, 2020 for 15 days to flatten the curve. Congratulations. you all have succeeded. I don't know. Judge Robot today ordered that the mask mandate in St. Louis County, the same county that we're in right now, is not proper, she went against the mandate, right? Yes. I know

063a lot of people address the board. So, let me say one thing because this needs to be said. The board of education has not done a roll call on this mask mandate. So, to the board, when it comes to the mass mandate, this is not your fault. I know that. Now, everyone else does because you have not done a roll call vote. So, you're not responsible. Who is responsible is Dr. Tim Ricker and his cabinet. whomever his cabinet is and those that directly report him. So saying that the board you are exonerated until we ask for a roll call vote. I ask you for a roll call vote. I want to see where you stand. You owe it to us. You represent us. The second patron said the word choice eight, nine, 10 times. He

064was against masks or he was for the mask mandate. I don't care that he was for the mask mandate. He has a right to wear a mask. That's his choice. Choice. The word choice. Use the word choice. Choice. Choice. As I said, I sat here as one of four people last week at the meeting found that I sat all the way to the end. I watched Dr. Cobb. I watched Dr. Counts. I can't tell you how many times that they touched their face while they were speaking and didn't clean their hand one time, didn't change their mask one time. So, what's the point? In conclusion, what I will say, and I said it last time, I have asked a question about what the consequences are of these students that refuse to wear a mask. I

065have not gotten that answer. I have not gotten that answer, but I did get an email back stating that I hopefully should get some answers quickly. In closing, since I'm the last person, I will again say like I did last time. If anyone on that stage mandates a mask to the children, then I mandate each and every one of you to wear your mask from the hours of 7 to 4 Monday through Friday. Thank you. Have a bless you. All right. Next up on our board agenda is superintendent and board comments. Dr. Ricker. Thank you, Madam President. Nearly 400 Rapid students from kindergarten through middle school got a chance to learn and explore this summer through Rackwood Summer Academy Explore program. Explore, a new program this year, offered students project-based learning in virtual format with

066assignments that encourage students to explore aspects of the community around them. The explore session ran from July 12th to August 6 and provided a different emphasis for students at different grade levels from exploring kindergarten for some of our youngest students to exploring solutions to challenges facing the St. Louis region for our eighth graders. The explore program was designed to give students an opportunity to apply their skills that they've learned over the previous school year and help them to prepare for the upcoming school year in fun interactive ways. We hope this was a welcome addition to our students summer learning opportunities and look forward to it in the future. Members of the Rockwood School District alternative education committee met throughout the summer for subcommittee work focused on evaluating ways to enhance educational opportunities and alternative programming

067to help meet the needs of all Rockwood students and shape the future of Rockwood's alternative programs. Four subcommittees, which include curriculum, social, emotional, mental health supports, community partnerships, and logistics and evaluation, shared their work at a recent group meeting, laying the foundation for the committee's work in the months to come. The goal is to present a plan to the board of education at the end of 2021. And in that new year, the committee will provide an opportunity for community feedback on the proposal, refine the proposal based upon the feedback, and present it to the board for approval at a later date. Once the proposal is approved, the Rockwood Student Services uh division will begin implementing the new alternative education plan in the spring of 2022 with a launch date set for the start of 2022

06823 school year. Our community can visit our website at rsdmmo.org for committee updates as the work progresses. The Rockwood School District recently welcomed more than 100 new teachers to our staff during the new teacher orientation events at Eurek High School on August 12th through 13th and again on August 16th. Our newest educators met with members of the central office of departmental administrators participated in activities and received valuable tools and information for supporting students. We are extremely excited to have all these new educators joining our Rockwood community and look forward to all of the meaningful connections they will make with students, families, and fellow staff members at their schools as we prepare to welcome students back on the first day of school, which is Monday. And then finally tonight, I'd like to share with you this

069video of one of the community partnerships in action. Through the Rockwood Partners and Education Project interface program, Lafayette High senior James Rose embarked on a unique summer internship experience in the aerospace engineering lab at L at St. Louis University. The project interface in through the project interface, James gain valuable hands-on experience in a field he's interested in pursuing college beyond as well. I just love I just love the environment here. Um, I didn't really know what to expect walking into this. I was blown away. I just I loved it. This is my uh research lab and uh this is called the aircraft lab. And what we do in here is work with all kinds of drones. As you can see, there are a couple of fixing drones behind me and there's a Montro bunch of

070them all over the place. This I've always been fascinated by planes. I originally wanted to fly them, but you know, after just being exposed on aerospace engineers, what I want to do now is grow up and be an aerospace engineer. I would like to say James is a really good student. He came in the lab, he put in his time, he put in the effort and he gave him the interest and the drive to learn and uh know over the last six to eight weeks, he has learned quite a bit. He gave me a pretty talented project for my level. I didn't think coding was such a huge deal. I thought there were just people who coded it for you. When I got here, I was thrown in the fire with that. I had no

071idea how to code. I had to learn I had to learn a bunch of it and it's a short matter of time. I just encourage students to do whatever sort of internship they love. It really gives you an idea of what exactly your field or aerospace engineering consists of. It absolutely gives you uh like a when you apply for colleges and apply for grad school and go and apply for a job. I've done these things before. Not exactly what you want but I've done similar things. So it would take me long. We would like to see uh to you know continue our relationship between my lab and project interface at Rockwood. [Applause] That concludes my comments this evening. That's okay. Very good. That's okay. Any other board comments or any board comments, I guess I

072should say. All right. And could I please uh have a motion to approve the consent agenda items as submitted? Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion? All right. So motion is to approve the consent agenda items as submitted. All those in favor, please say I. Anyone opposed? That passes. Next, we have a proclamation. Could I please have a motion to approve that the board of education proclaim the month of September 2021 as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in the Rockwood School District. Motion and a second. Dr. Harris, I believe, is coming up to the microphone and director Mia will read the proclamation. National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Whereas September is known around the United States as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and is intended to help promote awareness surrounding each of the suicide prevention resources

073available to us in our community. The simple goal is to learn how to help those around us and how to talk about suicide without decreasing the risk of harm. And whereas suicidal thoughts can affect anyone regardless of age, gender, race, orientation, income level, religion, or background. And whereas according to the CDC, each year more than 41,000 people die of suicide. And whereas suicide is the 10th leading cause of death among adults in the United States. The second cause of death among people aged 10 to 24, right? And whereas local organizations and national organizations like the National Alliance on Mental Illness, NAMI, are on the forefront of a battle that many still refuse to discuss in public. The suicide and mental illness remains too taboo a topic to speak on. And whereas every member of our

074community should understand that throughout life's struggles, we all need the occasional reminder that we are all significant fighting fighting for our own battles. And whereas public awareness, education, referrals, and treatment are the keys to preventing further suffering and loss of life. And whereas suicide prevention is important to the BOE, to the board of education of the Rockford School District, the staff and students of our community in this region. And whereas Rockwood School District continues to support number one services provided by the unified mental health teams in each middle and high school to support our youth and refer students who need behavioral health treatment. Two, the implementation of evidencebased suicide prevention programs such as signs of suicide prevention program SOS so students and staff learn the signs of depression and suicide and respond in ways to

075keep students safe. Number three, ongoing professional learning for teachers to identify and respond to atrisisk students and for school mental health professionals to conduct evidence-based suicide screenings and make appropriate community- based referrals. Number four, partnerships with professional organizations and community agencies. Number five, efforts to develop resiliency, protective factors, corrective factors, and other social emotional competencies. And number six, strategies to engage parents as partners in effective prevention through the sharing of resources and providing education through the mental health and wellness parent seminar series. Whereas, I encourage all to take the time to inquire as to the well-being of their family, friends, and neighbors over the next few days, and to generally convey their appreciation for their existence. By any gesture they deem appropriate, a simple phone call, message, handshake, or hug can go a long way

076toward helping someone realize that suicide is not the answer. Whereas we believe that one suicide is one too many and that many of these deaths are preventable. Now therefore be it resolved to the board of education do hereby proclaim the month of September 2021 as national suicide prevention awareness month in the reference post. Thank you. Thanks for reading that. Um sorry it was so long. I wanted to make sure that we captured all the work that we're doing. So almost eight months ago, we had a group of students from Marquette High School, Locket High School, and maybe Rock the Summit that came and spoke to the board of education. And at that board meeting, we further committed to all the work that we're going to do. So I want to just give you some updates

077since that meeting. Since that meeting we had we partnered with Chaz Coalition which we already have a partnership with them to create and start a community series. So the first Tuesday of the month and we will continue that throughout this year as well. Uh parents will have the opportunity to learn about signs of suicide. Parents will also have the opportunity to um participate in our youth mental health first aid training. We also partner again with Allied Well and our drug free coalition is partnering with a group of students to have a support group uh virtually where students can come and learn about supports that support their peers. Tomorrow is our final day of our training for youth mental health first aid which is uh the training that we're we're using to train young people so

078young people can support their peers. Youth mental health first aid is typically an adult program, but just over the course of the last two years, they created a peer program. So students at Lafayette High School will complete their training tomorrow. Uh it's from 11 to 2 o'clock when we are around and we'll have to participate in it to see that. That would be great. And then we're going to expand the program across uh the district. Finally, we are launching, and I mentioned this last Tuesday, we're launching a website working with our community communications department to house uh resources for our students. I can't say this enough. You think the board I know that you guys know this, we have probably more resources than any school district in this in this region, probably even the state.

079Um I mentioned last week that we are creating something like a EAB program, EAP program for our students. RFP will go out sometime soon. Uh we have the resources. Our our job and goal is to somehow take away the stigma around suicide, depression, and anxiety. Somehow normalize that these feelings are real and there's hope uh support and help for individuals. We have resources. Any one of our high schools, any one of our middle schools as well as elementary schools will tell tell you that we have resources and we can find resources. And yet we still find ourselves in a space where young people are struggling. And I think what we have to do, our mission is to really take that away, the stigma away so that young people can access those resources. We have to

080make it normal to see a social worker. We have to make it normal to see a therapist. We have to make it normal to have these conversations. So in 2022 or this school year 2122 school year our job in student services our goal is to expand the offerings but also make it normal. So we're going to start with our young we're starting with teachers and social workers but we're also going to start with young people to add that layer. All all teachers will go through a suicide awareness training. It's annual every single year. So we we will continue to add on that and yet we still know that there's more that we can do. So hopefully with this new web page, this new site that we have, if there's information as parents that you would

081like to share with us or which if students want to share certain things, we're open so that we can continue to work together as a community to support our students. Last thing I would say, and I said this last time, is that this this prevention of suicide is not solely the responsibility of the school district. If we're going to be successful in preventing suicides, it's going to take the school district. is going to take you, you know, young people, the coaches, the parents, the teachers, going to take all of us. Collectively, we're responsible to making sure that all of our children are well. So, thank you for your support. I really appreciate it. Any questions? I sent Janet an email that I will share with you guys. Rockwood School District is leading uh taking the

082charge to create a a suicide awareness conference September 10th. It's a free virtual conference that anyone with the link can sign up. It's going to we have national speakers, local speakers, as well as some of our students. I would encourage any person, any parent, any student to participate. Janet will send the email to the board and then we'll post it on our website so that the district can uh parents can participate. So I have one comment and it's a thank you to you Terry for your leadership in this area and when you say that Rockford is leading the other school districts in the in the St. Louis County area in the region. I know from my work on another with another group that that is true and so thank you for your leadership. Thank you

083Dr. Harris. So, the motion is to approve that the board of education proclaim the month of September 2021 as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in the Rockford School District. All those in favor, please say I. I. Anyone opposed? And that passes. Next, we have Paul Northingington coming up. Could I please have a motion to approve the review of policy 3330 bonded indebtedness? Motion and a second. discussion. Yes, thank you. This is actually a revision of an existing policy that we have in place in regard to budget industation bonds. uh suggested by S&P our rating agency and working with our financial advisors that we include some language on things that were already currently practicing that define it in policy and those items really deal with compliance with state statutes regarding borrowing limits uh annual disclosure requirements

084that are part of our ongoing bonded indebtedness. uh our practices in regards to call features that we put in our bonds and also uh our structure for capital planning purposes. Again, these are all things we do. We're just define it a little bit more in this policy. Any questions? All right. So, the motion is to approve the review of policy 3330 bonded indebtedness. All those in favor, please say I. Anyone opposed? Yes. Okay. Thank you. And if we have you for the next item, which is could I please have a motion to approve the review of policy 3331 R funds? Motion and a second. Thank you. This is also a revision of an existing policy. It's kind of a subset of the general obligation bonds. also a recommendation that we further define some considerations when

085we may want to do capital facility leasing or those type of things in lie of issuing a bond issuance. A good example of that would be when the district purchased the buses 5 years ago they did capital lease. So it would address those kind of things. Again it's just further defining the language of some current practices that we've been doing for quite some time. Great. Any questions? All right. So, the motion is to approve the review of policy 3331, borrowed funds. All those in favor, please say I. Anyone opposed? That passes. Madam President, I would like to just comment very, very briefly. This is a series of policies that enhance an already excellent efficiency and effectiveness part of the Woulder plan. And I just want to continue to say that it's brilliant plan that we

086have for our finances and we're in really really good shape and we're great stewards of the tax dollars and I I just can't overemphasize the fact that Paul and Dan and others Brenda's here tonight for another issue. They do great work and they keep they keep everything above board and what needs to be done and and again being great stewards of the past. Thank you. The next uh vote motion is to postpone approval of revisions to policy 1510 records retention destruction until the September 2nd 2021 board of education meeting. Motion and a second. Discussion on this. Yes. This is really just providing a little bit more clarity or detail changing a couple of things. The old policy referenced school districts officials were managed. We're wanting to further define that as within a department. So, we're

087going to put that under the direction of the director of finance. And the old policy also mentioned public school retention schedule that really needs to be defined uh as in accordance with Missouri Secretary of State's manuals that is governed at the state level. The Secretary of State's office issues manuals for all public entities and in the subset for different departments including public school districts. So we'll be working under those guidelines as established by the Secretary of State's office in regards to record retention. No change of practice, just better defining those practices. Thank you. Any questions? The motion is to postpone approval of revisions to policy 1510, records retention destruction, until the September 2nd, 2021 board of education meeting. All those in favor, please say I. Anyone oppose? That passes. Thank you. All right. Next. Could

088I please have a motion to approve superintendent designate to continue to manage the FY22 PECAR program as presented? Second motion and a second and Brenda Kirkoff is here. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. The district has completed another successful year with Bank of America's PE card program. Some of the key advantages of the program include a single tool for reconciling transactions and reporting features that provide additional spend control. From a process management standpoint, each card is assigned a strategy that consists of a single transaction limit and a monthly credit limit. This provides another layer of control by tracking strategy changes through the program and allowing us to restrict usage based on a vendor's merchant category code. The program currently has 239 cards, which is substantially less than in previous years when we

089had about 500 cards in use throughout the district. Through consolidation and attrition, we have been able to reduce the number to 99 department cards and 140 individual cards. Each department card is assigned to one user who is responsible for managing and managing the reporting and checkout of the card to multiple users throughout the district. The individual cards are assigned to one employee and this person is responsible for all transactions and reporting on the card. The number of cards in the program is closely managed and evaluated on an annual basis. And this last slide is just an overview of last year's spendings uh spending. Last year we uh the PRA purchases total just over one $4.1 million and our rebate um associated with those purchases was around $87,000. questions. What do we do with the rebate?

090Correct. We have a question. All right. So, the motion is to approve. Superintendent designate to continue to manage the FY22 PE card program as presented. All those in favor, please say I. I. Anyone opposed? That passes. Thank you. Next, we have community survey results presentation. Glenn Hancock is coming up. There's no motion, just discussion. Good evening and thank you for your time tonight. Uh this evening I'm going to share the results from our community survey that was provided at the end of the 2021 school year. We began this survey instrument in 2015 as a way to gather input from the community to continually improve our school district. As we as we transition between superintendent and events surrounding COVID, the annual survey was paused during the 1819 and 1920 school years with our most recent comparison

091being from 2017 and 2018. Feedback from our community is a valuable resource that we use to help us uh improve our educational opportunities for our students. This survey not only provides feedback from our community, but as a way to monitor our progress towards meeting the mission and vision of the Ron School District. As such, we have incorporated many of these within our strategic plan evaluation to continue to monitor our progress. Our survey opened during the last few days of school and remained open through June 9th. A little more than a week, we left the survey open. This survey was distributed through several communication channels internally and externally to our parents, community, and staff. The survey was comprised of questions using scales from excellent to four and strongly agree to agree as well as two open-ended

092questions throughout the survey. We had more than 3,900 responses with more than three4s of those coming from our parents and community. Within our Rockco staff participants, the majority was certified staff. That includes teachers, counselors, librarians, followed by our support staff making up the other 37%. Within the five domains of the survey, overall Rockwood quality, financial resource management, innovative learning, overall Rockwood leadership, and mission and vision. The two areas that are rated most favorably related to the importance of the quality of Rockwood and the financial and resource management. More specifically, 95% agreed that people move to Rockwood because of our reputation. 94% of responses indicated that the quality of Rockwood is an important factor for protecting their property value. and 93% responded that it's important to maintain adequate space for classrooms and other curricular needs. The

093graphs uh coming up here will show just a little bit about expanding upon what we just shared that the folks moved to Rockwood because our reputation and the quality of Rockwood is important to protecting property values with the excellent those uh selecting excellent and good in their responses. representative representative green. A few additional key areas that we find that the community responded with is that Rockwood employs high quality teachers. Rockwood is doing a good job keeping students safe and the onetoone technology program has been successful at keeping technology in the hands of our students and helping us through the times during the pandemic. That is correct. Good question. Yes, the end value underneath does represent the the number of individual responses. As we ended as we ended the 2121 school year, we began to look

094forward to the upcoming school year and asked our respondents about their hopes for the 21232 school year and an open-ended question. The following were a few of the some of the key themes that were included in their responses. One of them surrounded the focus on academics. Many indicated desire to continue to challenge the children academically and share the academics uh and ensure the academic progress that their children are making. Respondents also indicated preference for in-person learning. So responses share their encouragement for opening school back school year back in person again and return to safely at the same time. While also returning safely, the feedback included multiple perspectives that involve the use of masks, a sense of normaly, and resuming classroom and after school activities that have existed in the past. The survey highlighted some positive

095aspects of the Rock School District while also helping us to identify key opportunities for growth. A few of these areas for growth that were identified included the job performance of the superintendent, communication within the Rockwood community by providing more information with our areas of strength and growth, the work of our board of education and progress related to the way forward. The chart here on the right shows trends over time with a few of these key opportunities areas for growth uh and with our most recent results. Again, please note that there was a gap of time between 2018 and 2021 as during those years there was not the survey the survey instrument was not provided. The green line in this uh graph represents the approval of the job performance of the board of education. Uh from

096the start of the survey in 2015 through our current um year 2021. The next line I'm going to add to the chart uh is responses in terms of communicating well with our area residents and the responses again compared from previous results to our current. And then lastly, responses from the question is moving in the right direction again comparing results from prior surveys to our our most recent results. We also noticed in our results that we had a number of questions in which respondents didn't have enough information to submit a response by selecting don't know or selecting not enough information. These were identified as potential programs and experiences to expand awareness within our Rockwood community. Within our survey, the following areas had the largest percentage of respondents selecting the don't know enough information choice as their

097answer. Uh these include managing bond issues where 38% selected unsure not enough information respond uh as you heard uh the great work uh we're doing with our work with our budget utilization of partners in education. They provide career shadowing, guest speakers, career fairs, internship pairings and much much more. District budget management again Dr. shared even last meeting that this is one of our best kept secrets of Rockwood and the need to continue to celebrate the great work that we do with our budget uh with our budget process in our last learning opportunities through non-traditional experiences. Uh even this summer, it was highlighted in the board comments this evening. The superintendent comments that we had a great summer school program that was done and had a lot of positive feedback. Those students during summer school were

098allowed to explore parks, they were allowed to explore food trucks and much more. So, a great great experience they're able to enjoy. We appreciate all the feedback and responses from the survey. We continually listen and use this information to improve our school district. Uh after this evening, we'll forward the results onto our communication team and we'll have these uh results available online on our rapid website. Thank you for your time this evening. Thank you, Glenn. Any questions? Go ahead. There's a particular reason why you only ran it for nine days. Uh usually at that time uh the responses start dropping off. Uh we send out a reminder or another post in between there. We just responses fell off and that was the time we set for that time that it was so close to the

099end of the school year on this survey. We wanted to try and connect people out there still checking email and responding. Thank you. Do we have any ideas for um some communication ideas I'm guessing for some of these key opportunities for sharing strength? I know you mentioned the one tonight was was part of that, but also we have pie piece in there which is one of these as well. So I imagine those those flag some communication ideas for different stories to be told. Yeah. Yeah. We've been in touch and shared this with our communication department about some of these opportunities and we've began to highlight them uh through again listening to the feedback and beginning to highlight them through our comments uh sharing through the board comments. There's also a weekly board memo that goes

100out to share some of these stories as well to the co committee to look at some of these as key opportunities bring forward to the board and the public. Okay. Thank you, J. Any other questions or comments for Glenn? All right. Thank you, GL. Thank you. All right. Next, we have another uh let's see, it's not a motion, but we have Dan Steinbergie coming up to talk to us about the PSSER 2 and three federal funds update. Good evening. Thank you for the uh the opportunity to speak to you tonight. So, uh, the purpose of tonight's presentation is just kind of give you an update over some of the federal funding that we've received. So, uh, the first is something that we've shared before. Uh, so for the 2021 school year, uh, we, uh, were

101able to recover costs of 2.8 million, uh, which we incurred last school year, uh, as our way to prevent, prepare, and respond to the COVID 19 pandemic. So, those are items that we received last year. So that's just a quick summary of what we've received. So our discussion tonight is kind of give you an overview and uh first introduction to two of the most recent funding opportunities uh known as elementary and secondary school emergency relief funds which I will refer to as SR 2 and SR 3. So each of these funds were established through two separate federal legislations. Uh these are one-time federal funds. So our approach is obviously we want to make sure um over the established budget period that is for available funds that we want to address any short-term um goals uh

102for use these funds and our response to the COVID pandemic. Uh we also want to at the end of that I put in the funds and number there be able to take a look back and make sure that um we use the funds appropriately and uh they were used uh correctly. So the budgets all so from a financial standpoint those all fall excuse me flow through desking and then also with it being federal funds they'll be subject to additional compliance from our external auditors when they come out on an annual basis. Uh so over the next three years when we receive as we draw down these funds so these are re reimburseable grants. So we have to incur the costs. Uh they have to be approved first and then we will draw down on those

103and that has to go through desi and then our external auditors will also take a look at that as well. So uh three-year period um much like any federal grant that we work with currently as well as our budget um expectations on using the funds it needs to use those funds will change. So even though we may have certain requirements to file uh budget applications or compliance plans with DESIE, those are all always evolving. So kind of keep that in mind over the next couple years. Uh when we provide updates um we're going to constantly review our needs um update DESIE, send them through Desi, and then also they'll be subject to our own budget process. So the total of these two funds, SR2 and SR 3 is 11.3 million. The first of which was

104uh SR 2 which was passed in December of 2020. Um our allocation that DESIE has provided to us um as part of the overall schools throughout the state of Missouri is 3.5 million. We have those funds to use through September of 2023. So again, uh these two funds were in the preliminary stages of uh planning to use them, how to use them, and of course, we also want to make sure that they are in accordance with the guidelines that have been established for us. So there are some flexibility in the in how we can use them um to address um you know prepare for respond um to CO 19 uh PPE supplies, technology related items, providing hotspots or other kind of tech computer assisted needs. uh student staff mental health programs uh taking a look

105at indoor air quality enhancements, HVAC needs, control upgrades, things of that nature if necessary, as well as other items we have some flexibility to 3. So this is the most recent legislation was passed in March of 2021. The allocation presented to us through Desi um and as part of the overall uh allocation to from schools across Missouri is 7.8 million. We do have an an additional year to spend these. So we the funds are available through September 30 of 2024. So we have three years to plan, prepare and use those. our timeline. Uh we received the initial guidance and our allocations back in May. leadership team met over the course of the next couple weeks kind of developing a framework that will allow us to kind of progress over the next three years to use

106these funds and then we'll continue to meet those as I kind of mentioned this is a number evolving uh needs will change as we go through the next three years and we'll continue to update and provide updates and adjust to guidelines that have uh have been established. So in regards to 3, there were some additional guidelines that were required. So um we have satisfied those items to date by publishing our uh our SRCSP plan. Um we did that back in June. Um there's ongoing communication with public and stakeholders. The first of which was our survey that was published last week uh which closes tonight. And then there would be ongoing discussion. So at a minimum every uh at least every six months uh we'll be required to provide an update and um that actually is

107going to kind of fall in line with our already established budget timeline. So if you recall we usually come to the board uh with the budget update in December and then of course the budget approval in June. So we're going to follow those timelines and kind of just incorporate any kind of updates with those presentations. So um the districts can continue to use the mitigating strategies that would have been established. Um federal funding is not contingent on any kind of mandates and our budget application again our compliance plan the initial budget and compliance plan will be um presented uh and submitted by Monday. But again it's an ongoing process. next three years we'll be making lots of revisions as things change and as I kind of mentioned we'll continue to provide updates regarding that. So

108again, we have a wide range of activities um that are allowed under this plant. Um for SR3, we kind of summarize to providing for uh cleaning supplies, PVE, equipment, things of that nature. We do have um a 20% allocation to support ourel accelerated learning for intervention programs. any other kind of uh needs as we kind of get through to address any kind of shortfalls in education technology. Um is that required the 20%. Can we go over it if we if you would find a need? The minimum is 20%. So at a minimum we have to have 20%. Thank you. Technology items. So again providing additional resources for educational equipment, hardware, cyber security maintenance, things of that nature. uh addressing mental health needs for staff and students, trauma informed trainings, and then also the availability to

109uh repair and improve school facilities and air quality um in our HR systems. Yes, sir. Has the federal government ever told the Rockwood School District that if we go from man mandating mask to optional or no mask that they would take these funds away? No, I've not received any communication. Have you ever had a hint that they would do that? No. Thank you very much. Has Desi done that? No. So in DESIE guidelines that they establish um it does say um advises but does not mandate. It's right here. It's in their papers. It's it's in their papers. So I hear you right that so we don't get the money until we actually spend like is that how that works or That's correct. That's correct. So it's a reimburseable grant much like our current grants we

110have going on now. Right. where we have to submit to Desi our plan of action. We go through our procurement process. Uh bid goes up, you know, we goes out for bids, uh that sort of nature, your normal business process, right? And then we'll turn in for reimbursement. Okay. Okay. Dan, did you did I hear you correctly that some of the funds could be used for different strategies that for students through our multi-ter systems support? Is that what we're thinking about? Yeah, I think overall I I would say that almost these are sources uh that we're going to continue with. If we have a student need uh we're going to address it and that would be in both the academic area and the social emotional areas. So in these updates that you're going to bring

111to us, you'll have a breakdown of what it could have been used on building facilities or HBC or suicide prevention. So there'll be a breakdown. We'll know where those dollars are being. Correct. and or before even before those updates um you know after we receive approval from DESIE and we're in the process of actually going through with purchase uh it'll also be presented as part of if it's over 7500 it'll be part of that consent item on there and it'll be noted as uh federal funds so it'll be kind of a recap so you'll when you review those you'll see which ones are and it be noted whether it's essay 2 or right okay Tam, in the state of Missouri, there's over 530 school districts and some of those school districts or several school districts

112do not mandate mask and they're still getting federal funds. Is that true? Yes. Thank you, sir. Any other questions for Mr. Steiner? Thank you for all this work for the survey. It'll be good to hear those results as well and see how we can help kids. Thank you, Dan. All right. Next up, we have the proposed agenda for the September 2nd, 2021 board of education meeting. Take a look at your screens or the screen behind me. Any comments or questions about this? All right. Then we have future agenda presentations and events to attend. We of course have the first day of school on Monday and we all have a Google calendar to stay on top of as the school year gets going. All right. Any other comments by anyone? All right. We will adjourn the

113meeting. Thank you.