001all right good evening everyone uh we'll start I need a motion to approve the agenda we'll move Motion in a second any discussion all right all those in favor say I I anyone opposed all right that passes next the a motion to approve Board of Education meeting minutes for November 2020 Move Motion second any discussion all those in favor say I hi anyone oppose all right that passes all right next we have Patron comments and we do have two comments tonight so I'm going to read uh this information here about Patron comments during Patron comments citizens May address the Board of Education concerning issues related to the school district each speaker will be limited to three minutes um uh we do not have multiple citizens talking the same topic uh please note that at the
002board's discretion the board of superintendent May respond immediately to an issue raised during Patron comments for clarification however our general practice is to respond to the comment at a later time via a phone call or written message if a response is needed so we have a stand there with microphones ready so both the board and the audience may hear the patron comments clearly board meeting proceedings are also recorded and posted on Rockwood's YouTube channel so this evening we do have two Patron comments for your convenience our three minute clock we'll be ready Bob to know and we welcome Laura Baker to we welcome Laura Baker to step forward hi I am here tonight to share some teacher voices I know you have heard some many already um but we have of teachers who are interested
003in continuing to um have concerns and wanted to express um where they are at currently and just share more about their their experience and the reality of where they are at currently um what I've done is I I have some emails over here that were sent to me uh to present to you so we have close to 300 um teachers who wanted to reach out out and just share some more to again Express um all kinds of opinions about where we are at um there are some who are very supportive and are doing well and then there are others that uh indicate that our teachers are struggling so again I'm here to just share their voices um we want to just make sure that uh we are looking for Solutions and improvements that consider the
004the teachers as well um we're asking for support from the community represented by the Board of Education to not Overlook our Teachers Health and well-being when focusing on what's best for our students so again in doing whatever it takes for our kids our teachers are exhausted many are physically and emotionally spent we are asking for support um from the community again to help us make decisions that balance the needs of all the stakeholders so thank you very much right next we have Rob Caruso hello thank you for the opportunity again um you may remember I was here last time and um I'm here again to uh express my concern over the policy for the contact tracing of the students regarding uh positive covid test um if I didn't make it clear before I I think
005it is a very bad policy and I'm uh hopeful that you'll reconsider and terminate it immediately um I also appreciate having the head nurse uh give me a call and put her in touch with me it did help answer some questions but it also raises a few more um I understand the determination of a uh close contact of a positive case is not only uh the interview of the potential interview of a student but also using uh you know the uh the seating charts and things of that nature um I'm going to assume that when you uh you know decided to implement this policy and uh establish what the criteria would be for contact tracing that you all have given consideration to the fact that forcing students to go home for 14 days because they
006have been deemed close contact is likely to create some enemies okay yeah you know obviously if it's a you know star athlete that happens to be named as a close contact uh you know they're probably going to be pretty upset not only that their teammates uh we don't even want to talk about the coaches and how they're going to react right um also uh you know parents who have to you know now change schedules to you know arrange to be home with these students who are uh uh you know forced to stay home uh I think that's that's creating the potential for a lot of tension um also uh you know when you agree to provide information to the County government I I assume you understand whatever potential actions the county might take and you
007know including maybe having an officer show up at the person's door if they don't respond in a timely fashion to the contact tracers inquiries if you're okay with that I assume um I wonder how you would feel if you were denied ACC access to something that you were uh you know felt you were entitled to whether it was you know an event an airplane a train a job an office building and University education um and lastly because I know time's getting short here the main thing you know any policy that you implement um you know technology is going to come into play to make things more efficient and more useful um obviously there's already databases in place for you know this recordkeeping we don't know how these datab are shared with this information with other
008organizations obviously instead of seating charts we could move to you know cameras and facial recognition GPS for tracking individuals um you know these are all things that could uh you know ultimately uh be the future of contact tracing and um you know I wish you all would really consider that these potential uh problems down the road and understand and that you know currently I'm assuming you know you're all uh part of the decision and the policy and so uh I feel like uh you know you own it uh and you know not only what it is now but what it will turn into in the future and I think it's a real potential problem um in a lot of areas that I've tried to you know Express here tonight so again I hope you'll reconsider
009and uh terminate this policy of uh contact tracing and uh you know establishing you know close contacts under whatever criteria that Force perfectly healthy students to be quarantine and stay home for 14 days thank you very much appreciate the time all right next any motion to approve the consent agenda items as submitted no Move Motion a second any discussion all right so all those in favor say I I anyone opposed all right that passes all right next next we have a presentation oh I forgot about I am so sorry our superintendent Dr Mark miles just have a couple of comments this evening sorry Dr miles so uh just a a few comments uh this evening thank you Mrs mondle as we uh continue to experience the changing course of co9 in our lives in our
010community I've asked our staff members and families to to Simply join join me in the uh future possibility uh of a short-term return to fully remote learning for students and I want to stress those words uh future possibility while 14-day quarantines uh for close contacts of positive covid-19 cases or important mitigation efforts to help us stem the spread of this disease they're also resulting in some challenges with Staffing in some of our schools uh as you recently know we um placed Utah Valley really on a 14-day quarantine and suspended inperson learning there moved them to remote until um November 30th as we analyze the future possibility of a return to full remote learning we anticipate making those decisions by individual classrooms grade levels or schools uh to minimize the impact districtwide and we have shared
011this uh via communication from me and on the website as well be assured our goal remains the same and that is to uh allow our students who have selected in-person learning to continue with that option as we head into Thanksgiving holidays I I ask the entire Rockwood Community to continue joining us in practicing Rockwood saf together mitigation strategies such as maske wearing social distancing and monitoring ourselves and loved ones for symptoms of covid-19 the battle against 19 uh continues next as part of our continued efforts to help keep our students and staff as safe as possible uh we have updated our health indicators uh on our website uh to include cases and quarantines for students and staff in each school we had previously reported those districtwide there's much more data available at this point the
012dashboard will now be updated three times per week Monday Wednesday and Friday to ensure our communities have as much information as possible and that they are provided the latest updates our School nurses and contact tracing teams that amounts to a group of about about 140 individuals districtwide work each day to document positive cases and quarantines in the district as well as identifying identifying and informing close contacts of the need to quarantine so we can't thank them enough uh their work is invaluable in this endeavor next our Rockwood Educators have been asked to balance teaching our Learners in both our atome and in-person models uh our teachers have been going above and beyond during this time and we cannot thank them enough at the same time we're currently looking for ways that we can support our
013teachers as we continue through the school year second semester is uh on its way our rapid response teams have convened we may hear the voices of students teachers staff members and families as we continue to explore ways to support our Educators one consideration for the rapid response teams is a review of dedicated virtual sections for atome Learners during the second semester as we move forward the rapid response teams will be connecting with people and attempting to un unify our response throughout the district so that we do what is best for our students and and our teachers on a different note uh uh other than covid-19 Rockwood parents teachers staff and community members now have the opportunity to nominate a hardworking support staff member for a Cornerstone award you have any former Cornerstone Award winners here
014with us this evening no okay the Cornerstone Awards program recognizes Rockwood support staff members who demonstrate outstanding service in commitment to the district and they are presented to six individuals each year these employees represent a vital part of our district and we want them to know how much their contributions mean to everyone please visit our district website rsdmo.org for more information on the awards and how to nominate a deserving staff member there are so many deserving finally tonight uh back on covid-19 I'd like to reach out to our Rockwood Community with a reminder to remember our Rockwood saf together mitigation practices we're watching positivity and transmission rates Trend in the wrong direction in St Louis County and uh we all have a responsibility on behalf of the children in our community to do the right
015thing especially as we approach uh the holiday season so let's roll that footage please hello Rockwood School Community I'm reaching out to you today to ask you for your help if you've checked our numbers on the Rockwood Health indicator dashboard you'll notice an increase in positive cases and quarantines in some of our schools we began our gradual phase in plan to bring students back to school in late September since that time we have had a number of positive cases and quarantines for students and staff within our 32 School locations this includes the addition of our high school activities programs the number of positive cases and quarantines remains a concern we know these numbers include the individuals who were exposed to the virus off campus when we have a positive case in a school our School
016nurses and contact tracing teams work to confirm cases and quarantine individuals deemed close contacts we believe it's important to continue to follow the quarantine guidelines from the CDC and the St Louis County Department of Public Health We Believe quarantines identified through close contacts tracing are a useful tool to prevent the spread of the virus in our schools and our community I am inspired by the work of our teachers our principles and our staff members who are doing everything they can to keep our schools open and to care for our children I'm reaching out to you today to ask you to remember and follow our Rockwood safe together practices this means that we wear a mask wash and sanitize our hands maintain social distance and don't come to school when we we are sick we must
017also remember to stay at home and isolate when waiting for testing results this approach to prevention is what every member of our community needs to remember we must also be attentive to our St Louis County community health indicators as a community we are watching positivity and transmission rates Trend in the wrong direction in cities throughout St Louis County we all have a responsibility on behalf of the children in our community to do the right thing we know that keeping our schools safe is a CommunityWide Endeavor that is why we will continue with our established quarantine processes at this time our battle is against the covid-19 virus this battle will require every one of us to practice the mitigation strategies we depend on every day in Rockwood our goal is to provide our families a choice
018in-person education or virtual learning we want to keep our schools open for our students and staff please help us we must remain Vigilant we ask you to join us in the effort to keep health and safety the first priority for our students teachers staff and Community thank you so just a friendly reminder from your superintendent and uh as this is our final board meeting prior to Thanksgiving I just want to wish the entire board and our entire ire Community a Happy Thanksgiving I hope everyone remains safe and healthy that is all I have this evening I apologize Dr Miles no apology I'm sorry all right so that motion was to approve the consent agenda items as submitted uh right Janet we good okay so all those in favor say I anyone opposed all right that
019passes all right next we have a cope committee uh presentation committing to equity access and inclusion I have Jess Jones and Terry Harris Dr Harris how are you we're here just want to let you know we made it all right thank you uh so much for having us um as you know part of our way forward we have Equity access and inclusion as a topic ear this summer we um the board approved the proclamation or the resolution uh mid October Britney came to speak before the board to talk about racial equity and all the plans that we have in the Rock School District and I ask Jess Jones who is an educational consultant and a leader in a transgender student specifically but lgbtq plus students and this is a topic that um is extremely relevant
020yesterday I received a phone call from a principal at an elementary school asking how to support a student who identifies as a trans student and how what resources do we have available for the family what PD will we offer our counselors as we try to navigate this how then do we educate the other students and help them understand earlier this school year I I know director Bay and I'm not really for sure maybe Laur Lee was on the call as well but spoke to a parent a concerned parent at one of our elementary or middle schools um and for the last three or four years every single year we have a group of students at the high schools who are advocating and asking for more support from a district standpoint and supporting our students so
021with that said this um topic is at our front door and as we continue to ask and how are the children we have to make sure that all the children are well and this is a group of students who um we probably have not publicly talked about as much as we needed to and so we wanted to start that conversation so that these kids and their families can understand and know that the Rockwood School District supports them we love them and we want to see them do well so Jess is going to give a quick presentation and really talk about our plan moving forward this is just a very high level highlight and just like the plan that Britney highlighted a couple of months ago we have a plan moving forward for our students uh
022in this group hopefully next uh month or early January I will be back here talking about Equity access and inclusion and looking at students with special needs um and then we will continue to go from there so what we're trying to what we want to everyone to know is that all of our students matter and obviously we know that but we want to select and highlight students that we know need more attention to um as we support our students so Jess is a leader in this region and is with us today and I'm so happy that we're going to partner um with the firm as we start to support our students so I turn over to Jess thank you Dr Harris good evening my name is Jess Jones my pronouns are they them and I
023am the director of Jess Jones education and Consulting um this is an initiative that I founded after my years spent as an openly queer and transgender public school teacher um it's a product of my experiences myself as an educator and also supporting our lgbtq student staff and families um that experience is G me a lot of firsthand insight into the needs and challenges of this population and as I've transitioned out of the classroom this has become my full-time labor and work and it's really a labor of love because I see that we care deeply for our children and our community but we don't necessarily have the information and resources to fully support them so I'm really grateful to now uh utilize that experience along with research and evidence-based practice to ensure that we're truly committed
024to supporting all of our students and staff so this evening I'll be sharing some information with the board on how we can ensure that we are being truly committed to supporting the lgbtq members of The Rockwood School District community so glisten is a National Organization that for 20 years has been conducting a national school climate survey um of lgbtq students and more recently they' started doing SN State snapshots so we have here some data that's pulled both nationally and from missou very specifically that paints a picture of the realities of um School for lgbtq students so we see that nearly all lgbtq students over here regularly remarks um that are negative about their gender expression or their sexual orientation so every day they're coming into school and facing these remarks either from their peers they
025might hear from staff and we can imagine the kind of culture and climate that creates for them that it's not a school environment that they will thrive in also concerning is that 59% of students have felt unsafe at school because of their identity and many of them have reported experiences of harassment bullying assault either in person at school or online and lastly this is a Missouri specific statistic that 72% of transgender students report not being able to use a bathroom that aligns with their gender identity and this is a topic that's highly politicized however really students really just need to address their bodily functions just like anyone and most commonly in my work with transgender students what I find is that in response to not being able to use the bathroom that aligns with their
026gender they will dehydrate so meaning they will avoid consuming liquids throughout the school day so that they don't even need to bother with going to the bathroom which unfortunately I've seen often results and medical concerns for students so this is um a concerning practice so all of these things lead to a host of problems so research across time um has consistently painted a pretty horrific picture for us in the experiences of lgbtq you we see across the board uh with substance use homelessness graduation rates you name it you know not having support at school is detrimental to their ability to succeed both in the district and after graduation so in my time working with um the families of transgender youth you know the statistics we have really are low um in terms of um how
027we estimate these problems play out U for example this is always a difficult statistic to share but researchers found that um when surveyed they found that 40% of transgender people will attempt suicide at some point in their lifetime and that's not accounting for depression anxiety or um suicidality in general those are actual attempts on their life and we also find that 92% of those attempts happen before the age of 25 so what that information tells us is how crucial our time with these students is that we have the ability to make an impact on them and make sure that these things are not happening to them that they're coming into a school environment that they know that they have folks in their corner um and like I said those rates are low um and those
028rates are even higher for students who exist at the intersection of other marginalized identities so our lgbtq students who are also people of color um or disabled um the rates of all of these issues are through the roof um and in my experience working with families in Missouri and Illinois that suicide statistic seems low um I can't tell you how many families I've worked with who are encouraging a youth to um you know come to school every day in spite of anxiety knowing that they're not going to be called the right name they're not going to be called the right pronouns they don't have a bathroom to use um they might not know that there is any adult in their corner and you know over the years I can't tell you how many youth I've
029had look me in the eye and tell me some youth as young as eight years old that they would rather die than be in this world as who they are because they are continually receiving the messaging that they are unloved and they are unsupported and they're wrong and we can't do that to our kids you know this is not a political issue it's not a religious issue this is really the underlying value that all of our students matter and their lives matter uh we can't continue to be unsupportive or silent on this issue because of this um there's just and with the covid pandemic and you know the mental health Crisis coming from that alone I'm honestly terrified of what the school year holds for lgbtq students many of whom might be at home with
030an unsupportive family and no adult in their Corner another statistic that I didn't share up here was that in Missouri we found that only 32% of students report that they feel some even somewhat confident that their school leadership ship team supports them so that's the vast majority of our kids who are coming into school every day not knowing that they have anyone in their corner and Rockwood is actually one of the few districts in the state who explicitly protects these students so we really have an obligation as Leaders to show what that looks like and demonstrate what that support looks like for our students so as I said this is not a um an issue of politics or religion at its heart we need to come together under the value that our students lives matter
031I don't know anyone who works in education who doesn't care deeply about our youth and regardless of your personal conviction I think we can all agree that we need to do something um and I'm not interested in changing anyone's personal beliefs you know I just really want us to make sure that these students are thriving and not having to face these issues that they're non-lgbtq peers aren't having to face at the same rates so in my work with districts um I offer a whole school approach meaning that I like to um address this problem from multiple levels this really takes the whole Community to come together to support our youth so my first recommendation is to ensure that our school leadership are equipped with the skills knowledge um and training to be able to support
032staff and the community and supporting our lgbtq youth so um we'll be holding an um a training specifically for administrators um and a part of that is you know working with the community and understand that we are a diverse community and you know there are going to be concerns among community and parents and you know how we can assure folks that we have all students best interest in mind um secondly we'll be working with student services staff to ensure that they're equipped with the knowledge and skill set to address um mental health academic social emotional concerns and make sure that they know how to be gender affirming in those practices and connect students with resources so this is a overview of what the um the administrative training will entail right it will cover some foundational
033information and ensure that they're coped with best best practices for ensuring lgbtq inclusion and then likewise this is the agenda and objective for student service and I'd like to open it for questions and discussion Jess do you have any speculation or research on why so many of the lgbtq plus students are harassed or remarks are made about you have any speculation or research on that absolutely and really it stems from you know the historic stigma around those identities there's a lot of stereotypes and misinformation out there that a lot of folks come in contact with and that informs what kids are being taught at home um it's in media that they consume really that messaging is everywhere it's something that I encounter in my life and it's it's hurtful you know so it's understandable that
034peers and staff and you know they're hearing it from all angles so that's that's my speculation on where that comes from is that be a one-time comment or several comments or can you differentiate or you that 99% did that represent at least one comment or something like that said frequently I'm not sure how they defined frequently though I could find that information once every five years I would think more often than that yeah I know from the my personal experience working with students um for many of them it's every day you know it's just like we see with other forms of bullying it's pretty person sometimes it comes from the same student over and over um and the bullying can be very severe um I think of one student I worked with where he was
035called names every day he walked down the hallway he was pushed into lockers it even escalated to the point where another student pushed him down the stairs at school so it from my experience um it's it's daily for our kids unfortunately Cate also it never going to really be solved or even come close until the society recognizes the lgbtq students you repeat that do you also recognize it's never going to be helped or cured until Society in general recognizes the rights of lgbtq students absolutely like this needs to be not just a shift within our schools but a cultural shift and that's why you know when I'm doing this work with districts I ensure that the community is brought along in that because we do need Folks at home to be teaching that all lives
036matter um you know we can't have misinformation and stereotypes being taught at home and um you know for a number of districts I've actually offered um parent information nights where parents can come in and receive accurate information around gender identity and sexual orientation it's amazing how we allow some people just to live the life they want and how they want to than other people we want to judge and help and try to make them change their life or something like that absolutely it definitely creates an a pill battle for our youth and I know unfortunately I've personally experienced that as an lgbtq person thank you very much thank you a question for I think maybe Dr Harris have we implemented um pronoun preferences on our for our teachers and staff no however Deb and I
037did some work this uh uh this semester updating some forms and and uh we're getting there so I I suspect that probably in August when we roll out the new forms will'll be there but part of that uh Tammy is we didn't want to do that without the the education piece I think that to some of the points that Keith is getting at um we're trying to bring Society on along the way and so when we start talking about pronouns and we're just not there we haven't really offered uh districtwide staff-wide PD uh in this area and I think that we want to do that first and then start to have a conversation about pronouns and as we have those conversations hopefully we're bringing along people like our Librarians that can have like materials in
038front of our students really good point I would say that uh Shelly and the library team honestly they're probably further a lot um I think that our Librarians do an a amazing job of trying to highlight uh different students um I think that we can always you know do better and and and do more uh but that's one group I would honestly say they're doing a a very decent job of consciously intentionally trying to make sure that um all students are represented in literature any other questions for myself or Jess I don't have a question but um you know all the things that are going on our lives right now I'm really glad that this presentation was brought to us right now because you know we hear it from everyone all over the place about
039what's the right thing to do right now regarding covid and you know it doesn't matter if CO's around or not this is darn it Terry Harris you always have to bring something to us it just really makes us challenge ourselves to do better for our kids and so I really appreciate this I appreciate the cope committee bringing this to us and I hope you keep us updated because I think Jess you sound like you're the work you're doing is pretty phenomenal work so I hope you keep us update on this of how we're doing because um this is very important stuff so thank you I just would end by saying that um thank you to the cope committee because I mean this this came out of the cope committee um as we start to celebrate
040the holiday I would say um thank you to all the board members I hope that you have a wonderful time with your families I know this been a very Rocky year um and people probably don't say this with their three minutes of public or Patron comments but I appreciate all of you I'm grateful to work for you um and just thank you for allowing us to do what we need to do for students I really appreciate you guys you're amazing Happy Thanksgiving Happy Thanksgiving thank you thank you Jess J all right uh Paul Northington is with us uh we need a motion to approve the bond issue purchases and related contracts $7500 to $150,000 as submitted motion and a second all right what do you have Paul good evening just one item here smaller dollar
041scope uh this is to do the replacement of some windows at the Salvage gymnasium we have about 16 windows that need replacing uh they other original to the building so they're about 50 years old uh we put that out to bid received two bids and Kirkwood glass was the low um and we've had experience with them they've done good work for the district um total cost is a little over $11,000 it's part of our cycle maintenance um 2017 bond issue money so Paul will these windows last another 50 years well I hope so I'll ask Chris if they get that guarantee for us I tell you what it will do it'll get me through my term I know that all right questions or comments All right so that motion is to approve that bond issue
042purchase all those in favor say I anyone opposed all right that passes thank you Paul thank you uh proposed agenda for the December 3rd 2020 Board of Education meeting what's in there Janet I can't see it's a pretty late meeting right now I like it anybody have anything to add we're gonna add a cope update to that one J and I talked about that today um it's not on there is it yeah no um so that'll be added on and we'll uh just just a quick update on the things that we talked about Monday at our work session so excellent and talking about our work session uh we are receiving emails do we have something that we're uh are we close to getting some of those cope is g to meet uh virtually on Monday
043morning and we'll go through that and then the next step from there we we think right now is we'll review the protocols from Janet Tilly go through through the emails or the documents that we sent around on Monday we will have Janet send that out to the board for you all to take a look at and see if there's anything that you want to change about our responses those three responses we'll work with Kathy and David and the communications team to get the piece of the website updated regarding uh the board and then um we'll just get that plan in place so at the December 3rd meeting we'll give you a verbal update about all of that at that time excellent thank you all right uh future agenda presentations and events to attend uh Janna
044shaking her head no all all the chamber meetings pretty much went back to Virtual so I'll just keep updating you every week on those yep appreciate it uh anything else all right join the meeting I know I clicked on there but it