0016 o'clock and I will call to order our August 27th regular board meeting. We have seven board members present. That brings us to item 2A, adoption of the agenda. >> I'd move to adopt the agenda as presented. Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any further conversation >> hearing? None. Please cast your vote. >> Motion passes 70. >> That brings us to 3A. Public comments. Public comments will be allowed for a duration of three minutes per speaker to be timed by the board clerk. Uh speakers must sign up in person for public comment by 1 pm the day of the board meeting. Casey, do we have any public comments? >> We do not. >> Thank you. And next is the consent agenda. Uh the consent agenda is considered to be routine business and can be
002approved by single motion, second and majority vote with no separate discussion. Um, should a board member desire to discuss any item at his or her request, it will be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately, I'll entertain a motion. >> I move to approve the consent agenda as submitted. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. >> Thank you. And that brings us to 6A 9 through 12 math action plan update. >> Dr. Carela is here to uh give you an update. If you recall, um, the last time you received an update on the math action plan, u was prior to our teachers returning and we wanted to, uh, dig in with the teachers and and Dr. Carel has been doing that that work with them and
003has some updates. >> Well, thank you for letting me come speak tonight to you about this. Um, Dr. Medi is correct. We've spent some time talking to teachers and talking to both the department as a whole and also our small group. And I just want to give you an update on kind of some of the work that we've done. So this is our action plan. The things in red are things that we added. So ultimately this action plan is pointed towards improving student success. So I added that goal and priority to our um plan. So if you keep going down um we last time we talked a little bit about board reports and board requirements. We talked about how um when we originally started this it was going to be presented during quarterly reports. But
004I'm not sure that we're going to do be doing quarterly reports as like we had in the past. So we just I put in there um oh actually that I'm sorry I jumped ahead. That 15th is I've updated the summary. We'll talk about that in a minute. Sorry about that. Let's keep going down. So this one is um this one's a a gap that we identified um in meeting with the teachers. There's some courses that don't have a resource per se. So teachers are having to pull a lot of things together from all from many different sources. So, we're going to spend some time researching those courses and then see if we can find some resources that they can use in class that are evidence based off that evidence-based list. And then the last one
005there, um I'm sorry, that was what I was just talking about where we thought we were going to do quarterly reports. Um that may not be looking like quarterly reports. We may be doing more presentations, academic presentations. So, what we're thinking about those is that updates to this plan would come as part of those reports. like when we talk about state assessments, we'll get those scores sometime in in August, September when we make that presentation, we'll add some updates to the plan at that time. Same thing when we talk about fast bridge. Um, this will be included as part of that as well. So, that's kind of what I know right now. We're still working through that as a team, but that's kind of what we're looking at. And then once you go to the
006Yeah, that that one's fine. So, this is the same document that we talked about before. If you go all the way to the bottom, I added some things there. Um, we talked a lot about the math department collaboration. So that's our team during that meeting. We talked a lot about the action plan. Lots of questions about clarification about using resources, when they should be used, things like that. And then we talked about with the math department. And the big thing that came out of the math department meeting was um teachers should be using the resources in their classes and really communicating clearly with families and students about how to access those resources, where to go, where to get them, how to use them, and just being very intentional about when they use the resources, pointing
007students how to get access to the not only the paper resources, but also the online resources through the the Google classroom. We talked about including resour uh links in Google classroom that kids can have to get access to their their doc their resources. And then we also talked a lot about support and using our resources. So we got a quote I think I told you that before. We're working with a quote from AA HMH about AGA. We have a quote. We have some options that we're going to work through there. Um one option talks about supporting new teachers and we're working on getting that scheduled now. And the second one is for the whole math department um where we're going to it looks like we're going to do um six sessions. The first session will
008be with a coach to identify needs and then we'll design the next six hour sessions based on their needs and we're looking at probably doing those during either a full day PD PLT day or during the early release time with the math department when they're doing PLC's. So that's kind of what we're looking on that. We don't have that all planned out yet. Um we need to work with Mr. Fisher and the Matt Matt department on getting those scheduled, but that's looking like that's kind of what we're going to do for PD to support them. And we would like for that to be an ongoing every year type of a deal. Um the cost of that's about $5,000. So it's not too expensive. Um we also looked a little bit about bringing in a trainer,
009a coach to do some observation with us. And that right there for one day for one six hour day is about $4,200. So um I think we'll get more bang out of our buck for this. And we'll see how that works. If it doesn't work, we'll do something different moving into next year. And the last thing that we've been working on, I don't know if it's on there, but if you go back to that, Casey, go back to that real quick. The last thing is we've been working on the uh walkthrough tool we talked to talked about. Mr. Fiser and his administration and also teaching and learning have been working on that this week. We're in a pretty good place on it. Um we're we're getting ready to start getting that put into observe for
010success so we can start using it during the second week in September. So, those are some things that we've done um since our last time. And the last one would be our non-negotiables. This didn't really change very much. I think at the bottom there's a might be a change. It has to do with when we're going to present updates to the board. Just we're going to try to do them regularly during our academic presentations. Other than that, um the teachers and administration felt like this these are all doable. They made a lot of sense. um understanding the resource should be used during class. Um if there is a supplemental resource used that they communicate how to get access to that, the documentation on that. Um and there's a there's a lot here. Um they felt
011like they could do most of it. They're going to need some support like when we get down to number five, I'm sorry, number six on intervention in classrooms, that's going to need some support on how to do that. Um so I think we're need to work through that eventually. So those are pretty much our updates. Um, like I said, we've had a lot of good conversations. I feel like the math teachers feel like they're being supported and we're going to start collecting some data on them in October and um presenting some of that. So, that's what I have. I'll entertain any questions if you have them. I I noticed there's this and could you tell me a little bit more about that and how it works as a math resource? So, is an online math
012resource that's provided to every Kansas district free of charge. So, what it does is it um there's a lot of uses for it. Kids can log in and use the resource much like an online resource. They take assessments and then it does adaptability and gives them um practice and skills that they need they need help with. There's also um places in there where teachers can go get resources for lesson planning, videos, things like that. The nice thing about is that they can actually um it links up with Google Classroom. So they can send links direct to Google Classroom. So kids can access specific things um that might the teacher wants to send them. So it's an online resource that they can use to practice their skills. >> And is that specific to like algebra or
013calculus or >> Yeah. Well, it goes all the way through geometry and algebra 2. Um I'm not too sure how far it goes past that, but primary algebra one and some geometry. Um, I have a few questions. Thank you for providing the updates on this. Um, overall I think we've got a really great plan going. Um, but I was just hoping to get clarification on a few things. Um, on number five for the update about the weekly tracking of how each resource is used. I was wondering if you could provide a little bit more clarification on how the tracking is done like are the teachers putting things in a spreadsheet on their own or do they have a system for that that they are working through in the department? >> So basically what we would
014do through that is through our walkthrough tool. So on our walkthrough tool um it's broken down into multiple parts and one of them is the resource being used. So when we walk in, we would check that if we see the resource being used and um if it's not being used, we would check a supplemental resource being used. So that's how we're wanting to track it right now is by walkthroughs. Um we talked about walkthroughs last time to kind of extend our question. We talked about walkthroughs last time and Mr. Fischer and his team have put together a schedule to do to vis to do for each principal to do two walkthroughs a week in math. I'll also be doing walkthroughs um every I think e either every week or every other week I'll be trying
015to hit every math teacher's classroom. So two every math teacher twice a month is kind of what my goal is. Not sure how that's going to look as we move into it but we're going to give that a shot. But um high school they have a plan in place to uh support this. But I think we also need to remember is that there's lots of other things they got to balance with this. I was talking to Mr. Fisher about it today and he has he has his evaluation pieces too. There's just a lot of other things, a lot of other classrooms to observe as well. So, there's going to need to be a balance. So, we're going to have to watch this in September, see how it goes. We need to make adjustments, we can,
016>> right? And that was my concern, I think, initially was uh I think we can put together a really great plan that has all these steps, but I want to make sure that it's a sustainable plan that's working for everyone in the building. Um, just to clarify, the links to all of the online resources are put in the Google classroom and that has been communicated with students and families. >> That was what we talked about with being intentionally communicating um with families how to access and students how to access the links. Some teachers use Google Classroom more than others. So, there may be other ways that they're going to communicate those, but being very intentional about how they're going to access those resources is what the teachers have been told to do. At least that's
017what that's what they came up with. >> Okay. talk about being intentional in doing that, >> right? Okay. Um, sorry, I have so many questions. Um, and then on the non-negotiables, I really like what you wrote about instructional fidelity. What is the evaluation process and steps what that could be taken for teachers that are not in compliance with instructional fidelity? >> Well, we had a conversation about what that means to be fidelity. um when we worked on the walkthrough tool and teachers, you know, they can't always it seems like they there's always things there's always gaps. So, thinking about um how many how like if you think about 10 lessons, we're thinking about 80% of the time they should be using the resource. That's kind of what the mark is going to be. You should
018be using it 80% of the time. Um most times you may use it every time, but there may be things in your lesson or your resource that that's not that or standard that's not covered in your resource. So you have to deviate. So fidelity would mean using it the majority of the time, but understanding that um there's going to be times when you're going to have to deviate. But the key to that is making sure you're communicating with the family and the students. If I teach the things a different way, where do I go get access to that methodology or or examples or demonstrations? So we talked a lot about posting videos. There's lots of videos on YouTube. Um, one thing I was cautious about was did I didn't want them to think about they
019had to make a video of everything they did because it takes time. You ever made a video as a teacher? It takes time to make a video. When I make my videos, I make them pretty quick. One take type of deals. I mess up, I mess up. You just correct and you keep going forward. So the so the um perfection isn't necessarily there. So you got to be very careful about that. But getting back to what fidelity means, um, using it the majority of the time. And when I made the when we worked on the walkthrough tool, we put in there 80% of the time is when you should be using it. We feel like we'll see how that works. We're going to collect data in September to kind of see what that says and
020we'll know more after we do the first month on kind of what that looks like. >> Okay. Just one last thing and then I promise I'll let everyone else go. I just I don't want to and I certainly do not take this to be directed at you personally. I just worry that if we don't what happens next if it's not we collect all this data and then they're not 80% of the time and then it's October and then the first quarter is gone and we already have kids that we feel like are behind from last year and I know like I'm happy with what we've got going on here. I'm just sort of I fear spiraling. Um and that's not really a question for you to answer. That's just where I'm at right now with
021the plan. I I think that's important of of why we call this an update and why we're going to be bringing this back as we go through as we watch the data and we start to make changes. We're going to need to update our plan if we if we see additional needs and additional things that need to be adjusted and changed like more support things like that need to be put into that plan. And that's kind of why it went as an update, not necessarily an approve item because then it's easier for us to update and we bring things back. We saw this teacher said they need this. We're seeing this through the walkthrough. These are modifications that we've made. Um it's just hard hard to foresee the future of what we're going to see
022until we collect some data on that. Um watch the scores, see how things are going, watch the walkthroughs. Are we seeing the are we seeing the resource being used? Are we seeing the fidelity pieces? Um because really when we look at the walkthrough too, it's not necessarily all about what the teacher is doing. It's also about what the students are doing as well. How are they manipulating the content? How are they using the resource? So we're also going to watch that a little bit too through our walkthrough. So that's kind of where we're at on it right now. It's just it's going to be important for us to keep up on the data and keep making updates to this plan as we need to have changes. >> Just I know you look at it from
023from one angle with your job and then we're looking at it from another. But um I think one of my concerns is the accountability factor um from the from the viewpoint of the parents and especially the parents of the children who again last year was in particularly a struggle and they got behind and it just maybe wasn't wasn't effectively handled in time for them to to regain what they needed to regain. Um looking at it from their viewpoint uh on the accountability um it's good obviously to gather data. we have to do that. Um I think and I don't want us to get too far into the weeds. So and I so I don't know what all is allowed but I feel like checking in with those parents who voiced concerns and even the students
024um not to rat anybody out but literally just to get feedback. How do you feel things are going? Um what are your concerns? Pros, cons, whatever. Just getting some feedback directly from them. There'd be some transparency. speaking as someone who for many years before I was tenured I got observed and I know what happens when you get observed and you're teaching you you're on your best behavior and you're you're doing what you're supposed to be doing because you want to get check check and you want to pass your observation and I understand that but and if you're doing everything the right way every day you know it's it's not a huge concern but there are certain things you know that they're looking for so I guess what I'm saying is I don't want if they
025have a heads up oh there's a walkth through today they could mine their P's and Q's and then go back to and and I don't know we've dealt with that in the past. Parents don't want that to happen. Students don't want that to happen. We don't want that to happen. So, if there's any way to have those lines of communication open um with the parents who dealt with a lot of stress and put a lot of effort, one of them is here tonight, put a lot of effort into communicating with us exactly what was going on and that helped us to be able to act. So, I just would like for there to be as much communication as possible and again kind of see some some proof of accountability from the students. >> I think
026we can do that. And David, you want to help me with that question? >> Yeah. And you know, from my perspective, and I already kind of had this comment in the back of my mind before you even spoke, but we need to be encouraging this is a math action plan. It could have easily been a science action plan or ELA action plan. We're learning some things from this that we could utilize and implement across all of our curricular areas, right? And specifically with regard to high school math because that's where this this concern came about. I I just think we need to be strongly encouraging students to advocate for themselves early and parents to advocate for them if the students aren't getting anywhere and to not let it not let it go. You know, we're
027going to go through and back to some of Lillian's questions about accountability. you know, Dayan and his team are going to do all the things that they should be doing to um ensure that like we do with all of our teachers, we're observing. We're, you know, we have expectations. They set goals. We have we hold them accountable to those. We first help them improve and if we, you know, and you know, if someone can't improve, then you you move on to next steps and so on. That's all in place. We have those processes in place. Some even bound by, you know, legal statutes and so on. So we'll we'll follow all of that and do that. But I think the biggest thing I wanted wanted to say was just so strongly we we heard this
028from our convocation speaker, right? Advocate for yourself. And I think in some sometimes students will advocate for themselves and they don't get anywhere. um you know if that's happening you know we need to know it and um we will help help support them advocating for themselves and be sure and and you know I think this this everyone wants our students to be successful we want our teachers to be successful and so um from my office down through Dayan and into the teachers we're going to do whatever we can to support staff and students to be successful >> yeah I think that I'm kind of with um Lillian and Jen a little bit on this. You know, I think it's great that we have some very proactive parents, like Jen said, one of them is here,
029but I also wonder about those students who maybe don't have parents that are as proactive, who don't know some of the seven people up here, or who just aren't the kind of folks that sit with their kids at night and go over their homework, right? Um because parents come in all different levels. I I think this is a great plan. I know that you all have put a lot of work into this. Um, I think I speak for everyone here when I say, you know, if we're going to light a fire under some some folks, keep that fire going and keep the pedal pushed. Um, so that we have some results on this because like Lillian said, I think the one thing we don't want to do is come back with really good data, but
030no real way to help the people in the midst of it. Um, but I'm hopeful that this is going to be um the ship is going to be writed from what I'm looking at. >> Great. I also have a couple questions, but thank you, Ryan, and thank you to everyone who's been working on this. I really appreciate it because ultimately I think we all want the same thing for our students which is to see them succeed and I think I really do believe that we have a plan here that's going to do that. Um and I have a couple questions. So my first question is um you had noted that we still have maybe some um resource issues in terms of like providing the adequate resources and I know that we bought new math curriculum
031a few years ago. I was just wondering if you could give us just an idea of what some of those resources that you're looking into. >> Well, you know, when we look at our classes, we did pretty well identifying resources for algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2. That that's what we purchased. Um, but we have a need for like pre-alggebra. Um, recall looking back at that, we looked for a pre-alggebra book, didn't really find one that would work. So, we need to dig into that a little bit more. And also like our classes for we also have a principles of algebra algebra and geometry which is kind of a combination class that was one of the ones that didn't necessarily get a resource. Now they could be using things from the algebra 1 HMH book
032and algebra 2 but getting a clear understanding of what they're doing and then what resources they're using um I think is something we need to research and that's why when we look at the action step is to research that. We need to talk about that some with our teachers. And then also the transition to algebra 2 class is one that we need to look at the resource there. And again, I'm not saying they don't have one. We just need to make sure that what they're using is is is an approved resource, is evidence-based, is going to make a difference with the students. So, that's kind of where we're at on that. Um, it's going to take a little bit of time to research that, but um hopefully we can identify some needs and we can
033utilize some resources off the evidence-based list. So use some at risk funds to purchase some tools for the for the for the teachers to use. But those are kind of the holes that I've identified or we have identified, I'm sorry, as as a as part of this discussion um that we're going to be looking into. >> And then I noticed on the plan, I don't know which one because I I read all of them, but it talked about like inclass intervention for students who might need um a little bit more assistance. Um what about like outofclass interventions? like, you know, what's I I know teachers make themselves available in the morning and before after school, but you know, are there any other opportunities for kids who who need sort of that that little extra help?
034>> That's not something that we've really talked about yet, but getting homework help is difficult. That's why it's important that kids understand or students and parents understand um how to access the content that they learned. It's nice when the teacher's there that they can ask questions right on the spot or they can ask or clarify a methodology or way things were taught. When you go home, all you have is your notes. Notes don't really speak back to you so much. So, understanding um making sure families and students understand how to access those videos that might demonstrate what was taught in class. Um I think that's one thing. I think that's one of the one of the ways of being intentional with the resource and making sure we're putting links to the online pieces within the
035Google classroom or in a place that kids know where and families know where to go get it. I think that's one option. Um, there are some other things out there we can look at. I know we talked about the library and what they're doing with uh their tutoring tool. I can't remember exactly what it was called. I need to look back at that, but they have that resource that has homework tutoring too. Probably need to take a look at that again, but that's an option. We don't currently have anything like that that we have in house. Now the public library has that and all it takes is a library card to get that. So maybe that's something we can look at again. We looked at a little bit last year. So doing having that online
036tutor piece I think is something that'd be very beneficial if we can um if we can make make arrangements to to make that work. But the problem with that is you need a library card which is pretty easy to get. Anybody can get those. So I think that I think pointing the resource uh finding possibly an online tutor u making sure kids understand how to access the resource and if there if something was taught a little bit different making sure that there's a video or some explanation of the method that was used to teach that so kids have something to look at to recall what they learned in class other than their notes because it's hard to just read your notes and get that context. So, that's kind of what I have. >> I was
037interested. I don't know if you know right off the top of your head, but how many new instructors in the math department are new to the district this year? >> I think we have two, I believe. I think I think Mr. Fer told me there's two that we're going to look at for two or three. I think there's three that we're going to look at for that new resource piece there. Yeah, there is three. >> I remember now. So, we're going to look at that and I think this ongoing new um training for new teachers is important because they need to have training on how the resource works and that's what that for that's what that's going to do. So, we'd like to be we'd like for that to be an ongoing thing. Every year
038they just get that as part of their onboarding. Okay. Thank you very much. You're welcome. >> Thank you. That's going to move us to 7A board reports and I see the employee rec commission. >> So, not a big uh report tonight from the the rec commission. Our agenda for our last meeting wasn't very large. Um we had some updates from staff. Um we're going to have the quesa volleyball tournament I want to say on or about November 1st, I think it is. And that's always really fun because Amanda, the executive director, will always recruit people to hand out the awards to the students. It's kind of cool. Um, we're going to have our budget hearing um on September 15th at 5:30 p.m. at the Mary Herbert building due to a snafu with the printing. So,
039thank you to Casey and David for letting us hold that here since that's what it said we were doing in the newspaper. Um, and then we are working on our bidding procedures for when we have um high cost bids, you know, bids probably more than like 10k or 15k or so. Uh, that's pretty much where the rec commission is at. Leslie was screaming in my ear at September 10th for the I >> wasn't screaming. I whisp >> Oops. I'm sorry. My mistake. >> That is our >> That brings us to item 8A. Uh superintendent report. >> Uh yeah, just a a few items here. Uh of course, we started school last week. It seems like it's already been a month to me, but it was just last week. Uh, I want to appreciate, you know,
040all the members of our leadership team here at Mary Herbert and our board members that were able to get out to our various schools and help welcome students. Um, I was out at William Allen White uh first thing that morning um observing and helping tell. He didn't really need any help, but he he accommodated me anyway and let me hold the door for students and so on. So, I appreciate that. It's just fun to see um you know, the kids are the kids are always so excited and I just feel like our goal, you know, kindergarten through high school has to be to keep, you know, do whatever we can to keep that fire lit in them all the way to the very last day. Um I also ended up over at early childhood center
041um because they start a little bit later and uh it was very organized chaos. It's interesting how she can keep the parents of three and four year olds out of the building and the little guys and girls just come strolling in on their own and they've got a color on on their necklace and there's colors on the wall and you just kind of get them going in the right direction. And from my perspective, I was just hoping they made it to their room because I would just kind of you you go that way, you go that way. I did end up with a a little guy tried to get away and uh I was the only one around to keep him from walking back out the door and so I squeezed his little hand a
042little bit with my fingers and thumb to keep him from going the other direction and he was pulling harder and harder. So I scooped him up because he was going to get away from me if I didn't squeeze it harder than I felt comfortable. And fortunately someone else showed up right at that moment and took him. So, uh, but yeah, I just I think it's been I think it's been a great start, uh, to the school year and, uh, just appreciate all of our staff for everything they've done to make it that way. Um, did want to mention right after our last board meeting, um, KSD released a statement sharing that uh, the state board of education had approved new state assessment cut scores. We've talked before about the fact that the state assessments had
043been revamped and the next step in that process was to review and set these these cut scores. Um I put a quote in there that you know I'm not going to read that quote to you but basically to say um as you kind of look at this some people might look at it as oh they're dumbing down the cut scores or whatever and that's not really what's happening here at all. Um, basically what what they were we're finding out in Kansas, as we're finding out all across the country, is that a lot of these assessment um cut scores are identifying kids as not making progress or not being not being, you know, proficient when they actually are. They're going on to score very well on ACTs. They're going on to college and doing well. They're,
044you know, they're going into their careers and so on. And so, um, they're just trying to align what the state assessment scores, trying to align the success on our state assessments with the success that students are finding both in their academic endeavors and in tests like the ACT. Um and of course several organizations, the state state board of education, um you know, our superintendent association, others have all come out in support of this adoption of new new uh cut scores. Um a note about afterchool programming. Um this this was from Amanda Gutier's uh last week. So, um, these numbers either last week or it was, yeah, last week leading into Monday. I know we've done a little bit of, uh, scouting as an administrative team, too, on kind of what's been happening out there, but
045you can see the numbers, um, that have that have signed up. Uh, as of that point, these have probably gone up some. Um, she felt like our August numbers might be a little high in some places than when they're actually start to pay in September. Since we had that week in August, we just said we're not going to charge for that. There are times throughout the year where it's not really a full month, but they are paying. And so, um, it it all kind of washes in the end. But, uh, we're going to keep an eye on on, uh, how things are going along with the rec center, but they have gotten off to a great start. I haven't had any anything rise to the level of communication to my office about it. And so
046that is amazing for the first week of a program that I won't say was thrown together because it was very organized the way it was thrown together, but uh almost at the last minute. Um and she she had also referenced and uh wanted to thank um David Carlson, our food service director. He had worked with all the wreck extra staff on some of the uh afterchool snack policies, procedures, and and so on. And she said that our our principles had also been very accommodating. a great partnership. We appreciate uh the Emporia Rec Commission working with us and and Amanda's provided great leadership in getting that going. Um they've done way more work to make it happen than than we have on our end and we appreciate that. Um an enrollment update. I'm still I'm still
047find trying to find numbers that I trust at this point because they fluctuate and what's in you know at this time of year you'll have students in the computer in Power School that may or may not ever show up but we just haven't washed them out of there yet. And so I've been working with Dr. Cargula and others on uh and Lindell a lot to try to get to okay where are we really? Um earlier earlier this week we kind of landed on um actual physical students in our in seats at around at right at 3811. Um compared to a headcount um that was audited last September. Our audited headcount was 4,50. So you can see that would be about 239 students fewer um than a year ago. We'll see how this washes out as
048far as our September count. Um, and then if you think about if you think about looking from one year to the next and what is what does declining enrollment do and have, you know, as far as impacting our budget, you know, you can always go back a year on on your enrollment um to utilize in the state funding formula. So, this year we're currently using the 4,9.2 number. We won't be using a number lower than that. However, that number is 1722 students lower than the number used for funding the previous year. So, there is um an impact on our on our state funding. Um quite quite a significant impact as far as number of students impacting it this year. So, you know, over the course of two years, um well, you know, close to 400
049students, right around 400 students. Um, we'll see how that we'll see how that pans out as we keep moving forward. Um, there's not a lot of opportunity to uh do things to cut expenditures in our budget this year at this point. So, we will be as conservative as possible and look for those opportunities. But, as you know, with most businesses, um, the majority of of our expenditures are our people. And so, um, you know, with with our numbers continuing to decline, obviously there's some work that we need to do over the course of this year in preparation for next year's budget that will uh require us to really take a deep dive into um making sure are are our programs essential, are they effective, are they efficient, looking looking at everything? We should I mean
050we're really at a point where we may want to just kind of divide it up into you know we'll we'll have a group looking at activities. We'll have a group looking you know just and just look look at all all of it. Um you know class sizes just everything uh to make sure that u we are being as efficient as we can. Um for me I've been I've been through some deep cost containment processes in the past in 2009 10 through there. Um my my message is always to u prioritize things and those things that we do initially try to have as little impact on our programming for students as possible and that's going to be the goal here as well. Um I told our I told our teachers that I would involve them in
051decisions working toward decisions um that affect them. And so that would be my plan here as well to get uh um I would pro I would eventually ask three board members to serve on a cost containment team and then get members of our of our staff to to serve as well. And you know, right now I I I I envision that we would have some parents from various areas of the district as well and just try to get a full representation um of across the district to kind of dig in and and um see just how just how deep and how it's not up to me to prioritize it by myself. You know, I don't want to own all of that work. So, we need to get all the right people involved and make sure
052that at the end of the day, um, the first things that happen are the things that, you know, folks that represent the community and the school district and the work that we do and the work that they want us to do, uh, want to see happen. So, um, not I'm not going to I'm not sitting here trying to say it's dire or anything like that. you know, I I I hesitate on, you know, how do you want to roll into the school year talking about this sort of stuff because we're excited about the new school year. We're still excited about the new school year. uh we we just need to dig into it to see what what we need to be doing, you know, but it's easy enough right now to look at some of
053our staffing across the district and say that if we had five or six fewer teachers across our elementary schools, we would still be within our existing class size parameters. So, that's just work that we need to make sure we do before next year so that we're we're being as efficient as we can while also serving our students as effectively as we can. >> All right. Thank you. Uh that's going to bring us to 9A, Executive Sessions, Superintendent Evaluation. I move we enter into executive session for 15 minutes to discuss the superintendent evaluation pursuant to the non-elected personnel exception under the Kansas Open Meetings Act. And we'll return to open session in this room at 6:54 p.m. No action is anticipated. >> A second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes
054than zero. session. >> It's been moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. >> Thank you. And that brings us to 10A. Future board calendar dates. Our next two meetings in September are September 10th and 24th. And also of note on September 10th, we will have our revenue neutral rate hearing and our budget hearing in addition to our regular meeting. Uh I will take a motion to adjourn. >> So moved. Second. >> Moved and seconded. Please cast your vote. Motion passes 70. >> Thank you.