001I forgot the game was here. Pretty exciting. Okay, we're going to call to order the meeting of February 9th. Um, Yolanda is joining us online and Carol has let us know that she is stuck in game traffic and so she will be here as soon as she can but uh asked us to go ahead and proceed. So, can I get an approval of the agenda, please? >> I move the board of education approve the agenda for its February 9, 2026 meeting. >> I get a second. >> I second. >> Buyers, >> yes. >> Gordon Ross, >> yes. >> Franklin. >> Jones. >> Yes. >> Kimble, >> yes. >> Lancaster, >> yes. Same >> Franklin. >> Motion passes 5-0. >> Okay, with that we'll move on to the report of the superintendent of schools. >> Good
002evening uh members of the board and those who've joined us in person. We have some wonderful guests here with us tonight in person and then all who are joining us online. Although our calendars say February, I know everyone is delighting in this extraordinary uh weather this week. Um and during this time of February, it's also important that we focus in really on two priorities during this third quarter stretch of the year. and that is both staying the course for a strong third quarter and then also working to collaborate and plan for the 2627 school year. Last week was school counselors week. There we go. School counselors week and we just want to highlight the 31 school counselors across our district who work to support our students every day. They help students with social, emotional and
003academic needs. Uh they also um play a critical role in supporting student health and well-being as well as postsecary secondary and post-secary planning. So a big shout out and thank you to all of our school counselors for what they give to support our students. And while we're on the topic of school counselors, um we're so proud to celebrate a very special milestone awarded last week to Sunset Hill Elementary School. They are the first school in Kansas to earn the recognized ASCA model program ramp designation from the American School Counselor Association. This makes Sunset Hill the first and only school in the state of Kansas to achieve this designation. Sunset Hill School Counselor Amanda Atkins says it this way. This recognition highlights what is possible when principles intentionally advocate for school counseling programs by ensuring that
004counselors have the time, the support, and the role clarity needed to prioritize direct student services aligned with the ASCA national model. This recognition honors a schoolwide counseling program that is aligned with this national model. It's a best practice model and focused on improving student outcomes. It in it entails in the demonstration of intentional leadership, strong systems in the school, and a school culture where students are known, supported, and valued. Well, if you didn't notice, happy birthday, Mr. Langston Hughes. Uh so last Monday, a week ago today, uh Langston Hughes Elementary threw a schoolwide birthday party with an upbeat soundtrack provided by the Lawrence High School band drum line in order to celebrate the birthday of famous Laurenian poet, playwright, and their school's namesake, Langston Hughes. The students gathered in the gym as the high schoolers
005performed with many future musicians tapping and drumming along. The crowd was especially impressed by one band member's ability to play their instrument upside down. Now, I'm sorry that I missed that. Uh, so to make up for it, I wanted to just not let uh this week go by without reflecting on uh as a um surviving uh English teacher, we must have a poem to go along with Langston Hughes birthday. President Gordon Ross and I were valued very much the opportunity to share with I believe uh President it was about 66 11 groups of six and something like that. Uh these are all approximate numbers. uh last Thursday at Leadership Lawrence. The energy and interest in local government was inspiring and it grew as we progressed uh through this kind of speed dating arrangement of discussing
006uh challenges in our own community. I just really am grateful for our connection with Leadership Lawrence and the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. What an extraordinary opportunity uh to uh engage with leaders from all sectors in the community and to uh raise their awareness, cultivate leadership in understanding the challenging challenges and opportunities we face as a community. I appreciated, I'm sure uh our president will speak to his experience, but I really appreciated that uh these groups were not shy about confronting some of our biggest challenges in the community and I loved hearing their ideas for work that we can do uh to enrich our outcomes together. Ovation uh Lawrence uh Schools Foundation 10th anniversary of the district talent show ovation was held on Sunday, February 1st. What an extraordinary celebration of Lawrence Public Schools student talent,
007creativity, and joy. just so grateful uh that on this 10th anniversary uh the highlight was a signature performance by Ovation creator and Lawrence High School graduate Graham Edmunds who returned to Lawrence from Los Angeles to perform in the show. Thanks to community generosity, Ovation has raised more than $140,000 to support our students and staff. Want to give a special shout out to this year's Crystal Apple Award winners, Katherine Myhouse, art teacher at New York Elementary, Bryce Jones and Eric Bradshaw, music and theater teachers at Free State High School. Each of these uh teachers was presented with a $1,000 check from the foundation. I just want to give a brief overview of something you could spend a long time on and that is just a recent um uh really just they swept the art show. LHS
008students earned 57 top awards in the Scholastic Art Awards Midwest Regional Competition. It includes Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois. So from among 4,000 entries, our students uh were awarded one gold art portfolio, 22 gold keys, 12 silver keys, and 23 honorable mentions. These were selected by professional jurors through a very rigorous process. So this is the real deal. We are proud of what I call fondly the Lawrence Public Schools arts difference. And nowhere is that more seen uh than examples like this. I'll show you some of them uh as we move through this briefing. Just fabulous art. And a shout out to our educators who help educate, motivate, and support their awardwinning entries. Emily Marcelados, ceramics and jewelry. Angelia Perkins, photography. And Todd Potit, drawing and painting. Lots of superstars around us this
009past week. Kansas teacher of the year visit uh was hosted uh by Tracy Murray of Lawrence High School and our team uh communications team Jake Potter and um uh summer workman and Andrew Beavenon supported as this group of teachers of the year nominees 10 of them from across the state uh visited Cordley Billy Mills Middle School Lawrence College and career Academy and Lawrence High School. They were served a beautiful lunchon over at College and Career created by our own culinary students. It was so great to be at the Bob's dinner. I appreciated being there with uh President Gordon Ross. We were delighted to congratulate Gina Carter, Woodlon Elementary 2025 Excellence in Teaching Bob's Award recipient. We're deeply grateful for the anonymous Bob's donors. We don't take a lot of photos at this event because the
010uh the theory of their work is to put all of the attention on marvelous teachers and none of the attention on those who make this award possible. Uh we're still out on our community conversations. really excited tomorrow night to be out at Woodlon Elementary. Uh there are lots of places on the website to share your feedback and many ways are open. All we ask is that you participate, find a way, long survey, short survey, write us a letter, any way you like, show up in person. Uh we want to hear from you. Here are upcoming dates. Uh really excited to welcome all to our parent teacher conferences this week. I think Lawrence High School is engaging in them even as we speak this evening. We know how critically important the hometoschool partnership is for student
011success and everyone all of our families are encouraged to be a part of parent teacher conferences. Um, as a reminder, enrollment is open for preschools. We are filling up quickly, so we invite everyone to be sure and reach out. Uh, we're expediting this evening to get through a lot of content, but here's a quick look at all city choir concert last Tuesday evening. What an honor to be in one of Kansas's finest performance venues. in fact the finest among the finest in the Midwest. Uh and all of our all city middle school choir and high school choir students there to perform uh just for your zen moment of the day. I'm going to introduce it first before I share it with you for your listening pleasure this evening. Uh it is called Shante Washe Ho.
012I won't say it right. Hochila is a Lakota lullabi that has been passed down through generations. This arrangement, beautiful arrangement, was performed by the Lawrence All City Middle School choir. It was written in memory of the victims of the 2022 Rob Elementary mass shooting in Yuvaldi, Texas. It is the first time the song has been written down uh with the words translated and scored. Our LPS middle school students learn the melody before the rest of the song following the Lakota tradition as requested by the composer. Enjoy. Heat. Thank you. It is an honor to serve in the Lawrence public schools. Thank you for the opportunity to share this evening. >> Thank you, Dr. Swift. Uh moving on to report of the president of the board. Just a few things. Um Dr. Swift covered uh a
013few things um uh that I was going to cover. uh thoroughly enjoyed going to Ovation. Um I wanted to extend my congratulations to um Katherine Mi House and Bryce Jones and Eric Bradshaw on their uh Crystal Apple award. Um and then uh probably the highlight of the evening for myself was I took uh my youngest daughter Anna with me uh who had never been to Ovation before. And uh as is tradition, uh Brian Haney is usually the MC, but Brian Haney was out of town uh as a responsibility for uh KU basketball. And so he turned the MC duties over to Julie Bole and Anna lost her mind. Um that it was Julie Bole. So that was that was kind of fun to watch. And then um the leadership Lawrence uh experience was also a
014lot of fun. Uh I enjoyed the conversation. I enjoyed the questions. I enjoyed um the interaction with the the leadership Lawrence class. Um I think for me my favorite question that I was asked that I got to answer was what is one thing if changed about your job would make you want to do your job for no money? That was that was my favorite favorite question. Um and then I found out that most of the people in the room didn't know that we did our jobs for no money. So that that that was that was that that led to some really uh fun conversations and and uh um enlightening conversations, but I really enjoyed that opportunity. And then I thoroughly enjoyed being at the at the uh Bob's dinner as as well. Uh I'll I'll
015end with just a couple things on the consent agenda. There's a um a bid for a backup generator for this building. Uh the ESC houses um the district's backups for uh IT systems and and communication systems. The bid is for $140,700. Total cost is 15,5400 with a 10% contingency. There's also a bid uh for a replacement chiller at LHS for 352,76. Total cost is 387 387,283 with a 10% contingency. I'll note that uh this is not the lowest of the four bids we received. The lowest bid of $317,000 did not meet all of the requirements of the bid request, so it was not considered. And lastly, there's a multi-year agreement with Turf Tank, $17,700 for year 1 and $16,000 for years two and three. Turf Tank is a piece of robotic equipment that paints athletic
016fields. Um and so it will save uh FNO staff considerable amount of time specifically at uh painting uh football fields at our middle schools and and other athletic fields. So really excited about that. Um so with that we will move on for public education legislative and state board updates. Shannon, >> thank you GR. Um, okay. So, tomorrow and Wednesday, the state board of education will be meeting. Um, the I think uh as far as issues that might be of interest to my board colleagues, they are hearing a report tomorrow morning at 10:45 from the KU Center for Innovation Design and Digital Learning. Um, they're doing a presentation on a framework, a a proposed framework from that center for a using AI in the classroom. Um so that might be a good one to watch especially
017for the board members who are um working on those uh recommendations. And then uh the board is going to spend a good bit of time tomorrow during their meeting um talking about AI screen time and cell phones. Um and then on Wednesday among other business they're going to hear an update from their search firm that's doing uh the search work for the new um state education commissioner. So, uh, uh, few interesting things on the state board agenda this month. Uh, the legislative work has been, uh, fast and furious. We have this week and next week before what's called turnaround, which is the point during the the halfway point at the legislative session. So, if the bill started in the House, they have to do all their work on it and send it over the Senate
018before turnaround happens, unless there's some special exceptions to that. But as a general rule, so it means that everything is sort of chaotic this week and next week. Um I will share that there are really some emerging themes in this um session uh being uh stagnant funding um substantially increasing mandates on public schools and finding new ways to criminalize school district operations. So, uh, to expound on that a little bit, um, I think I reported a couple weeks ago that the budget work, uh, was not going real great, um, in terms of the outlook for new special education funding. Uh the Senate has adopted as the Senate's position no new money for special education and no new funding for any of the other things that the state department of education had requested for the upcoming
019budget year with the exception of funding the um inflationary adjustments in and funding the the amount of money they need to fund base state aid for schools and that's it in the Senate budget. the House uh the House uh budget chair rep uh presented their budget recommendation today. The committee recommended um after much debate and some disagreement um $10 million in new special education funding and right out of the gate uh the vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee made a motion to strip that out of the House budget position. Um thankfully that motion was uh eventually withdrawn but um it's uh frustrating because as we all know um the continued significant underfunding of special education in Kansas um is basically an effective cut to our base state aid. So, in Lawrence public schools, we
020transferred about $15 million last year uh from our general operating funds and our local property tax dollars to backfill that shortfall in special education funding. Um you know, $15 million. We have about not quite 10,000 students. So, you know, you're almost $1,500 a student for our district. If you do the math statewide, um the average effective cut to base state aid by the continued underfunding of special education for last school year was $1,000 per student in Kansas. That actually puts uh uh base state aid in Kansas at a level that is um lower than the year before they um adopted the new school finance formula and lower than it was the year that the Ganon case would f was filed in 2010. So, um, you know, there's there's a lot of work to be done
021in helping our legislators understand, um, I think our Douglas County delegation understands well, but helping other members of the legislature understand, um, the math that is impacting school district operations. At the same time that there's an unwillingness to fully fund special education, there's a a great deal of willingness to place new mandates on districts. So, I'm just going to run through um my list of bills with mandates. Um we had Senate Bill 339 uh mandating uh somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes of recess and physical activity daily for elementary kids, half an hour of recess for middle school kids and 30 minutes daily of physical moderate physical activity for high schoolers where they are required to get their heart rate to 75% of their maximum heart rate. Um although we also are considering cell phone
022ban bills that would prevent students from wearing fitness monitors at school. So um that's number one. Uh there's hearing this week on Senate Bill 381 that would mandate a particular kind of curriculum in social studies um that teaches patriotism, socialism, and um communism and would mandate all students have to pass the citizenship exam to graduate from high school. There's a bill this week uh that would change um the timelines for districts to try to become charter school districts. There's a bill that would mandate districts must allow ABA therapy in schools. Uh there's a bill that would uh that mandates um a number of things around student groups and free speech that includes a significant financial penalty. There's a mandate to remove food additives from food lunch. a mandate to um uh verify 100% of students
023who uh qualify for at risk funding because they are free lunch qualified under the federal program. There's a mandate that would um direct that districts could not pay um stipens under their negotiated agreements for dual enrollment courses, but instead would be told what those stipens could be and there would be limits placed on that. There's the cell phone bans. There's um mandated career testing. Um instead of students getting to choose to take the ACT or the ACT work keys, all students would have to take work keys or some other career assessment. A mandate for fentinal abuse education. A mandate for sex sexual abuse education. A mandate that students have to be potty trained to start kindergarten. A mandate that schools cannot provide school-based mental health services without a a significant and ownorous notification and consent
024process. a mandate moving local elections to even numbered years. A mandate uh regarding speech by districts and schoolboard members around bond issues. Um and a mandate that uh the attorney general would be allowed to veto school district's choice of legal counsel when they are hiring counsel for contingency fee um cases. So that's uh not a comprehensive list actually surprisingly. Uh but those were the ones that I had time to write down today and I figured that was probably enough. Um and then you know so um there's a theme here. U many of these bills are coming from national groups whose um overall stated purpose is to take away decision-making authority from local boards of education. Um and so this is it's not just something that's happening in Kansas. that's happening all over the country. Um,
025but it's not it's not being driven by policy groups that just want to do good things for public schools and public school kids. And that's it's really important to keep that in mind. Um, finally, the on the theme of criminalizing school operations, we're seeing um more and more bills that include hefty fines and even um criminal penalties. So, the um the free speech bill I mentioned, that one has a $25,000 per incident um if a violation is found, fine. The um the school mental health services bill includes a $5,000 per incident of violation found, fine. the bond election bill. If you're found to have violated the the speech restrictions in that bill, it's a class C misdemeanor that's punishable by jail time or a fine. Um, and then there's a bill um that was filed
026recently that would um allow the attorney general's office to create a school inspector general position and that there are significant um penalties um in that bill as well. So, um I think it's really important to continue um sharing what we do um and how well we do it because we do it well. um and that you know we serve o well over 90% of uh the students in our state in public schools and we need to continue to keep them strong and keep decision-m um authority at the local level uh where you are closest to the community and you understand their needs. So um that's what's been going on in Topeka. >> All right, we'll move on to report of board committees. Matt, we'll start with you. come down this way. Sure. >> Um negotiations
027met last week. Um Kelly, Bob and I were there. Um there was a lot of new folks to the um to the table. Um so after some introductions, we started talking about some discrepancy in stipens um various stipens that folks earn um and got some information on that. We did um learn that among I think 400 um respondents to the um the educator professional development the satisfaction rate was approaching 90% and there was a lot of good data about how well that's gone over in lie of um you know outside professional development. Obviously some areas of growth were mentioned um that everybody seemed to agree on. So that was really good to hear about. Um then there was work on developing an issue statement related to salary. Um you know recognition of efforts that have
028been made but um not being where we should be. Um so issue statement and some breakout group work on looking at the salary matrix. Um that led to some good questions being asked and some homework being assigned. So um if I missed anything feel free but it's good. Yeah, >> Kelly. >> Um, I'll just add one piece. I guess I one thing, but it's not something missed. Um it is that we may my um ask to uh Bob and GR we might need an executive session pertaining to negotiations at an upcoming meeting since we're beginning to have conversations about salary and we want to make sure that we're providing um the negotiation members as much information as we can in terms of guidance. So if you would work together on that would be great. Okay,
029we'll do >> Yeah, this is Carol. Uh, let's see. Last week, U board colleague Bob Buyers and I met with at the with the equity advisory council and we were given a pre a brief presentation from Dina Johnson, the executive director of the Lawrence Schools Foundation and she gave us a very extensive brief 20 minutes, but it's not even enough time to talk about the good work that the Lawrence Schools Foundation does here in this building. So when we talk about a generator, we're not talking about a generator just for the support staff. It's also the Lawrence Schools Foundation and all the great work that they do. And it it's really it helps to alleviate their overhead so they can focus on supporting the the um district's mission because they are mission driven. And they
030also talked about how they gave away 84 scholarships and you can find those applica the information and applications on their website. And let's see, Bob, what else am I missing? Oh, we discussed how this district is and we have many districts because we have a lot of school social workers and we have a a a good focus, a laser beam focus on mental health and mental health support staffs in this district. And uh well, let's see. I think it was um was it somebody? Who was it? Was it one of one of the districts admin? They said that somebody actually went to a Blue Valley schools um district. They left us them and then they came back here just solely based that we do support. We do have social workers here in the district and
031we have a really good number of social workers compar compared to other districts. So that was our my big takeaway. And um let's see. Oh, it's not really a a board, but I would like to know um congratulate senior Michael Hedgehorn and sophomore General Wallace. They um participated in the first ever Kansas high school state activities association. They had an esports state esports state championship in tha and Michael Hajgehorn is headed to Kate on a scholarship to continue playing esports. So big congratulations to him. >> That's cool. >> Thank you. >> Anything? >> Actually, both of mine have been >> All right. Um, Yolanda, I'm going to check to see if you can hear us. And do you have anything to report from a committee? >> Okay, we're going to go back down the line
032for board commentary. Bum. >> Okay. other than um oh do okay um other than my my committees I also attended ovations um and actually I've done done it for probably the last three or four years um just because I enjoy watching and listening some great talent in the district. Um, other than that, that is it. >> Okay. Uh, this is Carol. This is just a quick reminder that parent teacher conferences are this week and my nephews are cheering because there's no school due to conferences. So, um, but um, just a gentle reminder to please check with your child's school to see if there are items needed for the conferences. Sometimes our parent some of the schools organize lunches and meals for the teachers. >> That's nice. They are extremely long days. Thank you. >> Uh
033I just want to recognize uh Jeannie Williams is is one of the retirees on our personnel report. And uh when when I started on the board, my first committee um she helped run and coordinate which was the policy committee. and I learned so much from her about how to be um an effective member of a of a board committee and the way that she participated in dialogue with us and helped us um come to consensus and make decisions and just kept us on task was something I really appreciated. She was is um particularly in that role, she was very good at her job and I know she's good at the one she's leading right now. just had a huge impact on me and my understanding of um the district and I uh know Bob will
034be recognizing but I I also just wanted to mention how much I am grateful for my um interactions with her. Um and I'll then I also wanted to know I'm sure it came through our email but I don't know if you all saw the LHS you can get the um for Valentine's Day. >> Yes. Um, uh, can someone explain? Has anyone done that before? >> Well, tomorrow is the deadline for Serenade Your Sweetheart. Checks can be paid to the Lawrence High School orchestra. Unfortunately, there's no electronic payment process, but it's $20 to just have someone simply come to your your your loved ones school or be at work. And it's 30. It's Yeah, it's $20. And for $35, they'll play or $35, you can have two songs and a rose. and they'll deliver a personal
035message to your sweetheart. >> And there were some cool songs in there tomorrow. Yeah, there's like like five songs, five different songs. >> So, I'm going home and I'm going to be getting my checkbook out apparently. Um, but I wanted to make sure that everybody saw that. >> That would be from Mariah Barnett at Lawrence High School. >> Thank you. >> Oh, cool. >> Uh, just one note, I was able to attend the All City Choir um performance last Tuesday. Thank you, Dr. Swift, for playing that clip. That was um the most moving moment of the evening. And uh um I I uh wanted to share the guest conductor who directed the middle school choirs said before they did their last song that um he was so impressed by and proud of our middle school
036choir students because they were doing things. He said, "I these kids today were doing things and doing them well that I struggled to get my college corral students to do." Um, so he was very compliment complimentary of our Lawrence public schools um, coral music students and it made me very proud as a board member but also as a parent because I had a I had a student up there on the stage. So, um, they did a great job. Yeah, it's already been mentioned, but I just wanted to bring attention again um to Sunset Hill and Amanda Atkins with that ramp designation um especially in light of some of the things, you know, affecting school counseling programs um that that Shannon has brought to light. Um that designation, if you don't know, is is incredibly incredibly
037difficult to earn. Um and it takes a whole school commitment and and is just, you know, incredible. um the the work that school counselors do, you know, often goes unknown or unnoticed and um that's just that's that's something truly special. >> Okay. >> All right. Um >> Bob Okay. The board would like to thank the following people for their years of dedicated service to Lawrence Public Schools. Carrie Hess for 20 years. Kelly Mar for 15 years. Jeanie Williams for 20 years. Like to congratulate you on your retirement. Awesome. All right, we're going to move on to the consent agenda. Consent agenda items are those that are considered routine and are adopted by one motion unless any board member or the superintendent requested an item be removed. The item items removed are voted on separately. Can
038I get a motion? This is Carol. I move the board of education approve the items listed on the consent agenda. >> I second. >> Gordon Ross, >> yes. >> Kimbell, >> yes. >> Franklin, >> yes. >> Buyers, >> yes. >> Lancaster, >> yes. >> Jones, >> yes. >> Could Blackwood? >> Yes. >> Motion passes 70. >> Okay. All right. We're going to move on to old business. Item 3.1, staff and community calendars. Dr. Swift. >> Thank you. President Gordon Ross and Mr. Pulus coming up to assist us. Uh members, I believe I've interacted with all seven of you and uh just so that our community is on the same page. I just want to note that following uh the board's great discussion uh at our last meeting uh we were able to get back to
039our team um and make an adjustment in our recommended calendar. So the calendar that we're bringing this evening for both 2627 and 2728 will include uh the second Monday in October as a dedicated district holiday in honor of Indigenous People's Day. Uh that day will be observed across the district. In addition uh to balance that the close of the school year has been extended by one day to accommodate that. So the school year is scheduled to wrap up on May 26th and I'm talking about the first of the two years 2627. Uh and that is on the Wednesday ahead of Memorial Day. Um the cost of this adjustment I've covered with each of the members. It is approximately the equivalent of paying uh our 9-month ESP for a snow day. You all are very familiar
040with those costs. Um they do uh fluctuate from year to year, from moment to moment. So I won't say a number out loud because it will be wrong by the time I finish saying it. But the point I'm making is that by passing this recommended calendar now, Miss Frick will be able to build in that holiday as an expectation for the next two school year calendars and we'll be able to build a budget uh around that expectation. I just appreciate uh all of the work of the calendar committee and particularly their goodnatured agility. uh when uh the board felt the need and I always love it. That's how governance should work. Uh you felt the need to compel us to do a little deeper work and we really appreciate the opportunity to do so. >>
041Mr. Poke, what have I missed? >> No. Um, I gave a summary of kind of the big changes we made last year and just wanted to note that as we continue to navigate an aligned calendar and are navigating it for the first time this year. We're we're uh looking for feedback in order to be responsive and navigate the new challenges that we see with the calendar as well as the the celebrations we have. But an example of that is the committee heard uh conference prep time in October that teachers were excuse me wanting more of that and so we were able to build in more conference prep time for the next two years. And so as we continue to get that feedback um we'll continue to navigate that as a committee to make sure that
042we're not only meeting the needs of the board but also our staff and families. >> That's great. I would only add as a postcript that to ensure transparency the board you've been fully briefed as has our team. Uh the only downside of this is a 2day instructional week. Uh we are familiar with those uh from our uh prior fall weeks years ago when we would go Monday and Tuesday. Uh on in this case it will be a Tuesday Wednesday. Um so we just have our eyes open. We recognize that and in future years perhaps can look at that. Uh we're getting better every year at this. So, thank you. >> Anybody have any comments or questions? >> This is Carol. I just have a comment and I just really want to thank you, Mr. Pulk,
043and members of the the committee, the calendar committee. It's with a deep and profound thank you to this district and this board. It's an honor and a pleasure to serve on a board with so many like-minded people and just caring. I grew up in this community and I you know I never thought I'd see something like this during my time. So um it's taken a 102 years to you know finally be recognized that we didn't we weren't citizens until 1924. And so I say this um with gratitude that you know we have the first public school to be renamed after Native American let alone living. And as far as we know, I know, I don't know of any other districts in Kansas that have recognized Indigenous People's Day with the backing and support that putting
044the dollars behind it and the and the >> genuine work. That's great. >> And I I say this um with compat with just appreciation that um I say this all the time and I know Mr. F is going to get tired of me saying this, but I you are the first Americans, last Americans, and now we are no longer invisible. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> You don't Carol, would you like to make a motion? >> Oh, yes, I would. Okay. Thank you. Um, I move the board of education approve the staff and community calendars for the 2026, 2027, and 2027 through 28 school years. >> And I second. >> Kajia Blackwood. >> Yes. >> Buyers, >> yes. >> Kimble, >> yes. Lancaster. >> Yes. >> Gordon Ross. >> Yes. >> Franklin. >> Jones.
045>> Yes. >> Franklin. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Motion passes 70. >> Thank you, sir. >> All right. We'll move on to reports. Item 5.1, American Student Services annual report. Kevin Herell and David Favre. >> Thank you. Um, President Gordon Ross, uh, members of the board. One might think watching from at home that this was a choreographed uh, to have the Indigenous People's Day and the Native American Student Services. I assure you is just a beautiful synchronicity uh, that was not planned. So, um, so thank you. What a great way to start our time together. We are proud in Lawrence public schools to have among our beautiful and diverse students approximately 8% of our students who identify as Native American uh, with tribal connections. These students attend school across um all of our Lawrence public
046schools locations. And joining us uh this evening are our students. Um and go ahead if you would may I? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um joining us this evening is David Favre, director. Uh that's important. And even more important are our beautiful students, Nefenna Favre and Riley Alva. And I can share with you that they are beautiful students uh in all ways and I get to hang out with them at parades and all kinds of events. And these young ladies are the real deal. And Sheay uh forgive me. Uh we know Sheay very well and welcome. We're glad you're here as well. Okay. So, Lefenna, you're going to start? >> Yeah. Helita. Hello. My name is Nefenna Farb. I'm Miss Senior of Lawrence and I'm a sophomore at Lawrence High School. I'd like to share an
047exciting opportunity I had traveling to Spokane, Washington to visit the NIA conference. At the conference, I had a wonderful experience getting to meet others, go to different workshops about different Native American studies, and make new friends. Thank you. Choose a hello my relatives. I greet you all with a kind and heartfelt handshake. My name is Riley Alva. I'm 13 years old and Ila Lakota. My Lakota name is Tashino Wakawi and I'm 2025 2026 junior Missian Youth of Lawrence. The platform I've been focused on during my reign is to empower native youth by offering regalia for local pow-ow and round dance events. Besides donations, we've held community crafting events to work on regalia pieces. My favorite part of my reign is attending community events and learning how to make ribbon skirts. It's been an honor to
048represent native youth and I look forward to staying involved in our community. Thank you. We uh pause. Director Favre, if the board has questions for the princesses, >> they're the stars of the show. >> Go ahead. >> Can you tell me a little bit about how you were selected to have this honor? So basically there's um there's there's an application process. Um you also write an essay and then you also it's kind of like a pageant and then there's a judge, multiple judges. There's a judge platform and they're all chosen so that way no one has like an advantage. And once you get chosen, you have a year reign and you choose a platform. Typically, your essay is going to be about either why you wanted to be having the title or what you plan
049to do if you have the title. So, my platform, I chose mental health. So, for my essay, I wrote about what I plan to do with my title and how I want to go about helping mental health around the Lawrence public schools. >> Okay, great. Excellent. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> That's great. >> Very good. >> Okay. Thank you. >> They left out the part. They have to do a bunch of volunteer hours as well. So, >> yeah, I thought I remembered that. Okay. >> Because they get to hand out all the fun stuff and all of that good stuff. So, um, so, Native American Student Services. I guess I should do this properly. So, my name is David Favre. My tribal name is Nissuchi. I'm Mississippi Chakaw from the coast of Mississippi. Um,
050Shay, you want to introduce yourself? >> I guess so. Uh, Halito, I'm Shayla Chu. I'm Chuck, Chickasaw Creek, Simol, and Cherokee. I grew up in Mississippi on the Konetta reservation on the in the Konetta community of the Chaka Indian reservation. but we're related tribe-wise but different parts of the state. So, Native American student services um we are the primary resource through federal programs to provide support and services to the Native community. Uh whether that be tutoring or school supplies, all of these things uh tied to different federal programs that were obligated to do. Um, we also support all the intertribal clubs in town which are growing uh quite fast. Uh, Central started their first club this week and I think they started with 25 students right off the bat. Um, so you'll see a jump
051in the numbers later as far as participation. Um this week alone we've als or last week we had conversations with Prairie Park as well about starting another parentr run uh intertribal club there. So we're very fortunate. Um we have more tribes represented in our school district than any other district in the state. We dropped down to by one this year to 73. Those tribes run from uh Alaska, of which would be my daughter, a little island out northwest of Alaska, all the way down through the southeast, the northeast, definitely the plains and southwest. So, we're a very very diverse uh community. Uh most JOM programs have about five or less tribes that they deal with. So it it can create some problems, but it then again we have so many great opportunities with families that
052most communities don't get to participate in. So we both of our funding sources come from the federal government just so when I first started here everybody was under the assumption that the school district paid for the program, but they are both federally paid. Um, title six is from the No Child Left uh behind back in 2001. It's buried back behind Title 4, which is another big possible funding uh branch, but we don't have access to that one. So, Title Six basically pays for our tutoring that we offer at both uh Billy Mills. We're now at Broken Arrow in our office and at West. And we have seen a increase this year in our tutoring. Uh we are contemplating uh possibly adding central uh next year. We'll have to have a public meeting within the spring
053semester as part of the federal grant. So that will be discussed at that time. But we do have funding at the current level even though it's flat to provide that. Um the big one for us is Johnson Ali. It's probably the most well-known and most important program. This program actually ties back to treaty rights. Um, Native Americans are not a race. We are political destination under the way the government works. It's the constitution treaties then the federal government. So, this ties back to those treaties with the federal government. Of course, they're not fully funded as they should be. uh currently this week and last week what's called uh the hill race is going on and so the Senate Indian affairs committee has taken the recommendation from both TEDA JOM and uh NIEA and so hopefully
054next year's legislation will see a $100 per student increase which would be the first increase in over 40 years of any significance um with that with the eligibility changes changes a lot for us. Um they are also looking at the formula as of uh Thursday of the block section of what JOM that the school district gets. So that may change as well. But this one's important because this pays for our school supplies that are tied to treaty rights. This pays for student activity fees, sports activity fees, sports shoes, um, cultural activities, art classes, all of those kind of things. So, Joom is extremely important to the native community. Um, the eligibility change, as we talked about last year, which I'm sure some of you don't know, it is official now. So, previously you had to
055be a member of a federally recognized tribe, which there's 576. Um, or at least one quarter blood quantum to qualify for JOM. Um, they have now chosen to follow what title six follows, which is two generations after tribal membership. So, uh, in all practicality, if I was the last member of my family that was qualified under the federal system, now my grandkids would now qualify, um, which is a big deal because it not only will eventually qualify them for IHS and healthcare, higher education grants, HASSL, CIP, AI, AI, a whole bunch of other programs. So it is very important um and it has caused a big issue along with the political crime in the country where tribal were descendants and people with just CIBs are desperately working towards getting their tribal enrollment which is a
056process I'm working with eight kids right now in the process to get done so that way they are protected from any questions on their ethnicity. or whether or not they belong in this country. So these are the current numbers. Uh we are sitting at 348 this year. Um typically we do see a little bit of a bump in August. Uh we did not see that this year. Unfortunately, it's usually about five to 10 families that move to Lawrence. Uh, I really can't pinpoint it, but I would say because of Haskell's late start, they didn't come here to drop off family members and then realize, oh, it's this Lawrence is a great community. We can get a great education here because schools had already started on reservations, so they probably chose not to pull their kids
057out. Um, but so we're slowly uh building back up. There is, as you can see, there are currently 810 people, students in the community that have at least checked off the box that they're tribal or related to tribal. So the next effort will be probably at the pow-wow or sometime after we'll start really trying to get those additional 400 to sign up because every 3 years is a benchmark in federal system 3 to four years. So if we can get our numbers up even 200 out of that 400, even if we had a massive drop for some reason, whether let's say worst case scenario, Haskell closed and so many families left, our funding would not automatically drop out from under us for at least a couple of years. But that's worst case scenario. And so
058this is currently where all of our students are. And as you can see, they are all over the district. Uh, Lawrence High, of course, being the largest population, it's now actually 102 as of today at Lawrence High. And so, they of course have the largest intertribal club. Um, but we are currently looking at processes for next year to hopefully partner with the Haskell Intertribal Club so we can go ahead and preload or preset demonstrations at all the elementarymentaries next year throughout the calendar year where it's a more of a designation of the club and the school working out and a good assembly time that it would work out and not try to squeeze them into November. And then this is our current. So as you see from intertribal clubs for engagement it jumped up the
05925 just from central starting up this week. Um the family engagement has gone down a little bit. There are reasons behind that and the one-on-one follow-ups. um mainly because our our practicum in student last year uh got a job in California. So, we're very happy for her and she's doing the same thing in San Diego. So, she still calls and checks on some of the kids. And then our tutoring numbers are slowly climbing back up. So, we currently have two students from Lawrence High that are even walking back to Billy Mills because they like to work with Dr. J. And so he is our tutor there. He is a retired physician, native physician, and he's got some really good stories. So, and then our family engagement piece has really done well. Our parent committee really
060stepped out of what I've seen since I've been here, and I've only been here a couple of years, but during the whole SNAP benefits issue, they took it upon themselves. They did the fundraiser, raised $1,400 so that we could hand out 708 >> about 78 turkeys for our families at Christmas time this year. And then we've had a couple of art classes also. And then we have a few more scheduled coming up. And then the next, so what's next is POW. So, you're all very much invited to come to Lawrence High on the 21st at 3:00. Gourd dancing will start. Um, supper is at 5, I believe. And so, a meal will be provided traditional way. And then outside of that, we'll have several more committee meetings coming up. We're once school supplies are ordered
061for next year, so we're pre-ordering that this month for next August. We'll see what budget-wise looks like to possibly have a cultural camp at least of a week during the summer or hunter safety's been requested quite a bit. That way our indigenous residents here can get their lifetime hunting and fishing license. And that's it. Any questions? We're more than happy to answer or try to answer. Thank you for that very extensive report. You talked about the increase in enrollment or need or urgency but the greater need for tutor services at Central or Liberty Memorial Central Middle School. How are you meeting that need with just simply just um Shay and do you have any practicum students this semester? So, we have no practicum students this year for the counseling side of it. On the tutoring
062side, that we do have the budget for it. Currently, they have a tutor. Um, I don't like to double stack tutoring offers that are in schools. We're prevented since Title One funds are used at both of the high schools for whatever reason they're used. we cannot use other federal dollars in that same school. So, it kind of limits us. So, really that we have a higher population this year at Central and it they're mostly sixth graders. So, we're anticipating that going up next year. So we will have our committee hold the public meeting to say we want to have the option to put a tutor at central and if that comes to fruition and the need is there then we will we have the funding set aside so that way we can pay for a
063tutor two days a week. So currently it's out west and at and at Bu or Broken Arrow and so we've seen a lot more increase. Snacks also help um you know kids really like lots of snacks so that brings them in more. >> I'm sorry I I didn't quite track why we couldn't have one at Liberty Memorial. Well Will you I'm sorry to make you repeat yourself. Could you say why we can't have one again? >> We can have one there right now if we had a person to do it. Okay. But they currently have one >> on our side of it. We have to officially submit to the federal government that we had a public meeting which all of our parent committee meetings are public but we just have to let it be known
064on the next agenda. We will be discussing next year's tutoring plan. >> Okay. Central was Liberty Memorial was already designated if they needed or requested a tutor that we would work to provide that. >> It's just the need hasn't been there yet. >> Okay, got it. Sorry. >> But if we got five parents calling me tomorrow saying it's getting towards the end of the school year, we would like to get another tutor over here. We would do our best to find a tutor and put in that central. >> Okay. Um I have >> um so uh regarding the practicum student who I loved so much and still love um we uh we certainly can have a practicum student for you the subsequent year if you need one and um I can say that because it's
065you know my job. Um but the the um actually the subsequent question I have to that is the one I asked last year and I'm going to ask it again. Um always uh whenever we can have KU students involved in our schools or Haskell students involved in our schools that is a good a good opportunity for them. It's a great opportunity for our students. It's always great when we can embed someone that we're paying and um additional staff is something we talked about last year and I know we looked at it, but I am um making that request to the district again to look and see um what funds might we have available to help contribute to that as a need particularly looking at things like I can't imagine Shay that you c like I'm
066assuming maybe I'm maybe this is a wrong assumption but the um your workload us th that sounds like a lot um in terms of the followup and um the role that you have if we wanted to increase the number of people signed up. Is that correct? Am I misinterpreting that role a little bit? >> Can be a lot. >> Yeah. Um so it seems like it and getting those numbers up in terms of additional people signed is very critical to your funding. Did I understand that correctly? >> It is to >> and then also to people getting the services. Yeah, >> it is to the extent of just increasing the amount so that way we can officially cover. We we understand that there are lots of natives in this community. I grew up in Lawrence.
067I've been very fortunate. Um I have elders that come to my office every week and have coffee and tell us how fortunate we are to be here. But it's important not only for us as a district to recognize these kids and those families and get them in the system on the federal side, but it is far more important for their entire life >> to get these other families signed up because of the access that it gives them for health care, for the possibility to go to Haskell or to get uh their tuition waved at a tribal school across the country. So there's lots of things that people don't expect on that side of it. So uh I will use Iowa as an example. If you are one of the 26 historic tribes that have ever
068traveled through Iowa pre-cont, you are eligible to go to any school in the state of Iowa at instate tuition. Just like as in Kansas, Native Americans now go to most state schools at instate tuition. It didn't used to be that way. So, when I was a kid, you had to get an an associates degree from Haskell to qualify for that at KU. And it's important for some people because they don't they're not required to change their residency. So, someone from Alaska, it's very very important that you don't change your residency due to dividends and PFDs and all of those kind of things. So helping those families get their families situated is a huge relief for them and for us because now I know they have services for them and they're not just out in the
069wind. >> Thank you for making that clarification um and helping connect those dots. I think there it does seem to me. So just on my side of the of understanding about social services and what a social worker could contribute that is something that commonly um lots of lots of disciplines can take are can take charge of that particular step. Um but that is something as an example that an additional staff person could help with. Um so I just wanted to note that again. Um, and then the the um other just quick question I have is really around the um possible duplication of um funds. So, it's curious to me about the school supplies why we wouldn't use the same um that we we provide school supplies for students in um across the district, >> right?
070just thinking about is there a way to ensure that we're doing that specifically targeting NAS maybe with the um direction and support so that those monies could be used for something else or do they have to be used for that? >> So it gets very tricky when you get into federal law. >> Okay. Uh, I guess the best way to put this is if you think of JOM as tied to a treaty, >> a treaty with the tribe and the federal government. >> JOM is the federal government piece of it. >> And so the federal government has an obligation through this program to provide certain things. Now, they haven't always in the past had the funds to get very many school supplies, and it may have been the very basic. Uh, I will say as
071someone that grew up in this district, we got a big chief tablet, eight big crayons, and eight pencils. And that's what as an elementary student, we got this year. Um, every elementary student that signed up got the entire list of what the school district recommended. And so we are trying our best to make sure that we meet the needs for our obligations >> to provide, but also that our students can succeed better. They can still come to the day here at the district where they can come get other supplies. Like we don't do shoes for just regular school. They have to be for a sports. They have to be signed up for it. We have to have all of the verification for it. So the big event that the school district and the school foundation
072does is absolutely great because we do see our students that do come here and our families get those items that they can't get from us. >> Thank you. if if you don't mind not to press too far into this, but as the district is trying to do some more supplies universally, would that allow you I think maybe part of the question is does that allow you to do some other things per perhaps? >> Yes. Yeah. And so it the more the district does like if you think of it as the box of supplies per classroom approach, the easier it becomes on our program and those funds would be used for something else. >> That's what I'm asking. So that's specifically what I'm saying. And I also think even though we have the big event here,
073we could still coordinate bringing them to you so that they're at they're at um your location. Families can come and be. So, I would be interested in district administration looking at ways that we can coordinate um providing those with the schools foundation and others that that assist us with that so that the money could be used for other and additional things if staffing maybe being one of them or something else. But I I do I would be nice to see that. >> Thank you. >> And we greatly appreciate that approach. We intentionally schedule ours before the school district's event. That way if we run out that they have an opportunity to go to the district to get supplies or maybe we just didn't have what they wanted. Um because one year we had pink binders
074cuz that's what we got donated to us and not everybody wanted those. >> Agreed. But >> um >> we are making as a program a much stronger effort to make sure we are utilizing those federal dollars the way they're supposed to be used >> and not just for certain highlight programs. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else have anything? >> Just one more quick comment. I just want to thank you again for coming in here. But um I also want to commend you and your staff for going above and beyond doing the school supplies and ensuring that our following up on where our students are if they didn't make it to school because we know that students can't learn if they're not in the classrooms. But the other part that you do that is tremendous and
075you're changing history and the trajectory of families when you said you were you were in the process of enrolling eight students in their tribes and I do that for a living. That is a job into itself. So thank you. That's a it's a huge burden. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you David very much. Okay. Good. Thank you. All right. We are going to move on to item 6.1 executive session. Can I get a motion, please? >> I have a question. Do you want me to work in um additional five minutes for Okay. So, I'll make it for 35 minutes. >> Yep. >> Okay. Uh, I move the board of education recess to executive session for the purpose of evaluation of the superintendent with Dr. Janice Kersswift, superintendent, invited to be present, and with the
076board to return to open session in this room at um 7:47 with no action to follow. Can >> I get a second? >> I second. Jones. >> Yes. >> D Blackwood. >> Yes. >> Gordon Ross. >> Yes. >> Kimble. >> Yes. >> Buyers. >> Yes. >> Caster. >> Yes. >> Motion passes 6. Yes. >> Yes. >> Lancaster. >> Yes. >> Jones. >> Yes. >> Kimell. >> Yes. >> Motion passes 70. >> Guys, sorry we're not live. That's my bad. I need to run back the entire executive session vote. I have the wrong screen up. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Okay. >> That one was just practice. >> That's practice. Huh. >> James didn't hear. with sickness. >> Yeah, he shared he shared. >> We're lost. Sorry. >> All right, we are back from executive
077session and we need to extend. So, can I get a motion, please? >> I move the board of education recess to executive session for the purpose of evaluation of the superintendent with Dr. Janice Kersswift, superintendent invited to be present and with the board to return to open session in this room at 7:58 with no action to follow. >> I second. >> Buyers, >> yes. >> Gordon Ross, >> yes. >> Kadu Blackwood, >> yes. Franklin, >> yes. >> Lancaster, >> yes. >> Jones, >> yes. >> Kimell, >> yes. >> Motion passes 70 for real. I was going to ask him. >> That's the one exception. >> Okay, we are back from executive session with no action to follow. Um, and that is the last item on our agenda. Dr. Swift, any announcements? I >> believe we're
078all good. Thank you. >> Okay. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> Move we adjourn. >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> All right. Have a good night, everybody. >> There we go.