001welcome to the school board meeting for Ral Public Schools thanks for enduring all the icy roads to come out tonight um we don't have our recognition tonight like we had planned so we'll get them next time next time we'll have our students our recognition in Clos session we did accept the retirement of Dr Joan Murray she has been with r public schools for seven years so we are sad that she's retiring but happy for her retirement so excited for her um let's see what else we Tom Tom mccardy Tom mccardy Tom yes how many years 27 27 District district mm so yes Tom is in our is in our tech department we wish him all the best yes very valuable all right move on so I have questions from the floor yes I don't think
002I have any questions from the floor no I don't think so I think I have any questions from the floor think I have presentations from the floor around like guess not me consent agenda consent agenda consent agenda a consent agenda is utilized by the r Board of Education as a means of dealing with routine matters which must be considered by the board of education but require minimum of discussion all Board of Education members receive and review written information supporting the items listed in the consent agenda well in advance of the meeting while any Board of Education member is welcome to remove any item from the consent agenda for separate consideration or discussion for any reason normally all items in the consent agenda are approved in one motion with a a minimum of discussion so it
003is recommended that items a through D be approved I'll make a motion to approve consent agenda items a through e f a through F A through f d I'm on the wrong sorry I was on the new business a through D I make a motion we approve consent agenda items a through D I'll second that all in favor those oppose motion passes all right now we have whoa lights off I can't even read anymore old business it's me so old business long range facilities update Dr fton I was just prepared sorry about that you were prepared I was so welcome again tonight just a long range facilities update just to kind of give you some updates about where we are and where we're going and just a reminder that this is a rendering and we're
004getting closer and closer to that picture as time goes on I have some better news today with all the things look we have a front curtain so very very excited so the curtain is not in the back they're not back there yet but it was up for our big meeting up there last Friday was very nice to see it's hanging out all of the wrinkles but it looks really really good so we're very pleased with that the um the rigging and all of those things should be done within the next two weeks and so there's another picture of us using it and presenting with the screen down so it looks it's just coming along very exciting so a little update on our um Early Childhood Center um I and Dr Welch and Dr Reed went
005with the Architects a couple weeks ago to go visit the Early Childhood Center in Lebanon so we took a long trip and we got to ask lots of questions and see what they liked and didn't like and and it was very good for our Architects to see some of the some of the things that they're doing with the model that we are looking at with the clinic and all of those things so that was very good we also um Dr D organized a dream session with our early childhood staff on the 14th during our PD day so they met at the building and they were able to share with us all of their their dreams of what they would like that facility to be now we didn't get into programming it was all about the
006building so but it was very good to meet with them and took lots of good notes and they have lots of great ideas so very excited about that process Dr Dar and I also met with the Architects this morning to talk about things and you know what what where we're at where we're going what we're looking at and those types of things so it was very very exciting to see this process come together very exciting for me because I get to be on the ground level it's kind of cool so and I get to learn more acronyms it's great it's great every time we have one they're like there's a new one for you I'm like thanks thanks Melissa so um just a few items of note regarding our Fieldhouse and Auditorium basically the auditorium
007still working on that HVAC testing and balancing I don't think think they worked in snow days so I really don't have an answer for you yet because Josh didn't get back with me he couldn't reach them on the phone in the middle of the snowstorm so um the F forall panels are scheduled to be finished and ship out next week so that wood look will come around our stage walls and then the case workk in the auditorium will go up once the F all panels are installed and they'll be able to go in and finish all the case work and all the trim so exciting just I talked a little bit last time about our athletic fields it is coming close to time to replace our turf we talked about a little bit that we
008have to look at at what's going on with that with that wall down down there so I went up and met with the architects in St Louis and actually went and looked at a field at Webster Groves it was very very pretty totally different situation than us because they have a track around there so but we're able to do that we we have moved because of the snowstorm and meeting with the Architects and the engineers and the regarding the lighting so and looking at replacing not only the turf but lighting going to LED around our field as well hard to get back on that Turf and replace and fix lights whenever the turf is down because one Twist and Turn of those tires will pull that Turf up so whenever we go in we want
009to do it all at one time so honer um Associates is working with us to create that plan so very grateful for them and getting ready to prepare to go out for that RFP process so we'll be back with you hopefully in the next few months with with more information on that Dr Bolton yes have you have you got any uh results from the meeting with uh the civil engineer and the architect are they still studying what the issue is they are still setting okay it is it is right now preliminarily a drainage issue good so the water doesn't have any place to go or something's failed or not enough room in some of the drains that were there okay so the trench drain in the front of that bleachers is 2 in wide it
010should be much wider okay minimum of four as of right now so we're waiting on that final that final result to come in so preliminarily that's what we're looking at how easy is it to replace that not it's not easy at all it's all under concrete uhhuh and that trench strain doesn't come up very easily so it all I'll be honest if I want to be transparent all of the front of those bleachers have to come out and replace all of that concrete replace the drainage in that area right now that's what I know for the moment okay we'll get more information as we go forward to prepare for that RFP and they get the final reports from from our civil engineers and that of course would have to happen first correct before we can
011move forward with anything else yeah we can't in good conscience lay that Turf down knowing that we have issues honestly from what I learned being up there with um honer is that because there would be drainage issues even if we did bid out just the turf they could refuse to lay the turf on our drainage and we would be have to go back to square one so we're going to look at every scenario I feel an effort for our community and for all of our patrons that if we did not look at every scenario in what's there we would not be doing them a service so I don't want to end up with issues if we replace the turf right so obviously the drainage has been there for a while why is it now just
012seem to be causing us issues or has it been for there has been issues long just nobody's just compounding it's just making yeah it's just gotten worse over time so any other questions okay that's all I have for that thank you thank you very much Dr Fen now we have new business counselor's presentation we have many counselors here is there a couple of them in the house they're all racing they are racing it's different TV and here they are on TV L is Jameson not following rules he said he didn't want to come but we said his wife might not like that too much yeah I do they're behind you way behind I said do you really trust me on the microphone without anybody here to like kick me apparently they do so we're g
013to make it a little bit shorter than normal because we've had a wonderful year as a group of counselors and um we have a lot of good news to share so just as a reminder um our jobs fall into four sections um we're involved with the counseling curriculum which was more in the elementary and middle school individual student planning which you'll see more in the high school um responsive Services which you'll see throughout all of us um and system support and that's just our fair share duties that we help out um with some more than others I don't know and some organizing of our own programs all follow that there's that just whenever you want to go for it we'll just alternate for a while so this is you guys are all familiar with the
014staff and who we house and who we've got in all of the different locations um as well as the contract days that they that they each have yeah we get the shaft one true sorry I'm just kidding hey if you'd like more to do you know I'm sure that they could find something to fill okay oh sorry you click that's why I'm pointing at you I thought you wanted me to add LIF no so these these are our current ratios and um we'll be interested to see how the prek shift kind of moves things for some of our elementary people as well so oh um our school-based therapist numbers which is one of turman's Pride and Joy not that we've ever had a bad school-based therapist but um Danielle is one of the most amazing
015things that that has happened um Mark Twain is currently at a case load of 26 with um Morgan triman is up to 34 which is her Max um which is Danielle and we're going to have another one coming in from Mary's going to come in and step up a couple because we have more kids that need to be seen um two currently at Wyman but I mean I have lots of referrals in yeah lots of referrals in it's it's why no I'm just kidding um the middle school is at 34 and Junior High is at 22 and the high school is at 35 plus 15 on the waiting list basically correct we also have um an intern one day a week that comes in and just sees a few a few students that day but
016we've got two people most of the time bry's always there and Mary's there about half the time um we also two of the greatest things that's really helped lessen our case loads not case loads but a lot of our maybe more non counseling related duties as Amber Steven has taken over as the district 504 coordinator which has been amazing for us so right now all we really do is sometimes help her set up meetings if she needs help and help manage those at our schools but she does all the hard part which is amazing um and Ashley Grisham who you're going to hear from later as our student youth Community L on all right time on task you guys are probably familiar with this but um case anybody new happens to be tuning in this
017evening um we take about 15 days every school year and we just evaluate how it is that we are spending our time amongst the counseling domains marking it off in 15minute increments throughout the day so here's the recommended way that it should um be divided and how we should be spending our time our goal is to try and hit those as best we can as you can see it varies from elementary through high school because students at different ages have different needs so um we wanted to do another little kind of a day in the life video for you guys and since the elementary was in charge everybody thought it'd be really sarcastic I have no idea why um but we decided to take a different route and kind of make it a little heartfelt
018so Miss Katie Curtis actually is the master of making movies so enjoy [Music] I'm [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hold on to hold on to me [Music] feel I'm [Music] hold on to me hold [Music] I [Music] sea I'll World find you if you ever find in the and you can't see I'll be the light to guide you find out [Music] what you can't count me like one 2 I'll be [Music] there count 3 two and you'll be there cuz that's what friends supposed to do oh yeah [Music] o if you're tosing and you're turning and you just can't fall asleep I'll [Music] sing and if you Everet to me every I will remind [Music] you we are our [Music] count I it I count you you'll be there that's what are [Music] yeah you my
019you [Music] C never let go [Music] Goode so didn't she do such a good J I know she makes our elementary group look really good they both do um so this is the three of us and um we just thought we'd share some updates we're just going to do some brief updates so um at mark twne this year we've had an increased focus on direct student service um students are asking to see the counselor and are able to do that a lot more quickly um you'll notice my curriculum numbers are down slightly from last year but those responsive service numbers have kind of taken their place um we've also had expanded opportunities for student recognition this year we've done student of the month um we have a big board where they're each in their dogghouse
020for their teacher um when they're Chosen and they also get a yard sign to to celebrate at home with their families and then we've done attendance celebrations and positive office referrals um also that time has allowed me to engage with stakeholders teachers we're having more conversations about what students need and parents as well so she won't say that Mr Cross has done a great job and she's not in the um specialist rotation anymore so she gets to be a counselor but you know what so at truman um one of the greatest things is our new school-based therapist Danielle um can't speak highly of her enough um and our staff Truman is a very special place there's no school in the world like it I urge you to come hang out with us someday and you'll
021know what I mean um but our staff is always up for a challenge and um as our test Sor showed last year that they they are basically miracle workers and they really do bring the best out of all not just some of our kids but all of our kids um our SAT team has um where it was just kind of like oh who has to be on their sat team we have teachers now requesting and they're really bringing a level of expertise and having some really good suggestions so I'm pretty proud of that this year um at Wyman we're calling it our yes and Year everybody is doing stuff that's a little out of their comfort zone but it's allowed for some really amazing collaboration with all of the staff um and it's making sure
022that our students are getting their needs met um I also am very very excited about parents Square I think it's made it easier for kids to participate in our counseling program because it's easier to get a hold of their Guardians so whereas sitting home stuff in the past on paper was kind of cumbersome to get that back now it's very easy access to communicate with the parents so so our time task analysis you'll see um the difference in each of our building our curriculum um I'm kind of the the loser are there no it's it just looks different depending on our needs um individual planning like I said at the elementary level we don't do a significant amount of individual planning um but our responsive Services is definitely the time we spend the most in
023um system support is pretty much equal and I laughed that the barriers I didn't mean it to look like I was doing something inappropriate in the chart but um so when when when the time task sorry Dr Welch told me to be appropriate it's supposed to be on my best behavior so when the ver when the when we took the time tesk analysis it just shows that it can look so different and it was done in the first couple of months of school and at that time we had some really big Behavior challenges and unfortunately Mr Hal can't be at 20 places at once so that tends to make the barriers a little bit higher if we did it now um it would look entirely different so yeah and then these are just kind of
024our individual breakdowns you can see a little clearer and and compared to where it's supposed to be these look really great oh Middle [Laughter] School hello everyone on behalf of the middle school I want to e Echo a lot of what was said in the video normally I am the data in statistic guy for the middle school I would like to not do that and just say thank you uh 5 years ago you guys added another counselor to our school which gave us one dedicated counselor for each grade level that has been a huge help and it was me so I really thank you for that we have had seven counselors in the last four years in the middle school and that is a kind of a a lot of overhaul but we're getting our
025programs underneath our feet we're rolling I think we're really doing a great job the two newest are uh one's here tonight one couldn't make it because she lives down in Houston the weather's not really cooperating but really what we want to express is just what a what a wonderful blessing it has been to have the school of liaison and the 504 coordinator it really allows us to do what we've been trained to do uh let us focus on those kids and those teachers to help those kids as you can probably remember the middle school age is very unique and we get a lot of different things that we need to work on having one for each grade has just been amazing so first of all I want to introduce Miss Jessica zinc she's come to
026us from the fifth grade classroom but she is now our fourth grade counselor yes yes and I'm just delighted to be a part of the counseling team at the middle schol the microphone sorry usually I'm so loud no I'm I'm delighted to be a counselor at the middle school at the fourth grade level and also a part of the district counseling team uh you know I just we appreciate everything you guys do for us and support us you know moving forward and we also have some uh new news to share as well and let me take this a few okay uh we're uh like Mr Armstrong said uh you know we're really working on those programs nailing those down moving forward with consistency you know uh having the three of us you know in the
027future years uh together you know being consistent with that um we still have our clothing closet there um that has you know also increased there you see that with the demand and then we wanted to Showcase here our new testing center if you've been at the middle school you'll notice that um when you come in in our office that this part of our office used to be our uh teachers workroom so that wall was taken out and added a little deeper there so it did uh you know decrease the size of our teacher work room but added that extra testing area for our students you know who need that uh accommodation with their 504s and also on the left there I'm so sorry we cropped out the door um is the bathroom door with a
028shower so that has just been really nice and helpful for those hygiene uh days you know to promote that positive hygiene for students and also it's you know very nice in that private uh setting as well um and then we also were working on getting our RMS counseling web page together and uh then I'll let you do talk about the groups perfect yeah with three of us now we can have groups uh we have groups three out of the five days of the school week um focusing on different issues bringing those kids together from all different grade levels and kind of meet those needs um is very unique I know when I was in Wayville we couldn't do groups at all there just wasn't the time of the day but the schedule at the middle
029school allows that and our Administration allows us to pull those kids and it's really really helpful for their mental health and and for their educational needs so we appreciate everything you're doing for us um we know that you guys got a lot of big decisions um but our Middle School is running great thank you I just gonna ask you a quick question Mike do you guys follow your kids like once you get them as fourth grade take then do you move up to the fifth grade with them or do you stay in your grade normally that is the plan um we're waiting for a year where all three of us stay and we will definitely do that so I think next year will be the year where I'm currently sixth grade I'll get to go
030down to Fourth and everybody will rotate through so as long as everybody's staying put um that is our plan that is the plan yes thank you thank Youk you hi guys all right so I'm Nikki this is Jeremy um we're the junior high Duo I would say um so this is our time task analysis um it's pretty self-explanatory we spend a lot of our time with seventh and eighth graders in responsive Services um if you've ever been in Us in the junior high you know that they've got a lot going on hormones just developmental things and so we just spend a lot of time there um one place that we don't it doesn't show on here but we do spend some time in the curriculum area and that's kind of an area that we're trying
031to continue to grow um educate students and and parents and everybody just kind of about where kids are development developmentally and you know some of those social emotional skills um one of the things that we started last year was The Counselor corner and so that's the thing that we continue to um improve on and continue to get education out to the students um that goes out through their pride a lot of times we will attach like a cute little video so that they can kind of have that interactive piece um we still work on Saturday tutoring so our Counseling Center is kind of in charge of calling parents and saying hey we've got some Saturday schools available they're not required but if you you know the kids could come in and do some work and
032so that's been pretty successful um Jeremy and I are still sponsoring clubs um that's probably the fun part um I still do student counsil he does cornhole Club cornhole Club um he also helps with student council I would say he's a co-sponsor a little bit um doing my DJs and helping with the Outdoor Classroom that's something that him and I have tackled the last couple of years is trying to get that Outdoor Classroom in the center of the junior high workable and pretty and nice and just a place where the kids want to be so that's kind of what we're doing this year um we still partner with prevention Consultants the mentor program so we have members of the community come in and Mentor kids during Pride time um that's a really great program kids
033really enjoy it um they have a lot of fun in the cafeteria and then we are still working with our school-based therapist um sea is our main guy has been wonderful um it's been nice to have someone that's pretty consistent in the junior high we've had always kind of had a rotation um and then we had Rose at the beginning of the school year but then Mary has kind of stepped up and take that spot so and they're great with communication and and letting us know where we where we intersect and some of the things that we need to we need to be aware of so obviously they their job is limited in what they can share with us but sometimes what they are able to is pretty valuable to us some of the things
034on the new updates we continue to uh be blessed with the Friday backpack program uh I know Jim see Jim there uh a lot uh as we're there on Tuesdays we also have added some shelving in our closet in our office it's a pretty tight space but um we've added some food items that probably aren't going to be in the Friday backpacks um it's also a place where the kids can deposit their Vienna sausages that they never want when the Friday backpacks come outen great forages for a long time message must have got through yeah must have got through to them um so we have uh we have some hygiene things in there as well uh so if students have that need uh they know that they can come in and sometimes it's just a
035snack and and uh although she and I both will will purchase snacks just on our own and have them in our office it's nice to have some overflow there where if kids want to go in and grab something uh during the school day they can get that we started a thing this this year called advisory meetings and uh so once a month We Gather our students we have all of the seventh and eighth grade boys down in the gym and I get to I get to talk to them and Nikki and the administrators uh have the girls up in the cafeteria so these have been interesting times uh it gives me a unique opportunity to just deal directly with the boys and so now they're I don't know if they're calling a truth from Mr
036J or you know cu the first time I went in we talked about hygiene and I was able to say boys you stink axe is not shower in a can um and we just talked honestly about some of these things and we can laugh about it and the girls they're talking about their issues up in the in the cafeteria and the girls love that time because they don't have to be around the boys they can talk about stuff that that applies to them and them only they also say that for some reason the boys will act a little more mature for a couple of days after our advisory meetings but so I think they would like us to have them more than than just once a month uh but as we continue with those uh
037we're coming up with different topics uh that are important uh very relevant to seventh and eighth graders and uh that has become a surprisingly a good a good thing and uh so we're glad we started that and tor's been uh great with with letting us uh get get to some meaty topics uh one thing we also instituted this year was a minute meeting so there's a lot of kids that you may not see in your office and you may see them in the hall but you know you might not have that moment with them uh to get to know them very well so we did a thing called a minute meeting where every kid in our grade that we're responsible for we had had a meeting where we covered some topics in in one minute
038um Nikki got this at a at a conference and brought it back and it's been a great thing for us to have as a tool put my glasses on so imagine if I'm sitting with a student and I and I tell the student hey I'm going to ask you some questions kind of Rapid Fire Let's just answer and we'll go on so what's your favorite color what's your favorite food and I will tell you I don't know about the the seventh grade but the eighth grade was fetuccini Alfredo was the the the grand winner out of the favorite food so that seemed to be the the the popular thing do you ever run out of food at home yes no or sometimes and if they say sometimes I might just make a little tick mark
039and I and I move on uh how long have you lived in rala they'll tell me how who do you live with and sometimes that answer might be varied uh might be Mom Mom and Dad grandparents relatives friends and and we have a space where we can just make quick notes about that but we don't uh we don't really spend a lot of time on any individual question uh are you involved in any activities in school or out of school and so they'll tell me what they do or or what they don't do some of them will say I I don't do anything uh in school or out of school number nine one thing you're good at or that you like well riding my bike or playing basketball or video games seems to be a
040popular one also so some kids will say I don't know I'm not really good at anything or I just don't know and so these are these are notes that we're taking one thing you'd like to get better at school this year math seems to be a popular winner in that category uh sometimes you get the kids who will Who are get kind of introspective and say well I I want to get better at being able to talk to people uh and and just be out there more uh any information that would like me to know about you typically don't get a lot of information on that uh because they sometimes they just don't know what to say but these are these are ways to identify kids that don't really do anything in in or out
041of school Some kids say they go home they go to their room they they get on the internet um or if you ask them if they're involved in anything at school no well would you want to be I don't know or if they say I'd like to be involved in this or that sometimes they just either lack the confidence or the support from home to get involved in these things and that can give us an idea okay I need to spend time with this kid and let's let's figure out a way to get them involved but uh so this is one of the one of the things that we use and I think it's going to be a great tool of this every year um getting to know kids getting to identify some of those
042kids that just in the back of our mind we I need to spend some more time with that kid uh cuz we'll see him in the halls and uh find those moments to to connect with them and that's really what with with the Junior High kids it's about connection um getting to those kids um hope you liked our Christmas uh our Christmas card that that was a fun item we have Elizabeth up there in the picture with us uh just the chemistry in our in our office is so important and Elizabeth is a great addition to us and good at all the things that she helps us with so very thankful to be at the junior high thankful for the people I work with I've always had great support from my ad administrators uh that
043we've had and continue to to enjoy that support uh with Tori and Chelsea so very thankful for them thankful for uh the new ads uh like that has been said before us so uh very thankful any questions you thank you guys thank you who is that guy you won't let me I love it ax is not a shower hi hi guys good all right I usually get to stand up here with Sarah and she talks and so um she's way the co and and I'm nervous so I'm just saying it out loud all right so here's my time task um I wanted to just spend a little bit of time talking about what my year has looked looked like share some of that information um so my goals for this school year and acclimating to
044rtic um was really first and foremost just to build some relationships with our staff with students and then with all of our sending School uh school counselors so I've been busy at that um as well as learning about each of our programs so of our 18 programs I feel like I'm having to become a mini expert of all things lots of new vocabulary um lots of new technical terms uh Lear learning what different software programs there are what pieces of equipment are what activities are being done in each program um it's been drinking from a fire hose but it's been fun um so I'm those are the goals that I have that are really under pending everything that I'm up to this year um so and then I just want to talk about a couple
045of the activities that we're up to that I think are notable so eighth grade tours if you don't know this um every year we have eighth graders from all all the students within our Consortium come in and get small group tours uh coach Snicker and I have completed the majority of the Junior High tours we've got one little group that needs to come and um see half of the programs at RTI and the snow has pushed that out twice now so we'll see hopefully we can get that rescheduled um we are starting next week with our Consortium tour so St James is coming to us and they'll come in small groups um right now we have adults giving those tours from student services and our Administration team um we are looking to transition that to
046also include ambassadors which I'll talk about in a moment um our sophomore Outreach is something we spend a ton of energy um doing within the student services department um this school year I completed 39 that I could count classroom presentations to hit 1100 sophomores Plus in our Consortium so um really spending time in those small group settings I think we had a handful of those that were a little bit larger but the majority were small group setting um presentations um and then we had four separate sophomore Expo events um if you're not familiar with that um our students come and they get to do a deep dive into three programs of their choosing um and they get to visit those programs and meet with the uh current students there their teachers see what our lab
047space and our classrooms look like in order to solidify that decision um if we are a good fit for them for Junior and Senior year it is such a commitment of credits so um we are also moving on to the application selection process we're on year three of implementation with Raa High School doing the application and selection process our nine sending schools all have their own separate mechanisms for determining which students they send rala High School uh Dr Stephanie BRS um has implemented this application process again we're on year three so she is handing that baby over to me and with her guidance and support um working on that U we only use that application for um situations where we have more interest then we have capacity in that classroom so last year and I
048think the year before um singled digigit programs so I want to say 6 seven8 programs went to selection it provides a fairway to us objectively decide who's getting those seats um uses all sorts of information like their IAP um it does and and some other indicators there that we're pulling out of IC like attendance and things like that um and then our ambassador program that's the thing that I am excited about and we are I'm trying desperately to get off the ground um we are um last year our leadership team at rtic and our ctso um advisers wanted us to start an ambassador program essentially um students within the ctsos would be um provided additional leadership opportunities to support our programming so what that will look like this spring once I can get them through
049orientation and training is they will be supporting those eighth grade tours this spring and then um potentially some more opportunities next year so we're kind of doing a soft roll out of that program trying to get it going though we have some really eager Juniors who want to do this program um so working on getting them a script and getting them trained on being able to talk about each of our programs so they can speak with confidence about them um and so yeah and we hope to expand that I'd like to expand it to include program reps so I've looked at a few other uh CTE centers and they have program reps and ambassadors so ambassadors know about all the programs program reps you're just your rep for your program so um looking to do
050an expansion in that way um just a way to develop some pride about what they're doing and get them some practice talking about what they're doing in front of other people kind of a low stake situation talking about it in front of like eighth graders and 10th graders hopefully I mean it should still feel a little nerve-wracking but more low Stak so that's what I've been up to um just trying to keep my head above water um I feel um so grateful for the support that I've gotten from my administrators uh Dr BRS as well I feel like um we were told to send a picture of like what we do every day which you could see mine as like what I did in one day and I think Gina's daughter took my pictures during
051one of the tours um but I thought someone should take a picture of me standing in Stephanie's office being like okay so talk me through the history of this talk me through the history of that um and she jokingly took one I didn't include it though but um her support and our administrator support has been great getting me acclimated to this new position so grateful for you guys thanks for the opportunity to talk about the great things we got going on so thank you hello hello hello hi hello so at the rala high school there are a total of four of us counselors one one of us was not able to make it unfortunately um due to the weather and then and we've so our graph this year looks better than last year the barriers
052have been removed which for us was due to variety of reasons but also having Amber Stevens as our 504 coordinator opened up more time for us to review our program at the high school to be planning and implementing changes um that we haven't had in years prior and that could just be because I've been drinking from a fire hose for three years now uh less pressure this year but still there um High School updates we transferred from our Career College and Career exploration platform called Naviance over to school links School links has been great it will communicate with Infinite Campus which has helped make a more seamless process for us on the back end and also for our students um we are implementing it this year for scheduling so that students will put in their
053plan for next year and however many years they have left so for our freshman it'll be 11th and 12th grade Beyond just next year's schedule and so that's getting them to think about Beyond just the classes I want to have next year with my friends we always tell them don't make us Heartbreakers you will not have classes with your friends there's too many sections like it's take classes for what you want to be doing but this helps out for the four-year plans as are coming out of e8th grade and the junior high and also they will review that every year therein um and then that will help us on the scheduling side of things making sure that things are accurate to what they are wanting to be doing we have had the addition of Mrs
054Hendrick and she has gotten the grief group off the ground for this year um do you want to talk about sure okay sure um so our grief group we actually had enough students that we had two different sections of it um we had a large amount of students in the special services area that have lost a family member so we had a group unique to them because their needs were so much different than our um Regular Ed population so we had a group that um those two groups met the main priority was students who've lost a immediate family member within the last year and we have a lot of students who in the last year have lost um a parent or somebody that was living in their home with them so it was really a
055great experience for our students they learned a lot about um they were helping each other through some things like they've gone some of their own personal counseling and so they were willing to share some of the things they've taken from that with the group um and then just kind of seeing who needed help like that they weren't alone in that struggle so um it was a great new thing I come from an elementary background so it was very nice to be able to get back into small groups and with kids uh in that small of a setting and I'm looking forward to putting in some other groups yet before this year but we'll Circle back to grief group again next year as well so among the other highlights um the therapy dog Harper I have
056already been reprimanded by Dr Fulton because I did not bring her with me this evening I'm really sorry um you guys know what it's like when dirty wet paws get in your backseat of your car so I avoided that but she was even she'd even gone to the the uh beauty salon this week so she was prepped and ready um I'm sure I'll hear about it when I get home so um but what I'll tell you about her is she does open so many doors for me um for all of us at the high school that I counted one time during one passing period She was Touched By no fewer than 35 different students in a five minute period and that is a lot of contact that those kids are craving that they can just
057get sometimes it's just a quick pet on the way by sometimes it's a stop sit on the floor and really hug the dog um sorry that also means I'm bragging on Harper because she doesn't mind being touched 35 different people in in 5 minutes so we continued this year also with our family family information series um we've shifted away from just parent information series to the whole family because we do present things that we would like for families to be talking about after they're gone from us and we encourage students to join us um and then over 1500 scheduled um student meetings not counting the students in crisis so as you know when somebody comes in in crisis it's immediate they just come in and they see us um we do have a signin process
058for those students that are coming to see us just so we can know who's there the smart pass is is great but sometimes kids will wander in they were crying in the bathroom and they had a pass to the bathroom but they didn't get one at the Counseling Center so um it allows us to track and see kind of who who we're seeing and it's been really good to get that as well um this is an example of what the family information series looked like this year we always do the um seated version followed by um a virtual version so um that's kind of how those things go and now it's up for this is chrisan no you don't need to play this song Thank you forward she has a song and she has a
059walk S I would have played the walk song no it's literally okay hello I'm Ashley Grisham I'm the student youth Community Lon um my role for the school district for this year has just it's been amazing for me and just a different opportunity for what I am used from working in the crisis world so I enjoy working with each one of those counselors up there they have been encouraging and supporting um communication has been fantastic we have created a form through Google Docs I believe is what it's called for the liais on referral to go to and that is going to um for the counselors and the school principles to help send and to mainstream that communication and then they complete the forms and they will come to me um I have 77 direct referrals
060this school year so far I came up roughly with going through my notes to 23 non-direct referrals but I'm pretty sure that probably is a little bit higher and that's just me assisting with simple easy give resources that doesn't necessarily need me to be involved I would like to go over most of those points with you but that is a little far for me in my is here but I will say my home visits is probably my biggest piece of the pie um at 18% that's that's my jam that's what I love to do is going out to the homes meeting those students and those families in their environment seeing what resources I can connect them to um it's a different picture from when the kids are at school so um that's one of the
061big pieces that I like to do um the attendance is a huge part for my referrals when they hit the tier three um for chronic um attendance um failure close to being a failure to drop out are there just no showing or whatever those needs and I will go to the door I will go knock and say hello um how can I get you to at school um and do whatever I can to support them I've had a lot of Housing and transportation referrals um unfortunately that is a really difficult one to do um that is Nationwide an issue um but it is an issue here so I try to work with those families to develop whatever natural resources we can to support those kids to getting to school or to find a house a
062roof over their heads with those students um mental health referrals I send out um I try to get them connected to Four Rivers Compass Health um whether it's seen a regular PCP ey appointments whatever those help those parents hold their hands make those appointments and encourage them to to do such things and then follow up with them that's a lot of the keys to get our families to be successful is following up uh my building collaboration I with the high school the junior high and the middle school they have most of them are weekly and some or other other week um cabinet meetings it's where we just discuss the kids that um may need that extra hand or where their concerns are and see how I can help and assist with those um the community
063collaboration um I am very intent with Grace Salvation Army juvenile office for Rivers Compass Health in the ye is stands for the Youth emergency room enhancement program so if we have a youth that goes to the emergency room from some kind of mental health um we communicate with them and make sure the services are being followed up with um and for the act tap program is for the 16 to higher level kids for the wraparound intense program I think meet the criteria to get them enrolled just kind of a mainstream to support those Services going directly to Compass Health whatever those mental health needs those connection pieces I'm just trying to help those family navigate those programs um for the community and stakeholder meetings I'm a part of the Phelps County CIT the community crisis
064training we meet every other month um the case manager Coalition which I hope very soon that's going to the name is going to change but it's going to be a resource hub for Phelps County where all resources and the Coalition is brought together and it's going to be open so I'm pretty excited for that the S meeting for the student advocacy meeting my first one was supposed to be today but unfortunately the weather had other ideas for us so I'm looking forward to that that has been something that's already been in process and I'm just help picking that up to bring that back to the table the good Dads program um I believe we're working on two of the elementary schools that are interested in bringing the good Dads program in I can't speak a
065whole lot about that because that is up to their decision if they want to bring that program but it's um supporting single dads to be stronger dads involved with their children's lives our new dads are dads stepping back into the picture um to get them involved the Dream Center flourishing together is one of the programs that I actually had Miss sah King come with me um it is just how to bring our community together to help those in Need for the homeless and other resources and the TDMs the Tim team decision making is with the DFS um I've been a part of several of those meetings to try to support those students now in my role to help them be successful in their education and stay in school um in that support environment um some
066of the things that I just put up there at the Friday backpack programs um I have enjoyed going on Tuesdays and picking up the lunches and taking them to the designated schools that need to do so that is kind of me in a nutshell there's whole lot more to that picture but I can stand here for a while so that's all I have great so in case we haven't said it enough we are super super thankful for Ashley she's fantastic what she does and getting our students and their families hooked in with the community resources that it's it's just amazing we have a lot that that she's able to do for us so um the word of the year is commitment so as school counselors uh last year we talked about all of the different
067hats that the elementary people wore this year we're talking about all of the different ways that our hearts are committed to what we do we're committed to our students the families our schools our faculties to each other to our community but most of all we are committed to the future of R public schools and being able to provide a bright future for every student who walks through our doors so thank you guys very much if you have any questions we will be happy to answer them thank you I don't have a question but I do have a comment so PHS health will be doing their hygiene drive again this year so um I'll be dropping that off to Stephanie later you thank you all I can't help but notice Mr Jameson was moved to the
068front seat of the bus I'm just saying thank thank you all for what you do yeah thank you thank you guys all right next we have Dr Welch the gifted program your friends are leaving Dr Welch where are they going did somebody take the clicker um gota wash all right well good evening we are going to shift gears and talk about our gifted program um we've completed our annual review and have identified some things that we would like to work on in this upcoming school year so just want to share that work with you many of the folks that were sitting in this room that just presented actually were part of that process so our elementary and middle school counselors um they probably have the largest role in regards to helping with the identification process
069some of the early assessments that happen um and really just have a unique perspective in regards to a lot of the things that we do with that program and so certainly I felt like it was important to ask them along with our gifted teachers to help us with that SWAT analysis of how our program was moving forward and so we met together and talked through through identified things that would fall into each of those four categories and I'll share that information with you here in a minute but out of that meeting we identified several things that we wanted to propose and we felt like it was important to get some additional information from other stakeholders and so you can see a list of that expanded group there that we met with um we talked through
070with them just the things that we had come up with in that SWAT analysis shared some data with them in regards to what was driving that decision making and then just proposed Ed the idea that we'll talk through tonight as well gathered their feedback in regards to what did they think made sense what was a good idea here uh what barriers might we be facing what are things that we should think through um just additional things that maybe we weren't considering from our perspective but making sure that we had the voice of lots of different people so that SWAT analysis I've shared here with you and I'm not going to talk through every single one of those points but I am going to highlight one um bullet point in in each section which is really
071a part of The Proposal that we're bringing this evening in regards to some changes that we would like to make uh under strengths our team really has identified um several things that we feel like we're doing well one of those is you'll remember a few years ago we added a screener that takes place before we get into collecting data from teachers this was an opportunity to give um an assessment to all students currently at the end of their second grade year um and help us to identify about 20% of the population that should be looked at for further evaluation um again this was done in an effort to remove kind of teacher bias our teachers many of them have strengths when it comes to identifying or suspecting that someone might be gifted but that's not
072necessarily something that they're formally trained in um and so again just kind of removing that bias from teachers and really looking at their cognitive abilities and that's what that Universal screener does for us it has helped us to identify some students who probably would have been overlooked in the past and so we're excited about that it's doing exactly what we want it to the other part of that um you'll see is a strength but it's also something that we know that we need to potentially work on as well we have updated our evaluation process in the last two years and so we feel like we've made some gains there again with being able to to identify additional students who maybe wouldn't have been caught previously um our team also noted just parent involvement we have
073fantastic parents they're very supportive they're eager to learn about their gifted students and how to best support them um Joe does a lot of things with them at that early level as they're entering the program really trying to think about topics um and speakers that would be relevant to those parents um they do have unique needs and believe it or not even though they're incredibly bright sometimes there's challenges that come along with that as being a parent of a gifted student and so we've just got great parents who really appreciate that they're excited to be a part of that process um and then our instructors specifically noted just we have some flexible programming opportunities each group of kiddos that they serve have different needs and so they like being able to have some of that
074flexible programming with them under weaknesses one of the things the team identified was just awareness of giftedness I mentioned this a little bit before and thinking about teachers um but that applies really to all stakeholders in our school system just need to continue to always work around bringing awareness to the gifted population um our evaluation process so it was under strengths but it's also under weaknesses so we have four things and we'll talk about this a little bit more in depth later but there are four areas that we look at two of those are specific to teachers and so for the same reason that I mentioned earlier that's something that we've we've continued to look at that we may need to continue to tweak moving forward uh under scheduling or under weaknesses you'll see scheduling
075listed there the challenge here is that we have um three different elementary schools and each of them have autonomy to develop a building schedule that meets their needs however when you then start looking at pulling those kiddos together from those three schools and trying to find a time that doesn't conflict with specials or lunches sometimes that's a challenge and so we are trying to do a better job of being intentional with each of our elementary principles and thinking about um gifted schedule and what how we might be able to create building schedules that still meet their needs but also recognize that we could probably do a better job of coordinating those efforts and then percentage of students served this is something that we've identified as a weakness and be part of our proposal we'll talk
076about uh in more depth later opportunities for us so gifted they are really doing a great job of pulling in different resources to help meet the needs of our students but I think it's been a while since have gone through an official um instructional materials resource review and have had the opportunity to purchase things for their classrooms certainly they can make those requests for supplies for their classroom to their building but we have included them on that textbook rotation schedule so next year they will be a part of that process and if there's something that they identify that they feel like would be beneficial we'll have the opportunity to um purchase those resources for them another opportunity was just grade configuration we are currently serving students in grades 3 through 7 and we'll talk more
077about that again later this is going to be the one thing that we pull out but we feel like that's an opportunity to look at that and potentially expand uh and stretch ourselves in regards to the number of students that we're serving that kind of goes along with that next bullet we've got room to grow we have two full-time instructors and they have time in their schedule to be serving more students so we're excited about that opportunity uh another opportunity there is just teach your professional development you know that we are constantly looking for opportunities for our teachers to grow and to learn more um and sometimes quite honestly gifted Learners that differentiation for our gifted Learners just takes a backseat to all of the other pressing needs that we have like it or not
078um but there are opportunities to grow all of our teachers in that regard and then also part of our instructors um their feedback was because they are gifted teachers they also would like that opportunity to kind of seek out what are those professional developments that are applicable to them and their role they do have a lot of opportunities across the state but again it's just a challenge there's just two of them in the district and so finding those ways to help them grow was something that they thought was an opportunity and then under threats student retention uh we currently are serving through that seventh grade level but we are struggling to keep students through that seventh grade level uh again scheduling this is another place where we have threats when you're serving um five different
079buildings thinking about barriers that we have with Transportation timing that we can do shuttles there are just a lot of things to work through there uh our team also identified that the status quo is probably a threat for us where there's a lot of things that we've been doing the same way for a long time and so getting comfortable with those that can be a challenge we want to make sure that we're constantly looking reviewing and making changes as we need to and then the final one that we have there is the acceleration policy we do have a policy um that allows parents to make a request to do a whole grade level acceleration that policy is intentionally written at a high level and we do have procedures in place in order for counselors principles
080to gather appropriate data and to make decisions when those requests come to them it had been a really long time though since that form had been looked at and so we've been in the process this year of looking at that revising it updating it with the current um assessment pieces that we have in place and kind of setting some new norms for that process all right so the strengths this was something that I mentioned earlier we updated this process in the last two years um again the team really felt like this was a strength for us I really just wanted to put this in front of you so that you could see the full picture here again I mentioned that coat screener we catch about 20% of our student population and then from there um
081we are kind of narrowing that down the goal would be that we would ultimately have around 5% of our student population be identified and served so there are guidelines from desie in regards to what types of evidence we have to uh utilize and then it's up to us to set the criteria within each of those categories so our team has done that we've made some adjustments over the past couple of years for example um in the area of the Whisk that's that bottom area uh in the past it had been a 130 in order for students to qualify and that was a required score uh that was lowered to 125 a few years ago and then last year we were looking at that in a 124 is still at the 95th percentile and we were
082like well why are we not shifting it to 124 you're still meeting that that expectation and so we made that change as well and again Believe It or Not There are kiddos that are just right there at that cut and they're missing that opportunity and so we felt like that was still still looking at the right population of kiddos but making sure we weren't missing some students under the weakness category percentage of students served um I mentioned that our goal is to serve 5% of our population I just shared this data with you so you can kind of see where we're coming from uh the top two rows are ralas um percentages you have two categories we have the percentage of students that we've identified and then the percentage of students that were serving so
083we do have times where kiddos have been identified and they elect not to participate in the programming for whatever reason um and then you can see that in comparison to the state um average percentages so we definitely want to be closer to that 5% you can see how we have made some progress over the last two years with some of the changes that we made but we still want to continue to grow there not where we would like to be under the opportunities piece and this is where we've really been focusing in our conversations um around how do we serve more students since we have that opportunity to grow uh and one of the things that the team would like to propose is that we think about expanding that to second grade um so if
084you think about kindergarten and first grade so much of that are building on those foundational skills both academically uh and socially and it's not unusual for parents then by second grade to really start asking or teachers to start asking for help when they need that differentiation for students it really starts to show itself um at that level and so we think it makes sense to push that down and begin that process sooner and so we would need to um where we're currently screening all of our second graders at the end of the school year in prep for the third grade uh participation we would need to start that at first grade and so for this one year we would need to purchase enough seats of the coat screener to be able to do first grade
085and second grade then moving forward we would get back on on track with just doing one grade level that first grade each year um again one of the things that the committee talked about was just all of the research out there around developing perseverance and grit in our students this is particularly true for gifted kiddos all kids but in particular gifted kiddos a lot of it is developing that growth mindset and when you have a student who's exceptionally bright and everything is very easy and they really don't have to in some cases put forth a of effort or try or feel like they've failed at anything until they get to Junior High the high school and in some cases when they enter into college or whatever that post-secondary experience is we've missed that opportunity to
086really develop that mindset and so we want to make sure that with our earliest Learners we're giving them opportunities to come up against something that's hard um and to be challenged and to make sure that we're developing that grit and perseverance I think this is probably one of the things that our parent Vo had a lot to say about and felt very strongly that that was the case uh a parent who has had multiple kiddos go through our gifted program some who haven't qualified and have just talked about the experience um that she has seen with her own children with this and then finally threats student retention so this is another area that came out in our analysis we do have kiddos that have been identified early on but as they get to that Junior
087High level they start to have other choices whether that's electives um Advanced courses that they can begin to participate in and many of those kiddos then have to start making choices uh and sometimes it just comes down to that they choose to not participate in a course that is their Quest course because they want to participate in something else um and so we really have talked a lot about that a lot of good ideas there we need to continue to explore that and work through some details um but we think there's an opportunity here to rethink how we're serving our seventh grade students and that there could be the potential to include eighth grade as well in that process so we currently only serve through seventh grade part of this reconsideration is what model we
088use so there are three different models that we can um participate in that desie has identified uh right now we use the resource room teacher which is kind of pull out that's what Mr schisler does with his students at the elementary level and then we have the special class model um which is what Mrs hail does then with our middle school and that Junior High those seventh graders currently so it's a part of their schedule it's one of their classes that they take each day looking at those seventh and eighth graders we think there's an opportunity to shift that model and do more of the resource model maybe pull them in a cohort together during their advisory period so it wouldn't take away their opportunity to participate in other courses that they want to um
089include in their schedule but they still have very specific needs those kiddos are dealing you heard from our counselors earlier a lot of things at the junior high level a lot of changes uh and gifted kiddos are are no exception there so the opportunity to really pull them during that advisory period have lessons tailored to them in their affective needs as well as being able to think about um post-secondary planning so those kiddos are already in many instances taking college level courses and earning credits um they're thinking about what their pathway will look like and so there's a there's an opportunity there there for us to I think shift how we're serving them so I've shared a lot of details with you but essentially The Proposal is that we would expand our programming to include
0907eventh grade as a result of that as I mentioned we would need an approval to add those coat screener seats for this year um and then we want to ex continue to explore those programming options for seventh and eighth grade to be able be in there as well but to shift our model um that's going to require some additional conversations and some additional work we've got some preliminary work done there already with our schedule but it does require the junior high the middle school all those teachers to come together and put their heads together to figure that out but I'm confident we can do that so does that mean you would start screening second graders this year or first graders for next year we'd have to do both this year we currently screen second graders
091so we've already purchased those is to do that that's part of our district assessment plan but we would need your approval to add the additional seats for first grade this year knowing that we would pick up that that grade level next year and does it excuse me does a student only get screened once with the coat they do yes we do purchase additional seats so if we have new students who move in and we have a teacher or a parent referral we can administer that screener to see if we need to move further in that process but we do that initially kind of as cast our net wide and work our way through that we have other mechanisms in place so if a student has been screened and assessed and they don't qualify let's say
092in their second year or third grade year we go back through annually and look at our map assessment data and we it's not always true but there's generally a correlation with that achievement data and how they will perform on those other areas like a whisk and so we'll do a Second Sweep and look at those kiddos and take them through the process to ensure that we're not missing kids okay yeah yeah that was one of the feedback that I got was that wanting to make sure that we're not missing those that maybe they just barely you know didn't make it yeah I think sometimes too that's a little bit of a misconception so people sometimes look at that as a score like a percentage but it's actually a percentile and so sometimes there's some further
093explanation to parents in regards to what does that mean so if I have a a 120 and they might be looking at a 124 well that's the percentile not a percentage like you might have made on an assessment and so it's not like you're one point off and that sometimes confuses people so just trying to do a better job of explaining those assessment results and what that might mean for their student okay thank you is there anything in our summer school program for our gifted students specifically not specifically for those kiddos um like any other student they can participate in any enrichment coursework so many many of them do choose something that's of interest to them any other questions okay yeah I just make a comment I served in that committee and I taught second
094grade 16 years and then I had gifted for 12 and as second grade I had a lot of second grade kids that would have benefited with the gifted program and then when I got into teaching the gifted third and fourth when the teachers started you know picking out kids to be screened they didn't screen the all of them at that time now now they do but um you know teachers some teachers weren't aware of GI you know gifted they weren't gifted teacher they weren't trained for that and they see a kid and say I say you need to refer him and him he doesn't do his work you know he misbehaves and I remember this particular child came out with 140 IQ he was just you know he's now I think a nuclear engineer or
095something just incredible but you know he would have been overlooked if it had been up to that teacher said no but uh anyway I'm all in favor of this appreciate that and thank you for serving we appreciated your perspective you know I had second grade students bringing third grade gr home in my classroom their parents would have on their free time they would study third grade stuff yeah and so I mean yeah I'd love to go back and do it myself second and third grade but I can't I'm [Laughter] retired one thing that I didn't include this year that I did include last year as a threat just so you're aware we have two gifted teachers who are very close to that end of their career and will likely be retiring in the next few
096years um and last year I would have said a threat would be that we didn't have any internal staff members um that had certification we have one individual who just started with us in the last couple of years um from another school district who brings that certification with them but we have since had um two individuals complete that and we have another one who's nearing completion so that makes me feel very excited about having a robust candidate pool of internal folks and certainly we'll have people from uh outside of the district apply as well when those positions are open but it's good to know that our our teachers Rec recognize that as a need and have an interest a passion for learning more about those students so that's good he any other questions do you
097need an action from us we do y I make a motion that we expand the gift of program to second grade and approve the contract for the coat screening I'll second that all in favor I those opposed motion passes thank you thank you all right next we have KRA KRA I was like I know okay so this evening I just want to go over kind of high level um projections for for this year um some legislative issues that we're looking at as we go through the f26 budget creation and then also the cost of moving um uh sorry working the salary schedules percentage stuff like that so we'll just begin all right fy2 revenues update uh budget versus projections overall our revenues are projected to be about $121,000 more than currently budgeted so not much
098haven't missed it by much as far as I know right now we'll see we're still uh getting in some local tax revenue and such Foundation formula revenue is only being paid currently on an SAT amount of 6650 not the full funding of 6760 there is a supplemental budget out there that we're anticipating the governor to approve and sign off on if for some reason he does not um there will be a short fall of about $450,000 but again right now there's no really indication to think that that supplemental budget Bud will not pass can you say those two numbers again 6650 6650 is what we're currently being paid at for the SAT full funding is 6760 thank you fy 25 expenditures update budget um as compared to projections so uh looking to be about a
099$2 million difference there it is early days yet we're just about half a little over halfway through the the fiscal year we do budget conservatively It's a combination of all those things salaries benefits purchase Services supplies we're still working through some stuff current ending fund balance uh percentage is at 26.1% for Budget uh projected to be at 31.1 six again our floor is 17% so FY 26 budget considerations the SAT is set to increase to 7145 per weighted Ada however the government has recommended to not fully fund the formula for next year year so I we'll get into the uh what that would cost us if it's not fully funded here in a few minutes transportation is expected to be fully funded and when we say fully funded that's a 75% of actual expenditures based
100on this year expenditures so it's not a little bit of a misnomer there I do want to point out that transportation is a categorical line item on the State education budget that means it's really easy for them to just not fund it if the revenues don't come in so for example last last year um transportation the last few years has it's been fully funded so last year the transportation funding was at 1.3 million back in fy19 it was at 335,000 so that could easily happen at any point also for next year it is a reassessment year so that means that our local um tax revenue may come in slightly higher than this year we're not sure how that reassessment is is going to go other budget considerations uh there's pending legislation out there affecting real
101estate tax property tax and income tax for real estate tax um that's for our local tax the County commiss Commissioners did pass the legislation can't remember what Senate bille that was I don't remember I've lost it now in all the other ones anyway allowing for real estate tax freezes on for residents over 65 if they go through the application process um each year there is no real way for me to account for the loss of Revenue due to that that passing property tax revenue I believe there's still legislation to um basically uh establish a depreciation schedule that will eventually uh have no property tax on farm equipment and vehicles so we'll see where that goes and then income tax there's a big push to eventually have no state income tax last I read There is
102a bit of they're trying to figure out how to make up that Revenue because as most of us know General revenues for the state come specifically from income tax revenue our found a formula is based on General revenues so without the income tax revenue they have to make up for it somewhere last I was reading it's they're looking at increasing the sales tax so I don't know where this is going to go likely something's going to move through the legislature on this so keep an eye on those things then of course as always ongoing District Maintenance programming and staffing needs so FY 26 estimated revenues um this is going to assume for 26 and 27 uh full funding of the SAT of the foundation formula so we'll see if that sat does hold flat at
1036760 for FY 26 it is a shortfall of $1.5 million for us um FY 27 revenues do include an additional 1.1 million in additional Revenue due to being able to account for average daily attendance for Early Childhood students so looking at um expenditures so salary benefits uh that makes up the majority of our operating budget at about between 80 and 85% so we always start looking at those calculations early on in the budget creation so for certificated staff movement on the schedule is 348,000 1% base increase which would move us from 4,888 to 41,9 for step one has a cost of about 267,000 for support staff movement is 20 73,800 and a 1% base increase is $104,500 for step one of our lowest schedule that would be food service custodial and Par professionals it takes
104us from 1556 an hour to 1572 an hour so it's not a huge jump for that 1% when you're talking already the the lower scales so in summary as step movement and 1% is about just under a million dollars it equates to an average of two and a qu% pay increase quick insurance update because again the board does pay for 95% of support staff um insurance premiums for employee only and 100% of the premium for certified staff so that is a cost to the operating um is included in our operating cost so January 31st fund balance is at 5.6 million it is a decrease of almost 207,000 since October 1 that's our plan year start date that was anticipated that was planned as a reminder two years ago we decreased the premiums by 10% last
105for this year it was a decrease of 15% our fund balance has gotten really um quite healthy and so we decided that those funds could be allocated for other uses uses uh throughout the district with Staffing and um programming so of course as a reminder the actual premiums will be set in July based on additional data at this point I'm not playing on recommending I an increase or a decrease to those premiums probably for next year remaining flat not necessarily um decreasing them yet again even though we do have that healthy balance we do have some higher claims out there that we're anticipating coming through so we kind of want to see how that plays out so FY 26 estimated expenditures uh projections this data does include the movement plus 1% um about 1.7 million
106more overall than the fy2 projections and then for the FY 27 projections here that does include additional expenditures that we've discussed in work sessions for the Early Childhood um expansion so fund balance projecting at FY 26 of 26.2 3% and FY 27 at just over 21% again this is all for just discussion we we're early days this is not based on actual input of any expenditure uh from our our budget meetings we're not finished with those it's just based on percentage increases any questions okay could you say once again what you did with the formula did you assume full funding assumed full funding at this point okay for both 2526 and 26 27 correct okay and we know that's not going to happen I'm hopeful that it will happen but we'll see we don't know
107it won't happen I think it is important to note the governor has ordered a uh I'm going to use task force I don't think that's the word to review the formula I think that was in in in his discussions that was the reason for withholding that at this point is he's wanting that review of the formula yeah well what happens from there I don't know their summaries aren't due until December of 26 so right it's not going to affect either one of these years probably I don't know um yeah and from our webinar that we listened to the legislative update they're talking about maybe $10 per water for an increase next year not $200 million for education but most of that's going to go for to fund other things and Senate Bill 727 so yeah
108we're talking charter school expansion vouter expansion a lot of other things I didn't mention here this evening that could negatively impact public education it is concerning watching yes it is the proposed things that could greatly affect our funding I always get nervous this time of year anyway but yeah well didn't they say that like 70% uh comes from income tax wouldn't that be the amount of Revenue that they'd have to make up somewhere else yes so it's pretty significant yes it is anything else and do we know whether or not the county is going to do a reassessment this year I was told last year that he was that the reason he didn't two years ago is there wasn't enough time from the time he took office is that that's correct yes okay not had
109a conversation with him to see what extent that is or if that will result in any changes I don't know when is the deadline for that the reassessment and is it the summer or I don't know what his deadline is we don't get RSS valuation July that I had summer in my mind I guess that's why okay you guys plan to reach out to me thank you thank you thank you kind of nice to know all right now mece here we go so tonight I bring to you was like whoa okay there we go a proposed School attendance boundary change for our elementary schools two in particular but first let me show you what it looks like on um the Phelps County GIS these are our school zones they look very similar in color but
110Wyman is actually in blue triman is in purple and Mark Twain is in that pinkish reddish color um so we're looking tonight to to propose changes to our Elementary attendance zones why do we need to reone because of all the great things that are going to come to Raa especially the highlands Estates which is going to bring 587 homes that are currently zoned to Mark Twain and I'm just going to be quite honest there's no room for growth at Mark Twain there's not a classroom available at this moment in time so so with that so with that that's why so they actually open up this weekend believe their sales at the Highlands from McBride homes in my communications with them and so with that being said why am I just focused on Elementary because we
111have room at Middle School junior high high school and rtn RTC to absorb the rest of the growth okay so how does this impact our new Early Childhood Center well currently Wyman houses seven Early Childhood classes that will hopefully move in August of 2026 to our new center which will then open up room at Wyman Elementary so with 587 homes coming in and Dr dare correct me if I get this wrong whenever we estimate we'll estimate at least half or less of that of new student of students going into that area not all elementary so with that seven class rooms would allow us to expand that Elementary realm so the proposed changes tonight that I am bringing to you there is no action tonight this is just informational purposes is to do some changes from
112Mark Twain to Wyman in the map I have in front of you you have a blown up version of what I'm putting on the screen so I highlighted for you on your map in Black what we are looking at so it is essentially that triangle piece and it starts with all Osage Drive and up on the map it is it is up there as well on oage drive all of the connecting roads that are within that area all the way down to the city limits and then all the way over to Highway 72 so I know some questions would be well what does that what subdivisions does that include it includes the line barnets Forest Subdivision Country Ridge Subdivision parker edition Long View subdivision Country Ridge subdivision and the new Highlands Estates by McBride holes
113your map doesn't have it but I put Highlands Estates up there about where it would be located on the map questions so far okay how does that impact our students currently so we have currently at Mark Twain in the area that we are proposing to reson we have two kindergarten students one first grade and we have four third grade students but those are moving to the Middle School in 25 26 so we are looking at three students keep in mind those numbers do not reflect any students that we don't know about that are there could be younger prek all the way through so those students living in those areas would be grandfathered in and could continue to attend Mark Twain and we would transport them to Mark Twain schools up through the time they move
114to middle school if the um boundary chart changes are adopted all properties affected in this not just home not just our families but all of them within that triangle area will receive a letter notifying of the change in the school attendance zones So within that where can they find information about this well they will be mailed everything will be mailed home we'll send out to our families that are affected a parent Square notification to them as well everything is already posted on our website of all of this information along with the maps along with a form for them to provide feedback for us up through March 5th for us to look at and reconsider when we come back together in two weeks questions P did you say you had a conversation with McBride I did
115homes okay I did have they sold any homes yet not yet they open up Saturday oh okay so I think they're they're excited to get started they said this weekend whenever I went to looking it was Saturday so so the proposal is for all of this area to then attend Wyman correct where does a Huntley and on this side they go to Mark Twain and they'll stay Mark Twain They will stay Mark Twain as of the current time right now with the impact of not knowing how many students will go into that area we're really unsure so we could come back to you in the future and ask for those areas to be rezoned as well but right now we're trying to play it safe with that little area then going to Wyman and and
116thinking about your bus routes going out oh Highway it continues out into the Mark Twain zone so there's still there's still going to have to be buses going out that direction so this just kind of carves out that oage drive because it will link into the new McBride subdivision and and kind of focus our buses in that area to not have to double route um to keep our efficiency ratings so would those individuals that are already going to Mark Twain would they just stay on the same bus would yeah yes okay and that's an option they wouldn't have to if the parents want to go ahead and shift to Wyman that's fine too they can but if they chose to if they chose to we will we'll get them out of there okay all right
117we'll look forward to that feedback great [Applause] day next next I come to you with a request staing request Staffing request I come do with request for some additional positions so I want to talk to you a little bit about how we identify Personnel needs throughout the district as we go through um we meet with building administrators we review all of the enrollment numbers by each school and each cohort um and then we look at overall District needs by buildings and what are the outcomes of that it is movement of positions within grade levels Andor buildings which sometimes we shift openings from one building to the other so if we have you know a lower cohort in elementary we could move that position to a middle school and vice versa so we do look at
118those shifts I'm not coming to you just saying we just have to add everybody because we're not we actually make those shifts individually as we move forward so what I'm bringing to you is is we are not able to make these shifts so a few months ago I came stood here and um asked you for a special education teacher at truman to meet the needs of those students if you remember that said it was just for the year in looking at everything the numbers aren't going anywhere so we still need to keep that so this position I we are asking for to continue for 2526 at Truman is a special education position this and I put at the bottom of this there is no budget impact as this is a shift but within the shift
119it is a different type so we have had a behavioral interventionist that you hired a couple years ago um that position and the results just weren't what we hoped for in the meantime we have we have bcbas that are coming in to our district and that are helping and doing those things so within that the need for a special education teacher is there due to IEPs and student needs so we would like to ask ask for you to approve a special education teacher at triond which is a wash to our budget so literally the amount would be the same you want to do these one at a time or all together I have it at the end to do it all together but we can do it one at a time if you'd like so
120okay the second position we are bringing to you this evening um I is an assistant principal at the elementary schools so this would be a position for all three elementaries as in the elementary counselor presentation you talked about many of the counselors filling in and helping those principles um especially with students with high needs um So within this we find that the elementary principles while they are doing a great job they are also struggling in some regards because sometimes the behaviors are so large or so great or the the needs where they need to be with somebody they need to do all these other things it takes them away from doing some academic things Etc as we move forward so um an assistant principle for the elementary buildings would allow those principles some relief and
121some assistance to be able to go in and do more within the classrooms work with their teachers and their PLC teams while someone else could be there helping with those with you know those disciplined things and being there with students and helping those counselors with some social emotional needs Etc so we would like to add a assistant principal for all three elementaries and the salary of $ 85,000 we add the benefits to it with a total budget impact of $107,000 keep in mind we take that within right now we have that set within our lowest you know principal PRI or salary at this time questions interrupt you there just real quick just for the anybody watching it's one assistant to share between the three elementaries it's one position right one position to share just to
122clarify correct so where would they be housed so we we've had some preliminary conversations with the principles they're there are a space that can be created at each Elementary to allow them to have a a home base to work from um uh with some shifting and shuffling but we can we can actually create a space for them to to live at every building uh primarily um the the best space and the best housing will be at truman um and we think they will spend at least a fair amount of time T but it would be to serve all three buildings and we have a space we can designate for them so they can meet with kids confidentially and um have parent uh phone computer all those things okay and so they'd have some sort of
123rotating schedule correct so they again yes questions there okay and the third request is the counselor for grades 9 through 12 you just heard an amazing presentation with a lot of dedicated professionals that need some help they work hard every day for our students and they go above and beyond but that their need is just so great and so over the years you know they have come to to the three of us asking for a counselor and over and over and over and so as we have been just analyzing things um it it's time to help them that you saw the majority of their time and every counselor was spent with responsive services and those Services have become more and more and more and I'm sure they will probably look at me and I see
124they're shaking their head and from my time as as a principal I watched my counselors deal with you know responsive everything that comes in from social emotional to mental health issues and that's where their time is is being spent they also have a case load of about 350 kids a piece that's a lot for one person when we look at the MIP guidelines um the minimum is one counselor for 200 to 250 students so adding a counselor would allow us to get closer to that minimum would not get us there but it would allow us to get closer to that minimum um which would then give them an average case load of about 280 students effectively reducing their load by 70 students which would allow them to free up some time to do some of
125those other things some of the things that they would do um and added to their plate would be to take over the EOC and the ACT Testing which now our assistant principles currently do that takes a lot of time when uh Mrs Norman and now Mrs Grisham when they go in to do that EOC testing it is vast it is huge and it takes them away from all of the other duties which our principles are working with our kids as well so so within that just we keep that in keep that in mind and so with the fifth counselor you heard them talk tonight about the time to work with groups and and grow that and they have talked with us about that being able to grow the groups and to meet with students on
126that basis and meet them meet them where they're at you know what is it that they need she talked tonight about grief group but is it talking about anxiety study skill strategies healthy relationships all of those things so it would be actually reaching more students on that individual basis which may help them in their responsive services so that's what we're hoping for and in addition to that we also talk about College and Career Readiness that is a big rala 31 CIP goal and so it would allow them to have more have time to work with them and do that more thoroughly as far as what they do because right now I think it's probably surface level and they they want to do that at a higher level and so do that more more in depth
127questions would you continue to break it out by alphabet like you do now pretty much I think so so would that have to be re aligned to fit a fifth counselor they would have to divide up the alphabet again they would and would that change a students counselor they already had it could I'm just yep here did you thought did you have a thought about that I I just know that if there's a counselor who sees a child who has you know crisis issues or has those more severe issues than being suddenly in a change from a year put in someone else's care potentially someone they don't know at all and have never met May maybe there would be some challenges with that especially to have them open up to that new person or just
128be comfortable with that but I don't know right and in speaking with that I you're right there would be time to build that relationship and I believe that our counselors would look at those students individually to say I know this student come on down come on down but they can't I need to keep them because of that relationship I've built okay so that is an option oh absolutely it is it is an option to keep that that's actually what we we currently do we all have some students who aren don't fall in part of our alphabet and there is absolutely no ego in our office when it comes to who's seeing who like you're my kid no so we all just take whoever comes in and wants to talk to us because we know different
129personalities just gel and sometimes you make those connections and sometimes sometimes you don't so it's already thank you thank you good how is there plenty of room in the counseling office office there I mean I've been in their office and it's pretty pretty it's very tight and there are plans to revamp another area of the high school right now to Encompass all of them and to bring in A+ so they become a more cohesive group am I right Dr okay I'm getting a headshake yes so there are plans for that as well to bring them all together okay yeah I'm not sure where we put a fifth person within that little group right there no no no Dr Ray and and Mrs kayin and Dr kayin have all worked together to create a plan for
130all of this so I'm glad that we'll get closer to the MIP numbers I know we'll still have work to do but it's at least a step in the right direction it is step in the right direction it's a need we've we've needed for a long time absolutely okay I also want to address with you that we this is not the only Personnel consideration that may come back to you they we are still in the middle of scheduling time and so they are still looking at schedule requests at the secondary level where they get to choose their classes and all of those things we will still have future IEP needs and looking at enrollment numbers so please know that we will come back but now everyone has an idea of kind of the process that
131we go through as we go through so just know that we are constantly assessing that and so are the principles so tonight I need approval for one Elementary assistant principal one special education teacher at at Truman and one counselor at the high school and I will resay that again the one Elementary assistant principal will cover all three elementary schools for the 25 25 26 school year yeah 25 26 me I'll make the recommendation to approve one Elementary assistant principal for all three elementary schools a special education teacher at Truman and one counselor at R high school I'll second that all in favor I those opposed motion passes thank you thank you okay next Dr fton wants to be done with hers all right comments do we have any comments tonight not many because I we
132haven't been been for a couple Valentine's Day President's Day couple of snow days yeah it's been a nice needed couple days off I think for most of the high school students it was getting crazy over there and so we were all but we're ready to be back you know next week and um you we're looking at Spring break and just lots of fun things coming up uh prom starting to plan prom do that whole thing Wonder so everyone's just excited for the spring I know I am it's cold all the time I'm freezing I'm ready for be warm but I don't really have much for you guys tonight the debate tournament go oh it was good oh so fun I saw the pictures posted today yeah there was I know you judged I saw your
133name I was no they end up not needing me not you okay yeah so that went you did I saw you yes we talked yes yeah um it was a long busy day but it went well and you know I can only say the best about Mr Brooks and my team like they are really the best people ever and I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone else and thank you to those of you who judge or we didn't need that's great that we we love to have you there it's great we didn't need you because that means we had enough MH so yeah it went really well and it was just good day all around yes to Mr Brooks's uh credit he prepared us like we he didn't know that we didn't know
134how to judge so he had help videos and yeah it was great that's great it it's really a cool event I wish we could all see it it's just some some really great CL and they're not all Raa kids these were from all over but there was no R there was no kids comp it was which is cool I got to see some events too I never know where they're from I'm like as a judge I don't know I have no idea where they're from but uh it's just really cool to see watch them compete and maybe disagree a little bit or agree oh I wonderful it's young superintendent report um just a couple of things tonight um just again uh weather just continues to be the conversation um so I would remind everybody that
135uh we were blessed uh I think this is our third or fourth year to go to our Max calendar format and so under State Statute we do not have makeup days we actually have plenty of days built into our calendar it does not matter how many we miss no that is not a factor in whether we decide to have school or not um but we we will not have makeup days and so I think there's a lot of confusion because there are other Area Schools starting to have those conversations about uh using the Mii process and you and having makeup days um and days reassigned and and we we do not have to do any of that so we have the days built in um it makes it simple the calendar stays the calendar the
136last day of school is the last day of school spring break stays spring break there's no changes there so as people are making plans they're still able to make all those plans moving forward um the second thing that I keep uh getting asked is what does it mean if the if the Department of Education closes at the federal level and I have no idea uh and I don't think anybody really does so there's a lot of unanswered questions there um I would tell you that the Department of Education at the state level has already put out that that they do not have a way to interpret those uh actions because they haven't happened yet they don't know what the full uh decision would be or what process that would entail what the timeline would be
137any of those pieces so there's really no way to answer those questions uh it is more than just funding but it is a fairly substantial amount of our funding that comes from the federal level and uh various programs through uh Perkins grants through to support CTE through our uh free reduce lunch program through special education through title programs there's several layers to that Federal funding so um we will continue to watch and monitor and uh see what happens but um there's really no way to know at this point because nothing has happened so we don't really know what the outcome would be but that that has been a very popular question lately and um so that's one we keep watching uh the only other thing I would mention is just uh the legislature is of
138course hot and heavy uh with bills and um there's a couple of of note um that I would mention to you and and I think I shared these with the board uh by Bill numbers but open enrollment is a Hot Topic right now uh not sure what version will come through that process and what will happen in the end if anything um but there are a couple versions of open enrollment moving through and then um uh Kinder mentioned earlier the tax cut and some of those things uh that seems to be the other hot topic of discussion but everybody has their own ideas and their own thoughts of what that could look like so so far nothing uh has really happened on that front so we'll continue to keep an eye on those and Report
139out to you as we hear more we have the core Breakfast of Champions yeah I just sent that out to you guys so you know the date uh you can register there if you'd like to there's a little QR code uh the core Breakfast of Champions is April 21st it's at the Junior High cafeteria from 7:30 to 8:30 come eat breakfast it's free um it is a fundraising breakfast so you can contribute to core you can also hear about all the wonderful things that the core uh organization um has done over the many years and continues to do uh a couple of other events just to make sure they're on your calendar the golf tournament is August 4th uh it'll be here before we know it uh and the Maro and graay sare is October
14015th and the registration for that is already live 18th 15 what did I say 18th sorry I wrote down 15 uh anyway if your class is planning a reunion it's a really great place to have it all done for you really and if you talk to Gina she can do some little discounting magic so um call the central office here and ask for Gina zervos is the it's at the yes hasselman great have a comments all right Mark's not here to give us our I I make a motion we go back to close session a second all in favor roll call how do you vote you vote Yes yes yes yes