February 9, 2026 Board Work Session

001Good evening, L. Let's call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. Miss Donna, >> yes. Miss Miller, >> present. >> Miss Williams, >> here. >> Miss Chzny, >> here. >> Miss Karns, >> here. >> Miss Lanning, >> here. >> Mr. Moore >> here. >> Mr. Richmond >> here. I'll stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Approval of the agenda. Is there a motion? >> I have a question about the agenda. So at the last I believe our last meeting we had talked about revising the policy for staff to allow to choose their children's schools. Are we going to do that or what's

002the plan? >> That'll be at the February board meeting. Mr. Noly is still waiting on confirmation from legal on that policy. >> So do are so I know the process has been that we go to a work session and then a board meeting. So are we all going to forego that? I'm okay with that. I just >> It's going to be anformational item at the February board meeting. >> Okay. But the transfer deadline is on March the 1st. Are we going to extend that? >> It would still be March 1st. >> So, I think that just creates some problems for or I don't So, are we just going to follow the policy even though it's not a policy? we're going to follow the practice that we've had in place for as long as I've been

003here. >> So, I just think it would be I know that there's some confusion about that and I think if staff knew that that was for sure going to happen, I wouldn't I'm just saying I wouldn't have a problem with that being on as an action item rather thanformational giving the timing. >> Okay. So, question. Are you asking to amend the agenda to add this? Well, if they don't >> as a discussion item. >> Well, if they don't I mean, if they don't have a policy ready yet, I don't need to amend it. Um, I do also want to talk about whether or not we can amend it to to add the long range plan. So, I so I am asking to amend it to add the longrange plan or district reorganization, whatever. I just

004feel like we had talked about before having that as a consistent agenda item moving forward. So, we could ask questions, get an update, >> those types of things. But, if people don't want it, that's fine. >> Okay. So, you're asking to amend the agenda? to add the reorganization as a discussion item. >> Yes. >> Okay. I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Um, we also needed to amend the agenda because we changed item C6 from salary schedules to salary and benefits committee. >> So, we have two amendments. >> Can [clears throat] you explain that? >> Should Should we wrap the first thing up first? >> Yes. Yes. Yes. >> C6. >> Okay. So I second that. >> I have a motion and a second. Any additional discussion? >> Which one? >> Organization. >>

005Yeah. >> Tom. >> Mhm. >> Okay. Miss Karns. >> Yes. >> Miss Miller. No, >> Miss Williams. >> Yes, >> Miss Chzn. >> No, >> Miss Lanning. >> Yes, >> Mr. Moore. >> Yes, >> Mr. Richmond. >> Yes. >> Then the motion passes 52. Okay. Now, can you explain about the other one? We amended the agenda to change item C6 from salary schedules to salary and benefits committee update >> and we want to change that because missile um we forgot to put on there what we've been discussing with our salary amendments committee insurance we're going to bring is coming at the end of the month to present and for you to vote on our insurance package for next school year. So, we need to add that to have some discussion with that as well. >>

006I make that motion. >> Second. >> Okay. [snorts] >> Miss Miller, >> yes. >> Miss Williams, >> yes. >> Miss Chzn, >> yes. >> Miss Karns, >> yes. >> Miss Lanning, >> yes. >> Mr. Moore, >> yes. >> Mr. Richmond, >> yes. And the motion passes. All approved. Okay. Are those is it number nine then about the reorganization? >> You just moved it to the end. Okay. Just making sure. >> Okay. Number one. >> That's you, Miss Staca. >> Good evening. Happy Monday. Um in your um folder there you will see an update from our academic service committee meetings. Um before I start I just want to state how grateful I am for the committee members who attend and provide input. Um I'm also so grateful for the academic service team who um really lead

007up the work. Um and they're there um to answer questions and any concerns our committee members um might have. what um I shared with you is really what the purpose of the committee is. It's just really to inform our decisions on curriculum, instruction, and assessment, the teaching and learning part of our um school district and the support of improved student outcomes. Um but also to monitor the progress of our comprehensive school improvement plan um and the work with that. I'm a strong committed um person when we talk about professional learning committees. And so our meetings are held like a PLC, a professional learning committee. And so what I do is I present data um and then we talk about the data that we see and provide some insights. Um anybody that's attended the learning knows

008that we have a nice um little white notebook here. um and I whole punch it and we just put our items in our um our binder here um as we progress through the years and you can or progress through the year. You can see on the back of the review of the committee sessions and so Dr. McGinness led the first one in September um in the development of the comprehensive school. We um sought some feedback on that and so you'll see our CED plan was developed and provided some feedback there in October. Um, that's when we shared with our committee members the three-year trend on state assessment data. We did not have the APR results back yet. So, we looked at our performance level details by district, by building, by site, by grade level. Um,

009and then you look at November, we had the announcement of our APR. And so, we looked at our APR, went pretty in-depth with APR, um, compared, um, you know, how our sites were doing compared to other cities. um and the work that was happening across the state. In December, we um introduced our new assessment platform um mastery connect and we talked about the development of ongrade level assessments um and the restructure away from adaptive assessments. Um and then in January we really had a focus look at math data. We had a delay in math data from that December meeting. We met December 18th um and it was um lightly attended um during that time because of the holiday season I'm sure um but in January we really went in depth and we also looked at

010the teacher evaluation process and we looked at the teacher evaluation handbook there I at the end of all the sessions um you will find like a colored sheet and this is where individuals leave our team some feedback whether a name or not they that's okay but they share um feed feedback for us and the work. And so in one of the sessions we had a pink session um just reflection and notes um recently in January we had this was our thinking sheet and this is something that our team looks at um in the work leading forward through the u district in teaching and learning but I also provided you um with what some of the feedback was on that sheet. Um so you can see what our committee members are suggesting for our team to

011look at. You can see that there were several key themes um that emerged from committee discussions. Um the committee celebrates of course the schools that are performing and demonstrating that growth um while also raising concerns about sites um showing declines um particularly at certain grade levels. If it's a a particular grade level it we need to look as an academic service team. Is it a curricular issue? Is it an instructional issue? Is it a resource issue? It's on us. Um but then um we try to leverage the sites um that are performing particularly high. Um and so um those we share the work of um what's happening right now in our um model classrooms. And so we go observe model classrooms who not only show strong observation data from their principles but also that triangulation

012of like they have really strong student outcomes as well. Um and so we try to leverage those. um members requested targeted action plans for these sites and deeper analysis and they wanted us to look at more about what factors in play into this and so we've dug into a little bit of teacher experience turnover and attendance um at those particular sites and so that's why you'll see like um Dr. allowed myself really working um on you know how do we fix this issue of attendance. Um the committee also emphasized the importance of clear communication and support for teachers who are less than proficient um and the need um they noted the polarized performance landscape across the district. So um you really have two groups high performing or low performing very little middle ground. And so

013this work keeps center uh our students out at center um and supports that ongoing continuous improvement and the idea that we're forever learners as educators. Are there any questions about the academic um service committee me uh meetings? I I just want to state I I'm grateful for the insights um that our committee um members provide for us. we are in it all the time and so sometimes that external piece or the insight um helps our team um grow. >> I'd like to just reinforce what you're saying. Um they tolerate me asking questions and um and so I participate like other committee members do and um it's a good committee. gives people that are interested um fills up the tables and I particularly I the the community members that participate great particularly appreciate the staff that

014it's like impressive um you kind of get to see see and hear from the staff and they participate um right along with the committee. They don't um um do that in a level that that um embarrasses others. they they do it in a way that's really respectful and insightful and share their honest feelings at it. And so I think it's a I leave there every time encouraged about the um group that we have that are helping to lead our academics. M tutor the um so I kind of think of these committees having two functions and one is uh do we glean expertise from the people in the room to help drive the district forward and and and and that sounds like that's pretty clearly uh the case. Um you know the other part is that

015we we desire to build community engagement and have people really knowledgeable of what's going on in the in the district and decisions. Um, do you feel like the committee is helping with the overall um, feeling that we're being open, transparent, and and trying to get better? Do you feel the members of the committee are representing it to the rest of the community? So, that piece is getting covered. >> I hope they do. I again I believe in collective um coalition and so I feel like they are receiving um insight um into the work it you know it teaching and learning is so hidden it happens in classrooms and what we're doing in our committee is ensuring that it's made visible um by speaking to hey did you know that we um we changed up our

016assessment platform this is what we used to have um now this and so that they could go back into the community and start to lead. Hey, why are we seeing some growth in academics? These are key pieces. >> I I would just encourage us to kind of formalize that charge, right? To say, hey, you know, please be out there. There's an awful lot of information. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> And so, yeah, I would just say that would be a great role the community could help. >> Yeah. Thanks for your leadership. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Are there any additional questions? >> If there are none. >> All right. Yes. So, senator, Miss Stewart, we uh so appreciate our members on our finance committee. A lot of sharp minds in that room. That's for

017sure. Um I bring something away every time I'm in those meetings and appreciate um the efficacy that they give our district and also um just the different insight that they give within their different industries that they're in. Um, and so I have an information sheet similar to to Miss Stewart that's in folder that kind of talks about the roles as an advisory role to provide guidance and recommendations to the committee on financial matters. Uh, the planning role is to help align financial resources with the district's mission, vision, and uh, CEIP and then an oversight role to monitor fiscal health and accountability for the district. Um, and so in the beginning when we first started um, into September, you know, there's a lot of information about how we ended the previous fiscal year. So, we really

018laid the groundwork in our committee worked to talk about um you know, where we came from financially and and where we currently are in our current situation and and some of the the reasons why um we were at the operating fund balances that we're at. And so in the October meeting, we introduced a 5-year expense and revenue tool that forecasts that out to show uh different trends, whether it's our assess valuation, um what our expense trends look like and how that might deviate with certain decisions or key points where we can put in that data um and see how that affects um our finances in the long term. Um and then November, uh we did a group activity, uh with a quality tool called an affinity diagram where we asked the committee members, hey, what

019are some ways that you think the district could best cut expenses and what are some ways that we can increase revenues? What are those? And so as people put their individual thoughts on sticky notes, we put those on a whiteboard and you you group those for common commonalities and then you have those items. So in the agenda item you can see um what those expenses and revenues ideas were from our committee. So that really got us thinking about some things that we can do um not only this year uh but in years uh in the future looking forward um where we can continue to get on track financially as a district. Um, and then December, uh, we reviewed, uh, Linda Quinley's, um, MSBA financial review that we had at the November board meeting to kind

020of talk through some of the recommendations that she had in that and where some of that data came from and why it's important. And then, uh, in the last meeting, we reviewed our district audit from KPM and talked about some of the, um, issues that, uh, KPM talked about for improvement because I always ask our auditor, I said, what can we do to improve? I know there were no findings in the audit, but anytime you look over our data, what are some things we can look for to improve? And and some of those things are at the very bottom um that our committee has talked about, you know, having salary and benefit projections that are within 1% of what the actuals are when the ASBR comes out to ensure that that that uh projections are

021more finite than what they were in the past. our federal programs or title reimbursement um to create residual calendars to make sure that we're getting that um reimbursement on a quarterly basis um which I've reported on those in recent months. Um purchase services, you know, the committee members saw on our um financial audit, hey, why in the world do we have such a large increase in purchase services and where's that from? So, we talked a lot about that was from, you know, our ELC's and opening up those centers and and what those come. So even though they had expenses, we also do get um you know revenue from that side too and what that revenue was compared to expenses on our ELC. Uh capital spending improved planning for capital projects to ensure our district doesn't

022go negative and fund for and keep some consistency there. Um and then value feedback. They ask you know how can the finance committee members best be utilized um for our district and what can we do to advocate for you? How can we best help you because that's what we're here for. So had some good conversations there. Um, so I feel like, you know, the first couple months really was just setting that stage um, with our committee members. You know, I'm new to the district. It's the first time I met a lot of these individuals. Just kind of giving the history of the district because we do have an hour and that's what our plan time is. So, a lot of information. And then school finance is different. Um, even if you're a CPA uh, with

023another company within St. Joe, how we're funded is just different than what uh, looks like in private business and and what different rules we have to do when um, we spend money. you know, if we um have savings from a bond, we can't just add that to teacher salaries. It has to be used for brick and mortar and different things that aren't restrictions that uh you see in private business that those restrictions that we have. So, um really appreciate the group. Um I've really enjoyed talking to them and get to learn their backgrounds and and the value they bring to our uh district and we'll be happy to answer any questions on any of our meetings or any future topics we might have. >> Yeah, Dr. Hedge court, you made I think a pretty good

024distinction. You know, audits are good and fine, but they are really meant um to be about process and accounting and are we doing things quote the right way. It has nothing. Nobody ever comments in an audit about did you choose the right things to spend your money on, right, >> or not. And so yeah, I would just really encourage you to keep using the the brain power on that committee to ask those questions and keep seeking ideas uh for guidance on not just how we account for spend but you know what we spend it on. >> Sure. Absolutely. I'm I'm retired so I attend that meeting as well. And um that that meeting is um different in that um we kind of have one expert one internal expert in the room and that's Robert himself.

025And >> [clears throat] >> um part of the thing is you said it well getting people up to speed on what's going on and how does that happen um in our finances. I think that um you also get with that group. I mean I know several of them um they're anxious. they're anxious to make a difference. Um, and [snorts] you know what they hear is this or that about the finances and they they're interested in helping us dig in and see how we can make a difference. And so they brought up in an open discussion time this last meeting about the fact is is um in a process going forward is their opportunity for us to be more engaged in the in some of the decision making and um you know it was an item

026that we had good open discussion no negativity related to that but there I I took that as a sign they're anxious to help and and add that and some of them have followed through and um and I I believe helping in this case means asking good questions. Um, and I think that they've followed through and done that. >> Yeah, they have. >> So, to your to your point, Tom, I think my concern with the finance committee specifically is I was kind of under the impression that it would feed the information to board meetings. So right now >> I was going to mention the same thing like like are they able to you know look at the agenda like >> well I think so if you look at um like in December they did they reviewed

027the MSBA financial review so we got it in November they reviewed it after us. I know there were some timing issues on that one so I'm not going to beler that one. Um but the January district audit review we reviewed the audit we accepted the audit. Then I believe it was the next day they went over the audit. Um, and I know we're gonna talk about some things. Is that is that meeting tomorrow? I it just seems like we're kind of disjointed from them where I would value um them going over something that is of that great detail and then them being able to say like yes here were some of our concerns or here like they've already teased some of that out so that there's a purpose where the committee is doing some of

028that heavy lifting in support of the board. That's what I would have just >> Yes. And I was going to mention that as well. Like if you're looking at the agenda, all these items will be action items at the meeting at the end of the month. Are the committees able to discuss these items and then you're able, you know, to bring the committee's recommendations to the board? I mean, I'm like you. I was I understand giving them knowledge and educating them on the workings of the board, you know, but I thought, you know, that they were going to do >> a little bit of the work, you know, to bring, you know, to us. >> Well, that's how I chose who I chose to be placed there. Like I I tried to and I know

029we all had kind of different rhymes of reasons for who we placed where, but that was kind of my thought of who I put there was to be able to say, "Okay, I know the kind of questions you're going to ask. They're probably going to be similar kind the kind of questions that I'm going to ask." So then if I get to a board meeting, I can call that person and say, "Hey, here's three items." It also kind of saves work for the staff um because we can wrap up some of those um concerns or questions from our people. just an idea. >> Would I be able to get some suggestions from the board of things they would like to see the committee review? Um, in my experience, like an audit, you don't show anybody

030the audit till the board's approved it. So, >> um, I would kind of throw that one to the side as an outlier. Um, but are there other things um that you would have interest on? There are some decisions that are long-standing that that do need to be made by the experts in in that are in house. Um, you know, [snorts] so some of those things I would tell you that's a decision, you know, our business office and I need to make like if we have a vendor that we're using for like depository services. Um, we're the ones that use our current one. We know those systems. We know that those platforms look like we're the ones that live with those systems. I need our group to be able to make that decision on what depository

031service we're using. Um but when it comes to things like looking at like a budget reduction and like expenses that maybe um we think we can look at to cut and things like that using the committee for that. So I just use an example. So you have examples that I could help guide that meeting with that you want that input. >> I think something like I think something like that is helpful. I also think and I know we were kind of trial by fire but some of those things with the district reorganization when we're talking about okay here's what we're going to put into these buildings. here's what that's going to look like. Bringing in that DLR report and saying here's what we're doing where cuz I think if we're talking about these committees being

032partially used to drum up community support, >> then how can they be how can they be drumming up that community support if they weren't involved in any of the discussion >> to do that? >> I'm just looking for ways in order to make them more useful. >> Sure. So in the previous life and I was on that committee and finance and with Whitby as well, Lata was attending the um sometimes you know um health insurance >> um would come up ahead of time. Um there was quite a bit with air conditioning. Um, so presentations about the case he might be getting or somebody else might be getting about that type of thing were brought and we never completely got to the fact that the role of the committee was to quote make a motion relative

033to a suggestion. We never got that quite that far but we were right next to that and um the feeling was we weren't making the decision but um we would have some recommended recommended feedback. kind of like vetting it like the committee had questions or here were their concerns, here were here's how we were able to quell those concerns. >> Um, >> and we tried not to cross the line of um we're we're voting and deciding. We tried to um tee that up with some some feedback and you know similar what she said. I I could probably think of a few others and then from that you could u you could see [cough] what might be applicable for us. Um, >> well, you might not be able to think of them right now, but as

034as time goes on, something might pop in your head. Please email me those >> and we can use those for good ideas in future meetings. >> Yep. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Okay, there's no more discussion, Mr. Casey. So, good evening. Um, if you recall back in October of last year in a board update, I had included the central track and what was going on there. Um, with the weather the way it was and in the October 30th football game, the district football game, we had to pull off of that job in order to be able to meet those those needs. [clears throat] Um, with that said, the reason, you know, why we had to pull off just on the drying time, we couldn't have it ready in order to be able to

035use it for the football game. um with making that decision. Um that allowed us to ensure that we had a track that's ready for this spring. Um which we do. Um but what that was is that does cost an additional cost to come in, relay the track out because in the spring we'll have to come in, put the final coats on it, the color transition zones like everybody else has, and then repaint that whole thing again. Um [clears throat] the reason I'm just now bringing the the contract approval. Uh once I received the quote, I then I then received the contract later in the end of November. Um it was incorrect. It has some additional charges on there that we were not responsible for. So in order to negotiations and get those taken off, it

036took a little while. I got it towards the end of December. Um at that time with Christmas and everything, I was not able to get it back onto the board agenda for January. So here I am discussions you have about it this evening and to uh see if we can move on. >> So can you explain again what we're So that it's temporary striping. Can you explain again? >> Sure. So it's temporary striping. I mean so right now all you have on the track is what they call the base layer. >> That's what we used to have on the tracks before. All the new track and new services have a more much more improved running surface. So, there's another finish layer that we put on over top of that that's around an eighth to quarter

037inch thick. Um, that track currently does not have that. We didn't have enough time to put it on before the football game and in order to beat to meet the weather. So, we opted to go ahead and have it prepainted. That way, we could ensure that we have a a full regulation size track for track the spring. Otherwise, we were in detriment that we would not be able to make those deadlines whatsoever and just have just a base black track where you couldn't run a competition surface. >> So, this So, you're going to >> Maybe I'm thrown off by the wording of the thing. So, this is to for $12,000 to add that final layer over the top and the striping thrown off by the striping. >> So, the striping we didn't we weren't able

038to put the final layer down. >> So, the final layer is included in the contract. The change order is for >> the change order is for the additional strike. Yes. >> Okay. Gotcha. >> I'm sorry. >> That's okay. >> Okay. Are there any additional >> questions or discussions? >> I only have So, as far as the budgets for all we should be winding down on how much more tracks and turfs do we got to do? >> This is the last I believe all the retainers have paid out except for maybe one contractor or two contractors. >> One contractor. Everything's remaining except for the retainage. >> Yeah. >> And obviously this change order. Um they have to finish putting the numbers on Lafayette and then we'll have to repaint uh central once it's done after track

039season. I'm guessing mid to late May is when we'll start putting that surface back on. >> So that'll be another change order that'll come. >> No. That's already included in the original contract. The only change order is just for the extra striping. >> Are we under budget still? >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay. Any other questions? I appreciate your time, Mr. Casey. Thank you. >> Okay. Community use of the facilities. I've got your name next to it only. >> They're both. >> I'm happy to let him talk about it if he wants to. >> I figured I would be here to answer any questions. So, that'll be coming through my department. So, >> you want me to tee it up? Yeah. [clears throat] >> Okay. So, uh this is a little bit down in the weeds,

040so forgive me, but we um you know, I saw some social media where um a coach or a former coach would be again coach um you know, community member was concerned about the lack of gym availability for WC league basketball. That was a very specific thing and it caught my eye because it was something that I did when my kids are in were in school 15 years ago uh in grade school and they had we had wreck league teams that were coordinated through the city um supported by the district and back in the day I had no trouble at all getting getting gym time. So I was a little surprised. met with the community member and you know really the the concern is just the lack of gym availability. Um particularly for kids that that

041aren't involved in any sort of travel ball any sort of pay for play. These are kids that you know not of a a a lot of financial means and they just don't have a place to play. And so, uh, main reasons he gave were, um, kind of baked into our policy, which is KG, but it's, you know, there's a insurance requirement, there's a gym fee use requirement now, and then, uh, really just availability of hours, kind of based on the the the board requirement that we have janitors present, which tend to go home before 6 or 5 in in the evening, of course. And so, um, that's kind of how this whole thing started. And, um, I thought, you know, gosh, um, there ought to be a way we can make that better. Um, and

042so I learned that the city when when they disbanded the wreck leagues, um, an organization by the name of Mo Family Sports, which is led by Kai Turner, Mr. Turner, you might recognize, is the owner of the Mustangs and so he's big in the community doing all kinds of good stuff, big district supporter. So I met with Kai and I just said, "Hey, tell me what's going on." And so we had good conversation about insurance and um and he kind of reiterated some of the teams that are having trouble getting gym time. And so I I come tonight with a recommendation to the board and an ask just my recommendation is to that that and I would be glad to do this just organize a meeting with the right players. Right? So I'm thinking a

043board member uh Mr. Turner, Mr. Noly, and maybe there are some others that are appropriate and just kind of ask some questions. You know, are we do we have the right understanding of all the policies? are we are we being consistent across the district in the way that we administer them? And then finally, what if anything can we do to improve that access for these for these folks who want to get involved and help kids in the district, but they just have a barrier? And so, yeah, really um just kind of looking for the board and administration to give me a heads up that yeah, that's worth spending some time on or or not. So, and and I appreciate the opportunity to take a look at this. I've been overseeing this uh usage policy for

044the four years I've been in this office. So, um and I've noticed that there are some dated things in it, but some important things that we've talked about and I've talked with Dr. Hedgeorth about is, you know, the insurance. Um we we had the understanding that the hold harmless uh waiver that was signed in in all cases uh would have excluded us from some liabilities but we we know now [clears throat] that that is not. So the insurance part of that was a probably a new thing this year that many many times we did not um follow through and ask for even though it has been a part of the policy we thought the whole harm was but we've gotten guidance on that that we feel like that has to be in place to protect

045the district in case of injury or you know some kind of you know you know there's instances where somebody gets hurt from the community and and those kind of things. And then there's the four facility usage groups that if you went back to page seven on that document that I really kind of work from most of the time. And keep in mind category one and two are student groups. So category one is really any of our our activities, organizations, clubs that use our facilities. They get first right to that and there's no charge at all. Um there can be a charge if there is extra custodial help needed, but most of the times a lot of these clubs, these organizations, they clean up, they they set up, they do a lot of those things on

046their own. It's a staff member that is there to open up the gym or open up the facility and close down the facility. So we don't charge anything there. Category two is which is where Mo family sports would probably lie where if we have and these these groups that and I've worked with Kai for the last couple years on this. Um we've made sure that if we verify that they're in his league and they're all St. Joe's school district kids. Not all of his teams are, but if they're all they're composed of all St. Joe's school district elementary students that we do not charge them for an hour's worth of practice time every week. Um, now if they go over that, then we may we may charge them and we actually charge them a reduced

047rate of $15 an hour instead of 25. Um, so we saw that as a way to try to keep, you know, our students um and get our students in in those gyms. Um, category three and four become more community partners. Um, uh, actually category 2, let me go back to that. those if we have organizations like Special Olympics and Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, those kind of those kind involve again our students directly then those are those typically are not charged except for if they come in on a weekend. Um and these people are not necessarily ones that have a badge or we have to issue a contractor badge to to allow them to have access for a certain amount of time. But we do there is some custodial fees charged with that. They're $25 an

048hour, but they're negotiable. If you look in that policy, it says to be deter to be determined. So, we work with the groups on that. Categories three and four are more your uh they're not necessarily non they're nonprofit or for-profit. They're usually organizations that are coming in. They're using our facilities to run their um events. Those could be tournaments. Those could be, you know, maybe it's a recital. Maybe it's those kind of things. Um, categories three and four carry uh the more of the fees, the more of the full fees that we would charge. The difference is category 3 um again they're more nonforprofit type groups but they and they would carry half the charge that a category 4 would. So I believe it's important to for some accountability purposes to have those charges in

049there. But I can assure you that I we we look at each one of those individually and if it if it really directly affects our students and those students are the groups that are using it. There is very limited if no charges at all. Again, the charges may come in when you're opening it up on a Saturday and we have to have custodial staff or even any kind of staff supervise or clean uh the facilities. So, I would I I I'm totally okay with meeting with a group. Kai's one that uses it. I mean, if there's others that you would recommend, I'd be happy to pull a group like that together for us to look at this um get it updated, get, you know, get things in it that are practical, but for the use

050of our students. That's that would be a great idea. Now, one thing you did talk about a little bit there was the trouble with our gym spaces is especially our elementary schools, our our custodial staff for reasons. I mean, because this is, you know, we have budgets to have our custodial staff there to, you know, to clean for school and uh the school day. I mean, they leave around 5 or 6. So once we have them leave, if we're having them stay later or if we're having to open it up and have somebody there later to supervise, there there becomes some challenges there. Um we've worked through them. I mean, I know that there's been um I don't know the number, probably 20, 30 organizations, teams, uh you know, that either volleyball or basketball over

051the fall and winter that have used those. And there are some city wreck still, some still some city wreck teams. But again, it goes back to are these teams strictly St. Joe school district kids. If they're not and they involve out of district kids are coming in, it's like a traveling team that's playing. They're probably going to have some kind of feeding fee to pay for that access. So, but I'd be happy to get a group together to look at these. I'd more than happy to do that. Yeah, that may be part of the value is just I think there's maybe a misconception of what's being asked from from what kind of group. And and listen, a full receipt for you. I I appreciate the the liability. I appreciate that the facility use policy is

052>> covered a heck of a lot more than grade school basketball and I get that. Um I just view it as an opportunity for the district to be seen by the community as as as bringing some value, you know. Mhm. >> So, can we not can we just ask that policy KG be brought back with improvements or do you want to like do a whole task force situation? [clears throat] >> You know, I I guess what I wouldn't mind starting is is just this meeting of the of the right few folks to kind of lay the course for what what would be needed here. And if it's if it's policy change, uh then absolutely, you know, we can we can do whatever process, task force, whatever. But uh I I just don't know that we're

053there yet. I don't have a recommendation for you. Right. >> Well, I was just so my So what I'm thinking is so if there's a policy and it's not either not being imple implemented consistently or people aren't aware of it or there's potentially issues with the policy um that we would then just say, okay, we want this to be we want to make sure that this is easier for members of the community. >> Yeah. superintendent, staff, go meet with whoever you need to meet with, figure out ways to make it better, and then bring that bring your findings back to us via anformational item at the next meeting or if that's too soon, the March work session. >> I would I would just I would just address that too that as far as consistently being

054enforced, it's consistently enforced. again with the exception of the insurance policy this year want to shift and change but I think it would be good to have this group together to bring more awareness because there may be even Kai who uses the gyms a lot to me he's very heavily used in January and February with his leagues and his tournaments there may be some misconceptions or questions he has that he doesn't understand what may be behind this so I think bring that group together >> with the with the potential coaches with the potential coaches as well I'm just not sure we're all seeing the ball the So, >> who's going to be a part of this group? >> So, I I mean I would probably lead this group, but probably I would, you know, there

055there's some coaches that we have. I would pull some of the coaches that have turned in and some community people um some staff members of ours um you [clears throat] know, Dr. Hedgeorth would want to be involved with it as far as from the facility standpoint. Um you know, board member and Mr. more you you know if you're willing to do that or anybody else >> um I'd be happy to have that because I think what you're what you're striving towards is a little more clarity and visibility with this policy. there seems to be a lot of unknown that people think well this is not consistently being followed or I think so this is but and again I think out of those discussions would come u >> updates that we need to look at that

056would be better for our students and our community >> and you know I hear the coaches tell me that man they they do get the one day um you know kind of organized through the the Kais group but uh boy they'd sure like to have another day and so you know and I get that >> spoken like a true coach I can I can I mean, I know there's lots of >> and I get that, but I don't I don't think this is a problem of like overuse. I just think it's there. I mean, I don't I don't think they're always full. I think it's just >> No, I'm just thinking it's a good way, you know, to like include people of the community in the facilities more >> and then if there's a group,

057it's more of like a clarity >> Yeah. >> among everybody. I just want to make sure you know that others are like included and not only just a few people. So, we talked about this a couple of months ago. Um, just to clarify because I remember this was a question by parents is if they are like elementary school level and they want to use it for volleyball practice or basketball practice, just regular wreck and they're all St. Joe kids, St. Joe school district kids. Are you saying that there usually is no charge for that? as long as they're within the hours that it's open. Like if if they're there before six o'clock or they're on an elementary school, if they're all St. Joe's students, then no. >> Okay. And >> the problem the problem is

058is you get a lot of these teams that are made up of Yeah. maybe three or four St. Joe students and then, you know, maybe it's in all honesty and I if you guys want me to clarify this, but they're not school district students. They may be uh from one of the prochial schools in town or they may be from Savannah uh very close and they could be living in they have a St. Joe address in Country Club Village and I mean they're not St. Joe school district kids. We do uh with Kai's team uh really verify um he has a list always of his teams and he knows they know which ones. We don't I don't ever get into the weeds of saying okay I'm going to check Power School. Make sure we check

059every single kid off that list. We trust the coaches to be honest with that. We trust Kai as a director. And I mean, I think we're okay. >> I mean, kids are kids are kids whether they're I mean I mean I I get this the point like we don't want just everybody. I don't know that our gyms are going to be that hot of a commodity, but maybe. I don't know. >> Maybe. But I just think, you know, splitting hairs of like, well, you're not tech. I mean, they're they're kids. >> They're kids. Well, if if if it pleases the board and admin, I'll schedule an hour with the right people and and and and raise the topics and and report back. >> That sounds good. >> If you could just let us know the

060list of people and >> Sure. >> I'd be happy to sit down with you and talk about those names because I think there's some users that you may not be aware of. There might be some you're that you're aware of. I'm not. So, I would love to, you know, sit down and coordinate that with you. >> Perfect. I'll reach out. Thank you very much for the time. That was that was a lot. I'm sorry about that, but >> No, it's good information. >> Good topic, I think. >> Okay, Mr. Jake. >> All right. Uh, tonight we're going to talk about um which we didn't do last year. So, there's a few of you that um aren't really aware of what this program is. Um, so -ate is the federally funded program um based off of

061a fee that the FCC collects on phone calls um that provides funds to public schools and libraries for internet connectivity and um all of the equipment that allows schools to connect to the internet. Um so - broken up into two categories. Um category one is the actual it helps pay for our internet connectivity. Um so for us it pays 90% of the cost for us to have internet. Um and then that just happens every year. Um the second category um is for equipment and labor to install equipment. Um, and that one is based on a five-year cycle. So, every five years we get a certain aotment of money. Um, this is year one of our next 5year cycle. Um, and we're forecasted, we don't know the exact amount yet, um, but we're forecasted to have

062approximately 2.1 million um, to spend over the next five years. Um, there are some limitations. So the schools that we can get equipment for have to be our K12 state reporting schools. So that means Hilliard is ineligible, Webster's ineligible, our ELC's um the equipment we get for like Keatley and then all of our operations administration buildings are not eligible for this money. Um, which is why, so last summer, um, I brought the network equipment that we, um, replaced a lot in those buildings. Um, and then I had to wait for this cycle to reset, um, to do all of the school buildings. So, what I've included for you tonight um is a sheet um for we put out to bid all of the equipment for all of the schools that we will have for next

063fall. Um so, Persing and Field will be retired, so they're not included in this. Um, so all of the remainder of our schools, um, we received seven bids, um, ranging from about 1.7 million up to 5.5 million. Um, all for the same equipment, uh, no labor for this one. We'll do the installation ourselves. Um, but I did really kind of want to point out to you, I know last summer when we bid out um the other the network equipment for the non-eligible schools, um we talked a little bit about dealer registration, which is a lot of these manufacturers want to work with a single vendor. So, they'll give that single vendor a better price than they will all the rest. and that's why we don't get a lot of bids on a lot of the

064equipment anymore. Um, so if you look at that evaluation sheet of our bids, you'll you'll see that in action where we had one vendor um that's about half the price of of all the rest. Um so that gives them the ability to get a really good deal for us and and we end up saving a lot of money. Um, so with this, um, we'll be replacing equipment in our buildings, all of the switches that are for all the wired and that run to all of our, um, wireless access points for our wireless internet in the building. We'll replace all of those, um, all of the mounts and all of the cables that run from switch to switch. Um, is the first item you see on there. um for the cabling. That's all of the fiber

065optic cable that runs from switch to switch in in our closets um in a to keep all those connected. So um with this if if we approve this at the next board meetings when I'll bring it um it that doesn't necessarily mean it's a done deal. Once you guys approve it, then I send that in um to the USAC, which is the governing body for this um which is governed by the FCC. I'll send that into them along with a bunch of information like all of our free and reduced percentages um from each school, um our um homeless rates and all kinds of stuff that they'll ask for us. Um, and we get all that together, send it in, and then they'll let me know in a couple months if um, we're funded or not

066and what percentage we're funded. Now, we've never been denied before, so I don't think we'll we'll be denied on on funding. Um, but what varies is the percentage that they pay for. So for us, uh, some years I've had it that they pay 85%. Some years they only pay 80%. So we really teeter on that line on our free and reduced percentage um, on where what level of funding we get. Um so for this if we accepted the the bid that I'll propose um which is about 1.7 million um that means our cost would be between 315 and 340,000 um depending on what level of funding we get from the program between that 80 to 85% level. Um and then the way we do it, um you can accept this funding in one of two

067ways. Um one way is that we pay for all of it and then we apply to the government for um release of the funding to us to make up that percentage that they're willing to pay for. or we can pay our 15 to 20% portion uh to the vendor and then they have to seek release of the rest of the funding from the government on their own behalf which is the way that we started doing it when I get here uh when I got here and and the way we'll continue to do it because there's no need for us to have to try to budget for that large percentage of money and then deal with having to get it back when and when we can rely on that vendor to do it for us. So

068if there are any questions, I'll be happy to to talk about that. >> One thing, Jake. >> Yep. >> Contracts depend on USA approval. So if USA doesn't approve it, you're not on the hook for the amount. >> Correct. Is that why [clears throat] >> I was surprised at the difference in the in the bid bid amounts? >> Yep. And that's really that when manufacturers started doing that dealer registration because they only want to work with one vendor for us and they don't have want to have to deal with, you know, taking phone calls from 17 different people and putting bids together. Um, it really does help us even though you would think that the the opposite would be true when when they're only working with one person. Um because that's the rest of these

069vendors are getting these products probably second or third hand where they're buying it from a warehouse or somebody that already has it. So they're not getting that that deal direct from the the manufacturer. >> Mhm. >> Okay. If there are no more questions. I appreciate your time, Mr. J. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next. >> All right. Dr. Hitchcock and I are going to kind of tag team this. So over the last probably two and a half months, we have formed a salary and benefits committee. So previously these were divided up. So there was a salary committee, there was a benefits committee um that were led by um the previous individuals and Dr. Dr. Hedgeworth and I decided that it would be beneficial that we combined it combined it together since they kind of work

070hand in hand. We've got about 20 staff members that range from um really um our entire staff as a collective group from par professionals, administrative assistants, building principles, teachers, um business office across the board. Um, so we've really been discussing insurance for the most part. Um, and then we've dabbled a little bit into salary. That one's not quite as important right now as we [clears throat] probably won't bring new salary schedules for approval until um, April. They technically aren't due until June 15th. So, we got a little time on those. But I'm going to talk about um substitutes since we in the last meeting um approved the substitute rate for secretaries um to be raised by a dollar per hour to meet the federal excuse me the state minimum wage standard of $15 per hour.

071So then there was some conversation a couple weeks ago amongst this group. Um here's just some of the data and this is in your folder as well. um just some of the questions and ideas that the group discussed when it comes to the possible revision of um the salary schedule for substitutes. So it had been suggested that possibly um we increase or we did increase secretaries from 105 to 11250 per day. It was suggested that we move um the same for substitute teachers by 750 per day. So increasing that from 115 to 12250 per day, [clears throat] excuse me. There was also a suggestion that we increase um since we probably most likely are not going to increase the base to our salary schedules this year because of our um financial situation. Um but our

072teachers, we are probably going to suggest um that our teachers continue to get their step every year and not free salaries. um that is about a 1.4 1.014 percentage increase. So that would be a $2 increase per day um for substitutes if we did that for our subs as we will for our hopefully that we will for our teachers. Um then we discussed um whether substitutes whether it's teacher secretary parah whether they should receive the same rate regardless of what that role is. Um somebody else suggested um well I believe in here um it was asked um will this be retroactive if we increase the teacher substitute pay will that be retroactive to January 1st or will that start at the beginning of the 26 27th school year. Um and you can see those results

073there. And then unfortunately when we were discussing this, we had an individual um who stated, you know, I was for giving substitutes a raise, but today I had a substitute cancel early in the morning and then my colleagues had to cover that cover my classes for me. um which puts a strain on our teachers, but we do compensate our teachers um if they um take some additional class coverage of $20 per hour. So, it was suggested that possibly we increase um the teacher coverage from 20 to $25 per hour. So, again, we have not made any any decisions within in this group. Just a quick um poll to kind of see where everybody stands based on our recommendations. But again, we've spent a lot of our time discussing insurance um and what that's going to

074look like for next year um within that process before I turn it over to Dr. Hitchcoord. So, as we've been discussing insurance and trying to um reduce what we're going to spend this year because unfortunately insurance is going to go up. Um we've had our our team kind of divide the benefits that we have um across the board in three categories. Category one or these are things that we have to have that is non-negotiable. And then there's things that are nice to have and then there was a category of things that aren't necessary. Um so we've been kind of going around our group identifying um all of our benefits to prioritize and say we have to have this. Um and and for example, one of those was our teachers need to get their step. We're

075not asking for a raise. Um they are asking that salaries are not frozen for next school year that they just get their step. So that's something that our our group has said this is something our our teachers have to have. Any questions about what we've been discussing about substitutes before I turn it over to Dr. Hitzk? >> Yes, real quick. Okay, so looking at at the results, 14 people responded. >> Yeah, we have about 20. No, but I'm looking at the number right here and it mentions these it's the results, you know, from the 14 people. Okay. So, um and I know that the committee is made up of like a lot of individuals. Are there also on the responses are there also like substitutes included in the responses as well? >> No, we do

076not have have any substitutes on the committee because they're not our employees. We we contract that out through edge staff >> is well my question is I mean it involves them and so like I'm just wondering if >> anyone asks them about their input on the results cuz I'm looking at the results and it kind of bothers it kind of bothers me you know that 13 people voted no to give them an increase for $2 a only it's an increase for five an hour for class coverage. And so that just kind of I mean I don't know >> and I and I think it's fair and I think almost everybody on on the committee would agree and somebody even mentioned it that most of us are on this committee for a reason that's for ourselves.

077So I think that's real. Um so I think sometimes you will see in these results if I'm not getting a raise that I don't want anybody else to get one. And I understand that and that's how come I'm asking cuz I mean it's nobody on there about the subs like and so everyone's out you know for yourselves and that's fine you know but it's missing all of their voice and it's about them and that's my concern. Well, what concern what worries me about this and I think you know if we were to to decide on something today I think last time we talked about this I have 12250 is that that was is that like Savannah's pay or something >> is 125 >> 125 so so my concern is that we worked the last handful

078of years on making up for not moving and I fully understand our financial difficulties But I feel like when we don't consistently move up, even if it's only from 115 a day to 117, we will continue to get further and further behind. And I think anybody that's ever been in a classroom or substituted can say that it's a different experience in Savannah than it is in St. Joe for a wide variety of reasons. And so I think the more we let that pay differentiate different uh differential happen, the more we're going to look around and be like, we have a substitute crisis. We have a substitute crisis. I'm not saying $2 is going to fix it immediately, but it it I just worry over time we're going to get continue to get further away from

079that. >> I don't I don't disagree with you. I I will say too, we have to be careful on how much we raise it because if you look at the starting pay for a par professional um if we raise it up to um our paras starting out on average um make 12375 per day. So we're really starting do we value then it says do we value our substitutes as much as our paras. So if we raise that then we would probably have to consider maybe even raising par pay too and >> to the $2 raise it would say that. >> No. >> Yeah. And and I think that's that I'm I'm really looking more at that 117 is that if you know and I I get it if we can't go to 122 and and

080I think to your point [clears throat] that would affect para pay which you know we should be trying to pay everybody more all the time. Um, but we live in Missouri. So, I I just I would caution us to move away from this quickly because it's just going to put us further behind next year and the year after that and the year after that. >> And I don't disagree. I think as we go back to the table after So, we're meeting again next week and it's probably going to be heavy on insurance again. as we start getting into the salary side of it. I think we'll have more conversations about this. Um kind of the why because obviously we didn't do this poll in the session. It was afterwards. So why did certain individuals choose

081to say no, I don't want a $2 increase, but yet we had a high higher percentage that said I'm for raising that to 12250. So maybe their justification was no, I don't want the $2 because I want more. So, we don't really know. >> Yeah, >> there are reasons behind that. >> That's what I'm thinking. >> Yeah. >> And I I mean I I also wouldn't be opposed to looking at the the insurance increases. I mean, we know insurance is never going to go down. It's always going to go up and we've been lucky the last couple years. I'm assuming we won't be much longer. Um, so looking at looking at that as a as a total um package of cost rather than just oh we're going to throw 100,000 over here and 1.2 over

082here. Looking at that totally again I just worry that if we move away from this and we never bring it up again that in 3 years they're like we're going to have to claw out of it like we've done and we've done that the last couple of years. We've had to had to make a lot of changes. So it's time for the 117. So, Mr. Carell, what happens next? Is there is there this So, this is some data and some some some polling, but but but do you come to the board with a recommendation? Is that where we're going? >> Um, I doubt if I have a recommendation at the end of the month. Um, I think probably >> Eventually, yes. >> Okay. >> I think once we bring all the salary schedules to the

083board, um, I would venture to say we would have a recommendation by then. >> Okay. And when will that be? >> Um, most likely April, but we have till June 15th to get salary schedules presented and approved. >> One of the reasons why, um, I like to wait till May because that's when the Missouri legislature wraps up so I know how some of those bills are going through. Um, so I always push to wait as long as possible. You know, typically HR wants to go earlier. So, you try to find the happy meeting. But you do really want a good idea of what's coming out of the state legislature before you start making some big decisions on some things because if there's some bills that are really going to affect your revenue, you don't want

084to paint yourself in a corner and then realize, okay, we're going to reduce our revenues by a certain amount in the future. >> Can you give us an example? I mean, I know that you're tracking a few bills right now. >> Sure, absolutely. So, um there's a couple ominous bills that are going through that looks to um basically eliminate um any type of increase in property taxes. Uh they're still putting um instead of bill three, which was passed to incentivize sports teams to build stadiums here, they are still going through that court process where uh some counties are capped at 0%, some are capped at five, and some have no cap. So, it it does not uniformally apply the tax law to Missouri. Um in my opinion, is unconstitutional. So, that's going through the courts

085right now. We'll see how that bears out. Uh Buchanan County, just you guys know, is a 5% cap. Um they're also trying to take away if there's any new construction or new personal property, that's not included in the Hancock amendment, which is the calculation we get from the state auditor's office to set our tax rate. So basically, that would take away any growth and limit that. Um also, there's another bill that looks at the cap of the Hancock Amendment, which is 5%, they're looking to lower that to 3%. So once you start getting SB190 into that um everything layered on top, there's some there's some school districts in some of these past are going to look at negative AV growth um as far as how that's calculated out. So um that has been um my

086worry as the CFO of the district is, you know, yes, you have the expense side which you can kind of have more control over, but some of that revenue side right now our hands are tied. Um I don't want to say that our hands aren't tied. Uh we need to get out and advocate and talk to our representatives and do everything we can to try to let people know how important public schools are are in our community. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Oh, we got insurance. >> Yeah, I want to talk insurance real quick. So, um, Miss Laney just talked about the cost of insurance always going up and, um, Lockton came to our salary and benefits committee and, uh, presented them with what their actuary, which is the group that, you know,

087gets in a dark room and puts in all the calculations and looks at what our insurance costs because we're self-insured. And so, if we were a fully insured model, you would have your provider come back and say, "You have an 18% increase next year. Take it or leave it." Um, with self-insured model, they give you what you believe or what they believe will be our true cost, and that was 12.3%. So, in dollar figures, that means we'd have to pay 2.1 million more in benefits for next year just to keep the, um, insurance the exact same across the board. So uh in the um workshop documents here in the agenda item what I have is I have this year's plan design um which shows us having a high deductible plan which is district provided and

088then there's a PO plan and an EPO plan uh that folks can buy up um for next year we the committee agreed that we need to do away with the EPO plan. I guess that was talked about in the committee the year before that that was the path and they uh agreed to continue that path and so we will have the high deductible plan which will be more provided again and then two PO plans one with a higher buy up and one I'll call a smaller buyup that have different um levels of what those deductibles out of pocket maxes and co insurance amounts look for. So um the 2627 is draft only. It's just a representation of kind of a framework that the salary benefit committee has put together. Um, but those are the plans

089we're looking for. And then in February, we'll actually have some dollars associated with what the board would be providing, what it would cost for like employee and spouse, employee and child and those plans so you see the full picture. But I wanted to show you the framework tonight of what those three plans would look like without the EPO. Now, I will say the sound didn't jump up and down for joy um that we had to, you know, make some modifications to the plan, but they certainly understood. They understood that the district couldn't take that full brunt of the $2.1 million. So, I tried to get it to meet in the middle. Um and of course, I said I'll have the numbers in February from Locked and they'll present. Um but it looks like the exposed

090will be about a million dollars. And so we tried to work from both ends and designed these plans to where the district would be paying about a million dollars more um for the plans that we have next year. You know, there's talking to other folks in other districts um that I've collaborate with that are fully insured. They're looking anywhere from 15 20 22% increases from their fully insured partners that they are getting quotes from. So being we're 12.3 the value of being self-insured. Um, and then how we can modify the plans is also a benefit uh to us kind of get that right spot of where we'll be for next year. So, okay. Are there any questions? >> Okay. I appreciate your time. Thank you. >> Okay. Dr. Katie. >> Hello. So, uh, the next

091two are both mine. Um the first one is the renewal of ourou with talent search and so that is a great organization that services up to 500 of our secondary students. Um it is on the agenda today because uh theou has changed a bit in that it used to say exactly what office space was going to be provided and now it is going to say that we will provide a location within district um for their offices. If you have any questions about talent search, >> is there a cost association? >> No, it is fully um grant funded. >> Thank you. >> And and and so we don't we don't spell out the location, but we're confident there is a location. >> There will be a location. >> Right on. >> Okay. Perfect. And moving on.

092>> Okay. And then the next one is the continuation of adult ed. So all AL programming has to have an LEA um associated with it. We have been the LEA um here uh for our adult ed program for 70 plus years. Um we are up for a competitive grant um through the department. um they have changed it to a 5-year cycle and so we would be continuing adult ed through 2031 if we are awarded the grant once that is submitted. It's due at the end of March. Okay. Are there any questions? All right. If there are none, I appreciate your time. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Number nine, reorganization discussion. Uh, okay. Miss Lanning. >> Um, so I just wanted to see if we can get an update on how things are going,

093where we're at in all the process of placements and um, courses and you just get an update. >> I'll start. >> Okay. >> Um, I'm sure some will disagree, but I think it's going really well. Um we are ahead of schedule when it comes to we're done with our onetoone conversations. We have met with um some administrative groups to discuss where staff may be placed. Those are not finalized. Um couple groups out of the elementary, middle school, and high school. We have a couple of those groups that are um nearing completion. Just trying to place a few here, few there. We've gone out and had some individual conversations again with some individuals um to kind of see um what their thought process is on a placement because of what they put in their um choices.

094So they were extremely grateful that we came in and had that conversation again. Um both of the the two that I spoke with, both of them said um that they really felt valued because we we came in and and really um thought through this process instead of just let's go through the list. You're going here, you're going here, you're going here. So I I believe this collaborative group and the teams that we have put together with building administrators and academic services um we are we are really trying to be intentional um where individuals are being placed. Um our timeline stated February/marchch on when we would announce that. Um I really anticipate um us not getting into March to make to make those announcements. And I would just add Mr. Carell went to a personnel workshop

095on Friday and have the opportunity to touch base with Dwayne Martin from Ed Counsel that we will be communicating these placements, but it will be tentative and dependent upon board approval of the 2627 contract. So we'll be make we'll be making sure that we provide that communication as we send this out. So, we figured out I know there was a we got an email that there was concerns that the counselors from some buildings didn't have access to be able to do the coursework at other buildings. We had gotten an email about that. Has that been sorted out? So, we all got the email. We all got an email um that said that the counselors at um one high school were not able to place students that were moving from their high school to another because

096they didn't have access to the coursework. Has that been resolved? >> I'll let you speak to that. I'm I'm sorry, Miss Lanning. I would have to get clarification from Dr. Davis who's not here today. I do know that um students were presented a SJSD course request form um which was a hard copy um and it outlined the courses um I um worked with Dr. Davis today um to ensure that poweruler was up but as far as like students signing up electronically yet I don't believe we've started that process yet. So, they have the course uh re request form, but um the power scheduler is where things get finalized. >> Okay. >> Well, I just was an email sent and I haven't heard anything about it. >> I'll make a follow up. I appreciate Benton High

097School shared that out and it is exactly the same for both high schools. So, I think that's a positive course as well. >> Yeah. And we met with the middle school team, all four um administrators and you know, it's been all over the board with our middle [clears throat] school courses, too. And so we asked for alignment in the four sites and we want a consistent coherent equity equity driven program. And so we talked through those pieces. What regardless of site, what academic programming do we want to provide all of our kids? And so you have the four core and then in the middle school program, we're looking at a practical art and a fine art and supporting students with that um in choice selection there. I I think one of the points that on

098that email also was um counselors being concerned about the fact that um students continue to need counseling and they don't know um they've built a relationship with them as a counselor and then understanding that that student will be able to get um the same kind of counseling that they they've had in the past and is there a continuity plan on that was kind of that kind of thing how how do we manage that change is is what I thought I was reading in that in that >> I I know what email you're talking about now. Um and I I think a lot of our staff have communicated that they just want to know where they're going to be and so I know academic services and human resources are working hard to collaborate with our principles

099and strategically place all of our staff and so we are ahead of schedule. um we're going to be doing that in kind of batches rather than all at once. And so we're going to send communication out uh tomorrow that the those decisions will be coming soon. >> Thanks. That's what I'm reading that you >> and I try to provide in our weekly update kind of like where do we where have we commenced? Like so we were looking and met two weeks ago with middle school staffing. Well, this past week we met with um our building leaders at the elementary and um started that process. And so um but it is very like Mr. Carell shared it's very strategic um because there are individuals that have selected other sites and so then you go and you

100have to go back to do a one-on-one um and say are are you comfortable with this with if this was your initial placement >> and I think there was just mention that the course work at the high schools is going to be this the same. It is. It is. So, we have one course at one SJSD um course um request form. Um and so all students regardless if you were at Benton Central and um Lafayette, you receive that one course uh request form. So, our students are I I I observe they're marking and um indicating what courses they want to take for next year's, but again, Dr. Davis shared with me this morning, they still are provided that one-on-one conference with the counselor um before they put into poweruler um which is the electronic u

101version of that. So, >> and so with that, where did we land on woods and shop classes? Are those all go are those moving? Are they staying? Are they going? >> Well, we are we we're leading up a lot of um discussions right now on um programming and um getting teacher feedback now on all those programming sites. So, um, no decisions have been, um, decided yet on placement of those programs. >> What about special education services? >> Yeah, Dr. Anderson has done a really good job of, um, looking at that and meeting with building leaders. Dr. Anderson, you want to speak to that? >> Well, I know that like the there had been some families that were concerned that they didn't know where their kids were going to be going because of that. So, I

102just want to know if that's been >> Yeah. So, what we did was we sent out a message districtwide that stated they would get a letter before the end of the school year. Um, we hope to have those done sooner. So, what our staff has been doing, we are uh relocating. Obviously, we have to relocate targets because it's currently at Lafayette. So, those parents were notified that that will go to Central um because that is a definite move. And then the other ones were in process right now. Um, we want to double check to make sure we have all of the kids in the right locations and the right programs and then we'll start sending out letters. In fact, that's on my to-do tomorrow to um, start identifying kids and getting those out. >> Questions?

103>> Oh, do you want to go first? >> Oh, you go. >> Um, on the same classes being offered, I understand that the enrollment sheets are the same. Isn't there still though a um, the class has to make it has to >> That's right. So, I think I think that's going to be really important that we say that every time. >> It is, and I'm thankful that you said that, Mr. Richmond. We want to provide the coursework that the students indicate and want. Um, but again, it's it's based off student choice um and and the courses that they're selecting. >> Yeah. And if and if there aren't sufficient number of students, then that class may not make at that location. >> Okay. So, I have a couple questions. It may end up into just a

104longer question and so like if I need to break it up if you just let me know. >> Okay. You mentioned earlier that um do you think that announcements will be able to be made about the placements prior to the end of this month? Right. >> Correct. >> Is that only for the teachers? Is it for coaches? Is for nursing? Is it for like is it for everybody? >> We would anticipate that timeline let's said February March would be for everybody and I anticipate that again anticipate not guaranteeing anything that all placements would be finalized before the end of March is our is our goal. >> Okay. So people will know prior to the end of this month >> I hope. Well, okay. So, the board will approve it >> end of March. Sorry. Sorry.

105End of February. Okay. End of February. >> End of this month. >> Okay. So, when will this be board approved? I mean, I know we mentioned, you know, a little bit of board oversight of the process and there's only one more board meeting left in this month. And so, when will that happen? Well, with with the direction from ed counsel doesn't have to be board approved. The teachers just need to know that it's a tenative placement until the board approves contracts. >> And the board provided different guidance about that, but we can talk about that in closed. >> It was my understanding that we were doing things just a little differently. >> We can talk >> over communication. Okay. All right. Do we have um an update on the Benton renovation progress? >> Yeah, I

106can talk a little bit to that. So, um DLR is currently hard at work with you know giving us some plan designs for you know what we can do to make sure that um we have some equity and in the programs that we offer both schools like we just talked about a little bit ago. Um and they should have some drawings back here um for us to look at and uh discuss. And of course that'll be in collaboration with the academic services team um to make sure how some of those spaces are split up and what those functions are for. Make sure everybody's in alignment. And then um I will show that to the board before we would ever ask NAB Holes to um have a bid day for that to bid the um redesign

107of those spaces. And then of course you would also be approving um any type of redesign or construction off of that as well. So uh at the last month's board meeting of course you just approve the amendment to the master agreement we had at DLR that allows them to do that design development and that was the limit of that scope and so then I'll have further um design development drawings for you guys to evaluate and um make decisions on as we go forward that process right now. >> Did you have dates in that? So you said DLR is working on the their renderings. Yeah, I I I should have something to you for February. Um if you want it on February. Um >> yeah, I mean I won't hold it to you. I just wanted

108to kind of have an >> idea even though it's not Well, we do have reorganization as the agenda item here um for further discussion. Uh but for sure by the March workshop and then um they would want to do a bid day in between the workshop and the board meeting and then have approval for uh bids on the March board meeting. Okay. >> And then do we have any idea on moving costs? I know last time we had talked about each of those were. >> Yeah, I don't. It all depends on the scope um and how the RFP is. I do have some RFPs we're looking over. Casey and I have been talking about, you know, how we, you know, put that out. What scope uh do we have them move? Is it just teachers

109items? Is it some other furniture items? Um I don't have a total cost right now. Um, I can give you an estimate, but I hate to do that without having that scope. >> You can do it afterwards. [clears throat] >> You want an estimate? >> Well, the cameras aren't out. My camera's on. That's fine. I'll hold it to you. >> So, >> I have put out a moving RFP before and bid these services before. So, it wasn't my first goound. So, I can, you know, somewhat estimate that, but um why don't I give you more of a finite number of future date? >> Sure. In future time. >> Yes. Uh the only other thing that I wanted to bring up as a a conversation is so we um I think we've all talked a lot

110about how our district is is synonymous for making plans and not following through with them um and and the the trust issues that that causes with the community. So, I want to understand we're no longer utilizing the long range plan that was previously created, but that long-range plan was board approved. So, and I So, I just think if we're going to um if we're going to stop following that plan, um does there need to be some sort of vote where we say, "Okay, this this is what we adopted. We're no longer pursuing this plan." Um but what do we need to do for the transparency with the community to say that this was the plan? This is um no longer the plan. and and are we going to wait until we replace it or feel

111like we're really talking about like the affordable care act here? But >> what do do you feel >> and replace? >> So so so let's see. Do you feel like we're not following the plan because we didn't match the buildings that we put out there? >> No. I I thought Dr. McInness had said that that plan is not feasible and so we're not moving forward with that plan. >> Well, the plan that we have in place right now is based on 2025. Now, it does still have going to two high schools, which we are doing >> right >> now. There's pieces in here where it talks about um a third early learning site. It talks about a gifted innovation center. So, all of that is going to be revised, but it was my understanding that

112it was the will of the board to have that facilities plan draft for April. Is that correct? >> Yes. that it was more of a priority to execute the current plan that we have in place and get through this whole staffing placements, >> right? >> And then >> I guess I don't >> I don't understand. I guess I don't understand the difference like the so the long range plan that we had in place is two new high schools but I thought I heard at the at a previous meeting I don't know if it was a work session or the board meeting that we no longer feel like that's feasible or something that we should be working towards. I I I've not heard that. um did actually >> update at all the meetings, but I what

113I heard was that that the plan needs an update and we all agreed with that and that rather than trying to force that into the October time frame with everything that we had going on that we prioritized um making preparations for the execution of these major changes and that we delayed the revision of the um the revision of long range plan till April just like you said. So again, so I I did hear that that we did not believe that two new schools was financially feasible for our community. The the context maybe I didn't understand. >> Yeah. One of the means I think someone said in the past they talked about two new schools within a seven period time span. Some sort of seven to 10 year time span. >> Oh, I didn't and I

114said with our current body capacity that that would not be feasible. You'd have to put out a large sum for COP debt. >> Right. So you just meant in that time period >> 7 to 10 years. >> Okay. So we're so we're I guess I don't understand the difference between the facilities plan and the longrange plan. Are we saying the facilities plan is just providing the details to the long range plan or are we not doing a long we're what is the point of a long range plan? >> The long range plan is something we called it but it's really a facilities plan. So we've renamed that as a facilities plan that's in the works right now that we are working on internally. Our long range plan is more like our CSIP. That's our strategic

115plan. So that's what we have in place right now that you approved I believe in October and the facilities plan which is labeled long range plan online is all based on facilities only. Well, so I don't I I and I I think we have a real serious like branding communication problem like that. We just start calling things different things. So I I think it would behoove everyone if we figured out what is what and how they work together. I don't know if Becky can put together some sort of matrix or I don't know, but it it's hard to communicate to the community what we're doing with a long range plan and a facilities plans, but it doesn't mean that. It means this. That's very confusing. >> I think a facilities plan provides more clarity that

116it's focused on facilities. >> But so does the facilities plan. So the long range plan page 38 has an identification of future desired state. Is that still what we're working towards? >> Page 28. >> 38. >> There is no 38. There's a 28 that has future schools desired state. >> We're not doing that anymore. >> We're not because it has gifted innovation center at field. >> So then that's my point is that if that's no longer what we're working towards, but that's what the board approved. I believe it was in September of uh 204. Then if if that's no longer what we're doing to me for clarity to the community, we should bring that plan back, revise it, and reissue it so people know what we're doing. >> There are pieces of this that we

117are still doing. So if you look at page 26, it talks about if rejected, meaning the bond issue, align boundaries, reconfigure middle schools, rightsize elementary schools, which is what we are doing. So it's the last couple of pages that need an update. But we are trying to build out the facilities plan to where it has our phases in 1 to 5 years and then 6 to 10 years and then 11 to 15. So, we're building that out so we have more of a vision and a picture than just for next year. >> And I I understand that now that we're having the conversation. But my point remains if we're if we have a long-range plan that the board formally adopted and now we're saying we need to amend part of this plan then I think

118we should formally go back and amend the plan because >> rename it >> or I guess if we're going to rename it then we should we should have some consistency >> because I just think that people >> are confused. and refer and refer and and if we have a facilities plan that's just facilities that lives outside but feeds into then refer to that in in the plan. But if we're no longer moving towards a gifted innovation center, if we're no longer working towards a welcome center, if that's no longer our goal, I don't think it should be. I think when things change, you should change the plan, but not the goal. Only one person leaving soon. But I still think if if we're working on it, but it's changed, then we should change it and

119continue working towards the goal. But that's what we're in the process of. Well, then let's bring a long range plan back and revise it so that it it's more consistent to what we're actually doing. That was that's what I would recommend. I will say board >> policy. >> Isn't that what you're saying? >> That's what we're working on that right now. Um, and it was my understanding it was the will of the board to bring this back in April. >> A draft. Absolutely. We do have board policy FB that states a facilities plan. So, I think it's important that we change the name from long range plan to facilities plan to be in alignment with board policy. >> That's what you just now asked if we can do, right? I just I just think that

120there's not a lot of consistency either in what we're doing or the communication of what we're doing so that people don't know, okay, the long range plan, we're still working towards some of it, not all of it. Some of it we're scrapping. And if we're going to scrap it, we need to bring it back openly in front of the public. Say this is what we're changing. This is why. And adopt it as, you know, I think it's on version 17 or something. Well, well, and then the problem is if it's online and you're like a community member and you're going and you're looking online, you're going to get a different message, you know, from what we're actually accomplishing right now. >> Actually, if you look online under long range plan, it says originally published in

121early 2025. This plan is currently being updated. >> Yes. Okay. But we're no longer doing a long range plan. >> We are. >> And where? >> We are. Okay, I just got confused. I thought we're calling it a facilities plan. We are. >> Okay, then. >> But there's a long range part to that. >> You know what? If only two people were interested in a revision, all we're doing is wasting time. >> I think I think we're all interested in the revision and we said we all agreed that the time frame of that would be April. Yeah. But >> okay, >> I don't know if we're putting it weird or if >> we're calling it we're calling it some people are saying facilities plan, some people are calling it the long range plan. We're saying,

122"Hey, we have the long range plan. We're still working towards it, but not the last 10 pages of the 30-page document." So, my point is we need to me, but only one or two people care about it. That's fine. And I didn't realize that that we were bringing the long range plan back in April like because we're calling it a facilities plan and I thought the facilities plan was just about facilities and long-range plan. See what I'm saying? Because it's not just about facilities. So could we just bring the long range plan back formally rename it formally take everything out that we're not going to do anymore and then create some consistency moving forward. >> Yes. In April, right? >> April. But don't you think that the staff, don't you think we should have some

123sort of discussion about, okay, we're not doing a gifted center anymore. We're not doing a third ELC anymore. We're not doing those things anymore. To me, some of that should be happening as we're sitting here putting over half a million dollars into Benton. >> I don't think that was the plan was to negate those all together. They're going to be in the plan eventually. That's >> then the spring plan, but they're part of we're going to in April. >> Okay. might we? Okay. And we're going to start calling it even though it's labeled long range plan, we should start referring it to as the facilities plan or we still call it long range plan. What's the document that's on the website? >> I don't No, tell me what it is. It's a long range plan

124or it's a facilities plan. >> It's a long range plan. >> Okay. But it's working a facilities plan, right? >> Correct. >> But it's the same thing that's going to come back in April. Clear? Got it. Everyone else will surely think it's clear too. >> Okay. Any other discussion on this topic? >> I had one um Dr. McInness, you um did you really talked that I appreciated your student forum that you had and some of that feedback. I think some of those feedback items um certainly rang a bell to me and I'm not I'm not tasking you or um deciding your priorities as you address those. But when we come to the um your report at the board meeting in February, I would be interested in some of those things cuz I think they're general

125concerns that we have too. I think we could have nodded our heads to a number of those and I think things that you take up in that regard. One of the reasons I voted to say, "Yeah, let's have that on every agenda is because there's those ongoing issues that are really cared about by our students and by our teachers." And some of those were brought up and I think some of those have always been in our minds too. And so, um, I'm not asking you to go through those now, but I'm I'm thinking that'd be a good item to talk about, um, at the board meeting. >> Absolutely. February. >> Yeah. And actually, we did an interview with Chris Rous, KQ2, and he captured a student today, so hopefully that'll be aired soon. But very

126positive story. >> Anything else? >> You do have a committees with the parents and with the teachers, correct? Yes. So, Dr. Adams and Dr. Reid are leading the one with staffing. I believe they've selected those staff members and then PTA is who we're utilizing for any of those with parents. >> And then will we receive their feedback, too? >> I'm sorry. >> Will we get their feedback too? >> I hope so. Yeah. [snorts] >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Uhhuh. >> Okay. Is there a motion to go into closed? I'll make a motion to adjourn to executive session pursuant to 61021 closed meetings, closed records for legal, hiring, firing, discipline, or promoting of particular employees and individually identifiable personnel records. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Okay. Would you call the vote,

127please? >> Miss Williams? >> Yes. >> Miss Chzny? >> Yes. >> Miss Karns? >> Yes. >> Miss Lanning? >> Yep. >> Mr. Moore? >> Yes. Yes, Mr. Richmond. >> Yes. >> This means a journ. >> Yes.