001We're going to go ahead and get started and welcome everyone. Um, can I get approval of the agenda? >> I move we approve the agenda for the October 20th, 2025 board meeting. >> I second. >> Buyers, >> yes. Kadu Blackwood, >> yes. >> Costello. >> Franklin, >> yes. >> Gordon Ross, >> yes. >> Jones, >> yes. >> Kimbell, >> yes. >> Motion passes 6. So, we're going to move on to item 1.3. We're going to recess to executive session. Can I get a motion, please? I move to recess to executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel matters of non elected personnel in order to protect the privacy interest of the individuals to be discussed with Dr. Janice Kerr Swift, Superintendent Dr. Larry Ingerbreck, Deputy Superintendent Sammy Divine, uh acting assistant superintendent of human resources
002and council David Cunningham invited to be present with the board to return to open session in the room in this room at uh 6:21 uh with possible action to follow. Second >> could Blackwood. >> Yes. >> Franklin, >> yes. >> Gordon Ross, >> yes. >> Kimble, >> yes. >> Buyers, >> yes. Motion passes 5-0. And we're going to extend. We're back from executive session. We're going to extend. Uh, can I get a motion? >> I move to recess to executive session for the purposes of discussing personnel matters of non-elected personnel in order to protect the privacy interests of the individuals to be discussed with Dr. Janice Kersswift, superintendent. Dr. Larry Inglebrook, Deputy Superintendent Sam Reed Devon, acting assistant superintendent of human resources and council David Cunningham invited to be present with the board to return
003to open session in this room at uh 6:42 with possible action to follow. >> I'd second. >> Gordon Ross, >> yes. >> Kimble, >> yes. >> Buyers, >> yes. >> Could Blackwood? >> Yes. >> Franklin? >> Yes. Motion passes 5-0. I move to recess to executive session for the purposes of discussing personnel matters of non-elected personnel in order to protect the privacy interests of the individuals to be discussed with Dr. Janice Kersswift, superintendent. Dr. Dr. Larry Inglebrick, Deputy Superintendent Samry Devon, acting assistant superintendent of human resources and council David Cunningham invited to be present with the board to return to open session in this room at um 648 or I'm sorry 6 >> 653 >> 658 with no action with possible action to follow. >> 15 minutes 15 >> second. Yes. >> Buyers. >> Yes.
004>> Could do Blackwood. >> Yes. >> Franklin. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. 5-0. >> Sorry about that. We're >> back and we're going to extend. >> I may have to recess to executive session for the purposes of discussing personnel matters of non-elected personnel in order to protect the priv privacy interests of the individuals to be discussed with Dr. Janice Kersswift, superintendent. Dr. Dr. Larry Inklebrick, Deputy Superintendent Samry Devon, acting assistant superintendent of human resources, and council David Cunningham, invited to be present with the board to return to open session in this room at 7:10 p.m. with possible action to follow. >> I second. >> Kimble, >> yes. >> Buyers, >> yes. >> Could Blackwood? >> Yes. >> Franklin, >> yes. >> Gordon Ross, >> yes. Motion passes 5-0. We are back from executive session. We
005thank everyone for your patience. Um have no action at this time and so we will move on with our agenda to item 1.5 the report of the superintendent of schools. >> Thank you President Gordon Ross and members of the board all who are joining us here in person and remotely. Uh we are moving forward this week well into the second quarter of the 2526 school year. We're focused on making every moment count to achieve a strong second quarter. Let's see if I There we go. Um it has uh I just want to thank our teachers, our students, our support staff and families who participated in parent teacher conferences over this past week. We will work to put that data together. I know the directors will do that. We know that 50 years of research tells
006us the striking benefits of school teams actively partnering with families to improve children's learning. Uh this effort to partner in support of the success and well-being of our students pays dividends in student engagement and success throughout We've had our schedule disrupted just a little bit uh during October due to some other commitments that uh many folks have had. So I want to just call out some events that have occurred uh while uh in the interim since our last board meeting. Indigenous People's Day was recognized uh last Monday on Monday, October 13th with a number of cultural awareness and appreciation activities taking place throughout Lawrence Public Schools. One example was a spirited ceremony that uh visitors from New Zealand and Alaska performed for students at and staff at both Hillrest and Cordley elementary schools. Uh, this
007was designed to teach students about their tribes, native cultures through language, music, and dance. Um, over at Woodlon Elementary, um, they recently partnered with the Sunrise Project to offer cooking classes for our students. This is part of an emphasis on teaching our students the importance of nutrition and healthy eating and providing hands-on learning activities in our classroom. We really enjoyed walk and roll to school day. I love uh examples like at Prairie Park Elementary where the entire school regardless of how they get to school, they all went out for a walk uh to celebrate that idea of being outdoors during this beautiful fall and a number of students join were joined by their uh family members. Uh on that same note, uh safety continues as our top priority in the district and last week our
008families received an invitation to provide feedback on the safe routes to school program. This is a national program. Our schools have participated actively in collaboration since 2014 along with the Lawrence Douglas County Health Department, the city of Lawrence, and the Lawrence Lawrence Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization. So, we're really encouraging our families to provide feedback on this survey between now and November 10th. It can be completed via the link that was shared uh via parent square last week or if you can't find that link just go uh to the city of Lawrence's safe routes to school page and you'll see the link right there up front. Dr. Colamaya represented me last week when I had to be out of town and missed this great award. Katie Logan, custodian at Sunflower Elementary School, was awarded the
009ACE award. Lauren School's Foundation gathered with students, colleagues, family members in the Sunflower Gym last Wednesday s to surprise Katie with the announcement. Um, several of Miss Logan's family and friends join the staff and students of Sunflower Elementary. And one thing that's really fun about these gatherings is it's all a surprise uh to the team member. The gym was filled with flowers and handmade signs, heartfelt cheers, and a sea of smiles from Miss Logan's biggest fans. A staff member wrote of Katie, "Her attitude is infectious, creating an uplifting atmosphere that encourages all of us to be our best. She is a true model colleague who leads by example and makes every day brighter with her unwavering dedication and positivity. I'm very uh grateful for the strong attendance and showing that we had on October 10th
010at our learning exchange professional development day. A number of our buildings were filled with LPS team members and learning sessions were hosted for our staff and led by our staff. I was so delighted to have the morning door greeting responsibility at Southwest Middle School's front door on that Friday morning and loved seeing the great smiles uh from our staff members. I appreciate the work of Dr. Jeremiah and the teaching and learning team and our teachers who've worked hard to launch the teacher learning exchange. This is a teacher-led professional development series focused on maximizing the thing we know we have in this district and that is our talent and leadership among our teachers and building capacity from within. We use the phrase for teachers by teachers with teachers in service of students. You can see several
011quotes there. Uh many uh folks sharing the feedback that the PD was beneficial and uh also that they were having lots of fun through my front door at Southwest. I think the most popular session that Mr. Pulk and I were directing folks to was the AI in education learning session. So very exciting. We have two more days coming up. One on January 5th to start 2026 and then again on April 17th. I'm very proud the human resources team has been busy this fall. We are on the hunt uh on the lookout for future staff members who share our core values, who care for students, and who are interested in careers that support our students with ensuring a culture of dignity, well-being, and success. So, um just want to give a shout out. There is an
012event coming up this Thursday night right here uh in this room, an educator hiring fair. I was delighted to hear the team report that over at uh University of Kansas just a couple of weeks ago. We had a full double schedule booked with candidates and by all reports they were bright and beautiful and ready to go to work. So, uh, very exciting times. Um, a second human resources and finance team update. I just wanted to share with folks that we've confirmed that the retroactive pay for educational support professionals will be paid on the October 29th weekly bi-weekly paycheck. This is ahead of schedule. human resources had communicated that it would probably be the week of November 24th. So, I just appreciate the extra effort on the part of our finance team and our HR team.
013I'm very grateful because we have that priority of paying as quickly as possible. So, this will be retroactive to July 1. Um, and I appreciate the work of the board to support a negotiated agreement and it's good to get all of that caught up to current here uh, very soon. We are in the midst of fall sports and activities. They are now past the halfway point of the regular season. We were so delighted to see such strong support for the homecoming parades. Um they were each livereamed events and between the two those posts have been viewed by more than 27,000 friends and family members alums and supporters of Lawrence public schools. Now coming up just this Friday uh we'll have another strong show of community support I know in the stands of Lawrence High School
014this Friday night. It is the cross town showdown varsity football game. Firebirds will be the visitors at Lawrence High School as the Chesty Lions host. gates opening at 6:00 and kickoff at 700 p.m. We've included uh ticket information uh in your packets and we're asking parents to please help us out uh by coming along with their middle school students so that we have lots of adults in the crowd there to help us out on Friday evening. It'll be a very exciting night. I won't go into this too much, but in case you missed it, there is an incredible video posted on October 10th um and has about 5,000 views. Uh Andrew Beavenon, a communication specialist. Um it tried to interview the goats. He actually ended up interviewing students. It turns out they've learned a lot
015about the goats and this is just too good for you to miss. So, make sure you see that show and tell video. I just appreciate all of our parents um as we continue to work on safety and real time alerts. Our team conducted that safety alert test um back on October 9th and we distributed that test alert using our Parent Square platform. Now, keep in mind that even if folks do not want another app on their phone, we totally understand if that's the case. They do still relieve receive the alert through their emails. So, either way, folks will get the message. I appreciate our team really working to educate everyone in the community so that they can um they can be sure to know in real time the updates that we have. In addition to
016testing, we've had a few real life testing situations with a variety of circumstances at schools that have uh required us to reach out to our parents during the school day. We just really appreciate uh this ability to reach directly to our parents in real time to keep families updated. We also appreciate everyone's patience, our staff, our students and families as we experience these alerts together and take the time afterward. uh the team and I always go through every one of those emails to correct what we're hearing about the way we're communicating in real time. So, thank you all. If there are any issues with your household receiving the communications, we've got an email dedicated so that we can get those concerns right away as they come in to us. really appreciated that our team uh
017both Summer and Andrew were at our statewide fall conference of the Kansas uh school public relations association. They were out in Great Bend for a couple of days last week and I really appreciate the exchange of the best ideas in an age of social media and real time alerts going in every direction. Uh it's just a great time to ensure that our communications practice is completely up to speed and as sharp as it can be. On that note, in the last four weeks, our Facebook page has amassed over 4.3 million views. This is a 41% increase over the prior four weeks. We're also observing a positive trend of longer sustained interactions uh with uh folks accessing our site. In addition, we've gained 1,215 followers over the last four weeks and that also is an 8.4%
018increase. That brings us to a total of 15,873 followers. really appreciate the opportunity last week. I'm grateful uh to past president Kelly Jones and the elementary our elementary director JC Robersonson alongside about 60 other of our community leaders for the opportunity to participate in an intercity visit to De Moine, Iowa. Uh this was a civic-minded contingent dedicated to the opportunities to strengthen the connection between our elected officials, our businesses, our organization, and the school district. I shared with the team this afternoon that it was four days of full-on community engagement with our own stakeholders who were on the trip as well as getting to engage with the great folks in De Moine and Ames. Um we are so proud uh of the of the themes that emerged. They were around uh community building, innovation, attracting
019talent, growth, quality of life, community partnerships, preparing workforce, ensuring a sense of community, belonging, and planning for the future. These were all patterns that ran through the four days. And I'm so delighted that in every session, we could see direct connections to our schools, our classrooms and schools as really the heartbeat of these patterns in our community. Many thanks to Bonnie Lowe, president and CEO, and the entire chamber team for all their tremendous work to convene such an meaningful time of learning and work and supporting the best next steps for our Lawrence community. Thursday night coming up uh just three days away, Lawrence Public Schools is hosting a free fall college and career night um in partnership with the Kansas Association of Collegiate Registars and admissions officers. This event will be at the Lead Center
020of Kansas from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Representatives there for more than 50 universities, community colleges, and trade schools available to share educational and scholarship opportunities. I'm also proud that our high school transition coordinators will host a 6:00 p. p.m. to 700 p.m. panel on postsecary services for students with IEPs and 504 plans. So families can go online to register for that com for that event on Thursday evening, but we really just want everyone to just turn out. Uh it's rare when you get to see that many colleges, universities, and junior colleges and trade schools all in one place. Wanted to wrap back and share uh following our meeting in September. At that time, we shared a preliminary plan to add classrooms at Langston Hughes Elementary in order to address the ongoing overcrowding issues at this
021school location. Just want to share with everyone that since that announcement, we've had the great opportunity to hear from members of the Langston Hughes community, including the neighbors, to meet with members of the City of Lawrence team, and to receive additional input from our own LPS facilities professionals. And so as we consider the larger picture of what is needed uh to do this project right um we are going to extend that timeline for completion to the summer of 2027. This will allow specifically time to engage more fully with staff and students and parents, with neighbors, with the city of Lawrence and the community and plan for informed integrated updates to the building to address classrooms, infrastructure, and related needs. And I specifically want to call out the work to address the traffic patterns in that
022immediate neighborhood that do require attention as we uh do some work uh to make this campus more accessible. We look forward to engaging in conversation with the Langston Hughes and wider community during the upcoming weeks of fall and winter. Just watch for those dates. We'll be sharing them out, working uh with Principal Mikkel to share those dates out as they fit the Langston Hughes schedule. Uh preview of coming attractions every year. We're so excited to get out in the community, engage with our students, our parents, our our community stakeholders, our school teams. And so we will be looking forward um very soon to sharing upcoming dates over the late fall and winter. We're going to make the most of that November, December, January, February timeline. And during these upcoming sessions, we will build on the
023themes. There were five major themes shared last year. We're going to build on those themes. We're going to update the work that we've been in the progress of doing uh during the year since we first heard these patterns. Thirdly, we're going to show a draft of an updated USD 497 strategic plan based right in what our community shared with us. And then we're so excited face tof face uh to hear from all our stakeholders as to the strengths they see, the opportunities for adjustment and for growth and generally how the school experience is going this year. We'll do both in person and online and just work to see folks in every way that we possibly can. So we'll finish just by reminding all of us that quality public schools are just a hallmark of engaged
024and caring communities who value their children quality education and our collective future. We're so grateful for the partnership and support of students, staff, schools, and our Lawrence community. Thank you members for the opportunity to share this superintendent report and for the honor of serving the Lawrence public schools. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Swift. Um as for report of the president of the board of education, um I have been out of town for the last two weeks and so I have nothing to report this evening. So we're just going to move on uh to board committee reports. So, I ask uh members as we go down the line if you have committee reports to share to do that and then uh we'll come back uh down the line after that for board commentary. So, we'll
025start with Bob for the committee. >> Yeah. Haven't had any committee meetings yet during this. >> All right, Carol. >> I have not had any This is Carol. I have not had any committee meetings yet, but I do have commentary. >> Okay, I'll I'll get we'll come back to it. >> No. Okay, Kelly, >> I'll just provide an update that the policy committee is meeting tomorrow and plans to work on our legislative priorities with hopes of bringing it to you on Monday in a first draft. >> Okay, perfect. >> Uh facilities committee met on October 8th and uh we heard a presentation on a potential upcoming neighborhood revitalization act request related to the historic Reuter Oregon building near city hall. Um and then uh just some other general updates on um on projects and uh
026nothing nothing really new to report from the remainder of that meeting. That was the main >> Okay. >> the main item of business. So >> you want to do board commentary on the way? >> Sure. Um I have a just a few things to share. um wanted to uh extend extend my gratitude to LEA for the invitation to join them in their celebration of um their their historic vote to uh bring ESP um staff into uh the LEA under the K&A union umbrella and um had an opportunity to meet NEA Vice President Princess Moss at that event and um hear some really inspiring words from her about uh her personal experiences and the power of public education in her life and so much gratitude for that opportunity. Um monitored the state board meeting this month.
027Uh just wanted to share uh this is Dr. Watson's last October annual report um since he has announced his retirement. Um he did share some positive uh trends in achievement across the state in terms of uh historic levels in the of the number of college credit hours and college classes college credit hours earned and college classes being taken by students across the state of Kansas. um historic number of students who were taking a AP tests and earning three uh fours or fives to earn credit from taking those tests and some meaningful improvements that he pointed out in graduation rates from 2017 to 2024 statewide. Um and particularly even more meaningful improvements for students with disabilities, free and reduced lunch students and English language learner students. Um so that was that was a positive. But I
028what I really wanted to talk about um was to highlight that one of our um own staff members, Julie Henry, represented uh USD497 in front of the state board um sharing about the uh grant project that we received the grant to in uh implement a district bakery at Pinkney. Um she did a fantastic job and the state board members were very excited to hear about how that bakery allows uh the district to source uh Kansas wheat for the flour for its baked goods and also how it has provided the opportunity for the district to provide baked goods for our school meals program that have significantly reduced uh the additives and preservatives that are in those um items that we serve to our students. And several of them including Dr. Watson expressed interest in visiting um
029visiting Pinkney and seeing that project um and the rest of the services and programs that we have at Pney um in action. So I was uh was really excited to hear her share about those great things that are going on um at the state level. Um, also just wanted to update the board that uh the the legislative interim committees are all meeting and um the interim committee that has jurisdiction over uh capers did make a recommendation last week um to the 2026 state legislature that they um move forward with either the bill that they heard last session or something like it uh to improve benefit payouts in capers tier three for um all capers tier three members which would include include our our teachers and our education support staff. Um I had the chance to
030attend the Deerfield site council. Um I'm a liaison now to that site council uh last week. Uh Mrs. Mikl much thanks for sharing um updates on uh progress at the building, student achievement as well as um behavioral data was all trending in positive directions and she took the opportunity to get feedback from parents and staff and I really appreciated being a part of that conversation. Um, congratulations to Katie Logan, the head custodian at Sunflower Elementary. I was able to attend the ACE award presentation um, this last week and I tell you what, those students were so excited to honor her and the signs and, um, fathead signs that they had of her were so adorable. It was really, really, uh, delightful. Um wanted to also extend gratitude to um former USD for principal and administrator
031Darcy Krauss for inviting me to speak to her education class at KU last Thursday evening. Um I enjoyed connecting with her students who are pre-ervice uh teachers um around the role of the school board in district governance and operations. And then finally, um just wanted to let the board know that the um legislative leadership has approved one additional meeting day for the education funding task force. Um hearing that task force leadership intends to bring an item to allow them to engage or contract with an outside entity entity to create a school finance simulator tool for the task force to use in its work. So thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, I just want to uh share with the board a couple my takeaways from the De Moines and um ISU visit um Ames visit. Um
032a couple things that stood out to me was the collaboration at the county level to create opportunities for affordable housing not just in the um the uh primary city but in the cities surrounding them. So they created environments that um presented opportunities for affordable housing for the workforce and for young families to come into their communities. And it is from that that or at least that among among key factors that created um the opportunity for one of the largest growing um metros in the country. Um, and I found that emphasis on affordable housing to be key. And also part of the conversation we're having in Lawrence. So, I wanted to mention that. And then in my own research, some takeaways I had too was um the way in which De Moines has created space or
033welcomed um immigrant and migrant families as well as part of their community and has also created growth in that space. Um so was really glad to have the opportunity to observe um how they've responded to uh their their um growth in their areas and and the impact it's had on their on their public schools. So really appreciated the opportunity to meet with everybody and and hear from them and learn from them. >> Okay. Um, I was glad to be given the opportunity to travel to uh Carl'sb, California for the um 9th annual California Association of Black School Educators uh conference. Um they do two every year. Uh this year was on their math curriculum and um I was so glad to be able to sit in on some of the sessions. They talked about the
034distress in the IEP process. Um, and they geared toward more of bringing bringing awareness that this is not just a state-by-state issue with children failing in math scores and it's not just a race by race issue. It is a national problem. and to be able to go to the West Coast and see how they are working through their curriculum to bring their math scores for their children up to see if what would we can do in the Midwest to take some of that back. Um, a lot of the curriculum that they use, the companies were there giving out the curriculum because they're on the process of making it a making it available nationwide instead of just statewide. So to bring that curriculum back, I'm excited to be able to put together like a slideshow so
035I can show the board exactly some of the things that they're doing. Philadelphia adapted their curriculum three years ago and they were voted the largest poorest school district in the nation uh and the ranking of they were ranking 50 among 50. So they were at the bottom and in three years of adapting this curriculum they are now this year ranking third in the nation and so next summer they will be doing a curriculum on reading and stuff. So, um, once I loved it cuz once you attended, they'd automatically send you all the slideshows from all the um, sessions. And it was so many sessions I couldn't attend them all. I wish I could have split myself up in like 10 so that I could attend everything. But I definitely was in interested in the IEP
036process and how they broke down the IEP process and how it was designed to fail that 10% of children that we can't reach. And so it was amazing to see how they took that and was trying to make it a lot better. So, I'm looking forward to um sitting down with my fellow board members and going over some of the information that I learned from that. But I definitely thank you guys for allowing me to travel there and be a part of that to see what it is that we can do differently to help our students. >> Thank you very much, Carol. >> Okay, let's see. I I will try to be brief. I would like to extend a a deep and profound heartfelt thank to thanks to Dr. Swift for participating in the orange
037shirt day at Haskell Indian Nations University. I'm a proud first generation descendant of a a boarding schools and um it's something that's I'm very I'm very passionate about teaching boarding school history in our schools. Um but but I would like to thank Dr. Swift for take um commemorating the event with um taking part in the the memory walk. So thank you. And that was um uh let's see and let's see and May let's see October 11th I met with um Pat and Billy Mills and staff which include and staff from the Watkins Museum which included Dr. um Will Haynes and Dr. Steve Noak and KU Masters indigenous student Kennedy Kennedy Murphy and which the guest also included um CA former Kansas Insurance Commissioner State Senator and Watkins board museummer Sandy Priger and her spouse Dr.
038Mark Prager. We met to discuss a possible donation to the museum which will include memorabilia or events from the rededication efforts of Billy Mills Middle School. And Mr. Dr. Mills is um making plans to make a considerable donation, a historical donation for one of his artifacts from his personal collection to the museum. Uh let's see. And I would like to thank Ashley Smith from Quail Run Elementary for the invitation to read to students on Monday, October 13th on Indigenous People's Day to read Billy Moses's book, Wings of an Eagle. And I would like to also thank those who have donated to the school nutrition school nutrition meal support fund. Excuse me. SE gosh, $710 has been donated thus far and slowly making progress to the 60 $60,000 goal. I would like to ask folks to
039keep in mind that some of our families may have been impacted by the government shutdown and may or may not be unable to make payments on their the school lunch account. So, please keep our students in mind and um ple you can visit the the school nutrition meal support fund link can be found on the district's website under the free and reduced meals page. Thank you. >> Okay. All right. So, uh we have some retirements. Oh, we're s Yes. The board of education recognizes the following staff members with sincere appreciation for their years of service and devotion to the community and its schools. And I'm going to first apologize in case I butcher someone's name, so forgive me. U but I will list off the individuals we need to celebrate. Uh, Kelly Barker, Gina Btigla,
040Stephanie Bowen, Jennifer Dixon Perkins, Carol Harrell, uh, Jackie Hood, Daniel Casikus, uh, Toana Lash Lashley, Karen Lesman, Brian Law, Michelle Leer, Julie Lie, Angela Perkins, Jeffrey Pinsley, David Reber, Janet Rovenstein, uh, Julie Schwarzing, and Michelle Thomas. >> All right. Thank you. Um, before we move on to the consent agenda, I'm going to turn the time over to Dr. Swift. >> Thank you. Thank you, President Gordon Ross. We want to take just a moment as we approach this part of the meeting to honor the memories of two USD 497 employees who passed away since our prior board meeting. Rita Yiannes, who had recently joined the Free State High School team as a student support specialist, and Clayton Todd Hunter, custodian at Prairie Park, who had served in the district for four years and had worked at
041Lawrence High School prior to Prairie Park. We just want to share on behalf of the entire USD497 team and on behalf of our board our deepest sympathies to the families, to the school teams, and to all who knew and loved Rita Giannis and Clayton Todd Hunter. >> Thank you for that, Dr. Swift. >> All right, with that, we're going to move on to approval of 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 request that an item be removed. The item or items removed or voted on separately. Can I get a motion for the consent agenda, please? >> I move the board of education adapt the the items listed on the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Franklin, >> yes.
042>> Gordon Ross, >> yes. >> Jones, >> yes. Kimell, >> yes. >> Buyers, >> yes. >> Could Blackwood? >> Yes. >> Motion passes 6. >> Okay. >> All right. We're now going to move on to public comment. Can I get someone to read the public comment statement for me, please? >> The USD497 Board of Education welcomes public comments and thanks you for taking time to talk to us about our policies and procedures. We set aside this time during our regular meetings to hear from the public. Patrons who wish to participate in public comment must email public comment at usd497.org by noon on the day of the board meeting to participate in person. Information provided will make it possible for district staff or the board to follow up with you as necessary. This is your time
043to share your opinions. However, public comment is not the appropriate form for making complaints about specific staff or students. If your comments relate to complaints concerning students or staff, such complaints must be addressed to district staff as provided under board policies KN and GAE. general complaints and personnel complaints. The board president or presiding officer of the meeting may direct that a public comment request be redirected to staff to comply with board policy, including and/or to protect the privacy of individual staff or students. If you need assistance in sharing a complaint or concern with district staff, please let the board clerk or other district staff know. Topics discussed public comment shall be gerine to the business of the board. Furthermore, comments must comply with standards laid out in board policy GAE and board policy JGECA, anti-bullying
044and hazing of staff and students. Comments or acts that are threatening to staff, the board, or others in attendance, including the use of language or behavior that is disruptive of the board meeting, will not be permitted during public comment. In addition, because students may be in attendance or watching online, members of the public will refrain from using foul or obscene language. The district assumes no responsibility or liability for the information shared during public comment. The views expressed are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lawrence public schools. The board president or presiding officer will invite comment on topics not included on the meeting agenda at the meeting or the end of each meeting. Comments relating to agenda items are welcome after the board has had the opportunity to
045discuss the topic. Limit your comment to three minutes. Patrons who are unable to comply with the above procedures may email their comments and viewpoints to the board at [email protected]. >> Thank you. Um, real quick before we get started at our last board meeting, um, we experienced some technical difficulties with WebEx. So, I want to take a brief moment and um, apologize for those difficulties. It impacted our online commenters. Uh we believe we have those technical difficulties fixed. Um in the event that they crop up again tonight, we do have a plan to address them. Uh so if they do crop up, we will pause public comment. We will go to our backup process and we will restart um whoever is currently giving comment. Uh so with that, we're going to start with Michael. Justin, >>
046can you hear me? >> Yes. >> All right. So, question uh for you guys before I proceed with my comment. Is the hyphenated hyphenated word ass one word or two? >> So, that's your warning. Justin, >> can I get a ruling on that since we only get a single warning before being removed? So, that's that's one that's one cuss word. Uh, so why wasn't I given the opportunity to speak at last meeting? You said it affected public commenters, but it was just me. You say technical difficulties, but they were fixed immediately and the next speaker spoke with no issues. Why couldn't I go after her? Why was I removed? Is it because I said cuss words sitting here in my li sitting here in my living room unaware my microphone was on? But my comment
047time hadn't started. So now you're saying I can't cuss in my own home during your meetings that I can only attend online due to an unconstitutional permanent ban you all gave me back on October 21st, 2021 for not wearing a COVID mask one time in Lawrence High School while trying to attend a public event. So I want to read from a public record that is in the possession of this school district. The record is my email sign up for tonight's meeting. When signing up online, the district asks us to state a topic to speak on. And I was approved by this district to speak tonight. And here's what I wrote in this public record. The the district asks topic you wish to address. Quote, "A little of this and a little of that, but I
048will be saying words like shit." >> All right. Thank you, Justin, for joining us. All right. So, we're going to move on to Carrie. All right. So, that concludes public comment for the evening. Do we have any announcements? No. All right. Motion to adjurnn. >> I move we adjourn. >> Second. All those in favor? Any opposed? All right. Thank you everyone.