Lawrence Public Schools Special Board of Education Meeting | March 24, 2025

001e e e for the March 24th uh board meeting you might want to um board members refresh share agenda those we need to approve the agenda before we do that okay okay okay do we have something slightly out of order that we're we're adjusting and should be just a second uh while we're waiting for that Carol thanks for joining us remotely it's nice to have you here okay we're good right here thank you all right so good to be here everything seems to be in um order now so we'll move for an approval of the agenda I move the Board of Education to approve the agenda for the March 24 2025 meeting I second kadu Blackwood yeah Costello yes Franklin yes Gordon Ross Yes Jones yes Kimble yes buers yes the motion passes 70 okay

002uh the first item is a motion for an executive session is there one I move the Board of Education recess to Executive session to discuss matters which would be deemed privileged in the attorney client relationship under coma with Dr Janice Swift super endent Dr Larry inel brick Deputy superintendent Christian Ryan assistant superintendent human resources and employee relations and Brad frinkle die District Council invited to be present and with the board to return to open session in this room at 6:33 with no action of follow second Costello yes Franklin yes Gordon Ross Yes Jones yes Kimbell yes buyers yes kadu Blackwood yes the motion passes so e e e we've returned from executive session and I apologize we need to extend um so is there a motion I mov the Board of Education recess to Executive

003session to discuss matters which would be deemed privileged in the attorney client relationship under coma with Dr Janice Swift superintendent Dr Larry engelb Deputy superintendent Kristen Ryan assistant superintendent of human resources and employee relations and Brad finkley District Council invited to be present and with the board to return to open session in this room at 44 7 74 or 6:49 yeah is that right 649 with no uh with no action to follow Franklin yes Gordon Ross Yes Janes yes Kimble yes buers yes black kuo Blackwood e e e m okay we've returned from executive session with no action to follow next item is reported the superintendent of schools Dr Swift thank you uh Madame President members of the board and all who are joined uh joining us tonight in person and remote we're just happy

004to have everyone back uh from the spring break week and really grateful uh just one second do oh there it is very good thank you really grateful uh for the support of our students teachers our school teams our parents families and community thanks to everyone for your hard work and partnership in support of our students um as we enter this chapter between spring break and the end of the year we really do adjust uh our Focus uh on two uh priorities first finishing the year strong we've had a great 2425 school year we want to finish strong and then secondly setting the table for a strong next school year so you'll be hearing a lot uh this evening and over the coming days about enrollment for next year about programming uh we really have a

005lot uh to accomplish over these coming uh days and weeks um let me just see if I can get there we go I really want to thank everyone for your flexibility and support in navigating the challenges of of this historic winter uh it is nice to see the weather moderating and yet uh we had to make some adjustments so I know everyone's aware of it by now we started today with our first day adding 15 minutes uh Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday 25 minutes to the end of the day on Wednesday and then just a reminder April 21st all schools are in session May May 22nd is a full day uh no longer a half day and then May 23rd will be our final day of the school year and on that day we'll be on

006an early dismissal schedule I know that our principals have each sent out the exact report times morning and afternoon uh so we uh reference you to those emails to make sure uh that you have the the days in order uh we have so many student honors to celebrate this evening uh here you can see our young adults at Community connections at Pinkney they took first place in Johnson County Community College job Olympics many of our students brought home individual medals from competing in career Readiness and workplace skill events job Olympics brings together over 500 students with special needs from 40 uh different schools uh our high school journalists um have been busy and continue to just uh shine free state and Lawrence High School competed at Kansas Scholastic press Association Regional contest featuring the best

007in student journalism from nearly 1800 entries from across the state students demonstrated their writing design illustration photography video and Reporting skills at 11 Regional competitions 82 schools competed in 26 categories Lawrence High earned first place in the ad Astro region with 208 points and 49 individual placements Free State plays second in the Pioneer region with 175 points and 44 student placements congratulations to Barbara tholan and Jared scha who advis our outstanding student uh journalism programs at Lawrence High School and Free State High School I'll be over uh in an interview with one of our student journalists to um Wednesday and just really appreciate uh their excellent work uh the Free State team plays third in the stock market game sponsored by the Kansas Council for economic education Kimberly Hawks is their business teacher and the

008students names are listed here on the slide LHS senior Zaden cromedy presented her independent study results in the 59th annual Geological Society of America's South Central section meeting in Conway Arkansas she was the only high school student to present at this meeting the conference brings together scientists from Academia industry and government who study the rocks from or reside in Kansas Oklahoma Arkansas Louisiana Texas and Mexico's Gulf Coast states Zaden was one of over 400 contributing authors and presented research with Dr Diana Ortega ARA from the Kansas Geological Survey Justin Fairchild is Zen's proud science teacher at Lawrence High School Southwest Middle School Math team uh received eighth place at the state math counts competition the students names are listed here in addition to winning the chapter competition two years in a row Ruby Jan received

009fourth place at the Kansas state competition and will now compete at Nationals representing Kansas on the State team in May Deb hostad is the team's math teacher Arabella Gip you've heard about Arabella often she proudly represented the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence at the Kansas Youth Of The Year competition March 11th in Topeka where she finished as a state runner up Arabella is a fixture at the club since kindergarten she shared her profound connection and transformative experiences with the club through what is now her senior year at Lawrence High School Lawrence High won the 6A Kansas State Scholastic chess Association tournament March 15th at Emporia State University Dwight saers led the LHS team with a 10th Place individual finish congratulations to all of our elementary middle and high school chess players who earned medals

010and congrats Lori I know you and other teachers are involved in that effort I want to thank our retired uh School staff I really appreciated the opportunity just prior to spring break to to get to hang out and meet with members of the dou Douglas County Association of retired School Personnel I updated the members about our current District initiatives and invited their suggestions and involvement we are especially grateful that several in this group of retired staff members continue to be in our schools frequently some of them almost daily to substitute teach and volunteer in our schools special congrats to Lauren schools Foundation we are getting excited and revving up for their celebration of their 40th anniversary um their mission to provide resources that Inspire learning enrich teaching and enhance opportunities for all students Educators and

011staff in Lawrence Public Schools we just really appre appreciate the generous support of our community and the foundation's excellent work to channel that support from the community directly uh to our district uh Kennedy Early Childhood Center will host an early childhood Family Resource fair from 10 to noon on April 19th this is a wonderful opportunity for All Families of young children and will feature a activities resources food and drink Kennedy and New York monu will also share enrollment information during the resource fair so parents can in one stop uh get a lot of their preschool information for the coming year uh updated on uh this chart it's kind of small to read but you can see it on uh your display members these are the updated analy lytics for our two ways that we work

012to keep our community informed and engaged I was really thankful that that midmar email about the time that some folks were checking out for spring break we were up over 38,000 responses with a 7 minute average uh open time rtime on those messages uh finally this evening members were really enjoying the beautiful artwork in our boardroom gallery and I just want to give a shout out to all of our middle schools our four middle schools um in recognition of Student Art month have put together uh this display and many thanks to those art teachers for their work uh both to uh help our students develop their art and then also to bless us by showcasing that artwork here in our boardroom I thank you for the opportunity to share this report and for the honor

013to serve the Lawrence Public Schools thank you thank you Dr Swift we'll move on to the report of uh the Board of Education president uh I had the opportunity on Wednesday the 19th to join uh KB in Topeka uh to advocate for fully funding special education and to um oppose uh vouchers for um the passage of vouchers within the this legislative session I also want to extend gratitude to k&a and others who um on Monday I believe of of uh a week ago Monday also uh went to the capital in in uh advocacy for public education wanted to provide the board an update on um what's happening at the federal level which is not something typically discuss here at the local level so uh bear with me I'm going to read just a quick snippet

014um a coalition of advocacy organizations and individuals dedicated to education took legal action against the Trump Administration today challenging the president's executive order to dismantle the Department of Education the action is predictably being litigated the lawsuit argues that President Trump overstepped his constitutional Authority by attempting to eliminate the department and violated the administrative procedure act in the process it claims that the admin administration's actions since January 20th 2025 have effectively dismantled the apartment through executive power alone the legal challenge asserts the the authority to establish government offices and determine their functions and jurisdictions belongs to congress not the president or officials working under him the Coalition behind the lawsuit includes the National Education Association which is of course uh the umbrella for the Lea and uh the NAACP and other advocacy groups additionally the American

015feder ation of teachers alongside various public school districts and organizations filed a separate lawsuit today the second legal action also looks to block the executive order and to have it declared unlawful the uh Department of Education in response has assured school districts across the country that it intends to phase out the department in coordination with Congress and State national leaders to ensure that all legally mandated programs are managed responsibly and placed where they can best be served serving students and families this in particular is significant as it relates to civil rights and the protection of special education so to be clear States already Drive education policy we have local control over curriculum for example the federal government does provide about 14% of K through 12 funding and states have been able to allocate federal dollars

016with a fair amount of autonomy uh across the the existence of the Department of Education so while they aim to create equal opportunities for disadvantaged students this is a a um sacred duty of that department and one which this board hopes that the federal government will see its way clear to continue to um Advocate on the behalf of um it has been pretty heartbreaking from a public education standpoint to watch what's been happening at the federal level and while we do not have a statement in opposition I think I speak for this full board when I say that it is Our intention to continue to support our Equity policy and also to continue to fight on the behalf of um students in special education circumstances and and we know that those are spaces in which

017we have growth um but this is a reminder of how important that uh duty is so okay so we will move on um to updates on uh um the uh public education and legislative update so I'll move to ask um Shannon if she'd lead item 1.6 thank you Kelly so uh this is the last week of the regular legislative session first adjournment happens uh officially on their calendar this Friday although um plenty of uh talk is happening around the the state house that they intend to be completed with their work um on Thursday or maybe even earlier um and so we may not be in session on Friday um so that's the end of the regular legislative session then there's a period of time where there's no session scheduled and then we have what's called

018The veto session um which is scheduled for April 10th and 11th and what what that does is it is the legislature completes all its work it gives the governor time to review all the legislator's work decide what bills she's going to sign what bills she's going to veto and then if she has bills that she vetos which she she will um there will they will then go back and and possibly take votes on trying to overturn certain of the governor's vetos on the 10th and 11th of April um I think uh I want to give an update on where things are at with the education bills and budget bills and the budget bill um education committees uh there's two different conference committees meeting tomorrow um there's very few education policy bills that are still alive

019um that made it all the way through the house and the Senate and are are um being sent to conference committees um that doesn't mean that some of the bills that didn't pass one house or the other won't um appear somewhere in the process unexpectedly of if it passed out of one house it can still be conferenced so for example Senate Bill 87 which is the tax credit voucher bill that I've reported to the board on before um it passed out of the Senate with uh a bipartison opposition it didn't have a veto proof majority uh it was on the house calendar twice last week um and was pulled twice which um if you're reading between the lines basically says they didn't have enough votes in their own caucus in the majority party possibly even

020to pass it um which is good news for public education Advocates um but the fact that it passed the Senate means that it could appear as something that gets inserted into a conference committee report um in this process over the next couple of days so as public education supporters that will be something to kind of keep your eye out for um the the challenge this week is that everything happens so quickly with so such short notice there's not really a lot of Time for Action alerts and a lot of feedback to legislators um so if you um haven't talked to a legislator or reached out to your legislators and you want to Advocate around this go ahead and send an email now uh don't wait for something to happen because it might be too late

021um by the time uh that that is really known um on the budget front um oh I guess uh one one other update um so the the house did not take any action on the voucher bill um another bill that we've talked I've reported to the board about uh was C Bill 47 which was my trying to micromanage our board meeting procedures and direct us about how we uh craft agendas and conduct public comment um that bill um did not ever even get put on the house calendar for discussion um and it was referred back to committee this week so um not likely that we're going to see that although it also could appear in a conference committee somewhere so there's just things that um Advocates are keeping an eye on and then as far

022as the budget work goes so um I I think when I last reported to the board I can't remember if the senate had adopted their version of the budget yet but basically what happened is the house um passed out a budget that had only $10 million in new special education funding that's substantially less than what the governor recommended substantially less than what the State Department of Education requested substantially less than what was needed to um make the seconde payment on closing the underfunding Gap under state law um and they they really put very little else into the education budget in terms of additional dollars but they did at least leave in place a number of of programs that um districts have been taking advantage over over the last several years including uh CTE transportation funding

023Mentor teacher programs teacher professional development grant money um the Senate on the other hand took a uh chainsaw to the education budget and while they um maintained the inflationary increase that is built into our funding formula they put zero special ed new special ed dollars into the budget they made current year budget cuts to safe and secure schools grants teacher professional development CTE Transportation teacher Mentor programs and some other things um that I did note that our staff is planning to talk with us about this evening in terms of their impact on our district um that's current year fiscal year 25 and then they zeroed out those programs for fiscal year 26 and 27 so there would no longer be um money and the theory um this was there was a very controversial Senate education

024committee meeting where the minority party members on the committee actually contended that perhaps they didn't take an appropriate vote to pass out a budget recommendation nonetheless the theory of the senate committee chair who's Senator Renee Erikson from down by the witw area um was that because we are getting the inflationary increase we have and because districts across the state have Bal fund balances and like cont gency Reserve we don't need any more money for special education or anything else and they had no obligation to provide it um I believe that's wrong um on the law in terms of what the supreme court ordered and what the legislature agreed to when they passed the finance formula um and put the inflationary increase in there that is not meant to pay for new programs it is meant

025to cover the increasing costs of the things that we are already doing um in addition I think um there's a very um unfounded narrative being passed around about fund balances for districts um and very with very little understanding of for example why we carry a fund balance from July one through the beginning of October in our special ed fund well that's because we get no new money for special education from July to October we have to pay all of our expenses out of that fund but if you look at that fund balance on July 1 it's large and if you add that number up all across the state it feeds this false narrative that districts have money that they are not spending on students when in fact that's not the case so I just wanted

026to share that update with with you on the board um the budget uh the budget committee met the conference committee met this afternoon uh the good news was that when the house uh confer were presenting their ask on K12 they uh refused to accept the Senate position so that conversation is still ongoing they are meeting at 9 o' tomorrow morning it would be my expectation that sometime tomorrow we will know how they're going to come out on all of those issues so um I guess again I would just say watch your whatever channels you're watching to get updates um on these issues because there likely will be some tomorrow um in addition Kelly you uh did a very nice job of summarizing in the federal uh executive order situation I wanted to share a couple

027of additional things if that's all right um so um you know the to put kind of the order of magnitude of money that we get from the federal government is as a state um Kelly said 14% of our funding in Kansas comes from federal funds um that's about $141 million Statewide for special education about $125 million for title programs um for low-income schools and um supporting teachers and then another 13 million or so dollars for uh uh Career and Technical education grants that's being given out across the state um in addition and I we haven't really talked about this a lot in the K12 space but it certainly impacts our students um you uh the US Department of Education runs the federal um financial aid programs for higher education so in Kansas uh uh last

028year we got $286.22 who need help paying for higher education and that is a very important program and all of that is being put at risk with the way that this the this is being handled because those positions H those programs have to be well administered so when you cut the people that administer them it reduces access it creates chaos at the local level so you know I there's a lot of different takes out there on this executive order and what it means and and you know there's the statements that they're committed to continuing to run the programs but I do think that when you have people who are experts at running a program and you take that away from them and give it to somebody who has no expertise in running those programs you

029run the risk the very real risk of um degra the quality of the program that's being run and some of the things that that as Kelly noted the department of education does not control curriculum it does not control our state learning standards um there's a lot of misinformation out there about what the US Department of Education actually does what they do is that they have they ensure for example um and provide technical expertise around civil rights protections for our students through TI programs and uh special education for example in Title 9 uh they distribute the federal funding and if that's not being done well or appropriately raises questions about uh the reliability of funding for uh the programs that we run with those with those dollars um they engage in a great deal of data

030collection and best practice sharing and those departments uh the staff in those departments has been have been almost completely let go in fact I think I read one uh account that in the um ncees there's only one uh staff member left and I mean that that that's actually the action that holds schools and States accountable for instructional quality yes it's how we it's how we are evaluated how we can compare what we do to what happens across the country um and then uh they have long served as a watchdog to ensure that states are appropriately protecting student rights and also appropriately spending funds so if you don't have those people engaging in that process and you say well here's a big pile of money States just do do with it as you see fit and

031we're not going to have anybody overseeing um how you use that money and whether you use it in compliance with the federal laws that are still on the books um I think we've seen what happens in other states with voucher programs where you just write a blank check and the the decisions that are made about the money and the fraud that has become rampant in those kinds of um unregulated programs with no guard rails should be a cautionary tale um in the conversation around what is going to happen with the Department of Education and the funds that they provide to support our schools and I can I can say this uh the folks in TPA are 0% prepared to um make up that $280 million that the state gets from the federal government if that

032should go away so if it's late getting to us I or if it's late getting to us right so then that circles back to this conversation about fund balances and contingency reserve and how important it is for districts to be prepared for unexpected circumstances and why it is completely appropriate for districts to carry a contingency reserve fund balance for emergencies so um that was a lot more than I expected to say on that I appreciate your Indulgence and thank you for um letting me share that's all I have are there any other questions or comments pertaining to public education and legislative updates okay um I believe our board committee reports will be quite short that's item 1.7 in that we had spring break between our last meeting and now um I'm correct that negotiations is

033meeting this week this week okay facilities man facilities you want to give an update yeah so on the 12th facilities planning committee met so just uh probably won't be as brief as Kelly thought it was going to be but um uh so um in uh February uh we had just information from that meeting so in February we had 1,926 requested events across all of our campuses with 1140 events held and 742 canceled um currently eano has five open positions uh if anyone's interested we have a journeyman plumber preventative Tech Warehouse delivery driver and two custodial positions of 4-Hour position at linkston Hughes and a night lead at LHS several several projects uh upcoming um uh that went out for bid or or going out for bid that we talked about uh a couple are are

034on consent this evening the two that are on consent or our 2025 building exterior project um it's on consent it's $ 39,2 with work to be done at New York and Billy Mills and then at 20 25 asphalt and concrete maintenance Improvement job it's for $ 47,7 21 with work to be done at cordley Kennedy sunflower Sunset Hill and Lawrence High School couple other projects we talked about are 2025 roof repair and Replacements an fno campus project and a freest State High School auditorium lift project update we got from Finance is um we have a gan electronic ticketing system that we use at the High school that we're expanding out to the middle schools and then uh we talked a little bit about the budget report that we're going to get this evening um from

035technology we got an update about the roll out of cix and Hall Pass and that is proceeding on schedule and then we received some notices from the county about rezoning near linkston Hughes um about one and a half acres and the southeast corner of K10 and Bob Billings um they're going to discuss rezoning that from single dwelling residential to multi-dwelling residential couple other items on consent um need to increase the uh encumbrance of funds by about $14,000 in a project to convert the district's 2 HVAC building management systems into a single system the scope of work of that project has expanded slightly and so we need to encumber those additional funds um we have a purchasing authority of $400,000 for vehicles we talked to a little bit um couple meetings ago about um the the

036overall plan of purchasing District vehicles and um this is just replacing older vehicles for the purposes of safety and uh dropping um repair costs overall then we have uh $558,000 for our annual boiler preventative maintenance service agreement and then lastly in February we approved the purchase of new MacBooks for staff and specialized classrooms since that time newer MacBooks have become available at a reduced price so this is an item to replace that original um uh lease that would uh actually reflect the newer items at a lower cost so the lease will actually drop from 2.6 million to 2.4 million and we'll talk about the MacBooks again during the budget presentation I think so maybe maybe not we'll see okay that's all I have so the schools Foundation met um the week before um Spring Break

037um couple of things that we talked about were grants so teachers can apply two times a year usually at the beginning of September and February um they recently awarded the spring grants um over uh $4,300 in Innovative teaching grants $1,000 in music work grants and then um almost 4,900 in scholarship or School assistant grants so highly recommend and encourage our teachers to apply for these grants because the money's there um and uh there's some really awesome things that they're doing with the money that they're getting um the 202020 excuse me 2025 scholarships um for our students there were two new available this year um there were 995 applications in total I personally read 116 over the weekend um the recognition Ceremonies for the scholarships at free state will be April 28th and La Tha on

038the 30th so that's exciting um we got a report from um Edmunds Duncan are now creative planning um and Chip Blazer about board Investments um the foundation has requested their annual distribution from dccf which is about double normally what it has been um due to where the market's at so that's good news um they'll put um half of it towards scholarships and the other half towards the 40th anniversary celebration and overall Investments are tracking right in line with projections and then as uh Dr Swift mentioned April 17th is the 40th anniversary celebration um at melis at 5:30 and I encourage all of my Board Mates to attend um and then the next meeting will be April 15th for the foundation all right uh Equity meet didn't meet last okay okay I think that's all of

039the um committee reports am I correct anything else okay okay board commentary I'll start at this side gr no comments nothing from Bob nothing from Shannon and do you have anything additional Yolanda Carol I don't excuse me I don't have anything at this time Kelly but I would like to thank you for your statement about um the the impending Cuts or impacts of of for federal funding on on public schools and I fully support you and I am honored to serve on a board that is so strong um in support of public education thanks thank you thank you Carol okay we're going to move on to approval of the consent agenda oh we have one retirement to recognize thank you we would like to acknowledge with sincere appreciation for uh service and Devotion to Lord's

040public schools and its students and staff Donna Logan for 30 years of service all right 30 years okay so approval of consent agenda is there a motion I move the Board of Education approve the items listed on the consent agenda is there second second Gordon Ross Yes Jones yes Kimbell yes buyers yes kadu Blackwood yes Costello yes Franklin yes the motion passes 70 okay we're going to move on to reports uh we have an update on the cell phone free instructional environment Dr Swift thank you um Madame President and members of the board uh we are uh delighted this evening to just bring a very brief update on our work to really prioritize and lift up the work of our teachers and students inside our classrooms across Lawrence Public Schools and to lift that work

041up by uh reducing and removing the distraction of cell phones in the classroom I just want to thank everyone across the system uh who have joined together really to make progress on something we know that the research uh supports supports uh that reduction of the distraction of Technology uh because of uh academic achievement and growth our critical Mission and then also U because of mental health and social emotional Wellness something that we're very uh well aware of particularly with the Surgeon General coming out uh to issue a concern uh not too long ago uh about uh the risk and the dangers of social media so we really are out to reduce uh the distractions we've been on this uh the board was on this uh last year and then during the fall we really geared

042up to bring things to fruition so uh just a little bit of preparation back on I don't know why I'm not getting uh to turn I'm pointing pointing it at you cck off it okay no worri there we go uh back on December 9th just a little context to remind folks the board uh passed uh policy jcaa cell phones and electronic devices really uh the component here is that classrooms will be cell phone free during the instructional day to ensure productive respectful and safe learning environment throughout the district so I've asked our directors of schools JC Roberson at elementary Dr Wayman Irvin at secondary to really just give us a very brief update on how it's going as you're aware members the third quarter was really about learning and practicing and developing a new habit

043uh lots of research says it takes a a long time to change a habit to break a habit to develop a new habit so that was third quarter now that we're in the fourth quarter we really are uh full implementation and seeing how our students are doing with this expectation now while we're accomplishing uh that work at secondary uh Miss Roberson and the elementary team have been busy analyzing and really were tasked as you recall members to bring us back a recommendation as we move forward for school year 25 26 and our guidelines around the use of Technology with our youngest students preschool through fifth grade now um no drum roll needed here because their work is still in progress but I will just give you a heads up and Miss Roberson will share more

044that we really are seeing uh a fruitful area to improve our work with students by reducing the time on technology particularly preschool through second grade preschool through third grade just really seeing um that that move that we made particularly during covid to make sure that every child had a device at all times it was necessary then uh but we're seeing uh really that it's time to turn the page Miss Roberson help us out with that with that work oh right thank you so much uh good to see all of you again um our objectives for spring semester as you will recall were to identify our current practices really um we challenged our coaches and our principles at the elementary level to um walk classrooms look at uh current practices so we can really get a

045good landing spot from for where we are and then establish shared expectations and then measure the impact of those shared expectations um as we move into um next year thank you Dr Swift so some observations what we learned um these are not uh anything that we wouldn't expect so screen use is highest during indoor recess remember all those snow days and then days following we um saw that during a preferred activity time um and then at the end of the day um students show short attention spans resist those transitions off the devices even if they're going to recess and um they're really attached to those dig digal tools um teachers expressed that they needed support with um engagement strategies curriculum balance and non-tech management strategies especially during small group instruction and then our work as

046we move on um we're really working to support those digital literacy uh skills but prioritizing Hands-On social developmental learning um experiences lots of research as Dr Swift says outlined there um and our goal really um at lower L is to focus on play teacher-led learning face-to-face interaction um and then Upper Elementary really um using a progressive model um and going for a more structured academic use for research for projects literacy math tasks preparing them for that Middle School transition um our team is working really really hard and really diligently and we are pretty close to really outlining a guidance document for our Elementary staff and so more updated guidance will be coming soon but this is where we're we're landing and um lots of support lots of excitement for this at the elementary level thank

047you would the board prefer uh questions at each level or shall we Barrel on to the end here each level do we have questions about the elementary level to start um so given that the kid like when kids are given the option that's what they're pay like for that free activity time is there any discussions about eliminating that as an option yes and you know P going coming out of covid um that was um one option and we have spent over the last five years just really kind of oops sorry honing down those options when that is chosen and so now we're ready to take the next step into um eliminating that Al together from those preferred activity times from those kind of choice menus of you know rewards and just making sure that the

048time that we are using it it is for instructional gain and instructional impact and then um really focusing back on those interactions those face-to-face um you know Hands-On sort of things awesome so um I know that teachers know how to do this uh so I I'm I'm asking this question as more of like a resource question anything they might need need from the board but when you when you listed the times where um teachers are more or students are more likely to be engag in those activities those are probably also times where you might see increases in behavioral challenges or just out of they're tired they're hungry you know that it's the end of the day whatever so I'm wondering um are there as you're going through and making assessments about what it'll look like

049in a elementary space without one-on-one devices um are you also calculating or considering maybe calculating not the word um what what you might need from the board in terms of resources or absolutely and this is part of a the comprehensive Elementary um experience thinking through um hopefully students will have two opportunities for specials and movement okay two recesses and so really kind of looking at this as a comprehensive approach and one thing um getting those things like board games back out math manipulatives out kind of um re looking at the whole system and so yes to answer your question while we look while we are working through this there there may be some materials or things that we we might need um but it you know all of our teachers are really good at these

050things and Co kind of got us going a different way and we're all ready to yeah come back to Center and and get back to it so um I guess I would just I know I can so I think my job as board president president is to kind of read the board and I'm sure you've read that we're very enthusiastic about this work and the Endeavors that you're uh undertaking as it relates to this um particular area so I would just hope that we would hear from Administration and from teachers about what they need if there's something that comes up you're not expecting so of thank you thank you and Dr Wayan Irvin is coming to share with us a little bit about our secondary progress uh to prioritize the instructional environment through the reduction

051of cell phone distraction good evening members of the board uh Madam president Dr Swift superintendent uh our Middle School instructional time uh cell phone guidance uh we really want them to have the cell phones not visible uh at the middle school level but it was also a a issue about the or what concern I would say about the lunchroom so the St the middle school principal have decided not to allow students to have the cell phones at lunch but they do allow depending on their behavior for those fun days on Fridays if possible the Middle School consensus based off the principles is consistency and Clarity of expectations are key to the success of the cell phone policy uh they want to still establish those healthy personto person interactions and habits from our cell phone policy

052and also focus on engag engagement strategies to support teachers inside of the classroom for our Middle School lunch some our Middle School uh principles implemented lunch conversation cards so they didn't have the cell phon so how do we engage our students to get back to talking towards each other so here are some things that a couple of questions that they had students to talk about just to get that conversation uh back started just like what uh Miss robon said prior to co students were talking let's get back to the center let's let's talk about our conversation how do you read person people's faces emotions the words that they use so here are about 10 questions that uh one particular Middle School use and also some pictures as well as students are engaged in those talks

053for our high school cell phone policy there's the Clause that you see B in bold it says unless utilized for a specific instructional purpose we do have those class that need to use the cell phones like Jour journalism the iPhone was probably the best choice than the iPad so they're allowed to use the instructional devices during that time period we did do some walk through data uh when the policy passed back in December we all our instructional uh administrators decided to we decided to do the observations we need a foundation where are we in December once this policy passed as you can see in Lawrence High School in December 2024 uh they visit 23 classrooms 445 students 17 175 cell phones were visible by 39% we came back in February after the first nine weeks

054and you can see there's a drop from 39 to 3% 13 cell phones were visible at free state 177 classes 3 40 students 80 87 cell phones were visible 25% back in December as our Baseline come back in February after the first nine weeks that observations again 177 classes 221 students four cell phone or visible down to 2% as you can see there's another graph you can see the dramatic drop from 175 to 13 from 87 to 4 from 39% to 3 25% to too a survey was sent out to both high schools uh to give feedback at least of feedback from on the staff uh these are some notable quotables from uh the secondary it's only effective because everyone is consensually enforcing it uh less behaviors fewer power struggles over pulling the phone up

055to work on functioning skills it's amazing to witness and I'll contribute that to our staff our principal are really laying the groundwork are talking about this each and every day as we l up to the policy being approved and also uh afterwards and informing our parents as well uh one staff member says stay firm in this policy find ways to support teachers it is truly the best them for students I support the policy and feel having fun fun fun fun phone Friday was a good idea so I appreciate uh both the elementary and the secondary progress that we've made uh here are kind of our next steps as we look down uh fourth quarter of this school year we will continue to refine our practices our Focus now I'm I'm so proud of the before

056and after picture we're all inspired by the changes at elementary and we know from research like the anxious generation uh that really uh Tech engagement to at too young of an age really rewires the brain and we want to protect our students from that so we are now looking at how to sustain uh cell phone free instructional environment over time we don't want to grow loose on this we want to raise a generation of young people who know how to engage with each other and understand the discip IPL the self-discipline the classroom discipline of putting the cell phone away we want to gain additional Clarity on the Progressive grade level expectations and particularly the elementary team's going to refine that approach uh preschool through fifth grade to get us right on target moving forward um

057secondary is interested in rining their Progressive model of support and that learning cycle for students who may struggle with the actual Act of getting that cell phone put away I I'm happy to say because of the way we went about this that's not a large percentage and yet we want to attend to those places where that's happening and then fourthly we feel like it's really important to educate ourselves as a school community on the why of this it's not because we dislike cell phones it's because we love and prioritize the critical mission of our teachers and our staff during that instructional time what they do is sacred we want to hold that up and not allow a cell phone to distract from it so um we've not achieved all of our goals during third quarter

058with our book studies and our movie screening and we want to really get back on that because I don't feel like we're just raising a generation of children I feel like we're educating a generation in our community around how important this is so watch for those announcements coming up because we really want I I know all of us when we're in Target or Walmart uh we see small Stu small children being soothed and entertained um with the technology device and no judgment here any parents that's been in a Target knows how uh fraught that situation is you want to keep your child you know entertained if you can but we just feel like uh this isn't just work for today it's work for tomorrow and the generations that will follow to really I love the

059term bring us back to Center on our priority of the instructional environment and so with that members we're open to any other questions I didn't say it in the intro but I want to add it now my deep gratitude for a board that was courageous to lead the way on this effort there are many districts that have not taken this step in across the country and their students are suffering as a result of it so thank you for your leadership uh not hearing any questions just thank you all for your work and um thank you thank you okay uh we will go we're moving on to item 5.2 which is the spring 2025 budget update very good thank you Madame President and members of the board uh all of you who are joining us uh

060Miss Cindy Frick is coming uh to walk us through a spring budget update I always love uh spring as so many of us do it's a time of Hope and yet when we live in an education budget cycle uh it can often be a time that's fraught I think member kemell you uh covered uh the roller coaster ride that we're of on on when it comes to education funding and we continue on that even at this time I want to just share though that our goal and the board has already been on this work long before I arrived our goal is to build the fisical strength and responsibility of the district so that we don't have to ride the big roller coaster ride that we have ongoing strength in that contingency and rainy day fund

061uh that we have and your superintendent is responsible for it that we have organizational discipline to ensure that day by day month by month we are aligning resources to the needs and we're making changes when they need to happen so that we are efficient and effective so that we are Innovative uh it dawned on me a while back that when it comes to school funding and I've been in this business a while no one is coming to save us so if our strategy is that we'll just hold out and wait for someone else um that's a bad strategy our strategy really is to be responsible to make the decisions that are required so that we can achieve two priorities I repeat them all the time number one the critical mission of teaching and learning and

062right alongside that the our imperative to have a quality staff member teacher and support staff members in front of our students at all times and those two priorities go together and they drive every decision that we make I want to share uh members that it's because of the hard work that you've done prior cycles of reductions painful realignments and school closures it's because of that work that we're able to bring the report that we're bringing this evening um and yet we don't rest on that work because that constant process of alignment will continue members I've spoken with you uh privately uh just about the need for a tighter alignment so that every resource available is structured right into our programs our staff our competitive compensation we've got work to do in organizational discipline not just

063for today but every day we're analyzing and carrying that work work forward so although I'm proud to say this evening that we have met the board's predetermined you determined a few years ago some targets for contingency contingency is a fancy word for rainy day fund uh just like we have at home uh in case of emergencies but I just want to share that I think we're all aware and your discussion is already covered it this evening that we live today in an environment of extreme uncertainty so I would encourage the board as we move forward to continue and let's continue our work to build uh that safety cushion so that in times of trouble we're able to stay strong with our staff and with our programming and with our families uh an example that was

064already mentioned and I said I would I'm so proud for this artifact it's my sticker that says fully fund special education an example is the very serious concern that we continue to hold around the funding for special education so we are committed to the diligent work of being methodical we will avoid hopefully the high highs and the low lows of and the whims of legislators and legislatures uh by doing our responsible work to build the strength of the organization I'm proud of the work that Miss frick does every day to keep us on track with budgeting we think of it in the spring and the fall uh she and her team think of it every day of the school year and thank you for that work so she's going to walk us through a general

065spring update as usual there are many questions that we do not have the answers to at this moment but it's our job to do the work and wait for the answers as they come Miss frck okay thank you when we talk about our District budget I'm often referring to our operating funds uh but I wanted to kind of walk through the whole picture um to provide some background um we do have our biggest fund is the general fund and then we have a supplemental general fund that's called local option budget those both handle the majority of our operating day-to-day expenditures for the district um it includes things like utilities repair and maintenance um a lot of our supply cost it also pays for the salaries that are not otherwise allocated to a special Revenue fund

066um and so the special Revenue funds there are many many of those um but they are designated by ksde and they designed to handle the revenues and expenditures for a specific purpose and so examples of that might be capital outlay or the parents's teacher program and so every um Revenue uh we'll see on another slide the revenues that come in for those particular programs um all expenses um associated with that program are paid out of that account and then we have the ending cash balance um another type of fund is our debt service which pays our makes our bond and interest payments uh throughout the year and those are the three types of funds as um are stated on the KSD budget document on the next slide um like I said we have we have

067just under 50 funds in total that we are accounting for um so this is just a few examples of special Revenue funds if you'd like to see the whole list of funds that we manage um we do have uh Financial reports posted to the board enclosure the consent agenda item every month at the first board meeting and there is a cash summary report that goes through every single fund that we have uh the monthly Revenue expenditures and cash balances associated with it um so an example of a special Revenue fund for Capital outlay we can only charge certain items there and so that is most of our equipment and Furniture it is um our significant um facility improvements vehicles and things like that we can't charge um General salaries to Capital outlay and so when

068you see a cash balance remaining in capital outlay that is being reserved for the future planning of those infrastructure and Equipment purchases um and so sometimes people will will wonder well you have money left in this fund why can't we use it for a different type of purpose and that's just not how it works um we do follow State guidelines on all of this um and so another example would be the at risk fund we receive money through waiting um that is deposited into the at risk fund then all expenditures that qualify for that um purpose can are charged there it is currently a list from ksde of um many many different approved practices and programs that based on the amount of time a classroom teacher or another certified staff member spend on those approved

069practices or programs we can charge a portion of their salary to at risk and so um content Y is a uh is also a special Revenue fund it does not have a certain budget because the point of contingency is to handle any expenses that are not budgeted for um it would have to be not budgeted for and the board would have to approve any expenditure from contingency throughout the year so that's just a few examples um on the next slide we're just kind of going to look at the logistics um most of our state aid the vast majority of our state aid is calculated using the general fund um budget calculation or the calculation for the local option budget and so that those enrollment and waiting um money is deposited into the uh the general

070fund for example the at risk waiting is based on our free lunch account it is it comes to us in the form of General state aid it gets deposited to the general fund or the local option budget and then because it belongs to the atrisk fund or it's supposed to be used for at risk purposes it gets transferred over and deposited into at risk to be used for those certain expenditures um if that makes sense another example is special education and so our special education state aid is part of the general fund um budget calculation we deposit uh special education state aid into the general fund and lob and then turn around and transfer it into special education the trick with some of these funds is we have more expenditures than we have revenues okay

071so that's certainly the case with special education we spent $29 Million last year in special education and received about 15 million between state and federal funding and so our job via our regular operating funds then is to put enough money in that particular special Revenue fund to cover any expenditures and so we transferred an additional almost around 14 million to special education um we also do receive local tax revenue which is um deposited directly into the individual funds on the operating budget um this is a very simplified um equation um but we do use enrollment uh our full-time equivalency um enrollment and our waiting FTE multiplied by our base aid for student Excellence is the uh the biggest portion of our general fund budget in addition to that there's a separate calculation for our virtual

072program because it is does not use the base it uses a flat rate um the base the last couple years the increase in the base has been calculated using the three-year average of the Consumer Price Index so for the last 30 years the base historically was not tied to inflation But Here recently the last couple years it is now tied um to the average um of three years of inflation lob in very simplified terms is a portion of the general fund it's approximately onethird of the general fund budget and so as we've talked over the last couple years about declining enrollment and how that impacts the budget um I did want to just show this slide um you know we had some pretty significant budget um reduction years a couple years ago because we were

073coming into this downturn postco um I do want to point out the enrollment numbers we talk about for the budget are a full-time equivalency and so it is not a head count we talked a few weeks ago about our headcount um for enrollment this is a little bit different because it breaks down you know if the if this year's High School senior is only attending halime on September 20th then we get a 0.5 uh count for that um student this portion of the budget also excludes preschool aged at risk and virtual education because they are calculated separately um for a few years we had been able to use the higher of the last previous the prior two years for our budget if you'll remember last year that changed and for the 2425 budget we had

074to use an average of the two prior years so for this year's budget we were able to use the 9877 the part that we've been talking about for a couple years that's coming is now for 2526 we will have to use use the higher of this year's September 20th count meaning September 20th of 24 or September 20th of 25 if it happens to be higher um and so we will be declining about 200 FTE for Budget calculation purposes in 2526 uh some State updates um as Shannon talked about a little bit ago um we are we may need to return some safe and secure schools grant money that we received um we already have spent that on the cic's crisis alert system um and some aeds throughout the district uh if we do need to

075return that money for 2425 we will need to use Capital outlay money to pay for it um and there is also the PO potential loss of some professional development state aid and Mentor teacher it is normal for legislature to be looking ahead to 2526 to make these decisions we don't often get money pulled from the state you know after it has been allocated to us in the fiscal year and so that will be a little bit different if that happens um on the uh operating budget the base will be increasing um but that will be offset by our 200 um FTE declining enrollment that we have to calculate with potentially no increase in special education Aid that will be a big hit you know they were they provided some increase funding last year we received

076about 2.3 million um which really helped um and so that will be there's a huge gap in the special education realm as well as the historical base Aid when it was not based on any type of inflation factor and so there's a couple huge gaps that we have there in our state aid um and and again the potential loss of professional development so we'll see how those things play out on the federal front we have gotten a lot of questions about our funding so far our primary um Federal uh monies come uh in the form of Food Service assistance for our lunch and breakfast program special education services and title programs those um each bring in um between $2 to3 million a piece some smaller programs we have we get two different Federal aids for

077the nas program uh we receive adult education and have stronger connections Grant Etc so far the funding that we know has changed is the local food for schools a couple of the USDA programs um we have the bakery Grant is currently on hold if we do not receive those funds again it was a program that was awarded back over the summer and so that work has been done the equipment is installed um and folks will be training on the use of that equipment here coming up and so if that money um if is not received will again need to use shift to Capital outlay to pay for that so so as we think about planning ahead I I believe we've um really emphasized this focus on program offerings and supporting the classroom and our students

078and then also simultaneously uh insuring quality staff in every classroom those are really our two dual priorities um also to continue to build fiscal strength uh we may um worry about this legislature and I feel certain we'll worry about subsequent legislatures so it's our work to just be prepared uh we have opportunities to really innovate our practice and to use uh it to use really um strategy and structures to to ensure that we are uh tailoring our staffing to exactly where our student enrollment needs are and the assurance that you will hear from me repeatedly is that our staffing will follow the students so that we are sure that we are serving the needs of students every day but we will also be courageous to make adjustments uh because we're not in an environment where

079we uh should be less than Vigilant on ensuring that Staffing matches our enrollment our next steps with contingency planning will need to take into account the higher levels of uncertainty that we're sure to continue to face um and uh miss frck you may want to speak more in detail about that uh health insurance increase or uh if the members feel like they're already aware of that I'll I'll leave that part to you okay yeah um last year in in the work with our health insurance uh we were capped um and we are using that cap um I can't remember 15% cap I think it was for a health insurance increase unfortunately uh we have been notified that we will be using that cap um which is around 1.8 million un un fortunately not surprising based

080on our prior um experience with claims so I think overall we are looking at budgeting for a flat budget with all eyes guardedly observing uh where there may be uh changes in these areas that we're already hearing about um I am grateful to um I believe that we understand that even with the with the Department of Education that for example it's possible food and nutrition would come through a different agency we don't know that yet um but we are keeping an eye on those concerns as we move forward so it'll be our job to innovate to streamline our resources directly to schools and classrooms this will be our uh repeated and ongoing effort moving mov forward every day because that combination of increased state federal aid Andor decreased expenditures and our enrollment increases it's that

081that three-legged uh approach that has to be balanced in order to keep us in good strong physical condition because we know there's no secret sauce it really is that state aid comes through enrollment through that inflation rate that you mentioned and then also through our special education state aid there aren't there aren't any other buckets that we haven't talked about they're all uh pretty clear and obvious so uh members I I would love to say we're bringing a sunshine and Roses budget update uh we really are being very realistic about the challenges that we face look forward to your questions Miss frck is standing by okay uh just two questions so in instances where we might have to give back um money and then pull from capital outlay is that than taking money from something

082else so what what may have to go away in order to pay for those things yeah right now capital outlay is a fund um that we do have a cash balance in and so um we typically budget to in capital outlay to do all the all of the projects we could possibly fit in and realistically due to timing um or other constraints we might not get all of that done and so we do carry a balance in uh capital outlay and so that is one of our easier answers at this point um if we have to shift 100,000 here um for one project Or Another We're able to do that okay thank you and then um as far as the declining enrollment um do we know what's driving this is it simply like the size

083of the Kinder class versus the outgoing seniors or are there other things that we're noticing that's an excellent question and we just looked at our enrollment report a few weeks ago uh really is that combination of all of those factors um it's one uh of the uh important steps that we be taking later tonight to really talk about the enhancements that we're tailoring to what our parents have said that they would like to see uh so uh but it's a number of of components uh most especially uh member Castello that uh decline among birth rate and Kinder class size and then is not also the impact of covid and the conversation pertaining to public education also having some impact as well absolutely and the question for us and the challenge we Embrace is how do

084we move forward from this time question Carol just check in hi this is Carol and um I want to thank you for Dr Swift for put adding the comment that we have to be realistic about we what is going on in the world because I really just like everybody else we really don't know what's going on dayto day I mean we don't know what's going to happen next is that a pretty safe comment absolutely we know that we do not know I love the way you said that okay shanon yes um I have several questions so Kelly tell me um if you need me to stop okay um thank you for the report I really appreciate the visuals of the buckets with the numbers I think it simplifies what can be a very complicated um

085set of data around our budget um on the slide when you were talking about federal funds um and you said we got 9 million in federal funds in 23 24 is that inclusive of the special ed and title funding that is so that's the Allin Federal number not just additional grants over and above that correct um the only thing I excluded was Esser since it no longer pertains to us yeah so it's both for those programs but also any discretionary grants that we got okay all right thank you um okay um uh related to the slide about uh the buckets and contingency reserve um about how many days of operating costs could we cover for our district with our current contingency reserve so right now we have about 5% of our general fund budget um

086we have about 4.8 million in our so days wise 5% of the of the general uh fund um and that doesn't quite hit our goal um a few years ago the board had um requested 6% we should be there by the end of this fiscal year that's still pretty low for a government um but yes where we are doesn't the state legislature try to maintain an ending balance of 7% right and there's a lot of discussion amongst government entities in general about what the right number is um you'll hear a lot of governments do 10% 10 to 15% um but yeah okay um so there's a little bit of disagreement about what the what the magic percentage is okay um all right and then when talking about the special Revenue funds and the fund balances

087um is there a a single time in the in the operational year that those balances are at their lowest or does that vary depending on which fund you're looking at it probably varies by fund quite a bit um things like capital outlay doesn't get only gets tax revenue it doesn't it doesn't um get state aid and so those balances uh those deposits come in in January and then the beginning of June and so we will run down the fund a little ways um before getting our next payment the other funds that receive more transfers from the general fund we can um we can control that a little bit more um because as we progress throughout the year uh we can deposit to those funds and transfer as needed um special education specifically we don't receive

088special education funds um until October so that is another one that gets run down uh before that time and so it varies quite a bit depending on the fund um if uh our board president would deem it appropriate I would be interested in having a little bit more detailed information on that particular topic because this is something that would be helpful in our advocacy work as a district um to counteract this false narrative about fund balances because what is happening is they're looking at our fund balances on July 1 which is when our capital outlay is likely at its highest and also when our special ed is at its highest and they're saying that that is money that we have available to spend on on all the things that you showed us in that bucket

089of General operating expenses right so um I think it would be helpful to have a good understanding of when our lowest points are and what and how low do we get how like how tight are our margins because I I keep saying to people you don't understand we really run on a pretty tight margin right um as as in public education in our district and other districts um but it'd be good to have yeah be able to back that up a little bit Dr s affirmed that we can do that c okay thank you we're happy to collect questions and that'll be a good one we can follow up on along with days of operating thank you and then I have one more question and a comment I wanted to make if but if there's

090okay all right um so you mentioned you mentioned this in passing um but when was the first school year that we received our uh base state aid with the inflation adjustment okay and so I would probably have to look back we had five years under the Ganon case that were set amounts and then we started inflation I want to say 20 uh was it last year 22 23 or 2324 last year I believe was our first um year that was based on the three-year average of inflation we were hoping that would go through legislature it did so um I believe this 2425 is the second year so okay so um so we had unconstitutional funding from until the beginning of the 23 24 school year when they fully phased in the remedy and then started

091the inflation adjustment um and you know that I think is really important for people to understand um combined with the fact that special education has been underfunded since the 2010 2011 school year so while Ganon has been going up to get to the level that the court said we had to be at our special ed funding has been going the other direction yeah um and that you know that inflation adjustment that is in there was designed to ensure that adequacy was maintained year-over-year that we have the money we need to pay next year for what we were doing this year right because everything costs more as you noted with the 1.8 million in increases in our um health insurance that we anticipate for example next year um I just want to make the point for

092um to remind everybody at the board table and also in our community that that funding formula expires in June of 2027 um and based on the conversation that has been happening around school funding and this like just antipathy toward this inflation adjustment that is built into the Flor formula um I don't know that it's a guarantee that our next Formula will have that in it so the more that we can make sure people understand what the purpose of that is and how it has how we have been impacted by these trend lines over time um the the better we can advocate for what our district and our community is going to need um going into that conversation so thank you for um answering all my questions I really appreciate it okay I have a comment

093so um I just have a comment you know as as we've talked about here as as we've talked about contingency and I think Carol said it best that you know we don't know what we don't know you know you know we've really focused on what we don't know in terms of decisions that are going to be made but I think it's also good to keep in mind um you know there are other things that we don't know and so you know earlier in March there was a a tornado that that went through rala Missouri and I have a friend who lived down there who sent me an email and of their five schools in their school district three of them became um inhabitable and that covered a thousand students and so they were looking at

094a plan that in involved maybe either finding an alternate location to educate those thousand students or alternating schedules with the two buildings that were left to try and come up with a plan to figure out what to do for the remainder of the school year um as um rofes came off and w came down and and windows got shattered and and and that was a single day that took out 60% of their buildings and so I think um we really don't know what we don't know and and anything can change and I think um there's all sorts of reasons to have those funds available yeah um most of my questions Shannon asked I just have one one question I wanted to ask about so we um as we some one of our our programs that

095are on slide eight pertaining to Federal Aid updates um the uh the conversation from the federal level sounds like special education and title programming are relatively safe comparative um to perhaps some of the other things that are listed there so speaking specifically about Native American student service which is a um program we had a report on earlier in the year and they provide um critical services and support to our indigenous communities but also are helping us with our um educational goals in terms of better supporting um communities in a in a way that they direct us to so I I can imagine um if you're directing that program that might feel a little um you might have some anxiety around the security of that program so I don't mean to talk about it in absence

096of the other programs that might also be feeling that but just speaking specifically to Native American student services uh the the cost of operating that particular program as it relates to not just the Staffing but also the support to provide communities is s is significant but not so significant that we wouldn't be able to continue Staffing uh Native American student services if federal aid became an issue correct correct uh there's two different types of Federal Aid that um go into that program for a total of about 130,000 annually so I'm sure that in all of all of the times where we're seeing these cuts that aren't being made sensitively or with consideration to um their objectives this is one of those areas where I I um understand why why districts might be reticent to say

097we can't commit to this particular program or that particular program because you don't want to sound like you can observe all the costs that they might be be taking but I do think it's important for this board to make a commitment to Native American student services and I'm wanting to know if that's been part of the conversation and if we can say that's a program we intend to continue to support even if we see a reduction of Federal Aid really appreciate you raising this specific example and the answer is a resounding absolutely yes um it's also possible Miss frck and I've discussed that some of our atrisk funding or other buckets may help us there but I have heard the commitment of this board and uh we remain in conversation I surely hope that doesn't

098go away but we also feel that it could be in Jeopardy I think it's important for our community to hear your support and our commitment as well so I'm just going to ask for support am I correct and and my um okay so um Carol I'm not sure what you can see or not see but um it was all six thumbs up and I'm gonna not speak for you Carol but um do know that you have been absolutely it's it's a thumbs up and I think um it's imperative and thank you for bringing this up because um that is a a common concern and I'm getting a Flur of emails from people in the community asking about whether or not the district is still going to support Nas and I can I can tell them

099today in fact tomorrow and today emphatically that yes our school board will support the nas program as well while supporting and enforcing our treaties thank you Carol appre thank you okay yeah I have another question um so one of the things that we had talked about previously um obviously Sr funds are going away or gone but um we' use those Monies to fund like summer school and like the summer science camp so are we going to still be able to do those activities because I know that I think the board felt pretty strongly that we would want those continued so we've been talking quite a bit about summer plan have a number of ideas I'd love to chat with you all about and then bring forward uh a plan we certainly can do that uh

100as we've done in the past and yet there are a lot of moving parts so um it if it doesn't happen it wouldn't be a financial decision so look forward to that conversation so we did the board did commit to Summer programming that looked similar to last last uh year when we were principal green and others were here so I just want to affirm there will be summer opportunities I look forward to bringing you a plan for that I do want to share some uh data and some concerns that have Arisen uh that may suggest a little bit different design and I would just love to have the board's input and feedback on that okay what would the timing of that because that seems like something you have to determine Staffing on and Etc we

101have the plan in hand and it's just kind of a Next Step uh for us okay so we should we would look forward to seeing that relatively soon absolutely thank you all right other y there's one question I forgot to ask so or or kind of talk through so um as I mentioned earlier we're really looking at kind of range of options on special ed funding from the state this year that could be $10 million in state general fund which is actually really only $75 million in new money because that has to cover $2.5 million of federal funds that were used last year that are going away so we're we're kind of in a range of minus 2.5 million from what we got this year to plus 7 A5 million Statewide um um just so

102that everybody kind of hears it our when we get special ed funding we get funded on a per teacher or staff person basis correct right so if if the worst case happened and the state actually has minus 2.5 million from where we were last year um which violates maintenance effer by the way so that would be a problem um and then divide that up as they do um would that potentially look like a per staff person cut for us next year St talks about it is typically you'll get x amount per certified staff member um and so we would receive less per FTE per um certified and para staff people that we turned in okay so um and can you remind me when we find that out uh we do not know um what our

103uh sense that calculation is based on the number of folks working in the districts throughout the year it is not turn into the state until late spring and then we find out in June how much special education money we're going to get so June for this year for the 2425 year we find out um we get our special education um money and that and that determination in June right at the very end of the fiscal year okay and also just to make really hammer on this point so you said earlier we spent $29 million on special education education so that's 209 million out of our special education fund for services that are required by students I EPS right they have they have to be IEP services to be paid out of that fund yes and

104we only received $15 million in state and federal aid for special education so we are backfilling we backfilled $14 million million last year last year um do you um have a sense of how big that number might be this year you know um it will be potentially a little bit better this year um we received about $2.3 million in additional um special education state aid that that one time um trying to make things better money right um but we also have increased cost um and so we will um be transferring over a bit it's not likely that that for that $14 million is going to go down by the whole amount no no that we got in New a okay all right thank you very much that's I promise that's my last question okay um

105thank you C appreciate your work okay uh we're GNA take a five minute break and then move on to 5.3 so it's 8:29 we'll come back at 8:34 e e e we're going to come back uh for our final report which is uh 5.3 the 2025 2026 enhancements and Dr Swift thank you Madame President members of the board um I'm sorry that this has been a lot of heavy information this evening uh but we really are excited uh March is that month where we uh begin to set the table uh for the following school year and we wanted to take time this evening to really review some work that we've been doing to prepare for our next steps in usd497 I will just point out that these enhancements that we'll see really are uh following

106that North Star of quality education excellence and equity in everything we do uh these are focused on providing opportunities and access for students steps that you will see right away will close disparity gaps and and it is important to note that every one of these um initiatives and next steps that were proposing come directly from the feedback of our students and staff our parents and Community uh they're born out in the in the work that we've been doing throughout this year to hear about the next steps in the district uh we'll start with the addition of preschool and the preschool offerings in lawen public schools we've long been proud of Kennedy preschool Kennedy Early Childhood Center that programming and so uh the idea of the next steps with preschool is to expand access by adding

107preschool classrooms across our neighborhood schools we know the power of a quality preschool education we know that research Decades of research show that it's effective and and helpful for all students and most especially students who who come uh from homes that have higher impact whether that's poverty second language whatever the case may be um we know that by adding classrooms into the Local School uh that we'll be able to engage and support families earlier three and four year olds ride in our neighborhood schools so in 2526 uh we want to begin a phased approach open in preschool classrooms one each at sunflower and woodlon elementary schools uh the schools were selected based on need and demand uh for the programming uh and being able to enroll students but I want to just share that the

108vision is a preschool seat for every child in Lawrence it may take us a few years to get there but we know the importance of that on ramp of a quality preschool education we also understand and hear from our parents a real crisis around quality child care not just in Lawrence but across the country and this will help to meet that need uh we're sharing on each of these Endeavors a research base um we uh will uh at some point here in March and April publish a single summary sheet of each of the enhancements and the research base behind them um but there is a wide base of research in support of preschool offerings um for every student we talked about this a little bit at a prior board meeting when we were highlighting the

109addition of the second professional planning time for our teachers at elementary we're really excited that that time for our students will be focused on Elementary science really to Foster critical thinking problem solving creativity nurturing curiosity promoting Hands-On learning all of these crucial for a child's development and future success I also believe that some of our earlier discussion around the use of technology and long periods of time this will really relieve uh pressure on a number of fronts and provide more stimulating learning throughout the day and also importantly give our professionals our teachers time to do their professional work uh we've already heard from teachers across the district who are putting their hands up high saying this is a job I've long wanted to do please uh consider me as you're making your selection of science

110teachers um so we will be putting together Miss JC Roberson will be leading it with principals and teachers uh some brainstorming sessions as to what the nature scope and sequence of standards-based Elementary science learning will look like in USC 497 it's an exciting time I look forward to bringing you updates on this work as we move forward there's a wide research base on getting that science in early I've heard from our teachers and from our parents uh then in our current approach sometimes students are coming without a lot of science because that's being pressed into uh that general education teacher who's trying to do so many things most especially literacy and math so this should uh raise the level of play for everyone and also support our elementary teachers with the gift of professional time

111um a program that you already know about uh very well is our jhawk jhawk blueprint partnership both at Lawrence High School and Free State High School we will be sharing with you over the coming week's enhancements to the blueprint program in a school District where 40% of our students qualify for free and reduced lunch in a county where we have no Junior College located this is so important to narrow disparity gaps and ensure that students have the opportunity to do college level coursework while still in high school we know the data says that they're more likely to graduate high school to enroll in persisting college and to complete a college degree or credential if they even have one experience during the high school years and we can even do better than that um the research

112really highlights the importance of ensuring college success as well as significant cost savings for our families a smoother transition to College through opening this door right in our high schools uh we are excited to continue the enhancement of steam programming at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School I wasn't sure board members if you were aware that that team and we have Josh here tonight and um as as one liberty team member um but that programming really is unfolding under the Project Lead the Way umbrella that is a national program recognized award-winning program and I just want folks to know that our team is really stepping up and leaning in each year Liberty Memorial will add an additional Project Lead the Way module or course uh already uh steam design and modeling and Robotics are currently on

113offered and each year we will progress by adding additional modules so when folks in the community say what's that steam difference that Liberty Central offers um we've got an answer and uh this is part of it we'll be sharing more as we move forward I'm so excited to move into the next phase of New York monory programming um it seems like it can't be here already but it is we're really ready to transition um to the upper L Elementary Monsur model uh so uh really excited uh that our students are progressing through preschool and lower L and now uh for 2025 we'll be moving into upper L and so we have a video just to share more about what that montauri difference means in laurren public schools first question I'm going to ask you is

114what is monori so monori is a type of education that is focused on the developmental stages of a child it is focused on Independence and functional Independence within children monor is a method of Education that that encompasses the whole child we cover everything from practical life skills all the way up to division for our kindergarteners and reading it's just a different approach it also encompasses an individual style for each child so you're able to have an individual lesson plan for every single child in your classroom and you're meeting them at the skill that they're ready for giving them lessons that meet them where they are developmentally and then kind of letting them fly and that does not mean that the child has ultimate Freedom it means freedom with responsibility a lesson shows the children how

115to use the material and then the child is free to take the material off of the Shelf they're allowed to have choices they're allowed to choose what they're going to do but the guide is going to make sure that it's appropriate for them to be working on they're going to make sure that they're challenging themselves so they do have a lot of freedom but that freedom has a lot of procedural protocol boundaries that back it up so that they know how to work together as a community it's within their responsibilities that they get to have that freedom we have built-in structures within the monory philosophy and within our school district to make sure that we are not letting those children fall behind and fall through the cracks so not only am I going to make

116sure that I am feeding the child all of the information that they want and that they're interested in but I also have to balance that with oh my gosh do you know what else you need to know and I have to make it as sparkly and sugar and fun and exciting as they can and then they just absorb it because they're invested in their own work with that intrinsic motivation they actually want to keep challenging themselves they find enjoyment in learning new things they have to have ownership they have to have agency in their education we are unique because is we invite our neighborhood children in here we're welcoming everyone if you are going to a private monor school you have a very curated population a very curated Community um where people are handpicked those

117are barriers and we don't want barriers to education one of my life goals is to make sure that monor is public and accessible to children it's accessible in an area in Lawrence that we need it and that's what we want it gives the teachers and guides and the children an opportunity to really build strong relationships strong relationships with your students are what changes behaviors and what changes academic performance and so we have an opportunity to have children for 3 years and so you build that strong relationship and you can build positive behavior as any academic growth is through the roof it's those teachers that you remember it's not necessarily the projects or the papers that you write it's the connections you make with people working with the children that's the best part and that makes

118me cry it's so cool because it works and it works anywhere and I've done it all over the United States I've done it in public and I've done it in private I raised my children in monory education and what it can do to each individual and therefore Community um is astounding it it is breathtaking to me still multiple decades into it uh so working with the children is the best part and seeing that progress so thanks to Andrew bevon for putting uh that updated monory video uh out for us we'll be posting that publicly we waited until this evening because we wanted you to see at first but really excited about the next steps of uh working toward a fully developed upper elementary public monory model so uh to wrap up um this is part

119one of a number of components on enhancements for 2025 and there are some technology uh pieces that folks referenced earlier we just not quite ready uh tonight but that's that's under the preview of coming attractions uh there uh but we are looking at enhancing and expanding preschool offerings into neighborhood schools amplifying that elementary science by placing it on a specials rotation with a highly uh certificated uh teacher a passionate about science instruction strengthening the j-hawk blueprint College course offerings across our high schools continuing the development of steam programming at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School with Project Lead the Way and continuing the growth of New York monu public monu uh into the upper L phase uh we are so mindful that we are following the direction we've heard from our community these um these enhancements

120are about opportunities for students and reducing uh disparity gaps they're also in response to everything we've heard and for that reason uh members it's just my honor to share them this evening as next steps uh in Lawrence Public Schools we'll continue to share more uh there will be uh advisory groups and already are in some of these areas working and we look forward to bring you regular updates on the progress that we're making to have the table set for a great 20125 26 school year thank you uh questions okay not hearing any okay um the I do have one one question so if a if a parent were watching this and they were really interested in um Liberty memorials Project Lead the Way model or they're interested in the um early childhood education opportunities at

121at um woodlon what are the are we in are we looking I know we started looking at the transfer procedures but can you talk a little bit about choice for parents yes absolutely thank you for that uh we will be emailing directly to every parent to share these updates as well with our community and we'll have email locations where they may um through a Google form or however express interest in those programs so that we can provide them the next steps with whether that's open enrollment or how that might look we'll also uh provide that externally uh in the community as well uh because we're hoping there are folks out there with three and fouryear olds who are thinking it's a great time to join Lawrence Public Schools we're District on the move and lots

122of great things are happening here uh and so we'll be in touch both internally and externally with how to enroll how to sign up how to get more information thank you well I appreciate all the work and those are really exciting things to be um seeing to expand and grow and uh look forward to seeing how they impact our students uh in the 2025 26 school year um married to a chemist I'm very excited about the science teacher um but all the all the things look great okay um so we're going to now uh move on to public comment all right so um gr would you please read public comment procedures patrons who wish to participate in public comment must fill out the public comment registration form so that District staff or the board can

123follow 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 staff as provided under board policies KNN or GAE the board president or presiding officer of the meeting must may direct that a public comment request be directed to staff to comply with the board policy including Andor to protect the privacy of individual staff or students if you need ass need assistance in sharing a complaint or concern with District staff please let the board Clerk or other District staff know topics discuss discussed in public comment shall be gerain to the business of the board further more comments must comply with

124standards laid out in board policy GAE and board policy J geca comments or acts that are threatening to staff the board or others in attendance including the use of language or behavior that is disrupted to 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 obene language the district assumes no responsibility and or liability for the information shared during public comment 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 comments on topics not included on the meeting agenda at the beginning or end of each meeting comments related to agenda items are welcomed after the board

125has had the opportunity to discuss the topic limit your comments to 3 minutes patrons who are unable to comply with the above procedures May email their comments or viewpoints to the board at Schoolboard at usd497.org thank you so we have three public comments that are online are they all present okay Justin hear me yes yes all right I want to talk about your foul language policy and I also want to talk about how uh board member raggedy an Costello called me crazy Justin SP a couple meetings ago right before I was uh getting ready to speak during general public comment and and when I first heard her call me crazy Justin spce I thought to myself well so much for your guys' decorum policy you know that has to be some sort of violation of

126your decorum policy but since then I haven't even gotten an apology from any of you guys and so I think to myself what the and I also think fq and I believe that's pronounced fa Q Justin what and so a few meeting a few meetings ago I read from a book it's called the uh a warning for saying for saying F AQ you are you serious yes uh the hate you give uh which is in the USD 497 library and in it the the book uh it says uh the police the police uh which is also a NWA song that song is called the Police that's your last warning okay can you please turn that off and anyways okay uh Carrie Carrie are you here I'm here okay go ahead okay good evening when I

127learned about your policy regarding obscene language weeks ago I was shocked because I know the kind of reading material you provide the students in this district and they have a lot of obsene words in them I was surprised because there is no way that the board members are holding their meetings to a higher standard than they have for their students I don't know if you realize this but you were teaching minors about obscene language and sex however you also are expecting those future adults not to say those words in your presence make it make sense I know you were not a of the unconventional way I have chosen to communicate this concern I have with you but I am trying to get you to see the hypocrisy and your policy you might be offended by

128the words I have said during public comment but I am offended by the words you are providing promoting and allowing minors to read we are clearly not the same so last meeting I said some words that you did not like but like I said those same words are available in your libraries for adolescence to read I'm going to read some pages from books that are in your District that use those same words by Laura Jane Grace give me the hormones now you I shouted and pounded my fist on the counter nearby Shoppers stopped to look at this hysterical person shaking with anger tears running down my face I've seen all of the doctors that I was supposed to I passed passed all the damn tests here's my driver's license now can I please have the

129pills I'd lost and how could how I could ever get it back or kill the son of a who stole it from me we are trying to be a family husband and wife and all that this book says 99 times that's your warning it 38 times red white and Royal Blue by Casey mcquiston through his th throbbing hangover he got a suspicion all these feelings are why he held off Henry for so long you're literally putting your dick in the leader of a foreign State who is a man at the biggest political event before the election in a hotel full of reporters in a city full of cameras in a race close enough to hinge on some like this like a manifestation of my stress dreams and you're asking me not to tell the president

130about it we don't have time to deal with this and your mother has um enough to manage without having to process her son's cordal lifee NATO sexual crisis so I won't tell her but once the conversation is over you have to this book says 82 times 15 that's that's your that's your warning I do want to point something out we have provided you policy if several times but to be clear you have never stepped foot in a library in our district nor do you know anything about our curriculum so I appreciate your input but we have given you the policy for making complaints about books okay uh Michael are you able to hear me yes hello we can hear you Michael so I'm a little confused here in what context am I allowed to say

131the word I'm asking a question pause the time I need I need some clarification here pause the time you guys need to clarify this not going to pause the time you're not going to clarify anything Kelly you're just going to lash out at people is that really what's going on here Kelly you're just going to lash out at people like a dictator okay that's your warning that's my warning I'm sorry Kelly that did I hurt your feelings honey I mean is that just a little more than you can handle is freedom of speech just a little too much for you sweetie pie no I'm I'm I'm really serious here hun are you just so sensitive that you can't handle that you're an elected official woman I don't know who the hell you think you are

132but you're acting like a damn Tyrant so what words are acceptable ass is in the Bible am I allowed to say ass ass must be okay I got it how about Dam I can say Dam okay how about frig got I can say that one that was how about Frack got it Frack is good Frack you Kelly do you know what that fracking means since I can say Frack we'll just use that one since that one's the one that going to work here these policies are absurd lady and the way you're enforcing them you're going to get yourself sued again and you know while we're on the topic of being sued and your attorney being in there tonight I'm pretty disappointed in Brad fley because it's pretty obvious that he brought this little 60-day idea

133to you dumb asses you're going to restrict people out for the words that they say and silence them for the words that they say you've done it tonight and you continue to do it I'm going to be back in that room Kelly and I'm gonna say more than Frack you do you understand that I'm gonna be back in that room I'm gonna say a lot more than Frack you you fracking idiot you got it this is absurd disconnect the call please turn it off thank you okay okay uh Dr Courtney thank you hope you all can take a deep breath sorry about that we're 42 days into the arrest of a district educator who has been accused of assaulting at least eight Elementary School students well I'm encouraged by some of your initial steps forward

134there has still to my knowledge been no external audit of policies and procedures and no debrief for Prairie Park families or the community as a whole my name is Dr Cindy Courtney and I'm a veterinarian Prairie Park parent and an advocate for affected families including one of our closest friends since the last time I spoke with you I've also spoken to two additional victims families who have reached out to me to thank us for advocating for these issues two weeks ago we talked about three things first we asked you to help repair our trust I have not had any detail shared with me about an external audit of your policies and procedures let us be clear this happened on this team's watch when a complex system designed for safety has a catastrophic failure it is

135not just because of one bad actor or one person's mistake it is because of multiple systemic problems when I hear you have now ensured lines of sight into areas where children are being served that's great but why was that not already occurring this literal blind spot caused massive harm how can we be sure figurative blind spots do not remain as you've said multiple times tonight you cannot know what you don't know please bring in experts who do if you already have show us the receipts if not please at least set up a meeting with the national experts at rain in my email earlier today I included a PowerPoint from them talking about some of the services they provide please be proactive instead of just reactive to help protect our children also asked you to end

136the culture of secrecy and provide parents with better resources I'm encouraged by some of your initial steps forward however there's still a lack of follow-through on some of our requests as well as some uh promised resources that you all said you would deliver we have had more understanding and empathetic responses from local school leaders and more resources for those who asked for them at parent teacher conferences again those who actively asked for them however not all parents are able to stay this late to advocate for their students or may be limited in terms of time and energy or effort to actively ask for things um has the promised website with updates and resources been launched if so it has not been announced to parents Mr Townson referenced a crisis debrief for parents and families we

137want this please let us know when this will take place again we will make and continue to make requests for external support and improved communication we hope for a direct response to these requests thank you for your time thank you Dr Courtney I appreciate that you came thank you okay uh Dr Swift do you have any announcements I believe we're good thank you so much um I I will share with um quickly with board members that we did have um folks from the board for the treatment Recovery Center stop by I've provided their um postcards here for you and we will be inviting them uh to provide and um and share information about their program in an upcoming board meeting so uh we will now move to adjourn is there a motion to adjourn I

138move we adjourn second all those in favor I I anyone opposed all right y'all have a good evening