April 28, 2025 Board of Education Meeting

001Good evening. Let's call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. Miss Donna. Yes. Sorry. Miss Williams here. Miss Miller here. Miss Chzn here. Miss Karns here. Miss Lanning here. Mr. Moore here. All stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. I aliance 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, board members, if we can come to the front, please. Good evening. Um, if Mrs. Jill Huntsman would come forward. It is an honor to be able to recognize and celebrate Mrs. Jill Huntsman for being named the 2025 administrator of the year by the Missouri Association of Career and Technical Educators. This award recognizes administrative CTE professions and and who have demonstrated leadership in ensuring teacher and

002student success and have made significant contributions towards innovative, unique, and effective career and technical education programs. We are beyond thankful for all that Mrs. Huntsman has done for not only Hillyard Technical Center, SJSD and our community as a whole. Congratulations. Thank you for all of you. [Applause] Middle School. Hi, I'm Tori Turner and I am the student council sponsor for Spring Garden Middle School and our council. Um, four of our members are here. They can come up. Um the rest of them are at a track meet tonight, so there's a conflict. Um we have 23 members and they were recognized this year as a gold level honor council at the state level. Um there's 66 schools in the state were um recognized with this honor. Only nine of those are middle schools. Um they're recognized

003for doing things like um student and teacher recognition um leadership um activities, community outreach. Um so these guys they film the school news every week. We plan um kindness assemblies. Uh we run the school store. Um we plan or we do fundraisers for um adopt a student every year. We planned teacher appreciation week. We did student leadership um week this week. Um so they are just a rock starter for [Applause] kids. Awesome. [Applause] It is an Sorry, I'm tall. It is an honor to recognize Miranda Han from Posia and Ella Sharp from Lindberg tonight. These amazing women were chosen as the Northwest Missouri State Counselors of the Year. Their professionalism and compassion to help their students to succeed is evident from the very first time you meet them. They are true asset to the counseling

004profession. Congratulations, ladies. I am so honored to serve alongside you both. Thank you. [Applause] One, two, three. [Applause] So, good good evening everyone. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Dave Jones, senior army instructor, Central High School, and we're here tonight to recognize our varsity drill teams. Go ahead and come in. So, the Central Varsity Drill Teams recently attended the Western Drill National Competition known as the Rocky Mountain Western Classic in Denver, Colorado. And I'd like to talk just for a moment how they did, guys. Um, out of 41 teams that came from all around the nation, you had to qualify to get to this national competition. It's the second largest drill competition in the country and Central High School qualified. That was one heck of accomplishment just to get to Denver. Um, out of 41 teams that were

005there, Central High School placed fifth place. So that's the [Applause] big for the drill down knockout competition is the largest I've ever witnessed as a JRTC instructor. This is where individuals are graded by I think there were 50 plus judges out on the floor. There were 400 cadetses from those 41 schools out on an arena floor. Three of our central cadetses made it into the top 15 and medal. And so raise your hand when when I call your name. 10th place cadet Ross. Fifth place Ashley Slate. And she's tied up tonight. And fourth place Cadet Rydens. So great job [Applause] guys. Our armed deck squad, if you can raise your hands. Cadet Ross, Allen, Miller, and Henley, they place fifth place. Our unarmed ex squad of Cadet Ryan's Ford Banner and Slade, raise your hands,

006place fifth [Applause] place. And one of our cadetses did something guys, you don't know how big of a deal this was. Um, one of our cadets in his arms solo exhibition got first place. He was judged, and what's incredible about this guys, he was judged by the current world champion, basically Olympic champion in drill, twotime world champion. He was judged by a legend of the drill community, Sam Go, former world championship. And the two-time basically silver medalist runner up at Worlds, were his judges. When he won first place, he didn't just win. He dominated. He beat his closest competitor, second place, by 29 points. To get put that a little bit in perspective and drill guys, between second and third place was only a six-point differential. So, Cadet Jerry Ross, uh, please give him a

007huge round of [Applause] applause. Now, two of our cadets, Matt Doyle and Jerry Ross, raise your hands. Uh, they will be heading this Wednesday uh to go to the Army National Championships that they've qualified for to compete to be the best in the nation. So, please give them a round of applause. And the last thing that I want to say that I think is most noteworthy, these aren't just exceptional cadetses in the JRTC program. They're exceptional St. Joe's School District academic students. I have in this crowd six cadets with a perfect 4.0 0 cumulative GPA. Raise your hands if you got perfect. In fact, Jerry and uh Cadet Ryan are inducted former members of the National Honor Society as well. And then we have one cadet who has a mere 3.9 GPA. Adakus Brown right

008there. Raise your hand. Two cadetses with a 3.5 GPA. Raise your hands. Good. B minus. Okay. One with a 3 0. So my point is we strive in JRTC not just to be good cadetses but to make good citizens. And academics matter and we really believe in. So please give them a big round of applause. Thank you. Congratulations. [Applause] Miss Arnold or Miss Brown? The principal there is hold. Yes. Okay. Dr. Herd. Well, I'm not Dr. Herd, but I'll introduce Dr. Herd. So, um uh it's my privilege and uh pleasure to introduce a couple groups here at the end um at the end of this great celebration. The first one is uh the Benton High School speech and debate team. And I want to just say before I let Dr. heard give you the details

009is um the the phenomenal growth that uh this man is has put in place down at Benton in the speech and debate is unreal. Um I don't have those exact numbers, but the fact that they are where they're at, they just got off their state uh competition. He can give you some more details there, but also national qualifiers. And we are proud to have Dr. Herd and his group here to be recognized tonight. Thank you. Um, as he said, I am Dr. Herd and with Mr. Thomas and I, uh, two years ago, we took over the Bitten, uh, speech debate program. There was, um, a few kids. We went from six to 66 in the first year. Um, and that sounds great and we of all the great work we did, right? But of course,

010it's the kids. The kids just bought into the program right off the bat and started working really hard. Last year we had a lot of great success. We've continued to even more success this year. Um the kids you see before you are um the state uh competitors at state. We had all of our people finished at least in the top 20. So that means in the top 20 in state. Um we had several that finished um as finalists. Um the first group you have here is Max and Paige who finished third in duet. Um we also had um um Ry Ry and her partner Katie's not here who finished seventh in duet. Um down at the end we have Savannah who finished seventh overall in the state in original oratory. Um we have uh others

011that aren't here today. Um Trinity Gonzalez who finished uh fourth in um informative speaking as well as seventh in dramatic interp. Um who am I forgetting? Um I think that's and and so on and so forth. These kids have just continued and continued to do well this year. Um, beyond that, we have several of them that are going to be going in a couple weeks, graduation weekend, mind you, uh, to the national individual event tournament of champions, which is a national tournament that's held all over the country. Um, that you have to get what they call bids within certain tournaments and these kids have qualified. Um, we've got five of those that are going to go in that tournament. Then beyond that, we have a couple uh Paige who has qualified to the national tournament

012um which will be about 6,000 kids in June competing in Iowa as well as um a couple not here that will be doing um what they call supplementary events. And I can go on and on and on, but the long and the short of it is these kids have done an outstanding job. This small group of kids represent, you know, about a tenth of the team. Uh the other ones we've been doing great all year. Uh and it's just wonderful. The last thing to tell you about is 1% of the people uh the students in this country qualify for what they call the academic all-American and national speech and debate and 1%. And we had four of them this year. So that requ Yes yes three of the four here we have Max Pascarella as

013well as Paige Hawkins and then Georgia Legend right I actually say that right after all these years you think I get her name right so good and then Trinity Gonzalez who is not here tonight is also um one of those and we are just honored for one of the great years um you keep seeing and if you've watched our coverage on TV. Um it shows what a great job they've done. But my name keeps coming up. But Mr. Thomas behind me here and also Miss Kay um have helped throughout this entire thing. Mr. Thomas and I have done this and Miss K joined in with us this year and it is just amazing to see all the work and the hours. If you don't know anything about a normal speech debate tournament, we tend to

014leave on a Friday about noon. We get back that night hopefully by midnight, back on the bus at 5 the next morning and back that evening by about eight or nine. It's about a 41 um hour time that week. It's insane. Um and then they have crazy bus drivers like me driving them down. And so I'm Yeah, exactly. So if we give them a round of applause, just awesome stuff. And I'd like to just finish up. I'm gonna have my partner in crime, uh, Mr. Chris Thomas, say a few things. One thing, I'm sorry, I'm super overdressed. That would make my grandmother very happy. What would also make her happy is she hated it when people bragged. So, I really don't want to do that. But I really want to emphasize just what a good

015job that these guys have done. Uh, half the team made it in the top 10 in the state. Everyone we took to state made it to at least the top 20. There's something like 600 schools in the state and they showed that they can be every bit as good as every other kid in every other district in every other school statewide. [Applause] The other thing is I'd like to take just a second to thank the board and representative of the district. We could not have done it by ourselves. We needed the chance they gave us and all they were asking for is a chance. So again, thank the board and the representatives in the district. Thank you very much for your support. Great job. [Applause] And now we head home to work on prom. Yeah,

016one more time. I'm gonna introduce another coach because like I said, they they know more of the details and they should also be up here being recognized as well. So, you know what I like about this list of accomplishments is we got representatives from all over the district and and shows what a great district we do have and what great kids we have. The last one here for tonight is the Lafayette uh theater forensics one act play group uh led by coach Sam sponsor coach Sam Smith. Um this is one of the first times I've seen in the time I've been here uh a one act play in the the Misha theater championships get down to the state level. And when I look at the um what they have accomplished, I looked at the some

017of the list of schools and they're they're competing against Liberty Rockhurst and a lot of schools that are a lot bigger than what this group is. But just like a lot of our kids are here tonight, they don't they have a passion and they they go for it. And I appreciate the coaches that I've introduced. And I'm going to introduce Sam Smith to tell you a little bit more about Lafayette One play group. Okay. So, let me start off by saying I know yes, you're all starruck. You see that my wife and I have done the save on commercials. Let's move past that. Okay. So, we had a group of about 11. Others had uh some commitments for tonight, so they weren't able to be here. So, this is the core group that we've got

018here. Uh we had a small group but they worked very hard. We had as you all well know a considerable chunk of time that was cut away by weather and other circumstances. But I think that that made them work a even harder and focus even more. uh when we got uh to the state competition, basically the state competition is broken down into two uh areas where you have eight schools in two different groups. Uh the top two schools go to the finals. So, four in the finals and we came in third in our group against two much larger and uh much more uh I don't even know the word I want to use much more people uh groups when when the other groups would get up you would see at a minimum 25 to 30

019people getting up to set up and state and take down their their sets. We had a very small group, but we had a very dedicated group and they were very focused on what they were doing. Uh, the last thing I'll say is for those of you who don't know, I grew up in the land of ice and snow. I grew up in northwestern Pennsylvania. So, the the speech that I gave them every time, for those of you who are old enough to know, was the Herb Brooks speech from the 1980 Winter Olympics from the Miracle on Ice. And everywhere you see hockey, I put the word theater in there. So, these are the guys we have here today. That's all I've got to say. Thank [Applause] you. Awesome. Congratul [Applause] Yep. Okay. Audience participation. Okay.

020Before we get started with audience participation, the district believes the district events are vital part of a total education program and should be used as a means for developing positive social interaction and appropriate behavior in addition to knowledge and skills. Wellorganized and well- conducted programs contribute to the morale of the student body and strengthen school community relations. To this end, the board encourages district patients to exhibit good good citizenship, ethics, and integrity at all district events and at all times while on district property. If a visitor's conduct becomes disruptive, threatening, or violent, the superintendent of either or design of either may require the visitor to leave. The superintendent or design may prohibit the visitor from district property or district events indefinitely of all specific periods of time. Thank you. Okay. Number one, Clarabel [Applause] Turner.

021So, my name is Clarville and I'm a southsider. I'm a fourth generation bitten cardinal. My parents were high school sweethearts that met in the halls of Bitten and now I walk those same halls. I've had one of the best years of my life at Bitten High School. Both our boys and girls basketball teams face our cross town rivals for an incredible environment in the district championship. Then we both went on to compete in Colombia for state championships. The culture, the history, the achievements, and the people that make up this school are special. With all of that, I understand it's time to make a new history to take our community further. I say all this knowing that it's not the building, the halls, or the classrooms that are what makes the school special, but it's the

022people that are in the school. If Bitten closes and students are displaced elsewhere, not only will we lose the building, but we will lose some incredible people, too. I am here today to ask you to consider how we get to a two high school city. Overcrowded parking lots, kids jammed into classrooms make it much harder to learn. Overworking the teachers and school staff, penalizing the very people who the majority of them wanted this recent bond to pass. The people of Benton have lost a great family already. Our coach that took teams to three state title games in four years that we love is gone. And that would just be the beginning of the loss of coaches and teachers that built relationships with our families. I'm fearful that students that make up our teams, clubs, and

023our friends will soon follow. This is something that has taken an emotional toll on all of us as we go to school every day guessing what our future may be. We are asking that no buildings are closed until a new one is built. If or when we go to two high schools, allow the students and families to do so by going to a facility that is designed and built and able to accommodate the students and families. From my research, there are so many people who weren't aware of the vote or the consequences. And I believe there are many more opportunities to work more closely with families in the community so we can all work together to build better for our future. And I think we can all do better on communication. We are no longer

024running from the problem, but we want to run to it. That is why myself and my friends and family are here tonight. And we are ready to be part of the solution. There are a lot of opinions and angry people on social media. So, let's work together in real life to find a solution forward. Bitton, Central, and Mafia are just buildings. You may say I'm just a person, but I believe it is the people that matter the most and are what make these buildings so special. We do not want to lose any more people. So, let's educate people not only in the schools, but the people out of school, in the grocery stores, area events, and restaurants, the people that live in St. Joseph and at their level. Let's work together with facts and use

025our history history to propel us forward and no longer hold us back. But to do that, I hope and ask that you let us do that together. If you choose to move forward with closing bitten, people will leave and we will be much worse off for it. Ever since I was a small child to walk up to the top of the hill at Hyde Elementary, I've dreamed of the chance to represent Bitten. I have always envisioned it on the basketball court or softball field, but I think the opportunity to represent the school tonight is more important than any of those games will ever be. It might be true that no decision will be made tonight in the future, but a closure or a step of uncertainty damages our future. I hope we can use the

026difficulty we have faced to achieve greatness for our community together. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Miss Turner. Dr. Hedge, Dr. WA Hedge, uh, I came for information because of the current environment that's going to take place that you're down a school board member. And so I wanted to find out what the process is and then also to make aware of the optics of the last incident that took place. I sat here and listened to all the individuals give their presentations and all of them was asked to leave except one and the one that was not asked to leave was the one who was selected. So it made me think had the decision already been made because everyone else was asked to leave or made to leave and the one that was selected was asked to

027remain. So, I just hope that through this process that you're going to go through that is open, honest, and fair to all individuals who will apply for that open seat that they'll have a fair shot and opportunity to sit on the board of school board of education. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Hedge. Lori Brown. Hi. Um, my name is Lori Brown. Um, I did not would not have ever thought about coming to this meeting. Um, but I had way too many friends from out of town and get on social media ask me, "What is going on? What is going on in your town? You should be embarrassed." And I started looking and I got embarrassed and I voted no. And I want people to know why I voted no. And mostly my board. Um, I

028voted no. Not because I'm against going and closing Benton and going to new schools, um, and a two school. I mean, that was not my reason at that point. My reason at that point was the board and the decisions um, and some of the answers that came back. It didn't make sense. I didn't go to college. I don't have degrees like some of you that make some of the decisions for our money and our kids and our kids mostly. Um, but I have common sense and I try to use that the best I can. And some of the things that I saw come out of those mouths. Your parents, your grandparents, anybody that knows you should be embarrassed. um to start with to second the decisions that you put out there about a two school

029they did they didn't make sense um bigger classes when we cannot get a hold of our behavior in our classrooms now that's why teachers aren't coming here that's why teachers are leaving I can't get family to come back to St. Joe, because of the behavior in the school district and the scores, they get on the internet. They don't look on there to see when we built the school last. They don't care about the outside of the walls. They care about what is going on on the inside. Um the scores when you get on the internet, unless you can tell me where to go to find that we should be proud of our scores and the decisions that you guys are making, I don't see it. I didn't see it. And my friends don't see it.

030My family from out of town don't see it. That's what's keeping people away. That's what's getting people to leave. That's what I hear. I don't hear the fact that we don't have a new school and we're not going to a school two school system and that the decision that our board has given us are good solid answers and they make sense, common sense. If you're going to two school and we're building two new schools, then you can't buy land for one school. You would have to buy it for two to secure both places because that's where we're moving. And you have to have all that in a budget and you have to have a plan. I want a new house, a million.5 actually when I got on Zillow last. But I don't get that. We

031are not a big city. We don't have a big transit system to get our kids from Southside to another park. We can't deal. It's time. It's time. Well, I'm sorry. I didn't know there was a time. But we also got a big problem with our transit in our kids. And if you go to two schools, kids can't get to the schools. They can't get to sports. [Applause] Jeff Leakers in these schools. I've seen kids brought in. Okay, Miss Brown, your time is up. I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you. Been a while since I've been here. Um, I could speak for three hours, those of you that know me. So if I for three minutes I might be all over the place. Um just point out I have children here currently who have attended Lafayette. Um

032but I must be a terrible parent. I must not be intelligent or I don't love my children enough because I send them to that small school that doesn't have all the opportunities listed like Latin six or whatever was on there that that people were going after. I passed up on multiple opportunities to teach and coach other places. Some of the schools that we envy down the road. I asked my children if they wanted to go to those schools. They didn't. It's not because dad went to Lafayette. It's not it's that. It's it's the the size of the school in the community. That's where we have an advantage. We are running from our strengths instead of running towards them. If if I when we go and play in all these places, the kids are amazed by

033the fields and stuff and I always ask them, "Hey, would you want to go to school there?" And nah, I'd like to have a field, but school doesn't really matter to me a whole lot. The hallways are the same. I thought I messed up when my daughter would go by Plaque County one time and she goes, "It's not fair. It's not fair, Dad." I go, "Yeah, they got fields and new classrooms." And she goes, "No, it's not fair. Dairy Queen is right next door and I could walk to it every day after school." That's what she was worried about. You know, nationwide, everything says that smaller schools matter. And I'm talking more elementary here. Our own data has shown attendance has went down, achievement has went down, discipline has went up when we've consolidated schools

034in our own district. That data should count. What I'm frustrated with though is this last long range idea. And I call it an idea instead of a plan because a plan has every detail out. We didn't even have which feeder schools went where. But for the the board or representation of the district to criticize the community and say that they don't love children or we don't support schools. I'll remind you we've passed two levies in a bond in about 19 and a half months. So maybe maybe we can do better. Maybe we need to do things a little bit different. I'll address the three problems real quick that were used most. Staffing. Staffing. It would help with attrition short term, but long-term the same problems, the same issues with discipline, with retaining teachers, which has

035gotten better. I will say it's been better, but personnel in the past has had a over a plethora of people to choose from and now we don't. And it's taken us a while to adjust to that. It's taken us a while. Two of our previous superintendents when I take concerns to them have said if they don't like it, they can go somewhere else. And guess what? They did. Okay. So, we don't do that anymore, but that's what we're coming out of. All right. It's time. It's time. All right. Well, I could go on for a long time. Thank you. Approval of the agenda. Is there a motion? Is there a motion for the approval of the agenda? All right, I have one motion. Is there a second? I'll second it. Thank you. Whitney and Rhonda,

036should call the vote, please. Miss Williams, yes. Miss Miller, yes. Miss Chzn, yes. Miss Karns, yes. Miss Lanny, yes. Mr. Moore, yes. And the motion passes. 6. Consent agenda. Is there a motion? Make a motion. Thank you, Whitney. Is there a second? I'll second. Madam President, if I could Yes. Just lift up the uh donations this month. You know, every single month there's so much support from the community, individuals, and businesses. And I think I just quickly added it up. It's over $5,000 this month alone for everything from lunches to uh you know, trips for competitions. And so, anyways, again, I don't think the community gets enough thanks for that. So, I just want to lift that up. I appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. Moore. I have a motion in a second. Would you call

037the vote, please, Miss Donna? Mr. Moore? Yes. Miss Lanning? Yes. Miss Karns? Yes. Miss Chzn? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Miss Williams? Yes. And the motion passes six to zero. Admin reports. That's you, Dr. Edgar. Okay. Yeah. I'm going to uh divert defer my report to um seven or eight agenda items. You're going to hear from me a lot here tonight. So, okay, I'll defer. Okay. And as Dr. McInness is gone, next. Okay. Investment report. Yep. We'll start with the uh quarterly investment report. You do have a copy of that information in front of you. As you can see, there's a lot of activity um on the operating account. We had total dividend interest and coupons of $122,000 approximately. Um 102 which is the healthc care trust. Um we had some movement there and you tell

038me what you're starting at. Are you starting at where you start? Where you at? SJSD quarterly investment report. Is that what it says first there? Yeah. Okay. So in the healthcare trust we had a total dividend interest and coupon of 3351767 and then on the bond proceeds we had total dividend interest and coupons of $183,000 approximately. And I know there were some questions in regards to the uh $7 million that was uh redeemed on 342025. So um I'm going to pull that up. I apologize. I had it up there and there's a handful of other ones. Yeah, the other ones were small. Um the reason for it um is they are the transaction that is referred to as a purchase of a 90-day mocat term series 2 that has a fixed rate of 4.3 slightly

039better than the liquid rate of 422.1. Rates are down 1% from last year and we also did not have much to invest early this year due to playing a bit of catchup. If you guys remember that we approved uh the levy in August and because of the dollars that come in um our tax dollars don't come in until December, January and February and so we were strapped for cash to make payroll and so that's why those things were redeemed. So we redeemed them. Yes. And you're talking about the one on 214 and for 34. Yep. Okay. And then there was 35 313 were all a million, but that you Yeah. Thank you. Any other questions in regards to the investment report? If not, I'll take a motion to approve it. Thank you, Whitney. Is there

040a second? Second. Thank you, Mike. There are no other questions. Would you call the vote, please, Miss Scott? Miss Williams? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Miss Chzn? Yes. Miss Karns? Yes. Miss Lanning? Yes. Mr. Moore? Yes. And the motion passes. 6. Dr. Okay. Approval of bills. I know that uh several of you sent emails to myself and and Dr. Seagris in regards to the bill. So, at this time, I would entertain any other questions that you might have. Make a motion to approve the bills. I have a motion. Is there a second? I'll second. Dr. Edger. Yes, ma'am. Would you would you clarify what we t what we just talked about with the attorney fees? Attorney fees. So, uh we actually have a contract with ED counsel and um I don't have that monthly amount, but

041there would be a given monthly amount that we would pay uh ED counsel irregardless. And um it depends on who you use within the firm. Some of them are $220 an hour, some of them are 200, some of them are 160. And so, um, we would have a monthly fee. Now, uh, as you did notice, there was a couple of those that grew in previous months, and, uh, they would have to do with specific, uh, lawsuits. They would have to do with, um, uh, the superintendent search. I know that they were involved in that process as well. So, there are several things that go above and beyond the retainer contract that we have. Thank you. Are there any additional questions? If not, I have a motion to second. Call the vote, please. Mr. Moore, yes.

042Miss Lanning, yes. Miss Karns, yes. Miss Chzn, yes. Miss Miller, yes. Miss Williams, yes. And the motion passes 60. Um, you again, Dr. Okay. Yeah. Now the monthly financials uh if you look at the expenditures our operating is at 69% of the budget through 75% of the fiscal year. So we're in really good shape as far as expenditures are concerned they are up but um as you expected a lot of it is salary and benefits and then the capital expenditures um that the board approved. uh revenue. Um if you look at the local tax revenue, it's up about $8 million and compared to last year, which that puts us in a really good spot uh financially. I do know that Dr. Seagars will be bringing uh a budget amendment to you at the uh May

043work session and then we'll have a budget amendment for you to approve at the May regular board meeting. Will that May work session um or budget? Is it gonna what's the fund balance? Yeah, the fund balance. Well, it's actually going to be up a little bit from what we predicted because of the tax dollars that are coming in. I would say it's I I don't know. It's going to be between 25 and 30%. But we can I mean, we'll have a specific fund balance as to what it's going to be at that time. I just feel like that's too high, but we can talk about that later. Are there any additional questions? If there are [Music] not, is there a motion for approval? Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second it. Thank you. Rounded

044call to vote anytime. Miss Williams? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Miss Chzny? Yes. Miss Karns? Yes. Miss Lanning? Yes. Mr. Moore? Yes. And the motion passes. 6. Thank you, Dr. E. Okay, Dr. Cross. All right. Thank you. I love the supplemental report at your workstations. There's really nothing unusual in either the uh personnel report or the supplemental. Other than that, they're extremely long. And if you noticed, it's because there are about nine pages of summer school hires in there. Uh so every every April and May, we hit a a huge surge in in those hirings. But uh it's very typical for this time of year. If there are no questions, I would ask that you would approve the personnel report and the supplemental as presented. Are we moving to one to close session or No, we're

045going to going to leave it. Make a motion to Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Would you call the vote, please? Mr. Moore, yes. Miss Lanning, yes. Miss Karns, yes. Miss Chzn, yes. Miss Miller, Miss Williams, yes. And the motion passes. Five with an extension. Thank you, Dr. Krauss. Okay. Board resignation. As you all know, we have a board resignation. If you look at your information, there's a letter attached. Has everyone took a look at it? Yeah, I couldn't I couldn't open couldn't get it open. I couldn't. Yeah. Pops up that you have to download it. Did you realize that? download because it's a PDF download. Yeah, it has to download software because it's a PDF attached to it. It may be something that you need to look at on the computers.

046Probably take your word for it. I was going to say it is there. Um, and is there a motion to accept Rick Garren's resignation? So much. Thank you, Whitney. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Mr. Moore. Any discussion? If there are number to call the vote, please. Miss Williams, yes. Miss Miller, yes. Miss Chzny, yes. Miss Karns, yes. Miss Lanning, yes. Mr. Moore, yes. And the motion passes 6 to zero. Um, as advertised in the media and that's listed on the agenda in the morning, it will be officially announced about the vacancy. Applications will be open for two weeks and then after that the board will convene and open to look at the applications and to interview applicants at that time. If there are any questions contact over to me or the board

047secretary. So we all get to see that all applications. Yes. How is there any discussion like are they going to be emailed out to us. Are they going to be in assembly? Is it We're going to talk about this at the work session. No, they will be able to pick up the applications. Oh, you mean after they're turned in? Do you guys So, we we're going to do this on the work session or when is the work session? Well, it's going to be due like a day like after the work session because that's on the 12th and then the last afternoon of the applications is on the Tuesday afterwards on the 13th. It we would have to have a special meeting in order to go over the applications. So, we will So, we'll have a

048meeting to go Can you just tell me what the timeline's going to be? So, we're going to get them on the 13th. We'll have a special meeting before our meeting on the 20 or on the 27th. Yes, it's on our Tuesday. So, on the 27th, will we do anything there or Well, could you put all of the applications in assembly so we can look at them? Okay. And then we can actually choose a time prior to the meeting in order to go over the applications. And that is that done and open or closed? Is it's done and open? So we'll do that on before the 27th. Yes. So we'll have a special meeting before the 27th to go over applications. Is everybody okay with that? Yeah. It can't be the immediate day after. So on

049the So 13th we'll have a meeting in between those two meetings between that and then on the 27th will is that too fast or we'll have to have another special meeting or like what? I don't think so. I mean because in the past we've um chosen a person at that meeting at the where we go over the application as a special meeting. Yes. So will they the policy talks about interviews? Yes, we can choose to do that right with all or a portion. Yes, but we can also just appoint from the pool. Yes, I would honestly prefer to be able to look at the application and then also interview the person as well. Yes, thank you. I don't just want to choose off of an application. policy. So at the So we'll have a special

050meeting before the 27th. After the 13th, but before the 27th. Yes. We'll have had the applications ahead of time. Right. And then are we going to interview every person? I mean, I can't imagine we're going to get 30. I can't imagine that happening, but it's our choice in order to do that. And in all honesty, I would just kind of prefer to interview everybody. Okay. And I guess we can tell it's up to all of us. as a whole though. But I'd be okay with interviewing everybody that applies and I guess we can talk about that more on the 12th. Yeah, it doesn't we don't even have to cut it off at two weeks. It just said a minimum of two weeks, correct? Um, it says a minimum of the two weeks only. Um, we

051have a lot that we have to get done and we need another board member in order Sure. to be able to do it. and I don't want to take up all of our time on the process and we can just move and then if a person's interested they're going to do it they're going to and they've already known about a week anyway like wasting time. So then so we would we would do we have to have another regular meeting to vote someone in or install them or how does that work? You can do that. It can be done at that special meeting. Are there any additional questions? It's not how this works. Excuse me. No. Are there any additional questions? Okay. And we've already voted on that. Okay. Let's move on to the scholarships. I

052am here tonight. to ask for the approval of several board of education scholarships. The first one would be the Florence Hirs. So, I'm ask Oh, sorry. Sorry. Can you hear me now? Okay. Sorry. The first one is the Florence Hirs Scholarship. And so, I'm asking the board to please approve recommendation of the committee for the I feel like I'm really on top of this. Still not working. All right. Now that we made it about me, hi All right. The I am here for the Florence Hurst scholarship. That's the first one. Um so I am asking the board to please approve the recommendation of the committee for the scholarship recipients. Make a motion to approve. I'll second. Thank you, please. Miss Williams. Yes. Miss Miller. Yes. Miss Chzn. Yes. Miss Karns. Yes. Miss Lanning, yes. Mr.

053Moore, yes. And the motion passes 6. Next would be the Coleman scholarship. And I'm asking the board to please approve the recommendation of the committee. Motion to approve. Thank you. Is there a second? Thank you. We need a Mr. Moore. Yes. Miss Lanning? Yes. Miss Curran? Yes. Miss Chzn? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Williams. Yes. And the motion passes 60. And next we have the Denver scholarship and I'm asking the board to please approve the recommendation of the committee. So thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Yep. Miss Williams. Yes. Miss Miller. Yes. Miss Chzn. Yes. Miss Karns. Yes. Miss Lanny. Yes. Mr. Moore. Yes. And the motion passes 60. Okay. And lastly, the Cooper Scholarship. And once again, I'm asking the board to please approve the recommendation of the committee. Thank you. I

054have a motion in a second. Jennifer and Ken. Mr. Moore. Yes. Miss Lanning. Yes. Miss. Yes. Miss Chzn. Yes. Miss Miller. Yes. Miss Williams. Yes. And the motion passes. 6. Thank you. Thank you. YMCAU. Good evening. I'm asking for theou approval for the school age child care YMCA agreement. Um it's expanding into 15 sites for next school year. And so we have an annual one that we um update every year and ask for approval on this. Adds in Lakeland Mark Twain. I have a motion. Have a motion and a second. Are there any questions? If there are none, could you call the vote, please? Miss Williams? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Miss Chzny? Yes. Miss Karns? Yes. Miss Lanning, yes. Mr. Moore, yes. And the motion passes 6. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, Dr. Okay. If

055I could u have direct your attention to the uh bid tapulation quotes um for the municipal uh bond advisor. As you can see, we had uh three companies who responded to the uh RFP. um LJ Hartman Company who we currently work with and have worked with since 2015, Raymond James and also Steeples. These are all three uh very reputable companies within the uh business that they do. Um we thought it was important, Dr. Seagris and I were obviously involved in this decision, but we thought it was important that uh the next administrative team um be the people that uh made the decision on this because they'll be the ones working with them. So, Dr. Hedge was involved along with Ashley, uh Jenny, and Katie. So, um if you look at the tab sheets, uh LJ

056Hart does have an annual fee of $15,000 and then everything else is pretty um similar. And um so if the St. Joe School District were to ask for an $80 million no tax increase uh general bond in April of 26, I'm just using this as an example. I'm not saying that we do this. Raymond James would be at $40,000 and the fee for Stifel and LJ Hart would be $50,000. Uh both of the directors for Raymond James uh were former superintendents in the Kansas City area. So they have a presence here um along with um LJ Hart and Company. Let's see. Raymond James ranks seven and steel ranks eighth nationally in bond sales. Um obviously LJ Hart was recently acquired by Commerce Bank which gives them a bigger presence now than they ever ever had.

057Um, so those are just the thoughts that were provided um from Dr. Hedgecorth in regards to uh what direction they wanted to go. And so tonight uh we'd like to make the recommendation to change from LJ Hart to Raymond James uh beginning 2526. I want to take the opportunity to say thank you to LJ Hart and company. Um, you know, I've worked with them since 2007. Um, and they've they've been very good for me and I understand the reason to go away from LJ Harden Company. Um, and I think the transition will be fine. At this time, I would entertain any questions that you might have. If there are no questions, is there a motion for approval? Yeah, I'd make a motion to accept the administration recommendation. James. Is there a second? All right. And

058if there are no questions, would you call the vote, please? Miss Williams? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Computer blacked out. Sorry. Miss Chzn, yes. Miss Karns, yes. Miss Lanny, no. Mr. Moore. Yes. And the motion passes. 51. Dr. Anderson. Good evening. Before you have um a contract for Huddle Up. Uh these are our virtual speech and language services. We have been utilizing this company for the past three years due to um a lack of in-person speech language therapists. And so they provide virtual therapies within our buildings for students in grades 3 through 12. We have added a few um full-time employees on this new contract because we have utilized two companies, Supplemental Healthc Care and um the Huddleup to provide those services. But we have um since released a few of the individuals that were hired

059through supplemental because we feel like the huddle up services work much better because they are specific to speech and language. And so I just would like to make a motion that you approve the contract as presented. Could we have a motion? I'll wait till A motion. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay. Did we have to do an RFP for this or No, we did not. Why? It's a soul. It qualifies under soul source and policy. No. Thank you. Are there any additional questions? If there are none, I have a motion to second. Would you call the vote, please? Mr. Moore? Yes. Miss Lanning? Yes, Miss Karns. Yes, Miss Chzny. Yes, Miss Miller. Yes, Miss Williams. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, Dr. Edgar. Okay. The next uh item is uh twofold. Uh the first

060thing I need is uh for you to accept my resignation as trustee at the William uh T. King Educational Trust. I just want to uh give a plug for this. They we give over 300 I think over 400 scholarships this last year. So this is a it's a big deal and uh we definitely need representation from the school district on this. Um it's been a pleasure to serve on it. It's uh doesn't take a whole lot of time. There are quarterly meetings but it's a very good group. And so what I am asking tonight is you accept my resignation as trustee. And then my second thing will be to um ask you to approve uh Mark Carell um as my replacement on this board. Make a motion to accept resation. Is there a second? I'll

061second it. Okay. Okay. Would you call the vote, please? Miss Williams? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Miss Chzn? Yes. Miss Karns? Yes. Miss Lanning? Yes. Mr. Moore? Yes. And the motion passes 6. Okay. Is there a motion to appoint as a trustee? Thank you. Is there a second? Miss, Mr. Moore? Yes. Miss Lanning? Yes. Miss Karns? Yes. Miss Chosny? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Miss Williams? Yes. And the motion passes? 6. Posing a change order. Okay. the change orders for floor filling and patching in the corridor uh that was cut through from the new to the old building when the tile floor was removed in the bathroom area. There was an inch to an inch and a half of concrete fill that came up with that. Um so this change order is in the amount of $3,384.74

062and I would recommend that you pay this change order. What's the anticipated time of completion? You know, I was out there. delivered me mills last Thursday and uh we did a walkthrough of it. It looks like it's pretty close. Um I will get a date, a specific date. I'll have Robert get that to you. Did Casey just walked out, didn't he? Do you know what the date is on the uh completion date now? It was May the 9th. It still may show up next. Okay. Thank you, Casey. Yeah, absolutely. As soon as it's done, as soon as we get the furniture in there, uh, we can go take a tour. It looks good. They've made a lot of progress in the last 30 days because I was down there, you know, approximately 30 days ago

063and it was I was like, whoa. Yeah, it's it's good. Looks good. Okay. Is there a motion for approval? Thank you, Kim. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Mike. If there are no questions, would you call the vote, please? Miss Williams? Yes, Miss Miller. Yes, Miss Chzny. Yes, Miss Karns. Yes, Miss Lanning. Yes, Mr. Moore. Yes, and the motion passes. I was reading something that 6. Okay, Dr. Krauss. Okay, I think the next seven are so we get to talk a little uh the first one is the individual work calendars. I want to give you just a basic synopsis of how we come up with these every year. The first things that we do are are pass a 260day work calendar and the academic calendar. From there then uh every occupational category has

064its own specific u individual work calendar. Uh they range from 176 days to 260 with a sprinkling in between. Uh the purpose of them is to make sure that each individual employee knows what days he or she is supposed to be at work. Um and as you'll you'll see if there's are two numbers in a box. One the top one is the date July 8th and if there's a number below that it means that particular employee works on that day and it might be this is day eight of 260 for you. Um, so what we do every every year in HR, u, Heather Adams puts these together and we um, survey every department head or or supervisor to make sure that we have the right number of days and that they're coming on the days

065that the supervisor needs them. U, so these are there for you. There are five different calendars for Hillyard and about 20 uh, different for the the rest of the district. Does anyone have any questions about either the process or anything that's on there? Okay. If not, I would ask that you would approve them as presented. Okay. Is there a motion? Make a motion to approve them. Thank you, Mike. Is there a second? Thank you, Kim. If there are no questions, would you call the vote, please? Miss Williams? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Miss Chzn? Yes. Miss Curr? Yes. Miss Lanning? Yes. Mr. Moore. Yes. And the motion passes 6. Okay, Dr. Krauss. All right. The next item is the St. Joseph Da Nutrition Services um collective bargaining agreement. Uh we've discussed several times before. We have

066two groups that have their own collective bargaining um unit. Every year we go through negotiations with them. Both of those groups have three-year contracts. This was is uh 2526 will be year one of a three-year contract for nutrition services. Uh only in year three is the entire agreement open. In years one and two the only item that can be discussed is salary and wages. Um so what you see here if you notice there's very little red in it. The new things are in red. The only thing that was changed were the dates um you know of when it's open and then they agreed to the same increase of 1.17% uh put throughout their salary schedule as all the other employee groups were given. Uh so they received the same um same monetary situation that all

067of our other employee groups did. Are there any questions about that agreement? If if not, I would ask for your approval as presented. Is there a motion? And do we have a second? I'll second. Thank you, Mr. Moore. Yes. Miss Lanning? Yes. Miss Karns? Yes. Miss Chzny? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Miss Williams? Yes. And motion passes 6. All right. The next one is the adult education and learning salary schedule, which I'll refer to as AAL. Um, the AAL department does not have any district uh money to run its budget. They operate solely off of a grant. Actually, it's three different grants that give them a total of somewhere between 800 and $900,000, I believe. So every year they develop uh their own salary schedule based on their perceived needs. Um and then they also obviously

068have to be able to fit their staffing within their budget. Uh so what you see is what was come up uh what was created by um their supervisor and it does allow them to put all of their employees and fit them within their budgeted amount of money. So, if there are no questions, I would ask for your approval of that. Thank you. Is there a second? A second. Mr. Moore, yes. Miss Lanning, yes. Miss Karns, yes. Miss Chznney, yes. Miss Miller, yes. Miss Williams, yes. And the motion passes 60. All right. The next one is a change to the administrative salary schedule. It's very simple. We had some employees who were uh working as 260 employees but were being paid from the teacher salary schedule. Uh as we looked at their duties, uh the bulk

069of what they're doing is really administrative or supervisory in nature. Uh so we are would like to add them to um as you'll see it high school activities director and then add ELD specialist to that same column. Uh this is designed so that none of the people involved will see less money simply puts them on the administrative salary schedule which is more in line with their actual duties but it's the same same amount of pay for them. What's the difference in between the two schedules? Um just that the administrative salary schedule is designed for 260 employees which is what um these folks in question are and we had them on a 260day teacher contract uh which is not not common at all and they weren't teaching. They were doing supervisory things. Is there a change

070in their job duties or like no job duties are the same pay is the same. there simply be u moved over onto that schedule. Are there any additional questions? I have a question. The first column says supervisor. I don't not understanding what that job would who would be doing that job or what does that terminology mean on there. Um in in the hierarchy we would have director, assistant director, coordinator, supervisor. Okay. Um I believe operations has some. And who else? Parents teachers. Parents as teachers. Okay. Any other questions? Questions? If there are none, is there a motion? Is there a second? Second, Miss Williams. Um, no. Miss Miller, yes. Miss Chzny, yes. Miss Karns, yes. Miss Lanning, no. Mr. Mark, yes. And the motion passes. 42. Dr. Cross. All right. The next one is the

071professional salary schedule. I'll kind of talk about it in letter M simultaneously. The support staff salary schedule. Um, as we were Looking at the professional staff salary schedule, traditionally those jobs have been considered exempt uh from the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Exempt meaning that uh they could be asked to work 40, 50, 60 hours in a week and they would receive no additional compensation. Uh there are three there's a three-prong test to determine the appropriateness of a job being considered exempt versus non-exempt. Either have to fit into what's called a professional category meaning that they have um most of the jobs that fall into com into into that are computer related like programmers, codew writers that type of thing. Uh there's administrative level where they are uh supervising a number of people

072and executive where they're making um top level decisions for the particular organization. Uh we received a complaint from an employee that thought possibly one of the positions on our professional salary schedule was not appropriately coded. And so we uh dove into looking at the entire salary schedule and we found um five, two, three, four, five job descriptions that uh when we talked with a representative from the Department of Labor told us that those really should be um non-exempt positions. And so therefore, we took them off of the professional salary schedule, moved them on to the support staff schedule. Those are the ones that are in red on the support staff. Uh what this will do, again, we we devised it. Um I created a range nine and a range 10 to um incorporate some of

073those people moving over. And nobody on this will lose any money. The it'll either be exactly the same or they'll be getting a few cents an hour more depending on where their salaries fell into. Uh the disadvantage for these folks is that as exempt employees on a professional salary schedule, they did not have to clock in and out because they were being paid the same whether they worked 37 and a half hours or 47 and a half or 50 or whatever it was. uh the benefit to them will be that now if they are asked or required to work more than 37 and a half hours they will receive additional additional money. So where they were placed on this support staff schedule, that's exactly what they were making on the professional. But now if they

074work additional hours, if that's between 37 and a half and 40, they'll get their normal hourly rate. And if uh it's above that, they'll get time in half. So, so they'll they'll have the uh the minor irritation of having to clock in and out, but they potentially could get more money if they're asked to work more than a 37 and a half hours. Has this been explained to those employees? Yes. I visited everyone understand they're like okay with this? Um I'm not going to lie to you. Some of them aren't tickled about it. Um mostly because of having talk in and out. Uh, but I explained it to everyone. I I feel like everyone understands why we did what we did. Um, but no, they're they're not all real happy. But, um, you know, they

075say it takes two weeks to form a habit. Once they form the habit of clocking in and out, the only potential for them is to make more money, not less. So, so it's an FSA requirement. I mean, there's not We can't do anything about it. Well, no. I mean, we would be going against the Department of Labor's advice if we don't move them, which I don't think is a good idea. Were there any other concerns of theirs? Only clocking in and out. It wasn't any other concerns. Uh, not based on the movement. No. Are there any additional questions? Um, if you would, as you make motions, do them one at a time because separate. So, how do you how do you want it? It's on L to approve the professional salary staff as presented first

076salary schedule as presented and then move on a separate motion for the next one for support. Yeah, I'll make a motion to approve professional salary schedule. Is there a second? I'll second. Are there any additional questions? If not, would you call the vote, please? Miss Williams, yes. Miss Miller, yes. Miss Chzn, yes. Miss Karns, yes. Miss Lanning, yes. Mr. Moore, yes. And the motion passes 60. I make a motion to approve the change of the support staff salary schedule. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Mr. Moore. Yes. Miss Lanning? Yes. Miss Karns? Yes. Miss Chzn? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Miss Williams? Yes. And the motion passes 6. Dr. Carl, last last one for me. General Revenue Corporation debt collection contract. I think he first saw this or he first talked about it about

077two and a half months ago and then I just didn't get it submitted on time. Um, we have a number of employees, I think probably around 15 to 20 at this point who owe us money for various reasons. These would be former employees. Um, and we have had difficulty collecting the money on our own. And so, uh, we went through the process to to, um, contract or we'd like to contract with GRC, uh, to have them do that for us. Uh, there's no cost to the district if they're not able to collect for us. If they do collect, they charge 16%. So, currently, we're getting zero money back. Hopefully, we would get 84% of what Um, we need any questions on on that? Make a motion to approve the debt collection contract. Is there a

078second? I'll second it. Thank you. Are there any questions? If there are not, would you call the vote, please? Miss Williams? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Miss Chzn? Yes. Miss Karns? Yes. Miss Lanning? No. Mr. Morton? Yes. The motion? And the motion passes. 51. Thank you, Dr. Krauss. Okay, Miss St. Thank you. Um, good evening. Today I am presenting on behalf of Dr. McGinness and the academic service team to introduce the 2526 career ladder plan. Um, we um submitted that plan on April 9th and then it was approved through Desi on April 11th. And so we're seeking um board approval for this plan. I have a motion. Is there a second? I'll second. Motion a second. Are there any questions? The only thing that I So, it's already been approved by Desie. So, my my only

079thing is if we could get it before it goes it gets submitted for approval. It kind of seems like it's already been approved by Desi. There's not really I think it has to be approved by Desi before it can be board approved. But I'll I'll Well, even if we're able to know. Oh, you just see just see what's going to be presented. I see what you're saying. It's like an info item or something. So, that's just for the Okay. Thank you for the feedback. Okay. I have a motion to second. If there are no additional questions, would you call the vote, please? Miss Williams? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Miss Chosny? Yes. Miss Karns? Yes. Miss Lanning? Yes. Mr. Moore. Yes. And the motion passes. 6. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Casey. Uh, good evening. The first

080item here is for a change order with Mid America Golf and Landscaping. This is on all three football fields for the field construction. Uh, what we found during excavation is the all the electrical is buried very shallow. In order from taking about two and a half feet to 12 inches out of every field, um we need to put those those lines in pip and wire new pipe and wiring around the interior of the field. Currently with the state that they're at, they're cutting across the centers of the field and they just won't work for construction. So I'm seeking your approval to reroute the conduits on the interior of the fields approximately 400 ft at each site. So this will all be paid for with the bond. Where are we at with that budget? Yeah, it's

081well within budget, right? We're within budget. Yes. I have a motion. Is there a second? I'll second. Are there any additional questions? If not, would you call the vote, please? Mr. Moore, yes. Miss Lanny, yes. Miss Karns, yes. Miss Chzny, yes. Miss Miller, yes. Miss Williams, yes. And the motion passes 6. Next. Okay. Okay. Item Q is the capital improvement project list for nutrition services and operations. Um if you hopefully you've had a time to take a look at those. If you look at the nutrition services, it's multi-aceted repairs on mainly freezers, coolers, um hotbox ovens, um new some new dishwashers and things like that to keep us updated in the current uh time frame. Now they're all between 15 to 20 years old. Um, now it's time to exchange some of those out that

082we've had problems with that no longer offer parts for, need updating. Uh, the second list is approximately $6.2 million worth of capital improvement projects for all the schools across the district. This includes electrical wiring, um HVAC improvements for four schools, um many many doors and security aspects upgrades and installs. Um fire alarms, playground, some new three new playground or two new playgrounds and upgrade to one playground. Um, this is also for to repair bleachers at Central, Benton, and Lafayette and upgrade them to ADA standards and also a district uh inventory asset list of all of our current HBAC equipment, electrical equipment, any item that is a fixed asset across the district. So, this is for 0506, but 256. Yes. How does So, how does that work? I assume you're going to do most of this

083work over the summer, but the budget period Yeah. So what happens is um Dr. Seagris will we have an opportunity to make a what they call a one-time allowable transfer from operations to your capital improvements which is 7.5% of your total budget and he'll make that obligate it now. Yep. And then move it forward. Yep. Are there any addition? Is there a second? A second. Are there any additional questions? If there are none, would you call the vote, please? Miss Williams? Yes. Miss Miller? Yes. Miss Chzn? Yes. Miss Karns? Yes. Miss Lanning? Yes. Mr. Moore? Yes. And the motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Casey. Dr. Last month, we brought to you a request for ACT Work Keys curriculum for um Hillyard Tech Center, and we would like to give all of our students the opportunity

084to have access to that curriculum prior to taking the work keys at all of our other three sites. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Are there any questions? If there are none, would you call the vote, please? Mr. Moore, yes. Miss Lanning, yes. Miss Karns, yes. Miss Chzn, yes. Miss Miller, yes. Mr. Miss Williams, yes. And the motion passes. 6 Thank you. I am here to present theou for Missouri Western State University and Hillyard Technical Center and an academic articulation agreement. If there are no questions, we are asking the board to approve thisou. I have a motion. Is there a second? Thank you. Are there any questions? If there are none, would you call the vote, please? Miss Williams? Yes. Miss Miller, yes. Miss Chzn, abstain. Miss Karns, yes. Miss

085Lenning, yes. Mr. Yes. The motion passes. 5 with one abstension. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, Dr. Okay. Uh the attendance report is in uh in front of you. Uh the attachment shows March 28th which uh was right after our last board meeting or might have been our last board meeting 83.17 um and then shows 44,411 and 417. We were slightly below the 83.17. Um it ended at 82.99. So we are down a little bit. Uh but we're fluctuating right in there where uh we anticipated that we would be to be honest with you. Any questions in regards to the uh tendency? So, we're you're projecting that we're going to finish at 83%. Where does that put us with next year with water and all that? Uh well, you're it's going to be a 6% improvement

086uh from last year. And so, your weighted ADA obviously is based off of that. Um and those numbers, Dr. Seagars will use that in the budget for Yep. Are there any additional questions or comments that just to take us back what a couple of years we were at like 78%? Am I remembering that right? Yes, something like that. So 77. Yes. So um not where we want it, but still better than we were a couple years ago. Yeah. And it is it's a it's right at 6% I think of that was on there right to finish out the year. 6% improvement over 24. Good. Are there any additional comments or questions? Okay, next up. All right. Um, item 9B, we have uh paid parental leave. We have talked about this uh several times. It was

087part of the uh board agenda. It was part of a work session agenda. It was part of superintendent cabinet or superintendent report. And so uh last month we just kind of discussed this in in detail and I provided you with some sample uh policies uh from the east side of the state. As I told you that there were nothing we could not find anything on the west side of the state. So nobody is doing this over here. If they are then we couldn't find it. But uh Dr. Seager put together a sample paid parental leave policy for you. Um, you know, one thing that I would state, uh, we did meet administratively. I'm going to have Dr. Krauss, uh, provide you with some, um, information on what we have done, uh, for the staff in

088regards to leave alone over the last couple of years, just so you guys have some background information on that. Um there, you know, there's pros and cons um to the policy and um you know, it is a a good recruitment strategy, but at the end of the day, we feel administratively that, um it affects academics in a negative way. And so, um that's kind of where we're at with it. And so, Dr. Krauss, I'm going to have you provide what we've done from a leave standpoint and then we'll open it up any questions you guys might have. Okay. Um I looked at just the last five years. Uh three years of the last three years for salary, our teacher base has gone from 377 to 43250. Uh which is an increase of $5,550 and is

089roughly 14% increase. uh that's pulled us from pretty near the bottom of our comparison set up to just barely into the top third. Uh so it has been a a very nice increase. Um and there's been a comparable raise for all of our employee groups, not just the teachers. Uh in 2324 we added an additional personal day for everyone which took us to 15 um paid days for 260 staff, 14 for 10 month and 13 paid days for 9month staff. And then some of the based on their um tenure with the district, some of them received up to an additional three personal days. Uh they developed a child care reimbursement for $1,000. Um I mean understanding $1,000 doesn't go a long ways, but we thought it was a good incentive for our parents. I know

090I have one employee in my office who uses it that's very grateful for it. Uh for the most part, our health care premiums have have held steady. I know there's a increase to the EPO for 2526. uh in my studies, my salary comparisons that I do every year, um our our health insurance benefit is really top-notch. Uh the only district that I'm aware of in the surrounding area that puts more money more district money into health care than us is Lee Summit and they're they're ahead of us pretty much everywhere. Um we instituted the employee leave buyback u in an attempt to try to incentivize um employee attendance. That's been very successful. Uh the people who participate in that program um have an average of 2.87 less absences daily or yearly. And then I know

091Dr. Seist and the Lockton team did a lot of work putting together the smart shopper and the TRIA health programs. um that go along with our health insurance. Um and so those are those are that's just a synopsis of what we've done over the past few years. Questions about any of those? Yeah, I I feel really good about the attempt that we've made to to bolster that. There's been a lot of improvement over the last few years. Dr. Edgar. Yep. Can you explain about the negative impact? Well, I think there's just there's a lot of research studies out there that if you have the the most important factor for student achievement is to have the teacher in the room, you know, the days missed, uh, the more negative the impact. That that's what the conversation

092kept coming back to. So, how I just I cannot understand how a policy Okay, I'm gonna start over. So, from reading the policy and what we've talked about, a staff person who is on maternity leave is going to be out of out of the classroom, which I'll remind everyone that we have much many more staff and not just classroom teachers, but they're already going to be out those days. They're already going to be out six weeks. We already plan for a substitute to be in the classroom for that period of time. So, the policy as it's written or as we've talked about wouldn't extend any period of time. We're just making sure that a staff person that has a child doesn't receive negative impact to their wages. So, as a reminder, if you are a

093woman, we'll just talk about that how it is. If you're a woman that comes here, you have to work, have perfect attendance for three years. Three years of perfect attend attendance. No strep throat, no sore ankle, no had too much fun last night. Three years of perfect attendance to be able to have a baby and then stay home with that baby. So there's there's the first problem for staff. Then even if I do use all of that time, babies have appointments after they're born. Babies run fevers and child care you can't come back for a day or two when that fever happens. So I don't know how on one side we can have a parents as teachers program that's going into the hospital and saying the importance of bonding time with mom, the importance of

094dad being there and then on the other hand saying well we did a lot of stuff for people in the last five years. I just don't see how you're you're you're already budgeting for that time. You're already budgeting for the substitute. We're just making sure that they're not getting penalized for their wages. What would it be for a new new teacher, new staff person be $300? And again, we have more. I realize we have more than just $300 a day. For a new staff person would be quite that much. It could be more for depending on how much, right? So, I just I I hear what you said that we did all of these great things, but if I've only been here for two years, you telling me that you did great things five years

095ago isn't helpful to me. And even if I have, those are great things and we should have done those. But even moving forward, if there are good things that we can do for our staff, all the staff, not just the teachers, if there are good things that we can do for them, they don't cost money. You're not going to be out more than you already would have in a classroom setting. You know, these teachers, the teachers classroom is the is where our kids are going to be. If you have a parent come back early, are they really, you know, giving that do they feel value? I don't know. I I just it's surprising to me how much push back there is for something that doesn't cost any money. We already budget for it. Um, and

096I I I don't understand how we can argue that there's a negative academic impact. I I think if anything when we talk about doing what's best for kids, which you know I thought was kind of foundational to what we're doing, if we're talking about that infant being a future school district student, that's what's best for kids. I just I don't I have not heard a compelling reason of how this is not good um or how this negatively affects academics. Well, I think I was going to say too, I don't I'm not is the idea, but I'm also thinking what about your teachers who are not at childbearing ages. So, we're using this, but what benefit does those teachers get or staff more staff, you know, that um you know, they they have to leave for

097surgery or they have some fighting cancers and teaching. So, why are we having all these benefits for just the ones that are that are having children when we have other staff as well? I mean, they get the before and after. And again, I'm not saying I don't like the idea, but I'm just saying we have more staff. I mean, let's be a little bit across the board and providing stuff to all of them. Well, that's what those last five years were. And and my point is I I've heard the the argument of, well, what happens if I have to have a knee surgery? What if I happens if I have a chronic illness? I get that. My point is if we can do something that doesn't cost anything, especially when it's something that affects our

098staff and that impacts exactly what we're here for. We have a whole PAT program that talks about this and the importance of it. You know, we're offering six weeks in the state of Missouri. You can't take a puppy from a from an from a mom below what, eight weeks, because it's inhumane. But we're here saying, "Oh, I don't know." You know, um the other issue other than just the health and the bonding which we do all of this conversation about and all of this research about and again is the basis of our PAT program. We also have um current economic status of things. So I I know we've talked about short-term disability. Short-term disability you have to be in for what 10 10 months for it to be applicable. It's only 60% of your wages.

099Um, so I don't know. I I see it as a way that we can take care of our staff. Um, doesn't cost anything. It's what's best for infants. It's what we preach. Why wouldn't we do it? And especially if there's nobody on the west side of the state doing it. If nobody else is doing it, even more reason. Well, that's what I said in the very beginning. From a recruitment standpoint, you can't argue it. But it's retention too. It's retention too. Well, if I if I work here and I'm thinking about, you know, you know, because I think the other thing we have to be real about, we talk about the attack on public education. People aren't aren't just leaving to go to other school districts. They're leaving the profession completely. And this is one

100of the things that you can offer um to compete better with corporations and businesses that are because our staff are going there, too. But if if this is not I mean we have six board members. Um I know you've talked about putting it on the agenda um next month for approval but if it's not something that has a majority support then we don't have to do that. I just don't again it doesn't cost anything. It's the basis of what we do and why we're here. Nobody else on the west side's doing it. I think that we should at least put it on the agenda because it's been bounced around for months and then at least if it's on the agenda as a vote, a decision is made and whether it's a yes or no, then

101we're just able to move on from it. I do have I do have a couple questions. What? I'm just curious what short-term disability costs an employee each month. There's no single answer to that. It depends on their annual salary. It's it's u wage banded like 15 to 25,000 maybe a certain amount. 25 to 35 costs more. Okay. So, it's I I'm sorry I don't have those numbers right. That's fine. I was just curious. If you if you look on the benefits page, there's a there will be something that shows that or I can send that to you. Okay. And then my other question is because I'm trying to wrap my head around and I'm not disputing you. I'm just trying to wrap my head around that it doesn't cost anything because if and let me

102see if I can articulate this. So, if somebody only has, let's say they've only got 20 sick days accumulated to take and then they use those up because that's more than six weeks, then do they pay or they docked a daily rate of pay once they use up their sick days? Yes. So then it actually I'm just trying to process this. So then it actually would cost the district to pay for those extra days because you're not docking the employee any longer to compensate for what you're paying for the substitute. I Yes, I think if I followed you correctly, what what there's no way to know is if it is or is not going to result in more teacher absences. Sure. Uh I think if there's a possibility that if they're given six weeks and

103they had six weeks stored up that they were going to use, it's possible they may stay out 12 and then yes, there would be additional cost to the district and there would also be additional academic um loss. But there's no way you can but there's there's no way to Yeah, there's no way to know. I can't I can't. So that's I mean I just look at it like this. We're asking our educators who are already up unpaid in order to give up their bonding time with their own babies in order to come to work could be too early to care for everybody else's babies. Yeah. And I'm not saying I disagree with that, but then I'm thinking of people who are 40 or 42 who are still teaching and who are not going to have

104babies anymore. and I break my hip and I've already used up all my sick days for whatever reason or I've used up whatever um then I'm going to still be docked when I take extra days to stay home because I've had hip surgery. But I think the converse of that is that if you are an older employee, you have likely been here longer and have had time to acrue that time. To your point, Dr. Krauss, I don't I don't see I don't see how, you know, FMLA is approved by a doctor, right? Correct. And so the doctor's going to say typically I haven't had a child in six, seven years, but I recall you're going to get six to eight weeks approved by a doctor for FMLA. So, how would I qualif how would I

105take more time if this policy is concurrent with F FMLA? How am I going to take more time? Well, if they're given six paid weeks, we're talking about 30 days, right? Okay. So, they take those six weeks or those 30 days at the district's expense and then they say, I have acred sick leave for another 30 and I'm choosing to use those. then they've been gone 12 weeks where previously they may have only been gone six. But wouldn't that be up to the school district to say, "No, we give six weeks." Your FMLA says six weeks, so people can just use it whenever. I mean, I've seen people that have had their time not approved. So why would this be different? You've seen people with FMLA time not approved? No, but the doctor is not

106going to say you the doctor is going to say you have six weeks from this event. You have six weeks and you're going to take it concurrent, right? So then how would I say, "Okay, I'm going to take six more leaves." A six more weeks of leave after what the doctor already said. The doctors will set a minimum time for them to come back. FMLA is guaranteed for 12 weeks regardless. The employee doesn't need to have a note from the doctor saying, "Yeah, you can be gone weeks 7 through 12." They can choose that because that's a right given to them by the FMLA legislation. They don't have to have something from their doctor saying, "Yeah, you can be gone 12 weeks." That's that is part of the law. So when we schedule when we

107budget for substitutes, we budget for maternity leave, we budget for this. So that's I I just we don't we're not in the hip surgery business. I understand what we're saying that not all other staff are getting it, but I can also say as someone who even when I wasn't going on maternity leave, I wanted that for my peers. Um so again, I I'm not going to keep pushing it. Um and I don't think that we should move it on to an agenda if there aren't enough people that want to continue talking about it. I'm not for it on the agenda. It sounds like we have too many questions right now still even after this. Then I would like to get the questions answered, right? I mean, that's what work the work session's for. Then we

108go to a work session and ask more questions. Okay. So, okay, let's do this then. Let's do that. Um, put on any questions that they have. Well, now we have a a sample policy. We hadn't had a sample policy before. Yeah. Okay. Let's email our questions to me or you. Yeah. To both of us. That'd be good. Okay. And then this will go on the work session for May 12th. Okay. Okay. Thank you for the conversation. Uh the last item I think it is, is it? No. No. Sorry. Okay. Um, not the last item. Uh, long range plan update. Just wanted to give you guys an update as to where you're at, where we're at. Um, I know that you talked about it at the work session that I was absent. So, if I repeat

109uh some things that were said, I apologize. Uh, but if you notice to your attachment, uh, there is a community bond survey. And we met administratively u just for an hour. So you know that uh we have a meeting scheduled on May the 2nd this Friday. We have another one scheduled on May the 26 or May the 16th. Uh so we will be meeting uh administratively to discuss uh the long range plan in itself. But a question that kept getting brought up in our conversation was why? And I think it's important that we answer the why. We have to figure out why um the voters did not support what we put out there. And so, um, there is a a survey that will go out to the community. It takes less than two minutes. I

110know there were some concerns in regards to, uh, people taking the the, uh, taking advantage of the survey and taking it a hundred times. I did meet with Eileen and Ashley before the meeting and they said that we can control that from our end. I'm I'm not here to tell you uh how that happens because I don't know what the I'm not technology I'm not the technology person but uh they did say that we could do that. So um we'll discuss this if you guys have any questions in regards to the survey uh it will go out tomorrow morning and then we'll get the survey back and we'll have the results by the work session on on the 12th. Uh the second piece in regards to uh the long range plan um I know that

111uh um within the room administratively there was nobody that expressed that we needed to be a three high school system. But I will tell you that there were a lot of questions into what that looks like. Right? We didn't discuss or plan for uh plan B along the way because we had plan A. And so um can you really have a two high school system with Lafayette and Central? You know, I can't answer that right now, but I would venture to say, and this is just Gabe speaking, that that would uh you know, I I don't know that that possibility looks very very good without spending money. And uh so with that being said, uh we reached out to the architects. Uh they are going to come in uh they're going to walk through um

112the facilities that we have and provide us with some sort of recommendation on what we can do to get to a two high school system. So there was no question that we wanted to get to a two high school system, but what that two high school system looks like, I think it's hard for us to answer right now. Now, um I do think that they could be here later this week um or next week. And he did say uh DLR did say that they would provide us with a timeline and they were comfortable that they could get out ahead of this and they could provide us something by June. I know that it was spoke to at the work session last time uh that it would be the fall. Um, and I I don't believe

113that that would be the case. What would be the fall? They they had mentioned, I think, in the work session that we would have a plan by fall. Um, I think the architect felt comfortable that they could have something by June, but we're still counting on the results of the surveys. Absolutely. Yeah, that's going to be part of it. I mean, I think that's first, Kim. I mean, I think the why is more important than anything. Yes. So I so I do have some concerns that our focus has once again shifted to just two high schools. Um when in reality Prop 2 was about the entire district. We talked at at least I thought it was um it we still sit here today with two middle schools that are 67 and 8, two middle schools

114that are seven and eight. We have elementary schools from 280 population to 580 population. We have feeder pattern issues. So I I just am concerned that again we're we went through all of this for the last three years. Um talking about elementary schools, then we went to middle schools, then we went back to elementary schools, then we went to the high school. And again, Prop Two, the long range plan was about that entire system. And now we're back to only talking about the high schools. I don't think that's the case. No, it was it was the entire system. Our discussion administratively was the entire system in itself, but two high schools was the end result from that from that piece. I have a question about the surveys. Okay. So the you mentioned it's about the

115why why Prop 2 failed. Okay. But it's not about if we're going to keep open all three high schools or not. I'm just asking about the purpose because we're asking about the why Prop 2 failed. Is this also about keeping open Benton as a high school? Well, you can add that question if you wanted to. No, but I don't. I'm asking about the intent of the administration. Oh, no. I I think it's more um it's more was it a financial situation? Uh was it because we didn't provide enough information and was it not a plan? Was it an idea? Th those are the types of things I think that it's only about that have been mentioned why people were not in agreement with building a new high school. what we had put. Yes. So I

116think that they didn't like Right. Well, you know, I don't know. I mean, I think that's what you have to answer. That's why we have Yeah. So, I guess my question is because I worry that this survey is is somewhat misleading to people to think um if I fill out this survey and I say that I want three high schools, is that a direction? So, what so let's say that happens. Let's say the only people that are compelled to take this are people that um are trying to keep the three high school model. Let's say that's what it comes back with. What's the recommendation of the administration going to be? I I don't I don't think I can I mean I can't sit here and answer that um without knowing what's going to come back.

117Well, but again, I think there's some issues and I emailed those about how this is going out. I I mentioned I think ensuring that people that are taking it were voters. You can get the voter file, you can send it out that way. Um so I worry about the accuracy of what you're going to receive. But more so my concern is that we if we've if we've said, okay, we're moving to two high schools, that we're giving some sort of glimmer of hope to people that that may not happen. And and that's what I wouldn't want to do. I wouldn't want people to say, "Okay, well, there's still, you know, there's still a possibility or whatever either." And and if there is if there is if there's, you know, three or four people that are

118like, "No, I think we need to revisit the whole thing and not do it." Um, then let's be honest with that. Um, it just I I worry that we're going to send out a um email. It's going to lead people to think that this might change the high school. We might go back on the long range plan. Um, I don't know if that's where we're at or not. I'm sorry, Kim. Go ahead. Go ahead. I'm looking at the survey and there's not an option on here. I want three high schools. There's a lot of comment sections. Yeah, that's the only which I think that's fine. Even if you're not voters, they should fill out that survey, too. I think my question more is is if we're going to revamp this, I mean after this moving

119forward, who's going to sit down and make that decision? Who's re revamping what we had if we are doing with the two high schools? Like, is there a way we can have committees back to help make that so everybody's on the same page and we get the community support or is it just going to be us board again? I guess that's where I'm stuck at. Well, I think that that's what uh that's what the architect's there for you to help guide that, you know, because that that's their business and they'll know um what the best avenue is to get from point A to point B. I agree. I think because it was a no vote, we have to take that into consideration. We also have to trust them. It's the public. We're asking them for

120money to do this. So, we have to trust that they're going to be good community members and fill out a survey if they want or come have a voice. I don't think we can discount that and be afraid of bad answers coming back or someone filling out 10 questionnaires. We We have a responsible community and if they said no, we've got to find out the reason for that. I have a question about you made a comment about um Central and Lafayette. Okay. So, if we choose in order to put like a bond in April 26 to revamp Lafayette and Central and it's a no, then what happens? I I guess you have to first of all you have to uh you have to figure out whether it's even possible um to do that without doing

121anything because I can you know I I I'll just be honest with you. I'm not a big proponent of dumping a bunch of money into old buildings. So um I can imagine there's a lot of people in the community that would say the same thing. Um, but I guess you have to do at the end of the day, you have to do right by kids. And is it right by kids to try to squeeze them all into those spaces? I don't know what it looks like, but I I I want the answers. Can it work before you say that you can they're going to do it? Okay. My next question is why would you make that into a plan B and you don't know if it's a feasible plan? Well, because we didn't look at

122plan B. I mean, it it it says it's a feasible plan by the number of kids that you can put into the by the building capacity. Okay. So, is is Lafayette I guess the question is can you put 1300 kids in Lafayette? Well, that's what we'd ask the district, right? I mean, that's what I mean, you guys have these capacities. I mean, I'm looking at it like this is that you guys No, I I don't know that it's incorrect, but I I I created a plan that we supported completely all of your plan completely backed you and now it's like, well, I don't know if this will work. Well, I don't know. Dr. Eric, uh, you know, one one thing we haven't talked about is the ongoing operating costs of the district. And so if

123you if you take the focus away temporarily from the high school level, you know, we had a lot of uh building changes and consolidation and uh, you know, better using facilities to their capacity. Um, in the long range plan, we have it in the long range plan. And so I I would have an ask of administration, can we put together kind of where we've been the last few years with operating costs versus income and then project that out to where we're going to be two years, five years from now. You know, I I I think one of the things that we're mi miss missing is we need we need to find the numbers, but I think it's likely that we you know, if people say what we want, if the survey comes back and says

124what we want is the status quo, I suspect that we can't afford to live there very long. And so I I don't know what we can do, but I'd like to see those those projections uh put out there, too. What's the cost of not doing anything? Our kids. Yeah, that's and that that's where I agree. That's what it comes back to the Yeah. Yeah. And so then that'll help make the decision on, hey, what have we got to do? What makes sense to spend on some of these facilities to get them to get them in the right place. And I think that I I hear what you're saying and I and I don't I don't want to put a lot of money into anundy old building either, and I understand that. Um, I think that

125the district is going to have to find a solution that is part of what we can control. I can't control whether or not a bond issue passes. I can't control whether or not um a no tax increase bond issue passes. I can't control any of that. So, I think we need to have this plan B. You know, we've talked unless this was not accurate, which I I I don't believe it wasn't. If our issue is the quality of education that our students are or are not receiving, if the issue was we have a concentration of staff here and not here and we need to better utilize our resources, that's what I preached for three months. If that's still the issue, then the kids at Cardan Park are still getting separated into four four middle schools.

126That's not good for kids. Um, you know, and and so many other issues. So, go back to public input. We haven't had any more public input than we've had to vision forward organized, right? Uh, uh, multiple parts of town. I mean, we, you know, that that was good public input. I trust that more than I trust a survey. Well, I think public input gonna be needed now with plan B. I don't think it should just be this is it. Like if I I I agree with you. You should go with a long range plan, but I don't think this is the right plan. And I think we're going to have to get the community involved and do it again. But but we're acting like we have time. We're acting like our kids have time and

127our staff have time. The longer we go without any plan, the status quo changes stays the same. Staff get concerned about is my building going to be back up or is my building not going to be back up. They start making decisions for their future that they can control. I think we need a plan that is not hinging upon other votes, other things like that. like we we have to make a good decision for our kids and staff whether that's you know at this point whatever that looks like whether it's three schools two schools at the end of the day I don't I don't care how many schools we have as long as we can say we're doing what's best by kids and I know that we all think feel that way but we got

128to come up with something quickly and it's not just because you know we got to make a decision it the longer we wait the or our kids are not getting fair opportunities at all levels. Yeah. But that was the purpose of creating a long range plan. Like it was a plan A and a plan B. Are we still looking at B or are you guys introducing a C? If we're looking at B, how do we make B work? That's what I want to know. Yeah, because you're you're going to have to look they're going to have to look at more than just the high schools. You know what I mean? Like if we're talking and you know, back to your point, Mike, about putting money in things. Well, a lot of times we haven't put

129money into things because they're old. And then we say, well, you know, Bod Middle School, we don't know how much longer we're going to use you, but your but your gym doesn't have heating and air conditioning because we might close you down someday. In the meime, in a decade. So, at some point, just for daytoday comfort of people, you're going to have to put some money somewhere. Well, the other factor that factors in there, too, is humans in the classrooms to teach. And I know there are less and less people graduating with a teaching degree from a traditional standpoint because we're hiring people for a variety of different reasons. And um that's where I have a great concern that we're going to be able to continue to have what we have and have good teachers

130in there because at the end of the day it's the human in the classroom that really makes children learn or not learn, not any kind of a building that we have. And I I know what Missouri Western is graduating in the fall and it is not pretty. Um two well zero secondary at this point in time. Three elementary and nine early childhood is all we're graduating. And so um at some point we're going to reach a point where there's there is not going to be enough teachers. And I think we're already there. Oh, I do too. Yeah, I definitely and you mentioned a good point. Good teachers. Yeah. I don't want Are we going to be in a position where we we're already at the warm body point? Exactly. Well, maybe a paid parental leave

131would help too soon. Was that too soon? Just keep plugging away at it. Good discussion. Yeah. Um help us drive conversation for Friday. So, in June, what are we going to see? You'll be bringing an update at the work session then on Yeah, we have Yeah, we have a meeting this Friday administratively. This is exactly what we did. What's that update going to look like? Is there going to be like a rough draft of a plan? Well, hopefully a timeline. Okay. A timeline will be on the 12th. Well, hopefully. Yes. When we had talked to the uh um architect, we we told him we would like to have a a timeline by the 12. So, I'll talk to him tomorrow. What So, what components? He's watching though. Um like just the high schools, you know?

132No, no, no. It's the entire district. Okay. Yeah. So, it'll be like um like plan A was. Yeah. But without the Yeah. Without new two new schools. Well, and I think that's you know, we talked about even even the fact that we talk about two schools and still not what everything Well, I guess we had that in there. I'm just concerned about that we get so off track talking about high schools that we don't acknowledge that we have elementary and middle issues that need to be addressed quickly. emphasized by the public. Perfect. Anything else on this topic? Okay. Um a tentative timeline. Okay. Um board policy review process. Um, if you've looked at your emails and it's also attached on the agenda, um, I've been working with MSBA about a process to review the policies.

133As you know, we've not really looked at the policies in a while, especially after the ending of the committees over a year ago. And there are many of the policies and they are either irrelevant or outdated. And so if you look at the information attached um there's a a schedule and it will um it's about reviewing all of the policies in a year's time. Um on the email there are a couple of options because we can either do this a couple of ways. Create a committee to review the policies, come back at the work session to explain them and then approve them at the meeting afterwards. or we can continue as is and everybody have a look at them, review them at the work session, approve them at the meeting. I gave two different options

134cuz number one, there's lots of policies and we're very kind of busy people and I know that I enjoy policies. Not everybody enjoys reading lots and lots of policies, right, Mike? Correct. And this way board members are able to be as involved as you want to. Um, and then it will also it will also allow us to touch all all of the policies as you guys know. I mean in the last year at times um board members and admin kind of needed to know a policy and it was not known in a timely manner. I want to improve that. What do you guys think? Ballpark. Uh how many policies do we have? So if you think about covering it in a year we have depends on that. Does a 100 a month do it? Have

135you ever done a course and you're reading like a Bible in a year. It's kind of like that. Um it's a process that you need to keep up with. Um or you can jump in as you need to. Like if you look at the information attached at the beginning, it's mentioning um school board, right? governance and operations, community relations. I thought that those were really important because there is a new board member, right? And so I'm thinking if we looked at each of those in the next month to see if there's any revisions, anything like that. And admin of course, you know, are welcome to join in. But what do you guys think? I know it's a lot of work on top of a lot of work, but this is what we signed up for.

136So, what do y'all think? And if you have a committee, who's on the committee? It'd be up to us. Lata and I were the only ones that would need to do this before. And truthfully, aren't we supposed to look at them as a whole every three years? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And it's been over three years. 2019 was the last time we went over all. Right. And do we did you say we do all in one section or you separate them out? No, no, no. If you look at your agenda, it's a it's a section schedule attached and it will actually take us until the end of August. I left it at the end of August just in case we get off track. or we get kind of slow and we need, you know, to

137revamp the schedule. I mean, they're really not that bad. Some of them are pretty short and some of them are pretty straightforward. There I don't think this is going to be crazy. And then I also think and some of them have been updated. Yeah. And then I also think it will be really really helpful in a year to be able you know to say that we've read all of the policies. Of course we won't retain all the information you know okay but if there is an incident it will maybe trick one of us into remembering about the policy. I mean, I think that it will help us be a better educated board in making decisions. Okay. So, sounds like you may be recommending the entire board review. Actually, I'm okay with either way. Yeah, it's

138I mean I guess I'm too I'm okay with I'm okay with all of us doing a review until we get to a point and we want to make a change later. You guys okay with that? I'm good with that. All right. If you look at the schedule, I made an announcement. be ready to discuss all of B's policies, K's policies at the May agenda meeting. Any questions? The May work session. May work session. Yes, I was reading read one thing, said one thing. So, can prior to that meeting, can admin give or at least like bring the administration to say here's our thoughts. Gabe, yep. Gabe says, "Yeah." So part of that I've known we've only done one board evaluation also and it calls for that every June, right? So that's something that can begin

139or can keep going. Yes. Yes. I've already spoken about that in order to because we will also begin the um superintendent evaluation immediately after she's hired because there's a process also for that too. If we Oh, I do have a question. So, we look over these and re we see whatever we see. Do we need to let you know right away? Do we just wait till the board meeting comes and then we talk about it or what's the process after we've read over them all? After you rate them, if you want to email them over to me or you want to keep them, I mean, I'm okay with that. I mean, okay. I do think that if there is at least a little discussion prior, it will make the meeting go more smooth. Yeah. Because

140there's lots of policies And then as I also mentioned in the information, I'm on the committee to create the policies of MSBA and so I know a lot about the policies. If there's any questions about any of them, are there any other questions? I do have another one. So if MSBA created the policy, yes, we can't change it or can we change it? We can change it unless it's like a portion of like a state statute. Okay. So theirs are really just Yeah. So yours are theirs are just really here's a suggestion recommendation and here's we've done all the work ahead of time for you. Okay. Yes. We're about to have fun guys, right, Mike? Correct. Okay. Next on the agenda is my update from MSBA. Um, if you can have a look at that,

141it's pretty lengthy. Um, was a lot going on in the Osho, Missouri. I had never been there before. Interesting little town with some amazing new facilities. Um, but their number one message is is advocacy. I listed in the information some bills in order to keep an eye on um about public education and then I've also mentioned like about their recommendations and advocacy points and things like that. Um are there any questions comments about that information? Thanks for the report. Thanks for going. No problem. How many days are we down there? Three days. There is not a Starbucks for over 20 miles. There's not hardly anything. period. There was a coffee shop and they learned my name. They learned my name while I was down there and they pronounced it correctly. But um it's only an

142info item and so if you have a question about anything I mentioned in the report, if you can text, email, or call me, I'll be glad to answer. It's always it's a lot of work being on that other board. I always learn a whole whole lot though and so and it gets me gets me energized for coming home and advocating for our kids in our district on another level. Anything else on that? Okay, perfect. What's next? Yeah, go ahead. Okay, future meetings and events. May 12th, board work session 5:30. May 18th, um, high school graduation, Lafayette 1, Benton 4, Central 7. May 20th, last day of school. May 23rd and 26, Memorial Day break. The district is closed. Uh please make note that the regular board meeting uh will be Tuesday May 27th at 5:30

143May 27th through June 18th summer school from 7:15 to 1:30. We need to adjourn need a motion to adjourn to executive session pursuant 610.021 021 closed meetings and closed records for three hiring, firing, discipline, and promoting particular employees and 13 individually identifiable personnel records. Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you. Would you call the vote, please? M. Williams? Yes. Miller? Yes. Miss Chzn? Yes. Miss Karns? Yes. Miss Lanning? Yes. Mr. Moore? Yes. This meeting's adjourned.