001Okay. I'm going to call to order the 414 uh board meeting. Move the board of education approve the agenda for the April 14th, 2025 meeting. Is there a second? Second. All right. Uh, we're going to motion for an executive session. Oh, yes. Sorry. Okay. Jones, yes. Kimble, yes. Buyers, yes. Could Blackwood? Yes. Costello? Yes. Franklin? Yes. Gordon Ross? Yes. The motion passes 70. All right. Madam President, point of order before we move to the next item. Um, pursuant to board policies BAA and BCBG, I'm declaring that I have a conflict of interest related to an item that's uh being discussed in executive session this evening and I will be leaving the meeting until the executive session is concluded. Thank you. I appreciate it. Uh, with that in mind, do we have a motion for executive
002session? I move the board of education recess to executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel matters pursuant to non-elected person nonelected personnel exception under coma with Dr. Larry Ingleberg deputy superintendent Kristen Ryan assistant superintendent human resources and employee relations invited to be present and with the board to return to open session in this room at 6:31 with possible action to follow. There second I second. Kimell Buyers. Yes. Kadoo Blackwood. Yes. Costello. Yes. Franklin. Yes. Gordon Ross. Yes. Jones. Yes. The motion passes Zero. session. No action to follow it. Okay. Uh is there a motion for Um, executive session 1.5. You all can speak. I move the board of education recessed to executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel matters pursuant to the non-elected personnel exe exception under coma with Dr. Larry Inglebrook, deputy
003superintendent. Kristen Ryan, assistant superintendent at human resources and public employee relations, invited to be present when with the board to return to open session in this room at 650 with possible action to follow. Is there a second? Second. Buyers, yes. Kadu Blackwood, yes. Costello, yes. Franklin, yes. Gordon Ross, yes. Jones, Kimble, yes. That's a 70 Okay, I apologize uh for the delay. We are going to have to extend again. I move the board of education recess to executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel matters. Pursuant to the non-elected personnel exception under coma with Dr. Dr. Larry Engelick, deputy superintendent, and Kristen Ryan, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Employee Relations, invited to be present and with the board to return to open session in this room at 5 minutes. 70 do 708 at 708
004with possible action to follow. Second runway. Costello. Yes. Franklin, yes. Gordon Ross, yes. Jones, yes. Kimble, yes. Buyers, yes. Kadoo Blackwood, yes. The motion passes 70 to zero. Okay, we've returned from executive session with no action. to follow going to move on to the report of the superintendent of schools and just extend um my gratitude to Dr. Engleberg who is joining us today u and Dr. Swift's absence. So your time thank you very much. I'd like to say thank you to Julie Bole for her help in this and putting things together for us. I will tell you that uh I uh threatened Julie a little bit about I'll just invite you up to do this. Julie said told me firmly no. We'd like to begin this evening by congratulations going out to Tracy Murray um
005who has taught social studies at Lawrence High School for the past 24 years. After her selection as Lawrence Secondary Teacher of the Year, the Kansas State Department of Education recognized her as a region 2 semifinalist during its Kansas teacher of the year awards lunchon in Witchah. Congratulations, Tracy. Lawrence master teacher Mandy Yoder, a Langston Hughes first grade teacher, was among school district nominees recognized during the Kansas Master Teacher Day at Emporia State University. The Kansas Scholastic Press Association honored Free State Journalism Advisor Jared Shuff with its Sunflower Award recognizing his outstanding work as a new adviser who has shown enthusiasm and dedication to building a strong journalism program. This week, the Lead Center will recognize Trish Nutubam, Southwest Middle School speech and drama teacher at 7:30 Wednesday evening during the Paul Taylor Dance Company performance.
006Trish and the Dance Company are this year's Lead Center Impact Award recipients. Student and alumni honors this week. We'd like to begin with Lawrence Virtual School 9th grader Lawrence Dao, who earned first place in the life and behavioral science category of the Great Plains region of the US Junior Space and Humanities Symposium. Lawrence earned a $2,000 scholarship and an all paid expense trip paid to uh war to Virginia to compete in the nationals later this month. The picture you see is of Lawrence and his brother Daniel winning the Douglas County Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge. Lawrence High School senior Alexander Hennessy won first place at the Imagine Media Fest with his animated film. His digital media teacher, Zach Salt, says that this is one of the most prestigious digital media competitions for high school students in our
007region. Lawrence High School junior Sim Robinson earned National Scholastic Art Gold and Silver Awards for his photography. In this area, less than 1% of Scholastic Art Award winners earn gold awards. Senior Celeste Stinson and sophomore Ari Kit earned national silver awards. Their teachers are Angela Perkins for photography and Todd Potet drawing and painting. Lawrence High School senior Adalie Spece qualified for the national speech and debate tournament by placing second in congressional debate at the Kansas District Tournament. This is her second year qualifying for national competition. Kansas Art Educators Associations recognized Lawrence High School senior Celeste Stinson at the Kansas State Youth Art Month exhibit in Topeka. This painting is of hers is called the reflections attack. We won first place in the high school division and received the best of show award out of all
008of the entries in the state. Congratulations. This team of quailrun fifth graders won first place in the Kansas City area teachers of mathematics competition. Anna Hi. H Heinriits their gifted education teachers supported these students in the contest. It's always gratifying to see and watch our alumni continue to accomplish great things after high school. Recently, three Free State High School alum, John Marshall, Ethan Harris, and Jacob Wilcus, advanced to the elimination round of the collegiate national debate tournament as members of the KU debate team. Congratulations to these alumni. Kansas baseball player Mike Brooks has announced a third year of his hits for teachers campaign, pledging $20 for each hit and $40 for every home run he hits this season to the Lawrence Schools Foundation to support our educators. This is Brook's senior year. Congratulations and thank
009you again. The Lawrence Noon Rotary again assisted the foundation in delivering student snacks to all of our schools. Thanks to a snack drive and a $8,000 grant, this this was possible. The foundation honored Theres Sour, Cordley administrative assistant, and Jennifer Dwit, Billy Mills, middle school parah educator, with his spring ACE awards. Each of these educational support professionals received a $500 award. We look forward to celebrating the Lawrence Schools Foundation's 40th year and 40th anniversary this week and want to thank all of the board members, staff, LEAP partners, and community donors who have made this possible and played an important part in the foundation's history of generosity and generous support to our schools, our teachers, and our students. The Lawrence High School, the Lawrence High Career and Technical Education Department will host its annual innovation expo
010from 5 to 7:00 p.m. Wednesday. It spotlights projects by CTE students in a variety of fields including visual arts, video and animation, journalism, graphic design, plant and animal science, biomed, health and human sciences, architecture, woodworking, robotics and culinary. Community members are encouraged and invited to stop by and see student demonstrate demonstrations and enjoy studentmade snacks. Kennedy Early Childhood Center will host a family resource fair from 10:00 a.m. till noon this Saturday with activities, resources, and food for families of young children. The annual Lawrence Public Schools student art show will be April 25th through May 11th at the Lawrence Arts Center. Our students and art teachers work year round to make this show a success. Community partner Lucia will exhibit photography and crafts created by students at the community transition program at Pikme during the final
011Friday events April 25th. Hillrest International Hillrest Intertribal Club under the leadership of second grade teacher Shelby Tossy will host its first pow-wow on April 26th in the Hillrest Gymnasium. The public is invited and encouraged to attend. We would like to pro point out to members of the public parking is limited around Hillrest. So, please go early and enjoy yourselves and remember that uh we do have community members who live across the street and be mindful of uh interfering with their ability to get to their driveways and their homes. Lawrence High's annual Showtime Student Talent Show is 7:30 each night, April 24th through the 26th. In a community event, Cans for the Community has again challenged Lawrence and our schools to recycle 5,000 pounds of cans in April. Proceeds from the sale of the aluminum will
012be donated to our elementary schools this year. Recycle your cans in one of the blue can houses found around town in parking lots of business and grocery stores. Thank you very much. Congratulations to all of our teachers and our students. Uh just a nice listing of wonderful accomplishments by our students this year. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Ingleberg. Okay, we'll move on to the report of board of education uh president and I wanted to extend to my board colleagues um a thank you for meeting with um candidates and prospective candidates for the school board. Uh I know that a lot of us have been out having coffee and conversations with folks um and appreciate the public's interest in the election which is um upcoming in November. So if you are interested by all means reach
013out to board members and we are happy to meet with you and talk about our experiences. Um I also wanted to uh talk to my or let my board colleagues know that we will have a board retreat coming up. So, we need to set a date and I'm hopeful that we'll it'll be inclusive of maybe of some of the things you learned at the national um convention and look forward to hearing about that along with some other additional um training that uh we will we will put together an agenda for um when uh Dr. Swift is able to join us back again. uh we will certainly be welcoming her back for the 428 board meeting. And um that is all I have for this evening and I'm going to move on to 1.9 uh which
014is the public education legislative updates um the uh legislator came to a close and I'm and I'm looking forward to hearing Shannon um a report on the end of the session. Thank you Kelly. Uh just a brief update first on the state board of education uh which met on April uh 8th and 9th. Um several notable items on their agenda. Um they did on a tie vote um decline to approve a contract to with the Kansas Association of Broadcasters to provide the public with information about federally funded summer meals program. Uh which was somewhat of a surprise and frankly a disappointment. Um but on the good side, they did approve a number of other initiatives including um a 10-0 vote to add Kansas Board of Regions literacy training and uh a reading specialist test to
015their approved literacy testing list. So uh again a big focus on uh improving literacy in Kansas as part of what they spent their time on at their board meeting earlier this month. um they heard uh presentations on cash balances and a state and federal legislative update as well as those literacy initiatives and some uh information about healthy initiatives that districts um in Kansas around screens in the classroom. So this um if you're interested in more you can learn more go watch their um their video of their meeting. It's available on YouTube. uh their next meeting is May 13th and 14th and among other items of interest um to us. They are going to be taking up a discussion about updated performance level descriptors for the Kansas state assessments which is something that I think is
016going to be a positive for them to have a conversation about. Those uh performance level descriptors are often um uh misused intentionally and weaponized against school districts in policy conversations around student achievement. And I think some clarity um around that would be helpful for all of us. Um as Kelly mentioned uh last Friday, April 11th was siny die. That just basically means the legislature gave out and they are all done until January of 2026 with their legislative work. There will be interim committees that meet. Most importantly, um the school funding task force will be meeting pretty much monthly for the rest of the year. Uh we don't have a schedule of those meetings yet. Uh but I will be happy to share information as as it becomes available um with with folks on the board.
017Um that is a really really important committee because they will be making a recommendation to the 2026 legislature about what the the school finance formula should look like after it expires in June of 2027. Um so really the bulk of the work that is to be done um by the task force is going to happen uh in the next nine months. On the budget side, uh the legislature approved and the governor signed a budget that uh fully funds base aid in the inflation adjustment um in the school finance formula for the 202526 school year. Um it funds it fully funds it based on last fall's consist consensus education case load estimates. That's notable because usually the legislature is still meeting um the second or third week of April and they have the benefit of the
018April updated case load estimates um on which to base their appropriation for public schools. They did their budget without that information. So, uh, it's possible that they missed the mark and we are just going to have to see when the consensus revenue estimating group meets what they have to say about that. Um, that could have an impact on um whether the money that they appropriated in the budget was uh sufficient. Um, also uh regarding special education funding, frankly, this legislative session was a big disappointment overall, but it really could have been worse. Um o the new the budget that was approved only includes $10 million in in new state general fund appropriations for special ed which uh amounts to only $7.5 million in new special education spending because because of reasons it's only seven and
019a half $7.5 million in new money. Um that is not enough to close or to keep continuing making progress on closing the the gap in special education funding. It will widen again next year. Um it is substantially less than what was requested by both the Kansas Department of Education and the governor's proposed budgets of interest for K12 budget. Uh the governor did line item veto um two items that particularly relate to K12 public schools. One was um and those and those line item vetos ended up being sustained uh through the last couple days of the veto session on Thursday and Friday. One of them would have taken $1 and a4 million dollars out of the inflation increase that's in this the school finance formula and it would have directed that districts had to spend that
020those what are supposed to be operational dollars on purchasing AED devices but more importantly it would have taken a portion of that 1.25 million and directed it to private schools. So this was a not this was a no-go for public education funding because it would have set a a a terrible precedent of taking money appropriated within the school finance formula and giving it to private schools. So the governor vetoed that and the and the house of representatives sustained her veto on that. Um also there was a what amounted to a no bid $2 million contract for an online social studies curriculum product. Uh it would have KSD was directed to take $2 million out of their operating budget to pay for this online social studies curriculum that as far as um I was able to
021see um no school district requested KSD didn't request it but there was a vendor presentation in the Senate Education Committee on this product um and they got a line item in the budget. Um, the other important budget thing to note is that there's a $10 million uh 20 2025 26 and 27 appropriation, $10 million over that entire period uh to the Kansas uh attorney general's office for uh gun detection software. Um, this is another kind of single vendor situation where they managed to get themselves written into the state budget uh for a program that as far as we can tell school districts were not asking for. Um, or as far as I can tell. Uh, safe and secure schools grants, teacher mentor grants, and teacher professional development grant programs will end at the end of
022this fiscal year. So, they did not fund those for the 26 fiscal year or the 27th fiscal year, which is really unfortunate. Um, as far as the policy bills that were out there that we've talked about before, um, there were five total voucher bills this session and, uh, none of those made it across the finish line. Uh, so that's a that's a a positive for K for public schools. Also, there were some really bad policy bills, including a bill that would have directed and micromanaged how we run our board meetings. Uh, that also did not make it across the finish line this session. Um, and that's a win. Uh but we still have to remain vigilant going into next year um and as we work on our own legislative agenda later this year because those
023bad policy bills because this is the first year of a two-year legislative cycle. Um those bills didn't die, they remain viable and alive and could be brought back up um next legislative session. So uh that's my report. Thank you. Appreciate the time this evening. Uh Shannon, I have a a quick question that I think you can help answer. the um when you talked about the consensus revenue in April that may impact appropriations um that's yet to come out in a few weeks. Correct. But in general, and this might be for Cindy, too, in general, we have um an early picture of the budget that more typically we would get in June. Is that correct? That's that's accurate. You know, last year the K12 budget was not finalized until mid June. Actually, it was late June
024when they when they finally approved it. So this is much earlier um in our case because we are predicting to be continue to be flat or slightly declining in enrollment. I wouldn't anticipate that the that the consensus revenue estimating process and them not using that to inform their budget probably not going to have an impact on us. Um it might have an impact if there's growth elsewhere in the state. Um okay. So I'm asking because it means that from the negotiations table we will be in a better position. You would more typically be in in terms of we know okay the money has been appropriated. Okay. It's it's so I'd heard that negotiations committee which we'll hear from might have a um a goal of of wrapping up the at least at least the um
025certified unit might have has a goal of wrapping up the um negotiations a bit earlier and that seems more possible with information or an earlier end to this. Yep. Okay. And then um we regarding the um legislative updates, there have been um conversations in the at the federal level um pertaining to public education and uh DEI specifically. But in that realm, um we have not received uh any instruction from the Kansas Department of Education at this point. And therefore um for those of you on the equity committee, you're in a holding place. Correct. Right. Okay. Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments pertaining to um public educa education and legislative updates? Okay. All right. Um board committee reports. Uh does anyone want to anything to report out? facilities met. Okay. Um facilities met
026on April 9th. So I'll try to go quick. Um so the events event information uh uh we in um March we had 1,427 events scheduled with,00 held and 294 cancelled. Still have a couple open positions at FNO. We have a journeyman plumber and a part-time evening custodian at Langston Hughes. Um, an item on consent this evening is an amendment to our athletic training contract with Ortho Kansas. We're adding uh athletic training hours and coverage over the summer based on updated guidelines from the state. Uh we were informed during that meeting as well that the Sunflower League is going to sunset gymnastics as an official league sport after the 2526 school year. Um, no, 2627 school year, right? 26 Yeah. Yeah. 2627 school year. Some project updates. Um, the studio apartments, uh, in Pinkney that we're
027working on are going well and are are heading toward completion. Um, Southwest Middle School has a chiller that is having problems and needs to be replaced. And as we discussed during our our meeting, none of the problems are our fault and we have asked someone else to replace it. Um the other thing we did not tell you is that those chillers are redundant. So one chiller is enough. Yep. Yeah. One chiller is enough. The other one um someone else has to deal with it and the fact that it it needs to be replaced. Um we talked about uh upcoming projects uh for the summer and I just kind of wanted to run down because it's a pretty extensive list and I thought it was important just to kind of talk about everything we're going to
028try to do over the summer. Um we have asphalt and concrete work uh for Cordley, Kennedy, Sunflower, Lawrence High, and Sunset Hill. Um and then some alternative work at Kennedy and Sunflower. And currently um we're doing um some work at the college and and career, the Lawrence High South parking lot and ESC. We're doing uh we have scheduled roofing work at the ESC, Schwiggler, Woodlon, New York, Hillrest, Pinkinney, and Lawrence High. some exterior work at Kennedy New York and Billy Mills. HVAC at Sunset Hill. Um Sun uh and Liberty Memorial and ESC solar installation project at Sunflower. Hybrid Lighting at Kennedy Woodlon, Hillrest College and Career, Sunset, ESC, Broken Arrow, Cordley, and Pinkney. Painting work at Sunset Hill, Hillrest, Woodlon, Sunflower, Cordley, Liberty, Boys and Girls Club, and Schwiggler. Case work at Schwiggler. Uh preschool
029classroom work at Woodlon and Sunflower. Floors, the Woodlon Gym and the Cordley Gym, working on a monastery classroom at New York. TV installs at Sunset, Deerfield, Langston Hughes in New York. Some fiber, running some fiber lines at Free State High School. uh a uh network wireless access point upgrades at our middle schools and then specifically we have schools closed for maintenance Schwaggler and Kennedy. Um and then just to conclude with the facilities um couple uh also on consent there's a facility and operations campus project uh o over since we moved out to that campus um there's been some IT staff that that have moved in um to the office space that was originally designed for uh FNO staff. So, there's a plan in place to take um the uh the the big workspace and do
030some do some work out there to add a planning room, some additional offices, workstations, and tool storage. Uh the winning bid for that was $143,000. Um got an update from finance last month u talked about uh that we were going to institute the goan electronic ticketing at the middle school. We since found out that the Sunflower League is going to move in a different direction at the high school level and no longer use GoFan electronic ticketing. So, we're going to wait to see what Sunflower league ultimately does at the high school level and implement that at the middle school. And then we talked about uh paper statements. Um we've been the district has moved to email statements for fees. They're going to send out paper statements in April to try to u catch anybody who
031who u still has uh fees due. And then there's been a fairly positive response, but at the end of end of the end of the year, they'll do a full review on the process, compare it to years past, and see what changes or updates they can make and um once they have a full year's worth of data. Thank you. Uh other committee reports, Shannon, very uh quick update. Uh French committee also met on April 9th and discussed the recommendations that would be made to the negotiations team on the fringe package for 202526. Um the uh we won't be changing providers. Uh but we will have an increased cost for health insurance as a district. Um and the the bigger thing to know that the board needs to know is that based on the market and
032claims history, it's looking like we need to be prepared for the increase both this year and for a possibly much larger increase the following year. So, uh, there will be work to do in the fringe space, um, to address those, um, those realities going forward. Thank you. Do they have an estimate of what that increase is going to be? Did they report that out at Fringe or they still need to gather more data? Um, I think that the the increase for this year, uh, if I'm understanding right, we were capped. So, it's only about $1.8 million for this year, but we will not be capped. the following year and based on what they are seeing happen in other spaces it would be much much more than that but we can anticipate about 1.8 million additional
033this year last year we had an addition of around 3 million I believe if that can you Cindy can you 2.1 last year so a potential 1.8 eight this year and then in the subsequent year do we have an idea of what that increase would be? So less than 4 million 30% or less than 4 million. Thank you. Yeah, the 1.8 million was the 15% cap. So okay, but for the board planning out, they need to anticipate that potentially they'll need 1.8 million this year and 4 million next year. And that's that's if we don't make any changes. If we don't go out to bid or Okay. or and we don't increase what we are paying if we don't make any changes to the benefits that we cover basically just for what we're doing now.
034Yeah. Okay. So there's still a lot of work to do in the French committee. I think there will be going forward for this negotiation session. I think we're done. We're done preparing for uh this bargaining session but going forward for next year. Okay. Thank you. All right. um additional committee an uh I attended the sunflower site council um where we discussed uh several things including um attendance and their rate year to date is 94.54% so really good they've been working with families on this um having celebrations for those students who are coming in more frequently um those chronically absent students um and overall attendance has been fairly consistent every month um looking at behaviors um they peaked in November, uh, followed by October, um, and had a small spike in February. Um, but she does,
035uh, Mrs. Green does feel they've had less care calls since spring break, and that they're in a really good place and things are clicking. So, that's great news. Um, they are piloting a program for attendance and behavior reporting, the ION system. Um, and they're able to see um, things like how many students have had multiple incidents, so they can ensure that they're making the right um, interventions. She said it's very um timesaving for the staff to run reports and stuff like that. Um and very easy to pull the reporting. She's been very pleased with it. Um and then we discussed the panorama surveys that um went out earlier uh this semester. Um some great news on their classified staff saw improvement across all four key areas with 19 to 20 point increases in three of
036the four. um really saw some positive results from intentional um PD that they were doing on Wednesdays with Paris. Um so that's some exciting news. They had 56 families um respond to the family panorama survey. Um they did see some small declines from fall, but that seems to be the trend when you look every year that spring kind of drops from fall. Um, and they are their spring numbers are still higher than spring of 24 because they compare spring versus fall for the same school year versus like TY Ly. Um, but really the committee spent um a lot of time discussing the questions um and that there was just an overall feeling that they are very broad and open to interpretation and we weren't sure if that was maybe getting this the information or feedback
037that we really wanted. um in order for it to be actionable or even make any sort of like um conclude draw conclusions from it. I know when we were talking about one of the questions it says like how frequently are you at your child's school and um I didn't even think about half the times I'm there because I was like oh what about music program? So, it's one of those like if you're not like in the zone. Um, so we had a lot of kind of conversations um around that and you know would a better question be like did you attend conferences or you know outside of conferences have you been involved in the school or something like that. So um that's uh mostly what we talked about there. So okay uh other committees. Okay.
038Uh we'll move on to uh board commentary. Any board commentary? And you're up. Okay. Um so on March 27th and 28th, I attended the leadership for tomorrow program through KASB um that Shaya nominated me for. So thank you for that. Um we had our first sessions. there are participants from all over the states in various roles uh building principles, superintendents, other board members. Um it's a going to be a great opportunity for me not only to make connections but to learn from other people um and their experiences. Um just have given my background growing up in tha and then being here um anything that the small district said I was extremely fascinated by because it was just a foreign world to me. Um, and so, um, I plan to share a lot of that information
039out. We toured, uh, Topeka Seaman High School, um, on the second day. Was really impressed by their A program. Again, something that I'm totally not familiar with, not in my wheelhouse. Um, and their plant science science program. They actually started a floral arranging business. And so, they have like bouquets that you can get like a monthly subscription for. they were getting ready to do all of the um bineers and corages for uh prom and everything like that. Um and so that's uh was really fascinating there. They also have a school museum um and there's even a class where the students not only like curate the physical displays, but they're building an online website with all the history um and so that people can access that stuff um online as well. I thought that was really
040interesting. Um on the third I attended the fourth grade choir concert at Sunflower where I really enjoyed um the students songs that they wrote and composed themselves. They were really very funny and very cute. Um and the students did a great job showcasing their guitar skills as well. And um always appreciate Mr. Gibson and how he gives his students a lot of ownership in not only the songs that they pick but this time even getting to kind of like write some of the stuff. And then um along with several of my board colleagues attended the um NSBA convention uh where I uh attended some really interesting sessions surrounding um meaningful choice-based education um AI safety innovation and communication um and so we'll share out more of that information as well in the future. Uh other
041board comment Terry. No Carol. Okay. J. Um just a couple things. Also went to the NSBA convention. It was a great experience. Um both from the sessions that I went to and also the time I got to spend with board colleagues. um was able to attend some sessions around board leadership, community, family engagement, AI, communication, and several others. Um and like Ann, I I look forward to taking what I learned and and sharing it and seeing what uh what I can implement here. And then a couple other items on consent that that I didn't get to touch during um facilities. Uh district vehicle purchase, continuing to work to upgrade our district fleet. Um this is uh a purchase order for uh $374,000. Includes two st student vans, one for each high school. Uh three cargo
042vans used for facility and uh operation staff and then three escape compact SUVs. Um the IT technicians will start to use the higher mileage vehicles in town and the new vehicles will be used for staff traveling out of district. And then lastly, some purchase of some additional playground equipment for Deerfield that will be reimbursed um from a donation from the Deerfield PTO. Thank you. Okay. Uh we're going to move on to retirements. Um, we would like to acknowledge with sincere appreciation the following individuals for their service and devotion to our community, schools, and students. Panama Gibbs for 27 years of service and Paul um Persinger for 22 years of service. All right. So, we'll move on to approval of the consent agenda. Shannon, do you have a motion? Um, I have a request, Madame President.
043I would like to, um, request to pull items 2.3, personnel report, 2.7, renewal of KASB annual membership, and 2.8, renewal of KASB legal assistance fund, and place those three items under new business. And then, um, I can make the motion for the consent agenda. Second. I'll make the I thought you I got I move the board of education approve the items listed on the consent agenda uh with the exception of those items 2.3 2.7 and 2.8 which will be pulled and placed under new business. Second Franklin, yes. Gordon Ross, yes. Jones, yes. Kimble, yes. Buyers, yes. Kadu Blackwood, yes. Costello, yes. The motion passes 70. Okay. Board members will give it just a moment to refresh. Would you move those items to new business? Yes, I'll move them right now. Okay, great. I think while
044we're waiting that for that to happen, we could move on to the personnel report. Okay. Uh, Madame President, uh, another point of order or point of personal information, I'm not sure which thing it's supposed to be. Um, again, uh, the reason that I pulled those three items from the consent agenda is that pursuant to board policies BAA and BCBG, I'm declaring that I have a conflict of interest related to an item that's included on the personnel report and to items 4.2 and 4.3 that are now under new business. Um, I will leave the meeting until the board's discussion and any action on these items is concluded. Thank you. Thank you, Kelly. Okay. And we're going to take a um five minute recess for the agenda to get updated. So we'll come back at um 7
04551 55 sorry 7:55 All right. All right. So, uh we'll move on to item 4.1, which is the personnel report. I'm going to ask my colleague GR, do we have a motion? Yep. I move the board of education amend the personnel enclosure by adding Andrew Bradshaw and Jason Schroeder to the enclosure. Second. That's Bob, I think. Um, Cordon Ross, yes. Jones, yes. Kimble, oh, I'm sorry. Buyers, yes. Kadoo Blackwood, yes. Costello, yes. Franklin, yes. The motion passes 6. Okay. Okay. We're going to move on to item. We have a second one. Oh, right. GR. I move the board of education adopt the amended personnel enclosure. Second. Jones. Yes. Buyers, yes. Kadu Blackwood, yes. Costello, yes. Franklin, yes. Gordon Ross, yes. The motion passes 6. Okay. Uh, now we'll move on to item 4.2. Is there
046a motion? Uh, this is Carol. Let's see. Uh, I can't find. Go ahead. I lost it. Okay. I move the board of education continue its membership in the Kansas Association of School Boards, KASB, at a cost of $14,9845 and purchase a season pass for $1,750 at a total cost of $16,7345 to be paid from the board of education budget. I second. Buyers, yes. Canoe Blackwood, yes. Costello, yes. Franklin, yes. Gordon Ross, yes. Jones. Yes. The motion passes 6. Okay. We're going to move on to item 4.3. Uh this is a service we used this evening at length. Uh there's an on call KSB legal assistance um 247. So is there a motion? I move the board of education approve continued membership in KASB le KASB's legal assistance fund for 2025 2026 in the amount of
047$2750. Second buyers. Yes. Kadu Blackwood. Yes. Costello. Yes. Franklin. Yes. Gordon Ross. Yes. Jones. Yes. The motion passes 6. Okay. Uh, can somebody grab Shannon? I think Carol wanted to go get her. Carol is um calling Shannon back to the board meeting after we concluded new business. Okay. Uh public comment. Uh we're going to move on to public comment. Are we have two folks joining us? Uh BOE at WebEx. Is that ready? Okay. Um and uh GR, can you read the public comment? The USD497 Board of Education welcomes public comments and thanks you for taking the 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
048noon on the day of the board meeting to participate in person in information provided will be made will make it possible for district staff or the board to follow up with you as necessary. This is your time to 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 district staff as provided under board policies KN and GAE. 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
049clerk or other district district staff know. Topics discussed in 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 JCA. 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 and 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
050on topics not addressed on the meeting agenda at the beginning or end of each meeting. Comments relating to agenda items are welcome after the board has had the opportunity to discuss the topic. Limit your comments to three minutes. Patrons who are unable to comply with the above procedures may email their comments or viewpoints to the board at schoolboard usd497.org. Okay, we're going to uh start with Carrie Schmidt who is joining us from outside the district. uh she's come to speak to us uh about a topic um that is is not noted. Uh Carrie, are you here? I am here. Okay. Uh we look forward to hearing your viewpoint. All right. Miss Kelly, I would first like to address the comment you made to me after you cut off my feed during the last meeting. You
051mentioned how I know nothing about your curriculum. Well, if uh you have been listening to me, then you would know that I have never mentioned anything at any time about your district's curriculum. I have, however, mentioned what is in your libraries. I understand that you are trying to destroy my credibility by saying I have not stepped foot into your libraries, but a lot of people have not stepped foot into them because you have your whole catalog of books online for people to look up. For people in the community who want to look at books available to children in this district, go to books.usd497.org. Second, I want to respond to another comment you made about me. I have never challenged a book in your district because your policy doesn't allow it. And actually, there are many
052people who live inside your district boundaries that aren't even allowed to challenge a book due to your policy. Only students, staff, and parents can request a book to be reviewed. But you should know that though, right? Because it's your policy. You rudely removed me from your first from the first meeting I spoke at here because I read a sexually explicit book in your district. You assumed I was making a complaint and told me that I needed to look at your pro policy process. However, I was not making a complaint. I was making a statement so you and the community knew what kind of pornography you were providing to kids. Next time you lie or suggest to the public that someone doesn't know what they are speaking about, I suggest that you do your homework first
053because more times than not, they have. I don't know what you think you are gaining by making salicious statements about me. But it's a bad look. Not only did you do that, but you waited to make all of your catty statements after you silenced me because you knew I couldn't correct you and could gaslight people into questioning if I um if what I was sharing about your books was true. That is cowardly and shocking behavior from someone who preaches to quorum and has the title of board president. I have made it clear that I choose to speak here because you expect adults to refrain from saying a stupid cuss word during your meetings, but you think it is okay to have those same cuss words written in your books you provide to children. Not only
054that, but you have explicit content available for children to read in your district. Your ego, your priorities, and your policy make zero sense to me. I'm going to read a few sentences from a book called Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy. off, I shout. whispered Freddy. I'm knocked up. I whisper. Grace loves this But we have to get all that Can't we throw all that in a shopping cart? Long-distance which he always lovingly referred to as the heap of You need the same standards in your books that you have in your meetings if you want to provide or if you want people to respect and take you seriously. If you stand by your shitty policy, then you need to remove libraries that have cuss words in them as well as pornography. I appreciate your comment again.
055All right, so we're going to move on now to uh Dr. Spece and he is also joining us from outside of the district um and uh wishes to talk about previous board meetings. Dr. Spece. Can you hear me? We can. Welcome. All right. I want to speak about uh speak to things that were said on the record at this meeting on February 24 uh 4th, 2025. And I want to ask you guys a question about that. At that meeting, a speaker discussed a recent court case ruling. And that really spoke to the fact that speakers can't be disrupting the meeting with their speech during general public comment even if using vulgar language which you have removed me from meetings here for quote unquote disrupting the meeting because of the words I use. After discussing that
056the speaker at that meeting then said quote and and this is on the record here. This is what that speaker said. So the actual disruption is coming from you up there. Would you agree or disagree that you are actually the disruption? Uh Justin, can you refrain? I think you're making a point. We'd like to hear it. Can you refrain from using Yeah, the the point is that uh Justin, I'm going to give you back your time. One moment. Can you go back 5 seconds? We We can't talk about things that were No, you can. I'm going to give I want to make sure you have your time. Just a second. So, so again, at that meeting, this that speaker said, quote, "So, the actual disruption is coming from you up there." And I was wondering
057if if you guys agree or disagree with that. At a previous meeting, Kelly, you stopped me from speaking because you said I couldn't use quote obscene language. And matter of fact, LJ World used that same phrase, obscene language, when they reported on the these meetings. So, I want to read to you from the case of Mom's versus uh Moms for Liberty versus Brevard Public Schools because the ruling on the use of obscene language and what is and what is not allowed. And so, in that ruling, court writes, "During the incident, Moms for Liberty cites a member uh shared her concern that her ch child's elementary school library contained inappropriate books. She began reading one which detailed an inschool sexual encounter. I swung the uh door open, letting a soft light from the hallway shine a
058spotlight on them. she muttered. Then the court writes, Belelfford quickly interrupted the speaker when she got to the word That word, though not polite, is not obscene. Can you try to make your comments without utilizing uh inappropriate language? So I can't now now I can't enlighten you guys on what district courts have ruled on the word at at public meetings. Is that is that what you're trying to say? Yes. And so that that's what that's what I've been saying this whole time is that the using the word You can definitely share your viewpoint without doing that. So if you would Well, but the viewpoint is that the word is allowed and my viewpoint is that I'm reading from this case that said that. Thank you. And so matter of fact, the the court Okay. Um
059Dr. Courtney. Thank you all. It has been two months with too few answers. As of today, April 14th, we are now 62 days out from when we first found out about Mr. Gidley's arrest, who has been charged with assaulting at least eight students at our children's elementary school, including one of our close family friends. This may understate the number of children actually harmed. Some families have shared with me that children of limited verbal skills have not been interviewed because it was thought the trauma might exceed the benefits of interviewing them, even if they might have been assaulted. You told us in the early days that community resources were overwhelmed and to give you time, but what is the number of days after which we can expect a comprehensive public response? Talking with other families, they
060brought up concerns about whether or not this is a repeat of Ann Arbor, where parents were also told, "Trust us," after video footage was released of the abuse of a special needs child. Given these previous concerns, we would hope Dr. Swift and this board would be even more eager to show a rapid, thorough response to these allegations of abuse. We're becoming increasingly worried that the number of days that matter most are the number of days that it will take for this to blow over and for parents to forget this ever happened. But families in this district have not forgotten. If anything, we are hearing more concerns from families as parents decide whether to enroll their children in kindergarten or choose different schools for the upcoming year. We do not need more reasons to hemorrhage schools
061from the school district. I ask again for you to hire an external expert crisis team to audit what contributed to these events and to help protect our children going forward. It is hard to trust what the team to identify their own blind spots when a catastrophic error like this has occurred. If finances are what is stopping you from taking this step, imagine the potential future liability of failing to do an external audit if other children are harmed in the future. I would imagine an unwillingness to conduct such an audit might also reflect poorly on any pending litigation. I've reached out to the school board as well as to the crisis team with information on a free consult from Reigns Crisis Support and Prevention Services. They are a nonprofit organization and the nation's largest antisexual violence
062organization and they offer flexible support options. We also ask you to end the culture of secrecy. We ask that you follow through on providing a crisis debrief for families that was discussed in a previous email from our Prairie Park principal, Doc, Mr. Townsend. There still has been no way for the community to process and move forward from these events. Thank you for deputy superintendent uh Engelbrick. He sent me a link to the website you all have set up for a response to our request for updates on the investigation and for safety resources. But there was no information about this website that was emailed to Prairie Park parents or district parents announcing the website. How can we know about it if you don't tell us about it? The website itself was disappointing, making it even harder
063to find sexual assault resources as it focuses on school violence. So parents have to go back through sexual assault websites or refer back to the date the superintendent provided resources. It provides no new information. Broad plating political statements are not enough. We want to know what happened and what is happening so we know that our children's schools are safe. Please follow through on your commitments to both keeping our children safe and staying engaged with our community. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Courtney. I appreciate you coming. Okay. Uh, Dr. Engle, do you have any announcements? A couple. Yes. Thank you. Just received a note and uh scheduled a meeting about seven or eight minutes ago with Dr. Swift for tomorrow morning. So, we're looking very much forward to that. Uh in addition to that, I would
064like to thank a number of people, all the members of uh ELT who have stepped forward and helped a great deal. Whenever you begin thanking people, you're going to miss someone. Janice, thank you for all of your support. Ashley Vance out at FNO would like to thank her and I'm sorry and Paula Mares, thank you for all of your work. In addition to that, the staff out at FNO have helped a great deal just in making sure that uh things were covered and I didn't have to worry about them the past few days and really appreciate all of this. I think it speaks very highly of Lawrence Public Schools and individuals willingness and dedication to coming together and working together. So look forward to 9:00 tomorrow morning more than a lot of people understand. So
065we certainly appreciate your um leadership during uh a brief away from uh office that Dr. Swift and it is um helpful as a board to know that we can lean on you. So thank you Kelly. Before we conclude, may I uh take a moment to make an announcement and share some information with the community? Um I I wanted to um just share with folks so that you know um um and it relates to the experiences that this board um has with public comment in our community. Um that uh over the last four days in particular uh harassment, bullying, and intimidation attempts through voicemail and email. Um, I've received personally over a dozen and a half of these just in the last four days. Um, they're almost exclusively from men between the ages of 30 and
06665. They use hateful, obscene, and misogynistic language in their voice messages. It's really disturbing. Um, I just wanted to make I'm making this as an announcement because I wanted to make the community aware that the bullying, harassment, intimidation that you've seen in person in our board meetings continues. Um it's it's just not happening on the floor of the boardroom currently. It's happening in online and it's extending far beyond um what you see or what is uh being reported about um on in the media or otherwise. And the perpetrators of these intimidation tactics are coming from both within our community and also well beyond the boundaries of our community and even our state. They're coming from all over the United States. Um, and this is because what happens is that the the video from our meetings
067is being used to create YouTube content that is then shared in um extremist online groups. Um, and this is something that I I would wager that the volume of hate speech that's been directed at me personally is probably less than what is being experienced by other women on our board. Um, because I'm not the current board president. Um, however, I wanted to share with the community that I refuse personally to be silenced by these bullying attempts. our community and our peers um in our community at the county and city government um need to know that the joint collective efforts that we are all trying to make to ensure that civil, safe and inclusive civic dialogue um is preserved and continue in this community. So, thank you for letting me share that and um I appreciate
068your indulgence. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Uh, is there a uh motion to adjurnn? Second. Uh, all those in favor? I opposed. Thank you. Have a good evening.