001Hello. It is 6 o'clock and I will call the February 25th, 2026 regular board meeting to order. We have seven board members present. That'll bring us to item 2A, adoption of the agenda. I will entertain a motion. >> So move. >> A second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. >> Thank you. That brings us to item 3A, program highlight Jones Early Child Development Center. >> Yes. Do I have to do that still? Good evening. >> It was It was toggled to off, but okay. Good evening. Thank you for having us. I apologize because we were supposed to have someone else with us today who is unable to make it last minute. So, Miss B McGathan Mia, who is our student support specialist, and I are going to um
002tell you some things about Jones Early Childhood Development Center tonight, and we'll have some time at the end if you have any questions for us. So, first of all, a lot of people in our community still don't know that Jones exists. And all the time we're getting parents or grandparents or even sometimes Door Dash drivers who were like, I didn't know this building was out here. Um, so one of the things that our staff talks about a lot is how do we get the word out to the community of all the work that we're doing and all the things that we offer at Jones. So, thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak tonight. Jones is the home of two main programs. Most people know about our Early Childhood preschool program, but we also
003are the home to the Infant Toddler Services of Kansas serving the Flint Hills, which is another program that is housed in our building with its own staff. So, we want to talk a little bit about both of those today. Miss B is here. She has worked very closely with that program and she's also the student support specialist at Jones. So, she's going to help us out with some of those pieces. Um, so Casey, could you go back one more for just a second? So, um, just a few things about Jones is that we have 10 classroom teachers. 10 classrooms at Jones. They are three and four-year-old classrooms. All of our classroom teachers are early childhood special education certified. And all of our students every day have daily instruction in literacy, math, social emotional skills, science,
004and social studies from district approved curriculum. That's a big deal because when I first got here, we didn't have district approved curriculum in all of those areas. So, we do now and that has been something that we have seen growth in our data in those areas. So, thank you to the district for allowing us to have those services or those um curriculums. We also have related services, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy on site at Jones for any students who might need those services through their individual education programs. The infant toddler services is also at Jones and it houses children from it serves children from birth to age three. So before they can enter preschool they are served by those. It's a team that has multiple disciplines covering speech and motor and early childhood
005development and they support families and children in the home or their natural environment. So they might be going to the home, they might be going to daycare or to grandma's house if that's where they are during the day. They might be going to the library with the family or to a park um and working on goals that the family wants to work on. That group of providers covers five counties. So they are not just Emporia, they are all over the place and they go to Dwight and they go to Eureka and they go to Burlington and they go to Leroy and Gridley and all these other towns around. Um so they are moving and going all over. Thanks Casey. So, um, Jones currently has 205 students. Um, 59 of those students are students with IEPs,
006individual education programs, and 90 of those students are students that are English language learners. And we have those 10 classroom teachers. We also have our student support specialists and an instructional strategist that are with us all the time. And then that infant toddler program, it has three full-time early childhood special educators and it has three part-time related service providers. So that speech pathologist, occupational therapist, and physical therapist that works with that team are part-time contracted providers. They also have a full-time administrative assistant because I am the coordinator of the infant toddler program as well as the principal at Jones. So I could not do both things without a really amazing administrative assistant. Um, so she is very helpful. She knows all the things. Um, but she works year round with that team. That whole team
007is funded by a grant from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. It is separate from KSDE. It is KDH. And so we get a grant from them every year that covers a bulk of that program. Um, that is from state aid and some federal funding that filters in through the state. That whole team also bills Medicaid for their services. So, we get some Medicaid reimbursement for that team. We also can claim some categorical aid in the special education world to help with that program. And then the Flint Hill Special Education Cooperative also does pick up some of what all of those other sources do not cover. That program currently has 76 students, children from birth to three in it, and 13 are in that referral and evaluation process right now. So we are touching
008the lives of lots and lots of little bitties. So Jones is also the home to um three extra people who are out and about providing some services all around. So um our mobilizing literacy family liaison for the district for the community um is her office is at Jones. That is a grant-f funed position and the entire purpose of that is helping aid kindergarten readiness, finding students that are not in preschools, um helping with parent training. She goes to mommy and me classes. She goes to community baby showers. She goes to the library um storytime events to try to find children that are not in preschools and get them to preschool. She works with area preschools and daycarees and provides them some of the same curriculums we use at the district level so that we're trying
009to level the playing field so all the kids who go to kindergarten are getting exposed to the same things and so that grant allows us to provide those curriculum materials and resources to area daycarees and preschool programs as well. So she does a lot. Um we also have an itinerant special education provider who is there are students in Emporia who need special education services who do not come to Jones. So she goes to them. So she goes to Emporia Childare, she goes to Little Lions, um she goes to Sacred Heart, she goes to Head Start and provides those special education services to the students whose families choose to send them somewhere other than Jones because as a district it is our responsibility to provide those special education services for children in our district. She also
010travels to the member districts of the cooperative and provides services in those member districts when they do not already have an early childhood special education program. More and more of those member districts have gotten those as I have been here, but they still don't all have three-year-old services or a space for that. So, she goes into those places and provides those services. And then the last, we also are home to the district daycare director. We have one of the district daycare classrooms, but the daycare director is also finds her home at Jones. So, just a few things that people often don't know that we also have. All right. So, we wanted to take a little bit and just tell you a little bit about Jones um and all the different things that we offer for
011our students. When we made the move from Mater to Jones, we under we went on this grand adventure of choosing a new mascot. And we chose the bumblebee and we had lots of conversations about the characteristics of bumblebees and what they do for the world and how they work. And when we made the move and kind of got settled, one of the things that we decided was that we really wanted to hone in on what are some characteristics that we want to make sure we are instilling in all the children who come through Jones. So we did lots of exercises with staff on brainstorming words and looking up different things and what do we want our learners to look like and as a staff we decided on these four words. So we want our Jones
012Bumblebees to be engaged, to be motivated, to be capable and to be problem solvers. And we feel like if they are those four things, they will be successful no matter where they go and what they do. We like every other building in the district have lots of opportunities for family engagement. And this is a list of several of them and just some pictures from throughout the year. But we are working really hard to make sure our parents feel a partnership with us to make sure our parents feel welcome in our building. Um, one of the things that I feel strongly about is that when we have these family activity nights that we have translators available because a large amount of our families speak Spanish in the home. So, our attendance at our family events has
013been very, very high. Um, which is a testament to our families and how much they care about education and support us. So, lots of things going on all throughout the year and some partnerships up there with other people that come in and help us out with some of those. The last thing about Jones before we talk a little bit about infant toddler um is that we provide a lot of unique learning opportunities at Jones. We do not take our children on field trips, but we bring the field trips to us. So, the pumpkin patch, the zoo, the library, the fire department, um all the high school kids that come and do different things, we work really hard to make sure that we are still exposing children to life experiences that they may not be having
014outside of school and bringing those things in that reinforce learning and make them really, really excited. Um, you want to see some excited kids come on the day when the zoo has brought a creature. um when there's an animal in the building, they're very excited about it. Um and you know, we are learning about animals and living and non-living things and habitats and all those things. So, we can talk about that with the zoo. The other opportunity that we have at Jones, we don't have special classes like the elementary schools where we have art and music and PE, but we do have a motor lab that was created with our motor team, the occupational therapist and physical therapist that the kids can visit twice a week and they go through stations and they work on
015things like balance and core strength and hand eye coordination and crossing the midline and all these motor skills that we're finding that some of our children are coming to school delayed in. we have that opportunity available for them at Jones. >> We also we also have um the discovery kitchen which is also pretty exciting because the kids love to come and uh gather around the kitchen counter and they do some awesome cooking. Um I heard tales about the muffin man and the gingerbread man for a long time after they did some cooking in the kitchen for that. But um my name is uh B McGathan Mahia and I am the student support specialist, but I've been with the district um since 2007. I was a special education school social worker and um itinerate and traveled
016all over. But I've had a connection with Maynard and the infant toddler team since the start. And I'd have to say it's a real blessing to have that experience of having worked with children from birth all the way till they transition out of high school in my role. And um so I was really excited when the student support specialist position came up to be able to be full-time um at Jones um just because I've been able to experience that whole how that early childhood piece makes such a huge huge difference and had that ability to um work with children at like two years old in the infant toddler team and I've seen them go all the way through high school and into their adult life and that's been an amazing blessing in my life and
017our infant toddler team is just pretty amazing and I think it's pretty awesome that it is housed within um the Jones building and that we have that partnership where it just is a seamless transition from the point that they come in through infant toddler. They can re receive services within the home from certified providers. They work within a coaching model and so they can get um they get an early childhood special education person, a speech language pathologist, an occupational therapist, a physical therapist. um they have also access to um vision specialists, social work services, um all of those things and we utilize a coaching model and so they don't get all of those people bombarding their home. The team meets routinely to talk about the needs of the family and every person on that team
018feels competent to be able to help support the needs of that child in the home um or in the community setting wherever is works best for that family. And then when that child is ready for transition um to preschool, um that partnership and um knowledge of the school team and us being housed together has just been really pretty amazing for when they come here. And but also they go out to all the other outlying districts as well and build those partnerships. And so, uh, those ladies on that team were pretty amazing and I hope, um, if you get a chance that you'll come and meet some of them and come visit our building any time, um, because it really is an awesome place to be. Um, we do get referrals from doctors, daycarees, families, DCF,
019St. Francis, um, and other schools for these services. Um, we do free developmental screenings, um, and provide services 12 months a year. So they are working through the summer as well. Um and all the services that are provided are under IDEIDA and the office of special education programs. So um let us do you have any questions? I had a question about the on the early childhood side >> funding wise. Remind me how much do we get much from the state or is it more locally funded or how's that work? That's a great question. So, um, we get funding for at risk students at 0.5 FTE. So, all of our students who qualified to attend Jones as at risk, we get funded for.5 FTE for them. And then we also get funding for any of the
020students who have an individualized education program. So, those students on IEP, those special education students, that is the main reason why the district decided to um limit Jones in a way to those students primarily. We have a small handful of students, I think this year only seven, um, that we call typical peers that don't meet one of those characteristics. Um, but primarily those two funding sources are what funds Jones from the state level. Great question. >> That was on my list. Good job, Grant. >> It sounds like an awesome building to be in and I'm sure the kids love it. Um, you said that you currently have 205 students in the um, early childhood preschool section. Yeah. What What's your cap on that? What's >> 274. So, you've still got a little room. >> Yeah.
021>> Okay, good. Thanks. >> Anything else? >> Yeah, since you've been open, you've got 205 students now. Has that pretty much been consistent throughout the years, or has that gone up or down? >> The highest um enrollment that Jones has had since I've been here, this is my fifth year, is 228. >> Thank you very much. >> I am told that prior to COVID, there were years when it was up closer to 300. Um, but again, we're seeing declining enrollment everywhere, but since I've been here, 228 is the highest enrollment we've had. >> Okay, thank you very much. >> Thank you so much. >> Great pres. >> The next item is 3B, public comments. Do we have any public comments? >> We do not. >> Okay. Uh I'm going to move on to the consent
022agenda. Uh if I scroll down, items listed on the consent agenda are those for which the board has received information in advance and have been thoroughly reviewed. Approval of the items may be made in a single motion and a majority vote with no separate discussion of any item listed. Should a member of the board desire to discuss any item at their request that will be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately. >> I move to adopt the consent agenda. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. >> Thank you. That's going to bring us to item 6A, 2025 2026 KISSA school improvement day. >> Yeah, I'll turn this over to Miss Cheryl Leeds, our assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, and her and the teaching and learning
023crew are going to talk to you a little bit about the keys today. I I referenced this uh activity in my report last time and uh but they'll do a much better job of giving you a feel for what actually occurred there. >> I'm going to let uh Dr. Mcnamar begin. So, >> all righty. Good evening everyone. So, this Kissa uh school improvement day, it is our yearly day that we meet with like systems um in a centralized location. Um myself as well as this team and um Mr. Walker Heirs and Mr. Nathan Fischer joined us um in Salina with Hayes as well as Salina. In that day, we review our action plans. We talk about and present what we've done in the past year. This is all information and work that our district has
024been doing throughout the whole year. Every building has a KISSA rep. So we have that collective efficacy and communication loop coming from buildings to the district team and back down to the buildings with the work that we're doing. Um next year the our cohort will add Hutchinson the Hutchinson school district as well. Um and so we're all just like systems doing similar things. Um what is nice um as a district we identified our fundamental for the past year as quality instruction and our structure that we used was that professional learning and educator evaluation. So you've heard a lot about the different um evaluation to um walkthroughs tools that we've used. Well, this focuses primarily on SCOP and Paula will be talking more about that and as that um tool model the implementation. This helped us
025to have a well our focus drove us to identify this with our population of students who are limited English or um non-English-speaking students. We wanted to help have a good structure of instruction to not only help their acquisition of English and our learning objectives, but also to benefit all learners. So, I'm gonna turn it over to Paul. Perfect. So the professional learning component of it is the training of SCOP throughout the previous school year and this year. And I am incredibly fortunate that Dr. Mickelson was in this position before me because it was all laid out. Um I definitely got to absorb some really well-laid plans. Um, when I came into this position in the 20 the previous school year, they went through sessions one through five and that was completed by a team that
026was trained in the train the trainer model. They went through, they did all of that. They were prepared. They were um using the same material. So, we didn't have to worry about any variance, any of those pieces in place. And then this year, we are finishing that. So sessions 6 through 12, the teams are on their professional learning days continuing to train the remainder of the sessions. >> Thank you. So you might see a yellow on here and sometimes that makes us pause a little that it's a negative. So session one, the first target was met at the end of last year. Sessions one through five, every site completed that. This year we did not meet the goal per se for session 6 through 12 because we had identified February 2026 as that end date
027and Ryan can cont contribute to this too. But the date doesn't matter as far as KSD is concerned. That's not a negative. We're still accreditated all of those good things. But when the schedule, the calendar changed, um the PLT, PLC times, it just wasn't realistic to complete it by February. But by May of this year, all 12 modules will be completed by each of the sites, as well as plans for next year, how to build this in for new educators when they join our district so that they are exposed to the same information so that they know the SCUP model and how we're using that in our classrooms. Okay, >> as we were uh the other ladies were speaking about the SCOP model. Um that is a way that the administrators and instructional coaches can
028go in and do observations of the instructional practices and give feedback to our teachers and in that it helps us develop um a greater capacity for our teachers. um in the first six months of last year, well it was actually the beginning of this year um we got our our tool built and as we built our tool we realized it was very cumbersome. We had a SCOP tool, we had our observe for success tool and it was hard to manage. started out paper and pencil and then we went to technology and with the input of our instructional coaches and our uh building administration. We were able to merge the two tools into one tool make it very doable, very uh immediate feedback so that teachers got the information they were able to turn those uh
029observations into practice. um this year um by the February 5th um we our goal was to have our um 50% of the tool uh was SCOP. So 50% of our data was SCOP. So we were really going in and are we uh practicing what we have been preaching um we did data review and analysis. Um we built our data talks on them. We h actually have u metrics that we're looking at during data talks where we're looking strictly at our observed for success. So um so we're we are able to adjust things as we we see fit as we need. Um on the evaluator targets as you can see we met all of our targets that we set forth. Um we were able to create our tool had it in place by last May. Um,
030we developed observation expectations by last May. We utilized it by this February. We've we've got got in, we used it, and now we're utilizing our data. So the impact on students and teachers, the students are going to get they can expect to get a more inclusive structured environment where they get an increased opportunity to talk, read, write uh and engage in what their content is. Um the teachers can get um clear expectations and a framework uh so that they can support their multilingual learners. Um they also have more effective strategies that they can implement. Um so let's talk a little about next steps. Um, as you see our school improvement plan from this year and as we transition to next year, the things we do this year are not dropping off. It's just our focus
031is on something else, but we're going to continue the things. So, we're going to continue with SCOP. That's not going away. That's our instructional model. We're going to continue to monitor our instruction through our walkthrough tool. We're going to start, well, we started in February with this, but we're going to continue to integrate our our um our walkthrough data, observe success data with our student success data like state assessments, fast, things like that. We're going to start really to focus on our instructional practices and really work to improve our core. Um, which means we're going to really focus on our tiered one instruction, which is going to lead us to standards alignment. And then also we need to start um looking at our how is our instruction meeting the expectations of the standards and to
032do some of that to assess whether or not we're doing doing that or not. We're going to start looking at the kite mini tests and doing some formative assessments through those. So down the road we're looking to balance assessment but it's all happening at the same time. We just need to have a focus for our school improvement plan. So the next one. So this is kind of our timeline. Um we've been working on our our new plan. We got feedback on the 5th. So, we've been working on our plan um tonight. Um we're going to seek a little bit of feedback about our direction. Um our direction is to improve our core moving forward in a standards alignment. Um so, we think about our fundamental being standards alignment. We're going to focus on resource allocation,
033which means um are we utilizing our resources at the correct level? Um is our curriculum guides aligned to the instructional or to the standards and expectations? And then we're also going to talk about professional collaboration as a as a structure which is going to be our summer curriculum camp and the work that we're going to do with our teachers to work on those curriculum guides. So u March 3 we're going to work with the teachers on that some that's our team meeting our accreditation design team meeting. We're going to work to define our targets and then we're going to work to identify a strength and a gap in our last year's plan so we can so we can either carry that forward or improve it. Some of the strengths that um KSC came up with,
034they thought that we did a good job with our end in mind and our quality training that we did with Sy was good. Um some gaps would be our resources and our need to adjust as we moved. We we moved a lot. We we had to adjust a lot from our plan. So that's one thing we're going to do better this year is try to have a plan that's I guess a little bit more realistic. We took a big bite for that first one and it was probably a little too big. So we're going to adjust that a little bit. However, we're still going to do a lot. March 11th, we're going to seek approval for that new plan. So, um, and the reason it's March 11th is because you'll see there April 6th, we
035need to submit our action plan. So, our timeline, whereas it's from February to April, it looks like it's a long time, but really, when you think about our board meetings and the work that we need to do to to get the new plan, we're kind of we don't have a lot of there's just not a lot of opportunity in there. But, we're working on it. We're in a pretty good place on it now. Um, and then on the 13th, we're going to share the plan with our district advisory council and get some feedback on it from them. So, I think that's our presentation. Um, we can stand for questions if you have any. >> So, as you collaborate with your the other peer districts, are you seeing similarities or challenges or what are you finding?
036>> So, we've been working with S and Hayes for quite a while. Um we were actually working as a peer team before the Kiza um 2.0 came about. So probably about 10 years we've been working with S and Hayes. And the reason we chose S and Haze is because they're very similar to us. They do a lot of the same things. Their demographics are similar. Um they do some things that we're not. We've taken some of the things that they do and we start doing that. So like like for example, we're choosing center alignment this time. Um Sl and Hayes did center alignment last year. So we're taking some of their ideas and using them to move forward. They're going to do they're wanting to maybe do some things with SCOPS. So they're going to
037pick our brain on on that. So there's a lot of collaboration like um we're working on right now I'm working with figuring out the ASQ and I'm working with them on what they do for the ASQ how that works. So it's a very collaborative group. We talk all the time with those two. >> Uh standard alignment is a nightmare I know. But um how much of that do you think they'll be able to get done at work camp? Is that the timeline you're still working on? >> Yeah. Um so the the big thing with standards alignment is our teachers have a good understanding of the standards >> and they understand their resource. Now the math is their fourth year for math and ELA. This is their third year I believe. >> They have a good
038understanding of their resource. They have a good understanding of the standards. What they were missing all along would be the expectations of what they need to do to instruct at a level three. And we were fortunate this year that KSD put out what's called the performance level descriptors which define expectations for students at each level at a level one, a level two, a level three, and a level four which help our teachers understand what the standard really means and what the expectations are. So when we talk about expectations and learning is we're looking at the PLLDS, look into our instruction and trying to figure out where our current instruction is on that continuum. And the mini tests are also important because those kind of give us clues on what some of the questions would be,
039what they look like, what does the what does a level three question look like versus a level one question. So we're doing a little bit of that now. That's helping. >> And so you'll be breaking into groups and doing this K through 12. >> Yes. And one of the things that the the mini test is they give us data so that we can really dig in and look at >> okay my classroom I did my kids did really well on this standard on this level of question. Maybe Ryan's didn't do as well. So we can collaborate and say okay what what's different? Well I used this term and I I drew this and things like that. So, it's really able allowing them to really dig in and be more diagnostic and prescriptive. >> So, you
040asked about how much we can get done. >> So, um we're hoping we can get the first semester done. I think that's where we're thinking. I hope hopefully the first semester can be done this summer. Um we're really our focus is going to be on math. Look, when you see our presentation next board meeting about our action plan, you're going to see that we're focusing on math in our in that action plan. However, um we're providing time like the elementaryaries K5 is f preK5 is focusing on math solely. 6 through 12 is focusing on math and some ELA and um then then high school and middle school is also focus a little bit on science. We're really work we chose math because the documentation and the work that KD provides us is much simpler. It's
041it's it's >> it allows >> for the process. We chose the elementary to do just math because we have one one group of teachers and they can focus and they can get really good at this process and then they can transfer that understanding to another subject. And then since we have English teachers, science teachers and math teachers at the secondary, it it seemed like a a no-brainer to go ahead and have them start the process. It sounds well thought out. Thank you. >> We're hoping to develop a process this summer that we can carry through the year >> and that that's kind of our goal. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Okay. And that's going to bring us to item 6B, the strategic plan updated measures. Yeah, I think some of the same folks are going
042to come back up and uh work on this one as well as uh Lindell will be up here for a portion of this. Um you know, we have we have we're mainly focusing on that uh social emotional side of the student achievement priority and then the the uh communications and community involvement side um of that particular priority tonight. So rather than kind of trying to give a quarterly update on everything that's going on, kind of piecing it out um into various priorities and goals at a few at a time. >> Okay. Hi again. So certificate plan just a couple of updates. So our priorities um there were the two student achievement and success and then the one within culture and communication. And as I'm sure you can guess, I'm going to focus on student achievement
043and then Lindell will come up and do the culture. So within student achievement success, excuse me, that priority was um inspired and engaged learners, safe, caring learning environment, all of those good things. This I think Dr. Cargela said it earlier, these are not oneanddone things. So okay, checkbox, we made that. This will be a continuous thing that we are working towards. I know Dr. McGee throughout cost containment and other conversations continues to promote being proactive when it comes to behavior, when it comes to social emotional learning, really focusing on that and we are so you'll continue to hear more. We'll continue to have more to share. um the measures within this. All of our elementary schools when it comes to capturing kids hearts data, all of our elementary schools met um the national school or
044the national showcase school baseline. So that means they met um where all of those schools were or were above that. So that means all six of our elementary schools have been nominated as showcase schools for CKH for this year, but we won't find out until the end of March if they um make it or not. With that, the other measure is focusing on that decrease in the undesired behaviors that result in inschool suspension and out of school suspension. We are doing a lot of work when it comes to these things and looking at majors, minors, definitions um really calibrating a lot um around what this looks like, what it means. Um KSB has been a big part of just trying to get on the same page and get our administrators, all of the people involved
045in those decisions to be consistent and concise with them. So D baseline data comes up next. So, I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Carela. >> Um, last year we shared um data with you about this time about our in school suspensions, out of school suspensions. I just updated that chart for the current school for the full school year. So, you can see that. So, you can kind of see where we ended up with 103 in school suspensions at the elementary and 109 out of school suspensions. And the percentage there represents the percentage of the school population that those incidents involved. Um so that that's kind of our baseline data. Then if you go to the next slide, that's um data up to 22 of 26. So you can see where we are there.
046And for elementary, if you remember from the last slide, we had 103 total last year and this year we have 33 so far. So we're over halfway. And our goal was to reduce by 5%. So I think we're going to we're moving in that direction on on all of these. The uh out of school suspensions are at 33. Um the middle school 132. Last year they had 240. So we're we're we're remain in good place there. And then the out of school for middle school is 77. Last year 109. High school they had 120 in school. This year they had 37. And um out of school for high school was 19 this year and they had 76 last year. So we're making some progress. The interventions we're doing seem to be working. And then we
047get into our parent teacher conferences. And this is our community engagement. Um we track this and this is some baseline data from 23 24. We've been practing this goal for several years. So this is just a reminder what that data looked like back then. So you can see most of our schools in this case were above that 95% um level. If you go to the next slide for 2425, you can see we maintain pretty good attendance in some of our schools at mo at all of our schools actually really good attendance. And then if you go to this year for elementary, you can see where we were this year on our parent teacher conferences. Um all of them were above 95% for this for the uh for the uh fall term in terms of elementary.
048And then the next slide gets into the middle school. You can see the middle school in 2324 what they did. Um they they kind of backslid slid a little bit. Then last year they picked it up a little bit from fall to spring. And this year their fall is pretty high. It's 88%. and they're hoping that their spring will be better. Um, some of the things they're doing to attract parents to conferences are is they're really working with the IPS and Naviance and we talked about Naviance, we bought that. They're going to do this the student discovery report and how that's and talk to parents how that's linked to the IPS and then that'll kind of transition. We transition to the high school and talk about them a little bit. Um, they're also the high
049school. So the high school high school if you remember we've been trying to nail nail down a goal for them. Last year we we talked about the power school loginins and all that kind of stuff. We really struggled to find a measurable goal for them. So I visited with Mr. Fiser and we looked at um the number of just the number of conferences at the high school. They have what's called open conferences which means the um so each student essentially has eight opportunities to have a conference. So if you so the high school that's about 10,000 open conferences that could occur. Now that can all happen mo most time it doesn't happen but um so so what pe what parents do is they can make an appointment to see a teacher and this year um
050and they're really going to try to focus on using Navviance and the IPS to help students with their enrollment to get in the right classes and help parents access Navian so they can see what their kids are doing. So they're hoping that that will help to increase the uh open open conference numbers. So we're hoping to have a 5% increase of that. So be be around maybe over around 450 or so. We hope Mr. Fisher is pretty he feels like we're going to make a big jump there on that. >> All right, I'm going to touch a little bit on some of the culture and communication things that we've talked about in the past and kind of update on on the on those uh particular concepts. And the uh the goal for the first one
051was to utilize multiple means of communication and engage all stakeholders. And one of the ways that we are doing that is through parent square. And so um you know we've had parent square for about a year and a half and the usage has continued to to increase. Matter of fact you know it says 53% there when we turned these in on I think it was last Wednesday we uploaded these. Uh today it was actually up to 54%. So it actually you know had had gained a little bit and so we had actually increased by 6% um overall from the 2425 school year. Um, with that in mind, we were only looking at going uh, you know, a much smaller a 2% increase. And so by going six, I feel like we were, you know, we're
052engaging more people and we're utilizing, you know, those opportunities with that uh, through that parent square usage. Um, just kind of give you some numbers to see kind of what that looks like as far as that usage since July 1. So it resets every year as far as, you know, how we're using it, the numbers and that kind of thing. uh but since July 1st of the 2025 so we have um used over 84,500 direct messages you know those were things you know that's between teachers and families and you know that kind of uh correspondence saying and communication you know that wasn't happening before in that in that manner uh we've also used over uh just under 6,000 post and so a post is anything that I would send anything that any of the schools
053would send uh you know that's since July 1 and there really wasn't a lot of that interaction in July so you know we're really looking at since mid August August uh you know to now. And then another uh part of that that I really think is interesting is photos, videos, those kinds of things have been shared. Um you know all of those things were not happening previously before when we when we didn't have parent square. And so you can see that engagement that we're having with those uh with our families and that um you know through that parent square option. Um also just to kind of talk a little bit about it. So I'll talk more about the climate survey here in just a second. Um, but I did look at the climate survey to
054see and parent square was mentioned several times in there as far as positives. So, I want to read you some of the comments that they had um, parents that have put in there. So, using parent square is a game changer. Um, I love always getting reminders and being able to message my child's teacher and getting a reply back. Um, the diversity and communication options and so our texting and things that we, you know, didn't have before. And then the school district does a great job of updating and using parent square. So, I just felt like those that those were comments that were in those pages of those open-ended questions that we had in the climate survey. So, I just wanted to point out a few of those in there as well. Uh, the second one
055I have is the climate survey survey. And we had, you know, we did the climate server survey for several years, but then when we hit COVID, we didn't do that climate survey in in the in the continuation that we had. So, we picked that back up in 2023. um we were wanting to increase that baseline data of by 5% as far as the engagement that we had. We didn't quite make that but yet the engagement that we had with this climate survey in 2025 um has been really um I feel like it's been outstanding as far as uh what we've had and one of the main differences was the open-ended questions. You know that's the feedback that I just shared as far as parent square. uh in 2023 we did not have those open-ended questions
056and just to kind of put that in perspective uh when KSB did the did the results in Senate we had 47 pages of open-ended question responses about 29% of the people that responded provided positive excuse me areas that we can improve upon then 23% of areas that we're doing great things with so I just felt like that information uh and that was in uh the Friday notes here a couple of weeks ago as well so you can kind of review that if you want to take a look at that just to see how that um engagement has been and not in with this particular climate survey. Uh with the climate survey too, just a couple of different uh caveats of it and so the numbers to me are a little bit skewed because in 2023
057this climate survey was they used survey monkey and that was what KASB used and this year was thought exchange. thought exchange does a little bit better job of getting more information, uh, more of that engagement piece and being able to, um, you know, see what parents are really thinking, community members, staff members. Um, and so I feel like we're kind of on the right track with that now. Like I said, that's changed from 2023. So I'm anxious to see what we'll look like in 2027 as well for the climate survey. Um, I believe that's all we have. If you have any questions for any of us, just uh, go ahead and ask those now. Sorry, I have a question. Uh because I'm so excited that we're actually talking about things that impact students tonight that
058it's, you know, it's is really exciting. Um I have a question about parent square because it's something I'm I'm not really familiar with. Is there any way of knowing if parents who are using it are from the early childhood, the elementary, the middle, or the high school level? Yes, we could take a look and track and see like, you know, how many messages that the high schools use, the middle schools have used, and so you could track and see exactly who's using that the most. Um, I really haven't delved into that data, but we could look at that and see and so you could get a feel as far as is it, you know, is we're pretty even across the board or is middle school using it more than high school or elementary. So, but
059yes, we could look at look into that further. I was just holding out hope that maybe the high school is going that route instead of coming to conferences >> as very very possible. >> Um I have a similar question with regard to parent square. I don't know if it was like kind of what was happening with powers school. Are there is that number of like the usage is that the app or are there maybe folks using it on the desktop version and does the percentage count both? >> Yes, that's a combination. So there are definitely people using it on the app. Um when you look into the engagement piece of it, um they're saying that every every student has put the potential to have two uh parents on there. And so we're engaging about 94%
060of the parents in some way, shape, or form. It just depends on what their preference is. >> Okay. Um and then I have a couple of other questions about conferences. Um, I just didn't know and you were kind of talking about this about like scheduling and like the open conferences. Is there another way that we could perhaps incentivize that at the high school level of how they're scheduling them? Um, and I didn't know if you had seen anything that other high schools were doing maybe perhaps from like Salina or Hayes if this came up there. Um, about other ideas how to increase engagement at the high school level because seems like the elementary and middle school are doing really well in reaching their goals for conferences. Um, no, I have not researched that, but I
061can definitely reach out to S and Haze and ask them about it. One, one of the things we talked about last year with high school conferences is that the parents, a lot of them are very aware of the grades because of the work they do. They get constant emails and text messages about scores. So, but I can um I I can check with F and Hayes and even Hudson now. They're going to be with us. I think one of the things that's going to help would be the use of Nviance and parents being able to get in there and interact with that to see what students are picking for classes to see what the IPS looks like. Mr. Fischer told me that that's kind of the that that's going to be kind of the uh
062the focus of the spring conferences is to help parents get into that Navian. So hopefully with that when they publish publicize that that's really going to get the attendance up. And they he told me that they they do encourage families to make appointments for conferences, but if a parent doesn't, they show up, teacher's open, they can take that conference to hold or they can wait for a time to be with the teacher. >> So, but but but I'll check on the incentives. >> I have a couple more questions, too. I'm I'm really excited to see the number of suspensions both in school and out of school going down. Are those generally the same students who start with inschool suspension and then proceed to move on to out of school suspension? Um, I haven't not looked
063at that trend, but when you >> when you look at that, there's 10% and 6%. Um, >> I really can't speak to that for sure, but that might be the hypothesis might be that at the end they start with in school, then they go to out of school, but >> I don't have that. >> I was just curious if it was basically the same number of students, not this amount plus this amount. Um so those those students um they would be so the first like that first 10% they're for the middle school that would be the 10% of the population that had an incident of in school suspension >> and then the second one would be 6% would be the 6% of the population that had an OSS >> right >> so to look at
064them kind of together I can't tell you that >> and my second question is do we know what's happening to cause the number to decrease because seems to me that's something important to really identify Um maybe I mean Paula do you know or Dr. you know something about that because I I'm not sure >> that's okay. Definitely. I think having um the handbook talks. I know at the middle school that is one of the things that I attribute their scene less is they really emphasize what is expected, what is what are consequences, all of those things. And so there's black and white with it. And I I really do think that they are very intentional about that at the beginning of the year and after break. So I do think at the middle school that
065is part of it. at the elementaryaries um the same consistency not not veering. So the goals that we're working towards of having behavior be seen with consequences with um you know age appropriate responses to that but also responses to it. So yeah because the high school definitely models well for us when it comes to behavior. So we're we're working towards getting it across the district. >> Great. Thank you. I I just want to say see a lot of great numbers up there and it's nice that we don't have a lot of those issues that we're seeing in the lower grades at the high school and and seeing that positive trend for these to start decreasing. So, uh great work to everybody who's focusing on this. >> And I really appreciate the like you said breaking
066it down like eating the elephant, right? I like that we just looked at this part tonight. It really helped me focus more. >> Great. Thank you. >> That's going to bring up item 7A, category 2, -ate bid for UPS and licensing. >> Looks like Paul's going to handle this one in a tie and everything. Okay. Oh, you guys make me nervous. I judged a forensics tournament last weekend and I feel like the kids could all watch and get some revenge. Look at that guy up there. Um, tonight we're requesting to purchase 25 UPS's. Those are uninterable power power supplies along with 26 modular battery packs that can be added to them to increase the amount of time they'll run and five years of a online management system that is cloud-based through the manufacturer. Uh for
067a little background, -ray program is a federal initiative. It's managed by USA, the universal service administration administrative company under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC. This program assists us with the cost of operating our highspeed internet, our local area network, our wide area network connections between our buildings. Um as well as the cost of all the equipment that takes to power. In our case, that's about 450 access points, 90 network switches, and 50 UPS systems. When we were looking at this purchase, we would like to replace 25 of our older APC units. Um, they range typically from anywhere from six to eight years old. The batteries in those APC units are considered a lifespan of three to five years. So, we've seen a lot of those um replaced here once already. So,
068we're really looking to replace those entire units at this time. As part of that -ate bid process, um the bids went out. We had several vendors bid both our existing platform, the APC units, as well as some alternatives. um researching what those um alternatives would look like, we found that the E10 UPS units were very comparable to the APC's in terms of what they provide um comparable in terms of like double conversion which means that we will see a better response time in a UPS when it's triggers to be turned on because it's the entire time it's powering a unit it takes electricity in and then it is processing that the whole time we're providing it to the unit. Our current units use something called line interactive. So the power will actually drop for just
069a second before it switches and gets the power to the units. So this should help protect our equipment and we spend a lot of money on it. So it's good to keep it protected. Um I think it's a really good improvement in the technology we've seen. It's been around for a little bit. Um and that cost has come down. So that's it's really good to see those pieces. The um the part that really surprised me, the anticipated lifespan for the batteries in this units are now 8 to 10 years. So, we should see this purchase last us a considerable um span. Very excited about that. And then looking at the concept of a more modular approach to how we do battery backups, we have some network closets where they would run for six hours because
070there's not a lot of equipment and that's a lot of um energy and resources that we have that's not really utilized the way we want. And on the other side, we have some very large network closets that only run maybe 20 minutes. And we like to put more juice in those areas so that they can run longer if there's a power outage and then in the smaller areas. So this that's why we have those sort of modular components compared to some previous bids in the last years. Some things to think about as we review the bid. Um we did opt to not um ask to purchase the smart 1500 RM2 uln through bite speed. those still use a older line interactive um technology and as we reviewed it Eaton does have some really good lines
071that we'd like to see. So we really would just come back next year with and say hey we're looking for something more specific for some of these small closets we felt that the equipment in those area um where it is older but we could use some parts here and there from what we're taking out and replacing to keep those pieces going. So when we think about our rate, our funding budget forecast for the 2026 to 2030 school year is 927,56464. So this purchase would consume $121,535, which leaves us with just a little over $800,000 to support our network infrastructure over the next five years. Um, see we're at if uh you were to approve this bid for purchase, we would submit that to um USAC and we would be responsible to pay $24,37 um and
072it would be based on USAC approval. So if they didn't approve the purchase, we wouldn't move forward and spend the hundred some thousand. This would come out of capital outlay at 24,000. Do you have any questions? Sounds like uh the equipment's getting better and it's a good deal. So, like you said, we need to protect our equipment. >> Since you know way more about this than I do, I will move to approve the bid from Byte Speed for UPS equipment and cloud hosted management system is submitted. >> Second. Good presentation. >> Thank you. >> It's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. >> Thank you. And that's going to bring up item 7B, new copier contract selection. You staying, Paul. >> I'm gonna hang out. >> All right. So we have
073Paul and we have Carrie Paul, our business operations coordinator presenting this one. >> Yeah, we do cross lines with emails sometimes. Carrie Paul, it happens. So um all right, so what we're doing tonight, we are seeking approval of a new five-year contract with Sumar One. Um, Sumar one demonstrated a deep we put out an RFP initially for the copier contract and we had um six responses initially with four of those giving proposals. Two of them sending in proposals via mail. Um, Sumar one demonstrated a deep understanding of USC 253 specific vision for the future of its print services. Their scores were determined by their ability to provide high confidence tailored solutions rather than off-the-shelf answers. Um, specifically, that was a big standout for that company. They had done work with many school districts in comparison
074to the other companies that we were scoring. Um, specifically, their extensive experience managing school districts of similar scale provided the committee with the necessary assurance that they can handle the unique high volume multi-sight demands of our district. Um, signing on enough new contracts, I've realized that it's hard to know a school district until you know a school district. And when you are bringing in a company that has experience with school districts, that's always a really good confidence booster for me. Um, this combinate, so their combination of the ability to manage our services and to offer us new technological advances. Um, paper cut is one of the um, new pieces of technology that we would like to implement. Um it offers you know it cuts down on our waste. It um saves time. People can print
075from home. You can print um more confidently and confident confidentially by you know using paper cut. Um so the combination of technological advances and ability to support something of our size was very helpful. And I would say one of the biggest um bonuses was that they actually had the lowest total bid coming in at 1319 3180 per year. Um that number saves us around $50,000 a year in comparison to our prior contract with Century Business Technologies. In addition to that, I feel we're getting um a more advanced version of a a copier company. they they were more in touch with new trends coming out. Um we we just were really impressed with their ability to do all of the things that we want to do moving forward. >> So I think that's all I've got.
076Do you guys have any questions for me or Paul? >> I mean I get to put Paul in the hot seat. Yes. No. Um no I was really impressed with with with this proposal. I mean, I think the format's different and how you all are giving us proposals and it's really impressive and I really just appreciate the thoroughess of that. So, I just want to acknowledge the team for doing that. But the paper cut technology when I learned more about it, I think it's going to save us so much money. It's going to save trees. Uh, it's going to improve confidentiality that people are just collecting their information, their papers when they're when they punch their code into the machine. I I think this is going to be a huge improvement. So, good job. >>
077Yeah, thank you. And I agree with that. Um, the amount of paper we use is huge. We actually use enough paper each year to cover the entire East Coast. So, I took those numbers and I've got them saved at this point and I'm really looking forward to one year from now just seeing how much paper we save. And also um I need to look at further details but for however many I think it's cartridges or um I need to look at the specific details but Sumar one will actually plant trees in our name as a school district for the for the prints that we make each year which is was just a bonus which is great. Yeah, I would just say when I was at Emporia State, we used paper cut extensively and I had
078a good experience when I contacted Senator One for maintenance and and the overall product. So, I'm going to make a motion for the approval of a 5-year copier service agreement with Sumar One. >> Second. >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. >> All right. Thank you for that presentation. Uh, next is item 7C, approval of health insurance broker services. >> Yeah, we'll finally get Josh Schwarz up here, assistant superintendent of business operations. He's had a lot of his folks up here presenting things tonight. He gets to have this one. >> They've done a great job. They have. >> They have. So, and this one I feel like I've talked facilities, budget, and insurance in kind of cycles. So, we're back to insurance on this one. This is for
079the broker agreement with IMA who has helped us get through the partially self-funded insurance plan. So, this is the third year we would be using IMA. Um, so it's there's not really changes to this. It's more this is the cycle when we go through and approve that this time of year. and had listed some of the the key pieces that are in their agreement to help us that really was a piece of feedback for me to be able to ask them a question or two about how well are they doing these things. So it was it's just a way I listed those so we can come back later and see how for us to evaluate their performance as well. So um this also does not take away from us looking at other costs of insurance
080and I don't want IMA also helps us with that brokerage of those pieces but there's also other options we might be exploring from an insurance end. Uh I do also feel like the IMA piece is really helpful for us going through the partially self-funded model just as some expert advice on how does this work? What kind of decisions should we be making? So any questions? I'm glad you acknowledged how important IMA was in helping us move to the self-unding model. I was really impressed with I mean just all of the guidance they gave us last year. >> Yeah. And on this subject, I've been on insurance committee for a while. I think since I've been on the board now, um almost two terms. Um we've had maybe three different brokers over the period of time.
081Um, of those three, IMA has been the best both professionally and just in terms of getting results for us, but also in terms of deliverance and educating us and the committee about what was going on and what was how insurance worked and why and what the issues were. I didn't feel that some of the previous brokers we had had that good presentation quality of let me educate you about something dense so you feel like you understand it and can actually make an informed choice. Um, so I'm completely in support of continuing to do business with them. I just had a it's kind of a random question. Jeremy, you were on the committee when we when we you know interviewed the brokers. Was IMA one that contributes back to something in the community >> because if
082they can I would if they were the one I thought they were I thought that was one of the reasons that we chose them. Um I would just like to know what that ended up being. I can't recall off the top of my head, but I do I do remember one of the um >> one of the employees who was a part of IMA um was a former EHS student. I can't recall his name, but I I yeah, there was a connection to Emporia, which was kind of a bonus. It wasn't why we went that way. They just presented Well, um but I feel like I vaguely remember this. Also, >> I thought it was IMA. I can't remember, but I felt like there was some kind of contribution that came back to the community.
083Um so, I would love to know. >> Check on that. Yeah. I move to approve IMA Corporation to broker health insurance for the school district as submitted. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. >> Thank you. And that brings us to item 8A, board reports. >> Yeah. So, first up is the rec commission. I don't have a huge report in terms of rec commission business. Um, but we did review at our last meeting um an AI usage policy. I think that's something that we also adopted a while back. I know even my uh employment at the office of administrative hearings, you know, had to adopt an AI policy. So, we wanted to get ahead of that and make sure there was some parameters for our staff about
084how to use these tools in a responsible and productive way. In the words of an old friend, use your tools, don't be the tool. Anyways, um, use the tool, don't be the tool. Um, but we also, um, had gotten some bids on accountants, as some of you are aware, um, because of lawsuits and news, there was some issues with the IRS and, uh, things that we're going to need an accountant to help dig us out of. Um, I believe we ended up going with Larsson and Associates. Um, and they're actually a Witchah um, accountant firm. Uh, but they were the best bid and I think they're going to be able to help us kind of untangle some of that mess. And there's really not much more to update on that front. When I have something,
085I'll get that to you all. Um, not much more beyond that, but I did want to give a shout out to the middle school because, um, I think Jamie and I were able to go, unrelated to the rec commission, were able to go and participate and, um, see some presentations from students who had done a science class. And the presentation was that they were um, they had they had designed a rover to go to space and to a planet and then to, you know, do something on the planet and they had to present to us about what that planet was, some facts and information about it, show us the physical rover they had. And they all seem to use the same materials. So they had like physical, you know, things that looked like actual rovers,
086other things that looked like that wouldn't get airborne. And then there were even a couple that were like Bart Simpson and a duck. Um and um you know, so I actually took a half day and was able to stay for all four of the presentations, uh which was pretty fun. Uh my favorite was the duck presentation because their plan was to send ducks to Mars to see if they could survive and I didn't have the heart to tell them they wouldn't. Um, and I was just thinking about my ducks at home and I'd be like they're toast on the red planet. Um, but it was really cool and um, you know, Mr. uh, Jordan Young was the teacher. Mr. Young um, asked um, the schoolboard members who were able to come to come, but then
087also a lot of their family members of the students came. I think there were some grandparents and parents there, some folks I knew and didn't. And we all got to pretend that we were a part of the press, that we were part of the media. And I actually think that KISS was actually there, the radio station. I think that lady was actually there because she had a van that looked like a radio station van. It was uh part of that and I pretended to be Jeremy Dorsy from the Emporia Sun Times. Um so yeah, I'm Legacy Media. Um it was pretty fun though. It was a great it was a great event. So big shout out to the middle school and that was a a good after a good morning. >> And fun fact, I
088love everything about space and I even wore my space camp t-shirt because I wanted to dress for the day. Um I will report on the Emporia steering committee um Emporia Rex center steering committee. We had a meeting yesterday and I'm sure you may have read in the Gazette or in KVOE that we are proceeding with a very much scaled down um version of what a new rec center might look like. This new version would be half the price and it would be a new build as well as upgrades to the Lee Baron which I think is a lot of feedback that we had gotten from the community. One of the things that is still kind of up for consideration is whether or not we want to proceed with a plan to have it at Champions
089Landing or maybe look at the Jones Aquatic Center um as a space um because now that we have a limited budget um because we're only going to be asking voters to consider a quarter cent sales tax. Um we probably don't have any extra money to buy land. So, I think we have to, you know, take into consideration what that would mean because the Jones Aquatic Center would be free and we would have to pay at Champions Landing. So, we're going to continue forward with an education campaign with the ultimate goal of sending this to vote in the November election. >> And I'm going to chime in just on that subject because um I think Jamie and I together have been a part of that project in different ways for a while now. I really do
090want to applaud Jamie and everyone who's been a part of the steering committee because you guys put a lot of work into this. We took a break at one point when things kind of went south with some businesses in the community and I think you guys did a good job of listening to a lot of the feedback and revising our plan so that we have something that's actually uh frankly palatable and has a good chance of passing and actually takes people's thoughts into consideration uh especially in light of our current economic circumstances. But um if we don't do this now for the wreck building, we're going to be coming back in another 5 10 years having the conversation again because it really is just an aging property and it's got to get done at some
091point. Um so thank you so much for all your work on it, Jamie. >> All right, thank you for those updates. Uh that brings us to 9A superintendent report. >> Yeah, a few items. Uh this is career and technical education month and so as a part of uh CTE month uh we were able to highlight the great opportunities that our students have in the CTE program out at our high school as a part of the KVOE showcase uh last week. So and it was interesting. I I was actually present at the at the radio station and then everybody else called in, you know, from the from the uh if I if I I would have preferred to be where the kids were and to to see them and hear them talk about talk about things
092than to be at the radio station. I'm sorry, but you know, it's just the way it is, Tagen. Um but yeah, it was it was it was it was awesome to listen to the teachers talk about the pathways and then to really hear the students talk about their experiences in the pathways. I think there were three students um talking and between the three of them they had completed six pathways and so um it's not just something where you get into one path and they're able to explore and and really kind of figure out what it is they like what it is they don't like and sometimes even even discover that they can do something within their pathway they never even thought of doing within that particular career path. So uh shout out for CTE month.
093Um, congratulations to Emporia High School senior Alexis Martinez Akala who earned a spot on the Kansas Music Educators Association Allstate 5 and 6A Honor Band. We're proud of him for that. And then uh more student stuff. Emma Batty, Emma Batty and Daniel Gillimwater earned a superior one rating uh at the ratings because they were doing piano uh festival. They were at the state piano festival and they were doing piano solos. They both received Superior One ratings for their solos. So, congratulations to them. Um, we are excited to meet the the members of the class of 2039 coming up uh soon as well. And so, our kindergarten welcome tours. I have a question, Lindell. what you gave me said and I typed it in and then forgot and then got distracted by bathrooms and signs and
094things today and never came back and asked, but it said will take place on Tuesday, March 24th, but it's it said next Tuesday on mine. So, it's Tuesday, March 24th, right? Okay. So, so we did get it straightened out. Maybe Casey straightened that out for me. I don't remember getting it straightened out today, but Tuesday, March 24th at 6 PM, each of our elementary schools will have uh kindergarten welcome tours. families will get a chance to tour the school, visit the classrooms, meet staff, start building those connections that'll be important to their transition to kindergarten next year. Little bit about legislative issues and feel free to to chime in here if you've got any updates, but I I know the House was scheduled to debate today and I got a a message from uh Representative
095Shriber about 2:30 asking about our special education uh funding and backfilling. So, I appreciated that. Although I didn't get around to getting back to him until I got out of a meeting at 4:30, but um I know they were taking up the house budget probably about the time that we were rolling into our meeting this evening. And so, um big emphasis on trying to um res to get more more money moved over into that into fund special education. Uh across the state, special education is underfunded with about 39% of school district's local option budget uh property tax revenue going to make up the shortfall that the state's not filling. In our district, that's more like 45%. Uh I think we're back filling about $5.4 million this year um through our operations and within the co-op.
096So, that's an important issue for us and I appreciated Representative Shriber um reaching out and we provided him the information and hopefully he was able to use it for good. Um the Senate was scheduled to take up the property tax uh cap bill today. I haven't had time to check in on that at all, but I haven't gotten any emails telling me anything happened on it. So, I think so far we're we're okay. just a lot of a lot of discussion and debate on property taxes and and capping uh property property uh assessed values and they're looking at potential prop of uh capping residential property values at 3% growth annually which sounds great but um then when you turn around and realize that you still need the funding what probably ends up occurring is your
097your local mill levies just increase in order to uh fill the fill the gap that's uh caused by the slower trend in property values. More urgent legislative matter. I typed this up earlier today. Uh we've dealt with this all day long, but Senate Bill 244 um actually becomes law tomorrow. We received some guidance last night at about 8:30, 9:00 from KASB on this and we've been utilizing that guidance as well as u other sources to try to almost muddle our way through it because it's just kind of thrown in our lap at the last minute. But this is aka the the restroom bill. And uh you know what we did today was pull together our team around 2:30. Uh today we were able to at least minimally we felt like um based on some KSB
098guidance that we should get some signage up um in an effort to educate and uh help people to comply with the statute. uh we got some some messaging out to staff kind of letting them know what was going on and then shared our parent message with staff and then got it out to uh to families. But, you know, the overarching message from our school district is that we're going to continue to uh work with our families, our students, our staff to to do the best we can to ensure that they they you know, they have a an environment where they feel safe and respected and u that's our goal. but at the same time try to ensure that we're doing the things that we need to do in order to uh protect the school district
099from any formal complaints that might occur. And I I won't I won't dig into all the details there and we're still we're still digging through the bill and and need to eventually read all the way through um you know all the language and and make sure that we're doing everything that we should and and wait for more direct more direction and guidance from our various state organizations. Um, you know, our paper signs are probably not going to be uh the final version, but I don't want to spend a lot of money printing up an infographic uh to educate on this issue and then have it change on us mid-stream. And so, we'll we'll work with we'll work with the signage we have and again, primarily just to ensure that we're complying with the statute and
100that we're helping others make choices with regard to the statute and what it says as well. >> I have a question about that. Um, if we get complaints from people who allege some sort of violation, what requirements in law do we have to investigate, document, or determine if there is or isn't a violation? Still digging through it. But I mean, primarily if if we were to to have someone tell us there's they believe a violation is occurring, I mean, we would we'd be obligated to investigate it, potentially um discuss what you know, encourage someone this is what the statute says and and encourage them to follow it. Um but you're not going to be looking at penalties and things like that unless some formal complaint is filed with the attorney general and there's an investigation
101and you're found to be, you know, that you're blatantly out of compliance, >> right? You know, part of my concern with this is that one, I think it's chasing a problem that doesn't entirely exist, but that's besides the point because it's the law now. Um, you know, I just kind of wonder about the people who, for lack of a better term, as we would say in my community who pass, I mean, there are trans men who quite literally look like David literally. And I mean, if you imagine them walking into a women's restroom, could you imagine? And so, part of me just kind of wonders. I mean, there's different things that are going to happen when these issues arise, if they arise, and I want to make sure that um, you know, we document everything
102that we're supposed to, and that if there's someone who doesn't look like they belong, but they're in the right bathroom, then I hold the state to the rule. That's where they told them to go. I just don't want us to be in a position where people are sort of uh shunned to some sort of other facility and and, you know, not treated with dignity and respect. >> And I don't think that we would. I'm just sort of talking out loud. Um, I'll just throw my question on top of Jeremy's because I think similar vein. Um, what support or resources might be available to students tomorrow? Should they have questions or feel confused or maybe not know um for some of our students where to go or what to do? Or for students maybe that also
103have other questions or concerns, how can staff direct them to the right places or people that can help them on any side of this issue? >> Yeah. Yeah. And I think our communication, you know, with parents and staff is just to encourage students that have questions or concerns to uh, you know, we we're trying to guide them toward the administration at this point. They can, you know, if we need to involve our counselors, our support specialists, and we'll do that. Uh, it kind of depends on, you know, what what what that particular students needs are. But, uh, that's a part of our messaging to not, you know, don't be afraid to ask questions or to express concerns. Come talk to us. uh we don't want people walking around afraid, right? We want we want to
104be able to have conversations with with with individuals if if necessary. It's just just it's kind of like just stepping in in a crisis, right? Um various people need various levels of support and we need to be ready to to provide that. You >> know, I just want to say thank you for all of the work that you and your team have done on this. Um, but I do have to acknowledge that this law will bring tremendous harm to the transgender community and laws like this don't change someone's identity and laws like this do not reflect my values as a school board member. And so I just want to extend to the transgender community my apologies that we're in this position and that we value you, we see you and we honor you. I would
105100% feel safer in the bathroom with those people than a lot of the legislators I heard debating this when I was watching the YouTube live. >> Yeah. One of one of the things I stress with our our administrators too is you know I I don't want to know who their transgender students are. I don't need to know. And you know, in some in some cases, maybe it's a teacher who knows that the student's transgender and no one else does or maybe it's a principal or, you know, we aren't it's not like we we're saying we have to know who you are. We're going to try to identify you or anything like we're we're going to continue to do business as we have, respecting everybody. um being there being there and supporting everyone and um you
106know making making sure that uh you know we're we're in compliance but at the same time we're not we're not going to be the sheriff on this one. >> Yeah. patent. Um, just while we're on this topic, because it kind of came to my attention today, um, if anybody has a transgender person in Kansas who has a driver's license with a gender marker, that is their identity, chosen identity, not the identity at birth, their license becomes invalid as of tomorrow. You will be driving without a license. There is no grace period. You will be driving unlawfully without a license. So, if you know people who that might apply to, let them know before they go about their life for two, four, or three months, then get pulled over on I35 or something. >> Okay, thank
107you for that update. That's going to bring us to item 10A, executive session, personnel. I move we go into executive session for 10 minutes to discuss personnel matters of non-elected personnel in order to protect the privacy interest of the individual to be discussed and to return to this room at 7:32 p.m. Superintendent Dr. David McGee and director of human resources Dr. Erica Mickelson are invited to join the session. No action as is anticipated. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. It's freezing in here. Yeah. Promise it wouldn't be. I move to return to regular session. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to return to regular session. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. I move to enter into executive session for 20 minutes to discuss
108the superintendent evaluation pursuant to the non-elected personnel exception under coma and we'll return to open session in this room at 7:54 p.m. Dr. David McGee is invited to join the session. No action is anticipated. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. motion passes. 70 I motion to return to regular session. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. motion passes 70. >> Okay. Item 10D or actually 11A, future board calendar dates. Uh our next meeting will be a board work session on March 4th here at 5:30. Uh and then next meeting March 11th and then April 8th. At this point I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> It's been moved and seconded. >> Second. >> Please cast your vote. Motion passes zero.